USA > West Virginia > Summers County > History of Summers County from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 65
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MAJOR RICHARD WOODRUM, A Brave Soldier and Farmer.
CAPTAIN SILAS F. TAYLOR, The Ancient Brick Mason.
Y PUBLIC LIBRARY
ACT F, L. A. X AND AF INCATIONS.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
in this section of the country. The name seems to have been originally Gyn, and the Gwinn ancestor was evidently Irish. The name has since been spelled Guin, Gwin, sometimes Gwinn, and Mr. Walter M. Gwynn now and has been for a number of years spelling the name Gwynn, and claims to have some authority that that was the original proper spelling of the name; however, the records in this country do not bear it out. The patents or grants of lands from the Commonwealth of Virginia to Samuel Gwinn, the founder of the family in this country, spelled his name Guin, as I have examined his signature to the last deeds executed, when he was ninety odd years old.
The first grant of land to Samuel Gwinn was by the Gov- ernor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. in the year 1796, and was for a tract of land on Greenbrier River, on which Andrew Gwinn, with his son James, now resides. I have examined a num- ber of patents for lands in that neighborhood to Samuel Gwinn and others, which are all ancient documents, written in elegant handwriting on the dressed skin of some animal, and are in a per- fect state of preservation. Mr. Andrew Gwinn has some eight or ten of these old documents, which he prizes very highly. Samuel Gwinn was the father of a number of sons, the oldest of whose name was Samuel, who also settled at Lowell, but afterward re- moved to Lick Creek, purchasing the old Claypole and other pat- ented lands at Green Sulphur Springs, and surrounding lands. This Samuel also left a son, Samuel, who died in the year 1904, at the advanced age of over ninety years. he being the father of Mrs. A. C. Lowe, and was living with her at the time of his death. He resided part of the time in the West, and a part of the time at the farm owned by him at Indian Creek, in Monroe County.
1
Ephraim J. Gwinn was one of the sons of Samuel Gwinn, the second, who succeeded him in the ownership of the Green Sulphur Springs properties, which were originally patented by James Wood, Governor of Virginia, to Samuel Hollingsworth, in 1795, for 480 acres, which included the ground on which the Green Sulphur Spring is located, and adjoined John Osborne, Henry Stockwell. James Claypool and John Ferris. These seem to have been resi- dents of the State of Delaware, and had acquired some kind of ownership and property in these lands beyond that part of Lick Creek. Claypool seems to have been an original patentee. Jolin Osborne and others conveying the property to said Samuel Gwinn, of Monroe County, and the price paid was five shillings. The Claypool patent was dated in 1793. for 250 acres. Samuel Gwinn
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
was a Revolutionary soldier, and fought for the independence of the United States against his former sovereign, King George. .
Another tract of ninety-five acres was patented to Samuel Gwinn by Governor James Pleasant, on the 2d day of April, 1824. Governor Edward Randolph issued his patent to Samuel Gwinn for one of the tracts near Lowell, on the 18th day of March, 1789. The James Claypool patent, above referred to, was dated March 17, 1798, for 285 acres, at Green Sulphur Springs. Governor Jas. P. Preston granted to John Duncan 1912 acres on the 17th day of August, 1816, on Lick Creek. Thomas N. Randolph, Governor of Virginia, granted to Samuel Gwinn, November 1, 1821, thirty-one acres. James Monroe, Governor of Virginia, and afterwards Presi- dent of the United States, granted to Samuel Gwinn, December 2, 1800, five acres. John M. Gregory, Lieutenant Governor of Vir- ginia, granted to Ephraim J. Gwinn, August 30, 1842, twenty-one acres. On July 31. 1779. John Osborne conveyed to Samuel Gwinn, for five shillings, 245 acres.
All of these lands acquired on Lick Creek by Samuel Gwinn were conveyed by him to his son, Ephraim J. Gwinn, on October 20. 1829. Andrew Gwinn. who now lives at Lowell, known as "Long Andy," is now eighty-four years old, and was a cousin of the E. J. Gwinn referred to, he having been born on December 3, 1821, the year that Napoleon Bonaparte died on the Island of St, Helena. Andrew Gwinn is one of the largest and most prosperous farmers in Summers County. He has no family except one son, James Gwinn, who lives with his father at Lowell, within three hundred yards of the birthplace of Andrew, his father. Samuel Gwinn, the senior, or second, moved from the Lowell settlement to Lick Creek, in the year 1800, and died there March 25, 1839, in the ninety-fourth year of his age. His five sons were named Mo- ses, Samuel. Andrew, John and Ephraim, above referred to, and there were three daughters. One. Ruth, married James Jarrett, Sr., of Muddy Creek, and was the mother of the late James and Joseph Jarrett. John Gwinn resided in the Meadows, where Squire Wm. G. Flanagan now resides, until his death. He left several sons-Eldridge, Lockridge, Austin, Laban and Brecken- ridge-all of whom are now dead, leaving numerous descendants. a number of whom reside in the Meadow Creek country.
E. J. Gwinn had three sons, Hon. Marion Gwinn and ex-Sheriff H. Gwinn, who still own principally the lands acquired by their father. Ephraim, and Samuel Gwinn, Sr., in the Lick Creek neigh- borhood. The other son. Augustus, died during the war of the
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Rebellion, while in the military service. It was E. J. Gwinn, while drilling for salt, who discovered in its place sulphur water, and from which the Green Sulphur Springs is the result.
Some seventy-five years ago a man by the name of Shrews- berry, who was in the salt business on Kanawha River, visited Lick Creek for the purpose of hunting and seeing the indications of the old buffalo and deer lick on Samuel Gwinn's place, he was of the belief that there was salt in the earth at that point. He went back to Kanawha on a pack horse, brought across the Sew- all Mountain and War Ridge a piece of steel and the instruments with which to drill for salt. They rigged up a windlass with a rope made from hemp raised on the farm, attached the windlass, which was a long sour wood sapling, to a beam of wood fastened in the forks of two trees, the rope to the end of the sapling, and the iron or steel, some two feet long, to the end of the rope. With this rude machine the Green Sulphur Springs was discovered. They first dug an ordinary well down some sixteen feet, when they struck a hard rock. They drilled on through this down a distance of about forty-five feet, when, instead of striking salt water, they struck the sulphur. Having failed to strike salt, they decided to utilize the sulphur, and taking a large hollow sycamore tree, they cleaned it out, sunk it into the well onto the top of this rock, after- wards placing on top of this hollow tree the dressed stone which now forms the basin of that magnificent spring.
E. J. Gwinn resided on this place until the time of his death in 1888, dying at the age of seventy-seven years. Sketches of the lives of his two sons, Messrs. Marion and Harrison Gwinn, are given elsewhere in this book.
The Gwinns are a numerous race of people, and are now lo- cated throughout the country in adjacent counties, and others in the far West, all of whom derive their descent from these two brothers, who originally settled at Lowell. The statements here- tofore given are concerning the older brother, Samuel, and his descendants.
James Gwinn, the other brother, located in his cabin about a mile and a half up Keller's Creek from Lowell, at what is known . as the Laban Gwinn place. He left four sons, Robert, James, Jo- seph and Samuel, and died many years prior to the death of his brother. It was his son who was appointed ensign at the first court held in Monroe County. The door of his cabin was built of heavy bolt fastenings as a protection from the Indian maraud- ers. Joseph settled farther up Keller's Creek, and left a large fam-
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ily of children, among whom were Joseph, Sylvester, John, James and Augustus. Augustus Gwinn owned a fine farm at the mouth of Muddy Creek, in Greenbrier County, on which he constructed an elegant brick residence, and at which place he died a few years ago, leaving two sons, Messrs. George Gwinn, a wealthy hardware merchant at Alderson, and J. Clark Gwinn, a very successful mer- cantile traveler. Samuel Gwinn, the son of James Gwinn, Sr., married Magdalene Johnston, and settled on the James Boyd farm, at the west portal of the Big Bend Tunnel, on Greenbrier River, five miles from its mouth. He moved to the West in the year 1830.
John Gwinn, Sr., who resided in the Little Meadows, was a large land-owner and a great litigant over land titles, especially with Wm. T. Mann, "Billy Tom." He was a justice of the peace before the Civil War, and all the Gwinns were Democrats before the war, and were Union men, but those who were of the army age entered the Confederate service, and after the war some ad- hered to the old faith, while others followed into the ranks of the new party, the Republican. Among these was Squire John Gwinn. who was a liberal and conservative man. His descendants still live in that region, including his grandsons, A. L., M., Grant, La- ban and John G., son of Austin. His son Lockridge raised twenty- one children to maturity.
William Gwinn, a brother of Avis Hinton, died at Meadow Creek within the last few years, and he and his brother, Lewis Gwinn, who still resides there, owned the land on which Meadow Creek town is built. The sons of William Gwinn were Samuel H. and William, merchants, and Everett, a farmer and school teacher. His daughter married John W. Quinn, a merchant of Missouri. There are descendants and connections of the Gwinns who settled at Lowell in many parts of the United States. Some settled in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. Ephraim J. Gwinn rode from Lick Creek to lowa, where he purchased lands for his two sons, Sam- tel and James, and his daughter, Mrs. Marshall Richmond, where they afterwards settled, and their descendants still live and flour- ish.
ANDREW GWINN.
Andrew Gwinn, who now resides at Lowell, is eighty-four years old. He was the first justice of the peace ever appointed in the county, but resigned. He was born within three hundred yards of the place where he now resides, in an old log house, but now
ANDREW GWINN, The Wealthiest Farmer in the County.
HON. MARION GWINN, Senator, Legislator and Farmer.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
AST .. R, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
lives in a fine modern brick building, erected about fifteen years ago, within the recollection of the younger generation. He was a justice of the peace before the Civil War.
I have before me nine patents or grants, as originally executed by the respective Governors of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which were handed me this day by James Gwinn, the only son . and child of Andrew Gwinn, and who inherits the sturdy honesty and manhood of his sire. One of these patents is signed by Edm. (for Edmund) Randolph, and is dated on the 10th day of Decem- ber, 1787, and is headed as follows:
"Edmund Randolph, Esq., Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. To all whom these presents shall come (the 's' being in the shape of an 'f') greeting: Know ye, that by virtue of a cer- tificate in- -, of settlement given by the commissioners for adjusting the titles to unpatented lands in the District of Au- gusta, Botetourt and Greenbrier, and by consideration of the an- cient composition of 2 pounds sterling, paid by Samuel Gwinn, into the treasury of the Commonwealth, there is granted by the said Commonwealth unto the said Samuel Gwinn, assignee of James Henderson, a certain tract or parcel of land containing 400 acres by survey, bearing date the first day of June. 1784, lying and being in the county of Greenbrier, beginning, etc." This was a "tomahawk or corn" title, for which this certificate was given, on which the "patent" issued, and is the O. T. Kesler place, now owned by the Summers Dairy Company. Then follows the boun- caries.
Another similar patent bears date on the first day of July, in the year of our Lord 1819, and of the forty-third of the Common- wealth, and is signed by Peter V. Daniel, as Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is issued by virtue of a Land Office Treasury Warrant, numbered 5768, issued October 26, 1816, and grants unto Joseph Gwinn twenty-five acres in the county of Monroe, on the waters of Keller's Creek, a branch of Greenbrier River; another, which bears date on the 30th day of January, 1790, and was issued by Beverly Randolph, Esq., Gov- ernor of Virginia, and conveys unto James Gwinn sixty acres on Keller's Creek. Another of these patents is to James Gwinn, and is issued by Edmund Randolph, on the 8th day of November, 1787, and of the Commonwealth the twelfth, which is consideration of the ancient composition of 2 pounds sterling, paid by James Gwinn into the treasury. He was granted 400 acres by survey, lying in the county of Greenbrier, on Little Wolf Creek, adjoining the lands
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
of John Dickinson ; and another, issued by Peter V. Daniels, Lieu- tenant Governor, bearing date on the first day of July, 1819, to Joseph Gwinn, for eighteen acres on Keller's Creek. This creek seems to have been originally "Kelley's," but is now known as Keller's. And another patent issued by John Tyler. Governor of .Virginia, who was later President of the United States, by reason of the death of William Henry Harrison, and is dated on the 10th day of January, 1810, which was four years after the establishment of Virginia as a separate State. This conveys unto William Gra- ham a tract or parcel of land containing 200 acres, inclusive of a sur- vey of 153 acres. A part thereof was formerly granted to Rich- ard Skaggs, by a patent bearing date the 12th day of February, 1795, who conveyed the same to said Graham by deed-ten acres. Another part thereof is a part of a tract of 105 acres, formerly granted to Joseph Pearson by patent dated the 10th day of July, 1797, who, together with his wife, Charlotte, conveyed the ten acres aforesaid to said Graham, by deed bearing date the 26th day of July, 1798; thirty-seven acres, another part thereof, was waste land, and was taken under Treasury Office Warrant, No. 3169, issued on the 29th day of May. 1801. all of which was in Monroe County, on Keller's Creek, a branch of Greenbrier River adjoining the lands of Conrad Keller, Samuel Gwinn, John de Boy and David Jarred. Then proceeds to give the boundaries and makes the conveyance to said William Graham.
Another of these patents is dated on the 18th day of October, 1787, by Edmund Randolph, Governor of the Commonwealth, unto John See, assignee of Peter Vanvibber, and the land lying within the county of Greenbrier on Greenbrier River, adjoining the lands of John Vanvibber, et al. ; and another of these patents, issued by James Wood, Esq., Governor of Virginia, in January, 1798, conveys to Samuel Gwinn 220 acres on Greenbrier River, adjoining William Graham.
All of these are title papers and are as in good state of preser- vation as when issued; are written on parchment, some kind of skin ; the writing is excellent, plain and legible. One of the patents especially, I notice, came from an animal, and the holes made by taking out the legs still remain on the margin, and another hole in it made by taking the hide off the animal. It is unevenly trimmed, but all of them are finely dressed. We seldom see in these days and times better handwriting than that exhibited on these wonderful old documents.
Mr. Gwinn is now the owner of all of this land and considerably
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
more, he and his son being the proprietors of 2,000 acres, all in one body, at Lowell.
I omitted one patent, dated the 5th day of August, 1802, issued by James Monroe, Governor of the commonwealth, and who was afterwards the fourth President of the United States of America. It conveys unto William and David Graham. forty-three acres in the county of Monroe, on the south side of Greenbrier, adjoining the lands of Conrad Keller, Samuel Gwinn and John Perry, and is issued by virtue of two land office treasury warrants, one for ten acres, No. 11654, issued the 27th day of March, 1782, and thirty-three acres, No. 1859, issued on the 14th day of March, 1796. I have another deed which is signed by Samuel Gwinn, the father of Andrew Gwinn, when he was eighty-four years old, and it is well written. It is witnessed by Joseph Alderson, George Alderson, John Gwinn and O. Towles, and bears date the 26th day of October, 1811, and is a conveyance from Samuel Gwinn, Sr., to his son, Samuel Gwinn, Jr., who was a brother of Andrew Gwinn, Jr., and died only a sort time ago.
HINTON.
Avis Hinton was the second wife of Captain Jack Hinton, whose first wife was a sister of Charles and John Maddy. She was a Gwinn, a sister of Enos, William, Lewis and Moses Gwinn, of Meadow Creek. She died on the 22d day of January, 1901, aged ninety-one years. She was the owner of the tract of land on which the city of Avis was built, and she made her will in 1861, devising her property to her three sons, Joseph Hinton, Silas Hinton and William Hinton, Jr. This will is now being contested in the courts. The circuit court decided the contest in favor of the sons, and the contestant carried the case to the Supreme Court of Appeals, where it is now pending. The contest is prosecuted by her granddaughter through a former marriage with a Mr. Nickell, who lives in Kansas City. Evan Hinton, who died April 22, 1897, aged seventy-six years, and John Hinton were her stepsons by the first wife of "Jack" Hinton. Evan Hinton left three sons, Thur- mond Hinton, of Hinton ; John D. and Silas R. Hinton, of Madam's Creek, good citizens. William Hinton, Sr., now seventy-five years old, resides in Hinton. He is a son of David Hinton, of Monroe County. He has two sons, Maury D. and Lindley. He is the patentee of three valuable patents, a surveyor's compass, a monkey wrench and bottle stopper. The Hintons are English and came to
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
this county from Rockingham County, Virginia. The will above referred to has recently been sustained by the Supreme Court of Appeals.
HARRISON GWINN.
Harrison Gwinn was a native of Lick Creek, in Green Sulphur District ; was born on the 26th day of June, 1840, and is a son of Ephraim J. Gwinn and Racheal, who was Rachael Keller, of the Lowell settlement. He was born, raised and lived all his life on the farm on which the Green Sulphur Spring is now located.
In 1868, he married a Miss McNeer, a daughter of William B. and Elizabeth McNeer, who then lived on the farm now occupied by W. H. Ford. By this marriage he had one son, William E. Gwinn, who now lives at Thurmond, in Fayette County, and after the death of his first wife, Mr. Gwinn married Miss Salome Arga- bright, of Muddy Creek, in Greenbrier County.
He was a Confederate soldier, serving throughout the four years of the Civil War, being a member of "F" Company, and attached to McCausland's Brigade. After the war he located on the Green Sulphur farm, and has followed farming, cattle dealing, the mercantile and lumber business, in all of which he is engaged at the present time, his interests being large and varied. He is a man of kind and generous impulses, honest and upright, and has few, if any, enemies.
At the foundation of the Bank of Summers, in 1893, he was one of the principal promoters, and was elected unanimously its first president, which position he held, as well as that of member of the board of directors, for thirteen years, and until that insti- tution was converted into a national bank, and taking the present name of the National Bank of Summers. At the time he took charge as president of this bank, banking in this country was a venture, as there were few in this region of the country, there then being two banks at Alderson, one at Hinton, and the next nearest were at Lewisburg and Charleston. He is conservative as a bank official and director, careful, judicious and reliable, regarding at all times the interests of the depositors, as well as the shareholders, and during the administration of its affairs while Mr. Gwinn was president, not a single debt was lost nor a single depositor had a just complaint on account of the administration of its affairs. Upon the conversion of that institution from a State into a National bank, he was unanimously tendered the presidency of the National
MRS. AVIS HINTON, For Whom Avis was Named.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Bank of Summers by the board of directors, but by reason of ad- vancing years and other financial interests of a personal character demanding his attention, and the distance at which he resided from the location of the bank office, he declined, to the regret of the stockholders and board of directors; and to show the esteem in which Mr. Gwinn was held, on the 9th day of January, 1906, reso- lutions were adopted on the motion of Captain Charles S. Faul- coner, which were as follows :
"Whereas, Harrison Gwinn, Esq., the president of this bank and the former president of the Bank of Summers from its founda- tion, and for the success of the institution he has ever been faith- ful and loyal, and in whom the board recognizes a gentleman and financier of honor. ability, loyalty, and that much of the success of the said Bank of Summers is due to the loyal devotion of Mr. Gwinn, its faithful official and president; and
"Whereas, Said Gwinn declines the office of president of the National Bank of Summers of Hinton, as he conceives in the in- terest of the institution, by reason of his advancing age, other per- sonal business engagements and the long distance that he resides from its place of business :
Be it Therefore Resolved, First, That it is with regret that we part with Mr. Gwinn, as president of this bank; that it fully rec- ognizes in him a faithful citizen, an honest man, as well as an honorable financier of recognized ability and honor, well worthy of the confidence of his associates and of the public, and a true friend of this institution, and that the thanks of the bank. its share- holders and of the board of directors be extended to him.
"Second. That a committee of three, to be composed of J. H. Jordan, J. A. Parker and C. S. Faulconer, be and they are hereby appointed a committee for the purpose, who shall provide, at the expense of the bank, a proper and appropriate token to be pre- sented by the bank to Mr. Gwinn, as some expression of its appre- ciation of his faithful discharge of his duties as its president for so many years.
"Third. That a copy of these resolutions be furnished to said Gwinn, and that they be spread on the minutes of this bank."
Mr. Gwinn still retains the position as a member of the board of directors, but declines any other official position with the bank. He is next to the largest stockholder in the institution. He is also a stockholder in the New River Grocery Company and in a number of other financial enterprises in the county.
At the election held in 1892, he was elected sheriff of Summers
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
County, and held the term for four years, with I. G. Carden and G. L. Lilly as his deputies. In 1900 he was re-elected for a second term, and held the position for another four years, with J. W. Wiseman, Levi M. Neely, Sr., and I. G. Carden as deputies.
He is an enterprising citizen, a native of West Virginia, as well as of Summers County-a man of gentle character, kind, as a neighbor, esteemed by all of the region in which he resides.
James Gwinn, his son, was the first assistant cashier of the Bank of Summers, but has resigned after several years' service, in order to assist his father in the conduct of his large personal business interests, and now resides at the old homestead. Wade Hampton Gwinn, another son. is an enterprising pharmacist, re- siding in the city of Hinton, and managing the business affairs of the Hinton Drug Company, a corporation.
Mr. Gwinn now owns about 1.000 acres of real estate at the old homestead and neighborhood, the magnificent sulphur spring, known as the Green Sulphur Spring, and is also engaged in the manufacture of lumber: owns and operates a steam grist mill, deals largely in stock. and takes considerable interest in securing improved breeds of cattle into his neighborhood, and he is also engaged in a general mercantile business. Wade H. Gwinn was elected recorder of Hinton in 1907.
JOSEPH J. CHRISTIAN.
This is one of nature's noblemen. a native of the old common- wealth, born on the 10th day of February, 1839, in Scott County, Virginia : moved with his parents to the foot of Bent Mountain, in Mercer County, when he was four years old. In 1856 he removed on to New River, and resided for a number of years with the late Allen L. Harvey. He now resides in the same neighborhood, one and one-fourth miles from New River.
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