USA > West Virginia > Summers County > History of Summers County from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 68
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Scott, of Table Rock, Raleigh County ; Mrs. J. D. Bolton, Mrs. H. A. Bolton, of Forest Hill ; Charles W. Garten, now residing at Athens. Tennessee, and John R. Garten, who lives on the Garten planta- tion with his father, Charles Garten, Sr.
Mr. Garten is a man of sterling character, and has been a member of the Missionary Baptist Church and one of its chief supporters and officials for many years. He has always been a Democrat.in political faith, and followed the leaders of that great party through all of its vicissitudes. By his good business sense and management he has accumulated a comfortable fortune, which at this time he has largely distributed among his children, giving to each a comfortable home. Mr. Garten resides in the neighbor- hood of the old Pollard survey of 2,500 acres, of which he was the owner of a considerable portion. This has been a famous survey by reason of the litigation growing out of the fact of junior pat- entees claiming various parts thereof, and on which they had paid no taxes for a number of years. It embraced the present farm of J. M. and W. N. Allen, T. M. Hutchinson, O. C. Hutchinson, Mas- ton Hutchinson heirs, John W. Lowe. Clayburn, A. H. Saunders, E. L. Saunders, R. E. Saunders, Mrs. Wilbur Ramsey, W. L. Crawford, H. T. Shieler, C. W. Garten, T. R. Webb, Jordan Taylor. John R. Garten and others. This land, which at one time was not considered of sufficient value to warrant the owners in paying the taxes, has in recent years been sold for as much as $28.00 per acre, and portions of which can not be bought for even that price.
Mr. Garten started as a very poor boy ; carried oats on his back to Red Sulphur Springs and sold them to get a start, and to pre- vent the constables from levying on his horse, of which he had only one. He worked himself and paid off his early debts, and decided not to make any more, and lived up to this resolution.
The wisdom of Mr. Garten was shown in the early days by se- curing the ownership of a portion of these valuable lands at a minimum price, appreciating the fact that in the future their act- ual value would become known in the markets. The Pollard heirs, who were Southerners, after the appreciation in value of this real estate, brought suits against many of the occupants, who were victorious in the litigation. These suits were brought at Union, in Monroe County, and the people were defended by Hon. Allen T. Caperton. These suits were determined in the early fifties and sixties.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Charles Garten, though now a very aged man, retains undimmed both his physical and mental faculties. He resides with his son, John R. Garten, an enterprising farmer, at the old homestead. While his other son, C. W. Garten, Jr., in recent years emigrated, and is engaged in business at Athens, Tenn. While in this coun- try he was a prominent Democratic politician and farmer.
Clyde Garten, one of the grandsons of Charles Garten, is one of the most enterprising and best educated farmers and teachers in this section. Charles Garten can remember when there were no inhabitants at the head of Wolf Creek, which was settled about 1830, and no one on the Zion Mountain except a family of free negroes, known as the Aarons, and an old gentleman by the name of Sam Collins and his family.
In 1830 or 1835 Rev. Edw. Woodson bought the John Peters farm, one mile east of Forest Hill, and settled thereon. He was the first resident Baptist minister in that part of the country. Mr. Garten is one of the old pioneers in this region of the country, having no educational advantages, not being able to read or write, but he is a gentleman of good business accomplishments.
Martin Keadle, now ninety years old, is one of the most re- markable men in Summers County. He is hale and hearty, and has the appearance of being not more than sixty-five years of age. Both his mental and physical faculties are unimpaired.
The Cadles were among the old settlers in the Bluestone and Jumping Branch region.
BALDWIN LOYD HOGE.
B. L. Hoge, now a citizen of Los Angeles, California, was for eighteen years the clerk of the circuit court of Summers County. He first emigrated to this county from Mercer, about the time of the formation of the county, and became deputy clerk of the cir- cuit court under Allen H. Meador. After the expiration of Mr. Meador's term, he was elected for three successive terms of six years each, practically holding that position for a period of twenty- four years, and during the history-making period of the county prior to this date. His first selection was in October, 1878. After holding the office for a period of twenty-four years, he was suc- ceeded by the present incumbent, W. H. Boude, and was imme- diately following elected mayor of the city of Hinton, holding
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
that office for a term of two years. At the expiration of same, he emigrated to California with his family.
Mr. Hoge was a native of Giles County, Virginia, and served in his youth as one of the gallant fighters of Kemper's Brigade, Pickett's Division, Army of Northern Virginia. He was born in 1845, reared and educated in his native county until the spring of 1862, when he enlisted in Company "D," 7th Virginia Infantry, as a private. Throughout the remainder of the war he was identi- fied with the distinguished service of his command, participating with unfailing devotion and bravery in the great conflicts of the Southern Army. Among the engagements in which he served may be mentioned Manassas, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Seven Days' Battle Around Richmond, Second Manassas, Boonsboro, Sharps- burg. Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Plymouth, N. C .; Drewery's Bluff, and Second Cold Harbor. He was wounded in the thigh at Williamsburg, but escaped injury in the famous charge of Pick- ett's Division at Gettysburg, in which he participated. He was just twenty years old at the close of the war in April, 1865.
In 1870 he removed from Giles County to Princeton, Mercer County, and served there as deputy clerk of the circuit court. Five years later he came to Hinton, and served here in this county, as stated, eighteen years as clerk, and six years as deputy. He was always known as Bolly Hoge, and was distinguished for his cour- tesy as a public servant.
He was married in 1875 to Kate Young, a daughter of I. G. and Mahalia Young, of Summers County, and they have six chil- dren-Roy R., a lawyer in California: Effie S., who married a Mr. Wygal, who also resides in California ; Harry P., a traveling sales- man, now located in Hinton, W. Va .; Lacy W., Frank P. and Fred L. Mr. Hoge was a brother-in-law of Messrs. I. G. Young and Harvey Young, of New River, and of the late I. G. Young, the merchant, who died in Hinton, some eighteen months prior to this writing. Mr. Hoge was clerk of the circuit court during the in- cumbency of Judge McWhorter's first term, Judge Holt's two terms and a part of Judge Campbell's term, as judges of the circuit court.
After his marriage to Miss Young he erected a residence on the river bank in the city of Upper Hinton, which was washed away in the great flood of 1878, with all of his personal belongings, after which he purchased a lot and erected a residence near the court house in Hinton, which property is now owned by T. H. Lilly, the lumber merchant.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
THE BARTON FAMILY.
James Barton was the ancestor of the present Barton family of Summers County. He moved to what is now Forest Hill Dis- trict from Bedford County, Virginia, seventy years ago. Sixty years ago he bought land on what is now known as Barton's Ridge, upon which he built a log residence. This house is yet standing, and one of the old landmarks of that neighborhood of the early pioneer settlements. The land was very heavily timbered in that region, but he lived to see the most of it improved, cleared and cultivated. He lived to the good old age of ninety-three years. His wife lived to the age of eighty-two years. Her maiden name was Susan Martin, a daughter of John Martin, another one of the early settlers of this county.
James Barton, the ancestor, raised six children, four boys and two girls, whose names were as follows: Willis, Elizabeth, An- drew, Joel, James and Eliza. Willis Barton is the oldest child, and was born June 23, 1820, and lived to be eighty-three years old. The only child of James Barton, the ancestor, now living, is Mrs. Eliza Noble. Willis Barton married Rachel Neely, daughter of John Neely. Her mother was the daughter of James Swinney, one among the oldest settlers of the New River country. He moved to the place where James Barton now resides, known as the "Wilson Swinney" place, about the year 1812, where he lived until his death, about 1895. Seventy-five acres of the land where James Barton now lives was granted to him by patent from the Governor of Virginia on the first day of March, 1810; John Tyler, afterwards President of the United States, being then Governor of that Commonwealth. Eighty acres of that farm he purchased from Frances Farley, who received his grant to the same on the 15th day of October, 1786, which grant was signed by the great orator, Patrick Henry, then Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
This region was also early settled by the Farleys and Wileys, and before the Indians had entirely abandoned the New River country. It was Bob Wiley who killed an Indian, and cut a large piece of skin from his back, from which he made a razor strop.
James Swinney, an uncle of James Barton, was one of the sol- diers in the Indian wars, and was with the armies against the In- dians in the Kanawha Valley, and was probably with General Lewis at the Indian battle of Point Pleasant.
Mr. James F. Barton, who now owns the "Swinney farm," on which he resides, is sixty-three years old, and it is due to his cour-
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
tesy that I am indebted for information concerning the Barton family.
James F. Barton, in reply to a letter from the writer about this time, says: "There are great changes in the country around about here. Some are claiming that there has been a great advance in the last forty years, and probably there has been in some things ; but give me back the good old days of my boyhood, when nearly everybody was honest, and their word as good as their bond and security. There was much more friendship and sociability among the people then than now. All the fastenings the people had to their doors then were either a thumb latch or string to tie doors on the outside when they left home, and they were safer then than now, with all the locks that can be put on them. Forty years ago New River was a beautiful, clear stream of pure water, with an abundant supply of the best species of fish; now it is so pol- luted with mud and other filth that the waters are hardly fit to scald a hog with, besides the fish are nearly all extinct. When I can first remember, most of the upland in this section was heavily timbered; but now it is nearly all cleared that is worth clearing, and a good deal of it worn out. The people worked hard then, but they were much healthier and stronger than now, and most of the women could do as much work on the farm as the men can do now. Since I have been writing this, and thinking over the past, it has brought many sad recollections to my mind, but not so sad as when I look forward into the future and think what a few years will bring on our posterity. Only a few years ago people would go long distances to attend church, but now the majority of people.will pass by a church meeting to attend a pic- nic. Most of my ancestors were members of the New River Primitive Baptist Church. When I was a boy they had no church houses in this neighborhood, but would hold their meetings at the residences of the neighbors, sometimes with one, then with an- other, and all seemed to enjoy their meetings, and without fear of pistols being carried to preaching. The young people had much more manners then than now, with all their boasted education. There is another great evil that is now sapping the life of young men that we didn't have fifty years ago, and that is the cigarette habit."
I quote the above in full from a letter received from Mr. Bar- ton, bearing date December 20, 1905. He is one of the most intel- ligent farmers of the county, and a man of original good sense, his educational opportunities having been limited to six or seven months.
692
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA. .
REV. HENRY DILLON.
Henry Dillon is a native of West Virginia, born June 23, 1854, at Red Sulphur Springs, in Monroe County, and is a son of Hen- derson Dillon, residing at and near the mouth of Indian Creek all his life. He lived a short time at Forest Hill, and now resides at Greenville, in Monroe County, with his daughter, Mrs. Minnie Houchins, the widow of the late Henry Houchins, a Summers County boy, who was reared at Indian Mills, and recently died near Greenville.
Mr. Dillon has spent most of his life on a farm, being a black- smith by trade, and also engaged in the mercantile business. In 1904 he sold his excellent farm, a part of the old Fowler planta- tion, at the mouth of Indian Creek, to Ward Simms, and removed to Missouri on the 10th day of February, 1904; from thence he went to Texas, remaining in that State, however, only five months, and from thence returning to his native county of Summers. By trade Mr. Dillon was a blacksmith and wagon-maker, and one of the best in this country. His reputation for honor and fair dealing is as good as that of any man now living.
He devotes a large portion of his later years to the work of the Baptist ministry, having been ordained as a minister of that church five years ago. He was the head of a family of three brothers-French, who recently died in Lexington, Ky .; James, who is also a minister in the Missionary Baptist Church, and Lewis. Mr. Dillon was married in 1871 to S. E. Witt, and by this union has seven children.
He was elected to the position of justice of the peace, but re- signed before the expiration of his term, and was succeeded by James M. Keatley, of Indian Mills. While Mr. Dillon was born of poor parents, and had his own mark to make in the world, he has succeeded by his own thrift, energy, honest dealing and good judgment in accumulating a comfortable fortune, and making a name as one of the purest and noblest citizens of this or any other country. It may be said of Henry Dillon that he is one of nature's noble men, which statement the writer many years ago heard ap- plied to him by his friend, the late Elbert Fowler, of whom Mr. Dillon was a great friend and admirer.
The husband of Mr. Dillon's daughter, Henry Houchins, hav- ing died recently, leaving her with the care of a family of two small children, Mr. Dillon has taken up his home with her, in or-
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
der to aid her in the management of her farm and affairs. While Mr. Dillon found the West-Missouri and Texas-a great country, he was glad to get back to the ancient hills of Summers, and onto his native heath, where he is now working at his old and manly trade (of which he is not only not ashamed, but of which he is proud) of blacksmith and farming, and also ministering to the spiritual wants of many people, being an eloquent and sincere Baptist. While in no sense a politician, he supports and votes the Democratic ticket, and has been frequently urged by his neigh- bors to become a candidate for House of Delegates and other of- fices. He was on the ticket as deputy for O. T. Kesler in the race of the latter for the Democratic nomination in 1896.
THE KEADLES.
The first of the name to settle in America were two brothers, Abram (or Abraham) and John Keadle, the former settling in Ma- ryland and the latter in South Carolina. From Abraham descended the Keadles of Monroe County, to which family the subject of this sketch belongs. His grandfather, James G. Keadle, was born and reared in Virginia ("Old Dominion"), where he married Lucinda Eades, sister to the late George Eades, of Summers County, and settled near the famous Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs. He afterwards moved to Monroe County, where they reared a family of thirteen children, five boys and eight girls: Abram, Lamaster, Andrew Jackson. James, Jr., and Henry ; Martha Ann, Susan, Eliza, Malinda, Sarah, Jenetta, Bell ( Isabell) and Margaret, all of whom married and were blessed with children (forty-two in all), save two, who bore no offspring.
Abram, J. E. Keadles' father, now living near Red Sulphur Springs, Monroe County, was born in 1826 (being now eighty-one years old, hale and hearty) : reared near Union, Monroe County, and married Virginia Whaites, who became the mother of two sons, William Franklin and James Edward, the latter being about two years old when his mother died. His father then married Amelia Tuggle, of Monroe County, who bore five children : Mary, Amanda Arabell, Malinda Jane, Larken Dexter and Charles An- derson (now county superintendent of Monroe County, 1907).
The father of J. E. Keadle served as lieutenant of a militia company from Southwestern Monroe (now Summers) County, and afterwards served at Richmond in the winter and spring of 1865. J. E. Keadle, born September 13, 1852, in Greenbrier County,
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
near Organ Cave, grew to manhood in Monroe County, and en- gaged in the profession of teaching. He was elected county su- perintendent of free schools in Monroe County in the year 1889, and is now the county superintendent of Summers County, having been elected in 1906 for a' term of four years. His marriage was solemnized near Crump's Bottoms, Summers County, West Vir- ginia, October 8, 1873, when Martha Ellen, daughter of James (Jr.) and Sarah (Mann) Barton, became his wife. Her birth was at Crump's Bottom, April 30, 1859, the date, and her parents were also natives of Summers County. Her mother died in the spring of 1865. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Keadle (in Monroe County), of whom only three are living-James Welling- ton (teacher), born February 23, 1879; Rodolphus Elmer (now in United States Army), born May 13, 1882, and Everett Emerson (citizen of Hinton, railway ticket agent and employe), born Sep- tember 9, 1886, and was about a year old when his mother died near Union, Monroe County.
In 1888, September 18th, Mr. Keadle married Martha Ellen Bar- ton, cousin of the first wife and daughter of James F. and Delilah (Garten) Barton, of Summers County. She was born September 18, 1870. Their union is blessed with eight children, four boys and four girls: William May (wife of Everett Young, of Hinton), born November 2, 1889; Byron Waldo, born November 26, 1891; Virginia Elizabeth, born August 17, 1895; Edward Russell, born February 22, 1897; Roscoe Dexter, born June 3, 1900; Olivia Lena, born August 24, 1902; Martha Fay, born April 23, 1905; and Dorsie, born July 1, 1907.
Mr. Keadle is now the oldest county superintendent of free schools in point of service in the State. He was educated at the Concord Normal School, and was the only student at that school from Monroe County in 1888. He is a gentleman of honorable instincts, character and sensibilities. He was nominated by the Democratic primaries in 1904 over Professor W. E. Ball, and elected over the Republican nominee, W. E. Grimmett.
Andrew J. Keadle was born in Monroe County, March 7, 1829, and married Miss Caroline Coulter, June 5, 1866. They have two sons, Robert Edward Lee and Arthur Kent, the former born on the 12th of September, 1859. and the latter November 5, 1871. Miss Coulter was the daughter of Robert and Mary (Easkins) Coulter. James G. Keadle was the father of Andrew J., and his mother was Lucinda Eades. Through the years of the Civil War Andrew J. Keadle was a valiant soldier of King's Battalion, Confederate Army,
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
and was at the battles of . Fisher's Hill, Kernstown, Lynchburg, Winchester, Cedar Creek, Frederick City, and many others. He was captured at Cedar Creek, October 10, 1864, and confined in the Federal Prison at Fort Lookout five months. In all he fought in twenty-eight hard-fought battles in that war, and never shirked a duty, as testified to by his comrades, among whom were A. A. Carden, but passed through the war unwounded. He was a car- penter by trade and lived at Union, in the county of Monroe. He died in April, 1906.
Eliza Cadle married William Cary, the father of Captain J. R. Cary, superintendent of the C. & O. Railway Company, at Hinton, West Virginia, and Sarah Cadle married R. C. Vass, the father of Mrs. Ross Holstein, bookkeeper for the Hinton Water, Light & Supply Co., at Hinton, West Virginia.
Robt. E. Lee Keadle is a young attorney of Monroe County, and a candidate for prosecuting attorney.
NOTE .- James G. Keadle, grandfather of J. E. Keadle, lived to be about seventy-five years old, and his wife lived to be ninety- one, and knit a nice counterpane with her hands for Grover Cleve- land during his first Presidential term, she being of strong Demo- cratic faith, as well as the whole generation of Keadles.
NEELY.
One of the ancient families settling within the territory of this county was John Neely, who married Delilah Swinney, first set- tling in Monroe County. He was born in Kentucky. They raised ten children, who reared families. He wife died in 1851. They settled on Pipestem Creek, near the headwaters thereof in 1822, where he resided until his death, in 1865, being eighty-five years of age. William was his eldest child. born in 1809. He married Elizabeth Lilly in 1827, and raised two sons, Levi and William. The latter moved to Indiana, and died in 1832. A daughter, Rachel, married Willis Barton. Susan married John Justice, who died in Kentucky in 1862 in the Southern Army. Rachel died in 1904 at the age of ninety years. Nelson, the fifth child, was born in 1815, married Clara Pine. and they raised nine children. She died at the age of sixty-three ; he died at the age of seventy-five. Squire Neely, the sixth child, married Mary Taylor. He died at the age of eighty-two years. Nancy, the seventh child, married James Cook, and died at the age of seventy. Hannah. the eighth child, married Louis Gore, who moved to Missouri, and there
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
became a wealthy man. Harrison, the ninth, married Seela Har- vey, and they raised four children. Delilah, the tenth child, mar- ried Ballard Pine. They reared eight children and moved to Missouri, where they still reside. John Neely married Mary Clark and settled in Raleigh County and raised six children. Both died some years ago. These were the ten children of John Neely. Levi M. Neely, the oldest of the Neely generation now living in this country, was born in 1829, and married Rebecca Lilly, a sister of Robt. Lilly (Miller Bob). To them were born ten children, nine of whom are now living. Mary, the oldest, married John H. Lilly, of the mouth of Little Bluestone; Robert, the oldest son, resides on Pipestem. He held the office of justice of the peace for four years ; was constable for four years, deputy sheriff for eight years and jailor for one term. He is a popular man and one of the lead- ing citizens. The next son, Erastus, resides on Jumping Branch. He was for several years a policeman in Hinton and jailor of the county one term. He is engaged in merchandizing in the city of Avis and in farming in Jumping Branch. Conrad B. Neely, the next son, commonly known as "Coon," was a young man of ex- cellent parts, who was accidentally killed near the old Bluestone Mill in 1907. while enroute to visit his parents. His home was in Hinton. He married a daughter of the old surveyor, Michael Smith. He left Hinton in the fall of 1907 in a buggy for his father's house. Darkness overtook him before arriving, and, by some unknown accident, his horse and buggy were thrown over a steep embankment, and when his body was found, life was extinct. It was supposed that, in crossing a turn in the road in the dark, the horse went over, taking the buggy along with it. There being nothing to break the fall, the body of Mr. Neely rolled down the embankment to the river's edge, and life was evidently extinct by the time he reached the bottom, as he went over a high cliff in the descent. This tragedy occurred on Bluestone River a short distance from the old Bluestone Mill.
Clara, another daughter, married John Richmond, a prosperous farmer and carpenter, who resides on Beech Run. Levi M. Neely, Jr., the next son, married a Hogan, and resides on his farm in Jumping Branch. He was elected assessor in 1904, and now oc- cupies that position, having faithfully performed the duties of that office, with George W. Hedrick, of Talcott, as his assistant. An- other son, Fount, resides in Jumping Branch, and is a farmer. David, another son, is also a prosperous farmer of the same dis-
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