USA > West Virginia > Tucker County > History of Tucker County, West Virginia, from the earliest explorations and settlements to the present time; > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
* *
Tucker County chose its officers in May, 1856. At this election my fathert was elected Clerk of the circuit and county courts; Daniel C. Adams was elected county commissioner,# Rufus Max- well, commonwealth's attorney, Jesse Parsons, sheriff, and Solo- mon Boner, county surveyor. Thus Tucker County was fairly set on foot; and, with becoming dignity as well as becoming mod- esty, she took her stand as one among the one hundred and fifty similar divisions of the Old Dominion.
In the session of the Virginia Legislature of 1855-1856, Major A. G. Reger was our Senator and Dr. Bosworth was our Delegate. There were some fears entertained of failure in getting an act for the new county, as there were at that time two other new counties pressing their claims for for- mation .¿ Dr. Bosworth was a friend to the new county of Tucker, but he was not a wire-worker and a driving man at such work, and remained too much silent when our county's interests were at stake. It was with a knowledge of this that William Ewin had been sent by our people to look after our interests ; for it was known that he would leave nothing undone to secure success.
There was also another man in the Virginia Legislature
. This is incorrect, as to the county's name.
* Assessor.
+ Arnold Bonnifield.
§ Calhoun and Roane.
123
FORMATION OF THE COUNTY.
at that time to whom we owe much of our success. This man was Judge John Brannon, of Lewis County. He was then a member of the Legislature, and entered with enthu- siasm into our cause. He was a young man of rare ability and ambition, and his labors were not confined to the interests of his own county. Possessed of the soundest political views, his object was the building up of his State, and his ambition was ever to be foremost in the work of ad- vancement and improvement, no matter whether in his own county or in some other county. In the Legislature, he was respected by all, and was looked upon as a more scien- tific statesman than many of his colleagues, although they were older in years than he. His opinion had weight, because all knew that his opinion was not a mere collection of ideas.
So, when the subject of the formation of a new county, now Tucker, came before the Legislature, none were more prompt to look into the merits of the case, and see that there was reason and justice in what was asked. This was enough to secure his aid; and, from that hour, he worked unceasingly, in common with Mr. Ewin, for the county. Senator Ewin, in speaking of Judge Brannon, in this con- nection, says that the bill for the new county " was success- fully carried through upon his motion at every stage of its progress."*
Major Reger, on account of sickness, was forced to be absent from the Legislature while the bill for the new county was before it; but, he did all he could for us. Of him Senator Ewin speaks :
It is but just to say that Major Reger, although prostrate on a sick bed at the time the bill was sent to the Senate, was a warm
* See Tucker County Pioneer, May 28, 1880.
124
HISTORY OF TUCKER COUNTY.
friend to the bill, and expressed great regret at his forced absence. He did all he could under the circumstances, by dictating notes to a number of the most influential Senators, requesting their favor- able attention to the bill, which were kindly responded to as the sequel proved.
Upon the motion of Judge Brannon the new county was named Tucker in honor of Judge Tucker, and the county- seat St. George in honor of St. George Tucker, the Clerk, at that time, of the Virginia House of Delegates. Thus, in brief, is a history of the county of Tucker. It is now larger than it then was, having been increased in size by a strip from Barbour .*
" In this, as well as other subjects of our county's early history, I am indebted to William Ewin. Jacob Dumire, D. K. Dumire, Moses Phillips, E. Harper, S. E. Parsons and others.
CHAPTER VI. SCHOOLS AND CHIURCITES.
THAT system of training and developing the mind of the young, which calls out the hidden force of the intellect, has not been neglected in Tucker County, although the unfavor- able circumstances under which we have been placed have tended to keep us from advancing in the most rapid man- ner. A few years ago, the influence of the public schools could hardly be felt among our mountains. The few and feeble efforts that were made were done in the purest pur- pose, and were in all things sincere ; but so few and so in- effectual were they, that they passed out upon the wide, wild country, and when the work was done and the whole sum was placed together, the result for good was hardly to be seen.
"Rome was not built in a day," as has been truthfully said. Sometimes it seems that tremendous results are ac- complished almost instantly ; but, in reality, it has required time. So it is and must be with the work of education and of the Churches. They act slowly, and ofttimes it is hard to see wherein they advance at all; but still they go forward and do well what is done, and it is never to be done again. The giant oak that endures for centuries, grows so slowly tliat almost the lifetime of a man is required to notice that it has grown at all. But, it has grown, and its growth has been durable. No suddenness of expansion has left flaws that storms can find. Solid from centre to circumference, it stands a monument of strength and endurability, not to
126
HISTORY OF TUCKER COUNTY.
be overthrown by opposing force, although at times to be shaken by the winds and storms. But such opposition only makes it take deeper root, and stand more firmly than ever.
So, in a figurative sense, it has been with the religious and educational development of our county. Surely there has been no sudden or abnormal greatness taken place. Passion and excitement have not done a work; or, if they have, the work has passed away and ceased to exist, as it should do, and as it could not but do. The growth has been permanent in every particular; and, though slow enough to discourage the impatient, yet it has been sure enough to satisfy the hopeful and far-seeing.
The common schools and the churches should not be classed as institutions of the same kind; nor, can it be maintained that they stand upon the same or similar foun- dations ; yet, so intimately are they related, and so broadly does each rest upon the wideness of public enlightenment and national and social excellence that both may be con- sidered resting upon the same basis. Or, exactly the oppo- site ground in logic, but in reality the same, may be taken, and it may be held that the aforesaid wideness of public enlightenment and social excellence depend upon religion and education. Certain is it that both exist together and cannot thrive apart. At least, all efforts to establish one without the other has, in the past, been a signal failure.
Individual knowledge and even wisdom may be gained by powerful minds, groping in the darkness of infidelity; but the force thus acquired cannot be transmitted to others. It lives brilliantly enough while vitality lasts, but vitality is mortal and must perish. When it dies, the power dies too. It is not like the greatness of Washington or Luther or Da- vid or Abraham, which, upon the dissolution of the mortal
127
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
part, went out into elements beyond to live on. Nations, uneducated and grossly superstitious, cannot be what those are which are thrilled, filled and animated by that higher, nobler and purer doctrine, which we know to be good, as we know that light is beautiful. Africa and England are not the same. England is better than Africa. We know such to be so.
The mysteries of philosophy and chemistry are not more recondite than is that of the change which knowledge causes to take place in the individual man, and more so in the col- lective man or the community. It is undefinable, but is needing no definition. It acts and permeates through na- ture and characteristics until all are changed into conformity with a new order.
Public education in Tucker County has never reached as high a standard as should be. Circumstances have been against it. The wild and undeveloped state of the country has been a powerful drawback; but the time is now coming when this difficulty will be overcome. The people are thor- oughly in sympathy with the common school system, and it must enter upon a better career than its past has been.
There is, in the county, no means of gaining a better education than may be gained in the common schools. No institutions of a higher order have been established ; and, there would not, at this time, be sufficient support for any- thing of the kind. But the time cannot be far distant when our youths, who have completed the narrow bounds of our common school education, will not be forced to go beyond our borders in order to proceed further with their course of studies.
The higher departments of learning must ever be the channel through which the great shall reach their great-
128
HISTORY OF TUCKER COUNTY.
ness ; but, the common schools, bringing education for the masses, is the broad foundation upon which rests the national power of America. A great individual is a power- ful factor in a country's greatness ; but, a Nation's solidity and power is built upon those whose common worth only has been developed. The leaders of such a people as the United States are leaders only by the consent of the gov- erned ; and, for the governed to know whom to appoint to this position, and to rectify mistakes when made, is all that there is in national greatness.
Ninety-nine per cent. of those who receive high school educations have not the mental stability to profit by it or to lend profit to others; but, of those whose training has been in the common schools, not one per cent. fail to fulfill their calling. They do not aim at the stars. They seek only that which they need and can find, and thus do not seek in vain, as many do whose learning so exalts them that, in their infatuation, they leave the object and grasp at the shadow.
The higher departments of learning are exercising a pow- erful influence upon science, but the education of the masses is building the world. Aside from the Churches and their associations, there is nothing better or greater than the schools where the poor man's boy can gain that knowledge which will give him control over the hardest problems of life. The rich can command the means of acquiring this, but the poor cannot, unaided by the public.
In Tucker County the improvement from year to year has been marked; and now it is so that our schools, or at least, our county, is able to provide teachers at home for the schools. The custom of employing teachers from other counties is not without objection. Sometimes it is
129
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
necessary to do so, when the home supply falls short of the demand. But it is best to have the schools of the county conducted by those who take a deeper interest in them than merely to get the salary. A teacher who comes from an- other county is usually one that is unable to get employment at home, and is, consequently, unfit for employment abroad. Of course, there are exceptions, and many exceptions ; but still it is generally the case that a teacher worth anything, settles down to work where he is known. If a county is much overrun by outside teachers, it is a sign that it either has not home. talent sufficient to conduct its own schools, or that it pays a higher salary than its neighbors and that the teachers are gathered in to share in the advanced prosperity.
From the rude log huts, wherein the people one hundred years ago congregated to worship, we have advanced stead- ily until our churches present a favorable contrast with the rest of our improvements. They are sufficient for the ac- commodation of all who come together to worship. The religious doctrine of the mass of our people has undergone no material change in the last one hundred years. The creed of the Methodist Church is the prevailing one here. The Presbyterians, Dun kards, Baptists, Lutherans, Catho- lics and Campbellites have a few representatives. The Methodists are pretty evenly divided into three classes, North and South and Protestant Methodists. The Presby- terians are of the Southern branch of that Church. The Dunkards are identical with the German Baptists. Their members are tolerably numerous, but they have no church in the county. They preach in the houses of other denom- inations. Neither have the Baptists, Lutherans, Camp- bellites or Catholics any church. There are, at this time, only two Catholics in the county. 9
CHAPTER VII.
MOUNTAINS AND CAVES.
THE mountains of Tucker possess an interest for the people of Tucker, although nothing special to the people of the outside world. On our south-eastern border the great comb of the Appalachian range extends like a barrier. This, the Alleghany ridge, is the highest mountain in our county, and the highest point is eastward from the upper end of the Canaan Valley, about the meeting of the drain- age of New Creek and Red Creek. The rain that falls on the summits of these ridges finds its way to the ocean, either the Atlantic, through the Potomac, or the Gulf of Mexico, through the Mississippi and its tributaries.
The Backbone is a spur of the Alleghanies, and is nearly as high. It diverges from the Alleghanies at Fairfax and trends to the north and west of Canaan. This mountain is almost as rough as the main Alleghany. No farming of much importance is done on it.
The rest of the mountains are broken up, and extend in any and every direction without system. Shafer's Mountain, Green Mountain and others have some regularity in exten- sion; and on the west Laurel Hill extends unbroken. It divides the waters of Cheat River from those of the East Fork. No streams break through it, as through the Back- bone. It is not so high as the Alleghany or the Backbone Mountain.
Among the mountains of Tucker, the most interesting is Limestone, standing a solitary remnant of an earlier geolog-
131
MOUNTAINS AND CAVES.
ical age, when the flowing waters had not carried away the high plains that then extended, rugged no doubt, from the top of Limestone to the Backbone. Ages, centuries and millennials of storms and floods have. wrought their work of ruin, and the torrents of winter, together with the cleaving frosts and the dashing rains, have carried away the moun- tains, and the high plain exists only in its north and south edges-the Backbone and Limestone. All the intervening plateau has been washed away, and probably now goes to make up the plains of Mississippi and Louisiana, whither the rivers have carried the debris.
The following is condensed from the Clarksburg Register, where it was published some thirty years ago :
LIMESTONE MOUNTAIN .*
This mountain is an isolated hill, rising abruptly from the western bank of Cheat River, in Tucker County, and extends in a course nearly north and south. The length of the mountain at its base is about three miles, that of its summit less than. two. Its width at its base is something more than two miles, at its top from one- fourth to three fourths of a mile. Its greatest height is about two thousand seven hundred feet above the river .? It receives its name from the abundance of blue limestone that protrudes from the surface of the ground. The western declivity is exceedingly steep and rough, abounding in rocks as large as houses, while the eastern slope is gentle and gradual, and, for the most part, is covered with beautiful grazing farms.
The grass of the mountain is of a superior quality, and is not surpassed by any in the country. The soil around the slope, and even to the summit, is exceedingly fertile, and produces vegetation in the greatest luxurience ; and, every part that has not been cleared abounds in forests of excellent timber. The different kinds of oak, ash, chestnut, black and white walnut, sugar, white maple and hickory abound in almost every part. Nearly the whole
*It is supposed that this article was written by Professor Seiby, a school teacher who lived at Limestone many years ago.
tThis is an overestimation.
132
HISTORY OF TUCKER COUNTY.
mountain, together with a large tract on the eastern side, is owned by William Ewin, Esq., an intelligent, wealthy and enterprising gentleman living in Tucker County, who is now converting the whole into an extensive grazing farm .* A considerable number of cattle and sheep have for several years been kept on it. When the whole is put under improvement, a more beautiful prospect of rural scenery will probably nowhere exist.
The summit of the mountain extends in a direct line, except that it falls about two hundred feet not far from the northern end, forin- ing a most romantic plateau of level land. Then rising again, it continues one unbroken course to its southern extremity. At the northern end there are several high and rocky peaks that overlook the surrounding country to a vast extent. The prospect from these points, especially in the summer season, is grand and beau- tiful in the extreme. The spectator appears to be elevated in the blue firmament, far above the tops of ten thousand beautiful hills, that seem to roll in undulations as far as the eye can reach ; while the meandering river shimmers with its bright waters far down below. On this prospect the eye dwells with a rapture that must be enjoyed and wondered at before it can be understood. Then passing southward along the brow of the mountain, you soon descend to the table land, above alluded to. This delightful tract of level land on the top of the mountain would at once arrest the attention of the observer. The soil is a darkish loam, in some places mingled with gravel, well adapted to the production of grain. It is shaded with groves of chestnut, hickory and sugar maple, and covers ahnost seventy acres.
Leaving this, in a southern course, you climb a steep ascent, which leads to the principal summit of the mountain. As you pass along this part of the mountain you will observe trees deeply scathed by lightning, affording unmistakable proof that the god of thunder has rolled his fiery car over the mountain.
From this ridge, far on the left, beyond a thousand rolling hills, you behold the principal ridge of the Alleghanies looming up as if to gaze on the surrounding world. The eye may trace the course of this ridge, broken by deep chasms and rounding summits, near
* Senator Ewin still owns this land, as he did thirty years ago.
133
MOUNTAINS AND CAVES.
one hundred miles .* Toward the extremity of the vision the mountains appear as if rolling in the distant waves of the blue ether, and farther off they entirely disappear. Sometimes, of course, from this elevation may be seen the black clouds of stormns hovering over the distant mountains. The loud rumbling of thun- der may be heard, and the vivid flashes of lightning, darting from cloud to cloud, may be seen. On such an occasion, the view is awfully sublime. What a scene for contemplation ! The mind of the spectator, oppressed with a load of insupportable glory, invol- untarily falls back upon its own insignificance and shrinks into nothingness before the astounding display of Almighty Power.
Approaching the southern part of the mountain and turning some distance to the right, there is a beautiful plateau of level land, perhaps one hundred acres or more. Here Nature appears to have reveled in the gratification of her own fancy, and formed a little detached world, purely her own. The soil exhibits great fertility, and is shaded by delightful groves of sugar, thinly mingled with hickory and black walnut. Here are excellent springs of pure water, gurgling from the rocks, and rolling over beds of white gravel, or flowing beneath the shade of giant rocks which overhang the course. Here are detached minasses of rounded, gray rocks, peering above the surface, and looking, from a distance, like enormous elephants sleeping in the green shade.
About half mile from this place, in a south-western course, is a large pile of huge rocks that entirely cover the surface of the earth for a number of acres. This rocky pile exhibits all the wildness that the imagination could desire. It is bounded on the south by a stupendous pile of massive bowlders, some of which are as large as temples, and forin frightful precipices.
This pile of enormous rocks forms the south-western bend of the mountain, and to a contemplative eye is equal in interest to any other part. A scene of greater wildness, grandeur and sublimity is not easily found. Here is everything to arouse the deep feelings of the soul and drive it to profound meditation. The spectator, seated upon these enormnous rocks, while the rays of the burning sun are reflected from their flinty sides, in mind involuntarily runs
* This, again, is an overestimation. The day must be exceedingly clear, in Tucker County, if a mountain can be seen forty miles.
134
HISTORY OF TUCKER COUNTY.
into a channel of serious and melancholy contemplations, while far around, the glory of Nature's works crowd themselves upon the astonished vision. These huge, eternal rocks, covered with moss, and grown gray with the flood of years, still repose in silence.
Though the stormy winds of heaven have battled against them for thousands and thousands of years, yet they sleep on. Torna- does have rushed with ruin round, but these everlasting hills of nature, secure in their own immutable strength, regarded them not. Seasons have rolled and time has fled, but they remain un- moved, and seem to mock at the perishing glory of the world. Monarchies have shaken the earth with the footsteps of their power, and deluged it with blood, and, sunk away in their own weekness and expired. Nations have arisen to greatness and glory and then relapsed into eternal silence. But, these mighty monuments of power, as if conscious of their own immutability, regarded not the changing world around them. But, though they sleep in silence, yet they are not ineloquent. Though they speak not audibly, yet they have a language that cannot be misunder- stood. Their own eternal silence is eloquent, and their everlasting stillness proclaims the truth. They carry the observer far back through the dim vista of time to the period when they were thrown from the hands of their Creator. They speak eloquently of all the changes of succeeding ages since the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. They remind us of the mighty cities and nations of the earth, once full of the schemes of human life, now sunk to rise no more. They speak mockingly of kings and conquerors, long since forgotten in the silence of the tomb. With speechless language they seem to say: "Where now are the mighty personages that once figured upon the stage of life, and produced such wonderful commotions in the world? Whose hand grasped the sword of power, and the nations trembled before them ? Every tongue was eloquent in their praise, and every hand ministered unto them. Yet they are gone with the swift revolving years, and their places are filled by others perishable, or yacant forever. Time has spread his dark pavilion over them. Their monuments are broken down and their very tombs have decayed. Where now is all the greatness, the pride and the glory of by-gone generations ? They once lived, they flourished, and the pleasures
135
MOUNTAINS AND CAVES.
of life were sweet to them. But, all is gone! Death has seized upon them, and their greatness has vanished away, their pride has fallen, and their glory has departed forever."
So speak the dead rocks, dead but eternal in their works, and while they are eloquent in their allusions to the faded glories of the past, they also deliver us a solemn lecture on the shortness of our own earthly existence. They remind us that, in a few more days, the sun that shines so brightly upon the graves of past gen- erations, will shine with equal brightness upon ours, They ad- monish us that, in a few more years, the present generations, with all their boasted wisdom, will sink into the silence of the tomb; and, with all who have gone before them, they, too, will be for- gotton. And with the same noiseless, solemn eloquence we are re- minded of the time when the "ancient of days shall appear, whose throne is like the fiery flame and his wheels are burning fire." "When the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." "When the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burned up." They seem to say: "Proud man, thy tabernacle is built of clay! thy body is flesh ; . therefore, thou shalt not endure. Thy days on earth are a hand's breadth, and thy life but a span. Though the fondness of life be great, and the love of pleasure deeply fixed in thy soul, yet thy stay on earth is transient as the morning cloud, evanescent as the early dew that continueth not." They, likewise, point to the time when they themselves, after they have stood in the majesty of their strength for thousands of years, shall be dissolved by the burning flame, and into smoke shall they vanish away.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.