USA > West Virginia > Webster County > Moccasin tracks and other imprints > Part 6
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An Act for forming a New County out of parts of Nicholas, Braxton and Randolph.
Passed January 10, 1860.
1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that so much of the counties of Nicholas, Braxton and Ran-
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dolph as is contained within the following boundary line, to-wit :
Beginning at the main forks of the Little Kanawha river, above Haymond's mills; thence north with the right hand fork of said river, being the original line of Lewis and Braxton counties, and now the line be- tween Upshur and Braxton counties, at the head of said right hand fork of Kanawha; thence a straight line to the eastern corner of the lands of Abraham Buckhannon; thence a straight line to the Whittaker rock on Elk river; thence a straight line, by the way of the Three forks of Gauley river, to the Pocahontas line, and with said line to a point opposite the mouth of Stroud's creek, thence a straight line by the mouth of Stroud's creek, to the mouth of Skiles' creek on Big Birch river ; thence a straight line to the half way point on Holly river; thence a straight line to the beginning-be and the same is hereby established as a new county: which shall be known by the name of Webster.
2. The court house or seat of justice of said county of Webster shall be located on the farm of Addison McLaughlin at the Fork Lick on Elk river, between the said river and the Back fork of same; which said seat of justice shall be known by the name of Addison.
3. The following persons, to-wit, Samuel Given, Thomas Cogar, William Given, and Thomas Reynolds shall be and are hereby appointed commissioners, a majority of whom may act, for the purpose of select- ing a site for a court house, jail and other public buildings for said county of Webster, who are hereby required to meet at Fort Lick on the first day of March,
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eighteen hundred and sixty, or within thirty days from and after that day, and within ten days after their meeting ascertain and determine at what point or place on the farm aforesaid in the said county it is most suitable and proper to erect a court house and such other buildings and fixtures as the convenience of the county requires, under the existing laws, for holding courts and conducting business incident thereto, and lay off, in the most convenient form, a lot or lots of land for that purpose, not exceeding in quantity .two acres. and shall ascertain the value thereof; where- upon. the said commissioners, or a majority of them acting in this behalf, shall make their report in writ- ing to the county court of Webster county, when organ- ized, the manner in which they have executed their duties required of them by this act, and their proceed- ings in relation thereto, designating the point or place agreed upon, the value of the lot or lots of land, and the name or names of the owners thereof ; and the place so ascertained and determined upon by said commis- sioners, or a majority of them, shall be deemed and taken as the permanent place for holding the court of Webster, now required by law to be holden for the several counties of this commonwealth, and the court of the county of Webster shall thereupon provide for the payment of the valuation of the lot or lots of land so ascertained, in the manner now required by law, where lands shall not be already provided and apportioned for that purpose.
The commissioners aforesaid shall also lay off the said county of Webster into three magisterial districts, select points at which elections shall be holden in each
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district, and appoint a conductor and five commis- sioners (any three of whom may act) to superintend the elections to be holden for the said county of Web- ster, on the fourth Thursday of May next.
5. It shall be the duty of all persons residing within the limits of said county of Webster, who are now en- titled to vote for members of the general assembly, to attend at the respective election precincts so selected by the said commissioners, on the fourth Thursday in May, eighteen hundred and sixty, and elect a sheriff, a clerk of the county court, a clerk of the circuit court, a commissioner of the revenue, surveyor and Common- wealth's attorney for the county of Webster; and the voters residing in each magisterial district shall elect for that district four justices of the peace, one con- stable, and one overseer of the poor. The election of justices of the peace shall be certified to the governor of the commonwealth by the several commissioners and conductors superintending and conducting said election, who, after they shall be commissioned and qualified according to law, shall meet at the house of Thomas Cogar on the fourth Monday in the next month after that in which they shall be so commissioned, and a majority of them being present, shall fix upon a place in said county of Webster for holding the courts of said county until the necessary buildings shall be con- structed on the site designated by the commissioners.
. 6. The said justices shall, at the first term of the county court of said county, choose one of their own body, who shall be presiding justice of the county court, and whose duty it shall be to attend each term of said court.
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1. The commissioners and conductors of the elec- tions aforesaid shall certify to the said county court of Webster, at its first term, or at some subsequent term, as soon as practicable, the election of the said clerks of the county and circuit courts. commonwealth's attorney, surveyor, and commissioner of the revenue, who shall, after giving bonds and security, and being qualified according to law, enter upon the discharge of the duties of their offices, respectively.
8. The voters of the said county shall also, on the fourth Thursday in May next. vote for a judge of the judicial circuit to which the county of Webster belongs : and the commissioners and conductors of the elections aforesaid shall superintend and conduct the election for judge and deliver to the officers conducting the election at or nearest the county seat of said county, within three days after said election. a certified state- ment of the result of said election for judge of said county. as required by the thirty-third section of an act providing for the general elections, etc., passed March the thirteenth. eighteen hundred and fifty- eight. And the said conductors shall meet with the officers whose duty it is to ascertain and declare who is elected judge of said judicial circuit. the time and place required by law. and perform such other duties as the law prescribes for an officer conducting said election at the court house of the county.
9. The commissioners hereinbefore appointed to lay off the county of Webster into magisterial districts. shall be allowed each a compensation of two dollars per day for their services aforesaid.
10. The term of office of the .commissioner of thé
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revenue of the said county of Webster shall commence on the first day of February, eighteen hundred and sixty-one: and the commissioners of the revenue of the counties of Nicholas. Braxton and Randolph are hereby required to discharge the duties of their re- spective offices in that part of the limits of the said new county, that was taken from the said counties of Nicholas. Braxton and Randolph, respectively, for the present year : and they are hereby to keep the list taken by them in the said county of Webster, separate and distinct from the list of said counties of Nicholas. Braxton and Randolph, and return of the same in the manner now prescribed by law, in the same manner as if appointed commissioner of the revenue for the said county of Webster.
11. The treasurers of the school commissioners in the counties of Nicholas. Braxton and Randolph, re- spectively, shall be and are hereby required to pay to the treasurer of the school commissioners of the new county of Webster. upon the order of the commissioners last mentioned. out of the fixed and surplus quotas of the school funds of the said counties of Nicholas, Braxton and Randolph for the present year, such sum as shall seem to them to be in due proportion to the popula- tion of the said new county of Webster, taken from the said counties of Nicholas, Braxton and Randolph, respectively, including any balance now remaining un- expended, as also of the proportion as aforesaid accru- ing from said quotas, to which Nicholas, Braxton and Randolph counties are or may be entitled to for any former year. And it shall be the duty of the second auditor to reapportion the fixed and surplus school
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quotas of the counties of Nicholas, Braxton and Ran- dolph for the next fiscal year and subsequent years, between the said counties of Nicholas, Braxton, Ran- dolph and the new county of Webster, agreeable to their respective numbers of white tithables which may be returned therein by the commissioners of the revenue for the present year eighteen hundred and sixty.
12. It shall be lawful for the sheriffs of the counties of Nicholas, Braxton and Randolph to collect and make distress for any public dues or officers' fees which may remain unpaid by the inhabitants of the said new county of Webster, in such parts of the said new county as were taken from said counties of Nicholas, Braxton and Randolph, respectively, at the time when this act shall commence and be in force, and shall be account- able for the same in like manner as if this act had never been passed.
13. The courts of the counties of Nicholas, Braxton and Randolph, respectively, shall retain jurisdiction of all actions and suits pending before them on the first day of July next, and shall try and determine the same, and award execution thereon, except cases wherein both parties reside in the new county; which, together with the papers, shall after that day be removed to the court of the county of Webster, and there be tried and de- termined.
14. The said county of Webster shall be in and at- tached to the fifteenth judicial circuit. and the circuit court thereof shall be holden on the twenty-third day of May and the twenty-third day of October of every year, and be with the same brigade district with the county of Nicholas.
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is. The said county of Webster shall belong to the same senatorial districts as that part taken from Nich- olas and Braxton voting with the senatorial district to which Nicholas and Braxton belong-and that part taken from Randolph voting with the senatorial dis- trict to which the county of Randolph belongs, and shall belong to the eleventh congressional district, and the same electoral district for the purpose of choosing a president and vice-president of the United States, as the county of Nicholas; and the voters of said new county shall vote as they have heretofore voted for members of the house of delegates.
16. The county courts of said new county shall be holden on the fourth Tuesday in each month, and the quarterly sessions of said county shall be holden in the months of March, June, August, and November of each year.
17. The surveyor hereafter elected for Webster county, in the mode prescribed by law, together with the surveyors of the counties of Nicholas, Braxton and Randolph, shall run and mark the boundaries of said county of Webster, agreeably and in conformity to the provisions of the seventh section of the forty-seventh chapter of the Code of Virginia.
18. The first county court for said county of Web- ster shall be holden on the fourth Tuesday in July next.
19. This act shall be in force from its passage.
Bernard Mollohan, who was elected surveyor of Webster county on the twenty-fourth day of May, 1860, proceeded to survey the county lines in conformity with the act passed January 10, 1860, providing for the
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new county of Webster. He was assisted in the work by Milton Hart, surveyor of Randolph county, Chauncey Hooker, deputy surveyor of Nicholas county, and William Hutchinson. surveyor of Braxton county. Work was begun on October 2, 1860, and completed on November 27 of the same year.
Because of certain peculiar conditions existing in the line dividing Greenbrier and Nicholas counties, the line of the new county could not be made to conform with the act of 1860 without annexing a part of Green- brier county, which the act forming Webster county did not authorize. This defect was cured by an act of the West Virginia legislature in 1882 by annexing about thirty square miles of territory under the juris- diction of Greenbrier and Nicholas counties to Webster county. . This line. surveyed by Bernard Mollohan, as- sisted by James Woodzell and Isaac W. Cool, began at the mouth of Stroud's creek and extending to near the head of Bannock Shoal run, on the divide between the Gauley and the Williams rivers. At the time of the passage of this act Webster county was represented in the legislature by Charles McDodrill, who was instru- mental in securing its enactment.
The commissioners, Samuel Given, Thomas Cogar, William Arthur. Thomas Reynolds and William Given, who were named in the act providing for the formation of Webster county to select a site for a court house, jail and other public buildings, and to divide the county into three magisterial districts, proceeded to the dis- charge of the duties imposed upon them. Addison MeLaughlin had transferred his farm at the Fork Lick to his son. Duncan. in the meantime. The commis-
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sioners selected and staked a lot two hundred and ten feet square on the hill above the Salt Sulphur spring as a site for the court house and jail. This lot is now the public square of Webster county. Henry C. Moore surveyed the lot after its selection by the commission- ers. The town of Addison was also surveyed and divided into lots by him at about the same time.
The commissioners divided the county into Fork Lick, Glade and Holly magisterial districts at their meeting in the dwelling house of Thomas Cogar in 1860. Hacker Valley did not become a district until 1877, at which time Holly district was divided by the county court.
The following county officers were elected on the fourth Thursday in May. 1860: Sheriff. Walter Cool, of Holly district : clerk of the County Court, and also clerk of the Circuit Court, Albert J. Baughman, of Glade district: commissioner of revenue, Thomas Cogar, of Fork Lick district ; surveyor of lands, Bernard Mollohan, of Fork Lick district, and attorney for the Commonwealth, David Lilly, of Randolph county. The following justices of the peace were also elected: Fork Lick district, William G. Gregory, Adam G. Hamrick. Ezra B. Clifton and David Baughman ; Glade district, Edward Morton, Arthur Hickman, Thomas M. Reynolds and Enos Weese ; Holly district, William H. Mollohan. A. G. J. Burns, Christopher C. Cogar and Ezra Clifton. Thomas M. Reynolds was elected presiding justice of the county court by the other justices at their first meeting.
Not having suitable buildings on the newly selected lot in which to hold court and for the transaction of
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other public business, the justices held their first term of court at Thomas Cogar's, near where James Wood- zell now resides. A dwelling house in the process of erection owned by Elijah Skidmore was selected by the justices in which to hold court. This building stood near the residence of the late C. P. Dorr. In 1866, after Webster county owed allegiance to the State of West Virginia instead of the Commonwealth of Vir- ginia, the board of supervisors entered into a contract with Bernard Mollohan for the sum of seventeen hun- dred dollars, providing for the erection of a frame building on the public square to serve as a court house. That building continued to be used for such purposes until it was destroyed by fire on the seventeenth day of June, 1888. The board of supervisors employed Patrick Carr to build a jail.
In 1863 the legislature of the state of West Virginia passed an act providing for the divisions of the several counties into townships and named three men in each county to perform the work. William G. Hamrick. Isaac H. Griffin and William G. Gregory were ap-' pointed for Webster county. The two first named were soldiers in the Federal army at that time and no meet- ing of the committee was ever held.
The number and boundary of the townships remained the same as that of the magisterial districts, under the Virginia laws, formed by the four commissioners in 1860.
The constitution of 1872 again changed the name of the local unit to magisterial district.
The Civil War began soon after the new county was surveyed and it was not fully organized until after its
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close. At the time of its formation there was not a very numerous population, but there were a brave and hardy set of men who had known and had braved hardships and privations. They were, for the most part. the first and the second generations born in the territory settled by the old pioneers. The moccasin and the hunting shirt had been discarded by many. and they did not rely wholly upon the loom and the spinning wheel for their clothing. It was at this time that Webster county received the sobriquet of "Inde- pendent State", an appellation often used by political speakers of today. It was said that Webster county had a full complement of state officers, with George M. Sawyers at the head with the title of governor. Mr. Sawyers was addressed as "Governor" until his death, which occurred on the Williams river about fifteen years ago. This is a very pretty story, but there is not a scintilla of evidence upon which to base the asser- tion. It is true that all governmental functions were suspended during the four years of the Civil War. Neither taxes were collected nor courts held.
While it is true that Webster county was an integral part of both the Reorganized Government of Virginia, with its capital at Wheeling, and the Confederate State Government at Richmond, the functions of government of neither invaded her precincts. A law enacted by the West Virginia legislature in 1863 provided for the transfer of all suits of law and equity from Webster to Lewis county.
But one election was held in Webster county during the Civil War period, and but one officer was elected. Moreover, polls were opened at but one precinct. Wil-
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liam Gregory, at that time, lived at the mouth of Leatherwood, and the election was held in his residence in 1863.
At this election Benoni Griffin was elected a member of the house of delegates for the fourth delegate dis- trict, composed of the counties of Webster and Poca- hontas. But few citizens, besides a number of Federal soldiers, cast their votes. Many of the voters did not know that an election was being held. The following persons voted : William G. Hamrick, William Mc- Avoy, Addison Fisher, James Green, James M. Cogar. Addison Dodrill, Benjamin Hamrick, William G. Greg- ory and James Woodzell.
The second general election held in the county of Webster occurred on the fourth Thursday of October, 1865.
The following county officers were elected : Sheriff, William G. Gregory : Prosecuting Attorney, David Lilly; Surveyor of Lands, Bernard Mollohan : Recorder, Joseph Dodrill; Assessor, Arthur Hamrick; Clerk of Circuit Court, Isaac Mynes. Lilly and Mynes could not prove their loyalty to the Union from 1861 to 1865, there- fore they were ineligible. Robert Irwine, Judge of the Circuit Court, appointed Robert G. Putman to fill the place of Lilly and Adam Gregory that of Mynes.
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The following were elected as Supervisor for each of the three townships: Fork Lick. James Hamrick ; Glade, Thomas Reynolds : Holly, John E. Hall. Rey- nolds was elected president of the Board of Super- visors at their first meeting.
The human mind can scarcely depict the chaotic condition existing in Webster county at the close of the
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Civil War. The firing on Fort Sumter in 1861 stirred the hearts of the people among the mountains of Web- ster no less than in more populous communities, either North or South. An overwhelming majority of the people was in sympathy with the South and scores of the best citizens hastened away to join the armies of the Southern Confederacy. Many deeds of heroism were performed by these "border boys". as they were called by their comrades in arms from the Southern states. Many gladly gave their lives for the cause they so dearly loved. A very few, not more than twenty, volunteered under the Stars and Stripes. and the boys who wore the Blue distinguished themselves no less than their neighbors who wore the Gray. No battles were fought in the county, but many shooting affrays occurred between irregular bands of partisans, which were not always bloodless. Many refugee outlaws from other counties found a safe retreat in the mountains and ter- rorized the citizens with deeds of lawlessness. Many innocent men were taken from their homes and shot for no other reason than giving aid to the cause which they believed to be just and right. Houses were plun- dered and burned and women and children left to shiver in the cold. Fences and farm buildings were destroyed. The farms became overgrown with briers and bushes. Refugees, soldiers, and camp followers from the counties adjacent to the Ohio river went to the land of Dixie by way of the Gauley and Straight creek. This old war trail is yet visible where it was cut to a depth of two or three feet by the many horses that were taken across the mountain. General William Jackson ("Mudwall") transported a small cannon (a
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two pounder) on horseback by this route when he ad- vanced against Bulltown, in Braxton county.
But the spring of 1865 brought a sigh of relief to the people of Webster county, as well as to other war- oppressed communities. Now. that the dove of peace had spread her wings over a devastated and wasted land, men began the work of regeneration and recon- struction.
XI. EDUCATION.
The material for writing the early history of edu- cation in the territory now embraced within the limits of Webster county is very meager. The master who ruled with the ferule and the rod left no journal of his successes or his failures. This lack of written infor- mation must be supplied from the memory of the oldest inhabitants. But, most unfortunately, the col- lection of this data has been so long delayed that but few persons are now living who know anything about the first schools organized. It is not known that any schools were taught in this county before 1835. The first school house, of which I have any knowledge, was erected by two brothers, William and Benjamin Ham- rick, and James Dodrill, on the Elk nearly opposite the mouth of Wolf Pen run, six miles above Webster Springs. These three men employed William Griffin to teach three months, for which he was to receive thirty dollars and board. Spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic were the branches taught. The Bible was the text used in the reading classes. The older pupils had been taught spelling and reading by their parents. In arithmetic, if the single rule of three (now called simple proportion), was understood, it was thought that the person possessing the knowledge was competent to teach school. Frank Duffy taught the second school in the Hamrick school house. He was born and educated in Ireland. He was considered a most excellent teacher. His presence in a community opened up a new world to the people who listened to his wonderful stories about the sea and the European
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countries. He was well versed in ancient history, and entertained his auditors with Grecian and Roman mythological legends and historical stories.
The school building was of the most primitive kind. The walls, which were about eight feet high, were made of round logs and the building was covered with clap- boards held in place with heavy poles. Although tim- ber was plentiful, it was thought unnecessary to build it larger than twelve by fourteen feet, and no floor other than nature had provided was put in it. The spaces between the logs were chinked with pieces of split timber and daubed with mud. The door, a heavy affair. was constructed out of boards and hung on wooden hinges. The seats were made by splitting a small log and putting legs in auger holes on the rounded sides. The chimney was a huge affair, built of split logs, and the inside walled up with stones and clay. A log cut out and the space covered with greased paper served for a window. A wide slab resting on wooden pins inserted in the wall in a sloping direction answered the purpose of a writing desk. Goose quill pens were used. made by the teacher.
In this building fourteen pupils were taught the first term. This was the only schooling some of them ever received. but they made such good use of that op- portunity that they made very good readers. and they could spell especially well. In the early days the discipline was most rigid, and the offender was flogged most unmercifully for the least infraction of the writ- ten rules. read by the teacher on the first morning of school. The teacher acted in harmony with the views
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