USA > West Virginia > Webster County > Moccasin tracks and other imprints > Part 8
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Jesse Hughes was most probably the man who brained the Indian with his hatchet at the rescue of Nancy Carpenter on Steer creek a few years previous to the murder of the Stroud family. "He was a noted border scout, but a man of fierce, unbridled passions, and so confirmed an Indian hater that no tribesman, however peaceful his record, was safe in his presence," says R. G. Thwaites, a western historian. Some of the most cruel acts on the frontier are by tradition at- tributed to him. He died in Jackson county at an ex- treme age.
The murder of the Stroud family occurred on the last Indian incursion ever made into the limits of Web- ster county. Some Indians passed through, but they usually avoided the settlements, because they feared the whites almost as much as the whites feared them. They saw the chances of escape diminish as the number of settlers increased. It was a long road that led from Webster county to safety in the wilderness beyond the Ohio river.
XIII. RELIGION IN PIONEER DAYS.
The fact that persons who spend a large portion of their time in the forest are more devout and more deeply imbued with a religious feeling than those who spend their time in towns or more populous com- munities, is undeniable. They have daily ocular proof of the supreme power of the Creator as manifested in nature. The trees, the birds, the wild flowers, the seasons, and the babbling brooks teach them practical lessons in theology. This is particularly true of the early settlers in Webster county. Many of their ancestors had left the Old World because of religious persecution and amidst the profound solitude of the American wilderness fervent prayers and heart-felt thanksgivings were offered for the freedom of religious worship in a country where their actions were not spied upon by the minions of a bigoted hierarchy. This feeling was accentuated in the descendants and a more religious people did not exist than were to be found among the Webster hills.
The Methodist circuit riders were the first ministers who preached within the bounds of the county. It was often many years after an immigrant arrived in his new home before he had an opportunity to hear a ser- mon preached by a regular minister. Soon after a settlement had been established the circuit rider ap- peared upon the scene and made arrangements for relig- ious services. The neighbors were gathered into the most commodious cabin and services were held once a quarter, as the Methodists would say, and sometimes oftener. depending upon the size of a circuit. A circuit em-
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braced as much territory as is now contained in three or four counties, and often much more. While these men did not measure up to the height of a Simpson or a McCabe, they were men of spiritual power. What they lacked in culture and education was amply compensated in zeal and religious fervor. Armed with a pair of saddlebags containing a change of linen, a Bible, and a hymnbook. they went forth preaching where a few families could be gathered together. Their saddlebags also contained religious tracts which were distributed. These were eagerly read and passed from one family to another until read by the entire neighborhood. The circuit riders also acted as colporteurs. Such books as Baxter's Saints' Rest, Life of John Nelson, Fletcher's Sermons, Life of Hester Ann Rogers, Finley's Prison Life and John Wesley's Sermons were sold to the peo- ple living remote from book stores. This class of books exerted a powerful. religious influence on the old pioneer families. They, in a large measure, molded their lives and characters.
A class was organized at each preaching place and a leader appointed. Exhorters and local preachers were licensed at the quarterly conference. The leader some- times walked five miles to meet his class. What a spirit of devotion was manifested in these pioneer class leaders! They talked to the class of an experimental religion. and of an upright daily walk with Christ. The women did not dress in the latest fashion but went to meeting, as they called religious services, in home- spun dresses usually fastened with leather buttons of their own manufacture. The men were not dressed in tailor made suits and linen cuffs and collars, but wore
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hunting shirts and moccasins. If they did not have a hunting-shirt they donned a linsey or tow linen shirt and wore wide woolen "gallowses" woven or knit by the women. These plain, unpretentious garments did not in anyway interfere with their religious duties, and what mighty shouts of triumphant victory went up from the religious gatherings of the old-time pioneer !
From a religious standpoint men and women of eighty years ago took a very lugubrious view of life. Their minds dwelt more on death, the grave, the resur- rection of the dead, and the judgment day than upon life and its achievements. The minister usually acted upon the principle that the fear of eternal punishment is a greater incentive to right living than the hope of everlasting life, or the conscious pleasure of doing one's bounden duty. They often forgot the influence of an all-powerful love, one of the basic principles of the Christian religion. They sang doleful hymns written in the minor key, which is appropriate for grave themes. This was a mild form of asceticism practiced by the Carmelite friars of the Middle Ages.
The discipline of the Methodists in those early pioneer days was very strict. One who was not a professor of religion was allowed to remain in the class room at but two meetings, and, if at the third meeting no disposi- tion of a desire to turn from the error of his ways was made, he was turned out and the door was closed against him. This was a very drastic measure but it often had a very salutary effect. A son or a daughter remained while the father and the mother waited on the outside until the close of the meeting. One or both of the parents took part in the meeting and the grown up
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children were excluded. A separation of husband and wife often occurred. It was pathetic to hear an almost heart-broken wife beg the indulgence of the leader, and allow her impenitent husband to remain just one more time. This practice was an object lesson of the separa- tion that would occur beyond the realms of this life, if the impenitent did not change his way of living.
The time and place of the first sermon preached within the present limits of Webster county is unknown, but Addison Hite was the first minister to preach in the vicinity of Webster Springs. He preached his first sermon in 1833 in a barn owned by Benjamin Hamrick, who lived on the Elk five miles above the beforemen- tioned town. This was three years after the original organization of the Methodist Protestant Church, and eleven years before that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. His circuit embraced what is now a part of Webster, Braxton, Lewis, and Upshur counties. The many hardships which he and his successors en- dured can be inferred from the state of the country at that time. Roads in the greater portion of his cir- cuit were but blazed trails: deep, swift, bridgeless streams were forded amidst floating ice. and. when benighted and far from the hospitable roof of a settler's. cabin, he was under the necessity of passing the night under the sheltering branches of a tree. These old- time knights of the saddlebags deserve great respect and praise for their courageous and heroic efforts to plant the standard of Christianity among a wilderness people.
A class was organized by Addison Hite at the Ham- rick barn, the first Methodist organization in Webster
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county. William Gregory was appointed leader and Adonijah Harris assistant leader. Mr. Harris lived at the McGuire Low Gap near Webster Springs, yet he walked the five miles each Sunday to meet his class and his presence was made known by the zeal manifested in his work.
The Rev. Mr. Cassett in 1834 preached at the Fork Lick, now Webster Springs, in the dwelling house of Mrs. Mary Arthur, who was a widow and the only resi- dent at that time. The rite of baptism was admin- istered. The author's mother, then a little girl of seven years, was one of the children baptized on that day.
Samuel Black and Elijah A. Bing were the preachers in charge in 1835. Black afterwards joined the South- ern Methodists and became one of the best known preachers and church writers in that denomination in the Western Virginia Conference. The quarterly meet- ings at the Hamrick barn attracted large crowds of people. They came from places as remote as Sun- mersville and Flatwoods. These meetings were pro- tracted for a week and resulted in many conversions. The hospitality of the people on these occasions was un- bounded. Many members of this class attended the Methodist camp meetings held annually on Peter's creek in Nicholas county.
The first Southern Methodist minister to preach in the limits of Webster county was a man by the name of Protsman. He preached in the Hamrick barn soon after the division of the Methodist church in 1844. No class of that church was organized in the county until many years after that event. From these small be-
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ginnings the two leading Methodist churches of the United States have grown until they have neat, sub- stantial church buildings in each town and populous community in Webster county.
The Baptist church was a later organization. Wil- liam Dobbins was a resident minister of that denomina- tion. He lived at Webster Springs in the years suc- ceeding the Civil War, and is remembered for many Christian virtues. The first Baptist church was or- ganized at Webster Springs in 1872.
THE DODRILL FAMILY.
William E. Dodrill, known as "English Bill," mar- ried Rebecca Dougherty in Greenbrier county in 1784, and moved to the mouth of the Kanawha. The Indians being hostile. he almost gave away his large tract of land and joined in the eastern movement spoken of in a former sketch. He settled on Peter's creek, where he remained four or five years. In 1299 he again changed his residence to the Birch river valley. settling at Boggs in Webster county. The original name was Doddridge. but a change was made in the orthography before he left Greenbrier county. The name. Dodrill. has been adopted by all of his descendants.
"English Bill" was the father of eight children- four sons and four daughters. His sons were James, John. George and William. The daughters were Martha. Mary. Nancy. and Rebecca. James. the eldest son. married Elizabeth Gregory and located twelve miles above the Fork Lick on the Elk. He was the father of six sons : Isaac. George. William. Robert,
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Charles, and Joseph. George married Levicy Given and settled about one mile below the mouth of Leather- wood. He was an exemplary man and left a reputation for honesty and integrity that should be more highly prized by his two sons than an inheritance of silver, and gold. Isaac married Maria Conrad, but left no sons to perpetuate his name. William married Levicy Mil- ler and afterwards Mary Hamrick. Robert married Jane Hamrick. Robert was known to the older citizens of the county as the distiller of a fine quality of apple brandy. Charles married Margaret Given. At the time of his death, he was the best known man in Web- ster county. He had acceptably filled many important offices. His firm stand against the granting of whiskey license when he was a member of the county court made him very popular with the temperance people. His fourth of July orations for many years before his death were prominent features in celebrations at Web- ster Springs. If he had had the advantages of an edu- cation, he would have succeeded in any profession. But this was denied him in his youth. By industry and frugality he succeeded in winning quite a good living from his mountain farm, and each of his four sons was left by his will, or was given them before his decease, a sufficiency to start them well on the road to prosperity.
John, the second son, married Margaret Lewis, of Greenbrier county, and resided on Birch river in Nicholas county. He, also, was the father of six sons : William, James Walton, Franklin, Martin, Arthur and Addison. William, James and Martin married Sarah, Rebecca and Isabel, daughters of William Hamrick, the
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noted hunter. Franklin and Arthur married Maria and Jane, daughters of Peter Hamrick, of Braxton county. Addison married Almira Gregory, a daughter of William Gregory, the class leader. William im- migrated to the west at the close of the Civil War and died in the State of Nebraska. Addison moved to Web- ster county and located at the mouth of Bergoo. The other four lived near neighbors to each other on Birch river, in Nicholas county, until their deaths. Each left a large family of boys and girls. They were hard working farmers, having moved into the woods and each cleared out a large farm.
When a young man, George, the third son, went west to seek his fortune, and located in Pickaway county, Ohio. William, the fourth son, died in his twenty-first year.
Of the daughters it was often said that none were fairer, or better dispositioned in the county. Each was renowned for her Christian virtues and each made an excellent wife. ยท Martha married James Mollohan, of Braxton county. Her son Charles was a Methodist preacher of much ability. He took an active part in the great controversy in regard to slavery in the church, which resulted in the division of 1844. It was mainly through his leadership that many of the classes in Web- ster and Braxton counties were held intact. Wesley Mollohan, who was the best known, and one of the most successful lawyers in West Virginia, was his son.
Mary married George Mollohan. It was he who en- tered the bear cave on the head of Little Birch. His brother-in-law, Joshua Stevenson, who married Nancy,
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was with him on that hunt. . Rebecca married Adam Gregory, of Webster county, and lived in the vicinity of Mill run.
Addison Dodrill is the only living grandson of Wil- liam Dodrill, the old pioneer at this time (1915). By what a slender thread this generation is bound to the past. He is seventy-six and in a few fleeting years at most the last of these grand old characters will have crossed over to the world beyond.
XIV. THE KILLING OF THE TUNINGS.
The Tuning boys, Al, Fred, and Jack, spent much time in Webster county during the first years of the Civil war. They were Southern sympathizers but they did not belong to any regular military organization. They killed several Union men in Webster and adjoin- ing counties. They were pursued by Federal soldiers but always made their escape. The people who believed in the sacredness of the cause for which the South was contending did not approve of their conduct but they were helpless and the Tunings often stayed for days in the homes of this class of citizens, who dared not refuse them lodgement and entertainment.
About the first of March, 1864, Al and Fred went to the home of James Dyer on the Gauley. The Federal soldiers who were in the county at that time were ap- prised of the fact and made preparations to capture them. The troops camped at the mouth of Sand run. about one and one-half miles below, on the night of the third day of March. A company of about thirty men was sent very early next morning to the Dyer home. The family and the two Tunings were at breakfast when it was discovered that the house was surrounded by hostile soldiers. In an attempt to escape Al was shot in a lot near the house. Fred swam the Beaver run and was running up the hill on the other side when hit by a ball that had cut off a small sumac.
Al lived about two hours after being shot. Fred lived from Saturday morning until Monday night. They were buried near the place where they were killed. Jack escaped all attempts made to kill or capture him. After
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the war he went to Ohio where he gained the affection of a rich widow whom he married. She and her money soon parted company and Tuning did time at the state prison at Columbus.
THE MURDER OF FERRELL.
One of the most atrocious deeds perpetrated in the county during the Civil war was the murder of a man named Ferrell at the mouth of Straight creek by Dr. Hardsock. Mr. Ferrell had taken a drove of cattle through the mountains within the southern lines and had sold them, receiving a large portion of the selling price in gold. On his way back, he met with Hardsock, who proposed that they travel through the mountains together. They arrived at the Gauley late in the even- ing of the first day's travel and camped on the bank of the river. Sometime in the night while Ferrell was wrapped in slumber Hardsock cut his throat with a hatchet. Hardsock continued the journey very carly next morning. When he arrived at the first settler's cabin, he said that he and a comrade had been attacked in the night by the "Yankees" and that he and his companion had become separated in the darkness of the night. He asked that some one be sent in search of the missing man. He seemed to be much agitated and very anxious to proceed on his way. But haste was useless because his guilty conscience would pursue him to the uttermost parts of the earth. The possession of the dead man's gold but augmented its excruciating pangs. The body was buried near the place where the murder was committed.
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Hardsock was apprehended by the Confederates and was kept under the strictest surveillance. By an order from the general in command of the troops whose duty it was to guard him, he was put under the hottest fire of musketry in every battle in which they engaged. His companions fell around him but he escaped unharmed. He sickened and died of a fever before he could be tried by civil authority. Some rude rock slabs and a small spruce tree planted by loving hands mark the place where Mr. Ferrell was buried. He was most truly a victim of greed and avarice.
On the divide between the Gauley and the Williams, near the head of the Miller Mill run. far from human habitation, is a soldier's grave. Elias Grimes, a mem- ber of the Ninth Regiment of Alabama. in company with a man named Cutlip, went to Lewis county where each "captured" a horse. In crossing the mountain on their way to Dixie, Grimes dismounted to adjust his saddle. After mounting his horse, he caught his musket by the muzzle, and the hammer catching against the side of the log against which it was leaning, it was dis- charged, killing him instantly. The untimely death of Grimes so wrought upon the conscience of Cutlip that he immediately returned to Lewis and restored the horses to their owners. The body of Grimes was buried by the citizens where the accident occurred. It is probable that his Alabama friends never learned his sad fate.
These graves of Ferrell and Grimes are forceful re- minders of the stirring days of civil strife and devastat- ing rebellion of fifty-four years ago. The hatred and
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strife engendered by the war did not cease until very recently. Except in a heated political contest there is no ill feeling manifested between the parties formed along the lines which divided the people a half century ago. The wide gulf that separated the people and threatened the stability of the nation has been bridged by the process of time.
THE GREGORY FAMILY.
The Gregory family has always occupied a very prom- inent place in the history and development of the Elk valley. This family was founded by Colonel Isaac Gregory, who, as stated in a former sketch, settled on the Gauley in 1800. He married Sarah Given, in Bath county, Virginia. The Gregorys are of fine physique, the usual height of the men being six feet in their stockings. The Hamricks get their stature by marriages in the Gregory family. The Gregorys. married into nearly all of the old pioneer families, therefore a re- petition of tracing the family is unavoidable. The Col- onel was the father of nine children-four boys and five girls. The boys were William, Robert, Joseph, and Adam. The girls were Mary, Isabel, Nancy, Elizabeth and Jeanette (Jennie). Adam married Rebecca Dodrill and . William, the class leader, Rebecca Sands. He was known as being a very devout man, and always lived according to the rules of the Methodist church. His son .Adam was a Methodist preacher and represented Webster county in the legislature of the Reorganized Government of Virginia in 1862. He went west soon after the expiration of his term of office. Joseph mar-
.
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ried Mary Miller and moved to Braxton county where he died of smallpox in 1863. Robert married Elizabeth Nottingham. He resided in Webster county, but left no son.
Of the daughters, Mary married George Lynch, who moved to the Little Kanawha valley. She was the mother of twelve sons who settled in Gilmer, Harrison and adjoining counties. Isabel married John Lynch and lived on the Elk some miles below the Fork Lick. The Colonel was very much opposed to this wedding, but love laughs at bolted doors and angry fathers, so the lovers had their way and were married. She was the proud mother of five sons. Nancy and Jeanette (Jennie) married Benjamin and William Hamrick, mention of which has been made in the sketch of the Hamrick family. Elizabeth married James Dodrill and lived below the mouth of Leatherwood.
Colonel Gregory was possessed of considerable prop- erty when he came to this country. He built a large, hewed-log house with a cellar under it walled with cut stone. He became dissatisfied and moved away before the building was fully completed. He spent more than five hundred dollars in this venture. The nails used were made in a blacksmith shop in Bath county, Vir- ginia, and carried across the mountains on horseback. He also did his milling over there for several years. His house logs and cellar walls were used by James Dyer in building a saw and grist mill near the mouth of Beaver run. Colonel Gregory died in 1852, and was buried in the Gregory cemetery on the Elk five miles above Webster Springs. During the fifty-two years in which he resided within the limits of Webster county,
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he saw many farms cleared in the forest and the moccasin discarded for the cow-hide shoe or boot au l the hunting shirt for the modern coat and vest. He was the first distiller of apple brandy in the county.
XV. GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES.
The derivation and the meaning of geographical names of a country are very interesting to the student of history, and more especially if the names refer to local places of pioneer times. The Elk was named from the abundance of elk found on that stream by the Indians. The Gauley was probably named by the French, who claimed the territory drained by it, but the meaning of the word is unknown. Birch and Holly were named from species of trees found near their banks when first visited by white men. The origin of some of the names of places found in Webster county is of quaint derivation.
Metcalf's Bank, just below the mouth of Leather- wood, is well known to the older inhabitants. Metcalf was a noted pioneer Methodist preacher sixty-five years ago. He was a very graceful rider, and the accom- plishment was greatly admired by William Gregory, the class leader. Mr. Gregory always rode a very fine horse. On a Sunday morning, he and his wife started to meet- ing at the Hamrick barn. Getting in front of his wife. he rode very fast and in his best style. "Re- becca," said he to his wife, "of whom do I remind you ?" His wife replied that she did not remember any one who rode just like he did. "Now, Rebecca, watch me, and see if I don't ride like Brother Metcalf." He rode up the bank, and under the inspiration, he most un- doubtedly gave a very good imitation of the preacher's horsemanship. The good wife, in order to please her husband's harmless vanity, said. "Well, Billy, since you mentioned it, you do remind me very much of Brother
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Metcalf." This was thought by neighbors to be a very good joke, and so they called the place Metcalf's Bank.
Baltimore run, opposite the place where James Miller now resides, was named early in pioneer days. One of the residents of the upper Elk valley did not take a very optimistic view of his environments, and declared his intention of moving to Baltimore. He disposed of his property and started down the valley. He built a small cabin at the mouth of the run and moved into it. His neighbors saw the joke and called the place Balti- more. The name was afterwards applied to the run.
Bolair had its origin early in pioneer history. There was a good spring of water on the hill a short distance from the present location of Bolair post office. The spring is still there, but the water is scarcely fit to drink. Travelers and wagoners stopped at the spring to get a drink and to rest. The drink referred to was taken from a bottle or a jug as well as from the spring. In the good old times, a man could take a drink of .brandy or whisky and still be thought a gentleman, but this was before the days of excessive potations. James Dyer, senior, who came from Pendleton county, was a good singer. He met several men at the spring, and after each had taken a dram, he was called upon for a song. He sang a song called "Beau Laire" that was one of his favorites. The spring and the hill were af- terwards called Beau Laire. Many years after this. when a post office was established at the foot of the hill, it- was named Bolair. The sound instead of the correct spelling was followed.
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