USA > West Virginia > Wood County > Sketches of Wood County : its early history : as embraced in and connected with other counties of West Virginia : also brief accounts of first settlers and their descendants : including accounts of its soils, timber, minerals, water, and material wealth > Part 5
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Third, Henry Hardin Neal, was born the 20th of October, 1800 .- In his young manhood he settled at Gallipolis, Ohio, where he mar- ried Miss Safford, a sister of the late Dr. E. T. Safford. Of this fam- ily we have no definite knowledge, excepting one son, the Hon.Hen- ry Safford Neal, now a member of Congress from the Ironton Dis- trict, in the State of Ohio. Mr. Henry Neal still resides in Gallipolis, Ohio, and is also engaged in active business.
Fourth, Cincinnatis James Neal, born the 1st of January, 1803, was married to Miss Mary Ann Collins, daughter of Mr. Thomas Collins, of Cumberland, Md., on the 24th of February, 1836. To. them seven children have been born, and all are married excepting the youngest. He died on the 25th of August, 1869.
Fifth, Daniel Rowell Neal, born the 18th of May, 1805. His first wife was Miss Caroline Kiger, by whom he had five children, now living and married, with families. His second wife was Miss Eliza- beth Beeson, only daughter of the late Jonas Beeson, Esq., by whom . he has one son, named in honor of himself, and who is a practicing lawyer in this city. We will here add that Mr. Daniel R. Neal has
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JOHN NEAL.
been frequently honored by the citizens of the county with a seat in . the Legislature of Va., and from 1856 to 1860, he represented this district in the Senate of the State. He is still engaged in active bus- iness in the city of Parkersburg.
Sixth, John Neal, born the 2d of October, 1807, was married and settled in the Big Kanawha Valley, and is now a resident of Lynch- burg, Va.
Seventh, Hugh Phelps Neal, born the 11th of December, 1809, was married to Miss Fetzer, to whom three children have been born. The eldest is the wife of C. H. Shattuck, Esq., the present Sheriff of this county.
Eighth, Orena, born the Ist day of April, 1812, was married to the late Mr. James D. Woodyard, on the 30th of January, 1834. To them several sons and daughters were born. He died some twenty years ago, and the family has settled in the Western States.
Ninth, Lawrence Perry Neal, born 24th of April, 1814, was mar- . ried to Miss Mary Hall Talbott, on the 9th of December, 1841. To them five children have been born, three of whom are married. His eldest son, Lawrence Talbott Neal, studied law, and settled in Chili- eothe, Ohio, and has been highly honored by the people of that coun- ty and Congressional District. IIe was elected Proscenting Attorney, also to the House of Representatives, and twice elceted to a seat in the Congress of the United States, being at the time the youngest member of the House. . For several years past, Mr. L. P. Neal bas filled the office of Clerk of the Circuit Court of this county.
Tenth, George B. Neal, born the 2d of February, 1816, was united in marriage with Miss Caroline Mckinley. To them six children have been born. They still reside in the city of Parkersburg.
Eleventh, Luey Harriet, whose first husband was Mr. Abraham Truman, a nephew of the late Wm. Tefft. To them three children were born. Her second husband is Elias Wayman, of Bellair, in the State of Ohio.
Twelfth, Mary Catherine, born on the 25th of June, 1823, was mar- ried to Elihu Reed, of Jackson county, where she has since resided.
From the foregoing, it will readily appear that the children, grand- children, and great grand-children of Mr. John Neal and his wife, · Aunt Eve, are very numerous. But we return to our account of him as connected with this county in its early history:
On the 12th of May, 1800, he took his seat upon the beneh of the County Court, under a commission granted by his Excelleney, James Monroe, Governor of the State of Virginia, and ably filled that office until his death. From 1807 to 1809, He was High Sheriff of the county. In 1809 he was elected a Representative of the county to the House of Burgesses of Virginia, and served the county in that office two consecutive terms. He was esteemed for his praetical good sense and integrity of purpose, in all the transactions of life, whether
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JOHN NEAL.
the same was of a private or public nature. He is remembered as a man of great energy and force of character, of a sound, discriminating judg. ment, exerting a healthy influence in the community. In the full me- ridian of his manhood years. during the 'sickly season,' on the 14th of October, 1823, he died, leaving his large family of children to the care of his widow. She faithfully performed her duty, and raised her chil- dren to habits of industry and economy, and educated for the active duties of life. On the 27th of June, 1852, she died, in the 73d year of her age. Their honorable remains ; epose, side by side, beneath a. monument erected to their memory, by their children, in the city come- tery, on the banks of the Little Kanawha river.
The youngest child of James Neal, by his first wife, was the late James Hardin Neal, Esq. He was three years of age at the time his father moved his family to Neal's Station, in 1787. Here, in the wilderness of this county, he spent his early years. Here, his youth, his manhood, down to old.age, was spent, honorably filling -a wide space in the early history of this county, and in this portion of the State. By studious habits and unwearied application he had become well educated, and acquired a good knowledge of the general literature of his day. Possessing a fine critic- al turn of mind, he was appreciated as a man of culture, taste, and gen- eral information.
Having spent some years in the Clerk's office of Wood County, as deputy for Mr. John Stokeley, he was elected Clerk of the County Court in 1806, and continued in that office until September, 1831. He was al. so appointed Clerk of the Superior Court of this county, and continued in that office until his death in 1850. Occupying these responsible and honorable positions in the county for nearly half a contury, in its ear- ly history. gave him a wide reputation among the early settlers of Western Virginia. Owing to the position he thus occupied, and the ability he brought to bear in the performance of his official duties, caused him, during those early years of our history, to be extensively known among gentlemen of the legal profession, and the leading men of the western country.
During his life he was made to mourn'the death of three companions. He was nited in marriage with his first wife, Miss Harriet Neale daughter of the late Thon's Neale, on the 11th of May, 1810. At her death she left to his are four children. His eldest daughter, Miss Virginia, became the first wife of the late Jolin W. Murdoch, Esq. She left at hier death., in 1848, to the care of her husband, sev- en children, Dr. James N. Murdoch, of Parkersburg, druggist, being the eldest. His eldest son, Thomas, settled and married at Mt. Ver-, non, Ohio. At the time of his death, in 1852, he left three children. As a local preacher in the M. E. Church, he acquired considerable celebrity. Miss Harriet. his second daughter, was the first wife of Mr. Arthur Kelly, of Marietta, Obio. She died in 1838. The late Mr. Harden Neal, his youngest son by his first wife, was united in
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JAMES HARDIN NEAL, COL. HUGH PHELPS.
marriage to Miss Elizabeth Collins, of Md. At the time of his death, in 1855, he left to his wife five children.
On the 21st of January, 1823, Mr. Neal was married to his second wife, Miss Mary Ann Wells, danghter of the late Robert Wells, one of the early settlers of this county. At the time of her death she left to his care three sons, James, Richard and Robert. Richard died while a youth. James became the successor of his father, in the Clerk's Office of the Circuit Superior Court, in this county, and dis- charged its duties until his death in 1862. Robert has settled in La- fayette county, Mo., where he married a daughter of the late Mr Wyatt Lewis, formerly of this county.
The third wife of Mr. James H. Neale was Miss. Ann Beard, eldest daughter of Joseph and Mary Beard, of Loudon county, Va. She was a lady of superior mind, of fine educational endowments, possess- ing by nature quick perceptive powers and strength of intellect, well .calenlated to adorn the highest positions in society. At the time of her death she was the mother of seven children, only three of whom are now living-Mr. Joseph B. Neal, of Parkersburg, and his two sisters. The mortality among the children of Mr. James H. Neal has been great. Of the fourteen, only tonr are now living, and their de- scendants are not very numerous in this county.
Among the enterprising young men with families, who first came and sought homes in this county, few, if any, exerted a more salutary and controlling infinence and commanded more universal respect than Col. Hugh Phelps. Of his parentage, we have no definite in- formation, but he is reported as being a native of l'a. He was born on the 14th of February, 1766, and was imited in marriage with Miss Hannah Neal, daughter of Capt. James Neal, on the 15th of March, 1787. She was born on the 15th of November, 1768. In company with Captain James Neal and family, he settled at Neal's Station, in this county, early in the Spring of 1787.
In person, Col. Hugh Phelps was tall, well built for activity and strength, with fine features, and intellectual expression of counte- nance, naturally social and urbane in his general intercourse and hab- its. To these he united a generous disposition, and a benevolent heart. Possessing these qualities of mind and heart, he was calcula- ted to be a representative man, and to exercise a controlling influence among bis associate: in a new country,
"His spirit of enterprise was active and continually exercised in put- ting forth efforts to advance the public interests and welfare of the 'various settlements in the county, for the purpose of developing its natural resources, and securing their advantages. He filled the office of Presiding Justice at the time the county was organized,on March 10 h, 1800. As such he labored to give dignity and character to the . bench in all their proceedings. In 1802 he filled the office of High
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COL. HUGH PHELPS,
Sheriff of the county, and the late Col. Thomas Tavenner was his dep- . nty. During veral sessions of the House of Burgesses he represented the connty in ne Legislature of the State. In all of these offices he proved himse . efficient and worthy of the confidence of the public. He was also the first Colonel of the militia of the county. In organizing the same, he inspired in the breasts of the militia spirit of emulation and patriotic devotion to their country. These labors were not lost. Con- sidering the sparse population of the country, no portion of Virginia contributed more men is the war of 1812-15, and did mo active ser- vice in that war than men from Wood county. Her citiz s are found from Norfol' , in the East, to the Lakes iu the Northwest, battling with Great Brita,; and her Indian allies for the rights of American free- dom.
To Col. Hugh Phelps and his amiable wife ton children were born in this county, three of whom died in infancy. Their eldest daughter, Miss Priscilla, was united in marriage with Mr. Thomas Creel, on the 14th of October, 1804. (An account of this family will be found in our sketches of the descendants of the late Mr. George Creel, of this county.) Their second daughter, Miss Hannah, was united in marriage with the late Mr. Mason Foley, Esq., of this county, on the 20th day of September, 1810. To them thirteen children were born, of whom only five are now living. Many of the descendants of Mr. Mason Foley are now living . in this county, and some of them in Doddridge county. (Of the Foley family, who came to this county from Loudon county, Va., in 1807, we may hereafter give an account.) Their eldest son, the late Mr. John Phelps, was united in marriage with Miss Elcanor Kincheloe, daughter of the late Major Robert Kincheloc. To them thirteen children were born; seven of whom died while young, the remaining six are still living, married, and have families; four of whom reside in this county, and two in the State of Ohio. Our townsman, Mr. Robert K. Phelps, on the 6th of Sept., 1838, was united in marriage with Miss Minerva Parken- son. To them seven sous and two daughters, now living, have been born; four of whom are married and have children. Mrs. Elizabeth, the second child of Mr. John Phelps, was married to Geo. L.Harwood on 7th April, 1836. To them six children were born. Ile died in 1877. Mr. George Phelps; of Claysville, the second son living, was united in mar -. riage with Miss Sarah Creel, daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Creele. A notice of them is given in the account of that family. Miss Mary, the. second daughter living, was united in marriage, on the 3d of February, 1848, to Thomas H. Creel, son of Thomas Creel, deceased. They re- side at the old homestead place of his father, and his grand-father, the. late Mr. George Creel, known in the early history of this county ss "Bacon Hall." To them nine children have been born, and at this time all reside with their parents. Lewis and James married sisters, Miss Julia and Miss Louisa Taylor. They reside at this time in the State of Ohio.
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COL. HUGH PHELPS.
Mr. John Phelps was a man of gentlemanly bearing. and highly re. spected as a citizen, neighbor and friend. Ile died in 1954. IIis wid- ow died in the winter of 1875.
Mr. Jefferson Phelps, the second son living, of Col.Hugh Phelps, was born the 26th of March, 1301. He was united in marriage with Miss Harriet Armstrong, of Ilarrison county, on the 27th of May, 1824. Af- ter completing his law studies, he settled in Covington, Ky., where he became an eminent practitioner at the bar, and filled an honorable po- sition in the history of that State during his life. He died in 1843. Of his family we have no definite knowledge.
Mr. Henry Phelps, another son, was married to a lady in Kanawha county, Va. During his life he was subject to fits, &c. Of his family we have no knowledge.
Mr. Hugh Henderson Phelps, the youngest son of Col. Hugh Phelps, was born on the 7th of July, 1803. He was united in marriage with · Miss Mary Ann Kincheloe, daughter of Major Robert Kincheloe, on the 12th of August, 1824. To them five sons and three daughters were born, who lived to be grown and settled in life. They have all removed from this county, and of their present condition our knowledge is very limit- ed. Mr. Phelps died at Claysville, in the winter of 1875, and his widow died in Jackson county, in the summer of 1876.
Miss Delilah Phelps, the youngest daughter of Col. Hugh Phelps, was born on the 16th of March, 1706,and was married to. Mr. John J. Suth- erland on the 15th of May, 1826. She died about the year 1844, leav- ing several children, of whom we have no definite information. (The Sutherland family were among the early settlers of this county. and at one time were quite numerous. The mother of John Sutherland was a ' sister to Col. Barnet H. Foley, of this county. They resided on Worth- ington Creek about three miles East of Parkersburg.)
In closing this sketch of Col. Hugh Phelps, we would say that in his life time he extensively engaged in land speculations, and had accumula- ted a large landed estate in the various parts of the country. Dying suddenly, during what has been termed the "sickly season," on the 6th of September, 1823, and leaving his estate in an unsettled condition, and no one assuming the necessary care and oversight of the same, it was nearly all lost to the heirs of the estate. His widow soon followed, dying . the 15th day of September, 1824. Their remains repose in the fa Ily graveyard, on the farm. which soon after their deaths, be- came the property of the late Col. Thomas Tavenner. Before closing this brief account of Col. Hugh Phelps, we would say that among the early settlers of this county he had two brothers, named Elijah and John, who left numerous descendants, of whom we have but a limited knowledge, also two sisters, the second wife of Capt. James Neal, and Mrs. Barnes. The descendants of Mrs. Barnes are very numerous. in this and Wirt counties. But we have not the means of getting the nec- essary information for furnishing a correct record of them. In the on-
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COL. HUGHI PHELPS.
ward flight of years, the records of the families of the past generation became lost and forgotten among their descendants.
While trying to review the history of the early settlers of this coun- ty, and finding how few mementos have been made of those who once were active upon life's great theatre, a felling of melancholy and sadness comes over our spirits. Like bubbles passing down a stream, we are seen for a short time, then burst and sink away into the vast ocean of the past. The anxious, throbbing heart of to-day is soon stilled in death, and is lost in forgetfulness-like a shadow,he declineth, and is gone forever; and the few who treasured his memo- ry will soon sink beneath the same oblivious wave,, leaving but few, if any, traces behind them. Such is and has been the history of our . race along the pathway of time. .
In the excitement in this county arising from the unsuccessful ex- pedition of Burr and Blennerhassett. in the fall and winter of 1806, the first efforts for their arrest was made by Col. Hugh Phelps. At that date he was Colonel of the regiment in this county, and under the proclamation of President Thomas Jefferson, he called out a por- tion of the militia of the county for the purpose of arresting them .- In the Life of Blennerhassett, written and published by the Hon. W. H. Safford, in 1850. we copy the following paragraph; in relation to Col. Hugh Phelps: (Blennerhassett will form a future chapter.)
"During the course of the evening Col. Hugh Phelps returned from . his tour across the country. (From Pt. Pleasant to Parkersburg) .- In this unexpected arrival, the young men, (Morgan Neville and W. Robinson, Jr.,) had new cause for anxiety and alarm. They had con- gratulated themselves upon their successful defeat ot the functiona- ries of law, which they attributed mainly to their superior tact in mystifying their judges and intimidating their accusess; but here was one who could not be duped by sophistical reasoning, or swerved from his duties by fear of consequences. Although dressed in the nsnal style of the backwoodsman of that day, the careless manner in which he wore his garb, added gracefulness to a form both attractive and commanding. They recognized in him an individual of physical as well as intellectual superiority, and, therefore, wisely concluded to assume a different bearing from that they before had observed before their captors and judges.
In a thoughtful and classic attitude, he surveyed the destruction of the premises, and the evident marks of bacchanalian revelry with " which the party under his command had disgraced themselves; then, turning upon them a look of withering rebuke, he spoke in such terms of indignation as caused them to shrink with fear and trepidation .- ".Shame, men !" he exclaimed "Shame on such conduct!" You have disgraced your district and the canse in which you are concerned."
To these young men and to Mrs. Blennerhassett he was courteous and obliging; assisting them in their departure from the Island ..
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CHAPTER VII.
FIRST SERTLEMENT.
In the beautiful valley of the Ohio there are but few, if any, river bottoms of land which excel in richness of soil the one known as Belleville. It is pleasantly sitnated on the south side of the river in this county, commencing some sixteen miles below the city of Park- ersburg, opposite the month of the Big Hocking river, and extend- down about five miles, and contains some two thousand acres of land.
Lee, the largest creek in the county, and draining its southern portion, empties into the Ohio through this bottom dividing it into nearly equal parts. The lands upon the ereck are valuable for all farming purposes, heading in the limestone ridge, separating this and Jackson counties. Much might be written and said in favor of this portion of our county, as to the richness of its soil, and its adoption to all agricultural purposes.
In the year 1771, the time when Gen. George Washington descend- ed the Ohio and located his lands in the Distriet of West Augusta, he . located and partially surveyed, and afterwards had patented to him a part of this rich and beantiful bottom. In after years, when his survey was made according to its ealls in the patent, it was found that the back lines of the survey passed through the central part of this bottom, below Lee Creek. This ereek was named after Mr. Da- vid Lee, a trapper and hunter, who before this time had his camp up- . on this creek. He afterwards became a permanent. citizen of this county, married and settled on Tygart Creek, raised a family and died - there, some forty years ago, leaving many worthy descendants.
In the year 1782, when the firm of Wm. Tilton & Co., of Philadel- phia, Pa., located and made their entries of large tracts of land in this
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(then Monongalia) county. amounting to upwards of ninety thousand acres, this bottom was included in their surveys. by a junior' patent to that of Gen. Washington's.
In the summer of 1785, while Mr. Wm. Tilton was at Fort Pitt, (now the city of Pittsburg, Pa.,) he formed the acquaintance of the late Hon. Judge Joseph Wood, of Marietta, Ohio, then a young man from the State of New Jersey. Mr. Wood had by his industry acquired a good English education, and by study had qualified himself for the profession of surveyor and civil engineer. He had left his native town and came West for the purpose of joining a company of surveyors, then assem- bling at Pittsburg, to survey the public lands Northwest of the Ohio riv- er, and South of the Western boundary line of the State of Pennsylva- nia, under the Geographical Surveyor of the United States.
At that period in the history of our country, the Indian tribes of the Northwestern territory had begun to show hostility to the frontier sct- tlers, and had killed and plundered several white traders residing among them. Among these was Mr. Martin, a brother-in-law of the Tomlin- sons. These hostile proceedings of the Indians rendercd the sending of surveyors into the wilderness hazardous and inexpedient on the part of the Government. Consequently, the surveying expedition was post- poned to a future day. .
It was at this time, while Mr. Wood was residing at Pittsburg, with- out any permanent employment, that he made the acquaintance of Capt. Win. Tilton, of the firin of Tilton, Gibbs & Co., heavy landholders in Western Virginia. Mr. Tilton entered into arrangements with him as agent, surveyor, &c., for the colonization and sale of the lands of Tilton, Gibbs & Co. Under this agreement the large tract of land at Belleville was selected as the place to commence their settlement.
During the fall of 1785 a suitable boat was built, and under the direc- tion of Mr. Wood, was freighted with cattle, farming utensils, etc., with such other articles as might be needed in commencing a new settlement at some two hundred miles from where supplies could be procured at that time.
In this boat, Mr. Tilton, with his agent, Mr. Wood, and four Scotch families, as emigrants, with several men hired for the year, left Pitts- burg on the 28th day of November, and landed at Belleville on the 10th day of December, 1785, (having stopped at Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the Big Muskingum, then in course of completion by Major John Daughty, of the U.S. Army.)
Capt. Tilton and his party having landed and sccured their boat against Aangers from ice, &c., their next effort was to select a place and arrange for making a permanent settlement. A high, dry bottom, on the bank of the river, was chosen, and a clearing commenced. From the timber cut down they erected a block-house, forty fect by twenty, two stories high, convenient to water. Loop holes for musketry were cut in the logs, thus making the building offensive as well as defensive in times of
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JOSEPH WOOD.
danger from Indian attacks. Early in January, 1786, the building was completed, and the entire company moved from the boat and took pos- session of it as their future home. Mr. Wood then laid out a town by survey, and gave to it the name of Belleville. Lots in the town were do- nated to actual settlers. The clearing of the lands in and around the town was continued, and during the first year about one hundred acres was prepared for cultivation. In the spring of 1786 Capt. Tilton re- turned to Philadelphia, leaving the settlement in charge of Mr. Wood, as the sole agent of the company, and the manager of the settlement. Sev- eral log houses, for the residence of individual families were erected near the block-house, also convenient out-houses for stock, etc, The whole were enclosed by pickets, eight or ten feet high, securely planted in the earth, thus making it a regular stockade garrison, sufficient for the ac- commodation of about two hundred persons, forming an oblong square of about three hundred feet along the river front, and extending back about one hundred feet. Gates at either end for the admission of teams, etc , were securely erected, and a wicket gate in front for descending to the river for water and return, was also erected.
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