USA > West Virginia > Barbour County > The history of Barbour County, West Virginia, from its earliest exploration and settlement to the present time > Part 8
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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 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51
61
SUBDIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES.
Virginia, part of the original county of that name, and its county seat is the same as at first- Staunton.
In 1769 Botetourt county was formed from Augusta and included the territory now embraced in McDowell, Wyoming, Mercer, Monroe, Raleigh and portions of Greenbrier, Boone and Logan. No county in West Vir- ginia now has the name Botetourt. It is thus seen that no one of the first counties in the territory of West Virginia retains any name in it. Essex, Spotsylvania, Orange, Augusta and Botetourt, each in its turn, embraced large parts of the State, but all the territory remaining under the original names is found in old Virginia, where the names are preserved. The Dis- trict of West Augusta was a peculiar division of West Virginia's present
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---
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY
1758
-- Key.
Mouth of Senace
Original County Line --
Lines of Present Counties
Forts are Marked x
o Supper Tract
Ruins of Fort Seyhert
MAP OF THE FIRST COUNTY WHOLLY IN WEST VIRGINIA.
territory. It was not a county. Its boundary lines as laid down in the Act of Assembly in 1776, failed to meet-that is, one side of the District was open and without a boundary. Yet counties were formed from West Augusta as if it were a county and subject to division. From it Monongalia was taken, yet part of Monongalia was never in the District of West Augusta. The confusion was due to the ignorance of the geography of the region at that time. The boundary lines, from a mathematical standpoint, enclosed nothing, or, at any rate, it is uncertain what they enclosed. The act of 1776, declaring the line between Augusta County and the District of West Augusta reads as follows:
[Pendleton ) County]
Grant Countyl
the Fork of Sound Branch
Lost River
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North County]
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Randolph County7
"Beginning on the Alleghany Mountain between the heads of the Potomac, Cheat and Greenbrier Rivers, thence along the ridge of mountains which divides the waters of
62
SUBDIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES.
Cheat from those of Greenbrier, and that branch of the Monongahela called Tygart's Valley River to the Monongahela River, thence up the said river and the west fork thereof to Bingeman's Creek, on the northwest side of the said west fork, thence up the said creek to the head thereof, thence in a direct course to the head of the Middle Island Creek, a branch of the Ohio, including all the waters of said creek in the aforesaid Dis- trict of West Augusta. All that territory lying to the northward of the aforesaid boun- dary, and to the westward of the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland, shall be deemed, and is hereby declared to be in the District of West Augusta."
The territory so laid off would include of the present counties of West Virginia a narrow strip through the center of Randolph, east of Cheat Mountain, one fourth of Tucker, the western half of Preston, nearly all of Marion, and Monongalia, Wetzel, Marshall, Ohio, Brooke and Hancock, part of Tyler and Pleasants, a small corner of Doddridge, and an indefinite part of the present State of Pennsylvania. The eastern parts of Tucker, Ran- dolph and Preston, outside the boundaries of West Augusta, were subse- quently included in Monongalia County, under the apparent presumption that they had belonged to West Augusta.
Following is a list of the counties of West Virginia, with the date of formation, area and from whom named:
HAMPSHIRE, 630 square miles; formed 1754 from Augusta; named for Hampshire, England; settled about 1730.
BERKELEY, 320 square miles; formed 1772 from Frederick; named for Governor Berkeley, of Virginia; settled about 1730.
MONONGALIA, 360 square miles; formed 1776 from West Augusta; named for the river; settled 1758.
OHIO, 120 miles; formed 1776 from West Augusta; settled 1770; named for the river.
GREENBRIER, 1000 miles; formed 1777 from Botetourt; settled 1750; named for briers growing on the river bank.
HARRISON, 450 miles; formed 1784 from Monongalia; settled 1770; named for Benjamin Harrison, Governor of Virginia.
HARDY, 700 miles; formed from Hampshire 1785; settled 1740; named for Samuel Hardy, of Virginia.
RANDOLPH, 1080 miles; formed 1786 from Harrison; settled 1753; named for Edmund Randolph.
PENDLETON, 650 miles; formed 1787 from Augusta, Hardy and Rocking- ham; settled 1750; named for Edmund Pendleton.
KANAWHA, 980 miles; formed 1789 from Greenbrier and Montgomery; settled 1774; named for the river.
BROOKE, 80 miles; formed from Ohio 1796; settled about 1772; named for Robert Brooke, Governor of Virginia.
WOOD, 375 miles; formed from Harrison 1798; settled about 1773; named for James Wood, Governor of Virginia.
MONROE, 460 miles; formed 1799 from Greenbrier; settled about 1760; named for James Monroe. 4
JEFFERSON, 250 miles; formed 1801 from Berkeley; settled about 1730; named for Thomas Jefferson.
MASON, 430 miles; formed 1804 from Kanawha; settled about 1774; named for George Mason, of Virginia.
CABELL, 300 miles; formed from Kanawha 1809; settled about 1790; named for William H. Cabell, Governor of Virginia.
TYLER, 300 miles; formed from Ohio 1814; settled about 1776; named for John Tyler.
63
SUBDIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES.
LEWIS, 400 miles; formed from Harrison 1816; settled about 1780; named for Colonel Charles Lewis.
NICHOLAS, 720 miles; formed 1818 from Kanawha, Greenbrier and Randolph; named for W. C. Nicholas, Governor of Virginia.
PRESTON, 650 miles; formed 1818 from Monongalia; settled about 1760; named for James P. Preston, Governor of Virginia.
MORGAN, 300 miles; formed 1820 from Hampshire and Berkeley; settled about 1730; named for Daniel Morgan.
POCAHONTAS, 820 miles; formed 1821 from Bath, Pendleton and Ran- dolph; settled 1749; named for Pocahontas, an Indian girl.
LOGAN, 400 miles, formed from Kanawha, Giles, Cabell and Tazwell, 1824; named for Logan, an Indian.
JACKSON, 400 miles; formed 1831 from Kanawha, Wood and Mason; settled about 1796; named for Andrew Jackson.
FAYETTE, 750 miles: formed from Logan, Kanawha, Greenbrier and Nicholas 1831; named for Lafayette.
MARSHALL, 240 miles; formed 1835 from Ohio; settled about 1769; named for Chief Justice Marshall.
BRAXTON, 620 miles; formed 1836 from Kanawha, Lewis and Nicholas; settled about 1794; named for Carter Braxton.
MERCER, 400 miles; formed 1837 from Giles and Tazwell; named for General Hugh Mercer.
MARION, 300 miles; formed 1842 from Harrison and Monongalia; named for General Marion.
WAYNE, 440 miles; formed 1841 from Cabell; named for General Anthony Wayne.
TAYLOR, 150 miles; formed 1844 from Harrison, Barbour and Marion; named for John Taylor.
DODDRIDGE, 300 miles; formed 1845 from Harrison, Tyler, Ritchie and Lewis; named for Philip Doddridge.
GILMER, 360 miles; formed 1845 from Kanawha and Lewis; named for Thomas W. Gilmer of Virginia.
WETZEL, 440 miles; formed 1846 from Tyler; named for Lewis Wetzel. BOONE, 500 miles; formed 1847 from Kanawha, Cabell and Logan; named for Daniel Boone.
PUTNAM, 320 miles; formed 1848 from Kanawha, Cabell and Mason; named for Israel Putnam.
BARBOUR, 360 miles; formed 1843 from Harrison, Lewis and Randolph; named for James Barbour, governor of Virginia.
RITCHIE, 400 miles; formed 1844 from Harrison, Lewis and Wood; named for Thomas Ritchie of Virginia.
WIRT, 290 miles; formed 1848 from Wood and Jackson; settled about 1796; named for William Wirt.
HANCOCK, 100 miles; formed 1848 from Brooke; settled about 1776; named for John Hancock.
RALEIGH, 680 miles; formed 1850 from Fayette; named for Sir Walter Raleigh.
WYOMING, 660 miles: formed 1850 from Logan; an Indian name.
PLEASANTS, 150 miles; formed 1851 from Wood, Tyler and Ritchie; named for James Pleasants, governor of Virginia.
UPSHUR, 350 miles; formed 1851 from Randolph, Barbour and Lewis; settled about 1767; named for Judge A. P. Upshur.
64
SUBDIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES.
CALHOUN, 260 miles; formed 1856 from Gilmer; named for J. C. Cal- houn.
ROANE, 350 miles; formed 1856 from Kanawha, Jackson and Gilmer; settled about 1791; named for Judge Roane of Virginia.
TUCKER, 340 miles; formed 1856 from Randolph; settled about 1774; named for Judge St. George Tucker.
CLAY, 390 miles; formed 1858 from Braxton and Nicholas; named for Henry Clay.
MCDOWELL, 860 miles; formed 1858 from Tazwell; named for James McDowell, governor of Virginia.
WEBSTER, 450 miles; formed 1860 from Randolph, Nicholas and Brax- ton; named for Daniel Webster.
MINERAL, 300 miles; formed 1866 from Hampshire; named for its coal. GRANT, 620 miles; formed 1866 from Hardy; named for General U. S. Grant; settled about 1740.
LINCOLN, 460 miles; formed 1867 from Kanawha, Cabell, Boone and Putnam; settled about 1799; named for Abraham Lincoln.
SUMMERS, 400 miles; formed 1871 from Monroe, Mercer, Greenbrier and Fayette; named for Lewis and George W. Summers.
MINGO, about 400 miles; formed 1895 from Logan; named for Logan the Mingo.
65
SUBDIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES.
POPULATION OF THE COUNTIES OF WEST VIRGINIA EACH TEN YEARS FROM 1790 TO 1890, BOTH INCLUSIVE.
1790
1800
1810
1820
1830
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
Hampshire
7346
8348
9784
10889
11279
12245
14036
13913
7613
10336
11419
Berkeley.
19713
22006
11479
11211
10518
19972
11771
12525
14900
17380
18702
Monongalia
4768
8540
12793
11060
14056
17368
12357
13048
13547
14985
15705
Ohio.
5212
4740
8175
9182
15584
13357
18006
22422
28831
37457
41557
Greenbrier.
6015
4345
5914
7041
9006
8695
10022
12211
11417
15060
18034
Harrison
2080
4848
9958
10932
14722
17669
11728
13790
16714
20181
21919
Hardy
7336
6627
5525
5700
6798
7622
9543
9864
5518
6794
7567
Randolph Pendleton
2452
3962
4239
4846
6271
6940
5797
6164
6455
8022
8711
Kanawha
3239
3866
6399
9326
13567
15353
16151
22349
32466
42756
Brooke
4706
5843
6631
7041
7948
5054
5494
5464
6013
6660
Wood
1217
3036
5860
6429
7923
9450
11046
19000
25006
28612
Monroe
4188
5444
6580
7798
8422
10204
10757
11124
11501
12429
Jefferson
11851
13087
12927
14082
15357
14535
13219
15005
15553
Mason
1991
4868
6534
6777
7539
9173
15978
22296
22863
Cabell
2717
4789
5884
8163
6299
8020
6429
13744
23528
Tyler
2314
4104
6954
5498
6517
7832
11073
11962
Lewis
4247
6241
8151
10031
7999
10175
13269
15895
Nicholas
1853
3346
2255
3963
4627
4458
7223
9307
Preston.
3422
5144
6866
11708
13312
14555
19091
20335
Morgan
2500
2694
4253
3557
3732
4315
5777
6774
Pocahontas
2542
2922
3598
3958
4069
5591
6814
Logan
3680
4309
3620
4938
5124
7329
11101
Jackson
4890
6544
8306
10300
16312
19021
Fayette
3924
3955
5997
6647
11560
20542
Marshall .
6937
10138
12937
14941
18840
20735
Braxton
2575
4212
4992
6480
9787
13928
Mercer
2233
4222
6819
7064
7467
16002
Marion
10552
12722
12107
17198
20721
Wayne
4760
6747
7852
14739
18652
Taylor.
5357
8463
9367
11455
12147
Doddridge
2750
5203
7076
10552
12183
Gilmer.
3475
3759
4338
7108
9746
Wetzel
4282
6703
8559
13896
16841
Boone
3237
4840
4553
5824
6885
Putnam
5335
6301
7794
11375
14342
Barbour
9005
8958
10312
11870
12702
Ritchie
3902
6847
9055
13474
16621
Wirt.
3353
3751
4804
7104
9411
Hancock
4050
4445
4363
4882
6414
Raleigh
1765
3367
3673
7367
9597
Wyoming
1645
2861
3171
4322
6247
Pleasants
2945
3012
6256
7539
Upshur
7292
8023
10249
12714
Calhoun
2502
2930
6072
8155
Roane .
5381
7232
12184
15303
Tucker
1428
1907
315]
6459
Clay .
1787
2196
3460
4659
Mc Dowell
1535
1952
3074
7300
Webster
1555
1730
3207
4783
Mineral
6332
8630
12085
Grant ..
4467
5542
6802
Lincoln
5053
8739
11246
Summers
9033
13117
Mingo 5
951
1826
2854
3357
5000
6208
5243
4990
5563
8102
11633
CHAPTER VII.
:0:
THE NEWSPAPERS OF WEST VIRGINIA.
Newspaper history commenced in the territory now forming West Vir- ginia nearly one hundred years ago; that is, in 1803. The beginning was small, but ambitious; and although the first journal to make its appearance in the State, ceased to pay its visits to the pioneers generations ago; yet, from that small beginning has grown a press which will rank with that of any State in the Union, if population and other conditions are taken into account. West Virginia has no large city, and consequently has no paper of metropolitan pretensions, but its press fulfills every requirement of its people; faithfully represents every business interest; maintains every hon- orable political principle; upholds morality; encourages education, and has its strength in the good will of the people. This chapter can do little more than present an outline of the growth of journalism in this State, together with facts and figures relating to the subject.
The first paper published in West Virginia was the Monongalia Gazette, at Morgantown in 1803. The Farmer's Register, printed at Charlestown, Jefferson County, was the next. These were the only papers in the State in 1810. The oldest paper still being published in West Virginia is the Virginia Free Press, printed at Charlestown. It was founded in 1821. The Monongalia Gazette was perhaps an up-to-date journal in its day; but it would be unsatisfactory at the present time. It was in four page form, each page sixteen inches long and ten inches wide. There were four col- umns to the page. Its editors were Campbell and Briton; its subscription rate was six cents a copy. or two dollars a year. It was impossible that a weekly paper so small could efficiently cover the news, even though the news of that day was far below the standard set for the present time. Yet, had such a paper been edited in accordance with modern ideas, it could have exerted a much wider influence than it did exert. No other paper was near enough to make inroads upon its field of circulation and influence; and it might have had the whole region to itself. But it did not expand, as might have been expected; on the contrary, within three years it reduced its size about one-half. More space in it was given to foreign news than to the happenings of County, State and Nation. Before the days of railroads, steamboats and telegraphing, it may readily be understood that the events recorded from foreign countries were so stale at the date of their publica- tion in the backwoods paper that they almost deserved classification as ancient history. The domestic news, particularly that relating to distant states, was usually several weeks old before it found place in the Gazette. County occurrences, and happenings in the neighboring counties, were
67
THE NEWSPAPERS OF WEST VIRGINIA.
given little attention. Many a valuable scrap of local history might have been permanently preserved in that pioneer journal; but the county his- torian looks through the crumpled and yellow files in vain. But, on the other hand, he encounters numerous mentions of Napoleon's movements; the Emperor of Russia's undertakings, and England's achievements; all of which would have been valuable as history were it not that Guizot, Ram- baud and Knight have given us the same things in better style; so that it is labor thrown away to search for them in the circumscribed columns of a pioneer paper printed on the forest-covered banks of the Monongahela. Joseph Campbell, one of the editors and proprietors of the Gazette, had learned the printing trade in Philadelphia. It is not known at what date the paper suspended publication. It was customary in early times, as well as at the present day, to incorporate two or more papers into one, drop the name of one and continue the publication. The Gazette may thus have passed quietly out of its individual existence.
Monongalia County fostered the first newspaper west of the Allegha. nies in the State, and it also has had perhaps as many papers as any county of West Virginia. The full list, from the first till the present time, num- bers between thirty and forty. The list compiled by Samuel T. Wiley, the historian of Monongalia, shows that the County had thirty-one papers prior to 1880. Nearly all of these suspended after brief careers. It would be difficult to compile a list of all the papers established in this State from the earliest times till the present. It would perhaps be impossible to do so, for some of them died in their infancy, and a copy cannot now be found. There were, no doubt, many whose very names are not now remembered. It would not be an extravagant estimate to place the total number of papers published in this State, both those still in existence and those which are dead, at five hundred. It would be a surprise to many persons to learn how ephemeral is the average newspaper. It comes and goes. It has its beginning, its prosperity, its adversity, its death. Another follows in its path. Few can be called relatively permanent. There are now more than one hundred newspapers published in West Virginia. Only nine of these were in existence in 1863, when the State was admitted into the Union. These nine are the Wheeling Intelligencer, Wheeling Register, Clarksburg Telegram, Charlestown Free Press, Charlestown Spirit of Jefferson, Shepherdstown Register, Barbour County Jeffersonian, Wellsburg Herald and Point Pleasant Register. Of the papers in existence in this State in 1870 only sixteen have come down to the present day. The cause of the early death of so many papers which begin life in such earnest hope is that the field is full. Two newspapers try to exist where there is room for only one. It does not require an evolutionist to foretell the result. Both must starve or one must quit. If one quits there is always another anxious to push in and try its luck.
West Virginia's experience does not differ from experience elsewhere. Journalism in country towns is much the same the country over. In cities the business is more stable, because conducted on business principles. Men with experience and business training accustom themselves to look before they leap. The inexperienced man who is ambitious to crowd some one else out of the newspaper business in the interior towns is too prone to leap first and do his looking afterwards. There is no scarcity of good news- paper men outside the cities, and West Virginia has its share, but at the same time there are too many persons who feel themselves called
68
THE NEWSPAPERS OF WEST VIRGINIA.
upon to enter the arena, although unprepared for the fray, and who can- not hold their own in competition with men of training in the profession. To the efforts and failures of these latter persons is due the ephemeral . character of the lives of newspapers, taken as a whole. Country journal- ism comes to be looked upon as a changing, evanescent, uncertain thing, always respectable; only moderately and occasionally successful; inaugura- ted in hope; full of promise as the rainbow is full of gold; sometimes mate- rializing into things excellent; now and then falling like Lucifer, but always to hope again. There is something sublime in the rural journalist's faith in his ability to push forward. Though failures have been many, country journalism has builded greater than it knew. West Virginia's development and the rural press have gone hand in hand. Every railroad pushing into the wilderness has carried the civilizing editor and his outfit. He goes with an unfaltering belief in printer's ink and confidence in its conquering power. He is ready to do and suffer all things. The mining town and the latest county seat; the lumber center and the oil belt; the manufacturing village and the railroad terminus; these are the fields in which he casts his lot. Here he sets up his press; he issues his paper; he booms the town; he records the births, marriages and deaths with a monotonous faithfulness; he expresses his opinion freely and generously. In return he expects the town and the surrounding country to support his enterprise as liberally as he has given his time, talent and energy in advancing the interests of the town. Sometimes his expectations are realized; sometimes not. If not, perhaps he packs his worldly assets and sets out for another town, richer in experience but poorer in cash. There are men in West Virginia who have founded a number of newspapers, usually selling out after a year or two in order to found another journal.
This is the class of editors who blaze the way into the woods. They bear the same relation to the journalism which follows as the "tomahawk right" bore in early days to the plantations and estates which succeeded them. After the adventurous and restless journalist has passed on, then comes the newspaper man who calculates before he invests. He does not come in a hurry. He is not afraid some one will get ahead of him. He does not locate before he has carefully surveyed the field, and has satisfied him- self that the town and the surrounding country are able to support such a journal as he proposes establishing. His aim is to merit and receive the patronage of the people. This becomes the solid, substantial paper, and its editor wields a permanent influence for good. Such papers and such editors are found all over West Virginia.
Journalism among businesses is like poetry among the fine arts-the most easily dabbled in but the most difficult to succeed in. It may not ap- pear to the casual observer that the newspaper business is nearly always unsuccessful, or at least, that nearly all the papers which come into exist- ence meet untimely death in the very blossom of their youth. An examina- tion of the history of newspapers in nearly any town a half century old will show that ten have failed where one has succeeded. The history of journal- ism in Monongalia County, already alluded to, differs little from the history of the papers in any county of equal age and population.
In 1851, when Horace Greeley was asked by a Parliamentary Commit- tee from England "at what amount of population of a town in America do they first begin the publication of a weekly newspaper?" he replied that every county will have one, and a county of twenty thousand population
69
THE NEWSPAPERS OF WEST VIRGINIA.
usually has two weekly papers; and when a town has fifteen thousand peo- ple it usually has a daily paper. This rule does not state the case in West Virginia today. The average would probably show one newspaper for each six thousand people. In the small counties the average is sometimes as low as one paper to two thousand people, and not one-fourth of these peo- ple subscribe for a paper. It is not difficult to see that the field can be easily over-supplied; and among newspapers there must be a survival of the fittest.
The early journals published in this State, as well as those published elsewhere at that time, say seventy or eighty years ago, were very differ- ent in appearance from those of today. The paper on which the printing was done was rough, rugged and discolored, harsh to the touch, and of a quality inferior to wrapping paper of the present time. Some of them ad- vertised that they would take clean rags at four cents a pound in payment of subscriptions. At that time paper was made from rags. It is now mostly made from wood. The publishers no doubt shipped the rags to the paper mills and received credit on their paper accounts. Some of these early journals clung to the old style of punctuation and capitalization; and some, to judge by their appearance, followed no style at all, but were as out- landish as possible, particularly in the use of capital letters. They capital- ized all nouns, and as many other words as they could, being limited, ap- parently, only by the number of capital letters in their type cases.
As late as 1835 all the printing presses in the United States were run by hand power. On the earliest press the pressure necessary was obtained by means of a screw. Fifty papers an hour was fast work. The substitu- tion of the lever for the screw increased the capacity of the press five fold. This arrangement reached its greatest development in the Washington Hand Press, patented in 1829 by Samuel Rust. This press is still the stand- by in many small offices. The printing done with it is usually good; but the speed is slow, and two hundred and fifty impressions an hour is a high average. Printers call this press "The Man-Killer," because its operation requires so much physical exertion.
The early newspapers in backwoods towns attempted to pull neck and neck with the city journals. They tried to give the news from all over the world; and the result was, they let the home news go. They were long in learning that a small paper's field should be small, and that the readers of a local paper expect that paper to contain the local news. Persons who desired national and foreign news subscribed for metropolitan papers. This was the case years ago the same as now. In course of time the lesson was learned; the local papers betook themselves to their own particular fields, with the result that the home paper has become a power at home. The growth of journalism has a tendency to restrict the influence of individual great papers to smaller and smaller geographical limits. All round the outer borders of their areas of circulation other papers are taking posses- sion of their territory and limiting them. No daily paper now has a gen- eral and large circulation farther away from the place of publication than can be reached in a few hours. This is not so much the case with small papers. When once firmly established they can hold their small circulation and local influence much more securely than large circulation and large in- fluence can be held by metropolitan papers. The trouble with the country papers is that the most of them die before they can establish themselves.
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