USA > West Virginia > Randolph County > The history of Randolph County, West Virginia. From its earliest settlement to the present, embracing records of all the leading families, reminiscences and traditions > Part 24
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District 2, that part of the county north-east of Rich Mountain and east of Valley River, including the Horse Shoe settlement from Wilmoth's set- tlement down. Salathiel Goff was appointed to conduct the election.
District 3. The remainder of the county was "divided by a line due east from Rich Mountain, passing by William Wamsley's." North of the line was the third district and Robert Maxwell was appointed to hold the election.
District 4 consisted of the remainder of the county, and Patrick Hamil- ton was appointed to hold the election. The Sheriff was ordered to oversee the elections and make returns at the September court. Returns were not made until November, and then in only two districts. In No. 2, William Westfall and David Minear were elected; in No. 3, Aaron Richardson, Thomas Philips and William Wilson,
At this court Hugh Turner was ordered to draw plans and specifications for a jail, and the Sheriff was ordered to advertise for bids for building the jail.
At the August court, 1787, the first grand jury was drawn. The names were: John Hamilton, Daniel Westfall, Valentine Stalnaker, Jacob Stal- naker. John Currence, Simeon Harris, Joseph Crouch, Charles Nelson, Solomon Ryan, Abraham Kittle, Thomas Philips, William Wilson, Charles Myers, Michael Isner, Nicholas Petro, Nicholas Wolf and Andrew Skidmore.
Alexander Addison applied for license to practice law. He was licensed temporarily and was given one year in which to secure the recommendation of some county court, and if he did not secure such recommendation his license lapsed. The same order was made at that term in the case of Wil- liam McCleary. Lawyers must be recommended by a county court before they were admitted to practice; and deputy surveyors must pass an exam- ination before they were permitted to enter upon their duties. The County Surveyor and his deputies had much work to do, as calls for the survey of land entries were frequent. The principal surveyor must be licensed by the college of William and Mary in Virginia; but his deputies passed ex- aminations which were usually conducted by a committee appointed by the county court from its own members, and as they seldom knew anything of surveying, their question's must have been more formidable than technical. However, the applicant fared well; for, in the entire records of Randolph County there is not found one failure among the hundreds of applicants for deputy surveyor.
Edward Hart was awarded the contract for building a jail, to be com- pleted in one month. The price is not now known.
At the September Court, 1787, John Wilson was allowed 200 pounds of tobacco as pay for labor in collecting the land tax. The first county levy was laid at this court. It was a poll tax, and was laid on certain slaves as well as on white men. The rate was $1.04 per head.
The first record of an insane person in the county is found in the pro- ceedings of that court. Philip and David Minear informed the court that
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their brother, John Minear, "was crazy and had escaped into Monongalia County." They asked for authority to take charge of him and his estate. Their petition was granted. The Minears lived at St. George, in the pres- ent County of Tucker.
Two indictments were found at that court-the first in the county. One was against Martin Brown and one against Silas Hadchesson, both for sell- ing liquor without license. No further mention of the cases is found in the records. From that date forward for fifty years or more there was, on an average, fifty indictments a year for selling liquor without license; and an examination of the records fails to show that there were, ou an average, two convictions a year. Not one case in four ever came to trial, and the verdict was nearly always one of acquittal. The same statement applies to indictments for assault and battery in the early years of the county. In- dictments were numerous, trials few and convictions rare. Occasionally, however, when found guilty, a fine by no means light was imposed.
At the March court, 1788, William McCleary was recommended to the Governor as a proper person for Judge of the District Court of Monongalia County. At this court the first indictment in the county for getting drunk was found. It was against Nathaniel Maddix. The first trial jury in the county was at that court, and found Joseph Donoho guilty and he was fined $1.72, but the nature of the charge against him is not stated. The names of the Jurors were: James Taffee, John Elliott, Samuel Pringle, William Blair, William Anthony, Smith Currence, George Rennix, Anthony Smith, William Parsons, William Smith, Henry Mace, Job Westfall, and Thomas Carney.
Although the jail was ordered to be finished in one month from the letting of the contract, it was not done eleven months after, and the court ordered the Sheriff to collect $26.663* to carry forward the work.
In July, 1788, the court aimed a blow at idleness in these words: "Ordered, that a writ go forth to bring Grant Lambert before the next August court to show cause why he does not betake himself to lawful em- ployment and demean himself as required by the laws of this common- wealth." There is no record to show what became of Grant Lambert. He probably betook himself to lawful employment, or took himself out of the county.
About this time the grand juries commenced indicting the road over- seers for neglecting their work. Such indictments were numerous, some- times half the overseers of the county being on the list. Few were found guilty, and the fines were never heavy, often only a few cents. Such in- dictments were found by the dozen at nearly every court where there was a jury during the first half century of the county, and they are by no means obsolete at the present day.
In 1787 the Justices of the Peace drew up plans and specifications for a Court-House, and ordered the Sheriff to advertise for bids for building. The site selected was at the intersection of the streets at the corner of the present vacant square, and when the house was built it stood in the street, and a narrow alley passed on either side of it. But, although the plaus were adopted in September, 1788, some time elapsed before the house was
* Pounds, shillings and pence were used. They have been reduced to dollars and cents in this book. In Virginia currency the pound was $3.333, the shilling 163 cents and the penny 1 7-18 cents.
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completed. Hugh Turner had the contract, and in February, 1789, he was paid $200. In April of the next year a minute in the court record states that the total cost should not exceed $400, and that the first story should be finished and "turned over" by April, 1791. It was a two-story structure. The jail which was ordered to be finished within one month, dragged along from 1788 till April, 1790, when it was completed. In the meantime, or at least part of the time, the Sheriff kept his prisoners in his residence. As late as January, 1792, there were "timbers, scantlings and planks" provided for the construction of the Court-House, and on April 25 of that year, the con- tractor, Hugh Turner, gave up the job and the court ordered the contract re-let to the lowest bidder. Henry Hart's bid was $106.663, and he was awarded the contract. This was for completing the work left unfinished by Turner. Hart was slow, and in August, 1795, the court ordered Max- well Armstrong, the Commonwealth's Attorney, to bring suit against Hart's bondsmen, on account of his failure to complete the Court-House. In August, 1796, Hart promised to have the work done by the following November, and the suit against him and his bondsmen was let rest, to see what he would do. Plenty of time was given, and on July 23, 1798, a com- mittee was appointed by the court to ascertain whether Edward Hart had finished the Court-House according to contract. No explanation is given why Edward Hart was substituted for Henry Hart, the contractor. No report can be found, but inasmuch as no further mention is made of the matter it is inferred that the four hundred dollar Court-House had been finished after ten years of labor, and the failure of one contractor and prob- ably two. Steps were at once taken for building a stone jail, which never was built. Something, however, was still the matter with the Court-House, for on December 23, 1799, court was held at the house of William Marteney, in Beverly. In October, 1802, an order was made to pay "William Mar- teney $12 rent for the use of his house as a Court-House during the winter last past," and at the same time eight dollars were appropriated to buy "benches and a table for the Court-House and to repair the stocks." It is evident that the county had not received much benefit so far from its Court- House.
In 1789 the Sheriff's bond was $53,333. One of the first orders given the Sheriff after his appointment that year was that he call on Harrison County for the balance due Randolph. It is not stated for what that balance was due, nor how much it was, but it probably consisted of taxes collected by Harrison within the territory of Randolph before the formation of this county. The law provided, in certain cases, that the new county should receive a share of the revenue collected after the Act of the Legislature had passed creating the county, but before the county was organized.
In those days the records of court proceedings were meager, so meager that it is often impossible to determine what was the charge or the issue in suits which passed to judgment. Following are examples, showing every- thing on record concerning the matters:
"Jacob Stalnaker vs. William Blair; agreed."
"John Wilson vs. Uriah Gandy: jury; the plaintiff must have the horse."
"The Commonwealth vs. Gabriel Powell; 3s."
" William Gipson vs. William McCleary; improper."
"John Haddan vs. David Lilly; two blankets instead of one."
"James Taffee vs. William Bonner; next."
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"The Commonwealth vs. Charles Parsons; tree in the road."
On April 27, 1789, Robert Maxwell gave notice that he had applied for a privilege of establishing a ferry across Leading Creek from his lands to those of Jonas Friend. At the same court Gabriel Powell was cited to ap- pear and give security that he would support his family, or show cause why he should not come under the vagrancy act. At the May court McCleary was removed from the office of Prosecuting Attorney, but no reason was assigned for it. He was subsequently employed occasionally to represent the county in court. After waiting a month for Gabriel Powell to appear, the court ordered that both he and his wife be "taken by Constable William Haddan to Constable David Minear, and that Minear convey them into Washington County, Maryland, and there leave them."
In 1789 David Lilly, who kept tavern in Beverly, was indicted "for sell- ing apple brandy above the legal rate." Five members of the grand jury which indicted him appeared as witnesses against him. There is nothing on the records to show what became of the case.
In August of that year, 1789, occurs the first record in Randolph of an oath to support the Constitution of the United States. The oath was taken by all the Justices of the Peace. The Constitution had lately been ratified. In September of that year the court issued a certificate to Jona- than Buffington, setting forth that he had lost a land warrant for 400 acres given to him for services in Colonel Gibson's regiment. The certificate ex- plains, "the warrant was taken from him by the Indians when he was captivated." Anthony Reger's tax for that year was not collected because Indians took his horse.
At the March court, 1790, there was trouble among the Justices on the bench. One of them, Edward Jackson, went before the grand jury and gave information that his associate, Robert Maxwell, was drunk, and Max- well was indicted, and Jackson was likewise indicted for a similar offence. Maxwell was tried and acquitted, but Jackson confessed his guilt. Jacob Stalnaker was indicted "for swearing at the February court;" Jacob Faltner for conducting a lottery, and William Currence "for fighting the Sheriff." He was fined 163 cents. The next year Benjamin Hornbeck was indicted for carrying a grist to mill on Sunday, and the next year, 1791, almost every road overseer in the county was indicted for neglect of duty. In August of that year the name Beverly occurs on the court records for the first time.
At that time it was lawful to imprison a man for debt. The creditor was required to pay all the expenses of the imprisonment. The debtor could take the bankrupt's oath and secure his release. He wasnot com- pelled to stay inside the jail, but was permitted to enjoy liberty within certain prescribed bounds, beyond which he must not go. In September, 1791, the "prison bounds" in Beverly were fixed: "Beginning at the lower corner of Edward Hart's lot on Front street, opposite the lot next above the lot whereon the Court-House is; thence down to the lot Hart's carpen- ter shop is on, by the spring; thence down with the lower line of the town to the lower end thereof; thence up to Front street, and thence to the be- ginning." Subsequently the "prison bounds" were extended to include the whole of Beverly.
In 1792 the court appointed a committee to examine the falls in the Valley River, in the present county of Taylor, to ascertain whether they could be improved so that fish could come up the river. Harrison County was asked to assist in the improvement. Nothing was done.
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In 1794 the Sheriff advertised for bids for building stocks and a pillory in Beverly. These things were considered essential. Among the indict- - ments that year were these: St. Leger Stout for "suffering cardplaying in his house;" Edward Hart, the same; John Shultz "for carrying corn meal on Sunday;" Samuel Bringham for "profane swearing." Jacob Westfall was granted permission "to erect a grist mill next to the town of Beverly." In November, 1794, the words "dollar" and "cent" occur for the first time in the court records of Randolph. Pounds, shillings and pence gradually went out of use after that date. The Sheriff was paid in "dollars" for tak- ing two horse thieves to Bath County. In 1795 Edward Combs was put in the stocks five minutes for contempt of court. Three years later St. Leger Stout was adjudged guilty of contempt and was ordered to the stocks five minutes. This order was partly scratched off the book and one was sub- stituted stating that Stout was fined $20 and was required to give bond to keep the peace one year. At the same time William Briggs, Richard Reeder, William Westfall and Jacob Wees were fined two dollars each for not assisting the Sheriff to arrest Stout when called upon to do so. These fragmentary records give us a glimpse of a lively court day, with Stout on the warpath, defying the Sheriff, and citizens refusing to assist the officer to restore order The next month peace had been restored and all the fines were ordered remitted.
In 1796 another tramp case was on the docket, and all the constables in the county were ordered to take part in catching him and floating him "from constable to constable until he shall be moved beyond the county line the way he came." His name was John Gilberts, and fifteen days were allowed to consummate his banishment.
In 1795 the County Seal was affixed to six instruments, at one dollar each, of which 95 cents went to the State. The next year the seal was affixed to eight instruments. During the ten or twelve years from 1789, the records of the county were made by Robert Maxwell, deputy clerk.
Early in 1798 there was a smallpox scare in Randolph. The court met in special session to take measures, but adjourned without doing anything. All the Justices in the county were summoned to meet February 26, but they did nothing, so far as the records show, to check the spread of the epidemic.
Nicholas Marsteller was appointed Master of Brands and Measures. Under the law, correct weights and measures, such as scales, yardsticks, pecks, and others of a like kind, were ordered to be provided and kept by the county; and all weights and measures brought into the county must be inspected before being used.
There were 32 delinquent taxpayers in Randolph in 1797, and 26 the next year, and 30 in 1802. In 1800 the first conviction for "profane swear- ing" was placed on record. Henry Mace was fined 33 cents for that offense. But, once a conviction was secured, others followed, and at the same court a fine of 33 cents each was imposed upon Joseph Friend and Thomas Wil- moth for swearing.
In March, 1803, Samuel Pringle was a witness at the Beverly court and was paid for traveling thirty miles, from Harrison county. This was evi- dently the same Pringle who deserted from Fort Pitt in 1761, and who took up his residence in the present county of Upshur in 1765. His name is met several times in the early records of Randolph, but not later than 1803.
At the May court, 1803, a series of unusual indictments were found, were subsequently tried and in some of them convictions were secured and
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fines of a few cents were imposed. The indictments were "for not giving or offering to give their votes for a member of Congress and two members of the General Assembly of the State." The persons indicted were Andrew , Miller, Charles Myers, Daniel Hart, Elijah Rollins, Ebenezer Flanagan, Charles Boyles, Henry Jackson, Jacob Nestor, Joseph Joseph, John Hill, John Sanders, John Barker, John Barnhouse, Isaac Parsons, Martin Miller, Thomas Cade, William Anglin, William Howell, Terah Osborn, John Had- dan and William Wilson. Times have changed. Men are now sometimes in- dicted for voting too much; formerly they were indicted for not voting enough. The next year Abraham Springstone was indicted, found guilty, and was fined "85 cents each" for "swearing five several prophane oaths." The next year another pillory and new stocks were built.
Persons charged with felony were given preliminary trials, and if deemed guilty, they were sent for trial to the district court, sometimes to Morgantown, sometimes to Moorefield and sometimes to Clarksburg.
The first foreigner naturalized in Randolph County was William Bock, 1806; the second was Samuel Nearbeck, 1824. In 1806 there were only two voting places in Randolph for electing overseers of the poor, one at Beverly, the other at John Philips' house on Glady Creek, in the present county of Barbour. There were 41 delinquent taxpayers in the county in 1806.
Randolph had bad luck with its log Court-House, begun 1788 and finished some ten years later. It never fulfilled expectations, and it was not used after 1803. From that date till 1808 court was held in the house of John Wilson, and in 1808, at the house of Nicholas Gibson, in Beverly. On March 29 of that year all the Justices in the county were called together to take steps toward building a new Court-House and jail. The old jail had utterly failed. In June of that year Jonathan Hutton, Samuel Ball, and Matthew Whitman were appointed a committee to contract for building a Court-House, jail and clerk's office. The specifications for the Court-House were as follows: "The front to be thirty feet wide; forming a circle in the back part; underpinned with stones; walls of brick; first story 12 feet high; second story eight feet high; the clerk's office 15 feet square, ad- joining the southwest end of the Court-House, built of brick; all covered with joint shingles; lower floor of office to be laid with brick." That was the beginning of the the old Court-House which is still standing and in use. Several changes were made in the plan before it was completed. In 1809 the old county buildings were appraised at $402.50. The length of the new building was increased to 36 feet. In 1810 the sum of $828.50 was appro- priated for building purposes. The next year, 1811, court was held in the house of Ely Butcher, in Beverly. In 1813 the further sum of $400 was appropriated for building the Court-House, and at the same time specifica- tions for a jail, to be completed within a year, were adopted, and the build- ing contract was awarded William Marteney and William Steers. The foundations must be four feet under ground. The next year the con- tractors were paid $250 on the jail contract, and Solomon Collett was paid $35.50 for hinges and other irons for the Court-House, and these are still in use. In January, 1815, the Court-House was not yet finished, and a second story was ordered put on the jail. The upper story was for debtors. No date can be discovered at which the Court-House was occupied by the court, but probably it was early in 1815. The County Clerk's office was not built till 1838.
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Among the numerous indictments in 1811 for Sabbath breaking, neglect of roads, fighting and other greater or lesser offenses, was one against Samuel Bingham, expressed in unique and unpunctuated phraseology as follows: "For provanely swearing one oath to wit by god within two months last past a true bill." In 1816 Abraham Longaker was fined $30 for selling half a pint of rum without license, and Peter Robinson was fined $2.50 for breaking a jail window. The next year Benjamin Hornbeck was fined $5 "for failing to keep still."
At the October court, 1819, Ely Butcher, Godfrey Hiller and Archi- bald Earle were "appointed commissioners to contract for filling up the Court-House with gravel." There is no explanation of what this means, but probably the intention was that the low places in the Court-House yard, and not the building itself, should be filled with gravel.
In 1820 there was another racket in court. The minute reads: "Or- dered that Robert Furguson be fined $1.66 cents for swearing two oaths in the presence of the court, " and immediately following is another: "Ordered that Robert Ferguson be fined $20 for contempt of court and that he be imprisoned until he pay the fine." It is presumable that the first fine pro- voked Mr. Ferguson to commit the second offense. The court records do not give the conclusion, but it is a matter of tradition that a few minutes after he was put in jail he walked into the court-room, bringing with him the iron bars which had barricaded the window. He was a blacksmith, and had put the bars in the window, and knowing the manner of their fastenings, he had easily taken them out .*
As late as 1821 the jail was not yet done, having dragged along since 1813. The building yet stands just north of the public square. When the movement began in 1813 for a new jail it was the purpose to put it in the public square, but Adam Myers, who owned the old hotel (still stand- ing) on the east side of the square, objected, because a jail in front of his hotel would injure his property. Therefore he offered to deed the county a lot just north of the square for a jail, provided the court would agree to put no building on the square in front of his tavern. The agreement being satisfactory, the following minute was entered of record November 24, 1813: "Ordered that William Martney and William Steers be appointed commissioners to contract with Adam Myers for land to build a jail on, and to enter into an agreement with said Myers that the public will put no building on the public square, unoccupied, opposite said Myers' house, but it to remain for the use of the public." Myers gave the lot, and from that day to this the public square has remained vacant, and it must remain vacant forever under the laws of this country. Three-quarters of a cen-
*Robert Ferguson was a soldier in the war of 1812. It is said that once when rations were scarce in camp the soldiers raided a farmer's henbouse. Ferguson plucked his rooster as he walked along until in front of the Colonel's tent where he wrung the fowl's head off, left the head and the feathers there, and went to his own tent and cooked the chicken. The next morning the irate farmer tracked the feathers to the Colonel's tent, found the head tbere, and created an uproar by boisterously charging the officer with chicken stcaling. The Colonel emphatically denied it, but when shown the evidence in front of his tent, he said he must have done it in his sleep, as he could not remember it. Another night the soldiers visited a potato patch. Ferguson filled his pockets first, and then roared at the top of his voice: "Come up here, boys; the closer the house the bigger the taters." This, of course, apprised the farmer of the situation, and out he came, and the soldiers skedaddled with empty pockets. Ferguson alone had potatoes for breakfast next morning.
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tury afterwards the county court undertook to sell the square, but could not do so. The supreme court decided that the county, by that order in 1813, had dedicated the square to the use of the public, and it must per- petually remain for the use of the public.
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