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 48
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Col. Hutton's first duty in the regular service was in the Imboden raid of 1863. At Middle Fork he was detached and sent back to Beverly to hold that point. He remained there until the Federals came in sight, a week or more after Imboden had passed. He then fell back to Pocahontas County. The weak resistance offered the advance of the Confederates by the Union forces under General Roberts caused that general to be superseded by Gen- eral Averell, who equipped and trained 3000 cavalry to guard the passes through the mountains in West Virginia north of the Kanawha. Colonel Hutton entertains a high opinion of the generalship of Averell and consid- ers that he was the abiest and most dangerous opponent the Confederates had to contend with in West Virginia. He moved very rapidly.
In July, 1863, Colonel Hutton was with General W. L. Jackson in his attack upon Beverly. Hutton was sent down on the west side of the river, but fell back and retreated with the Confederates when Federal cavalry under Averell put in an appearance on the pike between Beverly and Lead- ing Creek. . Averell pursued and the last firing occurred at Crickard. Colonel Hutton was in the battle at Droop Mountain, Pocahontas County, where General Echols was defeated by Averell, and he was cut off when the Confederate Army retreated, and with Captain Jacob S. Wamsley, Sergeant, C. G. Rader and Sidney Ruckman, and the men of their commands camped on the edge of the battlefield that night, very near the
* See sketch of Capt. Snyder for further particulars of this affair.
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Union Army, and the next day made their way to the Levels, crossed the Greenbrier River at Ruckman's and joined General Echols at Lewisburg.
Next came the campaign of General Hunter against Lynchburg. The command that Hutton was in met the Federals under General Crook at White Sulphur Springs, and there was a running fight for ten miles, the Confederates falling back. Ten of Major J. F. Harding's men were cap- tured on that occasion, and the Major would have shared the same fate but for an unerring shot from his revolver which stopped the foremost pursuer. In a skirmish the same day at Covington Colonel Hutton received a painful wound in the shoulder from a spent ball, but it did not disable him, The next day, with five men, he was sent to Callihan's, near the top of the Alle- ghanies, to learn the movements of the Federals. He learned that Averell was close upon them, and four Union scouts in gray clothes came in sight a few minutes later, but a shot which killed one of them put the others to flight.
During the rest of the campaign Col. Hutton was in the principal part of the fighting against Gen. Crook, falling back before him from Bratton's to Panther Gap, and again through Rockfish Gap to Lynchburg. When Hunter retreated from Lynchburg, his troops were attacked wherever pos- sible. On the march to Lynchburg the Confederates fought as they fell back, but on the return the order was reversed, and the Federals were obliged to fight their way out until they reached Monroe Co. The next large mili- tary movement with which the subject of this sketch was connected was Gen. Early's expedition into Maryland, advancing to the suburbs of Wash- ington, and falling back across the Potomac. Col. Hutton was in all of the hard fighting in the Valley of Virginia between Early and Sheridan, and was wounded near White Post. Eugene Hutton, his brother, who was a lieutenant, was killed at Bunker Hill, Sept. 3, 1864. This left Major Hard- ing the only officer remaining. The war was drawing to a close. The last fight in which Col. Hutton took part was between Madison Court-House and Gordonsville; from there he went to Highland County to spend the winter. In the spring of 1865 he was ordered to join Lee. Below Lynchburg he heard of the surrender. He attempted to reach Johnston in North Carolina, but got no farther than Pittsylvania Court-House. He crossed the James at Buchanan, disbanded his men and reassembled them a few days later at Lexington. There he finally disbanded them and directed them to surrend- er wherever they saw fit. He surrendered at Lewisburg, Greenbrier Co., May 10, 1865.
The war having ended, Col. Hutton entered actively into business. In 1877 and again in 1881 he was elected to the Legislature, and received the Democratic nomination for the State Senate in 1885. His real estate trans- actions have been on a large scale, he having bought and sold more land than any other man in the State, his purchase for one company amounting
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to 132,000 acres. He aided in founding a plant in Braxton Co. at a cost of a quarter of a million dollars; bought 16,000 acres for the Holly River Lum- ber Co., and 10,000 on Elk for a Pennsylvania company. He contested to a successful issue a lawsuit involving the largest amount ever litigated in Randolph County.
In 1872 Col. Hutton was married to Miss Sophronia E., daughter of John Harvey Woodford of Barbour Co .; children, Laone, who married Captain W. H. Cobb of Georgia, cousin of Gen. Thomas Cobb; Harvey Woodford, Ernest, Forrest and Beryl.
WARWICK HUTTON, born 1850, son of John A. and Dorothy (See) Hut- ton; Welsh ancestry. In 1888, in Barbour County. he married Rissa, daugh- ter of J. H. and I. (Thompson) Woodford. Children, Dorothy S., Isis I. Farmer and stockdealer. In 1888 he was elected Sheriff of Randolph; after his term expired he resumed farming. He lives on the Hutton homestead and owns an interest in 1000 acres. His sister Margaret married Noah Crouch, who is dead, and his sister Caroline married Philip Hamilton, who lives at Grafton, and is in the employ of the B. & O. Railroad.
ALBERT E. HUTTON, born 1850, son of Abraham; married, 1886, Eliza- beth, daughter of John M. Crouch. Children, Jossie B., Felix C., Myrtle, Ora, Mary. Farmer.
THE HADDAN FAMILY. Among the first settlers arriving in Tygart's Valley after the massacre of the Files family in 1753 or 1754, were three brothers, David, William and John Haddan. With them came their parents. There is some evidence that they came here from New Jersey, then called "the Jerseys." The families located in the vicinity of what is now Hut- tonsville, selecting the choicest and most fertile lands in .Tygart's Valley. The surveys describe the river as the "Monongahela." Tradition has it that the elder Haddan and his family were murdered by Indians,* their house and its contents pillaged and burned, and that this was witnessed by their son William, who was concealed nearby in a sink-hole covered with driftwood, but powerless to render any aid. In consequence of the barbar- ity which he witnessed upon that occasion he became the unrelenting foe of the Indians, and when they ceased coming to this section he followed in their footsteps further west, as they retired, until all trace of him or of his descendants has been lost.+ It is believed that the elder Haddan's name
* It is remarkable that this circumstance, which appears well authenticated, and seems to have been a matter of common knowledge among the early inhabitants, should have escaped Withers when he was collecting material for the " Border Warfare." There were, however, several Indian murders in Randolph County which Withers failed to record.
+ Such characters were not uncommon on the frontiers-men whose natures had be- come so changed by the revolting cruelty of the Indians that they seemed powerless to resist the temptation to kill an Indian whenever they could-in peace or war. Noted examples were Lewis Wetzel and Jesse Hughes, the former of Ohio County, the latter
William Haddan appears to have been like them. It is stated by way of of Harrison.
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was David. Of the other sons, David, the eldest, with others, built an Indian fort near the mouth of Elkwater, a branch of Tygart's Valley River, and it was long known as Haddan's Fort. David Haddan was married twice. Of the first wife's family little is known, except that his daughter Mary married Edward Jackson, and became the grandmother of General Stonewall Jack- son :* The marriage took place prior to the formation of Randolph County. The second wife of David Haddan was Rebecca Barr. By this marriage there were three children, David, Margaret and Elizabeth. David died be- fore attaining his majority; Margaret, in 1797, became the wife of Isaac White, who was born 1776, and Margaret was born March 28, 1779; and in 1804 Elizabeth became the wife of John Stalnaker, dying without issue. David Haddan died 1791 at his home near Huttonsville, his widow surviving him many years.
John Haddan was one of the Justices of the Peace who organized Ran- dolph.County in 1787. He was County Lieutenant and also one of the as- sessors in the same year. He and William Wilson were the first represen- tatives of Randolph County in the Virginia Legislature at Richmond, t both voting for the Report of 1799, defining the rights of the States. He was captain of the militia in 1795 and Major of the Militia in 1800. In 1806 he disposed of his property and moved to Knox County, then in the territory of Indiana.
CREED HAYMOND. Although Creed Haymond's chief connection with Randolph was to be born in the county, yet because of the prominence which he afterwards gained, it is proper that mention should be made of him. His father was Calder Haymond, who married Martha, daughter of Colonel Benjamin Wilson, ¿ and for many years was a resident of Beverly. He was a lawyer and began practice at the Beverly bar in 1830. The Hay- monds were of an influential family. The first of the name, of which any record is known, was John Haymond, an English architect and builder who visited Maryland, from England, prior to 1734, for the purpose of erecting a building. He was pleased with the country and remained in Maryland, settling near Rockville, then Frederick County, now Montgomery, where he died. He left considerable property, consisting of personal effects, slaves and real estate. His wife's name was Margaret, but whether he married in England or America is not now known. He left three sons, William, Calder and Nicholas. The two former removed from Maryland to the Monongahela Valley, and Nicholas died young, leaving one son John,
example that a friendly Indian visited the settlement near Huttonsville, and came into a blacksmith shop where Haddan was repairing a gun, having it screwed in a vice. When the Indian, by chance or design, was standing in front of it, the gun was dis- charged and the Indian was killed. The belief was general at the time that the gun was not discharged accidentally.
* See sketch of Edward Jackson.
t See sketch of Colonel Benjamin Wilson,
See Sketch of the Wilson family.
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of whom nothing more is known. Calder Haymond, (Creed Haymond's great uncle) has a few descendants in Taylor County; but the most of them went to the West.
William Haymond, from whom most of the West Virginia Haymonds are descended, was born in Maryland, January 1740 and died in Harrison County 1821. He was a soldier, when eighteen years old, in General Forbes' expedition against Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburg, which was then held by the French. The next year, 1759, he enlisted in the Virginia regi- ment which had been commanded by Washington, and served in it three years on the frontiers, being discharged in February, 1762 .* In 1773 he removed to what is now Monongalia County, and in 1776 he was commis- sioned Captain of the Militia by Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia, and was commissioned major by Governor Benjamin Harrison in 1781. He was in active service against the Indians on the frontiers during the Revo- lution. He was Deputy Surveyor of Monongalia County, Justice of the Peace, Coroner and Sheriff. When Harrison County was formed, 1784, he was appointed principal surveyor, and traveled to Williamsburg to pass his examination at the College of William and Mary, as the law then required. He held the office thirty-seven years. He was a mathmatician and me- chanic of more than ordinary ability. He was always prominent in public affairs. Under the Act of the Virginia Assembly, May 1777, he was one of the officials selected to administer the oath of allegiance to all male inhab- itants over 16 years of age, and to absolve them from their allegiance to George III. His son, William Haymond, was the father of William Calder, who was the father of Creed Haymond. Creed had two sisters, Harriet and Ann, the latter the only member of the family now living. About 1838 the family removed to Marion County. }
Creed Haymond's chief reputation as a lawyer and soldier was gained in California. Below will be found a sketch of him from The Resources of California, published in San Francisco about 1886:
Creed Haymond was born in the town of Beverly, Randolph County, Virginia, April 22, 1836. His father was Hon. W. C. Haymond, one of Virginia's most distinguished and gifted lawyers. When a mere boy, only sixteen years of age, in 1852, he crossed the plains with a party of friends from that section to try his fortunes in California. Soon after arriving in this State, being possessed of ample means, he engaged largely in mining, packing, merchandising and ditching in northern Sierra. He continued in this business until 1859, when he entered upon tlie study and practice of law. In the legal profession his upward course was a phenomenal fliglit, carrying liim to the head within the first year of liis new career.
Colonel Haymond was chairman of the Code Commission of this State, and prepared with his associates, the first complete code of laws ever adopted by any State in the Union, or in fact by any English speaking people. He married Miss Alice Crawford, an
* The discharge is now in possession of Colonel Henry Haymond of Clarksburg. It was signed at Fort Lewis, Va., by Lient-Col. Adam Stephen, afterwards a brigadier in the Revolution.
In the court records of Randolph the name of Calder Haymond is entered among the lawyers of the bar as " William C. Haman," evidently the blunder of a careless clerk, who followed the custom of the time and place, and spelled the shortest way.
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accomplished and beautiful young lady, a native of the town of Auburn, Placer County, Cal. He served two terms in the State Senate from the Sacramento District, in which body he achieved great distinction as a speaker and earnest worker. Aside from his connection with most of the great civil cases at the bar of our State for the past twenty years, Colonel Haymond has been connected with many of the most noted criminal cases. He was for a long time Colonel of the First Artillery Regiment, National Guard, Cali- fornia. He was Captain of the Sierra Greys, a Sierra County militia company, and took his company into the service under Colonel Jack Hays, in the spring of 1860, against the Indians of Nevada after the Pyramid Lake Massacre. He entered the service of the railroad company in May, 1882, since which time he has been identified with all that company's important legal affairs. In what is so well known as the Railroad Tax Cases, he raised for the first time the question of the protecting influence and power of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States; against the dis- criminating exercise of powers by a State, as between citizens or property of the same class, contending that the State could not discriminate in the matter of taxation as between citizens holding the same class of property, nor as to property of the same class because of its ownership by citizens or associations of citizens. While Colonel-Hay- mond's position, so ably put forth, has not been as yet to the full extent affirmed by the supreme court of the United States, it has been by the circuit court of the United States here, and by the highest courts of seven other States. Colonel Haymond added much to his reputation by his masterly presentation of these constitutional questions. He was also counsel for Governor Stanford, and arranged all the papers in the matter of that gentleman's munificent donation to the State for the foundation of a great Uni- versity.
Upon the whole we may consider Creed Haymond as synonymous with energetic labor and sleepless ambition to go on further up, even to the top. Not that he may then rest, but only that his field of view may be the more expansive.
DANIEL S. HAYMOND, M. D., born in Taylor County, 1838, son of John and Parthena (Murphy) Haymond, English parentage; in 1873 married Phoebe C., daughter of Adam and Emily (Cooper) Mouse. Children, Grace, Orpheus Luther, Odbert James; graduated from the Medical department of the University of New York 1867; began practicing at Simpson, Taylor County; came to Randolph in 1869, and has since engaged in merchandising and practicing medicine.
BENJAMIN HORNBECK, born in 1759, married early and moved to what is now Randolph County, and settled on Leading Greek. In 1781, at the time of the Leading Creek Massacre, the Indians, killed his wife and all his children, but he succeeded in making his escape. About a year after that he married Lydia, daughter of William Currence. She was born in 1763. Their children were Sarah, who married Samuel Channel in 1804; Moses, Joseph, Mary, Ann, who married James Carr, March 16, 1810; John, Elizabeth, and three others whose names are not remembered. Benjamin Hornbeck was Justice of the Peace in 1806 and Sheriff in 1815.
JOSIAH WILBERT HEAVENER, son of William and Susan (Harper) Heavener, was born in Upshur County in 1859, and in 1892, in Pendleton County, married Virginia, daughter of A. M. and Mahala (Lough) Hevner. Children, Marguerite and Fred. He has been in Randolph six years, and before his coming he was deputy post master at Overhill, Upshur County, and at Seymoursville, Grant County. In the latter town he clerked in his brother's store. He is now the senior member of the firm of Heavener Brothers, merchants in Elkins.
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LEVI HEAVENER, born 1833, son of George and Catherine (Fox) Heavener; lives in Mingo District.
J. W. HEAVENER, born 1865; married Blanche Fretwell. Children, Vanessa L., Allie G., John W .; farmer in Mingo District.
JAMES O. HEVENER, born 1874, son of J. W. and Mary E. (Alkire) Hevener, lives in Middle Fork District.
. JOHN DICE HARPER, born near Marksville, 1835, son of Phillip and Martha (Harman) Harper; in 1855 he married Susan, daughter of George Eye; she died in 1861 and he married, 1863, Ellen, daughter of Daniel Summerfield. Children, Martha Ellen, Mary Susan, Amby W., James R., Philip D., Daniel B., Lutitia Catherine, Ira G., Martin V. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch was Elias Harper, and his father's name was Philip and he was one of the first settlers on North Fork. J. D. Harper is a farmer, owns 170 acres, 100 improved. He was in the Union service under Capt. Sampson Snyder and was in the fight at Judy's Gap.
JACOB CONRAD HARPER, born 1834 near Mouth of Senaca, son of Moses and Phœbe (Conrad) Harper; German ancestry; in 1860, at Macksville, Pendleton County, he married Susan, daughter of Anthony and Harriet (Stonebreaker) McDonald. Children, Jeremiah, Adam, Peter, Albert, Sey- mour, Riley,* Mary, Agnes, Isom George Washington, Henry, Miner, Almira, Florence Ida, Rosanna, Walter, Elizabeth, Gettie, Susan, Virginia, Delphia. He is a farmer and stockman and has lived in Randolph since 1861; owns 750 acres, 650 improved; was Justice of the Peace eight years; member Board of Education. When he moved to the summit of the Alle- ghany Mountain, where he now lives, it was a wilderness. The nearest store, Mouth of Seneca, was nine miles; the railroad at Keyser was 85 miles; he paid $5 a sack for salt; nails, 10 cents a pound. The Strader Spring on his farm was an old watering place for elk and buffalo, and Indians went there to kill them.
ISOM HARPER, born 1868, son of Jacob C .; in 1886 he married in Tucker County, Phoebe Elizabeth, daughter of Joab Carr. Children, Calvin, Miner, Chlorinda, Ottis, Delva, Baby; farmer, was constable in Tucker County.
MINER HARPER, born 1872, son of Jacob C., was married 1893 to Clara, daughter of Valentine Cooper. Children, Fred, Ermer, Baby.
RANDOLPH MORGAN HARPER, born 1841, son of Jehu and Ellen (Stal- naker) Harper; German descent; married 1863 to Ida E., daughter of Adam D. and Kittie E. (Wilson) Caplinger. Children, Willie Clair, Samuel Mor- rill, Edward Dice, Elizabeth Ellen, Ota Verna; was storekeeper 16 years. Farmer, owns 1251 acres, 660 improved, and houses and lots in Elkins; owns the ground on which stood Wilson's Fort. In 110 years the old Ben-
*Elected Sheriff of Tucker County, 1896.
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jamin Wilson farm has never been out of a direct descendant's hands. One of the oldest orchards in the State is there yet, and is still called "Benny's Orchard." It was planted about 1777. The old mill dam, built by Benja- min Wilson, is not yet all gone. Some of the timbers are in a fair state of preservation. The oldest Harper of the family, now known, was Henry. His children were Jacob, Jehu, Moses, Henry, Eva, Elizabeth, Absalom. The children of Jehu were Henry A., Randolph M., Daniel P., Elizabeth. *
PHILIP SAMUEL HARPER, born 1858 in Pendleton County, son of Elijah and Caroline (Bland) Harper; English; was married in 1878 to Mary Alice, daughter of Henry and Sarah K. (Roy) White. Children, Maudie Belle, Mary Susan, Samuel Walter, Nora Catherine, Annie Elphie, Sarah Rosetta, Austin Jay, Nathan Steele, Valley Marie, Gertie May. Farmer, 600 acres, 150 improved.
WILLIE CLAIR HARPER, born 1866, son of Randolph M., was married 115 to Florida M., daughter of Allen and Jemima P. (Ward) Taylor; child, Willie Glenn; owns 105 acres and a grist-mill; owns the William B. Wilson homestead.
H. L. HARPER, son of Henry and Hannah (See) Harper; born 1851; married, 1883, to Nancy A., daughter of Jasper Clark. Children, Lucy B., Ella May, Henry C., Mary W.
DANIEL A. HARPER, born 1867, son of Archibald E. and Virginia (Hinkle) Harper. In 1887 he married Minerva, daughter of Nicholas Wil- moth. Children, Candy and Mittie. He is a farmer, owning 70 acres, 40 improved, near Elkins; a member of the M. E. Church, and a licensed ex- horter. Occasionally he lectures on temperance and other social questions. His education was limited to the common schools.
LLOYD J. HYRE, born 1866, son of James S. Hyre, married Mary V., · daughter of William and Lucinda (Sidwell) Wolfe in 1888. Children, Lulu N., Maudie L., Myrtle R. and Earl C. Sawmill owner and hotel keeper at Montrose; also a farmer. William Wolfe was born in Preston County.
JAMES SANSOM HYRE, born 1839, son of Abram and Catherine (Stalna- ker) Hyre, Dutch parentage. In 1858 he married Rebecca A., daughter of William and Anna (Stalnaker) Phares, and following are their children: Vir- ginia A., Mary E., Lloyd J., Catherine A., Opha B. and Charles Blain. He was a farmer, sawmill owner and hotel keeper on Leading Creek, and was also in the mercantile business with J. G. Coberly and Dr. W. E. Byrd. He was killed by a boiler explosion in 1897. His father was born in 1799 and came to Randolph from Buckhannon, and died in 1887; and his grandfather was Noah Hyre.
MARTIN CECIL HARMAN, son of Asa, born in 1869; merchant and law
* See sketch of Colonel Benjamin Wilson for further particulars concerning the old plantation and the fort.
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student, having taken a course in the West Virginia University; has been a member of the board of education, and a notary public; is now located at Harman.
HARRIS HARMAN, born in 1872, son of Jesse; married Anzina Yokum, children, Clyde and Lester. He is a farmer.
EDWARD HART, whose name occurs often in the early records of Ran- dolph, was a son of John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Daniel Hart was a brother of Edward, and both came to Randolph very early. Both were Revolutionary soldiers, and were of English parentage.
JOSEPH HART, son of Edward, was a lawyer and an extensive property owner. In 1855 he moved to the top of Rich Mountain, on the Parkersburg pike. He married Susan, daughter of John Pickens, and died in 1881.
SQUIRE BOSWORTH HART, son of Joseph, was born in 1841. He lived on Rich Mountain during the early part of the Civil War. In 1862 he went with his father to Illinois, and came back when the war was over. In 1868 he married Maria L. Morgan of Upshur Co., a descendant of Hezekiah Mor- gan. They had one child, Anna Grace.
ALEXANDER P. HART, born 1846, son of Joseph; was married in 1868 to Lizzie, daughter of Wm. P. and Mary C. (Burr) Bradley. Children, Mabel, Rufus, Bertha, Verna S., George B., Howard M.
JACOB HART, born 1828, son of John S., and Jemima (Slagel) Hart; was married in 1853 to Hannah Young. Children, Gilbert M., Ellen, Luther B., Alonzo P. Miller and farmer.
ALONZO P. HART, born 1868, son of Jacob; was married in 1892 to Laura Channel. Child, Leo J. Merchant and farmer in New Interest District.
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