U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Stalnaker, William ------------------------------------------------------------------- The History of Barbour County, West Virginia, From its Earliest Exploration and Settlement to the Present Time by Hu Maxwell The Acme Publishing Company, Morgantown, W.Va., 1899 Pages 461-462 William Stalnaker, brother of Adam Stalnaker, who was killed by Indians near Beverly in 1782, was one of the early settlers on Teter's Creek, living where W. W. Stalnaker now resides. The exact date of his location there is not known. He married Margaret McHenry, near Beverly. His children were, Elizabeth, who married Colonel Henry Sturm in 1815 (the ceremony being performed by Simeon Harris); Samuel, who married Elizabeth Ryan; Mahala, who married William Marteney; Andrew, who married Rachel Holsberry; James, who married Elizabeth Neptune; Willis, who married Nancy, daughter of Charles Digman, who was drowned on Hunter's Fork of Sugar Creek; Isabel, who married Alexander Shaw; John, who married Margaret Black, and Dorcas, who married Daniel Marteney, brother of William Marteney. Mr. Stalnaker's only neighbor was John Ryan, Sr. They put bells on their horses and cattle and turned them out to range in Nelson's Low Gap, of Laurel Hill, in the spring, leaving them there till fall, or till needed. A combat between a bear and a panther, in their native wilderness, is not oftened witnessed; but Mr. Ryan once saw such an encounter, which he described as follows: A tree had fallen across a ravine and the bear started to cross the log, and at the same time the panther started to cross from the opposite end, and they met near the middle. Neither would give way to the other, and the bear dealt the panther a blow with his paw and knocked him off into the ravine. The panther deliberately walked back to the same end of the log and met the bear again, for the bear instead of proceeding across while the way was clear, had sat down on the log to wait. As the panther came up the bear again struck him a blow and the second time knocked him off. Once more the panther returned to the same end of the log and for the third time faced the bear. But this time the panther was more cautious, and instead of walking up within range of the powerful paw, he crouched a few feet away, and sprang on the bear and fastened his claws in the animal's head. Both tumbled off the log together, and the battle in the ravine was fast and furious, But the bear was too strong for his antagonist, and bore him down, and seizing him by the throat and clutching him in his arms, held him in a death grip and soon killed him. But it was a dearly-bought victory; for the panther had so lacerated the bear with his claws that he almost disemboweled him. The bear walked a few paces, lay down and died. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Barbour County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/barbour/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------