U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Carpenter Family ------------------------------------------------------------------- History of Braxton County and Central West Virginia by John Davison Sutton Sutton, West Virginia, January, 1919 Pages 360-364 Wm. Carpenter, now living at the advanced age of 94, son of Solomon, who was the first child born in the county. His birth place was under a cliff of rocks. Wm. is a grand son of Jeremia, the first white settler in the county, and a great grand son of Wm. Carpenter, who was killed by the Indians on Jacksons river in 1764. Uncle Billy, as he is familiarly called, has spent the long years of his life on the Elk river, and has doubtless caught more fish and game on this beautiful stream than any man living, and is still able to enjoy his favorite sport. He is a citizen. of Sutton and is universally respected. The massacre of Benjamin Carpenter and his wife occurred in the spring of 1792, though Withers memoirs, record it as late as 1793, and William Doddrill places the date as early as 1784, eight years before its actual occurrence. The account which he gives of the pursuit of the Indians after the murder of Benjamin Carpenter must have been the account of the time that Hughs and others trailed the Indians and came up with them when one of their number was killed on the Hughs river. The two Indians who found Carpenter and killed Benjamin, made their escape without being pursued. The summer of 1792 was the last Indian raid in central West Virginia except a party that made a raid in the Tygerts Valley as late perhaps as 1794. Of this interesting pioneer family, more than a passing notice should be given. As early as 1790 or perhaps a year or two earlier, Jeremiah and Benjamin Carpenter settled on the Elk river near the mouth of the Holly. Their mother and a brother named Enos lived with them. Jeremiah settled on what is known as the Samuel Skidmore bottom, and Benjamin's cabin stood in the bottom just below the mouth of the Holly. Their father's name was William, and was killed at the Big Bend on Jacksons' river by the Indians, and his son Jeremiah was taken prisoner and remained with the Indians from his ninth to his eighteenth year. He together with three of his brothers, afterward became soldiers in the Revolutionary army. Their settlement must have been but a few years prior to 1792 as this is the date of the Indian raid in which his brother Benjamin and his wife were killed; and either at this time or perhaps a raid that was made a few months later, he and his family made their escape to a cliff of rocks, and within their stay there his son, Solomon was born, being the first white child born in the county. Many incidents are related of this pioneer family by their descendants and the older people who have heard the. story of their adventures. Wm. Carpenter, familiarly known as "Squirrely Bill," who resides at Sutton, is in his 90th year, and is a son of Solomon Carpenter. He relates that his great uncle, Benjamin Carpenter who, with his wife was killed at the mouth of the Holly, was dressing a deer skin on the bank of the river just at the mouth of the Holly when he was fired upon. It seems from his story and others of the Carpenter family, that there were two Indians, a large and a small Indian, and that the large one was unarmed and the smaller Indian fired the shot, but missed. At that, Carpenter jumped and ran for his gun, but the large Indian reached the house first and secured Carpenter's gun, and was in the house when Carpenter entered the door. He fired and Carpenter fell outside, then the Indians tomahawked and scalped Mrs. Carpenter who was delicate and lying on the bed. They had no children. The Indians set fire to the cabin and left. Mrs. Carpenter had sufficient strength to crawl out in the yard. Only a few hours after this occurrence, Amos Carpenter came home. It seems that he had been either to the West Fork settlements or to Fork Lick on horseback and was returning with some meat. Mrs. Carpenter said to him, "The Indians have killed poor Ben and me," and he put her on the horse before him and started to go across the Elk just at the head of the island, and while he was crossing the river she died so he laid her body on some logs in a drift heap. He then hastened on to his brother Jerry's who lived above on the Skidmore bottom. Wm. Carpenter also relates that Benjamin Carpenter's mother was at his house helping to burn some logs in a clearing, and that she was not discovered by the Indians. She saw them however, and also witnessed the shooting of her son Benjamin. She had one of her children with her, and she took the child and went up the river to give notice of the presence of the Indians. They then went back to the settlement and Jerry, his younger brother Jesse and a man by the name of Schoolcraft, came back and buried Benjamin and his wife. Withers fixes this date as being in the early spring, and this is carried out by traditional testimony. Benjamin had fallen so near the building that his body was nearly consumed by the fire. The Indians carried away his gun, also the coat in which he was married. Wm. Carpenter says that later another raid was made by the Indians, and they are the ones who burned Jerry Carpenter's house and barn, partly destroyed an apple tree and cut down some green corn; also that this was the time his grandfather and uncle Amos went to the cliff where his father was born. Withers mentions only one Indian raid. Thomas, Jeremiah and Solomon were privates in Capt. John Lewis' Botetourt county Regiment. Joseph Carpenter was a soldier and drew a pension, but it is not stated in what command he served. Thus we see that four brothers served their country as soldiers in the Revolution, and were the most daring and skillful Indian fighters that ever ventured to the wilds of central West Virginia. Mrs. Carpenter said that first thing which went into Solomon's mouth was bear's meat and sweet potatoes. There must have been a second raid as the circumstances would seem to bear out, hence it must have been later in the season as sweet potatoes do not mature before the latter part of August in that section, and the time could not have been much later than July or August as Jeremiah Carpenter buried his brother's body and that of his wife in bark coffins, and they could hardly obtain bark after the season named. The Carpenters must have settled on the Elk a few years before this occurrence as they had some land cleared and some property. "Jerry" had planted some apple trees. The Indians cut a limb from one of the trees, but the tree lived and bore a red apple. It was called the Indian tree, and was living until a few years ago. "Jerry" Carpenter and his wife are buried at the Skidmore cemetery not far from where his cabin used to stand. Mrs. Delila Coger, a granddaughter of Capt. John Skidmore, was born and reared on the Elk river where she now resides and is at this time over ninety years of age. She says after the massacre of the Carpenter family that his brother placed their bodies in bark which he peeled from the timber, and buried them on the island in the Elk just at the mouth of the Holly, and that he placed them at the head of the island which has since been washed away. About twenty-one years ago, the Holly River Lumber & Coal Company built a large band saw mill not far from where Carpenter's cabin stood. Wm. Gum and others who were putting down the foundation for the boilers or engine house, say they removed the head stones from two graves, and digging down about two feet into the earth which appeared to be loose they placed a cement foundation there. In speaking again to Mrs. Coger in reference to the matter, she still contended that Benjamin Carpenter and his wife were buried on the island, and that the graves discovered by the workmen were a part of the John Mollohan cemetery, but this graveyard is a mile or so above the mouth of the Holly. Wm. Carpenter says that his great uncle Benjamin and his wife were buried where the Palmer mill now stands and that he has often seen their graves, which doubtless is correct. It is said that either at the time of the massacre or a later period of that season, Jeremiah took his family and went to a cliff of rocks, there watching the Indians burn his house and destroy his property. The cliff of rocks as pointed out is opposite the mouth of Baker's run on the north side of the Elk, and is situated near the top of the mountain overlooking the valley of the Elk for some distance. He and his family then made their way to a camp under a cliff of rocks near the head of Camp run, a branch of Laurel creek, about four miles above his residence at what is now known as the Skidmore bottom. Camp run is remarkably rough, and near the head are cliffs that look to be over a hundred feet high, with gulches and broken stone below, making the whole mass stand above the tallest pines which start, the water's edge. It is on the top of this mass of rock, a few yards back from its precipitous edges, where the famous Carpenter camp was, there being a large projecting rock which formed a room about 25x30 feet and 8 feet high. Between this camp and the edge of the cliff is a public road. It is related that Jeremiah Carpenter and his family waded up Laurel creek and Camp run to avoid making any sign by which they might be tracked by the Indians. Joseph Carpenter, son of Solomon, relates that his great uncle Solomon and his wife went to the rocks with his grandfather, and that when his father was born he was named for his uncle Solomon. At the time of the Indian raid, there was a child in the Carpenter family named Libby, a granddaughter of old Mrs. Carpenter, mother of the Carpenter family. Mrs. Carpenter, as stated before, was burning some brush on the point between the Elk and the Holly, just across the Holly from Benjamin's cabin. She discovered the Indians and started up the river to notify the family. The child Libby being too small to make her escape by flight, was placed in a hollow stump and told to be quiet. When Jeremiah saw his mother coming, he knew there was trouble. He returned for the child. She lived to be a woman, and her daughter married a man named Andrew Ware. Withers speaks of a Carpenter being killed by the Indians on the Little Kanawha river. He may have been a relative of this family. There remains a doubt as to the time that Jeremiah Carpenter fled to the rock cliffs, but the best impression seems to be when the massacre occurred, at which time the others fled to the settlement on the West Pork. In April, 1792, William Kipet and a Mr. Neal's son were killed up the Little Kanawha river by the Indians. As this was on the Indian trail leading to the upper settlements, it is probable that this murder was committed by the same band that killed Benjamin Carpenter and his family. That was the last raid made by the red men in central West Virginia. Both murders occurred in the same month and year, unless it be true that a later raid to the Carpenter settlement was made in the autumn of that year, which is most probable and is borne out by well authenticated traditional history. Solomon Carpenter had four brothers. Joseph who was killed while logging near Addison; Amos and Jeremiah, both of whom moved to the West Fork of the Little Kanawha and died there; and John who died on Camp run near the cliff under which his brother Solomon was born. Solomon Carpenter was the father of seven sons and three daughters, viz: Thomas, John, Jacob, Benjamin, William J., Solomon, Joseph, Caroline, Mary and Elizabeth. Of these only three are living — William J., of venerable townsman, who is now past eighty years of age, Joseph who resides on Spring Ridge, and Elizabeth. There is a daring adventure told of Solomon Carpenter's wife Betsy. She tied the children to the bed post, and went for the cows across the Elk river. In her absence the river raised, and she was unable to recross. Her husband being away, and the house being liable to attack by the Indians, she determined to risk her life by swimming across the river. Being unable to swim herself, she drove the cows in, caught the bull by the tail, wrapped the switch around her hands, plunged into the swollen Elk and crossed in safety. One of her daughters named Betsy married John P. Hosey. The present and future generations that enjoy the blessings of civilization, with all of its immunities and advantages, and the security to life and property, will never be fully able to appreciate the hardships, the great endurance, the personal sacrifice and valient daring of the early pioneers who forged the way to civilization through a land of savagery and privation. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Braxton County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/braxton/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------