U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Facemire, James H. (1831-1917) ------------------------------------------------------------------- History of Braxton County and Central West Virginia by John Davison Sutton Sutton, West Virginia, January, 1919 Pages 374-376 James H. Facemire was the son of Aaron Facemire, and the eldest of twelve children. Born in Kanawha county in 1831, moving to what is now Braxton county the following year, he grew up on the beautiful Elk and its tributaries. It was here that he learned the art of hunting and trapping. He married Caroline Stonestreet, by whom he had nine children. His family was of German descent. Mr. Facemire has been a man of keen observation and great memory, and it is interesting to hear him talk of the past, and especially to relate his exploits in the wilds of the forest. He remembers many of the older settlers of the county. He also remembers having seen the old war gun that red-headed Jesse Carpenter took from the Indians when he made his escape from captivity; with this gun, he killed an Indian by shooting across the Ohio river. The gun had been furnished by the French to the aid the Indians in their war against the Americans. He relates that he killed two bears, over three hundred deer, and gives an account of one night's coon hunt on Skyles creek of the Big Birch river, in which he treed and killed nine coons, and the following night, killed five more. He gave part of the coons to come person as pay for carrying the others on a horse to his home on Two Lick run of the Little Birch. He estimates that the number of bee trees that he has cut would run into the thousands; sometimes he cut as many as three in one day, often obtaining large quantities of honey. He said that at one time, he salted down six hundred pounds of venison and seventy-five pounds of coon bacon. He killed wild cats, black foxes, hawks, owls, skunks, rattlesnakes, and was a terror to everything that was harmful and destructive to domestic animals or dangerous to man. Squirrel hunting and fishing were two of his most delightful sports. I have seen him bring down squirrels from the tallest twig on the loftiest hickory tree with his rifle offhand. His greatest day's hunt for squirrels was one hundred, around James A Ross' corn field, and the next day he killed forty-seven on Mr. Linger 's farm. On Bug ridge, he killed fifty-six in one day. To be a successful hunter and trapper, one has to study the nature and habits of animals. A great day's catch of fish occurred one day while the old woodsman was waiting for his grist at the old Gillespie mill. He and Mr. Knight went to the shoal above the mill and saw a great school of fish. The river was very low, and they drove the fish to a little pool, built a rock dam below, and caught eighteen or twenty large fish, some measuring three feet long. He was a man of great strength and endurance. His greatest weight was never over 148 pounds, but if he had been trained as pugulists are now trained, his great nerve, natural skill and generalship in battle would have made him one of the greatest middle weight pugulists of the world. He never was beaten in a fisticuff, though he met in single combat some of the best heavy-weights of the country. He would have been killed by Bill Meeks if the knife blade had hot broken off in his skull, the point of which he has carried there for half a century or more; but he never fought a man unfairly, no matter how large or powerful his enemy. We remember several coon hunts with this old veteran of the forest. It was the custom in those clays to roast corn grown in the field from which you scared the coons and in the dry fall season when water was scarce, it was considered not unusual to burst the rind of a lucious melon while the dogs were out looking up the game. James Facemire was a hard working man and a good neighbor. He had for a companion a noble woman who never turned a hungry man away from their cabin. When we see his once fleet and active frame tottering on broken limb, leaning on his staff, with gun and traps, wending his way to the forest in his ever persistent pursuit of the wild game, we can imagine the blazing fires of energy that once animated the woodsman's unquenchable desire for sport, and realize the fleeting years that overtake us all. ------------------------------------------------------------------- From Record of Deaths, Braxton County, WV (Page 66, No. 3) FULL-NAME: J. H. Facemire DEATH-DATE: Oct 18, 1917 at 85 years of age DEATH-PLACE: Near Sutton MARITAL-STATUS: Widowed OCCUPATION: Farmer CAUSE-OF-DEATH: Old Age (wife of James H. Facemire) From Register of Deaths within Upper Assessment Dist., for the county of Braxton in the year ending Dec. 31st, 1900. (Line Numbered 23) FULL-NAME: Caroline Facemire DEATH-DATE: May 28, 1900 at 65 years of age FATHER: T. Stonestreet CAUSE-OF-DEATH: P. Fever INFORMANT: W. B. Facemire, son ------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------