U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statementon the following page: ----------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER XI. THE COLLINS SETTLEMENT Collins Settlement, the most southern district in the county, shows the greatest diversity in topography. The valley of the West Fork from its source to where it passes out of the district is equal in fertlity to any sec- tion of the county. The bottoms are level and well adapted to cultivation. It is one of the garden spots of West Virgnia. On the other hand, in the extreme southern part of the district there are deep, narrow val- leys and towering mountains. The surface is not adapt- ed for anything but stock raising except in the narrow bottoms and on the summits of the mountains, where it is possible in places to raise corn. The crop from the hilltops is largely brought to the valleys below on wires. On account of the magnificent crops produced in the up- per valley, it was formerly known as "Egypt"; and from the number of famous men who are natives of the district, it has sometimes been called by the high-flown title "The Athens of West Virginia." During the Civil war it was known as "Dixie". The excellent quality of the land was known to the Hacker's creek settlers at a very early date. John Hacker's war of revenge against the buffaloes in 1769 led him through the district from one end to the other, and he located two claims — hunter's camps — within the boundaries of Collins Settlement. One was at the mouth of Crane Camp run, now on the Davisson farm at Crawford, and the other on Hacker's Camp run in the "Shoestring". Hacker's oldest son Jonathan, to whom he gave these claims, left the one on Little Skin creek to settle on Crane Camp. His abandoned cabin, reputed tc be haunted by ghosts, stood on the site for many years, and furnished shelter for numerous hunting parties. The lower course of the West Fork was thoroughly ex- plored by 1774 by Jesse Hughes, John P. Duvall and others. That the upper valley of the West Fork was not permanently settled following the explorations is due to the Indian wars. Among the records of land certificates granted in 1781 is one to Joseph Hall "on the east side of the west branch of the Monongahela river to include his settlement made thereon in 1777." At the same time Jacob Bush received a certificate for "400 acres on the West Fork about two miles below the main fork of said river to include his improvement made thereon in 1777." The latter tract was probably above Abram's run. No trace of the settlement has been found, nor is the nature of the "improvement" known. He evidently never returned after the Indian wars to occupy it. John Pierce Duvall, whose claims were strategically located all through Lewis and Harrison counties with a view to their later importance as town sites, bought out two early settlers in the district. One was at the Indian carrying place, now Arnold, near the lowest point in the divide between the West Fork and the Little Kanawha rivers, to include a settlement in 1776, and the other at the forks of the West Fork, to include a corn right dating back to the same year. It may well be doubted whether there were four acres cleared and planted in corn above Walkersville by 1776, which would have given the right to the 400 acres of land included in the grant. John P. Duvall was one of the three commissioners to adjust disputes and issue certificates. The land opposite Walkersville on the south side of the forks of the river was not surveyed until 1820. By far the most important tract of land in the his- tory of the district was that patented by Colonel George Jackson. It included five thousand acres in the valley ot the West Fork lying between the two town sites of John P. Duvall. In the middle of the tract he selected a plot of ground on a high bottom near a good ford of the river where later the future town of Jacksonville was to be located. There was at that time not a single settler in the upper valley of the West Fork. Years afterward he confirmed the location of the town in a deed granted to his daughter Mrs. Prudence Arnold. In order to bring about the settlement of this land as soon as possible and to encourage further settlements in the region round about his tracts, Colonel Jackson agreed to donate to some Irish settlers of the South Branch valley small tracts of land if they would make settlements here and stay until the settlement became permanent. They were also to mark a bridle path from their settlement to the Flesher settlement at the mouth of Stone Coal creek. The offer was accepted by several families. John Collins and his three sons, Jacob, Cornelius and Isaac, were the first permanent settlers in the dis- trict. They brought all their worldly possessions to the upper West Fork on packhorses in the winter of 1797-98, and selected the broad bottom facing the rising sun which is now part of the George I. Davisson farm about one mile south of Jacksonville. The first cabin was located on the right side of the river and not far northeast of the sugar orchard. The Collins' were in- dustrious and cleared a considerable portion of the land in the immediate vicinity of their homes. They remained in their original location until after the formation of Lewis County when they sought a more favorable sit- uation in the west. Captain James Keith and Dan T. Turvey emigrated to the same region immediately after the Collins settle- ment was established. Captain Keith's cabin stood on the south side of Calamus hollow a short distance above Jacksonville. He had the reputation of being by far the best hunter in all that section, averaging, it is said, fifteen or twenty deer a week during the hunting sea- son. He was also one of the largest fruit growers in the West Fork valley, and years afterwards his orchard was resorted to by the people of the neighborhood. In 1799 a man named Shoulders settled at the forks of the river. The next year the Bennetts came over the old Seneca trail from the upper Potomac valley. Wil- liam Bennett located on Colonel Jackson's land just be- low the tract selected by Shoulders. Abram Bennett located on Abram's run, which took its name from its first settler. Joseph Bennett located on the stream a little later. Jacob Bennett made his settlement farther up the Right Fork on Leatherbark run. The Bennetts were fruit growers and propagated apples from seeds which they had brought with them from the Potomac valley. Captain James Keith married a daughter of William Bennett, and doubtless received as part of her dowry the apple seeds from which grew his famous orchard. The Bennetts have continued to the present time to occupy the ancestral farm of William Bennett. He died in 1857, and his tombstone in Long Point cem- etery states that "he lived 29,780 days, without guile and without reproach, progenitor of 248 descendants." One of the most important settlements on the Jack- son tract was that made by Rev. Henry Camden in 1804. His cabin stood a short distance west of Jacksonville where Camden hollow debouches into the valley of the river. Here he cleared the high bottom, reared a large family, and was a leader in the community for years. He was one of the earliest preachers on the Lewis cir- cuit of the Methodist Episcopal church which at first em- braced appointments all the way from Burnersville in Barbour County to Salt Lick creek in Braxton. The Camdens remained there for many years. The old Camden-Collins cemetery containing the graves of the pioneers of the district, unmarked save for rough flag- stones, is on the hillside above the site of the Keith house. Shortly after the Rev. Camden located in the valley, John Byrne settled on the right bank of the river about one mile below Walkersville. Robert Crawford built his cabin in the broad meadow near the mouth of Indian Cap run in 1815. The Bennetts, Crawford and the Cam- dens became the mainstays of one of the most important Methodist congregations in the Monongahela valley at an early date. Jesse Cunningham came about the same time as Crawford and settled on Abram's run. Elijah Arnold, who married Colonel Jackson's daughter, settled on the town site of Jacksonville in 1830. The old manor house is still standing, and is occupied as a summer home by Mrs. Mary A. Edmiston, a great-granddaughter of Colonel Jackson. On John Pierce Duvall's town site at the Indian Carrying place, George T. Duvall settled at an early date. He is supposed to have been a son of Colonel Duvall. On Sand fork of the West Fork, the first settlement appears to have been made by Samuel Wilson, near the mouth of Sammy's run. His cabin stood where John Rollyson formerly lived. He came from Staunton, and some of his descendants bear a marked resemblance to President Wilson. He did not continue long on Sand fork, but moved to the Right fork of West Fork. The Rev. George I. Marsh settled farther up Sand fork also at a very early date. Below the mouth of Sammy's run the McCrays had made their settlement before 1820. For years after the Collins Settlement became permanent and prosperous, the pioneers on the upper West Fork were cut off from all the other settlements by a wall of primeval forest. Their nearest neighbors were on Salt Lick creek, at the Ward place on Skin creek, and at Weston. The valley below Arnold was not occupied for a distance of ten miles. In 1808, Abner Mitchell located about one mile below the site of the village of Roanoke. He was for years the only settler on the river from George Duvall's to the mouth of Skin creek. The bridle path which had been blazed by the Col- lins' continued in use for many years without improve- ment. It was occasionally followed by the residents of the older settlements on their trips to Raymond's salt works. The trail from the Buckhannon river settlement to the same place entered Collins settlement from Skin creek and again plunged into the wilds. The West Fork river in its upper reaches was far too small to consider building flat boats, and the problem of transportation for the Collins settlement remained for a future generation to solve. Reference has already been made to the Methodist society which had been organized in the Collins settle- ment, and which continued for years to prosper under the guidance of the Rev. Camden. Apparently no repre- sentative of other sects entered the valley of the upper Fork until later, and even at the present time the churches of other denominations are few and far be- tween, so strong is the hold of the Methodists there. The early progress of education in the Collins set- tlement is unknown. Unfortunately the early traditions have failed to hand down the location of school houses and the names of the early teachers who helped to pro- duce coming leaders of the state — a United States sena- tor, jurists, legislators, constitution makers, empire builders, capitalists, educators and officials of the na- tion and of the state. William Schoolcraft, who lived on the upper West Fork at an early date, is said to have been a "noted school teacher and hunter." Further than the one entry the record is blank. -----------------------------------------------------------