U.S. Data Repository -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: History and Progress of the County of Marion, West Virginia by George A. Dunnington, Publisher 1880 CHAPTER II, First Settlements In the beginning of the foregoing chapter mention was made of the Indians who occupied Western Virginia previous to the coming of the whites, and of their abandonment of the country as a place of residence. When, in 1754, David Tygart and a Mr. Files made the first attempt to settle this section of the State, the only Indians to be found composed the occasional hunting or war parties from the north and west. The two gentlemen named were probably the first white men who ever built cabins in Virginia west of the Allegheny mountains. Files settled at the mouth of the creek which now bears his name--where the town of Beverly now is--and Tygart settled a few miles further up the river, (which has since been called Tygart's Valley river,) in what is known as Tygart's Valley. They soon determined to abandon their settlements on account of the hostility of the Indians, and the difficulty experienced in obtaining breadstuffs for their families. Before they were enabled to carry out their determination the family of Files fell victims to savage cruelty. A strolling party of Indians fell upon them and massacred them all save one--a boy--who escaped and warned the Tygart's of the danger in time for them to save themselves by flight. Not long after this a settlement was made on Cheat river, a few miles east of where stands Morgantown, by a party of Dunkards, comprising Dr. Thomas Eckerly and his two brothers. Dunkard's creek owes its name to the circumstances of their having camped at its mouth while they were engaged in exploring the vicinity for a suitable place to settle. They finally located in Dunkard's bottom, which lies on Cheat. They spent some years there unmolested by the Indians, although a bloody war was then waging. The Doctor left Cheat once to visit a trading post on the Shenandoah, to procure ammunition and other needed supplies. His story that he had lived on Cheat so long unmolested by the Indians, seemed so improbable to the people on the Shenandoah that they accused him of telling an untruth, and suspicioned him of being a confederate of the enemy. He was accordingly arrested and placed in confinement. In vain did he declare that he had never even seen a savage during his sojourn in Dunkard's bottom. He finally requested that a guard be sent with him to his little settlement, that he might be able to prove the truth of his statements. His request was complied with, and upon arriving at the spot, only a heap of ruins were found where had stood the cabin, and the mutilated bodies of his brothers were lying upon the ground. Thus his story that they were not confederates of the Indians was awfully confirmed. In the fall of 1758 Thomas Decker and others commenced a settlement on the Monongahela river, at the mouth of the creek since called by his name, but in the spring following it was broken up by a war party of Delawares and Mingoes. These were the only attempts to effect settlements upon the Monongahela or its branches prior to the French and indian war, and it was not until the year 1772 that any permanent settlements were made. About the year 1772 settlements were made upon the upper branches of the Monongahela river. Captain James Booth and Mr. John Thomas established themselves upon what is now known as Booth's creek, near the present town of Boothsville, this county. Captain Booth settled at the place known as the "old Jesse Martin farm," and Mr. Thomas on the "old William Martin place." Withers, in speaking of this latter farm, in 1831, said: "It is perhaps the most valuable landed estate in Northwestern Virginia." (Border Warefare-page 93). About this time David Morgan, afterwards conspicuous for his personal daring and prowess, during the hostilities of the Indians, established himself upon the Monongahela about five miles below Fairmont, near the mouth of Prickett's creek. Among other emigrants settling here about this time, were the Pricketts, Ices, Halls, Cochrans, Hayes, Cunninghams, Hartleys, Barns, Haymonds, Flemings, Springers and many others, whose descendants now comprise the greater part of the population of Marion county. A great number of them came from the then colonies of Maryland, Virginia and Delaware, crossing the mountains by a route called Braddock's trail. Note.--In a burying ground at Barracksville is the grave of the first white child ever born west of the Allegheny mountains. His name was Adam Ice, and he was born in 1767, at Ice's ferry, on Cheat, a short time previous to the removal of the Ice family to the settlements here, and died in 1851.