PREFACE 

The Historical Records Survey was established in West 
Virginia in 1936 as a part of the Federal Historical Records 
Survey, under the national direction of Dr. Luther H. Evans. 
Pursuant to an Act of Congress the Federal Historical Records 
Survey, with other Work Projects Administration federal pro- 
jects, was terminated August 31, 1939; its work in West Vir- 
ginia has been continued since then by the West Virginia His- 
torical Records Survey, sponsored by the West Virginia Depart- 
ment of Education until July 1, 1940 and after that date by 
the West Virginia Department of Archives and History. Mr. 
Sargent B. Child succeeded Dr. Evans as Director of Historical 
Records Survey Projects March 1, 1940. Up to the present time 
the Survey throughout the nation has issued approximately 
1,315 publications. 

The volume here presented is the first of a series of 
calendars of wills which will be prepared and published by the 
West Virginia Historical Records Survey from the recorded 
wills of the 55 counties in our State. It is hoped that the 
abstracts of this series will present a picture of the persons 
who resided in the county prior to 1885 and of the property 
which they owned. Later series of publications will supplement 
this information by listing appraisements and bills of sale. 

The Record of Wills series in each county have been care- 
fully abstracted by the county worker and rechecked by the 
State editorial staff. Proper names and descriptions of prop- 
erty are spelled as they appear in the recordings. The en- 
tries are entered chronologically by date of probate and are 
arranged as follows: name of testator, occupation of testator 
if shown, place will made, date will made, date of probate, 
names of devisees, name of executor, abstract of will, names 
of witnesses to will, book and page number of recording, and 
assigned calendar number. Abbreviations are used whenever per- 
missable in order to shorten the abstracts. Because of the 
frequent use of names in boundary descriptions, names of lega- 
tees are set out in solid caps in order to avoid confusion. 

Initial work on this volume was done by Mrs. Beatrice 
Arnold Giffin and Miss Ruth Hawkins of Buckhannon. Compila- 
tion of entries and rechecking was done by the State editorial 
staff under the direction of John M. Carr, assistant project 
technician. 

Acknowledgment of assistance is given to Allen B. Cutright, 
clerk of the county court of Upshur County, for the advice and 
help which he gave to Mrs. Giffin throughout the abstracting 
of the wills. Acknowledgment is also made to the County Court 
of Upshur County, co-sponsor of the project, for their coopera- 
tion and contributions. 

Appreciation is also expressed to Joseph N. Alderson, 
State Director of Work Projects Administration, Mrs. Irene 
Fallon Gillooly, Director of Community Service Programs, and 
Paul B. Shanks, State Supervisor of Research and Records Pro- 
grams, for their kind cooperation in administration of the 
project. 

A list of completed publications of the Historical Rec- 
ords Survey in West Virginia will be found in the back of this 
volume. Requests for information concerning these publications 
should be addressed to the Historical Records Survey, 210 
Smallridge Building, Quarrier Street, Charleston, W. Va. 

EVA MARGARET CARNES 
State Supervisor 
The West Virginia Historical 
Records Survey 

Charleston, West Virginia 
August 5, 1941