U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: --------------------------------------------------------------------- History of Wetzel County, West Virginia by John C. McEldowney, Jr., 1901 Pages 174-186 FOURTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT. The Home of Thrift, Enterprise and Industry in the State of West Virginia. Its Wonderful Past, Its Present and Future — A Great and Progressive Country, With Pen Pictures of the People Who Have and Are Contributing to Her Industrial, Financial, Mercantile and Commercial Importance — Some Facts About Tyler County. In the study of the history of the Fourth Judicial Circuit it is necessary that we understand something of the causes which have acted in producing and advancing or retarding and destroying, the various institutions, civil and otherwise, of the Commonwealth. That we may study intelligently the history of West Virginia — "The Little Mountain State," the "Daughter of the Old Dominion," born amid the throes of civil war — it is important that we look to the causes which have led to its settlement and organization as a State. In 1634, twenty-seven years after the founding of Jamestown, Virginia was divided into eight counties or shires similar to those in England. These, the first in the New World, were named James City, Henrico, Elizabeth City, Warwick River, Warrosquyoake—now Isle of Wight—Charles River and Acomack. Virgil A. Lewis, who wrote a history of West Virginia, says: "Virginia ever tried to keep civil government abreast of her most adventurous pioneers, and to accomplish this, her House of Burgesses continued to make provision for the formation of new counties. After the eight original ones came others in the order named: Northampton and Gloucester, in 1642; Northumberland, in 1648; Surry and Lancaster, in 1652; Westmoreland, in 1653; Sussex and New Kent, in 1654; Stafford and Middlesex, in 1675; Norfolk, Princess Anne, and King and Astor, Queen, in 1691; Richmond, in 1692; King William, in 1701: Prince George, in 1702; Spottsylvania, King George, Hanover and Brunswick, in 1720; Goochland and Caroline, in 1727; Amelia and Orange, in 1734; Augusta, in 1738; Albemarle, in 1744; Amherst, in 1761; and Botetourt, in 1769. From 1732 to 1750 many pioneers found homes in the Opequon, Back Creek, Little and Great Cacapon and South Branch Valleys. These settlements were made principally within the present limits of Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan and Hampshire counties and were the earliest in West Virginia. Quite a number of those who settled in Berkeley and Jefferson were Quakers, and to them is due the credit of being established the first religious organization, not only in West Virginia, but west of the Blue Ridge. That they had regular meetings as early as 1738, is proven conclusively by a letter written by Thomas Chauckley on May 21, 1738, and addressed to "The Friends of the Monthly Meeting at Opequen." A century and a half have passed away since the first white men found homes in West Virginia. It is not a long time, yet, when they came Washington was an infant in his mother's arms; no Englishmen had been on the banks of the Ohio; no white man had found a home within the confines of Georgia; New Hampshire was a part of Massachusetts, the French had a cordon of forts extending from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi and savage tribes roamed all over the country from the Blue Ridge to the Pacific. It was five years before the founding of Richmond, 23 years before the French and Indian war, and 43 years before the Revolution. Truly this is the old part of West Virginia. At the beginning of the Revolution but two of the counties of West Virginia had an existence. These were Berkeley and Hampshire. In 1775 the former extended from the Blue Ridge to the Ohio, while the latter stretched away from the North mountain to the western limit. South of Hampshire lay Augusta county, reaching from the Blue Ridge to the Ohio, and including all territory between the Little Kanawha and Great Kanawha rivers, while all that part of the State lying south of the latter was included within the bounds of Fincastle county. The district of West Augusta was all that territory west of the mountains, the boundaries of which as defined in 1776, included all the territory west of the mountains, the boundaries of which as defined in 1776, included all \hi- territory north of Middle Island Creek, and lying west and south of the Monongahela river to the Ohio. During the Revolution a small rebellion broke out in the Augusta district, and this insurrection was known as "Claypole's Rebellion," as John Claypole, a Scot, was the leader. The trouble was caused by Claypole refusing to pay his taxes and getting others to join him in resisting the officers. He was finally arrested, some of his stock appropriated, and his band of insurgents broken up. Concerning the Augusta district of \Ve3t Virginia, of which Tyler county was a part, Washington once said during the darkest period of the Revolution: "Leave me but a banner to place on the mountains of Augusta and I will rally around me the men who will lift our bleeding country from the dust and set her free. Of the men who helped to free America, many of the best were from the hills and valleys of this part of West Virginia. Their names have been consigned to oblivion, but their memory shall live as long as there is an American flag to wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave. 'When Augusta county was formed it included all of the 'utmost parts of Virginia' and extended from the Blue Ridge mountains on the east to the Mississippi river on the west. From its original limits have been carved the States of West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. Its western boundary was the French possessions of Louisiana. "Botetourt was formed from the southern part of Augusta, from which it was separated by a line drawn westward from the point at which the James river breaks through the Blue Ridge, and terminating near the present site of Keokuk, on the Mississippi. In 1772, Fincastle county was formed from the southern part of Botetourt, but its existence was of short duration, for it was extinguished in 1776, by an act of the General Assembly, which created from its territory the counties of Montgomery, Washington and Kentucky, the boundaries being almost identical with those of the State now bearing its name. "In 1778, Virginia made her first effort to establish civil government west of the Ohio river. In October of that year the Assembly passed an act creating the county of Illinois from Botetourt. It included all of Virginia west of the Ohio, by which it was bounded on the south and southeast; Pennsylvania lay on the east; the great lakes on the north; and the Mississippi washed its boundaries on the west. John Todd was appointed county lieutenant and civil commandant of Illinois county. He was killed at the battle of Blue Licks, in Kentucky, August 18, 1782, and his successor in office was Timothy de Monthbrunn. "But Virginia's authority was not long to continue beyond the Ohio. On October 20, 1783, the Assembly passed an act entitled 'An act to authorize the delegates of this State in Congress assembled all the rights of this Commonwealth to the territory northwestward of the river Ohio.' This offer the United States accepted, and the deed of cession was promptly made March 22, 1784, and signed on the part of Virginia by Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and Jame3 Monroe, members of Congress from Virginia. This deed may be seen in "Henning's General Statutes," Vo. xi, p. 571. Before entering upon the history of Wetzel county, it is proper to notice what was for some time known as the "District of West Augusta." The boundaries, which will be best understood by the reader with a map of the State before him, were defined by act of Assembly in 1776, as follows: "Beginning on the Alleghany mountains between the heads of the Potomac, Cheat and Greenbrier rivers; thence along the ridge of mountains which divides the waters of Cheat river from those of Greenbrier and that branch of the Monongahela river called Tygart's Valley river, on the northwest of the said West Fork, thence up the said creek to the head thereof; thence in a direct course to the head of Middle Island creek, a branch of the Ohio river; and thence to the Ohio including all the waters of the aforesaid creek in the aforesaid District of West Augusta, all that territory lying to the northward of the aforesaid boundary and to the westward of the States of Pennsylvania and Maryland, shall be deemed and is hereby declared to be within the boundaries of West Augusta." The boundaries thus defined, if delineated on a map of the present State, would begin on the summit of the Alleghanies at the northwest corner of Pocahontas county, and run thence southwest between that county and Randolph to Mingo Flat in the latter, thence north through That county, thence northwest through Barbour and Taylor into Marion with the meanderings of Tygart's Valley river to its confluence with the Monongahela, thence up the West Fork of that river to the mouth of Bingamon's creek in Harrison, and thence west with the stream to its source. And thence southwest through the latter county to the bead of Middle Island creek in Doddridge; thence northwest centrally through that county and Tyler to the Ohio; thence northeast with that river to the present site of Pittsburg; thence with the Monongahela and Cheat rivers through the Southwestern part of Pennsylvania and Preston and Tucker counties to the beginning. The territory thus embraced included two-thirds of the county of Randolph, half of Barbour, a third of Tucker, half of Taylor, a third of Preston, nearly the whole of Marion, Monroe and Monongalia, a fourth of Harrison, half of Doddridge, two-thirds of Tyler, and the whole of Wetzel, Marshall, Ohio, Brooke and Hancock in West Virginia, and the whole of Greene, Washington and parts of Allegheny and Beaver counties in Pennsylvania. A succeeding section of the same act provided for the division of West Augusta into three counties, to be known as Ohio, Yohogania and Monongalia. By the westward extension of Mason and Dixon's line in 1784, the great part of Yohogania fell into Pennsylvania, and the remainder was by act of Assembly in 1785, added to Ohio county. Thus Yohogania became extinct. Having thus noted the efforts of Virginia to establish civil government in her western domain, we proceed to Tyler county in detail. Tyler county was formed from Ohio, by act of December 16, 1814, by which the boundaries were denned as follows: Beginning at the south and Pennsylvania line; thence a due west course to the Ohio river; thence with said river to the Wood county line; thence with said line to the line dividing Monongalia from Ohio county; thence with said line to the Pennsylvania line, and with it to the place of beginning. The commissioners to locate the seat of justice were Dudley Evans and Levi Morgan, of Monongalia, Moses Congleton and Samuel Chambers, of Brooke, and Benjamin Robinson and Davidson, Jr., of Harrison. The county was named in honor of John Tyler, who was born in James county, Virginia, February 28, 1747. He graduated at Williams and Marys college, then studied law in the office of Robert Carter Nicholas, at Williamsburg. He was long a member of the Assembly and commanded a body of Charles City troops during the Revolutionary war. In 1870 he became a member of the Council of State, and December 1, 1808, was -elected Governor of Virginia. Before his term expired President Madison appointed him to the judgeship of the District Court of the United States for Virginia, in which capacity he served until his death January 6, 1813. He was the father of John Tyler, tenth President of the United States. Middlebourne was established a town by legislative enactment January 27, 1813, on the lands of Robert Gorrell, then in Ohio county, and Wallace Wells, Sr., Joseph Martin, Joseph Ardor, Thomas Grigg, Daniel Haynes, William Delashmult, and Abraham S. Brookhead, trustees. The town was incorporated February 3, 1871. One of the first pioneers of the banks of the Ohio, below Wheeling, was Charles Wells, who settled near the present site of Sistersville in 1776. He was residing here in 1812 when a gentleman visited him and the same year published a work descriptive of the Ohio Valley. From it we extract the following: "Charles Wells, Sr., resident on the Ohio river, fifty miles below Wheeling, related to me while at his house in October 12, the following circumstances: 'That he has had two wives (the last of which still lives and is hale, smart, young looking woman) and 22 children, 16 of whom are living, healthy, and many of them married and have already pretty large families. That a tenant of his, a Mr. Scott, a Marylander, is also the father of 22 children, the last being still an infant, and. its mother a lively and gay Irish woman, being Scott's second wife. That a Mr. Gordon, an American German, formerly a neighbor of Mr. Wells, now residing on Little Muskingum, State of Ohio, has had by his two wives 28 children. Mr. Gordon is near 80 years old, active and hale in health.'" Thus these three worthy families have had born to them 72 children, a number unexampled perhaps in any part of the world, and such as would make Buffon stare, when he ungenerously asserts, as do several other writers of Europe, that animal life degenerates in America. Tyler was the only West Virginia county created during the second war with Great Britain. Sistersville, which was formerly only a ferry, was established from the lands of John McCoy January 28, 1818. The town was incorporated February 2, 1839. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other articles in this book by going to the following URL which contains a linked index for the book. http://www.us-data.org/wv/wetzel/history/mceldowney.html -------------------------------------------------------------------