Greenbrier County, West Virginia - 160th Anniversary Booklet - Part 14 *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. *********************************************************************** Historical Booklet - Greenbrier County 160th Anniversary - 1778-1938 Published 1938 Transcribed by Lori Samples EARLY INDUSTRIES OF GREENBRIER The early pioneers were industrious. Pioneers have to work! Naturally, many of the tasks we have done for us today had to be performed by father and mother. It was not long, however, before certain of the settlers were earning their living by catering to the wants of their fellows. Their workmanship was good, as is most hand labor. Perhaps the most picturesque of the early industries was the making of spinning wheels, and certainly the outstanding maker of these wheels in this part of the country was "Old Tommie" Henning. The girls of a hundred years ago did not practice their music lessons on the piano; instead they sang to a gentle hum of the spinning wheel. As an early poet wrote: Their harps were Henning's spinning wheels By wooden plectrums smitten; Can a single chord those spindles hummed By any bard be written * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The flaxen webs . . . what came of them? Why, grandma used the best, And Grandpa wore tow-linen suits . . . Coat, pantaloons, and vest. Until the turn of the century, one to a dozen "Henning Split-Bottom Chairs" could be found in nearly every home in the Greenbrier region. On a foot lathe: "Old Tommie" made his first twelve dozen chairs "Old Jimmie" Caldwell used when he took charge of the White Sulphur Springs in 1812. Nearly every year Mr. Henning filled another large order for chairs for the Old White. "Old Tommie" was also a noted cabinet maker and house painter. Matthew V. Peers, Josiah Osborne, James and Elijah Dyches, and several of his own sons and nephews all served apprenticeships under him in one or more of these trades. In 1815, Mr. Henning moved into Lewisburg, where he bought a little two-room log house from Rev. John Pennell. From time to time he made additions, until it contained as many as thirteen rooms. Later it became the residence and large furniture factory of Richard Thomas. "Old Tommie" died at the home of Samuel Gilkerson at the age of eighty-nine. The art and craftsmanship of hand manufacturing of spinning wheels, cabinet making, chair making, painting, and decorating were handed down unto the third generation as witness some of the interesting advertisements from old newspapers. The Lewisburg Chronicle, published by Mauzy & Gilmer, in its issue of Thursday, February 10, 1853, carried the following advertisement, as peculiar and original as ads were in those days: Great Discovery in CHAIR MAKING The subscriber claims to be the inventor of a plan, whereby split-bottom chairs may be made to last as long again as the best chairs mae in the old way. They are so formed, also, as not to sink in the seat, as chairs usually do. Call at the old stand of Thomas Henning, Sen., and see specimens. WASH. G. HENNING June 24nd, 1852 The miller also played his part in early industry. Probably the settlers first used the Indian method of bolting corn and wheat. Then there sprang up what was really the first industry west of the Alleghenies - the custom miller. Water mill sites were important. A common clause in early deeds was "including mill seats, if any." Anthony Hutsonpiller built on Milligan's Creek, about 1783 or 1784. Franklin Tinchor built the first grist mill in Blue Sulphur District. In Ronceverte, in 1795, Thomas Edgar erected a small water mill. The tavern keeper, of course, did his best to make travelers comfortable so they would spread the fame of his hostelry. Richard Tyree built the Long Ordinary, later known as the "Long Ornery" in Lewisburg about 1800. It was on the west side of Court Street near the corner of main. David Tuckwiller's famous tavern stood two miles west of Lewisburg. Drovers congregated here in great numbers. "Here, probably for the first and last time in their lives, livestock enjoyed the luxury of a barn built of brick." As part of the development of the Greenbrier Land Company, a Market House was built in Lewisburg "between the courthouse and jail, where the natural springs was handy to water the stock." There the cattle were sorted into pens, graded and classified, before being driven to the eastern markets. A quotations giving statistics on Lewisburg, taken from Joseph Martin's "Gazeteer of Virginia." 1835, will give a good idea as to what industries flourished then: "...6 mercantile stores, 1 printing office issuing a weekly paper, 2 tanyards, 3 saddlers, 4 blacksmith shops, 2 coppersmiths and tin plate workers, 3 brick layers, 4 house carpenters, 4 tailor shops, 2 cabinet makers, 2 watch and clock makers, 2 wagon makers, and 3 hotels...Population about 750 persons; of whom 7 are attorneys and 3 regular physicians." NEXT: THE COMING OF THE IRON HORSE