THE HISTORY OF HALLECK COMMUNITY

  
                                       
                          

But few foreign born people have ever lived in this community. 
Nearly all the citizens are descendants of the original settlers 
who were from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the New England 
States. Some of the land titles can be traced back for a 
hundred years,and very few titles have been changed "in 
front of the Court House". From 1830 to about 1844 we find 
the following were permanent settlers: Joseph Smith, Samuel 
B. Brown, James Watson, Jacob Cartright, Asa Fletcher, Hugh 
Austin, Oliver P.McRae, A. C. Reppert, George T. Loar, 
George N. King, William Galliher, Jacob Kerns, Joseph 
Trickett, and others. 

                                  
The community, church, and school for many years was known as 
the "Smiths" in honor of Joseph Smith one of the first
settlers. For many years the community was served by the 
post offices at Clinton Furnace four miles to the north and
Independence a little farther to the south. In 1880 the 
Hon. J. S. Watson, after many discouragements, secured the U. S.
postoffice that has since served the community. When the 
office was established, the Government gave the name Halleck 
to the office in honor of General Halleck, of Civil War 
fame. In 1908 there were established two rural free delivery 
routes to the community: one from Uffington, known, as 
Route No. I, and the other from Independence known as 
Route No. II. There are also two telephone lines reaching 
our people, the Bell and the "Peoples" Line. 

                                      

A hewed log church was built here in 1854. A deed was made 
by Joseph Smith and wife for the church lot to The Methodist
Episcopal Church, and the following citizens constituted the 
first Board of Trustees, the property being deeded to them 
and their successors forever: Oliver P. McRae, Hugh Austin, 
Joseph Smith, John Stevens, Thomas Miller, Samuel Stevens, and 
Jacob Cartright. This deed was dated June 9, 1856, and a 
religious society was organized about this time with Rev. 
Phillip Greene, pastor, and Oliver P. McRae, class leader. 

The present frame building was erected in 1873, Rev. J. W. 
Webb, D. D. presiding elder, Rev. J. W. Hess, pastor, and 
Harvey Zinn of Gladesville Preston County was the contractor. 
The building was dedicated on a beautiful October Sabbath of 
the same year, 1873. Great crowds of people attended and an 
all-day service was held with a picnic dinner in the grove 
nearby. Dr.Alexander Martin, D. D. who was president of the 
State University at the time, preached in the morning and 
Dr. J. Wesley Webb, in the afternoon. 

There are two other churches represented in the community: 
the Baptist and the Christian, but their membership is at 
Gladesville,Preston County, where each has a church building. 
A delightful fraternal spirit has always existed in the 
community and all join in religious services regardless of 
denominational choice. No secret or fraternal society has 
even been organized here, but there are
many who belong to such orders located in other places. 

                                      

A log school house was built here in 1848, preceding the 
church by six years. The school lot adjoined the church 
lot and the building was twenty by twenty-four feet. A door 
was in the end fronting to the public road, while at the other 
end there was a chimney made of stone to the mantle, the top 
being of mud and sticks. The fireplace was large enough to 
receive a billet of wood four feet in length. The crevices 
were filled with moss, mud, and stone. The roof was made of 
clapboards held in place by weight poles, the floor was 
puncheons, hard wood split about three inches thick. The 
seats were made of chestnut wood, from trees about ten inches 
in diameter split so each stick made two seats. Two large auger 
holes were bored in each end and legs were inserted elevating 
the seat about eighteen inches from the floor. The writer of 
this sketch attended this school held in the log
house and sat on the old benches described which were 
without either foot or back rest. When one wanted to get 
down from the perch he turned his stomach against the seat 
and slid to the floor. 

The entire building was wood, stone, and mortar, not a nail 
being used, but it served its purpose quite well in that 
early day. The following named teachers taught in this log 
building: Oliver P. McRae, Edgar B. Watson, Louvenia Harrison, 
James Watson, Eli Moorlage, John Kizer, and Samuel Woods 
after which the breaking out of the Civil War brought 
educational matters in the community to an abrupt close. 

In 1865, the late Hon. John W. Mason (who at the time of 
his death a few years ago was a member of the State Supreme Court
of Appeals) opened a school in the Halleck log church, which 
was the first free school in the district and believed by Mr. 
Mason to be the first free school taught in the State. 
Many of the young men who had recently returned from the 
war attended this school. Hon. John W. Mason was succeeded 
by the following who taught in the old log church: Miss Mary 
Samon, who was the daughter of a Baptist minister in 
Pennsylvania and who afterwards married Dr. Parry. L. G. 
Reppert taught three terms. 

In 1843 a log school house was built on the lands of Hugh 
Austin, three-fourths of a mile south of the residence of the 
late Isaac N. Austin. There is now a tree about twenty inches 
in diameter growing where the chimney of this house stood. Charles
Johnson, James Johnson, and the late Captain O. P. Jolliff, 
taught in this place. Captain Jolliff taught a number of 
schools before going into the service of the Civil War. 
Mrs. Mary Galliher Brown, and Mrs. Elizabeth Watson Brown, 
who attended this school,are still living. 

                                   

In 1869 a contract was let by the board of education of
Clinton District to James Watson and Charles H. Duncan for a new
school building which was erected on the same spot where 
the old log building had stood. It was a frame building 
twenty-eight by thirty-two fee. It was painted white and a 
blackboard extended the full length of the north end, with 
an elevated rostrum where the classes recited. A No. I. 
Burnside stove stood in the middle of the room. 

On the north side of the building the forest extended up to 
the school house lot, while just to the west was a large 
chestnut tree beneath which the girls of the school usually 
played. The boys usually appropriated one of the near by fields 
of the farmers for playing "bull-pen", "town-ball", and 
later base-ball. 

Morgan B. Hale taught the first school in the new frame 
building and was followed by Waitman McRae, Charles Cox, Miss
Alcinda Bayles, Elijah McRae (three terms), Columbia Simpson 
(one term), Thomas I. McRae (two terms), H. I. King, J. M.
Jolliff, W. J. King, U. G. Hays, Duncan McRae, Louisa Stewart, 
Madie Vandervort (one term each), A. L. DeMoss (two terms,
Harter Nelson (one term), M. L. Brown (three terms), then 
Maude Wilson (one term), and R. H. Brown taught two terms. In
1896, the board of education bought a lot of one acre of 
ground of C. H. Duncan and the present house was built. Samuel
Rogers was the contractor. The following teachers have 
taught in this building: Claud McBee (three terms), Minnie 
Bayles, Hugh Austin (one term each), C. A. Snider (three terms) 
Ora Griffin, Lenora McBee, E. E. Hale, Earl O'Neal, Roy Nelson, 
John G. Nelson, Virginia Reppert, E. C. Brown, Dorothy 
Reppert, M. E. Nelson, and Lenora M. Brown have each taught 
one term. A. L. Wade, who was for many years county 
superintendent of schools of Monongalia County, was 
the author of a "Graduating System for Country Schools" 
held his first district examination at the Goshen Baptist 
Church in 1876, and the following persons
received certificates of graduation from the Halleck 
school: J. W. King, H. I. King, and Samuel Brown. 

The second examination was held at the Halleck church in 
the spring of 1877. Prof. A. L. Wade, county superintendent, Rev.
John Rhey Thompson, D. D., president of the State University, 
and Nelson N. Hoffman, editor of the Morgantown Post, were
present. In this class in 1877 were the following Halleck 
pupils: James W. McGown, Rebecca J. King, Virginia A. McRae, and
Duncan McRae. In presenting the diplomas to this class Prof. 
A. L. Wade said that Duncan McRae who was then thirteen years
of age was the youngest pupil who had received a diploma, 
in the county. The school now has a library of more than two
hundred volumes. 

The first enumeration of Clinton district of children of 
school age was made in 1864, and showed the following: 207 
white males and 311 white females; 11 colored males, and 
12 colored females, a total of 631. The enumeration of 1922 
showed 370 white males and 345 females, a total of 715 white 
children of school age and no colored children. 

                                       

J. M. Gemas is our merchant; George H. Brown is the community 
undertaker; James Elery Smith is "the village blacksmith". The
Smith brothers have a feed mill, a garage, a general repair 
and supply shop. They are also breeders of Shorthorn cattle. 

In about 1858 Joseph Smith built a foundry for casting metals 
such as pots, and kettles, and farm implements. This building
stood on the spot where George H. Brown's feed store now stands. 
The Civil War brought this foundry business to a close. 

About 1874 or 1875, James Miller operated a pottery on his farm 
just east of Halleck, where all kinds of earthen vessels were
made, but it did not prove a great success and was abandoned. 
The parsonage of the Halleck circuit of the Methodist Episcopal
church is located at the village. Precinct No. II of Clinton 
district voting place has been at the Halleck school house 
since 1883. 


In the Halleck cemetery there sleep 23 Civil War veterans, 
two World war veterans, Clarence Trickett and John Barber, 
and in a private cemetery near by is the grave of Samuel B. 
Brown, a veteran of the War of 1812. There are three of the 
veterans of the Civil War still living: Granville Brown, B. 
F. Kerns, and William H. Phillips. 

                                 

James S. Watson was elected to the House of Representatives 
in 1880 and served two years. M. L. Brown served one year by
appointment and two years by election as county superintendent 
of schools. Mr. Brown was appointed by Gov. W. E. Glasscock
as warden of the State Penitentiary in 1911 and held the 
position for nearly four years with great credit to himself 
and in the best interests of the State. He left the institution 
on a self-supporting basis, for the first time in its history. 
Duncan McRae was the chief clerk in the office of the Secretary 
of State during the term of office of Hon. W. M. O. Dawson from 
1901 to 1905. Oliver P. McRae, James S. Watson, and Charles H. 
Duncan served as president of the board of education of Clinton 
district for thirty-six years of the fifty-eight years of 
history of the free schools in the State. Charles H. Duncan 
served eight years as commissioner. Granville Brown, Morgan 
B. Hale, and H. I. King served also as commissioners. 

                               

The first pupil of Halleck school to graduate from the State 
University was Samuel Boardman Brown, A. D. class of 1883. Prof.
Brown is now the oldest member of the University faculty in 
point of service, having filled the chair of geology and 
mineralogy for thirty-three consecutive years. Other graduates 
are James E. Brown, B. S., class of 1887, who has been a 
leading attorney in Chicago for many years; Perry C. McBee, 
B. S., class of 1896; Martin E. Nelson, B. S. C. E., class of 
1903; Carl R. Duncan, B. S. C. E., class of 1917; and Roy E. 
Nelson, B. S. C. E., class of 1921. 

The following from this school are undergraduates of the 
University: Waitman McRae, who died in 1873, a senior; W. J. 
King, H. I. King, Thomas I. McRae, Elijah McRae, Duncan McRae, 
Milton H. Brown, Martin L. Brown, Elery C. Brown, Thomas G.
Brown, James McGown (deceased), George H. Smith, Fred G. 
Reppert, Mary L. Brown (deceased), and Thomas Judson
McBee. It was largely through the state-wide influence of 
Prof. Samuel B. Brown in 1888 that the University was induced to
open her doors to lady students, thus making it a co-
educational institution. 

Miss Mary L. Brown, oldest sister of Prof. S. B. Brown married 
the Rev. George W. Bent. She graduated from the Glenville
State Normal School in 1889, and the following fall she 
with two lady friends from Gilmer County matriculated at 
the University, they being the first lady students out of 
Morgantown to claim the benefits of the institution. 
Miss Brown died in 1907. 

                     

Mary L. Brown graduated from the Glenville State Normal 
School in 1889, Roy E. Nelson, John G. Nelson, Ebert E. Hale, 
and Virginia Hale are graduates from the Fairmont State 
Normal School. The following attended the Fairmont State 
Normal but did not graduate: W. J. King, Elijah McRae, 
Thomas I. McRae, R. H. Brown, Ward Hale, J. C. Price, Clarence 
A. Reppert, Virginia Reppert, Dorothy Reppert, and Ora Griffin. 

                                 

Milton R. Brown, M. D., graduated from medical college of 
Baltimore, Md.; Thomas J. McBee, M. D. from medical college of
Richmond, Va.; I. Max Austin, M. D. from medical college of 
Kirksville, Mo. Claud McBee and Melvine Fletcher are graduates of
the commercial college of Delaware, Ohio. Miss Nora B. Phillips 
is a graduate nurse of Bellevue Hospital of New York City. Miss
Adaline Brown is a graduate nurse of the Reynolds Memorial 
Hospital of Glendale, W. Va. Miss Nellie B. Brown is a graduate 
of the Conservatory of Music, Washington, D. C. Frank Reppert 
is a graduate of the commercial college of Washington, D. C. Ed.
E. Nelson is a graduate of the Pharmaceutical Department of the 
Pittsburgh University, and John G. Nelson is a graduate of the
Department of Dentistry of the same institution.