Ohio County, West Virginia  Biography of Benjamin McMechen.

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BENJAMIN McMECHEN

Was born at Brownsville, Pa., in the year 1777, the temporary retreat 
of his father's family before referred to.  After the return of the 
family to the Ohio river, below Wheeling, he continued on the 
paternal estate until his death, in 1885, dying at the advanced age 
of seventy-eight years.  He became a successful and prosperous 
farmer, having acquired by inheritance and purchase a very large 
tract of land amounting at one time to 1,600 acres, in one body, 700 
of which were river bottom. He became the father of a large family 
consisting of fourteen children, six sons and eight daughters, all of 
whom, as before said, lived to mature age, and twelve of whom married 
respectably, and became the heads of families.  Their names were, 
Sidney, William, Hiram, David, James, Hanson, Mary, Elizabeth and 
Jane (twins), Benson, Lydia, Ellen, Sheppard and Sallie.

Sidney married Thos. H. List, a merchant, who became a man of 
property and influence, and was for many years president of the 
Commercial Bank of Wheeling.  William married Mary Blake, of Marshall 
county, a lady of Scotch descent.  Hiram married Hannah Armstrong, 
daughter of Rev. William Armstrong, first rector of St. Matthew's 
Protestant Episcopal Church, Wheeling, and sister of Rev. William 
Armstrong, jr., his son and successor.  David married Mary J. 
Cummins, of Ohio, and sister of the Drs. Cummins, successful 
practitioners of medicine, in the city of Wheeling.  James Hanson 
married Elizabeth A. Sehon, daughter of Major John L. Sehon, of 
Clarksburg, Virginia (now West Virginia), and sister of Rev. E. W. 
Sehon, D. D., late of the Methodist Church South.  Mary married 
Joseph M. Bushfield, of Pittsburgh, Pa., afterwards an active 
business man of Wheeling.  She was twice married, her second husband 
being Jesse Lazeaur, a gentleman of wealth and respectability, 
residing near Baltimore, Md.  Elizabeth married John R. Morrow, a 
successful merchant of Wheeling, who has for many years lived in 
retirement on a part of the paternal estate, near the old homestead.  
Jane married Benoni S. Good, son of Major John Good, of Ohio county, 
and brother of Moses C. Good, a lawyer of high standing in the city 
of Wheeling.  Lydia never married, but died a few years after the 
death of her father.  Benson, a young man of promising abilities, was 
blown up on the steamer Louisiana (of which he was clerk and part 
owner), at the city of New Orleans, in the year 1849.  Ellen married 
E. Halstead Caldwell, son of Judge Caldwell, of the United States 
Court, and who became himself judge of the Circuit Court of his own 
vicinity.  Susan married E. A. Hildreth, a medical practitioner of 
the city of Wheeling, of considerable distinction.  Sheppard married 
Alcinda Cockayne, daughter of Vincent L. Cockayne, a wealthy and 
prosperous farmer of Marshall county.  His father having by deed and 
will, before and at the time of his death, made a pretty liberal 
provision for the rest of his children, left to his youngest son 
(Sheppard) the greater portion of his remaining estate, consisting of 
all his personal property and about four hundred acres of land, 
including the old homestead.  Sheppard died in 1874, leaving to his 
widow and two children the most valuable part of his estate, the 
remainder to different members of his father's family, the principal 
part of which was given to James H. McMechen and his children.  But, 
although his intentions were just and benevolent, he unfortunately 
entailed upon them an unpleasant and vexatious law suit, which is 
still pending in the courts, his widow having thought proper to 
contest the will.  Sallie, the youngest daughter, married Aaron 
Kelly, a thrifty farmer, owning a choice body of land in the Short 
creek settlement, and in the upper end of Ohio county.

Benjamin McMechen, like the children of most of the early settlers, 
received but a very limited education. He was a man of sound 
judgement and sterling integrity.

Mr. McMechen was a justice of the peace for Ohio county, under the 
old regime, and continued to act in that capacity after the county of 
Marshall was struck off from the former county.  Under the old 
constitution (before 1852), the county court was a self-perpetuating 
body, composed generally of men of wealth and influence.  The 
sheriffalty of the county fell to each magistrate by rotation, 
according to seniority in ofice.  In this way it came to Mr. McMechen 
twice.  He farmed it, as was usual, to a man who proved dishonest and 
a defaulter, running away with the funds of the county.  This gave 
him and his securities a great deal of trouble, and involved the 
bondsmen of the defaulting deputy in heavy losses.  When the office 
fell to him a second time, he declined accepting it, and allowed it 
to pass on to the next rotation, thinking that he had seen enough of 
the sheriffalty for one short life time.

Mr. McMechen, at an early period in his history, united himself to 
the Methodist Church, that being the pioneer church and almost the 
only one of the day. He lived and died a consistent member of that 
body.  He built a chapel on his place, and in his will secured it and 
the adjoining grave yard to the church of his choice.  His 
contributions to the support of the ministry, and other charitable 
objects, were always liberal, but unostentatious. 


From HISTORY OF THE PAN-HANDLE, West Virginia, 1879, by J. H. Newton, 
G. G. Nichols, and A. G. Sprankle.  

Contributed by Linda Cunningham Fluharty.