West Virginia Statewide Files WV-Footsteps Mailing List WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 30 Today's Topics: #1 Fwd: BIO: John Stuart, Greenbrier [SSpradling@aol.com] #2 BIO: Capt. Jacob Warwick MATHEWS, [SSpradling@aol.com] #3 BIO: ADAIR Family, Monroe County [SSpradling@aol.com] Administrivia: To unsubscribe from WV-FOOTSTEPS-D, send a message to WV-FOOTSTEPS-D-request@rootsweb.com that contains in the body of the message the command unsubscribe and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too. To contact the WV-FOOTSTEPS-D list administrator, send mail to WV-FOOTSTEPS-admin@rootsweb.com. ______________________________X-Message: #1 Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 13:13:22 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <9b55e61f.2517c532@aol.com> Subject: Fwd: BIO: John Stuart, Greenbrier County Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="part1_9b55e61f.2517c532_boundary" If this is a duplicate for you, I apolagize. Return-path: SSpradling@aol.com From: SSpradling@aol.com Full-name: SSpradling Message-ID: <536e5908.2517b29a@aol.com> Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 11:54:02 EDT Subject: BIO: John Stuart, Greenbrier County To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 4.0 for Windows 95 sub 14 History of Greenbrier County J.R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 51-60 JOHN STUART David Stuart (the father of Col. John Stuart of Greenbrier county) was born in Scotland in 17-. He came of a family connected with the House of Stuart, whose members were strong partisans of that house. The failure of the supporters of Charles Edward Stuart to place him on the English throne in 1745 and 1746 placed them in such standing with the House of Hanover, then reigning, and those in authority in the British Isles as to render their condition in their native land very unpleasant and their existence hazardous for some time after the battle of Culloden. For this reasmi numbers of them came to America, where opportunities were brighter and where they were less liable to imprisonment for their zeal on behalf of the Stuarts. David Stuart was one of their number. He came to America soon after this battle, which took place in 1746. Soon after his arrival in America he settled in Augusta county, on the Shenandoah river, some distance front the town of Staunton. He had been a close personal friend of Gov. Robert Dinwiddie, who was sent to Virginia as its governor by the British Government in the year 1752. In 1755 Governor Dinwiddie ap-pointed David Stuart county lieutenant of Augusta county with the rank of colonel. At the time of his appointment Augusta county extended as far west as the Mississippi river and as far north as Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh). The office of conilty lieutenant was in those days one of the most important held in the State. Especially was this true of that office in Augusta county, oweing to its vast area and the rapid advance of civilization throughout its be- ders towards the West. It was a position requiring a man of ability, force and energy. David Stuart, on account of his high ability, experience and peculiar efficiency as an officer was a man well qualified to fill this important office. He discharged its duties with marked success and skill, to which the records of that day give full testimony. David Stuart died in the year 1767. He met his death by drowning while attempting to ford Middle river, a branch of the Shenandoah, just after its waters were swollen by a recent rain. David Stuart married Margaret Lynn Paul, the widow ol John Paul, who was a son of Hugh Paul, Bishop of Nottingham. John Paul was also a partisan of the House of Stuart. He was killed in the siege of Dairymple Castle in the year '745. He left five children. The eldest of these children became a Catholic priest who moved to America and died on the eastern shore of Maryland. Audley Paul, another son, was an officer in the British col-onial forces in Virginia. Pollie Paul, who moved to America with her stepfather, David Stuart, married Governor Mathews, of Georgia. Mrs. Margaret Lynn Paul, afterward Mrs. David Stuart, was a granddaughter of the Laird of Loch Lynn, Scotland. She was also a niece of Margaret Lynn, who married Col. John Lewis, one of the first settlers of Augusta county, the father of Gen. Andrew and Col. Charles Lewis (heroes of the battle of Point Pleasant). She was named for her aunt, Margaret Lynn (Mrs. John Lewis). David Stuart left three children: Sabina, who married Captain Williams, of Augusta county. Margaret, who married Col. Richard Woods, of Albemarle county. John Stuart, afterwards Col. John Stuart, of Greenhrier county. John Stuart, the son of David and Margaret Lynn Stuart and the most famous pioneer of Greenbrier, was horn in Augusta county on the seventeenth day of March, 1749. He exhibited at an early age extraordinary vigor both of body and mind. By the time he was seventeen years of age he was said to have acquired an excellent education, both from books and the affairs of life. While very young he participated in a number of surveying and prospecting expeditions to the west and north of the then permanent settle-ments in Augusta county, which brought him into contact with men of various classes and character. On these expeditions he also saw something of Indian life. In this way he gained valuable knowledge, which no doubt added greatly to his success in the discharge of the important duties he was afterwards called upon to perform as the moving spirit of the first permanent settlement in Greenbrier. All of the attempted settlements in Greenbrier having failed prior to that time, in the year 1769 an expedition was organized by a number of citizens, most of whom were from Augusta county, having for its purpose a permanent settlement in that beautiful and inviting country afterwards called Greenhrier county. Of this company John Stuart, then only twenty years of age, was a member. These pioneers came to Greenbrier in the spring of 1769. After arriving in this wild country the settlers found it necessary to organize for some definite course of action, both on account of developments to be made in their new home and for protection against the Indians and the many dangers by which they were beset. John Stuart was chosen as their chief adviser and first officer. He first located near where the town of Frankford now stands, where he built his first home overlooking a beautiful view towards the east. This place he called "Grumble Thorp." Here he erected the first mill built in Greenbrier, which was propelled by a subterranean stream of considerable volume, flowing through a channel cut out by the Indians to which they had access through the mouth of a large cave. The dam, a large part of which is still standing, was built of stone and located about 200 feet from the entrance to the cave. The mill itself stood just outside of the mouth of the cave. He did not live long at his first residence, but soon moved to what is now known as the "Old Stuart Place," about four miles below Lewisburg on the Fort Spring road. Here he first erected a log house in which he lived until the year 1789, when he built a large stone house on the old English style, which is now the oldest house in the county. This building is still in a state of good preservation and is at this time the residence of his great-grandson, Samuel Lewis Price. Here John Stuart lived for many years, leading an active, busy life, engaged in various occupations and acting for the settlers as chief defender against the Indians. Within a quarter of a mile from the place where the stone house was afterwards built there was erected what was known as "Fort Spring", at the spot where the old Fort Spring Church now stands, which was placed under the command and supervision of Colonel Stuart. At the time this fort was built a large number of the settlers of Greenbrier county lived near and it was used as a refuge during several Indian attacks of which no mention is made in history. There are buried in the ground around the spot where this fort stood arrow heads and Indian relics which are frequently turned up by plowmen in the cultivation of the fields When Gen. Andrew Lewis marched to Point Pleasant in the year 1774 two companies went with him from what afterwards be-came Greenbrier county. One of these was commanded by Capt. Robert McClanahan and the other by John Stuart. At the famous battle of Point Pleasant John Stuart's company was one of the three sent by General Lewis up Crooked Creek to flank Cornstalk's movement. This is said to have been the movement by which the tide of battle was turned and the Indians routed. It was so dexterously executed that the enemy was taken by surprise. After this famous battle so large a proportion of the officers had been killed that John Stuart was placed in command of a large portion of Lewis's army, which was then marched by Gen. Andrew Lewis north of the Ohio to Pickaway Plains, where they met the southern division of the army commanded by Lord Dunsmore in person. John Stuart was at Point Pleasant in 1777, where he witnessed the atrocious murder of the Shawnee chieftain, Cornstalk. Colonel Stuart risked his life to save this noble old warrior and barely escaped death, but he encountered such tremendous odds that his efforts were unavailing. The last of the desperate attacks made by the Indians upon the settlers of Greenbrier occurred in 1778, when a band of Indians from beyond the Ohio river surprised and surrounded the settlers at Fort Donally, in what is now known as "Rader's Vallev." This fort was located about eight miles northwest of Fort Unioti, where Lewisburg now stands. Colonel Stuart led the reinforcement from Fort Union, raised the siege and drove the Indians off. Within a few days after this attack he was able to raise a sufficient force to drive and frighten the Indians out of the country. There are so many accounts already in existence of this fierce encounter that it will be unnecessary to enter into its description here. "Greenbrier county was organized in 1776. At the request of the county court on the twenty-fifth day of November, 1780, John Stuart was appointed clerk of the county. He was indeed a model clerk. He wrote a most excellent hand, plain, clear, distinct, and after a century it is as legible as if written but a dozen years ago.' At the close of the first deed book of the county he wrote a brief history of the early settlement of Greenbrier, which shows good literary style and taste. "In this account of the early set-tlement of Greenbrier Colonel Stuart, in speaking of the first wagon road from Lewisburg to the Kanawha in 1786, says: 'And thus was a communication by wagon to the navigable waters of the Kanawha first effected and it will possibly be found the nighest and best conveyance from the eastern to the western country.' When one contemplates the distance and grades over the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway the foresight and judgment of Colonel Stuart stand boldly out." Colonel Stuart was a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1788, which was called to consider and pass upon the Constitution of the United States. It assembled in Richmond on June 2. Here he was associated with such promi-nent men as Patrick Henry, George Mason, John Marshall (afterwards chief justice of the United States), James Madison, Benjamin Harrison and many others of like fame and undying devotion to American independence. John Stuart's descendants still have letters to him from Chief Justice Marshall written as late as i8oo, which reveal the confidence Marshall had in his ability and good judgment. Colonel Stuart was a strong advocate for the ratification of the Constitution, and was prominent in the fight waged against it by Patrick Henry and his strong following. He was appointed colonel of the Seventy-ninth Regiment of Militia in 1793. His commission, signed by Col. Henry Lee, of Virginia, is now in the possession of his great~granddaughter, Margaret Lynn Price, of Lewisburg. In '796 the old stone church at Lewisburg was built. Fot the building of this church Agatha Stuart, wife of Colonel Stuart, contributed 500 pounds, which John Stuart supplemented with 150 pounds. On the front of the church he placed the following inscription: "This building was erected in the year 1796 at the expense of a few of the first inhabitants of the land, to commemorate their affection and esteem for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Reader, if you are inclined to applaud their virtues, give God the glory." John Stuart possessed a large and valuable library. He carried with him through life the habit of diligent study which he had acquired in his early youth. He was a man of splendid literary attainments and a finished scholar. He belonged to several literary societies. In the year 1797 he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society, held in Philadelphia. His certificate of membership, signed by Thomas Jefferson, President, is also now in the possession of his great-granddaughter, Jennie Stuart Price, of Lewisburg. In 1797 he wrote "Memoirs of Indian Wars and Other Occurrences," a manuscript of which he left at the time of his death. In 1831 his son, Charles A. Stuart, then representing Augusta county in the Virginia senate, presented this manuscript to the Virginia Historical Society, which had it published in 1833 as one of its first publications. Unfortunately few copies were made of this interesting historical narrative and for years the work has been out of print. Hon. Virgil A. Lewis, for many years historian and archivant for West Virginia, endeavored to secure a copy of this work for his historical department. He at last contracted with a stenographer to make a complete copy of the volume in the Library of Congress. This was accordingly done and the work is now in the Department of Archives and History for West Virginia. This work treats of the early settlement and history of Greenbrier valley and its pioneers and is probably the only account of the time and its people in existence. Another valuable historical work of Colonel Stuart, entitled "A Narrative," is also out of print, a copy of which, together with a number of letters written by Colonel Stuart to the Vir-ginia War Department relative to conditions in Greenbrier and the great Kanawba valley in the later years of the Indian wars is also in the Department of Archives and History. Besides his other literary works Colonel Stuart left several poems of high excellence which have never been printed. These are now in the possession of his descendants in Greenbrier. For the time in which he lived and the circumstances by which he was surrounded Colonel Stuart was a great traveler. He visited many parts of this country, meeting with some of its most distinguished citizens and famous travelers from Europe, a number of whom visited him at his Fort Spring home in Greenbrier. Among these was the famous French philosopher and traveler, Volney, who, being deeply impressed by the beauty of the surrounding country, gave to Colonel Stuart's place its name. Besides Colonel Stuart's other attainments he was a man of extraordinary executive and financial ability, and for his time amassed a large fortune, both real and personal. He seems to have had the keenest insight into the value of land, even though at the time of his settlement in Greenbrier the whole country was virgin forest. He acquired large tracts of the most valuable land in the county, large portions of which are still owned by his descendants. On the eighteenth day of November, 1776, he married Mrs. Agatha Frogg (widow of Col. William Frogg, who was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant). She was a granddaughter of Col. John Lewis and daughter of Thomas Lewis, who served for years in the Virg ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 13:29:41 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: BIO: Capt. Jacob Warwick MATHEWS, Greenbrier County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Greenbrier County J.R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 74-78 CAPT. JACOB WARWICK MATHEWS. Capt. J. W. Mathews in some respects is a very remarkable man. As a soldier in the late war, and as a farmer and merchant, his career in life has been somewhat beyond the ordinary one. It has been made unique by his successful efforts, aided by an unconquerable will power, backed by an earnest, strenuous purpose that knew no defeat as long as he knew he was in the right. At the age of seventy-six years, he still goes his way, never having been in bed sick a day in his life and doing the work of a strong man not more than half his age. His prison life was sufficient of itself to undermine the constitution of any man, and detrimental enough to poison and destroy any mentality, but, in this case, the healthy body and the strong, pure mind obtained. Captain Mathews, son of Samuel G. and Naomi (Hudson) Mathews, was born in Pocahontas county, November 9, 1839. His mother was a descendant of Richard and Elizabeth Hudson, who came from Augusta county early in the century and settled in the woods on the headwaters of Sitlington's creek, on lands now held by their great-grandsons, Warwick B. and John L. Hudson. Seven daughters and three sons were horn to Mr. and Mrs. Hudson. Of these Sallie and Polly went to Ohio, married and settled in that State. (3) Keziah went west and his location is unknown to the writer. (4) Rachel married A. Dysard and lived in Barhours county. (5) Matilda married Thomas Humphreys (6) Naomi married Samuel G. Mathews and lived in Randolph county. Her children were M. G. Mathews, deceased, a teacher and superintendent of schools; Charles and Capt. J. W. Mathews. (7) Nancy Hudson first married John Seybert, of Highland county. Her second marriage was to Andrew Lockridge, of Bath county. (8) Thomas Hudson went to Missouri, married and set-tled there. (9) Madison Hudson went to Maryland and reared a large family. He was a merchant and a citizen of prominence. (10) Eliza married Margaret Deaver, daughter of James and Sally Deaver, who is believed to have been the first settlers of Back Alleghany county, Virginia. They went to housekeeping on the home place and were the parents of five daughters and eight sons. Elijah Hudson was a man of prominence in Pocahontas county. He was a very intelligent man, was a fine speaker, and served his county very faithfully and efficiently as a member of the State legislature. He was also a very prominent member of the county court and transacted considerable business for his neighbors, writing wills, deeds of conveyance and articles of agreement. He was endowed with natural abilities of a high order and he persistently made the most of his opportunities for intellectual improvement. During his life he taught many terms of schools in the old field school house for the benefit of his neighbors and for his own family. Capt. J. W. Mathews was horn in Pocahontas county, West Virginia, November 9, 1839. At the age of seventeen he was elected second lieutenant of the Randolph militia and on May 18, 1861, he enlisted in Company I, Twenty-fifth Virginia infantry, as a private in the Confederate army. For meritorious service in the early part of 1862 be received commission of second lieutenant in the same company. During the war he participated in the battles of Philippi, June 3, 1866, McDowell, Front Royal, Middletown, Winchester, Cross Keys, Port Republic, in all the skirmishes in and around Winchester in the Shenandoah valley, and for gal-lantry on the field of Gettyburg, July, 1863, he received a captain's commission. He was also in the seven days fight around Richmond, Va., in 1862, in all the battles of The Wilderness, Virginia, Cedar Mountain, second battle of Manassas, Shantelly, Harper's Ferry, Sharpsburg, Maryland, Mine Run, Fredericksburg, Beverly, Buckhannon and Bristo Station. In all of those conflicts he was never sick nor wounded. At the battle of the Wilderness he was captured, and his whole regiment, at which time he was acting as lieutenant-colonel. That was on May 5, 1864. The prisoners were taken to Fort Delaware, and kept there until Au-gust 20, and then sent South as a retaliatory measure, but as the captain puts it: "For torture." The first eighteen days were a ride on the steamer, "Crescent," when they were packed around the boiler, in a heated room, with water from the condenser almost boiling hot to drink, and in this way they were taken to Morris Island, South Carolina. The Immortal Six Hundred was the title justly accorded the number who now was placed in a stockade between Battery Wagner and Battery Gregg and kept there forty-two days. These were two of the largest batteries of the Federal army at Moris Island, South Carolina. Here they were guarded by the Fifty-fourth (colored troops) regiment from Massachusetts, commanded by Colonel Hallowell, from Philadelphia, Pa., and "He was the meanest man" says Captain Mathews, "to whom God ever gave a soul." The rations per day allowed the prisoners consisted of four little crackers, condemned by the Government, and half eaten up by bugs and worms. For dinner they had bean soup to the amount of half a pint, consisting of water principally, with now and then a stray bean or two in the cup. For supper they had all the wind they could inhale. Under this kind of prison fare Captain Mathews lost during his imprisonment of seven months, sixty-five pounds, having been reduced from a normal weight of one hundred and sixty-five pounds to that of one hundred pounds. Out of the six hundred prisoners only three hundred survived, and they were only walking skeletons, sixty-five of them being so afflicted with the scurvy they could not walk. >From Morris Island the prisoners were next taken to Fort Pulaski and kept there on a cold brick floor in a damp room, with-out fire or blanket, and for sixty-five days their rations were ten ounces of the rottenest corn meal in existence. The captain avers that out of the "Jo oz. meal" in one case more than one hundred and twenty-two worms and bugs were found by actual count. While the rotten corn meal apportioned out to them had been shipped south in 1861 and issued to Confederate prisoners of war in 1865, it had been condemned by Federal officers as not fit to isue to the Federal army. Captain Mathews savs every one of those prisoners could have been released from that torture by taking the oath of allegiance to the Government, but only eighteen of them succumbed to the pressure. The captain further says that this bad fare was by order from Secretary Stanton, endorsed by Abraham Lincoln. The treatment was so bad that Colonel Brown, who was in com-mand of the One Hundred and Fiftv-seventh New York regiment as a guard over the prisoners at Fort Pulaski, Georgia, took them out when he received this inhuman order and in a speech said he would not longer remain in command of the post, and have men under him suffering as he knew we would suffer, and as suffering could not be prevented bv him, he could not longer witness such distress among the men and would resign. In a land where there was plenty for all, the prisoners were entitled to the rights of humanity, but under the orders from headquarters he could not prevent the conditions of their sad lot and would resign his command. Following Colonel Brown came little General M~llino (some spell it Mullnix), whose treatment of the prisoners was very bad. Matters continued thus until the close of the war, when all the prisoners were paroled and sent home. After the war, Captain Mathews. without a dime in his pocket, began a business in life which has been very successful. He started out as a photographer, taking the whole of West Virginia for his field, and followed this until i868, when he married and went to farming. On May 7, j868, he was united in wedlock with Mary Elizabeth Hoylman, they taking up their residence in Green-brier county. She was a daughter of George W. and Nancy A. (Fleshman) Hoylman. Their son. Charles Forest, was born in this district, September 27, 1873, and is their only child. Captain Mathews made his money principally buying and selling timber lands and dealing in cattle, horses and sheep. He owns a farm of two thousand acres of land and it is among the best in Greenbrier county. The house was erected by Col. Andrew Hum-phreys, father of Milton W. Humphreys, the mathematician, and in 1906 the captain enlarged the building to its present commodious size. In 1873 he started his store, and in addition to farming. has been engaged also along commercial lines. During his whole life, Captain Mathews has been a very busy man. His career has been a strenuous one and to the highest degree, not only as a farmer and a merchant, but he filled the office of postmaster ten or twelve years; was road commissioner for ahout twenty years, and was one of the best in Greenbrier county. In military matters he and Mrs. Mathews have ever beeii before the public. For the past four years the captain has filled the office of adjutant-general of the First West Virginia Brigade while he has been a delegate to all the Confederate reunions, not only in the State of West Virginia, but in all the other states; and ever since the beginning, Mrs. Mathews has always stood nobly by her husband, attending with him the meetings. no matter in what place or State they were held. She is very favorably and quite extensively known all through the South as a very great friend to all the old Confederate soldiers. She is now and has been matron of the Immortal Six Hundred since its organization. and is toasted and banqueted by the grand old heroes at all their National reunions. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #3 Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 14:35:43 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: BIO: ADAIR Family, Monroe County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit A History of Monroe County, West Virginia Oren F. Morton, B. Lit. Staunton, VA The McClure Company, Inc. 1916 p. 298 ADAIR Family The progenitor of the Adairs followed William the Conqueror to England in 1066. A descendant moved from the southwest of Scotland to county Antrim, Ireland, and thence William, a Presbyterian minister, who had been educated at Glasgow College, came to Philadelphia. As an Irish patriot and obnoxious to the British government he had to flee his native country hidden in a barrel and he never ceased to be bitterly hostile to England. He was sent as a missionary to Monroe, Greenbrier, and Pocahontas. Both he and his wife Ellen often prayed that the death angel would call for them at the same time. Their petition was answered and they were buried at New Lebanon in 1848. J ames, a brother, arrived later and settled near William. His sons, William and James, Jr., located at Red Sulphur Springs, where they were prominent and prosperous Citizens and conducted a large mercantile establishment many years. William was for a long time owner and manager of Red Sulphur Springs resort, was a man of large influence and repeatedly represented Monroe county in the Virginia Legislature. C. of James, Sr., (1761-1809) (Mary Wallace) : Williana (1804-1887) (Sarah Harvey)-James (1807-1868) (Jane R. Smart-Robert-Mary-Jane C. of Willia~ James H., Robert C., John IL, Walter S., L. C. C. of James: Asa IL, Robert W. (b. 1848) (Julia Bane), Hugh T., John A., Mary J., James A., Manilius C. Robert W. settled near Cashmere in 1874. C: Willie, Nancy B., Asa., Hugh H. In 1812 one William (Catharine) was living on the Penturif patent at the head of Second. An older William died in Augusta in 1763 leaving a library of religious and medical books. He was one of the earliest settlers. *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by 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. 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