West Virginia Statewide Files WV-Footsteps Mailing List WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 85 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: ALDERSON Family, Greenbrier C [SSpradling@aol.com] #2 BIO: George ALDERSON, Greenbrier C [SSpradling@aol.com] #3 BIO: Hon. George ALDERSON, Greenbr [SSpradling@aol.com] #4 BIO: J. Marshall ALDERSON, Greenbr [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: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 08:21:06 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0.bbf1430b.2531deb2@aol.com> Subject: BIO: ALDERSON Family, Greenbrier County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Greenbrier County J. R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 308-312 SKETCH OF THE ALDERSON FAMILY. John Alderson, Sr., was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1699, and came to this country when twenty years old. The circumstances under which he left his native land were peculiar. His father, a minister of the Established Church, opposed with con-siderable violence a matrimonial connection he was about to make. To divert his son from this alliance he prevailed upon him to travel and furnished him with a horse and requisite funds. In a short time these means were exhausted, and he, without the knowledge or consent of his father, bound himself on board a vessel which brought him to America. On arriving in this country, he was hired to a well-to-do farmer of New Jersey (a Mr. Curtis) for his "passage money." His conduct was stich that he not only gained the esteem of Mr. Curtis, but married his daughter, Mary. The death of a daughter led to his conversion, and caused him to write his first letter to his father in England. He connected him-self with the Baptist church, and we are told that "with his char-acteristic energy he began at once to preach." He received in reply to his letter sent his father, two volumes on theology, and a very kind letter. These books are still in the Alderson family. He lived near Bethlehem Church, New Jersey, and then moved to Germantown, Pennsylvania, where he preached for a number of years. In '755 he was sent by the Philadelphia Association as a missionary to Rockingham county, Virginia, and there organized one of the first Baptist churches in Virginia, the Smith and Lynn-ville's Creek church, August 6, 1756. The members were driven by an Indian invasion in 1757 forty or fifty miles beyond the Blue Ridge, but rallied after two years and returned to their homes and church, which was admitted into the Philadelphia Association, October 12, 1762. For about sixteen years he was pastor of Smith's and Lynnville's church, when he removed to the county of Botetourt, where he labored nine years, when he was called to rest in 1781 at the age of 82. He was buried in the graveyard of his neighborhood, afterward abandoned and overgrown with tall oaks, with neither hillock nor stone to mark his resting place. John Alderson, Sr., had seven sons and one daughter. The latter married a Mr. Orton and moved to western Pennsylvania. Of the sons, Thomas and John only came to Greenbrier, and a great granddaughter of his son, Curtis, Hester Ammen, who mar-ried 1st Rufus D. Alderson, great grandson of Elder John Alder-son, Jr., and after his death married Thomas H. Alderson, grand-son of Thomas, who was a son of Elder John A., Sr. After many years of active service in the Old Greenbrier church, she still lives at an advanced age, with her son, Rufus D. Alderson, in this county, retaining in full her vigorous mentality. Thomas, who fought with General Green in the South during the Revolution, married a daughter of Mr. Davis, a Baptist minister of Maryland, and to this union were born five children: Davis, Abel, Naomi, Jane and Hannah. He married a second wife, whose name was Sallie Bond, of Maryland, who had six children: John, Curtis, James, Ruth, Frances and Clementine. John, called Major Jack, was an officer in the War of 1812, and is said to have "discharged his duty well, and received great credit." Curtis was also an officer in the War of 1812, being Colonel Commander of the First Regiment in Greenbrier. He was thoroughly versed in "Gen'l Scott's discipline" and displayed great science in drilling his men. He was at one time magistrate and high sheriff. James lived an unassuming and retiring life on his farm. Frances and Clementine married Capt. Jack and Levi Alderson (brothers). Curtis Alderson was the father of Asa, and grandfather of S. I. Alderson, whose sketch will appear later. Elder John Alderson, Jr., was born in New Jersey, March 5, 1738. He was in his seventeenth year when his father settled in Rockingham county, Virginia. Shortly after settling there he made quite an extensive trip into what is now West Virginia, at that time a comparative wilderness, having few inhabitants. At the age of twenty he was married to Mary Carroll, of Maryland, in 1758, who bore him nine children: Alice, George, Mary, John, Joseph, Thomas, Margaret, Jane and John. The last three were born in Greenbrier. He was licensed to preach, but was not or-dained to the full work of the ministry until 1755, when he suc-ceeded his father as pastor of the Lynnville church in Virginia. The old Greenbrier church was for some time a mission station of this church. After two years' pastorate he moved permanently to Greenbrier (now Monroe). On his previous trips he visited the place where the town of Alderson now stands, and settled here in 1777. He claimed to have driven the first wagon across the Alleghanies to this point, and built his home where the Hotel Alderson now stands. In 1798 he applied to the Legislature of Virginia for the establishment of a ferry at this point, which was known from that time until 1872 as the "Alderson Ferry." The reason he assigns for settling in this county was to extend the Christian religion among the few inhabitants of this section. At this time the settlers were frequently harrassed by the inroads of the Indians, and Mr. Alderson was the first preacher to come among them. It was his custom to go from fort to fort and preach to the occupants. He was generally received gladly, but upon one occasion the occupants refused him an entrance, leaving him to the ravages of the wild beasts, and the untutored savages prowling around. But no harm befell him. He labored in this section seven years, meeting but one preacher, a Presbyterian licentiate, and it is preserved that Mr. Alderson told him he was welcome, since he (the Presbyterian) preached a free grace. He organized the first permanent Baptist church in what is now West Virginia, on the 24th of November, 1781, with twelve members. Wirt in his History of West Virginia says it was the first church planted west of the Alleghanies, and has always borne the name of "The Old Greenbrier Baptist Church." In 1800 he organized the Greenbrier Association. The chair in which he sat in organizing this body, and in which he preached his last sermon, shortly before his death, is now in the possession of the Alderson Academy, as is also one of the books from his library. In 1783 he erected the first house of worship upon the present site of Old Greenbrier church. It was the only house of the kind in all this part of Virginia. He died March 2. 182 I. after a pastorate of forty years. The records of the Old Greenbrier church from its organization are in the possession of the Baptist Historical Society of Charleston. From the minutes of the church meeting, held the 25th day of March, 1807, is taken the following: "A matter of difficulty between our elder, Bro. Alderson, and William Johnson, respecting the amount of money each member was to pay to Bro. Alderson, according to their several abilities, Bro. Johnson being behind the matter, Bro. Alderson reminded him of the omission. Bro. Johnson, thinking it rather an unwarranted demand, threw down nine-pence on the table. saying, 'this is my subscription for three years.' Bro. Josiah Osborne, another minister, was called on to act as moderator on the settlement of this matter. The matter of the nine-pence was adjusted by Bro. Johnson asking forgiveness of Bro. Alderson and the church.' It was a custom of the church to require its members to attend divine worship regu-larly, and if a member was absent three times in succession, a com-mittee was appointed to see him. Bro. Parker, who lived on Snake Run. having been absent from three of the meetings, a committee was sent to find out the cause of delinquency. On August 20, 1802, the brethren made their report respecting Bro. Parker's delinquency. The reason was this: he had gotten entangled in debt, and the sheriff had a process against his body. He was not willing to be taken. and was keeping out of the way until he could make out some way to discharge his lawful debts. When this was accomplished, he will attend church more regularly. One year after Bro. Parker appeared before the church, and reported that he had adjusted the matter. Frequent mention is made of fasting and prayer. Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 08:28:25 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0.5b2ac28c.2531e069@aol.com> Subject: BIO: George ALDERSON, Greenbrier County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Greenbrier County J. R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 312-317 GEORGE ALDERSON, In the old marriage book in the clerk's office at Lewisburg the first recorded marriage, after Greenbrier was organized as a separate county (1777), was that of George Alderson and Sarah Osborne, Rev. John A. officiating. She was the daughter of Rev. Josiah Osborne, born March 5, 1750, a Baptist minister, who lived in the Big Levels of Greenbrier, but who came from Lost River, Hardy county, before the close of the Revolution. George Alderson was the eldest son of Elder John Alderson, Jr., and was horn August 30, 1762, in Rockbridge county, and soon after his marriage moved to what is now Kanawba county, and settled at the mouth of George's Creek, which was named for him. Some time after his settlement there the new county of Kanawha was formed (1789 and he was one of its first justices when Charleston was incorporated, December 19, 1794. He had four children, three sons and a daughter, who moved hack to Greenbrier with their mother after his death about 1805. Of the sons, John, Levi and James 0. (the daughter, Pollie, married a McClung), the first lived at Western View (on the outskirts of Alderson) and will be mentioned later. James 0. was a very devout Baptist preacher, but died young. He was the father of James G. Alderson, who is now 86 years old. Joseph Alderson, the second son of Elder John Alderson, was born June 17, 1771. He married wben sixteen years of age, Mary "Polly" Newman, the daughter of Jonathan Newman, of Botetourt, Virginia, who was in the battle of Guilford. Tradition says that the first Newman migrated to America with Sir Walter Raleigh at the first settlement of Virginia. Joseph Alderson, known as "Squire Joe," settled after his marriage on what is known as the Perry farm, one mile south of Alderson. After a few years his home was burned while the family was absent from home. Mf. Alderson then built the house which still stands on this farm, and with his own hands cut his initials and "1799" in a rock near the top of the chimney, which today can be seen from the roadway. After living there seYeral years, during which time he was en-gaged with his brother George in the manufacture of salt in Kan-awha, he purchased the farm where Hon. J. S. Thurmond now resides, which at that time embraced all of the lands from the mouth of Muddy Creek. and with the creek to Palestine, and with the side of the mountain to Greenbrier River above where P. B. Patton now lives. The purchase price on this place was paid in salt from the Kanawha Works delivered in Cincinnati. He after-wards acquired adjoining lands west of him as far as the top of Keeny's Mountain. A short time after removing to his new home he was appointed a justice of Greenbrier county. He represented Greenbrier county in the Legislature of Virginia for several terms, riding horseback from his home to Richmond to attend the ses-sions. In the absence of Mr. Alderson upon public duties, his wife, who was a capable business woman, superintended the large farm, overseeing his many slaves, and dispatched large quantities of home spuns and farm products to the Lynchburg market in exchange for household commodities. Joseph Alderson was a very devout Christian and always at-tended the meetings of the General Association of Virginia and his church meetings. He and his wife were very charitable and their doors were always open to the poor, and when large meetings were held at the Grembrier church they made it their special busi-ness to see that the more humble and poor were provided with homes during the meeting. He gave the ground upon which the Greenbrier church stands, and the cemetery adjoining, and left in his will the spring near the church "to the church and the public." He also gave the land for the Baptist church at Lewisburg. To Joseph Alderson were born eight children, George, Sarah, Mary, Martha, Margaret, Newman, Joseph Keyser and Lewis Allen. Colonel George Alderson was born November 20, 1789. He farmed and merchandised a few years, but was best known as a hotel keeper at De Kaib, in Fayette county, and through his con-nection with the James River and Kanawha Improvement Co., the hundreds of drovers from Kentucky, and the thousands of travelers to and fro on the old James River and Kanawha Turnpike knew and respected Colonel Alderson as a kind and hospitable man. He represented Fayette county in the Legislature several times. His first marriage was to Jeannette Creigh McClary, a classmate at the LAwisburg Academy (taught by Dr. McElheney). Her husband said of her: "None surpassed her in piety, affection, in love to her family as a wife and mother." To this union were born fourteen children; of these only one, John Marshall, resided in Greenbrier county, a sketch of whose life will be given later. His second marriage was to Eliza Ann Davis, daughter of Captain Charles Lewis Davis, of Amherst, Va., who was connected with the Ellison and Floyd families of Virginia. He died in De Kalb, the homestead in which he passed much of his time, on January 2, 1871, at the ripe old age of 8i years. Sarah, eldest daughter of Joseph, married Mr. Smithson and lived and died on the Perry farm, near Alderson, leaving no heirs. Joseph Keyser Alderson, the second son of Squire Joe, seems to have been a talented young man. He took the academy course under Dr. McElheney and devoted the few years of his life to the study of surveying, but his promising young life was closed by death at the age of 21. Rev. Lewis A. Alderson was born May 5, 1812, and was the youngest of his father's sons. He attended the Lewisburg Acad-emy about four years, and then graduated with the highest honors of his class at the University of Ohio in 1832. Dr. Hoge, of Rich-mond, Va., the late Dr. Thomas Creigh, Charles and John Stuart, Charles L. Arbuckle, and others of Greenbrier were his classmates at Athens, and were among his warmest friends. While at Athens be experienced a change of heart and rode all the way back to the Greenbrier church to make a public profession of religion and receive baptism in the church of his parents. Mr. Alderson entered the ministry soon after graduation and preached his first sermon in the old "Powder Horn Church" at Williamsburg, Virginia, in which General Washington stored his powder during the Revolutionary War. The day after he graduated he married Lucy B. Myles, of Athens, Ohio, who lived only a few months. While pastor of Grace Street Baptist church in Richmond, Virginia, he married Eliza Floyd, daughter of Capt. John Coleman, of Amherst county, Virginia, by whom he had eight children, seven sons and one daughter: Major Joseph Coleman Alderson being the eldest. After the death of his father in 1845, Mt. Alderson moved to this county and took charge of the homestead at Alderson. His diary up to 1859 shows that he had preached 676 sermons and traveled 13,-6~ miles. He preached for many years at the Greenbrier Baptist church and at Red Sulphur Springs, in Monroe county, besides became one of the most successful farmers in the county. In 1853 he visited most of our leading farmers and stock raisers and suc-ceeded in getting them interested in the organization of the Green-brier Agricultural Society. He was elected President of the society and remained as such until the spring of i858, when he moved with his family to Atchison, Kansas. He was one of the most learned and scientific men in the West and was offered time and again the presidency of different colleges, which he declined, believing that his life would be of more benefit to his fellowmen in the sphere he had chosen. He died in Atchison City, May 19, 1881. Patsy Feamster was born February 19, 1797, at the old stone house on the outskirts of Alderson; she was the second daughter of Joseph Alderson and Mary Newman Alderson. On March 17, 1824, she was married to William Feamster, of Greenbrier, who was a direct descendant of Thomas Feamster, one of the pioneers of Bath county, Virginia. The children of this union were Mary Martha, Thomas Louis, Sarah Elizabeth, Joseph Alderson, New-man, Patsy Jane and Sabina Creigh. See sketch of Lieutenant Claude N. Feamster. John Alderson, the youngest son of Elder John Alderson, was born September 4, 1783. In order to distinguish him from the other John Aldersons, he was called "River Jack." He was born and lived his entire life on the old homestead which stood on the site now occupied by the lower cottage of the Alderson hotel. At his father's death, he inherited the land on which the town of Al-derson now stands and the lands adjacent; this site of the home-stead remaining in the family for 140 years. John Alderson first married Miss Walker, by whom he had six children. By his second wife, Nancy Mays (nee Robinson), he had six children; one son, George, a sketch of whose life will be given later. John ("Captain Jack") Alderson (1786-1856), eldest son of George and and Sarah (Osborne) Alderson, was born in Kan-awha county. The 15th of August, 1815, he married his cousin, Frances Alderson (1783-1856), daughter of Thomas Alderson, and granddaughter of Rev. John Alderson, Sr. He was cpatain of a militia company. Besides "Captain Jack's" inheritance of land in Kanawha county, town property in the present city of Charleston and the salt works, he also inherited and accumulated large tracts of land in what is now Greenbrier, Monroe and Sum-mers counties. He was a man of unbounded energies and unusual ability. He had four sons and four daughters. Joseph Granville, a lawyer, who established the Greenbrier Jndepei~dent in 1859. His nephew, R. D. Alderson, has a copy of the Greellbrier Jude-pendent, dated August j6, 1859, Volume I, Number 27, J. G. Al-derson, Editor and Proprietor. Virginia Eliza, who married Thomas Patton; Sarah married Zach Woodson; Thomas George married Margaret, daughter of Rev. James 0. Alderson; Martha; Rufus Davis married Hester Ammen, and John Marcus (1831-1863), the youngest son, inherited "Western View," the home of his ancestors. He was first taught by the governess, who had charge of his sisters' education, then went with his older brother, Rufus, to Rev. James Remley's school for boys near Lewisburg, and afterwards to Prof. Oscar Stephenson, who later became a celebrated judge in Minnesota. He served in the Confederate army, first under his cousin, Major J. Coleman Alderson, and later in the Valley of Virginia in Edgar's battalion. He was de-tailed with a munition party? where he contracted typhoid fever, and died at the early age of 23. He married Malinda (Patton) (1833-1911), daughter of Elizabeth (Reaburn) and William M. Patton. Elizabeth Patton was the daughter of Charles and Mary (Hamilton) Reaburn, and granddaughter of William and Patience (Craig) Hamilton, who was a daughter of Rev. John Craig, of Augusta county, Virginia. To Mr. and Mrs. Alderson were given two sons: M. Judson (1858-1885) and Charles Rufus (1860- 1908), and one daughter, Elizabeth Marcus, "Bettie" (1864-1918). Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 08:32:51 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0.a35a460c.2531e173@aol.com> Subject: BIO: Hon. George ALDERSON, Greenbrier County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Greenbrier County J. R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 317-319 HON. GEORGE ALDERSON. Honorable George Alderson, who was born November 13, 1833, is a grandson of Rev. John Alderson, who settled and built his house where the Alderson Hotel now stands in the town of Alderson, in 1777. He was the youngest child of John Alderson, known as "River Jack," the youngest son of Elder Alderson, which explains the remarkable fact that a grandson of the first preacher who settled and established a charge west of the Alle-ghanies is yet living, while great grandchildren several times re-moved have long since passed from this world. George Alderson was born in the same house in which his father first saw the light, the homestead built by Rev. John Alderson. This house was burned with valuable historical documents in 1863. While a lad, he attended the country schools and Rev. James Remley's school, near Lewisburg, and was later sent to Hollins Institute (now Hollins College) at Botetourt Springs; when this school ceased to be co-educational, he attended the Palestine High School, just established by Prof. Oscar Stevens, a graduate of Richmond College and a noted educator. Upon the death of his father in 1853, George Alderson inherited the old farm, a part of which he still owns and resides upon, always having devoted his life to agriculture and stock raising. In the war between the States, he served in the Confederate army, Company A, Thirty-sixth Battalion of Cavalry. He was detailed as orderly, first for General Loeing, then General Wil-liams, and later for General Echols, serving with these most of the war. He was honorably discharged on account of an illness from which he has suffered at times all through his life. Mr. Alderson has been twice married, his first wife beiug Mary J., daughter of Maj. C R. Hines; his second wife, Virginia, daughter of Jeremiah W. P. and Miriam Gwinn Stevens. Three children were born to the first union, and six to the second, all of whom are dead but three; two died in childhood, four in youth and were laid to sleep in the old churchyard of the GId Green-brier Baptist church. Of the children, Miss Emma C. is principal of the Alderson Baptist Academy; J. C. is president of the Guyan Valley Bank at Logan; Bernard Carroll was professor of Latin and Greek at the West Virginia University and first principal of the A. B. A.; William W. was a physician of much promise practicing in Texas; George Jr., who possessed rare literary talents, represented Monroe county in the Legislature two terms; Virginia married C. W.Rowe; Cabell and Otey died when but a few years of age. For twenty-four years Mr. Alderson served as justice of the peace and represented Monroe county in the Legislature one term; he has been a director of the First National Bank since its organization, and is keenly interested in the affairs of his town and county. Like his ancestors, he is an intelligent, well-informed Baptist, ready to give a reason for his faith. He is senior deacon of the Old Greenbrier Baptist church, which office he has held for fifty-five years. For sixty-five years he has been a member of this church, and for forty years he was superintendent of its Sunday school. On the i3th day of November, 1917 (his eighty-fourth birth-day), Mr. and Mrs. Alderson celebrated their golden wedding. Mrs. Virginia Stevens Alderson is proverbial for her rare virtues of mind and heart; in her church, her community, her home, "Aunt Jennie" is quoted as a model friend, wife, mother, Christian. What higher aspiration can fill the heart of woman'? Both Mr. and Mrs. Alderson, though of advanced age and feeble in body, possess great mental activities and retentive mem-ories, which render them very interesting. From extensive reading they are in close touch with the affairs of the world. She orders well her household, while he directs his farm hands, and this year had planted large crops of grain, hoping to help feed the Allies and thereby do his part in the winning of Humanity's War, and in the preservation of the pure principles of Democracy. Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 08:36:29 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0.b576db8d.2531e24d@aol.com> Subject: BIO: J. Marshall ALDERSON, Greenbrier County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Greenbrier County J. R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 319-320 J. MARSHALL ALDERSON. J. Marshall Alderson, eldest son of Colonel George Alderson, was born the 16th of April, 1814, and was reared in Fayette county, where as a young man he was employed in his father's store. Under the old Virginia law the oldest magistrate became sheriff of the county. His father being sheriff, Marshall became th&acting sheriff and atttnded to the 'business of the office for four years, after which he and Colonel Launis, of Monroe county, purchased the privilege of the sheriffalty of Squire Keaton, in which capacity he served for four years. After the constitution of Virginia was changed to the election of the sheriff by the people he was elected by the voters of Greenbrier county as sheriff and was serving as such when he was drowned on the 19th of July, 1862, at Sweet Springs. John Marshall Alderson owned and resided on the land comprising what is now a part of North Alderson, extending back to Muddy Creek, on which he owned a large merchant's mill, which was run successfully for a number of years. (J. M. Alderson, Jr., has one pair of the mill stones from this mill laid in the cement walk at the entrance of his residence in Alderson.) Marshall Alderson married Cornelia P. Coleman, daughter of Captain John Coleman, of Amherst county, Virginia, June 6, 1844. Their children are: Sallie, who married Captain John G. Lobban, an officer in the Confederate army; James P.; Joseph N. married Lille E. Putney; Mildred J. married A. L. Riffe; Mary Eliza died in infancy; John M. married Florence Hodges; Cornelia M. married T. Mann; Lucy S. married Eugene R. Lewis. Mr. Alderson was a devoted Mason, serving several times as Worshipful Master of the lodge at Lewisburg. He was very popular as a citizen and especially loved by his neighbors. Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm