WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 01 : Issue 26 Today's Topics: #1 Local History, Kingwood District, ["Betty Ralph" ] #2 Local History, Lyon District, Pres ["Betty Ralph" ] ______________________________X-Message: #1 Date: Sat, 09 Jun 2001 08:32:11 -0400 From: "Betty Ralph" (by way of Valerie & Tommy Crook ) To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <5.0.2.1.0.20010609083149.01b79460@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: Local History, Kingwood District, Preston County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Local History, Kingwood District, Preston County, WV, from "History of Preston County" by S.T. Wiley, published Kingwood, West Virginia, 1882. Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Betty Ralph bralph@hiwaay.net ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES 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. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ~http://www.usgwarchives.net *********************************************************************** Early Settlements. - In 1773, William and Hugh Morgan settled on the west side of the dunkard Bottom, on settlement rights which they patented in 1783. About 1778, Patrick Morgan, a son or brother of William Morgan, was killed by Indians, as described on page 31. Several different accounts are given of this affair by persons who conversed with William Morgan's wife, Hannah, when she was over 100 years old. After Morgan's death, she married Michael Grady, and lived to be 110 years of age. William Morgan's son, William, was the father of David Morgan. About 1781, a man by the name of Miller, with his two sons (little boys) was chased away from his camp-fire, not far from the site of Kingwood, by the Indians. One of these little boys, John Miller, afterwards married Catherine Neff, and came back about 1800. His brother William went to South Carolina. John Miller's children were Henry, David, Benjamin, Ann, Mary, and Sarah, who married Christopher Jordan, and is still living. John Greene came some time before 1788, and his murder by the Indians in their last invasion of the county is described on page 223. In the spring of 1790, James Brown (father of the Hon. William G. Brown) came near the site of Kingwood, and in 1800, he bought John Greene's tract of land of his heirs. Robert and Alexander Hawthorne, his wife's brothers, came with him, but they located four miles south of Morgantown. About this time (1790), came Robert Beatty, George Gillaspy, Robert Butler, Peter Meredith, Abraham Darling, and the Balls. Anthony Carroll served in the English Navy, and came at an early day close to Morgantown. He married a Miss Dunaway. They had two children, James and Mary. Mary married William Gordon, an ancestor of William G. Worley. Anthony Carroll and his son James settled one mile north of Kingwood about 1790, or '92. His son James married Sarah Vankirk. Their children were Anthony, William and Mary. The latter was the wife of Paul Herndon. William was the father of James H. Carrol, of Kingwood and Amos Carroll, of Cranberry; and was a member of the Virginia legislature in 1834, 35, 36, 39 and 40. The Darlings were here at about this time. A tradition asserts that a sister of William Darling was captured by Indians on the Copeman farm, where they then lived. Aaron Royse, the ancestor of the Royse family, died in 1818, at the age of 84. His son Hiram was the father of Moses, who married Rebecca, daughter of John Stonebridge in Winchester, and came from Somerset Co., Pa., in 1806, and bought the Darling farm, and died in 1861, at the age of 95. His children were Mary, Elizabeth, Moses, and John. John was the father of Mrs. Henry Copeman, and died in 1863, at the age of 68 years. Jacob Snyder came about 1800. His sons were Abraham, John, William, Jacoob and Allen. Jesse Trowbridge came in 1804, from the Shenandoah Valley. The Taylors and Joseph Kelso were old settlers. Philip Martin came from Rockingham Co., Va., between 1800 and 1805. He married Susan Funk. Their children were John, Jacob, Philip, David, Joseph (father of J. Ami Martin), and Samuel. ______________________________ X-Message: #2 Date: Sat, 09 Jun 2001 08:32:40 -0400 From: "Betty Ralph" (by way of Valerie & Tommy Crook ) To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <5.0.2.1.0.20010609083233.01bcc990@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: Local History, Lyon District, Preston County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Local History, Lyon District, Preston County, WV, from "History of Preston County" by S.T. Wiley, published Kingwood, West Virginia, 1882. Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Betty Ralph bralph@hiwaay.net ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES 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. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ~http://www.usgwarchives.net *********************************************************************** Early Settlements. - About 1790, the territory of Lyon was a favorite hunting ground for the early settlers of Valley District, and afterward members of the Brown, Zinn, and Fortney families, from there came into the district. Some time after 1790, Sand Ridge (now Scotch Hill) was settled by David Matthews, the Rev. Kidd Smith, Simpson and others. John Dale Orr was born in Baltimore, and was in Harmar's, St, Clair's and Crawford's defeats. He was in Capt. William's company, under Crawford, and was wounded but escaped from the battle field. He came to Sand Ridge from Uniontown, Pa., in 1798. His wife was Elizabeth Johns. Their children were Catherine, John, born in 1798, Ruth, Hiram, born in 1804, George and James P., an old school teacher now living in Illinois. Hiram was the father of U.N. Orr, a major in the 173d Va., militia, and elected in 1880 as a member of the House of Delegates from Preston County. Another of his sons, Morgan D. Orr, lives in Marion County. Nehemiah Squires came at an early day from Loudon County, Virginia. He married Elizabeth Polen. Their children were John, Samuel, William, Harriet, Elizabeth, Sarah and Thomas, the father of B.F. Squires. Cotemporary with Squires was Thomas Piles, George Monahan and John Casedy. George Monahan once, with a companion, followed a bear to a cave. Monahan let himself down into the cave with a lighted torch, and there set Mr. Bruin with his paws handing down, and looking very innocent. He stuck the torch to the bear's nose, and Bruin, astonished and insulted at this mode of attack, ran over him and out of the cave before he could draw his knife. Monahan on coming out found his comrade up in a tree and the bear gone. Samuel Powell came from Fayette County, Pa., about 1820. His wife was Sarah Morton. One of his sons was John M., father of M.T. Powell. The territory of Lyon was but thinly settled until the projection and completion of the B.&.O.R.R., through the district, and from that time (1850-1853), its increase in population has been very rapid, until now it stands, numerically, first of the eight districts in the county