Pioneers of Jackson County - Part 4

   UPPER MILL CREEK
   
   From the forks of Mill Creek, at what is now known as the Windon farm,
   to the extreme head at the low gap on the Ripley and Spencer pike
   where the road crosses the divide, on to the waters of the Little
   Kanawha, is twelve and one half miles.
   
   This left branch, formerly known as the Trace Fork, is now considered
   the main stream, and is call Mill Creek only.
   
   There are seven important branches emptying into it, two from the
   right and five from the left side.
   
   The earliest settlements were made on the lower stream, along the
   bottomlands of the creek itself, and its tributaries gradually
   extending upstream, as the tide of immigration flowed in.
   
   The country is good for farming along the streams where the bottoms
   are usually of good width and fertile, the hill land is broken and in
   places very steep. Again, the hill sides go up very gradually, and
   there are often fine tracts of rolling or flat lands on top of the
   ridges.
   
   There is the greatest diversity of soil, all kinds being present, from
   the black waxy red clay, and deep, black sandy loam, to the poorest of
   white clay and yellow sand, and often a ten acre field will show
   several different kinds of soil.
   
   The rougher surface is as a rule on the northern and eastern face of
   the hills, and the smoother, and generally poorer, on the opposite.
   
   As a whole, the hill country is better adapted to grazing than to
   farming purposes, as most of the hillsides are bad to wash when
   plowed.
   
   Between the mouth of Sycamore and Station Camp, the road makes a short
   cut, across a point, leaving the bend of the creek a few miles to the
   right at Chase's Mills.
   
   This is known as the Ripley Mill, and it is about four and a half
   miles from town to the intersection of the creek road.
   
   Around the stream, the distance would be farther.
   
   At the mouth of Elk Fork, there is a stretch of one mile in a bend of
   the creek without any road, except the one which comes down Elk Fork.
   It passes down Mill Creek a couple of hundred yards, and crosses at
   the mouth of a little ravine which it follows a quarter of a mile to
   the top of the hill, joining the pike at the Mount Olive Church.
   
   There do not appear to be any old improvements on this ridge, the most
   of it being cleared since the war, and a great part in the last ten or
   twelve years.
   
   Off a mile to the left from the Ripley pike, and on the same ridge, is
   the Leonard King farm, referred to earlier.
   
   The surface of this land, although much cut up with hollows, is
   rolling, and the effect pleasing to the eye, but it is a most tiresome
   road to travel. The different streams putting into Mill Creek on the
   one hand, and Sycamore and Station Camp on the other, lap past each
   other so often that the pike which follows the top of the ridge turns
   and twists and zigzags between them in a manner most bewildering to a
   stranger.
   
   The soil is white and thin, but fruit seems to do well if the trees
   are planted while the ground is fresh.
   
   The first and largest branch of Upper Mill Creek is Elk Fork, which
   enters on the right about five miles from the forks of the creek.
   
   It received its name from the fact that two elk, the only ones known
   in this section after its settlement by the whites, were seen on its
   waters.
   
   They were discovered by a colored man, Adam, the slave of Michael
   Rader, Sr., while deer hunting, and though he followed them all day,
   he failed to get a shot at them. Many say the elk were killed. Abe
   Litton said that he had seen the horns at Raders.
   
   Elk Fork is thirteen miles long, and the principal streams flowing
   into it are Wolf Run, Scale Run, Baby Hollow, Welch Run, Clay Lick
   Run, Spruce, Haw and Forked Runs, and the tree large branches, Billy's
   Run, which heads at Red Knob in Roane County, and the Right and Left
   Forks.
   
   Billy's Run was named for "Old Billy" Allen, the father_in_law of
   James Rader, who got lost while hunting, and camped one night on the
   run.
   
   Station Camp is a smaller stream which empties into Mill Creek from
   the left perhaps a half mile above Elk Fork. It heads against the
   right branch of Sycamore.
   
   The name suggests its own origin, but I have never heard the incident
   from which it was derived.
   
   Joe's Run is a good sized run which, while not long, spreads out in a
   fan shape and drains a large boundary of land. It has two main
   branches and several large brooks flowing into it. It heads against
   Station Camp, Sycamore and Trace Fork of Sandy.
   
   Just beyond Joe's Run, at the head of Sycamore, and on the Mill Creek
   Sandy divide, are two large sand rocks standing on top of the hill,
   known as the twin rocks. One of them is an extension of the top of the
   ridge, and the other has by some convulsion of nature become detached
   from it, at some time. They now stand about ten or twelve feet apart,
   giving scant room for the road which passes between them. The outside
   rock is about eight feet high.
   
   The name of Joe's Run was derived from Joe Parsons, a wild and
   picturesque character who came to Mill Creek from the settlements on
   the Buckhannon, about the same time the other Parsons did. Just what
   relation he was to them does not fairly appear, some call him a cousin
   to Captain Billy, others just first cousin once removed, and others
   make the kinship still more distant.
   
   He was a hunter only, and did not try to permanently locate on a farm
   or earn a living, other than by hunting and trapping. His wife is said
   to have been a wild untamed creature named Mat, who, though scalped
   and left for dead by the Indians at the destruction of the Buckhannon
   fort, was not half so easily killed as that, but recovering, came to
   Mill Creek and lived for many years more. There is much confusion as
   to Joseph Parsons and his son, who is universally known as "Devil
   Bill", for both led wild roving lives without a fixed habitation,
   simply building a pole cabin and "squatting" at a place as long as
   suited their convenience.
   
   The cabin of Joe Parsons is said to have stood on the left of the
   creek, near the old ford below the Center View Church, but whether it
   was there or across the point on the run itself, it could have given a
   name to the stream, for the other Parsonses at Sycamore, if hunting
   among the hills at its head, would naturally have distinguished it
   from the other streams by the appellation Joe's Run.
   
   This cabin was built about 1812, or not long thereafter, and was
   standing in 1828.
   
   Joe Parsons afterward squatted at the mouth of Little creek, farther
   up stream.
   
   About 1820, he was living on what is now the Knopp farm, at that
   place, and there we lose sight of him.
   
   The only one of his children of whom there is now any knowledge is the
   aforementioned Devil Bill. He lived the same wandering, vagrant life
   his father had before him. When game became scarce he substituted
   fishing and digging "sang" for the old means of livelihood. He wore
   garments of skins and furs, when obtainable, or coarse linen or
   woolens, and lived in rude pole huts, sometimes without floor or door,
   and with rudest and scantest of furniture and utensils, even
   utilizing, as one informant says, large chips for plates. He appears
   to have been thoroughly imbued wit the "camping out" spirit. Every few
   years, he would make a pilgrimage to the West Fork, Cherry or Birch
   Rivers, to hunt fish and "sang", the family walking and carrying their
   household goods on their backs.
   
   The next stream of importance entering Mill Creek above Joe's Run is
   Frozen Camp, which comes in from the right, about two miles farther
   up.
   
   It forks at about one and half miles above the mouth, both branches
   heading against the Middle Fork of Reedy.
   
   A party of hunters were out on an expedition, years before the upper
   Mill Creek valley was settled. It had been arranged to meet at a
   certain spot on this run, to camp for the night, one man says, near
   the head, another near the mouth. It was winter, and the ground was
   covered with snow.
   
   The first to arrive on the ground, instead of constructing a camp,
   waited for their comrades to come in. These arrived later, but seeing
   there were no preparations made for camping, they became angry and
   would not assist, moreover it was found there was no axe with the
   party. So, as the night was fair, with neither rain nor snow
   threatened, they concluded to postpone camp building till the morrow,
   so scraping away the snow, they build a fire against a large poplar
   log, prepared supper, fixed a sort of bed with leaves taken from under
   the edges of the log, and lay down to sleep. The night, however,
   turned terribly cold, the fire of sticks and rubbish had soon burned
   out, and the log did not hold fire, so the party were nearly frozen.
   
   Billy Parsons and Adam were among the party, which consisted of
   several of the hardy pioneers. Adam, after his adventure with the
   bear, had been counted not very bright, but this time he proved the
   most sensible of the lot, for he succeeded in wedging himself under
   the log where a dry streak had burned out, and fared comparatively
   well. Some of the men had their feet and limbs so badly frozen, their
   friends had to procure horses and carry them home.
   
   Ever since that memorable night, the stream has borne the name of
   Frozen Camp. There are varying forms of the Frozen Camp incident, but
   the basic facts are similar.
   
   Nearly three fourths of a mile above this is another creek of about
   the same size comes in from the hills to the left.
   
   It has two principal branches, and drains a large scope of country.
   
   Just above is a larger stream, and whoever bestowed their names on
   them thought the first too little to be a creek, and the other a
   little too big to call a run, so they named the one Big Run, and its
   neighbor Little Creek.
   
   There was a good deal of trouble at the mouth of Big Run during the
   Civil War. There was a harboring place of the bushwhackers in the
   woods next the head of the stream. A part of the logs where they had a
   shed to keep horses in until ready to run them south may still be
   seen, and there are two places shown where the guerillas and returned
   southern soldiers used to camp under the rocks. The bridge over Big
   run was cut down and Captain Baggs' company were fired on while going
   from Ripley out to Spencer. One man, it is said, was killed or
   wounded, so he died. In return, Baggs burned several buildings, and
   there was a fight on the point between Gravel Run and the pike, back
   of the blacksmith shop at John Dukes.
   
   There has been a camping ground of the Indians or some previous race
   in the wide bottoms between the mouth of Big Run and Little Creek.
   There have been hollowed rocks with other smaller ones worn smooth,
   like mortar and postal for cracking grain, picked up, and darts,
   knives and spearheads were common when the fields were first plowed.
   There are some low mounds which may have been conical in form before
   the ground was tilled.
   
   One of these elevations was opened in September, 1898, by a party
   consisting of Frank Knopp, Dr. S.W. Bull, Eldridge Parsons and perhaps
   others.
   
   This mound was in the bottom on the west side of Big Run, on the farm
   of Mr. C.A. McVey. The mound had an elevation of four or five feet,
   and was about flat on top. They commenced the excavation on the west
   side and dug a trench towards the middle of the mound. Burned clay and
   rock and ashes were first struck and next the feet of a skeleton which
   was uncovered complete. This appeared to be a man of what would have
   been five feet, seven or eight inches tall, and by his side had been
   buried a child that might have been two or three years old.
   
   There were several other skeletons of grown persons of smaller
   stature, and one of an infant which had only cut two or three teeth at
   the time of its death.
   
   Most of the bodies were thought to have been buried sitting up, the
   bones being in heaps, the heads were shaped something like a dog's
   skull, with low forehead and heavy protruding jaws, showing a people
   of low order of intellect.
   
   The body of the supposed chief lay extended, the head being toward the
   north east, and feet to southwest. There were many implements of
   flint, stone and deer's horn found in the mound.
   
   The above is written from a verbal account given by Mr. Parsons from
   memory five years after the opening of the mound.
   
   There was a terrible boiler explosion at a sawmill on Frozen Camp,
   about a mile up from the mouth, in 1899, in which two men were killed,
   and others badly wounded.
   
   Three fourths of a mile, or less, above Little Creek flows into Mill
   Creek from the northeast. It is two and a half miles to the forks, and
   each branch is about one and a half miles long.
   
   Poplar Fork heads against the head waters of Sandy, and Walnut Fork
   rises in Roane County in a hill which stands between the sources of
   Sandy, Right Reedy and Little Creek.
   
   The most of this region was a wilderness until comparatively recent
   times, or say, about fifty years ago.
   
   Buffalo is a smaller stream rising against the Middle Fork of Reedy,
   and being mostly in Roane County.
   
   It empties into Mill Creek at the village of Buffalo City, which is
   about two mile from the head.
   
   Another village is Frozen Camp, which consists of a store and post
   office, and four or five dwelling houses. There used to be a carding
   machine plant, but it was burned by the soldiers, and never rebuilt.
   
   Frozen Camp lies on the second bottom above the mouth of Big Run.
   
   The Baptist Grove Church, built in 1881, and graveyard are near this
   place.


   PARISH FAMILY
   
   There is a village known as Parishtown at Joe's Run, and Gay is on Elk
   Fork a few miles from its mouth.
   
   The Parish family were descended from one William "Parrish", who came
   from England and was connected with the "celebrated Morgan Family".
   His son, William, born near Fairmont, West Virginia, in 1804, married
   Elizabeth Hamilton, died at Ripley in 1896. He moved to Wirt County in
   1855, and to Ripley in 1868.
   
   Calder H. Parish, his son, was born near Mannington, in 1848. He lived
   near the mouth of Joe's Run, and married Mary Frances Parsons, born at
   Middleport, Ohio. Their children were:
   
   Clero A. Parish.
   
   Della Parish, married Francis Huddleston.
   
   Libbie Parish, married Benjamin Stats, a Spencer baker.
   
   Homer C. Parish.
   
   Grace E. Parish, married A.B. Gainer, a Spencer butcher.
   
   Marie Parish, married E. M. Sinnett, of Spencer.
   
   Isabelle Parish, married Henry D. Goff.
   
   John C. Parish.
   
   Children of William Parish, Jr., were Nancy, wife of Wils Parsons,
   Hamp Parish, and Charley Parish.


   WINDON FARM
   
   In a raised piece of ground, directly opposite the mouth of Tug Fork,
   and well back from the creek, is one of the most beautiful building
   sites in Jackson County. The bottom here from the creek to the road is
   some thirty poles wide.
   
   Upon this knoll stands the ruins of an old house, now fallen under the
   crumbling hand of time, though once a stately mansion. It is
   surrounded by a field of over twenty five acres of beautiful
   bottomlands.
   
   The first settler here was probably John Casto. Later, Thomas Carney,
   Jr., lived here.
   
   On the hill is the pioneer graveyard, but the exact site is long since
   lost. Here lie Elijah Rollins and wife, and probably William Casto,
   the victim of the accidental shooting, and others of the earliest
   settlers.


   KEENAN FARM
   
   A short distance above this, the creek divides the bottom into two
   more or less equal portions, and somewhere in this bottom the first
   cabin on Trace Fork was built, save a hut in which the hunter, Joe
   Parsons, lived.
   
   So far as we can ascertain, the first occupant of this cabin was Jacob
   Hyre, who came from Hacker's Creek to Mill Creek, in 1815, and lived
   here two or three years before moving farther up the creek. The land
   may have belonged to Carney, as claimed by some, and possibly there
   had been a squatter or tenant occupant before Hyre came, thought I do
   not think it probable.
   
   The road or trail in the early days followed the creeks usually, and
   there used to be a large beech tree, which died a few years ago, and
   has fallen down, on which was carved J. H. 1815, which was cut by
   Jacob Hyre the year he came out here, when he was only a little past
   twenty one years of age.
   
   Who next lived on this farm is not given, all being blank until some
   time in the early thirties, when it passed into the hands of Thomas
   Bord, who had married a daughter of John Harpold, who lived at the
   ford above Ripley.
   
   Bord was a son of Patrick Bord, the pioneer of Reedy, being four years
   old at the time of the emigration from Greene County, Pennsylvania, to
   the wilds os western Virginia.
   
   He lived on this farm several years, and was one of the most ingenious
   blacksmiths, gunsmiths and mechanics ever in Jackson County.
   
   It is said he experimented a long time with the problem of perpetual
   motion, and there used to be a story extant that he once constructed a
   flying machine, with which he rose from the top of a neighboring hill
   and soared majestically over Ripley, unfortunately breaking his
   machine.
   
   From a habit of always expressing assent to a proposition by a phrase,
   "That's a fact, sure", he was known every where as "Fact Tom" or
   "Fact-sure Tom Bord", which served to distinguish from two others of
   the same name.
   
   He was born in November 1811, and died in the summer of 1869.
   
   The farm belonged for a time to a man by the name of Grant, from Lynn
   Camp, in Wirt County. Next, about the middle of the war, it was bought
   by an Irishman named Keenan, since which time it has been known as the
   Keenan Farm.
   
   Keenan came from the green isle of Erin to Kanawha County, in 1861. He
   moved to Calhoun County, but only stayed there one year, owing to his
   neighbors who, because of his ourspoken and radical union sentiments,
   made it too hot for him there. Driven away from home, he found an
   asylum in the wide and pleasant valley of Mill Creek.
   
   There is a graveyard on this farm, in which are buried some negroes
   who were slaves of Charles Carney.
   
   One hot, dusty, summer's day, while passing, I stopped for a drink at
   an old well out in the field from the road a bit. The proprietor who
   was working near said he knew nothing of the history of that well,
   probably it was the site of the old house in which Bord lived.
   
   The Keenan house is a double log cabin, still standing, on the
   opposite side of the creek.


   HYRE FAMILY
   
   Next above the Keenan farm is that owned by Jacob Hyre.
   
   He owned the bottomlands along the creek for a mile or more.
   
   His cabin was on the south side of Mill Creek, above where Philip
   Shato now lives. He built there about 1817, and continued to reside at
   that spot until an old man.
   
   He died in 1855, and is buried near the mouth of Joes Run, in the Ben
   Bord graveyard.
   
   The first place above the Keenan farm was settled by Jonathan Hyre,
   son of Jacob, who married Elizabeth Wright, and built on the lower
   part of his fathers farm, while the bottoms were still in woods.
   
   When clearing the heavy beech bottom below the Shatto house, he found
   the bones of the buffalo shot by his father years before.
   
   It was perhaps about 1820, or earlier, that Jacob Hyre discovered a
   large buffalo drinking at the Lick Spring, below where Mr. Roush now
   lives. He shot it, wounding it severely, and following it, the dogs
   brought it to bay in the lower bottom, where he killed it, and taking
   its "robe", left the carcass.
   
   Up next the upper end of the Hyre place, the creek makes a bend to the
   right. A brook comes in and, though only about a yard wide and not
   over a mile long, spreads out in a fan shape, draining the one side of
   the half of Ripley hill, the circumference of its drainage basin being
   over three miles.
   
   At the foothills, at the spreading of the fan, on the right side of
   the road, is the residence of David Hyre.
   
   A large stone house with wooden "L", and all surrounded by fruit trees
   and grapevines, for the present owner makes a specialty of fruit
   growing, it is one of the most pleasantly situated dwellings in the
   country.
   
   The house was mostly built by Jonathan Hyre, while living, and
   completed by his son.
   
   Just across the road, and a little lower down, stood the cabin in
   which lived George Parsons, a son of Charles Parsons, Sr.
   
   He appears to have sown and perhaps harvested a goodly crop of wild
   oats, but settled down before his death, joined the church and, it is
   even said, preached.
   
   Jacob Hyre was born in what is now Lewis County, on Hackers Creek,
   January 1st, 1784.
   
   He married Mary Beath, and moved to Mill Creek in 1815. He died in
   1855, and his wife, who was nearly five years his elder, in 1859.
   
   She was an energetic sort of a woman, and when her husband became
   discouraged trying to make a living and declared they would be sure to
   starve, she replied, "they were not going to starve either". She hadnt
   come to Mill Creek to starve, so, shouldering her axe or mattox, she
   would go to the field and work bravely by the side of her husband all
   day, and at night would spin the wool or flax for the manufacture of
   clothing for themselves and children, often sitting up till the middle
   of the night, with no light to work by but what was afforded by split
   pine knots in the middle, or a rag wick in a cup of grease in the
   summer.
   
   Grandmother Hyre had a nice little pet bear about the size of a cat,
   which was very interesting and playful. One day she had churned a
   large churn full of cream in one of the old fashioned wooden churns of
   the day, and having completed the churning, left the lid off while she
   took a pail and went to the spring for a bucket of water, with which
   to rinse down the churn before gathering her butter. While stooping
   down to dip the water, she heard a mighty splash at the house,
   followed by a terrible splattering. Hastening back, she found the bear
   had climbed up the churn to investigate, and, losing his balance, had
   tumbled in, head over ears, and was now bobbing up and down in her
   butter.
   
   Jacob Hyre had six children.
   
   Jonathan Hyre married Elizabeth Wright, daughter of Benjamin Wright.
   She died in 1901, at nearly seventy nine. (I rathre think it was
   Dorcas Wright, daughter of Levi Castos wife.)
   
   Jacob Hyre married an Aultz, who lived on Poca, and she dying, next
   married Dorcas Casto (Erilla D.) , daughter of Levi Casto. He died in
   1854, aged thirty five years, she a year earlier, when but nineteen,
   
   Mary Hyre married David Harpold.
   
   Rebecca Hyre married Michael C. Rader.
   
   Two sisters married in Upshur County, the one a Hebler, the other a
   McNulty.
   
   Jonathan Hyre died in 1880, aged sixty eight. He and his wife are
   buried at the Mount Olive burying ground.
   
   In the early days, the settlers made their own powder, of dogwood,
   charcoal, salt peter, and other home ingredients the wilderness
   afforded. This answered a very good purpose for use in their
   old-fashioned flint lock deer guns, but they had to buy a finer
   article for use in priming. In the Mill Creek Valley this was usually
   procured at Point Pleasant (or "The Point", as it was called), or from
   Charleston when they went after salt.
   
   It is related that when Jonathan Hyre was a little boy, he saw, when
   out at play one day, "an animal with a big head", as he told his
   father on running to the house. Investigation disclosed a panther in a
   neighboring tree. Sending the boy up to his brother-in-law, Wolfe, who
   lived a mile up the creek, for priming powder, of which he chanced to
   be out, he, seeing the animal evinced an intention of attacking him,
   knocked it out of the tree with a rock, and then dispatched it with a
   club, before the child, who had run all the way, arrived with the
   powder and help.


   WOLFE FAMILY
   
   The next farm is a mile or more above Hyre's and just below Elk Fork,
   and was known as the James Wolfe farm. It has for many years been the
   residence of Summerfield Thomas.
   
   James R. Wolfe was born and raised near the ort on Hacker's Creek, not
   far from the present village of Jane Lew.
   
   Here is a "curious incident" related in Withers' "Chronicles of Border
   Warfare', page sixty seven:
   
   "Jacob Wolfe, in digging a well on Hacker's Creek, found a piece of
   timber, which had evidently been cut off at one end, twelve or
   thirteen feet in the ground, --- marks of the axe were plainly visible
   on it."
   
   James R. Wolfe married Frances Beath, a sister of Mary Beath, who
   married Jacob Hyre. One informant says that after her death, he
   returned to Lewis Count, and married the widow Straley.
   
   He died on the farm above mentioned, and was buried on the point back
   of the house. There are several persons buried at this spot, but are
   now no markers, and it has long since ceased to be used for burial
   purposes. It is even said that some years ago, the then owner
   commenced to plow it up, but became frightened and desisted, fearing
   ghosts would retaliate. Mrs. Thomas (Hogsett) Rader says there used to
   be a gravestone marked "Lizzie".
   
   The children, as given by the widow of the late James Wolfe, were:
   
   Abe, Joe, Jake, Tommy, Jim, Lon, Mary, Katie, Nancy, Peggy and George.
   
   James R. Wolfe and wife moved to Mill Creek in August, 1821, bringing
   with them eight children. With them came Francis King and wife and
   Jacob Wolfe, thirteen persons in all, and they brought all their goods
   and everything on five horses. They were four days on the road, and
   never inside of a house in that time.
   
   They first settled at the Wash Rader farm, near the mouth of Station
   Camp, now the residence of Mr. Charles Shinn.
   
   The immediate object of the move was to find a better hunting ground.
   
   Jonathan Wolfe, who came with Tanner to Spencer in 1812, is said to
   have been a brother. He married Bridgett Runyan, a sister of Henry
   Runyan.
   
   James R. Wolfe's children were:
   
   Abraham Wolfe was born March 25th, 1811, and married Emily Boswell, in
   1835, lived for many years on Parchment, and died the spring of 1904.
   His children were C.M., Nohemiah, Adam, John, Jane who married Isam
   Rhodes, and Virginia, who married G.P. Morrison. The O.J. and C.S.
   Morrison, merchants, were their sons.
   
   Joseph Boath Wolfe, born in 1819, married in Lewis County, at Hacker's
   Creek, to Elizabeth Alkire, a daughter of Nicholas and Elizabeth
   Bonnet Alkire, in 1842, and a year later moved to Roane County. He
   died in 1895, and she died March 21st, 1911. Elizabeth C., their
   daughter, married John W. Daniels.
   
   Jacob Wolfe, born in the early 1800's, married Sally Boswell. Aunt
   Sally died at the age of seventy seven years.
   
   George Wolfe built the first house where John Rader now lives, 1907.
   Mrs. Ludwick says his first wife was a Crites, and his second a Bord.
   
   James G. Wolfe married Lizzie Straley, and lived on Station Camp. He
   was born in 1826, and died December 26th, 1889. She died December
   22nd, 1911, aged eighty four years.
   
   Thomas Wolfe married Susan Garnes and went west.
   
   Margaret Wolfe married Isaac Crites.
   
   Rebecca Wolfe married Charles Parson, Jr.
   
   Nancy Wolfe married Elijah Baker, of Reedy, and lived at Leroy, on
   Sandy. Their children were Dal Baker, who married a Johnson, Frank who
   married Alice Stout, and America, who married John Spencer.
   
   Mary Wolfe married Lenox Armstrong.
   
   It is stated that the grandmother of Elizabeth Alkire Wolfe was a
   daughter of Jesse Hughes.
   
   A Lewis Wolfe lived on Elk Fork at the place above Ellet Hyre's, no
   date given.
   
   Reece Wolfe was a local preacher from Monongahela, who settled on the
   Little Kanawha before 1799. He was probably not connected as his name
   was at first spelled "Woolf".
   
   C. M. Wolfe was a son of Abram, whose second wife, Jemima Kessell,
   died in 1872.


   RADER FAMILY
   
   Michael Rader lived on the first farm up Elk. He owned at one time
   several thousand acres of land, including the lower part of Elk Fork
   and Mill Creek, up to above where Hamp Parish now lives, all lower
   Station Camp, and a large part of Frozen Camp.
   
   He lived at the Mackintosh farm, about a mile up from Mill Creek,
   where he moved from Mason County before 1810, probably 1808.
   
   He was born in the Shenandoah Valley, of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. It
   is related of him that he talked a very broken English.
   
   The house Michael Rader lived in was just below where the Mackintosh
   house now stands, the latter is the Joesy Rader house.
   
   He built a mill on Elk, the first excepting Thomass mill, on the creek
   above Ripley.
   
   Rader was wealthy and kept several negro slaves, as did his sons after
   him.
   
   One of these, Adam by name, was mostly employed in hunting, and kept
   up the supply of meat for the family.
   
   It was he who found the elk from which the stream received its name.
   
   Michael Rader went from the Shenandoah Valley to Greenbrier County,
   thence to Mason, and to what is now Jackson County.
   
   Michael Rader was a member of the first County Court of Mason County,
   a the time of its organization in 1804.
   
   In 1835, Michael Rader was receiving a pension from the State of
   Virginia, as a Militia man. County and date of enlistment not given.
   
   While I have not the date of his death, he was eighty three years old
   in 1835, which makes the year of his birth about 1751.
   
   Rader Family Record, copied from the family Bible in 1903:
   
   Michael Rader, born March 8th, 1751, married to Catharine Long
   December 25th, 1769. Their children:
   
   Elizabeth Rader, born December 28th, 1771.
   
   Catharine Rader, born December 29th, 1773.
   
   Susannah Rader, born December 23rd, 1776.
   
   Abraham Rader, born January 20th, 1779.
   
   James Rader, born January 28th, 1782.
   
   Philip Rader, born March 26th, 1784.
   
   Polly Rader, born February 18th, 1786.
   
   Michael Rader, Jr., born February 12th, 1788. He had a pension for
   service in the War of 1812.
   
   Joseph Rader, born October 21st, 1790. (Died in 1880.)
   
   History of Ritchie County gives the name of Joseph A. Rader.
   
   Copy of Family Record of James Raders Family:
   
   James Rader, born January 28th, 1782, died June 12th, 1839. Married
   Hannah Allen on June 6th, 1805. She was born January 19th, 1781, and
   died April 27th, 1861. Their children were:
   
   William Allen Rader, born April 8th, 1806, died June 23rd, 1860.
   
   Lizzie Allen, died April 3rd, 1860.
   
   Michael Campbell Rader, born November 29th, 1807, and died April 14th,
   1880.
   
   John Rader, born November 26th, 1810, died April 15th, year not known.
   
   Robert Rader, born November 18th, 1812, died unmarried.
   
   Miriam Rader, born August 1st, 1816, died June 4rh, 1850.
   
   Edward Hart Rader, born April 14th, 1819, died October 31st, 1909.
   
   Emily Rader, born March 20th, 1822.
   
   James Miller Rader, born 1824, died 1842.
   
   James Rader married Hannah Allen, a daughter of William Allen, of
   Mason County. The latter is buried at the Rader graveyard, as is James
   Rader and his wife.
   
   Possibly the Lizzie Allen on the family record is the wife of William
   Allen.
   
   James Rader was wealthy and a man of influence in the county. He was a
   Justice of the Peace, and held other positions of trust.
   
   Of his children, there is no record of any marriage of William A., the
   oldest son.
   
   Robert and James M. died unmarried.
   
   Miriam married John A. Hyre. He was born December 20th, 1812, and died
   January 29th, 1852, aged thirty nine years.
   
   They lived on the Allen farm, and John Hyre of Frozen Camp is their
   son. Both are buried at the old Rader burying ground.
   
   Emily married Pleasant H. Thomasson, son of John P. Thomasson, and
   lived on Left Reedy.
   
   Dr. John Rader was a physician. He married Polly Ruddle, and lived on
   Frozen Camp, at the Sam Parsons place, afterward moved to Elk Fork.
   
   Some of his children, and probably his wife, are buried with him in
   the old graveyard on the Mackintosh farm.
   
   Edward Hart Rader lived on the home place, where he was born, for over
   eighty one years, but finally lost it all, and when over four score
   years went to Sandyville to live with a daughter.
   
   He was at one time very wealthy, possessing vast bodies of land, and
   one of the most beautiful homes in Jackson County.
   
   The hill lands are clean and well sodded with bluegrass, and the
   bottoms are poles wide, smooth and fertile.
   
   The house stands on a gentle elevation, overlooking acres and acres of
   wide bottom lands, and barns, carriage and tool houses and all
   convenient out buildings stand close.
   
   It is the old James Rader homestead, and stands on the left of the
   road, less than a half mile above Scale Run, and about one and a
   fourth miles from Mill Creek.
   
   "Uncle Hart" Rader served one term as Assessor of Jackson County, and
   proudly says he rode over the whole county himself, taking the
   assessment without any assistant.
   
   He served in the Legislature of 1871, and was two years County
   Surveyor.
   
   He died at Sandyville, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Emily
   Patterson, in 1909.
   
   His wife was Ruanna Wright, daughter of Ben Wright, Jr., born April
   10th, 1827, died July 3rd, 1911, aged eighty four years. They were
   married December 22nd, 1842, by Rev. Daniel E. Merrill, and raised
   twelve children, three of whom were living in 1911.
   
   Most of their children have preceded them to the Great Beyond. Seven
   of them are lying in a row in the shadows of the old graveyard. Each
   had a neat and modest little slab of marble at the head, but since the
   building of the railroad, these have been replaced by a single
   monument more ostentatious. The malady which took so many of the
   children in the same year was, I believe, diphtheria.
   
   The children of Hart Rader, copied from their family Bible, is as
   follows:
   
   Emily Jane, born in 1844, married Marion Clifford, who died. She then
   married a Patterson.
   
   Sarah Elizabeth, born in 1846, died 1875, married Henry Bord.
   
   Mary Isabel, born in 1850, died in 1855.
   
   James Benjamin, born in 1852, married Mary Sergeant.
   
   Isadore Trainer, born in 1849, died in 1869.
   
   Edward Clinton, born in 1854, died in 1860.
   
   Cora Ann, born in 1856, married George Armstrong.
   
   Lena Augusta, born in 1859, died in 1861.
   
   Lida Fenton, born in 1861, died in 1876.
   
   Ferdenand Ferrando, born in 1863, died in 1876.
   
   Dr. William Cordett, born in 1867, died in 1876.
   
   Michael Campbell Rader, the second child of James Rader, was born in
   Mason County, in 1807, and when James Rader moved, which was at the
   same time his father came, or soon after, the childs mother carried
   him on a feather bed in her lap.
   
   The child would have been over a year old, and it must have been
   before the birth of John Rader in 1810.
   
   This fixes the date of coming to Elk at 1808 or 1809.
   
   M. C. Rader owned one thousand acres, including the Ben Bord and Jesse
   Allen (H. Parrish) farms. He moved to the Mill Creek side of the hill
   in 1837, and built his cabin at the end of the long low point, above
   Mr. B. B. Bords, where the big cedar trees are standing. Later he
   built on the site of the residence of Mr. Bord. The silver maple tree
   in the front yard, he set out in 1869, the white pine in 1842.
   
   Soon after moving to Mill Creek, M. C. Rader built a little water mill
   against the high rocky hillside where the spruce pines grow, across
   from where he built his first cabin.
   
   This mill was washed out by floods two or three times, and as often
   rebuilt.
   
   There is a millstone to be seen at the Tom Rader house up on the point
   from the ford, where Joe Parsons is said to have built his cabin. It
   is twenty two inches across, and four inches thick, and may have been
   used in the mill above mentioned.
   
   It has, so the story goes, done service in a horsemill, in grinding
   corn for the manufacture of johnny cake and corn dodgers, which were
   eaten with bear meat ninety years ago. Now it is degraded to the baser
   service of a doorstep, at the gate.
   
   There is a pleasant fiction that the Michael Rader farm was traded for
   these hand mill buhrs.
   
   An Anthony Rader, living in Nicholas County, made a "bear trap", Isaac
   Fitzwater also made one. These were used by Anthony McClung, of
   Nicholas, and were both in existence at Summersville some years ago.
   
   Michael C. Rader married Rebecca, daughter of Jacob Hyre. He was born
   in 1807, and died in 1880, and his wife born in 1813 and died in 1882.
   They were married in 1832. A copy of their family record, is as
   follows:
   
   Michael C. Rader, born November 29th, 1807, died April 14th, 1880.
   Married Rebecca Hyre who was born August 26th, 1813, and died May
   11th, 1882. They were married June 7th, 1832. Their children:
   
   Jacob Webster Clay Rader, born April 18th, 1834.
   
   Nancy Margaret Rader, born October 14th, 1835.
   
   Mary Rader, born in 1837, married Ben Bord.
   
   Sandusky V. Rader, born October 12th, 1837, died September 28th, 1838.
   
   Elizabeth Catharine Rader, born August 16th, 1839.
   
   Nancy Ann Rader, born March 21st, 1841, died January 9th, 1848.
   
   There were sons born in 1833 and 1844, who died in infancy.
   
   Inscriptions on gravestones which are in Ben Bord Cemetery read:
   
   M. C. Rader, born Nov. 29, 1807, died April 14, 1880, age 72 years, 4
   months, 15 days.
   
   Rebecca, wife of M. C. Rader, born Aug. 26, 1813, died May 11, 1882,
   aged 68 years, 8 months, 15 days.
   
   Michael Rader, Jr., lived on Mill Creek below the mouth of Joes run.
   He was a drummer in Captain Billys company in the War of 1812.
   
   He married Catharine Roush, of Mason County, and lived on the farm
   above the mouth of Station Camp. One informant places the site of his
   first cabin at the old apple trees by the ford where the Joe Parsons
   cabin is said to have been located. Afterward, he lived in the low gap
   up on the point, west of the ford.
   
   This land all belonged to his father, who sold it to him, as witnessed
   by two deeds, on record at the Clerks office, at Ripley:
   
   December 18th, 1828, Michael Rader sold to Michael Rader, Jr., for
   Three Hundred Dollars, one hundred and fifty acres of land lying on
   Trace Fork of Big Mill creek, above the old cabin formerly occupied by
   Joseph Parsons, and joining lands of Andrew Lewis. The deed is
   executed in Mason County.
   
   Witnessed by:  Signed)
                  Michael Rader
                  John Rader
                      her
   Michael Rader
                 Catherine X Rader
                      mark
   
   Another deed is for two tracts, and is dated May 29th, 1834.
   
   One hundred acres of land patented to Michael Rader, July 18th, 1815,
   by Governor W. C. Nicholson, described as beginning at a black gum
   near the path at the first fording of the creek above the mouth of
   Station Camp, and running onto Station Camp. The other, patented by
   John Tyler, in June, 1826, lies north of this, consideration Ten
   Dollars.
   
   In the early days of the settlements, the road crossed the creek above
   J. A. Parsons, and went up through the low gap, crossing again at the
   old Joe Parsons cabin, instead of following around the creek, as now.
   
   Hart Rader, says Mike Rader, first built a few rods below the ford, at
   the mouth of Joes Run.
   
   Children:
   
   "Wash" Rader (George W.) Born in 1814, died in 1868, first built where
   store is at Joes Run, afterward moved to the Charley Shinn farm. He
   was clerk in a store at Reedy, in 1844 or 1845, where there was
   already a small improvement.
   
   Abe Rader married Polly Aultz first, second Mary Bush. He lived first
   at the Charley Shinn farm, and moved to Sycamore about the 1890's. He
   was born in 1817 and died about 1897.
   
   Will Rader married a Dye, and lived at the Low Gap across Mill Creek,
   below the old ford.
   
   Elvira Rader married Alec Keeney, and lived where the old apple trees
   are, below Cal Parishes. He sold groceries and whiskey. Rebels raided
   his store and burned the goods. Whiskey ran in a blaze down on the
   creek.
   
   Bet Rader married Wash Pfost.
   
   Joseph Rader owned the home farm for a time. He married Martha
   Rayburn, of the Mason County flats, a few miles out from Point
   Pleasant. (For history, see Reedy history.) Both Joseph and Michael,
   Jr., were in the War of 1812.
   
   George W. Rader was born (from record on tombstone) July 9th, 1814,
   and died September 18th, 1868, aged fifty four years. He married Nancy
   Miller, a daughter of Kitts Miller, and Aunt of Judge Warren Miller.
   
   George W., commonly called Wash Rader, lived on the Charley Shinn
   farm, on Station Camp, where his daughter Ellen, who married Shinn,
   now lives. It is said that he built a cabin near where the pike
   crosses Joes Run, when he first married.
   
   In letters to Abe Rader, who was in the west, written just after the
   war, he mentions a son, Alonzo, and two daughters, Ellen, who married
   Charley Shinn, and Eliza.
   
   These letters throw light on the conditions in Jackson County, just
   after the war. Wash and Abe Rader were Union men, the remainder of the
   family all being Confederates.
   
   Under date of May 21st, 1865, he writes
   
   "We have had a very early spring, and we have had some very high
   waters. On the 9th day of May, the creek was over my floor, as it was
   in 1852. It was twenty three inches over my house floor (probably an
   old house nearer the water). I had a nasty time. It only took off
   three hundred rails for me.
   
   I am nearly done planting. I have about two acres to put in a the
   Gabbert place yet, and then Im done. I have some corn that is large
   enough to work. My wheat and grass all looks well. Stock is high.
   
   I sold my big oxen the first week in May, for One hundred fifty
   dollars. They would have weighed a thousand pounds a piece. That was
   seven and a half cents a pound.
   
   The thieves is still a stealing horses, grain, chickens, meat, etc.
   
   I have Bill Harpers Charley, and two weeks ago Thursday night, some
   rascal stole him and took him off. I dont know where, and the next
   morning about seven oclock, he came back. Two weeks ago they stole two
   horse from Tom Wilkerson, and I have not heard of them since."
   
   Under date of July 3rd, 1868, he writes
   
   "The weather here is extremely hot for the last two weeks and very dry
   for two weeks today.
   
   I have been cutting wheat for two days, and I have just one hundred
   dozen cut. I will have fifty more, I think.
   
   Our county is almost taxed to death, my tax last year was Seventy
   three Dollars, and this year we are building a new bridge at
   Ravenswood, and we will have to pay Nine thousand dollars for the
   bridge. In the last two years, we have had to pay over Sixteen
   thousand dollars for bridges in the county.
   
   My taxes for township purposes is Thirty eight dollars this fall. I
   will be strapped, I know.
   
   There is a great deal of party strife here at present. Our Rebels feel
   very big since Johnsons trial is over."
   
   On the 4th of October, 1868, Charley Shinn wrote Abram Rader to
   announce the death of Wash, on the 18th of the previous month, after
   "laying sick" "about five weeks", he first "took" the "information of
   the brain", followed by "billious feaver" and "newmonia". Dr. "Bectal"
   "on Grass Lick" "tended on" him three weeks.
   
   He also states that the fall was so wet that "corn has pretty near all
   rotted". The water had been fifteen inches higher than ever before
   known.
   
   Copy of Patent of Rader Land made from original parchment.
   
   "Patrick Henry Esquire, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to
   All to Whom these presents shall come, Greeting: Know Ye, that by
   virtue and in Consideration of part of a Land Office Treasury Warrant
   Number Seventeen Thousand Five Hundred and Four and Issued the Twenty
   seventh day of June One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Three
   there is granted by the said Commonwealth unto the said Albert
   Gallatin apee of Stephen Lacoste a certain Tract or Parcel of Land,
   containing Fifteen hundred acres by Survey bearing date the Sixteenth
   day of August (worn away) one Thousand seven Hundred and Eighty four
   lying and being in the County of Harrison adjoing (Savary) (worn away)
   Valcoulous 12th entry and bounded as followeth:
   
   To wit, Beginning at a black oak corner to said Savarys 25th Survey
   and thence with a line of Savarys 20th Survey South forth Degrees East
   Nine hundred and Ninety Six Poles crossing the 2nd left hand ford of
   Mill Creek and a branch of Mill Creek to a poplar. Thence North Three
   Degree West Eight hundred poles crossing two Runs to a Maple. Thence
   with a line of Savarys 25th Survey south Eighty Seven Degrees west Six
   hundred poles crossing the 2nd left hand fork of Mill Creek and two
   Runs to the Beginning - - -
   with it Appurtenances TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the said tract or parcel of
   Land with its Appurtenances, to the said Albert Gallatin and his Heirs
   and Assigns forever. IN WITNESS where of the said Patrick Henry, Esqr.
   Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, hath hereunto set his Hand,
   and caused the Letter Seal of the said Commonwealth to be affixed at
   Richmond, on the 10th day of February, in the Year of our Lord, One
   Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Six and of the Commonwealth the
   tenth.
   
   P. Henry
   Virginia Seal
   (Reverse side)
   Albert Gallatin is Intitled to the within mentioned Tract of Land -
   John Harris (or something else)
   Re. L. Off.
   (and)
   No. 2 (apparently figures worn away)
   Harrison
   Land Warrant issued  June 27, 1783
   Survey               Aug. 16, 1784
   Patent               Feb. 10, 1786


   JOHN H. RADER
   
   John H. Rader came to Mill Creek in 1852, and bought fifteen hundred
   acres of land extending from a few poles north of Little Creek to the
   waters of Frozen Camp, and crossing both Buffalo and the head of Mill
   Creek. There was a house at the George Custer place which may have
   been on this tract the Jim Stewart, Captain Parsons house, where his
   brother William Rader lived for a time. John Rader lived in the
   Stewart cabin while he was building on the hill. His farm comprised
   the Rhor, Webb, Morrison, Rollins or Patterson, Noyes, Dunn, Golden,
   Paugh, and other tracts of land reaching on the Frozen Camp waters.
   When he first came to Mill Creek, he moved into the old house at the
   turn above Ben Bords. He went on his land the spring of 1853. Later,
   John Rader sold his farm to George Street, of Barbour County, and went
   to Oiltown.
   
   Joseph Rader, his son, married a Cottle, and made the first
   improvement where the widow Dunn now lives. He was killed by the
   soldiers about November, 1863, and his was the first grave in the new
   Street graveyard.
   
   There are three of his children buried under a large hickory tree in
   Rollins meadow, and his grave was commenced there, but the rock
   interfered before the grave was deep enough, and the site was changed
   to the knob east of there.
   
   Harvey Rader made the first opening at the Morrison or Payne farm,
   except the slashing for the squatter Davis. He sold out to his
   brother-in-law, John Broughey, and went to Oiltown. Jonathan Griffin,
   another son-in-law of John Rader, first settled at the Jack Paugh
   place on Mill Creek, after several years, he sold to his wifes
   brother, Adam Rader, who married a Riddle.
   
   George Rader first cleared the Webb farm.
   
   Frank Rader built the hewed log house on the Noyes farm, but never
   completed nor lived in it.
   
   Four hundred acres in the northwestern corner was sold to Wash
   Huddleston later.
   
   John H. Rader was born in Greenbrier County. His wife was a McClung.
   
   The father of John Rader was George Rader. There is a difference of
   opinion as to whether he was a brother or a cousin of Michael Rader
   who settled on Elk Fork.
   
   He and his wife, whose maiden mane was Sarah Craig, were both from the
   Valley of Virginia. Of their children:
   
   Robert lived in Braxton.
   
   George moved to Missouri.
   
   Adam lived with John, at Camden on the Gauley, before the latter came
   to Mill Creek. His son, Hayes Rader, was once Sheriff of Nicholas
   County.
   
   William lived awhile in the house on the Custer farm, adjoining his
   brothers, and it is said, built the house across the road from where
   Frank Ludwick now resides.
   
   He married the widow Huddleston, and was killed on the Great Kanawha
   River.
   
   There was a Rader settlement in Rockingham County, in 1864, and a
   church called the Rader Church.
   
   George Rader moved to Greenbrier from some point in the Valley. He is
   said to have been wealthy, and lost Ten thousand dollars, as surety
   for a son-in-law. He bought land at the mouth of Strouds Creek.
   
   The George Rader mentioned above, Anthony Rader, and Abigail Rader,
   were children of Michael Rader of the Greenbrier Kanawha section, and
   who was a nephew of the Michael Rader of Elk and a cousin of Old
   Joesy.
   
   George Raders children were:
   
   Sinnett Rader.
   
   Dr. Anthony Rader, prominent in state politics.
   
   Miriam Rader, married Jim Atkinson, in Kanawha County. Their son was
   Governor Atkinson.


   GREENLEAF FAMILY
   
   George Greenleaf lived in Harrison Count, Virginia, twelve miles from
   Clarksburg. His father's name is thought to have been Peter.
   
   He married Nancy Barnes, a daughter of Daniel Barnes. In 1832, he
   moved to Gilmer County, near Normantown.
   
   George Greenleaf's children were:
   
   Noah, married a Townsend.
   
   James, married a Farence.
   
   Rev. John, married first Sarah Norman, and later a Cox.
   
   Mary, married Felix Norman.
   
   Rebecca, married John, son of Thomas Marks.
   
   Lucretia, never married.
   
   John Greenleaf, his son, was born on the third day of August, 1816,
   and was sixteen years old at the time of the migration to Gilmer
   County (then Lewis County), and lived at Normantown nine years.
   
   He married Sarah Norman, a daughter of James Norman, for whom the
   village of Normantown is said to have derived its name. She was a
   sister of "Sis" Ludwick's mother.
   
   In May, 1843, John Greenleaf moved to a farm of over one hundred acres
   he had bought at Gay, on Elk Fork of Mill Creek. There was some
   improvement on the land when Greenleaf moved to it, but he did not
   tell me at the interview I had with him one day in July, 1904, of whom
   he bought. Being nearly eighty eight years old, and very frail, the
   old man's memory was bad, and having lost his land recently and been
   left in his old age without a home, his mind was affected, or, as he
   expressed it, 'he was "shook up" in his head'.
   
   The first summer he lived on Elk, he made a light crop of corn on
   account of the lateness in the year of his arrival.
   
   He worked for some of the neighbors to get grain for bread. David
   Litton, John Bord, and John Tolley were among his neighbors when he
   came. He helped John Bord, who lived on Frozen Camp, where Miles Bord
   now lives, to reap his wheat crop that summer.
   
   When Greenleaf came to Elk Fork, he moved on pack horses. There was at
   that time an abundance of game in Gilmer County, but in Jackson
   County, it was already becoming scarce.
   
   There were some deers and a few wild turkeys yet.
   
   While moving, he passed a night with William R. Goff, long one of the
   leading citizens of Spencer. He was then for five years a resident of
   the Goff homestead, had a small improvement, and a family of four
   children. Uncle Hi Goff, of Tanner's Run, was then a babe of two
   months of age.
   
   It is said there were then only two other families living at Spencer,
   those of Samuel Tanner and Samuel Miller.
   
   John Greenleaf was a minister of the Gospel, Southern Methodist
   Church.
   
   He was Justice of the Peace for twenty two years, by appointment of
   the Governor, and four years President of the County Court, elected by
   the people. He retired late in the 80's.
   
   John Greenleaf and Henderson Harper were about the same age. They died
   about the same time, and were buried the same day.
   
   Elliot (C.E.) Greenleaf, of Elk Fork, one time assessor of Jackson
   County, was a son of John. He was born in Gilmer County a year before
   his parents moved to Elk Fork.
   
   Beulah Greenleaf, who married U.S. detective, Dan Cunningham, was a
   daughter of Elliott.
   
   Other children of John Greenleaf were:
   
   J. W. Greenleaf, died unmarried.
   
   S. E. Greenleaf, of near Red Knob, Roane County.
   
   "Rua" Greenleaf, married Charles L. Bradley.
   
   Caroline Greenleaf married John M. Bradley.
   
   Riley Greenleaf was the oldest son, lived near Red Knob on Wolf Camp.
   
   Ben T. Greenleaf was John's youngest son, died in the asylum, November
   7th, 1910.


   BRADLEY FAMILY
   
   The Bradleys were sons of a Mr. James Bradley, who came to Jackson
   county about 1843. He was a miller by trade, and worked at the
   Cottageville Mill a while, afterward, he married Nancy, a daughter of
   Peter Rhodes, and lived on Forked Run.
   
   John and Charles Bradley married daughters of John Greenleaf.
   
   Sarah Ellen married Dr. Jim C. Casto.
   
   Mary married Joel Casto, son of George Casto.
   
   Sophronia married Jake B. Casto.
   
   Robert married Barbara Rhodes.
   
   Elizabeth married Miles Bord.


   HORNER FAMILY
   
   About 1772, the Horners came to Sharp Peak Mountain. They migrated
   from about twelve miles from Harrisburg, in Pennsylvania. William was
   the father's name. He had two sons, William and David.
   
   David married Phebe Michael, and located in Rockbridge County,
   Virginia. About 1840, he "came west", lived a year at Reedy, (which
   may not mean Three Forks), then near Red Knob, and on Coxes Fork,
   about the 50's, he moved to "the Flats". He raised a large family.
   
   Louisa Virginia married Abe Litton, July 3rd, 1864.
   
   Will H., their first child, was born July 3rd, 1865.
   
   Sarah and Mary, twins, grew up, but died.
   
   William died at eighteen, unmarried.
   
   Alice married Thomas Shouldis, lived at Gandeeville.
   
   Cornelia married William Gandee, a son of Samuel Gandee.
   
   D. Irvin married Annie, daughter of Robert Hopkins.
   
   William, David Horner's father, built a house in Rockbridge, and rove
   black pine shingles for the roof. This was in 1776. It was first
   re-roofed in 1890, one hundred and fourteen years afterward.


   NORMAN FAMILY
   
   The Normans are of Scottish or Scotch_Irish Stock, and lived near
   Normantown, in Gilmer County. Squire Greenleaf said that James Norman
   married Mary Emmet. Their children were:
   
   Sarah Norman, married John Greenleaf.
   
   Felix Norman, married Polly Greenleaf.
   
   Isaac Norman.
   
   Seymour Norman, married a Stump.
   
   William Norman was a brother of cousin James. He lived at Normantown.
   His children were:
   
   Sally, married Peter, son of Paulser Bush.
   
   Andy, married twice and went west.
   
   Emmet, married a Riddle, Hugh's wife's father.
   
   Seymour.
   
   Mary, married George Riddle. Their children were Jerry, Merch,
   Sylvanus, Nancy, and Simpson.
   
   Maria, married Theodore Givens, a Baptist preacher.
   
   Seymour Norman, brother of William, married Sally, daughter of Paulser
   Bush.


   BUSH FAMILY
   
   Paulser Bush married "Lizzie" Backard, and lived in Gilmer County.
   Their children were:
   
   Peter, married Sarah Norman.
   
   Sarah, married Seymour Norman, uncle of Sarah.
   
   Adam, married Matilda Griffin.
   
   Daniel, married Nancy Riddle, sister of Jerry and March.
   
   David.
   
   John, married a Cox.
   
   Henry, married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Shinn.
   
   George, married Katy Shinn, sister of Sam and Henry.
   
   Nancy, married George Brannon.
   
   Margaret, married Jake Arnold.
   
   Mary.
   
   Peter Bushs second wife was Mary Brannon, niece of George.
   
   Paulser Bushs sister, Margaret, married Peter McCune, and lived on the
   West Fork. Their children were Peter, Timothy and Paulser.
   
                          (c) 2001 by Betty Briggs