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Brandon Ray Kirk

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Brandon Ray Kirk

Tag Archives: James Lawson

James Toney Survey (1849)

03 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Guyandotte River, Lincoln County Feud

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Charles I. Stone, county clerk, Daniel Nester, Guyandotte River, Harts Creek, James Lawson, James Toney, Joel Elkins, Lincoln County, Logan County, Virginia, West Virginia

James Toney survey (1849), 95 acres, lower side of Big Harts Creek, Logan County, VA. Surveyors Record Book B, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. This property is located in present-day Lincoln County, WV. Note: I descend from James Toney through three of his children: Mary Jane Toney, Ann Toney, and Martha Rose Toney.

John Fry Survey (1849)

02 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Green Shoal

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Appalachia, Baptist Fry, Charles I. Stone, Charles Lucas, Christian Fry, Druzilla Fry, Emily Fry, genealogy, Green Shoal Creek, history, James Lawson, John Fry, Lincoln County, Logan County, surveyor, Virginia, West Virginia

John Fry survey (1849), 44 acres, Left Hand Fork of Green Shoal Creek, Logan County, VA. Surveyors Record Book B, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. This property is located in present-day Lincoln County, WV. Note: I descend from three of John Fry’s children: Christian Fry, Emily Fry, and Druzilla Fry.

Enos “Jake” Adkins Survey (1849)

28 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Guyandotte River, Little Harts Creek

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Anthony Lawson, Appalachia, Charles I. Stone, Enos "Jake" Adkins, genealogy, Guyandotte River, Hiram Heeter, history, James Lawson, Lincoln County, Little Harts Creek, Logan County, Price Lucas, Sand Creek, Short Hand Fork, surveyor, Virginia, West Virginia

Enos Adkins survey (1849), 90 acres, Little Harts Creek, Logan County, VA. Surveyors Record Book B, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. This property is located in present-day Lincoln County, WV.
Wow.

Garland Conley, Jr. Survey (1850)

27 Sunday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek

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Anthony Lawson, Appalachia, Charles I. Stone, Garland Conley Jr., genealogy, Harts Creek, history, Israel Canfield, James Lawson, John Conley, John Hopkins, Logan County, Robert Hensley, Smokehouse Fork, surveyor, West Virginia, William Farley

Garland Conley, Jr. Survey (1850), 32 acres, Smoke House Fork of Harts Creek, Logan County, VA. Surveyor Record Book B, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. This land is located in present-day West Virginia.

John Gore Survey (1850)

25 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek

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Appalachia, Charles I. Stone, genealogy, Harts Creek, Harvey Elkins Jr., Henry Conley, history, James Lawson, John Gore, Logan County, Marsh Fork, Virginia, West Virginia

John Gore Survey (1850), 65 acres, Marsh Fork of Harts Creek, Logan County, VA. Surveyor Record Book B, page 255, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. This land is located in present-day West Virginia.

Spencer A. Mullins Survey (1848)

07 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Guyandotte River, Sand Creek

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Appalachia, Crispin S. Stone, Edward Chapman, genealogy, Guyandotte River, history, Isaac Adkins, James Lawson, James Mullins, Lincoln County, Logan County, Mile Branch, Reece Elkins, Sand Creek, Spencer A. Mullins, Virginia, West Virginia

Spencer A. Mullins Survey, 84 acres on Mile Branch, November 1848. Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. This property is located in present-day Lincoln County, WV.

Paris Vance Survey (1849)

03 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Twelve Pole Creek

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Appalachia, Cane Patch Fork, genealogy, Guy Dingess, history, James Lawson, Logan County, Paris Vance, Richard Vance, Trace Fork, Twelve Pole Creek, Virginia, West Virginia, William A. Dempsey

Survey for fourteen acres on Trace Fork of Kiahs Creek and Cane Patch Fork of Twelve Pole Creek in Logan County, VA. Today, this property is located in West Virginia.

Aly Hatfield Survey (1849)

03 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley

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Aly Hatfield, Anthony Lawson, Appalachia, Big Sandy River, genealogy, history, James Lawson, Logan County, Mingo County, Tug Fork, Virginia, West Virginia, William Collins

Survey of 75 acres, Right Hand Fork of Ben Creek of Sandy, Logan County, VA. This property is located in present-day Mingo County, WV.

Early Schools of Logan County, WV (1916)

04 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Logan

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Appalachia, Aracoma, Athelyn Hatfield, Beatrice Taylor, Bertha Allen, Big Island, Big Rock, Bill Ellis, board of education, Brooke McComas, C&O Railroad, Charles Avis, circuit rider, civil war, Cleveland, Coal Street, Dingess Run, E.M. Ford, education, Elma Allen, F.O. Woerner, Florence Hughes, Fred Kellerman, Free School Act, G.O. Nelson, George Bryant, George T. Swain, Guyandotte Valley, Hickman White, history, Isabella Wilson, Island Creek, J.A. McCauley, J.L. Chambers, J.L. Curry, J.W. Fisher, James Lawson, Jennie Mitchell, Jim Sidebottom, Joe Perry, Joel Lee Jones, John B. Floyd, John Dingess, Kate Taylor, Kittie Virginia Clevinger, L.G. Burns, Lawnsville, Leland Hall, Leon Smith, Lettie Halstead, Lewis B. Lawson, Lillian Halstead, Logan, Logan County, Logan Democrat, Logan High School, Logan Wildcats, Lon E. Browning, Lucile Bradshaw, Maud Ryder, Maude Smartwood, Minnie Cobb, Morgantown, Ohio, Old Fork Field, Pearl Hundley, Pearl Staats, Peter Dingess, principal, R.E. Petty, Roscoe Hinchman, Sarah Dingess, Southern Methodist Church, Stollings, Superintendent of Schools, Tennessee, The Islands, typhoid fever, W.V. Vance, W.W. Hall, West Virginia

From the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, in a story titled “Schools and School Houses of Logan” and dated September 14, 1916, comes this bit of history about early education in Logan County, courtesy of G.T. Swain:

The hardest proposition encountered by the author in the preparation of this book was securing the following information relative to the early schools of Logan. We interviewed numbers of the older inhabitants, but owing to their faulty memories we were unable to obtain anything accurate. Nor were the county school officials able to give us any information regarding the schools of the early period. In making mention of this fact to Professor W.W. Hall of Stollings, who is District Superintendent of the free schools in Logan district, he graciously offered to secure as much information as he could from an old lady by the name of Sarah Dingess, who lives near his home. Thus, when we thought that we had exhausted every effort along this line, we were surprised and doubly appreciative of the efforts of Professor Hall, who secured for us the data from which the following article was compiled:

When the first settlers of Logan left the civilization of the East and came to the fertile Guyan Valley to carve homes for themselves and their children out of the forest, they brought with them a desire for schools for their offspring. One of the first pioneers of this valley, Peter Dingess, very early in the last century, erected a pole cabin upon the ruins of the Indian village on the Big Island, for a school house. That was the first school house erected within the limits of Logan county. In that house the children of The Islands (the first name of Logan) were taught “readin’, writin’ and spankin’.” After they ceased to use that house for school purposes, the people annoyed Mr. Dingess so much, wanting to live in the building, that he had his son, John, go out at night and burn it down. Thus the first school house for the children of Logan disappeared.

After the cabin on the Big Island ceased to be used for a school house, Lewis B. Lawson erected a round log house near the mouth of Dingess Run, where W.V. Vance now resides, for a school building. In that house George Bryant taught the children of Lawnsville (the name of Logan at that time) for a number of terms. A Mrs. Graves from Tennessee, wife of a Methodist circuit rider, also taught several terms there. Her work was of high order as a few of the older citizens yet attest.

A short time after Mr. Lawson built his school house at Dingess Run his brother, James, erected a school house on his land at the forks of Island Creek in the Old Fork Field, where J.W. Fisher now resides. The Rev. Totten, a famous and popular Southern Methodist circuit rider, taught the urchins of Aracoma (the name of Logan at that time) for several terms in the early ’50s of the last century.

After the passage of the Free School Act by the General Assembly of Virginia in 1846, the people of Aracoma and Dingess Run erected a boxed building for a school house by the Big Rock in the narrows above Bill Ellis’ hollow. The county paid the tuition of poor children in that school. Rev. Totten taught for several years in that house. He was teaching there when the Civil War began, when he discontinued his school, joined the Logan Wild Cats, marched away to Dixie, and never returned. Each of the last three named houses was washed away in the great flood in the year 1861.

When the Civil War was over and the soldiers had returned to their homes, they immediately set about to erect a school house. They built a hewn log house on the lower side of Bill Ellis’ hollow. That was the first free school building erected within the present limits of the city of Logan. In that house one-armed Jim Sidebottom wielded the rod and taught the three R’s. He was strict and a good teacher in his day. That house served as an institution of learning till in 1883 the Board of Education bought about an acre on the hill where the brick school houses now stand from Hickman White. A few years later additional land was bought of John B. Floyd in order to get a haul road from Coal street opposite the residence of Joe Perry’s to the school building. The old frame building was erected on the hill in 1883, and it furnished ample room for the children for more than two decades.

After the completion of the Guyan railroad to Logan the phenomenal growth of the city began. The growth of its educational facilities has kept pace with its material progress. In 1907 a brick building of four more rooms was added. Then they thought they would never need any more room. In 1911 they built a two story frame school house. In 1914 the magnificent new High school building was erected. Today, nineteen teachers are employed in the city, and within the next few years several more teachers must be employed, while the buildings are already taxed to their capacity.

In the year 1911 the Board of Education employed W.W. Hall as district supervisor. He asked for the establishment of a high school, and the citizens strongly endorsed his recommendation. The high school was established and Mr. Hall went at his own expense to the state university at Morgantown to find a principal for the high school. He secured F.O. Woerner, and the school was organized in 1911, on August 28. The next year Miss Maude Smartwood of Cleveland, Ohio, was added to the high school teaching force. In 1913 J.A. McCauley died from typhoid fever before the school closed, and George EM. Ford was employed to finish the term. In 1914 the school offered for the first time a standard four-year high school course and was classified by the state authorities as a first class high school. Today it is regarded as one of the best high schools in the state. It has more than one hundred pupils enrolled and employs seven regular high school teachers. It has a better equipped domestic science department than any other high school in West Virginia. When the high school was organized in 1911, there were only seven pupils in eighth grade in the city school. These seven were taken and pitched bodily into the high school. Of that first class, Fred Kellerman, Leland Hall, Roscoe Hinchman, Leon Smith, Kate and Beatrice Taylor continued in school until they were graduated June 2, 1915.

The first common school diploma examination ever held in Logan county was conducted by Supt. Hall as the close of his first year’s work at the head of the Logan District schools. He also conducted the first common school graduation exercises ever held in the county, in the old Southern Methodist church, on May 28, 1912.

Logan is indeed proud of her schools, and the efforts made by the faculty and school officials toward the training and educational development of young America meets with the hearty approval and commendation of all citizens.

Those in charge of the county schools are: Lon E. Browning, county superintendent; W.W. Hall, Logan district supervisor; the Logan district board of education is composed of J.L. Curry, president; and J.L. Chambers and L.G. Burns, commissioners. Chas. Avis is secretary of the board.

The faculty consists of F.O. Woerner, Principal of the Logan High School and instructor in mathematics; Joel Lee Jones, languages; Minnie Cobb, science; Isabella Wilson, cooking and sewing; Maud Ryder, commercial subjects; Jennie Mitchell, history and civics, and Mrs. R.E. Petty, music.

Lucile Bradshaw, English, literature, and mathematics; Florence Hughes, geography, history, and physiology, of the sixth and seventh grades departmental.

The following are the teachers in the grades: G.O. Nelson, Principal; Athelyn Hatfield, Pearl Staats, Brooke McComas, Lillian Halstead, Elma Allen, Lettie Halstead, Pearl Hundley, Kittie Virginia Cleavinger and Bertha Allen.

James Browning Trust Deed to James and Anthony Lawson (1850)

04 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan

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Tags

Anthony Lawson, Appalachia, county clerk, genealogy, history, James Browning, James Lawson, Logan County, Virginia, West Virginia, William Straton

James Browning Trust Deed to Lawson 1850 1

Deed Book C, page 215, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV.

James Browning Trust Deed to Lawson 1850 2

Deed Book C, page 216, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV.

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Feud Poll 1

If you had lived in the Harts Creek community during the 1880s, to which faction of feudists might you have given your loyalty?

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Feud Poll 2

Do you think Milt Haley and Green McCoy committed the ambush on Al and Hollene Brumfield in 1889?

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Feud Poll 3

Who do you think organized the ambush of Al and Hollene Brumfield in 1889?

Recent Posts

  • Whirlwind News 10.30.1925
  • James Toney Survey (1849)
  • Nancy E. Hatfield Memories, Part 2 (1974)

Ed Haley Poll 1

What do you think caused Ed Haley to lose his sight when he was three years old?

Top Posts & Pages

  • Hiram McCoy Deed to McCoy Heirs (1853)
  • Salt Rock Petroglyphs (2018)
  • Nancy E. Hatfield Memories, Part 2 (1974)
  • Allen Hatfield of Beech Creek, WV (1970s)
  • State v. Edgar Combs (1923): Statement of W.H. Moss, No. 28

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© Brandon Ray Kirk and brandonraykirk.wordpress.com, 1987-2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Brandon Ray Kirk and brandonraykirk.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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OtterTales

Writings from my travels and experiences. High and fine literature is wine, and mine is only water; but everybody likes water. Mark Twain

Our Appalachia: A Blog Created by Students of Southern West Virginia CTC

This site is dedicated to the collection, preservation, and promotion of history and culture in Appalachia.

Piedmont Trails

Genealogy and History in North Carolina and Beyond

Truman Capote

A site about one of the most beautiful, interesting, tallented, outrageous and colorful personalities of the 20th Century

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