Tag Archives: timber

Daniel and John S. Nester graves

06 Monday Mar 2017

Posted by in Cemeteries, Civil War, Lincoln County Feud, Timber

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IMG_7578

Daniel “Bill” Nester grave at Camp Chase, Ohio. Mr. Nester, the adopted son of Moses and Lettie (Gillispie) Brown, married Valeria Brumfield, daughter of John H. and Rachel (Haskins) Brumfield.

John S Nester grave in WA

John Shanklin Nester grave at Maple Hill Cemetery in Lebam, Pacific County, Washington. Mr. Nester was the son of Daniel and Valeria (Brumfield) Nester. A timber man, he relocated from Lincoln County, WV, to the Pacific Northwest, where he died on February 3, 1927.

Christian T. Fry

22 Wednesday Feb 2017

Posted by in Civil War, Giles County, Green Shoal

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From “Hardesty’s History of Lincoln County, West Virginia,” published by H.H. Hardesty, we find this entry for Christian T. Fry, who resided at Hart in Lincoln County, West Virginia:

One of the farming population of Hart Creek district, was born in Cabell county, West Virginia, in 1824, and he is a son of John and Catherine (Snodgrass) Fry, natives of Giles county, Virginia. Mr. Fry chose for a help-meet Elizabeth Hunter, and in Boone county, West Virginia, in 1849, they were married. Their children number eight, born as follows: Julia A., April 26, 1850; Anthony, November 1853; Caroline, December 1856; Mary A., August 1859; John H., September 1861; Cora A., September 1864; Hardin, June 15, 1867; Lurana, July 1871. Mrs. Fry was  born in Kanawha county in 1835, and her parents are Robert and Elizabeth (Tayler) Hunter, who reside in Boone county. Christian T. Fry is a prosperous farmer in Hart Creek district, owning 300 acres of good farming land, situated on Browns branch. The land has good improvements, a fine orchard, and a part is heavily timbered with pine, poplar and oak. There is mineral, coal and iron ore in abundance. Mr. Fry’s post office address is Hart, Lincoln county, West Virginia.

Source: The West Virginia Encyclopedia, Vol. 7 (Richwood, WV: Jim Comstock, 1974), p. 134.

NOTE: Christian Thomas “Jack” Fry is my great-great-great-grandfather. I descend through his son, John Henan Fry, who settled on Sulphur Spring Fork of Fourteen Mile Creek. I also descend from two of Christian Fry’s sisters, Emily (Fry) Lucas and Druzilla (Fry) Abbott.

NOTE: The Browns Branch referenced in this history is now called Abbotts Branch.

Harts Creek Area Deed Index (1884-1910)

25 Tuesday Oct 2016

Posted by in Big Harts Creek, Big Ugly Creek, Ferrellsburg, Fourteen, Green Shoal, Guyandotte River, Hamlin, Little Harts Creek, Ranger, Sand Creek, Timber

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The following deed index is based on Deed Book 52 at the Lincoln County Clerk’s Office in Hamlin, WV, and relates to residents of the Harts Creek community. Most notations reflect Harts Creek citizens engaged in local land transactions; some reflect Harts Creek citizens engaged in land transactions outside of the community. These notes are meant to serve as a reference to Deed Book 52. Researchers who desire the most accurate version of this material are urged to consult the actual record book.

Aaron and Nancy Jane Adkins to B.W. Walker     100 acres on Allen Adkins Branch of Guyandotte River     12 June 1885     Cain Adkins, JP     p. 58-59 [NOTE: References logs, Mack H. Adkins]

Aaron Adkins, Jr. to B.W. Walker     Ridge Between East Fork and Guyandotte River (Upper 1/3 of 200 acre survey)     12 October 1889     Elias Vance, JP     p. 60 [references Samuel B. Price timber]

E.E. Adkins to Allen Brumfield, Jr.     185 5/8 acres     17 August 1897     p. 411-412

Enos Adkins et ux to Allen Brumfield, Jr.     2 Tracts     22 August 1895     p. 424-425

Enos Adkins et ux to Allen Brumfield     28 December 1894     Elias Vance, JP     p. 413-414

Isaac Adkins et al to Allen Brumfield, Jr.     22 June 1892     p. 420-421

Sarah Adkins to B.W. Walker     100 acres Allen Adkins Branch     14 August 1889     p. 61-62

Spencer Adkins to John P. Lucas     221 1/2 acres Guyandotte River (Laurel Hill District)     14 March 1896     p. 273-274

Spencer Adkins et ux to Martha Jane Lucas     63 5/8 acres     Big Branch (Laurel Hill District)     29 January 1908     p. 275-276

J.M. Brammer et ux to David Farley     44 1/2 acres     Laurel Fork of Little Harts Creek     11 April 1910     A.E. Wagner, JP     p. 300-301

Allen Brumfield to Hollena Brumfield     25 January 1904     p. 428-429

Allen Brumfield to Hollena Brumfield     70 acres     9 July 1904     p. 430-431

Louary Brumfield et al to A.C. Barrett et ux     Lot No. 6 Hamlin     23 July 1903     p. 308-310

C.E. Burns to Nancy Webb     52 1/2 acres Frances Creek     10 August 1908     p. 10

James L. Chafin to L.C. Browning et ux     Big Branch     19 January 1903     p. 314-315

John Conley et ux to Rosa N. Vannatter     66 acres Big Ugly Creek     19 October 1908     p. 117-118

B.C. Dial to Brad Toney     100 acres on East Side of Guyandotte River     23 October 1891     J.R. Wilson, NP     p. 241-242

John Dingess to Hollena Brumfield     7 August 1891     p. 418-419

J.P. Douglas, trustee, to Hollena Ferguson     p. 426-428

J.P. Douglas, trustee, to John D. Shelton     10 acres Sand Creek, Big Branch     6 June 1908     p. 38-39

Leo F. Drake et al to Lewis Thompson     100 acres Harts Creek     30 March 1905     p. 264-265

John F. Duty to Jefferson Duty     12 1/2 acres     28 July 1898     p. 114-115

William R. Duty to Emma Duty     80 acres     4 December 1897     p. 115-116

William R. Duty to Jefferson Duty     50 acres     4 December 1897     p. 113-114

Marvel Elkins to William A. Sias     100 acres Sulpher Spring Fork of Fourteen Mile Creek     7 February 1888     p. 27-28

Maggie Farley to Louis R. Sweetland     1/4 acre and 1 Lot Hamlin     15 August 1907     p. 365-367

Jonah Ferguson to Dollie Ferrell     30 acres Big Ugly     19 October 1907     P.M. Toney, NP     p. 289-290

James P. Ferrell to Bradford Toney     7 June 1887     Philip Hager, NP     p. 240-241

Smith and Nettie Ferrell to Elizabeth Duty     16 acres     21 November 1899     p. 116-117

Floyd Fry et ux to Bradford Toney     150 acre interest just above mouth of Green Shoal     28 June 1898     J.H. McComas, NP     p. 243 [references B.C. Toney farm]

A.B. Harrison and J.H. Fry to A.B. Staley     86 acres Fourteen Mile Creek (Laurel Hill District)     8 April 1892     p. 81

Sarah Headley to E.C. Lucas et ux     one acre Fourteen Mile Creek (Laurel Hill District)     2 March 1907     p. 313-314

L.D. Hill to Moses Lucas     100 acres Mile Branch     24 April 1903     p. 316-317

Alex Hollandsworth et ux to Lee Fry     House and Lot, Hamlin     26 March 1908     p. 367-368

James A. Holley et ux to Allen Brumfield, Jr.     Guyandotte River     6 June 1898     p. 415-418

Nancy A. Holley et ux to Maggie Farley     1/4 acre Hamlin     7 June 1907     p. 364-365

J.W. Johnson to Spencer Adkins and John P. Lucas     right of way     11 July 1908     p. 277-278

B.B. Lucas to Lottie Lucas     75 acres     Green Shoal branch     11 December 1906     M.C. Farley, NP     p. 220-221

Charley and Louisa Lucas et vir to Morgan Phipps     7 acres Laurel Fork (Jefferson District)     13 September 1910     p. 371

John P. Lucas to A.B. Staley     65 acres West Side Guyandotte River     26 December 1899     Jefferson Lucas, JP     p. 82-83

John P. Lucas to A.B. Staley     46 acres Fourteen Mile Creek (Laurel Hill District)     12 March 1907     Jefferson Lucas, JP     p. 78-79

William Mans to Mary Alice Mans et al     quit claim     12 May 1905     p. 11-12

A.F. Morris, special commissioner, to B.B. Lucas     75 acres on Green Shoal     7 December 1906     p. 218-219

W.C. Mullen et ux to A.P. Sanders     278 acres Lick Branch     17 October 1907     p. 369-370

Lewis and Malinda Nelson to A.E. Wagner     15 acres on West Side of Guyan River     4 December 1906     D.F. Smith, JP

Wesley Nelson to A.E. Wagner     23 acres     21 March 1906     p. 57-58

Floyd Rakes to Georgie E. Staley     50 acres on Fourteen Mile Creek (Laurel Hill District)      28 July 1892     p. 79-80

John W. Runyans to Canaan Adkins     66 2/3 acres (interest in 200 acres) West Fork and Guyandotte River     6 February 1889     p. 248

F.D. Stallings et ux to Abijah Workman     100 acre interest on Francis Creek     15 March 1899     p.7-8

Russell S. Stollings et ux to William D. Farley     35 acres Little Harts Creek and Francis Fork of Twelve Pole     24 March 1900     Isaac Fry, JP     p. 298-299

Ralph and Anna Steel to William R. Duty     73 3/4 acres     14 August 1903     p. 112-113

B.C. Toney to Bradford Toney     20 acres and 80 acres Big Ugly     20 February 1884     -. 239-240

Moses B. Toney et al to Allen Brumfield     10 June 1892     p. 422-423

Wirt Toney et al to Bradford Toney     140 acres Guyandotte River     1 April 1887     p. 244-245

O.J. Wilkinson, Commissioner of School Lands, to J.H. Meek, trustee     25 acres Ranger School     West Side Guyandotte River     20 December 1909     p. 207

F.B. Wilson to John D. Shelton     105 acres Sand Creek     Jerry Lambert, NP     1 October 1908     p. 36-37

J.R. Wilson to J.A. Holley     Timber on Bobbies Branch     15 November 1899     p. 155

Abijah Workman to Nancy Workman     30 acres Francis Creek     17 January 1900     Rufus Pack, NP     p. 9

David Workman to Brad Toney     140 acres     20 October 1891     p. 237-238

NOTE: I copied all of these deeds.

Sliger Lumber Company (1895)

13 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by in Huntington, Timber

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Sliger Lumber Company HA 09.23.1895 1

Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 23 September 1895

Sliger Lumber Company HA 09.23.1895 2

Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 23 September 1895

 

Sliger Lumber Company HA 09.23.1895 3

Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 23 September 1895

Sliger Lumber Company HA 09.23.1895 4

Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 23 September 1895

Big Ugly News 1916

03 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by in Big Ugly Creek, Gill, Leet, Rector, Timber

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During the summer of 1916, two articles printed in the Lincoln Republican offered news regarding Big Ugly Creek in Lincoln County, West Virginia.

ARE MOVING RAILROAD FROM US (Thursday, July 20, 1916)

The Guyan, Big Ugly and Coal River railway running from Gill to a point eight miles above Rector, on Big Ugly creek will soon be a thing of the past, says the Barboursville News. The B. Johnson & Son people who have been operating extensively in that section in the tie and timber business did the last cutting of timber last Thursday and began to tear up the track on the upper end of the line. The iron of that part of the road beyond Leet will be taken up at once and the four miles between the latter place and Gill will be removed as soon as the lumber at Leet is hauled out.

Most of the residents of Leet have moved away in the past week to other timber openings. Albert Gill, a local merchant has bought many of the houses from the company and will tear them down and use the lumber for fencing.

There were between three and four hundred people living at Leet, and most of them will go elsewhere.

COAL GOOD ON BIG UGLY (August 31, 1916)

Civil Engineer Philip Hager was here over Sunday from Big Ugly, where he and his crew have been busy for two or three weeks making coal openings for the Huntington Gas & Development Co. A lot of good coal has been located and the prospects for big coal development on Big Ugly at an early date now looking good.

Ferrellsburg News 07.03.1913

04 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Ferrellsburg, Green Shoal, Logan

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“Quil,” a local correspondent from Ferrellsburg in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Lincoln Republican printed on Thursday, July 3, 1913:

Mrs. E.O. Petrie was overcome by heat Friday but is improving now.

Geo. H. Thomas, one of our hustling businessmen was in town on business Saturday.

Mrs. Salina Vance was shopping in town first of the week.

Miss Velvie Dial continues in very poor health.

The bridge at the mouth of West Fork has been completed. It is a good job and one that was badly needed.

Miss Lottie Lucas is in Logan this week.

D.K. Altizer has moved his saw mill from Green Shoal to Abbotts Branch where he has a job of sawing.

Schools are being contracted for in this section. It is hoped that our Board of Education will give us 6 months school this year as we only had five last year.

Little Harts Creek News 11.3.1910

13 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by in Atenville, Little Harts Creek, Timber

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In a story titled “Alarm Among Property Owners,” dated Thursday, November 3, 1910, the Lincoln Republican of Hamlin, West Virginia, offered this story:

The property owners along Little Harts Creek in Lincoln county, are greatly exercised over the action of some one who has sent a surveying party into their midst, and they fear that the move is for the purpose of objecting them from their possessions. The surveyors who are from this city do not know or refuse to tell who the work is being done for, and for a time the residents were incensed at them for making the survey and they only secured lodging place with difficulty, but the people are now waiting to see what is coming. The land is owned mostly by Mr. Brammer, a timber man of near Rockwood, Ohio, Aaron Adkins, and fifteen others and they are preparing to make a fight for their rights as soon as the unknown parties who have ordered the survey show their hand.

The story originally appeared in the Herald-Dispatch of Huntington, West Virginia, on Sunday, October 30.

In Search of Ed Haley 206

29 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by in Big Harts Creek, Ed Haley, Lincoln County Feud, Timber

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Ben Adams — the man who supposedly hired Milt Haley and Green McCoy to assassinate Al Brumfield — was born in 1855 to Joseph and Dicy (Mullins) Adams on Big Harts Creek in Logan County, (West) Virginia. His older sister Sarah married Henderson Dingess and was the mother of Hollena Brumfield, Hugh Dingess and several others. He was a first cousin to Jackson Mullins, Milt Haley’s father-in-law, and a brother-in-law to Chloe Mullins, Milt’s mother-in-law, by her first marriage to John Adams.

In 1870, 17-year-old Ben lived at home with his mother, where he worked as a farmer. He was illiterate, according to census records. His neighbors were Andrew Robinson and Henderson Dingess, both of whom had married his sisters (Rhoda J. and Sally). In the next year, according to tradition, he fathered an illegitimate child, William Adams, who was born to Lucinda Brumfield (niece of Paris).

In 1873, Ben married Victoria Dingess. Victoria was born in 1856 and was a first cousin to Hollena Brumfield and Hugh Dingess. The marriage made for an interesting genealogical connection: Ben was already Hugh’s uncle; now he was also his brother-in-law, as Hugh was married to Victoria’s sister, Viola (his first cousin). Ben’s daughter Sally, who was named after Hollena’s mother, later married a cousin of Spicie McCoy, Green’s wife. For all practical purposes then, Ben Adams was genealogically connected to all sides of the feud — making it a true intra-family feud from his perspective.

For the first decade or so of his marriage, Ben lived with his mother on family property, although he did acquire land and open a general store business. In 1880, he was listed in the Lincoln County Census with his mother Dicy, aged 63, and family. He was 26 years old, Victory was 23, Sally was six, son Charlie was four, daughter Patsy A. was two, and son Anthony was a few months old. George Greaar, age 20, was a boarder. In 1881, he purchased 25 acres on the Meekin Branch of Trace Fork. Three years later, he was listed in a business directory as the proprietor of a general store. At that same time, his brother-in-law and neighbor Henderson Dingess was a distiller.

Later in the decade, Ben fathered three more children: George “Greasy” (1885), Harvey (1886), and May (1889). In 1889, the time of Milt Haley’s ambush of Al Brumfield, Adams owned 260 acres on the Boardtree Branch of Trace Fork valued at $1.00 per acre in Logan County.

Anthony Adams — Ben’s brother and ally in the 1889 troubles — was a prominent timberman on Harts Creek. Anthony had been born in 1849 and was the husband of Pricie Alifair Chapman, Burl Farley’s half-sister. In 1884, Adams was listed in a business directory as a blacksmith. In 1889, he owned two 50-acre tracts of land, one valued at $3.50 per acre with a $30 building on it, the other valued at $2.00 per acre. By that time, he had three sons of fighting age who may have participated in the feud: Solomon Adams (born 1869), Horatio “Rush” Adams (born 1871), and Wayne Adams (born 1874), as well as a son-in-law, Harrrison Blair (born c.1867).

A quick examination of the Adams genealogy gives a clue as to Ben’s other 1889 allies. First there was brother “Bad John” Adams. Adams was deceased at the time of the Haley-McCoy incident, but he had been married to Chloe Gore — mother of Emma Jean (Mullins) Haley. He had three sons of fighting age in 1889: Joseph Adams (born 1859), John Frock Adams (born 1861), and Ticky George Adams (born 1865)…as well as son-in-law Sampson Thomas.

Rhoda J. Robinson was a sister to the three Adams brothers. She had several children who may have allied with Ben: David Robinson (born 1860), Ben Robinson (born 1866), John R. Robinson (born 1868), and Joseph Robinson (born 1870). There was also brother Solomon Adams, who may have offered his loyalty to Ben, along with sons John M. Adams (born 1869) and Benjamin Adams (born 1867), and sons-in-law David Robinson and Peter Carter (c.1873).

As for Ben himself, he stayed busy with timber after the feud. According to an 1896 article from the Logan County Banner: “Benj. Adams, of Hart, is hauling some fine poplar from trace fork.” In 1901, he married Venila Susan Abbott, a daughter of Wilson and Elizabeth (Workman) Abbott, and had at least eight more children (born between 1901 and 1921). Not long after his remarriage, he was accused of murdering a local postman named Jim Allen Martin — and nearly went bankrupt paying for his legal defense. He died in 1910 and was buried on the hill near the mouth of Trace Fork.

In Search of Ed Haley 199

18 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by in Chapmanville, Civil War, Ed Haley, Green Shoal, Guyandotte River, Harts

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The town of Harts — originally named Hart’s Creek — was established at the mouth of Big Harts Creek in the summer or fall of 1870 when Henry S. Godby, a peg-legged Confederate veteran from Chapmanville, petitioned the government for the creation of a post office called “Hart’s Creek.” At that time, Green Shoal was the most thriving spot in the Harts section of the Guyandotte River. A.S. Fry was its chief businessman and postmaster. Godby’s effort to establish Harts as a postal town was a short-lived venture. By 1876, Green Shoal still reigned supreme in local affairs. According to a business directory, it could boast a gristmill, free school and a Baptist and Methodist church. T.H. Buckley and G.S. Fry were physicians, while Joseph Workman was a clergyman.

Around that time, in 1876, Bill Fowler — a local general storekeeper — petitioned the government for the creation of a “Hearts Creek” post office and established his business headquarters at Harts. Fowler had migrated to the area in 1847 and married a daughter of Elias Adkins, an early settler. After a short stint as a schoolteacher in 1871, Fowler was by 1876 a general storekeeper and owner of some 30 acres of land on the Marsh Fork of West Fork. In March of 1877, he became postmaster of “Hearts Creek;” he was also a saloon keeper according to oral tradition. As his business interest generated profits (primarily in timber), he extended his land holdings. In 1878, he purchased 75 acres on the Guyan River from Abner Vance, valued at $5.00 per acre. The following year, he added a 90-acre tract to his estate on the west side of the Guyan River, valued at $3.25 per acre, which he purchased from brothers-in-law, Aaron and Enos Adkins.

Throughout the period, Fowler was unquestionably the chief businessman in Harts. Curiously, Andrew D. Robinson replaced him as postmaster of Hearts Creek in 1879. Robinson was a Union veteran and former township clerk, justice of the peace, and secretary of the district board of education. He was a brother-in-law to Ben Adams, as well as Sallie Dingess (Hollena Brumfield’s mother). In 1881, Robinson shortened the name of the Hearts Creek post office to “Hart.”

The Green Shoal area, meanwhile, fell into a state of decline as a local economic center. A.S. Fry gave up his postmaster position in 1878. He maintained his local business interests well into the next decade, then turned them over to his son George and left to pursue a hotel business in Guyandotte, a town situated at the mouth of the river in Cabell County. The Green Shoal post office was discontinued in 1879.

By 1880 — roughly the time that Milt Haley came to Harts from “over the mountain” — Harts reigned supreme as the hub of local business affairs. In that year, according to census records, the population of the Harts Creek District was 1,116. There were 1,095 white residents, fifteen blacks and six mulattos. 93-percent of locals were born in Virginia or West Virginia, while six percent were born in Kentucky. Most men worked at farming, although A.S. Fry and Paris Brumfield both had stores. In 1882-1883, Brumfield was listed in a state business directory as a distiller.

At that time, Bill Fowler was the undisputed kingpin of the local business scene. According to Hardesty’s History of Lincoln County, published around 1884, Fowler owned 200 acres of land at the mouth of Harts Creek and 254 acres on Mud River. He also owned 200 acres on Sand Lick Run, a branch of Francis Fork, based on land records at the Lincoln County Courthouse. “That situated on Hart creek produces well,” Hardesty wrote, “and has a good orchard and a part is heavily timbered with oak, poplar and pine; coal and iron ore are quite abundant.” Fowler was the father of four small children, recently born to his second wife.

There were other notable business folks in the neighborhood, namely Isham Roberts, who operated a store near Fowler on the Guyandotte River. He was the son of Dicy Roberts and the stepson of Jack Johnson, a local farmer. In the early 1880s, he married Martha Jane Brumfield, a daughter of Paris Brumfield, and opened a store on rental property at the mouth of Harts Creek. By 1884, when Hardesty wrote his history of the county, he referred to Roberts as “a prosperous young merchant in Hart Creek district, having his headquarters on Guyan river, at the mouth of Big Hart creek. His prices are the most reasonable and the business very extensive.” Roberts was the postmaster at Harts from 1883 until 1884, when Dr. T.H. Buckley replaced him.

James P. Mullins, who operated a general store building above Roberts at Big Branch, was also a budding merchant. By 1882, Mullins was the owner of a $200 storebuilding situated on a 203-acre tract of land. Over the next few years, he added another 55 acres on lower Harts Creek and 150 acres on Francis Fork (this latter tract likely acquired for timbering purposes). Hardesty referred to Mullins as being “of good business qualifications and prosperously engaged in merchandising, with business headquarters on Hart creek, one and one-half miles from its mouth.” In that year, Mullins purchased an additional 93 acres on Harts Creek. One year later, the value of his store building increased by $100, hinting at his growing prosperity.