The Store That Became Charley Knight's

By David Parmer

The Charlie Knight Store building, shown to the left, sat roughly where the Orlando Post Office is now located. The store faced the B & O Railroad tracks which were where the (poorly named) Cemetery Road is located today.

The store, in continual operation from about 1890 until the late 1940s, had many owners in the early years but Charlie was the longest and last proprietor. For that reason, and because of Charlie himself, the establishment will be remembered as "Charlie Knight's Store."

The history of the Charley Knight Store must begin with Ann Skinner1, daughter of Alexander and Phebe (Conrad) Skinner, who sold the 4800 square foot parcel of land to Henderson D. Mitchell in 1891. Mitchell erected a two story building on this lot and operated a general store. Mitchell had living quarters on the second floor. Unfortunately, Mitchell ran into financial difficulties and the store property was sold under foreclosure by the Baltimore Building and Loan Association in 1898 to Peter F. Kennedy and his wife Mary Jeanette Kennedy.

The Kennedys were operating the store at the time the Coal and Coke Railroad built its Charleston line through Orlando. The photo above was taken when the Kennedys owned the store2. During the Kennedy period, Sylvester D. Oldaker worked as a clerk in the store, and in 1907 Kennedy decided he wanted to try his hand out west and moved to Colorado. Kennedy sold the store to his clerk, who incorporated the enterprise as the Oldaker Mercantile Company.

The Oldaker Mercantile Company under S. D. Oldaker operated this store until 1913 when he also got the itch to go west to California . That same year Oldaker sold a one-fourth undivided interest in the store to Gidion Draper Skinner and a three-fourths undivided interest to R. E. Heizer of Charleston, who promptly sold his interest to George F. and Edna Bennett. Sylvester Oldaker removed his family from Orlando and the fifty six steps it took to climb to his house on the hill3 and went to Los Angeles. Oldaker didn’t stay long in California and was back in Orlando by 1915 when he went into competition with his former store by opening a store in the Frank Blake building on Clover Fork Road.

In 1916 George F. Bennett and his wife Edna sold their three-fourths undivided interest in the store to Edna M. Foster and Daisy S. Woodell. Foster and Woodell then sold another one-fourth undivided interest in the store to Gidion Skinner. At this point, Skinner owned a one-half interest and Foster and Woodell owned the other one-half in the store property. In 1917 Woodell sold all of her remaining interest to Edna Foster.

In 1921, Edna Foster decided she had had enough of the store business and she sold her in interest in the store to Charley Knight and W. Bates. Thus began the era of the Charley Knight Store.

Gidion D. Skinner’s interest in the store property was foreclosed upon in 1935 and was sold to Charley Knight for $340. Alva J. Barnett and Joseph Emery Riffle cosigned the note for Charley to finance the purchase of the G. D. Skinner interest. Earlier in 1933, Charley had bought out the interest of his partner, W. Bates.

Charley Knight operated the Charley Knight Store exclusively from 1935 until 1954 when he sold the store building to Wilbur Dexter Brown who had shortly before bought the Bill Conrad Store. Thus came to an end the oldest operated store in the history of Orlando. The building was dismantled in the mid 1950s.


1. See the Jan '07 entry, Aunt Ann Skinner - Orlando's Real Estate Baroness

2. Notice the railroad ballast on the Coal and Coke line is fresh and clean. Obviously in the days of steam locomotives the photo must have been taken soon after the line was completed. My guess is 1905 for the date of the photo. -David Parmer.

3. Edward L. Oldaker lamented the 56 steps it took to climb to the Oldaker house on the hill in his book The Oldacre/Oldaker Story see page 335.

Burt Blake – The Basket Man

By David Parmer

Burt Blake was born John Burton Blake to William and Viney Blake1 on Clover Fork in 1886. Growing up on Clover Fork and as an adult in Orlando , John Burton Blake was known simply as "Burt". Burt, a thin man with reddish hair and whiskers, lived quietly, without impact. He had few friends, he never married. He walked with the aid of a stick or pole which had a crook at the bottom and on which he rested the leg which was apparently shorter than the other. The stick served much the same purpose as would a crutch or cane. About the only thing he is remembered for, other than his eccentricities2, is his baskets.

At some point in his life, Burt left Clover Fork and took up residence in Orlando, living with a Blake cousin, John M. Blake, in a tiny shack out around the hill from the school house. Burt’s cousin John was also eccentric, a confirmed bachelor, a loner, prone to seizures. Some believed Burt and John were brothers, but to many small children they were simply curiosities to be looked at and to be kept at a distance. It is said that Burt and John did not bathe regularly and it was best not to be down wind of them. Of course in their day this might have been said of many persons when Saturday night baths were the norm.

While John carried on the occupations of miller, watch repairer, handyman and grave digger, Burt’s way of making a living was the making of sturdy, simple, and useful baskets.

Shown at the right are baskets made by Burt Blake in the 1940s purchased from him by the Henline family of Orlando . These examples show that Burt made a variety of useful, sturdy baskets in graceful, aesthetically pleasing shapes. These baskets though well used are pleasing to look at as art objects. Although Burt was lacking in certain aspects of his life, he was an artist of high order when it came to basketmaking.

The pictured baskets are examples of a classic egg, or "buttock" basket, a large flat bottomed vegetable carrier and an even larger and deeper storage basket. They are greatly prized by their current owner, Barbara Parmer. Mildred Morrison (McNemar), a near neighbor of Burt recalls Burt selling his baskets in the Charley Knight Store. Dale Barnett recalls the baskets being sold for a quarter, some for fifty cents, and the really extra special baskets went for a dollar, quite a sum in those days. Today, baskets not nearly as sturdy nor well made would fetch many times Burt’s prices, and they are good only for setting on top of the cabinets.

Where Burt learned his skill as a basketmaker we don’t know, but in his day, if you didn’t work, you didn’t eat, so Burt must have learned his basketmaking at a young age, and with materials which didn’t cost anything except the labor of going on the hill to cut branches and bark, soaking them in water, and molding and weaving them into shapes that would please the eye of the farmer’s wife.

Cousin John Blake died in 1947. John owned the shack the two bachelors shared and soon John’s family took possession of the only house that Burt had to call home and Burt had to find another place to live. Having no family left in Orlando , Burt lived out his final days in Walkersville where he died in 1953 at the age of 66. He is buried in the Mitchell Cemetery on Clover Fork in an unmarked grave.

Thanks to Dorothy (Riffle) Weckbacker, who now lives in the Marietta, Ohio area. She knew Burt as she was growing up in Orlando and supplied some of the information presented here.

1. Viney’s name has been spelled a number of different ways in the official records, including Silvinie, Sabina, and Vinia, take your pick.

2. Burt's excentricities are thought to be the result of intermarriage. Burt was a "double cousin."
Burt's mother, Viney, b. 1859, was the daughter of Stewart McClung and Lucinda B.(Posey) Blake.
Burt's father, William T. was the son of Anthony and Rebecca (Posey) Blake.
Stewart McClung Blake and Anthony Blake were brothers.
Rebecca Posey was the daughter of Alfred Posey, Lucinda Posey's brother.
Therefore, Burt's parents were first cousins and first cousins once removed.
A contemporary, and cousin, Lee W. Blake voiced his concerns at the beginning of his monograph, Blakes and Riffles Going Back To The Seventh Generation.

Henry Cole Died a Hero

by Marilyn (Cole) Posey

Henry Harrison Cole was born 1861 in Gilmer County. He married Mary Heater who was born in 1863. Just after the turn of the century, when Henry and Mary were in their 40s, they moved to Orlando. Their home was at the corner of Grass Lick and Three Lick, and there they farmed and finished raising their eleven children1.

Like many of that period, Henry Harrison Kuhl lived in the shadow of his family's role in the Civil War. Henry's father, William, who fought for the Union, felt disgraced by his parents and siblings who supported the Confederacy. (That story will be in another entry). For that reason William and a brother who had also fought for the Union changed their names from "Kuhl" to "Cole."

First Row: Simon Cole, Bessie (Cole) Wimer Blake, Henry Harrison Cole, Susan Rosetta Cole, Verdie Elizabeth Cole (on lap), Mary Jane (Heater) Cole, Jesse Cole. Second Row: Nellie Wymer, David Wymer, Furman Wyer, Mabel (Cole) Wyer, Charles Quinton Cole, Laura Cole, Cora Wimer, Ida (Cole) Wimer

Henry Cole died in a fire on Town Run Road in Lewis County on Feb. 26, 1926. He had been called for jury duty and was spending the night with the Minnie Radcliff family. During the night, the house caught fire. Mrs. Radcliff claimed her small child was still inside the house and Henry re-entered to save the child. The home collapsed and Henry was killed. The child had been safely in the arms of a neighbor all along. Henry Harrison Cole was 66 years old.

Henry's wife Mary was ill in bed when this happened. Folks brought his body to their home on Three Lick, for her to see him. Someone went inside the bedroom and helped her to the window. They then took him by wagon to bury him at the Orlando cemetery. However, the water was up and they could not pass. So they had to wait till the water receded to take him on the hill for burial.

Mary died four years later, on March 14, 1930. They both are buried in the Orlando Cemetery. Over the years their 125 acres on Three Lick has plotted off and either sold or given to descendents.

1. Henry and Mary's eleven children were:
1. Charles Quinton Cole (my grandfather) married Rissie Alice Blake..2nd Stella Messenger
2. Jessie Uriah Cole married Della Fox
3. Bessie Cole..1st married David Wimer, 2nd marriage to Rubin Blake
4. Ida Cole married James “ Polk” Wimer
5. Mabel Cole married Furman Wyer
6. Lena Cole (twin) died when 2 years old; fell into a pot in the yard while they were rendering lard and died a few days later due to the severity of the burns.
7. Laura Cole (twin) married William Dolan
8. Simon Lewis Cole married Sybil Heater See the comment below.
9. Susan Rosetta Cole married Frank Browning
10. Verdie Elizabeth died at the age of 14
11. William (Willie) Henry Cole died at the age of 19 months

Comments
Comment 1 from David Parmer
In 1958, Burnsville High School was playing a baseball game with Gassaway High School . The game was being played at the baseball field at Falls Mill. I was playing third base for Burnsville. During Gassaway’s first at bat in the first inning, I took the field at third base. The Gassaway coaches took their positions at first and third base. The third base coach for Gassaway was a tall slender man who appeared to be in his fifties or sixties in age, dressed in a brown khaki shirt and brown khaki trousers. Being stationed at third base the Gassaway coach was just a few feet away from me.

This was my first game of organized baseball and I was probably unsure where to position myself as Gassaway’s first batter came to the plate. I then noticed that the Gassaway coach was signaling me discreetly to move up the baseline. I thought to myself, “that is odd, why would Gassaway’s coach be advising me where to play the batter?” The Gassaway coach continued to give me the same discreet advise throughout the game and I became ever the more puzzled.

After the game had ended, the Gassaway coach came over to me, and asked “You don’t know who I am, do you?” I replied that I did not. He then said, “I’m your uncle Simon Cole”. “I’m married to your grandmother Mae’s sister, Sybil.”

My grandmother was Mae (Heater) Parmer, and Sybil, her sister, were daughters of my great grandfather, Andrew Jackson Heater and his wife, Ora (Riffle) Heater.

Simon Cole was the son of Henry and Mary (Heater) Cole who are featured in this article.

Jimmie Henline

by David Parmer

Oscar "Doc" and Laura (Copeland) Henline, both of Orlando, were married in August 1924. Doc, as he was known, was not a doctor but an employee of the Equitable Gas Company.

From Doc's brother Bill Henline, Doc and Laura learned of a child born in Clarksburg in 1928 whose mother was unable to support and care for her two year old boy. In those days adoption rules were few and the number of parentless children was many so in short order Doc and Laura had a child. In this way Jimmie came to his Orlando home.

It wasn't long before Doc and Laura became aware that their adopted son was not a normal child in terms of physical size and was destined to grow no taller than four feet tall. Of course, Jimmie's physical differences gave rise to childhood teasing. Life was not easy for Jimmie but he handled it well and raising an exceptional child in Orlando seemed to present no problem for Doc and Laura. Jimmie brought much happiness to his adoptive parents.

Jimmie was exceptional in other ways as well. He amazed his classmates at Orlando school by demonstrating his double-jointedness and the ease of standing on his head. In high school he was his class cheerleader during intermural basketball games1.

He also amazed his adult listeners as he played the piano in the United Brethren Church. Jimmie had been taught the rudiments of the piano by Evelyn Smearman, daughter of Reverend J. J. Smearman of the United Brethren Church.

Jimmie succeeded in school and he graduated from Burnsville High School with the Class of 1950.

Left: Jim Henline's 1950 graduation photo. Below right: Jimmie Henline with Pauline Bennett.


After high school Jimmie migrated to Dundalk, Maryland where he found employment at a dry cleaning business owned by the inlaws of Dick Morrison, an Orlando native. After two or three years in Maryland, Jimmie returned to Orlando and found employment as a clerk in W.D. Brown's Store.

When he was about 25, around 1954, Jimmie contracted polio. Fortunately the disease was in an early stage and with treatment Jimmie suffered only partial paralysis but had to wear a leg brace for the remainder of his life.

On a personal note, I knew Jimmie when he tended bar in Burnsville for Oscar Blake and when I was attending Glenville State College. I was present on one occasion when someone tried to pick a fight with Jimmie for absolutely no reason except that he was a midget. I'm sure he had to endure taunts and unkind acts throughout his life and not many people could bear up under such perversity. I never knew Jimmie to utter an unkind word or express sorrow for himself or to criticize others, and for all of that Jimmie was more of a man than most of us.

Laura and Doc never had an biological children. Laura Henline died in 1966 and Doc passed away in 1970. Jimmie followed in 1985


Thanks to Pauline Bennett (daughter of David & Maysell (Parmer) Bennett) for the photos.

1. The freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors have boys and girls tournaments. The freshmen play the sophomores, the juniors play the seniors and then the winners play for the championship. The gymnasium is decorated with crepe paper and banners touting the class team, each class has cheerleaders, and a good time is had by all.

Charlie Blake, Master Woodworker

by David Parmer

Charlie Blake was not only a farmer and grist miller on his Clover Fork farm but was also a wood worker and master craftsman. Charlie was the son of William L. and Janie Blake, grandson of Stuart J. Blake and Lucinda (Posey) Blake, and great grandson of pioneers John B. and Abbey (Crysemore) Blake who came to the Clover Fork area from Greenbrier County in the early 1800s.

To the left is Charlie with is wife Daisy (Heater) Blake.

Charlie, who was born in 1876, learned woodcrafting skills growing up on Clover Fork, in between farming chores. Charlie built a wood working shop on the banks of Clover Fork just below his residence, complete with carpentry and wood shaping tools, including a foot pedaled lathe. In this workshop Charlie produced straight chairs, rocking chairs, axe and hoe handles, benches, porch swings, and musical instruments such as violins and banjos for sale to his neighbors and residents of the Oil Creek valley.

Shown to the right is a rocking chair fashioned by Charlie Blake which was purchased by Coleman Jeffries in the early 1940s. Nearly seventy years old the rocker is still sturdy with the original split bottom and back intact and joints still tight.

Rosemary (Riffle) Crutchfield of Burnsville, granddaughter of Charlie and Daisy Blake, tells us that she used to go on the hill with her grandfather in search of the hickory saplings to make the splits used in constructing chair bottoms and backs. Her grandfather told Rosemary that the saplings had to have just the "right juice" to make good splits. Obviously he chose the right splits in making the rocker shown.

Charlie also made musical instruments. Charlie played a "little" on his fiddle and on a banjo which he also made which is in possession of other family members.

This photo of a violin, or "fiddle" made by Charlie was taken by Dustin Crutchfield, 3-great-grandson of Charlie and Daisy Blake. Click on the closeup below to see it in greater detail.

Around 1940 a devastating flood swept down Clover Fork and carried away Charlie’s workshop and tools. Charlie was in failing health and unable to muster up the strength to rebuild and start his woodcrafting anew. Today, still to be seen in the gravel bed of Clover Fork below the site of his workshop is Charlie Blake’s grindstone used in sharpening his blades and tools. Charlie died in 1948 at age 71, survived by his wife Daisy (Heater) Blake and his daughter Ruby Riffle.

The Immigrant Jacob Conrad on the South Branch of the Potomac

This picture, probably a tintype, was posted by Joe Hacker to Nettie Gregory's MyFamily site Braxton County West Virginia Pictures and People1

This picture is interesting to Orlando area folks for two reasons. First, it is of the South Branch of the Potomac, which provided many of Lewis County's and Braxton County's earliest settlers. Most of us have descendents who came to central WV via the South Branch. Second, Daniel Conrad's grandfather built the house to the left in the picture and Daniel Conrad and his wife Margaret (Shields) were among the very early settlers of Braxton County. They are ancestors of not only the Conrads of the Oil Creek watershed but, through their daughter Phebe, the Skinners too.

The house to the left in the picture was built 1n 1763 by Daniel Conrad's grandfather, the immigrant Jacob Conrad/Coonrod, Sr. when he settled on the South Branch of the Potomac River, just south of the town of Ruddle, (This is now Pendleton County, WV, it was then Augusta Co, VA.) According to MyFamily.com, "Jacob Sr. built a home of limestone there and was a blacksmith by trade.2" The house was torn down in 1890's.

Widower Jacob Conrad Sr. was part of the Palatine migration. He had come into the Port of Philadelphia from the Canton of Bern in Switzerland in 1750, aboard the ship "Patience" from Rotterdam. Jacob Sr. had brought with him his three daughters and one son. His son, Jacob Conrad Jr. would marry Hannah Bogard and they would have ten children. (Jacob Jr. would also fight in the Revolutionary War and they would become land wealthy.)

One of their ten children, Daniel Conrad, married Margaret Shields and then they moved to Braxton County. Daniel and Margaret had only four children. Those of us in the Orlando area who carry the family name of Conrad are mostly descended through Chrisman Conrad who married Elizabeth Wine and settled just over the hill from the Clover Fork of Oil Creek, near Bulltown. From there their kids would marry into the families of the original settlers of Oil Creek. Daniel and Margaret's only daughter Phoebe3 married Alexander Skinner and became an original settler of Oil Creek and grandmother of all the Skinners of Oil Creek. Thus, the Skinners of Oil Creek also share the ancestry of the old immigrant Jacob Conrad.

Conrads and Skinners who moved into the area in the 1900s may or may not share this particular ancestry. If you are curious about how your ancestry fits in, please contact me, Donna G. at orlandowestvirginia@yahoo.com.

1. The reference attached to the photo reads: "Subject Counties--Pendleton--Homes Physical Location Photograph Filing Cabinets Source Ruddle, Richard, Loan Date of Acquisition 1973/09/20"

2. Copyright © 1998-2000, MyFamily.com Inc. and its subsidiaries.

3 For more about Phoebe (Conrad) Skinner see the entry for Mar, '06 Grandma Phoebe Conrad

Helen Frame's Story

Thanks to David Parmer for the information and photographs.

To the left is Helen (Frame) Jeffries and to the right is her mother, Nellie Grace Wymer at the age of 16.

The story of Helen Frame and her path to Orlando best begins with her mother Nellie Grace Wymer who was born in Jane Lew.

Nellie was a teacher and also worked for a Weston newspaper. She married Cecil Stewart who was killed in a railroad accident in Weston in 1911, three months before their first child was born. This first child, a girl, was named Cecil after her father.

Later Nellie married Charles Frame, who was living in Clarksburg. They had three children, Wanza, James and then Helen, who came along in 1921.

Sadly, Nellie contracted tuberculosis. The family moved to Florida for Nellie's health, but she died at age 36 when Helen was only five years of age. Helen's dad kept the children he could best care for and, as dads often had and have to do, found relatives to take in the others.

Helen was placed in the care of her aunt Sarah (Frame) Cole of Gillespie, Braxton County. Sarah and her husband Herbert Cole were of the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints. Herbert was an Elder in the church. Little Helen was only with her aunt and uncle a short time when her Aunt Sarah's health began a decline. Elder Herbert Cole knew the Henline family from visiting the RLDS Mission 1930 in Orlando. He knew the Henline home would be a good place for Helen to grow up.

Kind people do kind deeds. Helen was raised by the Henline family in Orlando. And she married a Henline boy, Coleman Jeffries, son on of Clora Henline and Ed Jeffries. See the entry dated Jan '07 Clora Henline

Above left all of Nellie Wymer's kids, Cecil Stewart, James, Helen and Wanza Frame, pose for the camera at their Aunt Sarah and Uncle Herbert's house.

To the right are Coleman and Helen (Frame) Jeffries just a few years ago with their daughter Barbara, son-in-law David Parmer and grandson.

Double click on the photos to see them in greater detail.

The Buzzardtown Census

A Census in Rhyme
by Uncle Zeke from Buzzardtown

Uncle Zeke1 seems to be taking an artist's perspective as he surveys his community in this poem. How does this census of "Buzzardtown" compare with the 1930 Federal census for Posey Run, Road Run and Oil Creek? Check it out for yourself. Click on the census icons to the right to enlarge each page. Clue: You'll find Arch McHenry on the last of the three pages on the right and Uncle Zeke, aka Patrick N. Blake, on the top of the three pages. It's interesting to see where he sees his community starting and ending, which households he seems to be overlooking.

Arch McHenry, first at the head of the run,
Tom Conley, next, full of fun,
Pete Conley, next, with much to say,
Then comes Taylor Riffle, old and gray.

Wade Mick appears upon the scene,
Next Alva Riffle, though very green,
Gilbert Riffle steps in o' view,
Then Grafton Riffle, tried and true.

Next Ruddle Posey, he comes in,
Then Manly Posey with a little grin,
Brownie Riffle , next we find,
Then Sanford Posey, good and kind.

Next Bill Beckner steps into sight,
Then Ernie Fox, with all of his might,
Ray Fox comes next to take his stand,
Then Boss Riffle joins the band.

Now comes Fred Riffle, slim and tall,
George Riffle next, both great and small,
Next Ezra Posey, blithe and gay,
Then Burr Skinner steps this way.

Amos Henline next we greet,
Then Walter Blake with his big feet,
Mart Posey next, whom you all know
Jim Murphy next, though very slow.

Bruce Posey next comes down the pike,
Closely followed by his son Mike,
Cam Sharp, the pumper, he comes next,
Then Walter Sharp, so easily vexed.

Now comes Glen Sharp with easy tread,
Next Martin Fox, with whiskers red,
Clem Chrislip next with lots of cheek,
Next on the list is Uncle Zeke.

Next we write Jack Posey's name,
Fred Posey next, of fighting fame,
Young Bennett next, whose name is Holt,
Doyle Skinner next like a frisky colt.

John Posey next with pipe in hand,
Then next Linn Strader takes the stand,
Next Early Riffle takes his place,
Then Okey Strader with his fat face.

John Strader next, sly as a fox,
Then Floyd Posey, dumb as an ox,
Billy the Newspacker completes the list,
Unless there's some we may have missed.

Uncle Zeke.

1. "Uncle Zeke" is the pen name of Patrick Newton Blake (1867-1951) born on Clover Fork, made his home near the confluence of Posey Run and Oil Creek. For more on Uncle Zeke, see entries for December '06 Trouble At Uncle Zeek's House and October '06 Uncle Zeke From Buzzard Town

The Cobbler's Wife

Thanks to David Parmer who provided much of the following information and text and the photo.

Ingebo Church was 18 in 1861 when she married 49 year old widower David Parmer in eastern Virginia. She was the daughter of William and Elizabeth (Johns) Church. Family tradition tells us that Ingabo was part Cherokee2. So far, we have been unable to confirm this, but we'll keep looking, and keep our fingers crossed!

Ingebo's husband David, originally from eastern Virginia, had a lot of life behind him when they married. He and his first wife had several children and they had migrated to Kansas in the late 1850s. After that wife died he returned to eastern Virginia. David was a cobbler, making saddles, boots and shoes. Ingebo also did leather work. David and Ingebo Parmer were in Orlando for the 1870 census with three children, David, 6 years, George 3 years and and Mary E., 1 year old. Also living with them was Eliza Moss, who was age 50, black and listed as a servant, the only person of color in the area.

In the late 1870s David had a debilitating stroke leaving him permanently disabled. He spent his last years in a poor house.

The 1880 census lists Ingabo Parmer in Orlando as head of household with five children3. Ingebo continued to do leatherwork. In the photo of Ingebo (to the right) she appears to have very large hands, perhaps the result of leatherworking with her hands as well as the hard work both men and women did to survive in those days.

1. Per her greatgrandson David Parmer, "There seems to be some confusion in census records about David's age but I believe he was born in 1812. Ingebo was born in 1843."

2. Per her great grandson David Parmer, "My aunt, Ruth Bodkin, told me many years ago that Ingebo was part Indian. Although I have never been able to substantiate it, my aunt Ruth knew Ingebo so I presume that she may have been informed by Ingebo that she was part Indian."

3. Comparing the 1870 and 1880 censuses demonstrates the mysteries of working with census data. In the 1880 census the first challenge is to find David Parmer. His greatgrandson David Parmer found him listed as David Parmor, in the household of Daniel Beachler. Then the 1880 census shows Ingebo with the following 5 children Joseph, 13 years, Elizabeth, 11 years, Nathan, 9 years and Matilda E., 21 years old with an unnamed infant of her own.
We can guess that "George" in the 1770 census is "Joseph" in the 1880 and that "Mary E." was called "Elizabeth" by 1880. Matilda, at 21 in 1880, would have been born about 1859. Perhaps her natural mother was David Parmer's first wife.

Oil Creek Cemeteries

This is the beginning of an inventory of cemeteries in the Oil Creek watershed. Please let us know which we are missing. Do you have a reading, that is, a list of the indiviuals buried there?:

1. Orlando (Skinner) Cemetery 2 readings: DAvid Parmer did one in the 1970s. HCPD has a book cemeteries that includes another reading of this cemetery.

2. Mitchell Cemetery

3. St Michael (Griffin) Cemetery -moved to Memorial Gardens

4. Posey Cemetery - on Road Run at Oil Creek
another family cemetery up Posey Run.

The Blakes' Witch

Andrew & Margaret (Williams) Blake were original settlers of the Oil Creek watershed. (See Nov '06 entry First Settlers ) Most of our ancestors came to the New World in the 1700s, either to the Chesapeake Bay area: to Maryland or Virginia, or to Philadelphia (the Palatine Germans and Swiss mostly came in through Philadelphia.) Andrew Blake's family is unusual in that they came in the 1600s to New England. Several of Andrew Blake's ancestors have interesting stories, but none is more sensational than the story of his 4th-great grandmother1, Mary (Perkins) Bradbury, who was tried and convicted as a witch in the Salem witch trials in the summer of 1692.

This sketch shows a scene from the trial of Mary Perkins Bradbury of Salisbury. Perkins Bradbury was set to be hanged as a witch 320 years ago this month, but her friends broke her out of jail on the eve of the hanging. Courtesy photo/ Paul Turner, Salisbury Historical Society

Mary Perkins was born in 1615 in Warwicshire, at the very center of England. She came to the Boston area with her parents and siblings as a child. Neither she nor her future husband Thomas Bradbury were Puritans.
When she was in her late 70s Mary was accused of witchcraft at the Salem witch trials. Her accusers made some fascinating claims, such as, she would turn into a blue boar and chase around the yard and, she sold a ship's captain 2 tubs of butter but one of the tubs was bewitched.
Find more about Grandma Mary's trial at
Wikipedia,
an article in the Newbury Port MA News. and
University of Missouri- Kansas City Web Site.
Here is her testimony, transcribed from the original court records.
"The answer of Mary Bradbury to the charge of witchcraft or familiarity with the Devil.
"I do plead not guilty. - I am wholly innocent of such wickedness through the goodness of God that hath kept me hitherto. I am the servant of Jesus Christ and have given myself up to him as my only Lord and Saviour, and to the diligent attendance upon him in al holy ordinances, in utter contempt and defiance of the Devil & all his works as horrid and detestable; and have endeavored accordingly to frame my life & conversation according to the rules of his holy word, and in faith and practice resolve, by the help and assistance of God, to continue to my life's end. For the truth of what I say as to matter of practice, I humbly refer myself to my brethren and neighbors that know me, and to the searcher of all hearts for the truth & uprightness of my heart therein, human frailties & unavoidable infirmaties expected, of which I bitterly complain every day.Mary Bradbury."
Mary was the last suspect tried. Although she was convicted, she was not executed. She died eight years later in 1700.

1.The lineage from Oil Creek settler Andrew Blake to Immigrant and convicted Salem witch Mary (Perkins) Bradbury is as follows:
Andrew & Margaret (Williams) Blakeparents: William & Hannah (Ockletree) Blakegrandparents: Theophilus & Margaret (Kennett) Blakegreat grandparents: Samuel & Ann (Sealy) Blake2great grandparents: Thomas & Mary Ann (Stanyon) Sealy
3 great grandparents: John & Mary (Bradbury) Stanyon4 great grandparents: Thomas & Mary (Perkins) Bradbury

Lee Skinner Rode His Bicycle

by David Parmer
Lee Skinner. was tall and slender and had a habit of standing and staring which prompted people to comment that he looked like a "standing fence post." Bits and pieces are all we have about Lee. He was a bachelor all his life and lived in a shack on stilts that he built on Oil Creek, just upstream from downtown Orlando. And he was eccentric.

Lee's full name was Alfred Lee Skinner. He was born in 1892 to Charlie and Maggie Janie (Cosner) Skinner. To the left is Lee with his family. The kids, from left to right are Lee, Burt, Ethel, Wes, Necie, Wayne and Frank. Nora is on Maggie's lap. Click on the photo to enlarge it. To the right is a closeup of Lee taken from that photo
(Notice Lee, Ethel and Necie are wearing clothes made from the same bolt of fabric.)

From his WWI registration card we know that Lee was 26 and living in Akron, Ohio, working for the Erie Rail Road when he went into the army in October, 1918. The War to End All Wars ended a month later, Nov 11, 1918. He first went to Camp Gordon, Georgia. From there he went into Depot Service Company 41, which was one of two units that funneled men into depleted fighting units in France. The Armistice had already been declared by that time. From the records available we can't tell whether he was assigned anywhere else before he was honorably discharged in July, 1919, but Dale Barnett, for one, understood that Lee had been in France and Germany.

The next information we have about Lee is from 1923. In 1923, when Lee was about 30, he had the following gristly experience. Lee's 16 year old brother Wayne was killed in a train accident. Lee went to Gilmer Station to make the official identification of his brother. It is reported that the bodies were so mangled that it was difficult to reconstruct the body parts which were scattered along the railroad right of way. The severed head of Wayne Skinner was awaiting identification in a five gallon bucket. Lee later related that he reached into the bucket and lifted his brother’s head by the hair to make the identification.
See the Feb '07 entry Death Rides the Rails

In the early 1930s Lee Skinner and his brother Bert became a little over zealous during a revival at the UB Church and became so engrossed in the experience that they became somewhat out of control. The Skinner brothers would not leave the revival and were causing such a commotion that they had to be wrestled out of the church. Lee and Bert were then manhandled down to the Orlando school house where they were both tied to the school house porch columns for the rest of the evening. Reportedly, as remembered by Dale Barnett, the rope for the school bell at the school was cut off and was used to hog-tie the two brothers. Mildred McNemar however advises us that it was not the rope to the school house bell which was used to bind brothers Lee and Bert, but rather the school house flag pole rope, according to Mildred’s foster father, Bill Henline. Mildred also recalls that the account of the incident she had been told was that Lee Skinner was jumping from pew to pew, chanting “Feed my sheep, feed my lambs, Preacher in the pulpit, steal my wool.” Now whatever the meaning of that demonstration may have been we don’t know, or if it meant anything at all.

"Uncle Zeke," P. N. Blake, a faithful United Brethren Church member, reported in his newspaper column of February 11, 1932 that Lee Skinner and Bert Skinner of Orlando were adjudged insane and lodged in Weston State Hospital. Presumably, the brothers had a short stay in the State Hospital until they lost their religion, or at least their religious zeal, at which time they were discharged as “normal” and resumed life in Orlando. From the April '07 entry Tales from the U. B. Church

In the 1950s and '60s Lee Skinner rode a bicycle all over the country. A couple of times when I was a boy in Burnsville, I saw Lee (I didn't at first know who he was) riding a bicycle through Burnsville. I thought it odd because a grown man riding a bicycle was an unusual sight to see. At any rate many years ago I was told that Lee rode his bicycle to the Clarksburg VA Hospital (40 to 50 miles, all up and down steep hills) to see a doctor because he was having trouble with his legs! Dale Barnett repeated this story to me as gospel. Apparently Lee was trying to get VA disability for a service connected leg injury from his tour in France and Germany in World War I.

Comments
comment 1
Bill Beckner remembers Lee Skinner in the 1950s. One thing he remembers is that every day Lee would go into W.D. Brown's store and buy a can of condensed milk and a package of crackers for his dinner and he'd walk home tossing the can and the package in the air.

Bill also remembers that an auto would pull up in front of the store and Lee would go down to the car and take care of some kind of business. Bill was told that Lee bought Jewish war bonds.


1. Ancestry.com has collated government military information on Lee Skinner as follows:
"157 Depot Brigade to 15 Oct 1918; Cp Gordon Ga Oct Automatic Replacement Draft to 13 Nov 1918; Depot Service Company 41 Army Service Corps to Discharge Private American Expeditionary Forces 27 Oct 1918 to 5 July 1919. Honorable discharge 11 July 1919."
I believe this means he first went to Camp Gordon, Georgia. From there he went into Depot Service Company 41, which was one of two units that funneled men into depleted fighting units in France. The Armistace had already been declared by that time. I can't tell if he was assigned anywhere else before he was honorably discharged in July, 1919. -D. Gloff


His brothers were Bert, Frank. and Wesley. Bert lived in Orlando and Frank lived in Buckhannon. They had three sisters Nora, Ethel, and Necie. Nora married a Rogers and lived in Richmond, Virginia, Ethel (Charlotte Ethel) married a Blake. Necie married first a Freeman and then Robert Mitchell. Lee was 87 when he died in 1989."

The Town of Blake on Clover Fork

Several communities have formed in the region drained by Oil Creek and its tributaries. Orlando is the largest. Blake was the next largest1. During the early 20th century it swelled dramatically to accomodate the railway workers. It remains a surprisingly closeknit community.

The town of Blake was located several miles east of Orlando on Clover Fork. According to David L. Blake2 Clover Fork used to be Blake Fork and in the early 1900s, and the town boasted a post office, general store, and a population of about 40 people. It was located on both sides of the railroad track.

We know that in addition to the post office and general store the community has had
the Mitchell / Clover Fork Cemetery3
Clover Fork Methodist Church
Clover Fork Elementary School

We await additional info and photos from Clover Fork folks.


1. There are several more communities. Posey Run is one of these and it has been immortalized by Uncle Zeke as his beloved Buzzardtown.

2. David L. Blake "Blake and Riffle Reunion" on pg 60 of Lewis County West Virginia, Her People and Places, edited by Joy Gilchrest-Stalnacker, in 2000.

3. For more information on the Cemetery near the town of Blake, see see the entry dated Dec 14 '06 Clover Fork Cemetery

A Mystery About Alva Blake's Grandfathers

The handsome fellow reaching into his "poke" of Beechnut chewing tobacco is Alva Brannon Blake, born in 1892 on Clover Fork to John Jackson and Ella Mae (Foster) Blake1.

This 1936 photo was provided by Alva's granddaughter Loretta Roehrs.

Alva Blake's grandfathers had both come to Clover Fork with their parents, who were original settlers of the area. What's more, the names of both grandfathers appear on the roster of those tried in 1869 as Confederate sympathisers. So far we can find no indication of their service to the Confederacy. So many members of their families and community did support the Confederacy that we don't doubt the charge. We just wonder what they were doing.

Alva's grandfather Stewart McClung Blake was about 30 and had a wife a young family in 1860. He and his brother Anthony B. Blake were, oddly enough, mustered into the 125th West Virginia State Militia in 1860. We don't know the story of how they came to be in the Union Militia, but there must have been quite a story, because after the war they were found guilty of being Southern sympathizers and were disenfranchised in a Lewis. County Court.

To the right is Alva's dad and Stewart McClung's son, John Jackson Blake, who was born about the time his daddy was being mustered into the Union Militia.

Alva's maternal grandfather, Nimrod Brandon Foster, was also in his early 30s and married, with a young family during the Civil War. His name also appears as one of the men accused of Confederate sympathies but we find no evidence of any involvement in the War Between the States. We did find his obituary, and it speaks of a man who lived a life of respect and integrity- a long way from the accusations of being a traitor.

"... one of the oldest and most highly respected citizens of Lewis county died at his home on Clover Fork, near Orlando, on Thursday, September 23, 1915, at the advanced age of eighty-four years.He was one of the cornerstones of the Clover Fork Methodist Protestant Church--was its chief builder, and remained a pillar to the close of his life.He was a native of the "Old Dominion" but came to Lewis county with his family in his young manhood and has ever since been identified with its interests."

To the right is Ella Mae Foster, Alva's mother and the daughter of Nimrod Foster.

1. John Jackson and Ella Mae (Foster) Blake had twelve children: Alva, Vincent, Mildred, Ezra, Nora, Rufus, William Ray, Stokes, Myrtle, Lizzie, Roy and Lee Washington. Lee Washington Blake initiated the Riffle Blake Reunion and wrote the monograph Blake Riffle Family Back Seven Generations

Fraternal Organizations

This is an introductory discussion of the fraternal organizations. We hope this incomplete overview will encourage those with more information to bring it to this "pot of stone soup."

Orlando men and women have been active in at least three fraternal organizations: the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Masons & Eastern Stars and the Knights of Pythias. Hints about Orlando's culture can be found in the meager information given below about each organization.


Independent Order of Odd Fellows
Perhaps the strongest organization was the IOOF that had an Orlando Chapter until the 1940s. The land for the IOOF building was donated by Ann Skinner daughter of Alexander and Phebe (Conrad) Skinner around the turn of the 20th century. It takes a sizable community to support fraternal organization, so it is not surprising that in the 1940s the Orlando chapter merged with the Burnsville Chapter.

David Parmer tells us about the Burnsville IOOF Chapter in the 1954. "There was a large contingent of IOOF members from Orlando who were members of the Burnsville Lodge No 252. In 1954 the Burnsville Lodge membership included W. E. Beckner, W. D. "Deck" Brown, Lawrence Dyer, Reverend England, E. L. Fox, William Fox, Worthington Hurst, C. M. Mick, Cyrus Mick, Dem Mick, J. L. Ocheltree,and Nathan Parmer. Several other members from Orlando had died. This lodge had been organized in the 1890s.
Above is a photo of the IOOF funeral of Clover Fork's George W. Bennett. Double click on it to see it in better detail.


Knights of Pythias
There is no indication that the K of P was a strong presence in Orlando, but it was represented. Dave Hyre's grandfathers were both active in the Burnsville Chapter of the Knights of Pythias. His grandfather Frank Lake lived just downstream from downtown Orlando while his grandfather Vic Hyre lived in Burnsville. Dave shares an interesting observation.

"Here's the difference between K of P and IOOF in that area as I understand.
K of P = Union,
IOOF = Confederate.
That might have carried over to early 1900's. My grandapa Vic was definitely a Unionist2. I remember him ralling about the evils of KKK activity within the county. I remember Klan rally posters into the 1960's." The Knights of Pythias have a cemetery in Burnsville but so far we have found no Orlando residents buried there.
The ribbon to the right, from the 1800s, belonged to Jimison Hyre. Dave Hyre's great-grandfather, who was a member of the Buckhannon K of P lodge.

Masons & Eastern Star
My Detroit born & raised father looked forward to attending Masonic meetings

in Burnsville with my mom's uncle, Glenn Skinner of Three Lick, whenever they were both in Orlando.

Uncle Glenn's daughter Peggy (Skinner) Morris remembers
"(Dad) belonged to the Masons and Mom belonged to the Eastern Star. I thought that you just had to get accepted into the Eastern Star to be anybody, so applied and was accepted when I was old enough. Chick and Betty (Barnett) Mick (of Orlando) and I went once in awhile while we were living in the Bainbridge, Md area."

To the left above is a photo of Peggy's folks, Glenn and Virginia (McCoy) Skinner, taken in downtown Orlando in the 1960s. For more detail double click on it.

Comments

comment 1 Dave Kuhl Ocean Springs, MS
Dave Hyre, interesting that you connect K of P to unionists and IOOF to southern sympathizers.
My ggf Christian Kuhl is buried in K of P Burnsville and he was acting company commander of Company D, 31rst VA CSA for the last two years of the war. . . . .- - Dave Kuhl – dbkuhl@bellsouth.net

Three Orlando Produce Enterprises

by David Parmer

The coming of a railroad brings euphoria and optimism to the small communities in its path. Orlando was blessed when the West Virginia & Pittsburgh Railroad laid the steel rails through the Oil Creek Valley. It was doubly blessed when the Coal and Coke Railroad also chose Orlando as a route for its rail line.

Although the primary motive of the building of the Coal and Coke Railway was to exploit coal reserves which lay in Braxton and Clay Counties and the bountiful timber resources which covered most of central West Virginia, small farmers throughout central West Virginia suddenly had a market for agricultural produce for the first time with the access to rail traffic.

Beham Henline's Agency, early 1890s
Beham Henline of Orlando was an early entrant into the use of the railways to buy and sell agricultural produce. (See Sept '06 entry Beham Henline's Business Records) In the early 1890s Henline began acting as an agent for small Orlando area farmers in the selling of agricultural produce to larger city customers who were now accessible with the building of the West Virginia & Pittsburgh Railroad. Henline conducted this business throughout the 1890s. Henline's brokering business never reached anything approaching large scale and remained a "mom and pop" type business. A more large scale operation was however to come to Orlando with the incorporation of the Orlando Produce and Commission Company.


Orlando Produce and Commission Company, 1907
In 1907, N. H. McCoy and W. A. Haymond of Gem, J. M. Berry of Heaters, A. R. Weber of Weston, O. J. Whitesel of Roanoke, and Michael Vincent Moran of Orlando incorporated the Orlando Produce and Commission Company, each of the incorporators being shareholders with one share each. The stated purpose of the corporation was to buy agricultural produce, lumber and any other saleable merchandise and to resell the same as brokers, in exchange for which a commission would be paid. A large commodious three story building was built along the Coal and Coke Railroad right of way to house the operations. N. H. McCoy1 was designated as the manager of the business.

Orlando Fruit and Produce Company, 1909
In 1909, the wholesaling activity in Orlando seemed to be big enough for another competitor, and in that year, a Parkersburg entrepreneur C. Z. Ruth2, along with R. H. Kidd of Burnsville, C. H. Allman of Orlando, C. D. Bumgardner and H. W. Russell, both of Parkersburg, incorporated a business to be known as the Orlando Fruit and Produce Company. Ruth was the major shareholder of the new enterprise with ten shares of the outstanding stock, Kidd held five shares, and Allman, Bumgardner and Russell each held one share. The stated purpose of this corporation was much like the stated purpose of the Orlando Produce and Commission Company but emphasized the buying and selling of fruit. Nearly every farmer in and around Orlando maintained small orchards which were popping up everywhere, thanks primarily to the booming mail order nursery stock businesses which were marketing fruit trees throughout the region. A wholesale buyer of the fruit production was just what the fruit growers needed. The Orlando Fruit and Produce Company built a large frame structure near the depot to accomodate its operations. The building remains standing today and is owned by the Burgett family. (See photo to the left.) The Orlando Fruit and Produce Company appointed R. H. Kidd3 as the day to day manager of the business.

The euphoria and optimism of the budding capitalists of the wholesale businesses in Orlando did not pay off and both wholesale houses closed within a few short years of opening. Many businesses opened and closed just as quickly throughout America in the early 20th century, mostly as the result of overbuilding, a lack of population to keep the businesses going, and economic expectations which were exaggerated by the building of the railroads. In this case, Orlando fared no differently than did a lot of small towns in West Virginia and in the United States during this period of our history.

Left is the warehouse that served the Orlando Fruit and Produce Company. Note the American flag in this 1960s photo. W.D. Brown owned the warehouse at this time and the Post Office, under the direction of Pete Henline, was located in the northeast corner of the warehouse. This is the American flag that flies at every Post Office.

1. Nola H. McCoy?

2. C.Z. Ruth was the brother of Burnsville's Mayor Ruth. Dale Barnett tells us that in the 1950s or 1960s Mr Ruth made a gift of $1,000,000 to St Joseph’s Hospital in Parkersburg to build a wing onto the hospital with the proviso that there would be an apartment in the wing he could live in until he died. Mr Ruth had no immediate family. One million dollars was quite a bit of money in those days. Mr. Ruth had a number of furniture stores in the Parkersburg area.

3. Robert H. Kidd was the nephew of Burnsville Wholesale Grocer Frank Kidd.