Double Ironies: Orlando Sons-In-Law Tragic Traffic Victims

Ethel Daisy Posey, born on Posey Run in 1884, was the daughter of George Jackson and Minerva (Hopkins) Posey and the granddaughter of Oil Creek pioneer son Alfred Posey and his wife Christina Murphy.

When Ethel was ten years old she wrote a letter about the two weeks she spent with her a couple weeks with her grandparents, Andrew J. and Sarah (Dennison) Hopkins in Gilmer County. The letter, which was printed in a church magazine, is in the Apr '07 entry Ethel Posey's Adventure In the comments which follow this entry is a letter she wrote as a young wife and mother.

Right: Ethel (Posey) Bennett

by David Parmer
Ethel Posey Bennett was a gracious, elegant lady, most often seen by this writer during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s in dark silky-looking dresses with “old-lady” lace-up shoes. To the writer’s young eyes, the gray hair, dark pocket book carried over the shoulder, and spectacles, justified the belief that Ethel was a senior citizen, although at the time Ethel was younger than this writer is now. The Order of the Eastern Star and the Rebekahs were popular and well-attended women’s clubs in Burnsville and Ethel was a faithful member of both. Ethel had many friends in Burnsville and she visited the town frequently from her home on Posey Run to see friends and attend club meetings.

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Left: logos for the Order of the Eastern Star and the Daughters of Rebekah.

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Ethel, born on Posey Run in 1884, was the daughter of George Jackson Posey and Minerva (Hopkins) Posey. She was a life-long member of the Mt. Zion Methodist Church of Orlando, which her pioneering Methodist father helped to form shortly after the Civil War. Ethel was also a key member in the Posey Family Reunion which brought many descendants of Edward and Catherine Scott Skinner Posey to Orlando from far and wide for an annual gathering.

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Ethel was married for a short time to Grover Van Horn and they had a son they named George Marion Van Horn. In 1910, at her Posey Run home, Ethel married the Reverend Porter Bennett, a widower, from Tanner, Gilmer County, who was thirteen years her senior. During the course of their marriage Ethel and Porter became the parents of six children: three sons, Porter, Rolfe and Noble; and three daughters, Virginia, Maxine and Sarah.

Maxine and Sarah Become Brides

In 1937, Porter and Ethel Bennett and their family were living in Buckhannon. It was there that daughter Maxine met her future husband, Noble Tallman, and daughter Sarah met her future husband, Paul Eskew. Both sons-in-law of Ethel Bennett were employed in the coal mining industry.

A Visit to Posey Run

The newly wedded Noble Tallman and Paul Eskew and their wives enjoyed spending time at the Posey Run home of George Jackson Posey, who was the grandfather of Maxine and Sarah. During the last week of August 1937, the two couples and Ethel Bennett vacationed at the Posey home. On Sunday, August 29th the last day of their vacation, they made an excursion to the popular Falls Mill for swimming and a picnic before returning to their Buckhannon homes.

Kiser Tenney

Two of Ethel and Porter's girls, Sarah and Maxine, married men who worked in the coal mining industry: Paul Eskew and Noble Tallman. Kiser Tenney was Paul Eskew's cousin. (Kiser's dad Albert and Paul's mother Florence were siblings.) Like his two friends, Noble and Paul, Kiser was also employed in coal mining.

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The First Tragedy

One month after enjoying his vacation on Posey Run and the excursion to Falls Mill for swimming and a picnic, Noble Tallman was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Kiser Tenney when the vehicle left the road near Hodgesville in Upshur County. In 1937, there were no safety features such as seat belts in automobiles and passengers were at substantial risk even in the slightest of accidents. Unfortunately, the fates were unkind to twenty year old Noble Tallman who died in an Elkins hospital of the injuries received in the accident. Noble’s widow, Maxine, was expecting her first child at the time of the accident.

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The Second Tragedy

On November 17, 1940, a little over three years after the accident in Upshur County which took the life of Noble Tallman, Kiser Tenney and his cousin Paul Eskew were working the second shift for the Koppers Coal Company in Northfork, McDowell County. After their shift was over, Kiser and Paul were on their way home in Kiser’s automobile. As Kiser was driving along the Bluefield-Bramwell road near the Woodlawn cemetery, an out-of-state vehicle passed Kiser’s vehicle on the windy road and cut back in sharply to avoid an approaching vehicle. This reckless maneuver resulted in Kiser’s front bumper being hooked by the passing vehicle which swerved the Tenney vehicle off the road and over an embankment. Although Tenney was uninjured, again the fates dealt cruelly with the husband of Sarah and son-in-law of Ethel Bennett. Paul Eskew died nine days later of his injuries. He was twenty eight years of age. Besides his widow Sarah, he was survived by a son, Robert Paul.

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comment by Donna Gloff

Ethel's mother Minerva (Hopkins) Posey kept many of her children's letters in her scrapbook. Following is the letter she wrote to Minerva in 1912, after she and Porter and their young family had moved to the town of Taveres, located in central Florida. We know she was about six months pregnant at the time, as her son Noble was born the following March. Oddly, the letter to her mother doesn't speak of how or what her husband is doing or of her children or her health. A letter she wrote to the editorof the [Braxton?] Democrat in March, 1913, tells of their trip home by ocean steamer.

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Dear Mamma:

We are located here in Tavares; arrived yesterday; have rented a two room house, plastered and newly painted. Pay $5 per month furnished with chairs, oil stove, bed, lamps, washstand, dining table and small wood heating stove, in case we should need it. We had a nice trip, saw lots of nice level country. We have been in seven states since we left West Virginia.

Virginia is a nice level country, has nice towns and good country buildings.

We saw lots of cotton; saw them picking it; saw plenty of peanuts. They stack them and thrash them.We crossed the Potomac river and traveled quite a distance along the river. We passed within a few miles of Nokesville, where Uncle N. W. Hopkins lives. We crossed the state of Virginia by way of Richmond. There is quite a lot of pine timber through the state. The trees are very tall and slim. In North and South Carolina is lots of pine timber. They are not so wealthy as Virginia. The buildings are not good.

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Georgia is level -- lots of cotton and terpentine. We would pass for miles and miles where the trees were tapped and saw them gathering the terpentine. We passed through lots of cypress swamps. Savanah Ga., is a nice place. We passed through most all the capitols of the states we traveled through. We crossed several large rivers. The St. John is a very wide river. It is about ten miles wide at Sanford, Fla. We have not seen any hills since we left West Virginia. Florida is nice and level. We get beefsteak at 8 cents a pound. Butter, milk, and eggs are high. We have seen but few cattle since we left West Virginia. The cows here are small and don't look like the West Virginia stock. We have seen but few hogs in Florida. They are small too.

The fishing is good here on the lake. One can fish from the wharf or from boats.

We have plenty of oranges here. There are three trees in our yard, and they have about 25 bushels of oranges on them. At the orange dump just a little way from our house, we can get all we want just for the picking. They pack here. Men and boys get from $5 to $7 per day for packing them. They bring them in by wagon. Grape fruit is fine here. I saw some yesterday at the packinghouse as large as a child's head. We get fine ones at the orange dumps.Carpenters get good wages. Bricklayers $7 per day. It is nice and warm here; rained today. We have not needed any fire, except to cook with, since we arrived.

Your Daughter,

MRS. ETHEL POSEY BENNETT

December 15, 1912

Thanks to Ron Skinner for including Ethel Posey's letters in his family tree.

Omens, Signs and Auguries

by Donna Gloff

"The solitude of the wilderness was productive to mystery. It engaged in the untutored mind of the Indian and the woodsman a belief in the supernatural. That which could not be readily accounted for by natural deduction appealed strongly, and intuitively it was associated with the occult. He was guided by omens, signs and augurys."

author Lucullus McWhorter of Buckhannon Run off Hackers Creek
The Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia. 1915. Pg 449.

"The Blakes, some of them was very superstitious; believed in witches and ghosts."

lumberman and family historian Lee Washington Blake of Clover Fork

The Blakes and Riffles Back Seven Generations

The following story of the Skinner/Posey family takes place in the later pioneering days of Oil Creek, maybe the 1830s or 1840s. The story repeated by author Lucullus McWhorter was originally told by an old man, about 80 years old, one Isaac Posey of the upper West Fork. (We know nothing about Isaac Posey yet.) He visited his Posey cousins on a hunting trip to Sand Fork, which is just over the ridge from Posey Run. Catherine (Scott) Skinner Posey would have been the aunt. Isaac's hunting partner could have been any of her younger boys: William, Benjamin, John, Alfred, or Thomas.

The Phantom Deer

"When I was about eighteen years of age, I crossed over to one of the upper branches of the Sand Fork to visit friends and hunt where the game was more abundant than nearer to my home. The next morning, with a cousin younger than myself, we started out the hunt. When leaving I told my aunt that we would come back with a deer and would have venison for breakfast. But the old lady shook her head and replied, ‘No Isaac, you will see no deer today.’ Not withstanding the augury, we struck out with glowing anticipation, though we knew the old lady was generally regarded as a witch. Strange to say, though sign was abundant, we tramped all day through the snow without seeing a single deer.
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"Next morning I determined to go home. My aunt told me it would be best but added, ‘You will see a deer today.’ ‘Well, I replied, if I kill one before I cross the ridge I will come back and we will have our venison yet.’ ‘Never mind coming back, but you will see a deer today and it will be a big one,’ was the answer. I left and on approaching the gap in the ridge a magnificent buck stood before me, not fifty yards distant."
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"Well, did you get it?" the listener asked as Posey hesitated.
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"These things make a body feel mighty queer. I just shook all over. I could hardly hold the gun in my hands. For an instant I turned my head away and when I looked again it was gone. I never felt like hunting in them woods any more."
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This story is on page 449 in The Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia by Lucullus McWhorter, first published in 1915.

Ethel Posey's Adventure

In July, 1894, Ethel Daisy Posey, a ten year old girl who lived in Confluence, had a wonderful adventure when she spent a couple weeks with her grandparents, Andrew J. and Sarah (Dennison) Hopkins in Gilmer County. Ethel wrote the following letter .1

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Dear Circle,2
In company with grandpa, we took the evening train July 5, and after an hour's ride arrived at grandpa's.

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On July 7, Uncle [Walter] Lee Hopkins [26 y/o, unmarried] and I went over on Cedar Creek. [To the right is Cedar Creek today.] I rode "Nig," and she was so large I was only a big fly on her back. We rode over two big mountains, mostly through the woods, and they were very steep and high.

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Put up at Uncle L. M. [Lucian Minor] Hopkins, [He & wife Melissa were in their 40s, had kids aged 2, 6, 9, 14.] and had music and a general good time. We spent two days with them. We went down to Cutlipsville to to Uncle N. W. [Narcissus Washington] Hopkins and found my little sweet cousin Virgil, [four months old] and loved him as much as I could, and back at grandpa's, making a ride of about twenty miles, the longest ride I ever had on horseback.

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Uncle Willie [William Jackson, 20 y/o, unmarried at the time] Hopkins took me to Uncle William Skidmore's [m. Sabina Hopkins in '89]; there my horse got out and left me. I had a good time with my little cousins. From there back to grandpa's.

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I then went to Flatwoods, to Uncle Will Meadows [m. Alice Hopkins in 1887]. I spent a few days with them; then home again. A visit of two weeks - the longest I ever was away from pappa and mamma. We will have a Children's Day service at our church third Sunday in August. I am on the programme twice.

Wishing cousin Paul and the Circle well, I bid you all good by.
Ethel D. Posey
Confluence W. Va., July 23, 1894

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Ethel was married to Grover Van Horn for a short time and they had a son, George Marion. Her second husband was Porter Bennett, and they had four children. (Porter, from Gilmer County, doesn't seem to be related to the Orlando Bennetts.) Porter graduated from WV University and later records say he was a salesman. They moved for a short time to Florida, but returned to West Virginia. Porter died in Tanner, Gilmer County in 1941 and Ethel died in Sarasota FL 33 years later in 1974.

Ethel Posey was a cousin of Daniel Floyd "Flukey" Posey whose story is in the March '07 entry Flukey Posey – Baritone, Sheep Shearer & More. Floyd (who would get the nickname "Flukey" as a young adult) was 4 years older than his cousin. Their dads were brothers who were raised on Posey Run. BTo the right is a photo of their dads and the other children of Alfred and Christina Posey still alive at the time of the photo.

To the right: Ethel's dad, George Jackson Posey, is second from the right, Floyd's dad was John Fontain Posey, third from the right.
Alfred and Christina Posey's kids, left to right: Amanda (Posey) Heater, Mary Posey Knight, Andrew Newton “Ruddle Posey”, Edward A.Posey, John Fontaine Posey, George Jackson Posey, Alfred Jerome Posey

Footnotes
1. Paragraphing is by the editor, as are the [bracketed] comments.

2. The "Circle" is not explained, but it seems to have been a religious group or publication.

Thanks to Ron Skinner for including Ethel Posey's letters in his family tree [Ron Skinner's Posey file.FTW][Brøderbund WFT Vol. 3, Ed. 1, Tree #4772] .

Do you hae a photo of Ethel (Posey) Bennett you can share with us?

Flukey Posey – Baritone, Sheep Shearer & More

by David Parmer

Making A Joyful Noise
The Oil Creek Valley around Orlando has a remarkable acoustical quality. Many former Orlando residents have remarked on the clear sounds of the railroad trains as they approached Orlando from the north and south and how close they seemed to be, or how clearly Mike Moran could be heard a thousand yards away calling to his collie dog Major on an evening day.

Another sound which greeted Orlando residents as they sat on their front porches on calm evenings in the middle of the last century was the unmistakable baritone melody of an old hymn wafting on the twilight breezes coming from down Oil Creek. Can’t you just hear the praiseful ode? Everyone within earshot recognized the baritone voice of Flukey Posey as he praised the Almighty from his front porch on Road Run about a mile away by the way the crow flies. Flukey was nothing less than fervent when he gave thanks to the Lord in song and he wanted all to hear his piety. On Sundays Orlando Methodists enjoyed Flukey’s singing in a more formal setting as he, Hays Riffle, Hayward Riffle and Joe McCauley served as the songmasters at the Orlando Methodist Church.

Above right, Daniel Floyd "Flukey" Posey (1880-1958).
Below left, Mina B. (Conrad) Posey (1883-1966)

Flukey & Mina's Farm
Daniel Floyd "Flukey" Posey and his wife Mina (Conrad) Posey worked hard on their farm on Road Run. Their grandson Wesley Riffle remembers life on the Road Run farm with much fondness and his grandparents with great admiration. Life on the farm, although a lot of hard work, nonetheless was enjoyable. Wesley said they raised everything they ate and the only thing they bought at the store was snuff for his grandmother and tobacco for his grandfather.

Farming Poultry
The farm was awash with poultry year round. Turkeys, geese, and chickens galore roamed the seventythree acre farm near the head of Road Run searching for natural foods to eat such as grasshoppers, beetles, worms, caterpillars, and anything else that came into sight. This natural diet for the fowl was generously supplemented by corn and other grains raised by Flukey on his productive farm. Wesley Riffle, now 83, and living in Williamstown, advises us that he was raised by his grandparents, Flukey and Mina Posey on the Road Run farm and that his grandfather always raised a crop of sorghum. After the sorghum was harvested, the heads of the canes would be dried in the loft of the barn and would be used to feed the poultry crops. Wesley recalls that the flocks of birds loved the seed from the cane heads. The poultry raised by Flukey and his wife not only ended up on their dining table but also on the tables of Orlando and Burnsville restaurants and homes. The poultry business of Bill Barnett of Orlando also sent Flukey-raised poultry to places like Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Philadelphia from the Orlando freight terminal of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad1. Flukey’s flocks also were well known by the foxes roaming the hills of Road Run and adjoining hills according to Flukey’s grandson Richard Strader The foxes did their best to keep the flocks thinned out but there were still plenty left to supplement the income of the Posey household and to pack in Bill Barnett’s barrels for shipment to urban markets.

Raising Hogs
Flukey’s grandson, Richard Strader, also tells us that Flukey would raise three or four “bunches of hogs” per year. Just how many hogs this amounts to is uncertain, but it is certain to have produced a lot of breakfast sausage and Sunday ham dinners for the Posey dinner table during the year.

Flukey Was A Builder
The home of Flukey and Mina Posey was a log house with porches on both sides on the southern side of Road Run. We are not sure when the house was built or who built it. Flukey, in his lifetime, added a couple of rooms onto the original structure and built a cellar house on the lower side. Flukey was a fair to middlin’ carpenter in his own right, as were most of the old-timers in their day. Flukey also worked for neighbors in the construction of dwellings and outbuildings. Uncle Zeke reported in 1932 that Flukey and O. M. Stutler were building a barn for “Boss” Riffle on Posey Run.

Another demonstration of Flukey’s versatility in earning a living was reported by Uncle Zeke in his Buzzardtown News. Flukey helped satisfy the demand of the coal mines around Gilmer, Bower and Copen by cutting mine props from the wooded areas of his farm in the 1920s. Flukey’s son-in-law Linzy Strader and Jim Bee also helped in this endeavor.

To the right is Mina and Flukey's daughter Mae Posey whith her husband Linzy Strader with their granddaughter Trisha.

Flukey the Hunter
Junior Strader, Flukey’s grandson, advises us that Flukey was a crack shot with his .22 rifle. Junior tells us that Flukey could sit on his porch and pick off groundhogs sunning themselves 75 to 100 yards away. Junior also recalls his grandfather being a stickler for proper hunting techniques. For example, when Flukey took family members hunting, gun safety was paramount. Flukey always insisted that upon crossing a fence the hunter’s gun had to be unloaded, broken down, and handed to another hunter. While rabbit hunting, the hunters had to stay in line and not point their weapons toward another hunter. Any offending hunter would incur the embarrassment of having his ammunition confiscated until the offender acknowledged and accepted his mistake. Flukey’s prowess as a hunter was reported by Uncle Zeke in a 1936 column of the Buzzardtown News. Uncle Zeke reported that Flukey “says he killed three squirrels with one shot.” Now whether this was what Flukey said or whether Uncle Zeke was exaggerating what Flukey said is up for question. Of course, if it were true, Flukey was indeed a remarkable marksman. The truthfulness of Flukey’s “three squirrels with one shot” has, however been confirmed by Wesley Riffle, Flukey’s grandson, who was also hunting with Flukey on that day. Wesley was keeping track of the number of shots Flukey took with his 16 gauge shotgun. After the hunt when the squirrels were being counted Flukey had two more squirrels than shots he had taken. Flukey told Wesley that he saw a squirrel tail waving and that he shot where he thought the squirrel was sitting. When it fell from the tree, Flukey at first thought it was the world’s largest squirrel. Upon reaching “the” squirrel, he found that in fact there were three of them.

Mina Was A Democrat
Whether Flukey was interested in politics, or not, we don’t know, but his wife Mina more than made up for any shortcoming on Flukey’s part. Mina was a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat and was an avid follower of every election. Helen Jeffries2 recalls Mina coming to the Henline home in Orlando to listen to the election returns on HeaterHuck’s3 radio. In those days, elections were not decided by 9 p.m. but were often uncallable until the wee hours in the morning. Whenever the results were known, Mina would start for home down the B & O tracks for Road Run. Of course, Mina was usually happy when she started out for home because the “Demmycrats” most always won the tally.

Flukey Sheared Sheep
Flukey’s local fame however was not his singing prowess, or how many chickens he raised, or how many mine props he could cut, or how groundhogs and squirrels feared him, but rather his amazing ability to shear sheep.

In the early part of the 20th century, sheep farming was probably the primary livestock farming done in central West Virginia . Nearly all farmers in the Oil Creek and Clover Fork valleys raised sheep. Sheep farming provided two returns on the investment: meat and wool. In the spring , after the hard winters had ended, and the wool was still in fairly pristine condition, sheep had to be sheared. The recognized expert sheep shearer in the Oil Creek valley was Flukey Posey. Flukey was a large man, maybe six feet two, and was a well conditioned two hundred pounds. Sheep are not all together cooperative when being sheared and the shearer needs to apply muscle along with the adeptness with shears. Flukey was graced with both qualities and could quickly shear a sheep with a minimum of trouble.

Flukey used a portable shearing machine. This device sat on folding legs, and had a handle which was removable and flexible. The machine was powered by a hand crank which required the services of a helper to turn the crank while Flukey set the sheep on its rump, and began shearing from the neck down. After just a few minutes, he would have a full fleece removed from the sheep and would be ready for the next one. According to Richard Strader, Flukey contracted with farmers all over the Orlando area from Rocky Fork to Clover Fork, to shear their sheep. Richard, a sometimes cranker of the shearing machine, tells us that Flukey would charge from 15 cents to 25 cents per sheep. Flukey would strap his portable shearing machine behind his saddle and start out early in the morning to the farm he was working that day. It often was the case that Flukey would spend more time getting to the farm to shear the sheep than it took him to actually do the job. Richard estimates that Flukey would shear hundreds of sheep a year. Uncle Zeke reported in a column in June of 1933 that Flukey had sheared 574 sheep that season so far.

To the left, this portable sheep shearing machine taken from the internet fits the description of those who remember Flukey's shearing machine.

Dale Barnett recollects that just after sheep shearing season, a wool buyer would come to the Orlando freight station beside Charlie Knight’s store to buy the season’s sheep fleeces. Dale tells us that the buyer had what appeared to be burlap bags, probably 10 or 12 feet long to hold the bundled fleeces which would then be loaded on B & O freights and shipped to the woolen markets of Baltimore or some other place.

Flukey Did Some Smithing
Wesley also tells us that in addition to all of the other means of earning a living, his grandfather was also a blacksmith. Flukey would order horseshoe iron through Charlie Knight’s store and would make horseshoes and shoe horses. Wesley recalls helping his grandfather on one occasion when a red-hot piece of horseshoe iron broke off, flew up and struck him in the chest and lodged in his rib cage. Wesley carries the scar of the incident to this day. An interesting side note to Flukey’s blacksmithing is that he fueled his blacksmith forge with coal which he dug on his farm from a coal bank. In fact for several years Flukey burned this coal in his house for heat. The coal however was “high sulphur” and aggravated Flukey’s asthma so he ceased using it.

The Good Grandpa
Wesley Riffle, Flukey’s grandson, recalls Flukey with much admiration. Wesley was raised by his grandparents and recalls that Flukey “possessed the wisdom of Solomon.” One day Wesley had planned on going night fishing with four friends. Wesley had gotten all of his chores done, had dug his fishing worms, and was gathering his fishing pole when his grandfather asked him where he was going. Upon advising his grandfather of his fishing plans, Flukey said that he couldn’t go. Being the obedient grandson, Wesley sat aside his fishing plans. The next day, Wesley learned that his four friends had spent the night in jail in Burnsville for illegally fishing with gill nets. Wesley says that but for the wisdom of his grandfather he would have been sitting in jail also.

But It Wasn't A Fluke
I have asked numerous people how Flukey got his nickname but all, save one, hadn’t a clue. At last, Wesley Riffle told us that when his grandfather decided to court a daughter of John B. Conrad who lived over the hill on Riffle Run, the girl he was first interested in was not his eventual wife Mina, but her sister Lizzie. While he was courting, Flukey would get involved in shooting matches with the brothers of Lizzie and Mina, and would always win these contests. The Conrad brothers, apparently hurt by losing, thought their sisters’ boyfriend was not a good marksman and considered his shooting success a “fluke”, hence the nickname “Flukey”. The nickname stuck and Floyd was “Flukey” from then on.

All life must end and the life of Daniel Floyd “Flukey” Posey ended in 1958 at the age of 77. His wife Mina followed in 1965 at the age of 82. They are buried on their beloved Road Run in the Posey Cemetery.

Genealogy Note:
Daniel Floyd Posey was born in 1880, the son of John Fountain Posey and Emmorella M. Cosner Posey. Daniel Floyd Posey married Mina B. Conrad was born in 1883, the daughter of John B. Conrad and Mary Jane (Riffle) Conrad of Riffle Run. She was a sister of Dr. Ord Conrad.

John Fountain Posey, known as J. F. Posey, was born in 1857. He died in 1934. He was married three times, first to Emmorella Cosner, who died in 1900, second to Lucy H. Skinner who died in 1927, and third to Laura May Gillespie, who survived him.

Daniel Floyd Posey and his wife Mina Conrad Posey had four children, two sons Clifford and Clinton, and two daughters, Mary who married Okey Strader, and Mae who married Linzy Strader.
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Flukey's dad, John Fontaine Posey, is third from the right in this photo of Alfred and Christina Posey's kids. (From lt ot rt, Amanda (Posey) Heater, Mary Posey Knight, Andrew Newton “Ruddle Posey”, Edward A.Posey, John Fontaine Posey, George Jackson Posey, Alfred Jerome Posey.)




Footnotes
1. For more on Bill Barnett's poultry processing business see the March '07 entry Fowl Business in Orlando
2. For more on Helen Jeffries, see the Jan '07 entry Helen Frame's Story

3. For more about Ernest Roy "Heater-Huck" Henline see the Dec '06 entry My Great-Uncle Heater Henline

Comments
comment 1 from Darrell Groves' Family Tree:
"The following was taken from Minerva Hopkins' small scrapbook:
SCHOOL REPORT
Report of the Oil Creek school for the first month, ending January 13th, 1892.
Number of pupils enrolled, 54;
average daily attendance 40;
per cent of attendance, 80 1/2.
The following pupils were neither absent nor tardy: Rowzina Posey, Sarah E. Posey, Adetha Posey, Abraham Posey, Marshal Posey, Floyd Posey, Wayne L. Posey, G. C. Posey, Oley W. Posey, and Willie Bee.
W. Lee Armstrong, Teacher

comment 2 from Homer Heater, Jr.
David Parmer:
What a delightful writer you are. I thoroughly enjoy your articles. Writing about Flukey Posey you mentioned the Riffle brothers, Hays and Hayward. These men were my Dad’s cousins. I attended the Mt Olive ME church (along old route 5 on the way to Napier) until the adults would fall out and close it down. Then I would go to the EUB church along the river 3 miles from Burnsville. There Hays and Hayward would lead the singing out of the Stamps Baxter song books with shaped notes. Hayward taught our boys’ SS class, often with tears in his eyes. When I asked him what “beget” meant, he stammered out a definition that I don’t remember. I will always have fond memories of them.
Homer
Homer Heater, Jr.
President Emeritus
Washington Bible College/Capital Bible Seminary

First Settlers

How did Orlando begin? Earliest land records for Oil Creek and its tributaries are skimpy and until 1850 the census didn't give a clue about where in the district a citizen's property was located. Undocumented family stories do give us clues but still, it is difficult to discern the first settlers in the region that would become Orlando.

The first solid body of information about who lived along Oil Creek and its tributaries comes to us with the 1850 census. The 1850 census gives us names of everyone in the household and some useful details about them.

The 1850 census suggests that by that time the following 30 or so households had formed a community that in time would grow into Confluence and then Orlando.1 Looking at these 30 or s0 families it appears that most if not all of the settlers who had arived by 1850 came from one of three places. Several came from Braxton County2, farther upstream on the Little Kanawha River. The Mace, Sands, Heater and Skinner/Posey3 families can be traced to areas including Bulltown, Flatwoods and Salt Lick. Greenbrier County is the second source of settlers. The extended Williams family came directly from Greenbrier County, VA to settle throughout the Little Kanawha River watershed. The members of this clan who settled along Oil Creek and its tributaries include the names Williams, Blake, and Ocheltree. From Lewis County came Jacob and Dorothy Riffle with several of their children. They died in Braxton County in 1816/17. Several of their children and grandchildren were in the Oil Creek area by the time of the 1850 census.

In 1850 the community that would become Orlando included
In Braxton County
1 Nancy McPherson y/o widow
2 Benjamin Posey 35y/o, widower
. . . Had married Cynthia Robinson who was deceased in 1850, would marry her sister Sephronia Robinson
3 William 38 y/o and Sarah 26 y/o (Ste...) Posey
4 Catherine (Scott) Skinner Posey 68y/o widowed
5 Rebecca (Williams) Ocheltree 56y/o, widowed
6 John B. 42y/o Abigail 42y/o (Crissmore) Blake
7 Samuel 59 y/o and Nancy 54y/o (Hanna) Walton
8 Joseph 24y/o and Elizabeth 36 y/o (Walton) Blake
9 Jacob R. 45y/o and Elizabeth M. 37y/o (Williams) Riffle
10 Francis 69y/o and Elizabeth 45y/o (Conrad) Riffle
11 Jefferson 27y/0 and Elizabeth 23y/o (Heater) Riffle
12 Isaac Jr. 64y/o and Elizabeth 62y/o (Wash) Riffle
13 Jacob J. 29y/o and Francina (Blake) Riffle
14 Jacob 26y/o and Susannah (Riffle) Heater
15 Absolom 42y/o and Susannah 37y/o (Robinson) Riffle
16 James 33y/o and Mary 35y/o (Riffle) Sands
17 William John 27y/o and Elizabeth 32y/o (Riffle) Blake
18 John B. 36y/o and Mary 33y/o (Mace) Conrad
19 John A. 32y/o and Mary Ann 23y/o (unk) Harris
20 James 27y/o and Rebecca 23 y/o (unk) Williams
21 Hugh 49y/o and Jane 49y/o (Howell) Williams
22 Hugh 40y/o and Martha 44y/o (Williams) Blake
23 Marshall 23y/0 and Patience 27y/o (Ocheltree) Williams
24 James 44y/o and Bearsheba 42y/o (Howell) Williams
25 George 34y/o and Nancy 34y/o (Ocheltree) Williams

in Lewis County
26 William 55y/o and Mary 45y/o (Cogar) Heater
27 James 42y/o and Barbara 39y/o (Riffle) Posey
28 Andrew 40 y/o and Catherine 43y/o (Crissmore) Blake
29 Edward 44y/o and Margaret 39y/o (Ocheltree) Williams
30 Alexander 42y/o and Phoebe 35 y/o (Conrad) Skinner
31 John 42y/o and Sarah Ann 38y/o (Posey) Riffle

Four families that lived in this community at this time would be gone before the 1860 census and none of their children married within the Oil Creek community:
Gabriel Denison
Thomas Hudnall
William and Rachel (Emrich) Godfrey moved on west
Robert & Ann (Smith) Godfrey and their children would be found in Gilmer, Calhoon, and other West Virginia counties. Godfreys would move to Orlando.

The sketch above right of building a log cabin is by Alsacian immigrant Joseph H. Diss Debar from West Virginia History and Archives.

1. The assumptions used to determine who in the 1850 census belonged to the community that would become Orlando:
a. the households are listed according to their physical location. The census taker in the 1850 census went from one residence to the next closest and recorded the information that way.
b. there is a tight pattern of intermarriage among the children in the community

2 The Early History of Braxton County http://duskcamp.itgo.com/Post6.htm
"In 1798 Nicholas Gibson, 1800 Benjamin Conrad, John Conrad, Daniel Conrad, Thomas Murphy, in the years to follow: Col. John Hayman, Asa Squires, Elijah Squires, Andres Friend, Thomas Frame, Edward Posey, John F. Singleton, George F. Gerwig, William McCoy, John M. Brown, George W. Greene, Andrew Skidmore. Col. John Hayman, settled in what is now known as Bulltown. So called on fact it was occupied for many years by friendly Indians whose chief was known as Captain Bull."Further on this source says:"The first settlers in the Salt Lick District known as “Flatwoods” were Peter Shields, Asa Squires, in 1807. Soon after joined by P.B. Burns, John Hayman, Issac Riffle. Christian Heater, William McCoy, and John F. Singleton."

3. Because most of the spouses of the Skinner/Posey children were from early Little Kanawha River settlers we suppose this Maryland family came into the Oil Creek area via Braxton County.

Getting Together at Cousin Ruddle's Place on Posey Run

This photo of a family gathering at the home of Ruddle & Mary (Murphy) Posey on Posey Run was taken about 1905.1 Family gatherings in a small community can be pretty confusing.

"Ruddle" Posey (Andrew Newton Posey2) b. 1851 d.1935 was the son of Alfred Posey and Christina Murphy Curtis. (Their fuzzy photo appears lower, on the left.) His wife was Mary E. Murphy, daughter of Thomas and Fatima Murphy. We don't know much about them.

We can only identify four people in this photo. Ruddle and Mary (Murphy) Posey are seated in the middle of the front row with the open door in the background. Andrew J. and Ora (Riffle) Heater are the young couple standing in the front row, the second and third persons from the left. Explaining the relationships of just these four people will demonstrate how intricate the pattern of family relationships in this small community are.

Use the Kinship Chart to the right if you'd like to play along. Click on it to enlarge it.
CA = Common Ancestor
C = Child
S = Sibling
GC = Grand Child
GGC = Great Grad Child
N = Niece/Nephew
GN= Grand Niece/Nephew
GGN = Great Grand Niece/Nephew
#C = Number of Cousin (1C= First Cousin)
#R = Number of times Removed (1R = once removed)

Both Andrew and Ora are related to Ruddle, Andrew and Ora are related to each other and Ora is probably a cousin of Ruddell's wife Mary (Murphy). Ruddle, Andrew and Ora all descend from Catherine (Scott) Skinner Posey: Ora by Catherine's first husband, Alexander Skinner and Ruddle and Andrew her second husband, Edward Posey.

Here are the players' lineages:
3.Andrew “Ruddle” Posey, 2.Alfred Posey, 1.Ed & Catherine (Scott) Posey

5.Ora (Riffle) Heater, 4.MaryAnn (Skinner) Riffle, 3.Granville Skinner, 2.Alexander Skinner, 1.Alexander & Catherine (Scott) Skinner

4.Andrew Jackson Heater, 3.Sabina Posey, 2.William Patrick Posey, 1.Ed & Catherine (Scott) Posey

Sooo...
~ Ruddle and Andrew J. are first cousins once removed.
~ Ruddle and Ora are half-first cousins twice removed
~ Spouses Andrew and Ora are also cousins, half-second cousins once removed.

but wait, there's more.
~ Although we haven't been able to trace the Murphy family yet, we can be pretty sure Ruddle and his wife Mary Murphy are also cousins, as the middle name of Ruddle's mom Christina is Murphy.

And as an extra bonus, note that
~ David Parmer and I are third cousins, once removed. David is the great-grandson of Andrew Jackson and Ora (Riffle) Heater and I am the great-granddaughter of Ora's sister, Ennie Meshie (Riffle) with O.M. Stutler.

Thanks to cousin David Parmer for sharing Ruddell and Mary Posey's photo.

1. This house, by the way, burned in the 1930s while the family was at church.
2. According to Ron Skinner, Ruddell Posey's given name was Andrew Newton Posey, but he was called "Uncle Ruddle."

Comments

comment 1 Donna Gloff

Karen Smith posted the photo to the right at Nettie Gregorey's Braxton County site. She tells us they are believed to be the children of Alfred and Christina (Murphy) Curtis Posey: Amanda (Posey) Heater, Mary Posey Knight, Andrew Newton “Ruddle" Posey, Edward A. Posey, John Fontaine Posey, George Jackson Posey, Alfred Jerome Posey

Our Grandmothers' Quilts

Mae (Posey) Strader who was the great grand daughter of Alfred and Christina (Curtis) Posey1, pieced and made these quilts.

Kathy Jo Strader shares these three of her husband's grandmother's (Mae Strader) quilts: two patchwork and one, I believe, Double Wedding Ring pattern. We now have examples of the quilts of two Orlando women2.
If you have an old quilt made in Orlando, or in another central WV town, I hope you will share a photo of it with us.

1. June 2, '06 Alfred & Christina Posey: More Questions discusses pioneers Catherine & Edward Posey's son Alfred and his wife Christina (Curtis).

2.Feb 16, '06 Orlando Quilts shows quilts by Edith (Skinner) Stutler.

Alfred & Christina Posey- More Questions

Alfred and Christina (Curtis) Posey's history is almost as fuzzy as this photo of them. We don't know where they lived in 1850 and 1860, but they didn't live on Oil Creek. The 1850 census has him in Lewis County and the 1860 census has him in Braxton, which is not at all odd, but in both cases their census listing is many pages away from the Blakes & Riffles & Godfreys & Williamses that cluster together in Battle Township, Lewis County and Salt Lick, Braxton County, where the two counties meet at Oil Creek.

Their Lewis Co. neighbors in 1850, (that I am able to make out) included Thomas & Martha Hawkins, Elizabeth Waldo. Their Braxton Co. neighbors in 1860 (that I am able to make out) were Newton & Mary Godfrey and John & Margaret Donelson.

Another clue to finding where they lived might be found in who their kids married as kids often marry in their neighborhood. Alfred and Christina's kids married 2 Murphys, 2 Heaters, a Robinson, a Dennison, a Hopkins down in Flatwoods, a Knight and a Dolan, in addition to a couple Skinners, of course.

Alfred was one of the later children of our founding mother, Catherine (Scott) Skinner Posey and her second husband, Edward Posey. Christina was born in 1818 and Alfred was born a year later in 1819. Alfred and Christina married the day after Christmas in 1841 in Lewis County. They had thirteen kids. At least one of them died as a child. Christina died in March of 1892 and Alfred followed the next year in August of 1892.