Arson in Oil Creek Town

by David Parmer

Right: A generic photo of a barn fire.

In his August 10, 1933 Buzzardtown News column, Uncle Zeke solemnly reported on disturbing news from Orlando. “On Wednesday night of last week, J. E. Riffle [Joesph Emory] of Orlando had the misfortune to lose his barn by fire with all its contents which consisted of several tons of hay and straw, lumber, harness and several other things of value. His loss amounts to about $1500 with no insurance. The fire was thought to be of incendiary origin. On Thursday afternoon bloodhounds were brought from Camden-on-Gauley but no evidence of the firebug was found. Hundreds of people on foot and in automobiles were hoping the hounds would find the guilty parties.”

“On Sunday night of last week, D. S. Bennett [David Stansbury Bennett, husband of Macel (Parmer) ] who lives at Orlando lost his barn by fire also, and about a year ago, J. M. Scarf’s barn was burned. All parties are heavy losers, none rich by any means, but all are good citizens who try to make a living.”

Other fires of mysterious origin had plagued Orlando in preceding years. The 1931, the I.O.O.F. Lodge Hall burned to the ground, and was a substantial loss to the community.
The perpetrator of the evil deeds was never apprehended by law enforcement authorities.

The Evil Man*
Crimes he took into his grave,
His spites and jealousies;
Ill will festered deep in him,
Villainy deep engraved.

Alone his years, no love for all,
No open arms had he;
Deviltry was his only mate,
Adverse to friendship’s call.

Surveilled by day and oft by night,
To pleasure eye and ear;
A voyeur spy, his mission’s was
An intimate scene to sight.

A nighttime blaze or naked breast
Lustfully, he did watch.
What balm he found,
Was a curse to Heaven’s test.

Old Shep was not his best of friend,
His ear was much too keen;
Rat-poisoned meat,
An offered treat, a canine life to end.

Kids, they mocked at every turn,
Poked fun at the spooky man;
But woe to those
That very night, a father’s barn could burn.

He thought that God called to him
To settle slights and scores;
But God indeed was not to blame,
It came from deep within.

A lodge hall home, ablaze one night,
With store and barber shop.
Townsmen tense and fear did grow,
More to his delight.

Kinships meant naught to him,
He dealt with all the same.
Guile and ruin was his aim,
And woe to despised kin.

Suspicion, yes, there was of him,
He was watched by wary eyes;
Blinds pulled down and doors at lock
To ward off his wicked sin.

Age dulled some his perversity,
But it had not yet run its course;
Granary shields removed by aged hand
To let the rats run free.

Annual floods delighted,
The villainous streak in him,
Smug to see his neighbor’s suffer
And all their life’s work blighted.

A devious man, that he was,
No remorse he left upon this earth;
Iniquity to the grave he took,
Tragedy without cause.

· The “Evil Man” is a fictitious character and is not based on any real person, living or dead.

The Ministers of the Mt Zion Methodist Church of Orlando

by David Parmer

To the right is Orlando's Methodist Church on Oil Creek seen approximately from the former St Michael's Roman Catholic Church.

The Mt Zion Methodist Church of Orlando has been in existence for over one hundred twenty five years. The church was founded in 1872. Additional history of the church will be provided in a follow-up article. Many ministers served this parish over those years. But for the written records, most of the ministers would be anonymous. This list of Orlando Methodist ministers has been compiled largely with the help of the archives of West Virginia Wesleyan College, the official repository of records of the Methodist Church in West Virginia. There does, however, seem to be a few inconsistencies with other sources in the records of the church regarding the list of ministers. This author has tried to reconcile those differences in order to obtain a correct list.

1872-1873 John J. Poynter, the first minister of the Mt Zion Methodist Church, was a native of St. Mary’s in Tyler County. He was born in 1841 and died in St. Mary’s in 1924.

1874 S. S. Honaker

1875-1877 Mark Hersman

1878-1879 D. C. Weese

1880 A. B. Johnson

1881-1882 David Batten was a native of Lewis County. He was born in 1848 and died in Berlin, Lewis County in 1897.

1883 J. Y. Gillespie

1884-1885 M. L. Smith

1886 M. M. Everly

1887-1889 J. W. Bibbie

1890 W. A. Law

1891 J. W. Hollen was born in 1852 and died in Clarksburg in 1917. He also served at Mt Zion in 1895.

1892 M. Ireland

1893 J. C. Cogar

1894 Unknown

1895 J. W. Hollen

1896-1898 John H. Mossburg was a native of Washington County, Ohio and was born in 1865. He died in Morgantown in 1934. He also served at Mt Zion from 1917-1919,

1899-1900 Thomas Jackson

1901-1902 G. B. Stewart

1903-1905 J. R. Jones

1907 M. Steele

1908-1910 L. B. Douglas

1911-1914 J. H. Green

1915-1916 J. H. Ramsey

1917-1919 J. H. Mossburg

1920-1922 Sylvester Bennett was a native of England. He served as minister of the Orlando church in 1920 and 1921. He was born in 1872 and died in Tyler County in 1934.

1923-1924 William H. Hart also served Mt Zion from 1928 to 1929. A native of Morgantown, Hart died in Jane Lew in 1953 at the age of 92.

1925 Paul Riegel

1926-1927 W. A. Harpold

1928-1929 William H. Hart

1930-1935 John H. Hardesty was a native of Gilmer County, born in 1883. He was ordained in 1924. He retired to Baltimore in 1951 and died there in 1967.

1936 E. L. Arnold

1937 J. A. Richmond

1938 Unknown

1939 Ulysses R. Hinzman was born in 1879 in Spencer. He died in Colfax, Marion County in 1956.

1940-1941 Ralph McCoy

1942-1946 Hayward Rowh was a native of Spencer. He graduated from Burnsville High School in 1943, from Glenville State College and from Westminster Seminary. He served as minister while he was still in high school. He later served the Calvary Methodist Church in Martinsburg. He died at age 66.

1947 Maynard Crawford

1948 Sydney Davis

1949-1950 William McKibben

1951 Ronald Browning

1952 Ralph Malcomb

1953-1958 Forrest R. Armentrout A native of Webster Springs, he died at age 74 and was buried in Burnsville. His son, John, married Margaret Bragg, daughter of Presley and Jessie Riffle Bragg of Clover Fork.

1959-1961 Neal Dent

1962-1968 Arden "Buck" Dean was from Gem. He served as mayor of Burnsville. He later lived in Salem and died there. at the left with his wife Dora (Frame) Dean

1969 V. C. Decker

1969 Ronzel Roberts

1970 Lester Colthorn

1971 Van Arthur Blake

1972-1976 William E. Griffin

1977-1980 Arthur Lee Gibson

1981 Dennie Heater

1982 Unknown

1983-1984 Arthur J. Spring

1984 Fred Mulneix, Lay Minister

1985 Clara J. Peggs

1986 Chester Herndon, Assistant J. Russell Furr

1987 J. Russell Furr, Assistant Billie G. Meese

1988-1989 J. Russell Furr

1990-1994 Danny L. Mick was the son of Orlando native E. B. “Dink” Mick and Emma Hinkle Mick. He died in 2005. He was married to the former Jeanetta Ramsey. Danny loved to play the guitar and mandolin and to sing.

1995 Janet Hamilton

1996 Billy J. Cochran

1997 Jennifer Barker

1998 Robert Mitchell

1999 William Hunt

2000-2001 Sue Lowther

2002 Daniel Lowther

2003-2007 Robert Mitchell

The ministers shown to the right are, from the top,
1. David H. Batten
2. Hayward Rowh
3. F. R. Armentrout
4. Arden Dean with his wife Dora (Frame) Dean
5. Ronzel Roberts and his wife Leona
6. Bill and Unimae Griffin with their son Tim
6. Arthur J. Spring and his wife Regina at their anniversary party
7. Fred Mulneix
8. Danny L. Mick
9. Sue & Daniel Lowther
10. Robert Mitchell
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The Methodist Church seems to have spent an inordinate amount of time and resources in making constant changes in the organizational charts of the Church. Orlando, for example, was originally part of the Lumberport (later Burnsville) Circuit. from its founding in 1872 until around 1968 when the Methodist, Evangelical United Brethren and the United Brethren congregations merged. From that time to the present, it has been one administrative change after another, at least in name. From a researcher’s standpoint, these constant changes in districts are confusing. For example, since 1968 the District in which Orlando is located has been called the Weston District, the Central District, the Midland North District, the Wesleyan District, the Orlando Blended Ministries, and back to the Wesleyan District.
.

To the left: Reverend Bill Griffin assisted by Reverend Ronzel Roberts baptising Peggy Gay and Diana Ramsey in the 1970s. (Diana is sister of Jeanetta Mick who is the wife of Danny Mick, later himself the pastor at Mt. Zion.

Raw Data on Early Oil Creek Land Purchases

This is just raw information.

I don't understand much of what it means,

but I suspect it might be useful source material. -Donna G.

The Library of Virginia has some early land records on line. Searching for "Oil Creek" turned up the following records. You'll see the purchasers include settlers like William Duvall, Alexander Skinner, William and Alfred Posey and Charles Yancey. There are also speculators like Joshua Jackson and Gideon Camden.

This is a list of references to the detailed land patents. To get an idea of what the actual patents are like, see Alfred Posey and H.P. Haymond's reference at the bottom of the list. After it is a transcription of the patent to which it refers.

"How much land is that?" Each reference states the number of acres being purchased. I have translated acres to square miles. (There are 640 acres in a square mile.) It might be interesting to know also that "40 acres (of good farm land) & a horse” was thought enough to get a family going. That is, a "starter farm."

Oil Creek Land Purchases
Found in the Virginia Library On Line

Hedgman Triplett
~ 1 June 1785. Description: 431 acres on the right hand fork of Oil Creek waters of the Little Kenhawa. (Little over ½ square mile)

William Duvall
~ 1 November 1788. Description: 600 acres on Oil Creek a branch of the Little Kenhawa River adjoining below John P. Duvalls survey of 600 acres. (Just under 1 square mile)

Joshua Jackson
~ 19 January 1790. Description: 1000 acres on Oil Creek a branch of the Little Kenhawa River adjoining below his other survey of 1000 acres. (1.5 square miles)
~ 20 January 1790. Description: 800 acres on Oil Creek a branch of the Little Kenhawa River adjoining below a survey of William Deakins. (1.25 square miles)
~ 19 January 1790. Description: 467 acres on Oil Creek a branch of the Little Kenhawa River adjoining below a survey of William Duvals. (.73 square miles)
~ 20 January 1790 Description: 882 acres on the head of Oil Creek a branch of the Little Kenhawa River. (1.38 square miles)
~ 20 January 1790. Description: 1000 acres on Oil Creek a branch of the Little Kenhawa River adjoining below his survey of 467 acres. (1.5 Square miles)
~ 20 January 1790. Description: 600 acres on Oil Creek a branch of the Little Kenhawa River adjoining his survey of 800 acres. (.82 square miles) (total for Joshua Jackson: 7.18 square miles)

Camden, Gideon
~ 30 December 1842. 1200 acres on Oil Creek and waters thereof, Clover Fork, Three Lick Run and waters of the Big Right Hand Run and Second Big Run. (1.875 square miles.)

Posey, William
~ 31 December 1849. Description: 50 acres on Oil Creek. (.o78 square mile.)
~ 31 December 1849. Description: 70 acres on waters of Oil Creek, a north branch of Little Kanawha River. (.109 square mile.)

Charles Yancey
~ 1 July 1850. Description: 127 acres on waters of Oil Creek and waters of Little Kanawha River. (.19 square mile.)

Alexander Skinner
~ 2 January 1854. Description: 300 acres on Right hand fork of Salt Lick creek and on a head branch of Copen’s run. (2 ½ square miles)
~ 2 January 1854. Description: 1080 acres on Salt Lick Creek and Hyer’s run. (1.53 square miles)
~ 1 June 1854. Description: 141 acres on North East side of Little Kanawha. (.22 square miles)

Alfred Posey
~ 1 Oct 1862 Grantee(s): Haymond, M. P. & Posey, Alfred. Description: 90 acres. In Braxton County (.14 square mile) The text of the document this refers to is below.

Text of M.P, Haymond and Alfred Posey's

Land Patent Dated 1 Oct 1862

To the right is a xerox of the original document. Click on the document to enlarge it to read it. To the left I have copied the text of the document as best I could.

Pg 279
To all to whom these presents shall come- Greetings:
Know ye, That in conformith with a Survey made on the 4th day of July one thousand eight hundred and sixty by virtue of Land Office Treasury Warrant No. ??? 844 there is granted by the said Commonwealth, unto M.P. Haymond & Alfred Posey a certain Tract or Parcel of Land containing ninety acres lying in Braxton County, on the Road run, a branch of Oil Creek & bounded as follows to wit, beginning at a chestnut oak on the top of a point a survey made Martin Persinger & Alfred Posey thence running with the of one of their lines XX poles to a stake to a survey made for G. J. Arnold and with a line of ??? XX poles to a small chestnut & ??? thence 52 348 poles to a white oak on the top of a ridge XX poles to a white oak XX poles to a chestnut ?? XX poles to a chestnut oak corner to the Persinger & Posey survey, thence with the reverse of the line of ?? XX poles to the beginning with its appurtenances

To have and to hold the said Tract or Parcel of Land, with its appurtenances is the said M.P. Haymon & Alfred Posey and their heirs forever.
In witness thereof, the said John Letsher, Esquire, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, hath hereunto set his hand and caused the Lesser Seal of the said Commonwealth to be affixed, at Richmond, on the first day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty two, and of the Commonwealth the eighty seventh.
John Letcher

O.M. Stutler Came To Work

Ovie Merlin Stutler moved from southern Harrison County in the 1870s.1 By 1880 he was boarding with Andrew Jackson and Ora (Riffle) Heater in Orlando. O. M. worked as a lumberman. The censuses for the 1880s and further forward reveal a steady smattering of young men boarders with names unfamiliar to the Oil Creek watershed as many, just like O. M., came to the area seeking employment in lumbering, road and railroad construction, gas and oil well drilling. (See the notes on Orlando Migrations at the end of this entry.)

O.M. had a son with Ora's younger sister Ennie when Ennie was 16 and O.M. was 20. They named the boy Oras Lenord. For a while Ennie and their son Oras lived with her folks, John Scott and Marianne (Skinner) Riffle. On December 20, 1900, when Oras was four years old, Ovie and Ennie married. They set up housekeeping on Oil Creek and had five more children that lived to adulthood, Mary, "Jack," Frank, Ebe and "Mutt." They also lost one or two children who died very early.
.
Left: Ovie Merlin: "a man out standing in his field".
Right, above: Ora and Andrew Heater.
Right, below, Ovie and Ennie and, we think, son Frank at an unidentified location.

By all indications this was not a particularly happy or successful household. O.M. and Ennie never had any noticeable financial success. Judging from their sons' behavior, O.M. was physically abusive and alcohol probably played a significant role in that.

Piecing together information from land records with the bits that we children overheard, an unflattering family portrait emerges. For example, Ennie wanted to move to town, to Weston. She sold her land2 for a small fraction of its value to the area's land mongers, the Camdens. Their son Oras with his young family lived on that property, too, and had paid a lot of the debt on it. The land records show a few months after his mother sold the property Oras repurchased it for several times its sale price.

But the kids grew up. The oldest, Oras Lenord, b. 2 Aug 1896 stayed in Orlando. As a young man Oras was a hell raiser. However, he went to work for Hope Gas Company and worked for that company his whole life. (See the Nov '06 entry
Orlando Man Drills Large Well for more on Oras' work.) He married a local girl, 2nd cousin Edith Della Skinner. Oras went to France to fight in World War I shortly before the war ended. Like most Orlando folks at that time, he and Edith also maintained a small farm that mostly just supplied the family’s food: hogs, chickens, milk cow(s) corn and other feed and a vegetable garden. They raised five healthy, successful kids.

The second child, John Scott "Jack" b. 13 May 1905 moved to Detroit and worked at the racetrack. He married a couple times in Detroit, but had no children.

Mary Ethel b. 13 Nov. 1901 married Leo Moran of Weston and they lived in Fairmont, WV.

Ebert b. 16 Apr 1909 married Ruth Henlein and they had two daughters, Betty and Carolyn.

Frank b. 5 Apr 1911 married Evelyn Gay, daughter of Noah M. and Rose (Atkinson) Gay and they had a boy, Frank and a daughter, Joyce. Young Frank was killed in an auto accident.

O.M.’s namesake, Ovie Merlin, Jr., b. 18 Dec. 1913, nicknamed "Mutt", married a Maryland girl, Anita Boswell and they had a son, Jerry. Then Mutt fought in World War II. It took its toll on him. His wife knew he came back a different man than he was when he left. Still, he was a good man and they settled in White Sulfur Springs.

Right: with all their children, Ovie and Ennie are in the center. back row, l to r, Jack and Theresa, Leo and Mary, Oras and Edith. Front row: Anita and Mutt, Frank and Evelyn, Ebe and Ruth.


Stutler Ancestors
Ovie Merlin's Stutler line can be traced to Switzerland by DNA testing. The Stutlers' immigrant ancestor was probably the father of Revolutionary War Veteran and pioneer John Stutler.

John Stutler married young Sarah Hughes in 1784 at the frontier fort at West Milford in Harrison County. This was when the pioneers were fighting the Indians and clearing virgin forests. Sarah was a cousin of Jessie Hughes, the Indian fighter. Through Sarah O.M.'s ancestors knew George Washington who, as a very young man, surveyed the Hughes lands on the Great Cacapon River in the WV eastern panhandle.

The sketch was made by Diss Debar under the direction of a man who who knew Thomas Hughes. We have no likenesses of O.M.'s 3g-grandfather Hugh Hughes, 1715-1763, but Thomas was his brother. Also, Thomas was the father of Jesse Hughes, Indian fighter who lived for a time at the source of the Little Kanawha River.

Through Ovie's great grandmother Abigail Jackson one branch of his family can be traced back to Boston's earliest settlers, the Winthrops, and another branch goes back to Britain's Plantagenet rulers and the royal families of Europe.

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NOTE ABOUT MIGRATIONS INTO THE COMMUNITY

1. In the early years of the community that would become Orlando the small population was pretty stable. For the most part, new blood came into the community in three waves. The first settlers are discussed in the Nov. '06 entry First Settlers. They married among themselves and they married kids who lived "just over the hill" from the Oil Creek watershed, on Fleshers Run, Sand Fork, and Riffle Run and such.

2. The Irish Catholics are discussed in a note at the end of the March '07 entry, Margurite Sweeney's Immigrant Great-Grandma. While none settled in the Oil Creek watershed, a few Irish Catholic immigrants were among the early, the pre-Civil War, settlers nearby, including the Griffins on Flesher's Run, just over the hill from Clover Fork. The wave of Irish Catholics into the Orlando area came with the children of early settlers in the northern part of the state, Clarksburg and Weston areas.

3. A third large influx came into the Oil Creek watershed with the railroad construction, lumbering, then the search for natural gas and oil. These were workers who came into the area for the purpose of working. They married into the community of original settlers and settled in. William Beckner was one of these. He married Josie Riffle. Virgina McCoy came to Orlando to teach school and married Glenn Skinner, grandson of Skinners, Blakes, Bennetts and Conrads. Ovie Merlin Stutler who married Ennie Riffle was another of those who came to Orlando to work and married into the community and stayed.

Footnotes
1. This information has been pieced together from the 1890 census, marriage and death certificates.

2. All property was held solely by Ennie; O.M.'s name doesn't appear on any purchase or sales documents.

Young Hobos Called to Account in Buzzardtown

by David Parmer

Uncle Zeke wrote this story in June 1935:
“On Thursday of last week three boys claiming their homes, one at Richwood and two at Cowen, landed in town on a freight train, and after loitering around for awhile broke into O. L. Stutler’s cellar while the family was absent and helped themselves to some milk and strawberries. The boys were still around when Mrs. Stutler came home and found that some one had been in the cellar. She called the boys to account and at first they bitterly denied the charge, but after Mrs. Stutler’s ire arose and she placed her fist under their noses and told them a few things in plain English, the boys confessed to the crime. The boys got a light lunch at the home of the writer while waiting for a Grafton train and offered to work in the garden to pay for it. Two of the boys who claimed their home at Cowen said they were eighteen years old; the other from Richwood claimed to be twenty-one. After receiving some real motherly advise from the writer’s wife,1. they started to the watertank to catch a freight to Grafton.”

To see the route the boys were taking, click on the map to enlarge it. The bottom dot is Richwood, where the first boy jumped on, the next dot north is where the boys from Cowen jumped on. The third dot up the line is Orlando and the line ends at the top dot, Grafton.

Buzzardtown was the name Uncle Zeke gave fondly to his community around Oil Creek and Posey Run. For more on Uncle Zeke, see the Oct. '06 entry, Uncle Zeke From Buzzard Town

1. "The writer's wife" was Lorena (Godfrey) Blake, 1869-1953.


Comments
comment 1. Donna Gloff
Mr. and Mrs. O.L. Stutler were my grandparents, Oras and Edith (Skinner) Stutler. To the right is Edith with her youngest two children, Bill and Jane. about the time of the incident. Their house was one of those right next to the train tracks. This probably wasn't the first time hobos had dropped off the box cars in search of something they needed. It must have been a scarey thing to not know when someone would drop off a train and steal something from you.

comment 2. Donna Gloff
"Riding the rails" wasn't a new thing with the Depression. See the Feb '07 entry Death Rides the Rails for the story of a couple local boys who tried it during the "roaring 20's".)

Right: Donna Gloff, granddaughter of Oras & Edith Stutler, lives in Michgian & edits this 'blog.

A Bountiful Repast At Old Col. Yancey's

Following is an excerpt from Christian Kuhl's Civil War memoirs written in 1911.

1861
"We at once proceeded up the Little Kanawha River and found ourselves at the mouth of Oil Creek at a bountiful repast at Old Col. Yancey's - the first of the great army dinners ever prepared in Braxton during the Civil War, prepared I suppose, by the family of Col. Yancey and friendly neighbors to still our first military wolfishness. Thanks to those kind friends, as well as to those long departed orators whose patriotic and able speeches we enjoyed so much after dinner, by Capt. Mitchell, Col. Yancey, Hon. Robert Marshall, Rev. Mr. Wm. Ervin of the Stouts Mills and others. After dinner I helped Captain grind his little Spear at Yancey's grindstone and the Captain remarked--"Now if we meet the enemy I shall endeavor to make my mark." So getting another recruit -namely Jacob Plyman who, Col. Yancey assured his family, should be well cared for if he went. We proceeded to Lewis County to the Skin Creek Church where we sheltered for the night."1
To the right above is the Confederate flag that was flown from March 5, 1861 to May 26, 1863.


Some of the players in the above narrative:
1. The author, Christian Kuhl b. 1839, was the uncle of Henry Harrison Cole b. 1861, of Three Lick. Christian Kuhl was a son (and Henry Harrison Cole of Orlando was a grandson) of Henry Kuhl, who was executed for his actions supporting the Confederacy.
See Henry Kuhl's story in the Feb '07 entry A Family Torn by the Civil War
To the right are 2-great grandsons of Henry Kuhl and 3-great nephews of Christian Kuhl, Elzie, Charles and Alvin Cole of Three LIck

2. Capt Mitchell was John Elam Mitchell was a Methodist Protestant minister, active in churches along Clover Fork and Oil Creek. His family had settled south of Jane Lew. Another source confirms that he "raised a company of soldiers for Confederate Service in Gilmer County." One of his sons, Melville Mitchell, joined the 62nd mounted infantry, Co. G. This was the company of Imboden's Raiders in which several Oil Creek/Clover Fork men served. Another relative, Benoni Mitchell, was tried for southern sympathies along with our Clover Fork men.
The Rev. John E. Mitchell was the grandfather of Homer Mitchell who married Lula Henline.
To the right are greatgrandsons of the Rev. John E. Mitchell, Homer and Stanley Mitchell of Orlando, with a fish they caught in Oil Creek in the 1920s. (Click on photo to enlarge it.)

3. Joel Yancey b. 1798, settled at the confluence of Oil Creek and the Little Kanawha. He and original Orlando Settler Alexander Skinner had business dealings, and two of Yancy's daughters would stay on Oil Creek. Mary Ann would marry Confederate Veteran James N. McPherson, whose parents were original settlers on Oil Creek.
To the right, a century after the repast at Col. Joel Yancy's, three of his xg grandchildren, Gary, Kim and Nancy Stutler, children of Bill and Pat (McPherson) Stutler, walk Oil Creek Road home from Sunday School at the Methodist Protestant Church in the 1960s with their grandmother Edith (Skinner) Stutler. (Click on photo to enlarge it.)

Below is the text that comes before the excerpt printed above. See the rest of the memoir provided by David Kuhl at the site of Hacker's Creek Pioneer Descendants.

CHRISTIAN KUHL OF THE GILMER RIFLES
Company D, 31st Virginia Infantry

August 12, 1911
My daughter has for many years asked me to write down for her future references my experiences and what long has become history of the "War of the Rebellion", to tell it just as it happened to me. So, I will proceed to give a true statement that may be relied upon by future generations.

On the 31st day of May, 1861, there arose a cry that the Abolitionists were coming over from Ohio and elsewhere from the North to invade Virginia, now West Virginia. They overran our country, destroying property, Compelled our men to enlist, taking horses, cattle, arms and ammunition. They also insulted mothers and wives when the men were away from home. This was Too strong a proposition for freemen to sit still and do nothing and not take sides. So I, with many of my fellow citizens of Gilmer County, gathered up all available arms and ammunition. We had Squirrel Rifles with a few rounds of ammunition some had Dirk knives and others had Revolvers (those old fashioned guns were known as Pepper Boxes). Two "pepper boxes" shown to the left. These guns were not dangerous unless they were thrown at a man, certainly not dangerous as firearms. We supposed that the object of the invaders was to abolish slavery in Virginia and throughout all the slave states. This supposition proved true later on. In 1862, I believe, Mr. Lincoln's Proclamation declared all the slaves freed in the southern states. As above stated in May 1861, at a general meeting in the town of Glenville, Gilmer County, West Virginia and then Virginia, I volunteer with many of the Democrats from Said County and we organized a Company of Infantry called the "Virginia Volunteer Infantry". This Company elected Rev. John Klem Mitchel as their Captain, who was killed soon after in a skirmish near Arnoldsburg, Virginia. 3

Said Mitchel a brave, gallant officer fell while leading his men in battle. The other officers at that first organization were as follows: First Lt., H. McNemer, Samuel S. Stout (youngest son of the late Hezekiah Stout), 2nd Lt., Lem. C. Lynch, 1st Sergt., Fleming E. Turner, 3rd Sergent., and James J. Norman, 2nd Sergt. Later on from time to time and at the other reorganizations their successors were elected as follows: J. S. Kerr McCutchen, Captain, who by seniority was promoted Lt. Colonel and after the war migrated to California. He was a most heroic officer and survived the many conflicts in which his Company and Regiment engaged, but he carried several battle scars on his body. He still lives in Exeter, Tulare County, California. He is now well stricken in years, 80 some years old, and as honorable as he is old. Lt. Stout also still lives and is in California.

At the reorganization in 1862, this scribe became promoted to the Office of the 1st Sergeant, in which capacity he served until the surrender in 1865 and commanded Company "D" through many of the successful battles in which said Company and Regiment were engaged. He too, was wounded four times and once taken prisoner. Wounded and taken prisoner at Ft. Stedman near Petersburg, March 25, 1865, just before Lee's surrender in April 1865 at which my brigade made a desperate dash through three lines of the Union Yankees in the midst of the Grant's forces. For want of promised support, which failed to get up in due time, proved a failure and resulted in the capture of many of our best men in company with myself and Captain John H. Yancey, a gallant officer and son of Hon. Col. Yancey who then lived and owned a large farm at the mouth if Oil Creek, Braxton County, West Virginia. Said Captain Yancey still has a sister living on Oil Creek who is the wife of Rev. Neal Clawson. This scribe passed through the deadly scenes some 32 or 33 regular hard fought battles besides picket and skirmish fights, and under the great leadership of those great and heroic Generals Lee, Stonewall T. J. Jackson, Jubell Early and Yervill Gorden, Pegram and others usually came out victorious.

Now back to Glenville in May 1861, a company was wanted to have 100 men, but we only succeeded in enlisting some 60, and being pressed for time we moved southward to a place called Rendevoose (probably rendezvous), and scene of action with what forces we had, or we would be cut off by the invading foe.
continued. . .

Comments
comment 1
War was declared April 12, 1861. By May, 1861 Christian Kuhl had joined with 60 of his family and neighbors to form a volunteer company that called itself the Gilmer Rifles. It became Co. D of the 31st VA Volunteer Infantry.
Two other first person accounts of the Civil War from men in the 31st
http://www.fsu.edu/~ewoodwar/hall.html The Diary of A Confederate Soldier: James E. Hall of Elk Creek, Barbour County, near Philippi
http://spec.lib.vt.edu/civwar/memoirs.htm Memoir of Archibald Atkinson, Surgeon, CSA born Smithfield, Isle of Wight Co., Va., February 23,1832;died Baltimore, Md., October 29, 1903.

1. This is from a twenty-four page document written by Christian Kuhl, First Sergeant of Company D, 31st Virginia Infantry, aka Gilmer Rifles, CSA. The memoirs were compiled in 1911 from his memory. They have been typed and transcribed several times and probably contain many errors. They are provided for your use by David B. Kuhl.

2. Connie Ball, 2380 Crescent Dr., Paris, TX 75460. 3 June 1999, about Capt John Elam Mitchell, from Rootsweb: "Raised a company of soldiers for Confederate Service in Gilmer County, Virginia (now West Virginia) and went out as their Captain. He had to resign on account of his health, but stayed on as a Chaplain with the Confederate Army in Virginia and Maryland until his death on 25 May 1862. He is buried under a church building in West Virginia."

3. Kuhl's memory that John E. Mitchell died soon after a skirmish at Arnoldsburg differs from Connie Ball's information that he resigned, served as a chaplain and then died.

‘I Hear The Train A Comin’ It's Rollin’ ‘Round the Bend. . . Childhood Reminiscence of Trains in Orlando

By Tom Jeffries

My first memories of my early years in Orlando involve the sights, sounds and smells of the B & O Railroad whose tracks and trains passed through the town of Orlando.

To the left is a steam locomotive coming into Orlando.

I recall lying in bed on a foggy night in our home on the hill in Orlando when the sound would travel well and hearing the sound of a coal freight train lead by three large steam engines, whistles sounding, for each of the five road crossings between Burnsville and Orlando. At the crossing at the Rush Hotel the engine whistle would repeat its two longs and a short warning. I could smell the coal fumes as the engines huffed and puffed their way on the upgrade run to Frenchton.

The roar of the exhaust from the stack and the hiss of steam along with the clack-ity-clack of the rail joints was somewhat scary and yet somewhat comforting as the train made its way through town. Soon I would hear the huffing and puffing of the three drag engines as they pushed against their heavy load of coal cars. As soon as they passed by, I could hear the clicking of the rails joints fade away and see in my young mind’s eye the green and red lights of the caboose fade into the distance.

To me, a four year old, they seemed like monsters that were alive. Fierce, scary, but somewhat inviting as they came from somewhere I knew not and were going to somewhere I knew not, I just wanted to go along!

As I looked from our house which stood on the hill above the home of my grandmother, I had a good view of every passing train. Most of the trains were laden with coal from mines in Webster, Braxton and Gilmer Counties, but occasionally there would be logs and sawed lumber, boxcars containing who knows what, and once I remember, army tanks! I have yet to understand how they appeared on a dead end branch line. I never missed an opportunity to watch the train and see what cars it was pulling.

Sometimes, as with machinery, there were accidents and derailments. While I don’t personally remember any of them happening in Orlando, I was told one crash that happened in the early 1960s was so severe the concussion knocked down the old red garage in which Mike Moran kept his funeral car.

About once a day a “local” mixed freight would run, and sometimes stop at the short siding next to the wholesale building to set off a boxcar of feed or to set off a flatcar for some of the local sawmill operators to stack crossties for shipment.

At noon the passenger train would arrive. Most of the time it would stop to discharge passengers and mail. Usually there was a mailcar and a passenger car pulled by a smaller but faster locomotive. The engineer seemed to always be in a hurry because he would invariably spin the wheels on the engine as he pulled out of the station.. I loved to see the sparks fly off the drive wheels. One of the engineers was Mr. Groves from Gassaway who had the nickname of “Rounder”. Years later I learned that he was the father of Dr. Blaine Groves of Martinsburg.

I don’t recall when the last passenger train ran through Orlando but it had to be in the mid 1950s. I do remember that some of the older men were somewhat upset at the passing of that era.

There was a fairly long passing sidetrack which began just north of the railroad bridge over Oil Creek and ended just north of the home of Homer Mitchell on Clover Fork which was about a mile and a half from downtown Orlando. This sidetrack was removed in the mid 1950s.

I used to walk the old B & O railroad grade that was removed in the early 1940s to downtown Orlando from my grandmother’s home to get the mail. I remember that some of the ties were still present and the path was not level because of the imprint of the ties in the ballast. I suspect that rails were removed and the old ties were left when the Company abandoned the track. Over the course of years thereafter many of the ties were removed for fence posts and firewood. The pilings from the old abandoned railroad bridge over Clover Fork were still present in the early 1950s. John Gibson who lived on the hill, or perhaps someone else, had built a walkway across them for foot traffic.

Several people in Orlando worked for the railroad including many of the people mentioned in the Orlando website. Most of them were trackmen including my father, Coleman Jeffries. The section gang had a shed and garage for their motorcar located just south of the Fred Bee residence. At one time a water tower was also there. It was torn down in the 1950s. I can still remember the trackmen starting the motorcar and its strange singing noise as it made its way down the rails.

Arden Thomas was a brakeman or fireman, I’m not sure which. He often worked the “local” between Burnsville and Grafton. I can remember at least once the train stopped in front of the Matthews house so that Arden’s wife could bring his lunch down the hill to him.

My mother Helen and my dad Coleman did not share my interest in the railroad. To mom it meant a lot of soot and dirt that she had to clean. She complained about not being able to keep the family laundry clean as it was drying on the clothes line.. She was glad to see the coming of the diesels. To dad, who worked for the B & O, the railroad was just a dangerous place, a lot of hard work when he worked, and layoffs when times were slow.

All too soon the steam engines were replaced by General Motors diesels. Slowly the breathing monsters of the rails wee replaced by FA7’s, GP7’s and GP9’s. I think that by 1959 or 1960 all the steam was gone. I still enjoy watching the new diesels push their way up the hill from Burnsville to Frenchton and Buckhannon, but it is just not the same!

Today, I and many others travel long distances, such as to Colorado and New Mexico, to ride and experience once again the sights, sounds and smells or the steam engines as they demonstrate what was so commonplace in my childhood and in my hometown of Orlando . Perhaps we are trying to recapture a time when life was much safer and simpler. I take my grandchildren to explain to and to show them a little bit of history that passed in my lifetime so they might also experience the thrill and scariness of a steam locomotive.

Once in the early 1970s the B & O Railroad ran an excursion passenger train from Grafton to Cowen. I did not become aware of the event in time to join the passengers in this once-in-a-lifetime experience and I was so disappointed. I hope in my lifetime another excursion takes place so that I can ride the train through my hometown of Orlando and I can look out the window to the place on the hill where my love of railroads began.



The title of this entry includes a line from the song Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash

Childhood in Orlando: Early Remembrances of Hauling Lumber

by Tom Jeffries

The first home that I can remember growing up in Orlando was a small house that stood on the hill above the Samantha Henline homeplace on the western side of Oil Creek The house belonged to my great uncle “Polar” Henline who had moved to Parkersburg.

I can remember the house having a coal stove in the living room and a gas heater in the dining room. Of course, the kitchen had a wood stove on which my mother cooked. Later, the wood stove was replaced by a gas stove bought at the Earse Posey sale. There was no heat in the bedrooms.

In the mid 1940s my father, Coleman Jeffries, bought a farm on Oil Creek from my great aunt Margaret Nixon. My dad also owned the land on which the old Rush Hotel building sat which was formerly the residence of Charlie Knight. I can remember going to the old hotel building after the flood of 1950 with my mother and my Aunt Opal (Jeffries) McCrobie to clean up the lower floors. There was about an inch of mud on the floors. It was quite a nasty job. I think I was more in the way than a help.

About 1951 my father decided to tear down the Rush Hotel building and salvage the building materials to build a new home on the Oil Creek farm which he had bought from his aunt Margaret Nixon. It was located about two miles up Oil Creek from Orlando. Of course, not only would the old hotel have to be torn down but also the building materials would have to be moved two miles to the new home site.

At the top is Tom Jeffries with his younger brother John.
Below that is the Rush Hotel.

To the right is the ford at the Semantha Henline homeplace where Oil Creek could be crossed by wagon. (Click of the photo of the Henline house to enlarge it.) See this house in the 1912 photo in an Oct '06 entry, Beham Henline's Funeral

My father did not own a truck but he did have a team of horses. He also owned a somewhat serviceable, but long obsolete, horse-drawn freight wagon. The wagon was much in need of repairs and, after a particularly difficult repair on the front axle the wagon, was ready to haul.

On many Saturday mornings, Dad, my brother John, aged six, and I, aged seven, loaded the bed of the wagon with 2x8s, 2x10s, and 2x12s salvaged from the demolition and started on the trip to the farm. I’m not sure how long the trip took in the slow moving wagon, but it seemed like an awfully long time to sit on the hard seat of the wagon. Dad wouldn’t let us walk if we got tired of sitting. He must have been afraid we would have been hit by a speeding car! As everyone will remember, the Oil Creek road was always in disrepair and hardly fit for automobiles.

The road which passed through our new farm from the Three Lick Bridge on toward Roanoke was just in the process of being built along the old B & O right of way. I recall being curious about all of the construction equipment and the earthmoving that was taking place.

In due time we would arrive at the farm, unload the lumber, allow the horses to feed and water, and return to Orlando. We would then eat lunch, load another stack of lumber, and repeat the trip. As I recall, we could make about two trips per day.

Dad often had trouble with wheels of the old freight wagon. The wheels tended to shrink in the summer heat allowing the steel tires to become loose on the wooden wheels. I remember on one trip about halfway to the farm one of the rear wheels came off. Dad had to unhook the horses, jack up the wagon, replace the tire and secure it to the wheel with wire. We made it to the farm moving very slowly. Before returning to Orlando, Dad allowed the wagon to soak its wheels in Oil Creek for a couple of hours to expand the wood. I can remember him doing this often. Sometimes he would roll the wagon into the deep water at the ford in front of the Henline house in Orlando and allow the wheels to soak overnight.

Above right is Coleman Jeffries with his horse team and June and Billy Nixon. Click on this photo to enlarge it.

To the left is a freight wagon.

Below right is Uncle Heater.

Another problem Dad encountered with the wagon was a loosening problem with the metal hub which fitted over the wooden part of the front axle. Normally a fitting like this is a shrink fit. In other words the metal is heated until it is red hot and then is driven onto the wooden axle. When cooled, it would shrink to a tight fit. However, on our wagon the wooden axle was worn and undersized so the normal remedy of a shrink fit would not work. My dad consulted his Uncle Heaterhuck Henline about the problem and as usual Uncle Heaterhuck had an answer. He told dad to soak burlap in tar and wrap the axle with the soaked burlap and then do the shrink fit process. It worked like a charm. Dad was very impressed with Uncle Heaterhuck’s common sense and mechanical knowledge.

See a Dec '06 entry, My Great-Uncle Heater Henline

After Dad bought a 1951 Chevrolet truck in 1954, and renewed his expired driver’s license, we could make many more trips a day. Still, the building activity went slowly. It was not until the fall of 1955 that we moved into our new home on Oil Creek. My father and mother lived in that small but comfortable home until 1993. Our family has many fond memories of growing up on the farm that we cherish to this day. The farm was sold and the house we built was torn down and replaced by a modern log home.

Above is the is that small but comfortable home on Oil Creek that Coleman Jeffries built.

As a side bar, the freight wagon used to haul the lumber up the Oil Creek Road was retired and stored in Uncle Homer Mitchell’s barn on Clover Fork. The wagon bed was stored under Uncle Homer’s grainery. When Uncle Homer died and his estate auction sale took place, Dad sold the wagon at the sale.

Comments

Comment 1

David Parmer was asked, "I didn't know Oil Creek could be forded anywhere in Orlando, certainly not downstream from downtown."

His response: "Yes, there was a ford in Oil Creek behind the Catholic Church which went to the south side of Oil Creek. There were deeper holes of water just above and just below the ford."

Samuel & Martha (Fox) Gay

Samuel Gay and Martha Fox both moved to Lewis County when they were small children. After they married they settled on Oil Creek in the late 1850s.

Both Samuel and Martha came from families that had come to the colonies in the 1700s. Samuel's great grandfather (his father's mother's father) Anthony Mustoe,was born in Whitechapel, London in 1748. He lost two wives and several children before making a life with Mary Dorothy Seiler and raising a family of seven children in Virgina. During the Revolutionary War, Anthony served in several Virginia regiments in the Continental Line, reaching the rank of Sergeant. He was at Valley Forge from Feb 27, 1778 to June 4, 1778.

Martha's line includes the Ratliffs which are easily traced to Louisa County, VA, in its pioneer days before the Revolutionary War.

Samuel and Martha raised nine children in Confluence/Orlando: seven boys and two girls.

To the left is one of their children, George Miles Gay, who married Lucinda Freeman.

Samuel Gay's Obituary

provided by Darrell Groves

(Ind. Tues. 24 Feb. 1920)

GAY, SAMUEL of Oil creek, died on the 18th. Born April 26, 1840, died February 18, 1920, aged 79. Married December 31, 1863 to Martha J. Fox. Nine children, all surviving. His wife died some twenty-two years ago. Children, John, Noah and George Gay of Kemper; Charley and Earl Gay of Weston; Robert Gay of Gaston; and J. L. Gay of Richwood; Miss Cora Gay, at home, and Mrs. J. F. Riffle of Kemper. Also survived by three sisters and two brothers. Died of influenza. (Ind. Tues. 24 Feb. 1920)

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