The Bennetts of Clover Fork

This is George Washington Bennett who, in his teens in the

1850s, came with his parents Isaac and Polly (Spaunagle) Bennett to settle on Clover Fork. In the 1860 census he was one of five kids were still at home: Adam, 23 years, our George, 18, Margaret, 16, Susan, 13, and David, 10.

Like his neighbors, George served the Confederate cause during the Civil War.

A large Bennett family in central Lewis County seems to be unrelated to our Bennetts. The Bennetts north of Orlando most likely have English origins. It has been suggested that our Bennetts had Germanic roots.

George married Anne Barb (or Barbe). Reports vary on the names and number of children. Two that we are certain of are Sarah and David. Pictured below to the left is George and Anne's oldest child, daughter Sarah, b. 1870, with her husband Gideon Skinner and their five oldest children taken in the very early 1900s. To the right is their son David, b. 1881, with his wife, Maycell Parmer, taken in, maybe, the 1950s.

George Washington Bennet died in 1914 at about the age of 73.

The Irish Immigration

In the last half of the 1800s Confluence, which would become Orlando in the early 1900's experienced a second wave of new citizens, looking to build a life on the brand new land in the Appalachian hills.
These 19th century immigrants had a very different world view, different values and expectations from the Williamses, Blakes, Skinners, Poseys Bennetts and Riffles who came from Maryland and eastern Virginia in the first half of the 1800s. These were Roman Catholic Irish who had fled the potato famine. Family names included Feeney, Moran, Dolan, and Carney, among others.

In his 1921 book, A History of Lewis County, West Virginia, E. C. Smith explains how this Irish/German group came to this area.
“Many of the laborers engaged in the construction of the Stanunton and Parkersburg turnpike were recent immigrants from Ireland and Germany. They had been engaged in construction work on many public works then building in all parts of the United States. . . . When [the Stanunton and Parkersburg turnpike was] practically completed the laborers seemed to be out of employment, for all the other construction projects had all the laborers they could use. They were glad for any opportunity to make a living until conditions should improve.” Pg 233-34

Smith goes on the explain how the land merchants like Jackson, who owned the land in Collins Settlement, encouraged these bright, hard working folks to settle here.

A few of the children and grandchildren of the immigrant settlers are pictured in this 1923 photo from John Carney,
1. John Vincent Carney 2. Kate (Moran) Carney 3. Eveyn 4. Margaret Moran 5. Addie (Kilker) Carney 6. Bobby Carney 7. Patrick Carney 9. Mike Moran 9. Roseanne Moran 10. Mary Carney 11. Justin Carney 12. John Kilker Carney 13. Agness Bernadine Carney 14. James Fabian Carney 15. Phyllis Moran.

Riffle Run Elementary School

Homer Heater grew up on Riffle Run in the 1940s. Riffle Run is a neighboring community1. but the story he tells is echoed in Orlando, too. His website is rich and warm and true. Check it out at http://geocities.com/hheater2000/mypage.html

This photo of Riffle Run Elemenary School and the following description of his first day at school are from his website.

"I proudly followed my brothers and sisters up the road to the little white building with the U.S. flag hanging by the door and the smell of oil (used to preserve the floor). Students drank water out of their individual cups filled from the little water cooler, which was kept supplied by the janitor. There was a coal stove in the center of the room. Double desks with inkwells flanked each side of the room.
In front of the room were the teacher’s desk and the recitation bench where each class was called in turn to review the lessons they had been reading and to answer questions from the teacher. There were usually about twenty or twenty-five students scattered through the eight grades. Spelling was taught all eight grades from one volume. The beginning class started with the simple words at the front of the book and by the eighth grade, the book was supposed to be finished. There were no pictures, only endless columns of words."

Homer Heater is the President of Washington Bible College and Capital Bible Seminary in Washington D.C. Here is a recent photo of Homer and his bride of 50 years, Pat.

Pictured in the photo "Riffle Run Elementary School Around 1940"
L-R Back Row: Denzil Conrad, Wilfred Conrad, Mary Jean Heater, Alma Grace Sumpter, Lillian Brown, Thelma (Dink) Sumpter
L-R 2d Row: Myrtle Mae Brown, Charles McCauley, Bob Graff, Bill Heater, Pauline Conrad, Betty Graff, Mary McCauley
L-R 3d Row:Patty Graff, Louise Sumpter, Caree McCauleyFront seated: Jim McCauley, George McCauley, Bobby Blake, Winfred Thompson, Don McCauley, Wesley McCauley, Homer Brown, Homer Heater, Jr.


1. Riffle Run drains into the Little Kanawha just upstream from Burnsville while most of Orlando's land drains into Oil Creek, which drains into the LIttle Kanawha at Burnsville. As the crow flies, they are about 10 miles apart.

The Browns' General Store

Orlando has had as many as three general stores in operation at once1. Dexter (WD) and Lila Brown, with the help of their son, Ford, owned the only general store operating in Orlando in the 1950s. The photo to the right shows a young Deck Brown seated, with Lila (Gregory) next to him2. They bought the store from the Conrads and moved from the Burnsville area. Later Juanita (Stutler) Burgett, daughter of Oras and Edith (Skinner) Stutler bought the store and was the last storekeeper.

The store, pictured at the left, was about the size of a livingroom.
In the 1950s and '60s the store had, among other things,
~ at the back a small deli counter with bologna and other lunchmeats.
~ one long wall was shelves of canned goods, household cleaning agents, Prince Albert tobacco and such.
~ I believe the other l0ng wall, which had a door into their living quarters, was used for drygoods.
~ As a kid I was more familiar with the snacks like ice cream sandwiches, Pepsi, Grape Nehi and such.
A gas pump was next to the store and large items, like chicken feed and watermelons, were kept across the street in the big white building by the RR tracks. That building, still standing, contained the post office as well.

The Mr. Brown I knew was a tall, strong old man with wonderful white hair. I thought him kindly and wise. His wife, Lila, (Mrs. Brown to me) was my grandmother's dear friend, staying with grandma after both their husbands had died.

1. See Feb 24, '06 entry: Orlando Businesses Over the Years
2. Nettie Gregory posted this photo at Braxton County, West Virginia Pictures and People at MyFamily.com

Before Electricity

How was it before electricity? On Oil Creek in the 1940s, according to Carolyn (Hintzman) Ramsay (See the April 8 '06 entry The Stutlers of Oil Creek), my grandparents had kerosene lamps. Of course they would have had a pump and an outhouse. The entry on ( ) talked about how laundry was done by boiling before electricity.

Around 1900 towns in the Orlando area got gas. At their Orlando house in the early 1950s Grandma had a gas refrigerator, gas space heaters (See May 12 '06 entry No Central Heating) and gaslights. Don’t know why she didn't have a gas stove back then, but I remember that she still had a wood stove. I know the women used the old pressing irons that were heated on top of the stove. (I was too young to iron then.) The laundry was boiled, as I mentioned in an earlier entry. She may have had a gas powered washer but prefered to revert to boiling as our being there meant large loads of sheets and clothes.

Water was pumped on the back porch and brought in in pails. Most homes had the pump right in the kitchen, Don’t know why grandma didn’t. There was an outhouse (a 2 seater). We bathed in a big anodized aluminum tub that was set in the kitchen. The water was heated on the stove.

In the 1950s my grandparents got electricity. The old house was less scary with electric lights. A year or so later came indoor plumbing.

Ellen (Naughton) Carney of Clover Fork

Ellen Naughton, born in Roscomon, Ireland in 1836, married young Patrick Carney. She and Patrick settled in Orlando and raised a family of 13. She had been widowed for over 30 years when she died, in Orlando, at the age of 86. The family home was on Clover Fork. Her children married Feeneys, Kilkers, Morans, Dolans, Krauses and more.

See the May 29, 2006 entry Irish and German Immigrants, for more on her family.

This sweet photo is from one of her many, many descendants, her great grandson, John Carney.

Going Gigging for Frogs

One time, just one time during all the summers we went to Orlando, I remember grandpa going out with his buddies of an evening. It was all so hush-hush I thought it was illegal. Maybe it was. It was way after dark that the preparations were being made in my grandparents' big county kitchen and they involved flashlights, hipboots and spears (the gigs). When I pestered my folks for information I was told that grandpa was going gigging for frogs. I remember that the next day I thoroughly enjoyed those unbelievably sweet, mild, flavorful, tender little delicacies.

For a first person account of a gigging expedition, see Clementine James' story at http://www.dartreview.com/issues/11.12.01/gigging.html Clementine says, "Gigging is a dying sport. While it used to be a common practice, few hunt anymore. For its fellowship, its challenge, and its cuisine, frog gigging is unsurpassed." 1

This is how I remember froglegs being prepared. It is similar to Clementine's receipe. Dip the cut and skinned legs in egg yolk and then flour. Saute them in a skillet in lots of butter and season lightly to taste. Have them nicely browned, but don't overcook.

1. The Dartmouth Review Nov 21, 2001. "The Joys of Frog Gigging" by Clementine James
http://www.dartreview.com/issues/11.12.01/gigging.html

No Central Heating

Our grandparents bought Orlando's Dolan Hotel, so we Stutler/Skinner cousins have a certain inside knowledge of the old Dolan Hotel.

The Dolan Hotel had coal fireplaces in five rooms. Coal fireplaces became popular in the late 1800s. They are very shallow, more narrow, but about the same height as log fireplaces. The grate is designed to hold the coals up a little higher and close together.
Haven't found a photo of one of the Dolan fireplaces; they were a little on the order of the coal fireplace pictured here but the grates had a gracious, bowed shape and they were off the floor; attached to the back of the fireplace's interior. The five fireplaces' facades were wood with large retangular openings (unlike the curved opening in the firplace pictured here) and all had mantles.

When my grandparents lived in the former Dolan Hotel the rooms that didn't have fireplaces had gas space heaters. Every one of them was old, with cracked tiles and since my grandparents would have had no use for the several gas space heaters at their Oil Creek home, I believe they were from the Dolan Hotel. Again, I don't have a picture of the Dolan's gas heaters, but they were on the order of the one pictured here. (More on household use of gas in an entry soon to come.)

The Methodist Church had a potbelly stove that sat on the south side of the one room church, about half way back. It looked like the one pictured here. I don't remember seeing a botbelly stove anywhere else in Orlando. Maybe another cousin remembers them.

I don't think I ever saw a woodburning fireplace in an Orlando home built before 1960, but I know woodburning fireplaces would have been the first kind of heating -and cooking means- in the early settlers' homes. In the WPA photo essay of the Donaldsons who lived on Sand Fork, Gilmer County, the family had a log-burning fireplace, as the attached photo indicates. Judging from the size & shape, this fireplace could have been designed for cooking as well as heating.