The Reverend Captain John Elam Mitchell

John Elam Mitchell was the preacher who, in the 1850s, led the Skinners, Poseys, McPhersons and Riffles to establish the Methodist Protestant Society that would become The Mt. Zion Methodist Protestant Church of Orlando. In addition to the years he spent in Braxton County the preacher served throughout what would become central West Virginia. The Reverend Captain John Elam Mitchell was killed in guerrilla warfare at Arnoldsburg the age of 44.
Below are three looks at this fascinating fellow:

~ as a man of God,

~ as a CSA Partisan,

~ as an ancestor of Oil Creek's community.
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John Elam Mitchell's Ministry

John Elam Mitchell was the grandson of Rev. John William Mitchell (1763-1840) who, with David Smith, was the clergy involved in the establishment of Harmony Methodist Protestant Church in Jane Lew in 1829. John Elam’s father Abner Mitchell1 (1789-1840) was also a preacher in the Methodist Protestant Church in (what would soon become) central West Virginia.
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John Elam Mitchell began his career as a preacher in the Wet Virginia Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church in 1854, at the age of 36. He was assigned the Braxton County Circuit from the summer of 1854to the summer of 1856. He spent three years in other West Virginia Circuits and in 1860 he was assigned to the Gilmer County Circuit.
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John Davison Sutton, the author of History of Braxton County and Central West Virgina, published in 1919, considered John Elam Mitchell to be his mentor. On pages 236 through 237 Sutton writes the following:
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“In the fall of 1858. . . I rounded into Barbour County, to the parsonage where resided my old pastor and counselor, the Reverend John Elam Mitchell. He was delighted to welcome me and called a Quarterly Conference at which I was employed to assist him on his large circuit which lay along the western base of the Allegheny Mountains, embracing Barbour County east of the Tygart’s Valley, including the towns and villages of Beelington, Meadowville, Philippi, Goardtown and Nicholas. Crossing the Laurel Hill on to the Cheat River near the town of St. George- then county seat of Tucker County- cutting through the center of said county to the state line between Virginia and Maryland, thence to the town of West Union in Preston County, thence to Rowlesburg. From there back across Laurel Hill via Fellersville and Evansville on the N.W. Turnpike road and then to the parsonage, a round of two hundred miles, embracing between twenty and thirty appointments. The latter part of the year, now into the summer of 1859, I spent in Barbour Counties pursuing my studies along theological lines as well. Removing in the fall I attended school in Taylor County and to some extent assisted the pastor on the Taylor Circuit who was no other than my old clerical sire, J. E. Mitchell, assigned to that charge at the recent session of Conference.
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To the left are William and Rulina (West) Osburn of Gilmer County who were married by the Reverend John Elam Mitchell two months before the Gilmer Rifles marched off to war.
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John Elam Mitchell Goes to War

The accounts of Captain Mitchell's service vary more in the attitude of the writer than in facts.

According to Christian Kuhl's Memoirs, ". . . 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 (sic) Mitchel as their Captain, who was killed soon after in a skirmish near Arnoldsburg, Virginia. Said Mitchel a brave, gallant officer fell while leading his men in battle." Sargent Kuhl also gives us the only quotation we have so far: "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.'"

According to the notes of Roy Bird Cook,2
“Mitchell was serving [as the preacher for the Methodist Protestant Church's] Gilmer County Circuit in the spring of 1861 and recruited a company for service in the Confederate States Army. This company was known as the Gilmer Rifles, later Company D, 31st Virginia Infantry. Company was organized on May 31, 1861; marched from Glennville to Huttonsville3 and then back to Laurel Hill, a distance of 105 miles. Participated in the engagement at Laurel Hill on June 9 and 10, 1861; on retreat from the engagement lost three sergeants, one corporal and twenty-five privates by desertion. Mitchell resigned as Captain on June 20, 1861; company was regularly mustered into the Confederate service on June 20, 1861, by Major Francis M. Boykin, Jr.

“Upon turning his back to the regular service, Mitchell returned to Gilmer county and allied himself with the Partisan Rangers or bushwhackers. It is claimed that he held a captaincy in this piratical service, but it is more likely that he free-lanced and held a titular rank by reason of his former connection with the Gilmer Rifles, whom he drilled clad in ministerial frock coat and stove-pipe hat. His co-workers in the moral vineyard were such exemplars of piety and patriotism as Perry Conley, Dan Duskey, George Downs, William Harris, Sprigg and the Tunings.
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To the left is Major George Downs, the commanding officer of the Partisan Rangers with whom John Elam served.

“The Partisan Rangers comprising several bands, all under the general command of Captain George Downs, moved across central West Virginia from Webster County (see diary of Captain William Harris.) The march began on April 23, 1862. They attacked Arnoldsburg at early dawn May 6th, which was then being held by Major Trimble and Companies A, B, and C, were driven off, with some loss. Joe Burson was instantly killed; Rev. John Elam Mitchell was shot through both hips, captured and died in the hands of the Federals, perhaps the day following the fight.. . .

“W.D. Rollyson, member of the legislature for Braxton County, reported the affair to the Wheeling Intelligencer, said that four were killed and nine wounded, including “Rev. J. E. Mitchell, a minister of the M.P. Church. Mitchell has been in the guerrilla business since last spring.” Charles Hooton of Barbour County was a Methodist Protestant and at once took steps to protect the good name of his church. In a letter to the Intelligencer of May 15, 1862, he says, “At the last Conference of the M.P. Church information was received that Mitchell had joined the Southern army; Conference unanimously refused to assign him a church.”

Ancestry's Civil War records support Roy Bird Cook's date for John Elam's service with the Gilmer Rifles.

According to Ron Brothers and Connie Ball, family tradition among John Elam's descendents through son Melville, who moved to Texas, claims John Elam served as a chaplain with the Confederates and also tells us John Elam is buried under a church.

Cemeteries In Calhoun County, W. Va confirms his burial:
"Arnoldsburg Cemetery: Behind and under the Arnoldsburg Methodist Church. Elim Mitchell, Methodist Minister, CSA soldier, killed at Arnoldsburg. Several graves, one of which was the Union Soldier killed in the Arnoldsburg skirmish, believed to be a Smith."

For more on Oil Creek during the Civil War see the May '07 entry Oil Creek in the Civil War.

John and Prudence Mitchell's Family

At the time of his death John and wife Prudence (McCally/McCaully) had seven children, six boys and a little girl. Wesley was 19, Melville not yet 17, Ira 15, Henderson 14, Cyrus 11, Alonzo 9 and Samantha Jane, 5 years old.

Their four oldest sons served the CSA. in addition to Ira and Henderson, there was Wesley who died in a hospital at Peterburg. Melville's story follows.

Melville Mitchell is pictured to the left. He was described as being "5 feet 6 inches tall, with dark complexion, dark hair, and hazel eyes."

The fourth son, Melville, has been well documented by his Texas descendants, Ron Brothers and Connie Ball. They tell us that Melville was "a private in (2nd) Co. G, 62 Virginia Mounted Infantry and was captured by the enemy in Highland Co., VA. 12 Dec 1863. He was taken to Camp Chase, Ohio, but was transferred 14 Mar 1864 to Ft. Delaware, Del. He took an oath of allegiance and was released on 20 Jun 1865. At the time Melville enlisted, he was a resident of Braxton County, VA. Melville was first married to Mary Ann Bull on 27 Dec 1866 in Lewis Co. They had 4 children." Sleuthing the 1880 census, Brothers and Ball provide evidence that by then Melville's first wife had died and the children were adopted out. In 1880 Melville was in Greenup Co., KY. living with the David Pendleton family. It was in Greenup Co. that Melville married Henrietta A. Horner on 26 Jun 1880. Melville and Henrietta moved to Texas about 1884.

John Elam and Prudence's four youngest children, Henderson, Cyrus, Alonzo and Samantha Jane, lived in the area that would soon become Orlando. Early on, Henderson had bought land from Ann Skinner to build a general store, but then, inexplicably, sold it. We don't yet know the rest of his story. The store eventually became Oldacker's Mercantile and later Charlie Knight's General Store. Cyrus, Alonzo and Samantha Jane lived and raised their families in Confluence/Orlando. Some of their Orlando offspring at pictured below, to the right.

To the right are some of John Elam and Prudence's Oil Creek descendants.
From the top,
Homer and Stanley Mitchell, grandsons of Alonzo and Samantha Jane (Riffle) Mitchell, with fish they caught in Oil Creek
Luther Monroe Mitchell, grandson of Cyrus and Nancy (Riffle) Mitchell, with his bride Virginia McCord of Peterson's Siding.
Civilla Riffle, daughter of Martin B. and Samantha Jane (Mitchell) Riffle, with her husband Lee Blake, Lumberman & Genealogist They lived up Clover Fork and started the Riffle-Blake Reunions.

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Footnotes:
1. In 1837 John Elam's dad, M.P. Preacher Abner Mitchell, had married George and Esther (Riffle) Plyman, the parents of Jacob Plyman who, at the fete at Col Yancy's place in 1861, was sent off to war with Rev. John Elam Mitchell's promise to the young man's family that he would be well looked after.

2. Roy Bird Cook Collection, the West Virginia and Regional History Collection, West Virginia University, pages 134 and 135.
Title: Cook, Roy Bird (1886-1961), Collector. Papers
Call number: A&M No.: 1379
Creator: Cook, Roy Bird (1886-1961), Collector
Inclusive dates: 1865-1960

Most of Cook's information is from Boyd B. Stutler's West Virginia in the Civil War, Education Foundation, Inc., Charleston, West Virginia 25324.

3. On the way from Glenville to Huttonville the Gilmer Rifles stopped at the Yancy place at the mouth of Oil Creek. Christian Kuhl tells us about it in A Bountiful Repast At Old Col. Yancey's. Christian Kuhl was uncle to the Coles who lived up Three Lick. For the story of how the Coles came from the Kuhls, see another Civil War story, A Family Torn by the Civil War.
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Comments
comment 1: Donna Gloff
Cook says that the Reverend Mitchell drilled his Gilmer Rifles in frock coat and stove pipe hat. To the right is a cartoon of two men in frock coats and stove pipe hats.

Virginia McCord of Peterson's Siding

The B & O track ran up between Charlie Knight's store and the Dolan Hotel and went on to Weston. The first stop north of Orlando was called Peterson's Siding. Virginia (McCord) Mitchell talks about life at Peterson's Siding. Virginia was the daughter of David and Annie (Myers) McCord.1

The McCord Farm
"I was born 20 Sept 1909. I grew up and have lived at the family farm on Oil Creek all my life. Our farm consisted of as many as four milk cows, lots of chickens and an apple orchard. As I was growing up, the railroad tracks ran from Weston to Orlando directly in front of our house. In order for me to attend high school, I rode the train to Burnsville every day.
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To the right is a photo of the McCord farm

Virginia Married Luther Mitchell
"On 10 April 1944, I married Luther Monroe Mitchell. I can remember walking to Orlando, where we were to meet a man who was going to give us a ride to Buckhannon so we could get married. The man did not show up. so we took the train to Weston and another to Buckhannon. We went to the home of my brother, the Reverend Ralph McCord, who was a Methodist minister in Buckhannon. Well, he tried to talk us out of getting married because I was eleven years older than Luther. He was born 28 September 1920. I was 35 and he was 24. It did not work. By the time he got around to marrying us, it was nearly ten o'clock! We spent our first night together at my brother's house. The day after we returned home my sister Thelma, and some friends, serenaded us with singing and banging on tin cans.2 In the meantime my father returned home from Florida where he had spent the winter, not knowing that Luther and I had gotten married. He was not surprised and he was happy for us."

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Left is Luther & Virginia on their wedding day. 3

Virginia and Luther had five children, Robert, Thomas, Wanda, Gary and Stephen. Luther was a screen maker for the West Virginia Glass factory and died in 1985 of cancer at the age of 64. In the year 2000 (when Virginia and Amanda West's article was printed in Joy Gilchrist -Stalnaker's Lewis County book) Virginia was 91 years old.

Virgina's Ancestors
Virginia has some interesting ancestors. Her 2g-grandfather James Norman was an English immigrant who was remembered as a man of deep faith.

To the right is Virginia's great-grandmother, Hannah McCartney (1808-1877). Hannah's parents, Thomas and Sarah (Bennett) McCartney, were original settlers of Walkersville. Hannah's grandfather Andrew McCartney fought in the Revolutionary War and her mother-in-law, Sarah Ann Price, was kidnapped and held captive by Indians.

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1 Immigrant James Norman, His Testimony 4

Virginia's 2g-grandfather, (Virginia McCord, David McCord, Malinda Norman, Felix Norman, the Immigrant James Norman)

"During the Summer of 1843, one Sunday at prayer meeting, which was being conducted at the residence of Wm. Boggs, James Norman, a man of devout mind and very reserved and timid, a gray haired pilgrim whose sands of time were nearly run, in the course of the services, arose and for the first time he was ever known to speak in public gave such a profound and convincing exhortation that all who were present were soul feelingly stirred and sensibly impressed. "I myself being so forcibly imbued and touched by Father Norman's appeal that not long after I joined the Church and was baptized in Steer Creek just below the forks of Steer Creek at Stumptown by the Rev. Carr Bailey who was pastor of Mt. Pisgah Church from 1842 to 1844 and was received into full fellowship and continued a member of the Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church at Stumptown, Gilmer County, then Virginia, now WV, over fourteen years."

2. Thomas McCartney, the Builder 5
Virginia's 2g-grandfather (Virginia McCord, David McCord, John McCord, Hannah McCartney, Thomas McCartney)
Thomas and Sarah (Bennett) McCartney came from Harrison Co. VA. about 1800 to settle at the confluence of the right and left hand forks of the West Fork of the Monongahela River. It is said that "Thomas hewed logs for houses that were so smooth they looked planed." In 1808 he built the first two-story house in the area for Sarah's brother, William Bennett Sr. on Bennett Run. The house burned in 1941 after being almost continuously occupied for 133 years.

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3. Immigrant Andrew McCartney, Veteran of War of Independence
Virginia's 3g-grandfather (Virginia McCord, David McCord, John McCord, Hannah McCartney, Thomas McCartney, Andrew McCartney)
Andrew was probably Scots Irish. He immigrated from Ireland in 1775. In 1778 he enlisted in the Colonial army in Pennsylvania and served two tours of duty:
~ Chester Co. Pennsylvania, 1st Regt. Foot, enlisted June 1, 1777.
~ 13th Pennsylvania Regt. enlisted May 27, 1778.

4. Sarah Ann Price, The Indian Captive 6
Virginia's 2g-grandmother (Virginia McCord, David McCord, John McCord, Aaron McCord, Sarah Ann Price)

In the fall of 1764, Col. Henry Bouquet of the Royal American Regiment, organized an expedition to the Ohio Country to demand a surrender of the tribes that participated in Pontiac's War during 1763 through the first half of 1764. With the call for surrender, he intended to, as a contingency for mercy, require the return of all captives taken since the outbreak of hostilities in 1754. Sarah Price is listed as a captive from Hampshire County, VA.

It is probable that Sarah Price was taken in one of several of the small raids that took place in the area during the spring through fall of 1757. Most of the raids involved small numbers of Indians and small numbers killed or taken away, but we don't have the details of any of those.

Footnotes
1. By Amanda S. West and Virginia D. (McCord) Mitchell and printed in
Lewis County, West Virginia: Her People and Places, pg 149. edited by Joy Gilchrist-Stalnaker. Photos of Virginia and Luther and of her grandmother Hannah McCartney are from this source, also.

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2 The tradition of "serenading" the newlyweds goes back to frontier days of the mid 1700s. Read more about it in Dave Table's 'blog Appalachian History , the 18 June '07 entry, June bride? Time for a shivaree:

Rosa Walden, Pi Beta Phi Settlement School (Gatlinburg, TN) teacher and Tacoma, Washington native Ruth Sturley participated in a serenade in September 1919, and described the event in a letter to her family:
“One of my girls Flora Reagan has a sister who was married . . . and the young people got up the affair in their honor. Abbie [Runyan], Evelyn [Bishop] and I went with three of the school girls and a dozen more youths. Lillard Maples took us girls in his Ford three miles up to the Forks of the river [to the newlyweds’ home]. . . . We stopped and assembling our forces proceeded to march round and round shouting--blowing ox horns--ring cow bells--sheep bells and I know not what. My noise was produced by clapping together two tin pan covers--then some sticks of dynamite were set off--by this time strange to say the cabin was astir.”

3. Photo belongs to Norah "Betty" Groves, submitted to the Braxton County RootsWeb message board by Darrell Groves.

4. From Betty Herrinigton's family tree at RootsWeb.com, Sept. 2005.

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5. From an unknown source, printed in Don Norman's records

6. Terry Gruber. see Hardy County Colonial Notes Index.

Homer Mitchell's Family

Homer Mitchell was the son of Rev Alonzo "Lon", and Samantha, "Mant," (Riffle) Mitchell. He was raised on Clover Fork. Homer was one of the few Orlando men who worked in coal mining. He worked throughout central West Virginia, including Webster, Braxton and Gilmer Counties.

To the left are Homer and Lula (Henline) Mitchell.

Homer married Lula Henline, daughter of Beham and Semantha Henline. They had only two children, both boys, Nelson, the older, and Stanley, his kid brother. See the boys with the fish tha t didn't get away in the entry dated Dec 12 '06 Fishing In Oil Creek.

Homer Mitchell was well respected by all who knew him. He was a kind and friendly man. In 1966, at the age of 74, he died of a heart attack sitting in his car across Oil Creek by the foot bridge from the Henline homeplace. His wife, Lula, died 28 years later, in 1993 at the age of 98. Check out entry Dec 10 '06 My Great-Uncle Heater Henline for a photo of Lula and her brother Heater mugging for the camera on Oil Creek.

Nelson worked at the Equitable Gas pumping station at Burnsville. He was married to Frances Hamrick of Webster County.

Left is Nelson sitting at the top of hill in Webster County. To the right is Nelson's wife Frances (Hamrick) Mitchell and teir baby Gary are to the right.



Stanley was career Air Force. He retired after over 20 years in the Air Force to Buckhannon but lived only a short time thereafter and died at the age of 47 in 1973. He married an Orlando girl, Louise Heater, one of Bee and Genevieve (Skinner) Heater’s girls.

To the right is Stanley in his Air Force uniform.

Fishing In Oil Creek

To the right is a photo from the early 1930s with Nelson and Stanley Mitchell (Homer and Lula (Henline) Mitchell 's boys) showing a fish they caught in Oil Creek.

This photo was a surprise to me because, since Oil Creek sometimes drys up, I didn't think fish would live there. David and Barbara (Jeffries) Parmer assure me that is not the case.

David says, "I have fished Oil Creek many times particularly when my in laws still owned the farm on Oil Creek above Orlando. I often fished Oil Creek right in Orlando and had good luck each time I fished it. You would be surprised what you can catch from such a little creek. I recall fishing one night by the light of a burning tire on Oil Creek and caught several catfish and assorted other fish. At the bend in Oil Creek just past the trestle I caught a bass which was perhaps 17 inches long. I considered fishing a great success that day. "

In an earlier entry about Heater Henline Barbara (Jeffries) Parmer remembered "on heat-shimmery summer afternoons he'd take his fishing pole in hand and say “Think I’ll go up the crick”. After awhile, he would return with what he called “a mess of fish”—suckers and “baccer boxes1”—which my aunt or grandmother would fix for breakfast the next day.

Dave Hyre also remembers fishing on Oil Creek. "My first fishing experience was along Oil Creek a Burnsville, I loved it! I had no reel, just a thin bamboo pole with a stung line, hook, and plastic bobber. Bait was worms. Murky water, but the excitement of that bamboo pole bending to the tug of a bite was magic. Cat fish and "bacca boxes" were a typical day's excitment.

1. Sunfish were called "baccer boxs" because there are about the size of a tobacco box. See the entry on March 12 '06 Prince Albert in the Can