The Horse Trading Center of the Universe

The Awakening

Early on Friday mornings, Orlando area farmers with strings of three or four horses descended on downtown Orlando. Large trucks, rare in that day, full of horses, pulled into Orlando and discharged their four footed cargo into the street in front of Mike Moran’s Warehouse Building. There was excitement in the air. Young boys had eagerly awaited the event which had become a ritual for Orlando during the 1920’s and early 1930’s. News of the event had been spread by hand bills and by announcements in the Market Bulletin put out by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture.

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Left above and right: detail from the photo of teamsters at the bottom

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The Trading Begins

By noon, the streets of Orlando were full of horses, horse traders, watch and knife traders, and moonshiners. The elderly or out-of-work loafers occupied the benches on the porches of the stores owned by Charley Knight and Bill Conrad, and at the B & O Restaurant located in Moran’s Wholesale Building. These loafers had another subject of conversation to mull over as the horses snorted and pranced up and down the streets of Orlando. Indeed, it seemed that every horse in Braxton and Lewis County was present and horse manure was piling up as high as the lies that were being told by the traders of horse flesh.

Left: Plowing a hillside
Right: "Pid" Heline and horse

Left below: Veterinarian Ord Conrad

Dale Barnett, now aged 85, vividly remembers these horse trader reunions which occurred in Orlando during his youth. Dale’s father, Bill Barnett, always had three or four horses he was willing to trade “for a little boot,” and Dale was wide-eyed and all ears as the bargaining and boasting was taking place. Clate Wiant, a noted trader of horses was always present, dressed in white shirt and tie, with a clutch of horses that he would be “willing to sacrifice” for the benefit of any person he was trading with. Farmers from Rocky Fork, Sand Fork, Indian Fork and Clover Fork tried their best to convince the farmers from Flesher’s Run, Knawl’s Creek and Riffle’s Run that their horses would do well on the latter’s feed. Tom Zinn who operated the large livery stable in Burnsville was always on the look-out for good team or riding horses and was usually present at the Orlando horse-traders reunion. Mr. Turner of the Bendale section of Weston, a horse trader of note, also made his appearance with a load of horses which he would usually sell, and would return to Bendale with another load which he bought.

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Knife and Watch Traders

In addition to the ceaseless horse trading which occurred during the horse traders’ reunions, the watch and knife traders were also out in force. Lloyd “Tint” Henline was perhaps the supreme trader of knives in Orlando and always had a Boker Tree Brand knife, Case XX Stag Daddy Barlow, or a Holley pen knife for sale. Uncle Zeke reported that “Tint” made 26 trades on January 15th, 1925 and was fretting because he didn’t do better. According to Dale Barnett, watch traders could be spotted because they would conspicuously pull out their pocket watches to check the time every fifteen minutes in the hope someone was looking. Railroaders were notorious about their time pieces and were always striving to find the special watch that kept time to the second.

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Left: Lloyd "Tint" Henline

Right: a pocket watch, likely a railroader's pocket watch.

Below: Examples of kinds of pocket knives that were traded.pocket knives

Moonshiners and Disrepute

Not only were the streets full of farmers, horse traders, knife and watch traders, but the ubiquitous bootleggers were also fixtures at the horse traders reunions. Although Orlando was a lawless town and the nearest lawman of any jurisdiction was in Weston or Sutton, the bootleggers made their sales covertly under the Moran Wholesale Building or Lee Morrison’s poolroom. Uncle Zeke often railed about the illicit trade in John Barleycorn which took place during the horse traders reunions and about the rowdiness of the events in general. As to the quality of the horse flesh which was offered for sale, Uncle Zeke mused in his August 18, 1932 column that he was “glad that he was not as old as some of the horses that were present.” Uncle Zeke was 65 at the time. In his August 31, 1921 column Uncle Zeke showed his disdain for the horse traders reunion when he mentioned that “a peculiar looking person passed this way a few days ago. He was almost barefooted and naked. He had long hair and mis-shaven beard. I think he was president of the horse-traders reunion.” Remarking on one of his neighbors who became plastered in a moonshine bath at one of the reunions, Uncle Zeke reported that “we have become informed that a certain person known as Dan imbibed a little too freely in “happy juice” and caused no little excitement in his demonstration of manhood. We have also been informed that on his way to his place of abode, he somehow accidentally lost his pants, and that arriving at a late hour of the night, in order that he might not be discovered, he crawled into the henhouse and took up lodging in the rear of that structure. An investigation made by his brother –in-law found Dan disputing with the rooster as to who should become master of the coop, or the real cock of the walk. At this time it is claimed that he was able to cackle a little, but unable to crow.”

The Demand and the End

There was a big demand for horse flesh during the 1920’s and early 1930’s. The deplorable condition of the roads handicapped the horseless carriages which often were stuck in the mud on the roads to Burnsville or to Weston. Gas companies locating wells on the hills in the surrounding area were always in need of good teams of horses and teamsters made their way to Orlando to seek out the best matched teams. How the horse traders reunions adopted Orlando as the convention site is a mystery to present day citizens who are old enough to remember the events. However, the conventions lasted for many years before the automobile and paved roads gradually overtook the high stepping horse. While they lasted, the two-day horse traders reunions were a boon to the merchants and hotel keepers of Orlando, a time of trepidation for the wives of men who “went downtown to see horseflesh” and memorable events for all of the youngsters of Orlando.

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Teamsters near Orlando

Note from David Parmer
Two significant players in the Orlando Horse Traders Reunion during the 1920’s and 1930’s were George Turner of Weston and Clayton Wiant of “above” Burnsville. Dale Barnett remembers George Turner as a large man, on the portly side, who was as good a trader as there was. A resident of Bendale, George was the son of Newton and Clarissa (Montgomery) Turner and the husband of Myrtle Turner. The only work George ever did during his lifetime was centered around farm stock. He died in 1944 at age 66 and was survived by his wife Myrtle and his daughter Clara Means.

Clate Wiant lived on the Little Kanawha River above Burnsville. He also was a stockman and farmer his entire life although he did serve as deputy assessor in Braxton County in 1949 and 1950. Clate was first married to Etta Singleton and secondly to Rosa Langford. Clate is also remembered for the white shirt and tie that he hardly ever was seen without. Clate died in 1974 at age 93. He was survived by his wife Rosa, his son Letch, also a noted stockman of “above” Burnsville, a son Vaughn of Walkersville, and a daughter Iva Lou Robinson of Pittsburgh. Clate was the son of Frank and Vesta (McHenry) Wiant.

A note of geography is in order when referring to a person living “above” Burnsville. The Little Kanawha flows basically from the east to the west through Burnsville. Rich farmland, now covered by the Burnsville Lake, flanked the river east of Burnsville. The farm families who lived in this area were known as living “above Burnsville,” or “up the river.”

Comment by Tom Jeffries
My father, Coleman Jeffries, who was born in Orlando in 1905 and lived in Orlando all of his life, was a lover of horses and always had a horse or two until his final years. He of course would have been familiar with the horse traders reunions which took place in Orlando for many years. He felt that some unscrupulous horse traders foisted broken down horses on unsuspecting buyers and that after horses became obsolete these same traders went into used car dealing.

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Also, when referring to people who lived “above Burnsville,” folks around Orlando referred to them as living “over on the river.” One of the horse traders who my father Coleman Jeffries frequently mentioned who would come to the horse traders reunions in Orlando was Buck Bacorn who lived over around Knawl.

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Right: Coleman Jeffries with his young cousins June and Billy Nixon.

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Comment by David Parmer
“Would he lie?” Uncle Zeke reported in his June17, 1926 column on the activities which took place during the recent horse traders reunion in Orlando. “Red” McCormick of Weston took the prize in the fox chasers’ lying contest, with Bud Hamilton a close second. Lon Riffle of Burnsville won the honors in the horse traders’ reunion and “Tint” Henline presided with great ability and skill at the knife traders’ convention. The next excitement will be a prize fight between George Riffle and Uncle Zeke’s scarecrow.”

Just Over the Bridge

Plans are in progress for a new bridge in Orlando. It will be the third bridge on record. Left: Earl "Bill" Mollahan posed on the current bridge in 1939. Right: Bill on the first recorded bridge. For a better view of the first bridge, Below on the right is the 1907 funeral procession of Michael Rush.

Pat (Morrison) Reckart recently visited her family's property in Orlando. She shares with us memories of the Orlando bridge and the folks she knew growing up here in the late 1940s.


by Pat Reckart

I went to Orlando, the little community where I spent all my growing up years. As I walked over the bridge it brought back many memories, some good and some not so good, I remember me and my friends would stand on the bridge and spit down into the water, and if it cracked, your boy friend loved you, I don’t know if we even had a boy friend, but someone told us to do it, so we did. Now when I see the bridge it is very old and in dire need of some repairs.

Oh I wonder how many footsteps have gone over the bridge, to many to count. It makes me think of all the people that I remember living in Orlando during those years, I’m going to try to remember all I can. I will start with the people that lived up by the cemetery.
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First was Layton Riffle and his wife Bertha and their children, Freda, Ronald, Betty, (Betty and I have been friends since 5th grade) there was Doris and then Buddy.

Patsy's schoolmates included kids from Three Lick, Road Run, McCauley Run etc., in addition to

the children who lived around the town of Orlando. The Orlando students are highlighted:

Top row: Virginia, daughter of Frank & Nina Skinner and the author Patsy Morrison.

2nd row: Bob Gibson

3rd row: Anna Louise Skinner, Virginia's sister and Frank & Nina's daughter

Bottom row: Betty Riffle, Ernestine McNemar and Mildred Morrison

Bill Barnett (our Sunday school teacher) his wife Marie and the children Dale and Betty.
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Left: Dale Barnett in 1932 holding dog Ted and baby sister Betty Jean.

Right: Edith & Oras Stutler's daughters Jane, Mary, Juanita and Virginia on a bad hair day around 1940.

Right, below: John Allman in the 1950s with his grandparents Gaver and Misha (Mills) Allman and John's infant son.
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Then up the hollow lived the Frank Skinner family and his wife Nina. Their children were Charles, Mary Alice, Virginia, Louise, and Edna.

Lee Skinner was Frank's brother, His place was next to Oil Creek. He had built his small home, it looked like a shack really, on tall stilts, so his home would be above any Oil Creek flood.

Then I remember Web Goodwin. He was married to Lucille Bennett. They had a lot of kids I don’t know their names.

Next was Oras and Edith Stutler. The kids I knew were Jane and Bill and their granddaughter Jackie.

Next was Mr. and Mrs Allman and Johnnie in the summer time.

Up on the hill behind them were Lynn and Mildred Riffle and son.

One store in Orlando was Charlie Knight's store and his wife was Mary. They lived in the old Rush house next to the Catholic church.

In the apartment over the store John and Lonie Gibson lived and their kids were John Jr. and Bob and Jimmie.

The other store was own by Bill Conrad and he had a sister Hallie.

Left: Pals Earse Posey and Erza "Pid" Henline in the early 1900s.

Right: John, Jimmy and Bob Gibson with the Conrad store behind them.

Up on the hill behind the store Earse and Winnie Posey lived and the kids I remember were Elwood, Edward, and Kenny. They had some girls but I don’t know their names.

Around the hill was Arch Riffle and his family.

Then next to them lived Ed McNemar and his wife was Necie and their girls were Ernstine and Lulabelle.

Over on the hill across from the store lived Myrtle Morrison and her family, who were Dick, Emogene, Mildred (who has been my best friend ever since were babies) then there was Bud and Eugene.

We lived behind the Catholic Church and our family was my grandparents Tom and Bridget Godfrey and my Mom Nellie Morrison, my brother Jimmie my sister Margie and me Patsy, and later my brother and sister Larry and Nancy Casto.
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Left: Clora Henline with Buck and Opal in the 1930s
Right: Arden Thomas in the CCCs in the 1930s
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Across the creek lived the Henlines: Clora Henline, her children Opal Jeffries and Colman "Buck" Jeffries, and her uncle Heaterhuck. Her Uncle Pid Henline. who lived on Three Lick, often visited them.

On the hill lived Arden Thomas and his wife Tiny their kids were Jetta, Judy, Phil, Carol and later Michael. .

On down the road Newt and Virgie Henline lived.
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Now we will go on the hill beside the school house. Mike and Margurite Moran lived and their kids John, Lee Paul, Joe Eddie and Rose Angela.
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In the house by the Morans' was the parsonage for the U.B. Church with Charles and his wife Naomi Parrish and their son Eugene.
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Left: Mike and Margurite (Sweeney) Moran with baby John, in the 1930s.

The Moran Club Hall

Left: Mike Moran
Right: Mike's warehouse as it was in the 1960s, when owned by Lila & W.D. Brown
by David Parmer

Orlando's Warehouse was originally a three story structure built for the Orlando Fruit and Produce Company around 1907. It was owned for half a century by Mike Moran. The Warehouse has housed many activites over the decades:
. . . ~ U. S. Post Office,
. . . ~ farm machinery business
. . . ~ Overland auto dealership
. . . ~ restaurant,
. . . ~ mortician's office,
. . . ~ informal gathering place for the community,
. . . ~ warehouse.
And, in the 1910s it also served as a social hall. If those walls could talk!
The Burnsville Enterprise issue of September 11, 1913 reported that
“A large number of our young people attended the dance at Orlando on Saturday night.”

Gertrude Rush, whose family lived up Three Lick and owned the Rush Hotel, remembered the good times so fondly the younger generation remembers to this day her stories about the weekend dances. See the March '08 entry Michael Rush's Family
Right: Gertrude Rush (lt) and her twin Bertha.

Likewise, Bee Heater's grandchildren still laugh about the story of their tipsey grandpa with Mike Moran in the building's elevator on a Saturday night.

We know it was used for more serious matters, too, because the September 27, 1913 issue of the Burnsville Enterprise announced:

"Dr. Harriet will lecture at the Hall at Orlando

on the night of October 1

on Tuberculosis.

All are invited.”

But best of all must have been the all day St Michael's Church Festival that was held at the "Moran Club Hall" on a the 5th of July in 1913. In the June 27, 1913 issue of the Burnsville Enterprise newspaper, the Orlando Catholic community advertised a Festival to the Burnsville area citizenry:

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Festival

There will be a Festival held at Orlando, Saturday, July 5th, 1913, for the benefit of St. Michael’s Church. This will take place in the Moran Club Hall, opposite the Union depot. The doors will be thrown open at noon at that day and closed at midnight. During that period dancing will be held on the second floor while all kinds of refreshments are served on the lower floor. Outdoor sports commencing at 3:30 p.m.: One hundred yard dash, boys under sixteen, prize given by M. V. Moran and Company; Climbing the Greasy pole, free for all, prize given by Dolan House; Stand-hop-step and jump, boys under eighteen, prize given by Central Hotel; Sack race, boys under fifteen, prize given by J. B. Dolan and C. F. Moran; Prettiest horse on the grounds, purse made up that day. After the outdoor sports are over, the doors will be thrown open for supper and closed at eight o’clock p.m. All are cordially invited to come early, stay late and help to make this a success.

By Order of the Committee
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Comment 1
In 1913, St. Michael’s Catholic Church was located on the bluff (Flint Knob) overlooking Orlando. Built of frame construction in 1907, the church was located well out of the area of flooding that chronically plagued the Oil Creek Valley. Struck by lightning, this original church burned to the ground in 1915. It was re-built, using brick, along the Coal and Coke Railroad right of way, in the lower area of Orlando.




comment 2
In the 1950s and '60s the porch of the post office, in the shade on the west side, was the the old men gathered. Here, one afternoon's group poses for the camera.

Front, l to r: Doc Henline, Earse Posey, and Nathan Parmer. Back, l to r: Ed McNemar, the young girl is Cecil Skinner, daughter of Kate and Cecil Skinner, and Heater Henline.

Remembering Memorial Day

By Pat Reckart

I want to tell you about Memorial Day in Orlando and the first one I remember. But I’m going to start the story a few years earlier. The year was 1939. I was 5 and my brother Jimmy was 3 and our mom married Ivan Morrison. My step Dad got a job in Akron so we moved out there. Jimmy stayed with Grandma Godfrey. When we got to Akron we stayed with one of mom’s sisters until we could find a place of our own. My sister was born Jan.16 1941 and it was wasn't long until my dad found an apartment. We stayed there for awhile but we had to move. It was so infested with bugs it wasn't a healthy place to live. My dad just happened to find a nice little house for us to live in, and not in the city.
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Left: A crepe paper poppy became a special remembrance of the men who died in the Great War. for more on Orlando's boys in World War I see the January '08 entry The Great War, Through Uncle Zeke's Eyes

Grandma Bridgit Godfrey is to the right.
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My dad got really sick and it wasn't long until mom found out he had cancer. It was November, 1943 when he passed away. Mom had several sisters in Akron and they all told her it would be better for her to move back to W.V. and stay with my grandparents since they were getting up in years. So, they took us to the train station along with my dad’s body and we came back to W.V.
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I can remember Mike Moran met the train and got my dad’s body and then he got it ready for burial. When everything was ready his body was taken to my grandparents' house for the wake. People came in set up all night, I guess that’s what they do with any dead body. I remember I was so scared every time I time I looked at that casket I could see him breathing.
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I know this has nothing to do with Decoration Day, except when the 30th of May came my mom had no money to buy flowers to decorate my dad’s grave, plus all the other families that were buried up on the hill in the Orlando cemetery, overlooking the town.
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This is the view from the Orlando Cemetery, overlooking downtown Orlando.
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My mom was so upset because she had no money to buy flowers. Well, it so happened that a friend had stopped by to check on my grandparents. Well, really she was cousin, Alta (Blake) Bee. When she saw mom was so upset she said, “Now don't you worry. I know just what to do.” She said, “I've been making flowers out of crepe paper and I've lots of paper. Tomorrow I'll just come and spend the day and we can make lots of flowers.”

Left: Alta (Blake) Bee. See Alta's granddaughter Marilyn (Cole) Posey's story in the March '08 entry The Rose and Her Bud

The next morning right after breakfast Alta was there with baskets and baskets of supplies. I wish I could show just how they were made but I can't. I know there were patterns for different flowers such as roses, carnations, lilies and maybe more. I don't remember. They had to go together just right. I know we had a long piece of wire and the petals were placed at different layers and when we had just the right amount we would cut out a leaf and place it on the stem wire with the petals and then we would take little fine wire and wrap around it all so it would stay together. And by the way, Alta got the little fine wire by burning a tire and getting the wire after all the tire had burnt. We really had a nice day learning how to make those crepe paper flowers. Alta said she would be back the next and we would make some more.

We also melted wax and dipped the flowers so the rain would not hurt them. We got some tall tin cans like the used at school for hot lunch, My grandpa took a nail and put holes on either side of the can and then he ran a wire through the holes to make a handle. So, by the time it was the 30th we had lots of flowers, and besides that we picked lots of fresh flowers for the graves.

Crepe paper roses.

As I remember, the 30th was always a big day at our house. We'd never knew who would be at the house for dinner or how many, but we always seemed to have enough. Usually our meal would be baked steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, canned green beans seasoned with bacon and corn and hot biscuits. (My mom could make the best biscuits in the world.) And we always had strawberry shortcake with strawberries from Fred Riffle’s garden. And we always had plenty of Kool-aid for the kids to drink.

See the Sept '07 entry about Fred Riffle's Strawberries

We usually went to the cemetery twice: once in the early morning and then again in the afternoon. I think that was so we'd get to see a lot of friends and relatives. The cemetery was on a steep hill. We always had to walk up there and there always seemed to be people to walk with. So, now you know how we celebrated Decoration Day.




Here is the pattern for the crepe paper daffodill pictured to the left.







2 Comments

Marilyn said...
Thank you so much Pat for that touching story. My grandmother Alta loved to show you her flowers and was quick to want to teach you. For someone reason I just didn't understand all the moving and twisting, so I settled for her making my floweres for me. I had a boquet of those floweres she made me in an old vase in my room. We lost our home along with my beautiful flowers in a devastating fire in 1965. If only I could have the opportunity to watch her ..just one more time. Much love to you Pat for bringing my memories to light again!
9:36 PM

Granny Sue said...
What a story--it's almost a book compressed into a few lines. I cannot imagine what it was like for your mother to go through that, and yet this determined woman managed to get the flowers for his grave. Her story is humbling.
10:00 PM

Michael Rush's Family & the Rush Hotel

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by David Parmer

Michael Rush was the youngest son of Andrew and Abalene Rush, immigrants from the County Roscommon. In 1892, he married Elizabeth Farrell, another child of County Roscommon immigrants. They were the parents of eight children who were born in Orlando, namely Andrew, Peter, Abalena, Anna, Helena, Gertrude, Bertha, and Marie.

To the left are Andrew and Elizabeth Rush with their two oldest children, Andrew (left) and Peter (right). A photo of Elizabeth in later years is at the end of this entry.

See the Feb '08 entry The Rushes From County Roscommon for more on Michael's parents.

See the Jan '08 entry A Summer Wedding for Elizabeth's sister's wedding. It includes a photo of the Farrell sisters in old age.

Entrepreneur

As the West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railroad was building its track from Weston down Oil Creek around 1890, Michael Rush, the third son of Andrew and Abalena Rush, recognized the economic potential of the little town of Orlando, then known as Confluence, and began purchasing land in the village. Between 1891 and 1899 Michael Rush purchased ten different parcels of land in or around Orlando. From 1900 to 1907, he bought ten additional parcels of land. These twenty parcels of real estate were in located in Braxton County. Michael also owned land on Goosepen and Indian Fork in Lewis county, as well as approximately 400 acres in Gilmer County. By 1907, when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Coal and Coke Railroad were shuttling trains through the little town of Orlando day and night, Michael had become a successful businessman and one of the largest landowners in this little community at the mouth of Clover Fork. Judging from his real estate holdings, he was doing very well. Several of the parcels of real estate purchased by Rush were oil or gas producing properties.

Right are young Marie and Andrew Rush with Roy "Boss" Riffle at the Orlando train station. Boss Riffle's wife Idena & son Fred are in the Sept "07 entry Fred Riffle's Strawberries

The Rush Hotel

The Rush Hotel was one of the major investments made by Michael Rush in the Confluence community. The hotel was located on the northern (left) side of the street as you pass across the Oil Creek Bridge headed toward down town. The building was a two story frame building, approximately fifty feet long running with the street and forty feet deep, with porches on both floors, running across the street side of the building and across the eastern end of the building. The eastern end of the building faced toward the right of way of the West Virginia and Pittsburgh Railroad (Baltimore and Ohio ) coming down Oil Creek. The entrance to the hotel was on the eastern end of the building. The Rush Hotel was the first and finest hotel in Confluence at the time. Just as in the Dolan Hotel of Orlando, members of the Rush family worked in the hostelry.

The Rush Hotel.

Susie Stark of Weston, granddaughter of Margaret (Rush) Kraus who was the sister of Michael Rush, recalls that her grandmother told her that she prepared and sold lunches for passengers on the trains which stopped in Confluence to allow passengers to change trains and also for water and freight stops. Members of the Dolan family likewise made a living for many years selling packed lunches to train passengers. In the first decade of the 1900s, oil and gas exploration brought a boom to Confluence. The town was the nearest rail freight stop for equipment and supplies needed by the drillers and related trades. Teamsters were on the streets of Confluence everyday picking up supplies or oil and gas field workers, or bringing barrels of oil for shipment by rail. The Rush Hotel enjoyed the trade brought by the boom and prospects looked good for the Michael Rush family.

To the right is a photo taken from the Henline home on the hill south of downtown Orlando.

The Michael & Elizabeth Rush Home

The Michael Rush home in Confluence was originally the home of H. D. Mitchell and was acquired by Rush in 1891. This two story frame dwelling was located on the western side of Oil Creek and just south of the later-built Coal and Coke Railroad line. It was next to the later-built St. Michael’s Catholic Church which was erected on land conveyed to the Catholic Bishop by the heirs of Michael Rush. On the east side the Rush house was next to the original Dolan Hotel which was built approximately 1905.

Michael Rush's Death

The Burnsville Enterprise newspaper dated November, 1907 reported on the death of Michael A. Rush:

M. A. Rush Dead
A Well Known Merchant of Orlando
Died of Typhoid Fever

"The many friends throughout the county and all over the State will hear with regret of the death of Mike Rush of Orlando, at the home of his sister, Mrs. William McGann of Weston, last Friday noon. He went there a few days ago to take medical treatment when it was discovered that he had a well developed case of typhoid fever. He immediately took to bed at the home of his sister, where he died at noon Friday. He was a well known merchant of Orlando and leaves a wife and six children. His remains were brought to Orlando Saturday morning when his interment took place Sunday.”

In the early twentieth century, medicine was still a primitive art and preventive health care was practically nonexistent. Vaccinations, serums, and effective medicines were still decades away. Some diseases were common, unchecked and nearly all fatal. One of these diseases was typhoid fever and many deaths in the early 1900s were attributable to the disease. Michael, who in November 1907 had been married for only fifteen years and was but forty two years of age, fell a victim of typhoid fever. Michael Rush took ill in the first week of November 1907 and was dead by November 7th at the home of his sister Mary McGann of Weston. The angel of recovery did not visit Michael Rush. His body was returned to Orlando from the home of his sister in Weston and lay in repose at the Rush Hotel for the wake, with Mike Moran in charge of arrangements.

November 10, 1907 was a dark, cold and sad Sunday as the funeral procession for Michael A. Rush prepared to depart Orlando for St. Bridget’s Cemetery at Goosepen. Mike Moran's two-horse funeral wagon bearing the casket of the deceased paused briefly at the end of the Orlando Bridge so Lee Morrison, photographer extraordinaire of Orlando, could memorialize the solemn occasion of the death of Michael Rush, the prominent Orlando merchant and hotel keeper. Many kinsmen and friends, mounted upon their horses, arrayed in front and behind the funeral wagon and carriages bearing the Rush family, for the five mile trip to the burial ground. Michael’s oldest child Andrew was thirteen, his child, Marie, was seven months old. It was a long cold trip to the cemetery for adults and more so for young grieving children. But such is God’s will.
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A Change of Hotel Management

At the death of her husband, Elizabeth (Farrell) Rush had eight minor children to nurture, the youngest of which was not yet a year old. Elizabeth operated the hotel for a few years, but, determining it impossible to raise her children and operate a busy hotel, she made arrangements with Burgess V. Kelly to lease the hotel. Kelly operated the hotel for a short period and renamed it Hotel Kelly but he soon decided that the hotel trade was not for him and gave it up. Elizabeth then arranged for her late husband’s sisters, Margaret (Rush) Kraus and Ella (Rush) Kraus, to operate the hotel which they did for a short while.

To the right, an ad for Hotel Kelly from a Braxton County newspaper.

We know that in August 1917, the hotel was again known as the Rush Hotel. In his column in the Buzzardtown News, Uncle Zeke mentioned that Mrs. Solomon Mick of Rocky Fork who came to Orlando to shop “got lost in the city of Orlando the other day and mistook the Rush Hotel for Dock Means Store. Mrs. Mick will have to come to town a little oftener.” The Dock Means Store was in the building opposite the hotel.

The Rush Hotel remained in the ownership of the Rush family until 1933. The Michael Rush heirs sold the former Rush Hotel in Orlando to J. E. Riffle, C. M. Mick and D. S. Bennett, Trustees of Washington Lodge No. 194 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in August 1933 for the sum of $491.36 to be paid within one year. The parcel conveyed contained approximately 3968 3/4 square feet, or roughly an eighth of an acre.

The Rush Children and Memories of Orlando

Helena

“Helen” Rush, daughter of Michael and Elizabeth, married Bernard Fahey of Crooked Run. Helena and Bernard lived their married lives in Akron, Ohio and had no children. Bernard’s twin brother William also lived in Akron. William’s daughter, Anne Frey, recalls that the last time she saw Elizabeth (Farrell) Rush was at the funeral service for her Aunt Helena.

Helena (Rush) Fahey is to the right.

Gertrude & Bertha, the Twins

Robert Bramham, the son of Marie (Rush) Bramham, recalls that his Aunt Gertrude Rush frequently talked about the marvelous dances which took place in Orlando during the weekends. The top floor of the Wholesale Building owned by Mike Moran was frequently used a dance hall on weekends and undoubtedly was the site of the weekend dances.

Two photos of the twins. Double click to enlarge the photo to the left to see the patchwork quilt the girls are wrapped in.
To the right are, (L to R) Gertrude and Bertha Rush.

Elizabeth Wright, daughter of Marie (Rush) Bramham, recalls hearing conversations about Orlando among her family when she was young and recalls her aunt Bertha, known to her as “Aunt Bobbi,” talk about the “rooming house” her family owned in Orlando, and that the family was busy providing lodging to itinerant farm and oil field workers in the Orlando area.

Gertrude became a nurse and last worked in New Yourk. Bobbi worked in Clarksburg in dress shops and other retail stores.

Abelena

Abalena was a secretary. She married Peter Frederick Von Thaden from Weehawken, NJ. He was known as “Von”. His parents were immigrants: his father from Germany and his mother from Denmark. Peter was not Catholic, but on Nov 7, 1935 they were married in the Sacristy of Clarksburg’s Catholic Church

In 1936, Von and Abelena moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he worked in the Soil Conservation Program as an Accountant. Abelena worked in New Mexico as a stenographer for the Santa Fe Railroad.

On November 28, 1936, their only child, a daughter, was born in Albuquerque. They named her name is Martha Ann. She had strawberry blond hair and was the apple of her father’s eye. Martha can remember going on family picnics. She remembers her mother as knowing her own mind and she was willing to share it with others. Martha remembers her father a quiet and rather passive.


Von transferred to job in Colorado and in late 1950’s and he and Abelena retired in Melbourne, FL Abelena (Rush) Von Thaden died October 31, 1978 while she and her husband Peter were visiting relatives in WVA. She suffered a stroke. She was buried in Melbourne, Florida. Peter died of complications of Leukemia in 1983. He was buried in Melbourne next to his wife.
Above, left and right, Abalene
Left, Peter "Von" von Thaden

Marie: Love is a Carved Name

The name M A R I E .R U S H was carved deeply into the wooden steering wheel of the old Model T Ford. Tom Pumphrey was just a boy when he read the inscription. He had heard of the etched name of the young Orlando lady on the car’s steering wheel long before he saw it and he was anxious to have his first look at it. The carving was obviously done with great care and love. Many people asked to look at the mystical name embedded permanently on the steering wheel of the old car which Tom Pumphrey’s father had bought second-hand from Tom Straley in the early 1930s. Now eighty six years of age, Tom Pumphrey recalls the story well.

The Fealy farm was located at the junction of the Goosepen Road and the Three Lick Road as it came down westward off Ryan’s Hill. Ella Fealy had married Floyd Straley and the couple lived on her family’s farm. One of their children, Tom, was born in 1903. Floyd and Ella Straley bought a Model T Ford when their son Tom was a teenager. Although originally intended as a family automobile, young Tom soon found it to be a necessity for traveling to Orlando, the closest metropolis to his family’s Goosepen farm, where he spent most of his leisure time. A young lady of Orlando, Marie Rush, the daughter of Elizabeth (Farrell) Rush and the late Michael Rush, was the most beautiful thing young Tom Straley had ever seen to that point in his life and he was immediately infatuated with her. He made many a trip thereafter to Orlando.

A bashful youth, Tom, could summon up enough courage to speak with the beautiful Marie, but lacked the confidence to express his romantic interest in her. As a substitute for advising Marie of his love, Tom lovingly carved her name on the steering wheel of his car.

Elizabeth Rush, the mother of Marie and her two brothers and five sisters, had decided to move her family from Orlando to Clarksburg around 1920. Without knowing of Tom’s love for her, the beautiful Marie and her family moved to Clarksburg, far from the Goosepen farm of Tom’s youth and his heart.

Tom Straley lived the remainder of his life as a bachelor. His beautiful Marie met her future husband in Clarksburg and never returned to Orlando. Tom finally sold his old Model T with the inscription of his secret love in mellowed patina emblazoned on the steering wheel. He died in 1951 at the age of forty eight.

Elizabeth (Bramham) Wright, daughter of Marie (Rush) Bramham, when recently asked about whether her mother knew Tom Straley, her secret admirer from Goosepen, recalls that her mother used to be teased by her sisters about some boy from Orlando but she never learned his name.

Andrew Rush

John Rush, son of Andrew, says Andrew was living in Clarksburg when he was called up for service during WW I.

Pictured left and right is Andrew V. Rush.

In the 1930s and 1940s, when Andrew Rush was engaged in the insurance business in Weston, he would often find his occupation taking him through Burnsville. Andrew’s son, John, would frequently travel with his father. Andrew always made it a point to stop by the Burnsville Drug Store and say hello to Doctor Stanton Trimble who also once made Orlando his home in the early 20th century. Although Doc Trimble was a bit older than Andrew they enjoyed reminiscing about their former days in the railroad town of Orlando. John Rush, son of Andrew Rush, and grandson of Michael A. and Elizabeth Rush, recalls that his Aunt Bertha Rush, his father’s sister, worked in Clarksburg in dress shops and other retail stores after the family moved to Clarksburg.

Ann and Pete

Ann became a nurse along with her sister Gertrude. Ann died of Multiple Sclerosis at Johns Hopkins Hopsital at the age of 57.

Pete also died from Multiple Sclerosis. He died at the age of 61 in St Mary's Hopsital where his sisters had trained.

To the left is Anne, detail taken from a group picture.

To the left is Pete Rush riding a cow in Orlando, with the help of buddies. Holding the cow is Doc Henline. Behind the cow from left to right are Hob Henline, Sam Craft's son, Albert Butcher, Clyde Skinner, Dan Moran, and Sam Craft.
To the right is Uncle Pete with Andrew's son Michael.

The Widow Rush and Her Family

Leave for Clarksburg

Two of the Rush daughters, Anna and Gertrude, decided early in life that they would devote their careers to nursing. They enrolled at the St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing in Clarksburg about the time of the First World War.

In order to stay close to her daughters and to take advantage of the amenities of a larger city for her family, Elizabeth left the still booming town of Orlando. She moved in 1919 to 311 Jefferson Street in Clarksburg where she remained to the end of her life. Thus ended a thirty year connection between the Rush family and the town of Orlando.

To the left is Elizabeth (Farrell) Rush.

To the right are Andrew, Abelena, Elizabeth, Gertrude, Bertha, Helen, Marie and Peter. Ann took the photo.
Below right, Elizabeth with daughter Abelene, granddaughter Martha and great-grandson Josef.


Elizabeth sold some of the real estate holdings owned by her late husband in the Orlando area however she continued to hold other real estate and the oil and gas leases which she had executed with the Pittsburgh and West Virginia Gas Company and the Hope Natural Gas Company on about 270 acres in Braxton County and on her interest in the Farrell property on Rocky Fork which consisted of about 600 acres.

Although Elizabeth occasionally returned to Orlando for visits and stayed at the Dolan Hotel, she lived the rest of her life in Clarksburg and died in 1970 at age 98. She was buried at St. Bridget’s Cemetery.


comment 1: The St. Mary’s School of Nursing, which was affiliated with St. Mary’s Hospital, was chartered in 1905 and continued graduating nurses until 1968. It was operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Wheeling.

To the right is the St. Mary Hospital about the time the Rush sisters were there.



comment 2: The Rushes' Orlando home, which they purchased from businessman H. D. Mitchell, was later the home of Charley Knight. Later, the buildning's materials were used to build the home of Coleman and Helen (Frame) Jeffries. The home built from the materials of the Rush house is featured in the Feb '07 entry
Childhood in Orlando: Early Remembrances of Hauling Lumber.