NOTE A.
The original way of spelling this name was Whetzell, or Whitzell. The pronunciation
was Whet-zell. We have several signatures of Jacob Wetzel,
who was sheriff of Ohio county, all of which are spelt with an "h." Considerable
difficulty was created in the Virginia Legislature, at the time of
forming the county of "Wetzel," as to the proper orthography. An examination
of the files in the land office, induced the committee to adopt that
followed by ourselves.
In this decision they were clearly correct. During the past summer, the
author, after examining various papers in possession of friends of the family,
was shown an old account book, belonging to Mr. John Rodefer, Sr., an
aged and respectable citizen of Belmont county, Ohio, and by marriage, a
relative of the Wetzels. This account book is in the hand-writing of Mr.
Rodefer, and was made at the time he lived in the neighborhood of the
Wetzels, on Wheeling creek. There are a number of entries in the name of
"Wetzel," or in German, as it is written, "Watzal." He said that was
the manner in which the family wrote it, and that for some time after
coming to the west, noticed the name in various places upon old books and
papers in possession of the family, and that it was invariably written,
"Watzal," or in English, Wetzel. Regarding this as conclusive, we have
adopted the style.
The signatures of Jacob Wetzel, to which allusion has been made, were not
executed by that person, as we are informed by Mr. Rodefer, but by a
deputy. This is doubtless correct, as we notice the name spelled differently,
in different places.
