University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER I.

FIRST SETTLEMENT ON THE MONONGAHELA.

In North-western Virginia, the earliest attempts at settlement
were made on the Monongahela and its tributaries.
Early in the spring of 1754, David Tygart and a man named
Files, established themselves and families on the east branch
of that river; Tygart in the beautiful and highly productive
valley which still bears his name, and Files at the mouth of
a creek, where Beverly, the county-seat of Randolph, has
since been located. These were the first settlements in Virginia
west of Laurel Ridge, and the family of Files became
the first of that long and terrible list of unfortunate victims
to savage ferocity with which the early annals of the west
are stained. The pioneers soon felt convinced that their removal
had been premature. Their provisions were about to
fail, and not having been able to raise any, they wisely determined
to retrace their steps as speedily as possible. But,
alas! before the family of Files could be got off, the savages
discovered them, and every member, except the oldest son,
massacred. Tygart with his family escaped, and returned to
their friends, east of the mountains.

Two years previous to these occurrences, Christopher Gist,
agent of the Ohio Company, settled on a tract of land in
Fayette county, Pa., now well known as Mount Braddock.
His was the first actual settlement west of the mountains on
any of the tributaries of the upper Ohio. Being well known
as an active and efficient backwoodsman, his presence in the
west induced several other families to come out and settle
around him. During the following year several adventurers
visited that part of Pennsylvania, (supposed at the time to be
in Virginia). Of these were Wendell Brown, his two sons,
and Frederick Waltzer, who settled near where Brownsville
now stands. Others visited different points on the Monongahela,
above the mouth of Redstone, (Brownsville).

Among this number were Dr. Thomas Eckarly and his two
brothers. They were Pennsylvanians, and belonged to that
peculiar order called Dunkers.[1] In the wild and solitary
regions of the West, these followers of the founder of
Euphrate, hoped to find seclusion from the world, and the undisturbed
opportunity of carrying out the principles of their
faith. After exploring the country for some distance, they
finally settled on Cheat river, at the place now known as
Dunker bottom. Here they lived in peace and plenty for
some years (not, however, as a recent writer says, in "eating
an abundance of meat, as delicious as the refined palate of a
modern epicure could well wish," because, all animal food was
expressly forbidden by their creed, except on special occasions).
At length the despoiler came, and the single-hearted
recluse fell before his ruthless hand.[2]

In the year 1758, a settlement was effected near the mouth
of Decker's Creek, by Thomas Decker and others.

In the spring of 1759, a party of Mingoes and
Delawares made a descent upon the inhabitants, and cut them
off.[4]

Although adventurers continued to penetrate the country
lying between the Monongahela river and Laurel ridge, no
regular emigration took place, nor were any permanent settlements
effected until 1768. During this year a number of
persons made improvements on Buchanan, an important
tributary to Tygart valley river; other settlements were
effected on the Monongahela. Tradition acquaints us with
some circumstances attending the earlier settlements in this
part of Virginia. In 1761, four men, (Childers,

Linsey and two brothers, by the name of Pringle,)
deserted from Fort Pitt. Ascending the Monongahela, eight
or ten miles above Brownsville, the party made a short stay,
then crossed to the Youghiogheny, where they wintered.

In one of their hunting rambles, Samuel Pringle came on
a path which he supposed would lead to the inhabited parts of
Virginia. On his return, he mentioned the discovery and his
supposition, to his comrades, and they resolved on tracing it.
This they accordingly did, and it conducted them to Loony's
creek, then the most remote western settlement. While among
the inhabitants on Loony's creek, they were recognized, and
some of the party apprehended as deserters. John and
Samuel Pringle succeeded in making an escape to their camp
in the glades, where they remained till some time in the year
1764.

During this year, and while in the employ of John Simpson,
(a trapper, who had come there in quest of furs,) they
determined on removing farther west. Simpson was induced
to this by the prospect of enjoying the woods free from the
intrusion of other hunters (the glades having begun to be a
common hunting ground for the inhabitants of the south
branch;) while a regard for their personal safety caused the
Pringles to avoid a situation in which they might be exposed
to the observation of other men.

In journeying through the wilderness, and after having
crossed Cheat river, at the Horse-shoe, a quarrel arose between

Simpson and one of the Pringles; and notwithstanding
that peace and harmony were so necessary to their mutual
safety and comfort, yet each so far indulged the angry
passions which had been excited as at length to produce a
separation.

Simpson crossed over the Valley river, near the mouth of
Pleasant creek, and passing on to the head of another water
course, gave to it the name of Simpson's creek. Thence he
went westward, and fell over on a stream which he called Elk:
at the mouth of this he erected a camp, and continued to
reside for more than twelve months. During this time he
neither saw the Pringles nor any human being; and at the
expiration of it went to the south branch, where he disposed
of his furs and skins and then returned to, and continued
at, his encampment, at the mouth of Elk, until permanent
settlements were made in its vicinity.

The Pringles kept up the Valley river till they observed a
large right hand fork, (now Buchanan,) which they ascended
some miles; and at the mouth of a small branch, (afterwards
called Turkey run,) they took up their abode in the cavity of
a large sycamore tree. The stump of this is still (1831) to
be seen, and is an object of no little veneration with the immediate
descendants of the first settlers.

The situation of these men, during a residence here of
several years, although rendered somewhat necessary by their
previous conduct, could not have been very enviable. Deserters
from the army, a constant fear of discovery filled them
with apprehension. In the vicinity of a savage foe, the
tomahawk and scalping knife were ever present to their
imaginations. Remote from civilized man, their solitude was
hourly interrupted by the frightful shrieks of the panther, or
the hideous howlings of the wolf. And though the herds of
buffalo, elk and deer which sported around, enabled them
easily to supply their larder, yet the want of salt, of bread,
and of every species of vegetable, must have abated their
relish for the otherwise delicious loin of the one and haunch
of the others. The low state of their little magazine, too,
while it limited their hunting, caused them, from a fear of
discovery, to shrink at the idea of being driven to the settlements
for a supply of ammunition. And not until they were
actually reduced to two loads of powder, could they be induced
to venture again into the vicinity of their fellow-men.
In the latter part of the year 1767 John left his brother, and

intending to make for a trading post on the Shenandoah,
appointed the period of his return.

Samuel Pringle, in the absence of John, suffered a good
deal. The stock of provisions left him became entirely exhausted—one
of his loads of powder was expended in a fruitless
attempt to shoot a buck—his brother had already delayed
his return several days longer than was intended, and the
other was apprehensive that he had been recognized, taken to
Fort Pitt, and would probably never get back. With his
remaining load of powder, however, he was fortunate enough
to kill a fine buffalo; and John soon after returned with the
news of peace, both with the Indians and French. The two
brothers agreed to leave their retirement.

Their wilderness habitation was not left without some regret.
Every object around had become more or less endeared to
them. The tree, in whose hollow they had been so frequently
sheltered from storm and tempest, was regarded with so great
a reverence that they resolved, so soon as they could prevail
on a few others to accompany them, again to return to this
asylum of their exile.

In a population such as then composed the chief part of
the south branch settlement, this was no difficult matter. All
of them were used to the frontier manner of living; the most
of them had gone thither to acquire land; many had failed
entirely in this object, while others were obliged to occupy
poor and broken situations off the river; the fertile bottoms
having been previously located. Add to this the passion of
hunting, (which was a ruling one with many,) with the comparative
scarcity of game in their neighborhood, and it need
not excite surprise that the proposition of the Pringles to
form a settlement, in such a country as they represented that
on Buchanan to be, was eagerly embraced by many.

In the fall of the ensuing year, (1768,) Samuel Pringle,
and several others who wished first to examine for themselves,
visited the country which had been so long occupied by the
Pringles alone. Being pleased with it, they repaired thither,
with a few others, in the following spring, with the view of
cultivating as much corn as would serve their families the first
year after emigrating. Having examined the country, some
of them proceeded to improve the spots of their choice. John
Jackson, (who was accompanied by his sons, George and
Edward,) settled at the mouth of Turkey run, where his
daughter, Mrs. Davis, now (1831) lives—John Hacker,

higher up on Buchanan river, where Bush's fort was afterwards
established—Alexander and Thomas Sleeth, near to
Jackson's, on what is now known as the Forenash plantation.
The others of the party, (William Hacker, Thomas and Jesse
Hughes, John and William Radcliff and John Brown,) appear
to have employed their time exclusively in hunting, neither
of them making any improvement of land for his own benefit.
Yet were they of very considerable service to the new settlement.
Those who had commenced clearing land, were supplied
by them with abundance of meat, while in their hunting
excursions through the country a better knowledge of it was
obtained than could have been acquired had they been engaged
in making improvements.

In one of these expeditions, they discovered and gave name
to Stone-coal creek, which, flowing westwardly, induced the
supposition that it discharged itself directly into the Ohio.
Descending this creek, to ascertain the fact, they came to its
confluence with a river, which they then called, and which has
since been known as the West Fork. After having gone some
distance down the river, they returned by a different route to
the settlement, better pleased with the land on it and some of
its tributaries than with that on Buchanan.

Soon after this, other emigrants arrived under the guidance
of Samuel Pringle. Among them were John and Benjamin
Cutright, who settled on Buchanan, where John Cutright,
the younger, now lives, and Henry Rule, who improved just
above the mouth of Fink's run. Before the arrival of Samuel
Pringle, John Hacker had begun to improve the spot which
Pringle had chosen for himself. To prevent any unpleasant
result, Hacker agreed that if Pringle would clear as much
land on a creek which had been recently discovered by the
hunters, as he had on Buchanan, they could then exchange
places. Complying with this condition, Pringle took possession
of the farm on Buchanan, and Hacker of the land improved
by Pringle on the creek, which was hence called
Hacker's creek. John and William Radcliff then settled on
this stream. These comprise all the improvements which
were made on the upper branches of the Monongahela in the
years 1769 and 1770.

At the close of the working season of 1769, some of these
adventurers went to their families on the south branch; and
when they returned to gather their crops in the fall, found
them entirely destroyed. In their absence the buffaloes, no

longer awed by the presence of man, had trespassed on their
enclosures, and eaten their corn to the ground—this delayed
the removal of their families till the winter of 1770.[6]

In 1770, emigrants began to reach the Monongahela and
Ohio rivers in considerable number. During this year, Capt.
Cresap erected a cabin at the mouth of Nemocalling[7] creek,
(now Dunlap's,) which at that time was the initial point of
the great trail over the Alleghanies, a route pursued by Braddock,
and afterwards with but few changes, and those for
the worse, adopted for the Cumberland or National road.3
This point continued for many years the principal place of
embarkation for the whole western and southern country.

The Horse-shoe bottom on Cheat river was settled about
this time by Capt. Parsons, while other portions of that very
productive region were located by a number of enterprising
men, among whom we may mention Cuningham, Fink, Goff,
Minear, Butler, &c. &c.

The spirit of emigration seemed now effectually aroused,
and as the fertility of the soil, salubrity of the climate, and
apparently inexhaustible supply of game became more generally
known to those east of the mountains, the rush of emigrants
up to the breaking out of the Indian war, in 1774,
was very great. They spread over the fine alluvion of the
upper Monongahela; along West Fork, Elk, and Simpson's
creek. Of those who settled about this time in the neighborhood
of Clarksburg, we find the names of Nutter, Cotrial,
Beard, Patton, Davisson, etc.