Monongahela

This is a study of the settlement of the area along the Monongahela River in western Virginia that later became Morgantown, with emphasis on the genealogy of a group of early families. The three most important families--Evans, Martin, and Morgan--are discussed first, followed in alphabetical order by Bowman, Burris, Davis, Dent, Gallatin, Haymond, Judy, Popeno, Prickett, Scott, Snider and Swearingen.

In 1703 my immigrant paternal ancestor, Jean Papineau, a Huguenot refugee, was first recorded managing a leather factory in the Huguenot village of New Oxford, Massachusetts. He died in New York City where his second son, Peter, was baptized in 1706. In 1709 his widow Charlotte Bouniot Popino married Samuel Seeley, a fourth-generation colonist in Stamford, Connecticut. She bore him eight more children. In 1715, the family moved to the frontier at Goshen, in Orange County, NY Around 1735, Peter moved to Salem County, New Jersey, where he died in 1755.

His son Peter was probably born around 1737. In 1772 he settled in northwestern Virginia in what is now Monongalia County. He married Elizabeth Martin and their first child together, Nancy Popino, was born in 1775. She was followed by James in 1777 and Peter Jr. after that, probably 1778-9. Leaving his family behind, Peter went to Kentucky in 1782 or 1783, later to Vincennes, Indiana, and was reportedly killed by Indians in 1790. Elizabeth's son by an earlier marriage, Harry Martin, also went to Kentucky where, in 1789, he married Sarah Morgan, daughter of John and Martha Constant Morgan from Hampshire County, Va. (These Morgans are not known to be related to the Morgans of Monongalia County.) In 1792 in Kentucky, Nancy Popino married Sarah's brother, Evan Morgan. By this time the rest of the Popino family was in Kentucky and, in 1799, they moved to Ohio.

In 1820, in an attempt to claim rights to his grandfather's land in Salem County, New Jersey, James Popenoe returned to Monongalia County to look up relatives. His letter (hereafter called his deposition), which has remained with the family and is attached as Appendix A, is the most valuable single document in sorting out the history of this family at that time. It shows that Elizabeth Martin Popino's brother was Col. Charles Martin and her sister was Ann Martin Evans (called Nancy in the deposition) wife of Col. John Evans.

This paper draws heavily on a three-day visit to Morgantown in November 1993 where I researched some of the original records in the Courthouse but spent most of my time at the Regional History Collection at West Virginia University. That collection includes about three million manuscripts, a number of which are genealogical. I begin with a review of the history of the area in the last half of the eighteenth century. Then I look in some detail at the history and genealogies of several families with whom ours had some association. It is only by looking at others in the community that one can get the whole picture. Often a study of such people will provide new clues about the original object of one's search.

Before reading the history, get your bearings by studying the maps of the Monongahela River area in the latter half of the 18th Century.[2] The first map shows the larger area. Note the Monongahela River meeting the Allegheny River at Fort Pitt to form the Ohio River. Upstream, notice Redstone Old Fort at the end of Braddock's Road. Farther up, Dunkard Creek and the junction with the Cheat River. Madison's Landing is an old name for the settlement at the mouth of Decker Creek, which became Morgantown. Finally, farther upstream, notice Prickett's Fort and Buffalo Creek which will figure frequently in this paper.

The second map shows the immediate area of our concern and the location of many of the families discussed herein. The scale is about 5/8" = 1 mile. The area below the State line is Monongalia County. In Pennsylvania, Greene County is on the left side of the river; Fayette County is on the right. At one time this was all considered Virginia; later it became Bedford County and then Washington County, PA. Charles Martin's homestead was 800 acres on Crooked Run (see Fort Martin), running from the state line down to the river. Peter Popino's homestead was on the left, between Doll's Run and the headwaters of Scott Run. The Evans and Burris families were across the river on the flats above Morgantown. Popino Spring and Popino Run were in this area and as I shall show later, I believe this is where the family lived after Peter went to Kentucky. (The current U.S. Geologic Survey map of Monongalia County calls it Popenoe Run.)

During the early part of the 18th Century, colonial settlement was limited to the Atlantic seaboard, east of the Alleghenies and the Blue Ridge. In 1738 the Virginia Legislature set up Augusta County extending from the Blue Ridge north and west as far as anyone might want to go. Today its territory is represented by the Shenandoah Valley (then called the Valley of Virginia), over forty counties of West Virginia, and the states of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.

In 1749 George II chartered the Ohio Company whose founders were American and English capitalists and speculators, including Augustine and Lawrence Washington. The company was granted 500,000 acres of land on the Ohio between the Monongahela and Kanawha rivers. (The latter runs through south central West Virginia, by present-day Charleston, and empties into the Ohio at Point Pleasant--about 120 miles from Morgantown.) The company was charged with settling 100 families and building a fort within seven years--a goal it never achieved. Prior to this time the only white men to visit the area were traders, who supplied ammunition, rum and other articles of civilization to the Indians in exchange for furs and ginseng. In 1750-51, the company sent an exploration party headed by Christopher Gist which passed through our area (see map 2). In 1752 Gist took out a group of eleven families and made a settlement in western Pennsylvania, northeast of the Monongahela.

In the same year, the French began to build a series of forts to protect their claim to the area west of the Alleghenies. The Virginia governor responded in 1753 by sending twenty-one-year-old George Washington to warn the French that they were encroaching on Virginia territory. He was treated with courtesy but unable to persuade them to retire. The next year the English began to build a fort at the forks of the Ohio but before it was far along, the French arrived with 1,000 troops, politely evicted the English, and proceeded to build their own fort, Fort Duquesne. A new English force was dispatched with Lt. Col. Washington as second in command. In May, 1754, at Great Meadows near Christopher Gist's plantation, they built a small fort, called Fort Necessity. Washington's force was attacked and beaten by the French, and he returned ignominiously to Williamsburg. The French burned the cabins of the Gist settlement and the settlers also retreated back across the Alleghenies. The French and Indian War had begun.

The French were now determined to hold Fort Duquesne and the garrison was strengthened. Not to be outdone, the English sent over Major General Edward Braddock to lead a major effort to oust them. Washington was his aid de camp. During 1755 they built a road following the route earlier taken by Gist (which later became the National Pike and is now Route 40). On July 9, as they neared Pittsburgh, Braddock's troops were ambushed by the French and their Indian allies, and massacred. Braddock died and Washington led the retreat of the dispirited survivors. This defeat again left the frontier unprotected and settlers and traders mostly fled east of the mountains.

In 1758 the English tried again, this time with a very large force of over 7,000 men under Brigadier General John Forbes, with Washington commanding the second division under him. A fort had already been built at Bedford, Pennsylvania, about forty miles north of Fort Cumberland where Braddock's road began. A dispute raged over whether the army should build a shorter, new road west from Fort Bedford, or use the existing road to the south. Virginia interests vied with Philadelphia ones, aware that after the war the road would have great commercial value. Philadelphia won, and Forbes' road (now Route 30) was cut through from Fort Bedford, with a connection to Braddock's road at Redstone Old Fort (formerly an ancient Indian fort), on the Monongahela river about 40 miles south of Fort Duquesne (i.e., upriver). On November 25, 1758, Forbes' massive army finally arrved, only to find that the French had the good sense not to fight such a force, and had burned their fort and departed. Forbes renamed the area Pittsbourgh, after the English prime minister, and ordered the construction of Fort Pitt to defend the frontier.

While Forbes army was marching over the mountains the English negotiated with the Indians the Treaty of Easton whereby all land west of the mountains was barred to settlers and reserved for the Indians. At later Indian conferences at Fort Pitt the English promise was reaffirmed. A few settlers were allowed only around Fort Pitt and Fort Ligonier to raise food for the garrisons. Nevertheless, with the new security, hardy souls began drifting in, often claiming to be hunters but at the same time blazing trees to mark land claims and sometimes building log cabins. Col. Bouquet, the commander at Fort Pitt, ordered them out and frequently burned their cabins but to little avail. The Indians protested to him and he protested to the governor about these "vagabonds". In October 1761 he declared in a formal proclamation that "this is therefore to forbid any of his majesty's subjects to settle or hunt west of the Allegheny mountains on any pretense whatsoever."

In 1763 the French and Indian War was formally settled by the Treaty of Paris. This gave the English clear claim to the Ohio valley. To maintain the policy of keeping settlers out and reserving the land for the Indians, King George issued the Proclamation of 1763 which restated the previous policy. The proclamation line ran along the Allegheny divide from Canada south. It was as ineffectual as it was sweeping. Forbes road (for Pennsylvanians) and Braddock's road (for Virginians) were the two principal arteries in the American colonies puncturing the line and Redstone where they met was close both to Fort Pitt and what later became Monongalia County. So this area saw the major push of settlers across the mountains.

The term roads might lead us to think of something more substantial than actually existed. They frequently ran along the tops of hills where the visibility was better to ward off attack. Veech reports[3] that, with the exception of the army roads, none of the streams was bridged and a five degree grade was not thought of. They were mere paths through the woods, and among the laurels and rocks of the mountains. . "The writer has seen as many as thirty pack horses in a caravan, pass through Uniontown in a day....they were freighted with salt, sugar kettles, bar iron, nail rods, dry goods, glass, kegs of rum, powder, lead, etc...A good horse carried from two hundred to three hundred pounds, besides provisions and feed.....A bear skin to each horse was an indispensable accompaniment, for a bed to the drivers, and to protect the cargo from rain....Emigrants would have their little all swung across one, two, or more horses, according to their abundance, surmounted by their wives and children...."

The French and Indian War was followed almost immediately by an Indian war called Pontiac's War, which dragged on until 1765, causing further hardship along the frontier and delaying significant immigration. The continued warfare between the Indians defending their territory and the colonists encroaching on it, led both the Indian leaders and the English to look for a negotiated solution. All Indians recognized that formal Indian title to the land between the Alleghenies and the Ohio belonged to the Iroquois, centered in western New York. However, the land had never been occupied by them, and was used as a hunting ground by many tribes. Some Shawnee, Delaware, and Mingo probably lived there, though they were mainly located across the Ohio River. This land also provided a barrier between the Iroquois and the Cherokee, with whom they were frequently at war.

In 1768 delegates from the Iroquois Six Nations met with Sir William Johnson, the Crown's Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and delegates from Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey at Fort Stanwyx (now Rome, NY). The Iroquois, in a great sell-out of the other tribes, agreed to sell to His Majesty's Government (i.e., the colonies) not only the area around and below Fort Pitt, but also the Cherokee and Shawnee hunting lands below the Ohio in the lower valleys of the Cumberland and the Tennessee. From this the Iroquois hoped to gain temporary relief from colonial pressures against their own lands, and in this they were successful. The Proclamation Line was officially changed by the Treaty of Fort Stanwyx to run just north of Fort Pitt to the Ohio River, down the River to just below the Kanawha River, and then southeasterly back to the original line. Western Virginia was officially open for business.

Now let's look at what had been happening along the Monongahela up to this time. In 1754 Samuel Eckerly (or Eckerlin) with his two brothers and a few others came from eastern Cheat River, 8 or 10 miles downriver from present-day Morgantown. They were Dunkards (something like Mennonites, opposed to war, and probably settling there to avoid conscription). They called the creek Dunkard Creek. They built a cabin near there and lived at peace and unseen for a year or two. Finally in 1757, running out of salt and ammunition, Samuel Eckerly headed east for a supply. On his way home he was stopped and accused of being a spy for Indians. He protested his innocence and said he had never even seen an Indian but his story about living on the Monongahela was not believed. Finally he was sent back under guard to ascertain the truth of his claims. When the group arrived, they found the ashes and the scalped bodies of most of the community lying in the yards. Thus ended the first attempt to settle the area.

In the fall of 1758 in a second attempt, a small party led by Tobias Decker and including some of the men who had been in Eckerly's guard, settled on the Monongahela at Deckers Creek which runs along the south end of present day Morgantown. The following year, Indians attacked the settlement, killed eight of the settlers, and the rest fled. During and after this period various traders came and went in the area, but there are virtually no records of settlers prior to 1766, since settlement was illegal. Jacob Prickett operated a trading post as early as 1759 near the site of the later Prickett's Fort. (Prickett's Fort has been recreated and a visit will give a good idea of life there in the 1770s and 1780s.)

Joseph Doddridge who came as a very small boy with his father to western Pennsylvania described first hand some of the hardships of the new settlers:[4] "Some of the early settlers took the precaution to come over the mountains in the spring, leaving their families behind to raise a crop of corn, and then return to bring them out in the fall....Others, especially those whose families were small, brought them with them in the spring. My father took the latter course....The Indian meal which he brought over the mountains was expended six weeks too soon, so for that length of time we had to live without bread. I remember how narrowly the children watched the growth of the potato tops, pumpkin and squash vines....How delicious was the taste of young potatoes when we got them."

From the Treaty of Fort Stanwyx until 1774 the frontier was fairly peaceful. When the peace was broken it tended to be by whites killing Indians for no good reason. As Withers says:[5] "Man is at all times the creature of circumstances. Cut off from intercourse with his fellow men, and divested of the conveniences of life, he will readily relapse into a state of nature. Placed in contiguity with the barbarous and the vicious; his manners will become rude, his morals perverted....Such was really the situation of those who made the first establishments in North Western Virginia. And when it is considered, that they were, mostly, men from the humble walks of life; comparatively illiterate and unrefined; without civil or religious institutions, and with a love of liberty, bordering on its extreme; their more enlightened descendants cannot but feel surprise, that their derilection from propriety had not been greater; their virtue less."

Dale Van Every puts it this way:[6] "Every man, woman, and child on the frontier burned with hatred for all Indians and with scorn for all government....They were rude, vulgar, violent, bitter, cruel, remorseless. They were men able to sleep soundly nights while knowing any dawn might find Indians breaking down the cabin door. They were women who saw husband and children axed in the dooryard and the next day moved in with another frontiersman and began raising another frontier family. They were children who learned how to rip off a scalp at an age other children were learning to read."

One of the first atrocities was the murder of Bald Eagle, a friendly old Indian chief who was on intimate terms with many early settlers with whom he hunted, fished and visited. Bald Eagle was killed by three local men who set him afloat on the Monongahela in a canoe with a piece of corn bread stuffed in his mouth. This murder was regarded by both whites and Indians as a great outrage. A worse atrocity occured soon after. A group of 32 men under command of Daniel Whitehouse gathered at Baker's cabin across the Ohio river from an Indian encampment about 40 miles south of Wheeling.. Baker was in the habit of selling rum to the Indians and when several of them came over to buy rum they were treated in friendly fashion and gotten as drunk as possible, then set upon, killed and scalped. Other Indians who came across to see what happened to their friends were similarly killed. In all, about a dozen peaceful Indians were killed, including most of the family of Chief Logan, a well-known Indian who had been a great friend of the whites. He swore revenge. The settlers in the area, knowing that the Indians would now make war upon them, moved into the forts or moved out of the area, and a message was sent to Williamsburg warning that an Indian war was about to begin.

Governor Dunmore took charge of the ensuing war himself and it is known in history as Dunmore's War. Lord Dunmore was an avaricious land speculator and was widely disliked in Virginia. He directed General Anthony Lewis, in southwestern Virginia, to raise an army of eleven hundred men and lead them through the trackless forests down the Kanawha river to its juncture with the Ohio at Point Pleasant. Gov. Dunmore, himself, raised an army in the north (possibly including Peter Popeno[7]) which he planned to take down the Ohio river to join Lewis. However, when Lewis reached Point Pleasant--before Dunmore's force arrived--he was attacked by the Shawnee Chief Cornstalk with forces of comparable strength. A day-long battle took place between the Indians and the colonials. Although the colonials probably lost about as many men as the Indians, maybe more, Cornstalk concluded that he might have won the battle but he couldn't win the war. A few days later, Dunmore negotiated the treaty of Camp Charlotte which brought an end to the hostilities and a return of prisoners. Doddridge says[8] that it was a general belief among our officers that Dunmore, while at Wheeling, received word from London about the probability of war between England and America and he therefore wanted the colonials to bear the brunt of the battle and to make an easy peace with the Indians.

Beginning in 1770 and continuing into the revolutionary period, a number of forts had been built in the area; several of them by men discussed in this paper. Among them: Fort Statler on Dunkard Creek near Dolls Run (1770), Fort Martin on Crooked Run (1773), Fort Harrison at the source of Crooked Run, Fort Burris on the flats above Morgantown (1766), Fort Morgan in Morgantown (1772), Fort Prickett, a few miles farther south (1774) and Fort Swearingen northeast of the mouth of Cheat. Some forts were little more that fortified residences; others consisted of many houses surrounded by a palisade wall with blockhouses on the corners. A good fort was pretty impregnable to an enemy without cannons unless they could starve it out or burn it down.

The fort was more than a place of refuge. It was the social hub of the area surrounding it, serving roughly the same function as a feudal castle in the middle ages. It was often at the fort that the young couples danced and courted, where marriages were performed and funerals were held, where land claims were settled and justice meted out. Youths talked about "going forting" which often meant getting drunk and chasing girls. The fort was also the economic hub of the region. Here the trader set up shop, and supplies, ammunition and clothing were dispensed at what was a combination general store and community center. Families generally went to the forts in the summer when the Indians were most active, driving their cattle, chickens and turkeys, and carrying their clothes and household supplies. A few cabins were available but many people lived in the open or in little huts made of logs and bark.

In 1775 the Treaty of Pittsburgh was signed under which the local Indians agreed to take no part in the approaching war with Great Britain. Soon, however, the English, operating out of Detroit, were promising Indians that if they supported the Tory cause, the colonials would be kept out of Indian lands when the war was over. Throughout the revolution many Indian tribes--particularly those closest to Detroit--joined the English in making war on the frontier. The Delawares, located nearest the frontier, tried to remain neutral but they could not stop the others from coming through on raids. The national government was too weak to send its armies to fight them. It was up to the frontier settlers, with their militias, to defend themselves.

In December 1776, a letter was received from Virginia Governor Patrick Henry advising every possible preparation in anticipation of probable Indian attacks in the spring. On January 28 and 29, 1777, a "council of war" was held by county lieutenants and officers of the three Virginia counties in the area. Col. Zackquill Morgan, Major John Evans, and Captain Charles Martin were on the select council (steering committee). The place selected for the powder magazine was the house of John Swearingen.

English agents working with their Indian allies made 1777 so horrible for the frontier people that it was remembered as the "Bloody Year of the Three Sevens." The Indians, with an unusually large and powerful force, struck simultaneously against many of the settlements. Peter Popeno was called up for militia duty at Prickett's Fort from April 15 to June 12, 1777, serving under Lt. Morgan Morgan in Captain William Haymond's company. Through the summer and fall, the Popeno family was living in Fort Martin and it was there that James Popeno and Presley Martin were born.

Conditions at the time can be seen from this communication to Col. Zackquill Morgan, July 20, 1777:[10] "I am now at Garard's Fort with 12 men only, and am intirely without Ammunition, and also without my full Quota of men. I hope you will send by Van Swearingen Some Ammunition and flint and as the Time is So Hazardous I hope the men may be ordered to Come here Immediately, as the People are much put to it to get their Harvest up the creek, and it is not in my power to go on a scout with so few men and leave men to guard the people....P.S. Sir: I am under the necessity to acquaint you that men is very unwilling to go out from any of the stations on a scout without flour and as there is none to be had at any of the Mills here for want of water, I should take it as a favor if you would give an order for a Thousand or fifteen hundred pounds of flour from Either Wilsons or Hardens Mills, as I see no way of doing without."

The Indians weren't the only enemy. Substantial numbers of local people had Tory sympathies. Col. Morgan, during the summer of 1777, took an active part in uncovering and destroying a Tory conspiracy. On August 29 he wrote to General Hand at Fort Pitt:[11] "It is with the utmost anxiety that I now inform you that our march is retarded for some time against the natural enemies of our country. A few days ago the most horrid conspiracy appeared. Numbers of the inhabitants of the country have joined in a plot...to join the English and the Indians....We have taken numbers who confess that they have sworn allegiance to the King of Great Britain & that some of the leading men at Fort Pitt are to be their rulers and heads....I am now at Minor's Fort (Fort Statler) with 500 men and am determined to purge the country before I disband...."

Towards the end of October Col. Morgan and four associates were crossing the river with a Tory prisoner, when the prisoner fell or was pushed out of the boat and was drowned. A coroner's inquest determined that Morgan had murdered him by throwing him out of the boat and he was ordered to Williamsburg for trial. He was strongly supported by his friends. Most of the militia captains resigned and declared that they would not go on an expedition without Col. Morgan. Major James Chew in a letter to General Hand said: "I know the people there well and am sensible that it is not in the Power of any other Man but Col. Morgan to march them." Needless to say, in Williamsburg, Morgan was acquitted.

Indian attacks continued in 1778. In January, Col. George Rogers Clark visited Kern's Fort and Prickett's Fort recruiting men for a campaign against the Indians and British in the lower Ohio valley. It is said that he recruited sixty-six men from Coon's and Prickett's Forts and about twenty men from Kern's Fort. He marched with them to Fort Redstone, where boats were constructed for the voyage down the river. This was the famous expedition to Kaskasia and Vincennes (Indiana) which made Clark's reputation. (Peter and John Popino later served under Clark in 1783 when they were in Kentucky.)

On April 18, John Evans wrote to General Hand:[12] "The Indians on the 15th instant on the Monongahela, Above the Mouth of Cheat River, Killed and took ten persons, belonging to Maj'r Martin's Fort, and took at least 20 horses, on 16th Burned a Fort that was evacuated 3 miles from the magazine at my house; killed Seven Sheep and skined them and took 15 horses, which leaves our part of the Country in such a situation that the forts are all a Breaking the Inhabitants all seem Determined to moove to some place of Safety, for my part I shall be Oblige to follow them, and leve the Provision to the mercy of the enemy Without some other method can Speedily take place, our Country is in such confusion at this time that the Militia Will not be Redused to their Duty. I have made bold to Detain part of a Company of the hamshire Militia to guard the provision till I Receive orders from your honour....P.S. We are Distitu[t]e of Ammunition and beggs your Honour to Assist us with that article if in your power, as its impossible We can Defend our Selves without Ammunition."

The worst attack of the war occurred that year in the settlement where Dolls Run empties into Dunkard Creek. An estimated one hundred Indians lay in ambush on both sides of the path, waiting the return of the men to Fort Statler from their work in the fields. The Indians opened fire and eighteen settlers were killed. The rest fled to the fort about a mile away.

Raids continued in 1779 with a number of events involving people with whom we are concerned. One which has been told and retold is of David Morgan, Zackquill's brother, then an old man of 58. He and his family were forted in Prickett's Fort. David had been ill and dreamed that he saw his two children Stephen, 16, and Sarah, 12, running around in their cabin yard with blood streaming from wounds where their scalps had been. He awoke, learned that his children had earlier slipped out of the fort, and so, with his rifle, did likewise and headed alone for their cabin. He found the children happily working in the fields, but when he went to talk to them he spied two Indians approaching from the direction of the house. Morgan quietly told them to run and warn the fort and that he would stay and fight them. Morgan took cover behind a fence while the Indians took cover behind trees. He was aware of the odds against him, not a shot could be wasted, and he was determined not to fire until he could decoy the Indians into open ground. He selected a route to run and they ran after him, separating so that they would be on either side of him. He got behind a sapling too small to cover him, and from this selected a large oak and ran to it in a way that invited the larger Indian to reach the small sapling he had just abandoned at the same time he reached the oak. The sapling being too small to protect him, the Indian threw himself on the ground with only his shoulder exposed. Morgan fired at the shoulder and the bullet entered the shoulder and ranged through his body to his hip. The Indian threw himself on his back and stabbed himself twice through the heart. Morgan looked around and found the other Indian taking aim at him. He ran a zig zag course and while looking back ran into a small bush that threw him off course just as the Indian fired. Each now had an empty gun, but the Indian still had a tomahawk and scalping knife. They engaged in hand to hand fighting which ended when Morgan was able to stab the Indian with his own knife. Figuring the Indian would die of his wounds, Morgan, who was wounded himself, returned to the fort. When he related the adventure to the occupants, a number of the men returned to the scene of the battle. They found the second Indian still alive, scalped him, then skinned him, tanned his skin and converted the leather into saddle seats, shot pouches and belts.[13]

In June, a party of thirteen Indians appeared at Fort Martin. Most of the men had gone out early to work on their farms, the women were milking the cows outside the gate, and the men who were left were loitering around when the Indians rushed forward. Three men were killed and seven people were captured. The Indians imprisoned their captives in a nearby house and watched for a chance to capture the fort. But the settlers were now on their guard and mounted watch the remainder of the day and during the night. The dogs were shut out at night and upon the approach of the Indians, barked freely. Thus frustrated, the Indians took their prisoners and moved off with them to their own towns.[14]

In August, two daughters of Captain David Scott, Fannie and Phoebe, going to Scott's Meadow Run (now Dent's Run) with dinner for the mowers, were captured by a party of Indians. The younger was killed by the path but the older girl was slain some distance away and her body not immediately found. Captain Scott, thinking she might have been captured and that he might ransom her back, went to Fort Pitt where he employed a friendly Indian to search for her and if possible to ransom her.[15]

There was a frequent menace of famine in the area. Sometimes the militia which came to the Monongahela from the East were compelled to return because of lack of food. In the summer of 1779, Col. Evans was requested by Col. Broadhead, then commandant at Fort Pitt, to send militia against the Tuscarawas on the Muskingum River. This order was soon countermanded because of the shortage of provisions and the constant Indian menace in Monongalia. In March 1780, notifying Col. Evans that he could not help feed the men who were to be ordered to forts on the frontier, he asked Evans to hasten the planting of crops and to draft the militia for two months service at Fort Henry (Wheeling). This order, too, was countermanded later due to lack of provisions.

These were some of the hardships of the settlers along the Monongahela during the years leading up to and during the Revolution. But, according to Dale Van Every, these settlers had a significance for our new nation beyond those in any other area:[16]

"These first few anarchic backwoodsmen, pushing in against unimaginable odds along the wooded banks of the Monongahela, were now making history in their turn. They were taking the destiny of a continent out of the custody of world powers, ministries, military commanders, and imperial administrators and placing it in the keeping of individual men who would determine for themselves by their own devices and according to their own lights what that future was to be....

"It was not the actual crossing of the mountains that was in itself so important. Given the increase in white population on the seaboard, that crossing was bound to come sooner or later. It was the timing that was important....But ten short years were to elapse between that summer of 1766 and the fateful July of 1776. By then a few of these interlopers along the Monongahela had tightened their grasp on the Forks of the Ohio and a few others like them, making a second crossing of the mountains at Cumberland Gap, were defiantly planting their stockade poles as far to the west as Kentucky. The advance of these irrepressible people across the mountains, an advance as outspokenly condemned by a majority of their own countrymen as by Indians or imperial authorities, fixed the main course of our country's history to this day. Had they waited for an ever so slightly more propitious moment to make their venture the independence so narrowly won by patriot armies, with the calculating support of France and Spain, must have been an independence limited to the Atlantic seaboard. Had it not been for the existence of these few forest-girt stockades and corn patches west of the mountains, the Ohio Valley must at the end of the Revolution have remained at the disposal of England, Spain, and France. These rude and uncouth Frontier People...were carrying a flag of which no one had yet dreamed."

Now let us move away from the battles and wars and look at some of the political and legal developments that were taking place. Up until the late 1760s, land ownership was pretty vague since it was illegal to be there in the first place. The first method of marking ownership was called a tomahawk right, which was made by deadening a few trees and marking the bark of one or more of them with the initials of the claimant. These rights were not legally binding but were often bought and sold. If someone wished to settle on land which had been marked but not developed he would often pay something for it rather than get into a fight. While land was the object of every new settler, it wasn't regarded as very valuable or long lasting. After a few crops it would lose fertility and the settler would often move on.

In 1777, soon after the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia general assembly passed an act to regularize land usage and titles on the "western waters." It provided that all persons who had settled on or before June 24, 1778 would be allowed 400 acres for each family. It also permitted settlers to buy an additional 1,000 acres adjoining the 400 through preemption rights. In 1779 the act was amended to require the settler to live one year on his claim or to raise a crop of corn. Commissioners were appointed for the purpose of collecting, adjusting, and determining claims of settlers. Their decisions led to issuance of a certificate which entitled the settler or his assignee to a warrant for the land and to have a survey made.

Our knowledge about early settlers and land ownership in Monongalia County is largely derived from the 442-page certificate book written in 1779 to 1781 which recorded the claims made for settlements beginning in 1766. For 1766 through 1769, there were only 35 claims. For 1770 there were 91. For 1771, when Peter and Elizabeth Popeno claimed to have settled, there were 66. After that the flood began, and for the next five years, 924 claims were made.

Among the early arrivers in the period 1766 to 1769 were the Morgans, Martins and Evans. Some of their certificates show that they were assignees for people who got there still earlier. There was a lot of buying and selling of these rights and some people such as Charles Martin and John Dent eventually owned many pieces in various parts of the county.

The county itself was pretty inchoate in the early years. Pennsylvania and Virginia had long argued about the proper boundary. The Virginians considered Fort Pitt to be in Augusta county. In 1767 the surveyors of the Mason-Dixon line had reached a point near Dunkard Creek but then they were stopped by Delawares and Shawnees who claimed to be tenants of the country. In 1771, Pennsylvania created Bedford County which covered much of the area that was also claimed by Virginia. During 1774 and 1775 the two states competed for jurisdiction, frequently seizing and jailing each other's magistrates. In July 1775 the district of West Augusta was separated from Augusta County. In October 1776, the Virginia legislature formed from that district three counties: Monongalia, Ohio, and Youghiogheny. Large parts of these were in what is now Pennsylvania. On December 8 the voting landholders in Monongalia County met to choose the most convenient place to hold county courts. Since there were more people in the northern part of the county (now Pennsylvania) they established the location of the courthouse on Theophilus Phillip's plantation below the mouth of the Cheat River (see map 2). According to tradition, the first clerk of the county was John Evans and the first sheriff was Zackquill Morgan. From 1776 to 1780 courts were held, senators and delegates to the Virginia legislature chosen and other functions of government exercised by Virginia in what are now Greene, Fayette, Washington, and Allegheny counties in Pennsylvania.

Finally, in 1779 the two states set up a joint commission to reach an agreement on boundaries. They agreed to extend the Mason Dixon line due west five degrees of longitude from the Delaware River (which was about 22 miles beyond the point at which the surveyors had stopped), and then run the western boundary of Pennsylvania due north. This gave Pittsburgh to Pennsylvania but left Virginia with its northern panhandle. Even this was not easily accepted in the area. When, in 1782, the Pennsylvania commissioner, with a guard of 100 militiamen, appeared at the mouth of Dunkard Creek to continue the survey, the way was blocked by a mob of about thirty armed horsemen who still held themselves under the jurisdiction of Virginia. When the border was finally determined to the satisfaction of both states, some families moved. Slavery was not permitted in Pennsylvania, so slave owners moved across the border into Virginia or on to Kentucky.

Finding, by the running of the temporary boundary line in 1782, that the old county seat was located in Pennsylvania, the Virginia legislature on May 23, 1783, authorized the justices of Monongalia County, until the erection of a courthouse, to hold court at the house of Zackquill Morgan, who about the same time obtained a license to keep an ordinary (tavern). Prior to this, courts were probably held at Col. John Evans' house.

In 1784 a jail and courthouse were erected in what is now central Morgantown. Evans lived in what was then regarded as an aristocratic mansion--a hewn log house, weather boarded and covered with shingles. Evans kept the clerk's office in a separate building which burned in 1796 with all the county records. In 1807, when the court required him to locate his office at the courthouse, he resigned and was succeeded by his son Nimrod, who served until his death in 1828.

The first sheriff of the county after separation of the Pennsylvania portion, was David Scott. John Dent served 1790-1793. Among the county justices who served before 1796 were James Scott, David Scott, Dudley Evans, John Dent, and Enoch Evans.

In 1784, immediately upon his retirement from the army, George Washington made his last western trip--a long horseback ride over the Alleghenies to the Monongahela. He visited his lands north of Washington, Pennsylvania, and returned via the Morgantown area. At the surveyor's office at the house of John Pierpont, about four miles from Morgantown, he spent the night and interviewed Zackquill Morgan (Pierpont's father-in-law) and David Morgan, Samuel Hanway, and Frederick Ice about various routes to the Potomac. Here he also met Albert Gallatin, who gave up his bed to him and slept on the floor. There is a tradition that Washington also slept at Evans' house, though this is not supported by his journal. Immediately upon his return to Mount Vernon, Washington drew a plan for a commercial connection of the Monongahela with eastern Virginia. In 1785, Virginia and Pennsylvania authorized the formation of a company to open the navigation of the Potomac and construct a highway from the western waters. Washington was selected as President of the Potomac Company which was organized in that year. A canal along the Potomac (of which there are remains in Great Falls, Virginia) was begun, but never completed. The C and O Canal, which was built later, ran to Cumberland.

Meantime, Zackquill Morgan, with the cooperation of his neighbors, was planning a new county seat town on lands for which he received a patent only a few months before his conference with Washington. The survey was probably made in 1783 by Major William Haymond. In October 1785 the legislature established Morgan's Town by an act vesting 50 acres of land, the property of Zackquill Morgan in "Samuel Hanway, John Evans, David Scott, Michael Kerns and James Daugherty gentlemen", as trustees. The act required each purchaser of a lot to erect on it within four years a house at least eighteen feet square with a stone or brick chimney. The time of this provision was extended in 1788 for three years in consequence of Indian hostilities and again in 1792 "from the difficulty of procuring material." Lots were purchased by John Evans and several of his kin, though he continued to live until his death on his farm, Walnut Hill, a mile to the north.

John Evans' emigrant ancestor was Evan William Powell (or Howell--the names were interchangeable in Wales), born in the Parish of Llanvareth, Merionethshire about 1610. He came from a well-to-do family, became a Quaker, and decided to move to Pennsylvania for the sake of religious freedom. In 1683 he purchased a tract of 156 acres there and set sail for America with his family. He died during the voyage, and his wife and one son died shortly thereafter, leaving only a son, David. David dropped the name of Powell, retaining only the name Evan with an s added for euphony. He settled in what is now Radnor, Chester County, PA, and was a man of influence in the community, dying in 1710. John Evans, his last son, removed to Fairfax County, VA where there was a Quaker colony. He died in 1747, allegedly from a rattlesnake bite.

He seems to have moved in elite circles, although we know nothing about him. His will was witnessed by James Hamilton, William Amies and George Wight and stated that if his wife Margaret died, John Summers Senior was to bring up his child John Evans.[18] A recent map of Fairfax County in 1760 shows lands of James and John Hamilton separated by William Berkeley and adjoining George William Fairfax (Washington�s close friend and husband of Sally Fairfax).[19] John Hamilton was Deputy Kings Attorney in 1749, the highest paid official in Fairfax County with a salary of 2,000 pounds of tobacco.[20] James Hamilton was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses for many years prior to 1771 and was a vestryman of Truro Parish (with George Mason) 1749-56 and Church Warden 1750-1.[21] John Summers Senior was less elite but financially successful. His major claim to fame was living to the age of 103. In 1715, he built a cabin�the first in the area now known as Belle Haven, Alexandria, later acquired tobacco warehouses along Hunting Creek, and in the 1730s and 40s acquired about a thousand acres in the area now known as Lincolnia Hills.[22]

The accounting of the estate of John Evans[23] listed among the creditors James Hamilton, John Carlyle, John Dalton, Garrard Alexander, and Edward Washington. Three of these were justices of Fairfax County: Girrard Alexander 1742-49, John Carlyle 1749-1762, and James Hamilton 1755-1757.[24] Col. John Carlyle and John Dalton were wealthy Fairfax merchants and in the 1750s and 1760s Carlyle bought more than 5,000 acres in the Shenandoah Valley, some in association with George William Fairfax (who was also a judge at the same time as Carlyle).

John Evans� only child, John Evans, was born in Virginia, December 9, 1737. His widowed mother saw that he got a good education at the academy in Alexandria. Lewis says that he studied law with a Mr. Hamilton in Alexandria. This was probably James Hamilton, though it could be John. About 1757--when he was still very young--he married Ann Martin.[25] One account says she also went to school in Alexandria and he met her there. Ann was born April 11, 1738 (in Alexandria by one account) and died November 11, 1827. Lewis speaks of her as a beautiful and intelligent lady.

Between 1762 and 1764, John Evans crossed the mountains and secured a tomahawk right to a fertile tract of land on the eastern side of the Monongahela, about a mile north of the mouth of Deckers Creek. In 1765 he again visited his land and built a cabin and made an improvement on it. In 1766 he started from his home in Loudon County[26] with his family, consisting of his mother[27], his wife, two children, and a family of Negroes, intending to take them to the new home he had prepared. Learning that the Indians were still making invasions into that area, he left the family at Fort Cumberland and they stayed there until 1769 when he was able to bring them to their new home. He called it Walnut Hill and lived there until his death in 1834 at the age of 96. He also persuaded a gentleman from Loudon County, well-fitted as a teacher, to come out and settle on his farm as a tutor for his children. (This may have been Samuel Burris whom James Popenoe referred to as an old schoolmaster who taught school near to his father when James was a small boy.)

John Evans was one of the most distinguished men in Monongalia County in both military and civil affairs. He was long the County Lieutenant, the highest military officer of the county and was actively involved in Dunmore's War, the Revolution, and the border wars that followed. He was clerk of the County Court from 1776 to 1807, and was one of the Delegates from the county to the Virginia Federal Convention of June 1788 which ratified the Federal Constitution. He voted nay because there was no Bill of Rights. He later was a member of the House of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia in the years 1791, 1794, and 1800. In 1833, when he was 95 years of age, the Government granted him a pension of $150 per annum for his services in the Virginia Militia during the Revolutionary War, but he died a year later. His grave is in Oak Grove Cemetery, Morgantown.

1. Margaret Evans, born in Loudon County, November 9, 1764, died November 23, 1851. She married in 1780, Captain John Dent (discussed separately) and raised a family of twelve children.

He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates for thirteen years from 1803 to 1816, and in 1812 was designated Colonel of one of two regiments of the Western Virginia Brigade which saw service (including the battle in which Tecumseh was slain) in the Northwestern Army under Maj. Gen. William Henry Harrison. Dudley married, March 24, 1787, Annarah Williams (1766-1844). They raised a large family in Morgantown:

In his will drawn in 1840, Dudley Evans directed that the girls would share silver teaspoons, Cynthia would get his desk, the boys would divide the family property and a few "family slaves"...all other slaves to be freed.

3. John Evans Jr., born July 31, 1768 at Fort Cumberland; died May 19, 1849. Called Captain Jack, at the age of twenty-five he was a captain of a company known as the Monongalia Rangers organized for the defense of the border settlements. It was for some time stationed at Fort Pawpaw on Pawpaw Creek and later was transferred to Fort Henry at Wheeling. Later, Captain Jack served as Coroner, Justice of the Peace and twice Sheriff of Monongalia County. In 1800 he married Gilly Coleman Strother of Culpepper County, and they reared a family of six sons and four daughters:

i. French Strother Evans b 1801, was adopted by his uncle Nimrod Evans (#4, below) and educated in an eastern city for the law profession, but instead--to Nimrod's great disappointment--he became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

iv. Daniel Strother Evans, 1806-1832, commanded a steamboat between Louisville and New Orleans.

v. James Evans inherited the Evans homestead. He married Delia Ray in 1843. In 1839-40 he represented the county in the General Assembly; he served as justice of the peace and as a member of the county court and was a member of the Wheeling convention which organized the Restored Government of Virginia in 1861. He served as a Colonel during the Civil War and participated in the capture of Winchester in 1862.

4. Nimrod Evans, January 13, 1770 to February 27, 1828. He married Elizabeth Strother, a sister of the wife of his brother, Jack, but died without issue. He succeeded his father as clerk of the county court in 1807 and held the position until he died. He was known as a polished and courtly gentleman.

5. Enoch Evans, b. April 23, 1773. He was for many years a justice of the peace and member of the county court of Monongalia County. He married a Miss Jenkins and soon thereafter moved to Missouri where he reared a family.

6. Rawley Evans, b. December 29, 1777, d 1859. He married Maria Dering and reared a family of three sons and seven daughters. He was a merchant in Morgantown, served as village trustee in 1816 and as sheriff in 1818 and 1820.

7. James Evans, April 30, 1782-March 9, 1870. He was admitted to the bar of Monongalia in July 1803 and moved to Cape Girardeau in the Missouri Territory in 1807 where he served for many years as a circuit judge. His wife was a sister of U.S. Senator Alexander Buckner of Missouri. After her death he resigned the judgeship and about 1863 returned to Monongalia County where he died.

8. Marmaduke Evans, September 7, 1784 to April 10, 1816. He studied law and began its practice in Morgantown but died early, having never married.

There was another Evans family, with a John Evans Sr. and Jr. who are sometimes confused with the ones discussed above. In 1769, John Snider (discussed separately) "piloted out a company to Crooked Run." Charles Martin, Richard Harrison, and this John Evans, Sr., also appear to have arrived in that year, so they may be part of the group piloted out by Snider. The Evans father and son had adjoining farms in Greene County at the State line, which were probably opposite the homestead of Charles Martin. They attended Martin's church in Virginia and are buried in its graveyard.

John Evans, Sr., 1721-1798, was a grandson of Richard Evans who arrived from Wales in 1674, and settled near Camden, NJ. John's father, Samuel Evans settled near Hagerstown, Maryland, but came with his son to Crooked Run. He died there in 1770 at the age of 79. John Evans, Sr. served in the Revolution in the 2nd Battalion of the Washington County, Pennsylvania militia. He named in his will the following children: John Evans, Dorcas Snyder, Sarah Evans, Mary Robins, Samuel Evans, Elizabeth Ashcraft, Jesse Evans, Edward Evans, Rachel Parish, Ellender Evans, William Evans, Nancy Stewart. According to The Horn Papers, John Evans Jr. was born in New Jersey in 1746, coming to Greene County with his father and grandfather in 1769. He became a wood ranger in 1771. He had four sons and three daughters and died June 27, 1832.

Various previous accounts have given the birthplace of the Martins as Loudon County, VA (created from Fairfax in 1757) because that seems to be where they started from on their way to the Monongahela. But search of tax, deed and will records in both Loudon and Fairfax County reveals no mention of them.

A possible clue is a list of members of an Alexandria-Fairfax militia company during the French and Indian War, paid off at Alexandria Court House in 1758. Charles Martin and Jesse Martin are listed as ensigns.[30] Charles Martin named a son Jesse; this would presumably be his brother. In 1780, Jesse Martin, then of Ohio County, VA, received a land bounty certificate for his service in 1758. Earlier in 1768 a Jesse Martin was listed as a resident of Redstone, south of Pittsburgh in what was later Fayette or Washington Co. His 1778 disputes with Henry (discussed below) as well as his earlier military connection to Charles would seem to tie him to this family

The other family name was Henry and there was a Henry and Mary Martin who had land surveyed in 1728/9 on the north side of the Rappahannock River. The land was variously in Stafford, Prince William, and finally Fauquier County in subsequent mentions (running up to 1788) and was around Rossers Run, The Great Run, Carters Run, Naked Mountain.[31] I haven�t found any of these landmarks on my current map, but this would be close enough to Alexandria that it would be reasonable for the children to gravitate there for education or otherwise. I haven�t pursued this lead; it should be done. Charles Martin named his only son by Mary Bell, Presley, an old Virginia family name. My search of Presley genealogies didn�t turn up any Martin connection. It may have been a Bell connection.

All the accounts say that he was born about 1715 but this seems early if his sister Ann was born in 1738 and his children were born between about 1764 and 1777 when he would have been 49 to 62. Also, as noted below, he was charged with assault and battery as late as 1794 when he would have been 79. Core also questions the birthdate.[32] I think it is more reasonable to assume a birthdate of around 1735. This would make him 23 in 1758; a good age for a militia sergeant.

Charles Martin came to the Monongahela around 1767, and built Fort Martin in 1773. He commanded a regiment of rangers during the Revolution, and served as a commissary for the State in West Augusta. In 1778 he organized one of the first Methodist churches west of the Alleghenies. In 1782 he served as a delegate to the Virginia Assembly and was a land commissioner in 1788. He was a large landowner and one of the prominent leaders of the area. He died in 1800.

Martin was said to be over six feet tall, of dark complexion, with keen piercing black eyes. He also seems to have been quick to take offense and take matters into his own hands. Court records between 1785 and 1799 show the following:[33]

Charles, James, and William Martin and John Harrison summoned to answer Thomas Laidley on a charge of trespass, assault, battery, and false imprisonment, damages �1000, 1 October 1789.

Charles Martin summoned to answer Thomas Pindall in a plea of trespass, assault and battery, damages �500, 10 August 1790. Pindall complained that Martin assaulted him in the town of Morgantown. Thomas Wilson, attorney for Martin, pleaded Martin not guilty as he (Wilson) knew it was the plaintiff's own wrong that caused the assault.

Charles Martin summoned to answer John Wickwire in a plea of trespass, assault and battery, $500 damage, 17 October 1794.

Some idea of Charles Martin's wealth can be gained by reading his will, written in 1798: To wife Mary: one half of home tract, bounded by Stuarts Rd. and the State line, during her life, Negro woman Selvey and two of her children called Lucy and Win (Selvey's other children to return to the estate), one third of my personal estate except the Negroes. After my wife's death Silvy is to be a free woman. To my oldest son Jesse: my Monongahela tract of land (400 a. including mouth of Crooked Run). To son George: 307 a. on Buffalo Cr. where he now lives and my Negro man Arthur. To son William: Negro boy Litt. To son Spencer: 400 a. adj. tract where Spencer now lives and situate on waters of Traverbough. To dau. Ann Harrison: Negro girl Pegg. To son Presley: 400 a. where I now live except that belonging to his mother during her life, one Negro boy Abraham and one of the negro girls bequeathed to his mother after her death and any other children of Negro woman Silvey. Rest of my personal estate to be sold and divided equally among my sons George, Wm., Spencer, Presley, and daus. Elisabeth Randall, Ann Harrison and gson Charles Martin, the son of Jesse Martin. Exors.: wife, Stephen Gapen, son Presley.

Charles Martin's first wife was Elizabeth Burrows, daughter of John Burrows (Burris) who settled across the river near the Evans family. They had six children:

1. Jesse Martin. He married Hannah Scott, daughter of Capt. David Scott and they had seven children, two of which were Charles and Nancy, who m Moses Rhodes. The court records indicate that Jesse was a wild one and had many troubles with the law:[34]

"Indictment against Jesse Martin for breaking and entering the home of John Leatherberry, 8 April 1797, at the hour of 12 at night with the intent to kill and murder Nancy, wife of said John. Dunham Donally was in Morgantown with Jesse Martin, yeoman, and they set out to travel to the home of Martin along a road that passed by the house of Leatherberry until they arrived at a stillhouse and distillery. Martin stopped at the stillhouse and Donally walked on almost to the Leatherberry house when Martin overtook him being then on horseback. Donally mounted behind Martin and when they neared the Leatherberry house Martin said he had some business with Leatherberry and must stop. Donally dismounted and took a near road thru the meadow and by taking this shorter way arrived at the house about the same time as Martin. There he stood, five or six yards from the house, and heard Martin knock on the door and a female voice ask who was there. Martin answered and the same female voice asked if it was Captain Martin and Jesse answered that it was and the female voice ordered a negro girl to open the door. The girl refused, saying she was afraid. Someone then opened the door and the female voice invited Jesse inside and said she thought it was the sheriff as her husband was away from home. Donally did not see or hear anything more, but walked on his way."

"Jacob Henthorn, Samuel Crane, Thomas Chipps, Amos Roberts, and Ann Evans, wife of John Evans, summoned to testify on behalf of the Commonwealth against Jesse Martin, indicted for burglary, 18 May 1797. Upon the information of John Leatherberry, labourer, and Nancy, his wife, Martin was indicted on two counts: 1--breaking and entering with the intent to burglarize the house and murder Nancy. 2--Breaking and entering with the intent to burglarize and to 'ravish and know' Nancy....'We the jury find Jesse Martin the prisoner at the bar not guilty of the first count in this bill of indictment upon the second count we find him guilty and that he hath lands and tenements in the County of Monongalia.'" Jailer Frederick Reed was paid for maintaining Jesse Martin in jail from 15 May 1797 until 9 June, 25 days @ 25 cents per day.

Jesse Martin was indicted for an assault upon Robert Hawthorn, 18 May and 28 September 1798. The jury found him guilty and fined him $150.

17 May 1800. Henry Dering (a tavern keeper) appeared before the court and said that Jesse Martin came to his house and requested him to send him a pair of pistols. Jesse said he was determined to kill Thomas Wilson before he, Martin, went to sleep. Another man said that while standing in Dering's Bar Room in Morgantown, Jesse Martin came riding up to the door there and called him out of the house and asked if he had a pair of pistols. He replied that he had and Martin said, "I wish you would lend them to me." Martin said that he would kill Thomas Wilson before he would eat, drink or sleep that night. When he was refused the pistols, Martin exclaimed, "I have a good rifle at home which I shall make use of for that purpose." Thomas Wilson told the court that in the city of Richmond during the last session of the assembly (Wilson and John Evans were the two county delegates at that time) Martin told him there were three persons he would kill and scalp and then leave the United States: that he would kill Wilson and William McCleary (another very prominent citizen and delegate to the assembly two years before) and one other person he did not name and that he kept his gun in good order for that purpose. He added that the previous April Martin had come to his house, asked him if he recalled what Martin had told him on the Capitol steps at Richmond, and swore again he would kill him. (The record does not show the result of the case or the issue involved; it would appear to be something that Jesse had gone to Richmond to lobby for and Wilson had opposed him.)

In 1803 Jesse Martin was summoned to answer James Scott (possibly his brother-in-law) in a plea of slander, for having said that Scott was guilty of perjury in another suit between the two. David Scott III, Dudley Evans, Richard and Nancy Harrison and Catherine Scott testified for Martin. The jury found for the plaintiff and awarded him $250 damages.

Jesse also seemed to have a lot of trouble with debt. In 1797 he was summoned to answer for a debt of �4 to buy fabric. In March 1798, Robert Scott signed as surety for Jesse on a performance bond. If Martin failed to satisfy Job West and Phenias Sturgis then an attachment on his property would be made. In November 1798, one small mare, the property of Jesse Martin, was attached. Martin made bond, with David Scott (his father-in-law) as surety; to keep his mare until time for public sale or until the debt could be paid. In other cases, two cows, two oxen, and one cow and 12 sheep belonging to Jesse were attached. In March 1799 a Negro woman named Odila was attached by virtue of a judgment out of District Court, and Jesse again made bond, with David Scott as surety, to keep his property in his possession until the judgment was paid or until time to deliver the property for public sale. In August 1799 the goods and property (rye, oats, flax, corn, calfs and cows) of David Camblin were attached by Jesse Martin. Jesse believed David would remove himself from the property before the 1799 rent for a parcel of land became due.

In 1787 Jesse Martin petitioned the Virginia General Assembly to establish a ferry across the Monongahela river near the mouth of Crooked Run where the public road leading from the head of Dunkard to Fort Cumberland crossed from his land to the land of James Hoard, and also near the mouth of Robertson Run where the public road from Morgantown to Washington Court House crossed. The ferries were established in 1792; the fare was 3 pence for man or horse.

On 11 April 1797, James Popeno, attorney in fact for Elizabeth Popeno, transferred to Jesse Martin, for an undisclosed sum of money, 500 acres of land on the head of Scott's Mill Run and Doll Snyder's Run. Like his father, Jesse collected a lot of land.

2. William Martin, lived most of his life in Farmington (near Fairmont in what is now Marion County) on land obtained by his father. He married Hannah Randall and had three children:

3. George Martin, 1765-1827, married Elizabeth Hoard, 1768-1854, daughter of Captain John and Mary Snyder Hoard who lived across the river from the Martins. George Martin provided the army with provisions during the Revolution. He also resided at Farmington. Their children were:[35]

His Children: Perry Martin, Charles Martin, Malinda Martin, William Martin, Rachel Martin, Jesse V Martin, John J. Martin, and Evans H. Martin.

ii. Elizabeth Martin (who married her cousin Jesse B Martin, son of Spencer Martin).

4. Spencer Martin, born March 6, 1772, died near Worthington (also Marion County) February 13, 1849. He had 17 children by two wives. His first wife was Mary (Polly) Snyder, daughter of John Snider. Their children were:

ii. Charles Martin, 1796-, m his cousin, Elizabeth Morgan (probably the dau. of David Morgan's son, Morgan Morgan) and moved to Illinois where he died.

iii. John S. Martin, 1798-, married Matilda Bigler and moved to California where he died.

v. Jesse B. Martin, 1802-, m Elizabeth, daughter of George Martin (#3, above), and lived on Buffalo Creek near Farmington.

vi. Spencer Martin, 1804-, m Sallie Michael. He lived and died in Marion County.

vii. William Martin, 1806-, m Hannah Holbert, removed to Illinois and died there.

Spencer Martin married (second) Margaret Sturm, the daughter of Jacob and Catherine Sturm. Their children were:

viii. Nimrod E Martin, 1809-, married (1) Mary Ann Davis, and (2) Lavinia Lee, widow of James Lee.

xiv. Dorsey S Martin, 1824-, m Rachel H, dau. of John H. Martin (son of George Martin, #3, above).

5. Ann (Nancy) Martin, d ca 1848. m Richard Harrison, Jr d 1840. Richard Harrison, Sr., came about 1769 from Albemarle or Berkeley County. He built a Fort at the headwater of Crooked Run, about a mile from Charles Martin's Fort. He served in Dunmore's War and as a captain in George Rogers Clark's campaign to Illinois. Ann Martin and Richard Harrison, Jr. had ten children:

vi. Elizabeth Louisa Harrison, m Felix S. Martin, son of Presley Martin, and they went to Iowa and then Oregon in 1849.

viii. Calvin Martin Harrison, unm, went to Keokuk, Iowa, served as deputy sheriff, died of cholera in 1849.

Charles Martin's second marriage was to Mary Bell. They had just one child, Presley[36], born in the Fort, September 21, 1777. Elizabeth Burrows must therefore have died by 1776. As noted in James Popenoe's deposition, Mary Bell had a severe fever and Elizabeth Martin Popeno suckled Presley for several weeks.

Edward Dulin had made a settlement in Ohio County, VA, along the Ohio river, having three tracts surveyed in 1785. The land was granted to him in 1787. Presley Martin was visiting the area when Indians attacked Dulin. Presley heard the shot that killed Dulin, buried him on the spot and took his widow Susannah and daughter Sarah to safety at Graves Creek.[37] Presley then purchased the land from Susannah and erected a house on the north forks of Big Fishing Creek and the Ohio River. The nails that he put in the house were made by a blacksmith in Morgantown and he carried them to the new location in pack saddles. On the Dulin land he laid out the town of Martinsville but when it was incorporated by the Virginia Assembly, the name was changed to New Martinsville because there was already a Martinsville in Henry County. According to James Popenoe's deposition, his mother was living with him in 1820 (and probably had lived with him since Charles Martin died in 1800). It was said in our family that Presley was very rich and had a hundred slaves! He represented Tylor (now Wetzel) County in the Virginia legislature.

In 1800 Presley married Margaret (Peggy) Clinton, youngest child of Captain Charles and Margaret Clinton of Fayette Co, Pennsylvania. Presley and Margaret Martin had the following children:

ii. Felix Martin ca 1808-, m his cousin, Louisa Harrison, dau of Richard and Nancy Ann Martin Harrison. Went to Iowa and Oregon, 1849.

vi. Presley Marmaduke Martin 1816-, m Eliza King. In 1846, he was elected County Clerk, resigning in 1853 when he moved his family to Washington, DC. He attended Columbia Medical School and practiced medicine in Washington until 1861 when he moved the family to a farm in Effingham Co, Illinois. Here he farmed and continued the practice of medicine.

Court records[38] show that on 10 July 1786, Robert Stewart of Washington, County, Pennsylvania, signed a note of debt for �180 to Henry Martin of the same place. (Robert Stewart was the son of William Stewart who settled on Stewart Run, the location of Stewartstown and the Forks of Cheat Baptist Church. According to Core, Robert went to Kentucky and was an associate of Daniel Boone.) This could be payment for some of Martin's property so he could go to Kentucky. By 1790, Stewart was in Ohio. In 1795, John Evans, Sr., attorney in fact for Harry Martin, received from Thomas Wilson, $150 for the use of Harry Martin, part of a judgment obtained by Martin vs Stuart of Ohio.

It is not clear whether this case refers to this Henry Martin or his nephew, Elizabeth Martin Popeno�s son. Both were called Harry. However �180 was a lot in money or goods for a 19-year old boy to have, so I think we are probably talking here about the older Henry.

There are Court references to a Henry Martin of Washington or Fayette County, PA (both just north of Monongalia County). The Pittsburgh Payrolls for services of men from the area in 1774-5 include William and Henry Martin on one; Peter Popino on another.[39] The Minutes of the Court of Ohio County, VA 1777-1780 make a number of references to Jesse Martin and Henry Martin. They may have gone there together. In one instance, Jesse Martin sued Henry Martin for trespass and ejectment--a legal form used when there was a dispute about land ownership. In 1779 the Court ordered that Rawley Martin, an orphan child about 14 years of age, be bound to Henry Martin according to Law. [Rawley may have been a nephew. It was common for older relatives to take in children of the family as indentured apprentices.] Two years later, the court declared: "Whereas Rawley Martin, an Orphan Boy, being formerly bound to Harry Martin, is brought to Court, it being supposed that the sd boy was ill used. After hearing the evidence the Court is of the opinion that the Boy be taken from sd Martin and bound unto Jacob Reager, to learn the art and mastery of a blacksmith.[40]

Ohio County is along the Ohio River in the West Virginia panhandle. Sometime in the 1780s, Harry Martin presumably took a flatboat down the river to the town of Maysville, entry point for most settlers into Kentucky and county seat of Mason County. The records of Mason County are replete with mentions of Harry Martin who for a number of years had an Ordinary [tavern] at his home, getting annual permission to keep an Ordinary from November 1794 until at least 1802.[41] On 24 Feb 1798, Harry Martin and Peggy his wife in Mason County, KY sold to Evan and Nancy Popeno Morgan of Clark County, KY for �450, 150 acres in Mason County on Stroades Run, and for another �374 the contents of the farm including three slaves, a mother and her children.[42] Martin said that he bought the farm from Charles Pelham (who bought and sold many properties in Mason) and that he, Martin, was then in occupation of same. The contents included various items of tools and furniture, individually listed and priced, a rifle, 9 head of cattle, 22 of sheep, 13 of hoggs, the flax and hay then on the farm, two hundred bushels of corn, three hundred pounds of bacon, and one hundred pounds of sugar. Evan and Nancy Morgan continued to live in Clark County in 1797 and 1799, then moved to Greene County, OH from which, on 3 February 1807, they sold the farm back to Henry Martin for �60.[43] What can we assume from this? First that Harry was indeed a relative to get such a sweetheart deal. Second that Harry probably never left the farm but that the sale was a way of getting him money (perhaps for other land speculation) and that he probably paid rent to Morgan until he had repaid the �loan� and was able to buy back the farm cheap.

Harry�s son, French Martin was appointed Mason County Constable in 1799.[44] In his will, 13 September 1826,[45] Harry named the following children with amounts left to them: Son Rawleigh Martin, $1; son French Martin, $1; dau Nancy Burkshear, $1; dau Peggy Martin, 5 acres of land held by deed from Samuel G. Wilson, also all household furniture, sheep, farming utensils, moneys, etc.; dau Betsy Wilson, 25 cents; son George Martin, 25 cents; son Nimrod E. Martin, 25 cents. Another son, Fields Martin, died in the War of 1812.[46]

In 1770, Elizabeth Martin [apparently an unmarried mother] and her baby boy, Harry, arrived because her brother Charles promised to procure land for her son.[47] Peter Popeno arrived in 1772 and married Elizabeth, later being granted half of the land originally held for young Harry. Peter Popeno was probably a widower, because the records show a son, John, who fought with the Kentucky militia in the 1780s but then disappeared from view. As so often happened in those days, when frontier people lost their spouses, they married the widow or widower next door. Love or attraction didn�t have to enter in; what was needed was a partner to perform the work role of man or woman.

In 1781 Elizabeth Martin and Peter Popenoe together registered adjoining parcels of land in Monongalia County that they said they had each settled in 1771.[48] Elizabeth was assignee of her brother, Charles Martin and she registered her 400 acres on behalf of her son, Harry. The family of Elizabeth and Peter consisted of four children:

James Popeno, born in Fort Martin, 20 August 1777, when the family was holed up during a year of unusual Indian activity.

After Peter and Elizabeth had registered their lands in 1781 (before Charles Martin, one of the Commissioners and John Evans, Clerk of the Court), Peter saw an opportunity to leave what may have been a loveless marriage and go to Kentucky. He sold his 400 acre claim to John Dent, John Evans� son-in-law[52] and Elizabeth and the children moved across the river to live on John Evans� land. There is a spring near which she probably lived called Popeno Spring, leading into a stream which is shown today on Geological Survey maps as Popenoe Run. The Popeno children were brought up and educated along with those of John Evans, and Evans thus became a surrogate father for these Popeno children.

In the late 1780s, young Harry Martin went down to Kentucky where he met the John Morgan family around Strodes Station, near Winchester, now in Clark County, KY. On 3 September 1789 he married John�s daughter, Sarah Morgan, according to the family bible. The bible also records the birth of Fanny Martin, 11 April 1789. Marriage was not regarded as a prerequisite to sexuality on the frontier at that time, though commitment was. In 1767 one minister calculated that 94% of the backcountry girls were pregnant when they married.

According to family tradition, Peter Popeno was killed by Indians in 1790, probably near Vincennes, IN, where he had staked claims. Around 1791, Elizabeth Martin took the children and moved to Kentucky, perhaps going to live with Harry and Sarah. Soon Nancy Popenoe became enamored of Sarah�s brother, Evan Morgan, and Evan and Nancy were married 21 March 1792.[53] Nancy was 16 and pregnant.

In 1793, Harry and Sarah Martin were living at Morgans Station (probably an unrelated Morgan) when it was attacked by Indians.[54] A neighbor was visiting in the Martin house when the alarm was raised. Martin grabbed his gun and ran out. His instinct for battle led him to charge the Indians, thinking there were only two or three. Suddenly Martin was fired upon. Startled to see some 30 or 40 Indians, he turned back and made it to the blockhouse. The others, mostly women and children, began fleeing and the Indians were waiting for them. Very few would escape. The Martins were the only family to survive intact. Harry came along in the juncture of general flight, took out his butcher knife and cut loose his wife�s petticoat. Women in those times wore nothing but a petticoat over their shift and a handkerchief round their necks. Then he picked up the older child and told his wife the take the younger one and follow him. Wheeling a little to the left as they went out on the south side of the station they soon got under the hill and were out of sight. When he got to Montgomery�s station the next morning he had to leave his wife out some distance until he could go in and get clothes for her.

Harry was listed on the Clark County taxpayers list with 3 horses, 3 cattle, and 50 acres of land. He appeared again on the 1794 list but not after that. Harry Martin and Sarah�s brother, Evan Morgan, were both commissioned ensigns in the county militia.[55]

In 1796, James Popeno went back to Morgantown with a power of attorney from his mother to sell 500 acres that she owned there to her nephew, Jesse Martin. Elizabeth was on the 1797 Clark County taxpayers list and gave a deposition on 20 Dec 1798, but must have died soon after.

In 1798, Harry Martin went back to Morgantown to try to reclaim the land that Peter Popeno had sold to John Dent, filing suit against the then owners in Chancery Court, August term.[56] He said in 1770, Charles Martin his uncle, came into this country and in partnership with William Robinson made two settlements on lands now lying in Monongalia County, one of which settlements was by agreement to go to Robinson and the other to Harry Martin who was then under age. A house was built and improvements made on the Harry Martin settlement by Charles Martin and Robinson prior to the marriage of Harry Martin�s mother. In 1772, Harry�s mother married Peter Poppinoe and the three of them took possession of said settlement, with the consent of Charles Martin. On 24 Feb 1781 Charles Martin applied for the land on behalf of Harry Martin to the Commissioners who had been appointed to adjust claims and a certificate was issued. On the same day, Peter Poppinoe applied on his own right, and without the knowledge of Charles Martin, and obtained a certificate on the same land. Harry said that Peter had obtained his certificate in fraud and in violation of the trust by which he held the land with the consent of Charles Martin.

Harry Martin�s case was a weak one and there is nothing to indicate that his relationship to his Popenoe and Morgan relatives was not a good one. He may have had a dislike for his dead stepfather and thought he could claim the land since Peter was no longer around to defend himself. David Scott gave a deposition that he heard Charles Martin say that he and Peter had agreed before the commissioners that Peter was to have one of the fields that was cleared and Harry was to have the field where the house stood about 10 rods from Poppinoe�s run. Harry�s mother, Elizabeth Martin Poppinoe gave a deposition from KY on 20 December 1798 that she had come into the area now called Monongalia County in the fall of 1770 by the urging of the promise of Charles Martin to procure land for her son which induced her to make the move. She said she lived here about two years before she met Peter Poppinoe and at that time she believed he did not own any land in his own right. She said there was an agreed line and that Poppinoe made improvements between the improvements made for Harry and on Scotts Mill on the point of a ridge between Murphy�s Run and Scotts Mill Run. Ann Martin Evans (2 Aug 1800) said she heard Charles Martin tell Poppinoe he could have his choice of the two tracts and Poppinoe said he would take the land he improved and Harry Martin could have the other.

The case ran on for a couple of years and I don�t think Harry even won it, but it did provide a lot of good background to the affairs of Peter Popenoe, Elizabeth Martin and their friends and relatives, from a variety of deponents including French Martin, Harry�s cousin from Mason County.

In 1798-99, James Popenoe, John and Evan Morgan, Harry Martin and other relatives and friends purchased land in what is now Beavercreek Township, Greene County, OH and moved up there.

After Harry Martin's marriage to Sarah Morgan in 1789, and Nancy Popino's marriage to her brother Evan Morgan in 1792, the families continued to be close through their various further moves west. Evan's daughter, Lucy, wrote: "my father and uncle Harry Martin fought and chased Indians in Kentucky and Ohio and were both good soldiers as ever lived..and were always ready for a fight."[57] Harry Martin had served (along with William and John Morgan) under Lt. William Sudduth (who had been at Strode's station) in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, General Wayne's final victory over the Indians in 1794.[58]

In 1805 Harry Martin was in the Greene County militia, Third Brigade, and he later served as a captain in the War of 1812. [59] [60] After the war, the Martins left Ohio and settled in Connersville Township, Fayette County, IN. Here Harry died, at age 52, on 9 September 1819. After the estate was settled, Sarah returned to Ohio to live with her daughter, Elizabeth Lamme

Henry (Harry) Martin, 23 January 1767--9 September 1819, m 3 September 1789, Sarah (Peggy) Morgan, 28 July 1771-, dau of John and Martha Constant Morgan. Children:

1. Fanny Martin, born 11 April 1789 who perhaps married --- Little and had a son, Harry Little, born 22 Jan 1807.

3. Elizabeth Martin, 1791-1875, m 1811, Samuel Lamme. He was the son of Capt. Nathan Lamme who had been a volunteer in Dunmore's war, participating in the Point Pleasant battle, and later served 8 years during the Revolutionary War. Nathan moved to Sugar Creek township in 1797 and was appointed first sheriff of Greene County in 1803 but resigned after a few months due to his large land estate.[61]

7. Nancy Martin, 1800-1881, m 1819, John Vance. He was the son of Joseph and Nancy Bradley Vance--not the Joseph C Vance who laid out Xenia and was the father of Gov. Joseph Vance.

The immigrant ancestor was Morgan Morgan, born in Wales in 1688. He received his education in London, indicating that he came from a well-to-do family. As a young man he emigrated to America where he became a merchant in Christiana, Deleware. He was friends with the leaders of the colony, serving as executor of the 1717 will of John Evans, Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Morgan was a member and warden of St. James Episcopal Church in Delaware. He served as Coroner of New Castle County in 1727-29. In 1727, when King George I died, a declaration of allegiance and submission to George II was signed by 28 magistrates and citizens of Delaware. Morgan Morgan's name headed the list.

About 1730, Morgan Morgan moved to Berkeley County (then part of Orange County), Virginia. As French Morgan says: "He had been in business in America nearly twenty years and was an active and useful resident of his colony. Besides being industrious he was also wise, possessing a mentality far above the average. It has been said that he was a trusted friend of the Governor as well as a help to the rank of the colonists....he had reached the middle period of his life, being 42 years of age....it was not long, probably, after the sale of his farm (1730) that he, in true pioneer fashion, collected his scanty belongings and with his family set out from Christiana....The children were small, David being only ten years old. Therefore the best progress they could make was painfully slow. The way was fairly well settled to Frederick, Maryland, through which community they must have passed. All the early settlers in the valley came by way of the Potomac to the north until a way was later found over the Blue Ridge."

Morgan Morgan settled on Mill Creek, near what is now Bunker Hill, about 12 miles north of present-day Winchester. At the time it was the farthest west in Virginia that any white had settled and he is regarded as the first white settler in West Virginia. In January 1734-5, Morgan was appointed a county justice. About 1740 he helped to erect the first Episcopal church in the Valley. In 1744 he was granted the right to "furnish lodging, food, and liquors fixed by the court", i.e., to keep an ordinary. He was commissioned ensign in 1735-6 and rose to colonel by 1758. He died in 1766 at the age of 78. In 1924, Governor Ephriam F. Morgan, a 6th generation grandson, appointed a commission to carry out an act of the Legislature for a monument to Morgan Morgan. The monument reads in part: "Erected by the State of West Virginia in commemoration of the first settlement within the present boundaries of said state, which was made by Col. Morgan Morgan, a native of Wales, and Catherine Garretson, his wife....In commemoration of the sterling character of the said Morgan and family who by their efforts and example were largely useful in the community of which he was the founder and had great influence for good upon the early history of the territory now constituting this state."

He married Catherine Garretson, 1692-1773, daughter of Henry Garretson, an immigrant from Holland. They had eight children:

3. David, 1721-1813. From the age of ten, David Morgan grew up on his father's 1000-acre farm in Berkeley. Growing up on a frontier gave David the advantages of learning Indian lore and skill, marksmanship, and developing a strong body. His skills included surveying and gunsmithing. Before Lawrence Washington invested in the Ohio Company he wanted more information about the area.[63] He hired David Morgan, Nathaniel Springer, Jacob Prickett, Pharoah Riley, and John Snodgrass to explore westward across the Alleghenies and along the Cheat and Monongahela Rivers. In 1754 David claimed and temporarily settled on 301 acres of land in what is now Wharton Township, Fayette County, PA. He later claimed it in the name of his son, Morgan Morgan and it was surveyed in 1778. His family may have been one of the eleven families brought to Pennsylvania by Christopher Gist. In the French and Indian War he served with his brother Zackquill Morgan and Jacob Prickett in a Virginia regiment in the Braddock and Forbes campaigns and was at the fall of Fort Duquesne.

David seems to have been in the Dunkard Creek/Cheat River area in the early 1760s, later moving to Buffalo Creek near Fort Prickett. An anonymous document of the time said:[64] "In sixty three the king drove us off our lands and abused our women and children and burned our houses and destroyed our crops and stole our stock. Some of us bleated like silly sheep, and skeedaddled back over the mountains, and some of us took to the woods and waited for the king's men to go away, after which we came out again, and built new homes, and right soon things were going along about as they had before. But in sixty-six it happened again, and now the king was willing to have us hung if we would not give up our lands and go back to where we came from....Some of us did like we wanted to do. We stayed right there. No scooting off to the brush and living like wild beasts this time. Dave and John[65] Morgan was with us then. We stood our ground. And Dave and John gave the king's toadies the long yard! Come to it they said, Touch us and what is ours if you dare. And they did! They shot nine of us, killed Sam Flowers. We shot back and wounded some, and killed three. And they drawed off. And we was not pestered by them again, and them that jumped when the king said jump, we called dirty cowards. And them that stayed and defended their homes and families, we called the Friends of Morgan."

David lived the rest of his life along Buffalo Creek near Fort Prickett. In the early days he did a lot of informal surveying for various people and when regular surveys were made later, around 1780, many of David's were copied off for the court records. After his death in 1813 at the age of 92, a number of people who knew him well were interviewed. "Mrs. Shearerer said she was thirty-six or thirty-seven years old when David Morgan died, and of course, remembered him very well, as he was a neighbor and she saw him often....She said he was six feet tall or better and had black hair and black eyes, and kept his teeth until he was very old, and was only a little gray when he died....He was a very kind man and the best neighbor of anybody around....His funeral, she said, was the best attended of any in this part of the country in her time. The body was held for five days to give people time to come from far away....When people were sick, she said, or in any kind of trouble, the call always went to David Morgan, and, if the case was a just one, he never failed to answer the call....He would never be an officer in the army, or try for a political office. He was once appointed justice of the peace, and served one year, and afterwards made sure that the fees he earned while in office were spent to repair the county roads."

i. Morgan Morgan, 1746-1828, m Drusilla Prickett, daughter of Jacob and Dorothy Springer Prickett. They had 13 children, one of which, Elizabeth, married a Martin--probably Charles Martin (1796-), son of Spencer Martin. Morgan Morgan was commander of a company of militia at the outbreak of the Revolution. As first lieutenant in Captain William Haymond's militia company in 1777 he commanded Peter Popeno, also his father and three of his brothers as privates.

ii. Zackwell Morgan, 1758-1834 or 35, m 1794 Sina or Cina West, ten children. Served as private and sergeant in the Eighth and Thirteenth Pennsylvania Regiments of the Continental Army.

iii. James Morgan, d 1814. He served in Captain Haymond's company under his brother Morgan Morgan.

iv. Stephen Morgan, 1761-1849. Children: Hon. W. H. Morgan and Col. Charles Morgan.

v. Evan T. Morgan, 1754 or1760-1850. He enlisted in March 1776 in the first Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Army and served as a private until 1780 when he was commissioned as an ensign. He received a pension in 1834; supporting data was filed by Col. Dudley Evans.

He claimed, in the right of his wife, 160 acres on Coburn Creek settled in 1772. His nickname was Chunk, and Chunks Run, a branch of Little Paw Paw Creek was named for him.

7. Zackquill (or Zackwell) Morgan, 1735-1795. Of Zackquill Morgan's early life, little is known. In 1761 he received from his father 1,000 acres of Berkeley County land patented in November 1735. In the 1760s he moved with his brother David to the Monangahela area. According to a deed on file at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Zackquill was living at Great Meadow, Bedford County in 1771 when he sold his farm there. He had a home near present Rivesville (near Prickett's Fort) in 1776. He moved his family to Burris Fort in 1779 and onto his property near Decker's Creek in June 1781. He was sheriff of Monongalia County and the courthouse was in his home in 1783. His role in creating Morgan's Town has previously been told. His military career ranged from serving in the Braddock campaign of 1755 and the Forbes campaign of 1758, to becoming colonel of the Monongalia County militia. He commanded Fort Pitt for several months during 1777. He was a fearless and respected man who showed unusual traits of leadership and foresight. He counted among his personal friends such well-known men as George Washington, Patrick Henry, James Madison, and George Rogers Clark. He died on January 1, 1795 and was buried at Prickett's Fort Cemetary within a mile of his brother David's home. The inventory of his personal property showed a value of only �47/14.

iii. Catherine Morgan, 1750-, m (1) Jacob Scott, son of John and Judith Scott, and m (2) 1810, Thomas Tibbs.

Zackquill m (2) 1765, Drusilla Springer, daughter of Dennis and Ann Prickett Springer, and granddaughter of Count Carl Christopher Springer of Sweden. Children:

iv. Levi Morgan, 1766-. In 1786 he built one of the first houses in Morgan's Town. He was a noted Indian scout, serving with St. Clair's army in 1791. Wiley (p 82) says that Levi was a leading spirit among the many bold and adventurous scouts of Monangalia. Small of stature, he was possessed of wonderful muscular strength and fearless in battle. Wiley reports that James and Mod Morgan were also on the St. Claire expedition and when an Indian was in the act of shooting Mod, Levi shot him.

v. Morgan Morgan, 1767-. m 1810, Mary Hill. Called Mod or Spy-Mod, he was an Indian fighter. In St Claire's retreat, when James gave out, Mod declared that no Indian should ever kill a brother of his, and drew his tomahawk over James as though he would kill him, which had the desired effect of rousing James to another effort to flee. Mod died at Pine Grove, Wetzel County.

vi. James Morgan, 1771-, also an Indian scout. His descendants went over the Oregon Trail in 1852.

ix. Horatio Morgan, 1778-, unmarried. He is listed as having bought one of the first lots in Morgan's Town in 1785. It may have been purchased by his father for him since he would have been too young. In 1806 he was appointed Constable.

x. Zackquill Morgan, 1782-1814, m Elizabeth Madera and had six children. Captain Zackquill Morgan was killed in the defense of Washington, DC at the Battle of Bladensburg.

8. Morgan Morgan Jr., 1737-1820 (-1797?), m Mary Gossett. He received an education strong on religion and performed as a lay reader in church at the age of 16. At 17 he became a clerk to the rector of the parish at Winchester. Morgan Jr. remained in Berkeley County all his life and his father lived with him in his old age.

John Bowman was born in Frederick County in 1738, the son of George and Elizabeth Hite Bowman. He took his family to the Monongahela area in 1770 and was a captain of the wood rangers from 1770 to 1772. He was a member of the Boone-Harrod party that went to Illinois in September 1773 and later to Kentucky where they wintered. He again accompanied James Harrod to Kentucky in 1775 and 1776 where he was one of a committee of five to devise plans for the safety of Harrodsburg. In September 1776, he was chosen colonel of the Kentucky militia which Morgan Morgan collected and took down the Ohio River in October of that same year. In 1779 he led an expedition against the Shawnee in the Miami country of Ohio. In 1780, as County Lieutenant of Kentucky County, he ordered into service a company which included John Poppin(o), as part of Col. George Rogers Clark's forces against Shawnee villages in Ohio. In 1783 he ordered out a company that included Peter Poppeno and John Poppimo.[68] This was another Clark expedition against the Shawnee in Ohio. John Bowman died at his home in Lincoln County, Kentucky, May 4, 1784, at the age of 46.

The names Burris, Burrows, and Burroughs are all interchangeable for this family. The original immigrant seems to have been John Burrows who arrived as an indentured servant and lived in James City, Virginia, in 1623. Some Burris family researchers believe that the "main line" of the family settled in New Jersey and Delaware from about 1680 to 1740, with a few families coming into Maryland and western Virginia later.

The first Burris in our area was William Burris, son of William and Mary Morgan Burris, who was as early as the 1730s, and in 1747 had a farm on the Tygart River that joins the Monongahela upstream. He was born in Delaware in 1670 and died in 1759. He was a trader with various camps along the Monongahela near Morgantown. One old-timer said: Jacob Prickett was among the first white men who ever saw the Monongahela country, having been up the Monongahela River in 1745 or 1747 with David Morgan and others, to visit old Billy Burris on the Buckhannon River."[70] William Burris had two sons, Enoch and Elijah, but it appears that the Burris family with whom we are concerned came from a different line.

John and Alexander Burris, said to have been sons of Elijah Burris of Sussex County, Delaware, lived in Dorchester and Montgomery Counties, Maryland for a few years and then, in 1766, crossed the mountains and settled in the area near present-day Morgantown. They may also have stopped in Hampshire County for some time on their way. John Burris, with his relatives, "old Evan" Morgan, Nathaniel Springer, and others, built Fort Burris in 1766, the same year for which John Burris claimed the land on which it stood. This was the first fort built in the area. It was looted and burned by Indians in 1778, after it had been evacuated, with the settlers taking refuge at nearby Fort Martin and Fort Kerns. John Burris was a lieutenant in a company commanded by Zackquill Morgan.

The land, called Burris Camp Hollow, was surveyed in December 1766 by David Morgan. Camp Hollow is where John Burris and others camped while Burris Fort was being built. It was often told by Burris descendants that many newcomers to the valley camped there while looking out for lands on which to settle, and building cabins in which to live. The adjoining landowners were listed as Thomas John, Thomas Evans, and James Hoard. John Burris' land was on the upriver side at the mouth of West Run (see map 2); Edmund West who also settled in 1766, had 400 acres on the downriver side of West Run which were later sold to David Scott. John Burris sold off 388 acres of his tract, keeping the fort and about ten acres around it. His son, Elijah, had land between John's and John Evans'.

John Burris, b 1730, d between 1793/6, m. 1750 Elizabeth Boaz, b ca 1734. Children:

1. Boaz Burris moved to Kentucky and married Sarah Watters. He is listed in the 1820 Kentucky Census in Butler County. There was another Boaz Burris who arrived with his wife Bridget Willey, born in Delaware, dau of William Willey who came to settle near Collins Ferry, on the east side of the Monongahela but later moved to Buffalo Creek, near the site of Farmington. Boaz Burrows was appointed a justice of the peace in May, 1806. In August he was also appointed an overseer of the poor for the west side district of Morgantown. In 1819 he was appointed school commissioner. [71]

2. Elizabeth (Betty/Polly) Burrows, d ca 1776, m. Charles Martin. (There's a problem with dates here. John Burris was said to be born in 1730 and married in 1750, but Elizabeth's first child, Jesse, was presumably born before 1765, so she would have been married very young.)

4. Elijah Burris, 1756-1798. As previously mentioned, Elijah settled 400 acres of land adjoining John Evans in 1774. When his father died ca 1793, he left all his real estate to Elijah, and asked Elijah to pay �300 to his other siblings in varying amounts. In 1796 Elijah was a captain in the county militia. He married Sarah Morgan, the daughter of David Morgan who figured in the story of David's fight with the two Indians which I have previously related. She died in 1791 and Elijah died at the age of 42 in 1798, leaving their young children as orphans. John Evans, Jr., John Wilson Dean, and Stephen Morgan were appointed guardians. The first two were also executors. The will provided that the lands were to be equally divided among the three sons after 50 acres each was given to the daughters. There was also land in Kentucky which was disposed of in the name of all the children. The children were:

vii. Nancy Ann, 1786-. She may have been taken in by the Martin family because she called herself Ann Martin Burris. In 1807 she married William Baldwin, 1784-1857.

The other Burris that needs discussion here is Samuel Burrows mentioned in James Popenoe's deposition as "an old schoolmaster who taught school near to my father when I was a small boy..." He had written on the same paper the ages of the children of Peter Popino and the children of Elijah Burrows, and this paper "came into the hands of John Evans, Jr., executor of the estate of P.C. Burrows Dec'd." Samuel claimed 400 acres of land on Buffalo Creek, adjoining land claimed by John Scott, to include his improvement made in the year 1776. Since this is a long way from where Elijah Burris and Elizabeth Popeno lived, it seems likely that--like many others--he claimed the land but was actually living in the Evans/Burris neighborhood.

In 1786, Samuel Buris was one of some 60 men (including John Evans and Charles Martin) who signed a petition to the Virginia Legislature asking for establishment of a seminary for Monongalia, Ohio and Harrison Counties. "The Rays of Science from the University of William and Mary cannot shoot their enlightening Beam amongst us--the intervening Mountains our distance and our poverty cut us off from every possible advantage to be driv'd from thence. Sensible that the Legislature of Virginia will promise and encourage Literature even at the Extreme of their extensive Republick we are induced to Solicite the countenance and Sanction of your Hon: Body in establishment of a Seat amongst us."[72]

There were quite a few Davises in Monongalia County. According to one study[73] Benjamin Davis and his wife Mary went from Lancaster Co, PA before the Revolution to Westmoreland Co, PA., later to KY, and then to Columbia (later Cincinnati) OH where they settled in 1788/9. Benjamin had 8 children: John, Jonathan, Owen, David, Benjamin Jr, Rachel, and two other girls. Rachel later became the wife of an early Ohio settler, Thomas Morris. Benjamin, David, Owen and Jonathan were all in Morgantown at various times between 1783 and 1814. John, who lived there between 1783 and 1808, became a land promoter and eventually was forced into bankruptcy. He m Isabella Stockton. Their daughter, Isabella, m Robert Hume in Greene Co. Some time in 1812, John moved to Ohio and lived in Greene Co, possibly with his brother Owen, or David.

The Davises with which we are concerned, who may or may not be part of the above family, are two brothers, Thomas and Owen Davis. According to Core,[74] Owen had 400 acres on Carters Run in Harrison Co, and Thomas had land in Marion County near the present Fairmont Country Club. They also had land in or near Morgantown. William Haymond who lived near the site of Morgantown from 1773 to 1784 tells of eating apples from Owen Davis' orchard there. On the tax list of 1787 Elizabeth Popeno is three names away from Owen Davis. Owen Davis was a member of the VA House of Delegates in 1786-7 and was a trustee of the Baptist Society in Morgantown. Thomas Davis was next to Owen in the tax list and close to John Jenkins.

1. Thomas Davis was born in Wales[75] and was a soldier in the Pennsylvania Line. He was taken prisoner while in service, confined in a prison ship, and later exchanged in Philadelphia. He bought land in the Symmes Purchase in Greene County, OH about 1797-8, along with his brother Owen, James Popono, John Morgan, Henry Martin, and John and Jacob Judy. According to another account[76] Thomas Davis, with his brother John, came with the Newcom party in 1796. He was listed in the first tax list of Dayton Township, Hamilton County, 1798 along with his brother Owen Davis. Thomas Davis m1 Jane Jenkins and had four known children:

Thomas Davis m2 Mary ---. They had two daughters, Mary and Esther. He d Sept 1805 and his estate is listed and indexed in Book A, p 33 as Thomas Davis of New Jersey[77]. in 1806 Mary Davis and John McCabe were appointed guardians of Mary Davis, age 8; Esther Davis, age 6; and Lewis Davis, age 18.

2. Owen Davis 1751-1818, Thomas' younger brother, was also said to be born in Wales. He m Letitia Phillips 1749-1824. During the winter of 1795-6 forty six men agreed to settle in Dayton.[78] In the spring of 1796, only nineteen responded and they set out in three sections, two overland and one by water. He was in an overland party and was about two weeks on the road. He settled in Beavercreek Township where he built the first mill on Beaver Creek, finishing it in the winter of 1799. The mill ground corn from a thirty mile radius and Owen Davis was called a genial, accommodating man who would stay up all night or open on Sunday to accommodate his customers. He had another side to his character. He was a soldier of the Revolution and a fearless Indian fighter and at a meeting of the first court of common pleas in 1803 he pled guilty to a charge of assault against a man he charged with stealing hogs and was fined eight dollars. In 1805 he sold his property in Beaver Creek and with his daughter and son-in-law, General Benjamin Whiteman, moved to Clifton in Miami Township where he erected another mill. His son Lewis was already there. Among them, they owned most of the land on which Antioch College is now located. Owen died in 1819; James Popenoe was one of his executors. Owen and Letitia had two children:

(1) Lewis Davis, never married. Robinson recounts that while at Dayton, then a small hamlet, Lewis met an Indian just arrived from the Yellow Springs who told him about the curative powers of the waters. After checking out the springs for himself, he went to Cincinnati and entered the land. He became a very big land speculator and owner, making 111 land entries between 1807 and 1829.[79] He also became an alcoholic and was ruined, dying a pauper.

(2) Catherine Davis, m Benjamin Whiteman in 1793 in Limestone, later Mayville, KY. Benjamin Whiteman[80] was born in Philadelphia in 1769, and moved to KY in 1782, settling near Limestone. He was associated with Boone in defending the settlements and enlisted in General Harmer's and General Wayne's campaigns. In 1799 he and his wife moved to Beaver Creek--an area he had passed through three times on campaigns against the Indians--and built the house in which the first court was held in the county. He was one of the first judges in the county, and was also involved in organizing the military system of Ohio. During the war of 1812 he became a brigade general.

The immigrant ancestor, Thomas Dent, b ca 1630 in England, was high sheriff of St. Mary's County, Maryland 1664, justice of the county court, and delegate from St. Mary's County in 1669. Died 1676. His son, Major William Dent, was State's Attorney for St. Mary's, Charles and Calvert Counties. His great grandson, John Dent, was born in 1755 in Loudon County, VA. He arrived on the Monongahela by 1770 and over the years claimed or bought a lot of land:

The last three suggest that he was buying up lands as soon as the earlier settlers had gotten legal titles to them. In 1777, he enlisted as a private under Captain David Scott in the Thirteenth Virginia Regiment, Continental Army. He served at Fort Pitt and another fort on the Ohio, becoming a sergeant, and then was commissioned ensign in 1778 and lieutenant in 1779. He was offered a captaincy in November 1780 but he settled his accounts and resigned, having recently gotten married. He served again in 1796 as captain of an artillery company in the local militia. In 1784, Dent was appointed a magistrate of Monongalia County, in 1789 he was made Sheriff, and in 1792 and 1796 he served as one of the two county delegates to the Virginia House of Delegates. He also, in 1790, built and operated a mill on Dents Run.

John Dent, 1755-1840, m 1780, Margaret Evans, 1763-1851, dau of Col. John Evans.

1. Elizabeth Dent, b December 26, 1780-, m Rawley Martin. (Her parents were married the previous June.)

10. Marmaduke Dent, 1801-1883, m Sarah Price. He was the first resident physician in Preston County and was postmaster at Granville, Monongalia County.

Gallatin was born in Geneva in 1761, a descendant of some of the most noted families of the area. He graduated from the University of Geneva at the age of 18 in 1779 and, feeling a youthful admiration for the revolt of the American colonies, slipped away from his family and arrived in Boston in 1780. He served as a volunteer for awhile in the American forces and then, in 1782, became Instructor in French at Harvard. In the winter of 1783-84 he was in Richmond negotiating a claim against the state by a European House and he became friendly with Governor Patrick Henry. Henry advised him to settle in western Virginia and, during 1784, he purchased for a low price a quantity of wild land in Monongalia County on which he hoped to build a settlement of European emigrants. In 1785 he was naturalized by County Clerk John Evans.

The Indian aggressions in the area became so great that he was unable to go ahead with his settlement, and he moved beyond the lines of danger to Springhill Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. In May, 1786, he bought a tract of land overlooking the Monongahela River, which he called Friendship Hill (see map 2). Notwithstanding his foreign manners and language, he quickly rose in the estimation of the local people and, in 1789, he was elected delegate to the convention that framed the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790. He was re-elected to the State Assembly in 1790, 91, 92, and 94.

He became known as a brilliant debater and a very hard worker. As a result, he was elected in the 1792-3 session of the Pennsylvania Legislature to the Senate of the United States, even though a majority of the members were in political opposition to him and he, himself, had doubts about his eligibility. Albert Gallatin took his seat in the Senate in December, 1793, but the question of his eligibility was at once raised against him and, in February 1794, he was ousted by a party-line vote. He returned to Fayette County with a substantial inheritance which he had just received from Europe, and bought additional land near his farm, including a small village which he renamed New Geneva. Here he started the first glass works west of the Allegheny mountains and also was in a partnership engaged in land speculation and development. He played a prominent role in the peaceful settlement of the Whiskey Rebellion, which was centered in that part of Western Pennsylvania.

He served in the U.S. Congress from 1795 to 1800, during the last two years of the Washington administration and the whole of Adams', and was one of the leaders of the opposition, particularly in matters of finance on which he was regarded as a great expert. It was no surprise then, when President Jefferson appointed him Secretary of the Treasury. He had meanwhile set up a gun factory which was supplying arms both to Pennsylvania and the National government. He deferred accepting his appointment to the Treasury until he could sever his relations with this business, then served as Secretary under Jefferson and Madison from May, 1801 to February 1814--the longest cabinet tenure of any man. By 1812, he had brought down the public debt from $80 million (to which was added $15 million for the Louisiana Purchase) to $45 million.

Albert Gallatin was the originator of the plan for construction of a National Road from Cumberland to Wheeling--the most magnificent and expensive of any turnpike ever yet built in this country. Work was begun in 1806, though not much was done until 1815, after the war, and it was completed in 1822. It cost nearly $1,700,000, or nearly $13,000 per mile for its 131 miles!

In 1813, the Czar of Russia offered to mediate the war between Britain and America, and Gallatin was sent by President Madison to join our Ambassador, John Quincy Adams, in Saint Petersburg. After he had left, the Senate refused to consent to his appointment on the grounds of incompatibility between the offices of Secretary and Minister. The British refused to accept Russian mediation but agreed to negotiate a peace in Sweden, later Belgium. Having meanwhile appointed a new Secretary of the Treasury, the President renominated Gallatin and the Senate confirmed him. On December 24, 1814, he was one of the signatories to the peace at Ghent. In 1815, with Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams, he negotiated and signed in London a commercial treaty with Great Britain. After a brief visit back to the United States he served as Minister to France from 1816 to 1823.

He returned to the U.S. with his family early in 1824 and took up residence in a new mansion which he had had built at Friendship Hill. He was nominated for Vice President but after considerable public outcry as to the question of his eligibility, he withdrew his name. In 1825 he had a visit from his old friend, Lafayette (for which his county had been named) and it was a cause for great public celebration. In 1826, President Adams made him Minister to London. In 1827 he returned to the U.S. but never went back to Fayette County. He became President of the National Bank--one of the largest banks in New York. His closing years were spent mainly on scientific and literary labors. He became President of the New York Historical Society and of the Ethnological Society. He died in 1849, at 89.

I have dwelt on Albert Gallatin's career at some length, both because he was the most illustrious citizen of the Monongahela area of his time, and because Nancy Popenoe Morgan in 1815 named a son Albert G (Gallatin?) Morgan, and James Popenoe in 1829 named a son Albert Gallatin Popenoe. This would suggest that, in addition to honoring a local man whose political views they probably shared, they may have at least met him when he was in Morgantown. They were just kids then but as they were part of John Evans' extended family they could well have spent time with him and come to admire him.

William Haymond, son of the English emigrant, John Haymond, was born in 1740 in Frederick County, Maryland, near Rockville. At the age of 15, he served with General Braddock's army on the march to Fort Dusquesne, and survived the defeat in 1755. He was with General Forbes on his successful expedition in 1758. In 1759 he enlisted in a Virginia company commanded by Col. George Washington. He was a sergeant when the company disbanded three years later at Fort Lewis, near Staunton, Virginia. In May 1773 he moved to the Monongahela. His son, William Jr. later wrote a number of accounts of his early life:[84]

"In the year 1772 my father moved to this country. It is strongly impressed on my mind that we stopped in the forks of Cheat River at or near Rogers' Fort. The next I recollect our family was living in the Monongahela Glades near Deckers Creek. As soon as the war broke out we had to leave the place and the whole family went to Kearn's Fort opposite where Morgantown now stands. My father then had eight negroes. We planted and raised corn on the ground where Morgantown now stands. This was a stockaded fort. At one time I think there was a company of soldiers there. While living in Kearn's Fort we had small pox in the natural way--all the family except my father who had had it. Two children, I think, were all that died then with that disease, however, my father lost either six or seven of his negroes--it was said that they were poisoned. While living in this fort, we boys would go out on what we called the Hogback to hunt ramps (animals standing with their forelegs raised). We used the bow and arrow and were very good at shooting them. Once while we were standing in the yard some one shot up an arrow straight; it fell and struck through the wrist of either Colonel John Evans or one of the Wilsons; it was hard to get out."

In 1777, William Haymond was appointed captain of a militia company at Fort Prickett. It was in this company that Peter Popeno served. Haymond was promoted to major in 1781. In civil pursuits he was variously justice of the peace, land commissioner, deputy surveyor, coroner, and sheriff. In 1784 he moved to Clarksburg in Harrison County where he served as county surveyor until his death in 1821.

The first Tschudi/Judy to emigrate from Switzerland to America was a Martin Judy who was married to Rosina Schaffner and is said by Carmack to have arrived in 1738 and to have settled in North Mill Creek, Augusta (later Hampshire) County in 1761-63. The Hampshire County Census for 1782 and 1784 show Martin and three of his children, though Martin is missing in 1782.[86] He may be the Judy who was at Strodes Station in Kentucky in 1781, along with Morgans and Constants, also from Hampshire County.[87] His will, probated in 1785, lists his wife Rosanna and seven children: Martin (deceased, with sons Martin and Jacob to receive land on the North Fork but Rosanna to have possession until they reach age 15), Henry, Nicholas, Elizabeth, Margaret, --- who m. Jacob Borer, and John (eldest son "if he be yet alive.")[88]

Another Martin, called Martin Tschudi I emigrated from Switzerland in 1759 with some of his children and grandchildren, but died on arrival. His widow, Elsbeth, went with the family to the village of Fort Pitt on the frontier where they lived for several years. The children with whom we are concerned were 1. Johannes Sr, b 1724, and 2. Martin II, b 1735. Later they settled in the Monongahela area.

1. Johannes Tschudi Sr (aka John Judy), b 1724 in Switzerland had made three trips to America and was a shrewd trader in merchandise with the British and the Indians. The first trip in 1749 was with his father, Martin I and Johannes' first wife, Anna Maria, by whom he had two or three children but who died during the trip. He returned to Switzerland to get more merchandise and a new wife, Maria Magdalena Schaffner. He came to America again in 1751 and finally emigrated to America in 1759 as mentioned above. The records of Fort Pitt show that he had four children by this wife:

(3) John Judy Jr. who moved to Pickaway Co., OH after serving in the Revolution.

(4) Elizabeth Judy, b 1760 in Fort Pitt, m in 1777 her first cousin, Martin Judy III.

Johannes Tschudi, now called John Judy was one of the two first settlers in what is now Preston County, east of Monongalia County. Judy settled in 1769 on Sandy Creek, a large creek that runs into the Cheat River. He apparently died soon thereafter because the land claims in that area are in the names of Martin Judy, Jacob Judy, Martin Judy, Jr., or Heirs of John Judy. The dates of settlement are 1772, 1773, 1775, and 1776. Martin Judy (II), stayed on at Sandy Creek, but Jacob and Martin Judy (III) both went to Kentucky.

2. Martin Judy II, b 1735, was a cooper--a maker of wine barrels. He m in 1754 Anna Boni. They arrived in Philadelphia in 1767 with four children; seven more were born in America. He apparently did not make the trek to KY. Monongalia County Deed Book Records show that Martin and Ann Judy sold x acres on the east side of Sandy Creek for �842 in 1795, 200 acres on Big Sandy in 1796, and another 200 acres near Glade Run in 1796. Carlock says he went back to Switzerland to try to collect money that the Swiss Government had confiscated from his ancestors and kinsmen, then returned and died before 1812 either in PA (ie, Preston County, VA) or at the home of his second son, John, in Greene County, OH. Carlock also says Anna (Ann) died in KY in 1793. This is obviously wrong, but she might have gone with the rest of the family to KY and then returned. The 1796 Glade Run land transfer says "both signed in Dutch."[89] Children:.

(1) Martin Judy III, 1757-1831, who married his cousin Elizabeth, above. He served in the 2nd PA Reg. in the Revolution. In 1785, they moved, along with his brother John and his mother with her younger children, to Harpers Ferry thence southwesterly; spending time in Petersburg, Hampshire/Hardy/Grant County, WV. They may have stopped to visit their cousin, Martin Judy Sr. and Rosina Schaffner, who settled in 1761-3 on land in North Mill Creek, between what are now Pendleton and Grant Counties, WV but was in Hampshire County until 1786. They arrived in 1787 at Fort Hatfield near Big Stone Gap in what is now Giles Co., VA. About 1790 they settled on land near Winchester (and Boonsborough), in what became Clark Co., KY where Martin operated a mill on Big Stoner Creek. Children:

ii. Ann Judy, b 1780, m 1797 William Maxwell in Clark Co. Their children were born through 1820 in Clark Co. (There was a William Maxwell in Beavercreek Township, Greene Co, OH in 1803, a judge, sheriff, and member of the first Ohio legislature. Was this a relative; a son perhaps?)

iv. Elizabeth Judy, b 1785 in VA near Harpers Ferry at the beginning of the trek to KY. She m1, in 1808, Clark Co, Jacob Constant, (son of Capt. John Constant who had been at Strodes Station and was the brother of Martha Constant Morgan whose son Evan m Nancy Popeno, in 1792).. Jacob's sister Elizabeth Constant m Charles Morgan, Evan's cousin. Elizabeth Judy and Jacob Constant had a son, Rezin, b in Clarke Co in 1809 who later moved with many relatives to Sangamon Co, IL;[90] and a daughter, Martha Ann, who m a Strode--another family connected to the Constants and Morgans. Elizabeth m2 1816 in Clark Co, Rice Pendleton. She d in 1844 in KY.

(2) John Judy, 1759-1841. Was a soldier in the 11th VA Reg. commanded by Daniel Morgan. In 1783 he m Phoebe LeMaster. Carlock says that he was in military service until 1783 and believes he and his brothers started south from Harpers Ferry in 1785. There may have been 25-30 people making this trek, probably to claim war bounty land. They continued on to the New River settlements and Fort Hatfield. A family council decided that John would make a test trip to Kentucky with some friends, while the family stayed behind. He went to what is now Mt. Sterling, KY where he became head of a lumber gang and spent a year clearing land for the owner, receiving 100 acres for his labor. He then returned to Fort Hatfield, collected his family, and led them to what became Montgomery, Clark, and Fleming Counties, KY. Here he is said to have met and become friends with Daniel Boone. As mentioned above, Martin and his family stayed in Clark County while, around 1799, John and his brother Jacob below moved on to Greene County, Ohio where they were associated with James and Peter Popenoe. They were no doubt also associated in Kentucky but the details are not yet clear. John's children:

(5) Jacob Judy, b 1767 en route to America. On the great trek, probably at Fort Hatfield, Jacob met Nancy Hatfield, dau of Wheatly Hatfield, perhaps the founder of the Fort. He married her in 1794 in VA or KY. They later settled in Greene County, OH, along with his brother John's family.

(6) Samuel Judy, b 1769. Took the name Judah. He stayed in PA, m Catherine Hart of NYC. His son Samuel Judah Jr was a well-known lawyer in Vincennes, Indiana.

(7) Wynepark Judy, b 1770, m Annel Lyle Tracy, widow of Peter Lyle of Frederick Co, Md.

(10) Nancy Judy, b 1778, m Nathaniel Hatfield, brother of Nancy Hatfield who m Jacob Judy.

Jacob and John Judy bought land in the Symmes Purchase, Ohio about (or at?) the same time (1797-99) as James Popenoe, Thomas and Owen Davis (from Morgantown), John and Evan Morgan, Henry Martin, Nathan Lamme (whose son William m Evan Morgan's sister Ruth and whose son Samuel m Harry Martin's dau Elizabeth) and William Maxwell (two daughters of Evan's brother John m Elias and William Maxwell--children of this one?). There was also a Thomas Hatfield, who could be part of the same Hatfield family.[91] These people may all have arrived in Ohio together. Popenoe tradition, reputed to be from an unknown old family bible, contended that Evan Morgan's mother was Martha Hatfield, though modern research points to her having been Martha Constant. There may have been some connection of the Popenoes and the Hatfields and if there was, the Judys were probably involved. A 1799 memorial to the Congress signed by most of these people about their land purchase, also included the name Martin Judy.[92] John's son Martin would have been only 12 at this time. Perhaps Martin Judy III was part of the party and later returned to Clark Co. KY. Or perhaps this was Martin Judy Jr from Hampshire County who was under 15 in 1785.

John Judy settled in Beavercreek Township where he served on the first grand jury along with Evan Morgan and Harry Martin.[93] Carlock[94] says that in 1797 John Judy Sr. with his wife Phoebe and children moved to New Harmony Township, Greene Co (since 1818 Clark Co, OH) "where because of his 'War Bounty' rights he secured hundreds of acres of fine land in the extreme upper reaches of Little Miami Creek. Some of his land was in Madison Co. No doubt Jacob Wilson and his large family, including sons Valentine and Michael came with John Judy, Sr. or soon after he reached the new 'promised land' in what is now Clark and Madison Counties, Ohio. Valentine married Eleanor Judy and Michael married Temperance (Tempa) Judy and all became immensely rich in lands, owning thousands of acres of the finest land in Ohio....Jacob Judy Sr. who married Nancy Hatfield, and Nathaniel Hatfield (children of Wheatley Hatfield and wife Nancy Ellen ---? Hatfield) who mar. Nancy Judy stayed together in VA (now northwest KY) until 1803 when they moved to Greene Co., Ohio where Jacob Sr. lived in Beavercreek Township (near Xenia the County seat) until he died in 1823 due to his service in the War of 1812-14."

This name was spelled in many ways in the records, most commonly Popino or Popeno. I am using Popenoe only after Morgantown, when James Popenoe adopted the current spelling.

Peter Popino claimed he settled in Monongalia Co. in 1771 on the land he claimed on 24 February 1781, though others thought it was actually 1772. His father had died in in Salem County, New Jersey in 1755 and and in 1767 he participated in the sale of his father�s land. I believe when he arrived on the Monongahela, he arrived with a son, John. The only thing we know about John is that he served in the Kentucky militia in 1780 and 1783. One source[95] refers to John Popin, Clark's Ill. Reg., John Poppim, IP, and John Poppimo, IP. IP refers to the Illinois papers, a collection of rolls of militia and regulars in the Illinois Department, now in the State Library, indexed in the state archives. The other source lists John Poppin in the Kentucky militia on service in Ohio 6 July-20 August, 1780, and John Poopimo--with Peter Poppeno--on service in Ohio 22 August-12 November 1783. The document in the state archives actually says Poppimo, not Poopimo, and that is a 1916 transcript of the original. I think I saw somewhere that John was killed in his final tour of duty, but I don't have the citation.

We know that this John could not be Peter's brother since he was not mentioned in Peter's father's will. He could be a son of his brother, James, but this is unlikely, since James stayed in New Jersey. The only other possibility is that he was Peter's son. If Peter was born ca 1737, John could have been born ca 1760, and be 20 years old by his first recorded military service in 1780. Since no wife was recorded in the 1767 land sale, John�s mother must have died before then. My assumption is that Peter arrived with John.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Martin arrived about 1770 with her son, Henry (Harry). Elizabeth made her land claim at the same time as Peter, but it was for her son, Henry Martin. A family bible says that he was born in 1767, so he would have been about 7 in 1775 when Elizabeth gave birth to Nancy Popeno, and he would have been about 13 when in 1781 she claimed land for him. It was not unusual for people to later claim land for minor sons. The land grant legislation of 1779 stated in part: "all persons, who at any time before the first day of January, 1778, have really and bonfide settled themselves or their families, or at his, her, or their charge, have settled others upon any waste or unappropriated lands upon the western waters, to which no other person hath any legal right or claim, shall be allowed for every family so settled, 400 acres of land, or such smaller quantity as the party chooses to include in such settlement." Elizabeth Martin was shown in the land claim as assignee of her brother, Charles Martin. Charles had a lot of land in various parts of the county but the records don't show that he had any other land in that immediate area.

OK, so we hypothesize that Elizabeth and Peter married around 1773-5. Nancy was born 17 July 1775. James was born in Fort Martin, 20 August 1777. We have no record of when Peter, Jr. was born, but assume that he was born about 1778-9.

Peter, Sr. was in Monongalia County on 24 February 1781 for the registration of his land. Immediately thereafter, he transferred (sold) 363 acres of it to John Dent, Elizabeth's nephew-in-law, who had it surveyed 23 October 1781 (see Appendix B). He was presumably free to leave after that. It may be that he felt he was in an untenable position as a man of no particular achievement expected to head and support his family but married to a woman of higher social status who was connected to two of the leading citizens of the area.[96]

He might have headed down to Kentucky to join, or rejoin, John Popino who was listed in the Kentucky militia in 1780, or he might have joined Clark's new volunteers for the "land-grabbing expedition." His only mention in the records was in 1783 when he was listed in the Kentucky militia, along with John Popino, John Morgan and others from the Strodes Station area, performing service in Ohio. This is the last record of his service, but from his later Vincennes claims, he may have gone on to serve in one or more of the campaigns there. There is no record that he ever went back to Morgantown.

During the remainder of the Revolutionary War period conditions in Kentucky and across the Ohio generally deteriorated and there were a number of campaigns against the Indians, any of which might have involved Peter Popeno. With the ratification of the Peace of Paris in 1783 which ended the Revolutionary War, the frontiersmen who had been congratulating themselves on winning the west were shocked and dismayed to learn that the Congress had recognized the Indian title as supreme in all the Northwest Territory (northwest of the Ohio River). Not a single settler could legally take up land in all that vast region. No white person was legally allowed to travel among the Indians without a passport, signed by an Indian agent. As usual, the frontiersmen did their own thing and ignored the Congressional injunction.

Some of them went up to Vincennes during Clark's last campaign there in 1785. Clark had helped to negotiate Indian treaties that opened much of southern Ohio to white settlement. But the general behavior of the whites led the Indians to conclude that they would not be satisfied with that, and the Indians organized a Wabash Confederacy to expel whites from Vincennes and elsewhere. Clark went back with 1200 men but morale was low and the Lincoln County, Kentucky militia voted to go home. The main body of the Kentucky militia stopped long enough to carve out "tomahawk rights" to the rich lands they saw around them, then fled back to the Falls of the Ohio where they arrived in total disorder.

Clark had made his conquest of the Old Northwest in 1778 in the name of the Commonwealth of Virginia. When word of the victories reached Williamsburg, legislation was adopted organizing all the lands north of the Ohio as the county of Illinois and sending out a county lieutenant, with instructions to show every possible respect to the French and to cultivate the good will of the Indians. When he reached Vincennes, he established a civil and criminal court, headed by the village's wealthiest French merchant, then returned to Virginia, leaving the people of Vincennes to govern themselves as they wished. The principal activity of the commandant (a French colonel) and the court was to make land grants, especially to the new American settlers. The court was composed entirely of Frenchmen and they began to grant lands to every American immigrant who came and wanted a tract of land.

The Ordnance of 1787 formulated a plan for a government of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio. Arthur St. Clair was named Governor, and Winthrop Sargent, Secretary, with the goal of establishing proper government throughout the Territory and making peace with the Indians so that the United States could buy more of their lands to sell to settlers to raise much needed funds. St. Clair found the people of the Illinois country greatly distressed. The Virginians had been a plague to these western communities, buying things with Virginia money which quickly depreciated and later was repudiated. Many of Clark's soldiers had remained behind to continue a rump government under which they harassed the local inhabitants.

In trying to straighten out the land mess Sargent found that grants had been made by the French, the British, and the courts set up by the Virginians. There were many forgeries. Between 1779 and 1783, 26,000 acres of land had been granted, and from 1783 to 1787, when Col. Harmer checked the abuse, another 22,000 acres had been granted, generally in parcels of 400 acres.

All of this is to give some background by which we might fit Peter Popino into the Vincennes time and place. He claimed two plots of land: 340 acres under a court deed and 244-400 acres by right of improvements.[97] The first was probably one of those dispensed by the French court operating loosely under the Virginia government. 340 acres equals 400 arpents, the French measure. That there was some such deed is evidenced by the fact that Luke Decker later got this land, listing Peter Pappino as original claimant.[98] It was located along the river Des Chis, a few miles south of Vincennes. Decker was a big wheeler-dealer and the largest slaveholder in Vincennes. The area where Peter had his land is now part of Decker Township. A claim in right of improvements means that the claimant lived on the land for at least a year, planted a crop and built a house. A later listing of American militia in 1790 showed that most of the men had arrived around 1785. Such was probably the case with Peter. He probably did some militia duty around Vincennes from time to time.

In 1806 the Commissioners for examining claims submitted several lists of claims, including those of Peter Popenoe, which were rejected for lack of evidence. They also observed that "from about the end of the year 1785 until about two years after the treaty of Greenville, the country about Vincennes, completely surrounded by hostile Indian tribes, and cut off from every means of relief, was placed in a situation highly dangerous. That the attempts to form settlements and make improvements were faint, hazardous, and most generally frustrated....Some few notices were filed with the Register by the representatives of deceased persons, who claimed militia donations under the Act of 1791. On examining the evidence, it appears that the persons...were dead before the 1st of August 1790 although they were of full age at the time of their death and duly enrolled in the militia. Even some instances may be cited of persons having been killed by Indians in defense of the country, and have never received any donation of lands from the United States."

In 1783:[99] "Elizabeth Popino assignee of John Bessley entered 500 acres part of a Land Office Treasury warrent of 10,000 acres No. 17241 dat. 23 June 1783 on the third drain of Scott's Run & Indian creek Extending to Doll Snitters run." This sounds like Elizabeth Popino got new land in the same general area to replace that sold to John Dent.

And the final disposition of the land?[100] On 11 April 1797, James Popeno came back to Morgantown with a power of attorney from Elizabeth Popeno, dated 17 August 1796, and sold the land on the head of Scott's Mill Run and Doll Snyder's run to his cousin, Jesse Martin. It was described as "containing five hundred acres of land and all houses buildings orchards...water courses profits commodities personlments and appurtenances whatsoever to the said premises." This land had probably been rented between 1783 and 1797. The sale may have been to provide money to buy land in Ohio.

It would appear that when Peter Popeno left, if not sooner, the family moved across the river to live on Col. John Evans' land. This would probably be at Popeno spring, and thus be the source of the name for the spring and run. This stream was said to run through the property of Col. Evans.[101] The 1787 tax list[102] shows Elizabeth Popino as head of household, with 3 head of cattle, listed next to Elijah Burris and close to the Davis and Jenkins families who lived in the vicinity of John Evans and Morgantown. In 1788, Elizabeth Poppono was listed again as head of household, with one horse.

We do not know when Elizabeth and the children went to Kentucky. Nancy was married there 24 March 1792, age 16. James, in his deposition, said his mother lived near his aunts until he was 13 or 14. That would be 1790-91. They probably lived with Nancy and Evan Morgan or Harry and Sarah Martin. Elizabeth made a deposition in Harry�s claim to the Morgantown land in 1798 and probably died shortly thereafter. A letter from James' son, Willis P Popenoe, in 1894, says that "Grandma died and left the boy James (my father) to care for himself. His acquaintances removed to Ohio where Xenia now stands. My Pa went with them, was known by the name of little Jim Popenoe."

Since little Jim probably hadn't seen his father after he was about five years old, the significant men in his early life were probably John Evans, Charles Martin, and perhaps Thomas and Owen Davis--all important men in the community with a strong sense of social and political service. This would explain James' own life. He probably grew up with Jane Davis and he married her about 1800. They had four children before she died in 1820. In 1821 he married a young widow from Cincinnati and Springfield, Ohio, Sarah Holcomb Harpham, who bore him eight more children, all of whom lived to maturity. James' first elective office was coroner of Greene County in 1805. He served in the War of 1812 under General Harrison. From 1815 to 1819 he served as sheriff of Greene County and he was elected again in 1824, serving until 1830. In 1819 he was elected to the state legislature, serving a one-year term. In 1816 he built the first brick house in Xenia. In 1830 he moved to a farm in Centerville, in the next county, where he died in 1848.[103]

His obituary read[104]: Popenoe, James, age 71, d August 19, 1848 in Montgomery Co., Ohio. A pioneer, he arrived in 1798, five years before the county was organized. Sheriff of Greene County for 8 years, active in politics, and 50 years a Baptist.

His younger brother Peter went to Ohio with him and in 1803 served as the first assessor of Beavercreek Township, preparing a list of the 154 male inhabitants over 21. He apparently left Ohio in 1806 when he tried unsuccessfully to claim his father�s land in Vincennes, and in 1810 was part of a party of 25 families led by Col. Benjamin Cooper that settled near Boone's Lick in Howard County, central Missouri.[105] Cooper was from Boonesborough, KY and Daniel Boone and his sons had previously been in Boone's Lick between 1800 and 1807. This move may have reflected connections made while Peter was living in KY, though no evidence for that has yet been found.

The Prickett immigrant ancestor was John of Gloucester, England, a persecuted Quaker. His son, Zachariah Prickett of New Jersey, in his will made in 1727, mentioned his son John and his brother Josiah's son John, apprenticed to him. The second John had ten children, two of whom were Ann and Jacob.

Ann Prickett m 1736 Dennis Springer in Burlington County, New Jersey. After a few years they moved to 350 acres on Apple Pie Ridge, near what is now Winchester, VA. Ann was widowed in 1760; in 1769, two of her sons, Josiah and Nathan moved to what is now Fayette County, PA. In 1773 she followed with more of her children. Her daughter, Drusilla, became the second wife of Zackquill Morgan.

Ann's brother, Jacob Prickett, married Dennis Springer's sister Dorothy in 1745.

As previously reported, Jacob surveyed with Nathaniel Springer (a brother of Dennis?), David and Zackquill Morgan in the early 1750s. He served with the latter two on Braddock and Forbes campaigns and was, like Nathaniel Springer, an early trader in the Monongalia region, with a trading post as early as 1759 on Prickett's Creek where in 1772 he built his fort. He was a captain in the Monongalia militia.

The most notable of the Scotts was David Scott, who had close ties with the Evans and Martin families through marriages of his children. Born on the south branch of the Potomac, he was a substantial landholder along the Monongahela from 1770 and played a big role in the political and military affairs of the county. Scotts Run, formerly Scotts Mill Run, is named for him. He built a mill at its mouth and in 1791 a ferry across the river was established there. South of Scotts Mill Run was Scotts Meadow Run, later called Dents Run. It was there that his daughters, Fanny and Phebe, were killed by Indians and his son, James, narrowly escaped death shortly thereafter. The records show that David Scott was Sheriff in 1782 and 1786; was a magistrate in 1784, 1787, and 1798; was a trustee of Morgan's Town in 1785, and served in the House of Delegates for three terms: 1785-6, 1786-7, and 1798-99. He was an early member of the Forks of Cheat Baptist Church--the first church in the area. He served as a captain in the militia and lost his right forearm, for which he later received a pension.

David Scott m Judith Cunningham and they had the following children (in addition to the two that were killed):

2. James Scott, d 1839, m Amelia Daugherty. James served as a musician in the Thirteenth Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army, 1776-1778, for which he received a pension in 1832. James was a major in the militia in 1800.

3. Robert Scott, m --- Cunningham. In 1796 he was a lieutenant in a militia artillery company under Capt. John Dent.

4. Felix Scott, m Nancy Dent, daughter of John and Margaret Evans Dent. Felix laid out the town of Grandville at the mouth of Dents Run and it was chartered by the General Assembly in 1814. The town had 43 lots and most were sold on the first day, with his brother Robert buying 13 of them for a total of $500.

There were a lot of other Scotts but I haven't been able to sort them out. Jacob Scott, who had land adjoining David Scott, was one of the men who killed Bald Eagle--one of the atrocities leading to Dunmore's War. There were also John Scott who died in the Revolution and another James Scott who also died about that time, as well as various heirs of both.

John Snider was born in 1743, of German origin, probably near Richmond. At the age of 17, about 1760, he was hunting in western Pennsylvania when he was captured by Indians and taken to their towns across the Ohio. Tradition says on their retreat, they spent a night at Crooked Run and Snider was much taken by the area. He was a captive for eight or nine years. By 1769, Snider had returned to the Eastern settlements and in that year he "piloted out a company to Crooked Run." This was the same time that Charles Martin, Richard Harrison and John Evans Sr (the Pennsylania Evans) arrived, and they may have been part of this company. John Evans Sr. married Mary Snyder, believed to be Snider's sister; and John Snider married, in 1776, Dorcas Evans, daughter of this John Evans.

John Snider served in the Revolutionary War. Some sources believe he went to eastern Virginia at the start of the war to avoid having to fight his Indian friends. By 1782 he was back because the records show that he supplied 160 pounds of pork to the Revolutionary forces. He and Dorcas had a sizeable family of ten to thirteen children. One of his descendants stated in his autobiography that John owned "a farm which he cultivated, mostly with the labor of others. He had acquired the Indian mode of living and was more of a hunter and woodsman than a farmer." When Charles Martin organized the Fort Martin Methodist Church, John Snider donated the land on which it was built.

John Swearingen went to the Monongahela area from the Hagerstown, Maryland area around 1770 and took up 800 acres on Ten Mile Creek in what is now Washington County. His son, Van, also had 400 acres on Ten Mile Creek. John and his wife, Catherine Stull, had 13 children including Van, Joseph, and Marmaduke (sometimes erroneously believed to have become Blue Jacket, a Shawnee Chief). John and Van built the fort that bore their name. The son, Van, was a Lieutenant in the Maryland State Line during the Revolution in 1777. He volunteered for service in Pennsylvania later that year. He obtained a pension for his service in 1832 and died in Shelby Co, KY in 1839.

Thomas Swearingen III was an early resident of Shepherdstown and ran a ferry there. In 1758 he ran against George Washington for the House of Burgesses and was badly defeated. (or was this another Thomas?) He was married to Sarah ---- and he died in 1760. Thomas and Mary's children included Samuel Swearingen, Captain Joseph Swearingen, 1754-1821, Major Thomas Swearingen IV, 1752- <1786; Captain �Indian� Van Swearingen; and Benoni Swearingen.

At the outbreak of the Revolution, �Indian� Van raised an independent company of riflemen which, in 1776, was attached to the Eigth Pennsylvania Regiment. In 1777, in the battle of Stillwater, he was wounded and taken prisoner. Upon his release, he served with the regiment until resigning in 1779. He became the first sheriff of Washington County, 1781-84. He was a trustee of a church near New Geneva and was also one of the largest slave owners in the county with 13 slaves.

In 1779, Colonel William Morgan, one of Richard Morgan's sons, led a party of twelve through the Shenandoah Valley to Boonesborough, Kentucky that included Thomas and Benoni Swearington and two of their slaves, and John Strode and John Constant Jr. Major Thomas Swearingen was married to Mary Morgan, sister of Col. William Morgan. Thomas went to back to Kentucky in 1780 with one of the Vans, probably his son Van (1762-1793), John Constant, Jr., John and Evan Morgan, and others. Strode built Strode's Station, about 2.5 miles south of Winchester in what is now Clark County, All of these people were listed among the residents of Strode's Station when it was attacked in 1781. Van served with John and Peter Popeno in a company of Kentucky rangers that was called up in 1783. [110] Indian Van and his nephew Van were in General St. Claire's abortive expedition against the Indians in 1973; the younger Van was killed during the fighting..

The accounts are confusing and with all the Vans it is not surprising. It does not seem that the Swearingens who were in Kentucky in the 1780s were from the Monongahela but they were closely related to the ones that were. How this ties in with the Popenos who went to Kentucky remains to be seen.

[1] The most complete and recent history of the region is Earl L. Core, The Monongalia Story, McClain Printing Company, Parsons, WV, 1974. Vol 1 goes to 1776 and Vol 2 covers 1777 through 1826. These volumes contain details of all the land certificates issued from 1766 to 1782, the originals of which are contained in a book in the courthouse. Core calls it the most valuable document surviving for the history of that period. Quite a few unattributed details herein of the lives of the settlers are from Core's two volumes. Other major works consulted: James Morton Callahan, History of the Making of Morgantown, West Virginia University, Morgantown, 1926; Joseph Doddridge, The Settlement and Indian Wars of the Western Parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania, 1763-1783, (1824), reprint, Heritage Books, Bowie, MD, 1988; Dale Van Every, Forth to the Wilderness, William Morrow, NY, 1961--the first of an excellent four-volume history of the frontier; James Veech, The Monongahela of Old (1858), reprint, Clearfield and Company, Baltimore, MD, 1975; Samuel T Wiley, History of Monongalia County, West Virginia, Preston Publishing Company, Kingwood, WV, 1883; and Alexander S Withers, Chronicles of Border Warfare, (1831), reprint, Heritage Books, 1993.

[2] The first map is from Core, op cit, Vol II. The second is a portion of History Map of Colonial Greene Co, Penna and adjacent territory, Historic Committee, Greene County Historical Society. From Vol 3 of The Horn Papers, published for the Society by the Hagstrom Co., NY 1945, 974.88 H786 in the West Virginia and Regional History Collection (hereafter WVRHC), Colson Hall, West Virginia University, Morgantown. Additions and some corrections by Oliver Popenoe.

[3] Veech, op cit, p 37.

[4] Doddridge, op cit, pp 82-3.

[5] Withers, op cit, p 99.

[6] Van Every, op cit, pp 260-1.

[7] John H Gwathmy, Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution 1775-1783, the Dietz Press, Richmond, VA 1938, p 632. Among the names listed are: "Peter Popeno Pitts"and Pitts is described as a list of militia paid off at Fort Pitt in 1775, indexed in the State Library. Probably colonial troops in Dunmore's war receiving their pay. Practically all of them immediately joined the Revolutionary forces." I looked at the list in the Virginia Archives and it shows that Peter Popeno was a sgt. in Capt. David Scott's company and that the pay was delivered to Scott, 30 Sept 1773. There probably was an error in recording the date (the original rolls had been copied by Archives staff in 1915-16) as this would have been too early for Dunmore's War which was in 1774. However, John M. Boback, the leading researcher of Pricketts Fort, told me in an email, 15 Aug 2004, that the pay was indeed for Dunmore�s War, mid-May to mid-Nov 1774 and that Virginia dragged its feet when it came to paying the men so they were not paid until 1775.

[8] Doddridge, op cit, p 179.

[9] J T McAllister, Virginia Militia in the Revolutionary War, (1912), reprint, Heritage Books, 1989, p 216.

[10] Core, op cit, vol II, pp 10-11.

[11] Reuben Gold Thwaites and Louise Phelps Kellogg, Frontier Defense on the Upper Ohio, 1777-1778, (1912), reprint, Heritage Books, 1993, pp 52-3, 142-145.

[12] Ibid, pp 273-4.

[13] There are many accounts of this battle. These have been collected and evaluated by Martha L Bell in her Morgan genealogy, WVRHC, A&M 2505.

[14] Withers, op cit, pp 204-5.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Van Every, op cit, pp 261-3.

[17] Virgil A Lewis, State Historian and Archivist, Sketch of the Evans Family of Monongalia County, 1911, WVRHC A&M 2383; ms by Franklin and Elaine Bristol, River Forest, IL, Jan 1970, WVRHC A&M 2184; Dille Collection, WVRHC A&M 357, R16B5. (Dille, a descendant, spent many years collecting information on the Evans family for a projected genealogy which was never completed. Much of the material is among his 40 boxes at the WVRHC. I was unable to find some Evans material which was catalogued.); Callahan, op cit, pp 78-81.

[18] Fairfax County Archives, Will Book A, pp 213-4. Where the will goes from one page to the next there seems to be something missing. It appears that Summers is only to take over in the event of Margaret�s death but that is not clearly stated.

[19] Map by Beth Mitchell, pub. by Fairfax County 1987.

[20] Non Netherton, et al, Fairfax County, Virginia - A History, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, 1992, p. 50.

[21] Rev. Philip Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, Philadelphia, George W Jacobs Co 1907 (Fairfax Library VRARE 283 S 1907), pp 121, 127.

[22] Tombstone Inscriptions of Alexandria VA, Vol 3 by Wesley E Pippenger, November, 1992, pp 192-3.

[23] Will Book B, pp 201-2.

[24] Fairfax County Historical Society annual, Vol 5, p 31.

[25] No record of the marriage has been found. Lewis says she was of Loudon County. But since there are no records of the Martin family in that county, I think he was wrong.

[26] No land records have been found for John Evans in Loudon County. If he lived there he must have leased land. There are many records for a John Evans, blacksmith, son of Griffith Evans, who owned a substantial amount of land around Goose Creek, near present Dulles Airport. Interestingly, the accounting for the will of John Evans, discussed earlier, which was submitted to the court in 1758 by Robert Thomas, included an item to Col. John Carlyle on acct. of a bond given by Grifith J Evans. This suggests that Griffith Evans was a relative�perhaps a brother--and so, Griffith'� son, John Evans would be also.

[27] This is Lewis� account. However the mother, Margaret Evans, had married Robert Thomas shortly after her first husband died. In 1768 Thomas wrote his will giving his wife, Margaret the lease of the plantation on which he lived, some small other bequests to sons and daughter, and the remainder of the estate to be equally divided between Margaret and the grandchildren. The will was proved 22 November 1768 and on September 19, 1768, Margaret went to court and relinquished her right and benefit by the will. (Will Book C, pp 44 and 46, and Fairfax County Court Order Book, September 19, 1768.) From this we might deduce that Margaret had not accompanied her son�s family to Fort Cumberland but joined them after her husband�s death.

[28] Dille Collection, WVRHC, A&M 357, R16B5; also ms article on John Snider by Gordon C Baker in the Morgantown Public Library.

[29] General details unless otherwise attributed are from Bernard Butcher, ed., Genealogical & Personal History of the Upper Monangahela Valley (1912), reprint, Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1978, pp 1174-8; Monangalia Co. Will Abstracts: and Helen Wesp Collection, WVRHC, A&M 1613, R66DH.

[30] T. Michael Miller, Alexandria�s Forgotten Legacy: The Annals of William F. Carne, pub. by author, 302 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA 1983, p 193. Among the privates are Francis Summers, a local boy whose father was associated in Fairfax County with John Evans� father, and Thomas Morgan. This may be the Thomas Morgan who sold his land near Berryville in the Shanandoah Valley in 1749 and does not appear in the records again until (if the same man) 1763 at Sleepy Creek, Hampshire County. During the French and Indian War most of the families in the Shenandoah Valley and points west moved back across the mountains to escape the Indian menace. So this could be the same man.

[31] Gertrude E Gray, Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, Baltimore: GPC, 1988, Vol II, pp 1, 14, 108; and Vol. III, p 70.

[32] Earl L. Core, The Monongalia Story, Parsons WV: McClain Printing Co., 1974, Vol II, p 293.

[33] Melba Pender Zinn, compiler, Monongalia County, WV, Records of the District, Superior and County Courts, Vol I, 1776-1799, Heritage Books, 1990, pp 26, 42, and 64.

[34] Pender Zinn, op cit, pp 123, 127, 193, 206, 227, 236, 238, 257; Vol II 1800-1803, pp 9-10, 18 and 252.

[35] Info from Dean H. Martin, a descendant of Evans H. Martin. dhmartin@weir.net.

[36] Details on Presley in History of Wetzel County, WV, Wetzel County Centennial Society, 1983, p 159; and John C McEldowney, Jr, History of Wetzel County, WV, (1901), reprint Wetzel Co. Genealogical Society, New Martinsville, WV, 1980, p 31.

[37] Story from Martin Family files, Maysville KY Museum. In 1787, Susannah Fristoe Dulin was on her way overland from Graves Creek to Limestone [Maysville] KY when she met Edmund Martin (no relation to the other Martins) on his way from Wheeling to Limestone. He was born in 1745, probably in NJ and had been a judge in Sussex County, NJ before heading west. He married Susannah on March 10, 1788. He purchased a great deal of land in and around Maysville, established a general store, owned many slaves, and operated the ferry to Ohio, dying in 1811. By coincidence (?) the other Martin in Maysville was Henry Martin, of which more later. Oh yes, Susannah�s daughter, Sarah Dulin, b July 17, 1785, married August 2, 1800 (a real young�un) Levi Boone, son of Daniel Boone�s brother.

[38] Melba Pender Zinn, op cit, pp 99-100

[39] . The Pittsburgh Payrolls in the Virginia State Library, Archives Division, p 27, show a Henry Martin who served for 162 days on Capt. John Robertson's Roll, for which Robertson received payment 5 October 1775. Martin got �12/3 with a balance due of �2/8/8

[40] Records of the District of West Augusta, Ohio County and Yohogania County, Virginia, Columbus, OH: Ohio State University, 1970, pp 40 and 74.

[41] Mason County Order Books B, C, and D, annual entries.

[42] Mason County KY Deed Book D, p 513, County Clerk�s Office, Maysville.

[43] Mason County Deed Book J, p 229.

[44] Mason County Order Book C, p 251.

[45] Mason County Will Book G, p 105.

[46] Mason County Order Book, Oct 1817: �Satisfactory evidence was adduced to the court to show that Harry Martin is father of and legitimate heir-at-law of Fields Martin, late a soldier of the First Regiment of U.S. Infantry, who it would appear died at Erie in September 1815, while in the service of the U.S. and who enlisted in said service for five years with Captain Henry R. Graham in Washington [Mason County], Kentucky on the 18^th day of May 1812.

[47] Suit of Harry Martin against purported owners of the land originally granted to Peter Poppinoe in Monongalia County Chancery Court, 1798-1800. There were depositions from Elizabeth Martin Poppinoe, Ann Martin Evans and several others. In Melba Pender Zinn, Monongalia County (West) Virginia Records of the District, Superior and County Courts, Vol. 4: 1800-1802, 1810, Bowie MD: Heritage Books, pp 274-278.

[48] Land certificate book in County Courthouse, Morgantown, WV.

[49] Harry Martin Jr. bible, purchased 30 July 1805, in 1995 in possession of Helen Van Zante Boertje of Marion County, Iowa.

[50] Record of Morgan births, marriages and deaths in Popenoe family files, provenance unknown.

[51] Peter was listed in 1799 for the first time as a taxpayer in Clark Co, KY. Men became eligible to pay taxes at 21, therefore we can assume his birth around 1778.

[52] Monongalia County Land Entry Book 1, p 28, surveyed for John Dent, assignee of Peter Popeno, 23 Oct 1781.

[53] Bourbon County Marriage Bonds Book, County Clerk�s Office, Paris, KY.

[54] Harry G. Enoch, In Search of Morgan�s Station, Bowie, MD, Heritage Books, 1997. There are a number of references to Harry Martin in this fascinating book; the story that follows is on pp 91-93.

[55] The Kentucky Genealogist, Vol 17, No 1, 1975, p 13.

[56] See footnote 33.

[57] Letter from Lucy's daughter, Cornelia Curry, in the Popenoe family collection.

[58] The Filson Historical Quarterly, Louisville, KY, Vol 2, January 1928, "A Sketch of the Early Adventures of William Sudduth of Kentucky", p 65. Also Murtie Jane Clark, American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796, GPC, 1990, pp 43-44.

[59] Ohio Records and Pioneer Families, Vol 2, No 1, 1961, (NGS F486.03), p 27.

[60] These and the following details are covered in Gerald E Collins, Silver Spring, MD and Ann Tuohy, Snohomish, WA, The Sarah (Morgan) Martin Family, May 15, 1995, one of a series of reports they have prepared on the descendants of John Morgan and his wife, Martha Constant Morgan.

[61] Robinson, op cit, p 76.

[62] The most comprehensive genealogy of the family is French Morgan, Descendants of Col. Morgan Morgan, 1950. Other sources consulted: Helen Ayminta Wesp Collection, WVRHC, A&M 1613, R66D4; Martha L Bell Collection, WVRHC, A&M 2505; and Ross B Johnston, ed., West Virginians in the American Revolution, GPC, Baltimore, 1977.

[63] Glenn Lough, Now and Long Ago, pp 17-19.

[64] Ibid, pp 154-5.

[65] This John Morgan doesn't fit neatly into our genealogy. Core, op cit, p 319, says that he is believed to have been the first of the Morgan family to make a permanent settlement in the Monangahela county, locating in Dunkard Bottom in 1760, and he might have been a brother of Col. Morgan Morgan. It is said that Daniel Boone was a frequent visitor at his home. It would appear that David and John then lived near each other. Nothing further is known about John so he must have died soon after.

[66] Core, op cit, pp 130 and 200.

[67] W. F. Horn, The Horn Papers, Vol II, Herald Press, Scottdale, PA, 1945, p 679. The papers, supposedly discovered by Horn, were later judged to be a forgery, so there may be errors in this account.

[68] Pittsburgh Payrolls, Library of Virginia Archive Department, IPD 198. Also in Margery Heberling Harding, George Rogers Clark And His Men, Military Records, 1778-1784, Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort, 1981, pp 55 and 208. She says John Poopimo, but the Archives document says Poppimo.

[69] Arthur Price Burris, Burris Ancestors, Vol II, 1976, pp 360-384, WVRHC, 929.2 B946; Martha L Bell Collection, VVRHC, A&M 2505.

[70] Glenn Lough, op cit, p 121.

[71] Core, op cit, Vol II, p 78. In 1788, Boaz and Sarah Witters sued to contest his father's and brother's will. Info from Carol Jones (grannyjo2@verizon.net), Aug 2005.

[72] Netti Schreiner-Yantis and Florence Speakman Love, The Personal Property Tax Lists for the Years 1786, 1787 & 1788 for Monongalia County, Virginia, Genealogical Books in Print, Springfield, VA 1987, p 1339.

[73] Letters from Clarence F Smith, 1152 Laurel Street, Berkeley, CA, 1981 in Xenia, Ohio library, Davis File, citing a ms prepared by his mother, Jeannette Rice Smith in the 1930s.

[74] op cit, Vol I, pp 175, 258; Vol II, pp 102, 154, and 206.

[75] DAR Lineage Book, Vol 12, page 274 (Mrs. Harriet Snyder King #11722) and Vol 30, p 70 (Mrs. Catherine J Pine #29202).

[76] Paper on the Davis Family in the Xenia Library, author unknown.

[77] There was a large Davis family in Salem County where Peter Popeno grew up, but no record of any of them going to the Monongahela. See John Davis, his wife Dorothea (Gotherson) Davis, Early Salem County NJ Quakers, and Supplement, Salem County Historical Society, 1965 and 1969. I have no idea how the New Jersey designation squares with the Wales birth ascription; one may be wrong. But it raises the possibility that the Davis and Popeno families were connected before being neighbors in Morgantown.

[78] This is from John F Edgar's "Pioneer Life in Dayton and Vicinity from 1796 to 1840", related in Robinson, op cit, pp 55-6. Other details of his life in Ohio are from Robinson.

[79] Ellen T and David A Berry, Early Ohio Settlers: Purchasers of Land in Southwestern Ohio, 1800-1840, GPC Baltimore, 1986, pp 80-81.

[80] Robinson, op cit, pp 45-47.

[81] Ross B Johnston, West Virginians in the American Revolution, Baltimore: GPC, 1977, pp 81-2; George Norbury MacKenzie, ed., Colonial Families of the United States, (1912), reprint GPC, Baltimore, 1966, Vol III, pp 152-3.

[82] Veech, op cit, pp 166-198.

[83] Bernard Butcher, op cit, pp 527-9.

[84] Core, op cit, Vol I, pp 312-3; there are other excerpts in Vol II.

[85] The main source is Marion Pomeroy Carlock, The History and Genealogy of the Judy-Judah-Tschudy-Tschudin-Tschudi-Schudi Family...etc, published by the author, 1954. The book is badly and pompously written, not documented, and not too reliable. He does not seem to be aware of Monongalia County at all, and instead ascribes residence to Reading and York and Chester Counties, PA--all far away from where they really were. They lived on the border and may have thought they were in PA, but the area was finally awarded to VA. See also: Tyler's Quarterly Magazine, Vol 28, April 1947, pp 266-271 and Vol. 29, July 1947, pp 74-80 which focus on the Martin III family; and Core, op cit, various references.

[86] Clara McC Sage and Laura S Jones, Early Records Hampshire County Virginia, (1939), reprint GPC, Baltimore, 1969, p 93.

[87] Information on Strode's Station is from Harvey James Morgan, Morgan, published by the author, 5550 NE 187th Street, Seattle, WA, 98155, 1992, and is taken from Kentucky in Retrospect, 1792-1967, published by the Kentucky Historical Society, 1967.

[88] Sage and Jones, op cit, p 121.

[89] Rick Toothman, Monongalia County (West) Virginia Deedbook Records, 1784-1810, Heritage Books, 1994, p 13.

[90] see John C Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County Illinois, E A Wilson, Springfield, IL, 1876, pp 218-224 for the Constants there.

[91] Ohio Records, Vol. 11, No 1, National Genealogical Society, F486.03, pp 64-5.

[92] Territorial Papers of the United States, Vol III, GPO, Washington 1934, p 34.

[93] George F Robinson, History of Greene County, Ohio, S J Clarke Pub Co, Chicago, 1902, p 95.

[94] Carlock, op cit, p 128.

[95] Gwathmy, op cit, p 632, and Harding, op cit, pp 55 and 208. .

[96] I am indebted to Bridgett Williams-Searle, Professor of History at the College of St. Rose, Albany, NY, for this insight.

[97] American State Papers, Land Series, (Pub. 1832-1861) reprinted 1994, Southern Historical Press, Vol 1, pp 299-300 and 565, and Vol 7, pp 695-6, which repeat the table in Vol 1.

[98] Knox County Deed Book A, p. 299, the 340 acres (400 arpents) in question was sold by Catherine Kuykendall (a widow) to Decker on 5/9/04 for the unusually low sum of .50. She had bought it from Peter Popine at some date previous to that.

[99] Monongalia County Land Entry Book 2, 1783-1802, p 188, County Clerk's Office, Morgantown.

[100] Deed Book l, p 232, County Clerk's Office, Morgantown.

[101] A letter from a Morgantown lawyer, James B Moreland, to Lillian Popenoe Hall, June 5, 1908 (in Popenoe family collection) states: � am informed that on the farm known as the Thomas Evans farm, there is a very fine spring of water which has always gone by the name Papano Spring, and from that spring there is a stream flowing into the Monongahela river which is known as Papano Run. This spring and run are on the lands which were formerly owned by Col. John Evans....

[102]"Netti Schreiner-Yantis, op cit, pp 1315 and 1320.

[103] Robinson, op cit, pp 59-60, also letters from Robinson to W. P. Popenoe in the family collection.

[104] Marriage and Death Notices from the Xenia Ohio Torch-Light 1844-1870, Robert and Lois Hodge, Fredericksburg, VA, 1978. Xenia Library.

[105] History of Howard and Charlton Counties, Missouri, National Historical Company, St Louis, 1883, pp 90-93 and 148-153.

[106] Martha L Bell Collection, WVRHC, A&M 2505; and Ross B Johnston, ed., op cit, p 227.

[107] Most of this information is from the first two volumes of Core, op cit. Also Ross B Johnston, op cit, pp 252-3.

[108] Gordon C Baker, John Snider of Monongalia County, undated ms in Morgantown Public Library.

[109] Various references in Core, op cit; Ross B Johnston, op cit,pp 280-81; and Louise F Johnson, "Testing Popular Lore: Marmaduke Swearingen a.k.a. Blue Jacket" in National Genealogical Society Quarterly,Vol 82, No 3, September 1994, pp 165-178. Mrs. Johnson, 604 Lilac Drive, Round Rock, TX 78664, was writing a book, Six Men Named Van Sweringen, but when I talked with her some years ago she had gotten bogged down. Another book about the family has recently been published; I haven�t seen it: Daniel Everson, A History of a Prominent Family in the Northern Shenandoah Valley�The Swearingens of the Shepherdstown Area. Info on Strodes Station from Harvey Morgan, op cit.

[110] Margery Heberling Harding, George Rogers Clark and his men, military records, 1778-1784, Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort, 1981, p 208. He is listed as Van Swaringham in Capt. Charles Gatliff's Company of Raingers on duty 22 August to 12 November.