Mr. and Mrs. Terry Taylor of Petersburg are announcing the birth of twin sons at the Winchester Memorial Hospital, Winchester, Virginia on Sunday, august 29th. The infants, their first, weighed five pounds, eight ounces and five pounds, seven ounces. They have been named Ryan Douglas and Chad Christopher. Mr. Taylor is a teacher at the Petersburg High School. The new family is expected to arrive home today (Wednesday).
Weekend guests of Mrs. Emma Rinker and Alice Turner were Mrs. Joe Ketterman, Nancy, Bonnie and Cindy, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Ketterman and family of Bowling Green, Virginia, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Rinker and family, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Puffenbarger of Cumberland, Maryland, Mr. and Mrs. Don Flannagen and family, Maryland Hartman, and Lee Eller of Edgewater, Maryland, Mrs. Bertha Melone and Luther Crider of Bergton, Virginia, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Woods and family of St. George, Sallie Crites and Ollie Arbogast, Mrs. Dora Appold and family, Harry Smith and Maxine, Mrs. Genny Woods, Teresa, Bonnie and Johnny.
Mrs. Ralph Ours, Jerry and Corena, Geraldine and Maxine Smith spent last week in Union, S. C. with their uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Ketterman and sons. While there they spent the weekend at Myrtle Beach.
Mr. and Mrs. Roland Cline spent Wednesday at Jessup, Maryland attending a G. E. Sales and Service Meeting.
Mr. and Mrs. earl Brewer, Joshua and Zachrey of Sterling, Virginia spent several days visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Otha Turner. The Brewers have moved from sterling to Chapel Hill, N. C.
Emma Rinker and Alice Turner spent a recent weekend with the latter�s sister at Woodford, Virginia. While there they toured Busch Gardens at Williamsburg, Virginia.
Those visiting the Harry Smith family over the weekend were Mrs. Joe Ketterman and bonnie, Mrs. Nancy Parker and Cindy, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Ketterman and family of Bowling Green, Virginia, Mr. and Mrs. Don Flannagen and family of Edgewater, Maryland and Mr. and Mrs. Bob Rinker and family of Cumberland, Maryland.
Visitors of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Rutherford this past week were her mother, Mrs. Elsie Sypolt, Mrs. Annie Brown, Mr. and Mrs. David Eddy and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Twyman and children, Kim and Doug, all of Fairmont, daughter of the Twymans, Mrs. Debra Moore and son, J. D. of Phoenix, Arizona, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Eddy and daughter, Donna of Fairmont stopped enroute from vacationing in California and various other states. Mrs. Twyman and Mrs. Wayne Eddy are sisters of Mrs. Rutherford.
Seventy-seven people in the surrounding area toured Kings Dominion last Saturday by Willetts Tour.
Mrs. Carmen Barr and Mr. and Mrs. Ray Keny of St. Petersburg, Florida were visiting Mrs. Artie Shirk one evening last week.
Col (ret.) and Mrs. J. Maynard Gray of Newport News, Virginia and Mrs. J. M. Gray and daughter, Jennifer at Falls Church, Virginia were weekend guests of Mr. and Mrs. William Inskeep.
Mrs. Jerry Williams and daughter of Eugene, Oregon, are visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Snyder.
Mr. and Mrs. Loyd Stump were visiting recently in the home of their son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. �Butch� Stump of Woodbridge, Virginia. While visiting with them they were sightseeing at Rehoboth beach, Del.
H. Hull and Mr. and Mrs. Roland Barr and sons were visiting relatives in Monterey, Virginia Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Doug Borror, Dougie and Matt were guests of Mr. and Mrs. �Butch� Stump in Woodbridge, Virginia last weekend.
Mrs. Artie shirk was a Sunday evening supper guest of Mr. and Mrs. Dayton Smith at Franklin Pike.
E. H. Stump spent a week visiting Mr. and Mrs. Grant Stump and family in Glen Gardner, N. J.
Mrs. Harry shoemaker of Bridgewater, Virginia is spending some time here with her father, Forrest Judy, and visiting her mother who remains a patient in Grant Memorial Hospital. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks Hall of Shepherdstown visited her sister at the hospital during the weekend. Mr. Shoemaker spent Friday here.
Guests of Jay and Wendy Jensen over the weekend included Mr. and Mrs. John Jensen, John and Timmy Jensen and Cricket.
Jerry Whetzel, Sherri Rotruck, Gerogia Whetzel and Tim, Mr. and Mrs. Jariet Kessel, Kami and Josh, Libby Sherman and Debbie Goldizen drove to Appalachian Park Sunday to hear the Rev. Rex. Humbard.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Bonnette and son, Ken, and Steve Magda of N. Madison, Ohio spent a week visiting E. H. Stump and relatives.
Miss Brenda Whetzel spent three weeks with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Junior Whtezel.
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Dawson have just returned from a week in New York City. While there they attended the National Convention of the V.F.W. and Auxiliary, where they represented Post and Auxiliary 6454 among the 40,000 delegates.
Mr. and Mrs. Ray Keny returned to their home in St. Petersburg, Florida after spending two weeks here visiting relatives and friends. Mrs. Keny will be remembered as the daughter of the late E. H. and Dora (Kile) Landes.
Mrs. Dewey Stoner of Westminster, Maryland spend last week visiting Mr. and Mrs. Harman Kile, Mr. and Mrs. Archie W. Ours and daughter. Lucille Hubble of Wardensville spent last Wednesday visiting in the same home.
Mrs. Goldie Bensenhaver and son, Sonny spent last weekend in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where they visited her son and daughter- in- law, Dr. and Mrs. John Bensenhaver and daughers, Mrs. John Bensenhaver returned home with them and are spending the week with her brother-in-law and sister; Mr. and Mrs. Walbert Peters and sons on Trenton Street.
Mrs. Rosalie Alt recently attended the Potomac Conference Pre-Planning Sessions for the American Lutheran Church Women of the Washington, D. C. and West Virginia area churches for the year 1977 in Bethesda, Maryland. She is the Conference Secretary of Education and President of the Grace Lutheran Church Women.
Mrs. Harry Shoemaker, Forrest Judy and Mr. and Mrs. Richard Judy were visiting their brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Linden Cleaver of Upper Tract last Wednesday. E. H. Stump, Mrs. Junior Whetzel, Miss Brenda Whetzel and Ruth Runion were recent guests of Mr. and Mrs. Dorsey Rose and family of Morgantown.
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PETERSBURG
Peters, engineer of note, etches a town from Indian land.
Like many other towns in these parts, there seems to be no adequate reason for its existence; but we suppose it accumulated for neighborhood convenience around a blacksmith shop and a mill, developing in the course of time a tavern, a meeting house, a couple of stores, a hundred or two inhabitants, and finally a post office.
�Here people have ample time to think profoundly, to study, scheme, plan and do nothing, which they generally accomplish.�
This somewhat less than flattering description of Petersburg was penned by traveling outdoor writer extraordinaire Porte Crayon during his first excursion through the valley in the 1850�s. However, his speculation on the town�s formation is quite accurate.
There are several versions to the origination of the county seat�s name. The most widespread and documented gives credit to a Jacob Peters (or Peterson, the name being used interchangeably). Peters was the first settler who journeyed to the valley via the Washington Trail. A �fluent speaker, and engineer of note,� the town was named after him in 1745.
The proprietor of the first general store in the county, Fort Peterson on North Mill creek also is said to have been named in his honor. One local historian suggests he was also the first owner of the Delay Mill.
The town�s father supposedly suffered greatly at the hands of the Indians whom this settlement was displacing. Six of his children were captured and his wife massacred.
Peters himself met a violent death. In John Randolph Schaeffer�s.� Over the Alleghenies,� we are briefly told, �Mr. Peters was found one morning suspended from the log rafters of his home.� We have no clue from Schaeffer�s narrative however if the hanging was self-inflicted or murder.
Peters resided in a log cabin on the site of the present county library in the old Grant County Bank.
In E. L. Judy�s �History of Grant and Hardy Counties, West Virginia,� another version is proposed of how Petersburg got its name. �The Lewis surveying party of 1746 may have brought the name, for in the party were Peter Jefferson, father of Thomas and Peter Hedgeman; and the company of surveyors probably encamped on the very site of Petersburg, and there may have been a small settlement here then.�
Still a third possibility for Petersburg�s namesake may have been derived from Peter Keran, a large landowner in the village who purchased a parcel of land in 1797 that was later to house the Delay Mill.
At any rate, the settlement�s population seemed to hover steadily around 200 for many years before slowly climbing upwards.
Fort George was an early for in the town for protection against Indians.
Before the building of the first river bridge, two fords were used to make the river crossing. One was located above the present structure and one below.
The Pond was first known as Simpson�s Mill Run after Jonathan Simpson Sr. who received a grant of 103 acres from Lord Fairfax in 1773. The Mill lot was transferred to William Delay in 1852
In 1789, Alexander Simpson was licensed to keep Ordinary at his house, one of the first taverns in the South Branch Valley.
The Presbyterian Church first located on Maple Hill was the only church in Petersburg for a time. It was later burned by Federal troops in the Civil War. The first minister was Rev. William N. Scott who died January 24, 1857.
Petersburg and Maysville engaged in a running bitter battle over placement of the county seat for 31 years. Records were shuffled back and forth three times with Petersburg finally winning the honor for good in 1897.
The first railroad came to Petersburg in 1910�the same year the town was incorporated. Built by John J. and W. B. Cornwell, it was initially known as the Hampshire Southern and later became a branch of the Baltimore and Ohio.
Petersburg was a well-used stopping point for several campaigns during the Civil War. Fort Mulligan was a federal garrison located where the grant Memorial Hospital now stands.
The first mail transportation by automobile from Petersburg to Keyser was hauled by George Shank. There were no bridges over the streams when water was up; the mail was up a creek so to speak.
Bob Baker brought the first horseless carriage (also known as a car) to Petersburg in 1907. Naturally, it was a ford.
The first airplane to land in the city was in the early 1920�s and created as much excitement as the automobile had years earlier.
R. W. Baker served as the town�s first mayor in 1910. He was elected again in 1922, 1926 and 1931.
Elevation is 937 feet.
Petersburg�s population trend is marked by a slow but steady climb upward. The 1940 census sets the number of inhabitants at 1, 751. The 1950 census shows 1, 874 and the latest (1970) tops 2,000 at 2,177.
Rig
Everyone enjoyed the Kid�s Crusade last week at the rig Assembly of God with Libby Sherman and Debbie Goldizen.
The winners of the Kid�s Crusade were Madeline Evans, first, Craig Sherman, second Richard Crites third and Billy Miller, fourth.
Sorry to hear that Mrs. Ada Sherman of Fisher is a patient at the local hospital. We wish for her a quick recovery.
Mr. and Mrs. Box Triplett and son and Mrs. Annie Barr of Monorvia, Maryland were visiting Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Riggleman of Critestown over the weekend.
Glad to hear that Mrs. Neil Sherman of Mathias is home from the hospital and doing fine.
Mrs. Juanita Lambert was visiting Mrs. Jane Kimble and Leatrice, Mr. and Mrs. Lester Riggleman and Mrs. Leona George during the week. Mrs. Lambert and Mrs. Loma Hose visited Mr. and Mrs. Eldie Hinkle and Mrs. Orpha Imperio Saturday evening.
Those visiting Mrs. Juanita Lambert during the week were Mrs. Loma Hose. Mrs. Leona George, Mrs. Neil Sherman, Miss Ellen Kimble, Max Borror, Merle Lambert, Robert Thompson and Melvin Lambert Jr. and son Bucky.
Mr. and Mrs. John Goldizen Jr. visited Mr. and Mrs. William Miller Friday night.
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Crites and daughters from Harrisonburg visited Mr. and Mrs. Robert Crites and son and Mr. and Mrs. William Miller and son Saturday night.
Those visiting Mr. and Mrs. Lem Crites and Bobby were Mrs. Alice Crites, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Pratt and family, Mr. and Mrs. lucky Crites and family, Mr. and Mrs. Roger Crites and son, Tommie Crites and son, Josephine Crites and daughters, Mr. and Mrs. Jackie Crites, Mrs. Carl Crites and children, Barbara Ours, Vickie Lynn Crites, Willie Crites, Britton Crites, Annie Barr, John Baker, Mrs. Richard Simmons, and children, Mrs. Paula Wolfe and Children, Wilda Crites, Mrs. Lucille Shupe and daughter, Mrs. Ila Keller, Mrs. Lynn Bean, Carolyn Crites, Mr. and Mrs. William Ketterman, Mrs. bell Evans and Mrs. Mollie Newhouse.
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ROUGH RUN
Mrs. O. G. Harman
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Harriman of Terra Alta and Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Deavers of Boonsboro, Maryland spent Thursday night with Mr. and Mrs. Earl Harman.
Mrs. Goldie Sites of Petersburg visited Mrs. Curtis Sites Thursday afternoon.
Mr. and Mrs. Earl Harman visited Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Dalmer of Kline Saturday evening.
Greg Kesner spent Thursday night with his granddaughter, Mr. and Mrs. Olen Ratliff of Mozer.
Mrs. Dwight Heavener and Joann and Mrs. Jimmy Heavener and Sherry of Kline visited Mrs. Douglas Kesner one afternoon this past week.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Harriman of Terra Alta visited me for a while Friday morning.
Mr. and Mrs. Russel Mongold and children and Mr. and Mrs. Richard Ayers and daughter and Mrs. Ray Mongold visited Mrs. Curtis sites and Bettie Thursday evening.
Mr. and Mrs. Earl Harman attended the Charlie Armentrout reunion Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. William Ayers and Timmy visited Mr. and Mrs. Lee Cullers of Moorefield Sunday evening.
Mrs. Harold Roby visited her mother, Mrs. Evers Bergdoll and Harold Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Brooks Hall of Shepherdstown visited Mrs. A. E. Simmons and Mr. and Mrs. Galen Simmons Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Shobe of Hagerstwon, Maryland are visiting Mrs. J. E. Judy and Mr. and Mrs. Willard Judy.
Miss Susie Hamric is visiting her sister and husband, Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Thompson of Montgomery.
Mr. and Mrs. Norris Brake and Hilton visited Mrs. Evers Bergdoll and Harold Sunday evening.
Mr. and Mrs. Earl Barnes and Mrs. Francis Moore of Syesville, Maryland, Bill Lowe of Mahan, Virginia, and Mr. and Mrs. Roscoe Crites of Petersburg visited Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Crites Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Norman Simmons and children, Mr. and Mrs. Tracey Nicely and baby, and Galen Ours visited Mrs. and Mrs. C. T. Harman Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Brooks Hall of Shepherdstown spent several days last week with Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Crites.
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Parsons and Randy visited Mr. and Mrs. C. T. Harman one evening last week.
Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Mauzy and children visited Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Hines of Dorcas Sunday.
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Scherr
Today we present a brief study, which represents the work of one of the finer armature historians the area has produced. John J. Idleman. We concentrate on the text, exactly as written. In future editions we�ll have comments both on the man and the history he recounts. This particular literacy effort is entitled The History of Scherr, West Virginia and Vicinity and has long been out of print.
�I will give you a little history of some of the older people and happenings when I was a boy, and some of you older folks may also remember some of these happenings. I will start against the spurs of Allegheny Mountain. Martin and Michael Geizer, who came here with their parents from Germany, and were among those who first came and settled in Myerstown. Martin married a daughter of old Uncle Jonathan Hanlin who then resided on the farm now owned by Doctor Moomau. Martin Geizer, after marriage, settled on a part of his father0in-law�s land, of which he later became owner, where Sanford Cosner now lives. Michael Geizer never married by made his home with his brother. Martin and Michael later bought what is known as the Hess place from an old German who also had settled in Myerstown, but later purchased this place and lived on it until he sold to the Geizers, he then moved to Maysville, and being a carpenter helped to build the old Grant County Court House where was first located the first county seat of Grant County.
South of the Hess place and adjoining Joseph Hanlin- grandfather of Kaspar Hanlin- purchased a farm later known as the Martin L. Hanlin farm. Joseph Hanlin was a member of and a minister in the Dunkard Brethren Church and a very spirited Christian. Not having time to tell you about Myerstown we next came to Billy Moreland who owned the farm where the R. F. Secrist brick house and large barn stands and now owned by J. M. Parks. Northwest of the old brick house was the old Moreland graveyard wherein was a number of graves but are now extinct, showing how necessary it is to bring our love ones where they are cared for.
Billy Moreland�s farm extended east to the old Petersburg road and adjoining the lands of Solomon Michael. On the south bank of what is known as the Myerstown run and almost directly south and about three or four hundred yards from Mr. Parks present dwelling, was built the first schoolhouse in this community, probably about the year 1852. At any rate I find among my father�s old papers a copy of the enumerations of school children for the year 1852, and there were 71 enrolled. I wonder what our teachers of today would think of that for a one-room school. In this building, probably erected by Solomon Michael, I have heard my mother speak of going to church here, when Mikey Lyon and John Stingley, members and ministers of the Dunkard Brethren church preached regularly, probably the first regular services of nay denomination in this section of the country. In January 1857 Solomon Michael deeded to Martin Cosner and Adam Michael, trustees, 88 poles of land for a church building. However, this deed was not executed and recorded until October of hat year-1857- and it may be of interest to note that this deed was acknowledged before Thomas Martin and Samuel H. Alexander, two justices living in Moorefield, showing that justices were not then as numerous as now, and also that both justices had to sit for the acknowledgement.
About the year 1858, the Dunkard Brethren church erected a log building just a little above the south of S. S. Kimble�s present store building in which the Dunkard Brethren worshipped until July 1863, when in a battle between the federal and confederate warriors, the confederates burned the building, so that the Dunkard brethren only worshiped in the building abut five years.�
�Immediately after the war in the summer and fall of 1865, A. W. Smith built a small log house which stands below the present school building on the land of K. B. Hanlin. In this building under its first teacher, James A. Cassady, taught a subscription school- no public school those days. (This school building is now found reassembled and on display as part of the Country Store Museum complex.) There I learned my A, B, C�s. Then returning to John Moreland, brother to Basil and Billy Moreland�lived where Cryus Halterman now lives. He had two sons, David W., now deceased at the age of nearly 86 years and James W., now residing in Detroit, Michigan at the age of 84 years.
West of John Moreland, on a 120 acre farm, lived Frederick William Tettenburn, who came to this country from Germany, the grandfather of our good friend Henry, Mrs. Louisa Green and so forth. Mr. Tettenburn had three sons, George, William and Fred, the latter being the father of Henry. George and William were captured at New Creek now Keyser by the confederates and perished in a southern prison.
East of John Moreland, where now lives Mrs. Boook Muntzing, was John Hampstead, who purchased a 100 acre tact of land from A. W. Smith- a part of the old Henry Smith land- where he resided and reared a large family, later selling to W.H. Muntzing and moved to Petersburg.�
�A. W. Smith, who lived where K. B. Hanlin now resides, a son of Henry Smith. A. W. Smith married Caroline Michael, a daughter of Solomon Michael- I don�t recall how many children were born to this union, but Henry Clay, born in 1950- still living, Milton and Sallie, now deceased, were children of his first wife. After his first wife�s death, he married her sister, Kate Michael. Also a daughter of Solomon Michael, of these children, I remember Kate, Tom, Amy and Milford, known as bud, now living at Elkins, 80 years of age.�
�Just after the Civil War, perhaps about 1866, the Davis brothers put up a store, the first store in this section, about two rods northwest of O. S. Kimble�s present store. They later moved to Keyser, where they conducted a store and attend to the B&O Station. Then a man by the name of Kildow conducted a store and either Davis or Kildow�I think under David- the Greenland Post office was established and later A. W. Smith because the post master and conducted the office at his house with his son Henry Clay assistant. Then later conducted a store, and moved the store down to what is still Greenland�.
Idleman's geographic descriptions begin with the Geizer Place, located on the very broad curve about halfway up the face of the Allegheny Front. He then comes down the hollow to Scherr along the course of the old road, passing the site of the Myerstown Settlement that we will deal with in a later Column. Most farms described are in close proximity to present-day Scherr. The O. S. Kimble Store to which he makes reference is the Evans Store, which houses the Scherr post office.
�Solomon Michael lived where A. E. Kessel now lives and owned all the land on east and west side of Walkers Ridge, on part of west side of New Creek Mountain and as far south line of Cal Lyon. William Michael�s home, also a part of the dolly farm that E. M. Evans now owns, and the creek place now owned by Hoe Halterman. Adam Michael became the owner of the property now owned by A. E. Kessel at Greenland and resided there until this death. He built a flour and saw mill, which was run by waterpower. Jacob Hilkey was his first man to conduct the mills, and was a splendid honest and Christian man, and I will here relate a little incident that occurred while Uncle Jake was miller. A certain wealthy farmer, who raised lots of wheat, brought a wagonload of his wheat to this mill to be ground and the flour sold. Some days after this farmer had brought his wheat to the mill with very much sympathy, in fact almost shedding tears in pity and sympathy for the poor people must necessarily buy his flour, finally remarked to Uncle Jake, �Mr. Hilkey you add another quarter to the price of the flour,� Uncle Jake looking at him, angrily replied, �I won�t do it, you move your wheat and flour away from this mill.� The old gentlemen tired to apologize, but Uncle Jake was firm in his demand, and as I now remember the old farmer had to remove his wheat and flour. Such was the character, disposition and honest convictions of Jacob Hilkey of whom I don�t think a better Christian ever lived.
John Michael, a brother of Adam, and son of Solomon Michael, married Louesa Smith, a sister to A. W. Smith and inherited a portion of her father�s �Henry Smith�land, now owned by Jesse Kessel�s heirs and A. J. Kessel. . John Michael was a quiet, peaceable neighbor and friend to all those around him, and also acquired a portion of his father�s Solomon Michael, land. William Michael, another son of Solomon Michael owned a portion of his father�s land, between the ridges, New Creek Mountain and to the top of Walkers ridge, where Calvin Lyon now lives. William Michael was a member of the Dunkard Brethren Church and for many years an elder, and head of his church and a splendid Christian man. I need not tell you of his splendid Christian family, many of you know them; they were my schoolmates, and his oldest daughter, Mrs. Martha McNemar, is now 90 years of age.
Then returning to Abijah Dolly, who lived where Ernest Evans now lives. He was the first state Senator elected after the formation of Grant County in 1866 and his oldest son, John R. Dolly was Grant County�s first sheriff. I have some of his tax receipts written out by hand, as you would today write a receipt for money paid you. No printing whatever on them.
The old brick schoolhouse and township hall was finished in 1868, after which many of you remember, we spent many pleasant hours together in school. The Dunkard Brethren and Methodist held regular religious services there until the building of the brick Methodist Church was built, over on the hill above Kimble�s store.
I have forgotten many of the incidents concerning the settlement of Myerstown. However, it was settled by a lot of Germans, headed by one Myers from whom it derived its name. The settlers who were mostly German Lutherans built a good-sized church and on this church a splendid bell. This bell is now at the Presbyterian Church in Moorefield, in splendid condition, I am told. There was a considerable graveyard at this church, but it is now extinct. I may add that Anthony Haslacker, now deceased, but of whom many of you know, was the first child born in this once lively little town