JACOB "JAKE" PRICKETT
b. 1722
Wilmington, Delaware
d. 1797
Prickett's Fort in Monongalia, WV
m: DOROTHY SPRINGER on 11 May 1745
b. 1726
Evesham, Burlington Co., New Jersey
d. 1785
Prickett's Fort, WV
JACOB's father filed a $500. marriage bond for his marriage to
DOROTHY.
Jacob stood 5'10, and weighed 180 pounds. He had "stiff" black
hair, and "snapping" black eyes. He was fierce in the defense
of others, but was soft hearted and gentle with children.
The following is taken from the booklet "Pricketts Fort" by
William J. Wilcox:
"In 1759, Jacob was operating an Indian Trading Post at the
mouth of Pricketts Creek. There is substantial evidence of
several major Indian Villages, or campsites within a few miles
of Jacob's Trading Post.
"The most that can be determined about the Indians that he
traded with are that they most likely were of Algonquin,
Iroquois, or Appalachain stock.
That is to say, they could have been Delaware, Shawnee etc...
or Mohawk, Senecas etc...
During the Revolutionary war, the Wyandots (aka Hurons) came
to the area and were extremely aggressive.
Nathaniel Springer deposed that he, Jacob Prickett, David Morgan,
John Snodgrass and Pharoah Ryley, assembled on C'Capon River to
await word from Lawrence Washington, Esq., (brother to George).
What they were waiting for was to be informed of the terms for
an expedition to Cheat River to scout lands for Lawrence
Washington and Co. They set out on either the 28th or 29th
of April in 1747. Nathaniel said that his uncle Evan Morgan kept
a camp and did trading at the forks of the Cheat River.
(Now called the Monongahela) He also said that the group
explored the Tygart River and Buckhannon, as well as
the Monongahela.
Nathaniel goes on to say that he and his group returned
to their homes on the Opeckon, Fredrick County, in August 1747,
there they gave to L. Washington, Esq., maps and other papers
draughted by them during the expedition."
It is said that Jacob and other members of the original
expedition lived near what is now Rivesville WV, in the 1740's.
In 1763, King George III, decreed that all lands west of the
Allegheny mountains were Indian Lands, and not for settlement.
This was decreed because of the Delaware and Iroquois
complaints to the encroachment of their lands.
This is why Jacob makes no claim of settlement until 1772.
In that year, Samuel Hanaway, a Surveyor,
"Surveyed for Jacob Prickett 324 acres of land in Monongalia
County, on Prickett's Creek, including his settlement made
in the year 1772." In 1777, an act of the General Assembly
made settlement legal in the Monongahela valley.
They also granted 400 acres of land to each.
JACOB PRICKETT SR., & DAVID MORGAN, were both among the
defenders of Washington's Fort Necessity. (1757)
They also fought under Gen. Edward Braddock in the disastrous
march on Fort Duquesne {dew-cane}, (9 July 1755), as well as
fighting in other important battles of this war.
In 1774, Prickett's Fort was built. Tradition states that
there was some eighty families living at the Prickett
Settlement in fear of the Indians.
There was at this time a larger settlement at Morgan's Town
and at Clarksburg.
The Monongahela valley was thickly covered with huge oaks and
chestnut trees.
It was a herculean task to clear enough land for a crude cabin
and garden.
Wagons were not used because of the forest, so settlers carried
what little they could on pack animals and on themselves.
Around 1780, Jacob built a mill near the fort. Payment for
grinding grain was in grain; payment for sawing lumber was
in lumber. Gathering ginseng paid between 30 and 35 cents a
pound. Women and children gathered the dried roots
for export to China.
Money was scarce and when had, it could be of almost
any origin. Spanish, British and French coins jangled together.
Two hard days labor could get you a deer hide with the hair
left on; or the promise of two days hard work at your bidding.
Later in the 1700's, rye was exported as whiskey in large
quantities.
The description of Prickett's Fort by Dr. Doddridge in 1822,
follows:
There were sixteen cabins, a range of four on each wall.
Large storage bins divided the cabins from each other. The
outside walls, with sidewalls sloping inward, were ten feet
high. At first the cabins had earthen floors later, some were
fitted with puncheons. The pickets for the stockade were
hewn seventeen feet and set in the ground five feet, which
gave a stockade wall of twelve feet. The bastions were larger
than the cabins, and were set one at each of the four angles
of the stockade. Their outer parts projected two feet beyond
the stockade walls. These overhanging sections had slatted
floors, so enemies making a lodgement against the stockage
might be fired upon, straight downward. The bastions were
eight feet higher than the walls, were twelve feet square,
and made of large hickory logs, with ample gun-spaces, or
loopholes in and in between.
Within the stockade at the forward center of the grounds were
two large buildings, each forty feet long and twenty feet wide
and eight feet high.
There were two gates, the main gate in the center of the
northern wall, facing the river, and by the big spring, and
the stock gate, in the center of the west wall of the stockade,
near the little spring. The stables and stock-pens were all at
the far southern end of the stockade. Both gates were made
of logs and thick slabs, and hinged so that they would fold
inward.
From Now and Long Ago:
DAVID MORGAN used to tell a story about "JAKE PRICKETT and
the bean-shot Brave."
The story was told to his nephew's "Chunk" and James, sons
of Col. Zackwell Morgan. Chunk had a hunting camp on a
dreen of Little Paw Paw Creek.
Chunk had just married, and he and his brother built a
cabin for the newlyweds to set up housekeeping in.
Uncle Dave & Henry Batten came by, and were there
to share the first fire and first meal, that was made in
that cabin.
In the evening a "soiree" was held. David got to telling
funny but true stories of his and JACOB PRICKETT'S adventures.
One story told that night was about the time that he and
Jacob captured an Indian Brave.
(The story, as printed, does not relate the whole particulars,
as related by David Morgan.)
The two men were out of lead, so Jacob loaded his musket with
beans. Jacob shot the brave in the rump, and as the brave
"was dancing around and yelping Prickett hit him with his
fist and knocked him out, and they tied him and turned him
in at Fort Rogers and later was exchanged for the Ramsey boy,
who had been with the Indians for a year."
"It was a good story and everybody laughed hearing Uncle
Dave tell about that Indian with beans in his bottom."
From the book "THE ROSS FAMILY BRANCH OF THE PRICKETT
FAMILY" by Nora Ross (1989), found in the Marion County
Library, West Virginia, we learn:
"JACOB PRICKETT served as a spy for the Virginia Militia
before he came of age, and later, was Captain of the
Monongalia County, Virginia troops in the Revolutionary war.
After his marriage to DOROTHY, Captain JACOB (JAKE) again
offered his services to the state of Virginia Militia,
serving under General George Washington in Braddock's
1758 campaign against the Indians of the Monongahela River
region. In 1759, JACOB moved his family to Monongalia
County, (West) Virginia, where he had a trading post and
built what is assumed to be the first mill in that
area. By 1774, he, along with his brothers, Josiah and
Isaiah, built Pricketts Fort...."
Issue:
Josiah Prickett b. 1746 m: Charity Taylor (3 Aug 1808 she m: Wm.Jolliffe)
John Prickett b. 1748 m: Elizabeth Hays
{ Isaac Prickett b. 1 March 1752 m: Mary Campbell
| He was paid 54.10.-. in Nov. 1777 For being a Spy in "Monongohala" Co., WVA
| (pp.505 VIRGINIA MILITARY RECORDS)
| TWINS
|
{ DRUSILLA PRICKETT b.1 Mar 1752 m: CAPT. MORGAN MORGAN d. 2 April 1817
Isaiah Prickett b. 1757 d. 2 Oct 1774 Murdered & scalped by Indians.
Jacob Prickett, Jr. b. 1 April 1758 m: Jemimah Pindle
Nancy Ann Prickett b. 1762 m: Reuben Bunner (Boner)
James Prickett b. 8 Mar 1765 m: Mary Springer
Dorothy Prickett m: Sergeant James Dunn
Mary Prickett m: Jacob Lucas
Martha Prickett m: Peter Parker
Thomas Prickett (?) m: Ann Wyatt
(A Thomas Prickett marries Evan's dau.
Elizabeth Morgan on 9 Oct 1809)