History of Hancock Ciounty; Virginia and West Virginia
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HISTORY of HANCOCK COUNTY • Virginia and West Virginia o Sacramento Branch Genealogical Library BY JACK WELCH FIRST PRINTING © Copyright, 1963, by Jack Welch All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in Wheeling, West Virginia, by The Wheeling News Printing & Litho Co. orewor* The physical features of Hancock County can be described quickly and easily. It is the northernmost county in West Virginia, bounded on the north and west by the Ohio River, on the east by Pennsylvania, and on the south by Brooke County. It is the smallest county in West Virginia with 88.55 square miles. It has three muni cipalities (Chester, New Cumberland, Weirton), three magisterial districts (Butler, Clay, Grant), and 37 voting precincts. Its agri cultural and industrial products include iron, steel, chinaware, pottery, bricks, fire clay, sheet metal, tin products, apples, dairy foods, and livestock. Hancock County, like any other inhabited area of the world, is more than a tiny block of land furnishing a livelihood for several thousands of people. It is a land that is built upon the labor, the ideals, the lives, and the deaths of those who have gone before. It is a forest turned into a farm, a farm turned into a town, and a town turned into an industrial site employing thousands of people. It is a man chopping a tree in a virgin forest, it is a woman taking up a "fie to protect her family from Indians, it is a man building a school, it is a man building a factory. All these things are Hancock County, as much of a reality as the topographical and statistical elements. This history endeavors to present the people, the ideals, and the spirit that produced Hancock County, 1963. ACKNOWLEDGMENT A book which deals with the history of an area involves the cooperation of scores of people. I cannot hope to remember all who offered information, advice, and encouragement, but I would be most ungrateful if I did not mention some of those who devoted time and energy toward the book's completion. The man who has done most to provide the means and methods for publishing this book is Martin F. Fahey, Chairman of the Hancock County Centennial Committee. He has sug gested improvements, found additional information, arranged for publication, and above all remained patient. Working with him on the Centennial Committee were John Sorrenti, Bessie Engle, Joseph Many penny, Mary Stewart, Joseph Wells, Jr., Sadie Knapp, and Mrs. John Shattenburg. Individuals who have contributed time and information were Mary Campbell Bowman, and Mrs. Walter Bambrick of Weirton, Margaret Brown, Mary Lou Newburn and Virginia Marshall of New Cumberland, Ruth Cox Turner of Chester, and Lenora Kelley of New Cumberland who helped launch the idea for a county history. Nate Blumert of Blumert Printing Com pany was most helpful in supplying old engravings for many of the pictures in the book. The public libraries in East Liverpool, New Cumberland, and Weirton were all sources of invaluable information. The staff of the Mary H. Weir Library deserves special recognition for indexing the book. The East Liverpool Review, The Han cock County Courier, The Independent (New Cumberland), The Weirton Daily Times and the Public Relations staff of the Weirton Steel Company all willingly cooperated. Perhaps those who contribute most to a book of this type are those who must live with the author while he is writing it. I thank my parents, Mr. and Mrs. John J. Welch of New Cum berland, for their patience, and my wife for both her patience and suggestions. JACK WELCH CONTENTS PART I. Page No. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 4 Chapter I. PREHISTORIC HANCOCK COUNTY 7 Chapter II. INDIANS AND EARLY EXPLORERS 9 Chapter III. FRENCH EXPLORERS IN THE OHIO VALLEY 11 Chapter IV. EARLY SETTLERS IN HANCOCK COUNTY 13 Chapter V. THE NESSLY FAMILY- TYPICAL HANCOCK SETTLERS 18 Chapter VI. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COUNTY BOUNDARIES 20 Chapter VII. THE POES AND THE INDIANS 23 Chapter VIII. OTHER INDIAN RAIDS IN THE COUNTY 27 Chapter IX. INFANT INDUSTRY 31 Chapter X. FIRST TOWNS Chapter XI. NINETEENTH CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS 33 Chapter XII. EARLY CHURCHES 35 Chapter XIII. NEW CUMBERLAND 42 Chapter XIV. HANCOCK COUNTY SEPARATES FROM BROOKE 50 Chapter XV. SAMUEL NESSLYS HOME 56 Chapter XVI. THE CIVIL WAR AND HANCOCK COUNTY 58 Chapter XVII. WEIRTON 73 Chapter XVIII. HANCOCK COUNTY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 105 Chapter XIX. CONCLUSION 133 BIBLIOGRAPHY 135 PART II. BIOGRAPHICAL SECTION Page No. WEIRTON 137 NEW CUMBERLAND 182 PUGHTOWN 187 NEWELL 187 CHESTER 188 ILLUSTRATIONS Page No. 1. Three Springs Presbyterian Church 36 2. Captain John Porter 48 3. Thomas Bambrick 52 4. Hancock County Court House 54 5. Samuel Nessly Home 56 6. The "General" 70 7. Colonel James J. Andrews 71 8. Griffith Home 74 9. Ferguson Home 77 10. Weirton, 1905 79 11. E. T. Weir 81 12. Early Weirton Scenes 82 13. Senator O. S. Marshall 84 14. Thomas E. Millsop 86 15. Phelps Can 88 16. Early Weirton Homes 90 17. Cove Road, 1907 91 18. Main Street, 1920 92 19. Crago Building 93 20. Colonial Grocery 94 21. Weirton Ice & Coal. 1922 96 22. Main Street in 1910 100 23. Main Street in 1962 101 24. Buchanan Building 104 25. Washington School. Chester 106 26. New Cumberland High School, 1869 108 27. Weir High School. 1963 109 28. West Virginia Fire Clay Company 110 29. Arner Funeral Hearse 112 30. Rock Springs Park 112 31. Stewart Farm. Chester 114 32. Chester, 1905 118 33. Chester, 1905 119 34. Early Newell Street Scene 120 35. Globe Brick Company at Kenilworth 121 36. Globe Brick at New Cumberland 122 37. Freeman Brick Yard 124 38. Mack Company, Company Store 126 39. View from New Cumberland Heights 128 40. New Cumberland Heights 129 41. First Automobile in County 130 42. Ridge Avenue, New Cumberland 131 43. First National Bank Building, Chester 132 7 Chapter I. PREHISTORIC HANCOCK COUNTY The sun has begun to set over the hill that looms over the broad stream. At the water's edge a man leaps from rock to rock until he is about forty feet from the eastern shore. He sits down on the rock and places his flint spear in the middle of the rock where he knows it will remain. He takes a deep breath and scoots into the warm water. He pulls himself with quick motions to the muddy bottom. He feels his way along the base of the mossy rock, able only to see the dark outline of the rock and the foreboding bottom. He plunges his hands deep into the mud and feels hopefully for the familiar shape of a mussel shell. He finds one, then another. He grasps them in his hands and glides to the surface beside the rock. He flings the shells onto the rock and plunges into the water again. This time he finds a water turtle and barely avoids getting his finger torn by the creature's sharp, horny mouth. He swims to the surface again and climbs back onto the rock. After a dozen such dives, he picks up his spear and his game and makes his way to the shore of the stream. He follows a narrow path away from the river and walks by large, fern-covered rocks up a steep hill. Located about two-hundred feet above the river level is a clearing surrounded by large oak, chestnut, elm, maple and hickory trees where several lean - to - like shelters have been erected. The man enters the clearing and is home. A dog runs forward to greet him. He ignores it, and looks up at the edge of the clearing. There he sees his cousin dressing a white- tailed deer. He runs to him and helps as the rest of the village of about twenty people stands by. They work with crude stone knives and bone punches. Soon the deer is ready for eating. After the feast the bones are carried by the women to the edge of the settlement and scattered over the bank where countless other bones lie rotting with all the other refuse of the village. These people were the first known residents of Hancock County. They lived in the archeological age known as the Archaic period, between 3,000 and 1,000 B.C. All that remains of this prehistoric tribe is the refuse heap where they scattered animal bones, broken tools, mussel shells, turtle shells, and sometimes dead bodies. Only a few hundred years prior to the scene just described, the ancestors of this tribe were following the great game herds that roamed the North American continent. The people had no permanent resting place. There is almost no trace of their existence, except for the few stone artifacts that are occasionally recovered. Somehow these men learned of the permanent supply of food that was available in the rivers of the continent which were warmer 5,000 years ago than they are now. Permanent residences developed along the rivers where the river could be depended upon for a source of food in addition to the local game supply. In Hancock County there were about eight of these early settlements. The one that has been studied in greatest detail is located at Globe Hill, north of New Cumberland. The site seems rather inconvenient for a fishing society (about 1200 feet east of the present river bank and from 140 to 150 feet above the present river level), but perhaps the people wanted to settle in an area where they could keep sharp watch for enemies and game.