Clay County History
Clay County was created by an act of the Virginia General Assembly on March 29, 1858. It was created from parts
of Braxton and Nicholas counties.
Clay county was named in honor of Senator Henry Clay (1777-1852). Born in Hanover County, Virginia on April 12,
1777, his parents moved him to Kentucky as a young boy. He was later lead the Whig political party, and represented
Kentucky in the U.S. Senate for many years (1806-1807, 1810-1811, 1831-1842, 1849-1852), and in the U.S. House
of Representatives (1811-1821, 1823-1825). He was elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1811
and served in that capacity until 1814, and again in 1815-1820, and in 1823-1825. He also served as U.S. Secretary
of State from 1825-1829, authored the famous "Compromise of 1850," which sought to avoid the Civil War,
ran unsuccessfully for President three times (1824, 1832 and 1844), and is widely regarded as one of the greatest
legislators in American political history. He advocated funding for internal improvements, including the extension
of the National Road to Wheeling. When that road was completed in 1818, Wheeling became a major trading center
and rest stop for pioneers heading west. He died on June 29, 1852.
The First Settlers
The first native settlers in central West Virginia (Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Gilmer, Lewis, Nicholas, Roane, Upshur,
and Webster counties) were the Mound Builders, also known as the Adena people. Remnants of their civilization have
been found throughout northern West Virginia, with many artifacts found in the Northern Panhandle, especially in
Marshall County.
A more thorough presentation of the first native settlers in West Virginia can be read on-line here. The following is a brief overview of that history:
• Several thousand Hurons occupied present-day West Virginia during the late 1500s and early 1600s.
• During the 1600s, the Iroquois Confederacy (then consisting of the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, and Seneca
tribes) drove the Hurons from the state and used it primarily as a hunting ground.
• During the early 1700s, the Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, and other Indian tribes also used present-day West Virginia
as a hunting ground. West Virginia's Potomac Highlands was inhabited by the Tuscarora. They eventually migrated
northward to New York and, in 1712, became the sixth nation to formally be admitted to the Iroquois Confederacy.
The Cherokee Nation claimed southern West Virginia.
• In 1744, Virginia officials purchased the Iroquois title of ownership to West Virginia in the Treaty of Lancaster.
• The Delaware, Mingo, and Shawnee sided with the French during the French and Indian War (1755-1763). The Iroquois
Confederacy officially remained neutral, but many in the Iroquois Confederacy allied with the French.
• When the French and Indian War was over, England's King George III feared that more tension between Native Americans
and settlers was inevitable. In an attempt to avert further bloodshed, he issued the Proclamation of 1763, prohibiting
settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains. The Proclamation was, for the most part, ignored.
• During the summer of 1763, Ottawa Chief Pontiac led raids on key British forts in the Great Lakes region. Shawnee
Chief Keigh-tugh-qua, also known as Cornstalk, led similar raids on western Virginia settlements. The uprisings
ended on August 6, 1763 when British forces, under the command of Colonel Henry Bouquet, defeated Delaware and
Shawnee forces at Bushy Run in western Pennsylvania.
• In 1768, the Iroquois Confederacy (often called the Six Nations) and the Cherokee signed the Treaty of Hard Labour
and the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, relinquishing their claims on the territory between the Ohio River and the Alleghenies
to the British.
• In April 1774, the Yellow Creek Massacre took place near Wheeling. Among the dead were Mingo Chief Logan's brother
and pregnant sister. Violence then escalated intoLord Dunmore's War.
• On October 10, 1774, Colonel Andrew Lewis and approximately 800 men defeated 1,200 Indian warriors led by Shawnee
Chief Cornstalk at the Battle of Point Pleasant, ending Lord Dunmore's War.
• The Mingo and Shawnee allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War (1776-1783). One of the more
notable battles occurred in 1777 when a war party of 350 Wyandot, Shawnee, and Mingo warriors, armed by the British,
attacked Fort Henry, near present-day Wheeling. Nearly half of the Americans manning the fort were killed in the
three-day assault. Following the war, the Mingo and Shawnee, once again allied with the losing side, returned to
their homes in Ohio. As the number of settlers in the region grew, both the Mingo and the Shawnee move further
inland, leaving western Virginia to the white settlers.
Clay County's European Pioneers and Settlers
Philip Hammond is believed to be the first European to set foot in present-day Clay County. He was a courier sent
from Point Pleasant (in Mason County) to Fort Donaldson (in Greenbrier County) after the decisive Battle of Point
Pleasant in 1774. That battle led to the end of Lord Dunmore's War with the Shawnee Indians, led by Chief Cornstalk.
Adam O'Brien was another early Englishman to roam the Clay County area. He reportedly had two wives, one in present-day
Braxton County and the other in present-day Clay County. Another early visitor was William Strange. A renowned
hunter of fox, buffalo, and bear, he reportedly became lost, or disabled, in the forest, and died at the foot of
a large beech tree in 1792 or 1793. Several years later his skeleton, gun, and other personal remains were found.
Carved on the tree was the passage "Strange is my name and strange the ground, and strange that I cannot be
found." Strange Creek, West Virginia was named in his honor.
Sinnett Triplett may have been the first permanent English settler in the county. He arrived around 1812 or 1813
and camped near present-day Clay. He was soon joined by David McCalgin (or McOlgin). The two men became life-long
friends. A few years later, Triplett married and moved away, but, a few years after that, returned to the area.
Jacob Summers built a cabin along the Elk River in 1813. A veteran of the War of 1812, he married a Miss Davis
and they had fourteen children. He then had another seven children with his second wife, Eleanor Conrad. Most of
Jacob Summers' progeny remained in the county, and, for many years, the Summers' name was the most common name
in Clay County.
Important Events in Clay County during the 1800s
The county's first newspaper, the Clay County Star, began publishing in 1883. William D. Gould was the editor,
and it was printed at the Clay County Court House.
The opening of the Charleston, Clendenin, Clay and Sutton Railway in 1895 opened up Clay County for further economic
development. Until then, the primary means of transportation in the county was rafting along the Elk River. After
the railroad opened, the number of rafts traveling the Elk River fell dramatically. However, rafts were still being
used to transport people and goods on the Elk River as late as 1927.
The Elk River Coal and Lumber Company was organized in 1904 and soon became the county's largest employer. In June
1919,
the first cars made their way to Calhoun County. The owners were entrepreneurs who visited remote areas and charged
local residents ten cents a ride (soon increased to twenty-five cents a ride). They reportedly made $126 in two
nights and a day before heading south towards Charleston.
The Clay County Seat
The act creating Clay County declared that the county seat was to be located on the McCalgin (or McOlgin) farm,
near the mouth of Buffalo Creek. The area was then known as Marshall. The earliest settlers in the area were Colonel
W. E. R. Byrne, A. J. Stephenson, Ellis Myer, Clabourne Pierson, and T.B. Stephenson. The local citizens generally
referred to the town as Clay Court House, because the courthouse was the town's main reason for existing, and was
the town's primary source of social and economic interaction. On October 10, 1863, the state legislature changed
the town's name to Henry, honoring Henry Clay. In 1927, the town's name was changed to Clay.
The first county court was held at the residence of Justice William G. Fitzwaters on July 12, 1858. Mr. Fitzwalters,
Jonathon Riffle, Josah Hamrick, Norval Shannon, John Jones, John Sands, William Ewing, Levi Rogers and Charles
Duffield were named Justices of the Peace. After setting the dates for electing the county government's officials
and future court meetings, the county court adjourned. The first public elections were held on the fourth Tuesday
of May in 1859. At that time, there were 293 registered voters in the county. Jacob Salisbury was elected county
clerk, Clayburn Pierson was elected county surveyor, and Christopher Campbell was elected sheriff. Norval Shannon
was later also named superintendent of schools.
References
Clay County History Book Committee, 1989. History of Clay County, West Virginia, Clay, WV: Clay County History
Book Committee.
Woofer, Perry W. no date. The History of Clay County. No publisher.
Author
Dr. Robert Jay Dilger, Director, Institute for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science, West Virginia University.
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