Marion County History
Marion County was created by an act of the Virginia Assembly on January 14, 1842, from parts of Harrison and Monongalia counties. The county was named in honor of General Francis Marion (1732-1795), the legendary hero of the American Revolutionary War.
Many historical accounts indicate that Francis Marion was born in Winyaw, South Carolina, but there is evidence to suggest that he was actually born in St. John's Parish, near Georgetown, South Carolina. When he was fifteen he joined a six-person crew of a small sailing ship headed for the West Indies. The ship sank while at sea, forcing the six crew members to abandon ship. They were set adrift in a small boat without food or drink. Seven days later they reached land. Two of the crew members died during the trip. The ordeal convinced Francis Marion to abandon the idea of becoming a seaman. He returned to St. John's Parish and, after receiving a small inheritance, established a small plantation.
In 1759, during the French and Indian War (1755-1763), he volunteered for service in a South Carolina provincial calvary led by his older brother, Gabriel. In 1761, he served as a lieutenant in a regiment under the command of Captain William Moultrie. It is believed that he distinguished himself during a major battle against the Cherokee Indian nation near Etchoee, South Carolina.
Following the war, he purchased a plantation (Pond's Bluff) north of Eutaw Springs, South Carolina. In 1775, he was elected to South Carolina's provincial Congress. When the American Revolutionary War began, South Carolina formed two regiments of infantry and one regiment of calvary. He was elected a Captain in a one of the infantry regiments, under the command of now Colonel William Moultrie. After distinguishing himself in several major battles, he was promoted through the ranks, finally reaching the rank of Brigadier General. He earned his nickname "The Swamp Fox" from the British. Because his troops were usually outnumbered, he adopted a hit-and-hide strategy and employed several guerilla-style military tactics, many learned from the Indians during the French and Indian War. He often ambushed the British at night, and then vanished into the surrounding woods or swaps. British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, who often chased Marion into the swamps, reportedly said that "The devil himself could not catch that old fox." The nickname stuck.
Following the American Revolutionary War, he returned to his plantation and was elected to the South Carolina state Senate in 1781, and was re-elected in 1782 and 1784. In 1786, he married Mary Esther Vidreau. In May, 1790, he participated as a member of the convention that created the state constitution. He died on February 26, 1795 at his plantation. Nationally, there are at least twenty-nine cities and towns and seventeen counties named in his honor.
The First Settlers
The first native settlers in present-day North-Central West Virginia (Barbour, Harrison, Marion, Monongalia,
Preston, and Taylor counties) were the Mound Builders, also known as the Adena people. Remnants of the Mound Builders'
civilization have been found throughout northern West Virginia, with a high concentration of artifacts located
at Moundsville, West Virginia, in West Virginia's northern panhandle (in Marshall County). The Grave Creek Indian
Mound, located in the center of Moundsville, is one of West Virginia's most famous historic landmarks. More than
2,000 years old, it stands 69 feet high and 295 feet in diameter.
A more thorough discussion of the first native settlers in West Virginia can be read on-line here.
The following is a brief overview of that history:
o Several thousand Hurons occupied present-day West Virginia during the late 1500s and early 1600s.
o 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.
o 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.
o In 1744, Virginia officials purchased the Iroquois title of ownership to West Virginia in the Treaty of Lancaster.
o 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.
o 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.
o 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.
o 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.
o 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 into Lord Dunmore's War.
o 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.
o 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.
Marion County's European Pioneers and Settlers
The first permanent English settlers in present-day Marion County arrived in the Fairmont area during the 1760s.
Some accounts suggest that John Beall was the first to arrive, in 1763. Others credit Jacob Prickett as the first
settler. He arrived in 1766. Captain James Booth and John Thomas arrived in 1770 or 1772, as did Thomas Helen.
David Morgan and Nicholas Woods constructed cabins about five miles south of present-day Fairmont in 1772. They
were soon followed by Peter Straight, William Snodgrass, Henry Button, Thomas Button, John Dragoo and Frederick
Ice. Together, with the assistance of Zackquill Morgan of nearby Morgan's Town and other area residents, they built
Prickett's Fort in 1773-1774, now reconstructed and a tourist attraction.
Prior to their arrival, unconfirmed oral history suggests that Pompey Leggit, John Duvall, their wives, and the
Burris and Bozarth families established a settlement, called Leggit's, near present-day Rivesville in 1694. It
was destroyed by a flood in 1704, forcing them to abandon the site. They then reportedly founded a settlement near
present-day Philippi, but it was burned to the ground in 1721 following an outbreak of smallpox that killed most
of the settlers. Most of the survivors moved east and their story was reported by Thomas Leggit, Pompey Legitt's
son.
Another early settler was Robert Eeds who reportedly lived in a cave with his wife on a hillside in present-day
Marion County from 1742 until his death in 1772.
Important Events in Marion County during the 1700s
During the spring and summer of 1774, after learning that his brother and sister were murdered at the Yellow Creek
Massacre, the famous Mingo Indian chief Logan led a series of attacks on settlements along the upper Monongahela
River and in the neighborhood of Redstone Creek, where the settlers who committed the killings originated. On June
11, 1774, a company of rangers led by Captain Francis McClure, from the Wheeling area, left Prickett's Fort for
Redstone Fort, in present-day Brownsville, Pennsylvania. The rangers included several local residents, including
William Ice. They spent the night at Fort Prickett after scouting the Tygart Valley searching for Logan and his
men. Shortly after leaving Prickett's Fort, the rangers were ambushed by Logan and fifteen to twenty Mingo warriors.
Captain McClure was killed. The rangers chased the Indians, but they escaped into the wilderness. In early July,
Logan and a party of ten to twenty Mingo warriors returned to present-day Marion County. They ambushed nine men
hoeing corn on Dunkard Creek. Six of the men (including Reedy Anderson, Paul Minor, George Seal(s), John Farmer,
and Josiah Prickett, Jr.) were killed. They also attacked William Robinson, Thomas Helen, and Coleman Brown while
they were working in a field. Coleman Brown was killed in the attack. Thomas Helen and William Robinson were captured
and taken to an Indian village. They were forced to run the gauntlet, and, after surviving the ordeal, were adopted
into the tribe. They were later released following the Battle of Point Pleasant.
Following the American Revolutionary War (1776-1783), the Indians migrated from north-central West Virginia into
Ohio. Recognizing that the Indians' departure meant that more people would be interested in settling in the area,
land speculators began to purchase land throughout the region, including present-day Marion County. Henry Banks,
of Richmond, purchased nearly 40,000 acres of land in the county. Thomas Laidley and William Robinson, both residents
of present-day Monongalia County, also purchased large tracts of land that were later purchased by settlers.
Important Events in Marion County during the 1800s
Oral history indicates that in 1808 Boaz Fleming made his annual trek to Clarksburg to pay his brother's Harrison
County taxes. While in Clarksburg he attended a social gathering that included Dolly Madison, his cousin. He complained
to her about having to travel over a hundred miles each year from his home to pay his Monongalia County taxes and
his brother's Harrison County taxes. Dolly Madison supposedly suggested that he create his own county to save him
all that travel. Six years later, Boaz Fleming circulated a petition to do precisely that, naming the proposed
county Madison County, in honor of Dolly and President James Madison. The petition failed to gain sufficient support
to be presented to the Virginia General Assembly. He then focused on creating a town near his farm. In 1819, a
road was built from Clarksburg to Morgantown. His farm was about halfway between the two, making a good resting
point. He laid out the town on the west side of the Monongahela River in 1819. It was incorporated on January 19,
1820 as Middletown. It is unknown if the town was called Middletown because of its location mid-way between Clarksburg
and Morgantown or because Boaz Fleming's first wife, Elizabeth Hutchinson, was originally from Middletown, Delaware.
Middletown was named newly-formed Marion County's first county seat on February 18, 1842. At that time, William
Haymond, Jr. suggested that the town's name be changed to Fairmont because the town had a beautiful overlook of
the Monongahela River, giving it a "fair mount." The Borough of Fairmont was incorporated in 1843 by
the Virginia General Assembly.
In 1838, the town of Palatine was laid out on the east side of the Monongahela River, opposite Middletown. It was
settled by Germans from the Palatinate States of southwestern Germany and they named the town after their homeland.
It was incorporated in 1867. In 1899, Fairmont, Palatine, and neighboring West Fairmont were merged into a single
city.
On January 22, 1852, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad reached Fairmont, opening up the area for economic development,
especially the development of the area's coal mining industry. Also that year a suspension bridge, the Great Iron
Bridge, was constructed to accommodate foot and wagon traffic between Fairmont and Palatine.
In 1865, a privately-owned normal school opened in Fairmont to train teachers that would be required to fill the
state legislature's mandate of having free public schools in every county. In 1867, Fairmont Normal School was
accepted as one of three normal schools owned and operated by the state of West Virginia. In 1917, the school was
named Fairmont State Teachers College and is currently known as Fairmont State College.
The Marion County Seat
Jonathon Bozarth was the first "long-time" settler in present-day Fairmont, the Marion County seat. He
arrived with his family, and his brother John and his family, in 1770. They lived on the west side of the Monongahela
River until 1784, when they moved to present-day Lewis County.
In 1789, John Fleming and his brother's three sons (most likely Boaz, Benoni, and Thomas Fleming) were the first
permanent settlers in present-day Fairmont. They arrived from Delaware in 1789 and built their cabins on the land
once owned by Jonathon Bozarth.
In 1793, Jacob Paulsley built a home on the east side of the Monongahela River in present-day Fairmont. At that
time, most of the future city was a dense, laurel thicket.
When Middletown was formed in 1820, its initial trustees were: John S. Barns, John W. Kelley, Josiah Wolcott, John
W. Polsley, Jesse Ice, Benoni Fleming and Thomas Fleming. John S. Barnes served as mayor.
References
Dunnington, George A. 1880. History and Progress of the County of Marion, West Virginia. Fairmont, WV: George
A. Dunnington,
Publisher.
James, William Dobein. 1821. A Sketch of the Life of Brigadier General Francis Marion. Charleston, S.C.: Gould and Riley Publishers.
Edited by Alan R. Light. Accessed on-line at: http://www.historycarper.com/resources/fmarion/contents.htm
Lough, Glenn D. 1969. Now and Long Ago: A History of the Marion County Area. Morgantown, WV: Morgantown Printing and
Binding Company.
Marion County Historical Society. 1985. A History of Marion County. Fairmont, WV: Marion County Historical
Society.
Simms, William Gilmore. 1844. The Life of Francis Marion. New York. Edited by Alan R. Light. Accessed on-line
at:
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/1786/1sfox10.txt.
Author
Dr. Robert Jay Dilger, Director, Institute for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science, West Virginia
University.
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