Taylor County History
Taylor County was created by an act of the Virginia General Assembly
on January 19, 1844 from parts of Barbour, Harrison and Marion counties. Although some historians claim that the
county was named for General Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), known as "Old Rough and Ready" and the 12th
President of the United States (1849-1850), most claim that the county was actually named in honor of Senator John
Taylor (1750-1824), a distinguished solider-statesman from Caroline County, Virginia. He graduated from William
and Mary College, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1774. He served in the Continental Army during the
American Revolutionary War, rising through the ranks to Major. He also served as a Colonel of Militia under General
Lafayette during the war. He was a member of Virginia General Assembly (1779-1787) and represented Virginia in
the U.S. Senate (1792-1794, 1803, and 1822-1824). He died on August 20, 1824.
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.
Taylor County's European Pioneers and Settlers
The first known Europeans to set foot in present-day Taylor County were, most probably, Willie Childers, Joseph
Lindsey, John Pringle, and his brother Samuel Pringle. In 1761, unhappy with their treatment in the British Army,
they deserted their post (Fort Pitt) during the French and Indian War. Over the next several years they roamed
throughout north-central West Virginia and are believed to have set foot in present-day Taylor County.
John Simpson, a trapper for the Hudson Bay Company, crossed the Tygart River in 1764 and is also credited by some
historians as the first European to set foot in the county. In 1766, Thomas Merrifield and, in 1768, Captain John
Booth were the first Europeans to establish permanent settlements in the county. They built cabins along present-day
Booth's Creek.
Important Events in Taylor County during the 1700s and 1800s
Pruntytown is the oldest community in present-day Taylor County. It was settled during the mid-1770s and was initially
called Cross Roads because it was located at the intersection of the Washington Post Road and the Fairmont-Booths
Ferry Pike. Moses Hustead, Elijah Sinsel, and Frederick Burdett were among the earliest settlers in the area.
In 1801, Cross Roads consisted of ten cabins, a grist mill, a harness and saddle shop, and a blacksmith shop. The
town was incorporated on January 1, 1801 as Williamsport, honoring Abraham Williams, a long-time resident who had
moved west. Most of the land in and around the town was owned by John and David Prunty, who settled there around
1798. They laid out the town and sold lots to settlers until 1836. Williamsport was named the county seat when
Taylor County was formed in 1844. At that time, Williamsport was the largest town in the county. It also was relatively
accessible given its location at the intersection of two roads. It continued to serve as the county seat until
1878 when the citizens of Grafton and the county's eastern portion outvoted Pruntytown and the county's western
portion during a special election and made Grafton the county seat. On January 23, 1845, Williamsport was changed
to Pruntytown, in honor of John Prunty. Some accounts suggest that the name change was made, at least partially,
to appease John Prunty who opposed the county's formation. In 1848, Pruntytown's population reached 242, including
22 slaves.
The Taylor County Seat
According to James Current's family's oral history, when James Current emigrated from northern Ireland to Maryland
in 1751 he traded a gray horse for a deed giving him 1,300 acres of land in Virginia, including all of present-day
Grafton. He then hired George Washington to survey the property and, in 1753 or 1754, moved to the area, building
a plantation he called "Bluemont."
Most other historical accounts credit William Robinson as Grafton's first settler. In 1773, he constructed a cabin,
and a small stockade to protect himself against possible Indian attacks, in present-day Grafton. He moved west
a few years later. In 1789, Jonathan Nixon arrived and moved into Robinson's still-standing stockade. He stayed
only a short period of time before also moving west. In 1790, Erean Luzadder moved to the area, but died shortly
after his arrival. In 1792, John Woodward arrived. In 1811, Silas Stewart settled in present-day western Grafton.
He sold his land to the McKelvey family in 1835, and they sold it to Alexander Yates in 1847. Yates divided his
farm into lots and sold them to other settlers. Some historians claim that the town received its name from railroad
crews who called it "graft-on" because several branch railroad lines met there. Other historians suggest
that the town was named in honor of John Grafton, a civil engineer employed by Colonel Benjamin Latrobe, who laid
out the route across what was then northwestern Virginia for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company in 1852. Still
others suggest that many of the area's settlers were Irish and named the town after their city of origin: Grafton,
Ireland.
During the early 1840s, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad company approached Monongalia County's political leaders
about extending their rail line into the county. Fearing the railroad's effect on their way of life, they opposed
the extension. Taylor County's political leaders, led by John Burdette, welcomed the railroad. After several years
of construction, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad opened service to Grafton in 1853. At that time, 154 people lived
in the town. The railroad's arrival led to an expansion of economic opportunities in the area, and Grafton's population
began to grow. It was incorporated on March 15, 1856.
Grafton was considered important by both sides during the Civil War, primarily because of the presence of the area's
railroad lines. The Union Army maintained control over the town throughout the war. The only skirmish in Grafton
took place on August 13, 1861 when 200 Confederate soldiers attempted to take the town. Twenty-one Confederate
soldiers died during the battle. There were no Union casualties.
Shortly after the war's conclusion, Samuel Swinfin Burdett, a congressman from Missouri, sponsored a bill that
led to the creation of Grafton National Cemetery. Work on the 3.21 acre site began in 1867, and was completed in
1868. The Cemetery was to serve as a central burial place for West Virginians killed during the Civil War. During
1867 and 1868, 1,251 bodies of soldiers killed during the Civil War were exhumed from cemeteries throughout West
Virginia and nearby states and reburied at Grafton National Cemetery. Private Thornsbury Bailey Brown, a member
of the Grafton Guards, and the first Union soldier killed during the Civil War (by a sniper on May 22, 1861 in
Fetterman), was interred there in 1903. Over 2,000 soldiers, including veterans of the nation's other wars from
West Virginia and surrounding states, are currently interred there. The Cemetery reached its capacity in 1961.
In 1987, a new, 100-acre National Cemetery was established in Pruntytown.
During the 1870s, the state capital's location was moved back and forth between Wheeling and Charleston. Several
other towns, including Grafton, expressed interest in serving as the state's capital. In 1872, residents of Grafton
and surrounding counties drafted a set of resolutions to be introduced at the state Constitutional Convention being
held in Charleston to name Grafton the state capitol. The resolutions were not adopted. However, as mentioned previously,
Grafton was named the county seat in 1878.
Anna M. Jarvis, founder of Mother's Day, was born in Webster, near Grafton, on May 1, 1864. When she was one, her
family moved to Grafton. In 1881, she enrolled in the Augusta Female Academy in Staunton, Virginia (now Mary Baldwin
College). She returned to Grafton after graduation and taught school for seven years. Her mother, Ann Jarvis, was
very active in the community and following the conclusion of the Civil War organized a series of "Mothers
Friendship Days" to bring together those who had served on different sides during the Civil War. When her
father died in 1902, Anna, her sister, and her mother moved to Philadelphia to live with her brother. Her mother
died in 1905. Anna decided to honor her mother by organizing a letter writing campaign to establish a national
day of recognition for all mothers. The movement quickly spread nationwide. By 1911, Mother's Day was celebrated
in almost every state. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother's Day a national holiday to be observed
each year on the second Sunday of May. The Mother's Day Shrine is located in Grafton.
References
Adams, Florence J. 1986. Footsteps: A Story of Grafton, Taylor County West Virginia. Parsons, WV: McClain
Printing Company.
Ladd, John. 1999. "Current Family Origin." Accessed on-line at: http://www.infinetivity.com/~chareve/misd-10.htm.
Snider, Joseph Franklin. 1945. The Early Hisoty of Grafton. Master Degree Thesis. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia
University.
Taylor County Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc. 1986. A History of Taylor County West Virginia.
Grafton, WV : Taylor County
Historical and Genealogical Society.
Author
Dr. Robert Jay Dilger, Director, Institute for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science, West Virginia
University.
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