Andrew's world West Virginia history

     Carnefix ferry state park, in Nicholas county, is to memorialize a civil war battle that occurred there September 10th, 1861 (about one year prior to the battle of Charleston- which I've also posted about.)      A battle that played a pivotal role in West Virginia's statehood. The battle      Following the events of the Battle of Kessler's Cross Lanes (not to be confused with the town of Cross Lanes in Kanawha county) union forces led by Brigadier General William S. Rosecrans attacked the confederates, led by General John B. Floyd, who were positioned around the Patterson farm, which set overlooking the Gauley River. Eventually Floyd had enough and retreated, down the mountain and back across the Gauley River under the cover of night, which to me seems like an impressive retreat. The Confederates have failed to regain control of the Kanawha valley. The political effects  Just after the battle at Carnefix Ferry, there were votes held in areas controlled by Federal force

Did you know the first brick paved street in America was in Charleston, Wv? Summers street. Some people say first in the world, but im pretty sure they were doing it in other parts of the world first. I mean the ancient Romans were building stone streets. Anyway, back to Summers street...      In 1870 a Charlestonian named Mordecai Levi had an idea for the streets of his City that he thought would be better than the hard packed dirt streets that turned to mud when it rained. His idea... Bricks. I'm not real sure how he got permission but he started paving Summers street that year and he was done by 1873. You gotta remember this was a time of horse and buggy, so I'm sure brick streets were a game changer.      I found a letter sent to the Centennial Commission of west virginia that said the street was on exhibit at the Chicago fair in 1933 after being confirmed to be the first in the U.S. Edit- I forgot to mention that this project was funded by John P. Hale (a prominent Charles

Did you know west virginia was almost called Kanawha? That's one fact I always thought was kind of cool. Lawmakers considered Kanawha as a name but I guess they thought it would be confusing because Western Virginia had a county by that same name (kanawha county originated in 1788) Original map of the proposed state of kanawha       So, lets talk about how West Virginia even became a state. Now, most of us know about West Virginia day and that it had something to do with the civil war but lets dive a little deeper. It all started with th Wheeling Conventions of 1881, which was an assembly of delegates from the north western part of Virginia. Their goal was to repeal the referendum to secede from the union and join the confederacy, that was passed in April, 1861 in Richmond. Their first meeting was held  May 13th- 15th. It was led by John Carlise of Clarksburg, and he called the newly proposed plan to secede treason against the United States.      The two sides of Virgin

     Lincoln county became a county in 1867, and the Civil War was between 1861 and 1865. So, obviously, Lincoln county wasn't technically a county yet, but the area did see some Civil War action.      The Battle of the Curry Farm took place near Hamlin in present day Lincoln county on May 29th, 1864.             The battle was a short one, with one casualty on the Union side. The battle started when the Confederates, commanded by John L. Chapman attacked a detachment of the 3rd West Virginia Calvary. When fired upon, the union force charged and drove off the confederates.            According to e-wv.com, there were several other military engagements in the area, but the Battle of Curry Farm is all I could find information on. Photo sourced from theclio.com Sources Renick, Ethan . "Skirmish At The Curry Farm." Clio: Your Guide to History. March 31, 2018. Accessed April 22, 2023. Lincoln county, Wikipedia.org Sources Renick, Ethan . "Skirmish At The Curry

     This one may be a little more familiar to you. You may have learned about this in elementary school or even went on a field trip there. I know I was in the fourth grade when I first heard about Blennerhassett island, we even went on a field trip to visit the island. Of course they didn't teach all of the details in school but I learned more about it over the years. The island sits in the Ohio river, between parkersburg, WV and Belpre, OH.      Parkersburg's most famous residents were Harmon and Margaret Blennerhassett. They were immigrants from Ireland. Many came to America from Ireland in search of work and opportunity but not the Blennerhassetts. Harmon and Margaret were wealthy aristocrats and had other reasons for sailing to America. See, Harmon was Margaret's uncle and obviously everyone in their families disapproved of their marriage. They planned to start over somewhere new where no one knew about their situation. Apparently, they decided on America.      They l

  If you had read my last post, you'd know about the Tacketts. Well, this post is about the Ruffners. You hear that name a lot around Charleston, Ruffner park, Ruffner Avenue and so on, but who are the Ruffners? Joseph Ruffner came to what is now Charleston from the Shenandoah Valley in the the spring of 1725 after he bought 500 acres of land along the Kanawha river from John Dickinson. Unfortunately, Joseph died  March 23rd, 1803. After Joseph, Sr. Passed, all of his lands went to his sons. Joseph's Son, David and his brother Joseph, Jr. pioneered the salt industry in the Kanawha Valley. The two devised ways and tools for drilling the first salt well into the Kanawha bedrock. In 1831, David laid out the town of Malden on his land.  I read once that a visitor in the early 1800's described Charleston as "just a few cabins on the river bank". One of those cabins was surely the Ruffner cabin (Rosedale), which I had the privilege of seeing about a year ago. It now sit

You've probably heard me mention the Tacketts (originally spelled Taquett) at least once over the years. I'm very proud of my heritage. I had always heard stories about my ancestors (my moms huge into genealogy) but never really knew much until last christmas (2021) I received a book written about Lewis Tackett, jr. Lewis Tackett -pioneer: early days in Virginia from my mom and dad. The funny thing is, when I was young, we lived in St. Albans, WV and walked past the historical marker for Tackett's fort daily and had no idea that was our ancestors, that was before my mom  got into genealogy. Turns out Lewis Tackett, sr. was my moms 6th great grandfather.      The Tackett family lived in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia in the late 1700's (Lewis, jr was born 1773). At that point Virginia was still a Colony of England. They moved across the Allegheny mountains to the Greenbrier valley for awhile in about 1780 or so. The federal government (now, of America) wanted to expan