Some
West Virginia Genealogy
Compiled
by: A.B. Stickney, A grandchild of Lucy
& Oliver
By blogging this AB
Stickney’s basic story remains. I’m
revising it specific to the family of William Oren (1880-1968) and Etta Jane
(Morris) (1884-1975) JONES and descendants.
2016, BjF Duncan.
A foreword by A.B. Stickney:
This book as an account of my grandparents, Oliver Shirtliff
& Lucy May (PIERPOINT) JONES, of Monongalia County and Parkersburg, West
Virginia, their ancestors and descendants.
Since I have known most of the descendants all my life or theirs, I have
been able to provide rather full and detailed stories about them.
When the work was well along, I decided to include the
descendants of Lucy’s brother and sisters, or “siblings.” I do not know any of them personally, and
have had to gather information from various sources, by correspondence. As a result, the stories vary from moderately
full accounts to mere lists of names or even less, according to what I could
get in the limited time available.
My data is in many places sketchy and incomplete, and there
is room for much additional inquiry.
However, this would be true no matter how far the inquiry was
carried. Each answer found poses several
new questions. Also, it is improbable
that all my data is accurate. I will
welcome additions and corrections, and if it seems warranted at some time in
the future, will issue a supplement.
The spelling of family names has varied over the generations. A glance at PEIRPOINT or SMELL in the index
will show the extent. The use of
PIERPOINT, was the general usage a century ago (rather than Pierpoint or
Pierpont which are used today or Pairpoint which was used still earlier) is
arbitrary on my part. It was chosen to
distinguish the West Virginia family from the Pierpoints of New England, New
York, and from the Quaker family of Pierpoint’s in Maryland and Virginia.
Many members of the family, and others, have supplied
information, and in general these sources are acknowledged in the text, under
“sources” or “references.” To single
some out for special reference here for lead to insidious comparisons. Mention should be made, however, of Miss
Marion Tapp, a genealogist of Morgantown, who has been most helpful in
obtaining data both from the Monongalia County records and from
individuals. And without the benefit of
Miss Willa Brand’s knowledge of the family, the sections on “siblings” could
not have been undertaken.
A.B. Stickney; Pittsburgh, PA, March 1, 1953
Notes on
Arrangement
Editors note: This document is being edited for the
descendants of JOSEPHUS & LAURA EMMA VANDERVORT JONES,
brother and sister-in-law of Oliver.
Therefore, many features and names listed in the forward by A.B.
Stickney will not be present.
Part 1: A Time in West Virginia History (Lucy & Oliver)
This presents a brief account of
the Civil War period in northwestern Virginia.
It will also discuss the formation of West Virginia and an account of
life for the Jones family at the time.
Josephus brother, Oliver (the oldest son) was
mustered out of the Union Army on August 13,1864 after more than three years’
service in the Civil War and had returned to his father’s farm. All nine Jones children were born before the
war. The oldest sons, Oliver, William
Henry, Virgil, and Daniel Webster served in the Union army.
On April 27, 1865 at Morgantown, WV, Oliver, aged 29 and
Lucy May Pierpoint, age 21were married by Rev. Benjamin Ison. Both were natives and the children of natives
of Monongalia County, VA, of which Morgantown was the county seat.
The Jones’ grew up in the atmosphere of tension which
continually increased during the decades preceding and which culminated in the
war. Nowhere was the tension greater
than in northwestern Virginia, which was geographically and economically closer
to Ohio and western Pennsylvania. The
area was settled by Pennsylvania German and Scotch-Irish stock, but was
politically part of Virginia.
Virginia, east of the mountains was historically and
traditionally, a land of plantations, worked by Negro slaves, and was dominated
politically by the “Slaves Power,” although the vast majority of their white
population were not slave owners.
Northwestern Virginia was a land of steep mountains, narrow valleys,
entirely unsuited to this type of economy.
It was developing as a land of small farms, worked by the owners,
primitive industry, and mining operations.
Aside from the slavery and tariff questions, which were
national issues, northwestern Virginia had long felt that it paid more than its
share of state taxes and got less than its share of state expenditures. This was due to slaves being assessed at a
nominal value while property was assessed at full value, and to the domination
by the eastern section in the legislature.
There had been much talk of separate statehood as the only way the
northwestern section could develop.
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln, an obscure Illinois lawyer and
politician, member of the new (and radical) Republican Party, managed split the
dominant Democratic Party in a series of debates with one of their leaders,
Stephen A. Douglas[i]. Douglas was forced to declare himself on the
slavery issue, on which northern and southern democrats differed. Oliver, then 22, while visiting his
Campbell cousins in Paris, Illinois, supposedly heard one or more of the
debates. The debates thrust Lincoln into
the limelight and he became the Republican nominee for President in 1860. The Democrats split and ran two candidates,
Douglas and Breckenridge. Lincoln, with
a minority of the total vote, was elected.
When Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861, the secession of
the slave state was well advanced. On
December 20, 1860, in accordance with its announced intention during the
campaign (should Lincoln win), South Carolina seceded from the Union, and on
February 4, 1861, six other states joined her in forming the Confederate States of America. Virginia called a convention, which met on
February 13 to decide on a course of action.
On April 17, by a vote of 88 to 55, this convention adopted Ordinance
of Secession[ii],
to be voted on in the regular May 23 election.
Without waiting for the results, the Virginia government joined the
Confederacy on April 25, 1861.
Northwestern Virginia was not unanimously against
secession. The vote of the 47 delegates
from the region is probably representative of the sentiment: 32 against, 11 in
favor, and 4 abstaining. In the May 23
election, the vote from NW Virginia (which was never counted) was reliably
estimated at 44,000 against and 4,000 in favor of secession. A mass meeting in Clarksburg (home of
Stonewall Jackson, a leading Confederate General), on April 22 called a
convention in Wheeling for May 13, which in turn, called a general convention
there on June 11, 1861.
This convention, June 19, 1861 passed “An Ordinance
for the Re-Organization of the State Government of Virginia[iii].” It established the Restored Government
of Virginia headquartered in Wheeling.
It elected Francis Harrison Pierpoint[iv],
Governor (nephew of Zackquill Pierpoint, 2nd
cousin of Laura Emma VanderVort Jones) and one of the leaders of the
mass meeting and convention. On June 21,
Governor Pierpoint petitioned Lincoln for military aid in putting down
the rebellion and four days later, Lincoln, acting through Secretary of War
Cameron, in effect, recognized the Restored Government of VA by
communicating with Pierpoint as the Governor of Virginia. In July, the Senators and Representatives of
the new Virginia government were admitted into Congress.
Governor Pierpoint proceeded to raise troops and
commission officers for them, in the Union Army. Among these was Company A, 3rd VA
Infantry, which was mustered in at Clarksburg on June 25, 1861. Oliver S. Jones went in as
Sergeant. Three of his brothers also
served: William Henry, Quarter Master, Virgil S., and Daniel
Webster, both Privates in Company A, 1st West VA Cavalry. Josephus was 11 years old.
Through the war years, NW Virginia, and later, West
Virginia, was the scene of fighting and confederate raids. Fighting reached Morgantown, Fairmont, and
nearly to Parkersburg. The Confederates,
for a brief time in 1861 held Charleston and the Kanawha Valley.[v]
The October 24 ballot elected November 26, 1861 as the date
for a Representative Convention. The
purpose of this Convention was to adopt a constitution for a new state to be
formed by the partition of NW Virginia from the rest of the state. This Convention deliberated until February
18, 1862. A special session of the Restored
Government of VA legislature from May 6 – 18, 1862 petitioned the US
Congress to partition the state. The
petition was presented to the Senate May 29, 1862.
Meanwhile, on May 22, an election was held at which the
people of VA chose Pierpoint as Governor.
It was not until December 1862 when Congress acted on the partition
petition. The petition was approved,
subject to change, providing for the gradual abolition of slavery, which was
permitted under the proposed Constitution as submitted to Congress. This proposed Constitution forbade the
bringing in of more slaves, or coming in of free persons of color to live.
Another Convention met February 12, 1863 and accepted the
change, which was accepted by the people in an election April 17 by a vote of
27,749 to 572. On April 20, Lincoln
proclaimed the new state, and on May 28, 1863 an unopposed slate of candidates
composed of an equal number of former Democrats and Whigs was elected. The Governor of the new state was Arthur I. Boreman
of Parkersburg[vi] (his wife, by a former
marriage, is the mother of John Bullock who later married Florence, the oldest
daughter of Oliver and Lucy – Josephus4’ 1st
cousin.
After installing these officers of the new state, Pierpoint
moved his seat of government to Alexandria and after the war, to Richmond. He remained Governor of VA until 1868. His statue, placed there by WV as its
representative, is in the US Capitol Statuary Hall in Washington, DC.
On the formation of WV, the VA troops in the Union Army
became WV troops, and Oliver served as Sergeant in Co. A 3rd
Regiment, WV Mounted Infantry[vii]. Oliver’s diary for 1864 is in existence. It contains a calendar for 1862, marked to
show that he fought at McDowal May 8; Harrisonburg June 6 when General Ashby
was killed; August 9 battle at Cedar Mountain; August 29 and 30 fought at the 2nd
Battle of Bull Run. The 1863 activities
of his unit could be obtained through the War Department. The start of 1864 found his regiment moving
east by rail to Martinsburg. WV, where they stayed until late April. The Confederates were a few miles south at
Winchester. They moved to Beverly, WV at
the west entrance to the pass through the mountains to Staunton, VA. Remaining there until August, moving to Wheeling,
then the capitol of WV, to be mustered out.
They saw no important action in 1864, although they sent out many scouting
or reconnaissance parties, and the enemy was camped not far away.
Oliver was activing veterinary for his company of mounted
infantry. One February 10, 1864, the
recommendation of his appointment as Veterinary Surgeon was forwarded to
Washington DC, but never acted upon. On
March 2nd he received 10 barrels of apples from home and sold them
for $30, paid $9 freight. After moving
to Beverly, he was in charge of “drawing rations” for the troops.
Oliver enjoyed visiting with the girls, and carried on an
active correspondence with a number of them as well as his sister Serilda. He exchanged letters with cousins John
Campbell and Sophia Vance in Paris, IL.
When he attended church he recorded the preachers name and the chapter
and verse of his text. He was a
Methodist and usually attended that church, he sometimes to others. He kept careful detailed accounts of his
expenditures.
After being mustered out at 2 ½ PM on August 13 at Wheeling,
he returned home to Laurel Point and took up life as a farmer. Late in August he made an expedition of
several days buy stock hogs and driving them home. In September, he threshed and plowed. Entries in the diary ceased September 18th
except for a few later noting another trip he took.
Marrying Lucy in 1865, Oliver and Lucy moved to Parkersburg,
WV where he established a general store in a residential neighborhood (13th
and Market Streets), selling groceries, meats, yard goods, and other
merchandise. The store prospered, he was
well-to-do, but lost considerable money endorsing notes for friends. He had a farm near town with a dairy herd.
This family lived 1st in the 1200 block on Market
Street, later at 1329 Avery Street. They
were Methodists, Oliver was on the Official Board, and Lucy was active in
women’s affairs. He was in the Grand Army of the Republic (Union Veterans of
the Civil War.)
Lucy & Oliver had 11 children, 7 grew up and married, 4
died in infancy. All the children were
given first and middle names having the same initial, but 5 changed their
names: Fanny Florence and William Wilber dropped their 1st names;
Grace Gladys and Edith Ethel changed their middle names to Pierpont (the
accepted spelling of the name at that time); Charles Clarence became Charles
Carrington.
Sometime after the turn of the century, Oliver in his late
60’s, gave up the store (later known as Morrison’s), but continued to
farm. In 1910, Oliver was admitted to
Dr. Langdon’s Sanatorium in Cincinnati, OH where he died 30 October 1910. Lucy lived with their daughter Florence and
died in August 1925. They are buried in
the Cook Cemetery, Parkersburg, WV.
[iv] C. H. Ambler: “Governor Francis Harrison
Pierpont” 1937
[vi] Parkersburg information from Louisa Bullock
and Ida Gerwig Jones
Oliver
Shirliff Jones Diary, in possession of Gloria Longbotham and AB Stickney
