Look Back: The Elizabethan era and the Mid-Ohio Valley
Trending
A Woman Shot During a Fight Among Graders Other Items of Interest from Wirt County
The following items are taken from the Wirt County News of Elizabeth:
A row among the graders on the railroad occurred at Palestine Monday night. Pistols were used and several shots were fired. A woman was shot in the thigh but not seriously hurt.
G. W. Ryan, the railroad grading contractor has purchased the Skip Rathbone property on Mulberry Street and will move into it in a short time. Mr. Ryan is a good citizen and the News is pleased to know that he has decided to become a citizen of Elizabeth.
Died, Tuesday, about 11 a.m., at the home of her daughter, Mrs. B.F. Roberts, on Hughes River, near Cisko, Mrs. Katie Lewis. Her death was due to diseases incident to old age, she being nearly one hundred years old. She was the mother of the well known Lewis family of that section and had been a resident of Wirt County nearly all her life. Burial took place at the Benona grave-yard Wednesday afternoon. She was the mother of eight children -- five girls and three boys -- seven of whom survive her. She was the grandmother of fifty-three grandchildren and great-grandmother of forty-two great-grandchildren.
Rev. Joseph Hamilton, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of this place, preached his last sermon Sunday night. He will go abroad in a short time to pursue his ministerial studies. During Rev. Hamilton's pastorate here he made many warm friends who deeply regret to see him go. The Elizabeth Presbyterian Church was built during his pastorate and to his energetic labors in a very great measure, funds were raised for its erection. This beautiful edifice, if nothing else, is a lasting monument to his labors in his ministry here.
The Parkersburg Sentinel
March 8, 1898
***
ELIZABETH, The County Seat of Wirt County.
Elizabeth, situated as it is, on the left bank of the Little Kanawha River, at a distance of 31 miles from the city of Parkersburg, bids fair to become one of the most thriving and prosperous on the inland towns of the state.
The first settler of Elizabeth was William Beauchamp, who came upon the present site of the town and built a log cabin in the year 1796. David Beauchamp and Charles Rockhold came three years later. These three men were in reality the founders of Elizabeth. The place, however, was known at that time in the history of Virginia as Beauchamp's Mills. The name of Elizabeth was given to the little hamlet in the year 1817 in honor of Mrs. Elizabeth Beauchamp.
The first merchant of Elizabeth was a man by the name of Shackiett who opened a stock of goods in the year 1818. The first two story house erected in Elizabeth was built by George Rockenbaugh in 817; it stood upon the lot now owned by Miss Fannie Hall. Mr. Rockenbaugh was also the first blacksmith in the town of Elizabeth. The first school in the town was taught by Miss Marsh in 1820. Mr. Marsh also opened the first hotel in the same year. Dr. Riggs was the first physician. The first sermon was preached in the year 1800 by the Rev. Lastley Mathews, of the Baltimore M.E. Conference. The first church, organized on the banks of the Little Kanawha River, was perfected at Elizabeth under the auspice of the M. E. Conference in the year 1809 and consisting of the following membership: James Davis, Dorcas Davis, David Beauchamp, Elizabeth Beauchamp, William Dyer, Elizabeth Dyer, Sylvester Barnes and wife, Robert Barnes, Jane Barnes and Mary Barnes and Charles Riggs.
The land upon which Elizabeth now stands belonged originally to William Beauchamp and Thomas Tavenner, and what is now Court Street was the line between the two estates. - Elizabeth Messenger
The Parkersburg Sentinel
March 15, 1898
***
Bob Enoch is president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society. If you have comments or questions about Look Back items, please contact him at: roberteenoch@gmail.com, or by mail at WCHPS, PO Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102.