(Look Back with Bob Enoch - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

The story about the young Ritchie County preacher, as told by Dr. F.P. Deem, concludes. Last week Jacob Deehm, after telling the young preacher a very interesting account of fox hunting, was invited that evening, to the young preacher’s first service.

“Brother Deehm did go to the service and heard from the young man’s lips a sermon built around his own story of how he chased foxes. His sermon began: ‘Some may have a rough exterior but a kind interior,’ the minister said. ‘I have found here hearts as big as all humanity, worshippers of the great outdoors, people who know nature’s lure, and lore, who have eyes that see things and ears for music. Since being in your midst I have learned things about nature that I shall never forget.’

“‘I have an undertaking before me, I am on the trail of the old red Devil, the scent is hot, I will follow him through this beautiful valley and be there at the jump, then I will lead the pack and chase him to his den. The music will ring in these hills as the chase gets hot, and I expect to be there when the last ember dies away in the campfire.’

“Go Fox Hunting

“At this point Deehm decided that he had placed the young preacher’s name in the wrong book, and he called out, ‘Amen Brother Jackson.’ Just then the preacher’s dogs joined the gathering.

“The next night they went fox chasing, at the close of the services which were then well on the way to becoming a ‘protracted meeting,’ with every man in the village as their guests. At the close of the meetings, the young man was presented with all the loose change in the community, which amounted to seven dollars and ten cents, also seven bushels of potatoes, ten bushels of wheat, a good cow, two razor back pigs, a wagon load of corn, and enough hill-side navy tobacco to keep his pipe going for several years. He gave to the congregation the satisfaction of having 55 additions to the church.

“Several years later when Rev. Jackson had been transferred to the county seat, Harrisville, he met old Mr. Deehm one day, who said, ‘Say boy, you want to come back. We are sorry we did not have any more money to keep you.’ The preacher smiled and said, ‘Don’t feel so bad, uncle Sisco Jackson said he would give me a hundred dollars if your old yellow and tan hounds didn’t make mine quit, and as they didn’t, he gave me the money so I came out alright and had a fine time. I am coming back as soon as you get a good running fox located.’

“‘Do you know what I think of you, Parson?” Deehm asked. “Well, if you ever go to Parkersburg and take a ride on one of them big boats and fall off in the river, you would not drown. All you would have to do is hold up that Prince Albert coat-tail and sail into port.’ ‘Yes,’ replied the preacher, ‘providing that I didn’t ship wreck one of those big boulders.’

“Dr. Deem says in closing his story that there have been more than three thousand descendants of the Deehm ‘brothers, settlers of this vicinity, and who afterwards dropped the ‘H’ in the name, so that now it is spelled ‘Deem.’ This story may explain why so many of the Deems are good Christians fox-chasers, Dr. Deem says.

The story above, appearing in a local paper February 28, 1914, was from the collection of Nadine Hofmann.

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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.