Marshall & Wetzel Counties, WV

"at the southern tip of the northern panhandle"

New! 35-Page Booklet

Early days in Marshall and Wetzel Counties, West Virginia, are recalled through a mixture of colorful tales and factual data in this booklet comprised of excerpts from three rare vintage books: West Virginia in History, Life, Literature and Industry by Morris Purdy Shawkey (1928); History of West Virginia by Virgil A. Lewis (1889); and Virginia, a Guide to the Mountain State, a WPA publication (1941). The New 35-page booklet has the print size enlarged  to fit the 8 1/2 x 11 size. The front cover is a Parchtex card stock, protected with a vinyl sheet.

Communities currently listed for this area by the National Association of Counties include: (Some of these are not be mentioned in the booklet.)

Marshall County (formed in 1835) Benwood, Cameron, Dallas, Glen Dale, Glen Easton, McMechen, Moundsville (County Seat; includes the old community of Elizabethtown), Proctor, Wheeling (part)

Wetzel County (formed in 1846) Alvy, Big Run, Burton, Coburn, Folsom, Hastings, Hundred, Jacksonburg, Knob Fork, Lima, Littleton, New Martinsville (County Seat), Paden City (part), Pine Grove, Porters Falls, Reader, Smithfield, Wileyville

Among the subjects included are: Formation of the counties and towns; physical features; where place names came from; various county seats; Early officials, John Wetzel, the Siverts, the Earlywynes, Joseph Tomlinson, Edward Doolin, Presley Martin, and other early settlers; Nathaniel Parr's Encounter with the Indians, Captain Foreman's Defeat, the Death of Captain John Baker, Murder of the Misses Crow, Massacre of the Tush family, and other early pioneers; the Mammoth Mound and the Mound Builders; the State Penitentiary; Round Bottom dispute; Incidents on the River; Cresaps Grove; Rosbys Rock, Captina, and other bits of history and trivia.

Attention Genealogists: This booklet contains relatively detailed biographies of many county residents of the late 1800s. They frequently include ancestors, siblings, children, in-laws, affiliations, war records, and business activities, in the course of which they often shed light on the businesses, churches, professions and institutions, and on the events of the day. The biographies include:  Charles M. Hood and the Hood Lumber Company, William A.B. Dalzell and the Fostoria Galss Company, Dr. Harriet B. Jones -- the first woman doctor in West Virginia, William Burdette Matthews, Calvin B. Roe, Charles F. Schupbach, Homer Van Camp, William Jackson Postlethwait, and Judge Pressley D. Morris.

Wouldn't this make a unique gift?