[Source: History of
West Virginia
; By Virgil
Anson Lewis; publ. 1887; Pgs. 636-640;
Transcribed and submitted by Andrea
Stawski Pack]
LEWIS
COUNTY.
Lewis county was
formed from Harrison by an Act of Assembly passed
December i8, 1S16, by which the boundaries were
defined to be: " Beginning at the head of the left
hand fork of Jesse's run; thence a straight line
to the mouth of Kincheloe's creek; thence up said
creek to the dividing ridge; thence a west course
to the Wood county line; thence to include all the
south part of Harrison down to the mouth of
Buchannan river; thence a straight line to the
beginning." The act directed that the first court
should be held at
Westfield
and
appointed the following named commissioners to
locate the county seat: Edward Jackson, Elias
Lowther, John McCoy, Lewis Maxwell and Daniel
Stringer.
The county was
named in memory of Colonel Charles Lewis, who was
killed at the battle of Point Pleasant He was the
youngest son of John Lewis, the pioneer settler of
Augusta
County
and a
brother of
General Andrew
Lewis who commanded the Virginians at Point
Pleasant.
Weston,
the county seat, was established a town, under the
name of "
Preston," January. 181S. on
lands of Daniel Stringer and Lewis Maxwell; Henry
McWhorter, William Peterson, James M. Camp and
Robert Collins were appointed trustees. By an act
of February 20, 1819, the name of the town was
changed to "Fleshersville." This, however, does
not appear to have been satisfactory, for on the
19th of the following December it was enacted that
“the town established in the
county of
Lewis, by the name of
'
Preston,
afterward changed to 'Fleshersville,' shall
hereafter be known by the name of
'Weston.'"
The first
settler on the site of the present town was
Henry Flesher. The exact date of his settlement is
not known, but he was residing here as early as
1784, for in that year, while engaged in hauling
logs to build a stable, he was attacked by a party
of Indians then ravaging the settlements on the
West Fork. The gun discharged at him had been
loaded with two balls, both of which took effect
in Flesher's arm. Thus wounded, he fled to his
cabin, closely pursued by two savages, one of whom
was so close upon him as to strike him with the
butt end of his gun as he entered the door. The
blow seemed to throw him forward into the house.
His wife closed the door and the Indians made no
effort to force it open. Still, the family felt
insecure, and as soon as the savages had withdrawn
they left the house and concealed themselves in
the forest. One member of the family—a young lady—
succeeded in finding the way to Hacker's creek,
where she gave the alarm. Early next morning,
Thomas Hughes with others started out and
succeeded in escorting the Fleshers to the
settlement.
Alexander
Withers, the author of that rare and valuable
work, "Chronicles of Border Warfare," is buried at
Weston. He was a representative of one of the
oldest families of Virginia, die emigrant ancestor
being John Withers, who owned an estate in
Stafford
County
. This
he devised to several heirs by will bearing date
August 29, 1698. One of his heirs, William
Withers, who was born in
Lancaster,
England, in 1731,
and who was the definite ancestor of the
historian, did not arrive in
Virginia
until
1745. For a time he was the private secretary of
Governor Dinwiddie, and afterward located in
Dinwiddie county, at a place called
Kingston
. In
1761; he wedded Priscilla Wright, of Nansemond
county, by whom he had issue, one of whom, Enoch
K. Withers, married Jannet Chinn (a daughter of
Jannet Scott, a first cousin of Sir Walter Scott),
and settled at Green Meadows, six miles distant
from Warrenton, the county seat of Fauquier
county. Here on the 12th day of October, 1792,
Alexander Withers, the author of “Border Warfare,"
was born.
After graduating at
William and
Mary
College
, lie
studied law, and August 10, 1815, married Melinda
Feslier. He came west of the mountains in 1827,
and at Clarksburgh met Joseph Israel, with whom he
contracted to publish a work on the early
settlement of
Western Virginia. Mr. Withers traversed the
territory taking his notes, and the "Chronicles of
Border Warfare," published at Clarksburgh in 1
831, is the result of his labors. He died at the
residence of his daughter, Mrs. Jannet S.
Tavenner, near
Parkersburg
,
January 23, 1865. He was an accomplished scholar,
and spent much of his time in the study of the
Greek and Latin classics.
Jonathan M.
Bennett, who won for himself the proud
distinction of being the "best Auditor Virginia
ever had," was a native of this county. He was
born in what is known as "Collins' Settlement,"
October 4, 1816. His paternal grandfather was
Joseph Bennett, who emigrated from
Scotland and
settled in Augusta
County,
Virginia, before
the Revolution. His father was William Bennett,
the eldest son of Joseph, who was born in
Pendleton
County,
Virginia, and
removed to what is now Lewis County, in
the year 1800. Jonathan M., the subject of this
sketch, married Margaret F... a daughter of
Captain George W. Jackson, a soldier in the War of
1812, and a brother of Judge John G. Jackson, the
first judge of the District Court of the
United States for West Virginia. She was also a
cousin of "Stonewall" Jackson.
In March, 1836,
Jonathan M. Bennett was made deputy sheriff of
Lewis
County
which
office he held until 1838, when he was appointed
deputy clerk of both county and circuit courts,
holding the same for several years. In 1843, he
was admitted to the bar and entered into a
partnership with Judge Gideon D. Camden, which
continued until 1852, when Judge Camden went upon
the bench. When
Gilmer
County
was
formed he became its first Commonwealth's
attorney. He was elected the first mayor of Weston
in 1846. In 1851, he was appointed one of the
commissioners to receive subscriptions to the
Weston and West Union Turnpike. In 1851, he was
elected to the General Assembly of Virginia, and
became an active and prominent member of that
body, in the session of 1852-1853, materially
aiding in the passing of laws to put in force the
great reforms contemplated by the Constitution of
Virginia which had just been ratified by the
people. Among the benefits obtained by him at that
time for his county were the appropriation of
large sums of money to macadamize the Weston and
Fairmont, and
Weston and Gauley Bridge Turnpikes, and the
establishment of a branch of the Exchange Bank of
Virginia
, at
Weston, with a capital of $300,000. In 1853, he
was elected president of the bank, which
incapacitated him for reelection to the General
Assembly. This position he held until 1857, when
Governor Henry A. Wise appointed him first auditor
of
Virginia
, which
office he continued to hold until 1865, when he
was rendered ineligible by the test oath—he having
followed the fortunes of his native State during-
the late war.
To his intimate
friendship and personal influence with Governor
Wise can the people of Lewis county justly
attribute the location of the Hospital for the
Insane in their midst, for he virtually permitted
Mr. Bennett to name the commissioners who located
it. In 1858, he was a prominent candidate for
Congress, leading for many ballots at the
Democratic convention which finally nominated
General Albert G. Jenkins. After the Civil War he
returned to Weston, where he continued in a
successful and lucrative practice of the law until
his death.
In 1872, he was
elected to the Senate of West Virginia, and served
four years as a leading member. In 1871, he, A. W.
Campbell and General John J. Jackson were
appointed commissioners by the State of
West Virginia to adjust with
Virginia
their
respective proportions of the public debt of the
old State, and made an able and accurate report
concerning the same. Afterward, as chairman of the
finance committee of the West Virginia Senate, he
prepared and submitted a more comprehensive report
on that subject, which placed
West Virginia
in a still more
favorable light. These reports have ever since
been relied on by our State as her defense on this
important question. In 1876, he was appointed
Awarding Judge for
West Virginia to the Centennial at
Philadelphia
. He
died at Weston, October 28, 1887.
[Source: History of
West Virginia
; By Virgil
Anson Lewis; publ. 1887; Pgs. 636-640;Transcribed and submitted by Andrea
Stawski Pack]
