Traveling through what is now Preston County, George Washington crossed Laurel Hill and reached “the ford of Sandy Creek at one James Spurgeons,” which he placed about 15 miles from Ice’s Ferry. The editors of his diary identify the ford as apparently near present-day Bruceton Mills.
Washington continued toward the Youghiogheny Glades, where he recorded spending the night outdoors, sheltered only by his cloak during a heavy rain. His diary names Spurgeon’s place as a landmark along his route but does not record an overnight stay at the Spurgeon home.
Research status: Verified to source
Additional source
Oren F. Morton, A History of Preston County, West Virginia (1914), vol. I, Appendix E, printed pp. 536–537 — 1785 land-patent list
Thomas Butler petitioned to operate a ferry where a major road crossed his lands on both sides of the Cheat River. His petition said that he had already provided the necessary boats and advertised his intention, documenting an early transportation crossing in the future Preston County during its Monongalia County period.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Oren F. Morton, A History of Preston County, West Virginia, vol. I (1914), p. 77
Oren F. Morton's 1914 county history reports that the Reverend John Stough built a small mill on Wolf Creek in 1790. Water reached the wheel through a spout set beneath a waterfall, and the millstones could grind about three bushels of corn per day.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Oren F. Morton, A History of Preston County, West Virginia, vol. I (1914), p. 260
Morton reports that a petition dated July 25, 1792, asked Virginia to form a new county from the part of Monongalia County east of Laurel Hill; it carried 235 signatures.
Research status: Captured · not verified
Citation / research lead
Morton, A History of Preston County, vol. I, ch. X, p. 90 (printed page)
After the county was created, Morton says the first court met at William Price's house in Kingwood, while John S. Roberts's store became the temporary Old Red Courthouse.
Research status: Captured · not verified
Citation / research lead
Morton, vol. I, ch. X, p. 97 and ch. XXIV, p. 216 (printed pages)
By 1818, the National Road connected Cumberland, Maryland, with Wheeling, Virginia, through southwestern Pennsylvania. Although it passed north of Preston County, its traffic created nearby markets for the county’s farmers and merchants. Oren F. Morton later described the road’s taverns as buyers of local farm produce and associated its busy years with Brandonville’s growth. Connections to this neighboring transportation corridor helped shape the economy of northern Preston.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Oren F. Morton, A History of Preston County, vol. I (1914), ch. XXIII, pp. 203–204
Morton cites an Act of Assembly dated January 12, 1826, extending Kingwood to include an addition laid out by William Price, William Sigler, and Charles Payne.
Morton reports that the first of two transfers from Randolph County to Preston occurred in 1828, adding territory that included part of the later Union and Aurora area.
Morton's reconstruction of Kingwood in 1832 counts 29 households and describes a courthouse-centered village of tradespeople, merchants, tavern keepers, and county officers.
Research status: Captured · not verified
Citation / research lead
Morton, vol. I, ch. XXIV, pp. 217–220 (printed pages)
Morton describes a triangular tract being transferred from Monongalia County to Preston in 1841. This appears to conflict with an existing inbox summary and needs act-level reconciliation.
Morton says the railroad reached Wheeling exactly one year after track reached Cheat River, completing the route through Preston County to the Ohio River.
Morton describes a 1856 effort to move the county seat to Albright or Burchinal Town; James C. McGrew then organized construction of a new Kingwood courthouse, with building underway the following spring.
Oren F. Morton records that Masontown’s site was a clearing called “Hartley Green” until the fall of 1855, when William Mason built a store there. A small village was laid out in 1856, and its lots were sold at auction for $5 to $7 each. The Town of Masontown’s official history identifies Mason as its namesake, founder, and first postmaster. A federal appointment register lists William G. Mason at Masontown on July 3, 1856.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Oren F. Morton, A History of Preston County, West Virginia, vol. I, p. 273 (printed page)
A county convention at Kingwood adopted resolutions favoring separation from seceding Virginia, affirming loyalty to the Union, and choosing delegates for the May 13 Wheeling meeting.
Morton records a flag presentation to Captain Kirk's volunteers at Pleasant Valley church between Masontown and Reedsville before the company was mustered at Baltimore.
Morton says Confederate troops passed Fellowsville and Evansville, tore up track, burned bridges near Newburg and Independence, and camped at Gladesville.
In Morton's day-by-day sequence, Confederate troops cut cables on the Albright suspension bridge, entered Kingwood, and continued through Reedsville toward Morgantown.
Morton calls the Bank of Kingwood Preston's pioneer bank and says it was organized in 1865 with $100,000 paid-up capital, William G. Brown as president, and James C. McGrew as cashier. Wiley gives the opening date as November 14, 1865.
Oren F. Morton's county history identifies a large Aurora hotel built by James H. Shaffer in 1872. It was one of two large hotels that particularly accommodated the visitors drawn each summer by Aurora's mountain setting, cool water, and opportunities for pleasure riding.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Oren F. Morton, A History of Preston County, West Virginia, vol. I (1914), p. 261
John A. Lantz, who had moved to Aurora in 1870, erected a large hotel in 1886. Morton's biographical history described it as a famous country resort patronized during the summer by affluent visitors from larger cities.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Oren F. Morton, A History of Preston County, West Virginia, vol. II (1914), p. 735
Morton reports that a hard-fought 1910 campaign and popular vote to relocate the county seat to Terra Alta ended with Kingwood retaining it by a narrow margin.
The West Virginia Legislature passed an act authorizing a state tuberculosis sanitarium on February 11; the governor approved it on February 18. The authorization followed years of campaigning by the Anti-Tuberculosis League of West Virginia and its executive secretary, Dr. Harriet B. Jones, who had grown up in Terra Alta. The selected farm near Terra Alta belonged to Jones’s brother-in-law, W. T. White. White and his wife, Harriet’s sister Adaline Jones White, executed a deed conveying the property to the state on November 11, 1911. The institution became West Virginia’s first state tuberculosis sanitarium and was later known as Hopemont.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Oren F. Morton, A History of Preston County, vol. II, biographical sketch of John P. Jones