According to an account first published by historian Alexander Scott Withers in 1831, Fort Pitt soldiers William Childers, Joseph Linsey—also spelled Lindsey—and brothers John and Samuel Pringle deserted in 1761. They traveled up the Monongahela River before crossing into the glades at the headwaters of the Youghiogheny, where they camped and hunted for about a year. S. T. Wiley’s 1882 Preston County history places their camp approximately two and one-half miles east of present-day Aurora. In 1762, the four followed a path to the Looney’s Creek settlement in present-day Grant County. Childers and Linsey were apprehended there, while the Pringle brothers escaped and returned to the glades. Early county historians treated them as the next documented Euro-American group in present-day Preston County after the Eckerlin settlement, although the story rests largely on later recollections and local tradition.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
S. T. Wiley, History of Preston County (1882), pp. 24–25
By 1774, settlers in the future Preston County relied on two small stockade refuges during periods of frontier violence. Fort Morris stood on Richard Morris's land near present-day Brandonville, while Fort Butler stood at the mouth of Roaring Creek on the Cheat River. Samuel T. Wiley's 1882 county history says both were mentioned in 1774 and were likely erected that year; a state historical marker describes Fort Morris as having been built before 1774.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Samuel T. Wiley, History of Preston County, West Virginia (1882), pp. 28–29
Leonard Deakins and a man identified in the historical account as Hogmire laid out Mount Carmel near the German Settlement. They marked a public square with four inscribed stones and reserved a site for a courthouse—an early sign that residents expected a new county to be created from northeastern Monongalia County.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Samuel T. Wiley, History of Preston County, West Virginia (1882), pp. 46–47
A fire in the Monongalia County clerk's office destroyed many early county court records. Because the future Preston County remained part of Monongalia until 1818, the loss created lasting gaps in the documentary record for its early settlers, land transactions, estates, and local government. Some surviving court papers and later record books remain at the West Virginia and Regional History Center.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Samuel T. Wiley, History of Preston County, West Virginia (1882), p. 47
Wiley says the settlement was called “88” in 1852, Simpson's Water Station in 1853, and Newburg in 1854, tracing how the railroad stop acquired its lasting name.
Wiley reports that an Easter Sunday track spread about half a mile west of Rowlesburg sent two passenger cars roughly sixty feet down an embankment, killing nine people and wounding four. Robert Murray was among the dead.
Wiley says Lawrence Henry shipped a car of coal from Newburg after the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad arrived and calls it the first car of coal shipped from West Virginia. The statewide “first” claim needs independent confirmation.
Wiley says a heavy frost fell Saturday night and was visible Sunday morning, destroying wheat. Farmers replanted large fields in buckwheat, corn, and potatoes. Wiley's errata changes “June 3” to “June 4,” supporting the night of June 4–5.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Wiley, History of Preston County, p. 61 and errata
Wiley reports that several barrels of illuminating oil were manufactured from cannel coal near Fellowsville. The operation stopped during the Civil War and was later abandoned after cheaper petroleum became available; the works subsequently burned.
Three days after voting against Virginia’s ordinance of secession, Preston County delegate James C. McGrew joined a small private meeting of western delegates in Richmond. The group discussed leaving the convention, returning to their constituents, and organizing opposition to secession. The effort formed part of the political movement that soon gathered at Wheeling and ultimately led to West Virginia statehood.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Samuel T. Wiley, History of Preston County, West Virginia (1882), pp. 242–245
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.
The Preston County Journal was published in Kingwood. Wiley dates its first issue to May 19, 1866, names Levi Mauser as founder, and describes it as the county's first Republican and sixth newspaper.
Wiley dates the opening of the Austen coal mines to June 1866. He says they operated until December 1876, reopened in April 1877, and had seventy-three coke ovens by the time of his writing.
The West Virginia Legislature passed an act incorporating Newburg. Wiley's county-history chapter agrees with February 12, 1868, while his later district chapter gives May 4, 1868—possibly an organization or election date, or an error.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Wiley, History of Preston County, ch. IX and p. 493
Fire destroyed the Preston County courthouse in Kingwood in the early morning of March 7, 1869. Nearly all courthouse records accumulated since the county's formation in 1818 were lost; the County Clerk reports that a few books survived. The destruction left lasting gaps in the records of land, estates, and families. The subsequent arson indictment against Elihu Gregg also described occupied living quarters in the courthouse basement, where Peter Voltz and his family resided. Court proceedings moved to Preston Academy while the county replaced the courthouse. Gregg's trials and appeal later that year are covered in a separate entry.
Research status: Verified
Additional source
Wiley, History of Preston County (1882), p. 183: court meets at Preston Academy
Following the courthouse fire, Elihu Gregg's arson case was heard at Preston Academy in Kingwood. Indicted on July 12, he was found guilty on July 19 and sentenced to hang. William G. Brown Sr. led the prosecution while prosecuting attorney Charles Hooton was ill. In August, the Supreme Court of Appeals reversed the judgment after finding that defense evidence had been improperly excluded. A second trial produced another guilty verdict, and on October 21 Gregg was again sentenced to death, with execution set for January 28, 1870. The proceedings connect the loss of Preston County's records with the Academy's temporary use as a courthouse and Brown's legal career.
Research status: Verified
Additional source
Wiley, History of Preston County (1882), pp. 183–195: trial at Preston Academy
After the courthouse fire destroyed public records, the West Virginia Legislature passed an act establishing a process to supply and re-establish Preston County's lost records.
Wiley's main chapter dates the outbreak to 1875 and reports more than forty cases; his appendix dates it to 1876 and reports forty cases with three deaths. The conflict should remain visible until resolved.
Research status: Captured · not verified
Citation / research lead
Wiley, History of Preston County, pp. 375–376 and 525
Wiley reports that a windstorm destroyed the Cheat River bridge at Albrightsville, but prints “Monday, April 18, 1877.” April 18, 1877 was a Wednesday, so the exact day requires verification.
Wiley records the organization of the Preston Institute and Library Association at Fellowsville, a useful lead for local education, reading culture, and civic institution building.
Barnabas Dewitt found a badly decomposed body about forty yards from the Kingwood–Cranberry pike. Wiley describes a note signed “John Fictious,” skull injuries, and suspicious circumstances, but does not establish the man's identity or a murder as fact.
Wiley reports that the Rowlesburg mill formerly associated with the Rowlesburg Lumber & Iron Company, and later with Lynch, Winslow & Company, was destroyed by fire.
Wiley records the organization of the Kingwood Literary and Library Association, names its first officers, and says its collection began with about forty volumes.