We would like to invite you to re-visit our website, The POORHOUSE STORY (a clearinghouse for information about 19th century American poorhouses) at http://www.poorhousestory.com We just posted a Reader Note about the FAYETTE County poor farm. Perhaps you could learn from her note and also help her find further information (which we would like to post on the website.) DIRECTIONS: At the homepage (link above) click on POORHOUSES BY STATE, then on WEST VIRGINIA on the table of states. If you have been to the website recently you may have to click REFRESH or RELOAD on the browser to see the new information. Please scroll down to NOTES FROM READERS where you will see her note with a big yellow NEW arrow. There are other pages on the site which may give you some interesting perspective on poorhouses. They are off the homepage and include: the HISTORY page and the LETTER TO GENEALOGISTS as well as FEATURED ARTICLES. There are great tips for researching poorhouse records for yourself on the RECORDS page; and you might want to subscribe to our (almost) monthly newletter (which you can do in the lower right corner of the homepage). The information on our site will only grow through the submissions of generous readers. If you would like to e-mail me ... please do so off-list because I cannot maintain subscriptions to as many lists as we post messages on. (You can use an e-mail link off one of our web pages.) We hope you enjoy the site! Thanks, Linda Crannell (aka=The Poorhouse Lady)

i am searching a john A Dempsey page 304 fayette in fayetteville township AND John W Dempsey p 324 fayette gaulybridge p.o. IS there a site where this publication is avail or a way to get access to the copies? Thanks, Sharon Basil

Dear Relatives and Friends, My e-mail address is changing to: [email protected]

Thank you all for the info on Gardner..I had never heard of the place so I think I can pinpoint it now..nan/wv

> Does anyone know where a Gardner, WV is? is it in Greenbrier co?.or > does it exist today? thanks Nan/wv > > WHICH DISTRICT CONTAINED GARDNER > the census are the actual image pages and not indexed as yet. > >

I have the Family Archives CD "Geneological Records: Early West Virginia Settlers, 1600-1900 and I will do lookups. Please list name, spouse, father (at least one surrounding person) and date, county, etc. Be as specific as possible and don't give me a huge list, limit to one person and spouse, or one person and possible parents/siblings, etc. I have ordered other CD that will help in this also.

I have found a copy of a reunion announcement of 1910 for James L. Davis, and Ora Bowles Davis, children pictures are Russell, Susie and Earnest. Can someone help me place this family. The runion was to be held at Meadow Bridge, WV.

Ok, am I bounced or what? Is everyone watching the Olympics? I've only gotten 10 emails in the last 24 hours.. definitely something is up.. sunspots? Sandy

I'm researching two families in Fayette County. The Allport family came from England around 1880's and settled in the Edmond area. They were coalminers and several are buried in Nutall Cemetery at Edmond. My grandmother was Elizabeth Allport b. 1888 and d. 1971, she was living in Lookout, WV at the time of her death. Her parents were Noah Allport and Elizabeth Clark Allport. My grandfather was Jess Eli Davis. They were married @1907 and lived in Edmond also. Jess was a coal miner and I have always heard that he died in a mining accident sometime after 1928, but I do not know that for a fact. Elizabeth and Jess's children married into the Martin and Gill families of Fayette County. Thanks, Irene Hacker Windle

Summerlee was called Parral. The 1906 explosion killed 23 miners and the name was changed to Summerlee. June At 07:05 PM 2/18/2002 -0800, Richard wrote: >There used to be a coal mines in every town here in Fayette County. Several of the towns names were changed because the mines had explosions that killed miners. Two of the towns were Lochgelly and Summerlee. Lochgelly was once called Stuart. I can not remember what Summerlee was called. There is a book written about the old coal mines in West Virginia. You could probably find it in the library. > > >==== WVFAYETT Mailing List ==== > > > >============================== >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >

There used to be a coal mines in every town here in Fayette County. Several of the towns names were changed because the mines had explosions that killed miners. Two of the towns were Lochgelly and Summerlee. Lochgelly was once called Stuart. I can not remember what Summerlee was called. There is a book written about the old coal mines in West Virginia. You could probably find it in the library.

My Grandmother Paschal said there used to be many more mines in the area. There apparently was even a mine in Pax. Is the one in Mt Hope still open?? Debby Bolen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alan & Lynn Hudson" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 12:36 AM Subject: [WVFAYETT] Coal Mining > To Fellow Listers; > My family that I am researching are the Townsends of Lansing, Fayette Station, Hico, Ansted and Mountain Cove, etc. I am the GG Grandaughter of Benjamin Townsend of Mountain Cove, Fayette, WV. I am curious how my ancestors made their livings. Now I know that my Benjamin is listed in various Census' as a Farmer, Brakeman on the RR, he ran Townsend's Ferry during the Civil War years on the New River and he also worked in the mines. Most of his sons worked in the Mines. I was just recently in this area back towards the end of Oct. I did not "see" any Mines. I am familiar with "open pit mining" in Montana and the gold mines that we have here in Oregon and California. But where are these "Mines" that my ancestors worked in. Benjamin's children were William b. 1856, Emma b. 1857, Mary b. 1859, Anna b. 1862 (she is my great grandmother), Morgan b. 1863, George b. 1867, John J. b. 1870, Julia b. 1872 and d. 1872 and Thomas b. 1877. Thomas was famous as a Prosecuting Atto! > rney and a tax clerk for the state of WV. He also ran for Governor in 1932. Some of his Biography says that as a child he worked in the Mines moving "hot brick". Would these Mines have been within walking distance? Was it dug out by hand? Or was there some type of machinery used? If someone would suggest an history book on the mines in this area . . . that would be very helpful. I want to know more about my ancestors life and their struggles. > Thank you for your help . . . > > Lynn > > > > ==== WVFAYETT Mailing List ==== > > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >

Many thanks to the researchers who went well beyond the call of duty in responding -- on and off list -- to my request for an 1850 census lookup. By creatively expanding the search, they confirmed pretty conclusively that I have the right family even though I still have a troublesome initial in the transcriptions. (That is very likely a transcription error.) If anyone else comes up with something on the NICKELL-ASHLEY connection in Fayette County, I will be grateful, but I won't be able to respond for about a week. Good hunting. Alexander Higgins

Hi Alexander, I did a little looking for you. This is what I found. 1860 Fayette county, Sewell Mt, District 4, page 20 dwelling 927- Robert Nickell> age 55 > farmer Catherine > age 53 Sarah > age 17 Martha > age 15 dwelling 928 Patton Nickell> age 25 > farmer Margaret > age 20 dwelling 929 Lewis M. Ashly> age 25> farmer Eliza S. > age 21> wife Robert > age 3 I also found a record of the birth of a daughter> Martha Ashley, born March 24, 1868 Father> Lewis and Mother> Eliza There is also an Alexander Nickell listed on the index for 1870, Mountain Cove, dwelling 159 and a James Nickell in dwelling 158 I hope this helps. Good luck in your search. Dotty Layton Gobel [email protected]

To Fellow Listers; My family that I am researching are the Townsends of Lansing, Fayette Station, Hico, Ansted and Mountain Cove, etc. I am the GG Grandaughter of Benjamin Townsend of Mountain Cove, Fayette, WV. I am curious how my ancestors made their livings. Now I know that my Benjamin is listed in various Census' as a Farmer, Brakeman on the RR, he ran Townsend's Ferry during the Civil War years on the New River and he also worked in the mines. Most of his sons worked in the Mines. I was just recently in this area back towards the end of Oct. I did not "see" any Mines. I am familiar with "open pit mining" in Montana and the gold mines that we have here in Oregon and California. But where are these "Mines" that my ancestors worked in. Benjamin's children were William b. 1856, Emma b. 1857, Mary b. 1859, Anna b. 1862 (she is my great grandmother), Morgan b. 1863, George b. 1867, John J. b. 1870, Julia b. 1872 and d. 1872 and Thomas b. 1877. Thomas was famous as a Prosecuting Atto! rney and a tax clerk for the state of WV. He also ran for Governor in 1932. Some of his Biography says that as a child he worked in the Mines moving "hot brick". Would these Mines have been within walking distance? Was it dug out by hand? Or was there some type of machinery used? If someone would suggest an history book on the mines in this area . . . that would be very helpful. I want to know more about my ancestors life and their struggles. Thank you for your help . . . Lynn

Dear Fayette County researchers: If anyone has access to the 1850 census for Fayette County, would you please check for the following family? They should be in the Corliss-Sewell Mountain (Mountain Cove Township?) area and all should have been born in what was then Virginia, mostly in Fayette County: Robert Patton "Sewell Bob" NICKELL, age c. 46 Catherine "Kate" MCDOWELL NICKELL, c. 42 Andrew NICKELL (age?) Isabella NICKELL, c. 24 Margaret NICKELL, c. 16 Robert Patton NICKELL , Jr., c.14 Eliza NICKELL, c. 12 Mary NICKELL, c. 11 R.T. NICKELL, c 10 Martha NICKELL, c. 9 Sarah NICKELL, c. 7 Martha NICKELL, c. 6 Any details would be greatly appreciated. (If I'm right, the Eliza may be listed as Eliza Susan. I believe she went on to marry Lewis Maxwell ASHLEY in Fayette County in 1856.) Best regards, Alexander Higgins

I would like to apologize for not responding to emails and seemingly for having dropped off the face of the earth for nearly a month now. On Jan. 20, en route to church that afternoon, my children and I were involved in an auto crash that totaled our car and, while not seriously injured, put us pretty much out of the loop for awhile. I've spent the last weeks armpit deep in insurance reps, the bank, the lawyer, the doctors and bills. To my chagrin, I learned the hard way that, even though I pay for full coverage auto insurance (and the other fellow did too), the insurance company(s) will only pay the NADA trade-in value of a car unless you can prove --convincingly-- its worth more. This left me owing a balance on a car loan and no cash with which to put me in another vehicle. It's all working out now, but its been a hectic, exhausting three weeks. I hope you'll continue to bear with me. On the mend, Julie McGrew-Ayres [email protected] Admin: Fayette, Monroe & Putnam Counties, WV

Hi Nora, I Grandparents were also from ansted and I still have some cousins there. I did'nt know they existed, but what a joy it has been to get to know them. I have some site that I will look up and send the addresses to you. You can also go to http://www.google and type in what you are looking for and if anyone has entered info it will come up. I have had alot of luck with it. I'll get busy and see what I have for you. We may be long lost cousins as my GGrandmother was a Skaggs. Dotty Layton Gobel

--------------------------------------------------------- Susie Marshall [email protected] (817) 481-8301 I received a few messages with information on my family roots. Still looking for more information. I did find out that Matilda Skaggs was born April 1, 1875. Her parents were James R. Skaggs and Martha Potter (April 5, 1848). Thomas Cole's father was James Cole and Mother was Sarah. THis is what I know as of now. I have some more research to look thru. If you have any information please contact me. Thanks Susie Marshall email address [email protected]

I am trying to search for my family roots. My Mother's name is Mary Martha Bays. Her maiden name was Cole. Her Mom's name was Matilda Jane Cole Skaggs. Matilda married Thomas Cole. Matilda married George Wellington 1st marriage then Thomas Cole second marriage. To this marriage two children were born. Marie and Mary Martha. The were from the Ansted, WV area. If anyone knows anything about the Cole and SKaggs family. My email address is [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------- Susie Marshall susie.m[email protected] (817) 481-8301