Dan, thanks so much for your detailed descriptions of the area around South Branch-French's Station and the French Neck areas of Hamshire County. With your descriptions, along with the map and aerial photo of the area that I originally posted, I can much better picture the area. My thanks even more, if that is possible, to Dorothy Davis Webb whose posting about the John FRENCH family history seems to confirm that the settlement area of South Branch-French's Station indeed existed in the 1750's. Thanks to all others as well for your contributions to this discussion -- and especially to 'Toots' who initiated the current discussion. I had posted queries about a South Branch settlement several times previously, with no responses. I now know where my ancestor was born when he said in his Rev War pension papers: 'at South Branch, of the Potomac River, on 11 Jan 1760, as told to me by my parents.' Dorothy asked where French Neck is/was located, which Dan described in his posting. Dorothy, you may have seen Dan's posting after posting yours. But just in case, the following link to a topographical map clearly shows French's Neck: http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=39.5133&lon=-78.5888&size=s&s=25 It is the long bend or horseshoe of the South Branch River, just south of the French's Station settlement (north is most always toward the top of a map.) I don't know whether the land initially settled by John FRENCH, and his sons Matthew, James and William, was within (inside) this river loop or whether French Neck was named for them since this river 'neck' was immediately south of their land -- or maybe they had land in both locations. Dan, here is another link to an aerial photo of the South Branch-French's Station area. This photo is 'zoomed' to its greatest extent: http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.asp?S=10&T=1&X=3542&Y=21887&Z=17&W=0 It appears to me that the road heading northward, toward the Potomac River bank, from what was originally French's Station presently goes through a tunnel under the old B&O Railroad tracks for people to gain access to the area north of the RR tracks. This RR track is apparently built very high for protection from flooding. I'm wondering whether construction of this railroad in the 1800's may have resulted in fill-dirt, rock, gravel and RR tracks now covering part or all of the 'business area' that once was French's Station-South Branch -- and that a new depot building was likely constructed nearby? What do you think from your observations? Can you describe where this building is located, or see a black shadow of it in the aerial photo? Or further describe any other particulars of the area? Now, as to the two names associated with this area, South Branch and French's Station: I'm wondering whether 'South Branch' was possibly used originally to name the Potomac River bank area where there were likely several spots where frontiersmen or families loaded/unloaded their various kinds of 'boats?' Or, possibly 'South Branch' was used to name the general area at the northern tip of the land ridge, while 'French's Station' was used to name the specific business structures and cabins that formed a settlement or community? At any rate, the two names must have been intertwined at an early date, that continued throughout the many years since 1750, or so. Dorothy, you asked about your ancestral connections to the Thomas Cresap family. Following are the two best on-line sources of Cresap info that I know about: http://www.rootsweb.com/~cresap/index.htm http://ezines.firelands.net/MuzzleBlastsOnline/Vol1No3/Articles/Cresap.htm With regard to the on-line topo maps and aerial maps, viewers should allow time for these to load, it will not be immediate and may take 10-60 seconds depending on the speed of your computer and connection. How busy the Internet is can also make a difference in speed, it's always busier in the evening. Taking time to use these maps (for anywhere in the country), along with the aerial photo web site can help a person answer a "Where is..." question, by using the 'Search' tool. I also enjoy these to simply get a better feel for an area, and to find old rural cemeteries, abandoned roads, location and names of ridges, mountains, streams, old towns and settlements, etc. -- some of these names relate to the earliest names of settlers. Who would have thought that South Branch and French's Station are still identified on present day maps? These images can be viewed as large areas to locate a point of interest, then you may 'zoom-in' to find details and names. I know that many of you are probably using these map-aerial photo images, I'm just trying to help those who may not have tried them yet. Thanks again to all, Neil McDonald

Love the terraserver. You can see my cottage in FRENCH's Neck on it. Was up there this weekend. I didn't take a camera. I went down to FRENCH. There are remains of 4 buildings down there. I understand the farm I described earlier, is called the LONG Farm. .... Auction, 16 Oct 1907, concerning the sale of Mrs Florence M. FRENCH properties, "What is known as the 'Point Place', was offered first by Auctioneer J.W. POLING, and was knocked down to Wm. LONG for $7000. The Beaver Bottom Farm brought $8,550, as was purchased by Oliver MESSICK of this community. The home place was bought by R.M. WASHINGTON for $4510. He also purchased the other two tracts, one for $450 and the other for $290, the total land sale in this county aggregating $20900......her estate will probably aggregate at least $75,000." I believe FRENCH's Neck went to Jame MURPHY (Wm FRENCH's widow Mary who married JM), ARNOLD and later was deeded/granted to WV University for research and was never to be sold, .... but was sold by the WVU circa 1970-80. I haven't looked these land records up to prove this. The LONG Farm house is about 200 yards further down the Potomac and within the flood plane. The widest part of the fields is about 100' (railroad to river). Most of the fields are 30-60' wide and run from the house to the rail road trestle. Anway, back to my visit. Directly up the hill (50-75') from what I believe to be the FRENCH Store/Post Office are 2 buildings. One is an old barn, that looks like was converted to a dairy barn. Another 20-30' up the hill is a small house, about 20x20. To the W side of the road and going S, there is a very small wet ditch and below the 'dairy' barn there is a small pond. Yet further up the ridge is the remains of another building. I believe it collapsed about 1993. I looked on the N side of the railroad for the FRENCH's Station rail station, but could not find stone posts, stone walls or any sign of foundation. The B&O photo I saw, showed the dirt road crossing on the E side of the train station, about 20-30' away. Anyway there were at least 5 buildings there and believe there may have been more on the knolls heading W. Up the Potomac about a 1/4 mile is the CSX trestle. There is the current CSX (B&O) trestle and remnants of 3 others. Not to be mistaken as three other peers, but three additional, different crossings. Each trestle looks progressively higher (above the water level) than the next, going down stream. About half way between the South Branch River and FRENCH there are concrete footers on either side of the railroad as if there was an overhead tower or signal. The lower side of the railroad bed is covered with bug dust (coal ash/waste). There are about 4 knolls on the south side of the railroad (railroad is against the 30-40' cliff on the S side and fields on the other side) between FRENCH and the South Branch trestle. On top of these knolls are fields. I did not go through the fields, they were posted. I could not see the C&O canal across the Potomac, but understand there was a lock directly across from FRENCH. Dan Harris ----- Original Message ----- From: "macbd1" <macbd1@arthur.k12.il.us> To: <WVHAMPSH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2000 12:57 PM Subject: Re: [WVHAMPSH-L] Re: South Branch and FRENCH's Station (McDonald-French-Guthrie-Shannon-Taylor-Kuykendall-Parker-Blue and others) > Dan, thanks so much for your detailed descriptions of the area around South > Branch-French's Station and the French Neck areas of Hamshire County. With > your descriptions, along with the map and aerial photo of the area that I > originally posted, I can much better picture the area. My thanks even more, > if that is possible, to Dorothy Davis Webb whose posting about the John > FRENCH family history seems to confirm that the settlement area of South > Branch-French's Station indeed existed in the 1750's. Thanks to all others > as well for your contributions to this discussion -- and especially to > 'Toots' who initiated the current discussion. I had posted queries about a > South Branch settlement several times previously, with no responses. I now > know where my ancestor was born when he said in his Rev War pension papers: > 'at South Branch, of the Potomac River, on 11 Jan 1760, as told to me by my > parents.' > > Dorothy asked where French Neck is/was located, which Dan described in his > posting. Dorothy, you may have seen Dan's posting after posting yours. But > just in case, the following link to a topographical map clearly shows > French's Neck: > http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=39.5133&lon=-78.5888&size=s&s=25 > It is the long bend or horseshoe of the South Branch River, just south of > the French's Station settlement (north is most always toward the top of a > map.) I don't know whether the land initially settled by John FRENCH, and > his sons Matthew, James and William, was within (inside) this river loop or > whether French Neck was named for them since this river 'neck' was > immediately south of their land -- or maybe they had land in both locations. > > Dan, here is another link to an aerial photo of the South Branch-French's > Station area. This photo is 'zoomed' to its greatest extent: > http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.asp?S=10&T=1&X=3542&Y=21887&Z=17&W=0 > It appears to me that the road heading northward, toward the Potomac River > bank, from what was originally French's Station presently goes through a > tunnel under the old B&O Railroad tracks for people to gain access to the > area north of the RR tracks. This RR track is apparently built very high > for protection from flooding. I'm wondering whether construction of this > railroad in the 1800's may have resulted in fill-dirt, rock, gravel and RR > tracks now covering part or all of the 'business area' that once was > French's Station-South Branch -- and that a new depot building was likely > constructed nearby? What do you think from your observations? Can you > describe where this building is located, or see a black shadow of it in the > aerial photo? Or further describe any other particulars of the area? > > Now, as to the two names associated with this area, South Branch and > French's Station: I'm wondering whether 'South Branch' was possibly used > originally to name the Potomac River bank area where there were likely > several spots where frontiersmen or families loaded/unloaded their various > kinds of 'boats?' Or, possibly 'South Branch' was used to name the general > area at the northern tip of the land ridge, while 'French's Station' was > used to name the specific business structures and cabins that formed a > settlement or community? At any rate, the two names must have been > intertwined at an early date, that continued throughout the many years since > 1750, or so. > > Dorothy, you asked about your ancestral connections to the Thomas Cresap > family. Following are the two best on-line sources of Cresap info that I > know about: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~cresap/index.htm > http://ezines.firelands.net/MuzzleBlastsOnline/Vol1No3/Articles/Cresap.htm > > With regard to the on-line topo maps and aerial maps, viewers should allow > time for these to load, it will not be immediate and may take 10-60 seconds > depending on the speed of your computer and connection. How busy the > Internet is can also make a difference in speed, it's always busier in the > evening. Taking time to use these maps (for anywhere in the country), along > with the aerial photo web site can help a person answer a "Where is..." > question, by using the 'Search' tool. I also enjoy these to simply get a > better feel for an area, and to find old rural cemeteries, abandoned roads, > location and names of ridges, mountains, streams, old towns and settlements, > etc. -- some of these names relate to the earliest names of settlers. Who > would have thought that South Branch and French's Station are still > identified on present day maps? These images can be viewed as large areas > to locate a point of interest, then you may 'zoom-in' to find details and > names. I know that many of you are probably using these map-aerial photo > images, I'm just trying to help those who may not have tried them yet. > > Thanks again to all, > Neil McDonald > >