Posted on: Jackson County, WV Bios Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/WV/JacksonBios/180 Surname: CUNNINGHAM, BARNETT, PARSONS, FLESHER, TOLLEY, GRAHAM, SKIDMORE, POWERS, CASTO, BOGGS, WILSON, ROUSH, HUMPHRIES, HUFFMAN, RAY, GREENLEAF, COON, DUFF, COMER, DAWSON, BOOTH, ALDERMAN, VANDYNE, SAYRE, SMITH, ONG, ROLLINS, TUCKER, HARDMAN ------------------------- This sketch taken from "Pioneers of Jackson County", by John House, it appears in the section "Tug Fork". Cunningham Family Another name prominent in the history of Tug Fork and of Jackson and Roane Counties is that of Cunningham. The history of the Cunningham family is given, as follows: James Cunningham and a brother (possibly Hugh) came from Dublin, Ireland, to America, landing in Virginia, and James made his home somewhere beyond the Blue Ridge. One of his sons, James Cunningham, came across the Blue Ridge and located in Pendleton County, where he lived and died. His wife was Keziah Barnett, who was born in 1766, and came with her children to Mill Creek, and died at Ripely, aged eighty six. Their children were James, William, Isaac, Joel, Thomas and Phoebe. James Cunningham married Sarah Parsons, whose mother was a Flesher before marriage. They lived at the mouth of Bear Run on Tug Fork. Matilda Ann Cunningham married Sam P. Tolley, and lived on Bear Fork. Benjamin R. Cunningham (Rath) lived near Ripley, where he is buried. His wife was Jane Graham. Isaac Marshall Cunningham married Isabel Skidmore, was drowned at Cincinnati, Ohio. William P. Cunningham married Emily Andrew. Thaddeus (Nic) Cunningham was in the Ninth West Virginia Infantry. He had three wives, the first Margaret Powers, second, Saranna Casto and third Charity Boggs, a widow Wilson. He lives on the head of Joe's run, and is seventy five years old. Elias Cunningham married Mary Roush. George B. Cunningham was a soldier in the Twentieth Indiana, and was killed in Richmond. Lezy Cunningham married Joe Humphries. Emily Cunningham married Calvin Huffman in Mason County. Martha Cunningham married Elias Huffman in Mason County. Of the other Cunninghams, the most famous family is that of Joel, who lived on the Middle Fork of Poca. Joel Cunningham married Mary Magdalene Casto, a daughter of George Casto, afterward sheriff of Jackson County. Joel Cunningham died at Buffalo, VA., in 1862. His wife died at the age of ninety two years, at the home of her son Robert Cunningham, at Clendenin, on the Elk River. The children of Joel and Mary Magdalene Casto Cunningham were: Nathan, Robert, Keziah, Caroline, Matilda, Dan, Miriam, Phoebe, and Sally. Their son, Nathan Cunningham, was born in Jackson County, on the 9th day of February, 1839. In August 1858 he wedded Parmelia Ray, daughter of William Ray, also of Jackson County. When about twenty three years of age, he enlisted in the Eighty West Virginia Infantry, and served about one year as Second Lieutenant of Company E of that Regiment, and served two terms of four years each as Justice of the Peace, and four years as Assessor in Jackson County. During the war, he made himself particularly obnoxious to the bushwhackers and their friends, and on the 10th of August, 1877, he was shot by some of his many enemies, from a wagon, while returning from Ripley. Dan Cunningham married Beulah Greenleaf, a daughter of Elliot Greenleaf. He taught school for several years, and is now a successful U.S. detective and Deputy Marshall, residing at Charleston. Robert Cunningham married a Coon, a sister of Chess Coon. Keziah Cunningham married George H. Duff, on June 26th, 1856. He was born in Amherst County, Virginia, in 1831, and was of Scotch Irish descent. In April of 1844, he came with his parents to Jackson County, settling on Mount Tell, on the head of the middle fork of Poca, when that region was yet all a wilderness. The only cleared land close was a patch which "Devil Bill" Parsons had cleared around a little hut he had built on the land the elder Duff had purchased. The latter agreed to give Parsons three bushel of corn for his claim and improvement. George Duff succeeded in getting a good education for that day, and in 1853 taught his first school on Spring Creek, near Spencer. June 22nd, 1856, he married Keziah Cunningham. He died in 1898. His sons, Robert and George, were both teachers, as were some of the younger children. Phoebe Cunningham married Noah Comer, who is sixty three years old, having been born in Kanawha County, in 1842. One year later his parents moved to the Left Fork of Poca, in Jackson county. His parents were William Comer, raised on Poca in Kanawha County, son of George Comer, a son of Daniel Comer, who came from Germany to the Kanawha Valley among its first pioneers. Noah Comer's mother was Delila Dawson, a daughter of Noah and Ruth Fisher Dawson, and granddaughter of John Dawson. Caroline Cunningham married Isaac Duff, a brother of George H. Duff. Matilda Cunningham married Joe Booth. "Marm" Cunningham married Anderson Alderman, and lived at the head of Wolf Creek. Sally Cunningham married "Zay" Vandyne. Isaac Cunningham lived on Mill Creek a few years. His second wife was Anna Sayre, daughter of Joel Sayre. William Cunningham lived on Mill Creek, below Ripley. He married a widow Smith, and had seven children. Phoebe Cunningham married first Elmore H. Casto, and later Isaiah, one of Nathan Ong's sons. Thomas Cunningham married Peggy Casto, who was a sister to Nic Casto. Theri children were: Emeline, who married Mason Casto, Daniel's son; George, Ben and Phoebe. Phoebe Cunningham married Ben Rollins, son of Elijah J. Rollins. It does not appear what relationship this family has to the Cunninghams who were so conspicuous in the Indian Wars on the western border of Virginia. The Phoebe Cunningham who was captured by the Indians on Bingamon Creek in 1785, and suffered such hardships at the hands of the savages before being ransomed by the notorious Simon Girty, may have well been of the same line, when we consider that the name is repeated in every family of the Jackson County Cunninghams. The Hugh Cunningham who was the head of that family might easily have been the brother of James who came from Ireland with him. An outline of the family runs thus: Hugh Cunningham came from Dublin, Ireland, to Fairfax County, Virginia. He lived on Bingamon Creek and later in Harrison County. He had sons, Thomas, Edward, Adam, Walter, William, Joseph, and Benjamin. Of these sons, Adam was an early settler of the South Branch of the Potomac. Thomas and Edward resided on Bingamon Creek in 1785, Thomas having married Phoebe Tucker. William, son of Thomas, was a Methodist preacher. The Leah Cunningham who married Ben Hardman (see History of Reedy Valley) was a descendant of this family.