Posted on: Jackson County, WV Bios Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/WV/JacksonBios/207 Surname: ROLLINS, CASTO, CARNEY, ANDERSON, HOWELL, PRICE, WESTFALL, MURPHY, PARSONS, KELLY, CUNNINGHAM, MEADOWS, MCKOWN, VANDYNE, HANNAN, MORGAN, ARMSTRONG, BONNET, STONE, GOODWIN, SHAMBLIN ------------------------- This sketch taken from "Pioneers of Jackson County", by John House, it appears in the section "Tug Fork". Rollins Family There were several of the Rollins family who came to Mill Creek, brothers and sisters, but there is no record of either of the parents ever having lived here. The first and most notable of these is Elijah, who was raised in the Buckhannon settlement, and came to Mill Creek about 1811. He was the first white settler on Tug Fork, settling there about 1816. He and George Casto were local Methodist preachers, "preached a great deal", and formed the first Methodist classes in the upper Mill Creek valley. He died about 1854, at the age of ninety years. His wife's name was Lucretia Casto, a sister of Jonathan, Levi, etc. It is related that when these boys were growing up, they had the misfortune to acquire that unpleasant malady caused by a burrowing mite, Jesse Carney coming past one day, undertook to prescribe for them. He directed them to strip off and bathe in a large trough of brine standing in the smokehouse, in which meat had been pickled the winter previous. Two or three of the boys obeyed instructions and plunged into the brine, only to spring out again with the greatest alacrity and racing headlong to the deep hole at the mouth of the creek, as if forty legions of demons were after them, leaped off the high bank to the bottom of the cold swirling flood. This heroic remedy, it is said, accomplished its purpose, but has never become popular among the people. Benjamin Rollins, Elijah's son, kept a hotel at the Anderson stand in Ripley, twenty five years ago. Captain Columbus Rollins was a son of Jonathan Rollins. He went to Kentucky after the war. A brother of Elijah Rollins, by the name of Zachariah, came from Lewis County, and settled at the first place below Staats Mill. He married Elizabeth Howell before coming out to Mill Creek. To Wash Rollins and Becca Rollins Price, I am indebted for the following outline of the Rollins family, as well as much of the foregoing account fo the family. Elijah Rollins married Lucretia Casto, sister of Levi Casto. Their children were: Isaac Rollins married Betsy Westfall, and lived on Tug Fork. Of their children, there were Nathaniel, Andy and Cretia, who married Pete Murphy. After the death of his first wife, Isaac married Polly Parsons, and a daughter by this marriage married James Kelly of Little Creek, in her later years. Benjamin Rollins married Phebe, a sister of Joel Cunningham. He died at Ripley in 1893, when eighty two years old. His wife, Phebe, was born in 1810 and died in 1832. (Some accounts say he married a second time to Polly Meadows, who was a widow Coon with a large family of children by her first marriage.) Becca Rollins was born in 1820. She married Abraham Price (not related to the Wirt County Prices). He came from Greenbrier County. They had two children. Rhoda Rollins married Sam McKown, and lived on Mill Creek. Jemima Rollins married John Vandyne. He came to Mill Creek in 1835. John Rollins, born in 1812, was four years old when they moved to Tug Fork. He married Mary Hannan who lived on Parchment. Their son Watt was born in 1831. A daughter, Louisa, married Clint Morgan. Aerli Rollins married William Armstrong, brother of Ben Armstrong. Their daughter, Marseline, married John Bonnet. After the death of her first husband, Aerli married Lias Stone. A son by this marriage was Perry Stone, of Spencer. As a third husband, Aerli married John Goodwin. Levi Rollins married Elizabeth Murphy, a sister of Pete Murphy. Jabel Rollins married a Janet Parson, and lived on Mill Creek above Ripley. Jonathan Rollins married Sarah Casto. Watt and William Rollins never married. The above name are given in order with the exception of Jonathan, who was the seventh child. Zachariah Rollins, a brother of Elijah, married Elizabeth Howell. Their children were: Eli Rollins. Barney Rollins. Johnson Rollins. Adonijah Rollins. Cideon Rollins. Wesley Rollins. Cyrus Rollins. The names of the other brothers' children were not given by my correspondent. Of the girls: Susie Rollins, a sister of Elijah, married William Casto. Polly Rollins married Jesse Shamblin.