Posted on: Jackson County, WV Bios Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/WV/JacksonBios/197 Surname: DAVIS, MILLER, STEWART, RADER, MORRISON, DUNN, STREET, HALL, BORD, SMITH, LATTIMER ------------------------- This sketch taken from "Pioneers of Jackson County", by John House, it appears in the section "Lower Mill Creek". Davis Family The first improvement on Buffalo after that built by Joe Miller, on the Stewart place, and possibly earlier in point of time, was that of William Davis, a wild and picturesque character, said to be half Indian, who was a squatter on what was afterward known as the Rader land, before 1843. He first appears on the scene living near Sandyville. Later, he had a shanty on Trace Fork, and in 1843, we find him on the lower end of the Morrison farm, in a camp shed, at the mouth of the run, below where M. W. Morrison lives, near where the old mill shanty stands. Some reports say this camp was at the forks of the creek at the site of Widow Dunn's residence, but one who has lived nearby for the last sixty years, and certainly should know, says it was at the next run above. Some say he had one of his camps in the bottom below David Lattimer's house. He lived by hunting and trapping, and raising little patches of corn and "truck", and had "slashed down" most of the narrow bottom, from Lattimers to Dunns. He is described as being tall and straight, with long, coarse, black hair. His "houses" were made of poles pinned fast to forks set in the ground, and sometimes open at one side, for summer use. When he left Buffalo, he built up in the cove, near the spring, just over the hill from the old Rader, or Street house. It is said the stones where the chimney of this shanty stood are still visible, although I failed to find them when I visited the spot in August, 1905. I found, however, one of the most beautiful spots in all the country, for the lover of nature. I quote from Journal of the trip: "This spring is about seven rods from the brook, and five from the top of the hill. It comes out under a large rock, which has been worked off back for several feet, and the ground graded and filled below it, so as to make it freely accessible to cattle, though the water, which is clear and nice, but with a muddy and unpleasant taste, is in a walled basin, and some eighteen or twenty inches below the surface. It is in a shady and picturesque spot, above is a cliff of rocks about eight feet high, overhung with saplings, an oak, gum, sassafras, and two or three hickories, all intertwined by a very large grapevine. Just below is a large poplar tree, a red oak, and an ash, while other trees grow along the sides of the sprint drain, to its mouth, where, on the brookside, stands a large black willow, a foot in diameter, and fifty feet high, and leaning toward the spring at an angel of about forty degrees. About fifteen feet of the willow top is broken over to the ground. The hillside opposite the brook is uncleared for several rods back, and is a tangle of brush and vines. Some distance above the mouth of the spring run is a large pool of clear water, reflecting in its limpid depths the rocky walls and bushes which line its banks. A narrow strip of bottom reaches almost to this spot, over grown with tall grass and weeds, and waving with purple ironweed and wingstem, while walnut trees and copses of brushwood form an inviting retreat for roaming cattle, truly a pretty spot." Quiet and peaceful as s this charming spot today, it was in the days when the clouds of war hovered over the land, the scene of a premeditated and wilful depredation of war, thought being committed by men wearing the uniform of soldiers, it is characterized by a name less harsh. It occurred at a large rock, which lies even with the surface of the ground, a little ways from the spring. Joseph Rader, who lived at the Dunn place, was accused of harboring and assisting bushwhackers, and was decoyed to the spring with food, by two men disguised as Confederate soldiers, and shot by others concealed in the brush. This occurred in the fall of 1863. Davis had one of his shanties here, and another in the bottom, across the creek from the Hall house, where Mr. Stewart now lives. This was known as Stump Cabin, and was built by cutting off three saplings which were found growing in the proper position, and a post set in the ground formed the fourth corner. To these were nailed split slabs, or puncheons, and the whole roofed with long clapboards, which were carried back and forth, as Davis moved from his hill home to the bottom, and back again. One year (probably after this), Davis lived in the Old Bord house on Big Run, and later he was stowed away for three months with the rheumatism, at John Smith's, above there. The impression is that he went back east, perhaps to Harrison County. Mr. Lattimer thinks he went out about the Falls of the Kanawha, above Bulltown. Possibly, he may have been east, and returned again. There is no record of his wife that I have heard. Possibly she was dead before. There are three or four children mentioned, a son, Joe Davis, and another son called Abe Davis, or Andy, or perhaps there was one of each name. There was also a daughter-in-law, who was Davis's housekeeper, while she lived. This girl, whose name was "Sinder Davis", died suddenly, falling off her chair dead. She left two children and , it is said, soon took to coming back, finally Davis decided, after she had returned several times, that if he saw her again, he would speak to her and find out why she could not rest easy in the spirit land. One day not long after, while going through a wheat field, he saw the spook coming along the narrow path, meeting him, as she stepped to one side for him to pass, he mustered up the courage to ask her what she wished, in coming back to earth. The ghost answered that being old and poor, he could not take the proper care of her children, so she wanted them put out with someone who would be able to educate them and bring them up right. Davis promised that this should be done, at which the girl expressed her satisfaction, and turned to pass on. When leaving him for this the last time, she, it is said, extended her hand to shake hands with him. This, however, was more than Davis had bargained for, and he strove to avoid the proffered hand. Two of the girl's fingers struck his wrist, leaving yellow marks, which, of course, he carried with him to the grave.