Posted on: Jackson County, WV Bios Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/WV/JacksonBios/168 Surname: BONNET, CARNEY, CASTO, FLESHER, CLEEK, HARPOLD, ACREE, WOLFE, HYRE, ARMSTRONG, BAKER, OURS, STAATS, CRAIG, VANDYNE, PARSONS, McMAHON, STOUT, FLOYD, STRALEY, HUGHES, ALKIRE, HUMPHRIES ------------------------- This sketch taken from "Pioneers of Jackson County", by John House, it appears in the section "Heart of Mill Creek" Bonnet Family Into this sylvan paradise, broken only by the packhorse trail leading from the Salt Springs above Charleston to the settlements at the mouth of the Little Kanawha, came the pioneers of advancing civilization, "the first low wash of waves where soon should roll a human sea", and planted their cabins amid the beauties of the wilderness. William Bonnet, Thomas Carney, George Casto, were the names of the men who first built homes on this the "Heart of Jackson County", and many of the citizens of her communities are today proud to trace their ancestry back to these three men. William Bonnet came to Mill Creek from the Hacker's Creek settlements, in what is now Lewis or Harrison Counties. The exact date of his settlement is not accessible, but it was before 1816, probably antedating that time by several years, there are circumstances which point to a date as early as 1809 or 1810. He bought a large boundary extending from the Parsons's farm at Sycamore to the fording of the creek two miles above. Probably, like most of the first farms, it did not run far back on the hills. He built his humble cabin about the middle of his possessions, where as stream comes in from the left, where he lived until just before the beginning of the Civil War, seeing the Mill Creek Valley changed from a "howling wilderness" to a thickly settled prosperous community, and his children grow up and settle around him. As immigration began to pour in, he sold off parts of his farm. He sold that part of the lower end lying on the right bank of Mill Creek, to his son-in-law, Isaac Flesher. The left side of the stream was sold to Peter Cleek, of Bath County, Virginia. One hundred and fifty acres at the ford was purchased by his brother-in-law, John Harpold, about 1830, and a tract a little lower down and to the right of the creek, by Lewis Acree, a little earlier. As before stated, William Bonnet came from Hacker's Creek, in Harrison or Lewis County. The same settlement furnished many of the pioneers of Roane and Jackson Counties. Among those coming to Mill Creek were the Harpolds, Wolfes and Hyres. William Bonnet came about 1811, probably soon after his marriage. He is spoken of as a large muscular man, and was noted for his great strength and activity. It is said that he would flail wheat for one bushel out of seven or eight. He married Barbara Harpold, who was of German descent. She is said to have spoken English very brokenly. She was a sister of John and Solomon Harpold, and is described as being a very tall woman. She was born February 3rd, 1784, and lived to be eighty three years old. She died in 1867. William and Barbara Bonnet raised a large family. Among their children were: Lizzie Bonnet, married Isaac Flesher, and lived on a part of the Bonnet farm, on the west side of Ripley. Margaret Bonnet, married William Carney, and lived below Harpold Ford, on the Bonnet place. John Bonnet, married Merceline Armstrong, a sister of J.L. and M.B. Armstrong. He lived on McCutcheon's Run, below Reedy, and also on Sycamore. Sally Bonnet, married James (Jim) Baker. He lived for some years near Reedy. Mary Bonnet married an Ours, of Tug fork, and moved to Ohio. Nicholas bonnet, married first Catherine Staats, daughter of Elijah Staats, and later Sarah Staats, her half sister. Matilda Bonnet, married Christopher Craig. She died in 1839, and is sleeping with her parents in the Ripley graveyard. Their daughter, Matilda Craig, married B.F. Casto, whose son is Holly Casto. William Bonnet, Jr., married Lavisa Ann Vandyne. He like his father, was a noted athlete and fighter. He was born on Mill Creek in 1811, and died at the age of eighty one, on the waters of Poca. Susan Bonnet married William Parsons, son of Captain Billy Parsons. Louisa Bonnet was born July 28th, 1816, and died in 1902. She married Dr. W.B McMahon. They went west, where she was taken into the Methodist Church in 1842, by that famous preacher, Peter Cartwright. The children of William Bonnet, Jr., were: Samuel, William Franklin, Granville Harvey, Elizabeth, Nancy Jane, Louisa, Mazella and Marietta. The latter married Will Stout, son of Joe Stout. Mr. T.H.B. McMahon has in his possession the bond executed by his father, according to the curious old time law of Old Virginia, when his marriage license was issued. Below is a copy of the same: "Know all men by these presents, that we, William B. McMahaon and William Bonnet, are held and firmly bound unto John Floyd, Esquire, Governor or Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the just and full sum of $150,000.00 to be paid to the said Governor and his successors in office, for the payment whereof, well and truly to be made to the said Governor and his successors in office, for the use of the said Commonwealth, we bind our selves and each of us, our heirs, executors and administrators jointly and severally, firmly by these presents, sealed with our seals and dated this 11th day of March, 1834. The condition of the above obligation is such that whereas a marriage is shortly intended to be had and solemnized between the above bound William B. McMahon and Luiza Bonnet, daughter of William Bonnet, of this county. Now if there shall be no lawful cause to obstruct the said marriage, then the above obligation to be void, otherwise to remain in full force and virtue. (Signed) W.B.McMahon (seal) (signed) Wm. Bonnet (seal)" There is a tradition in the Bonnet family that the mother of Lewis Wetzel was a sister of William Bonnet, Sr. Possibly she may have been his aunt. Another sister is said to have been the mother of George and Stephen Straley. In the obituary of Elizabeth Wolfe, it is stated that her mother, Elizabeth Bonnet, was a granddaughter of Jesse Hughes. Elizabeth Wolfe was born in Lewis County, in 1821. Elizabeth Bonnet (no doubt a relative of William Bonnet) married Nicholas Alkire, Martha Hughes married Jacob Bonnet, evidently kin to William, of Mill Creek. Now if Elizabeth Alkire was her child, this would settle the claim. In a newspaper, I see, January, 1924– Harvey Bonnet has retired from teaching, after years of continuous teaching, as high as ten years at one schoolhouse. William Bonnet, Jr., a large muscular man, was a noted athlete and renowned as a fighter. He boasted that he never was out jumped, out wrestled or whipped in his life. He had a fight once at Ripley, on muster day, with Levi Carney (or Casto), which was the talk of the countryside for years, and in which neither could make the other cry "enough". Bonnet's friends always claimed that if he had been a little less drunk, he would have whipped his man, as it was, he could keep himself together well enough to tell how to place his blows. His favorite drive was underhand striking his opponent in the stomach. That was a day of "go as you please, catch as catch can, and the best man wins". Bonnet threw down Humphries, the Sissonville bully, who came to Ripley to wrestle with him. In the early days, much of the farm work was done at "frolics". Men and women would come for miles and the following night would be spent in dancing. Raisings, rollings, rail maulings, grubbings, and the like were occasions of drinking, dancing and carousal, the outcroppings of the rough cast hospitality and sociability of the time. At a railmaking at Isaac Flesher's, Bonnet, when a young man, made his stunt, one hundred rails (cut and split) in one hour and thirty minutes. He carried his well seasoned "gluts" with him from home, inside the tied corners of his "wamus", and had cut and split one hundred and one rails before breakfast. The balance of the day, he spent in talking to the girls, drinking whiskey, and enjoying himself seeing the other men pounding on the big oak rail cuts. He remembered when a child, hoeing corn where the town of Ripley now stands, and used to tell of seeing wild turkeys fly across the Mill Creek bottoms, from one hill to the other, so fat from feeding on the beech mast that when shot they would burst when they fell to the ground. When a little boy, he had a small dog, of which he was very fond. One morning while the family were at breakfast, they heard the little dog whining, and Bill, running to the door, saw his pet being dragged up a sugar tree standing in the yard, fast to the hind leg of a panther which it had courageously attacked, and was then unable to let go its hold. The boy commenced crying bitterly at the dangerous predicament of his little friend, who was some twenty feet from the earth, when Bonnet, Senior, relieved the situation by shooting the panther. William Bonnet lived in his later years on Thirteen, and died about 1892. When he died, he hadn't a decayed tooth in his head, and had not been sick an hour in his life. He was stricken about dark, and in a few hours he was a corpse. He was at one time jailor at Ripley., It is related of William Bonnet, Senior, that once while out hunting, he wounded a large bear. His three trusty bear dogs soon overtook and caught the animal which ran down into a steep ravine, with the dogs fighting it. Bonnet hurried to the scene, but unfortunately for himself, his moccasins slipped on the leaves, and he slid down the steep bank, alighting astride the bear's back. This new attack so excited the animal that it made an extra effort, and breaking loose from the dogs, shambled rapidly down the hollow, the hunter on its back, unable to detach himself, and the dogs close at its heels. This chase, however, did not last long, for as the bear passed under a log lying across the hollow, Bonnet was able to reach up and grasp it, and thus draw himself up into safer lodgings, while the dogs soon caught the animal and ended the fight with its death. William Bonnet, Senior, was a man of rough, unbridled humor, and many were the mischievous "tricks' he and some of his neighbors played on each other. One night, his wife heard somebody scratching down corn in the crib. Thinking a thief was at work, she wakened Old Billy, but he told her it was only rats, and dropped to sleep again. The noise continuing, Barbara roused him again, and finally she prevailed on him to get up and investigate. Muttering and grumbling, Bonnet arose and went out to the crib, clothed alone in the one garment nearest nature's own provision. When he reached the crib, Levi Carney, a neighbor who had been clawing down corn to attract Bonnet's attention, clambered out, caught his airily clad friend by the shirt collar, and administered a sound switching with a withe prepared for the occasion, all in the way of a joke. The victim said little at the time, but soon after took a large withe and went where he would meet this neighbor, and with the exclamation "Godney, Levi you have to take it now", proceeded to wear his withe out on the joker. For either to have got mad would have been considered a gross breech of etiquette by their neighbors.