Posted on: Jackson County, WV Bios Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/WV/JacksonBios/219 Surname: RADER, PARISH, MACKINTOSH, THOMAS, LONG, ALLEN, HYRE, THOMASSON, PARSONS, RUDDLE, PATTERSON, WRIGHT, MERRILL, CLIFFORD, BORD, SERGEANT, ARMSTRONG, FITZWATER, MCCLUNG, ROUSH, TYLER, NICHOLSON, SHINN, AULTZ, BUSH, DYE, KEENEY, PFOST, MILLER, HARPER ------------------------- This sketch taken from "Pioneers of Jackson County", by John House, it appears in the section "Upper Mill Creek". Rader Family Michael Rader lived on the first farm up Elk. He owned at one time several thousand acres of land, including the lower part of Elk Fork and Mill Creek, up to above where Hamp Parish now lives, all lower Station Camp, and a large part of Frozen Camp. He lived at the Mackintosh farm, about a mile up from Mill Creek, where he moved from Mason County before 1810, probably 1808. He was born in the Shenandoah Valley, of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. It is related of him that he talked a very broken English. The house Michael Rader lived in was just below where the Mackintosh house now stands, the latter is the Joesy Rader house. He built a mill on Elk, the first excepting Thomas's mill, on the creek above Ripley. Rader was wealthy and kept several negro slaves, as did his sons after him. One of these, Adam by name, was mostly employed in hunting, and kept up the supply of meat for the family. It was he who found the elk from which the stream received its name. Michael Rader went from the Shenandoah Valley to Greenbrier County, thence to Mason, and to what is now Jackson County. Michael Rader was a member of the first County Court of Mason County, a the time of its organization in 1804. In 1835, Michael Rader was receiving a pension from the State of Virginia, as a Militia man. County and date of enlistment not given. While I have not the date of his death, he was eighty three years old in 1835, which makes the year of his birth about 1751. Rader Family Record, copied from the family Bible in 1903: Michael Rader, born March 8th, 1751, married to Catharine Long December 25th, 1769. Their children: Elizabeth Rader, born December 28th, 1771. Catharine Rader, born December 29th, 1773. Susannah Rader, born December 23rd, 1776. Abraham Rader, born January 20th, 1779. James Rader, born January 28th, 1782. Philip Rader, born March 26th, 1784. Polly Rader, born February 18th, 1786. Michael Rader, Jr., born February 12th, 1788. He had a pension for service in the War of 1812. Joseph Rader, born October 21st, 1790. (Died in 1880.) History of Ritchie County gives the name of Joseph A. Rader. Copy of Family Record of James Rader's Family: James Rader, born January 28th, 1782, died June 12th, 1839. Married Hannah Allen on June 6th, 1805. She was born January 19th, 1781, and died April 27th, 1861. Their children were: William Allen Rader, born April 8th, 1806, died June 23rd, 1860. Lizzie Allen, died April 3rd, 1860. Michael Campbell Rader, born November 29th, 1807, and died April 14th, 1880. John Rader, born November 26th, 1810, died April 15th, year not known. Robert Rader, born November 18th, 1812, died unmarried. Miriam Rader, born August 1st, 1816, died June 4rh, 1850. Edward Hart Rader, born April 14th, 1819, died October 31st, 1909. Emily Rader, born March 20th, 1822. James Miller Rader, born 1824, died 1842. James Rader married Hannah Allen, a daughter of William Allen, of Mason County. The latter is buried at the Rader graveyard, as is James Rader and his wife. Possibly the Lizzie Allen on the family record is the wife of William Allen. James Rader was wealthy and a man of influence in the county. He was a Justice of the Peace, and held other positions of trust. Of his children, there is no record of any marriage of William A., the oldest son. Robert and James M. died unmarried. Miriam married John A. Hyre. He was born December 20th, 1812, and died January 29th, 1852, aged thirty nine years. They lived on the Allen farm, and John Hyre of Frozen Camp is their son. Both are buried at the old Rader burying ground. Emily married Pleasant H. Thomasson, son of John P. Thomasson, and lived on Left Reedy. Dr. John Rader was a physician. He married Polly Ruddle, and lived on Frozen Camp, at the Sam Parsons place, afterward moved to Elk Fork. Some of his children, and probably his wife, are buried with him in the old graveyard on the Mackintosh farm. Edward Hart Rader lived on the home place, where he was born, for over eighty one years, but finally lost it all, and when over four score years went to Sandyville to live with a daughter. He was at one time very wealthy, possessing vast bodies of land, and one of the most beautiful homes in Jackson County. The hill lands are clean and well sodded with bluegrass, and the bottoms are poles wide, smooth and fertile. The house stands on a gentle elevation, overlooking acres and acres of wide bottom lands, and barns, carriage and tool houses and all convenient out buildings stand close. It is the old James Rader homestead, and stands on the left of the road, less than a half mile above Scale Run, and about one and a fourth miles from Mill Creek. "Uncle Hart" Rader served one term as Assessor of Jackson County, and proudly says he rode over the whole county himself, taking the assessment without any assistant. He served in the Legislature of 1871, and was two years County Surveyor. He died at Sandyville, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Emily Patterson, in 1909. His wife was Ruanna Wright, daughter of Ben Wright, Jr., born April 10th, 1827, died July 3rd, 1911, aged eighty four years. They were married December 22nd, 1842, by Rev. Daniel E. Merrill, and raised twelve children, three of whom were living in 1911. Most of their children have preceded them to the Great Beyond. Seven of them are lying in a row in the shadows of the old graveyard. Each had a neat and modest little slab of marble at the head, but since the building of the railroad, these have been replaced by a single monument more ostentatious. The malady which took so many of the children in the same year was, I believe, diphtheria. The children of Hart Rader, copied from their family Bible, is as follows: Emily Jane, born in 1844, married Marion Clifford, who died. She then married a Patterson. Sarah Elizabeth, born in 1846, died 1875, married Henry Bord. Mary Isabel, born in 1850, died in 1855. James Benjamin, born in 1852, married Mary Sergeant. Isadore Trainer, born in 1849, died in 1869. Edward Clinton, born in 1854, died in 1860. Cora Ann, born in 1856, married George Armstrong. Lena Augusta, born in 1859, died in 1861. Lida Fenton, born in 1861, died in 1876. Ferdenand Ferrando, born in 1863, died in 1876. Dr. William Cordett, born in 1867, died in 1876. Michael Campbell Rader, the second child of James Rader, was born in Mason County, in 1807, and when James Rader moved, which was at the same time his father came, or soon after, the child's mother carried him on a feather bed in her lap. The child would have been over a year old, and it must have been before the birth of John Rader in 1810. This fixes the date of coming to Elk at 1808 or 1809. M. C. Rader owned one thousand acres, including the Ben Bord and Jesse Allen (H. Parrish) farms. He moved to the Mill Creek side of the hill in 1837, and built his cabin at the end of the long low point, above Mr. B. B. Bord's, where the big cedar trees are standing. Later he built on the site of the residence of Mr. Bord. The silver maple tree in the front yard, he set out in 1869, the white pine in 1842. Soon after moving to Mill Creek, M. C. Rader built a little water mill against the high rocky hillside where the spruce pines grow, across from where he built his first cabin. This mill was washed out by floods two or three times, and as often rebuilt. There is a millstone to be seen at the Tom Rader house up on the point from the ford, where Joe Parsons is said to have built his cabin. It is twenty two inches across, and four inches thick, and may have been used in the mill above mentioned. It has, so the story goes, done service in a horsemill, in grinding corn for the manufacture of johnny cake and corn dodgers, which were eaten with bear meat ninety years ago. Now it is degraded to the baser service of a doorstep, at the gate. There is a pleasant fiction that the Michael Rader farm was traded for these hand mill buhrs. An Anthony Rader, living in Nicholas County, made a "bear trap", Isaac Fitzwater also made one. These were used by Anthony McClung, of Nicholas, and were both in existence at Summersville some years ago. Michael C. Rader married Rebecca, daughter of Jacob Hyre. He was born in 1807, and died in 1880, and his wife born in 1813 and died in 1882. They were married in 1832. A copy of their family record, is as follows: Michael C. Rader, born November 29th, 1807, died April 14th, 1880. Married Rebecca Hyre who was born August 26th, 1813, and died May 11th, 1882. They were married June 7th, 1832. Their children: Jacob Webster Clay Rader, born April 18th, 1834. Nancy Margaret Rader, born October 14th, 1835. Mary Rader, born in 1837, married Ben Bord. Sandusky V. Rader, born October 12th, 1837, died September 28th, 1838. Elizabeth Catharine Rader, born August 16th, 1839. Nancy Ann Rader, born March 21st, 1841, died January 9th, 1848. There were sons born in 1833 and 1844, who died in infancy. Inscriptions on gravestones which are in Ben Bord Cemetery read: M. C. Rader, born Nov. 29, 1807, died April 14, 1880, age 72 years, 4 months, 15 days. Rebecca, wife of M. C. Rader, born Aug. 26, 1813, died May 11, 1882, aged 68 years, 8 months, 15 days. Michael Rader, Jr., lived on Mill Creek below the mouth of Joe's run. He was a drummer in Captain Billy's company in the War of 1812. He married Catharine Roush, of Mason County, and lived on the farm above the mouth of Station Camp. One informant places the site of his first cabin at the old apple trees by the ford where the Joe Parsons cabin is said to have been located. Afterward, he lived in the low gap up on the point, west of the ford. This land all belonged to his father, who sold it to him, as witnessed by two deeds, on record at the Clerk's office, at Ripley: December 18th, 1828, Michael Rader sold to Michael Rader, Jr., for Three Hundred Dollars, one hundred and fifty acres of land lying on Trace Fork of Big Mill creek, above the old cabin formerly occupied by Joseph Parsons, and joining lands of Andrew Lewis. The deed is executed in Mason County. Witnessed by: (Signed) Michael Rader John Rader her Michael Rader Catherine X Rader mark Another deed is for two tracts, and is dated May 29th, 1834. One hundred acres of land patented to Michael Rader, July 18th, 1815, by Governor W. C. Nicholson, described as beginning at a black gum near the path at the first fording of the creek above the mouth of Station Camp, and running onto Station Camp. The other, patented by John Tyler, in June, 1826, lies north of this, consideration Ten Dollars. In the early days of the settlements, the road crossed the creek above J. A. Parsons, and went up through the low gap, crossing again at the old Joe Parsons cabin, instead of following around the creek, as now. Hart Rader, says Mike Rader, first built a few rods below the ford, at the mouth of Joe's Run. Children: "Wash" Rader (George W.) Born in 1814, died in 1868, first built where store is at Joe's Run, afterward moved to the Charley Shinn farm. He was clerk in a store at Reedy, in 1844 or 1845, where there was already a small improvement. Abe Rader married Polly Aultz first, second Mary Bush. He lived first at the Charley Shinn farm, and moved to Sycamore about the 1890's. He was born in 1817 and died about 1897. Will Rader married a Dye, and lived at the Low Gap across Mill Creek, below the old ford. Elvira Rader married Alec Keeney, and lived where the old apple trees are, below Cal Parishes. He sold groceries and whiskey. Rebels raided his store and burned the goods. Whiskey ran in a blaze down on the creek. Bet Rader married Wash Pfost. Joseph Rader owned the home farm for a time. He married Martha Rayburn, of the Mason County flats, a few miles out from Point Pleasant. (For history, see Reedy history.) Both Joseph and Michael, Jr., were in the War of 1812. George W. Rader was born (from record on tombstone) July 9th, 1814, and died September 18th, 1868, aged fifty four years. He married Nancy Miller, a daughter of Kitts Miller, and Aunt of Judge Warren Miller. George W., commonly called Wash Rader, lived on the Charley Shinn farm, on Station Camp, where his daughter Ellen, who married Shinn, now lives. It is said that he built a cabin near where the pike crosses Joe's Run, when he first married. In letters to Abe Rader, who was in the west, written just after the war, he mentions a son, Alonzo, and two daughters, Ellen, who married Charley Shinn, and Eliza. These letters throw light on the conditions in Jackson County, just after the war. Wash and Abe Rader were Union men, the remainder of the family all being Confederates. Under date of May 21st, 1865, he writes – "We have had a very early spring, and we have had some very high waters. On the 9th day of May, the creek was over my floor, as it was in 1852. It was twenty three inches over my house floor (probably an old house nearer the water). I had a nasty time. It only took off three hundred rails for me. I am nearly done planting. I have about two acres to put in a the Gabbert place yet, and then I'm done. I have some corn that is large enough to work. My wheat and grass all looks well. Stock is high. I sold my big oxen the first week in May, for One hundred fifty dollars. They would have weighed a thousand pounds a piece. That was seven and a half cents a pound. The thieves is still a stealing horses, grain, chickens, meat, etc. I have Bill Harper's Charley, and two weeks ago Thursday night, some rascal stole him and took him off. I don't know where, and the next morning about seven o'clock, he came back. Two weeks ago they stole two horse from Tom Wilkerson, and I have not heard of them since." Under date of July 3rd, 1868, he writes – "The weather here is extremely hot for the last two weeks and very dry for two weeks today. I have been cutting wheat for two days, and I have just one hundred dozen cut. I will have fifty more, I think. Our county is almost taxed to death, my tax last year was Seventy three Dollars, and this year we are building a new bridge at Ravenswood, and we will have to pay Nine thousand dollars for the bridge. In the last two years, we have had to pay over Sixteen thousand dollars for bridges in the county. My taxes for township purposes is Thirty eight dollars this fall. I will be strapped, I know. There is a great deal of party strife here at present. Our Rebels feel very big since Johnson's trial is over." On the 4th of October, 1868, Charley Shinn wrote Abram Rader to announce the death of Wash, on the 18th of the previous month, after "laying sick" "about five weeks", he first "took" the "information of the brain", followed by "billious feaver" and "newmonia". Dr. "Bectal" "on Grass Lick" "tended on" him three weeks. He also states that the fall was so wet that "corn has pretty near all rotted". The water had been fifteen inches higher than ever before known. Copy of Patent of Rader Land made from original parchment. "Patrick Henry – Esquire, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to All to Whom these presents shall come, Greeting: Know Ye, that by virtue and in Consideration of part of a Land Office Treasury Warrant Number Seventeen Thousand Five Hundred and Four and Issued the Twenty seventh day of June One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Three there is granted by the said Commonwealth unto the said Albert Gallatin apee of Stephen Lacoste — a certain Tract or Parcel of Land, containing Fifteen hundred acres by Survey bearing date the Sixteenth day of August (worn away) one Thousand seven Hundred and Eighty four lying and being in the County of Harrison adjoing (Savary) (worn away) Valcoulous 12th entry and bounded as followeth: To wit, Beginning at a black oak corner to said Savarys 25th Survey and thence with a line of Savarys 20th Survey South forth Degrees East Nine hundred and Ninety Six Poles crossing the 2nd left hand ford of Mill Creek and a branch of Mill Creek to a poplar. Thence North Three Degree West Eight hundred poles crossing two Runs to a Maple. Thence with a line of Savarys 25th Survey south Eighty Seven Degrees west Six hundred poles crossing the 2nd left hand fork of Mill Creek and two Runs to the Beginning - - - with it Appurtenances TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the said tract or parcel of Land with its Appurtenances, to the said Albert Gallatin and his Heirs and Assigns forever. IN WITNESS where of the said Patrick Henry, Esqr. Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, hath hereunto set his Hand, and caused the Letter Seal of the said Commonwealth to be affixed at Richmond, on the 10th day of February, in the Year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Six and of the Commonwealth the tenth. P. Henry Virginia Seal (Reverse side) Albert Gallatin is Intitled to the within mentioned Tract of Land – - John Harris (or something else) Re. L. Off. (and) No. 2 (apparently figures worn away) Harrison Land Warrant issued June 27, 1783 Survey Aug. 16, 1784 Patent Feb. 10,1786