Oren Morton's "History of Preston Co., WV" 1914, Vol. I > The Stemple Family > > In 1783, a grant from the government was made to Godfrey Stemple of a tract of land of about 1,000 acres, near Aurora, the homestead being where Louis Stemple now lives. Henry Lee was Governor of the State at that time, and the grant was No. 421. In 1784, Mr. Godfree Stemple, as the name was spelled, settled here with his family from Frederick, Maryland, then a wilderness full of wild beasts and heavy timber. His three sons, David, Martin and John, aided in clearing the land and erecting a house, the first dwelling place being nothing but a canvas tent, and that was their habitation from the time of their arrival in the winter month of December until the log structure was put up. John Stemple married Sarah Boyles, and died about 1830 or 1832. Their children were: Margaret, Isaac, David, Susan, Christina, Sarah and Elizabeth. David was born in 1808, and died June, 1898. He married Susanna Lantz, November 17, 1835. She was born May 16, 1811, and died April, 1903. ! They rebuilt the old house in 1868, now occupied by Roy Lantz, who married the great-great-granddaughter of Godfrey Stemple. > The children of David and Susanna Stemple were as follows: (1) Harriet, born in 1837, died 1863. (2) John H., born in 1839, died in December, 1904. In 1869 he married Rebecca Ann Shaffer, and they had five children: (a) Horace L., who married Retta Wilt; they and their three children, Freda, John and Edna, live on a farm which is a part of the original tract; (b) Edgar C., married Laura Hess; they have two children, Marion and Lewis, and live in Fairmont, West Virginia; Mr. Stemple is a merchant; (c) George R., married Cora Anderson, who died May, 1913; they have two children, Godfrey and Virginia; the little boy thus far being the only child named after the founder of the family; Dr. Stemple is educated for a physician, but because of ill health is now retired and is the very efficient postmaster of Aurora; (d) Jesse L., married Jeckie Mason, and their two children are Clinton and Josephine; Mr. Stemple is a successful merchant in Aurora; (e) Ora is the youngest ch! ild, and she and her mother > > live on the farm on which her father spent most of his life; it was part of the Stemple tract. (3) Tenie was born in 1841. She is unmarried and lives with her brother, Lewis. (4) Lewis S. Stemple was born March 6, 1844, and reared on a farm. He was married December 25, 1878, to Mollie E. McCrum. She was born January 20, 1852, died December 22, 1881. The children born to this union were: (a) Daisy; (ab) Chester David, died June 2, 1884; Daisy in now the wife of W.R. Gorby of Oklahoma City; Mr. Stemples residence where he now resides is where he moved soon after his marriage. (5) Eva Stemple was born in 1846. She was married to David Schrock, December 25, 1878, and lives on a farm near Eglon, West Virginia. They had six children, one dying in infancy; (b) Ernest, married Mayme Legge; they have three children, Margaret, Ernestine and Rosaline; Mr. Schrock has a farm south of Aurora; (c) Maude, married to Ray Lantz, and now living in the house where her mother was bo! rn; their children are Mabel and David; (d) Page, and (e) Scott, are unmarried, and both are teachers; (f) George, married Nellie Winters; they have one child, Virginia, and live on their farm near Eglon. (6) Jacob Stemple was born in 1849. In 1876, he married Lydia Simon of Youngstown, Ohio. She died in 1891. To them was born one child, Sylvia, now married to A. Camden Wilt, a carpenter of Aurora. They have one child, Margaret. (7) David Conrad Stemple was born July 9, 1851. On September 26, 1880, he was married to Ida Trotter, born May 26, 1856, daughter of James and Elizabeth Stock Trotter, who are the parents of four sons and two daughters: Milo H. is identified with the Land Department at Washington, D.C.; Charles F. is chief clerk to the First Assistant Postmaster General; Frank B., the third son, is Dean of the Arts and Sciences and Professor of Latin in the State University at Morgantown; James R. is Professor of Law in that same institution, and Miss Jessie T! rotter, the youngest of the family, formerly a teacher in the West Vir the Morgantown High School. > >> The children born to Mr. and Mrs. D.C. Stemple are as follows: -- (1) Forrest W.; (2) Rodney M.; (3) Grover Dayton; (4) Mary Elizabeth. Forrest W. took the degree of A.B. from the Morgantown State University in 1908, and is now completing the course of Master of Arts in the Agricultural College at Madison, Wisconsin. June 12, 1909, he married Miss Grace Townsend, daughter of a minister of the M.E. Church at Huntington, West Virginia. Rodney took the degree of B.S., from the University at Morgantown in 1910. He became a traveling saleman for Heinz Pickle Company for a time, and is now superintendent of the Coldwater Packing Company of Coldwater, Michigan. June 19, 1913, he married Miss Florence Warden, of Babylon, New York. Dayton died in childhood. Mary Elizabeth Stemple is completing a course in Domestic Science at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh. >> The old Stemple homestead where D.C. Stemple lives is a valuable tract of land, consisting of 226 acres. He deals largely in cattle. Occasionally Mr. Stemple is nominated for some public office, but he cares little for politics >> ===== vol. II (cs note: This is my family, too.) Gottfried Stemple came from Wittenberg, Germany, in 1773. The following year he settled near Hagerstown, where a daughter was captured by Indians and held by them about ten years. When restored to her parents she had acquired such a love for the forest that it was difficult for them to keep her home. Another child was killed by the savages, and a third was scalped but recovered from the injury. In 1788 the parent bought land of Leonard Deakins 1000 acres a mile west of Aurora. He died shortly afterward, being then a widower. The tract was divided among his three sons, David, Martin, and John. Jacob, son of David, was a soldier of 1812. David, Jr., his youngest brother, was a major of militia, and during the palmy days of the Northwest Pike he kept the Rising Sun Tavern, a little west of Aurora. Stonewall Jackson was one of his many guests. After the decline of the pike he retired to a farm of 500 acres near Carmel. He outlived all his brothers and sisters by 27 years and was never ill. His numerous family were well educated, two sons, Howard P., and Wade H., being graduates of Roanoke College and professors in Pennsylvania. ====== CLARK vol. II (cs note: There is no Clark b. Ire. in 1800's listed----but----???) > The name of James Clark is of special interest, since by repute it was borne by the first permanent settler of Preston. This pioneer was born in County Derry, Ireland. In 1762 he married and sailed for America. He soon pushed into the interior, and according to tradition located in 1769 on the Big Sandy, four miles above Bruceton and one mile below the state line. His cabin stood on what is now the Pysel farm. Yet according to the Land Office records of Virginia, his settlement was not until 1776, and until then, his name does not appear in our annals. In 1773 Clark visited Ireland, returning with a second wife. Upon his death in 1808, he was buried on the farm by the side of his first wife. The widow removed to Indiana, accompanied by all the surviving children except Isabella. > ------ > Joseph Clark of Pennsylvania lived a while on the John O. Jenkins place at Harmony Grove. He returned, but his children married in Pleasant. > ------------ > It is the tradition in the McGrew family that James Clark, their maternal ancestor, was one of the settlers who came in 1769. But Clark is not mentioned by the surveyor on his visit in 1774 and the patent for his land states that it was settled upon in 1776. Yet it is possible that he did come in 1769, but without acquiring land until the date specified. > ------------- > Above Clifton and on the high ground east of the creek is the land once owned by James Clark, by long repute the first actual settler in Preston. Clark was buried on his farm in 1808, but his widow and all the children but one went to Indiana. A neighbor to Clark was James McCollum, whose substantially built house is still standing on the Jacob Sliger farm. Other neighbors were some of the Judys, and also the Moores, so many of the latter once living toward St. Peters as to give the locality the name of the Moore settlement. Yet all these names have long since totally disappeared. > ====== =;o) Carolyn