Thursday, September 24, 1925
In this paper is the announcement of the opening of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Marlinton. There has been a delay in receiving some fixtures, but the vault and safe and other essential bank equipment have been in for some weeks. The old fixtures of the Bank of Hillsboro were gotten, and the new bank will open for business Monday, October 5.
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Joe Buzzard has been buzzing around about who started and conducted the first Sunday School west of the Alleghanies or in Pocahontas County.
Rev. W. T. Hogsett, a mere boy of seventy-nine years, comes forward with the statement that he was told by his grandmother, the late Mrs. Betsy McLaughlin, of Huntersville, that the first Sunday School in all this region was conducted by Mrs. Elizabeth Warwick, wife of Major Warwick, at a cabin on the Friel place. The house was somewhere between the present residence of A. M. Barlow and Giles Sharp, on the road between Edray and Clover Lick. Mrs. Mclaughlin was a daughter of William Sharp; her husband was “Little” Hugh McLaughlin, of Huntersville. She died in 1895 at the advanced age of nearly 100 years.
Mr. Hogsett distinctly remembers this grandmother telling him that, as a child, she had attended Sunday School in the cabin on the Friel Place conducted by Mrs. Warwick. Mrs. Warwick, on Sunday mornings, would ride horseback four miles from her home at Clover Lick. Behind her she would have a slave boy to care for her horse. The Bible would be taught and the Shorter Catechism, and Mrs. Warwick would give talks on the Bible and the proper way to live. Down to old age, Mrs. McLaughlin remembered the things she had been taught at this first Sunday School…
Mr. Hogsett says times seem to have changed somewhat, since the day when this, the wealthiest woman of the whole countryside, with scores of slaves, would mount her horse and ride four miles over a bridle path to teach the Bible for five long hours to her neighbors’ children. In this day of rapid travel, good roads and automobiles and Sunday Schools at every man’s door, it is hard to get people to stop an hour for the study of God’s word on the Lord’s Day.
GET TOGETHER DAY
The first Pocahontas County Get Together Day at the Fairgrounds last Saturday was a success.
It was a good beginning for Get Together Days to be held in the spring and fall of each year. The purpose is to bring farmers with things to sell or trade in contact with those who will buy or exchange.
There were horseshoe games a plenty. Reed Moore, of Edray, proved the champion of the day and then wrested the county championship from Arville Dilley.
A feature was the homemade music. The old time fiddler’s contest resulted in Hamp Carpenter being named as the best. Jim Shinaut’s orchestra also got the prize. The orchestra was composed of James Shinaut, John Herbert and William Clutter.
The fox hound bench show created not a little interest. The entries by Jesse Reed, Dan Carpenter and Paul Jeffries were the winners in the order given.
The prettiest girl prize was awarded to Miss Rebecca Wimer, of Marlinton, by unknown judges from the country.
There was a considerable of a horse show, with classes for the farmer’s horse, all day saddler and a half mile running race.
DIED
Mrs. Lou Collins, aged about 65 years, died at Clover Lick following a general family fuss and fight.
Prosecuting Attorney Allan P. Edgar and Squire J. H. Sutton held an inquest. The autopsy showed the deceased had received some injuries, and her son, Joe Collins, and his wife, and his wife’s mother, Mrs. Irene Buzzard, are in jail. Their preliminary hearing will be held before Squire A. E. Smith Thursday.
Mrs. Collins lived at the home of her son, Joe Collins. On Monday morning they all had a general fuss and fight, Mrs. Collins was found by a neighbor outside of the house, unable to get up. She was taken to a neighbor’s house, and she died a few hours later.
The deceased was the divorced wife of one William Jones, of Mt. Grove, who was sent to the penitentiary from Bath county a number of years ago. Mrs. Collins often worked in Marlinton. Her body was buried at Mt. View Cemetery.
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Mrs. Dan Jackson died at her home near Poage Lane. For several months she had been suffering with Erysipelas. She is survived by her husband and their daughter, Mrs. Viola Kershner. Burial at the Gibson graveyard on Elk. Her maiden name was Rose, and she was raised on Stamping Creek.
