Thursday, May 20, 1898
MARLINTON should form a spectacle club. Only those who wear spectacles should be allowed to join.
COLONEL Eastham, who was serving a two-year sentence for manslaughter in the Tucker jail, escaped last week.
MISS Nora Boblett was thrown from her horse in front of Golden’s Store last Saturday, but was not hurt. She had nerve enough to mount it again and ride it home.
IN answer to the question, why is Marlinton like Mt. Zion in Palestine? We can think of no better answer than it now looks like a plowed field, so much plowing has been done this season.
ANDREW Moore found and killed six black snakes and two garter snakes in a hollow tree, which he had chopped down for wood. The aggregate length of the black snakes was 34 feet, string measure.
WHEN the boys dig fishing worms this year, make them dig around the fruit trees, young and old, and they will get some of the cultivation they need. The boy will also find that it is a good place to dig bait.
SUDDEN DEATH
John L. Hannah, of Point Mountain, fell dead in his wagon on Point Mountain. He was driving a two-horse team and a man named Bambrick was sitting beside him. He reached forward to strike the horses and the lash, returning, struck him in the eye. He said, “I believe that nasty whip has put my eye out,” and fell dead.
The deceased was a man about 25 years old and married. He was a son of Sheldon Hannah, on Elk. From information gleaned from medical men, a blow in the eye might produce death from three causes, at least. The lash might reach the brain; a blood vessel of the brain might be burst; or death might result from a weak heart.
CENTENARIAN DEAD
Joseph Sharp, commonly reputed to be 110 years old, died last week. His exact age is not known. There are two censuses in the Clerk’s office, one of 1850 and one of 1880. By the 1850 census he was 96 years at his death, and by the 1880 census 91 years. This discrepancy is not remarkable as he did not know his own age. He was a hard working man and a consistent user of tobacco all his life.
ACADEMY
Plenty of rain and mud, but good growing weather.
Everybody around here is wagoning.
Shooting black birds and crows seems to be an important industry at this time.
Shearing sheep is the order of the day. S. H. Clark has over five hundred sheep and is nearly done shearing them. He has over four hundred lambs.
BIOGRAPHIC NOTES
THE third group of the McLaughlin relationship in our county are the descendants of Squire Hugh McLaughlin, late of Marlinton. His early life was spent in part on Jackson’s River, Bath County.
His wife was Nancy Gwinn, daughter of John Gwinn, Sr., and granddaughter of John Bradshaw, the founder of Huntersville.
Squire Hugh McLaughlin and Hugh McLaughlin, Esq., late of Huntersville, were cousins and were intimately associated when young men. They were married about the same time, jointly leased a piece of land on Jackson’s River, built a cabin and went to housekeeping. There was but one room. This they divided between them and kept separate establishments. Squire McLaughlin would often tell how an axe, maul and wedge made up his original business capital, and how his housekeeping effects were carried by his young wife on a horse the day they went to themselves in their cabin home on leased land.
Upon the expiration of the lease early in the twenties, Squire McLaughlin settled in the woods on Thomas Creek and opened up lands now owned by his son, Geo. H. McLaughlin.
Mr. and Mrs. McLaughlin were the parents of three sons and two daughters. William Jacob, John Calvin, George Henry, Elizabeth and Margaret…