Thursday, July 2, 1897
BIOGRAPHIC NOTES
William Auldridge, Senior, the ancestor and founder of the family relationship of that name in our county, was a native of England. His mother, the late Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson, near Marlinton, lived to be more than one hundred years of age. His step-father, John Johnson, in attempting to go from Marlinton to Nicholas County for seed corn got bewildered in Black Mountain and went nine days without food.
William Auldridge’s wife was Mary Cochran, daughter of Thomas Cochran, who settled the lands now owned by parties in the Marvin Chapel neighborhood. Mr. Auldridge built up a home at the Bridger Notch, and it is believed the old barn stood on the spot where one of the Bridger boys died. The place is now owned by William Auldridge, a grandson.
There were six sons and three daughters, Sarah, Elizabeth and Nancy; Thomas, William, John, Samuel, James and Richard.
HOME NEWS
IMMENSE swarms of locusts appeared in the vicinity of Sunset the last few weeks. Near the schoolhouse, they seemed to prefer the dwarfish white oak, pin oak and chestnut for depositing their eggs. They infested the famous Cleek sugar grove and it presents a desolate appearance, and it looks as if those beautiful trees will become extinct.
THERE is a homemade compass in Pocahontas County, owned by David J. Cochran, on the end of Droop Mountain. He needed a surveyor’s compass and being a very ingenious man, made one that does excellent work and which has run a number of lines of surveys. He even made the magnet by tempering a piece of steel to the requisite hardness and charging it by placing it with another magnet.
IN the good old time when a man went a hundred miles from home, he made his will and sadly bade his family farewell. Nowadays a person jumps on his wheel, makes his rounds, and is at home again before he is missed. My business is moving faster than ever. I am selling five dollars where I formerly sold one, because of the low prices I am offering; for instance, Pottend sneths at 39¢; three-prong hay forks 37 1/2¢ for cash. P. G.
ON the lands of Richard Callison, near Locust, is an abandoned silver mine. Some sixty or seventy years ago a man named Salisbury lived on Trump Run, and to his house came a stranger who was known as “the miner.” He prospected awhile and finally sunk a shaft to the depth of 22 feet through solid rock, taking out a great deal of rock with shining specks in it. At the depth of 22 feet, he broke through into a subterranean stream that spouted to the top of the shaft. He closed the aperture and discontinued his work. In the meantime, as the story runs, he had become enamored of Salisbury’s wife, and he took Salisbury down in the well and removing the plug tried to drown him by holding him over the stream. Salisbury proved too strong for him, however, and the miner had to leave. Some years after, a stranger came and secured pumps and pumped it dry, but apparently did not accomplish anything. The well still stands filled to the top with water. About its mouth are pieces of specked rock. Within a few hundred yards is said to be located a land mine. In search for this, some parties opened an Indian mound some years ago and unearthed the well-preserved skeleton of an Indian warrior. Believing that even an Indian’s grave should not be desecrated, they did not pursue their investigations farther.
CATTLE that will sell the middle of July at $85 per head are rarities in this county, but Col. T. F. Callison, of Locust, has a herd of 25 steers, which have been sold for five cents per pound, to be taken away about the first of August and exported. They average 1650 pounds each now, and by the time they are shipped, they will easily weigh 1700. They are the finest steers the writer has ever seen. Each one of them is a perfect specimen of his kind. The best steers seem to be a cross between the Hereford and Shorthorn. There are a number of farms in this county on which could be raised export cattle if the custom of selling three year olds to northwestern feeders were changed. Col. Callison takes the view that the millionaires have come to stay and that the best use we can make of them is to raise beef which they will pay a high price for. These steers are all Pocahontas stock and have about doubled in value in the past twelve months. It took a great deal of grain and careful attention to winter this herd, but they will pay well for their keeping.
WEDDING
MARRIED Wednesday morning at the Manse in West Marlinton, by Rev. Wm. T. Price, Dennis W. Dever, Esq. and Miss Allie McLaughlin, all of Pocahontas county.
The high contracting parties in this auspicious society event are well known young persons. The bride is the youngest daughter of Mrs. Susan McLaughlin, of Elk. The groom is a son of Francis Dever, Esq., and is a prosperous young farmer.
The happy couple left for an extensive bridal tour, which will take in the Nashville exposition, the Northern Lakes as far as Duluth, and several of the chief cities – Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington.