Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County ~ 1901
By William T. Price
The first newspaper to be published in his county was the Pocahontas Times, founded in 1882 at Huntersville, and later Marlinton, and ceased to be published in 1896. The Marlinton Messenger was first published in 1900.
The first telephone to be built in the county was the Marlinton and Beverly telephone line, finished to Marlinton in August, 1899. That same year, telephone lines were built along all the principal roads of the county.
The first bank to go into business in the county was the Bank of Marlinton in 1899, and later in the same year, the Pocahontas Bank was opened. For more than a year these banks carried in large sums of money by special messengers from the nearest express stations from 45 to 57 miles distant, over lonely roads.
Writing at the time of the railroad development just beginning, the natural resources of the county have not been touched. No attention has been paid to the vast areas of iron ore land in the east of the county, which will someday make this county famous as an iron field.
In the 1890s, it was discovered that Pocahontas County had a vast supply of marble which was equal in value to any marble ever found in the United States. A company has been formed to develop this marble, and it will someday be ranked high among the marble deposits of the world.
The bulk of the timber is still standing, but an immense amount has been floated down the Greenbrier River, the St. Lawrence Boom & Manufacturing Company having removed in this manner a quarter of a billion feet of white pine. The walnut and cherry have been taken out in the last twenty-five years by rafting on the Greenbrier, which was once an important industry, rafting floods in the river being anxiously waited for. There were a number of skillful pilots who could thread their way with a raft of 50,000 feet of lumber between the rocks of this swift river…
BIOGRAPHIC
JOSEPH MOORE
Joseph Moore, late of Anthonys Creek, was one of the most widely known citizens of our county in his day. His parents were William Moore and Margaret. It is believed they came from Rockbridge County about 1780. No known relationship is claimed with other branches of the Moores.
They opened up a home on the knoll just south of Preston Harper’s on Knapps Creek, where a rivulet crosses the road. Their house was just below the present road at that point. It was here they lived and died. They were buried on the east side of the creek, on the terrace south of the tenant house now standing there.
These pioneers were the parents of two sons and two daughters: Joseph, John, Mary (Polly), and a daughter whose name seems to be lost to memory.
John went to Kentucky.
Mary was the wife of Colonel John Baxter, who was the first Colonel of the 127th Regiment, and was very prominent in the organization of the county.
Joseph was a soldier in the War of 1812. During his service he met and married Hannah Cady, in East Virginia. She was a native of Connecticut and was a school teacher, and is spoken of by the older people as a sprightly person. Soon after his return, Joseph Moore settled on the homestead, building his house between Goelet’s residence and the barn. He finally moved to Anthony’s Creek.
Their family consisted of five daughters and three sons: Hannah, Sarah, Matilda, Margaret, Abigail, Daniel, Joseph and Henry Harrison…