Thursday, October 26, 1950
MARTHA DAVIS McNEEL’S BIBLE
Bridgewater, VA.
October 11, 1950
Dear Mr. Price:
Since I have received a number of letters and newspaper clippings concerning the Welsh Bible that belonged to Martha Davis McNeel, I will try to give some information about it.
It is a leather-bound volume 7 1/2 x 5 by 2 inches, printed in Welsh. The fly leaf is filled with family records, but the only legible one is “Martha Davis, the daughter of Thomas and Anne Davis, was born the 28th day of January Annoque Domini 174 3-2 about eight the clock in the morning.” Marry (note spelling) Davis, Anna Davis and Sarah Davis are names of children of the family, but the dates have faded out.
On the next page is one legible record which is “Elijah Davis, son of Thomas and Anne Davis, born April the 9th day, Annoque Domini 1753. Needless to say, it is brown with age, and requires very careful handling.
It was brought to the Levels by Martha Davis McNeel about 1765. “This is the first Bible that there is any record of having ever been brought to the waters of the Greenbrier,” taken from Prices’ History of Pocahontas.
Martha Davis McNeel was a Calvinistic Methodist and it was she who performed the first burial rites ever performed at the McNeel cemetery. Also, it was she and her husband, John McNeel, who built the White Pole Church and it is highly probable that this Bible was used in these services…
Martha Davis McNeel died in 1830, and her Bible was given to her son, Ab-rams’ son, the late Captain William L. McNeel (Abram died in 1826). At Captain McNeel’s death in 1899, the Bible was given to his daughter, Mary Irene, who with her sisters, Pauline and Maggie, moved to Washing State and later to Portland, Oregon.
At Mary Irene’s death in 1931, the Bible became the property of Pauline McNeel. At her death in 1938, by a special request made by her to Grady McNeel, the Bible was sent by him to me, her niece, and the daughter of Eliza McNeel.
As you see, at no time in its history has the Bible been out of the possession of one of the direct heirs through her son, Abram. And at no time has it been out of a Methodist home.
I have a very definite plan as to what I shall do with it. I feel quite sure that the plan would be very pleasing to the three sisters, Mary, Pauline and Maggie McNeel, who possessed and cherished it…
With best wishes, I am
Sincerely yours,
Mary Thrasher
(Daughter of the late Rev. J. C. and Eliza McNeel Thrasher)
Dear Calvin;
I read in your paper where a panther was killed by a car. There must be a lot of them in the Cheat mountains by this time. I remember during the first war, I was working on Cheat river, not far from Huttonsville, when two dogs were giving a large panther a chase, which finally ended up with the dogs being badly mauled and cut up. The owner of the dogs, a great hunter, a man by the name of Hayes Hamrick, a relative of your Doctor Hamrick, I think – saw this incident and took up the chase with a high powered rifle, but had no success in locating the animal…
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Phil McComb, of Huntersville, a daughter, Phyllis Jean.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Glen McClure, of Marlinton, a son, Herbert Glen, Jr.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Carl Fleisher Reed, of Beard, a daughter, Sandra Mae.
DEATHS
Vinnie Tyler Sharp, widow of the late Ashby Sharp, died at her home in Frost. She was a daughter of the late John and Elizabeth Duncan Tyler. She was a charter member of the Woman’s Society of Christian Service. At the time of her death, she was the oldest member of the organization.
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Luther Lawrence Smith, aged 79, died Friday morning, October 20, 1950; survived by his widow, Mrs. Frances Sharp Smith. On Sunday afternoon, the funeral was held from the Fairview Church and his body was laid to rest in the Sharp Cemetery.
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John C. Maupin, 81, died at his home at Campbelltown. Born at Green Bank, he was a son of the late Thomas R. and Margaret Arbogast Maupin. His funeral was conducted from the Campbelltown Church and he was laid to rest in the Green Bank cemetery beside the grave of his wife who preceded him 15 years ago. Thus, is noted the passing of one of the first residents of Marlinton.
