When Jacob Stollings came to the Butcher farm opposite the mouth of Crawley's Creek he was accompanied by John Baker and Dick Johnson; both were men of families, Baker having married a daughter of Stollings, and John having married a sister of Baker. Both of them settled on Crawley's Creek and raised their families. Of the children of John Baker, only three sons are mentioned. These are John, who moved to Cabell County about seventh [sic] years ago; Jacob, who was a cripple and died unmarried, and Henry, who is still living at the age of one hundred and eight years; his mind, however, has been a blank for many years.

Dick Johnson had two daughters - Elizabeth and Matilda. Elizabeth first married George Bryand, and after his death married Peter Mullins, and had a large number of children. Matilda was never married, but was the mother of several children. Charles Johnson was one of the number. When Baker and Johnson went to Crawley, they found one settler on the creek, who had a cabin at the mouth of Tims Fork. At what time he came there is not known. Two families on the same creek were crowding the country too much for him, and he soon left to get elbow room amid the broad plains of the West.

At the forks of Harts Creek, where Henderson Dingess now lives, Stephen Hart had a cabin. He cared nothing for the soil, but put in his time in hunting the deer which were so abundant on the creek. On the left-hand fork, a short distance from his cabin, he built a house in which to cure his venison, in order to take it to the settlement whenever an opportunity would offer itself. No one knows when he first settled there, and like his neighbor Wallace, he left for the West as soon as other settlers got within a few miles of him.

Early in the century, probably in the year one or two, John Brumfield settled at the mouth of Ugly, (now in Lincoln County). He was the father of a large family, and among his sons are Evermont, William, Wirt, Sampson, Jack, Allen and Paris, from whom have sprung the numerous Brumfield family of Lincoln, Logan and Wayne.

Moses Brown settled near the mouth of Harts Creek about the same time. He was from Tazewell County, and his wife was a Miss Gillaspie. He had several sons and daughters. One of his daughters married the late Paris Brumfield.

James Toney, the brother-in-law of Brown, settled near him, but the writer knows nothing of his family.

John Fry settled at the mouth of Green Shoals, (now in Lincoln County) about 1806. His sons were Hamilton, who married a Miss Haney; Jack, who married a Miss Hunter, daughter of Robert Hunter, of Spruce; Baptist T., who married a Miss Steel, and Admiral S., (Bill) who married a daughter of Obadiah Workman. His daughters married respectively Albert Abbott, Charles Lucas, William Lucas and a man by the name of Speers, from Wayne County.

Charles Spurlock settled about the same time, on what is known as the Toney farm, below the mouth of Big Creek. He came from Montgomery County, and lived for some time after coming here under a cliff. (known as a rock house.) The old man said that when he was first married he took his wife to a good substantial frame house and she was not satisfied when he took her to a log house with the same result; he then moved into a rail pen and still she grumbled, and as a last resort he took her to a rock house built by God Almighty and still she was not satisfied. He was a man who like easy and was never thrown off his balance. On one occasion, for some slight offense he was fined in Cabell circuit court, and a capias was placed in the hands of the sheriff for him. Meeting him in the road, the sheriff informed "Uncle Charley" that he had a capias for him. Nothing abashed, the old man, who had grown to be very stout, informed the sheriff that he was a law-abiding man and laid down in the road and told the sheriff to take him. It was needless to say that the sheriff rode off and left him. His sons were John, Seth, Lifas, and Robertson, all of whom were the fathers of large families, and the name of Spurlock is familiar in the lower Guyandotte Valley. Whether he had daughters or not, the writer is not informed.

Frederick Haner was another hero of the Revolution, who settled at a very early date at the mouth of Big Creek. He had one son, Jacob, who died childless, and three daughters. Of his daughters one married George Fry and one married Obadiah Godby. The other daughter, Polly, was never married, but was the mother of four children, one son and three daughters. Her son, Noah, married Mary Barker, a daughter of Joseph Barker, and was the father of a large family of children, some of whom still live on the old homestead. Of the daughters one married Oliver Perry, one L. D. Perry, and the other John Foster.

At the mouth of the North Fork of Big Creek Richard Welsh, another soldier of the Revolution, made a settlement. He had but one child, Samuel, sho has been dead for several years, and left no descendants.

Joseph Barker came from Montgomery and settled on Big Creek where Columbus Pauley now lives. He was the father of four sons and one daughter. Of his sons, John A., moved to Kanawha County (now Boone) and settled near Peytona. William married Dorcas Workman, a daugheter of Joseph Workman and granddaughter of James Workman, who has been heretofore mentioned as being the first settler of Logan Court House. Mrs. Barker is still living at quite an advanced age. Ben married a Miss Fry, and Anderson married a daughter of James Ferrell of Big Creek. His daughter married Noah Haner, as has been already stated.

John Lucas, a hero of the Revolution, from Montgomery County, married a sister of John Fry, and settled near the present residence of Dow Perry, on Big Creek. He is the first Baptist preacher mentioned in the county. His sons were William, who married a Miss Fry, Ralph, who married a daughter of William Godby, and who was the father of William Lucas, who now lives near the mouth of Limestone, Price and Fry, who moved to Kanawha County. John Lucas had several daughters, one of whom married Burbus Toney.

About the year 1807, William Godby settled on Big Creek. He belonged to an old and prominent family in Montgomery, and when a boy had served in the artillery company of Major John Trigg. His sons are William T., who married a Miss Austin, and was the father of Obediah Godby, who [was the father of ?] the late Tolbert S., and French S. Godby. Obediah, who married a daughter of Frederick Haner, and who was the father of Mrs. James Hill, Mrs. George Hill and Mrs. E. J. Stone Russell, who went west when a young man, and John, who married a Miss Alecessor, and who has a large family of sons and daughters. John Godby is still living at the age of nenety-four years, having been about five years of age when his father settled on Big Creek. Of the daughters of William Godby, Mary married Edward Chapman, Eliza married John Garrett, and was the mother of several sons and daughters, among whom is Elder William Dyke Garrett of the Desciples Church. Letty married Anderson Barker, who also had a large family of children.

About the same time that William Godby moved to Big Creek, Charles William Jerome, who was at the head of the Guyandotte Colonization Society, formed in France to colonize the land of James Swan, in the Guyandotte Valley, came to Big Creek with several families from Germany among whom were five Miller brothers, John, George, Daniel, Moses and Jacob and George Sizemore. Finding that Jerome had gone too low down for the Swan lands, and that the settlement had been made within the J. J. Benoist survey, the colony soon went to pieces. John Miller died while on the creek and is buried near the residence of Columbus Pauley. His sons, John and Sigmond went their way to Barboursville, the county seat of Cabell County where each one of them was successful in business, and became leaders in the community.

Moses Miller moved to Island Creek, and afterwards to the Mud River country. Jacob went to Rock Creek, in Kanawha County and Daniel and George went to Turtle Creek. All of them raised large families. George Sizemore remained on the creek for awhile and then went to Ohio; not, however, until John Godby had become enamored of his fair daughter, Eliza, who he soon followed to her new home, and brought her back to the old Godby homestead as his blushing bride.

At the time that Daniel and George Miller went to Turtle Creek, several other families had already settled there, among whom were John Cummings, Peter Price, Solomon Price, Phillip Hager, James Mitche [?] and John Miller, all of whom raised large families, and who will be more fully mentioned hereafter.

Passing back to the neighborhood on Crawley's Creek, we find Phillip Hager, another of the old settlers who was the father of a multitude, having come from Pittsylvania County, Virginia, when a boy, he first settled for a short time in Tazewell County, Virginia, where he married Kate Vannatter. He then came to Logan and settled near the mouth of Crawley for awhile and then moved to the waters of Coal River. His sons were James Hager, who married a Miss Pauley; Andrew, who married a daughter of Joe Barker; John, who married a Miss Miller; and Rev Ben., who married a Miss Brooks. Of his daughters, Polly married John Toney of Boone, and Rosannah married a Mullins, of Kentucky. Ben Hager is still living, full of years and with the memory of a life well spent, having been sixty years a minister of the M. E. Church. He is the father of Hon. L. D. Hager, of Boone, and the grandfather of John B. Hager, a prominent attorney of Boone County.

About the year 1819, Joshua Butcher settled just above Big Creek, upon the farm where M. D. Stone now lives, and still known as the Butcher farm. He and his wife, Miss Sarah Clarke, came from Monroe County. He had five sons, James, Allen, William Floyd, Melvin and John Green, and four daughters, Mary Ann, Rebecca, Susan and Emily. James married a Miss Dingess, daughter of John Dingess, both of whom are still living at an advanced age; John Green married a daughter of Ralph Lucas; Wm. F., married a Miss Lawson, a daughter of Lewis Lawson, he is still living; Melvin and Allen, both died unmarried. Rebecca married William Dingess of Harts Creek; Susan married Edward B. Lilly; Mary Ann married William Smith, generaly known as Crawley, and she is still living at Guyandotte. Among her children are Mrs. W. D. Garrett and Mrs. J. I. Dingess, now living in this county; Mrs. George S. Page, Mrs. Lewis Wigal, Albert Smith and John B. Smith, who still lives at Guyandotte. Emily married John Lawson, who was killed by a falling tree in 1844. By this marriage her children were the late M. B. Lawson, J. M. Lawson, a daughter, who married a Mr. Crockett of Tazewell County, and Dr. George W. Dawson, who is still living, and who is the father of Dr. Sidney B. Lawson, a prominent young physician of Logan, and a member of the Legislature of the session of 1895. After the death of John Lawson, Emily married George Smith of Russell County, by whom she had two children; one son, Allen, and a daughter, Victoria, who married Alvis Maynard. Mrs. Smith is still living at Williamson, being eighty-five years of age.

Prominent among the earlier settlers were the Toney Family. While several of the family came to Logan, we believe that there were only two ot them that made permanent settlements here. These were Squire Toney and William Toney. Squire Toney settled near Chapmanville, on what is known as the Fowler farm. He married a Miss Brown and was the father of six children, one son and five daughters. His son, Burbus, married, as we have seen, a daughter of Rev. John Lucas of Big Creek, and of his daughters, one married the late Theophilus Fowler, one married Samuel Ferrell, one Andrew Dial, and one a Morris, from Wayne County, whose first name is forgotten. William Toney married Polly Caperton, of Monroe, and settled on the place still known as the Toney farm. He was one of the Justices of Logan County, and was, during a long life, one of the leading men of the county. He was the father of six children, two sons and four daughters. His sons were Overton G. and Hugh, and his daughters, Bettie, Rhoda, Mary and Julyantes. Overton G., died several years ago, and Hugh died at Guyandotte in 1895. Hugh was a captain in the Confederate Army and was a gallant soldier, and at one time, represented the county in the West Virginia Legislature. Neither Overton nor Hugh were ever married. Of the four daughters, Bettie married Charles F. Dingess; Rhoda married Guy Dingess; the others were never married. Miss Mary is the only one of the children that is now alive, and she is still living at the old homestead.

We have already noticed that when William Dingess purchased the land now covered by the town of Aracoma, that the Workmans left it and settled on the farm now owned by Henry Mitchell. They remained there, however, but a short time, selling their place to another pioneer and moved to the waters of Cole River. That other pioneer was John White, who came with a family of grown men and one daughter. John White had not only served his country in the War of the Revolution, but several of his sons had served with him, and also engaged with him in fighting the Indians. His sons were Jack, who married Susannah Marcum, of Franklin; Ben, who married Anna Stuart, of Montgomery; James, who married Lucretia Elkins, a daughter of the old pioneer, Richard Elkins; and William, who married a daughter of John Sansom, another old pioneer of whom more will be said. His daughter, Nancy married Robert Whitt, who afterwards moved to Ohio.

The oldest son, Jack, was the father of twelve children, William, who married Editha White; John, who married Susannah Elkins; Thomas, James, Reuben, Isaac, Charles, Major, Elijah, Hiram, Masten, and Judith, who married James Thompson. Thomas, James and Reuben went back to Files [Giles?] County, and Major went to Indiana. All the others remained here and raised large families. Ben White was the father of seven children, five sons and two daughters. His sons were John, Arter, Ben, William and James; his daughters were Nancy, who married Pleasant Chafin, and Margaret, who married John Chambers, a son of Robert Chambers, of Monroe County. William, the youngest son, having been born at too late a date to serve his country, and, thirsting for military glory, joined the regular army in 1806, and was assigned to duty in a regiment that was being raised by Col. Wade Hampton of South Carolina. When Hampton was made Brigadier-General, in 1806, and assigned to duty at New Orleans, White went with him, and when Hampton was superseded by Wilkinson, White remained with Wilkinson, and then under Jackson until after the battle of New Orleans, of January 8th, 1815, in which battle he participated. Returning home in 1816, he married as we have seen, the daughter of John Sansom, and to this marriage was born two sons and two daughters. His sons were Hampton, who is still living, who married the widow of John Chambers and daughter of his Uncle James White; and Hickman Sansom, who married Harriet, the daughter of George Avis. Hickman S., was at one time Sheriff of Logan County, and served for two sessions in the Lower House of the West Virginia Legislature. The daughters of Wm. White were Nancy, who married Hiram White, son of Jack White; and Elizabeth who married Green C. White, a grandson of Jack White and son of John White.

Passing about a mile up river from the White settlement we find that William Henderson, of Montgomery County, who has been mentioned as having married a daughter of Peter Dingess, Sr., made a settlement upon the farm now owned by James R. Henderson. He first settled where F. M. White now lives, in 1810, and after remaining there a few years, moved to the above named place. Mr. Henderson was both a school teacher and a class leader in the Methodist Church, and in both positions did much to point the youth of that generation to high and noble aims in life. His sons were John, who married a daughter of General McComas, and moved to Missouri; Henry G., who married a Miss Alexander and moved to Texas; and Dingess, who married a Miss Hatfield, of Cabell County, where he is still living. His daughters were Mary, who married Joseph Straton, son of Mrs. Martha Straton, who, after the death of her husband, in Montgomery County, moved with one son and one daughter to Island Creek. The daughter married Ben Smith of Buffalo, and as the family afterward became a prominent one, more will be said of them in a future chapter. Bettie, the other daughter of Wm. Henderson, married John McDonald. She died on the llth day of March 1896, wanting but one day of being ninety years old, having been born near Pearlsburg, Virginia, March 12, 1806.

Still passing up the river from the Henderson place, we come to the McDonald settlement. Here in 1804, Mrs. Mary McDonald, the widow of Bryan McDonald, of Montgomery county settled with her six sons and one daughter. Bryan McDonald was the son of Edward McDonald, of Washington, who is said to have built the first house at Abingdon, Virginia. This Edward McDonald was the grandson of Bryan McDonald, who, about the beginning of the 18th century, settled at Newcastle, Delaware. He was the son of a Highland chief who was regularly descended from the McDonalds, of Clanranald. Her sons were Hercules, Jonas, Richard, Edward, Joseph and John. Her daughter, Mary, married John B. Clark, of Sandy. Hercules, the first son mentioned, married a Miss Brown. He was the father of Lewis and Charles, the latter being at one time Sheriff of the county. Jonas married a Miss Clark, and after her death married Miss Ida Smith. Of the children of the first marriage, are Alexander Hamilton, and two daughters, one of whom married the late Levi Vance, and the other the late Guy Clark. The children of the second marriage are Jonas and Bryan. Richard McDonald married a Miss Ingram, and had five daughters, but no sons. His daughters married respectively, Geo. W. Clark, Henry P. Clark, Ira L. Clark, Zatoo Dingess and Milton Dingess, and all are living. John married Miss Bettie Henderson, and their children, are Maltravrs, Astynax, Bolivar, Scott and Andromanche; the latter married John Justice. Joseph and Edward were never married, and died a few years ago near the old homestead at a ripe old age.

John Sampson [Sansom?], who we have already mentioned as one of the old pioneers, came from England as a boy of fourteen years, about 1790. He lived awhile at Norfork [sic], Va., and then came to Giles, and from Giles to Logan about 1803, and settled near the mouth of the Crooked Creek. He married Elizabeth Davidson, of Giles County. His sons were William, who married a daughter of Ben White; James, who married a daughter of John Hurley, of Kentucky; John, who married a daughter of John Stafford; Andrew, who married a daughter of John Smith, of Wayne; Riley, who married a daughter of Jacob Cline; David, who married a daughter of Wm. Hensley, and Hiram who went west. Of his daughters, Polly married Wm. White, Matilda married John Hardin, Landa married John Hurley, Bettie married Randall McCoy, and Jennie died unmarried. All the children except Jennie left numerous descendants, and through them, many of the families of Logan, Wayne and Mingo, and Pike County, Ky., are closely connected.

Joseph Gore settled where F. M. White now lives, and had a large family of sons and daughters. He married a Miss Pine, from Mercer County, and was a member of the Virginia Legislature. His sons were James, who moved west; John, who married Margaret Dingess; Eli, who married Nancy Ellis; and Levi, who married a Miss Hinchman, a daughter of William Hinchman. His daughters were Delilah, who married James Bailey; Rebecca, who married Jacob Ellis; Rena, who married Henderson Shannon; Celia, who married Jacob Petrie; Nancy, who married Robert Massie, and Martha, who married J. H. Hinchman.

Robert Clendenin settled where Eli Gore now lives. He had three sons - Robert, who married a daughter of Wm. Hinchman, and who was Sheriff of the county; Archer and Adam. All of the family moved to Minnesota about 1840.

Ben Cary settled at the mouth of Rum, and married a daughter of David McNeeley. He built the first jail of Logan County. He had several sons and daughters, but all of them moved to Kentucky except John and Lewis and one daughter, who remained in Logan. John married a Miss Tiller, and was the father of a large family. The daughter married Milton Hinchman and afterward moved to Michigan. Ben Cary sold his place at the mouth of Rum to Rev. James Chambers, a minister of the M. E. Church. While Mr. Chambers came to the county at a little later date than the body of the pioneers of whom we have been writing, his life is so interwoven with the men of that generation that he is entitled to be mentioned in this connection. He married Elizabeth Cole, daughter of Isaac Cole, of Mercer County, and the offspring of the marriage is a large and influential one. His sons are Ira, who married Sarah Hinchman; Leroy, who married Demaris Farmer. He was a leading merchant of Wyoming County, and represented that county in the legislature; Asbury, who married Martha McDonald, Lorenzo Dow, who married Margaret L. Auxier (He, also, was a prominent merchant, President of the County Court, and twice a member of the Legislature.) Harrison F., who married Araminta Burgess, a daughter of Wm. Burgess, and James M., who was drowned several years ago at the Falls of Guyandotte. The daughters were Hannah, who married Hon. Wm. Workman, of Boone; Malinda, who married Jacob Cook; Rebecca, who married James Workman; Martha, who married Jasper Workman, and Elizabeth, who married L. D. Hinchman.

Rev. James Chambers was the son of Robert Chambers, who was born in London, England, and came to America when a boy. He served as an American soldier in the Revolution, and when the war was over he settled in Montgomery County, Va., where he married Hannah Thorn [Doran?], a German lady. Robert Chambers had six boys and two girls. His oldest son was Jacob, who married a Miss Smith, and was the father of six sons and one daughter. Richard, the oldest son of Jacob Chambers, married a Miss Perry and settled on the Spruce Fork of Cole. He was the father of a large family, among whom was the late Rev. Russell Chambers. Richard afterwards married a Miss Canterby, who is the mother of several children, Sidney S. Chambers being one of the number. Robert, the son of Jacob Chambers, married Juliet Conley. He was the father of the Rev. B. S. Chambers, one of the most eloquent divines of the West Virginia Conference of the M. E. Church, South. Robert Chambers also settled on the Spruce Fork of Cole. He afterwards went to Louisa, Ky., where he died. His widow is still alive at the ripe age of ninety years. John, the next son of Jacob Chambers, married Nancy White and settled at Pecks Mill. The other sons were William, Frederick and James, who never came to Logan. His only daughter was Polly, who married Henry Perry, of the Spruce Fork of Cole.

Richard Chambers, the second son of Robert Chambers, Sr., moved to Louisa, Ky., where he raised a large family. Among the children was Jane, who married Col. William Vinson. James, the next oldest son of Robert Chambers, has been mentioned above.

The other sons of Robert Chambers were Jack, who died of cholera in Cincinnati; Robert, who was killed in Monroe County by the falling of a tree, and William, who was for a long while the Colonel of the militia of Monroe County. He was the grandfather of Judge Luther L. Chambers of McDowell County.

The daughters of Robert Chambers, Sr., were Anne, who married Snow Ballard, of Monroe Bounty, and Kittie, who married Robert Curry, of Island Creek, and who afterwards moved to Indiana.

Thomas Riggans was another old settler, and located where Anthony Lawson now lives. He had several sons and daughters, but all of them went West except one daughter (Jane) who married Hiram Mullins.

Nathaniel Mullins was among the earliest of the settlers. He came from the Catawba region of North Carolina, and settled where Milton A. Mullins now lives. His sons were Hiram, who married Jane Riggans; Wilson, who married a Miss White; Nathaniel, who married a Miss Norton; Jackson, who married a Miss Cook; Milton A., who married a Miss Ellis; John, who married a Miss Baisden; Harrison, who married a Miss Ellis, and Anthony who never married. The daughters are Rachel, who married Jack Burgess; Margaret who married Thomas Cook, and Nancy, who married Wilson Cook. Several of these sons and daughters are still alive and are among the best people of the county.

Ben Smith was another one of the early settlers. He came here as a young man and settled first at, or near the mouth of Rich Creek. Marrying a daughter of Mrs. Straton, who has been spoken of as having settled on Island Creek, he moved to the mouth of Buffalo where he remained for many years as one of the leading citizens of the county and was one of the early members of the Virginia Legislature from Logan. He had but one son, William, (better known as "Crawley"), who has been spoken of as having married the daughter of Joshua Butcher. His daughters were Eliza, who married Julius C. Dingess, and Rebecca, who married Alexander Pine. After the death of his first wife Ben Smith married Elizabeth Hinchman, daughter of Wm. Hinchman.

Lewis E. McDonald also settled near the mouth of Buffalo about the same time. He was a cousin of the McDonalds already mentioned, and was the son of Edward McDonald, who entered and surveyed the lands just below Oceana, known as the "Big Bottom." This Edward McDonald was a brother of the Bryan McDonald already mentioned, and his sons were William, Stephen, Joseph, (who was the first clerk of Logan County and father of W. W. Mcdonald of Huff's Creek.) Lewis E. Mcdonald married a Miss Harvey of Washington County, and was killed while still a young man by an accidental shot from one of his negroes while out hunting. His sons were Gordon, who married a Miss Hill of Tazewell, and Lewis E. Jr., who married a Miss Taylor of Tazewell. The daughters were Rebecca, who married Dr. U. S. Hinchman, and Keziah, who married George Bean, of Tazewell.

Jacob Walls was another of the old settlers, and the name Walls is still a familiar one in the county, but we have been unable to trace the line of the family.