The Burdette Family in Summers County

Genealogy can be an aggravation.  Sure, there are those outstanding moments when you find the name of an ancestor on a document in the court house, but most of the time is spent in searching dozens of sources to find nothing.  Zip.  Nada.  This can go on for years, as in the case of the Burdette family, which seems not to have bothered recording births and deaths as they occurred.

In recognition of the fact that I may never identify with confidence the father of Joseph Burdette, I'm going to write about what I have found in the last 15 years.

Some sources say that the surname "Burdette" is of Old French origins and entered Great Britain when the Normans conquered England in 1066.  The name is found in the Domesday Book of 1086 when Robert Burdet was recorded in Leicestershire.  There are so many interpretations of the meaning of the name that it's counterproductive to list all of them.  A coat of arms was granted to a Burdett family in Surrey. (http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Burdett)  As a later note, two men, Peter and John Bourdet, are found on a list of French Protestants who immigrated to England in 1687. 

Another theory is that the name arose in Wales.  In ancient Gaelic the rounded hill that served as a defensive structure  in a village was called a "bur", roughly translated as "bastion".  The war-chief in pre-Christian times utilized a special guard to insure his safety, and that guard was called a "dett".  See where this is going?  As occupations came to transfer from generation to generation, and surnames were required, this special guard became "Burdett".  (The Burdette Family of Virginia and West Virginia, Howard W. Burdett, 2001)

Howard Burdett cites Paul Burdett, Jr., who reasons that King Arthur was an actual person, whose father, Uther Pendragon, was the first Christian chief of the Welsh.  Uther chose his brother, Ambrose, as his first bur-dett, and from then on, the Christian bur-detts were all of the Pendragon family.  Paul Burdett bases his conclusions on translations of ancient Celtic sources plus the Chronicles of Nennius and Wace. Since about 480 A.D Burdett has been a clan name in the ancient Welsh language. 

The only way to determine which of these theories explains our family's origin is to begin here in America and trace the family back through the generations until we connect with either the Welsh or the French (Normans).  I have not been able to do this but hope that if my searches continue to hit dead ends, someone else's will be productive. 

Mary Catherine Burdette sits in the center in a dark dress.

My father, Austin David Ballengee, was born to Lonnie D. Ballengee and Mary Catherine Burdette Ballengee near Hix, WV, in Summers County on 25 June 1911.  My father knew little of his mother because she died of dropsy (accumulation of fluid, either from congestive heart failure or kidney failure) at the age of 32 on 9 March 1912.  She is reportedly buried at the Alderson Family Cemetery beside the Lively School on Keeney Mountain.  I suspect that her grave is not marked; she's listed in the Summers County Cemetery Book as Kate Ballengee.

My father was the only child born to Lonnie and Catherine. Apparently his name was constructed of the middle name of his father and Catharine's father's middle name (Austin David).  He had no memories of his mother.  He once had a card on which her name was stitched with a lock of her hair, but the card was destroyed in a house fire. After Catherine's death, he lived with the Cales family, where his half-sister, Grace Ballengee, also lived.  

Frank & Gladys Burdette, front center; Austin Ballengee, back row in plaid shirt 

Before she married Lonnie Ballengee, Catherine had three children, and the identity of the father remains a mystery.  A cousin of mine once said that she was told the father was a Kincaid, but that could be nothing more than genealogical gossip.The oldest of Catherine's children was Benjamin Frank Burdette, born 22 February 1901.  Nona Burdette was born in 1903, and Donna Burdette was born in 1906.  In the 1910 census of Summers County Catherine lives with her brother, Benjamin O. Burdette; her father, Lewis A. Burdette; and her three children, Benjamin Frank, Nona, and Donna.  They live in house number 123 on the census, and Lonnie Ballengee, widower, lived with his daughter in house number 118, the home of David Cales.

While little information has been found for Nona and Donna Burdette, Frank Burdette married  Gladys Spade (b. 22 May 1905 to L. E. and Verna Spade) on 24 October 1922 in Fayetteville, Fayette Co., WV.  Frank listed his parents as "Lon and Kate" on his marriage license.  Census information states that over the years Frank worked in a lumber yard, was an engineer on a steam railroad, and as a tipple man in a coal mine.  Frank and Gladys had 13 children:
1.  Clifford Palmer Burdette, b. 3 August 1923, d. 7 October 1948
2.  Alma Burdette, b. 1925
3.  Lucille H. Burdette, b. January 1928
4.  Katheryn Burdette, b. May 1929
5.  Ruby Lehues Burdette, b. 1934
6.  Jack Leo "Ross" Burdette, b. 9 December 1935, d. 3 April 1986
7.  Major L. Burdette, b. 30 July 1937, d. 17 October 1996
8.  Mona Gladys Burdette, b. 15 June 1939, d. 29 March 1987
9.  Robert L. Burdette, b. 16 April 1940, d. 14 April 1988
10.  Lucretia Burdette
11.  Linda S. Burdette
12.  Merril Burdette
13.  Maxine Burdette.  
Frank and Gladys, along with four of their children (Ross, Major, Mona, and Robert) are buried in Patton Cemetery at Meadow Bridge, WV.


Mary Catherine was born to Lewis Austin Burdette and Christiana Fink Burdette on 17 January 1880 at Ramp, WV, the 10th of 11 children.  Christiana, who died probably about January 1902, was born in January 1841 and was the daughter of  Joseph Fink and Jane Miller Fink.  The children of Lewis and Christiana are listed in the table below. 

Name	Birth	Death	Spouse
Unnamed child
Elizabeth J. Burdette	30 May 1864	15 January 1919	Henry N. Kincaid
Dicy Lluwellyn Burdette	About 1867		William H. Dequasie
William Newton Burdette	1 March 1867	29 July 1939	Martha F. Allen Emma Susan Grimmett
Malinda N. Burdette	1871
Lewis L. Burdette	About 1873	9 October 1892
Josephine Burdette (Josie)	6 July 1873	25 July 1925	Rufus C. Grimmett
Silvester Adran Burdette	24 September 1875	1908	Emma Susan Grimmett
Mary Catharine Burdette	17 January 1880	9 March 1912	Lonnie D. Ballengee
Benjamin O. Burdette	7 July 1882	26 July 1935

Lewis Austin  Burdette was born in April 1834, according to the 1900 Summers County census.  His parents were Joseph Burdette and Dica (Dicy) Burns Burdette, who had 11 children.  At the age of 22 years, Lewis married his first wife, Mary Jane Withrow, the daughter of Samuel Harrison Withrow and Sarah Kincaid Withrow, on 25 January 1856 in Greenbrier County.  Lewis and Mary Jane had five children, of whom two died as children.  A son, unnamed, died at about 1 month of age on 1 August 1856.  Two daughters, Margaret M. (b. 10 April 1857) and Sarah F. (b. 23 March 1858) are assumed to have survived to adulthood, but no other information has been found for them.  Another son, Samuel B., was born 1 February 1860 and died August 1861.  They had another son, unnamed, in August 1861, but no other information has been found for him.  None of the children of Lewis and Mary Jane appear on any subsequent censuses with him.  Mary Jane died sometime before or around 1863, because Lewis married Christiana Fink on 26 March 1863.  Christiana was born in January 1841 to Joseph Fink and Jane Miller Fink in Monroe County.

In 1870 Lewis and Christiana lived in Blue Sulphur in Greenbrier County, but their first son, William Newton, was born in  1867 in Mason County, WV, according to his birth record which states that the family was living along the Kanawha River.  In previous records Lewis listed his occupation as mechanic, so it may be that toward the end of the Civil War, he moved to Mason County where he could find work. No doubt the Civil War affected the move of the newly-married couple, no matter what the specific circumstances were.  By 1870 they had returned to Greenbrier/Summers Co.

In the memoir of Adena Kincaid Fleshman Lusher (http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/j/a/c/Becky-A-Jackson/FILE/0001page.html, 1984), she gives insight into the character of Lewis Burdette.  Adena was the daughter of Elizabeth Burdette and Henry Noel Kincaid.  Elizabeth died 15 January 1919 of tuberculosis, and in the 1920 Summers Co. census, Lewis was living with his daughter, Josie, and her husband Rufus Grimmett in the Upland District of Summers Co.  Adena writes,

Our Grandpa, his name was Lewis Burdette, came to spend Christmas with us and brought a bag of candy hearts for up kids.  They were about half the size of my hand.  When they were divided we all had one apiece.  The rest of the kids ate theirs but mine was so pretty, I kept it to look at.  One day I wanted to be extra good to Flossie, so we were playing with our dolls and mine was a rag doll Mom made for me but Flossie's dish doll had a wee mouth, so I told Flossie I would give her half my candy heart and we could eat it.  But when she tasted it she didn't want it as her throat was still sore.  So we poked it into her doll's mouth, tiny wee bits at a time until it was all gone.  Then we both cried because we had no more candy heart.

 Our Grandpa Burdette stayed with us a lot.  He had two other children living, Uncle Ben Burdette and Aunt Josie Grimmett.  So he just visited around between the three children and had no real home of his own.  He stayed mostly with us.  He was with us when Mom passed away and stayed with us for several months after Mom passed away.  I can't forget the day he left.  He went to Aunt Josie Grimmetts and I can see him now as he started out walking with his cane.  He was real old and soon after that, he died.  I never saw him after he left me that day. 

As the years passed, Adena's father found that some of his children wouldn't let him stay with them.  She compared what happened to him with how her father had treated her grandfather, Lewis Burdette:

  To explain what my dad did in 1919, then reaped in 1934 is; He asked my dear old grandfather Burdette, (after mom passed away) if he didn’t think Uncle Ben Burdette or Aunt Josie one had a better right to look after him (Grandpa) than my dad did, and I did not know at the time, but learned later that he had said this to Grandpa.  I know now that was why Grandpa left so suddenly that day long ago with tears in his eyes.  It still hurts me to this day when I think about it.

The exact date of Lewis' death is not known, but it is estimated to be about 1922.  Neither is his burial place known, but it's probably near Keeney Mountain.  

Joseph Burdette, the father of Lewis, was born in 1789 in Virginia, this date being calculated from census information.  He married Dicy Burns, the daughter of Thomas Burns (said by Oren Morton to have had a brewery in Union), on 7 October 1811 in Monroe County, VA/WV.  Dicy was born around 1788 in Virginia.  Neither death nor burial information has been found for either Joseph or Dicy.

Ten children have been documented for Joseph and Dicy:

The marriage bond of Joseph Burdette and Dicy Burns.

Christopher, b. 6 April 1812
George St. Clair, b. 1813
Isham, b. about 1817
Elizabeth, b. about 1819
Robert Burdette, b. about 1821
John, b. about 1823
Joseph, b. about 1824
Mary, b. about 1825
Sylvester, b. about 1829
Lewis Austin, b. about 1834.
Research by David Fridley says that Sylvester went to Kanawha County, and Christopher migrated to Indiana, along with perhaps others of the Burdettes. 


Monroe County school records for 1831-1842 found on Monroe County genweb list two of Joseph's children in 1836 and 1838:  Joseph Burdette at age 13 and 14, and Mary at age 11 and age 15.  Their teacher was Samuel Wiseman.

At this point the trail goes very cold.  Some researchers, in the absence of documented proof, say the most probable parents of Joseph Burdette are Giles Burdette, b. 1749 and Sarah Dunbar Burdette, b. 1753.  Giles died in 1829 in Monroe County, VA/WV.

In A History of Monroe County, West Virginia by Oren F. Morton (1916), the early Burdettes in Monroe County are outlined.  William Burdette, who died in 1836, came to Monroe County from Culpeper County and was a son of James Burdette.  Morton also mentions Giles Burdette who died before 1829 and married Sarah Dunbar.  He lists only one child, John (1794-1882), for Giles, but this history is not meant to be a genealogical study, and most assuredly Giles and Sarah had other children.  On the website www.hackerscreek.com, Don Norman says that Giles was the son of James Burdette and was born ca 1775.  If this is the case, it's doubtful that Giles is the father of Joseph who was born around 1789.  The more logical conclusion would be that Joseph and Giles were brothers, both the son of James.

In West Virginia and Its People, Vol. 3, Thomas Miller (1913), Miller says the James Burdette from Culpeper County died in Harrison County, WV, and had the following children:  Dorothy, married Alexander Davidson; Frederick; Stephen; James; and Joshua.

A problem arises in reconciling the differing birth dates of Giles Burdette:  if he were born in 1775 (Don Norman's records), he would not be the father of Joseph; if he were born in 1749, as reported in other research, he certainly could be the father of Joseph.  There may also be a Giles, Sr., and Giles, Jr.  It's possible that James, b. 1729, who had a son also named James, and James, Jr. was the father of Giles Burdette, who could then be the father of Joseph.

In Early Virginia Immigrants, 1623-1666, George C. Greer (1912), we find William Burdette arriving in Accomack County in 1639, and Chris Burdette arriving at the York River in 1649, which is around 100 years before James Burdette appears in the Culpeper records.   

This is a skein of yarn that appears to have no ends at all.  It's certainly a puzzle, but it would also appear quite certain that Joseph Burdette was related in some way to these early Burdettes.  The tricky part will be to prove exactly how he's related to them.
   

  

The Grahams Along the Greenbrier

      James Graham, from Scotland by way of Ireland, was one of the earliest white settlers along the Greenbrier River in West Virginia.  He had two brothers, John and Robert. Robert Graham, according to The History of the Graham Family (published in 1899), settled in Fort Chiswell, Virginia, about 1774.
       The home of Colonel James Graham at various times sat in Greenbrier County, Monroe County, and Summers County.  Of course, it never left the banks of the Greenbrier River at Lowell.  Colonel Graham built the three-story log home between 1770 and 1772, fought Indian attackers, and raised a family along the placid banks of the Greenbrier River.

         
       My great-great-grandfather, Arch Ballengee, was born to Isaac and Polly Ballengee on 3 November 1819 in Greenbrier County and was the grandson of Isaac Ballengee, Sr., another early settler of what is now Summers County, West Virginia.  He lived with his parents until he married Elizabeth Graham 22 June 1844 in Monroe County; Elizabeth Graham was the daughter of Joseph and Rebecca Graham and the granddaughter of Colonel James Graham, the settler and old Indian fighter.  Joseph Graham, Elizabeth's father, is the Monroe County resident who entertained the balloonist, Richard Clayton, in 1836 after his balloon crashed.  Clayton is the person for whom Clayton, WV, is named.  But that's another story.

            Arch and Elizabeth lived in Monroe County in 1850 with three children according to the census of that year.  The three children were Cynthia J. (8), Martha (3), and Herndon (1)  On 5 May 1854, a most trying year for the Graham family, Elizabeth Ballengee gave birth to a stillborn female child.[1] 

            Elizabeth Graham came from a family of nine children.  In David Graham's History of the Graham Family, a little history of each of Joseph's children is described.  However, Elizabeth's sister, Jane, has only the under-statement that she died unmarried. Mr. Graham was the kind of family historian who skims over the dramatic, albeit somewhat embarrassing, family events.  That's too bad, because Jane Graham, my great-great aunt, lived quite an interesting life and died in a most public manner.   

            For some reason Jane was motivated to write her will 16 February 1854.  Probated in the September term 1854 of the Monroe County Court, her will directed:  1) all of her property left with Archibald Ballengee be divided by his wife, Elizabeth, between Archibald and Rebecca Ballengee’s children (Rebecca was the sister of Elizabeth and Jane.  She married Archibald's first cousin, John R. Ballengee); 2) Florence Nowlan  give Cynthia Jane Ballengee a bed and cover from her property; 3) her daughter, Rebecca M., be given the use of bonds that were left with Archibald Ballengee, without any control by Rebecca’s husband; 4) if Rebecca M. and her husband have no children, the bonds are to go to her sister’s children; 5) all of the rest of her property is to go to her daughter, Rebecca M., to use as she thinks best without control of her husband, and at Rebecca’s death to go to Jane’s sisters' children. Obviously from her will, Jane trusted Arch and Elizabeth Ballengee more than her immediate family.   The will of Jane Graham stands as proof of the declining relationship with her family as early as February of the year in which she was murdered. 

Important in this will is the omission of any of her immediate family, including her parents and her brothers.  Jane's daughter, Rebecca, was born out-of-wedlock; her father lived in Missouri, according to newspaper articles, and at his death, he left $3000 to Rebecca.  This sizeable amount of money may have aroused jealousy in her family that motivated the sending of a letter to Rebecca’s husband, and ultimately, to Jane’s death. 

  Rebecca Graham, was married to a Mr. Miller and lived in Nicholas County.  Someone sent letters of a nasty intent to Rebecca’s husband, who then left her.  After Jane visited her daughter and found out about the letters, she returned home where her parents sided with their son, James, during a horrible quarrel.  They kicked Jane out of the house, and she went to her brother-in-law's house (the Nolans).
Jane was baby-sitting the Nolans' children on the evening of 27 July 1854.  About 9:00 p.m. she dressed and went out, leaving the children alone and taking a bonnet and pair of stockings with her.  Around 10:00 p.m. the families were awakened when Joseph Graham's barn caught fire.  Jane was known to be vindictive, so the first assumptions were that she had set her father's barn on fire.
Neighbors became concerned about Jane's disappearance after the fire.  They approached Joseph Graham about searching for her on his farm, and he said, "Go look in the ashes of the barn -- if her bones ain't there, they are in hell!"  The neighbors pursued a trail on the property, which indicated a struggle, then seemed to be a trail of someone dragging a body, with the trail ending at a stream where it seemed from the tracks that the body had been lifted.  Noticing an unusual number of flies, the trackers found Jane Graham's body in a tree near an old sugar camp.  The bonnet and stockings were found near her body.  Rather than being distressed by this discovery, the Graham family felt that their neighbors were meddling in things that weren't any of their business.  
The Greenbrier Era of  12 August 1854 reported an inquest was held on 7 August in which the jury found that Jane had burned the barn.  One witness stated that on the morning after the fire, he had seen a Negro "owned by the family" coming from the direction where the body was eventually found.  The jury ruled that when Jane set the barn on fire, she aroused a "fierce" dog that belonged to the family, and the dog had pursued her.  Some of the family had followed, thus making the marks of a scuffle on the trail, but that Jane escaped, and "came to her death by some unknown means".  A member of the jury later told an acquaintance of the reporter that the jury dared not rule otherwise because "the Grahams were such a desperate set that the whole neighborhood feared them".  
On 24 August The Lewisburg Chronicle reported that "one or more" of the Grahams' Negro men were in the Monroe County jail awaiting trial for the murder of Jane Graham.  The Daily Dispatch of Richmond reported that the Negroes were brought to court on the 21st, but when the prisoners were brought in, the Commonwealth's Attorney requested the trial be postponed until the next court session.
James Graham was charged with the murder of his sister on 20 November 1854.  On 19 April 1855 The Daily Dispatch wrote that James Graham, brother of Jane Graham, was tried for her murder in Giles County.  Testimony was given concerning the finding of Jane's body and the condition of her body.  The testimony states that Jane weighed about 200 pounds; other testimony stated that tracks were found of a "small" dog and that the Grahams owned a "small hound slut called Music".  The defense proposed that Jane had burned the barn and then either killed herself or was killed by the dogs.  Amazingly James Graham was acquitted.

 On 22 October 1856 another daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was born to Elizabeth and Arch Ballengee[3],  but Elizabeth died only a few months afterwards on 12 January 1857 of dropsy.[4]  She died at Keeny’s Knob in Monroe County at the age of 41 years 5 months and 30 days.  Arch was left with a three-month old infant and three other small children.  

Elizabeth’s father, Joseph Graham, died soon after his daughters on 8 December 1857 at Keeny’s Knob of inflammation of the liver.[5]  He had written his will 26 September 1854, around the time that his murdered daughter's (Jane) will was probated and before the trial of his son, James, who was charged with her murder in November. 

Joseph's will was probated at the May term of the Monroe Circuit Court in 1859.  He left his wife, Rebecca, one-third of his personal property and the use of any of his lands during her life.  He left to his daughter, Betsey (Elizabeth) Ballenger, 100 acres of land where she now lived, not to be included in the 286 survey left in her grandfather’s will to her mother, Rebecca.  His daughter, Florence Nowlen, received $10 of property; daughter, Jane, and her daughter, Martha, each received one dollar, and the rest of the estate was to be divided equally among his four sons and the children of his daughter, Rebecca Ballengee.  Since Elizabeth (Betsey) had already died, the children of Arch and Elizabeth (Cynthia J., Martha, and Herndon Ballengee) were represented at the probate hearing of Joseph’s will by John Echols.  The will was contested by John Nowlin and his wife, Florence (Graham), and Lanty Graham and Martha Miller, who were all represented by attorneys.[6]

After the will of Joseph Graham was settled in May 1859, Arch married for the second time to Margaret Honaker on 3 November 1859.[7]  Margaret was the daughter of John and Margaret A. Sams Honaker and was born in Greenbrier County 23 January 1826. 

In 1859 Arch Ballengee’s children attended the school of Joseph Wheeler in Monroe County.[8]  Syntha, age 12; Herndon, age 9; and Martha F., age 11, all children of Archibald Ballengee, were in school in 1859.  The History of Clayton Community by C. H. Graham (1923) states that in the years 1858, 1859, and 1860 there were three schools under the teaching of Anderson Wheeler, who, while somewhat limited in his facilities, was a good teacher.  These schools were good at maintaining order even if the teachers were not always well-versed academically.  The schools continued up until the outbreak of the Civil War when “all schools or hope of schools for the long period of four years had to be abandoned.”[9]

  Arch and Margaret appear on the 1860 Monroe County census in the Rollinsburg District, with Arch’s four children (Synthia, 13; Martha, 12; Herndon, 10; Mary E., 3) and Margaret’s mother, Margaret Honaker, age 63.  At last Arch seemed to be restoring some order to his life and the lives of his children.  The census says that he was a farmer and owned real estate valued at $500.  His personal property was valued at $340. 

On the horizon, though, was one of the worst episodes in American history, the Civil War.  Monroe County generally sided with the Confederacy, although the county was included in the new state of West Virginia when it was created in 1863.  In April 1861 Virginia seceded from the Union, and by September of that year, action occurred at Carnifex Ferry in Nicholas County, when Confederate generals Floyd and Wise were driven back to Greenbrier County.[10]  Militia units composed of local men provided defense of communities in many instances, and sometimes the local militias were commissioned into regular army units. 

Archibald Ballengee, who in 1861 was 42 years old, enlisted in Company A of the 166^th Virginia Militia.  His name appears on the muster rolls from August 4 to 11, 1861.  This muster card says that William B. Suttle enlisted Archibald on August 4 at Centreville, VA (Fairfax County), the site of the Battle of Bull Run.  There were many Confederate troops camped at Centreville, and it was the scene of much activity, but records do not indicate that Archibald was there at the time of either Battle of Bull Run (21 July 1861 and 28 August 1862).  He was also on the 166^th Militia’s muster roll for August 20-October 11, 1861.  The second card says that Archibald enlisted at Red Sulphur Springs on August 20 by William B. Suttle on August 20. 

Before the end of the war, Martha Florence, Arch’s second daughter, married John A. Harra, son of Washington and Jane Harra, 22 September 1864 at Arch’s house in Monroe County.[11]  John was 21 years old and was born in Greenbrier County.  Martha was 16 years of age. 

The youngest child, Herndon, married Delilah Melvina Deboys, daughter of Christopher and Margaret Deboys, on 20 August 1868 at Lanty Graham’s house.[12]  Delilah was 21 years old, and Herndon was 18 years old.

No marriage records have been found for Cynthia Jane, although researchers report that she married J. H. Bowden.  Mary Elizabeth married Marion F. Hicks as documented by her death certificate, but no marriage record has been found to document the date of her marriage.

In 1870 Arch, age 50, and Margaret, age 44, appear on the Monroe County census, in the district of the Palestine Post Office, with all of Arch’s children grown and married.  Arch has real estate valued at $800 and personal property valued at $216.  In his home are also Melvina Deboys Ballengee (wife of Herndon Ballengee), age 22; Charles A. Ballengee (Melvina and Herndon’s son), age 9 months; Floyd S. Ayres, age 11; and Margaret Honaker, age 73 (Arch’s mother-in-law). 

Arch and Margaret live alone in the 1880 census in the Talcott District of Summers County.  Arch is 60 years old, and Margaret is age 52.  On 2 December 1893 Margaret died of cancer at age 64.[13]  She was the consort of Archie Ballengee, and the information about her death was provided by J. W. Ballengee, her grandson.  Three months later Arch died on 14 March 1894.[14]
Poor Arch.  I believe he must have done the best he could for his family, but the misfortunes of the Graham family made it difficult.  When he married Margaret in 1859, it seemed as though he was putting the Graham troubles behind him and starting anew.  And as for Jane Graham, throughout her tumultuous life, it can be said she was a good aunt to her sisters' children.  

---

[1] Monroe County Births, p. 13, line 173.

[2] Greenbrier Era, 12 August 1854, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jordanjones/Articles/GrahamJane_murder_12Aug1854.htm. 

[3] Monroe County Births, p. 32, line 156.

[4] Monroe County Deaths, p. 13, line 41.

[5] Monroe County Deaths, p. 13, line 40.

[6] Monroe County Will Book 1, p. 150-152.

[7] Greenbrier County Marriages, p. 13, line 51.

[8] Monroe County genweb, school rosters, http://files.usgwarchives.net/wv/monroe/schools/studnts3.txt.

[9] http://www.wvculture.org/history/agrext/clayton.html

[10] “The Civil War in West Virginia,” WV State Archives.

[11] Monroe County Marriage Licenses.

[12] Monroe County Marriage Licenses.

[13] Haga, Pauline, Summers County Deaths, 1891-1900, Vol. 2, 1996, p. 14.

[14] Summers Co., WV, Historical Society Cemetery Book, 1996, p. 28.

Isaac Bellangee, the Pioneer

When last I wrote about Isaac Bellangee, he had made it to Augusta County, Virginia, dragging along numerous legends and myths that still float around 245 years later.  Despite all the fiction revolving around Isaac, his documented history is just as interesting.  Born around 1719 in Burlington, New Jersey, Isaac was raised by a Quaker family (Evi [Yves] and Christian Delaplaine Bellangee).  Evi died a short time after Isaac was born.  Unfortunately, Isaac's story leap frogs over a huge gap of information that blanks out the early adulthood years until he leaves New Jersey for the mountains of Virginia.  

The story of Isaac Bellangee is picked up in 1767 in Augusta County, Virginia, when Isaac would have been about 48 years old.  This is the time period when some people say he left a family behind in New Jersey, but that's not proven.  I don't know why Isaac selected Augusta County for his new home; perhaps he drifted South until he found a place he liked.  Quakers from Burlington County, New Jersey, were settling in northern Virginia, but Isaac doesn't seem to have any connection with the Quakers.  I don't know how living in New Jersey prepared him for the bare-knuckle life in the mountains overlooking the Shenandoah Valley, but Augusta County holds a hand-drawn survey of land granted to Isaac on Craig’s Creek.  Craig’s Creek is a branch of Barbour’s Creek which is in the modern-day area of Boutetourt and Craig Counties. There is no documentation about Isaac having a family at this time, so I think of him as being single when he settled on Craig’s Creek.  Some sources refer to Isaac Blangy being in Abb’s Valley (modern day Tazewell County) before 1771.[1] 

The namesake of Abb’s Valley was Absalom Looney who also had a survey on Craig’s Creek in 1770.[2]  It may be that Isaac knew Looney and that they travelled and hunted the area together.  There is no land record which indicates that Isaac settled on land in Abb’s Valley, and documentation is not presented in any source as to how it was determined that Isaac was in Abb’s Valley. 

Settlers often spent weeks away from home hunting and trapping before returning to their cabins. 

            “. . .the hardy backwoodsman of Augusta frequently left home and all its endearments, and took upon himself the toil and fatigue, as well as the pleasures, of a trapper’s life. . . the backwoodsman returned regularly to his family, at the end of a few months. . .”[3]  Perhaps during one of these trapping explorations, Isaac visited Abb’s Valley.

            In 1769 the part of Augusta County that contained Craig’s Creek was included in a new county named Botetourt.  The Annals of Southwest Virginia (1929, p. 138) gives a record of a jury trial that occurred during the 11 October 1771 session of the Botetourt County Court in which Isaac Bolinger sued Patrick McDonald.  A verdict was returned in favor of the plaintiff (Bolinger) for seven pounds, 13 shillings, and six pence.   

            On 1 August 1772 a land patent was recorded in Botetourt County for the 210 acres owned by Isaac Bellangee (spelling variation the same as that used by the New Jersey Bellangees) in consideration of the sum of 25 shillings. The boundaries of the land began on the south side of “Barbers Creek” and ran across the creek with survey measurements identical to the survey from Augusta County in 1767.  The patent was granted by George the Third, through Lord Dunmore in Williamsburg.

Indian attacks were problematic for the Augusta County settlers during the years from 1764 to 1766.  In 1758 Sir William Johnson arranged a treaty stipulating that the land in western Pennsylvania would continue to be used by the Six Nations as hunting grounds, and this provided a period of calm.  To pacify the Indians, the British government restricted settlement west of the Alleghenies, but white settlers, more or less, ignored those limitations.    By 1773 tensions increased between the Indians and the white settlers when the settlers began to move into the territory south of the Kanawha River that included Indian hunting grounds.[4]   

When the Indian attacks increased in 1774, Lord Dunmore wrote to General Andrew Lewis in Botetourt County directing Lewis to assemble a southern army that would march to Point Pleasant and there fight the confederated Indian tribes.[5]  General Lewis ordered men to gather at Camp Union (modern-day Lewisburg, West Virginia), ready to march to Point Pleasant on 30 August.  Isaac Bellangee is on the roster of men who were paid in 1775 for their services in Lord Dunmore’s War.  He provided 13 days of service in 1774.  Because the militia rolls and the public service claims are merged on the list, it’s not possible to determine what service Isaac provided, but because he was only paid for 13 days, his service was probably minimal.  The army assembled on 30 August and the Battle of Point Pleasant occurred on 10 October, so Isaac’s service may have been to move supplies from Botetourt County over to Greenbrier County to prepare for the long march.  The men from Augusta County took 400 pack horses with 54,000 pounds of flour and 108 beeves to Camp Union.  The supplies were taken from Staunton to present-day Lewisburg, but there was no road to accommodate the wagons from Camp Union to the Ohio River.[6]

            Isaac was one of six men in Captain Edward Cawen’s company and provided the fewest days of service among all six.  With such a small period of service, it’s unlikely that Isaac marched through the mountains to the mouth of the Kanawha (Parkersburg).  It’s more probable that he provided some resource (flour, beeves, horses, etc.) that he moved from Botetourt County to Camp Union.  Although Isaac didn't associate himself with the Quaker community in Virginia, his childhood instruction by the Society of Friends may have lingered on into his adult life and influenced him to take a pacifistic turn.  Was he a peaceful, quiet-mannered man?  Or a burly, mountain-man who hunted bear and trapped beavers for their pelts?  

Kegley’s Virginia Frontier (1938, p. 440) says that in August 1774 (perhaps on the way to muster for Lord Dunmore’s War?) a group of men “looked over” a way from the Sweet Springs Road on Dunlap’s Creek to Camp Union on the Greenbrier River.  By 15 November 1775, this road was “established” thus opening up more convenient travel from Botetourt County to Greenbrier County. 

After the resolution of the hostilities with the Indians, Isaac married a woman named Jean (or Jane, in some documents).  Her surname is unknown, as is the date of their marriage.  When the couple moved to Greenbrier County, they lived near James Graham and William Graham, which gives some credence to the theory that Jean's surname was Graham.  Four Graham gentlemen also witnessed Jean's will when she died, which demonstrates a close relationship between her and the Graham family.  The first documented birth date of any of their children is 1778, so it can be assumed that their marriage occurred about 1777 when Isaac was about 60 years old.  Some sources list their marriage date as 1768.  If that is true, either no children were born to the marriage for 10 years or no documentation exists for the children from those earlier years.

Children of Isaac and Jean Ballengee
Name of Child	Birth Date	Documentation
Henry Ballengee	Born 1778	“Ballengees of West Virginia”, no author, no date, from Family Heritage Center microfilm.
George Ballengee	Born 1779	“Ballengees of West Virginia”
Florence Ballengee	Born 1784	“Ballengees of West Virginia”
Jane Ballengee	Born about 1785
Isaac Ballengee, Jr.	Born 1788	Greenbrier Co. death records and age from 1850 census
Susannah Ballengee	Born 1788
Elizabeth Ballengee	Born 1789

  

With the arrival of the American Revolutionary War, colonists were required to declare their loyalty to the newly formed American government.  Isaac swore an oath of allegiance in Botetourt County in 1777.  This is the only documentation for Isaac during the Revolution which occurred from 1776 to 1781 (Siege of Yorktown).  A search of the database of patriots with the Daughters of the American Revolution reveals that no records of service during the Revolution exist for Isaac.   Two of his children, Henry and George, were born during the Revolution.

Isaac continued to live in Botetourt County at least through 1 September 1780 because a deed in which William Walker purchased 63 acres states that Walker’s land was adjacent to the land of Isaac Ballenger.  Sometime between this citation and 1783, Isaac had moved to Greenbrier County.  Kegley’s Virginia Frontier (p. 463) says that in 1783 a “new way was marked out from the place formerly Balliner’s (sic) on Barber’s Creek to the Sweet Springs.”  Greenbrier County was established in 1778, and when the trail across the mountains from Botetourt County improved to a “road”, Isaac moved his family to the territory he may have first seen when he provided services during Lord Dunmore’s War. 

The census for 1790 is not extant, but the census has been reconstructed with names from county tax lists in Virginia.  Isaac Ballinger appears on this “heads of families” list from 1782-1785 in Greenbrier County.  The 1787 tax list “C” from Greenbrier County lists Isaac as owning four horses and eight cattle.  The assessor called on Isaac on 5 May, and Isaac appears on the list adjacent to James and William Graham who were probably his neighbors.[7]

            On 8 May of the same year Isaac assigned power of attorney to Thomas Price of Botetourt County to act as his agent in selling his 210 acres there.[8]  On 18 October 1787 Isaac received a grant of 184 acres on the Kanawha and Greenbrier Rivers “by virtue of a certificate in light of settlement given by the commissioners for adjusting titles to unpatented lands in the District of Augusta, Botetourt, and Greenbrier” and for the sum of one pound sterling.[9]  The tract in Greenbrier County is described as “. . .on the Kanawha below the mouth of Greenbrier River. . .beginning at the Sheep Rock Branch. . .crossing an island. . .leaving the island”.  This land was situated where the city of Hinton is now located. 

            Judith McClung writes of traditional information that was related by David Graham Ballengee.[10]   The story goes that Isaac had intended to travel to Ohio, but one of the children became ill, so they stopped near the Greenbrier River until the child recovered.  They decided to buy the land using “squatter’s title” and that they finalized purchase of the land in 1785.  David Ballengee thought that Isaac and his family arrived in Greenbrier County around 1780.

            The story continues that Isaac built his first cabin in a field, but it burned, so he built another cabin in 1781.  “The home was sturdy and spacious, and the island offered protection from wild beasts and Indians.  For safety reasons there were no windows.”  There was supposedly a Ballengee home built on an island in the New River, but this could not have been the home that stood near the C & O Railroad yard that was occupied until around 1900 because, obviously, that home was not on the island. 

            Isaac’s representative in Botetourt County, Thomas Price, sold Isaac’s land there on 8 December 1789.[11]  The last documented child was born to Isaac and Jean in 1789.[12]  The family remained on their farm by the river until Isaac died.  The date of his death is not documented, but on 14 March 1798 Jonathan Rumford bought land adjoining that of Isaac Ballengee, deceased.[13]  In 1799 Jean Ballengee is on the Monroe county tax list with two tithables, which means that she is the head of the household.[14]  Monroe County was created from Greenbrier County in 1799, so Jean's tax record is transferred from Greenbrier County to Monroe County. 

            A grant of land was made to Jean Bellengee by the Commonwealth of Virginia on 22 November 1800.[15]  The grant included a total of 300 acres that bordered a survey of land owned by Jonathan Rumford (7,473 acres) and another for Isaac Bellengee, deceased (184 acres).  With Isaac’s original grant, Jean now owned a total of 484 acres.  The grant was located on the north side of the New River about a half-mile below the mouth of the Greenbrier River.  The survey began at Sheep Rock Branch; another landmark mentioned was Rebekah’s Branch. 

            Jean died between 15 October 1804, when she wrote her last will and testament, and 18 February 1805 when her will was probated at Monroe County court.  She left to her sons George and Isaac each one cow, and the 500 acre tract of land was to be divided equally among Henry, George, and Isaac, Jr.  Her daughters, Jane and Florence, who were married, each received one dollar because Jean said they had already received their “equal part”.  Her two unmarried daughters, Elizabeth and Susana, received all of Jean’s moveable property which was to be divided equally between the two daughters.[16]  The will was witnessed by James Graham, Sr., Samuel Graham, James Graham, Jr., and Lanty Graham. 

            Isaac's farm along the New River is now home to the town of Hinton, where a street is named after him.  His life is reduced to a few facts gleaned from land records and will books, but I imagine he had some good stories to tell when the family sat around the fireplace after supper.  Those had to be some wonderful stories.  

---

[1] Harman, John, Annals of Tazewell County, Virginia, Volume I, p. 24.

[2] Kegley, F. B., Kegley’s Virginia Frontier, 1938, p. 456.

[3] P. 341

[4] Skidmore, Warren, Lord Dunmore’s Little War of 1774, 2002, p. 4.

[5] Lewis, Virgil, History of Pt. Pleasant, 1909, p. 25.

[6] Waddell, Joseph, Annals of Augusta County, Virginia from 1726-1871, 1902, p. 183.

[7] Yantis and Love, The 1787 Census of Virginia, Greenbrier County, 1987, p. 163 and p. 171.

[8] Botetourt County Deeds, Book 3, p. 476.

[9] Deed, Commonwealth of Virginia to Isaac Ballengee, 18 October 1787, Virginia State Land Office, No. 15, p. 199, Virginia State Library, Richmond, VA.

[10] www.home.earthlink.net/~gilsdorf/id18.html.  Letter from J. O. Ballengee to Lucy Scott, 11 October 1937.

[11] Botetourt County Deeds, Book 4, p. 145. 

[12] “Ballengees of West Virginia,” Family Heritage Center microfilm.

[13] Deed, Commonwealth of Virginia to Jonathan Rumford, 14 March 1798, Va. State Land Office, No. 38, p. 131, Virginia State Library, Richmond, VA.

[14] Morton, History of Monroe County, 1916, p. 480.

[15] Deed, Commonwealth of Virginia to Jean Bellengee, 22 November 1800, Va. State Land Office , No. 48, p. 81, Virginia State Library, Richmond, VA.

[16] Monroe County Wills, Book 1-A, p. 49.