There Ought to be an Ott

         The mother of Lelia Clingman Humphries Amick was Lucinda Ott who was born and grew up in Greenbrier County. Not much family tradition has been handed down from Lucinda's family, but her father was Michael D. Ott, and her grandfather was Michael Ott, Sr., who has a significant history in Greenbrier County.          The stories of the Ott family of Greenbrier County begin in 1798 with the first documented record of Michael and Catherine Ott.  On 27 August 1798 in Orange County, a marriage bond was posted for Michael Ott, who was born around 1773 in Virginia[1], and Catherine Pence, who was born about 1778 in Virginia[2].  In the 1880 Federal Census Michael’s children gave the birthplace of their father as Prussia.  There is no evidence that he was born in Prussia (or evidence that he was not).  Perhaps he told stories of his father or grandfather from the old country so that his children always thought of him as having come from Prussia, or perhaps he came with his parents as an infant to America.  In all other records, Michael’s birthplace was listed as Virginia. 

Prior to this marriage several events are mentioned in official records in Orange County that concern a Michael Ott.  While it is likely that this is the same Michael Ott, it is not possible to say that all of them concern the same man. 

Chalkley’s Chronicles, a history of the court records in northern Virginia, report that on 15 September 1795 in Orange County, Michael Ott is preparing to leave the state and cannot continue to be the guardian of an orphan, Margaret Fulwider.  Michael Ott would have been about 22 years old at this time.  Margaret chose John Ott (relationship to Michael not given) to be her guardian.

In Orange County on 25 April 1798 in a deed which transferred land from Henry Ott to John Ferrell, mention is made of a line running between the land of Henry Ott and Michael Ott.  In the research of Jerry Ferrell, Michael Ott of Orange County is listed as the brother of this Henry Ott who leased land to John Ferrell.  According to the Ferrell research, John Ferrell was the first of these three to arrive in Orange County when he purchased land outside Stannardsville.[3] 

The research of Jerry Ferrell indicates that Henry Ott of Orange County was the son of John Ott.  Henry was born 15 June 1770 in York, Pennsylvania, and died 8 September 1840 in Rockingham County, Virginia.  His father was John Otte.  Henry married Margaret Ferril in Rockingham County 21 April 1790.  Henry was under 21 years old, so the consent of his father was required.  John Otte signed in German, as did Henry. 

Henry Ott, the son of John Ott, was apprenticed to John Miller (who came to Orange County with John Ferrell) in the 1780s and is supposed to have met his wife while apprenticing.  John Miller purchased land and released the deed to Henry Ott, who first appeared on Orange County tax records in 1795.[4]

            In April 1798 in Orange County a bill of sale is recorded from Henry Ott to Michael Ott for a cow and her calf, one cow, a yearling, one horse, and one sow with eight shoats, three basins, three dishes and six spoons, three pots, a Dutch oven, tea kettle, a skillet and frying pan, a chest, a table and three chairs, two plows, a lock chain, and two flat irons. 

           The Ferrell research concludes that since Henry Ott’s and Michael Ott’s birthdates are only three years apart, they are probably brothers.  Considering the relationship between Henry and Michael (residing next to each other, sale of personal property) and the citation of Michael and John Ott in Chalkley’s Chronicles, it's probable that John Ott was Michael Ott’s father.   In further proof of this, DNA testing conducted on a descendant of Michael Ott, Sr., and a descendant of Henry Ott, there was a significant match which indicates that the two men were probably brothers, making John Otte the father of Michael Ott, Sr.

Henry Ott relocated from Orange County to Montgomery County, Virginia, which was the reason he sold his furniture and farm equipment to his brother, Michael.  Henry Ott moved to Montgomery County with his brother-in-law, George Ferrell, and in 10 years he was living in Kanawha County, Virginia.[5]

            Then in August 1798 Michael Ott, who was about 25 years old at the time, married Catherine Pence, with William Campbell signing the bond for Catherine.  On 1 April 1799, Michael received a land grant in Orange County for 250 acres on some of the branches of Blue Run.  The deed describes the land as adjoining the property of Jacob Holesapple and John Douglass.  The southeastern line falls on the south side of Piney Mountain.  Blue Run is a stream in the southwest section of Orange County near the town of Somerset, which sits today among flourishing farms and rolling fields.  

            The parcel of land in the grant was the object of a lawsuit (250 acres of land adjoining J. Holsapple) which mentions that Michael Ott obtained his patent “sumptitiously” (perhaps a transcription error for the word “surreptitiously”) during a controversy between Benjamin Johnson and Capt. James Barbour concerning several tracts of land.  The mention of Capt. Barbour indicates that Michael’s land may have been located near Barboursville which is in the area of Blue Run.    The Madison-Barbour Rural Historical District describes the area:

 “. . .rolling, semi mountainous terrain broken periodically by broad stretches of fields and pastureland.  A web of 18th- and 19th-century roadways offers expansive views of unspoiled pastoral scenery. For more than two and a half centuries the area's gentry have exhibited their wealth by erecting some of the state's most impressive country houses. Sprinkled through the region are several 19th-century hamlets including Tibbstown, Barboursville, and Somerset. The district's name refers to the area's two most prominent landowning families, the Madisons and the Barbours, who were responsible for its two nationally significant plantation complexes -- Montpelier and Barboursville. The district also contains more than 200 contributing dwellings in various national styles and vernacular forms reflecting a broad socioeconomic spectrum.”[6]

Thomas Barbour settled in the area in the mid-1700s.  The Captain James Barbour mentioned in the law suit concerning Michael Ott’s land built a home that was designed by Thomas Jefferson.  Captain Barbour served as governor of Virginia from 1812-1814.   The Barbour Estate is now home to a vineyard.[7]  The land which Michael Ott obtained by grant in Orange County was part of a legal dispute in Barbour v. Rawlings that was settled in court on 21 January 1804.[8]  James Barbour had possession of the land at that time, but a Mr. Rawlings also laid claim to the land.  The land was surveyed and the suit settled in 1804.

By the time this lawsuit was filed and settled on 21 January 1804, Michael Ott had purchased land in Greenbrier County.  John Comer sold 185 acres to Michael Ott on 26 July 1803.  The deed describes this parcel of land as lying on the Greenbrier River and adjoining the land of Frederick Comer, Henry Holesapple, Thomas Edgar, and Jacob Kuhn.  Thomas Edgar was known to have property lying in and near the present-day downtown Ronceverte area; he built a mill in the area that helps to pinpoint the location of his tract of land.  Michael Ott’s land ran in a north east direction with part of it lying along the Greenbrier River and some of it crossing the river to a steep hill side.  Edgar’s land was to the south of the parcel, and Holesapple’s land was to the northwest.  This would have placed Michael’s land between present-day Ronceverte and Fairlea with the river on the southeast border.  In the 1840 census Archibald Edgar (son of Thomas Edgar) and John Stuart (son-in-law of Michael Ott) appear on the same page as Michael Ott and David Ott indicating that they all lived in the same vicinity. 

Michael Ott appears on the Greenbrier County tax list for 1805 living in the Sinking Creek District.  In 1806 a daughter, Elizabeth Ott, was born.[9] 

            Michael and Catherine had three children who were possibly born in Orange County.  Julia A. Ott was born in 1800 in Virginia.[10]  William Ott was born in 1801, also in Virginia.[11]  According to the family Bible of Michael D. Ott, he was born 5 December 1802.[12]   

            On 26 September 1807 (entered in court 26 April 1808) John Mathews granted Michael Ott a deed of trust and indenture for the sum of $222.50.  A deed of trust was basically a mortgage that Michael would have had to repay by a certain date or a lien against his property would require that the property be sold to repay the debt. 

Michael also appears on David Hanna’s tax list in 1810 with one white tithable (a white male over the age of 16), no slaves, and two horses.

Although no documentation has been found for the birth date of Michael and Catherine’s fifth child, Susanna Ott was probably born sometime between 1810 and 1820.  Census records before 1850 did not include each family member by name, but there was a female in the Ott family in 1820 and 1830 whose age indicates that she was born between 1810-1820 (in 1820) and 1810-1815 (in 1830) and who is unaccounted for in other censuses.  Michael Ott signed the marriage bond for Susanna Ott in 1832 when she married John Stuart, and she is probably the female that was born 1810-1815.

David Vitalis Ott was born 17 May 1810 to Michael and Catherine Ott.  Michael and Catherine sold their property in Orange County in April 1812 to James Lemons or Landrum.  The deed of sale indicates that Michael and Catherine Ott reside in Greenbrier County so that the deed documents that the Otts from Greenbrier are in fact the Michael and Catherine Pence Ott found in Orange County records. 

At the time the Greenbrier Valley was being settled, the United States was only about 34 years old, and its future was doubtful.  After years of conflict, the United States declared war against Great Britain on 18 June 1812.  [13]  The war concluded in 1814 with the Treaty of Ghent, but Andrew Jackson fought the British in January 1815 in New Orleans.  The United States lost only 8 soldiers in that battle compared to British losses of 700.  The victory propelled Andrew Jackson to the Presidency.  The War of 1812 in Virginia was fought mainly in Navy battles along the coast, so although many Virginians fought in the war, the conflict did not intrude itself in the daily lives of the Ott family. 

The youngest child of Michael and Catherine Ott, Simeon Ott, was born in 1815 in Greenbrier County.[14]  The Federal Census of 1820 for Greenbrier County lists Michael Ott as the head of the household.  In his home were two males, ages 0-10 (Simeon and perhaps David who would have been about 10 years old in 1820 or a son whose name is not known); two males ages 10-16 (probably Michael D. and perhaps David); one male age 16-26 (probably William), and one age 45 and over (Michael, Sr.).  Census records are not precise sources of birthdates.

The same census lists one female age 1-10 (probably Susanna); one female age 10-16 (Elizabeth); one female age 16-26 (Julia); and two females ages 26-45 (Catherine and an unidentified female). 

In 1830 the Federal Census of Greenbrier County lists Michael Ott living in South Greenbrier with the following household members:  two males ages 15-20 (Simeon and David); one male age 20-30 (Michael D.); one male age 50-60 (Michael, Sr.).   William, who would have been 29 years old, may have left his parents home by this time. 

The 1830 census lists two females ages 15-20 (Susanna and an unidentified female); two females ages 20-30 (Elizabeth and Julia); and one age 50-60 (Catherine).  One possibility for the unidentified female is the person Ann Ott who married George Stuart 21 February 1843.[15]  Andrew Hutchinson signed the bond for Ann Ott.  George Stuart and his wife, Elizabeth, are listed on the 1850 and 1860 censuses, both born 1822-1823, but are not listed on censuses after 1860.  If this is the same George Stuart who married Ann Ott in 1843, she may have died before 1850, and George remarried.  The name Ann Ott does not appear in any other vital records in Greenbrier County. 

On 30 March 1830 Michael Ott obtained a land grant for 166 acres on the Greenbrier River.  This land adjoined property owned by Thomas Creigh, George Stuart, Lewis Stuart, and Elisha Buckingham.   Again the Greenbrier River flowed along the southeastern boundary of Michael’s grant which fell in a north easterly direction following the river. 

On 2 October 1832 Susanna Ott married John Stuart, widower of Elizabeth Holesapple.  Michael Ott and John Stuart signed the marriage bond. 

On 5 November 1833 Michael Ott sold 40 ¼ acres of land on the south side of the Greenbrier River to John Miller.  This property adjoined the lands of Lewis Stuart and John Miller.[16]  In the lawsuit in Orange County, Major John Miller is mentioned as locating the 250 acres in a survey adjoining J. Holesapple, Richard Payne, and Kirby Douglass on 12 August 1792, but it is not known if this is the same John Miller who purchased land from Michael Ott in Greenbrier County.     

The marriage bonds of Greenbrier County record that David V. Ott signed a bond to marry Augusta D. Moore on 13 December 1833.  The bond was also signed by Charles Page, Augusta’s father.  Augusta had married Thomas Moore who died on 27 March 1832.  Augusta and David Ott had five children:  Catherine, born 12 October 1834; David H. S. Ott, born 2 March 1837; Sarah “Sallie” Ott, born 29 October 1839; Jewitt, born 1840; and John Wetzel Ott, born 2 June 1844.  Augusta died on 22 June 1844, twenty days after the birth of her last child.    David Ott later married Elizabeth Jane Page, Augusta’s sister, on 15 September 1851.

            In 1834 the population of Lewisburg was about 750 people.  The town had three hotels, six stores, a weekly newspaper, two tannery yards, three saddlers, four blacksmith shops, two coppersmiths and tin plate workers, three bricklayers, four carpenters, four tailors, and two wagon-makers.  Lewisburg was home to three physicians and seven lawyers.[17]

            On 1 May 1834 Michael Ott sold to Simeon Ott for $5.00 a parcel of land containing 125 acres adjoining the land that Michael lived on and lying on both sides of the Greenbrier River.  Included in the bill of sale was all Michael’s horses, cattle, sheep and hogs, farming tools and all of his household and kitchen furniture and grain on hand and sown, with all the debts due Michael.[18]  Simeon was about 19 years old at that time, and Michael was about 61 years of age.  Perhaps Michael was going to reduce the role he played in operating his farm, and Simeon was to become the “corporate head” of the farm.   

The Greenbrier County marriage records list a marriage between William Ott and Eliza Clingman in December 1834.[19]   The minister who performed the marriage was Rev. McElhenny, the Presbyterian minister who came to Greenbrier County around 1808 and served the area for many decades.  The William in the marriage record may be the son of Michael and Catherine because it appears that William was not living with them at the time of the 1830 census but had returned in the 1840 census.  In 1850 William lived in Cabell County and had no wife on that census.  His parents and unmarried siblings also lived with him in Cabell County.                                                                                                                              

Children of Michael Ott and Catherine Pence Ott
Name	Birth date	Marriage date	Spouse	Death date
Julia A. Ott	About 1800	None	None	After 1880
William Ott	About 1801	Dec. 1834 (?)	Eliza Clingman (?)	After 1880
Michael D. Ott	5 Dec. 1802	Jan. 1835	Elizabeth Clingman	Abt. 1880-1885
Elizabeth Ott	About 1806	None	None	4 Oct. 1853
David V. Ott	17 May 1810	(1) 13 Dec. 1833 (2) 15 Sept. 1851	Augusta Page Moore Elizabeth Page	24 Jan. 1867
Susanna Ott	1810-1815	2 Oct. 1832	John Stuart	About 1845
Simeon Ott	1815	None	None	After 1880

Michael D. Ott married Elizabeth Clingman in January 1835.[20]  They had the following children:  James William Ott, born 5 December 1836; Addison Ott, born 11 September 1840; Lockard Patten Ott, born 7 August 1844; Lucinda Ott, born 29 April 1847; Samuel Ott, born 26 September 1849; Edwin Ott, born 7 September 1852; and Clowney Ott, born 12 December 1855. 

There are no records which indicate that Julia Ott, Elizabeth Ott, or Simeon Ott ever married.  They continued to live with Michael and Catherine until the deaths of Michael and Catherine, and then the siblings lived in the same household until their deaths.

In the 1839 tax rolls of Greenbrier County Michael Ott is listed as owning 125 ¾ acres of land described as “river hills” valued at 50 cents an acre for a total value of $62.80.  He owed a tax of six cents.[21]  In 1840 he is again listed as owning the same land now valued at 25 cents an acre for a total value of $31.44.  He owed four cents in tax.[22]

The 1840 census of Greenbrier County lists Michael Ott with the following household members:  one male aged 20-30 (Simeon Ott, aged 25); one male aged 30-40 (William, aged 39?); one male aged 60-70 (Michael Ott, Sr., aged 67).  There was one female aged 20-30 (unidentified—Susanna Ott was aged 20-25, but had married John Stuart); one female aged 30-40 (Elizabeth Ott, aged 34); one female aged 40-50 (Julia Ott, aged 40); and one female aged 60-70 (Catherine, aged 62). 

---

[1] 1850 Federal Census, Cabell Co., Virginia.

[2] 1860 Federal Census, Cabell Co., Virginia.

[3] Jerry Ferrell, email dated 12 August 2007.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Jerry Ferrell, email dated 12 August 2007.

[6] http://www.b-ville.net/nomine/mbrhd.html 

[7] http://barboursvillewine.net     

[8] Virginia County Court Records, Chancery Suits, Orange County, Virginia, Ruth & Sam Sparacio, 1988, p. 62. 

[9] 1850 Federal Census, Cabell Co., Virginia.

[10] 1850 Federal Census, Cabell Co., Virginia.

[11] 1850 Federal Census, Cabell Co., Virginia.

[12] Family Bible of Michael D. and Elizabeth Clingman Ott.
[13]“The Petersburg Volunteers, 1812-1813”,  Lee A. Wallace, Jr.

[14] Federal Census, Cabell Co., 1860. 

[15] Greenbrier County marriage bonds.

[16] Greenbrier County Deed Book 13, p. 81.

[17] Greenbrier Pioneers and Their Homes, Ruth Dayton, 1942, p. 306.

[18] Greenbrier Deed Book 13, p. 234.

[19] Greenbrier Marriages, p. 188.

[20] Greenbrier County marriage bonds.

[21] Greenbrier Land Book, 1839-1842, pg. 22.

[22] Ibid, pg. 84.

Helen

Helen Nagy Estep as a young woman.

On the morning of February 8, 2012, a strong heart stopped beating.  Helen Nagy Estep, born in a coal camp in Logan County, West Virginia, died at the Greenbrier Valley Medical Center in Fairlea, West Virginia, having lived the past 70 years in Quinwood.

Helen was a first-generation American.  Her parents were both born in Hungary and immigrated to the United States shortly after the turn of the 20th century. According to her birth record, Helen was born at 7:30 a.m. on 15 July 1924 in the coal camp of Micco, West Virginia, which is less than a mile south of Switzer and about two miles north of Omar. Her parents were listed as William Nagy, a miner, and  Mary Quitko, age 41.

Mary Nemeth, half-sister of Helen Nagy,
and Andy Nagy (about 1918).

There are many obstacles in conducting research in Hungarian records.  The obvious one is the language.  I've scurried to find someone to translate not only records in Hungarian, but also records in Slovak.  Even when the language is finally translated, my keyboard does not allow writing in the true alphabet used in original records, so anyone reading geographic place names must understand that the missing diacritical marks do make a difference in the meaning of names.  Another disadvantage is that Hungarians seem to use only about six given names:  Andy, Alex, Johnny, Joe, Steve, and Mary.  All Hungarians do not have the same name, but sometimes it seems so.

Bill Nagy and Mary Kvitko Nemeth were married in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 26 July 1913, at the First Hungarian Reformed Church at 221 Johnston Avenue.  Bill's Hungarian given name was Balint, and he was born on 25 December 1874 in Komoro, county of Szatmar, in Hungary.  His church affiliation was Reformed.  The bride was Maria Kvitko, who was born in Dobsina, county of Gomor.  Her religion was Lutheran.  On a later census record Balint stated that his first marriage was at age 35.  The math is off a little, as it often is in census records, but this was the first marriage for Balint.  At the age of 19, Maria had been married to Joseph Nemeth and had three children from that marriage (Mary, Joseph, Jr., and Johnny), but Joseph Nemeth died on 25 October 1911 from nephritis.  According to a letter from Jean Plassard, daughter of Mary Nemeth Engelbrecht, dated March 17, 1998, Mary Nemeth took in boarders after the death of Joseph, and that is how she met Balint Nagy.

The parents of Balint Nagy were Istvan (Steve) Nagy and Szusanna Morics.  Istvan was born in Komoro, Hungary, in 1848, and Szusanna was born in Csetfalva, Hungary, in 1853.  They were married 24 June 1873.  By using dates on various records associated with Mary Kvitko Nemeth Nagy, her birth date is calculated to be sometime between 1881 and 1885.  Jean Plassard related that her mother told her that Mary Nagy was of German derivation and that Mary went to teach German to children in Hungary.  During World War I, people were forbidden to speak German, and in West Virginia Mary Nagy had only person to whom she could speak in German.  She tried to teach her daughter, Mary Nemeth, the German language, but it was difficult due to the war.  A search of Dobsina birth registers in 1994 found that one Maria Quitko, born 7 June 1883, died when she was 11 years old.  There was no Maria Quitko in the Roman Catholic birth registers.  In the Lutheran birth register (Mary listed her church affiliation on her marriage record in 1913 as Lutheran), there is a Maria born 7 June 1883 to Jan Quitko, a miner, and Zofia Kirschner.  Kirschner is a German name.  Based on the religious affiliation and the German mother, it's my opinion that this Maria Quitko is the same woman who was the mother of Helen Nagy.  Mary was christened in the Lutheran church on 14 June 1883; her godparents were Juraj Quitko and Zuzana Toth, nee Palczmann.

The first son of Mary and Balint, William (Wilchie), was born in Pennsylvania in 1914.  Jean Plassard writes that Joseph Nemeth, Jr., the first son of Mary and Joseph Nemeth, died during the flu epidemic in 1918 at the age of 11, and his body was sent to Pennsylvania for burial.  His death record shows that he died 15 November 1918 at Micco, WV (http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_dcdetail.aspx?Id=4547113), indicating that the family had moved to Logan County before 1918.  Their second child, Andy, was born in Logan County on 18 March 1918.

The baby Helen Nagy.

A third boy, Louis, was born in 1920, and Helen was born in 1924.  Mary Nagy's last child was born on 26 November 1927, Joe Nagy.  This was a time of crises in the coal fields of southern West Virginia, and Logan County was at the center of the action.  The Battle of Blair Mountain occurred in 1921, and Logan County was home to the notorious sheriff, Don Chafin.  Helen told that when she was a little girl sometimes all of the men in the camp got in the back of a truck and went off somewhere, but as a child she was unaware of the labor conflict.  The language spoken at home was Hungarian.  Helen didn't speak English until she started attending school.  Helen said that her mother kept a pot of soup on the stove at all times in addition to whatever she had cooked for the children because Bill usually preferred to have a bowl of soup.

The Nagy household operated under the efficient hands of Mary Nagy.  One of Helen's jobs was to clean the kitchen table and chairs and to scrub the coal cook stove each week.  After school, Helen ironed clothes for the wealthier women in the coal camp.  As a young woman, it wasn't long before Helen caught the eye of  a coal miner from Fayette County who was working in the local mine and rooming at a boarding house.  She was walking home from church when James Franklin Estep saw her and started talking to her.  Jim Estep tells that when they were young, he and Helen were quite good dancers.  They were married 21 November 1941, which was the day before Thanksgiving.  When they went to the court house to get the marriage license, Bill Nagy went with them because Helen was only 17 years old.  James borrowed a car, and they went to the preacher's house (J. G. McNeely), who was also conveniently the county clerk.  After the wedding, James asked the preacher how much he owed.  Rev. McNeely said that most people gave him $2, so James gave him $5.  James drove Helen to Fayette County where they spent their first days as a married couple with James' parents.

In 1942 Jim and Helen Nagy Estep moved to Greenbrier County where Jim worked in the mines.  At first they lived in an apartment over the company store in Quinwood, and then for a while the family lived in a house in Marfrance.  Their first child, Patricia, was born in 1942, and by the time they had purchased a house in the old company town of Crichton, their children included Rebecca, James Larry, and Gary.  Thomas was born after they moved to Crichton.

Larry Estep, Balint (Bill) Nagy,
and Helen Nagy Estep at Bill's
home in Logan County.

Mary Nagy died 4 August 1958 in a hospital in Huntington in Cabell County.  Bill (Balint) Nagy continued to live in Logan County, but on 6 July 1963 he was killed when a drunk driver struck him while he was walking  along Route 119 near Switzer.  He was 88 years old.

In 1966 Helen's family was completed when her last child, Christine Elizabeth, was born.  Many meals of cabbage rolls and chicken paprikas were set out on the kitchen table in Crichton;; kifli were prepared at Christmas.  Once I asked her what the secret was for making good biscuits; she said you had to have a biscuit pan that was at least 25 years old.  The years rolled along with the addition of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  The family mourned at funerals and celebrated weddings, and before you knew it, Jim and Helen Nagy Estep had been married 70 years.

Helen ruled over her head-strong kids and taught them to be good people.  She made sure they went to school and that their clothes were spiffy clean.  Jim always had a good lunch packed for his shift in the mines.  Life in a coal camp can be rough, but she loved her family and made a life worthwhile by caring for them.

Children of Joseph Nemeth and Mary Kvitko
Name	Birth	Marriage	Death
Mary Nemeth	19 Oct. 1903 (PA)	Walter Engelbrecht	(OH)
Joseph Nemeth, Jr.	1907 (PA)		1918
Johnny Nemeth	20 Mar. 1910 (PA)	Opal Wolfe, 28 January 1934	4 May 1989 (OH)
Children of Balint (Bill) Nagy and Mary Kvitko
William (Wilchie) Nagy	1914 (PA)	Gladys Kelley, 24 Dec. 1934	13 May 1966 (WV)
Andy Nagy	18 Mar. 1918 (WV)	Shirley Maynard, 16 Mar. 1946	July 1983 (WV)
Louie Nagy	1920 (WV)	Ann	31 July 1997 (WV)
Helen Nagy	15 July 1924 (WV)	James F. Estep, 21 Nov. 1941	8 Feb. 2012 (WV)
Joe Nagy	13 Mar. 1929 (WV)		3 July 1996 (WV)

Louis Nagy, third child of Balint (Bill)
and Mary Nagy.

Joe Nagy, youngest child of
Balint (Bill) and Mary Nagy.

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.

Violets and Patches

Newt Gingrich is the default expert on forgiveness.  He seems to know the most about that topic currently, having asked the Catholic Church for forgiveness for adultery and the many hurts that he has caused others.  Seems he forgot to ask his second wife for forgiveness.  


A quote often attributed to Mark Twain says, "Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it."  To me this does not sound like anything that Twain would ever have said; it is so absolutely well-written that it tickles my brain with its imagery, but it does not have the witty snap for which Twain is known.  This phrase appears to be written by someone who sought and was granted forgiveness.  


The perspective of the person who is doing the forgiving is better expressed by Edgar Watson Howe in Country Town Sayings (1911), "You can make up a quarrel, but it will always show where it was patched."  Only someone who has suffered through the healing of a tremendous hurt realizes that forgetting the quarrel is preferable, but the remaining scar is a tender reminder of how deep the hurt really was. Even if you don't dwell on the problem, memories pop up every now and then, tender to the touch.  Things will not ever be as they were before.  


My own experiences cause me to be astounded when a presidential candidate expresses that he went to the church and asked forgiveness for his many marital faux pas, as if that made every thing as it were before his indiscretions.  Life is not like that.  Behavior has consequences, both good and bad.  Even when you're sorry about something you've done and been granted forgiveness, like the slimy trail of a slug on a sidewalk, the consequences of behaviors regretted remain for all the world to see. 


Statements ascribed to Newt Gingrich are found all over the internet like fleas on an alley cat.  The one that strikes me as being full of portent is the one about his then wife, Jackie, as found in an article on CNN:  http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/26/politics/gingrich-divorce-file/

                                                                                                                                                                                           "Leonard H. "Kip" Carter, a former close Gingrich friend, backed the contention that it was Newt Gingrich who wanted the divorce.  "He (Gingrich) said, 'You know and I know that she's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of a president,' "  Carter, who now lives in South Carolina, told CNN recently, relating the conversation he had with Gingrich the day Gingrich revealed he was filing for divorce.   Carter served as treasurer of Gingrich's first congressional campaigns.  Carter, who was a fellow history professor when Gingrich taught at West Georgia College in Carrollton, said he broke off his friendship with Newt Gingrich because of the congressman's treatment of his wife during the divorce.  Asked in an e-mail whether that conversation in 1980 occurred the way that Carter recounted, Gingrich spokesman Hammond did not respond."


This is foreshadowing at its height.  After he left two wives, he settled with the blonde beauty that is seen with him now in every campaign photo, the ever-faithful Callista, whom, apparently, Newt Gingrich thinks is young enough and pretty enough to be the wife of a president.  There she is, in all her blondness and Tiffany jewels, the becoming accessory, trotted out for the media like a trained dog, because, you see, Mr. Gingrich has wanted to be president for a very, very long time.  Everything he has done during his adult life, from marriages to divorces, has been executed with this goal in mind.  


If you have ever been forgiven of anything in your life (and I have many times), grace is certainly as sweet as the scent of violets.  For those doing the forgiving, there are some ugly patches to sew on the thing, however.  "Forgive and forget" is not ever truly possible, no matter how much we try.  Just ask Marianne Gingrich.    

Dear Grandma

Lelia Amick, wife and mother, on the
 farm in Nicholas County, West Virginia.

My grandmother, Lelia Clingman Humphries Amick, always said she had two birthdays.  The official birth record lists her date of birth as January 1, 1888, but she was really born on January 8, 1888.  Sunday will be the 124th anniversary of her birth in Pool, Nicholas County, West Virginia.  I asked her once what her middle name was, and she laughed when I thought "Clingman" sure was a funny name.  It turns out that her grandmother was Elizabeth Clingman Ott from Greenbrier County.

Irvin Amick and Lelia Clingman
Humphries around the time
of their marriage.

On December 27, 1905, Lelia, at the age of 17, married Irvin Amick.  They lived in Nicholas County, at first in the home of Lelia's parents, Will and Lucinda Humphries.  By 1920 they lived in their own home, next door to Irvin's parents, Samuel and Martha Amick.  My mother said that Grandma loved her cows, and that she had a favorite cow named Reddy. 

 In 1930 Irvin and Lelia lived in Greenbrier County where Irvin worked as a carpenter for the railroad in Rainelle.  At first they lived in Dwyer, but then moved to Rainelle, where they lived in an apartment in the old hospital building, then in the Scruggs house, and then in an apartment over Blair Jewelry Store.  Their son, Teddy Carl Amick, also worked as a carpenter for the railroad.  In July 1930, when Teddy was 21 years old, he was killed in a work accident.  Irvin and Lelia remained in Rainelle with their surviving children, Leathel Delores, Carrie May, Irma Belle, and Marylene Gathel.

After Teddy was killed, Irvin and Lelia bought a farm in 1932 in Waverly, Virginia, where they had a small store.   They were afraid that Irvin would lose his job with the railroad, but as it turned out, he continued to work there during the depression. 

Lelia (in flowered dress) sight-seeing
 in San Diego with her sister,
Sadie L. Humphries Dorsey.

Eventually the family returned to Rainelle where they bought a house.  Lelia worked as a cook at the King Coal Hotel and at the hospital.  From their home it was a short walk up town to the A & P grocery store, G. C. Murphy's Five & Ten, Flint's Hardware, and the Gulf service station where Granddad treated me to orange pop.  When Irvin retired from the railroad, they had lifetime passes to ride the train anywhere they wanted to go, so each year, my mom and dad drove them to Hinton. where they caught a train to Arizona.  There they spent time with Carrie before travelling on to San Diego, where Leathel lived.  Each spring they returned to their home in Rainelle. 

I remember Grandma's house.  Granddad had a perpetual game of solitaire going on the table, and Grandma had a perpetual dinner going in the kitchen:  pot roast, green beans, and fried apples, seasoned with her proverbs.  "It's a poor house that can't afford one lady."  "Might as well eat the devil as drink his broth."  I loved playing Chinese checkers and reading her Better Homes and Gardens magazines.  Grandma's house is where I learned to play Canasta. 

In 1968 I went to Berea, Kentucky, to go to college.  It was a different time, I can assure you.  As a terrified 18-year-old, living away from home for the very first time, I did something that most 18-year-olds today would never think of.  I wrote letters.  And I received letters.  Letters from my mom and dad, from friends at home, from friends who had joined the Navy, and from my grandmother, Lelia Clingman Humphries Amick. I saved her letters for some reason.  I didn't save letters from anyone

At a family reunion at Lizzie Bennett's house in
Nicholas County:  Lelia's nephew, Clyde
Arthur and his wife, Sadie Humphries Dorsey
(Lelia's sister), and Lelia Amick. 

else, but I've kept Grandma's letters in an old stationery box for 43 years.  The letters offer encouragement to me and ask dozens of questions about what it was like to be in college.  There was no generation gap. 

She wrote 11 letters to me from October 4, 1968, to April 22, 1969, from High Point, North Carolina, where she lived with her daughter and my aunt, Marylene Rountree.  Her health had deteriorated until she had to "give up housekeeping", which meant selling her home and disbursing all of her furniture and household items.  At that time my mother was in crisis herself dealing with the illness of my father, so Grandma went to live with her daughter in North Carolina. 

Oh, how she missed Rainelle.  Although she missed going to church, her first letter is full of news and questions.  It was also full of encouragement for me, telling me, "I know what it takes to get it.  You have got it."  Twelve days later she writes, "I was afraid you would forget you had a grandma.  I am so proud of you," and that they are changing East Rainelle so much, I wouldn't "know it" when I got back up there.  Her plans were to return to Rainelle, but on October 26 she wrote that she had asked her doctor about going to West Virginia, and he looked at her like "he thought I was crazy.  That is all he said.  That look was enough."  

She wrote to me on election day in November.  An intense democrat, she said that "this is the big day for one of the big men.  I hope it is the one who butters our bread."  She was "sorry that I can't help him out" at the ballot box.  That big man was Hubert Humphrey, who lost to Richard Nixon.  She didn't write about the election anymore. 

Later in November she told me the news she had heard from my mom.  "There is no place like home to me.  Wish I could go home."  She wrote about their Thanksgiving company, but that it "wasn't like being at home."  By February 4 her letters took a sad turn:  "Well, I have been here 1 year and it seems like it has been 2 years in a way, and again it don't seem so long.  Just to be isolated.  Just set here, nobody to see or call to talk to or anything to pass off time.  No friends to come in.  It is the worst place I was ever in not to have no neighbors.  Not like W. Va."  In her next letter she wrote, "I have been down here over a year, and it seems like a long time to be cooped up, but thank the Lord I am still here.  I would rather be back home.  There is still no place like home."  No, Grandma, there really isn't anyplace like home. 

In March she is making plans to go to West Virginia.  "I hope to go to W. Va. this summer some time if the good Lord be willing and just give me health & strength.  My head says feet stick with me and we will go places, but some times they say I can't go."  In April after I had apparently written about my trip home for Easter, she wrote, "Would love to been with you but seems like I won't get back up there any more, and I would love to go."  She continues that her daughter in California wanted her to come out there, and her daughter in Arizona would come to get her as soon as school was out on June 3.  She closes the letter by saying, "Well, I guess you are tired of this gab."  No, Grandma, I wasn't tired of it.  Her last letter closed with, "Love & may God bless and keep you."  He has, Grandma. 

She never made it home until she died October 4, 1969.  She lived with Carrie only a few months when she developed esophageal cancer. I love reading the old letters of encouragement and news and weather reports, the letters she pondered over and wrote with her mis-shapened hands.  Dear Grandma, I wish you a "Happy Birthday", love, Janet.