Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1894-12-14
POINT PEASANTS CENTENNIAL
On the Site OF That Town the First WHITE
settlement ON the Ohio, south OF Fitt'-
burg Was Made


On the site OF That Town the First White
se,tI.msut ON the Ohio, south Of Pitts-
burg was Made.
Hon. Virgil A. Lewis, writing TO the
Point Pleasant Gazette says:
on tue 18th Of December, 1874, the Granu
Assembly Of Virginia enacted, 'Ihat TWO
hundred acres Of land, the properly OF
Thomas Lewis, at the mouth OF the Kan
avvha river. in the county OF Kanswha, as
they are already laid on into IotS anu
streets. shall be established town by the
name OF Point Pleasant and Leonard
Cooper. John Van BiOber, Isaac Iyler,
William Owens, William Allyn, Allen
Prior, John Reynolds, Geo. Clendenin ana
William Morris, gentlemen" were appoint
ed trustees.
The town which then begun its legal ex-
istence. is the site of the Oldest Enghsn
settlement on the Ohio river south OF PITTS
burg. Where the town now stands, white
men have dwelt ever since that autumeu
evsning-OctOber 10, 1174-when the ' IT.
GINA army rested upon the most mercer
contested field ever fought with the n
dams in Virginia, if not on the CONTINENT,
That day many "sons of NOBLE sJes ana
sires of noble sons" Welded up their lives
in an effort to plant civilizatiopja cue place
of barbarism on the banks ef the Ohio.
Point Pleasant and Mason county are
filled with the desceI dants OF men ana
women who played a. honored part IN the
early history of the cid tewn. What OF the
men who constituted the trustee" gov
eminent of th5 village a century ago9 AL
of them have long since passed from among
| the living One Of them. Major Leonard
| Cooper. 4eld commission in the military
establishment of Maryland, and when he
a 81 2 ha gftxya I'd ms
drew Lewis IN 1774, he fastened TO Staun-
ton and Joined the expedition. After the
battle of Point Pleasant he served through
out the Revolution in a Maryland regi-
ment. Returning to the Kanawha Valley
in 17S5. he brought his family 10 Point
Pleasant four years later. In 1871 his son
Leonard wos born, he being the first child
born at Point Pleasant. In l764 he erected
Cooper's Blockhouse, which was situated
on lands now owned by Hon. Geo. w.
Pullin, on the Kanawha, nine miles from
the mouth.
Another was John Van Bibber, who wit
messed the murder and scalplng OF his
daughter Rhoda, by the Indians at the
ferry landing on the Ohio side opposite
Point Pleasant In l19l.
Still another was Isaac Tyler, whose two
daughters were captsred by the Indians on
the high point overlooking the II. q Nj. de
pot at Point Pleasant and carried into cap
tivity, from which one never returned.
Still another was William Owens, who,
at the time of the organization of Mason
county in 1904, was the first to be granted
license to celebrate the rite of matrimony.
He was the grandfather of Mr.. Morgan j.
Banks, who was recently elected TO the Of
fee Of County Superintendent Of Free
Schools, receiving the largest majority of
votes ever cast for any man on any polltl-
cal ticket IN Mason county.
Among these trustees was Col. George
Clendenin, the founder of Charleston and
the founder and defender of Fort Lee at
that place. Among his descendants are
some of the McCullochs, Millers and 9TH
ers Of Point Pleasant.