Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1916-07-21

registrar and an election officer. He
permitted every old Confederate to
register and vote. The registration
list, ballots, ETC., were regularly sent
n to Lewisburg, and there was at
that day gentleman known as "Old
G2ratch;;" who scratched off all the
names of these Confederates and not
one was permitted to be counted
From his cativity and zeal in this
respect this election supervisor re-
ceived the name of "Old Scratch"
which followed him to the grave, but
was not buried with him. .r.
The children of this Lick Creek
region were growing up in homespun
and without education. No school
! houses; no grist mill within a dis
lance Of nine or ten miles, and it was
seventeen miles to a carding ma
chine. We carried our wool to and
from Col A. ]. Percy ssmil, where it
was manufactured into rolls. To Sc
cure clothing the proceedings were,
! first for the farmer to clip his sheep,
wash the wool, and one of the boys,
| the writer often, for instance, to
load it on horseback and carry it to
Piercy's, II miles, where it would
J be carded into rolls, then return on
another day month Or so later for
it-a 68 mile ride in all. At'home
the industrious women folks manu-
featured, it into jeans, blankets, etc.,
for general utility purposes. The old
loom and the spinning wheel and the
fax break were still familiar personal
effects when The Greenbrier hide
Tpendent, under the guidance of Col.
Harlow, first began to make its APP
pearance in Lick Creek homes.
These soldier citizens. tho disfran-
chised and discouraged, went to work
in earnest on the barren hillsides
and rocky bottoms to make an hon
est living for themselves and families
regardless of discouraging govern
mental guarantees, and to secure
some part of an education for thei1
children.
i There was one Greenbrier county
Justice of the Peace in that region
prior to the formation of Summers
who took Acknowledgements of deed.
and refused people justice, and tt
his legal documents always signed hi:
name, "T. ]. Jones, Justice, J. p
He was the most enlightened Of
fetal permitted to reign. We haG
no Board of Education; one schoo
trustee is all thst can be remem
bered. The purchasers of all oul
, stock, sheep, etc., came from the
Muddy Creek country. James Jar
J, rett was familiar personality in al
! lithat country; so was Alexander An
n derson, both from the Muddy Creel
Z Icountry; Thomas l.. George, JohI
EkJeorge, Tom Lewis and Mike Lewis
Stnd then there was Samuel Luding
ton and Joseph Jarrett. Andrew
Johnson, the father of Capt. Dick,
later Greenbrier's good sheriff ant
a brave Confed. Joseph Stevens
Henry Martin, Henry Baker, Johr
Lewis, Harvey Lewis, senior ant
, junior, and others remembered, al
from the Meadows and muddy Creel
regions. Our nearest -four mill il
all the country west of Snake RuI
was at Rfchmond's Falls which could
be reached by crossing New River il
the canoe. But with all these dis
couraging conditions it was a splen
did country and a good people. Lock!
thieves and lawbreakers were moi
known. We doubt if there was evel
witness summoned before the grand
jury at Lewisburg from all that re
gion for hundred years prior tx
the formation of Summers and while
part of Greenbrier. There was alb.
solutely no crime until about the time
of the building of the Chesapeake &
Ohio railroad, and we were parti
toned into Summers.
AS an inctance of thrift we men.
ton William deQuasie, who, with
his wife. full-blooded French, with
all their worldly possessions in bund.
les, on their backs, walked across the
mountains, rented a scrap of ground
and went to John and Alex. Miller
two enterprising farmers in those
days, to borrow seed corn. They
were refused credit. Before these
gentlemen died they borrowed many
hundreds of dollars from these thrift.
ty French neacan+ nennIa uhn CO.