Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-09-28
SOME PIONEER WOMEN OF WEST
VIRGINIA
BY Alma Boice Holland.

10 see the woman VINO IS concealed
behind it as its secret incentive"
History for the most part has been
about men by men, because OF the fact
that this was in accord generally with
the spirit Of the times when men. were
dominant in most worldly events. But
always there have been women who
have Loyalty and heroically done their
part in helping toward the progressive
destinies Of the human race.
1t is the personal, human interest
side which lends color to the bare
chronicle Of events and this is sup.
piled in the main with her resource
fulness in the face Of danger, by her
fortitude and her patriotism. No State
has more notable pioneer heroines
than the State of West Virginia.
AS an example of the courage which
characterizes West Virginia mother
hood there stands out in bold relief
the story Of Mary Draper Ingles, the
first white woman to see the Ohio
river.
One of the first settlements west Of
the Alleghenies was that Of Diapers
Meadows on the New River Fork Of
the Great Kanawha, now the heart OF
West Virginia. A half dozen Virginia
families penetrated into this fertile,
hill-surrounded country in l747 and
three years later Mary Draper, then
eighteen years old, was married to
William Ingles, the son OF neighbor-
ing farmer.
1t was said of her that "she could
stand by the side of her horse and
leap into the saddle unaided, ride any
thing on hoofs, and shoot like a hunt
err, as well as being highly skilled in
all housewifely accomplishments"
When the war broke out and the
western Indians, won to the side Of the
French, were incited to attack the
English speaking settlers, a band Of
marauding Shawnees came creeping I'D
the Kanawha, and the entire Settle
ment of Diapers Meadows was caught
unprepared and every member OF the
little community either killed, wound
ed or captured. William Ingles was
wounded, the children sent north and
Mary Draper Ingles carried away cap
tive towards the South.
The Indians stopped at the salt
springs above the mouth of Campbell
Greek, on the north side of the Kanaw-
ha, where they spent several days max
ing salt and killing game. 1t is an in
tcresting fact that Mary Ingle's great
grandson, John P. Hale, the West Viz
einia historian, was for many years a
salt manufacturer within few hun
dred yards of the spot where she
helped the Indians make salt in 1755.
From the salt springs the party pro-
ceeded down the Kanawha where Mrs.
lngles was the first white woman TO
see the Ohio river, or the "Riyer of
Many White Caps" as the Indians call
ed it,
Despite the agony which this pioneer
mother suffered, she masked it under
an assumed contentment, all the while
watching for an opportunity to ESCAPE.
When this time arrived she was seven
hundred miles from home, husband
and children. But what really looked
like an unSurmountable obstacle was
not great enough to prevent Mary
lngles from making the attempt. At
ter getting away from the Indians she
ate leaves, roots and berries, growing
continually weaker and thinner from
hunger Her clothing was soon in
tatters, and she bound the strips about
her tired, torn feet with thongs of
leather wood bark. Finally, however,
the long, long journey was over and
Mary Draper Ingles was reunited with
her family. Her des pendants are
scattered all over the Ohio valley. and
one OF them, a great grandson, has
written the story of her life.
Q! the early days of Ann Bailey. the
heroine of Point Pleasant, very little is
known, but her bravery at the battle
OF P0.n. Pleasant where her husband
vas killed Brought her into q rromi
hence which she continued to main
fa.' during tGc remainder * '.- d..
and which has preserved G-r nome a.
., OBJ. historical. Women 70. e..