The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-09-10

scenes and towns along the North
western Turnpike, and includes that
part of the highway which is be-
tween Clarksburg and the Ohio
River.)
The country between Clarksburg
and Parkersburg is quite different
from the country between Winchester
and Clarksburg. On the way out of
Clarksburg you still see hills in plen-
ty, but they are not wooded hills and
they are not in the class with the 9TH
ers as to height. Furthermore, you
see plenty of villages and towns and
individual houses. You do not feel
that you are far from civilization at
any point.
AS a matter of fact, civilization
came to this section before it came to
some of the other sections farther
east in the state. 1t came by way of
the old trails and roads through Penn
sylvania and Maryland and it en-
tered the western part of what was
then Virginia by means of the rivers
that flow into the Ohio.
If you doubt this, take telephone
directory today of any of the towns
west of the Alleghenies in West Vir-
ginia and see how many old Virginia
names you can find in it. In the Rich
mond telephone directory there are IA
Bollings, Is Carys, rs Mayos, Is Mon
tagues, IL Poindexters and Is Ruffins.
There is scattering of these Colonial
names in the directories of Norfolk and
! Lynchburg. In the Wheeling direc-
tory of the same date none of these
names appear with the exception of
Poindexter, one of which is shown.
Neither do these appear in the direc-
tories of Clarksburg or Parkersburg.
In the Wheeling book names appear
which cannot be found in the Rich
mond directory, such as Albaugh,
Altmeyer, Bachman, Braun, Coss,
Dague, and so on through the alpha
bet. In the Wheeling book the H Sec
ton abounds with names of strong
German tendency; the same may be
said of the names beginning with S.
| In the Richmond directory names be-
ginning with H and S show major
ity for the English.
The reason for the Scotch-Irish and
the Germans rather than the English
in what is now West Virginia is not
hard to trace. 1t is largely geographic
cal. The English settled along the
seacoast in Virginia and spread slowly
toward the Blue Ridge. Pennsylvania
and Maryland, although settled later,
spread toward the mountains more
rapidly, because the distance to the
mountains was not as great as in Vir-
ginia and because both the Penns and
the Calverts were active in bringing
settlers to their colonies, not only
from England, but from Ireland, Ger
many and other countries.
AS the settlers in Maryland and
Pennsylvania, and even New York,
pushed toward the west, they eventu-
ally came to the great valley that lies
between the Blue Ridge and the Allie
ghenies. They followed this valley
southwark, turning again to the west
here and there to go through noun
tain pass or to follow a smaller valley
This, says a West Virginia historian,
accounts for the presence in Kentucky
by 1853 of Daniel Boone, a Pennsyl-
vanian.
The stream of immigrants was
made up largely of Germans from
Pennsylvania and of Scotch-1rish
from across the Atlantic. With the
building of the B. and o and the
Northwestern Turnpike there came an
invasion of real Irish-road contrac-
tors and their men-from the eastern
states. Many of these settled in West
Virginia, particularly in the neigh
borhood of Grafton.
Even the homeseekers from the OIL
der parts of Virginia often went
down the Shenandoah Valley and then
crossed a part of Maryland and Penn
sylvania to get to what was then the
western wilderness of Virginia. A
favorite way for travellers to the Ohio
was to follow Braddock's road and
other pioneer trails on the Mononga-
hela and follow that stream into the
Ohio and proceed on the Ohio as far
as they wanted to go.
Many of those started for the Ohio
country before reaching their destina-
ton. This accounts for several small
early settlements in the northwestern
part of the state. The Virginians
seemed to concentrate around Clarks.
burg. 1t is possible, therefore, that
Clarksburg might be an exception
with regard to the names in the tele.
phone book.