Written by Wyatt Pifer
Social Studies Fair 1998
As you travel along WV72 in Tucker County, WV you will pass by a small, sleepy community nestled deep in the valley cut by the Cheat River. As you pass through the town of forty homes you would never guess the history that has passed before you.
First named Fort Minear, after the 37 year old German immigrant who settled the community in 1776, he brought 40 colonists from Moorefield to create a settlement in Augusta County, Virginia. This turned out to be the first settlement in what was later known as Tucker County, WV. In fact, it was Tucker County itself, as there were no other settlements in this area at the time.
John Minear and his colonists built a fort, named Fort Minear, in honor of John. The fort was built as protection for the town residents against Indian attacks. The fort itself was a two story log structure surrounded by a twelve foot stockade.
In March of 1780, a band of Shawnee Indians crossed the Ohio River near Parkersburg and raided through the central counties of western Virginia. They avoided populated areas and struck isolated regions such as Fort Minear was at the time. News of the Indian’s approach made it to the residents before the Indians did. The residents moved to the Fort except for some whose families had been stricken with small pox. It was thought to be better to sacrifice a few people to the Indians than to subject all the settlers to the dreaded disease.
One family, the Bernard Sims family, was not allowed into the fort because of the small pox. The Indians attacked this family, killed Mr. Sims, and rushed into the cabin to kill those within. One Indian, who was about to scalp Mr. Sims, recognized the small pox on his face and hands. He yelled “Small Pox, Small Pox” and the Indians all fled.
The Indians went to a hill overlooking the fort and watched the settlers moving about down in the fort. Finally, the Indians disappeared and the colonists thought they had left. Jonathan Minear, son of John, and two other settlers, Philip Washburn and Daniel Cameron, went to feed their livestock about two miles down the river from the fort. But what the three didn’t know was that the Indians were waiting to ambush them. Jonathan felt a cork stalk hit him in the back as he bent over to get grain for his hogs. He turned and saw three Indians. He ran towards the river with the Indians in pursuit. The Indians caught Jonathan at a beech tree, and as he went around the tree trying to escape, they chopped off three of his fingers, finally killing him with a tomahawk blow to the head. The Indians drove pieces of his skull into the beech tree. The tree stood for 177 years until it was blown down in a wind storm in 1957. The road near where Jonathan Minear was killed in now known as Jonathan Run.
Daniel Cameron made it back to the Fort with news of Jonathan’s death and Washburn’s capture. Fearing an ambush, the settlers would change clothes and walk about the fort to trick the Indians into thinking there were more people in the Fort than there actually were. A gigantic slave named Moats was dressed in a soldier’s uniform and marched around in the yard of the stockade beating a drum to create the impression that the fort had been reinforced with soldiers.
A group of men went in pursuit of the Indians, located their camp, rushed in and killed three Indians, wounded three more and rescued Washburn. The Indians fled the area.
John Minear was also killed by Indians a year later while traveling back to the Fort from a trip to Clarksburg to register land claims.
After Minear’s death, Salathiel Goff took over a sleader of the community. He is buried and a monument stands in his honor in the yard of the home of Juanita Nestor. Her husband, Woodrow, was the grandson of one of the first 40 original settlers.
A monument was erected years later by the Minear family and it still stands today in the middle of town.
The town remained known as Fort Minear for 40 years. The name was then changed to Westernford. Another 40 years passed and Tucker County was formed. The county was named in honor of Henrt St. George Tucker, Sr. The first county seat, then Westernford, was formed in 1856 and renamed St. George in honor of his son, Henry St. George Tucker, Jr., who was born in 1828 in Winchester, Va. He was a lwayer, author and soldier. He was clerk of the Virginia Senate in 1851 – 1859 and as Clerk of the Senate, wrote the bill separating Tucker County from Randolph. Thus the reason the county seat was named after him.
A courthouse was erected on the same spot as the fort had stood. The courthouse kept recorded and deeds. It was built in 1858 and the town became incorporated on April 21, 1880. In the year 1893, a group of townsmen from nearby Parsons came to St. George and unlawfully took the records from the courthouse. They took them to Parsons by horse and buggy and Parsons became the official county seat. In Later years the abandoned courthouse crumbled and fell.
The school also had a dormitory, DeGraff Hall, where students could stay for a cost of $1 per month. The rooms were furnished with a bedstead, mattress, stove, chairs and a table.
After the school closed, the Academy building was sold to the Board of Education and was used as a public school until 1983 when the Academy building was destined for destruction. A neighbor donated land and the Academy building was moved to the lot beside its original setting where it still stands today as a museum. The museum includes four wagon wheels, the very ones from the wagon that carried the courthouse records to Parsons, and a specially constructed saddle that belonged to Abraham Bonnifield, who was born without legs. Bonnifield went to the St. George Academy, riding his horse with the special saddle.
In December 1888, a fire broke out that almost destroyed the whole town. Destroyed were three hotels that stood across the street from the courthouse along with several other buildings, mostly barns and stables.
The Ann Eliza Church was built in 1852 and is still in use today as the St. George United Methodist Church. The original rocks that form the foundation and the hand-hewn logs that form the walls were uncovered in 1991 when new siding was placed on the church.
After the moving of the county seat to Parsons, and the railroad not coming close, St. George lost its prosperity. Nothing major happened in the town for several years.
In October of 1954, the Cheat River reached out of its banks and tried to destroy the town again. Several families had to evacuate to escape its mighty clutches.
Again in November of 1985, the Cheat showed its anger. This time much more damage was wrecked upon the community. Almost the entire town was evacuated. One couple, Vittie and Thelma Lipscomb refused to leave and had to be evacuated by boat from a second story window. The rescuers floated over my grandmother’s house on the way to rescue them. Eleven houses were completely destroyed, mine among them. Even though I was only a small child at the time, the memories seem real in my mind from hearing the story told by my family.
On your next trip through Tucker County, you may want to stop in St. George and envision the history that has formed this tranquil community.