Much of this is based on my research into the Underground Rail Road in West Virginia. One note: the illustration shown for the Salem-Harrisville Turnpike is in error. From Salem, the turnpike entered southern Doddridge County. The turnpike then passed directly by the brick home of Jepthah FitzRandolph and on to Ritchie County, by way of Oxford to Pullman. The road between Pullman and Harrisville is today known by Harrisville residents as the Pullman Road. The turnpike certainly did not pass through West Union because the old Northwestern Virginia Turnpike already existed for travelers from Salem to West Union.and points west.
I have been doing some research on the route of the turnpike recently. Do you know the route after it starts in Salem and goes up current Patterson Rd. to Greenbrier Rd? Does it go up current Hunters Fork and across the hill to Red Lick and then onto Meathouse Fork or did it go from Greenbrier Rd. to Black Lick then onto Sugar Camp then on to current State Rt 18? Both options would put Jeptah's house along the road.
@@stephenkelley2700 I wish I knew the answer to that. I suspect the option you described that included Meathouse Fork is the turnpike route. (Someone may once have mentioned it was a part of the turnpike). Maybe Doddridge County historians can help with that. I basically know some of the points along the way. New Milton is one example. It lies about eight miles south of West Union. Looking at modern maps, from New Milton the turnpike must have gone south. Maps indicate few east west options. I live in Ritchie County, so looked at where the turnpike must have been. Oxford is near the county line between Doddridge and Ritchie counties. My ancestor Alexander Lowther had the original post office at Oxford, when he lived on the Ritchie County side of the line. In the book by McWhorter about Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia, Alexander Lowther's comment before dying said something about hoping for salvation based in part on his hospitality to travelers. I was puzzled because today that area is like the middle of nowhere, remote. Looking at modern maps, the road from Oxford crosses the County line, then south for a distance, then West into Pullman and northward to Harrisville over the "Pullman road." People living in Doddridge County who have deep roots in those areas you mentioned: Patterson Rd., Greenbrier Rd., Hunters Fork, Redlick and Meathouse Fork, may have family oral history about the turnpike. I wonder if attorneys doing title searches in Doddridge County have found properties that mention the Salem-Harrisville Turnpike? A Harrisville attorney told me that the Pullman road was the old turnpike. I might also recommend looking at the History of the Seven Day Baptist Churches of West Virginia, written by Corliss FitzRandolph, a grandson of Jepthah. I have Seven Day Baptist ancestors myself (Davis, Maxson, Tharp and FitzRandolph). I know that early on the pioneer settlers sent out the finest hunters to harvest game and smoke the meat to preserve it for transport to places like Salem. Thus the name of Meathouse Fork? Also, the Seven Day Baptist churches were often visited by ministers from New York State, including Rev. Stillman Coon and Rev. Alexander Campbell (of the SD Baptist faith and not the man of the same name, Rev. Alexander Campbell, a founder of the Disciples of Christ). Those ministers were abolitionists and so were most of the West Virginia SD Baptists. Jepthah served as clerk of the SD Baptist conference that met in Berea, Ritchie County, in 1854. He may be the one who drafted the following resolution, which was adopted: "That we regard American slavery as a sin of great magnitude in the sight of God, and a flagrant violation of the rights of our fellow men and that it is our duty to use all of our influence against it."
@@sandramoore Thank you for your response. I live in Salem and grew up on Patterson Rd. I am helping the current owner of William Fritz Randolph's home Greenbrier Rd put the house on the historic register. Wiliam was Jepthah's older brother. He built his house in 1850. He was also a supervisor for the construction of the turnpike. I reviewed his personal papers that his family donated to the WVU Library. It confirms the route along Greenbrier Rd but I couldn't tell much after that. The WV DOT has an online map of the old turnpikes but it only shows the section from Salem along Patterson Rd. to the top of Salem Hill at the Doddridge County line. It then picks it up from Rt. 18 along the Porto Rico Rd to Oxford. I have also found some maps 1873 that shows roads on the two options I described before. I have been told there are stories of slaves being transported along Meathouse Fork in chains. From the online map, Meathouse Fork was part of the Weston-West Union Turnpike. My theory that William's house may have been a stop on the Underground Railroad also since he was also a Seventh Day Baptist and his house sits right on the turnpike. I didn't find anything in his papers to confirm that though.
@@stephenkelley2700 A couple of years ago, I was called upon by a writer for Wild Wonderful West Virginia magazine to help her assess the likelihood that Jepthah FitzRandolph's house had been part of the Underground Railroad. I referred to the research by Dr. Judith Wellman of New York State, who invented the Wellman Scale to evaluate evidence of involvement with the UGRR. I said that Jepthah's house would have to rank at Level 3, due to several pieces of evidence beyond the oral history: four separate chambers in the basement (each only accessible from one of four hidden trapdoors), membership in the SD Baptist Church where abolitionist pastors preached against slavery, and attendance at the SD Baptist Churches of West Virginia 1854 conference held at the SDB Church at Berea, in Ritchie County, where they adopted an antislavery resolution. (Jepthah was the clerk of that conference held in 1854).
Much of this is based on my research into the Underground Rail Road in West Virginia. One note: the illustration shown for the Salem-Harrisville Turnpike is in error. From Salem, the turnpike entered southern Doddridge County. The turnpike then passed directly by the brick home of Jepthah FitzRandolph and on to Ritchie County, by way of Oxford to Pullman. The road between Pullman and Harrisville is today known by Harrisville residents as the Pullman Road. The turnpike certainly did not pass through West Union because the old Northwestern Virginia Turnpike already existed for travelers from Salem to West Union.and points west.
Thank you for letting us know. The access to the maps of the old turnpikes can be rather limited and the source we had indicated this path.
I have been doing some research on the route of the turnpike recently. Do you know the route after it starts in Salem and goes up current Patterson Rd. to Greenbrier Rd? Does it go up current Hunters Fork and across the hill to Red Lick and then onto Meathouse Fork or did it go from Greenbrier Rd. to Black Lick then onto Sugar Camp then on to current State Rt 18? Both options would put Jeptah's house along the road.
@@stephenkelley2700 I wish I knew the answer to that. I suspect the option you described that included Meathouse Fork is the turnpike route. (Someone may once have mentioned it was a part of the turnpike). Maybe Doddridge County historians can help with that. I basically know some of the points along the way. New Milton is one example. It lies about eight miles south of West Union. Looking at modern maps, from New Milton the turnpike must have gone south. Maps indicate few east west options. I live in Ritchie County, so looked at where the turnpike must have been.
Oxford is near the county line between Doddridge and Ritchie counties. My ancestor Alexander Lowther had the original post office at Oxford, when he lived on the Ritchie County side of the line. In the book by McWhorter about Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia, Alexander Lowther's comment before dying said something about hoping for salvation based in part on his hospitality to travelers. I was puzzled because today that area is like the middle of nowhere, remote. Looking at modern maps, the road from Oxford crosses the County line, then south for a distance, then West into Pullman and northward to Harrisville over the "Pullman road."
People living in Doddridge County who have deep roots in those areas you mentioned: Patterson Rd., Greenbrier Rd., Hunters Fork, Redlick and Meathouse Fork, may have family oral history about the turnpike.
I wonder if attorneys doing title searches in Doddridge County have found properties that mention the Salem-Harrisville Turnpike? A Harrisville attorney told me that the Pullman road was the old turnpike.
I might also recommend looking at the History of the Seven Day Baptist Churches of West Virginia, written by Corliss FitzRandolph, a grandson of Jepthah. I have Seven Day Baptist ancestors myself (Davis, Maxson, Tharp and FitzRandolph). I know that early on the pioneer settlers sent out the finest hunters to harvest game and smoke the meat to preserve it for transport to places like Salem. Thus the name of Meathouse Fork?
Also, the Seven Day Baptist churches were often visited by ministers from New York State, including Rev. Stillman Coon and Rev. Alexander Campbell (of the SD Baptist faith and not the man of the same name, Rev. Alexander Campbell, a founder of the Disciples of Christ).
Those ministers were abolitionists and so were most of the West Virginia SD Baptists. Jepthah served as clerk of the SD Baptist conference that met in Berea, Ritchie County, in 1854. He may be the one who drafted the following resolution, which was adopted: "That we regard American slavery as a sin of great magnitude in the sight of God, and a flagrant violation of the rights of our fellow men and that it is our duty to use all of our influence against it."
@@sandramoore Thank you for your response. I live in Salem and grew up on Patterson Rd. I am helping the current owner of William Fritz Randolph's home Greenbrier Rd put the house on the historic register. Wiliam was Jepthah's older brother. He built his house in 1850. He was also a supervisor for the construction of the turnpike. I reviewed his personal papers that his family donated to the WVU Library. It confirms the route along Greenbrier Rd but I couldn't tell much after that. The WV DOT has an online map of the old turnpikes but it only shows the section from Salem along Patterson Rd. to the top of Salem Hill at the Doddridge County line. It then picks it up from Rt. 18 along the Porto Rico Rd to Oxford. I have also found some maps 1873 that shows roads on the two options I described before. I have been told there are stories of slaves being transported along Meathouse Fork in chains. From the online map, Meathouse Fork was part of the Weston-West Union Turnpike. My theory that William's house may have been a stop on the Underground Railroad also since he was also a Seventh Day Baptist and his house sits right on the turnpike. I didn't find anything in his papers to confirm that though.
@@stephenkelley2700 A couple of years ago, I was called upon by a writer for Wild Wonderful West Virginia magazine to help her assess the likelihood that Jepthah FitzRandolph's house had been part of the Underground Railroad. I referred to the research by Dr. Judith Wellman of New York State, who invented the Wellman Scale to evaluate evidence of involvement with the UGRR. I said that Jepthah's house would have to rank at Level 3, due to several pieces of evidence beyond the oral history: four separate chambers in the basement (each only accessible from one of four hidden trapdoors), membership in the SD Baptist Church where abolitionist pastors preached against slavery, and attendance at the SD Baptist Churches of West Virginia 1854 conference held at the SDB Church at Berea, in Ritchie County, where they adopted an antislavery resolution. (Jepthah was the clerk of that conference held in 1854).