Devon Robert Ellsworth Witting: Born Nov. 1, 1998 in Redding, Shasta County, California
Father: Kyle Ellsworth Witting - Kyle Witting
Mother: Bethany Nicole Witting - Bethany Witting nee Bethany Auld: Born July, 30, 1982

The following is an article copied from the on-line Redding Record Searchlight, April 23, 2001, about Bethany and Devon.

Article by Kimberly Bolander Record Searchlight

These days, 18-year-old Bethany Auld's idea of a hot date involves her boyfriend, her toddler son and a "Barney" video.
"Oh, we don't go out on dates," Bethany said, laughing about time spent with her current high school sweetheart, who is not the child's father. "He comes over and plays on the floor with Devon. I don't have time for dates."
Cheering her old classmates at basketball games, hanging out at the mall and going to school dances are rare events since Bethany's pregnancy at age 15.
Life now revolves around her 2-year-old son, Devon.
But for Bethany and other teen parents, that kind of dedication means sacrificing freedoms while keeping up in school. It means taking on a minimum-wage job to help pay for diapers and tiny, expensive jars of baby food. It means living at home so maybe mom or dad will baby-sit while a young parent buys the baby food, works at the fast-food restaurant, or spends a few hours in class.
It's quite a balancing act. Not every teen can cope with the difficult transition into adulthood and parenthood at the same time.
The hours of carefree gabbing on the phone with friends are history. Homework is a refuge, a break from the selflessness of tending to a small child. Social events center on friends' baby showers and an occasional trip to Chuck E. Cheese's. "Whatever's left after you're done cleaning or taking care of him, you might have time to call your friend, maybe, once a week," Bethany said.
Her old friends don't understand that she can't get a baby sitter on short notice. Plans to meet for coffee or a movie can dissolve at any time if Devon gets sick, needs a nap or simply throws a tantrum.
"I only have a couple of the friends I had before," she said, sitting on the floor with her son at Shasta Early Head Start, an infant parenting center in Anderson that is run in connection to Anderson Union High School.
Bethany works 30 hours a week at Corning-Revere, a kitchen supply store in the Prime Outlets at Anderson. She goes to school at Anderson High, and carries a 3.7 grade-point average — a big improvement from the 2.0 she scraped by with before having her son.
"I feel like everything I do reflects on Devon. If I get bad grades, it shows Devon he can get bad grades. It's like he's a ball of clay, and if I push my thumb in the wrong way, it leaves an imprint," she said.
Bethany is fighting her husband for custody of Devon, and the couple's divorce may be finalized this month. Devon's father must go to anger management and parenting classes if he wants to see his son, a judge ruled in March.
Bethany says she's a good mother, mentioning that she sees other mothers in their 20s and 30s who are not as focused on raising their kids as she is. But she still has fears about rearing her son.
"I worry about how I work so much, I go to school. I worry that I'm not spending enough time with him. My biggest fear is wrecking his life," she said. "It's mainly the stress of knowing that every decision you make has a direct effect on him."

Kyle Ellsworth Witting: Born April 24, 1979 in Weaverville, Trinity County, California
Father: Timothy (Tim) Ellsworth Witting
Mother: Carmen Marie Witting - Carmen Witting nee Carmen Harris: Born May 30, 1957 in Weaverville, Trinity County, California

Timothy Ellsworth Witting: Born Sep. 1, 1945 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, SS# 286-38-9197
Father: Jack Ellsworth Witting (Jack Witting): Born Sept 4, 1925 in ?????, SS# 300-12-8726
Mother: Martha Jane Witting (Martha Witting), nee Lemon: Born June 12, 1925 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Lester Leffel Lemon: Born March 1, 1888 in Rosedale, Braxton County, West Virginia, SS# 286-01-7954
Father: James William Lemon
Mother: Varina Jane Lemon nee Stalnaker

Sullivan Isaac Stalnaker: Born January 25, 1836 in Randolph County, West Virginia
Father: Eli Chenoweth Stalnaker
Mother: Mary Stalnaker nee Westfall

Eli Chenoweth Stalnaker: Born January 3, 1804 in Randolph County, West Virginia
Father: John White Stalnaker
Mother: Mary M. Stalnaker nee Chenoweth

John White Stalnaker: Born May 19, 1783
Father: John I. Stalnaker
Mother: Margaret Elizabeth Stalnaker nee White

John I. Stalnaker: Born about 1750 in ?????
Father: Jacob Stalnaker
Mother: Maria Elizabeth Stalnaker nee Truby

Jacob Stalnaker: Born 1708 in ?????
Father: Samuel Stalnaker
Mother: Listed only as Mrs. Stalnaker

Samuel Stalnaker: Born 1682

The following is information I found on Samuel Stalnaker and descendants

The Virginia Historical Society believes him to have been on of the Germans who were the first settlers in the valley of Virginia in 1732, in which year Jost Hite and others whose names are not recorded, emigrated there through Pennsylvania. That he was in Bucks County, Pennsylvania is proven by his connection with the Truby family who were settlers near Doylestown, and who came with the Stalnakers into Virginia and West Virginia.

That he was in Augusta County before 1748 is proven by the Journal of Dr. Walker, who states that in April, 1748, he met Samuel Stalnaker on his way to the Cherokees. (Filson Club Papers, No. 13, Page 42)

On March 23, 1750, Dr. Walker again met Stalnaker, who had just come to the place to settle on Middle Fork of Holston River, the last western settlement in Virginia. Here his house was built and here, no doubt, the Cherokees wished to meet the Commissioners of Virginia. On the map of 1751, this settlement is located on the Middlefork of Holston River, a few miles above its junction with the south fork, which is now Washington County, formerly a part of Fincastle, and the first county in Virginia named for George Washington. When Samuel Stalnaker was born; where he was born; when and where he was married, is unknown.

The next record we have is in Summers History of southern West Virginia, Page 58, in which is given a register of persons killed or taken prisoners by the Indians in 1754, 1755, and 1756, on the New and Holston Rivers and Reedy Creek. This register states that Samuel Stalnaker on Holston River was taken prisoner, and escaped, but that his wife, Mrs. Stalnaker and his son, Adam, were killed. The official report of this is found in Dinwiddie Papers, Vol. 2, Page 447, in a letter written to Governor Sharpe of Maryland by Governor Dinwiddie dated April 1, 1756, regarding Indian troubles saying "One Stalnaker who was taken prisoner by Shawnees escaped and says he saw six French officers and one thousand from Outboten? Bound to Fort Duquense and the frontier.

Samuel Stalnaker was an explorer, trapper, and guide, the first white man to discover Cumberland Gap, and who hunted and explored in Kentucky many years before Daniel Boone ever entered it.

Dinwiddie Papers, Vol. 2, Page 503; September 8, 1756, Governor Dinwiddie, writing to Colonel Clement Reed, acknowledged the receipt of a letter from that officer, through Captain Stalnaker and said "Give Stalnaker 100 pounds to qualify him to raise his Company and build a stockade fort at Drapers Meadow." The location of this fort is now known as Smithfield, Montgomery County, the first settlement west of the Alleghany Divide and at that time the first on New River.

In Summers History of Southwest Virginia, is the first official reference to Stalnaker by his title, the record taken from old Book of Courts Martial held by Augusta Militia, 1756-95.
"On July 29, 1756, a council of War assembled at Staunton by direction of Governor of Virginia to determine at what points forts should be built along the frontier for protection of settlers. Captain Stalnaker represented the Holston Settlement in this conference and it was at his request that the Stockade was built at Dunkards bottom on New River and Davis Bottom at headquarters of Middle Fork on the Holston.
An interesting fact is that Captain Samuel Stalnaker’s house was chosen as the meeting place for treating with the Indians by his Majesties’ Commissioners, at request of Chief of Cherokees held at Catawba Town and Broad River in March, 1756.

The last reference we have to this remarkable man we find in a statement to the effect that about 1768-9 J.F. D. Smyth, an English Traveler visited Captain Stalnaker at his home on the Holston River and remained two days. He says he found "the old pioneer still wise in the learning of the wilderness," and that he was able to direct Smyth a new route to Kentucky.

Captain Stalnaker’s death is wrapped in as much mystery as his birth and marriage. We know he had three sons, perhaps more and that his wife and son, Adam, were killed in 1755. Another son, George, was appointed Constable on waters of Holston and New Rivers in 1755, Withers History of southern West Virginia (Page 109-110) writes of George Stalnaker as later of Boltetourt? County in 1770. Of this branch of the family nothing is known.

Jacob, another son, came to Tygarts Valley with his sons in 1772. They prempted land in the pioneer way of "tomahawk right." Later these lands were surveyed and grants were signed by Benjamin Harrison, Governor of Virginia.

In Book L, Richmond Virginia Land Records, we find the following grants to Stalnakers father and son.
October 23, 1870, record grand was to Jacob Stalnaker, Jr., on east side of Tygarts Valley River, adjoining lands of Jacob, Sr., and Joe Westfall. (Page 272)
October 25, 1870, Valentine Stalnaker granted 150 acres adjoining Jacob’s land. This land was assigned to Valentine by John Truby. (Page 257) Years later, Valentine Stalnaker appeared before County Court and swore that he was "one of the heirs of John Truby and that Truby had never received compensation for his services in Revolution, Minute Book 1, R. C. Court. This proves that the two families were related, but what the relationship was, is unknown.

Jacob Stalnaker’s birth is unknown, as is that of his wife Elizabeth. He had sons Jacob, Valentine, Adam, Samuel, John, Boston, Levi, and Andrew. Andrew was the only son mentioned in his will, the others having been provided for and we have no way of knowing the order of birth.

Jacob Stalnaker, Sr. , built his home on the hill in Beverly, later owned by his great grandson, Daniel Baker, and still known as the Baker home. The house was built of logs taken from the old Westfall fort on the river-bank, but the building has been destroyed and not even a picture remains.

The will of Jacob Stalnaker, Sr., dated April 25, 1791, proven August; 1792, names wife, Elizabeth and son, Andrew and Executor, Mathew, Whitman.
Test: John Wilson, John Elliott, Edward Jackson, Abraham Claypoof.
Will Book 1, Page 8, Randolph County Court.
Jacob Stalnaker, Jr., son of Jacob, Sr., or Jacob 1st, married Eleanor ___?.
He was considerably in evidence in the real estate transfers noted in the Randolph County Records. In a deed dated April 26, 1800, Jacob Stalnaker, Sr., and Eleanor, his wife, sell to Jacob Stalnaker, Jr., for 200 Pounds a tract of land containing 100 acres on the south side of Files’ Creek, (Randolph County, West Virginia, Land Records, Book No. 3 and 4, P. 107)

In a deed dated Feb. 23, 1907, Jacob Stalnaker and Eleanor, his wife, sell to Adam Stalnaker a tract of land on Files’ Creek, a branch of the Tygart Valley River, it being a part of a tract that the said Jacob Stalnaker bought of Cornelius Bogard, (Randolph Co., West Virginia, Land Records, Book 3, Page 5)
He died in 1834, for on November 25th of that year the appraisement of the goods and chattles of Jacob Stalnaker, Sr., deceased, as sworn by Andrew Stalnaker, Jr., is noted in Will Book No. 3, p. 10, Randolph Co., Records. He died intestate. His children, as disclosed by the records, were:

1.Jacob Stalnaker, who married Nancy Channell, daughter of Joseph Channell, January 18, 1803 (Randolph County., Marriages, Licenses.) This couple had, among other children, Andrew Stalnaker, born in 1815, died 1888, who married in Lewis County, Margaret, daughter of Adam Smith. They had issue: Marcellus; Adam; Eunice; Newton; Kain; Mary E.; Hannah; Caroline; Thaddeus; Henry; William; and Margaret. 2.Mary Stalnaker, who married John Meyers, March 28, 1808. (Randolph Co., Marriage Licenses.)

Valentine Stalnaker, son of Jacob first, was granted land along with his father, Jacob, 1780. His home was what is known as the Yokum farm, and an old cemetery on the place, which has been restored, has disclosed interesting data of the family.
We find that Valentine died November 28, 1834, age 76, being born 1758. He was laid to rest by his first wife, Catherine, who was born, 1753; died 1803. The children to this union were: George Washington, Rebecca, Ann, Isaac, Abraham, and Jacob. After the death of his first wife, he married Lucretia Junkins in 1806. [Note: This doesn’t make sense. -dh] His Will, dated October 13, 1833, probated December, 1833, devises to his wife, Lucy, and sons; Abraham and Jacob. Will Book 2, page 447, Randolph County Records.

In 1832, Jacob Stalnaker and Valentine applied for pension, but Valentine’s application is marked "This man is dead." Later his wife, Lucy, made application on same service. Court records declare his death, 1833. Tombstone, 1834, So we find mistakes even in cemeteries.
His son, George W., married Susannah Hart; Rebecca married Jacob Lorentz; Ann married William Phares, Isaac married Stella Oliver, Abraham married Margaret Earl; Jacob married Eunice Stalnaker, daughter of Jacob 2nd; Andrew married Catherine ____, and died in 1840.

Andrew Stalnaker, the youngest son of Jacob the first, died in 1840. His will follows: Will Book No., 3 p. 117, Randolph Co., W. Va. Records, Andrew Stalnaker, Teste: Will dated Feb. 25, 1839. Will proved Dec. Term, 1840. William Martiney, John Phares, Robert Martiney. Devises as follows:
To wife, Catherine Stalnaker.
To sons, Archibald Washington Stalnaker and John Marshall Stalnaker.
To daughters, Catherine Lee, Mary Loffman, Elisabeth Bush and Sarah Chenowith.

Boston Stalnaker, son of Jacob the first, died in 1826. His will follows:
Will Book No. 2, p. 174, Randolph Co., W. Va. Records, Boston Stalnaker, Test:
Will dated June 22, 1826. Will proved Feb. Term, 1826. W. McCord, Ashby Pool, Chris Rhodes, Andrew Couch.
Devises as follows:
To wife Margaret, personalty.
To his three sons, viz.: Warwick, Alexander, and Hambleton Stalnaker, real estate.
To his son, Ferdinand Stalnaker, personalty.
To daughter Polly, who married Mathew White, personalty.
To Betsy Crouch, personalty.
To Dorcas Mace, who married William Mace, personalty.
Balance of property to son Ferdinand and daughters, Polly, Betsy, and Dorcas. "Any property that may be left to be divided among my four daughters, Katherine, Margaret, Nancy, and Eliza."
Son Ferdinand Stalnaker, Executor.

Samuel Stalnaker, son of Jacob the first, married Susannah Ratcliff, daughter of William Ratcliff, February 26, 1788. (Randolph County Marriage Licenses.) The children of Samuel are not in evidence on the records as his children, though doubtless he has descendants among the many Stalnakers in Randolph county. The land records show that Samuel was in Randolph county in 1820. (Book 6, p. 25, Randolph Co., Land Records.)

John Stalnaker son of Jacob first, was according to family tradition killed by the Indians. Records in Maxwell’s History of Randolph County state that he had a son, John, born 1783, a grandson, John W. who married Mary Chenoweth and a great grandson, John I., who married Elizabeth Hilkey. A daughter Rachel married Robert Chenoth, August 3, 1802.
Absence of Will makes it difficult to identify his descendants.

In Deed Book __, p. __, is recorded a deed from Valentine Stalnaker and Catherine, his wife, to John Stalnaker 141 acres of Tygarts Valley River adjoining lands of Joel Westfall and William Marten and Jacob Westfall. This was John, the son of Jacob first.

When Daniel Baker bought the Jacob Stalnaker farm there was an orchard on the place planted by John Stalnaker and still known as Johnnies orchard.
There was also an old tombstone leaning against the building, and still standing where the epitaph can be read:
"In memory of Elizabeth Stalnaker, consort of John Stalnaker, departed this life 13th June, in the year of our Lord, 1844. Age 56 years, 11 mos. and 4 days. (Born therefore 1788) She lived respected and died lamented Remember friend, as you pass by"
An old family Bible found discloses that this was Elizabeth Haddon, born June 15, 1787.
John Stalnaker was born June 15, 1787.
John Stalnaker and Elizabeth were married April 26, 1805. To this union six children were born. Washington, born Dec. 3, 1810; Abram Love, Jan. 2, 1812; Mary Brake, Dec. 17, 1819; George, Feb. 28, 1821; Isabel White; Feb. 24, 1822; Hugh, Feb. 11, 1831.

The deaths recorded were Elizabeth, above noted, and Rebecca Haddon, died May 3, 1825, mother of Elizabeth and wife of David Haddon.

A farm adjoining the Earl place and Valentine Stalnaker’s home was owned by a man called Black Hawk. This was Andrew, father of John M. Stalnaker, and grandfather of Mr. White Stalnaker, who is still living.
The name was used to designate him from another Andrew, who lived on what is now known as the Fountain Butcher home. Built log house that stood there. His wife was Catherine Channell, and his son, Adam was born there in 1836. Adam married Virginia Harris and was the father of several children.
Adam Stalnaker, killed by the Indians in 1782. Randolph County Records did not begin until 1787. Adam Stalnaker’s name does not appear on the records or would not be in histories if it were not for his tragic death. Where or when he was born and where he is buried is not known.
He entered Tygarts Valley with his father and brothers in 1772 and was the father of five children: John, Adam, Andrew, Jacob and Eunice. His youngest son Adam was born 1780, two years before his father’s death. The names, John, Andrew, Jacob, and Adam in so many generations, make it exceedingly difficult for the historian.

Adam, born 1780, son of Adam; killed in 1782. Married Naomi Morgan, 1805. Her sister Ruth, married George Wees. The marriage of these two girls made their descendants related to nearly everyone in Tygarts Valley.

Adam Stalnaker married Naomi Morgan, was the daughter Zedekiah Morgan and Ruth Dart, his wife. Both her parents were of distinguished Connecticut families. Her brothers’ and sisters’ names were Joshua, Ezra, Hezekiah, Lydia, and Ruth.

Five years after the death of her husband, Adam Stalnaker, "Naomi Stalnaker (widow) married John Brooks, October 10, 1820." (Randolph County Marriage Licenses.) She died in Randolph County in 1837. (Family Records.)

The children of Adam Stalnaker and Naomi Morgan, his wife, married as follows, according to the Stalnaker Family Records and Maxwell’s History of Randolph County.
1.Eleanor Stalnaker married Jehu Harper.
2.Daniel H. Stalnaker, who married Miss Sara Wylie of Greenbrier county, May 1st, 1839. (Greenbrier Co., Marriage Licenses.)
3.Maria Stalnaker married Isaac Baker of Randolph county, and their son, Daniel Randolph Baker’s heir now owns the old home on the hill built by the pioneer, Jacob Stalnaker.
4.Randolph Stalnaker, born January 17, 1808, on Files’ Creek; died in 1895; married in Monroe Co., in 1830, Caroline Erskine Zoll, daughter of William Zoll and Jane Smith, his wife, who was the daughter of William Zoll and Jane Smith, his wife, who was the daughter of James Smith and Flora (Erskine) Smith, (Family Records.)

The descendants of Jacob Stalnaker and his five sons have a goodly heritage. It took courage, perseverance, industry to hue a home in the wilderness, as it takes courage in these troubled times. One is safe in saying that all the Stalnakers in the state came from this family.

We find doctors, lawyers, preachers, judges in their ranks, besides those in military offices. William Stalnaker was Captain in 1810-12 and Andrew in 1845; Levi and Isaac in 1844; John M. in 1853; Soloman P. in 1862; Washington in 1802; and John was Ensign in 1805.

It is impossible in this short sketch to bring the descent down another generation.

The Steinacker family of Germany, in which, according to German Philologists, the America Stalnaker family has its origin, was anciently seated in Westphalia, Pommerania, and Silesia.

J.B. Riestap, in his "Armore General" states that they were nobles of the Empire in the year 1637, and created Barons in 1730. The coat of arms, borne by the various branches of this noble old house, is described as follows:

In view of the great interest aroused in the history of Virginia pioneers whether of the Jamestown settlement or the later explorers of the Valley, the discoverer of the Cumberland Gap should be honored. There is no more interesting character in the history of pioneer life in Virginia than the brave old Indian fighter and explorer, Capt. Samuel Stalnaker. That he was in Augusta county prior to 1748 is proven by the Journal of Exploration of the distinguished traveler, Dr. Thomas Walker, who, in his journal (Filson Club Publication No. 13, p. 42) states that in April of that year he met Samuel Stalnaker, then on his way to the Cherokees, between the Reedy Creek settlement and the Holston River. Samuel was already an experienced trader and hunter, and is believed to have told Dr. Walker of the Cumberland Gap at this time. Yet Dr. John Walter Wayland of the University of Virginia, in his valuable monograph on "The German Element of the Shenandoah Valley," just published, has missed this sturdy old pioneer, from the fact that his name does not appear on the land records of Augusta. Contemporary travelers as well as the official correspondence of Governor Dinwiddie, however, help us to prove him one of the most interesting and important men of his day. On March 23, 1750, Dr. Walker and his associates on their way to Kentucky met Samuel Stalnaker, who had just come to the place to settle on the middle fork of Holston River, and helped him to build his house. This was then the last settlement in Virginia to the westward. On Fry and Jefferson's map, dated 1751, this settlement is located on the middle fork of the Holston on the north side, a few miles above its junction with the south fork. This was, no doubt, the place where the Cherokees wished to meet any future commissioners from Virginia, of which further on.

In his journal, Dr. Walker in relating the incidents of the meeting, says: "We kept down Holstons River about four miles and camped; and then Mr. Powell and I went to look for Samuel Stalnaker, who, I had been informed, was just moved out to settle (1750). We found his camp and returned to our own in the evening." The following day Walker and his party went to Samuel Stalnaker's, helped him raise his house and camped about a quarter of a mile below him. The next we hear of this pioneer is in "Summer's History of Southwest Virginia," p. 58, in which he gives a register of the persons killed, wounded or taken prisoner by the Indians in the years 1754-'55-'56 on the New River, Reed creek and Holston river, in which it is stated that Samuel Stalnaker on the Holston river was taken prisoner, but escaped, and that Adam Stalnaker and Mrs. Stalnaker were killed. These were the wife and son of Captain Samuel Stalnaker. The truth of this is borne out in the official letters of Governor Dinwiddie, who on April 21, 1756, writing to Governor Horatio Sharpe, of Maryland, regarding the Indian troubles, says: "One Stalnaker who was taken prisoner by the Shawneese made his escape and says he saw six French officers with 1000 Indians from Outbalch bound for Fort Duquesne, and reported they intended to visit our front this summer." (Dinwiddie Papers, Vol. 2, p. 447).

Again in Vol. 2, p. 454, under date of July 1, 1756, Governor Dinwiddie, writing to Sir Charles Hardy, mentions Stalnaker as follows: "One Stalnaker, who was settled in Augusta county on our frontiers, was taken prisoner by the Shawneese about a year since, has made his escape and come here the middle of June. He says that a little before he left the Shawneese towns there came four French officers with 1000 Indians from the Oubatch and the back of the Lakes; that they were marching for Fort Duquesne, and from thence intended to invade our back settlements." On page 455, Governor Dinwiddie communicated to Lord Loudon the same facts told him by Stalnaker, July 1, 1756. Vol. 2, p. 503, September 8, 1756, Governor Dinwiddie, writing to Colonel Clement Read, acknowledged the receipt of a letter from that officer "through C't Stalnaker." The Governor then writes to Read about the forts, the militia and the pay of the soldiers: "I have sent my warrant on the Treasurer for L500, which he will bring you. Give Stalnaker L100 of it to qualify him to raise his company and build a little stockade fort at Draper's Meadow." The location of the fort at Drapers Meadow is now known as Smithfield, Montgomery county. The settlement there was then the first west of the Allegheny divide and the first on New River.

In Summer's "History of Southwest Virginia," pp. 66-67, is the first official reference to Samuel Stalnaker by his military title. The record is taken from the old "Book of Courts-martial" held by officers in Augusta militia, from 1756 to 1796, mentioned in Waddell's "Annals of Augusta County," p. 90. The record is as follows: "On the 29th of July, 1756, a Council of War assembled at Staunton, Va., by direction of the Governor of Virginia to determine at what points forts should be built along the frontier for the protection of the settlers. This council was composed of Col. John Buchanan, Capt. Samuel Stalnaker and others, William Preston acting as Clerk." Capt. Samuel Stalnaker represented the Holston settlement in this conference, and it was at his request that the stockade was built at Dunkards Bottom on New River, and at Davis Bottom, at the head waters of the Middle Fork of the Holston. Dinwiddie Papers, Vol. 2, pp. 566, 567, December 17, 1756. Governor Dinwiddie, writing to Major Lewis about the military and Indian affairs of Augusta county, says: "I must, therefore, desire you to form the Militia in the best man you can, and in order to qualify you to do it properly, I now send you 24 blank Commissions for your appointing such officers as you may think will do their duty with cheerfulness and spirit." * * * "As to Stalnaker, on the reduction of the number of forts, he ought not to complain, but I'm of opinion he should and desire you would appoint him a Lieutenant in one of the forts, as probably he may be of service hereafter, being well acquainted in the woods and a good pilot or guide on occasion."

An interesting reference to Capt. Samuel Stalnaker's house as the chosen meeting place for treating with the Indians by His Majesty's commissioners is in the following taken from Virginia Mag. Of History, vol. 13, pp. 252, 253 and is here given in full: "Culloughcutlas' Answer to the Commissioner's Speech." "I have given you a true statement of the condition of our country, and desire you will make a true representation of our situation to our governor. Our governor is old and infirm, and can by no means cross the mountains to meet you on the Southern Path, but I am instructed to tell you that he will on any occasion meet you at Stalnaker's, and he hopes that the governor of Virginia will not refuse him a meeting there." Such was the reply of the chief of the Cherokees at the treaty held at Catawba Town and Broad River in February and March, 1756. In the Dinwiddie Papers, vol. 2, p. 581, January 13, 1757, the governor, writing to Col. Clement Read in relation to Indian wars and Augusta county militia, and the military expedition then setting out against the Shawnee Indians, says: "The council agrees with me that an attempt, with 250 or 300 men, against the Shawnee's town may prove successful if conducted with spirit and secrecy, and, as Captain Voss says they want only to be supplied with provisions, arms and ammunition, which I think is a very reasonable demand, and they have all plunder and L10 for every scalp or prisoner they may bring in, which is also agreed to. You are, therefore, to order a meeting of the chief of the Associators, and tell them to make choice among themselves of the officers to command the expedition. Send me their names, and I will send up commissions accordingly. * * * As Captain Stalnaker and Morris Griffith go on the expedition they'll be proper guides, and I sincerely wish success may attend." About 1768-9 J. F. D. Smyth, the English traveler, visited Captain Stalnaker at his home, on the Holston river, and remained two days. He says he found "the old pioneer still wise in the learning of the wilderness," and that he was able to describe to him (Smyth) a new route to Kentucky, which was nearer than the way commonly used. This is the last reference we have to this remarkable man, who, by all concurrent testimony, was the first white man to discover the Cumberland Gap, and who explored and hunted in Kentucky many years before Daniel Boone ever entered it. The descendants of this interesting old Indian fighter still preserve his name in many states, but more largely in Randolph county, W. Va., to which his son, Jacob, emigrated in the year 1772, after the death of Captain Samuel. Another son, George, was of Botetourt county, also carved out of Augusta county. Withers, in his "Chronicles of Border Warfare," says: "In 1772 the comparatively beautiful region of country lying on the east fork of the Monongahela River, between the Allegheny Mountains on its southeastern and the Laurel Hill, or, as it is there called, the Rich Mountain, on its northwestern side, and which had received the denomination of Tygarts Valley, again attracted the attention of emigrants. In the course of that year the greater part of the valley was located by persons said to have been enticed thither by the description given of it by some hunter from Greenbrier who had previously explored it. * * * They possessed themselves at once of nearly all the level land lying between those mountains a plain of 25 or 30 miles in length and varying from three-fourths to two miles in width of fine soil. "Among those who were the first to occupy that section of the country we find the names of Stalnaker, Haddon, Connelly, Whiteman, Warwick, Nelson, Rittle and Westfall, Robert Botler, William Morgan, and some others," settled on the Dunkard bottom in the Great Cheat River country. Such is the history of the first permanent settlement of Tygarts Valley in a country that was erected about 1787 into Randolph county, Va. (now West Virginia), of which Tygarts Valley was and still is the gem.

This famous Valley of Tygart, watered by a river of the same name, held a melancholy interest for the first settlers of Southwest Virginia. Its settlement was attempted about 1753 by two men with their families, who entered it by way of the Shawnee Indian trail from direction of Staunton, more than 100 miles to the northeast, and which trail, by the way, was the chief highway between Tygarts Valley and the south branch of the Potomac River for a century after the permanent settlement of the Randolph county in 1772. The first attempt at settlement in 1753 was made by Robert Files, or Foyle, who settled where Beverly, the old county seat of Randolph, now stands, and by David Tygart, who built his cabin two miles farther up the valley. Both settlers had their families with them. From the first named settler Files creek takes its name, and from Tygart we have the Tygart River and Valley. These pioneers were not left many months in undisturbed possession, for about the end of the year 1753 a party of Indians stealthily entered the valley, and, surprising the inmates of the Files cabin, killed and scalped the settler and all his family, except one of this boys, who escaped and warned the Tygarts in time for them to mount horses and save their lives by rapid flight toward the old settlements in the valley over the mountains. From this time for a period of nearly 20 years the pioneers gave Tygarts Valley a wide berth, and it remained for their sons and grandsons to claim it for a heritage, being stimulated to such purpose by the accounts of its fertility and beauty brought to them by the hunters of Greenbrier county above mentioned. The early settlers in this valley did not at first give themselves much concern about land grants. They took up in the prevalent pioneer fashion such tracts as they could rightfully claim and settle in right of the unwritten "tomahawk, or corn claim" title, and busied themselves in the work of clearing and cultivating the fair estates they had chosen for themselves and their descendants. Later on their lands were properly surveyed by the authorities of Staunton, the seat of Augusta county, and their grants signed by Benjamin Harrison, governor of Virginia. In the Virginia Land Records are grants to the Stalnakers, father and sons, who were among the first settlers to enter the Valley in 1772 with the exodus from the old Augusta settlements.

October 23, 1780. Jacob Stalnaker, by virtue of a certificate in right of settlement given by the commissioners for adjusting the titles to unpatented lands in the district of Augusta, Botetourt and Greenbrier counties, etc., "is granted 194 acres of land on the east side of Tygart's Valley river, adjoining the lands of Jacob Stalnaker, Jr., and John Truby." This old grant to the patriarch of the large and influential Stalnaker family in West Virginia, signed by Governor Benjamin Harrison, is still preserved, yellow with age, by one of his descendants through his son Adam, who was killed by the Indians in 1782. The grant is framed behind glass, and is regarded as the most precious of the heirlooms that have come down through the generations from their progenitor in Tygart's Valley. Reverting to the 1772, or second settlement of Tygart's Valley, and the relations of the settlers with the Indians, the histories show that this second settlement, though much stronger and able to cope with the Indians, had considerable trouble with their sudden raids, a number of people being surprised and slaughtered from time to time. On pages 342 and 343 in Withers "Border Warfare" (New Edition, 1805) treating of Indian outrages in Randolph county, we find the following: "Disappointed in their hopes of involving the inhabitants of the Buchanan settlements (this was in 1782) in destruction, the savages went on to the Valley (Tygart's Valley). Here, between Westfall's and Wilson's forts they came upon John Bush and his wife, Jacob Stalnaker and his son, Adam. The two latter being on horseback and riding behind Bush were fired at, and Adam fell. The old gentleman rode briskly on, but some of the savages were before him and endeavored to catch the reins of his bridle and thus stop his flight. He, however, escaped them all. The horse from which Adam Stalnaker had fallen was caught by Bush, and both he and Mrs. Bush got safely away on him."

The tradition concerning this butchery of Adam Stalnaker by the Indians is familiar to the inhabitants of Beverly and the Valley generally. The exact spot where the unfortunate man was killed is well known to this day. Long after the tragedy, which occurred in a hollow about three miles north of Beverly, the place was known as "Spook Hollow," and was carefully avoided by the Negroes and the superstitious among the whites. Mr. Daniel Randolph Baker, born in 1846, son of Maria Stalnaker Baker, who was born in 1809, has recently had recorded in due form his affidavit regarding the killing of his great-grandfather, Adam Stalnaker, as related to him by his mother, the facts having been impressed upon her when her father, Adam Stalnaker, took her to the scene of the massacre and recited the details of his father's tragic end. This Adam Stalnaker of the Tygarts Valley tragedy was the grandson of Capt. Samuel Stalnaker, the pioneer and Indian fighter of Augusta county, whose son, Adam, was killed by the Shawnee Indians on the Holston River 1755. The Adam of Tygarts Valley went to the new settlement with his father, Jacob Stalnaker, son of Captain Samuel, as shown above. The children of the second Adam Stalnaker were John Adam, Andrew, Jacob and Eunice.

If Jacob Stalnaker had hunted the whole of Tygarts Valley for a family settlement he probably would have failed to find a more beautiful spot to plant his home than the site he selected. His grant included a fine expanse of rich, level soil on the floor of the valley, flanked by a high, round hill on the east, back of which were his rolling upland wheat and grass fields. He built his substantial log house on the very apex of the hill, from which he commanded the grand mountain chains to the west and miles of the intervening valley. In building his home on this land he displayed the military education which he, doubtless, acquired in fighting the Indians under his father, Captain Samuel Stalnaker, and other Indian tribes in the Far Southwest, for surely a half dozen rifleman could have safely defeated a tribe of Indians behind log walls on the mound which rolls so abruptly down to the lower ground. Here he lived and cultivated his land from 1772 until near the close of the eighteenth century surrounded by his children, grandchildren and neighbors of his youth who had left the more stirring scenes of the Far Southwest with him and settled in this lovely valley in the heart of the mountains. Neither the tomahawk of the fierce savage nor the rock and carnage of battles between hostile armies of white men have left any visible scars on this hill or in the town below. All they have left are memories. When Stonewall Jackson was a boy he often visited this old pioneer home on the hill while it was in possession of Jacob Stalnaker, one of the descendants of Jacob the first. The old people in Beverly remember him as a young man just on the threshold of his life's career. One of Jackson's sisters married a Mr. Arnold, who lived between Beverly and the present comparatively new city of Elkins. The station of Arnold, on the Western Maryland Railroad, that connects Beverly with Elkins, was named for Mr. Arnold. Strange to say, Mrs. Arnold was a stanch Unionist while her brother was winning immortal fame as a Confederate officer.

The Stalnaker men of Randolph county have served their country in both military and civil offices; they have intermarried with other prominent Virginia and West Virginia families, including the Morgans, Harts, Harls, Whites, Bakers, Chenowiths, Ratcliffs, Waynes, Harpers and Hamiltons. Those in the War of 1812-14 were Capt. William Stalnaker and Lieut. George Stalnaker. The latter was also a justice of the peace in 1814, one of the commissioners of reve-nue in 1822 and elected sheriff of Randolph county in 1833 and for several terms follow-ing. In the state militia there were Lieut. Washington Stalnaker, 1848; Lieut. Alfred Stal- naker, 1862; Ensign John Stalnaker, 1805; and Lieuts. Levi and Isaac C. Stalnaker, 1844. The family has been represented in the list of justices of the peace and on the bench of the higher courts and in the state legislature. Descendants of Capt. Samuel Stalnaker still live on the beautiful scene of Jacob Stalnaker's home in the Tygarts Valley, Randolph county, W. Va. Major Randolph Stalnaker, of Wheeling, W. Va., is one of the most distinguished representatives of the pioneer explorer and Indian fighter of Augusta county. Like his ancestors, he has served his country with distinction. Major Stalnaker was secretary of state from 1881 to 1885, was delegate to the National Gold and Democratic Convention at Indianapolis in 1896, and was selected by that convention a national committeeman from West Virginia. He has been in the law department of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for the past 20 years. His brother, the late Dr. J. W. Stalnaker, of Greenbrier county, West Virginia, was a surgeon in the Confederate Army. Both were sons of Mr. Randolph Stalnaker, and his wife, Caroline Eskine Zall. Other children of this couple are Sarah Stalnaker, who married Mr. F. B. Baugh, of Virginia; Caroline Eskine Zall, who married Mr. William Preston Hix; Albert Gallatine Stalnaker, who married Miss Belle Paxton, of Virginia; Mary Lewis Stalnaker, who married Mr. Joseph C. Hale, of Brooklyn, N. Y.; Mr. Daniel E. Stalnaker, of Wheeling, West Virginia.