Henry M. McWhorter *
Birth: 13 Nov 1760, Orange Co., New York, USA
Death: 4 Feb 1848, McKinney's Run, Lewis Co., West Virginia, USA
Burial: Methodist Episcopal Church, McWhorter, Lewis Co., West Virginia, USA
Father: Gilbert? McWhorter *
Mother: Magdalean (McWhorter) *
- Married Mary Fields * on 1 Aug 1783 at Bucks Co., Pennsylvania, USA
- Child 1: Thomas McWhorter ABT 1785 - m. Delilah Stalnaker
- Child 2: Walter Fields McWhorter * 31 Oct 1787 - 12 Aug 1860 m. Margaret Hurst *
- Child 3: John McWhorter -
Notes: Henry's log Cabin was moved to the grounds of Jackson's Mill State 4-H camp, now a part o f a National Historic Site, and is available for tours.
From The History of West Virginia, Old and New, by James Morton Callahan, 1923, Vol. I, pg. 9 4-
Among the early pioneers who found their way into Northwestern Virginia after the close of th e war of 1776 was Henry McWhorter. He was born in Orange County, New York, November 33th. 176 0. His father, a linen-weaver by trade, hailed from Northern Ireland and settled in New Yor k after the close of the French and Indian war. Early in life he married a Miss Fields, and s oon afterwards, with her and one or two children, sought a home in the wilds of Northwester n Virginia, settling on McKensies Run, a branch of Hackers Creek, in Harrison county, in 1784 . Here he erected his cabin and cleared land, but three years later moved to near West's Fort , where "Jane Lew" now stands, and on the south bank of the murkey Hackers Creek, within a fe w hundred yards east of West's Fort, built a house of hewn logs, where he resided for 37 year s. This house-18 1/2 feet by 24 feet, of most sub- stantial construction, of pioneer characte ristics, with fireplace 6 feet 10 inches wide and 3 feet 6 inches high-is the oldest house i n the historic Hackers Creek Valley, if not in Central West Virginia. After settling here McW horter experienced many privations from Indian war- fare, and underwent all the horrors and h ardships of pioneer life upon the border. Being a millwright by trade he erected near his res idence, on the banks of the creek, the first mill in what are now Lewis and Upshur Counties . To this mill came the settlers from a radius of many miles to get their corn ground, and t o this mill came the settlers from the Buckhannon settlement, following the blazed path leadi ng through the wilderness from one settlement to the other. And it is a tra- ditional fact th at no customer of his ever returned home "hungry and cold." It is still related of him that a t one time the settlements were suffering from a scarcity of breadstuff, and parties came fro m distant settlements and offered him over $1.00 per bushel for all the corn stored in his mi ll, which offer he refused, giving as his reason that if he did so his neighbors would suffer . He made frequent trips to Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) in flat boats, via the West Fork and M onongahela rivers, exchanging furs, jerked venison, etc., for am- munition and other home nec essities. On one of these trips he was accompanied by Jesse Hughes, the most noted Indian sco ut and fighter in Western Virginia (of whom local tradition says "he spared neither age nor s ex when on an Indian Killing").
HENRY McWHORTER
LEWIS COUNTY
PRIVATE
VIRGINIA CONT'L
$73.32 ANNUAL ALLOWANCE
$219.99 AMOUNT RECEIVED
JUNE 17, 1833 PENSION STARTED
AGE 74
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