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Raid on Guyandotte
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Pre-Civil
War Era Historic
Guyandotte Homes
Crawley House, 1855
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Buffington-McGinnis Home, 1800
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The Crawley House was built in 1855 by Jacob Hiltburner, a tinner
born in 1809 to Swiss parents. Hiltburner operated
the home as an inn, known as the Hiltburner Hotel,
which hosted a number of social functions in the
mid-1800s.
During the Civil War, the home was used as a
hospital, hosting both Union and Confederate
wounded. After the war, William "Crawley" Smith
came up the Guyandotte River to Guyandotte and
returned the structure to its former function as an
inn, which came to be known as the Crawley Hotel.
When the flood wall was built, the house and
several others on Water Street were moved inward.
Today, the home serves as an apartment complex.
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This
14 room brick Federal Style home is theorized to be one of the first
homes of the area's most prominent and earliest
citizens, the Buffingtons.
The Buffingtons came to the area and settled on
property acquired through the Savage Land Grant. It
is believed that this home was built around 1816 by Henry and Charles Lewis,
for Thomas and Anna Buffington. Thomas Buffington
ran a ferry across the Guyandotte River, and later
across the Ohio. He was a trustee of the town, and
influential in politics. His son, James, who later
married a Holderby heir, is said to have been born
in the home.
Many other prominent families resided in
the home over the years, including the the McGinnis,
Smith, and Davis families. The home may have also
served as a Union headquarters for much of the
occupation of Guyandotte, and as a temporary
headquarters for Gen. Jenkins and the Confederacy.
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Keenan House, 1840
The Keenan House was built prior to 1840, and is
located across from the VFW.
The original owner is believed to have been William
Stone, who built the house, but many other residents
have made an impact on history as well.
In 1845, Andrew Keenan, a saddle maker, purchased
the home from his wife's family, the Russell's.
Owner Mark Russell was the first Gentleman Justice
of the County Court, and also a sheriff. His son,
Mark Russell Jr., was a ferryman, mail carrier,
auctioneer, and preacher. Russell's daughter,
Melcena, married Andrew Keenan, and became his third
wife.
Andrew Keenan was born around 1819, and together
with Melcena, had five children. While under his
possession, the home was used by Confederate troops
as a temporary prison for the Union soldiers
captured during the raid. The men were held
overnight, and were tied two by two and marched to
Richmond, VA.
Other owners of the home include Albert Smith,
who purchased it in 1894, Wyatt Smith, a newspaper
columnist, Richard Blenko, and the VFW. It
previously housed the KYOVA Historical Society's
research library, and in the 1980s, fire destroyed
the original interior of the home, plus two back
additions.
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Madie Carroll House, 1810
The Madie Carroll House has a long and interesting
history with the city of Guyandotte. The house is
said to have been originally built in Gallipolis, OH
around 1810, and floated down the Ohio River to
Guyandotte by owner James Gallaher, a river
tradesman. Gallaher owned over 20 lots in
Guyandotte, and placed the home on what was known as
lot 34.
By 1836, the
Gallaher's no longer called
lot 34 home, but did remain in the immediate area.
James was a Marshall Academy trustee in 1838, and
became a prominent businessman. Many of his
children married into other prominent local
families, and continued to live in the area.
During this time, the home had several owners.
By 1852, Lucian Wolcott owned the home and rented it
to Thomas Carroll and his wife, Anne Burns, who had
recently arrived from Ireland with their small
children. The Carroll's formally took ownership of
the home in 1855, and Anne died shortly after,
possibly in childbirth.
Some time between 1855 and 1860, Thomas married
his second wife, Mary Fee, also born in Ireland.
Mary is credited with saving the home from the
burning of Guyandotte by pleading with Union
soldiers, and barricading herself and small children
in the brick attached kitchen. However, the property
did sustain some damage, and Mary fought hard to be
reimbursed by the government, a fight she won in
1892.
The
Carroll's were the first Catholic family in
the area, and thus held Catholic church services in
the home until a proper church could be
established. The home was also a successful inn,
hosting several famous names under the direction of
the Carroll's, including Father Thomas Quirk, who
established the first Catholic Church in Cabell
County, and Collis P. Huntington, who would go on to
establish the city of Huntington. A popular legend
is that Mr. Huntington stayed at the inn while
surveying a stop for his newly acquired rail line.
While at the inn, his horse, which had been tied to
the hitching post out front, somehow managed to get
loose and make its way onto the sidewalk. The mayor
of Guyandotte fined Mr. Huntington, who in turn was
so angry, that he refused to run the line through
Guyandotte, and thus went on to found the city of
Huntington instead.
Aside from Mary, one of the most popular
residents of the home was Ms. Madie Carroll. Ms.
Madie Carroll was Mary's step-granddaughter, and
came to live in the home after the death of her
mother. Madie was a music teacher and taught piano
to local children. Under her ownership, the home
was listed in 1973 as a National Historic Register
site, and when she died two years later at the age
of 93, she willed the home to her nephew and his
wife. They rented the property until 1984, when he
deeded it to the Greater Huntington Parks and
Recreation District.
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Guyandotte Methodist Church
Cemetery, 1804
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Letulle Home, 1839
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The
Guyandotte Methodist Church Cemetery is located
across from the United Methodist Church on 5th
Avenue. This is the oldest church in the cemetery
in Cabell County, with markers dating back to the
1810s/1820s. The land for the cemetery was set
aside in 1804 by Thomas Buffington as part of a gift
of real property to be used as a church, cemetery,
and school house.
This cemetery still
contains the graves of many of Guyandotte's
prominent early citizens. Surnames therein include,
but are not limited to: Hite, Smith, Holderby,
Wellington, and Letulle.
In 1927, the nearly
neglected cemetery became the final resting place
for several disinterred Revolutionary War soldiers.
Today it is maintained by the Park Board of
Huntington, which also maintains Spring Hill, and
several other local cemeteries.
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The Letulle home was built by Victor Letulle in 1839, shortly
after his marriage to his second wife, Nancy Forgey,
in 1838.
Victor Letulle was born in France on July 11,
1873. He was one of nine children born to Lawrence
and Mary Anne Letulle, grocers from the Normandy
area of France. He is also one of at least two
LeTulles to settle in the area. As a young man,
Victor married his first wife, Eleanor, who was
twenty years his senior. Eleanor died at the age of
73 and was buried in the Guyandotte Methodist
Cemetery.
Three years later at the age of 55, Victor
married 28 year old Nancy Forgey, a relation of
Eleanor's. Together they had eight surviving
children, and ran a grocery and baking business out
of the back of the house.
Victor died in 1853 of pneumonia and was buried
in the Guyandotte Methodist Cemetery with his first
wife, leaving Nancy at home with the children during
the burning of Guyandotte. The family survived the
raid, and the home spared, possible due to the idea
that it was used at one point as Union
headquarters. Several of the daughters remained
unmarried, and worked as weavers during this time.
Nancy died in 1892 and is buried in Spring Hill
Cemetery. Shortly after, Victor's body was removed
from the Guyandotte Cemetery, and moved to Spring
Hill to join his wife and seven of the eight
children.
The Letulle home is an example of the French
Colonial style of architecture, which was popular
during the mid 1700s. It is the only such home in
Cabell County, and despite extensive renovations,
the home retains an original fireplace and the
original framework. An interesting architectural
feature is that the home's kitchen was located in
the raised basement.
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Wellington Home, 1847
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Fruetel-Hennen-Hysell
House, 1835
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The Wellington home was built around 1847 by Erastus and
Charlotte Wellington of Connecticut. The
Wellingtons had six children, including the
youngest, Zachary Taylor (Z.T.) born April 12,
1847.
By the beginning of the raid on Guyandotte, the
two oldest Wellington brothers were already of age,
with families and homes of their own. Z.T. was only
thirteen years old during the onset of the war.
Possibly due to Union sympathies, or sheer luck,
the Taylor home was spared from the burning of the
town, and passed down to Z.T. as he was the youngest
child still at home at the time.
Z.T. was a carpenter by trade, but also very
active in local politics. In 1870, he was appointed
to the office of assessor, and also served as a
deputy sheriff for eight years. In addition, he
briefly served as a councilman and treasurer for the
city of Guyandotte. During this time period, he
married Rebecca Smith (1871) and used his skills as
a carpenter to upgrade the family home, giving it
Italianate Victorian features.
While Z.T. was seemingly a
jack-of-all-trades, he is
most known for his service
as Guyandotte's postmaster,
and the home is most known
for being the town post
office. Z.T. was
appointed to this position
during President McKinley's
first term, and held the
position until his death in
1923. He is buried in
Spring Hill Cemetery
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The
Fruetel-Hennen-Hysell House is located on Main
Street and was built around 1835. During the era of
the Civil War, it wars used as the office of Dr.
James Hysell, who soon enlisted as a surgeon in the
Union Army.
Julius Fruetel, a local butcher and
livestock dealer was probably the next owner,
followed by the Hennen family, who lived there from
1912 until the 1980s. The house is built in the
Jenny Lind style, which is rare in Cabell County.
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Hysell
House, 1841
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Roseberry
House, 1867
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This house was
built by William Henry Wilson around 1841, and later
became the home of Dr. James Hysell. James Hysell
was born in Meigs County, OH in 1837, and married
Mary Luella Hayslip of Guyandotte. The couple was
 married December 22nd by Rev. William McComas.
Dr. Hysell was a graduate of the Ohio Medical
College in Cincinnati, and received his MD at the
University of Buffalo (NY). At the onset of the
Civil War, the nation's army lost over 27 of its 115
army surgeons due to Confederate sympathies. Dr.
Hysell, a Union supporter, signed up and quickly
raised to the rank of major.
Dr. Hysell passed away in 1905 as a result of
malaria contracted from his service in the Spanish
American War. He is buried in Beech Grove Cemetery
in Pomeroy, Oh. Subsequent owners made massive
alterations around 1910, but the original roof is
still said to be intact under the current roof.
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The Roseberry home is
located on Main Street. Construction on this home
started prior to the Civil War and was finished in
1867. It was built by A.J. Roseberry, Roseberry was
the son of a Revolutionary War veteran, and had a
daughter who married John William Wiatt, a
descendant of Sir Francis Wiatt, governor of the
Jamestown colony.
In 1887, J.E. Robertson took possession of the
home, followed by the William Dusenberry family in
1907. The home only had two closets, because when
it was constructed, the county charged taxes on how
many doors a home contained. It survived the floods
of 1913, and 1937, but suffered substantial damage.
As a result, the original floors are still in the
home, but are covered with newer hardwoods. The
home contains at least two original fireplaces, and
in 1911, a back room was added.
In the 1970s, the home served as apartments
before being completely abandoned. A leaky roof
caused the upper floors to crash down through the
house. Gene Baumgardner was instrumental in
restoring the home to its status as a single family
dwelling, and the home is now owned by Gen. Jenkins
portrayer and Civil War re-enactor, John Belcher.
Work is being done to further restore the home to
its former splendor, and plans are being made to
have it listed on the National Register of
Historical Places. It is the oldest still-standing
brick structure from the time period.
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Guyandotte United
Methodist Church
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First Guyandotte Baptist
Church
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Prior
to 1802, there were no formal church services in the
area. Instead, meetings were held at the Thomas
Buffington/Edmund McGinnis home on Main Street. An
old pioneer, John Miller, was unhappy with this
situation. Miller, who was living in an area now
known as Miller, Ohio, felt that if he had to cross
the river and walk ten miles into Guyandotte for
church services, he should at least have a proper
church to attend.
Subsequently,
John Miller set out to establish a Methodist Church.
Over 200 people agreed with Miller, and signed his
petition, which was then sent to a preacher in
Redstone, PA. As a result, William Steels, a
traveling preacher, was sent to the explore the
area. The exploration was successful and the
recommendation for a formal church was made.
In 1804,
Thomas Buffington and family donated a portion of
land along Guyan Street to be used as a church,
cemetery, and school house. John Miller was credited
as being the first of 25 members that first year
under Pastor Asa Shinn.
By 1844, the
Methodist Church was divided on a national level
over the issue of slavery. The Guyandotte church
split, and the old Methodist Episcopal moved to Main
Street, and then later to Bridge Street.
Meanwhile,
the main church continued to grow as the only
Southern Methodist church in the area, and it
quickly outgrew its present building. Members Robert
and Susan Holderby donated the land on which the
present church now sits, and in 1848, a brick and
stone-block building was erected at the corner of
Fifth and Main Streets.
During the
spring of 1862, the Union occupied much of the area
and took control of the church. Due to its brick and
stone structure, it survived the fire set to much of
the town, but it did not survive the abuse it
endured as a Union commissary and storehouse.
Soldiers knocked out bricks for portholes, and
loaded the church with so much hay, ammunition, and
other supplies that the floors eventually collapsed.
After the
war, the congregation built a temporary platform
atop the stone foundation, and held services there
when weather permitted such, or in private homes. In
1869, presiding elder John Fletcher Medley, finally
organized a team of volunteer labor to construct a
new framed structure over the original stone
foundation. Construction was completed in 1870. In
the early 1900s new pews and a prayer room were
added with Federal restitution money.
The North and
South branches of the church finally reconciled and
reunited in 1948, and the current building was
renamed the Guyandotte United Methodist Church. In
1950, the three-story educational building was
added, and in 1993 under Rev. Lafayette Vinson, the
church became a registered historic site.
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The Guyandotte First Baptist Church is located on Richmond Street.
In the early 1850s, the Baptist population was
becoming significant in Guyandotte. Monthly
services were held in private homes under the
direction of the Teays Valley Baptist Association.
In August of 1856, the idea of constructing a formal
house of worship was presented to and approved by
the association. No time was wasted, and a lot was
purchased that fall, and a building committee
elected shortly thereafter. In 1857, a shortage of
funds cause d the construction to be temporarily
halted, but by the following year, the building was
completed and dedicated the first Sunday in
November, 1858.
The building is said to have been a brick
structure with green shutters and a balcony for the
colored members of the congregation. The first
sermon, given that first Sunday in November, was
First Peter 2-6, given by J.M. Kelly. Following the
service, a business and organizational meeting was
conducted. Articles were approved, J.C. Reece (Rece)
was appointed pastor (a position he held until
1871), and a collection was taken up to raise money
for the remaining balance on the construction.
No church records were kept during the Civil War
era, but other sources tell us that the Union
unsuccessfully attempted at burning the church down
twice. Sextons William Brown and Uriah Petit
probably put out the first two fires, but the Union
was determined to see the building burn. In their
third attempt in 1861, soldiers ripped off the
shutters, and stuffed the belfry with hay to help it
burn. The bell was melted, turned into rings, and
sold by Union soldiers.
In 1866, church records were once again being
kept, showing that services were held in private
residences. In 1867, a new church was constructed
on the original stone foundation, and remains to
this day.
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Masonic Lodge, 1893
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The Guyandotte Masonic Lodge is located on
Richmond Street, and is home to the Western Star
Lodge #11.
Between 1884 and 1888 the
land was deeded to the
Huntington Board of
Education by a local man
named James Price. At
the time thi s property was
referred to as the Town Hall Property. The current
building was erected in 1893 for the purpose of a
school house. According to the 1910 census, the
school was referred to as the Richmond Street
School. There are actually two entries for a
Richmond Street School located in the immediate
area, one listed as simply Richmond Street School,
and the other as Richmond Street School (colored).
By 1919 the school was no longer in use, and was
put up for auction by the Huntington Board of
Education. The high bidder was the Western Star
Lodge #11, a local branch of the Freemason society.
The Masons' winning bid for the building was $4015,
and they remain in the building until present day.
Some credit the Western Star Lodge #11 as being the
oldest lodge in Cabell County.
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(Photo credits: All photos, with the exception
of the cemetery and Mason Lodge were taken by, and are property of Melissa
Stanley. The cemetery photo is property of Theresa Racer, and the
Masonic Lodge photo is courtesy of the Cabell County Assessor website.)

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