West Virginia Trails

[wolfclan]

Does anyone know where I can find a good online map of old West Virginia trails? All I can find when I do a Google search are modern ones.

I’m trying to determine the most likely routes my 18th century Native ancestors would’ve taken to migrate to what is now Kanawha County. All we have is that Chief Blackhawk moved his band into what would become Blackhawk Hollow, near Charleston. Since we don’t know for sure what tribe they were (family history says Cherokee but evidence suggests Blackfoot), or what direction they came from, I’d like to consider the possibilities of his arriving from different directions based on what the established routes were at the time.

I’m familiar with the Midland Trail, which goes through Kanawha County from Virginia and is modern Highway 60, but I don’t know its route in Virginia and whether or not this was a likely migration route for a Saponi or other piedmont band to take.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks, John

[Brenda Collins Dillon]

Hello John....welcome to the forum.

I thought I would introduce myself since I was born just next door to you. I was born in Nicholas County, WV which is next door to Kanawha County.

You speak of roads.....in the 18th century there weren't much more than Indian trails throughout West Virginia. Many of my relatives came from the Tug River of the Big Sandy area. Even up until the turn of the century many people still got around with a mule because they couldn't afford a truck or car and even if they could there were no roads to drive them on.

A few years ago I tryed to find somebody to go to Welch in McDowell Co to look up some records for me. The woman said that even today McDowell is very remote and the roads are bad. I wish you luck. Oh yea....by the way we have another WV guy on the forum....Waitman jump in and say hello.

Brenda

[wolfclan]

Hi Brenda,

Thanks for the message. Sorry if I gave the impression that I was from West Virginia, but I’m actually in North Carolina. Some of my ancestors were in Kanawha County, then moved south many generations ago. I did find a probable cousin on this forum who lives in Elkview, so I feel like I have a connection to the area still. If you look over the thread I started last May titled “Blackhawk Cherokees” in the Share History Research section it will tell more about our family.

I brought up the Midland Trail because it seems to be a possible route for Virginia piedmont peoples to have moved into central West Virginia. What confuses me, though, is why it’s never spoken of in that regard. Every account that I’ve read of someone’s ancestors migrating to that area, including yours, always seems to indicate that they came from the Tug River valley. To get to the modern day Charleston area, where Blackhawk Hollow is located, would an 18th century band leave piedmont Virginia by traveling the Tug River valley to a certain point and then take a trail northward toward the Kanawha River, or would they have taken the Midland Trail? This is why I need to find a good map of old trails. Since I’m not familiar with West Virginia topography I don’t know which would be the easier route.

You said that your family came from the Tug River to Nicholas County. Do you have any idea what route they took overland?

I know there were no roads in 18th century West Virginia :). I mentioned Highway 60 because, according to midlandtrail.com , the road follows an old trail taken by “west-bound” pioneers, so I assume it was an Indian trail.

Thanks! John

[wvaram]

John, I live in White Sulphur Springs which is in Greenbrier co. West Virginia. It is only a few miles from the Virginia border. There is a route 60 that runs through my town going East and West. Also there is a Buffalo trail here that Native Americans traveled through many years ago. Possibly my Native Ancestors traveled along this trail because Salem, Virginia is only about 70 miles from where I live and from what I understand the tutelo lived there at one point in time. There have been many arrow heads found here one of which I found while digging in my back yard. I don't know if this well help you or not but I thought I would let you know just in case.

[wvaram]

John, just to add to my last post the Route 60 that goes through my town does lead up to Charleston the Capitol of West Virginia which is in Kanawha county.

[wolfclan]

Hi Waitman,

Thanks very much for the reply. The information you’ve shared is a great help.

Do you have the Blackfoot ID in your family? It might be interesting to see how many people who live along Route 60 today claim Blackfoot ancestry, and whether or not it could be considered a likely route for Saponi-Tutelo migration. Do you happen to know anyone who fits that description?

I’d also like to learn more about the Tutelo in the Salem area; please let me know if you have any more information on that. I’ll be giving this subject as much attention as I can in the coming days and see what I can come up with.

Thanks again, John

[wvaram]

John, I am a descendant of Meredith Collins who is believed to be Saponi Indian. It is possible that he is also mixed with black ancestors but I don't have proof of this. If you go to the search bar and type in Meredith collins you can read what has been posted about him. Also,I have an ancestor named Elsey Frazey who married Reuben George. It was written in Reuben George's family bible that she was full blooded Tuckahoe Indian from the Souix tribe of Virginia. I believe that that is Refering to the Tutelo of Virginia. She was born in 1755 in New Jersey even tho her family was originally from Virginia. The Tutelo moved North and some of them lived in New Jersey for awhile. I'll see if I can get some information about the Tutelo in Salem for you.

[wolfclan]

I found the following on page seven in the Preface to Minor Vocabularies of Tutelo and Saponi by Edward Sapir. Editor Claudio Salvucci writes:

“There is some extremely fragmentary but nevertheless clear evidence that Tutelo-Saponi had extended its reach . . . into the Kanawha Valley in West Virginia.”

He cites a letter written by Abraham Wood in 1674 that discusses the travels of Gabriel Arthur and his stay with the Monetons, who according to Salvucci lived up on a great river “widely held to be the Kanawha”. Arthur was staying with the Tomahitons before visiting the Monetons, and the two tribes were on good terms with one another. He quotes from Wood’s letter when he says “Now ye king must goe to give ye monetons a visit which were his friends, mony signifying water and ton great in their language.” The editor goes on to say “ . . . it is clear that . . . (the word) Moneton was a Siouan language akin to, if not identical with, the Tutelo-Saponi.”

There is some question whether or not Wood means Moneton or Tomahiton when he says “in their language”. Salvucci claims that either tribe could have been Siouan, saying the Tomahitons “ . . . are traditionally identified, although on hardly any evidence, with the Cherokee.” Despite this, he believes the phrase was meant to refer to the Moneton.

I also came across a map of major trails in Powhatan’s Mantle: Indians in the Colonial Southeast that accompanied the essay “The Land and Water Communication Systems of the Southeastern Indians” by Helen Hornbeck Tanner. The map clearly shows a trail following the Kanawha into piedmont Virginia.

I still don’t have access to a copy of William E. Myers’ “Indian Trails of the Southeast”, which is supposed to be the definitive work on the trail system. But from what I’ve found so far, I’m optimistic that more evidence will be found to indicate that the Kanawha trail was another route for Saponi-Tutelo migration into West Virginia.

John

[Jake]

John, fellow West Virginia boy here. Raised in the Wheeling area, I spend more time in the mountain counties around Petersburg, mostly fly fishing. Back to roads. Somewhere in the Wheeling area, there exists a map of early roads & trails. I'll see if I can remember where I saw the map. It might have been at the Mountain Man Rendezvous and if that's the case, I might have a tough time. I'll poke around and see what I can find. Regards, Jake

[techteach]

Jake:
Try this. Found it when looking at the Swearingens. Maybe it will do what you need. Scroll down.

Techteach

[Jake]

Thanks much! Jake