Classroom

Hailing from an established family, George Thornburg and his wife Nancy (Wilson) moved into this stately Victorian mansion that was designed by J. B. Stewart. in 1901. With a tower and a giant presence, the house offers a view of downtown Barboursville. Operating a successful store, George also became a co-founder of the First State Bank as well as the Barboursville Clay Manufacturing Company which supplied tile to the White House in 1921. First State Bank helped restore the house in 1989.Born in 1846, George Thornburg took over the operation of his father's general store after the Civil War. After housing several other families the building was converted to apartments. Known as the Poindexter Apartments, the former single family residence housed Morris Harvey College students. It was later used by First State Bank, ZBA Financial Group, and is now home to the Barboursville Convention and Visitor's Center.

This is the outside view of the Thornburg House.

This is the outside view of what used to be the Thornburg & Miller General Store.

This is the outside of George's father's house that is no longer standing.

The Facebook Page for The Lost Village of Barboursville

Website

The Facebook Page for the Parlor Gift Shop (formerly the Thornburg House).

Barboursville Convention and Visitors Bureau

J. B. Stewart, an architect from Huntington built this Queen Anne Victorian home for George Thornburg, the son of Thomas Thornburg, in 1901. The home was located near George's father's own Victorian home which was built in 1862 and located on Water Street until it was demolished. This Cabell County building was preserved thanks to local preservationists with the help of First State Bank in 1989. The home was used by the ZBA Financial Group and serves as the home of the Barboursville Convention and Visitor's Center which includes a small gift shop.

The Thornburg House of Barboursville, WV

Instructor

This brief tour features six sites in Barboursville, WV, including historic homes, markers, and a cemetery. The tour begins at a marker describing the Battle of Barboursville and ends a few blocks away at the William Clendenin Miller Home.

The college was first founded in 1888 as the Barboursville Seminary College under the direction of the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. However, in 1889 the school passed into the hands of the Southern Methodists of West Virginia who renamed the seminary, Barboursville College. The small college operated for thirty-six years. It offered degrees in education, literature, arts, and sciences. At the beginning of the 20th century, a Mr. Morris Harvey became interested in the small college

Morris Harvey was born in 1821 and became a prominent citizen of the region. He was an extremely wealthy man who made his fortune by buying land in Fayette County which became extremely valuable after the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway ran a line through the heart of the county. Harvey invested in banking and the gold and silver industry. He was also a Confederate veteran, churchman, and sheriff of Fayette County. Later in life, he became a philanthropist donating large sums of money to various institutions, one of which was Barboursville College. In 1901, in honor of his generous gifts, the college was renamed Morris Harvey College.

Harvey donated $100,000 dollars for the campus to be relocated in Charleston, West Virginia. Unfortunately, he died before the move took place. Nonetheless, in 1935, the school moved to downtown Charleston. After several years of steady enrollment, the campus relocated across the Kanawha River from the capitol complex. On December 13th, 1978, the board of trustees official renamed Morris Harvey College to the University of Charleston. Today the school still operates as an accredited university and is known for its outcomes-based model of education&nbsp;and programs in pharmacy, business, and the liberal arts.

Barboursville Seminary College was established in 1888 and was renamed Barboursville College in 1889. The college was located in the former Cabell County Courthouse that was vacated in 1887 when the county seat was moved to Huntington. In its early years, the college offered degrees in education, literature, arts, and sciences. In 1901, the college was renamed Morris Harvey College in recognition of a large donation from a Fayette County entrepreneur. In 1935, leaders of the college determined that they could not compete with nearby Marshall College, so the campus was moved to Charleston. Morris Harvey's College Main building became Barboursville Junior High School while the dormitories served as a state hospital and later became home to the West Virginia Veterans Home. The former county courthouse and school was demolished in the 1990s. In 1978, Charleston's Morris Harvey College became the University of Charleston.

Barboursville College (Morris Harvey College) 1888-1935

As part of a 3-pronged invasion of Northwest Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1861, Union forces headed to the major town of Charleston to capture and secure the area for the Union and protect the states that border the area (Pennsylvania, Ohio and border state Kentucky), one columnn headed into the Guyandotte/Kanawha Valley. Lying along the Ohio River offered a major strategic advantage which both major forces wished to exploit. This area soon to be West Virginia eventually became an important goal to secure for the Union War effort a few years later. Thus it makes sense that early engagements including the also disputed first land engagement (or skirmish, hence the debate) of the Civil War, resulting in a confederate retreat from overwhelming high ground Union artillery, was fought in nearby Philippi [1]. The sense of division within the border region of the war is often understated. Union forces occupied Guyandotte, just over 5 miles from Barboursville, in the days preceding the engagement in due to local civil unrest involving seizure of a steamboat. Upon occupation of the Union forces, many citizens took an oath of loyalty to the union, where only days prior many had celebrated delivery of the news that their state of Virginia had seceded from the Union [2]. It is even recalled by some sources that a former local of Guyandotte, Mrs. Caroline White, returned to the area presenting union colors upon her arrival so as to celebrate the now Union controlled town [3]. After the steamboat seizure near May 25th, former politician Albert Jenkins, sensing an impending conflict, returned to the Barboursville area to begin training a division of Confederate forces to defend Barboursville [2]. On July 13, 1861, citizens of Barboursville and men from Wayne, Lincoln, and Cabell counties gathered on a prominent hill in town. They were commanded by Col. Ferguson of the Jenkins Border Rangers, with additional strength from Capt. James Corn, and the Sandy Rangers. Approximately 600 troops total in strength. Fortifications were made on the hill hence the nickname "Fortification Hill". They faced the 2nd KY Infantry under Col. Woodruff. On July 14-15, Col. Woodruff and the 2nd KY Inf. advanced on Barboursville. After exchanging a few volleys the over-confident but poorly trained and ill-armed Confederate forces and militia were driven from both the hill and town via a wooden covered bridge nearby. Reports from the defeated Rebels stated that the defenders of the Hill, when seeing the bayonets of the Union's rifles, had feared that the Union had started to "shoot knives at us." This image had frightened the Rebels, causing them to retreat. James Reynolds of Milton (militia) was killed and a reported 5 wounded. Union forces suffered 5 killed 18 wounded. The victors then secured the town. Days later, the same forces clashed in the lower Kanawha near Scary Creek. Later that year in November, Jenkins Rangers sought revenge by ambushing a Union force camped in the port town of Guyandotte near modern-day Huntington and drove the Union out. The Union forces returned and burned about 2/3 of the town. On September 8, 1862, Barboursville suffered another minor battle when the previous defenders, Jenkins Rangers (Jenkins was a Cabell local and VA Politician with a plantation nearby) attacked the Ohio Cavalry encamped in the town. The fighting took place along Main Street near modern-day Nancy Cartmill Gardens, interrupting church services. One Union soldier was killed. The battle ended in a draw, with both forces leaving the battle area, Confederate forces were able to maintain a hold on Barboursville. With the town secured in CSA hands, Jenkin's Rangers were able to then invade/raid into parts of Ohio. The Northwest counties of VA voted and eventually left Virginia and rejoined the Union on June 20th, 1863, becoming the 35th state.

One of the first land battles of the Civil War, The Battle of Barboursville occurred on July 14th, 1861, and is regarded by some as the first land battle of the American Civil War. A second battle occurred here in September of 1862. The first battle was fought between local pro-Confederate militia and United States forces on 'Fortification Hill' and the second battle occurred when Ohio and Virginia cavalry clashed near the Hatfield Hotel.  There are two signs about the battle on Main street and along the Midland Trail (US 60). A tunnel on Central Avenue in Barboursville has a mural portraying the history of the village. The first battle of Barboursville/Battle of Fortification Hill is one of many scenes depicted in that mural.

Battle of Barboursville Historical Marker

Charles Phillip
Meehling was born in 1845 in Germany to Charles L. and Catherine (Lutz)
Meehling. His family immigrated to Ohio via New York City in May 1850. Matilda
Mays was born in 1847 in West Virginia to Hamilton and Nancy (Stanly) Mays. Matilda
and Charles were married on November 6, 1866 in Cabell County by Saul D. Jones.
They had four children: Elizabeth, born 1867; John, born 1869; Charles F., born
1871; and Joseph, born 1873. By 1870 Charles had acquired some farm land near
his parents, whose farm was located within sight of Davis Cemetery at the
headwaters of Little Cabell Creek. He also bought 100 acres from Robert Stanley
and his wife for $100 in 1871, and then bought 114 ¾ acres from the bankruptcy
sale of Robert F., Samuel E. and William F. Dusenberry for $690.59. This latter
land was in the Martha area, on McComas Road/Mill Creek. Like most people of
that time, he continued working the farm and living a quiet life.It was around 1873 or
1874 that Charles hired a man named Ed Williams to do work on the farm. He was
about 21 years old, and was said to be part African American. Over the course
of the next two years Williams had a romantic relationship with Matilda.
Charles was certainly suspicious, but he could not find any proof that his wife
was in love with Williams. On one occasion he did see her sit on Williams’ lap,
and as he got his shotgun, Williams left the house, calling out, “Matilda,
darling, throw me my gun.” Charles forgave her, but soon she and Williams began
planning to kill him. They tried to secretly poison Charles twice, starting in
about December 1875, first using arsenic, and later laudanum, but both attempts
failed to render immediate results because the wrong dosage was given. Dr.
Beardsley told Charles he needed to leave home and go to a hospital, but he
said he wanted to stay at home with his children. He was dying, but slowly, and
Matilda and Williams could wait no more. Matilda sent her eldest daughter,
Elizabeth, off to stay with her grandparents to keep her from witnessing their
actions.On the evening of
Wednesday, January 19th, Matilda sent Williams to murder her husband while he
was sleeping. The date was also frequently reported as occurring on Sunday,
January 16th, but they kept lying about the date, and it was said that a Mr.
Charles Miller saw Charles on Wednesday. Reportedly Charles saw Williams with
an ax, and said to his son John, “Oh Lord he’s going to kill me. Get the prayer
book and pray for me.” Williams hit Charles several times with the ax, before
returning to Matilda. He said that Charles was not yet dead, but that he would
not return. She then went and cut Charles’ head off with a butcher’s knife.
Immediately they collected the remains and threw them in the stable. Later,
after attending a local church meeting, they let the horses in the stable to
make it seem like Charles was trampled to death. They also found that their
actions had awakened John, and were ready to kill him, and they threatened him with
death if he ever told what he had seen. Even during the trial, he would not
speak of it until he was assured safety; when he did testify, it made the whole
court tear up.Within the next few
days, Charles’ absence was felt and his friends began inquiring about his whereabouts.
At first Matilda and Williams lied, but their stories began to contradict; this,
coupled with Matilda’s general unconcern and the fact that Williams was now
living with her, raised concerns that something was wrong.. On January 22, Taylor
Clark, Charles’ brother-in-law, and Morris Wentz went to Sheriff D.I. Smith,
and his Deputy, George F. Miller, and got a warrant for their arrest. When the
pair was arrested they submitted quietly but claimed that nothing was wrong.
Williams said that he supposed that Charles left his wife in anger and
determined to live apart from her. When they had been taken out of the house,
Williams asked to run back in and get his tobacco from a safe drawer. Taylor
said he would get it, and when he got to the specified drawer, he found a
pistol instead of tobacco. As they headed to Barboursville, Matilda appeared
very nervous and scared, but Williams kept his composure, even joking with the
officers. &nbsp;However, when the door to the
brick jail “sent forth its mocking clang,” he lost his nerve and fell backwards
onto a bed in his cell. He then sat up and buried his face in his hands.As they were being
arrested, the officers saw marks on the floor of the house that they were sure
were more than grease, but they said nothing of it and determined in their
minds to return. When they came back they began to search the house until they
heard the family’s dog howling and acting strangely, so they went outside. The
dog was tied, which Taylor Clark had noted previously, to which Williams
replied that he had become dangerous. Someone said, “That dog knows something,
let’s follow him.” So they let him loose, and he led them to a pile of corn
stalk-covered manure in the stable. He stopped there and howled. They dug about
18 inches down and found Charles’ corpse. The community was
outraged when it looked of the murders, and many people demanded that Williams
and Matilda should be executed. Around 8:00 PM many locals came together, got
rope, and headed for the jail. The crowd was now a mob, said to be the largest
ever gathered there at the time, all determined to lynch the fiends, with
“cries…from every quarter, ‘Hang the demons,’ ‘Burn them at the stake.’”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Meanwhile, clearer heads in the crowd, including Captain J.I. Kuhn, Prosecuting
Attorney L.C. “Kooney” Ricketts, and Reverend George W. Young, were yelling for
order. Rev. Young was given an hour to pray with Williams, and shortly after 8:00
PM he and Capt. Kuhn went into the jail. Williams started by treating their
advice with levity, but he then heard the mob outside. He then asked to be taken
into Matilda’s cell, which he was granted. Rev. Young said that the prisoners
should confess, as an infuriated mob was outside. They started by denying
everything, with Williams supposedly claiming that he killed Charles for a
three-year-old mare colt that Matilda offered him, but as they heard the mob
get even more fierce, he began to confess. Afterwards, Matilda also confessed,
and said that she was the cause. The details of the confessions were related to
the crowd, and the minister was told to hurry. He went back in, and Williams
wept and exclaimed several times, “God forgive me!” When the mob’s leader said,
“Time’s up!” he shook horribly. After Capt. Kuhn and Rev. Young exited the jail
the mob began to force their way in. Jailer Jim Shelton was forced to open the
door in the face of death threats. The crowd rushed in and retrieved Williams,
who was on his knees praying for mercy from God and the mob. He was dragged to
the front yard of the adjacent county courthouse (at this time Barboursville
was the seat of Cabell County) where a rope had been tied to a tree branch with
a barrel to serve as a scaffold. The noose was adjusted around his neck as Rev.
Young and Prosecuting Attorney Ricketts yelled for his life to be spared. He
begged to live longer, that he was in no condition to appear before God, and
that they should show him mercy, but the crowd responded with a mocking laugh,
and the words, “Did you extend mercy to Meehling? Did you give him time to
prepare for death?” Before he could be hung, Capt. Kuhn grabbed the barrel to
prevent its being knocked over. This was to no avail, however, as a man named
Brumfield inserted a large hickory cane into the barrel’s tap hole and forced
it from under Williams, who fell to the ground at first as the rope was too
long. This was quickly fixed, however, and it is said, though probably
exaggerated, that he hung there for 15 minutes of terrible agony before he
died. It was cleverly stated by the Huntington Advertiser that, “Williams, the
murderer is not the only man whose death has been caused by the tilting of a
barrel, the only difference is, the barrel was not supplied with a spiggot
(sic).” Later it was alleged that the branch from which he hung later died
before the rest of the tree.Mrs. Meehling was then
brought out, totally dazed, silent, and in a state of shock, and they placed
her in front of Williams’ dead body. She had managed to convince a certain Dr.
V.B. Moss that she was pregnant (a lie), and he fought for her life along with
Rev. Young, Capt. Kuhn, and Ricketts. Between this fact and that she was a
woman, no man could be found to put the rope around her neck. After being
forced to touch the corpse, she was placed back in the jail, and the mob
lingered around until shortly before midnight, but not before declaring
vengeance on anyone who would try to remove the body of Williams.Early that Sunday
morning, when it was still dark, “Capt. Kuhn procured some muslin and, groping
his way to the scene, climbed upon a box which he carried with him and in the
pitchy darkness drew the muslin over the body so that on Sunday morning it was
seen swinging back and forth under the force of the wind, completely enshrouded
in white, but later in the day it was removed.” It was placed in the courthouse
hall until the coroner ordered its burial, when it was, “hauled out of town on
a wagon, meeting on the main street a hearse containing the body of his
victim.” Williams’ remains were buried at Kyle Cemetery.Matilda was committed
to jail without bond the following Monday, January 24th, by Justice Thornburg.
During this time, about a week and a half after her arrest, this was said about
her: “Mrs. Meehlings (sic), the confessed accomplice in the murder of her
husband, is beyond doubt the most wretched female ever incarcerated in the jail
at Barboursville. To her, death would be a most welcome messenger, but her
guilt stained heart has not the courage to suggest suicide; and did she
entertain such a thought, her hands would be too cowardly to assist in the
self-murder. By day gory stained phantoms flit before her gaze, while her sleep
is accompanied with dreams of skeletons and fiends dance around her bedside,
their mocking laugh deriding her for the assassination of her husband. When
asked a few days ago, what troubled her the most, ‘the past or the future,’ she
answered, ‘the horrible past.’ She paces up and down her strongly barred room
wishing for death, and occasionally dashes her hands into her eyes as if to
keep from her gaze the awful scenes attending the inhuman butchery of her
husband. She has wasted in flesh to such an extent since her imprisonment, as
to present the appearance of an animated skeleton, her appetite has deserted
her, her mind is on the verge of loosing (sic) its sway, and terrible indeed
and must be her expectations, respecting the issue of her approaching trial for
murder.” She was held until
March 6th when she was indicted in the court of Judge Ward, 9th Judicial Circuit,
West Virginia, by a grand jury consisting of: W. Lewis Peters, foreman; William
E. Ray, Louis Diehl, I.F. Stewart, Julius W. McCullough, Paul H. Davis, F.M.
Ferrell, William L. Childers, Joseph M. Blackwood, Charles H. Summerson, S.S.
Simmons, Moses Hatfield, Thompson Morrison, H.J. Samuels and George E.
Thornburg. Three indictments were filed against her, and one was returned as a
true bill.On March 7th, the trial
began with Judge Evermont Ward presiding, L.C. Ricketts as prosecuting
attorney, and William T. Thompson and C.E. Smith as defense attorneys. On March
8th, she was brought into the court by the jailer. She informed the court that
she had no legal counsel, and was too poor to afford any, so she was appointed
Thompson and Smith. They moved the court to quash the indictment and demurred generally
to it. Both motions were overruled. Matilda then pled not guilty, and was
remanded to jail.On the 9th of March,
this case was brought before a jury. The jury consisted of: James H. Vandiver,
Noah Bowen, Henry Spangenburg, John Ferguson, H.S. Clark, Benjamin Ray, John
Gwinn, A.H. Melrose, Reason Wheeler, Calvary Keaton, Matthew Irwin and Winchester
Adkins. After the jury was chosen, Sheriff Smith was given charge of the jury
and gave the usual order that they should not speak to anyone or let anyone
speak to them regarding the case. The court was then adjourned until 8:30 AM on
the next day. Matilda was again remanded to jail. On the 10th, Sheriff Smith
and Deputy Miller brought her back into court. The jury found her guilty of
murder in the first degree as stated in the indictment, and said that she
should be confined in the penitentiary. She was remanded to jail and court was
adjourned. On Saturday, the 11th of March, she was again brought into the
court, and asked by the judge if she had anything to say before she was
sentenced. She said no, and was then sentenced to life imprisonment at the West
Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville by Judge Ward.

























Matilda most likely
arrived at the imposing prison through its Civil War-era “Wagon Gate,” and was
kept in a 5’x7’ cell in the Women’s Quarters level, the third, of the
facility’s administration building. The 1880 census records her as being a
prisoner there and that her occupation was “Prison Duties.” She died of
consumption and tuberculosis on October 28th, 1882, and was buried on October
29th in the prison’s south yard. The Wheeling
Daily Intelligencer, October 31st, 1882 records that, “The unfortunate
woman had suffered with consumption for many months past, and knew she could
not recover and with a bravery seldom met with gladly awaited the summons that
was to cancel her debt to an outraged law, both divine and human, and end her
imprisonment and earthly troubles at once. Fears of future punishment never
appeared to enter her mind as she cheerfully bade Capt. Lowe ‘good bye,’ adding
that ‘she would never see him again,’ the evening she died. She was buried in
the prison burying ground Sunday. Rev Loomis, of the M. E. Church, lately of
this city performing the funeral ceremony. Mr. Loomis also preached the dead
woman’s funeral sermon at the prison chapel.” Her body was moved in 1899
because Moundsville issued an ordinance that the prisoners’ bodies must be
taken out of the city. Hers was reburied in either the prison-owned White Gate
Cemetery and is now unmarked due to flooding there, or in the potter’s section
of Mt. Rose cemetery, also unmarked.

On January 22nd, 1876, a man named Ed Williams was hung by a vigilante mob outside the old Cabell County Courthouse and jail in Barboursville. He had killed a nearby farmer named Charles Meehling, having conspired with the farmer's wife Matilda, his secret lover. Matilda was also taken out to be hung, but no man would put the rope around her neck, and she was put back in jail. She later died in the old West Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville.

The 1876 Meehling Murder & Hanging, Barboursville, West Virginia

Built in 1837 of logs along the Guyan river below Barboursville, the toll house was primarily used by the James River Company to collect tolls from ferries traveling through the James River-Kanawha turnpike. In use until a bridge was built connecting both shores of the Guyan. The toll house's fate was uncertain until 1950 when the house was deeded to the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The DAR restored and moved the toll house to its present location along Main Street in Barboursville where they hold weekly meetings. <img width="278" alt="httpwwwrootswebancestrycomwvcccfhrphotooldhousejpg" src="http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Ewvcccfhr/photo/oldhouse.jpg" height="260">

Old Toll House originally built along Guyan River below town of Barboursville in 1837 

Old Toll House

Establishment of the cemetery started in 1824 when the village's first Methodist Church building erected in the same area. The Norther portion of the cemetery was used to bury slaves. Stones marking the slaves had either "S" or initials carved into the stone. <img width="141" height="211" alt="Barboursville Slaves" src="http://image2.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2012/30/84302051_132807622401.jpg"> The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) took a complete inventory of all burials in the 1940s. They did the same for 3 other cemeteries around the village. Others buried here include William Clendenian Miller and one of his employees Billingsly Stafford who drowned in the Guyan. Rumors are the cemetery is haunted.

First and oldest cemetery in the Barboursville area. 

Old Barboursville Cemetery

Home of William Clendenin Miller grandson of George Clendenin, hero of Pleasant Point, founder of Clendenin, WV and co-founder of Charleston, WV. One of many homes built from local Barboursville brick, it also served as post office where Mr. Miller was a post master from 1840-1860, even as the house would not be completed until 1852. William Miller also built the Barboursville Courthouse and Miller/Thornburg store. A secessionist during the Civil War, Miller had his house used twice, after both Barboursville battles, as a hospital. After the first battle, Miller's friend, James Reynolds of Milton, was killed and his body kept in the Miller home until family could claim the body. The same morning of the battle (July 14, 1861), Miller entertained Reynolds and they had breakfast together. The last battle resulted in a dead Union soldier brought to the home and left on the front porch, as deceased's company had to make their way back to pick him up. That same battle also made the house the focal point of Union attack since it had been rumored that Col. Albert G. Jenkins, a local and Miller friend had made the home his HQ. Sold after the Civil War it became a college boarding house in the early 1900s. His son, John W. Miller, bought the house back in 1914 for sentimental reasons. It is one of the oldest homes in Barboursville. Currently the house serves as the Absolutely Divine Salon and Spa.

Home of William C. Miller. One of the oldest houses in Barboursville. Served as a mail stop for stage coaches. Acted as a hospital following both Battles of Barboursville. 

Historic Barboursville Walking Tour

The Thornburg House of Barboursville, WV

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information