The commissioners appointed to select a place to build the public buildings for Pocahontas County originally selected a place in the vicinity of what is now Edray. However, John Bradshaw, who owned land in Huntersville, offered such enticing inducements that the commissioners overruled their report and selected Huntersville as the county seat. Huntersville was laid out in 1821 and served as the county seat until 1891, when it was moved to Marlinton.
I am curious to know what kinds of inducements John Bradshaw offered to the commissioners to convince them to change their minds. It is possible that he offered to donate land for the public buildings, or to provide other financial assistance. He may also have promised to build roads and bridges to connect Huntersville to the rest of the county. Whatever the inducements were, they must have been very persuasive, as the commissioners went against their original recommendation and selected Huntersville as the county seat.
It is also interesting to note that Huntersville was relatively isolated from the rest of Pocahontas County when it was selected as the county seat. Edray, on the other hand, was located on the Greenbrier River, a major transportation route. This suggests that John Bradshaw and the other residents of Huntersville were very determined to make their town the county seat, and were willing to offer significant inducements to achieve that goal.
When Pocahontas was formed , the commissioners met at John Bradshaw's house , in 1822 , and took from him a deed for about an acre of ground on the bluff across the lane from his house for the county buildings . The site was accepted and a brick courthouse built on it June 4 , 1822 ( 25 ) . This building was torn down and replaced by a new brick building in 1836. The building was used until 1891 when the county seat was moved to Marlinton . The second courthouse was later torn down ( 26 ) . Religious services were held in the courthouse until 1842 when the Academy was built and used as a place of worship . ( 27 )
For a long time after the organization of the county , Huntersville retained precedence as the principal trading place for the entire county . A very disastrous fire occurred in the winter of 1852 by which most of the business part of the town was consumed . ( 29 )
In 1838 , the Warm Springs and Huntersville Turnpike was completed . It was an excellent road for that period , and caused a sensation . In 1840 , the Staunton and Parkersburg Pike was located in this territory by the celebrated Claudius Crozet , one of Napoleon's engineers . ( 30 )
In December 1863 , General Averill's army suddenly appeared on the crest of the river ridge opposite Hillsboro and covered the face of the county by struggling along routes parallel with the county roads in head - long disorganized retreat . Houses were ransacked for food , and the men who were at home were nearly all taken . A large number of the prisoners were kept in the old Academy in Hillsboro . ( 34 )
At the time of the outbreak of the Civil War , the Hon . William Curry was serving as both circuit and county clerk , and when it became evident that the Federals would invade the county , the court ordered Curry to remove the records to a place of safety . He had them taken to the private residence of Joel Hill , Esq . on the Little Levels . Here they remained until January 1862 , when Curry became alarmed as to the safety of them and caused them to be moved to Covington , Virginia , where for a short time they lay in the clerk's office of Allegheny County .
From here they were taken to the storehouse of Capt . William Scott . In September 1863 , General Averill's command reached Covington , and Curry again removed the records , first to the residence of William Clark and then to a stack of buckwheat straw , in which they lay concealed for three weeks , and were then convoyed to the mountains and stored away at the house of a Baptist Minister . They remained here until after the surrender at Appomattox . In June 1865 , Curry returned with the records and ance more deposited them at the house of Joel Hill . Here they remain ed one month and were taken to a vacant house belonging to Rev. Mitchell Dunlap , where they remained until 1865 , when the first court after the close of the war convened ( November , 1865 ) , in the Methodist Church at Hillsboro . From that time they were kept in the old Academy building until June 1866 , when they were taken back to the county seat and deposited at the house of John B. Garey . Only one thing was lost , and that was an old process book . ( 35 )
During the war , Huntersville was burned by Federal troops sent in from the garrison at Beverly , to prevent its being a Confederate depot for military supplies . ( 36 )
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