Herold Family History

 

 

The Daugherty Family The Daugherty family is foundational to the early history and naming of Dougharts Creek in Pocahontas County.

• Pioneer Origins: Michael Daugherty, an Irish immigrant, was among the first permanent settlers in the area to secure a land patent from the Commonwealth of Virginia. His original land grant stretched from his homestead down the valley toward the Lockridge lands, establishing some of the community's earliest property boundaries.
• Naming the Creek: The creek's various names—Dougharts, Douthard's, and Douthat Creek—are all linguistic evolutions of the Daugherty surname. In early Scotch-Irish settlements, local dialects frequently altered vowel sounds, causing clerks to transcribe the name as "Douthard". By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, "Douthat" became more prominent, though the modern use of "Dougharts Creek" preserves an older phonetic spelling that closely aligns with the original Daugherty name.

The Herold Family The Herolds were a highly influential and prosperous family who arrived a bit later and became an economic powerhouse in the valley.

• Arrival and Rise to Wealth: Christopher Herold, a man of "pure German parentage" whose ancestors had migrated through Pennsylvania, moved to Dougharts Creek around 1825 from Highland County, Virginia. Although he could not read English, Christopher possessed "surprising powers of memory" and great "business sagacity". Through these traits, he and his sons accumulated thousands of acres of land, operated mills, and became the dominant economic force along the creek.
• Family Expansion: Christopher and his wife, Elizabeth Cook, raised a large family. Their children—Susan, Jane, Elizabeth Ann, Henry, Peter, Benjamin, Christopher Jr., Andrew, and Josiah—married into other prominent regional families, spreading the Herold influence across Pocahontas and neighboring counties.
• Frontier Hardship: The family's history is also marked by the extreme isolation and hostility of the 19th-century mountain environment. During one particularly brutal winter, Andrew Herold was sent to drive cattle into the mountains so they could browse and avoid starving. While he was isolated by the deep snow, his brother Peter died at home. To deliver the tragic news, a neighbor named James Gibson Sr. had to climb a high peak within earshot of Andrew's camp and yell the message to him. Andrew survived the winter but returned in the spring so emaciated he was nearly unrecognizable.
• Later Legacy: The Herolds remained a fixture in the community's later transition into a resort and recreation destination. In 1915, a descendant named Winston Herold completed the construction of the Allegheny Club (or Allegheny Lodge) Club House, an opulent $20,000 facility that hosted high-society guests overlooking the confluence of the Douthards and Knapps Creek valleys.
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The formal history of land ownership in the Dougharts Creek valley is rooted in the patent system of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Michael Daugherty, an Irish immigrant, was among the first permanent settlers to secure a land patent in this specific valley.

His original land grant covered a substantial area, stretching from his homestead down the valley toward the neighboring Lockridge lands. By securing this tract, Daugherty helped establish one of the foundational property boundaries for the early community.

During this pioneering period, Daugherty held his land simultaneously with other prominent figures who also secured large tracts nearby, such as Colonel John Baxter, Lanty Lockridge, and Michael Cleek.

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