Cutlip Family

 

Briefing Document: Historical Assessment and Genealogical Analysis of the Cutlip Family of Pocahontas County, West Virginia

Executive Summary

The Cutlip family (originally anglicized from the German Gottlieb or Guttlieb) represents one of the earliest Palatine German pioneer lines to settle the southwestern districts of Pocahontas County. Arriving in the late 1770s, patriarch George Gottlieb (Cutlip), Sr., and his sons established farmsteads along Stamping Creek, Mill Point, Lobelia, and the Little Levels. Over generations, the family engaged in self-sufficient mountain farming, cattle droving, and timber harvesting, while establishing prolific branches across Webster, Nicholas, and Braxton counties.

1. Ethno-Cultural Origins and Anglicization

The family patriarch, George Gottlieb (Cutlip), Sr. (c. 1725–1785), was a German Palatine immigrant who arrived in North America during the mid-18th century, migrating down the Great Wagon Road through the Shenandoah Valley into the Allegheny Mountains. Colonial clerks routinely phoneticized the German surname Gottlieb ("God's Love") into Cutlip or Cutlipp.

George Sr. and his sons—including George Cutlip, Jr. (c. 1755–1840) and David Cutlip—entered the upper James and Greenbrier borderlands in the 1770s and 1780s.

2. Micro-Regional Settlement and Economic Activity

The Cutlips cleared bottomlands and high mountain benches across southwestern Pocahontas County:

Branch / Family Head	Primary Geographical Anchor	Agricultural & Economic Roles	Regional Expansion
George Cutlip, Jr.	Stamping Creek & Mill Point	Frontier defense veteran, limestone farming	Descendants expanded through Little Levels
Samuel Cutlip (c. 1815–1880s)	Lobelia & Bruffey's Creek	Highland grain farming, livestock raising	Maintained farmsteads near Mill Point & Hillsboro
Webster & Braxton Branches	Upper Elk & Gauley headwaters	Pioneer timber harvesting, mountain homesteading	Founded major Cutlip settlements in Webster/Braxton

Following the creation of Pocahontas County in 1821, Cutlip freeholders served as road surveyors, patrollers, and grand jurors at Huntersville court sessions.

3. Civil War Service and Timber Era Development

• Confederate Enlistments: Situated near strategic turnpikes and Droop Mountain, Cutlip men enlisted in the 31st Virginia Infantry, the 19th Virginia Cavalry, and local partisan units.
• Timber Industry: Following the 1900 arrival of the C&O Railway Greenbrier Division, family members worked as sawyers, log drivers, teamsters, and blacksmiths in lumber camps along the Cranberry, Williams, and Greenbrier rivers.

4. Matrimonial Alliances

The Cutlips intermarried extensively with foundational pioneer families of southwestern Pocahontas:

• Kennison (Cannaday) & Bruffey: Deep marital ties around Hillsboro, Droop Mountain, and Bruffey's Creek.
• McMillion & Boggs: Alliances connecting families between the Cranberry/Williams River rim and valley farmsteads.
• Sharp, Ruckman, Dilley, and Hill: Connections documented across 19th-century county marriage registers.

5. Primary Archival Repositories

• Pocahontas County Courthouse (Marlinton, WV): Deed Books, Will Books 1–4, and Marriage Registers.
• Bath & Greenbrier Courthouses: Pre-1821 tax digests and land surveys.
• Cemeteries: Oak Grove Cemetery (Hillsboro), Lobelia Cemetery, and Stamping Creek churchyards.