I started here, Old Woman's Run. This is the bridge over it in Sutton, WV, clearly no longer in use--one of the dying breed of old steel bridges. I learned that this little creek ran into Granny's Creek. My curiosity over these names led me a-googling, and here's what I found in addition to what I posted this morning:
Granny's Creek is not at all named for what I thought--no midwifery here, just a plain old hunting story:
From http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~hyde/jackson/John-Jackson.html :
"Granny's Creek," in Braxton County, received its name when Henry Jackson commenced a [land] survey thereon and one of his hunters named Loudin, killed a buffalo cow, which was so old and tough that the men declared her to be the grandmother of all buffaloes." Now whoever would have thought it?
He lists his source as: Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia 1768 to 1785, by Lucullus Virgil McWhorter, 1915, reprinted by Jim Comstock, Richwood, West Virginia, 1974, as part of The West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia, page 382.
Looking a little more into it, I found the following on Rootsweb:
John Davisson Sutton, founder of Sutton, Braxton Co., West Virginia, kept "a small pocket diary" in which under date of 1796 at Alexandria, Virginia, "he speaks of teaching a school in South Carolina, and of coming to Alexandria where his father and brother, James, lived. At his father's request, he made a trip to what is now Braxton county to look at some lands which his father had bought out of the John Allison survey, lying on Granny's creek [sic] and the Elk river. He relates that he came by Winchester and Lewisburg, thence to Charleston. At Charleston, he hired a canoe and procured the assistance of a riverman to bring him to Elk river to the mouth of Big Birch. He then crossed the country to the home of a Mr. Carpenter on Laurel creek."-- Callahan, James Morton, History of West Virginia, Old and New, [The] (American Historical Society, Chicago and New York: 1923), p.129. [University of Texas at Austin (Main Library), Post Office Box P, Austin, Texas 78713-8916, Dewey -- 975.4 C13h v.1, v.2, v.3.]
And then this from http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/r/e/n/Betty-D-Renick/GENE26-0001.html:
"My great grandfather (Richard Dotson) had a friend living near Sutton. His name was Mr. Sutton and the town was Sutton, W.Va, and was named for him. Grandfather went to Sutton to hunt on his tract of land. I do not know the length of the stay -- but while there, he killed 63 bears. Mr. Sutton kept the bear meat for his share. Grand dad brought home the bear hides for his share. "Old Dobbins", the horse, pulled the sled from Sutton to Toll Gate. Grand dad and Old Dobbins took the hides to Parkersburg, W.Va, and sold them to a Flat Boat man, and he took them to New Orleans, Louisiana and they were put on the world market."
Ah, the dangers of roaming about in Google.
From http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~hyde/jackson/John-Jackson.html :
"Granny's Creek," in Braxton County, received its name when Henry Jackson commenced a [land] survey thereon and one of his hunters named Loudin, killed a buffalo cow, which was so old and tough that the men declared her to be the grandmother of all buffaloes." Now whoever would have thought it?
He lists his source as: Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia 1768 to 1785, by Lucullus Virgil McWhorter, 1915, reprinted by Jim Comstock, Richwood, West Virginia, 1974, as part of The West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia, page 382.
Looking a little more into it, I found the following on Rootsweb:
John Davisson Sutton, founder of Sutton, Braxton Co., West Virginia, kept "a small pocket diary" in which under date of 1796 at Alexandria, Virginia, "he speaks of teaching a school in South Carolina, and of coming to Alexandria where his father and brother, James, lived. At his father's request, he made a trip to what is now Braxton county to look at some lands which his father had bought out of the John Allison survey, lying on Granny's creek [sic] and the Elk river. He relates that he came by Winchester and Lewisburg, thence to Charleston. At Charleston, he hired a canoe and procured the assistance of a riverman to bring him to Elk river to the mouth of Big Birch. He then crossed the country to the home of a Mr. Carpenter on Laurel creek."-- Callahan, James Morton, History of West Virginia, Old and New, [The] (American Historical Society, Chicago and New York: 1923), p.129. [University of Texas at Austin (Main Library), Post Office Box P, Austin, Texas 78713-8916, Dewey -- 975.4 C13h v.1, v.2, v.3.]
And then this from http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/r/e/n/Betty-D-Renick/GENE26-0001.html:
"My great grandfather (Richard Dotson) had a friend living near Sutton. His name was Mr. Sutton and the town was Sutton, W.Va, and was named for him. Grandfather went to Sutton to hunt on his tract of land. I do not know the length of the stay -- but while there, he killed 63 bears. Mr. Sutton kept the bear meat for his share. Grand dad brought home the bear hides for his share. "Old Dobbins", the horse, pulled the sled from Sutton to Toll Gate. Grand dad and Old Dobbins took the hides to Parkersburg, W.Va, and sold them to a Flat Boat man, and he took them to New Orleans, Louisiana and they were put on the world market."
Ah, the dangers of roaming about in Google.
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