The following article originally appeared in "The Doddridge Independent" newspaper of Dec 16 2016, and is included here with the author's permission.

Samuel Chaney: Early Doddridge Patriarch, Horseback Mail Carrier - by Jennifer Wilt

Although the focal point of this article is one of Doddridge County’s earliest residents, we will also be touching on the Revolutionary War in New Jersey and pre-Civil War vigilante justice in Illinois. You will see that it all ties together.

Our subject, Samuel Chaney, was born in Georgetown, District of Columbia, in 1787, the son of Richard and Elizabeth Newcomer Chaney. In 1807 Samuel married Anna Davis in Harrison County, (West) Virginia. Anna was the daughter of William “Bottom Billy” Davis and Elizabeth Havens. There were so many William Davises’ in this region in the early 1800s that they were given nicknames based on where they lived. There was Bottom Billy, Greenbrier Billy, Rock Run Billy, Buckeye Billy, Flint Billy and Jarsey Billy. Those nicknames actually appeared in legal documents of the day, so there would be no confusion as to which William Davis they pertained to.

Bottom Billy Davis in Revolutionary War
Samuel Chaney’s father-in-law, William “Bottom Billy” Davis, was born in 1754 in Monmouth County, New Jersey. He worked in his father’s shipyard at the start of the Revolutionary War. Although it is documented that William served in the Revolutionary War, there are discrepancies between historical facts and some of his own statements in his military pension application. In July 1776 William enlisted in the Shrewsbury Regiment of the New Jersey Militia. In about December 1776, while traveling to Philadelphia to meet up with General George Washington, William was captured by British soldiers and kept prisoner in New York. After 22 months of imprisonment, William escaped and made his way back to Monmouth County. He later served several one-month tours under various commanders. According to his testimony, he was shot through the breast at the Battle of Millstone, also known as the Battle of Somerset Courthouse. The musket ball was later removed and he bore the scar until the day he died. The discrepancy here is that the Battle of Millstone occurred in January 1777, when he was imprisoned.  It is likely that his wound was incurred not in 1777 at Millstone, but in 1779 in a skirmish at Sandy Hook, his participation in which is documented in his military records.  Perhaps the 78-year-old William became confused and misspoke at the time of his 1832 pension application.

Samuel Chaney Marries into Davis Family
In 1792 William and his family moved to Harrison County, (West) Virginia and settled on the bottom land at Bristol, near Salem. That is why he was called Bottom Billy Davis. Sometime between 1800 and 1805, Samuel Chaney came to Harrison County and worked on the farm of William Davis. Below is an except from the biography of Samuel and Anna’s son, Phineas:

“Samuel Chaney was nine when his father died, and soon after that event the family went to Pennsylvania and located in Fayette County. He was bound out to a shoemaker in Uniontown, with whom he remained two years. He was unkindly treated and ran away, going to Virginia, where he obtained employment with a man named William Davis, a farmer. He made shoes and performed some light work on the farm. His wife was the only daughter of Mr. Davis, and their marriage was celebrated some years after he entered the service of the lady's father. The latter was born in New Jersey, and emigrated to Virginia after the War of the Revolution. After their marriage they located in the vicinity of the home of Mr. Davis, on a small farm which Mr. Chaney purchased there. In 1818 he entered into a contract with the Government of the United States to carry the mail from Clarksburg, Va., to Marietta, Ohio, a distance of 89 miles. The work was accomplished on horseback, he making two trips a week. Later he entered into other contracts on other routes, and at the time of his death was operating on five different lines. His demise occurred in August, 1828. His wife survived until February, 1851. They were the parents of 12 children, of whom 11 lived to the years of maturity.”

Another son of Samuel and Anna was Eli Chaney.  The following excerpt from Eli’s biography provides a better explanation of Samuel’s death.

“Soon after marriage, or about that time, Samuel Chaney purchased a farm in Harrison County, Va., on which he and his bride located and where he was actively engaged in the vocation of an agriculturist for some time. He subsequently became a mail contractor on a given route. The mails were at this time carried by horseback through the mountains, and while engaged in this business and being at Washington, Samuel Chaney was taken sick and after arriving at his home, in the year 1828, he departed this life, leaving to the care of his widow 11 children.”

At the time of Samuel’s death, they were living in present-day Doddridge County. An 1821 map shows the location of their farm at the confluence of Buckeye Fork and Meathouse Fork [GPS 39.2845001,-80.72871], which is the origin of Middle Island Creek. That would be in Smithburg just east of the Fairview Diner, on Snowbird Road at the intersection of Route 50. I do not know exactly how much property Samuel owned, but an 1834 deed between Lewis Maxwell and trustee John Davis makes reference to the Chaney farm and house located in Lewisport. Perhaps Lewisport encompassed the area that is now considered the Fairview Addition of Smithburg. 

Samuel’s Widow and Children Move Away
Since Samuel died in present-day Doddridge County and his wife was a member of the Seventh Day Baptist church, he was most likely buried at the Seventh Day Baptist Cemetery in West Union or Salem. In 1830, two years after Samuel’s death, Anna and her children left present-day Doddridge County and moved to Clark County, Ohio. Then in 1836 they moved to Ogle County, Illinois, where Anna died in 1852. She and many of her children are buried in the Chaney Family Cemetery in Ogle County, Illinois. 

Deadly Tornado in West Union
Samuel and Anna’s daughter Sophia, born in 1811, married William Sutton Davis, son of Nathan Davis, founder of West Union. William and Sophia had at least four children: Harriet, Jane, Helen and Catherine. A tornado in West Union killed William and their nine-year-old daughter Harriet. This tornado destroyed the Middle Island Seventh Day Baptist Church that stood on present-day Blockhouse Hill. William and Harriet are buried in the lower part of Blockhouse Hill Cemetery, where that church once stood. Various sources differ on the exact date of the tornado. The DAR marker at Blockhouse Hill Cemetery states that the church was destroyed in 1832, Hardesty’s History of Doddridge County states that it was in 1833, but Harriet’s headstone and the family Bible say 1837. Sophia remarried in 1840 and moved to Iowa, where she died in 1886.

Outlaws and Vigilante Justice
In Ogle County, Illinois in 1841, four of Samuel and Anna’s sons, Richard, Phineas, Osborn and Ralph Chaney, were involved in a notorious band of vigilantes called the Regulators. The following excerpt from the “Discover Illinois” website paints a vivid and chilling picture:

“In the early days of Ogle County, a gang of outlaws numbering as many as 500 men made life in this area both interesting and dangerous. From 1835-1841, the notorious “Prairie Bandits” controlled the area and ruled by keeping people in terror.  They were horse thieves, counterfeiters, and murderers.  The night before the first Ogle County Courthouse was to be opened March 1841, it was burned to the ground by this group hoping to destroy records needed to prosecute jailed gang members awaiting trial.  Outraged town leaders decided to take the law into their own hands.  Organizing as “Regulator” they warned the “Bandits” to get out or be horsewhipped.  They captured John Driscoll, the recognized leader of the gang and his son William, tried, and executed them before a 111-man firing squad.  The execution site is found east of Oregon.”

All four Chaney brothers were part of the firing squad that killed John and William Driscoll. All 111 men on the firing squad were later indicted for the murder of John and William Driscoll, but were found not guilty. Perhaps the rendering would have been different if several of the jurymen had not also been the men who were indicted. According to the article Ogle County, Illinois Prairie Pirates the above case “was the largest number of men ever indicted under one charge at one session of a grand jury known to judicial history.”

Phineas Chaney later said to family members:  "If anybody thinks there was anything pleasant, either in what was done that day, or in the recollection of it, he is a greatly mistaken individual. All that I can say at this time—more than 40 years later—is that I am sorry for the existence of such a terrible necessity, but if it was to be done again I could act no different."

Although Samuel and Anna Davis Chaney lived for only a short time in Doddridge County, they, their ancestors and their descendants participated in events that changed history. They played a part in the American Revolution, the early history of mail delivery in the United States, and the taming of the wild-west.

Jennifer is affiliated with AmeriCorps, Preservation Alliance of West Virginia, Main Street Fairmont, Doddridge County EDA, Northwest West Virginia Heritage Byways, North Bend Rail Trail Foundation, Doddridge County Blockhouse Hill Cemetery Historic Landmarks Commission and www.doddridgecountyroots.com.   Email:  doddridgehistory@gmail.com
© Jennifer Wilt 2016
All Doddridge County history articles in this series are the sole intellectual property of Jennifer Wilt, and are printed in the Doddridge Independent with her permission.