EPHRAIM BEE AND EARLY DODDRIDGE COUNTY - by Jennifer Wilt

Starting this week I want to tell you about the legendary Ephraim Bee, one of Doddridge County’s most beloved characters. Ephraim was a blacksmith, innkeeper, magistrate, Militia Captain, Grand Lama of E Clampus Vitus, and was proud to have once been named the Ugliest Man in West Virginia. His gregarious personality and peculiar sense of humor took him from a small tavern in Lewisport to the Virginia State Legislature in Richmond, and then later, in 1863, to the newly formed West Virginia State Legislature in Wheeling. His name not only lives on in Doddridge County, but also in his nationwide fraternal organization, E Clampus Vitus, that is still in existence today.

My research on Ephraim Bee is still a work in progress. I already have a great deal of information on him, but there are literally several hundred Chancery and criminal court cases in Harrison and Doddridge counties that I have yet to read. Ephraim Bee’s contributions to Doddridge County are greater than any other individual that I have researched to date. 

EPHRAIM HEAVEN SENT?
Ephraim Bee was born December 26, 1802 in Salem County, New Jersey, the son of Asa Bee and Rhoda Cox. His family moved to Preston County in Western Virginia sometime prior to 1820. By the time Ephraim moved to present-day Doddridge County in approximately 1822, he was already a master blacksmith. According to Ned Jones in his book HIstory of Smithburg, “The blacksmiths filled a long felt want, a want that nothing but a blacksmith could relieve, and the coming of Ephraim Bee was looked upon as a special dispensation of Providence for the relief of the settlers. Of course the old stretchy buckskin log and trace chains were at once discarded and replaced by iron ones.”  Ephraim was able to supply tools, farm implements, muskets  cooking utensils, and nearly all of the necessities needed to sustain the isolated village of Middle Island.

EARLY ROADS
Ephraim Bee married Catharine Davis on June 19, 1823 in Salem, Harrison County, Virginia (now West Virginia) and shortly afterward moved to the sparse community of Middle Island. He built his blacksmith shop near the base of where Blockhouse Hill is today. At that time there was already a bridge across the Middle Island Creek, about where the bridge by 7-11 is now located. We know this because of an entry in Harrison County Court Minute Book 1818-1820. The entry dated December 22, 1818 reads, “On a motion of William England it is ordered that John Sommerville, Jasper Newell, Simeon Maxson and William S. Davis to mark a road from New Salem to the Middle Island Bridge.”  Twenty-five years later, in 1843, Ephraim was to play a significant role in providing the hardware necessary for the building of the covered bridge at that spot.

In another entry in Harrison County Minute Book 1823-1825, we find Ephraim Bee already trying to expand the limits of his small village. The entry dated August 18, 1823 reads, “On a motion of Ephraim Bee it is ordered that William Davis, Joseph Davis, John Jarvis and Nichodemus Boring view a way for a road from said Bee’s to intersect the State Road where it crosses Doe Run.” The State Road led from Clarksburg to Marietta, with portions of it running roughly where Route 50 runs today. The aforementioned Doe Run is still called Doe Run until it starts its incline up what we now call Jaco Hill. This entry tells us that Ephraim Bee was responsible for the construction of the road that ran from the Middle Island Bridge, through the present town of West Union and on to Doe Run. This information will become more important in a later article in this series. 

LEWIS MAXWELL A CLOSE FRIEND
In 1828 the section of the MIddle Island community that Ephraim Bee lived in became the village of Lewisport when Ephraim opened the first Post Office in this area. It was called Lewisport in honor of Congressman Lewis Maxwell, who owned most of the surrounding land. 

Within a few short years, Ephraim Bee had not only a blacksmith shop, but also a farm, stables, tannery, tavern and an inn. By 1830 Ephraim and Catharine had already had four children; Josiah, Keziah, Amos and Stinnett. Oral tradition tells us that Ephraim Bee and Lewis Maxwell were close friends, and we find confirmation of this in a Harrison County Deed Book. In a deed dated November 1, 1831 Lewis Maxwell gives to Ephraim Bee a piece of property, “Beginning 14 feet above the bridge and running thence up the creek...to the main street in the town of Lewisport including his house and blacksmith.”  Apparently Ephraim had built his house and blacksmith shop on property that belonged to Lewis Maxwell quite some time before the deed was written. The price Ephraim paid for this property was, “In Consideration of Friendship.” 

In 1827 the Northwestern Turnpike was chartered by the General Assembly of Virginia to connect Winchester, Virginia to Parkersburg. By 1837 the Northwestern Turnpike ran right beside Ephraim Bee’s blacksmith shop. The construction of this road lead to an unprecedented migration of people from Maryland and Pennsylvania into present-day Doddridge County.

EPHRAIM BREAKS FROM CHURCH
Sometime before 1827 several members of the Salem Seventh Day Baptist Church who had migrated west towards Lewisport built a meeting house and cemetery on the hill above Ephraim Bee’s blacksmith shop. In 1831 Ephraim was made the first Clerk of what would be known as the Middle Island Seventh Day Baptist Church. But his time at this church was short-lived. In A History of the Seventh Day Baptists in West Virginia… by Corliss Fitz Randolph, he tells of how Ephraim Bee split from the church:  

“At the regular quarterly business meeting of the church in November, following the organization, there was presented to the church a controversy which had arisen between Ephraim Bee and Nathan Davis. This dispute shook the infant church to its foundation, and planted the seeds of trouble for years to come. So serious was it that at the regular meeting in February next, Ephraim Bee was relieved of his duties as clerk of the church until the unfortunate difference should be adjusted.” 

Nathan Davis was a Justice of the Peace at this time and had sided with a man named William I. Lowther in a dispute between William and Ephraim. Ephraim felt that Nathan’s ruling was unfair and the matter was taken before the elders of the church. The elders sided with Nathan Davis, and Ephraim was forced to resign his position. You will see later how this feud led to the founding of West Union as the County Seat of Doddridge County.

BRIDGES WASHED AWAY
Another oral tradition is that the Middle Island Bridge washed away in the Great Flood of 1835. This is supported by documents showing that in 1837, the Northwestern Turnpike Company rebuilt the bridge when the turnpike was constructed. Beyond that, I found a Legislative Petition in which Squire Sayre petitioned the State of Virginia for compensation for the destruction of his grist and sawmill that was ruined when the rebuilt Middle Island Bridge once again, in 1838, washed off its foundation and crashed into his mill. His case was thrown out of the local court because the bridge was a result of an Act of the Virginia Assembly, so Sayre was advised to file a Legislative Petition to seek financial compensation from the state of Virginia. In November 1839 Ephraim Bee gave a statement swearing that he was an eyewitness to the bridge as it washed off its foundation and that he watched the bridge crash into Squire Sayre’s mill. He also stated that he had warned the Northwestern Turnpike Company that the bridge was likely to be washed away just like the old one because it was built no higher than the last. I am still looking for the resolution to this petition.  

By 1840 Ephraim and Catharine had had five more children; Wickliffe, Ephraim W., Huston, Augustus, and Martha. Unfortunately, Huston only lived for six months. He is buried at the Old Seventh Day Baptist Section of the Blockhouse Hill Cemetery. Most likely, Ephraim Bee could see his son’s grave from his blacksmith shop. We also know from the 1840 Federal Census that Ephraim Bee had two slaves, a female age 24-35 years and a female age under 10 years. 

DISS DEBAR ARRIVES
Very shortly, Ephraim Bee would meet a man who would not only change his life, but the lives of so many people in Doddridge County. On April 15, 1846 Joseph H. Diss Debar stepped off of Major Hilderbrand’s coach and walked into Ephraim Bee’s tavern. The relationship that they formed that day led to a contentious power struggle between the two for the House of Delegates in the newly formed state of West Virginia. 

Check back next week to read more about the hotly contested battle between Ephraim Bee and Joseph H. Diss Debar.  I’ll also share the details of a scandalous court case between Elizabeth Burnside and Ephraim Bee. You’ll learn how Ephraim proclaimed himself the Grand Hotoetote of a fraternal order of practical jokers. And so much more…..


NOTE:  The foregoing copyrighted article originally appeared as a weekly column in "The Doddridge Independent" newspaper.  It appears here on the Doddridge County Roots website with the author's permission.