Tag Archive | Tazewell County

Women Trapped on Rail Trestle at Wittens Mill

June 13, 1931

As I recollect the story as it has been passed down, Grandmaw Altha Davis and *Aunt Jo  were picking berries along the railway near Wittens Mill in Tazewell County, VA (just off Route 460 between Tazewell and Bluefield). It is my understanding that they were crossing the trestle to get to the other side when a train came round the curve on the mainline and over the trestle – catching the two women. Grandmaw’s big toe  was cut off and she was tossed off the trestle but landed on a bail of wire that cushioned her fall. Aunt Jo was fowled beneath the locomotive which resulted in a broken coccyx but no other serous injuries.

I remember Grandmaw showing me her big toe. It was just the top of her big toe that was cut off, but I can’t image being in that difficult and frightening predicament.

The story always amazed me because this same family of Asa Davis (Norfolk & Western Maintenance of Way Foreman) who moved their entire household in a box car from Russell County to Tazewell County obviously knew the dangers on the rails. Why anyone would walk a trestle is beyond me.

Fortunately, by God’s grace, the two recovered to pick berries another day.

trestle

Mrs. A.C. Davis and Daughter, Mrs. Forrest Mace, Seriously Injured
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Mrs. Mace is Fouled Beneath Locomotive While Mother is Tossed Bodily From Structure; Victims Are Patients In Bluefield Hospital
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Trapped by a locomotive as they were crossing the Norfork and Western railroad….

Altha

The white cabinet now sits in Mom’s house, but was originally her grandmother’s,  Nancy C. “Nannie” (Jessee) Davis.

MACE NF and Joella

* Aunt Jo Ella (Davis) Mace with Uncle Forrest Mace

Daugherty

I have had a couple of inquiries about the DAUGHERTY line and although I don’t have a huge amount of documentation, I’ll share what I have. Here is the pedigree chart from my line. (I’ll add a better image soon)

I do have a connection with Daugherty researcher with well documented records. I’ll share links and contact information  here if I obtain approval.
Daugherty to MJD pedigree

[Letcher -Houston Family.FTW] source (RS)

The James, William and Nancy are uncle/aunt to your John L, not brothers and sister.  They are brothers and sister to the father of John L., John Dougherty that married Hannah Letcher.

John that married Hannah Letcher; James that married ELizabeth Hamilton; William that married Ruth Towson and Nancy Ann that married Jacob Leese; were brothers and sister, having traveled from Strabane, Co. Tyrone, N/ Ireland prior to 1791 to Delaware, Maryland and ultimately into Virginia.

John Dougherty:

From Rockbridge County Records:

=======================================================

Extracts from the records of Rockbridge County, VA:
Rockbridge County to Wit.
John Dougherty & William Dougherty come before me & made oath that Ann Dougherty, their sister
who is about to intermarry with Jacob Leese is above the age of twenty one years of their own
knowledge, & that there is no fraud or —–sion practiced, or about to be practiced in order to obtain a license for said intended marriage. Given under my hand this 10th day of November 1802
A. Reid C.R.C.

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David A. Daugherty & Nancy L. (Moore) Daugherty are my 2nd great grand uncle and aunt.

DAUGHERTY David_Daugherty_brother_to_Mary_Jane_Daughtery_Gregory

I uncovered some of my Daugherty connection in an old scrapbook of newspaper clippings obits, marriage announcements, calling cards etc. that belonged to my Grandmother Buckland. Fortunately, or by divine intervention it was preserved instead of being tossed into the trash. My dad (the railroader) kept the old scrapbook after his mother’s death in 1960, and I received it after he passed away in 1993. Above all, this is one of my most treasured possessions. It would not have been of interest to most anyone else in the family, but it has opened the door to discovering my roots unknown to any living relatives.

Dad and I tried to find the old Marrs Cemetery in Falls Mills, Virginia, but to no avail. However a good many years later, my two brothers agreed upon my insistence that we try again. And we succeeded.  The once sacred ground was being used as a horse pasture and probably by now, the animals have nearly destroyed the headstones forever loosing placement of the community’s deceased. (a rant for another day).

MARRS - Daugherty David MARRS - Daugherty Nannie L. Daugherty 1836-1918

There lies, David A. Daugherty 1836-1904 and his beloved wife Nannie Lane Moore Daugherty 1836-1918. (I understand that Nannie was related to Captain James  Moore – who was massacred, along with much of his family in Abbs Valley, Virginia.)

From a page of Mary Jane Davidson’s scrapbook below, we read her great uncle’s obit.

OBITUARY Daugherty David 1836-1904

Interestingly, there is an additional clue to another relative previously unknown, Virginia’s Civil War Governor, John Letcher.

In Grandmother’s clipping below we read kind words apparently said by Reverend Daugherty proclaimed at the funeral of a dearly departed.

WORDS Daugherty David A

OBITUARY Unrelated David A Daughtery Minister

The precious glued papers of the book revealed the obit of  Mrs. M.J. Gregory, grandmother to Mary Jane Davidson and for whom she was named. Mary Jane Gregory (Daugherty) 1826-1897) was David Daugherty’s sister, both children of John L. Daugherty (1799-1868) and Nancy Ward (b. abt. 1802). MJ & David had two other siblings, Isaac W. Daugherty (1828-1850) and George C. Daugherty (1829-1800).

Mary Jane Daugherty married Daniel Parham Gregory on July 22, 1851.

Nancy Ward (daughter of  Virginia pioneer David Ward) married John L. Daugherty/Dougherty October 6, 1825. They are my 3rd great grandparents.

OBITUARY Gregory Mary Jane (Daugherty) 1826-1897

The Daniel Gregory Cemetery is  LOCATED ON RT 61, OPPOSITE CHESTNUT GROVE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AT SHAWVERS MILL. (Daniel P. Gregory, Footstone for his wife MJG, Daniel’s mother, Elizabeth H. Gregory, Nehemiah Findley, Nancy J.E. Cundiff, Robert J. Kidd, Footstone, EPG) (Photo by Judy Llamas)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Isaac Daugherty is buried at the Jeffersonville Cemetery in Tazewell, Virginia. His headstone was broken and propped up against another, so the exact location is not known. To date, I do not know more about brother George C. Daugherty.

JEFFERSONVILLE Cemetery Tazewell VA

JEFFERSONVILLE CEMETERY DAUGHERTY Isaac W 1828-1856 unreadable JEFFERSONVILLE CEMETERY DAUGHERTY Isaac W 1828-1856 footstone IWD 3