HARPER FAMILY RESEARCHERS
Pay a visit to the library in Franklin, Pendleton County, West Virginia. They have a great research room, and Charlie Bates, the Librarian, is very knowledgeable and helpful. If you're lucky, Lucille Harper Bowers might be in that day. She retired from the library last year but still comes in from time to time.
Here is a list of some books you might like to purchase which may prove useful to you in your research:
1) Rick Toothman, Pendleton County, WV, Deedbook Records, 1788-1813 (Heritage Books, 1995), available from the publisher. This includes Deed Books 1-5.
2) There are many family histories of Pendleton County pioneers, most out of print. "The Henckel Genealogical Bulletin" which is edited by Nedra Dickman Brill, Certified Genealogist, includes ALL descendants (including daughters) of the early Pendleton County pioneer John Justus Henckel, and has published extensive research on many collateral families. Available for $___ from Nedra at: 2410 NE 58th Ave., Portland, OR 97213-4002
3) Available from: Pendleton County Historical Society P.O. Box 549 Franklin, West Virginia 26807 All prices include postage.
Pendleton County Grave Registers- Volume 1 $12.50. Volume 2, currently out-of-print, includes a transcription of the Pendleton County Death Register 1853-1903. Also $12.50
Pictorial History of Pendleton (1988), $37.50 Marriages of Pendleton Co, VA 1788-1853 $17.50. This Marriages book is a consolidation of the two books published by Mary Harter. Jackie Puffenbarger re-typed this information and incorporated corrections which I had found when proofing Mary's books against the original bonds located in the WVU Archives. This book does not include the narrative sections of Mary's two books nor the 1810 census.
Hammers and Allied Families by Boggs (1950), $27.50. Morton's History of Pendleton County (1910, reprint), $37.50.
Pendleton Co., WV, Past and Present is a compilation of family bios submitted by various people. Some information is researched and some is based on family lore. (I do not have an address for this but Pendlton Co. Hist. Society, above, would know the details.)
4) Index to Morton's History of Pendleton County, $17.50 from Madeline W. Crickard, Route 1, Box 218, Beverly, WV.
5) Jackie Puffenbarger published many census returns, but I was told that not all are still available. Inquire with a SASE at Route 1, Box 330, Fulk's Run, Virginia, 22830
6) The following are not indices but are complete transcriptions of the Federal Population Censuses:
1850 census $10.00
1860 census $10.00
Families are arranged alphabetically, but all information is included.
1870 census $10.00
1823 tax list $7.00
1830 census $7.00
The 1810 census was published in Mary Harter's Marriage Bonds of Pendleton County, now out-of-print.
7) 1840 census transcribed and published by James L. Douthat, Mountain Press, PO Box 400, Signal Mountain, TN 37377.
8) 1880 census compiled by William Marsh and published in Vol. 2 of his series of WV 1880 censuses.
9) Pendleton County, WV, Tax Lists 1789-1801, by Sandy Fackler, PO Box 119, Washington CH, OH 43160. These are land tax lists.
10) The Pendleton Times (Franklin, WV 26807) sells for $16.50 the book Twixt North and South, an excellent glimpse of the personal side of the Civil War in Pendleton, based upon personal interviews.
11) In 1997 D. Brandon Shreve (810 Payton Drive, Fredericksburg, VA 22405) wrote and published a book A Place Called Smoke Hole which emphasizes life in Smoke Hole during the Depression era, but also has some early history.
The above information courtesy of Nedra Dickman Brill, Certified Genealogist.