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I ". i-===I A West Virginia History
Massacre
..... ' of the Crow Sisters
: Part 4
by
Clyde Cale Jr.
The First Night
The Crow fam-
ily became fright-
ened the first
night in their new
log cabin home
m 1769 by sounds they thought
were made by Indians. The fam-
ily fled in the darkness into the
surrounding woods, where Mrs.
Crow was separated and fear-
ing to call out, wandered all
night in a wild plum thicket in
the creek bottom near the sight
of the cabin, carrying baby Mi-
chael in her arms to keep him
l¥om crying.
IndJan scare
while sugaring
The Indians were often in an
ugly mood. being sorely pro-
voked by the constant intrusion
of the whites upon what they
considered to be their land. The
fear of the red man was never
absent fi'om the thoughts of the
Crow family.
A few years after the Crow
family bad moved, when
Michael was around five or six
years old, he and his broth-
ers were boiling down sugar
water one night in the camp in
the 20 acre bog bottom across
the creek. Intending probably
to work all night, they had
brought sliced bacon with them
to cook over the fire.
Little Michael, having uown
sleepy as he sat watching the
blazing fires, had been put to
bed in a hogshead turned on its
side. The brothers were busily
watching the boiling cauldrons
of maple syrup, when suddenly
the dogs bristled up and ran
out into the darkness barking
fiercely.
They kept up their barking
raw meat.
Young Michael left alone
On one occasion, the report
came that some neighbors had
been attacked by the Indians
in their cabin. The older Crow
brothers, Frederick and Mar-
tin, were alerted and young
Michael, then around 10 years
old, was allowed to accompany
them to the Farley home over
on another fork of the Ackley
Creek.
Arriving at the Farley home,
later owned by Thomas Steele,
they found that the Farleys had
fled for fear of an Indian attack,
and also learned that the white
man murdered by the Indians
had been living two and a half
miles down the creek where
Majorsville now stands on land
owned by the Harshes.
The older brothers persuaded
Michael with his dog to remain
in the Farley home while they
went to bury the murdered man.
They expected to be gone not
more than two or three hours,
but thinking they might be able
to capture the Indians if they
followed them at once while the
trail was hot, the brothers set out
with a neighborhood group on
the trail in an attempt to avenge
the murder of their neighbor.
The brothers thought Michael
was too young to accompany
them, so he was left behind, as
the brothers knew he would not
be able to keep up with the fast
pace of the pursuit.
He had been placed in a cabin,
on what is now the Richey farm
(then Farley), near Bloomfield,
on a branch of Ackley Creek.
The group did not return in two
or three hours as expected, but
were gone for at least two or
three days.
There was food in the cabin
until the boys were.afraithere al in tle_cave near b so Ih
wOds: ;Fhirowmg sugar vstcP-
on their fires to smother them : ,merl. he;ftmnd in the cupboar
out, they awakened Michael,
ran hastily to the top of the hill
on the other side of the creek,
and spent the rest of the night
on a bed of leaves behind a
fallen log. They had taken their
bacon with them, but being
afraid to light a fire to cook it,
they ate it raw.
Michael used to tell this story
to his children, and said it was
the only time he ever really ate
ate raw bacon, and drank some
cream from the churning which
the family, in their precipitate
fight, had left unfinished.
At night, fearing both Indians
and wolves, young Michael
hid himself by lifting up one
of the puncheons in the cabin
floor, and crawling down un-
derneath, wrapping himself in
a blanket. He also strapped his
dog's mouth shut with his sus-
penders to keep it from barking,
thinking that it would be better
to lose his pants than his life, he
spent the night in safety.
He became very anxious as to
whether his brothers would re-
turn, and finally filled his pock-
ets with bread and sugar and
was about to try to walk alone to
the fort at Lindley's Mill, over
20 miles away.
He was still in the vicinity,
however, when the brothers fi-
nally returned and took him
home. The anxiety that the fam-
ily felt, when Michael and his
brothers were absent for the two
days, may well be imagined.
Evidently the home folks had
gone to Fort Lindley at Prosper-
ity, or the boy would have gone
to the homestead.
The Indian scare was now
over. It has also been related,
in connection with the above
incident, that When the broth-
ers went to bury the unfortunate
man, they were horrified that his
head had been severed from his
body and could not be found.
Some time later, while work-
ing in the vicinity, Jacob Crow
was shocked to find the man's
head caught on the hook of his
log chain. It is also said young
Michael, fearing to stay in the
cabin in the daytime, crossed
the creek and stayed under a
cliff of rocks.
Michael warns neighbors
One evening, it was thought
the the'Indians were lurking in
the neighborhood. One of the
children looking up at the cabin
chimney, saw an Indian peering
down from above.
The Indian quickly withdrew
and escaped. Michael, then
about 15, was sent out as a
scout to raise the alarm and to
call the neighbors to the Crow
fort, a palisade fortification for
emergency protection, located
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between the mill and the cabin There was no Indian attack at
home. He had gone to where this time, so far as record or folk
Majorsville now stands to alert lore are concerned.
the Whartons, who lived on
land later owned by Elijah Al-
ley.
As he was returning, following
a path across Bloomfield Ridge,
it being a moonlight night in
late October, he was able to
sight an Indian braze squatting
in the path with his gun ready to
kill any pedestrian who would
have the ill fortune of traveling
this path at this particular time.
Young Michael was fortu-
nate in sighting the Indian and
escaping a ferocious dog, by
beating him off with a club, as
he sped away by another path
and reached the fort unharmed.
John Crow slain
The next story, in contrast, is
more tragic. A few years later
in August of 1789, Frederick,
Martin and John Crow, and a
young man .by the name of Da-
vis, went on a hunting trip to
Big Fish Creek in Wetzel Coun-
ty, in West Virginia.
They were looking for elk,
which were reported to be nu-
merous in that. vicinity. John
seemed to have a very difficult
time getting ready, as every-
The other brothers grew tired
of waiting and started on ahead,
leaving John behind. Finally
John was ready, mounted his
horse, and got started.
When he rode down across the
valley and had climbed part way
up the opposite bank to where
he could see the last of the
homestead, like a ship at sea as
the mast vanishes from sight on
the distant horizon, John turned
his horse and looked for a very
long time at the cabin across the
valley which had been his early
pioneer home.
The family noticed how John
seemed reluctant to resume the
thing seemed to go wrong, in- journey. Little did they realize
eluding difficulty in molding that this was to be John's last
his bullets, view of his home.
Mausoleum in the Crow Cemetery [also known as a vault]. Cannot be read by picture,
writing is very faded. Should read as follows: Michael Crow 1818-1908, Michael Crow
Died May 8, 1852 in his 88 Year. Sarah J. Crow 1825-1879. Nancy Crow Died Feb 26,
1853 in her 72 year.
When it no longer feels like a
walk on the beach, it may be
time to see an orthopedist.
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