Jackson County VA

Biography of John Hartley Smith

John Hartley Smith, the founder and president of the First National Bank of San Bernardino, and one of the most thorough business men and experienced bankers in Southern California, was born in Jackson County, Virginia, in 1835. He came to Ohio at the age of fifteen, and in 1853 he came to California and spent two years in the gold mines, chiefly in Mariposa County. He was quite successful, and in 1855 returned to Ohio with considerable money and a fund of experience which has proved of great value to him in his subsequent business career, as well as fraught … Read more

Slave Narrative of Nan Stewart

Interviewer: Sarah Probst Person Interviewed: Nan Stewart Location: Ohio Place of Birth: Charleston, West Virginia Date of Birth: February 1850 Age: 87 Sarah Probst, Reporter Audrey Meighen, Author-Editor Jun 9, 1937 Folklore Meigs County, District Three [HW: Middeport] “I’se bawned Charl’stun, West Virginia in February 1850.” “My mammy’s name? Hur name wuz Kath’run Paine an’ she wuz bawned down Jackson County, Virginia. My pappy wuz John James, a coopah an’ he wuz bawned at Rock Creek, West Virginia. He cum’d ovah heah with Lightburn’s Retreat. Dey all crossed de ribah at Buffington Island. Yes, I had two bruthahs and three … Read more

Biography of Isaac W. Pfost

The Virginians have given to nearly every state in the union much of the good blood and good citizenship, for, wherever his lot is cast, the Virginian is patriotic and does honor to his environments. Idaho has many well known citizens of Virginian birth, but not one who is more highly regarded for integrity and perseverance and all the other qualities which make for real success than Isaac W. Pfost, of Boise, who, having been born in Virginia prior to its division, is literally a native of the Old Dominion. Isaac W. Pfost, proprietor of the Bancroft Hotel, Boise, Idaho, … Read more