Full Family, Papers of Residents of Pendleton and Wirt Counties
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 4146
Papers relating to the Full family of Pendleton and Wirt counties, West Virginia. Includes nearly 350 original items, each with an item number. Items are subdivided into three categories, including: 1. non-tax receipts, court-related documents, promissory notes, etc.; 2. letters, deeds (including a land grant), and miscellaneous longer items; and 3. tax receipts. The Full family lived in Pendleton County, (West) Virginia until moving in 1817 to what would become Wirt County (in 1848). In 1817, that area was still on the edge of the frontier. While the Full family were not the first settlers, they arrived when the area was still very sparsely settled. Their receipts and store account records reflect the growing population and increased availability of goods over time. As was typical of most settlers, they were farmers. Two documents highlight the problems that many settlers faced with getting clear title to their land. Several documents reflect Reuben Full's time serving as a Justice of the Peace for Wirt County (1858-1860). The oldest dated item relates to Lewis Full paying his Revenue Tax to Jos. Henkle via Joseph Roy in pounds, shillings and pence in Pendleton County in 1791. A few undated items are possibly older. Most items are dated between 1800 and 1880. The most recent document is a 1904 letter. The collection also includes a document of transcriptions (2015; in box 2), which includes background information on the family, a table of contents, and an index of persons, places, businesses, and topics.
English
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From information submitted by the donor:
Lewis Full (Ludwick/Lewis Full/Fultz) is very probably the eldest son of Andrew Full/Fultz/Fuls who served in the French & Indian War and later Dunmore's War from Augusta County, Virginia and died at Charleston, South Carolina in May 1780 at the Battle of Waxhaws Creek. Lewis Full, and his son Reuben, migrated from Pendleton County, (West) Virginia to what is now Wirt County about 1817. Wirt County is located in northwestern West Virginia, just across the Ohio River from the state of Ohio.
Reuben Full served as a Justice of the Peace for Wirt County for the years 1858-1860. The County Court was comprised of several Justices of the Peace. Several documents reflect his time in that position. People in that area and time were quite litigious. Defendants were summoned before the court for small debts. The court records help to flesh out the lives and relationships of average citizens since many were illiterate and did not leave much of a "paper trail". Although marriages were usually recorded as legal contracts, vital records in West Virginia did not commence until the 1860s or later. When a person appears in any document, it helps to put him/her in a time and place. It is often the only proof that he/she was still living or, perhaps, that he/she was ever born. Many early graves were marked only with a stone or not at all, so gravestones don't always provide vital information.
Therman Lockhart wrote about the Full family and the documents for The Mountaineer newspaper (published in Ripley, WV), under the pen name of Tommie Sewell, which name he shared with Harley Somerville.
Abbreviated Family Tree
Lewis [also referred to as Ludwick] Full: b. unknown, d. about 1832
Clarissa [surname not proven]: b. unknown, d. after 15 May 1833
Children of Lewis and Clarissa Full: married, probably in Pendleton County, (West) Virginia: date unknown
1. Jesse: b. ____, d. 1831: spouse - none known
2. Joseph: b: 1791, d. 1865: spouse, Mary Sheppard
3. Absalom: b. 1798, d. after 1857: spouse, 1. Jemnah Lyons, 2. Mahala Sheppard
4. Andrew: b. about 1799, d. 1867: spouse, Emma Jane Hartley
Parents of Joseph M. Full who married Julianna Lockhart
5. Elizabeth: b. about 1800, d. after 1880: spouse, Daniel Wires
6. Amelia: b. 1803, d. 1878: spouse, Rev. Samuel Sheppard
7. Reuben: b. 1806, d. 1866: spouse, Elizabeth Somerville
8. Susannah: b. about 1811, d. before 1870: spouse, Francis McGraw
Children of Reuben Full and Elizabeth Somerville: married 16 January 1842, Jackson County, (West) Virginia
1. Lewis: b. 1843, d. 1919: spouse, Olive Simms
2. Margaret: b. 1844, d. 1906: spouse, none
3. Nancy A.: b. 1846, d. 1916: spouse, Perry J. Simms
4. Virginia: b. 1848, d. 1924: spouse, Jonathan Lockhart
Parents of Therman A. Lockhart: spouse, Erna Javins
Who were parents of Brooks J. Lockhart: spouse 1. Elizabeth Counts
Who were parents of Patricia E. Lockhart Wolfgang
5. Commodore Perry: b. 1850, d. 1939: spouse, Margaret Elizabeth Barnes
6. Henry: b. 1853, d. 1929: spouse, Mary Terressa Roush
7. Martha Jane: b. 1855, d. 1889: spouse, none
8. Caroline: b. 1857, d. 1882: spouse, James W. Hill
9. Madison: b. 1860, d. 1928: spouse, Catherine Allie Vandal
10. Fanny: b. 1863, d. 1889: spouse, none
11. Lorena Jackson: b. 1866, d. 1955: spouse, Harvey Hill
.7 Linear Feet (8 in. (1 document case, 5 in.); (1 flat storage box, 3 in.))
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