From HISTORY OF THE PAN-HANDLE, West Virginia, 1879, by J. H. Newton, 
G. G. Nichols, and A. G. Sprankle. Pages 349-350.  

Contributed by Linda Cunningham Fluharty.


THE HERVEY FAMILY.

Brief Sketch of the Hervey Family, of Brooke county, West Virginia, by Rev. 
David Hervey (now, June, 1879, in the Eighty-fifth Year of his Age.)

     The Hervey family is of Scotch origin. The members of it, from time 
immemorial, have been Presbyterian in their religious belief and church 
connection. At the time of the religious persecution in Scotland the family 
ancestors emigrated to the north of Ireland and settled in the county of 
Monahan. Here Henry Hervey, (the father of Rev. David Hervey, of Brooke 
county,) was born in 1740.

     At the age of thirty, he, in company with his cousin, William Hervey, 
came over to this country, landing at Philadelphia in April, 1770. Thence 
two years later, in 1772, they came west of the Allegheny mountains.

     William Hervey settled in Washington county, Pa., and Henry Hervey in 
Brooke county, Virginia. Henry Hervey forthwith entered his claim, by 
settlement, to the farm upon which his son Rev. D. Hervey now resides, 
located in Brooke county, about midway between the Ohio river and the 
Pennsylvania line. This farm was then, and for several years after, the 
frontier farm of the settlement. It is moreover believed to be the only 
farm in the county still owned and occupied by the children of the original 
settlers. It has been in the continuous ownership of the father and son for 
107 years.

     Henry Hervey was married in 1776 to Margaret Hutcheson. She came over 
in company with her half brother, William Young, emigrating from near 
Belfast, Ireland. At the time of their marriage, from the best data at 
hand, he was thirty-six years old and she twenty-two. He was a man of 
retired habits, of great sweetness of disposition, yet of decided opinions 
and well established principles. She was a woman of remarkable force and 
power both mentally and physically, thoroughly devoted to duty under all 
circumstances, of more than ordinary intelligence, especially on religious 
subjects, of great decision of character, of persevering energy, and of 
great faith in prayer, in which she was unusually gifted.

     Both were active and continuous co-workers in the organization and 
subsequent support of Lower Buffalo Presbyterian church, of which they were 
members, and in which he was at one time elected ruling elder, but with 
characteristic modesty, declined to serve.

     Locating here in the troublous times of the Revolution, they were 
exposed to frequent alarms from fear of the Indians who often passed though 
this section. For mutual protection, the settlers built fort "Wells," 
situated near the site of the old Lover Buffalo church, and about three 
miles east of the farm on which Mr. Hervey resided. During the six or seven 
summers after their marriage, Mrs. Hervey lodged with others in the "fort," 
while her husband armed for defense, would go out on Monday morning to his 
work on the farm, remain during the week and return on Saturday evening and 
spend the Sabbath with his family in the fort. And so it came about that 
some of the children were born in the fort. Their family consisted of nine 
children, five sons and four daughters, viz: William, Jane, James, Mary, 
John, Isabel, David, Margaret and Henry. 

     The father and mother - the revered head of the family-lived together 
for twenty-nine years on the farm that their industry had made productive, 
and were mutually blessed in each other's society, when, in 1805, Henry 
Hervey, the father and husband, died after a short illness at the age of 
sixty-five, and was buried in Lower Buffalo graveyard. The mother, thus 
left in sole responsibility as the head of a large family, by her great 
executive ability, by her constant and even gladsome devotion to duty, by 
the depth and strength of her character, and by her life-controlling 
integrity and piety, raised a family distinguished for usefulness, 
intelligence and activity in the community and in the church. She 
communicated to them in some measure her own characteristics, making upon 
them an indelible impression, extending to the third and fourth generation, 
so that generation after generation of her descendents rise up and call her 
blessed. She lived in widowhood twenty-nine years, and died January 16, 
1834, aged about eighty years (although her tombstone says seventy-seven), 
and lies buried in the graveyard of Beech Spring congregation, Harrison 
county, Ohio.

     Of her descendents, three of the first, three of the second and three 
of the third generation became ministers, a much larger number were elected 
to the office of ruling elder, and all, so far as known, who arrived at the 
age of maturity became consistent professing Christians.
 
     WILLIAM HERVEY, the oldest of the family of nine children, settled in 
Jefferson county, Ohio, and spent the greater part of his life in that 
state, but eventually returned to West Virginia and located in Ohio county, 
where he died in 1844, aged sixty-five years. He was a ruling elder in the 
Presbyterian church from 1808 until his death. He was especially fond of 
machinery, and was something of a genius in that direction. Colonel Thomas 
Y. Hervey, of Ohio county, is his son. His other descendents are living in 
the west, where two of his sons were elders in a church in Illinois.
 
     JANE HERVEY, the second child, married Andrew Eagleson, and settled in 
Ohio, living for the most part in Harrison county, in the bounds of Beech 
Spring church. She raised a large family, worthy of mention, for their 
intelligence and strength of character. Two sons became elders in Beech 
Spring church, and one, Rev. John Eagleson, D. D., was for thirty-nine 
years, pastor of Upper Buffalo church, Washington county, Pa. He was a man 
eminent for scholarship, prudence and wisdom.
 
     REV. JAMES HERVEY, D. D., the third child, graduated from Jefferson 
College in 1810 - was licensed to preach in 1812 - and the same year was 
installed pastor of the church of the Forks of Wheeling, in Ohio county, W. 
Va. Wheeling, at that time a small village, formed a part of his pastorate. 
He was the first minister of any denomination that held regular religious 
service in the town. He continued to preach in Wheeling one-half his time 
for twelve or fifteen years, when the organization there became strong 
enough to sustain a minister of their own. Remaining at the Forks of 
Wheeling, he, in addition to his pastoral work there, established regular 
services at West Union, and other places, from all of which separate 
churches have arisen. In accordance with the wish of the increasing 
membership of the church at the Forks of Wheeling, the last years of his 
ministry were spent wholly in that congregation, to which he continued to 
preach until his death in 1858, aged 77 years. He lies buried in the 
cemetery adjoining the Church where his pastorate continued unbroken for 
forty-seven years. He was beloved by his people, and eminently respected by 
his co-presbyters. He was a man of deep thought, great clearness in the 
conception of truth, and unusual power as a theologian. He has six children 
living; one resides in Ohio, and five in West Virginia, four of these in 
the Pan-handle. They are faithful, intelligent and useful christians.
 
     MARY and JOHN died single and early in life, aged respectively twenty-
three and twenty-four years.

     ISABEL HERVEY married James Black, of Harrison county, Ohio. She was 
the mother of three sons and one daughter. The daughter lives in East 
Virginia. One son died early; the other two sons live in affluence in their 
native county, influential, respected, worthy citizens, and pillars in the 
church, of which one has been an elder for many years.
 
     REV. DAVID HERVEY, the seventh child, was born on the homestead, 
October 29, 1794, and is consequently in his eighty-fifth year. He is the 
only living member of the family, and resides on the old home farm, which 
has been continuously in the ownership of his father and himself ever since 
the land was taken up by his father in 1772. He graduated at Jefferson 
College in 1825, was licensed by the Presbytery of Washington in 1827, 
installed and ordained pastor of Mount Prospect Church, Washington county, 
Pa., in 1828. In 1836, he accepted a call to Lower Buffalo, Brooke county, 
West Va., giving part of his time to Wellsburg. In 1839, he was called to 
the church of Crab Apple, Ohio. This call he first accepted, but afterwards 
declined. The Presbytery decided that a new call from Buffalo would be 
necessary if he remained there. It was at once presented by the 
congregation and he was again installed in his old charge, where he 
remained until 1851, when he was released at his own request. During the 
continuance of this pastorate he organized the church in Wellsburg and 
preached there until the present church building was erected. He also 
organized the church of Pine Grove, Washington Presbytery. After leaving 
Buffalo church he preached two years in Illinois, and out of that labor 
have grown several self-sustaining churches. His children (nine now living) 
have all come to years of maturity, and are all professing christians. They 
have all enjoyed a liberal education. Two sons graduated at Washington 
College. James is an attorney at law in Wellsburg. John has been a teacher 
since graduating in 1847, and is now superintendent of public schools in 
the city of Wheeling. Three sons have filled the office of ruling elder in 
the church. Two daughters married Presbyterian ministers. Four children 
still reside at the homestead and seven in the Pan-Handle. 

     MARGARET HERVEY - the eighth child - married James Allison, of 
Jefferson county, Ohio. She died early in life, but left descendants who do 
her honor. Her sons are prominent citizens of Harrison county. They have 
acquired not only independence but affluence, and are withal christian 
gentlemen.
 
     REV. HENRY HERVEY, D. D. - the youngest son of the family - was born 
1798; graduated at Jefferson College in 1825; was licensed to preach in 
1827, and ordained and installed pastor of the church at Martinsburg, Ohio, 
in 1830. He spent his whole ministerial life in that church, resigning the 
pastorate in 1868. He was a scholarly man, a prolific writer and a 
steadfast friend of the cause of education. His church prospered greatly 
under his ministry, and his influence must long remain to bless the 
community in which he labored. He died in 1872. Of his children, two sons 
entered the ministry and at once occupied prominent positions. Henry died 
in 1875, while pastor of the church of Newark, Ohio. Dwight is pastor of a 
large church in Granville, Ohio.
 
     God's covenant blessing has thus attended every generation of the 
descendants of Henry and Margaret Hervey.