Elizabeth (Straight) Dragoo

Progenitor of Hays Family Indian Tomahawk Victim By HENRY P. SCALF Betsy's Run, a tributary of the North Fork of Fishing Creek in Wetzel County, West Virginia, was named for Elizabeth Dragoo, who was killed there by the Indians in 1786. Her daughter Elizabeth married John Hays, and their descendants peopled Eastern Kentucky. This murder of Mrs. John Hays' mother is the beginning in time and place of the Hays family history. Mrs. Dragoo or Drygoo was probably a widow at the time since her husband is not mentioned in the early records. She, with at least two of her children, Charles, 4 and Elizabeth, 11, was staying at Prickett 's Fort. The fort was situated at the mouth of Prickett's Creek, on the east side of the Monongahela River, five miles below Fairmont. Built in 1774, it was a haven for settlers fleeing from Indian massacre. Mrs. Hays, being so close to the atrocity, preserved the story for the early chroniclers . Her mother and Charles had gone to a garden, about half a mile from the fort, to pick beans. They were seized by the savages, she was tied to a tree out of sight, and her captors went back to the garden path to await those they knew would soon search for the captives. In a short while, Elizabeth and another sister came out of the fort, went to help their mother pick beans. Along the way, they became frightened at something and raced for the fort. Jacob Straight and Nicholas Wood went to see about Mrs. Dragoo and her son, but the Indians fired on them, killing Wood. Mrs. Straight and her daughter, being out of the fort and hearing the firing, fled for the walls. The daughter sought refuge in a thicket, the place of concealment in pursuit of her husband and she heard the blow that killed him. The Indians retreated and were pursued by Capt. David Morgan. They tied Mrs. Dragoo on a wild pony, and it dashed away and her leg was torn on a limb. The savages tied it up, but the loss of blood so weakened her she could barely travel. They scalped her on the creek that bears her name. Her son, Charles lived with them until he was 27, married a squaw and reared a family. He died with them in one of their Ohio towns and his children, two girls and two boys were given to one of the Hayses at the time of the Morgan Treaty, and they were reared in his cabin at the present Jacksonburg. John Hays and his wife Elizabeth moved to Jacksonburg in 1805 from Prickett 's Fort. John Hays, the pioneer Right Beaver Creek settler, was bom about 1797, because he married in Floyd County on March 10, 1815 to Elizabeth Anderson. Tradition in the Hays family avers that she was from North Carolina, but the Floyd County marriage indicated the Andersons may have been at the time residents of Big Sandy. There had been before the migration to Big Sandy a close association between the Hays and Anderson families. Elizabeth Dragoo Hays had a sister Malinda, who married an Anderson . John Hays and wife Elizabeth Anderson Hays selected for their homestead a 37 tract of land where the C.&O. railway depot now stands at Lackey. They built a large, double log house. Here their children were born. Anderson, afterward known as Captain Anse, of the Confederacy , was born April 22, 1822. Other sons and daughters were Wilson, known as "Net," David, Daniel, a daughter who married a Griffith, and Elizabeth, who married Jesse Wicker. They were the grandparents of Dr. M. V. Wicker, of Wayland . Brothers and sisters of John Hays, the Lackey settler, were Thomas, who settled in Lawrence County, another brother, his name unavailable, moved to Pulaski County , and Hiram, who settled on Beaver. Thomas was the grandfather of William P. Hayes, who put an "e" in his name, and the ancestor of Paul E. Hayes, a Prestonsburg attorney. Few families were living on Right Beaver when Anderson Hayes was a child. There were, besides the Hays family, John Morris, some of the Martins, Joel Gearheart , Christopher...

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/442331/summary

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She was scalped and killed on Oct. 3, 1786 by Ottawa indians and her son, William, was taken. Her son, Beltshazzar, was killed at this time as well as her brother, Jacob.

Her children were:

• William "Indian Billy" (1770-1856)
• Peter (1777-1867)
• Benjamin Franklin "Lin"
• John (1776- abt.1820)
• Jacob (1783 - 1838)
• Ephraim (1782 - 1832)
• Beltshazzar (b. - 1786)

Biography

The following stories are about Betsy (Straight) Dragoo, wife of John.

http://soundscreativedrs.com/genealogy/straight.htm

from pg 298 Tri County Recorder, Wheeling WV via James R. Ewing, 19 Holly Road, Wheeling WV 26003

A couple of miles up the North Fork of Fishing Creek, above Pine Grove, WV is the mouth of a small stream known as Betsy's Run. It received its nickname because it is thought that the body of Betsy Dragoo was found there by the party who were pursuing the band of Indians which had kidnapped her and her 7 year old son, Billy, from their home about 3 miles NW of Fairmont. Her 12 year old daughter Elizabeth, was not captured and grew up and married James Hays. In 1805 they moved to the South Fork of Fishing Creek, near present day Jacksonburg, and were the first settlers in that area. They had eight or more children of whom three are of interest in the Anderson story.

from pg 9, HISTORY OF WETZEL COUNTY, W.VA @1983

"Betsy's Run is a small stream which flows into the North Fork of Fishing Creek about three miles above the forks oat Pine Grove, Wetzel Co. The mouth of that run was the site of a killing and of the finding of the body almost 200 years ago.

By the year 1780, Jacob Straight and John Dragoo had settled with their families on adjoining farms of 400 ac. each on Straight Run, north of what is now Barrackville, in Marion Co.,WV. John Dragoo had married Elizabeth, sister of Jacob Straight and Jacob had married Elizabeth Dragoo, sister of John. Elizabeth Straight Dragoo was known as Betsy. They had moved west together and had finally settled next door to each other.

A party of nine Shawnee Indian braves left their town in Ohio in Sep. 1786 intent on causing serious trouble to the white settlers in the Monongahela Valley. On 10/3/1786, most of the white men and older boys of the Straight Run area were across the hill in what is now Bellville, the north end of Fairmont, slearing a new settlement.

That morning, Betsy Dragoo and her 7 yr old son Wm. were picking beans near their home when they were surprised adn captured by the Shawnee raiding party. 4 of the indians took the captives away and the other 5
hid themselves hoping to capture or kill some white men when Betsy and Billy were missed and a search party came looking for them. They were soon successful in killing Jacob Straight and a neighbor named Wood: and then the 5 moved on and re-joined their 4 companions and the white captives.

At that time, a well defined trail which had been used by the Indians for many yrs led from the Monongahela River up Buffalo Creek, through present Mannington and Logansport and on up Warrior Fork to a gap in the ridge. It crossed the ridge and went down Willey Fork through Coburn to the North Fork of Fishing Creek, following the creek to its mouth in present New Martinsville. There it crossed the Ohio River and extended to the Shawnee Towns in Ohio. The raiding party of Indians used this trail and they were in a hurry since they were certain that there would be pursuit when the white men returned from their work and found the two bodies and the two persons missing.

Betsy had long hair, dark red in color, and the Indians had argued about using its beauty as a trophy scalp but had decided instead to take her along with them. There are three stories of how Betsy Dragoo came to be accidentally injured on that trip but all stories agree that she lost so much blood from her injuries that she was too weak to keep up the pace, even on horseback. Some of the Indians took the little boy on ahead on the trail and in a short time the other Indians joined them carrying a fresh scalp with long dark red hair.

The next day, the pursuing party, including John Dragoo, found Betsy's body along the trail at the mouth of a small run in present Wetzel Co. The pursuit continued but the white men could not pick up the trail on the West side of the Ohio River.

Twenty years later, after the final defeat of the Indian tribes and the signing of a peace treaty, William Dragoo returned to his family in the Fairmont area.

submitted by James R. Ewing, gr-gr-gr-grandson of Betsy found by Ruth Ellen Derby in the Pine Grove Public Library, P.O.Box 416, Pine Grove, WVA 26419 for Kandi Anderson McLaney 4/4/1995 from History of Wetzel co, W. Va by John C. McEldowney Jr. @1901 from Pine Grove, WV Public Library pgs 24-25

"The Drygoos, or the Two Half Indians

John Hays came to what is known as Lot in the year of 1805 and with him he brought his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Hays, who was born the same day as her husband , which was in the year of 1748, in Prickett's Fort, Monongalia County (WV). They were but 11 years olf when the latter's mother, Mrs. Drygoo, was killed by the Indians

The following is and incident which fell from the lips of Mrs. Hays, told to her daughter, Mrs. Malinda Anderson:

It was in a fort situated on Clinton's Run, Monogalia county, known as Prickett's Fort. The Drygoo family were some of its occupants. There was a garden about half a mile from the fort and Mrs. Drygoo and her son Charles, who was but four years of age, went to the garden to pick beans, when the Indians came upon them unawares and made them prisoners before giving them time to call for help. They tied Mrs. Drygoo to a tree near the for but not in sight and returned to the garden to see if they could catch some more in the same way. In a little while Mrs. Hays and her sister came out of the fort and started towards the garden to help their mother (Mrs. drygoo) pick beans, and as theyneared the garden started to call for their mother, but she did not answer. Fortunately they got scared by something (not the Indians) and started toward the fort at full speed, and on reaching it informed the occupants that their mother, Mrs. drygoo, and their brother, Charles Drygoo, started out in the garden some time ago to pick beans and that they were not in the garden now. The men immediately suspicioned that which was correct and soon raised a company under Captain David Morgan and went in pursuit. The Indians, seeing that they had been discovered, beat a hasty retreat. They untied Mrs. Drygoo and put her on a pony, which was very wild, and made off with great speed. After traveling for about ten miles, the pony she was on jumped a run. The calf of one of her legs was torn open, having caught on a sharp limb of a tree.

They stopped and bandaged the wound up the best way they could, after which they continued their journey, but the bandage did no good and she became very weak from loss of blood. The Indians, seeing that it as delaying their journey, decided to kill her. When they began to untie her from her pony, Charles began to cry and a big Indian picked him up and said "Don't cry", and that they wouldn't kill his mother, but she couldn't travel and that he could be his boy after this. They killed and scalped her near the place known as Betsy's Run, which was named fopr her and made off with Charles into Ohio, where he lived with them until hewas 27 years old. While he was with them, he was one of them and when very young married an Indian squaw, and from her had four children, two boys and two girls.

At the Morgan Treaty at the mouth of the Little Miskingum, James Hays was one of the men under Levi Morgan, and inquired of the Indians as to the whereabouts of his brother, Charles Drygoo, on which he was informed that he was dead but the he had some children. He asked for them and he was given the two boys. He brought them to where the town of Lot stands, where they lived and died in the cabin built by James Hays in 1805. There are a number of people in Wetzel County who are pround to say that the blood of Charles Drygoo and his squaw floats in their veins."

from newspaper-type article copy supplied by Pine Grove Public Library, Ruth Ellen Derby, Pine Grove, WV 1995

"THE GRAVE AT BETSY'S RUN INVOLVED IN COUNTY'S HISTORY, by Herman Bradley

It was a thousand moons ago and on a summer night that a lonely grave was made as a six year old boy looked on.There was a giant tree and a rippling brook. The brook still ripples but the giant trees are gone. This place is called Betsy's Run. Who was Betsy? From whence came she? Whither was she going? Why this nighttime burial with but fleecy clouds, a wanning moon and a scattering of stars witness with this captive child hismother's burial.

Three miles north of Pine Grove is located Betsy's Run. It makes a confluence there with the waters of North Fork near the residence of carl Long. This home is one of the pioneer Long houses in the North Fork valley. It is ten miles south of the wirter's ancestral home at Coburn.What about Betsy Dragoo? The racing clouds and murmuring brook and eerie moonlight do not suggest an answer. They do provide gloom and sounds and shadows. The barkof a distant fox and a plaintive song of the whippoowillstill shatters the seemingly unbroken silence. It's gloomy up there.

On an August afternoon long ago, Betsy Dragoo picked beans far removed from Betsy's Run. The bean patch was at Decker's Creek, near present Morgantown, as was the Dragoo home. Betsy's six year old son held the basket for his mother. The Indians came suddenly. The mother and young son were captured and placed upon fleet footed ponies They were to be taken to the Ohio country and held hostage.

The Indians and their two captives sped westward. In jumping a stream, Betsy's pony came too near a sharp branch inflicted a deep wound on her leg which bled profusely. At the end of a three days journey the savages made camp at the gloomy place called Betsy's Run.

The Indians said to the young lad, "We would not kill your mother but she is slowing up our march." In the presence of the child his mother was slain and buried beneath the tree. The child was taken to the Ohio country and adopted into an Indian tribe.

When Captain Morgan took part in the treaty of the Muskinggum, he demanded to know if a white man dwelled among the tribes. He was told that Charles Dragoo had married an Indian maiden and that he had died at the age of 28 with a fever. Morgan demanded to know if there were children. He was told, "Yes, a baby girl". Morgan arranged to claim the child and it was given to him.

The child of Charles Dragoo was brought to present Jacksonburg. Here she grew to womanhood. When a young woman, she married a member of the pioneer family whose names are well known. Many of her descendentsare to this day numbered amoung our distinguished and illustrious citizens.

With the passing of generations the unmarked grave cannot be found. One momento remains. The late Missouri Morgan Detwyler, in her life time, had a baby bonnet, pressed between two glass panels. This was the baby bonnet which was worn when the child of Charles Dragoo made the final trip to a new home at Jacksonburg long ago.

Across a high ridge from (the) child's new found home (is) Betsy's Run. The plaintive...of the whippoorwill can s... heard and the wild fox still...his nighttime journey."

In the fall of 1786, the Indians attacked the Straight farm. They captured Elizabeth's aunt and uncle, Elizabeth and William Dragoo. Jacob Straight and friend, Nicolas Wood, went to see why Elizabeth and her son, William, had not returned home from picking beans. The Indians fired and killed Wood. Jacob ran but was overtaken and killed in sight and hearing of Elizabeth who had hidden under a shelving rock with her baby daughter, Ann. She and her children escaped the Indians, but Mrs. Dragoo was killed and her son, William, was held captive for many years. Later, he returned to the settlements and was called, "Indian Bill Dragoo". The story of William Dragoo's capture is as follows:

In the year of 1786, Finche's Run was forest clad, almost a wilderness with cleared patches few and far between. No roads existed, only trails made by buffalo and/or Indians. The band of Indians that came upon Finche's Run had been committing depredations on Duncard Creek Scott's Run. The Indians traveled down what now is known as Straights's Run until they came upon the Dragoo's garden, where they lay in ambush. Mrs. Dragoo and her two sons, William and infant John, went to the garden to pick beans where they were surrounded and captured. Placing Mrs. Dragoo, with infant John, on a stolen horse, they started up Buffalo Creek. A short distance up this creek, the infant began to cry. This angered one of the Indians so badly that he dashed the infant's head against a rock. Before reaching the Ohio River, Mrs. Dragoo became injured when her horse fell.; this unfortunate accident caused Mrs. Dragoo to be killed and then scalped. The Indians fled with William and the boy was lost to his kindred for twenty-two years. Then, in the fall of 1808, the elder brother met a stranger at the Black Horse Tavern in Newark. The stranger, who was a hunter and trapper among the Indians, related in his experiences amongst the savages of a white man in a tribe to the northwest. The brother traveled many miles until he found the Indian village and his brother. "Billy" would not return with his brother but promised to visit his father later. He had married an Indian girl who had just recently died leaving four children - two girls and two boys. Late in the fall of 1808, Bill Dragoo started back to Virginia in the company of an Indian [brother to his dead wife]. Indian Bill had many characteristics of the Indian - he would not work but chose to spend his time hunting and fishing. He did not stay long in Virginia before returning to the Indian village and bringing his two sons back with him...their names were John and Isaac. "Indian Bill Dragoo" died in 1856, at the age of 85. The son, Isaac, died shortly after coming to Virginia; the other son died at his grandfather's home in 1822. [Compares to the story handed down to me in 1982 by Alcinda McElroy Moore in detailing her family's history.]

References

• https://muse.jhu.edu/article/442331/summary
• http://www.billydraggoo.20m.com