Levi Welch

     Levi Welch was born on 23 August 1778 at Washington County, Province of Pennsylvania, USA.¹ He was the son of George Welch. Levi Welch married, at age 45, Catherine Gissage Slaughter, age 19, daughter of Goodrich Lightfoot Slaughter and Hannah VanBibber, on Wednesday, 28 January 1824.¹ Levi Welch died on 23 August 1849 at age 71 years.¹
     From 'Pioneers and Their Homes on Upper Kanawha', By Ruth Woods Dayton, (Charleston, West Virginia: 1947), pp. 190 - 195.

LEVI WELCH HOUSE

The name of Welch is one of the earliest encountered in the annals of the upper Kanawha Valley. It was Alexander Welch, County Surveyor of Greenbrier, who came over the mountains from Lewisburg to lay off the little town at the mouth of Elk for Colonel Clendenin. On the plat which he made in 1794, or earlier, his name appears as owner of lost eleven and twelve. Facing the river at the corner of Third Street, now Court, they were in the center of 'Charlestown.' He did not become a resident, however, as the first of the Welch family to settle in Charleston was the merchant, George Welch, who arrived about 1811. His two sons, Levi (1784-5 -- 1849), and John (1789 -- 1856), possessed many similar characteristics. They were men of extreme accuracy, and excelled as reliable bookkeepers and accountants, John serving as deputy clerk for several years. Both were salt producers and merchants--occupations so frequently combined that one wonders, with such competition, how storekeeping could have remained profitable.

About 1825 John Welch married Julia, sister of the Charleston merchant, James C. McFarland, and of their four children to reach maturity, two were daughters, Cornelia H. and Eliza. James, the eldest son, was killed in the Battle of Scary Creek on July 17, 1861. His brother, George Lewis, born 1833, also served in the Civil War, and was twice wounded. From 1862 to 1865 he was on the staff of General Seth Barton. In 1872 George Lewis married Caroline Donnally Kenna, daughter of Edward Kenna and Marjorie Lewis Kenna, and a sister of the Honorable John S. Kenna, member of the United States Senate.

Levi, brother of John Welch, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania. He is described in George W. Atkinson's History of Kanawha County as possessing 'a mind of extraordinary strength, quickness and vigor, whose accuracy in all transactions, fidelity, and promptitude were proverbial.' Mr. Welch was for many years proprietor of a store in Charleston, where the early homestead of the Welch family stood on Summers Street in a deep and shaded lot adjoining the alley beside the present Capitol Theatre building. In the heyday of the salt boom, Levi left the slower growing town on the Elk, and moved to the crowded and busy Salines, where money flowed out of pockets and into stores with far less persuasion on the part of the storekeeper. He became owner of a salt well, and an associate with other operators. He also acted as manager for different companies, and was invaluable as their accountant and bookkeeper.

One of his partnerships was with Colonel Andrew Donnally in two salt wells. Another was with Dickinson, Armstrong and Company. This firm had purchased a large area of the river front land at The Salines which, according to the 'Saltsborough' plat, dated March 4, 1830, comprised eleven lots, Numbers 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 15 and 16, secured from David Ruffner and his wife, Ann, in 1831, and Lot 14 obtained from another source the year following. The only two buildings then on this land were a tailor shop and a tavern which Mr. Ruffner was to remove within three years. There was a partnership agreement that provided in the event of the death of any of its members, those surviving became owners of the jointly-held property. Thus Levi Welch, the last survivor, came into possession of the various lots as sole owner of September 1, 1844. Lots 7 and 8 were at the upper end of the tract, and faced the river, with Lots 15 and 16 adjoining in the front and rear, and an 'alley' on the lower side. Upon the upper corner -- Lot Number 8 -- Mr. Welch erected a brick residence, and beside it, on Lot Number 7, a large store building. Construction, no doubt, was begun soon after Mr. Welch became owner of the lots, and was possibly completed in 1845.

The store building is long since gone, but the house remains. Large and comfortable, it is well built and pleasantly situated on a tree-filled lawn surrounded by a hedge. It faces the river -- once the salt-makers' highway -- but the road that passed its door and led to the old ferry has been partially undermined by the wash of floods, and since abandoned, the present highway now being located some distance away, at the base of the hill. The brick walls of this house are eighteen inches thick, giving winter warmth and summer coolness to its occupants. It is two stories in height, with an ell extending toward the rear, the doors of which originally opened on a long double veranda running its length. Another porch shelters the front entrance, the doorway surrounded by glass panels overhead and on the sides. The heavy door, unlike those usually seen, with panels arranged horizontally, has a single very wide vertical panel down its entire length.

The exterior of the house is in excellent condition, with few changes and its original interior is still intact. It is a dwelling of many doors, all wide and put together with wooden pegs, those between the high ceilinged double parlors being long folding doors. Carefully executed workmanship is apparent in the paneled inside casings of the deep-set windows, and in other details. The parlors open into the wide entrance hallway, whose proportions are those of a long room. The graceful stair against the outer wall, crosses at the end of the hall to the opposite wall, and terminates in a circular well. The seven-and-a-half-inch boards of the fine ash flooring at once attract attention, and are one of the pleasing features of the interior. A door at the end of the hallway opens into a small cross-hall from which a second stair leads to the floor above.

The kitchen was originally a separate building, near which was a large cistern that furnished water for the household. On the grounds still stands a two-story brick building containing four rooms, built as quarters for the house servants.

Levi Welch was married about 1821 to Catherine G., daughter of Goodrich and Hannah Slaughter, and they were the parents of one son, John S. Welch, and several daughters: Julia, who married James H. Fry; Miriam, who in 1859 became the second wife of Lewis Fry Donnally; C. Amelia, who married John B. Smith, of Louisville; Lolla V. Welch, Camillia Welch, and, strangely enough, there seems to have been another daughter named Camillia. The author does not attempt to explain it, but on a legal paper signed by the Welch sisters, their brother, and their husbands, the name 'Camillia Welch' appears alone, indicating she was unmarried, while opposite the name of Charles Hedrick, who presumably was a son-in-law, appears the name of 'Camellia Hedrick,' and, moreover, opposite that of John B. Smith is 'C. Amelia Smith.' Perhaps the simplest explanation is that some clerk was not quite up to par that day he recorded this document.

In the summer of 1849 the Kanawha Valley was visited by its second epidemic of cholera. A frightening terror! Some of the victims, seized when at work in the fields, succumbed before they could reach their homes. Levi Welch was one of those stricken by this dread disease, from which he died on August 23, at sixty-five years of age. Leaving no will, his estate was handled through the courts, and in the distribution of property, the brick homestead was assigned to the widow. The appraisal of the estate indicates the Welch home was well furnished. The list of personal property enumerates a number of interesting items, among them 96 yards of Brussels carpet, 90 yards of 'ingrain' carpet, stair carpet, three pairs of embroidered curtains, a gilt mirror, sofa, secretary, 50 yards turkey red chintz, 10 windsor chairs, and six beds -- one of which was described as 'a truckle bed, bedding, and bedstead.' He had two horses, a carriage, wagon, dray, and three cows. There were twelve slaves listed, several of whom were infants and children. A memorandum states Mr. Welch had given his piano to Mrs. Charles Hedrick during his lifetime, and after his death her husband returned it to the four Welch daughters, then unmarried.

The Welch house was later occupied for a number of years by the William D. Shrewsbury family, Mrs. Welch having apparently joined her daughter, Mrs. John B. Smith, in Louisville, Kentucky. On August 13, 1878, Mrs. Welch and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, who had previously become joint owners of the property, sold The Salines 'Homestead' to Anastasia M. Hubbard, of Malden, for one thousand dollars -- for four lots, a large brick dwelling, store building, two-story brick quarters, and other outbuildings, the amount seems so low as to appear ludicrous and unbelievable in comparison with present day prices of real estate.