I think we should go more into the history of some of the families of the early settlers of this region.

As stated before David Williams was the first settler of Cirtsville. His wife was Elizabeth McGriff. They were the parents of six sons: Patrick, Henry, John, Jim, Allen, and Wilson. Patrick lived in the Cirtsville area and had two sons, Henderson and Bob. Henderson married Isabella Honaker. They were the parents of six sons: Preston, Henry. Tom, Frank. Alfred, and Joe (Slick).

Pres lived all his life at Cirtsville except for a few years that he was police at Mount Hope. He married (1) Adeline Stover and (2) Iowa Craddock. Tom married Jane Maynor. He became a Methodist preacher and served as pastor of several churches. Henry married Elisha Maynor. He died at an early age. Frank married Edna Maynor. Alien married Lucy Feazell. Joe (Slick) married (1) Lucy Blevins and (2) Lutie Toney. Patrick's son Bob married a Stover. They were the parents of 22 children. They hold the record for the largest family in this section.

David's son John married a Stover. They settled in Prosperity where he went into the merchantile business and they had the largest general store in Raleigh County or any of the adjoining counties.

Henry, son of David, went across Spruce Mountain to find a wife. He married a daughter of John Stover. They had a large family. The Clear Fork Williamses are descendants of Henry.

Jim, fourth son of Dave, married Lucinda Albert of Giles County, Virginia. They were the parents of seven sons. Pleasant Williams (Ples) married Rebecca Kidd. Floyd married a Lafferty. Aaron married Martha Arnold, Andy married Minnie Williams. Leonard married a widow from North Carolina. Linus married a widow Godbey, and John L. married the widow of Huston Carper. She was a daughter of Archibald Sweeney. All these sons lived in the Sand Branch area and had large families.

Dave's two youngest sons, Allen and Wilson, settled near the Raleigh/Fayette County line and near where Needmore was located. They both reared families. They were farmers and good citizens. Wilson was the champion fiddler of the country and provided the music for many square dances.

The first settler to establish a home at what is now Sweeneyburg was John Bailey. John Bailey married a daughter of Isaiah Maynor, who lived on Smiths River in Patrick County, Virginia. They decided to cross over the mountains and establish a home on the Reed grant. So they came by way of Lewisburg and followed Reed's trail to the Indian camp on Paint Creek. They built their cabin on a knoll back of where Mrs. Thelma Miller now lives. Sometime later two of Mrs. Bailey's brothers decided to visit their sister and brother-in-law and if they liked the country to establish homes on the Reed grant. These two sons of Isaiah Maynor were Joe and Richard T. (Dick) Maynor.

Joe had married a young lady in Patrick County by the name of Stanley. They had one son, a chubby little boy who they named Swinfield but he soon became known as Chubby. That little boy became the man we know as Uncle Chub Maynor. Soon after Chubby was born his mother became ill and died. Chubby was taken by his grandparents, the Stanleys, and spent his childhood with them. Richard T. married Nancy Belcher. So it was Richard, Nancy and Joe that came to visit the Baileys.

On their way in just where the Raleigh Mall shopping center is now, they located a vacant cabin. They liked the country and after they had spent a few days with their sister Sally and her husband, Joe decided to go take over the vacant cabin they had seen. Dick and Nancy started building them a cabin on their brother-in-law's land. I don't know the exact location of Dick's cabin but he told some of his grandchildren that it was near a big spring. So I think it was near where the two-storied Miller house now stands or the Earl Smith house. As the two brothers, Joe and Dick, now go separate ways, we will go with them one at a time.

I don't know just how long Joe occupied the cabin he took over but Joe was a man of action; the loneliness soon overcame him and he went back to Patrick County. There he found another young lady to his liking, Miss Mary Stone. They had a happy two years together. They had one son who they named Thomas. Just as his first wife, Mary became ill and died leaving Joe again a widower. Joe soon got the urge to see new scenery. He left little Tommy with his grandparents, the Stones, and took off for Tennessee. He spent a year in Tennessee and then made his way over into Kentucky where he found a third wife, Miss Elizabeth Lowe.

Betsy Lowe was a good wife and she stayed with Joe a long time. Soon after they were married, they left Kentucky and came back to Smiths River. There they picked up Joe's two boys, Chubby and Tommy, and headed back to Paint Creek. There they found a cabin all ready for them. This cabin was located just above where Evelene Vass now lives and near where one of the Vippermans now live. Now we will leave Joe and Betsy happily settled in their new home and see how Dick and Nancy are getting along,

Dick and Nancy finished building their cabin but they did not get a deed from their brother-in-law, John Bailey, for the land it was built on. Dick was not a very good businessman and that fault was handed down to many of his descendants.

After a short time, John Bailey sold his property on Paint Creek including Richard and Nancy's cabin to Houstin Carper. Mr. Carper did not object to Richard living on his land so he and Nancy continued to live thee for a while longer. Carper sold to Archibald Sweeney who had a large family and needed all his land for his children so he traded Richard a rifle for his cabin and Richard and Nancy moved out. They located a spot on Dixon Branch and built a cabin on what was later known as Uncle Chub's farm. Later Richard located a place on what we now know as the John Evans farm and built a good log house there. He and Nancy spent the remainder of their lives there.

After many years together, Nancy died leaving Richard a widower. Also, Archibald Sweeney died. After a year or so of living without a companion, Richard saddled up the old gray mare and rode up to see the Widow Sweeney. He proposed marriage, Widow Sweeney was agreeable and they proceeded to get married. They were too feeble to keep up a home so the widow went back to live with her children and Richard spent the remainder of his life with his youngest son, Bill, who inherited the farm. Bill married Joe's daughter, Margaret. Joe's son, Chub, married Richard's daughter, Jane. The two, Richard and Joe, owned all of Dixon Branch and Vass Branch.