The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 495
Wyoming

ANDREW J. MULLINS. The first settlers of a new county
or city, independent of any intrinsic qualities which they
possess, are objects of peculiar interest in succeeding
generations. Men delight to read their names and treas-
ure in memory the slightest incident connected with their
persons and their settlement. Each consecutive step in the
settlement of the country, as adventurers pushed out from
the populous centers into the rapidly receding wilderness
has brought to notice enterprising men who have connected
their names indissolubly with rising states and embryo
cities. In this connection mention is made of Andrew J.
Mullins, the "father" of the town of Mullens, which was
named in his honor, but which missed giving him that honor
when those who drew up the charter of the city misspelled
his name.

Mr. Mullins was born February 21, 1857 in Tazewell
County, Virginia, and is a son of William and Rachael
(Cannady) Mullins. William Mullins was born on Shelby
Creek in Pike County, and was engaged in agricultural pur-
suits until the outbreak of the war between the states, at
which time he enlisted in the Thirty-ninth Regiment, Ken-
tucky Volunteer Infantry, in the Union Army, and met a
soldier's death during the last year of the war. His widow
survived him for nearly thirty years, dying in 1894, at
Keystone, McDowell County, this state. All of their four
sons and four daughters are still living, four in West Vir-
ginia: William Harrison, living on Twelve Pole Creek in
Wayne County, who was named for his grandfather; Win-
nie, the widow of John T. Belcher, of Keystone; Lucinda,
is the widow of Philip Lambert, of Iaeger, McDowell
County; and Andrew J., of this notice.

Andrew J. Mullins went to school in McDowell and
Logan counties, just across Tug River from his Kentucky
home and hunting bears was not only a pastime with
him but a business for a number of years. From Ken-
tucky he moved to McDowell County, in the present neigh-
borhood of Roderfield, and in 1890, to Keystone, where he
served as deputy sheriff for three years or until moving to
his present home. Keystone at that time had the reputa-
tion of being a very "tough" locality. Mr. Mullins as-
sisted to clear the brush in the woods for a preliminary
survey for the Norfolk & Western Railroad, and while
thus engaged became convinced that coal was to be found
at the present site of Mullens. Accordingly he moved to
this locality in February, 1896, settling in the woods, where
he had two log pens built out of small logs and these
covered with split boards, puncheon floors being installed.
This was his home for eight years, or until the arrival of
a sawmill made it possible for him to build a plank house.
Later he built his present home, one of the finest in the
neighborhood. The nearest place on the railroad at the
time of his arrival was Keystone, on the Norfolk & Western,
thirty miles from Mullens, but he was sure that the railroad
would be built through. He opened the first store at Mill-
ions, located on the present site of the new Santon Build
ing, and for three years conducted a general merchandise
establishment, buying produce, etc., and hauling his goods
over rough mountain roads from Keystone.

Mr. Mullins was in business during the years 1904, 1905
and 1906. He was justice of the peace when the railroad
was being built, and in this connection it may be said that
he has seen all of the railroad track laid in this locality.
After the lapse of several years he was again justice of the
peace, and also served as Mullen's first mayor. He was
then sent for four years to the State Legislature, and served
with much ability, being, among others, on the committees
of agriculture, prohibition and emigration, and on his return
was again elected mayor. He has assisted in the organiza-
tion of three banks, and is vice president and a director of
the Bank of Wyoming, of Mullens and a director of the
Wyoming County Bank of Pineville. He was also connected
with the Citizens Bank of Pineville, which was wrecked by
a dishonest official. Of recent years Mr. Mullins has been
engaged in building houses on his land and selling them to
newcomers. He has likewise been interested in coal devel-
opment from the time when, with Peter Minor, he saw
the first coal mine opened at Elkhorn. In politics he is a
stanch republican, and his religious connection is with the
Primitive Baptist Church, of which he has been a member
for forty years, and for the past ten years an ordained
minister. He has recently built a church, which he has
donated to the Mullens congregation. Mr. Mullins has al-
ways been greatly fond of hunting, and has killed wild
turkeys within sight of the present City of Mullens. Dur-
ing his younger days he was exceptionally strong and active,
and numerous stories are told of his prowess as a hunter
and woodsman. On one occasion, while on a hunting trip,
he killed one bear and wounded another, and when the latter
attacked him he was forced to fight and kill it with a club.
On another day, discovering a bear in a hole in a cliff,
he took a hasty shot but succeeded only in shooting Hie
animal's nose off, after which he was forced to engaged in
a desperate contest with bruin, whom he finally dispatched
with a knife.

At the age of twenty-one years Mr. Mullins was united
in marriage with Miss Harriet Trent, of McDowell County,
daughter of Fred Trent, and of the children born to this
union seven are still living: V. B., who is engaged in
agricultural operations near Pineville, Wyoming County;
W. F., who is engaged in extensive contracting and build-
ing transactions at and near Mullens; Susie, the wife of
Floyd Workman, a Cabin Creek farmer in Wyoming County;
H. F., who is engaged in mercantile pursuits at Mullens;
Mary, the wife of John W. Phillips, on a farm near Pine-
ville; Nora, the wife of H. E. Lilly, who owns a restaurant
at Mullens; and Eliza, the wife of D. S. Nichols, store man-
ager for the Trace Fork Coal Company.

Submitted by:
Valerie Crook
vfcrook@earthlink.net
July 10, 2000