Vandal History Updates

Early Fayetteville, West Virginia
From the Newsletter, July, 2004
Excerpts from History of Fayette County
published in 1993

The original name for Fayetteville was Vandalia after Abraham Vandal, who kept a tavern at the
Fayetteville site as early as 1930.  It is told by Colonel G.W.Imboden, who received his              
information from his father-in-law, Colonel William Tyree, that when the vote on the location of
the seat of justice was taken, Hiram Hill, the first clerk of the county court, gave away a number
of one acre tracts of land without any specific boundaries, thus qualifying to vote the ones to      
whom they were given.                                                                                                                        

At the time under the Virginia government only free holders could vote.  The three locations     
voted on were New Have, Mountain Cove District, and Vandalia.  By this strategy the vote     
was carried for Vandalia and the county seat seat has remained at the Fayetteville site ever    
since.                                                                                                                                                 

Later the name was changed to Fayetteville.  The county itself was named after the famous     
LaFayette, the French nobleman, who aided the struggling colonists during the trying days      
of the Revolution.                                                                                                                             

It is said that Henry Clay at one time stopped at the old Vandal tavern.  One room of this      
primitive hostelry wa set aside for guests and all those stopping for the night, gbe they one   
or several, were required to sleep in this one room.                                                                    

In the early days Fayetteville was a mere hamlet, where the county officers resided, and,      
of course, the population was small.                                                                                             

A store, however, was opened early, conducted by one Oliver Waite.  Afterwards                 
Augustus Pack conducted a store.  Some time after the removal of the county seat, Miles   
Manser, at whose store in New Haven the court meetings of the county were held, moved   
his store to the new seat of justice.  James Phillips also conducted a general merchandise   
store here before the war.                                                                                                           

During the war period of 1861-65 there was a general exodus of the Fayetteville citizens.    
Only four houses were left after hostilities ceased.                                                                    

Fortunately the court records were taken away and thus preserved.  In this manner,            
there were saved from distruction all the early records of the county, excepting a very       
few.                                                                                                                                              

P.J. Lawrence opened a store soon after the war.  Then came the general merchandise      
establishment of Gus Montgomery, who sole out to W.G.Dickinson, at present in the         
merchandise business at the same stand.  The present Carter Brothers' firm began           
business in 1900.  In 1880 there were about one hundred and twenty-five people at            
Fayetteville.                                                                                                                               

The town was incorporated in 1883.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                                   

Fayette County Courthouse
From the Newsletter, April, 2004
This article appeared in the Fayette Tribune, June 27, 1983
Contributed by Robert Vandall

Abram Walker Vandel, born 1846 in Galesburg, Illinois, died in 1908 in
Pleasanton, Iowa.  Abram served as a Union soldier in the Civil War.  He ran away
from home and enlisted at the age of 16.  His parents brought him back but
apparently relented and he again enlisted, serving until the war ended.  He was on
the muster roll of Company L, 12th Illinois Cavalry, which was mustered into U.S.
Service June 12, 1864 at Camp Butler, Illinois during the Civil War.

In the July, 1990 issue of "The Vandal Newsletter", there is an article
titled "When Did He Go With the Mormons?"  The article stated that John Dillon
Vandal was reported to have gone west with the Mormons.  It appears that John did
join the Mormon Church.  On December 4, 1894 temple work was performed for
John D. Vandal in the Mormon temple at St. George, Utah by Henry William
Bigler.  Henry W. Bigler was one of a large group who joined the Church in
Harrison Co., WV about 1837 and moved to Missouri and then to Nauvoo, IL.
Henry was very close to the early leaders of the Mormon Church.  He was sent as
a missionary to Jackson Co., WV in 1839/40 and again in 1843/44.  He was a
member of the Mormon Battalion, a group of about 500 Mormons who enlisted in
1846 during the war with Mexico and marched from the Missouri river to the
Pacific Coast.  In California, before traveling to Utah, he was working at "Sutters
Fort".  His diary entry on Monday, January 24, 1848, is taken as the official
record of the date of the discovery of gold there.  He was called as a missionary
to the Sandwich Islands for the first time in 1850; was called as a missionary there
several more times, serving about 11 years.  He was later called on a colonization
mission to southern Utah and became one of the pioneer settlers of St. George.
The following informtion is recorded in the St. George
temple records on December 4, 1894.

John D. Vandal, born in 1786 in Greenbrier Co., VA, died in
October, 1851, a friend to Henry William Bigler.

In the block for the death date is recorded the words "was in the Church,
never gathered".  Church members were encouraged to move to where the
members were locating during the early organization of the Mormon Church.
It appears that John D. Vandal joined the Church but did not chose to "gather"
with the other members.  Henry W. Bigler did temple work for about 25 of his
"friends" from Jackson Co., VA in 1894.  This included Nancy Boggs (wife of
John D. Vandal) born in 1793 in Greenbrier Co., VA and died in 1858, and
Napoleon Bonaparte Vandal (son of John D) born in Fayette Co., VA and
died in 1864.  Napoleon had also joined the Mormon Church.

These "friends" of Henry W. Bigler were probably people who he had
baptized or had shown interest in the Church during his time as a missionary
there in 1839/40 and 1843/44.  Some of these people lived in the part of
Jackson County that became Wirt County in 1848 since they are close
neighbors in the 1850 Wirt Co. census including John D. Vandal, Napoleon B.
Vandal, William and Delila Roach, Mary Parsons Carney, Silas B. and
Margaret Seaman, and Beniah Depue.

Submitted by Phyllis W. Harmon

          Vandalia visitors often ask about the name.  Answering the question requires
a trip back to the earliest roots of West Virginia - to the time of British
King George and his German queen; Ben Franklin and his compatriots;
of land deals and western settlement; and of the awakening desire for a free
government in the mountains.
Vandalia was a proposed British-American colony west of the Eastern
Seaboard, one of several land settlement projects from the late Colonial
period.  These schemes arose out of the general ferment of the years
between the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, as
settlers moved beyond easy reach of eastern governments.  The dream
of separate western governments was realized in different form after the
Revolution, with the creation of the of the states of Kentucky, Tennessee
and Ohio.  What is now West Virginia, through its long history of
dissatisfaction with the government in Richmond, can trace its origins
back to these pre-Revolutionary desires for western independence.
     The Vandalia Colony originated in the land speculation of influential
Englishmen and prominent Colonial Americans, some of whom became
America's Founding Fathers.  In 1768, Benjamin Franklin was one of the
organizers of the Great Ohio Company, which sought to acquire Ohio
Valley lands for settlement.   Franklin's group proposed the creation of
Vandalia as a 14th colony, with its capital at Point Pleasant.  The new
colony would have included almost all of present West Virginia, except
for the Eastern Panhandle, and much of Kentucky.  In 1773, George
Washington cited the possible establishment of Vandalia in advertising his
Kanawha River lands for sale.
                                                                                                                                               The proposed Vandalia colony was named as a political gesture to
QueenC harlotte, wife of George III, who claimed descent from the
Vandal Tribe through her birth to German nobility.  The Vandalia
backers brought their plans almost to success in the early 1770's,
when deterioration of the American political situation made the British
government back off.  When those problems were resolved by the
Revolutionary War, King George was in no position to authorize
governments of any sort in the American West.
     Thus the word Vandalia is rich in West Virginia heritage.  It occurs as a
place name in several parts of our state, and it makes a fitting name
for the statewide folk festival dedicated to keeping the old ways alive.
Ken Sullivan
Goldenseal  67
Submitted by Willa Vandall

James Lloyd Vandall
From the Newsletter, Volume VII, Issue 6, October 2000

James Lloyd Vandall married Betty Willey and they had two children.  Renata married
a Wiseman and they have a daughter, Jessica.  James Brady Vandall is their son.
James Lloyd Vandall adopted Betty's son Michael Willey, who has one daughter and
one son.  James and Betty were divorced and James then married Betty Dunn.
Phyllis Eudora Vandall married James Lewis Foster on August 27, 1960.  They have
two daughters, Jennifer and Laurie.  Phyllis is the daughter of U. Earl and Ina Vandall.
The youngest son of Earl and Ina Vandall is Danny Brown Vandall.  His wife is Jane
Ella Lemmon.  Their daughter is Melinda Jane Vandall Gore and her husband is Jason
Gore.  Dannny Wayne Vandall is the son of Earl and Ina Vandall.

Charles Dillard Vandell (Thomas James 5, Thomas Stewart 4, Joel Worth 3,
Abraham 2, James  Earl 1) was born May 12, 1890 in Decatur County, Iowa.
Married Feb. 18, 1914 at Corydon, Iowa to Dora Elizabeth Casey, daughter
of Ashbel Green and Caroline Centna (Owen) Casey; born Sept. 19, 1889 on a
farm 4 miles northwest of Clio, Iowa in Wayne County.  Charles Dillard was a
farmer all his life - went to North Dakota and staked and claimed but stayed
less than 2 years.  Retired in 1966 from his farm 5 miles southwest of
Humeston, Iowa - purchased the McCollough property in southeast Humeston
and moved Nov. 1966.  He was a member of Christian Church and Dopra was a
member of the Highland Baptist Church.  Dora died Sept. 10, 1944 at age 54.
She had a stroke 2 years before.  Buried at Clio Cemetery South side of road.

Children:
1.  Carl Ralph, born Feb. 16, 1915 Wayne County, Iowa
2.  Clara Iomogene, born Feb. 28, 1916 Wayne County, Iowa
3.  Evelyn May, born April 4, 1917 Wayne County, Iowa
4 & 5.  Ruth Eleanor & Ruby Caroline (twins) born Aug. 15, 1918 near
Lineville, Iowa
6.  Roy Dale, born March 7, 1920 died June 11, 1940 Wayne County
7.  Dwight Wayne, born June 15, 1921 in Mercer County, Missouri
8.  Kenneth Green, born Sept. 8, 1922 in Pembina County, N Dakota
9.  Alta Maria, born Jan. 18, 1924 in Wayne County, Iowa
10. Robert James, born May 10, 1925 near Lineville, Iowa
11.  Erma Faye, born Sept. 8, 1926 near Clio, Iowa