I recon what occurred and I can only deduce a possible event...John H. Wykle was 10 years old when the Civil War broke out, so he was just a young boy. His brother, Allen Caperton Weikle, was older and joined the Confederate States of America, as a soldier and came back to Monroe after the war was over. So, since work was hard to find on the farms in Monroe and the opening up of the coal fields in Fayette and Raleigh Counties he either walk or road horseback to Hinton and then from there to Prince and worked in the Royal Coal Mines. While there, he met and became friends with the Daniel family.
Who knows, he may have even been a boarder in a boarding house that was owned by the William and Chloe Daniel. He fell in love with Mary Daniel and being that the only Justice of the peace or marriage official was in Beckley, the entire family had a wedding event with John H. Wykle and Mary Daniel getting married in 1871, on the 15th of May. He probably saved as much money as he could and then purchased some land in Monroe County, near his Father's and Mothers. So over the years, him and Mary, occasionally visited the Daniel family in around Royal and Prince. Mary's brother, a William C Daniel, he was connected to his wife's people from Greenbrier and Fayette, so he remained in the New River Gorge area.
John and Mary, they had several children up until her death in 1888. Her death certificate record indicates being recorded in Talcott, West Virginia on January 1, 1888, listing her parents William and Chloe Daniel and her husband John H. Wykle. Nora, she was 4 years old when her mother died. John, he tried as best as possible to take care of the children and even enlisted the help of family members or neighbors around him. Then, in 1891 or 1893, he remarried Ms Sarah Payne. Grandma, she would have been old enough to remember her. John and Sarah, they had a daughter.
When Nora became a teenager, around 15 or 16, she was staying with family because everyone was poor farmers and it was difficult for family to feed a large family. So, she was in Summers County. James Ward and Nora, they had gone to school together and "were sweet-hearts"; but they didn't get together, it was 1900 or 1901.
Nora, she met Mr. Carter and had the first 6 children. James Garfield Ward, he met Florence Anderson and they married, in 1905 and divorced without any children. Then about 18 years later, around 1919. Mr. Carter had died and Nora had a 6 children some who were almost adults. Now, if Mary had been buried over in the towns of either Royal, Prince, or Talcott, West Virginia, then the possibility of the following might have occurred.
Nora is traveling over the mountains and down along the river to put flowers on her Mothers grave or to visit with her Daniel family relatives and kin folk. While in Summers county, she runs into James Andrew Garfield Ward, her sweet-heart from years ago. James Andrew Garfield Ward, he too had worked in some of the mines in the New River Gorge, and was more of a farmer than a miner. Florence, his first wife, they had divorced. So, in 1920, there abouts, Nora and Gar got married and moved up into the mountains at Hix, West Virginia and started their family.
Then during the onset of the Depression and in the Depression they lost their farm in Summers County. So, heartbroken, Nora returned home to help her father John manage the farm and needing a place to live and raise the children. Nora and Gar then moved to Monroe County along with their children; Arnold, Arzula, Elverta and the earlier children she had with Mr. Carter. Uncle Eldridge, being born in Monroe county.
No one seems to know where Mary rests: Talcott Cemetery, Royal Cemetery, Prince Cemetery, Daniel Cemetery, the Nehemiah Daniel Cemetery, the Tabor Cemetery. Yet, her descendants spirits have traveled over hill and dale, across bridges and around curves. We've searched in hollers and up on ridges.
A Daniel cousin says "Try the Miller Cemetery out on Dry Branch near Naoma, in Raleigh County".... For a hundred and twenty three years her spirit travels peacefully Raleigh County, Fayette County, Summers County, and Monroe County along the roads, over the rivers, through the woods. It is a mystery where Great Grandma Mary Daniel Wykle is buried. Her parents are buried in Raleigh County, her brother is buried in Fayette County and her husband John H. Wykle is buried in Monroe County. And the written death certificate says Summers County. There were only two official "undertakers" in Summers County during those years from 1880 to 1908. It was wintertime and the ground was frozen...
Talcott, West Virginia, had a post office, doctors, schools, churches, a hotel, and a saloon. It had a population just over 1,200 people in the late 1800's. It is a mystery....lost along the rivers mists of time, January 1, 1888.
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Across the river from Talcott, by ferry, was the town of Rollinsburg. In 1880, the population census indicated a total of 9,016 individuals within Summers County, West Virginia. Along the Greenbrier river, at the infamous “Big Bend Tunnel”, a very thriving town existed by the name of Rollinsburg. A Boarding-House, was owned by a Mrs. M. L. Bray. The dentist, was a E.W. Maddy. Three General Merchants stores were operated; a James M, Booh, was a General Merchant; Peck H. A & Co, operate a General Merchandise; and Silling A R, was a General Merchandise and a saw mill owner. As to the fine qualities of the wood and timber within the region, a W. W. Jones, being a cabinet-maker and a undertaker who built wooden caskets. As the region surrounding the town consisted of farms, both large track land owners and smaller farms, R. C. Bacon, owned and operated a corn, flour and grist mill, and C A. Woodson, owned and operated a corn, flour and grist mill and his brother Z A Woodson operated a saw mill. Each of these industries were supported by the major farmers within the area and the population in the surrounding communities. To finalize any of the government paperwork and authorize acknowledgements, a Griffith Meadows, was the Notary Public within the town.
Chataigne, J. H, (1881), The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Directory: History and Description of the road.
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