GEARY: Mathew Geary, whose family name was conferred on the magisterial district of that
name in recognition of his worth as a citizen of the county, was born in County Down, Ireland,
May 10, 1791, died in Roane County, West Virginia, January 24, 1865. He came to America,
having his younger brother, John, with him, and landed on these shores about the years 1823-24;
within a year after landir~g the brothers were found at the salt works—Maiden, called “The
Licks’ ‘at that time, learning the ways of the wildwoods of America. John came to his death by
drowning in the Kanawha while working there. On Big Sandy of Elk River near what is now the
boundary line between Geary District and Kanawha County, lived John Ashley, a pioneer who
came from North Carolina and settled there fifteen years previous to the year 1825, among his
family was a daughter, Elizabeth Almira, whom Mathew met, weed, won and married at her
home there in the year 1825; took her back to the Great Kanawha, where his work was and there
they began the long and happy married life of successful pioneers, living on the Great Kanawha
the first nine years. during which fine money was saved and children born; at the end of this nine
years Mathew bought a large tract of land—twelve to fifteen hundred acres— lying about and
over that part of Big Sandy where is, what for more than fifty years, has been known as
“Osbornes Mills”; Mathew and his family at once moved on this land; Almira was now back
among her people, the Ashleys. Among the things soon done by Mathew was the erection of a
water grist mill; for this work he employed Peter Darnell, a millwright. His mill and his home at
once became the neighborhood center; there were at that time, 1835, some eight or ten families
within a radius of five miles. The history of this neighborhood center is part of the history of
Geary District, to which chapter the reader should turn, if more interested in the district than in
the Geary family. To Mathew and E. Almira (Ashley) Geary, his wife were born and grew to
manhood and womanhood the following named children: Isabella, July 25, 1835, married Dr.
Patrick McKan, 1851; Caroline married Lewis Ashley, pioneer; Julia married Jacob Young,
farmer; Salina M. married Dr. Benjamin M. Helsley, then of Clendenin, later, Walton; Elizabeth
married George W. Osborne, of Big Sandy; William A. married Estaline Jarrett; John M.
married Phoebe E. Carper; Leona Virginia, born August 15, 1847, married John H. Osborne,
December 9,1868, of her neighborhood; America, born Nov. 24, 1849, married Dr. Lewis A.
Rader, April 22, 1868; of further concerning the daughters above named, see the names of their
husbands in proper alphabetic place. John M. Geary, son of Mathew and E. Almira (Ashley)
Geary, was born at the ancestral home on Big Sandy, March 25, 1887; on the 28th day of
December, 1860, he married Miss Phoebe Elmira Carper, born in Giles County, Virginia, June
10, 1841, daughter of Nicholas and Sarah (Nida) Carper, pioneer residents of Upper Left Hand
at the time of this marriage. John M. and his wife appear to have divided the distance between
the homes of their families and settled on a large tract of land near and about the mouth of Upper
Left Hand, soon a neighborhood center, and afterward for the purpose of a United States post
ofllce designation was named “Amma,” and at this place they made the well known “John Geary
Place,” and there spent a long and successful life. To John M. and Phoebe E. (Carper) Geary,
his wife, were~ born and reared the following children: Lectra A., January 29, 1863, married
John Engle, January 23, 1883. Patrick Vauley, August 16, 1865, married Annie S. Smith, of that
country. Frederick W., born 1868. Charles Mathew, born 1871, married Elsie B. Riffell. Amma
J., married John H. Parris, merchant of Geary District. See “Parris.” Nora married M. E.
Morely, of Geary District, who is a dealer in oil and gas properties. Myrtle B. married John H.
Johnson, skilled workman at drilling oil wells. William Alexander Geary, son of Mathew and
Elizabeth Almira (Ashley), his wife ,was born May 5, 1845, at the old homestead, long known
as Osbornes Mills; married Miss Esteline Jarrett, born at Clendenin, year 1843, the daughter of
Vincent and Caroline (Atkinson) Jarrett. William A. succeeded to the home part of the large
acreage of lands left by the father Mathew, and at that home he and his wife spent the long and
prosperous life of frugal industry; there they reared their family of eight sons and two daughters,
whose names and somewhat further about them we have as follows: Samuel W. died in
childhood. Annie Silvin ,born 1868, married Perry S. Young, March 5, 1893, his age 26; their
home is Clendenin; they have three sons and two daughters. Mathew Byron, born 1871, went
West and there married Miss Edna Johnson, of Idaho. Lewis Melvin, born 1873, yet a bachelor.
Ora Belle, born March 12, 1877, married Thomas E. Vineyard, year 1901; he is of the Vineyard
family of Looneyville; also of the City of Spencer; in the chapter of this book: “History of
Spencer,” see his career. To Thomas Elbert and Ora B. (Geary) Vineyard, his wife, have been
born one son and one daughter, their names: Richard, born 1894, and Julia Ann, 1918; their
home is in Spencer, West Virginia. Wehrley B., born 1879, is a merchant of Charleston, West
Virginia. James Morgan, 1881, married Arnie Osborne, daughter of Lewis Dranche Osborne.
William Hunter, married Mattie Runnion, of Kentucky; their home is in Ohio. Okey Jarrett,
1888, married Nellie Belcher, of Clendenin, then; they now live in Oklahoma.
Source: History of Roane County, West Virginia, 1774-1927 William H. Bishop, Esq. p 529-530
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Sandy Spradling
SSpradling@aol.com
November 28, 1999
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