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(click to enlarge)
Twin Houses as as painted by Rosemary Mills of Clarksburg
The painting is very accurate. The Methodist Episcopal Church was still in use in the mid '50's when painted. As you look at the picture, the house on the left was the home of Susan Ritter Lynch; the house on the right was the home of Berda and Stanley Butler, Berda being the oldest child of Hiram & Susie Lynch. The farm, by mid century, became a dairy farm under the management of Stanley Butler who was one of the founders of Producer's Dairy in Clarksburg. The entire farm, as acquired from 1878 to 1906 by Hiram Lynch, Jr. was more than 500 acres laying between the B&O RR to the north and the head of Wizzardism on the south. The head of Wizzardism was once owned by Nicholas Carpenter, one of the original pioneers in Harrison Co.
Hiram W. Lynch Mt. Dora, Florida (winter home).
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The Twin Houses of Maken
by Hiram W. Lynch, IV...
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Over two hundred years ago, Peter Lynch, of Irish birth, and his wife, Hester Saffron settled in Harrison County along the banks of Buffalo Creek, Union District, raising a family of 10 children. One of his sons, Hiram, married Nancy Sommerville, and they settled in the Clarksburg area now known as the Liberty Addition. Hiram was a teamster who at the time of Northwestern Virginia Turnpike construction, hauled stone for the base of the Clarksburg/Parkersburg section. Road and bridge work
in Harrison Co. seemed to be his calling.
Hiram Sr. and Nancy Sommerville had 11 children, one of whom was son, William Burnside Lynch. William Burnside, who married Mary Catherine Lambert of Virginia, had four children, three of whom grew to adulthood
in the old Lynch homestead at Maken, the “House in the Pines”. William
Burnside Lynch and his brother, John Perry Lynch split a farm owned
by their father, Hiram Sr.
Times were hard and William Burnside Lynch suffered from poor economic conditions during the later years of the 19th century. He ultimately faced bankruptcy and did, if fact, lose his farm in 1887 to the lien holder, The Merchants Bank of Clarksburg. John Perry Lynch, a brother of William Burnside Lynch, suffered the same financial hardships and also lost his
farm and grist mill. John Perry lived just a few hundred feet down stream
on Tenmile.
William Burnside and Mary Catherine Lynch’s three living children
were Hiram, Jr, a son, and two daughters, Anna and Byrd. One other
child, a daughter Columbia, died in 1855 at a very young age. Hiram
was a bachelor at the time of these financial reversals, making his living
as a stockman on his dad’s farm, working his Uncle Wesley Lynch’s Wizzardism farm, and for a brief period of time, working as a weighmaster
at the Reynoldsville Coketon mine. Nathan Goff, President of the
Merchants Bank of Clarksburg, offered to resell the family farm to
Hiram rather than put it on the very weak real estate market of the time.
Hiram borrowed what cash he needed, closed the deal, the farm then
being transferred from the bank to him, the year being 1887.
The next significant phase of life at Maken was the oil boom. This
occurred just prior to the turn of the century. Hiram, who by then had
married Susan Virginia Ritter, was living with his parents in the “House
in the Pines”. Hiram’s sisters, both married to B & O railroad engineers, were living out of state, Byrd in Philadelphia, married to Hugh S.Barbee
whose health had failed; Anna in Wilmington, Delaware, married to
John F. Clayton, who by 1905 had experienced failing health.
But back to Maken. The exciting, yet stressful days of the booming
oil field era of 1898 to 1901 brought overnight change to the entire Ten
Mile District. Many oil rigs on the Lynch farm were generating large sums
of cash. By 1906 the Hiram Lynch farm included 640 acres, made up of a
merger of his father’s farm, the W.B. Lynch farm(1887) , Wizzardism farm
of Wesley C. Lynch(1889), and the Carpenter farm(1906) located at the
head of Wizzardism and the Twin Houses were completed.
Sometime around 1901-02, Hiram was notified that his sisters and
their families would plan to return to the family farm at Maken. There were responsibilities at Maken, for which Hiram needed assistance, not the
least of which was the management of the store, the community post
office and care for his widowed mother. Hiram also committed to building
each sister a home near the original family homestead.
That is exactly what Hiram carried out and by the year 1905 the Twin
Houses were ready for occupancy. While the Barbees by this time
(1904) had returned to Philadelphia due to a dispute with the Claytons, the Claytons occupied one of the houses until both became deceased.
Byrd’s brother Hiram protested their return to Philadelphia at the time but
to no avail.
Hiram intended to construct a third home at Maken, replacing the
original homestead, but he and his sisters became involved in a lawsuit
and shortly thereafter Hiram took ill with stomach cancer. Hiram lived for
one year, with his life ending intestate, several years before the legal
dispute was resolved. Susie went on to raise the 8 children, most of
whom, because of their young age and the pending legal action, were
assigned a court appointed guardian. That guardian was attorney David
Carter, who was the son of Susie’s sister, Rebecca. All issues that
affected the Lynch children (not yet of legal age) were matters for the
court to decide, purposely to protect their rights within the law, as well
as the parameters established by the contested estate.
By the late 1920’s Susie’s oldest daughter Byrd and her husband,
Stanley C. Butler purchased the front acreage from Susie. They lived in
the twin house originally occupied by John and Anna Clayton. Susie
remained in the twin house closest to Jarvisville Rd.
Eventually, upon Susie’s death in 1958, her twin house was sold by
all Lynch heirs to their brother, Frank C. Lynch. This same dwelling is
now fully restored and has now become the beautiful, authentically
restored home of Bud and Bertha Webb.
The sad coda to this story is that the principals in the legal action
gained very little. Susie lost 2/3 of the farm, including the mineral rights.
In fact, a Philadelphia law firm acquired a large portion of the original farm
of 640 acres, which included a superb cutting of timber, as its payment
for representing the plaintiff in the legal procedure.
* See text of court proceedings: No. 3187 in the Supreme Court of
Appeals of W.Virginia; Byrd L. Barbee and Anna Clayton vs. Hiram
Lynch’s Heirs, etc. Brief for the Defendents Lynch, pg. 69. |
 
Hiram and Susie Lynch
Photos courtesy of Hiram W. Lynch, IV
Notes for Future Generations related to the Twin Houses:
There has been and will continue to be wild tales associated with the Twin Houses of Maken, W.Va., which Hiram Lynch, Jr. constructed for his sisters, Anna and Byrd, and were ready for occupancy in 1905.
The first issue needing clarification is the fact that Hiram Jr. made the decision to build the twin houses, not his father. His intention was to follow the construction of the twin houses with a third house for his own family. Unfortunately, his health deteriorated very quickly and he passed away in 1914 before beginning construction of his own home. Some will say that his father, William Burnside, built the houses. That is not true. William Burnside did not own one sq. ft. of land after 1878. Fortune turned on him and he lost his farm to the Merchant’s Bank in Clarksburg. Mr. Lowndes, the banker, made the arrangements for Hiram, William’s son, to purchase the family farm in 1878.
Another issue relates to ghosts and goblins. Some like to say that the two sisters haunted the twin houses. While the houses have survived a lot of discord, never were they the domain of witches, ghosts, or goblins.
Another issue that keeps popping up is Hiram, Jr.’s occupations. It is true that he grazed cattle for market. He often had yearlings unloaded at the Maken B&O station for the summer and by fall he would send them off to slaughter, sometimes to markets in Ohio. It was easily done via the B&O railroad which stopped at Lynchburg(Maken). Hiram also worked as a weighmaster at a coal mine in Reynoldburg. I believe that the name of the mine was the Coketon mine. His third endeavor, obviously, was as an overseer of oil drilling activity on his farm and in his immediate area.
Some will say Hiram was a gambler. That is, again, fiction. Others will say that he created and lost great amounts of wealth more than once. Of course, that would necessitate a definition of “great amounts of wealth”. Suffice it to say, during the oil boom Hiram had money. He also demonstrated that he was willing to share that wealth with his sisters and their families, as well as with his mother, Mary Catherine Lynch. His father was deceased before the oil lease was signed for his farm.
But to say that Hiram made and lost “great amounts of wealth” more than once is not correct. Documents show that he did make money, but documents also show that the price of oil during this period was $1.56 per barrel.
Another story, found in the newspaper several years ago, erroneously stated that the construction of the twin houses was the result of jealousy between the sisters, Anna and Byrd. There was never any family history stating that such was the case. In fact, family history tells us that Hiram held his sisters in deep regard, and with members of their family experiencing failing health to one degree or another, he decided to offer them work on the family farm. They returned to Maken, one from Philadelphia, the other from Wilmington, Delaware and took up post office and general store tasks around Maken. Unfortunately, their sojourn didn’t last long due to a family dispute. Subsequently, the Claytons stayed at Maken; the Barbees returned to Philadelphia.
Another correction is needed. The newspaper stated that William Burnside Lynch made his money from oil. Fact is, he was dead before the oil lease was signed on the Lynch farm. Fact is, he hadn’t owned a piece of land or mineral rights since he lost the farm to his son, Hiram, Jr. in 1878.
It will be impossible to continue to separate fiction from fact. dispelling all unfounded rumors related to these houses. Wild tales arise from time to time as figments of the human imagination. But, with all due respect to Hiram Lynch, Jr. and his wife Susie Ritter Lynch, we should make the effort to keep the history of the family, the twin houses, and the oil boom days as accurate as we possibly can. We have much to be thankful for as descendents of these fine pioneer families: the Lynches, Ritters, Lamberts, Morris’s, and Somervilles.
Hiram W. Lynch, IV
November 20, 2006
All photos courtesy of Hiram W. Lynch IV
Please click on the below for enlargements:
House in the Pines and Maken Methodist Church
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Lynch family home c 1898
Maken Methodist Church
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