FARMINGTON

A short history of Farmington

The community was named for the fact a large share of the first settlers were farmers. The area was first settled by James Goodin, Nicholas Wood, Jacob Straight, and by William Willey (father of Senator Waitman Willey) in the late 1700s. Their first settlements were built on and around the Chatham Hill area. A later settler, Joseph Morgan, built the town's first grist, saw, and carding mill here in 1801, and Daniel Tennant built the first steam grist mill in 1883. In addition to the listed settlers, many other of the first families to settle Farmington included names such as Bock, Downs, Dudley, Martin, Laidley, and Yost. Several of these first families took part in the defense of western Virginia against Natives during the American Revolution, serving with the Monongalia County Militia or other Continental Regiments. In Spring of 1861, a small force of Confederate forces burnt a railroad bridge near the town, which resulted in General George B. McLellan sending Colonel Benjamin Kelley and Union West Virginia infantry to secure the area prior to the Battle of Phillipi.As the community grew, it would later be incorporated in Marion County as the town of Farmington in 1896, but was earlier known as Willeyvile, Willeytown, and Underwood. While it was officially named Farmington in 1896, when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ran through the town its stations there went under the name Underwood because of there being many towns of the same name. The town was close to mine Number 08 of Jamison Coal and Coke Company. The mine exploded in 1926 and was sealed in the 1940s. The town is also close to mine Number 09 of Consolidated Coal Company, which is the site of the 1968 Farmington Mine disaster that killed 78 people. The mine had previously exploded in 1954 and was eventually sealed in 1978 following recovery efforts and investigations.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Farmington, West Virginia, revision 1374412250 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.