Beuhring Home in Huntington, WV

Frederick George Louis Beuhring and his wife, Frances Dannenberg moved to Cabell County shortly after their marriage in 1820.  They were married at Chateau Blanche which was the country home of the brides uncle, Frederick Konig.  It seems that FGL had already moved to Barboursville as: 

It is not clear just when FGL moved to Barboursville.  Court records show that he served as a jury man May 3, 1819.  That would have been before his marriage.  FGL served as postmaster of Barbarboursville from August 7, 1820 until Sept 9, 1822 and then again from May 12 1823 until April 22, 1829. At that time it was called Cabell Court House, Cabell County, VA.  The name  was changed to Barbarboursville May 10, 1882. 

 In 1837 FGL sold his Barboursville property and purchased for the sum of $6000 the property that had been the home of Major Nathaniel Scales.  I have more information about the property in my possession that I am happy to share.  I believe it possible  that Nathaniel Scales had built this home that FGL and Fannie bought 20 years before the Beuhring family moved from Barboursville.   The oldest Beuhring child (of four children) would have been about 16 when they moved to the farm on the Ohio River.

FGL and Fannie had only one son:  Frederick Konig Dannenberg Beuhring.  Fred's father, FGL, died in 1859 and his mother in 1841 and both were buried in a grave yard on the property.  I am unclear whether Fred and his wife, Fannie Miller lived in the old Beuhring home or if they lived in another home.  This research needs to be done.

I am editing this blog post in 2022 after chatting with Melba Guard.  Melba reminded me that in the obituary for Fannie Miller Beuhring, it is stated that:

The following information was taken from her death notice that I copied from Eleanor and Nancy Taylor:

       ....Such a trial was Mr. F.D. Beuhring called upon to endure last Thursday might, the 12th when his wife of a quarter of a century, after a short illness with tyhoid fever, closed her eyes to look no more upon the things of this world. 

     Mrs. Fannie Beuhring, daughter of Henry and Eliza Miller, was born in Guyandotte in 1838, (and consequently 44 years old), where she lived with her parents until November 11, 1857, when she was united in wedlock to Mr. Beuhring--Shortly after they removed to Mr. Beuhring’s old home, where she remaind till death claimed her as a victim.

Clearly, Fred Beuhring would have been too young to have owned an old home.  It had to have been the home in which his parents had lived.  Fred's father FGL was still living at the time of the wedding, but Fred's mother had died in 1841.  So almost certainly Fred and Fannie had moved into the house with FGL.

Below is a photo of Fred Beuhring and another of his wife, Fannie Miller Beuhring

Frederick Konig Dannenburg Beuhring

My 2-gr-grandfather was Frederick Konig Dannenburg Beuhring.  He married Frances Eleanor (Fannie) Miller 11 Nov 1857 in Guyandotte, Virginia.  F.D. was born 17 July 1828 in Barboursville, Virginia.  Fannie was born 12 March 1838 in Guyandotte, Virginia.  They were a very attractive couple as you can see by the photos.   F.D. been sent to Germany to be educated.  I have been told that the log cabin in Ritter Park was originally used by the vineyard keeper for F.D. Beuhring.

Frances Eleanor (Fannie) Miller Beuhring

I was going through piles and files today and found the following letter that was published in the Kyowva newsletter in the summer of 1998.  You can manipulate it in order to read it more easily.

Here is a map of Huntington.  I interpret the foot of seventh street to be where seventh street meets the river but far enough back to have been safe from high water.  However, I believe that the letter should have stated the foot of 9th Street as that is where Pullman Square is.  It is said that the Beuhring family had a wharf.  F.D. Beuhring's father had been involved in importing  goods from all over the world in Baltimore, MD before his move to what is now Cabell County, WV.  The A on the arrow is not indicative of anything.  It was placed there by google maps.   There farm would have had northern boundary of the Ohio River and west and east boundaries would have been straight lines going south into the hills.  There farm ran through what is now Ritter park.  When Fred sold the farm to the holding company for the city of Huntington, Mr. Huntington was only interested in the land along the river and the land that lay in the hill above the city was sold to Mr. Ritter.

 The Beuhring farm  would have contained what is now Ritter Park as part of their farm.  Now fast forward to 2022.  I have wondered about the Beuhring home for many years and looked every place that I could think of for a photo.  The Colonial Dames of WV held a luncheon this month at the Huntington Museum at which Geoffrey Fleming ( the Director of the Huntington Museum) spoke about his new book.  As a part of the slide show he showed a painting by Marion Vest Fors that the book says is the Baltimore and Ohio Depot and was painted circa 1965.   The painting is shown on page 92 of Geoffrey K. Fleming's book Eclectic Rhythms The artists of Huntington, West Virginia 1871-Present

I purchased Geoff's book after the presentation.  Geoff gave me permission to use the photo of the painting and suggested that the building is still in use in Heritage Station.   Scroll down to see the building today.  You will see it to be true.

Here is a photo of the building circa 1970

https://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=lib_manu

Another source suggests that this was not the Beuhring home.  That the building was built in 1892 by the

Ohio River Railroad.  I believe that I found this on the Marshall University Special Collections site. 

In working on solving this puzzle of which idea is correct, I reread the information by John Salyer.  And it crossed my mind that Albert Laidley was not the man who was associated with the Central Land Company. And that Mr. Salyer had been wrong....thus discounting his information.   But then I found the following on the Marshall Special Collections site in the information done by Jack Dickinson about the early businesses in Huntington and it clearly states that indeed Albert Laidley was the man who acquired the farms.  Found in Marshall Digital Scholar:

https://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=lib_manu