Archibald Flanagan
Quoting from the book, Mountain Memories, by Feaster Wolford, (Published by McClain Printing Company, Parsons, West Virginia 26287, 1975 - Standard Book Number 87012-225-8 - Library of Congress Card Number 75-21079), pages 55-56 and 60-61:
One other personality that I well remember was my friend, Jonathan
Day, who occasionally worked on the farm for my father. He and I
spent many days clearing newground in the spring. His hobby was
making songs about events and the people involved in them.
Sometimes he would offend people by what he said about them and
then he would apologize to them. But the folks who knew him well
got a big kick out of his songs. One of his most controversial
songs was the one he wrote about the happenings around Bob
Bradshaw's saloon at Elm Corner when the Red Creek Railroad was
being built. He had an unusual talent for making rhymes and he also
made his own tunes. When we were working and he was very quiet, I
would notice his lips moving which meant he was working on a rhyme.
In a little while he would say, "I feel a verse a comin' on." Then
he would recite what he had thought out. After I had gone to
school, I found myself helping him straighten out his rhymes so
they would be more rhythmical. Of all the songs he wrote, I
remember best the one he wrote about the gold diggers. This one was
about the scheme a preacher worked out to get free board and
lodging during a hard winter. Archibald Flanagan was a very good
farmer and owned a considerable area of land near Flanagan Hill. He
was the son-in-law of Solomon Cosner, the first permanent settler
in Canaan Valley. The preacher came to convince Arch that his farm
was underlaid with precious metal and he offered to give Arch half
of all the silver and gold he found if Arch would let him open up a
mine and would provide board and lodging for the preacher and his
crew. Arch finally agreed and the preacher moved in. On warm days
they would dig a little but on bad days they just stayed in and
enjoyed Arch's good food. During the warm days of early spring they
decided they were digging on the wrong farm, so they moved to Alf
Flanagan's farm and started digging there. Jonathan put into verse
the thinking of the people of the community. . . .
