Toney, West Virginia | |
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  Toney  Toney | |
| Coordinates: 38°00′39″N82°4′22″W / 38.01083°N 82.07278°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | West Virginia |
| County | Lincoln |
| Elevation | 633 ft (193 m) |
| Population (1911) | |
| • Total | 298.5 |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| Area code | 304 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1549955 [1] |
Toney is an unincorporated community in Lincoln County, West Virginia, United States. Its post office was established in 1904 by Brad Toney, merchant.
Toney is generally understood to include the territory along Route 10 above Green Shoal Creek and Abbott Branch extending to the Lincoln-Logan county line. Originally, Toney included territory on both sides of the Guyandotte River. Toney is located in Harts Creek District and is the southernmost community in Lincoln County. Part of the community is located in Logan County. It is situated 3.5 miles from Harts and 6.9 miles from Chapmanville.
Captain Henry Farley, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and resident of Montgomery County, Virginia, was the first known Anglo visitor to present-day Toney. In June 1792, Captain Farley passed through the area while pursuing a Native American war party that had raided Virginia settlements at Bluestone River. By the time he reached what is today Toney, he and his group had already engaged the retreating natives in the headwaters of Coal River and in the Guyandotte River valley some two miles below what is today Logan. Farley pursued the natives to the mouth of the Guyandotte River before returning home. [2]
Squire Toney, a pioneer resident who was born about 1783, first settled at present-day Toney; John Wood, an early cartographer, identified his cabin in his 1820 map of the lower portion of the valley. Burbus C. Toney (b. 1818), a son of Squire and Nancy (Brown) Toney, subsequently occupied the location. Burbus served as postmaster at nearby Green Shoal from 1855 to 1866. Margaret "Peggy" Toney, daughter of Squire and wife of Andrew Dial, lived on the west side of the Guyandotte River at what became known as Dial Hollow. Josephus H. Workman, an antebellum preacher, also lived in the vicinity of present-day Toney, as did James and Elizabeth (Fields) Ferrell, pioneers from Russell County, Virginia. The offspring of these early families intermarried with one another and with neighbors and settled locally in the bottoms along the river or at nearby Big Ugly Creek. Two of Burbus Toney's offspring—Nancy, who married David Workman, and Bradford—settled at the Toney farm on Guyan River. Bradford Toney and his wife, the former Catherine Saunders, were prosperous merchants in the community.
Toney was organized shortly after the end of the nineteenth century due to the arrival of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in the Guyan Valley, which occurred between 1902 and 1904. The community was named for Brad Toney and its history essentially mirrored that of the local Toney family. Brad Toney's sister-in-law Arena (Saunders) Ferrell operated a store at nearby Ferrellsburg. Brad Toney served as a member of the district board of education from 1914 to 1917. His son, Keenan Toney, was an important merchant and politician. On November 3, 1910, the Lincoln Republican newspaper reported that he was "building a fine dwelling house near the old home place." He served as the first Lincoln County sheriff from Harts Creek District, his term lasting from 1917 to 1921. Jim B. Toney, a brother to Keenan, operated a store at nearby Big Creek. Sibling Peter Mason Toney was likewise a merchant and postmaster. Dollie Toney, daughter of Brad, was a popular local teacher.
Much of the Toney farm was divided into residential lots in the 1950s.
Timbering served as the primary industry in Toney. Other industries included growing tobacco and cane. Daisy, a nearby coal camp, afforded jobs in coal mining. Members of the Toney family operated stores at Toney for many years. In the modern era, Toney has hosted the following businesses: Lincoln Drive In, Smith's Drive In (later called the Lions' Den), Cush Vance's grocery store, Clovis Manns' timber company, Billy Mullins' used car lot, Kendra's Kurls hair salon, and EFM Group, LLC.
Toney was the site of a school building in 1889. In that year, a young girl walking out of Green Shoal Creek to school saw the bodies of Milt Haley and Green McCoy at the mouth of the stream; a mob had been murdered the pair as part of the Lincoln County Feud. No schools have existed at Toney in the 20th century; children were educated at Green Shoal School. Students were bussed to Ferrellsburg Grade School (Kindergarten - 6th grade) and Harts High School (7th grade - 12th grade).
Today, local youth attend Harts PreK-8, Chapmanville Middle School, and Chapmanville Regional High School.
Early church activity occurred in homes or in nearby schoolhouses. Toney Christian Fellowship was established in the early 1970s.
At different times, a large field has been used for baseball or softball. In the 1990s and early 2000s, it was known as the Field of Dreams.
Logan County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,567. Its county seat is Logan. Logan County comprises the Logan, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Charleston–Huntington–Ashland, WV–OH–KY Combined Statistical Area.
Harts is a census-designated place (CDP) at the mouth of Big Harts Creek in Lincoln County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Guyandotte River. As of the 2010 census, its population was 656. Harts is a part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The Harts CDP includes the unincorporated communities of Harts, Atenville, Ferrellsburg, and Sand Creek.
Chapmanville is a town in Logan County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 1,025 at the 2020 census. Chapmanville is named for Ned Chapman, an early settler who operated a store and post office. It was incorporated in 1947.
West Logan is a town along the Guyandotte River in Logan County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 400 at the 2020 census. For unknown reasons, some sources report West Logan to lay west of the county seat at Logan, attributing to this fact the name.
The Guyandotte River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 166 mi (267 km) long, in southwestern West Virginia in the United States. It was named after the French term for the Wendat Native Americans. It drains an area of the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau south of the Ohio between the watersheds of the Kanawha River to the northeast and Twelvepole Creek and the Big Sandy River to the southwest. Via the Ohio River, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed.
The Big Sandy, East Lynn and Guyan Railroad in West Virginia was incorporated on June 16, 1902.
James Edward "Ed" Haley was a blind professional American musician and composer best known for his fiddle playing.
Kellian Van Rensalear Whaley was a nineteenth-century lumberman and congressman from Virginia before the American Civil War and West Virginia after the state's creation. During the Civil War, Whaley was major of the 9th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry and captured during a Confederate raid, but escaped his captors.
Ferrellsburg is an unincorporated community in southern Lincoln County, West Virginia, United States. It is located in Harts Creek District and is part of the Harts census-designated place.
Shively is an unincorporated community located on the Smokehouse Fork of Big Harts Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, United States. Shively is accessed by County Route 3. It is situated 7.2 miles from Harts and 9.3 miles from Chapmanville.
Whirlwind is an unincorporated community on Big Harts Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, United States.
Halcyon is an unincorporated community located on the West Fork of Big Harts Creek in Logan and Lincoln counties, West Virginia, United States.
Justice Addition is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Logan County, West Virginia, United States. The community was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census. The population was 331 at the 2020 census.
Atenville is an unincorporated community in Lincoln County, West Virginia, United States. It is a residential community located in Harts Creek District and is part of the Harts census-designated place.
Gill is an unincorporated community and former railroad town in Lincoln County, West Virginia, United States.
Eden Park is a former coal town situated along the Guyandotte River between Atenville and Harts in Lincoln County, West Virginia, United States. It appears in state business directories as early as 1908.
The Lincoln County feud occurred in the Harts Creek community of Lincoln and Logan counties, West Virginia, between 1878 and 1890.
The Guyandotte Valley Railroad Company was incorporated by the State of West Virginia on March 1, 1899. Under supervision of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, the GVRR constructed 50.2 miles of single track, standard gauge railroad line between Barboursville in Cabell County to Big Creek in Logan County. On October 31, 1903, the C&O acquired its franchise, rights, and property.
Big Harts Creek, often shortened to "Harts Creek" or "Big Hart," is a major tributary of the Guyandotte River in Lincoln and Logan counties, West Virginia.
Municipalities and communities of Lincoln County, West Virginia, United States | ||
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| Unincorporated communities |
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |