Most all cities and towns in West Virginia had pioneer surroundings, embracing pioneer communities.To these pioneers these strangers to the present generation we owe much. Our greatness is built upon the foundation laid by them. 

The story of the exploration, settlement and development of the trans-Appalachian region constitutes one of the most fascinating chapters of American history. It's plain but self-reliant pioneers were the fore-runners of a mighty tide of immigration, which burst the barriers of the Alleghenies. 

The story of the settlement of every early community is full of the heroic deeds of these plain, modest, uncelebrated men of the struggling common people--men who sought no praise and achieved no great fame, who were not conscious of their greatness, but who were always ready for any service which was needed to maintain an advancing frontier. Out of many springs among the hills emerged at last the irresistible current of their strength. 

They toiled not in vain, while building homes in the wilderness. Into the forest-clothed land came settlers seeking new homes; here each pioneer clearing broadened into a field in which all that was worthy of human endeavor found a fertile soil to grow, and on the spot erected a log cabin. Our ancestry descents from the German, English, Scotch, Irish, with surnames Johnston/Johnson, Singleton, Gay, Dean, Moss, Dennison, Conrad, Currence, Tinney and many, many more. Settling in what became Harrison, Upshur, Braxton, Gilmer counties of central (West) Virginia

During this period other settlers of course came. The pioneers of neighboring counties often belonged to the best families of the older Virginia and some of them brought slaves with them as well as the household goods which they carried on the backs of horses. These counties as a whole have a good degree of historical perspective.