General Notes

[dingess.FTW]

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PETER DINGESS was the first settler in what is now Oakvale, Mercer county, West Virginia.  His daughter, SARAH, died in 1821, was said to have been the first person buried in the Oakvale Cemetery, but that cannot be true as PETER died in 1809,
and is also buried there.  It is possible that they had an  another child that died at birth or very young, and we have found no record. This is where he built a double log cabin facing Pigeon Creek and built a corn mill just below the old log
house.  When PETER and POLLY died the estate passed to his sons JOHN and CHARLES and then to his daughter, MARY, who married DAVID FRENCH.   It then passed to their son, Colonel  NAPOLEON BONAPART FRENCH, who established a post office known as
Frenchville.  At this time,  there were two houses, a blacksmith shop and one corn mill there; later a church building was built.  In 1881, the name was changed to Oakvale because of a grove of Oak trees, and the Norfolk and Western Railway
added a depot in 1888.