Elizabeth (Betsy) Straight
Born 1748
Died October 3, 1786
Father: Jacob Straight (1715 – 1758)
Mother: Rebecca Brown (1718 – 1758)
Husband: John Dragoo (1747 – 1823)
Son: Benjamin Franklin Dragoo, born in 1768
Son: William (Indian Bill) Dragoo (1770 – 1856)
Daughter: Elizabeth Dragoo, born April 29, 1774, died July 7, 1848
Son: John Dragoo (1776 – 1825)
Son: Peter Dragoo (1777 – 1867)
Daughter: Mary Dragoo (1778 – 1870)
Son: Jacob Dragoo (1782 – 1838)
Son: Ephraim Dragoo (1784 – 1834)
Son: Beltshazzar Dragoo (1786 – 1786)

Indian Attack on Buffalo Creek
The following story is taken from the book, “Hayes,” written by Doris Ernst, who compiled information about the Hayes family line from West Virginia. Much of her research was based on the book The Monongalia Story, A Bicentennial History (Volume 11, The Pioneers), written by Earl L. Core, the book Smythe History of Ohio, written by Bayard Kennedy, and letters written by Nettie Blythe, Richard Straight, and J.R. Ewing.

In 1786, the part of Virginia which is now northern West Virginia was forest clad, mostly wilderness with cleared patches few and far between, no roads, and only a few trails made by Indians and Buffalo. Settlers were few and widely separated.

There were three women named Elizabeth connected with the Indian Massacre: (1) Elizabeth (Betsy) Dragoo, wife of John Dragoo, and a sister of Jacob Straight, (2) Elizabeth (Wood) Straight who was the wife of Jacob Straight and sister of Nicholas Wood, and (3) Elizabeth (Straight) Kennedy, who was a niece of Jacob Straight and who was married to William Kennedy. This third Elizabeth is the one who hid and survived the attack. The other two were killed.

A fourth Elizabeth was 12 year old Elizabeth Dragoo who later grew up to marry James Hays. In this story, John’s wife is referred to as Betsy. Their daughter Elizabeth is not mentioned in the story, but was probably with the group of women who ran into the woods to hide. Jacob Straight’s niece is referred to as Elizabeth Straight.

Jacob Straight and John Dragoo had 400 acres of land and each built their houses close to the dividing line for protection. Their joint garden plots were some distance down Straights Run and out of sight of the houses.

On October 3, 1786, most of the men of the two families were out deer hunting with the exception of Jacob Straight and his brother-in-law, Nicholas Wood. Betsy Dragoo was with her 16 year old son William (Willie) when they went out to the garden to pick beans and corn. She was also carrying an infant in her arms.

A party of nine Shawnee Indians headed for Buffalo Creek had come down Straights Run from the north and destroyed the garden. They were laying in ambush when Betsy went to the garden and saw the havoc that had been created in the vegetable plot. Betsy and Willie started to retreat, but were surrounded and captured. The Indians led them a short distance away, at the same time preparing an ambush for persons who might come looking for them.

Jacob Straight and Nicholas Wood, who lived across the hill on Woods run, became alarmed when Betsy and Willie failed to return. They went to investigate and were fired upon. The noise of the shots warned the women in the houses that they were under Indian attack and they fled to the woods. Elizabeth Straight (Jacob’s niece) concealed herself under nearby rocks with her two year old daughter Ann, who had to be prevented from crying and betraying their hiding place.

Nicholas Wood was killed instantly by the Indians, but Jacob Straight who had a head start managed to run a third of a mile down the trail before he was caught and killed by his pursuers near the shelving rock which sheltered his niece Elizabeth, who witnessed the slaying.

The Indians not knowing there were other people concealed nearby, returned to the houses and burned them to the ground. They had stolen several horses from pastures on Pyle’s Fork and placed Betsy Dragoo on one of the horses. When they looted and set fire to David Gray’s cabin, Betsy was thrown from her horse when it became frightened from the blaze and she broke her hip. The Indians tomahawked and scalped her, killed her infant child when it started to cry, and then took Willie off into captivity, heading for their village in the Ohio wilderness. David Gray’s cabin is where present day Rachel, West Virginia is located.

David Morgan and other settlers banded together in pursuit. The Indians entered Ohio near the mouth of the Muskingum River, then to the mouth of the Licking River, then up the river to their Village of Raccoontown where Johnstown is now located. When David Morgan arrived, the village was deserted and the trail disappeared.

One day late in the year 1808 when all hope of ever seeing the lost brother had vanished, the eldest son of John Dragoo met a stranger at Newark in the Black Horse Tavern. This stranger was a roving hunter and trapper among the Indians. He told the brother his experience among the Indians and of a white man in a tribe to the northwest. Hope was raised in the brother’s heart that this white man might be his long lost brother. The brother traveled many miles thru brush, streams and tangled wilderness and at last found the Indian Tribe. The white man was indeed his long lost brother, Willie. He had married an Indian girl, who had just recently died, leaving 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls. The elder brother stayed with the tribe several days. “Indian Bill” would not return with him but promised to visit his father later.

Late in the fall of the year 1808, William Dragoo (Indian Bill), along with the brother of his dead wife, and his two sons John and Isaac, returned to see his father in Virginia. According to records, William was born in 1770. This would make him 16 years old when captured and 38 years old when he returned.

William Dragoo died in 1856 at the age of 86.

This highway historical marker is located in Farmington, West Virginia, on U.S. Highway 250 at the intersection where highway 218 heads south out of town. Buffalo Creek is the river that runs parallel with U.S. 250.