James, one of the descendants of the first named James, came into the Virginia Valley about 1748, and there married, in 1751, Rebecca McDonald, a granddaughter of Bryan and Mary Combs McDonald, of New Castle, Delaware. It would seem most probable--as some of the McDonalds were settled between 1738 and 1744 in Beverly's Manor, near to where the present city of Staunton, Virginia, is situated--that he married his wife, Rebecca, in that neighborhood, and thence removed to the Roanoke section near where Salem now stands, about 1763, where he remained until a flood in the Roanoke River drove him to and beyond the summit of the Alleghanies, into what is now Montgomery County. He came, probably, about 1775--at any rate he had frequently to take shelter from the Indians in Barger's Fort, on Tom's Creek. His son, James, married Bettie, the daughter of John Haven, of Plum Creek, in Montgomery, about 1776, and from thence he removed to Walker's Creek in 1793. He had a large family of children, viz: 12; Mary married John Henderson, Howard married Miss Hickman, and a daughter of Howard married Colonel Erastus G. Harman, of Bluestone; Colonel James married Mary Henderson December 31st, 1801; Annie married .......Wilson, Sara married John Carr, Rebecca married .......Burke, John married Mary Chapman, Jesse married Jane Carr, Edward and Joseph died unmarried, Elizabeth married William Carr, William married Sallie Snidow.

Colonel James Bane and his wife, Mary Henderson Bane, had the following children: Sallie, who never married; Elizabeth married Tobias Miller; Maria married Madison Allen, John H. married Nancy Shannon, Jane S. married John Crockett Graham, William married Jane Grayson, Nancy married Thomas Jefferson Higginbotham, and Samuel married Lucy B. Baker. A daughter of William Bane married John D. Snidow, and Mr. William Bane Snidow, a prominent lawyer of Pearisburg, Virginia, is their son. All of this family of Banes, who were in the war 1861-5, were good soldiers; a number of them were killed and wounded. Joseph Edward Bane was killed in the first battle of Manassas, and Major John T. Bane was a distinguished soldier in Hood's Texas Brigade. Of this family have come some of the very best citizens of Giles and surrounding counties. Donald Bane succeeded Malcolm III as King of Scotland .

The Family of Black, of Montgomery.
The Rev. Dr. Samuel Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church--of Scotch extraction--was born in 1700; educated in Edinburg, Scotland, and licensed to preach at Glasgow; came to America in 1735, and first located at and had charge of the church in Brandywine Manor in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Later he removed to Albemarle County, Virginia, where he was Pastor of Joy and Mountain Plains Churches for the remainder of his long and useful life.

His sons, John and William, came across the Alleghanies and settled nearby where the town of Blacksburg, in Montgomery County, is now situated. The year of their coming seems not definitely known, but it was during the border Indian wars. John had married Miss Jane Alexander, who, with an infant son, he brought with him into the wilderness, where with the aid of a servant he erected a dwelling house which was shortly thereafter burned by the Indians, he and his family escaping to the woods and finally to Augusta, where he left his family until he could erect another dwelling, which he turned into a fort for protection against the Savages. He served in the American Army during our War for Independence, under General William Campbell, and was with him at the time of the treaty with the Indians, at Long Island, Tennessee. Two of his sons were in the War of 1812, and one of them, Matthew, died in the service. Five of his sons went to the state of Ohio, where their descendants now live. His daughter, Susan, who married Stephen McDonald, went to Missouri; Mary, another daughter, married Walter Crockett, and they went to the Pacific coast; while the son, Alexander, remained at Blacksburg. John Black lived to the age of ninety-four years; his wife, Jane Alexander, was of the family of that name, some of whom settled in the County of Monroe.

William Black gave the land on which the town of Blacksburg, Virginia, now stands, and which was incorporated by the General Assembly of Virginia, in the year of 1798. By this act George Rutledge, John Black, James P. Preston, Edward Rutledge, William Black and John Preston were made trustees. William Black removed to the County of Albemarle in the year of 1800.

The M'Comases and Napiers.
In 1776 John McComas and his brother-in-law, Thomas H. Napier, came from western Maryland to the New River Valley. McComas was of that bold, adventurous, Scotch-Irish stock that feared no danger, and was always anxious to get away from restraints of all kinds, and to be free and happy. McComas and Napier first took up their abode at what is now known as Ripplemeade, but shortly removed to the territory where Pearisburg, Virginia, now stands, and as a protection against the Indians, built in connection with the Halls Fort Branch on the land lately owned by Mr. Charles D. French, and which is about three-fourths of a mile to the southeast of Pearisburg. McComas very soon afterward entered and surveyed some lands around or near the location referred to; and in 1782, the land where Judge Philip W. Strother now resides, or a part thereof, was taken up and surveyed by Moredock O. McKensey, and afterward conveyed to Thomas H. Napier.

The first or elder David Johnston died in 1786; his will bears date in July of that year, and John McComas is one of the subscribing witnesses to that instrument. John McComas and his wife had a considerable family of children; among the sons were: Elisha, David, Jesse, John, William and Moses, and there were several daughters. John McComas, the elder, died in Giles County, Virginia. Elisha McComas, son of the elder John, and who is referred to as General Elisha, obtained his title after he went to Cabell County, being commissioned a Brigadier General of militia. He married in January, 1791, Annie French, daughter of Matthew, of Wolf Creek, and removed to Cabell County about 1809. His brothers, or some of them, preceded him by seven or eight years, and settled on the Guyandotte and Mud River waters, then in Kanawha County, Cabell not being created until 1809.It will be noted that Elisha was there in 1810, either in Guyandotte or vicinity, for he is made, by the act of the Legislature creating that town, one of the trustees, as well as a trustee of Barboursville in 1813. David McComas, son of the elder John, married Miss Bailey, a daughter of the elder Richard. David died early, leaving a widow and one son, James, the latter the ancestor of the Mercer McComas', viz: Archibald, Eli and others.

General Elisha McComas and his wife had sons, David, William and James, and daughters, one of whom married John Shelton, and another married....... Keenan, from whom descended Patrick Keenan McComas, the eccentric lawyer of Logan County, West Virginia.

David, the son of General Elisha, married Cynthia French, daughter of Captain David and Mary Dingess French, and he became a distinguished Judge; was a member of the General Court of Virginia; Judge of the Kanawha Circuit Court, and was at one time a State Senator from the Kanawha District. He was born about 1795 and died in Giles County, Virginia, in 1864. He was a jolly man, full of wit and humor, but a most negligent man about his dress. Some good stories of his life as a judge have been preserved, and are worth relating. As has been said, he was Circuit Judge; his circuit, was a large one, and his mode of travel was on horseback. Before he started on his circuit his wife made up and arranged his clothing for the trip, which often lasted for weeks, and on his return his wife would search his saddle bags for his soiled clothes, frequently finding none; he had simply, by his forgetfulness, left them at his boarding houses. On one occasion, when he was about to start off for his courts, his wife prepared for him and packed in his saddlebags a dozen new shirts, and enjoined upon him that he should exercise prudence in taking care of the same. On his return, on examination by his wife of the saddlebags, she found not a single shirt, whereupon she said: "Just as I expected, Mr. McComas, you have brought back no (Note: line appears to be missing from book.)stop throwing off shirts until he had unburdened himself of eleven. His wife and himself, while he was Circuit Judge and lived in Charleston, made a visit to his relations in Cabell County, and after they had made the rounds, he remarked to his wife, "Well, we must go and see old brother.........." to which his wife inquiringly said, "Mr. McComas, isn't he in the poorhouse?" "Yes," said the Judge, "but there is no difference between him and myself; he is on the county and I am on the state." While Judge McComas was in the Senate of Virginia, it is said that he made the first straight-out secession speech that up to that time had been made in Virginia. He and his wife left no children.

William McComas, son of General Elisha, married Miss Ward, lived for some years at Malden, in Kanawha County, and while living there in 1832 was elected to the Congress of the United States. He was a member of the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861. William McComas and his wife had the following children: Elisha W., Hamilton, William Wirt, Mat, and Benjamine Jefferson, and a daughter, Irene, who married Major McKendree. Elisha W. was in the Virginia Convention of 1850-1, and was also Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, afterward dying at Fort Scott, Kansas.

Dr. William Wirt McComas married Sarah M. French, daughter of Captain Guy D., and Araminta Chapman French; he was an eminent physician, and at the beginning of the Civil War raised in Giles County a company of artillery, which he led into the service, and at the Battle of South Mills, North Carolina, April 19th, 1862, he was slain, leaving his widow and two small children, Guy F., and Minnie, surviving him. The Napiers removed from Giles county to Cabell about the time of the emigration of the McComases.