The Bobbitt Family In America

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Hiram Gardner and Lee Hill Bobbitt contracted with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to clear one hundred acres of land for the railroad right-of-way from Cowen to Camden on Gauley. They were paid $ 12.00 an acre. Lee Hill Bobbitt rode the first train taking passengers to Richwood, and he rode the last passenger train to the same location on June 5, 1956.

In 1890, Lee Hill Bobbitt worked for and was instrumental in the organization of the first Baptist Church of Cowen. There was eight charter members, Wash Springston and his wife, Henry Springston and his wife, J. G. Springston and his wife, Lydia Ann (Bobbitt) Gardner and Lee Hill Bobbitt. The Gardner families were members of the Methodist church.

The first pastor of the church was Reverend C. L. Moses who served for two years. The second pastor was the Reverend John E. Brown, who served for ten years. Reverend Brown rode horse- back eighteen miles and crossed Birch River twenty-seven times for a salary of forty dollars a year. John E. Brown was a special friend of the Bobbitt families of Nicholas and Webster counties. For many years, Reverend Brown and Lee Hill Bobbitt were a part of many religious occasions that brought joy and consolation to many families and persons of the area.

Lee Hill Bobbitt served as deacon of the First Baptist Church of Cowen. He taught a Sunday school class for many years. He served as deputy sheriff for Glade district of Webster County. He was instrumental in getting a high school for Glade District. He served as truant officer for many years with his only means of transportation being on foot or horse-back.

He rode his first automobile in 1910 with Dr. Joe Kessler. He rode his first airplane when he was 90 years of age, when he flew to Florida to spend the winter with one of his sons.

During his lifetime he traveled very little to great distances from the area of his birth. He attended many family reunions of various families, church dedications, and civic celebrations. He was most frequently accompanied by his daughter, Mary Bobbitt. He was a central personality of the Bobbitt family reunions held at Camp Caesar for 36 years of his life. No one who met him at one of the family reunions ever forgot "Uncle Bud". Sometime during the middle years of his life, he acquired the name of "Uncle Bud" and was known by this name by all regardless of their relationship to him. Newspaper references to "Uncle Bud" did not have to use the name "Bobbitt".