Abraham Travis & Elizabeth Campbell

Abraham Travis, also known as Abram or Abe, was born in early 1860 in rural Wetzel County, Virginia (becoming West Virginia in 1863). Wetzel County, about seventy miles southwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was home to a host of Travis families in and around the small town of New Martinsville. Many of the men in the area worked in the local oil fields or the logging industry.

My earliest record of Abe Travis is found in the 1860 U.S. Census. It reveals an Abraham Travis, aged five months, living in the household of William Travis (age seventy-five) and Margaret Travis (age thirty-six) in Wetzel County, both of whom were born in Ohio. The relationship between William and Margaret is not listed, but with the huge age gap I believe William is Abraham’s paternal grandfather and Margaret is his mother. Abe is the youngest of six children, born between 1848 and 1860. William was born in Ohio back in 1785 so it appears the Travis family was in this country for a good while. The Travis family is of German origin and possibly immigrated here during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783).

This Travis family basically disappears by the 1870 Census, but I did find a ten-year-old “Abram Travis” living with a couple named James and Nancy Robinson in neighboring Marshall County, West Virginia. It seems likely this is the same Abe Travis, perhaps living his family friends as his grandfather and mother may have passed away.

Elizabeth Ann Campbell was born in about 1862 in Pennsylvania - most likely in the vicinity of Uniontown in Fayette County. At that time the main industry in the area was the iron and steel mills, later surpassed by the mass mining of coal.

My earliest record of Elizabeth is found in the 1870 U.S. Census, where as a young girl she is living in the household of her parents William (age thirty-six) and Lydia Campbell (age twenty-eight) in Georges Township in Fayette County - near the small town of Masontown. Elizabeth’s father was born in Virginia (later West Virginia) in 1832, and their Campbell ancestors were most likely Scottish in origin. Her mother, maiden name unknown, was born in Pennsylvania in 1838. In June 1880, when Elizabeth was age eighteen, the Campbell family was living in neighboring Menallen Township northwest of Uniontown.

At some point, probably about 1879 when he was eighteen, Abe Travis made his way to the Uniontown area to work as a coal miner. Abe and Elizabeth probably met soon after and were married in 1881. They made their home in the small town of Fairchance and their first child, Lydia, was born in May 1884. More children followed: Margaret in 1889, Clement Orville in 1892, Irene in 1894, Mary Louise in 1896, William in 1898, and Allen in 1900 (possibly named James - died at five months).

The 1900 U.S. Census (enumerated in June 1900) reveals that Abe and Elizabeth Travis are living on Race Place in downtown Uniontown with their then seven children and two-year-old “niece” named Martha Bailes. Abe’s occupation is listed as a pit boss, a supervisory position that oversees all activity underground within a coal mine. Curiously, a Bailes family - a pregnant Hannah Bailes (minus her husband Thomas) and her five children - were living about two houses/apartments away. How Martha is related to them is unknown. The Travis’ oldest daughter Lydia would marry the oldest Bailes boy, James “Jim” Bailes, in 1903.

Abe and Elizabeth had another child, a daughter named Elizabeth, in 1906. Interestingly, I found a death record in the Fayette County Courthouse for an Abraham Travis, a six-year-old African American boy who died in Uniontown in July 1903. His parents are listed as Abraham and Elizabeth Travis. Since this child is not listed in the Travis household on the 1900 Census, it seems likely they (unless there was another Abraham and Elizabeth Travis) may have adopted him soon after this.

Things get a little cloudy after this. The Travis kids grew up and started families of their own. Abe Travis eventually passed away and my best guess when this happened is between 1911 and 1922. His wife Elizabeth was later remarried, possibly in early 1930 when she was about age sixty-six, to a man named Frank South. Elizabeth and Frank made their home on Buttermilk Lane in the town of Hopwood, just southeast of Uniontown. Elizabeth died at home in Hopwood on the evening of Saturday, February 8, 1941, when she was about seventy-eight years old. Her obituary lists her full name as Elizabeth Anne Travis, which lends credence to the fact that I believe her husband Frank South must have died sometime in 1938-1940 (and she reverted to using the surname Travis).

I do not know where Abe and Elizabeth Travis are buried, but I suspect there is a good chance it’s at the Sandy Hill Cemetery just west of Uniontown. I plan to explore this possibility in the future.