Honor Sage of Cecil

During a recent trip the library I ran across an old news story which was first published in The Grafton Sentinel. I thought that it was interesting because it concerned a man named Mr. McDaniel who had lived in Cecil. He spent most of his life tending to his farm; however, he was also involved in the Knottsville districts Board of Education and known as a poet. For nearly 57 years he lived in an around Cecil until he was forced to leave when the government took the land to construct the Tygart Dam. Mr. McDaniel, according to the news story, "relinquished (his land) with the deepest sorrow." This story may not give us much in the way of hard facts about Cecil or the other towns but it does put a human face on the effects the building of the dam had on people’s lives. I have posted the story so if anyone would like to read the entire article they can do so.


This news story was found in "The History of Taylor County" by Charles Brinkman Chapter 711a Pg. 253