Massa Jane (Chambers) Welling was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania about 1780, the daughter of Edward Chambers and Mary (Fish) Chambers. Her father was a Revolutionary War veteran and received a 1000 acre grant spanning the border of Marshall County and Aleppo Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania.

Massa married John Welling June 21, 1804.

After a short stay in Ohio, John and Massa bought land southeast of Cameron. The B & O railroad bought land from them and dug a tunnel for the railway that they named the "Welling Tunnel."

Massa and John had 8 children who married members of the Matthews, Ross, Yoho, Cecil, Miller and Quigley families. Massa died in 1860.

The picture is a tintype taken in 1859. It was hand tinted by a portrait artist.

Edward & Sarah (Ruckman) Welling

Edward was born in Ohio County, Va in 1807, the son of John Welling and Massa Jane Chambers Welling. In the 1830s he married Sarah Ruckman (4 Dec 1804 - 10 Apr 1895), the daughter of Samuel and Eleanor (Barnett) Ruckman. Edward and Sarah moved to Pleasants County about 1850. After Edward's death, Sarah returned to Marshall County where she lived with her daughter Ellen and Ellen's husband, Caleb Chambers. Sarah is buried in the cemetery at Big Run Christian Church.

Their first child, Mary Ellen and her husband, Caleb Dorsey Chambers, shown on the military section of the Marshall County page. (See Photo)

Added by Linda Fluharty:

1850 Census Wood County, (West) Virginia - Part of Wood County became part of Pleasants County in 1851.
#932-932
Edward Willing, 43, Farmer, $600, b Ohio
Sarah Willing, 46, b VA
Elinor Willing, 14, b VA
Edwd. Willing, 19, b VA

1860 Census Pleasants County, (West) Virginia
#362-362
Sarah Welling, 56, Farmer, $30, b VA
Nelly, 22, b VA
Edward Welling, 20, b VA
Massy Virginia, 1, b VA (Must be a granddaughter)

1870 Census, Cameron Dist., Marshall County, (West) Virginia
#149/149
Caleb Chambers, 33-M, Farmer, $2,500, $600, WV
Elizabeth...28-F...WV
Massa V...11-F...WV
Welling, Sarah...67-F...WV
Hines, Samuel...Shoemaker...58-M...WV

Edward and Sarah's older daughter, Massa, listed as "Nancy" on her marriage record, married Robert Campbell in Wood County in 1849. (Edward Welling was listed as the father.) Robert died while serving in the Civil War. For more information about her family and descendants, see Robert H. Campbell, Owner of "Bob's Place." Bob was her grandson.