Captain Farley's Raid

Captain Henry Farley, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and resident of Montgomery County, Virginia, was the first known Anglo visitor to present-day Toney. In June 1792, Captain Farley passed through the area while pursuing a Native American war party that had raided Virginia settlements at Bluestone River. By the time he reached what is today Toney, he and his group had already engaged the retreating natives in the headwaters of Coal River and in the Guyandotte River valley some two miles below what is today Logan. Farley pursued the natives to the mouth of the Guyandotte River before returning home.^[2]

Pioneer Settlement

Squire Toney, a pioneer resident who was born about 1783, first settled at present-day Toney; John Wood, an early cartographer, identified his cabin in his 1820 map of the lower portion of the valley. Burbus C. Toney (b. 1818), a son of Squire and Nancy (Brown) Toney, subsequently occupied the location. Burbus served as postmaster at nearby Green Shoal from 1855 to 1866. Margaret "Peggy" Toney, daughter of Squire and wife of Andrew Dial, lived on the west side of the Guyandotte River at what became known as Dial Hollow. Josephus H. Workman, an antebellum preacher, also lived in the vicinity of present-day Toney, as did James and Elizabeth (Fields) Ferrell, pioneers from Russell County, Virginia. The offspring of these early families intermarried with one another and with neighbors and settled locally in the bottoms along the river or at nearby Big Ugly Creek. Two of Burbus Toney's offspring—Nancy, who married David Workman, and Bradford—settled at the Toney farm on Guyan River. Bradford Toney and his wife, the former Catherine Saunders, were prosperous merchants in the community.

Formation of Town

Sheriff Keenan Toney's grave.

Toney was organized shortly after the end of the nineteenth century due to the arrival of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in the Guyan Valley, which occurred between 1902 and 1904. The community was named for Brad Toney and its history essentially mirrored that of the local Toney family. Brad Toney's sister-in-law Arena (Saunders) Ferrell operated a store at nearby Ferrellsburg. Brad Toney served as a member of the district board of education from 1914 to 1917. His son, Keenan Toney, was an important merchant and politician. On November 3, 1910, the Lincoln Republican newspaper reported that he was "building a fine dwelling house near the old home place." He served as the first Lincoln County sheriff from Harts Creek District, his term lasting from 1917 to 1921. Jim B. Toney, a brother to Keenan, operated a store at nearby Big Creek. Sibling Peter Mason Toney was likewise a merchant and postmaster. Dollie Toney, daughter of Brad, was a popular local teacher.

Much of the Toney farm was divided into residential lots in the 1950s.