There is a Straight Fork about 8 or 10 miles (as the crow flies) SSW of West Union: Click here for location.
jnk, That doesn’t seem to be it, it goes up a pretty good sized hill to a old Church & Graveyard on the top& like I said there was a guy that lived at the bottom named Fleet Cox. That was in the late forties & fifties, he had a farm there at the bottom & there was several houses & farms all the way up to the top. It’s been 20 or so years since I was there & it was still a dirt road that you couldn’t get up when it was raining. In fact Fleet Cox bought a surplus Army Jeep when he came back from WWII & he’d tow everyone up to their house is it was raining & the road was to slick to drive up without four wheel drive or a team of horses to pull you up the road!
Hi James,
I love a good genealogy challenge, so I have been looking a bit on the internet to help you out. Maybe you already have this information, but I found your grandfather, James Leeman Reed’s COD (certificate of death) here: http://www.doddridgecountyroots.com/bk6html/f565.html. If you click on any of the footnotes it will give you the documentation of each record, which is also interesting information. I also found a notice to redeem mineral rights that I hope has ended in your family’s favor (if indeed this is your father mentioned), here: http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/comments/notice_to_re…. I was looking for the Mount Union Methodist Church, but it is elusive as to its exact location. I will keep looking. There are two Straight Forks, one is Straight Fork Oak, which I think is the one JNK linked to. If you type “Straight Fork” into google maps it takes you to a different location next to the creek.
Bet the post office has fun with that!
James, I think this may be your church, Mt. Union Church, Doddridge, co. WV: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mount+Union+Church/@39.1133301,-8…!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x884a2804abe5c0a3:0xb6fa1dd4fba36cfa?hl=en
James, try this for Straight Fork: https://www.google.com/maps/place/County+Route+5%2F23/@39.1337372,-…!4m2!3m1!1s0x88498805c59ec123:0x10659e193151bc0d
Three Straight Forks:
Stephanie & jnk, Thanks for the help, but none of the places you sent me to look at was the Straightfork that I’m talking about. Maybe that Straightfork was the name of the dirt road or the community, everyone that would know i.e my parents, aunts & uncles are all gone. So I don’t know if I’ll ever find it. Stephanie, You got my Grandfather, my Father James Howard Reed & his brother my uncle Charles Edward right on the nail head. As far as the Mineral Rights they were sold for back taxes in 2010, do you think I/we could get them back as we didn’t know anything about them?
You know, it seems like they should have to have the title information correct before they drill. I know it is complicated sometimes, but still…
Called Denver yesterday to get info on some wells that I have interest in, one the Holden #1-2, went on line in Jan. I was told that it would take 4-5 months before I would receive a DO. Another well Gaskins went on line in December and I might be seeing something in May. Maple #1-2 and Wilhelm #1-2 the analysis did not know. The reason for the length of time was getting all the title info CORRECT, AND AGAIN WAS TOLD TO BE PATIENCE.
I was recently contacted by an Antero land man who made the whole incident of negotiating a lease more confusing than any I’ve ever signed before. We never got on the same page at all. I wanted an extra five hundred and 17 percent on the lease. Our discussion began okay but the more he talked the less I understood. I don’t know if he didn’t know what he was talking about but I sure didn’t. Is it possible to get a different land man because any further discussions with him are off my radar. Thanks for any help anyone can suggest.
Back again. I do not understand why a second title search is necessary. I’ve never encountered a problem with a one time title search on a lease.
I have had land companies make large mistakes in my title. One of which they committed fraud in an attempt to cover it up. My brother too. A company leased from him, recorded the memorandum of lease, got paid for it by their principle [the operator] went back to try to renegotiate the lease voiding the first lease. After that time, their principle, the operator had assigned 50% interest and operation of 4 new wells to another operator. The land company, now without having a valid lease, never having paid my brother the bonus and voiding the lease with a counteroffer, went to court to petition for an Emergency Unlocatable Mineral Owner Trust, which you can’t legally do for someone when you know where they are and have in fact recorded a memorandum of lease with. The land company would have to reimburse their ptinciple operator not just for the loss of what the land company was paid but loss of future earnings from the lease of the minerals in damages. That was what drove them to attempt fraud. Court case pending.
Someone with a similar name, a distant relative perhaps was paid royalty for 4 wells of mine for 4 years, including a year after I first contacted the operator. When I contacted the operator, they thought I was a scammer. The person with the similar name did own some interest, just not as much as the landmen and operator thought he did, not by a far cry. It took the starting of a lawsuit for me to get division orders. Lawsuits are wonderful for making operators get their paperwork up to date, expensive though. I could give a few more examples but I think these two are illustrative of the sorts of things can go awry when title is not re-checked. Even the re-check fails sometimes.
They may be absolutely certain of your title, in which case I believe they should not wait to pay you, but you aren’t the sole lessor under the wells, are you? Operators like to wait until they can add it all up and there is no unaccounted for acreage before paying anyone. I have seen a case where a court ordered the operator to pay 60% of the royalty immediately because the title work was taking too long and it looked like the operator was benefitting too much/ dragging their feet and taking advantage of the situation.
The main thing I have noticed in oil and gas is that mistakes are made constantly, probably because they don’t have to get it right, they can fix anything with a checkbook, basically pay you a little more from the money they made from your minerals. This is not the old days, they don’t drill as many dry wells. They don’t release acreage as often as they used to, nowadays they will claim a barrel of oil or a whiff of gas a month to hold the acreage in case there is something else down there they haven’t explored for or found yet or that they can assign your lease to some other company for a profit because they are done and whatevers left is too small change for them to want to exploit. In that case, their assigning your lease to somone else who at least has intentions other than just holding it would be a good thing. DT, I don’t have to say they are crooks, I’m sure you have read the first lease they send, the one they pray you will sign without negotiating. Too often, their prayers are answered. When they make mistakes or do something really egregious they are absolutely certain that a little money will fix it, if they can’t just stonewall you, wear you down and break you financially in a long legal conflict, which they are fighting with money from your minerals they are producing. They beat you with your own money. The courts will not cancel leases in even the most horrific circumstances, only award money damages but as long as the lessee holds the lease, it’s just less profit, not an actual loss. They act like they are not accountable, because, with a few rare exceptions, they are not. That pretty much sums it up.
JNK is right, get it all on paper, in fact it’s best to deal with them by mail only. If they call you, ask if they mind if you record the call, that should keep it short, whether the answer is yes or no.
@Mary Lee: Creating confusion is part of the game. Ask for every statement to be made to you in writing–that way you can document the obfuscation.
@Nancy: It would be considered bad business by them to put any more efforts into title research than what is enough to protect them legally and what is enough to meet the requirements of their insurers/underwriters before the drilling. At least that seems to be the accepted approach in the industry. Theoretical 100% sure is next to impossible in WV, from their point of view, I believe. So the line for “good enough” often gets sloppily drawn.
Mr. Kennedy, So what your saying is we are dealing with a bunch of crooks?? I read where Jnk said get it on paper. That’s for sure. We have 3 leases from 2012 sitting in a folder that we never signed. Antero called us last month and the “other” land agent bailed and they wanted us to start all over. If they think I am going go through all the 50 questions thing again, then they better up the cash. If I ran a company with so much money at stake, I would want more competent people working for me. You know what they say, that good help is hard to find!!
I am a firm believer that smaller bonus money and royalty is being paid in Wv. for a reason. There are a lot of folks out of state that that don’t even know what mineral rights are. Then there are some folks living back in the hollows who think a couple thousand dollars is a small fortune. When Johnny land agent finds those folks and slaps a lease in front of them the dollar sign becomes a where do I sign. I am glad there are still some folks who are not falling for the tactics of the oil companies. The folks with minerals in Wv. deserve better but they must be diligent and not fall to those tactics.
Maybe, just maybe:
Well, as the old saying goes, “You ain’t seen nothing yet”. With events moving fast in Europe, due to Putin’s moves into Crimea, and his threats towards Ukraine, the Western World, and especially Western Europe, is learning that Russia, and more importantly Putin, can not be trusted as a reliable source for Europe’s energy. Western European countries have already begun neutralizing themselves, obviously due to Putin’s behind the scene threats to cut off their supply of natural gas. Fortunately, the U.S., due to it’s development of the new technologies of horizontal drilling and fracking, will soon become Western Europe’s major source of energy until they develop their own natural gas resources. We should begin to see gas stocks begin climbing as well as the gas prices, which will benefit the natural gas industry. The future looks bright for the construction of pipelines from all of the major shale plays are to new LNG export terminals on the Gulf Coast. We will also begin to see unprecedented cooperation between both major political parties in both Houses of Congress to craft and pass friendly legislation to hasten further natural gas exploration and well drilling, as well as the distribution of natural gas. Anybody in Washington who has been obstructing the oil and gas industry, and this includes you all know who, will that you either “help or get out of the way”. Be sure to read this March 5th article from the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/06/world/europe/us-seeks-to-reduce-u…
Just Curious, but in today’s Weekly Report, no permits were issued from Doddridge County, I wonder why? Also has anyone from Doddridge received any leases to sign in the last thirty day’s??
In addition to the leases I have gotten bonuses on I have a portion of two 80 acre parcels in Central. The land man asked for the location on the map. How do I access that information? And, I have been approached in the past two weeks to sign on a couple more Central acres. I had first refused their offer but have reconsidered and decided that since I have no lawyer and no way to know what to do I’m going to take their offer of two thousand an acre and 17 percent. Thanks for any help anyone can give on find a map location.
This forum has gone dead again, haven’t seen a post in day’s, so let’s start it off with a question for DT, you said that you have three leases sitting on your desk since 2012, Why?? Educate us. We hillbillies from way back in the hollows would like to know, somewhere the negotiations broke down, or you just don’t like fracking, I’am just joking of course, but it’s a start to -maybe bring our forum back to life again.