Joseph Cheuvront, the second son of a French nobleman under Louis XV and XVI of France, was born in the city of Strasbourg on Feb. 2nd, 1757.  He was reared and educated for the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church in the city of Nantes. 
[From the Baptismal record, and records of Rose Olinger: Joseph's father, Francis Cheuvron(t) was born in France and married Nicole Febrve, Dec. 1756.  Two separate records indicate that there was an older brother, so we wonder if this marriage date is correct or if perhaps  Nicole Febrve was Francis' second wife. 
Joseph was born Feb. 1, 1757, Strasburg France, Baptized Feb. 2, 1757, Catholic Parish, St. Laurent Cathedral.  The Baptismal record states that the married couple had lived in the parish for two months.  The Godfather was Joseph Brutan, living in the parish of St. Louis, and the Godmother was Regina Pelliceir or Pelllicoir.] 
 

     There is a supposition that Joseph was rather a source of contention in the home.  His father was determined that he become a priest, as according to French law the eldest son inherited the title and all the property of the father, but Joseph's mother contended that Joseph should be allowed some choice in the matter.  

    Anyway, in 1771, before he was quite fifteen years old, he left home and threw into the River Seine his cap with the gold braid denoting his connection with royalty, thereby severing all connection with French royalty for all time.  

    In London, England, he took and English Primer and went to school, while being employed as a Gilder [a person who applies gold leaf].  Although he read and spoke six different languages, including Greek and Hebrew, he was not familiar with English.  One day a youth, much further advanced that ne, was working a problem in math when Joseph, looking at his work, said, "That is not right", speaking aloud as was the custom in those days.  The "Master" immediately inquired what Joseph knew about it and was shown wherein the problem was wrong.  

    In the fall of 1773, some 35 young men from London were indentured to America, with someone agreeing to pay their passage for four years' service. [ship's list Virginia]  

    Moses Elsworth, a very devout Virginia farmer who lived in Germany Valley, in what is now (1950) the North Fork District of Pendleton County, West Virginia (then Augusta County, Virginia), agreed to pay the passage of the young Frenchman Joseph Cheuvront.  Moses Elsworth, [son of Josia Ellsworth b. Mar. 3, 1690, Windsor, Hartford, Ct., m. 1715 Margaret ?, b. 1694, Windsor, Hartford, CT,] had married Maria Elizabeth Henkel (now Hinkle), a daughter of John Justus (Yost) Hinkle.  J.J. Hinkle was born in Germany in 1706, came to Pennsylvania with his father's family in 1717, and "pioneered in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia".  He died in August, 1778, and with his wife, Magdaline Eschmann, who was born in Switzerland, is buried on the old Hinkle farm not far from the Seneca or Ceneca Caverns near Riverton, WVa.  

[The following is taken from "HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY" by Dorothy Davis. 

"Joseph Cheuvront: Old Bethel Church (New Bethel Church) 

 Joseph Cheuvront, a charter member of the Clarksburg methodist Church, had left France after renouncing both his studies for the priesthood and the Roman Catholic Church and had sailed for New York.  In New York he made friends among adherents of the new Methodist faith, some of the Methodists being Moses, John, and Jacob Elsworth who were planning to migrate to Virginia.  Cheuvront married the daughter of Moses Elsworth and came with the group to Pendleton County in 1776 and then on to Harrison County in 1783 or 1785, Cheuvront who read and spoke several different languages, had long been a minister when in 1801 he became a member of the Baltimore Conference and continued in the active ministry until his death in 1832.  ‘Joseph Cheuvront in 1791 purchased 200 acres of land along the West Fork River in what is now the Good Hope Community.  Immediately after his moving to the West Fork Community a Methodist Society was formed by him (Cheuvront) and the Elsworths and know first as the ‘Elsworth preaching place'.  This society met in the various homes in the community from 1786 to 1802, when John and Mary Elsworth donated by deed, dated February 14, 1802, one acre of ground to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church.'  This is the deed for the land where the Old Bethel Church stood in the Good Hope Community for forty-six years until it was replaced by aNew Bethel Church on land deeded to the congregation by Alfred and Sarah Washburn in April 1848.  On the same ground members built the second New Bethel Church in 1904 (destroyed by fire December 20, 1942); a third New Bethel Church, a stone building, rose during 1944-48 and was dedicated on August 8, 1948.  The Reverend Mr. Cheuvront's greatgrandsons Reverend Wesley L. Cheuvront and John R. Cheuvront served as ministers at the Bridgeport Methodist church and at the Wallace Methodist Church, respectively, during the nineteen thirties."] 

[From "A History of Lewis County, West Virginia: 

 "The Rev. Joseph Cheuvront, a Frenchman, took up his residence near the mouth of Hacker's creek shortly afterward (1794) and was licensed to celebrate the rites of matrimony in 1790.  He was regarded as a very eloquent preacher by the people of the community, and even the circuit rider confessed that he ‘could preach all around him". 
 The Rev. Henry Smith went to the Clarksburg circuit in 1784 and gave the following description of the congregation: " They were all backwoods people and came to the meeting in backwoods style, all on foot, a considerable congregation.  I looked around and saw an old man who had shoes on his feet.  The preacher wore Indian moccasins.  Every man, woman and child besides were barefooted.  The old women had on what we called then short gowns, and the rest had neight short nor long gowns.  This was a novel sight for me for a Sunday congregation.  I soon found it there were no shoes and fine dresses in the congregation there were attentive hearers and feeling hearts."] 

The following in an article from AWHILE AGO TIMES, A Historical Newspaper of the Upper Monongalhela Valley,  
Vol. 1, Number 12, Fairmont, West Virginia - 1972. 

"1974(?) — Rev. Joseph Cheuvront, West Fork Pioneer, Rescues the Carder Family" 

 "Hon. Harvey W. Harmer, in his excellent work ‘One Hundred and Fifty Years of Methodism In Clarksburg, 1788-1938,' introduces Rev. Joseph Cheuvront as follows:   
 At a conference in 1797, all the societies in this upper valley were formed into the Clarksburg Circuit, with Robert Conn and Richard Pearson as the preachers in charge.  
 Among the members of the Clarksburg Methodist Episcopal Church were the Cheuvronts, Elsworths, Davissons, Cottrills, and others.  Probably the most active of these were Joseph Cheuvront.  He was a native of France were he was being educated for a Catholic priest.  Before he had finished his education he renounced the Catholic faith and became a Protestant.  For his change of faith he was disinherited and suffered bitter persecution.  As a result he ran away and came to New York as a "stowaway".   
 In New York he met and made friends among the Methodists and became a member and local . . .[sentence cut off when copied] . . . to join them in their new adventure.  They came in 1776 and made their settlement on Coburn's Creek, five mile south of here (Clarksburg).   
 When the Methodist Church in Clarksburg was organized, Joseph Cheuvront and John and Jacob Elsworth were three of the charter members.  Cheuvront was already a local preacher and  in 1790 the local Church recommended him and he was ordained a local deacon.  In 1801, he became a member of the Baltimore Conference and continued in the active ministry until his death in 1832. 
 descendants of the Davissons, Cottrills, Nutters and Cheuvront are now (1938) among the members of this Church.  Mr. Will H. Cheuvront (of this church) is a great-grandson of Joseph Cheuvront and other great-grandsons are the Rev. Wesley L. Cheuvront now pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Bridgeport, and John R.  Cheuvront now (1938) pastor of the Methodist Church at Wallace.]