About the part where it says you inherited the property in 1967: I have seen some of their leases, and it states something about the property's having been acquired from somebody by will dated some date. The will, when prepared and signed by somebody, is dated then. The person might die the next day or 40 years later. On that person's death, the actual ownership passes, and when the will if filed and probated is when it is transferred, but not the date signed. However that is how the leases that I have seen are worded. If you recognize the name of the person it says you inherited from, and you know when that person died, that would be the date you acquired an interest. It might have been your grandfather or even further back, and nobody filed the will in Ritchie county because nobody remembered that somebody had retained (reserved) the oil and gas and mineral rights when the surface of the land was sold. So (for example) if the name on the lease, where it says you inherited from, was your grandfather, whatever the will says about inheritance is how the property would be distributed. But maybe the ones who inherited the grandfather's interest did not know that they had mineral interests in Ritchie County so did not notify the county of the death. However now Antero wants to drill in an area where this tract is, and traces all the interest back to the grandpa, or maybe his father or further back, and then finds grandpa's will. Then the process is to go forward to grandpa's heirs, which might be you or your parent or uncle etc. Then they find you. Sometimes somebody marries somebody who inherited something from a grandparent or something, has no children, and the wife or husband dies. But the deceased spouse had inherited, so the living spouse would be the heir. Maybe that one dies and you are the nephew of him. Thus maybe you are the heir of somebody's in-law that you never even knew about but that is the law. That might explain the Doddridge lease, at least how you might have inherited from your mother's distant relative.
I don't like how Antero does these things, sending out leases that are not very good for the one they want to sign the lease, then not being helpful in answering questions and negotiating. But that is how they do. Sometimes they hire a contract landman to get as many leases signed as possible, and that landman sends out a lot of leases. Many times people just sign and return, get their bonus check and that's that. Then there are people such as yourself who knows that there are unfavorable terms in the lease and tries to get them changed. Maybe by this time the landman has moved on to another job (it can happen pretty quickly). In this case, it might be best to speak with someone in the Colorado office, I have been told.
The rules in WV, as I understand, is that they need to see that you have been trying to negotiate a lease, and then the judge probably will tell the company to keep negotiating instead of allowing the partition.
If the companies get their way, the law will be changed to allow forced pooling and leasing after a certain percentage of the owners sign leases. Then you are forced into a lease, with some protections, and the company can drill. This has been fought successfully several years in a row, and there are proposed changes being talked about now. But unless this kind of legislation is passed, the only thing a company can do is to sue for partition. Then everybody's interest can be sold, not just the ones not leased. At least this is what I have been told, or that's what I understand. Anyway they have the most power, but not all the power, and there is a very good judge who has the jurisdiction of Ritchie and Doddridge, so cases in those counties are more likely to be in favor of the mineral owner who is negotiating.
Many attornies will allow a free consulting phone call, and I think many can work their fee so that the bonus money covers the fee with some left over, with better terms in the lease. It might be the best thing you can do, to call one of the attorneys recommended and have a free conversation. If it seems that you really would rather sell your interests, a good attorney could work with you on that, and you would probably have the buyer cover the attorney fees (just guessing here) so you would not need to spend any money.
If you want to find out more about this, I can help you but would need more information. If you want that, either put the information here or send me a friend request and I can help you out of the public eye.