New to Gas and Oil

My investigation continues. The result of our family meeting is that we’re seeking counsel from an oil&gas attorney in West Virginia, where the monthly “owner share” of production exceeds 8 million , according to the production reports from the O&G company. (If my assumption is correct that the share is based on a 12.5% royalty, that makes one month's production @ 66 million for all 9 fracking wells. Unfortunately, the recent lease shows no royalty figure, only “continuation of previous royalty structure”.) As a novice, I have no idea whether those production numbers are comparatively high-- but I suspect that they are. At some point, I will also be visiting West Virginia in pursuit of these rights. Watch out, oil companies-- Here I Come. (The oil companies involved are Antero, CNX, and Alliance. I’ve discovered that the company which produced for most of the life (1899-2012) of the shallow wells was Dominion.)

And, BTW, thanks to Ms. Mosley, I have exploited all online county courthouse records, including the original deeds (1899-1922), tax records, etc.

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Glad it helped. The more of us who know about these resources, the better we can help the next one.

I know Consol came from Dominion, and Dominion came from Consolidated Natural Gas. Not sure how your original lease was related to Consolidated…

Me, neither-- yet. I’m told CNX/Consol bought out all Dominion’s exploration interests in 2014, a business Dominion is no longer in (they retain their pipeline interests). Sounds like Consolidated came before Dominion, but-- surely “Consolidated Natural Gas” is somehow related to “Consol”. One business practice I’m aware of is companies “going out of business” (either through bankruptcy or by de-incorporating), but then re-incorporating, with the same people and facilities-- under another name. A way of denying fiduciary or legal responsibilities for the previous version. And of course there are always buyouts, mergers, takeovers-- yeesh. (Not saying any of this is the case with Consolidated/Dominion/Consol/CNX, because I don’t know. But, I will know, before too long.)

I found this link to the history of Consolidated Natural Gas Have you been able to trace the lease from the name you mentioned earlier to Dominion?

just seeing this; been away.

Thanks-- that’s valuable information. No, we’re still fielding offers from attorneys, but I hope by next week we move forward. We’ll (the atty. or abstractor) then be working to find out if John Rockefeller got all our money. (Oddly my grandfather and father both worked for Standard Oil for many years.)

An update. While some members of my family have been jones-ing about “did we get any money yet?”, this process clearly takes time, since my last update was months ago. In that time, I have exhaustively researched our minerals interests in Ritchie County on Hushers Run, Beason Run, Buzzard Run, Sugar Run, Big Knot Run, and Bond’s Creek. For at least 2 generations my family has been “lazy” about all this, accepting a yearly royalty check of about $25, but I’m taking the bull by the horns. I’ve established that we are and have been due unpaid royalties for at least 50 years. However, I’m told now that there is a 10-year limit on collecting old royalties. We’ve engaged Lawyer Windom and I will be going to Ritchie County next week, both to complete my research (production and royalty data is only available in person or by legal proxy at the Courthouse there, and a full “title review” by a professional costs $20-30,000, and I am a better “abstractor” than others we’ve hired) and consulting with the attorney, for whom I have 20 important questions. I will update here once I return and share some of those answered questions.

I’m very glad you are making such good progress. You should have a very interesting experience in the lovely courthouse. You are getting good help from the Windoms. Their office was once my grandparents’ house. Great place! Looking forward to your next update.

I agree with Nancy, the Windom Law Office staff is excellent to work with, they have helped me immensely. Their offices are really cool too, obviously Nancy’s grandparents had great vision in the design of their home.

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DMM Simonton: My great great Uncle Clarence Wade Wilcox was your great grandfather’s dentist at the Wells Building in Pennsboro. Your great grandfather was a prominent attorney. My grandmother is Pauline Wells. Clarence’s wife (my great great Aunt Muriel Wells Wilcox) was a property owner in Ritchie and Tyler Counties - she sold her acreage but retained the mineral rights - we now have development agreements with Antero Resources on those rights with 6 producing wells to date - 2 in Ritchie and 4 in Tyler County. Antero had researched the land and probate records, and found us when it came time for them to propose development of the related acreage. We always wonder whether there is anything else out there - and were recently surprised to hear that we inherited mineral rights in Doddridge County by the Will of the Wells family patriarch who passed in the early 1900’s. This time, CNX Resources did the research and found us. I am a little uncomfortable with the hit or miss nature of this process and like you wish there was some more definitive way to ascertain exactly what we have without breaking the bank…Good Luck!

Thanks for the info. My branch of the family moved away, to Oklahoma and Mississippi, 100 years ago, and all we knew of them were stories and 1 or 2 visits. Sadly, William died in 1919 from being hit by a car. We’ve laughed a little bit about that-- with the low speed of a Model T, how did he manage that? Anyway, by then he’d had 15 children, so I feel as much for Mariah Victoria McCullough, his wife. So far, my rating of the oil companies: Alliance is small and unforthcoming (“we can’t send out royalties because we don’t know who to pay”); CNX has been very forthcoming, but makes a low-ball initial offer; and Antero, while they seem to make better offers, are impossible to contact. (However, they do have an office in Ellenboro, W.Va., so if you’re near there you can go corner them in person.) Next time in Pennsboro, I’ll look up the Wells building.

re Abstract/Title search: I’m not going to admit defeat on doing my own “title search” or “title review”. After all, I did collect and now have, in chronological order, several hundred wills, deeds, lease contracts, etc., on all land my family owns or once owned in Ritchie County. However, I’ve discovered how complicated a legally acceptable title search can be, and I’ve concluded that I’d need professional help to complete it. Also, even once the search is complete, an attorney must “review” the documents and affirm any interpretation of their legal meaning before the result can be notarized and be legally applicable. I did find a few smaller “title search” services in that area who charged must lower fees than we were quoted by others. It’s pretty clear that, while in the U.S. “rights of property ownership” are sacrosanct, “rights of property control” are much shakier.

Hi there, are you still on this feed? I’m sitting here with my mom who is a Simonton from Lamberton that shares your family tree. Her father is a grandson of William. She is going thru some of the same things with the oil leases. Thought we would point out the coincidence!!

Yes I’m still here. Do you have leases? I received CA call 2 years ago but nothing since.

Antero called searching family information which we both said we weren’t selling but wanted a lease, then no more contact. They won’t return my calls either.

I’m a relative of the Simonton’s and have been receiving some royalties from Antero and CNX on the above listed properties. Currently we have a potential problem and I’m not sure how to fix it. There are many heirs receiving royalties but I don’t know who they are. We have had someone acting as an attorney in fact( placed himself in this role after his heir sold their share of the Simonton mineral rights) who has been paying the taxes each year. Previously they have been minuscule amounts like $20-30 a year. Due to taxes running a few years behind production, taxes due April 22(delinquent date) are a few thousand dollars and the attorney in fact has not paid them and cannot be found anymore. I don’t know how to contact the 30-40 Heirs to pay the taxes and currently each individual’s tax liability is not available. Personally I can’t afford to pay all the taxes for the entire estate but we certainly don’t want to lose all our mineral rights to a tax sale. Looking for help and advice on this topic. I live in the same Mississippi town as DMMS who started this post.