USA > West Virginia > Preston County > A History of Preston County, West Virginia, V. 2 > Part 1
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A HISTORY
OF
PRESTON COUNTY
WEST VIRGINIA
BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT SUPPLIED BY J. R. COLE
KINGWOOD, W. VA. THE JOURNAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
1914
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY A ASTOR LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS 1918 L
COPYWRIGHT, 1913 BY H. S. WHETSELL All Rights Reserved
FOREWORD :
The sketches of which this volume is com- posed, and which constitute the Biographical Department of the History of Preston county, have with two exceptions been furnished by Mr. J. R. Cole.
CORRECTION.
The reader is to disregard any reference to pages elsewhere which may appear in one or more of these sketches.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
Arany Brown
THE BROWN FAMILY.
The Brown family was of Scotch ancestry, and when James First ascended the Throne of England, James Brown moved to Ireland to take charge as steward of the estates of Lord Montgomery, who had been given by the Crown large holdings of confiscated land in Ireland. The oldest son of each generation served Lord Montgomery in this capacity until about 1780, when James Brown, the father of William G. Brown, Sr., and the grandfather of the subject of the sketch, espoused the cause of Ireland and joined the Irish Secret Societies against England. His activity brought upon him the enmity of the English government, and a hundred pounds were placed upon his head whether captured dead or alive. For safety he fled to America in 1786, but before leaving Ireland he married Rachel Hawthorne, who subsequently joined him in Philadelphia. James Brown was later joined in this country by two brothers, John, who settled at St. Johns, Newfoundland, and Peter Brown, who settled near Ellicott City, Maryland, and two nephews, who later settled in Monongalia and Preston Counties. Rachel Hawthorne had three brothers residing in this country at that time, one in Philadelphia; one near Morgantown, Virginia; the third was a sea captain and commissioned as a privateer in the War of the Revolu- tion. Robert Brown, the eldest son of James Brown, was born on the ocean during his mother's voyage to Philadelphia. After a short visit in Philadelphia, James Brown, and Rachel, his wife, and Robert, the little son, started westward, intending to locate somewhere in Ohio. Two horses were procured and on them they started on their journey through almost a trackless forest. The wife upon the horse she rode carried all the household and kitchen utensils, including bed and bedding, and her greatest treasure, a small spinning wheel, for she had worked at the looms in Ireland and was an expert linen weaver. Upon the other horse her husband rode, carrying the baby in a poke strung around his neck, and in one hand his trusty rifle as a protection against the savages and a means of procuring game along the way, and in the other, his bridle rein. They followed the trail across the Susquehannah and up the Juniata, which led to old Fort Duquesne. In those days there were no bridges or ferries and all rivers encountered must be forded or swum. In this way they proceeded, to a point 25 or 30 miles east of Fort Pitt, where they were informed that the Indians had gathered in
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force around the Fort and were very hostile, so they diverted their course to the south by way of Old Fort Redstone near Uniontown, and from there to Morgantown. There the brother of Mrs. Brown, James Hawthorne, dissuaded them of their purpose of going to Ohio and told them of some good settlements across the mountains near what is now Kingwood, where land could be had at a reasonable price. In accordance with the advice of his brother-in-law, James Brown rode over to the settlement at Kingwood and bought a piece of land, which was located at and around the old Green Cabin, about one mile from Kingwood, where Green had been killed the fall before by the Indians, and without waiting further he moved into the Green Cabin and began preparations for raising a crop the following spring. His wife the next year superintended the clearing of a piece of ground for flax, which she prepared and spun into linen, and the following year her husband, bearing on horseback the precious product of her loom, went to the nearest market, which was at Hagerstown, Maryland, and disposed of his merchandise and brought back salt and wrought nails. These wrought nails were used in building a new cabin, where James Brown and his wife subsequently lived and died. Here they raised a family of seven children ; Robert, grandfather of Senator Dolliver, who lived and died on the farm now owned by the Shaw boys near Kingwood; Thomas, who lived on the old homestead; John, who moved to Cincin- nati at an early day; Joseph, who lived in the town of Kingwood; William G., Sr., who likewise lived in Kingwood; Jane, who married a gentleman by the name of Bowen and moved to Wisconsin, and Anna, who married Lucien Hagans and moved to Chicago.
William G. Brown, Sr., was born in a cabin, which stood on the site of the Parks home near the town of Kingwood, where the family had come to spend the winter in order that the children might have the advantages of schooling which the little hamlet of Kingwood then afforded, and died and is buried within sight of the place of his birth. His first wife was Julia Byrne, daughter of Samuel Byrne. He subse- quently married Margaret Gay, of Morgantown. To this union was born one child, William G. Brown, Jr.
William G. Brown, Jr., the subject of this sketch, was educated in the common schools of West Virginia and in the University at Morgan- town, from which school he graduated in 1877, receiving the degree of A. B. He was admitted to the bar and engaged in the practice of law. In 1883 he was married to Miss Jessie Thomas, of Tyrone, Pa., who
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died in 1886. To this union was born one child, Jessie Thomas Brown, who at present is living with her father. In 1902 he married Miss Flora B. Martin, of Kingwood, who died in 1912. Besides his profes- sional and banking interests, Mr. Brown has taken an active interest in agriculture. He loves the farm and devotes much of his time to it. He has studied improved methods of farming and is not only successful in the growing of cereals but is an ardent advocate of the improved breeds of live stock. He is no idle agricultural theorist but practices what he preaches on his farm. He has always taken an active part in both state and national politics, and in 1896 was nominated by his party for Congress and made a losing fight in that memorable campaign in which Wm. Jennings Bryan ran for President. He was elected to the 62d Congress and re-elected to the 63d Congress. Among the important laws passed by Congress with which he was closely identified he points with pride to his connection with the new Banking and Currency law and the recent law regulating the pensions of the soldiers who fought in defense of the Union. He and his daughter, Miss Jessie, are at the present time making their home in Washington, where he is attendance upon his official duties.
HON. WILLIAM GUSTAVUS CONLEY, LL.B.
Abraham Lincoln once said: "No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty; none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not honestly earned." To this class of honest toilers William G. Conley belongs. He worked on the farm for several years, and later drove mules on railroad construc- tion work, dug coal, drew coke, worked in the stone quarries, on the sawmills, and whatever honest labor he could find to do to help support a widowed mother and his sisters and to obtain an education. Those earlier years of Mr. Conley's life will ever stand as a splendid monu- ment to his memory.
William G. Conley is a grandson of John Conley, an industrious farmer who resided near Tunnelton and died there in the year 1852, at the advanced age of over eighty years. He had a large family of sons and daughters. One of these sons was Major William Conley, the father of William G., a highly educated man in his day and a successful
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educator. Major Conley's early life was spent on a farm and in teach- ing school. He was principal of the Kingwood Academy for fourteen years. He was also a contractor for a number of years and was one of the builders of the Northwestern Turnpike and the Morgantown and Kingwood Turnpike. To the older generation Major Conley was known also as a man of considerable military ability and for some years was in command of the militia of the county just before the war with the South.
Major Conley married Mary Freeburn, who was born in Galway- shire, Scotland, October 7, 1828. Through the Lairds, she was a descendant of the noted Scotchman, Archibald Douglas, earl of Angus, mentioned by Sir Walter Scott in the poem entitled "Marmion." In 1837, she came with her parents and other members of the family to America and first located at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but soon after- wards came to Preston county where she resided until her death in March, 1897. Mary Freeburn was the daughter of Robert and Mary Laird Freeburn. Her sisters and brothers were William, Robert, Susan, Jane and John, all born in Galwayshire, Scotland, except John, who was born in America. The children of Major William Conley and Mary his wife, are Mary Ellen, John Allen, Edward Bunker, Ellen, William G., the subject of this sketch, and Mattie.
William G. Conley was born near Kingwood, Preston county, West Virginia, January 8, 1866. He attended the district schools, the summer normals, and subsequently the West Virginia University, from which he graduated in June, 1893, with the degree of LL.B. His honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the Nashville College of Law in April, 1903. After performing manual labor as mentioned above, he taught school five terms and was superintendent of schools of Preston county one term, beginning July 1, 1891. Upon graduation at the West Virginia University he began the practice of the law at Parsons, West Virginia, and was soon elected a member of the town council and later mayor. His legal attainments were soon recognized and he was nominated and elected prosecuting attorney of Tucker county in 1896, without being a candidate, and was re-elected in 1900. He moved to Kingwood in March, 1903, and served as councilman and mayor of that town. On May 9, 1908, he was appointed Attorney General of West Virginia without solicitation and the following July was nominated by the State Republican Convention for both the short and the long term, and at the general election that fall was elected by the largest plurality of any candidate on the state ticket. His term
Ing, Conkey
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as Attorney General expired March 4, 1913, when he again resumed the general practice of the law.
Attorney General Conley is considered one of the really strong men of West Virginia. In the numerous important matters submitted to and determined by him, and the many grave constitutional questions raised in and out of court upon which he was called to pass, during the five years he served as the Attorney General of the State, he exercised a judgment seldom equaled and rarely excelled. His name will be favorably linked for all time to come with the jurisprudence of his state as the official reporter of the Supreme Court of Appeals, and because of the number and importance of the litigation in the state and federal courts in which he participated as counsel. A few of the noted cases follow: The State of Maryland v. the State of West Virginia, the boundary dispute, in the Supreme Court of the United States; the Commonwealth of Virginia v. the State of West Virginia, the Virginia Debt Suit, in the Supreme Court of the United States; the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company v. Conley, Attorney General and others, the two cent rate case, in the state and federal courts; the Coal & Coke Railway Company v. Conley & Avis, the two cent rate case, in Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia; the Norfolk & Western Railway Company v. Conley, Attorney General and others, and the Virginian Railway Company v. Conley, Attorney General and others, two cent rate cases, in the state courts; the King Land Cases, attacking the constitutionality of our land tax system, in state courts and the Supreme Court of the United States; the National Bank Cases, attacking the constitutionality of the law assessing national stock, in the federal courts; the numerous Tax Appeal Cases against the Board of Public Works attacking the method of and the amount assessed against the public service corporations.
General Conley was not a candidate for re-nomination, but in the republican primary of June, 1912, he was nominated for Congress in the Second District of West Virginia without opposition, and in the general election that fall came within fourteen votes of election, notwithstanding the republican party was badly disorganized and his democratic opponent was the most popular and one of the wealthiest men in the district, and at the election preceding had been elected by a plurality of four thousand, four hundred and ninety-two. General Conley has always affiliated with the republican party, is active in support of its principles and nominees, and contributes largely of his time and means. He was twice a delegate to the National Convention
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
of Republican League Clubs, was assistant secretary of the Republican National Convention that nominated William Mckinley at St. Louis in 1896, was six years chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of Tucker county, and several years a member of the Congressional Committee of the Second District and twice its secretary. At the session of the legislature of 1913, in the Republican caucus, he received a large vote for United States Senator, without solicitation and without being a candidate. His name has been favorably mentioned as a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of West Virginia.
On July 14, 1892, he married Miss Bertie Ison Martin, daughter of Samuel M. and Harriet J. Martin, of Preston county. Her father was a prominent farmer and a soldier in the Union Army. Mrs. Conley is a descendent of the Morgans, the noted Indian fighters and Revolu- tionary soldiers. The children born to General and Mrs. Conley are as follows: Lillian May, born August 3, 1893; William G., born July 8, 1895, deceased ; Marian, born December 26, 1896, deceased ; Donald M., born December 15, 1899; James S., born June 12, 1905.
General Conley is a member of the Presbyterian Church at King- wood; Knight of Pythias ; I. O. O. F .; Modern Woodmen of America ; A. F. of A. M., Commandery and Shriners; The American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the Southern Sociological Congress.
JAMES S. LAKIN.
The subject of this sketch is the oldest son of Rev. Calvin H. and Catherine Finney Lakin and was born in Moundsville, W. Va., March 1, 1864. The other members of this family are Lessie (deceased), Joseph William, Annie Belle, and Finney Lee.
Of these, Lessie married J. M. King, M.D., and at her death left two children, Lessie and Jennings, who now live with their father in Buck- hannon, W. Va .; Joseph William married Maude R. Rinard, and lives in Huntington, W. Va .; Annie Belle married Jacob Sheets, and lives in Huntington, W. Va .; Finney Lee is unmarried, and lives at Terra Alta, W. Va.
On November 14, 1889, James S. married Lura Olivia Lakin, daugh- ter of George W. Lakin, of Columbus, Ohio. At the time of their marriage they were not aware that they were in any degree related,
JAMES S. LAKIN.
THE IL PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, L TILDEN FOCAL
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but investigation later disclosed that they were descended from a common ancestor several generations removed.
Rev. Calvin H. Lakin, father of James S., was born June 29, 1838, near Freeport, Harrison County, Ohio, and married Catherine Finney of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, March 26, 1863. He was an active minister in the West Virginia and Iowa Conference's of the Methodist Episcopal Church for almost fifty years, having been during that time Presiding Elder of Oakland and Huntington Districts.
William Lakin, father of Calvin H., was born in Cumberland, Md., January 2, 1791, and married, first Sarah Chapman, second Lewessa Packer, and died near Freeport, Ohio, March 7, 1855.
Thomas Lakin, father of William, was born March 26, 1763, married Priscilla Sullivan, Montgomery County, Md., January 15, 1782, and died February 23, 1834. Thomas, William and Lewessa Lakin and others of their generation are buried on the Moses Wright Homestead near Freeport, Ohio. Of Thomas Lakin, the "History of the Old Baltimore Conference from the Planting of Methodism in 1773 to the Division of the Conference in 1857", says: "Thomas Lakin, a native of Montgomery County, Md., united with the Methodists 1780. Soon after he settled in Bedford County, Pa., one of the first Methodists. He possessed talent above mediocrity and filled frequently the appoint-' ments of the itinerants. He ended his life in Ohio, 1834, in his sventy- first year, leaving the odor of a good name."
Benjamin Lakin, father of Thomas, was born December 21, 1748, was married October 23, 1760 (1770?), to Rebecca Fee, and died April 6, 1776.
Abraham Lakin, father of Benjamin, was born October 16, 1713. and died in 1796. He received title deeds for a tract of land in Frederick County, Md., from King George of England, and willed it to his son Abraham, Jr., who willed it to his son William, who willed it to his youngest son Henry Deaver Lakin, Leander, Frederick County. Wm. Gerry Lakin resided on this homestead in 1911.
Many members of the older generations of the family are buried in the old graveyard at Leander, where many of the records and data concerning the family are to be found.
Mrs. Lakins's brothers and sisters are as follows: Edmund, who married Clara Barnard of Westernport, Md., Herbert H., who mar- ried Annie Pheneger, and Florence, unmarried and living at her father's home.
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George W. Lakin, father of Mrs. Lakin, was the son of Daniel Lakin, Jr., son of Daniel Lakin, Sr., son of Abraham Lakin, Jr., son of Abraham Lakin, Sr.
Mr. and Mrs. Lakin have three children, James Offutt, Marion Elizabeth, and Florence Catherine.
Mr. Lakin obtained his education in the common schools of West Virginia, at Fairmont Normal School, and at the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, at which last place he first met the lady who afterward became his wife.
In September, 1889, Mr. Lakin and Mr. D. E. Offutt began the mercantile business at Terra Alta, under the firm name of Offutt & Lakin, Mr. Lakin having full charge until 1909, since which time his brother, F. L. Lakin, has been manager. The business was successful from the start, and is now located in a substantial three story brick building. From the strictly mercantile business the firm branched out into coal, timber and other lines, and now owns large acreages of timber lands in West Virginia, Virginia and Arkansas.
Mr. Lakin is also interested in banking, having been president of the First National Bank of Terra Alta, and director of the Terra Alta Bank.
Political and public affairs have always been of great interest to Mr. Lakin, and for many years he was a member of the Republican Executive Committee of Preston County. In 1905 he was the Repub- lican candidate for congress in the Second Congressional District of West Virginia, to succeed Hon. A. G. Dayton, but was defeated by a small majority by Col. Thos. B. Davis, of Keyser, brother of Hon. Henry G. Davis.
He was appointed by Governor A. B. White a director of the West Virginia Asylum at Huntington, and re-appointed to the same position by Governor Wm. M. O. Dawson.
In 1909 Governor Wm. E. Glasscock appointed him a member of the State Board of Control, which body elected him as its president, and where he proved his ability as an organizer.
In the campaign of 1912 he served as Chairman of the Republican State Executive Committee, the campaign resulting in the election of the entire Republican state ticket.
In 1913 Governor H. D. Hatfield appointed him a member of the new Public Service Commission, of which commission he was elected Chairman. Inasmuch as it subsequently was held that he was ineligible to this position because of a provision of the law governing the State
MR. AND MRS. J. J. GUSEMAN
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Board of Control, he resigned, and was re-appointed a member, and re-elected president, of the latter body.
He is a 32° Mason, Knight Templar and Shriner ,and also belongs to the Knights of Pythias.
All his life he has been a hard worker, and is an apostle of the strenuous life.
COLONEL JOHN WESLEY GUSEMAN.
The name Guseman is associated with much that is pioneer in the history of Preston county. Abraham Guseman, the original emigrant, came from Germany to America a short time before the Revolutionary War, and died here in 1821. He was born in 1753, learned the gun and silversmith trade, and settled first at Old Baltimore. He enlisted as a soldier from Frederick county, Maryland, was wounded by a bullet shot in the leg during the first year of his service, and in the sixth year of the war was wounded in the head by a stroke from a saber, which incapacitated him for further duty in the field. He was then put in the Armory at Harper's Ferry, where he applied his trade as a gunsmith until the close of the war.
From 1789 until 1798, Mr. Guseman lived in Martinsburg, Virginia, and then moved to Monongalia county, Virginia, where he built a mill on Decker's Creek, and where he was killed by accident on the day the mill was completed. Jacob J. Guseman, of Morgantown, has an eight day clock that was made by his grandfather that is over one hundred years old. It keeps the time of day, and the age of the month as exactly as it did when first made.
Abraham Guseman was married three times. His first wife only lived nine days. The children by his second wife, Mrs. Catherine Bernard, were: (1) Abraham, who settled in Taylor; (2) Joseph, who settled in Harrison county ; (3) Isaac, a preacher who settled in Marion ; (4) John and Sophia, who settled in Monongalia county; (5) Jacob, who settled in Monongalia, now Preston. His third wife was Elizabeth Ralphsnyder, and by her he had nine children: Mary, who married Jacob Newman; Catherine, who married Harmon Watts; Elizabeth, who married James Reed, from whom Reedsville was named; Sarah, who married Joseph Meeks; Ann, who married a Mr. Patton; Rebecca.
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who married Samuel Ryne; William D., who married a Miss Drabelle of Morgantown; and Henry, now ninety-seven years of age, living at Washington, Iowa.
Jacob Guseman was born February 14, 1786, and died March 15, 1878. When in his fourteenth year he came with his parents to Monon- galia county, and soon after that went to sea and was gone three years. He visited Liverpool and all the West India Islands. He settled first at Albright, where he ran a carding mill, then located on Muddy Creek, Pleasant township, Preston county, where he spent a very active and useful life until his death, which took place at the age of ninety-two years, one month and one day.
Mr. Guseman was a very large man with a strong frame, and he was a hard worker. He owned and operated a large farm, ran a tan- nery, a fulling mill, an oil mill, a grist mill, a saw mill, had a big store, and as a merchant and manufacturer did a big business. When mer- chandise was hauled from Baltimore, his teams would be started off and about one week afterwards he would mount a horse, overtake his wagons on the way, and by the time they would reach their destina- tion the stock of goods would be purchased and ready for their return.
In 1813, Mr. Guseman married Miss Christina Susan Wolfe. She was born September 12, 1795, and died September 12, 1880. Their children were (1) Mary G., born October 8, 1817, died March 16, 1909, aged 91 years; (2) Susan, born October 7, 1819, died August 27, 1902; (3) Sophia G., born April 1, 1882, died February 27, 1888; (4) John A., see page 8; (5) Abraham, born July 31, 1824, died June 6, 1825; (6) Isaac, born May 16, 1826; (7) John W., born June 25, 1828; (8) Joseph, born November 14, 1830; (9) John Abraham, who died in infancy; (10) Jacob J .. born August 8, 1835; (II) Amos, born December 26, 1839.
Colonel John Wesley Guseman, now eighty-four years old, but with the vigor of a man half that many years, is a Prestonian of the old school, and an aristocrat of "ye olden times." His stately mansion on the broad acres of rich glade lands around Reedsville is situated well up on a plateau and is a sign post of peace and plenty, and of sociability and hospitality. The house was built by the Colonel in 1874, one' year after the farm was purchased. It was in the parlor room of this house that the charter members of the Morgantown and King- wood Railroad Company first met for consultation about that great enterprise : and to Colonel Guseman, who made the first survey for the
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