USA > West Virginia > Preston County > A History of Preston County, West Virginia, V. 2 > Part 10
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July 21, 1881, Mr. Martin was married in Grafton, W. Va., at the residence of Mr. V. T. Handley, to Miss Nannie Stanton of Jefferson county, Ohio. She was the daughter of H. B. Stanton, born January 31, 1820, in Warren county, Pennsylvania, and died July 28, 1864. He was a boat builder and soldier in the Civil War. His wife was Miss Mary A. Kimball, born June 15, 1825.
After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Martin took up their residence in Terra Alta, where Mr. Martin was occupied in the management of the Martin farm for a period of four years, after which he removed to the Fairfax homestead in Dunkard Bottom. They lived here until coming to Kingwood fourteen years ago, where the family now resides.
Mr. Martin has been one of the largest farmers and most extensive landowner in Preston county. His possessions at this time amount to nearly four thousand acres of land. Aside from speculations in real estate and coal lands, Mr. Martin has erected a fine business block in Kingwood and operates through his son, Earl Fairfax Martiin, quite an extensive trade in the hardware business.
Kindness of heart, plainness in manner, and honesty and intent of purpose are the chief characteristics of Mr. Martin, and there is prob- ably no man in Preston county more respected than he is.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Martin are : Earl Fairfax, born August 25, 1882. On September 1, 1909, he married Miss Jessie B. Huggins.
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They reside in Kingwood, where he is in charge of the hardware store of that place. John Russell Martin, the second child, was born October 24, 1890. He married Beatrice Jean Brown, May 10, 1910, and is con- nected with the West Virginia-Maryland Gas Company at Rowlesburg, . W. Va. Two children: Jean Louisa, born September 11, 1911, and Frederick Fairfax, born October 12, 1913, ase the fruit of this union.
The Martin family are members of the Presbyterian Church. The family is no less distinctive socially than in church. Their marital relationship with the Fairfax family is known. I Parsons Martin has in his possession a letter written by George Washington to Colonel Fairfax, dated March, 1789. The missive, rather a long one, pertains to Washington's estate at Mount Vernon, of which Colonel Fairfax was superintendent.
WINFIELD SCOTT GARNER.
Winfield Scott Garner of Tunnelton, the dean of Preston county journalism and the first native of the county to occupy the editorial tripod within her borders, was born in what is now Grant district, Jan- uary 16, 1848. His primary instruction was received in the public schools, and he later attended the Brandonville academy and the old Kingwood academy. Entering life with a thirst for knowledge, but surrounded by no fortuitous circumstances and compelled to rely on his own unaided efforts in securing an education, he has remained a close student of the world for sixty years-gathering facts at first hand and thinking them out to their ultimate conclusions. With contemporary history he has interwoven the past experience of mankind, as recorded by the writers of ail ages, and sums up the result of his study by saying the world is yet in the morning twilight of its civilization; that man- kind is still half savage; that much of what men think they know is non- existent, and much of what actually exists is still unknown. He believes that the institutions under which we live are man-made and can be un- made or re-made whenever human intelligence reaches the high plane necessary to re-create or improve them.
But while inclined to historic and philosophic studies, Mr. Garner has not been merely a dreamer. His life has rather been filled with active, hard work. Immediately after leaving school at Kingwood he entered the store of J. P. Jones & Co., at St. George, Tucker county,
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where he became postmaster and remained until the fall of 1869. He then purchased a third interest in "The Journal" at Kingwood, and, beginning at the bottom, he thoroughly learned the printing business. In 1871 he went to Grafton and bought a half-interest in the "Grafton Sentinel," which he practically edited for three years, winning consider- able reputation as a writer. When that paper was sold to Charles M. Shinn of Fairmont, Mr. Garner started the "Grafton Times," and while publishing that journal he issued the first daily paper ever printed in Grafton. In 1877 he went to Chicago, where for five years he was con- nected with the press of that city-one year with the Lakeside Publish- ing Co., one year with Culver, Page, Hoyne & Co., and three years with David C. Cook, the Sunday school and temperance publisher. He was also foreman for a time on the "Young Folks' Rural," and editor of "The Mirror of Fashions." He likewise published several pamphlets in his own name, including a volume of poems for Mrs. Sherlie Wood- man, the speech delivered by Zach. Chandler in Chicago the night before his sudden death, and several lectures by Robert Ingersoll.
Returning to West Virginia in 1882, Mr. Garner purchased a small interest in the mercantile firm of L. F. Miller & Co. at Hazelton, which town he named, issued the "Hazelton Herald," and secured the establishment of a post office at that place. He conducted the store one year, and in 1883 engaged with Hon. W. M. O. Dawson and B. M. Squire's in the printing and publication of S. T. Wiley's History of Monongalia County, part of which he also wrote. The following year he read proof and superintended the printing of Hu Maxwell's History of Tucker County.
In the fall of 1891 Mr. Garner was offered the position of managing editor in the office of the Gresham Publishing Co., at Richmond, Indiana, and for three years had charge of all the publications of that large firm. Chief among these was a series of Historical and Biographical Cyclo- pedias of the leading counties in New York and Pennsylvania. Samuel T. Wiley, the well-known historian, did the historical work on these massive octavo volumes, while Mr. Garner edited them, wrote the bio- graphical sketches which comprised nearly half of each book, and saw them through the press and bindery. After his return to Preston he projected a similar work for this county, but for lack of means was compelled to abandon it.
Early in 1886 he started a literary paper at Tunnelton, under the name of "Garner's Gleaner," which he conducted for five years, only
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suspending it to accept the offer of the Gresham Co. Other papers with which he has been connected as local editor or publisher were: "The Preston County Herald," "The Preston Leader," "Clarksburg People's Press," "The Grafton News," "The Terra Alta Republican," "Mountain State Telephone" and "Webster Springs Republican." Altogether he spent over a quarter of a century as a country newspaper publisher, and was a devotee of the "art preservative of arts" for forty years, but retired permanently in 1912. In 1903 he published an eighty-page book- let entitled "Industrial and Commercial Growth of Tunnelton, W. Va.," and the following year a small volume of his own poems under the title of "Rustic Rhymes." He also wrote and printed for gratuitous distribu- tion "The Press of Preston," a short history of the various early news- paper enterprises in this county. Brief biographies of Mr. Garner have already appeared in two works of national circulation, "Men of 1912," and "Poets of America," the latter accompanied by two selections from his "Rustic Rhymes." In early life he taught several terms in the public schools, spent one summer as a book canvasser, and one year as a fruit tree agent.
Politically, Mr. Garner has always been somewhat independent, earnestly cherishing the ideal of a pure democracy, but realizing that its day has not yet dawned. While editor of "The Grafton Times" he was a candidate for the legislature from Taylor county ; in 1910 for the state senate from the Fourteenth district, and in 1912 for Congress from the Second district, on the Socialist ticket. He is not a member of any secret order. Believing devoutly in the brotherhood of man, no smaller brotherhood has ever attracted him. When asked to define his creed, he replied: "I believe in an all-wise, all-powerful and just God-and who by searching can find out anything more about Him? So firm is my faith in His wisdom and justice that I am not worrying about what He will do in this world or in any other world. I love Jesus, the carpenter, and the great principles He taught, and believe they will yet rule the whole earth, despite the misconception and mis- representation from which they have suffered. Love, faith and knowl- edge is the greatest trinity on earth. I love love, have profound faith in faith, but believe that knowledge is the power that propels the car of human progress."
While in Chicago, May 24, 1881, Mr. Garner was married to Miss Mary E. Kay of Niles, Michigan. To them were born five sons and two daughters : Robert Kay, married Miss Mattie Brown, taught several terms in the public schools, and for nearly six years has been mail
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carrier on rural route No. 2 of Tunnelton, where he resides; George Gordon, married Miss Helen Spencer, and is now shipping clerk in a glass factory at Wellsburg, W. Va .; Edward Earnest; Joseph Harold, now of Reedsville; Ralph Leslie, died at the age of three; Grace, now the wife of Victor Raymond Hoffman of Tunnelton; and Gertrude, at home with her parents on Walnut Hill farm, near Tunnelton, where the family has resided for more than thirty years.
THOMAS NATHAN TANNER.
Nathan Tanner is known to the people of Union district as a suc- cessful farmer, who died there in 1910, at the age of 81 years. His father was an old-timer who lived in the days of stage coach travel. The old homestead is still in the family and is now owned by William Meyers, Mr. Tanner's son-in-law. The farm is located at Salt Lick Creek and had a growth of good timber which gave a profitable return for years in the lumber trade.
Thomas Nathan Tanner was born on the old homestead on April 22, 1868. He was raised a farmer, and after becoming of age experi- enced rather an eventful life. He did not obtain an extended school education but had vigorous youth, plenty of health, and a desire to see more of the world than lay in the hills of West Virginia. This desire took him on an extended trip through different portions of the states of Iowa and Nebraska, where he remained as a farm hand and drilling wells. He remained away from home from 1890 to 1896. During these six years much experience was obtained and on his return home he was better fitted than before for the duties that afterward devolved upon him. In 1896 an important event occurred. On November 4 of that year he married Lizzie A. Darland, a daughter of James Darland, a farmer of Spring Hill, Iowa. She was a most estimable lady, and one whose whole life, after the nuptial feast, was one of almost constant suffering. She suffered from a nervous rheumatic affliction that baffled all medical skill. So helpless had she become not a hand or foot could be moved without her husband's assistance, and his life, to the day of her departure, was given up to duties incident to her afflic- tion. Several years were spent in travel. After about two years on the old homestead in the lumber trade and three years after that in Terra Alta, he sold out his business and went to Iowa, remaining one
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year; he then went to Indian Territory, remaining two years. Here relief was sought in several hospitals, but to no avail. On April 22, 1901, the home trip was begun. The invalid was placed on a cot and carried in the baggage car, first to Quinema, Kansas, a distance of 256 miles, and remained three months in a sanitarium of anthropology. Still finding no relief, the family, now consisting of father, mother and one son, Gerald D. Tanner, then six years old, left the sanitarium and came to Terra Alta.
In the spring of 1906 Mr. Tanner took up his residence in Reedsville, where he continued his lumber business to the present time.
Careful and conservative, Mr. Tanner has made a success of the lumber business, not by large ventures, but by utilizing every advantage of the trade in an honest way. He never employed more than ten or fifteen men at a time, and never took unnecessary risks.
In 1907, his wife, a long and patient sufferer, departed from this vale of tears, but leaving behind her many blessed remembrance's for both father and son.
September 9, 1908, Mr. Tanner was married to Miss Gertrude Frazier of Newburg, Preston county. She was a daughter of William Frazier, an engineer on the B. & O. Railroad.
Mr. Tanner is a member of the I. O. O. F. and Knights of Pythias. He and his family worship with the Methodist Church, of which he is a member.
JAMES TANNER.
Among the successful farmers and lumbermen of Preston county is James Tanner of Terra Alta. He was the son of Nathan and Alcinda Tanner. (See sketch.) He was born November 26, 1872, at Salt Lick, and has spent his whole life in Preston county. Raised on a farm, and having now two large ones, the products of his own savings, his success as an agriculturist has become an established fact.
Mr. Tanner is a self-made man. After a few months' schooling for a few winters only, he began the lumber business in a small way. His father had been a manufacturer of staves to some extent, and this may have been a forerunner of his own business begun by him on August 22, 1892, and which now amounts to a capacity for manufac- turing 200,000 feet of lumber per month. The first mill was only a
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twenty horsepower affair and was operated by himself and his brother, William, for a couple of years. In 1904 he moved from Salt Lick to Howesville, and remained there four years, carrying on the business somewhat more extensively. In 1906 he bought the valuable farm on which he now lives, and since that time, in connection with the lumber industry, has been farming somewhat extensively, dealing in blooded stock wholly. He now owns another large farm near Terra Alta, both place's being admirably adapted for grazing purposes. His brother, Walter, operated the home farm until 1898, when Mr. Tanner moved on the place, and where he has since resided. In 1908, Mr. Tanner operated a mill at Pleasantdale, then built and operated a more ex- tensive mill at Trowbridge, where a very large and successful industry was carried on to the present time. He also owns and operates plants at Possum Hollow, where he has two mills also which have been in suc- cessful operation since 1912.
At the present time the Trowbridge interests are being moved to Rodamer, where a more extensive outfit than any yet heretofore is being erected. In this new venture arrangements are being made for the manufacture of 200,000 feet of lumber monthly.
Mr. Tanner has been an extensive dealer also in poles. For seven years past he has bought and shipped poles to markets east and west to the extent of 100,000 feet a month. He is also identified with two extensive oil wells in Ohio which are very valuable property. As a farmer, lumberman and oil man, Mr. Tanner has been very successful in life.
Mr. Tanner was married to Nancy Everly on the 9th day of March, 1898. She is the daughter of David and Mary Everly of Preston county. Their children are: Hazel, born September 1, 1900; Lester, born November 16, 1903; Charlie, born January 16, 1905; Clifton, born November 14, 1910; Milton, born March 5, 1912.
"The family worship in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
CHARLES SPINDLER.
One of the wide-awake, aggressive politicians among leading Re- publicans of Preston county is Charles Spindler, who never asked for an office for himself until 1908, when he decided he would enter the race for sheriff. At that time there were five candidates for the Re-
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publican nomination, all good men, and that made the race an exciting one; but when the votes were counted Mr. Spindler was 250 notches ahead of his nearest competitor and had more than twice as many votes except one, while in the general election he ran about 200 votes ahead of his ticket, having been elected by a handsome majority.
This young Prestonian was born in Grant district, April 29, 1869. He is the grandson of Wyatt Spindler, who came to Grant from Somer- set in 1849, and settled near Clifton Mills, on the Andrew Spindler farm. Jonathan, another son, settled at Brandonville. Andrew S. is the father of Charles. He was born in Germany and followed farming. His wife was Miss Nancy J. Haines of Somerset, Pennsylvania.
Charles Spindler was raised on a farm, but when nineteen years old learned the carpenter trade. Later he went into the undertaking business at Terra Alta, where he served as mayor two years, and be- cause of his popularity-always having been a kind-hearted man and very considerate of others-was elected to the best office in th ecounty. January II, 1899, Mr. Spindler was married to Nettie E. Metheny of Lewis county, where she was born April 5, 1878. They have three children : Willie, Hobert and Ralph.
Mr. Spindler is a recognized fraternity man, being a Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythits, W. O. W., and member of Rebekah Order. He is a member of the M. E. Church.
SANFORD LEE COBUN.
The Cobun family are of English descent and were among the first to settle in Preston county. James Cobun, son of of Jonathan, settled near Dorsey's Knob, building his cabin at a place a little south of Mason- town, as early as 1770. In 1790 he patented one thousand acres in this part of the county, and on these lands their descendants have lived to this present time.
The Honorable Sanford Lee Cobun, president of the Bank of Mason- town and member of the State Legislature, is a grandson of Isaac and Sarah McMillen Cobun and a son of Benjamin Franklin Cobun, who for a long time was one of the successful merchants of the town. Mr. B. F. Cobun built two houses on the old homestead, one of which about one-half mile east of the village he used for his residence, and is where he died in April, 1898, at the age of sixty-one-and-a-half years.
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He and his brothers, Isaac B., Simon, James, Lincoln and Meyer, were men of influence in the community and left descendants worthy of the name which they bear, some of them being merchants, others successful farmers.
B. F. Cobun was married to Miss Margaret Jane Hartley about six or seven years before the breaking out of the Civil War. She was the youngest child of Edward Hartley. (See sketch of the Hartleys.) She was born at Masontown, June 29, 1832, and is still living. The children born of this union were: Albert M., who died of typhoid fever when about twenty-five years of age, July, 1881. He was a school teacher and a merchant. (2) Harriett, who married Samuel Field and moved to Galesburg, Illinois, where he died. (3) Homer S., who is a farmer and stock raiser near Reedsville. He married Attie Loar, daughter of Richard Loar. (4) Sanford Lee, of whom mention will again be made. (5) Elmer Ellsworth, a farmer and stock raiser, and the father of one child, Helen Elizabeth. His wife, Aura, was a daughter of Buckner and James Brown (for history of which see the sketch of the Brown family.) (6) Louie, the wife of Allison Stuck, a farmer living near Masontown. She is the mother of two children. (7) Florence, the wife of Edward Wasson of Fairview, Illinois, and the mother of two children. (8) Willie G., a merchant of Reedsville. He married Clara Freeland. They have one child. (9) Myra, married Sherman Snyder and resides at Keyser, W. Va. They have one child. Mr. Snyder is a conductor on the railroad. (10) Alice, the youngest child of B. F. and Margaret Cobun, died at twenty years of age.
Sanford Lee Cobun was born September 11, 1860. He received a free and select school education, and spent the earlier years of his life on the farm and in the store of B. F. Cobun & Son. On the death of his older brother he left school and took his place behind the counter in the store, where he continued for twenty-nine years. Under his management business grew steadily. He first built the company's store. In the year 1907 he purchased the old hotel property, and in I9II he erected on its site a fine building. It is a three-story brick structure, well adapted for both commercial and hotel purposes. The village post office occupies one room on the ground floor. There are about thirty rooms in all.
Mr. Cobun was a charter member of the Bank of Masontown, organ- ized in 1907, and during the following year was made its president, which position he still holds. He was a member of the City Council
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of Masontown and its mayor until 1910, when he was elected a member of the lower house of the State Legislature. He is also president of the Board of Trade.
On September 17, 1885, Mr. Cobun was married to Mattie E. Loar, daughter of Jonathan and Susan Loar of Reedsville, and to this union one daughter, Glenna Lucille, was born. On August 1, 1897, his wife died, and on September 9, 1903, he was married to Rosa E. Roby, daughter of Albert and Luara Louisa Roby of Herring.
Mr. and Mrs. Cobun are members and warm supporters of the Methodist Church.
GUTHRIE FAMILY.
The Guthries were from Tyrone county, Ireland. James Guthrie and his four brothers came to this country about 1784, and settled first in Cumberland county, Maryland. About 1792, James came to Preston county and located on the farm now owned by his grandson, Jeremiah, and died there in January, 1833. He was born in 1761. The names of his brothers were: Truman, John, Robert and Stephen. His wife was Mary Shelps, daughter of John, who was killed by the Indians in Ken- tucky in 1806. She was born in 1764, and died in 1839. April 1, 1796, when the homestead was bought, the family moved into an old cabin that stood on the place. In 1812, the stone house was built, and this stood until 1887, when it was burned to the ground.
James Guthrie, the grandfather, was a thrifty farmer, an honest man, and a Christian gentleman. On his tombstone is a verse that well depicts his character. Here lies
"The pioneer who crossed the sea And carved a home for you and me, To all who were in want or need, Grandfather was a friend indeed."
The children born to this union were: (1) John, born August 31, 1792, married Elizabeth Boger, born May 31, 1799. She died February 15, 1875. He died December 10, 1870. (2) William, born April 10, 1794, married Rebecca Jeffers, born March 9, 1801, died April 15, 1869. He died July 12, 1873. (3) George, born 1796, died 1832. (4) Isabell, born November 28, 1798, married Henry Sliger, and died April 12, 1870. (5) Stephen, born March 26, 1801, died November 28, 1888, married first,
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Fanny Hazlet. Second wife was Barbara Dennis. She was born May 25, 1800, and died April 22, 1873. (6) Rachel, born April 16, 1804, married James G. Crawford, and died September 28, 1874. He was born June 25, 1815, and died February 22, 1902. (7) James, born Sep- tember 7, 1806, married Barbara Boger, July 28, 1844, and died March 29, 1879. She was born August 13, 1820, and died May 2, 1888. (8) Absalom, born about 1809, died in Ohio. He married Sarah Armstrong. (9) Jacob, born in 1812, died at the age of nine years. (10) Alexander, born May 1, 1815, died June 2, 1877. He married, first wife, Mary Jeffers, born July 11, 1819, died May 24, 1848. His second wife was Anna Smith, born April 30, 1818, died June 12, 1897.
These ten children became the ancestors of all the Guthries in West Virginia, and their home, before owned by John Spurgeon, their birth- place.
James Guthrie, the seventh child of James the pioneer, was the father of Jeremiah Guthrie, the present well-known Commissioner of Preston county. James' children were: Alcinda, born September 8, 1845. She married F. C. Barnes. Sarah Ann, born February 21, 1847, died January 30, 1880. Ephraim, born June 14, 1850, died October 20, 1854. Jeremiah, born September 10, 1852. Mary, born October 15, 1854, died December 23, 1872. Harrison, born April 22, 1858, married Lydia Fawcett. Lucretia, born April 28, 1860, died April 28, 1877.
Jeremiah Guthrie married Nancy A. Nicola, April 7, 1878. She was born April 12, 1859, and is the daughter of Jacob B. Nicola, the founder in reality of the town of Hazelton. (See sketch.) Their children were : James, born February 2, 1879, married Cora B. Maust. He is a well-to- do farmer near Brandonville. They have two children, Glenn and Ruth. (2) Susanna, born February 14, 1880. She married Marcellus Falkner ; no issue. (3) Hattie, born December 20, 1881, married Joseph Henry Harshbarger. They have three children: Homer L., Emma and Jeremiah. (4) Norton, born April 13, 1884. (5) An infant, born Jan- uary 29, 1886. (6) Lloyd, born April 2, 1887. (7) Stella, born May 8, 1889. (8) Troy, born February 24, 1891. (9) Dellie, born September 17, 1893. (10) Ray, born December 17, 1895. ( (1) Dessie, born April 6, 1899. (12) An infant, born June 10, 1902.
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