USA > West Virginia > Preston County > A History of Preston County, West Virginia, V. 2 > Part 14
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-. Returning he soon after settled at Pittsburgh and later went to Mckeesport, Pennsyl- vania. Taking the gold fever again, he went to Alaska in 18-, at the age of 63, but soon returned to Mckeesport, where he still lives, He has one daughter, Annie, living in Pittsburgh.
Mrs. John N. Arthur had five sisters: Bridget (Mrs. Gordon), who died at Mckeesport in -- , aged - years; Anna (Mrs. Edw. Donahue) of Frostburg, Md., still hale and hearty at the age of - years ; Catherine (Mrs. Bulger) becoming a widow, she later married John Burns, and Margaret (Mrs. Lanagan), both of Pittsburgh, now de- ceased, and Lydia, unmarried, living at Pittsburgh. She was a woman of gentleness, refinement and devotion to the duties and responsibilities within the scope of her family and religious circles. She died in the Arthur homestead 1876, on the South Side, surrounded by her entire family of nine sons and two daughters. The children of this happy union all reached maturity before a single death among them was recorded. Thos. F., was born -; Edw. L., --; Jas. F., -; Wm. A., -; John P., -; Margaret, - Richard M., -; Jos. H., -; with the exception of the three older brothers of the family, all are alive today, and residing at Pittsburgh, except John P .. living at Marion, Indiana; Jos. H., Manager Swisher Theatre, Morgantown, West Virginia, and Richard M., the subject of this sketch, was born as stated, in Mt. Savage, Maryland in 1856, but removed with his parents to Pittsburgh when only 3 years of age, He attended the Humboldt school there until 17 years of age, when he learned iron moulding at Jones & Laughlins', which business he fol- lowed several years.
He entered the hotel business in 1890, and erected an elegant modern brick hotel in Pittsburgh, South Side. The hotel contains 50 rooms with every up-to-date appointment, including its own electric
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light plant, latest heating system, artesian well, etc. After 10 years of success, he removed to Roscoe, Washington County, Pa., where he again erected a fine modern hotel and again met with success, due the genial, obliging and attentive landlord. While here, through corre- sponding with Hon. Wm. G. Brown, of Kingwood, he purchased the old historic Colonel John Fairfax estate, of 640 acres, near Reedsville, Valley District, this (Preston) county, West Virginia. To this he has since added several farms, acquiring both surface and coal, until his holdings now aggregate acres. He erected thereon a costly mansion home of 23 rooms, which, at an altitude of 1800 feet, overlooks a large expanse of country noted for its richness and beauty. He soon added a large stock farm with capacity for a hundred head of stock and one hundred and thirty tons of hay. Other buildings, equipments and general improvements rapidly followed.
Mr. Arthur is a skilful and enthusiastic agriculturist and his pasture fields are filled with blooded stock of every kind: horses of the Bour- bon Wilkes breed; Jersey cows for domestic use and mercantile pur- poses; white chickens of choice Irish breeds, and game cocks from Japan, worth $75.00 a pair are found in his barn yard.
In the year 1911, Mr. Arthur raised on his farm 4200 bushels of buckwheat; 1950 bushels of oats; 2600 bushels of corn; 1800 bushels of potatoes and he stored away 120 barrels of cider in his cellars.
April 22, 1879, Mr. Arthur married Mary C. Schmitt, a charming and accomplished daughter of Stephen and Gertrude Schmitt, of Pitts- burgh. Her father came to this country from the French Alsace- Lorraine (now belonging to Germany), and located in Evansville, Indiana, where Mrs. Arthur was born in 1860. When three years of age, the parents moved to Pittsburgh, where the father died in 1886. Mr. Schmitt, a highly educated gentleman, a product of European university training, was a musician and professional organist and schoolmaster. His father and grandfather before him were likewise schoolmasters in the old country. Mrs. Arthur's mother, Gertrude, is still living and makes her home at Arthurdale, when not visiting her other children in Pittsburgh.
Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur, Theodore J., the first gift to the parents, was born January 27, 1881. He was educated, graduating at California Normal College, Pennsylvania. He later took a course at the State University of West Virginia, at Morgantown. During the past ten years he has been private secretary to E. M. Grant, the well known capitalist of this State. He is also secretary
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of the Building and Loan Association of Morgantown; he is also Exalted Ruler of B. P. O. E., of Morgantown, West Virginia, and is identified with other important enterprises of that city. The daughter, Gertrude, now the wife of Earl J. Dixon, Cashier of the Masontown Bank, was born in Pittsburgh, May 5, 1885. She was educated at Seton Hill Academy, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and mar- ried November 22, 1911. Mr. Arthur is an energetic, public-spirited and enterprising citizen and his advent into West Virginia and the establishment of Arthurdale has had a salutary and inspiring effect and influence for progress and general uplift in the community and State.
COLONEL CARLETON CUSTER PIERCE.
The Pierce family are Irish in descent. Their paternal ancestor was an Orangeman, and was exiled from his native land. He came to America and settled in Delaware.
Colonel Carleton Custer Pierce was born in Rowlesburg October 19th, 1877. He is the son of John F. and Amanda E. Pierce, who at this time reside in Rowlesburg, as well as two brothers, Frank R. Pierce and John A. L. Pierce. A sister, Edna Pierce, died in infancy.
John F. Pierce was a son of Jefferson Pierce, who died April 23rd, 1863, while serving as a member of Company E, 11th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry. He was a grandson of Samuel Pierce, a Revolu- tionary soldier, who at the close of that war came to Preston county about 1782, from Delaware, leaving many descendants some of whom remained in this and Monongalia Counties and some went to Tennessee, to Wood County and elsewhere. John F. Pierce was born in Wood County, the home farm being some fifteen miles above Parkersburg on the Little Kanawha River.
Jefferson Pierce, brother of Wesley Pierce, married Ellen Elizabeth Custer, who was a sister of Emmanuel Custer, the father of the noted cavalry leader and Indian fighter, Gen. George A. Custer. The children of this marriage, in addition to John F., were Mary E., and James L., the latter having been killed in a railway accident near Rockwood, Pennsylvania, while serving as a railway mail clerk. John F. Pierce came to Rowlesburg about 1872, and has resided there since that time. His wife was Amanda E. Moore, a daughter of George D. Moore,
W. V.
CARLETON CUSTER PIERCE.
C LIBRARY
TOR, LENOX ILDEN FOUNDATIONS
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of near Newburg. He has served as Mayor and member of the council of Rowlesburg and for many years as member of and president of the Board of Education of Reno District, and it was largely through his careful and efficient management that the splendid new school building has been built in Rowlesburg.
Colonel Pierce, the subject of this sketch, attended the public schools at Rowlesburg, working on the saw mills and at such things as came to hand until he began to teach school, his first being the Goff Ridge School in Union District.
At the outbreak of the war with Spain, although just recovering from a long siege of typhoid fever, he enlisted in Company H, 2nd West Virginia Volunteer Infantry and served during the war as pri- vate, sergeant, first sergeant and First Lieutenant, being one of the youngest officers of the last grade in the 2nd Army Corps.
Prior to the war he had been a student at Franklin College, Ohio, and on being mustered out of the service went to Morgantown and took the course in law at the State University. He was admitted to the bar in 1901, and located in Kingwood the following year.
On November 28, 1902, he married Mary May Buckner, a daughter of Jefferson M. Buckner of Rowlesburg, and a great-granddaughter of John Anthony Buckner, who settled in Wood County in the early days, coming there from Prince William County, Virginia, where he was born in 1748. John Anthony Buckner was connected with the Lees, Fairfaxes, Fitzhughs and other prominent families of Virginia, his first wife having been a Fairfax, and was a descendant of John Buckner, who came over from England and took up large grants of land in Virginia in 1663. He was a leading citizen of Wood County for over fifty years and was one of the jury summoned at the trial of Aaron Burr for treason.
In 1904 Colonel Pierce was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Preston County, which office he filled until December, 1907, when he resigned to go to Charleston as Assistant Adjutant General.
While he was Prosecuting Attorney the tax laws of the State were revised and it was due to his careful and watchful work that the coal lands in the hands of the big corporations were properly assessed, thus saving to the tax-payers of the county many thousands of dollars annually. He also stopped the shipment of "C. O. D." liquor into the county and in the prosecution of liquor sellers was vigorous and relentless. While in charge of the National Guard he reorganized that
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force in accordance with the regulations of the regular army and built it up to a higher state of efficiency than it had ever before enjoyed.
In 1910 Colonel Pierce returned to Kingwood where he has since resided. He has two sons, Carleton Custer, Jr., and Oscar Buckner Pierce, the former eight, the latter five years of age.
He is largely interested in fruit growing and farming in the eastern part of the State and to this gives a great part of his time.
He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is active in the Sunday School, is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, the U. S. Infantry Association, the Masons, Odd Fellows, K. of P., and other fraternal societies.
He is one of the Republican nominees for representative in the House of Delegates from Preston county.
WHETSELL FAMILY.
The Whetsells are of German origin, and in the German tongue the name is spelled Wetzel. All German surnames have primarily some distinctive meaning, and the name Wetzel was first applied to a person who whetted or sharpened tools with a cutting edge. Previous to the Revolution, the following Wetzels came to America from the river Rhine : Hans Martin in 1731, Johan Jacob in 1737, Johan Werner in 1738, Jacob in 1746, Hans Georg in 1750, and Johannis in 1754.
It was either the second or third of these who in 1740 settled in what is now Rockingham county in the Valley of Virginia. Thence his son John, born in Switzerland in 1733, migrated about 1767 to Wheeling Creek in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia. This Captain John was the father of the famous Lewis Wetzel, and his daughter Christina married Jacob Wolfe, a pioneer of Preston. From one or more brothers of the younger John are evidently derived the Whetsel connection of Rockingham and Pendleton counties.
Another of the immigrant Wetzels is mentioned as living in Frederick county, Maryland, in the middle of the same century, but just which of the six it was we cannot tell, because all but one bore the name John, or its equivalent. Frederick was then the most western county in Maryland. It is quite safe to assume that the first Whetsell in Preston was either a son or grandson of this early settler in Maryland.
All the six immigrant Wetzels came from the same region, and that
HORATIO S. WHETSELL
THE NEW YORK DUPLIC LIBRARY
OLDEN I . D . Nº
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they were not distantly related is very probable. John Whetsell of Preston married a Troxall, and it is significant that this name occurs during the colonial period where both the Maryland and the Virginia Wetzels located.
John, the forefather of the Whetsells of Preston, came from Hagerstown and purchased of the Butler brothers a portion of their patent amounting to 216 acres. The present farm of Felix E. Jeffers covers the principal portion of the Whetsell farm. It was a choice selection and indicates an exercise of good judgment. The log house of John Whetsell stood near the site of the Jeffers barn. Later, he built a watermill on the stream below. The coming of the family was before the close of the pioneer era in Preston history. It was a time when no citizen was rich, and when toil and privations were the order of the day. Like many another settler, John Whetsell did not live on Easy Street. The last years of the pioneer and his wife were spent in Maryland with their son Michael. There they lived until a little after the year 1840, being by that time of an advanced age.
The wife of the pioneer was Mary Troxall. Their children were eleven in number, and all but the three youngest appear to have been born prior to the arrival in Preston. George, the oldest, lived a single life. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was wounded in battle at Bladensburg. Elizabeth married Tevolt Shaffer, a son of Adam Shaffer, who came to Brookside in 1793. Conrad married Lydia, a daughter of Enoch Calvert, who lived on the William H. Whetsell farm. He removed to Maryland. Peter, the fourth of the family, was born December 26, 1796, and died February 26, 1875. He married Nancy Moyer of Hagerstown, remained in the home neighborhood, and was the progenitor of the larger share of those born with the Whetsell name. Sarah, who attained the age of 92 years, married William Taylor, a resident of the settlement, and thus became the ancestor of one of the four Taylor families of the county. John, the sixth child, settled in Indiana. Mary married Jonathan Bucklew, a son of William Buck- lew, who came to the Whetsell settlement in 1812. Catherine E., the fourth daughter, lived single. Abraham removed to Pennsylvania and married there. Michael married Elizabeth, daughter of John Felton, who became a member of the community in 1817. Margaret married William Welch and accompanied him to Indiana.
While this leaves but two married sons, Peter and Michael, and two married daughters, Mrs. Sarah Taylor and Mrs. Mary Bucklew, who remained in the vicinity of the family homestead, the offspring
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of the two sons have impressed their name on the community around them and caused it to be universally known as the Whetsell Settle- ment. It is also true that by intermarriage, the Whetsells are related to nearly all the other families of the neighborhood, which is, by the way, one of the fairest and most attractive portions of all Preston county.
Until a recent date, this inviting corner has been a little difficult of access from the other towns of the county, and for a long time its postoffice privileges were inadequate. But happily these conditions have of late been greatly improved.
Passing now to the families of Peter and Michael, we find that the former had ten children: John M., who married Catherine Trembly; Isaac C., who married Eleanor Felton; George W., who went away in his youth; Michael, who never married; Buckner F., whose wives were Charlotte Trembly, Naomi Trembly and Sarah Jeffers; Mary E., who married Henry M. Felton; Samuel A., who married Louisa Trembly; William H., whose wives have been Mary E. Freeland, Melissa E. Bucklew and Martha A. Jeffers; Simon D., who married Susan Windle; and Sarah C., who married Joseph H. Trembly. The children of Michael were nine. Of these, Mary married Richard Dewitt; John O., married Drusilla Bucklew; Joanna lived single; Samuel H. married Pauline Herndon; Sarah M., married Felix E. Jeffers; George H., is single; D. Isaiah married Elizabeth H. Felton; Adaline P., married Joseph Fraley, while Isaac J., married Jennie Calvert. It will then be noticed that these nineteen grandchildren of John Whetsell have lived and do live with scarcely an exception within the confines of the Whetsell Settlement. Some of the great-grandchildren have over- leaped these limits. The number of these is quite large and as some are as yet too young to render a full. account of themselves to the world. we refrain from pursuing further the genealogical record.
It will be observed that the Whetsells, originally a German family, have intermarried with families of English origin, as in the case of the Feltons, Jeffers, Taylors, and Herndons; with Scotch families, as in the case of the Bucklews and Calverts; also with the French Trembleys and Scotch-Irish Freelands. All this but exemplifies what is generally true of Preston county, the Prestonian of the present day being usually a result of the fusion of several different stocks into a new type, that of the genuine American.
ELIAS W. WHETSELL
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOY TILDEN FOUND. IRINA
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ELIAS W. WHETSELL.
The subject of this sketch belongs to one of the oldest families in Preston countty, for a full history of which see sketch by Oren F. Morton.
Elias W. Whetsell is the grandson of Peter Whetsell, who was the son of John, the pioneer. Isaac C. Whetsell, father of Elias, was born in September, 1830, and died September 29, 1864. He settled on the farm now owned by Elias, which he bought of Jonathan Bucklew in 1856. It was then all woodland, the timber of which would at this present time be worth probably $50,000. Many were the weeks of hard work spent in clearing off this land, but a fine grazing farm has been made of it.
Isaac Whetsell was one of the citizens of Preston county, who was greatly beloved for the many good qualities of mind and heart he possessed. He was a beautiful penman, and his fine penmanship, and his beautiful character made for him a reputation of enviable notoriety. His work in the church brought him renown, he being a member of the M. E. Church. He was a teacher in the day school and in the Sunday School both; and was eminently fitted for the work of imparting in- struction to others. He was a teacher of the day school in the county two or three years, and a teacher of a Bible class about ten years. He enlisted two or three times in the army, and was in the com- missary department of Company "O", of the Sixth Virginia, when he died.
Isaac Whetsell married Eleanor Felton, who was a daughter of Henry and Katie (Wotring) Felton, the nuptial feast taking place in January, 1859, on the old Felton farm. His wife, Eleanor, was born May 30, 1840, and died July 2, 1882. The young couple moved into an old round log house standing on the place where all the family were raised.
The children of this union were Elias, born October 10, 1859; Nancy E., January 5, 1861, and Isaac C., who was born February 2, 1865, and never married. Nancy Married William Schaeffer, now of Kingwood.
Elias W. Whetsell, late candidate for County Assessor, received his education in the common schools, and subsequently became one of the ablest educators in Preston county. Like his father before him, he possessed natural talents as a teacher and his work of four years in the schoolroom has matured to his credit. His knowledge of land
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values, and his good judgment, which has come through years of hard work and valuable experience, brought him into favorable notice with the voters of the county in his candidacy for the important office he ran for, and was testified to in the excellent poll he got on election day. As a farmer he has become one of the foremost in the county, and now owns valuable tracts consisting of some 642 acres in all.
August 17, 1882, Mr. Whetsell was married to Ida L. Miller, a daughter of E. J. Miller of Terra Alta. (See sketch of the Miller family.) She died October 10, 1912. The children born to this union are as follows: Claude E., May 20, 1883; Grover C., August 1, 1884, died November 28, 1912; Elizabeth E., March 18, 1886; Carl S., August 31, 1887, died March 14, 1898; Ray E., March 7, 1889; Pearl, March 5, 1891, died March 13, 1891; Samuel P., February 10, 1892, died April 21, 1895; Grace E., January 2, 1894; Joseph N., November 21, 1895; Mary E., August 27, 1897; Isaac C., November 25, 1899; Vivian P., February 25, 1902; Custer L., February 26, 1904; an infant born and died February 26, 1907.
Horatio S. Whetsell, of Kingwood, West Virginia, was born June 6, 1868, in Preston county, West Virginia. He obtained his primary education in the public schools of his native county. Later he took a course in the State Normal at Fairmont, and taught ten terms of school in Preston county. He was elected superintendent of schools in his county, serving four years. Subsequently he engaged in the newspaper business, purchasing the Preston County Journal, of which he is still editor and publisher. In 1902 he was appointed postmaster of Kingwood, and served till 1914. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Kingwood, and belongs to the Masonic and Knights of Pythias fraternities. He was secretary of the Republican executive committee for twelve years, he being a member of that polit- ical party.
He married, June 12, 1900, Mittie Viola, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John A. Lantz, of Aurora. The children born of this union are: Seymour Lantz, born May 25, 1903, died April 18, 1904; John Richard, born June 26, 1905; Virginia Elliott, born September 5, 1907.
MILLARD FILMORE CHORPENNING
TUDLIC LIBFARY
ACTOR, LENOX TILDEN ICUND IINS
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Home of Millard Filmore Chorpenning.
First Newspaper in Preston County was Issued from this House.
BLIC LIBRARY
N.STOP, LENOX LILDLN FOUNDATIONS
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MILLARD FILMORE CHORPENNING.
The old Forman homestead now consisting of 170 acres is owned by M. F. Chorpenning. The house was built by Isaac Forman in 1794, and has always been occupied. It was built by compass, and stands due East and West, and has had but little added since its erection 118 years ago. The north side has had only two roofs, but the south has been favored with three coverings. Laps and oak shingles were used, and are still in a good state of preservation. They were nailed on with hand-made nails out of the very best of charcoal iron. The house has six rooms, two down stairs, and four up. The frame part is made of hewed logs, and saddle-backed so substantially the structure still stands not yet one-half inch out of plumb, and it prob- ably will stand yet another hundred years, if not removed for some special purpose. The barn was built soon after the house was put up, and the old orchard planted about that time also, is still bearing fruit, and from the first has never ceased to bring forth its kind after its kind, though its trees are now over one hundred years old. One old patriarch standing in the midst of the orchard, has not only brought forth its golden fruit from year to year from the time it first began to bear, but its yield has been about fifty bushels annually.
The first newspaper in Preston county was issued from this house. The paper was began by Frank Alter and Joseph Miller. It was called into existence by the memorable presidential campaign of 1840. It was called The Mt. Pleasant Democrat or The Preston County Demo- crat. It was an ultra whig-journal, although from its name one would suppose it was a Democratic paper. It supported the election of General Harrison with great vehemence. There is no copy of the paper now to be found.
The homestead never changed hands but once. F. M. Chorpenning got it from his father, Jonathan Chorpenning, who bought it of John C. Forman, son of Isaac Forman in 1850. It is probably one of the nicest farms in Preston county. Scientific farming and thrifty husbandry have preserved the fertility of its soil, and its capacity for yielding grain seems to be not one whit lessened since it was first cleared off. It is only seldom that such a clean, well kept, and well regulated farm like this one is found anywhere.
Jonathan Chorpenning, son of Judge Henry Chorpenning, took pos- session of this old Forman homestead on April 1, 1850, and he lived there until he died on March 6, 1874. He was the son of Henry and Mary
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Shoaf Chorpenning, of Somerset . county, Pennsylvania. Henry, the father, was a highly educated gentleman, and Judge of the Court for a number of years. His son, Jonathan, also had the advantages of a fine education, and made good use of it as an agriculturist. He mar- ried Elizabeth Hay, daughter of Michael and Elizabeth Hay of Som- erset, Pennsylvania. They reared a family of fourteen children, five of whom died in infancy, and nine of them grew up to manhood and womanhood, and five of whom only are now living. They are as follows: Malinda, born January 3, 1833, died in 1904; Franklin, born in 1835; Clarissa, who married Henry Brown, now dead; Elizabeth, born in 1839. She married Cyrus Shader, and was drowned July 4, 1904. Henrietta, born in 1841, married William B. Marks. He was a soldier in the late war, and is now living in Westmoreland county, eighty-five years old. Hannah, born in 1843, died in 1909; Harrison, born in 1845, and lives in Fayette county, Pennsylvania ; Simon Michael, born in 1847, now dead.
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