USA > West Virginia > Preston County > A History of Preston County, West Virginia, V. 2 > Part 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30
Jeremiah Thomas, born June 20, 1862, attended the public schools and the University of West Virginia until 1881. He then taught school twenty-seven years; and on and off for about twenty years he surveyed lands in different counties of West Virginia, and other states; and also followed in the footsteps of his grandfather's work taking charge of the church organized by him. This has been since 1888. At the present time he preaches in six different church houses in his congre- gation, having a membership in toto of over three hundred. He is also active in business, having been a charter member of the Bruce- ton Bank, was made its vice-president when organized, and is now also its president. In 1908, he became cashier and held that office until January, 1913 when he was elected president. In 1908 he moved from the farm to the village. He is also president of the Bruceton Milling Company, which he also helped to organize, was also one of the charter members of The Farmers' Union Association and Fire Insurance Com- pany, an institute started in 1901, and holding insured in Preston county, alone; five hundred policy holders carrying $600,000.00 insurance. Mr. Thomas is also Secretary of this company.
May 25, 1882. Mr. Thomas was married to Susanna Seese, daughter of John and Mary Ann Umbel Seese. She is a native of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and born December 19, 186t. Two sons and one daughter are the fruit of this union. Walter H., born March 18, 1883, is the cashier in the Bruceton Bank. He married Mary E. Collier, July 17, 1906. Their children are Lena I., born December 4, 1907; Beulah E .. born December 13, 1908; Dwight, born July 4, 1911.
Chester A. Thomas, born March 25, 1886, married Grace P. Wolfe,
746
PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
May 9, 1909. One child, Pauline, born July 30, 1911, came of this union. He is a farmer and a school teacher.
Ethel M. was born May 15, 1897.
Noah Thomas, born September 13, 1864, married Lavina C. Barnes, May 3, 1885. They have one child, dead, and live on part of the home place. He is a director of the Bruceton Bank and president of the Farmers' Union Association and Fire Insurance Company.
Andrew Thomas' second wife was Hester Wilson, married June, 1880. They had one child, Scott, who lives on one part of the home place. He was born, February 12, 1881, and married Nora Glover, January 1, 1908. They have two children, Ersel and Glenn.
Ira Thomas was born, August 24, 1867. He was reared on a farm, and has become one of the successful and scientific farmers of the State. His farm, a very rich body of land, consisting of over 300 acres lies in the valley bottom of Big Sandy Creek, mostly, and was formerly the homestead property of John Forman. In 1900, Mr. Thomas bought it of John H. Feather. In 1910, he erected his large barn, which for arrangement and capacity is one of the best bank-barns in the county. The farm is well adapted for grazing purposes, as well as for raising crops, and stock of the blooded kind, only, is raised.
Mr. Thomas' first wife was Ella B. Barnes. She was born July 16, 1886, and died April 25, 1895. His second wife was Dora Fike, born October 2, 1876. She was the daughter of Samuel and Malinda Fike, both parents dying when she was young. The children of this mar- riage are Edna Grace, born May 14, 1898; Bertha Marie, born January 31, 1900; Ward Fike, born February 6, 1906. Mr. Thomas is one of the charter members and organizers of both the Bruceton Milling Company and the Bruceton Bank. He is a stock owner in the Engle- hart Woolen Mill Company, and is a member in the Farmers' Union Association and Fire Insurance Company, of Preston County.
LORELLE VERNON REED.
The editor of the Preston Republican, Terra Alta, has become a potent factor among politicians, and the reading public generally in this part of West Virginia. His paper has more than an ordinary circula- tion, for a county publication ; is clean and well defined along lines
LORELLE V. REED
TAS DEWIJK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX IILDEN FOUND .. TIONS
747
PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
of political and public necessities ; and withal, it is a paper which bears the impress of a well edited publication.
Mr. Reed is of Scotch-Irish descent, and possesses the characteristic traits of the more fortunate well-to-do people from whence he came. He is the son of Orville S. and Belle (McMillen) Reed. His paternal ancestors came from the north of Ireland, and the McMillens from Scotland. In 1683, the Reeds emigrated to Pennsylvania. The McMillens became pioneers of Kentucky.
Lorelle Vernon Reed was born May 25, 1868, at Lebanon, Missouri, and was educated at the Christian College of that state. When seventeen years old he went on the road as a traveling salesman, For twelve years, or from 1887 to 1899, he followed this avocation, and saw life in its many and varied aspects. In 1899, however, with inclinations towards journalism, and well qualified to mould opinion, he became proprietor and editor of the Preston Republican, and, during the past thirteen years, his facile pen has been providing the general public with the news of the day.
Mr. Reed is a Republican. From 1909 to 1912, he was Secretary of the State Board of Control. He has filled the offices of Justice of the Peace and Town Recorder. He is a member of the Presbyterian church; is a fraternity man of high degree, being a Mason (Blue Lodge and Chapter), and a Knight of Pythias. Educated and tactful, social and very resourceful, the subject of this sketch impresses the writer of this little memoir as one who possesses more than ordinary abilities for making his way through this world.
Mr. Reed was married December 9, 1891 at Columbus, Ohio, to Tessa Root, Three children : Virginia, Orville E., and Tessa A., were born to this union.
BENJAMIN F. COLE.
The Cole family, like that of the Smith, is a numerous one. It has its root in Welch history, where from the time of King Caractacus, King Cole, branches have formed until the progeny has greatly in- creased from the first century of that period in South Wales. During the sixteenth century emigration commenced. Some went to Ireland and some came to America and from these forbears separate lineages of the family originated, and so numerous in English times, that
748
PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
thirty different coats of arms have been resurrected by the antiquarian belonging to the tribe. First came emigrants to the Jamestown colony, as early as 1609, and then from different ancestral heads, other lineages have been forming from that time to this. Settlements were made in Boston as early as 1630. A John Cole became the head of the Cowles in Connecticut, and in 1660 a John Cole landed in Rhode Island, from whom a multitude of Coles in that state can be found now. In the state of Michigan there are probably five thousand Cole's, having no. close kinship to those above mentioned.
Captain B. F. Cole is a descendant of the Delaware branch of the Cole family. Henson Cole, his grandfather, was a native of that state, but it is not known who was the first of his line to emigrate to this country, nor where he landed in America. When he arrived Henson Cole moved on a farm at Cassville near Morgantown, W. Va. His family is an interesting one. Draper was the eldest, Joseph and William caught the gold fever in 1849, went to California and came back rich. During the Civil War they purchased large tracts of land around Cassville and ended their days there. John H. was a trader in horses and cattle, and Amasa, the father of B. F. Cole, was a farmer. He was born in 1829, and is still living. His wife was a Miss Rachel Morris, daughter of Ezekiel and Miss Hayhurst Morris, very influ- ential and very highly cultured people. Both sides of that family belonged to that highly polished citizenship of the old school of Vir- ginia aristocracy.
The children of Amasa and Rachel Morris Cole were thirteen in all. Of this number three died in infancy. Alice was scalded to death. .Anna Maria married Louis Wildman; Joseph married Mattie Dusen- berry ; Henson, Hurley, Sarah, Dora, Carrie B., Ida B., and Nora B., are still living; Spencer A. died at the age of 41 years, after having traveled the wide world almost all over. His history in particular is worthy of mention. He was the foreign representative of the Key; stone Drilling Company at Beaver Falls, Pa., a company that drilled wells in arid deserts as well as in other places in different parts of the whole world.
Mr. Cole's first trip abroad for this concern was made to an oasis of the great Sahara Desert in Africa. It was two hundred miles inland, to which point of destination engines and machinery for drilling wells had to be transported on backs of camels. Subsequently other trips were made by him to South Africa and to the West India' Islands.
BENJAMIN F. COLE.
THE NEW YORK DUPLIC LIBRARY
. 102, LETOX LDEN FOUNDATIONS
749
PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
On his second trip to Peru, South America, he was taken ill with the smallpox, and had to ride on a mule to Lima, seventy miles distant, to reach his hospital where he died February 12, 19II. 1 Captain Benjamin F. Cole was born February 4, 1875. Like his brother before mentioned, his chief characteristic is grit, and the record he has left behind him is a good one. At ten years of age he left home going to Iowa four years. He worked on a ranch two years, then took up paperhanging. He then returned home and had a job with the Standard Oil Company, where he remained eight years, and after that he took a course in horology and optometry at a college in Philadelphia. In 1901, he came to Kingwood and bought out the jewelry store of W. J. Jenkins, which he still operates under the management of a competent and skillful superintendent. Having succeeded in business affairs and proven himself worthy of the confidence of the public, he has been advanced to offices of trust in the interests of the people as necessity, required. He has been School Commissioner of Kingwood two terms, and is still a member of that board, and is now also serving his second term on the Town Council.
He has been Captain of the Ordinance Department six years, having had a membership with the National Guards seven years. Socially he is represented in various societies, being a Master Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias and is connected otherwise. In politics, he is a staunch Republican and has the courage of his con- victions.
In 1905, Mr. Cole enlisted in Company G, Kingwood National Guards, and became "high" in that team. At the first shoot given at Parkersburg he took a medal, and in all has now fifteen medals as laurels to his marksmanship. That same year Captain Cole's Com- pany went to Sea Girt, New Jersey, and took part in the national matches there, and has been on the rifle team of the state every year from that meeting to the present time. In 1907, he was commissioned Captain and has been Instructor of the Range and in charge of the State Farm ever since. As an instructor, Captain Cole has done much to make his team the unerring marksmen that they are. The following, letter speaks for itself :
WAR DEPARTMENT National Board for Promotion of Rifle Practice.
September 22, 1913.
Captain B. F. Cole, Kingwood, West Virginia.
Dear Sir :- I take pleasure in enclosing herewith government
750
PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
voucher for $51.67, as 7th prize, kneeling position, in the International Match, No. 10, won by you at the late Camp Perry matches.
Yours very truly, ALBERT S. JONES,
First Lieut., and Financial Officer Camp Perry Matches.
At these matches the best marksmen competed and different governments participated, but the United States carnied off her share, Captain Cole saving the honor on several occasions. He held first place in the Hale Match, 436 entries made, winning the cup and $30.00. He won the beautiful silver plaque given by Austria also, and a number of other prizes.
In February, 1896, Captain Cole was married to Miss Nera Fox, daughter of Andrew J. Fox of Indian Creek, West Virginia. Her grandfather, Martin Fox, of Winchester, Virginia, was with Wash- ington on his trip over the mountains to the battle of Fort Duquesne. Mr. and Mrs. Cole are the parents of three children: Edna, born in Marc'h, 1897; Edith, February, 1899; Pearl in March, 1903.
JAMES BENJAMIN BRADY.
The Brady family is a large one and considerably diffused. They are of Irish descent, the ancestors of whom came to America long before Revolutionary times, and settled in and around what is now the present site of Hancock, Washington County, Maryland, where they are to be found in that locality at the present time in goodly numbers.
1
Henry Brady, the great-great-grandfather of J. Ben Brady, was born in Ireland and came to this country when a young man probably about the year 1740, and settled in what is now Washington County, Mary- land, near the present site of Old Fort Frederick, about fifteen miles east of Hancock. He married a Scotch woman whose name is now unknown.
His son, James Brady, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was born and lived all his life in that locality, his occupation being that of a farmer and shoemaker. About the year 1782 he married an English woman whose maiden name' was Smith, and who was a relative of Captain John Smith of Virginia. She died in 1845 at the
J. BEN BRADY.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX HILDEN FOUNDATIONS
751
PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
age of ninety-three years. The children born to this marriage consisted of two daughters and four sons, namely: Eleanor, Caroline, Henry, William, John and Edward.
William Brady, the grandfather of J. Ben Brady, died in Hancock, Washington County, Maryland in 1865, at the age of fifty-eight years. He was a farmer and miller, and for a time during the Civil War, superintended a mill at Georgetown, D. C., which supplied grist to the Government. He married Catherine Feidt, daughter of Henry Feidt, from Bremen, Germany. She died in 1860. The children born to this union were as follows: George, who lived and died in Hancock, Joshua, who moved to Columbia, Missouri, and died there, William H., of whom mention will again be made, John J., a resident of Baltimore, Maryland; Emily, who married Isaiah Smith, now deceased, who lived at Hancock; Rebecca, who married David A. Brady, a cousin, who was a son of Edward Brady, son of James, now living at Annapolis Junc- tion, Maryland ;Ellen, who married Joseph F. Hixson, a farmer, living near Hancock; Rose, Martha and Mary, each of whom died at an early age.
William H. Brady, son of William Brady, was born in Hancock on the 5th day of November, 1846. He was a miller and farmer, and is now residing at Berkeley Springs, Morgan County, West Virginia. As a miller and farmer he was successful in securing a competency for himself and family. On the 24th day of November, 1874, he married Margaret Anna Belle Boyles, a daughter of James Boyles, who was born in 1804 and died in 1876, and who lived on
the homestead farm which has belonged
to the family
for
the past three generations. James Boyles, who was the son of Henry Boyles, was born in what is now Morgan County, West Virginia. The mother of Margaret Anna Belle Boyles was Margaret Pritchard, who was born in 1817 and died in 1847. Her ancestors were of an old Virginia stock from in and about Winchester, Virginia.
The children born to this union are James Benjamin, of whom men- tion will again be made; Mary Edna, who married John Aimfield Proctor. She was born the 15th day of September, 1881, and died the 4th day of April, 1912. No children were born to this marriage. Helen Francis is unmarried and living with her parents at Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.
Because of the superior advantages in Berkeley Springs for the education of his two daughters, who are both younger than the
752
PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
subject of this sketch, William H. Brady moved from his farm to that place in 1898. As an ardent supporter of schools, he has been a member of the board of education in his adopted town, and withal, is a man of public spirit and action along all lines of public utilities.
James Benjamin Brady was born in Morgan County, West Virginia, on the Ist day of December, 1876. He was reared on a farm, and when nineteen years of age, he graduated from the Berkeley Springs High School in the spring of 1895. Following this he taught public school for two years, one term of country school and one term as first assistant of the Berkeley Springs High School. His educational career was afterwards completed at the West Virginia University at Morgantown, where he took a two years course in literary work, fol- lowing with a two years couse in the study of law, graduating from that department of the University in the spring of 1903.
During the following summer he located in Kingwood, Preston County, West Virginia and engaged in the practice of his profession. His professional career was begun in the office of Hon. William G. Brown, now member of Congress.
Then a partnership was formed with Col. R. W. Monroe, but since the death of the latter, Mr. Brady has been engaged in the practice of his profession alone. His lot seems to have been well cast, for his practice is a good one, his repu- tation as a counsellor enviable, and his citizenship one of which the ·people are proud. He confines his attention closely to his profes- sional duties, and aside from being a member of the council of the Town of Kingwood, and Treasurer of the Republican Executive Com- mittee of Preston County, he holds no other office.
On the Ist day of November, 1905, Mr. Brady was married to Mary Cornelia Godwin, daughter of Captain Joseph M. and Sarah E. :(Stone) Godwin of Kingwood. This family are members of one of the! oldest in the county.
CHARLES NEWTON BROWN, M. D.
Among the practitioners of medicine in Preston county in former years, Dr. Ashford Brown, father of Dr. C. N. Brown, whose name is still revered by many of the older inhabitants of the county, because of his many good qualities both as a man and as a successful physician is deserving of special mention.
C. N. BROWN, M. D.
THE NEW YORK DUDLIC LIBRARY
-TOR, LENOY .LDER VOELD TIONS
753
PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
As a representative of that old family, Dr. C. N. Brown falls heir to the high esteem and the confidence of the public generally, who knew- something of the hardships of the pioneer physician's life, and of the many interesting episodes in Dr. Ashford Brown's professional career.
The family are descended from Thomas Brown, who was born in' Prince William county, Virginia, September 7, 1760, and who was a soldier in George R. Daavidson's (Harrison Co.) Company in the War of 1812. He died in Preston county, in 1844. His widow drew a pension. In 1805, he removed with his family to what is known as "The Glades" near Reedsville. He and Colonel John Fairfax with their families, and a number of slaves, were on their way to Lexing- ton, Kentucky, but on account of the hostility of the Indians were 'compelled to abandon their trip. Hence their settlement in "The Glades."
It was here Thomas Brown became the owner of a tract of land, ¡containing 578 acres, upon which he spent the remainder of his days engaged in the arts of husbandry, and where he died at an advanced age, in 1844. By his wife, Ann Ashe, he reared a large family of whom Samuel Brown, the grandfather of Dr. Charles N., was the third son. He was born in Prince William county, October 24, 1793, and was but twelve years of age when his father came to the county of Preston. Reared upon a farm, his early training was along a line that led natur- ally to the avocation of an agriculturist and stock raiser and dealer. He first followed this business near Evansville, in Preston county, but, in 1833. removed to Clinton Furnace in Monongalia county, where he became the owner of a couple of farms, and accumulated a fair com- petency prior to his death, which occurred in 1859, having returned to Preston county in 1841.
He was not a member of any church, although inclined to a support of the dogmas of Presbyterianism, and was a strictly moral man. upright and honest in all his dealings with his fellow man. His marital union with Parmelia Zinn, a lady of German origin, resulted in the birth of eleven children, of whom Dr. Ashford was the oldest. The others in order of age are: Lycurgus, deceased, who was a soldier for three years in defence of the Union, during the Civil War; Clarissa B., wife of George Steyer, of Oakland, Maryland; William and Granville members of Co. E., 17th Regiment Infantry, the latter the Lieutenant of the Company. The names of the others were Amelia, Ruhama, Sarah Ann, Elizabeth, Loretta and Marcella J.
754
PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Dr. Ashford Brown was reared upon the farm, and received a good English education in the subscription schools. He taught school for a time, and at the age of twenty-two began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. William J. Bland. After remaining two years under his preceptorship, he entered the Starling Medical College, of Columbus, Ohio, but was compelled on account of failing health to leave the college. In 1848, he entered upon the practice of medicine, first locat- ing near Gladesville, where he continued very successfully until 1865, having been very thoroughly prepared for his chosen profession. From 1865 to 1878, he practiced at Independence, and then removed to Webster where he still continued the practice of his profession until his death, which occurred June 15, 1906.
Dr. Brown was a careful, painstaking physician, qualities which combined with good judgment and a sympathetic nature built him up an enviable practice. He never allowed the duties of his profession to narrow his field of action, but took an active interest in religious and political matters also. He was a deacon in the Baptist church for twenty-five years, and active worker for the cause of Republicanism. 1 December 2, 1849, Dr. Brown married Sarah E., daughter of Wick Johnson, a prominent merchant of Preston county. Twelve children were born of this union, three dying when in infancy. Clarissa, Wil- liam and Adaline died in childhood. Edna died young. Dexter B. died in boyhood. Loverna Parmelia, who died in July, 1894, was the wife of W. D. Prim. Parmelia E., died in childhood. Charles N., the 'subject of this sketch and Frank C., agent for the United States Express Company, the youngest of the family.
Dr. Charles Newton Brown was born in Independence, Preston county, January 16, 1867. He attended the public schools of his native county, and supplemented them with a good preliminary education in the Normal School at Fairmont and the University of West Virginia at Morgantown. He then entered upon the study of medicine in the office of his father at Webster. After having been carefully instructed in the rudiments of medicine under his father, he took instruction also under Dr. Lanham Brown, whose wise counsels fitted him still more for a course of lectures in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore, where he attended during the sessions of 1891, 1892, 1893 and 1894. He completed the course at the University of Louisville, Ky., and then located at Webster, West Virginia, where he practiced his
755
PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
profession until 1911, when he moved to Reedsville, where he is now in pursuit of a large and lucrative practice.
Dr. Brown is a close student, and in love with his chosen profession. In 1907, he supplemented all previous courses of study with a post- graduate course at the Louisville Medical College. His success in the treatment of some singular cases has enabled him to contribute articles of value to the profession for publication in medical journals. And he has written several articles that have been read before the State Medical Society, of which he is a member. He is a charter member of the Taylor County Medical Society, and a member of the Harrison County Medical Society and American Medical Association. Professionally, Dr. Brown stands as high as he does socially, and in that particular no man and his family in the county is more highly esteemed than they are.
Dr. Brown is also a musician. His natural taste for music led him into the study of harmony under some of the best instructors in the country, and he has written some pieces of singular worth and beauty. His love for the medical profession and the high sense of duty he owes to his clientele forbid much attention to music; otherwise, had he not been a successful physician, he would have been a successful musician. He plays the cornet well and taught and organized a band of music which was named in his honor, "Brown's Concert Band."
On September 2, 1903, Dr. Brown was married to Miss Eva D., daughter of William and Sadie (Limbers) Keane, of Grafton, West Virginia, and to this union were born three children: William Byrne, born August 2, 1904: Evelyn Charlene, born June 11, 1906; Charles Samuel, born June 18, 1911.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.