USA > West Virginia > Preston County > A History of Preston County, West Virginia, V. 2 > Part 22
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Samuel, the brother of Benjamin Shaw, settled near Little Sandy Creek, on the Scott farm, where Marshall Wolfe now lives. He owned about four hundred acres of land there. He married Elizabeth Miller and kept a tavern there, where he died at the age of seventy years. Their son, Alexander, became a very successful farmer before his death, which occurred at the age of sixty-five years. He owned a large farm near Kingwood. James, the father of Omer Y., and son of Samuel and Elizabeth, was born July 7, 1811. He married Catherine Cook, Feb- ruary 27, 1834. She was born April 16, 1812. Their children were : (I) Samuel Harrison, born November 27, 1834; (2) Sarah Ann, born March 16, 1836; (3) James Milton, born July 15, 1838, died October 15, 1841 ; (4) Ami Lucian, born July 30, 18440, died August 27, 1847; (5) Benjamin Franklin, born October 19, 1841; (6) Elizabeth Jane, born, November 14, 1843; (7) Charles Griffin, born February 20, 1845; (8) Ashabel Skiles, born April 25, 1847; (9) Laodicia, born October 6, 1849; (10) Leroy, born November 9, 1857. The second wife of James Shaw was Mary Ann Tuttle. She was the daughter of Eli and Sophia Crutch- man Tuttle and was born September 7, 1838. The Crutchmans were Somerset county Dutch people.
The children to this union were: (I) Cameron W., born August 7, 1865, died in 1888; (2) Omer Y., May 21, 1868; (3) Walter D., February II, 1874, and Georgiana Shaw, born October 3, 1879.
Omer Y. Shaw was reared a farmer and is a speculator as well as an agriculturist. As a promoter he has been very enterprising and suc- cessful. Until thirty-six years old he lived on the old homestead at Rockville. Some four years ago he located where he now lives, but his real estate holdings are at different places and consist of valuable coal and timber lands. Like his father, he has been remarkably self- reliant, and his returns based on good judgment have materialized favorably as a general thing. His father drove a six-horse team on the old National Pike at the age of sixteen years, making periodical trips to Old Baltimore. Omer Y. Shaw exercises his genius rather more than his physical strength in this money-making world of ours, and not without success. Instead of investing his money in bank stocks, insurance bonds, and like properties-unless rates paid are very high-he capitalizes on his own account, and has been singularly suc- cessful in that way.
Mr. Shaw was married to Dora, daughter of William M. and Hester Jenkins Wolfe, on November 27, 1909. No issue. (See sketch of Jenkins family.)
A
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W. G. LAVELLE, A. M., LL. B.
(This sketch contributed by W. Scott Garner.)
William Griffith Lavelle, a graduate of Rock Hill College and the law department of the West Virginia University, and now post- master at Tunnelton, was serving with distinction as a justice of the peace at Tunnelton when only twenty-seven years old. He is also one of the most gifted and promising of the younger members of the bar in Preston county. The only son of William J. and Susan A. (Griffith) Lavelle, he first saw the light of day at Tunnelton, August 15, 1883. His early studies were conducted in the public schools of his native village, and at the age of thirteen he entered Rock Hill College, Ellicott City, Md., from which institution he was graduated in the class of 1904 with the degree of A. B. He then took two years of the three-year course in the law department of the Georgetown University at Wash- ington, D. C., and completed his law studies at the West Virginia Uni- versity, Morgantown, W. Va., where in June, 1910, he received the degree of LL. B. In the same year he received the degree of A. M. from his old alma mater, Rock Hill College, where he had the honor of delivering the master's oration at the commencement exercises of that year.
Returning to his native county immediately upon the completion of his education, he was admitted to the bar upon the motion of the Hon. William G. Brown, at Kingwood, in June, 1910, and at once located in Tunnelton for the practice of law. From the first he was extremely successful in all legal business committed to his care, and evinced a wide and deep knowledge of the law. In April, 1911, he was appointed by the County Court as a justice of the peace for Kingwood district, to fill the unexpired term of Joseph A. Miller, resigned.
During his administration of this office, which was a very trying one on account of the large construction work of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, then under way at Tunnelton, and the hundreds of foreign workmen employed, he proved himself a fearless prosecutor of all violators of the law. He never, however, permitted the processes of his court to border on persecution. Indeed, his administration of justice was so tempered with mercy and common sense that it won the praise alike of the general public, the attorneys at the bar and the county officials. The press of the county was also practically unanimous in
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commending the manner in which he conducted the business of his office, and his careful and accurate reports to the County Court.
William G. Lavelle is a Democrat by inheritance, an orator by nature, and has a liberal endowment of that genuine wit so characteristic of the Celtic race. Alike at Rock Hill College, Georgetown University and the West Virginia University, he won first prizes in the oratorical arena-receiving a gold medal at Rock Hill, where his subject was, "Whither Are We Drifting?", and a cash prize of one hundred dollars at Georgetown, where he flayed organized wealth in a masterful dis- cussion of "Monopolies, Trusts and Combines"; and also a fifty dollar cash prize at the West Virginia University, where he ably maintained the affirmative in a debate on the "Popular Election of United States Senators." In 1910 he spoke to the old soldiers at Tunnelton camp- ground from the same platform with Attorney General Conley, and received an ovation testifying to the superiority of his address. In the Moorefield convention of the same year he had the honor of placing the Honorable William G. Brown before that body as a candidate for Congress, in what was acknowledged to be one of the most eloquent speeches made in the convention. After Mr. Brown's nomination, young Lavelle was in active charge of his headquarters for a time, and conducted the publicity bureau throughout the successful campaign that followed. He took an active part in the Democratic state conven- tion of 1912, at Huntington, where he served on the important com- mittee of resolutions and platform, and by his persistent eloquence suc- ceeded in placing a demand for a pure seed law in the party platform- a measure which would be of untold benefit to the farmers of this state if enacted into law. He was also largely instrumental in securing the nomination of several candidates on the ticket, notably that of Ben. H. Hiner as a candidate for congressman-at-large-a gentleman who had long been his personal friend.
On July 6, 1912, Mr. Lavelle was made the candidate of the Demo- cratic party of Preston county for the offiec of Prosecuting Attorney, and with his habitual energy at once plunged into an active campaign. Being unusually bright and intelligent, endowed by nature with a liberal share of old-fashioned commonsense, and equipped with the best train- ing that modern schools can give, he inaugurated a campaign that has never perhaps been equalled by any Democratic candidate in old Preston. He visited all parts of the county, making thirty-three set speeches, and daily conversing with all sorts and conditions of the great
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common people. While he could not be expected to overcome the great Republican majority of 2,600, yet so effective was his whirlwind cam- paign that this majority was reduced to 1,300-cut squarely in half- and his reputation as a gifted orator was firmly established throughout the county of his birth. It had already been established among school men and political leaders in West Virginia. Not even his political foes doubted his ability to successfully conduct the business of the Prosecut- ing Attorney's office, and his friends ,who are legion, regretted their inability to "give the young man a chance" to show the sterling qualities that are in him by serving his own people in that important position. His brilliant campaign, in the face of insurmountable obstacles, crowned him with a reputation for ability and fearlessness that was in itself a victory, and gave him a permanent place with the "unterrified" workers of the world-the men who do things.
On March 30, 1913, Mr. Lavelle was called to Washington City, where he remained until August I of that year, in the employ of the United States Government. He then returned to his native state, and on August 4, 1913, took editorial charge of the "West Virginia Argus," at Kingwood-perhaps the best known and most widely circulated Democratic journal in northern West Virginia. His assumption of the editorial chair was hailed by a chorus of compliments from nearly the entire press of the state, and not a few newspapers beyond her borders joined in the grand acclaim. At the same time Mr. Lavelle opened a law office on Price street, Kingwood, in the Martin Building-one of the finest equipped modern office buildings in the county.
In his religious affiliations Mr. Lavelle is a Catholic, and holds mem- bership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Grafton Lodge No. 308, and in the Knights of Columbus, Grafton Council N. 713. He is also a member of the National Greek Letter Fraternity, Phi Sigma Kappa, Delta Chapter, of the West Virginia University.
On the 12th of November, 1913, Mr. Lavelle rounded out his career as a young man by taking to himself a better half, in the person of Miss Jessie E. Stephens, a brilliant and accomplished young lady of Wash- ington, D. C., at the Cathedral, in Baltimore, Md., the solemn ceremony being performed by Rev. Father P. C. Gavin, Chancellor of the Balti- more diocese.
On March 25, 1914, Mr. Lavelle's name was sent to the United States Senate by President Wilson for confirmation as postmaster for the town of his nativity. On the following day he was confirmed, and on April
COL. WILLIAM J. LAVELLE.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
15, 1914, he was duly installed, under his commission, as postmaster at Tunnelton.
COLONEL WILLIAM J. LAVELLE. (By W. Scott Garner.)
No history of Preston county would be complete without a biograph- ical sketch of Colonel William John Lavelle, the grand old man of Tun- nelton. For forty years his home has been in the town now known as the coal center, though much of the time away attending to his duties as a trusted employee of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.
Colonel Lavelle is a native of Marion county, this state, having been born at Benton's Ferry, January 15, 1858. He is one of the three children and the only son of Owen and Catharine (Monahan) Lavelle. Like many of the successful men of this country, the Colonel secured his education mainly in the university of observation, experi- ence and hard knocks. This instruction, combined with personal appli- cation and an insatiable thirst for knowledge, has given him an intel- lectual equipment that no university or college could supply. In fact, so diversified is his acquaintance with the real thinkers and recognized authorities in the realms of economics, sociology and philosophy, that many of his most intimate friends will be surprised to learn that the only actual instruction he ever received in the class-room was the rudi- mentary knowledge gleaned in the free schools of his immediate neigh- borhood.
While yet a mere lad, Colonel Lavelle became a mule driver in the once famous Americon mines owned and operated by James Otis Wat- son, of Fairmont, and later secured the position as messenger boy in the office of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company at Fairmont. While engaged in this service he mastered the art of telegraphy, and after an examination was sent to Tunnelton, April 15, 1876, at the age of eighteen, to establish a telegraph office for the B. & O. Company at that point. In this position he remained until 1885, when he was advanced to the responsible position of train dispatcher, a place he held without interruption for twenty-eight years. Considering the duration and res- ponsibility of this work on a great trunk line, his record is possibly unexcelled in the history of railroading. His first service as dispatcher
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
was at Grafton from 1885 to 1896, when he was transferred to Cumber- land, Md., where he remained until 1899, and was again stationed at Grafton until 1901, being then returned to Cumberland, where he re- mained until 1912. In that year the company moved the division head- quarters to Keyser, W. Va., where the Colonel continued to serve as dispatcher until promoted to be division examiner, April, 1913, with headquarters at Cumberland. He is one of the best-posted and clearest- headed men in the railway service, and has been most relied on by the chief officials in times of great difficulty and trouble.
On May 25, 1881, Colonel Lavelle was united in marriage to Miss Susan Allie Griffith, a daughter of Hiram W. and Susan (Pierce) Griffith, of Grafton. To them three children were born: William Griffith (see his sketch) ; Ada Louise, who is now a second year student at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, in Baltimore, Md., where she is cultivating her wonderful talent for music, both vocal and instrumental; and one who died in infancy. The same year he was married Colonel Lavelle purchased a lot on what is now Boswell street and erected a house, which was destroyed by fire in June, 1905. In 1906 he built his present handsome and well-appointed home. From the time he estab- lished a home his family has been a fixture in Tunnelton and has served as the pole-star of his existence, no matter where life's duties have called him.
If Nature ever created a politician, Colonel Lavelle is the man. He can follow the winding path of the average politician as easily and as surely as the American Indian can track his foe through the pathless forest. From the taxpayer's point of view, probably no man understood Governor Dawson's tax measures better than did Colonel Lavelle. As a writer under the pseudonym of "Rambler," he slashed at the vitals of that measure in a manner that made him greatly feared by his political opponents, yet no one could take umbrage at the lamb-like atti- tude of the pretended innocent and guileless writer. Having served with distinction as chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of this county, he was urged to accept the chairmanship of the State Committee ; and again, in 1893, he was offered and urged to accept an appointment as United States marshal for the district of West Virginia-places which other men have tried to move Heaven and earth to obtain. The Colonel actually laughed at both propositions, declaring that he was "not an office-seeker-wanted nothing- would accept nothing-was in politics only for the fun there was in it!" To the officials at Washington this
WILLIAM G. LAVELLE
THE NEW YORK TDLIC LIBRARY
A - TOR, LENOX LDEN FOCI.D .TIONS
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
presented an unique specimen of the "genus homo." It served, how- ever to convince all parties of his political sincerity and greatly aug- mented his influence in state politics besides widely extending his acquaintance with men of national reputation. However, in 1885, Gov- ernor E. W. Wilson appointed him, without knowledge on his part, a member of the Governor's staff, with the rank of colonel. This is how he acquired the popular rank of "Colonel," and is the only office ever accepted or held by Mr. Lavelle. In 1908 he was urged to become a con- didate for Governor of the State, and the mention of his name inspired a hearty response from both the toilers, of whom he was one, and the leaders of his party in many parts of the state. The boom assumed such proportions that the Colonel thought it necessary to apply the "extinguisher," and he therefore quietly eliminated himself. He has always been a sufferer from the malady of modesty.
While yet a young man Colonel Lavelle recognized in the press one of the greatest educational factors in America, and early began con- tributing to the local newspapers. These letters at first consisted mainly of news items and observations on local politics, but it was not long until editors began to recognize the political insight displayed in these articles and in some cases used them as editorials. This, of course, pleased the author and encouraged him to broaden his field of endeavor and widen his acquaintance with local, state and national politics. Finally, when J. Ed. Kildow purchased the "West Virginia Argus" at Kingwood, he made the Colonel political editor of that paper, and while occupying that position Colonel Lavelle gave the "Argus" such prestige as is seldom enjoyed by a county newspaper, making it in fact as well as in name a state newspaper of the first class. When Kildow disposed of the "Argus" Colonel Lavelle ostensibly severed his connection with the paper, but for twenty years continued to contribute to its columns. In the meantime he contributed largely to the state press on political and general subjects, with a vigor which won him the reputation among politicians and people as a writer of unusual skill and unquestioned ability.
Colonel Lavelle is distinguished for his affability and kindly manner. He is a perfect type of the true gentleman and extremely popular wher- ever known. Yet deep down in his nature there is a tint of the Red Indian. He never forgets a favor nor an injury. He is tolerant and broad-minded, and would far sooner suffer an injury than inflict one. While he has a fine sense of humor and a large share of the proverbial
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Irish wit, he likewise possesses a keen appreciation of the pathos of life and a quick sympathy with suffering of every kind. But to see the Colonel at his best you must see him in his home, in the bosom of his devoted family, and this will complete the impression you have already formed, that Colonel W. J. Lavelle is one of Nature's noblemen.
BROWN FAMILY.
This Brown family, with many representatives living in West Vir- ginia at this time, is truly among the illustrious and first families of Virginia, as the records show they were inhabitants of Virginia in the early years of the seventeenth century, about 1632. Jefferson Slidell Brown, a resident of Kingwood, West Virginia, is a lineal descendant of William Brown, of Prince William county, Virginia, whose name is mentioned in Hotten's "List of Pilgrims to America," under date of February 16, 1632. The name of William Brown is mentioned also in King James I's time, in the second charter to the treasurer of the Vir- Company, dated May 23, 1609. William Brown was a burgess for Surrey county in the Virginia Assembly in 1660.
(I) The earliest ancestors of whom there is any definite informa- tion was William Brown, who purchased lands of Leonard Barker, in Stafford county, Virginia, deeds bearing date of April 12 and April 13, 1726. This was for a tract of land on Powell's Run, then Stafford, but now Prince William county, Virginia. The deed of this tract of two hundred and twelve and three-fourths acres was under date of December 29, 1732, to William Brown, Jr.
(II) William (2), son of William (1) Brown, was born between 1724 and 1729, died January, 1807. About the year 1756, or 1757, he married Elizabeth Buckner. Among their children was Thomas. (See forward.)
(III) Thomas, son of William (2) and Elizabeth (Buckner) Brown, was born September 7, 1760, died in August, 1844. He was a soldier in Captain John Britt's company, under Colonel William Lucas, of the Virginia troops, and marched South, joining Colonel Greene's army in South Carolina. He was twice on duty at the celebrated battle of the Cowpens, South Carolina, January 17, 1781. On pages 85 and 86 of "Safford's Records of the Revolutionary War," Captain William Brown, of Colonel Charles Harrison's regiment of artillery, is mentioned on the
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payroll, under date of December 26, 1780, at which time he called for the pay of his company, which then amounted to $15,100. It is supposed that this William Brown was the father of Thomas Brown now under consideration. In 1832 Thomas Brown received a pension, by act of Congress, as evidenced by the records of the Pension Office at Wash- ington.
Thomas Brown married, October 20, 1785, Anna, daughter of George and Mary (Byrne) Ash, and lived for a time near what is now Rectortown, in Fauquier county, Virginia. April 2, 1803, an inventory of his possessions was taken, which showed that he owned eight slaves about sixteen years of age, four slaves about twelve years of age, and four horses. The year before this inventory was taken, through Colonel John Fairfax, he purchased five hundred and seventy-eight acres of land of William McClery, of Morgantown. This land is situated nine miles west of Kingwood, West Virginia, and is now known as the "Stone House" property. In the spring of 1805 Thomas Brown moved to this place, and the year afterwards his wife Anna died, on May 4, 1806. Thomas Brown is described as a man rather small in stature, but of extra sound body and healthy; very kind to his servants and negro slaves, as well as to his dogs and horses. He disinherited his son, John Buckner, because he whipped a slave against his orders. The negro had run away, but had returned of his own accord. The children of Thomas and Anna (Ash) Brown were: Elizabeth, John Buckner (of whom further), George, Lydia, Samuel Byrne, William, Mary Ann, Thomas Francis (of whom further).
(IV) John Buckner, son of Thomas and Anna (Ash) Brown, was born January 28, 1788, in Prince William county, Virginia. In the spring of 1805 he removed with his father's family to the "Stone House" prop- erty, above mentioned. In 1811 he journeyed westward to Wayne county, Ohio, and in the fall of 1813 removed with his family to that state. He died at the town of Shreve, Wayne county, Ohio, September 15, 1855. In 1810 he married Mary Morgan, who lived on the east side of Cheat River, near Kingwood. She was the daughter of Hugh Morgan, a pioneer of Preston county, and was born May 12, 1790, died July 12, 1850. She was the fourth child in a family of ten children.
(IV) Thomas Francis, son of Thomas and Ann (Ash) Brown, was born May 4, 1801, died May 4, 1843, in Virginia. He was only four years old when the family crossed the mountains from Prince William county to Preston county, and five years old the day his mother died.
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
His father gave him the best schooling the country then afforded and during his youth sent him to some of the better schools in the eastern part of Virginia. He became a quite noted teacher in Monongalia and Preston counties, and was long remembered because of his beautiful penmanship and fine scholarship. Later he became deputy sheriff of Preston county, and was noted for his readiness in preparing legal in- struments. He married Elizabeth Zinn, who lived on the old Gandy farm, near Gladesville. She was born October 17, 1810, and died March II, 1851, of consumption, as did her husband. Six children were born to them, who by the will of Thomas Brown, the grandfather, received in 1884, half of the original "Stone House" estate. Thomas F. Brown, it is said, was one of the most courteous, affable men of his day. Children : (1) Adaline, born June 9, 1831, and died June 13, 1868, at Independence, Preston county, West Virginia; married William J. Morgan. (2) Buckner, born November 6, 1832, died June 24, 1877; married December 29, 1853, Jane Freeburn. (3) William T., born January 7, 1835 ; married (first), March 6, 1862, Sarah C. Hamilton, who died June 29, 1875; married (second), November 20, 1877, Margaret C. Swindler, now living in Grafton, West Virginia. (4) Charles Mercer, of whom further. (5) Virgil S., born October 15,, 1838, died October 18, 1896; married, October 26, 1870, Sarah Jenkins, born January 17, 1848. (6) Chloe N., born August 5, 1849, died and was buried at Inde- pendence, October, 1865, unmarried.
(V) Charles Mercer, fourth child of Thomas Francis and Elizabeth (Zinn) Brown, was born January 29, 1837, died November 26, 1868. He became a bright and energetic lawyer and engaged in the active practice of law at Harrisville, Ritchie county, West Virginia. His death was caused by hemorrhage of the lungs, caused by contracting a severe cold. Politically he voted the Democratic ticket, and in religious faith was one of the Presbyterian deonmination. He married Harriet Virginia Fairfax, of the well-known Virginia family. In their family the births and marriages were on noted days of the year : His wife was born July 4, 1840, daughter of Franklin B. F. Fairfax, and granddaughter of Colonel John Fairfax, of Virginia, who came to Preston county from eastern Virginia in 1790. Colonel John Fairfax had been the superintendent of Washington's Mt. Vernon estates; he represented Monongalia in the House of Delegates, and in the year of Thomas Brown's arrival was sheriff of the county. Besides being born on Independence Day, Harriet V. Fairfax was united in marriage with Charles N. Brown on Wash-
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