USA > West Virginia > Preston County > A History of Preston County, West Virginia, V. 2 > Part 3
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Thomas Janney, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Worthington Janney, was born at Styall, parish of Wilmshire, McChesfield Hundred, county Cheshire, England, in 1633, baptized January 11, 1634, and came to America March 29, 1683, in "The Endeavor" of London. He was a
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minister in the Society of Friends and had suffered imprisonments and fines in England on account of his belief. He was related by blood and marriage to the leading families of Penn's Colony and was Penn's intimate friend, as was shown by the letters written by Penn-many of which have been published. In writing back to America to James Harrison from Worminghurst, in 1684, the next day after his arrival, Penn sends love to seven friends, including Thomas Janney and William Yardley (Janney's brother-in-law), mentioning Janney on one or two other occasions-in one of which he says: "Much love to J. Sin- cock, Thomas Janney, William Yardley, and thyself especially. Glad that three such honest friends, whom I love in my heart, are in that station of service as yours, being the provincial judges. I know also that you are men of good understanding and friends to me, and my honest interest; but I could have wished you an easier and better work." Thomas Janney died while on a visit to England, on the 12th of March, 1696, and was buried on the 15th in the Friends' burying ground at Moberly, in Cheshire, England, where his parents, daughter and other relatives had previously been buried. He had been a minister forty-two years and was sixty-three at the time of his death. He was married September 24, 1660. Philip Taylor was also a Friend and a member of Penn's colony. He lived at Tacony, Philadelphia county, but at his death his children sold his land and most of them removed to Bucks county, Pa.
John Clows of Gosworth, Cheshire, England, and Margery, his wife, with their three children, Margery, Rebecca and William, and three servants, came to America in "The Endeavor" of London, July 29, 1683. They had been preceded by three of their children -John, Jr., Joseph and Sarah-who came in "The Friends' Adventure," July 28, 1682. He was a member of the Assembly, 1683 and 1684. He died July 4, 1687, and his wife Margery died February 2, 1698.
Richard Hough of McChesfield, Cheshire county, England, came to Amercia in "The Endeavor" of London, July 29, 1683. He was a mem- ber of Penn's colony and member of the Assembly, 1684, 1688, 1690, 1697 and 1700, and again elected in 1703 and 1704. He was a member of the Provincial Council 1693 and 1700, took an active part in all public affairs, and was one of Penn's closest friends. He was drowned in the Delaware River on his way to Philadelphia, March 26, 1705. When Logan wrote the news of his death Penn wrote in reply: "London, 7 mo., 14, 1705. I lament the death of honest Richard Hough. Such men must needs be wanted, where selfishness and forgetfulness of God's
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mercies so abound." The first marriage on the records of Falls Meet- ings is that of Richard Hough and Margery Clows.
Line of descent of Eliza Nicklin from the Qaukers of Penn's colony : John Clows married Margery -; 2nd, Margery Clows married Richard Hough; (1) John Hough married Elizabeth Taylor; (2) John Hough married Sarah Janney; (3) John Hough married Lydia Hol- lingsworth. Elizabeth Hough married Dr. John Nicklin.
Dr. Samuel Nicklin, born August 12, 1799, died March 1, 1870, mar- ried Martha Thomas, who was born April 8, 1799, and died at the home of her daughter, at Aurora, West Virginia, July 10, 1882.
Eliza Nicklin, daughter of Dr. Samuel Nicklin and Martha Thomas, his wife, married Summers McCrum, Sr., May 15, 1851, in Tyler county, Virginia, died at Aurora, August 14, 1881. She was the mother of Page R., Lloyd L. and Alvin A. McCrum, and also of Mrs. Lillie M. Trotter of Washington, D. C.
The second wife of Summers McCrum, Sr., was Hattie T. Moore, born in Portland, Maine. Her father was a sea captain and was drowned while on a voyage, while she was an infant, the youngest of three children. On the death of her mother, soon after her father's death, she was adopted by a family by the name of Hale, of Massa- chusetts. Her first husband was a Mr. Barker, who was taken ill and died in hospital during the Civil War, soon after their marriage. She afterward married Mr. Hartnell of Colebrook, N. H., and after his death married Summers McCrum, Sr. She died August 26, 1893, after long suffering, having been a helpless invalid for several years. She left no children.
The third wife of Summers McCrum, Sr., was Mary Dailey (Brown) McCrum, his cousin, and a descendant, like himself, from Hugh and Eleanor Dailey of Belfast, Ireland. She was a daughter of Hugh Dailey (son of Jesse Dailey of Leesburg, Va.) and his wife Edith Butcher Dailey, and through her mother was a lineal descendant of John Hart, the Signer of the Declaration of Independence, having had six other ancestors who assisted in establishing American Independence: (1) Edward Hart, son of John the Signer ; (2) Moses Stout, Edward's father- in-law, both of New Jersey ; and (3) Jesse Dailey, (4) John Humphreys, (5) Thomas Drake, and (6) Samuel Butcher of Va., and beside this the fathers of John Hart and Samuel Butcher fought in the Colonial wars, both being officers. Her first husband was Bernard L. Brown of Beverly, Randolph county, who came to Beverly in the early forties of the 19th century. His ancestors came to Virginia as early as 1621,
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and held important offices in the colony. They came from England, Wales and France. The Brown family removed from Hanover county, Virginia to Albemarle county as early as 1747, and entered lands on which a good many of their descendants still live. Bernard L. Brown and his wife Mary Dailey Brown were the parents of Mrs. Page R. McCrum, also Mrs. Archibald Earl of Fort Worth, Texas; Mrs. S. N. Bosworth of Beverly, West Virginia; Charles Bernard Brown of Clin- ton, Iowa; Mrs. E. A. Williamson, Cordova, Illinois, as well as Oscar L. Brown, Clarence Hugh Dailey Brown and Mrs. Alice Porter, the last three being dead. Bernard L. Brown died at Beverly, February 10, 1868, at the age of fifty-two; she May 18, 1907, at the age of eighty- two-two years after Mr. McCrum's death.
Since writing the above I have chanced to find in the family Bible, where Mr. McCrum has himself written, dates as follows :
"Moved from Beverly, Randolph county, to Cheat River (near Holly Meadows-near Parsons, W. Va.) in 1838 or 1839. Moved from Cheat River, Randolph county, Va., to West Union, Doddridge county, Va., May, 1845; from there to Centreville, Tyler county, October, 1845, and I came to German Settlement, Va., now Aurora, Preston county, W. Va., in June, 1846."
HON. A. BLISS MACRUM.
Arlington Bliss McCrum, son of Lloyd Logan and Emma Shaffer McCrum (see pages 110, III, 112, 503, 506 and 509 for the history of the Shafer family) is the junior partner of the well-known law firm of Crogan & McCrum, Kingwood, West Virginia. He is a graduate of the common schools of Preston county, of the graded schools and Central High School of Washington, D. C., and of the West Virginia University at Morgantown, from which last named institution he took the degrees of A. B. and LL. B. in the year 1901. After graduation from the University, Mr. McCrum took up his future abode in King- wood, becoming associated with Mr. P. J. Crogan in the practice of law from 1901 to 1911. In 1912, a partnership was formed under the firm name of Crogan & McCrum, a name already very generally known by the bar and business fraternity of West Virginia.
Although a young man, Mr. McCrum was put in nomination by the Republican party of Preston county and elected a member of the House
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of Delegates, where he served two terms in the State Legislature, from 1906 to 1910. During his incumbency he was successively chairman of the Committee on Railroads and on Taxation and Finance. In 1912 Mr. McCrum was elected to the State Senate from the Fourteenth Dis- trict, which office he at this time holds. He was on the Judiciary Com- mittee as well as other important committees.
Mr. McCrum is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Knights of Pythias, Elks, Modern Woodmen, and member of the Phi Kappa Sigma college fraternity. He was twice Master of Preston Lodge, No. 90, A. F. & A. M., and once Chancellor Commander of Brown Lodge, No. 32, K. of P. Mr. McCrum is one of the directors of the Bank of King- wood, also The People's National Bank, of Rowlesburg, W. Va. The record made by Mr. McCrum is a brilliant one so far, and not yet fairly begun.
HON. SAMUEL BEAUREGARD MONTGOMERY.
Samuel Beauregard Montgomery, noted for his brilliant record as a legislator and political economist, was born on May 15, 1876, in the Digman homestead, Laurel Creek, Barbour county, West Virginia. He was a son of Adam and Susan Digman Montgomery, being the descendant of a family which for four generations has lived amongst the hills of West Virginia. Their earliest known ancestor was one Roger de Montgomerie, a Norman, who came over to England with William the Conqueror, and settled in Ireland where he was given a large grant of land by the king and made an esquire.
Roger's descendants longed for the freedom of the New World, and in 1729 there landed at the port of Philadelphia two brothers, one of whom settled in Baltimore and from whom sprang the West Vir- ginia branch of the family.
In 1861, when the war broke out and the call for volunteers went ringing over the country, the Montgomery family eagerly responded and Company H, 7th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, was formed. with John Montgomery its captain, and his kinsmen, Adam, Samuel and Asbury-the latter also an officer- as members. With their regi- ment they saw service in many engagements, in addition to the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Battle of the Wilderness. That regiment, famous as "The Fighting
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Seventh," returned home depleted of many brave men, among whom was Asbury Montgomery, who fell at the battle of Antietam, and wher Adam Montgomery was desperately wounded, and by reason of which he received an honorable discharge, having been slightly wounded in two other engagements.
Previous to the war, Adam Montgomery was a man of perfect health, skilled in the games and pastimes of that day, but in conse- quence of his service for his country he became a great sufferer, having hemorrhages of the lungs which rendered him gradually unfit for any active employment. He died on May 15, 1889, in his forty-fourth year. While unable to bequeath worldly wealth to his children he yet left them a more precious and lasting heritage-the wealth of an honorable name, integrity of purpose, lofty ideals and high principles.
On December 11, 1863, Mr. Montgomery married Susan Digman, descended also from sturdy mountain stock-a woman of sweet and gentle disposition but strong character, a fitting helpmate for a man who is still remembered by the older inhabitants of Preston and Bar- bour counties as one having a personality of great charm, deepened and softened by years of suffering.
Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery were, after their marriage, first members of the Dunkard Church, and later at Newburg they became members of the Methodist Protestant Church.
They had eleven children: John, Sarah, Sophronia, Nancy, Mary, Samuel, Berta, William, and three who died in infancy. :
Samuel, the sixth child, whose life very fully exemplifies a strenuous career had the good fortune, perhaps, to be born in humble surround- ings, making necessary a hard struggle for the maintenance of a mere physical existence. It might not have been so easy for him to have' attained the enviable position he now holds as a rising West Virginian and he may not have been so well equipped to fight the battles of the weak and frail or had so practical an understanding of the daily grind of the wage earner had his early life been one of plenty instead of poverty.
At the age of eight years he sold papers before school, and after school ran errands and did other odd jobs. At thirteen years of age his father died and then life began in earnest, for school had to be given up and every day devoted toward the support of his mother and the smaller members of the family.
It was during this period that he was first employed on publiq works, as coke drawer with his elder brother in the yards of the New-
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burg Orrel Coal & Coke Company, and again as coke drawer, day. laborer on the tipple, boss of a gang of Italians and mule driver with the Monongah Coal & Coke Company, which was afterwards merged into the Fairmont Coal Company, and now the Consolidated Coal Company.
Here it was that Mr. Montgomery received his first instruction in the hardships of the miners for whom his after life was spent in an effort to better their conditions, and at this time he joined his first labor union, The United Mine Workers of America, in 1895.
In 1896 the young man was employed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company as a brakesman on the Parkersburg Branch, and later on the Cumberland Division, but a long and severe attack of typhoid-pneumania deprived him of his position, and the next step was an attendant at the Second Hospital for the Insane at Spencer. Pro- motion followed until he became night watchman at that institution.
When Mr. Montgomery was not yet of age, in 1896, he made his first speech in favor of William McKinley for President. This speech was made in the historic town of Evansville, and so well did he succeed that he became in demand as a campaign speaker in that section of the county.
In 1898 he was delegate to the Roane County Republican Conven- tion, and supported the candidacy of Governor John Wesley Atkinson for the United States Senate, and in the fall he campaigned over the county in behalf of General Romeo H. Freer and the Republican ticket.
Returning to Preston county in 1899, he located at Tunnelton, and in 1900 was elected a delegate to the Republican State Convention. That fall he campaigned in Lewis, Taylor and other counties, and in the election was made justice of the peace for Kingwood district. In 1902 he was elected Mayor of Tunnelton and again served in that capacity in the years 1903 and 1908. In 1905-6 he served on the Town Council. In 1903, having been appointed postmaster by President Roosevelt, he resigned as justice.
In 1904, Mr. Montgomery was a candidate for the nomination as State Senator in the Fourteenth District, comprising the counties of Preston, Tucker, Mineral, Grant and Hardy, and although opposed by the county, state and federal machine of his party, he was nominated and elected by a large majority, running ahead of the Presidential ticket. Mr. Montgomery also did his share of the work in the campaign of 1904, speaking in Tucker, Mineral, Grant and Preston counties, and campaigned in Monongalia and other counties in 1906.
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In 1908, Senator Montgomery was again placed in nomination for the Senate, but because of his activities while in the Legislature, when he voted for the two-cent rate law, the eight-hour telegraphers' law, and for the submission of the Prohibition amendment, and was a fear- less exponent of all reform and labor measures, the railroad and coal companies and other interests combined to drive him out of public life. That year he was again a delegate to the Republican State Convention and helped to write the platform of his party.
The following December, Theodore Roosevelt appointed him a Special Agent in the Department of Commerce and Labor. Later he was promoted to Chief Special Agent, which position he held until he resigned to take up the study of law and labor problems at the West Virginia University.
In 1912 he was elected by acclamation a Delegate at Large to the Republican National Convention at Chicago. As early as September, 1910, he declared in favor of the nomination of Theodore Roosevelt, and steadfastly supported Col. Roosevelt in the Convention. The West Virginia delegation selected him to represent the state on the platform committee, and with Governor Arthur T. Hadley of Missouri, George A. Knight of California, and William Draper Lewis of Pennsylvania, he contested with the reactionaries in control of the committee, and attempted to have adopted the progressive program that was later written into the Progressive Party Platform.
On July 20, 1912, he was elected chairman of the Republican Execu- tive Committee of Preston County. Announcing his unalterable pur- pose to support Theodore Roosevelt for the Presidency, he turned the conduct of the campaign over to the secretary of the committee-an adherent of Mr. Taft-and both by pen and voice vigorously cham- pioned the cause of Col. Roosevelt.
As a legislator, Senator Montgomery made a good record. Through his untiring efforts many laws were enacted which made his state richer and the government better. The well known "Montgomery Statutory Attorney Bill," which directed the fees of foreign corporations from the Secretary of State to the State Treasury, saves not less than twenty thousand dollars annually to the state. It was hard fought and was only made a law by the combined votes of the Republican and Democratic insurgent members of the Senate.
He also fathered "the Corrupt Practices in Elections Act" and fought it to victory over the protest of the "bosses." He framed and
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succeeded in having a bill passed to prevent trespass by cutting timber lands without the consent of the owners of the property. This measure was opposed by railroad and other corporations.
He voted for the submission of the Prohibition Amendment and introduced and battled through both branches of the legislature, backed by the Protestant ministerial associations of the state, the bill known as the "Sunday Closing Act," being the most drastic anti-liquor law that had ever passed the legislature up to that time.
He also voted for an amendment to the license law prohibiting the shipment of liquor from wet counties into dry counties.
Senator Montgomery, called the "Silver-tongued Insurgent" because of his ready command of English and brilliant diction, raised his voice in earnest protest against the "Guard System" around which had grown up the "coal police." He warned the senate at that time that a grave error was being committed and that dire disaster would follow. Four years later his prediction proved to be a correct one for the "System" had grown so vicious and un-American that the miners in despair revolted with a consequent result of loss of life. Martial law was declared and it cost the state more than five thousand dollars in a vain effort to restore peace.
Other bills which owe in great part their passage to the activity of Senator Montgomery, are one against the sale of narcotic drugs; one to raise the salary of school teachers; and another important measure to prevent minors, male and female, under the age of fourteen years, work- ing in factories and mines during the free school term.
He voted for a state-wide primary election law and was the only Republican member of the Senate who voted for the Initiative, Refer- endum, and Recall. In 1905 and again in 1907 he led the fight on the floor of the senate to place a production tax on oil and gas, and was one of two Republican members who appealed to the senate both in 1905 and 1907 to submit an amendment to the constitution granting to women the right to vote.
He served on the following committees, Mines and Mining, and Labor, and was called by the president to preside over the senate both at the regular session of 1907 and at the extra session of 1908.
On October 10, 1912, he was elected permanent chairman of the Citizens' Organization of West Virginia, a sociological survey, which was organized in the Hall of the House of Delegates as a result of the 'coal miners' strike on Paint and Cabin Creeks.
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As chairman of the Citizens' Organization, Senator Montgomery went before the people of the state in the fall election of 1912 and declared for the abolishment of the mine guard system; the abolishment of child labor; a workmen's compensation law, legislation prohibiting water power monopoly, state pensions for widowed mothers who are destitute, initiative, referendum, and recall, the legal right of miners to belong to a labor union. At the following session of the legislature the odious mine guard system was abolished; a workmen's compensation law was enacted. Proposed amendments to the constitution providing for the establishment of the minimum wage, the initiative, referendum, and recall, and state pensions for widowed mothers, were defeated on close votes. The legal right of a miner to belong to a labor union was recognized by the state government and a law greatly restricting the granting of water power franchises was enacted.
Senator Montgomery has been active in fraternal circles. On November 26, 1901, he joined the Order of the Knights of Pythias, being a charter member of Mckinley Lodge No. 135, Tunnelton. In the following month he was made Outer Guard and continued to advance until he reached the summit of Pythian distinction when at Elkins, on September 15, 1910, he was installed as Grand Chancellor. His record as Executive was so brilliant that he was elected Grand Keeper of Records and Seal at Wheeling, August 18, 1911, which position he now holds.
He is also an active member of Kingwood Lodge No. 107, I. O. O. F., a member of the Woodmen of the World, of Invincible Council No. 147, Jr. O. U. A. M. of Tunnelton, and of Shiraz Temple No. 29, D. O. K. K. of Charleston. He is also serving his third term as Vice- President of the Laymen's Association of the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Oakland District; is a member of the Board of Stewards of the General Conference of West Virginia, and among the Societies which claim him as a member are the American Academy of Social and Political Science of Philadelphia; the Southern Sociological Congress of Nashville; the National Conservation Con- gress, the National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C .; the Citi- zens' Organization, the Progressive Club of Chicago, and the Beta Theta Pi Chapter, West Virginia University.
A man of magnetic personality, Mr. Montgomery commands the immediate attention of those who first come into his presence, and nowhere is this so apparent as when he appears on the speakers' plat-
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form. He is noted throughout his state as a brilliant political and fraternal speaker. A gifted orator, he has become a power upon the platform, having a rare command of the English language and speaking with a diction as fluent as it is perfect in style.
His address on "West Virginia and Its Future", delivered before the West Virginia Editorial Association, and his discourse on the writ of injunction and the right of free speech before the West Virginia Feder- ation of Labor, also his lecture on John Wesley, are among the public utterances that have attracted wide and favorable comment.
On February 29, 1896, Senator Montgomery married Miss Grace K. Orr, a daughter of Major and Mrs. U. N. Orr, of Kingwood. See history of the Orr family. Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery have two children, William Newton, born July 8, 1900, and Mary Susan, born November 10, 1902. Their firstborn, Orville Orr, died in infancy.
Mrs. Montgomery has proven herself a very efficient aid to her husband. At the time of his resignation as postmaster at Tunnelton, Mrs. Montgomery succeeded him in the office and most successfully discharged the duties of that position. Since then she has assisted him ably in the office of Grand Keeper of Records and Seal. Mr. Mont- gomery speaks of her in one of his most eloquent passages as "my helpmate, the indulgent sovereign who finds much to commend and shares in a work which has divided with her the allegiance of her willing subject."
JULIUS KEMBLE MONROE.
The history of the Monroe family is distinctive. From the first nobleman of the Monroes, the record is replete with barons, and great generals, of both Irish, Scotch and English history. The first of whom mention has been made was Donald, son of Occaon Ro, a nobleman in the County of Derry, Ireland, who went to Scotland with his forces to the assistance of King Malcolm II. That was in a war waged against the Danes. In this contest Donald rendered great service to the Scottish King, for which lands east of Dingwall were given to him, called Ferrin- Donald-i. e. Donald's lands, and he was called Donald Bonro in respect of his father's residence on the waters of Ro, Ireland. Afterwards by the change of the letter "B" into "M", his descendants were called Monroe." They also got other lands in Scotland, which they called Fowlis, from a place in Ireland called Lock Fowl.
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