USA > West Virginia > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of West Virginia. Including reference articles on the industrial resources of the state, etc., etc. > Part 20
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wholesale grocery, the first in the valley. In 1874 he travelled abroad, passing his time mainly
in Great Britain. In the following year the fall in the price of salt and the effect of the panic of 1873 so demoralized business and the value
of property that Dr. Hale was obliged to go into
bankruptcy. He now undertook a number of
enterprises in steamboating and the salt manu-
facture, but met with constant ill success, hav-
ing in one winter four steamboats and ten salt and coal barges crushed and wrecked in the ice,
proving a total loss. In 1876 Dr. Hale was ap- pointd one of the State Commissioners of West
Virginia to the Centennial at Philadelphia. In
1881, with others, he organized the Peabody
Coal Company and started coal works near Charleston, and at the same time the Kanawha Barge Yard Company, a sawmill, and other en- terprises-all of which, unfortunately, owing to the lack of the necessary capital, failed to result in success. He introduced the first barrel-mak- ing machinery in the valley, with the capacity of making a thousand barrels per day. He was also president and the largest stockholder of the American Brick Pavement Company, whose name was afterward changed to the Hale Pave- ment Company. Dr. Hale has made for himself quite a reputation in a literary direction as a contributor to periodicals. About 1883 he pub- lished an important pamphlet on the life of Daniel Boone. In 1886 he published a volume of historical sketches, entitled "Trans-Alle- gheny Pioneers." In 1887 he was one of the vice-presidents of the West Virginia Immigra- tion Society, which was organized at Wheeling in that year. He was also a member of the Charleston Industrial Development Association. He published from time to time important arti- cles on the resources of the State, and in 1888 prepared an historical address, which was read before the Charleston Centennial celebration. In the same year he delivered an important his- torical address in Music Hall, Cincinnati, on in- vitation of the Directors of the Cincinnati Cen- tennial and Inter-State Exposition. In January, 1890, Dr. Hale was one of the organizers of the West Virginia Historical and Antiquarian So- ciety, of which he was elected president and re- elected in the following year. At about this time he wrote the "History of the Kanawha Valley," which was a paper devoted to the pre- historic history of the valley, the mounds, and the mound-builders. He published many other
papers on various subjects connected with the settlement and progress of the section of coun- try in which he lived. It will be readily seen by the account here given that the life of Dr. Hale has been energetic, ambitious, and always fertile in efforts to aid in the advancement of West Virginia, and particularly of Charleston. He has always led a strictly temperate life; has been in politics a consistent, conservative Demo- crat; has never united himself with any relig- ious organization, and has never married. The versatility exhibited in a life like that of Dr. Hale, while not always commanding financial
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
success, has yet its special value in opening up before the minds of the younger generation so many different ways by which success may usu- ally be accomplished. Furthermore, the very obstacles thrown in the way of such a life, since they only stimulate to increased action and de- termination, are not without their own especial value. The summary of the career up to long past middle age of a man who has devoted him- self to so many and such important enterprises in business and in literature can hardly be without its uses to humanity.
SAMUEL A. MILLER.
HON. SAMUEL A. MILLER, * who for half a century occupied a prominent and honorable place in the history of the Kanawha Valley, was born in Shenandoah County, Va., October 16, 1820. After a preliminary preparation in the local schools near home, he took a four-years' collegiate course and graduated at Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania. His first business en- gagement, when quite young, was as financial agent of Mr. Beale Steenberger, then a very large live-stock dealer in the valley of Virginia. Upon the termination of this engagement Mr. Miller made a trip to England and Scotland, re- turning by way of Mexico, before settling down to business. In 1841 he came to Charleston and entered the law office of the late Hon. George W. Summers as a student of law. When called to the bar he formed a partnership with his late preceptor and practised for some years in con- nection with that eminent jurist. In 1845 he married Miss Helen, second daughter of the late A. W. Quarrier. They have now surviving three sons and two daughters. In 1851 he was induced to accept the financial agency of Ruffner, Don- nally & Co., a large salt firm which then con- trolled all the salt manufactured in West Vir- ginia and Ohio. When this company ceased, he returned to the practice of law in partnership with Mr. G. B. Newman, and they, as Miller & Newman, succeeded to the practice of Judge David McComas, who had been elected to the bench. Upon the inauguration of the late Civil
War in 1861, being strongly Southern in his sympathies and proclivities, he went into the Confederate service. He served for a time as Assistant Quartermaster, but was later promoted to a Quartermastership with the rank of Major. He was attached to the command of General Loring, in Southwest Virginia. In 1862 he was elected by the soldiers' vote to represent his district in the Confederate Congress. It was a critical time in the affairs of the Confederacy, when the best talent was needed in the councils as on the field. Mr. Miller made for himself an honorable record among many of the ablest men of the State. Upon the close of the war Mr. Miller and some other of the Kanawha ex-Con- federates sojourned for a time in Canada, until the bitterness of feeling then prevailing should somewhat subside. When they at last returned to Kanawha, and so soon as their legal disabili- ties were removed, Mr. Miller and the late Hon. W. A. Quarrier (his brother-in-law) entered into a law partnership, which continued for some years. In 1874-75 Mr. Miller was elected to the West Virginia Legislature. There was at that session an exciting contest over the election of a United States Senator. It was so close that Mr. Miller's vote would have elected one, per- haps either, of the candidates, but instead of so deciding it he nominated a third man, Hon. Allen T. Caperton, and cast at first the only vote for him; but as the balloting continued votes came over more and more, until finally Mr. Caperton was elected. About 1876 Mr. Miller and Mr., afterward Governor, E. W. Wil- son formed a law partnership and practised to- gether for some two or three years. His latest legal association was with the Hon. D. C. Galla- her-his son-in-law-which continued, under the name of Miller & Gallaher, until his death. Mr. Miller has long stood among the foremost and ablest members of the bar of the State. He was not a brilliant orator, but was a clear, logical, convincing, and pleasant speaker ; as a counsellor he had an acute and critical judicial mind. After a deliberate and careful examination of a case, probably the opinion of no other member of the profession in the State commanded or was en- titled to greater respect and weight than his; more especially, perhaps, was this true in re- gard to the complicated and difficult land laws of the State, in which he had had large practice
* This biography was written by Dr. J. P. Hale, of Charles- ton, W. Va.
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
and experience. The rapid development of the State in recent years having, in change of ownership of lands, brought under legal review the titles of many of the large tracts of so- called wild lands, his success in these cases established for him an enviable reputation for clear-headed reasoning and sound, conservative judgment. He had fine natural and cultivated literary taste; he wrote with facility and per- spicuity. He had an appreciative fondness for poetry, and in his youth often wrote brilliant little gems that were characterized by elegant taste, deep thought, and tender feeling. He was a voracious and omnivorous reader; prob- ably no one in this city or valley was so great a devourer of books and periodical literature as he. In politics he was a decided but conserva- tive Democrat. He took no part in the ma- chinery of politics; he was prompt to cast his own vote, but did not undertake to influence others. In his business and general intercourse with the world he had no antagonisms; he made no enemies and bore enmity to no one. In dis- position he was kind, amiable, and gentle as a woman. To his friends he was ever accessible, genial, free and easy; to strangers dignified, courteous, affable, and winning. He made friends among all classes; enemies he had none. His tastes and proclivities were strongly domes- tic. He was blessed with a congenial, happy family circle, and of late years had spent much of his time at his home with his books, and lat- terly with his grandchildren, of whom he was exceedingly fond. In physical stature Mr. Miller was below medium size. He was never very robust in health or strength, but what might be termed tough and wiry. He died November 17, 1890, having just reached and passed the al- lotted term of three-score and ten years.
T. B. CAMDEN.
DR. T. B. CAMDEN was born August 16, 1829, at Collins Settlement, Lewis County, Va., now West Virginia. About 1837 his parents, John S. and Nancy Camden, moved to Sutton, Braxton County, W. Va., then a sparsely settled country, and where the boy grew up amid primi- tive surroundings, obtaining, so far as his edu-
cation was concerned, only the usual advantages of the country school of the period. This mixed farm and school life lasted until he was seven- teen years old, when he was sent to an academy at Weston, W. Va., where he was able to take a course of higher instruction. Young Camden determined upon following the profession of medicine, and accordingly went to Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, Pa., gradu- ating there in 1853-54, when he returned to his home in Braxton County. In the following year Dr. Camden married Miss Susan Eliza Holt, whose grandmother was an Adams and a mem- ber of the noted Massachusetts family of that name. They had six children, as follows: Jessie, who married Dr. J. S. Lewis, the present Super- intendent of the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane; Harry P., who is president and treasurer of the West Virginia and Pittsburgh Railroad Construction Company; Richard P., a dealer in real estate; Guy Lee, who is in the National Exchange Bank at Weston; Bernard Holt, a civil engineer on the Ohio River Railroad; and Rolla, who is in the First National Bank at Parkersburg. In 1856 Dr. Camden removed to Weston, where he remained engaged in the active practice of his profession for sixteen years. He had fallen into a good practice at the very start of his professional life in Sutton, where he often had to ride fifty miles to see pa- tients, at times remaining from his home as much as ten days on his circuit of sick-calls. The same was the case in Weston, except that his practice was more compact; and it was lu- crative and gained for him a good reputation. In 1871 Dr. Camden was elected Superintendent of the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane, where he remained for ten years, thoroughly comprehending and ably performing the duties of his responsible and arduous position, which he continued to occupy until April, 1881, when he was removed by a "twist of the wrist" of a then governor to make a place for a relative .* Dr. Camden removed to Wheeling, where he re- mained for only a year and a half, when he set- tled in Parkersburg, which has been his home ever since and where he has easily gathered for
* His reports of the institution show that it was managed with the greatest care for the patients and with signal econ- omy to the State-so much so that a committee appointed by the Senate of the United States referred to the hospital at Weston as a "model institution."
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
himself a good practice and complete apprecia- tion of his worth as a physician and as a man. During his medical life, which has been one of broad experience and great activity, Dr. Camden has had occasion to perform nearly all of the great as well as minor surgical operations, not only in ordinary country practice but also in the late war. Many of these have been performed under unusual difficulties, amputations being made at midnight by the aid of a tallow candle. But these contingencies made no difference with the success of Dr. Camden's work. A thor- oughly trained and experienced physician and surgeon, he has always been, in fact, indepen- dent of his surroundings, in so far as it is possi- ble for a medical practitioner to be so. In the mean time, and although, as will be at once recognized, almost constantly employed in prac- tice, he has found sufficient leisure, culled at incidental moments, to contribute on subjects connected with his profession to a number of medical journals, and also to prepare and read valuable and important papers before the State Medical Society of West Virginia and the As- sociation of Medical Superintendents of the Insane for the United States and Canada. His writings have always been favorably received and his papers have met with general accept- ance at the hands of those before whom they have been read. Among his published articles are papers on " Missed Labor," " Croupal Diph- theria," "Calomel as a Sialagogue," "The
Progress of Medicine," " A Case of Spontaneous Combustion," replies to Dr. Snow on " The Con- tagiousness of Scarlet Fever," "The Progress and Improved Treatment of the Insane," " Gun- shot Injury to Brain, Ball Removed after Thir- teen Years by Trephining," etc., etc. Dr. Camden is a member of the West Virginia Medi- cal Society and of the Association of Medical Superintendents of the Insane for the United States and Canada, and is a Director of Second Hospital for the Insane, West Virginia; is a Director also of the National Exchange Bank at Weston, W. Va., and First National, Parkers- burg, W. Va. Dr. Camden possesses a sense of humor, which is, to many professional men en- gaged in the graver work of life, a relief from the customary strain; and this he has exercised in his writing, particularly in the humorous im- aginary narrative of " John Forsythe and Terror
Pinnacle," which created quite a sensation when it was published, and came near to being as widely famous as the celebrated "Moon Hoax" of Richard Adam Locke. This story goes on to relate how Forsythe and his friend, Phineas Barton, left New York for the purpose of ex- ploring for minerals. Having heard of Terror Pinnacle, in Webster County, W. Va., as a lo- cality peculiar in its mineral formation, they are said to have ascended that mountain November 13, 1874, at the period when the earth is pass- ing through the November belt of meteors. A shower of meteors fall, and the party take to flight in great alarm, but a meteoric stone strikes Barton and kills him. His companion, Forsythe, wanders into Addison, the county-seat of Web- ster County, where he relates an incoherent and incredible tale to account for his condition and for the absence of his friend. He is arrested on suspicion and cast into jail, and from his cell therein he writes for publication, asking for a suspension of public opinion until his case shall be fully understood. The remarkable narrative is copied and commented upon by the papers, and the Attorney-General of Maryland, becom- ing interested in the case, offers his services to defend Forsythe. Foreign journals hear of the story and learnedly discuss the probabilities of death occurring from a falling meteor. (It is a remarkable fact that such accidents have hap- pened since Dr. Camden's story was written; while W. Clark Russell, the author, has made such an incident a feature of one of his recent sea-stories.) Dr. Camden has been presented with numerous canes cut from Terror Pinnacle. Dr. Camden's article called "The Refugee" was published in the Wheeling Register. A man fleeing from yellow fever at New Or- leans reaches Webster County, where he dis- covers a cave and in it an old manuscript hidden away in a hollow stone. The article was pub- lished in the Wheeling Register, and the minerals and manuscript and stone which he is alleged to have discovered accompanied the paper, were placed on exhibition in the Register office, and afterward sent to the University of West Vir- ginia by some one. His letters while on a tour in Europe and while at Carlsbad, Austria, were published and read with interest. Dr. Camden was one of the prime movers in establishing the narrow-gauge railroad from Clarksburg to Wes-
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
ton, which became the Clarksburg and Weston Railroad, then the Clarksburg, Weston and Glanville Railroad, afterward the West Virginia and Midland, and has since been merged in the West Virginia and Pittsburgh Railroad; his brother, Senator Camden, coming at a dark hour in the history of the road and saving it from ruin by supplying the necessary capital as well as the financial ability requisite to carry it to a successful completion; the result being that this has now become the most important system of railroads in the State, and known as the " Cam- den system." Dr. Camden was a director in all the roads, and still holds that office in the West Virginia and Pittsburgh Railroad. Dr. Cam- den's reminiscences of his experiences during the Civil War are most entertaining and graphic, as he practised medicine on the border line, and often encountered scouting parties of both armies in the same day, sometimes being per- mitted to pass through these on account of his professional claims, at others being captured by both sides and even narrowly escaping death. In May, 1863, General Imboden, of the Southern army, made a raid on Weston. One General Roberts, of the Federal forces (an officer more famed for his retreats than advances), fled in a cowardly manner before him; but after the enemy had left he returned to Weston full of cowardly malice, and to gratify his revenge and to reinstate himself he waged a cruel war on the non-combatants, men, women, and children of the town, and over one hundred were arrested and sent, some across the lines, others to Camp Chase, Ohio. The sad partings and scenes of that day, May 17, 1863, will never be forgotten by those who were ruthlessly separated, never to be reunited again. Dr. Camden, his wife, and children were sent to Camp Chase. On arriving there his wife and children were placed in one prison and Dr. Camden in another, about a mile apart; their only communication with each other occurring when volunteers were called for to sweep and clean the women's prison. On such occasions the Doctor would shoulder his broom, eager to obtain this opportunity of meeting his disconsolate family. He, however, did no sweeping and managed to spend the time with his family. These were oases in the desert period of their stay in Camp Chase. They were finally paroled to the State of Ohio and went to
Zanesville to live, where Dr. Camden was taken with camp fever, and after two months he and his family were permitted to return to their home at Weston, W. Va. It may be well to state that no charge was ever brought against the Doctor or any cause given for his arrest. Here, soon after his return (no doubt because of the ill-treatment which had been heaped upon him and his family), the United States forces made him post surgeon, over a physician who was in- strumental in having him sent to prison; and he remained surgeon until the close of the war. As souvenirs of the unhappy period of their prison life, Mrs. Camden still retains the tin plates out of which she and her children ate during that time. Dr. Camden is one of those unassuming men of genial and kindly nature whom one meets only occasionally. In his character he is fair-minded and open to convic- tion, while able to express a firm and valuable opinion, and is the personification of truth and good-will. When he left Weston Insane Asy- lum his friendly nature found response in a great many letters of regret from all parts of the country, both from the profession and laity, all bearing testimony to the high esteem in which he has always been held by those who had the pleasure of his personal acquaintance.
O. S. LONG.
ODELL SQUIER LONG, Clerk of the Su- preme Court of Appeals and a widely known citizen, was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., on October 16, 1836. He is the second son of the Rev. Warner Long and younger brother of Rev. Dr. Albert L. Long, of Roberts College, at Constantinople, Turkey. His father was a much- beloved clergyman, and was for more than fifty consecutive years an active member of the Pitts- burgh Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Long received careful training in his youth and was brought up in "the way he should go," his pious father early inculcating in his mind and heart the higher principles and finer sentiments of his own spiritual nature, and the subject of this sketch is now a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was edu- cated at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., from
Atlantır Publishing & Engraving Lo NY.
O. S. Long.
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
which institution he graduated with honors in the class of 1856. After leaving college he en- gaged in teaching school for several years in Ohio and in Pennsylvania. He then took up the study of law in Beaver with Colonel Roberts (a gallant soldier who fell at the head of his regi- ment at Gettysburg), and was admitted to the bar in 1862, but about the same period became engaged in newspaper work, for which he had a natural adaptability. In February, 1864, he came to Wheeling and in that month took editorial charge of the Daily Register, then but recently established, the firm being Baker & Long. His management of the paper and his careful and efficient editorial work aided very much in establishing the Register, now famous among the best and most reliable newspapers in the United States and a safe adviser and ex- ponent of simon-pure Democracy. In 1866 he was appointed Postmaster of Wheeling by President Johnson, and soon after accepting that office in February, 1867, gave up his editorial work. His appointment was not confirmed by the United States Senate for political reasons, which in those troublous times dominated every- thing to the exclusion of civil-service demands or home sentiment-both of which his appoint- ment eminently satisfied. Mr. Long then, in 1867, engaged in life insurance, and continued in that business until 1870, when he returned to newspaper work as editor-in-chief of the Regis- ter, and so continued until 1874, when the Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Vir- ginia appointed him to the position of Clerk of the Court, an office which in West Virginia is held during the pleasure of the Court. His fit- ness for a trust requiring so many qualifications was at once made manifest, and the choice of the Court in his selection continues to meet with general approval. By early training, natural temperament, and personal inclination, Mr. Long is singularly well adapted for an admin- istrative office, having the elements of disposi- tion and character so indispensable to a success- ful public official. Early in 1890 Hon. Hilary A. Herbert, of Alabama, conceived the project of compiling a history of "the reconstruction period," the several chapters of which were to be written by the Senators or members of Con- gress, or other prominent citizens of the South- ern States. The West Virginia chapter was as-
signed to Hon. William L. Wilson, who, finding that his public duties denied to him the requisite leisure for the necessary research, requested Mr. Long to undertake the work. The chapter was written by Mr. Long and has been frequently mentioned as one of the best chapters in the book. The volume is entitled "Why the Solid South? or Reconstruction and its Results." It is a dispassionate and truthful narration of facts on the subject, and will live in history as a warn- ing to the future-a warning oft repeated in the past and strikingly emphasized by General Grant when he said, "Let us have peace"-that a conquered foe should be encouraged to show his allegiance and forget the miseries of war rather than to be put under a ban for having acted according to his convictions, right or wrong. As a matter of history it teaches that the spirit of hatred engendered by war is almost as deplorable as the actual strife which it follows, because it is unjust; and until the leaven of righteousness and the spirit of peace take possession of the conquerors the conquered are unhappy indeed. Mr. Long since early manhood has been a diligent Freemason, hav- ing earned the highest honors in each of the Grand bodies. He was for fourteen years Sec- retary of the Grand Lodge, and he compiled the text-book generally in use in the Masonic lodges of West Virginia; he has also published a man- ual of Masonic law for the government of the craft in that State. He was largely instrumental in organizing the Grand Chapter and the Grand Commandery, and in the Scottish Rite he is an active member and an officer of the Supreme Council for the Southern jurisdiction of the United States. He is esteemed among the craft not only as a ritualist, but for his researches into and lectures upon the history and symbol- ism of the fraternity. Among those who know him best Mr. Long is regarded as a critical scholar in English literature. He is an ac- complished reader, and has lectured upon Ameri- can poetry before the students of the State Uni- versity and before the State Teachers' Asso- ciation. He was a prominent member of the
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