USA > West Virginia > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of West Virginia. Including reference articles on the industrial resources of the state, etc., etc. > Part 32
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SAMUEL R. BROCKUNIER.
REV. SAMUEL R. BROCKUNIER, long time a resident of Wheeling and widely known throughout the Middle and Western States as an able, popular, and successful minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was one of the
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early pioneers of that denomination in the Ohio Valley. He was born in Huntingdon County, Pa., June 12, 1795, entered the ministry in 1817, and died at his home near Wheeling, W. Va., July 22, 1867. Under the peculiar system of Methodist Church polity, which does not admit of a settled pastorate but requires its ministers to itinerate from one field of labor to another every year, if the Bishop so ap- points, and owing also to the widely sepa- rated and sparsely settled condition of the Western States at the early date in which Mr. Brockunier began his ministry, his labors and travels in the line of his vocation became greatly extended, embracing ultimately the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio. The hardships incident to travel in the wilderness, without roads, bridges, or neces- sary accommodations of any kind, were very great, entailing much labor, privation, and suf- fering, until with the advancing settlement and growth of the country the situation was gradu- ally relieved. His first appointment was in 1817, to Chautauqua Circuit, embracing portions of the States of New York and Pennsylvania. It was four hundred miles around, requiring six weeks to make the circuit, and preaching forty times each round. Much of the country lying within its boundaries was an unbroken wilderness, occasionally traversed by roving bands of Indians whose reservation was in the neighboring State of Ohio, then known as the Northwest Territory. Amid such surround- ings, with infinite zeal and labor, he preached the gospel to the rude settlers gathered in cabins, or under the wide-spreading branches of the primeval forest, making many converts, organizing new societies, building churches, and performing all pastoral duties incident to his charge. His next circuit was at Piqua in 1818. It was similar in character, except it was farther west and on the immediate verge of the frontier. Travelling from one cabin to another, or to the different settlements scattered through the wilderness, it required the services of an experienced woodsman to pilot him through, marking the way with his axe by blazes on the forest trees so that he could find the way back or traverse the same route again. This circuit was in the vicinity of the reservation held by the Wyandot and Delaware tribes of
Indians, and he thus became a participant in some of the measures organized at that time to evangelize these savage races. In Dr. Elliott's " Missionary Reminiscences" there is published a communication from Mr. Brockunier, detailing the circumstances at the licensing of John Steward, the first missionary to the Wyandots. This occurred at a Quarterly Meeting held in Urbana in 1819, of which Mr. Brockunier was a member, and presided over by Bishop George and the Presiding Elder, Rev. Moses Crume. The application of Steward for license and his own personal statement of his labors among the Wyandots was strongly supported by speeches from two Wyandot chiefs-Between-the-Logs and Mononcue-through an interpreter, and by Mr. Walker, the sub-agent at Sandusky. Be- tween-the-Logs gave an account of the condition of their people when Steward came among them, their drunkenness, murders, evil habits and passions, and of the change among those who had accepted the " new religion."
"He also told us that he and his nation were much opposed to this new religion preached by Steward, and liked the religion of their fathers the best, but that finally the Great Spirit had given him to see and feel that their old religion was not a good one. Laying his hand on his breast, and lifting his eyes toward heaven, while tears flowed copiously down his red face, he said, 'I sought and found this new religion which makes my soul happy.' This circumstance so deeply affected a large and intelligent Quarterly Conference that we felt more like praising God for his wonderful goodness to the red men of the forest than to proceed in business. Mononcue next arose, and gave us a representation of Steward and the work of religion among them, nearly the same as was given by Between-the- Logs, with this difference, that he was more eloquent and introduced several striking figures to illustrate the great moral change among them. I think there was not one present but was of opinion that God in the order of his pro- vidence had called this man to minister in holy things to these benighted people. His future success and happy death gave abundant evi- dence that his brethren were not mistaken in their unanimous vote at the time he received his license."
It is unnecessary to follow in detail all the successive pastorates of Mr. Brockunier through his long and eventful life. Suffice it to say that he came to the vicinity of Wheeling in 1821, and in subsequent years filled prominent stations at
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Pittsburgh, Wheeling, Steubenville, Washing- ton, etc., then become populous cities; was Presiding Elder for thirteen years, an office in the Methodist Church of those days equivalent to that of Assistant Bishop; was a member of the General Conference of 1836; and in all was abundant in labors, wise in council, safe in ad- ministration, and a genial, sympathetic friend and pastor. Rev. Mr. Brockunier was married in 1824 to Miss Sarah Zane Clarke, daughter of the late John Clarke, Esq., and Rebecca Zane his wife. Mrs. Brockunier was a grand-daugh- ter of Colonel Ebenezer Zane, the first settler and founder of Wheeling, whose heroic career is well known. She was a lady of superior endow- ments, lovely character, and rendered noble ser- vice in forwarding and aiding the labors of her husband. They had a family of five children : Mary Rebecca, deceased; Georgiana, deceased; Elizabeth Clarke; Wilbur Clarke; and Charles Wesley. Mr. Brockunier occasionally took part in public affairs. Whenever it was thought he might render useful service to the community, he did not hesitate to give voice, influence, and labor, in the cause of good order, of the public peace, or in aid of benevolences, morality, and religion. Two occasions are remembered in the later years of his life when he thus came forward to throw the weight of his influence against strife and disorder, liable to be of aggravated character. One was at the inception of the late Civil War, when great excitement was aroused in Wheeling by the passage of the ordinance of Secession in the Virginia Conven- tion. The tide of feeling between the adverse parties rose so high that a public meeting was called to take action to secure the peace and safety of the city. At this meeting Mr. Brock- unier strongly supported the resolutions offered by Daniel Lamb, Esq., designed to allay popular feeling and proposing methods to secure the public peace. The success of the measures adopted gave great satisfaction. His last pub- lic address was at the close of the war, when a public meeting was held on the occasion of President Lincoln's assassination. The Gov- ernor of the State, prominent military officers, and two Eastern clergymen took part in the speaking. Mr. Brockunier was invited to par- ticipate, and made his address toward the close of the proceedings. With deep feeling and
earnest words he voiced the general sentiment of sorrow and regret at the calamity which had overtaken the nation, and expressed an adequate appreciation of the late President's career. In the course of his remarks he rebuked with much force and earnestness the partisan and inflammatory appeals of a preceding speaker. "There were times," he said, "when the Christian spirit should dominate, and no man who loved his country would seek to stir up again the bitter passions of fratricidal strife." His closing remarks caused much feeling and gave some offence, but were justified by the sober sense of the best citizens and eventually by all. In person Mr. Brockunier was a man of splendid presence. His stature was almost gigantic. His voice was remarkable-surpass- ing indeed, in its clearness, flexibility, compass, power, melody, and sweetness. Traditions are still extant of the distance at which it was dis- tinctly audible at out-of-door meetings. His large person, noble head, and dignified bearing, always attracted great attention, no less than the charm of his voice, his deep piety, or his earnest and devoted labors. In the early por- tion of his ministry he rendered valuable ser- vice by active and zealous labors in planting the gospel along the wilderness of the Western frontier, and, in subsequent years, filling high and responsible stations in her populous cities and towns, and achieving honorable position in the official councils and administration of the church. He fulfilled his mission with great usefulness and acceptability for the space of nearly fifty years, leaving behind a memory fragrant with good deeds, with the kindly and noble offices of his ministry, and an untarnished reputation. He lived to do good, and his suc- cess in the line of his vocation was very great- the accessions to the church through his instru- mentality being numbered by the thousands. Thus " being dead he yet speaketh."
CHARLES W. BROCKUNIER.
CHARLES W. BROCKUNIER, one of the most prominent, influential and successful busi- ness men of Wheeling, was educated at Pitts- burgh, Pa., and came to Wheeling in 1852. Here he entered into business at a very early
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age, having already manifested decided apti- tude and capacity for such pursuits. The wis- dom of his choice has been amply demonstrated by his successes. Not long after his return to Wheeling, he entered the employ of Messrs. Hobbs & Barnes, glass manufacturers, in South Wheeling, taking charge of the office and con- ducting that branch of the concern. Here his superior business abilities and other qualifica- tions were quickly manifested and recognized, so that in a comparatively short time, though quite a young man, he was offered an interest in the business. This proposition was finally accepted after some consideration, and a part- nership formed under the firm name of Hobbs, Brockunier & Company. Those composing the firm were John L. Hobbs, John H. Hobbs, Charles W. Brockunier, and William Leighton. Under the new régime the business expanded and prospered until their glass works became one of the largest and best known in the United States, exporting its wares to England, Austra- lia, France, Germany, and Cuba, and achieving a world-wide reputation. Such was the superior quality of their glass, beauty of style and design in the great variety of articles manufactured by them, that they contested successfully with the best factories of Europe at the great World's Fair of the Centennial at Philadelphia, and the succeeding one at Paris. For many years Mr. Brockunier was President of the Association of Glass Manufacturers of the United States, and was selected by them to appear before the Tariff Commission, appointed by President Arthur in 1882, to represent the interests of the glass manufacturers of the United States before that honorable body. His presentation of the facts and principles which should govern the duties to be laid in the Glass Schedule was so complete and effective as to draw from the Commission the compliment of having every one of his rec- ommendations adopted, and his evidence quoted with approval in their final report to Congress. He was a member of the Tariff Convention held in the city of New York in 1881, and took an · active part in its proceedings. Also he was among the pioneers in the oil development of West Virginia, being associated with Messrs. John Handlan, John H. Hobbs, J. B. Ford, and W. C. Brockunier, in operations at Volcano in 1862, and subsequently. It proved a very suc-
cessful and profitable enterprise. Mr. Brock- unier was one of the first in the development of natural gas and its application as a fuel in manufacturing operations, taking an active and deep interest in securing its benefits for Wheel- ing, and the Manufacturers' Gas Company, of which he is President, was the first to furnish that valuable fuel to the manufactories of that city. Owing to delicate health in 1887, Mr. Brockunier decided to retire from active busi- ness pursuits for a time to recuperate, and the firm with which he had been so long connected was accordingly dissolved, the other members also retiring. He still maintained, however, his business connection with other and various manufacturing interests, and in 1890 again be- came engaged in business affairs, and is now actively operating as President of the Two Brothers' Oil Company, Brooke Gas Company, and other enterprises. He is also Vice-Presi- dent of the National Bank of West Virginia. Recently he was appointed by Governor Flem- ing as a Commissioner to represent West Vir- ginia, in company with Senator Camden and others, in the Nicaraguan Convention to be held at St. Louis. Mr. Brockunier married Miss Elizabeth C. Brady, daughter of the late Sobie- ski Brady, of Wheeling. They have had a fam- ily of six children. While taking an interest in politics, State and National, such as befits a good citizen, he has hitherto declined the high and honorable positions to which the partiality of his friends would have him aspire with every assurance of success, and is, therefore, at pres- ent a private citizen. Mr. Brockunier is a rep- resentative man among business men-of broad, comprehensive views, progressive ideas, quick apprehension, untiring industry, activity, and enterprise, and of admirable judgment. He is esteemed no less for his probity of character than for his ability, and has achieved a deserved and remarkable success in all of his undertakings.
PHILIP G. BIER.
PHILIP GEORGE BIER, Captain United States Volunteers and Assistant Adjutant-Gen- eral on the staffs of Major-Generals Sigel, Hunter, and Crook during the American Con- flict, was born in Wheeling, Va. (now West
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Virginia), November 21, 1841, and died at Win- chester, Va., on the evening of October 19, 1864, from a wound received at the battle of Cedar Creek on that day. He was the only son of Hon. George W. and Elizabeth Bier, who removed to Wetzel County, where his infancy and boyhood were passed. He was prepared for college at West Liberty Academy and Mor- gantown Academy, a famous school in its day. In September, 1861, he entered Washington Col- lege, Pa., and remained there until the fall of 1862, when he enlisted in the volunteer army, Company D, Twelfth West Virginia In- fantry, from West Liberty, Ohio County, where the company had been largely made up by the students and officered by the professors. He was made Orderly Sergeant of his company, which went into camp on Wheeling Island. Soon afterward he was appointed Second Lieu- tenant, and subsequently First Lieutenant of Company A of that regiment, in February, 1863. This compliment was tendered him by Colonel Klunk, commanding the regiment. In March, 1864, he was made Captain of Company A, and on April 9 assigned by General Sigel command- ing the Department of West Virginia, Assistant Adjutant-General on his staff. Captain Bier's assignment to duty as Assistant Adjutant-Gen- eral was announced in General Orders No. 13, as follows :
" Headquarters Department of West Virginia, Cumberland, Md., April 9, 1864. The following officers are announced as assigned to staff duty at these headquarters : Lieutenant-Colonel W. C. Starr, Ninth West Virginia Infantry, Acting Provost-Marshal General of the Department; Major J. C. Campbell, Judge Advocate; Cap- tain P. G. Bier, United States Volunteers, Assistant Adjutant-General; Captain John Car- lin, First West Virginia Artillery, Chief of Artillery and Acting Chief of Ordnance; Cap- tain F. E. Town, Signal Corps, Chief Signal Officer; Captain Thomas G. Putnam, Fifteenth New York Cavalry, Captain R. Adams, Jr., Twenty-third Illinois Infantry, Aides-de-Camp. By order of Major-General Sigel. T. Melvin, Assistant Adjutant-General. Official."
Captain Bier was over six feet tall and well proportioned. To look at the youthful face of the stalwart young soldier whose portrait appears herewith, and who was scarcely twenty- three years of age at the time of his death, no one would surmise that he had ever gone
through the terrific realities of war which fell to his lot in the active and perilous campaigns of the two Virginias. It is doubtful if one other young officer in all the hosts of both armies held higher rank for his age, or was entrusted with such responsible and honorable duties as he fulfilled on the staffs of three major-generals, succeeding one another in the command of the Departments of West Virginia, and of whom General Sigel alone survives. Captain Bier was particularly allied to General Hunter during the latter's perplexing career. In fact, the fate of Hunter was his fate, and when the change came from Hunter to Sheridan in supreme command, Captain Bier passed from Hunter to Crook, as he had passed from Sigel to Hunter. Had the normal chances and for- tunes of war fallen to the Army of West Vir- ginia, Hunter would have remained in com- mand, and his talented Assistant-Adjutant General might to-day be filling a high niche in the public esteem as a man of strong character and superior accomplishments, and a veteran of whom all soldiers would have been doubly proud. But the ambush attack at Cedar Creek was his cruel fate; and, like so many young men of both sides, he fell a sacrifice to a relent- less war, whose perpetuation seemed for a time to be augmented by just such youthful victims, the most promising sons of the best families, North and South-thousands upon thousands of them-yet none scarcely younger and certainly none nobler, more dutiful, more loyal, more true in all that makes the life of a soldier in active war, than the subject of this biography. Captain Bier was shot during the battle of Cedar Creek, while endeavoring to rally the re- treating Union troops near Middletown, thirteen miles from Winchester. After having received his death-wound, Captain Bier rode two or three miles and until he dropped to the ground, when he was placed in an ambulance and taken to Winchester, where he died the same evening, October 19, 1864. A writer in the "History of the Shenandoah Valley," who himself was in Early's command, gives this account of the sudden march on Cedar Creek:
"The movement commenced about three o'clock on the morning of the nineteenth. Demonstrations were made on the enemy's right, and while the sounds of musketry contri-
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buted to conceal the movements of the flanking force, the Confederates toiled along some six or seven miles through a rugged country, crossing the North Fork of the Shenandoah by a ford a mile east of the junction of Cedar Creek with that river. They marched in profound silence, and many places had to be traversed by the men in single file, who had frequently to cling to the undergrowth to retain their foothold, while climbing up the steep ravines. Before
dawn the flanking column was across the ford, Gordon's division in front, Ramseur's next, and Pegram's in reserve. They were favored by a heavy fog. The pickets of the Federal army were perfectly unconscious of the pres- ence of an enemy, yet Early had brought his column to the rear of the left flank of the Eighth Corps. The surprise was perfect. So sudden was the onslaught of the Confederates that the Eighth Corps were unable to form a line of bat- tle, and in five minutes were in a stampede. Many of the men awoke with a Confederate sol- dier standing over him. The Nineteenth Corps were soon involved in the rout, and the whole Federal left and centre were driven as a flock of sheep before the victorious Confederates, slaying many of the enemy in their camps, cap- turing eighteen pieces of artillery, one thousand five hundred prisoners, small arms without number, wagons, camps, ammunition, every- thing on the ground."
Captain Bier's remains were conveyed to Wheeling for burial. Among the many sad and touching incidents that might be mentioned about the brave and dutiful young officer is the fact that he had written home, a week before the battle, that he expected soon to take his first furlough. The funeral of Captain Bier is described fully in the Wheeling Intelligencer of October 24, 1864. Here comes most startling proof of the suddenness of Early's attack as given in the foregoing. Indeed, it is known that Captain Bier, as soon as alarmed, mounted his horse and galloped to a farm-house, where the newspaper correspondents were sleeping, and gave the alarm especially to his friend, Mr. Farrell, of the New York Herald. Very probably he did not have time to put on his coat, so close were the enemy in the surprise. Captain Bier was shot about 6 A.M. through the breast. The Intelligencer says :
" A short time before his death, Captain Reed, of Colonel Thoburn's staff, met Captain Bier riding about the field in his shirt-sleeves, en- tirely forgetful of self and zealously doing his duty. Captain R. gave him an overcoat to protect him from the cold, and he rode off.
When he saw him again he was laid low in his coffin at Martinsburg.
The same paper continues:
"He was a man of the most rigid moral- ity and the strictest integrity, and he was loved and esteemed by all who enjoyed the pleasure of his acquaintance in and out of the army. As a soldier, in whatever he was called upon to do, he was impelled by an earnest sense of duty from which no consideration could in- duce him to shrink. He was respected by his superiors in rank, and loved and honored by his inferiors. By his death the army has lost as brave and true a heart as ever filled a tenement of clay."
Colonel Thoburn, of West Virginia Infantry Volunteers, killed while rallying the troops at Middletown, and Sergeant Jenkins, of Wheel- ing, also killed in the battle of Cedar Creek, were buried on the same day with Captain Bier, and their bodies were laid in state in the Senate chamber in the State Capitol building, where a large concourse of people paid their heartfelt respects. The room was tastefully draped in mourning, the coffins being fairly covered with flowers and laurel. The lower portion of each coffin was wrapped in the flag for which they had battled and died. Upon the heart of each dead hero had been carefully placed a beautiful bouquet. The stores and business places of Wheeling were closed, and the flags placed at half-mast. The funeral services were held at Fourth Street M. E. Church, which was crowded, while hundreds had to remain outside. A large procession followed the remains to their final resting-place in Mount Wood Cemetery. The horses ridden by Colonel Thoburn and Captain Bier, when they were wounded at Cedar Creek, were in the funeral procession, which the Intel- ligencer described as "the most magnificent pageant that ever occurred in Wheeling. The city of Wheeling honored the gallant dead who were entombed at Mount Wood as she never be- fore honored citizen or sojourner. The funeral cortège that followed the remains of Thoburn, Bier, and Jenkins to their last resting-place will live in the remembrance of the youngest in our midst, and for a generation to come it will be recalled and referred to as something that it was a privilege to have witnessed. Henry Crangle was chairman of the Citizens' Commit- tee of Arrangements having the funeral in
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charge." The committee appointed by the Central Union Club of the city of Wheeling to report resolutions expressive of the sense of that city and community on receiving the news of the death of Captain Philip G. Bier, reported the following testimonial, which was read and adopted :
" Whereas, information has been received that another of our brave and efficient officers serv- ing in the Army of West Virginia, Captain Philip G. Bier, Assistant Adjutant-General of the Department, has been stricken down in the strife of battle at Cedar Creek, Virginia, on the nineteenth instant, thus sealing his devotion to the country by the sacrifice of his noble life; therefore, Resolved, That in the death of Captain Bier the army has lost a faithful and promising officer, who with the energy of youthful vigor exhibited the prudence of more mature years, and, though scarcely reaching the age when most men begin to acquire distinction, had made for himself a record that will associate his name with the noble patriots and heroes of the present eventful struggle of the nation; Resolved, That we tender to the parents and friends of the deceased our heartfelt sympathies and condolence in this afflicting bereavement, and that we invoke on them the blessings of a gracious Providence. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented to the parents of the deceased, and also furnished to the Wheel- ing Daily Intelligencer for publication. (Signed) JOHN E. WILSON, SAMUEL LAUGHLIN, JOHN R. HUBBARD, THEODORE GORRELL, S. R. DAWSON, Committee."
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