USA > West Virginia > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of West Virginia. Including reference articles on the industrial resources of the state, etc., etc. > Part 37
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Hon. A. B. Fleming was declared the legally elected Governor of the State and was shortly afterward inducted into the office and held it during the remainder of the term. During the period of Mr. Price's service in the Legislature he retained his residence at Keyser in Mineral County, but shortly after the adjournment of the session at which the Governor's contest was tried, he with his colleague, Hon. S. L. Flournoy, removed from the eastern part of the State to Charleston, the State capital, and formed a part- nership and entered upon the practice of the law there. They are now enjoying a large and increasing practice in their new home, having become well known there during their legisla- tive careers. About the time of their removal to Charleston the State of Maryland brought a suit in the Supreme Court of the United States against the State of West Virginia for the pur- pose of settling the disputed boundary lines be- tween the States. In this suit Maryland claims that the South Branch of the Potomac is the true boundary line, instead of the North Branch to which Virginia and West Virginia have always claimed and held, and she claims that all the territory lying north of the South Branch and east of a meridian line drawn from the Penn- sylvania line to the head springs of the South Branch is included within her charter and is wrongfully held by the State of West Virginia. As will be seen this suit involves a very large part of the State of West Virginia and if suc- cessful will cut the State into two distinct parts and deprive her of at least fifty thousand of her population. The Governor, being authorized by the Legislature to employ counsel to assist the Attorney-General in the defence of the suit, em- ployed the firm of Flournoy & Price and these gentlemen have prepared and filed a very full and comprehensive answer to the bill of the State of Maryland, tracing the title and claim of West Virginia to the territory in question back to the original charters from the English Kings, and producing many interesting historical facts in support of her claim. Mr. Price was married on the twelfth day of June, 1878, to Miss Sallie A. Dorsey, the daughter of Mr. John A. Dorsey of Howard County, Md. They have four inter- esting boys, and their home in Charleston is evidently a pleasant one. Mr. Price's father, George R. C. Price, was born in Frederick
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County, Md., and belonged to one of the oldest and best-known families of Maryland; Col. Thomas Price, the great-grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch having been a colonel in the Revolutionary War. The father of Mr. Price was a lawyer by profession, and at one time represented Hardy County in the Legislature of Virginia. He married Catharine Cunningham, of Hardy County, a member of the influential family of that name who were among the earli- est settlers upon the South Branch of the Poto- mac River.
HENRY BRANNON.
HON. HENRY BRANNON, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, and ex-Judge of the Eleventh Circuit, was born at Winchester, Va., on the 26th day of Novem- ber, 1837. His parents were Robert and Cath- arine Brannon, whose family consisted of the following: Harriet (who married Henry Mc- Daniel), John, Stewart J., Morgan M., and Henry Brannon. Henry Brannon resided at Winches- ter and attended private schools and the Win- chester Academy until his eighteenth year, when he began a course of study at the University of Virginia, and graduated in 1858. Upon leaving the University he went to Weston, where he read law in the office of John Brannon, and was admitted to practice in 1859. In the following year he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Lewis County, which office he filled with credit to himself and his constituents. He became popular as a lawyer and a man, and soon began to acquire a lucrative practice. As a further evidence of the esteem in which he was held in Lewis County, he became the choice of his party for the House of Delegates in 1870 and again in 1871, and served on the Committees of Education, and of Humane and Criminal Institu- tions, being chairman of the Education Commit- tee. In 1880 he was elected by the people Judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, succeeding the Hon. John Brannon, his elder brother. He served upon the bench of this circuit for eight years and increased his reputation very materi- ally as a jurist of thorough training and accurate knowledge. At the termination of his Circuit Judgeship he was at once nominated for Judge
of the Supreme Court of Appeals, and elected to that important position in 1888, to serve from January 1, 1889, to December 30, 1900. He at once graced the highest court in the State, as he had the inferior one, with not only solid learning and discriminating judgment, but also with a genial dignity. Judge Brannon has a knowledge of Latin, Greek, and other languages, is also a fluent reader of French and Spanish, in both of which his library is well supplied with the works of distinguished authors. His legal opinions are noted for clearness of statement, as well as for thorough research and strength of analysis. In 1858 Judge Brannon married Miss Hetta J. Arnold, daughter of Elijah and Pru- dence J. Arnold. They have six chidlren.
JOHN W. ENGLISH.
HON. JOHN WARTH ENGLISH, Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, is a native Virginian, whose birth in Jackson County, occurred January 31, 1831. His parents were Job English and Mary Warth, also natives of Virginia. Job was born in Rocking- ham, Mary Warth in Kanawha County. Job English and his wife moved to Kanawha County in 1835, where he became engaged in merchan- dizing and in the manufacture of salt. The subject of this sketch attended common school until he was sixteen, when his parents sent him to Illinois College, at Jacksonville, Morgan County, Ills., where he graduated with honors after a full course of four years. The educa- tional plan of this college was the same as that of Yale College, New Haven, and its faculty were largely from the famous eastern institu- tion. Young English, with marked adaptability for his chosen profession of the law, and charac- terized by a studious disposition, was yet unable to avail himself immediately of the advantages obtained in his collegiate course, and returned home to Kanawha where he assisted his father in the store and also in the salt manufacturing industry. The family were located at a place near the present town of Malden. Finally, with the assistance of Judge Warth, an uncle, and of Judge Summers, and other attorneys, the young graduate began the practical study of law at
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night, and during the spare hours of the day. He advanced rapidly in the technical routine of practice, so that he was able to obtain a license in the fall of 1855, and at once began profes- sional work in partnership with an elderly law- yer of Mason County, named Henry J. Fisher, in whose office several of the best counsel of to- day received their early training. Mr. English was now fairly at work, and a rising young ad- vocate well equipped with the liberal education his devoted parents had bestowed upon him. He avoided political questions and agitations, being essentially one of those "student lawyers" who are wholly given up to their profession. Nevertheless, he was nominated by the Demo- cratic party in 1859 for Prosecuting-Attorney of Mason County, but was not elected, and since then has taken no part in political movements. In 1888, he was nominated for Judge of the Su- preme Court of Appeals for the full term of twelve years and was elected by a handsome majority. It need hardly be remarked that it was owing to his sterling qualities as a lawyer that he was chosen to the Supreme Bench, where he is held in high esteem by both profes- sion and laity. His term will expire December 31, 1900. On May 6, 1862, Judge English mar- ried Miss Fannie Lewis, eldest daughter of John S. Lewis and Mary T. Stribling, at Point Pleas- ant. The history of the Lewis family and the history of old Virginia are largely identical; for the emigrant ancestor of the family, John Lewis, came into Augusta County as a pioneer settler in 1732, bringing with him his wife and four sons and two daughters, all natives of Europe. He was one of three French Huguenot brothers who fled to England after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. John Lewis married Margaret Lynn, daughter of the Laird of Loch Lynn, who was also a descendant of the chief- tains of a once powerful clan of the Scottish Highlands. She followed John Lewis to Amer- ica with her children and finally the family were again happily reunited in the wilds of Au- gusta County, where they became renowned. John Lewis and his wife were blest with one child in their forest home-a son of their old age, so to speak-whom they named Charles. He was born in 1736. He married Sarah Murray, a half-sister of Colonel Charles Cameron, of Bath County, Va., and left at his death the following
issue : Elizabeth, born in 1762; Margaret, 1765; John, 1766; Mary, 1768; Thomas, 1771; Andrew, 1773. The latter married Margaret Stewart in 1802, and at his death in 1833 left the following issue : First, Charles Cameron, born 1803, died unmarried in 1836; Agnes, born 1805, died 1890 (she married John L. Sehon) ; John, born 1807, died 1811; Elizabeth, born 1809, died 1812; Mary J., born 1811, married Charles R. Baldwin in 1833, and died in 1835; John Stewart, father of Mrs. English, born 18 -; Margaret D., born 1813, died 1819; Sarah Frances, born 1817, mar- ried Dr. Creigh, of Lewisburg, Va .; Elizabeth, born 1819, married 18 -; and Andrew, infant uncle of Mrs. English, born 1821, and died young. John Stewart Lewis married Mary T. Stribling (mother of Mrs. English), in 1837, and had issue, first, Fannie, second, Sarah, third, Ma- tilda, fourth, Agnes (who is the wife of Colum- bus Sehon, Ex United States Marshal for West Virginia); fifth, Margaret Lynn who died in 1885. The Lewis family have always taken a commendable pride in their ancestral history, and their genealogy is complete and one of the most extensive in this country. It will be found with an ingenious "Key" of reference in John Lewis Peyton's admirable history of Augusta County, from which the above is taken. Turn- ing again to Charles Lewis, the great grand- father of Mrs. English, after whom Lewis County, W. Va., was named, we find that he was one of the bravest of the early settlers, and was killed at the desperate battle of Point Pleasant, October 10, 1774, by the allied tribes under Chief Cornstalk, a Shawnee warrior of great skill and prowess. Gen. Andrew Lewis was in command at the battle of Point Pleasant, which was of the nature of a surprise to the Vir- ginians who were not aware that so large a body of Indians were in the vicinity. The battle lasted until sundown with many killed and wounded. Colonel Lewis fell on a plot of ground which is next door to Judge English's residence, and to which he and Mrs. English refer with mingled feelings of family pride and devotion. In Atkinson's "History of Kanawha County," the gallant Colonel Lewis is thus mentioned: " Charles was esteemed the most skilful of all the leaders of the border warfare, and was as much beloved for his noble and amiable qualities as he was admired for his military talents." Judge
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English is the father of five children. His eldest son, Lewis, is clerk in the Auditor's office at Charleston. The next is Mary Stewart, then Margaret Lynn, John W., and Eunice, forming a happy group dearly beloved by their parents. Judge English is particularly noted in the law relating to wills and estates, and shares with his associates of the Supreme Court the reputa- tion for learning and probity for which that tri- bunal is justly distinguished. In appearance Judge English is a typical Virginian, tall, slen- der, and of graceful carriage. He has the greater portion of his term before him and will without doubt prove an honor to the bench, as he has to the bar of West Virginia.
WILLIAM A. HARRISON.
HON. WILLIAM ALEXANDER HARRI- SON, of Clarksburg, one of the Judges compris- ing the first Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, was born in the ancient town of Dum- fries, Prince William County, Va., on the 27th day of August, 1795. He belonged to that dis- tinguished family known in Virginia as "the James River Harrisons," which has furnished so many statesmen and patriots to the country. He was also descended from Pocahontas, the cele- brated Indian princess from whom a number of the first families of Virginia claim descent. His education was of the kind peculiar to the schools of the day in Eastern Virginia. At an early age he chose the law for his profession and entered upon the preparatory course with his brother- in-law, the late Obed Waite of Winchester, Va., to whom he always delighted to allude as his earliest and most valued friend. After his admis- sion to the bar, young Harrison removed in 1819 to Parkersburg on the Ohio River, and began the practice of his profession. He qualified first before Judge Daniel Smith, whose circuit em- braced the counties of Rockingham, Pendleton, Preston, Monongalia, Brooke, Ohio, Tyler, Ward, Lewis, and Harrison, which he travelled every spring and fall. His circuit embraced all the territory between the Pennsylvania line and the Little Kanawha River. In 1821 Judge Har- rison removed to Clarksburg, Harrison County, where he continued to reside, and was constantly
engaged in the practice of his profession until elevated to the bench. In November, 1823, he was married to Miss Anna Mayburry, daughter of Mr. Willoughby Mayburry, of Clarksburg. In 1823, he was assistant district attorney for the District Federal Court, and transacted exclu- sively the public business at the sitting of the court in Wythe County, whither he travelled on horseback twice a year. After the establish- ment of the Court of Appeals at Lewisburg, he practised regularly at its bar until a short time before the breaking out of hostilities in the late rebellion. His practice during a long life was one of immense labor, requiring great research and profound investigation ; he appeared before seven Federal judges, fifteen circuit judges, and twelve judges of the Court of Appeals of Vir- ginia. Judge Harrison was never a politician, though all his life a constant adherent to the principles of the old Whig party, preferring rather the calm, dignified and courteous contests of the bar to the more animated scenes incident to partisan warfare. He, however, represented the County of Harrison for three sessions in the General Assembly of Virginia. Subsequently he became the District Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, and attorney for the com- monwealth in Harrison County. When the public commotions began to excite universal attention in 1860-61, Judge Harrison early dis- closed his intention of remaining loyal to the Federal Government. He was at the Federal capital during the session of the Peace confer- ence in February, 1861, and his observations led him to the conclusion that the lust of power and a wicked effort for self-aggrandizement were the motives which actuated the leading Southern politicians in their attempt to dissolve the Union. He took an active and leading position among the Union men in the meetings and measures which resulted in the establishment of the reorganized government of Virginia at Wheeling. The convention which restored the government appointed him a member of the Governor's council, where his experience and distinguished abilities rendered valuable and efficient aid in the work of restoration. The judgeship of the circuit being vacated by reason of the incumbent joining the rebellion, he was in the fall of 1861 elected to fill the vacancy, which position he occupied until elected to the
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bench of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, in 1863. He served in this capacity until 1868 when he resigned his office on account of declining health. The Supreme Court con- vened at Wheeling and Judge Harrison resided there while an officer of that court; upon his resignation he returned to Clarksburg where he died December 31, 1870. In appearance Judge Harrison was of tall stature and commanding but gracious presence. He early took a promi- nent position in the ranks of the legal profession in his section of the country, which contained some of the most eminent lawyers of the day. His powers as an advocate were of a pre-eminent character. While at the bar he earned and justly merited a reputation for courtesy and professional dignity, and as an occupant of the bench adorned it with those qualities of probity and integrity of purpose which rendered his ele- vated station an honor to the country and to humanity. Like many of Virginia lawyers, Judge Harrison delighted to fill his leisure movements with farming pursuits and lived at a country seat near Clarksburg, where he dis- pensed a generous hospitality and brought up a noble family of boys and girls. Two of his sons are lawyers of prominence in West Virginia, one of them having served many years as judge of the Third Circuit Court. In matters of religion he was a Presbyterian, and occupied the office of Ruling Elder in that church for nearly thirty years.
BALDWIN D. SPILMAN.
GEN. BALDWIN DAY SPILMAN, of Par- kersburg, President of the Monongah Coal Com- pany, and Brigadier-General, in command of the West Virginia National Guard, was born in Warrenton, Fauquier County, Va., on July 15, 1853. He is the son of Judge Edward Martin Spilman and Eliza Cummins Day. In June, 1874, young Spilman entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, and graduated in June, 1878. He was appointed Lieutenant in the Seventh United States Cavalry, in June, '78, following his graduation, and served on the frontier in the Northwest, stationed most of the time at Fort Meade, near Deadwood, in the south- western part of what is now South Dakota, where
he continued until September, 1887. In June, 1886, he married Annie Thompson Camden, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of Hon. Johnson N. Camden, United States Senator, of West Virginia, and the leading promoter of rail- road and industrial enterprises in the State. In 1887, Lieutenant Spilman resigned from the Army, and engaged in the business of mining and shipping coal. His first operations were in Mason County, W. Va., and are still being suc- cessfully carried on at the present time. In 1888, his father-in-law, Senator Camden, and associates, having built the Monongahela River Railroad from Fairmont to Clarksburg, to de- velop the coal interests of that section, the Mo- nongah Coal Company was chartered and organ- ized. The management of this company did not prove satisfactory to the stockholders and directors, and in October, 1890, Mr. Spilman was selected as General Manager; and in May, 1893, he was elected President of the Company. In March, 1890, Governor A. B. Fleming ap- pointed him on his Staff as Aide-de-Camp, with the rank of Colonel, and on the 27th of June, the same year, the Governor appointed him Brigadier-General in command of the National Guard of West Virginia. The appointment was confirmed by the Senate the following winter. Under his guidance the National Guard of the State has assumed shape and form and is now an effective force of well-drilled militia. West Virginians make good soldiers for several rea- sons. They are lithe and active, of more than usual intelligence, and have self-reliance to an extraordinary degree. They require discipline and plenty of it, but better fighting men it would be difficult to find in any other section of the
country. In a great sense they represent the peculiar features of the State-its hills and mountains and Swiss characteristics. Prior to 1890, little attention was given in the State to the military arm of the Executive, no annual encampments for drill and instruction had been held, and no appropriation for this purpose had been made by the Legislature. On the con- trary, considerable prejudice existed in the minds of many, who believed that money ap- propriated for an encampment would simply mean the payment by the State of the expenses of an annual frolic. Others, notably among the laboring classes, were for a time jealous of the
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power of the Executive's military arm, think- ing it might be used at times to oppress them. These prejudices and jealousies, however, have been overcome by hard work at the encamp- ments, as any one may see by reading General Spilman's orders prescribing the duties during the encampments, and also by the arguments that the best means of preserving order and re- spect for the law is to be prepared for disorder, and that the native working people, in common with all other good citizens of the State, are deeply interested in enforcing, when necessary, respect for the laws that they themselves have made; and by the further argument that the military is the creature of the people, kept alive by the people, and created for the benefit and protection of the whole people. When General Spilman was asked what the present strength of the National Guard of the State was, he replied, " About nine hundred men," and added :
"I think this number too small for the State. West Virginia should have about two thousand men, including one battery of artillery and one battalion of cavalry. The argument for this in- crease is very plain and easily understood. If you appear with a small force before several thousand men whose passions are heated and reason is sleeping, you simply invite them to certain destruction. A little larger force, with a few Gatling guns and field pieces connected with it, will lend great dignity to the scene, and it only becomes necessary to pitch the tents near by, when all troubles will take flight and nobody is hurt, and millions worth of property is saved. In short, I don't believe in killing our own people or those who cast their lot with us even temporarily, when it can be prevented at a small increased annual cost. I have strong hopes that the Legislature will authorize an increased force, and also pay the men for their time in camp. The National Guard of this State is largely composed now of workingmen and it is manifestly unjust to take their time without some compensation."
West Virginia enjoys supreme quiet through- out her domain and has been free from tumultu- ous uprisings of every character, but she is ready at a moment's notice to rendezvous at any point her Brigade of soldiers, consisting of the First and Second Regiments of Infantry commanded by Colonels Richard E. Fast, of Morgantown, and Thomas E. Hodges, of Huntington, respec- tively, the whole being in command of Brigadier- General B. D. Spilman, of Parkersburg. Both
regiments are armed and uniformed and sup- plied with camp equipage, except tents. These will be provided as soon as funds are available. It has been the custom heretofore to hire tents. The last two Legislatures have appropriated funds to defray the expenses of annual encamp- ments, and three such encampments have been held by the Brigade, each for six days, the time allowed under the law. When Sundays and half of the last day, for the Governor's review, are deducted, only four and a half days are left for actual work. The Legislature will be asked to lengthen the time at the next session.
E. BOYD FAULKNER.
HON. E. BOYD FAULKNER, Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, is one of West Vir- ginia's most prominent representatives. He was born at Boydville, the family homestead, in Martinsburg, Berkeley County, Va. (now West Va.), in July, 1841. His distinguished brother-whose biography appears in this vol- ume-Senator C. J. Faulkner, was the second son of the Hon. Charles James Faulkner, Sr., who, as Minister from the United States to France, made an enviable public record. Hon. E. Boyd Faulkner's education was at first con- ducted by private tutors at his father's home. He afterward attended at Georgetown College, D. C., and thence made his way to the Univer- sity of Virginia, where, however, he was not destined to remain long. The appointment of his father as United States Minister to the Court of St. Cloud seems to have disarranged his plans at the University, as, at the age of eighteen, we discover him travelling extensively in Switzer- land and Italy. Arriving in Paris his attention was directed to the study of Constitutional Law. Next we find him acting as Secretary to the American Legation. On the breaking out of the Civil War he returned to Virginia and, for a brief period, served as aide-de-camp upon Governor Letcher's staff. He resigned this position upon being appointed an officer in the Confederate States army. In June, 1864, he was taken prisoner and conveyed to Johnson's Island where he remained in confinement for one year. At the close of the war he located in Hopkins-
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