USA > West Virginia > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of West Virginia. Including reference articles on the industrial resources of the state, etc., etc. > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51
209
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
ville, Ky., where he formed a law partnership with Judge Petree. In the Seymour Campaign of 1868 he was chosen one of the electors of the Second Congressional District of Kentucky, re- moving to Martinsburg, West Va., in 1872. In 1876 he was elected to the House of Delegates from Berkeley County. In 1878 he was returned to the law-making body of his State as a mem- ber of the State Senate, by an overwhelming majority. He was subsequently tendered the presidency of that body but declined it and re- mained where the work was to be done, becom- ing Chairman of important committees, where his record was exceptionally active and com- mendable. In 1881 he was appointed a member of the Revisory Committee by the Legislature, to assist in revising the laws of the State. In 1884 he was a strong candidate for Governor, but was defeated by three votes. In 1885, under the Cleveland administration, he was tendered the Consul-Generalship to Egypt, as well as the Mission to Persia, both of which were declined. In 1892 he was appointed, by Governor Fleming, Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of the late Judge J. S. Duckwall, and at the late election was chosen by the people of said district to fill the unexpired term of said Duckwall. In this elec- tion he had no opponent, the Republicans de- clining to nominate a man against him. Previ- ous to going upon the bench, he prosecuted his legal business with energy and ability, having, among others, represented the People's National Bank, the National Bank, the Baltimore and Ohio Railway Company, the Cumberland Valley and Martinsburg Railway Company, the Mar- tinsburg Mining, Manufacturing, and Improve- ment Company, the Baltimore and Ohio Relief Association, the Potomac Pulp Company, the Standard Lime and Stone Company, Fayer- weather & Ladew, De Ford & Co., etc. He was President of the Board of Trade, the Val- ley Exchange Building Association, and one of the trustees of Berkeley Springs and Norborne Cemetery. In the year 1868 he married Miss Sue C. Campbell, of Kentucky, and has but one daughter, May Buckner Faulkner. Irrespective of his political views, Mr. Faulkner enjoys the confidence and esteem of the whole community in which he lives, and is regarded as a man of culture and refinement wherever he goes.
CHARLES J. FAULKNER.
HON. CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER, of Martinsburg, United States Senator, and Ex- Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial District, the second son of the elder Charles James, was born at "Boydville," the ancestral home of one of the most distinguished families connected with both Virginias, on the 21st of September, 1847. His father, the Hon. Charles James Faulkner, was among the ablest diplomats who represented the United States at the Court of St. Cloud. In point of fact, if the noteworthy deeds of our an- cestors may be said to ever move us to emulate their example, the outcome of the inspiration afforded may be written down as having been fully verified in the life work of the subject of this biography. Full of activities, intermixed with strange vicissitudes, the career of the elder Faulkner pointed the future of any son of his who might essay to win fame and honor by a well-spent life. Beginning life in an humble way, and left an orphan in his eighth year, he commenced the struggle with fate in America, and upon the spot where he mostly lived and finally died. The home of the Faulkners almost overshadows the grave of a great grandfather, lost in the Revolution, and a grandfather who took a leading part in the War of 1812. The mother of Charles James, Sr., died while the latter was a child incapable of comprehending a mother's care, so that his lot became cast any- where but among roses. The hardest circum- stances met the boy at every turn. But he had the heart of a born soldier, most natural to the son of a major of artillery. Staring fate in the face, he had naught to offer save his sterling little heart filled with honesty, and commingling with those Scotch-Irish sturdy qualities inher- ited from a long line of ancestry. So, he found a home with the village doctor, and here his first lessons in self-reliance and industry were taught and quickly applied. As years roll by, ambitions that seemed at first vague, subse- quently matured, and the study of law early at- tracted and then engrossed his attention. He attended the famous law school of Chancellor Tucker at Winchester, and in a briefer space of time than that usually accorded, passed his ex- amination and was admitted to the bar. Untir- ing industry, at that period, took the place of
.
210
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
brilliancy, as his after-life exemplified. Still, through a life of unflagging energy, he was al- ways a tireless worker. The year 1830 ushered in many important events in American history, and its opening found the elder Mr. Faulkner practically launched in public life. It would require a volume in itself to adequately depict the momentousness of his career, and reference is made here to his early life more with a view to illustrate the inborn qualities of his son, the Senator, than to direct attention to his father's prowess, which has long become historical to those who read American, and especially Vir- ginian lore. Hon. Charles James Faulkner- named after his father-represents with distinc- tion his own State in the highest branch of Con- gress, and whatever may be the promise of his future, the past and present mirror the Virginian patriot in no uncertain colors. Up to the age of twelve, he received tuition at his "Boydville" home, the selection of teachers being an item of much care on the part of his parents. When his father was assigned Minister to France, he ac- companied him thither in 1859. During his so- journ, care was taken to provide him the best education then afforded by the schools of Swit- zerland and France, and with his brother, E. Boyd Faulkner, no advantage was lost sight of. Returning to the United States in 1861, he was in company with his father at Washington when the latter was arrested for causes long since made historical. Immediately he started south- ward, resolutely yet carefully avoiding the diffi- culties incident to those days of risk and trouble. He was now in his fifteenth year, and entering the Military Institute at Lexington, Va., was soon found serving with the cadets in the Battle of Newmarket. Subsequently, he was chosen aide to Gen. John C. Breckinridge, and again to Gen. Henry A. Wise, with whom he surren- dered at Appomattox. Returning to Boydville, he commenced the study of law under his father's direction, and in 1866 entered as a law student at the University of Virginia, and grad- uating in 1868, was admitted to practice within a few days of having attained his majority. His quick perception, ready fluency of speech, and marvellous aptness in seizing the salient points of a case, soon won him a reputation among older members of the profession, so that rarely any important suit was fought or argued with-
out his aid. Finally, in 1880, Mr. Faulkner was elected Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Dis- trict, which comprised the Counties of Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson. In this position we discover him the youngest Judge in the State, being only in his thirty-third year. Yet, from the reports current at the time, his record was exceptionally clear of fault-finding, his decisions being generally upheld in the higher courts. When notified of his election to the Senate of the United States, he resigned his judgeship on the 5th of May, 1887. He was elected at an ex- tra session of the Legislature, assembled to elect a successor to Hon. J. N. Camden. By a resolution of the Senate, his term commenced on March 4, 1887, and consequently expired in 1893. In January, 1893, he was re-elected for a full term of six years. A political opponent and prominent lawyer once said of him: "I would not hesitate to trust to Judge Faulkner's deci- sion in his legal capacity upon any political question." As a Senator, he has exhibited such rare qualities of sound judgment, industry in all matters claiming his patience and attention, and withal promptness and decision, that he easily takes his place among the distinguished mem- bers of the Senate's body. Of him it may justly be alleged that "a public office is a public trust," for in legislation he has ever been found truly faithful. Upon the most hard-worked and important Committees of the Senate he is regu- larly found, always grappling with technical questions of procedure or fact. His capacity for infinite painstaking, which is said to be one of the essentials of genius, has stood him in good stead in this important work. As a mem- ber of the Committees on Claims and Pensions, he has investigated and reported upon an im- mense number of cases, his reports being so thorough, exhaustive of the subject, and logical, that in every instance they have received the approval of the Committee and been reported to the Senate according to his views. His work on the Committee on Mines and Mining was also very valuable. Among the celebrated claims which have been before that Committee and which he considered and reported upon was that of "William McGarrahan" which concerned an amount of money involving millions of dollars. He also performed important service upon the Committees of Territories, Immigration, and
2II
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
District of Columbia, and upon the select Com- mittee on Indian Traders, and the select Com- mittee to Investigate the Work of the Washing- ton Aqueduct. His work on the Committee of the District of Columbia has been most impor- tant and far-reaching in considering the future greatness and beauty of the Capital of the Na- tion. From this Committee he had passed a bill regulating the entire railroad problem which had so long been a source of contention between the railroads, the District, and Congress, and has introduced and is now pushing vigorously many bills for the erection of needed public buildings, and the correction of abuses of franchises and privileges which have grown up under former systems of legislation. So far as the State of West Virginia is concerned, he has spared no effort to obtain for her, in the matter of public improvements, all the recognition possible from the Federal Congress. He has strongly urged the necessity of improving her water-ways and supplying her with public build- ings and has been most successful in his attain- ment of these objects. The gallant and success- ful fight which he made in the Senate to have the direct tax due the State under recent legis- lation, and which was withheld by the Secretary of the Treasury on technical grounds, refunded to her, reflected greatly to his credit both in the Senate and in his State. In addition to what we have mentioned, we owe to him the introduction of the following and many other bills upon which to base much needed legislation, viz., a bill for the prevention of food and drug adulterations, which was the first general law upon the sub- ject. Then, we owe to him the introduction of the following bills-" To amend the law relative to proof in equity;" "To equalize the pay of Assistant United States Attorneys;" "To pro- vide for holding terms of the District and Cir- cuit Courts of the United States at Martinsburg, W. Va .; " "To refund to the State of West Vir- ginia, money paid to the Militia for services rendered during the Civil War;" "For the erec- tion of needed public buildings at Martinsburg ;" and "To recognize and pay certain claims due by West Virginia to citizens thereof for services rendered the United States during the late con- flict and properly chargeable to the National Government." Senator Faulkner has five chil- dren, the result of his marriage with Miss Sallie
-
Winn, an accomplished lady of Charlottesville, Va., whose wise forethought and influence has contributed in no slight measure to her hus- band's successes and the complete happiness of a delightful home. Their marriage occurred on November 25, 1869. In Masonry, Mr. Faulkner has attained to the degree of Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of West Virginia, an office which he filled with honor. Of the arduous work, unflinchingly faced by the Senator up to the date of writing, the great campaign of 1892 affords a striking instance of his tact, eloquence, and power of endurance. From the inception of the movement in June, 1892, to place Hon. Grover Cleveland for a second time in the Presi- dential chair, Mr. Faulkner has unflaggingly labored by pen and tongue, not alone in his own State, but as far as time and travel would per- mit throughout neighboring States, to win to the party's side that confidence of the whole people which he always believed was the lawful . inheritance of the Democracy. In the State and National Canvass, his familiar figure was ever present and his eloquent accents fell with per- suasive effect upon the ears of thousands, so that whatever credit is due in the aggregate to the army of earnest workers in the Democratic tri- umph lately achieved, the Senator's share ought to be full to overflowing. Sparing neither time nor pains, he worked on unceasingly, prophesy- ing from day to day the result as we find it at this writing. His opposition to the Force Bill, from the time he occupied the floor of the Sen- ate for twelve hours in his speech of warning and denunciation, down to the close of the cain- paign before the people, is generally conceded to have been masterly and statesmanlike. No man in Congress gave that subject greater or more tireless attention and none deserves more than he the credit and the praise of having buried the proposed legislation entirely beyond the probability of resurrection. Notwithstand- ing this fact, we find it peculiarly true of Sena- tor Faulkner, that no partisan considerations in his mental make-up are ever permitted to in- terfere with that duty which he feels he owes to the people as a whole. A clear-headed, stanch, and consistent Democrat, he knows the right; a patriot always, he resists the wrong. In this double sense, he will doubtless retain a warm place in the Nation's heart.
212
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
EDWARD B. KNIGHT.
EDWARD BOARDMAN KNIGHT, a prom- inent lawyer of Charleston, W. Va., was born at Hancock, Hillsborough County, N. H., August 22, 1834. He was the son of Asa Knight and Melinda Adams, whose family came from the same ancestors as the celebrated Adams family of Massachusetts which furnished two Presi- dents of the United States and a Minister to the Court of St. James. In 1839 the family moved to Milford, N. H., and young Edward's boyhood was passed on a farm in that neighborhood. When he was eighteen years of age he went to Nashua and worked in a machine shop for nearly three years; this kind of work, however, was not suited for him, and his health naturally failed and he was obliged to give it up. Hav- ing determined to fit himself for college, he ac- cordingly entered a preparatory school at New London, N. H., and after passing through the proper course satisfactorily entered Dartmouth College in the fall of 1857 and graduated with the class of 1861. He now studied for the pro- fession of law and was admitted to the bar in Sullivan County, N. H., in September, 1863. In the spring of the following year he opened an office in Dover, N. H., but in 1865 he moved to Charleston, Kanawha County, W. Va., where he entered in partnership with Col. Benjamin H. Smith, a business relation which continued for six years, when Colonel Smith retired from practice, and was replaced in the firm by his son Isaac N. Smith, who died in the fall of 1883. Mr. Knight continued the practice of law in Charles- ton until January 1, 1892, when he retired from active business, having gained the esteem and confidence of all who knew him, the bench and bar holding him in high regard, while his clients confided in him both in regard to his ability and integrity with perfect assurance. In 1872 Mr. Knight was a member of the constitutional con- vention of West Virginia, serving therein upon the committee on the legislative department and the select committee on land titles. Beyond this Mr. Knight never held public office. He is general counsel of the Kanawha and Michigan Railway Company. He is specially in repute as a reference lawyer, and on this account is often consulted on the more abstruse legal ques- tions. Mr. Knight is exceedingly popular among
all classes and has been mentioned for Governor of the State; possessing a genial disposition and pleasant manner, besides being eminent in his profession, and a man of sterling integrity, he is highly esteemed and respected both profes- sionally and as a citizen ..
JOHN C. HUPP.
JOHN COX HUPP, A.M., M.D., a distin- guished physician and representative citizen of Wheeling, comes of a family noted for heroism and sacrifice in the days of Indian warfare. Philip Hupp, John Hupp, Frank Hupp, Palsar Hupp, and another brother whose name has not been preserved, came, in 1770, to the frontier from the Shenandoah Valley, and settled on the " Dutch Fork" of Buffalo, in what is now Wash- ington County, Pa., but was then a part of Vir- ginia, remaining so until after the running of Mason and Dixon's line. Frank was shot by an Indian at Jonathan Link's cabin, twelve miles east of Wheeling, on Middle Wheeling Creek, September, 1771; John was killed while defend- ing Miller's block house, on Buffalo Creek, from the Indians, on Easter Sunday of 1782; Palsar settled on the banks of the Monongahela, near the village of Millsborough, and Philip, who was at the siege of Miller's block house, afterward set- tled in Duck Creek Valley. John Hupp left a son of the same name, who was two years old at the time of the siege of the block house within which he was when his father was killed. He was born July 27, 1780, and on January 19, 1813, was married to Ann Cox, by whom he had four children: Isaac, Joseph, Louisa, and John C., of whom the latter only survives. The father died March 12, 1864, and the mother, who was born June 7, 1791, died November 26, 1875. John C. Hupp, the subject of this sketch, was born in Donegal Township, Washington County, Pa., November 24, 1819. He was educated at West Alexander Academy, and at Washington Col- lege, Pennsylvana, from which he graduated in 1844; subsequently, in 1848, taking the degree of A.M .; studied medicine under Dr. F. Julius Le Moyne of Washington, and at the Jefferson Medical College, whence he graduated in 1847, settling in Wheeling December 16, 1847, in gen-
John C. Hupf. M. D
213
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
eral practice. The Doctor recalls the fact that James G. Blaine was at Washington College at the same time and proved to be a close, hard stu- dent, as well as exceedingly punctual in his at- tendance. In the midst of strangers, but with a thorough medical education and an undaunted purpose to excel, he commenced his professional career by responding to a call from a wretched hovel in one of the alleys of the city. The suc- cess that attended this humble beginning was an auspice of the prosperous career that was open- ing up before him. Dr. Hupp's office for many years was on Main Street, one door north of Judge Fry's residence. During the forty-three years following, he has occupied the same ground, the field of his professional labors grad- ually widening till it extends now as counsellor with his professional brethren, far toward the geographical centre of his own State, and into the adjacent counties of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Dr. Hupp was one of the founders of the Medical Society of the State of West Virginia and took an active part in the work of organization; he brought chloral hydrate to the notice of the pro- fession February 21, 1870, in a case of puer- peral mania. In 1873 he inaugurated the meas- ure in the Wheeling Schools that when a lady. teacher does the work of a male teacher, she should have the same salary and hold an equally honorable rank. In 1873, he made a successful effort before the Board of Education to extend to the colored children of Wheeling a free school education; in 1873, to establish evening free schools; in 1875, to make German a regular branch of study in the public schools; also, in 1877, was alike successful in making industrial drawing a regular branch of study in the free- school course of the city of Wheeling. For these liberal and successful efforts in the cause of education the Doctor was serenaded by his German fellow-citizens, headed by Augustus Pollock who made an excellent address; and the colored people also waited on the Doctor at his residence and presented him with a gold- headed cane appropriately inscribed, also an ad- dress and resolutions expressing their gratitude and appreciation of his services in their behalf. Dr. Hupp was appointed, in 1875, a delegate of the American Medical Association to the Euro- pean Medical Association which met at Brussels, but professional engagements prevented his at-
tendance; was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Centennial Medical Commis- sion to the International Medical Congress, which convened at Philadelphia, September 4, 1876; he witnessed the cremation, first in the United States, of Baron de Palm at Washington, Pa., December 6, 1876, in the Crematory built under the direction of his preceptor, Dr. Le Moyne, in which, subsequently, Dr. S. D. Gross was cremated. His notable cases of surgery include the case of a ruptured uterus, reported with illustrations in Transactions of the State Medical Society for 1874, and extensively copied in medical publications throughout the United States. The complications and difficulties at- tending this case made it the most remarkable in its character and result ever reported in the history of medicine. The patient survived and is still living in good health in Marshall County, W. Va. In 1858 he was received at Washing- ton, D. C., a member by invitation of the Amer- ican Medical Association, in which he was a member of the Committee on Nominations in 1863; Secretary of the Section on the Practice of Medicine and Obstetrics in 1869, and of the Committee on Nominations in 1875, 1876, and 1878; and for many years he was Chairman of the Committee of the American Medical Asso- ciation for his State, on American Medical Ne- crology. His memoranda of the eminent medi- cal dead of his State have been published in the Transactions of the Association and many of them copied into the local newspapers. He served during ten consecutive years as treasurer of both State and local medical societies, elected annually ; is a member of the Historical Society of West Virginia; was elected, April 6, 1869, a corresponding member of the Gynæecological Society of Boston, the Society at the same time inviting from him communications for publica- tion in their Transactions; is an honorary mem- ber of the Trinity Historical Society of Dallas, Texas; and a life member, and for a series of years, Vice-President for West Virginia, of the Alumni Association of Jefferson Medical College. Among other contributions to medical literature, he is the author of papers on " Placenta Previa," 1863; "Salivary Calculus," 1863; " Vaccination and its Protective Powers," 1870; "Chloral in Puerperal Insanity," 1870, copied into medical journals from the State Medical Society Trans-
214
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
actions; "Congenital Phimosis and Calculus in Urethra," 1870; "Opium Poisoning Treated by Belladonna," 1872; "Ruptured Uterus," 1874; "Encephaloid Abdominal Tumor," 1857; Biographical Sketch of Joseph Thoburn M.D., prepared by request of the medical profes- sion of Wheeling, 1865; Memorial to the Leg- islature of West Virginia on the appointment of a State Geologist, 1870; and a memorial to the same body on the establishment of a State Board of Health, 1877; cases of " Phimosis and Adherent Prepuce," 1877; and the "Diagnostic Importance of Symptoms," 1878. He has also furnished various articles for the Medical and Surgical Reporter. In 1850 he was physician in ordinary to the Ohio County Almshouse and Ohio County Jail; has been physician in ordi- nary to the United States District Court from 1863 to the present time; was physician and secretary to the City Board of Health in 1864; is physician to the Children's Home of Wheel- ing, as he has been since 1873; was commis- sioned by Governor Pierpont, State Vaccine Agent, January 1, 1863, and successively re- appointed by Governors Boreman, Stevenson, and Jacob, making a service of nearly fifteen years; was President of the Board of Supervi- sors of Ohio County from 1863 to 1866, inclusive, and used the influence of his office in support of the Union, having paid out thousands of dollars in bounties to soldiers of Ohio County. Was commissioned United States Pension Examin- ing Surgeon in 1862, his commission being the first one issued to a West Virginia examining surgeon, and was President of the Board from its formation until he resigned his commission in 1885, a service of nearly a quarter century. He is visiting physician to the "West Virginia Home for Aged and Friendless Women," and was appointed, February 26, 1891, by the board of directors of the New City Hospital a member of the consulting staff of that institution. Dr. Hupp was married March 1, 1853, to Carolene Louise Todd, daughter of the late Dr. A. S. Todd, of Wheeling, and they have had the fol- lowing children: Archibald, born October I, 1855, of the firm of Speidel & Co .; Amanda Vir- ginia, born October 9, 1859, wife of Charles V. Harding, of Washington, Pa .; Ann Louise, born July 30, 1862, wife of Robert H. Bullard, M.D., of Wheeling; Francis Julius Le Moyne, born
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.