USA > West Virginia > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of West Virginia. Including reference articles on the industrial resources of the state, etc., etc. > Part 46
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A B. Elkins,
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ments reflected advanced newspaper ideas and methods. It made it a cardinal principle to publish all the news in the most readable shape, and its rapid increase in circulation attested the popular appreciation of this policy. In 1888 the Register, single-handed and alone, took up the long-sustained but unavailing efforts of Judge R. H. Cochran to secure for Wheeling a union rail- road bridge, and although at first little enthusiasm was aroused, and a rival paper gave it as its de- liberate editorial opinion that Wheeling had enough railroad facilities, the Register persisted in its efforts to secure to this city that great ad- vantage, and to-day has the satisfaction of see- ing that great enterprise on the eve of full and successful operation, after the expenditure of about three millions of dollars by those inter- ested in the enterprise financially. This is but an instance of the public spirit and wide influ- ence for good of this paper, others of recent date being the advocacy of the stone bridge and the electric light, and these things attest the public appreciation of its progressive course. A sketch of this nature would not be complete did it not refer to the long list of able newspaper men who have graduated from this office. The roll is a long one, and contains such names as W. H. Oxtoby, of Erie, Pa .; J. St. J. Clarkson and William H. Taney, both now dead; Charles Dawson, of the Pittsburg Post; P. L. Water, of the Pittsburg Chronicle-Telegraph; C. S. How- ell, formerly of the Pittsburg Times, now of the Baltimore and Ohio; Charles Johnson, late of many newspapers, now of Rochester, N. Y. ; H. T. Black, now of the St. Paul Globe; Captain G. H. Moffat, of the Portland Telegraph; W. P. Willey, of the State University; O. S. Long, Clerk of the Supreme Court; Captain W. G. Waller, late of Atlanta, Ga., now in Richmond, Va .; Henry S. Walker, late Secretary of State; R. R. Wilson, of New York City ; Fred R. Swann, now of Charleston; Austen Beach, now of Bloch Bros. ; William S. Faris, of the Intelligencer; C. F. Cozad and H. C. Sterner, both dead; Ed. Mann, Thomas Hewett, lately of Pittsburgh, now deceased; and a long list of others. A better lot of newspaper men never wielded pencil, and of them the Register and Wheeling may well be proud. Some of them are dead, and the living are scattered far and wide, but they have worthy successors in their old places, and in such new ones as the rapid march of newspaper progress has rendered indispensable, and it is of the handiwork of their successors-the Wheeling newspaper men of 1891-we speak when we say that no city of equal size in the Union has better newspapers than Wheeling. The new Hoe press of the Register will deliver from one roll four-page papers at the running speed of from 20,000 to 24, 000 per hour ; eight-page papers at the running speed of from 10,000 to 12,000 per hour, which we believe is faster than obtained
from any single press made outside of their es- tablishment; but in addition to this, by placing a second small roll of paper, as shown in the engraving, we are able to print and deliver, folded, six-page papers at the running speed of 20,000 to 24,000 per hour, and ten or twelve-page papers at the running speed of 10,000 to 12,000 per hour, with the supplement inset and pasted, the sheet cut at the top, and all delivered, folded and counted. In having this improved machine running in our office we stand on the same level with the large metropolitan dailies. It is the first press of the kind, and aptly named the 'Register," and this class of presses will be known hereafter by the public and the manu- facturers under this title."
Mr. Taney, in addition to the Register Com- pany, is identified with some of the most im- portant industries and business enterprises of Wheeling. Mr. Taney's life on sea and land has been one of varied activity and experience, and his knowledge of men and of the world in general has had no small share in shaping his course so happily, and making him a power for good in the advancement of his city and State. In 1872 Mr. Taney married Miss Emily F. Pollock, youngest daughter of the late Thomas Pollock, of Wheeling.
STEPHEN B. ELKINS.
HON. STEPHEN BENTON ELKINS, a citizen of West Virginia, and Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President Harrison, was born in Perry County, Ohio, on the 26th of Septem- ber, 1841. During the childhood of Mr. Elkins his father removed with his family to the State of Missouri, where young Elkins attended the public school and was fitted for college. En- tering the Missouri University, he graduated in 1860, at the age of eighteen. He was admitted to the Bar in 1863. When the war broke out he joined the Union forces and attained the rank of Captain. In 1864 young Elkins removed to New Mexico, where at that time dangers, hard- ships and discomforts had to be met and over- come, but along with these came opportunities for success. Nearly two-thirds of the popula- tion were Spanish-speaking people, and with the Spanish language Mr. Elkins had little or no acquaintance. To practise law successfully, a
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knowledge of that language was a necessity. By hard study and close application he spoke
the language fairly within one year. From this time his popularity and influence widened .. Barely had the first year of his residence elapsed when he was elected to the Territorial Legisla- ture. In this position, his watchfulness of the interests of his constituents and his rapidly de- veloping force of character won him regard and favor. By his speeches in the Legislature he gained distinction throughout the Territory. In 1867 he was made Attorney-General of the Ter- ritory. In 1869, President Andrew Johnson ap- pointed him United States Attorney. After holding this place nearly four years, he resigned under the Grant Administration. He discharged the duties of the office with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his superiors. He was elected a Delegate in 1873, to represent the Ter- ritory in the Forty-third Congress of the United States. In Congress, where he served two terms, his career was noteworthy. By attending to his duties he increased his popularity at home and won the confidence of his fellow members. At the close of Mr. Elkins' first term in Con- gress, he visited Europe, and upon his return was surprised to find himself re-elected while abroad to the Forty-fourth Congress. This was done in the face of his positive declina- tion to be a candidate before going to Europe. During his service in Congress he introduced a bill for the admission of New Mexico as a State into the Union. Mr. Elkins' speech in the House in support of the bill won him a na- tional reputation. Although there was a strong opposition, the bill passed the House by a two- thirds vote, due largely to Mr. Elkins' speech and personal efforts. The bill received an amendment in the Senate and was defeated for want of time on its return to the House. From the start, and whenever opportunity permitted, he has steadily pursued his legal profession, and invariably with marked success. In finance his talent showed early and remarkable develop- ment. In 1869 he became President of the First National Bank of Santa Fé, which under his management, acquired national credit and name. For more than a decade Mr. Elkins has been in- terested financially in the development of West Virginia. His residence, as well as numerous interests are within the borders of that State.
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One of the most far-reaching enterprises in which he took a prominent part was the building of the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Rail- way, and the development of large tracts of coal and timber land in the Cumberland region. Generally speaking, the career of Mr. Elkins as a statesman and politician has, in a large meas- ure, included his business projects, involving, as they do, remarkable skill and soundness of judg- ment in the management and control of men. This faculty has won to his side a host of friends and men of business, who place implicit confi- dence in his counsel and suggestions. While in Congress, he wedded the daughter of Senator Henry G. Davis, of West Virginia, a lady widely and deservedly noted for her genuine womanly refinement and true amiability of character. Mr. Elkins' sympathies have at all times been with every benevolent movement, whether for- eign or American. On the labor question he has always endeavored to establish confidence and harmony between employees and em- ployers. For all reforms no readier patron can be sought out, no more willing supporter ap- pealed to, than Mr. Elkins. As the warm per- sonal friend of the late Hon. James G. Blaine, Mr. Elkins took a very active part in his behalf in the campaign of 1884. His decided convic- tions regarding the Republican protective tariff policy came most prominently before the coun- try in 1875, when he became a member of the Republican National Committee, representing New Mexico. His greatest national prominence came to him during the campaign of 1884, when he was chosen Chairman of the Executive Com- mittee of the National Republican Committee, a position he held with honor, and was marked at the time by the unflagging zeal which he in- spired in all his co-workers in behalf of Mr. Blaine. In 1878, he removed from Washington to New York City, where from his office he con- ducted the business of his several interests in New Mexico, Colorado and West Virginia. His country home is now at Elkins, in the latter State. Like an old time baronial mansion, it occupies a mountain site, with a magnificent prospect, taking in a wide stretch of valley, mountain peaks and ranges. A vast porch sur- rounds the four-story structure on three sides, which, viewed from a distance, with its towers, is not unlike an ancient castle. The main hall
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of the house is fifty-eight feet long by twenty- five feet wide, from which fact some idea may be formed of the large space occupied by the other apartments of the house. In December, 1891, Mr. Elkins was nominated by President Harrison for Secretary of War, to succeed Mr. Proctor. His appointment was well received throughout the country, and his selection was regarded as an excellent one by the leading men in both parties. Mr. Elkins, from his close ac- quaintance with the army, his residence in the West, his experience in Congress and his knowl- edge of law and business methods, was well fitted for the duties of the office. In such a position his power of organizing and directing-a con- spicuous characteristic of the man-had free scope, and he fully justified the expectations of all who knew him. In discharging the duties of Secretary of War, Mr. Elkins was accessible to everybody, on public business, and made it a point to be cordial, obliging and helpful to Senators and members of the House in matters they had in hand before the Department. After hearing the facts he never delayed making a de- cision. At this time a keen observer of men wrote of him:
"His intellectual strength, his sound sense, his generous nature, and high minded personal worth, won him the friendship of the best men of all parties. This high regard, achieved by the force of his own liberal merits, he has contin- ually kept, and it has changed only to be bright- ened by the lapse of time.'
Mr. Elkins is what is generally considered a large man, and stands slightly over six feet in height. He has an intensely strong face, is broad shouldered and powerfully built. He is exceed- ingly fond of books, and is an ardent student of literature and history. Mr. Elkins' father, Colonel P. D. Elkins, is still living at the age of eighty-four. His mother's name was Sarah Withers, and she belonged to the aristocratic family of Lee, in Virginia. By his first wife Mr. Elkins has two surviving children, Mrs. A. C. Oliphant, living at Trenton, New Jersey, and Mrs. Edward E. Bruner, of New York City, who was married November 17, 1893, by Cardinal Gibbons, assisted by Archbishop Ireland, with imposing ceremonies, in the Fifth Avenue Cathe- dral in New York. By his second wife Mr. El- kins has five children : four boys, Davis, Stephen B., Jr., Richard, and Blaine, and one girl,
Katherine. As a public citizen, husband and father, Hon. Stephen B. Elkins has made an enviable record and may well be classed among leading typical American gentlemen.
JAMES T. MCCLURE.
REV. JAMES THOMAS MCCLURE, D.D., an eminent Presbyterian divine of Wheeling, pastor of the United Presbyterian Church, on Chapline street, was born near Pittsburg, July 19, 1822. He is the son of Daniel McClure and Hannah McFarlane, who were both natives of Allegheny County, Pa. His father was the son of William and Elizabeth Holliday McClure, and his mother, a daughter of Andrew and Margaret Lewis McFarlane. The grandfathers on both sides were born in Ireland of Scotch-Irish fam- ilies. The father and mother were married in their native county, August 1I, 1808, and six children were born to them, of whom the sub- ject of this sketch is the only survivor. The father died June 6, 1823, and the mother March 24, 1846. James Thomas McClure attended the district school, and at the age of fifteen was qualified to teach, which he did until he became of age, excepting at busy seasons on his father's farm, when he helped in the general work of tilling and harvesting. In the spring of 1845, he entered the senior class of Pittsburg Col- lege, and graduated in July, 1846, when he began his theological studies at the Seminary of the Associated Reformed (now the United Presbyterian) Church at Allegheny City, and attended three sessions. In the year 1849, he received his license to preach and travelled for four months as a missionary in western Penn- sylvania. During the winter of that year he attended one session of the Theological Semi- nary at Due West, S. C. While there he re- ceived a call from the Associated Reformed Church of Wheeling, and this call he accepted April 16, 1850, and was installed May 28 fol- lowing. A sketch of Doctor McClure in the History of the Upper Ohio Valley speaks of him as follows :
" He first occupied the pulpit of the congrega- tion as pastor, to which he has since ministered, on the second Sunday of March, 1850, and the
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subsequent period of his pastorate, which has been longer than that of any other minister in Wheeling, has been one characterized by kind relations and hearty co-operation on the part of minister and congregation. The church has notably prospered, and its pulpit has been one of the most influential in the city. During this period, Dr. McClure has taken into the church nearly 1,000 people, and has married 309 ccuples. Being equipped with a good classical education at the beginning of his ministry, Dr. McClure has been a close student and has made himself familiar with literary and scientific ad- vancement. The important questions of the day have called forth from him valuable contribu- tions to literature, articles for the press, and a well-known volume, entitled 'Science and the Bible.' For more than thirty years also, he has served as director of the Theological Seminary of Allegheny City. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by Westminster College, of Pennsylvania. Dr. McClure was married March 28, 1850, to Helen Wall, of Pittsburg, daughter of William and Lucy Wall, natives of England. They have had eight children, of whom the following survive: Helen Wall; James Hunter, wholesale grocer; Lucy, wife of W. J. W. How- den; Robert Bruce, clerk in the Exchange bank ; Zoe, and John H. McClure, D.D.S."
The Daily Register of January 6, 1892, has a portrait and sketch of Doctor McClure, com- memorating his forty-third anniversary as pas- tor. The Register gives the following tribute to him and his remarkable career in the ministry :
"One of the longest and most remarkable pastorates in the history of the city, and one full of honors and fruitful labors, is that now being enjoyed by Rev. James Thomas McClure, D. D., pastor of the United Presbyterian Church, on Chapline street. It will be remembered that Mr. McClure recently celebrated his one hundred and sixty-eighth communion. He has been shepherd of the flock uninterruptedly for over forty-two years, and the 10th of next March will round out the forty-third anniver- sary. During all these years there has existed the most friendly relations between pastor and people, and in fruitful and lasting results a proud record has been achieved. Forty-three years! Think of the sermons, and the lectures, and the informal talks, and even the genial presence of the beloved pastor in all this cycle of time; and think for a moment of the incal- culable benefit it has been to hundreds of souls over a wide stretch of territory, through all the interchange of membership brought about by the ever-shifting scenes of humanity. Four thousand sermons! Such has been the number delivered by Dr. McClure during his pastorate. In addition to these he has given over two thou-
sand weekly lectures and officiated at three hundred and forty-eight weddings. During all these years over one thousand people have been taken into the church. This congregation was originally organized under the name of the As- sociate Reformed Church. The Associate and the Reformed Churches formed an organic union about the year 1782. After several years of earnest trial, a union between the Associate and the Associate Reformed Churches was com- pleted, which formed what is known as the United Presbyterian Church. The formal or- ganization of the congregation took place on the 24th day of November, 1843. The church at that time was located at Short Creek, with Rev. William Wallace as pastor. In 1866 it was de- termined to change the location of the church property, and to erect a new house of worship. The church now represented by the present edi- fice on Chapline street was erected at a cost of thirty thousand dollars. . . . He first occupied the pulpit as pastor on the second Sunday in March, 1850, and the subsequent period of his pastorate, which has been longer than any other minister in Wheeling, has been one character- ized by kind relations and hearty co-operation on the part of minister and congregation. The church has notably prospered, and its pulpit has been one of the most influential in the city. Among the ups and downs of the church, about 1855 and along to 1860, there was a very strong current of population flowing westward, and the spirit of immigration seized hold of this as well as other churches, somewhat thinning out the congregation. Then caine the business depres- sion of '73, which also affected the numerical strength of the church. These were two of the severest obstacles with which the United Presby- terian Church, in common with other churches, had to contend. But after these conditions were appeased activity was resumed, and from that time to the present day the membership has steadily grown, until now it is, perhaps, in better condition and gives more evidence of future prosperity than ever before. Of the list of members on the roll of the church when Dr. McClure took charge only two remain in active membership. There are two other members still on the roll, however, but one of them has removed from the city, and they are not so closely identified with the church."
CHARLES J. FAULKNER.
THE misconceptions and perversions of the late civil conflict have given to certain events in the life of this gentleman an intense conspicuity which does injustice to his general, personal, and political character. Returning to his country,
Jil. 17 76 Hudbyhang &Engran me do New York
HOL CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER.
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after indefatigable and successful services as its Minister to France, he encountered that period in the contest when the right of a citizen to be heard in his defence was denied by the Directory and abandoned by the people. He was immediately arrested, and not for any want of fidelity to his trust-not by the State Department, which takes cognizance of a Minister's misconduct-but by the war power, and as a hostage-a Virginian to equalize an imprisoned Pennsylvanian. Hon. Charles James Faulkner was born in Berkeley County, Va., where he maintained his residence and influence for half a century or more, having entered the House of Delegates in the year 1831, at the age of twenty-five. The war changed neither his social, professional, pecuniary, nor public rank. As in 1832, he advocated gradual emancipation in the Virginia Legislature; so forty years later he was a leader in the Consti- tutional Convention of West Virginia, and vin- dicated there the prescience and principles of his youth. Mr. Faulkner was attached to the Whig party until 1852, when, impressed with the abandonment of its principles by that organ- ization, he declined to support Winfield Scott, and gave his earnest efforts to the election of the Democratic nominee to the Presidency. For eight years he was the representative in Con- gress of the most exposed constituency in the South, occupying the salient angle at the outlet of the great valley of Virginia, where the ebb and flow of fugitives and emissaries poured across the narrow skirt of Maryland soil, until at last Captain Brown's band and Mr. Faulk- ner's constituents opened the war in the Shen- andoah Valley-the sign and portent of the mighty conflict to follow. Had the representa- tive of this invaded constituency been either a demagogue or a conspirator, his opportunity was a brilliant one to turn this occasion to mu- tiny; but he hoped all things in the Union. He even represented Captain Brown in the prepara- tory part of the trial; and in the full confidence of the country's repose, he accepted a foreign mission from Mr. Buchanan, and retained it until the great conflict was actually begun. His an- cestry on both sides had been defenders of the country. His mother's father was an officer with Washington, and was wounded in the battle of the Brandywine. His own father had worn a sword, voted by the Legislature of Virginia for
the gallant defence of Norfolk, in 1813; and, dying from disease incurred there, left his boy without kin in the country-the protector and pilot of himself alone. The positive authors of the Revolution of 1861 were not of this practical, self-reliant, objective stamp of man. They had long dreamed their dream, and educed their conclusion from tenets with which Mr. Faulkner never charged his mind. He had no destructive ambition, and the interests of his constituency lay wholly in the preservation of the Union. That he was an adviser in the great rupture, it is needless to refute. Yet it may be proper to refer to that subject, so far as it may cast light upon his fidelity to his commission while in our diplomatic service. The Confederate Govern- ment never communicated with his legation. His responses to the early secession clamor did not add to his popularity with that class. And after he returned to America he was not called into the diplomatic or civil service of the Con- federate Government, and never presented him- self for Congress or a command. It was not that he did not keep full friendship and kinship with Virginia, but the assiduity and extent of his labors as United States Minister at Paris had wholly occupied his mind. Thus much by way of preface. It was in Mr. Faulkner's power to have proceeded to Paris as soon as Mr. Buchanan acceded to the Presidency; but he deferred to the incumbent, Hon. John Y. Mason, who was his personal friend, and would not take the mis- sion until the latter died at his post in October, 1859. Then nominated and promptly confirmed, Mr. Faulkner sailed with his family in January, arrived in Paris February 18, and was offi- cially presented to the Emperor on the 4th of March-just one year prior to the inauguration of President Lincoln. The work which he faith- fully accumulated in that one year is a monu- ment of industry, zeal, and efficiency. His dis- patches to the State Department numbered about one hundred and twenty, or a dispatch every third day; and some of them are of such length and involve such research and close rea- soning as to evoke renewed admiration for their vigorous thought and pure diction. The war blew upon the face of affairs so suddenly that the diplomatic correspondence of the preceding year was never printed, except in so far as it might apply to the elucidation of the schism at
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home. There were two dispatches from Mr. Faulkner to Mr. Seward which thus saw the light, and these were written at the close of his mission, expressing his apprehension of the im- pending collision, and seeking to avert the con- flict. They clearly show, however, that he re- quested Napoleon to make no recognition of the Confederacy, and at that period Mr. Seward's views were in accord with his own on the sub- ject of coercion. This appears in a letter ad- dressed to the Secretary of State-a letter nearly identical with several of the same tenor which were written subsequent to Mr. Faulkner's re- turn to the United States. "I refer to my offi- cial correspondence," said Mr. Faulkner, "as a proof of my fidelity to my trust. Not an act nor an opinion of mine was disapproved by any of your predecessors; but wherever they were alluded to at all, they were approved. No act, and but one opinion that I expressed, was dis- approved by you. That was the private and unofficial opinion which I expressed to M. Thou- venel in reply to an inquiry addressed by him to me; to wit: That the United States Govern- ment did not contemplate resorting to coercion. This opinion was expressed on the 15th of April, 1861. In noticing that opinion on the 4th of May following, you say: 'The time when such questions had any plausibility has passed away.' Again, you say: 'The case is now altogether changed.' These qualifications in your disap- proval of that opinion of mine were just both to me and to yourself as the exponent of the policy of the Administration. For in your own dis- patches, up to the 15th of April, 1861, there is a clear enunciation of the policy of the Adminis- tration not to resort to coercion." We may ask, indeed, who, beyond the limits of the United States, realized coercion as early as the 15th of April-for that was the day Mr. Lincoln issued his first proclamation for troops, which Mr. Faulkner, in Paris, could not have known, as communication then stood, for nearly a fort- night more. We have said that but two dis- patches out of one hundred and twenty appear in the diplomatic correspondence; exception must be made in favor of eight others, which would have shared the common obscurity but for the fact that they affected the great question of military duty due to European governments by their expatriated subjects in America. In
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