USA > West Virginia > Genealogical and personal history of the upper Monongahela valley, West Virginia, Volume II > Part 30
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(III) George Harry, younger son of Samuel W. and Ursula (Waters) Gordon, was born March 21, 1870, at Barnesville, Ohio, in what is now Belmont county. When he was three years of age, his father removed to Old Virginia, and again moved during his twelfth year to Clarksburg, West Virginia, where George H. Gordon's edu- cation was largely obtained at the public schools of that place. Having received his schooling, he being of an industrious, ambitious turn of mind, wanted to do something in the great busy world for himself. Hence we find him clerking in the store of R. T. Lowndes with whom he remained three years. After this for three years more he embarked in mercantile pursuits with his cousin, J. W. Gordon, at Salem. Sell- ing out, he entered the oil fields, first in the employ of the South Penn Oil Company, with whom he remained ten years. The following five years connected with its drilling department, under various contractors, he did drilling for both the Hope Natural Gas Company and the South Penn Oil Company. . In December, 1905, he was appointed by the county court to fill an unexpired term as justice of the peace, which position had been resigned by his father, Samuel W. Gordon. George H. Gordon still holds the office, at No. 110 North Third street. Up to January, 1910, he was a stockholder in the Fuel City Furniture Com- pany, of Clarksburg. He is a member of the Clarksburg Board of Trade, and a stockholder in the Board of Trade Land Company. Politically, he is a Republican, and was elected when the entire ticket besides himself was defeated. He is a well advanced Free Mason,
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having received sometime ago the thirty-second degree. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.
George H. Gordon married at Ludlow, Vermont, September 29, 1891, Mary Pollard, born August, 1868, daughter of Joseph P. Pol- lard. Mr. Pollard was born in Vermont, but later was in the nursery business at Clarksburg, West Virginia, and died there March, 1899, aged sixty years. He was buried by the Odd Fellows order after their impressive rites. He married Myra Barton, now living at Ludlow, Vermont, aged seventy-three years. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Gor- don are: Joseph P., born September 9, 1893, died December 22, 1897; Susan W., December 9, 1895, now in her second year in the high school; Ruth A., April 19, 1900, now in the public schools; George Samuel, born July 15, 1905.
Among the Old Virginia families which naturally find place
DUFF in a work of this character, may be named the Duffs who have, as a rule, succeeded well in their agricultural pursuits in the two Virginias.
(I) John Duff, a native of Virginia, farmed all of his active years, and died in the Old Dominion State, respected by all who knew him on account of his excellent traits of character. He married and reared a family, among them a son : William.
(II) William, son of John Duff, was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, and died at the age of sixty years. He followed farming pur- suits, as had his ancestors, living in Harrison county, in what is now West Virginia. He was independent in his political views. He mar- ried Elizabeth Hoover, born in Bath county, Virginia, who died in 1856 at Clarksburg, West Virginia, aged fifty-nine years. The father of Mrs. Duff was Jacob Hoover, born in Germany, coming to this coun- try when a young man. He was in the battle of Bunker Hill and wounded at Brandywine, serving with a Virginia regiment in the revo- lutionary war. William Duff's children were ten in number, all now deceased except: Alexander, of whom further, and Margaret Jane, who is eighty-one years of age, living with her brother and unmarried.
(III) Alexander, son of William and Elizabeth (Hoover) Duff, was born in Bath county, Virginia, December 1, 1834. He came with his
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parents when a baby, first stopping in Randolph county, then moved to Harrison county, where Alexander received his early training and education. When sixteen years of age he left his father's farm and worked at cabinet-making, and also was apprenticed to Elmer Hursey, for carpenter's work. After a few years thus engaged, he started out on his own account as a carpenter, at the age of twenty-six years. He began contracting and followed it several years. In 1865, he enlisted in the union army; but even before this he had been employed in the army as a teamster and on railroad construction. At the end of the war, returning home to Clarksburg, he formed a partnership with Hezekiah Hoskinson, as contract carpenters, which continued until the death of his partner in 1879. He has been, virtually, a carpenter all his active years. In 1869, he, with R. T. Lounds, built a planing mill, of which he was manager for thirty years. It was sold to its present owners in June, 1909. Mr. Duff is a director in the West Virginia Bank, and stockholder in the West End Land Company; but is leading a quiet, retired life, at his beautiful home, built over a third of a cen- tury ago, at 787 West Pike street, Clarksburg. Politically, he was a Republican, but is now a Prohibitionist. He has been a member of Herman Lodge of Free Masonry for forty-six years. In religious life, he is associated with the Baptists, while his wife is a Methodist Epis- copalian.
He married, November 31, 1875, Sarah S. Peck, daughter of John Peck, a native of Harrison county, West Virginia, long since deceased, who was a well-known blacksmith for many years. John Peck's wife, Nancy (Hoskinson) Peck, died many years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Duff have no children.
See Kirkavall's History of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia for early history of the Duff family.
The family now to be considered is an old and MCCLELLAND honorable one in Pennsylvania and in later years in West Virginia. Franklin and Westmore- land counties, Pennsylvania, have both had numerous branches grow- ing from this family tree. The following will treat on three genera- tions of one branch of the family.
(I) William McClelland, of an old Franklin county, Pennsyl-
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vania, family, was by trade a miller in Westmoreland county, that state, where he died at his mill, aged sixty years. He married Mary Craig, and had children, including a son, James Harvey, see forward. (II) James Harvey, son of William McClelland, was born in Derry township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in May, 1828, died in 1874. By trade he was a tanner, which he followed in a suc- cessful manner in Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, where he lived many years and where he finally died. Politically he voted the Republican ticket, and in church faith was of the Presbyterian denomination, being an elder for many years. He married Margaret Howard Thom, born in Clarion county, Pennsylvania, February 14, 1828, and is still living in Tarentum, Pennsylvania. They had eight sons and four daughters, nine of whom still survive. They are: 1. Henry Thom, see forward. 2. and 3. William Craig and Mary Jane (twins), both of whom are living; William Craig is professor of English literature at Washing- ton and Jefferson College; Mary Jane, born February, 1852, widow of Rev. Albert Barrett. 4. Emma Lavinia, living in Massillon, Ohio, widow of Mahlon Stacy. 5. John Culbertson, an engineer on the Penn- sylvania railroad, living at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 6. Freeman, died in infancy. 7. Alice B., single, lives with her mother. 8. Ulysses Grant, of Tarentum, Pennsylvania. 9. Margaret, died at the age of eighteen years. 10. Wray, died in Virginia. 11. Joseph Elder, now of Oklahoma. 12. Jesse Fair, of Oklahoma. The maternal grand- father of this family, John Thom, was born in Westmoreland county, died aged seventy-six years, in Indiana county, Pennsylvania. He was a farmer and was the son of Josiah Thom, a revolutionary soldier.
(III) Rev. Henry Thom McClelland, son of James Harvey and Margaret Howard (Thom) McClelland, was born June 7, 1849, in Derry township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. He accom- panied the family to Jefferson county, that state, when a boy, and there he received his primary education at the common schools; then attend- ed Glade Run Academy, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, where he received his preparatory education for entering college and for teach- ing school, by which he might work his own way through college. In 1871 he entered Washington and Jefferson College, at Washington, Pennsylvania, graduating an A. B. in 1875. He then entered the Western Theological Seminary, at Allegheny City, in the autumn of
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1875, graduating from that institution in 1878, and his first charge as a Presbyterian minister was at Montours church, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, a country church, in which he served faithfully for three years; he was then called to the Sixth Presbyterian Church in Pitts- burgh, where he served five and a half years, and was elected professor of theology in the Western Theological Seminary, his alma mater, where he served from 1886 to 1891, and was then given a call to the Belfield Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, where he was pastor for thirteen years. His next work was that of field secretary for the Pres- byterian Board of Missions for Freedmen. He traveled four years in that work. On Easter Sunday, 1908, he preached his first sermon to a Clarksburg audience, and was immediately called to the First Presby- terian Church of that city to become its pastor and has been there ever since. He was given the degree of Doctor of Divinity by Washington and Jefferson College in 1887. His church at Clarksburg now has two hundred and seventy communicants and is in a prosperous condition. Dr. McClelland votes the Republican ticket. He belongs to the Greek letter fraternity, known as Phi Kappa Psi. He is trustee for Washing- ton and Jefferson College and vice-president of the board. He is a director in the Western Theological Seminary, North Side, Pittsburgh. He was nominated and elected trustee in Davis Elkins College, and is chairman of the Presbyterian Home Missionary Work in the state of West Virginia.
Rev. Dr. McClelland married (first), in May, 1878, Euphrasia P. Marshall, of Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, daughter of James Guthrie Marshall, a farmer of that county. Rev. Dr. McClelland married (second), in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, February I, 1883, Lizona D. Ewing, a native of that county, born September 3, 1854, daughter of William Ewing, who was born in 1810, died Octo- ber, 1875. He was a farmer. Child of Rev. Dr. McClelland and first wife: Margaret Marshall, born August 7, 1879, now Mrs. George P. Herriatt, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Children of second wife: I. Mary Beacom, born November 21, 1883, graduate at Wooster Uni- versity, Wooster, Ohio, and is now teaching English and history at Clarksburg, West Virginia, in the high school. 2. Henry Thom, born February 8, 1887; graduated at Washington and Jefferson College with the class of 1910, and is now employed with the Hope Gas Com-
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pany, of Clarksburg. 3. Elizabeth Ewing, born August 8, 1891; graduated at Washington Seminary, and is now taking a normal course at the Pennsylvania State Normal at Indiana, Pennsylvania.
The McGrew family is of Highland Scotch origin.
McGREW The records of the family are said to reach back to about the year 1000. The original immigrant, Chris- tian name not known, came to America before the revolution, and set- tled first in the valley of Virginia, removing thence to Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, where he died. He had a son Patrick, of whom further.
(II) Patrick McGrew was born in Cumberland county, Pennsyl- vania. He removed to Virginia and settled in 1786 with the Brandon family, near what is now Brandonville, Preston county, West Virginia. All his children removed to the West, except James, of whom further.
(III) Colonel James McGrew, son of Patrick McGrew, lived in Preston county. In the war of 1812 he commanded a regiment of Virginia militia. He married Isabelle, daughter of James Clark. Her father came from Ireland and was one of the earliest settlers in Preston county; his wife, Mary (Ramsey), dying in 1770, he returned to Ireland, but three years later he married Eleanor Kirkpatrick, and set- tled finally in America. Children of Colonel James and Isabelle (Clark) McGrew: James Clark, of whom further; Isaac.
(IV) James Clark, son of Colonel James and Isabelle (Clark) McGrew, was born near Brandonville, September 14, 1813, and died September 18, 1910. He received a practical English education, and worked on his father's farm until he was nineteen. He then became clerk in a general store at Kingwood, Preston county, in which place he made his permanent residence. In 1861 he was a delegate to the Vir- ginia state convention, and he was one of those who opposed to the last the ordinance of secession. He was also one of the group of about twenty whose opposition to secession finally resulted in the creation of the new state of West Virginia. It was only with difficulty and danger that he made his escape from Virginia and returned to his home. He was a member of the house of delegates, the first legislature of West Virginia, and served in the legislatures of this state, and was a director of the State Hospital for the Insane. In the forty-first and forty-second
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congresses he represented the second district in the house of representa- tives, but declined another nomination. He was one of the organizers of the National Bank of Kingwood, and became its president. He was an earnest Methodist, and in 188 1 a delegate to the Methodist Ecumen- ical Conference in London, England; he was a trustee of the Ohio Wes- leyan University. In 1881 and 1882 he traveled in Europe, Asia and Africa. He married, in 1841, Persis, daughter of Hon. Harrison Hagans, of Brandonville, one of the most active and influential men in persuading congress to accept West Virginia as a state. Children : William Clark, of whom further; George H., and Sarah M.
(V) William Clark, son of James Clark and Persis (Hagans) McGrew, was born at Kingwood, April 21, 1842. He was educated in the select schools and Preston Academy. In 1862 he entered into mercantile business. Eight years later he removed to Morgantown, Monongalia county, where he continued in mercantile life until 1890. He was mayor of Morgantown for five terms, and in 1878 was elected to the state senate, being reelected in 1882, and served eight years. He was noted as a parliamentarian, often presided over the senate, and held responsible committee appointments. In 1907 he was elected to the house of delegates. He was one of the builders of the Fairmont, Morgantown and Pittsburgh railroad, and for fifteen years its vice- president and agent. For five years from 1900 he was treasurer, vice- president and president of the Economy Glass Company. He married, in 1864, Julia E., daughter of Waitman T. and Elizabeth E. (Ray) Willey. Her father was one of the first United States senators from West Virginia. Children: James H., of whom further; and Julia M., wife of F. C. Flenniken.
(VI) James H., son of William Clark and Julia E. (Willey) McGrew, was born at Morgantown, October 31, 1873. He was edu- cated at the public schools and the University of West Virginia. In 1891 he was appointed clerk of the Bank of the Monongahela Valley at Morgantown, in 1893 made teller, afterward assistant cashier, and from 1903 to the present time he has been cashier. He has also been treasurer and director of the Monongalia Building and Loan Associa- tion and of the Globe Fuel Company. He is also general receiver of the circuit court of Monongalia county.
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Matthew Hennen, the first member of this family HENNEN about whom we have definite information, lived in Monongalia county, Virginia. Child: Robert P., of whom further.
(II) Robert P., son of Matthew Hennen, was born in Pennsyl- vania; he died in 1873. He was a cabinet-maker and undertaker from 1860 to 1863, and again in 1868; he was a councilman of the borough of Morgantown. He married Elizabeth Wilkins, who was born in New Jersey, and who died in 1871. Children : Malinda, married L. K. Hall; Catharine, married Isaac Hite; Helen, married Alexander Mes- trezat; Matthew, married Louisa Pickenpaugh; Sarah I., married D. E. Holmes; Frederick A., of whom further.
(III) Frederick A., son of Robert P. and Elizabeth (Wilkins) Hennen, was born at Morgantown, February 26, 1844. He was edu- cated in the public schools. He learned the trade of a cabinet-maker, and in 1886 entered into the furniture and undertaking business. For twelve years he was on the board of council of Morgantown. He has been for twenty-five years an Odd Fellow.
He married, in 1882, Ella E. Coyl. Child: Robert, born August 17, 1884, now a civil engineer for the county.
This is distinctively an English family. It was first CHURCH represented in America by Henry Church, who lived to the extreme old age of one hundred and eleven years, and his wife was one hundred and nine years of age at the time of her death. He settled in Wetzel county, Virginia, about the time of the revolutionary struggle.
(II) William, son of the English immigrant, Henry Church, was born in Wetzel county, Virginia, became a successful agriculturist in Virginia, where he lived and died.
(III) Henry (2), son of William Church, was a native of Wet- zel county, Virginia, born it is supposed about 1835, died aged seventy years. Two of his children are still living-George and Robert-both farmers of Wetzel county. He was a sturdy and successful farmer in Virginia.
(IV) George, son of Henry (2) Church, was born in Wetzel county, Virginia, in 1860. He lives in his native county and is a well-
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known sheep ranchman of that county. He married Lulu Jackson, who died in 1889, aged twenty-five years. She was also a native of Wetzel county, Virginia. Children: Clyde Porter, of whom further; Clarence Benjamin, now attending the University of Pittsburgh; Joseph, de- ceased; Clara, deceased. Garrison Jackson, father of Mrs. George Church, was born in Wetzel county, Virginia, died at the age of fifty years in 1894. He was a farmer.
(V) Clyde Porter Church, D. D. S., son of George and Lulu (Jackson) Church, was born in Wetzel county, West Virginia, August 21, 1887. He attended the public schools of his section, later entered the State University at Morgantown, and subsequently went to the University of Pittsburgh, graduating from the dental department in 1911. He at once went to Clarksburg, West Virginia, and began the practice of dental surgery, with his offices in the Goff building. He is a Democrat, and in church faith a Methodist. He is an Odd Fellow and popular among the citizens of his newly adopted city.
PAYNE In looking over the history of families who were old residents in the state of Virginia, as now understood, but then in what was the colony, the name of Payne is noted as conspicuous. There seems to have been a strain of excellent blood flowing in the veins of the various branches and scions of the family tree now to be considered, more especially as relates to that branch who are now represented in and about Salem, Harrison county, West Virginia.
(I) Thomas Payne, great-grandfather of the present generation living in this state, was a well-known and highly-respected citizen and slave owner of Fauquier county, Virginia, where he was born about 1765.
(II) Turner, son of Thomas Payne, the Old Dominion farmer and slave owner, was born about 1785, in Fauquier county, Virginia. After his marriage to Lucy Payne and after living in Fauquier county some years, they emigrated to Harrison county, locating at first on West Fork, but subsequently on Limestone Creek, where he died in 1860, and his wife in 1848. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812-14. Turner and Lucy Payne were the parents of four children,
Genius Payne
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all long since deceased, the last dying in August, 1899. They were: Francis B., Susan, Thomas T., Sarah.
(III) Thomas T., son of Turner and Lucy Payne, was born in 1814, in Fauquier county, Virginia, on the old plantation, so long in the family name, and so well tilled by the slaves, and died in August, 1899. He accompanied the family when they removed to Harrison county. He resided on his farm about half a century, and was an active, strong man at the age of eighty-five years. He there married (first ), in 1842, Henrietta Smith, by whom four children were born: Genius, of whom further; Amos, Olivia and Lucy. Mrs. Payne, the mother of this family, died in 1853. The following year Mr. Payne married (sec- ond) Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh Thompson, by whom four children were born : Mary, Maggie, Alice, Byrd. Mary and Alice died young.
(IV) Genius, son of Thomas T. and Henrietta (Smith) Payne, was born in Harrison county, on what is now the Gore farm, near Clarksburg, November 25, 1844. He attended the district schools, and he has by constant reading and mingling with men of educational qualifications obtained a good practical knowledge of men and their business movements. He served as president of the State Bank from its organization in October, 1897, and when the First National Bank was supplanted for it he became its president. He has accumulated considerable property; he owns three hundred and forty acres of land in Doddridge county, nine hundred and eighty-two acres in Harrison county, has purchased lands for his son, Thomas G., other lands he has given to his son, Truman, and has aided his children in various financial ways, all of which is to be placed to his credit as a kind, considerate father. He has labored and accumulated a fortune, and is now one of the most extensive landowners in Harrison county. His home is situ- ated on the heights, overlooking the beautiful valley and the thriving city of Salem. He remembers the time when there were but two stores in Clarksburg, and when a cord of wood was hauled to Clarksburg before the discovery or development of the coal mines. He commenced life on his father's farm and remained with him until of age, then went forth for himself. Politically Mr. Payne votes the Democratic ticket, and in church membership is of the Baptist denomination. One feature of the Payne family is that it is the only one of the name in Harrison 21-2M
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county, and none of the Payne children have had more than two sons born to them for three generations.
Mr. Payne married Amanda Catherine, daughter of Joseph Ham- mond, now residing in the Eagle district, where he owns three hundred and eighty acres. Mrs. Payne was born on Lambert's Run, six miles north of Clarksburg, February 7, 1847, and is the second in a family of eight children, the others are: John, who farms near the old home- stead; Margaret, died at the age of fourteen years; Joseph A., died January 20, 1911, in his sixtieth year; Peter H., of California; Andrew Jackson, died February, 1895; Etta, widow of G. W. Elliott; David W., who remains on the old home farm. Mrs. Payne's great-grand- father, Adam Ash, came from Germany and founded the family in America. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Payne removed to Jarvis- ville, Harrison county, where he purchased one hundred and forty-one acres, and from time to time has added to his landed estate. His hold- ings are now one thousand three hundred and twenty-two acres of land. He has always been a large stock raiser. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Genius Payne are: 1. Alice H., proprietor of the Bon Ton store at Salem. 2. Truman, a farmer and teacher in Harrison county; mar- ried Anna Morrison and they have two children, John H. and Anna A. 3. Susie, wife of E. T. Young and they have two children, Jessie Maude and Dorothy Catherine. 4. Thomas G., of Miami county, Kansas; married Millie A. Turner and they have three children, Genius, Pearl, George B. 5. Emma Joanna, married Karl Carpenter and they have three children, Harold P., Clarence H. and Elmer K.
STEELE West Virginia is largely settled by people who emi- grated from the Old Dominion State and Maryland. Among the former inhabitants of Virginia, whose scions are now active factors in the business affairs of West Virginia, may be named the Steele family, now to be considered in a genealogical way. (I) Louis H. Steele, a farmer, came from old Virginia to Preston county, in what is now West Virginia, at an early day. He was killed by the falling of a tree in the dense forests in which he had settled for the purpose of making a comfortable home, in Doddridge county, West Virginia, and was an old man at the time of his accidental death. He married and among his children was William H., of whom further.
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(II) William H., son of Louis H. Steele, was born in 1839, died in 1899, aged sixty years. He followed farming. He was politically a Republican, and of the Baptist church faith. He married Abigail Bartlett, born in Barbour county, Virginia, died at the age of twenty- two years, in 1872. John C. Bartlett, the father of Mrs. Steele, was born in Barbour county in 1823, died in 1888, at the old Bartlett home- stead, two and a half miles south of Salem, where he had followed farming all his active life. He was a pioneer in that section, and a staunch Republican. The only child of William H. and Abigail ( Bart- lett) Steele was Wesley L., of whom further.
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