USA > West Virginia > Genealogical and personal history of the upper Monongahela valley, West Virginia, Volume II > Part 33
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painful and he was growing sick, so he started to walk to Mr. Jordan's house. He went about half-way, when he sank down and was carried to the house and made as comfortable as it was possible. Mr. Taylor rode rapidly to Kingwood, summoned Drs. Manown, Pratt and Mc- Millen, who promptly responded and his wife and friends were soon at his side. After the sheriff was taken to the house, Jackson, Menear and Feather took the prisoners to jail; Bishop took charge of the horses, and Crane and Elliott remained to assist Mrs. Jordan and fam- ily in the care of the wounded man. All this occurred in three-quarters of an hour after the sheriff and posse left the sheriff's residence in King- wood."
Mr. Shaw was taken slowly to town and suffered greatly. When it was generally made known in the community, feeling ran high and mob law was talked strongly, but better judgment prevailed and the men were given a fair trial and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. Fortunately the sheriff recovered and is still living, though shot through the lung. The ball still remains there, and will doubtless go to the grave with him. When searched, there were found on the prisoners, eight revolvers, a bag of cartridges, a lot of jewelry, screw-drivers, wire cutters, watches, clothing, etc .; also a large dirk knife and brass knuckles. This was a portion of the Cooley gang from Fayette county, Pennsylvania. They called themselves the "Wandering Star Order," and claimed they were organized for hunting and fishing. After serving time in the penitentiary, they were rearrested and served another term for crimes previously committed in Pennsylvania. Later the county court passed resolutions and placed them on the county records, in which they gave Mr. Shaw great credit for bravery and sagacious con- duct in this affair, with a vote of thanks from the court.
Leroy Shaw married, July 4, 1866, Nancy M., daughter of Israel Schaeffer, an old pioneer of Preston county, grandson of Benjamin and Susan Schaeffer of Scotch-Irish descent, who were residents in Virginia, in colonial days Mrs. Shaw holds membership in the Methodist Epis- copal church.
This was an old revolutionary family that locat- ROHRBOUGH ed in Upshur county, Virginia, in the revolution- ary war period, where at least one generation was born after the settlement and prior to 1794, as the record shows a
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son Jacob was born in the family during that year in that county. He is the direct ancestor of the West Virginia family of this name to-day.
(I) Jacob Rohrbough, born in Upshur county, Virginia, in 1794, died in 1869, at the age of seventy-five years. He spent his entire life as a farmer in this county. He married and reared a family, including a son, Commodore Perry, named for Commodore Perry, the hero of Lake Erie in the war of 1812.
(II) Commodore Perry, son of Jacob Rohrbough, was born in Buckhannon in 1825, died soon after his retirement from business life, in 1892, aged sixty-seven years. He was a merchant and had been a wholesaler of fruits for a few years after the civil war. He served as deputy sheriff of Upshur county, and was postmaster at Buckhannon under President Lincoln's administration. He was a Republican, and in church faith a Methodist Episcopalian. He married Martha, daugh- ter of David Hazelton, who came from England when he was but twelve years of age, and became a pioneer in Upshur county, where he was sheriff and a very prominent man in his day. He was a merchant and later in life went to Illinois where he engaged in farming until called by death in 1901, at the age of eighty-five years. Commodore Perry Rohrbough had a brother, Captain Calvin Rohrbough, who fought under General U. S. Grant at Vicksburg, during the civil war. He was a merchant at Kinmundy, Illinois, until his death in 1909, when he was sixty-nine years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Commodore Perry Rohrbough had five children: Allie, died in infancy; May, wife of James L. Smith, of Ashland, Kentucky; Lloyd, died in 1883; Orr Lawson, of whom further; Rev. A. B. Rohrbough, a minister of Meth- odist Episcopal church, a member of the West Virginia conference, who died at Salem in 1907. The great-grandfather of the above named family of children, Mr. Burr, was born in Connecticut, and was a soldier in the war for national independence. He died in New England. He was a cousin of Aaron Burr, so famous in the history of this country.
(III) Orr Lawson, son of Commodore Perry and Martha (Hazel- ton) Rohrbough, was born at Buckhannon, Upshur county, Virginia (now West Virginia), April 15, 1862. He obtained his education at the public schools of Buckhannon and Clarksburg. At the age of fif- teen years he entered the telegraph office at Clarksburg as a messenger
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boy and was taught telegraphy; he became night operator at Salem, where he remained one year, and went to Doddridge county, this state, where the central dispatcher's office was then located. There he re- mained five years and then went to Grafton, as the dispatcher's office had then been removed to that point. He was employed there four years, then was transferred to Salem again, in 1889, since which time he has resided there. He is now one of the directors of the board of trade; was mayor in 1907, and inaugurated several improvements under his administration. Politically he is a Republican. He belongs to the Masonic order, being raised to a Knight Templar and Shriner. In religious faith he is a communicant of the Baptist church.
He married, at Grafton, September 8, 1886, Hattie Ware, born at Grafton. Children: 1. Lottie L., born September 8, 1887; at home, assisting her father in his office as clerk. 2. Gay, born July 5, 1889; now Mrs. Charles Hathaway, whose husband is in the United States navy, on the battleship "Vermont"; they reside at Norfolk, Virginia ; he is highly esteemed by his fellow comrades. 3. Robert, born May 27, 1898; attending school.
The name of Arnett is an old and honorable one in ARNETT West Virginia and the Monongahela Valley. This article refers more particularly to the representatives of the family who are located at Clarksburg and vicinity, one branch of a very large family tree.
(I) Solomon Arnett, born in 1807, at Arnettsville, now in West Virginia, married Mary Cordrey. He died in his native place at the age of forty-five years; his wife died in 1886, aged seventy-nine. He was a farmer, and among his children was Thomas Calvin, of whom further.
(II) Thomas Calvin, son of Solomon and Mary (Cordrey) Ar- nett, was born August 28, 1834, died at Fairmont, November 3, 1905. He was by occupation both farmer and carpenter. He served in the confederate army in civil war days from his native county. Politically he was a Democrat, and his church relations were of the Methodist Episcopal faith. He married Hannah Trippett, born in Lowesville, Monongalia county, Virginia, January 15, 1839, and died December 18, 1907. She was a daughter of Topliff Trippett, who was a miller
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in both Monongalia and Marion counties, born May, 1807, died No- vember 8, 1902; his wife was Catherine Keenan, who died in 1869. Children of Thomas C. and Hannah (Trippett) Arnett: May Cath- erine, Dennis S., Lydia Belle, Parris, Curtis T., of whom further; Lillian B., Lucy A.
(III) Dr. Curtis Topliff Arnett, son of Thomas C. and Hannah (Trippett) Arnett, was born March 14, 1870, at Arnettsville, West Virginia, on the old homestead of the family. He obtained his edu- cation at the local schools and graduated in medicine at the Hospital College of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky, 1897. He also took sev- eral courses as post-graduate at the Polyclinic of New York. He immediately began practice at Marshville, Harrison county, West Virginia, in 1897. In 1903 he left that place for Riversville, where he practiced medicine about a year and a half, then removed to Clarks- burg, in 1905, and has been in active practice there ever since. He treats both medically and surgically and carries on a general practice. Dr. Arnett has been a member of the militia company; is a member of the Harrison County Medical Association; the State Medical Associa- tion; the American Medical Association; Masonic fraternity, and polit- ically is a Democrat. He is a stockholder and treasurer of the Curtis Oil and Gas Company; director of the Marshville Oil and Gas Com- pany; director of Point Comfort Oil and Gas Company. He holds some real estate and this includes his fine home at Clarksburg. He also has a royalty from 627 acres of oil producing lands.
Dr. Arnett was married at Marshville, January 1, 1900, to Lucy C. Morrison, born in Harrison county, September 9, 1877, daughter of Thomas David Morrison, who still resides on his farm three miles from Adamson, Harrison county; his wife was Matilda Southern. The children of Dr. and Mrs. Arnett are: Basil, born March 23, 1901; Belle Marie, June 13, 1903, died May 14, 1909; Thomas Morrison, August 13, 1906; Lucy E. V., December 3, 191I.
Among the pioneer merchants to locate at Clarksburg,
DESPARD West Virginia, was Richard Despard, who, accom- panied by his family, emigrated from his native land, Ireland, and became a merchant in New York City, where he at one time owned a considerable portion of Murray Hill. Later he came to
Curtis JAmet
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West Virginia and began merchandising there. He lived to a good old age, highly respected by all who traded with him.
(II) Burton, son of Richard Despard, was a prominent lawyer in Clarksburg for many years, and up to his death, October 2, 1874, when he was about sixty years of age. He was a director in many enterprises, banks, etc. He also had a coal mine called the "Despard Coal Company." He married (first) Emily Smith, born in Prunty- town, Virginia, died in the fifties. Children by this union : Charles S., deceased; Laura E., born in Clarksburg, wife of Judge Nathan Goff; Wheaton Braddish, deceased; Burton McMahon, of whom later; Em- mett, died in infancy. He married (second) Gertrude Lee, still living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and by whom were born: Diana Mc- Mahon, deceased; Flora H., deceased; Duncan L., a practicing physi- cian of Philadelphia. Abraham Smith, father of Emily (Smith) Des- pard, lived and died in Pruntytown, Virginia, where he was a pioneer and carried the mail through the mountains when a boy. He became a well-to-do merchant.
(III) Burton McMahon, son of Burton and Emily (Smith) Des- pard, was born in Clarksburg, Virginia, November 20, 1855. He received his education in the public schools, including the high school, after which he attended Washington and Lee University, at Lexing- ton, Virginia. He then engaged in merchandising at Clarksburg, under the firm name of Thorn & Despard, which relation existed a number of years, and terminating about 1877, since which time he has been en- gaged in the real estate business, and speculated in oil and coal lands, etc. He is the owner of much valuable realty, including many resi- dences and town lots. He belongs to the Elks fraternity, in church profession is an Episcopalian, and in politics an Independent.
WALKER This Walker family is of Scotch origin, but has been
known in Pennsylvania, in the vicinity of Somerset county, for generations. The American ancestor was Donald Walker. The name was originally spelled Walter, but inad- vertently changed in recording deeds in Edinburg, as in shown by the deeds themselves. The later generations have intermarried with the well known Lane family.
(II) Peter Walker, son of Donald Walker, the ancestor, was born
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in Washington county, Maryland, but in 1746 left his native county and located in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, where he became for his time a wealthy farmer. The Walkers have all remained in Somerset county except John P., of whom further.
(III) John P., son of Peter Walker, left Somerset county, Penn- sylvania, in 1839, removing to Loudoun county, Virginia, where he re- mained a short time, then moved to Ohio county in what is now West Virginia, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits. Later he retired and lived in the city of Wheeling, where he died in 1852. He mar- ried Margaret, daughter of John and Catherine (Devlin) Lane. Mar- garet Walker died in 1874. She was a noted linguist and continued the study of languages until overtaken by old age. Children of John P. and Margaret (Lane) Walker are: William, a physician of Mon- mouth, Ohio, now deceased; Alexander, a civil engineer in the railway service of Newark, Ohio, now deceased; Mifflin, a farmer of Ottawa, Kansas, deceased; Kephart D., of whom further.
(IV) Kephart D., son of John P. and Margaret (Lane) Walker, was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, February 14, 1838. When sixteen years of age he entered the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, in 1853, as construction camp clerk, remaining in such position eighteen months, during which time he picked up enough in telegraphy to enter the telegraph department of the company. Later he became a brakeman, then rose to conductor. At the breaking out of the civil war he joined the secret service of the confederate army and had an exciting and varied experience; was under "Stonewall" Jackson and General John B. Walker (a relative). After the war ended he resumed work for the Baltimore & Ohio Company. He was made station agent at Fairmont, holding the position ten years. He was then promoted to superintendent of the Fairmont division, and when the Fairmont, Morgantown & Pittsburgh line was undertaken, he was assigned the duty of securing the right-of-way between Fairmont and Morgantown, and during the construction of this line was pur- chasing agent. He was in charge of the first train that ever run over the line to Pittsburgh. He then became passenger conductor and served until 1906. In 1870 Mr. Walker became a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, uniting with Lodge No. 9, at Fair- mont, and in 1875 was elected grand master of the West Virginia
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Lodge. He has held all the chairs to past grand priest. He is now one of eight men in West Virginia who have advanced in the mysteries of Masonry to the thirty-third degree, taking the degree in Washing- ton, D. C., under his personal friend, General Albert Pike. He is con- sidered authority in the workings of Masonry. He has made a study of the Indian races which once inhabited West Virginia; has donated to the Smithsonian Institution many exhibits-skeletons, pipes, arrows, etc. These he had exhumed from mounds and other Indian burying grounds.
He married, in 1859, Josephine, daughter of Presley and Sarah Wigginton, of Loudoun county, Virginia. Presley Wigginton was born in Virginia, a son of Benjamin Wigginton, who came to America at a very early date. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Walker: 1. Charles W., deceased; was with the Penn Oil Company. 2. Mifflin Presley, died young. 3. Ettie Franklin, wife of E. J. Thomas, of Mannington, West Virginia. 4. Hattie Brownfield, wife of Fred W. Bartlett, of Mannington. 5. Amy Long, wife of George C. Jeffreys, of Grafton, West Virginia. 6. Gertrude Pike, wife of F. B. Jenkins, of Grafton, West Virginia. 7. Lillian Davisson, wife of J. J. Dorsey, of Fairmont. 8. Carlotta Roome, wife of W. B. Rector, of Belington, West Vir- ginia. 9. Edna Whiting, wife of F. S. Thompson, of Clarksburg.
(The Lane Line).
The history of this Lane family is traced genealogically back to about 1655, and has been identified with the American continent since 1680, after a record of some five years near London in England. The family has been represented in almost every state in this country, and eminent members have appeared in nearly every vocation through the various generations, in the professions and trades, in the old and new world.
(I) John Lane, the earliest member of whom there is an authentic account, was born at Cleaves, near the river Rhine, on the northern border of Prussia, A. D., 1655. In 1675 he, with his three brothers, Abraham, Nicholas and Richard, moved to London, England. In 1680 all three, still unmarried, came to America, all locating in Pennsylvania. Abraham, Nicholas and Richard settled in Lancaster county, and John near Berlin, Somerset county. At the age of ninety-nine years, the last-
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named died in 1754. His wife's name and nationality are unknown. They had two sons: John, settled at Pipe Creek, Maryland; Peter, see forward.
(II) Peter, son of John Lane, was born 1719, died at Berlin, Pennsylvania, 1787, aged sixty-eight years. He married a Miss Irwin, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Children: 1. John, see forward. 2. Samuel, settled in Franklin county, Pennsylvania. 3. Abraham, died at Berlin, Somerset county, Pennsylvania. 4. Thomas, died at Berlin, Pennsylvania. 5. Seth, settled in Hagerstown, Maryland; children : John, Carlisle, Samuel, Mary (the names of the others not known). 6. Hannah, married a Captain Seabrook, of Hanover, Maryland. 7. Catherine, married Jacob Seylor, of Adams county, Pennsylvania, where she died in 1866, aged eighty-eight years, surviving all of her brothers and sisters. 8. Mary, married a Mr. Curry, of Spring Garden, near Baltimore, Maryland.
(III) John (2), oldest child of Peter Lane, was born at Berlin, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, October 21, 1757, died in the same place, September 6, 1843. He married Catherine Devlin, born at Mt. Joy, near Armagh, Ireland (Scotch-Irish), in 1760, died November 28, 1840, at Berlin, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, to which locality they removed in 1802. Her father, John Devlin, came to America and settled at Carlisle, where he died and is buried. John and Cath- erine Lane had children: 1. Peter, born near Berlin, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1782, died in the same county, June 14, 1864; married Maria Hoil, born near Berlin, 1787, died at Berlin, De- cember, 1866. Her father, Walter Hoil, was born in southwestern Prussia, near Kirkshire, about 1732, died at Berlin, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, March, 1806, aged seventy-four years. He married Mary Barbary Martin, born in western Shinirk, Bavaria, 1739, died March 30, 1830. Her father, Michael Martin, was born and died in Bavaria. His widow Angeline, whose maiden name was Krestmars, came to America about 1735 and died in Berlin, Somerset county, Penn- sylvania, 1800, aged eighty-five years. Peter and Maria (Hoil) Lane had thirteen children. 2. John, born in Berlin, Somerset county, Penn- sylvania, 1783, died in 1835, aged fifty-two years; married Catherine Mantel; after living in Somerset county for thirty-five years, he re- moved to Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, where he died; had eight
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children. 3. Samuel, married Rachel Montel, and had four children. 4. Thomas, died at Johnston, Pennsylvania, in 1863, aged seventy-eight years; married (first) Elizabeth Lohr, of Baltimore, by whom he had two daughters; married (second) Elizabeth Brown, of Baltimore, by whom he had four sons and three daughters. 5. Nancy. 6. Catherine. 7. Sarah. 8. Polly. 9. Amy. 10. Margaret, see forward. 11. Han- nah. 12. Harriet, died about 1875, aged near seventy-six; married Daniel Landis, who died soon after she did; they had one son.
(IV) Margaret, daughter of John (2) and Catherine (Devlin) Lane, died in 1874. She married John P. Walker, and had four sons (see Walker III).
JACKSON This is the Jackson family from which the famous "Stonewall Jackson" was descended, and has long re- sided in what is now West Virginia. The early an- cestors were of Scotch-Irish descent and moved to this part of the state immediately after the revolutionary war and became landowners in the vicinity of Clarksburg as early as 1791. The line covering the families of this name to be considered in this connection is as follows:
(I) Edward Jackson, a captain in the revolutionary war, living then in New Jersey, near the Delaware river. After the war ended he emigrated from there with his family to Virginia, locating near Clarks- burg. He reared a family, including a son, Stephen, see forward.
(II) Stephen, son of Edward Jackson, was between eighteen and twenty years of age when the family came to Virginia from New Jersey. He was also a revolutionary soldier and a soldier in the war of 1812. He served several years as an Indian scout from the West Fork river to the Ohio river. He is described as having been an unusually fine looking man, of wonderful physique and great strength. He was a splendid marksman with rifle and pistol. He married a Miss Pomeroy, of Pomeroy, Ohio, and among their children was a son, Stephen Pom- eroy, see forward.
(III) Stephen Pomeroy, son of Stephen Jackson, was born in 1796, near Clarksburg, in what is now West Virginia. He was reared on Brown's creek, at the old Jackson homestead, purchased in 1792. He remained there until about 1838, and removed to Janelew, Virginia, 23-M
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where he bought the first hotel, and was also a merchant and trader. He bought cattle, horses and hogs, as well as droves of sheep, all of which animals he was accustomed to drive over the mountains to Rich- mond, Virginia. He had a race course back of his hotel, and his horses often raced against the horses of Cummings Jackson, and his nephew, Thomas Jackson, who became the great civil war character known as "Stonewall Jackson." At that time he was a young man about eighteen years of age, and used to ride his uncle's horses in the swift races. Isaac Jackson, a son of Stephen Jackson, was a chum of his in boyhood days.
(IV) James W., son of Stephen Pomeroy Jackson, was born Feb- ruary 1, 1833, near Clarksburg, Virginia. He was vice-president of the Citizens Bank of Weston for years, and was also a stockholder in the first railroad that was built between Clarksburg and Weston. He was also engaged in farming and mercantile business. He was a Dem- ocrat, and in his church faith was of the Baptist denomination. He married, January 3, 1856, Sarah Ann Goodloe, of Albemarle county, Virginia, by whom six children were born, including a son, John Good- loe, see forward.
(V) John Goodloe, son of James W. and Sarah Ann (Goodloe) Jackson, was born in Janelew, Lewis county, Virginia, March 7, 1857. He obtained his education in the free schools of his native place and at private schools in Weston and Buckhannon, after which he united with his father in business operations, with which he was actively connected for over thirty-five years. In 1903 he aided in organizing the Bank of Janelew, which opened for business, December 7, 1903, with Mr. Jack- son as its president, which position he still holds. He is also interested in the Bank of Lost Creek, Harrison county, West Virginia, the Citi- zens' Bank and the Lewis County Bank at Weston, and the Farmers' Bank and Union National Bank of Clarksburg. He is also a director in a number of other institutions. He belongs to the West Virginia Bankers' Association. He has never sought public office, but is an active and influential member of the Prohibition party, having been its delegate to various national conventions. He is an Odd Fellow, and also holds membership in the Knights of Pythias fraternity.
Mr. Jackson married (first) in 1880, Martha Jane Bassell, daugh- ter of Henry Bassell and wife, of Byron, and a twin sister of Mrs. Lee- man Maxwell. Her father was a well-known farmer and cattle raiser of Harrison county. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson had two sons. James H.,
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born November 1, 1881; graduated from Wesleyan College, Buck- hannon, also from State University (A. B.), and was a student in the Episcopal Theological Seminary at Alexandria until ill health prevent- ed his further work. Stephen Goodloe, see forward. Mrs. Jackson, the mother of these children, died in 1908. Before her marriage she was a successful teacher, and in church and charitable work was a life- long worker for others. In Sunday schools and Woman's Christian Temperance Union work, she was especially prominent. Mr. Jackson married (second) October 19, 1910, Annie Neeley, of Janelew, daugh- ter of Howard Neeley and wife. She is an active worker in the Bap- tist church.
(VI) Stephen Goodloe, son of John Goodloe and Martha Jane (Bassell) Jackson, was born at Janelew, West Virginia, March 6, 1884. He began his education in the public schools, and later attended the State University, taking the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Law, the former in 1907, and the latter in 1908, after which he entered Yale, graduating with the degree of LL. B. in 1909. He then went to Clarksburg, West Virginia, where he entered the offices of Edward G. Smith, and became his junior partner in 1911. He is especially well fitted for a large law practice, having first equip- ped himself for such work by ten years of college life in three institu- tions, including Yale. His firm occupies fine law offices at Clarksburg in the Merchants' National Bank building, and possesses a large law library. Mr. Jackson is a Prohibitionist, but when that question is finally settled, he says, "Then I will vote the Democratic ticket." He is of the Methodist Protestant faith, and holds membership with the Sigma Chi fraternity of West Virginia University and Phi Alpha Delta of Yale. He is one of the three trustees of this law fraternity at Yale.
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