USA > West Virginia > Genealogical and personal history of the upper Monongahela valley, West Virginia, Volume II > Part 36
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
778
UPPER MONONGAHELA VALLEY.
Lewis County Bank of Weston. Politically the doctor is a Republican, and was member of the city council in Weston, 1901-02. In church matters he and his family are of the Baptist church.
He married (first), October 2, 1891, Lulu May Gibson, born September 30, 1869, died 1905. Children: Ava Rill, born April 3, 1893; Laura Madge, born September 30, 1896; Robert G., born No- vember 26, 1899; Wilma, born September 29, 1902. He married (second), March 28, 1907, Irene Belle, born January 13, 1883, daugh- ter of Marshall and Mary E. Turner, of Weston, West Virginia.
CONRAD This is an old family of the Shenandoah valley, Vir-
ginia. The following paragraphs give what is now obtainable regarding the line of which the present clerk of the circuit court of Lewis county, West Virginia, John H. Con- rad, is a representative, as well as the genealogy on his mother's side- the Skidmore and Corley families, connected by intermarriage.
(I) Joseph Conrad is supposed to have been the immigrant ances- tor of the Conrads. He married Rebecca Sonnar and had children, including a son George.
(II) George, son of Joseph and Rebecca (Sonnar) Conrad, was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, October 3, 1800, died Decem- ber 18, 1876. With his family, he came from Rappahannock county, Virginia, in 1846, and resided near Bridgeport, Harrison county, now in West Virginia, until 1852, when he purchased land and settled on the headwaters of Freeman's Creek, Lewis county. A few years later he purchased and moved to a farm on the West Fork river, near Bush's Mills, which was afterwards called Roanoke, in Lewis county, where he resided until the time of his death. George Conrad was by trade a shoemaker. He married, September 20, 1825, in Culpeper county, Virginia, Marianne, born in Frederick county, Virginia, June 7, 1807, died March 26, 1893, daughter of Peter and Rebecca (Rout) Priest. Children : Rebecca Elizabeth, born May 12, 1827; Joseph Peter, born September 21, 1829; George Washington, born May 31, 1832; Isaac Newton, born September 24, 1834; James Franklin, mentioned below; Thomas Francis, September 10, 1839; Mary Catherine, born August 19, 1842; William Edward, born January 25, 1846.
(III) James Franklin, son of George and Marianne (Priest)
779
UPPER MONONGAHELA VALLEY.
Conrad, was born October 27, 1836, died October 15, 1887. He was a farmer and politically was a Republican. He took sides with the Union cause during civil war days and was employed by the United States government in the capacity of dispatch bearer and teamster while the war lasted. While bearing a dispatch, he was wounded severely, being shot by the bushwhackers at Bulltown, West Virginia, while delivering his message at that point. He married, September 23, 1868, Virginia Corley, died July 24, 1892, daughter of James Madison and Edith (Skidmore) Corley. Children: John Henry, mentioned be- low; Edith, born January 19, 1871; Cecil Corley, born December 2, 1874; Mary Ann, born December 20, 1878; Deborah, born October 25, 1880.
(IV) John Henry, eldest child of James Franklin and Virginia (Corley) Conrad, was born July 14, 1869, in Lewis county, West Virginia, and obtained his education in the common schools of his native county. He has spent his years thus far at farming, teaching school, clerking in stores, and serving as postmaster at Roanoke for six years. He is at present the clerk of the circuit court of Lewis county, having been elected to this office in 1908. Politically Mr. Conrad votes the Republican ticket. He is unmarried. He is capable and pains- taking as an official of Lewis county, where he can number his friends by the one word-legion. He comes of a prominent family, both the paternal and maternal sides having been pioneer settlers in this country, who left their impress upon the succeeding generations as they came upon and passed from the scenes of action.
(The Skidmore Line).
Of the Skidmore genealogy it may be said that Joseph Skidmore and wife Rachel moved with their family, from near Norfolk, Virginia, to what is now Pendleton county, West Virginia, some years before the revolutionary war. He was originally from Holland. Their old- est son, John Skidmore, was born 1725, and was captain under General Lewis in the battle of Point Pleasant, where he was seriously wounded by being shot in the hip. He left a family of seventeen children, three of whom were older than his father's younger children, and most of the Skidmores of Webster, Barbour and Braxton counties are descend- ants of his family. Some of the other sons of Joseph and Rachel Skid-
780
UPPER MONONGAHELA VALLEY.
more were Benjamin, Samuel, James, and Andrew, mentioned below. One of their daughters was the wife of Joseph Friend, the Indian fighter, who lived near where the town of Elkins, West Virginia, now stands, and they had a son Joseph. There are several children of Joseph and Rachel Skidmore other than the above named.
(II) Andrew, son of the immigrants, Joseph and Rachel Skid- more, was born November 8, 1750, and was the youngest in the fam- ily. He was at the battle of Point Pleasant, West Virginia (as now understood), as a private in his brother John's company, and was also wounded at that battle. He married Margaret Johnson, daughter of Andrew Johnson, who was of German ancestry. Margaret had six brothers, John, Robert, Oliver, Jacob, Levi Johnson. John went west, probably across the Ohio river, then known as the west. Robert died on the Little Kanawha river, in what is now Calhoun (or Gilmore) county, where some of his descendants still reside. Charles lived and died, in what is now Barbour county, West Virginia, and many of his descendants are in that location now. Jacob Johnson went to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he married Mary McDonald (or McDonough) ; he died there in 1812, leaving a child four years old named Andrew, who afterward became the seventeenth President of the United States. Andrew Skidmore died at Sutton, now in Braxton county, West Vir- ginia, November 15, 1827, and his grave is plainly marked in the "Skidmore Graveyard." His wife Margaret died at their old home at what is now South Elkins, West Virginia, and is buried at what is now the Odd Fellows Home for West Virginia ; her grave is there to be seen, and is plainly known. She died in 1808 and her son Andrew Skidmore cut and placed a stone at her grave in 1811, which now is in a bad state of preservation, having withstood the elements for a century. Children of Andrew and Margaret (Johnson) Skidmore: James, mentioned be- low; Andrew; Joseph; Jesse; John; Benjamin; Mary, who married John Chenoweth; Eleanor, who married Jehu Chenoweth; Edith, wife of Robert Chenoweth; Elizabeth, wife of Jesse Jackson; Margaret, wife of John Crites; Rachel, who married Robert Jackson; Nancy, who married Thomas Scott.
(III) James, son of Andrew and Margaret (Johnson) Skid- more, married Sarah Kittle, daughter of Jacob and Mary (Hender- son) Kittle, who were of Scotch ancestry. Jacob Kittle was one of the
781
UPPER MONONGAHELA VALLEY.
justices and early officers of Randolph county, Virginia. Children : William; Hickman; Edwin; Edith, who married James Madison Cor- ley; Mary, who married John Daly; Elizabeth, who married Isaac Harris; Margaret, who died in infancy; Rachel, who married John K. Scott, and is the mother of the famous "Big Scott family of West Vir- ginia"; Sarah Ann, who married William F. Corley.
(The Corley Line).
(I) Minoah Corley, with his own family and three of his brothers, came from Cork, Ireland, about 1765, settled in Fauquier county, Vir- ginia. One brother settled near Lexington, South Carolina, one on the James river below Richmond, and the other brother went farther west. The descendants of the one who went to South Carolina are very numerous in that state and in Texas. Many who sprang from the brother who settled on James river are in the locality of Norfolk, Vir- ginia. One was James B. Corley, on General Lee's staff in the Civil war; and one, James A. Corley, was an aide to General Garnett at Laurel Hill, and wrote what he believed to be General Garnett's last dispatch before he was killed at Carrack's Ford, on Cheat river. It was Colonel Scott to whom the message was sent and it reached him near Huttonsville, while eating breakfast, July 12, 1861, and read as follows: "General Garnett has concluded to go to Hardy county and toward Cheat River Bridge. You will take advantage of a position beyond Huttonsville and draw your supplies from Richmond and re- port for orders there."
Minoah Corley married - Fogg, and their children were: Richard, who lived to the age of one hundred and five years; John, Gabriel, Garland, William, see below; Hezekiah, Agnes, wife of Jon- athan Poe; Mrs. Blagg, Mrs. Fishback and Mrs. Lewis. Three of the sisters lived to be over one hundred years of age. One lived to the ad- vanced age of one hundred and eight years.
(II) William, son of Minoah and - (Fogg) Corley, mar- ried Catherine Whitman, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Wilson) Whitman. Her brothers and sisters were: William; Matthew, at one time sheriff of Randolph county, West Virginia; Nancy, who married Henry Moats; Mrs. Eckard; Mrs. Harold; Mrs. Day; Mrs. Moyers, and Mrs. Ward. Children of William Corley and wife Catherine:
782
UPPER MONONGAHELA VALLEY.
Noah Edwin; James Madison, of whom later; Henry Whitman; John Marshall; William Fogg; Allen Lewis; Jane, who married Archibald Wilson; Caroline, who married William J. Boner; Catherine, who died in infancy; Patsy, who married Rev. Solomon Engle.
(III) James Madison, son of William and Catherine (Whitman) Corley, served in the capacity of sheriff and deputy sheriff, of Braxton county, then Virginia, for twenty-four consecutive years, from the for- mation in 1836, and did the active work of the office during that period. When the civil war broke out, he espoused the cause of the Union, and he and his son, John Corley, enlisted in that army and were assigned to service in Company F, Tenth Virginia Volunteer Infantry.
He married (first) Edith Skidmore, and had children: John Cor- ley, who enlisted in Company F of the Tenth West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, was killed in the battle of Kernstown, Virginia, March 23, 1862; Virginia Corley, married James Franklin Conrad, of Lewis county, West Virginia. He married (second), in 1851, Deborah Cam- den Sprigg, daughter of John and Elizabeth Sprigg, descendants of the Sprigg family of Maryland, of revolutionary fame. Children of James Madison Corley and his wife Deborah were : Henry Sprigg; Elizabeth, who married Warren Otho Gandy; Emma, died in childhood; Cath- erine, who married George Woodard, of Montgomery, Michigan; James, who died in early childhood, and is buried in the old Hill Ceme- tery, at Weston, West Virginia. The later years of James Madison Corley were spent in farming, near Clarksburg, Harrison county, West Virginia, where he died in 1881.
Pennsylvania has furnished many useful and intelligent CURE people for citizenship in West Virginia, both within and without the professions. Dr. Cure, one of the successful physicians of Weston, Lewis county, West Virginia, is a native of Pennsylvania, where the family name is far better known than in West Virginia.
Dr. Mortimer D. Cure, one of the progressive physicians of Wes- ton, was born October 5, 1867, at Jermyn, Pennsylvania, a son of Mortimer D. (1) and Susan R. (Travis) Cure. The senior Cure was born in Tompkinsville, Pennsylvania, and the mother of the doctor
M. D. Cure M.2
783
UPPER MONONGAHELA VALLEY.
was a native of West Nicholson, Pennsylvania. Mortimer D. Cure Sr., always followed the life of a farmer.
After attending the common schools in his native place, Dr. Cure prepared for and entered the academy at Easton, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Wyoming Seminary, where he finished his academic course, then graduated from Baltimore Medical College in 1901 with the degree of M. D. He served one year as interne at the Maryland General Hospital, Baltimore, when he was appointed resident physi- cian of that institution. This position he held one year, since which time he has been actively engaged in general practice at the city of Weston, West Virginia. He is a member of the Lewis County Med- ical Society, and is its treasurer; also a member of the West Virginia Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. He be- longs to the Alumni Association of the Baltimore Medical College; is president of the Lewis County Board of Health and is county physi- cian of Lewis county. He is also the present coroner of his home county (1911). The doctor belongs to the Masonic, Elks, Eagles, Maccabees and Modern Woodmen of America fraternities, and is ex-physician in several of these orders; also for the Prudential Life, Northwestern Mutual and West Virginia Life Insurance Companies. Politically the doctor is a Republican and is chairman of the Weston city committee.
Dr. Cure married, July 3, 1902, Agnes B. Green, born at Church Hill, Maryland, daughter of Dr. Thomas H. and Maria B. (Mitchell) Green.
Children : Mortimer D., 3d, born October 2, 1903; Thomas G., born May 2, 1906. The family attend the Episcopal church.
The Loving family is an old one in Virginia, many LOVING branches residing in Louisa county. The genealogical line to James Francis Loving, of Morgantown, West Virginia, runs as follows :
(I) William Loving, the first of the line here under consideration, married Sallie Williams, and among their children was a son Rich- ard S.
(II) Richard S., son of William Loving, was a farmer by occu-
784
UPPER MONONGAHELA VALLEY.
pation. He married Isabell K. Fisher and had children: Robert, George, Lewis, Bettie and Richard S.
(III) Richard S. (2), son of Richard S. (1) Loving, was born in Louisa county, Virginia. He followed farming for his general occu- pation. He married Pattie H. Lemford and their children were: James Francis, of whom further; Vergie, married John M. Lawhorn. The father died March, 1874, and the wife and mother died March 6, 1910.
(IV) James Frances, eldest child of Richard S. (2) and Pattie H. (Lemford) Loving, was born in Louisa county, Virginia, October I, 1871. He obtained his education in the public schools, after which he conducted a farm near Charlottesville, Virginia, until 1898. He then worked on the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad for three years as a brakeman and was promoted to conductor, which place he faithfully filled for five years. In 1910 he engaged in the furniture business at Richmond, the firm being Jonas, Beams & Company. He came to Morgantown, West Virginia, January 15, 1911, and now has the most extensive furniture store in the city. Politically Mr. Loving is a Democrat, and in his religious faith is of the Baptist church. He is a member of the O. R. C. of Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Wood- men of America. He married, September 26, 1907, Nale V. Orno- hundro, of Keswick, Virginia, daughter of Charles F. Ornohundro. They have one daughter, Frances Sydnor, born June 10, 191I.
HUGHES This family emigrated from Pennsylvania, as did so many of the citizens of West Virginia. It was three generations ago that the first of this Hughes family came west. The first to break away from Pennsylvania society and as- sociations was Stephen J. Hughes, who married Mary Westfall, and came to Upshur county, West Virginia, when all was new and unde- veloped, about 1825. In 1840 he removed to Harrison county. He was a farmer and a minister of the Methodist Protestant church. He died on the old Hughes farm in Lewis county, West Virginia, in 1883.
(II) Houston J., son of Stephen J. and Mary (Westfall) Hughes, was born in Upshur county, West Virginia, died in February, 1905. He followed agricultural pursuits. He was a prominent man in Republican politics, and was always in advance of the masses in his
J. J. Loving
785
UPPER MONONGAHELA VALLEY.
political thoughts and policies. Before the war of the rebellion he was first lieutenant in a Virginia militia company, and at the outbreak of that fearful struggle enlisted as a sergeant in Company D, Fifteenth West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, doing service for four years. He fought at Gettysburg, Lookout Mountain and Bull Run; was with General Grant at Vicksburg and participated in many thrilling and dangerous raids against the enemy. He was twice married (first) to Elizabeth Thornhill, by whom the following children were born: I. William Lincoln, a farmer on the old Hughes homestead in Harrison county. 2. Mary E., wife of Taylor Martin, a furniture dealer and undertaker of Enterprise, West Virginia. 3. Sarah E., widow of Scott Martin, who was associated with Taylor Martin in business at Enterprise. 4. John Henry, deceased; a school teacher. Elizabeth (Thornhill) Hughes died in 1872, and Mr. Hughes married (sec- ond) Amanda E. Thompson, and had issue: 5. Allin Carl, mentioned below. 6. Stephen R., who died at the age of two years. Mrs. Amanda E. (Thompson) Hughes now resides at Jane Lew, West Virginia.
(III) Allin Carl, son of Houston J. Hughes by his second mar- riage, was born June 12, 1875, in Harrison county, West Virginia. He is now a lawyer and justice of the peace at Weston, Lewis county. After attending the common schools, he entered Glenville (West Vir- ginia) Normal School, and later attended the Wesleyan College, at Buckhannon, graduating from the law department of the University of Northern Indiana, at Valparaiso, in 1903, after which he practiced law a year at Holdenville, Indian Territory, then came east and located at Weston, Lewis county, West Virginia, where he has since resided and built up an excellent law practice. He is ever on the alert to en- hance the interests and stand by the principles of the Republican party; has been a delegate to numerous conventions and was made chairman of some of these political bodies. He made the race and was defeated for the office of representative in 1910, going down with the Demo- cratic landslide. In 1908 he was elected justice of the peace, which office he still holds. Aside from his legal business and the duties of his office as justice of the peace, he finds time to attend to the many duties he finds in looking after his personal interests as a farm owner in 25-M
786
UPPER MONONGAHELA VALLEY.
Lewis county, and his stock-raising interests thereon. He also has mer- cantile interests in Shadybrook; is connected with the People's Tele- phone Company, etc. He also conducts a general insurance business.
Mr. Hughes belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and Woodmen of the World, being past councillor for both orders; is clerk of the Modern Protective Association; clerk of the Woodmen of the World Lodge, No. 34; commander of General J. A. J. Lightburn Camp, No. 1, Sons of Veterans, and is a member of the executive com- mittee of the West Virginia Frat Association; also member of Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, Western Lodge, No. 90. During the Spanish-American war he was a member of Company F, Second West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, serving one year as sergeant. He is sec- retary of the People's Electric Light, Ice & Water Power plant, also director and on the executive committee of the above.
The early generations of the Hughes family were of the Methodist Protestant religious faith, while the more recent members are of the Baptist faith.
Mr. Hughes was married June 28, 1903, to Evadney E., daughter of John Mathews, a lumberman of Putnam county, West Virginia. Children : 1. Houston J., deceased. 2. M. Carlton, born August 3, 1906. 3. Allin I., born November 28, 1908. 4. Charles Frederick, born August 6, 1910.
Rush J. Ward, D. D. S., son of Duncan Ward, D. D. S.,
WARD and wife, Sarah (Dew) Ward, was born in West Mil- ford, West Virginia, October 23, 1878. He gradu- ated at the Weston high school in 1898, then entered Ohio Col- lege of Dental Surgery at Cincinnati, from which he graduated in 1902, with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. Since that time he has been practicing his profession in Weston, West Virginia. He is a member of the Psi Omega Dental Fraternity and the Weston Ma- sonic lodge. Politically the doctor is a Democrat. Having suitably equipped himself for the profession in which science has made such wonderful strides in recent years, he is thoroughly acquainted with all the latest methods and has already built up a lucrative practice at Wes- ton. His offices are well planned for the convenience of his many patients. Dr. Ward is unmarried.
787
UPPER MONONGAHELA VALLEY.
Among the leading industries of Weston is the Gregg
GREGG Grocery Company, of which W. R. Gregg was one of the incorporators. Mr. Gregg is the son of Thomas and Martha (Sprout) Gregg, of Tyler county, West Virginia. He was born September 2, 1856. His father was a merchant and tanner of Tyler county. After obtaining a good common school education he was ambitious to embark in some legitimate calling, and chose that of a merchant. In 1872 he entered the employ of T. T. Wallace Produce Company, at Clarksburg, West Virginia, remained there three years when he joined Ruhl Koblegard, wholesale grocers, of Clarksburg, and in 1906 came to Weston, Lewis county, and established his present business house, known as the Gregg Grocery Company, which he is still associated with. It was incorporated in October, 1906, under the laws of the state, with a capital of $85,000, by W. R. Gregg, W. R. Smith, A. D. Miller, A. R. Weber and J. B. Smith. It has been a successful concern since its first inception in 1906, and now enjoys a large trade within a wide circle of trade territory in West Virginia. Their business house is located with warehouses on a private switch of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad line in West Weston. The main build- ing occupies twenty-eight thousand square feet of floor space. Mr. Gregg has always been the president of the company, as well as treas- urer and manager of the business, while W. R. Smith has always acted as secretary and A. R. Weber as vice-president. As a wholesale grocery company there are few its equal in the state of West Virginia. Fra- ternally Mr. Gregg is a member of the I. O. O. F., B. P. O. E., M. W. of A., and U. C. T.
He married, October 20, 1881, Mary V. Smith, and they have one child, Guy F., born November 20, 1882, associated with the Gregg Grocery Company.
DUNNINGTON Scotland has sent forth to this country thou- sands of sturdy, God-fearing, industrious men and women, whose descendants are now scat- tered throughout the length and breadth of the land, and among them may be included the Dunningtons. Weston, West Virginia, has long been the home and business place of members of this family.
(I) Noah Dunnington, was born in 1807, in Dumfries, Virginia.
788
UPPER MONONGAHELA VALLEY.
He came to Taylor county about 1828 from Farquier county, Virginia, and settled at Pruntytown, where he remained a short time, then re- located at Clarksburg, where he engaged in the tailoring business and became one of the leading citizens of the place. Before the formation of the Republican party he was a member of the Whig political party. He was a member of Herman Lodge of Odd Fellows at Clarksburg, where he died in October, 1885. He married Catherine W. Ferguson, of Dumfries, Virginia. The children of this union were: William L., of whom further; James, died young; Charles, was a resident of Clarksburg, West Virginia, now deceased; Philip, formerly associated with his brother John in the mercantile business in Wichita Falls, Texas, now a resident of Abilene, Texas; John, deceased; Hugh, of the firm of Dunnington & Dennison, merchants at Weston; Isophine (Mrs. Harry McArdle), now deceased; Flora, wife of Frank Zimmer- man, residing in California. Mrs. Catherine (Ferguson) Dunning- ton, who was a member of the Methodist church, died at Clarksburg in 1891.
(II) William L., son of Noah and Catherine (Ferguson) Dun- nington, was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia, June 13, 1832. He was educated in the old-fashioned subscription schools after which he learned the mercantile business, first as a faithful clerk in Clarks- burg and Fairmont, going to Weston in 1849, where he clerked one year, then to Baltimore, spending one year in that city; going from thence to Pennsboro, West Virginia, where he was in business himself for three years. After a short time at Weston he again made his home at Pennsboro for a period of three years. In 1860 he came to Weston again and soon opened up a large store and continued as a leader in trade until 1896. His place of business, so long and well known, is now in the hands of Dunnington & Dennison, and is a large department store. William L. Dunnington has retired from all active business ex- cept his connection with the bank known as the Citizens' Bank, of which he has been president ever since its organization in 1891. He is an exceptionally well-read gentleman, possessing rare and mature judg- ment in business affairs. He is a devout member of the Presbyterian church. He has been twice married, (first) to Mary Martin, in 1856, by whom he had children: 1. James, born in Pennsboro, died in 1885; was in business with his father. 2. Flora, died in infancy. 3. Edith,
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.