USA > West Virginia > Genealogical and personal history of the upper Monongahela valley, West Virginia, Volume II > Part 4
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(IV) Stephen (3) White, son of John and Mary ( Rencher or Ren- shaw) White, was born, according to Westminster Parish Register, March 23, 1723-24, and accompanied his father when the latter re- moved to St. John's Parish. He married, January 1, 1751, Hannah Baker (St. John's Register ), daughter of Maurice and Christian (Graf- ton) Baker, the latter a daughter of William Grafton. Stephen White died in 1754, leaving two children. On December 4, 1754, adminis- tration bond of Hannah White as administratrix of Stephen White, late of Baltimore county, deceased, in £100, with Maurice Baker and Will- iam Grafton Jr. as her sureties (Balto. Co., Admin. Bonds, lib. 4, fol. 175). The sureties were respectively the father and uncle of the widow. About a year later she married again, the St. John's Register recording the fact that Samuel Everett and Hannah White were mar- ried December 9, 1755. Samuel Everett and Hannah his wife, admin- istrators of Stephen White, late of Baltimore county, deceased, filed an account in January, 1756, which has at the end the following: "The deceased left two children, Grafton about 3 years old, Stephen about I year old" (Balto. Co., Accounts, lib. 5, fol. 515). The Balance Book at Annapolis (lib. 2, fol. 21 ) shows that, May 28, 1756, Samuel Everett and Hannah his wife, "administratrix of Stephen White," re- turned a balance of £151 6s. 134d., to the widow one-third and the residue equally divided between Grafton and Stephen White." Stephen and Hannah (Baker) White had issue: Grafton, of whom further; Stephen, born 1754.
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(V) Grafton White, son of Stephen (3) and Hannah (Baker) White, was born about 1752, in St. John's parish, Baltimore county, Maryland, and went to West Virginia in 1774. He settled on a farm of three hundred acres at Maidsville, near Morgantown, Monongalia county, and resided there until his death, which occurred July 15, 1829. Family records state that he was then aged seventy-nine years and seven months, but as the records cited above show that he was born in 1752, this is evidently to be corrected to seventy-seven years. Grafton White was twice married. His first wife, Margaret, daughter of Simon Din- ney, was born December 11, 1760, died in 1801. His second wife, Elizabeth, survived him and died February 18, 1849, aged ninety years, one month and thirteen days. Children by first wife: Simon, born Octo- ber 15, 1781 ; William, August 15, 1783; Hannah, September 8, 1785; Ann, March 21, 1788; Rebeckah, July 16, 1790; Stephen, October 31, 1792; Michael, June 16, 1795; Grafton, October 29, 1797. Child by second wife : Margaret, born 1804, died at age of eight months.
(VI) William White, son of Grafton and Margaret (Dinney) White, was born August 15, 1783. He married Mary Darling, and settled in the western portion of Monongalia county, on the land where Maple postoffice is now situated, and where Simon L. White, his son, resides. Children : Stephen, John, James, Michael, Thomas, Joseph, William, Richard, Lydia, Simon and Daniel. All but one of these (William) married, and settling in the vicinity of Maple formed what was known as the "White Settlement."
(VII) Michael White, son of William and Mary (Darling) White, married Mary Anne Russell (probably Rischel originally, since her ancestors were all from Holland) and settled on a farm of two hun- dred acres about three miles below the head of the Pennsylvania Fork of Dunkard, and the same distance above the village of Jollytown, Pennsylvania. Children: Henry Solomon, William Thomas, Lydia Anne, Catharine, Israel C. and John. John and Catharine died during childhood. The mother of these children died in 1852.
(VIII) Israel C. White, son of Michael and Mary Anne ( Russell) White, was born at the old homestead in Battelle district, in the western portion of Monongalia county, West Virginia, November 1, 1848. He grew to manhood (19) on the farm with only such educational advan-
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tages as the "subscription schools" of the time, previous to 1865, afford- ed. His father had a high appreciation of the value of education, how- ever, and made many sacrifices to give to his children the advantages of the best "subscription schools" available. His father was a strong, virile citizen, a born leader of men, and one of the five persons selected to divide the county into districts and give names to the same after the formation of West Virginia. He gave the name "Battelle" to the most western district, in which he also resided, naming it after Rev. Gordon Battelle, a talented Methodist Episcopal minister of Wheeling, West Virginia, who through a series of newspaper articles accomplished more than any other one man in crystalizing the public sentiment of Western Virginia in favor of separation from the mother state.
It was while attending one of these "subscription schools" taught by Dr. George Fletcher, a graduate of Allegheny College, at Meadville, Pennsylvania, that Israel C. White conceived the idea of securing a college education. Hence, when the West Virginia Agricultural Col- lege was established at Morgantown and opened its doors for the higher education of the young men of the state in September, 1867, Israel C. White became one of its matriculates at the opening, through the en- couragement of his intelligent and appreciative father, who, although one of the strongest men physically the county ever produced, never having been outdone in wood chopping, rail making, or lifting contests, sickened and died at the end of 1868, during the middle of the son's second college year. Thrown upon his own resources at the age of twenty, the son determined to carry out his father's wishes and graduate from the state's highest institution of learning. He taught school, worked on the farm during vacations, sold his small contingent interest in the farm, and graduated with honor in the class of 1872, not owing any one a dollar, but with only about ten dollars in cash ahead for future capital. He received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from West Virginia University in the aforementioned year, and that of Master of Arts from the same institution in 1875. Soon after his graduation in June, 1872, he married Emma Shay, a talented teacher of the Morgan- town public schools. Both taught school for the first and second years of their married life, and in 1874 Mr. White was elected principal of a private school at Hunterdon, New Jersey, where they went to reside.
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Soon after the birth of his oldest daughter (now Mrs. Joseph H. Mills), Mrs. White died of puerperal fever, November 24, 1874, and Mr. White relinquished the profession of teaching to take up the study of geology, having secured an appointment as aid to his old teacher in geology, Dr. John J. Stevenson, on the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, beginning work thereon in May, 1875. He was made full assistant in 1876, and remained in connection therewith until that survey came to a close in 1884, and was also the author of eight volumes of the reports of that survey.
Dr. White took a post-graduate course in geology and chemistry at Columbia University in 1876-77, and received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Arkansas in 1882. In addition to his service in the Second Geological Survey, mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, he served as professor of geology in the West Virginia Uni- versity from 1877 to 1892; was one of the assistant geologists of the United States Geological Survey from 1884 to 1888, during which time he prepared and published Bulletin 65, on the Stratigraphy of the Appalachian Coal Field; in 1892 he assumed charge of a large petro- leum business, which he had developed for himself and associates, through scientific discoveries made in connection with his studies of the occurrence of petroleum, natural gas, and coal, in all of which he is an expert specialist.
Dr. White was treasurer of the Geological Society of America from 1892 to 1907; vice-president of the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science, Sec. E. (Geology), 1896-97; delegate to the International Geological Congress held in St. Petersburg, 1897, and in Paris, 1900. Dr. White has been State Geologist of West Virginia since 1897, and has prepared and published five of the volumes of the reports, viz. : Vols. I. and I. (A) on Petroleum and Natural Gas; Vols. II. and II. (A) on Coal, and Bulletin Two, on Levels and Coal Ana- lyses. He has also supervised and edited the publication of nine other volumes published by the West Virginia Geological Survey which were prepared by his assistants. In 1904 to 1906 he visited Brazil at the re- quest of the Brazilian government to make studies and an official report on the coal fields of South Brazil. His report, a large quarto volume with numerous illustrations on the Brazilian coal fields, was published
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in both English and Portugese in 1908. He was invited by President Roosevelt to be the second speaker on the program at the White House Conference of Governors in May, 1908, where he delivered an address on "The Waste of Our Fuel Resources," and this, in connection with an address before the American Mining Congress at Pittsburgh, De- cember 6, 1908, on "The Barren Zone of the Appalachian Coal Field," has greatly aided the conservation movement inaugurated by President Roosevelt.
Dr. White, although an exceedingly busy man, finds time to take an active interest in civic affairs, being vice-president for West Virginia of the International League for Highway Improvement, president of the West Virginia State Board of Trade, and ex-president of the Morgantown Board of Trade. During the recent visit of President Taft to Morgantown, in connection with the inaugural ceremonies of Dr. Hodges, Dr. White was unanimously selected by his fellow citizens to entertain President Taft and his party for breakfast and introduce his distinguished guest to the two thousand school children assembled on his private lawn.
Dr. White married (first) Emma Shay, who bore him one child: Emma, wife of Joseph H. Mills, of Morgantown, West Virginia; one child, Joseph H. Jr. Dr. White married (second), in December, 1878, Mary Moorhead, of New Castle, Pennsylvania, who bore him five chil- dren : 1. Nell, wife of C. W. Maxwell, of Elkins, West Virginia ; chil- dren : May and C. W. Jr. 2. Fanny, wife of H. P. Brightwell, of Charleston, West Virginia; children : Frances, Elizabeth and H. P. Jr. 3. Edith, wife of Karl L. Kithil, of Morgantown, West Virginia ; chil- dren : Karlos and Richard. 4. Charles. 5. Gertrude.
The Hodges family from which President Thomas Ed-
HODGES ward Hodges, of the West Virginia State University, comes, is of an old and highly intelligent line of Vir- ginia ancestry, a vigorous stock from which have almost always sprung superior men and women, in all lines of useful professions and vocations in this republic, so noted for its push, energy and practical accomplish- ments.
(I) John R. Hodges, who for a time had been Dolly Madison's
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overseer, about 1845 emigrated from Albemarle county, Virginia, and settled west of Buckhannon, Upshur county, near what is now Lorentz postoffice. He followed farming and trading for his livelihood, and was of the Methodist Protestant church faith, while politically he was a Democrat. He died at about the age of sixty-five years, and was buried near Buckhannon.
(II) John Henry Hodges, son of John R. Hodges, above referred to, was born in 1836 and died in 1905. He was one of a family of thir- teen children : Thomas Edward, John Henry, Charles Kelley, James Fife, Oscar Fitzalan, George Noble, Theophilus Edgar, Bushrod Brown, Sarah Jane, Lucy Catherine, Martha Elizabeth, Mildred Simp- son and Malinda Ann. In 1856 John Henry Hodges married Melissa Margaret Humphreys, born in 1829, and still living (1911). She had been his teacher in the subscription schools in his neighborhood. Her father was Meriwether Humphreys, who married into the Thurston family, and also migrated from Albemarle county, Virginia, going to Upshur county in 1844 and settling east of Buckhannon, on Sand Run. John Henry Hodges in earlier life followed the trade of saddler, but later became a dealer in cattle. Politically he was a Democrat, and in his religious faith was of the Methodist Protestant denomination. His children were: Thomas Edward, of whom further mention will be made; Liona Lloyd (Boram), and Susan Elizabeth (Miles) .
(III) Thomas Edward Hodges, son of John Henry and Melissa M. (Humphreys) Hodges, was born December 13, 1858, in Upshur county, Virginia, and obtained his primary education in district schools and at French Creek Academy. In 1877, six years after his father had moved to French Creek, young Hodges left the family circle for Morgantown, West Virginia, to attend the State University, graduating from that institution in June, 1881. President Hodges has had a most remarkable and interesting history during his educational career. After his graduation at the University he was principal of the Morgantown schools from 1881 to 1886. The year last named, he was elected prin- cipal of Marshall College, the State Normal School at Huntington, West Virginia, which position he held ably for ten years. While in this work, he extended his acquaintance over the entire state, visiting almost every county, becoming popular through his lectures to teachers,
Thomas E. Hodges
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at institutes and other meetings, as well as through other relations and activities which indicated his earnest and constant interest in civic and social life. In 1896 he was elected professor of physics at the West Virginia University, a position he held until he was appointed member of the State Board of Control in 1909. While performing his duties in that office, he kept in touch with the problems of education, as well as the industrial and business life of the commonwealth. An active mem- ber of the Presbyterian church from youth up, he has been honored in later years with influential positions in its councils, and in 1905 became a member of its College Board. In 1909 he was given the honorary degree of D. Sc. from Waynesburg College, and in 1911, in recognition of his ability and service, Washington and Jefferson College conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. In 1910 he was elected president of the University of West Virginia, to begin his service, October, 1911. He was formally installed November 3, 1911, with imposing cere- monies, at which leading representatives from various colleges were present and took part. His well known executive ability doubtless caused him to be selected as the head of the greatest institution in the state.
He married, on October 5, 1882, Mary A. Hayes, daughter of Manliff and Alice (Berkshire) Hayes. She was born December 25, 1855. Children : Grace Mabelle, born April 24, 1890, and Charles Edward, born September 27, 1892.
LEWIS This Lewis family originally resided in Maryland, and one branch immigrated to West Virginia and settled in what is now Harrison county, where the name is common, and where it stands for industry and integrity of character.
(I) David Lewis, whose wife was named Johanna, came from Monocacy, Maryland, where his family all originally lived. The father of this David Lewis named the famous "Maryland" variety of apples so extensively grown in Harrison county at this time. In this family there have been several nurserymen and fruit experts, known to the horticultural world for the fine quality of fruit they have produced after scientific methods of culture. In the family of David and Johanna was a son named Jonathan, of whom the following will speak in detail.
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(II) Jonathan Lewis, son of David Lewis, was born March 25, 1793. He lived his life in the vicinity of Johnstown, Harrison county, West Virginia, and died April 30, 1848. He was both a farmer and veterinary surgeon. He was a volunteer in the war of 1812. He left children.
(III) Elmore Dow Lewis, son of Jonathan Lewis, was born De- cember 28, 1841, at Johnstown, West Virginia, and died May 3, 1889. By occupation he was a farmer. At the age of eighteen years he enlist- ed in the Thirty-first Regiment of Virginia troops, in the cause of the confederacy, and was honorably discharged from service on account of ill health in 1862. He later reenlisted in the Seventeenth Virginia Cavalry Regiment. He saw much severe fighting, and was present at the surrender at Appomattox. He died May 3, 1889. He married Sarah Post, born April 6, 1845, died April 1, 1880. She was from Upshur county, Virginia. Children : 1. Mrs. Clara Lewis Davis, wife of James M. Davis; lives on a farm at Johnstown. 2. Ernest Daniel, of whom further. 3. Mrs. Diadema Strader, wife of Ira C. Strader, a farmer, near Buckhannon. 4. Mrs. May Casto, wife of David D. Casto, a merchant of Buckhannon. 5. Mrs. Mollie Reger, wife of Robert C. Reger, a contractor and farmer of Buckhannon.
Daniel Post, father of Mrs. Elmore D. Lewis, was born in West Virginia. He followed farming. He volunteered for service in the Mexican war in 1847, but was not called out, the war soon ending. He died at Johnstown, West Virginia, in 1881, aged about eighty-one years.
(IV) Ernest Daniel Lewis, son of Elmore Dow and Sarah ( Post) Lewis, was born March 5, 1873, in Upshur county, West Virginia, on his father's farm, near Johnstown. He received his schooling in the common schools and at the old academy at Buckhannon two years, and two years more at the old Seminary, graduating from the latter in 1898, taking the normal course of study. He then entered the University of West Virginia at Morgantown, where he received the degree of A. B. in 1901, and the degree of LL. B. the year following. He went to Clarksburg in the summer of 1902 and opened his law office, which is now in the Goff building, and here has successfully practiced law. In politics he is a Democrat; he has been chairman of the county com- mittee for six years; also chairman of the Democratic senatorial com-
ES, Levi's
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mittee for four years. He is identified with the local lodge of Elks; is a member of the Knights of Pythias of Johnstown and is associated with the college fraternity, Sigma Chi, and also Delta Chi, a Greek letter law fraternity.
The immigrant ancestors of the Watson family, so WATSON numerous in West Virginia and in the vicinity of Fair- mont, Marion county, at this time, were James Wat- son and John Haymond. The Watsons and Haymonds have been conspicuous names in Maryland and West Virginia and have had much to do with the development of the country and in making laws and enforcing the same in several commonwealths in this country. Among its members have been revolutionary soldiers, Indian fighters, and those who went forth to do battle in the days of the civil war. In each posi- tion in which they were placed with responsibility resting upon them, they have proved themselves worthy the name of pioneer, soldier and statesman.
(I) James Watson, immigrant, was born in Scotland, and with three brothers came to this country prior to 1740 and settled in St. Mary's county, Maryland. He married Mary Greene, a relative, family tradition says a sister of General Nathaniel Greene, of revolu- tionary fame.
(II) James Greene, son of the Scotch emigrant, James Watson, was born in St. Mary's county, Maryland, February 23, 1756, died in Monongalia county, Virginia, March 8, 1834. He married, about 1785, Ann (Dyson) Swan, a widow (daughter of John and Lydia Dyson), born September 6, 1759, died in Monongalia county, August 27, 1817. Children: Margaret (Cox), born 1787; Thomas, men- tioned below; Henry, 1790; Mary Greene, 1792; James Dent, 1794. The father of this family was a planter and slave owner, and a noted Indian fighter. He was a member of the Church of England.
(III) Thomas, second child and first son of James Greene Wat- son, was born October 2, 1788, near Port Tobacco, Charles county, Maryland, died near Smithtown, Monongalia county, Virginia, Sep- tember, 1857. He married Rebecca Haymond, born in Harrison county, Virginia, March 21, 1796, died in Monongalia county, Virginia,
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April 4, 1845. Children : James Otis, mentioned below; William Hay- mond, 1818, died 1862; Thomas Greene, 1821, died 1865; Cynthia Ann, 1824, died 1882; Margaret Cassandria, 1826, died 1835; Joseph Calder, 1832, died 1887; Frances Rebecca, 1834, died 1883, married a Moderwell; Martha Dent, 1837, died 1905 ; Herain Augustus, 1839, died 1887. The father, Thomas Watson, was a civil engineer and county surveyor. In his religious faith he adhered to that of the Epis- copal church. The mother, Rebecca (Haymond) Watson, was the daughter of William and Cynthia Carroll Haymond. William Hay- mond was born near Rockville, Maryland, June 1I, 1771, died at "Palatine Hill," Virginia (now West Virginia), July 8, 1848. Mar- ried, March 13, 1793, Cynthia Carroll, born March 29, 1774. Her mother was a Miss Heath, of Virginia, and her father was James Car- roll, of Maryland. William Haymond was the son of William Hay- mond, born January 4, 1740, in Frederick county, Maryland, near Rockville, died at Quiet Dell, Harrison county, Virginia, November 12, 1821, and Cassandria (Clelland) Haymond, born October 25, 1741, died December 23, 1788. William Haymond Sr., when only fifteen years of age, was with General Braddock's army on the march to Fort Duquesne (defeated on Monongahela river, July 9, 1755) ; was with General Forbes in 1758, in successful expeditions against Fort Duquesne. In 1759 he enlisted in Virginia in a company commanded by Colonel George Washington. Company was disbanded at Fort Lewis, near Staunton, Virginia, February 24, 1762. In May, 1773, he moved from Maryland to the district of West Augusta, Virginia, set- tling near what is now Morgantown. Upon the formation of Monon- galia county, in 1776, he was a justice of the peace, deputy surveyor, coroner and sheriff. At the beginning of the revolution he was appoint- ed captain of militia, serving at Prickett's Fort, 1777, promoted to major in 1781, which office he held until the close of the war. The father of William Haymond was John Haymond, born in England, coming to America prior to 1734.
(IV) James Otis, eldest child of Thomas and Rebecca (Haymond) Watson, was born May 17, 1815, near Benton's Ferry (now Marion county), Virginia, died at Fairmont, June 12, 1902. He was educated by teachers at home, later attending private school in Morgantown.
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He was the real pioneer in West Virginia coal development and will certainly always have a place in history as the "Father of the Coal In- dustry" of the Upper Monongahela Valley. After the first railroad was constructed through Fairmont, in 1852, he immediately opened up the first coal mine, called the American Coal Company, in what is now the city limits of Fairmont. He pushed the enterprise along by his energy, tact and keen foresight, and finally before his death witnessed the formation of the Fairmont Coal Company. In 1852 Mr. Watson built a suspension bridge over the waters of the Monongahela river, connecting Fairmont and Palatine. When asked by a large coal cor- poration's representative from Baltimore, then competitors of the Wat- son coal mining industry, how it was that he could make money and successfully operate his mines, when they had difficulty in making a profit in their large mining operations, Father Watson remarked that while "You have large offices in the east, a salaried president, secre- taries, clerks, and a mule boss and mine boss, I am my own president, my own secretary and my own mule boss and mine boss, and carry my office in my hat." This but illustrates the sturdy, practical character of Mr. Watson, who knew every department of his large coal industry, from the lowest to the highest, and by dispensing with unnecessary clerks and officers, he was enabled to realize a handsome profit annually, in other words he cut expenses to the minimum. Politically Mr. Wat- son was a Democrat and held the offices of clerk of the circuit court, county surveyor and other local positions, always taking keen interest in the general welfare of his city, county and state. He was not a mem- ber of any clubs or secret fraternities, but in church connection was of the Episcopal denomination.
He married, July 7, 1841, in what was then called Middleton, but now Fairmont, Matilda Lamb, born July 13, 1822, daughter of Leon- ard and - - - Donaldson Lamb, who were married February 13, 1818. Leonard Lamb came from Massachusetts to Monongalia county, Virginia, to contract iron ore furnaces. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Lamb : Sylvanus, Matilda (Watson), Verlinda (Guseman), James D., Ann (Higginbotham), John B., Henry C., Mary Virginia (Westfall), Caroline and Moses E. Lamb. Children of James Otis and Matilda (Lamb) Watson: 1. William Henry, mentioned below. 2. Caroline
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