USA > West Virginia > Genealogical and personal history of the upper Monongahela valley, West Virginia, Volume II > Part 44
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ARMSTRONG The Armstrong family, numerous in its various members and different lines of genealogy, orig- inally emigrated from Ireland. They have been potent factors in the development of this country, especially in the states of West Virginia, Virginia and Ohio.
(I) John Armstrong, a native of Ireland, emigrated to this coun- try and settled in Pennsylvania, later removing to Lewis county, West Virginia, where he died in 1840, leaving four sons : Alexander Hale, Edward, James and William Armstrong.
(II) Alexander Hale, son of John Armstrong, was born in Mor- risons' Cove, Pennsylvania. He married Margaret Law and settled in Lewis county, West Virginia.
(III) Marshall Curran, son of Alexander Hale and Margaret (Law) Armstrong, was born October 12, 1835, at Janelew, Lewis county, West Virginia. He was educated in Lewis county, and joined his father in a grist mill enterprise known as Jackson's Mills. They sold the property and with it one thousand acres of land, removing to Little Hocking, Ohio, where they erected another mill. Later Marshall C. engaged in the milling business alone, on the south branch of Wolf Creek, conducting the same for a number of years. He then engaged in farming pursuits, and a portion of his time was devoted to contracting in plastering work, which line he followed for twenty years, when he retired, removing to Vincent, Ohio, where he is enjoying the fruits of his years of toil. He married Caroline Woodruff; children : Andrew Dixon, a dental surgeon, of Harrodsburg, Kentucky; Edward Lynn, a contractor at Vincent, Ohio; Justa A., residing with parents at Vin- cent, Ohio; Blanche, a teacher in Vincent. The Woodruffs were early settlers on a large farm near Waterloo, Ohio; they originally came from New York state and New England. Caroline (Woodruff) Arm- strong was the daughter of Chester Woodruff, whose wife was a Bundy, and of the Quaker faith, related to Senator J. B. Foraker.
(IV) Dr. Roscoe Guthrie Armstrong, son of Marshall Curran
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Armstrong, was born in Belpre, Washington county, Ohio, July 7, 1870. He was educated in Watertown, Ohio, and attended a business school at Indianapolis, Indiana. He was associated with his father in business for several years, then entered the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati, graduating with the degree of D. D. S. in 1901. While taking his course in college he had the advantage of being in- structed and in practice in Dr. Siegried's office, and after graduating entered into partnership with Dr. Lowe, in Covington, Kentucky. He remained there six months, and not liking the city went to Fairmont, West Virginia, where he entered the office of Dr. McKee, where he re- mained until opening his offices at Fairview and Amos, West Virginia. He purchased his present office and practice from Dr. W. R. Dougan at Mannington. He has an excellent office, equipped with the latest appliances for up-to-date dental surgery. He is an active member of the West Virginia Dental Association, and is member and secretary of the Monongahela Valley Dental Society. He is a member of Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 37, Free and Accepted Masons; Beverly Blue Lodge; Fairmont Chapter and Commandery, as well as the Wheeling Shrine. He has held several of the chairs in Beverly Blue Lodge. He also belongs to Mill City Lodge, No. 110, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Amos, West Virginia, and the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica in Mannington. Dr. Armstrong was from youth fond of out-door sports and hunting. When not confined in his office he enjoys such pastime. He has a fine, large collection of guns and revolvers of great age and with an interesting history connected with each one. Among this rare collection he has a gun which was once the personal property of General Lafayette, made in Bordeaux, France. Others were car- ried by soldiers in the revolutionary war, war of 1812 and the early Indian wars in Ohio and Indiana. If he has any special hobby, it is the collection of old fowling pieces.
He married, July 22, 1903, Delia L., daughter of John W. and Louisa (Clymer) Truesdell. The father was a resident of Beverly, Ohio, and there engaged in the grocery business. He served four years in the Thirty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the civil war. The Clymer family were pioneers in Harrison county, West Virginia, be- fore removing to Ohio.
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This family of Bartletts is an old one in that por- BARTLETT tion of West Virginia now known as Taylor county. There they had a plantation and held slaves many years prior to the civil war.
(I) Josiah Bartlett lived and died in Taylor county, Virginia, but little can be learned of his history other than that he married and reared a family, including a son named Jedediah W., and that he or some one connected with his immediate family served in the war of 1812. Josiah Bartlett died in 1872 in the town of Simpson, Taylor county, West Virginia.
(II) Jedediah W., son of Josiah Bartlett, was born in 1822 and died in 1898. He was a farmer and extensive cattle dealer. He was born and reared in Taylor county, Virginia. At the time of the civil war his horses and slaves were all pressed into the Union service, be- coming a total loss to him. He married Olive Ryan, a native of Harri- son county, Virginia (now West Virginia), born in 1830, died at the age of thirty-five in 1865. Children : Meigs Jackson, of whom further; Josiah, now of Boothsville, Marion county, West Virginia; Sarah E., now Mrs. Edgar D. Hill, of Harrison county.
(III) Meigs Jackson Bartlett, M. D., son of Jedediah W. and Olive (Ryan) Bartlett, was born May 13, 1857, in Taylor county, Virginia (now West Virginia). He had the advantage of the com- mon schools of his native section, later attended West Virginia College, still later graduated from the Normal School at Fairmont, in 1879. He chose law for a profession and after studying that for a time, changed and took up medicine. He attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Baltimore, Maryland, graduating in 1895. During the year in which he graduated he commenced practice in Clarksburg, where he is still located and enjoys the reputation of being an up-to- date and successful physician and surgeon. The doctor is a financier and owns one of the handsomest homes in the city of Clarksburg, and rents several more houses; besides he is president of a mutual real estate and banking company, and is the president of the Burnsville, Glenville & Parkersburg Railroad Company. Politically he is a sup- porter of the Democratic party. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; also belongs to the Elks, and is connected with the Baptist church of Clarksburg. He is one of the stockholders and
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directors of the Union National Bank of the same city, and the Amer- ican National Bank of Richmond, Virginia.
He was married, October 25, 1883, to Nannie E. Allen, a native of Harrison county, born February 5, 1869, daughter of Stephen C. Al- len, who died in 1876; he was a farmer and cattle raiser; also bought and shipped large numbers of cattle. The children born to Dr. Bart- lett and wife are: Lala Olive, born February 12, 1886; Mary Lena, born August 23, 1889; Evalyn Meigs, born November 4, 1891.
The West Virginia Business College at Clarksburg is
FINLY now conducted by Professor George C. Finly, of whose family this article will treat especially. The paternal grandfather, George Finly, lived near Cadiz, Ohio, where he married and was a substantial farmer of the Buckeye state. He married and they had a son named John Albert.
(II) John Albert, son of George Finly, was born at Millersburg, Ohio, died in Clark, Ohio, March 3, 1912, where he was a retired farmer. He married Martha Ellen Frizzell, born near Clarke, Ohio, in 1852, and still living (1912). Children by this union are: Pro- fessor George Clare, of whom further; Emma C., Lola, Welker and Robert Otto. Mr. Finly was politically a Republican and was connected with the Methodist Episcopal church
(III) Professor George Clare Finly, oldest child of John A. and Martha Ellen (Frizzell) Finly, was born October 3, 1878, at Clark, Ohio, and was educated in the public schools and at Wooster Univer- sity, Wooster, Ohio, after which he took a course at Scio College, Scio, Ohio; then taught in the public schools in the Buckeye state and later was connected with Elliott's Commercial College, of Wheeling, West Virginia. In 1902 his present commercial school, the West Virginia Business College, was opened by the Elliott Commercial School, of Wheeling, and Mr. Finly was engaged to conduct it. Three years later (1905) he purchased the establishment, which he has greatly en- larged and extended in its usefulness to young men and women of this section. When he took the school over it only had a membership of twenty-five pupils, but its present rolls show a membership (1911) of two hundred and thirty-eight. September 4, 1911, he, in company with his brother Welker, purchased the Sikes School, another commercial
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college, at Huntington, West Virginia, the name being changed to the West Virginia Business College. Both schools are rapidly growing in public favor, the enrollment of the latter schools is near fifty. Professor Finly is a member of both the Masonic and Woodmen of the World fraternities, and in church relations is of the Methodist Episcopal church.
He married, June 29, 1904, at Clarksburg, Bertha Fordyce, a na- tive of Clarksburg, born October 4, 1878, daughter of A. G. Fordyce and wife. Her father was formerly a carriage-maker, now retired at the age of seventy-four years. Mr. and Mrs. Finly are the parents of one child, George Albert, born February 22, 1906.
This Davis family, which is represented at Clarksburg
DAVIS by James Hornor Davis, is of English origin and the first member of which we have knowledge was Rezin Davis.
(I) Rezin Davis married and had a son, Dr. Edward Davis.
(II) Dr. Edward Davis, son of Rezin Davis, was born in and was a practicing physician of Clarksburg, West Virginia, where he died at the age of twenty-eight years. He married Almira Louisa Hornor and they had two children : James Hornor and Edward R., the latter now deceased. After her husband's death the widow married Judge G. W. Atkinson, ex-governor of West Virginia, now of Washing- ton, D. C.
(III) James Hornor, only surviving child of Dr. Edward and Almira L. (Hornor) Davis, was born November 13, 1870, in Harri- son county, West Virginia. He had the advantage of the public schools, graduating from the high school at Clarksburg, where he was born, and then took a course in civil engineering and mining at the West Virginia University at Morgantown. He commenced his actual practice in engineering in 1890 and established his present business, that of real estate and insurance, in 1905, having carried on civil en- gineering for fifteen years. He is now one of the directors in the Union National Bank of Clarksburg; is vice-president of the West Fork Glass Company; president of the Clarksburg Industrial Company, which body of men have built up the city to such a high degree by giving away factory sites, etc. He also owns considerable valuable farm land near Clarksburg, besides his residence and other city property. He is
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secretary and treasurer of the Eagle District Gas Company, and was one of the original founders of the Clarksburg Exponent-a local paper of much enterprise and merit. He was formerly a member of the state militia, and was its second lieutenant at Clarksburg and pro- moted to captain of his company. Mr. Davis was deputy county clerk in 1903-04. Politically he votes the Democratic ticket, and is a Mason, having been advanced to the thirty-second degree, and is now past master of the local Blue Lodge. In his church connection he is of the Presbyterian denomination, in which he is an elder and clerk of the sessions.
He was married at Clarksburg on October 19, 1892, to Edna Holmes, born in 1870, at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and removed to Clarksburg when a child with her parents. Her father was ex-Sheriff M. G. Holmes, who at one time was United States consul to China (Cheefoo) under appointment of September 1, 1871, signed by Act- ing Secretary J. C. B. Davis for President U. S. Grant. Mrs. Davis' mother was Elizabeth McCleary, who is now (1912) living with her daughter, Mrs. Davis, her husband being deceased. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Davis: Catherine Louise, born September 22, 1894; Virginia Hornor, born September 26, 1896; James Edward, born June 4, 1901 ; John Holmes, born December 26, 1902; Ewing McCleary, twin with Catherine Louise, is now deceased.
GASTON The Gaston family dates its history back to pre-revolu- tionary days in America, and four generations have re- sided in Harrison county, Virginia, now in what is West Virginia. The genealogical line runs thus :
(I) The great-great-grandfather served in the revolutionary war. He married and reared a son.
(II) The great-grandfather came to Virginia from New Jersey, and he and his wife were pioneers in Harrison county, this state. They settled on Duck Creek. Among the children of the last named couple was a son named William.
(III) William Gaston, son of the New Jersey-Virginia pioneer ancestor, was born in Lewis county, Virginia, and died aged ninety years. He was a successful farmer. He married Mary Post, and among their children was George, of whom further.
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(IV) George, son of William and Mary (Post) Gaston, was born on Duck Creek, Harrison county, West Virginia. He was an active, well-known citizen of his native county. He married Martha A. Gib- son, a native of Lewis county, West Virginia, who died in 1909. The eldest child died in infancy, and the remainder are living, namely : William, of whom further; Edwin, now on the old homestead farm in Lewis county; Emma, wife of John M. Trash, deceased, resides at Good Hope; Clark, a merchant at Mineral, Harrison county; Laura, wife of T. E. Morris, of Red Keys, Indiana, a merchant; Ivin V., un- married, lives at Clarksburg, West Virginia, agent for the North- western Life Insurance Company. Mrs. Martha A. (Gibson) Gas- ton's father was a native of Virginia and moved to Lewis county, West Virginia, at an early day. His wife's name was Malinda (Hall) Gibson.
(V) William Gaston, M. D., of Clarksburg, West Virginia, son of George and Martha A. (Gibson) Gaston, was born May 18, 1859, on the old Gaston home farm in Lewis county, West Virginia, near Freemansburg. He attended the local public schools, and then taught school for four years. He attended Fairmont State Normal School and the Otterbein University, at Westerville, Ohio. He chose medicine for his profession and entered the Eclectic Medical College at Cincin- nati, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1884. He took two post-grad- uate courses at the New York Polyclinic, and commenced his practice as a physician at Good Hope, West Virginia, continuing there from the autumn of 1884 to February, 1907, when he moved to Clarksburg, where he and Dr. Arnett have offices together, at Nos. 201 and 202 Goff Building. Dr. Gaston is well read in medicine and keeps abreast with the advancing methods of his profession. He is a stockholder, director, secretary and treasurer of the Marshville Oil and Gas Company; also director and vice-president of the Point Comfort Oil and Gas Company. He is also a stockholder in other concerns of Clarksburg. He is a member of the Harrison County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is a member of the Masonic order as high up as the Commandery of Knights Templar. He belongs to the Baptist church at Clarksburg and is a Democrat in politics.
He married (first) Nellie Thrash, of Good Hope; she died in
Mr. Gaston
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1892 childless. He married (second) Mrs. Susan Wolf Easter, at Good Hope, in 1894. She was born at Wolf Summit, Harrison county, July 26, 1859, daughter of Perry Wolf, long since deceased, a native of Virginia, a farmer and a merchant at Wolf Summit; her mother was a Basel before her marriage. The living children of Dr. and Mrs. Gaston are: Russell Howe, born January 4, 1895, now attending public school; William Bryan, born May 20, 1897, now attending public school.
FITCH The Fitch family, of which Dr. Dorsey Plummer Fitch is a member, originally resided in New England. For many years, however, they have been prominent in West Virginia.
(I) Arthur Fitch, the first representative of the line here under consideration of whom we have definite information, was of sturdy New England ancestry. He left his native state to settle in Preston county, where he remained but a short time and then came to Monon- galia county, in which he spent the remainder of his days.
(II) Captain Enoch Plummer Fitch, son of Arthur Fitch, was born in Preston county, Virginia. In early life he became active in po- litical affairs. He was a Whig and served as sheriff of Monongalia county for a period of sixteen years. When the civil war broke in on the peace of the nation he was among the first to offer his services to the Union cause. He served as captain and later as quartermaster until his death, May 31, 1864, in Hanover county, Virginia. Being a loyal and brave man his loss was felt both at home and in the field, espe- cially by his regiment with whom he was a favorite. Captain Fitch mar- ried Louisa Dorsey, of an old and honored family of Monongalia county (see Dorsey). Captain Fitch's wife died February II, 1883, aged fifty-eight years. Their children were : Ellen D., deceased; Fanny H., deceased; George A., deceased; Dr. Dorsey P., see forward.
(III) Dorsey Plummer Fitch, M. D., son of Captain Enoch Plummer and Louisa (Dorsey) Fitch, was born in Morgantown, Vir- ginia, now West Virginia, September 12, 1858. He was brought up on his father's farm in Monongalia county, West Virginia. He received his literary education in the West Virginia University, at Morgan- town, and took his first course in medical lectures at Jefferson Medical
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College, Philadelphia, after which for four years he practiced medicine with his preceptors, Drs. Hugh W. and L. S. Brock, then noted physi- cians in West Virginia and adjoining states. After thus profitably passing his time with plenty of actual practice under the best of physi- cians for four years, Dr. Fitch returned to Jefferson Medical College, from which institution he graduated with the class of 1885. He at once opened his office at Frostburg, Maryland, where he practiced suc- . cessfully for three years, then removed to Fairmont, in which city he has practiced ever since. While he is a general practitioner, he has for many years made a specialty of diseases of the eye. With the pass- ing of the years his practice has grown to be very large and quite lucra- tive. Hundreds, possibly, thousands, have felt the touch of his hand at the sick bed, and from his knowledge of disease have been restored to life and health. Such a member of the medical fraternity and pro- fession very naturally finds a place within the various medical societies. I Ie belongs to the Marion County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society and other associations of medical men.
Dr. Fitch was made a Mason in Morgantown and is now a member of Fairmont Lodge, No. 9, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; also of Fairmont Chapter. He is a popular member in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Politically Dr. Fitch is a supporter of the principles of the Democratic party, and keeps fully abreast with the workings of that party, believing that it best serves the interests of the masses of American citizens. He is too much absorbed in his profes- sion to become a professional politician or office-seeker. While he reads and profits by all the great physicians and their experiments, he still retains his individuality and has a commendable independence, which insures the most successful methods in combatting disease.
Dr. Fitch married (first) September 3, 1884, Sallie, daughter of Marcus W. Haymond, of Fairmont. Children : George Carroll and Sallie Louisa. In 1896 the wife and mother died. Dr. Fitch married (second), July 2, 1900, Blanch Haymond, a sister of his first wife.
(The Dorsey Line).
Of the Dorsey family, the following facts have been furnished by Mrs. Ruth Stephenson, of Parkersburg, West Virginia, she being the best authority now living. She says :
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"The D'Orsays (or Dorsey) were of French lineage. I do not know of any dates or any records. All I am writing is what I have heard my father relate to his family. My great-great-grandfather, Count George D'Orsay, died in Paris, France. He left three sons. George, the eldest, succeeded to the estates, which were entailed, thus leaving the two younger sons penniless. The older brother thinking this unjust broke the entail, for which he was banished from the coun- try, it being the law at that time that the breaking of an entail meant banishment. However, he loved his brothers and was willing to give up both title and country for their sakes. So he sold his estates in France and they came to America, George, Caleb, and John D'Orsay. The money he received for the property, he divided into three portions -a large, a small and a still smaller one, for which they drew lots. Of course George drew the smaller one. Upon reaching America they settled at a place called Ellicotts Mills, Maryland.
"My grandfather, George Washington Dorsey, married Sisson Ste- phens, of Baltimore, and emigrated to the wilds of West Virginia, bringing with them two servants, Edwin Clark and his wife, Lydia, and an infant named David. My grandfather bought a vast tract of land lying within three miles of Morgantown, West Virginia, situated on what is now known as the Kingwood Pike, and located thereon. My grandmother survived her husband three years. They had seven chil- dren who were all living at the time of their deaths, and this land was divided among these children. My father had six hundred and twelve acres in the home tract. The children were: Rebecca; Priscilla; Caleb; Benjamin; Larkin; John; and George Washington (my father), the youngest. Rebecca married Rush Burns, and lived and died in Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Priscilla married John S. Dering, of Morgan- town, West Virginia, where they lived and died; Caleb married Eliza- beth Ebert, of Hillsboro, Ohio, and they lived and died in Morgan- town; Benjamin was married three times. His first wife was Lavinia Greenwood, of Loudoun county, Virginia; his second wife was Mrs. Lycurgus Hough ( a widow), of Morgantown; his third wife was Mrs. Elizabeth Hefge (a widow), of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Larkin was married twice. His first wife was Mary Frances, of Connellsville, Pennsylvania ; his second wife was Elinor Ray, of Morgantown, West Virginia. John married Lucy Miller, a near neighbor. George Wash-
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ington Dorsey, my father, was born on November 5th, 1804, and died on October 29th, 1871, at 'Rose Hill,' his residence, near Morgan- town. He was thrice married. His first wife was Hilpa Miller; from this union there were four children: I. Louisa, who married E. P. Fitch (see Fitch), their children being: Francis H .; Ella; George; and Dorsey P. Fitch, of Fairmont. 2. Adaline, who married George Baker; both are dead. 3. George B. Dorsey, also dead. 4. Mary, who married Louis F. Baker, both of whom are dead. The second wife was Catherine Stillwell. They had one daughter: Sisson Hilpa, who married David Stine, their children being: George; Jacob; Dorsey; Richard; Nellie; and Lucy. The third wife of George Washington Dorsey (who was my mother), was Anne Marie (Mathoit) Wood. They were married on January 29, 1840. The officiating minister was Rev. Enoch Mor- gan. Five children were born to this union, as follows : 1. Caleb Henry, born November 25, 1840, and died September 11, 1841. 2. Eliza Cassandra, born February 23, 1843 ; married Frederick Henry Patton, deceased; their children are : Henry; Anna (deceased) ; Richard; Jessie; and Ruth. 3. William Henry (of whom further). 4. Ruth Ann (of whom further). 5. Joshua Mathoit (of whom further).
"William Henry Dorsey was born March 20, 1845, died April 4, 1907. He married Hester Ann Blosser. They had three children : Katherine Demain; Frederick Patton, deceased; and Thornton Picken- paugh, deceased.
"Ruth Ann Dorsey was born April 4, 1847; she married Andrew C. Stephenson, on April 14, 1868. Their children are: I. Agnes Miller, who married Oliver Hutchinson Stapleton, and the children of this union are: Gerald Mathoit; Ruth Cassandra; Oliver Harold, de- ceased. 2. Anna Mathoit. 3. Lucy Lazier, deceased. George Mathoit, who married Lelah Lotton, and their child is: Esther Mil- dred. 4. Kenner Boreman, who married Anna Rathbone. 5. Daisy McNeil, who married J. Thomas Peadro. 6. Mildred Jamesson. Joshua Mathoit Dorsey married Dora A. Warden, both now living (19II)."
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