USA > West Virginia > Genealogical and personal history of the upper Monongahela valley, West Virginia, Volume II > Part 7
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BROWNFIELD The American ancestry of the Brownfield family is traced back to the pioneer period of the his- tory of Pennsylvania, when Thomas Brownfield, one of the early settlers, crossed the Allegheny mountains, when Indians and wild animals held undisputed possession of the beautiful Monon- gahela Valley.
(I) Thomas Brownfield, pioneer ancestor, married and reared a family, including several sons, one of whom was Rev. William Brown- field, a learned and eminent divine of the Baptist church, who became the great rival of Alexander Campbell, founder of the Disciple or Christian church. Another son was Squire Brownfield, whose Christian name was James, who came into possession of the home farm and passed his life peacefully in the pursuit of agricultural work and de- velopment of the country in which he was a native. He served as a justice of the peace many years.
(II) James, son of Thomas Brownfield, of Fayette county, Penn- sylvania, married Hannah Bowell, by whom he had children, including Judge John Brownfield, of whom later. James Brownfield remained a farmer throughout his active years in Fayette county, Pennsylvania.
(III) Judge John Brownfield, son of James and Hannah (Bowell) Brownfield, was born December 28, 1808, died January 23, 1885. He left the farm, on attaining his majority, to engage in general mercan- tile business, which occupied his thought and attention during all his years of activity. He had a good education, was broad-minded and
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had most excellent judgment, hence his services were always in de- mand among his neighbors. In 1851 he was elected as associate judge of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, serving two terms, which period expired in 1861. On the bench he was known as one of the most efficient and useful associate judges in all the state. He was a member of the Baptist church, and politically a Democrat. He married Belinda, daughter of John Hustead, and she died July 2, 1882, aged seventy-one years. Children: Dr. James H., of whom further; John H., who be- came an active business factor near Smithfield, Pennsylvania; Sarah, widow of Simeon Dunn; Mary B .; Alceste J., widow of E. J. Feather, a merchant of Smithfield.
(IV) Dr. James H. Brownfield, son of Judge John and Belinda (Hustead) Brownfield, was born July 5, 1836, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. He received his education at the home schools and at Lewisburg (now Bucknell) University, Union county, Pennsylvania. At the end of his college life he became a medical student in the office of Dr. H. B. Mathiot, after which he entered Jefferson Medical Col- lege, where he took one course of lectures. Then with the coming of the civil war, he gave his services to his country. He was a contract surgeon at Fairmont, now West Virginia, for a time; then was appoint- ed assistant surgeon of the Fourteenth West Virginia Infantry Regi- ment, serving in the latter capacity until the close of the war. After the war closed he returned to Fairmont which had been his home since 1860. He soon built up a large practice which has increased with the passing decades, and is now the oldest practicing physician in Marion county, West Virginia. After becoming a physician, he returned to his alma mater and in 1877 received the degrees which he had expected to obtain when the war changed his plans. It is related of him that he had the honor of performing the first amputation in the civil war. He was in the Eighth Army Corps, and under General Philip Sheridan. After a half century Dr. Brownfield retired from the general medical practice. He was one of the organizers and charter members of the West Virginia State Medical Society in 1867; also has belonged to the American and International Associations, and the National Association of Railroad Surgeons, and is an honored member of the American Public Health Association. He is connected with the Masonic order, being a member of the Royal Arch Masons and the Shriners, and has
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long since been a Thirty-second degree Mason. Politically Dr. Brown- field is Republican, and has labored with zeal in many a well-fought political campaign. He held the position of pension examiner for his district from 1867 until the Cleveland presidential administration in 1884. In the autumn of 1894 he was elected a member of the house of representatives from Marion county, and ranked as one of the fore- most lawmakers in West Virginia.
Dr. James H. Brownfield married, October 18, 1866, Ann Eliza- beth Fleming, who died in 1903, daughter of Matthew Fleming of Marion county (see Fleming). Children: John M., cashier of the People's National Bank at Fairmont; Clark B., died January, 1909, married M. D. Nuzum, and had one child, James H .; George H., practicing physician at Fairmont, married Ida L. Bartlett; and Archie F., conducting a jewelry business at Fairmont.
ALLEN James Allen, immigrant ancestor, very likely came to Dedham, Massachusetts, with his uncle, the Rev. John Allen, about 1637. He was a grandson of Reginald Allen, of Colby, Norfolk, England. The first mention of him in the records is dated April 6, 1632, when "Jeames Allin accepted to haue sixe acres layd out for him in yt corner by Jeffery Myngey yf ther it may be found fitt." He received other grants at various times. He was ad- mitted to the church, October 2, 1646, and made a freeman, May 26, 1647. In 1648 his estate was valued at two pounds and his tax was rated at three shillings five pence. In 1649 some of the inhabitants of. Dedham made a company in order to form a settlement at Boggestow, upon the Charles river, now known as Medfield, and he was one of the first thirteen proprietors, and the fifth to be granted land in the new town. The committee which carried on the affairs of the town at first granted him land, June 19, 1650, when they laid out the thirteen house lots. His lot was on South street near the present residence of Mr. Rhodes. In 1650 his estate was valued at one hundred and thirty-nine pounds. He was again granted land in 1653, near the land of his son Joseph. He received other grants of land and owned tracts on both sides of the river. His will was dated September 23, 1676. He left his house, barn, etc., to his son-in-law, Joseph Clerk, and as he had given
5-2M
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his house on South street to his son Nathaniel he must have owned two places.
He married, in Dedham, March 16, 1638, Ann Guild, who died in Medfield, March 29, 1673, and he died there, September 27, 1676. Children, all born in Dedham except the youngest: John, December 4, 1639; Martha, twin, December 11, 1641; Mary, twin of Martha; Sarah, May 4, 1644; James, April 28, 1646; Nathaniel, August 29, 1648; Joseph, mentioned below.
(II) Joseph, son of James Allen, was born in Medfield, June 24, 1652. He settled in the northern part of the town on Castle Hill, known as the Allen place afterwards. He was granted two lots of land in 1673, one between the road leading to "Goodman Morse's" and land owned by his father, below Samuel Wight's land. The other lot was between his father's land and that owned by Samuel Wight, bounded on the east by the highway leading to Natick. He was a cooper by trade, and his house and shop were built before King Philip's war. On February 21, 1676, the Indians determined to burn the town, and his property was among the first to receive their attention. They took shavings from the shop and piled them on the kitchen floor. They applied the torch and set them on fire, but the shavings had been piled on a trap door which fell into the cellar when burnt and extinguished the flames. No other damage was done, although all of the other houses in that part of the town were destroyed. On September 21, 1676, he received from his father six acres of upland and one acre of meadow land, and this was probably his share in his father's will, as his name was not on the will which was dated two days later. In 1675 and 1701 his name is on the list of proprietors, and he was made a freeman, October 1I, 1682. In 1688 he was sealer of weights and measures, and he and his wife were admitted to the first parish in 1697. He married, in Seakonk ( Rehoboth), November 10, 1673, Hannah, born there, October 23, 1654, died in Medfield, in 1730, daughter of Will- iam Sabin. He died in Medfield, January 14, 1703. Children, all born in Medfield: Joseph, December 19, 1676; Hannah, June 23, 1679: Daniel, April 21, 1681 ; David, March 22, 1683; Noah, April 21, 1685 ; Eleazer, August 25, 1688 ; Jeremiah, August 5, 1690; Heze- kiah, November 3, 1692; Abigail, October 24, 1694; Nehemiah, men-
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tioned below; Thankful, probably died young; Mary, probably died young.
(III) Nehemiah, son of Joseph Allen, was born in Medfield, April 22, 1699. He sold his right of inheritance to his brother Noah, and settled in Sherbourn, Massachusetts. About 1745 he moved to Stur- bridge, Massachusetts. He married, about 1722, Mary Parker, who died in Sturbridge, January 27, 1771, and he died there November I, 1785. Children, born in Sherbourn: Timothy, September 5, 1723, died young; Nehemiah, July 22, 1724, died young; Hannah, July 29, 1725; Eliphalet, August 24, 1727; Nehemiah, October 17, 1729; John, February 13, 1731-32 ; Jacob, February 24, 1733-34; Abel, Feb- ruary 20, 1735-36; Mary, April 16, 1738; David, mentioned below; Abigail, December 23, 1741; Timothy, in Sturbridge, March 25, 1744; Abner, in Sturbridge, August 22, 1746.
(IV) Deacon David Allen, son of Nehemiah Allen, was born at Sherbourn, Massachusetts, December 23, 1739. With the remainder of the family he removed to Sturbridge, Worcester county. He married (first), at Charlton, March 10, 1763, Experience Streeter, of Charl- ton. This marriage is recorded both at Sturbridge and Charlton. He is called of Halifax, presumably Vermont, when he married (second), at Sturbridge, September 22, 1783, Eunice Colburn or Colman (inten- tion gives one spelling, marriage record the other). Probably should be Colburn, which was after perpetuated as a family name. She was a widow. Two children are recorded as born in Charlton, viz : David, mentioned below; Jonathan, March 5, 1766.
(V) David (2), son of Deacon David (1) Allen, was born at Charlton, April 24, 1764. He settled in Vermont. The history of Middlebury, Vermont, says that David Allen, brother of Theophilus, settled on the farm north of his brother, now or lately owned by Alfred Stowell, and that he died in 1805, aged forty-three. Theophilus deed- ed his farm to Joshua Henshaw in 1797. He married, about 1790, Abigail Goodenough. She married (second) Elijah Keeler. Chil- dren : Asa; Ezra, mentioned below.
(VI) Ezra, son of David (2) Allen, was born in Middlebury, Vermont, March 22, 1795, died April 7, 1849, in East Smithfield, Pennsylvania. He married Lydia Chamberlin, at Marlborough, Sep- tember 10, 1817, grandniece of General Warren. Children : Warren;
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Rev. Cyrus, a pioneer preacher in Kansas; Marinus Newton, of Titus- ville, Pennsylvania, was prominent in early oil development, editor of Titusville Courier for years, postmaster under President Cleveland; E. Pascal, a leading surgeon of Athens, Pennsylvania; Harrison, of Waverly, New York; Henry, a leading attorney of Mansfield, Tioga county, Pennsylvania; Judson W., mentioned below; a twin brother, George; Louisa; Lucinda.
(VII) Judson W., son of Ezra Allen, was born September 7, 1838, in Bradford county, Pennsylvania. He was educated in the pub- lic schools. By profession he is a civil engineer and surveyor. From 1869 to 188 1 he was county superintendent of schools and he had been previously the principal of the graded schools. In 1865 he located at Coudersport, Pennsylvania, and since then has been a prominent and influential citizen of that town. For many years he was the general agent of the Bingham Estate, which owned two hundred and seventy- five thousand acres of land, a large part of which was oil land and the whole was heavily timbered. Mr. Allen sold most of this vast property to good advantage. He is a prominent Free Mason, a member of Eulalia Lodge, of which he is a past master. He has always been an earnest supporter of the temperance movement, and is an active and zealous member of the Baptist church, of which for many years he has been a deacon. In his younger days he was a lay preacher and filled the pulpit often in the absence of the pastor.
He married, August 15, 1866, Mary Bowen, of Academy Corners (Knoxville), Pennsylvania. Children: 1. John Bowen, mentioned be- low. 2. Ezra, professor of biology in the School of Pedagogy, Phila- delphia ; married May M. -, of New York. 3. Laura L., born 1 877 ; graduate of Bucknell College, Pennsylvania ; was a preceptress in the high school of Coudersport; now Mrs. C. M. Kinkle, of Vander- grift, Pennsylvania.
(VIII) John Bowen, son of Judson W. Allen, was born in Cou- dersport, Pennsylvania, June 24, 1867. He attended the public schools of his native town and the State Normal School at Mansfield and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of Boston. In 1890 he began to practice his profession of civil engineer and has continued to the present time, except during 1898 when he was in active service in the Spanish-American war in the Twelfth Regular Infantry Regiment in
J.Ballen
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Cuba, under General Chaffee. He took part in the battle of El Caney, July 1, 1898, and remained with his regiment before Santiago until the surrender. After the war he resumed his business as civil engineer. In 1909 he located in Fairmont, West Virginia, and is associated with Wilkie C. Rohr in civil and mining engineering. He is a member of Fairmont Lodge, No. 294, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and of Benezette Lodge, No. 988, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he is an Independent. In religion he is a Baptist.
He married, April 19, 1903, Edith, born in Olean, New York, April 17, 1883, daughter of James Doyle, a lumberman, who died in November, 1908. They have two children: Mary Bowen, born at Pennfield, April 7, 1904; John Bowen Jr., born at Fairmont, West Virginia, September 23, 191I.
SMOOT The Smoot family, known to have been for more than a century resident in Virginia, and prominently identified with the best interests of West Virginia ever since the beginning of its independent history, is, there is reason to suppose, identical with the Smoot family which was planted in Maryland during the early years of the colony, the first Smoot will recorded in Maryland being dated 1676.
(I) John Smoot died in 1808, in Hampshire county, Virginia, leaving a large number of descendants. His wife was Mary , and according to his will his children were: "Barton, eldest son;" "Solomon, second son;" "James, deceased;" "Children and wife of deceased James;" also, William, Jacob, Joshua, mentioned below; Joseph, Mary Cornet, Susanna Haize, Lucrecy, and two youngest daughters, Charity and Priscilla. The fact that Barton is a common family name in this line seems an additional reason for connecting the Smoots of Virginia with those of Maryland who are known to have intermarried with the Bartons.
(II) Joshua, son of John and Mary Smoot, was a farmer, owning land in Hampshire county. The acres which had been his home he sold in 1835, having moved the year before to Preston county, now West Virginia, where he was the first settler of Newburg. The house in which he lived is still standing in good condition and is owned by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. In religious belief Mr. Smoot
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was a Baptist, and on moving to Preston county made his home in a Baptist community. He married, in Hampshire county, Mary Haines, born in March, 1794, in Maryland. They are known to have been married previous to 1817 by the fact that in that year they executed a deed to property in Hampshire county. Their children were: Samuel, Walker, Henry, William, Minor Barton, Sarah, Eveline, James Rea- son, mentioned below; Julia, Harriet. Joshua Smoot at the time of his death was a member of the Baptist church and is interred in a burying ground of that denomination.
(III) James Reason, son of Joshua and Mary (Haines) Smoot, was born June 23, 1834, in Hampshire county, Virginia. He was a merchant, lumber manufacturer, stockman and financier. He organ- ized the First National Bank of Newburg, and from that time until the close of his life was its president. He was a member of the Meth- odist Protestant church and gave to the society at Newburg to which he belonged the site for their edifice, in the building of which he was largely instrumental. He married (first), March 5, 1854, in Pres- ton county, Susan Howard (see Howard III), and their children were: Mary E., born April 27, 1856; Ethel O., April 22, 1862; John W., April 25, 1864; Charles Howard, mentioned below; Hattie D., Sep- tember 21, 1868. In 1885 he married (second) Susan Powell, and of this union the following children were born : J. Ray, Grace, Clara, Cal- vin, Cora, Earl and Edgar. All these are at home or in school, with the exception of J. Ray Smoot, who is cashier and director of the First National Bank of Newburg, founded by his father. J. Ray Smoot married, in 1908, Mollie Fromhart, of Newburg, and they have one child, J. Ray Jr. James Reason Smoot died in 1905, leaving a record of many years of usefulness and honor.
(IV) Charles Howard, son of James Reason and Susan (Howard) Smoot, was born March 23, 1866, in Newburg, Preston county, West Virginia. He received his preparatory education in the graded schools of his native place, afterward spending three years at Adrian College, Adrian, Michigan. After completing his course of study he entered mercantile life and for nine years was in partnership with his father at Newburg. In 1896 he moved to Webster county, West Virginia, and there conducted the lumber manufacturing business of his father and himself under the firm name of C. H. Smoot & Company. This enter-
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prise of Mr. Smoot resulted in the founding of a business colony, and for its benefit he caused a postoffice to be established which he named Prestonia, in honor of the county, he himself being appointed the first postmaster. In 1900 the lumber firm of C. H. Smoot & Company was moved to a point in Nicholas county, West Virginia, where Strouds creek empties into Gauley river. This point was sparsely settled and had no postoffice, so once more Mr. Smoot, with characteristic energy and public spirit, established another post village, which was named Allingdale, and of which he became, as in the case of Prestonia, the first postmaster. At Allingdale he has since carried on a thriving lum- ber business in connection with farming and cattle raising, the land in this vicinity affording good grazing after the removal of the timber. In 1904 James Reason Smoot withdrew from the firm and Charles Howard Smoot has since been sole head of the organization. In addi- tion to this responsible position he also holds the office of president of the Lanes Bottom Bank, at Lanes Bottom, West Virginia. In politics Mr. Smoot is a Republican and was once elected mayor of Newburg, but did not qualify, preferring to remain a private citizen, as such ren- dering always strong support to the government. He is a thirty- second degree Mason and a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is an official member of the Methodist Protestant church at Newburg, and has twice served as a delegate to the general conference. His family are members of the First Presbyterian Church in Fairmont.
Mr. Smoot married, June 12, 1890, at Newburg, Alice L. Paul (see Paul). Children: Raphael, born March 22, 1891; Charles Howard Paul, January 17, 1893, died, as did his elder brother, in infancy; Bithiah, January 7, 1901; Ralph Omar, February 17, 1907. The comfortable and attractive dwelling which the family occupied during the years of their residence at Allingdale has been, since 1907, their summer home, Mr. Smoot having purchased in that year the beau- tiful house at Fairmont which is their place of abode during the winter months.
(The Howard Line).
(I) John Howard, grandfather of Mrs. Susan (Howard) Smoot,
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was born in 1780, in Kent county, Delaware. He married Martha McCracken, of Scotch parentage.
(II) John (2), son of John (1) and Martha (McCracken) Howard, was a man of large influence in his community, holding the office of justice of the peace, and serving as a delegate to the first and second conventions which met at Wheeling to consider the formation of the new state of West Virginia. It was Mr. Howard who named the town of Independence, in Preston county. He married Elizabeth, born in 1803, daughter of Daniel and Susan (Davis) Thompson. Daniel Thompson was a son of James and Sarah (Wood) Thompson, who came before 1790 from Belair, Harford county, Maryland, to Monongalia county, West Virginia.
(III) Susan, daughter of John (2) and Elizabeth (Thompson) Howard, was born February 18, 1830, in Preston county, Virginia. She became the wife of James Reason Smoot (see Smoot III).
(The Paul Line).
Nicholas Paul, founder of the Virginia branch of the family, was a native of Germany and emigrated in 1754 to the American colonies. He served in the French and Indian and also in the revolutionary war; his son, Jacob Paul, was an officer in the war of 1812, and his grand- son, Washington Paul, held a commission in the union army during the civil war. Henry Miller, of Pennsylvania, a revolutionary soldier, was allied to this branch of the Paul family, as was Henry Snider, who came about 1800 to Monongalia county, Virginia, and was the pro- genitor of many descendants who are at the present time among the sturdy citizens of this state and of other parts of the country.
John Emory Paul, a lineal descendant of Nicholas Paul and father of Mrs. Alice L. (Paul) Smoot, served several terms as recorder of Newburg and was at one time mayor of the city. He also served a term as mayor of Monongah, West Virginia. His business has been that of builder, merchant and secretary. Mr. Paul married Bithiah McCool, born seven miles from Glasgow, Scotland, at Kirkintilloch, Dumbartonshire, and at the age of three years was brought by her parents to the United States, thus leaving the place where four genera- tions of the family had resided. Following are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Paul: Alice L., mentioned below; James W., graduate of
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West Virginia University, student two years in Columbia College, New York City, was twelve years at head of mining department in West Vir- ginia as chief mine inspector, now at Pittsburgh under the federal gov- ernment as chief of the mine rescue work of the United States, often going abroad in interest of this work, married, in 1901, Nell Wilson, of Beaver, Pennsylvania, two children, James W. Jr. and Margaret; Margaret Jane; William Emory.
Alice L., daughter of John Emory and Bithiah (McCool) Smoot, was born at Newburg, West Virginia. On her seventeenth birthday she graduated from the Fairmont State Normal School. For five con- secutive years thereafter she taught in the graded schools of her home town, and during that time was elected a member of the teachers' examining board of Preston county. In association with Professor F. B. Trotter, now of the West Virginia Association, and with the late W. B. Squires, then county superintendent, she served in this capacity for one year, but refused to be considered as a candidate for a second term. This was the first and remains the only instance of a woman's serving on the teachers' examining board of Preston county. In 1889 she was appointed postmistress of Newburg, then the largest postoffice in Preston county. On June 12, 1890, she became the wife of Charles Howard Smoot (see Smoot IV). Mrs. Smoot is a member of the William Haymond Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, of the Fairmont Woman's Club and of the First Presbyterian Church and its missionary society. Mrs. Smoot has followed the religious tra- dition of her maternal ancestry, not her mother only, but also the latter's parents, Muir and Margaret McCool, and their progenitors, having been identified with the Scotch Presbyterian church.
Among the military characters in West Virginia, who
HARR served his country almost three years during the civil war, under Generals Milroy and Sheridan, is Rufus E. Harr, born in Marion county, Virginia, May 22, 1846. He is the son of Merrick R. and Sophia (Stark) Harr. The father was a farmer who died when his son was only six years of age. The mother died in 1871.
Thus early in life Rufus E. Harr was thrown on his own resources, being tenderly cared for by his mother, and both had a struggle to maintain themselves after the passing away of the father and husband.
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