History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 111

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co
Number of Pages: 1066

USA > West Virginia > Kanawha County > Charleston > History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens > Part 111

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).

Benjamin F. Mays was reared as a farmer boy and since he has reached manhood his life has been one of quiet business, more or less confined to mercantile pursuits, with the elim- ination of several years of the Civil war. In September, 1863. Mr. Mays put aside what appeared to be favorable business considera- tions in order to lend his help in supporting a cause he felt to be just. He enlisted in Capt. Richard Q. Laidley's company of picked men, the Kanawha Rifles, which was recruited largely at Charleston for the Confederate army. He participated in nineteen engagements and fought on many a noted battle-field. In No- vember, 1864, he was made a prisoner at Fisher's Hill and was confined at Point Look- out until the war closed, when he was paroled and returned to his home, where care and at- tention from kindred repaired the ravages in his health occasioned by the hardships of mili- tary prison life. During the larger part of his

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service he was engaged in action in the Shen- andoah Valley as a sharpshooter. He is a member of Camp R. E. Lee United Confeder- ate Veteran's and is treasurer of the camp.

Mr. Mays subsequently resumed business, having been trained by serving as a clerk in the mercantile line, and for the past eight years he has owned and conducted his own establish- ment at No. 214 Brook street, Charleston. He has the reputation of being a reliable business man and a straightforward and useful citizen.

At Lewisburg, Greenbrier county, W. Va., Mr. Mays was married to Mrs. Fannie (Zim- merman) Thornhill, who was born in Green- brier county, in 1836, where she was reared and educated. She was married first to the late John L. Thornhill, and two children were born to that marriage, namely : John L., who is in the brokerage and real estate business at Charleston, married Cloratine Wharton and they have two daughters; and Rosaline, who is the wife of Edward L. Warren, who is in the real estate business at Lewisburg. They have two children: Evert and Pearl.

Mr. and Mrs. Mays have five children, as follows: Hallie M., who is the wife of J. H. Sivold, of Lewisburg, and has three sons and three daughters (one of the latter, the name- sake of Mrs. Mays, has promise of being a musician of note in the near future) ; Bertia Lee, who is the wife of R. M. Ellis, who owns one of the fine farms in the environs of Col- umbus, O., and they have one daughter, Vir- ginia : F. Herbert, a resident of Lewisburg, W. Va., who was married first to a Miss Pare, who left two children: Lula B., who is the wife of J. E. Straw, residing at San Antonio, Tex., and they have two daughters; and Susie H., who is the wife of R. D. Johnson, a ship- ping clerk connected with a Charleston busi- ness house, and has one son, Robert Franklin. Mr. and Mrs. Mays are members of the Pres- byterian church. Politically Mr. Mays is a Dem- ocrat but he does not claim to be a politician.

S. H. CAMPBELL, a retired resident of Marmet, or Brownstown as it was called when he came first to this section, was born in 1846, in Monroe county, Va., and is a son of Isaac and Nancy (Vass) Campbell, both of whom

were born also in Monroe county and both died there. Farming was the father's business and he was one of the owners of the Red Sulphur Springs property before the Civil War. There were eight children in the family, namely : James, who lives in Monroe county; William, who was a soldier and met death in the Civil War; L. P., who lives in Monroe county; T. A., who lives at Bluefield, W. Va .; R. M., who lives at Teays, W. Va .; and E. L. and Mary, both of whom are deceased.

S. H. Campbell was given excellent educa- tional advantages as so considered in his youth in his native section, but after the Civil War he again became a student and then a teacher. When he enlisted in March, 1862, he was only sixteen years of age, but he served faithfully and courageously until the close of the war in the 17th W. Va. Cav., under Col. W. H. French, participating in the battles of Win- chester, Monoxia River and Gettysburg, to- gether with numerous others and was fortu- nate enough to escape wounds. He was made a prisoner, however, and was confined eight months, being liberated but a few days before the surrender of Gen. Lee. In 1865 he came to Kanawha county and then was married in Boone county and began to teach school there and continued until 1880. In Boone county he was elected a justice of the peace and in 1869 was elected to the State Legislature. When he left Boone county he entered the employ of the Winifrede Coal Company and lived at Winifrede for eight years and then moved to Putnam county, where he was both farmer and merchant for four years. Mr. Campbell came from there to Brownstown and became one of the most important factors in the business life of this place. He conducted a hotel, operated a livery stable, served as express agent and as postmaster and at the same time carried on a general mercantile store, which last enterprise he continued until September, 1910, when he practically retired. His sons are capable busi- ness men and still conduct the largest mercan- tile business in the town.

In 1867 Mr. Campbell was married to Miss Nancy Jane Meddows, and they have seven children, namely: William, residing at Logan Court House: Anna, wife of E. T. Huddleson,

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of Russell, Ky .; John, one of his father's suc- cessors; Nora N., wife of H. M. Dudding; Walter J. ; Grace, wife of Carl Hopkins, a trav- eling salesman, and Thomas E., one of the proprietors of the store above mentioned. Two children died young, in Putnam county. Mr. Campbell and wife are members of the Mis- sionary Baptist church. He is a Republican in politics and belongs to a number of fraternal organizations, including : the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Red Men and the O. U. A. M.

HON. JAMES A. HOLLEY, mayor of Charleston, W. Va., and one of the leading Democrats of the state, has been more or less identified with public affairs in Kana- wha County for many years. He was born November 12, 1855, in Cabell (now Lincoln) County, W. Va., a member of one of the old settled families of that section.

James A. Holley was educated in the West Virginia University and Duff's Com- mercial College at Pittsburg. After grad- uating from the latter institution in 1875. he returned to Lincoln County, where he continued until 1880, engaged in farming and stock raising, after which he embarked in a general mercantile business at Hamlin, W. Va. In the meanwhile he had become deeply interested in public matters and took a more or less active part in supporting the candidates of the Democratic party. In 1884 he was elected clerk of the circuit court of Lincoln County and served out his term of six years. In 1888 he was elected chairman of the Senatorial Committee and chairman of the Lincoln County Democratic Executive Committee and there are many who recall his loyal party work during that time, when many important issues were be- fore the people. In 1890 he was re-elected clerk of the court and in 1893 he was ap- pointed adjutant general of the state by Governor MacCorkle. In 1896 he was elected a member of the State Democratic Executive Commitee and in 1898 was ap- pointed a member of the State Democratic Organizing Committee. On January II, 1898 he was elected clerk of the highest

tribunal in the state and served until No- vember 15, 1902. He came to Kanawha County in 1893 and was first elected mayor of the capital city, in March, 1907, and in April, 1909, was elected mayor a second time, for a term of four years. In 1908 he was elected chairman of the Kanawha County Democratic Executive Committee, and in the same year was appointed on the Advisory Committee of the Democratic State Executive Committee; each of said positions he now holds. He has efficiently filled other offices and his name is fre- quently mentioned for still higher honors from his party.

Mr. Holley married Miss Zena Long, a daughter of James H. Long, of Kittanning, Pa., and they have one son, Homer K. Personally, Mayor Holley is a man who finds friends on every side, many of them being not in accord with him politically but admirers of his qualities as a man. He is a member of the well known business firm of Holley & Stephenson, dealers in coal and timber lands and oil and gas producers. He is a prominent Mason and belongs also to the Eiks.

FRANK CONKLIN, who occupies the po- sition of junior engineer with the government engineers, was assigned to the Wheeling dis- trict, which includes the Kanawha river, W. Va., in May, 1902. He was reared in Shelby county. O., where he was born, the second child of his parents, William and Anna ( Spar- ling) Conklin.

Robert Conklin, the grandfather, was one of three brothers who settled early in Shelby county. O., and he became a farmer. One brother, Jacob, became a circuit judge and an- other, Henry, a prominent physician. Robert Conklin married a widow, Mrs. Zeruah ( Wag- ner ) Fox, and lived near Port Jefferson, Ohio. One of the daughters of Judge Jacob Conklin was the first woman ever made a member of the faculty of Delaware College, where she filled the chair of English literature.

William Conklin, the father, was born in Shelby county, O., the only child of his par- ents. He went to the west, where he made a

HON. JAMES A. HOLLEY

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small fortune in the nursery business in Ne- braska and died at or near Omaha. He mar- ried Anna (Sparling) Stone, a widow, who was born in Shelby county, O., one of a large family. She survives and resides at Port Jef- ferson. Two sons were born to them: Hugh Robert and Frank. The former, who is a graduate of a dental college at Cincinnati, O .; is engaged in the practice of dentistry at South Charleston, where he has a pleasant home cir- cle, his two children being named Ann Louise and Rachel.

Frank Conklin attended the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, O., afterward becom- ing a student in the Ohio Normal University at Ada, Ohio, and secured his degree with the class of 1895 as civil engineer. His first as- signment on government work was on the Ohio River Survey, in July, 1899, under Major W. H. Bixby, who was then at the head of the Cincinnati district and is now the chief of the government engineers at Washington, D. C. From the Cincinnati district he was assigned to the Pittsburg district in 1901, and worked on the construction of Dam No. 4, Ohio river, during that season. The following spring as stated above he was assigned to his present position at Charleston, W. Va. Mr. Conklin is a Mason and belongs to the Blue Lodge at Port Jefferson, Ohio, and the Chapter at Charleston, W. Va., and has kept up his inter- est in his Greek letter society at Delaware Col- lege. Mr. Conklin is a Christian Scientist and is completing his third year as reader in the First C. S. Church at Charleston. He has never married.

L. C. MONTGOMERY, M. D., physician and surgeon who is in active practice at Mont- gomery. Fayette county, W. Va., was born July 17, 1873, at this place when it was still known as Coal Valley. He is the eldest born of three children, his parents being John C. and Margaret J. (Lykins) Montgomery. One sis- ter, Bertha, is the wife of Dr. S. K. Owens, and the second sister, Blanche, is the wife of George N. Hancock.

From the public schools, Lawrence C. Mont- gomery entered the Greenbrier Military Acad- emy and later he was a student at the ·Uni-

versity of Virginia and completed his medical education at the University of Cincinnati, in 1897. He returned to his native place and en- tered into practice with Dr. S. K. Owens, his brother-in-law. He is a member of the Fay- ette Medical Society and the West Virginia Medical Association. For the past six years he has been surgeon for the C. & O. Railroad, for the past six years has been president of the Montgomery Board of Health, for the past ten years has been president of the Fayette County Board of Health, and for three years was coroner of Fayette county.

Dr. Montgomery was married in December, 1897, to Miss Patti Alderson Teamster, a daughter of Joe and Mary Jane Teamster, and they have three children: John Carlin, Janice Meredith and Lawrence C. Dr. Montgomery is an advocate of athletic sports and is presi- dent of the Montgomery base ball team. He is identified also with the Knights of Pythias and the Eagles, at Montgomery, and with the Modern Woodmen and the Elks, at Charleston.

CASSIUS DADE HEREFORD, president of the Bank of St. Albans, at St. Albans, Kan- awha county, W. Va., the oldest business man of a place to the upbuilding of which he has been largely contributory, was born in Mason county, Va., now Putnam county, on what was known as the Ruffner farm, two miles west of Red House, November 14, 1846. His par- ents were Dr. Sydenham and Lavinia S. (Flower) Hereford.

Dr. Sydenham Hereford was a native of Fauquier county, Va., where he was born June 5, 18II, a son of Dr. Thomas P. Hereford, whose second wife was a Lacey. Dr. Thomas P. Hereford was one of four brothers, all of whom were physicians. His death occurred in Putnam county, where he was well known, having a reputation both in medicine and litera- ture. Of his eight children, three were physi- cians : Sydenham, Marion Rush and William A. Marion Rush Hereford engaged in med- ical practice at Sommersville, Nicholas county, Va., where he died aged eighty-four years. William A. Hereford practiced at Wellington, Va., four miles from Manassas Junction, where he died at the age of eighty-six years.

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One son, Thomas, was clerk of the courts of Prince William county, Va. His married daughters were Jane, Willie, Maria, Caroline, and Susannah.

Dr. Sydenham Hereford was reared in Fau- quier county and from there came to the Kan- awha Valley in 1836, where he practiced med- icine until 1870, when he embarked in the mer- cantile business at Red House, where he con- tinued until 1882, his death occurring Decem- ber 21, 1884. He was a Democrat in his polit- ical convictions, and an honest man who never sought office for its emoluments. His fellow citizens elected him treasurer of his district in 1869. He was twice married, first to Lavinia S. Flower, who died January 13, 1863, at Red House, aged forty-six years. He was married secondly to Mary Burford of Buffalo, W. Va., who is also deceased. Children were born to both marriages, those of the first union who grew to maturity being Thomas Patterson, Arieanna Elizabeth, Cassius Dade, and Henry Clay. To the second marriage were born Ada B., Mollie, John Randolph and Louise.

Thomas Patterson Hereford, the eldest of the above children, became a physician, receiv- ing his educational training in the Ohio Med- ical College and the Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia. He practiced at Coalsburg and Brownstown prior to the opening of the Civil War, and then entered the Confederate army as a private and was later commissioned regimental surgeon of the 14th Va. Cav. A part of the time he served under General Mc- Causlin. On one occasion he was hemmed in the valley with comrades and was taken pris- oner by the Union soldiers and before he was exchanged was imprisoned at Camp Chase. He located at Newberne, Va., after the war and then moved to Coalburg and in 1870 to Elmwood, Saline county, Mo., where he died March 4. 1906. He served that county as cor- oner for four years and for twenty years was postmaster at Elmwood. He married Maria Jamison.

The eldest daughter, Arieanna Elizabeth, who was the wife of J. H. McConahy, died at St. Albans, March 25. 1896. Henry Clay. whose death occurred in 1896 or '97, was a merchant on Davis Creek. Kanawha county.

He married Clara Wooley, of Gallipolis, O., and they had one daughter, Ethel, who is the wife of L. V. Thomas, a merchant at Cannel- ton, W. Va. Of the second family, Ada B., who is now deceased, was the wife of R. B. Burke, who was chief engineer in the double tracking of the C. & O. Railroad. Mollie, who is the wife of Charles Robinson, lives at Red House, Kanawha county. John Randolph Hereford is a prosperous grocery merchant of West Charleston. Louise resides in Putnam county.

Cassius Dade Hereford attended the coun- try schools and those of Red House, after which he became a clerk, first, in 1864, for Cap- tain McCauslin, at Point Pleasant, remaining with that employer until 1869. He then went to Missouri and for three years was a clerk in a store there and for six months was in business with a partner. but then sold out and came to St. Albans, in August. 1872. For twelve years after coming here, Mr. Hereford conducted a grocery store and then enlarged his scope and became a general merchant and for thirty-seven consecutive years he has been in the merchan- dising business at this place. He continued ac- tive until September, 1909, when he practically retired. He is one of the largest owners of real estate at St. Albans. having forty houses. including residences and business sites, and also has vacant property. Mr. Hereford has addi- tional business interests. He owns the under- taking business at St. Albans, which has been conducted at this place by WV. A. White, for the past seventeen years and Mr. White also looks after his property. He was the organizer of the Bank of St. Albans and has been president of this institution ever since, backing the enter- prise with his name, capital and business judg- ment. It commenced business in 1900 and has grown to be one of the leading financial insti- tutions of the county. commanding the confi- dence of a large body of depositors.

Mr. Hereford was married August 17. 1875. to Miss Anna May Roth, a daughter of Rev. Edward C. and Mary E. Roth. Rev. Dr. Roth was one of the most scholarly men in the Bap- tist ministry in his day and was conversant with several languages beside his own. He de- voted a life of fifty years to the work of the

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church and was widely known and much be- loved. Both he and wife died in Missouri. The father of Mrs. Hereford was of German ancestry but was born in Pennsylvania. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Here- ford : Henry Kendall, William Delafield, Cas- sius D., Walter Donaldson and Herbert Roth. Henry Kendall and Cassius D. both died young, the former in infancy and the latter when aged seven months.

William Delafield attended the public schools at St. Albans and then spent one year in the Charleston schools and three years at the Uni- versity of West Virginia at Morgantown, and in 1904 was graduated from the Baltimore Medical College. In 1905 he took a post grad- uate course, and in 191I took a second post graduate course in New York city. For the past six years he has been in active practice at St. Albans. He married Sallie C. Hanley, of Scott, W. Va., in March, 19II, and then lo- cated at Macon, Ga.

Walter Donaldson attended the local schools and later a military academy at Staunton, Va., for two years, and was graduated from Wash- ington & Lee University Law School. He practiced law for two years with W. G. Barn- hart of Charleston, but in 1910 located at Ok- lahoma City, Okla., where he is engaged in the practice of his profession. He married Reba Reives Mohler, a daughter of William E. Mohler, of St. Albans.

Herbert Roth, who is now in his nineteenth year, was formerly a student at Blackstone and later at Oklahoma City, and at present is at Washington and Lee University. Mr. Here- ford's sons have made very creditable progress in the educational institutions with which they have been connected. Walter Donaldson grad- uated at Washington and Lee when nineteen years of age and received a gold medal for scholarship, and received the class scholarship medal in his twenty-second year from the Uni- versity of West Virginia.

Mr. Hereford is a member of the Baptist church. In politics he is a Democrat, as are his sons, and he has been an active and useful citi- zen, serving frequently in local offices and as a member of the city council, and in 1892 he was elected mayor and gave an admirable business

administration. He is a member of Lodge No. 202, Elks, at Charleston; to Lodge No. 119, Odd Fellows, at St. Albans; Lodge No. 71, Knights of Pythias; Washington Lodge, No. 58, F. & A. M., and to the other branches, in- cluding the Mystic Shrine, at Charleston. A man of broad view and earnestness of purpose, he is a truly representative citizen.

EDWARD W. HIGGINBOTHAM*, ce- ment contractor, a representative business man of Charleston, WV. Va., was born July 4, 1865, in Mason county, W. Va., a son of Frank and Miriam (Sayer) Higginbotham, and a grand- son of Samuel Higginbotham.

Frank Higginbotham was born in Mason county and spent his entire life in Mason and Putnam counties. He was a cooper and farmer and a well known man in his section. He died in November, 1910, at the age of eighty-four years. He married Miriam Sayer, who was also born in Mason county and who still survives. She is a daughter of Absalom Q. and Rachel (Freehart) Sayer. Seven children were born to Frank Higginbotham and wife, two of whom died young, the living being as follows : Ernest C., who is a commer- cial traveler for a Cincinnati business house, lives at Charleston, married Ida Selby and they have two children: Frank D., who is a commercial traveler, lives at Philadelphia, Pa., has been twice married and has one daughter ; Edward W., our direct subject; Daniel R., who is a contractor and carpenter residing at Indianapolis, Ind., married Rhoda Folk and has five children; and Mary Helen, who mar- ried Walter Cherry of Indianapolis, and has two daughters.

Edward W. Higginbotham was mainly reared in Kanawha county and has been a resident of Charleston for the past twenty- seven years. He studied mechanics and en- gineering in a practical way and is competent in all work of this kind. For thirteen years he was a stationary engineer but lately has given the larger part of his attention to contracting, making a specialty of cement work. He has always been an active citizen and at times served in the city council, being first elected to this body in 1903.

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Mr. Higginbotham was married first in Putnam county to Miss Cordelia Higgin- botham, who died in 1892, aged twenty-eight years. She was the mother of three children, namely : Lovell J., who resides at Charleston, married Hazel, a daughter of Peter Silliman, and has one daughter, Catherine M .; Orvell S., who works with his father; and Mame, who met a tragic death at the age of thirteen years. She was on her way to school and was crossing the suspension bridge over the Elk river, when it collapsed and she was drowned in the water below. This disaster was one of the most lamentable in the history of the city. Mr. Higginbotham was married secondly to Kate D. Hoylman, who was born near Covington, Va. There have been three children born to this marriage-Albert, Vir- ginia and Dolly. Mr. and Mrs. Higgin- botham attend the Methodist Episcopal church, to which their parents belonged. In politics he is a Republican. He is a Knight of Pythias, and an Odd Fellow, belonging to the Encampment, having passed all the chairs in both lodges.

ADOLPH LUCKHARDT, who is en- gaged in a wholesale and retail bakery busi- ness at West Charleston, W. Va., and is a substantial and respected citizen, was born September 25, 1872, at Singershausen, Ger- many, and is a son of George Henry and Anna Elizabeth (Weber) Luckhardt.

George Henry Luckhardt was born in 1828 in the above named part of Germany and there followed farming all his active life, his death occurring February 4, 1910. He married Anna Elizabeth Weber, who was born in Ger- many in 1833, and was a daughter of George Weber. They had five children, namely : Anna Elizabeth, who married I. J. Block; Catherine, who married Calvin Jaeckel; An- gela, who married J. Schlemener; Adolph ; and Conrad, who married Margaret Hope.

Adolph Luckhardt was eight years old when he went to live in Bremen, Germany, where he attended school until he was sixteen years of age. He then came to America and located at Cincinnati, O. He learned the bakery busi- ness and worked as a baker from 1889 until

1892, when he came to Charleston and has been engaged in the same here ever since. His business includes baking in all its depart- ments and he does an extensive business, both wholesale and retail, assisted by his daughter, three helpers being required and two wagons constantly in use supplying a large territory. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Maccabees, both at Charleston.

On September 20, 1892, Mr. Luckhardt was married to Miss Mary Barth, who was born September 8, 1866, in Rheinprintz, Ger- many, and they have had the following chil- dren: Bertha Marie, who was born in 1893; Lillian, who is deceased; Anna Elizabeth, who was born in 1896; Alma Catherine, who was born in 1899; Rosa, who is deceased; Hilda Barbara, who was born in 1903; Arthur Adolph, who is deceased; and Henry Nicholas, who was born in 1907. Mrs. Luckhardt is a daughter of Peter and Margaret (Teiten) Barth, and a sister of Nicholas Barth, who is a retired farmer of Elk district, Kanawha county.

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History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 111

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co Number of Pages: 1066

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co
Number of Pages: 1066