History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 115

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 115

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

the Masonic fraternity at Clendenin, the Odd Fellows at Charleston, and the Knights of Pythias at Blue Creek.

WILLIAM L. BROOKMAN*, who is one of the substantial and representative citizens of Charleston, W. Va., owning a large amount of valuable property, was born August 14, 1839, in Craig county, Va., and lost his father when he was three months old. He was a son of Samuel and Mahala ( Philips) Brookman.

Samuel Brookman was born in 1800 in Craig county, Va., and was a son of Peter and Mary (Swisher ) Brookman. Grandfather Brook- man was a soldier in the War of 1812 and was killed in the last battle of that war, leaving a young widow with one son and two daughters : Samuel; Sallie, who became the wife of John Johnson; and Nancy, who became the wife of David Wright. In order to take care of her children, Grandmother Brookman became a midwife and in her profession was well known and at different times lived in Craig, Pulaski, Montgomery and Raleigh counties. She sur- vived her husband for sixty-five years and was ninety-seven years of age at the time of death. Samuel Brookman was drowned in 1839 while trying to move rails from Craig creek during a flood. He was survived by his widow and three sons, the former dying while still under fifty years of age. Of the sons, John, the eld- est, died about the age of maturity ; David was probably killed while serving in the Confeder- ate army; and William L.

William L. Brookman went to live with his grandmother after the death of his mother and remained with her for seven years and when he started out for himself, at the age of fifteen years, her precepts and advice followed him as did her affection. He worked first for twenty- five cents a day and later, growing ambitious and working for sixteen hours a day, he was able to earn fifty cents. He had been taught frugality and early learned the necessity as well as the power of money and has never forgotten it, hence, while his beginnings were small, he has been able to build up a substantial fortune where others of his acquaintance, with less provident habits, have never accumulated any- thing. In 1863 he came to Elk district, where,

with the capital he had been able to acquire, he bought 600 acres of land and became a farmer and stockraiser and prospered. From his farm he came to Charleston in 1905 and here, as mentioned above, he has large realty interests. He is a stanch Republican and has been more or less active in political matters in the county for many years, but has never been willing to accept office for himself although he has been a hearty worker for his friends.

Mr. Brookman was married in Raleigh county, W. Va., to Miss Lydia McMillian, who was born there in 1840, and died in Elk dis- trict, July 4, 1871. They had five children : Samuel, who died aged twenty-six years, left a widow and three children: Mary E., who is the wife of William Milton, lives at Charles- ton; Mattie, who died in early womanhood; Virginia, who is the wife of Thaddeus Hum- phrey, of Elk district; and Anna, who died in childhood. Mr. Brookman was married sec- ond, in Elk district to Miss Adaline V. Nay- lor, born February II, 1844, in Big Sandy, Kanawha county, daughter of John M., and Martha (Ashley) Naylor. The father of Mrs. Brookman was a substantial farmer and dur- ing the Civil war served in the Federal army for three years. He was a member of the 13th W. Va. Vol. Inf., and was in many engage- ments and assisted to capture General Morgan who was then engaged in his raids in Ohio and other sections. Although Mr. Naylor es- caped wounds and imprisonment, he suffered from sunstroke. Mr. and Mrs. Brookman had one son, W. Lewis, who was born July 4, 1870. and died April 16, 1896, leaving a widow and three children, the latter being Carrie, Hattie Lydia, and Addie Lois, the youngest being born five months after the father's death. Hattie is the wife of Cornell Humphrey, and they reside in Little Sandy district, Kanawha county. Mr. and Mrs. Brookman are promi- nent members of the Baptist church, in which he has been a deacon for the past thirty-five years.

JOHN H. SUTHERLAND, M. D., a prominent physician and surgeon of St. Al- bans, W. Va., where he has resided since 1864. was born February 22, 1853, and is a son of

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HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

Dr. William B. and Catherine Frances (Mor- ris) Sutherland, members of old families of Kanawha county.

Dr. William B. Sutherland was born in Ken- tucky and was a son of a Scotch Dissenter, who had been expelled for his religious views from the south of Scotland and had sought freedom in the mountains of Kentucky. The son, Will- iam B. Sutherland, became a physician and was well known as a medical practitioner at Poplar Plains, O., Maysville, Ky., Aberdeen, O., and St. Albans, W. Va., his death occur- ring at the last named place in 1885, when he was aged sixty-four years. He married Cath- erine Frances Morris, who was born near the mouth of Paint Creek, Kanawha county, W. Va., and died in 1900, aged eighty-three years. Her father, Carroll Morris, and a man named

Kelley were the first two white settlers to pen- etrate into this section of the Kanawha Valley. They settled at the mouth of a stream, which they named Kelley's creek, where they erected a cabin. Mr. Morris at that time had a fam- ily. in a civilized section of Virginia and he left his partner alone and journeyed back to the old home for his family. In those days trans- portation especially through such a wild region was necessarily very slow and when Mr. Mor- ris reached Kelley's creek he discovered that Indians had not only burned his cabin but had killed Mr. Kelley. It required considerable courage to remain, practically alone and at the mercy of the savages, but apparently there was nothing else to do, and Mr. Morris rebuilt his cabin and, so far as known, lived in peace dur- ing the remainder of his days, and undoubtedly was the first permanent white settler in the section.

To Dr. William B. Sutherland and his wife three sons and three daughters were born, namely: Alice, who is the wife of Frederick Carroll, who was for many years well known as a journalist ; Elizabeth, deceased, who never married; William and Katie, both of whom died young : John H .; and George Lipard, who died in childhood.

John H. Sutherland is one of the two sur- vivors of his parents' family and since he was eleven years old has had his home at St. Al- bans. He attended the public schools and has

been a medical practitioner since 1874, attend- ing the Louisville Medical College. In 1881 he passed the medical State board of Examin- ers. For thirty-seven years he has been a phy- sician and since 1878 has been in the drug busi- ness, having a large drug store at St. Albans, which he lost by fire in 1907. In politics, Dr. Sutherland is a stanch Democrat and has been the candidate of his party for mayor of St. Albans for eleven times and has been elected in eight campaigns. He is a man of wide in- fluence and a representative citizen in the full sense of the term.

Dr. Sutherland was married first to Miss Leah C. Wilson, who was born and reared in Kanawha county, and died here in 1885. Her parents were William S. and Sarah L. Wilson. Mrs. Sutherland was survived by two of her three children. Lillian Alice died at the age of seven years. Sarah Kate is the wife of G. D. Bryan, of St. Albans. John W., who is a graduate in pharmacy, conducts a drug store on the corner of State and Court streets, Charleston. He married Annie Morris, a daughter of Marshall Morris of that city. In 1892 Dr. Sutherland was married to Miss Nora B. Madox, of Putnam county, WV. Va., a daughter of Henry Madox, and they have had three children : Guy Morris, who died when aged eighteen months; Henry Bailey, a bright school boy of ten years; and Clifford Hans- ford, who is three years old. Dr. and Mrs. Sutherland are members of the Presbyterian church. He is a member of the county, state and American Medical Associations, while fra- ternally he is identified with St. Albans Lodge No. 119, Odd Fellows, of which he is a char- ter member; Ivanhoe Lodge No. 71, Knights of Pythias; and Red Hawk Tribe, No. 24, of the Improved Order of Red Men.

WATT S. OXLEY, who is one of the sub- stantial business men of St. Albans, has been a merchant here for fourteen years and owns a well arranged stock and a fine establishment. He was born November II, 1861, in Lincoln county, W. Va., and is a son of Thomas and Sarah (McGhee) Oxley.

The parents of Mr. Oxley were natives of Franklin county and the father was a farmer.

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In 1858 Thomas Oxley moved with his family to what is now Lincoln county but which was then called Boone county, and spent the re- mainder of his life as an agriculturist, dying at the age of eighty-three years, at Scott, W. Va., having moved to Putnam county about 1896. His father was Archibald L. Oxley and his death occurred about 1875 or '76. Five sons and three daughters were born to Thomas Oxley and his wife, namely: Silas, who died at the age of thirty-three years (was a physi- cian who practiced at Hamlin, Lincoln county, and married Mattie Sweetland, of Hamlin) ; Matilda, who is the wife of J. C. Reynolds, a retired merchant of Milton, Cabell county ; Marinda, who died unmarried, at the age of twenty-one years; Watt S .; Lucy, who is the wife of W. S. Reynolds and lives at Hunting- ton, W. Va .; Archibald, who died when aged twenty-three years; Demetrius, who was a tel- egraph operator on the C. & O. Railroad, and died at Malden, February 4, 1906 (married Rose Frazier) ; and Chilton K., who resides at Huntington, where, for the past eleven years he has been connected with G. A. Northcut & Co. He married Frances Eskey. The sons, like their father, always have given support to the Democratic party but none have been seek- ers for office. The children are divided in their religious views, but the parents belonged to the old Baptist church.

Watt S. Oxley was well educated, attending his last term of school when twenty-two years old, and afterward, for four years, he taught school in Lincoln county. From the school- room he became a salesman for a wholesale drug house and traveled for five years, after which he went into the mercantile line, for some two years being established at Hunting- ton, and then came here. On June 1, 1897, he purchased the general store of S. T. Canter- bury and has continued in this business ever since, although he has twice suffered loss from fire. first in 1904, and again in 1907. His stock includes groceries, fancy and staple, fur- niture, carpets and shoes. He erected two large store rooms. one 80 by 25 feet in dimen- sions, and the other 80 by 16 feet, two stories high, with basement, and occupies all of the floor space thus afforded.

On June 2, 1891, Mr. Oxley was married to Miss Sallie Sweetland, a daughter of I. V. Sweetland, and they have three children: Vir- ginia, aged ten years; Sweetland, aged eight years, and Florence, aged six years. Mr. and Mrs. Oxley are members of the Presbyterian church and he has been a liberal donater to the erection fund of the new church edifice. He belongs to Elkanah Lodge, No. 63, Knights of Pythias, at Charleston; and to the Modern Woodmen at Huntington. Having devoted himself exclusively to the mercantile business, Mr. Oxley has expert knowledge of it and this he makes use of in providing for the wants of his customers, supplying first class goods at reasonable rates, having long since founded a reputation for strict integrity in business.

ROBERT L. MATHEWS*, president of the Mathews Storage Company, doing business at Nos. 600-602 Capitol street, Charleston, WV. Va., was born December 25, 1844, at Philadel- phia, Pa., where he was reared and educated, and is a son of James M. and Elizabeth (Thompson) Mathews.

Harold S. Mathews, the paternal grand- father, was born in New York and became a civil engineer, in which profession he went to England and while there married Theresa Yates. After returning to America he settled in Philadelphia, where he had a successful pro- fessional career, and his death occurred in that city. His widow survived him many years, her death taking place September 6, 1910, at Charleston, when she was aged eighty-one years.

James M. Mathews was reared in the city of Philadelphia and came from there to Charles- ton in 1881 and purchased a business interest here. His death occurred while on a business visit to Philadelphia, June 8, 1910, when he was fifty-nine years of age, he having survived his wife for twenty years. Their children were: Harold R., secretary and treasurer of the Mathews Storage Company and also of the Tribune Printing Company, who married Irene Taylor, who was born at Parkersburg, W. Va., but was reared in Charleston; Robert I., sub- ject of this sketch: Malcolm R., who is vice president of the Mathews Storage Company,

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HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

married Elizabeth Connell, of Charleston. All three brothers are members of the order of Elks, of which their father was past exalted ruler. They all are active workers in the order and Harold R. and Robert L. are also mem- bers of the Charleston Lodge of Knights of Pythias, their father having been very promi- nent in this fraternity, being past chancellor and grand trustee of the Grand Lodge of the state.

Robert L. Mathews, in association with his brothers, conducts a large business including a general storage line. They are also lithograph- ers and have the largest and most modern equipment for lithographing in this section of the state, including the noted Harris automatic press. In all its departments the company is prosperous. The storage and printing house are built of concrete and reinforced steel and are four stories high, with dimensions of 50x100 feet, one of the finest examples of sub- stantial building in the state.

GEORGE LEWIS WELCH, who re- sides on his farm near Spring Hill, W. Va., has been a busy man all his life, identified with the coal industry to a large extent and during the stormy days of the Civil War, testified to his courage and the strength of his convictions, by becoming a soldier and suffering in the defense of the cause he had espoused. He was born at Charles- ton, now the capital of West Virginia, October 14, 1833, a son of John and Julia (McFarland) Welch, and a grandson of George Welch.

George Welch was one of the early mer- chants of Charleston. He and wife died in this city leaving children, one son, John .. the father of George Lewis, and another being Levi, who also became a man of con- sequence and capital in this section and some of his descendants still reside here. Levi Welch settled at Malden and he and John Welch were merchants and salt manu- facturers together for many years. They had charge of the Salt Makers Association for five years, attending to the shipping of this commodity when salt making was the leading industry in the Kanawha Valley.

John Welch was born in 1790 and died in 1855, having come to Charleston about 18II, from Brownsville, Fayette County. He married Julia McFarland, who died in 1879, aged eighty-two years. She was a sister of James C. McFarland, who, for many years was president of the Branch Bank of Virginia and died at Charleston in 1867. The children of John and Julia Welch who reached maturity were the following: Eliza S., who married Henry W. Goodwin, died at Charleston in 1907; George Lewis; and Cornelia H., who resides in California.

George Lewis Welch was reared at Charleston and attended the best schools of the place and when he reached manhood embarked in the mercantile business. In 1862 he enlisted for service in the Civil War then in progress, and was connected with military affairs until the surrender of General Lee, in 1865, occupying an impor- tant position during the greater part of this period, serving as a member of the staff of Gen. Seth Barton, of Fredericksburg, Va., in Gen. Olmstead's brigade. Later he was transferred to Gen. Pickett's Division, 2nd Brigade, and took part in all the move- ments of this command through North Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi, which are matters of history. From May 14 until July 4, 1863, he was one of the beleaguered host at Vicksburg, from there being sub- sequently transferred to Richmond where he remained until he was finally exchanged. He was twice wounded at Vicksburg and still bears traces of these scars of battle.

For eleven years Mr. Welch followed farming on the Upper Coal River and after- ward spent ten years as a producer of can- nel coal in Boone County, moving from there to Allegheny County, Va., where he was connected with the Lowmoor Iron Works for nine years. He then went to Roanoke County, Va., where he erected a large furnace for a Pennsylvania company and remained four years in that county and then purchased a farm situated one and one- half miles from Staunton, Va. There he car- ried on farming for four years, when he sold the property and returned to Kanawha

GEORGE L. WELCH

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County and became a coal operator thirteen miles above Charleston, and was in busi- ness at Coalmont for several years, finally disposing of his interests to the Pittsburg corporation. Mr. Welch then permitted himself about three years of comparative rest, residing at Charleston during this time, and then opened the Champion mine three miles above Coalmont and operated it for four years, finally disposing of it to Cin- cinnati capitalists. Since then Mr. Welch has devoted himself to agricultural pur- suits, at Spring Hill, Kanawha County, W. Va.

In 1872, Mr. Welch was married to Miss Caroline Donally Kenna, who died in 1908, at Spring Hill. She was a daughter of Ed- ward and Marjorie (Lewis) Kenna, the lat- ter of whom married Lewis Ashby, of Charleston, for her second husband, and a sister of Hon. John E. Kenna, who died dur- ing his service in the U. S. Senate as a rep- resentative of West Virginia. Two daugh- ters and one son survive of the five chil- dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Welch. Julia is the wife of J. G. Calery, of Pittsburg. George K. is engaged in business in New York. Marjorie resides with her father. Catherine died in 1875, aged three years ; and Mary died in 1900, aged eleven years. Mr. Welch has been a lifelong Democrat.

MALCOLM JACKSON, of the law firm of Brown, Jackson and Knight, of Charleston, Kanawha county, West Virginia, was born in Richmond, Va., March 21, 1860, son of Rich- ard and Anna M. (Knott) Jackson. His grandfather, Richard Jackson, Sr., and his great-grandfather, John Jackson, were natives and residents, of the north of Ireland, where also they died. Richard, Sr., married a Miss Hardy, who after the death of her husband, or somewhat late in life, came to the United States. She subsequently died near Cincin- nati, O., and is buried at Spring Grove, near that city. She was a member of the Church of England, as was also her husband and their respective families. They had quite a large family of children, including Richard, Jr., father of our subject, who came to the United

States when a young man, settling first in New York. Sometime in the fifties he came to Rich- mond, Indiana, and remained a resident of that city until his death in 1881 at the age of about fifty-four years. He was a strong and hearty man, a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Episcopal church, following family tradi- tions in his religious affiliations. He married in the state of New York, Anna M. Knott, who was born in that state of Irish parentage, her grandfather having been a rector in the Church of England as formerly established in Ireland, but since disestablished. Her father, Benja- min Knott, came to the United States and died at Madison, Ind., at an advanced age, being a well known and respected citizen at the time of his death.

Mrs. Anna M. Jackson, mother of the sub- ject of this sketch, died in Richmond, Ind., in 1902, being then nearly seventy-five years of age. She was, like her husband, an Episco- palian. Their children were as follows: Llew- ellyn B., a lawyer who died at the age of fifty years, leaving a son now living; Mary, wife of Joseph Ruffner of Charleston, who has one son, Joseph; Richard A., a graduate of the Uni- versity of Virginia law class of 1879, who is vice president and general counsel at St. Paul for the Great Northern Railroad, is married and has a son, Fielding; Malcolm, whose name appears at the head of this sketch; Abigail, widow of George S. Needham, who resides with her brother Malcolm, and has two sons, Richard E. and Edgar. The family are mem- bers of the Episcopal church.

Malcolm Jackson was educated in the pub- lic schools of Richmond, Ind., at Earlham Col- lege, that state, at the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and at the University of Virginia, where he was graduated in the law class of 1881, with the degree of B. L. In the follow- ing year he was admitted to the bar and since the year 1883 has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Charleston. The firm of which he is now a member was founded Jan- uary 1, 1892, and, in addition to the three part- ners already named now includes several junior associates, namely, V. L. Black, John Wehrle, A. W. McDonald, George S. Couch, Jr., and O. P. Fitzgerald. Mr. Jackson is a Republi-

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HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

can in politics, and in 1901 served one term as a delegate to the legislature, but with this ex- ception has not been very active politically, de- voting his chief attention to his profession. He is a member of Kanawha Lodge, No. 20, of Charleston, of Kanawha Commandery, Charleston, and Beni-Kedem Temple, M. S.

Mr. Jackson was married in Charleston in 1891 to Miss Louise Fountain Broun, a daugh- ter of Major Thomas L. Broun, a well known lawyer of Charleston, W. Va. Her great- great-grandparents on the paternal side were George and Margaret Broun, who were natives of Scotland. Her great-grandfather was Will- iam Broun, who came to America in 1740 with his brother Robert, he settling at North- ern Neck, Va., where he practiced law in co- lonial days. He married Janetta McAdam and they reared a large family, his descendants be- ing now scattered through all the southern states. Edwin Conway Broun, Mrs. Jackson's grandfather, was twice married, his second wife, from whom she is descended, being Eliz- abeth Channel, daughter of James Channel. Thomas Lee Broun, Mrs. Jackson's father, was the third child born of this marriage, the date of his nativity being December, 26, 1823. He served in the Confederate army, enlisting as a private but being soon advanced to the rank of major in the 60th Va. Vol. Infantry, which formed a part of what was known as the Wise Legion. He was severely wounded at Cloyd's Mountain, Va., being subsequently incapaci- tated for a long time. From 1866 to 1870 he practiced law in New York, but since the latter date has been a member of the Charleston bar, being now the senior member of the firm of Broun and Broun. Major Broun is one of the substantial citizens of Charleston and is also one of the best known and most highly re- spected. He married in June, 1866, Miss Mary M. Fontaine, a daughter of Col. Edmund Fon- taine, formerly president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. Their daughter Louise F. (Mrs. Jackson) was educated in Charleston, in private schools. Mrs. and Mrs. Jackson have two children: Thomas Broun, who is now preparing for Princeton College, as student at Woodberry Forest School in Or-

ange county, Va., and Anna Arbuthnot, who is now attending the Sherred Hall private school, in Charleston.

WILLIAM EVAN MOORE, president and organizer of the Moore Construction Company, a large business enterprise of Charleston, W. Va., with offices on the corner of Lee and Dick- inson streets, has additional interests here and at other points and is favorably known as builder and contractor in several other states than West Virginia. He is in the prime of life, born September 26, 1870, at Richmond, Ky., and is a son of Evan and Rosa Belle (Armstrong) Moore.

The parents of Mr. Moore were born in Kentucky and the father devoted a large part of his life to agricultural pursuits in that state. Later he moved to Indianapolis, Ind., and there his death occurred in June, 1907, when aged sixty-three years, his wife having passed away seven years previously, in her fifty-second year. To Evan and Rosa Belle Moore eight children were born, as follows: Sallie, who is the wife of John W. Harris; Josephine, who is the wife of James H. Harden; William Evan; Cath- erine; Julia ; John D., who is treasurer of the Moore Construction Company; Ruby, who is the wife of George Mckay; and Junius H., who is vice president of the Moore Construc- tion Company.

William E. Moore spent his boyhood on his father's farm in the rich blue grass section but when nineteen years of age learned the carpen- ter trade, through which he has reached a high position in the business world. He never re- sumed farming. ever since having devoted him- self to building or contracting. In 1893 he went to Indianapolis, Ind., and there his ad- vance was rapid and he became known as one of the most efficient and reliable contractors in the state, although his activities even then, were not confined to that commonwealth. He erected the Central Union Telephone Company Building, the American National Bank Build- ing, the Central Indiana University, the Baker apartments, in Indianapolis. He has a large acquaintance through Indiana and has many personal friends as well as business ones there, Indianapolis being his home for fourteen vears.

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History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 115

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