History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 124

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 124

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Dr. Hudnall was married in August, 1894. to Miss Mary E. Ault, a daughter of the late Charles Ault, and they have four chil- dren : Minnie, Kathleen, Justin and Helen.

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For twenty-five years Dr. Hudnall has been an Odd Fellow, attending at Cedar Grove but uniting with the order at Malden.

EDWARD CONKER, contractor, a

member of the prominent general contract- ing firm of Conker Bros., at Charleston, W. Va., was born at Hartford, W. Va., Octo- ber 28, 1869, and is a son of Jonathan and Lydia (Cunningham) Conker, who were parents of six children, namely: Adam; William Mack, who is manager of a dry goods house; Robert, who is a mechanic and carpenter; Charles, who, with his next younger brother, Edward, makes up the contracting firm of Conker Bros .; and Louise, who is the wife of Alexander Tur- ley, of the firm of Turley, Hutchinson & Co., clothing merchants on Capital Street.

Edward Conker attended school in boy- hood near his fathers' home and after learn- ing the carpenter trade worked at the same as a journeyman and then went into part- nership with his brother Charles in a gen- eral carpenter contracting business which they have conducted for some twenty years in this city, where they have erected nu- merous private residences, business houses and public buildings. Among these may be mentioned the Bream Memorial Presby- terian Church in West Charleston, the Humphrey-Daugherty bank building, the Glenwood bank building and Fire Engine House No. 2, with many others in all sec- tions. Their work is marked on account of solid construction with due regard for archi- tectural effects.

Edward Conker was married at Charles- ton, to Miss Linnis Martin, a daughter of Fenton and Sallie Martin, the former of whom is engineer on the Government boat, the James Romsey, on the Kanawha River. Mrs. Conker was born at Charleston in 1875 and was reared and educated here. They are members of the Bream Memorial Church. Mr. Conker and brothers are all independent in their political views.

R. S. PRINDLE,* proprieter of the Prin- dle Furniture Company, No. 209 Capitol

Street, Charleston, W. Va., was born at Lancaster, O., in 1863, and has been a resi- dent of Charleston since January I, 19II, although he has had business interests here for a much longer period. He is a son of M. P. and Delia (Shellenberger) Prindle.

M. P. Prindle was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., a son of William and Julia A. (Beecher) Prindle, and a grandson of Amos Prindle, who was born in England and settled in Connecticut when he came to America. William Prindle was a tanner by trade and continued in that business un- til he lost his property by fire, when, in 1838, he moved to Ohio and bought a farm in Fairfield County, on which he passed the remainder of his life. His wife was a daugh- ter of Anson Beecher and was a second cousin of the noted divine, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. M. P. Prindle was five years old when the family reached Ohio and he grew up on the farm in Fairfield County, remaining at home until he was eighteen years of age. In the meanwhile, as occasion offered, he attended school in the old log structure near his home, which was dedicated to school purposes. Mr. Prindle then became a commercial traveler for a wholesale commission firm of Lan- caster and was on the road until he was thirty-five years of age, between Chicago and New York, after which he bought and cultivated a farm in Fairfield County, O., until 1895, when he sold and came to Charleston. Here he started in the furni- ture business in a small way, in a room ad- joining his present residence on the corner of Laidley and Donnally Streets, and eight- een months later went into partnership with his sons, R. S. and W. M. Prindle, establishing one store at Charleston, one at Huntington, W. Va., and one at Ports- mouth, O. At present the business is con- fined to Charleston, with R. S. as manager, W. M. being engaged in the real estate business at Huntington. M. P. Prindle was married first to Delia Shellenberger, who was the mother of five children, namely : Elizabeth, wife of Frank Claypool; Mary Alice, wife of D. A. Alsbaugh, of Ports-

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mouth, O .; Reuben S., of Charleston; Beecher, a resident of Pittsburg; and Will- iam M., of Huntington, W. Va., married Lulu Snell. In 1887 Mr. Prindle was mar- ried a second time, to Elizabeth Hill of Fair- field County, and they have two children : Kate H. and Helen M. Mr. Prindle and family are members of the Methodist Epis- copal church.

R. S. Prindle completed the common and High School course at Lancaster and then entered the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, where he was graduated in 1886. About that time, in partnership with his brother, William M., he established a furni- ture store at Huntington, of which he be- came manager and in which his father was also interested. In 1903 they opened an- other store, at Portsmouth, O., and at Charleston, where the father had been in the business for some years previously, all three stores being largely a family concern, D. A. Alsbaugh, a brother-in-law of Mr. Prin- dle being a stockholder and having charge of the Portsmouth store. The three stores were operated from 1903 until January, 19II, when the Portsmouth and Hunting- ton stores were sold and R. S. Prindle took charge of the Charleston business. He still has interests at Huntington, owning real estate there and being treasurer of the Citi- zens Light and Power Company. Like his father he is an ardent Republican and served in public offices at Huntington. He was married in 1884 to Miss Jennie Carpenter of Lancaster, O., who died March 13, 1909, leaving one child, Elizabeth Hay. Mr. Prindle is identified with the Elks.

DR. JOHN P. HALE-"A busy and use- ful life unfolds as the historian sets forth the career of the worthy gentleman whose name introduces this sketch. His paternal ancestors were English ; they settled "at an early day" on the Lower James river in Virginia. Later the branch of the family from which Dr. Hale descended, located in Franklin county, one of the Piedmont counties of the state. His maternal ances- tors, the Ingles and the Draper families,

were Scotch-Irish. In 1748 they founded at Draper's Meadows, now in Montgomery county, Va., the first white settlement west of the Alleghenies in America. Dr. Hale's grandfather and grandmother, William Ingles and Mary Draper, were in 1750, the first white couple wedded west of the Alle- ghenies in America. Afterward they lo- cated on New river, a few miles above, and established the first ferry crossing ever since and still known as "Ingles' Ferry." Here five generations of the family lie buried and some of their descendants still own and occupy the original site. Here on the Ist of May, 1824, was born the gentle- man whose life constitutes the subject of this sketch. In early boyhood young Hale attended local schools in Wythe, Pulaski, Montgomery, Roanoke, Botetourt and Rock- bridge counties, Va.

"In 1840 he came to Kanawha valley, and during 1841 and 1842 attended Mercer academy, then under the presidency of the late Rev. Dr. Stewart Robinson. In 1843 he commenced the study of medicine under the late Dr. Spicer Patrick. Upon graduating in 1845, at the medical depart- ment of the university of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, Dr. Hale formed a co-part- nership with his late preceptor, Dr. Patrick. For a time they practiced together, but in 1847 Dr. Hale gave up the practice and en- gaged in the more congenial pursuit of salt making at Black Hawk, near Charleston. In 1850 he purchased the White Hawk salt property, a short distance above. In 1860 he purchased the Snow Hill salt property adjoining, and later the McMullen prop- erty, also adjoining. These three were united as one property, called Snow Hill, and it was for a long time the largest pro- ducing salt property in America, making 300 barrels or 1.500 bushels per day. Later, in connection with Messrs. H. C. Dickinson, W. A. Quarrier and J. E. Thayer, he pur- chased the Donnally, the Noyes and the Venable properties on the south side of the river, consolidating them into one property, which was long known as the "Splint Coal Property." Of this company, Dr. Hale was

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the largest stockholder, the president and general manager. On this property there were at that time two active salt furnaces. The product of these, added to that of Snow Hill, aggregated about 600 barrels or 3,000 bushels of salt per day.

"When the salt interest and manufacture in the Kanawha valley collapsed, Dr. Hale had long been both the largest individual salt manufacturer and the longest continu- ous manufacturer in America-nearly forty years. During that time he introduced sev- eral valuable improvements in the details of salt manufacture. Within sight of where he made salt so long, his great-grand- mother, Mrs. Mary Ingles, while a prisoner among the Indians in 1755, helped to boil salt water and make the first salt ever made by whites west of the Alleghenies. During her captivity, she was the first white per- son in the Kanawha valley, and the first white woman ever in what are now the states of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. In 1851 Dr. Hale visited the first World's Fair in London, and while abroad traveled in England, Scotland, Wales, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Hol- land. In 1856 he was stockholder, presi- dent and general manager of Ruffner, Hale & Co., a large salt firm that bought up and marketed all the salt made in western Vir- ginia and Ohio. In 1863 and after, he was president, general manager and stockholder of the Kanawha Salt company, organized and operated for the same purposes. About this time he helped to establish the telegraph line to Charleston, long before they had railroad connections; it was a private en- terprise. In 1857-58 Dr. Hale was a mem- ber of a house of salt dealers and general commission merchants in Cincinnati, under the name and style of Taylor & Hale. In 1858 he organized a company to manufac- ture cannel coal oil in the Kanawha valley and in Ohio. Coal lands were acquired in both states, and extensive works erected at Newark, Ohio, to manufacture oil, and a contract was made to furnish the city with gas, but the discovery of oil in wells brought all these plans to grief.

"In 1869 Dr. Hale introduced the first brick machinery into the valley, probably the first in the state. In 1870 he laid in Capital street, Charleston, at his own ex- pense, the first brick street pavement ever laid in America. Now there are hundreds of miles of brick street roadway all over the country, and brick is probably destined to become the standard paving material of the future. In 1863 Dr. Hale was one of half a dozen gentlemen who organized the 'Bank of the West' in Charleston, long the leading bank in that part of the state. In 1870 he helped to organize the Gas com- pany of Charleston, built the works and was the first president as well as the largest stockholder. In 1863 and the following years he was president and largest stock- holder in a steam packet line running be- tween Charleston and Cincinnati. In 1864 he built at Buffalo, N. Y., and introduced the first steam packet boat in the Upper Kanawha river above Charleston, called 'Here's Your Mule.' About 1868 he built in New York and brought out the first steam yacht ever in the Kanawha river, called 'The Pet,' she was screw propeller and very fast. In 1878 he constructed at Charleston, the steamers 'Wild Goose' and 'Lame Duck,' to run in the trade of the Upper Kanawha, one from Charleston to Cannelton, and the other from Charleston to Brownstown. The 'Wild Goose' used the first Ward boiler ever built. In 1870 Dr. Hale built the first steam ferry boat, and started the first steam ferry at Charleston, and owned all the fer- ries in the city. In 1871-72 Dr. Hale was mayor of Charleston, during which time many important improvements were made. In 1871 to 1872 he built the first theatre in Charleston, with capacity for seating 800 people. It was a wooden structure, after- wards burned. About the same time he established the first public steam laundry in the city, subsequently destroyed by fire. He was the first to introduce the public de- livery of ice in the city. He was president and part owner of the company that started the first daily paper in Charleston about 1871, and about the same time was presi-

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dent of the first board of trade organized here. About 1884-85 was president and largest stockholder of the American Brick Pavement company, afterward changed to Hale pavement company, owners of the pa- tent of the Charleston Brick pavement. In 1872, in connection with Mr. R. W. Morgan, introduced the first barrel-making ma- chinery in the valley, with a capacity for manufacturing 1,000 barrels per day.

"In 1871 he was one of the commissioners appointed by the governors of the states bordering on the Ohio river and tributaries to endeavor to secure the improvement of the navigation of these rivers by the gen- eral government or otherwise. The im- provement of the Kanawha and other West Virginia rivers, as well as of other western streams, since then and still under con- struction by the government, it is believed, resulted from the efforts and labors of this commission. Before the war Dr. Hale was one of the directors of the board of the 'James River and Kanawha Company,' who were then improving the Kanawha river by a system of sluices and wing dams. After the war he was one of the directors on a Kanawha board organized by West Vir- ginia to succeed the old James river and Kanawha board, and carry forward the same work. In 1861 he organized and com- manded an artillery company called Hale's battery, for southern service; but, from a misunderstanding with the commanding officer some months later, resigned. He volunteered and acted for a time as assist- ant surgeon during the battles around Rich- mond. At the request of the Confederate cabinet made a trip throughout the south- ern states to examine and report on the safest and most practical places at which to manufacture a supply of salt for the Con- federate states. In 1871. in order to aid in securing the location of the capitol of the state at Charleston, Dr. Hale built a tem- porary state house at a cost of about $75,- 000, advancing most of the means to pay for the same. In 1871-72, with the same view of influencing the capitol location. he erected, at his own cost, the then finest hotel

in the state called the 'Hale House,' which was afterward burned. The building of this hotel, the state house, the gas works, the steam ferry and some other improvements, made at the time while the question was about on a balance, had much to do in de- termining, probably decided, the location of the capitol at Charleston. In 1872, in connection with the late John C. Ruby, Dr. Hale started in Charleston, a large whole- sale grocery, the first in the valley. In 1874-75 Dr. Hale spent nearly a year abroad chiefly in London, but traveled through England, Scotland, Wales and Ire- land.

"In 1875, after some years of decline in the prices of salt in which he was so largely interested, aided by a panic of 1873, and the general depression in business and decline of value of property which followed, there came a crisis in Dr. Hale's business affairs. He failed and went into bankruptcy. From having been quite prosperous, engaged in a number and variety of enterprises, em- ploying in the aggregate from 300 to 400 men, he was left by this reverse of fortune financially stranded, without business and without means. In an effort to recover or build up again, he leased from his assignees his late furnace, Snow Hill, and purchased a salt property called the 'Big Bend Fur- nace,' near Pomeroy, Ohio; but the fates were against him and both enterprises failed. For many years Dr. Hale was largely en- gaged in steamboating, and owned a num- ber of steamboats and barges. By an un- precedented rise in the river with accom- panying ice gorges in the winter of 1879-80, he had four steamboats and ten salt and coal barges crushed, wrecked, sunk and prac- tically lost within about fifteen minutes.

"In 1876 he was one of the state commis- sioners to the centennial at Philadelphia, where West Virginia made a very credit- able exhibit and success. About 1881-82- 83, in connection with Mr. H. S. Hallwood, he organized the Peabody Coal company, and started coal works some eighteen miles above Charleston ; then organized the Kana- wha Barge Yard company, and erected a

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saw-mill and barge plant at the mouth of Coal river. Soon after organized the 'Peer- less Coal Company,' and opened mines be- low Field's creek. But from lack of means . servative Democrat. to operate them, and other unfavorable con- ditions, these enterprises all ended in fail- ure and collapse. While 'nothing succeeds like success,' misfortunes never come singly, but mutally act and re-act as reciprocal cause and effect.

"Dr. Hale was a prolific as well as in- teresting contributor to the newspapers and magazines. About 1883 he published a pamphlet on the unwritten life of Daniel Boone, giving his early history before he went to Kentucky, and particulars of his life after leaving that state, about eleven years of which he spent in the Kanawha valley, and about which his biographers knew nothing. In 1886 he published a vol- ume of historical sketches from the earliest settlements west of the Alleghenies down to date 'Trans-Allegheny Pioneers.' He was one of the vice presidents of the West Virginia Immigration society organized at Wheeling in 1887; was also a member of the Charleston Industrial Development as- sociation, and prepared some articles on the resources of the state which were published and largely circulated. In 1888, May I, he prepared an historical address for the Charleston centennial celebration. In De- cember of the same year, on invitation of the managers of the Cincinnati Centennial and Inter-state Exposition, he delivered an historical address in Music Hall, Cincin- nati. In January, 1890, he helped to or- ganize the West Virginia Historical and Antiquarian society, and elected its presi- dent, and was unanimously re-elected in January, 1891. In 1890-91, Dr. Hale pre- pared a 'History of the Kanawha Valley,' a paper on the pre-historic occupation of this valley, treating of the mounds and mound builders; also a paper on the origin, devel- opment and decline of salt making, long such an important industry in the valley ; also a paper on the navigation of the great Kanawha river, and its improvement by the state and general government, and a gen-

eral history of the valley including the set- tlement of Charleston and its subsequent growth. In politics Dr. Hale was a con-

"In religion he was a freethinker, accept- ing whatever seemed to him good and wise, but discarding what his judgment could not accept, and holding in abeyance for farther light what he could understand. Naturally he was not a member of any church, and he never belonged to any of the secret socie- ties. He was temperate in all things. Dr. Hale never married. At the conclusion of some notes, furnished for the information of a biographical writer, Dr. Hale indulged in the following melancholy observations which are not without a vein of pathos : 'Such a brief outline of my descent and very unimportant and uninteresting career, now nearing its close. No one can so thoroughly realize its mistakes, imperfections and shortcomings as myself. The rose colored hopes of my youth were doomed to dis- appointment ; the loftier and nobler objects and aims of my early manhood were un- attained, and the cherished aspirations and ambitions of my maturer life were un- realized; but regrets are unavailing now. There's a divinity that shapes our ends and I was one of that "innumerable throng" cast to play the humble, uneventful and commonplace roles in life, and my record is made. My neighbors and the public who have known me will pass upon its merits and demerits and make up their verdict as to what manner of man I have been.'

"His death occurred not long after this- in July, 1902. We think that the doctor's neighbors and the public generally will be inclined to disagree with his disparaging estimate of his life's work. Readers of the foregoing outline will generally agree that the doctor's life has not only been busy but useful, and marked by enterprise and a commendable desire for the general prog- ress and welfare of his community. None of the children of men live to realize in full the roseate hopes that are emblazoned on the horizon of their youthful visions. To do one's best is all that can be asked of

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any of us, and it may be safely affirmed that when compared that with the mass of man- kind, the lifework of Dr. Hale will rise far above the average."

THEODORE A. DEITZ,* coal operator, one of the representative men in the coal industry in West Virginia, is treasurer and general manager of the Lynchburg Colliery Company at Venetta, on the Gauley and New River Junction, W. Va., and also is general manager and treasurer of the Deitz Coal Mining Company of Gauley River. Mr. Deitz was born in 1859 in Fayette County, within seven miles of Hawk's Nest, W. Va., and is a son of William and Jane (McGuffin) Deitz.

William Deitz was born in West Virginia and was a son of William Deitz, who was of German parentage but was born in Greenbrier County, Va. William Deitz, Jr., was a farmer all his life. His death occurred in 1900, when he was aged eighty years. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. He married Jane McGuffin, who survives. She came of Scotch-Irish ancestry, her people having been early settlers in the Kanawha Valley, where they were among the founders of the Baptist church. Seven children were born to the above marriage, namely : Hes- ter, who died at the age of fifteen years; Thomas, who is a farmer in Fayette Coun- ty, and has been thrice married; Edgar, who is a resident of Fayette County ; Theo- dore A .; George, who lives in Fayette County and has a large family ; and John W., a merchant at Austen, who has been twice married and has five children.

Theodore A. Deitz was reared and edu- cated in his native section and after reach- ing manhood engaged in merchandising in Fayette County for seven years before em- barking in the coal business. For twenty- six years he has been operating and form- erly owned and worked a large mine on New River, near Hawk's Nest, which he sub- sequently sold to capitalists of Fairmount, Va., after which he organized the com- panies with which he has ever since been

identified. The Lynchburg Colliery Com- pany at Vanetta, was incorporated in 1904, the officers being : Randolph Harris, of Vir- ginia, president ; Judge Christian, of Lynch- burg, vice president; the other members of the company are N. B. Handy, Judge Diggs and Theodore A. Deitz. Mr. Deitz has been the general manager since the organ- ization of the company. Their mines have a capacity of about 200,000 tons of bitu- minous coal a year, the output being known as No. 2 Gas, and No. 5 Splint. From 150 to 200 men are employed. The Deitz Coal Mining Company of Gauley River runs the same grades of coal and the mines are ope- rated with about 125 men, the output be- ing about 125,000 tons annually.

Mr. Deitz was married in Fayette County to Miss Nannie Rhodes, who was born in Fayette but was reared in Kanawha Coun- ty. She is a daughter of J. J. and Margaret (Rogers) Rhodes, the former of whom was a merchant up to the time of his death, in 1900. The mother of Mrs. Deitz survives.

Mr. and Mrs. Deitz had two daughters born to them, one of whom, Hester, died at the age of thirteen years. The other, Eva, who was educated in Fayette County, at Charleston and in the Holland Female Seminary, resides with her parents and is prominent in the social life of the city. Mr. Deitz and family are members of the Presbyterian church. Politically he is a Democrat and fraternally he is identified with Hayden Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Austen, W. Va.

WILLIAM F. WEBB, secretary of the board of Education of Jefferson District, Kanawha County, W. Va., resides on, his well improved farm of twenty-five acres, which is situated on the Kanawha and James River turnpike road. By profession Mr. Webb is a steamboat engineer and in his line of work has sailed over many waters. He was born March 8, 1849, in Ohio, and is a son of William H. and Hannah (Turner) Webb.

William H. Webb was born in New York but was reared in Ohio but spent many years of his life in West Virginia. He was

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a builder and contractor and built three of is one of the sterling men of Jefferson Dis- the dams and locks on Coal River. He trict. owned and made use of the first circular saw in any mill in West Virginia. For a PLUS R. LEVI,* president of the Chesa- peake Land and Development Company and also president of the Toledo Land Com- pany, is largely interested with his partners in other sections, particularly at St. Al- bans, Kanawha County, W. Va., and is one of the enterprising young business men of Charleston. He was born in 1876, in Kana- wha County, where he was educated and when nineteen years of age went into the drug business. Several years later he be- came interested in dealing in real estate and along this line has built up a very substan- tial connection. number of years prior to 1868 he made his home at Coalsmouth and then moved on his farm of ninety acres in Putnam County. This he sold in 1887 and moved to St. Al- bans, where he lived retired until his death in his seventieth year. Although always a Democrat he was a supporter of the Union cause during the Civil War but was a man of good judgment and even temper and never came into conflict with those of dif- ferent opinions. He married Hannah Tur- ner, who was born in Noble County, O., and who became the mother of eleven chil- dren. Shie died in her seventy-first year. She and her husband were members of the Episcopal church.

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History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 124

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