History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 125

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 125

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William F. Webb attended school in boy- hood and probably had as good advantages as other youths at St. Albans, and then served an apprenticeship and became a li- censed engineer. He has always considered Jefferson District his home even while far away, working sometimes on one river and sometimes on another. For one period he was engineer on a steamboat running be- tween St. Louis and Pittsburg. For six- teen years after marriage, Mr. Webb lived at the mouth of Coal River and then came to his present place, settling on it before the present improvements had been made. He still holds his Government license as a steamboat engineer. Mr. Webb has been a lifelong Democrat.

In 1876 Mr. Webb was married to Miss Mary A. Morris, who was born in West Virginia, a daughter of Capt. Leonard B. Morris, one of the early steamboat captains on the Kanawha River. Mr. and Mrs. Webb have five children : J. V., D. W., Cora Lee, B. E. and D. A. The family belongs to the Baptist church. In February, 1911, Mr. Webb was appointed secretary of the board of education to fill out the term of the late I. O. Johnson, and was elected to this office in the following July. Mr. Webb

Making Athens, W. Va., his headquar- ters, he engaged in selling land, handling real estate in Georgia and Alabama. In 1908 he came to Charleston and his busi- ness activities have since been confined ex- clusively to this section. The Chesapeake Land and Development Company, as well as the Toledo Land Company are West Virginia enterprises, run on West Vir- ginia capital and mainly directed by Mr. Levi.

The former company is interested in lay- ing out and developing the town of Levi, on the K. & M. Railroad, six miles east of Charleston, and the latter in building up the town of Chesapeake, on the C. & O. Rail- road, twelve miles east of Charleston. These towns are beginning to take form, the com- panies giving inducements to reputable set- tlers to buy their homes on borrowed cap- ital, the only way in which many wage- earners can ever acquire residences of their own. There is every indication that ere long these towns will have a thrifty, thriv- ing and happy and prosperous population.

Mr. Levi was married at Charleston, to Miss Isabel Bibby, who was born and edu- cated in this city, and is a daughter of John H. Bibby, one of the old citizens. Mrs. Levi is a member of the First Presbyterian Church. Mr. Levi is a Mason and is a mem- ber of Beni-Kedem Shrine, at Charleston.

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HON. EDWARD CLARK COLCORD, who is a leading citizen of Kanawha County, W. Va., both in business and politics, has been a resident of St. Albans since 1889. He was born in Franklin County, Vt., Sep- tember 4, 1851, and is a son of John and Sylvia Prudentia (Bowman) Colcord.

John Colcord was born in Vermont and spent his entire life in that State, following an agricultural life. His death occurred when he was about eighty years of age. The Colcord family is an old one in New Eng- land, the first of the name coming from an English shire prior to the Revolutionary War. John C. Colcord, father of John Col- cord, lived into old age in Vermont, the family being noted for longevity. John Col- cord was prominent in county and state politics and during the Civil War period served in the Vermont State Legislature from Franklin County. He married Sylvia Prudentia Bowman, who was born near Binghampton, N. Y., a daughter of Eben E. Bowman, who was a contractor. con- cerned in the construction of the Erie Rail- road. Mrs. Colcord still survives and lives with a son in the old homestead and despite her ninety years, is active and enjoys life. Four sons and one daughter were born to the above marriage, namely : Edward Clark ; F. C., who died in early manhood; Herbert B., who is a farmer on the old Vermont homestead; John C., who is cashier in a bank at Newburg, Ore .; and Hannah, who is the wife of Edward Libby, residing at Enosburg Falls, Vt.

Edward Clark Colcord attended the pub- lic schools until seventeen years of age and then went to the Northwest with an engineer- ing corps and about 1872 he entered the lum- ber business with which he has been continu- ously connected ever since. He lived at Eau Claire, Wis., for a time and then moved to Williamsport, Pa., where he remained until 1889 when he came to St. Albans. He now owns mills at this point and timber lands in Raleigh County, his operations being on an extensive scale. In politics he is a Republican and has taken a very active part in public affairs since becoming a resi-

dent of West Virginia. In addition to fill- ing numerous municipal offices, in 1900 he was elected a member of the House of Dele- gates, and in 1902 was elected to the State Senate and in 1908 he was again returned to the House. He is serving also as a mem- ber of the State Board of Equalization. He is a man of marked personality and im- presses a stranger with the qualities which his fellow citizens have long since recog- nized in him and of which they have shown approval.

Mr. Colcord was married in 1883 to Miss Mary Agnes McManigal, of Williamsport, Pa., and seven children have been born to them, namely: Edward Clark, Jr., a drafts- man by profession and manager of the At- kinson Foundry and Machine shop at St. Albans, who married Gertrude Rock and has one son, Edward Clark Colcord (3); Francis C., who is a civil engineer, located at present in Raleigh County, W. Va .; Sylvia Prudentia; Eugene L., who is a member of an engineering corps in Raleigh County ; and Mary Agnes, Tristriam Coffin and William Allison all at school. Senator Colcord belongs to the Lumberman's Asso- ciation and is identified fraternally with Washington Lodge, No. 58, F. & A. M., St. Albans ; Tyrian Chapter, No. 14, Charles- ton, and Kanawha Commandery and be- longs also to St. Albans Lodge, No. 19, Odd Fellows.

CLAUDE AUSTIN SULLIVAN, secre- tary and treasurer of the Hubbard-Grocery Company, one of Charleston's important busi- ness concerns has been a resident of this city since 1889, and has numerous additional in- terests here. He was born on his father's farm near Leon, Mason County, W. Va., February 28, 1872, and is a son of Daniel M. and Eliza Jane (Scott) Sullivan.

The Sullivan family is of Irish extraction and the great-grand-parents of Claude A. Sul- livan, came to Mason County and later to what is now Kanawha County, W. Va., when their son, William Sullivan, the grandfather, was young. The family reached Point Pleasant. where William Sullivan lived for a time and

CLAUDE A. SULLIVAN

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thẹn bought land thirteen miles up the Kana- wha River. The older members of the fam- ily seem to have gone farther north and even to have crossed the Ohio River and afterward were never heard of. Daniel M. Sullivan was born in Mason County and during the Civil War was a member of the 13th Va. Cav., and was sergeant of his Company, and participated in the famous Lynchburg raid. He was honorably discharged from the service and later entered into the gen- eral mercantile business at Leon, W. Va., where he also owned farming land. In 1891 he came to Charleston where he em- barked in a general mercantile business and was recognized as a man of high business and personal character and was appointed secretary of the State Board of Agriculture under Governor Atkinson, and later as in- stitute director. His death occurred Jan- uary 22, 1904, at the age of fifty-eight years. He married Eliza Jane Scott, who was born in Greenbrier County and still survives. They had five children born to them: Orrin V., who is deceased; Claude Austin ; Carrie Scott and Roy Dennis, both of whom are deceased ; and Anna M., who is the wife of Robert A. Poffenbarger, who is a resi- dent of Charleston.

Claude A. Sullivan spent his boyhood on the home farm and attended the public schools at Leon, making himself useful in his father's store from the age of ten to seventeen years. In 1889 he came to this city as assistant bookkeeper for the L. A. Carr Milling Company, and remained with that firm for five years, after which he was head bookkeeper for Noyes, Hubbard & Company, and continued with the succeeding firm, Lewis, Hubbard & Co., being in con- tinuous association with this firm in its de- velopment and changes, for sixteen years and during eleven of these was head book- keeper and for five years was credit man. On July 1, 1910, he resigned in order to take a short vacation, after which, for sev- eral months he was with the Newberry Shoe Company, but on October 1, 1910, be- came credit man for the Hubbard-Bedell & Company, which is now the Hubbard Gro-

cery Co., of which he is secretary and treas- urer as mentioned above. He is also a di- rector and was one of the organizers of the National City Bank and is a stockholder in the Charleston Milling and Produce Company.

Mr. Sullivan was married October 6, 1897, to Miss Mary Elisabeth Mason, a daughter of Thomas J. and Harriet Elisabeth (Ash- ley) Mason, and they have two children : Claude Mason and Harriet Jane. The fam- ily residence is at No. 511 Brooks Street, Charleston. They belong to the Baptist Temple, of which Mr. Sullivan is clerk. He is a Knight Templar Mason, "Shriner" and a 32nd degree Mason. Politically he is a Democrat.

LIONEL FULLER,* who, for twenty years has been a civil engineer engaged in professional work in Charleston, W. Va., was born at Southampton, England, and comes of an old Sussex family, of consid- erable distinction, especially on the mater- nal side. It was his maternal great-grand- father, who, for three years held Gibraltar against the French and Spanish, an event in European military history of large mo- ment, and for his bravery and stratagem was raised to the peerage, being made Lord Heathfield, and also was appointed a major general of engineers.

Robert Fitzherbert Fuller, grandfather of Lionel Fuller, and son of John Trayton and Ann (Elliott) Fuller, was a clergyman of the Church of England and his life was spent in County Sussex. He married Maria Ursula Sheffield, of a notable family of Birmingham, Eng.

Rev. F. Trayton Fuller, father of Lionel Fuller of Charleston, was a clergyman of the English Church all his mature life. He was numbered with the eloquent Anglican divines of his day in County Sussex, and for many years was rector of the church at Chalvington, where his death occurred at the age of forty-six years. He married Eleanor Susanna Cox, who was a daughter of Capt. Cox, of the 2nd Life Guards, who served under Wellington at Waterloo. He

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HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

married a Sheffield, a sister of the paternal grandmother of Mr. Fuller. Ten children were born to Rev. F. Trayton Fuller and wife, six sons and four daughters, and of those who came to the United States, two sons and one daughter, died unmarried.

Lionel Fuller attended both public and private schools in England before he came to America, when twenty years of age, lo- cating first at Lemars, Ia. Two years later he came to Gauley Bridge, W. Va., and in 1890 to Charleston, where he established himself as a civil engineer in the office of C. K. McDermett. He worked first on the C. C. & S., now the Coal & Coke Railroad, and later was with the Coal River Railroad and subsequently went into independent professional work, making an enviable repu- tation for himself and becoming widely known. He is thoroughly interested in everything that concerns the development of Charleston and in every way is a good citizen.

Mr. Fuller was married first to Miss Jo- sephine De Gruyter, who was a lifelong res- ident of Kanawha County, where her death occurred at the age of thirty-five years. Mr. Fuller's second marriage was to Mrs. Eugenia C. (Kries) Formey, widow of Wil- liam Forney. To Mrs. Fuller's first mar- riage three children were born: Rosalie E., Frederick William and Digna L., all of whom attend school. To the second mar- riage four children have been born: Lionel Edward and Eugene Cecil, twins, and John Trayton Elliott and Eleanor Grace. Mr. Fuller and family are members of the Ro- man Catholic church.

A. J. BRYAN, owner of 515 acres of fine land which is situated on Coal River, in Jefferson District, Kanawha County, W. Va., three miles southwest of St. Albans, was born on this farm October 10, 1837, and is a son of Andrew Bryan and a grand- son of Richard Bryan.

Andrew Bryan was born in 1800, in Ken- tucky and was seven years old when he ac- companied his parents to Upper Falls, on the Coal River, where the latter secured

900 acres of land. Andrew Bryan grew to manhood in Kanawha County and married Dicie S. Wood, who was born in Surry County, Va., a daughter of William Wood. They had the following children: William and Thomas, both of whom are deceased; A. J .; Lewis, who is deceased; Llwellyen ; Dicie, and Augustus, the last named being deceased. After marriage Andrew Bryan continued to live on the present farm, on which all his children were born and here he died at the age of seventy-four years. His wife lived to the age of ninety-three years. She was a member of the old Bap- tist church while he belonged to the branch known as the Missionary Baptists. For some forty years he was boss kettle tender in the salt works.

A. J. Bryan had the usual school advan- tages of the children in his neighborhood in his boyhood and afterward was kept oc- cupied on the home place, growing the usual crops together with tobacco and raising stock. After his marriage he made many improvements on the property which had come into his possession and built the pres- ent comfortable dwelling. He sold the land that is the site of Jefferson District No. 5 school-house. For twelve years he has been a member of the board of education of Jefferson District and has faithfully per- formed the duties of this office.

In 1869 Mr. Bryan was married to Han- nah Elizabeth Wilson, a daughter of Charles and Mary Ann Wilson, of Jefferson District, and they have six children : G. D., a resident of St. Albans, who married Cath- arine Sutherland and has two children- Herbert W. and Elizabeth S .: Charles W., who married Allie Wood, and lives in Jef- ferson District and has three children-Gil- bert, Wood and Margaret; McFarland, who lives at home; John S., who lives in Jeffer- son District, and who married Ida Com- stock and has one daughter, Fannie; Wal- ter, who lives in Jefferson District, and who married Dora Miles and has one child, Thelma; and Herbert, who lives at home. Mr. Bryan and sons are Democrats.

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MAJOR ISAAC NOYES SMITH, once Caroline W. (Shrewsbury) Quarrier. To a leading member of the West Virginia bar, and senior member of the firm of Smith & Knight, of Charleston, was a representative of a family of particular distinction in this section of the South, where the names of Noyes, Smith and Harrison have long been prominent ones. He was born at Charles- ton, W. Va., April, 1832, and died October 6, 1883, while yet in the prime of life. He was the only son and second child of Col. Benjamin Harrison and Roxalana (Noyes) Smith.

Isaac Noyes Smith was educated at Washington & Lee University, at Lexing- ton, Va., and was a brilliant member of his class. When the Civil war broke out he was loyal to the South, his training and as- sociation having tended to such a result, and with enthusiam he entered the Confed- erate army in the capacity of a private sol- dier. He enlisted in that notable body of young men known as the Kanawha Rifle- men, and in a comparatively short time be- came major of the regiment, serving with rank until his subsequent resignation, and later being honorably discharged. Just prior to the beginning of the war he had served two years as a member of the Vir- ginia legislature.

When his military service was over, he returned to his law practice and became a prominent figure at the bar, and for years there was little important litigation in Kan- awha county that did not have the firm of Smith & Knight engaged on one side or the other. He came of an ancestry marked by strong, brave, and able men and his distinc- tion at the bar was only less than that of his father, who survived him. He was a conscientious member of the Presbyterian church and for many years was an elder.

Major Smith was married at Charleston in November, 1860, to Miss Caroline S. Quarrier, the Smiths thus becoming con- nected with another distinguished family of this section. She was born in 1839, in what is now the center of the capital city, on the corner of Quarrier and Capitol streets, a daughter of Alexander W. and

this marriage the children born were as fol- lows: Benjamin H., who is now deceased; Alexander Q., who married Ethel Apple- ton, and has three children-Benjamin, El- sie and Appleton; Harrison Brooks, who married Katharine Bowne and whose chil- dren are Harrison Bowne, Helen D. and Alexander Q; Elsie Q., who married F. M. Staunton, and has a daughter, Caroline Q .; Christopher T., who is deceased; and Isaac N., who married Elizabeth Dana, and has five children-Isaac N., Katherine, Dana, Elizabeth and Christopher. Mrs. Smith is still living amid the old surroundings to which she is endeared by old association, and is the center of a family, the members of which vie with one another in showing her affectionate regard.

K. D. QUARRIER,* superintendent for the West Virginia Colliery Company, at We- vaco, Kanawha County, W. Va., has had a large amount of experience in relation to mines and mining and is well qualified for the position which he fills. He was born at Charleston, W. Va., March 10, 1874, and is a son of William A. and Cora A. (Green- how) Quarrier.

Mr. Quarrier was educated in the Charles- ton schools and at Purdue University, and began practical business life as an engineer with the Kelly Creek Improvement Com- pany, remaining several years, afterward being connected for two more years with Morgan Gardner. In 1901 he came to the present company as superintendent of the two mines at South Carbon, going from there to North Carbon and since then has been superintendent of the four mines of the West Virginia Colliery Company at Wevaco.

Mr. Quarrier was married February 22, 19II, to Miss Margaret Thompson. He is identified with the Masons and belongs to the Shrine at Charleston.

JOHN D. STEELE, president of the Steele & Payne Company, at Charleston, W. Va., wholesale dealers and commercial

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HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

jobbers in all kinds of produce, grain and hay and as selling agents also handle coal, is one of the representative business men of Kanawha County. He was born at Cov- ington, Va., in 1875, and is a son of Dewitt Clinton and Catherine (Mallow) Steele.

Dewitt C. Steele was born near Coving- ton, Va., a son of Isaac and Mary (O'Cal- lahan) Steele, the former of whom accom- panied his parents in boyhood from Rock- bridge County, Va., to Allegheny County, in which section the O'Callahans had also been early settlers. Isaac Steele was a farmer and a contractor and builder. De- witt C. Steele followed an agricultural life and died in Allegheny County when aged seventy-three years. He married Cather- ine Mallow, who lived to be seventy-four years old, and they had three sons and three daughters, as follows: William I., who is a resident of Charlottesville, Va., and has a family of six children; Kate, Callie and Dor- othy, all of whom live at Covington, Va., unmarried; J. C., who is a civil engineer, and lives in New Mexico; and John D., who is next to the youngest of the family.

John D. Steele attended school at Cov- ington and remained at home until he was about sixteen years of age, when he went to Charlottesville, where, engaged in various pursuits, he provided for his own necessi- ties but was able to do little to look after the future. He was twenty-five years old when he accepted a position as commer- cial traveler through the southern states, for the American Tobacco Company, and gave full satisfaction during the two years he remained with that company. A better offer for his services being made by the Southern Tobacco Company of New Or- leans, he accepted that and looked after the interests of that concern for three years and then came to Charleston with the inten- tion of embarking in business for himself. He had learned a great deal of business needs and demands during this time and had made an army of personal friends. He soon set about organizing his present com- pany and after many discouragements, suc- ceeded in placing it on a sound financial

basis and secured as partners, other young, progressive and shrewd business men like himself.

In 1903 the Steele & Brown Company was incorporated and capitalized for $25,000, for a commission business in hay, grain and produce, Mr. Steele being president from its incorporation. In March, 1910, a reorgan- ization was effected, the stock being in- creased to $50,000, Mr. Steele remaining president, with H. B. Lewis, cashier of the Kanawha Banking and Trust Company, as vice president, H. G. Davis as secretary, and Oscar F. Payne as treasurer. The com- pany purchases from producers and brokers from all over the country and their dis- tributive trade territory is in southern West Virginia, and in Virginia and North Car- olina. As a brokerage house they do a business of nearly three million dollars an- nually, and through their extensive dealing and admirable methods of advertising, these young men have built up a vast business and in so doing have retained the confidence of the business world as to their integrity. They also are interested to some degree in coal and have interests in the Kanawha coal fields, operating as the Morris Fork Coal Company, which was incorporated in March, IgII, with a capital stock of $25,000. Their property is reached by the Coal and Coke Railway to Turner's Station, Kanawha County, where they afford work to 100 men and pro- duce from 300 to 350 tons of coal per day. The officers of this corporation are: John D. Steele, president; Oscar F. Payne, treasurer ; Thomas Woodward, vice president; and T. Boone Brown, secretary and manager of the sales department, located at Columbus, O., dis- posing of the entire output of the business, amounting to about half a million dollars an- nually.

Mr. Steele was married at Warren Springs, Va., to Miss Carrie Payne, who was educated at the Lewisburg Female Seminary. She is a daughter of J. E. and Emma (Smith) Payne, the former of whom is a merchant at Warm Springs, Va. Mr. and Mrs. Steele are mem- bers of the Presbyterian church. Politically Mr. Steele is a Democrat but is too busy a

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man to accept added duties as an office holder. He is one of the active members of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce and as a citizen is ever ready to work for better condi- tions along every line where public need is recognized.

W. T. ALEXANDER,* one of the repre- sentative citizens of Charleston, W. Va., where he is engaged in the lumber, railroad ties and coal business, was born May 26, 1864, in Roane County, W. Va., a son of Josiah and Sarah (Lewis) Alexander, and a grandson of Samuel Alexander, an old Virginia planter and boatman.

Josiah Alexander, who was born in Vir- ginia prior to the Civil War, was engaged in the lumber business up to the time of that struggle. After the war, in which he served, he settled down to farming in West Virginia, and here died at the age of seventy-two years. Mr. Alexander married Sarah Lewis, the daughter of Joseph and Mary (Copeland) Lewis, and she died in 1892, having been the mother of four children, namely : Henry Lee, who is an operator of Wheeling; James, who is engaged in the lumber and coal business in Alabama; Alice Virginia, who married J. A. Neff, of Roane County ; and W. T.

W. T. Alexander received a common school education, and he was employed as a youth on the home farm and also engaged in team- ing lumber. Later, in order that he might gain a knowledge of the business, his father sent him out to measure and inspect lumber, and thus he gained the experience necessary to fit him for what he was to make his life work. He took up coal properties with lumber at Charleston and near Clendenin, and is now contracting in the coal fields, buying and ship- ping railroad ties, and furnishing railway lum- ber and supplies for bridgework. He has built up a large business, and is considered one of the solid, substantial men of Kanawha County.

Mr. Alexander is a member of the Metho- dist church. In political matters he is a Dem- ocrat, but he cares little for public affairs, pre- ferring to give his time and attention to his large and growing business.

OSCAR F. PAYNE, treasurer and traf- fic manager of the Steele & Payne Company, brokers and commission merchants at Charles- ton, a firm of young men doing an annual busi- ness that runs into several million dollars, one that has been built up through their own in- dustry, energy and integrity, is a valuable citi- zen and is an important factor in the Charles- ton Chamber of Commerce. He was born in 1873, at Palmyra, Va., a son of Collin Pat- ton and Beatrice (Clark) Payne.

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History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 125

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