History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 126

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 126

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).

Collin Patton Payne was born at Colum- bia, Va., a son of Joseph Payne who was a soldier in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and at one time was sheriff of Flu- vanna County, Va. Mrs. Beatrice (Clark) Payne died in 1886, survived by three daugh- ters and one son. In 1890 Collin Patton Payne married his second wife, Annie Creel, of Ohio, and to them was born one child, Paul, who is now sixteen years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Collin Patton Payne are residents of Charleston.

Oscar F. Payne secured a public school education and then went on the K. & M. rail- road with which line he continued to be con- nected for twenty-three years, beginning at the bottom and winning promotion until in 1903 he was made General Agent of the Freight Department and continued until January Ist IgII when he resigned in order to give more attention to his individual interests. In 1886 . he came to West Virginia and since 1891 has been a resident of Charleston, and since Jan- uary Ist, I9II he has been treasurer and traf- fic manager of the Steele & Payne Company. This business was incorporated in 1903, un- der the name of Steele & Brown Company, and was reorganized in 1910, for a business in produce, hay and grain. The present of- ficers are: John D. Steele, president; 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 and traffic manager. Practically the same individuals are interested in the devel- oping of coal at Turner Station, Kanawha County, under the name of the Morris Fork Coal Company, Mr. Payne likewise being treas- urer and traffic manager of this corporation.

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Mr. Payne married Miss Mary R. Ruffner, who was born in 1873, at Charleston, and who is a daughter of Henry D. and Sallie ( Patrick) Ruffner, the latter of whom is deceased, the former surviving and residing at Roseland, Fla. Mr. and Mrs. Payne have one son, Ruff- ner Rogers Payne, who was born March 12, 1899, and is a student in the public schools. Mr. Payne and family are members of the Episcopal church, in which he has been a ves- tryman for six years. He takes only an in- telligent, fair-minded citizen's interest in pol- itics, and gives support to the Democratic party.

CHARLES CONNOR,* who, for the past two years has been chief assistant to the State Mine Inspector of West Virginia, is a prac- tical miner and an experienced one, almost his entire life having been devoted to this great and necessary industry. He was born at Cal- derbank, Lanarkshire, Scotland, April 30, 1850, and is a son of Peter and Jeane (Sneedy) Connor.

Mining has been the family occupation for generations. The paternal grandfather, Charles Connor, was general manager for the Shotts Iron Company at Shotts, Scotland, for thirty years, while the maternal grandfather, David Sneedy, was a lifelong miner. In early married life the parents of Mr. Connor were Presbyterians but later in life the father be- came united with that branch known as the Cumberland Presbyterians and was an earnest and convincing speaker on religious topics.

Charles Connor attended school until he was about nine years of age and then went to work in the mines and performed the usual duties of a mine boy in the Scotch mines. On July 17, 1879 he stepped first on American soil and to all intents and purposes, then and there, became an American. Prior to this, however, while still working in the mines in Great Britain, he attended afternoon sessions of school at Cambridge, England, for two years, working on the early shifts in the mines and applying himself to his books in the latter part of the day, after which he returned to Scot- land and entered a scientific school where he studied mechanics, geology and mining. He then learned machine construction, the ele- ments of chemistry, electricity and steam, and during the three years in the course took higher mathematics as applied to all these sub- jects. In his first year he took first class cer- tificates on all subjects, and in the second year and also in the third, again took first class medals. This course covered everything re- quired in order to secure the degree of mining engineer. While Mr. Connor was making such progress in his studies, for eight months in the year he worked in the mines every day and five nights in the week walked four miles to school and back again, never missing a sin- gle lesson. Mr. Connor is a man possessed of great physical strength and can make a stand jump of ten feet and a pole vault of ten and a half feet, but his weight has not va- ried fifteen pounds since he was fifteen years of age, his methods of exercise keeping him in fine condition at all times.

The parents of Mr. Connor came to the United States in 1881. The father was a miner and followed mining during all his ac- tive life, his death occurring in 1900, at Uniontown, Fayette County, Pa., in his sev- enty-second year and his burial was there. His widow survived him four years. Of their ten children, Charles was the first born. The second child died young. Peter M., the third son, is a mine superintendent in Somerset County, Pa. Mary was the wife of Robert Donaldson at the time of her death, at Oliver, Pa. Helen is the widow of John Cole, who was killed while heroically endeavoring to res- cue his. comrades when an explosion occurred in a mine at Boswell, Pa., of which he was foreman. David M. lives at Swissvale, near Pittsburg, Pa. He is a mine foreman for the Switch & Signal Company, Pittsburg District. John A. is machinist foreman for the Mesta Machine Company near Homestead, Pa. James is superintendent of the Abrams Coal & Coke Company, near Clellandstown, Pa. William is a mine foreman near Smithfield, After coming to America, Mr. Connor en- gaged in mining at East Palestine, O., and Fayette County. Jennie is the wife of William Pegg, a mine superintendent at Letonia, O. later at Fayette City, Fayette County, Pa.

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After his marriage he was made superintend- ent of outside operations and subsequently, on the recommendations of Mr. Ludt, was ap- pointed inspector of the Henry Clay mines at Bradford, afterward, for three years being mine foreman at Leith's Shaft, at Uniontown. This position he resigned in order to accept that of superintendent of the Rock Hill Iron & Coal Company, at Robertsdale, Huntingdon County, Pa., and remained there for seven years. On May 15, 1893, having passed the necessary examination, he was appointed mine inspector of the Bituminous District, with headquarters at Uniontown, where he served four years. He next became general superin- tendent for the Dominion Coal Company of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, a position he filled for nearly a year. Mr. Connor went with the Pittsburg Coal Company as division superin- tendent on the Red Stone Branch, including all the mines on said branch, and after three months was appointed general superintendent and inspector for all the Pittsburg Coal Com- pany's mines, filling that important position for nearly three years. It was at the request of Mr. Lynch that Mr. Connor then went to Glamorgan, Va., where he opened up the Mt. Cook Coal mines and afterward, for a year was general manager of the Mt. Cook Coal and Coke plant. From there he went to New Frostburg, Md., to open up coal mines in that vicinity and remained seven months, in 1905 coming from there to Charles- ton. Here he purchased the Hotel Norton, which building was destroyed by fire but was subsequently rebuilt by Mr. Connor, who con- ducted it until 1909. When the well remem- bered Lick Branch explosion occurred, he of- fered his services as a mine expert in rescue work, and he was offered the superintendency of the Pocahontas Consolidated Collieries Company when he was examined as an expert witness at the inquest following. It was through the technical knowledge that he then displayed that his present position was ten- dered him, one that he has ably filled since December, 1909.

In 1872 Mr. Connor was married to Miss Jane Musgrove, who was born on the River Tweed, on the border between Scotland and

England. Seven children have been born to them: Peter M., superintendent for the Four States Coal and Coke Company at Worthing- ton, W. Va., who married Mary Jones, and has four children; John M., who died aged twenty-four years; Dolly Jennie, who is the wife of W. T. Bowling, a commercial sales- man, of Norton, Va., and has two children; Annie Taylor, who is the wife of Howard Pierpont, an expert bookkeeper, and has one child; Charles W., a graduate of the Pennsyl- vania Engineering State College, superintend- ent of the Pocahontas Coal and Coke Com- pany, at Coalwood, in McDowell County, who married Agnes Turnbull and has one son, Charles William; George M., who is head bookkeeper for the firm of Warrick, Barrett & Shipley; and Mary Malcomb, who is a trained nurse. The last named is a graduate of Dr. Eve's Hospital at Nashville, Tenn., and for more than a year was superintendent of the hospital at Hollidaysburg, Pa. Since he was seventeen years old Mr. Connor has been united with the Methodist church and is a member of the Quarrier Street Methodist Episcopal Church at Charleston. He is very prominent in Masonry, belonging to the Blue Lodge at Charleston, the Chapter in Wise County, Va .; Syrene Commandery at Norton, Va .; Mystic Shrine, at Pittsburg, and is past eminent commander of the K. T. He belongs also to the Odd Fellows and Knights of Pyth- ias, and in Scotland was grand district tem- plar of the Independent Order of Good Tem- plars. He has been an active Republican.

REGINALD C. HEWES, chief clerk in the United States Engineer office, at Charles- ton, W. Va., and also identified with the United States Weather Bureau as a coopera- tive observer, has been a resident of this city for over twenty-five years, a busy and useful citizen. He was born at Clarksburg, W. Va., November 29, 1865, and is a son of David and Elizabeth J. (Harrison) Hewes.

The name of Hewes is familiar to all close students of the history of the development of the American colonies. One of the ancestors of Reginald C. Hewes enjoyed the distinc- tion of affixing his name to two memorable

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patriotic documents, the Mecklenburg Declar- ation, a resolution said to have been adopted in May, 1775, at a midnight meeting of repre- sentatives of the militia of Mecklenburg Coun- ty, N. C., declaring that the people were free and independent of the British Crown, and later to the Declaration of Independence, at Philadelphia. Patriotism marked the careers of his descendants. Col. David T. Hewes, the paternal grandfather of Reginald C. Hewes, a resident of Clarksburg, recruited the first regiment of native Virginians-the Third Virginia Volunteers-for the defense of the Union, early in the Civil War. In this regiment his son, David Hewes, father of Reginald C., served as first lieutenant of Com- pany B, and was subsequently honorably dis- charged. For the past twenty years he has been a resident of Charleston. He married into one of the notable families of the United States, that of Harrison, his wife being a daughter of Hon. William A. Harrison, of Harrison County, Va. Judge Harrison served on the Circuit Bench for many years and after the organization of the State of West Vir- ginia, was made the first president of the Supreme Court of Appeals.

Reginald C. Hewes was educated in the public schools of Clarksburg and at the Uni- versity of Michigan. In 1885 he came to Charleston in the capacity of telegraph oper- ator in the office of the receiver of the Ohio Central Railway, and appreciation was shown his ability and fidelity by his rapid promotion in the railroad service. He became assistant train dispatcher, chief dispatcher and later acting train master. After retiring from the railroad, Mr. Hewes entered the telegraphic service of the Associated Press and during the years that followed until 1893, was considered one of the most accurate and expert operators in the service. He was the first operator in West Virginia to accomplish the difficult feat of receiving the Morse characters and writ- ing them directly on the typewriter, a practice now general but much easier of accomplish- ment owing to improvements designed ex- pressly for this purpose. Since 1893 Mr. Hewes has been identified with the office of

the United States Engineer and since 1899 has been chief clerk.

In 1892 Mr. Hewes was married to Miss Mary L. Eagan, a daughter of David Eagan, a resident of Charleston, where Mrs. Hewes was reared and educated. They have had four children: Mary Elizabeth, Eloise C., Ernest T. and Reginald C., the last named dying in infancy. Mr. Hewes is a member of the Pres- byterian church. He is a Republican but has never taken an active part in politics.

THE NUTTER FAMILY,* an old and important one in West Virginia, has an inter- esting history.

The name of Nutter was associated with trappers and hunters in the early days of set- tlement in Harrison County, now West Vir- ginia, and if family records had been pre- served, much might be added to the biography of the present generation of descendants, one of whom is Mrs. Martha N. (Nutter) Jordan, wife of James Vinton Jordan, an extensive stockraiser in Elk District, Kanawha County.

Matthew Nutter, the paternal grandfather of Mrs. Jordan, married Mary Starr and they settled on Reedy Creek, in Harrison County, where Mr. Nutter engaged in farming but particularly in stock raising, and was one of the first to successfully raise horses and cattle for market in his district. After his death his widow continued this feature and thus paid off a mortgage that was on the property and be- came a woman of independent means through her own energy. She was a brave and cour- ageous person as her work and surroundings demanded her to be, for the region was yet a wild one and it was necessary for her to have every resourceful expedient of pioneer- ing at hand. She had many adventures but perhaps the one in which she most nearly lost her life was once, when out on the hills with her cattle she found herself followed by a panther. She knew the only means of escape was to frighten the beast and to quickly leave the neighborhood, so she grasped the tail of the bell-wether cow and was thus dragged to near home by the frightened animal.

Thomas Nutter. one of the sons of Mat- thew and Mary (Starr) Nutter, was born on

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Reedy Creek, Harrison County, W. Va., Au- gust 13, 1821, and died February 28, 1900. When he was eleven years old he started for Elk District, Kanawha County, where a brother was working in the salt business, walked the entire distance and after reaching the works near Malden, found employment there and later worked on a steamboat. After he married he operated a cooper shop for sev- eral years, barrels for salt as for other com- modities all being made by hand in those days. In 1857 he bought a farm near Mink, in Elk District, on which he lived until 1890, when he retired and moved to Charleston. He was a very active Republican and at one time was nominated by his party for county sheriff but Home Guards and was colonel of the militia declined the honor. He was a member of the from 1861 until 1865. Although entirely self educated, Mr. Nutter became a man of im- portance, managed large business affairs and was a citizen whom his associates looked up to and respected. He was a member of the A. C. church.

Mr. Nutter was married first in 1841, to Martha McDaniel, who died April 25, 1858. The following children were born to them: America, who is the wife of G. Arnold, of Seattle, Wash .; Mary, Eliza Jane, Josephine and Melvina, all of whom are deceased; Will- iam E., who resides at No. 719 Bigley Ave- nue, Charleston; James T., who is a farmer in Clay County, W. Va .: and George H., who is deceased. Mr. Nutter was married second to Anne Copen, who died February 14, 1875, aged forty-five years. She was a daughter of William Copen, who owned a farm near Copenhaver in Elk District. To the second marriage the following children were born: Almeda, who is the wife of L. Walker, of Charleston, W. Va .; Mcclellan, who resides in Braxton County; Curtiss, who lives at Uniontown, Kas .: Martha N., who is the wife of James Vinton Jordan. of Elk District, Kanawha County: Thomas E., now a resident of Kanawha County, who served as a soldier in the Spanish-American War; Delia, who is the wife of George Bowers, a sawyer at Charleston: and Olivia, who is now deceased.

Martha N. Nutter of the above family was given excellent educational advantages, at- tending school until she was eighteen years of age. She then put her education to practical use by becoming a teacher and a very accept- able one, and taught two terms at Poca Fork, prior to her marriage, on May 26, 1889, to James Vinton Jordan. To Mr. and Mrs. Jordan three children have been born, namely : Bessie, Grant and Emory V. Bessie was born June 21, 1891, is a graduate of the Normal School and is a teacher in District No. 3, Elk District. Both she and her mother are mem- bers of the Grange at Mink Station. Grant, who was born December 9, 1893, resides at home and is a student in the Charleston Normal School. Emory V., who was born in March, 1899, attends school. Mrs. Jordan is a member of the A. C. church.

CHARLES E. COPELAND, M. D., who is a representative member of the medical profession at Charleston, W. Va., engaged in general practice and making a specialty of diseases of children, is also an interested and useful citizen of Charleston, West Side. He was born May 10, 1867, near Al- derson, Monroe County, W. Va., and grew to manhood in Wolf Creek District.

By the time he was seventeen years of age he had acquired the necessary educa- tion that fitted him for teaching school and he still further prepared himself by taking a full course in the Shenandoah Normal College, at Harrisonburg, Va., where he was graduated in 1889. He continued to teach school and also began his medical studies, later entering the Baltimore Med- ical College, where he was graduated with his degree in 1893. Subsequently Dr. Copeland received five certificates from the Baltimore Medical College and the Balti- more City Hospital, these certificates hav- ing been won for operative surgery, dis- eases of children, physical diagnosis and diseases of the chest. He began practice in Wolf Creek District. where he continued for three years and then went to Lindside, in Monroe County, and continued there for five years, after which he came to Charles-

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ton. He has built up a substantial prac- tice and has won the confidence of the sec- tion of the city in which he has established himself. Dr. Copeland is a member of the Kanawha County, the State and the Amer- ican Medical Associations. He is medical examiner for a number of insurance orders and is fraternally connected with the Ma- sons, the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the A. O. U. W.

Dr. Copeland was married in Monroe County, W. Va., to Miss Luella Conner, who was born in 1879, in Wolf Creek Dis- trict, Monroe County, where she was reared and educated. Dr. and Mrs. Copeland have one daughter, Gladys Conner, who was born September 12, 1898, and is now a stu- dent in Sherrad Hall, a private educational institution. Mrs. Copeland is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Dr. and Mrs. Copeland have a beautiful home, their residence being situated at No. 1532 Quarrier Street. In politics Dr. Copeland is a Republican and he has served two terms as a member of the city council.

JOHN D. LEWIS .- He was a descendant of John Lewis, the founder of Staunton, Va., who was one of the first, if not the first, to enter into the territory that was made Au- gusta county, Va. He, the said John Lewis, came from Ireland to Philadelphia and went into the Shenandoah Valley with Jost Hite in 1732. Augusta and Frederick were made in 1738, and were organized-Frederick in 1743. and Augusta in 1745.

When Augusta County was first made, on December 9, 1745, in Staunton by the follow- ing justiciary, viz: John Lewis, John Brown, Thomas Lewis (son of John), Robert Cun- ningham, Peter Scholl, John Pickens, Hugh Thompson, James Kerr and Adam Dickinson, gentlemen justices, James Patton was made sheriff, John Madison was made clerk, Gabriel Jones was the prosecuting attorney, Thomas Lewis was made surveyor. John Lewis was given the contract to erect the county build- ings. We note that Madison, Jones and Tom Lewis were brothers-in-law, all three having married sisters, the Misses Strothers, of Staf-

ford, and they all lived at Port Republic, in Augusta. It might be said that the Lewises had control of the court, but when they only gave John Lewis £148 for the buildings, there was no chance for graft in that contract.

John Lewis's wife was said to have been Margaret Lynn of Scotland and several of his sons were there born and only the youngest son, Charles, was born in America. Whether Samuel Lewis was a son or a kinsman is an unsettled problem.

Andrew Lewis was the soldier, and Thomas had bad eyes, which would not allow him to be a soldier, but he was a surveyor and a statesman. In 1774 when the little army was directed to march from southwest Virginia to the Ohio river, at the mouth of the Ka- nawha, the command of this army was given to General Andrew Lewis, and Governor Dun- more was to proceed to Pittsburg and down the Ohio and meet General Lewis at Point Pleasant, but he failed to meet General Lewis and let the Indians attack Lewis, who had to fight the battle of Oct. 10, 1774, alone.

Col. Charles Lewis was given the command of the Augusta regiment, which had six com- panies therein and John Lewis, son of Thomas Lewis, was captain of one of those companies. John Frogg was the sutler of the regiment and his wife was Agatha Lewis, a grand- daughter of Thomas Lewis. It appears that the Lewis family was prominent in the army as it was in the court, but the sutler took his gun and fought with the rest and lost his life in the battle. Col. Charles Lewis, the favorite of the army, was also killed in the battle and buried on the ground. Col. Charles made his will before he left home and there was a son born to his wife before he was killed, and he took the name of his father, "Charles Lewis."

The wife of Col. Charles Lewis was Sarah Murray, and their children were John, An- drew, Elizabeth, Margaret and Charles. This son, Charles Jr. was educated and commis- sioned by Washington as a lieutenant and served against the Indians, under General Wayne in the West, in 1795. Lieutenant Charles returned to Bath county and married Jane Dickinson, a daughter of Col. John Dick- inson, who was wounded in the battle of

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Point Pleasant, Oct. 10, 1774, and was the owner of the 502-acre tract at the mouth of Campbell's creek, on which the Salt Spring was located, and which was purchased by Joseph Ruffner and on which the first salt was made in Kanawha. Lieut. Charles Lewis died in 1803, leaving his wife Jane and two sons, John Dickinson Lewis and Charles Cameron Lewis. The mother with her sons came to Mason county and afterwards married Capt. James Wilson, an attorney of Kanawha.

Lewis Summers says in 1808, he met James Wilson in Charleston-July 4, 1808-and that Mr. Wilson was in a hurry to go to Mason to court (?). Evidently the boys were brought to Charleston and John D. Lewis was sent to school to Mr. Crutchfield and later to Lewis Ruffner.

When John D. Lewis was twenty-two years of age he sold his interest in the farm and was employed by Dickinson and Shrewsbury as a salt maker. Afterwards he became a salt maker for himself and continued in the busi- ness until 1856, after which he gave his at- tention to clearing up farms and selling land in Kanawha and in Nicholas counties. His home was on the Kanawha, about five miles above Charleston, on the 502 acres that were patented by his grandfather, Col. John Dick- inson in 1785 and sold to Jos. Ruffner in 1793.

John D. Lewis was a busy man, the owner of much real estate; in politics he was a Whig ; his religious preference was for the Episcopal church, and he. attended the Presbyterian when there was no church of his preference in the neighborhood. He was seriously op- posed to secession and perhaps the only speech he ever made was in opposition to it, in the spring of 1861. He was a Scotchman whose ancestor lived in Ireland and came therefrom to America.

His first wife was Sally Shrewsbury, daughter of Joel Shrewsbury, and she left one son, Joel S. Lewis. His next wife was Ann Dickinson, daughter of Col. William Dickinson; she left three children, Sally J., Charles C., and Mary. His third wife was Betty Darneal, a daughter of Jacob Darneal.

She left two children, Julia and William. His fourth wife was Mrs. Sally Spears; she left no children to Mr. Lewis. He died in 1882, aged 821/2 years. Mr. Lewis was a very positive, decided upright man, one of the old style men that directed his own affairs. While positive, he was conscientious and kind.

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History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 126

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