History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 131

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 131

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In 1880 Mr. Davis was married to Miss Margaret E. Dickinson who was born in Kanawha county. October 5. 1857 and was reared and educated at Cannelton, W. Va. She is a daughter of A. Judson and Jane (Stockton) Dickinson, natives of Nelson and Kanawha counties, respectively. John Stock- ton, the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Davis, was a son of Aaron Stockton, who came to Kanawha County as an early settler from New Jersey and was one of the pioneer salt makers. His death occurred at Kanawha Falls, which property was his, as well as many other tracts

Mrs. Davis is one of a family of six chil- dren born to her parents. Araminta C., the eldest, is the wife of T. S. Payne, of Mont- gomery, O., and they have three sons and two daughters; Edgar Stockton, the eldest son, is a farmer near Gauley, W. Va., and has one son, John T .; Mrs. Davis is the third in order of birth; John T., who is unmarried, lives at Boomer, W. Va .; A. Judson lives with his family at Mt. Carbon and has six children; and Jessie B., who married John Thurman, resides in Kentucky.

To Mr. and Mrs. Davis were born three children, namely: Helen B., who is the wife of William Gordon Matthews, a prominent attorney at Charleston; Thomas Colburn, who is connected with the Kanawha National Bank in a clerical capacity, and resides with his mother: and George Hewitt, who is a civil engineer by profession, and also lives at home. Mrs. Davis is a member of the Baptist church in which she was reared, while her sons are Presbyterians, as was their father.

W. B. SHOBER .* president and manager of the Ohio Valley Furniture Company, at Charleston. W. Va.,: came to this city in 1900 and for the past eleven years has been one of the active and representative business men of this place. He was born at Gallipolis, O., May 29, 1862, and is a son of William and Eliza- beth Shober.

W. B. Shober was educated in his native place. His father conducts a jewelry business

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but the young man became more interested along the line of furniture manufacturing and for a number of years prior to coming to Charleston, was with the Fuller & Hutsenpeler Company.

Mr. Shober was married September 20, 1886, to Miss May Ford, of Gallipolis, O., and they have two children: Hilda May and Eulalie. The family residence is at No. 1209 Virginia Street, Charleston. Mr. Shober is identified with both the Masons and the Elks, at Gallipolis. He entertains high ideals of citizenship but is not active in any political faction or party.

F. M. STAUNTON, president of the Kanawha Banking and Trust Company of Charleston, W. Va., has been a prominent business man of this section for a number of years and is identified with numerous success- ful enterprises. Born May 17, 1866, in Kanawha county, W. Va., he was educated in the public schools and at Cornell University, and before he had reached his age of legal responsibility, had become interested in busi- ness affairs. He was one of the organizers of The Kanawha Banking and Trust Company, and became its president in January 1907. Mr. Staunton is also president of the Diamond Ice and Coal Company; president of the Kelley's Creek Colliery Company, and an officer and director in the Southern State Mutual Life Insurance Company.

On November 29, 1892, Mr. Staunton was married to Miss Elsie Quarrier Smith, who was born, reared and educated at Charleston, a daughter of Isaac Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Staunton have one daughter, Caroline Q., who is now a student at Dobb's Ferry, New York. The family belongs to the Kanawha Presby- terian church. Mr. Staunton is also promi- nent politically, in 1907 being elected a dele- gate to the state legislature on the Republican ticket, and having served on the city council and as city treasurer. He is an active mem- ber of the Chamber of Commerce and has been a director of it since its organization.

HARRY L. SALMONS, lockmaster at Lock No. 5, on the Kanawha River, near

Marmet, W. Va., was born August 4, 1869, in Putnam county, W. Va., and is the son of Robert D. and Bettie (Marshall) Salmons.

Robert D. Salmons was born, reared and married in Virginia and afterward moved to Putnam county for a season and then returned to Virginia, but subsequently came back to Put- nam County, from there he came to Kana- wha county, locating on a farm in Malden District. There Robert D. Salmons died in 1882, aged eighty-one years. In his early days he was a school teacher and later a mer- chant. His widow survives as do eight of their family of ten children. The family re- cord is as follows : Robert A., who is a leading citizen of Putnam county, is a member of the State Senate. William T. and James both re- side in Putnam county. John, the third mem- ber of the family, is deceased. Adelia, who is now deceased, was the wife of John Booker Shrewsberry. Mattie is the widow of Robert Beirne. Roberta is the wife of J. B. Reynolds. Ida is the wife of M. F. Spruce. Harry Lee is the ninth in order of birth. Nettie, the youngest member of the family, is the wife of William Wick.

Harry Lee Salmons remained at home and followed farming until his marriage. In 1900 he came to Lock No. 5 as a lock hand under Lockmaster Benjamin Smithers, and in 1903 was made assistant lockmaster and in the following year was given entire charge. A large amount of traffic passes through this lock and the position is one of responsibility

Mr. Salmons was married in May, 1900, to Miss Bettie Gardner, a daughter of C. E. and Catherine (Reynolds) Gardner, and they have four children: William, Leon, Mary and Helen. Mr. and Mrs Salmons are members of the Methodist Southern church. He is identified with both the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias at Marmet.

A. E. HUMPHREYS, a prominent capital- ist and representative business man of Kana- wha County. W. Va., whose mining interests extend over many of the richest mineral dis- tricts of the United States, was born in Kana- wha County. January II, 1860, and is a son of Ira A. and Eleanor (Dawson) Humphreys. .

A. E. HUMPHREYS

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Ira A. Humphreys was born in Albemarle County, Va., and his wife in Kanawha County, although the Dawsons were originally of Bed- ford County, Va. Four sons and four daugh- ters were born to them, those now living be- ing: A. C., who is a resident of Sissonville, Kanawha County; A. E., whose office is in the Charleston National Bank Building at Charleston and his branch office at No. 21I Colorado Building, Denver, Colo .; S. J., who is interested in mining in Manila; and Mollie, who is the wife of John Good. The four re- maining children died in infancy.

A. E. Humphreys was educated in the pub- lic schools of Kanawha County and Marshall College, at Huntington. For ten years after- ward his business interests were mercantile, milling and lumbering, since which time they have been mining and probably he is one of the best known mine operators in the country. He has coal, iron, and gold and silver prop- erties, in West Virginia, Colorado and Min- nesota, his investments in these States being very large.

Mr. Humphreys was married November 3, 1887, to Miss Alice Boyd, a daughter of Capt. C. W. and Margaret (McMeekin) Boyd, of Brown County, O., and they have two children : Ira B., a successful inventor, who married Lucile Pattison; and A. E. Humphreys, Jr. With his family he attends the Christian church. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, belonging to the Commandery and Consistory at Duluth, Minn., and to Osman Temple, Mys- tic Shrine, St. Paul, Minn. He is additionally identified with a number of social organiza- tions, including the Denver Country Club, the Denver Athletic Club, the Denver Club, the Oakshore Club of Rockport, Tex., and the Edgewood Country Club, of Charleston, W. Va. Politically he is a Democrat.

GEN. CHARLES DOUGLAS ELLIOTT, adjutant general of the State of West Virginia is a man well qualified for his present position. He is of Scottish and Irish ancestry, coming from the Douglas clan of Scotland and the Gil- lespie family of Ireland. Several of his pro- genitors participated with credit in the Revolutionary War, and his father was a

lieutenant in the Federal Army during the great Civil War, while General Elliott him- self served as a major in the Spanish Ameri- can War.

Charles Douglas Elliott was born January I, 1862. For some years he engaged in the lumber business on the Elk River and after- ward became the owner of the Parkersburg News and subsequently was appointed by President Mckinley as a member of the U. S. Secret service, and still later as marshal for the Northern District of West Virginia, and was twice reappointed by former President Roosevelt. On January 1, 1909 he was ap- pointed adjutant general of the State of West Virginia.

General Elliott married Miss Mary E. Thompson and they have two daughters, Vi- ola N. and Catherine T.

JAMES WILLIAM MONTGOMERY, who is the leading spirit in both public affairs and business interests at Montgomery, W. Va., a place named in honor of his distinguished father, is vice president of the Montgomery National Bank, of which he was one of the organizers and is identified with numerous other enterprises which will be noted later. He was born April 9, 1846, on the present site of Montgomery, when this was farm land and has spent his entire life here. His parents were James and Amanda ( Brennon) Mont- gomery.

James Montgomery was born at Kanawha Falls, W. Va., a son of Henry Montgomery, who was born in Ireland and was one of the earliest settlers at the Falls, where he operated a ferry during his active years. James Mont- gomery, probably his eldest son, grew to man- hood on the home farm and then opened a store at Kanawha Falls, which he conducted until the outbreak of the Civil War, and after its close resumed merchandising at Mont- gomery. He was a man of unusual strength of character, one who inspired confidence in his fellow citizens and they gave testimony to the same by electing him to honorable offices. Before the war he served as sheriff of Fayette county and then was elected to the Virginia legislature, from Fayette and Raleigh counties

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when he was forced to travel by stage coach to Richmond to attend his public duties. He re- tained the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens through the conflict from 1861 until 1865, and was again sent to the legislature from Fayette county, attending at Charleston. He was a man of great business foresight and was one of the first to realize the richness of the great coal fields of this section and in fact made the first lease to the Coal Valley Coal Company. His death occurred at the age of sixty-eight years. He was twice married, first to Amanda Brennon, who died in 1851, aged thirty-two years, and secondly to Brigdet Hughes, who died in 1883. To the first marriage the following children were born: Lawrence, who gave up his life as a soldier in the Civil War; Henry, who was also a soldier and was a prisoner at Fort Delaware when the war closed and is now deceased; Cynthia M .. deceased, who was the wife of George A. Custer; James William; John C., who is a resident of Montgomery : and Samuel E., who is deceased. Eight children were born to the second marriage, namely : Anna F., who is the wife of William F. Champ, of Montgomery : Seth H., who has his home at Montgomery; Harlow and Thomas L., both of whom are deceased; Bettie, who is the wife of John Davin, of Montgomery; Augustus B. and Fred, both of whom live at Montgomery : and Walter, who died in infancy.

When James William Montgomery was a boy, educational opportunities for those living in the country, were different from those afforded almost every place under the present school system of the land. He was obliged to walk a distance of two miles in order to reach the little log building, with its slab benches. The pupils wrote in their copy books with goose quill pens and pokeberry ink. He was more ambitious than many of his companions, however, and learned many a lesson at night by the light of a pine torch or a light wood fire, after working from twelve to fourteen hours on the farm. His stepmother was kind and assisted him in becoming a fine penman, set- ting him copies and giving him encourage- ment. He remained at home until he was twenty-one years of age and afterward worked

for his father until he was twenty-five, wages in those days being fifty cents a day; and often the day was fifteen hours long.

Mr. Montgomery started out for himself with a job of cutting saw logs, afterward raft- ing them down the river and selling them. He thus earned the capital which he invested first in starting a store and as he was able to turn it over, built a sawmill, and later built houses and easily found tenants for them. His suc- cess in his first business ventures gave him en- couragement and he kept on adding to his possessions and building more houses, although he had to pay high interest on some of the money he was obliged to borrow in order to carry out his undertakings. Long ago, how- ever, things changed and instead of being a borrower he is a lender and has investments in financial institutions and in other concerns. He owns 200 houses at Montgomery : owns and operates the Home Steam Laundry, which gives work to twelve employes; is the owner of the public utility, the Montgomery Light. Water & Improvement plant; is a stockholder in the bridge over the river at this point; owns a sawmill, two hotels, the Opera House, a livery, and formerly a foundry, and is also proprietor of an undertaking establishment. Perhaps if a wondering stranger should ask Mr. Montgomery the secret of his remarkable business success, he would answer that it was the result of close attention to business and the saving of what he earned, and there are many who might. in these prodigal days. take this answer to heart.

On May 14. 1874. Mr. Montgomery was married to Miss Bettie M. Farley, whose par- ents settled àt Malden, Kanawha county, prior to the Civil War. Five children were born to them, as follows : William Lee, who died April 3, 19II, married Maude Mulligan and they had one child, William Lee: Florence, who died at the age of ten years; Charles M. who resides at Montgomery, married Carrie Work- man, and they have three children, Eunice, James and George: Helen, who is the wife of Charles Vickers, of Montgomery, and they have had three children, Milton C., deceased. and Arnold and Carl B .; and Alice, who is the wife of Lawrence Carson. They live at Mont-

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gomery and have one son, Howard. Mr. Mont- gomery has always been strong in his adher- ence to the Democratic party although he has never been willing to accept public office. He and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, and in 1908 he built the present commodious church edifice and fur- nished it throughout, at Montgomery, Rev. M. E. Stafford being minister of this church at the present time.

JULIAN M. JOHNSON, who is inter- ested in real estate in the different sections or counties of West Virginia, belongs to one of the oldest families of the county. He was born and raised on the bottom above Paint Creek, where the town of Clif- ton was laid out in 1852, and on the land entered and owned by John Jones. He is a son of John B. Johnson and a grandson of William Johnson and a great-grandson of William Johnson, Sr., who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War from Bath County, Va. After the close of the war he moved to what is now Monroe County, W. Va., and lived there a number of years. Then he and his sons, William, John, Nel- son and James, moved to Gauley River in what is now Nicholas County, W. Va., near and below the mouth of Little Elk about 1798. There William, Jr., married Nancy Sims, a daughter of James Sims, who had also moved on Gauley from Vir- ginia with the Johnsons. William John- son, Sr., died on Gauley December 22, 1805. His wife lived until December 23, 1837. They were all Methodists and the first church ever built on Gauley was a log one and was built by these Johnsons about 1820. Two of them, William and John, were Methodist preachers.

John B. Johnson, the father of Julian M., was born 'December 23, 1823, at the mouth of Rich Creek on Gauley. He af- terwards moved into the neighborhood of Paint Creek. At that time he was a car- penter and followed the trade for some years. When the town of Clifton was laid out in 1852 he purchased at the sale one

lot, No. 35, and built the first house ever built in the village, in 1858. He went into the mercantile business in 1858 and fol- lowed it for more than forty years. He married Mary Ann Settle from Culpeper County, Va., whom he survived for five years. He was a justice of the peace in Kanawha County some years before the breaking out of the War. Their children were Julian M., born August 16, 1847; Elizabeth C., born June 12, 1851; Mary Susan, born June 16, 1853. The two daugh- ters died, Mary Susan on October 11, 1858, and Elizabeth Clifton, October 20, 1858. John B. Johnson died at his home in Clif- ton, Kanawha County, July 30, 1902. in the seventy-ninth year of his age. Julian M. Johnson was married to Ellen Farley of Malden, Kanawha County, January 15, 1867. Their oldest child, John Farley, died November 14, 1873; Lizzie Clifton died January 15, 1872; May S. died July, 1897; Joseph E. died November 17, 1909.

HOUSTON G. YOUNG, chief clerk in the office of Secretary of State Reed, Charleston, IV. Va., was born in Harrison county, W. Va., October 10, 1882. His grandfather, William Young, was born at Cow Pasture River, in Highland county Va., and later, after marriage moved to Harrison county, now West Vir- ginia, and settled on a farm in Elk District. At that time his son, David S. Young, was a youth. He has continued to live in Elk Dis- trict and is engaged in farming and stock rais- ing. He married Sarah Ann Pickens, who died February 4, 1910, at the age of fifty- seven years. They became the parents of four children: Laco L., Addie V., Houston G., and Edna M.

Houston G. Young was educated in the pub- lic schools and at the West Virginia Wesleyan College, where he was graduated in 1902, sub- sequently, in 1906, graduating from the West Virginia University at Morgantown, with his degree of LL. B., was admitted to the bar and engaged in the practice of law for 9 months. At the end of that time he accepted an appoint- ment as chief clerk in the office of Hon.

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Charles W. Swisher, Secretary of State, and later was appointed to the same position with Secretary Reed.

Mr. Young married Miss Francis Virginia Chesney, a native of Marion county and they have one son, Chesney, born August 25, 1908.

JOHN COTTON,* formerly a well known and highly respected citizen of Charleston, who died at his home here August 8, 1900, was a son of John T. Cotton, M. D., another dis- tinguished Charleston citizen, and a descendant of Dr. John Cotton, an eminent Boston physi- cian, who was born at Plymouth, Mass., Sep- tember 9, 1792. Dr. John Cotton graduated at Harvard University and there took the degrees of A. M. and M. D. Later he decided to mi- grate to the then new state of Ohio. The fam- ily accordingly sailed September 17, 1815 from Providence for New York, which city they left on the 21st by boat for Elizabethtown, N. J. From there they went by stage to Prince- ton and thence to Trenton, where, for the second time, they had occasion to use a steam- boat for conveyance to Philadelphia, the trip from New York to Elizabethtown having been thus made. Steamboats were at that time a curiosity to most people and the Cotton family were much interested in examining them, which they had so good an opportunity to do. Dr. Cotton had the following remarks to make in regard to them: "The steamboat is a curious and truly wonderful invention, of a nature much too complicated for me to describe or even understand. They vary in length from 60 to 200 feet ; ours was about 90 feet, having two spacious cabins and a bar at one end where liquors were sold. We proceeded at least six miles an hour against tide by the power of steam."

September 30th the party left Philadelphia and reached Lancaster, Pa. They breakfasted at Harrisburg, crossing the Susquehanna in a ferry boat and safely reached Chambersburg. The Juniata River was crossed on a chain bridge, on the next day they crossed the Alle- gheny Mountains and on the seventh day from Philadelphia left Greensburg and reached Pittsburg. Here they noticed the prevailing coal dust and were surprised to find that the in-

habitants used nothing but coal for fuel. Leav- ing Pittsburg October 9th they proceeded down the Ohio river in a covered skiff, reach- ing Steubenville, then an almost new town, on the IIth. The next day they continued their skiff journey, breakfasted at Wheeling on the 13th and finally ended their travels at Marietta.

Marietta was then a city of thirty years' growth, and here Dr. John T. Cotton, the father of our direct subject, attended the com- mon schools, subsequently graduating from Marietta College in the first class ever gradu- ated from that institution. He afterwards taught school for a year in New Orleans. Be- cause of the extreme heat, however, he re- turned to Marietta, where he began the study of medicine under his father's direction. Sub- sequently graduated from the Cincinnati State Medical College, he began practice at Ravens- wood, Ohio, where he remained three years. During this time he married Sarah Fitzhugh, who was a daughter of Henry Fitzhugh, one of the founders of Ravenswood, the Fitzhughs inheriting property at Marietta, Ohio, from George Washington.

After their marriage on April 5, 1845 Dr. and Mrs. John T. Cotton moved to Charles- ton, Virginia (now West Virginia) and there established themselves both in social and pro- fessional life. Dr. Cotton watched the city grow from a hamlet into a commercial center and during these years he grew also in im- portance until his name was known all over the Kanawha valley. Few men of the state were more esteemed. In May, 1902 he was elected president of the State Medical Society of West Virginia. He was a large land holder in Charleston and the vicinity. Originally a Whig in politics, he assisted in organizing the Democratic party. The children of Dr. John T. Cotton and wife were: Henrietta, wife of ex-Governor Wilson; Nannie C., who married Frank Woodman; Sallie (Mrs. Donnelly) ; and John and Harry, both deceased, the former of whom is the direct subject of this sketch. In religious belief Dr. Cotton belonged to the Protestant Episcopal church.

John Cotton, whose decease we have already recorded, was born in Charleston, W. Va., September 2, 1851. He was educated in the

WILLIAM E. MOHLER

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public schools and in the University of West Virginia. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and was for some years in partnership in a law business with ex-Governor Wilson. Later he gave up his profession and went into the drug business, for this purpose taking a post-graduate course in chemistry and phar- macy at the University of West Virginia at Morgantown. He was successful in this new sphere of activity and had built up a good. business when he was called away by death when forty-nine years old. He was a Demo- crat in politics and was a prominent Free Ma- son, belonging to Beni-Kedem Temple, M. S., and to the Knights of Pythias and other secret orders.

Mr. Cotton was married in Charleston to Miss Nannie Margaret Bibby, who was born in this city and was here educated. Her par- ents were Edward and Lucy C. (Rand) Bibby the former of whom, born in Charleston about seventy-five years ago, is still bright and active for his years, as is also his wife, Mrs. Cotton's mother. He is a son of Joseph Bibby, who was born in England in 1808 and who died in Charleston at the age of eighty-one years. Joseph Bibby married in England, Margaret Swarbrick, who was born in England in 1813 and who also died in Charleston, W. Va., at the age of eighty-one years. They came to this country soon after their marriage in 1831, settling in Charleston, where he became a suc- cessful business man. They were members of the Episcopal church.

The parents of Mrs Lucy C. Bibby were Christopher and Nancy (Pines) Rand, the former of whom was born in 1800 and died in 1865 in the Kanawha valley. He, Christopher, was a native of Vermont and son of William Rand, who was born in Massachussetts and died in 1852 at the age of seventy-five years. William Rand married Lucy Jackson, also a native of Massachusetts, who died in 1848 at the age of about fifty years. They came to what is now West Virginia before 1820 and were steady, moral, church-going people who were respected by all their neighbors.

Mr. and Mrs. John Cotton were the parents of children as follows: S. Katharine, born January 12, 1891, who graduated from the

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History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 131

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