History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 64

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 64

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).

tastes and a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church. He was married first to a Miss Potts, who died in Ohio, the mother of four children. One of these, William, en- listed for service in the Civil War, although but fifteen years of age and served with his father until its close. One daughter, Emma, resides at Bradrick, Lawrence County, O. The other children, Aurilla and Martha, are both deceased. Samuel Matthews' second marriage was to Mary J. Smith, who was born in 1830, a daughter of Austin Smith, of Guyandotte, Va., now West Virginia. Their children were as follows: Alice, wife of W. H. Crawford, lives on the Ohio River, in Ohio, and has three children: Mary O., wife of John Woodrum, a furniture dealer of Charleston, W. Va .; Hugh and Hazel, both living at home. Samuel V., the sec- ond born of the family, has been a resident of West Virginia for many years. Edward P. is employed as a guard at the state peni- tentiary of West Virginia. Joseph E. is a business man at Moundsville, W. Va., mar- ried Maggie Weaver and they have three children-Lyle, Louise and Frank. Robert Bruce died at the age of nineteen years, and Charles E. died when aged twenty-five years.

Samuel V. Matthews has been interested in public affairs since early manhood. He was reared and educated in Ohio, but in the early nineties, soon after becoming of age, he was elected to the council of the city of Huntington, W. Va., and later was police judge of that city, serving one term. He was then appointed to the secret service of the U. S. Government, remaining two years, when he resigned and went into the state auditor's office of West Virginia, working in the claim department of that office, under State Auditor Sherr, for four years. In 1905 he was appointed commissioner of banking by the gov- ernor of the State of West Virginia. In 1907 he was reappointed under the new law passed in that year, which provides for a term of four years, and on April 1, 1911, was ap- pointed for four years more by Governor Glasscock. He has supervision over 227 banks, building and loan associations organ-

480

HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

ized under the laws of the state, and also has control over all foreign banking institu- tions doing business therein. In this work he has an assistant, Ona C. Jeffreys.

Mr. Matthews has long been active in the councils of the Republican party in this sec- tion. He has been a delegate to state con- ventions and has served as chairman of the city, county, State and State Congressional committees, and at present is serving as chairman of the State Executive Commit- tee. His present position has been fairly earned by hard and useful service. He is identified with the Free Masons, being a member of the Blue Lodge, No. 120; and of the Chapter, Council and Commandery, all at Charleston, and also of Beni-Kedem Temple, Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to Lodge No. 64, Odd Fellows, at Huntington, W. Va.

Mr. Matthews was married in Ohio to Miss Laura E. McCall, who was born and educated at Bethel, O., her parents being Andrew F. and Nancy Amelia (Zimmer- man) McCall. Andrew F. McCall died at Bethel, but his widow survives. Her father was Rev. Eliakim Zimmerman, once a well known Methodist minister belonging to an Ohio conference. To Mr. and Mrs. Mat- thews three children have been born, namely : Ralph C., born June 10, 1891 ; Olive A., born January 16, 1894; and Mary Alice, born in 1899, who died in 1907.

A. T. WHITTINGTON, who owns six- teen acres of rich farm land, situated on Sugar Camp Branch, in Loudon District, Kanawha County, W. Va., is a well known man in this section. He was born in Ma- son County, W. Va., August 27, 1864, and is a son of John and Mary V. (Nuckles) Whittington.

John Whittington, who now lives retired in Putnam County, W. Va., was born in Kanawha County and devoted all his active life to farming. He married Mary J. Nuc- kles and three children were born to them : A. T., Ida, and a babe that died un- named. John Whittington lost his first wife and was married secondly to Pink C. Hud-

son, who is also deceased. She was the mother of six children.

A. T. Whittington attended school in Ma- son County and afterward worked there as a farmer. He then came to Kanawha County in order to go to work in the mines at Winifrede. In 1907 he bought his farm and carries on general farming and also continues work at mining during a part of the time, being a thrifty, enterprising and successful man.

Mr. Whittington was married first to Miss Lizzie E. Coleman, who, at death, left three children-Charles, Ida and Howard. He was married a second time to Miss Alice Dowell, of Mason County, and they have had seven children : Ellen, Edward, Garner, Zelma, Fannie, an infant, and Melvin, these two being deceased. In politics Mr. Whit- tington is a Republican. He belongs to the American Mechanics and to the United Mine Workers, two strong fraternal organi- zations.

BERKELEY MINOR, JR., an attorney- at-law engaged in the practice of his pro- fession at Charleston, W. Va., is the junior member of the long established law firm of Payne & Payne, of this city. He was born at Rock Castle, Hanover County, Va., Au- gust 8, 1879, and is a son of Berkeley and Susan Watson (Fontaine) Minor.

The Minor family is an old one in Vir- ginia, General John Minor, who was an of- ficer in the Patriot Army during the Revo- lutionary War, having been born in the col- ony. One of his descendants, Horatio Mi- nor, married Catherine Berkeley, they be- ing the grandparents of Berkeley, Jr.

Horatio Minor was born at Topping Cas- tle, Caroline County, Va. He was a civil engineer by profession and laid out portions of the Virginia Central Railroad. He was a graduate of Yale College, and stood high in his profession.

Horatio Minor and wife were the parents of a large family. Three of them survive, namely: Robert Berkeley, a distinguished lawyer of San Antonio, Texas, who assisted in the revision of the State code of Laws,

DAVID A. JAYNE

483

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

served as prosecuting attorney of his yer of the city, now deceased, and William county, and married a member of the old M., who is a professor in the University of Virginia.

Houston family of that state; Mary Willis, who lives in Baltimore, Md .; and Berkeley, who is a prominent educator and since 1880 has been connected with Stuart Hall, at Staunton, Va. One son, C. L. C. Minor, who is now deceased, was president of the present Virginia Polytechnic Institute at Blacksburg, Va.

Berkeley Minor, son of Horatio and Catherine Minor, was born in 1842, at Edgewood, Hanover County, Va. He was educated by tutors and in a private school and then entered the University of Virginia. He had spent two years there when the Civil War broke out, and in common with many of his comrades, he enlisted in the Confederate service, as a private, becoming a member of the Rockbridge Battery. Later transferred to the Engineer Corps, he was advanced to the rank of lieutenant, and served as such until the surrender of Gen- eral Lee at Appomattox, where he was pa- roled.

Returning to peaceful pursuits, he began the study of law under Judge Coleman, at Fredericksburg. He was subsequently ad- mitted to the bar, and for a time was en- gaged in practice, also giving some atten- tion to agriculture, at Edgewood. He after- wards removed to Lynchburg, where he be- came associated in law practice with R. G. Kean, and while there he was one of the organizers and became principal of an acad- emy. Two years later he became connected as an instructor with an Episcopal High School, near Alexandria, in which position he continued until 1880, when, as mentioned above, he became a member of the faculty of Stuart Hall, at Staunton, Va.

Prof. Berkeley Minor married Susan Watson Fontaine, who was born in 1847, at Rockcastle, Va. Her parents were James and Juliet (Morris) Fontaine, the former being a lawyer by profession but princi- pally engaged in farming. Two of Mrs. Minor's brothers were well known to Charleston people-Peter, a major in the Confederate Army, formerly a leading law-

Berkeley Minor, Jr., was a student at the Staunton Military Academy, and later en- tered the University of Virginia, where he was graduated as a master of arts in the class of 1900. He then taught school for one year, after which he returned to the University and took his B. L. degree. He was admitted to the bar of Virginia in 1902 and to that of West Virginia in 1903, and became a partner in the firm of Payne & Payne, with which he is still connected. He is a member of the Episcopal church and is a Mason, belonging to Kanawha Lodge, No. 13, A. F. & A. M., and to the Chapter at Charleston.

DAVID AUSTIN JAYNE, consulting ac- countant and auditor, whose offices are located in the Alderson and Stephenson building, Charleston, has been a resident of this city since 1905, during which time he has built up a wide reputation in his special line of work. He is a descendant of William de Jeanne, who was born at Bristol, England, January 25, 1618. This early progenitor of our subject was expelled from Oxford University as a dis- senter in 1639, under the Decree of Unifor- mity which required all students in the schools and universities of England to subscribe to all of the articles of the Westminster creed. After his expulsion he became a chaplain in the army of Oliver Cromwell, being one of the great Protector's staunchest adherents. On the res- toration of the monarchy, fearing persecution, he said farewell to his native land and came to America. In 1673 he married Anna Biggs, of New Haven, and a year later with ten others, crossed Long Island Sound, procuring a grant of land from the Nassau Indians, which was subsequently confirmed by the crown. In or- der to further secure himself from molestation he changed his name to that of William Jayne, which spelling of the family name has been re- tained to this day. He settled at Setauket, on the north side of Long Island, being one of the trustees of the town. Here he reared a family of six sons and two daughters, the sons being

484

HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

named respectively William, John, James, Mat- thias, Samuel and Steven. Many of his de- scendants took part in the events connected with the Revolutionary War, taking civil or military action in favor of the independence of the colonies, thus remaining true to the family traditions.

Timothy Jayne, the great-great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, served in the war for independence with the rank of captain, and died while on an exploring expedition of the Lake country of New York, his death taking place in the only frame house then standing on the site of the present city of Ithaca.

David Jayne, son of the foregoing, who was twenty-two years old at the time of his father's death, moved soon afterwards from Middle Smithfield, N. J., where he had settled, to the region that is now Wyoming county, Pa. He had a son, Timothy, whose son, David, married Hannah E. Kishbaugh, of Eaton, Wyoming county, Pa., and to them were born seven chil- dren; four of them are living, Joseph Dorrance, Timothy Worty, Wade Hampton and David Austin of the present biographical notice, who was the seventh child.

David Austin Jayne was born on a farm in Wyoming county, Pa., March 4, 1878. He be- gan his education in the public schools and was graduated from Keystone Academy at Factory- ville, Pa., in 1898. He then attended the Mans- field State Normal School and also the Strouds- burg State Normal School, from which insti- tution he was graduated in 1901. The next few years of his life were spent in teaching commercial work in several towns of Pennsyl- vania and Ohio, and in 1905 he came to Charleston, W. Va. He had by this time ac- quired a very thorough knowledge of account- ing, mathematics, with other branches neces- sary to a commercial education. After teaching for a year in a local business college, he opened an office as public accountant, and has since achieved a notable success as a consulting ac- countant, auditor and deviser of business sys- tems. In this special line of work he ranks among the best in the country and is a valued contributor to various commercial magazines.

One of the most difficult problems Mr. Jayne has had to solve was the auditing of the books

of the Kanawha county court covering a period of fifteen years and which were in a state of great confusion. Before he completed this work no one knew what the county's financial condition really was, except that it was so bad that there was no money to pay orders and that few were willing to take them, even when greatly discounted. Mr. Jayne succeeded in bringing order out of chaos and in placing the county on its present cash basis. For this work, which was difficult in the extreme, he re- ceived great and well deserved commendation.

Some of the systems installed by Mr. Jayne in local business houses have been copied by firms in Ohio and Pennsylvania. A perfect master of his profession in all its branches, he has been found equal to every demand made upon him, and, as already shown, has had some difficult problems to face. Among his clients are found insurance companies, coal companies, building and loan associations, wholesale and retail business houses of various kinds, banks, oil companies, land companies, manufacturing and municipal corporations.

Mr. Jayne was first married in Pennsylvania to Miss Anna Evelyn Garey, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William T. Garey of Jenningsville, Pa. She died at the Sunny Rest Sanatorium, White Haven, Pa., on April 13, 1907. at the age of twenty-seven years, without issue, and he subsequently married for his second wife, in Erie, Pa., Mrs. Cecelia Sewell, nee McCutchon, also a native of Pennsylvania. By her first marriage Mrs. Jayne has a daughter. Mary Antoinette, now about eighteen years old, who is a promising student of instrumental music, having studied at Buffalo, N. Y., at the Mora- vian Seminary at Bethlehem, Pa., and under the well known Prof. Sherwood, of Chicago. Mr. Jayne and his family are members of the First M. E. church of Charleston. He is inde- pendent in politics. A member of the Masonic order, he belongs to Kanawha Lodge No. 20 at Charleston, West Virginia Consistory No. I, at Wheeling, receiving the thirty-second de- gree in Masonry when thirty-two years of age, and Beni-Kedem Temple of the Ancient Ara- bic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston.

485

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

CHARLES H. FRAZER who is superin- tendent and field manager for Charles Pratt & Company and the Paint Creek Coal & Land Company, owners of about 22,000 acres of coal land, including 25 leases, on Paint Creek, Kanawha County, West Virginia, is a resident of Pratt, W. Va., and was born in Greenbrier County, Virginia (now West Virginia), May 5, 1853, being a son of Robert A. and Harriet E. (Summerson) Frazer.

Robert A. Frazer was born February II, 1822, near Falling Springs, Greenbrier County, Virginia, now West Virginia, where he fol- lowed farming at the foot of the Big Sewell Mountain, and, in earlier days, with his father, conducted a tavern there on a stage coach line. Mr. Frazer was descended from Scottish ances- try. The Frazers were among the most promi- nent families of Scotland and came to Virginia at an early day. Addison Frazer, the father of Robert A. Frazer, came to Greenbrier County from Spottsylvania County, Virginia. His mother was a Miss Renick, of Falling Spring, Greenbrier County. The Renicks were also Scotch. Both Robert A. Frazer and wife died in Nicholas County. They had seven chil- dren, namely : Richard S., William A., Charles Herndon, Benjamin F. R. F., Sallie, Hannah T. and Rose. Robert A. Frazer died May 4, 1906. His wife was Miss Harriet E. Summer- son, of Charlottsville, Virginia, sister of Rich- ard Summerson, of Augusta County, Virginia.

Charles H. Frazer spent his boyhood on the farm and obtained his education in the sub- scription schools. He was eight years of age when he came to Kanawha County in 1865, and he was afterwards a member of an engineering corps engaged in construction work for the C. & O. Railroad Company. After the close of the Civil War, when the mines were opened in this county, Mr. Frazer became a coal prospec- tor, first as an expert for individual investors, and later for Charles Pratt & Company of New York, large land owners. He opened up the territory they own on Paint Creek in this sec- tion, interested outside capital in the same and later superintended the construction of the Kanawha & Pocahontas Railroad, now known as the Paint Creek Branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, for a distance of twenty miles

between Pratt and Milburn Creek. Mr. Frazer has been general superintendent for Charles Pratt & Company and the Paint Creek Coal & Land Company since 1896. He has had many interesting experiences and perhaps no one in this section is better qualified to pass judg- ment on coal properties and their possible means of development. In 1882 Mr. Frazer was superintendent of the laying of the track of the Paint Creek Railroad, a narrow-gauge line up Paint Creek for a distance of five miles to the noted Wacomah Mine, which was set on fire accidentally or otherwise during the Civil War, and is still aflame. He worked there for two years as foreman, and afterward was super- intendent of the road for five years, when he entered the employ of Charles Pratt & Com- pany, and examined for them 32,000 acres of coal and timber land in Webster County, West Virginia, on the headwaters of Gauley and Elk Rivers. Since then 22,000 acres of coal land have been developed under his superintendence on Paint Creek. Mr. Frazer is a stockholder in the Sullivan Coal & Coke Company and in the Wood-Peck Coal Company on New River.

On June 24, 1879, Mr. Frazer was married to Carrie Caperton Smith, a daughter of Sam- uel and Martha Jane ( Hansford) Smith, both of whom are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Frazer have three children: Herndon Veazey; Mar- garet C., who is the wife of C. B. Coleman, and Roland Carter. With his family, he belongs to the Missionary Baptist Church, in which he is a deacon.

ANDREW STERRETT ALEXAN- - DER, lawyer and banker, and a well known and respected resident of Charleston, W. Va., was born in Putnam County, this state, August 7, 1867, a son of William Arbuckle and Leonora C. (Ruffner) Alexander. He is a descendant of Archibald Alexander, who came to America from Scotland in company with Benjamin Burden in 1737. Matthew of the second generation married Margaret Black and they resided at Waynesboro, Va.

Samuel Alexander, son of the above mentioned and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Waynesboro,

486

HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

Augusta County, Va., May 17, 1784. He removed to Mason County, where he was an early justice of the peace, which office he held for many years. It was in order for him to succeed to the office of sheriff, but his age prevented his acting, though he nominally held the office, his son, William A., who was his father's deputy, performing its actual duties.

Samuel Alexander married Elizabeth Ar- buckle, daughter of William Arbuckle, who was born of Scotch parentage near Balcony Fall, on James river, in Botetourt County, March 3, 1752. He was a younger brother of Capt. Matthew Arbuckle, an officer of the British Army before, and of the Amer- ican Army during and after the Revolution- ary War. In 1777 William Arbuckle mar- ried Catherine Madison, a daughter of Humphrey Madison, of Botetourt County, Va., and born in 1754. She was a niece of Bishop John Madison of Virginia and of Gov. George Madison of Kentucky, and cousin to President James Madison. Her mother was Mary Dickinson, a daughter of John Dickinson, one of the signers of the Constiution of the United States, who pre- vious to her marriage with Humphrey Mad- ison, had married a Mr. Brown, by whom she had two sons, Adam and William Brown.

Catherine Madison had twice married previous to her marriage with William Ar- buckle; first to one William McClanahan, who was killed at the battle of Point Pleas- ant, October 10, 1774. She was married secondly in 1776 to one William Pogue, of Botetourt, Va., who lived but ten months after their marriage.

In 1778 William Arbuckle moved to Ft. Rando'ph, now Point Pleasant, W. Va., at the mouth of the great Kanawha river, wher he lived for fifteen years, and where five of his children were born. In the sum- mer of 1793 he returned to Ft. Savannah in Greenbrier County, Va., and in the winter of 1796-97, accompanied by Joseph McMul- len, his son-in-law, again returned to the Kanawha Valley. He cleared a field and planted corn and moved his family in the

fall of 1797, settling a large estate on the great Kanawha river, some sixteen miles above Ft. Randolph, and building his house where the George W. Craig residence now stands and where he spent the remainder of his life.

His wife, Catherine Madison, died July 18, 1818, aged sixty-four years and he fol- lowed her on March 21, 1836, aged eighty- four years. They left nine children, namely : Jane M., Margaret T., Mary, William, Eliz- abeth, Kittie B., Nancy and Fannie L. Ar- buckle. Elizabeth Arbuckle, born July 15, 1790, in Fort Randolph, married May 12, 1812, Samuel Alexander, whose nativity has been already given. She died July 26, 1860, aged seventy years, they leaving four children, viz: Mathew Thomas, William Arbuckle, Catherine Madison, and Andrew Black. William Arbuckle Alexander, the second child, was the father of the subject of this sketch, and will be further referred to herein. Catherine M., born in Mason County, Va., in 1818, married Benjamin Sterrett, and they had five children, namely: Boyd, Elizabeth, Samuel, Frances and William. Residence, Putnam County. An- drew Black was born March 8, 1826, and married Carrie Ruffner, and they had nine children-William, Samuel, Mary, Eliza- beth, Boyd and Price-three others dying in infancy. Residence, first in Mason County, W. Va .; later, Pueblo, Colo.

Matthew Thomas Alexander was born in Mason County, Va., February 8, 1815; mar- ried Elizabeth Hannan of Arbuckle record; died September 16, 1844.

William Arbuckle Alexander was born in Mason County, Va., November 3, 1816. We have mentioned him as having performed sheriff's duties in Mason County as his father's deputy. He subsequently became sheriff of Putnam County, which was carved out of Mason and Kanawha, he hav- ing moved to what is now Frazier Bottom, where he cleared a tract of land. On this he built in 1860 a large brick residence, which is still standing. A part of his estate was a tract of 600 acres of woods and water, which he had received from his father about

487

HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

the year 1840. On December 15, 1860, he married Leonora C. Ruffner, whose father was Augustus Ruffner, and mother Mary E. Rogers, daughter of Dr. Henry Rogers of Kanawha County. They were people highly respected and esteemed for their many sterling qualities. In 1871 he was elected to the state senate, in which he served with ability for four terms. From his own farm he gave a site for a church edi- fice, which was to be open for use by any orthodox denomination, although he him- self was a Presbyterian. William A. Alex- ander died at his home in Frazier's Bottom, Putnam County, W. Va., April 1, 1885. He and his wife were the parents of children as follows: Leonora, born September 13, 1861, married C. C. Brown and has chil- dren. William Arbuckle, Jr., born Septem- ber 24, 1863, is a merchant and ex-mayor of Bonner's Ferry, Ida., also state land inspec- tor; is married but has no children. Henry Ruffner, born February 22, 1866, was a jus- tice of the peace in Putnam County, W. Va., and member of County Court of Ferry County, Washington, now resides at Kel- ler, Wash., being a member of the state leg- islature; is married and has one child. An- drew Sterrett, born August 7, 1867, is the direct subject of this sketch, and will be fur- ther mentioned herein. Samuel Augustus, born July 4, 1869, died unmarried June 22, 1897. Mary Elizabeth, born March 7, 1871, is the wife of William E. Mohler of St. Al- bans, W. Va .; no issue. Carolyn, born Feb- ruary 18, 1874, is the wife of C. E. McCoy, lives on the old homestead; no issue. Lucius Comstock, born October 12, 1875, is un- married and resides on the old homestead.

Andrew Sterrett Alexander after acquir- ing a public school education was engaged in farming and teaching school for some time. He subsequently entered the law de- partment of the University of West Vir- ginia and was graduated in the class of 1890 with the degree of B. L. In the same year he was admitted to the bar at Charleston and after two years' practice was elected prosecuting attorney of Putnam County, locating at Winfield, that county. Being

reelected in 1896, he served two terms in that office. In 1900 he was nominated for the Senate by the Democrats of the Sixth Senatorial District, composed of Putnam, Cabell and Wayne Counties, but was defeated and he suffered a second defeat after his second nomination in 1904, the Senatorial District then composing Putnam, Cabell and Lincoln Counties. In 1905 he located in Charleston, where he has since practiced law. He was also his party's nominee as delegate to the legislature, but was defeated. In 1907 he was appointed city solicitor. He is secre- tary and treasurer of the Southern States Mutual Life Insurance Company, of which he was one of the incorporators, the con- cern doing an extensive business. He is a director and vice president of the Kanawha National Bank. He was also the organizer and the first president of the Bank of Win- field, of Winfield, W. Va., and is now a di- rector of the Putnam County Bank at Hur- ricane, W. Va .; and one of the organizers and a director of the Point Pleasant Nation- al Bank.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 64

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