History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 84

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 84

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Mr. Grishaber was married to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Lude, near Wheeling, W. Va .. and

JOSEPH GRISHABER

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they have had seven children, two of whom died early, the survivors being: Lawrence, Eula, Frances, Joseph and Louis. Mr. Gris- haber is a member of the Roman Catholic church, while his wife belongs to the Lutheran church. In politics he is a Democrat.

GUY A. PORTER, a well known business man largely interested in lumber and in coal lands, owns a valuable farm of sixty-five acres in Loudon District, Kanawha County, W. Va. He was born May 13, 1852, at Charleston, and is a son of B. F. and Mary (Matthews) Porter.

B. F. Porter was a well known resident of Loudon Distirct and owned the farm which is now the property of his son, on Porter's Branch, his death occurring there at the age of sixty- seven years. He was a man of much business enterprise and was a farmer, merchant and rail- way contractor. He married Mary Matthews and of their eight children there are three liv- ing: Guy A., Stewart and Mrs. Helen Ball.

Guy A. Porter attended school at Charleston and afterward was a railroad man for a time. but subsequently became interested in lumber and has developed his enterprises into large concerns. He buys, sells and leases coal lands, and at present has leased a fine tract in Buffalo District which is being opened.

Mr. Porter married Miss Mary C. Haddel- ston, a daughter of Job Haddelston, and they have had five children, namely : Frank H., who is in the lumber business, married Sadie Muck- low, and they have one son, Guy Robert: and L. A., C. G., Elizabeth M. and Mary Louise, all residing at home. In his political views, Mr. Porter is a stanch Democrat.

HARRY S. BARR. D.D.S., who has been established in the practice of dentistry at Charleston. W. Va., for the past ten years, is a native of this state, born at Winfield, Put- nam County, October 31, 1876, and is a son of Walter S. and a grandson of Jacob Barr.

Jacob Barr was born in Washington County, Pa., of German parentage, and moved into Putnam County, now West Virginia, when his son. Walter S., was a boy. Both he and his

wife, who belonged to an old German family by the name of Miller, lived into advanced age and died in Putnam County. They were Metho- dists in their religious faith.

Walter S. Barr, father of Dr. Barr, was one in a large family. He grew to manhood on his father's estate, early took an interest in public affairs and at present (19II) is serving in the office of sheriff of Putnam County. His busi- ness has always been of an agricultural nature. In Putnam County he married Miss Victoria Middleton, who was born in Virginia, a daugh- ter of Jackson and Catherine ( Rippetoe) Mid- dleton, the former of whom died in the fall of 1910, and the latter in the spring of 1909. They were members of the Baptist church. To Walter S. Barr and wife the following children were born: Charles, who died in childhood; Harry S .; Hugh, who is deputy sheriff under his father, married Lillian West; and Russell, who resides at home.

Harry S. Barr was liberally educated and after four years at Huntington, where he had academic advantages, he entered the Ohio Den- tal College, at Cincinnati, where he was gradu- ated with his degree in the class of 1901. Dr. Barr came then to Charleston and is in the en- joyment of a large and lucrative practice and has a high standing in his profession and among his fellow citizens.

Dr. Barr was married at Charleston to Miss Laura Spencer, who was born at Hockingport. Ohio, but was educated at Charleston, where her parents settled when she was a child. She is a daughter of Warwick B. and Virginia ( Mitchell) Spencer, both of whom were natives of Virginia. Her father died at Charleston in 1906, where he had been in the wholesale pro- duce trade for some years. In 1849 he started to cross the plains to California, in a prairie schooner, with his father. Jonathan Spencer, who died in the wilderness and the son interred him there, marking the spot with small spruce sprouts which have grown into trees and are still protecting the lonely grave. The mother of Mrs. Barr resides on Lee street, Charleston. She is a devoted member of the Baptist church.

Dr. and Mrs. Barr have two sons: Charles H., who was born August 4, 1904 ; and Walter Bradford, who was born August 10, 1906

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Dr. Barr is a thirty-second degree Mason and a and followed farming there until within three member of Ben Kedem Shrine.

MRS. BARBARA SEAFLER WAN- NER, a highly respected resident of Charleston, W. Va., widow of Alexander Wanner, was born October 5, 1837, and is a daughter of Christopher and Anna Mary (Fry) Seafler, and a granddaughter of Peter Seafler, who spent his life in Germany, where he died at the age of eighty-one years.

Christopher Seafler was born March 26, 1795, in Wittenberg, Germany, and died in Beaver county, Pa., December 28, 1865. In 1832 he left the province of Saxony, Germany, for America, being accompanied by his wife and five children. During the long and stormy passage of eighty days one child died and an- other was born. The family landed at Balti- more, Md., and from there went to Beaver county, Pa., where Christopher Seafler followed farming for the remainder of his life. In his native land he had been a baker and also kept an inn. He married Anna Mary Fry, who was born November 28, 1808, and died August 27, 1850, in Beaver county, Pa. Besides the chil- dren above mentioned nine others were born in America.

Barbara Seafler was reared in Beaver coun- ty and was married at Big Chimney, W. Va., on February 2, 1871. to Alexander Wanner. He was born in Switzerland, a son of Ulrich and Catherine Wanner, the former of whom died at Blue Creek, Kanawha county, W. Va., in 1870, aged eighty years. The Wanners set- tled first at Sharpsburg, Pa., in 1865 coming to West Virginia, where Alexander Wanner fol- lowed farming and gardening near Wood Creek, Elk District, Kanawha county, until 1870, and then moved to Charleston, where he kept a hotel for some years and then retired. Mrs. Wanner has two sisters and three broth- ers living and one brother deceased. Catherine is the widow of John Guenther, of Charleston. Louisa is the wife of Charles Falk. Isaac lives retired at Pittsburg, Pa. Jacob lives retired at Charleston, and Abraham lives at Pittsburg. Peter Seafler, the one deceased, was born in Germany, October 22, 1828, and died in Elk District in 1893. He located at Big Chimney

years of his death, when he moved to Charles- ton. He married Louisa Kramer.

JOSHUA DAVIS, who has been a resident of Charleston, W. Va., for but a short time, is well known, however, throughout Roane coun- ty, where he has been largely interested in oil production. When prepared to lay aside a part of his business responsibilities, after many years of successful effort. he chose Charleston as a desirable spot in which to establish a per- manent home, its beautiful location and the cul- ture and charm of its people contributing to his decision. He was born June 5, 1846. in Ve- nango county. Pa.

Joshua Davis, the grandfather of Joshua Davis of this record, was born in Maine and was a young man when he served as a soldier in the War of 1812, after which he moved to Allegheny county, Pa., where he married a Miss Gates. After her death he moved to Georgetown, Del., where he lived to be an aged man, having reached his ninety-third year when he visited the Centennial Exposition at Phila- delphia, in 1876. He was a Presbyterian in religious faith and in his later years cast his vote with the Republican party. He had three children: Mary J., who became the wife of C. P. Ramsdell, Andrew J., who was a well known minister of the Methodist faith at Georgetown, Del., married Elsa Shannon, who survives; and William, who was a major of militia and was known as Major William Davis.

Major Davis was born about 1818 and died in Venango county, Pa., in 1853. His business was farming and he owned land in Pennsyl- vania. He married Lavica Myers, who was born about 1820. in Venango county, and died in February, 1906, near Oil City, Pa., when aged eighty-six years. She married second to Samuel Coulter, who died in 1904, aged ninety- three years. To William Davis and wife the following children were born: Jane, who is the wife of John Wilson, living near Dover, Del .; Joshua ; Emma, who is the widow of Bradford Wilson, lives at Oil City, Pa .; and Zachariah, died when aged eighteen years.

Joshua Davis was born June 5, 1846. He was seven years of age at the time of his fath- er's death. He was given good educational ad-

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vantages and remained at home with his grand- father until he enlisted for service in the Civil War, then being seventeen years old. He en- tered Co. C, 5th Pa. Vol. Cav., and served from 1863 until the close of the war. He wit- nessed the surrender of General Lee to General Grant, at Appomattox on April 2, 1865, and re- ceived his honorable discharge in the August following. He took part in many serious bat- tles, but the nearest he came to the death that was on every side of him, was when his horse was shot from beneath him on the morning of the surrender of General Lee.

Mr. Davis then went back to Venango coun- ty and became interested in oil development, at first in a small way, but good judgment, fore- sight and business prudence has attended him and he has become one of the prominent oil men of Pennsylvania. He has developed hun- dreds of wells in that state and has 107 wells to his credit in Roane and Kanawha counties, in West Virginia. He has also sunk artesian wells at Greely, Colo., and at Fort Worth, Tex. He still has large interests at Grape Island in West Virginia, on the Ohio river. In 1910 he came to Charleston, in part retiring from active business life, but not altogether, his numerous enterprises still holding considerable interest for him in their management.

On November 7, 1877, Mr. Davis was mar- ried at Prospect, Butler county, Pa., to Miss Elizabeth Young, who was born in 1855, in Lawrence county, Pa., but was reared and edu- cated in Illinois. Her parents were Stephen and Matilda (Gett) Young, who moved to Parkersburg, W. Va., some years after the Civil War, where Mrs. Young died in 1900. She had married a second time, Mr. Young having died in Pennsylvania, to John Phillips, who is now a resident of California. Mrs. Davis had one sister, Rose, who is the wife of D. C. Merriam, of Long Beach, Calif. To the second marriage of Mrs. Young three daugh- ters and one son were born.

Mr. and Mrs. Davis have five children, namely : Luther G., who was born November 27, 1880, and was educated in Texas. He is associated in business with his father and re- sides on Grape Island. He married Fay Dill- worth. Zella Ellen, the eldest daughter, was

born in Pennsylvania, December 25, 1883, and was educated at Parkersburg. She married Dr. Howard Hively of Walton district, Roane county, on August 16, 1911. Joshua J., who was born June 10, 1889, is a graduate of the Parkersburg college and is manager and book- keeper for his father. Matilda Lavica and Galen S., are the younger members of the fam- ily, the former born March 19, 1896, and the latter November 9, 1902, and both attend school at Charleston. Mr. Davis is one of the city's capitalists and for the successful accumu- lation of his large fortune he attributes much credit to the prudence and thrift shown by Mrs. Davis, whose good judgment and cheerful encouragement have been never failing.

JOHN C. GILMOUR, whose right to the title of expert mine advisor has been won through long years of continuous association with the coal industry, resides in Union dis- trict, Kanawha county, W. Va., where he owns a valuable tract of thirty-three acres of land, situated one-quarter of a mile south of Lock No. 7. He was born in Scotland, January II, 1860, and is a son of John and Agnes ( Steven- son) Gilmour.

John Gilmour was born in Scotland and was a coal miner all his active life, dying in his native land at the age of fifty-two years. He married Agnes Stevenson, a daughter of Alex- ander Stevenson, of Scotland, and they had the following children: John C .; Elizabeth, who married John Stuart, of N. Dakota; Katherine, who married D. W. Congrieve, of Chicago, Ill .; Mary, who married James Peacock, residing on a farm in Scotland; Alexander, who lives on Cabin Creek, married Mary Mackey; Agnes, who is the wife of Thomas Gracy, living at Huntington, W. Va .; Annie, who is the wife of William Graham, living at Stonington, Ill .; George, who is a resident of St. Louis, Mo .; and others who died in infancy. The parents of the above family were members of the Pres- byterian church.

John G. Gilmour attended school in Scotland until he was eleven years of age, when, being of sturdy build and in perfect health, his fath- er considered him old enough to go to work in the coal mines where he was laboring to sup-

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port a large family. The boy worked in the mines there from eleven to nineteen years. In the meanwhile he had heard many a tale of the better advantages offered coal miners in Amer- ica and before he was twenty-one years of age he had worked for two years in Will county, Ill., U. S. A. He advanced rapidly for he was even then a competent miner, and soon was made foreman of the work when shafts had to be sunk, and after working for several years both as day and night foreman, he was made as- sistant mine boss. By this time he had gained an assured position and went back to Scotland and while there was married and continued to live in his native land for two years. He was not idle during this time, however, but worked at mine repairing, a branch of the great coal in- dustry that is as necessary as any other.

Upon his return to America, Mr. Gilmour settled for a few weeks at Houtzdale, Clearfield county, Pa., and then accepted a position with Col. Berry at Stone Cliff. Fayette county, W. Va., where he mined for six months and then opened the Beachwood coal mine at Claremont, taking charge as foreman and remaining there for five years. From there he went to Coving- ton, Va., where he was engaged for eleven months, and then returned to Col. Berry and for four months attended to all the mine repair work. For one year he then did contract work for the Fire Creek Coal company and was en- gaged for the same company, for four years as mine boss and superintendent at Caperton. When the company sold out, Mr. Gilmour bought an interest in the Dimmock mine at Dimmock, W. Va., but changed the name to Big Bend and operated it for eleven months under the style of the Big Bend Coal Company. at the end of that time selling his interest and returning to Caperton. There he became gen- eral manager for the Victoria Coal and Coke Company, after which he opened and operated at Cabin Creek for about five years, his only partner being G. T. Thayer. In January, 1907, they sold to the Cabin Creek Consolidated Com- pany. Mr. Gilmour was elected a justice of the peace in 1905, on the Republican ticket, in Cab- in district, and served until 1909, doing little in this interim except attending to the business that came to him as a magistrate. He then

went with the Carbon Coal Company of Cabin Creek as superintendent of the Republic group of mines and later was engaged for the Repub- lic and Carbon groups, leaving in December, 1909. In January, 1910, he went with the C. & O. Railroad as car allotment and commis- sioner for their coal fields, later returning to the Carbon Coal Company as superintendent of the West Virginia group of mines and con- tinued until December, 1910, when he practical- ly retired from coal mining, holding himself in readiness, however, to visit any part of the country as mine advisor. Mr. Gilmour then bought his present little farm and he also owns a prosperous meat market at Quincy. W. Va., where he spends a part of his time, handling meat both wholesale and retail.

Mr. Gilmour was married in Scotland, as mentioned above, to Miss Harriet Hutton, a native of Fifeshire, and they had one son when they came to America, John C., who is now superintendent for the Quincy Coal Company, at Quincy. W. Va. Their second son, Alexan- der H., who was born at Claremont. W. Va., is mine electrician for the Quincy people. Mar- garet S., the third child and only daughter, was born at Fire Creek and is a student at Lewis- burg. Mr. Gilmour has been a Republican ever since he attained citizenship in the United States. He and wife are members of the Pres- byterian church. He is identified with the order of M. W. of A., at Glen Ferris, and with the Knights of Pythias at Sewell, Fayette county, W. Va.

COL. DAVID LEWIS RUFFNER-The family of which the subject of this sketch was a conspicuous member is one that has been prominent in Virginia and West Virginia for some five or six generations and has had much to do with the development of these two states. Its founder in America was Peter Ruffner, a native of Switzerland, who came to this coun- try when a young man, bringing with him an only sister. The latter married a Mr. Strickler and they became the founders of the Strickler family of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

Peter Ruffner settled in the same section, after a previous residence, however, in Lan- caster. Pa., where he married Mary Steinman.

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His settlement in the Shenandoah was made in 1739, he being one of the first German-speaking settlers in that section. Prof. John W. Way- land of the University of Virginia, in a work published in 1907 and entitled "The German Element in the Shenandoah Valley," says : "One of the largest land holders in the Shen- andoah Valley was Peter Ruffner, who was the first of the name in Virginia and settled at the large spring on the Hawksbill creek, in 1739, now close to the town of Luray. His wife was Mary Steinman, whose father gave to them a large tract of land on the said creek, extending eight miles from its mouth on both sides, and then Peter added to this estate, ex- tending it four miles further up the same."

In some legal documents dated 1746 the name is spelled Ruffnaugh and Ruffner, the lat- ter spelling having been generally adopted by the family. Peter Ruffner became the admin- istrator of the estate of his brother-in-law, Abraham Strickler. Prof. Wayland says that Peter was of the Menonite sect, but Daniel Ruffner, a grandson, says that the Ruffners, including himself, were Lutherans.

Peter and Mary Ruffner were the parents of some seven or eight children, including the fol- lowing : Benjamin, Catherine, Peter Jr., Reu- ben, Tobias, Elizabeth, Emanuel and Joseph, -- of whom Joseph was the only one to come to the Kanawha Valley.

. Joseph Ruffner was born in September, 1740, and died in March, 1803; on May 22, 1764, he married Anna Heistand, who was born in Shenandoah in 1742. They moved to Kana- wha in 1795. He had made a previous visit to this section during which he had purchased 502 acres of salt property, including some at the mouth of Campbell's creek, from Col. John Dickinson, of Jackson's river. Joseph was an active, energetic man, full of enterprise and de- termination and able to see and take advantage of an opportunity for self advancement. He became interested in the town of Charleston, purchasing all the land that the Clendenins had not sold. He owned all the salt property that was then known and was connected actively with every proposition or enterprise that had for its object the upbuilding and prosperity of the town and county. As we have seen, his

death took place in 1803, when he was sixty- three years old. His wife survived him for a number of years, dying in 1820 at the age of seventy-eight. They are both buried in the Ruffner family cemetery. Their children were seven in number, namely: Esther, who died young in Shenandoah; David, who will be more particularly mentioned in this article; Joseph, who died in 1837 in Cincinnati, O .; Tobias, who died in 1836; Eve, who married N. Wood and went to Ohio; Daniel, who died in Ken- tucky in July, 1865 ; and Abraham, who died in Ohio.

David Ruffner, born in 1767, who succeeded his father, Joseph, as the practical head of the family, and who is next in the present line of descent, was, like his father, engaged in the salt business and was widely known as a man of affairs. He also served as justice of the peace, in which office he showed conspicuous ability, both native and acquired. He resided in Malden, where he was a very prominent per- sonage. As a justice he "cared nothing for limited jurisdiction and his decisions were often compromises and arbitrations, but always for the best for both parties." He was married in 1788 to Lydia Anne Brumbach and they both lived to be quite aged. They had four children, as follows: Henry, born 1790, married Sally Lyle and then Laura Kirby; Anne E., born 1792, married Dr. Richard Putney; Susan, born 1794, married Moses Fuqua; Lewis, born October 1, 1797, married Elizabeth Shrews- bury and then Viola Knapp. This Lewis Ruff- ner, more generally known as General Lewis Ruffner, was an able man and one of the best known citizens of his day. He was the first white child born in Charleston, the date of his nativity being October 1, 1797. He was a salt maker and a member of the legislature, and was prominent in the formation of the state of West Virginia. He lived to an advanced age and at his death left three sons-Lewis, jr., Er- nest, and Joel. There were four daughters : Madelon, who married John Robinson, of Louisville, Ky .; Sarah, who married Mr. Smith; Julia, who married Mr. Gwynn, and Stella, who married a Mr. Wiley. His son Ernest is now a retired officer in the engineer department of the United States army, while

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Joel Ruffner, who died in 1911 at Malden, taught Booker Washington all he learned in his West Virginia home.

Henry Ruffner, son of David above men- tioned and father of the direct subject of this sketch, was born in the Shenandoah Valley, Va., in 1790. He was a man of great intellec- tual capacity and thorough education. He was a preacher in the Southern Presbyterian church, organizing the first Presbyterian church in Charleston, and was president of Washington and Lee University when it was yet known as Washington college. A writer of ability, he was the author of the "Ruffner Pamphlet," which advocated gradual emancipation of the slaves and attracted national attention. He married Sarah Montgomery Lyle, of Rock- bridge county, Va., and they later settled in the Salines of Kanawha county. Their children were William Henry, Anne Brumbach ( who married Arthur Howell of Philadelphia ), Julia and David Lewis, all of high talent and ability. William Henry has been called "The greatest of Virginia's schoolmen." Julia was a teacher of great ability and wide reputation, and of David Lewis we have now to speak more par- ticularly.

David Lewis Ruffner was born at Lexing- ton, Rockbridge county, Va., January 10th, 1829. Like the other members of his parents' family he received an excellent education. His profession was that of a civil engineer, in which he "had no peer." He was also a law- yer, being associated at one time in the practice of the law with William A. Quarrier. Like most southern gentlemen of good family, he took an interest in military matters and was the original captain of the Kanawha Riflemen, a noted organization of this city during the Civil War, and served on the staff of General Williams, with the rank of Colonel. After the close of the war he took up his residence in Charleston, where he passed the remainder of his life, few men being better known and none more highly esteemed. He not only possessed all the old time courtesy of the true southern gentleman, but also that innate kindness of heart which made him lavish in his charities.

Col. David L. Ruffner married Miss Frances Eleanor Ruffner, a daughter of Joel and Diana

( Marye) Ruffner, and a granddaughter of Joseph Ruffner, who was a descendant of Peter Ruffner, the Swiss immigrant heretofore men- tioned. To this marriage four children were born-Sallie Lyle, Joel Henry, David Lewis, and Ethel Marye. Sallie L. and Joel H. and Ethel M. are residing in Charleston. Joel H. married Dorcas Laidley. David Lewis, who was prominently connected with the Kanawha Valley and Charleston National banks, died in Charleston in 1904, being survived by his wid- ow, formerly Blanche Lynch.

The parents were devoted members of the Presbyterian church and the children have fol- lowed in their footsteps.

JASPER YOUNG, bookkeeper and assist- ant cashier of the First National Bank of Clen- denin, W. Va., who was engaged in education- al work in Kanawha county for thirty-two years before identifying himself with this financial institution, was born on Mill Creek. Kanawha county, November 14, 1851, and is a son of James S. and Mary E. ( Griffith) Young.

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History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 84

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