History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 96

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 96

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Millard F. Spruce attended the country schools and assisted on the home farm until he married. He afterward turned his attention to coal mining and for many years followed civil and mining engineering. He was ap- pointed state mine inspector first by Governor Wilson and reappointed by Governor Fleming, serving in that capacity for five years. He then accepted the position of superintendent of mines for the Falling Rock Cannel Coal Com- pany, and was also mine boss for the Wini- frede and McCarbon Coal Companies. For seven years he was engaged in the mercantile business at Cedar Grove, erecting the large building in which he has carried on business,

but subsequently sold his store and for the past three years has been in the undertaking busi- ness. Also, in partnership with his brother-in- law, William Salmon, he owns two farms of forty acres, which are devoted to the growing of ginseng, a medicinal herb which is a neces- sary component of many remedies. One of these farms is situated at Cedar Grove and the other at Burning Springs.

On November 27, 1889, Mr. Spruce was married to Miss Ida Salmon, a daughter of Robert and Bettie (Roy) Salmon, the former of whom is deceased. In politics Mr. Spruce is a Democrat and has served usefully and ac- ceptably on the town council. He belongs to the Order of Red Men at East Bank and to the Knights of Pythias at Cedar Grove.

W. J. ZIMMERMAN, capitalist, residing in South Charleston, W. Va., has been a resi- dent of Kanawha county for the past forty- four years, but was born in Augusta county, Va., not far from Stanton, and is a son of George and Barbara (Argebright) Zimmer- man.

George Zimmerman was a native of Au- gusta county, Va., and was a well known farmer in that county, where his death oc- curred in July, 1868. He was twice married, first to Barbara Argebright, who died in 1840, and second to Sallie Reynolds, whom he sur- " vived. To the first marriage there were four children: Christian, George and David, all three being deceased; and William J., who was born February 22, 1832. One daughter was born to the second marriage, Henrietta, who is the wife of John Argebright.

William J. Zimmerman had rather meager educational opportunities, three winter months of school in the old log schoolhouse near his father's farm comprising all his advantages, and afterward he learned the carpenter trade. From 1852 until 1887 he engaged in contract- ing and after 1867 was a resident of Charles- ton. where he was concerned in the erection of many business blocks and residences.

In 1879 Mr. Zimmerman was married to Miss Ellen S. Creel, a daughter of Bushrod WV. Creel, who formerly owned the three hun- dred acres which Mr. Zimmerman managed

W. J. ZIMMERMAN

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from 1889 until he sold it in 1906, to the Kanawha Land Company. Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman are members of the Presbyterian church. He is a Democrat in politics and fraternally is a Mason.

WILLIAM BREWSTER PARKHURST, deceased, was a well known resident of Charles- ton for some years and was identified with pub- lic affairs in the Capital City, being closely as- sociated with Governor Dawson at that time, for whom he was confidential clerk and private secretary. Mr. Parkhurst bore a distinguished name and was of the ninth generation and in direct line from Rev. William Brewster, of the Mayflower. His paternal grandfather was William B. Parkhurst, a native of New York and a prominent lawyer, and he belonged to the same branch of the family as does Rev. Charles Parkhurst, the noted clergyman whose lectures and writings in favor of many reforms have great influence.

Hon. Jonathan Gilbert Parkhurst, father of William B. Parkhurst, was born in the state of New York, studied law and was admitted to the bar and in early manhood went to Michi- gan, and Decatur and Van Buren county in that state became the principal scene of his ac- tivity. When over sixty years of age he was elected county judge and was active in the af- fairs of the Republican party. He died in 1895 and is survived by his widow. She was formerly Emma L. Dodge and is now a resi- dent of Tacoma, Wash. For many years she has been a lecturer on temperance and is also a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal church as was also Judge Parkhurst. Mrs. Parkhurst conducts a large real estate business and is recognized as a woman of ability along numerous lines. Of the three children of Judge and Mrs. Parkhurst, the late William Brewster was the eldest. Gertrude, the one daughter, is the wife of Charles E. Criffield, a business man of Decatur, Mich., and they have one daughter, Dorothy. Jonathan G., the youngest, is a resident of Tacoma, Wash., where he is an electrician.

William Brewster Parkhurst was born Sep- tember 17, 1868, in Michigan, and completed his education in New York city and was ad-

mitted to the bar but never engaged in the practice of law. He came to Preston county, W. Va., to become an official reporter for the five courts presided over by Judge Joseph T. Hoke, and continued until the retirement of Judge Hoke in 1897, when he came to Charles- ton to become private secretary to Governor Dawson. He was a man of talent and served also as circuit, criminal and Federal court stenographer. From too close application he fell ill and never regained his health, his death occurring in 1907, while still a young man. He was a Republican in politics, and was a mem- ber of the Elks, the Eagles and the Knights of Pythias, in all these organizations having de- voted personal as well as fraternal friends.

At Kingwood, Preston county, W. Va., Mr. Parkhurst was married in 1894, to Miss Mallie Fawcett, who was born at Newburg, a daugh- ter of Charles W. and Margaret E. (Hern- don) Fawcett. Mr. Fawcett is a merchant at Grafton, in Taylor county, and is interested in oil production in Ritchie county. His parents, William M. and Naomi (Fortney) Fawcett, were early settlers in Preston county. The wife of Charles W. Fawcett died in Preston county in 1897, at the age of fifty-two years. She was a daughter of William M. and Ma- lissa (Morgan) Herndon. The Herndons were prominent people in Preston county and the Morgans, in early days, suffered from the Indians on Morgan and Green Runs and their names are known in history. To Mr. and Mrs. Parkhurst one son was born, Reginald Brew- ster, on November 12, 1896. He is a student in the public schools of Charleston. On June 28, 1911, Mrs. Parkhurst was married to Nedgar E. Merhie, of Charleston, who is a member of the West Virginia Film Exchange.

HEWETT LEE CABELL, a successful farmer and livestock dealer of Elk district, Kanawha county, W. Va., is a member of one of the old county families and was born at Malden, May 24, 1864, a son of Napoleon B. and Lavinia (Woods) Cabell.

Napoleon B. Cabell was born at Lynch- burg, Va., and came to Malden, now in West Virginia, before the first steamboat

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had navigated the Kanawha river, coming as salt agent for the grandfather of Dr. Tompkins, who ran flat-boats to St. Louis, in the salt trade. He became a man of large estate, owning at different times investments aggregating more than

$100,000. Prior to the Civil War he owned a farm, the old Cabell place of four- teen hundred acres, and eighty slaves, the latter being emancipated. At one time he owned all the property on Capitol street from the Va. corner to the post-office and had an interest in the latter property and the family still retains the old home- stead on Summers street, in the rear of the post-office. He was a man of business enterprise and up to the time of his death, when aged seventy years, was active in the management of his property. He was married first to Kate Wells and the follow- ing of their children reached mature years : Henry Clay, who served as a soldier in the Confederate army, afterward conducted a hotel, and died in 1910, at White Sulphur Springs ; Robert W., who is in the grocery ' business at Winifrede; Alfred T., who lives at Charleston ; and Mary, who is the widow of Charles Walker, and resides at San Francisco, Calif. His second mar- riage was to Lavinia Woods, who was born in Kanawha county and died at the age of fifty-eight years. She was a daugh- ter of Henry and Ann (Reynolds) Woods, the latter being a member of one of the old salt manufacturing families of Malden. Henry Woods and wife both died at Charleston. He conducted the old Hale House, which stood on the site of the pres- ent Ruffner Hotel, and also the St. Albert Hotel, prior to the building of the rail- road. To the second marriage of Napo- leon B. Cabell four children were born, namely: Florence, who resides at Charles- ton, and is the widow of Albert Pearce, formerly of St. Louis ; Hewett L .; Charles Arnold, who is a coal operator on Cabin creek ; and George K., who is general man- ager of the stores of the Cabin Creek Coal Company.

Hewett Lee Cabell came to Charleston

soon after the Civil War and was reared on the corner of Virginia and Capitol streets and was educated in the public schools, and also a private school which was conducted on the present site of the post-office. He owns the old home farm of three hundred acres in Elk district and spends his summers there while his winter home is in this city. For the past twenty- five years he has been engaged in the live- stock business and handles many head of cattle in a year.

In 1894 Mr. Cabell was married to Miss Bessie Cable, of Point Pleasant, Mason county, W. Va., a daughter of Abner Cable, who was one of the early merchants there. Mr. and Mrs. Cabell have three children: Clarence Roy, Lavinia Woods and Mary Elizabeth. Mr. Cabell is a member of the Episcopal church in which he was reared. Politically he is a Demo- crat.

JOHN CYRUS PRICE,* general farmer in Elk district, was born in Green- brier county, Va., September 13, 1852, at a point called Sinking Creek, and is a son of John and Catherine (Judy) Price.

John Price was born also in Greenbrier county and survived to the age of eighty- four years, his death occurring January 31, 1908. In 1864 he came to Kanawha county and located on the Cabell farm and as there was no appropriate residence on the place, lived in a tobacco barn until a house could be built. On April 1, 1865, he moved to Spring Hill and lived there one year and then spent six years on a farm on Ferry Branch, after which he moved to the Battery Hill farm near Charleston and from there to the Donnelly farm, near Ka- nawha city. After three years there he bought a farm on Blue creek, which he operated for fifteen years and then sold, at that time buying the old Atkinson farm, on which he remained for the rest of his life. He was a well known and prominent man, serving a number of years as school trustee and as justice of the peace. He was a Republican in politics. He married

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Catherine Judy, who was born August 24, 1824 and still survives, a daughter of John and Betsey (Christianson) Judy, natives of Holland. The following children were born to John and Catherine Price: James H., who is a merchant in Cincinnati; Jacob Taylor, who is a farmer near Charleston; Perry Marshall, a retired capitalist of Charleston; John Cyrus; George Frank- lin, who lives near Charleston; Thomas Dickinson, who is a farmer on Blue creek; Elmer E., who resides at S. Ruffner, W. Va .; William and Elizabeth, both of whom are deceased; and Susan Catherine, who is the wife of Daniel A. Moore, a merchant of S. Charleston.

John Cyrus Price attended the schools in the sections where his parents lived and is a well educated man. For a number of years he was engaged in farming on his own account and then returned to his par- ents when his father's health failed and has remained at home ever since, caring for his venerable mother. He has never married. He casts his vote with the Re- publican party but has never desired any political office.

NOAH W. DAWSON, whose magnifi- cent farm of seven hundred broad acres stretches along the main Poca river, in Poca district, Kanawha county, W. Va., twenty miles north of Charleston, was born on this farm December 24, 1841, and is a son of Robert Wilson Dawson and a grandson of John Dawson.

Grandfather John Dawson was born in Bedford county, Va., married there and continued to live in his native place until after the birth of five of his children, when he moved with his family, in 1810, to Spring Hill, Kanawha county, and in the spring of 1813 came from there to opposite Sissonville, now West Virginia. He had a lifetime interest in one thousand acres of land and improved some seventy acres on which he lived. He was a great hunter and took delight in tracking wild animals of which there were plenty in this section

in those days. He married Ellen Will- iams, a daughter of John Williams, of Bed- ford county, and the following children were born to them: Jennie, who was the wife of James Clift and lived at Sisson- ville; William, whose death was a tragedy, lived near Sissonville; Nancy, who died in Ohio, was the wife of Robert Craig and they lived on Frog's Creek; John, who lived at Red Hill, Poca district, married Libbie Smith; Noah, who died in Nicholas county at the home of a son, was twice married; and Robert Wilson, who was the only one of the family born after the parents left Bed- ford county.

Robert Wilson Dawson was born in 1812, at Spring Hill, Kanawha county, and attended the subscription schools of that early day. Following his marriage he lived on a farm of eight hundred acres, a small portion of which he sold. In his early political life he was a Whig, later voted with the Democratic party for a time but subsequently became a Repub- lican. He lived to the same advanced age as his father, eighty-five years. He mar- ried Elizabeth Haynes, who was born in Botetourt county, Va., a daughter of Jas- per and Mary Haynes. They became the parents of a large family, as follows: John - Dawson, who is a well known resident of Poca district, has been twice married, first to Lucinda Scrobaugh, and secondly to a Mrs. Jones; Mary, who is deceased, was the wife of Samuel Fisher; Noah W .; Sally, who married William Rawlins, lives in Jackson county; Minta, who is de- ceased; Minerva and Elizabeth (twins), the latter of whom died in infancy, the former being the wife of Daniel Parsell, of Charleston ; Andrew F., who lives in Colo- rado, married Melinda Hammond; Millard T., who lives at Charleston, married Sarah Parsell; Susan, who lives in Jackson county, married Robert Duff; and Vincent Hennon, who was twice married, first to Elizabeth Willis, and second to Nona Whittington. The parents of the above family were members of the Missionary

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Baptist church. The mother died at the age of seventy years and their burial was in the Haynes cemetery.

Noah W. Dawson has spent the greater part of his life on his farm. In the early part of the Civil War he enlisted in Com- pany F, 7th W. Va. Cav., and was made a prisoner of war on December 19, 1863. He was first incarcerated in Libby Prison and then sent to Belle Isle and from there to Andersonville, Ga., then taken to Sa- vannah and Charleston, S. C., from there to Florence and then back to Richmond and was held there ten days before the city's fall and was released February 24, 1865, after being a prisoner for fourteen months and thirteen days. He went to Annapolis, Md., and from there to Colum- bus, O., on his way home and when he reached Wheeling, W. Va., he was pros- trated with typhoid fever and was ill two months before he could reach the old home in Poca district. Here he carries on gen- eral farming and raises stock and cattle, cultivating a part and having one hundred acres yet in valuable timber and the rest in pasture.

Mr. Dawson married Miss Virginia Holt, a daughter of John and Mary Holt, of Poca district, and they have had five children, namely: Vanderbilt, Elizabeth, Rebecca Pearl, Wesley E., and Alexander McKinley, who is now deceased. Mr. Dawson is not a politician but he takes an interest in public matters and in the prog- ress of a country whose liberties he fought to preserve. He votes with the Repub- lican party.

JAMES ERNEST DEARIEN,* a life- long resident of Kanawha county, W. Va., who is in the restaurant business and deals also in ice and coal, at Cedar Grove, in Cabin Creek district, was born January 4, 1868, on Campbell's creek, near Dana, W. Va. He is a son of John Dearien. formerly a butcher for many years in Malden dis- trict, and now a retired resident on Camp- bell's creek, not far from Dana. He mar- ried Mrs. Mary Hicks, widow of Van

Mead Hicks, who had one son, Van Mead, who lives in Malden district. Mr. and Mrs. Dearien had twelve children, namely : Mayme, John, Joseph, James Ernest, Sam- uel, Lulu, Jesse, Moody, Sankey, Charles, William and Carrie. Mayme married An- drew Canterbury and Lulu married Sam- uel Armstrong.

James E. Dearien learned the butcher business with his father and afterward was employed at his trade for the Quincy Coal Company. In 1908 he came to his present place at Cedar Grove, buying the business of George Chandler, and in the summer of 1910 began dealing in ice, having a thirty- five-ton ice house. In the summer of 191I he opened his restaurant and has his differ- ent enterprises so well managed that each one fits into the other and all are prosper- ing. He has bought cattle all over the country, has his ice shipped in by car loads and operates two wagons.

Mr. Dearien was married April 17, 1891, to Miss Cora Nelson, and they have had three children: Stella, who died at the age of ten years; Ethel and Sterling. Mr. Dearien belongs to the Masonic lodge at Malden, to the Odd Fellows at the same place, and also to the Red Men. Rebeccas (I. O. O. F.) and Knights of Pythias. With his family he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

HON. MORRIS P. SHAWKEY, who fills the honorable and important office of state superintendent of free schools for the State of West Virginia, is a widely known educator and an author of considerable repute, and has been a valued and useful citizen of Charleston for almost fifteen years. Mr. Shawkey was born February 17, 1868, at Sigel, Jefferson county. Pa., and is a son of George and Annie Eliza- beth (Witherspoon) Shawkey.

George Shawkey was born near Bre- men, Germany, and accompanied his par- ents to America and to Pennsylvania in childhood. He became a farmer in west- ern Pennsylvania and in the pursuits of agriculture acquired sufficient means to

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enable him to provide excellent educa- tional advantages for his children. He married Annie Elizabeth Witherspoon, whose mother was a member of the old Silverly family of Philadelphia, while on the paternal side she could trace her ances- try to John Witherspoon, signer of the Declaration of Independence, as a repre- sentative of New Jersey.

Morris P. Shawkey attended Oberlin College and the Ohio Wesleyan Univer- sity and was graduated as president of his class at the latter institution in 1894. His choice of career along educational lines was made very early, and even before he had graduated he had served acceptably for one year as an assistant superintendent of schools. Afterward he served one year as superintendent of the schools at Rey- nolds, N. Dak., and later was a member of the faculty of the Wesleyan College of West Virginia. Mr. Shawkey came to Charleston in 1897, and for eight years afterward was chief clerk of the depart- ment of schools. Almost before he left college he had made improvements in many text books in general use and con- tinued in this laudable work, his accuracy and wide knowledge of literature as well as his scholarly composition, attracting the attention of educators generally. When Rand, McNally & Co., map publishers and engravers, of Chicago and New York, is- sued their revised edition of their grammar school geography, Mr. Shawkey was in- vited to write the West Virginia supple- ment. In 1902 he was elected to the state legislature and during his term in that body was chairman of the committee on education. For two years prior to being elected to his present responsible position, Mr. Shawkey served as county superin- tendent of Kanawha county, W. Va. While he has devoted the larger part of his time and energies to educational work, he has been additionally interested in several business enterprises.

Mr. Shawkey was married in 1902, to Miss Elizabeth L. Carver, a daughter of John Carver. one of the leading coal oper-

ators of West Virginia. They have a beautiful home on South Side, Charleston, the location of their residence providing a commanding view of the city proper and the Great Kanawha river. They are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church.

P. A. SMITH, a general farmer residing in Poca district, Kanawha county, W. Va., where he owns one hundred and sixty-eight and a half acres of well improved land situated on Allen's Fork creek, twenty-four miles north- west of Charleston, was born in this district, June 10, 1855, a son of William G. and Mary ( Persinger) Smith.

William G. Smith was born in Botetourt county, Va., and when six years of age accom- panied his parents, Robert and Malinda (Good) Smith, to West Virginia. He subse- quently became a farmer and school teacher and after marriage settled on his farm of ninety-one and one-half acres, which is situ- ated on Eighteen-Mile Creek, where his widow still lives. He died at the age of seventy-one years and his burial was on his farm in the family cemetery. He married Mary Persin- ger, who was born in Kanawha county, a daughter of Kennett and Lucine Persinger, and ten children were born to them, namely: P. A., Victoria, Rejanah, Beatrice, Phoebe, William Anderson, Savannah, Robert Lee, Ernest Emmett and Viola.

P. A. Smith attended school with more or less regularity until he was twenty-one years of age, then became a teacher and taught through one term in Putnam county and three terms in Kanawha county. After marriage he engaged in farming, first on a tract of sixty- two and one-half acres on the Allen Left Branch, from which he moved eight years later to his present farm, which he has greatly im- proved. He carries on a general farming line and raises his own stock and cattle and oc- casionally has some to put on the market.

Mr. Smith was married at the age of twenty- two years to Miss Celia Carney, a daughter of Silas and Lucinda (Fisher) Carney, both of whom died in Poca district. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have had eleven children born to them,

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as follows: Leni Leoti, who is the wife of B. V. Gilmore, and they live at Gauley Bridge and have three children-Helen Ruth, Vasco and Charles; Ginevra, who lives at home; Law- rence B., who is now deceased, married Arnie Slater, daughter of Pryor Slater, and is sur- vived by a widow and three children-Clifford, Gwendolyn and Lillian; Clara E., who mar- ried Virgil Pitchford, and they live in Putnam county, and have three children-Darrel and twin daughters; Howard S., who resides on the home farm, married Helen Logue, and they have one son, Lionel; Virgil O., and Bertha, Ora May, Reginald, Doyle and Genevieve, all of whom reside with their parents. Mr. Smith is a Democrat but has no political ambitions. With his family he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, south.

MISS MAGGIE S. MILLER,* who con- ducts a mercantile establishment at Cedar Grove, W. Va., carrying a full and carefully selected stock of dry goods, millinery and no- tions, was born in Craig county, Va., and is a daughter of Henry B. and Nancy (Book) Miller.

Henry B. Miller was born in Monroe county, now in West Virginia. His business was that of a building contractor. He was twice married and after the death of his first wife moved to New Castle, Va. His first marriage was to Margaret S. Hank, of Mon- roe county, who left four children at death, namely: Erastus Theodore; Sophia, now de- ceased, who was the wife of Joseph Hawkins; John, and Sallie B., who is the wife of David Thurman. His second marriage was to Nancy Book, who was also born in Virginia, and their children were, Joseph S., who is superinten- dent of the coal works at Cabin Creek; Frank, who is deceased; Lewis; Maggie Susan; Charles W .; Laura, who is the wife of C. F. Jeffers; Fannie, who is the wife of G. H. P. Spruce; and Amanda C., who is the wife of James W. Kyle.

When Maggie S. Miller was two years old her father's business called him to Charleston, but later the family home was again in Vir- ginia. When she was fourteen years old she came back to Kanawha county, locating at

East Bank, and for some years afterward made the securing of a fine education her main object in life. She went from the common schools into the High School in Union district, Monroe county, creditably completing the course and afterward attended the Teachers' Training School at Charleston. Miss Miller began to teach school at the Union mines in Kanawha county, where she continued for two terms, then taught twelve terms at Cedar Grove, and later taught for a long period at Mammoth and Riverside, seventeen years in all. In 1891 she opened her store and has prospered from the first, in 1903 erecting the two-story frame house which is both her home and her place of business. She is a valued member of the Missionary Baptist church at Cedar Grove and one of its trustees, and is the teacher of the Bible class in the Sunday- school. Miss Miller has made herself inde- pendent through her own efforts and is an ad- mirable business woman. She is widely known and enjoys the respect and esteem of everyone.

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History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 96

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