History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 99

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 99

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

wife of J. M. Staehlin, residing on Kanawha street, Charleston, and the mother of three children. (3) John W., is a member of Hub- bard-Bedell Grocery Company, wholesale gro- cers, of Charleston, and will be further men- tioned herein. (5) Maude is the wife of John L. Dickinson, cashier of the Kanawha Valley Bank, and has five daughters. (6) Nellie is the widow of J. R. T. Carmichael who died in 1910. She resides in Charleston but has no children.

Robert Graves Hubbard acquired a good commercial education and entered business life as an employe of P. H. Noyes, since deceased. In 1895 he became a member of the firm of Lewis, Hubbard & Co., which in 1907 was in- corporated under the same style. This house is the largest of its kind in the state and enjoys an extensive trade throughout West Virginia.

Robert G. Hubbard was married in Charles- ton to Miss Birdie Goshorn, who was born in Charleston and was educated here and at Mary Baldwin Seminary, Staunton, Va. Her fath- er, Jacob Goshorn, was a member of the promi- nent West Virginia family of that name. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard are the parents of two children, Mary and Pattie. The former, who is now twenty years old, is completing her education at National Park Seminary, Wash- ington, D. C. Pattie recently became the wife of Thomas A. Snyder.

John W. Hubbard, whom we have already briefly mentioned by name, was born in Kana- wha county, W. Va., forty-five years ago. He was educated in the Charleston city schools and later became connected with the firm of Lewis Hubbard & Co., remaining with them until the establishment of the Hubbard-Bedell Grocery Company as a corporation in 1903, of which he is now president and has been since the incor- poration. They do an extensive wholesale gro- cery business in southwest Virginia, keeping eight men employed on the road and having large warehouses in this city. Mr. Hubbard is a Democrat in politics and he and his family are members of the First Presbyterian church.

He was married to Miss Carrie Seashols, who was born in Putnam county, W. Va .. and was educated in a female academy at Lewis- burg. W. Va. Her parents were Isaac and

America (Handley) Seashols, the former a na- tive of Philadelphia, Pa., and the latter of West Virginia. They were married in Put- nam county, W. Va., and Isaac Seashols, who was a miller by occupation, died in that coun- ty sixteen years ago. His widow makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Hubbard. She is now seventy-seven years of age, a woman of great intelligence and considerable activity for her years, and is a devout Presbyterian. Mr. Hubbard is a member of Beni-Kedem Temple, M. S., belongs also to all the subordinate branches of the Masonic order. He and his wife are the parents of a daughter, Elizabeth, who was born July 22, 1904.

THE GALLAHER - MILLER- QUAR- RIER FAMILIES-

DEWITT CLINTON GALLAHER was born in Jefferson county, Va., now West Vir- ginia, August 2, 1845. In his early childhood his parents, Hugh Lafferty Gallaher and Eliza- beth Catherine Gallaher, went to Waynesboro, Augusta county, Va., to reside, where, in the suburbs, the Gallaher homestead has been ever since. At the age of thirteen he was a student at Georgetown college; at sixteen at Washing- ton college, now Washington and Lee Uni- versity; the next year at Hampden-Sidney college, which he left in the spring of 1863 to join Co. E, Ist Va. Cav., Fitz Lee's Division, General J. E. B. Stuart's Corps. Army of Northern Virginia and served to the close of the Civil War. The sessions of 1865-6-7-8 he spent at the University of Virginia, where he graduated. In 1868-9 he taught Latin and Greek at Bellevue high school in Virginia, and then spent two years at the Universities of Berlin and Munich, Germany. In May, 1872, Mr. Gallaher came to Charleston, was admit- ted to the bar, and has lived here ever since. In 1909 he was chosen president of the Kana- wha Bar Association. For some years he was Registrar in Bankruptcy. appointed by Chief Justice Waite of the U. S. Supreme Court, and for nearly twenty years served as regent of the West Virginia University.

Hugh Lafferty Gallaher. father of DeWitt Clinton Gallaher, was born December 20, 1812.

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HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

His grandfather was Hugh Gallaher, who mar- ried Sarah Lafferty, and his great-grandfather John Gallaher, who married Margaret Gal- laher, came in 1798 to America from the north of Ireland, near Londonderry, where the family is still large and prominent in business and possesses landed estates. Hugh Lafferty Gallaher married Elizabeth Catherine Bowen, who was born July 3, 1818. She was a daugh- ter of William and Catherine (Hill) Bowen, whose families were of Delaware and Mary- land, in which states at the present time many Bowens and their kinsmen, the Hills and Marshalls, may be found among the worthiest citizenship.

On July 27, 1876, DeWitt Clinton Gallaher married Florence Walton Miller, eldest daugh- ter of Hon. Samuel A. and Helen (Quarrier) Miller. Their children are: Helen Quarrier, who married Walter D. Stockly; and Eliza- beth Catherine, DeWitt Clinton, Samuel Mil- ler and William Quarrier Gallaher. William Quarrier Gallaher, now aged twenty-two years, is a senior at Princeton University, and Sam- uel Miller Gallaher is a graduate of Princeton of 1908, while DeWitt Gallaher is an alum- nus of the University of Virginia and of Cor- nell. Mr. and Mrs. Gallaher have two grand- children: Walter D., Jr., (Sandy), and Clin- ton Gallaher Stockly.

THE MILLER FAMILY-Florence Mil- ler Gallaher was born and reared in Kanawha county. Her only sister, Mrs. Nina Miller Thum, resides at Fairmont, W. Va. Her brothers were: Alexander Quarrier, now of Boston, Mass .; Samuel A., now deceased; and Shrewsbury B., and Walton Miller, residing at Fairmont, W. Va.

Hon. Samuel A. Miller, father of Mrs. Gal- laher, was born in Shenandoah county, Va., in 1818, and when a young man, in 1842, came to Kanawha and was admitted to the bar where he soon attained a front rank, especially as a learned "land lawyer," the land titles of this section for generations causing almost interm- inable and expensive litigation. At the begin- ning of the war between the states he, with many of his neighbors, cast his lot with the

southern cause and served for some time as major in the commissary department attached to the 22d Va. Vol. Inf. During the last two years of the war he was the member of the Confederate Congress from this district. At its close he returned home to resume his law practice, but for some time, like many others of our ablest lawyers, he was by the (odious and unjust) laws then in force, forbidden for some time to practice, but subsequently built up a large practice with his brother-in-law, William A. Quarrier, as his partner.

Shortly before the opening of the war be- tween the states, Mr. Miller was made presi- dent of the Kanawha Salt Company, in its day the greatest and most widely distributed in- dustry in this section, and one that conrolled the markets of all the West and Southwest. With a naturally fine legal mind, being an om- nivorous reader in all fields of literature, a close student of jurisprudence, a genial man of gentle nature, he was honored and beloved by all men coming in contact with him. At the time of his death, in October, 1890, he and his son-in-law, D. C. Gallaher, were partners in the law practice in Charleston.

The parents of Mr. Miller were Reuben and Atlantic (Walton) Miller, who were mar- ried December 9, 1817. His grandparents were Joseph Miller and Ann ( Moore) Miller, who were married June 20, 1789, in Shenan- doah county, Va. The town of Woodstock, Va., was laid out in 1756 by his ancestor, Ja- cob Miller, and it was at first called "Muel- ler's stadt," or, in English, Millerstown, but the name was changed to Woodstock by the House of Representatives upon a resolution offered by George Washington, then a mem- ber of the House of Burgesses. About the year 1845 he, with Col. Benjamin H. Smith, went to Roane county and at the sales of de- linquent lands purchased, at two cents per acre, large tracts of land many of which are now principalities of rich revenue from oil and gas development; but unhappily (for them and their descendants) they sold these lands at what then was a good profit, but without re- taining the mineral rights. The town of Wal- ton was named for Mr. Miller's mother and

JAMES MARTIN

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that of Roxalana, both in Roane county, for Col. Smith's wife.

THE QUARRIER FAMILY - Helen Quarrier Miller, mother 'of Mrs. Gallaher, was born May 31, 1826, and was the second daugh- ter of Alexander Washington and Caroline (Shrewsbury) Quarrier. Her father for many years was county clerk of Kanawha and was a splendid type of the official and gentle- man of the ancient regime. His father, Col. Alexander Quarrier, born at Philadelphia, March II, 1746, commanded a company in the Revolutionary War. He settled at Richmond, Va., in 1785, and in 1811 moved to Charles- ton and died May 24, 1827. His family came from Scotland early in the 18th century, and the numerous descendants now in the Kana- wha Valley are identified by marriage with nearly all of the older families. Mrs. Miller's mother, born February 14, 1806, was a daugh- ter of Col. Joel Shrewsbury, who married Sally Dickinson, November 28, 1803, in Bed- ford county, Va. When still a young man Col. Dickinson, at that time possessed of con- siderable means, moved to Kanawha and soon became one of the leading men of his day and a pioneer in the great salt and coal develop- ment of this section. One, if not the first great industrial "trusts" ever formed in this country, was the "Kanawha Salt Company," controlling two or three dozen-all there were at the time-salt furnaces and plants in the Valley. Joel Shrewsbury was primus inter pares in this gigantic enterprise and consolida- tion. He and his brothers-in-law, John D. Lewis and William Dickinson, were the giant triumvirate who did things in their day, prac- tically ruling commercial circles here and the markets of the great West. It is noteworthy that they were, perhaps, the very first to utilize naural gas, which they did in some of their salt furnaces, for it will be noted in George Washington's will, that he speaks of a gas well or spring on his Kanawha land, which to this day is known as the "Burning Spring" tract, near Brownstown, now Marmet, about ten miles east of Charleston. The Indians and early settlers all knew of this wonderful gas- eous spring and many were the traditions

handed down concerning it. It was first util- ized and made serviceable by those stalwart giants of enterprise-Shrewsbury, Lewis and Dickinson, who no doubt little dreamed it was but the forerunner of the most wonderful ele- ment of modern fuel and lighting the world ever saw and whose benefits generations now and to come will enjoy, and whose treasures of wealth is a new source of opulence in this mar- velous land.

JAMES MARTIN, who since October II, 1909, has held and successfully filled the im- portant office of state inspector of the Seventh Mining District of the state of West Virginia, is a thoroughly experienced mine man and has been advanced step by step through years of hard work and practical study of the subject, from a common miner, earning his day's wage with his pick, to a position of the highest re- sponsibility in this great industry. He was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, March 26, 1873, a son of David W. and Janet ( Penman) Mar- tin. The father was a small farmer who died when his son, the subject of this sketch, was fourteen years of age, leaving little provision for his family. Our subject's mother had passed away in the previous year. James was the youngest of a family of seven children, namely: Archibald, Walter, John, James, Mary, Agnes, and Janet. Mary is the wife of Mathew Leitch, a retail grocer and banker liv- ing in Scotland. Janet is the wife of David Cairns, a miner, also of Scotland.

As an orphan boy, James Martin entered the mines at Town Hill, in Fifeshire, where he worked until he was eighteen years of age. At that time, dissatisfied with his small earn- ings, he decided to emigrate to the United States, and accordingly took passage April 6, 1891, on the steamer Devonia, which landed him safely on an alien shore with little capital and no acquaintances. He had been reared in the Presbyterian church, and one of his early moves was to unite with this body in America, and in this way he found associates and friends of a helpful and elevating kind. Proceeding to Royal, W. Va., he went to work in the mines there and at Caperton, subsequently going to the Sun mines on Loup creek, where he

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HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

worked up to the position of mine foreman and under his management the output was in- creased from 400 tons per day to 2,500 tons. While there he acquired an interest in the company, but after a while the management changed hands and, not finding the position so congenial as before, he accepted a, position as foreman with the Nichol Colliery Company. Later he was offered the superintendency of the two New River mines owned by the New River Company, an honor that came to him entirely unsolicited. For two years he had charge of the Dunloop Mines Nos. I and 2, after which he was promoted to the position of general superintendent over six mines with the same company. He then accepted and filled a position as general superintendent of ten mines for the New River Collieries Com- pany and thus continued until his appointment to his present office of state inspector of the Seventh Mining District, the duties of which he has discharged with characteristic ability.

Mr. Martin is a member in high standing of the Masonic order, belonging to the Blue Lodge at McDonald, W. Va., the Royal Arch Chapter at Sewell, W. Va .; the Commandery, K. T., at Hinton, W. Va., Beni-Kedem Shrine at Charleston, W. Va., and has taken the 32d degree Scottish Rite Cathedral at Cincinnati, Ohio.

Mr. Martin was married at Royal, W. Va., to Miss Margaret Wright, a lady of education, force of character and great business ability. to whom Mr. Martin gives credit for much of his remarkable business success. She was born February 23, 1878. in Pennsylvania, a daughter of James and Margaret ( Spaulding) Wright. James Wright was born in Edin- burg, Scotland, and came to America when a young man, finding employment here as a jour- neyman blacksmith. At Sharon, Pa., he mar- ried Margaret Spaulding and they came to West Virginia. He has continued work at his trade, during a part of the time being in the mining districts, and is known all through this section of Kanawha county as a thoroughly expert workman. He is now in his sixty-sec- ond year and still conducts his business at Mc- Donald, W. Va. Mrs. Martin is one of a fam- ily of six children. Her parents are devoted

members of the Presbyterian church and are highly respected members of society. Their children are all comfortably settled in life, all having married and having families of their own.

To Mr. and Mrs. Martin three children have been born, namely: David Wallace, Au- gust 8, 1896: Margaret, September 10, 1898; and James Walter, February 8, 1902. All the children will have good educational ad- vantages. The family belong to the First Presbyterian church of Charleston. Mr. Mar- tin and Mr. Wright are both stanch Republi- cans in their political views. Mrs. Martin is a coal operator, having her individual inter- ests. She is connected in business with the McAlpin, the McGregor and the McCaa Coal Companies, and in the management of her af- fairs shows a wisdom and maturity of judg- ment that not only excites the admiration of her husband but proves that business acumen is not confined to one sex.

WILLIAM F. LONG,* whose valuable farm of 1247/2 acres is situated in Poca dis- trict, twenty miles northwest of Charleston, was born in this district, in May, 1862, and is a son of Wesley and Emeline (Fisher) Long.

Wesley Long was born in Monroe county, Va. (now West Virginia) but after his mar- riage he lived in Poca district, Kanawha coun- ty, where he died at the early age of twenty- seven years, and his burial was on the John Fisher farm. He was a Republican in poli- tics and during the Civil War was a member of the Home Guards. He left two children, William F. and E. B. Long, both residents of Poca district. His widow subsequently mar- ried Matthew Pritt, now deceased, who left no children, and Mrs. Pritt died when thirty- seven years of age and was interred in the Fisher cemetery.

When his father died, William F. Long went to live with his grandfather, Frank Fisher, and remained there, attending school in Poca district and learning the principles of farming. After his marriage he lived for one year on First Creek, Poca district, and then moved to Charleston and three years later to

COL. HENRY C. DICKINSON

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

his present farm which was formerly his grandfather Fisher's farm on which he had been reared. He has improved the place, building all the structures now standing, and devotes a large part of his land to raising cattle for sale.

Mr. Long married Miss Fannie Johnson, a daughter of William Johnson, of Poca dis- trict and they have the following children: Mary, who is the widow of Leon Silman ; Flor- ence, deceased, who was the wife of William Casto and left one child, Cecil; Louvina, who is the wife of Laurian Haggerty, of Charles- ton; and Dorothy, Flota and Noble. Mr. Long has been a lifelong Republican but has never taken a very active part in politics. He is one of Poca district's respected and widely known citizens.

COL. HENRY C. DICKINSON, former- ly one of the leading citizens of Charleston, W. Va., was born in Bedford county, Va., February 21, 1830, and died at Charleston, April 20, 1871, at which time he was serving in the office of mayor of this city and was also president of the Kanawha Valley Bank. His father, William Dickinson, was engaged in salt making in Kanawha county after the Civil War.

Henry C. Dickinson was liberally educated and was graduated in the science of law at Hampden-Sidney College. He was admitted to the bar in Bedford county, where he was practicing in 1861. By birth and rearing he was an aristocrat and when the differences be- tween the North and South came to be settled by war, he enthusiastically took up arms for his own section anl served with valor in his regiment in the Confederate army until he was made a prisoner of war by the Federal forces. At this time he was captain of his . company in the 2d Va. Cavalry. He was in-, carcerated in several Federal prisons, with 600 others at one time being sent to Fort Sum- ter, and endured many of the worst hardships that a military prison inflicts. He survived to return home, however, accepting a parole, at his father's earnest solicitation, and joined the latter at Charleston. The law then in force not permitting him to practice his profession, he turned his attention to other lines anl be-

came one of the best business men in this sec- tion, following salt making with his father for a time, but later embarking in banking. He was one of the incorporators of the Kanawha Valley Bank, of which he was elected the first president, anl continued in this position while life lasted. He was admired and beloved in this city to an almost universal extent, rich and poor, high and low, recognizing his admir- able qualities. At the time of death he was serving as mayor, being the first Democratic mayor this city ever elected. He was buried with the Masonic rites and ritual, having been a member of that fraternity for many years.

Colonel Dickinson was married at Charles- ton, in 1859, to Miss Sally J. Lewis, and they immediately settled in Bedford county which continued to be the family home until the close of the war, when as indicated above, he came to Charleston to begin life anew. To Colonel and Mrs. Dickinson five children were born, namely : Anna L., who was married first to Benjamin F. Brown, who left three children, and secondly, to Harold L. Morris, of Denver, Colo; Fannie D., who is the wife of Andrew H. Boyd, D. D. S., residing at No. 1202 Vir- ginia street, Charleston, and has one daughter ; Henry Clay, who is in the timber and coal land leasing business, married Margaret Young, of Winsboro, S. C., and a daughter was born to them on August 17, 1910, which they named Sally Lewis; and Mary Virginia, and Julia, both of whom died in early womanhood. Mrs. Dickinson is a very active member of the Pres- byterian church.

The parents of Mrs. Dickinson were John D. and Ann (Dickinson) Lewis. The former was born in 1800, at Point Pleasant, a son of Col. Charles Lewis, who was a hero of Point Pleasant in the Indian War of 1774. Col. Lewis married Jane Dickenson, of Bath coun- ty, Virginia. At one time John D. Lewis was one of the largest landowners in the Kanawha Valley and a large part of it was underlaid with coal. His death occurred near Malden when he was eighty-three years of age. He was thrice married, Mrs. Dickinson being the daughter of his second wife. He was a democrat in politics and a Southern sympathizer during the Civil War.

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HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

J. A. WELLS, a well known resident of Loudon district, who was a general merchant at Marmet, from 1905 to 1911, was born in Raleigh county, W. Va., in 1856, and in 1865 accompanied his parents to Marmet, Kanawha county, W. Va. They were Meredith and Emily (Jarrell) Wells.

Meredith Wells was engaged in merchandis- ing for a number of years of his life. He con- ducted a store at Marmet and later one at Cheylan, W. Va. He was interested also in real estate and owned a large amount of land. He lived to the age of ninety-two years, and was the father of nine children.

J. A. Wells obtained his schooling near home in his boyhood and afterward followed farm- ing and worked in the timber for a number of years. In 1905 he opened up a general store which he conducted very successfully until he decided to retire and then sold it to his son, William Ernest.

Mr. Wells married Miss Janie Hannigan, of Kanawha county, and they have had nine chil- dren, namely : William Ernest, Pearlie, Mere- dith, Charles, Virgie, Maude, Herbert, Grace and Emma. The last named died at the age of sixteen years and the mother of this family passed away in 1899. In politics Mr. Wells is a Republican.

JOHN L. MINSKER, one of the enter- prising business men of Charleston, W. Va., who, in partnership with his brother, Wilbur WV. Minsker, conducts the Minsker Garage, operating at No. 1010 Lee street, is a native of this city, born December 9, 1874, and is a son of Solomon and Mary E. (High) Mins- ker.

John L. Minsker attended school at Charleston and with his brother was brought up in the woolen goods manufacturing busi- ness, the older brothers, George and Harry Minsker operating the Kanawha Woolen Mills. John L. Minsker had a practical train- ing in mechanics and in addition to conducting their garage, the brothers maintain a regular repair shop for machines and also are agents for well known manufacturers. The present enterprise was entered into in August. 1910, and they occupy a building 120x45 feet in di-

mensions, where they have room to accommo- date forty automobiles. They are doing a good business.

Mr. Minsker was married at Cincinnati, O., to Miss Ann S. Lipps, who was born in that city in April, 1875, of German ancestry, both parents being now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Minsker are members of the First Presbyterian church. The latter has been greatly interested in the Home Missionary society in connection with the church anl has served in it as an of- ficial.

D. C. SMOOT,* superintendent of the Dun- bar Realty Company, of Dunbar, and also fill- ing the public office of game warden, has been a resident of Dunbar since 1906. He was born in Boone county, W. Va., October 27, 1849, his parents being Hezekiah and Lucy B. (Smith) Smoot.

Hezekiah Smoot was born July 4, 1814, at Knoxville, Tenn., and came to Virginia in 1822 and attended school in Boone county. He married Lucy B. Smith, who was born in Wood county, Va., and nine children were born to them, one daughter and eight sons, of whom four of the latter still survive. Hez- ekiah Smoot was both farmer and merchant and was a leading Democrat in Boone county, of which he was elected the first county clerk. He died at the age of eighty-four years and his wife at that of eighty-three, and their burial was at Marmet, in Kanawha county. They were members of the Methodist church, south.

D. C. Smoot attended school in Boone coun- ty and also had educational advantages at Emery and Henry college, in Washington county. Afterward he learned the carpenter's trade and for many years followed carpenter work in Boone and Kanawha counties, doing a large amount for the government. Since lo- cating at Dunbar, Mr. Smoot has occupied his present position of superintendent and he also is interested to some extent in farming.

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History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 99

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