USA > West Virginia > Monongalia County > History of Monongalia County, West Virginia, from its first settlements to the present time; with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 22
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JOHN JAMES BROWN, only son of Robert and Annie Brown, was born in Kingwood, Preston County, Virginia, November 19, 1823. In early boyhood he was sent to Monongalia Academy and placed under the instruction of the Rev. Thomas Martin, a learned English and classical scholar, ed- ucated at the College of Belfast, Ireland. He afterward entered the junior class of Washington College, at Wash- ington, Penn., and was graduated from that institution in October, 1845. Returning home, he became deputy for John P. Byrne, clerk of the circuit and county courts of Preston County, and during this time studied law under his uncle, the Hon. Wm. G. Brown, of Kingwood. He was licensed in November, 1848, and began the practice of his profession in partnership with his uncle, in April, 1849. This firm soon won a reputation second to none in the State, which was owing perhaps not more to the ability and experience of the uncle, than to the industry, activity and ability of the nephew.
When the trying days of 1860 came upon the country,
284
HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
Mr. Brown stood steadfastly for the Union. A convention of the people of Preston County was held at Kingwood on the 26th of January, 1861, to nominate two delegates to the Richmond Convention which passed the ordinance of se- cession. Just before the convention formally organized, the Union women of Kingwood presented to the meeting a beautiful flag, their own handiwork. Mr. Brown was chosen to make the presentation speech, which he did in the fol- lowing eloquent words :*
" My Countrymen,-We have met to-day to do homage to the sen- timent of patriotism ; and if love to God and love to our neighbor be the fulfilling of the law, certainly love for our country can not be idolatry. Love of country is a universal sentiment, and is some- times roused to the wildest enthusiasm by apparently the most trivial causes. In times past, the Switzer's song of home, echoing along the glaciers of the Alps, has called a nation of freemen to arms; and the mercenary ranks of almost every army in Europe have been deserted by the influence of the same soul-stirring song. The Marseilles has time and again revolutionized France, and to-day it is like a magazine beneath the throne of the imperial Napoleon. 'Hail Columbia' and 'Yankee Doodle' gave victory to the arms of Washington, and the smoke of battle and the shout of triumph at New Orleans rose amid their soul-inspiring strains. And when our ears hear, and our hearts drink the eloquence of song ; when our eyes, kindled with the fire of patriotism, catch our country's flag streaming in the sunlight, then let the loud shout go up, as it did from the shores of the Chesapeake in 1814-
'Our flag is there- Our flag is there- Behold its glorious stripes and stars!'
"I now desire to perform one of the most pleasing acts of my whole life. Your mothers and wives and sisters have handed to me ' The glorious ensign of our Republic,' with 'not a stripe erased or polluted, and not a single star obscured'-wrought by their own patriotic hands-and desire me to present it in their name, to you, my fellow countrymen of Preston County, and to say to you, 'It is
* History of Preston County, W. Va., pp. 126, 127.
285
POLITICAL HISTORY.
our country's flag-the emblem of our National Union.' I can find no more suitable response to the patriotic Union-loving ladies, than by giving utterance to the beautiful sentiment of the patriot poet of our own country :
'A union of lakes and a union of lands, A union of States none can sever ; A union of hearts and a union of hands, And the flag of our Union forever.'
"It is not the flag of Virginia, nor of Pennsylvania, nor of Massa- chusetts, nor of South Carolina : It is the flag of our country-the flag of our Union ; and there are clustering around it ten thousand hallowed associations and memories. It is the flag to which the gallant Lawrence turned his eyes in death and exclaimed, 'Don't give up the ship !' It is the flag that Perry grasped from the prow of his sinking vessel, and through the deadly broadsides of the enemy, bore aloft to victory. It is the flag our gallant countrymen unfurled, in triumph, over the palaces of the Montezumas.
"Go, my countrymen ! baptize it in the morning sunbeams, and give it to the breeze ; and if the time shall ever come (which God forbid !) when it must be bathed in blood, these mothers and wives and sisters and daughters, whose gift is is, bid me to say to you, their fathers and husbands and brothers and sons-Go to the tented-field, stand by this flag, fight for your country under your country's banner, and die in its defense, if death shall come, like the gallant Jasper, enshrouded in its folds."
Mr. Brown took the stump and exerted himself with great earnestness against the adoption of the ordinance of seces- sion. Knowing his ability and not fearing to trust his fidelity, the Union men of Preston County elected him a delegate to the Wheeling Convention of June, 1861, which restored the government of Virginia; and, with ex-Judge John A. Dille, Mr. Brown was chosen to represent that county in the Constitutional Convention which met at Wheeling in November, 1861, and framed the first consti- tion of the State of West Virginia. In both these impor- tant bodies Mr. Brown was an industrious and influential
286
HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
member. He labored for the adoption of the constitution; and when Congress made it the condition of admission of. West Virginia into the Union, that the constitution should be changed in the clause respecting slavery (see pp. 197 and 198), Mr. Brown, willing to sacrifice all personal feelings to secure the new State, upon the re-assembling of the convention, advocated the adoption of the gradual emancipation clause, and urged the people afterward to ratify it.
At the first general election under the constitution of West Virginia, Mr. Brown, with the late General Edward C. Bunker, of Monongalia County, was elected to represent the senatorial district composed of the counties of Preston, Monongalia and Taylor in the first Senate of West Virginia ; and was re-elected from the same district a second time to the Senate. He was chairman of the important Committee on Finance and Claims, and a member of that on Courts of Justice and General Laws. In the Senate Mr. Brown was among the leading members. A ripe lawyer, possessed of an acute and logical mind, cool and self-possessed, and always practical, conservative and safe, he exerted much influence among his fellow Senators. At this period Mr. . Brown was the subject of a biographical sketch printed in a Wheeling newspaper, in which it was said of him :
"He speaks not very often, but well and very short. He is one of the most pointed and logical debaters in the Senate; does not say a word too much or too little, and nothing that is not right to the point ; his gestures are natural and forceful, and his enuncia- tion is exceedingly clear and striking. He writes with rapid- ity and great beauty. Mr. Brown's grandfather and grand- mother came from the old country just after the Revolutionary war, and settled in Monongalia (now Preston) County ; the former was one of the
' Scots who ha' wi' Wallace bled,'
287
POLITICAL HISTORY.
and the latter was a pearl from the 'Gem of the Ocean,' the Eme- rald Isle."
In October, 1864, Mr. Brown removed from Kingwood to Morgantown, Monongalia County, where he still resides in the practice of his profession. He has been for many years a director of the Merchants' National Bank of West Virginia at Morgantown, and for the last five years its president, which position he still holds.
Mr. Brown gets his military title from having come up from the ranks in the old 148th Regiment of Virginia Militia, in which regiment he was commissioned a Major in June, 1858, under the law reorganizing the Virginia Militia, as prepared by the late Gov. Kemper, of Madison County, Virginia.
Mr. Brown is a gentleman of fine literary tastes and acquirements ; and that he is a chaste and polished writer, the extract herein cited from one of his speeches, as well as those on pages 161 and 162, from his Centennial address, abundantly show. As an orator, he has few superiors. He is of a profoundly religious character, and is an earnest and leading member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of a modest and retiring disposition, kind, generous, and sympathetic, liberal and broad in his political opinions, he is temperate in all things, and is, as has been said of him by a writer, " a model worthy of imitation."
The year of Mr. Brown's birth is 1825, not 1823 as printed on p. 283,-an error made in deciphering the manuscript, and not noticed till the page was printed.
WILLIAM PRICE was the son of Michael and Elizabeth Price, who came to this country from Wales. He was born in Greene County, Penn., on the 21st of November, 1803, and removed from near Carmichaels to Clay District, Monongalia County, in 1826. He married Catharine,
288 HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
sister of Andrew Brown. Thirteen children were born to them, of whom Dr. Thomas H. Price, a graduate of Jeffer- son Medical College, is at Bridesburg, near Philadelphia ; Col. George Price was once in command of a regiment of militia, and was elected County Surveyor in 1864; John E. Price was elected County Surveyor in 1868, and at present is deputy sheriff of the county ; Oliver Price resides upon the home farm.
.
William Price, or, as he was commonly called, Squire Price, was six feet high, of light complexion, with fair hair, and his weight was about one hundred and eighty pounds. He was elected Justice of the Peace under the Constitution of 1851, and was County Surveyor in 1863. He ran the township lines of the county in that year. He represented Monongalia in the House of Delegates in 1869, and was elected to the State Senate in 1864, and re-elected in 1867, and re-elected again in 1870.
His wife, who was born on January 22, 1814, died on the 27th of April, 1869, and twelve years later was followed to the grave by her husband, who died on the 14th of May, 1881, at the ripe age of seventy-seven years, and after a long and active life. Of his usefulness and worth as a pub- lic man and as a citizen, the Monongalia and other papers of the State spoke in high terms. The State Journal, published at Parkersburg, said that he "represented his district in the Senate with marked industry and ability." The Morgantown Post declared that "his many acts of charity and kindness will live in the memory of many years after his body has crumbled to dust."
JAMES TRAVILLA MCCLASKEY, the third son of William and Rebecca McClaskey, was born on the 3d day of September, 1816, in Alleghany County, Md. When but a youth, he
1
289
POLITICAL HISTORY.
went to Randolph County. From there he removed to Monongalia in the year 1835. James T. McClaskey was united in marriage with Nancy, daughter of William Vande- vort, in 1839.
He was elected a member of the House of Delegates of the West Virginia Legislature in the years 1867, 68 and 76; and was elected to the State Senate in 1872. He served his constituents with fidelity and ability. Mr. McClaskey was an uncompromising Union man. He is of earnest nature, of industrious habits, liberal, of quick sympathy, and of sterling integrity. He stands high among his neighbors, and is well and favorably known throughout the county. Mr. McClas- key now resides upon his farm in Union District.
WILLIAM CLARK MCGREW, son of the Hon. James C. McGrew, was born at Kingwood, Preston County, April 21, 1842, and received an academic education. He was married to Miss Julia E., daughter of the Hon. W. T. Willey, in 1864. For several years previous to 1870, he was engaged in the mercantile busines at Kingwood. In this year he removed to Morgantown, where he has followed the same occupation, and in which he is still engaged. He was elected Mayor of Morgantown in 1876 and 77, and was elected, in 1878, to the State Senate from the 10th district (Monongalia and Preston counties), and, in 1882, was re- elected to the Senate from the same counties for the term expiring in 1886. In the last session of the Senate Major McGrew, as he is popularly known, though of the minority party, was chairman on the part of the Senate of the labor- ious and responsible Joint Committee on Enrolled Bills. He was a member, in the sessions of 1881 and 82, of the joint committee to apportion representation in the Legisla-
19
290
HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
ture, and of that to re-arrange the Congressional districts. He was also a member of the joint committee to investigate certain alleged abuses in the Hospital for the Insane.
Mr. McGrew had no superior in the Senate as a parlia- mentarian, and was often called to preside over the body. Though possessed of a rich, deep and sonorous voice, and one well adapted to public speaking, Mr. McGrew's speeches were neither long nor frequent. His words, however, were always to the point. Of a genial and companionable na- ture, always fond of a joke, and with a fine vein of humor, he was popular among his fellow-Senators.
WILLIAM S. MORGAN* was born in Monongalia County, September 7, 1801. He was self-educated; served as a Representative in Congress, from Virginia, from 1835 to 39, and was Chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, and declined a re-election; in 1840 he was ap- pointed a Clerk in the House of Representatives, from which position he was transferred to the Legislature of Virginia, and declined a re-election; he was a Democratic Elector in 1844; and in 1845, having injured his health by public speaking, he was appointed to a clerkship in the Treasury Department.
SHERIFFS.
In the Code of 1849 and of 1860 may be found an inter- esting statement of the laws of Virginia from the earliest times, concerning Sheriffs. In 1634, it was enacted that Sheriffs should be elected; the term of office was limited to one year in 1642-3; in 1655-6, it was enacted that the gov-
* This sketch, which is copied from Lanman's Dictionary of Congress (Washington, 1864), should follow that of the Hon. Edgar C. Wilson on page 277.
291
POLITICAL HISTORY.
ernor and council should appoint one of the three persons nominated to them by the commissioners of each county, as Sheriff ; in 1660-1, that the Sheriff's place be conferred on the first or oldest in commission, and so devolve to every commissioner in course; in 1705, that the governor might commission either one of three nominated, and also that a Sheriff might continue in office two years; in 1710, a pen- alty was imposed for refusal to accept the office, and pro- vision made for case of failure to nominate to the governor, and in event of vacancy in the office ; in 1775, the power of appointment was conferred on the county courts; the Con- stitution of 1776 revived the custom of recommendation to the governor by the county courts, and, in 1792, an act was passed providing that the county court of each county should annually nominate to the governor three of the jus- tices, one of whom should be commissioned as Sheriff by the governor. Failure to make the nominations subjected each justice so failing to a fine of two hundred dollars. If the person appointed Sheriff failed to give bond within two months, he was liable to a fine of three hundred dollars, and one of the other justices nominated was to be appointed Sheriff. A Sheriff might be continued in office for two years with the consent of the governor. In 1819, provision was made for the event that none of the justices nor any other person in a county would accept the office. These provisions of law remained in force, substantially, till the Constitution of 1851 went into operation, by which a Sher- iff was to be elected by the voters of each county for a term of two years.
The following is a list of the Sheriffs of Monongalia County so far as their names can be had.
292
HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
LIST OF SHERIFFS.
Name.
Sworn in. Name.
Sworn in.
*John Dent, about
1776
John P. Barnes,
August 25, 1823
David Scott,
1783
Adam Brown,
August 24, 1824
Francis Warman,
1786 Ralph Berkshire,
March 4, 1825
John Dent,
1790
Ralph Berkshire,
March 29, 1826
Thomas Butler,
1793
Jesse Busey,
March 26, 1827
Thomas Chipps,
1794
Jesse Busey,
March 24. 1828
Robert Ferrell,
1797
Anthony Smith,
March 23, 1829
James Scott,
1798
Anthony Smith,
March 22, 1830
James Scott,
1799
David P. Morgan,
March 30, 1831
John T. Goff,
1800
David P. Morgan,
March 26, 1832
John T. Goff,
March 10, 1801
Thos. S. Haymond, March 25, 1833
Russel Potter,
March 1, 1803
David Musgrave,
March 23, 1835
Elihu Horton,
1804
David Musgrave,
March 28. 1836
John Fairfax,
Sept. 10, 1806
David Musgrave,
April 24, 1837
Stephen Morgan,
Sept. 15, 1808
Jobn Nuzum,
March 26, 1838
Lemuel John, Sept. 11, 1809
1810
John Evans, John Evans,
March 22, 1841
Thomas Miller, December 15, 1812
Samuel Minor,
March 28 1842
+Joseph Campbell,
1815
Samuel Minor,
March 27, 1843
TA. P. Wilson,
1816
Owen John,
March 25, 1844
A. P. Wilson,
1817
Owen John,
March 24, 1845
Rawley Evans,
July 27, 1818
Aaron Barker,
March 25, 1846
John Cox.
1819
Aaron Barker,
March 22, 1847
Rawley Evans,
Jan. 25, 1820
Geo. McNeely,
March 27, 1848
John Cox,
August 28, 1820
William John,
March 25, 1850
John Cox,
August 28, 1821
William John,
March 24, 1851
John P. Barnes,
August 26, 1822
Thomas Meredith,
March 22, 1852
[The following were elected by the people.]
A. C. Dorsey,
1852 | George W. McVicker, 1866
John T. Fleming,
1854
Alpheus Garrison,
1870
John T. Fleming,
1856
George W. McVicker,
1872
James Odbert,
1858
Samuel Hackney, 1876
James Odbert,
1860
George W. McVicker,
1880
John Brand,
1862
This old tax-receipt was found among the papers of the late Capt. William Sigler, of Kingwood, Preston County :
WILLIAM SIGLER, Dr. (To 2 Horses. $0.42
1814 < To 22 acres of land. (To 4 lots in Kingwood
1×10
To 1 tythe, 2 Horses & 3 cattle.
1-01
To 22 acres of land.
0 ·· 04
To 4 lots in Kingwood.
1.45
To 1 Dog [?].
1 .. 00
(To 1 tythe & 1 Horse 0 ·· 61
0.033
1816 < To 23 acres of land.
(To 2 lots in Kingwood.
1 ·· 20
John Nuzum,
March 25, 1839
Nicholas Vandervort,
March 23, 1840
Nicholas Vandervort,
1811
Thos. S Haymond, March 24, 1834
John T. Goff,
March 12, 1802
0 ·· 04
1815
*As to first Sheriff, see page 53.
+ Joseph Campbell and A .: P. Wilson were coroners; no sheriff was appointed, and the county court made them acting sheriffs.
POLITICAL HISTORY. 293
To 1 Horse 0 ·· 18
1817 - To 22 acres of land .. 0 .. 033
To 2 lots in Kingwood. 1 ·· 20
Received payment of the above, $8 .. 32}
EDGAR C. WILSON, Deputy for A. P. WILSON. collector & coroner of Monongalia.
COUNTY SURVEYORS.
County Surveyors were, at the first, nominated by the county courts and commissioned by the governor (act of October, 1783). All candidates for the office (except those in the counties of Monongalia, Harrison, Randolph and Ohio, who were to be examined by the trustees of Randolph Academy), were to be examined by the president and professors of William and Mary College. By act of 1815, candidates were to be examined by the surveyors of "two adjacent counties," then (act of 1821) by any two surveyors of the State. Prior to 1831, they held their office during good behavior; in this year their term of office was made seven years. By the Constitution of 1851, the office was made elective, and the term of office six years.
LIST OF COUNTY SURVEYORS.
[The year is that of appointment or election.]
1781 .-* John Madison. 1866 .- David Wiedman.
1784 .- Samuel Hanway.
1868 .- John E. Price.
1837 .- John Hanway. 1870 .- Thomas R. Evans.
1852. - John R. Drabell.
1872 .- Thomas R. Evans.
1863 .- William Price.
1876 .- James M. Stewart.
1864 .- George Price.
1880 .- James M. Stewart.
ASSESSORS.
These officers were called Commissioners of the Revenue in Virginia, and have been known as Assessors since the creation of West Virginia. Until the Constitution of 1852, they were appointed annually by the county court; by that instrument they were made elective officers, and their term
· See page 85.
294
HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
of office was two years. In West Virginia, the term of office was two years until the Constitution of 1872, when the term was made four years.
LIST OF ASSESSORS.
Eastern District
Western District.
1796 to 1813 .- Alex. Brandon.
1796 to 1805 .- Joseph Trickett.
1815 to 1818 -Charles Byrne.
1805 to 1821 .- Rawley Martin.
1818 .- Isaac Cooper.
1831 .- John S. Barnes.
J819 .- Thomas S. Haymond.
1822 to 1824 .- David Musgrave.
1821 to 1831 .- Isaac Cooper.
1831 to 1833 .- Ralph Berkshire.
1825 to 1827 .- Aaron Barker.
1827 to 1830 .- Rawley Evans.
1833 .- Thomas Watson.
1830 to 1832 .- William J. Willey.
1834 .- Isaac Cooper.
1832,-Cornel Vanzant.
1836 to 1838 .- William John.
1838 to 1840 .- Seth Stafford.
1840 to 1842 -Thomas Watson.
1842 .- W. W. John.
1838 to 1840 .- George Dawson.
1843 to 1845 .- Anthony Smith.
1845 .- W. W. John.
1846 to 1848 .- Rawley Holland.
1848 .- Nelson Berkshire.
1849 to 1851 .- Thomas Meredith.
1851 .- James F. John.
1852 .- Michael R. Chalfant.
1854 .- Michael R. Chalfant.
1857 .- James Hare.
1858 .- James Hare.
1859 to 1861 .- M. R. Chalfant.
1862 .- John Pierpont.
1863 .- James B. Price.
1864 .- James B. Price.
1864 .- Joseph McCallum.
1866 .- E. Trickett.
1866 .- W. A. Garrison.
1868 .- John I. Swindler.
1868 .- Silas W. Hare.
1870 .- John I. Swindler.
1870 .- Silas W Hare.
1872 .- Henry C. Baker.
1872 .- George Barb.
1876 .- Henry C. Baker.
1876 .- George Barb.
1880 .- W. H. Phillips.
1880 .- B. M. Jones.
Of the sons of Monongalia who have went from the county, settled elsewhere, and been honored with office, we have to mention :
FRANCIS H. PIERPONT, Governor of Virginia in 1861-5, and who was a representative in the Legislature from his adopted county of Marion. He is the third son of Francis and Catharine Pierpont, and was born on the 25th of June, in the year 1814, in a small log-cabin in Union District, Monongalia County. In 1815, his parents
1840 to 1842 .- John Musgrave.
1843 .- John Stewart. William Hood.
1844 to 1846 .- William Lantz.
1846 to 1848 .- W. W. Lazzell.
1848 to 1850 .- Gideon Barb.
1850 .- W. H. Stewart.
1851 .- John B. Lough.
1852 to 1854 .- James A. Hogue.
1856 to 1859 .- Thomas R. Miller.
1859 to 1861 .- Thompson Strosnider.
1861 to 1863 .- Benjamin McCurdy.
1863 .- Benjamin McCurdy.
1835 .- Hillary Boggess.
1832 to 1834 .- William Thomas.
1834 to 1836 .- Nimrod Dent.
1837 .- Henry Boggess.
1824 to 1826 .- James Tibbs.
295
POLITICAL HITSORY.
moved to Harrison County, and fifteen years later to Marion. Gov. Pierpont was educated at Alleghany College, Pennsylvania. He spent some years in Mississippi, where he studied law. He returned to Marion on account of the ill health of his father, and engaged in the practice of the law at Fairmont. He early took an active interest in politics, and was a popular, eloquent and effective public speaker. Dunnington's History of Marion County says that "he was a thorough Abolitionist, and did more than any other man to cultivate anti-slavery sentiment " in this part of Virginia. Gov. Pierpont resides at Fairmont, where, until recently, he was Collector of Internal Revenue.
FELIX SCOTT, better known as Capt. Felix Scott, was the son of Col. David Scott. He read law at Clarksburg, and was married, about 1807, to Nancy, daughter of Capt. John Dent. He served in the Legislature of Virginia in 1811 and 12. He was the founder of the town of Granville. In 1819, he removed to Missouri where he was elected a mem- ber of the Legislature, and to the office of Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, and was a candidate for Governor in 1832, but was de- feated, owing to the opposition of Thomas H. Benton, who, it is said, feared him as a probable rival for a seat in the U. S. Senate. About 1845, Capt. Scott went to Oregon, where he amassed a fortune. He came, in 1858, on a visit to his son George, in Illinois. There he bought some blooded stock. He started with it for his home, which he never reached, and it was always thought he was killed by Indians in the Rocky Mountains. Fearless, brave and generous, with a love for adventure, he had always pushed to the frontier.
JOHN CARY was born in Monongalia County, Virginia, April 5, 1792; removed with his parents to the Northwest
296
HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
Territory, in 1798; from that period until 1812, he labored with his father in the tanning business ; in 1814, he assisted in building the first stone house in Columbus; after which he devoted himself to the various employments of carpen- tering, milling in its various branches, and farming ; in 1825, he was elected an Associate Judge, which office he held for seven years; he was elected to the Ohio Legislature in 1828, 36 and 43; and was elected a Representative, from Ohio, to the Thirty-sixth Congress, [1859-61] serving on the Committee on Agriculture .*
THOMAS J. WEST, son of Nathaniel West, was born in Monongalia County, in 1830; was educated at Smithfield, Penn., taking an academic course. He settled in Harrison County ; was elected to the Legislature in 1870, and, in 1876, was elected State Treasurer. On the expiration of his term as Treasurer, he was appointed Superintendent of the Pen- itentiary, which position he still holds.
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