USA > West Virginia > Summers County > History of Summers County from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 64
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
During his residence in Hinton Mr. Thompson owned and re- sided on the brow of the hill overlooking Avis, where Dwight James now resides, and the new high school is being built.
647
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
JOSEPH A. PARKER.
Joseph Alexander Parker was born in Monroe County in 1863, the same year the State of West Virginia was formed, and, as the Colonel suggests, "two great events in the same year." At the age of five years he, with five other small children, was left an orphan, depending on the care of a widowed mother, and their pri- vations were many. He walked four miles to the country schools, from which he received a fair common school education.
The first position he ever had was with C. C. & L. A. Nickell, at Nickell's Mills, in Monroe County, as a laborer in a flour and grist mill, at five dollars per month, and boarded at home, walking six miles each day to and from his place of employment, begin- ning work at seven o'clock. From this job he saved enough money to pay his tuition at a business school then being taught by B. F. Humphries, at Nickell's Mills. By working at night-sometimes all night-and on Saturdays driving teams to the railway at Ron- ceverte and Fort Springs, he paid for his board and school sup- plies, until he graduated, receiving from this school his diploma.
He then struck out in the world for "fortune and fame." being recommended to John Cooper, the Hinton merchant, by his former employer. He came to that city, then only a good-sized village, the 30th of May, 1882, then having a capital of $3.50 cash. On June 1st, the following day. he began work with Cooper & Ad- ams (Adams being the later W. W. Adams. attorney. of Hinton). at $8.00 per month and board. He continued in this employment eight months, and he then accepted a position with E. H. Peck in the county clerk's office, as deputy. We next find him clerking in a dry goods store for Jake A. Riffe, on the opposite side of the street from where Colonel Parker's big stores are now located.
Col. Parker began business on his own account in August. 1884, with a capital of $300.00, and with many obstacles in his way, and with much opposition ; but he has succeeded beyond his own ex- pectations, and is now one of the leading business men of the county, being engaged in various enterprises, and his success in his chosen course demonstrates the fact that the road to opulence is open to all.
He built and operated the first successful opera house in the county, relying entirely on his own judgment, and is now enlarg- ing and modernizing the building into one of the best in the State.
648
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
He is a large dealer in and owner of real estate in the city of Hinton, owning two hotels, a saloon, a grocery store and a cloth- ing and general store, is a director in the National Bank of Sum- mers, and is connected with various other business enterprises. He has a great deal to do with the improvements of the town, but generally looks after the interest of Mr. Parker first. He believes greatly in the philosophical proposition that "He that tooteth not his own horn, the same shall not be tooted." His business judg- ment has from his success been demonstrated to be of the first order. In politics he adheres to the Democracy. He is now one of the wealthiest men in Hinton and the largest real estate owner.
Colonel Parker's Military Record.
He enlisted as a private, March 22, 1887, in Company "D," 2d Regiment, Infantry, when Jas. H. Miller was captain, afterwards lieutenant colonel. He was corporal. 1888-90, and sergeant, 1893. He attended the Washington Centennial in New York City, with Captain Albert Sydney Johnston. of the Union and Hinton com- panies. He attended the unveiling of the Lee Monument in Rich- mond as first sergeant. Company D. He was promoted to captain of his old company, October 24, 1890; major of the 2d Regiment, May 23, 1897 ; lieutenant colonel, September 9, 1890, and colonel, September 9, 1898. He, with Companies D. H and F. of the 3d Battalion, was the first to reach the place of rendezvous at Kana- wha City, in 1898, when the call was made for volunteres in the Spanish-American War. He volunteered his services on the con- dition that he receive one of the battalions, he being in command of the 1st and 2d Regiments. When the regiment was made up he could only get a captaincy, and, being of heavy weight, could not endure the walking; therefore, he did not leave with the vol- unteers, but was ordered to take command of the National Guards of the 2d Regiment.
These promotions were made on examinations before a regular board appointed by the adjutant general, and on merit only. Col- onel Parker has the distinction of holding the only two practice marches by battalions ever held in West Virginia-first from Par- kersburg, West Virginia, to Elizabeth. twenty-seven miles from Parkersburg, in July, 1899; and from Charleston to near Belpre. O., twenty-three miles from Charleston, spending six days at each camp. He also held the only regimental encampment ever held in the State, at Charleston, West Virginia, in August, 1900.
649
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Having served over twelve years in the National Guard, being a man of large business interests, he resigned and retired from the active service, and was placed on the retired or superannuated list, still at this date holding his rank and commission, but not in active command.
On September 1, 1900, he sailed from New York City for Paris, France, and attended the International Exposition held in that city in 1900, making both trips across the sea as "Chairman on Enter- tainment" by unanimous election of the passengers. He has vis- ited all the expositions on this continent, and has been an ex- tensive traveler, seeking information by travel of the affairs of the world in general. He was at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893; Paris, France, 1900: Buffalo, N. Y., 1901 ; St. Louis, Mo., 1905.
He was the owner of the Opera House in Hinton at the time of the disaster on July 4, 1894, out of which has grown numerous actions at law, and from which has grown quite bitter controver- sies, legal and personal, with a number of the legal fraternity and others, the Fletcher case being one of the most famous of many litigated cases of the records, and an account of which is given more in detail. His experience in the courts has been varied, with the scales balancing from one side to the other. Frequently the Colonel acts as his own counsel, with the usual results, that it gets him in deeper for more costs and greater trouble to get extricated.
Colonel Parker has never been a politician, but was the nomi- nee of his party in 1894, but was defeated in the landslide in which the entire Democratic ticket went down.
C. L. PARKER.
C. L. Parker is a brother of Colonel J. A., also a native of Monroe County, becoming a citizen of this county early in the eighties. In 1892 he was elected constable for Greenbrier District, holding that position to the general satisfaction of the people, and so well that at the expiration of his term of four years he was again elected as justice of the peace for his district, being the nominee of his party, at which the election took place, and is now serving his second term of four years. He has made a faithful and enterprising official, conscientious and scrupulous, having been re- versed but a few times, and his judgments have uniformly been affirmed by the higher courts. He has also been elected a member of the city council, which position he now fills, and is the best street commissioner the city ever had.
650
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
He married Miss Ludie McVey, a daughter of Rev. G. W. Mc Vey, and is one of the enterprising citizens of the city of Hinton.
GOOCH.
One of the first settlers and pioneers of Hinton was Dr. Ben- jamin Porter Gooch. We think he was the first. He was the first physician who located or practiced medicine in the town and mountainous country surrounding. He was a native of Charlottes- ville. in Albemarle County, Virginia, and the son of Hon. Alonzo and Mary J. Gooch, born on the 14th day of July, 1843.
In 1857 his father emigrated from Virginia to Princeton, in Mercer County, and engaged in farming and in the practice of the law. While a boy Dr. Gooch matriculated at Allegheny College, and located at Blue Sulphur Springs, in Greenbrier County, then Virginia-a college then established, where many of the after- celebrated history-makers and statesmen of the State were edu- cated, including Hon. A. N. Campbell. Governor Henry Mason Mathews, Rev. Dr. G. W. Carter, and others. Dr. Gooch's edu- cation was interrupted by the declaration of hostilities between the States in 1861, and he enlisted in the Confederate Army when a boy of seventeen years of age, in Company "A," 17th Virginia Cavalry, commanded by Colonel Henderson French. At the Bat- tle of Lewisburg. May 22. 1862. he was dangerously wounded by a ball passing through his face, and later he received four other severe wounds. In 1863 he was promoted to sergeant major of his regiment. In August, 1864, after being wounded, he was cap- tured at the Battle of Moorefield, in Hardy County, and trans- ported to Camp Chase, Ohio, where he remained a prisoner of war until March. 1865. After his discharge from prison he re- turned to his home in Mercer County, with no property only an honorable and manly record.
On the close of the war he began the study of medicine with Dr. Isaiah Bee, the famous war surgeon, at Princeton, Mercer County, after which he attended the Virginia Medical College, at Richmond, Va., from which he graduated in 1870. One of his professors was the celebrated surgeon, Dr. Hunter McGuire. He began the practice of the profession at Big Bend Tunnel soon after his graduation in 1871, which was then in course of construc- tion by the C. & O. R. R., and from thence came to Hinton, when the town consisted of one log house, and the population of one lone family, he being the first settler of the city.
651
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
On the 22d day of May, 1879, he was married to Mrs. Ellen Adair Waldo, daughter of James Adair, of Giles County, Virginia, and widow of Captain Thomas P. Waldo, of Company "C," 17th Virginia Cavalry. Immediately after his marriage he permanently located in Hinton, then a town only in name.
Dr. Gooch practiced his profession actively and energetically as long as his health permitted. In politics he was an earnest Democrat. In 1876 he was elected to the House of Delegates, and re-elected again in 1878, serving two full terms, and was an able, active and zealous officer, loyal to the people and faithful to his county and constituents.
In 1899 he professed religion under the ministry of Rev. How- ard, the famous evangelist, and was baptized by immersion by the Rev. Dr. Follansbee, of the M. E. Church South, of which de- nomination he became a member, and of which he remained a consistent one until his death, which occurred February 12, 1892. He was a Mason, one of the charter members of Whitcomb Lodge, No. 62, now Hinton Lodge, No. 12, and was buried with Masonic honors at his father's residence near Princeton. He was survived by his wife and two sons. The latter both followed in the foot- steps of their father, studied medicine, and became physicians and surgeons of note-J. Adair Gooch, the older, the first child born in Hinton or Avis, and Carlos A., the younger.
Dr. Gooch was a man of strong personality, and a useful man in the community which he aided to found-void of deceit, and de- spised hypocrisy. He stood by his friends, and his enemies knew where to find him. He was a friend of the poor, and there are few persons who had occasion to command his services who do not remember his leniency and kindness of heart. His practice extended for miles back from the river. All public enterprises re- ceived aid and encouragement from him.
Some years before his death he and Dr. John G. Manser formed a copartnership, and practiced their profession together under the firm name of Manser & Gooch.
The wife of Dr. Gooch still survives him, and is noted for her earnest church and charitable works. She was one of the founders of the Missionary Baptist Church at Hinton, and was one of the charter members of that society, with Rev. Martin Bibb for pas- tor. It was through the efforts of this little band of Christians that the first church edifice was erected in Hinton, which is now known as the First Baptist Church of Hinton.
The two sons of Dr. Gooch both graduated in medicine at the
652
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Medical University of Louisville, after having taken a general course at the State Normal School at Athens. J. Adair was for some time a partner with Dr. Palmer, one of the professors at Louisville. Later he returned to Hinton, and located finally at Beckley, when he married in 1899, at which place he died on the 19th day of June, 1900, from paralysis, leaving a widow surviving him, but no children. His remains were buried at Hinton, with Masonic honors.
Dr. Carlos A. Gooch married and located at Oak Hill, W. Va., in Fayette County, where he is engaged in the successful practice of his profession. being a physician of fine attainments and a gen- tleman of character.
This family of Gooches are direct descendants of the Governor of Virginia of that name, and the people of that name have been makers of history of the old Commonwealth as well as of the new one.
CAMPBELL.
A. L. Campbell, the present and third surveyor of the county, resides on a farm on Greenbrier River, inherited by him from his father, Clemens I. Campbell, of Gap Mills, Monroe County, who was born near Red Sulphur Springs, May 3, 1821, and married to Elizabeth Gwinn, near Lowell, January 18, 1848, and to whom there were born ten children. as follows: Elizabeth O., Mary R., who married the late M. A. Manning, of Talcott : Charles C., Sa- rah E., Elizabeth G., Lewis R., John C., Andrew L. and Wilber G. His father was a farmer and stock man, and the owner of consid- erable property. He died January 17. 1873, and his wife died De- cember 8. 1880.
Andrew L. Campbell was born February 16, 1865, near Gap Mills, in Monroe County, and moved to Summers County on Sep- tember 17, 1886, and married at Barger's Springs, May 25, 1887, to Miss Eliza McKendree Webb, to whom have been born ten children, as follows: Carrie L., born May 19. 1888; Isaac. Sep- tember 9. 1889; Calvin I., March 23. 1891: Ethel E .. August 18, 1893: Jennings Bryan. June 16, 1895: William P .. November 19, 1887: Howard M .. December 27, 1900: Myrian A .. December 8, 1902: and Adrian Bernice and Charles Basil. twins, February 24, 1905.
He was the nominee of the Democratic party for county sur- veyor in 1896, and again 1900 and 1904. and is now serving his third term, and is an efficient and reliable officer, having the full
653
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
confidence of the people, being nominated each time without op- position. His predecessors have been John E. Harvey, who served two terms and declined a further nomination, and the other, the late Michael Smith, was the first surveyor elected in the county, but was defeated for the nomination in 1888 by Mr. Harvey, hav- ing held the place since 1874-sixteen years. Joseph Keaton was appointed on the formation of the county, and held until the first general election.
The farm of 350 acres now owned by Mr. Campbell, and on which he resides, is known as the Caruthers farm, and was pat- ented by the State of Virginia, by grant to Mathias Kessinger, on the 8th day of August, 1789, by Governor James Wood, of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The branch running through the lower end of the farin is known to this day as Kessinger Branch, named after the patentee, Mr. Kessinger, and the famous run known as Dog Trot is at this farm. A part of the second house built on this farm is still standing, and is over 100 years old. It has a chimney of stone at foundation 7 x 10 feet, and burned wood seven feet long. There are but three of the original corner trees still standing on this survey. One large oak on the bank of the river was cut by A. L. Campbell in January, 1905, and the growths were counted, which showed it to be 320 years old. The tree was perfectly sound, but had been dead for some years, and was cut to save the stump as a corner and landmark of the survey.
This farm was at one time owned by Caruthers, who built the famous "Caruthers Road" to it from the Salt_Sulphur Springs, which was then owned by Caruthers & Erksine. The road was built in order to make an outlet to the springs for the transporta- tion of the produce grown on it to support the springs.
The famous "Stony Creek Canyon" is near this place. In 1905 the excellent frame farm house on the farm was destroyed by ac- cidental fire, and Mr. Campbell has since erected a new frame resi- dence on the site of the one destroyed. Mr. Campbell is one of the enterprising farmers of the county, maintaining twenty-seven cows on his farm, on which he erected a concrete silo, the sec- ond in the county. A. E. and C. L. Miller building the first. He is a Bryan Democrat, and an elder in the Lowell Presbyterian Church. He is a breeder of fine stock and practices scientific farm- ing, as well as a scientific surveyor and engineer. He laid off and planned the original plat of the Greenbrier Springs property for the present company. On the organization of the Summers Dairy and Food Co., he was elected a director and president.
-
654
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
PECK.
The Peck family is one of the oldest families in the upper and middle New River Valley. They are of German stock.
Jacob Peck, the original ancestor, was born in Germany in 1696, and came to America and settled in Pennsylvania first, and from there came to the Valley of Virginia, near Staunton, in 1744. He married Elizabeth Burden, a daughter of Benjamin Burden, who was famous as the agent of Lord Fairfax. Benjamin Burden was from England. He met John Lewis, of Augusta, at Williams- burg, and went on a hunt with him in the valley, and captured a white buffalo, which he shipped to Governor Gooch, whereupon the Governor, being so well pleased, issued his patent to Burden for 100,000 acres of land on James River, and these lands on the James he gave to his daughter Elizabeth, who married said Jacob Peck. Jacob Peck left a grandson, Benjamin, who settled on Sink- ing Creek in 1785, in Giles County, and who left three sons, Jacob, Benjamin and Joseph. John and Benjamin married sisters, Eliza- beth and Rebecca Snidow, daughters of Colonel Christian Snidow, and Jacob married Melina Givens.
John Peck left the following sons: Wm. H., Christian L., Jo- seph A., Dr. Erastus W. and Charles D. His daughters were Mary, who married Benjamin Burden Peck; Margaret, who mar- ried Chas. L. Pearis: Clara, who married John H. Vawter, the celebrated surveyor of Ham's Creek, in Monroe County; Jose- phine, who married a Phillips: Ellen, who married Dr. R. B. Mc- Nutt ; Martha, who married Judge John A. Kelly, and one other daughter, whose name is not known, who was married to Edwin Amos.
William H. Peck, son of John. settled in Logan County ; hence the Logan generation of Pecks. Joseph A. emigrated and settled in Texas. Christian L. settled in Giles County, but left a son, Chas. Wesley, a Southern soldier, and John H.
Dr. Erastus Peck was thrice married, and left ten children : Amos, Josie, Chas. D., Jas. K., a daughter, Lucretia, who married Dr. D. W. McClaugherty ; another, Maggie, married Judge Hugh G. Woods; Clara married J. Kyle McClaugherty; Fannie married John Adair, and Rachel, a Fulton.
Benjamin Peck left six sons : Pembroke P. Peck, James H., Jacob A., Erastus and B. Wallace. The latter was killed at Gettysburg. Charles L., Erastus H. and Pembroke P., the latter
11
ANDREW L. CAMPBELL, Surveyor and Farmer.
CAPTAIN FRANK M. GALLAGHER, Railway Conductor and Twice Elected to the Leg- islature.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
AST A. LONIX AND TIM-N'FONDATIONE.
655
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
being the father of Dr. Shannon P. Peck, and E. H. being the father of Dr. Benj. W. Peck, of Raleigh County. Pembroke P. Peck married Anna E. Butt, a daughter of Dr. Butt, of Centre- ville, Monroe County, and in addition to Dr. S. P. Peck, they have three other sons: D. Harry Peck, of Hinton; Leonidas M. Peck, of Lewisburg, and Dr. Robert C. Peck. P. P. Peck came to Hinton at its formation, and was deputy county clerk and school land commissioner, one of the first, and has been engaged in the mer- cantile business. E. H. Peck was clerk of the county for twenty- four years, and lives in Hinton. He was also agent for the Cen- tral Land Company for many years. Charles L. Peck was the founder of the Hinton "Independent," and is now living in Pipe- stem District.
MAJOR RICHARD WOODRUM.
Richard Woodrum resides on Wolf Creek, in the Forest Hill District side of the line, on the farm descended to him from his father, John Woodrum, one of the first settlers of that neighbor- hood. His mother was a Miss Juda Meador. He was seventy- two years of age on the 5th day of September. 1905. Major Wood- rum enlisted in the Confederate Army at the breaking out of hos- tilities between the North and South in 1861, and was discharged on the 24th day of July, 1865. He was a volunteer in Captain L. C. Thrasher's company, attached to Edgar's Battalion ; was first promoted to lieutenant, and then to a major in the regular army. on account of bravery in action. Major Woodrum was one of the bravest soldiers that ever carried a gun. He was captured and imprisoned in Johnson's Island, Camp Chase, Pt. Lookout, Ft. Delaware, Morris Island, and at the mouth of the Savannah River. He was one of the immortal six hundred which were held and treated as retaliation prisoners. They were held after the Treaty of Peace had been concluded in April. 1864, until July 24th of the same year, when they were discharged and exchanged. He was in a number of the principal battles of the Rebellion, including the Battle of the Wilderness, and Seven Days around Richmond.
He married a Miss Eliza Maddy, of Gallipolis, Ohio. He has two sons, Charles L. and John F. Woodrum. John F. resides at this time in the city of Hinton, and is employed as a trainman on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, having volunteered and served out his term of service, being one of the soldiers who fought in the Philippine Islands after their purchase from Spain. Charles
. 656
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
L. was one of the best educators of the county, a very finely edu- cated civil engineer, and is now applying himself to agricultural pursuits, he and his father residing on the same farm, which is practically owned by the former at this time.
Major Woodrum is one of the few rebel soldiers in this sec- tion who came out of the war a Republican, having been a Repub- lican practically since the formation of that great party, being a high tariff advocate. After the war he met with considerable financial disasters, by reason of his indorsements for his friends and unfortunate financial speculations. While he always votes the National Republican ticket and supports its policies, he is not a hide-bound politician, and in local matters usually votes in the in- terests of his county, and stands by his friends. He is a brother of William Woodrum, who was slain during the war at the mouth of Hungart's Creek, and a cousin of the famous Allen Woodrum, a color bearer, who was shot to death in the Battle of Cold Harbor.
Armstrong Woodrum was an uncle of Major Woodrum, who died at a very advanced age.
THE GWINN FAMILY.
I am of the opinion that the first settlements in this county of the Gwinns and Grahams, Kellers and Ferrells, on Greenbrier River, near Lowell, was a little later than that fixed by Mr. Gra- ham in his History, although I have no positive evidence that I am correct, and make this statement from the circumstances of the dates of the land patents to those first settlers being at a later date than the date fixed by Mr. Graham. However, it is very probable that the first settlers located and remained some years on the grounds before carrying their occupation of the lands into patents.
Samuel was the first person of that name to settle in this county, and the evidence seems to show that he, with the Gwinns and Grahams, came together from the same section in Ireland to this country, and first located in the same neighborhood, on the Calf Pasture River, in Virginia, from thence moving across the Alleghenies on to the Greenbrier, near Lowell, his emigration gradually proceeded West after the danger from the Indian depre- dations had partially disappeared, and at the termination of the Revolutionary War of 1776.
Samuel Gwinn, Sr., was the original ancestor of all the Gwinns
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.