History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 100

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Lester N. Frantz acquired his early education in Fayette

County, and at the age of seventeen began teaching in the rural schools of that county. Ile taught for four years, graduated in 1901 from the Fayetteville Academy in the normal course, and in 1907 completed his commercial eduea- tion in the Dunsmore Business College of Staunton, Vir- ginia.

Since then for a period of fifteen years Mr. Frantz has been broadening his enterprise and activities in the field of banking and the coal industry. His first experience as a banker was as bookkeeper in the Bank of Mount Hope in Fayette County. He was promoted to assistant cashier, and while thus connected began his conl operations at Mount Hope. In 1910 he organized the Bank of Mullens in Wyoming County, and served as its cashier until 1916, and is now vice president of that institution. Ile is also presi- dent of the First National Bank of Pineville in Wyoming County.

In 1916 Mr. Frantz and his associates bought the con- trolling interest in the American Bank & Trust Company at Iluntington, which was established and chartered as a state bank in 1907. Mr. Frantz is really the netive head of this bank, with title of viee president and cashier. Under the present management the bank building at Fourth Avenue and Tenth Street has been remodeled and the company has enjoyed great prosperity, the total resources of the institu- tion aggregating over $1,600.000.

Mr. Frantz is president of the Swastika Silver & Copper Company, owning and operating a large silver mine in Arizona. He is secretary and treasurer of the Kentucky Land Company of Huntington, secretary and treasurer of the Blanchard-Frantz Realty Company of Huntington, and president of the Mullens Smokeless Conl Company of Mullens. He owns a store and office building at 1113 Fourth Avenue and also a splendid home at 1034 Eighth Street

Mr. Frantz is a member of the West Virginia Bankers Association and has been vice president of the West Vir- ginia section of the American Bankers Association. He has served as a director of the Chamber of Commerce, for two terms was president of the Kiwanis Club of Huntington and has served as diatriet governor of the Kiwanis clubs of West Virginia. He is a demoerat, a member of Mullens Lodge, A. F. and A. M., Beckley Chapter, R. A. M., Hunt- ington Commandery No. 9, K. T., West Virginia Consistory of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling, Beni-Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston, and Huntington Lodge No. 313, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Ile is a member of the Huntington Country Club and the Guyan- dotte Club. During the World war Mr. Frantz was a mem- ber of all the committees for the Liberty Loan and Red Cross drives, and was a "Four- Minute " speaker in ('abell County.

In June, 1908, in Fayette County, he married Florence Harland, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Moon) Har- land, the latter a resident of Huntington. Iler father was a mining superintendent and died in Fayette County. Mrs. Frantz is a graduate of the Normal School at Montgomery. West Virginia, and she taught in Fayette County three years before her marriage. Seven children have been born to them and constitute the family eirele: Ethel, born in 1909; Florence, born in 1911; Dorothy, born in 1913; Lueile, born in 1915; Lester N., Jr., born in 1917; BUl, born in 1919; and Marjorie, born in 1921.

WILLIAM CLIFFORD DE FOREST, M. D. More than a quar- ter of a century has passed since the Clarksburg community first saw William Clifford De Forest as a physician and surgeon. He has been steadily at work in his vocation and is one of the able medieal men of llarrison County.

Ile was born at Warren, Ohio, March 26, 1-66, son of Theodore Remind and Naney (Van Wye) De Forest. His father was a native of Sharon, Pennsylvania, only a few miles from Warren, Ohio, a son of Isaae De Forest. The name De Forest is of French origin. One branch of the family became Huguenots, and on account of religious persecution were driven from France and came to the Amer- ican colonies. Many of the prominent men of that name

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are descended from this earliest ancestor. At one time the De Forest family owned a large part of the farm now occupied by the City of Sharon, Pennsylvania. Theodore R. De Forest was a mining engineer hy training and pro- fession. Going over the great plains to the Pacific Coast, and after returning from the West he continued his pro- fession and eventually was connected with some gold and silver mining propositions in Old Virginia.

William C. De Forest spent the first sixteen years of lis life at Warren, Ohio, where he attended the public schools. His later education was acquired at Christiansburg, Vir- ginia, and he began the study of medicine there under a local physician. For two terms he attended medical lec- tures at the Old Virginia Medical College at Richmond, and then entered Baltimore Medical College, now the University of Maryland, where he completed the required course and received his degree in 1895. The following year, after some professional work in Old Virginia, Doctor De Forest located at Sardis, West Virginia, and in 1907 came to Clarksburg, where he has now been steadily in the service of the pro- fession. He is a member of the Harrison County, West Virginia State and American Medical associations. He is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

In 1891 Doctor De Forest married at Christiansburg, Vir- ginia, Miss Celia Elizabeth Cummings, who was born and reared in that city. Three children have been born to their marriage: Clayee Remine, William E. and Helen Blanche. These children have been given the very best of educational advantages. The older son, C. R. De Forest, was born at Radford, Virginia, January 22, 1892, finished his high- school education in Clarksburg, took his preliminary med- ical work in the University of West Virginia at Morgan- town, and for a time was assistant instructor in bacteriology and pathology at the university. In 1920 he graduated M. D. from the University of Maryland at Baltimore, and for one year was house surgeon in the Jersey City, New Jersey, Hospital. In September, 1921, he returned to Clarksburg and became actively associated with his father in the practice of medicine and surgery. He is a member of a Greek letter fraternity at Morgantown.

The other son, William E. De Forest, finished his literary education in West Virginia University, and in 1921 grad- uated in pharmacy from the Max Morris School of Pharmacy at Macon, Georgia. He is now a pharmacist at Clarksburg.

THOMAS S. BONAR at the age of four score is still a fa- miliar figure on the streets of Moundsville, with much of the vigor of his early years and has reached a green old age in spite of a hard service as a soldier in the Civil war and his long continued duties as a farmer and business man since then.

The Bonar family in Marshall County has done its full share in converting the native forests into valuable farms. It is one of the most numerous families in the county, all the members of the present generation tracing their descent from one of three brothers who came here in pioneer times. Many of the descendants of these pioneers have intermar- ried. They have been numbered among the county's best citizens, and Thomas S. Bonar is especially held in high esteem by all.

The comuion ancestor of the families was William Bonar who came west from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to the Youghiogheny River in Western Pennsylvania. His sons, John, David and James, were the founders of the family in West Virginia, and all of them lived in Marshall County. John Bonar was born in Western Pennsylvania and mar- ried Rebecca Calhoun. Their son, Martin, was the father of Thomas S. Bonar. Martin Bonar was born on Fork Ridge in Marshall County and spent his life here, dying at the age of fifty-three. He cleared up a farm. His wife, Jane Porter, was born near Flossburg, Maryland. Her father, John Porter, had come from Maryland to West Virginia as a young man, married here Susan Major, and they then returned to Maryland where his wife died. When Jane was eight years of age her father brought her and her little sister back to West Virginia to live with their grandmother. Jane Bonar lived on the old homestead until

her death at the age of seventy-one. She reared eleven ch dren, and the three survivors are Thomas S., Jesse L. Moundsville and Mary Ann, widow of William Donley Wellsburg, West Virginia. Four of the sons were soldiers the Civil war, John W., Martin Porter, Thomas S. and Jam C., all in different commands. Martin Porter was captain Company B of the Twelfth West Virginia Infantry, havi recruited the company in Marshall County and served un failing health obliged him to resign his commission.

Thomas S. Bonar who was born on Bowman Ridge Marshall County, November 14, 1841, was reared and ed cated there and as a young man served a period in t State Militia. He answered the first call for three year men, joining the First West Virginia Volunteer Infanti and was with that regiment all through the three years. ] re-enlisted, but was unable to pass the examination on count of physical disability due to two wounds he receive One was in the shoulder and the other in the hand. Wh leaning against a post a shell struck the post and practical disabled his shoulder. After the war Thomas S. Bon engaged in farming on the old homestead which he bougl and he remained active in its responsibilities except for fi years when he operated a store at Moundsville. Mr. Bor made a specialty of sheep raising while on the farm. ] has been active in public affairs as a republican, and twi served as deputy sheriff and also as county assessor. M Bonar is a member of Marshall Union Lodge No. 8, A. and A. M., Moundsville Chapter No. 86, R. A. M. Havi been a Mason for more than fifty years, his anniversa was celebrated in his lodge April, 1921, upon which occasi he was presented with a past masters gold badge. He also a member of J. C. Caldwell Post No. 21, G. A. R., I) partment of West Virginia, in which he is serving his seco term as junior vice commander of the Department of We Virginia, and in 1914-1915 served as assistant quartermasto general, Department of West Virginia.

He and his good wife have lived together since their mi, riage in 1865, a period of fifty-six years. Her maid name was Martha Bonar and they were first cousins. S. was a daughter of John and Lucinda (Gorby) Bonar, } father being a brother of Martin Bonar. Mr. and M Bonar reared seven children: Frank W., a dealer in music instruments at Denver, Colorado; John Hubert, who di at the age of twenty-three while a student of medicine Cincinnati; William P., a Moundsville physician to who further reference is made below; Eustace Irwin, a teacher Mansfield, Ohio; Martin, a professor of medicine in t State University at Morgantown; Alvilda J., Mrs. John Faust, of Meadowbrook, West Virginia; and Bertha, M C. D. Kidd, of Adamson, West Virginia.

Dr. William P. Bonar spent two years in preparation f his career in West Virginia University and finished ] course in Baltimore. He has since been in practice Moundsville, and for eleven years has been a lecturer obstetrics in the Reynolds Training School of the Memor Hospital at Glendale. He is a member in good standing the American, State and County Medical associations, a. was secretary two years and president one year of the coun society. He has an extensive practice, and he and his fam live at the same residence as his parents. Doctor Bon married Grace Bonar, daughter of James A, Bonar, also, descendant of the original Bonar family of Marshall Coun Doctor and Mrs. Bonar have four children, Alma Elfried Naomi Jean, Mathew Dale and Robert Reed.

JAMES D. PARRIOTT. For more than a century the P: riott family have had influential relations with Marsh. County and Moundsville. While he therefore represents 0! of the old families, James D. Parriott, Moundsville attorno is in every sense a citizen of progressive and advanc. ideas, a worker for the welfare of the community and o constantly studying to keep Moundsville apace with model progress.

His great-grandfather was Christopher Parriott, w came from England prior to the Revolution and joined t colonists in their war for independence. He enlisted fro Maryland, was in Washington's army at Valley Forge, W!

Hitlerting

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ouled in the battle of Trenton, and after that war he ovl to Romney, Virginia, where he died in 1-20 in ad- and years. This patriot had four sons, Joseph, John, cas and William, all of whom settled on the Flats of r$ Creek, in the immediate locality of the modern City bundsville. These men were not only early settlers but ranent in the affairs of the community. John Parriott .posented this district in the Virginia Legislature, and ra sed the bill which provided for the creation of Marshall by from part of Ohio County in 1835. He had the wy named in honor of Chief Justice Marshall who had o'ly died. He was a member of the first court of the try and the first sessions of court were held in n Par- ot home. John Parriott also served as sheriff of Mar- a County. Joseph Parriott, who spent his life here and «at the age of ninety-one was a delegate to the first h ling Convention to consider the problem of erecting 17 state from the western counties of Virginia. Joseph att was the grandfather of James D. Parriott.

T, latter's father was the late Capt. George W. Parriott, hwhad a distinguished record as a Union soldier in the le nth West Virginia Infantry, being promoted from e snks to captain. He participated in the border war- r and he and his company once succeeded in recapturing e olonel and another part of the regiment which had e taken by the enemy. Captain Parriott died in 1883 o age of forty-nine. For ten years he had been a ir ter of the Methodist Episcopal Church, closing his ir try at Masontown in Preston County. He married Jane a of Marshall County, who died in 1920 at the age of g y.

Jmes D. Parriott, youngest of the six children of Captain atott, was born at New Martinsville in Wetzel County, 11 16, 1880. He attended public schools, the Manning- nHigh School, the State University, and graduated in wwith the class of 1909. In the meantime he had taught r'our years, and from 1903 to 1907 was county superin- a'nt of Marshall County, in a period marked by many cressive changes in the local school system, changes that n given new standards to educational work.

'.ree years after beginning his law practice Mr. Par- o was elected prosecuting attorney in 1912, and he served reterms, eight years. In 1914 West Virginia went dry, The had the responsibility of providing effective enforce- e. of the state laws in his county. He has been a dele- to state conventions, active in politics, a leader in local iotism during the war, and a man who can be relied p. to give his support to any undertaking involving the or and welfare of his locality. Mr. Parriott is a member Fre Moundsville Country Club, is active in the Methodist Icopal Church, and is a trustee of West Virginia 7 leyan College. He is a member of West Virginia So- E. Sons of the Revolution, and of Maj. H. W. Hunter c, Sons of Veterans of the Civil War, besides other mernal orders. He married Miss Bessie Sadler of Fayette oty, Pennsylvania. They have three children, Foster, u.n and Joseph.

)HN C. SHREVE taught his first school at the age of uity, and since then has given his complete thought and to education as a career. He is regarded as one of Leading authorities on school supervision in the state, and la successful record as teacher, principal and superintend- Mr. Shreve is now superintendent of the schools of I ndsville.

e was born at Burchfield, Wetzel County, West Vir- ia, September 13, 1883. His grandfather, Benjamin leve, settled in Wetzel County before the Civil war. Silas leve, father of Superintendent Shreve, was reared in "zel County and is still living on his farm there. He ried Jane Taylor, a native of Greene County, Pennsyl- tia, but her grandfather was a pioneer of Wetzel County re he took up land. A brother of John C. Shreve is acis Shreve, of the faculty of the Fairmont State mal.

ohn C. Shreve grew up on a farm, attended the dis- it schools and also had some summer normal work to

qualify him for teaching. In the intervals of teaching he attended the West Liberty Normal School, where he gradu- ated in 1911, but prior to this had been principal of the Folsom schools and the Jacksonburg schools. In 1914 Mr. Shreve received his Bachelor's degree from the West Vir ginia Wesleyan College at Buckhannon. For two years he was district superintendent of the Lincoln District in Marion County, beenme principal of the Magnolia High School nt New Martinsville one year, was then superintend ent of the Clay District schools at Littleton in Wetzel County, and on July 1, 1921, entered upon his duties ay superintendent of the City Schools of Moundsville. In 1917 Mr. Shreve received the Master of Arts degree from Ohio State University.

Moundsville is one of the larger independent school dis- tricts of the state. There are tive school buildings, with a staff of sixty-eight teachers, and three principals under the superintendent. The high school has a staff of thirteen teachers and an enrollment of 290 while the total enrollment for the city is 2 286.

Mr. Shreve is a member of the State Educational Associa- tion and former treasurer of the Northwest Teachers Asso- ciation. Ile is a worker in tho Methodist Episcopal Church and Mrs. Shreve is active in the Ladies' Aid Society aml the Woman's Club of Moundsville.

Ife married in 1916 Miss Marjorie Olive lixenbaugh, of Littleton, where she had been a teacher. They have three children : John Willard, Robert Dayton and Frederick Hixenbaugh.

HENRY O. ALESHIRE is vice president of the Huntington National Bank. For nearly thirty years he has been identi- ficd with banking institutions in Huntington and is one of the ablest financiers and business men of that city.

Mr. Aleshire was born at Gallipolis, Ohio, April 19, - 1869. The Aleshire family is of Scotch Irish ancestry and was established in Page County, Virginia, in Colonial times. Reuben Aleshire, grandfather of the Huntington banker, was born in Loudon County, Virginia, in 1806, and as a young man went to Gallipolis, Ohio, where he married and where he conducted a flour milling business. He died in 1886. His youngest son, James B. Aleshire, had a dis- tinguished record in the American army. He was born nt Gallipolis in 1856, son of Reuben and Margaret (Shepard) Alcshire. Margaret Shepard was a native and life-long resident of Gallipolis, where she was born in 1813 and died in 1589. James B. Aleshire graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1850 and has been an army officer forty years. He served as major chief quartermaster of volunteers during the Spanish-American war, in 1901 was appointed to the same rank in the regular nriny, in 1907 to quartermaster-general and in 1912 was raised to the rank of major-general, chief quartermaster, and served until re- tired for disability September 12, 1916. General Aleshire is an unele of the Huntington banker. Edward S. Aleshire, father of Henry O., was born at Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1542 and for many years was in the four milling industry in that city. In 1896 he removed to Huntington, West Virginia, and became manager for the Armour & Company branch house in this city. He died at Huntington in 1904. He was a democrat, very attentive to his duties as a member of the Episcopal Church, and was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. He also had a military record, gnined in the Civil war. He was mustered into service May 29, 1862, in the Eighty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was ap- pointed first lieutenant of Company A of that regiment June 9, 1862, and was mustered out October 1, 1-62. He re-enlisted and was made captain of Company F, Second Ohio Heavy Artillery, August 29, 1$63, and served until mustered out August 23, 1865. With the Eighty-seventh Ohio he participated in the siege and battle at Harpers Ferry and in the surrender of that post on September 15, 1862. As a captain of the Second Ohio Heavy Artillery, he commanded Fort Lytle at Bowling Green, Kentucky, from October 11, 1863, to May 26, 1864, and was member of the General Court Martial at Bowling Green and member of the General Court Martial at Louisville. In May, 1864, he

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moved with his command to Charleston, Tennessee, where he engaged with the enemy under General Wheeler. After- ward he moved to Loudon and then to Knoxville, and com- manded Fort Dickinson at Knoxville and was judge advo- cate General Court Martial and Millitary Commission, Twenty-third Army Corps, Army of the Ohio.

Capt. Edward S. Aleshire married Justine Onderdonk, who was born in New York State in 1845 and resides at 1143 Sixth Avenue in Huntington. They were the parents of seven children: Walter, who died at the age of seven- teen; Henry O .; Edward S., Jr., secretary and treasurer of the Standard Printing & Publishing Company of Hunting- ton; R. P. Aleshire, a prominent citizen of Huntington ; Halsey W., member of H. W. Aleshire Company, mer- chandise broker at Huntington; Morris B., whose address in 250 Fifth Avenue, New York City, where he is in the advertising business; and Justine, who died in infancy.

Henry O. Aleshire was educated in the public schools of Gallipolis, Ohio, graduated from high school, and in 1892 removed to Huntington, where he entered the First National Bank as bookkeeper and was promoted to teller. After a few years he became bookkeeper and teller for the Com- mercial National Bank of Huntington, and with that institu- tion served several years. For about five years he was bookkeeper and teller for the Huntington National Bank. He then returned to the First National as teller, and for three and a half years was office manager at Lynchburg, Virginia, for Armour & Company. On his return to Hunt- ington Mr. Aleshire again served with the First National Bank as teller a year and a half, and when the First Trust Company & Savings Bank was organized in 1910 he was elected secretary and treasurer, holding that office until the company was absorbed by the First National Bank. Then with other associates he organized the Day and Night Bank of Huntington, which opened for business March 25, 1912. Mr. Aleshire was cashier and later vice president and executive head of the Day and Night Bank. January 1, 1920, it was absorbed by the Huntington National Bank, and Mr. Aleshire joined the latter institution and has since been vice president.

During the World war he was associated with all the local patriotic activities, was a "Four-Minute" speaker, and Governor Cornwell appointed him a member of the State Council of Defense and he was county chairman under appointment from W. G. MeAdoo for the third, fourth and fifth loan campaigns. He is a democrat, treasurer and vestryman of the Episcopal Church, member of the Guyan- dotte Club, Huntington Country Club, Old Colony Club and Huntington Lodge No. 313, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Aleshire has one of the most attractive homes on the South Side, at 1001 Twelfth Avenue.

In 1902, at Huntington, he married Miss Grace Shepard, daughter of Calvin and Margaret C. (Menager) Shepard. Her mother, living with Mr. and Mrs. Aleshire, is descended from one of the pioneer French families of Gallipolis, Ohio. Her father, now deceased, owned and operated salt mines near Pomeroy, Ohio. Mrs. Aleshire finished her education in private schools in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

JOHN H. GORBY is in the fifteenth consecutive year of his service as superintendent of city schools of New Martins- ville. For his record here and elsewhere he is one of the leading schoolmen of the state, and he represents a family of long standing and prominent associations with Wetzel County.

Mr. Gorby was born at Bellaire, Ohio, November 20, 1873. However, both his father and grandfather were native West Virginians. His grandfather, William Gorby, was born in 1820, and spent his active life as a farmer near New Martinsville where he died in 1917. Jesse K. Gorby, father of Superintendent Gorby, was born at New Martinsville, July 2, 1846, but was married and lived for a few years at Bellaire, Ohio. He later returned to Wetzel County and has a long record of active participation in the farm- ing and fruit growing of this section. He now lives in New Martinsville, but is associated with his six children in the ownership and operation of a splendid fruit farm three miles east of New Martinsville. Jesse K. Gorby served as a mem-

ber of the Board of Education of the Magnolia Distri number of years, is a republican, is prominent in Methodist Episcopal Church, having served as class le and as Sunday school superintendent. During the Civil he enlisted in the Second West Virginia Veteran Regin Company I, and served eighteen months. Jesse K. G. married Mary Shirley, who was born in England in ] and died at the old home farm in 1902. Their six chil were: Ella, wife of Rev. Adison E. Barnes, who was a forty-two years in his profession as a minister of Methodist Episcopal Church. He and his wife are retired at New Martinsville. John H .; Charles T., men of the firm Gorby Brothers, grocery merchants at Martinsville; Ida May, wife of Lewis Oneacre, a drug at New Martinsville; George I., associated with the Cha Store Company at Pasadena, California; Kersey J. of firm Gorby Brothers at New Martinsville.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 100

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