History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 102

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Mr. Garvin married Miss Clara Ward, of Kirkville, lowa. in which state she was born and reared. and they have five children: Ray W. is an employe of the Clarksburg Ex ponent, at Clarksburg, this state, and is a successful young newspaper man; Marie is a member of the class of 1922 in the West Virginia Wesleyan College, at Buekbannon; Dean is a commercial salesman; and Reed and Lotta are the younger members of the parental home eirele, the former being a high school student.

THE CITY AND COUNTY BANK in the City of Moundsville, judicial center of Marshall County, is one of the sub- stantial and well ordered banking institutions of this sec- tion of the state. It was organized and incorporated in 1912, in May of which year it initiated business. Its original capital stock of $25,000 was increased to $50,000 in the year 1918, and the following year recorded its in- crease to the present paid-in capital of $100,000. The bank now has a surplus fund of $15,000, and its deposits at the time of its report, June 30, 1921, aggregated $332,097.22.

B. F. Ilodgman, the chief promoter in the establishing of this representative financial institution, has continued from the beginning a member of its board of directors, and James W. Garvin has been president of the bank from the time of its incorporation. W. E. Peabody, first vice presi- dent, and F. Harris, second vice president, likewise have served as such from the inception of the business, and John Fish, the original cashier, is now eashier of a bank at Sistersville, Tyler County. The second cashier was Benjamin Peabody, and in 1916 he was succeeded by the present ineumbent, A. D. Ayres. The well equipped build. ing utilized by the bank was purchased for the purpose in 1918 and was fully remodeled. modern safety vaults of the best type being installed and also an improved type of burglar alarm.

CLARENCE BROWN DILLE has been a member of the Mor- gantown har for forty-three years, and among its distin- guished members. By his learning, industry. ability and character he holds a high rauk, while he is no less valued in the community as a liberal minded and enterprising citizen. He was born at Kingwood, Preston County, West Virginia, May 28, 1857, and is a son of the late Judge John Adams and Linnie Suter ( Brown) Dille.

The Dille family has been identified with the affairs of Morgantown, of Monongalia County and of the State of West Virginia for three-quarters of a century, and for two generations has held honorable place at the har of the county. The founder of the family in Monongalia County and, perhaps. its most distinguished member was the late Judge John Adams Dille, of Morgantown, who was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, July 19, 1821. He

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was the son of Ezra Dille, a native of New Jersey, who set- tled at Prosperity, Washington County, Pennsylvania, early in the nineteenth century, where he married a daughter of David MeFarland and sister of Maj. Samuel M. Me- Farland. The MeFarland family was prominent in Wash- ington County prior to the Revolutionary war. Daniel Me- Farland, great-grandfather of Clarence B. Dille, held the rank of colonel in the American Army during the struggle for the winning of American independence, and had com- mand of the organization known as the "Rangers," who were volunteers from Monongalia County, Virginia, which county extended at that time from Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania, to the Gauley River, Virginia, in service on what was then the frontier. His son, John McFarland, was a captain in the American Army and was killed at the bat- tle of Lundy's Lane, his sword, which was held tightly grasped. in his hand in death, being one of the prized pos- sessions of Clarence B. Dille. Maj. Samuel MeFarland, son of Daniel MeFarland, was an attorney of Washington County, Pennsylvania, for many years. He was au ardent abolitionist, and in 1856 was the candidate of the aboli- tion party for the office of vice president of the United States. He willed his fortune "to the Freedmen," but the will was broken, his family becoming his heirs.

John Adams Dille was educated iu the free schools of Pennsylvania and at Greene Academy, near Washington, Pennsylvania, (now Washington and Jefferson College), an institution which he entered in 1839, taking the full course. Poor health caused him to leave school before he grad- uated, but later he received his Master of Arts degree. In the spring of 1843 he came to Kingwood, Preston Coun- ty, West Virginia (then old Virginia), where during that and the following year he read law and taught a select school, which sehool later became known as Preston Acad- emy. He was licensed to practice law in March, 1844, en- tered upon his professional career at Kingwood in the same year, and in 1845 became a member of the law firm of Brown and Dille, the senior member of which was the llon. William G. Brown, the law preceptor of the junior member. This association was terminated in 1849, when Judge Dille became senior member of the law firm of Dille and Hagans, the junior member being the Hon. M. B. lagans, which association continued until the removal of Mr. Hagans to Cincinnati in 1850, when he was elevated to the bench.

Judge Dille early won a prominent place at the Preston County bar and became active in public affairs of the com- munity generally. He served as a delegate from Preston County in the Constitutional Convention of West Virginia in 1861, in which body he was conspicuous as a member of the committee of judiciary and county organizations, and after the framing of the constitution went before the people of different sections of the state, where his efforts had much to do with its adoption. He was also one of the distinguished citizens sent to the national capital for the purpose of the admission of the new state of West Vir- ginia into the Union. In 1862 Judge Dille was elected, without opposition, to the office of judge of the Second Judicial Cireuit, composed of the counties of Monongalia, Preston, Taylor and Tucker and was re-elected and re- mained on the bench until 1873. In the fall of 1864 Judge Dille removed his residence to Morgantown, where, after he left the bench, he entered private practice and looked after his landed estates in Monongalia and Preston coun- ties. His death, which was widely mourned, occurred De- vember 19, 1896.

In 1849 Judge Dille was united in marriage with Rachel Jane Hagans, daughter of the late Elisha M. Hagans, of Kingwood, West Virginia. Mrs. Dille, who was a graduate of Washington (Pennsylvania) Seminary, died April 12, 1852, leaving one son, Oliver Hagans Dille. In 1853 Judge Dille married Linnie Suter Brown, a daughter of Thomas Brown, of Kingwood, and a graduate of Washington (Penn- sylvania) Seminary. She hore him a son and a daughter : Clarence Brown, and Mary, who married Prof. F. L. Emery, who was a distinguished professor of mechanics in the West Virginia University and who departed this life De- cember 31, 1919. Mrs. Dille died in 1905.

Clarence Brown Dille attended the public schools in b boyhood and youth and was then sent to the University West Virginia, from which he secured his Bachelor of Ar degree in 1877 and his Bachelor of Laws degree in 188 In the meautime he took a six-year course at Chautauqu He was admitted to the bar of West Virginia in Septer ber, 1878, and in that year entered practice at Morga town in association with his father, under the firm nat of Dille and Dille, which partnership was terminated 1 the death of the senior member in 1896. From the ye 1900 to 1914 Clarence B. Dille was the senior member Dille and Dille, Thomas Roy Dille, his nephew, being t junior member. Since the latter year he has practic alone. Mr. Dille's legal talents are of a solid rather th: a showy character. He is thoroughly grounded iu el mentary principles and possessed of a fine discriminati in the application of legal precedents. While he is a flue speaker, his style is argumentative and noticeable for puri and accurate use of words. He is a thorough scholar, n. only in the learning of the law, but in general literatur Mr. Dille is a ruling elder in the First Presbyterian Chur of Morgantown.

On January 18, 1915, he was united in marriage wij Miss Lucy Beltzhoover, a daughter of the Hon. Geor W. Beltzhoover, au attorney of Shepardstown, West V ginia, who has been in practice at that place for more th fifty years and is a leading member of the bar.

RICHARD JASPER MCFADDEN, a leading contractor Moundsville and a valued member of the Board of Co missioners of Marshall County, was born on a farm ahc four miles distant from Moundsville, on the Waynesbu Road, January 7, 1859, a son of Galbraith S. and Perme Hill (Morton) MeFadden, the former of whom was bc at West Middleton, Washington County, Pennsylvan August 25, 1825, aud the latter of whom was born June 1832. Both of the parents died in 1905, the father on I 8th of November and the mother on the 12th of Februa their son Thomas having died in September of the sa year. Galbraith S. McFadden was a son of James M Fadden, a native of Ireland, whose wife was a Miss Stu: and a representative of the historic Stuart elan of Se land. Within a short period after his marriage Jan MeFadden established his residence in Washington Coun Pennsylvania, and later he became postmaster and a just of the peace at Buena Vista, that state. He was p eighty years of age at the time of his death and his wid lived to the age of ninety-one years.

Galbraith S. MeFadden was a venturesome youth twenty-two years when he made the long overland jourr to California, with a wagon and ox team. He built first sixty-foot over-shot water wheel in California, same being used for the operation of a pioneer stamp n. at Placerville. He remained in California about eight months, then returned and at Moundsville, Virginia (n West Virginia), he married Permelia Hill Morton, dangh of Richard Morton, a farmer and real estate dealer, mi of whose realty at Moundsville, on Seventh Street, still mains in the possession of his descendants. The old Mor homestead was on Parrs Run. Galbraith S. McFad erected a hotel on the old Morton House site in 1875 : which was originally known as the Mound City Ho Prior to his marriage Mr. MeFadden made a second ov land trip to California. On his first trip he had tall with him a dog from Pennsylvania, and at Salt Lake C he left this animal in care of Brigham Young, head of Mormon Church. On the return trip he brought the ( with him, though Young was reluctant to part with it, as? had become attached to the animal. In the period pit to the Civil war Mr. McFadden visited the Southern Stas and hecame indignant at the treatment accorded to sla' His opinions were expressed freely and caused him to come obnoxious to the Southern planters, from whom escaped through the aid of an aged negro whom he H befriended. After his marriage he passed six years 1 the farm of his father-in-law, near Moundsville. He 11 ability as an architect and drew the plans for the West \ ginia penitentiary buildings, including the warden's ho?

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Leserved as warden of the prison four years and cight ogha, and within his regime only one prisoner made a manent escape. He had great faith in the future of deadsville and he erected numerous buildings, established hig mills, opened coal mines on the opposite side of the 1V, and was one of the leaders in progressive enterprise nis day. To prevent the historie Indian mound that iss title to the city from being used as a beer garden, ought the property, which he retained until his death, htsame being now owned by the state and maintained as urk, in accord with provision made incidental to the of the property. He was a stanch republican and 'd two terms in the West Virginia Legislature. When rable in years he was so desirous of once more visiting in Pacific coast that he set forth on the trip, in company vi his son Richard J., and they were at Salem, Oregon, di he was suddenly stricken with illness that there a.inated his life. Of the children Richard J. is the it; James Adams and Margaret died in infaney; Ella a is the wife of William F. Steifel, of Wheeling; Wil- H. resides at New Orleans; Elizabetli Bell is the wife {W. F. Weaver, of Pittsburgh; and Thomas died in Je ember, 1905.

ichard J. McFadden received somewhat limited educa- kal advantages and by self-discipline has effectively come this handicap. As a young man he followed sous occupations in different sections of the Union, and w for some time located at Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. He n employed in erecting steel cranes for steel mills, and itgrading work and house-moving, and finally he engaged m'ontracting, in street paving, sewer construction, rail- "ol construction, etc. He has filled important contracts in nk street-paving, and in his substantial contracting busi- wy he has employed at times as many as fifty men. He we'ed four years as a member of the City Council of Mindsville and was once a candidate for nomination for b Legislature. In 1921 he is serving his third year as a xc missioner of Marshall County, and in his election he u the largest majority ever given to a candidate for this 'e in the county up to that time. As commissioner he is uadvocate of progressive policies and measures in further- ue of the civic and material advancement of the county he is one of the leading men of his home city, his pitical support being given to the republican party.

December 18, 1884, Mr. McFadden married Clara, d.ghter of Charles E. and Laura A. (Wishart) Jackson, al being a native of Marshall County and her father hav- i been born in Marion County, a daughter of Marshall al Jane (Hamilton) Jackson. Mr. and Mrs. McFadden bame the parents of two children: Laura, who died ia 1 1, was the wife of Dr. J. W. Hartigan, of Morgantown; al Nelle is the wife of John H. Fair, of Wheeling, their · child being a son, Jack.

LLOYD D. GRIFFIN. The important post of division chief hernal revenue collector at Clarksburg is held by Lloyd I Griffin, who, since entering upon his duties in June, 1'1, has displayed the same energetic action and capacity f painstaking effort that made his term as sheriff of Har- roa County notable. A native of this county, he has Essed his entire life within its limits, and during his c'eer has had experience in several lines of endeavor vich has broadened his views and added to his equipment : valuable public service.

Mr. Griffin was born on a farm in Harrison County, West 'rginia, November 26, 1877, and is a son of Benjamin C. ad Almira Ann (Swiger) Griffin, natives of the county, ere they spent their lives. Benjamin C. Griffin, who was son of James Griffin, likewise a native of Harrison unty, was a farmer by occupation, and was reared in a ristian home, his father being a Baptist minister. When 3 Civil war came on Benjamin C. Griffin offered his vices, was accepted in the Union army and served through- t the great struggle that followed. At its close he re- rned to the peaceful occupation of agriculture, but the rdships which he had endured during his military experi- ce had affected his health, and he died in 1879, when dy abont forty-three years of age. He was a faithful

member of the Baptist Church, as was also Mrs. Griffin. who survived him for many years and died at the home of her son, Lloyd D., in 1919, aged nearly seventy-seven years. There were eight children in the family, as follows: Lemuel J., and Cora B., both now deceased; Permela E., now Mrs. Sebastian Kelly; James A., de cased; Rosa Anu, now Mrs. Seymour Stark; George N .; Florence M., also deceased; and Lloyd D.

When Benjamin C. Griffin died he left his widow with little more than a family of children, but the worthy woman was equal to the emergency and managed to keep her children together. Lloyd D. Griffin was given the advantages of a grammar school education, which he sup plemented with much study, and at the age of twenty years became a teacher, a vocation which he followed for nine years, during which time, in the summer seasona, he ap- plied himself to farming. Also, oa several occasions, he was employed on public works. Eventually he took a com- mercial course at the Mountain State Business College. Parkersburg, and with this preparation sreured a position as assistant bookkeeper for the West Virginia Bank, at Clarksburg, an institution with which he was identified for ten years, in this time working his way up to the position of assistant cashier. Mr. Griffin resigned this position to enter upon the duties of sheriff of llarrison County, to which office he was elected as the republican candidate in November, 1916, the first republican to be elected in many years. He filled the office for one term of four years from January, 1917, and established an excellent record for faithful service and capable handling of the responsibilities of the position. On June 1, 1921, Mr. Griffin became divi- sion chief internal revenue collector, a position which he still retains, and in which he has also a creditable record for work well and thoroughly performed. Mr. Griffin is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. His religious faith is that of the Baptist Church.

On May 1, 1902, Mr. Griffin was united in marriage with Miss Alberta P. Rogers, daughter of John G. and Melvina (Boggess) Rogers, of Harrison County, and to this union there has been born one son: Joe Rogers, a student at the University of Pittsburgh.

OAKEY STITT GRIBBLE, M. D., ia established in successful practice in the City of Clarksburg, as a specialist in the treatment of diseases of the eye, car, nose and throat, a field in which his special study and broad experience give him position of no minor authority. The doctor was born on a farm near West Union, Doddridge County, West Virginia, August 11, 1876, and is a son of John M. and Elizabeth 1. (Gray) Gribble, both likewise natives of what is now the State of West Virginia, where they were born in Preston County-the father in 1945 and the mother in 1847. The parents now maintain their home at West Union and the father is living retired from aetive business. In former years John M. Gribble was numbered among the represen- tative farmers of Doddridge County, and later he became interested in oil production industry and in banking enter- prise. For many years he was president of the Doddridge County Bank, at West Union. IIc was a valiant young soldier of the Union in the Civil war, and for a long period of years he was a leader in the local councils of the republican party, he having served one term as sheriff of Doddridge County, where he established his residence about 1875, upon removal from Preston County. He and his wife are earnest members of the Baptist Church and in their home county their circle of friends is coincident with that of their acquaintances. Of their children three sons are living: Wallace Bruce, who is associated with the Hope Gas Company, of Clarksburg; Dr. Oakey S., who is the im- mediate subject of this review; and William Dexter, who is engaged in the coal business at West Union.

Doctor Gribble supplemented the discipline of the public schools by taking a preparatory course in the University of Pennsylvania, where also he completed a course in the department of dentistry. from which he received, in 1901, the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. In the meanwhile,

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however, he had determined to prepare himself for the medical profession, and with this purpose in view he en- tered the medical department of the University of Mary- land, in Baltimore, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1904 and with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. For the ensuing year he was resident physician in the Davis Memorial Hospital at Elkins, West Virginia, and thereafter he was engaged in successful general prac- tice at Beverly, Randolph County, until 1911, when he became resident physician in Bay View Hospital, Balti- more, Maryland. After he thus engaged one year he re- turned to Randolph County and engaged in practice at Mill Creek. Later he returned to Baltimore for special post-graduate work, and shortly afterward he was there appointed resident physician at the Presbyterian Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat Hospital. He retained this position until 1916, when he resigned and established himself in prac- tice at Clarksburg where he has since continued a successful specialist in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat.

When the nation became involved in the World war Doctor Gribble, in the latter part of 1918, volunteered for service in the medical corps of the United States Army, and in the same he received a commission as captain, in September of that year. He was assigned to Camp Green- leaf, Georgia, where he remained until January, 1919, when he returned home on a furlough, his honorable dis- charge having been granted in the following March.

Doctor Gribble is actively identified with the Harrison County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society, the Southern Medical Association and the Amer- ican Medical Association. In his home city he is a member of the staff of physicians and surgeons of Mason Hospital. He is a Knight Templar Mason and a noble of the Mystic Shrine.

October 3, 1906, recorded the marriage of Doctor Gribble to Miss Neva Alice Hutton, who was born and reared in Randolph County, a daughter of Eugene E. and Flora B. (Osborn) Hutton, the former a native of Randolph County and the latter of Barbonr County. Eugene E. Hutton is a merchant at Huttonsville, Randolph County, a town named in honor of the family of which he is a member, he being a son of Alfred Hutton, whose kinsman, Col. Elihu Hutton, was a distinguished Confederate officer in the Civil war. Doctor and Mrs. Gribble have no children.

JESSE FRANK WILLIAMS, M. D., has found in his native county ample scope and opportunity for effective service in his chosen profession and is established in successful general practice in the City of Clarksburg. He was born on a farm in Harrison County, March 17, 1882, and is a son of John Wesley and Victoria Virginia (Chidester) Wil- liams, both likewise natives of Harrison County and repre- sentatives of old and honored families of this section of West Virginia. The paternal grandparents of Doctor Wil- lians were Jeremiah and Susan (Morrison) Williams, and the maternal grandparents were James and Rebecca (Hoff) Chidester. The doctor was the third in order of birth in a family of five children, one sister having died at the age of six years. Dr. Harvey C. is a veterinary surgeon aud prosperous farmer of Harrison County; Minnie May is the wife of Howard Jones; and Mary Elizabeth remains at the parental home. John W. Williams was reared and educated in Harrison County and has long been numbered among its representative farmers and substantial citizens, both he and his wife, who still reside on their homestead farm, being earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Doctor Williams passed his boyhood and early youth on the home farm and gained his youthful education in the public schools, and at the age of seventeen years he became a teacher in a rural school district, his pedagogie service being limited to one term. In 1904 he was graduated in the West Virginia Wesleyan College. In consonance with his ambitious purpose, he entered the medical department of the University of Maryland, in the City of Baltimore, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1908. After thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he gained valuable clinical experience by one

year of service as resident physician in the Maryla General Hospital at Baltimore. On the 1st of Novemb 1909, he opened an office at Clarksburg, and here he he built up a large and successful practice that gives h rank as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of 1 native county. He is an influential member of the Harris County Medical Society, and is identified also with t West Virginia State Medical Society, the Southern Medi Association and the American Medical Association. 1 has served several years as county health officer and is n president of the Clarksburg Board of Education. T doctor is a republican in politics, and he and his wife ho membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He h. received the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite of I Masonic fraternity, besides being affiliated also with t. Mystic Shrine and the Knights of Pythias. He is a me ber of the Masonic Club in his home city, member Clarksburg Chamber of Commerce and a Rotarian.

The year 1907 recorded the marriage of Doctor Willia to Miss Anna Morrison, of Braxton County, this state, a they have three children: Jesse Frank, Jr., John West (II), and Martha Virginia.

ISAAC HARDING DUVAL, whose death occurred ou the 1( of July, 1902, at Wellsburg, Brooke County, West Virgin gained much of distinction in connection with the histc of West Virginia and was one of the most revered citize of Brooke County at the time of his death, even as he w one of the most venerable native sons of this county, birth having here occurred September I, 1824. His fatl was one of the founders of the first glass factory west the Alleghany Mountains, and he died when the son Isa H. was a child. As a youth Gen. Isaac H. Duval went Fort Smith, Arkansas, and joined an elder brother who w there conducting a trading post. The future adjutant g eral of West Virginia became a scout on the western plai and gained much experience on the frontier. In 18 doubtless in connection with the Mexican war and 1 admission of Texas as a state, he took a company of India to Washington, District of Columbia, for the purpose effecting treaties, there having been in the party represe tatives of twenty different tribes from the Texas fronti His western adventures included his having command of company which left Coffers Station, Texas, in 1849 a crossed the plains to the newly discovered gold fields California. He was also a member of the historic Lot expedition to Cuba, an attempt being made to aid 1. Cubans in gaining national independence.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 102

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