History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 114

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > West Virginia > History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2 > Part 114

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).

During the period of the World war Mr. Ross was a

lieutenant in the Motor Transport Corps, stationed at Jac sonville, Florida. He is a democrat in politics, a memh of the Kanawha Country Club, active in the Charlesto Real Estate Board, and is affiliated with a number of fra ernal and social organizations, including the Elks, Knigh of Pythias and Odd Fellows.

WILLIAM BURDETTE MATHEWS, clerk of the Supren Court of Appeals, has been a member of the bar thir years, though his time for the most part has been devote to official duties and the demands of extensive busine interests.

Mr. Mathews was born in Marshall County, West Vi ginia, August 27, 1866, son of Christopher C. and Esth (Scott) Mathews. He acquired a public school education and from 1882 to 1889 was a teacher. In 1889 he gra uated Master of Arts from Waynesburg College in Pen sylvania, and pursued his law studies in George Washingto, University, where he graduated LL. B. in 1891 and LL. M in 1892. During 1880-90 he was examiner of public scho teachers in Marshall County, and from 1890 to 1895 w: connected with the Eleventh United States Census, atten ing law school while thus employed at Washington.

Mr. Mathews was secretary to the speaker of the Hou of Delegates in 1897, and from 1898 to 1901 was clerk : the office of the state auditor. He served as assista) attorney general of the state in 1902, and for a number years past has been clerk of the Supreme Court of Appeal

Among other business interests Mr. Mathews is direct of the Virginian Joint Stock Land Bank of Charleston, several building and loan companies, and the Fairview Lar and Development Company. During the World war he w: state director of the Four Minute Men under the committ. of public information. He was one of the organizers, a charter member and a past president of the Charlest‹ Rotary Club, and is a director of the Charleston Publ Library, a trustee of the West Virginia Wesleyan Colleg a member of the American Historical Association, Ame ican Bar Association, International Longfellow Society az has been active in republican politics, being presidenti elector in 1900. He is a Knight Templar, a thirty-secor degree Mason and a Shriner, a life member of the Ell and belongs to the Edgewood Country, Old Colony ar Rotary Clubs of Charleston, West Virginia Society at Was ington, and the Allegheny and Cheat Mountain Clubs.

Mr. Mathews is one of the most prominent laymen the Methodist Church in the state. He was a member the General Conference of the church in 1900 and 190 and in 1911 was a delegate to the Fourth Ecumenic Methodist Conference. He is a trustee of the First Met odist Church at Charleston and represents that church ( the Board of Directors of the Union Mission, of which ] was one of the organizers.

It is appropriate to devote a special paragraph to tl Union Mission, the largest and most successful instituti‹ of its kind in the country. It was founded in 1910, and carried on through the cooperation of all the Evangelic Protestant churches of Charleston, each church being repr sented by two members on the Board of Directors of tl Mission. The buildings and property now owned and use by the Union Mission for its various activities have value of at least a quarter of a million dollars. The ma buildings at Lovell and Clendenin streets include the ne dormitory for orphan children completed in 1922. The are several departments of the Mission work. The gener gospel work is carried on every day in the year, wi gospel meetings every night. In the main building the are sleeping quarters for men and a dining room whe meals are served at a minimum of cost. There is a sta of nurses for the children as well as for the assistance the Missions' staff of physicians and surgeons, the medic department and the dispensary giving free medical treatme where the patients cannot afford to pay. Boys' work an important feature, and this and the children's wo: generally is augmented by a fresh air camp on Venab Branch, Kanawha City, where $20,000 have been investi in buildings and grounds, including a dormitory, auditoriw

John Koblegard

345

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

kles and livestock. The Mission has over 800 acres of 12 at this place known as Abney Park, the gift of the es of the late F. W. Abney.

a October 25, 1900, Mr. Mathews married Miss Eliz- hh Blunden, of Charleston, daughter of the late Rev. har B. Blunden, a Methodist minister who served with h rank of major in the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Mathews . two children: Sarah Esther, a graduate of National < Seminary at Washington; and Elizabeth Blundon, a or in the Charleston Iligh School.

)HN KOBLEGARD. In every prosperous eity a few names ad out as conspienous representatives of that honor and grity which are the foundation stones of commercial en- : rise. Such a name in Clarksburg is that of John Koble- al, now retired after nearly half a century of construetive 0 t as a wholesale merehant.

e was born at Abenade, Sleswig, Denmark, September ,846, son of Niels and Mary (Hanson) Koblegard. Ilis v education in Denmark has since been generously plemented by the great school of a wide experience in 1

youth of nineteen, he and five other young men from same community eame to this country in 1865, just at I close of the American Civil war. In the following year i brether, the late Jacob Koblegard, alse eame to the ted States. John Koblegard for the first two years il at Urbana, Ohio, and for another two years at Spring- e, Ohio, and in the spring of 1869 he and the late en L. Ruhl came to Clarksburg. These young men entered produee business, and from that time forward they c closely associated in their business affairs, also neigh- c: and close friends, until the death of Mr. Ruhl on De- her 18, 1921. After two years at Clarksburg they Poved to Chicago in 1871 and were in the produce business That eity until 1876, going into business there about time of the great fire. Incidentally it should be noted this firm were the first shippers of eggs across the aky Mountains to the Pacific Coast.

n their return to Clarksburg they again acquired their produce business, and in 1880 they entered the whole- grocery business under the firm name of Ruhl, Kehle- El and Company. It was an important and successful t name for about twenty years, and is still well remem- Ed by many grocery men who obtained their early train- in the house. After selling out their interests in the llesale grocery trade, Mr. Koblegard and Mr. Ruhl aided the Koblegard Dry Goods Company and the Wil- Lis Hardware Company as permanent wholesale concerns EClarksburg.

number of years ago the West Fork Glass Company organized, most of the stockholders being Clarksburg cole. After a period of operation the company failed meet the expectation of its founders, and Mr. Koble- il was indueed to take charge of the business. Under i management it grew and thrived, and was put on a od financial basis. Mr. Koblegard continued in control tl about two years ago, when he and others sold their rests. Since then Mr. Koblegard has retired. His I ness career has been more than successful, sinee his I vidual sueeess has also involved the success and pros- cty of others and the community at large. It is safe to that ne citizen of Clarksburg is mere highly respected En Jobn Koblegard. He has been one of the founders the city 'a modern business and institutional affairs. I, public spirit has been a constant quantity in the munity, and it has been manifested again and again, high normally he is strictly a man of business. Political fors have never been sought by him, and he has freely cised his independence in voting, though in national tirs he is a republican. He was reared a Lutheran, but che absence of a church of that denomination at Clarks- ng he became associated with the Presbyterian member- by many years ago, and has been very active in the cause. bas long been a member of the Independent Order of l Fellowa.

fr. Koblegard married in 1873, at Clarksburg, Miss 'sie L. Patton, daughter of James Patton, a Seotchman,

who had the distinction of being one of a number of men who opened one of the first coal mines at Clarksburg. Mr. and Mrs. Koblegard had six children: Lillie, Clara, Robert (deceased), Jessie, Jean and John.

JOHN L. CHAFIN, of Williamsen, is giving loyal and effective service as tax commissioner of Mingo County, and is one of the popular young officials of his native county. He was born at Rugland, this county, en Pigeon Creek, January 22, 1894, and is the son of John Lewis Chafin and Mahulda (Varney) Chafin, who still reside en their homestead farm nt Ragland. The original repre- sentatives of the Chafin family came to what is now Mingo County from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginin and settled near Roekhouse. The Varney family was founded in Mingo (then a part of Logan) County more than eighty years ago. John L. Chafin, Sr., was born May 3, 1848, and thus was a mere hoy at the ineeption of the Civil war, before the elese of which, however, he enlisted and did effective seouting service for the Confederaey. After the war he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, in which beth he and one of his brothers gave loyal service. Ile was a bey at the time the family home was established in what is now Mingo County, and he has been active as a farmer, as a buyer and shipper of live stock and as a merchant. Ile has been influential in local polities, has served as school trustee, and in 1916 was elected tax commissioner of the county, in which office he was sueceeded by his son John L., Jr., the present ineumbent. Mrs. Mahulda (Varney) Chafin was born June 14, 1852, and has passed her entire life in what is now Mingo County. Of their twelve chil- dren eleven are living, the subject of this sketch having been the tenth in order of birth, and his brother B. S. being his deputy in the office of tax collector.

After leaving the high school at Rockhouse Jehn L. Chafin, Jr., completed a course in the Kentucky State Normal School at Louisa. He began teaching in the rural schools when eighteen years of age. and his final position was as principal of the East End graded school at William- sen in 1914. After his retirement from this position he was employed 31 years in the Williamsen post office, which he left to enter the nation's service in the World war. He enlisted April 15, 1918, and at Richmond, Virginia, received training for the radio service, in which he became proficient and was assigned te duty as an instructor, with headquar- ters at Richmond. Ife continued in this service seventeen months and received his discharge in August, 1919. Upon his return home he was appointed deputy sheriff of Mingo County, and in this position he served until he assumed the office of county tax commissioner, as the successor of his father, his election, in November, 1920, having been com- passed by the gratifying majority of 1,005 votes, only one other candidate on the democratie ticket in the county having equalled this record in the election.

Mr. Chafin was elected commander of the local post of the American Legion, but his holding of political office prevented him frem assuming this position. He is a mem- ber not only of the Legion but also of the Private Soldiers and Sailors Association. He is affiliated with the Blue Ledge of the Masenie fraternity at Williamson, as is he also with the local Chapter and Commandery; in the Con- sistory of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling he has received the thirty-second degree, his Rose Croix membership being at Huntington, and he is a member of Beni-Kedem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Charleston. He holds membership also in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Loyal Order of Mnese, and is n communicant of the Pres- byterian Church. His wife is a communiennt of the Pretes- tant Episcopal Church.

December 27, 1920, recorded the marriage of Mr. Chafin and Miss Florence Carter, daughter of Capt. Ross Carter, of Chatham, Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Chafin have a winsome little daughter, Ann Carter Chafin, bern October 13, 1921.

GUSTAV B. WILTSHIRE, of Martinsburg, has had a busy career of over forty years, much of which was spent as a traveling salesman. Latterly his time has been taken np by permanent business interests in the Eastern Panhandle

346

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

of West Virginia, where he is an extensive farmer and horticulturist.

Mr. Wiltshire was born near Leestown in Jefferson County, West Virginia, July 3, 1861. His father, Deacon George D. Wiltshire, was born in the same locality in December, 1816. The grandfather, Bennet Wiltshire, was born August 22, 1787. son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Wiltshire. Of the earlier ancestry the traditional account is that three Wiltshire brothers came from England and settled in Virginia. One of them later going west his descendants being now represented in the Middle West, and two remained in Virginia. Bennet Wiltshire was a farmer, and owner of slaves, and some of these slaves were in- herited by his son Deacon George, who, however, never hought or sold one, and one of his families of negroes was so attached to him that they remained on the place after the war. During the war Jefferson County was invaded hy both armies. George D. Wiltshire hid his valuables, and a trusted slave and himself were the only persons that knew the hiding place. George D. Wiltshire was a devoted member of the Baptist Church and served as deacon many years. His wife was Elizabeth Hearst Moore, who was horn in Jefferson County in 1818. Her father, John Moore, was an extensive farmer and slave owner. Elizabeth H. Wiltshire died May 4, 1897, at the age of seventy-nine. She reared eight children, named Anna Moore, Charles Bennet, James G., Bettie M., Jane Lampkin, Lucy L., Vinnie L. and Gustav B. The son Charles, who was born in 1841, entered the Confederate Army at the breaking out of the war and served until the close. Three days before the final surrender he was wounded, and he died three days after the surrender. The son James, who was born in 1843, also entered the Confederate Army, in 1862, serving under General Moseby. After the war he graduated in medicine from the University of Maryland, and for forty-five years practiced in Baltimore, where he died in October, 1920.

Gustav B. Wiltshire grew up on the home place, was educated under private tutors, graduated from Shepherd College in 1877, and spent two years in Doctor Atkinson's preparatory school at Baltimore. With this preparation he entered upon his career as a commercial traveler, and dur- ing the next twenty-two years his duties took him over fully two thirds of the United States. In the meantime he had established his permanent home at Martinsburg. and he also bought and still owns one of his father's farms in Jefferson County. A part of this is devoted to an orchard, and he is also one of the leading fruit growers of Berkeley County. His farms are conducted by tenants, but he closely supervises the work in the orchards. He has planted extensively on a part of the Flick farm, 31% miles from Martinshurg.

On June 6, 1901, Mr. Wiltshire married Miss Lorena Flick, who was born at Moorefield, Hardy Conntv. West Virginia, only daughter of William H. H. and Lucretia (Clark) Flick, of a prominent family there. Mr. and Mrs. Wiltshire have three children, Harrison Flick, Elizabeth Moore and Gns B. The first is preparing for Princeton University at Mercersburg, while Elizabeth is in the Martinsburg High School and is finishing the grammar school course. All the family are active members of the First Baptist Church, of which Mr. Wiltshire is a deacon and trustee. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Fruit Exchange, and for four years he served as a member of the City Council, running ahead of the ticket at each election. In May, 1920, he was elected mayor. but in August of the same year resigned the office. He did much to arouse cooperation and interest in this section in all the war causes and drives. Mrs. Wiltshire is a graduate of Wilson College, and is chairman of her class for raising the endowment fund. At Martinsburg she is a leader in social and intellectual affairs, being regent of the recently organized Shenandoah Chapter of the Daugh- ters of the American Revolution, is vice president of the Wednesday Afternoon Music Club, a director of the woman's work of the Berkeley Red Cross, a member of the Travel Club and the Women's Missionary Society, and a teacher in the Baptist Sunday School.

W. H. H. FLICK. An Ohioan by birth and a West Vi ginian by adoption, W. H. H. Flick became one of t most prominent men in the newer commonwealth. 1 was a very able and successful lawyer, but ever mo widely known for the breadth of his statesmanship and t services he rendered to his section and the state at lar in advancing political and material prosperity.

W. H. H. Flick, who for many years was a resident Martinsburg, was of distinguished New England ancestr Many of his forebears were prominent in the early histo of the Colonies, and later many fonght in the Revolution establish American independence. His maternal gran parents moved from Connecticut to Northern Ohio av settled in what was then called the Connecticut Reser His paternal grandparents came from Pennsylvania ar afterward moved farther west.

W. H. H. Flick was born near Cleveland, Ohio, Februa 24, 1851. In July, 1861, though a mere boy in size al age, he enlisted in the Forty-first Regiment of Ohio Volu teers. Letters which he wrote home during his servi have recently come to life, and are interesting portraya of war and war time conditions. In the great battle Shiloh he was dangerously wounded in the left shoulde He remained unconscious on the battlefield, but recover sufficiently to find his way to a gunboat. After heir able to leave the hospital he was sent home. and thoug partially disabled performed recruiting service until t] close of the war.

He studied law, and after graduating at the old Clev land Law School came to West Virginia and located : Moorefield. In 1867 he moved to Franklin, Pendlet‹ County. His recognized qualifications as a public lead were soon acknowledged after he made his residence : West Virginia. He was elected to the Legislature in 18€ and again in 1870. In the Legislature he distinguishe himself by a broad and tolerant attitude toward the issue of the war. He was author of the Flick Amendment, whic restored the right of franchise to ex-Confederate soldie and abolished test oaths and other civil limitations. M Flick was prosecuting attorney of Pendleton County j 1869, of Grant County in 1872, and again of Pendletc County in 1873.

Leaving Franklin in 1874, he located at Martinshur and for many years was one of the leaders in that con munity, though in reality a man of state-wide influence. 1 1880 he was elected prosecuting attorney, but resigned i 1882 to accept appointment as United States district a torney for West Virginia under President Arthur. 1 1876 he was republican candidate for judge of the Supren Court of Appeals for West Virginia. In 1880 and agai in 1888 he was republican candidate for Congress in th Second District against William L. Wilson. This was a interesting contest. Mr. Wilson was very strong, an was normally accustomed to flattering majorities, but ; one of the campaigns Mr. Flick lacked only eleven voto of victory. The attempt to lead republican forces to victor at that time was a forlorn hope, not only in the distri but in the state, both of which were safely within th democratic ranks. Mr. Flick whenever a candidate for an office led his ticket.

Prior to his last candidacy for Congress in 1888 } suffered a severe stroke of paralysis, from which he neve entirely recovered and which greatly interfered with h political and professional activities and which hastened h: death in 1904.

Mr. Flick was a leader in fraternal affairs and wa honored with the highest state offices in the Grand Arm of the Republic, and in the Masonic Lodge, Chapter an Commandery filled offices with his usual ability, fervene and zeal. Judge Flick, as he was always known, was a ma of unflinching loyalty to truth, principle and right, wa conscientious and generous to a fault, and no West Vi ginian possessed greater popularity. In legal arguments o debate he was almost invincible.

He married Lucretia Clark, of Cuyahoga County, Ohio She died in 1910. Their only child is Lorena, wife of Mı G. B. Wiltshire of Martinsburg.

I. H. Gamble

347

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

W. PIERRE MORISON, who is a member of the prominent brison family of the Shenandoah and Potomae valleys, is te of the best kaown citizens of Shenandoah Junction, ere during nearly all the years of his active life he is in the railroad service of the Norfolk and Western. Mr. Morison was born in Charlestown District of Jeffer- County, son of William MI. Morison, who was born near Idington in Berkeley County, a grandson of Daniel Meri- hi, a native of the same county, and great-grandson of William Morison. William Morison was a native of Scot- hd, and was one of three brothers who sought their for- Ines in America. His brother Daniel settled in North Crolina, and another brother settled near the Maryland- ansylvania line. William Morison was for many years & Bident of Berkeley County. He married Mary (Buckles) Wipley, whose father owned large tracts of land in and und Shepherdstown. William Merisea and wife are both ried at Shepherdstown. Their son, Daniel Morison, was 110 a large land owner, and his home plantation was situ- ed at the junction of Opequen Creek and the Potomac ver. Before the war he used many slaves to do the work the fields. After the buildings and the plantation were Irned he moved to Martinsburg, and lived the rest of I. life there. His wife was Jane Porterfield, of the well lown family of that name in Berkeley County. She sur- ved her husband and reared six children, named George rterfield; Mary, who married Dr. Tom Quigley; Wil- Im M .; Martha Page, who married Augustin Kramer ; . lia, who married Charles Yaneey; and Daniel.

William M. Morison with limited opportunities acquired good education, and after leaving the farm he clerked a general store at Martinsburg, and then went West in hrch of adventure and experience. For a time he was St. Joseph, Missouri, then a frontier town, and from Pre went into the territory of Nebraska, which was filled th Indians, deer, antelope and buffalo. At the outbreak « the war between the states he returned home and be- ne a Confederate soldier in the First Virginia Cavalry, f.ached to the Stonewall Brigade. After about a year ) was appointed purchasing agent of the Confederate Overnment, with headquarters at Richmond, and subse- gently was assistant tieket agent for the Richmond and Inville Railroad at Richmond. Soon after the elese of 1) war he returned to Martinsburg, and was appointed distant secretary to the manager of the Cumberland Val- J. Railroad Company and subsequently became agent for tit line at Shenandoah Junction. He finally resigned and Jed retired until his death on July 23, 1899, at the age t sixty-five.

William M. Morison married his cousin, Emily Frances prisen, who was a daughter of William and Mary ·hindler ) Morison and a granddaughter of William and iry (Buckles) Morison. Her father was owner of a large intation near the Potomae River in Jefferson County, id at the time of the war about sixty of his slaves were ed. He and his wife continued to live on the farm. ey reared a family of twelve children, named William Ann Virginia, Mary Abigail, Martha Elizabeth, Luc- ia Jane, Henry Clay, Emily Frances, Daniel Taylor, orge Theodore, Ellen Hunter, Hannah Page and Janette ashington. Mrs. Emily Frances Morison died in 1911. er twe children were W. Pierre and Winena.

W. Pierre Morison was educated in the public schools Shenandoah Junetien, and at the age of nineteen began rning telegraphy in the office of the B. & O. at Duffield, est Virginia, and later went with the Shenandoah Valley ilroad Company. Hig service was continuous with te railroad until February 1, 1921, when he retired. The enandoah Valley Railroad Company is now part of the rfelk and Western system. He was the representative ( this company at Shenandoah Junction. Mr. Morison, " o is unmarried, was reared in and is an active member ( the Presbyterian Church.

MORTIMER W. GAMBLE has been a practicing attorney at porefield nearly forty years. He is the present proseeut- ; attorney of Hardy County. He represents a family at has been identified with this section of West Virginia

for ninety years or more, and it has been a family with many traditions of public service as well us military ree ords and achievement in lines of business and the profes- siona.

Ilis great-grandfather, Joseph Gamble, was a native of Ireland, and on coming to the new world located for a time in Philadelphia. He then moved to Virginia, making his home at Winchester. He was an older in the old Kent Street Presbyterian Church there. Among his large family of children were ten sons, two of whom located in St. Louis when it was a mere village and both were lawyers. One of them, Hamilton R. Gamble, achieved distinction as a mem her of the Supreme Court of Missouri.

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.

History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 114

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: