History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 122

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oseph Laconia MeClung acquired his early education in rural schools of Greenbrier and Putnam counties. Ile ty up on his father's farm and at the age of twenty- ( began teaching, and for two years taught in Putnam cuty and two years in Fayette County. After leaving work of the school room he entered the University Maryland at Baltimore for his dental course, and grad- I'd in 1905 with the degree D. D. S. Doctor MeClung "ticed six years at Olive Hill, Kentucky, and four years Mount Sterling, Kentucky, and since 1914 has been one he permanent dentists of Huntington. He is a member The National Dental Association, is a stockholder and hierly was vice president of the Mid West Oil Company has other interests in oil and eoal companies.

e is a democrat, a member of the Fifth Avenue Baptist reh and assistant sceretary of the Sunday School, is ated with Mount Sterling Lodge, A. F. and A. M., Kentucky. Among other real estate in Huntington is home, located in a restricted residential seetion, at Ninth Avenue. On October 11, 1905, near Hurricane, t Virginia, Doetor MeClung married Miss Stella Smith, ghter of John P. and Sarah (Martin) Smith, residents st. Albans, West Virginia. Her father is a farmer. cor and Mrs. McClung have one child, Daryl Smith, . August 24, 1906.

)HN DIECKMANN. At Park View, on the National Road, it five miles from the center of the City of Wheeling within the corporate limits of the city, Mr. Dieck- n is auecessfully established in business as a florist. › he has maintained his headquarters sinee 1909, his inal business having been founded in the City of Wheel- in 1904. At Park View Mr. Dieckmann purchased ity-five acres of paature land, and here he has de- ped one of the largest and most modern flower-propa- ng plants in the state. In his greenhouses he now has 000 square feet under glass. In the supplying of the

finest of cut flowers and decorative plants for both lawns and homes he has built up a large and successful business, and he is a recognized authority in floriculture. Ile eame to Wheeling in 1901, and from the position of employe with a company in the floral business he became a stockholder in the company and finally became sole owner of the busi- ness, he having had a capital of only $500 when he initiated his business career in the city. Hle now has sceure stand- ing as the largest and most successful flower-grower in the state, and the development of the aplendid business has been the result of his technical ability, elose application and progressive policies.

Mr. Dieckmann was born near Hamburg, Germany, in 1870, and was there reared and eduented. There he gained an experience of more than ten years in the nursery and florieulture business, and in 1895 he came to the United States and found employment at Wadsworth, Ohio, at $1.50 a day. Later he was placed in charge of a leading tloral business at Cleveland, Ohio, and he condueted an inde- pendent business at Akron, that state, for two years, saving the little reserve capital of $500 with which he initiated his business eareer at Wheeling, West Virginia. He sup- plies the local florists in Wheeling and other cities of the state, and makes shipments also to Steubenville and other places in Ohio. In the activities of the business he retains an average of twenty-one employes. His attractive residence is on the grounds of his fine floral plant, and in the base- ment of the house his business offices are maintained. Ile is a direetor in the bank at Fulton, and is an elder in St. Mark's Lutheran Church at Elm Grove.

At Wadsworth, Ohio, Mr. Dieekmann married Miss Luey Pfeiffer, who was born in that town, of German parentage. They have three sons: Ernest John, a high-school grad- uate, is, in 1921, a student of floriculture at Cornell Uni- versity, Ithaea, New York; William Pfeiffer is a student in the Capital University at Columbus, Ohio; and Herbert is a member of the class of 1922 in Triadelphia District High School of Wheeling.

JOHN C. LINTHICUM, now serving his third term as mayor of Romney, has been a resident of that city for over twenty years, for a long time was in the service of the state gov- ernment at the Institution for the Deaf and Blind, and his active career throughout has been strongly tinged with the publie service.

He was born at Moorefield, West Virginia. September 17, 1969. llis grandfather, Joel Linthicum, was a shoe maker nf Hampshire County, and died in Romney about 1878. Ile married a Miss Davis, and their children were: William, who died in Illinois; Elijah, who spent his artive life at Decatur, Illinois; James, a retired shoemaker living near Richmond, Virginia; Joseph M .; Benjamin, who died at Romney ; Mollie, who married Frank Maloney and died in Hampshire County; Margaret, wife of Joseph M. Poling and a resident of Romney.

Joseph M. Linthicum, father of Romney's mayor, was born in Hampshire County, September 10, 1543. As a youth he learned the trade of shoemaker and leather tanning, and worked at one or the other of these occupations throughout his active life. Ile is now living retired at Keyser. Dur- ing the war between the states he was member nf a Vir- ginia regiment in the Confederate Army, and took part in several of the campaigns of the Army of Northern Vir- ginia. He was never wounded or captured. and served throughout as a private. Joseph M. Linthicum married Elizabeth Hyder, daughter of Thompson Hyder.

John C. Linthicum spent his early life at Moorefield, at- tended the Moorefield Academy, and at the age of sixteen left school and learned the trade of harness maker with his father. As a journeyman he followed this trade both in and out of his home state, and in 1901 came to Romney and took charge of the shne and harness department of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind. That was his work for fifteen years, and for eight years of the time he was also chief engineer of the schools. Sinee leav- ing the state service in 1916 Mr. Linthicum has conducted an insurance and coal business at Romney.

In 1921 he was put in charge as foreman of construction

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for the girls' dormitory of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind, and in that capacity he supervised the construction of the new building, beginning in March, 1921, until it was completed on July 1, 1922, at a cost of $110,000, the contract being carried through several thousand dol- lars under the appropriation made for the work.

Mr. Linthicum was for several terms a member of the City Council and was chairman of the water committee. He had the responsible directions of the work of construct- ing the water system of Romney, completed in 1912. He served seven years as city treasurer, and was elected to the office of mayor in 1920, 1921, and 1922, succeeding Joseph A. Kelley in that office.

Mr. Linthicum is an active republican, casting his first vote for Benjamin Harrison in 1892. His first elective office was as recorder of Romney, to which he was chosen in 1908. Since 1916 he has been a member of the Grand Lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and is grand guide of the Grand Lodge.

At Westernport, Maryland, October 30, 1892, John Car- son Linthicum married Miss Kate M. Bowen, who was born at Springfield, West Virginia, and represents two old and well-known families of Hampshire County. She is a daugh- ter of Dr. C. G. and Mary C. (Parsons) Bowen, her mother being a daughter of David Parsons. Mrs. Linthicum was the third in a family of seven children, was born May 9, 1865, and her brothers and sisters were: John, Mary, Anna, Charles, William and Susan. Mary is Mrs. Joseph Greenfield, of Cumberland, Maryland; Anna is unmarried; and Susan is the wife of P. T. Lacey, of Cumberland, Mary- land. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Linthicum were born two children, one dying in infancy. The daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was educated in the Potomac Academy, which was recently remodeled as a part of the school for the blind, and she is now employed in the Romney Post Office.

CHARLES W. BLAIR has been active in insurance circles at Huntington and West Virginia for nearly thirty years. He is senior member of the firm of Blair & Buffington, handling what is perhaps the largest business in fire insur- ance in the city.

Mr. Blair is an Ohio man by birth, born at South Web- ster, Scioto County, March 14, 1867. His father, Joseph W. Blair, was born in Adams County of the same state in 1832, and as a young man removed to Scioto County, where he married and where for many years he conducted a mer- cantile store at Webster. He was a republican, served several terms as township treasurer, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Joseph W. Blair, who died at Webster, Ohio, in 1887, married Harriet Cole, who was born in Scioto County in 1836 and died at Wellston, Ohio, in 1918.

Charles W. Blair was educated in the public schools of Webster, and after he was eighteen he taught three years in Seioto County, Ohio. He then removed to Portsmouth, where for two years he was deputy county clerk, and left that office to engage in the insurance business. He re- mained at Portsmouth until 1893, and in August of that year located at Huntington, where he has been a busy member of insurance circles ever since. For a number of years he was an independent adjuster of fire losses. Mr. Blair covered the West Virginia field as special agent for one of the leading English companies for several years, and his activities in both field work and local work has established his position as one of the leading fire insur- ance men of the state. Some years ago he formed a part- nership with P. C. Buffington, under the name Blair & Buf- fington. They handle general insurance, and represent some of the leading English and American companies. The of- fices of the firm are in the First National Bank Building. Mr. Blair is also secretary and treasurer of the Ophir Oil Company, operating in the Eastern Kentucky field. In politics he is a republican, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and fraternally is affiliated with Huntington Lodge No. 53, A. F. and A. M., West Virginia Consistory No. 1 of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling, Beni- Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine of Charleston, and is

a member of Huntington Lodge No. 313, Benevolent a Protective Order of Elks, and the Guyandotte Club of Hu: ington. He is a member also of the Allegheny and Che Mountain clubs of his state and is an enthusiastic spor man. His chief sport is fishing, and besides slippi away from business whenever opportunity presents its and trying his luck in the West Virginia streams each yi when summer vacation time comes he goes on an ann camping and fishing trip to the Yellowstone Park a points in Wyoming, up in the mountains, where the strea run clear and cold and where the elusive Rainbow a Cutthroat Trout are to be found.

Mr. Blair married at Huntington in 1900 Miss Lide Thackston, daughter of Benjamin H. and Eugenia (Mill Thackston. Mrs. Blair's father was one of the early p fessors of Marshall College, and died iu Huntington 1918, at the age of eighty-five years. Her mother is s living, residing with her daughter in Huntington.

JENKIN J. GILMORE, after completing a very liberal e cation, returned to West Virginia and entered the coal dustry, and is one of the well known mine superintende in Logan County. His headquarters are at Barnabas the Omar branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio, about twer miles from Logan.

Mr. Gilmore was born January 1, 1888, at Bramwell Mercer County, West Virginia. He is of Scotch and Ir ancestry, and a son of Milton and Alice (Becker) Gilmo His parents were both born in Virginia. His father, vr died in 1907, was a member of a Virginia regiment in Civil war, and for many years was associated with mining interests of the firm of Freeman & Jones at Bra well.

Jenkin J. Gilmore acquired a common and high schi education at Bramwell, finishing his high school course 1903. For three years he pursued advanced training i Mount St. Joseph School at Baltimore, Maryland, and 1908 graduated in a bookkeeping and general busirs course at Eastman's Business College of Poughkeep New York. On returning to West Virginia he was gil work that constituted a general training in the mining dustry under Colonel Tierney in the Pocahontas coal fi At the end of three years he had been advanced to me boss and foreman for the Pocahontas Consolidated at Cho kee, where he remained two years. In 1915 he came to Logan Field for the Main Island Creek Coal Compa where his first work was building a supply house. He then made mine hoss or foreman, and since 1919 has he mine superintendent for the Main Island Creek Coal C pany at Barnabas. During the war he made every efit to get into service, but was ruled out, since his work in e coal fields was more essential to the winning of the war.

In 1917, at Catlettsburg, Kentucky, he married Miss E a Easley, daughter of Frederick and Lou (Hatcher) Eas the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Wt Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore have one son, Frederi Mr. Gilmore is a Catholic, while his wife is a Presbyter t. He is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus.

JOHN F. MAY, M. D. All the years of his active Doctor May has been identified with some work that haa vital part in the welfare of his community. He was teacher for many years, later took up and studied medie and after practicing some years in his native state of Fr tueky moved to West Virginia, and has been one of leading mine physicians of Logan County. His present 1. tion is at Rossmore in that county, on the Chesapeak Ohio Railroad branch from Logan to Omar.

He was born in Johnson County, Kentucky, Septembe 1869. His family established themselves in the Big Sa Valley in Eastern Kentucky more than a century ago. great-grandfather left old Virginia in 1810, and while (? ing down the Big Sandy found at the mouth of Mid Creek what seemed to him to be an ideal place for a ho with abundance of game to supply him with food. He il up his claim there, and lived in that locality until his deb The grandfather of Doctor May was prominent in pol. : and a power in that community. He died in 1855. Dou

Oven S. M Kinney

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y is a son of Thomas Green and Martha (Rice) May, th natives of Kentucky. ITis father was a farmer nnd sek man, was a deacon in the Baptist Church and n mem- t. of the Masonie Order. He had a brother in the Civil pr

John F. May attended common schools in Johnson County, o the Baptist Seminary, known as the Enterprise High Fool, and soon afterward began his work as a school cher, a vocation he followed for seventeen years. While tehing he pursued normal courses, and finally, in 1902, took up the study of medicine in the University of Ken- tky at Louisville, where he graduated MI. D. in 1905. [ring the following five years Doetor May practiced in Tyd County, Kentucky, at Princess Post Office. Since in his professional work has been in Logan County, West Iginia. For eight years he practiced at Ethel and in the Ev of Logan, and for two years was associated with Itor Farley at Holden. Sinee December, 1921, he has En located at Rossmore as physician for the Logan Mining Enpany and the Switzer Coal Company.

n 1891, at Flat Gap, Kentucky, Dector May married Ass Charlotte Seagraves, daughter of E. G. and Sarah (ray) Seagraves, her father a native of Kentucky and her other of Tennessee. E. G. Seagraves for twenty years was school teacher and was also a farmer and merchant. Etor and Mrs. May have one child, Grace May, now Mrs. trian Adkins. She and her two children, Frank and Carles, reside with Doctor May. Doetor May is a Baptist, i'm Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and a republican.

ION. O. S. MCKINNEY. In the course of a busy lifetime, ny measured by over threescore and ten, O. S. MeKinney bs become widely known over West Virginia, though he bi never had a home in any other community than Fair- ant. The most important work associated with his name m heen as editor and publisher of the Times, of which as mholder of public opinion he was unswerving in his loyalty this eity and state and ranked with the most prominent viters of his day and at one time refused a Inerative der to become editorially associated with a national cily in the capital city of our National Government.

As a leader of the democratie party in West Virginia h has long been recognized as one of the most influential rmbers of the party and one who did not seek personal gitifieation or honor so much for himself as for the sue- es of the party and honor to his native state.

Mr. MeKinney was born near Fairmont in Marion County i 1849, son of John S. and Matilda (Sullivan) Me Kinney, t' former a native of Monongalia County and the latter c Harrison County, West Virginia. O. S. MeKinney ae- cired a common school education, and almost the first Eployment he had in the line of a salaried position or Iparation for a life career was in a printing office. finting and publishing has bulked large in his personal Isiness experience. For several years Mr. MeKinney Inted the records and reports of the West Virginia Cart of Appeals. He then became part owner and editor c the Fairmont Index, and in company with Col. C. L. Sith he established the Fairmont Times and was its ctor for twenty years. Mr. MeKinney has been a dector of the National Bank of Fairmont since its or- Enization. This is one of the three largest financial ititutions of West Virginia.

[n 1899 Mr. MeKinney served in the State Legislature, a which session it has been said some of the most bril- Int and intellectual men in the state composed that lly, of which he was elected Speaker of the House al during which session much important legislation was eieted, bringing glory and honor to himself and his Costituents. It is said even to this day that he was t leader and speaker of the finest, and most intellee- tilly brilliant body of men ever gathered in the House. / a democrat he was chairman of the State Central Com- i:tee in 1904, and in the same year was a delegate at Ige to the National Convention in St. Louis. He was a ctriet delegate to the National Convention in 1916.

in 1874 he married Annabell Ayers, who died in 1921, fer they had been married forty-seven years. Her

children aro Nola, Margaret E., Odell P. and Mrs. Mary I. Weaver of Morgantown.

Mr. MeKinney is identified with all branches of Ma- sonry, being a member of Fairmont Lodge, No. 9, A. F. and A. M., is a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason, and is treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Grand Lodge, which has in charge the erection of the Masonic ITome. He served as grand master of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows in 1882, and is a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Mr. MeKinney is a member of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, being eligible to that society through his grandfather Patriek Sullivan, who was a soldier under General Morgan in the war of independence. Always interested in edu cational affairs, Mr. MeKinney served a number of years as a member of the Board of Education at Fairmont, and has also been local regent of the State Normal School.

One who has known him intimately for over a quarter of a century has said of him: There have been very few if any men in Fairmont who have taken a greater eivie pride in the city than the Ion. O. S. Mckinney, and many times has served its interests to his own detri- ment from a financial viewpoint. He has played his part honorably and well in making Fairmont one of the finest eities in Northern West Virginia-and in his case the biographer can agree with the Greek philosopher who said "A prophet is not without honor save in his own Country," for Mr. MeKinney is well honorably known throughout his native state, as well as adjoining states. Although at this time he has retired from aetive business affairs, he is still ealled upon to assist in the upbuilding of the state and its institutions, and takes a leading and prominent part in the state's welfare, financially and morally.

GEORGE LEWIS DAVIS. There is probably no phase of the coal mining industry that has not become a part of the practical experience of George Lewis Davis, who though a young man has been working in and around coal mines sinec boyhood. Mr. Davis is one of the coal mining officials of Logan County, being superintendent of mines at Miceo and the Omar branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio.

Mr. Davis was born at Redwood in Franklin County, Vir. ginia, January 2, 1887. IFis aneestors were substantial Virginia planters. Ilis grandfather Davis was a Con- federate soldier at the time of the Civil war. His grand- father Pardue was one of the most influential men in his section of Virginia in his day, active as a man of affairs and also as leader in polities. The parents of George L. Davis were John P. and Elizabeth (Pardue) Davis, natives of Virginia. His father was a farmer and stone mason and builder, and he put up many buildings all over Franklin County. During the war between the states he was with a Virginia regiment, but was captured and was held a prisoner at Point Lookout, Maryland, for eight months. After the war he resumed farming and his business as a building contractor.

George Lewis Davis attended common school at Redwood, and his education from books as well as from practical ex- perience has never ecased. He attended night sehool, and for a period of ten years kept up his studies with the In- ternational Correspondenee School of Seranton, from which he received diplomas in geology, chemistry, coal mining and in a general business course.

He started work in a coal mine at the age of eighteen, his first employment being on traek work. Rapidly ae- eumulated knowledge and efficiency has promoted him from this humble stage to his present responsibilities as a superin- tendent. For six years he was with the Pocahontas Coal Company at Pocahontas, Virginia. He was then with the Pittsburgh Coal Company, two years at Marano, Pennsyl- vania, and then eight years as mine foreman at Holden, West Virginia. Since then he has been superintendent at Mieco for Mines Nos. 1, 2 and 3 of the Main Island Creek Coal Company.

At Dingus, West Virginia, Mr. Davis married Miss Genoa Moore, daughter of Eldy and Nora (Roberts) Moore, na- tives of Kentucky. They have four children: Okie and

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Oney, twins, Lulu and Haskil. The family are members of the Christian Church, and Mr. Davis is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.

JESSE HARWOOD TAYLOR first became interested in the coal industry in Eastern Ohio, but for several years past has been located in Logan County, as mine superintendent at Chauncey, on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, near Omar Post Office.

He was born November 10, 1877, at Hendysburg in Belmont County, Ohio, son of A. S. and Catherine ( Ralston) Taylor. His mother was thirteen years of age when her parents came from Ireland to the United States. A. S. Taylor was of a Pennsylvania family, with an aucestry co- mingled of English, Irish, Scotch and Welsh stocks. A. S. Taylor was very prominent in public affairs in Belmont County, serving many years as recorder and as a merchant at the time of his death. He was all through the Civil war, though never wounded or captured, as a soldier in Company M of the Ninth Ohio Regiment.

Jesse Harwood Taylor acquired a common school educa- tion in Belmont County, finished a course at the St. Clairs- ville High School in 1899, and for seven years was deputy county recorder under his father. He was also depnty sheriff of the connty for four years. For a time he was in the plant of the United States Steel Company at Bridgeport, Ohio, and for six years was connected with the Malier- Pursglove Coal Company in Belmont County. This company sent him to Chauncey, West Virginia, and when their inter- ests in this section were sold to the Middle Fork Mining Company, owned by Dalton and Kelly, Mr. Taylor remained with the new management as superintendent of mines in the Chauncey District.

In 1899, at Uniontown, Ohio, Mr. Taylor married Sarah M. Buffington, daughter of Robert and Bell C. (Cain) Buffington, her father a native of Ohio, while her mother was born in West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have two children, Elizabeth and Harwood. The latter is attending school at Barboursville, Virginia. Elizabeth is the wife of Henry Agee, who is a mine foreman at Micco in Logan County. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Agee, grand- children of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, are H. T. Agee, Elizabeth Hollingsworth Agee and Robert Buffington Agee. Mr. Taylor is a Presbyterian, and is a thirty-second Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and a member of the Elks.

HENRY A. LUCAS is a building contractor who has been established at Bluefield for the past seven years, and here and elsewhere has been associated with a large and impor- tant volume of building construction. He is a thorough master in his line and is a business executive capable of working out plans and assembling all the facilities for their prompt and thorough execution.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 122

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