History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 135

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Inor S. Fleming was born in the vicinity of Flemington, devoted his years to the tasks of farming. He married lda Bartlett, and both are buried at Simpson. They Zone son, James B., and the following daughters: Theth, who married James W. Bartlett; Olivett, who ried Lewis Windle, a brother of Mrs. James B. Flem- Mary who married George Dawson; Florence, who ne the wife of George Utterbaek; and Permelia, who married to Luther Bartlett.

e parents of the Grafton banker are James B. and Elizabeth (Windle) Fleming, now in venerable years ( residents at Trapp Springs, Taylor County. The rer was born at the Village of Flemington, January , 842, and the latter at Philadelphia January 23, 1845. 's B. Fleming at the age of nineteen volunteered in bany F of the Third West Virginia Infantry, and was wounded and captured and held in a Confederate n. He was under the command of General Franz , saw service in West Virginia and old Virginia, and in some of the hard battles toward the end of the He was discharged after the surrender of Lee, and bsequent years took an active interest in the Grand 7 of the Republic. He is a staneh republican. His te career has been devoted to farming, his prosperity i: derived chiefly from raising and handling such live- as cattle and sheep. He and his wife, who are mem- of the Baptist Church, had the following children: a D., of Clarksburg; Minerva, wife of John Cork, of son; O. Jay; Sigel, of Cumberland, Maryland; Minor

S., a merchant at Weston; and Leotia, wife of I. T. John- son, of Level, West Virginia.

O. Jay Fleming was born November 23, 1569, in the old home community on Gabes Fork between Flemington and Simpson. Between the age of four and ten he lived with his mother's parents near Buekhannon, and while there he first attended a rural school. After returning home he was a pupil in the private school of Professor Colgrove, and at the age of sixteen began teaching, his first school being near Stone House in the Knottsville District. It was his ambition to complete a college and university edu- cation, but laek of funds made it necessary for him to be satisfied with something less. For some years he taught in the summer term, attended sehool in the winter, and also did a season of farm work. In 1892 he graduated in the normal course at Fairmont, and he subsequently taught one term at West Grafton and two terms in the Fetterman School. He resigned in the middle of the second term to go into business as bookkeeper and eashier for Ruhl & Company of Grafton. In 1898 he became office man at Mabie for the MeClure-Mabie Lumber Company. In 1899, a little more than a year later, he resigned to become eashier of the Tueker County Bank. This institution was then owned by the First National Bank of Grafton, but when the controlling interest was purchased by the Davis interests it was moved to Elkins, Mr. Fleming going along. While at Elkins he was made treasurer of the Davis Trust Company, the primary purpose of which organiza- tion was to handle the estates of Senators Davis and Elkins.

In August, 1902, Mr. Fleming returned to Graftoa and became assistant cashier of the First National Bank. Two years later he was made eashier, and since 1919 has also had the duties of vice president. The Grafton Bank, chartered as a state institution in 1873, with $50,000 eapi- tal, was succeeded by the First National Bank in 1890. with capital of $85,000, this being subsequently inercased to $100,000. Besides paying dividends to the aggregate of almost $500,000, the bank's accumulated surplus is over $330,000. Some of the most prosperous chapters of the bank's history have been written sinee Mr. Fleming be- came eashier. Twenty years ago the deposits were about $500,000, total resources about $500,000, and the semi- annual dividend four percent. During the past year or so the bank has paid a semi-annual dividend of ten percent, has deposits averaging over $2,300,000, and total resources of about $3.000,000. The bank has been housed in its present building sinee 1896, and the business long sinee out- grew such accommodations. Plans have been completed for the reconstruction of the entire property, including the Parsons Building, also owned by the bank. When re- modeled the bank will have a lobby seventy-six feet long. with triple vaults, including a 15-ton circular door safe, a separate cash vault, triple storage vaults, a modern equipped book vault, making in all seven vaults. The vaults will be elcetrically lined with the delicately constructed electrical appliances of the Bankers Electrical Association, a com- pany that has electrified the vaults of the United States Trensury and several of the Federal Reserve Banks.

Mr. Fleming is a leader in the eivie and social as well as the financial life of his home eity. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, was one of the organizers of the Rotary Club, and for fifteen years was a member of the Grafton Board of Education, during which period the new high school was planned and built. He is a republi- ean and served with the rank of colonel on the staff of Governor Hatfield. In Masonry he is past officer of the Lodge, Chapter and Commandery. is grand-swordbearer of the Grand Commandery of West Virginia, is a representa- tive of the Grand Commandery of New Hampshire in West Virginia, and in the Scottish Rite has achieved the honor and dignity of the rank of a Thirty-second Knight Com- mander of the Court of Honor. In December, 1920, he was made Illustrious Potentate of Osiris Temple of the Ancient Arabie Order Nobles of the Mystie Shrine at Wheeling, and ia a charter member and director of West Virginia Educational Association of Scottish Rite Masonry. He is also affiliated with the Order of Elks and Moose.

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In Taylor County June 16, 1897, he married Miss Florence Kimmel, who was born in Grafton, daughter of S. P. and Henrietta (Carrington) Kimmel. Mr. and Mrs. Fleming have three talented children. Carrie Kathryn graduated at the age of sixteen from the Grafton High School, and in 1920 received her A. B. degree from West Virginia University and is a Phi Beta Kappa honor stu- dent. Florence Rosalyn graduated from high school at seventeen and is now a sophomore in the University. IIarry Carrington, the only son, was born in 1910, and is in grammar school.

GEORGE R. E. GILCHRIST was born January 8, 1857. His father was a civil engineer and his mother was a daughter of a civil engineer who after the close of the Civil war was engaged by the Government as chief engineer under General Weitzel, in charge of the construction of the Louisville Canal. Both the father and mother died years ago at their son's home.

George R. E. Gilchrist had a sister, Adelaide, who was an artist, and he had a brother, Harry. The sister died unmarried and the brother, likewise, the latter while at- tending school at the University of Virginia. Both died before their father and mother.

George R. E. Gilchrist received his academic education at the University of Wooster and his education in law at the University of Virginia. He was admitted to practice in West Virginia, at Wheeling, in 1881, and has always lived there. In more than forty years of work he has specialized in corporation, estate and labor umion litigation in State and Federal Courts; while in his offices, rooms 600 to 608, making up the sixth floor of the National Bank of West Virginia Building, he has one of the largest individual law libraries to be found in the United States.

George R. E. Gilchrist married in 1883, and of that union three children were born. Ethel, the eldest, unmar- ried, lives with her parents in Wheeling. Mabel, the sec- ond child, is married, and with her husband and the two children born to that union lives at Phoenix, Arizona. Vir- ginia, the third child, died unmarried in 1914, while at- tending a girl's school near Roanoke.

JAMES REASON SMOOT was one of the ablest men of his time in Preston County, a successful financier, lumberman, farmer, whose tremendous energy and executive ability brought prosperity to many others besides himself and his own family.

The name Smoot figures conspicuously in the Colonial records of America. The founder of the family was William Smoot, an Englishman. He was a man of wealth in England, and before leaving that country he acqured an interest in New World settlement, being granted a patent to lands on the Potomac River at St. Inegoes on June 12, 1646, as the records show. As a non-resident he devoted much of his plantation to the cultivation of tobacco, and when he sought a market for this product outside the nationalist channels of the English sea trade he violated a law and principle that brough him into active conflict with his native country and caused him to leave England with his family and servants and settle on his lands in the Colonies. He added to his wealth and prestige in America, and besides keeping up his large plantation he owned a fleet of vessels for use in the export trade. One of his ships was purchased by Lord Baltimore. On account of his activities in shipping tobacco to other countries in Europe he claimed his share of the "Dutch Crestones," a reward that was in the nature of a subsidy from the Dutch Government to encourage commerce with the Colonies. His evident ability as a man of affairs led to his appointment as one of the appraisers of the estate of Leonard Calvert, and for this act Margaret Brent, who purchased the estate, gave him 2,000 pounds of tobacco. Old records reveal a number of financial transactions with Margaret Brent, in- dicating the high esteem in which he was held by this lady and wealth and importance. Other records show that he was often in court, either suing or defending a suit, and the judgments were invariably awarded in pounds of to- bacco and a hogshead to hold it. If he sued a party who failed to appear in court, the judge found a verdict for

him covering the damages and also the time and ex; of attending court forty miles from his own home.

The sons of William Smoot were Richard and The both of whom married sisters of Lieut. Col. William W- ton. Among Thomas' children was a son Barton, ment in his father's will of date 1704. The name Barton om in many of the succeeding generations of the family, od the presence of that name in the Preston County brant strong presumptive evidence, even if there was no othe to identify it with the descendants of William Smooth pioneer.

One branch of the family was established in Hampa County, Virginia, where John Smoot bought lands in 0 He and his wife Mary had twelve children, the older of whom was Barton, and these children scattered the anch all through the westeru country. Another son, Jcm Smoot, was founder of the Newburg family, and recorr of old Hampshire County show him to have been in Pron County as early as 1835. He settled close to Scotch purchasing the land upon which Newburg was platted xd he built the first house on the townsite. He was a Ba'st and is buried on Scotch Hill. His children were Sarl Walker, Henry, William, Minor Barton, Sarah Evi James Reason, Julia and Harriet.

James Reason Smoot was born in Hampshire Cov Virginia, in 1834. March 4, 1854, he married S Howard who became the mother of four children. i second wife was Susan Powell, daughter of John M. Martha (Howard) Powell. The children of this union three sons and three daughters, the oldest being Ji Reason Smoot.

James Reason Smoot was born at Newburg in Prem County and was thirteen years of age when his father causing the burdens of the family and household to upon his shoulders. Consequently there was little time school, but as a boy he manifested a special genius hard work and getting things done. In after years, W he was called upon to explain his career as a financier said "that to his mother belonged much of the credit his effective life work, for she was a woman of ability capacity and rare business acumen." Beginning the ha of life against odds, he worked in boyhood for day was and while he had a due amount of pride it did not pre his doing any manual labor promising an honest dos As a youth of eighteen he was pick and shovel main the digging of the big cut east of Newburg for le Baltimore & Ohio Railway during its construction. soon acquired a modest capital, permitting him enter business as a merchant at Independence, but a : later he moved to Newburg, where he established d subsequently built up a very extensive trading enterpris

If any one phase of his business life assumed prepon ance it was lumbering. He became one of the big facs in the lumber industry of Preston County, owning d operating three mills in the county and one in ano county. The daily cut of these mills at one time reach 45,000 feet. His first mill was established in 1869. 8 soon sought export connections for his large lumber out and much of it was shipped to Liverpool, England. sides his mills he became owner of extensive timber lat in outlying portions of the state and dealt extensivelya real estate, owning much property in Newburg, where! built his splendid home. He also owned a number good farms, did a cattle business on a large scale, and of his farms is the McGrew farm near Kingwood. At dependence he owned and operated steam roller mills did a large business in flour and grain.

He was a stockholder of the Tunnelton, Kingwood Fairchance Railway project, was chosen president of Kingwood Coke Company, and during his last years organized the First National Bank of Newburg and elected its president, serving in that capacity until ! death in 1905. He not only did things for himself t pointed the way to success of others, was a friend of ambitious and aspiring youth, and his advice and finan support set many of them on the way to success. Ma sought his advice on family as well as financial affairs, ¿ he always found a way to help. A man of peace hims

George n. C. Gilchrist

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ught the aid of courts only when methods of negotia- u failed. He was reared in the Primitive Baptist wh, but he and his family attended the Methodist restant Church in Newburg, and this house of worship merected on a lot furnished by bim and he was a largo mibutor toward the edifice itself. He provided a home riis mother during her first widowhood, and after the at of her second husband, Zedekiah Waldo, she again ul a home with her aon until her death.

. Ray Smoot, son of the banker and business man u.s R. Smoot, has been a worthy representative of his tred father. He obtained his early education in the eern Maryland College Preparatory School and soon tward entered the First National Bank of Newburg. a bank was founded by his father and opened for busi- e in September, 1903, and atill retains its original capi- If $25,000.00, while its surplus and undivided profits e qual to its capital stock and has paid annual dividends the year after its founding. Its deposits at the peak high prices reached $650,000.00. Its officers and r tors are: Gordon B. Late, president; D. J. Gibson and ). R. Annan, vice presidents; J. Ray Smoot, cashier; " Calvert, C. E. Guskey, J. C. Harrington, F. W. Horch- nd F. Richter.

. Ray Smoot became eashier as the successor of Emory Smith, and has been with the institution now for viteen years.

1909 he married Miss Mary Fromhart, daughter of 3. Fromhart. They have three children: James R., Jr., ty Jane and Walter Thurman. Mr. Smoot is a Knight plar Mason in the Grafton Commandery, a past noble d of Newburg Lodge of Odd Fellows, was reared in Methodist Protestant Church and for fourteen years has superintendent of its Sunday School.

SORGE W. NISWANDER is one of the veteran business and honored citizens of Parkersburg, where he has Es his home since the year 1871, and in which he now acts a substantial wholesale and retail hardware busi- , with a well equipped establishment at 230-232 Court ure.

orn in Rockingham County, Virginia, October 21, 1845, reared in that county, he is one of the two surviving .bers of a family of thirteen children born to his nts, Isaac and Elizabeth (Hughes) Niswander, natives Bridgewater, Virginia. The father's people were from aunch Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, founded in the stone State in the early Colonial period of our national pry, while the mother's ancestors were natives of Nelson aty, Virginia, for several generations.

eorge W. Niswander was afforded the advantages of ols of the period, and when the war between the states precipitated on the nation his youthful loyalty to the federacy prompted him to immediate enlistment, and .861, at sixteen, enlisted in R. P. Chew's battery of er's brigade, General Stewart's horse artillery. His ain applied for front rank service, which was at once rded the valiant command. Thus Mr. Niswander, still ere boy, soon gained full experience in connection with ve combat and took part in many engagements, includ- a number of the most important and decisive battles of great conflict between the states, including Gettysburg, ttsylvania, the Wilderness and others in which his com- d was involved. In the engagement at Trevilion Sta- , nine miles south of Gordonville, Virginia, be was e wounded. After recuperating partially from his in- es he was assigned to clerical service in the Commissary artment and was thus engaged when the war ended. rior to the war Mr. Niswander had served a partial renticeship to the miller's trade at Bridgewater, Vir- a, and after the close of his military career he engaged work as a millwright and carpenter. He continued his dence in Virginia until April, 1871, when he located in kersburg, where he was engaged at the carpenter's le until 1876. He then accepted a clerkship in the Jesale hardware establishment of W. H. Smith, for m he later was traveling salesman for six years. This tion he resigned to accept a position as representative

of the wholesale hardware house of Greer & Lang of Wheel- ing. After ten years' service as auch, having rendered himself proficient, surrounded himself with friends and won the confidence of those with whom he met, he organized the firm of G. W. Niswander & Company, and in 1892 pur- chased the hardware establishment and business of A. G. Jackson & Company. In 1898 he purchased the hardware store of Harry Gould on Court Square, where he has since continued in the wholesale and retail hardware trade, as one of its oldest and most honored business representatives of the city.

Mr. Niswander is an active member of the Parkersburg Chamber of Commerce, is affiliated with Parkersburg Lodge No. 7, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and with Park- ersburg Lodge No. 198 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party, and he and his wife are zealous members of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of whose Official Board he had been an efficient member for thirty years.

Mr. Niswander married Miss Fannie C. Long, likewise a native of Rockingham County, Virginia, in 1867. Her father, Captain John Long, was captain of the Bridge- water Grays in the Confederate service iu the war between the states, and was captured and confined in the Federal prison at Hilton's Head, South Carolina, where he died in April, 1865. To this marriage three children were born: Lulu P., the wife of W. C. Plumb, of Parkersburg, West Virginia; Mabel M., the wife of A. L. Thayer, of Cin- cinnati, Ohio, and George R., of New Haven, Connecticut, who married Flora MacDonald, of that city.

Mrs. Fannie C. Niswander died February 25, 1886, and on the 25th day of October, 1888, Mr. Niswander married Miss Mary Jane Long, the sister of his first wife, with whom he has since lived in their spacious home at No. 1211 Murdock Avenue, Parkersburg, West Virginia.

STEPHEN R. NUHFER, before he reached the years of bis years of his majority, had become identified by practical experience with the work of the oil fields, and with his brothers is now owner of extensive equipment and they are directors of a complete organization as drilling contractors. Their business covers a large territory, and for over twenty years Mr. Nuhfer has made his headquarters at Parkers- burg.

He was born near Oil City, Venango County, Pennsyl- vania, December 26, 1867, one of the nine children of Thomas and Mary (Keoberline) Nuhfer. His parents were both of German ancestry and both families came to the United States during the forties and have since been Americans in spirit as well as in decd. Mary Keoberlinc was born while her parents were crossing the ocean. Thomas Nuhfer was born in Michigan, a son of George Nuhfer. Both Thomas and George Nuhfer were farmers, though Thomas eventually followed the trade of mason in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, and was a well known citi- zen in the western part of that state. He held the office of school director.

Stephen R. Nuhfer acquired a practical, common school education. At the age of nineteen he went to work in the oil fields, and his business has become a highly specialized one in contracting for the drilling of both oil and gas wells. His first operations in West Virginia were in Dodd- ridge and Wetzel counties, but since 1897 he has had his business headquarters and home at Parkersburg. Subse- quently he was joined by his brothers Philip G. and Joseph A., and as a firm they have had contracts for some of the largest companies operating in the eastern fields.

Mr. Nuhfer otherwise has a prominent part in the in- dustrial and commercial life of Parkersburg. He is treasurer of the Parkersburg Machine Company, treasurer of the Parkersburg Mattress Company, president of the Parkersburg Builders Material Company, vice president of the MeKain Fishing Tool Company, and president of the Pollard Boiler Works. He is a Catholic and in politics votes independently.

In 1897 Mr. Nuhfer married Mary Benninger, of Brady, Pennsylvania. Of the four children born to their marriage

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Joseph died in infancy, and the three living are Leo R., Thelma Mary and Francis F.

RALPH MASON HITE is a doctor of dental surgery, and has practiced that profession at Manningten for seventeen years. He is one of the popular citizens of Marion County. He represents one of the old and henered names in West Virginia and was born at Grafton, Tayler County, October 26, 1882, son of Thomas R. and Katherine (Mason) Hite and grandsen ef George W. Hite. Docter Hite is a grad- uate of the high school of Cameron, West Virginia, alse of Linsly Institute at Wheeling, and he then entered the Baltimore College of Dentistry, where he was graduated D. D. S. in 1905. Immediately after leaving college Deeter Hite located at Mannington, and has been steadily in prac- tice here, building up a reputation second to none among the dentists of Marion County. He is a member of the West Virginia State Dental Association and in 1912 was appointed a member of the West Virginia State Beard of Dental Examiners. He was re-appointed in 1916 and again in 1921.

Dector Hite is affiliated with Manningten Ledge No. 388, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Mannington Lodge, Knights of Pythias, is a charter member of Man- ningtou Kiwanis Club, is a Presbyterian and a republican. He married in 1908 Miss Gypsie Prichard, daughter of A. L. Prichard, of Mannington. They are the parents of three children: Mary Prichard, bern June 9, 1909, new a high scheel student; Thomas Arthur, bern November 6, 1911; and Ralph Masen, Jr., born July 2, 1913.

EDWARD BATES FRANZHEIM. The record made by Mr. Franzheim in the profession of architecture is exemplified at many points throughout the Ohio Valley besides his home City of Wheeling. Mr. Franzheim is one of the very pop- ular citizens of Wheeling, a man of versatile gifts, of high public spirit, and only a great devetien to his profession has prevented him from securing recognition in other fields.

Mr. Franzheim was bern at Wheeling July 20, 1866, seu of George William and Mary Ann (Hornung) Franzheim. His mother was a native ef Allentown, Pennsylvania. Her father came ef a long line of musicians and writers in Ger- many, and was brought over from Heidelburg to take up professional werk as an educator at Philadelphia. Mr. Franzheim's father, George William Franzheim, was ene of the notable men of Wheeling during the last century. He was bern in Germany, of a family that at different times had held important Government positions in the De- partment of Forestry. George W. Franzheim was six years of age when his family came to America, and after a peried of schooling he took up grape culture and the manufacture of native wine, an industry which he developed to be one of the largest plants in the country at that time. The large stone arched cellars used iu wine manufacture at- tracted many visitors. He held many important positions in the State of West Virginia, and was one of the cemniis- sioners te build the capitol at Wheeling and was alse a regent of the State University.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 135

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