History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 138

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Mr. Stone attended school in Old Virginia, and for three years was a student in Bedford Institute. He re- mained with the Institute as teacher of shorthand and bookkeeping for a time and then removed to Norton, Virginia, where for ten years he was secretary of the Norton Wholesale Grocery Company. For another year he was associated with W. G. Jones & Company at Roanoke,

and then removed to Bluefield, where he organized the Bluefield Candy Company, of which he is general manager and treasurer. T. L. Felts is president of the company.

Besides his successful business Mr. Stone is interested in the civic affairs of his community, votes rather in- dependently, and is a member of the Rotary Club, United Commercial Travelers and Country Club. He is a deacon in the Baptist Church and is president of the Men's class in Sunday school.

In 1904 Mr. Stone married a daughter of John T. Fry, of Chilhowie, Virginia. She died in 1913, leaving two children, Gordon and Blair. January 16, 1917, Mr. Stone married Miss Leta Austin, daughter of Hugh Austin, of Bedford County, Virginia. They have one daughter, Mary.

OSCAR V. HEFNER is one of the prosperous business men of Bluefield, a heating, plumbing and tinwork con- tractor. He started business here with little more than his expert skill in his trades, and is now head of an organization that does a business all over the southern part of the state. It is known as O. V. Hefner & Com- pany, with plant at 16 Roanoke Street. Since 1918 George M. Barger has been associated with the company.

Mr. Hefner was born at Hickory, North Carolina, Sep- tember 16, 1877, son of Poley L. and Tennessee (Miller) Hefner. The latter lives with her son at Bluefield. Poley L. Hefner, who died in 1909, at the age of sixty-five, was on his way to join the Confederate Army when the war closed. He was a tinner by trade, and was in busi- ness at Hickory until 1886 and thereafter worked in various places, including Bluefield in 1892. His people were from Germany, and he and his wife were devout members of the Lutheran Church. P. L. Hefner began voting the prohibition ticket when there were few ad- herents of that party in his locality. He was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Oscar V. Hefner, oldest son in a family of seven chil- dren, finished his education in the Hickory Seminary. He then served a three years' apprenticeship as a tinner under his father, and while employed in a combination shop at Greensboro learned the plumbing trade. He remained at Greensboro three years, then spent one year at Winston- Salem, North Carolina, and in 1900 he selected Bluefield as a town with a promising future. He opened his shop at his present location on Roanoke Street, his total capital being $250. As a contractor for several years he was frequently his only journeyman, but gradually he has built up a business, now empolying several experts in the trade, and is regarded as one of Bluefield 's prosperous and sub- stantial citizens.

In December, 1900, Mr. Hefner married Zelda Abernathy, daughter of Calvin Abernathy. Mrs. Hefner was a school- mate of her husband at Hickory, North Carolina. They have three children, Ralph A., Nannie R. and Cecil M. Mr. Hefner was one of the organizers of the Lutheran Church in Bluefield and is a deacon in the church and teacher of the Junior Class in Sunday school. Mrs. Hefaer is a Baptist. Mr. Hefner is a stanch prohibitionist in politics, and is a member of the United Commercial Trav- elers and the Rotary Club.

WILLIAM WARD KERSEY has been a resident of Blue- field since 1903. He located there as a young man with some commercial training, but without any capital whatso- ever. For about two years he was a clothing salesman in the Pedigo Store. He left that store in 1905, in debt $4.00 to his employer, but had determined to start a business of his own, and his character and record enabled him to obtain credit for equipment costing a little over seventeen hundred dollars, with which he started the laundry business now known as the Royal Laundry, of which he is proprietor. For several years his program was one of unceasing hard work in laying a substantial foundation for a business that has steadily grown and prospered, and the Royal Laundry today is one of the best equipped establishments of its kind in the state. It is housed in a building on Bland Street, especially erected for the purpose, and Mr. Kersey has won out in a difficult fight

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o stablish himself independently as a business man, and s ighly esteemed for what he baa done and the success o aa made.

r. Kersey was born at Pulaski, Pulaski County, Vir- fa, February 16, 1879, son of Nelson A. and Elizabeth Ewlkes) Kersey, the former a native ef Pulaski and blatter of Nedaway, Virginia. The Kersey family was ablished in this country by David Kersey, an English- M, who married an Irish girl, O'Dell. David Kersey rl in Tennessee and for a number of years was engeged grafting timber down the Tennessee and Mississippi bors te the New Orleans market. It is supposed that . ost his life by drewning. His son, John T. Kersey, sl both in Tennessee and Virginia, was a Confederate hier and died during the war. Nelson A. Kersey has pit bis life in Pulaski, Virginia, and is now aixty-seven es of age. He is a blacksmith by trade and for thirty es was employed by the Bertha Mineral Company and e the past ten yeara has been in the service of the teral Chemical Company. His wife died in November, m), at the age of fifty-five.

illiam Ward Kersey is the oldest of six children. He educated in the schools of Pulaski and as a young man used in the post office and also wrote life insurance. twas with this early training and experience that he wed te Bluefield in 1903. Mr. Kersey has in recent es, with some relaxation from the responsibilities of i business, been able to serve as city assessor and also deputy county assessor. He is a member of the Cham- e of Commerce, and he and Mrs. Kersey are active ibers of the Bland Street Methodist Church.

n February 28, 1918, he married Miss Bertie Rateliff, ighter of George Ratcliff. She was born at Tazewell, ginia. Mr. and Mrs. Kersey have two children: W. Jr., and Jack Nelsen.

AMES A. MENEFEE. For practically half a century hes A. Menefee has been identified with aome phase the lumber business, part of the time aa a building .racter, then as a lumber manufacturer, and also aa ealer. He is one of Bluefield'a prominent business , proprietor of the Menefee Lumber Company of that

e belongs te eld Virginia'a aristocratic lineage and born in Rappahannock County, Virginia, en land ated te his ancestors by the King of England in nial times. His great-grandfather, Capt. James Mene- fought in the war for independence, and owned a it estate, comprising 5,000 acres, and many slaves. ating was also the occupation of his son James Mene- grandfather of the Bluefield business man.

amea A. Menefee, of Bluefield, was bern in 1850, aen rames Albert and Sarah E. (Amiss) Menefee, his metber ig a daughter of Col. Elijah Amiss. James Albert tefee was born in 1806 and died in 1898, at the vener- age of ninety-twe, while his wife passed away at the of sixty-two. James Albert Menefee was a planter slave owner, and spent his life near the ancestral iefee home. He was strict in performing his duties . churchman of the Methodist faith. On hia plantation "aised fine horses, and he had a atring of racing horses , appeared in all the circuits of the country, and it is that he never lost a race in which one of his horses entered.

ames A. Menefee was one of a family of three sens five daughters. His brother Elijah was city auditor Lynchburg, Virginia, for years, and his other brother, E., is in the lumber business at Warrenton, Virginia. les A. Menefes in spite of the troubled conditions dent to the war between the states had good educa- al advantages, attending a private school taught by eted teacher, G. B. McClelland, in Fauquier County. m the time he left achoel to the present he has fol- ed some branch of the lumber industry. For several 's he was a carpenter and contractor, he operated a ing mill at Buena Vista, Virginia, and also at Lex- on and at Warrenton, and while at Warrenton he in the retail lumber business fer a number of years.

In 1910 he located at Harrisonburg, Virginia, where fer twe years he operated a sash and doer factory. Then, in 1912, he located at Bluefield, as manager of the manu- facturing plant of the Saxen Lime and Lumber Company. Two years later he engaged in business for himself, or- ganizing the Menefee Lumber Company.

October 17, 1875, Mr. Menefee married Miss Laura Laws, daughter of Edward Laws, of Hampton, Virginia. They have three children: Julian, the oldest, is manager of the National Biscuit Company's plant at Norfolk, Virginia; Randolph A. ia in the automobile business at Washington, D. C .; Besaie is the wife of Robert Amiss, at Huntington, West Virginia.

Mr. Menefee and family are members of the Episcopal Church and he was a vestryman at Buena Vista. He served aa a member of the City Council while at Warren- ton. He is affiliated with the Masonic Order and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce at Bluefield.

CHARLES MCCHESNEY BRAY, M. D. New engaged in the practice of his profession as a physician and aurgeen at Morgantewn, Doctor Bray was a medical officer during the World war and is one of the talented young men frem whom much may be expected in the future en the basis of their training and achievements.

Doctor Bray was born at Coopers in Mercer County, West Virginia, April 28, 1891, son of Charles Dudley and Virginia (Steele) Bray. There were four Bray brothers who came to America from England in 1632. Two of them settled in the South, one being the ancestor of Doctor Bray. Doctor Bray's great-great-grandfather was William Bray, his great- grandfather was James Bray, and his grandfather was James L. Bray, all nativea of Virginia. Charles D. Bray was also born in Virginia, in the City of Richmond. Prier to Jamea L., who was a hardware merchant at Richmond, the Braya were primarily country gentlemen. Charles D. Bray was born January 13, 1857, was educated in an acad- emy at Richmond and took up the profession of accounting. Since 1913 he has been connected with the accounting de- partment of the West Virginia State Tax Commission. Dur- ing the adjustment of the West Virginia-Virginia debt he did much expert research work in Charleston, Richmond, Wall Street, New York, and Washington, going ever many records. His findings developed many items favoring the balance of West Virginia, resulting in a total saving to the state of mere than six million dollars as adjusted in the final settlement. C. D. Bray, whose home is in Charleston, is one of the prom- inent Masons of the state, a Knight Templar and Shriner, and haa attained the thirty-third, honorary, degree in the Scottish Rite. His wife, Virginia Steele, was born in Augusta County, Virginia, February 2, 1857, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Hawpe) Steele, both natives of Vir- ginia, the Steeles being of Scotch-Irish and the Hawpes of Germany ancestry.

When Doctor Bray was a boy of aeven yeara his parents moved to Tazewell County, and two years later located at Elkina, where he acquired a common-school education and later entered the Davis & Elkins College, from which he graduated with the A. B. degree in 1913. He received his Bachelor of Science degree with the class of 1915 at West Virginia University, and finished his medical course in the Western Reserve University at Cleveland, where he graduated in 1917. As an under graduate he did hospital work for a time at the Lakeside and City hospitals at Cleve- land, and after graduation remained as resident physician in the department of pediatrica and contagious department of the City Hospital of Cleveland.

Doctor Bray was commissioned a first lientenant in the Medical Corps en August 23, 1917, and was called to active duty June 21, 1918. He was ordered to Hospital No. 6 at Fort McPherson, Georgia, and on March 3, 1919, was trans- ferred to Hospital Ne. 32 at Chicago, where he continued his duties until discharged June 17, 1919.

Doctor Bray began his professional work at Mergantewn on September 1, 1919, and in addition to his private prac- tice he is acting assistant surgeon of the United States public health service and is also instructor in physical diag- nosis at West Virginia University. Doctor Bray, who is

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unmarried, is a Fellow of the American Medical Association, a member of the West Virginia State and Monongalia County Medical societies, aud the Delta Tau Delta college fraternity.

WILBUR J. LILLY, who is associated with his brother Henry A. in conducting one of the leading retail grocery establishments of the City of Bluefield, Mercer County, under the title of the Royal Grocery Company, is a native son of this county and a member of a family that was here founded eighty years ago. His grandfather, Wash- ington Lilly, was born in Virginia, October 31, 1815, and was one of the venerable and honored pioneer citizens of Mercer County at the time of his death, October 10, 1895. His wife, Mary Polly, was born March 10, 1815, and died July 22, 1892. In the year 1841 Washington Lilly came from Fairfax, Virginia, to what is now Mercer County, West Virginia, and he located on the site of the present Village of Dunns. He erected the first gristmill at that place and became a prominent and influential citizen. He was a loyal soldier of the Union in the Civil war, and was one of the first two men at Dunns to cast votes for the republican party. There was not a death in the family circle until the youngest of the ten children had attained to the age of fifty-four years.

Wilbur J. Lilly was born at Dunns, Mercer County, on the 22d of May, 1872, and is the eldest of the seven sons of John S. and Elizabeth (Meador) Lilly, who still maintain their home at Dunns, the former being sixty-nine and the latter seventy years of age, in 1921. John S. Lilly was born and reared in Mercer County, and has heen active as a farmer, grist-mill operator and cabinet- maker, in which last mentioned line he formerly was called upon to manufacture coffins and caskets before the es- tablishing of modern undertaking enterprises in the county. He is a republican and he and his wife are earnest mem- bers of the Baptist Church, his father having been one of the founders of the church of this denomination at Dunns. Of the seven sons the subject of this sketch is the first born; Dr. Donzie Lilly is engaged in the practice of dentistry at Athens, this county; Hobart M. resides in the City of Charleston, West Virginia, and is in the railway mail service; Carl was born in 1882 and died in 1903; Vernon was born in 1884 and died in 1919; Sam was born in 1898 and died in 1901; Henry A. is the subject of a personal sketch on other pages of this volume.

One of the pleasing memories of Wilbur J. Lilly is that of his frequent accompanying of his grandfather, Washington Lilly, upon hunting trips in the period of his boyhood and youth, the grandfather having been one of the skilled Nimrods of the country. After leaving the village schools at Dunns he entered the West Virginia Normal School at Athens, this county, and prior to his graduation in the same he had taught school to aid in defraying the expenses of his course at the normal school. After his graduation he became associated with his uncle, R. G. Meador, in the opening of a general store at Athens, and at that place he continued to be successfully engaged in business for twenty-six years. He then, in 1920, re- moved to Bluefield and became associated with his brother Henry A. in forming the Royal Grocery Company, which here opened a modern and finely equipped retail grocery store, of which he has since been the active manager.

Mr. Lilly is a staunch republican and is loyal and pro- gressive as a citizen. He served as a member of the County Court from 1910 to 1916, within which period was instituted the present system of excellent road im- provements in the county and the work carried vigorously forward. He and his wife are zealous members of the Baptist Church, and have been active in various depart- ments of its work, including that of the Sunday school.

The year 1892 recorded the marriage of Mr. Lilly and Miss Vina E. Reed, who was born in Henry County, Vir- ginia, and who is a daughter of James Reed. Mr. and Mrs. Lilly have no children.

REV. WILLIAM H. MILLER, whose home is situated on the Hedgesville and Bedington Road, in Hedgesville Dis-

trict, Berkeley County, was born in Gerrardstown Distri this county, on the 23d of January, 1858, a son of Willa Smith Miller, who was born in the same district, ear in the nineteenth century, as was also his wife, who w: born in 1819. William S. Miller was a son of Willia Miller, who presumably was born in Pennsylvania and w] became a very early settler in what is now Berkeley Count West Virginia, where he purchased land and reclaime a productive farm. In the pioneer days he transporte merchandise by means of teams and wagons from Balt more, west, and it was while he was absent from hon on one of these long overland journeys that his deal occurred. His wife, whose maiden name was Sally Hense survived him many years and died at the venerable ay of eighty-six years. Their children were five in number David, James, George, William S. and Mary.

William S. Miller was reared on the pioneer farm, an as a youth manifested special interest in horticulture. The following quotation is from Bulletin No. 82, West Vi ginia Agricultural Experiment Station, of April, 1902 "If anyone deserves the distinction of being called th father of commercial orcharding in West Virginia tha !! man is the late W. S. Miller, who lived over eighty-tw1 years near Gerrardstown, Berkeley County, up to his deat] December 31, 1901. The frontispiece of this bulleti shows his likeness in October, 1901. On the farm wher he died he planted in 1851 his first orchard of apple peaches and plums. This orchard contained but sixtee. acres, an area which must have seemed to the people o that time entirely too large to be used for such purpose but the area has been increased year by year. Upon th place over 4,000 apple trees have been planted, and hav grown to bearing age. Some 25,000 peach trees, beside many pear, plum, quince and many other fruits are nov bearing there. When the war between the states bega Mr. Miller had an abundance of nursery stock on hand which could not be sold, so that he had opportunity to put out many orchard trees. The close of the war found him with about 4,000 peach trees in full bearing. Martins burg was the nearest market. His eight boys, as they grew up, took charge of the retailing and sold direct fron wagons to customers. The prices ranged from 75 cents te $1.00 per peck. The first sales in outside markets were made to a Baltimore party, who bought the peaches af $6.00 per flour barrel. The boys hauled the peaches to market in a wagon-box, where the Baltimore agent meas ured them in a flour barrel, then poured them on the straw. covered floor of the box-car. It may be said of the ven- erable orchardist that he had a greater love for trees and a greater interest in the possibilities to be obtained hy expert horticultural methods than he had in the money to be gained from a large orchard. Indeed, he had made his farm an extensive experiment station. Every new variety" of any kind of fruit which was mentioned with favor by a nurseryman was sure to find a place in his orchard. A prominent variety was often given a quick trial by top- grafting or budding on trees of bearing age. Thus this careful nurseryman tested the qualities of hundreds of varieties of new fruits in periods of one to three years. Even to his death he was seeking for new varieties. Much could be written in regard to the great horticultural value which Mr. W. S. Miller has been to West Virginia and the adjoining states. His name will ever live in the minds and hearts of those whom he has helped so much. He is and ever will be regarded as the most prominent and foremost of orchardists in the history of West Virginia. Hundreds of men, from far and near, who have contemplated plant- ing orchards have visited his place, and he took great delight in showing them the merits and demerits of various varieties, knowing them invariably at sight, without etop- ping to look at labels. He never kept in his nursery any varieties he would not use in his own orchard. Many & man has received his inspiration and, indeed, his first stock of graft twigs and plants entirely from Mr. Miller, who seemed only too glad to have the opportunity of helping others. The present immense fruit industry in the Eastern Panhandle and adjacent states is a monument to his wil- lingness to help others and to his great ability as an ex-

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pimental orchardist. He never assumed the role of a un of superior knowledge. His knowledge was pos- wied in the greatest humility, so that he gave to strangers l idea that instead of granting them a favor he was wriving a favor from them in consulting him. Without r work, or some other aimilar life, there would be no nccasful orchards in our part of the country."'

sabella (McKown) Miller, wife of William S. Miller, w3 born and reared near Gerrardstown, Berkeley County, parents, John and Sarah Louisa (DeMoss) Mckown, hing been honored pioneers of this section of the state. 43. Miller was a devout member of the Presbyterian Earch. Mr. Miller was not a member, but exemplified the Cristian faith in his daily life. They became the parents of ren children: Charles H., Mary Louise, John M., Nan- O., William H., D. Gold, Edward DeMoss, Bessie L., Boert P., Harry W. and Lawrence Porter.

lev. William H. Miller gained his early education in the ral school of his home district, later attended Newark Lidemy, at Newark, Delaware, and after his graduation Lafayette College, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, .entered Princeton University, in the theological depart- wat of which he was graduated in 1886. In the Champ- presbytery of the State of New York he was ordained the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, and thereafter held various pastoral charges, he having been pastor the Presbyterian Church at Enon Valley, Pennsylvania, en he suffered a nervous breakdown that caused him to ire from the active work of the ministry. He purchased orchard near Hedgesville, in his native county, and has sice given his attention to this property, in connection oh which he is well upholding the high prestige of the (nily name in constructive horticulture, the while the .door life has fully restored his health.

In 1887 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Miller and Iss Myrtle May Roberts, who was born at Chautauqua, w York, a daughter of Hiram and Adaline (Hilliker) berta. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Miller are: Charles [ Carroll R., Hensel M., Adelyne, Laurence and Eliza- t.h. Mr. Miller is one of the liberal and progressive lizens of his native county.

GEORGE WATSON HETHERINGTON, secretary and general nager of the Bluefield Ice & Cold Storage Company in City of Bluefield, Mercer County, was born at Prince- ti, this county, on the 4th of November, 1878, and is a 11 of Joseph T. and Julia (Carr) Hetherington. The ther, who celebrated in 1921 the seventy-seventh anni- tesary of his birth, was born on the old family home- ad farm three miles distant from Princeton, this county, Id his wife likewise is a native of Mercer County, she ling seventy-four years of age at the time of this writ- ;, in 1921. Joseph T. Hetherington was a gallant young dier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, his service ving mainly been in charge of an ambulance service Ith the One Hundred and Fiftieth Virginia Regiment. , took part in the battles of Cloyd's Mountain and Look- t Mountain and in the conflicts marking the campaign bm Chattanooga to Atlanta, in which his regiment was part of the command of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. He Id been held a prisoner of war at Camp Morton, Indiana, ring the last three months before the close of the great inflict. He and his wife are devoted members of the Methodist Church at Princeton, and he is superintendent its Sunday school. He is a stalwart democrat, and is iliated with the United Confederate Veterans. His ther, John J. Hetherington, was a native of Ireland and is a young man when he established his home in what now Mercer County, West Virginia.

George W. Hetherington, the youngest son in a family four sons and six daughters, gained his early education the public schools and the academy in his native town Princeton, and thereafter took a course in a business llege at Staunton, Virginia. He was for four years a ccessful teacher in the schools of his native county, and work in a sawmill he earned the funda to defray the pense of his course in the business college. In 1907 r. Hetherington became timekeeper at the roundhouse of

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 138

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