History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 140

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ELLIS C. CONLEY, who is engaged in the practice of profession as a certified public accountant in the City Huntington, is a native of the fine old Blue Grass Sta His grandfather, Madison Conley, passed his entire life Johnson County, Kentucky, where he was born in 1839 a where he died in 1913, he having been a distinguished me ber of the bar of his native county and having been a g lant soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war. His wi Elizabeth, was likewise a native of Johnson County, 8 having survived him and having been a resident of Flo County, that state, at the time of her death. Their s Samuel Clark Conley was born January 15, 1863, and no resides near Riceville, Kentucky, where he owns and ope ates a large and well improved farm. He is a democr: and both he and his wife are carnest members of the Ba tist Church. Mrs. Conley, whose maiden name was Sar E. Picklesimer, was born in Johnson County, Kentucky, November, 1864. Of the children Ellis C., of this revie is the eldest; Leonard is a farmer in Floyd County, Ke tucky; Grace is the wife of Walter Chatfield, a farmer Lawrence County, Ohio; Ollie is the wife of Thomas Hi a merchant in Floyd County; and Ross' remains with b parents on the home farm in Johnson County.

Ellis C. Conley was horn near Prestonsburg, Floyd Count Kentucky, August 3, 1883, and there gained in the rur schools his preliminary education. In 1900 he graduate from the East Kentucky Stato Normal School at Louis He taught two years in the rural schools of his nati county, and thereafter was for two years a student in Va paralso University, Valparaiso, Indiana. During the e sulng two years he was again in service as a successfi teacher in the schools of his home county, and in 1905 1 graduated from the Bowling Green (Kentucky) Busines

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Iversity. For the succeeding year he was an instructor me commercial department of the high school at Katawa, Stucky, and in 1908 he completed a post-graduate course a igher accountancy in La Salle University, Chicago. IIo n employed for three years as bookkeeper for various eness concerns in Kentucky and West Virginia, and beafter was associated with a firm of certified public se- stauts in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, until 1913, in Wruary of which year he became secretary and treasurer fthe H. Krish Wholesale Dry Goods Company at Cat- esburg, Kentucky. He resigned this position December 11916, and has since been engaged in successful praetiec a certified public accountant in the City of Huntington, Fit Virginia, where he has a substantial and representa- I clientele. He received his first certificate as a certi- te public accountant on the 6th of July, 1916, under the mı of the State of Kentucky, and Governor A. O. Stan- è of Kentucky, appointed him a member of the first te board of examiners for Kentucky certified public ac- catants. After serving one year he was reappointed, for erm of three years. November 18, 1918, he received his end professional certificate, from the State of Indiana; August 14, 1919, he received a similar certificate from State of West Virginia. His well equipped offices are 406 First National Bank Building, and he is the owner the business conducted under the title of the Federal klit Company at Huntington.

Ir. Conley is a democrat, and he and his wife are zeal- members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, th, in their home city, he being a steward of the same also secretary of the men's Bible class in the Sunday cool. He is actively identified with the Huntington Amber of Commerce and the Huntington Credit Men's ociation, as is he also with the National Association of It Accountants, the American Society of Certified Pub- i Accountants and the West Virginia Society of Certified olic Accountants. At Huntington he is the owner of il estate, including his pleasant home property, 923 Ichth Street, and he is the owner also of a farm in Law- ce County, Ohio. In the World war period he was in the ome-tax service of the government. His Masonic affilia- his are here noted: Hampton Lodge No. 235, F. and A. Catlettsburg, Kentucky; Apperson Chapter No. 81, A. M., Ashland, that state; Huntington Commandery . 9, Knights Templars; Lodge of Perfection No. 4 in home city; Beni-Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine Charleston, West Virginia Consistory No. 1, Scottish e, at Wheeling, in which he has received the thirty-sec- l degree; Rose Croix Chapter No. 4, Huntington; Hunt- ton Chapter No. 8, O. E. S .; and White Shrine of Jeru- em No. 3 at Huntington.

Tune 8, 1910, at Catlettsburg, Kentucky, was solemnized , marriage of Mr. Conley and Miss Estella Chatfield, lighter of the late LaGrand Chatfield, who was a whole- je merchant in that city. Mr. and Mrs. Conley have no Idren.

VERNON EMIL JOHNSON, a former speaker of the House Delegates of the West Virginia Legislature, is success- ly established in the insurance business in his native n of Berkeley Springs, judicial center of Morgan anty, and is a scion of one of the influential pioneer nilies of this section of West Virginia. He was born Berkeley Springs on the 22d of May, 1880, and is a L of John W. and Eliza E. (Bechtol) Johnson, both like- se natives of Morgan County, where the father was born a farm near Berkeley Springs and the mother at Berke- Springs, where her father, Louis Bechtol, was a repre- tative business man. John W. Johnson bore the tronymic of his father, John, who was a farmer by ation and who is supposed to have passed his entire a in what is now Morgan County. John W. Johnson s reared on the old home farm and gained his youthful acation in the rural schools. After his marriage he gaged in the general merchandise business at Berkeley rings, his father-in-law having been associated with him this enterprise. He continued aa one of the leading

merchants and honored citizens of Berkeley Springs antil his death, at the age of fifty-four years, his widow having passed away at the venerable age of seventy-two years. They became the parents of five sons, of whom two are living: Ernest L. and Vernon E.

The public schools of Berkeley Springs afforded Vernon E. Johnson his early educational advantages, and there- after he completed a course in the celebrated Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York. Ile gained his initial business experience as elerk in his father's store, and after leaving the business college he continued his serv- iees as a clerk in his native eity about six years. He then engaged in the general insurance business, in which he has since continued, his ageney being now one of the most substantial and important in this line of enterprise in Morgan County.

Mr. Johnson has been notably loyal and influential as a progressive and public-spirited citizen and has been n leader in the local ranks and the councils of the republican party in his native county, his first presidential vote hav- ing been cast for Theodore Roosevelt. He was elected representative of Morgan County in the Lower House of the State Legislature in 1911, and the high estimate placed upon his service is shown in his having been re-elected in 1913 and again in 1915. He was a loyal working member in the deliberations on the floor of the House of Delegates and also as a member of the various committees to which he was assigned. His ability and popularity led to bis being chosen speaker of the House for the session of 1915-6. and he had the distinction of being one of the youngest men ever selected for this position in that body. He served as a member of the military staff of Governor Glass- coek and later as a member of the staff of Governor Hat- field, in which connection he gained the rank and title of colonel.

In the World war period Colonel Johnson was chairman of the Morgan County Draft Board and was otherwise in- fluential in the furthering of local war activities and patriotic serviee. He has served as a member of the State Board of Trustees of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, and as a member of the Council of the Town of Bath. He is president of the Bank of Berkeley Springs, and is the owner of a fine farm property in his native county, the same having a specially well developed orchard that shows the owner's interest in horticulture. Colonel John- son is affiliated with DeFord Lodge No. 88, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

At the age of twenty-one years Colonel Johnson wedded Miss Willie Rice, who likewise was born at Berkeley Springs and who was a daughter of Jesse and Margaret Rice. Mrs. Johnson died at the age of thirty-six years, and is survived by one daughter, Virginia E., who graduated from the local high school and thereafter continued her studies by attending Madison Hall in the City of Wash- ington, District of Columbia. For his second wife Colonel Johnson wedded Miss Ethel Harmison, who was born at Berkeley Springs, a daughter of Morgan S. and Martha Harmison, of whom more specific mention is made on other pages of this volnme. Mrs. Johnson graduated from the Berkeley Springs High School and later attended the State Normal School at Fairmont, she having been a suc- eessful and popular teacher prior to her marriage. Colonel and Mrs. Johnson have two fine sons, Richard M. and Philip E.

MORGAN SIMEON HASMISON has served both as sheriff and clerk of his native county, a fact that sets at nanght any application of the scriptural aphorism that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country." He re- sides at Berkeley Springs and is the present county clerk of Morgan County. He was born on a farm near Berkeley Springs, the county seat, and the date of his nativity was February 14, 1852. His father, Thomas Harmison, was born on a farm at the confluence of Sleepy Creek and the Potomac River, June 10, 1813, and was a son of Elijah Harmison, who, so far as available data indicate, passed his entire life in what is now Morgan County, his five children having been Isaac, Thomas, David, Jane and

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Abigail. Thomas Harmison was reared on the old home farm and eventually succeeded to the ownership of the Rankin Sawmill, which he operated a few years. He then purchased a farm in the Sleepy Creek District, and there he continued as one of the substantial agriculturists and stock-growers of his native county until his death in 1883. He was influential in community affairs of public order and was a republican in politics. He married Miss Phoebe Mahala Rankin, who was born at Berkeley Springs, a daughter of Simeon and Matilda (Fardon) Rankin. Simeon Rankin passed his entire life in Morgan County, as now constituted, owned and operated a sawmill and was one of the leaders in the lumber industry in this section of the state, his lumber having been rafted down the creek and the Potomac River to Williamsport. Mrs. Thomas Harmison preceded her husband to the life eternal, her death having occurred in 1881. Of the two children the elder was John Franklin, who enlisted for service in defense of national integrity when the Civil war began. He became a member of Company F, First Maryland Vol- unteer Infantry, and he was killed in battle at Harper's Ferry, his remains being interred in the National Ceme- tery at Antietam.

Morgan S. Harmison waa reared on the old home farm and gained his early education in the rural schools. He eventually succeeded to the ownership of the home farm, which he atill retains in his possession and to the active management of which he continued to give his attention until his election to the office of county sheriff in 1896. He served four years in this office, and in 1902 was elected county clerk, a position of which he has since been the incumbent through successive re-elections.

September 28, 1876, recorded the marriage of Mr. Har- mison and Miss Martha Prudence Thompson, who was born in Sleepy Creek District, this county, a daughter of Samuel and Ellen (McBee) Thompson, life-long residents of Morgan County. Mr. and Mrs. Harmison became the parents of ten children: Clara Jane, wife of C. R. Hover- male; Morgan Samuel, who married Nellie Custer; Bessie Mahala, wife of G. C. Hunter; Martha May; Lola E .; Etta, wife of Edward Smith; Ethel M., wife of Col. Vernon E. Johnson, who is the subject of individual men- tion on other pages of this work; Kate, wife of Leonard Collier; George S., who married Lillian Hovermale; and Frank, who married Hazel Collier.

EMERY C. QUEEN. In the present day when business honesty sometimes appears to be at a discount and when many public officials are being accused of trafficking with their honor, those whose integrity is unquestioned stand out with distinctive prominence. In this connection atten- tion is called to the record of Emery C. Queen, who has passed the greater part of his life in the employ of the United States Government, who is now serving as post- master at Berkeley Springs, and whose attitude toward the world is that of kindly friendliness, combined with the strictest probity and highest principles.

Mr. Queen was born February 8, 1886, on a farm near Johnstown, Harrison County, Virginia, a son of Armistead and Frances Diana (Alexander) Queen. His father was born in the same locality in 1844, a son of Levi Queen, who was born on a farm located on Peeltree Run, in the same county. In his youth Armistead Queen learned the trade of stone mason, a vocation which he followed with much success for many years, in addition to which he occu- pied himself as an agriculturist, and now, at the age of seventy-eight years, is living in retirement on his property. He and his estimable wife, who died in June, 1911, were the parents of seven children: Jesse C., Ida, Okey, Alice, Homer Moletus, Ledrew and Emery C.

Emery C. Queen attended the rural schools of his native locality during the period of his youth, this being sub- sequently advanced by a two-year course at Fairmont Nor- mal School. In the meantime he had taught in the rural schools, and after he had completed his normal course he continued to devote himself to educational work until he had taught nine years. He then entered the railway mail service, running between Washington and Pittsburgh, and

in 1917 was transferred to Roanoke, Virginia, as transl clerk. After three months he resigned and became pr. cipal of the Mount Wesley graded school, but after o year left this post and returned to the railway mail servi between Washington and Grafton. Ou October 1, 191 Mr. Queen again left the railway mail service, but not t service of the Government, for he at once assumed t duties of postmaster at Berkeley Springs, a position which he had been appointed. He has continued to di charge the duties of this office in a thoroughly aatiafyil manner, has elevated the standards and efficiency of t. local office, and through his unfailing courtesy and obli ing nature has won numerous friends and well-wishers.

At the age of twenty-four years Mr. Queen was unit. in marriage with Miss Madeline Fisher, who was bo. in Morgan County, West Virginia, daughter of Ros Fisher, and to this union there have been born four chi dren: Helen, Emerson, Madeline and Donald. Mrs. Quee is a member of St. Vincent's Roman Catholic Church, whi Mr. Queen belongs to the United Brethren Church an Rev. G. B. Hott's Bible Class. As a fraternalist he belong to Berkeley Springs Lodge No. 4, K. P., and is also member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He is pres dent of the Morgan County Poultry Association.

WILLIAM OLIVER HUGHES, Ja., office manager for th West Virginia & Pittsburgh Sand Company at Berkele Springs, Morgan County, was born in Harford County Maryland, on the 11th of April, 1833, and is a son of Wil iam Oliver Hughes and Estelle (Morgan) Hughes, bot likewise natives of that county. The Hughes family wa founded in Harford County many generations ago, an there Amos Hughes, paternal grandfather of the subjec of this review, passed his entire life, Robert Morgan, th maternal grandfather, likewise having been one of the sub stantial citizens of that county at the time of his death William O. Hughes, Sr. was reared and educated in hi native county, and as a young man was there appointed deputy sheriff, a position in which he served two terms after which he was sheriff of the county two terms, besides serving as tax collector. He and his wife still reside it Harford County, and Mr. Hughes is now virtually retired after many years of active association with business and in dustrial enterprise.

He whose name initiates this review is one of a family of seven children and he received his early education in the schoola of his native county. Thereafter he completed a four years' course in Tome Institute at Port Deposit, Mary- land, and later took a commercial course at Cook Academy, Elmira, New York. He then, in 1903, came to Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, and took the position of timekeeper for the West Virginia & Pittsburgh Sand Company. He later became bookkeeper and is now the efficient and popu- lar office manager for this important industrial corporation. He is also associated with his father-in-law in the general merchandise business at Berkeley Springs. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and he and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

In the year 1911 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hughes and Miss Ellen Belle Hunter, who was born at Berkeley Springs, a daughter of James Hunter, of whom individual mention is made in following biography.

JAMES HUNTER is one of the leading merchants of his native town of Berkeley Springs, the judicial center of Morgan County, and is a representative of one of the old and honored pioneer families of this county, his father, Charles Edward Hunter, likewise having been born at Berkeley Springs, and having been a son of William Hunter, who was prominently identified with the civic and material development of this county in the earlier period of its his- tory. Charles Edward Hunter became a skilled artisan at the carpenter's trade, and was a successful contractor and builder at Berkeley Springs at the time of his death, when but thirty-five years of age. His wife, whose maiden name was Ann McCaffrey, likewise was born and reared at Berke- ley Springs, a daughter of John McCaffrey, and she was sitxy-six years of age at the time of her death.

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a>s Ilunter, one of a family of five children, was and educated at Berkeley Springs, where as a youth o'ned the carpenter's trado, to which he devoted his mon a few years. Hle thea engaged in the general andise business in his native village, and with this en- r'e he has continued his active connection during the r ning years, which have brought to him substantial e. He is a director of tho Berkeley Springs Bank, is oblican in political adhereney, and he and his wife membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

An he was twenty-nine years of age Mr. Hunter mar- iss Emily F. Frey, who was born on a farm in Bath it, Morgan County, and who died September 15, 1921. as a daughter of Lewis and Rachel Frey. Mr. and Iunter had three children: Ellen Belle is the wife P.liam O. Hughes, who is the subject of the personal i preceding. Anna is the wife of W. J. Noel, and rave two children, Joseph and Elizabeth. Augusta, m.st of the three daughters, remains at the parental

HOWARD PARSONS is one of the alert and progressive mas men of the City of Martinsburg, Berkeley County, r he has shown both versatility and resourcefulness in veloping of the popular billiard and bowling estab- ont known as the Palace, besides which he is a stock- le and director of the Shenandoah Valley Bank & e Company and the Carnation Orchard Company.

[ Parsons was born at Keyser, judicial center of Min- ounty, West Virginia, on the 18th of April, 1879, and .on of George W. and Ella Parsons. After having Profited by the advantages offered by the public schools native place Mr. Parsons took a position as clerk in torekeeper's department of the Baltimore & Ohio l'ad, and later he was transferred to the transporta- epartment. After continuing his connection with this ty for a period of five years he was for aix years the tir clerk in the Berkeley Hotel at Martinsburg, Berke- bounty, and for the ensuing three years he conducted ·l at Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. He then returned to nsburg and opened a billiard parlor on the south side est King Street. One year later, in 1919, he opened resent modern and finely equipped establishment, the e, at 121 West King Street, where he has a full com- nt of the best type of billiard and pool tables and bowling alley, besides having a soda-water fountain arrying full lines of cigars and tobacco, confectionery porting goods, in which last department he has the agency for the great sporting-goods house of A. G. ding & Company.

the Masonic fraternity Mr. Parsons has received the ·second degree of the Scottish Rite, his basic York affiliation being with Davis Lodge No. 51, A. F. and ., in his native Town of Keyser. He is a member of Temple of the Mystic Shrine in the City of Wheeling, 3 affiliated with Martinsburg Lodge No. 778, Benevo- And Protective Order of Elks; Washington Lodge No. lights of Pythias; Azrah Temple No. 226, Dramatic Knights of Khorassan; and the local camp of the rn Woodmen of America, besides which he is a val- member of the Kiwanis Club in his home city.

1906 Mr. Parsons wedded Miss Henrietta Katherine is, daughter of Herbert E. and Susan (Gardner) Han- od a sister of Herbert E. Hannis, Jr., distriet attor- of whom individual mention is made on other pages of work. Mrs. Parsons died at the age of thirty-two , and for his second wife Mr. Parsons wedded Miss May Weller, daughter of George W. Weller.

IN CHRISTOPHER, of the Pisgah locality in Preston y, is a splendid exemplar of the rugged, strong and 1 existence, his career having covered more than 7 years and having expended itself in hard work, citizenship and constant thoughtfulness and provi- for his family.

was born within a quarter of a mile of where he today, at the home of his son Ralph, on April 12,

1839. His father, John Christopher, was an orphaa child in Pennsylvania, and at the age of about five or six was taken into the family of Mr. Scaport in the Pisgah con- munity. Mr. Seaport later lost his life by drowning in the Cheat River. John Christopher was reared on the Sea- port farm, and while he had few educational advantages, he gained enough literary training to suffiec for his busi- ness necds. He married Mary Lawson, daughter of Ben- jamia Lawson, whose farm was in the same neighborhood as the Seaport farm. She died in 1854. IIer children were: Frances Ann, who became the wife of George King and lived all her life in Preston County; Irvin and Jehu, twin sons, they having been teamaters in the Civil war and thereafter spending their career as farmers in the Pisgah locality; Marshall, who died at the same time as his mother; and Tazewell, who was a Union soldier at the time of the Civil war, was captured at Harpers Ferry, and died at Annapolis, Maryland, soon after his exchange.

The second wife of John Christopher was Delilah Walls, daughter of William Walls. The children of this mar- riage were: Aaberry, a farmer in Pleasants District of Preston County; John, a farmer near Kingwood; Sylvester, of Pisgah; Mrs. Mattic Cunningham, of Uniontown, Pena- sylvania, whose first husband was Jack Sadler; Mollie, wife of Ezra D. Matthew, of Fairmont; Lazona and Columbus, of Fairchance, Pennsylvania; Emmer, of Terra Alta; aad Rosa, wife of French Greathouse, of Nilan, Pennsylvania.

Irvin Christopher had the privilege of attending the com- mon schools a few months cach winter and the rest of the year he employed himself in the work of the farm, and he remained about the old home until the beginning of the Civil war. He was a stanch Union man, and soon after the outbreak of hostilities he went to Pittsburgh and found employment as a mechanic during the construction of two large gunboats, the Mannannk and the Umquah. After that be returned to the Big Sandy, and a few months later re-entered the service of the Government as a teamster. He and his brother Jehu drove teams for Colonel Rey- nolds and Captain Morgadent, topographical engineers of the army in the State of Virginia. This phase of army service occupied Irvin Christopher three months. As civilian he had borne some of the real burdens of warfare, and he then returned and soon after his marriage settled down on a farm. He built a frame house in the very yard where the home of his son Ralph now stands, and here he and Mrs. Christopher set themselves to the task of achieving prosperity from their operations as grain and stoek farmers. In the years that followed, Mr. Christopher cleared away extensive tracts of the timber adjacent to the Cheat River, and he and his sons rolled many hundreds of logs into that stream destined for the mills lower down. For some yeara he and Mrs. Christopher also conducted the boarding camp for the Pittsburgh Lumber Company. In the course of many years Mr. Christopher cleared a large acreage, and of that clearing perhaps 150 acres was converted into fields of tillage, producing such crops as corn, wheat, oats and buckwheat. Mr. Christopher found a market for his grain at the Rockville Mill.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 140

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