History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 142

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > West Virginia > History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2 > Part 142

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Richard R. Feller,

431

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

d his parents to America, and after residing for a time Ohio he removed to Indiana, where he worked at his . de. Laier he removed to Baltimore, Maryland, and for › years he was employed in the construction department the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, after which he was a ight conductor for this road. In 1857 he eame to what now West Virginia and engaged in the hotel business at rtinsburg, at the corner of Queen and West Race streets. on afterward he erected a commodious and substantial ck hotel, which he named the Shenandoah House. After rating this hotel a number of years he retired, and he seventy-nine years of age at the time of liis deatlı. le maiden name of his wife was Catherine Sehick, ale ring been born in Hesse Cassel, Germany, and having n a child when her widowed mother eame to the United · tes and with her children established a home in Rich- lad, Virginia. Mrs. Catherine Feller died at the age of enty-four years. Her children were six in number: irles H., John A., George M., William S., Julia W. and zabeth R.

Charles H. Feller attended a private school at Martins- ig and for two years was a student in Knapp's German [ American Institute at Baltimore. Thereafter he was a time his father's assistant in the hotel at Martins- ig, and he then engaged in the grocery business, at the ner of West Martin and North Raleigh streets, where he tinued the enterprise successfully for a period of twenty- years, sinee which time he has lived virtually retired. July 30, 1874, at Sacramento, California, Charles H. iler wedded Mary L. Roeder, who was born in a log house it stood at the northwest corner of Raleigh and West ertin streets, Martinsburg. Her father, Ernest Roeder, 1 born in Saxony, Germany, and came to the United Ites in company with his wife and their one child. For ime he was employed in the United States Arsenal at 1.pers Ferry, now in West Virginia, and he then removed (Martinsburg and purchased one-fourth of the block of il at the intersection of West Martin and North Raleigh tets, the family home being established in the little log se that was then the only building on this land. Mr. Ider waa long engaged in the grocery business at Mar- i burg, and thus continued until his death, in 1874, at the ¿ of forty-nine years. His widow and children went to ! fornia, but Mrs. Roeder later returned to Martinsburg, Fre she died at the age of seventy-seven years. Charles IFeller purchased and still owns the former Roeder prop- 1' mentioned above, the land now being the site of eight uses and a store building. He and his wife have two U, Richard R. and Charles V. Mr. and Mrs. Feller are liest communieants of the Lutheran Church.

fter attending the public schools and the Dickinson paratory School, Richard R. Feller completed a course civil engineering at the University of West Virginia, in ich he was graduated in 1913. Thereafter he was identi- " with engineering construction work at various places she Ohio River until 1919, when he organized the Rich- J R. Feller Company, of the business of which he has w) sole owner since 1920. In 1921 he completed a $140,- ( contract in the construction of six miles of asphalt el on the Winchester Turnpike, which connects Martins- Ag and Winchester and which was traversed by both Fed- I and Confederate troops in the Civil war. Mr. Feller ed many war implements and relics while engaged in Broving this old-time thoroughfare, and he retains the le as historic souvenirs. He owns and occupies a modern wie which he erected on the site of the old log house b had been owned by his father and maternal grand- 1 er.

a December 16, 1914, Mr. Feller married Mary Ethel sler, who was born on a farm in Opequen District, teley County, a daughter of Elijah S. and Catherine Mitmore) Tabler and granddaughter of Levi and Ruth Ishans) Tabler. Her maternal grandparents were Sam- and Catherine (Evers) Whitmore. Mrs. Feller is a Biber of the Reformed Church. Three of her uncles are ymen, two of her uncles became physicians and one

brother became a physician. Mr. Feller is a communicant of St. John's Lutheran Church, and his wife, of Christ Re- formed Church. He ia affiliated with the Kappa Alpha college fraternity; Washington Lodge No. 1, Knights of Pythias; and Martinsburg Lodge No. 778, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

RICHARD HENRY EDMONDSON, M. D. The medical pro- fession has been very prominent in the wonderful seien- tific achievements of the past century and that of the present. Through the bequesta of great wealth trained medical men are devoting their time in laboratories fitted with every possible adjunct for study, to the solving of the problems which so closely touch humanity, its begin- ning, existence and end. Not every medical man is per- mitted these advantages, however enthused he may be with professional interest, but the discoveries which come to him in his daily practice are, perhaps, quite as creditable, and certainly they are frequent enough to demonstrate great ability. Since 1902 Dr. Richard Henry Edmondson has been accounted one of the leading physicians and sur- geons of Morgantown, and during that period haa proved his skill as a professional man and his worth as a citizen. Not only has he won the confidence of a large and re- munerative practice, but also the esteem and respect of hia fellow-practitioners, who have honored him frequently by election to posts of responsibility.

Doctor Edmondson was born in the City of Richmond, Virginia, May 22, 1867, a son of Richard Howell and Mary Missouri (Montgomery) Edmondson. This branch of the Edmondson family traces its genealogy to Samuel Edmondson, who was born in 1750 and died about 1830. He served in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war as quartermaster in the Fourth Maryland Battalion of the Flying Camp in June, 1776, was hospital surgeon's mate from June, 1777, to June 20, 1780, and was hospital physician and surgeon from September 20, 1781, to the close of the war. He married Martha Elmore.

Richard Coleman Edmondson, son of Samuel and Martha (Elmore) Edmondson, was horn in 1789, and died Novem- her 6, 1859. On May 15, 1823, he married Susan Howell Chastain, who was born December 23, 1803, and died November 14, 1891, daughter of Isham and Sallie (Howell) Chastain. Richard Howell Edmondson, son of Richard Coleman and Susan Edmondaon, was born February 2, 1829, and died June 23, 1910. He was a resident of Halifax Court House, Virginia, where his parents also resided, but in 1880 removed to Austin, Texas. On July 2, 1860, he married Mary Missouri Montgomery, daughter of Priee and Elizabeth (McMurty) Montgomery. Mrs. Edmondson, who was born February 6, 1840, died Septem- ber 2, 1868.

Richard Henry Edmondson attended a private school at Austin, Texas, until 1882, in which year he entered the University of the South at Sewance, Tennessee, and was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1885. Subsequently he entered Hahnemann Medical College, Phila- delphia, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doetor of Medieine in 1890, and began practice at Austin, Texas. He later followed his profession in Arizona and New Mexico until 1902, in which year he went to New York City and took a post-graduate course in the Post- Graduate Medical School. In June, 1902, he located at Morgantown, and in the following year was elected city and county health officer, a position in which he served during that year and 1904. In June, 1921, he was ap- pointed city health offieer. Doctor Edmondson was one of the incorporators and first secretary of the Morgantown City Hospital Association, and has served as president of the Monongalia County Medical Society. He was a delegate to the State Medical Society at its convention held at White Sulphur Springs in 1911, at which meeting he was elected counsellor for the second distriet. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, of the Masonic Order and of the Improved Order of Red Men.

The following letter contains the war record of Doctor Edmondson:

432

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

"Headquarters, Camp Wadsworth, "Office of the Camp Surgeon, "Camp Wadsworth, S. C. "' December 16, 1918.

"Memorandum: To the Adjutant General of the Army. "1. The following is the military history of Richard E. Edmondson, Major, Medical Corps.

"Was commissioned Ist Lieut. M. C., August 9, 1916; re-commissioned 1st Lieut. M. C., March 17, 1917, ordered active duty, Camp Greenleaf, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., per telegraphic authority and per Par. 46 S. O. 174, W. D., Washington July 28, 1917. Was transferred to 82nd Divi- sion, Camp Gordon, per Par. 195, S. O. 241, W. D., Wash- ington October 16, 1917. Attached to Sanitary Train 82nd Division. Transferred per Verbal Order, Division Surgeon, to 157th Depot Brigade, 82nd Division. Transferred to Camp Wadsworth, S. C., per Par. 66, S. O. 26, W. D., Washington January 31st, 1918. Assigned to duty as assistant to Depot Surgeon, Provisional Depot for Corps and Army Troops, per Par. 7, S. O. 37, Provisional Depot for Corps and Army Troops, Camp Wadsworth, S. C.

"Was promoted from Ist Lieut. M. C., to Captain, M. C. per par. 111, S. O. 98, W. D., Washington April 26, 1918. "Promoted from the grade of Captain, M. C., to the grade of Major, M. C., per Par. 470, S. O. 238, W. D., Washington October 10, 1918.

"Appointed and announced as Camp Sanitary Inspector per General Orders No. 125, Headquarters, Camp Wads- worth, S. C., December 13, 1918."

On October 27, 1897, Doctor Edmondson was united in marriage with Miss Harriette Frances Codwise, daughter of Edward B. and Emma (Snyder) Codwise, of Kingston, New York. Mrs. Edmondson is ex-state regent and ex-vice president general of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Four children have come to Doctor and Mrs. Edmondson: Helen Louise, born October 23, 1898, at Gallup, New Mexico; Gladys Chastain, born May 22, 1900, at Gallup, New Mexico; Harriette Codwise, born July 16, 1905, at Morgantown, West Virginia; and Richard Edward, born April 20, 1910, at Morgantown, West Virginia.

H. W. RUSSELL has been an active member of the Parkersburg bar for twenty years, has also acquired in- terests that identify him with commercial affairs here, and he has been honored highly by the local bodies of Masonry.

Mr. Russell was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, July 21, 1878. His grandfather, Alexander Russell, was horn in the same section of Chester County April 15, 1780. He was a Presbyterian and spent his active life engaged in farming. In 1817 he married Hannah Dickey, who was born in 1798 and died in 1883. The youngest of their children was William C. Russell, who was born in Chester County and was also satisfied with farming as a life occupation. He died in May, 1903. September 4, 1866, he married Jennie Bunting, who was born in Chester County in 1849 and died March 4, 1912. Her father was Horatio A. Bunting.

Second among the three children of his parents, Horatio W. Russell grew up on the home farm in Chester County, attended township schools and in the fall of 1892 entered the senior class of the high school at Oxford, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1893. Then followed two years in the Oxford Academy, and in 1898 he received his A. B. degree from Lincoln University. The same year he entered the Dickin- son School of Law at Carlisle, and was graduated in June, 1900. Though admitted to the Pennsylvania bar, he did not practice in his native state, but in March, 1901, re- moved to Parkersburg, where his influence as a lawyer and citizen has been steadily rising. In 1911 he formed a law partnership with Charles A. Kreps, under the firm name of Kreps & Russell.

Mr. Russell is a director of the Graham-Bumgarner Com- pany and of the Acme Fishing Tool Company. To law and business he has given his time and abilities without reserve, and has not been in politics beyond voting as a republican. He is of the same religious faith as his an- cestors, a Presbyterian, is a member of the Parkersburg

Country Club, and is affiliated with the Odd Fellows, In and a member of all the York Rite bodies of Ma m at Parkersburg. In 1920 he had the honor of sem Jerusalem Chapter No. 3, R. A. M., as high priest, m during 1920-21 was eminent commander of Calvary mandery No. 3, K. T.

On September 16, 1903, Mr. Russell married Carry & Stevenson, daughter of Orlando and Flora V. (Big) Stevenson, and a granddaughter of Governor Willian E Stevenson of West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Russell ine two daughters, Mary Constance and Ruth Stevenson.

WILLIAM E. STEVENSON, who was governor of West ir ginia from 1869 to 1871, was born at Warren in Allepm County, Pennsylvania, March 18, 1820. Oldest in a fail of nine children, he achieved conspicuous success aft strenuous struggle with the circumstances of near povty When he was about ten years of age he was appren:ed to a cabinet maker in Pittsburgh, and eventually beme one of the skilled workmen in that line in that city. Je working hours he attended local debating clubs, thus m proving his education and laying the basis of a tra ng for public life. In 1856 he was elected a member orbe Pennsylvania Legislature, and participated in the se or which resulted in the election of Simon Cameron to be United States Senate.

Before his term expired he left Pennsylvania, ani the spring of 1857 bought a farm at Valley Mills in Vod County in what is now West Virginia. Though busy his farm work, his natural gifts for leadership soon at tracted attention, and in the national crisis that ar in 1860 he proved one of the clearest voices in beha o the union of the states in this section of Virginia. Au this time the charge was made against him that he circulating an incendiary document, "Helper's Impern Crisis," a copy of which he had in his library and loaned to neighbors by request. The charge was brod to the attention of the Grand Jury, and he was inde in the County Court at Parkersburg. The excitement intense. His life was threatened, and he was ad e to leave the state until the excitement had abated. I promptly went to Parkersburg, accompanied by a ]g crowd of his neighbors, many of whom were oppose him politically, but were prompted by the ties of sta friendship, and demanded a trial. Amid the confusion attended such excitement the trial was postponed, ar remains postponed to this day. In the canvass of upon the question of secession, he took an active speaking in Wood and surrounding counties, and labcd with untiring zeal for the Union cause. There are te men whose eloquence and ceaseless labors contribe largely to the vote which that section of the state against secession; Governors Stevenson and Boreman, q the late John Jay Jackson, all of whom are now dead.

In the formation of the new state he took an a and conspicuous part, being a member of the convers of November 26, 1861, to frame a constitution for the proposed state. Delegate Stevenson by his excellent s and sagacious judgment contributed materially to the cess of the convention and afterward to the ratifica of the constitution by the people. He was next elee a member of the State Senate, serving therein from 1863, to the close of 1868. During the last three y of his legislative term he was president of the Sei In 1868 he was elected governor of the state for the . beginning March 4, 1869, and occupied that position 1 the first removal of the capitol to Charleston, serving his term in Wheeling and half in Charleston. He renominated in 1870, but was defeated in the elec! by the Hon. John J. Jacob. He was the third republi governor of the state, being preceded by Governors F man and Farnsworth. Soon after he retired from governor's chair he became associated with O. G. Sco! in the publication of the State Journal at Parkersburg. was active in its management until the sale of the Jou: in January, 1882. In the meantime, in 1880, he had moved from his farm to Parkersburg. In 1881 he made receiver of the West Virginia Oil and Oil Land (

433

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

m, and held that office until a few days before his le h.

s governor he has been described as a man of liberal well as vigorous progressive viewa, seeking to encourage prects of internal improvement and industrial enterprise, was particularly interested in creating a real public elol system for the state, and much of West Virginia 'a mable progress in educational affairs goes back to the in- Inces set in motion by Governor Stevenson. His ad- mistration also promoted an cra of good feeling. He n a great friend of the public schools, and the first high evol established in the state was in the City of Parkers- "17, West Virginia.

uoting from an intimate biography: "The prominent hacteristics of Governor Stevenson were a strong will, u:ring judgment, a large fund of humor, keen knowledge fuman nature, rigid devotion to that which he believed td e right, and an integrity of character that riches dared u sttempt to bribe and power could not corrupt. In all o1 intercourse with men we have never met with a słracter more beautiful in simplicity and gentleness and are thoroughly honest than his. His was a singularly w I-balanced mind, and his great personal dignity of char- her as well as his kindness of heart caused him te held respect the worth and dignity of other men from whose prions he differed, and also brought about a considera- Si for the worth of the opinions themselves. His scholar- l) was wide and profound, though the result of labori- , thorough and systematic reading, rather than of ensive academic training. So wide indeed was his range It he was equally at home in the scientific principles of (.ming, in those of law and government, or in those of irature and art. As a writer he was forcible, truthful, rtematic, humorous, sure of his points and he never wan- ed from his theme. His fund of humor was large, and I seldom made a speech whose appeal was not made onger by that peculiarly human touch.

n 1842 he married Sarah Clotworthy, a native of Phila- phia. His son Orlando married Flora V. Baker, and ir daughter, Carrye A., is the wife of Horatio W. Rus- of Parkersburg.

VAITMAN BARBE. Former students and graduates of the iversity of West Virginia as long ago as a quarter of entury will recall with special gratitude their influential ociations with the professor of English, Waitman Barbe. itman Barbe is one of West Virginia's distinguished hors and educators, and has been officially identified with · State University since 1895.

The family has been in America for a number of gen- tions, but the original seat was in the neighborhood of Remy, a few miles distant from the old fort St. Barbe Lorraine, France. The grandfather of Waitman Barbe s llenry Barbe, who lived in the Shenandoah Valley of rginia, but subsequently removed te Monongalia County d bought several hundred acres lying on the west side the Monongahela River in Grant District. He lived 're the rest of his life, and he and his wife were buried the Barbe burying ground, not far from Union Church. John Barbe, father of Waitman, was born in Shenandoah unty. Virginia, in 1824, and was a youth when his rents moved to Monongalia County. He continued the ation to which he had been reared, farming, but late in moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia, where he died 1905, at the age of eighty-one. His wife, who died six nths later, just at the same age, was Margaret Esther binson, who was born in what is now West Virginia in 24, daughter of James Robinson, who was of English cent. John and Margaret Barbe had been married for irly aixty years and for the same length of time had en members of the Presbyterian Church. Of their family two sons and four daughters Waitman Barbe is the ingest.

Vaitman Barbe was born in Grant District of Monon- is County November 19, 1864. The environment of the 'm atimulated rather than hindered his aspirations fer olarship. He attended country achools, the preparatory ool of the State University, and in 1884 graduated

A. B. from West Virginia University. Ha received his Master of Arta degree in 1887 and his Master of Science in 1897, and during 1900-01 was a graduate student in lIarvard University. He also wna a atudent in Oxford University in England during 1908-09. Denison University of Ohio conferred upon him the degree Litt. D. in 1904.

After leaving college Doctor Barbe took up newapaper work, and from 1889 to 1895 was city editor or managing editor of the Daily State Journal of Parkersburg. In 1895 he returned to his alma mater as assistant to the preai- dent and associate professor of English. These dutiea ha performed until 1910, and since that year he has held the chair of English and is also director of the aumimer school of the University. From 1904 to 1921 he was editor of the West Virginia School Journal.

Doctor Barbe ia a member of the national acholarahip fraternity Phi Beta Kappa, the social fraternity Beta Theta Pi, is a member of the American Association of University Profeasors, the Harvard Graduate Club, was president of the West Virginia Education Association in 1917-18, was vice president of the National Education Association for one term, and waa a member of the Board of Regents of West Virginia State Normal schoola from 1895 to 1902. He is a member of the official board of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Outside of that great body of former atudenta who have derived inspiration and instruction from him Dector Barbe is known in the world of letters through his authorship of " Ashes and Incense," poems, published in 1891; "In the Virginias," a volume of stories published in 1896; "Going to College," 1899; "The Study of Poetry,'' 1905; "Famous Poems Explained," 1909; and "Great Poema Interpreted," 1913. The last two works are very widely used as text booka in schools and colleges of America, and they are also found in a number of universities and public libraries in Europe.

June 6, 1894, Doctor Barbe married Miss Clara Louise Gould, a native of Parkersburg, daughter of S. L. and Amanda (Worley) Gould. Her father was born at the Village of Caldwell, a suburb of Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, distinguished as the birthplace of former preai- dent Grover Cleveland, and her mother was a native of New Lexington, Ohio. After taking up his residence in West Virginia S. L. Gould established, with his three brothers, some forty years ago, the Parkersburg Mill Company, and was associated with its management and operations for many years.

JOHN W. LLOYD was paid only $1.00 a week for the first service he could render the business community of Martins- burg, and now, in the prime of life, he has given many years to a work that has taken on interesting and progrea- sive variety and has constituted him in an important sense a man of affairs.

Mr. Lloyd was born at Leetown in Jefferson County, West Virginia, son of John T. Lloyd, who was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, in 1851, a grandson of Harrison Lloyd, a native of the same county, and a great-grandson of Harrison Lloyd, Sr., who was born in Pennsylvania and, according to a family tradition, was a lineal descendant of one of two brothers, natives of Wales, who came to Penn- sylvania with William Penn. Harrison Lloyd, Sr., left Pennsylvania and located in Loudoun County and lived out his life there. Harrison Lloyd, Jr., grew up on a farm, and continued farming until late in life, when he retired to Martinsburg, where he died at the age of eighty-four. He married Eliza Bell, a native of Jefferson County, who died in Martinsburg. They both were active in the member- ship of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

John T. Lloyd spent some of his earlier yeara as a farmer, and after removing to Martinsburg engaged in the grocery business and is now living retired. He married Mary Eliza- beth Nicholson, who was born in Jefferson County and died at the age of aixty-three. Her four children were: Annie M., whe married John C. Keller; Elizabeth Alvira, who mar- ried Claude Dunham ; Nora Ornett, who married Frank Wat- aon and livea in Warren, Ohio; and John W.

John W. Lloyd was reared and educated in Martinsburg,

434

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

and after completing his course in the public schools earned his $1 a week wages as an office boy. He was given twice that amount as clerk in a grocery store, and subsequently worked in a mill at $3 a week. Mr. Lloyd in 1901 began his business career as partner with his father in a grocery business. They were together about three years, and he then opened a stock of general merchandise, and continued a merchant of the little city until 1912.

In that year he established a bakery, of which he is sole

proprietor. His business today represents the interesting contrast of baking and freezing, and the ice cream manu- factured by J. W. Lloyd is as famous as his bread and other products of the oven. He started this business on a very small scale, and now has one of the most extensive and best equipped bakeries and ice cream plants in the state.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 142

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: