History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 144

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Ja October 19, 1898, Mr. Schmeichel married Marie gusta Reinecke. Mrs. Schmeichel was born in Braun- weig, Germany, May 22, 1876, daughter of Karl and gusta (Marckmann) Reinecke, ber father a native of Izminden in Braunschweig and her mother of Stadtolden- f. Her father died in Germany February 7, 1907, and mother died when Mrs. Schmeichel was four years age. Karl Reinecke was a civil engineer by profession, l used his skill in the building of a number of railroad 'nels. Mrs. Schmeichel has a younger sister, Anna, who 3 born February 25, 1879, and is the widow of Joseph indschweder and lives at Dusseldorf, Germany. Mrs. meichel came to the United States in July, 1894, on a it to her aunt at Bellaire, Ohio, and while here became quainted with Mr. Schmeichel, their marriage occurring ur years later. Mr. and Mrs. Schmeichel have three Idren. Emilia, born September 8, 1899, graduated in sic at the West Virginia School of Music in 1921 and a member of the class of 1923 in the State University, dying for the A. B. degree. The son Karl Frederick, ra May 30, 1901, while in his senior year of the Mor- atown High School was appointed to a cadetship in the ited States Naval Academy, and spent one year in the eparatory Severn School at Boone, Maryland. While re as a member of the wrestling team and in a wrest- g match he broke his foot, an accident which prevented entering and graduating from the Naval Academy. e youngest child, Arthur Louis, born September 29, 1903, a member of the class of 1922 at the Morgantown High hool.

JAMES FRANCIS LOVING, president of the Loving Furni- ture Company, Incorporated, at Morgsatowa, was for thir- teen years in the railway train service, and left that to establish his present successful business.

lle represents two prominent family names of old Vir- ginia, Loving and Lamford. His great-grandfather, Wil- liam Loving, was a native of Fluvanna County, Virginia, where the ancestors of this name settled in Colonial times. lle married Polly Williams, of Welsh descent. Their soa, Richard Loving, was born in Fluvauna County and married Isabella Fisher. A son of Richard and Isabella was Richard Sidney Loving, who was born in Louisa County, Virginia, in 1839, and except for the time be was a Confederate soldier bis life was devoted to the farm. He died March 6, 1874. He was in the fighting from the beginning to the end of the war between the states, his chief service being in General Mosby's command. He mar- ried Pattie H. Lamford, who was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, in 1839 and died March 11, 1910. IIer parents were Nimrod and Sally (Williams) Lamford. Her grandfather was Nimrod Lamford. Lamford is an old and prominent name in Virginia family annals.

James Francis Loving was born on the farm of his parents in Louisa County, Virginia, October 1, 1871. He was only three years old when his father died, and he lived on the farm during schooldays and had charge of it for several years. In 1898 he took up railroading, and for three years was a brakeman with the Chesapeake & Ohio and then for ten years did service as a railway conductor. Mr. Loving located at Morgantown in 1911, and in the same year organized the Loving Furniture Company, his two business associates being S. P. Jones and C. S. Reams. Later he and George W. Davis bought the entire business and are the active officials in the present incorporated company.

Mr. Loving is a member of the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce and the Baptist Church. September 26, 1907, he married Nela V. Omohundro, who was born in l'ittsyl- vania County, Virginia, daughter of Charles Fitzroy and Katie (Hudson) Omohundro. Mr. and Mrs. Loving have a daughter, Frances S., who was born June 11, 1911.

WILLIAM LINDSAY JOHNSON, superintendent in charge of the plants of the Morgantown Brick Company, is a native of Monongalia County and descended from two of the old families of that section of the state.

His paternal grandfather, Richard Johnson, founder of this branch of the family in West Virginia, spent his early life in Western Pennsylvania, where he married Minerva Colebank, a native of that section of the Keystone State. The Johnsons were Irish and the Colebanks Scotch in an- cestry. After their marriage Mr. Johnson came to West Virginia and settled on what was known as the old Stewart farm, near Stewartstown in the Union District of Monongalia County. Here be sad his wife spent the remainder of their lives, were substantial farmers, and devout members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Their son, William Johnson, was born on the old farm in Union District January 15, 1853. While he had some experience as a farmer, the greater part of his active years was devoted to Government work in the construction of dams and locks on the Upper Monongahela River. For several years he was a diver. He is still living, retired, in Morgantown. His wife bore the maiden name of Jemi- mah Ann Stewart. She was born on the old Stewart farm in Monongalia County, and died in 1911. Her parents, Daniel and Rebecca (Blosser) Stewart, were married in Pennsylvania and then came to Monongalia County.

William L. Johnson, son of William and Jemimab A. (Stewart) Johnson, was born on the Stewart farm in Monongalia County July 24, 1874. He had a common school education, but when only nine years of age he was earning a salary by employment as & water boy for the force of men performing Government service along the river, thus being close to his father, who was in the same work. Mr. Johnson at more or less regular intervals con- tinued Government work along the river and in different

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capacities until 1905. He was married in that year and the following year went to work in the yards of the Morgantown Brick Company, at the old plant on the west side of the river. He was under Superintendent Williams, and later was transferred to the east side plant, under Superintendent S. S. Minor. Here he acquired a thorough proficiency in all branches of the brick making industry, and upon the death of Mr. Minor he was put in charge of the company's business. Since 1911 he has been super- intendent, and has earned the reputation of being one of the expert brick makers in the state.

Mr. Johnson is a citizen alive to his responsibilities as a factor in the community. He is a member of Morgan- towu Union Lodge No. 4, A. F. and A. M., Monongalia Lodge No. 10, Junior Order United American Mechanics, and the Methodist Protestant Church. September 25, 1905, he married Valley Josephine Stewart, daughter of John and Jane (Evans) Stewart, of Monongalia County. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have one daughter, Helen Marguerite, born November 26, 1912.

EDWARD MILLER GRANT. There are some individuals whose lives are shaped by circumstances and others who overcome circumstances and shape their own lives. To the latter class it may be safely said that Edward Miller Grant, president of the Federal Savings and Trust Company of Morgantown, belongs. Tens of thousands whose boyhood surroundings were as lacking as his never emerged from them. However, he had a legacy of health, industry and integrity, and these, united to thrift, temperance and shrewd intelligence, have formed the equipment with which he has won his way to success. For over thirty years he has been identified actively with the banking, manufacturing and public improvement affairs of Morgantown, and during this time has gained prominence as one of the worth-while eit- izens of the city and state.

Colonel Grant was born in the City of Cleveland, Ohio, February 3, 1853, a son of William and Hannah (Turner) Grant, and a grandson of William Grant, of England. His father, William Grant, was a native of England, born De- cember 3, 1813, in Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire. He came to the United States in 1850 and located at Cleveland, Ohio, and at the outbreak of the war between the states enlisted iu Battery B, First Ohio Light Artillery, with which he served throughout the period of that struggle. Follow- ing the elose of the war he went West to Indian Territory and located a few miles from what is now McAlester, Okla- homa, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1896.

Edward Miller Grant was educated in the public schools of Cleveland, and began his business career as office boy with the firm of Hussey & McBride, oil refiners at Cleve- land, with which firm he remained for some years, being ultimately promoted to clerk and bookkeeper. When that firm sold the business to Clark, Payne & Company Mr. Grant continued as bookkeeper for the latter firm. In 1872 he represented Clark, Payne & Company in the Pennsylvania oil fields at Foxburg, where he remained until 1880, during which period he assisted in building the town, erecting the water works, which he managed for a number of years, and was engaged in oil and gas promotion and development, in 1885 organizing the Union Light and Heat Company, which supplied gas and heat to Foxburg and St. Petersburg. In 1880 he became secretary and treasurer of the Crucible Steel Company of Cleveland, and in 1884 returned to the oil business.

In January, 1889, Colonel Grant located at Morgantown, West Virginia, and with others organized the Union Im- provement Company, which later became the Union Utilities Company, supplying water, gas and traction service to the city, of which company Colonel Grant was manager for fif- teen years. During that time he organized the Morgantown Building and Investment Company, of which he served as secretary, treasurer and general manager, this company in- augurating the general development of the city which has so greatly added to the growth of Morgantown into one of the most prosperous little cities of the entire country at this writing, in 1921. Colonel Grant is also secretary and treas-

urer of the Morgantown Brick Company, president ctb Federal Savings and Trust Company, and a director itb Pressed Prism Plate Glass Company, the Athens Glass on pany, the Bank of the Monongahela Valley and othe tor porations. He was manager for the Fairmont and Gito Gas Company, which was organized in 1892, and wantis general manager of the Union Utility Company, which pany owned the gas and water plants and later buï th Morgantown Street Railway. Colonel Grant is also lael interested in real estate, hoth at Morgantown and ith surrounding country.

From 1899 to 1903 he served as a member of the es Virginia Legislature, and his work in that body brigh him prominently before the people of the entire state H is a member of Morgantown Union Lodge No. 4, A. Fu A. M .; Orient Chapter No. 9, R. A. M .; Morgantown JI mandery No. 18, K. T .; and Osiris Temple, A. A. () M. S., Wheeling. He is also a member of Versailles "ur cil No. 238, Royal Arcanum, of Mckeesport, Pennsylvia East End Council No. 20, Knights of the Maccabees; Vle Lodge No. 51, Ancient Order of United Workmen; nongalia Lodge No. 10, Independent Order of Odd Fely and Morgantown Lodge No. 411, Benevolent and Protiis Order of Elks, of which he was the first exalted rul, position to which be was elected twenty years later. 1: president of the Morgantown Kiwanis Club and a cht member of the Morgantown Country Club.

In 1901 Colonel Grant was appointed by Governor Vit as a member of the Board of Regents of West Virginia n versity, and subsequently was reappointed by Gov Dawson to the same position, serving on the board it 1909. Colonel Grant was possibly the most active ma:el gaged in war work in Monongalia County during the Vrl war. Every big drive received his earnest support hearty co-operation, and he was a generous subscriber D contributor to all causes. Likewise he served as chairma the first Red Cross drive, when $15,000 was asked inf nongalia County and when $25,000 was raised. He likewise chairman of the United War Work ("seve one") drive, when $25,000 was asked for and $44,000 rae He also represented the United States Labor Employ Bureau for this county and was county chairman of;} National Council for Defense.

On July 13, 1876, Colonel Grant was united in marg with Florence May Dale, daughter of Col. Frank and Ju (Pike) Dale, natives of Pennsylvania, and to this to there have been horn three children: Dale, born Marcll 1877, who enlisted in the First West Virginia Regi during the Spanish-American war, was transferred toil Reserve Ambulance Corps, and died October 2, 1898; Fit Mary, born December 3, 1878, who was married to Hi John Zevely and has a son, John Grant; and Hannah i abeth, born January 30, 1880, who was married to Chl E'. Casto, and has a son, Dale, and two daughters, Flon and Jean. All of the members of these families resio: Morgantown, where they are held in the highest respect esteem.

CHARLES E. MILLER. Taking under consideration } various activities necessary to the upbuilding of a st> and prosperous community, perhaps none result in 1. permanency of benefit than the work done by the energt and reliable realtor. Largely through his efforts ouid capital is brought in and invested, values are establis» business locations are made available, and great residen sections take the place of unsightly, unprofitable an There are many flourishing cities in the country that ]x arisen from a swamp or barren plain as the result of t almost inspired foresight of a real estate dealer.

Charles E. Miller, secretary and treasurer of the Mor town Security & Development Company, is one of the gressive business men of this city. Mr. Miller was lt at Spartansburg, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, Mit 20, 1866, a son of Edmond T. and Emma (Smith) Mi) His great-grandfather, Abner Miller, was born in the S of New York, where his people had settled after remo' from Massachusetts. In the late thirties his grandfaty Abner Miller (2), removed from New York to Craw:

Entraux

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nty, Pennsylvania. His son, Edmond T. Miller, bora 332, practically passed his entire life at Spartans- in Crawford County, where he died in 1917. He wa atonemason by trade. He married Emma Smith, b. was born in Crawford County in 1839, a daughter of uphrey Smith, and she died there in 1914.

U. Miller attended the public schools of his native city u then learned the art of telegraphy, following which ) :ft heme and entered the employ of the Oil Exchange til City, Pennsylvania, as a telegraph operator, where le speed and accuracy were commended. For several ws he worked as telegraph operator aad station agent » different railroads in Pennsylvania and New York te, but in 1890 he accepted a position with the Standard dCompany, and in this connection came to Morgantown, Tt Virginia.

the meanwhile, as a wide-awake, observant man see- y nany different sections of the country, Mr. Miller came o be conclusion that the real estate field offered great portunities for business activity in Monongalia County. m1908, in partnership with Harry Sanders, he entered & field under the firm name of Sanders & Miller, gen- r insurance also being a feature of the business. In gl the firm organized the Morgantowa Security & Devel- Fent Company, of which Mr. Miller is secretary and treas- u, and during the past twelve years this company has e.ributed greatly to the substantial development of this i and eavirons. One of the firm's earlier operations was h purchase of acreage on the south side, ita division into nding lots and their improvement before sale. They we sub-divisions also on the west side of the river at } nville and other points, and their residential properties u attractive with modern improvements. Mr. Miller aa business man and good citizen is greatly interested in lic improvements along the line of good highways. He 13 director in the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce, . is vice president of the Union Building & Loan A880- lion.

n 1891 Mr. Miller married Misa Matie Baker, of Oil "y, Pennsylvania, and they have three children: Charles born March 28, 1892; LeRoy B., born February 19, .9; and Virginia Baker, born August 9, 1900. Mr. .ler and his family are members of the Episcopal Church, which he is a vestryman. He has never been unduly live in politics and has never desired a public office, but quietly loyal to the party of his choice both in civic tters and farther afield. He belongs to the Knights of thias and to the Rotary Club.

CHARLES FREDERICK BOEHLER. To some men the respon- ilities in an active business career are always burden- ne, while to others these responsibilities are as the ath of life. They plan, organize and successfully carry t great financial policies and commercial enterprises, joying the stress and strain that would prostrate their aker brethren, and in their substantial undertakings y bring to their communities progress and prosperity. ch a valued and useful citizen of Morgantown, West rginia, is Charles Frederick Bochler, a foremost business in of this city.

Charles Frederick Boehler was born at Gruenwold, Baden, rmany, July 12, 1862. His parents were Conrad and rdula (Brugger) Boehler, both of whom were born in den and spent their entire lives in Germany, where the ther died in 1867 and the mother in 1891. Conrad ehler was in the sawmill and lumber business during greater part of his life, a substantial business man of community.

After attending the common and high schools of his tive town, Charles F. Boehler at the age of seveatcen ars, was apprenticed to a brush manufacturer at Don- eschigen, Baden, where he learned bookkeeping, and also d some experience as a clerk in a business house in sace-Lorraine. He was twenty years old when he en- 'ed the German Army for his necessary period of military vice of three years, which in his case was shortened six months because of his exemplary conduct as a dier.

In 1885 Mr. Bochler came to America, reaching the port of New York in October of that year. A few months later he went to Newark, New Jersey, where he worked in different factories for a time and then embarked in busi- ness for himself. In 1899 he came to Morgantown, West Virginia, called here to become secretary of the Senneca Glass Company, with which enterprise he has been identified ever since, and from 1902 until the present has been secretary and treasurer of the company. Very soon after locating in this city his business aptitude was recognized, public confidence was secured, his name soon becoming an asset in connection with some of the most important busi- uess developments of this section. His present high stand- ing in the business life of Morgantown and Monongalia County, may be indicated by the relations he holds to inany of the most important business concerns. He is vice president of the Morgantown Lumber Company; is sec- retary and treasurer of the Silver Hill Oil Company; is vice president of the Labor Building and Loan Association; is treasurer of the State Saving & Investment Association; is on the directing board of the Chaplin Collieries Com- pany; and is a director also of the Commercial Bank of Morgantown, to all these enterprises bringing the quiet efficiency of business sagacity of a high order.

On August 8, 1892, Charles F. Boehler was united in marriage with Miss Elise Winskowski, who was born at Bromberg, Prussia. They have two daughters: Emma, who is the wife of Robert Lee Long, of Fairmont, West Virginia; and Louisa, who resides with her parents at Morgantown. Mr. Boehler and family belong to the Lutheran Church. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club, of Homestead Lodge No. 5878, Brotherhood of Yeomen, of Union Lodge No. 4, A. F. and A. M., and is a past commander of Monongalia Commandery No. 465, Knights of Malta. He is also an Elk, with membership in Lodge No. 411, and is a director of the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce.

WILLIAM C. MCCONAUGHEY, treasurer and general man- ager of the Star Grocer Company of Parkersburg, has been a resident of that city thirty years, and from the first prominently identified with its industrial, commercial and civic advancement. Among wholesale grocers his name is nationally known, not only for his effective efforts in his own business and immediate trade territory, but for the prominent part he has played in the National Association of Wholesale Grocers.

Mr. McConaughey was born at Cameron, Marshall County, West Virginia, February 14, 1862. His grandfather, Robert McConaughey, founder of this immediate line in America, was a native of Belfast, Ireland, where he mar- ried Elizabeth Lindsey. Soon afterward he came to the United States and settled in Western Pennsylvania, where he exhibited his industry as a farmer and his public spirit as a democrat filling the office of justice of the peace. He was a Presbyterian. His children were David, Eliz- abeth, William and James. There was still another Robert McConaughey, a cousin of the Robert just men- tioned, who for several years was president of Washington and Jefferson College at Washington, Pennsylvania. From another branch of the same family came Lieutenant Mc- Conaughey, one of the signera of the Mecklenburg Declara- tion of Independence at the outset of the Revolutionary war.

William McConaughey, father of the Parkersburg mer- chant, was born near Wheeling, West Virginia, Septem- ber 5, 1817, and was one of the first men to exploit the oil resources of West Virginia, helping develop the oil fields of Burning Springs. He was a merchant, a farmer in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and placed most of his capital and personal enterprise at etake when the first oil discoveries were made in Wirt County, and for many years was an active oil operator in the firm of Mc- Conaughey, Jones & Camden. He finally retired to Parkers- burg, where he died October 10, 1899. He was a democrat and for many years an elder of the Presbyterian Church. May 19, 1842, at West Alexander, Pennsylvania, he married Margaret Templeton, who was born in that locality July

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30, 1824, and died at Parkersburg December 24, 1904. She was a daughter of Alexander and Charity (McLain) Templeton. Alexander Templeton was a native of New England, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and was deeply inter- ested in the cause of education. Through a liberal en- dowment he became one of the founders of Washington College at Washington, Pennsylvania, which subsequently became Washington and Jefferson College.

William Chester McConaughey was next to the youngest in a family of eight children. His parents moved to Parkersburg in 1865, when he was three years of age, and later they lived in Wirt County, where he grew to manhood. He was educated in the public schools of Parkersburg and in Wirt County, and from 1879 until 1883 was a student in Washington and Jefferson College, where he received his A. B. degree June 12, 1883. While in college he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. The following two years he spent in the timber business with his brothers, and from 1885 for six years was in the mercantile and timber business in Wirt County. but since 1890 has made his home and has centered most of his interests at Parkersburg. For about five years he was manager of the Novelty Mills, flour mills, and in December, 1895, engaged in the wholesale grocery business by purchasing an interest in a wholesale grocery plant. He acquired a larger amount of the stock subsequently and in November, 1902, reorganized the business as the Star Grocer Company, of which he is still general manager. This has become one of the large distributors of food products to the retail trade in this section of the Ohio Valley. He is now the principal owner of the company.

In May, 1904, Mr. MeConaughey was elected president of the West Virginia Wholesale Grocers Association, an office he still holds. He was one of the wholesalers who attended the meeting of grocers at Milwaukee in 1905, out of which came the National Wholesale Grocers Asso- ciation of the United States. Mr. McConaughey was elected a director of the National Association in 1906, and in 1909 elected a vice president, serving in that capacity until June, 1921.

Mr. McConaughey is also interested in banking and has been a director since 1907, and since 1909 vice president of the Wood County Bank of Parkersburg. He was elected president of the West Virginia State Board of Trade in 1910. He is a democrat, has taken a keen interest in political affairs, but only once was a candidate for office, when he was elected a member of the Legis- lature, serving in 1884-85. He is a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, a member of the Elks, the Blennerhasset Club of Parkersburg, was one of the founders and a member of the Y. M. C. A., and is a Presbyterian, while Mrs. McConaughey is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

July 2, 1902, at Meridian, Mississippi, Mr. MeConaughey married Emma Melville Neal, daughter of George B. and Caroline (McKinley) Neal, and member of one of the pioneer families of West Virginia. Mrs. McConaughey was born at Parkersburg, where her father for many years was a commission merchant. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. McConanghey died in infancy.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 144

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