History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 146

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of stenographer and bookkeeper he has advanced to that of scerctary and treasurer of the company, of which he is also a director. Mr. Jenkins is-a director and the vieo president of the Logan Coal Company of Fairmont, was one of the organizers of Fairmont State Bank, of which he is vice president, and he is a director also of the Com- munity Bank of Fairmont, besides which he was one of the organizers and is a director of the Fairmont Building & Loan Association. As a director representing the coal distriet of Northern West Virginia Mr. Jenkins has been a member of the National Coal Association from the time of its organization. He gave three years of effective serv- ice as vice president of the West Virginia State Coal As- soeiation, and for several years was president of the Fair- mont Coal Association. During the World war period he was president of the West Virginia Coal Operators Associa- tion, to the work of which he gave much of his time, not only during American participation in the war but also for nearly a year after the signing of the historic armistice. He is a director of the Fairmont Young Men's Christian Association, is prominently identified with the Fairmont Chamber of Commerce and is an active member of the local Rotary Club. He and his wife are members of the First Baptist Church in their home city.

June 25, 1902, recorded the marriage of Mr. Jenkins to Miss Delia L. Phillips, who was born and reared in Marion County and who is a daughter of the late John Phillips. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins have three children: Doris is a junior at Mount Vernon Seminary, Washington, D. C .; Maxine D. is a member of the junior class in the Fairmont High School; and Cletus Harold, Jr., is a sophomore in the high school.

PAUL AMBROSE. Some men rise steadily and honorably to responsible positions in the business world through sheer ability and honest conduct. Their keen appreciation of re- sponsibility and the value of the trusts reposed in them urge them on to renewed efforts, and they are rewarded by additional confidence on the part of those they ao faithfully and intelligently serve. One of the men of Berkeley Springs whose name is an honored one in business circles because of the faets outlined above is Paul Ambrose, assistant manager of the Community Store, a corporation carrying an exten- sive line of general merchandise.

The name Ambrose has been known in what is now Mor- gan County, West Virginia, ever since the early settlement of this section of the state. From the best information se- curable Daniel Ambrose was the founder of this branch of the family in America, and but little history pertaining to him is known. His son, Nicholas Ambrose, the great- grandfather of Paul Ambrose, was as far as is known a life-long resident of what is now Morgan County. The maiden name of his wife was Berthana Brooks, and among their children was Peter Ambrose, the grandfather of Paul Ambrose, and who was born on the road leading from Berkeley Springs to Sir John's Run, in September, 1844. Peter Ambrose was for many years in the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, and was still in the service at the time of his death in 1908. He married Sarah M. Clover, who was born on a farm about eight miles from Berkeley Springs, May 14, 1848, a daughter of Hughey Clover, who was a farmer and spent his last days in Mary- it is thought, born in what is now Morgan County, West Virginia, of pioneer ancestry. Mrs. Ambrose died Febru- ary 7, 1918, the mother of seven children: Melissa J., George H., Laura Virginia, Calvin, Raymond, Walter and Niota L.

Calvin Ambrose, the father of Paul Ambrose, was born at St. John's Run, and educated in the public schools of that place and Berkeley Springs. Leaving school when still a youth, he entered the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, but after some years acquired title to land in the Bath Mountains, near Berkeley Springs, which he leased to the West Virginia and Pittsburgh Glass Sand Company and became superintendent of that com- pany's plant. He remained with that concern until his early death, when he was only thirty-eight years of age. Mr. Ambrose married Miss Ann Wolf, who was born in

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Morgan County, daughter of Martin Wolf. She survives her husband and has reared five children: Agnes, Helen, Mary, Paul Edward and. Ruth.

The early education of Paul Ambrose was secured in the public schools of Berkeley Springs, and this was subse- quently supplemented by attendance at St. Joseph's Col- lege. After completing his course there he furthered his training by a course at Strayers Business College, and thus equipped he entered upon his business career as an em- ploye of the West Virginia and Pittsburgh Glass Sand Company. A short time later he went to Akron, Ohio, where he was employed by the Firestone Rubber Company for a time, then returning to the South and entering the employ of the Virginia Shipbuilding Corporation. He re- mained with that concern until the close of the World war, when he again came to Berkeley Springs, and has since been assistant manager of the Community Store, a large cor- poration carrying an extensive line of general merchandise, including about everything used in the home or on the farm. He has contributed materially to the success of this enterprise, and has demonstrated the qualities of a live, progressive and intelligent business man.

On April 16, 1917, Mr. Ambrose was united in marriage with Miss Nellie Virginia Hasenbuhler, who was born at Sir John's Run, Morgan County, daughter of John and Ann (Keesecker) Hasenbuhler. The former was born in Penn- sylvania, in the City of Philadelphia, a son of Louis Hasen- buhler, who was born in Switzerland and was one of three brothers to come to the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Am- brose are the parents of one daughter, Anna Carmen.

JOHN W. HUNTER. Despite the claims of many that suc- cess rests largely upon financial backing and influential friends at the ontset of a career, it is to be found that many who have the best achievements to their credit have started life as poor boys and have gradually attained prosperity through hard work and an intelligent use of natural abili- ties developed through training and experience. John W. Hunter, a highly esteemed citizen of Berkeley Springs, had no financial assistance at the outset of his career. He pos- sessed, however, unlimited ambition and industry and the ability to make the most of his opportunities. For nearly a half century he was engaged in carpentry, contracting and building, and is now living in contented and comfort- able retirement, enjoying the fruits of a well-spent life.

Mr. Hunter was born at Berkeley Springs, Morgan County, West Virginia, Angust 21, 1849, a son of Charles Edward and Eliza (McCaffrey) Hunter. From the best information available his great-grandfather was John Hunter, a native of Ireland, and a pioneer of what is now Morgan County. His son William, the grandfather of John W. Hunter, was the proprietor of a hotel in Morgan County in the pre-railroad days, when stage coaches made regular trips between far separated points. He became one of the solid and influential men of his locality and served several years in the capacity of justice of the peace. Will- iam Hunter married Ann Cox, who, it is thought, was born in Berkeley Springs and was a resident of Morgan County. Charles Edward Bailey Hunter, father of John W. Hunter, was born at Berkeley Springs, where he attended the pub- lic schools and mastered the carpenter's trade. He became a building contractor, but did not live long enough to achieve snecess, death coming to him when he was but twenty-eight years of age. He married Eliza McCaffrey, who was born in the State of New York, a daughter of John McCaffrey, a native of Ireland. After the death of Mr. Hunter she married Martin Wolf. By her marriage with Mr. Hunter she had four sons: John W., Romanus, Charles Edward and James D. She and Mr. Wolf became the parents of one daughter, Ann Rebecca. Mrs. Wolf died at the age of sixty-one years.

John W. Hunter made the most of his opportunities to secure a public school education, and having inherited his father's mechanical ability applied himself to learning the carpenter's trade, which he followed for some years as a journeyman, and became a contractor and builder soon after attaining his majority. During a period of nearly half a century he continued to be so occupied, and his

good workmanship and honest accomplishments are 1 be noted in many of the buildings now standing at Ber Springs and in the surrounding country. He ach prosperity along legitimate channels, established a re tion for integrity and fair dealing, and is now livin in quiet retirement, one of his community's highly este ed men.

In 1874 Mr. Hunter was united in marriage with Harriet Ellen Wheat, danghter of Hon. Joseph A. ud Miranda (Grove) Wheat, a sketch of whose lives apja elsewhere in this work. To this union there were born Em children: Raymond, who married Helen Everett and & for children, Alma, Bernard Everett, Philip Newrath b Thomas Marshall; Carrie, who married Wilson Shelley nd has three children, Virginia, Herhert and Earl; Ed rd Bailey, who married May Housholder and has three il. dren, Harriet, John William and Ilene; Jessie Edith, bo died as the wife of W. H. Heller, leaving four chilen Grace Ellen, Laura, Florence Thelma and William Hurr; Robert Leslie, who married Margaret Van Goshen and as one daughter, Phyllis Jane; Helen Eliza, who maryd Luther H. Kirby; and Albert Zimmerman. Alma Huur, daughter of Raymond and Helen (Everett) Hunte., Ir. ried Kenneth Nevin and has one son, Kenneth, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. John W. Hunter are devout member:) the Methodist Episcopal Church.

FRANCIS MURRAY PHILLIPS, M. D. High on the rolf the medical fraternity of Jefferson County stands the ni of Francis Murray Phillips, M. D., who for fourteen y has been engaged in the practice of his calling at Chay Town. His career has been one of constant advancemen his profession, and the confidence in which he is held y his fellow-townsmen is a recognition of sterling abi faithful performance of professional duties and an ad ence to the highest ethics of his humane vocation. He's born on a farm near Laurel, Delaware, and is a sont George Bell Phillips and a grandson of Thomas Phillip

Francis Murray Phillips received his early educationn the district schools and prepared for college under prive tuition. He then pursued a two-year course at the W ern Maryland College, following which he became a c mercial traveler in the Middle Atlantic states, a vocata which he followed with a measure of success for set years. When he left the road as a "knight of the gri he enrolled as a student at the Baltimore Medical Colle, now the medical department of the University of Ma land, and was graduated from that institution as a mem of the class of 1904, receiving the degree of Doctor of Me- cine. Doctor Phillips commenced practice at Harpes Ferry, where he remained for four years, and in 1908 ca? to Charles Town, which has since been the scene of 3 practice and success. He carries on a general professiol business as a physician and surgeon, is local surgeon! the Norfolk & Western Railroad, the Hagerstown & Fr erick Railroad and several limestone quarries, and hast large private clientele. He keeps fully abreast of the c. stant progress being made in his calling, and is a valı! member of the Eastern Panhandle Medical Society, West Virginia State Medical Society and the Americ Medical Association. As a fraternalist he holds memb ship in Malta Lodge No. 80, A. F. and A. M.

In 1905 Doctor Phillips was united in marriage w Miss Harriet Tryford Bagwell, who was born at Onanco Accomac County, Virginia, a daughter of George and Rc (Tryford) Bagwell. Six children have been horn to tì union: Francis Murray, Jr., George Bagwell, Edwa Hamilton, Donald Tryford, Harriet Wilson and Doug. Wise. Doctor and Mrs. Phillips are members of Zion Ep copal Church, in the work of which they take an active a helpful interest.

JOHN HENDERSON BISHOP was one of Mosby's men, a is one of the few surviving veterans of the great war } tween the states. Most of his long and useful life has be spent in the Valley of Virginia, and Charles Town h been his home community during his earlier as well as } later years. A practical business man for years, he did n

Clyde D. Barbe.

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HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

elect the domain of the mind and has been a great reader, u has also found entertainment and done something of petical value in preserving in his scrapbooks many mat- les of family and local history that otherwise would go ৳ oblivion.

le was born on a farm in Loudoun County, Virginia, Qober 24, 1835, and has now reached the age of eighty- Bica. His father was Henderson Bishop, who was born in Ideriek County, Virginia, in 1811. Henderson Bishop w3 apprenticed to learn the gunsmith's trade. After com- pting his apprenticeship he removed from Winchester-to Iltimore, where he worked under Alexander MeComas. Fr several years he was an employe in the United States senal at Harper's Ferry, and then bought a farm in udoun County, and continued his interests as a planter til 1847. In that year he removed to Charles Town, light a home, and engaged in business as a gun and loek- gith and as a plumber. He was one of the pioneers in is line, and he had the distinction of installing the first s works at Charles Town. He continued active in his e of business until his death in 1873. Henderson Bishop arried Julia Ann Nisewaner, a native of Loudoun County d daughter of John and Mary Nisewaner, whose ancestors 're pioneers of that county. Julia Ann Bishop died in 43, when her son John H. was only eight years of age. The latter, only child of his mother, attended public school Charles Town, also the Charles Town Male Academy, id when his education was completed he went to work with s father and learned the trade of gunsmith and plumb- g. In 1856 he removed to Harper's Ferry and was in the overnment Arsenal there until about a month before John rown's raid. His next location was at Middlebury in oudeun County, where he continued work at his trade un- il the outbreak of the war between the states. On answer- ng the call to the service of the Confederate Government e was, on account of his knowledge of the gunsmith's ade, assigned to the Armory in Richmond. A short time iter he was sent home on a furlough, and while there was iptured and taken to Washington, being kept a prisoner 1 the old eapitol ten months and then for seven months t Fort Delaware. He was finally exchanged and, return- ig to Middlebury, Loudoun County, joined the field serv- e in Captain Tom Foster's company of the Twenty-third Battalion, attached to Mosby's command. He was with his famous organization of the Confederate Army in its arious campaigns and battles on Virginia soil until the lese of the war. He was paroled at Charles Town, May 5, 1865.

After leaving the army Mr. Bishep was in business at fiddlebury antil the death of his father, when he returned e Charles Town, and continued the business at the old tand. Among other important work he did he installed the ew gas works and also the new water works at Charles Town, and altogether he continued a very successful busi- tess there until 1902, when, nearing the age of three score nd ten, he retired and has since enjoyed the fruits of a sell-spent life.

On January 1, 1856, Mr. Bishop married Sarah F. Hicks, who was born in Charles Town, daughter of William and Mary Hicks. She died May 16, 1884. On November 12, .885, Mr. Bishop married Mary J. Hunsieker. She is also native of Charles Town, born April 26, 1846. Her father, Robert R. Hunsicker, was born in Winchester, Virginia, ind learned the trade of shoemaker, at a time when all boots and shoes were hand made and made to order. Soon fter his marriage he located at Charles Town, and contin- ted the business of his trade until his death, at the age of seventy-six. He married Maria Sigafoose, a native of Winchester, who died at the age of fifty-four. The three Hunsicker children were James William, Mary J. and Aliee 2. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop are active members of the Meth- dist Episcopal Church, South, and for twelve years he sas a steward of the church. He has also served four rears as a member of the city council of Charles Town.

His children are all by his first marriage. and their tames are Charles. Julia and J. William. Charles married wiee, and by his first wife has a sen, Walter. His second rife was a Miss Caton, but no children were born by this

union. Julia is the wife of Charles Stolle, and ber family consists of Ernest, John Bishop, Lena, Raymond and Viola.

CLYDE DAVIS BARBE, who is successfully established in the real-estate and fire-insurance business at Morgantown, judicial center of Monongalia County, was born at Laurel Point in Grant District, this county, on the 21st of Novem- ber, 1877, and is a son of George and Julia A. (Davis) Barbe, both likewise natives of this county, where the former was born in Grant Distriet and the latter in Cass Distriet. Henry Barbe, great-grandfather of him whose name initiates this paragraph, was born in Virginia, August 13, 1778, and was a representative of a French family of Alsace-Lorraine who sent representatives to Virginia in the early Colonial period of our national history. Henry Barbe came to what is now Monongalia County, West Vir- ginia, about the year 1820, and became one of the early settlers on Flaggy Mealow, in Grant District. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Miller, likewise was born in Virginia, and in accompanying ber husband to the frontier region now represented by West Virginia she made the journey on horseback, with her youngest child in her arms. Jeremiah, son of these sterling pioneers, was born in old Virginia in 1814, and thus was about six years old at the time of the family migration to the present Mo- nongalia County, where he was reared to manhood and where in 1841 he married Julia A. Brand, a native of this county. He became one of the substantial farmers of Grant District, and there he and his wife passed the re- mainder of their lives. Their son, George, was born on the old home farm in Grant District, December 20, 1843, and was one of the gallant young men who went forth from this county as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war, in which he was a member of Company I, Fourteenth West Virginia Volunteer Infantry. After the war he taught school for a time, and later he served two terms as county assessor. For several years he was engaged in the mercantile business at Maidsville, this county, and in 1894 he removed with his family to Morgantown, where he engaged in the hardware and roofing business in partnership with his son Clyde D., of this sketch, and M. W. Davis. The firm of Barbe & Davis ereeted in 1906 the large briek block known as the Barbe & Davis Building, on Walnut Street, and this substantial structure is still in the possession of the Barbe and Davis families, one-half interest being owned by Clyde D. Barbe. The firm of Barbe & Davis retired from business in 1912, and George Barbe thereafter continued his residence at Morgantown until his death, November 16, 1917, his devoted wife having passed to the life eternal July 16, 1911.

Clyde D. Barbe gained his earlier education in the public schools of Maidsville, and in his fifteenth year he entered the University Preparatory School at Morgantown, where he continued his studies until he entered the University of West Virginia. In this institution he was graduated in 1899, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He taught one year in the city schools of Morgantown, and for two years thereafter was in the employ of a company engaged in the publishing of school textbooks. While yet a boy he had as- sisted in his father's store at Maidsville, and when the firm of Barbe & Davis was organized, in 1904, he became a part- ner in the same. He thus continued until the firm went out of business, in 1912, and he has since developed a prosperous real estate business, in which he handles principally his own property, and in connection with which he conduets a general fire insurance business. Mr. Barbe is a director of the Union Bank & Trust Company of Morgantown, and is a progressive and valued member of the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Athens Lodge No. 36, Knights of Pythias, and for the past decade has served as chairman of the Board of Trustees of Methodist Protestant Church at Morgantown. In June, 1909, Mr. Barbe married Miss Flora E. Binns, who was born at Fairmont, Marion County, a daughter of Dr. J. H. and Rebecea (Cartright) Binns. Mr. and Mrs. Barbe have one child, Mary Ileen, born July 20, 1913.

GEORGE A. WHITMORE, now engaged in business at Charles Town, was for many years a leader in the agricultural ac-

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tivities of Berkeley County and well known in the official affairs of that county.

He was born at Leesburg in Loudoun County, Virginia. His father, Samuel Paxton Whitmore, was born in the same locality. His grandfather, George Whitmore, was a native of Germany, and with two brothers came to America, one of them settling near Frederick City, Maryland, and an- other in Rockingham County, Virginia. George Whitmore was a hotel proprietor at Leesburg. Though of foreign birth, there was nothing to distinguish him from a real Virginian in a pace for good horses, and he became well known in local sporting circles. He married Rachel Wright, a native of Loudoun County and of early English ancestry, and both lived to a good old age. Their three children were William, Samuel P. and Anna.

Samuel Paxton Whitmore at the outbreak of the war between the states entered the Confederate Army as a member of Captain Hodges' company of Loudoun County Artillery, which was soon consolidated with the White's Battalion. He went in as a private and was promoted to lieutenant, and was with his command in its various cam- paigns and battles until the fall of 1863, when he was cap- tured and for the remainder of the war was a prisoner. After being paroled he returned home, later engaged as a farmer in Loudoun County, West Virginia. His farm and its duties occupied him until his death at the age of sixty- five.

Samuel P. Whitmore married Phoebe Beech, a native of Loudoun County, Virginia, and daughter of John and Mary (Cullison) Beech. She died at the age of forty-seven. Her children were: Annie Elizabeth, George, Mollie C., Catherine, William Jasper, Sarah Alice, Florence, Samuel J., John A. and Clara Paxton.

George A. Whitmore attended school at Leesburg and also in the Mill Creek District of Berkeley County, and was a boy when his labors were turned to account on his father's farm. After reaching manhood he made farming his regu- lar vocation, and his home and business interests were con- tinued in Mill Creek District until 1919, when he moved to Charles Town, and has since been associated in business with his son as dealers in lumber and building supplies.

In 1872 Mr. Whitmore married Ella May Beesom, who died January 18, 1910, aged fifty-one years. She was born in Mill Creek District of Berkeley County, daughter of Lewis R. and Lydia Beesom. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Whitmore are: Lora Mason, Myrtle May, Ralph Richard, Hugh Paxton, Beulah Davis, Grace Beesom, George Wilson and Boyd C. Lora is the wife of H. V. Snyder, and her children are Jane, Paxton, Beeson, and Daniel Armstead. Ralph married Mammie Baldwin, and their family consists of Lydia, Phyllis, Ruth, Julia and Richard. The son Hugh married Vineta Osborne. Beulah Davis was married to Clarence Myers, and has two children, Mary Cullison and Paul Edward. George Wilson married Dorothy Hauptman, and has two sons, George A. and Ken- neth H. Boyd died December 24, 1914, at the age of twenty-one. Grace is the wife of William Roberts, and has a daughter Helen Gregg.

George A. Whitmore and wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In the official affairs of Berkeley County he served three terms as a member of the board of education in Mill Creek District, and in 1912 was elected a member of the County Court, and by re-elec- tion was in office for six years, until he came to Charles Town.

JAMES ELMER BROWN, organist and choirmaster of the Bland Street Methodist Church, South, at Bluefield, Mer- cer County, was born in Buckingham County, Virginia, on the 21st of January, 1889, and is a son of Charles W. and Mary Elizabeth (Cash) Brown, both likewise natives of the Old Dominion State, where the respective families were founded many generations ago. Charles W. Brown was born in Albermarle County, Virginia, in 1854, and in early life he gave his attention to farm industry in his native state. Thereafter he was for many years in the service of the Norfolk & Western Railroad, and he is now living retired at Bluefield, West Virginia, to which place he came with

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 146

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