History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 158

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SAMUEL W. PERRY, manager and one of the owners of the property owned by the Katona Coal Company at East Lynn, is one of the best business men and substantial citizens of Wayne County, whose activities have led to a considerable development of the coal fields of this section. He was born at Marion, Alabama, March 30, 1881, a son of Albert J. and Elizabeth (Armor) Perry, both of whom were born in Alabama and come of most distinguished ancestry.

Albert J. Perry was a merchant, banker, and also con- ducted extensive operations in mining and wholesaling at Birmingham, Alabama, which he left for East Lynn in July, 1902, coming here to take charge of his extensive coal interests. He built the railroad into his coal property of 5,140 acres, and opened up and began mining coal in

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INTERIOR OF DISHER'S DRUG STORE, BERKLEY SPRINGS.

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HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

03. At present he has an output of 300 tona of coal per y. His father, the grandfather of Samuel W. Perry, was physician and surgeon, and served as such in an Alabama giment of the Confederate army. For many years the erry family has been prominent in Alabama, not only at irmingham, but elsewhere. Albert J. Perry and his wife ere married at Mobile, Alabama, in 1878.

Growing up in a home of culture, Samuel W. Perry was forded unusual opportunities, and after attending the ublie schools of Birmingham went to Webb's School at ell Buekett, Tennessee, for a year, after which he apent wo years at St. Auburns, Radford, Virginia, completing his ourse in that institution in 1899. On December 25, 1899, fr. Perry entered upon what was to be a very successful arcer, as an employe of the Trussville Furnace and Mining ompany at Trussville, Alabama, continuing with that con- ern until April 1900, when he left it to engage with Jones Laughlin at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but in September, 901, returned to Trussville, Alabama, and formed cen- ections with the Lracy-Buck Iren Company, with which e remained until May, 1902. His next connection was that hich he formed with the Hillman Land & Iron Company f Grand Rivers, Kentucky, and he sustained it until Sep- ember, 1902. In November, 1902, Mr. Perry went with the 'olorade Fuel & Iron Company at Pueblo, Colorado, leaving hat concern in October, 1903, and from Oeteber, 1903, until September, 1905, he was with his father at East Lynn. From September, 1905, to July, 1907, he was with the Margaret Mining Company at War Eagle, West Virginia. From July, 1907, te July, 1908, he was with the East ynn Coal Company and the Naugatuck Coal Company at Blocton, West Virginia, this connection continuing until 912. He then bought the Warfield Coal Company and organized the Grey Eagle Coal Company, managing both enterprises until July, 1914, when he gave up the Naugatuck Joal Company and concentrated his efforts upon the con- luet of the Grey Eagle Coal Company until June, 1916, when he became the Chicago representative of the Blue Ash Company, and continued as auch until in July, 1917, he old his interest in the Grey Eagle and Naugatuck com- anies, and, in June, 1918, returned to East Lynn and organized the Hill Crest Coal Company of East Lynn. In February, 1920, he took over the operating of the Katona Coal Company as manager at East Lynn, and in June, 1921, converted the latter company into a partnership, and is operating it as such at the present time. being its manager and one of its owners. Mr. Perry is without doubt one of the most experienced coal operators of this region, his long and varied connection with the industry giving him a practical knowledge of all of the details, thus enabling him to conduct the affairs of his company efficiently and profitably.

During the late war Mr. Perry bent all of hia energies to producing coal, and he waa also very active in Red Cross work, having charge of the local chapter. He also was zealeua in forwarding the sale of boads and atamps, for, like a number of others, prevented from going into the serv- ice, he felt that it was ef paramount importance that he do all he could at home.

On January 18, 1910, Mr. Perry married, near Wayne, West Virginia, Miss Onea Kyser, a daughter of Andrew and Nannie Kyser, both natives of West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Perry have one daughter, Katherine. They are com- municants of the Episcopal Church.

While Mr. Perry, as one of the recognized leaders in the coal industry of Wayne County, if net of this part of the state, is deeply absorbed in business details, he has found time to follow a subject that is very dear to his heart, that of his family tree, and no record of hia life would be complete without devoting a little space to the results of his researchea. He traces back his ancestry through the very carly settlers of Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia to Scotch and French-Huguenet origin, and has one of the mest complete family trees ever compiled. His great-great-great- great-grandmother waa Selnia A. Watkins. His great-great- grandmother was Frances Lockett, and his great-grand- mother was Selnia Jenes. At one time the family of Mr. Perry had in their possession the silver plate used by the

Marquia de Lafayette while in this country, but this valuable heirloom was lost when his house was doatroyed by fire. He is one of the rightful heira to a very valuable Huguenot Bible, the history of which Is so interesting as to justify its insertion here:

An old Huguenet Bible, printed In 1657, is the possession of Mrs. A. S. Venable, Millersburg, Kentucky. The Bible was sent to the family of Abraham Michcaux, a lluguenot refugee, and the first of his family who came to America, by his parents, whe thought that there were no Bibles in the new settlement of America and therefore they sent this volume to their children. It is said that the Bible came originally from England. Abraham Micheaux had married Susannah Rochette in Holland, July 13, 1692, and after a few years meved to Stafford County, Virginia, where they resided for some time. Later they took up land on the James River at the place now known as Micheaux Ferry.

In the reign of Louis XIV, during the religious perseeu- tions consequent to the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, lived a Huguenot by the name of Rochette in the City of Sedan. He had three daughters, and fearing that they would be forcibly taken from him and put in a Roman Catholic school he endeavored to take them secretly from France to llelland. After many difficulties, and after pay- ing a certain amount of money every year for the privilege of being let alone, he finally succeeded in securing for them a place of safety in Amsterdam. There they were visited frequently by the father and mother. It was the second daughter, Susannah Rochette, who married Abraham Mieheaux.

The Bible received by these early seekers of a new home ia a new world descended from Abraham Micheaux to his daughter Nannic, who married Richard Woodsoa, of Poplar llill in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Nannie Woodsen left it to her daughter, Mrs. Agnes Watkins, wife of Franeis Watkins, clerk of Prince Edward County Court. At the death of Mra. Watkins it was given to Mrs. Martha Venable, granddaughter of Richard and Nannie Woodson, who at her death left it to her daughter, Miss Martha W. Venable, in whese possession it remained until the time of her death in 1878. It then passed to her niece, Miss Nannie W. Venable, and later was given to her stepdaughter, Sallie E. Garden on the day of her marriage, October 25, 1893, to Rev. Albert Sidney Venable.

The Bible is one of very great value and interest, both because of its age and the associations connected with it. It is expected that some day the Bible will be placed in the library of the Union Theological Seminary at Richmond, Virginia, for safe keeping.

Mr. Perry ia a direet descendant of Abraham and Susannah (Rochette) Micheaux, as follows: Nannie Wood- sen, Agnes Woodson, Selnia Watkins, Francis Lockett. Selnia Jones, Albert Perry, and Samuel W. Perry, who is the seventh in order of deseent. Mr. Perry prizes these ancesters of honor and high character, and has instinctively ordered his life so as to be worthy of them, and to in turn set an equally stimulating example to those who come after him.

JAY WILSON RIFE, M. D. Dealing with the careers of men whose names stand out prominently in the medical pro- fession of Wayne County, whe by character and achieve- ment have contributed to the upbuilding and prominence of their profession, the record of Dr. Jay Wilson Rife, of Kenova, is found to be worthy of attention. He has made a lasting impression upon the citizens of his community both for professional ability of a high order and for the individuality of a personal character that has added to his worth as a citizen.

Doctor Rife was born on a tributary of Twelve Pole Creek, near Wayne Court House, Wayne County, West Virginia, Angust 10, 1883, and is a son of Lieut. Moses and Virginia (Wilson) Rife. Moses Rife was born in Gallia County, Ohio, in 1836, and in 1855 graduated from the Gallipolis High School. He taught in the schools of his nn- tive county until 1861, when he enlisted in the Fifty-seeend Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, aa a private, and served until one year after the close of the war between the

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states, during which time he was advanced to a lieutenancy. He was in the Red River Expedition, commanded by General Banks, fought at Island No. 10, at the battle of Shiloh was wounded, and late in the war was transferred to the quartermaster's department and stationed at New Orleans, Louisiana. On receiving his honorable discharge, in 1866, he resumed his teaching in Gallia County, Ohio, where he remained until 1870, when he removed to Wayne County, West Virginia, and became a pioneer educator. There he donated the land on which was built the Rife School, named in his honor, in which he taught for fully fifteen years, in addition to teaching in a number of private schools. Many of the business and professional men of that part of West Virginia owe their scholastic training to this capable and patient pioneer educator. He was a member of the Board of Examiners of the county, and, always a close student, was the possessor of a fine library. In politics ha was a republican. In his death, which occurred in 1889, his com- munity lost one of its valuable and dependable citizens. His wife was a daughter of James Wilson, a pioneer timber man of Wayne County, the Wilson family having come originally from near Staunton, Virginia, being related to the family of ex-President Woodrow Wilson. Virginia Wilson was much younger than her husband, and was born near Fort Gay, where she attended the school taught by her future husband. Her home is now in Wayne County, where she occupies a pleasant residence at Wayne Court House. There were three children in the family: Hon. Oscar J., a sketch of whose career appears elsewhere in this work; Jay Wilson, of this review; and Louary, the wife of J. M. Thompson, an oil and gas well driller of Wayne Court House.

Jay Wilson Rife received his early education in the country schools of Wayne County and at Oak View Academy, taught by T. B. McClure, from which he was graduated at the age of nineteen years. He taught four rural schools in Wayne County, and his earnings materially assisted in gaining his medical education. After some preparation he entered the medical department of the Uni- versity of Louisville, from which he graduated in 1904, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and at that time com- menced practice at Wayne Court House. He remained in that community until 1912, when he came to Kenova. Doctor Rife has built up a large and representative practics in his chosen calling and has gained the unqualified con- fidance of the people in his skill and reliability. A close student of his profession, in 1921 he took post-graduate work in the New York Post-Graduate Medical School, and is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, the West Virginia Medical Society and the American Medical Association. In 1911 he was elected county health officer, a position which he still retains, and during the period of the World war served as medical examiner for the draft board at Kenova.

In 1906 Doctor Rife married Grace Thompson, daughter of H. W. Thompson, and who was horn on a farm in Wayne County, March 13, 1885. They have five children: Hubert, Howard, Sherrill, Wallace and Helen. Doctor and Mrs. Rife are members of the Baptist Church, in which he serves as a deacon. He is a member of Wayne Blue Lodge, Wayne Chapter, Huntington Commandery and Beni-Kedem Shrins, Charleston, of the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias at Wayne, of the latter of which he is a past chancellor commander. In his political allegiance he is a democrat.

BENJAMIN HARVEY PALMER, district engineer in charge of road construction in Marion County, is a young official whose technical ability and progressive ideas are enabling him to render a specially valuable service to this county, and he is one of the popular citizens of Fairmont, the county seat. Mr. Palmer was born at Salamanca, Catta- raugus County, New York, on the 27th of January, 1892, and is a son of Olin H. and Flora (Rice) Palmer, both likewise natives of the Empire State, to which the original representatives of the respective families came from New England, where the record of each traces back to the Colonial period of our national history, members of the

Palmer family having come from England on the histo; ship Mayflower, and representative of the Rice family h ;. ing come to New England prior to the War of the Revo tion, in which one of its members served as a patriot s. dier, he having been an ancestor of the subject of t! review. William Rice, maternal grandfather of Benjan H. Palmer, was a gallant soldier of the Union in the Ci war, and he died in the City of New Orleans, Louisiar while still in military service. In the Civil war peri Benjamin F. Palmer, paternal grandfather of the su ject of this sketch, was operating in the gold fields California. Olin H. Palmer was for many years a trav ing commercial salesman, and he maintained his home Salamanca, New York, until 1909, when he removed wi his family to Meadville, Pennsylvania, a point more cc veniently accessible to the territory through which he tra eled. He served four years as sheriff of Crawford Count Pennsylvania, and is now deputy sheriff at Meadville, th; state. He still gives a general supervision to his valuab farm interests in Cattaraugus County, New York.

Benjamin H. Palmer gained his early education in th public schools of his native city and was seventeen yea of age at the time of the family removal to Meadvill Pennsylvania. For two years thereafter, 1909-11, he wa a student in Allegheny College, and the following year 1 was in the employ of the Pennsylvania State Highwa Commission. In 1912 he resumed his studies in Alleghen College, and in 1914 he was graduated from this institu tion, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Thereafte he continued in the service of the Pennsylvania Stat Highway Commission until May, 1917, when he entere the office of J. R. Wilson, who was then district road er gineer of Marion County, West Virginia. In 1918 M3 Palmer became assistant road engineer of Harrison County this state, with headquarters at Clarksburg, and in August 1918, he entered the Government war service as drafts man in the photographic section of the aviation service He was first stationed at Madison Barracks, New York and was thence assigned to service at Rochester, that state where he was engaged at the time of the signing of the historic armistice that brought the war to a close. Afte: receiving his honorable discharge he returned to Clarks. burg, West Virginia, where he remained until the spring of the following year, when the county board of Marion County appointed him to his present office, that of district road engineer in charge of all county road and highway work.

Mr. Palmer is a certified member of the American Asso- ciation of Engineers, of the U. S. A. Aerial Photographers Association and Society of American Military Engineers. He is also affiliated with the Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Theta Nu Epsilon college fraternities, and he and his wife hold membership iu the Baptist Church.

The year 1917 recorded the marriage of Mr. Palmer and Miss Mabel Van Slyke, daughter of Eugene Van Slyke, of Meadville, Pennsylvania, and the one child of this union is a fine little son, Benjamin Harvey, Jr., born February 13, 1920.

ETLEY PRICE SMITH, M. D., who is engaged in the prac- tice of his profession at Fairmont, Marion County, has here served since 1914 as surgeon for the Jamison Coal Company, and he is also a valued member of the surgical staff of Cook Hospital in this city. After his graduation from the high school Doctor Smith was for two years a student in the University of West Virginia, and he then entered the historic old Jefferson Medical College in the City of Philadelphia, in which he was graduated in 1909. After thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he spent two years in service at the Philadelphia General Hospital, in which he gained valuable clinical experience. Thereafter he was engaged in general practice at Bar- rackville, Marion County, West Virginia, until the nation entered the World war, when he promptly enlisted for service in the Medical Corps of the United States Army. On the 1st of May, 1918, he received his commission as captain in the Medical Corps, and he was assigned to duty at the Government Arsenal Hospital near Raritan, New

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wey, where he continued hie able and patriotic service a.l he received his honorable discharge January 1, 1919. I thea established himself in practice at Fairmont, re unequivocal success has attended his professional avors. The doctor is a member of the Marion County Ilical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society the American Medical Association. He is affiliated the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias. octor Smith was born in Monroe County, West Vir- a, September 2, 1884, a son of Wilson G. and Alice lanklin) Smith, both likewise natives of Monroe County. father now resides at Kenova, Wayne County, where is a successful contractor. He is a member of the ghts of Pythias, and holds membership in the Methodist Iscopal Church, South, as did also his wife, who died in 1. William Smith, paternal grandfather of the doctor, one of the pioneer settlers and influential citizens of It is now Monroe County, West Virginia, and he met his h at the battle of Bull Run while in service as a loyal ier of the Union in the Civil war. Joseph Shanklin, ernal grandfather of Doctor Smith, was a native of 'yinia, and he died of typhoid fever while serving as & federate soldier in the Civil war.

octor Smith married Miss Jeanette Robinson, daugh- of James C. Robinson, a representative of the old and ored family of that name in Marion County. Doctor Mrs. Smith have two sons, Etley Price, Jr., and James SON.

EORGE PETER COMUNTZIS is one of the successful business n and enterprising citizens of Morgantown, senior member the firm of Comuntzis Brothers.

'e was born February 16, 1885, in a suburb of Sparta, ece, son of Peter and Demetroula (Costines) Comuntzis, lives of the same locality. His father died there in 8 and his mother in 1916.

-eorge Peter Comuntzis as a boy worked on his father's n and attended school until he was sixteen. In 1901 came to the United States, landing at New York June 1. He at once went to Philadelphia, where he joined older brother, Thomas, in business there. A year later mas opened a confectionery store at Cumberland, Mary- 1, and George P. accompanied him and remained in his loy at Cumberland, where his brother Thomas remained ermanent resident. In August, 1904, George, Thomas their cousin, Nicholas Comuntzis, who died in July, 9, bought a store in partnership at Fairmont, West Vir- a. The three partners in 1906 opened an additional e at Wheeling. The business at Fairmont was con- led by George P. Comuntzis. The partnership was dis- ed in 1909, and at that time George P. and his younger ther, John, established the firm of Comuntzis Brothers removed their Wheeling store to Morgantown. They ted on a modest scale at 367 High Street, and on the after Thanksgiving of 1911 they opened in a larger better quarters just across the street at 368 High et. Here they carried a stock of confectionery and : drinks, and the business has had a rapid growth and elopment. In 1915 they put in their own ice plant, ery and machinery of all kinds for the making of dies and ice cream. They also made a feature of light :heons.

Today Comuntzig Brothers own the largest most elaborate establishment of the kind in Morgan- n, and one of the best in the state. Their service now udes a complete bill of fare in addition to light lunch- 3, and they also have an extensive trade with surround- towns in their manufactured product.

a July, 1919, the brothers bought the A. J. Hare resi- ce property on High Street, where they plan the erec- . of a large business and apartment block. January 10, 1, they also bought the Hershman property on High bet, opposite their store, including a ninety-five-foot itage. February 28, 1921, another real estate transac- 1 was recorded when they purchased thirty feet of und adjoining this property from the W. C. T. U. Since 1 the foundation has been laid to support a nine-story ding, beginning with a one-story unit to accommodate neater and two large storerooms. Vol. II-55

George P. Comuntzis is a member and former direc- tor of the Chamber of Commerce. He belongs to the Rotary Club, the Elks and Knights of Pythias. At Butler, Ponnsylvania, October 11, 1907, he attended the funeral of his sister, and on the 2d of November following sailed for his old home in Greece, reaching there December 12th. On April 12, 1908, he married Angelina Cararvsos, who was born in the same community aa her husband ia 1891, daughter of Constantine Cararvsos. Mr. Comuntzis re- turned to America with his bride. Five children were born to their marriage: Demetroula, born May 31, 1909; a daugh- ter who died in infancy; Peter George, born December 27, 1911; Gus, born November 5, 1919; and Chris, born July 8, 1921.

John Peter Comuntzis, younger member of the firm Comuntzis Brothers, was born in Greece in 1887. He came to the United States in 1902, joining his brothers at Cum- berland, Maryland, and has been actively associated with George Comuntzis throughout the founding, development and prosperity of the business in Morgantown. In 1914 be returned to Greece and served a brief time in the Greek army. He married in 1917 Miss Anna Psyhoyios. Their two children are Peter John, born in 1919, and Demetroula, born in 1920.

JOHN MILTON KISNER, president of the John M. Kisner & Brother Lumber Company, lumber dealers and general building contractors at Fairmont, has had a varied but almost uniformly successful career since he left the home farm thirty years ago. He has been a coal miner, a car- penter and a building contractor, and the business of which he is now the active head has had a successful existence for nearly fifteen years.

He was born on a farm in Preston County, West Vir- ginia, October 5, 1872, son of George W. and Ann (Turner) Kisner, natives of Monongalia County. The father was born in 1836 and died at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, in 1917, while the mother was born in 1841 and died in 1912. George W. Kisner was a farmer and carpenter, and finally removed his family to the vicinity of Independence, West Virginia. He was a life-long member of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church and a republican.

John M. Kisner grew up on a farm, attended the Fair- fax School in Preston County, and when he was eighteen he left home and went west as far as Terre Haute, Indiana, where he spent about a year working at different things. Returning to West Virginia, he worked at the coal mines at Monongah in Marion County, and spent some four years in mining at different points.

His preparation for the building business began in 1898, when he started to learn the carpenter's trade. About four years later he was made superintendent for a con- tracting firm at Fairmont. In 1908 he began construct- ing and building on his own account, and for about four years was in the contracting and lumber business with his brother Clark W., under the firm of John M. Kisner & Brother. Three years later the business was incorporated as John M. Kisner & Brother Lumber Company.

The character of work done by this firm is revealed in a few of the contracts handled in recent years. They put up the First Presbyterian Church, one of the finest church buildings in Fairmont, erected the high school at Mo- nongah, and are just completing the East Side High School and all the three ward schools on the East Side of Fair- mont. and the North View High School at Clarksburg and the Haymond Flats and Coleman Building in that city. They built 100 houses for the Consolidation Coal Com- pany at Vanleer, Kentucky, erected most of the town of Ida May, West Virginia, for the same company, and most of the buildings at Rivesville, West Virginia, for the Mo- nongahela Traction Company.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 158

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