History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 159

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Mr. Kisner was one of the organizers and has since been a director of the Fairmont Brick Company, and he helped organize the East Side Building & Loan Company, of which he is a director and second vice president. With all these business interests he finds time to associate him- self with other business men and citizens in promoting their common interests. He has been identified for a num-

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ber of years as vice president and director of the Fair- mont Business Men's Association, and is a director of the Fairmont Chamber of Commerce. He is affiliated with Lodge No. 15 of the Knights of Pythias at Watson, is a member of the Rotary Club and the Presbyterian Church.

February 2, 1899, Mr. Kisner married Mary S. Strauser. She was born near Philadelphia, daughter of Edward and Sarah Strauser, who came from Pennsylvania and located near Charlero, where her father died. Mr. and Mrs. Kisner have three children. Ora Leona, born in June, 1901, is a graduate of the Fairmont High School and completed her education in the Fairmont State Normal School and the Carnegie Institute of Technology at Pittsburgh, spend- ing a year in each school, and is now at the University of West Virginia. The second daughter, Laura Louise, was born in February, 1906, and is a student in the Fairmont High School. The son, George Edward, was born in Febru- ary, 1909.

JESSE DANIEL WILSON has given efficient service as as- sistant postmaster of the City of Fairmont, Marion County, since 1917, and was acting postmaster from 1920 until the appointment of the new incumbent, John S. Scott, in October, 1921. He was born on the old family homestead farm in Clay District, Monongalia Connty, this state, June 15, 1887, and is a son of John Pinckney Wil- son and Dora B. (Toothman) Wilson. On the same farm John P. Wilson was born October 1, 1862, his father, Jesse Wilson, having there settled in the pioneer days. John P. Wilson continued to be actively identified with farm enterprise in his native county until November, 1921, when he removed to Fairview, Marion County, where he Is living retired, save for the general supervision which he continued to give to his valuable farm property. His wife was born at Gray's Flats, Marion County, February 27, 1864, a daughter of Daniel and Rachel Toothman, the former of whom is still living, at the patriarchal age of more than ninety years.

Jesse D. Wilson was reared on the farm and was given the advantages of the public schools of his native county. He has been continuously connected with the United States mail service since 1908, in which year he became a carrier on one of the rural routes out from the Fairview post office. In 1914 he was appointed postmaster at Fair- view, and April 1, 1917, he became assistant postmaster at Fairmont, the county seat. December 1, 1920, he was appointed acting postmaster, and he continued his service as such until the new postmaster was appointed. His long service has gained to him a wide acquaintanceship in Marion County, where his circle of friends is exceptionally wide and where he has made an admirable record in con- nection with mail affairs. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the church is now (1921) erecting one of the finest church edifices in the city. Mr. Wilson is affiliated with Fairmont Lodge No. 9, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and in the Scottish Rite Lodge of Perfection at Clarksburg he has received the fourteenth degree. He is a member also of the Modern Woodmen of America.

July 4, 1908, recorded the marriage of Mr. Wilson and Miss Stella L. Busch, who was born in Gilmer County. this state, September 8, 1891. They have two children: Helen Pearl, born March 14, 1909, and William Ralph, born April 9, 1911.

LUTHER COCHRAN DAVIS, A. B., M. D., is one of the representative physicians of the younger generation in Marion County, where he is engaged in practice at Fair- mont, the county seat. He is a native of the old Keystone State, but on the maternal side is a scion of one of the prominent and influential families early established in what is now West Virginia. His maternal grandfather, Nathaniel Cochran, of Revolutionary ancestry, was a mem- ber of Maltby's battery of artillery in the Union Army during the Civil war, and thereafter was twice elected mayor of Fairmont, West Virginia, as a republican.

Doctor Davis was born in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 15, 1894, and is a son of John L.

and Martha (Cochran) Davis. The doctor's mother is a resident of Fairmont, West Virginia, her native city

In 1912 Doctor Davis was graduated from the Fr. mont High School, and thereafter he was for two yes, 1912-14, a student in the University of Wisconsin, wire he gave special attention to the study of chemistry. n 1914 he entered the University of Missouri, in which 18 took a special course in bacteriology under Rommell d from which he received the degree of Bachelor of 28 in 1916. Thereafter he served as assistant instructorn bacteriology in this university until 1918, and he tn matriculated in the medical department of the Univer y of Pennsylvania, in which he was graduated as a memr of the class of 1920, with the degree of Doctor of Medic e. In that year and a portion of 1921 he served as an - terne in the Memorial Hospital at Philadelphia, and t the same time did research work in bacteriology unir Doctor Kolmer. He has since become well establishedn practice at Fairmont, and his ability and personal popu- ity assure him of cumulative success and prestige in is profession. He is a member of the Marion County Med. ! Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society and 8 American Medical Association. The doctor is affiliad with the Knights of Pythias and with the Alpha li Sigma (chemical) and the Alpha Kappa Kappa (medie) college fraternities.

JOHN S. SCOTT, a leading merchant and representate citizen of Fairmont, Marion County, was born in ts city on the 24th of October, 1869. Thomas Scott, his gre grandfather, was born in Scotland and upon coming p America settled in Rockingham County, Virginia, his den having occurred at Norfolk, that state, November 29, 18 His son, William W., was born in Rockingham Coun April 8, 1800, and died at Palatine, now Fairmont, Wt Virginia, Jannary 17, 1882. His marriage was solemni:d June 5, 1827, when Sophia Heed became his wife. She v3 born in Rockingham Connty, Virginia, September 19, 18, a daughter of Abram Heed, and died at Fairmont, W Virginia, December 14, 1877. Of the children of this un: Newton J., father of the subject of this sketch, was bo in the present Preston Connty, West Virginia, March 1844, and died at Fairmont, February 2, 1882. Deceml 31, 1868, he married at Kittanning, Pennsylvania, Mary Scott, and her death occurred in July, 1883.

John S. Scott attended the public schools and later 1; State Normal School at Fairmont. He was doul orphaned when he was a lad of fourteen years, and for fc years thereafter he resided in the home of his uncle, W liam S. Scott, a farmer in Barbour County. After retus ing to Fairmont he taught in the rural schools during I winter terms for two years, and for four years thereaft he was in the employ of the Helmick Foundry & Machi Company of Fairmont, in the capacity of stationary € gineer. For eight years thereafter he was here engaged the retail flour and feed business. He served as city c lector in 1905-7, and for ten years thereafter was secreta of the Fairmont Fair Association. In 1912 Mr. Scott 1 came senior member of the firm Scott & Hawkins Compar which here engaged in the general merchandise busine and since the incorporation of the business, under the ori inal title, he has been president of the company, which cc ducts one of the leading retail mercantile establishmer of Fairmont and controls a large and substantial busine Mr. Scott is a director of the East Side Building & Lo Association, and has other important business and proper interests in his native city and county. He has recent entered active service as postmaster of Fairmont, to whi position he was appointed on the 6th of October, 1921.

Mr. Scott is a member of Fairmont Lodge No. 2, Ini pendent Order of Odd Fellows; Marion Lodge No. : Knights of Pythias; Setting Sun Tribe No. 6, Improv Order of Red Men; Fairmont Lodgo No. 9, Loyal Ord of Moose; and Showalter Tent No. 7, Knights of t Maccabees. He is a director of the Fairmont Chamber Commerce and a member of the Rotary Club.

Mr. Scott married Miss Ella M. Hughes, who was bo at Fairmont, March 17, 1872, a daughter of the late Jo

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. Hughes, and she was summoned to the life eternal on the 9th of October, 1921, leaving two daughters: Pearl, a raduate of the State Normal School at Fairmont and a opular teacher in the Fairmont schools; and V. Marie, the ife of John II. Pople, of Fairmont.

HUGH DONOVAN, JR. Through a creer bristling with ifficulties and obstacles to be overcome Hugh Donovan, Jr., is achieved that secure position in affairs represented in le ownership of a prosperous industry at Parkersburg, xtended interests in other localities, and the appreciation E all citizens and friends who know the essential facts of is life.

Mr. Donovan was born May 27, 1872, son of Hugh and lizabeth (Gill) Donovan, the former a native of Cork and le latter of Dublin, Ireland. Hugh Donovan, Sr., came to le United States at the close of the Civil war. He was a ilermaker by trade, and to that industry he devoted ractically all his active years. He worked in New York, at rie and Meadville in Western Texas, operated a boiler shop or a time at St. Petersburg, Pennsylvania, and later at denburg, that state. As an expert boilermaker he has allowed his industry largely in the oil fields, manufacturing aterials for special use in the oil industry. He is now in s eightieth year, hale and hearty, and an honored resident { Parkersburg. He was born April 26, 1842.

One of two children, Hugh Donovan, Jr., grew up in the ome of his industrious parents, but since he was ten years f age he has had a working knowledge and experience in the 'ade of boiler making. Just before attaining his seven- enth birthday he bought his father's shop at Edenburg. e moved his business in 1900 to Cairo, West Virginia, here he continued boiler making and repairing, and in 1910 ime to Parkersburg. In Parkersburg he has gained the al fruits of his industrial experience. In 1912 he doubled is floor space, again doubled it in 1914, and in 1919 erected new plant, with 40,000 feet of floor space. This industry, down as the Donovan Boiler Works, furnishes employment normal times to about 100 hands. It is a specialty shop, anufacturing tanks and boilers exclusively for the oil idustry.

With the close association thus gained with the oil indus- y Mr. Donovan has been interested in oil production since )07. He is now owner of some fifty producing wells, chiefly . Oklahoma. While these items represent really big achieve- ents, Mr. Donovan did not realize success until in com- aratively recent years. He was a laborer with his hands, id had to solve countless problems involved in the material lestions of existence. He was still comparatively poor hen he moved to Parkersburg. He had the experience and le resourcefulness of a man of courage, willing to venture 1 to carry out plans that he believed sound. His success Des not represent altogether individual or personal achieve- ent. His domestic environment has favored him. In hard- tip and in prosperity his life's companion has borne more an her share of duties and responsibilities, uncomplain- gly and with a smile on her lips. Therefore her life has en fully as successful as that of Mr. Donovan.

Mrs. Donovan's maiden name was Harriet Maud Peters. hey were married June 12, 1899. Their two children are obert and Josephine. Robert is a graduate of the Culver ilitary Academy of Indiana, and is now a student in the arnegie Institute of Technology at Pittsburgh. The aughter, Josephine, is pursuing a college preparatory course , the Mary Baldwin Seminary at Staunton, Virginia.

Mr. Donovan was ready with his personal abilities and sources to cooperate with the community of Parkersburg carrying out all the campaigns during the World war. e is an independent in politics, a Catholic, a member of e Elks Club, the Country Club, Blennerhasset Club, Rotary ub and Chamber of Commerce.

FLOYD JUDSON PATTON of the Patton Coal Company at mirmont, is a railroad man by early training and for a imber of years has enjoyed the special confidence of the al interests of the state. During a portion of the World ar he handled the duties of fuel commissioner at Fair- ont.

He was born at Grafton in Taylor County, Weat Vir- ginia, September 22, 1876, aon of Milton M. and Emily Elizabeth (LaGrange) Patton. The father was born in Ritchie County, this state, in 1846, and died in 1917. For many years he was a passenger conductor on the Baltimore & Ohio between Grafton and Parkersburg. His wife, Emily LaGrange, was born in Wood County, West Virginia, and is now living, in her seventy-fifth year, at Parkersburg.

Graduation from the Grafton High School in 1894 was followed by a business college course, and since then Floyd J. Patton has been allowed a period of about a quarter of a century in which to work out his successful business career. He became a clerk in the office of the agent of the Baltimore & Ohio at Grafton, and with increasing respon- sibilities he became eventually chief clerk in the office of the superintendent.

Mr. Patton entered the coal business at Grafton in 1917, operating, buying and selling. While thus engaged in 1918 he was, on the advice of coal operators, sent temporarily to Fairmont by the Government to take charge of the office of the United States fuel commissioner. Owing to a vacancy in the regular commission much confusion had resulted, and the office had temporarily ceased to function. Mr. Patton quickly restored order and continued to admin- ister the duties of the commissioner until after the war. By that time he had determined to make Fairmont his per- manent home, and as president of the Patton Coal Company has built up a successful business and has established con- genial relationship as a citizen. Besides buying and selling coal the Patton Coal Company operates what is known as the Trainer Mine. Mr. Patton is interested in the produc- tion of oil, being treasurer of the States Fork Oil Company, whose premier well came in during November, 1921, with a daily production of ninety barrels. Mr. Patton is also president of the Fairmont Company and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Fairmont State Bank.

He is a member of the Fairmont Chamber of Commerce, the Country Club and the Elks and Knights of Pythiaa, and belongs to the Presbyterian Church. He married Miss Gladys May Jackson, a native of Fairmont. They have two sons, Floyd Jackson, horn in 1911, and William Milton, born in 1919.

CURTIS EDGAR AMOS. The technical ability and sterling personal characteristics that make for maximum success in the legal profession have been exemplified in the career of Mr. Amos, who is engaged in the practice of law at Fair- mont, judicial center of Marion County, and his achieve- ment has already marked him as one of the representative members of the har of his native city and county. Mr. Amos was born at Fairmont on the 28th of June. 1887. and is a son of Elias S. and Rhoda Annis (Parker) Amos, adequate data concerning the family being given on other pages of this volume, in the personal sketch of another son, Frank R.

After having profited fully by the advantages of the public schools of Fairmont, Curtis E. Amos here entered the West Virginia State Normal School, and in this institu- tion he was graduated as a member of the class of 1908. In preparation for his chosen profession he entered the law department of the University of West Virginia, and upon his graduation in 1913 his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws was virtually coincident with his admis- sion to the har of his native state. He forthwith opened an office at Fairmont, and his ability and personal popular - ity made his professional novitiate of short duration. Here he has continued in successful general practice to the present time, save for the interval of his patriotic service in connection with the nation's military activities incidental to the great World war. On the 4th of March, 1918. Mr. Amos was mustered into the United States Army, and was sent to Camp Greenleaf, Georgia, in charge of a squad of fourteen other Fairmont "rookies" assigned to the same camp. At this camp Mr. Amos became a member of the Depot Brigade, and on the 26th of the same month he was transferred to Camp Upton, New York, and assigned to the Seventy-seventh Division, with which, two weeka later, he sailed for the stage of active conflict. With his command

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he landed at Breat, France, and there he was assigned to duty in the medical supply department of his division. Iu this connection he engaged in the establishing of medical supply stations in the Baccarat, Vesle, Oise, Aisne, and Meuse-Argonne sectors, and he was in active service in the last mentioned sector at the time of the signing of the now historic armistice. He had charge of the advance medical supply stations of the Seventy-seventh Division, and on the day of the signing of the armistice he visited three different stations. On the 13th of June, 1918, he was given the rank of sergeant, and in the following November he was promoted to the office of sergeant, first class. Upon liis return to his native land he was mustered out and re- ceived his honorable discharge at Camp Meade, Maryland, May 28, 1919. He then resumed his law practice at Fair- mont, where he became senior member of the firm of Amos & Amos, this alliance continuing until the 1st of January, 1921, when his brother Frank R., the junior member of the firm, retired to assume his official duties as prosecuting at- torney of Marion County, an office to which he had been elected in the preceding November.

Mr. Amos is known as a vigorous and resourceful trial lawyer and well equipped counselor, is a member of the Marion County Bar Association and the West Virginia Bar Association, and he is affiliated with the American Legion, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.

A. GLENN SPRINGER, who is now serving as county as- sessor of Marion County, was engaged in the retail grocery business in the City of Fairmont at the time when the nation became involved in the World war, and he promptly sub- ordinated all personal interests to the call of patriotism, sold his business and entered the military service of his country, as will be more specifically noted in a later para- graph.

Mr. Springer is a native of Marion County, his birth hav- ing occurred on the old Swearingen homestead farm in Union District, on the 14th of February, 1887. He is a son of William F. and Viola (Swearingen) Springer, both likewise natives of Marion County, where both families have pioneer distinction, Mrs. Springer having been born on the same farm as was her son A. Glenn, of this sketch, her father, William Swearingen, having been one of the sub- stantial farmers and representative citizens of the county. William F. Springer was born in 1857 and passed his entire life in Marion County, he having been but thirty-six years of age at the time of his tragic death. He was killed in an accident.

A. Glenn Springer was reared on the home farm, and he supplemented the discipline of the public schools by at- tending Broaddus College at Philippi, this state. After leaving college he took a position as clerk in a general store at Fairmont, and later he was in the United States mail service four years. He then, in 1916, engaged in the retail grocery business at Fairmont, and he had built up a pros- perous enterprise when he closed out his business to enlist, in June, 1918, in the Government aviation service in con- nection with World war preparations. He was sent to Camp Morris, Virginia, where he continued in training in the aviation field until after the signing of the armistice which brought the war to a close, he having received his honorable discharge in February, 1919. He then returned te Fairmont, where he established himself in the feed busi- ness, in which he continued until January 1, 1921, when he disposed of the same and assumed his official duties as county assessor, to which important office he had been elected in the preceding November. In the primary elec- tion he had three good opponents for nomination by his party, and he was nominated by a fair margin, the ensuing general election giving him a majority of more than 2,500 votes over his democratic opponent. Mr. Springer is af- filiated with the local ledge of Knights of Pythias, and he and his wife are active members of the Baptist Church in their home city of Fairmont.

March 29, 1918, recorded the marriage of Mr. Springer and Miss Nellie Raikes, who was born at Holly Grove, Upshur County, a daughter of John and Cordelia Raikes.

Mr. and Mrs. Springer have a winsome little daugh, Joan Ireno, whe was born April 15, 1921.

JAMES D. CHARLTON has been going about over Man County in the transaction of his business affairs for ne than thirty-five years, has earned an enviable reputationis a citizen, and recently he was called from the ranks f business men to public responsibility at the courthouse, d is the present sheriff.

Mr. Charlton was born at Manuington in Marion Cou: October 9, 1867. His father, the late Benjamin F. Chl- ton, is recalled as one of the high-minded lawyers and nit scrupulous citizens of Marion County. Judge Charltor a son of William Charlton, was born in Washington Coury, Pennsylvania, in 1830, and died in 1903. As a youth he- tended the old Nineveh School, one of the pioneer inst 1 tions of higher education in Washington County, and af wards became a school teacher. It was his reputation asn able school man that caused the people of the Manninga District in Marion County, West Virginia, to secure services, and he taught school at Mannington until he 's elected a member of the West Virginia Legislature. e attended the sessions of the Legislature at Wheeling, tu the state capital. In the meantime he studied law, 9 admitted to practice and for many years enjoyed a lae clientage at Fairmont. He was elected and for six yes served as judge of the Intermediate Court of Mart County. After his retirement from the bench be ce tinued his private practice until his death. He was a earnest Christian, was ordained a local minister of Methodist Conference, and officiated as such for miy years. Judge Charlton married Elizabeth Wallace, who 18 born in Paw Paw District of Marion County in 1839, :1 is still living, at the age of eighty-two. Her father, Jar's Wallace, came to this part of West Virginia from Ma land.

Sheriff Charlton was educated in the public schools Mannington. His first independent undertaking in life as a buyer of cattle and other livestock. He then conduel a livery business and became a contractor for heavy ha ing at Mannington. For a number of years Mr. Charl has had some well placed investments in oil and coal pr. erties.

His ability in public office was first demonstrated in 3 home community at Mannington, where he served sevel years as a member of the council and for two years ; mayor. He was for eight years deputy sheriff, at fi under M. A. Jolliff and then under H. R. Furbee. In 19 he received the republican nomination for sheriff, w clected in November, and began his duties January 1, 19. Sheriff Charlton is a member of Mannington Lodge Elks and the Methodist Episcopal Church.

He married Miss Alice Critchfield, a native of Manni ton District and daughter of the late David Critchfie. Mr. and Mrs. Charlton became the parents of ten childre; Benjamin Franklin, deceased; Mabel; Catherine, wife Arthur Smith, living at Buckhannon, West Virginia; Ho ard, William, Evaline, Ruth, James D., Jr., Edgar P. al Sarah Alice.

JOSEPH M. MURPHY is a wholesale lumberman, banker Parkersburg, and a widely known and influential figure democratic state politics.

His father, the late John Murphy, was a railroad m. whose duties brought him to Parkersburg and who lived h many years, in a way to command the complete respect a confidence of the community. He was born in Cour Tipperary, Ireland, in 1837, and came to the United Sta in 1854. While at Baltimore he was employed in railw. construction work until the outbreak of the war. He th enlisted in the Confederate army and served as a priva throughout the great American conflict. Several times was captured, but in each instance exchanged. After 1 war he resumed his service with the Baltimore & Ohio Co pany, and gave practically all his business career to t. corporation. About 1869 he established his home at Pa: ersburg, and he remained a resident until his death October 9, 1906. Through the avenue of practical labor

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 159

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