History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 163

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Judge and Frances (Welch) Henritze became the par- enta of four aons, of whom the immediate subject of this review, William W., is the eldest; Benson Price, a me-

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chanical engineer by profession, resides at Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin; Thomas Floyd is a representative member of the bar of McDowell County and is now serving (1921-2) as postmaster at Welch, the county seat; Welch Hudson is associated with the Flannagan Coal Sales Company at Welch. Of the second marriage of Judge Henritze five children were born, and of the number three are living: Mary Helen, widow of Guy N. Forrester and resides at Middlesboro, Kentucky; Walter M. is a civil engineer and in his profession is associated with the Casey Company in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Frederick is as- sociated with his brother William W. in the Welch Lumber Company. Three of the sons were in the nation's military service in the World war. Welch Hudson was overseas as a member of the infantry arm of the American Expe- ditionary Forces. Walter M. was sent with the first Ameri- can contingent of civil engineers to France, where he be- came identified with railway construction as a member of the famous Company H, Fifteenth Engineers, with which, in five weeks after arriving in France, he won promotion from private to first lieutenant for valiant and meritorious service. His company was surrounded by a regiment of German soldiers, over whom the gallant Americans won a victory of decisive order, though the available weapons were only pick-handles, rocks and fists. Frederick, a grad- uate of the Millersburg Military Institute, was sent to the Plattsburg training camp, and after being made a lieu- tenant became instructor of a class of 400 newly recruited soldiers at Syracuse, New York.

William W. Henritze received the advantages of Princeton Academy, St. Albans Academy (Radford, Virginia) and Roanoke College. He had intended to prepare himself for the legal profession, but when some of his father's coal ven- tures proved temporarily unsuccessful he left college and took a position in his father's office. Later he was for two years a clerk in a queensware store at Charlotte, North Carolina. He next became a traveling salesman for a Bal- timore queensware house, and after leaving this position he was for five years in the employ of the Tug River Lum- ber Company at Welch. He then organized the Welch Lum- her Company, which began business on a most modest scale and with somewhat meager financial resources. The business has become one of the most substantial and important of its kind in this section of West Virginia, the company hav- ing supplied the material for the construction of many of the buildings in Welch and other towns of the southern part of the state. The Welch Lumber Company was in- corporated March 10, 1902, and the original headquar- ters were established in a shanty covered with tar paper. Mr. Henritze has been the able and progressive manager under whose direction the splendid business of the com- pany has been developed, and he is now one of the repre- sentative business men of Welch. He is a democrat in political allegiance, is affiliated with the local Lodge and Chapter of the Masonic fraternity, Ivanhoe Commandery No. 10, Knights Templars, at Bramwell, of which his father was a charter member, and the Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston, besides which he is affiliated with the Phi Delta Theta college fraternity. He and his wife are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Welch, of which he is a trustee.

In 1907 Mr. Henritze wedded Miss Florence Ide, daugh- ter of Prof. E. L. Ide, of Staunton, Virginia, and the two children of this union are Frances Ide and Mary Eliza- beth.

CLINTON D. BREWSTER, a retired merchant and repre- sentative citizen of Welch, judicial center of McDowell County, was born in this county on the 18th of April, 1874, and is a son of Andrew Crockett Brewster and Mary (Dan- iela) Brewster. The father, who died in 1915, at the age of sixty-four years, was a son of Andrew Brewster, who was born in that district of Virginia that now constitutes McDowell County, West Virginia, and who, with five of his sons, was a gallant soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war. He was long numbered among the prosperous farm- ers and honored and influential citizens of McDowell County, where he served as a member and president of the County

Court. Both he and his wife were active members of tl Christian Church.

Andrew C. Brewster was reared on the old home far and he long held prestige as one of the vigorous and su cessful exponents of farm enterprise in his native count In 1897 he removed with his family to Welch and becan associated with his son Clinton D. in purchasing a sma stock of goods and opening a general store, the busine having been conducted under the firm name of C. D. Brev ster & Company and, with its splendid expansion, havir been incorporated in 1913, under the same title, Clinton ] becoming president of the corporation and his father com tinuing to be an interested principal in the enterprise unt his death. Andrew C. Brewster was one of the honore citizens of McDowell County, and in addition to havir served as county assessor he was a valued member of th City Council of Welch and finally was elected mayor, i which office he gave a most effective administration. H was one of the organizers and a director of the First Na tional Bank of Welch, was a republican in politics, and wa a zealous member of the Christian Church, as is also hi widow, who still resides at Welch, she having been born i Tazewell County, Virginia. Of their four children, all son! three are living: Robert G. is a citrus-fruit grower an also engaged in the real estate business in Florida; Di George W. is a representative physician at Roderfield, Mo. Dowell County; and Clinton D., of this review, is the young est son. John D., the eldest son, was engaged in the mer cantile business at Cucumber, this county, at the time o his death, when fifty years of age.

The public-school discipline of Clinton D. Brewster wa supplemented by a course in the Concord State Norma School at Athens, and he made an excellent record in th pedagogic profession as a teacher in the village schools o Ashland, this county. Thereafter he was clerk in a stor at Keystone, and in 1897, as previously noted, he becam associated with his father in the opening of a store a Welch. He developed the business to one of most substan tial and prosperous order, and continued the business un til he finally sold the same to advantage. In 1918 he or ganized the Welch Flour & Feed Company, a wholesal concern, and he still continues president of the same. H. sold his mercantile business in 1920, and he now gives the major part of his time and attention to the supervision o. his fine farm near Graham, Virginia. He is a loyal sup porter of the principles of the republican party, and he and his wife are members of the Christian Church.

December 12, 1902, recorded the marriage of Mr. Brew ster and Miss Mary Huffon, a daughter of Charles H Huffon, of Tazewell County, Virginia. The four children of this union are: Rita, Clinton D., Jr., and Miriam anc Mildred, who are twins.

WILLIAM HENRY SOMERS, of Berkeley Springs, Morgan County, now holds the position of chief of the West Vir- ginia Bureaus of Markets, and he has long been influential in public affairs and as a leader in the ranks of the repub- lican party in Morgan County. He has been a member of the Republican State Central Committee and of the party's committee for his congressional district, besides which he has given timely and effective service as a member of the National River & Harbor Commission and was a member of the House of Delegates of the West Virginia Legis- lature, to which he was elected in November, 1916, and in which he served during the regular and extra sessions of his elective term.

Mr. Somers was born at Ellerton, Frederick County, Maryland, January 20, 1860, and at the same place his father, John Frederick Somers, was born in the year 1825, a son of John Somers, likewise a native of Maryland, where his father settled upon coming to America from Somersetshire, England. John Somers owned and oper- ated an iron foundry at Ellerton, and there his death oc- curred when he was fifty-five years of age. He married Mary Leatherman, who likewise was born in Frederick County, and after the death of her husband she removed to Indiana, her death having occurred near Pendleton, that state, when she was ninety-eight years of age. They became

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he parents of niue children: John Frederlek, John, Elias, Jacob, Aaron, Christopher, Caroline, Sarah and Caaaie. John Frederick Somers gained his early education in sub- cription achoola maintained in hie native county, and there le studied medicine under the offective preceptorship of Doctor Wachter. He passed examination before the Mary- and State Board of Medical Examiners, and then initiated he practice of his profession at Ellerton, his native place. He soon came to Virginia and settled in what is now Morgan County, West Virginia. Here he continued in the ornetice of his profession until 1869, when he removed to Ulfont, Indiana, where he was established in practice until 1878. He then returned to Morgan County, West Virginia, ind established his residence at Berkeley Springs, where 10 built up a representative practice and where he re- mained until his death, in 1897. The maiden name of his wife was Catherine Smith, she having likewise been born in Frederick County, Maryland, a daughter of Wil- iam and Catherine (Westinghouse) Smith. William Smith was born in England and was a young man when he came to the United States and established a private school at Wolfsville, Maryland, he having conducted this excellent school during the remainder of his active career. Mrs. Catherine (Smith) Somers was abont seventy-six years of age at the time of her death. Her children were six in number: Dr. Martin Luther, eldest of the number, is engaged in the practice of medicine at Altoona, Kansas; Rev. Amos Newton Somers is a clergyman of the Unitarian Church and resides at Grafton, Massachusetts; Effie J. was next in order of birth; Dr. Ira Clinton Somers is a representative physician and surgeon at Chanute, Kansas; William Henry, of this review, was the next in order of birth; and John Clement likewise resides at Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.

William H. Somers gained his early education in the public schools of West Virginia and Indiana, and he then entered J. C. Vincent's home school at Plainfield, New Jersey, in which institution he was graduated. His first independent business venture was as a carriage manufac- turer at Luray, Virginia, where he remained five years. He then entered the employ of the Roanoke Machine Con- pany, which corporation held a contraet for remodeling rail- road cars in order to accommodate them to the newly established standard gauge. After leaving this company Mr. Somers became foreman at the shopa of the Ensign Car Company at Huntington, West Virginia, and he con- tinued his association with this company until he removed to Berkeley Springs and engaged in the sale of farm imple- ments, in which he continued five years. He was then appointed postmaster of the village, under the administra- tion of President McKinley, and by auecessive reappoint- ments he continued the incumbent of this office twelve years. For the ensuing five years he was engaged in the wholesale lumber business, and in the meanwhile he had acquired land in Morgan County and become actively identified with horticultural industry. He now has two fine orchards in this county, besides being a atoekholder in two companies which have well developed orchard prop- erties respectively in Nelson County, Virginia, and Wood County, West Virginia. Aside from his official duties as chief of the West Virginia Bureau of Markets he gives much of his attention to his orchard interests. At Berkeley Springs he is affiliated with DeFord Lodge, A. F. and A. M., and at Martinsburg he is a member of Lebanon Chapter, No. 2, R. A. M.

February 22, 1882, recorded the marriage of Mr. Somers and Miss Mary Ann Rider, who was born at Ridersville, Morgan County, this atate, a daughter of Edward and Phoebe (Rockwell) Rider. Mr. and Mrs. Somers have four children. Vernon Conrad married Daisy Cross, and they have one son, Donald Benton. Mabel Loraine is the wife of O. L. Olson, a veteran of the World war, and they have three children, Oscar M., William and Mabel Loraine. Marvin Witmer married Marguerite Holton. Ethel Mae, who remains at the parental home, graduated from the local high school as a member of the class of 1921.

JOHN R. GILDERSLEEVE, president of the Becch Fork Coal Company and until recently the secretary and treaa- urer of tho Tony Pocahontas Coal Company, is one of the successful coal producers and business men of McDowell County, with residence and headquarters in the Village of English.

Mr. Gildersleeve was born in Tazewell County, Virginia, December 29, 1878, and is a son of Gilbert Snowden Gilder- sleeve and Louise (George) Gildersleeve, the former of whom was born in the City of Richmond, Virginia, and the latter in Tazewell County, that state. Gilbert S. Gilder- sleeve was a skilled civil engineer, was graduated from Richmond College, gave two years of service as a loyal aol- dier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, and as a young man he taught school a few years in Washington County, Virginia. He established his residence in Tazewell County in 1868, and at Gratton, that state, his death occurred in 1919, when he was seventy-two years of age. As a eivil engincer he did a large amount of important work in the coal fields of Virginia and West Virginia, from 1890 to 1910. He was the engineer in the famous controversy Sperry-Ritzie vs. the D. G. Sayers Estate, was employed for a term of years as engineer for the New River Poca- hontas Consolidated Coal & Coke Corporation, and had charge of the work of an efficient engineering corps. He was a democrat, and both he and his wife, who likewise at- tained to advanced age, were members of the Presbyterian Church. Of the eight children Jolin R., of this sketch, was the third in order of birth.

After attending the Tazewell High School John R. Gil- dersleeve continned his studies in the Virginia Polytechnic Institute at Blacksburg, where he specialized in mathemat- ics and civil engineering. In 1901 he began working as a civil engineer in the coal fields, and during a period of two years in the employ of the New River Pocahontas Consoli- dated Coal & Coke Corporation he, like his father, has charge of the work of a corps of engineers. For sixteen years be served as county surveyor of his native county, and in this connection he became an expert in title and ab- stract work and an authority on the topography of that section of Virginia and also McDowell County, West Vir- ginia. In April, 1919, he came to English, MeDowell County, he having organized the Becch Fork Coal Company in 1916, and later having organized the Tony Pocahontas Coal Company. Of the former corporation, which is auc- ecasful producing coal in its mines near English, he is the president, and he is agent for the Elkhorn Coal & Coke Company, the Island Creek Coal & Coke Company and the Con Coal Company. He has charge of thousands of acres of valuable coal and timber land.

Mr. Gildersleeve is a democrat and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Junior Order United American Mechanies. He and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and he is district stew- ard of the English District, in the establishing of which he was largely instrumental, even to the extent of appearing before the Holston Conference and personally guaranteeing the aalary of the elergyman to be assigned to the district.

January 12, 1915, recorded the marriage of Mr. Gilder- aleeve and Miss Laura L. Beavers, daughter of A. D. Bea- vera, of English. The two children of this union are John R., Jr., and Martha Beavers.

DAVID DAVIS HATFIELD, M. D., of Yukon, MeDowell County, is associated in practice with Dr. Walter A. Carr, of War, this county, of whom individual mention is made on other pages, the two having charge of medical and sur- gieal practice in leading mining camps of this distriet, be- sides which each of them controla a large and representa- tive general practice.

Dr. Hatfield waa born at Matewan, Mingo County, Weat Virginia, May 21, 1883, and is a son of Ephraim and Vir- ginia Bell (Davis) Hatfield, aged respectively sixty-seven and sixty-one years, in 1922. Ephraim Hatfield was born at Matewan, on Tug River, thia atate, and his wife waa born at St. Joseph, Misaonri. Her father, William Davis, waa a pioncer producer in the gold mines at Butte, Montana, and

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other points in the West, and in later years was engaged in the harness business at St. Joseph, Missouri.

Ephraim Hatfield was long and actively identified with farm enterprise and the timber business, in which latter line of business he rafted timber down the Tug and Sandy rivers to the Ohio River markets. In early days he was a skilled and enthusiastic hunter, and killed many deer and other large game long before coal development had been initiated in West Virginia. His father, Valentine Hatfield, was the leader of the numerous representatives of the Hat- field family and owned large tracts of land in Mingo County, now valuable coal-producing properties. He was a democrat, was a Confederate soldier in the Civil war, and, as a man of sterling character and mature judgment, he was a guide and counselor in community affairs for many years. Ephraim and Virginia B. Hatfield became the par- ents of eleven children, of whom four sons and four daugh- ters are living. The eldest son, Dr. Samuel D., was for- merly a leading physician and surgeon in MeDowell County, and is now a resident of Kokomo, Indiana, where he spe- cializes in the treatment of diseases of children, he being a graduate of the medical department of the University of Louisville, Kentucky. D. V. is a representative business man at Roanoke, Virginia. Albert D. is engaged in the in- surance business at English, McDowell County. All of the sons received much of their preliminary education at home, under the effective direction of their mother.

Doctor Hatfield attended school at Matewan and Will- iamson, and thereafter was a student in the Concord State Normal School at Athens. He taught four terms of school and proved successful in his pedagogie service. As a boy the doctor ran away from home and went to Colorado, where he found employment in the service of the Colorado Coal & Iron Company. After his return home he continued his school work, and finally entered the Kentucky School of Medicine, which is now the medical department of the Uni- versity of Louisville. He was an ambitious student and made high standing in his class, his graduation and recep- tion of the degree of Doctor of Medicine having occurred in 1908. In 1911 aud 1912 he took special work in the New York Post Graduate Medical College and the New York Polyclinic, where he specialized in surgery and bacteriology. On his graduation he became associated in practice with his hrother Dr. Samuel D. at Yukon, McDowell County, and later, after his brother's removal to Iaeger, this county, Dr. Walter A. Carr became the assistant and finally the pro- fessional partner of Dr. David D. Hatfield. Doctor Hat- field is a member of the McDowell County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he is, in 1922, master of Berwin Lodge No. 141, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and a mem- ber of Tazewell Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He is loyal and progressive as a citizen and is liberal in support of religious and educational work. He has been at various times interested in coal and oil production, and he is a director of the Citizens Bank at War.

December 14, 1909, recorded the marriage of Doctor Hatfield and Addie P. Philpott, daughter of George Phil- pott, of Virginia, and the two children of this union are Ethel Virginia and Elva Jean.

JAMES GRAINGER, general manager for the Flat Top Coal Mining Company at English, MeDowell County, was born in Durham, England, December 9, 1879, a son of James Grainger, a miner in that section of England. Mr. Grain- ger has stated that all of his days have been school days, and that his education has been obtained in the college of practical experience. It is certain that he has absorbed much and profited by that experience, which was initiated when he became a trapper boy at one of the deep mines of his native land, from which minor post he advanced through the various grades and became familiar with all details of mining industry. At the age of twenty-six years he came to the United States and found employment in the Ohio coal fields, whence he soon came to West Virginia and took a position as a miner in the coal mines of the New River District. He there was employed one year by the firm of

Whipple & Scarborough, which then advanced him from coal digger to slate boss, next fire boss and finally mi foreman. He was one of 200 men ont of a total of 900 w passed examination successfully in the first examination cc ducted by the State of West Virginia in connection wi the mining industry, and on this occasion he gained a fir grade certificate as a miner. He remained in the New Riv District six years, and then became mine boss for the Ne River & Pocahontas Consolidated Coal Company at Berwir MeDowell County. One year later he came to the Flat T. Coal Mining Company, and he has since been the efficie and valued general manager of the company's mines English.

Mr. Grainger has broadened his intellectual ken by mu and well directed reading and study, and his fine priva library contains a large collection of standard historic works, encyclopedias and general books of reference al information. He is in full accord with the institutions al customs of his adopted country, and is a loyal and pr gressive citizen who commands unqualified popular esteer In the World war period he contributed his aid to the cau by seeing that coal from the mines was kept moving da and night and by contributing to and working vigorous for the Government war loans, Red Cross work, etc. In the connection it is interesting to record that he was influenti: in the movement that caused English to be the first tow of McDowell County to "go over the top" in subscription for the Liberty and Victory loans, and in recognition ( this fact the village was presented with a Victory flag. H and his wife are earnest members of the Methodist Epi copal Church, South, at English, and he is a steward an trustee of the same.

In England was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Grail ger and Miss Alice MeDavmont, and they have five chi dren: Edna, James, Charles Robinson, Jennie and Noreel

C. FRANK WRIGHT is one of the influential figures in th business affairs of the Village of War, McDowell County where he is the cashier of the Citizens Bank. He was bor at Memphis, Tennessee, August 27, 1867, and is a son 0 Oliver C. and Isabel (McDowell) Wright, the former o, whom was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the Wright fam ily home has been maintained for several generations, an the latter of whom was born near the City of Belfast, Ire land. Oliver C. Wright became a successful contractor an builder, and both he and his wife died when their son C Frank, of this review, was an infant.

After the death of his parents C. Frank Wright wa taken into the home of one of his father's sisters in Cin cinnati, and there he was reared to adult age, his early edu cation having been acquired in the public schools of tha city and there supplemented by a course in the Nelson Busi ness College, in which he was graduated in 1886. He ther entered the employ of the American Book Company, pub lishers of school textbooks, and in addition to working ir the Cincinnati offices of the company he became one of its successful traveling representatives, in which connection he visited all parts of the Union. He thus continued his services as a valued employe of this corporation until 1901. when he came to McDowell County, West Virginia, and became identified with the insurance business at Welch, the county seat. Later he served four years as deputy Circuit Court clerk for that county, and he next assumed a similar office in Mercer County, where he remained until 1914, when he resumed his former position in the office of the Circuit Court clerk of McDowell County. Later he was appointed assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Welch, in the service of which he thus continued until October, 1919, when he assumed his present executive office, that of cashier of the Citizens Bank at War, the success of which insti- tution has been signally advanced under his efficient admin- istration in this executive office.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 163

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