History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 167

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HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

to special duty as a range officer three months. He was then made ranking first lieutenant of a company in the Nineteenth Infantry, Eightieth Division, Captain Yost re- ceived his honorable discharge, December 1, 1918, and then returned home and resumed his law practice.

For many years he has been prominent in local and state republican politics. He was secretary of the Republican Executive Committee of Wetzel County eight years and then chairman of the same committee for four years, until 1920. He was assistant commissioner of Wetzel County under the Dawson Tax Law in 1906, and from 1909 to 1915 was a member and president of the board of equaliza- tion and review of the county. Since 1908 he has been master in chancery of the second judicial circuit and in 1914 was mayor of New Martinsville. He served as the first commander of New Martinsville Post No. 28, Amer- ican Legion, is a member of the New Martinsville Kiwanis Club and is affiliated with Sistersville Lodge No. 333, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and New Martins- ville Lodge No. 931, Loyal Order of Moose.

ALEXANDER REID WHITEHILL, PH. D. An inspiring ex- ample of that ministry to science and education that among real human values stands on the same plane with that per- formed by business administrators, generals and diplomatists is contained in the life and character of the late Dr. Alex- ander Reid Whitehill of the University of West Virginia. Doctor Whitehill for some time had held the rank of retired professor of chemistry in West Virginia University, and for many years was one of the foremost thinkers, students and educators in the state.

Perhaps one of the most grateful of the many honors Doctor Whitehill achieved during his long life devoted to science and education was a distinctive tribute contained in the Junior Year Book of the university, "The Monti- cola," issued by the class of 1920, which is inscribed: "To Alexander Reid Whitehill in grateful appreciation of his services at West Virginia University and as a tribute to his character and ability the class of 1920 respectfully dedicates this the twenty-second volume of The Monticola."

Doctor Whitehill was born August 4, 1850, at Hooks- towu, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. It was at Beaver, Pennsylvania, at the home of his brother-in-law, Dan H. Stone, that death called him on October 25, 1921. At his funeral West Virginia University was officially represented by eight of his former associates, including the university president.

He inherited fundamentally strong characteristics from his ancestry. His grandfather, James Whitehill, was a Pennsylvania farmer. His father, Stephen Whitehill, who was born in 1813 and died in 1892, also devoted his life to farming. In 1837 he married Margaret McCandless Reid, who was born in 1818 and died in 1905. Both the Reid and Whitehill families were identified with the pioneer settlement of Beaver County, Pennsylvania.

Alexander Reid Whitehill manifested strong inclinations for a life of scholarship and studious pursuits, and after completing his course in the public schools he attended Beaver Academy, and at an early age entered Princeton University. He graduated in 1874, receiving his A. B. de- gree and standing in the first ten in a class of 100. In 1877 he received his Master of Arts degree from Princeton, and subsequently was awarded the Ph. D. degree by Washing- ton and Jefferson College. Doctor Whitehill after gradua- tion was awarded the Experimental Science Fellowship, valued at $600, won by competitive examination on the subjects of chemistry, physics and geology. At commence- ment he delivered the geological oration. He was one of the editors of the Nassau Literary Magazine in 1873-74.

After leaving Princeton, Doctor Whitehill went abroad, spending a year in travel, and also the year 1876 as a student of chemistry at Leipsic University and in the Freiburg School of Mines at Freiburg, Germany. After his return home he was for four years professor of chem- istry and physics at the University Mound College at San Francisco, and while in California he was special cor- respondent for the Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chron- icle, Pittsburg Dispatch and Philadelphia Press, sending

thirty or forty special articles to these papers on varios subjects.

In 1881, while visiting at his old home, Doctor Whit hill was offered the principalship of the famous Lins Institute at Wheeling, and was the active head of th; school from 1881 to 1885. In the latter year he w: elected to the chair of chemistry and physics in We Virginia University, and thus began an active associatic that continued for thirty-five years, with broadening servi and increasing honors. He continued his duties until h voluntary retirement in 1920. From 1885 to 1896 he wa professor of chemistry and physics, and for twenty-for years, until his retirement, was head of the Departmen of Chemistry. During the years 1920-21 he continued supervise special work in chemistry at the university.

Doctor Whitehill assisted in the organization of the We: Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, and was auth( of the second bulletin published by the station in 188 In 1889 he prepared a history of education in West Virgini for the United States Bureau of Education, and he pr pared the report of the State Mineralogist of Nevada f( the year 1876. His authorship included an article, "Chen istry in the Service of Medicine," published in the Wer Virginia Medical Journal of June, 1907; an article o "Chemistry in Relation to Pharmacy"' in the West Vi ginia Journal of Pharmacy, and numerous other article on educational and scientific themes. At the time of h death he was engaged in an interesting labor entitled "West Virginia's Development Along Chemical Lines. "'

Governor Glasscock appointed Doctor Whitehill as We Virginia's representative to the International Congress c Applied Chemistry held at Washington and New Yor in 1912. Josephus Daniels, former Secretary of the Navy appointed him in 1916 as associate member of the Unite States Naval Board, and with Dr. I. C. White of Wes Virginia University he made a survey of the industria establishments in the Second Congressional District of th state. Doctor Whitehill was for fifteen years treasure of West Virginia University and of the West Virginia Agr cultural Experiment Station.

While his work brought him generous recognition an appreciation, he kept in close touch with scientific me through membership in such bodies as the American Clicn ical Society, the American Association for the Advancemen of Science, the Association of University Professors, wa Fellow of the National Geographic Society, an honorar member of the West Virginia Pharmaceutical Society; w8 president one term of the Phi Beta Kappa at West Virgini University; organized and was the first president of th West Virginia Scientific Society; and was a member 0 the Crucible Club. For twelve years he was a ruling elde of the First Presbyterian Church at Morgantown.

In 1882 he married Miss Anna Wilson, of Beaver, Penn sylvania, daughter of S. B. Wilson, a prominent Pennsy) vania lawyer. Mrs. Whitehill, now deceased, was th mother of two children. The daughter, Elizabeth, was bor in 1883 and is the wife of Dr. J. Carl Hill. The son Charles A., was born in 1886 and died at the age of eleve years.

Doctor Whitehill in 1915 married Miss Mary J. Stone, o Beaver, Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia. Mrs. Whitehill i a member of one of the oldest and most prominent familie of Beaver County, and her own experience as an educato enabled her to appreciate the singular devotion which Docto Whitehill gave to his chosen career. Prior to her marriage Mrs. Whitehill had taught English-in the high school a Rochester, Pennsylvania, for nineteen years.

OSCEOLA DYER, M. D. is so living that his position il his community is an enviable one and his usefulness i an inspiration to his contemporaries. He is an ideal phy sician, irradiating the sickroom with the light of a cheer ful presence, his word and smile frequently banishing the clouds that gather around discouraged sufferers. Enthu siastic in the following of his profession, he is an eager student, and possesses the well-poised understanding tha enables him to weigh fairly and make a settled decision concerning every scientific discovery.

alexander R. Whitchile Born Aug. 4, 1850 Died Oct. 25, 1921

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The birth of Doctor Dyer occurred at Franklin, Pendle- on County, West Virginia, August 19, 1876, and he is ow engaged in the active practice of his profession in le place of his nativity. Ilis father was Andrew W. Dyer, is grandfather was Edmund Dyer, and his great-grand- ither was Zebulon Dyer, who married Rebecca Wag. ener. A sketch of the Waggoners' genealogy appears lso in this work. Zebulon Dyer was born in Pen leton County, and lived near Upper Tract. A few years fter the organization of Pendleton County he was elected s elerk. llis father, the great-great-grandfather of Dor- or Dyer, was James Dyer, a son af Rogers Dyer, who was illed at Fort Seybert when a band of Shawnee Indians, oder the leadership of Chief Killbuek, erossed the Ohio iver and captured and burned the fort. James Dyer was aptured by the Indians at the time of the massaere, and as held a prisoner for about two years. Ile made several ips with his eaptors to Fort Pitt on trading expeditions, nd on the last one was able to make his escape into Pennsylvania, which was the original home of the family efore Roger Dyer had migrated into the region adjacent Fort Seybert. James Dyer continued to stay in Penn- ylvania until the Indian troubles were somewhat settled, nd then returned to the scene of the former massaere, nd for over forty years made it his home, participating 1 the wonderful work of reelaiming the wilderness, and making it a safe and desirable locality. He not only won material prosperity, but the confidence and good will of is associates, and laid the foundation for the solidity of is family. Edmund Dyer, grandfather of Doctor Dyer, as for many years elerk of Pendleton County, succeed- ng his father in this office after he had held it for half century. Edmund Dyer was also a native of Pendleton County, and he, too, became one of its representative citi- cas.

Andrew W. Dyer, son of Edmund Dyer, and father of Joetor Dyer, was born in Pendleton County, in 1836, and vas liberally educated, although mueh of his learning was elf-acquired, and he continued a student until his death. While he studied law he never applied for a license to raetiee. A great deal of his attention was given to edu- ational matters, and he not only taught in the schools of he county, but also held the office of caunty superintendent of schools following the elose of the war of the '60s. During this war he served under General Imboden as a member of the Seventh Virginia Cavalry, and although participating in some of the hardest fighting of the war. escaped injury. One of the exciting ineidents of his ventful career was his serviee as guard over John Brown ifter he was captured at Harper's Ferry, prior to the outbreak of the war. With the declaration of peace An- Irew W. Dyer returned to private life, and, like so many of the supporters of the "Lost Cause," manfully took ip the burden of living and earnestly endeavored to accept he fortunes of war. He resumed his teaching, and is remembered with affectionate respect by the older genera- ion. A strong demoerat, he was a leader of his party in his neighborhood, and when he died, in 1878, was serving is elerk of the County Court.

The mother of Doetor Dyer was, prior to her marriage, Miss Eliza Skidmore, and she was born in Pendleton 'ounty, a daughter of James Skidmore, a sadler and har nessmaker, who also owned and operated a farm. For many years he resided in Pendleton County, and if he were not born here, he spent practically his whole life within its confines. Mr. and Mrs. Dyer had the following children: Miss Susie, who lives at Franklin; Kittie, who is the widow of W. B. Anderson, of Franklin; and Doctor Dyer, whose name heads this review. Mrs. Dyer died July 7, 1907, when she was fifty-nine years old.

The history of the Dyer family is a very interesting one, and is closely connected with that of Pendleton County. When Roger Dyer came to this region he was in middle life, and a man of wealth, according to the standarda of his times. He ventured into what was then a perfect wilderness, and was a member of the first party to per- manently settle here. His land was purchased from Robert Green, who had acquired a grant of a vast aereage in this

region. A born leader, Roger Dyer was appointed by his associates as their commander, and he led them from the Moorefield locality, where he had stopped on his way from Pennsylvania. The low lands of the Moorefield country were too full of miasma to attract him, for he feared for the good health of his family, and so sought a higher altitude and healthier environment, which he felt he had found in the Pendleton Distriet. In his party were his son William, his son-in-law, Matthew Patton, John Patton, Jr., John Smith and William Stephenson, and their fam- ilies. They purchased 1,860 acres of land for the sum of $203.33. Matthew Patton and John Smith were offi cially appointed to survey and mark a road from the house of John Patton to the forks of Dry River, this being the first effort made at road designation in this region, and this improvement permitted the settlers to hold communica- tion with the far-distant neighbors.

In 1755 John Patton sold his land, amounting to 210 aeres, to Jacob Seybert, and William Stephenson sold his farm to Matthias Dice, and in this way newcomers were added to the Upper Tract settlement. In 1755 Roger Dyer made his will, as a result of failing health, ineluding in it twenty-nine persons as beneficiaries, with whom he had business relations. As stated above, Roger Dyer was not spared to die a natural death, but fell a vietim to the Indian uprising. The Shawnee and Tusearawas Indians began to threaten to make trouble for the settlers about this time, and it was not long thereafter that Chief Kill- huek dealt Fort Seybert the blow which wiped out the fort and resulted in the death of many of the brave settlers, ineluding Roger Dyer. In addition to capturing his son James, they also took into captivity his daughter Sarah, who, too, was rescued after a distressing experience. It is small wonder, therefore, with such a family history he- hind him that Doctor Dyer is bound to Pendleton County with bonds difficult to break, or that his heart is in this neighborhood and all that pertains to its advancement.

Doetor Dyer grew up in Pendleton County, and attended the public schools of Franklin until he was seventeen years old. At that time he began the study of medicine, obtaining his preliminary training while reading under the preceptorship of Dr. Fred Moomau of Franklin. He then entered the medical department of the University of Maryland at Baltimore, and was graduated therefrom in 1.97, but remained at the university during the subse- quent winter, taking up post graduate work. In 189% he opened his offire at Franklin and entered upon a general practice amang his old neighbors, and here for almost a quarter of a century he has been engaged in his profes- sion. During this period he and his associates in the pro- fession have had several severe epidemies to contend with, those of typhoid, which have occasionally invaded Franklin, and that of influenza in 1918-19 and again in 1921. In 191s a number of the leading citizens of Franklin died as a result of the influenza, and the fatalities throughout the rural regions were very numerous as well. During all of these scourges Doctor Dyer was especially active in his ministrations, and to him and his brother practitioners is due the credit for the recovery of so many who were stricken. For many years Doetor Dyer was county health ( ffirer, and he is now the health officer of Franklin. Dur- ing the war he served loyally and eapably as a member of the Examining Board, gratuitously, and filled out his registration blank in the last draft, but the armistice was signed before he filled his questionnaire. ]Ie has always upheld the principles of the democratic party, but has never eared to come before the people for public honors. His ambitions and inelinations have not led him into the fold nf any societies or fraternities, the only organization to which he belongs being the Franklin Presbyterian Church, of which he is now an older.

On December 23, 1903, Doetor Dyer married Miss Myrtle Curry at Petersburg, West Virginia. She is a daughter of Dr. James S. Curry, who became a resident of Frank- lin a few years prior to his demise, and died here when seventy-four years old. He married Miss Mary Harmon, a sister of John. G. Harmon, and a daughter of the late George Harmon, once a republican candidate for Congress

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from the Second Congressional District of West Virginia. Mrs. Dyer is the only child of her parents, and she was reared carefully and educated in the public schools. Doc- tor and Mrs. Dyer have three children, namely: Dorothy, who is attending high school; Rebecca, who is six years old; and Mary, who is an infant.

In addition to his practice Doctor Dyer has extensive farming and stockraising interests in Pendleton County, and also in Randolph County, and is contributing to the food supply of the country by raising cattle and sheep and dealing in them. The charities of Doctor Dyer are many, but the full extent of his benevolences are known only to himself, for lie is no blatant, ostentatious giver. His generosity is chiefly shown in his practice, always responding to a call upon his skill no matter how slight the chance might be of remuneration. Probably no man in his profession in this part of the state is more widely known, and certainly none have more real friends. He honors his profession, and is honored by it.

THE WAGGENER FAMILY was identified with some of the earliest phases of white occupation and settlement of the country west of the Alleghany Mountains, and descendants of the pioneers have made themselves known for their sub- stantial work in not only the eastern but in the western section of the state.

The name Waggener is a variant of a former spelling Wagner. At one time these people lived in Holland. Some of the family moved up the Rhine Valley, and it was from the Valley of the Rhine in Germany that Andrew Waggener and five brothers came to the American colonies in the early years of the eighteenth century as part of the great immigration from that country during those years. An- drew Waggener and his brother Edward settled in what is now Culpeper County, Virginia, about 1750, after having lived for some time in Pennsylvania. Several years later, in 1754, these brothers joined the Colonial volunteers under Colonel Washington in the expedition against the French at Fort du Quesne, terminating with the surrender of Fort Necessity on July 4, 1754. The following year the brothers were again enrolled in the First Virginia Regiment under Washington as auxiliary troops to General Braddock. They were members of that ill-fated expedition which ended with the ambuscade and slaughter of Braddock's troops within a few miles of Fort Du Quesne. Edward Waggener was left dead on the battlefield, and a silver watch he carried was taken by his brother Andrew, and has been carefully pre- served in the family ever since. After this expedition the Virginia troops hastened to the defense of the frontier, and Andrew Waggener was commissioned captain and placed in command of the garrison at Fort Pleasant, a strong stockade with blockhouses on the South Branch of the Potomac, within the present limits of Hardy County. Here was fought a severe engagement with the Indians, known as the battle of the Trough, early in 1756. After the fear of Indian hostilities in this region had ceased, about 1765, Captain Waggener purchased land and settled in Bunker Hill, then in Frederick County, Virginia, now in Berkeley County, West Virginia. He lived there until the beginning of the Revolution, when he again entered the army and served with Washington, having a major's commission. He was at Valley Forge, Princeton, Trenton, and at Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered.

Major Waggener had been one of the patentees to lands granted in what is now Mason County for services during the French and Indian war. He accompanied Washington and others to the month of the Great Kanawha in 1772. He located the tract of 3,400 acres on what has since been known as Waggener's Bottom, on the Ohio, just above Mason City. He never settled these lands, but after the Revolution he continued to reside at Bunker Hill. His Ohio River lands descended to his heirs. Major Waggener was a personal friend of Washington, and was often a guest of the first President and is said to have been the only visitor whose profanity in her presence Mrs. Washington would excuse.

Some time before he purchased his valley farm Major Waggener married Miss Mary Chapman, a Virginia lady.

She was the mother of eight children, and from these an descended various representatives of the family found i West Virginia today. The oldest, Nancy, born in 1763 probably within the walls of old Fort Pleasant, married Peter Casey, who was one of the first circuit judges o Kentucky. John, born in 1769, removed to Kentucky where he inherited a portion of the land patented by hi father. Thomas, born in 1771, married a Miss Anderson of Berkeley County, and also removed to Kentucky, bu soon afterward returned to the Valley of Virginia. Hi three sons were: Andrew, who died unmarried; William who married Eliza Prior; and John, who married Emil. Hieskel. Fannie, the fourth child, born in 1773, becam the wife of John Sehon, grandfather of Hon. Edmund Seho. of Point Pleasant. Mary, born in 1775, married Gen. Elish. Boyd, of Berkeley County, and her daughter became the wife of Senator Charles J. Faulkner of Martinsburg. Th sixth child of Major Waggener was Rebecca, who was born in 1777 and was married to Zebulon Dyer of Pendleton County, where her descendants still live. Andrew Waggener the seventh child, born October 25, 1779, was a major i. the War of 1812, commanding the Americans at the battle of Craney Island in Chesapeake Bay, and removed to Masor County in 1817, and lived there until he was shot and killed in his eighty-fourth year by a Confederate soldier at Poin Pleasant, March 30, 1863. He married Attarah Beall, and several of their children became prominent in Mason County one of them, Charles, serving as clerk of the Circuit Cour over thirty years and was a member of the First Wheeling Convention of 1861. The eighth and youngest child o: Major Waggener was James, born in 1781.

JOHN MCCLURE of Pendleton County was for many year: known as the "Cattle King of West Virginia," being on of the largest growers, feeders and shippers of live stock in the state.

The wealth and prosperity and the great influence h enjoyed in later years were altogether the product of hi: personal energies and resourcefulness, since he started life : poor boy and engaged four years of his early manhood to the lost cause of the Confederacy. He was born June 1 1838, in Pendleton County, son of John and Sidney (Judy) MeClure. llis birthplace was on the North Fork, near the Village of Circleville. His childhood was spent at Franklin and he had such advantages as the schools of that day could bestow. Soon after reaching manhood he responded to the cause of the South, and became a member of the Sixty second Virginia Infantry and served with utmost faithful ness to duty through all the campaigns of his regiment His younger brother, William, also joined the army and wa: killed near Lynchburg, Virginia, June 18, 1864.

John MeClure after the war returned to Franklin and soon began investing his limited means in the cheap wild lands of that section of the state. He paid between $2 and $4 an acre. He followed the familiar custom of "hacking and deadening" to render the land available for pasturagı and cultivation. The larger trees were deadened and cattle. and sheep grazed until the small brush was killed out and subsequently hundreds of acres were converted into blue grass sod. From small beginnings Mr. McClure continuer the buying and improvement of land until he owned 10,00( aeres in Randolph, Pendleton and Pocahontas counties, anç had about 7,000 acres of this in blue grass sod. Each year he handles between 2,000 and 2,500 head of cattle, some 600 sheep, and it was his custom to hold an annual horse sale It was these operations that brought him distinction a: one of the most successful stock men West Virginia ever had.

Not all his business interests were confined to land and live stock. At the time of his death he was president of the Farmers Bank of Pendleton, and for a number of years he was also interested in mercantile business in the Town of Franklin. He gave that town its lighting system and some of his financial investments were in enterprise: and localities outside his home county and state.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 167

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