History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 173

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Aa a boy Charlea P. Morrison helped hia father on the farm and attended achool when practicable. For several years after attaining manhood he followed carpentering, but mer- chandiaing was hia natural bent and in 1880 he opened a atore at what was then called Bull Creek, but now Waverly. In 1875, however, he had established hia home at Parkeraburg, and continued to reside in this city even while conducting his businesa at Waverly, and on January 1, 1886, he entered the mercantile buaineaa here. For thirty-four years lacking two

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months he continued in that line before retiring, and during that period built up an extensive business and acquired a name which was a synonym of honesty and courtesy. For s number of years he has been a director and is now vice presi- dent of the Commercial Bank & Trust Company.

Mr. Morrison married March 25, 1875, Mrs. Sarah J. (Henry) Dunbar. Mrs. Morrison had three children born to her first marriage: Charles G., Nellie and William Henry Dunbar. Mr. Morrison is a member of the Presbyterian Church. In his political views he is a republican and at times has served in public office. He was a member in early days of the civic body called the Board of Affairs, which has been succeeded by other civic organizations, and on several occasions he served terms on the City Council. He is 8 thirty-second degree Mason and Knight Templar, York Rite, and belongs to the Mystic Shrine. He was a member and president of the committee that had in hand the build- ing of the present splendid Masonic Temple at Parkersburg, and subscribed liberally to the building fund. While he has been honorably connected with many forward going move- ments here in the last quarter of a century or more, Mr. Morrison probably takes the greatest amount of pleasure in the fact that during his long and successful career as & mer- chant he bore an unblemished business name.

MILTON McNEILAN, M. D. A resident of Parkersburg twenty years, Dr. McNeilan has become especially well known for his recognized abilities in the field of surgery. He is & native of Southern Ohio, and for a number of years prior to coming to Parkersburg practiced in the West.

He was born near West Union in Adams County, Ohio, March 9, 1865, son of James and Ann (McClaren) McNeilan. His father lived from the age of eight years until his death in Adams County. He followed farming but also assumed the regular burdens and responsibilities of & Methodist minister. Milton McNeilan was one of nine children, seven of whom are still living. He grew up on a farm, and had limited advantages beyond those he procured through his own efforts. As soon as old enough he began teaching, using the money to gain a higher education. He was a student in the Holbrook School or the National Normal University of Lebanon, Ohio. He began the study of medicine in 1885 in the office of Daniel Ellison, his brother-in-law, at Duncans- ville, and later entered the Kentucky School of Medicine, where he was graduated in 1889, having won the first prize in surgery in a class of 103 students. Soon after graduating Dr. McNeilan went to Colorado, and practiced at Elbert and later at Basalt. He spent six months in Vienna, Austria, as a post-graduate student, and while abroad visited many of the hospitals and clinics of Paris, London and other great centers. He returned to the United States in 1901 and in 1902 established his home and office at Parkersburg. He is & member of the County, State and American Medical Asso- ciations.

Dr. McNeilan married Clarabel James, member of one of the old families of Mason County, West Virginia. Mrs. McNeilan has been & prominent worker in clubs, woman's suffrage educational movement and in various benevolent causes. Mrs. McNeilan studied art abroad, and her really great work has been along the line of fine arts. During the St. Louis Exposition one of her art pieces was on exhibition and was greatly admired.

She is s descendant of Abel James, who was born in Eng- land. He became an extensive land and save owner in Loudoun County, Virginia. His son, Lemuel H. James, Was born in Loudoun County and as a young men moved to Mason County, West Virginia, where he married Mary Ann Red- mond. He owned a large farm and many slaves in Mason County. Few if any of his family are still found in that county. Lemuel James himself moved to Bull Creek, in what is now the Waverly District of Wood County, and later, in order to take advantage of the opportunities to secure cheap land in the West, he made a prospecting trip to Missouri about 1854 and died while there. His widow died at Bull Creek. They were the parents of seven children: Mary Susanna, who became the wife of Clay Neale; Eliza- beth, who was married to William McClure; Virginia, who married Arthur Logan; Heiter, a Methodist minister, now

deceased; Andrew F., who married Alice Harris and is no a resident of Idsho; Benjamin, decessed; and Alvah Redmon

Alvah Redmond James, oldest son of Lemuel James, ar father of Mrs. McNeilan, married Annie Goslee Hull, member of a prominent Maryland family of French descen Her father was Beauchamp B. Hull, a South Methodi minister; her mother was Clara Belle Goslee. Alvah 1 James was well known in Parkersburg as a merchant, ar later moved to Colorado, where he became & stock grow and farmer. He is now living in Arizona.

WILLIAM DIXON SMITH. It is the laudable ambition every self-respecting, normal man to endeavor to succeed his chosen vocation, to ultimately have the self-satisfyi: realization that he has taken the best possible advantage his opportunities. When success has come to him in tl business field, perhaps through years of toil and stress, co: tentment and happiness may far enhance its value if it crowned with the esteem of devoted friends, the confidence business associates and the sincere respect and well deserve faith of his fellow citizens. This is the kind of success th gives cheer and encouragement to one of Parkersburg's soli dependable men, William Dixon Smith, international prominent in the hardwood lumber industry, whose chose home has been this city for more than a score of years.

William Dixon Smith was born at Scramerston, nei Berwick-on-Tweed, County of Northumberland, Englan December 19, 1852, a son of Samuel Smith and the eldest his nine children. In boyhood he attended the public school but before his twelfth birthday began to be self-supportir by working as & helper on a stationary engine. Later ] served an apprenticeship of a five year's indenture st tl wheelwright trade with John Harbottle of Hebron, and this work he acquired an insight into osk and hardwoc lumber.

Shortly after attaining his majority Mr. Smith was er ployed by s lumber concern owned by John Cutter, of Mo peth, England, to look after their manufacture of wheels &I wagons, and proved so satisfactory and efficient in th: capacity that he was promoted to the office of manager, SI continued in the service of this firm for nineteen years. was in the interest of this concern that he came to the Unite States in 1887. He located st Grafton, West Virginia, &I began buying hardwood lumber for this firm and shipped to England. Later on he transferred his services to tl firm of Dobell, Beckett & Company, of Quebec and Londo and in a similar capacity served this firm until about 19( when, owing to the deaths of Messrs. Dobell and Beckett tl firm became Singleton, Dunn & Company, with which co porstion Mr. Smith has been identified ever since. His wo) is confined entirely to hardwood lumber, and the great part of his buying is in West Virginia. Few men in the sta have & more intimate knowledge of the state's hardwor resources. From Grafton he moved to Parkersburg, and sin that time he has made four trips abroad for his firm to Russ and France.

On November 23, 1879, Mr. Smith married Miss Ja1 Mackay, daughter of William Mackay, editor of the Morper Herald, Morpeth, England, and they have the followil children: Margaret, Mrs. Henry Morlang; Mary Jan widow of Frederick T. Roberts; William Mackay, cashier the First National Bank of Parkersburg; Henry Edwar Elizabeth, Mrs. J. Ira Davis; and Helen, Mrs. J. Alon!) Palmer.

As soon as Mr. Smith became satisfied that his future hon would be in the United States he set about acquiring citize ship, took out his naturalization papers, and to all inten and purposes is as much an American as if he had been bo here. He is able to adapt himself to all classes, is of geni personality and engaging presence, and the impression !! makes on a stranger of being an honest, upright Christi gentleman is his attitude with his neighbors and fellow ci zens at all times. He was made a member of the Mason fraternity in England, and since then has had his membersh transferred to the United States. From boyhood in } native land he belonged to the Wesleyan Methodist Churc but for many later years has been a member of the Methodi Episcopal Church, South, and both as s church member ar

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s a Mason he endeavors to observe the spirit for what these rganizations stand. There are many of his fellow citizens who can speak feelingly lof hislupright ]Christian life, of his indness and charity, and all'sre united in the declaration hat in him is found a man whose word is his bond.

REV. HI. INGRAM COOK is not only a clergyman of the Missionary Baptist Church but is also serving as justice of the peace and as mayor of the thriving little City of Matoaks, Mercer County. His high ideals are expressed n his general social, official and religious relations, and le commands high place in public estimation in his native ·ounty.

Mr. Cook was born on a farm on Widemouth Creek, Mercer County, February 10, 1875, and is & son of John V. nnd Margaret (Stewart) Cook, both of whom were born n Wyoming County, this state, in the year 1845. The leath of the father occurred January 8, 1898, and that of he mother in 1911. The family home was established on he Widemouth farm in Mercer County in the year 1874. John N. Cook served as a Union soldier in the Civil war, ind hardships which he endured in this connection per- nanently impaired his health. He gave his active carcer o farm enterprise, served as a member of the school board, was influential in community affairs, and both he and his rife were devout members of the Missionary Baptist Church, in which he served twenty years as & deacon. Of the nine children the subject of this sketch was the fourth, and the following are living: R. Scott Cook is a imber contractor at the Ennis coal mines; Rev. E. Hamil- on Cook is in the employ of the American Coal Company at Widemouth and is a clergyman of the Missionary Baptist Church; Rev. H. Ingram Cook, of this sketch, is the next younger; Laura B. is the wife of R. W. Laxton, of Widemouth; Ora Dell is the wife of Barnett Laxton, of Matoska; and Cozella is the wife of Riley Akers, of Arista, Mercer County. Sherman, another ef the sons, was forty-two years old when he met his death in a coal nine accident. Harrison, another son, likewise met a tragic death, he having been assassinated while in performance of his official duty as justice of the peace at Matoaka in 1918.

Rev. H. Ingram Cook received his early education in the schools of Rock District, Mercer County, and at the age of twenty years he became a teacher in the rural schools, his service in this capacity continuing two years. For eight years thereafter he was actively engaged in farm enterprise, and for the ensuing seven years he was called away from the farm by his zealous services 89 a minister of the Missionary Baptist Church, he having joined the church September 6, 1892, and having been ordained a minister when he was twenty-one years of age. At varying intervals he has had pastoral charge of all Missionary Baptist churches in a goodly part of Mercer County, and he continues active in church work, especially the Sunday School, he being at the time of this writing the teacher of s class of young women in the Sunday school at Giatto, Mercer County. After resuming his active association with farm industry Mr. Cook continued his residence on the farm until 1918, when he removed to Matoaka, where in November of that year he was elected justice of the peace, an office to which he was re-elected in November, 1920. In 1921 he was elected mayor of. Matoaks, and he is serving effectively in both of these official positions. On the 5th of July, 1921, Mayor Cook was attacked by a man whom he had fined in his capacity of justice of the peace, the man having shot Mr. Cook four times and another bullet having made a hole through the latter's coat-a truly remarkable escape from death.

On the 6th of November, 1895, was selemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Cook and Miss Amanda Meadows, who was born in Wyoming County, this state, February 3, 1876, a daughter of William T. Meadows. Of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. Cook two are living: Roy L. is a student in Staunton Military Academy, Staunton, Virginia; and Neva is attending the public schools of Matoaka. Walter, who was born September 6, 1896, died February 22, 1901, and D. West Cook died in infancy.

HORATIO M. SPENCE, who has been a resident of Parkers- burg, West Virginia, since the autumn of 1897, was born in New Jersey, reared in Michigan, and lived in Pennsylvania during the earlier period of his active business career. lo the Keystone State he long continued his association with business pertaining to the oil-producing industry, and in West Virginia he has become a prosperous representative of the same line of enterprise, as a dealer in oil-well tools and supplies, his well equipped business establishment in the City of Parkersburg being situated at 116-20 Ann Street.

Mr. Spence was born at Paterson, New Jersey, on the 24th of June, 1852, and is s aon of Archibald and Mary (Ackerman) Spence. Archibald Spence was born and reared in Scot- land, and was there educated for the ministry of the Presby- terian Church. As & Presbyterian clergyman he had given active service in his native land, but after coming to the United States, as a young man in 1822, he devoted the major part of his time and attention to mercantile pursuits. About the time of the inception of the Civil war Mr. Spence removed with his family to Michigan and established his home near Hillsdale, judicial center of the county of the same name. Upon coming to this country he immediately took the steps which gained to him full citizenship in the land of his adop- tion, and, as & man of fine intellect and high ideals, he became an implacable adversary of the institution of human slavery. his attitude in this respect being such that he became known as & "black abolitionist" in the climacteric period that cul- minated in the Civil war. He united with the republican party at the time of its organization, and ever afterward con- tinued s stanch supporter of its principles. He continued an earnest and zealous worker in the Presbyterian Church until his death, in 1875, and as s clergyman his services were in frequent demand. He was a resident of Michigan until the close of his life, and his widow survived him by a quarter of a century, she having passed to eternal rest in 1900, when venerable in years.

Not until late in life did Archibald Spence take unto him- self & wife, in the person of Miss Mary Ackerman, who was of remote Holland Dutch ancestry. Of their six children two daughters and one son (subject of this sketch) are living at the time of this writing, in 1921. One son, John A., whose death occurred within recent years, served as a gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, he having been & mem- ber of a New Jersey regiment, and wounds that he received at the battle of Gettysburg having resulted in the loss of one of his hands.

Horatio M. Spence was about eight years of age at the time of the family removal to Hillsdale County, Michigan, where he was reared on his father's farm and attended the district schools during the winter months, this discipline having been supplemented by two terms of study in a local high school.

When about nineteen years of age Mr. Spence went to Titusville, Pennsylvania, and found employment in the oil fields of that section of the Keystone State. He was con- nected with several different companies for varying inter- vals, and by one of these corporations was made superin- tendent. For fourteen years he maintained his home at Bradford, Pennsylvania, while still continuing his active association with oil-producing enterprise, and there in 1886 was solemnized his marriage with Miss Dora S. Davis. In 1893 Mr. Spence, following in the course of further oil develop- ment in the Keystone State, removed to Butler, to which place his family followed him in the succeeding year. At Butler, Pennsylvania, he became associated with the firm of Carothers, Peters & Company, manufacturers of oil-well tools and dealers in oil-well supplies. In 1892, while still residing at Bradford, Pennsylvania, Mr. Spence organized st Parkersburg, West Virginia, the firm of Spence & Smith, which later was reorganized as the Spence, Smith & Kootz Company and which developed & substantial business in the handling of oil-well supplies. In the autumn of 1897 Mr. Spence transferred his residence to Parkersburg, and since 1915 .he has been the sole owner of the business formerly conducted under[the corporate title noted above. He was the founder of. the business, which has'long been one of broad scope, the trade extending into the various oil fielda of West Virginia and its successful conducting marking Mr. Spence as one of the representative business men of Parkersburg. In this thriving city he is an active member of Board of Com-

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merce, and he holda membership also in the local Kiwanis Club and the Parkersburg Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elka. While'a resident of Bradford, Pennsylvania, he served as a member of the City Council and also as a member of the Board of Education. He is a republican in politics and he and his wife hold_membership in the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Spence is a daughter of the late Uriah L. Davis, who was born in 1812 and who was for many years engaged in the lumber business in the State of New York, at Chatham and Angelica. Uriah L. Davia waa a son of Jonathan and a grandson of John Davis, the latter of whom was born in Columbia County, New York, in 1737. Prior to the war of the Revolution John Davis served aa a lieutenant of the English militia in New York, his com- mission having been signed by Governor Tryon of New York. When the Revolution came John Davis became a patriot soldier in the Continental Line, in which he became a captain and did active service in the cause of national inde- pendence. Hia original commission, signed by Governor Tryon, and his late commissions as first lieutenant and as captain in the Continental forcea, are now in the possession of Mr. Spence of this sketch, who places high value on these historic documents. Uriah L. Davis recruited and equipped the Eighty-fifth New York Volunteer Infantry for service in the Civil war, and by Governor Morgan was commissioned colonel of this regiment, but impaired health prevented his being in active service save during the opening period of the war. His only son, Edward, became a lieutenant in the father's regiment and sacrificed his life in the service of his country.

Mr. and Mrs. Spence became the parents of two children: Davis A., who died in 1914, at the age of twenty-five years; and Lile Patty, who is the wife of Charles A. Ludey, of Parkersburg, their one child being a daughter, Emma Suzanne.

THOMAS L. HARRIS, M. D. Son of a physician and surgeon who earned the love and affection of a large community in Berkeley County, Dr. Thomas L. Harris has likewise regarded the profession as an opportunity for service, and for several years has been one of the prominent medical men in Parkers- burg.

His father was Dr. James Trone Harris, a native of Old Virginia and a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore. He chose a country community, Hedgesville in Berkeley County, West Virginia, as the scene of his work, and though his abilities would have gained him recognition in a larger city and broader field, he was satisfied to do his work quietly and skillfully in that community, where he lived until his death in 1894, at the age of thirty- eight. He married Ruth Lewis Martin, daughter of John Y. Martin, a native of Caroline County, Virginia. She became the mother of three children: George H. Harris, a Parkersburg lawyer; Dr. Thomas L .; and Mildred Warner, wife of T. T. Tyler, of Washington, D. C. The first of the family to locate at Parkersburg was George H. Harris, and his example doubtless was an influence that led his mother and Dr. Harris to come to this city.

Thomas L. Harris was born February 28, 1889, and was only five years of age when his father died. He has availed himself of the privileges of some of the best institutions of learning. He graduated from the University of West Vir- ginia in 1908, and in the same year entered Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, from which famous school he was graduated with honors in 1912. He remained at Philadel- phia, and for two years was an interne in the Pennsylvania Hospital and one year chief resident physician of the hos- pital. He also served a year as chief resident physician of the Children's Hospital. Dr. Harris on leaving Philadelphia went to Louisville, where for one year he was a lecturer in the medical department of the University, his subject being clinical microscopy, and at the same time was house aurgeon of the City Hospital. Early in 1917 Dr. Harria volunteered as an individual for service in the American Ambulance Hospital, and it was while awaiting call to active duty that he began his practice in Parkersburg. About a year later he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps, and until after the signing of the armistice was at General Hospital No. 14 at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, as instructor in the School of Surgery. Dr. Harris was discharged Jan-

uary 14, 1919, and since then haa resumed his practice at Parkersburg.

He is a member of the County and State, the Southern Medical and the American Medical Associations. Fra- ternally he is a thirty-second degree_Mason, a member of Nemesis Temple of the Mystic Shrine, is an Elk and Knight of Pythias. He belongs to the Blennerhasset and Country Clubs of Parkersburg and is a member of the Beta Theta Pi and Theta Nu Epsilon and the Mountain College fraternities.

GEORGE D. JEFFERS, M. D. One of the leading repre- sentativea of medicine and[aurgery at Parkersburg for the past twenty years, Dr. Jeffers has had otherimportant interests outside the strict limita of his profession and has acted aa a director in several business and financial cor- porations.

His father, Lewis H. Jeffera, is a well known citizen of Wood County, but was born in Athens County, Ohio, May 22, 1836, aoniof Asa Jeffera. Lewis H. Jeffers became an Ohio farmer, but in 1870 moved to West Virginia, and for over half a century has lived in Wood County. He was a member of the House of Delegates in 1911. He is a devout Baptist, a democrat, and his life of eighty-five years has been one of exceptional usefulness and honor. He married Susan Page, daughter of George Page. Her mother waa a Beebe, of a well known pioneer family of that name. Susan (Page) Jeffers' grandmother was with Martha Washington on Blennerhaaaet Island when she was aixteen years of age. Lewis H. Jeffers and wife had four children: George Del- mont; Perry Edwin, who lives at Lockhart Run in Wood County; Guy Carlos, who died at the age of seven; and Carrie Ritter, who died when four years old.

Dr. George Delmont Jeffers was born in Athens County, Ohio, August 10, 1865, but waa reared and educated in West Virginia. He attended public and private schools, began the study of medicine under Dr. J. C. Casto, and in September, 1887, entered the medical department of the University of Louisville, where he was graduated in 1889. For ten years Dr. Jeffers practiced at Cunningham, Kansas, and then, following a post-graduate course in his alma mater and in the New York Polyclinic, he located in Parkersburg in July, 1899. Dr. Jeffers has served as surgeon for the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company. He ia an active member of the County and State Medical Associations, the Southern and American Medical Associations, and during the World war was chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for District No. 2, comprising eight counties. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

Dr. Jeffers married Laura B. Sigler, of Morganfield, Ken- tucky, who ia descended from the Calvert family of Mary- land and a direct descendant of Lord Calvert. Mr. and Mrs. Jeffers have one daughter, Ruth Carlton, a student at Hamil- ton College, Lexington, Kentucky.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 173

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