History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 179

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FRED G. STROEHMANN has been a business builder, creator of a large and valuable industry for the City of Wheeling, and just thirty years ago founded what is now the Stroehmann Baking Company, incorporated, and in all its successive improvements it has never failed to keep the lead in the matter of quality and wholesomeness of product.

Mr. Stroehmann has been an American by residence and in fact and in loyalty for forty years. He was born in the City of Leun, Kreis, Rhine Province, Germany, August 3, 1866, son of Jacob and Catherine (Lotz) Stroehmann. He attended the common schools, served his apprenticeship at the baker's trade, and at the age of sixteen reached the United States, September 22, 1882. After four years at Parkersburg he moved to Wheeling, and was a journeyman for six years with the Wheeling Baking Company.

Mr. Stroehmann established a business for himself in April, 1892, his first shop being at 2211 Market Street, quar- ters which he subsequently used as a retail store. Several successive additions and purchases were made, beginning about ten years after the opening of the first plant, until Mr. Stroehmann acquired for the use of his business all the ground from the corner of Twenty-second up to and including his original shop. On this ground was erected in 1911 a large our-story baking plant, equipped with every facility known to the baking art. This business was one of the first in the Upper Ohio Valley to introduce not only the mechanical

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devices for the utmost efficiency in the baking of bread and other products, but also in the sanitary handling of the product and in measures and safeguards for the health and welfare of the employes.

On the basis of the large business which Mr. Stroehmann had built up the Stroehmann Baking Company was incor- porated in 1905. The executive officers were: Fred G. Stroeh- mann, president; L. F. Stroehmann, vice president; W. H. Truschel, secretary and treasurer; R. M. Truschel and C. H. Stroehmann, directors.

The Stroehmann Baking Company built a large plant in 1916 in Huntington, West Virginia, also bought a plant in 1919 in Ashland, Kentucky, which are all successfully operated through the Wheeling main office, and are all under the per- sonal direction of Mr. Stroehmann.

Mr. Stroehmann is now one of the older active business men of Wheeling, and his citizenship has been on a par with his commercial success, revealing his public spirited attitude again and again. He has been a member of the Board of Trade and the Business Men's Association, and is a member of the various Masonic bodies at Wheeling, affiliated with Ohio Lodge No. 1, A. F. and A. M., Union Chapter No. 1, R. A. M., Wheeling Commandery No. 1, K. T., Wheeling Masonic Club, and is a thirty-second degree Mason, and a inember of Osiris Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He is also a mem- ber of Wheeling Lodge No. 28, B. P. O. E. He is a republican and he and his family are German Lutherans. Mr. Stroeh- mann married Miss Louise Koehler, a native of Wheeling. The five children of their marriage are: Carrie, Freda, Carl, Harold and Irene

HENRY HUTTON BALL, proprietor of the substantial and prosperous mercantile enterprise conducted under the title of the Hub Clothing Company at Princeton, Mercer County, is one of the representative citizens and merchants of the thriving little city that is the judicial center of this county, and he is serving at the time of this writing, in the winter of 1921-2, as president of the Business Men's Club of Princeton. He was born in Russell County, Virginia, May 15, 1879, and is a son of Isaiah Drake Ball and Rebceca (Lockhard) Ball, both likewise natives of Russell County and representatives of old and honored families of that sec- tion of Virginia. Isaiah D. Ball was seventy-nine years of age at the time of his death, June 29, 1821, his wife having passed away in 1907, at the age of sixty-one years. He was a saddler and harnessmaker and also owned a small farm in his native county, whence as a young man he went forth as a loyal soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war. He was a staunch democrat and took deep interest in party affairs, though never desiring to hold public office. He died in Princeton, West Virginia, at the home of his daugh- ter, the wife of Dr. B. W. Bird. Mrs. Isaiah D. Ball died in Roanoke, Virginia. Both were zealous members of the Baptist Church, in which Mr. Ball leng served as a deacon. Of the twelve children six are now living.

Henry H. Ball attended the schools of his native county until he was fourteen years of age and thereafter worked his way through the high school at Tazewell, Virginia. He then obtained the position of timekeeper in the employ of Walton & Luck, railroad contractors, in McDowell County, West Virginia. Later he clerked in a general store at Welch, that county, and he next came to Bluefield, Mercer County, and took a position with the Ferrell Mercantile Company. This connection continued until 1906, when he came to Princeton and engaged in the men's clothing and furnishing-goods business.

He had saved from his earnings about $1,000, and ou this basis and that of timely assistance of friends, as coupled with his excellent business reputation, he was able to begin his independent business under favorable conditions. He now conducts one of the large and well equipped mercan- tile establishments of Princeton, and has made the Hub Clothing Company known and honored for excellent service and fair and honorable dealings. In more recent years Mr. Ball has conducted also a prosperous real estate busi- ness, and associated in the same with his brother John K., he has erected a number of houses in Princeton, his civic pride and loyalty being such that he is ever ready to de

all in his power to further the material and civic advance ment of his home city. He was president of the Princeter Chamber of Commerce at the time when its title wa changed to the Princeton Business Men's Club, and of th latter he is now the prosident. He is a democrat in politi cal allegiance, is a member of the Baptist Church, and hi wife holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church South.

The year 1904 recorded the marriage of Mr. Ball and Miss Eva Bolin, daughter of F. A. Belin, who formerly lived at Athens, this state, but who is now a resident es Princeton. Mr. and Mrs. Ball have two children: HeleI Lockhard and Virginia Gordon. Another daughter, Mary Lee, died at the age of seven years.

BRAMWELL B. HUNT, who had given specially effective service as a member of the County Court of Mercer County was given further evidence of popular esteem and confi dence in 1920 when he was elected sheriff of the county. an office in which he is giving a characteristically vigorous and circumspect administration. He was born in Tazewel County, Virginia, which adjoins Mercer County, West Vir ginia, and the date of his nativity was July 15, 1866. He is a son of Henry F. and Louisa (Redwin) Hunt, and is a representative of one of the old and influential families of Tazewell County, where Henry F. Hunt passed his entire life, he having been seventy-four years of age at the time of his death in 1914. He served thirty-four years as jus- tice of the peace and was otherwise prominent in commu- nity affairs. In the period leading up to the Civil war he was one of three men in his district to oppose the seces- sion of the Southern states, and he refused to serve as a soldier in the Confederate Army. In the so-called recon. struction period after the war he did all in his power to revive the prostrate industries and civic prosperity of his native county. He was a member of the republican party from its organization until his death. He was a prosper- ous farmer and was a man whose character was the positive expression of a true and loyal nature. Both he and his wife were earnest members of the Baptist Church. Their children were twelve in number, six sons and six daughters.

Bramwell B. Hunt gained his early education in the schools of his native county, including the high school at Cedar Bluff, and thereafter he taught five months in a rural school. He then engaged in the lumber business at Swords Creek, Russell County, Virginia, and he continued to operate a saw mill and to deal in Iumher for twelve years. In January, 1900, he came to Mercer County, West Virginia, and engaged in farm enterprise near New Hope, besides becoming a dealer in live stock, which he sold prin- cipally to the coal operators in the Pocahontas field. In January, 1914, Mr. Hunt assumed his official duties as a member of the County Court, and in his six years' incum- bency of this position he was chairman of the court four years. Within his regime splendid progress was made in the building of good roads in the county, and his record marked him as eligible for further service in public office, with the result that in the autumn of 1920 he was elected county sheriff. He is a stalwart in the local ranks of the republican party, is a member of the Business Men's Club of Princeton, and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

In 1889 was solemnized the marriage of Sheriff Hunt with Miss Rachel Steele, daughter of George W. Steele, whe was a prominent citizen of Tazewell County, Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have four children: Clarence entered the nation's aviation service in connection with the World war, his technical training having been received at Kelley Field, Texas, and at Dayton, Ohio, and since the close of the war he has been identified with the river improvement service in the State of Florida. Joseph G. has active management of his father's farm. Clyde S., who is chief clerk to his father in the sheriff's office, and Blanche M. are at the parental home in Princeton. The two younger sons were ready for war service, but were not called into the army.

GEOROE HARRY BROWN is one of the representative young business men of the City of Princeton, Mercer County,

R.A. farley. ms.

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ero he is manager of the Mercer Motor Company, agents . the Ford automobiles and Fordson tractors, besides ich ho is an interested principal in the Farmers Supply mpany.

Mr. Brown was born at Wilmington, North Carolina, nuary 4, 1887, and is a son of William and Theresa Caro- e (Penny) Brown. William Brown, a skilled machinist, now employed at his trado in the shipyards at Newport ws, Virginia, and is sixty years of age at the time of this iting, in the winter of 1921-2. Of the two sons the sub- t of this sketch is the younger, and the elder, William , is a slip foreman for the Norfolk & Western Railroad Williamson, West Virginia.

George Hlarry Brown has stated that he gained his early ication "wherever he could find it," and his mental izon indicates that he fully improved such opportunities came to him. At the age of eighteen years he began an prenticeship as a machinist in the shipyards at Newport ws, Virginia, and during his apprenticeship of four years received 50 cents a day in wages. After work hours at shipyards he sold newspapers on the streets, and at ·ht worked as usher in theaters, besides acting as scene fter, acting minor parts as a supernumerary, besides sell- candy to the patrons of the house. He so applied him- f as to become a skilled machinist, and in 1909 he was the United States transport service along the Atlantic ist, he having been on the vessel which brought home bodies of American soldiers killed in the Spanish- hcrican war in Cuba. In 1910 Mr. Brown came to Prince- West Virginia, as machinist in the employ of the Vir- ian Railroad Company, and he continued his service in local shops of this road until 1919. His early training a newsboy prompted him here to open the Brown News und, which he opened in 1911 and which became one of

popular establishments and social resorts of the city. conducted it until 1919. In 1920 Mr. Brown became as- iated with T. M. Fry and others in establishing the rmers Supply Company, which has developed a substan- 1 and prosperous business, and later he hecame one of principals in the organization of the Mercer Motor npany, which has the agency for the ever popular and satile Ford automobiles. The plant of the company is the best modern equipment, with well ordered repair p and with a full line of supplies and accessories.

n June, 1918, Mr. Brown entered the World war service the nation as first lieutenant with the Sixty-third Engi- rs. Without preliminary training he was sent to France, pre he was assigned to duty at Cote d'Or. He remained France until the signing of the armistice brought the Ar to a close, and had the distinction of returning home the George Washington when that vessel brought Presi- Lit Wilson and other members of the peace conference k to the United States. He was baggage officer on the Insport which bore his command to France and battalion gage officer and troop baggage officer in France. HIe 3 serving in this latter capacity on the return voyage, l this brought him into personal contact with many celc- ted men who returned on the George Washington, the .cial vessel of the President of the United States.

Ir. Brown is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in- ling the Commandery of Knights Templars at Bluefield al the Temple of the Mystic Shrine in the City of Charles- u, and he is a member also of the Knights of Pythias and the Business Men's Club of Princeton.

n 1915 Mr. Brown wedded Miss Dora Palmer, daughter O. D. Palmer, who is the owner of a large cotton planta- ch at Gulf, North Carolina. Mrs. Brown is an earnest ommunicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and is a pilar factor in the social activities of Princeton.

LASON BLAKE CALDWELL, M. D., is a physician and sur- gn at Matoaka, and first came into that district of Mer- ci County as a mining physician, but is now in general p ctice.

Ie was born on his father's farm in Clover Bottoms on Bestone River in Mercer County in December, 1884, son o. Joseph and Mary E. (Hardy) Caldwell. His father was bn in Montgomery County, Virginia, in 1849 and his

mother in Mercer County, West Virginia, in 1851. Joseph Caldwell was twelve years of age when he came to Mercer County. lle was one of a largo family of children, and his parents were poor people. Ho did farm work, later pro- vided the means for the purchase of a small farm and grad. ually increased his holdings and improvements until he had one of the most perfectly adapted places for general farni- ing in Clover Bottoms. ]Ie is now living retired at Athens. In connection with farming he always carried on a con- siderable business in the buying and selling of livestock. lle was never content to become a candidate for public office, preferring the role of a private citizen. He is a trustee of the Christian Church, a republican, and was the first president of the Bank of Athens. llis family con- sists of three sons and three daughters. The son Walton B. is a dentist at Matoaka, and Blaine is in the automobile business.

Dr. Mason Blake Caldwell is a graduate of the Concord State Normal School at Athens, and taught two schools in McDowell County. In 1910 he entered the University Col- lege of Medicine of Richmond, Virginia, where he remained two years, when that school and the Medical College of Virginia were consolidated, and he remained with the larger school the two years necessary to secure his degree. After graduating, Doctor Caldwell came to Matoaka and was as- sociated with Doctor Clements as a mine physician, but for the past three years has practiced as an individual and has a justly high reputation in his profession in this section. Since the war he has been a member of the Volunteer Med- ical Corps.

In 1910 Doctor Caldwell married Miss Elsie E. White. daughter of Edward and Nicatie (McKinzic) White, of Oakvale. The three children of their union are Mildred, Joseph and Mason Blake, Jr. Doctor Caldwell is a member of the Christian Church at Athens, is a republican and be- longs to the County and State Medical Societies.

RUSH FLOYD FARLEY, M. D. One of the well-known and capable members of the medical fraternity practicing in the coal mining districts of Mingo County, and a veteran of the World war, is Dr. Rush Floyd Farley, of Burch. While he has been engaged in the practice of his calling for only comparatively a few years, he has made rapid advancement therein and is accounted the leading citizen of Burch Post Office, or Adanae Station, as the community is also known, being a leading property holder and prominent in all civic affairs.

Doctor Farley was born March 6, 1887, in Mingo County, West Virginia, and comes of an old Virginia family of Irish origin, being a son of Thomas Benton and Nancy (Pinson) Farley, natives of Virginia. Thomas B. Farley was a young man when the war between the states came on. and he enlisted under the flag of the Confederacy, as a private in the Thirty-sixth Virginia Infantry, his com- manding officer being Gen. Jubal Early. At the battle of Winchester he was wounded and captured by the enemy, having at that time risen to the rank of top sergeant, and was confined at the prison at Point Lookout for six months. Upon his exchange he returned to his home, re- covered from his wound and engaged in farming and mer- chandising. Subsequently he married a Virginia girl and reared a family. He became one of the well-known and prominent farmers and merchants of Mingo County, where he had considerable property holdings, and where he was esteemed and respected by all who knew him.

Rush Floyd Farley attended the public schools of Burch Post Office and the Concord Normal School at Athens, following which, having decided upon a profes- sional career, he entered the University of Kentucky, at Louisville, where he pursued a medical course and was duly graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine as a member of the graduating class of 1912. At that time he entered upon the practice of his profession at Holden, West Virginia, but after one year decided that he needed further preparation for the successful practice of his chosen life's vocation and accordingly went to Rochester, Minne- sota, where he did post-graduate work with the eminent Mayo Brothers. Later, in 1914, he further fitted himself

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by doing post-graduate work under the late Doctor Murphy, the distinguished Chicago surgeon. Returning to West Virginia, he re-engaged in practice at Ivaton Coal River, and was there engaged until July 17, 1917, when he enlisted in the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States Army. He went to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, November 15th, was transferred to Camp Meade, Washington, D. C., and on December 15th sailed from Hoboken, New York, for overseas. Landing first in Eng- land, he sailed from Southampton across the English Channel to LeHavre, France, and went to the Vosges Mountain Hospital in Alsace-Lorraine, this being the One Hundred and Fourth Field Hospital, which was on the move the greater part of the time owing to its proximity to the front line. He was then transferred to Souilly, France, and later to Creel, where he was assigned to the mobile operation unit, with a detachment of French troops to do first aid duty. After two months he was sent to Neuf Chappelle, later to Riveville, where he was with the Third Cavalry, Twenty-sixth Division, and then to Varenns, with a first aid outfit. During the period that he was in France his headquarters were Base Hospital No. 66, his being the first regular army outfit in France from Amer- ica and on the move, giving first aid everywhere. When the armistice was signed he was on the road to Sedan, and remained there until February 15, 1919, when his outfit moved back to St. Nazaire, and after ten days left for home, arriving at Newport News, March 1, 1919. He went then to Richmond, Virginia, later to Baltimore, Mary- land, and then to Washington, D. C., and Boston, Massa- chusetts, finally receiving his honorable discharge March 15th after twenty months in the service. He was pro- moted to captain. Returning to Holden, West Virginia, Doctor Farley became surgeon for the Island Creek Coal Company, with which he was connected one year, and finally came to Burch Post Office, where he engaged in the general practice of his profession, specializing in surgery. He still holds membership in the United States Medical Re- serve Corps. He is highly thought of in his profession in Mingo County, and has gained the full confidence of a large number of patients.

On April 17, 1917, at South Charleston, West Virginia, Doctor Farley was united in marriage with Miss Clara Mae Burlington, daughter of Sherman and Fannie Bur- lington, the former of whom is in the Government service, having charge of Lock No. 6. Doctor and Mrs. Farley have had one child, William Allen, who died in September, 1921, when nine months old. They are consistent members of the Baptist Church and have been active in their support of its various movements and enterprises.

Doctor Farley is a valued member of the Mingo County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the American Col- lege of Surgeons. As a fraternalist he holds member- ship in the Blue Lodge of the Masonic Order, the Bene- volent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, in which he has held all the chairs and has been a member of the Grand Lodge, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has held all the chairs. He has been very successful in a material way and is the owner of much property at Burch.

WALTER W. HARLOE, M. D. One of the first citizens in point of time and also in value of service rendered and leadership exercised, Doctor Harloe has been a resident and practicing physician and surgeon at Matoaka for fifteen years.

He was born at Concord, West Virginia, August 23, 1874, son of William E. and Sarah T. (Kelsoe) Harloe and grand- son of Capt. Matthew H. Harloe, who was in the United States Navy during the Civil war and after leaving that service was master mechanic of the Delaware & Lacka- wanna Railroad, stationed at Scranton, Pennsylvania. Will- iam E. Harloe was born in New York City June 30, 1849, and died on his sixty-eighth birthday. He completed his education at Poughkeepsie, New York, served an appren- ticeship as a machinist under his father at Scranton, spent some time in Hampshire County, West Virginia, after which

he returned to Scranton and later located at Concord, We Virginia, where he became a manufacturers' agent for tl John A. Harps Company.

Walter W. Harloe, oldest in a family of eight childre graduated from Bridgewater College at Bridgewater, Vi ginia, and took his medical course in the University Virginia at Charlottesville, where he graduated in 190 For several months following he had charge of the charit department of St. Joseph's Hospital at Philadelphia, Pen sylvania, and in 1906 moved to Giatto, Mercer County, We Virginia, and a few months later to Matoaka, which wi just beginning its existence as a real town adjacent to tl new developments in the coal industry of the vicinit Doctor Harloe has had a widely extended practice, and recent years much of it has been confined to office wor He is a member of the County, State and American Medic. Associations.

Outside the strict limits of his profession he has bee active in many ways in advancing the welfare and progre. of Matoaka. He was one of the organizers and is a d rector of the First National Bank, has been chief of the fi department, health officer, in 1920 was mayor, and durin the World war was active in many branches of patriot work, serving as a Four Minute Speaker and as a membe of the Volunteer Medical Corps. He has been district den ocratic chairman, and is a past chancellor of the Knigh of Pythias Lodge and affiliated with the Independent Ord of Odd Fellows and the Moose. In the University of Vi ginia he was chosen by the faculty to membership in th Raven Club, eligibility to which is confined to students wh have an average in all studies of 90 per cent or mor Doctor Harloe is a member of the Lutheran Church, whi Mrs. Harloe is a Presbyterian. He married in 1903 Mis Effie Merritt, daughter of John Merritt, of Charlottesvill Virginia. Their family consists of three sons and tw daughters.

WILLIAM M. FERRELL, cashier of the Bank of Matoak: at Matoaka, Mercer County, has been the efficient incun bent of this executive position since November 3, 1918, an is one of the representative business men and progressiv citizens of the thriving town in which his interests are no centered.

Mr. Ferrell was born at Montvale, Bedford County, Vi ginia, September 6, 1888, and is a son of C. P. and Salli (Arrington) Ferrell, the latter of whom died March ! 1913. The Ferrell family has long been one of prominene and influence in Bedford County, and C. P. Ferrell, who : now living virtually retired at Montvale, that county, wa for many years one of the vigorous and successful exp( nents of farm industry in that county. Of the eleven chi dren nine survive the loved and devoted mother.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 179

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