History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 180

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William M. Ferrell was reared on the home farm an received the advantages of the rural schools of the locality He continued his studies in the public schools until he wa eighteen years of age, and thereafter was clerk for tw years in a drug store at Roanoke, Virginia. In 1911 he be came assistant cashier of the Bedford County Bank 8 Montvale, Virginia, a position now filled by one of hi younger brothers, Harold P. He continued his connectio with the bank in his old home town for a period of seve years, and since 1918 he has been cashier of the Bank o Matoaka, one of the solid and well ordered financial inst tutions of Mercer County, West Virginia. He is a stalwar in the ranks of the democratic party, has completed the cil cle of York Rite Masonry, and was senior warden of th Blue Lodge at Bedford, Virginia, at the time of his re moval to his present home village. He early tendered hi service to the Government when the nation became involve in the World war, but was rejected for active military ser ice. His loyalty found expression, however, in zealou work in furthering the various patriotic activities in hi community, including the Government war loans, Red Cros work, etc.

December 30, 1914, Mr. Ferrell wedded Miss Ruth White hurst, of Princess Anne County, Virginia, and they hav one daughter, Sarah F.

7. 8. martin

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HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

AMES GARFIELD WHITE, of Princeton, judleial eenter of Icer County, is a successful contracter in railroad eon- ction and is a progressive member of the County Court. was born at Oakvala, this county, June 7, 1880, and is n of James A. and Derinzia H. (McKinzia) White, both wise natives of Mercer County, where the former was i at Oakvale and the latter at Ingleside. The father shot and killed ia 1899, while making an arrest in his jal capacity as sheriff of his native county, and he was y-five years of age at the time of his death. His widow ed away in 1907, at the age of forty-five years. James hits was elected sheriff of Mercer County in 1888, and the first republican to be elected to this office, of which continued the incumbent four years. Thereafter he was two years representativa of Mercer County in the House Delegates of the West Virginia Legislature, and in I he was again elected county sheriff, in which position served until his tragic death. His father, James A. te, Sr., was a loyal soldier of the Union in the Civil Both the White and McKinzie families were estah- od in Mereer County in the pioneer days, and John A. Kinzie, maternal grandfather of the subject of this re- , was a prominent and influential citizen of this county. ames Garfield White, a member of a fine family of thir- children, attended the public schools and the Con- [ Normal School at Athens, and thereafter he was ac- ly identified with farm enterprise until he turned his ation to lumber manufacturing as operator of a saw at Oakvale. Later ha becama associated with the son-Tolliver Company in heavy construction work on the folk & Western Railroad at Narrows, Virginia. Later became junior member of the firm of Lipscomb & White, ch built six miles of the Virginian Railroad, from eaka to Clark's Gap. Since that time he has held many y contracts for construction work for the Virginian road, the Norfolk & Western Railroad, and the Louis- : & Nashville Railroad, in West Virginia, Kentucky, nessce, South Carolina and other states. He is now or member of the contracting firm of White & Wood, which his coadjutor is L. S. Wood of Gaffney, South Car- a. Mr. White was elected a member of the County rt in 1918, and his broad experience in heavy construc- work made him specially eligible for this office, in which became authoritatively concerned in carrying forward construction of modern highways and other good roads is home county.

r. White is a stalwart ia the ranks of the republican y, his Masonie affiliations are with the Blue Lodge at rows, Virginia, the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons at ens, West Virginia, the Commandery of Knights Tem- g at Bluefield, Mercer County, and the Temple of the tie Shrine at Charleston. His wife is an active mem- of the Missionary Baptist Church.

annary 1, 1918, recorded the marriage of Mr. White and 3 Myrtle Spangler, daughter of L. P. Spangler, of Glen , Virginia, and the two children of this union are rence and Flora M.

HARLES EDWARD HUGHES. The business interests of rleg Edward Hughes, whose home is at Rock in Mercer nty, have been chiefly identified with contracting in the ding of houses and other construction work in the eoal riets. His interests have extended to banking and other 3 of business, and at all times he has played an effective publie spirited part in his homa community.

r. Hughes was born in Campbell County, Virginia, pty miles south of Lynchburg, October 7, 1573, son of rles H. and Katharine (Woods) Hughes, the former a ve of Pittsylvania Connty and the latter of Campbell nty, Virginia. The father moved to Campbell County young man. He served four years in the Confederate hy, and while doing picket duty at Gettysburg ene of toes was shot off. His regular occupation was that of rmer. Ha was a democrat and for many years a mem- of the board of stewarda of the Methodist Episcopal reh. He died in 1918, at the age of seventy-eight, and mother is now eighty-one and living at Alta Vista. harles Edward Hughes was the sixth in a family of ten

children. His brother Samuel is inspector for the Poca- hontas Fuel Company. At the age of sixteen Mr. Hughes left school and the home farm, and for two years following was & brakeman in the service of the Southern Railway Company between Charlottesville and Daaville. IIo came to Keystone, West Virginia, as a carpenter on eoatraet work, and after six months removed to Arlington, where he re- mained two years engaged in similar work. For about five years his headquarters were at Stone Eagle, Virginia, where he did an extensive business building housea over the Pocahontas coal field. For another four years he was at Sagamore on Crane Creek in Mercer County, and since then his home has been at Rock. Mr. Hughes has built by con- tract probably more houses in this coal field than any other contractor. For a time he was associated with John Doss. Mr. Hughes was one of the organizers of the First Na- tional Bank of Matoaka and is one of its directors and is a director in tha Matoaka Wholesale Grocery Company.

In 1900 he married Miss Alice Nuckels, daughter of John B. Nuckels, of Graham, Virginia. They have a fam- ily of five sons and three daughters. Mr. Hughes is a stew- art in the Methodist Episcopal Church, for ten yeara has been master of the Lodge of Masons at Rock, is affiliated with Athens Chapter, R. A. M., Bramwell Commandery, K. T., the Mystic Shrine at Charleston, has served as chan- cellor commander of Montcalm Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the board of school trustees at Rock.

FRANK STEWART MARTIN came into the Guyan Valley soon after the first railroad was built, and has been one of the men of real enterprise and eivic leadership at Logan, where he is proprietor of the Logan Bottling Company. This business was established in 1905, when the town was new and when the development of the valley was just getting under way.

Mr. Martin was born at Paintsville, Johnson County, Kentucky, February I, 1872. His parents, Rev. John and Julia (Gilkerson) Martin, were natives of Boyd County. Kentucky, and his father died in 1919. at the age of seventy-nine, and his mother in 1913, at the age of sixty- seven. Rev. John Martin for many years was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Sonth, and was a pastor in the West Virginia conference and also in East Kentucky. In this state he had charge of work in Hunt- ington, Charleston and Point Pleasant, and for a number of years was presiding elder of the Big Sandy District. He was an intimate friend of the well-known business man and capitalist of Eastern Kentucky, the late John C. C. Mayo, and he preached at Mr. Mayo's funeral. Rev. Mr. Martin in his carlier days was a teacher. Earnest, sincere and eloquent, he numbered his friends by the thousand. He and his wife had eight children. The oldest son is H. F. Martin, formerly a superintendent on the Northern Pacific Railroad and now in business as a contractor of heavy construction at New Westminster, British Columbia. Another son, Forrest, is a traveling salesman. Warren lives in Philadelphia. Robert is in the electrical aupplies business. Edward is with the Nickle Plate Plant at Hunt- ington. A daughter is the wife of Dr. Themas Dugan, a dentist at Huntington.

Frank Stewart Martin spent his boyhood in the several places where his father was pastor, and acquired his education somewhat disjointedly as a consequence. Later he took a business course in the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York. At the age of twenty he went to the Northwest, and for two years was in the State of Washington, an employe under his brother, then a auperin- tendent of the Northern Pacific Railroad. After returning East Mr. Martin followed various business lines, and was in the laundry business at Huntington.

Ha left that city, attracted by the great promise of the new Town of Logan, and in 1905 established the first laundry here. He continued the operation of that busi- ness for several years, until he sold out, and it is now conducted as the Aracoma Laundry Company. In the same year that he established his laundry he engaged in the bottling business, his being the first plant at the time in the valley. He started both enterprises on a small scale

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and kept them going apace with the development of the valley. In 1910 his present bottling plant waa erected, and has since been increased. He bottles and distributes soft drinks all up and down the valley. For twelve years he has been manufacturer and distributor over this terri- tory of coca-cola, and manufactures and distributes an extensive line of other widely advertised soft drinka. One feature of his plant is a deep well of the very purest water, which is of course an important ingredient of his products.

Mr. Martin served three terms as a member of the city council of Logan, has been vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Men's Association, and is interested in every plan for the advancement and better- ment of the community. He married in 1910 Miss Helen Vorhees, a native of Portsmouth, Ohio. Mr. Martin is a trustee of the Methodist Church, is a member of the Masonic Lodge and Chapter of Logan, the Knight Tem- plar Commandery and Beni-Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston, and also belongs to the thirty-second degree, Scottish Rite Consistory. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Elks, and is a democratic voter.

JOHN W. RICKEY, M. D., stands forth as a dean of his pro- fession in Marshall County. where he has been established in active practice as a skilled physician at Moundsville for nineteen years. He has practiced his profession for a period of virtually fifty years. He was born at Harveys, Greene County, Pennsylvania, April 14, 1842, and is a son of Abraham A. C. Rickey, who was born in the State of New Jersey in 1804, of Scotch parentage, and who was a young man at the time of the family removal to Western Pennsylvania, where he became a prosperous farmer and where he continued to reside until his death, at the age of seventy-six years. His father died in middle life, while his great-grandfather attained to the patriarchal age of 103 years.

Dr. Rickey is one of two survivors in a family of ten chil- dren, of whom he was the ninth in order of birth. Two of his sisters died at the age of ninety-two years, one brother at the age of eighty-one, and another brother at the age of eighty-three. It thus becomes evident that the family is one of marked longevity, and the Doctor himself has the physical and mental poise of a man many years his junior. Dr. Rickey gained his early experience in connection with the activities of the home farm, and he supplemented the discipline of the common schools hy attending Waynesburg College at Waynea- burg, Pennsylvania. Thereafter he prepared himself for the medical profession, and he has been continuously engaged in practice since the year 1873. He was established in practice at Glen-Easton, Marshall County, West Virginia, until 1902, when he removed to Moundsville, which city has since been the central atage of his earnest and effective professional service. He took a course of lectures in a leading medical college in the City of Cleveland, Ohio, and has continued a close student of medicine, in which his skill has been aug- mented by many years of successful practice. He is identified with the Marshall County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and he served several years as a member of the United States Board of Pension Examiners for Marshall County. He has secure place in the confidence and esteem of his professional confreres and is frequently called into consultation on critical cases. In the autumn of 1861, within a short time after the inception of the Civil war, Dr. Rickey, then nineteen years of age, was preparing to join neighbor boys in enlisting for service as a soldier of the Union, but his parents refused con- sent to his enlistment. Within a short time thereafter he was so injured by being caught in the mechanism of a threshing machine that it became necessary to amputate his right leg. It was largely due to this infirmity that he was led to prepare himself for the profession which he has honored by his able and earnest service. He has been affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows since the late '60s and is still a member of his original lodge, at Cameron, West Virginia. where he had established his residence in 1865 and where he passed the various chairs in his lodge. The Doctor is an earnest member of the Presbyterian Church, as was also his

wife, who died in 1910, after their marital companionship ! continued forty-two years.

At Cameron, this state, in 1868, Dr. Rickey wedded M Clara B. Williams, who was born in Virginia, in 1852 daughter of Uriah Williams, who was among the firat locon. tive engineers on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and v continued his service in this capacity many years, his de having occurred at Cameron, West Virginia. Of the child of Dr. and Mrs. Rickey the eldest ia Willis M., who is a tr dispatcher for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company Cumberland, Maryland. Mayes B. and John E. are tr dispatchers for the same railroad at Wheeling, West Virgil and both reside at Moundsville. It is worthy of note the maternal uncle of these sons, U. B. Williama, waa a train € patcher at Cameron in their boyhood days, and thus t' early became interested in telegraphy. Nellie, the c daughter of Dr. Rickey, is the wife of A. E. Drew, of Indi apolia, Indiana. They are the parents of two daught Pauline and Dorothy.

J. HOWARD HOLT, who ia engaged in the practice of law Moundsville, judicial center of Marshall County, has won a cess and prestige as one of the representative members of in bar of the northern part of West Virginia.

Mr Holt was born on Knawls Creek in Braxton Coun Virginia, (now West Virginia), on the 19th of September, 18 and is a son of Jonathan and Eve Ann (Mealy) Holt. attended the public schools of his native county and a those of West Milford, Harrison County, and he early ma fested the atudious habits and insatiable appetite for readi that have proved potent in expanding his mental horizon wide limits, he being distinctily a man of liberal educati in a general way as well as in the profession of his choi his advancement representing in large measure the result his own efforts. He has proved an effective character-build and a man of worthy achievement, has maintained a ss outlook upon life and has won success and honor in his exa ing profession, in which connection he has proved th determination and zealous application can prove quite effective as mere collegiate education, which latter was r his portion. He has been a man of thought and action, a such an one is fortified for the overcoming of obstacles a disadvantages that would baffle one of less courage and ( termination. Mr. Holt read law in his home, and upon exa: ination before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Wheeling he was admitted to the bar November 8, 1884. 3 haa given nearly forty years to the work of his professic has long been known as a resourceful trial lawyer and ar counsellor and has appeared in connection with many i portant litigations in the various courta of this section of t state. During a large portion of the time since he establiah in the practice of law Mr. Holt has given effective service commissioner of both Circuit and County Courts. He w originally a democrat in political allegiance, but in 1886 aligned himself with the prohibition party, in which he gain prominence as a leader in campaign activities and in t general work of the party from the first he was foremost the campaign of the prohibition party in West Virginia, t prohibition amendment in that year having been defeat by 40.000, but a splendid victory for the cause came in 191 when a similar amendment was carried in the state by a vo of more than 92.000. Mr. Holt is a most zealous member the Methodist Episcopal Church, and that he is fully fortifi in his religious faith needs no further evidence that a referen to a poem of which he is the author, the same containi seventeen cantos, of admirable literary and logical orde and having attracted the favorable attention of many leade in the orthodox religious circles of the nation. this poem beil entitled: "A Layman's Answer to Agnosticism." Mr. Hc has given much time and thought to prison reform, and } work, his speeches and his writings in this connection gi evidence of the profundity of his humanitarian impulses al his fine conception of the springs of human motive. His fir wife, whose maiden name was J. Ella West, died three yea after their marriage. For hia second wife Mr. Holt wedde Miss Annie P. Thatcher, and they became the parenta of fi children: J. Howard, Jr., died at the age of twenty-fi years; Fay Marguerite is the wife of Hollis Edison Davenn

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New York City; Forest Primrose is the wife of Ienstlua ennan. of Moundsville; and Sara Fern and Charles William ·hain at the parental home. One child Kenneth. by his tt wife, died young. Mrs. Davenny, Mrs. Brennan and ss Sara Fern are talented violinists and the whole family re appeared in connection with nearly all Chautauqua reaus. Mr. Duvenny was identified with community ,vice at Washington, D. C., where he was a member of the eption committee in charge of affairs in the welcome corded to President and Mrs. Wilson upon their return m France, after the historic peace conference.

Close study and research have given Mr. Holt a broad and h conception of crime and its punishment. and on this sub- t he wrote a most interesting and logical monograph, which 3 been published in two editions, in pamphlet form, copics the article having been placed in the hands of every judge d every legislator of West Virginia at the time when the t edition was issued. So masterful and humane a sizing of criminology ia represented in thia brochure it could il be wished that its circulation were extended throughout length and breadth of the land. That in a professional y Mr Holt consistently holds to the principlea which he .intains in this published article is indicated by the fact At he had the probably unprecedented experience of appear- : in defense of a criminal, "Holly" Griffith, who received tee different sentences to life imprisonment for three ferent murders. the case having been one of celebrity in the mioal annala of West Virginia. Hia argument against pital punishment ia regarded as unanswerable.

JEAN H. Woon is a graduate of Bethany College, ja superin- dent of the City Schools at Littleton in Wetzel County, d is an ex-service man who saw active duty on battle fronts France.

Mr. Wood, prominent among the younger educatora of est Virginia, was born at Bristoria, in Greene County, nnsylvania, November 13, 1896. His grandfather, Jonah pod. was born at Whitely, Pennsylvania. in 1824, spent actically all his life in Greene County, and besides farming o owned and operated a sawmill. He died there in 1918. s second wife was Miss Smith, grandmother of Superin- dent Wood. She was born in Pennsylvania in 1827 and 'd in Greene County in 1903. Morgan A. Wood. father Jean H., has also been a teacher. He was born March 15, 69, at Bristoria in Greene County, was reared and married ere, taught school for a number of years in Greene County: d since 1916 has been a resident of Littleton. West Virginia, tere he has served as bookkeeper in the Bank of Littleton. was for two terms mayor of Littleton, is now a justice of peace, is a democrat in politics and a leading member of Baptist Church, being superintendent of the Sunday hool. He is affiliated with Wind Ridge Lodge No. 1053, dependent Order of Odd Fellows. Morgan A. Wood mar- d Josephine Reger, who was born in West Virginia July 21. 37. Their family consists of six children: Hazel. wife of ndolph Antill. an undertaker at Cameron, West Virginia; ausg, principal of the high school at Reader in Wetzel unty; Jean H .; Mary, a teacher in the sixth grade at llanabee. Brooke County, West Virginia; Ralph, in his first ar at Bethany College; and Leah, a senior in the Littleton gh School.

Jean H. Wood acquired his early advantages in the rural ools of Greene County. He graduated from the Richhill gh School in 1915, and the following fall entered Bethany llege. Bethany, West Virginia. He received his A. B. de- e from Bethany in 1919. He is a member of the Tau ppa Alpha, a college fraternity, eligibility to which is sed on prominence in public speaking. Mr. Wood repre- ted Bethany College in the Tri-State Oratorical Contest d at Geneva College at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and n second place.

On September 19, 1917, Mr. Wood, who waa not quite enty-one at the time, answered the call to the colors. and s in training nine months at Camp Lee, Virginia. He was de a sergeant in Light Artillery. After this training he 3 sent overseas. arriving in France June 8, 1918. as a mem- · of the 314th Field Artillery, 80th Division, A. E. F. With s division he participated in the St. Mihiel campaign and in

several battles of the Argonne, and altogether spent fifty-one days on the firing linc. After the signing of the armistice hc was stationed near Dijon, France, left for home May 24, 1919, arriving at Newport News June 8th. and received his hon- orable discharge at Camp Lee June 15, 1919.

As a school man Mr. Wood was for one year principal of the St. Clairsville High School at St. Clairsville, Ohio. and in the fall of 1921 became superintendent of schools at Littleton. He haa aix schoola under his supervision, & staff of seventeen teachers, and a scholarship enrollment of 420. Ile is a mem- ber of the West Virginia Educationl Association. In politica Mr. Wood is a democrat and he is a member of the Presby- terian Church.

At Parkersburg March 26, 1921. he married Misa Edna Long, daughter nf Simeon Lee and Myrtle (Aberegg) Long, residents of Littleton, where her father is a prominent business man, a lumber dealer and president of the Bank of Littleton. Mr. and Mrs. Wood have one child, Cecil Kenneth, who was born December 10, 1921.

Mr. Wood is descended from a long line of educators. His great-great-grandfather Smith was one of the early instruc- tors in Washington and Pennsylvania, and his grandfather, James Smith was also a prominent teacher in Washington

Mr. Wood descended from a long line of educators. His great-great-grandfather Smith was one of the early instructors in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and his grandfather, James Smith, was also a prominent teacher in Washington County, Pennsylvania. His grandmother Wood, whose mai- den name was Mary Smith, taught in Washington County, and, as above atated, his father taught in Greene, Brooke and Wetzel counties.

BERNARD ALEXANDER PYLES is one of the veteran bankers of Wetzel County, and has had the post of cashier in the Bank of Littleton since that institution was established. He ia a native of Wetzel County, and came to the bank with an equipment of experience as a teacher, mercantile clerk, aur- veyor and farmer.

Mr. Pylea was born near Silver Hill March 19, 1862. The Pyles family has been in this section of West Virginia for nearly a century. His grandfather, Michael Pyles, was born in 1814 and was an early day farmer in Marshall County, and about 1877 moved to another farm which he owned in the same vicinity but over the line in Wetzel County, where he lived until his death in 1880. Michael Pyles married Martha Burley, who was born near Moundsville and died in Wetzel County. Her father, Jacob Burley, was a pioneer merchant of Moundsville and also owned a large amount of land in that vicinity, part of the modern city of Moundsville being built on his farm.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 180

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