History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 182

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Squire Shaw, as he is generally known, has for many y been a useful factor in the public service of the county. 1877 he was made deputy under Sheriff F. M. Ford, and Be! throughout that term. In 1884 he was elected high sheri successor of Elisha Thomas. He made the campaign ; republican, with which party he affiliated from the caatin his first vote. He won the nomination and convention as of four candidates, and is now the only one of the four living in the county and the oldest living ex-sheriff. service from 1884 to 1888 was a rather peaceful and law a ing period, only one murderer being tried and only ele persone being taken to the penitentiary at Moundsville w he was sheriff. On leaving this office Squire Shaw resu farming, but soon afterward anawered another call to pu duty, when he was elected to the County Court as succe of Commissioner J. P. Jones. He was president of the Cou Board and served four years. During this time the cot purchased the poor farm. In 1916 he was elected juatic the peace of Portland District, succeeding Squire Gi Whitehair, and in 1920 he was re-elected and is now ger his second term.

On May 27, 1869, Squire Shaw married near Newb Sarah A. Jones. She was born in Staffordshire, Engla February 15, 1844, and waa thirteen years of age when

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parents, Thomas and Sarah (Whitehouse) Jonea, came to merica and settled in Preston County, living on Seotch IIill ear Orra, and in that community Sarah grew up and mar- ied. Her parents are buried at Newburg, and she was one of large family of children. Mra. Shaw died April 13, 1912, fter forty-two years of married life. Of the children of quire Shaw the oldest ia Emma M., wife of M. H. Dodge, f Terra Alta, and they have a daughter, Edna L. The other wo children are twin aona, William Roy and Thomas Ray, oth farm owners near Terra Alta, but William R. ia officiat- ng as principal of the Terra Alta High School, while Thomas connected with the People's Store of Terra Alta. William ¿. married Edna Mayer and Thomas R. married Stella mith, but neither has children.

Judge Shaw since the age of twenty has been an active Methodist, serving in an official eapacity in the church, for ome years was a trustee and is the present church treasurer. lia enly fraternity is the Knights of Pythias, and he is a past hancellor of Alpine Lodge No. 35 at Terra Alta.

Squire Shaw's first recollection of Terra Alta was when he "as about five years of age and when hia parenta first moved , that community. It then contained its first log cabin, hat of E. E. Alfred, who owned much if not all of the ground ow embraced within the townsite. The old pioneer cabin as long aince been destroyed and ita owner died not far from he town he founded upon the mountain top of the Alleghanies 1 Preston County. In 1850, when the Shaw family settled here, the Baltimore & Ohio Railway was constructing ita ngle track line through Preston County. Staley Shaw, ow the venerable district justice, frequently witnessed the rogress of the work and saw the diminutive locomotive uffing and struggling under its heavy drag of material until , passed on toward the West and then saw the introduction f freight and passenger traffie, observed its growth from ecade to decade, the building of a second track and then a hird one, the improvement of the roadbed by the replace- ment of the iron rail with the heavy steel rail, the superseding f the primitive engines and freight cars and passenger naches by powerful, stronger and better onea, the introduc- ion of the Pullman and the dining ear as the culmination of ailroad equipment. Terra Alta was developing apace with hese improvementa as its main traffic artery, and it became little metropolis marking the east entrance of West Virginia, beacon light in the march of progress for several genera- ions. Judge Shaw is one of the few survivors of the old layers on this human atage, and all who know him say that e has played well his part.

E. FLOYD SCAGGS. From the quality of work he has done n elevating the standards and promoting the efficiency of he schools of Logan County E. Floyd Scaggs is a notable eader in West Virginia educational affairs. With long experience and at the same time with youth at his eom- nand, his earnestness and high ideals are the qualities nost needed in a state where the educational processes are cing made to serve the insistent requirements of medern ife.

Mr. Scaggs, who is county superintendent of schools, was born on his father's farm near Latrobe on Buffalo Creek, Logan County, January 30, 1889. ITis grandfather, Joseph Scaggs, was a pioneer of Logan County, served as a Confederate soldier in the Civil war, was taken prisener on Huff's Creek and was confined at Johnson's Island in Lake Erie during the greater part of the war. After the war he "esumed farming, and he was killed by a falling tree on is farm at the age of sixty. Rush F. Scaggs, father of the county superintendent, was born in Montgomery County, virginia, December 27, 1857, and waa a child when the 'amily moved to Nightbert in Logan County. He has been i farmer as well as a carpenter, and for fonr years was justice of the peace in the Tridelphia District. Rush F. Reaggs married Louisa Chambers, whe was born on Run Creek in Logan County, November 20, 1867, Her father, Capt. L. E. Chambers, was commander of what was known is the Logan Wild Cats in the Confederate army. His home was at the mouth of Rum Creek. He twice served as 1 member of the State Legislature, was chairman of the Democratic County Committee several times, was an official member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and

served on the Board of Education. 1Ie built the Chambers Church and school. Captain Chambers died In 1916, at the age of eighty-nine. Rush F. Scaggs and wife now live at Man in Logan County. Of their seven children three are teachers, Floyd, Alfred D. and Ina M.

E. Floyd Scaggs acquired his early education in the graded schools of Logan County, and without meana be- yend his own earnings he had to secure his higher eduea- tion through his own efforts and in the intervals of his career as a teacher. While teaching he took extension work in the University of West Virginia, pursued courses in Marshall College and at the Concord Normal at Atheus, and took a course in law with the American Correspondence School of Law of Chicago. He began teaching at the age of eighteen on a third grade certificate, at a salary of $30 per month, paying $5 a menth for his board. He taught his first school on Rum Creek, and after that he taught every year until he was elected county superin- tendent in 1916. Mr. Scaggs taught the graded schools at Man, Earling, Rich Creek and Accoville. He continued his own studies constantly while teaching. Aa county superintendent he has largely reorganized and systematized the school work of the county, and all the modern school buildings have been ereeted under his supervision.

In 1913 he married Miss Emma Burgess, daughter of Park Burgess, ef Man. They have one aon, Luther L. Mr. and Mrs. Scaggs are members of the Nightbert Me- morial Methodist Church of Logan, and he is teacher of the Bible Class in the Sunday school. In Masonry he is affili- ated with the Masonie Lodge, Logan Chapter, R. A. M., Scottish Rite degrees, Beni-Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston, and belongs to the Odd Fellows Lodge at Amherstvale, and the Elks Lodge at Logan.

T. FRED BROWN is the manager of the Brown Coal Com- pany, with headquarters at Princeton, Mercer County, and his associate in the ownership of the business is his father, William A. Brown.

Thomas Fred Browu was born near Oakvale, Mereer County, June 15, 1887, and is a son of William A. and Olivia (Broyles) Brown, both likewise natives of Mercer County. The latter died in 1901. William A. Brown, who was born August 10, 1863, has long been prominent and in- fluential in connection with business and eivie affairs in his native county, and in earlier years was here actively en- graged in farm enterprise. Ile served as county superin- tendent of roads and also as county sheriff, his political allegiance being given to the republican party. In addi- tion to being identified with the coal business he is a suc- cessful contractor in concrete work and in road and street construction. lle is a member of the church organization formed by Pastor Russell, and in adopting this faith he gave up his affiliation with the Masonie and Elks fraterni- ties.

T. Fred Brown supplemented the discipline of the public schools by attending the Concord State Normal School at Athens, and thereafter he was fer ten years associated with his brother J. W. in the retail grocery business at Prince- ton. He then became associated with his father in the or- ganization of the Pioneer Coal Company, with coal yards on the east side of the Virginian Railroad, at Princeton. Later the father and son organized the present Brown Coal Company, which has well equipped yards and which centrols a substantial wholesale and retail trade.

Mr. Brown and his wife are members of the First Bap- tist Church. In 1908 Mr. Brown married Miss Bessie Curt- ner, daughter ef Crockett Curtner, of Mercer County, and the two children of thia nnion are Isabelle and T. Fred, Jr.

THOMAS MAURICE Far, president and manager of the Farmers Supply Company at Princeton, judicial center ef Mercer County, and vice president of the Bank of Prince- ton, was born on a farm in Leudoun County, Virginia, Sep- tember 20, 1868. He is a son of Joseph and Sarah (Stone) Fry, both likewise natives of the Old Dominion State, where they passed their entire livea, the father having died in 1899, at the age of aixty-nine years, and the mother having passed away in May, 1918, likewise at the age of sixty-nine.

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Both were earnest communicants of the Lutheran Church. The two surviving children are Thomas M., of this review, and Mrs. Lena J. Cost, who still resides in the old home county. Prior to the Civil war the Fry family had been one of substantial prosperity, but the ravages of the war brought disaster to this as to many other families in Vir- ginia. What remained of the old estate was sold by Thomas M. Fry after the death of his father, whose entire active career was marked by association with farm enterprise.

Thomas M. Fry gained his rudimentary education in an old log schoolhouse that required yearly treatment with mud, which was crowded between the logs to keep the wind from entering too freely, the Civil war having so lowered the prosperity of the community that no means were avail- able for supplying a better school building. Later on Mr. Fry attended high school in the City of Washington, D. C., for one year. In 1888 he went to St. Johns, Stafford County, Kansas, where for three years he held a position in the First National Bank, at a salary of $35 a month. In 1891 he went to Kansas City, Missouri, and after having there been employed one year in the National Bank of Com- merce he returned to his native county. After remaining for a time on a farin he again went to Kansas, where he held a position in a bank at Downs until the institution failed. For a time thereafter he was clerk in a dry-goods store, and in May, 1893, he went to Hudson, Michigan, where for seven years he held a position in Thompson Brothers Savings Bank. For two years thereafter he was again on a farm in Loudoun County, Virginia, and he then became cashier of the Purcellville National Bank at Pur- cellville, that state. After retaining this executive office four years he came to Princeton, West Virginia, where for the ensning eleven years he was cashier of the First Na- tional Bank. Since that time he has been vice president of the Bank of Princeton, and his has been a potent influ- ence in the upbuilding of this substantial institution. In 1919 Mr. Fry organized the Farmers Supply Company, and the Mercer Motor Company, handling Ford products, and he has since continued president of both companies, the business of which has become one of broad scope in the handling of automobiles, motor-trucks, tractors and all kinds of farm implements, machinery and general supplies. Mr. Fry has been identified with banking enterprise for more than a quarter of a century, and he reverts with agreeable memories to his pioneer experience in Kansas, especially in view of the fact that there, at St. Johns, was solemnized in 1891 his marriage with Miss Neva Benford, a native of Indiana. They have two children: Harry B. graduated from Roanoke College, Virginia, and thereafter attended the School of Finance & Commerce in New York City, where he now resides and where he follows his pro- fession as a certified public accountant; Dorothy is the wife of Dr. W. C. Epling, who is engaged in the successful prac- tice of dentistry at Princeton. Mr. Fry is one of the liberal and progressive citizens and representative business men of Princeton, is a republican in politics, is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in their home city, he being a member of its board of stewards.

ADOLPHUS R. FIKE is an undertaker and embalmer at Terra Alta, and has been a citizen of that town since October 2, 1907. Mr. Fike is a man of many gifts and versatile accomplishments, has been a farmer, merchant, carpenter and contractor, and has administered some public offices with credit and efficiency.

This versatility has been a decided characteristic of the Fike family during its various generations in Preston County. The members of the family have been distinguished for their steady industry and also for the devotion that is the out- growth of deep religious impulses. The first American of this family came from the Province of Hanover early in the eighteenth century. His grandson, Christian Fike, married Christina Livengood. Their five sons were Christian, Jacob, John, Joseph and Peter, and their two daughters, Mrs. Elizabeth Lichty and Mrs. Barbara Shrock.

Of this family Peter Fike was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, November 3, 1794, and in 1851 removed to

Sang Run, Garrett County, Maryland, and in 1854 to Presti County, West Virginia. He spent the remaining years f his life as a farmer and cooper in the Eglon communi; where he died November 28, 1871. In 1818 Peter Fike m. ried Magdalene Arnold, daughter of Elder Samuel Arno, of Burlington, West Virginia. The children of their unii were: Samuel A., David, Moses, Aaron, Susan, who m :- ried John Snider, Mary, who married Phenis Miller, Christi who was the wife of Jacob Weimer, Annie, who marril Jeremiah Miller, Lydia, who married Henry Speicher, al Magdalene, Mrs. John Weimer. All the sons were farme, and three of them, Samuel, Moses and Aaron, were minister of the Church of the Brethren. They gave little attenti to politics, and Moses only was a militia soldier during ta Civil war and is the only survivor of the ten children, s home being near Eglon.

Elder Aaron Fike, father of Adolphus R. Fike of Terra Al was born April 25, 1840, on Indian Creek in Fayette Coun Pennsylvania, was reared in Garrett County, Maryland, al after the age of fourteen in Preston County. He mae the best possible use of the limited educational opportunity that came to him. He lived and reared his family on a far and farming was always his chief vocation. After his mi riage he and his wife lived for a year with his father, a: during that time he employed his mechanical skill in maki furniture, and continued that until he had sold enough equip his own home for housekeeping. On June 3, 186 he was elected to the ministry of the Church of the Brethre after having been a member of the organization one yez He preached four years and was then ordained an elder al, thereafter much of his time and energies were given to preac ing and to ministering in church affairs. He went abo these duties with singular disregard of his own comfort al hardships entailed in riding horseback to distant congreg tions. As is the custom of that denomination, he did all 1) ministerial work without compensation. The interve between his church duties were diligently employed on } farm and in providing for his family's comforts. He ror about over the country in all kinds of weather, preachin baptizing, and frequently rode back a distance of fifter miles. Oa two Occasions he reached home frozen to h saddle and had to be helped from the horse, his hands ar feet being thawed out in cold water. He paid little attentie to swollen streams, fording or swimming them on his hors Once he tried to urge his horse into Cheat River when it w. high, but his faithful animal refused to make the ventur and later he discovered that the stream had washed a ne channel ten feet deep at that point. During his young years he endured the hardships easily, but later an afflictic came upon him which made it impossible to travel on hors back, and he then walked to his appointments. His sc Adolphus occasionally accompanied him, they walkir together eight miles to the services and then walking bac! Adolphus as a boy once accompanied his father twent miles away to fill an appointment, and they made the di tance on foot on Saturday, and after preaching on Sunda they returned home together. Aaron Fike's health begs failing him at the age of thirty-five, and during the remaind of his long life he suffered much pain and inconvenienc without ceasing his labors. For forty years he was assistal elder in charge of the German settlement congregation, ar then became elder in full charge. Aaron Fike reared numerous family of healthy children, ministering to the physical needs when sick in some homely way and neve spending more than five dollars for doctor's services whi they were growing up. Affection and love for his childre was one of his predominant characteristics, though he wa positive in exacting obedience from them, and he alway set them an exemplary deportment. Aaron Fike passe away on a Sunday in December, 1916, and his funeral w8 preached by Elder Jonas Fike, his nephew.

On March 29, 1860, Aaron Fike married Rebecca £ Rudolph, a daughter of John Rudolph. She was born nes Eglon January 7, 1841, and died March 29, 1916. The chi dren of this good old couple were: Matilda, wife of Joh Vought, of Eglon; Tabitha, who married Charles P. Jone and lives at New Windsor, Maryland; Amelius, a farmer 8 Eglon; Adolphus Roland; Lucinda, who married Denni Biser, of Eglon; Phenis L., of Peace Valley, Missouri; Emr!

E A FRESHWATER SR

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a farmer and minister uear Eglon; Lorenza lives at Red House, Maryland, and, like his brothers Phenla and Emra, is a miniater of the Church of the Brethren; Elimina, died at Eglon, wife of Bertia Bucklew; Celesta, Mra. Joseph Livengood, of Salisbury, Pennsylvania; and Hurley W., of Myersdale, Pennsylvania.

Adolphus R. Fike, whose history ia now taken up after reviewing his honorable ancestry, was born at Eglon October 19, 1866. As a boy he attended the Slaubaugh School, worked for his father on the farm, was employed on public worka, and also in the lumber woods for the J. L. Romberger Lumber Company. About that time he married and began farming. He lived on his farm at Hebron for seventeen years, and supplemented the income from his farm by car- penter work and by undertaking. He kept a stock of under- taking goods at his home in the country, and his hearse was the first one in that locality.

Mr. Fike sold his interests at Eglon in 1907 and removed to Terra Alta, where he has since been a leader in the under- taking aervice. For seven years he did carpenter work as a side line. He also put in a furniture stock, and after six ycars he made an exchange with his competitor, turning over the furniture to him while he concentrated on the business of undertaking and embalming. Mr. Fike bought and brought to Terra Alta the first automobile hearse in Preston County, in 1917. He has also been a dealer in harmess, and to some extent still carries on his trade as a carpenter and contractor.

Mr. Fike was for four years a member of the Council of Terra Alta and for one year mayor. He is a republican and has served as a deacon in the Church of the Brethren.

On September 28, 1890, he married in Preston County Miss Mary Ann Wiles, who was born in Eglon July 12, 1867, daughter of Abraham and Sarah (Stemple) Wiles. She was the only child of her mother, but her father had children by his two other marriages. Mr. and Mrs. Fike have four daughters: Della France is the wife of Reed F. Martin, of Washington, D. C. Olive Ruth is a graduate nurse of a Uniontown Hospital in Pennsylvania, and is now super- intendent of Fricks Hospital in that city. Violet May is a teacher at Cayford, West Virginia. Lula Z. is teacher of music in La Plata Institute in Maryland.

NATHAN C. MUSGROVE waa for many years in the tanning industry and for the past twenty years has been a mill owner and operator at Fetterman, a suburb of Grafton.

Mr. Musgrove was born in the Laurel Run community of Marion County, September 18, 1858, son of Nathan Mus- grove. His father was born in Frederick County, Maryland, in 1824, and in 1849, came to West Virginia. He acquired a liberal education, and taught achool for a time after settling in Marion County. He finally established his home on White Day Creek, and continued his life as a farmer there until his death. He was never in politica beyond voting as a democrat, and was an active member of the Christian Church.

Nathan Musgrove was the only member of his family to come to West Virginia. At Old Palatine, near Fairmont, he married Irene Corrothera, a daughter of Andrew Corrothers. She was reared on White Day Creek, near Smithtown. Her people were farmers, and her brother, John W. Corrothers, was at one time called the timber king of West Virginia, and the family as a whole were very prosperous and substantial people. Nathan Musgrove, Senior, died in 1898 and his wife in 1893. They were the parents of aeven sons and four daugh- tera, nine of whom are still living, the youngest being fifty years of age. Their son John W. died at Satsop, Washington; Andrew J. was a locomotive engineer when he died at Paynea- ville, Ohio, September 24, 1913; Robert Q. lives at Fairmont; Nathan Columbus is next in age; Samuel M. is a member of the Grafton Bar; Lizzie married A. J. Matthew, of Preston County; Thomas J. operates the old homestead farm on White Day Creek; Milton R. is justice of the peace at Fair- mont; Mrs. Belle Henderson lives at Grafton; Iantha, widow of I. T. Hawkins, operates a dairy near Fairmont; Daisy ia the wife of C. M. Stanley, of Benton's Ferry, West Virginia.

Nathan C. Musgrove grew up on White Day Creek, ac- quired his education in the Laurel Run country school, and after reaching his majority left home and for a time was a coal miner in Westmoreland County, Pennaylvania. He then re- turned home and built a tanyard on Laurel Run, and took

up the industry, which was satisfactory in that locality for nineteen ycara. The capacity of his plant was a thousand hidea annually. His product was harnesa and rough leather. The market for his finished harness leather was in Baltimore and Wheeling, and other products were marketed in the East. When he abandoned the tan yard it went into disuse and has practically diaappeared. On leaving his old home Mr. Muagrove moved to Fetterman and crected a feed mill. lle did a large amount of custom grinding, and alao handled flour, feed, sugar and salt by the wholesale. He was one of the charter members and a former director of the Jerry Run Coal Company, and ia now a stockholder in the Grafton Banking and Trust Company.

Mr. Musgrove has participated in polities only to the extent of voting the democratic tieket, and is an earnest follower of democratic principals. His first presidential vote went to General Ilancock in ISSO, and he has participated in every national election ainee then, voting twice for Mr. Cleveland and twice for Mr. Wilson. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, and is a contributor to the work of the organized church in his community. During the World war he was a member of the wholesale committee of the Food Administration at Grafton, and otherwise participated in the drive for funds.

On September 3, 1885, at Morgantown, Mr. Musgrove married Miss Sarah Kisner, daughter of Samuel Kisner. She died July 25, 1889. Their two children were Nora C .. who ia now the wife of Lincoln Mason, of Grafton, and has two children, James and Sarah Marie; and John, associated with his father in business, who married Flo Pinnell and has one child, Sarah. For his second wife Mr. Musgrove mar- ried Anna J. Kisner, sister of his first wife. She died Feb- ruary 27, 1920. Their surviving daughter, Phronie, ia the wife of George Coulson, of Fetterman, and they have one child, Nathan Coulson.

ERENEZER ARCHER FRESHWATER is a venerable and honored native son of Hancock County whom it is most gratifying and consistent to accord representation in this history of West Virginia. Though he is now living virtually retired in his attractive home at Chester, this county, he has been in the most distinctive sense a man of thought and action, and marked the passing years with large and worthy achievement. The following statements concerning Mr. Freshwater are well worthy of preservation in this connection. "He is big physically and mentally, and in his business career he never found contracts too large for him to assume and carry through. He keeps in full touch with the trend of the times and feels that his span of life has embraced the most interesting and important period in the world's history. His memory compassed much of the splendid development and progress of Haneock County and he takes just satisfaction in the knowledge that he has been able to contribute his share to this civic and material advancement in one of the finest sections of a great and prosperous commonwealth."

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 182

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