History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 183

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In a modest home on King's Creek in what is now Hancock County Mr. Freshwater was born March 21, 1839, a son of Philip and Eleanor (Archer) Freshwater. Philip Freshwater was born in Brooke County, this state, and was a son of Reuben Freshwater, one of five brothers who settled in the Upper Ohio Valley in the early pioneer days. Philip had four brothers, David, William, George and John. Mrs. Eleanor (Areher) Freshwater likewise was born and reared in Brooke County, and after their marriage she and her hus- band came to what is now Hancock County and established their home on a farm on King's Creek. Remains of an old iron furnace on this creek are still in evidence and marking an historic point, in that this furnace was used in connection with the manufacturing of firearms used in the War of 1812. On the old homestead farm Philip Freshwater and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, noble, self-sacrificing pioneers who were well equipped to face the problems and responsibilities that fell to them and who reared their chil- dren to lives of honor and usefulness. Mr. Freshwater was one of the early breeders of Merino sheep in this part of the state, and became one of the extensive and successful agri- culturists and stock-growers of Hancock County as now constituted. He died at the age of seventy-six years, his devoted wife having passed away at the age of sixty-one

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years, both having been active members of the United Pres- bytcrian Church. Of their children eight attained to ma- turity: Elizabeth, became the wife of Malcolm Cameron, and both died at Highlandtown, Ohio, she having been seventy-nine years of age at the time of her demise; Nancy, the wife of John Carothers, died at Franklin, Pennsylvania, at the age of eighty-one years; Reuben, who is, in 1922, in his eighty-sixth year, owns and resides on a farm adjoining the old homestead of his parents; Mary J. became the wife of Robert Carson and died at Toronto, Ohio, when about sixty-eight years of age; Ebenezer A., immediate subject of this review, was the next in order of birth; Sarah Jane is the widow of David Carothers and resides at Steubenville, Ohio; Martha Ellen is the widow of Benton Langfitt and resides near the old home farm of her father; Philip married Miss Ellen Woods and was a resident of Ironton, Ohio, at the time of his death, when in middle life.

Ebenezer A. Freshwater was reared on the old pioneer farm and received the advantages of the schools of the lo- cality and period. He early learned the dignity and value of honest toil and endeavor, and soon developed individual initiative as one of the world's constructive workers. After his marriage, which occurred in the spring of 1867, he estab- lished his residence on the excellent farm which he had purchased, three miles distant from the old homestead on which he was born. He developed one of the best farm prop- erties of his native county, and remained on the farm thirty years-until 1916, when he removed to the village of Chester. He became the owner of three excellent farms in Hancock County, and in connection with his farm enterprise he oper- ated a brick yard at the mouth of King's Creek, on the Ohio River, where he manufactured paving brick of superior grade. He also bought and shipped wool on a somewhat extensive scale. With the expansion of his brick manufacturing Mr. Freshwater eventually engaged in business as a contractor in the construction of brick pavements. He took contracts for city street paving, and manufactured the brick used for this work, his activities along this line having been initiated fully forty years ago. In his contracting business three of his sons eventually became associated, under the title of E. A. Freshwater & Sons, and this concern has become one of the leaders in this line of enterprise in West Virginia, its extensive operations including both city and country paving contracts. The firm built twelve miles of modern cement road in Hancock County in the year 1921, and the business of the firm aggregated more than $1,000,000 for that year. While Mr. Freshwater is still at the head of this firm, in the development of whose business he has been the most potent force, he has retired from active association with the busi- ness, the operations of which are safely entrusted to the three sons who have proved his able coadjutors. He keeps in touch with the contracts assumed by the firm, and has status as one of the substantial and specially successful busi- ness men of his native state. The firm has taken contracts in which bonds to the amount of $2,000,000 have been re- quired, and the credit of the firm at banking institutions has been practically unlimited. Mr. Freshwater has reason to take pride in the work which he has achieved in connection with enterprises of broad scope and importance, and in the inviolable place that is his in popular confidence and esteem. He is a republican in political allegiance, and while he has had no desire for public office he served several years as justice of the peace and has ever been loyal and liberal in his civic attitude. Both he and his wife are active mem- bers of the Presbyterian Church.

On the 27th of March, 1867, when he was twenty-seven years of age, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Freshwater and Miss Clarinda Ellen Campbell, who was twenty-two years old. The ceremony occurred at the home of the bride's father, James Campbell, near the mouth of King's Creek, and it is pleasing to record that when Mr. and Mrs. Fresh- water celebrated their golden wedding, or fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, in 1917, Mrs. Margaret (Orr) Anderson, wife of Frank Anderson, of East Liverpool, Ohio, was present as an honored guest of the venerable couple, whose marriage she had attended as a bridesmaid a half century previously.

In conclusion is given brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Freshwater: George Washington is an oil operator in Pennsylvania; James Campbell is a member of

the previously mentioned contracting firm of E. A. Fresh water & Sons; Francis Lee is a successful oil operator in th West Virginia fields; Eleanor Archer is the wife of Williar James, of Chester, Hancock County; Miss Nancy Belle like wise resides at Chester, as a member of the parental hom circle; Philip is the second of the sons to be a member of th firm of E. A. Freshwater & Sons; Milton is the executiv head of the Freshwater Construction Company, a distinc organization engaged in the paving-contract business, wit headquarters in the City of Cleveland, Ohio, his father bein financially interested in this business; Elmer is the younger member of the firm of E. A. Freshwater & Sons; and Ebeneze A., Jr., who resides at Painesville, Ohio, is constructio foreman for E. A. Freshwater & Sons. Of the above mer tioned children: James Campbell Freshwater marrie Nora Herron, of Hancock County, West Virginia. The. have no living children. Francis Lee Freshwater marrie Maud McDole, of East Liverpool, Ohio. They have fou children, Sarah E., Nancy E., James A. and Frances A Philip Freshwater married Alma Montgomery, of Ada, Ohic Milton Freshwater married Carrie B. Wiggins, of Johnstowr Pennsylvania, and their two children are Richard A. an Milton, Jr. Elmer Freshwater married Fern Montgomery of Ada, Ohio. They have four children, Harold L., Fred M Jeanette and Dorothy F. Ebenezer A., Jr., married Mar. Given, of Wellsville, Ohio.

SAMUEL AUSTIN PRATT, M. D. The oldest practicin physician in Preston County is Dr. Samuel Austin Pratt o Kingwood, who has been a resident of that city since 187 and has been practicing medicine steadily for forty years He has lived on the same spot of ground for more than a thir of a century.

Dr. Pratt was born on Pratt Run, nine miles from Middle burn in Tyler County, West Virginia, August 13, 1849. Hi father, William Pratt, was born near Norfolk, Virginia, abou 1793, and before his marriage moved to West Virginia an waa a farmer in Tyler County. He died in 1858, and ha served as a soldier during the Mexican war. William Prat . married Martha Underwood, one of the eight sons and thre daughters of William W. and Hannah (Willis) Underwood and she died in 1906, at the age of eighty-four. William W Underwood was one of the most aubatantial farmers of Tyle County, and represented that district many terms in th Legislature. William and Martha Pratt had the following children: Ellis, William, John, Thomas, Samuel A., Eliza beth Jane, Sarah E., Nancy and Leah. Four of these children intermarried with members of the Weekley family, the sor William marrying Ethalinda Weekley. Elizabeth was th wife of Daniel Weekley and became the mother of Bisho] Weekley of Parkersburg. Sarah was married to Willian Weekley. Nancy was three times married and her las husband waa Bamberlidge Ash, Leah was the wife o Isaiah Weekley.

Samuel Austin Pratt spent hia boyhood and youth on the farm in Tyler County. He continued his education through high school and for a time was a teacher, being the younges teacher in the county when he began the work. He has pupils from two different counties and from three differen districts. After two terma as a teacher he became clerk a Wick Post Office and for several years waa employed by J. B. Smith, a merchant at Shirley in that county.

About this time he began the study of medicine, reading under the direction of Dr. Malloy at Middleburn. From there he went to West Union in Doddridge County, clerkec in a drug atore for Mr. Martin, and his employer, appreciating his industry and hia ambition to become a physician, paid hit expenses for one term in Starling Medical College in Ohio In the meantime Mr. Martin removed to Kingwood and en. gaged in the drug business, and Dr. Pratt took charge of the business after Mr. Martin's death. He continued with the store until May 1, 1880, when he began the practice of medicine. He practiced as an undergraduate because he was without funda to continue hia studies in college, and it waa his intention to go on with hia course after he had the money therefor. In 1882 the West Virginia Legislature passed the law requiring a physician to be a graduate of a reputable school of medicine or to have ten years continuous

CLARINDA ELLEN FRESHWATER

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ractice. To meet these requirements Dr. Pratt took the xamination for his diploma at Grafton and was properly egistered under the law. He has now practiced for more han forty years, and for a long time he did the heavy duty xacted of a country physician who is riding and driving Imoat continuously, but is now getting ready to retire from his heavy labor.

Dr. Pratt early in his career was deprived of his patrimony nd consequently had to earn his own living and the aurplus eeded for his education. Even when he began practice in Lingwood he had no surplus above a bare existence. His sother furnished him with some bedding, and he placed it pon boxes in his office for a bedstead, and in the morning ut it away in the boxes out of sight of the public. He had o wait for business, and it came slowly. During this waiting eriod he wrote in the county clerk's office at night for the money to pay his board, and he also made money guarding notorious prisoner to prevent his being taken from the jail y unfriendly hands. In time his abilities gsined their proper ecognition, and for many years Dr. Pratt has been one of he leaders in his profession. He was one of the examining urgeons of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway and for thirty ears was examining surgeon for the United Statea Govern- hent.

In addition to his profession Dr. Pratt has been interested a industrial development, and is a stockholder in the Francois 'oal Company of Clarksburg and interested in the same com- any at Lowesville, and is also interested in the Astor Mines t Flemington.

Doctor Pratt has not been in politics, though always voting he republican ticket. He married in Preston County, August 3, 1884, Miss Jennie R. Wheeler, daughter of David and Jen- ie R. (Parsons) Wheeler. Mrs. Wheeler died at the birth of ver daughter, Jennie, and the latter three days later was rought by Mrs. Bonafield from Tucker County to King- rood and placed in the home of her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. James W. Parsons. Mrs. Pratt has therefore spent all er life in Kingwood, where she was educated. Dr. and Mrs. Pratt have a daughter, Martha, wife of James A. Haislip, of Clarksburg. Mr. Haislip is a civil engineer. The four grand- children of Doctor and Mrs. Pratt are Jane Rebecca, James A., Ir., Pattie and Bettie.

Doctor Pratt saya that "he is a physician by profession and gun crank from choice." The sports of the field have fur- ished him an inexhaustible pleasure since early youth. His iunting expeditions have extended out to Wyoming and Mon- sna, and his collections of fine rifles and other weapons include in old time long barrel rifle of his grandfather Parsons. This ¡un was in its time a weapon of defense against Indians as well as an instrument in the slaying of the big game of the mountains. Mrs. Pratt also has a special hobby, and that a china decoration. She took up this art without any train- ng beyond her individual practice, and the shelves of her liningroom are laden with china ware showing her artistic alents and the possibilities of training native talent in this lirection.

MILTON H. PROUDFOOT, M. D. While he has been busy n his work as a physician at Rowlesburg for over thirty resra, Doctor Proudfoot has always exemplified the all around nterest and good service of a citizen and one willing to work or the welfare of his community. Hia is a position of peculiar honor and esteem in that part of Preston County.

Doctor Proudfoot was born at Grafton, West Virginia, August 20, 1860. His grandfather came from Old Virginia and settled in Barbour County. He was a alave owner, but very conscientious and religions, and when John Brown raided Har- Dera Ferry for the purpose of freeing the alaves he took this opportunity of freeing his own blacks. His family consisted of three sons and three daughters by his marriage to Miss Reed. The daughters are all deceased. The sons were: Mack, who died unmarried in Upshur County; Francis R .; and James W., now a resident of Grafton.

Francis R. Proudfoot, father of Doctor Proudfoot, was born n Barbour County, August 18, 1834. He had a common school education, lived on a farm but learned the carpenter's trade, and in 1863 entered the service of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company at Grafton in the car shops. He spent all the rest of his active life in the service of the Baltimore & Ohio.

He was promoted to general foreman of car repaira, sub- sequently transferred to Baltimore and was general foreman of car repairs at Camden Station and remained there on duty until 1899, when he retired on a pension and subsequently lived at Rowlesburg, where he died March 20, 1918, at the age of eighty-four. He had his father's atrong religious principles, was a Methodist, and exemplified his religion in everyday life. He was a republican, a Master Mason and a member of the Knights of Pythiaa. Francia R. Proudfoot married Emily C. Freeman, daughter of Evan Freeman, who came from old Virginia to Taylor County, West Virginia, and was & blackamith by trade. Mra. Proudfoot died May 23, 1911. Her children were: Doctor Proudfoot; Mra. Frank Menefee, of Denver, Colorado; Gordon F., of Franklin, Pennsylvania; and Ernest J., of Rowlesburg.

Milton H. Proudfoot apent his early life at Grafton, that city being hia home until he was twenty-four. He was educat- ed in the public schoola, and as a young man spent two years in the railway mail service on the Baltimore & Ohio between Grafton and Wheeling. In the intervals of that work he atudied medicine, and when he resigned he entered the Starling Medi- cal College at Columbus, Ohio, where he waa graduated M. D. in the spring of 1884. Doctor Proudfoot after practicing medi- cine at Rowlesburg for two years abandoned his growing patronage in that locality to identify himself with a new and rapidly settling community in Kansas, at Kendall, where he located in 1886. A man of his professional ability was greatly needed and esteemed among the pioneers there, and he shared in all their vicissitudes, traveling great distances to see hia patienta, and being lost on the prairie was a very common occurrence. There were crop failures that soon discouraged most of the settlers, and though Doctor Proudfoot was well contented with the country otherwise he could not remain in the face of rapidly decreasing population, and after four years he too retired from the unequal struggle and in 1890 returned to West Virginia and re-established himself in prac- tice at Rowlesburg. He has had a large private practice, and has also for thirty years been local surgeon for the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, for four yeara was a member of the Weat Vir- ginis State Board of Health, and is an active member of the Couoty and State Medical Societies. He is also Preston County examiner for the Bureau of War Risk Insurance and during the World war he and Mra. Proudfoot took an active part in Red Cross work.

Doctor Proudfoot cast his first presidentis] ballot for the plumed knight of Maine, James G. Blaine, and the only excep- tion to hia party regularity was due to his devotion and admir- ation for the personality and character of the late Colonel Roosevelt, with whom he went into the progressive party. Doctor Proudfoot is a member of the Board of Education at Rowlesburg and ia a trustee and treasurer of the Methodist Church there.

At Baltimore, Maryland, June 29, 1887, he married Mias Lida D. Sawtelle, daughter of W. D. Sawtelle. She was born at Wheeling but was reared and educated at New Orleans, Louisiana, and in 1886 returned to West Virginia to teach in the schools of Tucker County. Her father is atill living at Shreveport, Louisiana. The other members of the Sawtelle family still living are Mra. C. H. Hooton, of Baltimore; Frank, of Brooklyn, New York; Mra. O. A. Annan, of Balti- more; and the wife of Rev. Robert Wynne, of Shreveport, Louisiana.

Doctor and Mra. Proudfoot have one daughter, Eva, now Mrs.C.W. F. Coffin, of Englewood, New Jersey. Mr. Coffin is vice president of the Franklin Railway Supply Company. Doctor and Mrs. Proudfoot have two grandchildren, William Allison and Charles Floyd Coffin.

DANIEL JAMES RUDASILL, M. D. An accomplished and successful physician and surgeon Doctor Rudasill has been a resident of Kingwood fifteen years. He located there soon after finishing his medical education, and along with a growing medical practice he has won a host of friends in hia adopted community and is regarded as one of Preaton County'a most valued citizens.

Doctor Rudasill came to West Virginia from old Virginis. Hia great-grandfather on coming from Germany established his home in Rappahannock County, where he apent his remain- ing years ss a planter. The grandfather of Doctor Rudasill

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was also a planter in the same county. James A. Rudasill, father of the Doctor, was a merchant in Culpeper, Virginia, and after the war conducted a farm and lived out his life in Madison County. During the war he was in General Mosby's command of Confederate troops, and aa a private soldier was in many campaigns but escaped wounds or capture. He had no political ambitions, though he served as a squire in his com- munity. At the time of his death he was the oldest member of his Masonic Lodge. James A. Rudasill married Misa Sarah Elizabeth Carpenter, daughter of John Carpenter, and of a family that was identified with the first settlement of Robinson Valley in Madison County. She died in 1897. The children of James A. Rudasill and wife were: Charles M., who died as a farmer in Madison County; Nannie B., wife of William B. Lacy, of Madison County; Harry Carpenter, who died in Chicago at the age of fifty years; William Albert, of Orange, Virginia; Kate, wife of C. M. Thomas, of Madison County; Nellie, wife of J. H. Tanner, of Culpeper County; Lucien Albert, of Orange; Dora Dean, wife of James P. Bick- era, of Madison County; and Daniel James.

Daniel James Rudasill, youngest of the family, was born on the old farm in Madison County, Virginia, July 18, 1879. While a boy there he attended the public schools, was also a pupil in the Locustdale Academy, and at the age of twenty left home to enter the Medical College of Virginia at Rich- mond. Doctor Rudasill graduated in 1905, and for six months following was an interne in the Newport News General Hospital. He then removed to West Virginia and located at Kingwood. During 1912 he attended the Post-Graduate school of Medicine and Hospital in Chicago, and during 1912- 13 he conducted a hospital in Kingwood. He has served as county health officer and is a member of the County and American Medical Associations.

Dr. Rudasill was for a time a member of the City Council of Kingwood. In politics he has always voted and given a rather independent support to the democratic party. He is a Master Mason and is a member of the Session of the Pres- byterian Church. At Carmichael, Pennsylvania, October 3, 1917, Dr. Rudasill married Mrs. Mary (Laidley) Groom, a native of Carmichael. They have one daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, born February 16, 1920.

L. BERT HARTMAN. While for many years his energies have been concentrated on business and home affairs at Tunnelton, L. Bert Hartman, member of an old and well known family of this section of Preston County, had some half dozen years of varied experience and hardship in the frozen North, attracted there by the famous Klondike gold discoveries.

Mr. Hartman was born within three miles of Tunnelton, August 1, 1875, and is a son of George W. Hartman. A more complete account of the Hartman family ia given else- where. Hia father was a farmer and died at the age of aeventy-six.

L. Bert Hartman left the home farm when about sixteen years of age and finished his education in the Kingwood High School about the time he reached hia majority. He then worked around the Tunnelton mines, helping as a car- penter to set up the tipple and other preliminary work. He was then in the train service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway at Grafton as an extra fireman for eighteen months.

He left this, obeying a sudden impulse for great adventure in the gold country under the Arctic circle. He joined several others leaving Preston County, including Marion Boone, William Smalley, Adam Albright, and they first went to Seattle where they spent three weeks outfitting and shipped from there to Cook's Inlet on the steamer Del Norte, making the run without incident in twelve days and landing at Sun- rise City May 5, 1898. The country was still covered with ice and anow and the party waited for the ice to go out before attempting work. They prospected in that vicinity without resulta, and soon all of his companions deserted Mr. Hartman and returned to Preaton County. Mr. Hartman, however, was not satisfied to go back without something to hia credit beside the journey itself. With other associates he went into the interior, continuing his search for precious metal. At Cook'a Inlet he met an old prospector from Los Angeles, N. D. Shippey, and the two were together as partners until

he finished his exploration of the Copper River count. They trailed on foot the full length of the Matanooski Riv crossing the divide between that and the Copper Rir country, trailed the full length of the Nelcina River, cros Tazlina Lake and trailed the river of that name to the Cop'r River and eighty miles by sled up that stream. They It their sleds May 6th, went into camp and built a boat, wh- sawing a tree into lumber for that purpose. June 12th tly started in their boat up the Copper, following the atre a until it became a mere creek. The voyage terminated o near the foot of Mt. Rangel, an active volcano, that the ea: about was all volcanic, with no metal. Returning to 1e scene where the boat was built, they loaded their out dropped down to the mouth of the Sustichina River, stari up that stream, and on the 6th of July the boat was ov. turned and practically all the provisions and other equ - ment lost. The boat itself was saved, and in it they drifil down to Copper Center, where they replenished their p- visiona. They started to pack across to Cook's Inlet, the firat landing place, a distance of about 450 miles. Eai carried a pair of blankets, his food, and a sweater to sleep and they made the trip in thirty days.

Having thua covered by trip and boat over three thousal miles in his prospecting adventures, Mr. Hartman decidi to rest. He remained at the Inlet, working at maki hydraulic pipes, until he earned the money to carry him ba to Seattle. Then for a few weeks he was employed by electric light company, and was then approached by a par desirous of his companionship in another trip to the froz North. He could not resist the lure of adventure, and aft landing at Skagway they crossed White Pasa Summit wi. a dog team, encountering some of the greatest hardshi of a frigid winter, though they made the trip of forty-fi miles without other incident than the suffering caused 1 a temperature of 55 to 60 degrees below zero. At La Bennett Mr. Hartman arranged to take a one-horse aled lo: of hardware to Dawson City, a distance of 600 miles. I. covered this journey alone in twenty days, once in extrer danger, when the horse broke through the ice, the anim and himself being saved by what seemed mere chance. I continued on and landed his merchandise at Dawson Cit and while there he did teaming and freighting and also ca penter work. At times he prospected, but was never ab to change his luck, and out of seven claims never realized penny. In the fall of 1903 Mr. Hartman returned to Seattl after having apent five and a half years in the Far Nor and having endured what to most people living in a tempera clime seem almost unbelievable hardships and difficulti and sufferinga. Again and again he was plunged into ic water, endured the panga of hunger and extreme fatigu and had to fight swarms of mosquitoes whose attacks ir quently caused the blood to ooze from his face and nec. While in the North he paid from fifty cents to a dollar fe every letter received from frienda at home, and theae lette were delivered only months after having been posted.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 183

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