History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 187

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Joseph C. McConnell supplemented the discipline of the public schools by attending Volant College, and in his early experience as a teacher in the district schools he received $28 a month for his services. He devoted four years to teaching, a work which he greatly enjoyed, but low salaries then paid in thia profession caused him to abandon the same. He learned the trade of brickmason, and joined his brother Norman at Clarksburg, West Virginia. Thereafter the four brothers engaged in contracting at Huntington, this state, and one year later removed to Williamson, where they continued operations five years. In August, 1909, Joseph C. McConnell came to Princeton, Mercer County, to complete a small contract and with no intention of remain- ing here. The city was then a mere village, as this was prior to the building of the railroad roundhouse, which greatly apurred the civic and industrial advancement of the town. He was led to establiah here his permanent residence, and has been closely and influentially associated with the civic and material development and upbuilding of the thriv- ing city of the present day. His civic loyalty and progres- giveness led to hia being importuned by leading citizens to become a candidate for mayor of the city in 1920, in No- vember of which year ha was elected by a majority that emphatically ahowed his secure place in popular confidence and esteem. He had been a member of the city council in

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1919, but had resigned after making a vigorous fight for better city government. His election to the office of mayor shows the popular estimate placed upon his course in this connection, and he is making every effort to bring about a clean and adequate administration of all departments of the city government. As a contractor and builder Mayor McConnell's operations have extended throughout the coal fields of West Virginia, and for the past seven years his brother George has been his associate in this extensive business which is now conducted under the title of The Mc- Connell Construction Company, with Princeton's mayor as president of this important industrial corporation. As a builder he has been associated with the construction of all manner of buildings, from mine houses to bank and achool buildings of the most modern type. In national politics the mayor is a democrat, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Loyal Order of Moose.

In 1907 Mr. McConnell wedded Miss Macie Rodgers, daughter of Richard Rodgers, of New Castle, Pennsylvania, and they are zealous members of the Presbyterian Church, in which he is a deacon, as had also been his father.

CHARLES W. HALL is president and general manager of the Princeton Foundry & Supply Company, which conducts one of the substantial and important industrial enterprises at Princeton, Mercer County. This company, with a modern plant of the best equipment, specializes in machine, boiler and foundry work, and in the manufacturing of the "Per- fection" Cone Stove Sand-drier and Hall's Improved Shaker Grates for stationary engines, of both of which remarkably effective and valuable devices Mr. Hall was the inventor and both of which have proved of great practical value in connection with the coal-mining industry of West Virginia and other states. Mr. Hall's experience in the West Virginia coal fields began in 1888, and he has been actively identified with the development of the coal industry in the state.

Mr. Hall was born at Christiansburg, Montgomery County, Virginia, April 9, 1867, and is a son of John Newton John- son Hall and Margaret (Pannell) Hall, the former of whom was born at Fincastle, Craig County, Virginia, and the latter in Montgomery County, that state. The father was a pioneer in the mining of anthracite coal in Virginia, where his operations were conducted on the rather small scale that then marked the industry in that state. He was a loyal soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, took part in numerous engagements, was wounded at the battle of Manassas, and in the latter part of the war was held a prisoner of the Federal Government for a few months at Elmira, New York. He was a stanch democrat, and he and his wife were zealous members of the Baptist Church, in which he served as a deacon. The original American repre- sentatives of the Hall family came from Scotland, and members settled in Massachusetts, Virginia, and in other parts of the South prior to the War of the Revolution. The family was thus founded in Craig County, Virginia, in the Colonial period. John N. J. Hall was fifty-three years of age at the time of his death, in 1896, and his widow passed away in 1917, at the age of seventy years. Of the seven children Charles W., of this review, is the eldest. Another son, Edward D., is a machinist in the employ of the Norfolk & Western Railroad Company at Eckman, West Virginia.

Charles W. Hall gained his early education in the schools of his native place, and thereafter passed one year as a stu- dent in the Virginia Polytechnic Institute at Blacksburg. At the age of nineteen years he entered upon an apprentice- ship in the foundry of J. P. Witherow & Company of New Castle, Pennsylvania, and he continued seven years in the employ of this company. He then came to West Virginia and became a machinist in the employ of the Norfolk & Western Railroad Company at Bluefield, where he was thus stationed at the time when the company's roundhouse was constructed at that point. After a period of four years Mr. Hall re-entered the employ of J. P. Witherow & Company, with which he was in service at Graham, Virginia, while the company was building its furnaces at that place. He next entered the employ of the Carter Coal Company at Tom's Creek, Virginia, where he remained aeven years as

master mechanic, the title of the company having in t meanwhile been changed to the Virginia Iron & Coal Co: pany. For twelve years thereafter Mr. Hall was mast mechanic and chief electrician with the American Coal Co: pany at McComas, Mercer County, West Virginia, and up severing this connection he became the executive head the Pocahontas Foundry & Machine Company at Kingstc The plant of this company was later destroyed by fire, ai in 1920 Mr. Hall became associated with the organization the Princeton Foundry & Supply Company, which forthwi initiated the construction of the present modern plant, al he has continued as president and general manager of t progressive corporation. In the manufacturing departme the company gives major attention to the production of t two inventions of Mr. Hall, as noted in an earlier paragra of this sketch. He has marked inventive ability, and h recently perfected a device that will prove a valuat attachment for the lighting systems of automobiles. M Hall is a democrat, and in the Masonic fraternity is affiliat with the Blue Lodge at Coburn, Virginia, and the Chapt of Royal Arch Masons at Bramwell, West Virginia. A wife is a member of the Baptist Church.

October 2, 1889, recorded the marriage of Mr. Hall al Miss Barbara Kirk, daughter of John Kirk, of Merc County, and of this union there are five sons and thr daugliters. Two of the aons were in the nation's service the World war period. John W., who received his pr liminary training at Fort Worth, Texas, became a gun i structor at Mount Clemens, Michigan. Charlea W., w] entered the United States navy on the 6th of April, 191 became an electrician on the battleship Florida, and was the convoy service in the transportation of American troo to the stage of war. He received his honorable dischar; after a service of eighteen months.

HOUGHTON A. ROBSON, of Huntington, senior member the firm Robson & Nelson, real estate, coal and oil land has been associated with many of the large deals and tran actions in properties involving the important natural f sources of West Virginia.

He was born at Cotton Hill in Fayette County, West Vi ginia, February 1, 1856. His grandfather was a native ( England, and on coming to America settled in Culpepr County, Virginia, where he was a planter and slave holde He married Ann Reed, a native of Culpeper County. The old homestead is still owned by their descendants. Thoma S. Robson, father of Houghton A., was born in Culpepe County in 1819, grew up there, was married at Harriso burg and immediately afterward settled at Cotton Hill j Fayette County, West Virginia. For many years he wa county surveyor of Fayette County. During the Civil wa he had charge of the county records, and by order of th court had these records conveyed to Southwest Virginia, 1 Montgomery County, where his deputies guarded them a through the war. He himself entered the active service : the beginning as a quartermaster in the Confederate Arm and at the close of the war he returned the records safel to their home county. He never received a penny for th faithful discharge of this trust, and eleven commissioner said that he should have taken the records north instead c south, though he was ordered by the court. For man years, until his death, he was commissioner of School Land for Fayette County. He died at Cotton Hill December : 1888. He was a democrat and a member of the Baptis Church. Thomas S. Robson married Mary Elizabeth Abbo who was born in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in 1831, and die at Charleston, West Virginia, in 1913. Their children were James S., a farm owner at Charleston, and in the moder growth of that city part of his farm land has been bui over; Annie L., of Charleston, widow of James G. Park who was a merchant at Cotton Hill; Houghton A .; Edwi and William, who died in infancy; and Cora R., wife of ] A. Rosenheim, in the transfer business at Huntington.

Houghton A. Robson spent part of the Civil war perio in Montgomery County, Virginia, and while there he ha the privilege of attending school three months, and thi with another brief period in Fayette County gave him hi only formal school instruction. He was busy on his ow

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ccount in gaining knowledge by the process of doing, and is associates bave always recognized in bim a man of plendid judgment and weil informed on all the issues of he day. The family at the close of the Civil war had noth- og, and Mr. Robson had to contribute bis share to the up- cep of the household. At the age of twelve be was doing uch work as was suited to his strength and years. About hat time his father took a contract to carry the mail from 'ayetteville to Lewisburg, and the son performed this duty or two years, getting a dollar a day for himself and mule, aying his board out of this and also fifty cents a week for erryage. Shortly after his service as a mail carrier be pent three weeks in Huntington working with a pick and hovel in the streets. Then, though young and weighing nly eighty pounds, he gained a position as a brakeman with he recently constructed Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, serving ine months. He then went back to the home farm and as- isted in its work, and also did some surveying until the eath of his father in 1888. His father in the meantime ad been agent for some large tracts of land owned by 'astera people, and Houghton A. Robson succeeded to this esponsibility as well as to the work of commissioner of chool lands of Fayette County. It was a business requir- ng good judgment and tact and a growing knowledge of and values, and the work really laid the foundation of his ubsequent business career.

In 1900 Mr. Robson removed to Charleston and began be buying and selling of real estate, coal and oil lands. a partnership with J. M. Payne, an attorney, he bought tract of 1,000 acres of coal land on Boomers Branch in 'syette County, paying $35,000, though only $5,000 in ash. Mr. Robson immediately took an option on 1,000 djoining acres at a contract price of $25,000. lle also aid $1,000 on this transaction. The first 1,000 acres was cased to tho Masters Coal Company. In his second pur- hase he was associated with Dr. Lewis Prichard, and this rag soon followed by his taking an option on 6,200 acres djoining. By that time he and his associate had ex- ended $3,500 on options. The 7,200 acres were subse- quently sold at a fair profit to the Kanawha & Hocking Railroad Company. Mr. Robson continued in the real es- ato business as a partner of Doctor Prichard until the leath of the latter on July 20, 1919. In the meantime, in 918, he had removed to Huntington, and since 1911 bas been associated with Fred C. Prichard, son of Doctor `richard, under the firm name of Robson & Prichard. Mr. Robson is also associated with his son-in-law, C. P. Nelson. a the firm of Robson & Nelson. They have seldom acted s brokers, but as principals in the buying and selling of eal estate, coal and oil lands, and their transactions com- ›rise a large volume of this class of business in the state. dr. Robson is a director in the Huntington Banking & Trust Company, in the Charleston National Bank, the Mont- pomery National Bank, is president of the West Virginia nsurance Agency, president of the Battle Ridge Land Com- any of Charleston, and president of the Elk Ridge Colliery Company. His offices are in the Robson-Prichard Building, wned jointly by him and Fred C. Prichard. This ras the first large office structure erected at Huntington. t is ten stories high and was built in 1910. The ground loor furnishes space for the Huntington Banking & Trust Company, and the remaining nine floors are used for office purposes. Mr. Robson also has an office in the Charleston National Bank Building at the capital city. He is a demo- rat in politica, and one of the very active and liberal mem- era of the Baptist Church.

In 1884 he married Miss Jennie C. Shoemaker, daughter f James K. P. and Mary Elizabeth (Carna) Shoemaker, the atter deceased and the former a retired real estate broker ind oil operator living at Homestead, Pennsylvania. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Robson is Mary E., wife of C. Paul Nelson.

O. PAUL NELSON is a member of the firm of Robson & Telson, real estate, coal and oil lands, at Huntington. Mr. Nelson is a civil engineer by profession, and had a wide ad successful experience in that work for a number of years, oth in West Virginia and elsewhere.

He was born at Breatsville in Prince William County, Virginia, December 21, 1876. This is an old and honored family name in Prince William County, where his grand- father, Thomas Nelson, at one time owned a large planta- tion sad worked it with slave labor. Edwin Nelson, father of C. Paul Nelson, was born in Prince William County July 5, 1831, and remained a resident of that county all his life. He was a Confederate soldier, enlisting in the Prince William County Cavalry and serving until the final sur- reader. From the close of the war, by repeated re-elections and without any opposition to his candidacy, be served as clerk of the courts of his county until his death on February 12, 1911. He died at Manassas. He was a stanch democrat and an active member of the Primitive Baptist Church. He married Bettie Weedon, who was born in Prince William County October 14, 1837, and who died at Manassas Feb- ruary 22, 1911. Of their five children C. Paul is the youngest. Elizabeth Weedon, the oldest, is the wife of Austin O. Weedon, an attorney and banker at Warren- ton, Virginia. John H. Nelson is an attorney at Washing- ton, D. C. James E. also lives at Washington and is in the service of the Government. Effie Lee is the wife of Albert Speiden, a resident of Manassas, Virginia, while be is a member of the firm Speiden & Speiden, architects, at Wash- ington.

C. Paul Nelson attended the public schools of his native county, also went to school at Baltimore, and graduated in 1898 from the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, Virginia. For one year he taught school in his home county, for nine months was connected with the Lewis Nixon Shipyard Company at Elizabeth, New Jersey, and in October, 1899, first came to West Virginia, at Marling- ton in Pocahontas County, as a civil engineer in the serv- ice of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company. He was on this road's staff of civil engineers until 1901, when he went west and practiced as a civil engineer at El Reno, Oklahoma, a year, and other engineering work employed him over considerable arcas of Texas and Arkansas. Re- turning to West Virginia in 1904, he located at Charleston and resumed his service as an engineer with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, remaining until 1907. Some of his duties in this position took him into Kentucky. In 1908 Mr. Nel- son organized the Nelson Transfer Company of Charleston, and served as its president until 1911. In that year he became associated with H. A. Robson, whose record is given elsewhere, in the buying and selling of real estate. coal and oil lands. Mr. Nelson's headquarters were at Washington, D. C., until 1916, in which year the office of the firm was established at Huntington and is in the Rob- son-Prichard Building. Besides bis extensive connections as a member of this firm Mr. Nelson is also a director of the Huntington Banking and Trust Company.

He is a democrat, a member of the Baptist Church, and is affiliated with Huntington Lodge No. 53, A. F. and A. M., Huntington Chapter No. 6, R. A. M., Huntington Com- mandery No. 9, K. T., West Virginia Consistory No. 1, of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling, and Beni-Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston. He is a member of the Guyandotte Club and the Guyan Country Club, both at Huntington.

April 26, 1906, at Charleston, Mr. Nelson married Miss Mary Elizabeth Robson, daughter of H. A. Robson. She finished her education in the Lewisburg Seminary of this state. The four children born to their marriage are: Betty Jane, born April 5, 1907; Edwin Robson, born May 15, 1908; Mary Elizabeth, bora June 17, 1909; James Houghton, born October 12, 1910.

THOMAS HENRY HUDDY is one of the progressive business men of Williamson, Mingo County, where be is general manager of the Bailey and the Sudduth Fuel companies of Kentucky.

Mr. Huddy was born at Redruth, Cornwall, England, on the 2d of February, 1871, and is a son of John and Mary (Glasson) Huddy, both likewise natives of Cornwall, where they remained until coming to the United States. The father was identified with the Cornish mining industry dur- ing virtually his entire active career in his native land, and his father was a wholesale fish merchant. John Huddy dled

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iu 1905, at a venerable age, his wife having passed away when her son Thomas H., of this review, was thirteen years old. Her mother was born the same day as was Queen Victoria, and she survived this revered English sovereign. Of the children of John Huddy two sons and two daughters are living at the time of this writing, in 1921.

Thomas H. Huddy acquired a rudimentary education in a kindergarten in his native land, and was about five years of age when he accompanied his mother and his two sisters to the United States and joined the father, who had come about two years previously and who was residing at Nelson- ville, Ohio. Thomas H. attended the public schools at Nelsonville until he was a lad of twelve years, when he began service as a trapper boy in the mines of the Hocking Valley at that place. His vitality and effective service led to his rapid advancement, and by the time he had attained to his legal majority he had gained broad experience in connection with mining enterprise in the Hocking Valley, where he had been employed in various mines. At the age of seventeen years he came under the benignant influence of a Sunday school teacher, who inspired him with ambition for better things. His desire was to become a mine superin- tendent, and his ambition has been fully realized in later years. At the age of nineteen years he began to attend night school, and he has supplemented his early education further by reading and other self-discipline. At the age of twenty-two years Mr. Huddy left the parental home and became helper to a mine electrician. In nine months he was in charge of all machinery and repairs at the San Run Mine, and in 1895 he assumed the position of directing en- gineer with the Jeffrey Company, builders of mining machinery, at Columbus, Ohio. In this connection he had occasions to visit mining districts in all parts of the United States in the installing of electrical machinery. He was thus engaged seven years, and in the latter part of this period he acted also as advisory engineer of the sales de- partment of the business. In 1902 Mr. Huddy became superintendent of six mines in Central Pennsylvania fields, in Cambria County. He thus continued three and one-half years, and then entered the employ of the Ellsworth Colliers, a large corporation at Ellsworth, that state. The next year he accepted the position of superintendent with the George M. Jones Company of Ohio, and about two and one-half years thereafter he severed this connection to join the Pittsburgh & Buffalo Company at Cannonsburg, Pennsyl- vania, in the capacity of superintendent. Each of these changes represented an advancement, and about six months after taking the position at Cannonsburg he was offered a still better post, that of superintendent with the Bloomer Coal & Coke Company at Bloomer, West Virginia. He ac- cepted this proffer, and as the business of the concern expanded he was promoted general superintendent of the fifteen large mines of the company. June 12, 1920, Mr. Huddy resigned this responsible position to become general manager of the corporations designated in the opening paragraph of this sketch, and in each of these he is an equal stockholder with the other interested principals. While a resident of Boomer, Fayette County, this state, Mr. Huddy served as a member of the Board of Education. In national and state politics he is a republican, but in local affairs is independent of partisan lines. He is a director of the Montgomery National Bank at Montgomery, Fayette County. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Church, he is a member of the Kiwanis Club at Williamson, his home city, and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity.

November 9, 1895, recorded the marriage of Mr. Huddy and Miss Belle Wallace, a native of Nelsonville, Ohio, her parents having been born in England. Mr. and Mrs. Huddy have one child, Ruth, born July 22, 1903.

WADE HAMPTON BRONSON is one of the older residents of Williamson, becoming acquainted with that village as a hoy before the advent of the first railroad. His ambition to study law was frequently thwarted by lack of funds, and only after overcoming a number of difficulties was he ad- mitted to the bar. Since then he has been steadily making his way to the front rank of lawyers in this section of the

state, and is the senior member of the prominent firm Bronson & Straton at Williamson.

Mr. Bronson was born at Warfield, Kentucky, Novemb 13, 1880. His father, J. L. F. Bronson, was born in 1837 South Carolina, and was a soldier in the Confederate arm After the war he settled in Kentucky, and he died in 188 when his son Wade was six years of age. The mothe whose maiden name was Lou Salyers, was born in Louis Kentucky, in 1853, her parents having come from Virgini Besides Wade Hampton there were two other sons and or daughter.

Wade Hampton Bronson acquired his early education the public schools of Warfield, Kentucky, and was abo' fifteen years of age when he came to Williamson with h mother in 1895. In 1898 he entered the Concord Norm School at Athens, West Virginia, and remained a stude there two years, and then earned a salary as an employe his brother, then clerk of the Circuit Court of the distri including Mingo County. In 1901 he entered the law scho of the University of Virginia, and remained there one yes He then resumed work in the office of his brother, bu carried on his legal studies at the same time, and in Marc 1903, after examination, was qualified and admitted to tl bar of West Virginia. In the fall of that year he returne to the University of Virginia, and soon proved his capacit to keep up with his studies in the senior class. Havir gained the equivalent of a university law course, and havin already been admitted to the bar, he did not deem it nece sary to remain to obtain the law degree. He therefore ri turned to Williamson and became a partner in the law offic of Attorney John B. Wilkinson. The latter was electe to the bench in 1904, and Mr. Bronson then formed a par nership with Mr. S. D. Stokes, under the name of Stoke & Bronson. In 1914 this firm was dissolved by mutua consent. Mr. Bronson was then alone until 1916, when h was elected prosecuting attorney of Mingo County. He wa reelected, but resigned after having served four years an three months. On retiring from office he formed his presen partnership with Mr. Straton, under the name of Bronson . Straton.

Mr. Bronson is secretary, treasurer and a director of th North Matewan Land Company, is secretary and directo of the Williamson Ice & Coal Storage Company, loca counsel for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, Wester Union Telegraph Company, Sycamore Coal Company, Chat taroy Coal Company and other coal companies. During th World war he was government appeal agent of the Locs Draft Board, was a "Four-Minute" speaker and leader i: several of the drives. He is a member in the local and state bar associations, a democrat in politics, is affiliate with O'Brien Lodge No. 101, A. F. and A. M., at William son, is a member of the Kiwanis Club and the Presbyterian Church.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 187

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