History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 19

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > West Virginia > History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2 > Part 19

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. MeCrum, whose offices are in the Charleston National ank Building, is affiliated with the Masonie Order, the lks, the Phi Kappa Sigma college fraternity, and ia a otarian .-

WILLIAM O. ABNEY. Men who have attained to real iccesa in the business world do not admit of the existence : the quality known as luek. Long years of experience Vol. II-7

havo convineed them that prosperity and position come only through the medium of persistent application of Intelligent methods that require time for their development. To the highest order of organizing sense and executive attainments must be added the confidence of the public and a concise and intimate knowledge of the field to ho occupled, the latter only to be attained by gradual and well-timed ap- proaches. Sudden and phenomenal rise to affluence and independence is most uncommon and frequently is followed by failure. Certain it is that none would intimate that William O. Abney, president of the Abney Barnes Company and of the Union Trust Company of Charleston, owes his success to any lucky chance or circumstance. Ilis career has been one of slow and steady advancement. For many years he has occupied a recognized position in business and financial life, and continues to maintain a high standard of principles, which, perhaps, is one of the chief reasons for his sueeess.

Mr. Abney was born at Richmond, Virginia, and his boy. hood days were spent upon a farm in Augusta County. After spending a few years in the coal fields of West Vir- ginia he came to Charleston, when a young man of twenty- two years of age, and there he accepted a position as a traveling salesman with the firm of Arnold, Abney & Com- pany, the Abney of this firm being his cousin, Mr. F. W. Åbney.

This was one of the old established mercantile houses of Charleston. The business had been founded, shortly after the elose of the Civil war, by Mr. E. S. Arnold as e mnodest retail establishment. With the admission of Mr. F. W. Abney into the partnership the firm name was changed to Arneld & Abney. Still later Mr. E. A. Barnes became a partner, and the firm name of Arnold, Ahney & Company was adopted and the business placed upon a wholesale basis exclusively. Some years later, Mr. Arnold having retired from the business, the name was again changed, becoming then, Abney, Barnes & Company. This partnership was subsequently incorporated as Abney Barnes Company, with Mr. F. W. Abney. president, Mr. W. O. Abney, vice president. and Mr. E. A. Barnes, treasurer. Mr. F. W. Abney retired from the business in January, 1906, at which time Mr. W. O. AAbney was elected president, which office he has since continuously held.

The Abney-Barnes Company now enjoys the distinction of being the largest wholesale dry goods house in the Kan- awha Valley. For several years past Mr. Abney has not been actively identified with the management of the busi- ness, he atill retains the presidency, and in matters of im- portanee pertaining thereto his counsel and advice are always sought.

When the Union Trust Company of Charleston was organ. ized, in 1913, Mr. Abney was chosen as its president, and he has since been actively identified with the growth and development of this institution into one of the strong hanking establishments of the state. The Union Trust Company opened its doors for business, May 5, 1913, with a capital of $500,000. and a surplus of $100.000. The ninth annual statement, issued May 5, 1922 showed combined resources in excess of $4.964.000. It is extremely doubtful if any other bank in West Virginia can show such a suh- stantial growth in so short a period of time. The l'nion Trust Company owns and occupies one of the finest bank and office buildings in the state, a thoroughly modern and imposing structure of thirteen stories, at the junction of Kanawha and Capitol streets, in Charleston.

In addition to the interests already mentioned Mr. Abney is president of the Charleston Manufacturing Company, is a director in the Charleston Industrial Corporation at Nitro, and haa oil and coal holdings.

In political matters Mr. Abney is a stanch adherent to the principles of Jeffersonian democracy, and at the national convention of his party at Baltimore in 1912, which noml- nated Woodrow Wilson for the presideney. he served as a delegate.

Mr. Abney is a thirty second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a Knight Templar and a Shriner. He is also a life member of Charleston Lodge of Elka. Having for fifteen conseru- tive yeara represented aa a traveling salesman the firm

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

of which he is now president, he still retains his member- ship in the United Commercial Travelers Association, and recalls many pleasant incidents of his long service as a "Knight of the Grip." The record of his suecess is but another eonfirmation of the fact that opportunity is open to all who are willing to grasp it, and honorably and per- sistently bend their efforts towards the attainment of an ideal.

ROY H. CUNNINGHAM is a graduate mechanical engineer, and his active services have been given principally to mining corporations, chiefly in connection with the great coal re- sources of West Virginia. Mr. Cunningham is a resident of Huntington, where he is secretary and sales manager of the Twin States Fuel Company.

His father, the late James Stuart Cunningham, of Charles- ton, West Virginia, one of the state's most widely known business men and industrial leaders, was born at Eckley, Pennsylvania, September 7, 1856. He was the son of Peter Blair Cunningham, who was born in County Derry, Ireland, 1829. Peter Blair Cunningham, in 1850, married Mary Ann Crawford, who was born in County Derry in 1833. As their wedding journey they eanie to the United States, set- t'ing at Eckley, Pennsylvania. Peter B. Cunningham was a skilled inventor and also a manufacturer. About 1867 he removed to Allentown, Pennsylvania, and lived in that city until his death in 1905, his widow passing away there in 1910.

James S. Cunningham spent his early life at Allentown and graduated with the degree Mechanical Engineer from Lehigh University in 1879. For two years he was a me- chanieal engineer for the Lehigh & Susquehanna Coal Com- pany, for three years was general manager for the Midvale Ore Company, with headquarters at Everett, Pennsylvania, after which he entered the service of the Berwind-White Coal Company, a corporation with which he was identified the rest of his life. As consulting engineer he had a varied routine of duties for this corporation on its properties in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other states. In 1900 he removed to Charleston, West Virginia, and remained in that city until his death, December 12, 1921. He was regarded as a leading authority on the value of coal lands in the United States, and his business and professional duties frequently required his presence in many parts of the United States and foreign fields. In behalf of the Berwind- White Coal Company he purchased over 300,000 aeres of eoal lands. He was president of the Bengal Coal Company and personally interested in a number of other coal com- panies in Western Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. James S. Cunningham was a republican, and an active member and trustee of the Presbyterian Church of Charleston. He was a Royal Arch and Knight Templar Mason, also a thirty- sceond degree Mason and a Shriner, was a life member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, the Charleston Rotary Club and a member of social and technical clubs in Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania towns, including the University Club. He served with the rank of colonel on the staff of Governor Glasscock of West Virginia. James S. Cunningham was a director of the Union Trust Company of Charleston, a director of the Provident Life & Casualty Company of Charleston.

His wife was Mary Hammer, who was born at Newville, Pennsylvania, in 1860, and is living at Charleston. Her father, George Hammer, was born at Hagerstown, Mary- land, in 1811, and as a Presbyterian minister held classes at Newville, Titusville and Upper Lehigh, Pennsylvania. During the Civil war he served two years as chaplain, and was then commissioned a captain in the One Hundred and Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry and served with that rank until the close of the war. He was captured during 1863, and spent several months in Libby Prison, until exchanged. Captain George Hammer, who died at Colfax Springs, Iowa, in 1870, married Catherine Ulmer, who was born in Phila- delphia in 1823 and died in that city in 1904. The chil- dren of James S. Cunningham and wife were: Walter H., a business man of Huntington, is secretary of the West Vir- ginia Coal Operators' Association, secretary of the Ken-

tucky Mine Owners' Association, a director in several Huntington banks, member of the firm Cunningham, Mil- ler & Enslow, eoal lands and real estate, and is vice presi- dent of the Gano-Moore Coal Mining Company, Ine. The second child, Florence, is the wife of Dr. Worth Clark, a physician and surgcon at Atlantic City, New Jersey. Roy H. is the third. J. Earl, a geologist by profession, died at Charleston in 1919 at the age of thirty.

Roy H. Cunningham was born at Everett, Pennsylvania, August 2, 1886, and acquired his early education in public sehools in different towns in Pennsylvania. In 1905 he graduated from the Mercersburg Academy of Pennsylvania. and gained his technical education in Cornell University at Ithaca, New York, where he was graduated with degree of Mechanical Engineer in 1909. He is a member of the Zeta Psi College Fraternity. Mr. Cunningham in 1908 became a resident of Charleston, and during 1909 he was employed in making reports on coal properties in Eastern and West- ern Kentucky, and in 1910 was employed as a construction engineer with several mining companies in Arizona and olo Mexieo. During 1911 for six months he was a special mine inspector in the Department of Mines of West Virginia. with headquarters at Charleston. Following that he did work in the land and operating departments of different coal mining corporations of West Virginia and Kentucky In 1915 Mr. Cunningham joined the Foreign Department of the Berwind-White Coal Company, with residence at San Juan, Porto Rico. He remained there until November 1917, when he entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis for a special engineering course. Early in 1918 he was commissioned naval ensign and was assigned to duty as an assistant engineer officer on the U. S. S. Hunt ington in cruiser and transport service. While in the navy. he made several trips to France, and was on duty unti honorably discharged in June, 1919. Mr. Cunningham 01 leaving the navy became field agent for the Kentland Coa & Coke Company, owners of extensive coal properties ir Kentucky and Virginia. He remained with those duties, until the winter of 1919-20, following which he served a: legislative representative for the Kentucky Mine Owners Association, and in April, 1920, was appointed secretary and sales manager of the Twin States Fuel Company. Thi is the sales organization of the Cunningham, Miller & Ens low firm, with offices in the First National Bank Building of Huntington. Mr. Cunningham is a stockholder in : number of other mining enterprises.

He is a member of the American Institute of Mining En gineers, a member of the Cornell Club of New York City the War Society of the Cruiser & Transport Forces, is a re publican and Presbyterian, and belongs to the Guyandott Club of Huntington and Guyan Country Club.

On June 18, 1916, at San Juan, Porto Rico, he married Miss Iraida Rauschemplat, daughter of Adolf and Senor. Antonio Gueteriz del Arroyo y Rauschemplat. Her parent reside at San Juan, where her father is manager of th Porto Rico Mercantile Company and owner of extensiv sugar interests. Mrs. Cunningham was educated in th United States, in the public schools of Boston and in private school at Fortress Monroe, Virginia. Mr. and Mr: Cunningham have two children: Florence Gloria, born O( tober 1, 1917, and Roy H., Jr., born February 13, 1919.

CHARLES PERRY THORN. In recognizing his natura inclinations and having the courage to mold circumstance to enable him to follow them, has, perhaps, brought bus ness success and contentment to many young men, but i scareely larger degree than to Charles Perry Thorn, or of the leading business men of Morgantown, general mar ager of the General Woodworking Company, of which } was one of the organizers. Mr. Thorn was born on farm and came from a long line of farmer ancestors, bu this did not make him a farmer. The call of the so was not insistent in him in youth, and wisely he turne to mechanies, kept steadfast in determination to gain pe feetion in that line, and today he is at the head of 01 of the largest manufacturing concerns of its kind in Wer Virginia.

Charles Perry Thorn was born on his father's estat

Chas P. Thow

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

u Grant Diatriet, Monongalia County, West Virginia, No. vember 2, ISSO, and is a son of David and Ilarriet A. Potter) Thorn. His paternal grandfather, Jesse Thorn, was born in old Virginia and at an early date settled in the farm in Grant Distriet, Monongalia County, on which his son, David Perry Thorn was born in 1843 and lied in 1903. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Thorn ras Henry Potter, who came to West Virginia from Frost- burg, Maryland, and settled on the farm in Grant Distriet, Monongalia County, on which Mrs. Thorn was born.

Charles P. Thorn attended the publie schools at Laurel Point, near his country home, and assisted his father on he farm until his nineteenth year, when he came to Mor- rantown, learned earpentering and worked at the trade is a journeyman until 1903, when he entered a planing nill and remained until he had learned the business. As oon as cireumstanees permitted, in 1910, he embarked in business for himself, being one of the organizers of the General Woodworking Company, of which he became gen- ral manager and has so continued, and largely because f his able management this enterprise has expanded ten- old and is still growing. Mr. Thorn takes enthusiastic uterest in his business, devotes himself elosely to it and s very adequately rewarded.

In 1906 Mr. Thorn married Miss Olive M. Jacobs, a laughter of Benson and Ellen Jacobs, of Little Falls, Vest Virginia and they have two sons: Ralph Benson, born in 1909; and Fred David, born in 1912. Mr. Thorn nd his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is an active member of the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce, and belongs to the Rotary Club, he Elks and the Knights of Pythias. While never unduly etive in polities, Mr. Thorn as a reliable eitizen and dependable business man, has always kept an open mind nd a listening ear in regard to public affairs, and when e casts his vote it is in support of a candidate who by sord and act has shown devotion to American principles.

JOHN MELVIN RIGG is a substantial and honorable prae- itioner at the Huntington bar, and for some years has been prominent figure in publie life. In the field of his pro- ession he has established a wide reputation for unflagging arnestness and effective work, and his official record has Always been one absolutely beyond reproach. Mr. Rigg is native of Wayne County, West Virginia, and was born November 8 1581, his parents being James Il. and Phoebe Ballengee) Rigg.

The Rigg family is of Scoteb-Irish origin and was ounded in the United States by an immigrant from Ire- and, who located in the colony of Virginia prior to the sar of the Revolution. Zacharias Rigg, the grandfather of ohn M. Rigg, was born in 1821, in Kentucky, and was a pioneer into Wayne County, Virginia, whither he went as a 'oung man. While agriculture was his regular voention, he ras known throughout his neighborhood as a noted hunter .nd a man edueated in all the lure of forest, mountain and Jain. He died in Wayne County in 1599, aged seventy- ight years. Mr. Rigg married Elizabeth Christian, who ras born in Wayne (then Cabell) County, in 1821, and died a the same county in 1901.

James H. Rigg was born April 19, 1844, in Wayne County, Virginia (now West Virginia), and has resided in he same community all of his life. Reared to agricultural pursuits, he has applied himself to farming and stoek- aising, and has been successful in both departments of is work, being at present the owner of a valuable modern roperty. During a long and busy career he has found the ime and inelination to serve in a number of publie offices, n which he has eomported himself with becoming conseien- iousness and efficiency, having been constable for seven ears and justice of the peace for seven years. Politically te supports the demoeratie party, and as a fraternalist he olds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows nd the Knights of the Golden Eagle. With his family he belongs to the Baptist Church, the movements of which al- rays have his eo-operation and material assistance. Mr. ligg married Miss Phoebe Ballengee, who was born in 843, in Wayne County, Virginia (now West Virginia), and

died in Wayne County in 1916. To this umon there were born children as follows: California, who married l'hild, S. Hughes and resides at Ceredo, Wayne County, where Mlr. Hughes is a painter and paperbonger; William S., who 1> engaged in agricultural pursuits in Wayne County; George W., a commission and feed merchant of Huntington; Min nie, who married first James Il. Odell n farmer of Wayne County, and after his death married Mr. Blo's, a former of the same county, where they now reside : 1.evi J., a farmer and merchant of Wayne County; Wellington B., also n farmer of this county; Albert, n rnilrond employe of Ken ova, Wayne County; Viola, who married Laban Workman, a farmer and dairyman of Cabell County; Charles, who is engaged in agricultural operations in Wayne County; John Melvin, of this notice; and James, a traveling salesman, with headquarters at Parkersburg, West Virginia.

Reared in the atmosphere of the home farm, the early education of John M. Rigg was obtained through attend. anee at the rural schools of Wayne County, this bring sub- sequently supplemented by a course at Oak View Academy at Wayne. Leaving this institution in 1595, he taught school in Wayne County for seven years thereafter, and was then made deputy clerk of the Circuit Court of Wayne County, acting in that capacity for four years. During this time, having decided upon a professional career, he np plied himself to the study of law, and eventually entered the West Virginia State University at Morgantown, where he spent one year in the law department. He was admit ted to the bar in August, 1913. and immediately began the practice of his ealling at Wayne, where he remained until January, 1920, since when he has carried on a general civil and criminal praetiee at Huntington, His offices are located at Nos. 401-402 Holswade Building, and on his books are found the names of some of the leading concerns of this section of the state.

Mr. Rigg is a demoerat in his political affiliation and is accounted one of the influential men of his party. He served two terma as mayor of Wayne while living at that place, was one year assistant prosecuting attorney of Wnyne County, and at the present time is acting as eity attorney of Kenova, Wayne County. Mr. Rigg belongs to the Bap- tist Church. He has shown an interest in fraternal work and is a past grand of Fairmont Lodge No. 115, I. O. O. F., of Wayne, and a member of the Encampment of that order. He also has several important civic connections, and his business interests include the secretaryship of the East Lynn Oil and Gas Company, of East Lyon, Wayne County. Ilis pleasant home is situated at Kenova. During the World war he took an active part in nil local war ne tivities, being fuel administrator for Wayne County and a member of the Legal Advisory Board. He devoted much time to the enuse and was a liberal contributor to the vari ous movements.

In December, 1902, Mr. Rigg was united in marriage with Miss Bertie Frazier, of Wayne County, daughter of George W. and Sarah (Enochs) Frazier, the latter of whom resides at Kenova. Mr. Frazier, who is now deceased, was an agriculturalist and schooltencher of Wayne County, and served as superintendent of the county schools and as clerk of the Circuit Court of Wayne County. To Mr. and Mrs. Rigg there have come three children: Sarah, born Mny 29, 1904, a senior in the Ceredo High School; Homer, born October 8, 1913, who is attending the graded school; and Mamie, born June 29, 1916.

F. WITCHER MCCULLOUGH, one of the representative members of the bar of the City of Huntington, distinctly advanced his professional prestige by his long and able service as assistant United States district attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, an office of which he was the ineumbent from November, 1913, until December 31. 1921, when he resigned, owing to the exigent deman ]- placed upon him in connection with the large law business controlled by the firm of which he is a member, that of Warth, MeCullough & Peyton.

The MeCullough family, as the name clearly indicat. .. is one whose lineage traces back to stauneh Scotch origin, and the original representatives of the family in America

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

settled in Pennsylvania many generations ago. In that state, in Washington County, was born Dr. Patrick Henry McCullough on July 12, 1816, and he received excellent edu- cational advantages, both academic and professional. As a young man he became a pioneer physician and surgeon in C'abell County, West Virginia, as now constituted, and he was long numbered among the leading medical practitioners in the City of Huntington, where his death occurred May 30, 1892. His character and service marked him as one of the honored and influential citizens of the county in which he long maintained his home and to the civic and ma- terial advancement of which he contributed his quota.

Frank Witcher MeCullongh was born at Huntington, West Virginia, May 3, 1889, and is a son of Frank F. and Alice V. (Witcher) McCullough, the former of whom was born in Cabell County, this state (at that time still a part of Virginia), in the year 1857, and the latter of whom was born in Cabell County in 1861. Frank F. McCullongh has been a resident of Huntington from virtually the time of its founding, and has witnessed and aided in the develop- ment of this now important industrial and commercial city of his native county and state. lle was for twenty-four years clerk of the Cabell County Court, has long been one of the leading members of the bar of his native county, and is still an active member of the representative llunting- ton law firm of Warth, Mccullough & Peyton. His politi- cal allegiance is given to the democratic party, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Of their children the firstborn was Flora Witcher, who was eighteen years of age at the time of her death, on July 18, 1906, her birthday; and the one surviving child is he whose name initiates this review.

The public schools of Huntington afforded F. Witcher Mccullough his preliminary education, which was supple- mented by his attending the Bingham Military Academy, Asheville, North Carolina, for three years. In the autumn of 1908 he entered the law department of the University of West Virginia, in which he was graduated in the spring of 1910, his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws having been virtually coincident with his admission to the bar of his native state. In the law school he was president of his class in his freshman year, and at the university also he became affiliated with the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He was twenty-one years of age at the time of his admission to the bar, and in the general practice of his profession at Huntington he has been identified with important cases in the various courts of this section of the state and has clearly demonstrated his powers as a resourceful lawyer in both the civil and criminal departments of practice. The representative law firm of which he is a member maintains offices in both the Ohio Valley Bank Building and the First National Bank Building at Huntington, he being a director of the former institation and also its official attorney. He is vice president and attorney of the Buffalo Thacker Coal Company.

In November, 1913, Mr. MeCullough was appointed first assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, under the administration of William G. Barnhart. Upon the resignation of Mr. Barnhart from the office of district attorney, in June, 1917, Mr. Mccullough was appointed acting district attorney, in which capacity he served until the following October, when Lon H. Kelly, the present United States attorney, was appointed. There- after he continued his service as chief assistant to the dis- trict attorney until December 31, 1921, when he resigned, as noted in the opening paragraph of this sketch.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 19

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: