History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 196

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MARVIN LAMBERT. Nearly twenty years of experience in the coal industry has given Marvin Lambert a thorough in- sight into the business, and the various position which he has held and the territory which he has covered have com- bined to make him well and favorably known, particularly in his present location, Borderland, Mingo County, where he is cashier and assistant secretary of the Borderland Coal Corporation. Mr. Lambert is a native of Rush, Kentucky, and was born February 2, 1883, a son of Samuel T. and Margaret Elizabeth (Simpson) Lambert, natives of Ken- tucky. The Lambert family came originally from Virginia, while the Simpsons have been known for many years in Kentucky.

Samuel T. Lambert, one of the pioneer coal men in this district of West Virginia, came here from Kentucky in 1893 and located at Thacker, where he worked as a miner for the old Maritime Coal Company. When he left Thacker he became superintendent of the Red Jacket Consolidated Companies, and came to this locality before Mingo County was formed. After its organization as a county he was honored by election as first justice of the peace, and served capably and honorably in that capacity. Embarking in busi- ness for himself, he became the organizer of the Magnolia Coal Company, but later went to Logan County, where he had charge of the Shamrock Mine. Next Mr. Lambert went West as superintendent for a Colorado mining company, but after one year in Colorado returned to West Virginia and located in Mingo County as superintendent of the Stone Mountain Coal Company, an industry with which he re- mained two years. On leaving that concern he went into the mercantile business at Matewan, West Virginia. At the age of sixty-one years Mr. Lambert is still active not only in business life but in civic affairs as well. A republican since his early manhood, he has been one of the wheel- horses of his party, and his political record is an eminently honorable one. In fact his honesty has been such that on several occasions in the past he has been betrayed and sacrificed by unscrupulous politicians, who have traded upon

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Is integrity and belief in his fellows to further their own ds. Mr. Lambert's name has been promineatly men- hned in connection with the office of mine inspector for is distriet.

Marvin Lambert was given the advantages of attendance the country sehools of Carter County, Kentucky, and for ur and one-half years worked as clerk for his father, who 18 serving in the capacity of postmaster. Next he took a urse at the National Business College, Roanoke, Virginia, und upon its completion returned for a time to the postoffice, at in November, 1903, began his experience with the coal dustry when he started to work as pay roll clerk for the ed Jacket Coal Company. He remained with that con- rn until September 30, 1908, when he resigned to venture to the hazardous field of politics as a candidate for the fice of Circuit Court clerk. Being defeated, he secured mployment as cashier and purchasing agent for the Crozer bal and Coke Company at Elkhorn, West Virginia, with hich firm he remained two years and nine months. On etober 1, 1911, he came to Borderland as bookkeeper and ashier for the Borderland Coal Company, remaining until Cay 5, 1913, when he moved to Bluefield as bookkeeper for he Baldwin-Felt Detective Agency. After eight months he bined the Guyandotte Coal Company at Kitchen, West irginia, and remained three and one-half months, then eturning to Bluefield and becoming a traveling salesman. n July, 1914, he returned to Borderland, where he has since een cashier and assistant secretary of the Borderland Coal orporation, located on the main line of the Norfolk & Vestera Railroad, six miles west of Williamson. Mr. Lam- ert bears an excellent reputation in mining circles, and is onsidered one of the thoroughly informed men in his line.

On October 11, 1905, at Edgarton, West Virginia, Mr. ambert was united in marriage with Miss Nellie Adams, aughter of Charles J. and Elizabeth Adams, natives of Kentucky, where Mr. Adams was superintendent of a coal hine. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lam- ert: Evelyn Francis, born in 1906, and Helen Adams, born in 1907. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and are generous contributors to Il worthy movements, either of a religious, educational r civic character. Politically Mr. Lambert gives his allegiance to the democratic party. He is a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

BENJAMIN J. READ, M. D., who sinee 1911 has been in charge of mine practice in the coal district of Mingo County, where he is in charge of the professional service of this order for the Red Jaeket Consolidated Coal Company, maintains his home and headquarters at Red Jacket. He is 1 skilled physician and surgeon who is aiding effectively in maintaining the high standard of his profession in the state.

Doctor Read was born on the family homestead farm in Bedford County, Virginia, August 11, 1876, and is a son of Thomas G. and Imogene Penn (Jordan) Read. Thomas G. Read was born on the same old homestead, in 1851, and there his death occurred in 1913, his widow still remaining there. Thomas G. Read was a university graduate, but was content to devote his attention to the basic industries of ag- riculture and stock-growing, of which he continued a suc- cessful exponent in his native state until the close of his life. He was a democrat and was influential in public af- fairs of a local order. His father, Dr. John Thomas Wyatt Read, was named in honor of three Read brothers who died at Valley Forge while serving as patriot soldiers in the War of the Revolution. The American progenitors of the Read family came from the ancestral seat of the family at Readsdale in the North of England, one representative of the name having settled in New Jersey, one in Bedford County, Virginia, and one in a state farther to the south. George Read, another member of the family, was a resident of Delaware and figures in history as one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Dr. John T. W. Read owned a fine landed estate of 2,500 aeres on the Lynchburg and Salem Turnpike in Bedford County, Virginia, and most of this property is still in the possession of the family. He was long one of the leading physicians and surgeons of that

section of the Old Dominion State, and was a man of far. reaching influence in connection with civic and public af. fairs.

Dr. Benjamin J. Read, the only son in a family of five children, gained much of his early education in New Lon- don Academy, near the old home, this institution having been founded in 1793 and is still one of the important in- dustrial schools of Virginia. At this academy the doctor continued hia studies until he was eighteen years of age, and in 1896 he matriculated in the medical department of the historic old University of Virginia, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1900. After thus receiving liis degree of Doctor of Medicine he was for two years established in practice at Bellevue in his native county. For five years thereafter he was connected with the medical department of the United States Bureau of Pensions in the City of Washington, D. C., and he next passed one year in Oklahoma as special examiner for this bureau. In April, 1911, Doetor Read established his resi- dence at Red Jacket, West Virginia, where his large general and mine practice places heavy demands upon his time and attention and marka him as one of the representative phy- sicians and surgeons of Mingo County. Until its destruc- tion by fire Doctor Read also had charge of the hospital at Matewan. He is a member of the Mingo County Medical Society, West Virginia State Medical Society and the Ameri- can Medical Association. In the Masonic fraternity he is affiliated with Marshall Lodge No. 39, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Lynchburg, Virginia; the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Wayne, West Virginia; Bluefield Commandery No. 19, Kaights Templars, at Bluefield, this state; and the Consistory of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling. The doctor is a past noble grand of Friendship Lodge No. 12, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Washington, D. C., is a member of the Lodge of Elks at Huntington, his religious faith is that of the Presbyterian Church, and his wife holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

June 8, 1921, recorded the marriage of Doctor Read and Miss Chloe Dymple Spriegel, daughter of E. L. Spriegel, of Red Jacket, and she is a popular figure in the representa- tive social life of the community.

EVAN THOMAS. A leading figure in the coal industry of Mingo County is Evan Thomas, superintendent of the Cin- derella Mine and a man who has had much experience in his line of endeavor. Mr. Thomas has been a constructive force in the activities which have contributed to the development of this region, and has played his part in the movements which have uncovered some rich coal mining properties. He was born at Monmouthshire, England, March 10, 1873, and is a son of James and Elizabeth (Williams) Thomas, natives of Wales and England, respectively.

On the paternal side Mr. Thomas is descended from an old Welch family, while on the maternal side he is con- nceted with the Williams family, which at one time con- ducted the famous Whistle Inn at Blan Avon, England, one of the most noted of the old English inns. His parents immigrated to the United States and located at Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1881, and there James Thomas, who had been a skilled and experienced miner in the old country, secured as his first employment the work of sinking what was known as the Salon shaft. In this line he was ae- counted an expert, and followed the same specialty at various places, including Glenlyon, Luzerne and other places in Pennsylvania, until 1890, when he removed to Randolph County, West Virginia.

Evan Thomas attended the common school at Scranton, Pennsylvania, but as he started to work when he was only cleven years of age his education waa somewhat limited, although later he attended school intermittently during the winter months when it was not possible for him to be at his employment. His first work was as a trapper, after which he was made a mule driver, and before he had reached the age of twenty years he had been advanced to the post of boss driver. About this time he came with his father to Randolph County, West Virginia, and first located at Pickens Post Office, where he entered the lumber business

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as a buyer of lumber for the Kele & Morgan Company, and also acted as an inspector. During the five years that he was identified with this concern he spent two years in North Carolina. Later he became identified with the Keyes-Fannon Company as superintendent of their lumber mill, and for five years continued as the head of this band- saw and circular-saw mill. In 1911 he left this firm and joined the Sycamore Coal Company, opening up all their properties, including the Cinderella Mine, erecting the build- ings for the housing of the miners, as well as the office, stores, etc., and getting out much of the lumber, for, while he was a miner, he was likewise a lumberman and his ex- perience in both directions assisted him greatly. Since then Mr. Thomas has continued as general superintendent of the Cinderella Mine, located at Cinderella Post Office, about two and one-half miles up the branch of the N. & W. Railway, which turns off the main line about three miles east of Williamson. He is widely and favorably known in coal mining circles of this part of the state, and has the confidence of his employers and the respect of his men. Mr. Thomas is a thirty-second degree, Scottish Rite Mason, a Knight Templar, an Elk, a Shriner and a Pythian Knight. With his family he belongs to the Presbyterian Church. On May 9, 1908, Mr. Thomas married at Pikeville, Kentucky, Miss Josephine L. Francis, daughter of D. L. and Katherine (Dean) Francis, natives of Kentucky. Mr. Francis, who at one time was engaged in the lumber business with the W. M. Ritter Lumber Company, is now engaged in the insurance business at Pikeville. Mrs. Thomas is a direct descendant of the distinguished Dr. James Draper of Philadelphia, and on her mother's side belongs to the Gibson family of which Charles Dana Gibson is a member.

ERVIN PRENTICE STEPP, M. D., is another of the able physicians and surgeons engaged in successful general prac- tice in the great coal-mining districts of West Virginia, his residence and professional headquarters being at Kermit, Mingo County.

Doctor Stepp was born at Pilgrim, Martin County, Ken- tucky, September 30, 1888, and is the only child of Moses and Elizabeth (Payne) Stepp, whose marriage was solem- nized in that county, where Mrs. Stepp was born and reared. Moses Stepp was born in Tennessee, and after his marriage he was actively identified with the timber business on Tug River in Kentucky and West Virginia, his death having occurred when he was still a young man and when his only child, subject of this sketch, was a small boy. The widowed mother later became the wife of C. C. Fannin, a lawyer in Martin County, and later they came to Mingo County, West Virginia, and established their home at Naugatuck. There the death of Mr. Fannin occurred, and his widow now resides with her son, Dr. Ervin P. Stepp, who is still an eligible bachelor.

Doctor Stepp acquired his early education in the public schools of Martin and Lawrence counties, Kentucky, and as a young man he was a successful teacher in the schools of Martin County and also Mingo County, West Virginia, he having taught six different schools. Finally, with his sav- ings and the further financial reinforcement gained through money lent to him by friends who approved his ambitious purpose, he went to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1911, and there entered the National University, where he completed his high school course the first year and also passed the examination that enabled him to enter the medical depart- ment of the institution. In his last year at the university he again did double work, by taking not only the regular studies of the medical school but also specialized in the study of diseases of children. After receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine from this institution he was for two years engaged in practice at Parma, New Madrid County, Missouri, and he then returned to his native county in Kentucky, whence, shortly afterward, he came to Kermit, West Virginia, where he has since built up a most successful practice, in which he is associated with Dr. H. Haws. This representative professional firm has the practice of the Himler, Earlston and Grey Eagle mines in addition to a large general practice. Doctor Stepp is a member of the Mingo County Medical Society, the West Virginia Medical

Society and the American Medical Association, he is a democrat in politics and is affiliated with the Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Inez, Kentucky. His revered and devoted mother presides over the domestic economies and social hospitalities of their pleasant home, she having been his inspiration, his guide and counsellor, and he having provided for her since his boyhood days, with utmost filial solicitude.

THOMAS A. SHEWEY has the characteristics and the ample experience that combine to make him one of the efficient and popular executives in connection with coal-mining operations. He is manager of the Grey Eagle Mine of the Grey Eagle Coal Company at Grey Eagle, in the extreme lower end of Mingo County, West Virginia, and also of the Dempsey Coal Company, the mine of which is situated in the adjoining Kentucky County of Martin, the tipple of this mine being over the line in West Virginia. The Grey Eagle Mine was opened in 1908 and the Dempsey Mine, in 1919, under the direct management of Mr. Shewey, who has been actively identified with operations in this field since 1916.

Mr. Shewey, who maintains his home and executive head- quarters in the Village of Grey Eagle, was born on his father's farm in Bland County, Virginia, December 13, 1877, and is a son of Walter and Ellen (Fry) Shewey, the former of whom died in 1915, at the age of fifty-eight years, and the latter of whom remains on the old home farm, she having attained to the venerable age of seventy-eight years (1922). Mrs. Ellen Shewey is a daughter of Abram Fry, who was born in Wythe County, Virginia, and who died in Bland County, that state, in 1920, at the remarkable age of. ninety-eight years, his active career having been one of close association with farm enterprise. Walter Shewey was a son of Washington Shewey, who was an early settler and representative farmer in Bland County and who also served the United States Government as collector of internal revenue. When the Civil war was precipitated Washington Shewey was so determined not to be drawn into the Con- federate service, owing to his intense loyalty to the Federal Government, that he set forth with wagon and ox team and made his way across the plains to the gold fields of Montana, where he gained pioneer honors. He eventually returned to Virginia, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was a stalwart republican, as have been the other men of the family in later generations, he was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Walter and Ellen (Fry) Shewey became the parents of four sons and one daughter: Charles A. is a merchant at Carus, Bland County, Virginia; William F. is engaged in the cotton-seed oil business in Kansas City, Mis- souri ; David F. is a farmer of Virginia; Thomas A., of this sketch, was next in order of birth; Mande is the wife of P. A. Conner, and they reside in the State of Florida.

Thomas A. Shewey attended graded school in his native county, and at the age of twenty years was graduated in the high school at Sharon. Thereafter he was for two years a student in the department of liberal arts in Grant Uni- versity, Athens, Tennessee, and in 1902 he came to the Pocahontas coal fields of West Virginia. He became a salesman in the general store conducted by the Mill Creek Coal & Coke Company at Cooper, McDowell County, and six months later he was transferred to the company's engineer- ing department. He severed his connection with this com- pany two years later and entered the employ of the Cirus Coal & Coke Company at Big Four, McDowell County," where he remained seven years-first as bookkeeper and thereafter as manager. During the ensuing seven years he was manager of the Margaret Mining Company at War Eagle, Mingo County, and since 1916 he has been connected with the Grey Eagle Coal Company, of which he is mine manager, as is he also of the Dempsey Coal Company. He has been actively concerned in virtually all of the great coal development in this section of West Virginia. Mr. Shewey is uncompromising in his allegiance to the republican party. His basic Masonic affiliation is with Vivian Lodge No. 105, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, at Vivian, Mc- Dowell County, besides which he is a member of the Chapter

BB.Wheeler D.a.S.

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Royal Arch Masens at Northfork, that county, the Com- ndery ef Knights Templars at Bluefield and the Temple the Mystic Shrine in the City of Charleston. The year 1910 recorded the marriage of Mr. Shewey and ss Mae Peetry, daughter of Mrs. Virginia Peetry, and , three children of this union are Virginia, Thomas A., , and Frederick.

JOHN CARL LAWSON, M. D. One of the younger men in profession, Doctor Lawson is an exceptionally able and illful surgeen, and has the heavy responsibilities of being ysician and surgeon in charge of all the mining practice r the Borderland Coal Corporation, the Chattaray Coal mpany and the Winifrede-Thacker Coal Company's mines Minge County. His home and office are in Borderland. Docter Lawson is a native ef Minge County, bern en 'camere Creek, near Williamson, July 20, 1894. He is the n of Harry and Ellen (Murray) Lawson, residents of illiamson. His father is fifty-five and his mother is fifty- e. Harry Lawsen, beginning in carly manheed and cen- quing until a few years hence, was an active timber man ı Tug River. He rafted a great volume ef timber to mar- et on the Ohie River and became widely known as a iccessful business man. He also was bern on Sycamore reek in Minge County, while his wife is a native of Louisa, entucky. The Cinderella Coal Mines are located on the awsen lands. Doctor Lawson is the second in a family of our children. All three of the sons saw active service in le World war. Dr. L. E. Lawson, a Williamson dentist, ecame a first lieutenant, was trained at Camp Gordon, and Bring the fifteen months he was in service was first with je Fifty-seventh Engineers and then in the Third Pioneer ofantry, and while on duty in the battle lines was severely ounded. He received his discharge at Camp Grant. Lee, he youngest son, trained at Camp Houston, Texas, and ompleted his early literary education in the University of faryland and is now in the University of West Virginia. 'he daughter, Lena, is a student in West Virginia Uni- ersity.

John Carl Lawson acquired his carly education in the Randolph-Macon Academy and Randolph-Macon College, and n 1917 he graduated from the College of Medicine and Surgery of Chicago. While in scheel he made surgery bis pecial study, and after graduating he was honse surgeon of St. Anthony's Hospital in Chicago. From there he re- urned te West Virginia and was connected with the Legan Miners' Hospital at Logan. In April, 1918, he was com- nissiened a first lieutenant. He began his medical training it Camp Grant, and later was assigned to Camp Lec and :hen te Camp Mills and from there went overseas. After the armistice was signed he was with the Eighth Division and the Embarkation IIospital, taking care of the wounded, and after his return to the United States he remained for eight months in charge of hospital trains front Hoboken to all parts of the United States. Upon his discharge from the army Dector Lawson came te his present duties at Border- land.

He is a member of the various medical associations, and is affiliated with O'Bryan Ledge No. 101 at Williamson, Wheeling Consistory and a Shrine in Charleston. He is an active member of the Presbyterian Church.

October 4, 1919, he married Esther Clyde, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Clyde, of Olean, New York. Doctor and Mrs. Lawsen have one son, John C., Jr.

BENJAMIN BLAINE WHEELER, M. D. As chief of staff and surgeon of the King's Daughters Hospital at Beckley, Dr. Benjamin Blaine Wheeler eccupies a recognized position of prominence in medical circles of Raleigh County. His ac- tivities, however, are not strictly confined to the limits of his profession, for he is likewise well known in public affairs and in business and financial affairs. He has contributed materially to the advancement and progress of the various communities in which he has lived and labered, and in all respects has proven himself a man of bread mind and ver- satile gifts.

Doctor Wheeler was bern at Clay Court House, Clay County, West Virginia, July 24, 1876, and is a son ef Ed-

ward B. and Sarah J. (Hamrich) Wheeler. Edward B. Wheeler was born at Jane Lew, Lewis County, West Vir- ginia, in 1836, and as a young man engaged in farming. When the war between the states came on his sympathies were with the North, and he accordingly enlisted in the Union Army and was assigned to Company F, First West Virginia Volunteer Infantry. At one time he was a pris- ener for aix menths, but escaped while being transported from ene prisen to another, and later teek part in the heavy fighting around Petersburg and befere Richmond, he also being present at Appomattox, At Dreep Mountain, Pocahontas County, he was ahet through the bedy, and this wound left him an invalid for the remainder of his life, although he still engaged in farming te some extent and rounded out a useful career. Always active in repub- lican politica, he served as pestmaster at Clay, as justice of the peace and as a member of the County Court, and at one time was elected to the State Senate on the first count, but lest his seat in the receunt of votes. He died in 1899, respected and estecmed. Mrs. Wheeler, whe was born in 1856, at Braxton, West Virginia, died in 1912. They were the parents of six sens and two daughters, of whom three sens are new living: G. B., a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeens ef Baltimore, whe is now engaged in practice at Cressment, near Lexington, Kentucky; J. B., who is assistant cashier of the Elk Valley Bank at Clay ; and Dr. Benjamin Blaine.

Dr. Benjamin B. Wheeler attended public scheel at Clay Court House, and during his spare time worked on his fa- ther's farm, cnt and rafted timber en the Elk River, worked in construction camps for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company, and turned his hand te whatever hener- able employment came his way. He also taught twe scheels, and then entered Glenville State Normal School, frem which he was graduated in 1900, at that time becoming principal of the Clay schools, which he bad attended as a lad. Doctor Wheeler spent only one term in educational work, and then entered the Medical College of Louisville, Kentucky, from which he was graduated in 1904, with the degree of Decter of Medicine. This training was later sup- plemented by post-graduate courses in 1906 and 1908 in the New York Polyclinic, where he specialized in surgery. After leaving medical college he located at bis beyheed heme, Clay Court House, and in 1906 became superintendent and surgeon in charge of the McKendrie State Hospital, where he remained until 1917. In that year he became su- perintendent and aurgeon of the Chesapeake & Ohio Hospi- tal at Clifton Forge, Virginia, resigning in September, 1921, to take charge of the King's Daughters Hospital at Beckley. Doctor Wheeler keeps fully abreast of the won- derful advancements constantly being made in medicine and surgery, and is a member of the Raleigh County Medical Society, the West Virginia Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the American College of Surgeons. He is a registered pharmacist in West Virginia. Decter Wheeler has a number of prominent business connections, and is president of the Elk Valley Bank, and a director of the National Bank of Thurmond and of the Carver Ferk Coal Company of Clay County. An active and influential republican, as early as 1893 he served as general clerk in the West Virginia House of Delegates. In 1916 and 1917 he was chairman of the Fayette County Republican Central Committee, and in 1920 was delegate-at-large from Vir- ginia to the Republican National Convention at Chicago which neminated Warren G. Harding for the presidency. Fraternally Doctor Wheeler is a member of Warren Lodge Ne. 109, at Berry, West Virginia; Sewell Chapter, R. A. M., at Thurmond; Hinten Commandery, K. T., and Beni-Kedem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Charleston, as well as West Virginia Consistory, S. R. M., thirty-second degree, at Wheeling. He is a life member of the Benevelent and Pro- tective Order of Elks at Hinton, and holds membership in the Cliften Ferge Kiwanis Club.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 196

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