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

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Walling Wallenson Van Winkle was born November 19, 1845, at Lodi, Bergen County, New Jersey, at the home- stead standing on land that had been acquired by the Van Winkle family as early as 1684. He was a son of Adolphus Walling and Petrina (Van Winkle) Van Winkle, his mother being also of a collateral line of the same Van Winkle ancestry. W. W. Van Winkle was educated in the schools of Jersey City and the University of New York, and after partly qualifying himself for the practice of law came to Parkersburg in October, 1864, where he com- pleted his legal studies under his uncle, being his uncle's secretary while the latter was in the United States Senate. He was admitted to the bar December 1, 1866, and was in continuous active practice until his death. On June 1, 1875, he formed a partnership with B. Mason Ambler, under the name of Van Winkle & Ambler, a firm which attained a very high standing in the profession.

Much of his legal talent was devoted to large and con- structive business affairs. He was acting secretary of the Northwestern Virginia Railroad Company until May, 1865, when the company was reorganized as the Parkersburg Branch Railroad Company, and he continued to be officially identified with its affairs as secretary until 1899, when he became a director. He was also a director of the Ohio River Railroad Company, the Huntington & Big Sandy Railroad, the Ravenswood and Mill Creek Valley Railroad, the Ravenswood, Spencer & Glenwood, was the first seere- tary of the Little Kanawha Navigation Company, and in 1886 was one of the projectors of what is now the Parkers- burg, Marietta & Interurban Railway Company and for many years was its secretary and director. He was identi- fied with the Baltimore & Ohio Railway from 1864, being a member of its legal department from 1870 until his death.

Mr. Van Winkle succeeded C. C. Martin as president of the First National Bank of Parkersburg. He was also president of the Peerless Milling Company, a director of the Parkersburg Industrial Company, the Shaffer Oil & Refining Company of Chicago. He was a trustee of the sinking funds of the City of Parkersburg for forty years, but was never active in politics. He was a member of the

American, County and State Bar associations, the Dutch Reformed Church, the Union League Club of Chicago, and at one time was president of the Blennerhasset Club and the Parkersburg Country Club. He was an honorary thirty third degree Mason and a member of the Holland Society of New York.

Among the many tributes paid to bis character and activities at the time of his death the following expresse some of the qualities outside of his character as a lawyer "His chief characteristics were his indomitable courage his unswerving loyalty to his friends and clients, an even unruffled temper which no stress or storm of controversy could disturb; a kindliness and courtesy which often wo] his opponents to his views. He possessed unusual abilitie as an executive, and his learning and clear common sense had much to do with his success in corporate matters.'

October 21, 1868, Mr. Van Winkle married Miss Hannal Cook, daughter of Paul Cook of Parkersburg. Mrs. Vai Winkle died August 26, 1902. Their only surviving chile is Mary, now Mrs. C. T. Hiteshew of Parkersburg.

HON. EPHRAIM F. MORGAN, sixteenth governor of the State of West Virginia, has done much to exemplify while in office the virile efficiency and manhood that is his in heritance from pioneer trail blazers and Indian fighters a the very onset of civilization into what is now West Vir ginia.

Governor Morgan is in the sixth generation from Col Morgan Morgan, a native of Wales, who was educated il London, came to America during the reign of William III first locating in Delaware and in 1727 removed to the vicin ity of Winchester, Virginia. He is credited with having made the first white settlement and having built the firs. church in what is now Berkeley County, West Virginia From his time to the present the Morgans have been : historie family, men of constructive ideals and activities i every generation. A son of Colonel Morgan was Zackwel Morgan, a colonel in the Continental Army in the Revolu: tion and founder of the Town of Morgantown. Anothe son was David Morgan, from whom the present governo directly descends. David Morgan was a surveyor, with hi brother Zackwell moved to the Monongahela Valley, Zack well settling at the present site of the City of Morgantown while David settled near the present City of Rivesville i Marion County, where he is buried. The paternal grand father of Governor Morgan was James Morgan. This i only brief reference to an ancestry that contains man. notable names, some of which are more adequately treater elsewhere in this publication.

Governor Ephraim F. Morgan was born at Forksburg i Marion County, January 16, 1869, son of Marcus and Vir ginia (Wymer) Morgan. Marens Morgan was a Union sol dier throughout the Civil war, serving in the Sixth Wes Virginia Infantry. There have been Morgans in all th wars. Governor Morgan was a volunteer in the Spanish American war, being a member of the First West Virgini: regiment.

Ephraim F. Morgan attended public schools in Mario County, the Fairmont State Normal School, and graduate in 1897 from the law department of the University of Wes Virginia. As a youth he taught school, and continued hi work as an educator in the public schools of Marion Count: for nine years. In 1898 he began the practice of law a Fairmont, and had demonstrated his sound abilities as : lawyer before he accepted the honors and responsibilities o public office. He served as judge of the Intermediate Cour of Marion County for six years, from 1907 to 1913. O1 leaving the beneh he resumed private practice, from whiel he was called by appointment of Governor Hatfield as : member of the Public Service Commission of West Virgini: for a term of four years, and was reappointed for two ad ditional years to fill out the unexpired term of Hon. Elliot Northcott, resigned. He began his duties June I, 1915, and soon afterward removed to Charleston. He resigned No vember 15, 1919, to become a candidate for the republicar nomination for governor, was nominated and had a sweep ing victory in the November election of that year.

Governor Morgan married Miss Alma Bennett, daughte

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

of Albert Bennett, of Monongalia County, a prominent family in the Monongahela Valley. The only daughter of Governor and Mrs. Morgan, Lucile, died at the age of fif- teen months. They have a son, Albert Marcus Morgan, born July 29, 1912.

DANIEL BOARDMAN PURINTON, Ph. D., LL. D., president. emeritus of West Virginia University, enjoys an impressive accumulation of the honors and attainments of scholarship. flis ancestors were college men and able ministers of the Gospel, so that though born in a section of West Virginia where education and culture were not generally diffused, his early inelinations were thoughtfully cherished and encour- aged. His own children have gained notable recognition in the world of arts and letters.

Doctor Purinton was born on Buffalo Creek, seven miles south of Roseburg, in Preston County, West Virginia, February 15, 1850, son of Rev. Jesse M. and Nancy ( Aklen) Purinton. His great-grandfather, Rev. D. Purinton, was a New England Baptist minister. The grandfather, Rev. Thomas Purinton, D. D., was a native of Massachusetts, and early gained fame for his eloquence and ability as a church- man and scholar. He was pastor of Baptist churches at Coleraine and Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, and subse- quently was editor and managing head of the Watchman and Reflector, the official Baptist periodical of New York State. Some years before his death, which occurred in New York State, he made a trip into Western Virginia, and while here purchased upwards of a thousand acres of wild land in Preston County. It was this land that influenced the fol- lowing generation to locate in West Virginia.

Rev. Jesse Martin Purinton, D. D., was born at Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, August 12, 1809. He was educated at Madison, now Colgate, University, and was both a minister and educator. He held the same pulpits at Coleraine and Shelburne Falls as his father, and was also an instructor at Shelburne Falls Academy. In 1849 he settled on a portion of his father's land in Preston County, West Virginia, but sub- sequently removed to Morgantown, and was pastor of the First Baptist Church of that city for two years. He died at Morgantown in 1869. His wife, Nancy Alden, was born in Central New York, July 2, 1814, daughter of Deacon Aaron Lyon. She died at Morgantown in 1902. Her chil- dren were: Edward Lord, who died at the age of fifteen; Daniel Boardman; Aaron Lyon, Ph. D., M. D., who at the time of his death was professor of chemistry in the Univer- sity of Nashville, Tennessee; George Dana, Ph. D., M. D., formerly a professor in the University of Missouri and at the time of his death was a practicing physician at St. Louis.

Daniel Boardman Purinton acquired his early education in Georges Creek Academy at Smithfield, Pennsylvania, at- tended the West Virginia University Preparatory School, and graduated A. B. from West Virginia University in 1873 and received the Master of Arts degree in 1876. In 1889 Denison University of Ohio conferred upon him the degree LL. D. and his Bachelor of Philosophy degree was bestowed by the University of Nashville in 1892. Doctor Purinton received his Bachelor's degree at Morgantown nearly half a century ago, and of that long and interesting period of ripening honors he has devoted nearly four decades to the service of his alma mater. He was teacher in the University Preparatory School from 1873 to 1878. He was then successively professor of .logie, 1878-80, of mathematics, 1880-84, of metaphysics, 1885-89, and in the meantime, dur- ing 1881-82, was vice president and acting president. Doctor Purinton left West Virginia University to become president of Denison University in Ohio, and held that post of duty from 1890 to 1901. He then returned to his alma mater and was president of the university from 1901 to 1912, and sinee that year has heen president emeritus, always deeply interested in University affairs.

Doetor Purinton is a member of the National Education Association, the American Association of State University Presidents, the Ohio Educational Association, the Southern Association of College Sunday Schools, and is one of the most prominent Baptists of the state. For years he has been a member of the executive committee of the Northern Bap-

tist& Convention, also active on its apportionment conference, and for eight years was president of the Baptist Generat Association of West Virginia. For six years he was modera tor of the Goshen Baptist Association. For many years he has been a member of the executive committee of the Inter national Sunday School Association and for some years chairman of its educational committee. He was for several years president of the West Virginia Sunday School Associa- tion, and is now chairman of its executive committee. For twenty years he has been president of the Oak Grove Come tery Association at Morgantown.

Doctor Purinton married Florence Allen Lyon, who was born in Chautauqua County, New York, Angust 26, 1854, daughter of Professor F. S. Lyon, former president of Broaddus College in West Virginia, and Amanda (Johnson ) Lyon, his wife. Mrs. Purinton is a descendant in the ninth generation of John and Priscilla Allen of the Mayflower. ller descent comes through the marriage of Armilla Alden to Aaron Lyon. Aaron Lyon was the only brother of Mary Lyon, leader of the first successful movement for the higher education of women in America and founder of Mount Holyoke College, the first institution for the advanced train- ing of women in the world.

Of the children of Doetor Purinton and wife the oldest is Edward Earl, who was born in Morgantown, April 24. 1876. lle did some of his collegiate work in West Virginia University, graduated A. B. from Denison University, and is a recognized international authority on subjects of effi- eiency. He is author of "Triumph of a Man who Acts, " which was published in several editions, to a total number of over 3,000,000 copies. Fifty thousand copies were pur- chased by Gen. Lord Kitchener of the English army for dis- tribution among his officers. This and other works on effi- ciency have been published in many different languages. E. E. Purinton is now dean and director of the American Efficiency Foundation, an alliance of noted educators for the advancement of the study of personal and business effi- cieney. The business headquarters of the foundation are in New York City, but Mr. Purinton still regards Morgan- town as his home.

The second child, Mary Lyon born November 30, 1879, is the wife of Robert R. Green, who at one time was editor of the Morgantown Post and is now a resident of New York City.

John Alden Purinton, born July 27, 1884, graduated A. B. and LL. B. from West Virginia University, practiced law at Morgantown, and gave up his practice to become the leading civilian member of the Claims Board at Washington, Dis- triet of Columbia, and is now continuing his practice in that city as a member of the law firm Brown & Purinton.

The youngest child, Helen Elizabeth, born September 21, 1893, graduated A. B. and A. M. from West Virginia Uni- versity, and is a teacher in the English Department of the University. Her husband, Harry Alford Pettigrew recently returned from service in France to complete his medical edu eation at Morgantown.

HON. ARETAS BROOKS FLEMING. As a lawyer, jurist, public official, promoter of industrial progress and exemplar of the finest ideals of citizenship there have been few who have more significantly honored their native state than Hon. A. Brooks Fleming, former governor of West Virginia and now one of the most venerable and distinguished members of the bar of this commonwealth.

Governor Fleming was born on a farm near Middletown. Harrison County, Virginia (now Fairmont, Marion County. West Virginia), on the 13th of October, 1839, and is a son of Benjamin F. and Rhoda (Brooks) Fleming, the latter a daughter of Rev. Asa Brooks, the family lineage tracing baek to Scotch-Irish origin. William Fleming, great-grandfather of the former governor of West Virginia, was one of four brothers who came to America in 1741 and took up land in the Pennsyl- vania colony of William Penn.

Reared on his father's old homestead farm in what is now Marion County, the future governor profited fully by the advantages of private and seleet schools, and in 1859 he entered the University of Virginia, where he completed the course of law lectures under the distinguished Dr. John B.

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

Minor. He taught school in Marion and Gilmer counties, and in 1861, after his graduation in the law department of the University of Virginia, he engaged in the practice of his pro- fession in Gilmer County. While waiting for clients he opened and conducted a private school at Glenville, the county seat. His law business soon demanded so much of his time that he called upon his brother, Robert F., to take charge of the school, this brother having later become judge of the Circuit Court in that circuit. Upon the inception of the Civil war, Governor Fleming returned to Fairmont, and here he served from 1863 as prosecuting attorney of Harrison County, in the newly created State of West Virginia. After the close of the war he formed a law partnership with the late Judge Alpheus F. Haymond, and in 1873 he was elected representative of Marion County in the State Legislature, re-election having followed in 1875. He served on important committees of the House of Delegates, including the judiciary and the com- mittee on taxation and finance, of which he was made chair- man. In 1878 he was appointed judge of the Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit, and thereafter he was twice elected to this bench, the circuit at that time having com- prised Marion, Monongalia, Harrison, Taylor, Wetzel and Doddridge counties. In his election to the circuit bench, as a democrat, his personal popularity and distinctive ability enabled him to win victory in counties giving large republican majorities at that time. After his election to the bench of the new circuit, composed of Marion, Monongalia and Harri- son counties, Judge Fleming continued his service until the autumn of 1888, when he received the unanimous nomination of his party for the office of governor of West Virginia, his election to this office having occurred February 6, 1890. He resigned his position on the bench September 1, 1SSS. The record of his election to the position of chief executive of the state has become an integral part of West Virginia history, and it is not necessary to review the same in this abridged article. The following statements, however, are worthy of reproduction in this connection:

"Governor Fleming, as a leader of his party during his term of office, was very successful in holding his party together and rendering to it valuable service; but his greatest service to his party, as well as to his state, was in his efficient administration of the duties of his office, his insistent policy of executive economy, and his constant effort to induce capital to enter the state for investment and the building of railroads, opening of mines, and developing of timber lands and oil and gas fields."

In the active career of Governor Fleming from 1874 for- ward he was actively identified with the coal development of the Upper Monongahela Valley, in association with his father- in-law, the late James Otis Watson, who was the pioneer coal operator in this region. The Governor, with the sons of Mr. Watson, was concerned in the organization of the early coal companies which have acquired vast acreage on the Monon- gahela and West Fork rivers, and he played a large part in the development of the great coal industry of his native state, his connections having been with the Gaston Gas Coal Com- pany, Montana Coal & Coke Company, West Fairmont Coal Company, New England Coal Company, Briar Hill Coal & Coke Company, and others. He was identified also with the building of the Monongahela River Railroad, which brought about the opening of large and important coal mines. As the coal, oil and gas industries developed and railroads were built Governor Fleming was actively concerned in all the efforts for advancement, both in the Upper Monongahela Valley and other parts of the state. When the Fairmont Coal Company was organized, in 1901, he became one of its direc- tors and also its attorney in the purchase and consolidation of other companies into it. This company later developed into the Consolidation Coal Company, which owns vast properties in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Kentucky. Governor Fleming continued a director of this great corpor- ation until he retired from active business, but he still serves as general counsel for the company in West Virginia. He was a director of the Cumberland & Pennsylvania and the Monon- gahela River Railroads, and his son, A. Brooks Fleming, Jr., is his successor as a director of the various corporations. The Governor was actively concerned also with the building of electric traction lines in Fairmont and Clarksburg, and the inter-urban lincs connecting the two cities. He was one of

the organizers of the National Bank of Fairmont, and ws long a director of the same, he being still one of its stock holders, as is he also in the Watson Company, which owns th fine stone bank and office building, ten stories, known as th Watson Building, in the City of Fairmont.

Governor Fleming was one of the founders of what j now the State Normal School at Fairmont, and has otherwis done much to promote advancement in educational affairs i West Virginia. In recognition of his distinguished services t the state along many lines the University of West Virgini has twice conferred upon him honorary degrees.

The following estimate is entitled to preservation in thi review: "As legislator, judge and governor, Hon. A. Brook Fleming has served the state and his native county with fidelity, and reflected credit upon himself and the people whom he served. Public-spirited as a citizen, he carried hi enthusiasm for righteousness and efficiency into the offices hi held. He attracted the attention, especially while governor of the whole country to the then almost undeveloped miners and timber resources of West Virginia, by public addresse and published articles in trade and other papers."

In his profession Governor Fleming has long been recognized as one of the foremost and most influential corporation lawyers in West Virginia, and though in October, 1921, he celebrated his eighty-second birthday anniversary, he stil gives attention to his important law business, as legal repre .: sentative of divers and important commercial and industria interests. The Governor, as he is familiary known, is in every sense "the grand old man" of Fairmont, and of him it has consistently been said: "No better loved man lives in his native town, where for him tender regard is manifested hy all, from his oldest friends to the children, who are all his friends. All are unanimous in their declaration 'to know him is to love him.' For eighty-two years he has lived a life guided by honor, truth and fidelity."

Governor Fleming is a member of the West Virginia Board of Trade and is the oldest member of the Marion County Bar Association, which passed sentence upon him in these words: "That Governor A. B. Fleming be incarcerated forever and a day in the hearts and affections of the members of the asso-' ciation as their idol and ideal."

September 7, 1865, recorded the marriage of Governor, Fleming and Miss Caroline Margaret Watson, daughter of James Otis Watson and Matilda Watson, and their devoted companionship has been one of idyllic order. Robert, the first of their children, died in childhood. Ida W. became the wife of Walton Miller, president of the National Bank of Fairmont, her death occurring in 1906, and her one surviving child being a daughter, Helen. Gypsie W. is the wife of Charles E. Ward, of Charleston, this state, and they have two children, Margaret F. and Caroline B. George W. and Vir- ginia W. are twins, the former having wedded Doris Under- hill and Virginia being the wife of Charles Baird Mitchell, of Fairmont. George W. is president of the Elk Horn Coal Corporation. A. Brooks, Jr., youngest of the children, is assistant to the president of the Consolidation Coal Company. His first wife, whose maiden name was Amy Dodson, died in 1897, and in 1910 he married Marie Antoinette Boggess, their children being Caroline, Virginia, Ida Watson and Sarah.

HON. GEORGE COOKMAN STURGISS. One of the prominent men of West Virginia of the present generation is Judge George Cookman Sturgiss of Morgantown, who has been identified with the history of the commonwealth since before the Civil war period, and has rendered distinguished service in the State Legislature, the Federal Congress and on the Bench of the Circuit Court of Monongalia County.

Judge Sturgiss was born at Poland, Mahoning County, Ohio, August 16, 1842, a son of Rev. Alfred Gallatin Stur- giss and Sabra Lucinda (Miner) Sturgiss, who were mar- ried July 26, 1837. Rev. Alfred G. Sturgiss died Novem- ber 4, 1845, and is buried at Uniontown, where four gen- erations of his paternal ancestors are interred. He was graduated from Madison College in his native town, en- tered the Methodist Episcopal ministry, afterward holding charges in Pennsylvania and Ohio, his ministerial labors being ended only by his death at Uniontown at his father's home. He left three sons, aged one, three and five years, all of whom later served in the Union Army during the

Ho. C. Sturgis

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

war between the states. The older and younger sons died some years ago.

The mother of Rev. Alfred G. Sturgiss was Hannah Lincoln Sturgiss, who was of a collateral branch of the Lincoln family of which the martyr president was a mem- her. She was born July 11, 1792, at Uniontown, Pennsyl- vania, and died April 4, 1872. John P. Sturgiss and Han- nah Lincoln were married May 19, 1912.

The mother of George (. Sturgiss was a daughter of lori and l'ermelia (Re d) Miner natives of Connecticut, where they were married. They migrated to the C'onnee- tieut Reserve in the Ohio Western Reserve in Ashtabula County, driving across the country in a two horse Cones toga wagon and carrying the family and householdl offerts. This was a journey of six weeks. Sabra Lueinda Miner was the oldest of the children, and it fell to her to take special care of a brother, the youngest child, then one voar ohl. Sabra Lueinda Sturgiss lacked one day of at- taining the age of eighty years. The three sons were at her bedside when she died and she was buried the day after her eightieth birthday, having remained a widow fifty years.

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

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