History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 202

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George L. Pence grew up en the old homestead at Pence Springs, was educated in the public schools there, and was a student in West Virginia University from 1901 te 1903. In the latter year he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, graduating M. D. in 1906 and receiving a similar degree from West Virginia University. From 1906 te 1910 Doctor Pence was associated with The Hinton Hospital. In June, 1911, he was a student specializ- ing in laboratory werk in the Post-Graduate School of Medicine in New York. Following this experience in preparation Doctor Pence was engaged in a general prac- tice at Pence Springs until July, 1917.

At that date he joined the army, attending the Medical Training School at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. He was com- missioned a first lieutenant and later premeted to captain. Doctor Pence went overseas with the Fifth Division in June, 1918, and until September was located in the Vosges sector, was in the St. Mihiel campaign and was with the Light Artillery during some of the great operations in the closing months of the war. He was transferred to the Nineteenth Field Artillery on the Moselle River, and was at Thieacourt at the time of the signing of the armistice. He was performing the duties of major in charge of a hospital for some time. After the armistice he was at Luxemburg, Esch, and Mondorf, a summer resort, in all about ten months. Dector Pence had command of the Twenty-ninth Field Hospital, located at Monderf for two months previous to returning to the United States in July, 1919.

Since leaving the army he has been established in practice at Hinton. He is a member of the County, State and American Medical Associations, is a Royal Arch and Knight Templar Masen and Shriner, a member of the Elks, the Chamber of Commerce, and is a democrat in politics.

WILLIAM W. GRAHAM. One of the most essential and important departments in the municipal service of a city like Charleston, the proper conduct of which requires un- usual abilities of an executive character and rare diplomacy in the handling of a large force of men so that the machine may eperate without friction, is the fire department. William W. Graham, the present fire chief of Charleston, possesses the qualities noted, and is also known as a man of much personal courage and cool and bread judgment.

Chief Graham was born en Elk River, Kanawha County, West Virginia, in 1879, a son of Rev. C. B. Graham, a

Methodist Episcopal divine aud a native of Kanawha County. llo preached for thirty years at Wheeling and Charleston, where he was presiding elder, alternating be- tween the two cities. For twenty five years he waa paator and presiding elder at Wheeling, and he returned to Charleston in the latter capacity, although his last work in the church was aa a local pastor. He is now living re- tired at Charleston, where he is held in the highest esteem by his former parishioners and by these of other de-

nominations who recognize and appreciate his many splen- did qualities of heart and mind. His wife, formerly Miss Antoinette A. Hill, of Kanawha County, also survives, and has preven a most faithful helpmate and wise business counselor. William Graham, the grandfather of Chief Gra- ham, came to West Virginia at an early day and became interested in salt plants. He is said to have organized the first Sunday school in the salt section.

William W. Graham attended the public schools of Wheeling, where his boyhood was mainly passed, and sub- sequently pursued a course at the West Virginia Consoli- dated Seminary, now Wesleyan College, at Buckhannon. When he was nineteen years of age he engaged in ceal opera- tions in the Elk River section, and until 1915 was engaged in producing coal on land owned by his father. In 1915, when Mayor Breece assumed bis executive chair and duties, he desired that all departments of the city be placed upon an efficiency basis. Knowing of Mr. Graham's abilities, he prevailed upon him to accept the office of chief of the Charleston Fire Department, which at that time consisted of twenty-eight men, with all horse-drawn vehicles. Dur- ing the following two years be did much to improve the efficiency of the department, but when the United States entered the great war he left Charleston and went to Nitro, located ten miles below Charleston, on the Kanawha River, where the Government established and operated a great ammunition plant during the war. While there Chief Gra- ham acted as the head of the fire prevention department, but in 1919 returned te Charleston, where he resumed his duties as fire chief. The department now consists of forty- three men, with two automobiles and two steam-pumpers, and with the exception of one span of horses is completely metorized. In addition to the central station there are four outside stations, equipped with electric alarms, Chief Gra- ham having installed an entirely new alarm system, both at headquarters and the outside houses. Headquarters are in the new City Building, just completed, the fire depart- ment being the first to be installed in the new structure. The chief of the Charleston Fire Department is forty-three years of age, a vigorous, wide-awake, experienced man, and can be depended upon to maintain the service ef which he is the head at its present atandard of superiority, and incorporate into the system the methods and improve- ments indicated by the advancement of mechanics and science. He is a popular member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Chief Graham married Miss Clyde Meaders, of Putnam County, West Virginia, and they are the parents of one daughter, Josephine, who is attending school.

GEORGE H. TRAINER. Through the process of ene medest operation leading to another George H. Trainer haa for years been recognized as one of the prominent oil and gas operators in Central West Virginia. His home for many years has been at Salem, and he is one of the most substantial business men and citizens of that locality.

Mr. Trainer was bern on a farm in Doddridge County, West Virginia, March 27, 1861, son of William and Louisa J. (Hoult) Trainer. His people were farmers in Dod- dridge County, and their family consisted of three sons and three danghters. The grandfather of George H. Trainer was Rev. Jehn Trainer, a native of Virginia, who combined the vocation of agriculture with that of a minister of the Gospel.

George H. Trainer acquired a district school education, and he lived en his father's farm until he was twenty-one. On leaving home he became a merchant at Seymour, re- maining there four years, and, disposing of his interesta, next moved to West Union, where he continued merchan-

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dising for ten years. While at West Union he became in- terested in the business of handling oil and gas well sup- plies, and from this his capital and equipment were called into the scene of practical operations in the oil and gas district. He began production on leased land, and is now associated with his brothers Edward and Frank in the oil and gas business. The oil produced by them is sold to the Standard Oil Company, and at times they have had as many as sixty oil and gas wells in production at once. An important by-product of their business is the manu- facture of gasoline from natural gas.

A resident of Salem, Mr. Trainer takes an active part in its business and civic affairs. He is a director in the First National Bank of Salem, is a director in the Clarks- burg Trust Company at Clarksburg, a stockholder in the Union National Bank and the Merchants National Bank of Clarksburg and has been a director in Salem College for twenty years. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club, is a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mrs. Trainer is a member of the Seventh Day Baptist Church. She taught in the public schools for a number of years.

On September 27, 1884, Mr. Trainer married Miss Viola C. Davis, a native of New Milton, West Virginia, and daughter of Rev. James B. and Emily V. (Davis) Davis. Her father was a preacher and a farmer.

WILLIAM SPINDLER, whose home is near Clifton Mills, is a man of many interests in Preston County. For many years he has farmed on an extensive scale, is an auctioneer, a licensed veterinarian, and is one of the members of the County Court.

He was born in Grant District, Preston County, October 4, 1860. A full account of the Spindler family, one of the old and honored names of Preston County, is given in the career of his brother, Charles Spindler. William Spindler grew up on the home farm, attended the com- mon schools, and after reaching his majority he left home and found his first work in the grading and construction of the railroad between Uniontown and Brownsville. From this he went to Pittsburgh, was employed a short time in a box factory, and then worked at monthly wages on a farm in Allegheny County. Returning to Grant District, he bought a farm, and since then he has had farming interests of his own to engage his personal attention. He owns a large amount of land, and his specialty is the growing of high class Poland China hogs and Shropshire sheep. For more than a quarter of a century Mr. Spindler has been a licensed veterinarian, and is a recognized and well qualified expert in treating all diseases of domestic and farm animals. For twenty-one years he has been crying sales, and has officiated perhaps at as many sales as any other one auctioneer in the district which he covers.

Mr. Spindler was deputy sheriff four years, beginning in January, 1909, under his brother Charles. In 1909 he was also elected to the County Court as successor of Jeremiah Guthrie. He served one term, and in 1920 was again elected to the County Court. The important work of the present hoard is road construction of a permanent character, appropriations for the expense of the public schools, the purchase of a set of indexes for the County Clerk's office and the general routine of the court. Mr. Spindler has always been a republican and is a member of the Lutheran Church.

In Preston County, March 25, 1883, he married Mary F. Maust, daughter of Jonas and Mary (Haynes) Maust. The Maust family were identified with the first settle- ment of Preston County and is of German ancestry. Mrs. Spindler was one of the following children: Wakeman T., of Uniontown, Pennsylvania; Mrs. Spindler; Elma May, wife of Clayton Wolfe, of Cranesville; Nora, wife of J. M. Kelley, of Bruceton; and James D., of Clinton Mille.

Oldest of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Spindler ig Lucy E., wife of Frank Collier, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. James R. lives at Youngstown, Ohio. Harry A., on his father's farm, was with the colors at the time of the World war but did not get overseas. Lizzie is the wife of Walter Barkley, of Uniontown. May, the youngest, is the wife of Russell Smith, a farmer near Clifton Mills. Mr. and

Mrs. Spindler also have five grandchildren: Harold W. Collier, Jona and Robert Spindler, children of J. R. Spindler. Sarah Lou Barkley, daughter of Lizzie and Walter Barkley, and Herbert Eugene Spindler, son of Harry A. Spindler, of Clifton Mills.

JUDGE JAMES PAULL was one of the most prominent mem- berg of the old Wheeling bar and enjoyed a widespread reputation as one of the profound jurists and able public men of West Virginia. He was born in Belmont County, Ohio, in 1818, the son of George and Elizabeth Paull. George Paull was a member of the Twenty-seventh Regi- ment of U. S. Infantry (Ohio troops) in the War of 1812, and served bravely under General Harrison in the Northwest Army. He was a son of Col. James Paull, who was a soldier of the Revolutionary war and who also served under Wil- liam Crawford in his disastrous encounter of the 5th of June, 1872, on the plains of Sandusky, Ohio.

Judge James Paull was thoroughly educated in childhood and youth, and after completing preparatory studies in Cross Creek, Pennsylvania, he entered Washington College in that state, at which he was graduated in June, 1835. He then came to Wheeling and, choosing law as his profession, rented the office of Z. Jacob and finished his legal studies in the law department of the University of Virginia. Nearly the whole of his career as a lawyer and public man was spent at Wheeling, where he was locally esteemed as an estimable citizen. In 1872 he was elected a judge of Su- preme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, a high position which he filled with honor and credit, performing its la- borious duties with an industry and application that fatally impaired his health. His decisions rank with the permanent and valuable contributions to the law of the state. Judge Paull also represented Ohio County during two terms in the State Legislature of Virginia. He died May 11, 1875, be- ing at that time a resident of Wellsburg, Brooks County, to which place he had removed eighteen months before.

Judge Paull was twice married, first, to Jane A., daugh- ter of the late Judge Joseph L. Fry, an eminent lawyer from 1831-1852 and Circuit Judge of the First Judicial District of Virginia. His great-grandfather was Col. Joshua Fry, an English gentleman of worth and education, who held many distinguished offices under the Colonial Gov- ernment, was a civil engineer, professor at Williams and Mary College, commissioner of the Crown, one of the com- missioners at the treaty of Logstown and was appointed commander of the Virginia forces by Governor Dinwiddie in 1754. The highest honors of the Colony were within the grasp of Col. Joshua Fry when his death at Willes Creek, en route to Fort Cumberland, closed his career and placed Lieutenant-Colonel George Washington in command. (See Sparks Life of Washington, page 104-126.) The three sons born to Judge James and Mrs. Paull are: Archibald W., Joseph F. and Alfred, all citizens of Wheeling. By his sec- ond wife, Eliza J. Ott, daughter of Samuel Ott, deceased, of Wheeling, Judge Paull had five children, as follows: James, Elizabeth, Harry W., Samuel O., and Margaret Susan, deceased.

ALFRED PAULL, senior member of the firm of Alfred Paull & Son, which conducts one of the leading general insurance agencies of West Virginia, with headquarters in the Board of Trade Building in the City of Wheeling and with sub- agencies numbering about 135 at different points in the state, is not only one of the vital and progressive men who have done much to further the civic and material advance- ment of Wheeling, but is a son of the late Judge James Paull, who was a distinguished member of the West Vir- ginia bar and who served as a member of the Supreme Court of the state. A tribute to his memory is given in the preceding sketch.

Alfred Paull, son of Judge James Paull and Jane A. (Fry) Paull, was born in the City of Wheeling, October 14, 1854, several years prior to the creation of the State of West Virginia, of which his native city became one of the two original capitals. Reared in a home of culture and gracious influences, he supplemented the discipline of the local schools by a course in Washington and Jefferson Col-

Henry. M. Cole.

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kc, Pennsylvania. From his youth to the present time ha hi been actively associated with business interesta in Wheel- t:, and his influence has been wide and important. He sved ae secretary of the Manufacturers Insurance Com- ny, a West Virginia corporation with its general offices Wheeling. In January, 1885, he became secretary of the liderwriters Insurance Company of that city. He wielded rich influence in the upbuilding of the business of each of Ise corporations and gained authoritative position in con- ction with the insurance business in the state. He gave ig and effective service as secretary of the Ohio Valley neral Hospital, from which office he retired January I, 21. He is vice president of the Bank of the Ohio Valley. reply interested in all things pertaining to the welfare id progress of his native city, his civic liberality has been a parity with his civic loyalty. He served four years as member of the City Council and eight years as a member the Board of Education. Mr. Paull haa been influential the local councila and campaign activities of the repub- :an party, and was specially prominent in the time honored asonic fraternity, in which his affiliations may here be riefiy noted: Bates Lodge No. 33, Ancient Free and Ac- pted Masons; Union Chapter No. 1, Royal Arch Masons; yrene Commandery No. 7, Knights Templars; and Osiris emple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. le is a past grand commander of the West Virginia Grand 'ommandery of Knights Templars, and past potentate of he Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

Alfred Paull married Lee Singleton, a daughter of Cap- ain W. T. Singleton, of Wheeling, West Virginia. Four hildren have blessed this union: Alfred S., who is men- ioned in later paragraphs; Mary Irwin, married to Arthur i. Hubbard, and they have four children, Lee A., Elizabeth, "hester and Paull; Lydia P., married to Lyman B. Kirk- atrick, of Rochester, New York and their two children are Ielen and Lyman; Lee C. married Mary Glessner, daughter f William L. Glessner, and they have two children, Lee C. nd William Glessner.

Alfred Singleton Paull, the junior member of the repre- entative insurance firm of Alfred Paull & Son and presi- ent of the Saturn Foundry and Machine Company and the IcClaskey, Inc., of Wheeling, was born in this city on the th of April, 1883. He attended Linsly Institute at Wheel- ng and later a preparatory school at Lawrenceville, New jersey, after which he entered Princeton University, of which Woodrow Wilson, former president of the United States, was then the president. In this institution be was radnated as a member of the class of '05 and with the egree of Bachelor of Science. Since that time he has been ctively associated with his father in the insurance business, nd his energy and progressive policies have contributed dis- inctly to the expansion of the enterprise. He is a repub- ican of unwavering allegiance, and holds membership in, the Rotary, Country, Fort Henry and Hamphshire Clubs of Wheeling.

In April, 1913, was solemnized the marriage of Alfred S. Paull and Miss Mary Virginia Sands, daughter of Lawrence C. Sands, who was formerly connected with the National Exchange Bank of Wheeling and who is now an executive f the First National Bank of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. fr. and Mrs. Paull have one child, Eugenia.

EDWARD K. TOOMPAS is in the most significant degree a elf-made man, and his achievement since coming to the United States from his native Greece marka him as a man f strong mentality, determined purpose and worthy am- ition. By self-discipline he has broadened his education ar beyond the meager compass represented in his limited chooling in his native land, and in material affairs he has von substantial success that now marka him as one of the epresentative business men of the City of Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia.

Mr. Toompaa was born at Pialia, Trikhala, in Thessaly, Greece, on the 7th of January, 1884, and is a son of Kon- tantinos and Vasileke Toompas, both likewise natives of hat place. In the schools of his native land Edward K. Toompas received a limited education, in which he learned :o read and write the Greek language. Thereafter he was

variously employed in his home district until he had attained to tha age of twenty-one years, when, in 1905, ho came to the United States, determined to win in this land of oppor- tunity a place of independence and prosperity. A stranger in a atrange land, entirely unfamiliar with the English language and with the customs of the country, he landed in the port of New York City and thence proceeded forth- with to Manchester, New Hampshire, where kinsfolk and other frienda were living. There he found employment as an ordinary laborer in a textile mill, and in this connec- tion he applied himself diligently for three and one half years, within which, by study, reading and observation, he substantially advanced himself and learned to read and write the English language, in the speaking of which he had rapidly gained proficiency. After leaving New Hampshire he was employed eighteen months in a restaurant in the City of Annapolis, Maryland, and he continued to avail himself of every possible opportunity for expanding his education and fitting himself for a broader field of en- deavor.

In 1910 Mr. Toompas came to Clarksburg, West Virginia, and purchased a one-fourth interest in the Manhattan Cafe, in the conducting of which his associates have been from that time to the present three other ambitions and pro- gressive fellow countrymen, Victor Charpas, John Pappaa and Charles Theodoron. The firm conducts two of the best equipped and most popular restaurants in this section of the state. The firm owns the Manhattan Building, on West Pike Street, a modern atructure in which is located the Man- hattan Cafe, a most attractive marble and tile restaurant with the best of modern appointments and service. Here is to be found the best type of independent refrigerating plants, and here the firm conducta its own bakery, which supplies bread, pastries and other producta of the best order. The second place owned and conducted by the firm is the Clarksburg Restaurant, at 110 Third Street, opposite the post office, and both establishments cater to a sub- stantial and representative patronage. In this field of enter- prise Mr. Toompas has been most successful, and he also has other business interests of important order. He is vice president of the Palace Theater Company and the Palace Theater Realty Company, of Manchester, New Hampshire, the former corporation operating the Palace Theater, a high grade amusement place. Mr. Toompas is interested also in other theater enterprises in New Hampshire and is asso- ciated in the ownership of a fine grain ranch of 2.000 acres in the Province of Alberta, Canada. The record of his career offers both lesson and incentive, and he richly merits the substantial auccesa which he has won.

Mr. Toompas gives his political support to the republican party, is a communicant of the Greek Orthodox Church, and in the Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, his maximum York Rite affilia- tion being with the Clarksburg Commandery of Knights Templars, besides which he is numbered among the nobles of Nemesis Temple of the Mystic Shrine, at Parkersburg. He has gained a host of friends in business and social circles at Clarksburg, and his name is enrolled on the list of eligible bachelors in this city.

HENRY M. COLE, owns and conducts one of the leading undertaking establishments in the State of West Vir- ginia. His place of business is in Martinaburg, Berkeley County. He was born in Falling Watera District, Berke- ley County, and in the same district his father, Samuel W. Cole, was born May 10, 1843, a son of William Cole, who was born in Eastern Maryland, where his father. Alexander Cole, passed his entire life. the family name of his wife having been Van Zant. William Cole came to Berkeley County in an early day and purchased land near the present village of Marlowe. He reclaimed a productive farm and also worked at times at his trade, that of car- penter, but log honses being the rule at that period there was not much demand for skilled carpentry. He married Catherine Lewis. William Cole died at the age of sixty- five and his widow at the age of eighty-six years, their children having been five in number: George T., William Henry, Samuel W., James H., and Joanna. Samuel W.

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Cole taught in the subscription schools of the early days, assisted in the work of the home farm and learned the trades of carpenter and cabinetmaker, he having natural mechanical ability and having become a gkilled artisan in both wood and iron. He was a soldier of the Union in the Civil war, in which he served in turn in the quartermaster's department and as ambulance driver, in which latter capac- ity he visited many battlefields in his humane work. In 1875 he settled on his present farm, in Falling Waters District. In 1872 he married Isabelle Virginia Kershner, who was born in Berkeley County, August 21, 1851, her father, Samuel Kershner, having been born in this county in August, 1822, a son of Solomon Kershner, a pioneer who came from his native state of Maryland and who remained in Berkeley until his death, the maiden name of his wife having been Elizabeth Van Zant. Samuel Kershner mar- ried Ann Isabelle Williamson, who was born September 7, 1814, a daughter of Samuel and Ann (Johns) William- son. William and Isabelle V. Cole became the parents of the following children: John S., Henry M., Katherine J., Core V., Samuel Dalton, Charles W. and Mary A. Charles W. became a clergyman of the Methodist Protestant Church and died at the age of thirty-one years.

Henry M. Cole acquired his early education in the rural schools and in his youth he learned the trade of cabinet- maker, under the effective direction of his father. He com- pleted his practical apprenticeship at Uniontown, Penn- sylvania, and he continued to follow his trade until he engaged in business as an undertaker and funeral director, his present business having been established at Martins- burg in 1916, prior to which, in 1914, he took a course in anatomy at Johns Hopkins University and became a licensed embalmer. He is affiliated with Berkeley Lodge, No. 37, A. F. & A. M .; Lebanon Chapter, No. 2, R. A. M .; Palestine Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar; and Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine, in the city of Wheeling. His fraternal affiliations are further extended to include membership in the Knights of Pythias and Pythian Sisters, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Patriotic Sons of America, the Junior Order of United American Mechan- ies, and the Improved Order of Red Men.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 202

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