History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 205

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May 21, 1868, Mr. Hubbard married Miss Anna E. Chamberlin of Louisiana. He survived her about twenty years. The children born to their marriage were: Julia P. now deceased, who was the wife of William I. Kelly; Nelson C., his father's successor as a member of the Wheel- ing bar; Miss Alma R., Louise P., Mrs. W. E. Hudson, of Staunton, Virginia; and Sarah P., who died in infancy.

It is men most prominent in the affairs of Wheeling over a long period of years who can best appreciate and value the character and services of the late Mr. Hubhard. As a lawyer his portrait is presented in resolu- tions by the Ohio County Bar Association in the follow- ing words: "He was a lawyer in the broadest sense, and above that a law giver. Whether in the making of laws or giving them the proper interpretations, the ground

whereon he stood, to him was holy ground. He was a statesman; recognized as a leader among statemen; easily chief in West Virginia; called before the Cabinet, and advised with President Roosevelt. In the practice of the law he walked with those whose final declaration was the law, and he walked their equal-often their counsellor. In all his varied activities-local, state, and national-he was a leader among men, public spirited and generous, always for the right, because above all he was an honest man.''

But for the tribute that passes current without depre- ciation on account of its source, and because the writer spoke with discrimination derived from intimate knowledge, the best that can be appended as a final estimate on the life and character of the late Mr. Hubbard was the editorial in the Wheeling Intelligencer, quoted herewith:

"Death at any time brings a shock to loved ones and to friends, but death that comes in the fullness of years to one who has finished his work well; who has lived a useful and honorable life; who has enjoyed the price- less privilege of seeing his children grow up around him in strength and honor, comes not as a tragedy, but as the seal upon a finished work, a crown of glory.

"Such was the death of Hon. William Pallister Hub- bard, who passed away at his home near Elm Grove yes- terday morning.

"Mr. Hubbard was born in Wheeling and lived far more than the allotted years of three score and ten in this community. It would have been difficult to find in our citizenship a man whose personality through so many years had been so closely associated with the public, the civic and the industrial development of Wheeling and its immediate section. The name of Hubhard is stamped upon our public places. The imprint of his life will long be felt in numberless organizations and activities having to do with the industry and the business conditions and the social and civic life of this community.

"William P. Hubbard was more than a. citizen of Wheel- ing. He was a citizen of West Virginia and of the American Republic. More than that he was a world citizen, and through the long years of his useful activities he gave many and varied evidences of his profound inter- est in all things that made for the welfare of humanity. In short space it is impossible to sum up and to estimate the value of Mr. Hubbard's contribution to his city, his state, and his nation. When that contribution is rightly valued it will be found to he splendid not to say monu- mental.

"Mr. Hubbard's most important public work was un- doubtedly in the commission created by the State of West Virginia in 1903 for the purpose of studying the tax laws then existent in the state, and suggesting reforms there- to. Mr. Hubbard took his duty most seriously, and the report of the commission finally made was largely the product of his brain and his hand. Later, in a most memorable campaign of public education, Mr. Hubbard by his writing and his speaking largely effected a change in the public mind in the matter of taxation, which has since been reflected in most of the tax legislation in West Virginia. The power of the influences set in motion at that time is still felt in this state today. Later, as a mem- ber of Congress and in private life, as a profound student of public question, Mr. Hubbard took a prominent part in shaping the policy and influencing the thought of the citizenship of this state.

"Admitted to the bar in his early youth, he soon took a leading place as a practitioner, and in the course of time came to be regarded as easily the first lawyer in West Vir- ginia. His grasp of difficult questions and his profound knowledge underlying the principles of law commanded the admiration and wonder of the members of his own pro- fession who were associated with him, and at the time of his voluntary retirement from active practice it is fair to say that he had no superiors and few, if any, equals in the general practice of the law, not only in this state but even in the country at large.

"During recent years Mr. Hubbard had voluntarily re- frained from much active employment, preferring to devote

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mself to his books, to the study of literature and history d to the intimate association of a few warm friends. evertheless, he was fortunate in continuing to enjoy good ealth, and his mind was so broad and so liberal that all pod causes appealed to him and found in him sympathetic ipport. The charities and the public institutions of this ommunity shared liberally his bounty and the civic con- itions of the city and the state commanded his thought- ul attention. It is hard to realize that one so full of trength and vigor only a few days ago could so easily ave slipped away, but death undoubtedly came to him s he would have willed it himself."

CHARLES E. WARD. With one exception the largest and tost important manufacturing industry at Charleston is he Charles Ward Engineering Works. Their distinctive output has been water tube boiling, triple expansion marine engines and shallow draft river steamers, and in the field f entire equipment for river crafts this company is prob- bly supreme.

The founder of the business, Charles Ward, was an in- rentor and an expert in every line of steam machinery. He was a member of the American Society of Naval Engineers, The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was born in 1841 at Southam, near Leanington, England. He grew up there, and until he was twenty-two years of age he was employed by a local gas company, learning all the details of gas manufacture. Subsequently he was con- nected with the Liverpool Gas Company and was made manager of the Large Metal Works in Liverpool.

In 1866 he married, and four years later he came to Cincinnati. In 1871 his services as an engineer were se- cured during the construction of the Charleston Gas Plant. He was made superintendent of the new plant, and con- tinued that responsibility until 1880. In 1878 Charles Ward demonstrated the value of the Ward boiler on steam packet boats on the Kanawha River. He bought the Katy- did, substituted his own boiler and made other needed improvements, and since these early demonstrations the Ward boilers have proved a marked superiority over all others designed for use on steamboats.

The Charles Ward Engineering Works is incorporated, with Charles Ward, treasurer; Charles E. Ward, president and general manager; Harold M. Ward, viee president, and William Keely, secretary. Charles Ward married in 1866, at Liverpool, Margaret G. Mackrille, a native of Halifax. Their two sons are Charles E. and Hareld M., and they have a daughter, Mrs. Clifford Ramsden. The Ward family are Presbyterians. Charles Ward is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the New York Yacht Club.

WILLIAM B. POINDEXTER. Among the younger genera- tion of business men who have come rapidly to the front in the coal industry during recent years, few have made the advancement that has been achieved by William B. Poin- dexter, vice president of the American Export & Inland Coal Corporation, and West Virginia representative of this concern. With the exception of the time that he was serv- ing a soldier during the World war, his entire career has been passed in connection with the coal industry, his advancement in which has come as a result of his own abilities and efforts.

Mr. Poindexter is a native of the Old Dominion State, born at Ridgeway, Virginia, January 13, 1894, a son of Alexander B. and Sally Carnelia (Perry) Poindexter. Alex- ander B. Poindexter was born in Yadkin County, North Carolina, March 15, 1861, but has spent practically his entire life in Henry County, Virginia, in his younger years he was a mechanical engineer, but later turned his attention to other activities. A democrat in politics, he is prominent and influential in civic affairs, and held many city offices for years. He is a member of the Christian Church, and as a fraternalist is affiliated with the Masons. Mr. Poindexter married Miss Sally Carnelia Perry, who was born at Farmington, Davie County, North Carolina,

and died at Ridgeway, in 1896, William B. Poindexter being the only child of this union. Mr. Poindexter later married Lelia Cahill, who was born in Henry County, Vir- ginia, a daughter of Marshall Cahill, who spent his life in agricultural pursuits in Henry County, where his death occurred. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Poindexter; James F., of the Gay Coal & Coke Co., Logan, West Virginia; Dora Marshall and Nellie Eldridge, twins, who are students of the Ridgeway High School.

William B. Poindexter, was educated in different schools where he finished in 1912, and in the next year began his connection with the coal industry, when he first secured a position with the U. S. Coal & Oil Co., with which con- eern he remained for several months. On leaving the U. S. Coal & Oil Co., he entered the employ of the Gay Coal & Coke Co., of Logan West Virginia, and for several years was thus employed when the United States en- tered the World war. In April, 1917, he enlisted in the United States Army and was sent to the Officers Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, where he re- eeived his second lieutenant's commission in August 1917, and was assigned to the American Expeditionary Forces. He arrived in Franec in September 1917. The early part of his career was with the French Forces, in the vicinity of Belfort, France. Later after some American units began to arrive he was assigned to them as instructor in trench war- fare, taking part in five major operations in which the American army participated. In May, 1918, Mr. Poin- dexter was promoted to first lieutenant and in September of the same year to captain. During Christmas of 1918, after the Armistice was signed, he was assigned to the Fourth Section of the General Staff with headquarters at Chaumont, France. On March 1, 1919, he was detailed as an American General Staff representative with the French Ministry of War at Paris to co-operate with the French war department on demobilization and transportation of the American Army to the base sections of France for re- turn to the United States. During this time he received sev- eral citations of great value. He returned to the United States in December, 1919, and was mustered out of the service at Washington, D. C.

On January 1, 1920, Mr. Poindexter accepted a position in the purchasing department of the Chesapeake & Vir- ginian Coal Co., of Lynchburg, Virginia, his headquarters however, being at Huntington, West Virginia, which has been his place of residence ever since. From this position he transferred his serviees to the purchasing department of the American Export & Inland Coal Corporation, of West Virginia, general offices of which company are located at Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. Poindexter is now vice president and West Virginia representative of this company, which handles upward of a million tons of unequalled West Vir- ginia and Kentucky coals annually. He is likewise viec president of the Island Creek Monitor Coal Co., of Cin- cinnati, Ohio, and the Clear Creek Coal Co., with mines in Floyd County, Kentucky. He is a democrat in political allegiance, and a thirty second degree Mason, belonging to Aracoma Lodge, No. 99, A. F. & A. M., Logan, West Virginia; Kanawha Commandery No. 4, Charleston, West Virginia; West Virginia Consistory No. 1, of Wheeling and to Beni-Kedam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. Shrine, Charles- ton. He also belongs to the Guyan Country Club of Hunt- ington. Mr. Poindexter ia unmarried.

H. GLENVILLE TONKIN, M. D. While one of the valued and proficient doetors of Martinsburg, Doctor Tonkin is also well known for his service as mayor of that city, and has played a spirited part in the community life there for a number of years.

He is a native of Concord, New Hampshire. Both his father, H. Glenville Tonkin, Sr., and his grandfather, Wil- liam Tonkin, were born in Cornwall, England, and the latter was of pure English ancestry, the line running back in authentic record to the time of William the Conqueror. William Tonkin served his apprenticeship aa a machinist, and a number of years later brought his family to America and located at Coneord, New Hampshire, where he became identified with the stone quarry industry as tool maker

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and tool dresser of the tools particularly required in the quarries. He died there at the age of seventy-three. His wife was Mary Reynolds, a native of Cornwall, who died at the age of sixty-eight. They reared four children, named John, Glenville, Mary and Lucy.

H. Glenville Tonkin, Sr., was reared and educated in Cornwall, serving his apprenticeship as a machinist there, and, coming to America with his parents, also located at Concord and followed his trade in the quarry industries. He died at the age of forty-three. The maiden name of his wife was Christina Peterson, a native of Sweden, who came when a young woman to the United States with a sister. She died at the age of thirty-three, leaving three children, named Alice M., H. Glenville and Alfred.

Doctor Tonkin acquired his early education in the public school of Concord, New Hampshire, graduated from high school, also attended the New Hampshire Institute, and as a youth he earned a wide reputation as a baseball player. For several years he played professional ball in New England, Western and American Leagues. In the meantime he was working toward a professional career, and in 1908 graduated from the medical department of the University of Maryland, and at once settled at Martins- burg to begin practice, where he has enjoyed an excep- tional professional business for the past fifteen years. During the World War in 1918 he was commissioned a cap- tain in the Medical Corps and was stationed for duty at Hospital No. 23, Hot Springs, North Carolina.

In 1912 Doctor Tonkin married Miss Mary Licklider, a native of Martinsburg and daughter of Thomas and Amelia Licklider. Doctor Tonkin cast his first presidential vote for Theodore Roosevelt. He was elected mayor of Martins- burg in 1918. His administration of two years was char- acterized by much progressiveness in the matter of public improvement, and a large amount of sewer construction was done, the filtration plant was completed, and street paving inaugurated. In May, 1922, he was re-elected mayor by a handsome majority. Doctor Tonkin is affiliated with Robert White Lodge, No. 67 A. F. and A. M., Lebanon Chapter No. 2, R. A. M., Palestine Commandery No. 2, K. T., and Almar Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Washington. He is also a member of the Tri County Medical Society, the West Virginia Medical Society, the Southern Medical Society and the American Medical Association.

JAMES SPICER HUMPHREYS, whose only son and child, Albert J. Humphreys, is a prominent Charleston banker and business man, achieved success in business but was even more widely known for his fine character and the great in- fluence he exercised for good among people of his own age and younger people in particular.

James Spicer Humphreys, who died at his home in Charleston July 10, 1912, at the age of nearly eighty-two, was born December 3, 1830, in the Shenandoah Valley, near Charlottesville in Albemarle County, Virginia. His father was also named James Spicer Humphreys and was a Vir- ginia planter. The Humphreys are a long lived family, and while James Spicer Humphreys died at the age of eighty- two, his brothers and sister who preceded him in death all lived to a good old age. His brothers and sister were: Ira; A. Humphreys, who was the father of Col. A. E. Humphreys of Denver, Colorado; Jacob; Joseph; William ; and Mrs. Marian Jones, of Kanawha County.

James Spicer Humphreys as a young man moved to West Virginia, locating at Sissonville, Kanawha County. He was a carpenter and building contractor and later a merchant, and for many years conducted a successful busi- ness at Sissonville. About twenty years before his death he retired and moved to Charleston, building one of the beautiful homes of the city, at Delaware Avenue and Fayette Street.

James S. Humphreys married Cynthia Martin, daughter of Dow C. Martin, a prominent old time resident of Kan- awha County. James S. Humphreys and wife were lovers all their lives and were singularly devoted to each other's welfare and interests.

The late Mr. Humphrey's personality and principles, that

seemed a part of him, compelled everybody's friendship and esteem who met him, and to know him was to love him. lle was manly, sympathetic, of profound religious faith, and acted in daily life on the principle of the Golden Rule. He loved to encourage young people to do their best and act their best, and while he was a teacher in the true sense he was never a preacher at people. He always believed in putting oneself in another's place when the other person was an object of criticism.

It is appropriate to quote here a special tribute of estecm: "As a teacher-or rather an inspirer of young men in all that is best and highest in manhood, Mr. Humphreys was unique and certainly has won a place on the honor roll of West Virginia 's sons by reason of his strong, well rounded, sympathetic character and life long devotion to the great ideals of the Christian religion-in the practical way he carried them out in his daily life. He stamped his im- press on the manhood of the State."

He lived simply, was regular and temperate in all his habits, and that no doubt contributed to his long life. He not only lived clean and moral himself, but inspired others to emulate him. It was said that he had a host of friends and not a single enemy. Of a retiring disposition, he did not seek a multitude of friends, but naturally all who came iu contact with him were attracted by his fine qualities. Only his intimate friends knew his deepest and finest traits of character. He liked to discuss with those intimates the deepest or highest topics that fire and touch the soul and inspire the reason-faith, religion, God, immortality were to him actual things and not names merely.

ALBERT J. HUMPHREYS is a well known West Virginia banker, being vice president and managing director of the Elk Banking Company of Charleston. He represents a family of prominent connections with financial and in- dustrial affairs in this state and elsewhere. His cousin, Col. A. E. Humphreys, now of Denver, Colorado, is one of the famous mining and oil operators of the West and Southwest.

Albert J. Humphreys was born at Sissonville, Kanawha County, West Virginia, January 9, 1863, son of James Spicer and Cynthia (Martin) Humphreys. This branch of the Humphreys family came from old Virginia, and has been in West Virginia for several generations. James Spicer Humphreys was born near Charlottsville, Virginia, and as a young man located at Sissonville in Kanawha County, where he was a carpenter and later had an extensive busi- ness as a building contractor and finally was a merchant. He died at Charleston July 10, 1912. He was a democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Albert J. Humphreys was educated in the public schools, in the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, and during his early years was associated with his father in the contracting business and merchandising. In 1887 he removed to Charleston, where he entered business and where he was joined by his father several years later. He continued his interests as a merchant until the growing im- portance of his banking enterprise called for all his time and energies.

Now one of the financial bulwarks of Charleston, the Elk Banking Company had a singularly modest beginning. In 1902 Mr. Humphreys and Harrison B. Smith organized and started a small bank on the west side, their banking quarters being window space in a department store. The company has steadily grown in resources and patronage, and for a number of years the Elk Banking Company has occupied large and handsome quarters at Charleston Street and Tennessee Avenue. From the first Mr. Humphreys has been in close touch with every department of the bank, as vice president and managing director.

He has done much disinterested and unselfish work as a citizen. When Charleston adopted the commission form of government he was appointed one of the first three commissioners, and continued in that post for three years. He is a member of the Board of Education of the Charles- ton Independent School District, and was formerly vice president of the City Board of Affairs and for two terms

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member of the City Council. He is a democrat in politics, affiliated with the Knighta of Pythias, Independent der of Odd Fellowa, Elks, the D. O. K. K. and other orders od clubs, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal urch, South.

Mr. Humphreys married Miss Gertrude Harless, a native ¿ Charleston, and daughter of Judge Leroy Harless, a rominent citizen of Charleston, who died October 5, 1911.

COLONEL JOHN STUART was the most famous pioneer f Greenbrier County, the founder of a family of con- pieuous citizenship there, and his descendants are still epresented in that seetion of the state.

His father, David Stuart, was born in Scotland, a connec- ion of the House of Stuarta, and participants in the move- ment to place Charles Edward Stuart on the English throne, , movement that culminated in failure at the battle of 'uHoden in 1746. David Stuart came to America soon fter that battle, settling on the Shenandoah River in August County, Virginia. He was a personal friend of Governor Robert Dinwiddie, who appointed him in 1755 county licutenant of Augusta County, with the rank of colonel. He was well qualified to serve this important office. David Stuart died in 1767, having been drowned while crossing a branch of the Shenandoah River. His wife was Margaret Lynn Paul, widow of John Paul, a granddaughter of the Laird of Loch Lynn, Scotland, a niece of Margaret Lynn, wife of Col. John Lewis and the mother of General Andrew and Col. Charles Lewis, heroes of the Battle of Point Pleasant.

Col. John Stuart was the only son of David and Mar- garet Lynn Stuart, and was born at Hebron in Augusta County, March 17, 1749. Hle exhibited at an early age extraordinary vigor both in body and mind. By the time he was seventeen years of age he was said to have ac- quired an execllent education both from books and the affairs of life. While young he participated in a number of surveying and prospecting expeditions to the west and north of the then permanent settlements in Angust County, which brought him into contact with men of various classes and character. On these expeditions he saw much of Indian life.

All of the attempted settlementa in Greenbrier having failed prior to that time, in the year 1769 an expedition was organized by citizens of Augusta and adjoining counties, having for its purpose a permanent settlement in that beautiful and inviting country afterwards called Greenbrier County. Of this company John Stuart, then only twenty years of age, was a member. These pioneers came to Green- brier in the spring of 1769. After arriving in this wild country the settlers found it necessary to organize for definite course of action, on account of developments to be made in their new home, for protection against the Indians and the many dangera by which they were surrounded. John Stuart was chosen their chief adviser and first officer.

He first located near where the town of Frankford now standa, where he built his first home, overlooking a beautiful view towards the east. This place he called "Grunble Thorp." Here he erected the first mill built in Greenbrier, which was propelled by a subterranean stream of considerable volume flowing through a channel eut ont by the Indians, to which they had access through the mouth of a large cave. The dam, a large part of which is still standing, was built of stone, and located about 200 feet from the entrance to the cave. The mill itself stood just outside of the mouth of the eave.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 205

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