History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 206

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He soon moved from his first residenee to what is now known as the "Old Stuart Place," about four milea below Lewisburg on the Fort Spring road. Here he first ereeted a log house, in which he lived until the year 1789, when he built a large stone house of the old English style, which ia now the oldest house in the country. This building is still in a state of good preservation and is at this time the residence of his great-grandson, Samuel Lewis Price. Here John Stuart lived for many years, leading an active, buay life, engaged in various occupations and aeting for the settlers as adviser and chief defender against the Indians.

Within a quarter of a mile from the place where the stone house was afterwards built there was erected what was first known as "Fort Stuart" and afterwards called "Fort Spring," at the spot where the old Fort Spring Church now stands, which was placed under the command and supervision of Colonel Stuart. At the time this fort was built a large number of settlers of Greenbrier County lived near, and it was used as a refuge during several Indian attacks, of which no mention is made in history.

Colonel John Stuart commanded one of the companies from Greenbrier County in the expedition commanded by General Andrew Lewis at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. After that battle, on account of the heavy loss of officers, he was put in command of a large portion of the army. The last of the desperate attacks made by the Indians upon the settlers of Greenbrier occurred in 1778. when a band of Indians crossed over from beyond the Ohio River, surprised and surrounded the settlers of Fort Donally, in what is now known as Radus Valley. The fort was located about eight miles northwest of Ft. Union, where Lewisburg now stands. Colonel Stuart led the enforcement from Ft. Union, raised the siege and drove the Indians off. Within a few days after this attack he was able to raise a sufficient forco to drive and frighten the Indians out of the country.

Colonel John Stuart was appointed elerk of the County of Greenbrier, which was organized in 1776. He was ap- pointed in 1780. He was a member of the Virginia Con- stitutional Convention of 1788, and was a strong advocate for the ratifieation of the Federal constitution. He was appointed colonel of the Seventy-ninth Regiment of Militia in 1793. He and his wife, Agatha, were largo contributors for the building of the old stone church at Lewisburg in 1796. Col. John Stuart possessed a large library for a pioneer, was a man of splendid literary attainments and a finished scholar, was a member of the American Philosoph- ical Society in Philadelphia, and in 1797 he wrote "Memoirs of Indian Wars and other Occurrences," which remained in manuscript until published in 1833 by the Virginia Histori- eal Society. This is one of the important sources of history for everything connected with the carly settlement of the Greenbrier. He also left another historieal work, entitled "A Narrative," also descriptive of conditions in Green- brier and the great Kanawha Valley. Colonel Stuart pos- sessed great executive and financial ability, and amassed a large fortune for his time. Some of the lands he acquired are still owned by his descendants. Ile resigned hia post as clerk of the County Court December 22, 1807. The first clerk's office was built by him in his own yard, and that building is still standing. He also gave the site upon which the first Court House was erected. Col. John Stuart died Angust 18, 1823, in his seventy-fifth year.

November 18, 1776, he married Mrs. Agatha Frogg, widow of Col. William Frogg, who was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant. She was a granddaughter of Col. John Lewis, and a daughter of Thomas Lewis, who was a brother of General Andrew and Col. Charles Lewis. The four child- ren of Col. John Stuart and wife were: Margaret Lynn, born December 31, 1777, and married Andrew Lewis; Jane Lewis Stuart, born February 16, 1780, married Robert Crockett; Charles Augustus Stuart, born April 23, 1782, married Elizabeth Robinson; and Lewis Stuart, born May 14, 1784.

Lewis Stuart, second son of Col. John Stuart, succeeded to the possession of the old Stuart home place, and lived there all his life. He served as clerk of the County Court as successor to his father from September 22, 1807, until Juno 1, 1830. He was commissioned the first elerk of the Superior Court of Law and Chancery of Greenbrier County, April 17, 1809, and held that office until 1831. Aside from his official duties he maintained a generous home, was fond of good horses, had a genius for friendship and ia said to have been one of the best loved men in the whole Greenbrier country.

October 15, 1807, he married Sarah Lewis, daughter of Col. John Lewis, of Bath County, and granddaughter of Col. Charles Lewis, who was killed at Point Pleasant. To their marriage were born five sons and five daughters: John,

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born July 26, 1814, Charles A., born June 5, 1818, Lewis, born September 7, 1820, all of whom went West where John died February 19, 1838, Chiarles, July 4, 1888, and Lewis, December 19, 1860. Henry Stuart born October 31, 1824, lived on a farm at Richlands Greenbrier County, and died September 5, 1902. He married, July 12, 1871, Nannie Watkins. Andrew Stuart born March 12, 1827, lived at the old Stuart place near Fort Spring Church, and died iu 1892. He married Sallie Cabell. Elizabeth Stuart, born January 13, 1809, died August 9, 1819. Rachel Stuart, born May 30, 1816, became the wife of A. W. G. Davis, and they lived near Fort Spring Station. Agnes Stuart, born Sep- tember 2, 1812, died January 15, 1899. She married Charles S. Peyton, and they lived at Richlands. Margaret Stuart, born September 15, 1822, and died in 1903, married Col. James W. Davis, and they lived on a farm half a mile below the old Stuart place. Jane Stuart, born September 17, 1810, was married February 6, 1837, to Governor Samuel Price. She was woman of remarkable intellect and great personal charm. She died August 14, 1873.

After Lewis Stuart's death Beau Desert and the large estate connected with it remained in the possession and under the management of his widow, Sarah Lewis Stuart, until after her death, which occurred March 5, 1853. She was born in February, 1790. She was a famous beauty, and until her death was noted for her striking personal ap- pearance. She was fond of the social side of life, and maintained as a widow the hospitality which had character- ized the home during the life of her husband. She was also a woman of remarkable strength of character, of a cultivated, forceful and vigorous mind, and she displayed remarkable executive ability in the management of the estate.

GOVERNOR SAMUEL PRICE, of Lewisburg, one of the dis- tinguished men of his generation in the two Virginias, was lieutenant governor of Virginia during the war between the states.

He was born July 28, 1805, in Fauquier County, Virginia, on the maternal side being a descendant of a prominent Revolutionary officer, Major Morris of New Jersey. His mother was Mary Clymann. His father, Samuel Price, moved from New Jersey to Fauquier County with his parents, and in 1815 he established a home in Preston County, in what is now West Virginia. Governor Samuel Price was reared in Preston County, acquired his primary education in old Vir- ginia, and studied law with Judge Hason at Paris, Kentucky. He returned to Virginia and took the census of Nicholas County in 1830, in 1831 was elected clerk of court for that county in 1832 was admitted to the bar at Summersville. lle was elected prosecuting attorney in 1833, was chosen for the Legislature in 1834 and re-elected for two succeed- ing years. While in the Legislature he introduced an im- portant bill providing for the building of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. In 1836 he moved to Wheeling, but sub- sequently established his home in Greenbrier County. At that time the sessions of the Federal District Court, the Supreme Court of Appeals, the Circuit and County Courts were held at Lewisburg, one of the most important judicial centers of the Virginias. In the intensely competitive field of this court town, where some of the greatest lawyers of the time gathered, he held his own and was regarded as the peer of any who practiced there.

Vice President Henry Wilson estimated Samuel Price as "the best land lawyer in the two Virginias." In 1847 he was elected representative from Greenbrier County, and was in the Legislature four years. He was a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850-51 and again in 1860-61. He opposed secession, but sided with his state when it went into the Confederacy. He was elected lieu- tenant governor of Virginia, and held that office until the close of the war. In 1865 he was elected circuit judge, but declined to qualify.

Governor Price was a member of the Constitutional Con- vention of West Virginia in 1872, and was chosen presi- dent of the convention. His last important public service was his appointment to the United States Senate, follow-

ing the death of Allen T. Caperton. He served in that body suPC from December 4, 1876, to January 31, 1877.

On February 6, 1837, Governor Samuel Price married Jane pan Stuart, daughter of Lewis Stuart and granddaughter of Col. John Stuart of Greenbrier County. A brief account of the distinguished Stuart family of old Greenbrier is contained in another article. Governor and Mrs. Stuart had nine child- ren, three of whom died young. Mary married J. C. Alder- son. Margaret Lynn is deceased. John S. married Susan McElhenney, and died about twenty-five years ago, his surviving daughter being the wife of John C. Dice. Sallie Lewis became the wife of John A. Preston, and is survived by two sons, who are individually mentioned elsewhere in this publication. The fifth of the children is Samuel Lewis Price. Jennie Stuart Price lives at Lewisburg.

Samuel Lewis Price was born July 10, 1850, was reared at Lewisburg, attended private schools, and in 1860 went to Kansas. He taught school in Doniphan County and for a time farmed there, but sold his interests and after a year returned to Lewisburg. His life for a half a century has been largely devoted to farming and stock raising, and he is also interested in coal properties in the state. His home is the oldest house in Greenbrier County, the large stone house erected by his great-grandfather Col. John Stuart, in Life 1789. On the same property is another stone building, now used as an office and which, as stated elsewhere, was the first office of the clerk of Greenbrier County.

October 23, 1878, Samuel Lewis Price married Mary A. McCue, of Augusta County, Virginia. Seven children were born to their marriage: Elizabeth W .; Samuel, a lawyer at Lewisburg; Jane Stuart; Sallie Lewis, wife of Prof. W. W. Wood, of Davidson, North Carolina; Edward Clayton, who died while nearly qualified to graduate at the University of Virginia; Mary McCue, a graduate of Columbia University, who served as a nurse during the World war; and Thomas Lewis, of Lewisburg. Samuel L. Price is an elder in the Presbyterian Church and an active member of the Masonic fraternity.

CHARLES TARNAY, president of the Tarnay Collieries Com- pany, the mines of which are situated on Sulphur Creek, near Matewan, Mingo County, maintains his residence and executive headquarters in the City of Matewan.

Mr. Tarnay was born in Hungary, on the 15th of March, 1878, and is a son of Charles and Helen Tarnay, his father having been a man of wealth and influence in his native land, which is now suffering direly from the effects of the great World War. The subject of this review was for two years a student in the University of Buda- pest, and thereafter continued his studies for a similar period in the University of Berlin, where he studied law. At the age of seventeen years he came to the United States, and from New York City he came forthwith to the West Virginia coal fields. He found employment in the coal mines on Cabin Creek, and took pride in thus numbering himself among the world's productive workers. He has been employed in various capacities and at many different places in connection with the coal mining industry in West Virginia, and also in mines in Pike County, Kentucky. His ambition caused him to continue his reading and study, and in 1912-13 he attended George Washington University, Washington, D. C., where he specialized in chemistry and engineering. In 1914 he was employed as chemist in the Cabin Creek coal district, and he next be- came superintendent for the Bessemer Coal & Coke Com- pany at Bessemer, Pennsylvania, where he remained four years. He then became an independent operator in the Pennsylvania coal fields, and the negative success of his enterprise was so pronounced that he lost all of the money which he had previously accumulated. Under these depress- ing conditions he bravely faced the problems that confronted him, and took the position of track man in the Pond Creek District of Kentucky.

In February, 1920, Mr. Tarnay started a wagon mine at Naugatuck, Mingo County, West Virginia, notwithstand- ing the fact that he was in debt to the amount of $400 and had in his possession only thirty-five cents. His energy and ability have since combined to gain for him increas-

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ir success, and he is now a substantial figure in connection h coal production. Ha organized the Shumate Coal mpany at Naugatuck, and is president of the same, and April, 1921, he organized the Tarnay Collieries Com- my, of which he is president and general manager, this enpany having 600 acres of extremely valuable coal land. fe sterling character and recognized ability of Mr. Tarnay Ive gained to him the co-operation of some of the best Jown and most influential coal men of this field, and th of the mining companies of which he is president are, 1922. working their mines six days a week, while many ther mines of the district are closed down. Mr. Tarnay a loyal and appreciative American citizen, and in the nd of his adoption has won substantial and worthy auc- sg. He is a man of superior intellectuality, and as a nguist speaks, reads and writes the Hungarian, German, french and English languages with almost equal facility. the World war period he was instant in patriotic serv- e, especially in connection with the work of the Red Cross. om the general headquarters of which he received a letter highly commending him for the efficient service which he andered during American participation in the war. In olitics he is a staunch republican, and both he and his ife are earnest communicants of the Catholic Church. n linguistic attainments Mrs. Tarnay excells her husband, g she speaks eleven different languages, she having formerly been a successful and popular teacher and having een during one year employed by the Government as an interpreter in the City of Washington.

In 1906 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Tarnay and Miss Mary Kovalik, who likewise is a native of Hungary, and they have three children : Isabel, Helen and Darles, Jr.

MARY VIRGINIA MCCUNE. M. D. Proprietor of the Shenandoah Sanitarium at Martinsburg, Doctor MeCune has achieved a high rank in the medical profession and is one of the older and one of the foremost representatives of women in this vocation in West Virginia.

She was born at the village of Turtle Creek, Allegheny County. Pennsylvania, and is a lineal descendant of Capt. John McCune, who came to America in 1721. A complete history of the McCune family has been compiled by Alex- ander Kerr, and in that history every generation is repre- sented by men of usefulness and honor. Doctor McCune's father and grandfather both bore the name Alexander and were natives of Pennsylvania. Her father was born at Ligonier in Westmoreland County and married Agnes Hamil- ton, also a native of Westmoreland County and daughter of Duncan Hamilton. Duncan Hamilton was a millwright by trade, and in 1872 removed to Martinsburg, where he lived until his death. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. The Hamilton family is of prominent Scotch origin, and Doctor McCune has the family coat of arms, inscribed with the motto: "Virtue alone is true nobility," while another motto is "Let us go through." Doctor McCune's great- grandfather Hamilton and great-grandfather McCune fought for liberty in the Revolutionary war, and in the second war with Great Britain assisted in building ships for Commodore Perry's flect at Erie, Pennsylvania. The father of Doctor MeCune died in early life, and her mother at the age of sixty-five.

Doctor MeCune attended public schools in Allegheny County, and after coming to West Virginia was a student in the Berkeley Female Seminary at Martinsburg, where she eame under the instruction of Mrs. Peyton Harrison and Bettie Hunter. Her course completed in that institution, she tanght in Berkeley County for a time and then went to Richmond, where she completed the course and graduated as a trained nurse from St. Luke's Hospital. For a time she had charge of the training department of that institu- tion, and from there entered the Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia, where she graduated M. D. in 1895. Doc- tor McCune was an interne for eighteen months at the Woman's Hospital, and then had charge of the woman's division of the insane department of Brickley Insane Hos- pital at Philadelphia. She was chief of children's clinics at the South Third Street Dispensary until 1898, in which

year she returned to Martinaburg and established the Shenandoah Sanitarium, which under her management has had a broadening ecope of service and patronage. Doctor McCune is a member of the Tri-County and West Virginia and American Medical Associations.

She is a member of the American Historical Association and the Academy of Science, the Woman's American College Alumnae and the Presbyterian Church.

JOHN D. MCCUNE. One of the largest industries in the Eastern Panhandle is the stone quarries, and the principal representative of the Department of Mines of the State Government located in that region is the inspector of sand mines and quarries. The present incumbent of that office is John D. McCune, one of Martinsburg'a best known citizens.

Mr. McCune was born in the Turtle Creek District of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, November 18, 1863, one of the two children born to Alexander and Sarah Agnes Hamil- ton McCune. The McCune family came to West Virginia in 1873. when John D. McCune was ten years of age. He began his education in schools of his native locality in Pennsylvania, attended school in Berkeley County, West Virginia, served an apprenticeship at the machinist's trade, and for a time was an employe of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. Later he specialized in the finer branches of mechanical work, and for years has been noted as an expert safe and lock and cash register mechanic. He was bnsily engaged in this line until he was appointed to his present position in 1921 for a four year term.

Mr. McCune is a republican, active in his party and is a member of Robert White Lodge No. 67, A. F. and A. M., of Martinsburg. He ia a Presbyterian, while Mrs. McCune is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1886 he married Annie B. Stuckey, daughter of Daniel and Eliza- beth (Grantham) Stuckey. Of their four children two are deceased. Ernest L. and John L. The two survivors are Arnold C. and Larene. Arnold married Miss Etta Wolford, of Martinsburg.

JACOB MILTON HARPER, has been a member of the Roane County bar twenty years, and is a gifted lawyer, senior member of the law firm of Harper & Baker at Spencer.

He was born in Roane County January 25, 1875. His family has been in this section of West Virginia almost a century. His grandfather, Henderson Harper, was born in old Virginia in 1818, and was a child when his father, Arm- sted Harper, brought his family ont of Eastern Virginia and settled in Roane County. Both Armsted and Hender- son Harper were fine examples of the early frontiersmen, both noted hunters, and their lives were lived in the country and their serious occupation was farming. Henderson Harper owned several thousand acres of land in Roane County, and lived there until his death in 1910, at the advanced age of ninety-two. He married Deborah West- fall, who was born in Roane County in 1826 and died in 1896.

Rev. John L. Harper, father of the Spencer attorney, was born in Roane County February 22, 1851, and devoted his active life to the ministry of the Methodist Protestant Church. He was eloquent, devout and able, and exercised a wide influence through his preachings in Roane, Jackson, Mason, Ritchie and Pleasant counties. When he retired from the ministry in 1912 he located at Spencer, where he died Sep- tember 2, 1920. He was a democrat in politics. His wife, Melissa Jane Hopkins, was born in Roane County in 1854, and is still living at Spencer. Their children were: Mary, wife of Silas G. Ferrell, a farmer at Dunbar, Kanawha County ; Robert H., a blacksmith at Spencer ; Jacob Milton ; John M., in the oil and gas and real estate business at Parkersburg; Martha E., wife of Dr. William W. Noyes, of Dunbar; Emma, who died when seventeen years of age; Alda, wife of William E. Griffith, u real estate and insur- ance man at Dunbar; Eliza, wife of Theodore Ryerson, a merchant tailor at South Charleston, West Virginia; Lillie, wife of George Walker, an employe of the United Fuel Gas Company at Gay in Jackson County; and Virgil L., the tenth

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and youngest of this large family, associated with his brother John in the real estate and insurance business at Parkers- burg.

Jacob Milton Harper, was educated in rural schools, spent two years in the Glenville State Normal School, leaving in 1896, and in the meantime, at the age of twenty, had begun teaching in the rural districts of his native county. Altogether his exertions and abilities were devoted to school work ten years. In November, 1898, he was elected county superintendent of schools of Roane County, filling that office four years. 1899-1902. Mr. Harper attended the law school of the University of West Virginia and in June, 1901, was admitted to the bar, and now for fully twenty years has been busied with the affairs of his profession, embracing both the civil and criminal branches. He has been practic- ing in partnership with John M. Baker since December, 1909. As a firm they own their office building, and other real estate and oil royalties.

Mr. Harper was for two terms a member of the City Council of Spencer, and has been on the Board of Educa- tion. He is a stockholder in the Ravenswood Wholesale Grocery Company and vice president of the Traders Trust & Banking Company. Mr. Harper is a democrat, is affiliated with the Masons and Odd Fellows and Parkersburg Lodge No. 198 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Roane County Bar Association, and the Spencer Country Club. He gave his time and means freely to the Government at the time of the World war, and was especially helpful in filling out questionnaires for recruited men.

September 12, 1900, in Pleasants County, Mr. Harper married Miss Bessie Kester, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wil- liam Kester, now deceased. Her father was a farmer at Belmont in Pleasants County. Mrs. Harper finished her education in the West Liberty State Normal School, and taught seven years in Pleasants County before her marriage. They have two interesting yonng danghters: Camille, born December 26, 1901, is in the sophomore class of the Uni- versity of West Virginia. Frances, born December 22, 1904, is a student in the Spencer High School.

JOHN M. BAKER, member of the law firm of Harper & Baker at Spencer, has been practicing law in Jackson and Roane counties for a quarter of a century, and his reputa- tion as an able lawyer, successful business man and high minded citizen is widely extended throughout that section of the state.

He represents an old family of West Virginia. His grand- father, Elijah Baker, was born at Horseshoe Bend, Ran- dolph County, West Virginia, October 4, 1815, was reared in Wirt County, and from there moved to Jackson County, where for many years he was a farmer and merchant, served in the State Guards during the Civil war and was active in all matters of community welfare. His wife was Nancy Wolfe, who was born in 1819, and was a life long resident of Jackson County. Both were interred in the family bury- ing ground at LeRoy.

Their son Dallas M. Baker, father of the Spencer attorney, was born at LeRoy September 19, 1846, and lived all his life in Jackson County, where he was a farmer and merchant, and he died at Sandyville November 12, 1911. He served as a school trustee, was a republican and a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Dallas M. Baker married Mary E. Johnson, who was born in the town of Chesterfield, in the Adirondack Mountains of New York state, September 17, 1846, and is still living at Sandyville. Her father, John Johnson, was born in England in 1814, came to America at the age of seventeen and after a brief residence in Canada moved to New York state, where he married and about 1854 brought his family to Jackson County, West Virginia. He was a farmer, justice of the peace, member of the State Legislature and a captain in the Home Guards during the Civil war. Captain Johnson died at Ravenswood in Jackson County in 1884. John M. Baker was the oldest child of Dallas M. Baker and wife. Della, the second in age, is the wife of Lee C. Knotts, whose home is at Sparrow Point, Maryland, Mr. Knotts being a captain in the United States Army and had a year of

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 206

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