History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 208

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ing for one year, and going from thero to the Yukon Pocahontas Coal Company, as general superintendent, by which company he is still employed and enjoye their respect and estcem.

In 1913-14 Mr. Lambert served as state mino inspector of distriet No. 12, under appointment by Governor Hatfield, and he held the position of chief deputy under Sheriff Green- way llatfield. He was a member of the County Court of Mingo County, and within his incumbency of this position the new court house was ereeted. He is an enthusiastic advocate and supporter of the republican party. In the Masonic fratermity he is a member of the Blue Lodge at Williamson; a member of the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons at North Fork; Ivanhoe Commandery No. 10, Knights Templars, at Bramwell; Scottish Rite Consistory at Wheeling; and the Mystic Shrine at Charleston. He is a life member of the lodge of Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Bluefield, No. 269.

Mr. Lambert's family consists of four bright interesting boys and one girl. Charles, a graduate of R. M. A., Bed- ford, Virginia, and now a sophomore at Washington and Lee University, entered the United States Marine Corps when the nation became involved in the World war, he having been at the timo only sixteen years old. Like his father, he is a splendid athelete, and he was captain of the football team, while a student of R. M. A. Walter, a graduate of R. M. A. Front Royal, Virginia, will enter Washington and Lee University this fall. Hildred, the only daughter, enters Lewisburg Seminary this fall. Paul, the youngest member of the household, attends his home school. Three members of Mr. Lambert's family are affiliated with the Baptist Church.

JOHN MORGAN PRICKETT is a newspaper man, his father was a printer and publisher before him, and for a quarter of a century he has been associated with the Jackson Herald at Ripley, being business manager of this well known and influential newspaper.

Mr. Prickett was born at Ravenswood in Jackson County, September 25, 1873. His grandfather, John T. Priekett, was a native of Marion County, but spent the greater part of his life as a farmer at Ravenswood, though he also con- dueted a store for a few years in Wood County. He died at Ravenswood. He married a Miss Morgan, a native of Marion County. Their son Charles Prickett was born in Marion County, grew up there, and as a youth learned the printer's trade. This trade he followed as a journeyman at Fairmont, Charleston and other places, finally locating at Ravenswood where he later became owner and publisher of The Mountaineer, one of the pioneer papers in that section of the state. About 1896 he removed to Ripley, and con- tinued the publication of The Mountaineer at Ripley until his death in 1911. In the Civil war he fought on the Con- federate side all through the period of hostilities, and was a staunch demoerat in his political affiliations. Charles Prickett married Matilda Knotts, who was born in Jackson County in 1846, and is still living at Ripley. John Morgan is the oldest of her children. Mary is the wife of Joseph A. Wooddell, postmaster at Pennsboro in Ritchie County. Mrs. Daisy Whittington died at Hinton. Charles S. is employed in the rubber industry at Akron, Ohio. Ada is a teacher in the public schools at Ripley, and Isaiah, the youngest of the family, is manager for the O. J. Morrison Store Company at Huntington, West Virginia.

John Morgan Priekett attended the common schools of Jackson County, but from the age of fifteen his education was more directly the result of his apprenticeship and ex- perience in the printer'e trade. Mr. Prickett worked as a journeyinan printer at Charleston, at Huntington, at Cineinnati, and in various towns and cities. In 1896 be located at Ripley and became a printer in the office of the Jackson Herald, and has been continuously associated with that paper ever since. He has been its business manager since 1919. The Jackson Herald was established in 1875, and for many years past has been the official republican paper of Jackson County. It is owned by a stock company known as the Herald Publishing Company. The Herald

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is a substantial business institution, and as a paper has a large circulation and influence throughout Jackson and surrounding counties.

Mr. Prickett married at Ripley in 1900 Miss Hallie Kidd, daughter of Dr. Washington W. and Margaret (Vail) Kidd. Her father was a physician and surgeon. Mr. and Mrs. Prickett have a daughter, Ruth, born July 17, 1901, who now has completed her education and is assisting her father in the Herald office.

TOM B. BOWMAN early in life learned the value of a knowledge of law and under the guidance of his father acquired legal acumen, though he found the most effective field for his energies and talents in real estate, and that has been his business and profession for a quarter of a century. Mr. Bowman for the past half dozen years has been one of the most successful real estate operators at Charleston, if not the leading dealer in that vicinity, where he is president of the Bowman Land Company and inter- ested in a number of other affiliated companies.

He was born at Valley Furnace in Barbour County and is a son of the late Capt. Adam C. Bowman, one of the distinguished sons of West Virginia. Captain Bowman was born in Randolph County, May 1, 1839, and was a captain in the Confederate Army during the war, being twice wounded. During a portion of his service he was in the cavalry under Gen. J. E. B. Stuart. Captain Bowman after the war enjoyed a wide and successful practice as a lawyer, his office being in Philippi, county seat of Bar- bour County, but his practice took him to all the courts of Barbour, Taylor, Preston, Tucker, Randolph, Upshur and Harrison counties. Captain Bowman, who died August 25, 1909, married Tacy J. Wilmoth. Their oldest son is Stuart H. Bowman, of Huntington, who is, like his brother, an extensive real estate operator. Mr. Bowmau has but one sister, Maud, now married to E. Ray Jones, a success- ful lawyer at Oakland, Maryland.

Tom B. Bowman was educated in the public schools, taught at the early age of sixteen and for several years worked on a farm, hoeing out his own row in the corn- field, and hauling tanbark during the summer months. He attended the Fairmont State Normal School and the Uni- versity of West Virginia at Morgantown. While working his way through school at the West Virginia University he associated himself with H. L. Swisher and prepared the first city directory of Morgantown, West Virginia.

When a mere youth Mr. Bowman contracted to sell twenty town lots for Fred S. Byers at Philippi. That was his introduction iuto a vocation to which few men have brought greater natural abilities. He opened a real estate and insurance office at Philippi. Mr. Bowman made good in the insurance field, and was at one time state agent for the Indiana & Ohio Live Stock Insurance Company, the Walla Walla Fire Insurance Company, and the Florida Home Fire Insurance Company.

With Hunter Atha and Cal Arnett of Fairmont Mr. Bowman promoted the sale of what is known as the Ice Addition to Philippi. It was a profitable undertaking and gave Mr. Bowman a substantial capital for other enter- prises. Following this they put on a sale at Belington of the Truman Elliott Addition, in which they sold 336 lots in one day, bringing in about thirty thousand dollars. Mr. Bowman then formed a partnership with his brother, Stuart H. Bowman, under the name of Bowman and Bowman, at Philippi, Tom conducting the real estate end of the business, while his brother looked after the law practice.

Changing business conditions took Mr. Bowman to the Southland. He went to Florida and started in, so to say, "on his own hook," making good, and today is the owner of hundreds of Florida lots and acres of sunshine. In 1917 he came from Knoxville to Huntington with but $5 cash left, bound for Charleston, paying his railroad fare out of this sum to the capital city. It must not be understood he was broke, far from it, but from that time to the present he has made wonderful strides in business ventures without calling on his outside resources. With this unfavorable introduction from the standpoint of financial resources Mr.

Bowman set to work to build up a real estate organization and in the Bowman Land Company he now has a busi ness that controls more real estate than any other firm ir the city, and probably more than any two. He is presi dent of the company and owns the controlling stock of the company. Among the larger interests held by this com. pany in the Kanawha Valley might be mentioned the Bow. man Land Company Addition to South Charleston, the Highland Terrace Addition to South Charleston, the Bishop Donahoe Addition to South Charleston, the L. C. Massey Addition and the Chilton Addition to Spring Hill, and other tracts and subdivisions in that locality; Chemical City Addition near St. Albans; and two large additions to Nitro, and several farm tracts. The company also has extensive holdings of farm properties around Milton, and parcels of lots and miscellaneous properties at Point Pleasant, Clarksburg, Brushton, Danville, Barboursville, Albrightsville, Buckhannon, Logan, Parkersburg, Philippi, Belington, Kingwood and elsewhere; in fact, in about twenty counties of West Virginia. He owns the controlling interest in the South Side Highlands Addition of the City of Charleston, destined to be a high class residential sec- tion.

Mr. Bowman has made a specialty of promoting and conducting auction sales of city and suburban property and farm lands. This business is not confined to West Virginia, but extends over the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Ala- bama, Georgia, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Texas. These operations alone run into millions of dollars. During the winter months Mr. Bowman takes personal charge of his Florida office at Orlando as a central operating point, but has subdivisions at Orlando, Acadia, Bradentown, Lakeland, Clermont, Tampa, Titusville and a few lots at scattering points.

Mr. Bowman is interested in the Security Bank & Trust Company, Merchants & Mechanics Bank, Kanawha County Bank, and Equity Finance & Loan Company, all of Charles- ton; and the Mountain Trust Company of Roanoke, Vir- ginia.

Mr. Bowman is a member of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, and Kiwanis Club, is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias, Knights of the Maccabees, and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He is a democrat in politics, and active. He married Dollie J. Nutter, daugh- ter of ex-sheriff Eli Nutter of West Union, Doddridge County, West Virginia, and has one child.

CHARLES A. MILLER, a wholesale grocery merchant at Martinsburg, has been husily active in the commercial affairs of that city for many years, and has earned an impregnable position in the esteem of the community by his business ability and the public spirited manifestations of his character.

Mr. Miller was born in the village of Hedgesville in Berkeley County, and both his grandfathers were farmers and planters in that section. His father, Harley Miller, was born on a farm near Cherry Run, grew to manhood there, and on leaving the farm engaged in the mercantile business at Hedgesville for several years, when he retired and was so living at the time of his death, at the age of seventy. He and his wife had nine children, seven of whom reached mature years: J. William, deceased; Adelaide, who had a son, Clarence, by her marriage to Doctor Mitchell and her second husband was Frank Rickard; Charles A .; Laura, who married George W. Appleby; Eugene P .; Robert S .; and Minnie D., who died at the age of twenty- one. The only three now living are Charles, Eugene and Robert.

Charles A. Miller attended school steadily until he was about fifteen years of age, and then went to work as a clerk in his father's store, where he laid the foundation of his commercial experience. At the age of twenty-two he came to Martinsburg, and with his brother J. William engaged in the farm implement and fertilizer business. The asso- ciation was continued with mutual profit for fifteen years, when the firm dissolved. Charles A. Miller then became

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associated with his father in the wholesale grocery business, as J. H. Miller & Sos. After the senior Miller's death the company was incorporated under the name of the C. A. Miller Grocery Company, which was dissolved December 31, 1920. After devoting many years to the personal manage- ment of this business Mr. Miller utilized a leisure interval to ge abroad and also make a tour of his own country to the Pacific Coast. While abroad he was in Scotland, Eng- land, Italy and many points of interest in battle-torn France. He sailed for home frem Cherbourg. Back at Martinsburg Mr. Miller could not be satisfied with leading a retired life, and in November, 1921, again embarked in the wholesale grocery business as sole proprietor of the C. A. Miller Grocery Company.

At the age of twenty-seven he married Miss Sarah Rust Bryarly, who was born near Darkesville in Berkeley County, daughter of Richard and Mary (Payne) Bryarly. Mrs. Miller died in 1916, aged forty-six, the mother of four children: May Dunbar, who died at the age of twenty-six, wife of Doctor Griggs; Sarah Averill, who died aged twenty-three, wife of Dr. Nelson Osborne; Elizabeth Nelson; Charles A., Jr. The only sen, a student in the Martins- burg High School, in this year will enter the Junier Class at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts.

Mr. Miller is an active member of the Trinity Episcopal Church, and is vestryman and senior warden. Fraternally he is affiliated with Equality Lodge No. 44, A. F. and A. M., Lebanen Chapter No. 2, R. A. M, Palestine Commandery No 2, K T., the Scottish Rite Consistory and Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling. He is also a member of Martinsburg Lodge No. 778, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Miller married, May 18, 1922, Miss Sally Scellay Evens at the "Little Church Around the Cor- ner,'' New York City.

COLONEL JOHN Q. A. NADENBOUSCH, was one of the distinguished native sons of that portion of the Shenandoah Valley that is now within the boundaries of the State of West Virginia, was a gallant officer of the Confederacy in the Civil war, and was one of the most honored and in- fluential citizens of his native county at the time of his death, in the fulness of years and honers.

John Quincy Adams Nadenbousch was born in Berke- ley County, Virginia (now West Virginia), on the 31st of October, 1824, and he passed the closing period of his life at Martinsburg, the county seat, the family of which he was a representative having settled in this county in the early pioneer period, when this section of the Old Deminion was virtually on the western frontier. Colonel Nadenbousch received a liberal education, as gauged by the standards of the locality and period, and he was in both character and intellectual powers well equipped for the leadership which long was his in connection with civic and material progress in his native county. As a young man he became an active member of the Virginia State Militia, and soon was chosen captain of the Berkeley Border Guards, which was the local military organization. He was ordered with his company to Harpers Ferry by Governor Wise at the time ef John Brown's historic raid, and assisted in the capture of Brown, besides having been stationed with his company at Charles Town, in the present Jefferson County, West Virginia, at the time Brown was there executed by hanging.

When the Civil war was precipitated Captain Nadenbousch and his command were called inte active service in the Army of the Confederate States, on the 18th of April, 1861, and proceeded again to Harpers Ferry. He won promotion to the rank of colonel, and commanded his regiment in many important engagements, his service having continued until the close of the war. He took part in the first battle of Bull Run, and at the battle of Gettysburg he was in command of the right wing of the Confederate forces, on Culp's Hill. Colonel Nadenbousch commanded the Second Virginia Infantry in the "Stonewall Brigade," and was second in command in that famous organization. He commanded the brigade at the battle of Fredericksburg. He was badly wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville, at the

time and near the place where "Stonewall" Jackson was fatally wounded. He was brevetted for gallantry in action on two occasions, and declined prometien te brigadier gen- eral, preferring to continue in command of his regiment, which was chiefly recruited from Berkeley and adjacent counties in the Valley of Virginia, near his home at Martins- burg.

After the close of the war Colonel Nadenbousch re- turned to his native county, and with the saine fine spirit of loyalty he bent his energies to the rebuilding of the prestrate industries of the community. lle became the owner of a large landed estate, and he also owned and operated a flour mill at Martinsburg. A man of command- ing ability and high ideals, he made his influence felt in connection with all communal interests, and he was one of the most prominent and revered citizens of Martinsburg at the time of his death, in 1891.

December 13, 1848, recorded the marriage of Colonel Nadenbouseh and Miss llester J. Miller, whom he survived by a number of years, their children having been six in num- ber, namely : Smith M., James Frederick, Mary Ella, Eloise Riddle, John Miller and Jane Gray.

ALEXANDER PARKS. As a citizen, business man and public official, Mr. Parks, former member of the West Virginia Senate, has played a large and benignant part in the community life of his home City of Martinsburg, ju- dicial center of Berkeley County, where he has maintained his residence for over fifty years.

Mr. Parks was hern in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, on the 22d ef April, 1847, and in the same city was born his father, Alexander Parks, Sr., who was a son of Edward Parks, the latter having been bern about 1785 and having served henerably in the United States Army. While stationed at Fert Mifflin, Philadelphia, Edward Parks mar- ried Mlle. Elise deLoupt, who was born in France. Alcx- ander Parks, Sr., was well educated and hecame a skilled chemist. For many years he was supervising chemist in the laboratories of the great pharmaceutical house of Powers & Wightman in the City of Philadelphia, where he continued to reside until his death. He married Miss Sarah Jackson, who likewise was born in Baltimore, her father, James Jackson, having been born in County Down, Ireland, and having been a kinsman of General Andrew Jackson, who when president of the United States appointed James Jack- son to a responsible official position in the City of Balti- more, where the family home was established. The maiden name of Mrs. James Jackson was Bethia Rennie Moore, and she was of Scotch ancestry. Alexander and Sarah (Jackson) Parks, the latter of whom likewise died in l'hiladelphia, became the parents of seven children: Sarah Jackson, Ann Eliza, Alexin, Mary Roberts, Alexander, Jr., George and Thomas Powers.

lie whose name initiates this review was educated in the public schools of Philadelphia and was there graduated in the high school. Upen coming te Martinsburg, West Vir- ginia, he turned his attention to the milling business, of which he has liere continued a successful representative te the present time. He first operated the Nadenbousch mill, and since 1898 he has owned and operated the Equality mills, which have the best of modern equipment, and in con- nectien with which he has a large grain elevator, which was erected by him. He is also in active management of his several farms and other real property in Martinsburg and vicinity.

Mr. Parks has been an expenent of liberal and progres- sive citizenship, and has taken lively interest in all things pertaining to the welfare of his adopted city and state. He served for some time as chairman of the Democratic County Committee of Berkeley County, was for three terms a member, from 1906 to 1909, inclusive, and was president of the County Court of the City Council of Martinsburg, during which period he served one term as city treasurer. In 1890 he was elected to the Senate of West Virginia, as representative of the Thirteenth Senatorial District. In the Senate he gave four years of characteristically loyal and effective service, and he was assigned to important Senate

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committees, including those on privileges and elections, banks and corporations, militia, enrolled bills, publie print- ing, and agriculture, of which latter committee he was the chairman. He did much to further wise and constructive legislation and to advance the best interests of his con- stituent district.

At Martinsburg was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Parks and Miss Mary Ella Nadenbousch, who was there bern and reared and who is a daughter of Col. John Q. A. and Hester J. (Miller) Nadenbousch, of whom more specific mention is made elsewhere in this publication. Mrs. Parks is deceased, she having been a devout communicant of Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church in her native city, of which church her husband likewise is a communicant, a member of the Vestry and a trustee. The loved wife and mother is survived by five children: John Nadenbousch (individually mentioned on other pages), Elise deLoupt, Hester Gray, Sarah Rennie and Alexander B. Mr. Parks is a past master of Equality Lodge No. 44, A. F. and A. M .; is affiliated with Lebanen Chapter No. 2, R. A. M .; is a past eminent commander ef Palestine Commandery No. 2, Knights Templars; and is a past most eminent grand com- mander of the West Virginia M. E. Grand Commandery of Knights Templars. The family home at Martinsburg is a fine old stone mansion that is one of the oldest houses in the city, its interior finishing and decorations being of most ar- tistic type, and on the walls of one of the rooms of this resi- dence is to be seen fine wallpaper that is nearly a century old. The home is further made attractive by an ancient spinning wheel and other relics of other days and of family history.

JOHN NADENBOUSCH PARKS is one of the popular and influential citizens of his native city of Martinsburg, Berke- ley County, is a former member of the House of Dele- gates of the State Legislature and gave distinguished service in connection with the natien's military activities incidental to the World war, he being now a member ef the Officers Reserve Corps of the United States Army, with commission as majer of infantry. He now commands the Third Battalion, Three Hundred and Ninty-seventh Infantry, One Hundredth Division, Organized Reserves.

Majer Parks was born at Martinsburg on July 22, 1876, and is a son of Hon. Alexander Parks, of whom individual mention is made in the preceding sketch. After pre- liminary training in the public schools of his native city Major Parks took a college preparatory course at Potomac Seminary, at Romney, his education having then been ad- vanced by his attending the University of West Virginia and the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, Virginia. His final course of study was in the historic old University of Virginia, after leaving which he returned to Martinsburg and became associated with business affairs. In the autumn of 1916 he was elected to the House of Delegates of the State Legislature, where he served during both the regular and special sessions, in 1917. He was assigned to various important committees of the Lower House, including the finance committee and the committee on roads, of which he was chairman. At the end of the special session he re- signed, in April, 1917, to enlist in the nation's military service, in the same month that the United States formally became involved in the great World war. He proceeded to Camp Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, and on the 26th of the following Nevember was commissioned captain of infantry. He was assigned as instructor of infantry units at several camps and was then transferred to Camp Wheeler at Macen, Georgia, where he was engaged in drilling his troops for overseas service when the signing of the historic armistice brought the war to a close. He received his honorable dis- charge and was commissioned major of infantry in the Officers Reserve Corps of the United States Army. The Major is a prominent and valued member of the Martins- burg post of the American Legion, which he organized, and is affiliated also with Martinsburg Lodge No. 778, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of which lodge he is a trustee. He was a member of the sub-committee that drafted West Virginia's first "Good Road Law," in 1917,

and as chairman of the committeo on roads was chiefly re- sponsible for the passage of the bill in the form recom- mended by his committee.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 208

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