History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 211

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"Mr. Sydenstricker was entirely free from anything like ostentation. He was modest, of a retiring disposition, and inclined to underestimate his own capacity. He was never self-assertive, shrank from contention and strife, and, theugh holding decided views and opinions, was always modest in asserting them. He was an excellent neighbor, kind and helpful to the poor, liberal in his contributions to any good cause, active in church werk, and interested in all movements, social, political or religious, advanced for the good of the people among whom he lived."

In the year 1866 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Sydenstricker and Mrs. Mary Surbaugh, a widew with one daughter, Nannie, both of whom survive him. Mr. and Mrs. Sydenstricker became the parents of three sons: John B., who was born December 5, 1866, was reared on the old home farm, received excellent educational advantages and has continued his allegiance to the basic industries of agriculture, horticulture and stock-growing in his native county. He has been a vital supporter of progressive move- ments in the advancing ef farm industry, and is one of the representative farmers of Greenbrier County, besides which he is serving, 1922, as president of the Greenhrier County Fair Association. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party, and he and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church. October 2, 1889, recorded his marriage with Miss Mary B. Farrier, and their four children are Ernest F., John M., Robert E. and Charles Thomas. Thomas A., the second son of the subject of this memoir, was born June 5. 1868, and is now identified with milling enterprise at Lewisburg. August 11, 1891, he wedded Miss Mary B. Clark, of Pocahontas County, where they main- tained their home until removed to Lewisburg, Mr. Syden- stricker having been a farmer in that county thirty years. They have two children: Annie Grace (Mrs. George E. Fuller) and Mary Agues. Edward W., youngest of the three sons, was born October 27, 1869, has been a successful cx- ponent of farm enterprise and has been prominently identi- fied also with the raising, buying and selling of live stock. He now resides at Lewisburg. December 1, 1919, he married Miss Elizabeth Wilson, daughter of Andrew J. and Bettie (Tuckwiller) Wilson. He was elected a member of the County Court in 1919, and is serving in this capacity at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1922. In the Masenie fraternity he has received the Knights Templar degree.

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HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

CHARLES S. ELLIOTT, manufacturer and business man of arksburg, grew up in a rural district of Southeastern ennsylvania, and while ho lived in a bome untouched by ther dire poverty or the luxury of wealth his future pended largely on opportunities of his own contrivanec. 1 the prosperons business man of today there is nothing reveal the youthful struggles and problems ho had to eet. His ambition for proper educational equipment as not satisfied until he was twenty-six. Soon afterward e came to West Virginia in the capacity of a civil and lining engincer. For twenty years his home has been in larksburg, and throughout this period he has been one of he city's most forceful business men.

Mr. Elliott was born at Redstone, Fayette County, Penn- ylvania, February 24, 1872, son of Robert and Sarah Gore) Elliott, who spent their lives as Pennsylvania armers. They had a family of ten children and reared ine, six sons and three daughters, Charles being next o tho youngest. In such a large houschold Charles S. Elliott had to be satisfied without special privileges and beyond the common schools of his home district he largely paid for his own education. For eighteen months he at- ended a state normal school in Washington, Pennsylvania, ind subsequently he entered West Virginia University, at Morgantown. He graduated in 1898, with the degree Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.

The Pittsburg Coal Company then employed him as a mining and civil engineer, and for a time he was employed in a similar capacity by the Monongahela Coal Company. Ho removed to Clarksburg in 1902 and was the technical expert in opening the Perry Mines at Adamston and the Lueas Mine at Lumberport, both these being Perry prop- ertics. After two years Mr. Elliott sold his interest in this business and fur eighteen months was superintendent of the Short Line Coal Company at Dala.

About that time Mr. Elliott acquired some stock in the Clarksburg Window Glass Company, manufacturers of hand made glass. For the past twelve years he has been actively associated with this company and for ten years has been its president. He has made this one of the important glass industries of West Virginia, the output being shipped all over the country. It is a business employing about three hundred men.

Mr. Elliott in 1918 helped organize the Hudson Coal Company of Clarksburg, and was its president two years and is still a director. He was one of the organizers in 1914 of the Clarksburg Trust Company, and is one of the original Board of Dircetors still in service. As a success- ful business man he has diversified his interests and in- vestments, and is owner of considerable real estate in and around Clarksburg.

Mr. Elliott is a York and Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, and he and Mrs. Elliott are Presbyterians and both of them active republicans. Mrs. Elliott is chairman of the Harrison County Republican Central Committee. Sep- tember 15. 1901, he married Miss Emma K. Kinder, of Washington County, Pennsylvania, daughter of H. H. and Marie (Bailey) Kinder. Mr. and Mrs. Elliott live in one of the commodious homes of Clarksburg, at 950 West Pike Street.

GEORGE PARKS WHITAKER. The name Whitaker has been practically synonymous with the iron and steel industry of the Wheeling District for a great many years. It makes up part of the title of the Whitaker-Glessner Company, one of the largest steel industries in the Ohio Valley and subsidiary of the Wheeling Steel Corporation.

George Parks Whitaker, assistant treasurer of the Whita- ker-Glessner Company was born at Wheeling, February 24, 1891, son of Albert C. Whitaker and Jessie Parks Whita- ker. He attended the Linsly Institute at Wheeling, and graduated in 1909 from Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. From Lawrenceville he entered Princeton Univer- sity, graduating A. B. in 1913. While at Princeton he was a member of the Campua Club. After his university career Mr. Whitaker returned to Wheeling and went to work in the Whitaker-Glessner Company, filling a successive round of responsibilities until his promotion to assistant treas-

urer. lle is also assistant treasurer of tho Wheeling Cor- rugating Company, is secretary and treasurer of the Whita- ker Irou Company and a director of tho Industrial Savings and Loan Company. He is a republican, is affiliated with tho Episcopal Church, and is a member of the Wheeling Country Club. His home is at Beech Glen, Wheeling, and his offices are on the eleventh floor of the Wheeling Steel Corporation Building.

June 27, 1917, George P. Whitaker married Miss Maric Stifel, daughter of Louis F. and Fredericka (Ocsterling) Stifel. Her mother lives at Wheeling. Ifer father, the late Louis F. Stifel, was prominently identified with the finan- eial life of Wheeling, and enjoyed a place of special honor and esteem with the Dollar Savings and Trust Company, of which for many years he was vice president and also see. retary of the Trust Department. Mr. and Mrs. Whitaker have two children: John Ocsterling, born May 29, 1918; and Jessie Parks, born July 3, 1920.

NELSON EVANS WHITAKER, son of A. C. Whitaker and Jessie Parks Whitaker, was born at Wheeling, January 11, 1893. He attended the local Linsly Institute, and spent eight years in Lawrenceville Preparatory School and Cornell University, graduating from both. llc was a student at Lawrenceville from 1907 to 1911, and at Cornell University from 1911 to 1915. He had the A. B. degree from Cornell and is a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity. In 1915 he entered the steel industry with the Whitaker- Glessner Company plant at Portsmouth, Ohio. IIc remained there until August 1, 1920, with the excep- tion of eighteen months in service as First Lieutenant of Artillery. He then came to Wheeling and was elected secretary of the Whitaker-Glessner Company. He is also secretary and treasurer of the Beeeh Bottom Land Company.

Mr. Whitaker is a member of the Episcopal Church, the Wheeling Country Club, and is a republican. His home is at Bae Mar, Wheeling. April 3, 1918, at Zanesville, Ohio, he married Miss Augusta Connolley Haldeman, daughter of Lunsford and Grace Haldeman, residents of Portsmouth, Ohio, where her father is president of the Kentucky Fire Briek Company. Mrs. Whitaker finished her education at Dana Hall, Wellesley College, Massachusetts. They have two sons, Nelson Evans Whitaker, Jr., born November 11, 1919, and Harry Ceeil Whitaker, born August 26, 1922.

EDWARD HINES, who died December IS, 1909, was one of the early settlers of White Sulphur Springs, and one of the men who from the beginning played a very important part in the development of this part of Greenbrier County. Always publie-spirited, he looked forward and was able to see the value of a project, not only for the immediate present, but to those who were to come after him, and aeted accordingly. So it is that although his earthly career is ended, the influence of what he accomplished while here lives after him and will for a long time have its effect on the lives of the people among whom he spent so many of his useful years.

The birth of Edward Hines occurred at Acres, near Balleyvaughan, County Clare, Ireland, August 9, 1831, and there he grew to manhood, during that period receiving but few educational opportunities. In 1852, with his parents and their other children, he immigrated to the United States and on the same vessel with the Hines family came that of the Leonards, the head of which was Peter Leonard. Edward Hines, or Hynes as the name was originally spelled, found employment after landing in the new country in the construction of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. In 1869, while a resident of Greenbrier County, he took out his naturalization papers. His father died abont this time and was buried at Point Pleasant, Mason County, West Virginia.

After the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad was completed Edward Hinea came to White Sulphur Springs and here embarked in mercantile pursuits, in which he continued to be active for many years, but prior to his death be retired and for a short period enjoyed the leisure and comforts his industry entitled him to have. On one of his journeya to

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Baltimore, Maryland, to buy goods for his store he came up with the family of Peter Leonard, and the pleasant acquaintanceship begun on board ship several years previous- ly was renewed, with the result that on May 5, 1867, Ed- ward Hines and Mary Leonard, a daughter of Peter Leonard, were united in marriage. To them were born the following children: John Leonard, Mary, Michael Lawrence, Edward Alphonsus, William Sherman, William Bartholomew and Edward Vincent. From the above it is to be seen that two of the children were named William and two Edward. Of all of these only Mary, John Leonard and William Bar- tholomew are now living.

The eldest of the family, John Leonard, has attained to world-fame, and is the pride of Greenbrier County and West Virginia. He was educated at West Point, and had become a major in the regular army prior to the World war. With this country's entry into that gigantic conflict he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel; was subsequently promoted to the command of the Twenty-sixth Infantry, and when the armistice was signed he was a corps com- mander, with the rank of major general.

The only other surviving son, William Bartholomew, was born August 21, 1878, at White Sulphur Springs, and there attended the public schools. He has always been very prominent in the life of his home city, which he served as postmaster for fifteen years. With others he assisted in organizing the Bank of White Sulphur Springs, of which he was first cashier and later president. At present he is con- ducting the only moving picture theatre at White Sulphur Springs, and through it giving the people clean and enter- taining recreation. He is a republican, an Elk and a Catholic.

On September 15, 1915, William B. Hines married Miss Norah Cahill, a daughter of Mathew Cahill, a native of Ire- land, where he died. Mrs. Hines was born in County Gal- way, Ireland.

CHARLES D. BOWMAN. One of West Virginia's native sons who has won his success in the state of his birth is Charles D. Bowman, cashier of the Franklin Bank, of Franklin, and a prominent and influential citizen of his community. For some years he has been identified with the public-spirited movements that have contributed to the ad- vancement of Pendleton County, and formerly was prom- inent in mercantile affairs at Moorefield and served as sheriff of Hardy County.

Mr. Bowman was born in Lost River District, on Lost River, Hardy County, West Virginia, February 5, 1867, and is a son of Jacob Bowman. He belongs to one of the old and honored families of the Shenandoah Valley of Vir- ginia, where was born his paternal grandfather, John Bow- man, who spent the greater part of his life in agricultural pursuits in Shenandoah County, but in the evening of life moved to the Lost River country of Hardy County, where he died in 1888, when about seventy-six years of age. On the issues of the war between the states he was un- equivocally a Confederate sympathizer, but was not eligible for military service. John Bowman married Mary Hine- gardner, who belonged to a family which, like the Bowmans, was of German origin. The Hinegardners were also farm- ing people. Mrs. Hinegardner passed away some years prior to the death of her husband. They were the parents of the following children: Silon, a Confederate soldier dur- ing the war between the states and after that a farmer in Hardy County, where liis death occurred; Mary, who be- came Mrs. Bowman; Isaac, who was a farmer throughout life and passed away in Hardy County; Sallie, who married John Harper and died in Augusta County, Virginia ; Amanda, who died as the wife of Benjamin Hinegardner ; Asenath, who married Joseph May; John, who is engaged in farming in Shenandoah County, Virginia; Laura, who ınar- ried John See and resides in Hardy County; and Eliza, who is Mrs. Frank Miller, of Hardy County.

Jacob Bowman was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, and passed his life in the pursuits of the soil, but while he was a man of industry he did not accumulate a competence, as he lived only to middle life, passing away when his son Charles D. was still young. He and his wife had only this

one son. After his death his widow married for her seeon husband John Mathias, and they had the following children Jimmie, who died in boyhood; Kate, who married Mose fier Snyder and is a resident of the Lost River locality of Hard. County; Philip S., who is a farmer and merchant o Pre Mathias, that county; Martha, who married Arthur Snyde and is a resident of the Mathias community; John, wh is engaged in farming in the Lost River section; and Etta the wife of Loy Moyer, of Rockingham County, Virginia.

Charles D. Bowman attended the district schools of th Lost River community and spent part of a term at the Fair mont Normal School, following which he remained at home and learned the trade of carpenter. After following hi trade for something under two years he found that it wa; not congenial and turned his attention to merchandising a Lost City, where he remained as a merchant for about si: years. Thereafter he left that community and established himself in the hotel business at Moorefield, conducting a well-patronized establishment for four years, at the end of which time he was elected sheriff of Hardy County, tc succeed Sheriff John C. Fisher. He served four years ir that office, from 1905 to 1909, and when he returned to civil life became a clerk in the general merchandise store of R. A. Wilson of Moorefield. He remained with that establish- ment for four years and then, in February, 1914, came to Franklin, Pendleton County, which has since been his home. At the time of his arrival Mr. Bowman succeeded C. F. Hammer as cashier of the Franklin Bank, which was organized in 1910 and opened the doors for business in 1911. It is capitalized at $40,000 and is accounted one of the strong and reliable banking institutions of the county. Mr. Bowman has formed many pleasant associations since his arrival at Franklin, and has made lasting friendship which have redounded to his own benefit and to that of the bank of which he is a representative. A democrat in politics, he cast his first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland and has helped to elect two democratic presidents. He was a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. While a resident of Moorefield in addition to being a member of the Official Board of the church and one of its active workers he served capably as superintendent of the Sunday School.

Ou November 4, 1895, Mr. Bowman married at Hagers- town, Maryland, Miss Bessie Seldon, who was born at Exeter, Devonshire, England, a daughter of John and Jane (Bnr- rows) Seldon. Mr. Seldon brought his family to the United States in 1873 and established his home on a farm in Hampshire County, West Virginia, where he spent the re- mainder of his life as a wheelwright and vehicle builder, his death occurring at Cape Bridge about 1890. Mrs. Seldon survived him some years, passing away in 1909. They were highly respected people of their community and had numer- ous friends. Mr. and Mrs. Seldon had the following cliil- dren : Will, who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Hamp- shire County; Charlotte, who died as the wife of John Nelson; Dan, a resident of Moorefield; Bessie, who became Mrs. Bowman; Fred, who is engaged in farming in Hamp- shire County; Frank and Eli, who are both deceased; and Eliza, who married Robert Miller, of Akron, Ohio. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bowman are as follows: Mabel, Harold, Ernest, Irvin and Raymond. The first three children have finished their high school work and Ernest is a graduate of the commercial department of the Keyser Preparatory School. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman take an active interest in all that affects their community, and have been contributors to enterprises which have made for advanced education, better morals and higher citizenship.

JAMES S. CHASE takes just satisfaction in being able to further a work that is of enduring value to the com- munity in which he resides, and he is giving a most effective administration as the incumbent of the office of county road engineer of Clay County, with headquarters at Clay, the county seat.

Mr. Chase was born in Jackson County, West Virginia, May 24, 1873, and is a son of Henry F. and Nancy M. (Windon) Chase. As a youth Henry F. Chase learned the miller's trade, to which he was giving his attention at the time when the Civil war began. His loyalty to the cause

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

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the Confederacy was shown by his enlistment in the wenty-second Virginia Infantry, with which he took part many engagementa and made a record as a gallant young idier. After the war he continued his active association ith milling enterprise for many years, and he and his wife ero residents of Jackson County, this state, at the time of eir deaths, she having been a member of the Presbyterian burch and his political allegiance having been given to le democratie party. Of their four children three are ving at the time of this writing: John J. is engaged in the al-estate business at Pleasants, this state; James S., of is sketch, is the next younger; and Linnie E. is the wife f Frank Roush, of Ripley, Jackson County.

The public schools of Jackson County afforded James S. 'hase his early education, and later he took a corre- pondence course in civil engineering. Under the direction f his father he learned the trade of millwright, and he fol- owed the same for a time, his independent career having een initiated when he was seventeen years of age. Ile gave ffective service as county road engineer in Jackson County, nd this experience fortified him greatly when he assumed a imilar office in Clay County, where he is doing a most ex- ellent work in connection with the improvement of the roads of the county. In politics he is independent, and he upports men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment. Ile is a past master of Ripley Lodge No. 16. Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Ripley, Jackson County, and is affiliated also with Pleasants Chapter, Royal Arch Mason, at Pleasants. Pleasants County. Ilis wife is an active member of the Baptist Church.

Mr. Chase married Miss Myrtle A. Childs, who was born and reared in Jackson County, and they have five children: Maxine M. (wife of E. Muller). Bertha E., Henry C., Helen and James J.

WILLIAM I .. FOSTER. The remarkable industrial develop- ment of Raleigh County has had an actor as well as a witness in the person of William L. Foster, who has eon- tributed some of the physical labor as well as business man- agement to the progress of this locality. While his early years brought him familiarity with considerable hardship and privation, he is reckoned one of the most prosperous men of the county, and is undoubtedly one of the best known citizens.

Mr. Foster, who is a former sheriff of the county, is presi- dent of the Raleigh Herald Company and general manager of the Electric Light and Power Company at Beckley. He was born at Sophia on Soap Creek, in the town district of Raleigh County, September 3, 1872, son of Joseph and Rosie (Gray) Foster. His parents were born in Montgomery County, Virginia, and were children when their respective parents moved to West Virginia. They were married in Raleigh County. The paternal grandfather was Hugh Foster and the maternal grandfather was John W. Gray, both farmers. The Fosters were Methodists and the Grays were members of the Dunkard Church. Joseph Foster. How seventy-one years of age and living at Pipestem in Sum- mers County, has spent his active life as a farmer, and is now a republican, though in early years a democrat. He is a Methodist. William L. Foster was the only child of his mother, who died when he was five years of age. The sec- ond wife of Joseph Foster was Martha, daughter of Silas Lemon and sister of Captain James Lemon of Franklin County, Virginia. She died in 1914.

William L. Foster acquired such education as the schools of the town district could afford, and as a boy he labored long hours on the farm, in the lumber woods and the saw mills. At that time Raleigh County had no railroad. It was a very easy matter to know every voter in the county and even his horse and dog. No mining development had been done, and the only use of coal in the locality was in a blacksmith shop. William L. Foster as a youth hauled wood over traets of land underlaid with a six foot vein of coal. He was one of the very first to work in the coal mine at Glen Jean, under superintendent .J. J. Robinson. He himself became a mining superintendent. In 1898 he removed to Beckley, and was employed in the store of E. D. George and later in the store of the Raleigh Coal Com-

pany. He then engaged in the fuel business for himself. Mr. Foster in 1908 organized the Raleigh Bottling Works, and had active charge for a time. In 1912 he took charge of the Beckley Electric Light & Power Company. His elee. tion to the office of sheriff came in 1916, and during the four years he was in office he resigned the management hut still remained vice president and director of the Electric Light Company. During his term of sheriff Mr. Foster probably captured moro moonshine stills than all other sheriff's in the state of the county put together.

At the close of his official term on January 1, 1921, he resumed his post as general manager of the Beckley Light & Power Company. The IIerald Publishing Company, of which he is president, publishes the Herald, the leading republican paper of Raleigh County.

On June 20, 1900, Mr. Foster married Lottie Selater. daughter of Hamilton Sclater. Their three children are Edgar Sclater, Roy Gray and William L., Jr.

Under the provisions of the second draft law at the time of the World war Mr. Foster was just a few days too old and his son Edgar just a few days too young to be included within its provision. Mr. Foster is clerk of the First Bap tist Church of Beckley, is interested in the Sunday School work. Is a Royal Arch Mason, a republican and a member of the Kiwanis Club and Chamber of Commerce.

OLIVER LEE FOSTER. Many years of successful farmin, and stock raising and performance of the duties of local citizenship in the Forrest Hill district of Summers County gave Mr. Foster a reputation over the county that enabled him to command a majority vote of confidence when he was candidate for sheriff in 1920. In this office he has made a splendid record of efficiency, and he is one of the ablest men in the court house at Hinton. .

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 211

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