History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 23

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Camp Perry, Ohio, Seagirt, New Jersey, and Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1914 he was appointed adjutant general of West Vir- ginia, with the rank of brigadier general of the National Guard. As adjutant general it devolved upon him in 1916 to mobilize the National Guard for service on the Mexican border. Later, when the National Guard was mustered into the United States service, in April, 1917, he resigned and soon afterward was accepted for service in the National army with the rank of major. He was assigned to duty as assistant adjutant of the Thirty eighth Division at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. There he was one of the three officers detailed by the War Department from the Thirty eighth Division to attend the Army General Staff College, A. E. F., at Langres, France. Ile left for overseas on this assign. ment early in February, 1918. Major Bond graduated from this college with a diploma from the general staff recom- mending him for general staff duty with troops-the highest recommendation given by the general staff and most unusual honor for a soldier from civil life. Ile graduated May 29, 191%, and from that date was in constant service on the various battle fronts until the armistice. Major Bond was with the First Division in the Montdidier-Noyon sector, and was transferred about July Ist to the Thirty fifth Division, on duty in Alsace, near the Swiss border. Later, with the same division, he engaged in the St. Mihiel drive, which was the American army's first major offensive, and subsequently was with the Thirty-fifth Division in the Meuse. Argonne battle. Major Bond's Victory Medal has four bars, indi- eating that he was engaged in three major offensive opera- tions and one defensive. His defensive work was in the Somme-Dieu in Lorraine and in the Kruth sector in Alsace.

Major Bond returned home early in 1919 and was dis- charged at Hoboken in February. Ile had devoted prac- tically five years to the National Guard or National army service. Ile soon afterward became a clerk in the office of the secretary of state at Charleston, and early in 1920 announced his candidacy for the republican nomination for state auditor. Hle won this honor at the primaries and was eleeted in November, 1920. Major Bond is a man of mili- tary training, has the military habit of efficiency, knows West Virginia affairs and politics, and his skillful adminis- tration of the auditor's office so far has fully justified the confidence reposed by his election. He has one of the most important of the executive offices at the capitol, the state auditor having general supervision not only of state ge- counts in general but such special departments as that of fire marshal, sheriff, corporations, warrant, insurance, lands.

Major Bond is a Scottish and York Rite Mason and Shriner, and is a member of the Methodist Church. He married Miss Blanche Hume, and they have a son, Paul llume Bond.

WILLIAM LAWRENCE BRICE is the present general manager of the Wheeling Register. Ho became manager under his unele, the late James B. Taney. He therefore continues the distinctive relationship maintained by the Taney family to this nld institution of journalism.

The Wheeling Register was established during the Civil war times, in 1863, and has been published continuously for over half a century. Lewis Baker was one of the founders. and continued the management as principal owner until 1884. At that time the Register was acquired by Taney Brothers, and the Register has been owned and published by the West Virginia Printing Company since that year. The Register was managed first by James B. Taney, from 1-84 until 1893. when Mr. Taney was appointed consul-general to Ireland under President Cleveland in his second term of office. His brother, Charles Henry Taney, succeeded him as general manager of the Register, and continued in same capacity until his sudden death on February 20, 1912. James B. Taney again became manager upon the death of his brother Charles, and at the same time the subject of this sketch was made assistant general manager and continue i until the death of James B. Taney in May, 1915.

William Lawrence Brice was born &t Wheeling, August 15, 1874. He is a great-grandson of a prominent pioneer

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

character in this section of West Virginia, John Brice, a native of Pennsylvania, who was the founder and first pastor of the historic "Stone Church," a Presbyterian society organized at the "Forks of Wheeling"' as early as 1787. The material of the old Stone Church is still part of the structure known as the Stoue Church at Elm Grove. John Brice died at West Alexander, Pennsylvania. His son, John Brice, Jr., was born in Pennsylvania in 1796, and subsequently removed from Ohio County, West Virginia, to Belmont County, Ohio, where he was a farmer. He died in Belmont County in 1881. His wife was Nancy Byers, a native of Washington County, Pennsylvania, who died in Belmont County, Ohio.

Sylvester L. Brice, father of William L. Brice, was born in Belmont County, February 19, 1840, and finished his edu- cation in the Normal College at Lebanon, Ohio. In 1861 he joined Company F of the Fifty-second Ohio Infantry, and was all through the Civil war, participating in the bat- tles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge and in the campaign of Sherman to the sea. Follow- ing the war he located at Wheeling, studied pharmacy, and from 1867 to 1893 conducted a successful drug business in the city. After that he lived retired until his death on December 26, 1910. S. L. Brice was for several terms a member of the City Council in both branches, was city collector of taxes, was an influential republican and a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity. His wife was Ella Taney, a sister of Charles H. and James B. Taney. She was born at Newark, New Jersey, but has lived in Wheeling since in- fancy. William L. Brice is the oldest of three children. His brother, Malcolm Taney Brice, is news editor of the Wheeling Register. The only sister, Eleanor, is the wife of a prominent Wheeling attorney, Henry M. Russell.

William Lawrence Brice was educated in the public schools, in Linsly Institute, and in 1893, at the age of nine- teen, entered the newspaper business as a reporter on the Register, under his uncles. He has given his full time and service to the fortune and prosperity of the Register for nearly thirty years.

Mr. Birce, who is unmarried, is a democrat in politics, a member of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Wheeling Lodge No. 28, B. P. O. E., Wheeling Country Club, Fort Henry Club, and on many occasions has found and exercised the opportunities to be a useful citizen of the community. He is a director of the Wheeling Chamber of Commerce, a di- rector of the Citizens People's Trust Company, and during the World war was a member of various committees and employed the full force of the Register's influence in behalf of the Government. Mr. Brice resides at 930 North Main Street.

ROY BENTON NAYLOR. Perhaps no other name has been more steadily identified with the commercial history and de- velopment of the City of Wheeling since the middle of the past century than that of Naylor. One of the largest whole- sale houses in the Ohio Valley is the John S. Naylor Com- pany. Roy Benton Naylor is a son of the founder and for many years active bead of this business, and while he chose a distinct field of enterprise he has for a number of years been recognized as one of West Virginia's ablest and most public spirited citizens, having gained a great deal of prom- inence during his long connection with the Wheeling and West Virginia Boards of Trade.

Mr. Naylor was born at Wheeling, July 22, 1871. His family has been in this section of the Ohio Valley consider- ably more than a century. His great-grandfather was John Naylor, who was born near Baltimore, Maryland, of Quaker stock and English ancestry. He settled in Ohio at the be- ginning of the nineteenth century, and his occupation was that of a farmer. The grandfather of Roy Naylor was Joseph R. Naylor, who was born in Ohio in 1817 and in 1848 moved to Wellsburg, West Virginia. He became a mer- chant, and under appointment from President . Cleveland was serving as postmaster of Wellsburg when he died in 1887. He was a democrat, and a member of the Christian Church and the Masonic fraternity. Joseph R. Naylor mar- ried Hester Kimberland, who was born in Ohio in 1817 and

died at Wellsburg in 1887, having been born and having die in the same years as her husband.

The late John S. Naylor was born at Pennsville in Morga County, Ohio, in 1843, and was about five years of age whe his parents moved to Wellsburg, where he grew up and a quired the greater part of his education. He attended th old West Liberty Academy, and in 1869, as a young man moved to Wheeling. In later years his mercantile activitie developed into the John S. Naylor Company, one of th largest wholesale dry goods houses in the state. He was fc many years its active executive head, and gave his time 1. the business until his death in 1916. His citizenship in ever sense was thoroughly constructive. He served on the cit council and school board, was one of West Virginia's con missioners to the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, and we also interested in democratic politics, serving several yea: as chairman of the County Committee of Ohio County. E was a member of the Christian Church and the Mason fraternity. John S. Naylor married Anna Wendelken, wl was born at Marietta, Ohio, in 1853, and is still living : Wheeling. Roy Benton is the oldest of four children. H brothers have all had an active part in the business founde by their father. Allen Gerd died at Wheeling in 1918. TI other sons are Joseph R. and Wilson, Joseph being the pre ent executive head of the John S. Naylor Company.

Roy Benton Naylor attended the public schools, Lins Institute, and Marietta College in Ohio. He left college : his sophomore year and was first attracted into the new paper profession and was connected with the Wheeling Nev for some years. Mr. Naylor founded the Wheeling Tel graph, selling that paper in 1904.

In 1905 he was elected secretary of the Board of Trade Wheeling. He held that office ten years, and during tl. greater part of that time the power of the Board of Trac and its affiliated organizations was largely exercised throug the executive abilities of Mr. Naylor. Shortly after he W: elected secretary of the Wheeling board he organized tl West Virginia Board of Trade, and was its secretary f ten years. After carrying these official burdens so long ] resigned in the fall of 1915 to take up the insurance bus ness with the Travelers Insurance Company of Hartfor and is now district agent for the Wheeling District, wi offices in the National Bank of West Virginia Building. .. 1917 he was president of the West Virginia Life Unde writers Association and is still a director of the associatio

Mr. Naylor departs somewhat from the family traditi in the matter of politics, being a republican, though he h not sought prominence in partisan politics, but rather public matters permitting opportunities for constructi work, particularly in affairs of community benefit. He w a member of the city council in 1901-02, was park and pla ground commissioner in 1912, and since 1921 has been on t City Recreation Commission. Mr. Naylor lives at Woodsda where he completed his beautiful modern home in 1919. I was mayor of Woodsdale three years, until that communi was consolidated with Wheeling in 1919. He is a memb of the Christian Church, the Wheeling Chamber of Com merce, Wheeling Country Club, Fort Henry Club, Twilig Club and Rotary Club. He is a director of the Communi Savings and Loan Company, director of the Wheeling Sa ings & Loan Association, a director of the Associated Cha ties and a trustee of Marietta College, for which he receiv. the honorary degree of A. M. in 1912. During the war was a "Four-Minute" speaker, and was chairman of t Publicity Committee for all the Liberty Loan, Red Cross a: other drives.

January 15, 1902, at Bridgeport, Ohio, Mr. Naylor m2. ried Miss Nancy Dent, daughter of James C. and Mil; (Clayton) Dent, now residents of Los Angeles. Her fath' is a retired merchant. Mrs. Naylor is a graduate of Mou; de Chantal Academy of Wheeling. They have one son, Jo! S., Jr., born March 28, 1906.

ANDREW GLASS is one of the very active and influent:l younger men in the industrial and commercial life of Whe. ing, and his practical field of experience since leaving schd! has been the iron and steel industry.

He was born at Wheeling, June 25, 1881, son of Woc.

arthur& Koontz .

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

ward W. and Mary C. Glass. Ilis grandfather, Andrew Glass, was one of the original stockholders of the LaBelle Iron Works, one of the pioneer iron industries at Wheeling, established seventy years ago, and now a subsidiary of the Wheeling Steel Corporation.

Mr. Andrew Glass acquired most of his public school education in Chicago, and as a youth became a salesman in the Chicago store of the Wheeling Corrugating Company. Later he was made general manager of the Portsmouth, Ohio, works of the Whitaker-Glessner Company, and for sev- eral years past has been president of the Whitaker-Glessner Company and vice president of the Wheeling Stoel Corpora- tion and his business offices are in the Wheeling Steel C'or- poration Buikling.

Mr. Glass is a republican, a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner and a member of the Elks, and belongs to the Fort Henry Club, Wheeling Country Club and the Columbus Athletic Association. August 2, 1920, he married Dorothy Varner, amt they have an infant son, Alexander Glass.

WALTER L. DANKS, whose teelinieal and executive ability need no further voucher than the statement that he is the efficient superintendent of the Parkersburg Iron & Steel Company, at the metropolis and judicial center of Wood County, West Virginia, claims the State of Nebraska as the place of his nativity and is a representative of one of its sterling pioncer families, though it is to be recorded that luis father, a man of independent means and marked re- sourcefulness, did not consent long to endure the lavages wrought by grasshoppers and drought in the pioneer period of Nebraska history, but soon left that state, in which many other pionvers were compelled to remain, as they had nu financial resources that permitted them to flee from the desolation wrought by the pioneer scourges.

Walter L. Danks was born at Cozad, Dawson County, Nebraska on the Ilth of November, 175, and is a son of .lolın G. and Elizabeth (Vanee) Danks, the former of whom was born at Mount Savage, Maryland, and the latter at Muneie, Indiana. Samuel T. Danks, grandfather of bim whose name initiates this review, was a native of England, where the family has been one of not minor prominence. among its representatives in the past having been one or more distinguished musicians and composers, one of whom composed musie for many of the beautiful chants of the Church of England. Samuel T. Danks was reared and edu- cated in his native land and there acquired his fundamental knowledge of the iron industry, of which he became a prom- inent and influential pioneer exponent after coming to the United States. He came to this country about the year 1847, and in 1849 he became one of the argonauts of California, where the historie discovery of gold had just been made. He made the lung and perilous overland trip to California and became one of the first to utilize hydraulie power in eonnee- tion with gold mining in that state. lle did not long remain on the Pacific Coast, however, but established his home at Mount Savage, Maryland, where he became prominently identified with the iron industry, as a pi neer in its develop- ment in this country. He was the inventor of the rotary puddling furnace that bore bis name and that did much to advanee iron produetion industry in the United States. Both he and his wife continued to reside in Maryland for a number of years, and thereafter he became superintendent of an extensive iron manufacturing plant in Cincinnati, Ohio, in which state he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives.

John G. Danks seems to have inherited a predilection for the iron industry, with which the family name had been prominently identified in England for many generations. He was reared and educated in Maryland, where he early gained practical experience in connection with iron industry under the effective direction of his father. As a young man he became meebanieal engineer for one of the large iron corporations at Cincinnati, Ohio, where his father was simultaneously serving as an executive in connection with the same line of enterprise. After the father invented the Danks puddling furnace John G., the son, went to England to superintend the installation of these improved deviees in that country, and after his return to the United States he

continued such installation service, in which he met with much opposition and had many remarkable experiences ou account of the opposition of the historie organization in l'ennsylvania known as the " Molly Maguires. " In the early '70s he made his venture in connection with pioneer ranching enterprise in Dawson County, Nebraska, but the adverse con ditions previously mentioned in this sketch led him to abandon his activities there and to return to C'inemnuti. After his retirement from active business affairs he removed to Los Angeles, California, and there his death occurred ins 1914, his wife having preceded hamn to eternal ret, and two children survive them.

Walter L. Danks, the immediate subject of this akit h. passed his hoyhood days principally on a farm owned by his paternal grandfather near College Hill, a subire of the City of Cincinnati, and his early educational dise fine m eluded that of the high school and also of a business college. which later he attended at night. He gained under tie dater tion of his father and grandfather his early experience in connection with the iron and steel industry, and in this con nection he has well uphell the prestige of the family naun, as his entire active career has been one of close and offerti. association with this important branch of industrial enter prise. lle was for tive years in the employ of the Inland Steel Company at Indiana Harbor, Indiana, and with the same won promotion to the position of assistant master mechanie. In 1906 he came to Parkersburg, West Virginia. to take the position of master mechanic with the Parker- burg Iron & Steel Company, and this alliance has since con tinued, while he has served as superintendent of the com pany's extensive plant since 1913.

Mr. Danks is found aligned loyally in the ranks of the republican party, and is vital and progressive in his civle attitude. He takes deep interest in all that touches the wel fare and advancement of his home city, und during the nation's participation in the World war he was able to give valuable patriotic service both through the medium of his industrial association and through his personal efforts in support of the various local war activities. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and i the Masonie fraternity he has completed the circle of the York Rite, in which his maximum affiliation is with the Parkersburg Commandery of Knights Teundars, besides h's ing reevived the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and being also a member of the Mystie Shrine.

The year 1902 recorded the marriage of Mr. Danky to Miss Hannah Stephens, of Indiana Harbor, Indiana, and they have one son, Walter L., Jr.

ARTHUR BURKE KOONTZ was born at Kessler's Cross Lanes, Nicholas County, West Virginia, January 29 19% ., son of John and Alice Groves Koontz. John Koontz was of German extraction, having descended from the German set thement in Pennsylvania. He was born, reared and s, cht his entire life as a farmer and stock raiser in Nicolas County, West Virginia. For many years he was one of the leaders in local democratie polities, and served one term as sheriff of his county. He died at the age of seventy -ix. July 4, 1911. Alice Groves Koontz, who is seventy six years old, is living at the old humestrad.

Mr. Koontz's grandfather, James Koontz, marri al Re becca Longanecker. They moved from the German settle ment of Pennsylvania to Virginia, and from there to that part of Greenbrier County, West Virginia, which afterward was formed into Nicholas County, West Virginia.

Mr. Koontz's grandfather on his mother's side was John Groves, who married Catharine Duffy. John Groves was of Seotch deseeut, and Catharine Duffy, of Irish descent, hav- ing been born in Ireland, a daughter of Ilugh and Judith MeMabon Duffy, but eame to America when she was sixteen years old.

Arthur Burke Koontz has been one of the able members of the Charleston bar for more than ten years. His reputa- tion as a lawyer has been spread widely over the state, but he is perhaps best known in popular opinion throughout West Virginia in general because of his candidacy in 1920 for governor of the state.

In the present generation the name Koontz is widely and

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

favorably known in the professions, in educational affairs, banking and politics. Arthur Burke Koontz received his early instruction in the public schools of Nicholas County. He attended the Summersville School, graduated from Mar- shall College at Huntington, and subsequently entered Yale University Law School, where he was graduated with an LL. B. degree in 1910. Mr. Koontz began to practice law at Charleston in 1911, and has appeared in connection with important litigation in practically all the state courts. Aside from his law practice he is interested in a number of business enterprises and is vice president of the Union Trust Company of Charleston, which he was instrumental in organizing in 1913.

Nominated by the democratic party as candidate for governor in 1920, he made a most creditable campaign and won a flattering vote in the general republican landslide of that year. Mr. Koontz is a member of the Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity, a thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner. He married Miss Mary Watson Sipe, of Fairmont. Her father, the late Conrad Albert Sipe, is well remembered as former president of the Fairmont State Normal School. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Koontz are Mary Watson and Arthur Burke, Jr.

Associated with Mr. Koontz in his law practice is his younger brother, Patrick Duffy Koontz, who was educated in Marshall College, in the University of Michigan, and in Harvard University Law School. During the World war he saw service in France, and attained the rank of captain.

Another brother, Luther Vaughan Koontz, lives at Clen- denin, where he is president of the First National Bank and extensively interested in the enterprises of that town. He brought about the incorporation of Clendenin and was its first mayor.

Another brother, Louis K. Koontz, lives in Goldfield, Nevada, where he is interested in mining, and the two liv- ing sisters, Mrs. W. T. Burdette and Mrs. J. D. Peck, live on farms in Nicholas County.

An older brother, James William Koontz, who died in 1917, was a well known physician in Western Kentucky, having practiced his profession in Muhlenberg and sur- rounding counties for twenty years. Two older sisters, Rouena Catharine, who married Dr. A. L. Morris, and Lola Gertrude, who married L. S. Tully, are now deceased. Two other children, Cora Belle and Hubert, died in infancy.

Arthur Burke Koontz is therefore a member of a family of eleven, nine of whom grew to maturity. He happens to be the only one of the nine who never taught school.

ELMO AUSTIN MURRAY. Some men possess not only the ordinary and conventional virtues, which they exemplify in a greater or lesser degree in their every-day life, but have in addition exceptional qualities which bring about achieve- ments and attract to them the admiration and respect of their co-workers. Simple dignity, evidences of human sym- pathy, ceaseless application and habits of thrift, will bring about a successful career, and continued advancement will be noted invariably when to the qualities just named are added power of initiative and quick decision, shrewdness, force of character, confident judgment and resourceful- ness. These qualities have been noted in the career of Elmo Austin Murray, now shop superintendent of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway at Huntington, and a man who has won his own way up the ladder of success from the bottom round.

Mr. Murray, who is of Scotch descent and belongs to a family which was founded in Colonial Virginia prior to the Revolution, was born at Staunton, Virginia, September 1, 1876, a son of Robert P. and Mary Elizabeth (Whitlock) Murray. His father was born in 1833, in Rockingham County, Virginia, where he was reared and educated, and as a youth went to Louisa County, Virginia, where his mar- riage occurred. Following that event he was a resident of Staunton, and from 1852 was a fireman for the Virginia Central Railroad until the outbreak of the Civil war. In 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate Army and served throughout the struggle under Captain Kemper in a Vir- ginia volunteer infantry regiment. On receiving his honor- able discharge he resumed work as a fireman on the Vir-

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 23

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