History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 30

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Mr. Wysong's wife, whose maiden name was Mattie Wooddell, is a twin sister of William L. Wooddell, and record concerning the Wooddell family will be found in personal sketches elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Wysong graduated from the Glenville State Normal School and the West Virginia Wesleyan College at Buckhannon. Mr. and Mrs. Wysong have one son, William P., who was born October 17, 1903, he being a graduate of the high school at Webster Springs and being now (1922) a member of the sophomore class in the University of West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Wysong hold membership in the Methodist Episco- pal Church, South.

JOSEPH B. KIRK, M. D. A highly trained and efficient physician and surgeon, Doctor Kirk has devoted his pro- fessional work to a service that presents perhaps the great- est opportunity for usefulness, practice in the coal mining districts of West Virginia. For a number of years his home has been at Bluefield, where he has been equally distinguished for the high quality of his citizenship and liberal attitude toward every movement in which the welfare of the community was concerned.

Doctor Kirk was born in Giles County, Virginia, Septem- ber 19, 1863, son of Joseph and Sarah (Strader) Kirk. His father was also born on a Giles County farm. The Kirk family originated in England, moved to Scotland, and thence a branch came to America in Colonial times. In later generations one branch of the family went to Mis- souri, and the Town of Kirkville is named in their honor. The grandfather of Doctor Kirk was John Kirk, a native of Eastern Virginia, and one of the first settlers in the New River Valley. John Kirk was a soldier in Washington's army, fighting in the battles of Trenton and Brandywine. He was in the service two years, and in a signed statement he let it be known that he was serving his country as a duty rather than for pay. This example of lofty patriotism has been emulated by many of his descendants. John Kirk married Elizabeth O'Bryant, of a family who has spelled their names O'Bryant, O'Briant and Bryant.

Joseph Kirk was a Virginia farmer, and did an extensive business in horses. He was well educated. Joseph Kirk was born in 1800 and died in 1880. He married late in life Sarah Strader, who was many years younger than he. She died in 1879. They were members of the Methodist Church. Of their six children Dr. Joseph B. was the sixth. John S. has a grain and stock ranch in North Dakota; Lizzie is the wife of John A. Neil, of Tazewell, Virginia; Mrs. L. C. Thorne lives at Princeton, West Virginia; Naney J. Meadows died at Lerona, West Virginia, February 22, 1916; Mrs. Josie Lilly is housekeeper for her brother, Doctor Kirk.

Joseph B. Kirk received his education at his home through a private teacher whom his father engaged. At the age of twenty-one he taught a term of free school, and from his earnings bought his first medical books. During 1884-85 and 1885-86 he attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore. Doctor Kirk located at Princeton, West Virginia, in 1886, and a year later took up his mining

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

practice at Bramwell, where he remained until 1905, when he moved to Elkhorn, West Virginia, atill continuing mine practice, and since 1916 has been a resident of Bluefield. Before locating at Bluefield he did post graduate werk, specializing in dermatology in the Bellevue Hospital in New York.

Doctor Kirk in 1918 received the commission of captain in the Medieal Corps and was assigned to duty at the Post Hospital of Fort Myers. He was at Fort Myers, Virginia, Camp Merritt, New Jersey, and then bad charge of the first and second floors of the Elizabeth McGee Hospital at Pitts- burgh. He received his overseas assignment with the Fifty- sixth Evacuation Hospital Corps, Expeditionary Army, and was awaiting erders at Allentown, Pennsylvania, when the armistice was signed. The call of his country has ever made a deep appeal to him. He was a charter member of Bluefield Post Ne. 9, American Legion, and acted as chaplain of the same.

In 1889 Doctor Kirk married Sallie S. Frazier, daughter of Rev. J. T. Frazier, of Tazewell, Virginia. Doctor Kirk was bereft of his wife in a tragic automobile accident July 30, 1916, when she was killed and their son and daughter were injured. Twe seheelmates of the children were also in the party, and one of them was killed. The sen of Dector Kirk is Jeseph L. Kirk, who was a member of Company G of the Twenty ninth Engineers, and had overseas serviec as field engineer. He was trained at Camp Myers, Virginia. The daughter of Doctor Kirk is Hazel Virginia, wife of John V. Warren, a lumberman who came from Utica, New York.

Docter Kirk is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner, is a democrat and a member of the Methodist Church. He was a leader in securing the commission ferm of government fer Bluefield, is one of the present city directors, and has been for the past two years democratic chairman ef Mercer County. Doctor Kirk was one of the organizers and is a director of the Ennis Coal and Coke Company, operating in Mercer County. He is also a stockholder in the American Coal Company, and has coal interests in Kentucky. His son, Joseph L., married Grace Seaver, of Marion, Virginia. Dector Kirk purchased a 250-acre farm adjoining the City of Bluefield, and there Joseph L. Kirk is conducting a modern dairy farm.

MARTIN VAN BUREN GODBEY, M. D. A prominent Charles- ton surgeon, Dr. Godbey is distinguished for his wide knowledge and experience of affairs outside his immediate profession. He is one of the recognized authorities on the intricate subject of taxation, and is one of the valuable members of the State Senate and at different times has accepted official service both in the Legislature and en appeintive bodies dealing with important matters affecting the welfare of the state.

Decter Godbey was born in Raleigh County, West Vir- ginia, December 19, 1879. His father was a native of Pulaski County, Virginia, of English ancestry. The first of the family eame to America and landed at Blount's Point, Virginia, in 1608. The father of Doctor Godbey settled in Raleigh County in 1863. There Decter Godbey was reared on a farm, and his early educational advantages were exceedingly limited, though he made the most of them. By the time he was fifteen he was teaching scheel and thus in a position to earn the means to advance his own education. By teaching he was able to attend Marshall College at Huntington three years and Grant University at Chattanooga, Tennessee, two years. After completing his literary education he entered the Maryland Medical College at Baltimere, where he was graduated in 1905.

Doctor Gedbey began practice in Boone County, and while there first became interested in politics. In 1906 he was elected a member of the House of Delegates from that county and served during the sessions of 1907-08. Although a republican, he received a good majority in Beone, a county that had been solidly demoeratic since 1863.

Since 1909 Doctor Gedbey has been a leader in his pro- fession at Charleston. He has enjoyed splendid suceess in every way. While he was in general practice here for several years, his work is now largely confined to surgery.

In 1909 Governor Glasscock appointed him a member of the State Board of Health and in 1910 he was made secretary of the State Examining Board of Surgeons. He was A leader in the movement to combat tuberculosis and a niem. ber of the commission which selected the mitu for the State Anti-Tuberculosis Sanitarium nt Terra Alta. He has also served as president of tho Kanawha County Board of Health. Ile is a member of the County, State, Southern and American Medical associations, and during the World war was a surgeon with the rank of captain in the Melo-nl Corps, assigned to duty at Camp Johnston, Florida.

In 1914 Doctor Godbey was elected state senator for the Eighth Senatorial District, comprising Kannwho, Bnone and Logan counties. He served one term in that body and in 1920 was again elected. He is a member of the finance and several other committees, and chairman of the commit tee on medicine and sanitation. llis special efforts in the State Senate have been direeted toward tax reform and in behalf of measures that will correct the present gross in equalities and exemptions. lle prepared and introduced in the Senate a bill providing for n tax board of equalization to reclassify, revalue and reassess all property on the basis of physical valuation and to have all matters relating to taxation and assessing carried out on strictly scientific and business principles, such as obtain in the management of any large corporation. For years Doctor Gedbey has studied taxation in West Virginia, and his discussion of thin subject in the Senate revealed a special knowledge that cuts through many of the difficulties confronting any adequate solution of taxing problems.

Decter Godbey married Miss Florrie Smoot, of Madison, West Virginia. Their three children are named Ella, John and Elizabeth Martin.

CHAUNCEY WILLIAM WAGGONER, 13. S. in electrical engi- ncering, A. M., Ph. D., is an acknowledged scientific au- therity in the glass making industry and for a number of years has been associated with the University of West Vir- ginia as professor of physics.

A native of Ohio, he represents two old Virginia families, and his father was born in what is new West Virginia. Doctor Waggoner was born at Rockbridge, Ohio, February 23, 1881, sen of William W. and Eliza Jane (Goss) Wng. goner. His grandfather, Joseph C. Waggoner, was a native of Virginia and was associated with Doctor Caldwell in establishing and publishing the Palladium, one of the lead- ing newspapers of a generation ago. Joseph C. Waggoner married Sarah Breckinridge Venable, daughter of James Venable. She was born in old Virginia, and represented the prominent Venable and Breekinridge families of that state.

William W. Waggoner. father of Doeter Waggoner, was a native of Greenbrier County, West Virginin. He served as a Confederate cavalryman in General Stuart's com. mand during the Civil war. After that war he removed to Ohin and became a prominent railroad contraeter. For a number of years he was senior member of the firm Wag- goner & Douglas, which built several sections of tho Hock- ing Valley Railroad and a portion of the Little Miami rond near Dayten. W. W. Wnggener died in 1885, at the age of forty-three. His wife, Eliza Jane Goss, now living nt Sugar Grove, Ohio, was born at Rockbridge, Ohie, daugh- ter of John Gess, who owned the Goss farm, a property secured direct from the Government by the Goss family, the original patent bearing the signature of Andrew Jack son. This farm remained in the family as late as 1920.

Chauncey William Waggoner was reared in Ohio, grad- uating from the Sugar Grove High Scheel in 1599. He received the Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engi- neering frem Ohio University at Athens in 1904. The Master of Arts degree was given him by Cornell University in 1905, and frem 1905 to 1909 he was instructor at Cornell, being awarded the Bachelor of Philosophy degree by that university in 1909. During the summer of 1907 Doctor Waggoner did research work for the Western Electric Com- pany. For the past six years he has been associated with the glass industries of West Virginia, and is a specialist in this industry and baa taken out a number of patenta

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

covering improved processes invented by him. Some of his scientific investigations as represented in public works are described by the following titles: The physical properties of a series of iron-carbon alloys; the preparation and decay of phosphorescence in certain salts of cadmium and zinc; hysteresis loss in iron at varying frequencies; non-corrosive glasses.

Doctor Waggoner is a Fellow of the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science, for the past five years has been a member of the sectional committee of that as- sociation; is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Fellow of the Institute of Radio Engineers, and a member of the Illuminating Engineering Society. He belongs to the Gamma Alpha graduate fraternity and the Sigma Xi honorary fraternity.

Doctor Waggoner is one of Morgantown's popular cit- izens and is well known outside of university circles. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church, and for nine years has had charge of the University Students Class in the Sunday school of that church. September 4, 1907, he married Cornelia Gaskell, of Lisbon, Ohio, daughter of Charles R. and Clarinda (Harvey) Gaskell. They have two sons, William Gaskell Waggoner, born January 15, 1911; and Chandler Whittlesey Waggoner, born July 21, 1917.

JOHN H. MORGAN, a hardware merchant at Morgantown, Monongalia County, is one of the representative business men and progressive citizens of this thriving little city. He was born at Scotch Hill Preston County, West Virginia, and is a lineal descendant of David Morgan, one of the very early settlers of Monongalia County and a brother of Zackwill Morgan, in whose honor the City of Morgan- town was named. This branch of the Morgan family was founded in America by Col. Morgan Morgan, in the reign of Queen Anne of England. Col. Morgan Morgan first settled in the province of Delaware, and soon after his marriage to Catherine Garrison he removed from Dela- ware to the valley of Virginia and settled at Winchester. He had received holy orders as a clergyman of the Church of England, and he established a church at Winchester, where he served as its rector for a long period and where he was succeeded in the pastoral charge by his son and namesake, Rev. Morgan Morgan, Jr., the other children having been Anne, Zackwill Evan and David.

David Morgan was born in Delaware, May 12, 1721, and accompanied his parents on their removal to Virginia, where eventually he became the owner of a farm near Winchester. He was a surveyor and was appointed by the Colonial gov- ernment of Virginia to assist in surveys and explorations of the southwestern part of the great territory then con- trolled by Virginia. Later he was appointed one of the Colonial commissioners assigned to discover and establish the northern boundary of the estate of Lord Fairfax in 1748, this boundary to constitute the dividing line between Virginia and Maryland. David Morgan was so greatly impressed with the country west of the Alleghany Moun- tains that he moved in 1769 to the mouth of Redstone Creek in Pennsylvania, and two years later, in 1771, he came to what is now Marion County, West Virginia, where he set- tled on the banks of the Monongahela River, about six miles north of Fairmont. He reclaimed and developed much of his land and there passed the remainder of his life. He married Sarah Stevens, a member of a Pennsylvania Quaker family.

Evan Morgan, son of David and Sarah (Stevens) Morgan, served as a patriot soldier in the Revolution and was a resident of Morgantown at the time of his death, in 1850, at the patriarchal age of 102 years, 3 months and 18 days. His son, Thomas, grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, settled on a farm in Clinton District, Mononga- lia County, where he continued his association with farm industry until his death. His son, Charles, was born April- 27, 1834, on this old homestead, and there he still resides, in the best of health and in active charge of the farm and other business interests. He served as a loyal soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, principally in Texas, his brother, Milton, having likewise been a Confederate sol- dier, while two other brothers, Elza and Hiram, were Union

soldiers. After the close of the war Hiram Morgan went to Bogota, capital of Colombia, South America, where he later became governor general of that republic, an office of which he continued the incumbent until his death.

After the close of the Civil war Charles Morgan went to California, and was for several years there engaged in placer mining for gold. He thereafter devoted about two years to whale fishing off the Columbia River bar at Astoria, Oregon, and he returned to West Virginia to wed the gracious young woman of his choice, his expectation hav- ing been to return with her to the Pacific Coast. He was persuaded to remain in his native state, and here he pur- chased what was known as the old Kern Mill at Uffington, Monongalia County. He operated this mill until slackage of power from the Monongahela River interfered with the enterprise, and he then established his residence on the old Morgan homestead farm, which has been in the possession of the family for more than a century.

Charles Morgan wedded Miss Marion Henry, who was born in Gatehead, Scotland, in 1837, and their idyllic com- panionship continues to the present day. Mrs. Morgan is a danghter of the late Lawrence Henry, an expert mining engineer who brought with him to the United States 146 of ! his skilled miners and assumed charge of the mines of the Newburg-Orrel Coal Company, the headquarters of which were at Baltimore, Maryland. Of the children of Charles and Marion Morgan the eldest is Thomas, a railway engineer; Lawrence is deceased; John H. is the immediate subject of this review; Charles, Jr., is United States mar- shal of Montana and resides in the City of Helena; Frank, a railway engineer, was killed in a railway accident while in charge of his engine; Miss Mary remains with her par- ents.

John H. Morgan was born December 5, 1877, and upon completing his work in the public schools he went to Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, and learned the trade of car finishing. In 1892 he came to Morgantown and became part owner and general manager of the Morgan Hardware Company's store, and this alliance continued until 1911, when he became buyer for the Deacum Hardware Company of Portland, Oregon. In 1912 he took the position of storekeeper for the Pacific Electric Railway Company at Los Angeles, Cali- fornia. In 1913 he returned to Morgantown and purchased the stock and business of the Lemont-Jackson Hardware Company, and he has since continned the enterprise with un- equivocal success. He is a director of the Union Bank & Trust Company and of the Labor Building & Loan Society, is a member of the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club, and he and his wife hold membership in the First Presbyterian Church. Mr. Morgan is affiliated with Mannington Lodge No. 31, Free and Accepted Masons; Morgantown Chapter No. 30, Royal Arch Masons; Morgan- town Commandery No. 18, Knights Templars; Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling; and Monongahela Lodge Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

September 9, 1897, recorded the marriage of Mr. Morgan to Miss Anna Glover. daughter of the late Abram Glover, she having been born in Marion Connty, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have one son, Frank Holmes, who was born at Mannington, Marion County, March 28, 1901.

PHILIP JAMES COCHRAN, of Morgantown, represents one of the most prominent names in the coke and coal industry of America. His grandfather was James Cochran, who is credited with having made the first coke in the United States. He was known familiarly as "Little Jim Cochran, the Coke king," and was one of the outstanding figures in that industry in the Connellsville District. His wife, Clarissa Houston, was of the same family as Gen. Sam Houston, the statesman and soldier of Texas.

William Hazen Cochran, father of Philip J., was born at Dawson, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, July 11, 1856. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Otterbein University in Ohio. In later years one of the buildings on the campus of his alma mater was named Cochran Hall in his honor. Following in the footsteps of his father, he be- came one of the leading coke and coal men of the country, was also a banker, and had many widespread business inter-

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

ats. He died August 3, 1914. William H. Cochran mar ried Gertrude Reed, who was born at Smithton in Westmore- land County, Pennsylvania, and who survives him. She is daughter of James Monteith and Nancy (Crise) Reed. Her mother was born at Fairmont, West Virginia, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Brown) Crise. William H. Cochran and his wife had four children: Philip James; Anagrace Bell, who is the wife of Clarence Roby, a Morgantown at. torney; William Hazen, Jr .; and Regina June.

Philip James Cochran was born in Fayette County, Penn- sylvania, May 11, 1897. He began his education in the borough schools of Dawson in his native county and gradu- ated from the Dunbar County High School in Fayette County in 1916. In the same year he entered West Virginia University at Morgantown. His atudent career was inter- rupted by the World war. In June, 1918, he joined the amp at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, but later was transferred to Camp Hancock, Georgia, where he was in the Officers Train- ing School and volunteered for machine gun duty. He was in training when the armistice was aigaed. After his dis- charge Mr. Cochran resumed his work at West Virginia Uni- versity. He received his A. B. degree with the class of :922, and is now continuing his studies in the law school.

Mr. Cochran ia a member of James Cochran Lodge No. 314, F. and A. M., at Dawson, Pennsylvania, a lodge named for his grandfather. He is affiliated with Uniontown Lodge of Perfection, Pennsylvania Consistory of the Scottish Rite, Morgantown Chapter No. 35, R. A. M., Morgantown Com- mandery No. 18, K. T., Syria Temple of the Mystie Shrine t Pittsburgh, and the Morgantown Masonic Club. He be- longs to Omar Commandery No. 330, Knights of Malta, at Dawson. He is a member of Milton J. Newmyer Post No. 183, of Dawson, Pennsylvania, of the American Legion, and at University is a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He is on the Official Board of Cochran Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church at Dawson, Pennsylvania.

SAMUEL ALLEN PHILLIPS is one of the representative busi- ness men and loyal and progressive citizens of Morgantown, Monongalia County, and takes lively interest in all that touches the welfare of this city, the seat of the University of West Virginia. He was born at Waynesburg. Greene County, Pennsylvania, August 15, 1876, a son of James E. B. and Anna M. (Engle) Phillips. The father was born in Whitley Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania, in 1855, of Welsh lineage, and was but a boy at the time of his father's death. After his mother contracted a second mar- riage young James left home, and most of his early life thereafter was passed in and about Masontown, Pennsyl- vania. His marriage occurred at Waynesburg, that state, and after there working a few years in a planing mill he engaged in mercantile business at Sycamore in the same county. After selling this business he engaged in quarrying tone in the same county, and after selling his quarries he returned to Waynesburg and entered the employ of the Waynesburg & Washington Railroad Company. He con- tinued bis active connection with railroad service twenty- six years, and in 1911 he retired from his position, that of conductor, and assumed charge of a moving-picture theater, of which hig son Samuel A. was part owner, at Grafton, West Virginia. Later he became chief of the police depart- ment of Grafton, and while in the discharge of his official luties as such he was killed by an assassin, Jacob Lutz, February 10, 1919. The assassin was later convicted of murder in the first degree, after two trials, and July 22, 1921, expiated his erime on the gallows in the State Peniten- tiary of West Virginia at Moundsville. Mrs. Anna M. (Engle) Phillipa was born at Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, in 1858, a daughter of Solomon Engle, of English ancestry. Mrs. Phillipa still maintains her home at Grafton. Of the children the eldest, David C., still resides in his native City of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania; Samuel A., of this sketch, was next in order of birth; William died in infancy; George W. resides at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and is baggage master on the Monongahela division of the Pennsylvania railroad; Joseph H. resides with his widowed mother at Grafton, West Virginia; and Mrs. Mary Blood residea at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Samuel A. Phillips passed the period of his boyhood and early youth at Sycamore and Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, and in the meanwhile profited duly by tho advantages of the public schools. Hfe enrly gained practical experience in connection with his father's farming and quarrying ppern. tions, and in 1894 he found employment in a jewelry estab- lishment at Waynesburg. In 1896 ho there initiated his in- dependent business career by opening a photographi studio. In 1×95 he became a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard, and upon the outbreak of the Spanish American war in 1898 he gave up his business to enter the nation's service ns a member of Company K, Tenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. This was the only Pennsylvania regiment as signed to service in the Philippine Islands, and it landed in Manila shortly after the famous victory of Admiral Dewey in that port. The regiment Inter became known as "The Fighting Tenth," was associated with tho forces of Dewey and took part in the battle of Manila, which city capitulated. By general orders August 13, 1898, the Tenth Pennsylvania was retained in service in the Philippine Islands and became a part of the land forces operating against the insurgent natives upon the insurrection which began February 4, 1899 During this campaign the regiment took an active nad im- portant part in operations, and on one occasion it was on duty seventy days without relief. In July, 1599, it wny relieved from active duty and ordered home. The return voyage was made by way of Japan to San Francisco, from which port the original voyage had been minde, and at San Francisco the regiment disbanded in August, 1599, Mr. Phillips having been mustered out with the rank of corporal. Upon the reorganization of the regiment ns a part of the Pennsylvania National Guard he became first sergenat of Company K, of which oflive he continued the inenmbent until his removal to West Virginia.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 30

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