History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 63

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Edward C. Shepherd was born at Shepherdstown, and at- tended publie schools there and also Shepherd College. As a youth he removed to Martinsburg and began clerking in the drug store of his uncle, E. C. Williams. When his unele finally retired from business he continued in the same store under the new owners, and finally, in 1902, succeeded to the ownership of the business, and for twenty years has conducted a high class and prosperous establish- ment. Though now in the prime of his years, there are few men in business at Martinsburg who were here when he began. Mr. Shepherd is an attendant of Trinity Episcopal Church.

ANDREW STERRETT ALEXANDER, judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Kanawha County, is a Charleston lawyer and banker, and is one of a number of prominent repre- sentatives of this name and family running back into the earliest pioneer times of what is now West Virginia.

He is descended from Archibald Alexander, who came from Scotland in 1737. His son Mathew lived at Waynes- boro, Virginia, and by his marriage to Margaret Black was the father of Samuel Alexander, grandfather of Judge Alexander. Samuel Alexander was born at Waynesboro May 17, 1784, and subsequently removed to Mason County, West Virginia, where for many years he was a justice of the peace and was also made sheriff, though on account of age his son William performed the active duties of the offiee.

The wife of Samuel Alexander was Elizabeth Arbuckle,

who was born July 15, 1790, at Fort Randolph, and die July 26, 1860. She was married in 1812. Her father, Wil iam Arbuckle, was born in Botetourt County, March : 1752 and in 1778 moved to Fort Randolph, now Point Pleas ant, West Virginia. He lived there fifteen years and the went to Greenbrier County, but in the winter of 1796-9 returned to the Kanawha Valley and settled on his exter sive estate some fifteen miles above Fort Randolph, wher he spent the rest of his life. William Arbuckle marrie Catherine Madison, a daughter of Humphrey Madisor niece of Bishop John Madison and Governor George Madi son, and cousin to President James Madison. Her mother Mary Dickinson, was a daughter of John Dickinson, one o the signers of the Constitution of the United States. Th first husband of Catherine Madison, William McClanahau was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant October 10, 1774

William Arbuckle Alexander, father of Judge Alexander was born in Mason County November 3, 1816. He was th son who performed the active duties of sheriff under hi father, and subsequently became sheriff of Putnam County when it was created from portions of Mason and Kanawha IIe received from his father an extensive tract of land il Frazier Bottom, where in 1860 he built a large briek resi dence and where he lived until his death on April 1, 1885 He was elected to the State Senate in 1871. On Decembe 15, 1860, William A. Alexander married Leonora C. Ruff ner, daughter of Augustus and Mary E. (Rogers) Ruffner and granddaughter of Dr. Henry Rogers of Kanawha County.

Andrew Sterrett Alexander, a son of these parents, wa: born in Putnam County August 7, 1867. As a youth he at tended publie schools, worked on the farm, taught school and in 1890 graduated from the law department of the University of West Virginia and in the same year was ad mitted to the bar at Charleston. Two years later he was elected prosecuting attorney of Putnam County and re- elected for a second four year term in 1896. Judge Alex. ander was democratie nominee for the Senate in 1900 and 1904, and in 1905 he removed to Charleston, where a large and profitable elientage songht his professional energies. Ile was appointed city solicitor in 1907 and for a second term in 1911. He was also one of the incorporators and the secretary and treasurer of the Southern States Mutuals Life Insurance Company, now the George Washington Life Insurance Company, when it was first organized.

He was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Kanawha County in November, 1916, and began his eight year term January 1, 1917. Judge Alexander is also viee president and director of the Kanawha National Bank of Charleston, was organizer and first president of the Bank of Winfield in Putnam County, and is a director of the Putnam County Bank at Hurricane.

In October, 1921, the rare honor, that of the thirty- third degree in Scottish Rite Masonry, was conferred upon Judge Alexander by the Supreme Council of Scottish Rite Masonry for the Southern Jurisdiction at Washington. He is a Knight Templar Mason, a past commander of Kanawha Commandery No. 4, and is a past potentate of Beni-Kedem Temple, Nobles of the Mystie Shrine, at Charleston. Judge Alexander is an elder in the First Presbyterian Church at Charleston, and his father, grandfather and great-grand- father were Presbyterian elders in their time.

Judge Alexander married in Greenbrier County Elizabeth S. Mann, granddaughter of William Mann, a pioneer of that county and daughter of Mathew Mann, who was a farmer and banker. Judge and Mrs. Alexander have three children: Andrew Sterling, Leonora Ruffner and Mathew Mann Alexander.

HENRY SCOTT GARDNER, D. D. S., has had a busy practice as a dental surgeon at Martinsburg at the same time that he has managed some of the extensive property interests long associated with the Gardner family in that city. The Gardners have lived in Berkeley County for a century or more, and have always been people of most substantial character.

The great-grandfather of Doetor Gardner was a native of Berlin, Germany, came to the United States when a young

AsAlexander

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uan and was a very carly settler in the Martinsburg locality. Ie bought the land now occupied by the Gardner Building, ind also where the Eagle Hotel is situated, on the east side of the 100 block on Suuth Queen Street. He was a pioneer andlord of the city, maintaining a public house for a number of years. In 1833 he served as deputy sheriff and ailer. His son, the grandfather of Doctor Gardner, was Peter Gardner, who was born in Berkeley County, learned he trade of wagon maker, and established his shop and business in Berkeley County and continued active until his leath. After he died his widow removed to Martinsburg ind bought property at 210 East Burke Street, where she ived out her life.

Iler son Allen Gardner, who was born in Berkeley County a 1849, lived with his mother at Martinsburg, but after his marriage moved to his farm near Berkeley Station, and for several years gave all his time to his agricultural affairs. Ie then returned to the East Burke Street home, and bought ther city property, including the hotel building known as the Eagle Hotel, which had formerly been owned by his grandfather. For a number of years these various property nterests occupied his attention. He died at the age of eventy-two. Allen Gardner married Mary Elizabeth Couch- nan, a native of Berkeley County, who died at the age of sixty-three. She reared children named Mabel O., Mary Allen C., and Henry Scott. Mary Elizabeth Couchman was i sister of George William Couchman, who was a Confed- rate soldier and was killed at the second battle of Manassas.

Henry Scott Gardner was born on a farm near Berkeley Station and was educated in the public schools and in Tins- eys Military Institute at Martinsburg. In 1906 he entered he dental department of the University of Maryland, where he graduated in July, 1909, and since that year has had a arge practice at Martinsburg and has the office equipment and facilities for the best class of service.

Doctor Gardner in 1917 erected the Gardner Building on he lot formerly owned by his great-grandfather. This is a handsome brick structure, three stories, the first floor occupied by stores and the second and third floors by apart- nents. In 1918 Doctor Gardner married Nora Park Chap- naa, who was born at Darkesville, Berkeley County, daugh- .er of Park and Jane Chapman. They have one daughter, lamed Jane Elizabeth. Doetor Gardner is affiliated with Equality Lodge No. 44, A. F. and A. M., Lebanon Chapter No. 2, R. A. M., Palestine Commandery No. 2, Martinsburg Lodge of Perfection, Wheeling Consistory No. 1, thirty- second degree, and Osiris Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. Ile is also a member of Washington Lodge No. 1, Knights of Pythias, and Azhar Temple, D. O. K. K. Ile and Mrs. Gardner are members of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and he is one of the board of stewards.

HARRY M. FISHER. Representing a family that has been associated with milling, mechanical trades and business in :he Eastern Panhandle for several generations, Harry M. Fisher is a successful jeweler both by trade and business in he City of Martinsburg, bis establishment on South Queen Street being a place where all the popular tastes and de- nands of the trade are amply provided for.

Mr. Fisher is a native of Martinsburg. flis grandfather, John Fisher, for a number of years conducted a flour mill known as Tabbs Mill on the Tuscarora Road, a mile west of Martinsburg. His last years he spent retired in Martins- ourg. He married Sally Chamberlain, who was born in Middleway, Jefferson County, and she died at the age of seventy-four. Their son, Noble Tabb Fisher, was born at Tabbs Mill in 1858, and was educated in the public school n Martinsburg. As a youth he served an apprenticeship to earn the trade of plumber with the firm of Fisher and Fisher, and later he engaged in business as a house fur- fisher, and had reached a successful stage in his career when le was stricken by death at the early age of thirty. At the age of twenty-two he married Emma Rose Couchman, a native of Martinsburg, daughter of Henry M. Couchman, who was born near Flaggs Station in Berkeley County, De- ember 11, 1831, and granddaughter of Michael Couchman, also a native of Berkeley County, where his people were

piuneers. Michael Couchman was a farmer and died at the early age of twenty nine. His wulow, whose maiden name was Mary Small, also a nativo of Berkeley County, sur vived him to the age of sixty nine. Henry M. Couchman served an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker with William Wilen, but followed that occupation only a short time and then entered the service of the Baltimore & Oho Railrond Company as a carpenter. He beenme a foreman in the car penter's shops and continued forty- four years, until he was retired by the company on a pension. He died at the age of seventy-fonr. His wife was Phoebe Helfestny, who was born near the present site of Tablers Station and died at the age of fifty-one. There were five Couchman children. named Mary Susan, Emma Rose, Nannie Florence, Della and Charles. Mrs. Emma Rose Fisher after the denth of her first husband married James Barrick, of Martinsburg She had two sons by her first marriage, Arthur C. and Ilarry M.

Harry M. Fisher after finishing his eduration in the city schools in Martinsburg served an apprenticeship at the jeweler's trade with Frank Smurr, and later took a conrm in the Philadelphia College of horology. He then started his independent career as a workman on the beach in his mother's store, repairing watches and jewelry. In 1912 he established a business of his own, and now carries an ex tensive stock of all commodities represented in a first class jewelry store.

He married Miss Kate May League, who was born at Smithfield in Jefferson County, daughter of James .I. League. They have one son, Noble James Fisher. Mr. Fisher is affiliated with Equality Lodge No. 44, F. and A. M., Lebanon Chapter, R. A. M., Palestine Commandery. K. T., and Tuscarora Tribe of the Improved Order of Red Men.

JAMES WHANN MCSHERRY, M. D. The highest personal authority on the history of the Eastern Panhandle and ity people has been for a number of years the venerable physi- cian and banker of Martinsburg, Dr. J. W. McSherry. lle is one of the oldest bank presidents and one of the oldest practicing physicians in the country. He graduated in medicine and began its practice some years before the out- break of the war between the states, in which he served with the rank of captain.

In the course of his extensive practice Doctor MeSherry came to know nearly everyone, high or low, in this part of the Shenandoah Valley. A remarkable knowledge and memory of names and dates have enabled him to systematize this information. Now when in his office he ministers to the great-grandchildren of some of his first patients, he frequently tells them who their grand ancestors were. Ile is one of the rare survivals into this age of hustle and worry -a cultured gentleman of the old school.

Doctor MeSherry was born in Martinsburg, December ". 1833, son of Dennis Lilly and Susan Hebb (Abell) Me- Sherry and grandson of Richard and Anastatia (Lilly) MeSherry. Anastatia Lilly was a daughter of Richard Lilly of Frederick, Maryland, and granddaughter of Samuel Lilly of Pennsylvania. Richard MeSherry, grandfather of Doctor MeSherry, was born at St. Johns Point in County Down, Ireland, in 1747. At the age of eighteen he and his twin brother, William C., went to Jamaica, and conductedl a successful business on that island for a few years. They came to the United States shortly after the close of the Revolution, William settling in Baltimore, while Richard established his home in that part of old Berkeley County now Jefferson County. On a large tract of land he av quired near Leetown he built a fine residence and named the estate Retirement. It was the home of his later years. He reared nine children, one of them being Dennis Lilly McSherry, who was born at Retirement, March 26, 1794. 1le was educated in Georgetown College, served as an ensign in a Jefferson County company in a Virginia regiment dur ing the War of 1912, studied law with Mr. Fitzhugh at Hagerstown, Maryland, and after being admitted to the bar practiced for a few years in Martinsburg. Later he taught school, served as county clerk, was interested in farming and from 1933 for a few years was associated with

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his brother Richard in a drug business at Martinsburg. On December 19, 1820, he married Susan Hebb Abell, daughter of Capt. John and Sarah (Forrest) Ahell, whose people were early settlers in Charles and St. Marys counties, Maryland.

A sister of Doctor McSherry was a most distinguished woman, the late Martha Gertrude MeSherry. The most magnificent tribute that explains her life work is a memorial tablet in the Kings Danghters Hospital, the inscription reading as follows: "In grateful memory of Martha Gertrude MeSherry, 1829-1912, Foundress of this Institu- tion. Faithful unto death."'

James Whann MeSherry was educated in the Martinsburg Academy and at St. Mary College in Baltimore, and gradu- ated from the medical department of the University of Maryland in 1855. For a brief time he practiced in Mar- tinsburg, but in November, 1856, went to Peytona in Boone County, Virginia, and remained there in practice until the outbreak of the war. He was commissioned a surgeon in the Virginia State Troops by Governor Wise, and later, when the State Troops were organized for active service, he was elected captain of Company B, of the Thirty-sixth Virginia Infantry. He commanded that eom- pany in many engagements in the early part of the war, and was finally captured and was taken to Malden, thence by way of Charleston to Wheeling, on to Camp Chase at Columbus, Ohio, and for a number of months was a prisoner in Fort Delaware, until the elose of the war. After the war Doctor MeSherry returned to Martinsburg, and immediately took up the burdens of a heavy practice in town and sur- rounding country. Doetor MeSherry is one of those rare men who continue their work and activities beyond the age of four score. His heavy work in the profession was done long before the age of automobiles, telephones or modern highways. He still looks after a considerable office prae- tice. He also has the management of some extensive real estate holdings in Martinsburg, is owner of about 500 acres of farm land and about 800 acres of mountain land. Along with his professional work he has taken a keen interest in public affairs, and at one time was mayor of Martinsburg. He is a member of the Trinity Episcopal Church.

On January 3, 1876, Doctor MeSherry married Virginia Faulkner, youngest daughter of llon. Charles J. Faulkner, the distinguished West Virginian whose career is fully sketehed on other pages. Mrs. McSherry went abroad to France when her father was appointed Minister to that country, and finished her education there. She was a fine singer and skilled pianist, and identified with all the organ- ized movements for charity and enlture in her home city. She was a member of the Wednesday Evening Music Club and the Travelers Club. She was president of the local organization of the Daughters of the Confederacy, later of the state organization and still later of the national organ- ization of that body. She had a wide acquaintance in the society all over the United States. She died February 25, 1916.

WILLIAM H. THOMAS. While there is probably no city in the state of the size that has a larger number of men with distinctive and important achievements to their credit in the domain of commerce and industry than Bluefield, there is manifest a disposition to recognize and confer by consensus of opinion if not formally a degree of special leadership upon Mr. William Henry Thomas, whose name in that community really suggests all the best elements of power and influence involved in constructive citizenship and commercial enterprise.

Mr. Thomas represents an old family of Roanoke County, Virginia, and he was reared and educated and and his early commercial training there. Though his home has been in Bluefield for a number of years, he still feels in touch with the vicinity where he was born and reared. His birth occurred November 13, 1865, at what was then known as Big Lick, now Roanoke City. He is a son of Charles M. and Jane (Crawford) Thomas, natives of Roanoke County.

Giles Thomas, Sr., came to this country from England about 1745, settling near Havre de Grace, Maryland. His

son, Giles Thomas, Jr., who was born in 1763 and diec in 1842, moved to Virginia in 1796, settling in the county ef Botetourt, now Roanoke. He was only twelve years of age when the Revolutionary war broke out, and it his sixteenth year he joined the Maryland Regiment and served until the close. He was under General Thomas ir the great campaign of the Carolinas, and witnessed the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. For these serviees as a soldier he received a land grant, which was located west of Cumberland in Washington County Maryland.

On June 4, 1786, Giles Thomas, Jr., married Anr Wheeler. He was a cousin of Charles Carroll of Carroll ton, Maryland, a venerable signer of the Declaration of Independence. They were married at Carrollton.

Charles M. Thomas, a son of Giles Thomas, Jr., war born July 15, 1790, and died May 30, 1869. He was about six years of age when the family settled in Bote. tourt County, Virginia. He married Elizabeth Barnett who was born April 1, 1792, and died in November 1875. They were the parents of Charles Marigold Thomas.

Charles M. Thomas was born in 1825 and died in 1866. He was a farmer in Roanoke County and in 1861 moved his family to Big Lick. During the war between the states he was with a Virginia regiment, and ou ac .: count of physical disability was chiefly employed in the Quartermaster's Department and the Home Guard Charles M. Thomas was one of ten brothers who were. in the Confederate army, and this approaches if it does not establish a record for participation of one family in that or any other war of the nation. In 1852 he married Jane Crawford, who was born July 24, 1831, and died in 1914. She was a descendant of James Crawford, Sr., who was of Scotch-Irish birth and came from Northern Ireland in 1770. His wife was a Miss Wallace, a descend- ant of Sir John Wallaee of Scotland. James Crawford. Jr., their son, was five years of age when the family came to this country. lle married Eliza Poague, whose family came in 1765 from Seotland and settled in Augusta County, Virginia. This James Crawford, Jr., by his wife, Eliza, was the father of James Crawford, father of Jane Crawford Thomas. The mother of Jane Crawford was Jane Deyerle.

William H. Thomas, who therefore descends from very substantial American stock on both sides, never had any better school advantages than those supplied by the common schools of Roanoke County, and at the age of seventeen he was earning his living as clerk in a retail general store at Big Liek, and the year represented a valuable training to him. He then went on the road as a traveling salesman, and for eight years sold gro- ceries and general merchandise throughout the South and Coast states. In 1889, at the age of twenty-four, Mr. Thomas became associated with three other men', one of whom was his brother-in-law, B. P. Huff, in the firm of Huff, Andrews & Thomas, wholesale grocers. The personnel of this firm has remained the same for ever thirty years, though their greatly extended business is conducted under a number of corporate names. The partnership has been maintained as a firm at Roanoke, where they had their first headquarters as wholesale grocers. Mr. Thomas was the man who acquired the business for this early firm as traveling salesman, and for several years he covered the states of Virginia and West Virginia. The first important step in expanding the business came in 1895, when a branch was located at Bluefield, and this is now the main house of Huff, Andrews & Thomas Company. The business at Bluefield has from the first been conducted as a corporation, with Mr. Thomas as president and general manager. In the meantime the partners in 1892 had organized a wholesale dry goods and notion business under the title F. B. Thomas & Company, the active head of which was F. B. Thomas, a brother of William H. and one of the original partners in the Huff, Andrews & Thomas Company. F. B. Thomas & Company is still doing business.

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senting the expanded interests of the original conceru at Roanoke, and Mr. Thomas of Bluefield is connected with all of them as a director. The six houses outside of Bluefield are: Thomas-Andrews Company at Norton, the Bristol Grocery Company at Bristol, Abingdon Gro- cery Company at Abingdon, National Grocery Company at Roanoke, these all being in old Virginia; and Wil- liamson Grocery Company at Williamson and Mullins Grocery Company at Mullins, West Virginia.

Mr. Thomas has organized and has participated in the management of a large number of successful business undertakings, including the Roanoke Candy Company, of which he is a director, the Bristol Candy Company at Bristol, Virginia, the Bluefield Ice and Cold Storage Company, which he with others organized in 1904 and of which he is president: the Citizens Underwriters Insur- ance Ageney; thie Flat Top National Bank of Bluefield, which he and others organized in 1903 and of which he is vice president; the Bluefield Gas & Power Company, of which he is a director; the Southern Investment and Real Estate Company of Roanoke, of which he is a director; the Bailey Lumber Company of Bluefield, prob- ably the largest lumber company in the state: the Mont- vale and Company and the Big Clear Creek Coal Company in Greenbrier County.

When his associates speak of his civic record they usually begin and end with unqualified praise of what Mr. Thomas did as member and for many years presi- dent of the School Board of Bluefield City. He first went on the board as a member in 1902, and altogether served twelve years, most of the time as president of the board. While he was president practically all of the modern school buildings in the city now in use were erected, both for the white and colored people. Mr. Thomas has some sound ideas on education, but his par- ticular service was due to his great faculty of getting things done, whether it comes to the promotion of a strictly business enterprise or the financing and con- struction of a group of school buildings.

On November 17, 1891, Mr. Thomas married at Eliza- bethton, Tennessee, Miss Minnie Folsom, daughter of Maj. H. M. and Elizabeth (Berry) Folsom. Major Fol- son, who was a relative of Francis (Folsom) Cleveland, widow of President Cleveland, was one of the able lawyers of Tennessee and had a distinguished war record, going into the Confederate army at the age of seventeen and being promoted to major before he was twenty. He died in 1909. Mrs. Thomas is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and for many years has been president of Bluefield Chapter of the United Daugh- ters of the Confederacy. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have three children: Paul C., who was born in Tennessee in 1892 and finished his education in Washington and Lee University, Florence F. and Grace Elizabeth.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 63

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

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