History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 70

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"It is of the man that we would speak now-the native West Virginian, born and reared here in Charleston, where he spent his life and is laid to rest. Educated at his home state university, he began the practice of the law in his home town in the '70s. The high social position and com- fortable circumstances of his family, his early successes and rapidly growing fortune, and his wealthy clients. many being the largest corporations of the country, were ealeulated to ineline him toward the aristocratie view of life and business. But nothing but a well considered prin- eiple. maturely applied, ever affected his attitude or course. " He was democratie in his tastes, habits and principles; sincere and candid in all the relations of life; firm in his eonvietions and loyal to his friendships and his principles. Added to these were a sunny disposition, an ever present optimism and a presence that beamed with friendship and cordiality. There was never any bitterness in the firm 'no' or 'yes' that came on a matter of duty or principle, re- gardless of its popularity. And justice must compel the admission that there was always a compelling logie in his position. He was one of those rare men who could think when popular rage or enthusiasm awept others off their feet, and who declined to suspend, for any occasion. a fundamental principle. We doubt if there is anyone whom he ever knew who did not feel at liberty, yes, even n de light, at meeting him. Truly, he pursued the even tenor of his way, with mature knowledge and atudied regard of the rights and feelings of others, wanting nothing but his own, conceding to all the same rights that he claimed for himself, avoiding the clashes that lead to unseemly broils, and yet always ready to atand for and maintain his delib- erate convictions. He was blessed with worldly sucre s. Fortune smiled upon him and brought large returns from his professional services and business investments. But he lived always the same life that he lived when he came to the bar.

"He never had but one home, and there he was born and lived all his life. And how he loved that h me. . \ the loyal son of a distinguished father, he, as a boy, d. lighted in the ancestral home, nestled in a hean if l park seareely a square from the county courthouse and city hall. There he took the bride of his youth, now the ine neol- able widow; there he reared his popular and lov ly fami v. and there he ever sought the repose so necessary to one of his studious, laborious habita.

"It has often been said that there were lut two ple to find him-at his office or at his l me. He ws n home man who believed that character nd patriotism are nur tared at the family hearthstone. One had hot to cross the

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threshold to observe that as father and husband he was all in all to his household.

"No one ever thought of his age. He was never boyish but always young; he was long a man but never got old. His courage and his even disposition made it possible for him to endure a fatal illness for months without the public knowing that he was ill. An uneventful life? No. One teeming with great events of brain and will power. It was a life of victories over passion and error; successes after overcoming difficulties; fruition that comes to ability, char- acter and legitimate methods.

"Without aspiring to public preferment, he had all that it can bring from constructive work and public ac- claim. Ne one was better known. His name is now a household word among all classes of people. He wrote it high early in life and so lived and worked as to keep it unsullied and leave it as a heritage to his children and friends. "

BENJAMIN BEUHRING BROWN, named for his uncle and who remains as representative of the third generation to continue the family traditions in the bar of Kanawha County, became a member of his father's firm, Brown, Jack- son & Knight, in March, 1919. He entered law practice with every educational advantage, having graduated from Charleston High School in 1910, from Princeton Univer- sity in 1914, with an A. B. degree, and from Harvard University Law School in 1917, with an LL. B. degree. In the early years of the World war he attended two sum- mer training camps at Plattsburg, and as soon as America entered the struggle against the Central Powers be volun- teered and went to France, where he served for a year with the Marines in the Second Division, A. E. F., whose proud record is written indelibly in the hearts of the Ameri- can people.

Benjamin B. Brown married Miss Hester M. Newhall, of Lynn, Massachusetts. They have two children, Gertrude Woodbridge and James Frederick Brown, the latter having been born on December 31, 1920, nearly a year before the death of his grandfather, whose name he bears.

As one whose career showed leadership and ability, the late James F. Brown's ideals are well worthy of considera- tion. He stood for the greatest possible individual liberty consistent with the rights of others, and with the least possible governmental interference. He believed the inter- ests of the people were best subserved by strict adherence to the principles of the Bill of Rights, and in strict limi- tation of the Federal Government to the powers expressly granted by the states. In regard to the legal profession he believed in greater stability for the laws, that there should be less of experimenting in legislation, and a curb put on judicial legislation under color of ""construction." His especial interest was along historical lines, particularly as regards the several systems of government now being tried out, and their practical results in the countries to which they have been applied.

He traveled widely, both at home and abroad, having visited nearly every country in the world, and was a keen observer of all the different peoples and conditions he saw, reasoning deeply into their religious, economic and political aspects. His diligence, perseverance, high character and many contacts with all classes of people made him what he was-an original thinker of the soundest judgment, a master mind in the study of human nature, one of the greatest lawyers his state has ever produced, and a model to be followed in his community.

EDWARD B. JANSMAN. chemist and veterinarian, former consulting veterinarian under the state commissioner of agriculture, Doctor Jansman is a well known citizen and business man of Huntington, where he is secretary and treasurer of the unique establishment known as "Farmers," the leading cleaning, pressing and dyeing business in that part of the state.

He was born at Covington, Kentucky, August 25, 1885, only child of Benjamin and Catherine (Runey) Janeman. His father, who was born at Covington in 1847 and died in that city in 1890, was for many years a tobacco dealer. The widowed mother is now living at Asheville, North Carolina, and was born at Covington in 1863.

Edward B. Jansman received his education in the schools of Cincinnati, attending high school there, and in 1906 graduated with the degree D. V. M. from the Cincinnati Veterinary College. In the same year he entered the service of the United States Government in the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Animal Husbandry as a re- search worker, and was in that service for twelve years. The territory in which his duties lay was chiefly Ohio and West Virginia.

Doctor Jansman in 1916 removed to Huntington, and remained two years longer in the Government service. Ia 1916 he was appointed consulting veterinarian under the commissioner of agriculture by Governor H. D. Hatfield. Doctor Jansman in 1918 bought an interest in the "Farm- ers,"' and became chemist as well as secretary and treas- urer of the corporation. The business is incorporated under the laws of West Virginia, and the officers are: A. J. Hegan, of New York City, president; Frank Enslow, vice president; and E. B. Jansman, secretary and treasurer. The plant and offices are at 814 Sixth Avenue, and the com- pany employs thirty-five hands.

Doctor Jansman is a member of the Credit Men's Asso- ciatien, the Business Men's Association and the Chamber of Commerce, also the Rotary Club, and the Guyandotte Country Club. He was a leader in local war work, assisting in the drives for funds. Later he devoted much time to training disabled soldiers in the technical processes involved in dry cleaning, so that men suffering total disability for other occupations could earn a living at this work.

In September, 1911, at Cincinnati, Doctor Jansman mar- ried Miss Annette E. Phelan, a native of that city. She is a graduate of Notre Dame College of Cincinnati. The only child of Doctor and Mrs. Jansman is Lois Kenrick, born in August, 1912.

HON. ROBERT W. BAKER. There are certain individuals who seem always to have time to carry on progressive enter- prises and movements, whether of a private or public nature. Hon. Robert W. Baker is pre-eminently one of this class, and, fortunately for the advancement of his community's best interests, does not stand alone. He belongs to the group of able citizens whose civic interest is equal to their business and professional enterprise and who are devoting every energy possible to the improvement of the public service. A man of broad education and fine, sympathetic nature, as well as of strength and capa- bility, Mayor Baker is admirably fitted to be identified with the progressive guard of such a city as Petersburg.

Mayor Baker was born September 8, 1880, in the house at Petersburg which he now occupies as his home, and is a son of Bernard J. and Mary C. (Welton) Baker. His grandfather, Eli W. Baker, was born in Pendleton County, Virginia (now West Virginia), in 1809, and came to what is now Grant County as a young man. Near Petersburg he was united in marriage with Miss Frances Shobe, a daughter of Jacob Shobe, one of the early farmers of this region, and subsequently estab- lished a hat shop at Petersburg, having learned the hatter's trade at Franklin. In polities he was first a whig. When the issue of the war between the states came up for discussion, he sympathized with the South, but refused to follow to the extent of secession, although his son James W. went into the Confederate Army and served throughout the struggle in the uniform of the "grey." Eli W. Baker died in 1881, at the ripe age of seventy-two years, the same age as that at which his wife died, although she lived five years longer. They were the parents of the following children: James W., the Southern soldier, who spent his private life as an agriculturist; Catherine, who married George W. Moo- mau and spent her life at Petersburg; Carrie, who be- came the wife of William Clark and died at Peters- burg; Bernard Jacob, the father of Robert W. Baker; Edward C., a resident of Petersburg; Margaret, who died at Petersburg, unmarried; Henry F., also of this place, a notary public and court commissioner; and Virginia, the wife of Hon. Lewis J. Forman, of Petersburg.

Bernard J. Baker, cashier of the Grant County Bank,

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born at Petersburg, March 9, 1849, and has spent more than seventy years of life within the limits this community. Hle grew up in the home of a hat- ,but his father abandoned that trade after the close the war between the North and South and turned attention to merchandising, being at the time of death a member of the firm of Baker & Company, which his aon was associated with him. Bernard Baker was educated in the achool common to the munity of Petersburg, this being supplemented by commercial course in Eastman's Business College at ighkeepsie, New York. When he went into business ras as a merchant in association with his father, and er the elder man'a death he continued the business ler the firm style of Baker & Company. This enter- ge is still in existence and Mr. Baker has been en- red as a business man in that and other fields for re than fifty years, within 100 feet of the bank where ia new on duty as cashier.

fr. Baker became actively identified with banking irs when he organized the Grant County Bank, the t banking house in Grant County, this being opened 1902. Prior to this time the banking of this region I been done at Moorefield and Keyser, but the or- tization of the Petersburg institution concentrated king largely at this point from far and wide. The tk was originally capitalized at $25,000, and was reased to double that capital in 1908. The first presi- it was Lewis J. Forman, the first vice president, W. Day, and the first and only cashier, Mr. Baker. 2 presidency, likewise, has never changed, but there ve been several vice presidents, A. A. Parks, W. A. rin and the present incumbent, D. P. Ilendrickson.

n his politics Mr. Baker voted first for president 1872, when he cast his ballot in favor of Horace peley. In 1876 he voted for Samuel J. Tilden and r years later for Gen. W. S. Hancock, and in 1884 ped to elect the first democratic president after the il war. He has continued to support the same ticket hout interruption ever since. Mr. Baker was prone political activity as a young man, and in 1876 was cted to the State Senate, where he spent four active 1 useful years, being present at the two sessions of body and a member, among others, of the judiciary l educational committees. In the matter of electing Jnited States senator he aupported the candidacy of n. John McGraw, of Taylor County. Mr. Baker has ot aloof from secret orders. Hle is a member of Presbyterian Church and one of its elders, a capac- , in which he has aerved for many years, and is the est member of the congregation as well as the old- member of the Official Board in point of service.

On November 25, 1875, at Petersburg, Mr. Baker was ted in marriage with Miss Mary C. Welton, a daugh- of Solomon and Sarah (Clark) Welten, Mr. Welton ring been an early merchant of Petersburg. Mrs. ker was born in what was then Hardy County, but now Grant County, as was her father. She and her laband are the parents of two sons: Bernard, a mer- int and farmer at Petersburg; and Robert W.

After completing the public school course at Peters- :g Robert W. Baker enrolled as a atudent at Potomac ademy, Romney, and graduated from that prepara- y institution at the age of nineteen years. At that le he entered upon the study of law at Washington 1 Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, and in 1904, isfactorily passed the bar examination at Morgan- vn given by the law faculty of West Virginia Uni- "sity, and bis license to practice law was issued by Supreme Court of the state. He began his pro- sional career at Petersburg, among the neighbors and quaintances of his boyhood and later life, and tried first case in the Circuit Court. Hia practice has en largely of a general character, although the de- tiBe of those charged with crimes has constituted a isiderable proportion of his work, and through his Le qualities as a lawyer and hia stable, popular traits a man he has continued his progress both in the

development of a professional reputation and n profit able legal business.

Ever since the attainment of his majority Mr. Baker lins been a factor in local politics. As n lending domo erat he has been party chairman of Graut County, hna been the county's representative on tho senntorlnl and congressional committees, and attended all tho conven- tions of his party while the convention system was in vogue. Ile was a spectator at the Baltimore conven tion that nominated Woodrow Wilson for the presidency, as well as the convention at St. Louis that gave the nomination to Judge Alton B. Parker in 1904. Mtr. Baker was first elected mayor of Petersburg in 1909, and acrved for five consecutive terms, during which almost all of the public improvement done in the city was accomplished, including tho installing of water and sewer systems and an eleetrie light plant, the building of sidewalks, etc., and all of this at an expenso that was worthy of much credit for the administration's economizing power. Ile left the mayor's office in 1913 and was absent until January 1, 1922, when he was the unanimous choice of the city for the mayornity. The preceding city administration had voted a bond issue of $12,000 for improvements in the sewers, water and walks, and this money is being expended by the ad- ministration in the construction of these various im- provements. Mayor Baker is attorney for the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company at Petersburg, and has numer- ous other important connections.

On February 29, 1908, Mr. Baker was united in mar- riage at Petersburg with Miss Cornelia S. Taylor, a daughter of John E. and Annie (Wilaon) Taylor, of Hampshire County, West Virginia, and North Carolina, respectively. Mr. Taylor was a tanner by trade and conducted and for a time operated the Petersburg tan- nery. Mrs. Baker is one of nine daughters in the Tay- lor family and waa educated in the public schools. To Mr. and Mrs. Baker there have been born the following children: Joha Bernard; Robert W., Jr .; Wilaon, who died at the age of five years; Bettie; Edward; Willinm, who died at the age of one year; McDonald; Paul; and Cornelia.

CARL BROOKS EARLY. While age and ripened experience are usually assumed in relation to exceptional business responsibilities, it has been proved that they are not absolutely essential in all cases. An example may be cited in Carl Brooks Early, cashier of the National Bank of Commerce at Williamson, West Virginia. Mr. Early in addition to this responsible position occupies numerous others which identify him officially with in- dustries and undertakings of great magnitude in West Virginia.

Carl Brooks Early was born in Giles County, Virginia, August 27, 1890, and ia a son of David A. and Sarah (Brooks) Early, one of their family of three sons and two daughters. His father was born in Pulaski County, Virginia, December 20, 1854, a member of an early settled family there of Scotch-Irish extraction. The mother of Mr. Early was born in Giles County, Vir- ginia, June 13, 1859, and now resides at Bluefield, West Virginia.

Carl B. Early had excellent school privileges. ITis preference was for a business rather than professional life, and his capacity was first tested as a clerk in the employ of the Pulaski Mining Company at Pulaski, Vir- ginia, where he remained until 1909, when he went to Bluefield, West Virginia, as bookkeeper in the First National Bank, which position he resigned in Septem- ber, 1910, in order to accept that of assistant cashier in the First National Bank at Welch, West Virginia, where he continued until July, 1916, at which time he came to Williamson and entered upon his duties as cashier of the National Bank of Commerce.

By the summer of 1918 Mr. Early had become well and favorably known in banking cireles throughont the state, but on August 3 of that year he enliated for service in the World war, like many other patriotic

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young men unselfishly setting aside all matters of per- sonal importance in the face of the great calamity that had fallen upon his country. He was given rank as first lieutenant and ordered to Washington, D. C., where he remained until February 1, 1919, and until his honorable discharge performed the duties of disbursing officer at Saltville, Virginia. Ile returned then to Williamson and resumed his duties as cashier and director of the Na- tional Bank of Commerce. Other official positions which claim his time and attention inelnde: Treasurer of the Indian-Pocahontas Coal Company; treasurer of the In- dian Fuel Company; treasurer of the Valley Investment Company; vice president and treasurer of Harkins & Company; and treasurer of the Pigeon Creek Realty Company. In the management of the business pertain- ing to these various important concerns Mr. Early has displayed acumen and foresight that would be creditable to a veteran captain of industry.

In political life Mr. Early is a republican. For sev- eral years he has been a member of the Board of Re- view and Equalization of Mingo County. He is a member of McDowell Lodge No. 112, F. and A. M .; Howard Chapter No. 28, R. A. M .; Bluefield Com- mandery, and the Mystic Shrine at Charleston. He he- longs to Post Ephraim Boggs No. 49, American Legion, and to the Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis Club.

CHARLES L. RICE began his career in the great coal min- ing sections of MeDowell County, but for a dozen years past his more extended business connections have been as a lumberman and contractor, and in construction engineering, the headquarters for his operations being in the capital city of Charleston.

Mr. Rice was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, in 1880, and when he was a child his parents, S. G. and Nannie (Green) Rice, native Virginians, removed to Roanoke, that state. Here he grew up and secured his early education, and as a young man entered the coal business, a connection that took him to MeDowell County, West Virginia, in 1900. After about ten years in mining operations he removed to Huntington and became a member of the IIuntington Lumber and Supply Company, the Minter-Holmes Corporation, extensive manufacturers and dealers in lumber, with main offices at Huntington and plants at Kenova and Williamson, West Virginia, and Jackson, Kentucky. After a resi- dence at Huntington for seven years Mr. Rice removed to Charleston, and was an active factor in the organi- zation of the Kanawha Valley Lumber Company, which began business in February, 1918. Mr. Rice is vice president and general manager of this company, which has an extensive and modern plant in West Charleston on an ideal industrial site along the Kanawha and Michigan Railway and extending west from Patrick Street. It is a general wholesale and retail lumber business, one of the largest of the kind in the state.

Since coming to Charleston Mr. Rice has had a per- sonal and financial interest in the general building and construction business, and in that capacity has been a factor in the remarkable building expansion going on in the city since war time. He organized and is presi- dent of the American Engineering and Construction Company, whose special field is business and industrial buildings, coal plant construction and kindred work. The American Clay Products Company, of which he is president, manufactures brick and hollow tile and has created a new and very important industry in West Vir- ginia. The company has a brick plant at Lewis, Vir- ginia, and a plant for the manufacture of hollow tile at Teays, West Virginia.

Mr. Rice is active in various civic and business organi- zations at Charleston, including the Chamber of Com- merce, Kiwanis Club, and is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner. He married Miss Maud Diskins, a native of Kentucky. Their two children are Daniel E. and Virginia.

JOHN B. GROVE, M. D. Of the men devoted to the scier of healing at Petersburg, Grant County, none brings bear upon their calling larger gifts of scholarship and 1 source than Dr. John B. Grove. It has been his fortune have realized many of his worthy ambitions and throu the exercise of his native ability and industry to wre from his opportunities financial and professional succe Doctor Grove comes of a line of physicians and was ho at Petersburg, March 20, 1887, a son of Dr. John and Am (Welton) Grove.

Dr. Thomas Jefferson Grove, the grandfather of Dr. Jo. B. Grove, was born in 1822, at Sharpsburg, Maryland, ar about 1842 came to the Petersburg locality. For a time applied himself to mercantile operations, but soon becar interested in medicine and, going to Winchester, Virgini studied for that profession under the preceptorship of Dc tor McGuire, thus preparing himself for the practice his adopted calling. He began his practice at Petersbu: in 1847, and was in the field actively until 1900, passir away three years after his retirement. He was one of t. pioneers and leading citizens of the Petersburg locality an owned extensive land interests. Some of this property ! developed into farms, and also began the work of develo ing orchards, but this did not prove a success on a lar scale, for there was no outlet or market for the fru raised. In the minority politically, as a democrat, he d not hold publie office. During the period of the war betwed the states the home which he had built in 1858 was s aside as a hospital, with himself in charge, and it is b lieved that during this time he maintained a strict ne trality. Dr. Thomas Jefferson Grove was married thr times. His first wife was Miss Mary Bean, who bore hi a son, John, who became the father of Dr. John B. Grov' and a daughter, Lissie, who married E. A. Harness. H second wife was Miss Lizzie Neal, who died without issu His third wife was Miss Jane Seymour, and they also ha no children.

Dr. John Grove, the father of Dr. Jolin B. Grove, wi born at Petersburg, in 1852, and inherited a love for tl medical profession. After a course at Washington ar Lee University he took his medical work at what is no New York University, and then spent some time as an i terne in Bellevue Hospital. After he had completed hi preparation for his profession he returned to Petersbur; and here continued in the active practice of his calling u til his early death in 1897, when he was but forty-five yea: of age. Aside from his profession Doctor Grove's re: estate interests absorbed him, and no political matti gained much headway in his interest. He voted the dem cratic ticket, made no publie avowal of religious conne tion and had no fraternal affiliations. Doctor Grove ma ried Miss Annie Welton, a daughter of Job R. and Carr (Seymour) Welton, and they became the parents of thes children: Thomas Jefferson, of Petersburg; Carrie G., th wife of Dr. W. C. VanMeter, of this place; Miss Lizzie M also of Petersburg; and Dr. John B., of this notice.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 70

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