History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 72

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Harry Hennen MeNemar received his early education un- der the tuition of his father, and later completed his train- ing in the public schools. In his young manhood he adopted his father's vocation of teaching, being a country school teacher when only sixteen years of age, and continued bis school work for eight years, terminating it as prinicipal of the Petersburg schools. When he left the schoolroom he was appointed the first railway agent of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Petersburg, and acrved ia that capacity for eleven years. When he resigned he did so to embark in the produce business, establishing the first exclusive busi- ness of that kind at Petersburg. This he has developed to considerable proportions, for the year 1921, an average one, showed a business of $200,000 passing through the Me Nemar house alone. Naturally, a man with the ability to build up an enterprise of this kind is in demand by other enterprises, and Mr. MeNemar is a director of the Central Tie and Lumber Company, a stockholder in the Grant County Bank, and a director in the Community Power Com- pany, a hydro-electrical company, organized to furnish clec- tric power for Petersburg and Moorefield. The organization of this project was effected in 1921, the plant site heing at the twenty-foot dam across the south branch of the Poto- mac River, above Petersburg.

Mr. McNemar'a politics is democratic and his first presi- dential ballot was cast in favor of the candidacy of William Jennings Bryan, in 1908. He has been oa his party's ticket for the office of county superintendent of schools, and Jater for that of sheriff, in which latter campaign he re-

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duced the republican majority of his opponent from 1,500 to less than 500 votes. As a fraternalist he is a Master Mason and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and the Modern Woodmen of America, and is popular in all three lodges.

On June 30, 1909, at Petersburg, Mr. MeNemar was united in marriage with Miss Mary B. Clark, a daughter of William and Carrie (Baker) Clark, the latter being a sister of Bernard J. Baker, the well-known banker of Petersburg. Mrs. McNemar is the youngest of three children, the oth- ers being Mrs. D. G. Marshall and Mrs. Frances Stump, both of Romney, West Virginia.

MANASSAH S. JUDY. When the citizens of Grant County elected Manassah S. Judy to the dual office of circuit and county clerk in 1920 they placed in this responsible posi- tion a representative of one of the oldest families native to this region of West Virginia. He descends on both sides from native parents of Grant County, and their fathers were likewise born in Grant County, so that he can justly lay claim to being a genuine West Virginian. In the dis- charge of his official duties he has displayed the possession of marked efficiency and a conscientious desire to improve the public service and give a good account of his steward- ship.

Mr. Judy was born on a farm in Grant County adjoining the townsite of Petersburg, September 23, 1892, and is a son of George F. and Mattie E. V. (Sites) Judy. Manassalı Judy, the grandfather of Manassah S. Judy, was born in Grant County, where he passed his life as an agriculturist and was greatly esteemed and respected. He married Sarah Dyer, and they became the parents of the following chil- dren : Jennie, who married Andrew Trumbo, and resides in Bedford County, Virginia; William A., a resident of Petersburg; Fena, who died as Mrs. W. H. Cola, at Monte- rey, Virginia ; H. Seymour, of Petersburg, a retired farmer; George Franklin, the father of Manassah S .; Edward D., a retired farmer of Petersburg; Rebecca, who is the wife of Jared A. Hiner, of Doe Hill, Virginia; and Manassah Par- ren, who is a farmer at North Manchester, Indiana

The maternal grandfather of Clerk Judy was Rev. Sampson G. Sites, a Dunkard preacher who gave his life after middle age to active church work and the farm. Reverend Sites was born and passed his life in Grant County, where he was widely known and universally esteemed for his sterling ex- cellencies of mind and heart. He was the father of thirteen children, of whom eleven grew to maturity: Mattie E. V., who became the wife of George F. Judy and died December 7, 1907; James, who died at Idaville, Indiana; B. Harvey, one of the prosperous and extensive farmers and stock- men of the vicinity of Hoopeston, Illinois; George E., a well-known citizen and prosperous agriculturist of Monti- cello, Indiana; Charles, a railroad man of Salem, Illinois; Mrs. M. P. Judy, of North Manchester, Indiana; Mrs. M. A. Judy, also of that city; Sampson G., Jr., of Monticello, Indiana; I. William, a farmer operating the old Sites home- stead near Petersburg; D. Eston, a traveling salesman of Kansas City, Missouri; and Edgar C., a student of medi- cine at the University of Iudiana.

George Franklin Judy was reared on his father's farm in Grant County and received the usual country school educa- tion of his day. When he attained years of maturity he chose farming for his life work, and for some years car- ried on agricultural operations near Petersburg, a commu- nity in which he had an excellent reputation for integrity in business affairs and as a public-spirited citizen. He died iu 1896, at Petersburg, West Virginia. He and Mrs. Judy were the parents of the following children: Edna R., who married W. H. Judy, of Peru, West Virginia; Manassah Sampson, of this review, named for both of his grandfa- thers; and Sarah Elizabeth, who married Clyde Ours and re- sides at Fisher, Hardy County, West Virginia.

The first fifteen years of the life of Manassah Sampson Judy were passed in his home neighborhood near Peters- burg, where he attended the public school, following which he entered Bridgewater College, at Bridgewater, Virginia. After spending one year at that institution in the fall of 1908 he went to Indiana and attended North Manchester

College until 1912, where for three terms he taught penma ship and assisted in the commercial department. He al supervised penmanship in the public schools during the years. During the summers of 1910, 1911 and 1912 he w a student at the Zanerian Art College, Columbus, Ohio. : the fall of 1912 he became principal of the commercial d partment of the high school at Cambridge, Ohio, and the spring of 1913 returned to West Virginia, locating Petersburg, where he was engaged in the stock busine on the old home farm. While thus engaged Mr. Judy } came interested in politics, and eventually was persuad by his friends to make the race for the office of county an circuit elerk of Grant County. In the primaries of 19 he became a candidate for this office against one of t ahlest clerks of West Virginia and one of the ancien among the state officials, and won the nomination as a 1 publican. He defeated his opponent in the primary ek tion by 355 votes, and in the general election defeated i opponent hy 2,200, or 200 votes ahead of the ticket. Wh. he took office, succeeding the veteran D. P. Hendrickse whom everybody delights to honor, he became the thi clerk Grant County has ever had. In his official positi Mr. Judy has "made good" and has lived up to his pi election promises. IIe has entrenched himself firmly in t confidence of the people of the community, who have reco nized and appreciated his efforts in their behalf. Mr. Ju was one of the organizers of the Potomac Valley Bank Petersburg, in which he is a member of the Board of Dird tors and its secretary. He belongs to the Blue Lodge a: Chapter of Masonry, and is a past master of Petersbu Lodge No. 145, in addition to which he holds membersh: in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His religio affiliation is with the Presbyterian Church, in the work which he is active, being a teacher in the Sunday School.

On June 9, 1912, at Bowers, Montgomery County, Indian Mr. Judy was united in marriage with Miss Lillian E. Dr bar, who was born in Montgomery County, Indiana, as we her father and paternal grandfather, both of whom we agriculturists. She is a daughter of E. P. and Em (Parker) Dunbar, the latter being a native of the State Delaware. To Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar there were born eig. children: May, who is the wife of L. V. Halliday, of Bel; fontaine, Ohio; Lillian E., now Mrs. Judy, who was bo February 22, 1891; Joseph E., of Colfax, Indiana; Aust, a farmer near that place; Harvey M., of Bowers, Indian Willard P., who is attending high school at Kokomo, In ana; and Roscoe and Theodore, who are students at Bl Ridge College, New Windsor, Maryland. Mr. and M Judy have no children.

HARRY R. STAPP early distinguished himself as a Ve ahle and skillful factor in the insurance business, and experience in that line eventually led him to Dayton, Oh where he became associated with the Delco Light Corpo tion. For the past five years he has been manager of 1 Delco Light Corporation at Charleston, and has general pervision of the entire business of that corporation in ! state. He is a leader in Charleston affairs, and is one the prominent officials of the Kiwanis Club.

Mr. Stapp was born at Columbus Junction, Louisa Coun Iowa, in 1880. This branch of the Stapp family is . scended from the original Germans who founded the fi colonies from that country in Pennsylvania. The gray father of Harry R. Stapp was Reuben Stapp, who mot from his home at Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the late "; to the territory of Iowa. He was one of the first settl of what later became Louisa County, on the eastern bort of the state. The Stapp family have been for many ye and still are large owners of rich Iowa farm land in Lou County. The father of Harry R. Stapp is John Jad Stapp, who married Miss Ogier.

Harry R. Stapp was reared and educated in Iowa, & in 1898, as a young man of eighteen, volunteered for se ice in the Spanish-American war. He was in the Fifti Regiment of Infantry from Iowa. After his honorable ( charge he taught school in his native state for about t years, and then for two years lived in Chicago and secu: his training and early experience in the insurance busind

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on afterward Mr. Stapp was sent to London as a special presentative of the New York Life Insurance Company to stitute a change in the mode of accounting of the com. ny's executive offices in England. The first object of s mission having been accomplished, he remained in the itish metropolis as a special representativo of his com- ny, and altogether spent three years in London and on e European continent.

When Mr. Stapp returned to America in 1906 he was pointed manager at Indianapolis for the Travelers Insur- ce Company of Hartford. He remained at Indianapolis e years, leaving there to take charge of the local life in- rance company at Dayton, Ohio. The factory and gen- al offices of the Delco Light Corporation are at Dayton, d Mr. Stapp gave up the insurance business to become as- cinted with this nationally known industry, manufactur- g electric lighting plants. Mr. Stapp came to Charleston 1917 as manager of the Delco distributing plant of the y, and from Charleston has general dircetion of the Delco ght products' distribution and business throughout the te. He regards Charleston as his permanent home, has ught property in the city, and is one of the active, pro- essive and public spirited members of the community. Mr. Stapp sponsored the original organization of the Ki- nis Club in West Virginia, which began with the organi- tion of the Wheeling and Charleston clubs in 1918. The strict of West Virginia was formed in September, 1919, d Mr. Stapp was elected and served as the first district vernor of the Kiwanis Clubs for this state. He is affili- ed with the Masonic Order, holding the thirty-second de- ce of the Scottish Rite, and is a member of the Mystic rine, the Elks and the Chamber of Commerce. While in adon, England, he married Miss Kathleen Beeston. This a family of distinction in London, and her brother, L. J. eston, is a well-known English author.

WILLIAM R. HIGGINS. The production of coal in com- ircial quantities in the Scotts Run section of Monongalia unty is largely a matter of recent years. A pioneer coal ner and operator in that section and the man to whom re credit is due than to anyone else for this development William R. Higgins. Mr. Higgins has lived in Cass Dis- et most of his life, has been a miner as well as a farmer, d his practical work as a miner early took the direction opening up and working new and unexploited fields.

Mr. Higgins is proprietor of the Oak Hill Mining Com- ny and is secretary of the Higgins Coal Company. The ggins Coal Company has been producing coal since 1917, ile the Oak Hill Mining Company opened its first mine 1920, and now has a capacity of four cars per day. Mr. ggins has 200 acres of land bordering Scotts Run, which id is underlaid with coal, and altogether five companies : producing from the several veins, the upper one being : Waynesburg, eight feet thick, and it is Waynesburg il that is being produced by the Oak Hill and Higgins npanies. The second vein is the Sewickley, and most that is still owned by Mr. Higgins. The Pittsburgh n was sold many years ago and is being worked on an ensive scale by the Purslove Coal Company. The fourth lowest vein is known as the lower Sewickley, and has t as yet been touched by the mining operations. The lynesburg vein is comparatively new coal, but has many erior qualities as steam coal, while the others may be ter for coke ovens. The Waynesburg coal is sold largely · heating purposes, and the two mines have been distribut- : their products to twenty markets and the use has ulted in almost every instance in repeat orders. Only 3 other man could claim priority over Mr. Higgins in Deer work of mining and disposing of the Waynesburg il in this region. Scotts Run coal development is still its infancy, but proves to be one of the most productive I valuable coal fields in the state. The Morgantown & feeling Railroad traverses the entire length of the Run, ording readily accessible transportation to markets both ir and far.

dr. Higgins was born in Cass District of Monongalia inty in 1856, son of John Higgins, who also spent most his life here as a miner and farmer, and died at the

age of seventy-six. He was n nativo of Greene County, Pennsylvania, where his father died when ho was an infant and the widowed mother then brought her children to Vir ginia. John Higgins from boyhood had to look after him self. He married Sarah Lawless, of Cass District, daugh ter of James Lawless, a farmer there.

William R. Higgins hnd limited advantages in the com- mon schools, and at the age of cleven Ingan working for wages. He worked in mines, nnd also asisted his father in clearing away the timber to open fields for cultivation. Ile worked in a number of different mining localities and for several years was a teamster in the oil fields, Forty years ago he began buying land, his capital at the tune permitting only small purchases, but he has kept adding until he now holds a large acreage, particularly valuable because of its mineral resources. The Christopher Mine and the Bunker Mine are on his land.

Mr. Higgins married Miss Delia Alice Cole, of Cass Dis- triet. They have one daughter and two sons, L. J. and John M., both associated with their father in the Higgins Coal Company, and Miss Jessie, at home.

HUBERT GARRET CROGAN is one of the popular and suc cessful younger members of the Preston County bar, and lins been practicing law nt Kingwood for the past ten years. lle is a nephew of the distinguished Kingwood Inwyer and banker, Patrick J. Crogan.

His grandparents were James and Rose (Doyle) Crogan, natives of County Roscommon, Ireland, who were married in Maryland and on moving to West Virginia settled on : farm near Newburg, where James Crogan died in 19.s. John F. Crogan, father of Hubert G., was the oldest of four children and was only eight years of age when his father died. He had to become the chief reliance of the family in the matter of Inbor required for operating the farm. He was born in Maryland, but practically all his life has been spent in Preston County, where he had only the advantages of the country schools during and after the war. lle is a farmer, has been employed on public works and is still living at the old homestead at Newburg. John Crogan has done his duty as a public-spirited citizen and has been a member of the County Court and a member of the Board of Education of Lyon District. Ile is a republi can. He married Catherine Frances Wilson. Iler father, Eugenus Wilson, was born in Monongalia County, West Vir- ginia, and followed the pursuits of farmer, cabinetmaker and operator of a feed and flouring mill, the scene of these activities being in Reno District, south of Tunnelton. Eugenas Wilson married Julia Jeffreys, and of their thir- teen children the survivors are: Mrs. Amanda Bolyard, of Reno District; Mrs. Melissa Fortney, of Independence, West Virginia ; Mrs. Adaline Shaw, of Morgantown; Mrs. Sa- mantha Spring, of Fairmont; Sarah, wife of Jneob Bolyard, of Grafton; and Mrs. John F. Crogan. John F. C'rogan and wife had the following children: Addie, wife of Thomas E. Pyles, of Newburg; Hubert G .; Lloyd F., of Hiawatha, Utah; Walter G., of Grafton; Bessie M., widow of Oliver M. Bell, of Newburg; and John Dewey, a student at Toledo University in Ohio.

Hubert G. Crogan was born on the old homestead at New. burg, April 3, 1880. He attended the country schools. and as a boy showed a faculty of rapid mastery of sub jects of knowledge. When he left home he became n country school teacher, and out of his earnings advanced his education by attending the West Liberty State Normal School, where he was graduated in 1907. Then for n lit- tle more than a year he was assistant postmaster of Tun- nelton, and resigned to enter the law school of West Vir- ginia University at Morgantown. Mr. Cregan graduate l in law in June, 1910, and then locatel at Kingwood nod began practice with his uncle. His practice embracea cases both in the civil and criminal branches of the law, an l he is a member of the Preston County Bar Association und a leader in the republican politics of the county.

Mr. Crogan cast his first presidential vote for Cok nel Roosevelt. He has been secretary and is now chairman f the Republican County Executive Committee.

December 14, 1919, Mr. Crogan married Miss Hazel

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Snyder, danghter of Allison W. and Laura (Jenkins) Snyder, farmers near Albright in Preston County. Mrs. Crogan is one of six children. To their marriage was born on October 8, 1920, a son, Patrick Richard Crogan.

JOSEPH G. BROWN, assistant editor of the Preston County Journal at Kingwood, has had intermittent associations with the practical side of journalism for a number of years. He has also been a farmer, and has usually made a success of whatever he has undertaken. His career is the more interesting because it serves to recall one of the very earliest families of Preston County.

His aneestor, James Brown, was a native of Ireland and became prominently identified with some of the Irish secret societies against England. This activity becoming known, a reward of 100 pounds was placed upon his head, dead or alive, and he sought safety by fleeing to America. Thus in 1786, only a few years after the close of the Revolution, he established his home in Preston County, near Kingwood, and his descendants have lived here now for 135 years and through many avenues have contributed to the substantial growth and prosperity of the community. James Brown lived out his life as a farmer at what is still known as the old Brown homestead near Kingwood. This pioneer married Rachel Hawthorne. A brief record of their children is as follows: Robert, who lived at King- wood, and was the grandfather of the late Senator Dolliver of Iowa; Thomas, who spent his life at the old homestead; John, who moved to Cineinnati; Joseph, who was sheriff of Preston County before the Civil war and also lived at Kingwood; William G., Sr., who became a Kingwood lawyer, was for several terms prosecuting attorney, was elected and served several terms in Congress, was first a democrat and then a republican, with rather liberal views, and was father of the late William G .. Jr., who died while a member of the House of Representatives at Washington. Mrs. Jane Bowen, who left West Virginia and moved to Wisconsin; and Anna, who married Elisha M. Hagans and moved to Chicago.

The second generation in this branch of the family is represented by Joseph Brown, who was born at the old homestead at Kingwood and was sheriff of the county and lived a long and useful life here. He died in 1870, at the age of seventy-one. His wife was Mary Stone, who came from the vicinity of Richmond, Virginia. Their chil- dren were: James W., Elisha M., Mrs. Anna M. Elliott and Mrs. Julia R. Smith.

James W. Brown, who was born at Kingwood, March 30, 1832, took up merchandising and farming as his bnsi- ness vocation, and he was deputy sheriff under his father before the Civil war. While in the State Militia he was commissioned colonel, and ever afterward was known as Colonel Brown. In 1864 he moved out to Des Moines, Iowa, and for four years was a merchant in that eity, as a member of the firm LeBoskett, Rude & Brown. He then returned to West Virginia, and his home was on a farm near the old homestead until his death in May, 1902. Colonel Brown was a democrat, a member of the Baptist Church, and was affiliated with the Masons and Odd Fel- lows. Ile married Miss Martha Brown. who was deseended from John C. Brown, a son of the pioneer James Brown. She is still living at Kingwood, at the age of eighty-seven. Colonel and Mrs. Brown had five daughters and four sons: Mrs. C. M. Fleek, of Janesville, Wisconsin; Mrs. John W. MeDonald, of Tampico, Mexico; Mrs. C. F. Copeman, of Irwin, Pennsylvania; Mrs. B. L. Brown, of Kingwood; Albert A., of Albright, West Virginia; John C., who died at Rowlesburg in 1912; Miss Emma V., who died in 1915; Joseph G .; and Elisha Sargent, who is still on the family homestead.

Joseph G. Brown, the editor, was born at Terra Alta, Preston County, November 12, 1859. From the age of five to nine he was with his parents in Des Moines, Iowa, and he first attended school there. Most of his early life, how- ever, was spent on the home farm, and he took part in its work. In 1878, at the age of nineteen, he gained his first acquaintance with the printing business, with the

West Virginia Argus at Kingwood, whose proprietor was the late llenry Clay Hyde. Later he again took up farm- ing for ten years, and when he resumed his association with the printing art it was at Philippi and later at Parsons, West Virginia. The death of his father in 1902 called him to the management of the home farm. He has been assistant editor of the Preston County Journal since 1918. Mr. Brown, who has never married, is a democrat in line with his anecstry, and cast his first vote for Gen eral Hancock for president. He has always been deeply interested in the church of his choice and is an elder in the Presbyterian congregation at Kingwood.

JAMES D. BROWNING, who recently retired from the of. fice and responsibilities of sheriff of Preston County, has been a farmer for the most part, and the duties and obliga. tions that have come to him from time to time have beer discharged each and all so earnestly and faithfully as to make him one of the conspicuous men in this scetion off the state.

Mr. Browning is not only a native son of Preston County but belongs to one of the first families to acquire a clain in this portion of the frontier. The founder of the family and his ancestor was the famous hunter, Meshach Browning who was one of the advance couriers of civilization, preced ing most of the Trans-Alleghany pioneers. He was : great hunter, a master of all the arts of the frontier, and fortunately possessed the literary accomplishments that enabled him to leave the details of his experience and many pictures of frontier life in a volume entitled "Forty four Years of a Hunter's Life." For the benefit of his numerous posterity who have never seen this interesting volume it may be recalled that the frontiersman was born in Frederick County, Maryland, in 1781, son of Joshna am Naney Browning. His parents were small farmers, hones and industrious people, and their unsullied names wert abont all they could pass on to their sons. The Browning home was in Garrett County, Maryland, subsequent to it removal to Frederick County, but when the boundary be tween Maryland and West Virginia was finally surveyed it was found that the Browning estate was in Preston Coun ty, West Virginia. Meshach Browning married Mary Me Millan, and their old home was at Sang Run, about fon miles east from the West Virginia state line. The old hunte is buried at Hoyes, Maryland. He was the father of si: children, and his son, James, was grandfather of Sherif Browning of Kingwood.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 72

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