History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 75

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Through Col. J. M. Schoonmaker about 1913 the Little Kanawha Syndicate properties were sold to the Pittsburg] & Lake Erie Railroad Company, a New York Central inter est, and afterward the ownership was divided, with th Pennsylvania Railroad owning one-fourth interest, th Baltimore & Ohio Railroad one-fourth, and the New Yorl Central owning the other half. Soon afterward the Baltimor & Ohio interests were purchased by the Pennsylvania Rail road interests. The construction of the line known as the Buckhannon & Northern Railroad was completed to Fair mont on November 24, 1914. The Buckhannon & Norther Railroad and the Monongahela Railroad were consolidate under the name of the Monongahela Railway, and that par of the line was placed in operation in West Virginia, Sep tember 1, 1915.

From 1903 to 1915 Mr. Brady was chief engineer ant in charge of construction of the Buckhannon & Northern Railroad Company, one of the Little Kanawha Syndicat properties, and the only line which was partly constructer paralleling the west bank of the Monongahela River fron the West Virginia-Pennsylvania state line through the coun ties of Monongalia and Marion to Fairmont, West Virginia thereby opening up and developing the Pittsburgh and Sewickley vast coal deposits lying west of the Monongahela River.

During this period Mr. Brady was senior member of the firm of S. D. Brady & Brother, consulting engineers and president of the Brady Construction Company. In 191.

Fuld, Brady

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established his residence in Fairmont, and he is here sident of the Brady Cual Corporation, the Darby Coal apany and the Brazell Coal Company; vice president of Forest Coal Company; vice president of the Diamond Company; director and one of the organizers of the rmont State bank; chief engineer of the Little Kanawha dicate Lines, which own and control about 100,000 es of coal land in West Virginia; and chief engineer the Green River Coal Mining Company of Kentucky. 'rom 1915 up to the date the Government took over all roads after America's entrance into the World war, , Brady was consulting engineer of tho Monongahela Iway.

1r. Brady holds membership in the following organiza- is: American Society of Civil Engineers; American Iroad Engineers Society; Fairmont Rotary Club; Inter- ional Association of Rotary Clubs; Fairmont Chamber of nmeree, in whieb he is a director; Fairmont Y. M. C. A. director); Morgantown Country Club; a director of Fairmont Country Club; Fairmont Shriners Club; Alle- ny Club; Cheat Mountain Club; and Trough Club. lle received the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite sonry and is a member of the Mystic Shrine and the s. After the Spanish-American war Mr. Brady beeame member of the West Virginia National Guard and was pointed by the governor of the state engineering offieer the Brigade Staff, with the rank of major.

fr. Brady married Anna Zell, daughter of Robert R. and ry (Harness) Zell, the former a native of Baltimore, ryland, and the latter of Grant County, West Virginia, 3. Brady having been born at Cumberland, Maryland. . and Mrs. Brady have two sons, Samuel Dunlap, Jr., born gust 10, 1899, was graduated from Cornell University in 1 as a civil engineer and was there a member of the dents Army Training Corps during the last year of the rld war. James Zell, born August 5, 1901, attended the rthwestern Military Academy, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the Peddie Institute in New Jersey, and 1922 is attend- the University of West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Brady ) had one daughter, Margaret Louise Brady, who was n April 5, 1904, and died April 3, 1914.

`AMES A. LENHART. The name James A. Lenhart is one t bulks large in the affairs of Preston County, where dur his aetive life he has been a merebant so long that he is s dean of the Preston County merchants, is a banker at igwood, is a former sheriff and in the republican party least has a state-wide prominence. Mr. Lenhart was one the members of the commission for the settlement of the st Virginia-Virginia debt controversy.

le was born near Valley Point in Pleasant District of eston County, March 15, 1860, son of Aaron and Catherine etzler) Lenhart, natives of Somerset County, Pennsy]- ia, whence they removed about 1840 to Preston County, st Virginia. Aaron Lenhart depended upon honest in- try as a means of providing for his family and achiev- a home. He was a veteran of the Civil war, enlisting in npany B of the Fourteenth West Virginia Infantry, and three years fought for the flag of the Union. He was private, was in many battles, but always escaped wounds I capture. He died in 1590. He and his wife had the owing children: Henry, of Portland Distriet, Preston inty; Mary, who died as the wife of Sam Nedrow; anda, who died in Preston County, wife of Lewis Cale; nes Albert; William L., of Kingwood; Frederick, a mer in Preston County; and Etta Jane, wife of P. S. ig, of Kingwood.

ames A. Lenhart was thirteen years of age when his cher died, and he soon afterward left home and lived at bright, where he continued to attend school until he was hteen. He was then qualified for teaching a country dis- It and for some time taught and then attended a term in Fairmont Normal School. That closed his schooling. of his chief ambitions as a boy was to seeure a college cation, but failing to achieve that through lack of money changed his plans and at Albright beeame clerk in a cantile establishment. He was there two years, and In for ten years conducted a business of his own at Valley

Point. On Jenving Valley Point he removed to Kingwood, and is still active as a merchant of that city, and altogether has devoted forty years of his hfe to merenntile business, n longer time than any of his contemporaries. Mr. Lenhart for twenty-five years has been a director and is now the artive vice president of the Bank of Kingwood.

Ile was elected sheriff of the county in 1900, Is successor of L. C. Shaffer. Ile served in that otlice four years. As a young man becoming interested in political factions he gave his allegiance to the republican party, and his first vote for president went for James G. Blaine. In 1904 he was jies1 dential elector at large, and cast his ballot at Charleston for Roosevelt.

Governor Hatfield chose Mr. Lenhart as one of the com missioners to negotiate the long standing questions involved in the Virginia debt with the commissioners of Oll Vir ginia. This commission was organized at Charleston, where preliminary sessions were held and plans formulated for the general conference between the commissions of the two states held in the Willard Ilotel at Washington. In the preliminary conferences there developed a great difference of opinion as to West Virginia's just share of the state debt before the separation of West Virginia. Some con tended that West Virginia owed the mother state nothing at all, while Mr. Lenhart was the first to announce as his conviction that West Virginia should pay substantially the amount previously found by the Master of the United States Supreme Court. Only one other member of the commission shared in Mr. Lenhart's convictions. He announced that he preferred to pay the whole debt rather than prolong the struggle and pay the interest accumulations which would have amounted to $0,000,000 more. Later it developed that the attorneys for the state in making up their briefs for West Virginia had failed to include items of expense that the state had incurred, all of which might properly serve as an offset to the obligations, and when this angle of the situa tion was taken before the Supreme Court it was reopened and the result was that the offset was allowed, representing a saving to West Virginia of $7,000,000 or $$,000,000, In all these negotiations Mr. Lenhart took an active and useful part, and his colleagues came to respect not only his in- tegrity and impartial sense of justice, but also the sound business ability that prompted all his suggestions.

For some sixteen years Mr. Lenhart was a member of th. Preston County Executive Committee, and during that time the republican majority in the county increased from 1.500 to 2,700. For twenty years he was a member of all the West Virginia State conventions, and in them he helped nominate among others Governor- Dawson, White, Swisher and Hat- lield.

In Preston County in 1550 Mr. Lenhart married Miss Ella King. Her father was Col. William H. King, a California forty-niner who crossed the plains and returned by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and spent the latter part of his life in the milling business. During the Civil war he was a colonel of the State Militia. Colonel King represented one of the old and prominent families of this section of West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Lenhart have four daughters: Nina; Mrs. Mabel Jackson, a widow with a son, Leslie; Miss Bernice; and Ilelen, wife of Professor F. R. Yoke, of Piedmont, West Virginia.

WILLIAM MORGAN SCHAEFFER, former sheriff of Preston County, was born in that county, has been a resident of Kingwood for a quarter of a century and has been actively and influentially associated with the affairs of this eun inunity the greater part of his life.

Ilis grandfather was Jacob Schaeffer, who came from ( r many and founded the family in West Virginia in pion er times. Israel Schaeffer, father of William Morgan, was born probably in Tucker County, West Virginia, was a Far renter by trade, following that oce pation in younger year , and thereafter lived on a farm near Kingwood. Though self educated, he became a teacher and was regarded as an of the best in the county in his day He was a repub an, a member of the Methodist Church and active in the Sin Jay school, and was well versed in the Bible and also in secular knowledge. He could deliver a good speech before an a di-

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ence. Israel Schaeffer married Jane Feather, member of a prominent family of Preston County. She died in middle life. Her children were: Zaccheus Allen, who left home when a youth and has never been heard from; Mary E., who became the wife of Thomas J. Trowbridge; Susan K., who married Rev. E. S. Wilson; Nancy M., Mrs. Leroy Shaw; Jacob F., who was a soldier in the Seventh Virginia Regi- ment and died just after coming out of the war; Rev. G. C. Schaeffer, who was with an Ohio regiment in the Union army, participating in the march to the sea under General Sherman and now lives at Temple, Oklahoma; William Morgan; and Sarah J., deceased wife of N. A. Wilson.

William M. Schaeffer was born in the rural community near Kingwood, February 4, 1847. He grew up on a farm, with only the advantages of conntry schools, and before reaching his majority he went West and for two years clerked in a store at Paducah, Kentucky. On returning to West Virginia he was soon afterward made deputy sheriff, and performed the duties of deputy under Sheriffs Shaw, Shaffer and Lenhart. In 1904 Mr. Schaeffer was elected county sheriff, and gave an effective administration of the duties of that office for four years.

On leaving the courthouse Mr. Schaeffer bought a farm, and until he practically retired made farming his regular business. He has always been a republican. In 1868, while in Kentucky and not long after his twenty-first birthday, he cast his first vote for President Grant. IIe has been active in the various campaigns, has attended conventions as a delegate and cast his ballot for the nomination of Con- gressman Dayton. Mr. Schaeffer is one of the old-time members of Alpine Lodge No. 35, Knights of Pythias, and has the veteran's jewel as a token of twenty-five years' membership. He has filled the chairs and has represented Alpine Lodge in the Grand Lodge.

January 2, 1881, in Preston County, Mr. Schaeffer mar- ried Miss Nancy C. Whetsell, daughter of Isaac and Ellen (Felton) Whetsell. Mrs. Schaeffer was born in Preston County, where her ancestors settled several generations ago. Her father was a farmer, enlisted from Preston County in the Union army, aud died soon after the war. Mrs. Schaef- fer was born January 6, 1862, and is the second of three children, her brothers being Elias W. and Isaac C.

In conclusion is presented a brief account of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Schaeffer. Winfield Arch is bookkeeper for Sheriff Copeman of Preston County. Otta is the wife of Sheriff John F. Copeman. Don C. is a carpenter at King- wood. Harry G. is general superintendent of No. 4 mine at Kingwood. Georgie Ann is the wife of Charles R. Zinn of Reedsville, West Virginia. Miss Daisy B. lives at home with her parents. Nellie C. is stenographer and bookkeeper with the State Educational Department at Charleston. Ruby G. is the wife of James T. Spahr, editor of the Kingwood Argus. Wilson Elva, youngest of the family and now at Kingwood, was an enlisted man during the World war, and was assigned to the Spruce Division, getting out material for the manufacture of aeroplanes in the spruce woods of Washington and Oregon, and received his honorable dis- charge at Camp Sherman.

HERMAN A. SHUTTS, principal of the Valley District High School at Masontown, began teaching when a youth, and has continued to devote his time either to teaching or the prose- cution of his own studies through State Normal School and university. He is member of a family that was estab- lished in West Virginia about the time of the Civil war, and his father has been a successful cabinet maker and carpenter.

Herman A. Shutts was born in Jackson County, West Virginia, July 31, 1889. The founder of the family in this state was his grandfather, James Shutts, who came from Ohio. He was a Union soldier in the Civil war, and he finally left West Virginia and moved to Missouri and died at Browning in that state. He was a member of the Christian Church and a democrat. By his marriage to Miss Eaton he was the father of the following children: Hannah, Mrs. C. H. Collins, who died in Missouri; David, a resident of Oklahoma; Isaiah; Lillie, wife of James H. Boyce, of Jackson County, West Virginia; George, who went to Mis-

souri and then to Colorado; Peter, of Texas; Libbie, wife o William Sauser, of Sherman, West Virginia; Bankey, wh married and went to Missouri; Western, a farmer in Mis souri; and Willard, who died in Missouri.

Isaiah Shutts was born in Noble County, Ohio, in 1864 and was an infant when the family came to West Virginia He acquired a country school education, and for a numbe of years was a skilled carpenter, a contractor and builder but now for a long time farming on the old homestead ha claimed his energies. He takes a citizen's interest i polities as a democrat, and is a member of the Unite Brethren Church. In Jackson County, Isaiah Shutts married Icalona Peters, who was born in Noble County, Ohio, i 1870. She became the mother of nine children: Herma: A .; Marshall, formerly a teacher, now in the employ of th Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company at Parkersburg; Sylvi: Mrs. Fisher Lester, a teacher in the Crete grade school i Wayne County, West Virginia; Creed, now associated with his brother at Parkersburg; Harold, a farmer at home Artie, wife of Ray Williams, of Jackson County; Claude who died when twelve years old; Mary and Dorothy, both at home.

The son Creed enlisted in the regular army before Amer ica became a participant in the World war, and during the war period he was an instructor of soldiers at Camp Shelby Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He went to Europe in the summe of 1918, and was an observation officer at the front during the last eleven days of the war.

Herman A. Shutts graduated from the Grafton Higl School. He completed most of the work required of gradua tion from the Fairmont State Normal School, and then con tinued in the State University of Morgantown, where h ranked as a junior. In the meantime he taught ten years i the country schools of Jackson County. For four years he was grade principal at Grafton and from Grafton came to his present responsibilities as principal of the Valley Dis trict High School at Masontown, where he succeeded Mr Luzader, now district superintendent. Mr. Shutts is a wel educated young man, enthusiastic in his work, and has demonstrated his ability as a school administrator.

Unlike his ancestors, he is a republican in politics and cast his first presidential vote for William Howard Taft He has served on party committees and as a delegate to con ventions. He is active in the ' Methodist Church, especially in the Sunday school, and is a Bible teacher, having : diploma from the Interdenominational Sunday School o Chicago.

In Jackson County, November 26, 1909, Mr. Shutts mar ried Miss Nellie Archer, who was born in that county daughter of Rev. Alfred L. and Miranda (Weekley) Archer Her father was a minister of the Methodist Episcopa Church. Mrs. Shutts died eight years after her marriage on Eastern morning, leaving two children, Noel and Nolda At Grafton Mr. Shutts married Miss Ethel Bartlett, a na tive of Taylor County and formerly a teacher in the Graftor schools. She is a daughter of Joseph and Laura (Smith) Bartlett, of Bridgeport, West Virginia. Mrs. Shutts wa one of a large family of children and she completed hel edneation in the State Normal School at Fairmont and the University of West Virginia, and is still active in educationa work, being primary supervisor in the Masontown schools Mr. Shutts is affiliated with Grafton Lodge No. 75, F. am A. M., and is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.

EARL DIXON is cashier of the Bank of Masontown, hat been an executive officer of that institution for the past ter years, and prior to that was a successful merchant of Reeds ville.

He was born near Reedsville, March 20, 1885, and in tha' community his father, Emanuel Dixon, is still living, activ as a farmer. Emanuel Dixon was born in Washington County, Maryland, in 1859, and acquired a common schoo education. He was one of eight children, and when he war twenty years of age the family moved to Preston County West Virginia, the Dixons locating in the Reedsville locality Emanuel Dixon has lived there for over forty years, and has been a successful farmer and stockraiser. For about

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steen years ho was a member of tho Preston County Court d was part of the timo chairman of the court. Hle is a aneh republican in politics.

Emanuel Dixon married Miss Anna Loar, daughter of chard and Elizabeth (Kirk) Loar. Her mother was a ughter of Cnpt. Isaiah Kirk, who served in the Union my during the Civil war. Anna Loar was born near edsville. The children of Emanuel Dixon and wife were: arl; Loar, who died unmarried in 1920; Ella, wife of omer Riggleman, of Reedsville; James, of Masontown; ora, wife of Lee Turner, of Masontown; while the younger ildren are Charles, Iloward, Harry, Ford, Theodore and heile.

Earl Dixon grew up on a farm, sharing in its working sponsibilities until he was eighteen. He attended country hools and summer normals, and from the farm he became elerk for S. L. Cohun, a general merchant at. Masontown. 'ith the equipment derived from this experience he engaged business for himself in 1906 at Reedsville as a member of e firm Wheeler & Dixon. Three years later he accepted an Ter to become an active official of the Bank of Masontown assistant cashier. At that time Homer Andrews was shier and the president was S. L. Cohun, who is still the ad of the bank. Fourteen months after becoming assistant ishier Mr. Dixon was made eashier, in January, 191]. lle also a member of the board of directors and associate vire resident having been thus connected with the bank before left his mercantile interests at Reedsville. Mr. Dixon is so a stockholder in the Rosedale Coal Company, the Lick un Collieries Company and is president of the Valley Lum- r Company of Masontown. He is a member of the board : education of his distriet. In polities he has been satis- ed to vote the republican ticket, first supporting on the residential ballot William H. Taft. He was reared in the Methodist Church and is an active member of the Masonie Maternity, having joined Preston Lodge No. 90 at King- ood. He is affiliated with the Royal Arch Chapter and nights Templar Commandery at Morgantown, also the odge of Perfection of the Scottish Rite there, being a ember of the Scottish Guard of this lodge, and is affiliated ith West Virginia Consistory No. 1 at Wheeling. He is a ast chancellor of the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Mason- wn and has represented that lodge in the Grand Lodge. uring the war Mr. Dixon was chairman of the bond sales in je Valley Distriet, and was member of the Executive Com- ittee of the Red Cross for Preston County.

At Reedsville, November 22, 1911, he married Miss Gert- ide Arthur, who was born at Pittsburgh, May 5, 1485, hughter of Richard M. Arthur, of Arthurdale Stock Farm par Reedsville. Mr. and Mrs. Dixon have one son, Richard rthur, born in April, 19IS.

WRIGHT HLUGUS, an ex-serviceman and a prominent young wyer at Wheeling, is a son of the late Judge Thomas Hugus, who long enjoyed a position of special prom- enee at the bar of West Virginia.

The Hugus family is of Holland and French descent. ad was established in America shortly after the elose of e Revolutionary war. The family located in Southwest- n Pennsylvania. The grandfather of Wright Hugus was neob Hugus, who spent all his life in Tyler County, West irginia, where he owned a large amount of farming land. he late Judge Thomas J. Hugus was born in Tyler Coun- , West Virginia, in September, 1854, was reared there id completed his college education when he graduated B. from Marietta College in Ohio. Soon afterward he cated at Wheeling, read law, and until his death in arch, 1916, was busily engaged in his profession and r eighteen years of that time was judge of the Criminal purt of Ohio County. He was an active republican, a very irnest supporter of the Fourth Street Methodist Episcopal hurch, and is remembered by his professional associates id fellow citizens as a man of exalted character.

Judge Hugus married Annie V. Wright, who is still liv- g at Wheeling, where she was born in 1859. 1Ter father, ohn Wright, who was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- inia, came to Wheeling when a young man and was le of the founders of the LaBelle Iron Works. He mar-

ried Eleanor Madden, and both died at Wheeling. The children of dudge Hagus and wife were: John W, um neeted with a large ronal company at Washington, Pennsyl vania; William T., a resident of Wheeling and manager of the Laughlin Mill of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company at Martin's Ferry, Ohio, AArthar C', secretary of the Center Foundry Company of Wheeling, Eleanor wife of Otto M. Schlabach, an attorney at law nt la Crosse Wisconsin; Anne, wife of Mason Britton of New York City; Wright and Miss Elizabeth, who is unmarried and lives with her mother at the old home at Elmwood Hear Wheeling.

Wright Hugue was born in Ohio County, West Vi ginia. November 5, 1590, attended the country hood at Beech Glen, near Wheeling, later the Clay School, Lily ot Wheeling, and graduated from the Wheeling High S houl in 1909. Ile finished his literary eduentum in Dartmouth College at Hanover, New Hampshire graduating \ R. 19 1913. From Dartmouth he entered Harvard I'nivers ts Law School, received his Ll. B. degree in 1916. Mr Hogy- is a member of the Sigma Chi college fraternity I. also belongs to the English VI Law Iluh, He was admitted to the West Virginia bar in the fall of 19tdi, practiced a few months before entering the war, and sinne bij- return has been busy with a growing practice, largely the rializing in corporation law. He is attorney for the Wheeling Steel Corporation and has his oties in the Car poration Building.

On May 11, 1917, Mr. Ilugus entered the First Officers Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, received his commission as first lieutenant of infantry August 15th, and was then at Cambridge, Massachusetts. attending the School of Trench Warfare under the super vision of French army officers until October Ist. He was then transferred to Camp Sherman, Ohio, and assigned to the Three Hundred Thirty-first Infantry. He was made assistant division adjutant in February, 19Is, and on June 8, 1916, sailed for France with Headquarters Company of the Eighty-third Division. He was assistant personnel adjutant of the Second Depot Division, A. E. F. and American Embarkation Center, until June, 1919, stationed at LeMans. Thereafter he was personal adjutant of the American Embarkation Center at LeMans outil August 1. 1919, when he returned home and was mustered out nt Camp Sherman, September 4, 1919, as major, Almtant General's Department.

Mr. Hngus is one of the youngest members of the State Legislature, and yet during the session of 1921 was one of the most effective workers in that body. He was elected on the republican ticket to the House of Delegates in November, 1920. During the session of 1921 he was chair man of the military affairs committee and member of the judiciary, banks and corporations, railroads and enrolled bills committees. Mr. Hugus was responsible for the in- troduction and secured the passage of the bill reorganizing the National Guard of West Virginia. He also introd werd a bill raising the age of consent from fourteen to sixtern years, and was prominent in the fight against the Gross Sales Tax Bill.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 75

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