History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 85

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daughter of Job and Mary (Miller) Lewis, farmers in that section of West Virginia. Mrs. Bentz at the death of her husband was left with a family of four children, and she provided for them and lived with them and died, after seeing them all well established, when she was seventy-nine years of age. These children were: John, a puddler in iron mills who died at the age of sixty-three; Mrs. Sudlie Rasel, of Wheeling; Hermann; and Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Hoffman.

Hermann Bentz at the age of fifteen became the principal support of his widowed mother. Thereafter he remained with her, providing not only for her material comfort but giving the utmost of a son's devotion to a devoted mother who earned fully the love of her children and the esteem in which she was held by all her neighbors. Ilermann Bentz at the age of ten began doing some work in the La Belle mills, learning the trade of cooper for nail kegs at that plant. He worked there through all his boyhood, and Inter as a young man he served four years na deputy sheriff under Sheriff Steenrod.

It was on August 1, 1897, that Mr. Bentz and Mr. W. R. Coocy began their modest partnership of Cooey.Bentz. They bought the business of a former dealer, paying his widow $1,000. They had only $500 of operating capital, and that was borrowed. During the early months, when the pros- perity of the venture was not entirely assured, Mr. Bentz and Mr. Cooey allowed themselves from the proceeds of the business only enough to insure a bare subsistence for the partners, Mr. Bentz, a bachelor, taking only $9 a week, while Mr. Cooey, with his family, took $12. Their stock was kept in one small room, 20 by 60 feet, and comprised an ordi- nary line of furniture, and from the first they emphasized their undertaking service. Seven years later, in 1904, they incorporated, and since then the capitalization of $75.000 has been increased to $200,000, and in 1914 they erected a substantial five-story brick block 50 by 100 feet, all of which is now occupied by their business and they have planned additional quarters which will provide at least double the capacity. The business is strictly retail, and their customers extend over a radius of fifty miles from points in Ohio and Pennsylvania. There are twenty-eight employes, and for the past ten years a branch store has been conducted at Ben- wood, being under the personal charge of Mr. Edward Cooey.

Mr. Hermann Bentz has never married. He is a popular citizen, a Knight Templar Mason, a democrat without politi- cal aspirations, and is a director of the South Side Bank & Trust Company.

JAMES C. MOORE is one of the leading merchants at War. wood, a thriving industrial place that is now a part of the City of Wheeling, be having been four years of age when the family home was established in the present Warwood Dis- trict of Ohio County and having been here reared und edu- cated. Ife was born in the City of Wheeling, October 31. 1874, a son of John Z. and Mary (Cushman) Moore, the former of whom was born at Akron, Ohio, and the latter at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Moore was a child when the family removed to Wheeling, where her father, John Cash- man, was in the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railrond Company until his death, and she was reared and educated at Wheeling, where her marriage was solemnized. She sur- vived her husband four years and died at the age of fifty- three years.

John Z. Mnore was left an orphan in childhood and was reared in the home of an uncle. At the age of eighteen yenr he found employment in a nail mill in the City of Pitts- burgh. and he became a skilled nailmaker. Later he was em- ployed in a nail mill in New Jersey, and there he enlisted in a New Jersey regiment, with which he served as a loyal sol- dier of the Union during the Civil war, he having been in the army commanded by General Sheridan and having partici pated in many engagements, including those of the Shenan- doah Valley of Virginia and the battle of Appomattox. After the war he remained for a time at Pittsburgh, and about 1866 came to Wheeling. For years he was a skilled artisan at the Top Nail Mill, and in 1878 he purchased a farm of twenty-six acres in the present Warwood locality. he having continued in the management of this excellent little farm until his death in 1900, at the age of sixty-three years,

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and having in the meanwhile continued to work at his trade. He served as a member of the school board of his district and was otherwise prominent in community affairs. Of the seven children all but one attained to maturity and five are now living. The son Sheridan is engaged in the practice of law at Huntington; Misses Estella and Nellie reside with their brother James C., of this review, who is a bachelor ; and the other sister, Laura, is the wife of Charles Meyer. In earlier years Miss Nellie Moore was a popular teacher in the public schools, besides which she served as postmistress at Glenova, the title of the office having later been changed to Warwood, and the village having finally become a part of the City of Wheeling.

James C. Moore gained his early education in the public schools, and as a young man he worked in the nail mills. Thereafter he was actively identified with the operation of a large farm in this locality, and about 1905 he engaged in general road contracting. In 1907 he opened a feed and livery establishment at Wheeling, and this he conducted four years, during which he still resided at Warwood. His elder brother, Robert M., engaged in the grocery business at Warwood in 1903, and upon the death of this brother in 1911 James C. assumed charge of the business, which he con- ducted nine years, in the meanwhile having developed it into a general merchandise enterprise, the first of the kind at Warwood. His sister Nellie became postmistress, the post- office having been in the store, and in this position she suc- ceeded her deceased brother. It is interesting to note that the original title of this local postoffice, Glenova, represents a combination of the name of Glen Run (by which this part of Ohio County has long been known), the "o" from the initial of the county, and the final syllable, "va" represent- ing the current abbreviation for Virginia.

In 1920 Mr. Moore sold his store, and thereafter he erected a two-story double-store building, 56 by 56 feet in dimen- sions, in which he is now conducting two well appointed mercantile places, one being devoted to groceries and the other to hardware. He is the owner also of the residence property which represents the home of himself and his sisters, and all of them are members of the Presbyterian Church.

HENRY BIEBERSON, who is living retired in the beautiful suburb of Woodlawn, on the National Road, two miles dis- tant from the center of Wheeling, of which the district is a part, is vice president of the Wheeling Fire Insurance Com- pany, the only corporation of its kind in the state and one of which specific mention is made on other pages of this work.

Mr. Bieberson was born in Germany, in 1848, and there gained his early education, he having been sixteen years of age when he came to the United States. In 1874 he opened a restaurant on the South Side in the City of Wheeling, and this gained high reputation and continued a popular resort for twenty-eight years. Mr. Bieberson won substantial suc- cess through his careful and honorable business activities, and he was formerly a director of the Bank of Wheeling. He is now a director of the Bridgeport Bank & Trust Com- pany and in 1902 became president and manager of the Bel- mont Brewing Company at Martin's Ferry, Ohio. Under his direction this company gained high reputation for the quality rather than the quantity of its output, and was a model in connection with the brewing industry of the coun- try. Mr. Bieberson is interested in the West Virginia Fair Association, and formerly served as a trustee of the Home for the Aged. He was a director of the company which con- structed the Wheeling & Elm Grove Railroad. He came to this country in 1865, in company with an aunt and with his sister, the latter being now the widow of August Rolf. Mr. Bieberson came to Wheeling in 1867, and even the brief data incorporated in this sketch indicate that he has been closely and worthily associated with the development and progress of the city. He is also interested in the West Virginia Steel Corporation, which absorbed the La Belle Iron Com- · pany and the Benwood Iron Works, in each of which he had been a stockholder and director. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and his personal popularity is on a parity with his prominence and loyalty

in connection with civic and business affairs in Wheelir It may further be stated that he is a director in the Citizen People's Trust Company, was a member of the original dir torate of the Bridgeport Banking Company, and is a direct of the Maher Colliers Company of Cleveland, Ohio, whi operates mines in Belmont County, that state, and which one of the most important operating companies in the ec fields of the Wheeling District. Mr. Bieberson was one the principals in the platting of the Belvidere addition to t City of Wheeling, and for the past twelve years he h maintained his home at Woodlawn, one of the finest re dential districts of Wheeling.

In 1873 Mr. Bieberson married Miss Frederic Schumacher, who was born and reared at Wheeling, h father having been a native of Germany and having be one of the pioneer German citizens of Wheeling, where engaged in the work of his trade, as a skilled stone-cutte Mr. and Mrs. Bieberson became the parents of two sons al three daughters, two of the daughters being deceased. T daughter Emma, who became the wife of Karl Goetz, di when a young woman. Henry is a manufacturer in the Ci of Delaware, Ohio; Lillie E. is the wife of Henry C. Hac mann, of Wheeling; Anton is manager of the real esta department of the Citizens-People Trust Company at Wher ing; and Cora died when a young woman.

Mr. Bieberson has lived a sane, worthy and constructi life, and has done much to further the civic and materi development and progress of his home city and communit In earlier years he was actively identified with the Turnv rein and Liederkrantz societies of Wheeling, which repi sented much in the social and cultural life of the communit He served as president of St. John's Evangelical Protesta Congregation for several years and is active in church wor

FRED J. Fox from an early age has been on intima terms with work as a means of advancing himself ar broadening his usefulness as a factor in the affairs of me His work eventually led him into banking, and for thir years he has been a figure of increasing influence in t] financial affairs of the Wheeling District, where he is se retary and cashier of the Security Trust Company.

Mr. Fox was born at Bridgeport, Ohio, November 2 1867. His father, Jacob Fox, was born in Wuertember Germany, in 1830, and as a young man came to the Unit States and located at Wheeling. He learned the baker trade under the master of that art, Joseph Bayha, ar while he followed the occupation in Wheeling on his r moval to Bridgeport about 1855 and after his marria he entered the service of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Ra road Company, and was continuously with that road : checker for thirty-five years. He finally retired in 189 and died at Bridgeport in 1893. He was independent politics, a devout Lutheran, and was affiliated with the I dependent Order of Odd Fellows. Jacob Fox marrie Christina Schweitzer, who was born in Wuerttemburg : 1834 and died at Bridgeport in May, 1908. She was tl mother of seven children: Elizabeth, wife of Louis ] Cook, a mail clerk living at Bridgeport; William, head ( the shipping department of the Jefferson Glass Worl and a resident of Bridgeport; Rachel, wife of Willia Koehnline, a retired ice and coal dealer at Bridgeport Fred J .; Henry, cashier of the Dollar Savings Bank ( Bridgeport; Mary, wife of Sam Greenlaand, general mai ager of the traction system of Fort Wayne, Indiana; an J. Edward, a real estate and insurance man at Bridg port.

Fred J. Fox attended the public schools of Bridgepor and even while in school was turning his ingenuity in th direction of earning money to support himself and to ps his expenses while in school. He also attended Frazier Business College at Wheeling. His early positions gav him a varied knowledge of business, and in 1891, at th age of twenty-four, he entered the service of the Dolls Savings Bank at Bridgeport, and was teller in that instit tion until 1897. He was afterward cashier of the Germani Half Dollar Savings Bank.

The year 1903 marks the beginning of Mr. Fox's lon and useful service with the Security Trust Company o

Hned J. Fox

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Wheeling. He became cashier in that year, and since 1916 has also filled the office of secretary. The Security Trust Company was organized in 1903, with J. N. Vance as pres- ident. Its present officers are: W. E. Stone, president; M. J. MeFadden, vice president; A. L. Meyer, vice presi- lent; Fred J. Fox, secretary-eashier; II. S. Martin, as- sistant cashier; and E. B. Bowie, trust officer. The list of directors inelude the following well-known Wheeling men: James II. Beans, Alfred Caldwell, John L. Diekey, William Ellingham, James W. Ewing, F. F. Faris, L. W. Franzheim, J. G. Hoffman, Jr., John Hoffman, third, William Lipphardt, George W. Lutz, W. O. M.Closkey, M. J. Mc Fadden, II. W. MeLure, A. L. Meyer, H. S. Sands, L. E. Sands, George E. Stifel. W. E. Stone, H. E. Vance. Mr. Fox beeame cashier of this company before there were any deposits. Today the deposits aggregate $2,750,- 000, with capital stock of $300,000 and surplus and profits of $350,000. The great resources of the company place t as one of the strongest financial institutions in the Upper Ohio Valley, and men in a position to know, including nis associates, say that this satisfactory condition is due more to Mr. Fox's personal ability and character than to any other one factor. The Security Trust Company is now noused in one of the handsomest buildings along Market Street, at 1143 Market Street. This structure, erected in 1917, is of granite, brick and terra cotta, and besides being the quarters for the Trust Company it also accommodates the large music store of C. A. House & Company. The com- pany conducts a foreign department in the basement and also a real estate and insurance department, and there are other modern facilities and equipment for keeping ac- ·ounts and safeguarding funds, including safety deposit boxes. Ordinarily there are about twenty-two employes in the hank.

While with the welfare and growth of this institution Mr. Fox has found his time and talents fully engaged, ho has associated himself so far as possible with worthy move- ments in his community. He is a member and elder of the First Presbyterian Church at Wheeling, and for two conseentive terms was township treasurer of East Town- ship in Belmont County, Ohio, though as a rule he has avoided politics and publie offices. He is a republican. Mr. Fox is treasurer of the Wheeling Chamber of Com- meree, a director of the Old Ladies Home at Wheeling, director of the Home of Aged and Friendless Women, director of the Union Mission, secretary, treasurer and lireetor of the Market Auditorium Company, and director of the Associated Charities. During the war was a Four Minute Speaker and did all he could to further the local campaigns, particularly those for the raising of funds. He is affiliated with Belmont Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Bridgeport, and the Fort Henry Club of Wheeling. His residence is at 108 Fourteenth Street n Wheeling.

In 1893, at Wheeling, Mr. Fox married Miss Mary Ziegler. She died at Bridgeport in 1899, and is survived by two children. Wilbur, her son, born in February 1996, was for sixteen months in the army service during the war, enlisting from Bellaire, Ohio, and most of the time was stationed at San Francisco. He is now employed in the foreign department of the Security Trust Company. The laughter, Helena. is the wife of Mervin Stonecipher, and they live with Mr. and Mrs. Fox, Mr. Stonecipher being employed in the traffic department of the Wheeling Steel Corporation.

In 1903. at Martin's Ferry, Ohio, Mr. Fox married Miss Amanda Jordan, daughter of Benjamin F. and Margaret (Finney) Jordan, who live near Bridgeport. Her father was a farmer for many years but is now a rural mail carrier, Mr. and Mrs. Fox have three children: Edward Jordan, born in March, 1908; Henry Nelson, born in June, 1912; and Irvin Franklin, born in June, 1912, the last two being twins.

ALEXANDER R. CAMPBELL, of Wheeling, has long repre- ented a benignant force in connection with the eivie and business affairs of this section of the state and has served in various offices of public trust, including that of deputy

collector of internal revenue for this district. Ile is a selon of a family that was founded in Virginia in the Colonial era of our national history, and his lineage on both paternal and internal sides traces back to fine Scotch origin. The Campbell family gained pioneer honors in that section of the Old Dominion that now constitutes West Virginia.

Alexander R. Campbell was born at Des Moines. Inwn, August 29, 1848, a son of John R. and Margaret Cassady ) Campbell, the former of whom was born at Wheeling, Vir ginia (now West Virginia), in 1\13, and the latter of whom was born at Winchester, Virgima, in 1526. John R. Campbell removed with his family to Iowa about 1541, and became a pioneer merchant at Des Moines, that state, but about JS50 returned with his family to Wheeling, where his death occurred in 1864 and where his widow died in 1-75. she having been prominently identified with the founding of the Children's Home at Wheeling. Upon the death of his father Alexander R. Campbell beeame the chief support of his widowed mother and the other members of the family For five years he was salesman in a wholesale drug estab- lishment at Wheeling, and in 1873 he was admitted to part nership in the business, that of Laughlin Brothers. \ num- ber of years later he sold his interest in the business and removed to Ravenswood, Jackson County, and after a time he became the West Virginia general state agent for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee. for which he developed a large and profitable business in his jurisdiction. in the meantime the family home having been maintained at Ravenswood. Mr. Campbell served as chairman of the Republican Committee of Jackson County. and in ISSS was elected to the State Senate, as representa- tive of this district comprising Jackson, Roane nnd Mason counties. In 1889 he returned with his family to Wheeling, and in 1892 he was elected from Ohio County to the House of Delegates of the State Legislature. In 1896 he was in clerical service in connection with the State Senate, and he served also as a member of the City Council of Wheeling, as representative of the Third Ward. ITe made a record as one of the most effective campaign speakers of his party in the state, and his political influence was widely nnd worth- ily extended. In July, 1897, he was appointed deputy United States collector of internal revenue and in this serv- ice he continued under the MeKinley and Roosevelt admin- istrations. Mr. Campbell became prominently concerned in banking enterprise and in other lines of business, and was long an honored member of leading fraternal and social organizations at Wheeling.

December 20, 1876, recorded the marriage of Mr. Camp- hell and Miss Mary HI. Rearick, who was born at Hagers- town, Maryland, a daughter of John Rearick. Of the chil- dren of this union Clinton R. is now serving as nosistant prosecuting attorney of Ohio County, and is one of the prominent members of the Wheeling bar; Alexander R., Jr., is identified with mercantile enterprise in this eity ; Chandler is a lieutenant-colonel in the United States Marine Corps and was in command of the Tenth Regiment in the World war period; Harold W., the youngest son, is individually men- tioned in following sketch; and the only daughter. Julia MeClure, is the wife of Daniel Denney, a heutenant com- mander in the United States Navy.

HAROLD WILLIAM CAMPBELL, cashier of the Fulton Bank & Trust Company in the City of Wheeling. is making a most excellent record in connection with financial affairs in the metropolitan district in which he was born and reared, his birth having occurred at Wheeling on the 23d of July, 1553. His father, Alexander R. Campbell, of stanch Scotch lineage, was born at Des Moines, Iowa, but was but two years of age at the time when the family home was established at Wheeling, West Virginia, where he was reared to manhood and where as a mere lad he assumed much responsibility in connection with the support of the family. As a young man he was a drug salesman and eventually he became general state agent in West Virginia for the Northwestern Life In- surance Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His prominence and influence in connection with the local activities of the republican party made him a potent force in bringing the Wheeling District into line for republican success on various

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occasions when conditions were critical. The subject of this review is the youngest in a family of four sons: Clinton R. is a representative member of the Wheeling bar and in 1921 is serving as assistant prosecuting attorney of Ohio County ; Alexander R., Jr., is engaged in mercantile pursuits at Wheeling; and Chandler is a lieutenant-colonel in the United States Marine Corps, in the service of which he enlisted at the age of eighteen years and upon competitive examination won the rank of second lieutenant. Colonel Campbell was in command of the Tenth Regiment during the period of the nation's participation in the World war, and trained the marines for work in the heavy artillery arm of the service. The one daughter of the family, Julia McClure, is the wife of Daniel Denney, a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy.

Harold W. Campbell gained his early education in the public schools of Wheeling and thereafter continued his studies in the University of West Virginia. He read law and was preparing to enter the legal profession, but found it expedient to deflect his course and take a position in the National Exchange Bank. Later he became assistant cashier of the South Side Bank, and after thus serving seven years he became one of the organizers of the Fulton Bank & Trust Company, the original corporate title of which, in 1909, was the Bank of Fulton, the present title having been adopted at the time of its reorganization in 1919. In the promotion of the enterprise Mr. Campbell was associated with Otto Schenk and Henry L. Roth, the latter of whom became the first president of the institution and who was succeeded by W. H. Nichols, the latter continuing to hold this office until his death, August 22, 1920, when Otto Schenk was elected to the presidency. Mr. Nichols became vice president at the time of organization and held this position until elected president. Mr. Campbell has been cashier of the bank from the beginning, and his forceful and conservative policies have contributed much to the success of the enterprise. The original capital stock of $25,000 was increased to $100,000 in 1919, and the surplus is now $20,000. The stock of the insti- tution is all locally owned and the resources now aggregate $700,000. Lafayette Graner is trust officer of the bank. The building occupied is owned by the institution and was erected in 1910.

Mr. Campbell is liberal and progressive in his civic at- titude, and he maintains his home at Echo Point, in which attractive suburban district he has recently erected a modern apartment building, besides being also the owner of his home place. He is a member of the Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church, is past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and is affiliated with the York and Scottish Rite bodies of the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Campbell wedded Miss Maude Evans Dille, who was born and reared at Morgantown, this state, and who is a graduate of the University of West Vir- ginia. Her father, Oliver Evans Dille, was a leading mem- ber of the Morgantown bar. The Evans family, represented in the ancestral line of Mrs. Campbell, early became the holder of a large tract of land in what is now West Vir- ginia, the same having been granted to one of the family in recognition of his service as a soldier in the Revolution, and the Evans home having been the headquarters of Gen. George Washington when he was engaged in making surveys in the western part of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell have three sons, Alexander Oliver, Harold William, Jr., and Thomas Ray.

EDWARD J. MCDERMOTT is proprietor and owner of the business conducted under the title of the Woodsdale Motor Car Company, with headquarters at Woodsdale, situated on the National Road and constituting a suburb of the City of Wheeling. In 1913 Mr. McDermott began business on the site of his present modern and well equipped building, the original structure, 50 by 150 feet in dimensions, having since been greatly enlarged to meet the demands and requirements of the constantly expanding business. Mr. McDermott is a distributor of the Peerless and Scripps-Booth cars for the Panhandle District of West Virginia and for several counties in Eastern Ohio. He began operation on a modest scale, and the enterprise now involves the enlistment of a working capital of approximately $75,000. An efficient corps of em-

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 85

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