History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 94

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John W Ret

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Miated with Wheeling Lodge No. 28, Benevolent and Pro- oive Order of Elks. During the war Mr. Watkina was a >ar Minute" speaker and helpfully interested in all the trea for funda for the Red Cross, Liberty Loan and other a es.

ptember 18, 1890, he married on Wheeling Island, Miss Alic M. Sadler, daughter of William Hall and Margaret Ird) Sadler, now deceased. Iler father was a river man marly life and later an interior decorator.

r. and Mrs. Watkins have an interesting family of five hiren. The oldest is Marsh, vice president of Watkins wbmpany, and a prominent Wheeling business mau whose aer is noted more in detail below. The second child, Mgaret Ford, died at the age of four years. James I ter, who was born June 30, 1900, is a salesman for W kins & Company, and a graduate of Linsly Institute at Weling, having been a member of both the football and mball teams of the institute. The fourth child, Roy Y. lor, born August 4, 1904, is in the junior class of the Weling High School, while Dorothy V., born July 31, 9", is in the first year of her high-school work.

arsh Watkins was born July 14, 1891. He graduated ra the Wheeling High School and received his law de- 7 from West Virginia University in 1912. He was very wninent in all student activities at the university, making h Varsity Football Team and also played baseball, and n a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma, and the university oeties Sphinx Club and Mountain Club. Marsh Watkins ir:ticed law at Wheeling until 1918. April 7, 1918, he Usted for the war, was commissioned a first lieutenant of h Army Service Corps, Department of Judge Advocate hcral, in August, 1918, was stationed at Camp Upton, Ag Island, and in October, 1918, transferred to the in- acry. He received his honorable discharge in December, 93, and on his return to Wheeling gave up his law busi- 16. to join his father as vice president and assistant man- ug. of Watkins & Company. He is a republican and for # years waa a municipal judge of Wheeling. Marsh V:kins is a member of Thempson Methodist Episcopal Arch, Wheeling Lodge No. 5, F. and A. M., is a thirty- end degree Scottish Rite Mason in West Virginia Con- inry No. 1, a member of Osiris Temple of the Mystic Wline, and Wheeling Lodge No. 28, Benevolent and Pro- eive Order of Elks. He also belongs to the American sion.

May 7, 1917, at Wheeling, Marsh Watkins married Miss A. Marie Young, daughter of George H. and Mary (aham) Young, the latter still living at Wheeling. Her mer, who died at Wheeling in 1904, was chief clerk in h local offices of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway. Mrs. d.sh Watkins is a graduate of the high school at Sarahs- 1:, Ohio. They have one daughter, Ruth Eileen, born Tu7 18, 1918.

AULUS REPS. At the northwest corner of the Court Mare in Parkersburg is a business house conducted under b name Reps & Company, but whose sole proprietor is lus Reps, one of the city's most substantial merchants u a man whose relations with the citizenship has met N'y test imposed upon integrity and honor.

fr. Reps was born on a farm in Butler County, Penn- y ania, December 23, 1853, the first of the two children u only one now living of Ernest and Anna Margaret olf) Reps. His parents were natives of Germany, the (ner of Prussia and the latter of llesse-Darmstadt. They de separately to the United States. Ernest Reps as a 'Ing man had to give service to the German Army, and t: was only one cause of dissatisfaction with conditions rEurope which made it almost impossible for a man to i above his circumstances. Thus it was that he came to ł United States when about twenty-one years of age, and had learned the trade of locksmith, but in this country (Id find no regular employment in that line. He then e ned the trade of tanner in Pennsylvania, and followed l: business for some time. Shortly after his marriage he ught a small tract of land in Butler County and turned ú, energies to farming. From Western Pennsylvania he ned to Adama County, Ohio, where his wife's people

lived, and in that section of the Ohlo Valley he and his good wife lived out their years and are buried.

On a farm in the hills of Adams County, Ohio, Paulus Reps grew to manhood. lle had worked within the measure of his strength on the farm and in the home, but he also cagerly pursued knowledge iu the district school. At the age of cighteen he passed n successful examination for a teacher's certificate, and the first term he taught was for six months, at the salary of $30 a month. For sixteen years teaching was his chief profession.

Mr. Repa has been identified with the citizenship of Park ersburg over thirty years. In 1890 he and others entered the mercantile business, but in the course of years he bought out his partner, though he has always coutinued the firm name of Reps & Company.

His first wife was Anna Pflaumer, of Adama County, Ohio. She died, leaving two children, Isa E. and George Ernest, the latter associated with his father in business. The second wife was Cora Ellen Crosser. The three children born to their marriage arc: Ilelen Doris, Mrs. Harlan De- Vore; Thelma Virginia; and Russell Paul.

Mr. Repa came to Parkersburg with little of this world's wealth. He had an idea and backed it to the extent of his ability. During subsequent years he has enjoyed a steady increase in returns, and is accounted one of the substantial and successful business men of the community. From early boyhood he has been a great lover of music, and that love seems to be an inheritance of his children, several of whom have developed special proficiency in the art. Mr. Reps is a Methodist, a republican, and a member of the Parkersburg Chamber of Commerce.

JOHN W. BELTZ is continuing in the City of Wheeling the substantial business founded by his father, und in addition to operating a well equipped planing mill und dealing in building materials he has developed also a pros- perous contraeting business in connection with building con- struction. About the year 1870 the firm of Beltz & Flading established this enterprise, the original headquarters hav- ing been the old Fisher Foundry Building on Market Street, whence removal was later made to the corner of Nineteenth and Eoff streets, where the business has since been con- tinued, the present plant having been utilized since 1×88, in which year the title of the firm was changed to Beltz. Flading & Company. The present building was erected about that time, and affords about sixty thousand square feet of floor space, a planing mill having been operated from the initation of the business. Mr. Flading retired from the firm in 1893, and the title of the concern was then changed to J. W. Beltz & Sons Company. The hen- ored father, John W. Beltz, Sr., died in 1907, after having been actively identified with the business thirty seven years and after having gained secure status as one of the sub- stantial and representative nien of his home city. When the new firm was formed his sens, John W., Jr., and Henry E., became his associates in the business.

John W. Beltz, Sr., was born in Wheeling, a aen of Peter Beltz, who was a mechanic and who also became identified with farm industry. John W. Beltz, Sr., served about a four years' apprenticeship to the trade of cabinet- maker, and finally he became a auccessful contractor nnd builder in his native city, many of the substantial buildings erected by him in early days being still in use and in ex- cellent preservation. Ile represented the Sixth Ward as a member of the City Council several terms, was liberal and progressive as a citizen, was a democrat in politics, and he and his wife were devout communicants of St. Al- phonsus Catholic Church. The maiden name of Mrs. Beltz was Virginia Grammer, and both she and her husband passed their entire lives at Wheeling, she having survived him by ten years. Of the five children John W., Jr., im- mediate subject of this sketch, is the eldest; Henry is employed in connection with the business founded by his father; Edward died at the age of forty years; Mary died in early youth; and Miss Anna resides in Wheeling.

John W. Beltz, Jr., was born, reared and educated in Wheeling and here gained early experience in connection with his father'a business, so that he was well fortified

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when, upon the death of his father, he assumed control of that industry, which has been signally prospered under his management. The enterprise is continued under the title of J. W. Beltz, and employment is given to about fifty persons. Mr. Beltz is a stockholder in a number of banking institutions, and while he has had no desire for political activity he is significantly progressive as a citizen and takes loyal interest in all that concerns the welfare and advancement of his native city. He and his wife are communicants of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, he is af- filiated with the Knights of Columbus, and is a member of the Carroll Club. His attractive home is in the Third Ward.

Mr. Betz wedded Miss Mary Schaub, daughter of the late Louis Schaub, who founded the Central Glass Works at Wheeling and who continued as general manager of the same for thirty-five years, when he retired, he having been sixty-five years of age at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Beltz have no children.

WILLIAM HENRY GORMAN. While the teaching profession cannot be classed as one of the important gainful occupa- tions, it remains to-day as it always has, perhaps the great- est opportunity for a personal service that will continue its influence for good throughout succeeding generations. A West Virginian whose life has been largely devoted to education on this true basis of personal service is William Henry Gorman of Monongalia County. Mr. Gorman was born in Grafton, Taylor County, Virginia, April 28, 1858. He acquired a common-school education. He began teaching at the age of twenty-four. His first term was in his home school, in which he is teaching to-day, known as the Flats School. He has been a teacher for thirty-nine years, and has missed only one term of consecutive service. Altogether he has taught twenty-seven years in his home district.

Mr. Gorman cannot estimate in terms of tangible wealth the value of the work he has done as a teacher. However, he can point to many of his former students, who received their early inspiration for bigger and better things while in his school and are now doing well in the world of work and men. Among these are his own four children.

Always in his teaching he has emphasized the fact of personal responsibility aud a loyal performance of the duties of citizenship.

HON. JOHN JAMES DAVIS. While the youngest of the Eastern States, West Virginia has supplied a due propor- tion of leaders in national affairs, and perhaps no one family has more distinction in this respect than that of Davis, one of whose representatives was the late John James Davis of Clarksburg, an eminent lawyer in that city for sixty years.

Davis is one of the commonest names in Wales. There is a tradition that the ancestor of the Clarksburg family was the Prince of Powys, who fought the Saxon king of Northumberland in the bloody battles of Chester and Bangor. Among the Davises that came to America in colo- nial times, some settled in Maryland.

Caleb Davis, grandfather of John James Davis, was born at Oldtown, Alleghany County, Maryland, March 15, 1767. He was probably a son of John Davis of Maryland, whose brother was Capt. Rezin Davis of Rawlings Continental Regiment in the Revolutionary war. Caleb Davis for many years lived at Woodstock, Shenandoah County, Virginia, and died there, April 25, 1834. His wife, Mary (Upp) Davis, was born in November, 1774, and died September 2, 1827. They were the parents of two sons, John and Rezin, and four daughters.

John Davis was born at Woodstock, Shenandoah County, Virginia, July 11, 1797, and moved to Clarksburg in 1825. He served here an apprenticeship at the saddler's trade under Col. Charles Lee, and later he and his brother, Rezin Davis, engaged in the saddle and harness business at Clarks- burg. John Davis was a prominent citizen of Harrison County, held the office of sheriff, for several years was jus- tice of the peace, and was a strong Southern sympathizer at the time of the Civil war, his second son, Rezin Caleb, being a Confederate soldier. July 12, 1825, at Clarksburg,

John Davis married Eliza Arnold Steen. They reared fo children: Jane Steen, John James, Rezin Caleb and A Eliza. Rezin Caleb Davis (now deceased) was for mai years an able lawyer in practice at Louisville, Kentuck Eliza Arnold Steen, wife of John Davis, was born Ju 17, 1799, and died May 10, 1866. She was a pioneer scho teacher in Harrison County; Stonewall Jackson was o: of her pupils. Her parents, James and Jane (Small) Stes were Scotch-lrish Presbyterians, natives of Ulster, frelan and came to America from there. John Davis and his wi were Presbyterians and he was a ruling elder in his chure John Davis died at Clarksburg, November 9, 1863.

John James Davis, whose career is the principal subje of this article, was born at Clarksburg, May 5, 1835, sper all his life in that city and died March 19, 1916, whe nearly eighty-Que years of age. He possessed gift al talent that made it possible for him to utilize the beneti of a liberal education and prepare himself for a caret of usefulness when still quite young. He attended th Northwestern Virginia Academy of Clarksburg, at the ag of seventeen began the study of law under Judge Georg H. Lee in that city, finishing his law course in the Brocker brough School of Law at Lexington, Virginia, and was sti in his twentieth year when he began active practice in hi native city. His work as a lawyer with increasing years an experience brought him a reputation among the leader of the State bar, and he did not give up his practice alt gether even in old age, continuing his profession for sixt years.

The late Mr. Davis had a historic service in the formatio of the State of West Virginia. He was elected a membe of the Virginia Legislature in 1861, and in the same yca served as a member of the second convention at Wheeling which provided for the organization of the new State o West virginia. 1u 1870 Mr. Davis was elected a membe of the West Virginia Legislature. For many years h was one of West Virginia's recognized leaders in the demo cratic party, was active in a number of national campaigns and he himself was elected and served with distinction an a member of the Forty-secoud and Forty-third congresses Among other positions of honor and responsibility con ferred upon him, he was a member of the Board of Visitors of the West Point Military Academy, a regent of the Uni versity of West Virginia, a director of the State Insane Hospital. Mr. Davis was a Mason, and was a ruling elder in the Southern Presbyterian Church. During the early seventies he built a large and handsome brick residence in Clarksburg, and that was the home of his later years, he reared his children there, and it has been one of the social centers of the city and state.

August 21, 1862, John James Davis married Miss Anna Kennedy at Baltimore, Maryland, where she was born November 24, 1841. She died at Clarksburg, April 25, 1917, nearly fifty-five years after her marriage. Her par- ents, William Wilson and Catherine Esdale ( Martin) Ken- nedy, were of Scotch ancestry and both of them lived and died iu Baltimore, where her father was a lumber mer- chant. Mrs. Davis was a college woman, and her liberal education supplemented marked qualities of heart and mind that made her a great aid to her husband and his successful career and in the training of their children.

Of the children of John James Davis the oldest is Lillie, new Mrs. John A. Preston, of Lewisburg, West Virginia. Miss Emma K., who occupies the old homestead in Clarks- burg, has been prominent in the social life and welfare work of that city, serving as secretary of the Red Cross during the World war and is now chairman of the Harrison County Red Cross Unit, and during the 1920 political cam- paign was assistant chairman of the Harrison County Democratic Committee. The third daughter, Anna, is the wife of Rev. H. G. Richardson of the Unitarian Church st Yonkers, New York. The only son is the distinguished American diplomat, John William Davis, to whose career a special sketch is dedicated.

HON. JOHN WILLIAM DAVIS, who was the Solicitor-Gen- eral of the United States throughout the period of tha Great War, and supplemented this service by three years

Mytaylor:

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American Ambassador to the Court of St. James, is & ative son of West Virginia, and earned his early honors public affairs while a practicing lawyer at Clarksburg. or the original qualities of his mind and character he indebted in almost equal measure to his father, the late hn James Davis, and the rich and beautiful nature of bia other, Anna (Kennedy) Davis.

He was born at Clarksburg, April 13, 1873, and had every vantage that a good home and a liberal education could pply. Graduating in 1892, and as LL. B. in 1895 from ashington and Lee University of Virginia, he was ad- tted to the bar in 1895. He remained at Washington d Les as Assistant Professor of Law during 1896-7. e honorary degree LL. D. was bestowed upon him in 15 by the University of West Virginia, by Washington d Lee in 1916, in 1919 by University of Birmingham, agland, and Union College and Yale in 1921, and by the diversity of Glasgow, Scotland. He began the practice law at Clarksburg with his father in the firm of Davis Davis in 1897.

He was elected a member of the West Virginia House Delegates in 1899; was democratie candidate for presi- ntial eleetor at large in 1900; a delegate to the Demo- tie National Convention in 1904 at St. Louis, and was e of the strong candidates before the convention in San aneisco in 1920, for the democratie nomination for presi- nt. Mr. Davis was elected to Congress from the First est Virginia Distriet in 1910, and re-elected in 1912, serv- g in the Sixty-second and Sixty-third congresses.

He resigned his seat in Congress to become Solieitor-Gen- al of the United States, August 30, 1913. At no other riod in American history was this offiee burdened with ch heavy details of responsibility as the period from 13 to 1918, practically coinciding with the period of the erld war. In November, 1918, Mr. Davis was appointed id confirmed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Pleni- tentiary to Great Britain, and continued as the American presentative at the Court of St. James until 1921. Sinee s return to America, Mr. Davis has been engaged in the aetice of law at New York City.

Mr. Davis was counselor of the American Red Cross from 13 to 1918. He served as a member of the American legation for conference with Germans on the treatment id exchange of prisoners of war at Berne, Switzerland, September, 1918. He is an honorary bencher of the iddle Temple, England; was president of the West Vir- nia Bar Association in 1906; is a member of the Phi appa Pai, Phi Beta Kappa, a Mason and an Elk and a ember of the Metropolitan, University, National Press, hevy Chase, and Lawyers clubs of Washington and is a ustee of the Washington and Lee University and a director : the Rockefeller Foundation.

June 20, 1899, Mr. Davis married Miss Julia T. MeDonald, native of Kentucky. She died in 1900, leaving a daugh- .r, Julia MeDonald Davis. January 2, 1912. Mr. Davis arried Ellen G. Bassel, daughter of the late John Bassel, prominent Clarkaburg lawyer.

PETER HANSEN KOBLEGARD eame to Clarksburg nearly orty years ago, and during his youth and early manhood as associated with his cousin, Jobn Koblegard. Out of at association and experience he eventually established imself in the wholesale business, and is still the aetive ead of the Koblegard Company, leading dry goods mer- lants.

He was born of Danish parents in North Schleswig, Ger- any-now a part of Denmark-July 5, 1871, one of the our sons and one daughter of Andreas and Anna Maria Hansen) Koblegard. His father, who was a farmer and sherman lived at Wilstrup in Germany, where Peter H. Coblegard spent the first thirteen years of his life. About at time big cousin John Koblegard, who had established imgelf in a business way at Clarksburg about 1869, came ) Denmark on a visit, and when he returned to America 'eter Koblegard accompanied him and thus began his con- ection with the City of Clarksburg. Peter H. Koblegard rrived in America with a commen-school education. Ha upplemented this with two terms of three months eaeb in

the public schools of Clarksburg, and in addition was mak- ing rapid progress in the English language and in the knowledge of American affairs by his practical work. For three years after coming to Clarksburg he was employed by Ruhl, Koblegard & Company, wholesale groceries and produce, worked two more years for the same firm at Weston, and then for eight years was on the road an a traveling salesman for the house, with headquarters at Clarksburg, Weston and Buckhannon. While on tho rond be acquired a financial interest in the retail grocery store at Buck- hannon, and at the time of his marriage in 1596 left the road and establishing his home at Buckhannon, took an active part in the management of the business.

Returning to Clarksburg in 1899 Mr. Koblegard organized the Koblegard Company, wholesale dry goods and netions. This is a successful business with new nearly a quarter of a century of existence. Mr. Koblegard had the general management from the beginning and is now president of the company. The business is held in one of the substantial structures in the wholesale district of Clarksburg, the build ing having been erected in 1901. In the anecess ef the Koblegard Company, Mr. Koblegard has found his chief satisfaction in a business way, though in the meantime he has acquired ether business and financial interesta.

Clarksburg has always been able to count upon him as a public-spirited and reliable citizen when some cause needed advancement. As soon as he reached his majority he was naturalized as an American citizen, and in pol- ities is a republican, but vetes an independent ticket when occasion demands. During the period of the World war be was chairman of the Y. M. C. A. drive in Harrison County, when $31,000 were raised for that purpose, and he was also chairman of the United War Work campaign when $108,000 was raised in the county. In this campaign he had charge of the division composing Harrison, Dodd- ridge and Ritchie Counties. Mr. Koblegard has been a di- rector of the Clarksburg Chamber of Commerce since its organization, is a member of the Rotary Club, and for many years has been active in the First Presbyterian Church, being chairman of the Men's Department. The dis- tinetien which doubtless affords him the greatest measure of satisfaction is due to his interest in Sunday School werk and as president of the MeClelland Bible Class a class named in honor of a late pastor of the church, Rev. Henry T. Mc- Clelland. The class was organized April 25, 1915, and such has been the effectiveness and work of the organiza- tion that it is known in Sunday School circles from coast to coast. This class in a competition against twenty-seven other Bible classes in the United States, won first place in the international "four square contest." in 1920. Mr. Koblegard for several years has been Chairman of the Busi- nesa Committee of the West Virginia Sunday School Associa- tion. He was an organizer and the first president of the Clarksburg Council of Boy Scouts, and continued to act as president for three years until other business interests obliged him to resign.

In 1896 Mr. Koblegard married Miss Marian Rebecca Hurst. Her father, Col. John L. Hurst, of Buckhannon, was a soldier and offieer under General Custer. The only son of Mr. and Mrs. Koblegard is Hurst Hansen Koble- gard, who while a student in Princeton University vol- unteered in the Naval Aviation Corps. He is now vice president and general manager of the National Meld & Machine Works of Clarkaburg.

W. B. TAYLOR is a resident of the old college town of Bethany, but for a number of years has been active in banking and other affairs at Wellsburg, where he is preai- dent of the Farmers State Bank.

The Farmers State Bank of Wellsburg was organized in 1912 and opened for business on the Ist of August of that year. It has a capital of $70,000, surplus and nndivided profits of $24 000, resources in excess of $700,000, and deposits of $520,000. Ita stockhelders are all local people, and it is a bank of general commercial service, safely and conservatively managed, and has been a source of great value to the business and industry of the West Virginia Panhandle. The promoter of the bank was S. S. Hedges,

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who served as cashier until August, 1921, when he retired. The first president was C. B. Reeves, who in 1913 was suc- ceeded by W. B. Taylor, who had been vice president from the organization. H. C. Wells became vice presi- dent, succeeding Mr. Taylor.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 94

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