History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 97

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JOE WITCHER DINGESS. One of the younger members of the Cabell County bar, who has just entered upon the practice of his profession at Huntington, with every promise of attaining a leading place therein in the future, is Joe Witcher Dingess. He was born at Ham- lin, Lincoln County, West Virginia, March 8, 1900, and is a son of Jerry Witcher and Belle (Hainor) Dingess.

Jerry Witcher Dingess, now a resident of Huntington, was born April 8, 1879, near Hamlin, West Virginia, and was reared on a farm in Lincoln County, where he received a rural school education. He was married in that county, and as a young man formed a connection with the American Book Company, working for that concern's interests in Lincoln County until 1901 and then removing to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1905 he lecated at Huntington, being still identified with the same company, but in 1908 severed his connectiou there- with to become district manager, covering the south- eastern states, for the Columbus Heating and Ventilat- ing Company of Columbus, Ohio, a position which he retained until 1912. In that year he was appointed postmaster of Huntington, during President Wilson's administration, but resigned his office in 1917 to accept a position with the John C. Winston Book Company of Philadelphia. He is in the educational department of this company, and while his home remains at Hunting- ton, his territory is the entire United States. As a democrat Mr. Dingess has been prominent in the ranks of his party, and in the past has been candidate for mayor of Huntington and for state senator, but met with defeat for the offices because of his residence in a strong republican district. He is a devout member of the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church of Huntington. Mr. Dingess assisted in the organization of the old Westmoreland Country Club, of which he was a charter member. In Lincoln County he was united in marriage with Miss Belle Hainor, who was born September 28, 1876, near St. Albans, West Virginia, and Joe Witcher is their only child.

The early education of Joe Witcher Dingess was se- cured in the public schools of Huntington, and after his graduation from high school in 1917, he attended

Washington and Lee University, taking a full course the law department. As a member of the class of 19 he was given the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Wh attending college Mr. Dingess was admitted to men bership in the Sigma Nu and Phi Delta Phi college f ternities. On September 27, 1921, he entered upon 1 practice of his profession at Huntington, where maintains well-appointed offices in the Ohio Valley Ba Building. His professional career thus far has be. a limited one, but he has already attracted a good clic tele and is regarded as one of the rising young: torneys of the city.

Politically Mr. Dingess is a democrat, and his religice connection is with the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church He belongs to the Guyan Country Club and the Gyp Club. During the World war he held the rank of c. poral in the Students Army Training Corps at Was ington and Lee University. He is not married.

WILL DELAFIELD HEREFORD, M. D. For seven years I Will Delafield Hereford has figured prominently in the medical profession of Huntington, and has maintain. throughout his career a high standard of ethics a honorable principles. A man of skill and capability, al an authority on the diseases of children, he has rise in his profession and has deservedly won the positio he holds among his fellow physicians.

Doctor Hereford was born May 21, 1880, at Sai Albans, Kanawha County, West Virginia, a son of Cassin Dade and Anna May (Roth) Hereford. He traces h ancestry directly back to Peter Hereford, of England born in 1300, and belongs to the branch of this old ar honored family which was transplanted from Englis soil to American during Colonial times, the immigran settling in Virginia. Sydenham Hereford, the grand father of Doctor Hereford, was born in King Willian County, Virginia, in 1809, and as a young man moved a a pioneer into Putnam County, West Virginia, where by was a distinguished physician and surgeon for man years. He died at Red House, Putnam County, in 188. full of years and honors. Sydenham Hereford married Miss Foweree, of Maryland, who died at Red House West Virginia, in 1862, aged thirty-five years.

Cassius Dade Hereford was born November 14, 1840 in Putnam County, where he was reared and educated and as a young man went to Marshall, Missouri, wher he engaged in mercantile business. In 1872 he returned to West Virginia and settled at Saint Albans, where h engaged in general merchandising and eventually becam, the leading merchant of the place, with a trade that extended all over the countryside. As he grew i prominence in business circles he extended the scope º his operations and added to his interests, and was on of the organizers of the Bank of Saint Albans, of which he was president until his death in November, 1918. 1. democrat in politics, he was prominent in civic affair, and served as mayor of Saint Albans for one term, il addition to filling other public trusts. As a churchmal he was a strong supporter of the Baptist faith and :, liberal contributor to the movements of that denomina tion. Fraternally he was affiliated with the Masons, thu Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights Of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men, and in the last named was state keeper of the wampum of the Grand Lodge of West Virginia for several years. He was a man of the strictest integrity and enjoyed the confidence of all with whom he came into contact. Mr. Hereford married Miss Anna May Roth, who was born at Corder, Lafayette County, Missouri, and survives him as a resident of Saint Albans. They became the parents of five children: Harry Kendall, who died at the age of six months; Will Delafield, of this review; Cassius Dade, Jr., who died at the age of eight months; Walter Donaldson, a graduate of Washington and Lee Uni- versity, degree of Bachelor of Arts, and of the West Virginia University law department, degree of Bachelor of Law, and is now a prominent attorney of Oklahoma; City, Oklahoma; and Herbert Roth, of Saint Albans,

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wo is connected with the United States Ordnance Plant af South Charleston.

Herbert Roth Hereford, youngest son of Mr. and W. C. D. Hereford, was born in St. Albans, West Vir- gia, April 28, 1892. He attended the Hoge Military Aidemy, University of Oklahoma, Washington and Lee U.versity and Smithdeal Business College. He en- Med in the Second West Virginia (Infantry) Regiment a Charleston, West Virginia, May 4, 1917, as a musi- di in the Regimental Band. On September 25, 1917, u regiment left Kanawha City, West Virginia, where ty were in camp, for Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, Mis- si ippi. The regiment was stationed there until en- bined for Camp Merritt, New York, September 25, 1918. Ty embarked on the English ship Demosthenes at Matreal, Canada, October 3, 1918, landed in Liverpool, Erland, October 15, following, from Liverpool went to Wachester, South Hampton, crossed the English Channel ' landed at La Havre, France. From there the regi- mit was sent fo Le Mans, France, where it was split, nding the band to Base Hospital at Nevers, France, w3 ordered from there to Gondrecourt, France, for usical examination, detached there from the Second Pst Virginia Band and attached to the Sixth U. S. Erineers' Band in the Third Division, stationed at Otendung, Germany, arrived with this regiment De- qiber 25, 1918, was atationed there until receiving sail- ir orders for the States, August 9, 1919. Mr. Hereford ws shipped back as casual on the U. S. S. President Cnt from Brest, France, and discharged at Camp Dix, Nw Jersey, August 26, 1919.

Ie married Miss Ruby Barker, daughter of Mr. and Ys. I. L. Barker, February 11, 1922. Mr. Hereford is nv employed at the U. S. Naval Ordnance Plant, at Sith Charleston, West Virginia.

After attending the graded scheel at Saint Albans and t high school at Charleston, Will Delafield Hereford afolled as a student at West Virginia University, where h passed through the junior year. He then entered the B timore Medical College, from which he was graduated sh the class of 1903, receiving the degree of Doctor of Ydicine. While at college he was admitted to the Phi Sma Kappa and Theta Nu Epsilon Greek letter college fternities. Later he took post-graduate work for of: year at the Baltimore Medical College, and in 1904 dered upon the practice of his profession at Saint Mans, remaining there until 1910. He then changed his sne of operations to Macon, Georgia, where he re- rined until 1915, and in that year went to New York Gy, where he did special post-graduate work in the deases of children for ahout a year. In 1915 he came ti Huntington, where he has since followed his profes- , paying particular attention to his specialty, in wich he has gained something more than a local reputa- Hi. He has won recognition as a well-trained and able unber of his profession, and is thoroughly abreast of u progress made in medieal science. His offices are whiated at 1008-9 First National Bank Building, Hunt- aton, where he maintains a large medical library and all latest appliances known to his profession. Doctor Breford is a member of the Cabell County Medieal Biety, the West Virginia State Medical Society, the A erican Medical Association and the American Con- gss on Internal Medicine. In his political allegiance h supports the principles and candidates of the demo- stic party, but has never sought preferment at the Wids of his party or his fellow-citizens. His religious lith ia that of the Episcopal Church. Fraternally Doctor B:eford is identified with Washington Lodge No. 58, A'F. and A. M., of Saint Albans; Tyrian Chapter No. UR. A. M., of Charleston; Huntington Commandery No. O.K. T .; and Beni-Kedem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., I Charleston. He also belongs to the Guyan Country Ob of Huntington.

n 1905, at Scott Depot, West Virginia, Doctor Here- La married Miss Sallie Handley, daughter of Fred G. il Mary (Morris) Handley, who reside at Scott Depot,

where Mr. Handley is a retired agriculturist. Doctor and Mrs. Hereford have no children.

BENJAMIN BRUCE BURNS. The wide awake operator in lumber in almost any section is able to accomplish results under normal business conditions, and that many have availed themselves of advantageous circumstances the prosperity of a number of large concerns evidences. It is in this field that has been seeured the success of Benja- min Bruce Burna, a leading lumber operator of llunting- ton, West Virginia, whose identification with various important interests has served to add to their prosperity and general growth.

Mr. Burns was born at Burnsville, Braxton County, West Virginia, December 1, 1869, a son of Capt. John M. and Mary (Campbell) Burns. The Burns family is of Scotch-Irish origin and the progenitor of the branch to which Benjamin B. Burns belongs immigrated from Ireland to America about the time of the War of the Revolution, settling in the Colony of Virginia. The grandfather of Mr. Burns, Benjamin Burbredge Blnekburn Burns, was born in Maryland, whence he removed to Marion County, Virginia, and died at or near Fair- mont, West Virginia, prior to the birth of his grand- son, after a long and successful career passed in agri- cultural pursuits. He married Margaret Stewart, who was born in Pennsylvania and died in Center County, that state.

Capt. John M. Burns was born in 1834, in Maryland, and was reared in what is now Marion County, West Virginia, but was married in Ilighland County, Virginia. At the outbreak of the war between the states, he en- listed in Company A, Thirty-first Regiment, Virginia Volunteer Infantry, with which he served during the entire period of the war, for a time being under the command of the great Southern leader, Stonewall Jack- son. An intrepid seldier and officer, he saw much hard fighting during the war, and at the battle of Port Republic, Virginia, received a serious wound. About the time that peace was declared he located at Burnsville, where he became a pioneer in the lumber industry and where he gained widespread interests. He established a sawmill and lumber yard at Burnsville, which place was named in his honor, and some time thereafter, with two of his brothers. David and Gideon M., and J. R. Hoffman, inventor of the band mill, installed the third mill of that charneter in the United States, at Burns- ville. Mr. Burns was a democrat, but not a politician. although a good citizen who supported worthy civic measures. He was an active member of the Presbyterian Church and belonged to the Masonic fraternity. Ilis death occurred at Burnsville in 1877, when he was but forty-three years of age, death probably being has- tened by his war experiences. Mr. Burns married Mary Campbell, who was born in 1839, in Highland County, Virginia, and died at Huntington in 1919, and to this union there were born six children: Gertrude, who died in childhood; Margaret H., who died unmarried at Hunt- ington, West Virginia, aged forty-six years; Benjamin Bruce, of this review; Daisy C., who died unmarried at Huntington, aged forty-four years; Lucretia M., who is unmarried and a resident of Huntington; and John M., formerly a lumber operator, who died aged thirty-two years at Asheville, North Carolina.

The education of Benjamin B. Burns was started in the public schools at Burnsville, and later he went to Baltimore, Maryland, where he completed his graded and high school courses. Graduating from the latter with the class of 1888, he went to Elizabeth, West Virginia, whither the mills had been removed from Burnsville, and become associated with the old firm of Burns Brothers, under which name the business established by his father was then being conducted. He continned thus until 1899, when, together with C. L. Ritter and M. N. Offatt, he founded the Tug River Lumber Com- pany, with headquartera at Welch, West Virginia, where they operated four years. Following this the same firm

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operated at Bristol, Virginia, for six years. Messrs. Burns, Ritter and Offutt are still associates in the lumber business, their interests therein having been incorporated into the Rockcastle Lumber Company in 1909. Mr Burns is secretary and treasurer of this concern. He is also vice president and treasurer of the Ritter-Burns Lumber Company, secretary and treasurer of the C. L. Ritter Company, secretary and treasurer of the C. L. Ritter Lumber Company, vice president and treasurer of the Ritter Hardwood Lumber Company, and general manager, secretary and treasurer of the Turkey Foot Lumber Company. Mr. Burns removed to Huntington to reside in 1910, and in this city maintains offices on the eleventh floor of the First National Bank Building. The lumber interests with which he is identified are among the largest in West Virginia.

Mr. Burns is an independent democrat in his political views. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Huntington, of which he is treasurer, belongs to the Guyandot Club, the Guyan Country Club and the Chamber of Commerce, and is prominent fraternally, being a thirty-second degree Mason of Huntington Lodge No. 53, A. F. and A. M., Huntington Chapter No. 6, R. A. M., Huntington Commandery No. 9, K. T., West Vir- ginia Consistory No. 1, of Wheeling, and Acca Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Richmond, and holding member- ship also in Huntington Lodge No. 313, B. P. O. E. He owns a modern residence on Park Hills, Huntington.

In 1902, at Victoria, Texas, Mr. Burns was united in marriage with Miss Ethel Brownson, daughter of John M. and Catherine (McDowell) Brownson, the latter of whom resides at Victoria, Texas, where Mr. Brownson, now deceased, was formerly president of the First Na- tional Bank. Mrs. Burns is a graduate of Bellwood Seminary, Anchorage, Kentucky. Three children have come to Mr. and Mrs. Burns: Katherine B., a student at Madeira School, Washington, D. C .; Ethel, a high school student at Huntington; and Benjamin Bruce, Jr., a student at the MeCallie School, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

JOSEPH LINDELL KEENER, who has been identified closely with the banking, industrial and civic affairs of the City of Morgantown for a quarter of a century and has won success and prominence both as a man of large inter- ests and as a public-spirited citizen of enlightened and progressive views, was born at Taylortown, Greene County, Pennsylvania, January 13, 1871, a son of the late George Ira and Nan (Hickman) Keener, natives of the same county. In 1879 George I. Keener removed to a farm near Clay Center, Kansas, subsequently going to Okla- homa, where he died near Hobart, that state, in 1902, at the age of fifty-four years.

Joseph Lindell Keener was graduated from the public schools of Clay Center, Kansas, in 1887, following which he was self-educated as a stenographer. He made use of this vocation in his youth and also kept a set of land title abstract books at Clay Center until December, 1890, when he became identified with the Equitable Mortgage Com- pany at Kansas City, Missouri, as a stenographer and as- sistant in the examination of titles. He remained with this concern until May, 1893, at which time he went to Lake Charles, Louisiana, and hecame bookkeeper for the First National Bank, there working his way to assistant cashier, a post which he held at the time of leaving the institution in November, 1897. He then became cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Morgantown, West Vir- ginia, a position which he occupied until the fall of 1912, when he became vice president.

Mr. Keener is president of the Bishop Garage and Sup- ply Company, president of the Morgantown Post Company, president of the Chaplin Collieries Company, secretary and treasurer of the United States Window Glass Company, treasurer of the Morgantown Savings and Loan Society, and is also secretary and treasurer of the United States Sheet & Window Glass Company, of Columbus, Ohio, now building a large window glass plant at Shreveport, Louisi- ana. He is also a vice president of the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, is a Rotarian and a member of

the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. He a member of the Mont Chateau Club of Morgantown; t Fairmont Country Club of Fairmont, West Virginia; t Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the Pit burgh Athletic Association, also of that city; and t Transportation Club of New York City. He belongs Morgantown Commandery, Knights Templar, and Ori: Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Wheeling, West Virginia.

On May 23, 1900, Mr. Keener was united in marria; with Miss Ida Irons, daughter of George Irous, at Kans City, Missouri, and to this union there have been born son and a daughter: Louisa, born September 11, 190: and Joseph L., Jr., born February 1, 1907.

J. LOUIS DAWSON, district sales manager of the Ironti Engine Company at Huntington, is one of the young generation of business men who has advanced to a positi of influence and importance through the medium of his on efforts. He entered upon his career of self-support whe he was only a small lad, and the success that he has gaine has come as a result of his faith in self, his unwavering perseverance and a native ability that has aided him m: terially in the overcoming of such obstacles as have a peared in his path.

Mr. Dawson was born at Tazewell, Tazewell County, Vi: ginia, May 7, 1888, and is a son of John H. and Evely (Graham) ) Dawson. His grandfather, James Dawson, wa born at Tazewell, where he was reared, educated and ma !! ried, and where he was a pioneer blacksmith, a trade whic he followed throughout the active part of his career. 1 1887 he retired and removed to Bluefield, West Virginia where he died in 1892. He married a Miss Metheny, wh was born and died at Tazewell, and one of their sons, Wil liam Russell Dawson, is now assistant general manager o the Norfolk & Western Railroad.

John H. Dawson was born at Tazewell, Virginia, il 1848, and spent his entire life at that place, where h divided his time between farming and blacksmithing. H died in the faith of the Christian Church in September, 1888 the same year that his son J. Louis was born. He married Evelyn Graham, who was born in Tazewell County, Virginia in 1853, and who survives him as a resident of Henley Ohio. They became the parents of four children: Robert Otis, who died aged eleven years; Ollie, who died wher seven years of age; Nellie, who died at the age of thirty two years; and J. Louis.

J. Louis Dawson was six months old when his father died, and when he was four years of age was taken by his mother to Wise County, Virginia. There it was that he acquired such schooling as he was able to obtain, in sli about three six-month terms. Although this was the extent of his attendance at an institution of learning, Mr. Dawson today possesses a remarkably good education, which he has acquired in the different positions he has held, in reading and studying at home, in his travels, and in his association with business people and well-selected acquaintances. When he was only eight years of age he entered the coal mines at Toms Creek, Virginia, where he worked for five years, and then removed to Norton, Virginia, where he was suc- cessively employed in the mines, in the coal company's store and in the engineering department until 1907. He next secured employment with the Clinchfield Coal Corporation at Dante, Virginia, starting in the engineering department, where he remained until made mine foreman, and in 1910 came to Gary, West Virginia, as mine foreman for the United States Coal and Coke Company, a position which he filled for about one year. Mr. Dawson next accepted a position with the New River Pocahontas Consolidated Coal Company at Berwind, West Virginia, where be remained as mine foreman until June, 1912, then removing to Big Creek, West Virginia, where he was manager for the Black Hawk Colliery Company for four years. In 1916 he was made superintendent for the Amherstdale Coal Company at Am- herstdale, West Virginia, but after six months resigned to begin selling electrical mine supplies for the Virginian Electric and Machine Works of Charleston, West Virginia, covering Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky, until De-

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mber, 1918. He then started aa sales engineer for the ronton Engine Company of Ironton, Ohio, covering West irginia out of Huntington, and in September, 1919, was romoted to be district sales manager, with offices at Hunt- agton, a position which he still retains. The Ironton En- ine Company manufactures electric atorage battery comotives for use in coal mines, and during the period of is incumbency of his present office Mr. Dawson has built up he leading business of its kind in West Virginia, Virginia ad Kentucky. He maintains well appointed offices in the Robson-Pritchard Building, Huntington.

Mr. Dawson is a republican in polities, and as a frater- alist is prominent, belonging to the following orders: laatington Lodge No. 53, A. F. and A. M .; Huntington odge of Perfection No. 4; Huntington Chapter No. 4, 2. A. M., Knighta of the Rose Croix; Albert Pike Council, Knights Kadosh; West Virginia Consistory No. 1, of Wheeling, a thirty-second degree Mason; Beni-Kedem Tem- le, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Charleston; and Mizpab Lodge 10. 213, K. of P., of Big Creek, West Virginia, which he elped to organize, of which he was representative to the Grand Lodge in 1915 and 1916, and of which he is a past hancellor. He is a atockholder in one of the leading coal ompanies of West Virginia and of another in Virginia, ind is the owner of a modern brick residence at No. 609 Twelfth Avenue, Huntington, and of a home at Henley, Ohio, occupied by his mother.

In 1913, at Logan, West Virginia, Mr. Dawson married Miss Maude Kilgore, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. Newton Kilgore, the latter of whom is deceased. Mr. Kilgore is a resident of Wise, Virginia, where he is a leading criminal awyer of the locality and active in republican politics. Three children have come to Mr. and Mrs. Dawson: J. Louis, Jr., born in August, 1914; Dorothy Virginia, born n November, 1916; and Maude Elizabeth, born in March, 1919.

HAROLD JAMES SPELMAN, of Huntington, holds the position of division engineer with the West Virginia State Road Commission, and is giving most effective technical and executive service in this important office. He was born it Rochester, New York, March 15, 1888, and is a son of James O. and Mary (Coles) Spelman, of that city. He has one brother, Edwin B., of Rochester, New York.

Harold J. Spelman was graduated in 1910 from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, with the degree of Civil Engineer, he being a member of the Kappa Psi fraternity at that institution. After his graduation Mr. Spelman was for seven years engaged in professional service with the New York State Highway Department, and thereafter he was for eighteen months in the employ of the United States Bureau of Public Roads, with headquarters at Charleston, West Virginia. In this period he had direct charge of all Federal-aid highway work in this state. In April, 1919, he accepted his present position, that of division engineer of the West Virginia State Road Commission. His offices are maintained at Huntington.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 97

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