History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 98

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Mr. Spelman and his wife are communicants of Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church of Huntington. He is a Mason, an associate member of the American Society of Civil En- gineers, a member of the Cornell Society of Engineers, and a certified member of the American Association of En- gineers.

At LeRoy, New York, on the 2d of September, 1912, Mr. Spelman wedded Miss Mary B. Wells, daughter of George Harrison Wells and Mary (Anderson) Wells, of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Spelman have one daughter, Mary Virginia, bora September 28, 1914.

Oliver Wolcott Spelman, grandfather of the subject of this review, was born in Connecticut, in 1820, and died at Buffalo, New York, in 1895. He was a pioneer in the west- era part of the old Empire State, was there a school teacher when a young man, and later he was a merchant, a traveling salesman and a newspaper editor. He was a descendant of Richard Spelman, who came from England and settled at Middletown, Connecticut, in 1700. About the same time another branch of the family was founded in Virginia. Mrs. Harold J. Spelman is affiliated with the Huntington

Chapter of the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

EDGAR J. LOY, serving his second term as postmaster of Romney, has for many years been regarded ns one of Hump. shire County'a most useful citizens. He was an educator in the early part of his life, has had his share of experience as a practical farmer and horticulturist, was county sur veyor and has been one of the active men in the democratie party.

The Loys are a pioneer family in this section of old Vir ginia. Its founder was William Loy, one of four brothers who came from England. One of these brothers settled in New Jersey, another in Maryland or Pennsylvania, and one in the Shenandoah Valley of old Virginia. William Loy, the pioneer, established himself on the Fairfax grunt, some where in Hampshire County, and made some of the first improvements on the land in that vicinity. The second generation was represented also by William Loy, whose honie was in the Augusta locality of the county, where he spent his life as a farmer and is buried at the old home atead. He was a veteran of the war with Mexico. That homestead haa breu in the possession of three sureessive generations and is now owned by another William Loy. The third generation of the family was represented by George Loy, who was bora in the Ruckman community. was a farmer there and alao a Primitive Baptist minister. In performing his church labors he traveled much over Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland, being the first Bap- tist preacher from the South to venture eross the Mason and Dixon line into Pennsylvania at the elose of the war. He married Jane Ann Cool, and both are buried in the Mount Zion graveyard near Augusta. They had four aons and three daughters: William, Jonathan, Robert and Har- rison ; Mary, who married Isaiah Heare; Eliza, who died unmarried; and Tamar, who became Mrs. Robert Gray.

William Loy, father of Edgar J. Loy, was born Novemn ber 22, 1842, near Ruekman, and haa apent practically all his life on the farm and in the community where he wns born and whero his father and grandfather before him lived. He had only a limited education in local schools and largely trained himself. To the task and responsibilities of farming at the homestead he has devoted nearly all the years of his active life. He was a Confederate volunteer in 1861, and went with the first troops from Romney to Harpers Ferry, being mustered into Gen. A. P. Hill's com- mand. He was also with General Early's army in the in- fantry and for a time was in General Imboden's cavalry command. He was wounded in the battle of Fishers' llill, Virginia, and captured by the Federals, and for nine months was in prison at Point Lookout, Maryland, being released at the close of the war. He was a very excellent soldier. Hle has kept up his associations with old Confederate veterans and was a member of the camp as long as it held together. Aside from his army experience lie bas lived a rather quiet and modest life, participating in politics as a democrat, and, while not a church member, elings to the faith of his father, the old-school Baptist.

In his home community William Loy married a neighbor girl, Miss Rebecca Starkey, daughter of John Starkey. She died in 1919. Their children were: Edgar Johnson; Annie J., wife of R. G. Cool, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; Sarah J., of Cumberland, Maryland; Martha J., wife of Jonathan Heare, of Cumberland, Maryland; and Miss Ad- die J., of Cumberland, Maryland.

Edgar J. Loy was born at the old homestead April 17. 1868, and until past his majority he lived in the environ- ment of his forefathers. He acquired a common school education, attended for two terms the Shenandoah Normal School at Harrisonburg, Virginia, and at the age of twenty begaa teaching. Teaching was his active profession for fourteen years, and for twelve years of that time he ear- ried a first-grade certificate. For eight years he was a member of the Board of County Examiners of teachers in association with County Superintendent E. W. Noland.

After leaving the school room he devoted hia attention to farming and surveying. He served his locality ns notary public for sixteen years. In 1904 he was elected county

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surveyor as successor of Robert Monroe. During the next eight years he covered the whole of Hampshire County in the prosecution of his work. His interest in local history was aroused by the fact that in some of his surveying he was following the footsteps of George Washington and other pioneer surveyors who established the first corners in this region. Mr. Loy after leaving the office of county surveyor was for two years manager of the Moorefield Nursery and Orehard Company, and then took up his duties as postmaster of Romney. His first commission was dated February 13, 1916, and his second commission is dated June 5, 1920, both bearing the signature of Woodrow Wil- son. The Romney Post Office was a difficult one during the World war, since it was the central office for the county in handling all the added burdens of business connected with the winning of the war, including the War Stamp sales

The Post Office was robbed January 20, 1919, entailing a loss of about $5,000.

Mr. Loy has attended many local and district conven- tions of the democratie party, and east his first vote in 1892, for Mr. Cleveland. His support has been given regularly to the national candidate.

In Hampshire County, June 30, 1890, he married Miss Martha R. Ruekman, daughter of James T. and Caroline (Fohs) Ruekman. She and Mr. Loy grew up in the same neighborhood and were sehoolmates.

JOHN A. CHAMBERS, who is serving as local magistrate in the City of Bluefield, Mercer County, where he is also president of the Bluefield Transfer Company, was born on his father's farm at Peterstown February 7, 1851, and is a son of Augustus F. and Mary Jane (Chambers) Chambers, both natives of Monroe County, this state, where the father was born on a farm ncar Peterstown in 1837, and the mother was born in Peterstown. Augustus F. Chambers was seventy-five years of age at the time of his death, which occurred at Bluefield, and his wife passed to eternal rest when sixty years of age. He was a son of Col. William F. Chambers, who came from New Jersey and established his residence in Monroe County, West Virginia, as now constituted, in the early days and who became a man of prominence and influence in public affairs in that county. Augustus F. Chambers became through self-discipline a man of superior education, even as by his own efforts he achieved worthy success in material affairs. He was an im- placable adversary of the secession of the Southern states and made many ardent speeches against the movement. When the Civil war was precipitated he was conscripted by the Confederate government, but he refused to fight in the military ranks of the South, but did consent to act as cook for a time, as a matter of expediency. He finally made his escape through the Confederate lines and after reaching the State of Ohio he enlisted for service in the Union Army. As a business man Mr. Chambers was for many years eu- gaged in freighting with teams and wagons from Ports- mouth, Ohio, to various points in West Virginia and Vir- ginia, including Lynchburg, Petersburg and Richmond- this having been prior to the era of railroads. At the time of the Civil war the family of Mr. Chambers succeeded in passing through the lines and finding refuge in Ohio, whence all members returned to Monroe County, West Vir- ginia, in 1866. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers were earnest mem- bers of the Methodist Church. They became the parents of seven sons and seven daughters, all of whom survived the honored father and twelve of whom are still living, John A. of this review being the oldest of the number.

Owing to local conditions John A. Chambers was enabled to attend school for a total of about three months only, and the institution in which his limited early training was thus obtained was a log cabin, with slab seats and oiled paper in lieu of glass at the rude windows. He passed much of his boyhood and early youth in making trips with his father's overland freighting outfits, and be gained from his father a splendid fund of practical information, while his self-discipline has enabled him to widen effectively bis mental ken through association with men and affairs and through well directed reading. He bas ever been a stalwart advocate of the principles of the republican party, and

made stump speeches in its behalf before he had attained to his legal majority. He has continued to serve in this way in connection with party campaigns in the long inter- vening years. That he gained a good working education in his youth needs no further voucher than the fact that when he was twenty years old he successfully taught school at Roek Camp. He was employed principally at farm work until the time of his marriage, and then engaged in farm, enterprise in an independent way. With his family he finally removed to a farm which he rented in Summers County, but his political activities so offended landlords in that county that they would not continue to rent him land. In 1894 he removed with his family to Bluefield, and here he later ereeted his present modern and attractive residence on Bluefield Avenue. From the modest teaming business which Mr. Chambers here established has been developed the substantial and prosperous enterprise now conducted by the Bluefield Transfer Company, of which he is the president. He has served as magistrate for twenty years. He continues a vital supporter of the cause of the republican party, and he and his wife hold membership in the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South.

In 1873 Mr. Chambers wedded Miss Elizabeth S. Crotty, who had been a childhood schoolmate and who is a daughter of the late James T. Crotty. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers have five sons and three daughters, and the youngest of the num- ber, Claude, served most loyally with the American Expe- ditionary Forces in France in the World war, besides hav- ing been with the allied Army of Occupation in Germany after the signing of the historie armistice.

ARCH C. MORGAN. In keeping with the somewhat diversi- fied experience that has characterized his career Mr. Morgan is one of the very busy men of affairs iu the City of Hunt- ington, though his chief business is as district manager for the Fidelity Investment Association.

Mr. Morgan's family has been in the Upper Panhandle of West Virginia, in the section around Wheeling, for four generations, his great-grandfather having been associated with that little group of pioneers represented in the Van Meter community of Ohio County almost at the beginning of settlement. Mr. Morgan bimself was born in Ohio County, August 10, 1877.

His father, Louis B. Morgan, was born in Ohio County, February 11, 1844, and spent most of his active life in that vicinity, where he conducted extensive farming operations until 1888, when he moved into the City of Wheeling, and thereafter worked at the potter's trade. He died at Wheel- ing, July 4, 1913. He was a demoerat in politics, a Mason, and one of the most earnest and liberal supporters of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Emma Cordelia Dunlap, who was born in Ohio County, August 26, 1849, and is still living at Wheeling. They had a family of seven children : John Gaylord, a potter, who died at Wheeling in 1909; Julius Erville, a dealer in wholesale paints at Wheel- ing; Ira, who died at the age of two years; Louie Bertha, wife of Frank L. Lowe, a stoek salesman at Huntington; Arel C .; Callie Eudora, at home; and Nellie, who died at the age of three years.

Arch C. Morgan spent his early life on the farm and attended rural sehools, but his consecutive schooling was ended when he was eleven years of age. For about three years he was on trains of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad as a newsboy, and was then taken off the train service and for a year was assistant office agent for the Union News Com- pany at Wheeling. His next work was in the pottery indus- try, and for four years altogether he was with the Warwick China Company of Wheeling and with the Wheeling Pottery Company. Beginning in 1896, Mr. Morgan for two years represented Eastern Ohio and Northern West Virginia as a traveling salesman for the G. H. Hammond Company. For another two years he had an interesting experience on the road, following the vaudeville and other theatrical circuits with a troupe of canary birds which he had himself trained and which he exhibited over most of the United States. When he retired from the road Mr. Morgan located at Wheeling and was in the wholesale butterine and egg busi- ness until 1913, when he joined the Elkins Coal and Coke

Argan.

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(mpany as salesman, with headquarters at Wheeling and leveland. Early ia 1915 he became associated with the delity Investment Association as a bond salesman, at first th headquarters at Parkersburg, but in 1917 was trans- rred to Huntington as district manager for this company. is offices are in the First National Bank Building.

In addition to his active work for this company Mr. Mor- n is a stockholder in the Emmons-Hawkins Hardware mpany of Huntington, the First National Bank, the idas Oil and Gas Company of Huntington, the Klimite hint Company of Wheeling.

He is a democrat, a member of the Presbyterian Church, affiliated with Huntington Lodge No. 313, Benevolent and rotective Order of Elks, and the Guyaa Country Club. e has one of the fine homes in Huntington, at 1545 Fifth venue. August 8, 1917, at East St. Louis, Illinois, Mr. organ married Miss Elizabeth Stoddard Emmons, daughter Col. DeLos W. and Mary Jane (Stoddard) Emmons, now ceased. Her father was an active associate of the old ·ntral Land Company and one of the founders of the City : Huntington. Mrs. Morgan is a graduate of a college Cincinnati, and also attended Marshall College at Hunt- gton.

REV. J. TAYLOR STINSON, pastor of the First Baptist hurch at Bluefield, Mercer County, is a native of Vir- inia and member of a family represented in the Baptist inistry for three generations.

lle was born on a farm in Russell County, Virginia, Feb- ary 8, 1880, son of Joba Thomas and Virginia (Taylor) tinson. His paternal grandfather was Rev. Robert Stin- on, a native of Russell County and a Baptist minister. he maternal grandfather, Emby Taylor, was a native of ussell County and a Confederate soldier. John T. and irginia Stinson were born in Russell County, and are still ving on their farm there.

One of a family of seven sons and two daughters, J. 'aylor Stinson began his education in country sehools, aught six terms, at the age of twenty became a member f the Baptist Church and in 1905 was ordained to the ministry. In that year he entered Richmond University, ad while a student he served the Baptist churches located t Cartersville, Columbia and Perkins as pastor. He gradu- ted A. B. from Richmond University in 1909, spent one ear in Union Theological Seminary at Richmond and did post-graduate work in Temple University at Philadelphia. Ie is a member of the Anachreidal, which is an honor so- iety of University of Richmond, and has been for several ears a member of the Board of Trustees of the university. le preached for six years at the three charges above named nd for two years was pastor of the Tarwallet Church at Cumberland Court House, Virginia. For eight years be vas pastor of the church at Lebanon in his native county, und while in Russell County he also served the churches at Bethel and Green Valley and organized the Glade Church n Russell County and Steelsburg Church in Tazewell County. Rev. M. Stinson accepted the call to the First Baptist Church of Bluefield in February, 1919, and in his three Fears' ministry there has received over 400 members into is church. He is a member of the committee having in harge the Baptist College Building at Bluefield. He is president of the Ministerial Association of Bluefield, is a member of the Rotary Club, and is a Mason.

In 1904 he married Miss Melissa Katharine Kiser, dangh- ter of George L. Kiser, of Russell County. They have one laughter, Kathleen Virginia.

JOHN D. RAKE is the efficient cashier of the First Na- tional Bank of Richwood, Nicholas County, with which substantial and representative institution he has been con- nected in this capacity sinee November 29, 1919, when he was advaneed from the position of assistant cashier to that of cashier.

Mr. Rake was born in Jackson County, West Virginia, July 31, 1890, and is a son of Daniel M. and Sarab E. (Smith) Rake, the former of whom was born in Kentucky, October 2, 1861, and the latter of whom was born in Noble County, Ohio, June 10, 1865. In the public schools of his

nativo atate Daniel M. Rake continued his studies until he had profited by the advantages of the high school, and he was seventeen years of age when he became a resident of West Virginia. Ilere he made an excellent record as & farmer, merchant and traveling salesman, and after his marriage he established his residenco on a farm in Jackson County, where he resided until 1912. He then removed to Galia County, Ohio, where he is now the owner of a valua- ble farm property of 240 acres, and where he is a substan. tial and representative citizen of his community. His po- litieal support is given to the republican party, he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and his fraternal alliances are with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Of the children in the family circle the oldest is Julia, who is the wife of Seldon 11. Curry, of Cleveland, Ohio; Elizabeth is the wife of Emmet Hatton, of Portsmouth, Ohio; Jolin D., of this sketeh, was the next in order of birth; James C., a graduate of the high school, remains at the parental home; Ora is, in 1922, a student in Rio Grande College, us is also Sue, both having previously graduated from high achool.

After having fully profited by the advantages of the publie schools of his native county John D. Rake contin- ued his studies in the West Virginia State Normal School at West Liberty until his graduation in this institution, his educational work having included also attendance in West- era Reserve College, Ohio, and the University of West Virginia. He made an excellent record in the pedagogic profession and was for three years principal of the high school at Williamsburg, Greenbrier County. He gained his initial banking experience at Fayetteville, Fayette County, where he was advanced to the position of assistant cashier of the bank whose service he had entered. In 1919 he took a position as assistant cashier with the First National Bank of Richwood, and soon afterward, on the 29th of November of the same year, he waa advanced to his pres- ent executive office, that of cashier. The other officers of the bank are as here designated: II. W. Armstrong, presi- dent; H. S. Smith, vice president, both of these executives being directors, as are also Dr. James MeClung, Frederick L. Space, J. A. Tensure, E. G. Fnerheim and J. W. Rake.

Mr. Rake is a republican in political allegiance, and in the Masonic fraternity his affiliations are with Fayetteville Lodge No. 57, A. F. and A. M., and Richwood Chapter No. 37, R. A. M., besides which he is affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Sigma Nu college fraternity.

ISAAC H. ROBBINS, M. D., is recognized as a man of high professional ability and is distinctly one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Nicholas County. He is estab- lished in successful general practice at Richwood, and sig- nificaat evidence of popular appreciation of his civic loy- alty and progressiveness is that afforded in his being now mayor of this thriving little city, to which executive office he was elected January 5, 1922, for the regular term of three years.

Doctor Robbins was born at Mount Olivet, Robinson County, Kentucky, July 7, 1868, and is a son of Caleb W. and Permelia M. (Cray) Robbins, both natives of Bourbon County, that state, where the former was born in 1825, at Flat Rock, and where the latter was born in 1830. The father was reared on one of the fine farms of hia native county, and bis early education included a course in George- town College, one of the excellent institutions of the Blue Grass State, his wife having attended the Millersburg Fe- male College. As a young man Caleb W. Robbins taught achool for some time, and after his marriage he settled on a farm in Bourbon County, whence he later removed to Robinson County, where he continned to be engaged in farm enterprise. He then removed to Nicholas County, where he engaged in farming, and later removed to Morgan County, Kentucky, where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. His wife held membership in the Methodist Church, while he was a member of the Christian Church. Mr. Robbins was a stalwart advocate of the principles of the democratic party, served as justice of the peace and in

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1876-7 he represented Nicholas and Robinson counties, Ken- tucky, in the legislature of his native state. Of the family of eleven children only four are living in 1922, the eldest of this number being Dr. M. A. Robbins, who is engaged in the practice of medicine at Carter, Kentucky; Doctor L. F. is a representative physician and surgeon at Ashland, that state; Lena is the wife of Simon Williams, of Seattle, Washington; and Doctor Isaac H., of this review, is the youngest of the number.

In his native state Dr. Isaac H. Robbins was reared to adult age, and there his early educational advantages were those of the public schools. In 1889-90 he was a student in the medical department of the University of Louisville, and after these two years of discipline he attended the Kentucky School of Medicine for one year. In 1892 he graduated from the Eclectic Medical College in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1895 he took a post-graduate course in the Scudder Eclectic Medical College. In 1899 he graduated from Barnes Medieal College, St. Louis, Mis- souri, and he thus holds the degree of Doctor of Medicine both in the regular and the Eclectic schools of practiec. In 1892 he engaged in practice at Olive IIill, Kentucky, and later he was engaged in practice in turn at Carter, Salt Lick and Moorehead, that state. From the last mentioned plave he returned to Salt Liek, where he conducted a hos- pital in connection with his general practice until he came to West Virginia and engaged in practice at Craigsville, Nicholas County. Later he amplified the scope of his pro- fessional field by establishing his residence in the City of Richwood, where he has built up and retains a large and representative general practice. The doctor is a member of the Webster, Nieliolas, By Mannal Medical Society, tbe West Virginia State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. At Moorehead, Kentucky, he still maintains affiliation with the lodges of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a director of the Citizens Bank of Rich- wood, is a stockholder in the Richwood Stone Company and has valuable real estate interests both in Nicholas County and in the State of Florida. He is a resourceful and loyal supporter of the principles of the democratic party, and his vital interest in the welfare of his home city has been marked by the objective appreciation indicated in his having twice been elected mayor of Richwood, of which municipal office he is the vigorous and progressive incumbent at the time of this writing.

At Newfoundland, Elliott County, Kentucky, in 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Robbins and Miss Ruth E. De Hart, who was born and reared in Virginia. Of the five children of this union four are living: Mildred M., a gradu- ate of the high school and of a business college at Clarks- burg, is now employed as stenographer in the offices of the Cherry River Boom & Lumber Company; John W., who graduated from the high school, was one of the gallant young representatives of West Virginia in the nation's military service in the great World war, be having taken part in a number of the important battles in which the American Expeditionary Forces were involved in France and having at one time been severely gassed; Harry E. is, in 1922, a student in the Richwood High School; and Vir- ginia Ruth is the youngest member of the parental home circle.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 98

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