History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 99

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EMERSON E. DEITZ had the distinction of serving as the first mayor of Richwood, Nicholas County, and has been closely and prominently associated with the development and progress of this vital little city, in which be now con- ducts one of the leading mercantile enterprises.

Mr. Deitz was born at Hominy Falls, this county, De- cember 13, 1869, and is a son of Joseph D. and Virginia (Ellis) Deitz, both likewise natives of Nicholas County, where the former was born in July, 1841, at Mount Lookout, and where the latter was born in June, 1840, at Hominy Falls, the respective families having been founded in Nicho- Jas County in the early pioneer period when this section of old Virginia was virtually on the frontier. Joseph D. Deitz was reared on a pioneer farm, received his youthful edu- cation in the common schools of the locality and period, and

after his marriage be settled on a farm near Hominy Fall: where he passed the remainder of his life as one of th substantial exponents of agricultural and live-stock indus try in his native county. For a number of years Mr. Deit was engaged also in conducting a general country store He was a consistent member of the Baptist Church, as i also his widow, who is now one of the venerable nativ daughters still residing in Nicholas County (1922). 0 the nine children seven are living: Fannie is the wife o W. M. Beckner; Emerson E., of this review, and John W are twins; Bettie is the widow of John McCombs; Vida i the widow of David F. DeHart; Etta is the wife of A. C McClung; and Josie is the wife of J. B. Pullen.

After attending the public schools at Ilominy Falls Em erson E. Deitz further fortified himself by a course o study in the West Virginia State Normal School at Sun. mersville. He became a successful teacher in the rura schools of his native county, and also continued his associa tion with farm enterprise, under the influences of which he had been reared. In 1900 he established his residence a Richwood, a place whose development to an important lit tle industrial city has been one of the progressive revela tions in this part of the state, and a year later he wa. elected the first mayor of the city, an office of which he continued the incumbent two years and in which he gave a most effective and popular administration. He has server also as recorder of the City Council, and was postmaster o! Richwood eight years. As a republican he has been influ ential in political affairs in his native county, he is one of the leading merchants of the city, and is a director of the Richwood Banking & Trust Company. Ile is a trustee of. the Baptist Church at Richwood, of which his wife likewise is a zealous member, and he is affiliated with the Independ ent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of Amer ica and with Riebwood Lodge No. 122, Ancient Free anc Accepted Masons.

In the year 1899 Mr. Deitz wedded Miss Bessie M. Spen cer, who was born and reared near Richwood, this county her paternal grandfather and his children having owned fully 2,000 acres of land in this locality, including the site of the present city of Richwood. Mr. and Mrs. Deitz have six children: Delta, Deloris, Eugene, Cleora, Oakford and William H. Miss Delta Deitz graduated from high school and thereafter attended both Dennison University, at Gran- ville, Ohio, and Broaddus College, West Virginia. Slie is now a popular teacher in the high school at Richwood. De- loris, the second daughter, graduated from the local high. school and is, in 1922, a student in Broaddus College. The eldest son, Eugene, is a student in the Richwood High School.

CHARLES W. LLOYD. Numbered among the men who have accepted the opportunities offered for advancement by the coal industry of West Virginia, and who have found success and position therein, is Charles W. Lloyd, secretary and treasurer of the Logan-Elkhorn Coal Corporation of Hunt- ington. Mr. Lloyd's career has been one of constant in- dustry and consistent progress since he started life on his own account some thirteen years ago, and the prestige which he has achieved has been gained solely through the medium of his own efforts.

Mr. Lloyd was born in Lee County, Virginia, October 29, 1886, and is a son of Lafayette and Dorothy (Jessea) Lloyd. ITis grandfather, Absalom Lloyd, was born in Virginia, where the family has been well known for many years, and died in Lee County before the birth of his grandson. He had been a pioncer into that county, where he was a planter and, prior to the Civil war, a slave holder, a man of some prominence and influence in his community. He married Rebecca Lytton, also a native of Virginia, who passed away in the same community as ber husband.

Lafayette Lloyd was born February 11, 1842, in Lee County, Virginia, where he has spent his entire life in agricultural pursuits, in which be bas made a success through industry, the use of progressive methods and the exercise of good management and intelligence. At the pres- ent time he is living in retirement in a comfortable home in Lee County, enjoying the fruits of his early labors. He is

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imocrat in his political allegiance, a member and strong gorter of the Baptist Church, which he joined in his , and a member of the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Lleyd ied Miss Derethy Jessea, who was born June 22, 1846, to this union there have been born the following chil- N: Alma, who is the wife of William E. Thompson, a w engineer ef Pennington Gap, Lee County, Virginia ; w:le, who is the wife of Richard L. Wood, a merchant of elington Gap; D. Sheff, forester and timber dealer of elingten Gap; and Charles W.

arles W. Lloyd was educated in the rural schools of e County, Virginia, including the high school at Penning- Gap, and after his graduation from the latter, as a kher of the class of 1909, accured employment in a ral store at that place which was owned and conducted his brother-in-law, R. L. Wood. After being thus em- ked for one year he entered the service of the Louisville ashville Railroad Company in the capacity of fireman, u after one and one-half years decided that railroading net his forte and accordingly resigned his post and en- 1 the Penningten Gap Bank as beekkeeper. One year ·, in 1915, he accepted a position with the Stenega Coal Coke Company at Big Stone Gap, as bookkeeper, and kober 1, 1916, came to Huntington and worked for the dale Company as bookkeeper until January, 1918. He h accepted a position with the Logan-Elkhorn Coal Cor- c.tien, and, starting aa a bookkeeper, was advanced to petary and treasurer January 1, 1922. This concern is arporated under the laws of the State of West Virginia, x the general offices are situated in Reems 7 and 8, Lerican Bank Building, Huntington. The officers of the a:ern at this time are: J. K. Parsens, president; W. S. vers, vice president; and Charles W. Lloyd, secretary and r surer. Mr. Lloyd is a demeerat in polities, but has not kad any time to devete to public affairs or to seeking a'erment ef a political character. He is a member of & dleboro (Kentucky) Lodge No. 119, Benevolent and > tective Order ef Elks, in which he is greatly popular.

t Pennington Gap, Virginia, in 1910, Mr. Lloyd was D'ed in marriage with Miss Mattie Barner, the daughter d James and Mattie (Robinette) Barner, residents of Lalachia, Virginia, where Mr. Barner is successfully en- Fed in merchandising. To Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd there have de the following children: Charles, bern August 16, 11; Charlotte, born September 2, 1913; Helen, born fmary 6, 1915; and Marcella, born March 3, 1918. Mr. Lyd is the owner of one of the modern hemes ef Hunting- %, a comfortable, attractive briek residence located on Eventh Avenue, which was erected in 1922.

HOWARD POST. In realty circles of Clarksburg a name It is well and favorably knewn is that of Howard Post, x) has been identified with a number of large and im- Stant transactions during recent years, and whe is also minently known in public life, being an ex-member of State Legislature. He is a native son ef Harrison Cinty and a product of its agricultural life, having been en en a farm, June 23, 1874. His parents, Jehn B. and ry (Adams) Post, were alse bern in Harrisen County, l his maternal grandfather was a son ef Samuel Adams, to came from old Virginia to Harrisen County at an early

Tohn B. Pest, whe was an agriculturist by vocation, en- led in young manhood in the Unien army, and during the toggle between the atates served in the capacity of team- tr. He returned to farming at the close of the war, and to was interested in merchandising, and was a man of Ility and integrity whe had the respect and confidence his fellow-citizens. He was a republican in politics, died at the age of forty-eight years in the faith of the hited Brethren Church, ef which his wife was alse a mem- :. She died at the age of seventy-two years. They were 1) parents of ten children, as follows: Sarah Ella, who lame the wife of Charles Jarvis; Michael R., a merchant Jarvisville, this state: Edith M., who became the wife Ed Farris; William S., of Colorado Springs, Colorado; phronia, who became the wife ef Ed K. Somerville; ward, of this record; Hiram O., of Clarksburg; Truman

A., of Doddridge County, this state; Martin Luther, who died at the age of eighteen years; and A. Earl, who resides on the parental homestead near Jarvisville, Harrison County.

Howard Pest was reared en the home farm, where his hoyhood experiences were much the same as ether farmers' sons of his day and locality, and after passing through the rural schools enrolled as a student at the Classical and Normal Academy, Buckhannon, West Virginia. After teach ing the rural school in his parental home district for two years, Mr. Post became an employe in the mercantile house of R. T. Lowndes, at Clarksburg, where he remained 214 years, and then embarked in business on his own account as a merchant at West Mitford, where he remained three years. Disposing ef his holdings, Mr. Post next had one year's experience as a commercial traveler for a wholesale grocery house, then returning to the employ of R. T. Lowndes, with whom he remained seven years. In 1909 Mr. Post turned his attention to the real estate and insur- ance business, in which he has continued to the present time, being at present a member of the firm ef Post-Peterson Company, with offices in the Goff Building. He is accounted one of the ahle realtors of Harrison County, with a thorough knowledge of land valnes, and is known to be reliable in representation and straightforward in all his dealings.

A stanch republican in politics, Mr. Post has long been interested in public affairs. In 1920 he was elected a member of the Lower House of the State Legislature, and as a legislater served with eredit to himself and to the benefit of his constituency. In fraternal relations he is a member of the Independent Order ef Odd Fellows and all of its branches, and helds membership alse in the Clarks- burg Rotary Club. He is an official member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Clarksburg.

In 1896 Mr. Pest married Miss Mary Gasten, who was bern and reared in Harrisen County, daughter of John W. Gaston, a prominent farmer ef that county. To this union there have been born the following children: Harold, Lena, Rachel, George, and Howard, Jr. Hareld and Lena are married, and Miss Rachel, who is new a kindergarten teacher, is a graduate of the Beechwood School for Girls.

SAUL THOMAS represents a family that was established in Clay Distriet in Menengalia County in Indian times. His great-grandfather, William Thomas, Jest his life in an Indian massacre here and was buried en the farm now owned by Saul Themas and has been in the continuons pos- session of this family since the first clearings were made in the woods there.

Saul Themas, whose post office is at Wana and whose home is twenty-four miles west of Morgantown up Scotts Run, was born in the district, December 14, 1851, son of R. S. and Mary (Jehnsen) Themas and grandson of Wil- liam Thomas the secend, who spent most of his life at the old homestead and died there. R. S. Thomas was born in Clay District at the old hemestead and died at this old homestead which is now owned by Saul Thomas. Mary Johnsen was a native of Pennsylvania and she died eight years before her husband. After his marriage R. S. Thomas meved to Ritchie County, but at the death of a brother and at the request of his father returned to take charge of the farm. He was a democrat and for a number of years held the office of justice of the peace. Ile and his wife had two children, the daughter being Sarah Jane, widow ef Ingram Kent and living at Brave, Pennsylvania.

Saul Thomas spent all his life at the eld homestead and as a youth took charge of the farm. He has kept adding to his possessions until he has 484 arres in ene body and has always kept a large number of cattle. Some of his neighbors say this is the finest farm in Monongalia County. It is made additionally valuable by an eil well and four gas wells and Mr. Themas atill retains his coal rights.

At the age of twenty-eight he married Margaret A. Marsh of Ritchie County. They have reared five children: Mary Eleaner who holds a life certificate as a teacher and for a number of years was connected with the heme schools; Nancy Ann; Martha Jane, wife of William Sanders, an oil operator in Ohio; Laura Dell and Ralph Marsh. Mr. Thomas is an advocate of good reads, and has been able to

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put some of his ideas into practice through his service for some years as local overseer of road building.

W. DAVIS ALEXANDER was in earlier years a prominent river man, and represents a family that was identified with Ohio River traffic for many years. Mr. Alexander has since given his abilities to the commercial and general upbuilding of Moundsville and is president of the Mercan- tile Banking & Trust Company of that city.

This company was organized in 1903 and a few years later absorbed the second oldest banking institution of the county, the Farmers & Mechanics Bank, which was estab- lished in 1893. The home of the company is the finest office building in Moundsville, the third floor being occupied by the Masonic bodies, the second floor by offices, while the bank is on the ground floor. The bank has every equipment for general service, including safety deposit vanlts, and its charter permits it to exercise its facilities for acting as executor of estates and guardianship. The total resources of the Mercantile Banking & Trust Company aggregate over one and a quarter millions of dollars. The capital is $100,000; surplus, $80,000; and deposits are over a million. The officers of the company are W. D. Alexander, president ; Thomas Scott, vice president; and C. A. Showacre, secretary and treasurer.

W. D. Alexander as a boy went on river boats and fol- lowed the river for twenty-five years, becoming captain and pilot. He left the service in 1888, and since then has been an extensive real estate owner and dealer and was one of the firm Beam & Alexander which established the drug business at Moundsville now owned by his old partner, J. H. Beam. Mr. Alexander has been president of the Board of Trade, and in every way has been interested in the general development of the city. He seenred several of its important industries, and with J. A. Miller negotiated the purchase of the fifty-four acre tract for the site of the United Zinc Smelting Company.

Mr. Alexander married Miss Ella K. Cresap, a member of a very prominent and historie family of colonial period of the country. Her grandfather, M hael Cresap, came to the Ohio Valley from Oldtown, near Cumberland, Mary- land, and purchased a large tract of land in and around Cresap Grove, in Marshall County, West Virginia. He was a romantic and conspicuous figure in the early border war- fare of pioneer days. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander have living two children: Mary Virginia, wife of C. D. Williamson, a prominent dentist of Moundsville; and Eleanor Louise Gruhb, whose husband, Louis D. Grubb, is a Wheeling architect.

JOSEPH Z. TERRELL. The warden of the State Penitenti- ary is peculiarly an office that represents an opportunity for disinterested service to the state, and is unaccompanied by any compensating advantages, honor or financial emolu- ment. Seldom has West Virginia had a man in this positon who has served more faithfully the interests of the unfortu- nates under him and the state as a whole than the present warden, Joseph Z. Terrell. Mr. Terrell until he accepted the appointment of warden had given all his time from boyhood to railroading, and was prominent in the service of the Baltimore & Ohio.

He was born in Hanover County, Virginia, December 28, 1873. His father, Nicholas Terrell, a retired farmer, still owns the old homestead in Virginia but at the age of eighty- one is living with his son at Moundsville. Joseph Z. Ter- rell had a common-school education and as a youth learned telegraphy and became a railroad operator. In 1892 he entered the service of the Baltimore & Ohio as an operator on the Cumberland Division, and his name is still retained on the company's roll. He was operator, agent, yardmaster and held various other places in the operating, accounting and traffic departments, all his service being given to the Cumberland Division between Brunswick, Maryland, and Grafton, West Virginia. For several years he was agent at Romney and at Keyser, and was also freight and passenger agent.

October 1, 1918, Mr. Terrell was selected by Governor

Cornwell as warden of the West Virginia Penitentiary Moundsville. He had not been previously known as a cial figure in politics, and partisan politics have been cluded from his administration. Mr. Terrell would averse to classification as a prison reformer. He has tended sessions of the Prison Congress, has studied pr management from the light of his own experience other institutions as well, but in all his administration has made common sense the basis of any changes he instituted. At the beginning of his term he institt measures that would eliminate waste and insure econo and has the satisfaction of seeing the income from penitentiary almost equal the expenses, though for a n ber of years previously there had been a heavy deficit. introduced certain modifications of the honor system, 1 ticularly in the operation of the prison farm, but most fectually changed the spirit of the men under him b. wholesome and just discipline and by emphasizing the old principle that work is the solution for the evils aris out of idleness. Prisoners have been treated as hura beings, and he has encouraged athletics, has introdu wholesome entertainment, including moving pictures, so far as possible has conducted the institution with a v to inculcating a proper sense of individual responsibi and respect for law and training the individuals for sponsible citizenship.

Mr. Terrell is a Knight Templar Mason and an Elk, 1 his hobby is horseback riding. Mrs. Terrell is an act member of the Woman's Club of the Wheeling District both belong to the Episcopal Church.

His first wife was Miss MeAdams, of Morgan Cour who died in 1907, leaving one son, Claude M., now an torney, who graduated from the law department of University of Virginia in 1920 and is in the office o prominent firm of New York City corporation lawy Hornblower, Miller & Garrison. In 1909 Mr. Terrell n ried Miss Lee of Mineral County, West Virginia, and t have a daughter, Barbara Lee.

THOMAS SCOTT has lived in Marshall County practic. all his life for more than seventy-five years, was a : cessful farmer until past fifty, and since then has been the real estate business at Monndsville and a progres: factor in that city's development and expansion.

Mr. Scott was born in Marshall County, February 1845, son of John and Margaret (Ingraliam) Scott. parents were natives of County Armagh, Ireland, and 1835 they crossed the ocean to New York, went on to Pi hurgh, and in 1844 settled in what is now Marshall Cour West Virginia, on the Washington Survey. The Washingh Survey is now known as Round Bottom and lies two ms below Moundsville. It is said to have been owned :d personally surveyed by George Washington, who later si the tract to Archibald McLean. Thomas Scott now 0's about three hundred acres of this noted bottom, a dist t whose agricultural possibilities have been supplemented y important coal operations. John Scott was a ship carperr by trade, a skilled mechanic, and in December, 1847, e accepted employment with a firm of ship builders at N Orleans, but had worked there only a short time when e died in January, 1848, at the age of fifty. He was ba in 1798. He had left his family in Marshall County wn he went south, and he was survived by his widow and children.

The mother of Thomas Scott measured up to the firt standard of womanhood and motherhood. She had been v. educated as a girl, but she came to America a bride km ing nothing of practical affairs. After the death of I husband a neighbor allowed her the use of a small cott:a and a few acres, and there she kept her children toget? and she experienced the full meaning of hard times. Lar she became the wife of H. J. McLean, a neighbor. ]' McLean died in Moundsville. His father was the Arc bald McLean previously mentioned as the purchaser of e Washington Survey. Archibald MeLean had erected a 3 house here. He was the father of two sons and one dau ter. His sons, Joseph and Horatio, secured a part of 8

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ud, and Horatio J. MeLean owned hia ahare until his ath, and 263 acres of his portion is now owned by Thomas ott. E. H. MeLean, a son of Joseph MeLean, acquired greater part of the old survey, and after his death ese lands were sold, and a part of this traet is also owned Thomas Seott. After the death of Horatio MeLean his dow lived with her children, and died at the age of venty. She was born in ISOS. ller six children by her irriage to John Seatt were: George, who as a youth nt to Illinois and never returned; John, who was drowned the age of eighteen; Andrew True, who became a tanner d is now deceased; Esther Jane, who was married to C. Mathews, former sheriff of Moundsville, and died leav- g two children, W. B. Mathews, elerk of the Supreme urt at Charleston, and Mrs. S. H. Siekafoose of Mounds- lle; Thomas; and Winfield, who was an infant when his ther died and he died in 1877.

Thomas Seott was only three years old when his father ed. lle lived with his mother on the little home, acquired common-school education, and at the age of eighteen be- in farming. Four years later he leased the farm he ill owns, and he now has 344 aeres in that distriet. Mr. 'ott is one of the men who greatly improved methods in e live-stock industry in this section of West Virginia. In $$3 he bought some pure-bred Holstein cattle, probably e first in West Virginia, and he developed a herd that ere prize winners in many exhibitions and which furnished Feeding stoek for dairymen throughout this region. Mr. 'ott in 1994 built a home at Moundsville, and after 1896 tired from the farm and in July, 1897, opened an office r general real estate. He has sold much of the coal rights nder the Round Bottom seetion. He has been interested

every phase of town development, was active in the oard of Trade, was one of the promoters of the Mercantile anking & Trust Company, and has been a director since le hank started. He has always avoided publie offices. /hile now a republican he voted in 1884 for St. John, the rohibitionist candidate for President, and is one of the w original prohibitionists who remained loyally by their arty until its mission and purpose were achieved in the ational prohibition amendment. He frequently served as cal chairman of the county.

In 1874 Mr. Scott married Miss Clara Johnson of Monroe ounty, Ohio. She is survived by two daughters, both ving at home. Miss Mary I. is a graduate kindergartner, aught in Pittsburgh and New York City, and is now doing eld work for the Wheeling Y. W. C. A. and is also active 1 the Foreign Mission Society of her church. The second aughter, Norma J., is her father's housekeeper.

LESTER N. FRANTZ, vice president, cashier and active manager of the American Bank & Trust Company of Hunt- ngton, has been identified with the organization and man- gement of several prosperous banks in the atate, and is also leading eoal operator and widely known business man.

Mr. Frantz was born in Fayette County, West Virginia, une 17, 1882. His first American ancestor came from lolland to New York in the early Dutch colonization period. lis grandfather, David Frantz, was born in old Virginia n 1814, and was a pioneer farmer of Greenbrier County, Nest Virginia, where he married and where he spent the rest of his life, passing away in 1899. Noah D. Frantz, father of the Huntington banker, was born in 1853, spent his early ife in old Virginia and married, for several years followed arming in Greenbrier County, and 1879 removed to Fayette County, where he continued his business as a farmer. He lied at Huntington in January, 1921. He was a demoerat ind a member of the United Brethren Church. His wife, Martha Hedriek, now living in Huntington, was born in Greenbrier County in 1857. Lester N. is the oldest of their children. Elsie is the wife of Walter Bailey, a building contractor in Fayette County. Stephen D. is cashier of the Bank of Mullens in Wyoming County. Edna is the wife of H. K. Miles, a farmer in Fayette County. Laey is in the nsurance business in Wyoming County. Truma, the young- st of the family, lives with her mother.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 2, Part 99

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