History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 100

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At the completion of his military service Mr. Morrison returned to his father's farm, and, realizing the need for further education, attended the common schools for one term and during one winter. He then taught for one year in the country sehools, and September 27, 1866, was united in marriage with Miss Sarah E. Berry. At that time he started housekeeping on the farm, and remained until September, 1868, in the spring of which year his wife and baby went to Mrs. Morrison's father's home, and Mr. Morrison went to the private school of Mrs. Berry for one summer. In the

fall he was rejoined by his wife and child at Sutton, where Mr. Morrison continued his school studies during that winter. He was next made deputy sheriff under his father, a position which he held for four years, and was then elected superintendent of the free schools of Braxton and served as such for two years. After this he acted as principal of the Sutton schools, and his next position was in the cir- euit clerk's office, where he remained six years as assistant, and a like period as clerk of the Circuit Court. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1900, held at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in 1904 he was one of the electors from West Virginia who voted for Roosevelt and Fairbanks for president and vice president. He served as mayor of Sutton a number of terms. During his incum- beney as mayor in 1905 and 1906 he was instrumental in having the present up-to-date paving, sewage and sidewalks installed, and also caused the undesirable of many classes to vacate and leave the city. When he left public office Mr. Morrison embarked in the general merchandise busi- ness at Sutton, in which he remained with success for ten years, and then sold out and embarked in the real estate and fire insurance business, a field in which he also met with success. While well advanced in years, he still takes an active part in business affairs and is president of the Sutton Wholesale Grocery and Milling Company, and a director of the Home National Bank, where he is acting as secretary of the board. Mr. Morrison is a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a member of the official board. As a fraternalist he belongs to Sutton Lodge No. 21, A. F. and A. M., of which he is a past master; Sutton Chapter No. 4, R. A. M., and Sutton Commandery, K. T.

Mrs. Morrison died February 18, 1918, mourned by all who had known her. She had been the mother of nine chil- dren, of whom five are now living: Laura M., the wife of E. G. Rider, an attorney at Charleston and a member of the Public Service Commission of West Virginia; Elizabeth, the wife of Carey C. Hines, of Sutton; Audrey, the wife of Carl S. Walker, a pharmacist of Gassaway, this state; James T. B., identified with the Wholesale Grocery and Milling Company of Sutton; and Wellington F., Jr., a graduate of the law department of the State University, and chief of the land department of the state auditor's office at Charleston.

JOHN PATSEY. Few native Americans, with education and other advantages, accomplish a better aggregate of sub- stantial results in a comparatively brief lifetime of less than fifty years than John Patsey, a native of Italy, who came to this country with the training only of a practical laborer and was a coal miner until he could put himself into a business of his own. For the past twenty years he has become very well and favorably known in Barbour County, where he is proprietor of a good business at Berry- burg and has a number of other property and financial in- terests scattered over this section of the state.

He was born in Central Italy, at Introdacqua, Provinee of Aquila, sixty-four miles east of Rome, March 21, 1874, son of Ponfila and Magdalena (Juliani) DiPasQuale. He was the third of their six sons. His parents spent all their lives in Italy. Five of the sons came to America. Charles, who after a residence of many years here returned to Italy; James, formerly a merchant in New York City, now a resident of Providence, Rhode Island; Ernest, who was killed while working in the mines at Thomas, West Virginia ; and Louis, who died of typhoid fever in Cook's Hospital at Fairmont, West Virginia.

John Patsey grew up on a little farm, had to get his education with practically no attendance at school, and at the age of eight years was earning seventeen cents a dav at farm labor. He continued to work on the farm until he was thirteen, and then took up railroad work. He did some of the hard labor of railroad construction, including tunnel work, and for nineteen months he was employed during the construction of a tunnel in Belgium. One of his brothers had preceded him to America, and his example encouraged John Patsey to come to this country. He sailed from Rotterdam for New York on the ship Rotterdam, landed in New York and immediately came on to Thomas, Tucker County, West Virginia, and did his first work in

John & Withers

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HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

the mines at Coketon in that vicinity. He reached there October 29, 1898. In his early years Mr. Patsey was accus- tomed to the hardest kind of work, and even in the field of merchandising his success has been due to the habit and training of his carlier years. While at Thomas he made his first start in a mercantile way with limited capital, and after about two years he moved to Harding, but continued his store at Thomas until 1902. He also established a busi- ness at Colton, and for a time owned and operated a store at Lants, on the Coal and Coke Railway. He disposed of these interests to concentrate all his capital and energy upon his new business at Berryburg in Barbour County, where he set up as a merchant in 1903. He established himself here as the successor of H. Cohen, and has been the leading merchant of the locality for nearly twenty years.

Aside from his business at Berryburg Mr. Patsey is owner of much real estate, including farm land and im- proved property in town, owns some business property at Philippi, associated with William Janes, and is part owner of a business block at Grafton. He was one of the pro- moters and is a director of the Peoples Bank of Philippi, a stockholder in the Citizens National Bank of the same city, a stockholder in the Monongahela Power and Railway Company of Fairmont, and had financial interest in the Wheeling Investment Association.

Mr. Patsey began the naturalization process about seven- teen years ago, and since qualifying as a voter has been a republican, casting his first presidential vote for Colonel Roosevelt. He joined the Odd Fellows Lodge at Philippi.

At Newark, New Jersey, November 27, 1909, he married Miss Mary Angeline Zingone, who was born at Deliceto, Province of Foggia, Italy, daughter of Mattio Zingone. She came to America in 1907. Mr. Patsey suffered the tragedy of losing his wife, who was burned to death while starting a fire in a stove with gasoline instead of kerosene, on November 10, 1913. She was only thirty-two years of age when she died. She is survived by two children: Reva, born January 25, 1911, and Mary, born May 25, 1913.

WILLIAM FREDERICK REGER. For twenty years or more William Frederick Reger has been closely associated with the coal mining industry of the Berryburg locality in Bar- bour County. He is one of the oldest men in the service of the Consolidation Coal Company at that point, where he has been store manager for ten years.

Mr. Reger was born near Weston, Lewis County, May 1, 1881. The Regers are an old family of West Virginia. His grandfather, Henry Reger, was an early settler in Upshur County, locating there from one of the eastern states. His life was devoted to farming. He left a large number of children at his death. One of them was William Reger, only a child when his father died. William Reger was born in Upshur County, but spent most of his life in Lewis County. He enlisted from Upshur County in the Union Army as a member of the Upshur Battery, and was a can- noneer and corporal of his company. He participated in some of the heavy fighting of his regiment, but sustained no wounds or other injuries beyond disease contracted in the war. After the war he was satisfied to let others con- tinue the memories of the great conflict, and he manifested little interest even in the G. A. R. He was a staunch republican without official aspirations, and was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church. William Reger, who died at Weston in March, 1917, at the age of sixty-eight, married Mary Jones, daughter of Henry and Sallie (Tremble formerly Turnbull) Jones. She is living at Wes- ton, and became the mother of six sons and three daugh- ters: Thomas L., of Pittsburgh; Avis, wife of C. G. Hinz- man, of Weston; Gertrude, who died at Berlin, West Vir- ginia, wife of J. E. Swisher; Charles H., of Philadelphia; Mattie, wife of A. M. Corathers of Weston; Robert V., of Clarksburg; William Frederick; Samuel Steele, of Burk- burnett, Texas; and Earl, who is the postmaster of Weston.

William F. Reger grew up on a farm near Weston, and the routine of the farm constituted his early training and experience. He attended the common schools, and when past his majority he left home and began his career at

Berryburg with the Southern Coal and Transportation Com- pany. This company sold out to the Consolidation Coal Company in 1905, and along with the property and good- will Mr. Reger went perhaps as a part of the contracting, since he was the only one of the store force to remain under the~new management. He was promoted in 1912 to store manager for the company at Berryburg, and in addition to these responsibilities he is postmaster of the village and has accepted a share in every organized move- ment for the welfare of the community.

Two of his own children are teachers, and he has for years been an advocate of better schools at Berryburg, and is one of the local school trustees. He is a member of the Methodist Protestant Church, and fraternally is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, of which he is a past chancellor and past repre- sentative, the Woodmen of the World and the Junior Order United American Mechanics.

At Weston, August 1, 1901, Mr. Reger married Miss Lillie Smith, who was born on a farm near that city, daughter of Clinton Smith. Her mother was a daughter of Isaac Rohrbaugh, and Mrs. Reger was one of six daugh- ters and three sons, all still living. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Reger are: Scott N., Albert Paul, Evelyn, Fred- erick and William. Scott and Albert both finished their educations in Broaddus College and are teachers in the public schools of Barbour County. Albert also took work as a student in an automobile school at Cincinnati.

HON. JOHN S. WITHERS. In Old and West Virginia and throughout the South the name Withers has been one of distinction since Colonial times. There have been soldiers of the name in all the important wars of the nation. Many of them have been eminent lawyers, and many public and pri- vate libraries in West Virginia contain a volume known as "Withers' Chronicles of Border Warfare," containing vivid narratives and descriptions of fights between the first white settlers and the Indians during the progress of civilization over the Alleghanies, accounts that have made this one of the important source books for the history of what is now West Virginia. The anthor of this work was the grandfather of the Hon. John S. Withers, banker, lawyer and prominent business man of Buckhannon.

The Withers family came from Lancashire, England, and joined the Virginia Colony in the seventeenth century. The great-grandfather of John S. Withers was Enoch K. With- ers, who was born in 1760 and lived in Fauquier County, Virginia. He served as a sergeant in Peter Grant's Com- pany, Col. William Drake's Regiment, during the Revolu- tion, enlisting May 28, 1777, for three years. He was com- missioned ensign in November, 1777. He died in Fauquier County in 1813. His wife, May Chinn, was a daughter of Janet Scott, a first consin to Sir Walter Scott.

The author of the Chronicles of Border Warfare was Alex- ander Scott Withers, who was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, October 12, 1792. He was educated as a lawyer and wrote the Chronicles in 1831. In later years his time and energies were devoted to farming. He was a whig in politics, and during the Civil war was a stanch Union man. He died at Parkersburg January 23, 1865. His home for many years was in Harrison County, and it was while there that he wrote the Chronicles. 1Ie was a graduate of William and Mary College and was a Mason and a member of the Episcopal Church. In 1815 he married Malinda Fisher. Their oldest child, Janet S., married Cabel Tavenner.

Henry Howard Withers, son of Alexander S. Withers, was born in Fauquier County in 1824, but was reared at Weston, Virginia, now West Virginia, and was a merchant there and later a farmer. He served almost four years in the Union Army, and assisted with Col. T. M. Harris, and Lieutenant Colonel Hall in organizing the Tenth West Virginia Infan- try, of which he was major. While serving in the war he was captured at Frostburg, in the Valley of Virginia and imprisoned in Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, where he served six months. About 1845 he acquired 1,000 acres of land at the head of Sinks Creek, but later sold this and bought a farm near Troy in Gilmer County. In the fall of 1869 he was elected sheriff of Gilmer County, and died

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while holding that office, in 1873. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity. In 1844 Major Withers married Dorcas D. Lorentz, who was born at Weston in 1827. Of the seven children of Major Withers three are still living: John S .; Miss Emma, of Webster Springs; and Herbert H., of Glen- ville.

John Scott Withers was born at Weston July 29, 1847, and during the greater part of his youth lived on a farm in Gilmer County. He attended the public schools, and during the Civil war was a pupil in the Monongahela Acad- emy at Morgantown. In 1870 he was appointed deputy under his father, then sheriff of Gilmer County, and in 1872 was elected superintendent of public schools of Gilmer County. For two years he was in the mercantile business at Glenville, and then studied law in the office of Robert G. Linn and was admitted to the bar in 1879. For twenty years he practiced law at Glenville with Mr. Linn, under the firm name of Linn & Withers, and during that time he was elected and served twelve years as prosecuting attorney of Gilmer County, being first elected in 1880. As a lawyer Mr. Withers became known over a number of West Virginia counties, but he finally abandoued the profession because of its confining nature and engaged in the timber and lum- ber business, forming a partnership with C. E. Vandevender in 1898. The firm of Withers & Vandevender have its chief offices at Parkersburg, and they also handle real estate and coal properties. Both partners spend their winters at St. Petersburg, Florida, where they own winter homes. Mr. Withers removed his family to Buckhannon some thirty years ago to secure the educational advantages of that city for his children. For many years he has been a stock- holder in the Buckhannon Bank, and has been both vice president and president of that institution. He is also a director in the Kanawha Union Bank at Glenville. Mr. Withers is active in Masonry. He is a member of the Official Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a teacher of the Bible Class and a member of the Board of Trustees of the West Virginia Wesleyan College for over thirty years, that institution having conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws.

At Glenville September 29, 1875, he married Miss Sabina Holt, who was born at Glenville October 25, 1856, daughter of John F. W. and Elizabeth (McKisic) Holt. Mrs. Withers graduated as a member of the first class in the Glenville State Normal School. Mr. and Mrs. Withers have five children: Olita, born in 1877, graduated from the Conservatory of Music at Granville, Ohio, and from Wes- leyan College at Buckhannon, and is the wife of Nelson M. Hooker. Horace Holt Withers, born July 9, 1881, is a graduate of Wesleyan College of Buckhaunon, and the law school of West Virginia University, and married Virgie Phillips. Irma, born in 1883, was educated in Wesleyan College and is the wife of Frank R. Ast. Janet Withers, born in 1885, is a graduate of Wesleyan College, and is the wife of Richard H. Packer, of Scottsdale, Pennsylvania. John Henry Withers, the youngest child, was born February 8, 1893, attended the Kentucky Military Institute, Havre Military School at Lima, Indiana, and the West Virginia Wesleyan College. He married Gladys Burkhart, of Cum- berland, Maryland. During the World war he was a sergeant and drill master.

JAMES E. AUVIL. With the sun of life still high and the vigor of mind and body undimmed, James E. Auvil has acquired a good competency through the many years of well bestowed labor and enjoys the comforts of a modern town home in the City of Philippi. His active years were devoted to his farm in Barbour County, and he is still one of the rural property owners in that section.

He represents a family that has been in Barbour County since prior to the Civil war. His grandfather, Daniel Auvil, a native of Germany, came to the United States when a young man and lived in Southern Pennsylvania, following farming. He was twice married, had children by both unions, and all his sons became identified with agriculture, while his daughters married farmers.

Elias Auvil, a son of his second marriage, was the founder of the family in West Virginia. He came from Pennsyl-

vania when a young man and established himself near Val- ley Furnace in Barbour County. He was a farmer, for some years was a merchant at Valley Furnace, and he lived in that community until his death in December, 1892, when about sixty-eight years of age. He was a minister as well as business man and farmer, and for many years did much to sustain the Brethren Church in his community. His only participation in politics was to vote the democratic ticket. Elias Auvil married Mary Hershman in Preston County. She was a daughter of James Hershman and died in May, 1892. Their children were: George W., a farmer in Bar- bour County, who died near Valley Furnace, leaving several children: Andrew J., a retired farmer at Tracy; Mar- garet, now living at Parsons, West Virginia, widow of William Shaffer, who died at Valley Furnace, where he was a farmer; Martha J., who died near Valley Furnace, wife of D. J. Howdershelt; and James Elias.

James Elias Auvil was born near Valley Furnace in Bar- bour County, June 21, 1861. He attended the common schools, but even while in school had some share of the work on the farm. After reaching his majority he located on a farm in the same community, and he still owns a farm on the west side of the Tygart Valley River. His chief farming industry is grazing, and he made his best profits from handling and dealing in cattle and sheep. He gave many years of labor and intelligent management to the development of the old home place, and sold it in the spring of 1921 and moved to Philippi, where he purchased the property of E. H. Compton. That is now the home of his retired years.

During the many years he spent in rural districts he was a member of the German Baptist or Brethren Church, and took an intelligent interest in every matter affecting the locality. Mr. Auvil cast his first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland in 1884, but has not takeu politics seriously.

December 3, 1883, at Valley Furnace, he married Miss Florence Belle Campbell, who was born in that community August 5, 1864, and was educated in the public schools there. She is a daughter of George E. and Elizabeth (Bryan) Campbell. Her father, who was born in Mary- land, was educated in Baltimore, where for a time he was in business, and prior to the Civil war came to West Vir- ginia and established a store near Nestorville in Barbour County. He was a merchant for several years and then took up farming. He is now living at Clarksburg, enjoy- ing good health at the great age of ninety-eight. He was born in 1824. His father, George Campbell, was of Scotch ancestry, and came to the United States from England and for many years lived at Baltimore, where he was connected with the shipping and coast traffic. When he retired he joined his son in West Virginia, and died near Valley Fur- nace. Elizabeth Bryan, wife of George E. Campbell, was a daughter of William Bryan, and she died in 1913, at the age of eighty-four. She was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church, was reared and educated in Petersburg, Virginia, and made use of her education to help in Sunday School work and also to provide her children with instruc- tion while they were in school. The children of George E. Campbell and wife were: George, who was a farmer and physician near Kasson, Barbour County, where he died leaving two children; Bedford Campbell, a merchant at Philippi; Albert, a dairyman at Baiubridge, New York; Mrs. Auvil; Laura, wife of Alex Nestor, of Preston County ; Littlewood W., of Clarksburg; and Rosa, wife of Albert Shaffer, of Simpson, West Virginia.

Mr. and Mrs. Auvil have seen their children grow up, receive their education and become established in homes of their own, and there are several grandchildren to call them grandparents. Their oldest child, James Britton, foreman of a pipeline company in Texas, is married and has three children, Virgil, Elva and Ray. Rose is the wife of Dorsey W. Cole, a farmer on Pleasant Creek in Barbour County, and they have a daughter, Olive Belle. Olive Myrtle, the second daughter, is a graduate of the West Liberty Normal School of West Virginia and a popular teacher. The young- est child, Anna Laura, is the wife of Loren Cornwell, of Preston County, and has a daughter, Marguerite Fay.

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ODIE C. WILLIAMS has made a good accounting of the forty years of his life. He began work early, did farm- ing and public work, but for a number of years his chier business interest has been a thriving general mercantile business at Junior in Barbour County, in the same locality where he grew to manhood.

He was born in Valley District of Barbour County, July 4, 1882. His father, Andrew J. Williams, was born in old Virginia, but spent his active life on a farm in Barbour County, where he died in 1901, at the age of seventy. He married in Barbour County, Miss Julia Row, a native of West Virginia and daughter of Benjamin Row. She died before ber husband, the mother of ten children: Mollie, wife of Samuel Elbon, of Junior; Grant, who died in Bar- bour County, leaving a family; James, who was a farmer and died near Junior; Miss Laura V., deceased; Bird, who married Warren Corley and died near Junior; Dow, de- «rased; Dora, wife of Samuel Ball and living at Kings- ville, West Virginia; W. J., a farmer above Junior; Hen- rietta, who died in Barbour County, wife of Peter F. Ware; and Odie Charles.

Odie Charles Williams grew up on a farm, gained his education in the country schools, and learned farming as a practical career while at home. He earned his first dol- lar following the plow, and after bis marriage he estab- lished himself on a farm and was a grain and stock raiser, and in the intervals was employed on public works. He finally exchanged his farm for the mercantile business of E. E. Swick in Junior, and has since supplied the retail trade of this community from his stock of general mer- chandise.

Mr. Williams is a member of the County Court, elected in 1918 as the successor of E. A. Wall. He was chairman of the court in 1920. His associates on the board are Ish- mael Haddix and Delbert Boyles. Since he became a mem- ber the court has in addition to its routine business accom- plished a great deal of permanent road work. It has haudled the construction of about nine miles of class A road and six miles of class B, and has constructed a nun- ber of concrete bridges in the several districts of the county. Mr. Williams is a republican, having cast his first vote for Colonel Roosevelt. He is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.

In Barbour County, December 25, 1899, he married Miss Rosa J. Hymes. They grew up together as children in the Junior community. Her parents, John C. and Phoebe (Edmond) Hymes, had the following children: Mayor Matthew E., of Buckhannon; Mrs. Williams, who was born February 28, 1880; Monroe, who was accidentally killed when a young man while cutting timber; Henry C. and Sherman G., miners at Junior; Lloyd, who died, leaving a son ; and James R., of Junior.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Williams are Hazel, Rus- sell C., Buna E., Max Odie and Maxine. The daughter Hazel is the wife of Fred Simmons, of Junior, and they have three children, Mabel, Arlene and Russell.

ARTHUR B. SPENCER went into a coal mine at the age of fourteen. He had an ambition for something better than the routine of a miner's life, and in the intervals of his toil he studied the science and technic of the coal min- ing industry, testing each fresh instalment of theory in the practical environment of his work. For a number of years he has been one of the responsible executives of the coal business in West Virginia, and at present is superin- tendent of the Gage Coal & Coke Company at Junior, Bar- bour County.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 100

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