History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 101

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Spencer is one of the older family names in the history of West Virginia. The family was first established in Monongalia County, where Arthur B. Spencer's grandfather, Caleb D. Spencer, was born. His grandfather moved to Newburg in the Scotch Hill locality about 1860, and was engaged in farming until the beginning of the Civil war, when he moved to Taylor County, to a new home nine miles east of Grafton. He was one of the very success- ful men in that agricultural community. He was a Union soldier, was twice wounded in battle, and was rated as one of the expert rifle shots in his company. He had several

furloughs, and it is believed that he furloughed at the end of his three years and veteranized for the duration of the war. He was a private soldier, and after the final surren- der he returned to the farm and lived at his place near Thornton until 1900. Thereafter he lived a retired life in Kingwood, where he died in October, 1915, at the age of seventy-seven. Caleb D. Spencer was a republican, aud believed in doing a citizen's duty without taking the honors of responsibilities of politics. He was the most consistent and active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church from boyhood. Caleb Dorsey Spencer, known among his friends as "Doc," married Jane Lewis, of Brandonville, Preston County, daughter of John Lewis. She was a woman of unusual ability and character. She was one of the first women to engage in school work at a time when school teachers were usually men. Her husband at the time of their marriage was unable to write his name, and she taught him writing so that he was able to correspond with her while he was in the army. She was an ideal companion for her husband in every other way, and was deeply concerned in the spiritual welfare of ber children. This good woman died in 1900, at the age of sixty-seven. Her memory is particularly cherished by her grandson, Arthur Spencer, who lived with her several years and benefited from her instruction on literary subjects as well as morals.

The children of Caleb D. Spencer and wife were three in number: Thomas Ray; Christian Wilbur, who was killed at the explosion in the Newburg shaft in 1886; and John Lewis, general superintendent of the Twin City Traction lines at St. Paul, Minnesota.

Thomas Ray Spencer was born July 7, 1861, was edu- cated in the common schools and entered the mining indus- try as a mule driver on Scotch Hill. He married while there, and a few years later went to Fayette County, Penn- sylvania, where he followed coal mining three years, and on returning to his native state resumed mining in the Fair- mont District. In 1892 he went to Glendale, Marshall County, for two years was fire boss of the Glendale shaft, and in 1894 returned to Fairmont and for two years was assistant foreman with the Newburg Oil, Coal and Coke Company. About that time he gave up mining to engage in farming on his father's old place in Taylor County. In 1897 he became a miner for the Davis Coal and Coke Com- pany at West Virginia Junction, and in 1899 went to Pres- ton County and was mine foreman of the Irona Coal Com- pany, was made superintendent of that company in 1901, and later became general superintendent of the company's Irona and Atlantic Mines. This service he left in 1911, and for one year was at Masontown in the employ of the Elkins Coal and Coke Company, and since then has been a resident of Wellsburg, where he is still at work in the service of the Eagle Glass and Manufacturing Company. Among other experiences he was for eighteen months in charge of the pay roll of the Gage Coal and Coke Com- pany, of which his son is superintendent.

Thomas R. Spencer has been a republican worker in the various communities where he lived and was a member of the Preston County Committee at one time. He has proved himself a friend of education, and has tried to secure het- ter advantages for his own children and children of the same age than he had himself when a boy. By corre- spondent courses he fitted himself for the duties of foreman and mine superintendent. He has long been an enthusiastic worker in Sunday school organizations, and has organized a number of Sunday schools. He is a past noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and a Master Mason.

In Preston County in December, 1882, Thomas R. Spen- cer married Isabel Henry, daughter of William and Helen (McFarland) Henry. Her father was a brother of Law- rence Henry, the pioneer coal operator of Preston County, operating the Newburg Oil, Coal and Coke Company. The Henry Brothers were natives of Scotland, and for many years lived around Scotch Hill, where they are still rep- resented by their children. Isabel Henry was one of thir- teen children, eleven of whom grew to mature years, and the other survivors are Mrs. Marion Ralston, Mrs. Agnes Swan, John F. Henry, Lawrence Henry, William Henry,

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Mrs. Mary A. Jennings and Frank Henry. Isabel Henry was born in December, 1861, and she is mother of the fol- lowing children: Arthur B., subject of sketch; Christian Wilbur, of Junior; Helen M., wife of G. G. Garner, of Wellsburg; Jane Lewis, wife of Clarence Noah, of Wells- burg; and Jessie, wife of Campbell Hall, of Wellsburg.

Arthur Blaine Spencer made good use of his advantages in the public schools, though the greater part of his edu- cation has come since he left school and entered the prac- tical business of life. In 1914 he received his diploma for completing the coal mining course in the International Cor- respondence School of Scranton, and he has taken several courses on mining engineering. When he went to work at the age of fourteen he was under his father, and his first important promotion came in 1906, when he was made fore- man of the Irona Coal Company in Preston County. When his father was promoted to general superintendent the son succeeded him as mine superintendent there. He remained with that company from 1899 until 1907, when he left Irona and moved to Mount Clair, Harrison County, becoming fire boss for the Hutchinson Coal Company. A year later he was transferred to the Meadowbrook Mine of the same com- pany as chief foreman, and after another year he returned to Masontown and was made superintendent of Mine No. 6 of the Elkins Coal and Coke Company. He was in that position eighteen months, and then became mine foreman for the Pittsvein Coal Company in Taylor County at Flem- ington. In November, 1915, Mr. Spencer came to Junior as superintendent for the Gage Coal and Coke Company, and since November, 1918, has been manager of the com- pany's affairs in this locality.

Mr. Spencer has been under the sense of an obligation to do all he could to provide better educational facilities for the younger generation. He was instrumental in secur- ing the public school for the Gage community where he lived for two years. Since coming to Junior he has built two homes in the little town, was elected a member of the Council in 1918, and in 1920 was elected mayor.

In politics he has been a republican since casting his first vote for William Howard Taft. Fraternally he is a mem- ber of both branches of the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, joined the Lodge of Masons at Bridgeport, took the Chapter degree at Philippi, the Scottish Rite Consis- tory work at Wheeling and is a member of Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling. He is a member of the United Brethren Church, is president of its Board of Trus- tees, and endeavors to carry a full share of the activities of church membership.

At Terra Alta, September 28, 1903, Mr. Spencer married Mary Belle Bowermaster. The minister performing the service was Rev. Mr. Jones. Mrs. Spencer was born at Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, in October, 1884, daughter of Even James and Hulda Adaline (Liston) Bowermaster. Her brothers and sisters are Marshall C .; Mrs. Cora Blanche Hawkins, who died at Kingwood; Ira Benjamin, of King- wood; and John L., of Kingwood. Her father was a cabinet maker and carpenter in early life, later was in the undertaking and furniture business at Bruceton Mills, and about 1885 moved to Kingwood and was in the lumber busi- ness, later a hardware merchant, and subsequently devel- oped a general mercantile enterprise there, with which he continued active until 1921, when he retired. He was one of the early members of the West Virginia Hardware Dealers Association. Even J. Bowermaster died March 2. 1922, and was buried on March 4th, his sixty-sixth birth- day. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer became the parents of three children: Garold Ray, born November 7, 1904, and died December 7. 1904, Mildred Adeline and John Kenneth.

Some of Mr. Spencer's other activities in the Junior com- munity should be noted. He was one of the promoters and first stockholders in the Merchants and Miners Bank of Junior, and has always felt a personal interest in its suc- cess. He organized and became the first president of the Mildred Coal Company, capitalized at $25,000.00, which developed and operated mines on the west side of the Tygart Valley River, near Junior. The Junior Concert Band was organized in March, 1921, and Mr. Spencer has regarded this as one of his hobbies and has been active in perfect-

ing the organization of the body of musicians, which now has a membership of thirty, and is regarded as one of the best amateur bands in the state.

WILLIAM A. Cox. While his residence has not been con- secutive, William A. Cox was one of the first citizens of Junior in Barbour County, and has played a varied part in the affairs of that mining center. For the greater part of his life from boyhood until he retired he was engaged in mining and coal operations, and it was hard labor that won him substantial success.

He was born in Monongalia Count /, West Virginia, April 30, 1859, son of William Purnel and Sara Jane (Myers) Cox. His father who was born in Fairmont, in November, 1837, and died in the same city March 19, 1902. He was a boy playmate of Governor Pierpont, the first governor of West Virginia. He could not serve in the Union Army on account of some physical disability. He was a coal miner, and in later years a teamster. He was a republican and a member of the Christian Church. His wife was born in Pennsylvania, but near Blacksville, West Virginia, in August 1839, daughter of William and Mary E. (Walker) Myers. Her grandfather came from Germany and founded the family in this country. Mrs. Sarah Jane Cox is now living at Parkersburg, in the home of her daughter, Mrs Annie Fleming, and has attained the age of eighty-three Her children were: William Azareal; Mary, who died at Parkersburg in 1917, wife of William Haught; Clara, who died unmarried; John M., of Jackson County ; Mrs. Anni, Fleming; Minnie, wife of Frank Morris, of Parks, Texas Lloyd; and Ella, Mrs. Omer Dils, of Ravenswood, Wesj Virginia.

William A. Cox when a hoy went with his parents t Germantown, Ohio, where his family had their home unti 1867. Returning to West Virginia, they located at Pala tine, now the First Ward of Fairmont. William A. Co. had little opportunity to attend school. and most of hi reading and study were done by the light of the open fir in his home. At the age of fourteen he went into the mine with his father as a coal digger, later as mule-driver, an subsequently as hoss driver. From Fairmont he went t Wilsonburg, where he dug coal four years, and in 188 removed to George's Creek, Maryland, and dug coal in th Big Vein Mine there. In the fall of 1883 he opened mine for the Atlantic and George's Creek Consolidate Company in Mineral County, and for this company was suk sequently roadman and night boss. He returned to Fai mont, and for a year was with the Aurora mines, and the returned to Elk Garden, to the Atlantic Mine. In 189 he made two openings at Womelsdorf for the Womelsdo: Coal Company, and the following year established his far ily there.

It was from Womelsdorf that he came to Junior in 189 That place was still called Rowtown, and the name Juni was given the locality in honor of Junior Davis, a son Senator Henry Gassoway Davis. Mr. Cox helped incorp rate Junior as a town, carried the chain when the tow site was surveyed, and he was chosen the first mayor the new corporation. In the fall of 1894 he went to wo in the local mine, later was promoted to mine forema and spent seven years with the Davis Coal Company. Frc here he removed to Lillian as superintendent of the Bal more Smokeless Coal Company, and was promoted to gener manager before he left the service of that company a f. years later.

This was his last active work as a coal man, thou he has been more or less directly or indirectly interest in coal mining. For eighteen months he was a road sal man for the Friction Rail Brake Company of Charlest and gave up that business to take up the study of chi practic at Belington, and practiced that profession Middleport, Pomeroy and Racine, Ohio, and at Red Fo West Virginia. For ten years Mr. Cox was in business Greensburg, Pennsylvania, as proprietor of the Keysto Bottling Works. He made a success of the business, 1 probably expended more arduous labor in doing so tl in any other occupation that engaged him. On leav Greensburg in 1915 Mr. Cox returned to Junior, and to

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the first real vacation he had ever had. For about two years he lived at Parkersburg, assisting in the care of his aged mother, and did not leave her until her health was completely restored.

Mr. Cox grew up in a republican household, but cast his first presidential vote for James B. Weaver of Iowa, the populace and greenback candidate. He was reared a Methodist and leaned toward that faith, though his mother is a member of the Christian Church. Mr. Cox was made an Odd Fellow in Philos Lodge at Westernport, Mary- land, in 1881, is a past noble grand of the lodge and a past grand representative. He became a member of the Knights of Pythias at Piedmont, West Virginia, and is a vast chancellor of that Lodge aud has sat in Grand Lodge a number of times. In March, 1902, he instituted a Knights of Pythias Lodge at Junior, and was made its first chan- :ellor.

At Oakland, Maryland, November 23, 1882, William A. Cox married Miss Addie L. Fimple, daughter of John T. ind Mary (Compton) Fimple, the latter a daughter of Henry Compton. The Fimples are a family of French ori- zin, and her grandfather, Job Fimple, was the first to come o West Virginia. John T. Fimple was a Union soldier n the Civil war, under Capt. T. Maulsby. Mrs. William A. Cox died September 23, 1893, mother of the following children: Mary J., wife of William Hunt, of Junior; W. Fred, who lives at Junior and married Amy Valentine; Trace, wife of William Miller, of Junior; Howard Dawson, of Junior; Myrtle, wife of Frank Pingley, of Lebanon Church, Virginia; and Charles, of Junior.

Howard D. Cox is one of the prominent coal operators it Junior. He had a public school education, and at the ige of fifteen went to work in the mines with his father. On leaving the mine work at Lillian he spent three years n the stone quarry business as an employe of R. G. Has- jins. of Barbour County. For another three years he worked n the mines and paper mills at Luke, Maryland, and Junior, West Virginia. For the following year he was it Winter Haven, Polk County, Florida, in the service of tis old employer, Haskins, who was promoting an orange grove. On returning North he became associated in 1911 with his father in the bottling business at Greensburg, but on April 1, 1915, returned to Junior and again took up nining for the Davis Colliery Company. In August, 1916, je was made machine man for the Gage Coal and Coke Company, and since December of the same year has been hat company's mine foreman as successor of Opha G. homo, who lost his life by accident at the mine.

Howard D. Cox was one of the active promoters of the Merchants and Miners Bank of Junior, has served it as director continuously and is its vice president. He also helped organize the Mildred Coal Company, was its first vice president and has been in charge of its operations. He has been a member of the Town Council of Junior and own recorder, and during the war was one of the leaders n the locality in promoting the sale of bonds and other securities. For almost a year he was acting postmaster f Junior. He is a republican, a member of the Metho- list Episcopal Church, and fraternally he joined the Junior Lodge of Odd Fellows at the age of twenty-one, is a past oble grand, and in Masonry is a member of the Lodge it Belington, the Royal Arch Chapter at Philippi, and the Consistory at Wheeling.

December 14, 1912, Howard D. Cox married Hattie Price, laughter of Israel and Harriet (Arbogast) Price. She was born on a farm in Randolph County, West Virginia, September 29, 1893. The oldest child of her parents is Sherman, who has rounded out ten years of service with he Regular Army and was with the American Contingent f troops in Russian Siberia. Francis, the next son, lives t Grafton. George is a resident of Junior. The two oungest are Mrs. Cox and Israel, twins. Israel was a oldier in the famous Rainbow Division in France, and vas with the first troops to reach Coblenz with the Army of Occupation. Mr. and Mrs. Howard D. Cox have ive children: Forest Hugh, Christine May, Dorothy Ellen, Tary Frances and William Arthur.

CHARLES A. SINSEL, M. D. A thoroughly trained and educated physician and surgeon, Doctor Sinsel rendered his first service with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and this connection broadened into a permanent one. For over thirty years he has been medical examiner of this railroad company at Grafton. In the choice of this line of service there was doubtless exercised some influence from his father, who for many years was a local official of the Baltimore & Ohio.

Three Sinsel brothers came to America as British soldiers to fight the colonists in their struggle for independence. They were captured, and eventually found it congenial to their interests to remain in America, where they found useful employment in their trades as millwrights. They settled in Virginia. Elijah, son of one of these soldiers, was a native of Old Virginia and transplanted the family over the mountains to West Virginia, settling near Weh- ster, in what is now Taylor County. There he obtained a large tract of land, put some of it into cultivation dur- ing his lifetime, and was buried at the family plot there.

John Sinsel, a son of Elijah and grandfather of Doctor Sinsel, likewise spent his life on the homestead near Web- ster and was laid to rest on the farm. His wife was Sarah Curry, a native of Barhour County. Their children were: Harmon, who became a civil engineer; William, Elijah and James, who were farmers; Mrs. Mary Ann Newlon; and Mrs. Williamson.

Arthur Sinsel, another of these children, was born on a farm near Pruntytown, Taylor County, in August, 1838, and was educated in the country schools and old Prunty- town College. He then taught school and learned the trade of cabinet-maker and carpenter with an uncle in Prunty- town. When the Civil war came on he was commissioned a lieutenant in the army, but he was soon detailed for civilian service in the bridge-building department of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. This fixed him in the service with which he remained to the close of his life. For many years he was supervisor of buildings, bridges and water stations. He was killed by being run over by an engine in the Wheeling yards Jannary 25, 1889.

While never an applicant for the houors or offices, he was active in republican polities, a member of the State Republican Committee several years and also of the Ex- ecutive Committee. For thirty years he was president of the Board of Education of Grafton District, was a deacon of the Baptist Church and a worker in the Sunday School, and was an ardent Mason, being a past grand high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter of the state.

Arthur Sinsel married Hannah B. See, who was born in Randolph County, West Virginia, December 31, 1837, daugh- ter of Charles and Harriet (Bosworth) See. The Bos- worths, an old family of the state, were direct descendants of the famous Warwicks of England. Mrs. Arthur Sinsel, who died in August, 1893, was the mother of eight children, the seven to reach mature years being: Columbia M., who was the wife of the late Judge A. G. Dayton; Miss Abbie T., of Grafton; Dr. Charles Arthur; Ada, wife of the dis- tinguished Judge Ira E. Rohinson, former judge of the State Supreme Court of Appeals and now connected with the Department of Justice at Washington; John W., who was United States revenue agent at New York for years and died at Philadelphia in 1919; Miss Mary H., of Graf- ton; and Carrie S., wife of C. Frank Sellers, of Mansfield, Ohio.

Charles Arthur Sinsel was born at Pruntytown, Taylor County, June 5, 1864, and may be said to have grown up in the atmosphere of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. While attending school he worked during vacations at civil engi- neering and at the machinist's trade. Following his puh- lie school course at Grafton came two years in West Vir- ginia University and two years in Dennison University at Granville, Ohio. For a year he studied medicine under Dr. William L. Grant at Grafton, and then entered the University of Maryland, at Baltimore, where he was grad- uated in medicine in 1888.

His first duties after getting his medical diploma were as Baltimore & Ohio medical examiner for the west end

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of the Chicago division, including that city, his head- quarters being at Garrett, Indiana. About a year later, on the death of his father, he returned home, and in a short time was inducted into the duties of medical exam- iner for the Monongah division and part of the Charles- ton divisiou of the Baltimore & Ohio, and he has continued faithful and efficient in the discharge of his duties at this post for a third of a century. He is a member of the county and state medical societies, the American Med- ical Association, and the Railway Surgeons Association.

Doctor Sinsel is one of West Virginia's prominent Ma- sons. He has taken all the work of the York and Scottish Rites and held offices in all the local bodies; is a K. C. C. H., a member of West Virginia Consistory at Wheeling, is a Past Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar, West Virginia, a life member of the Grand Encampment of the United States, and is inner guard of Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also affiliated with the Odd Fellows and Elks, is a deacon of the Baptist Church of Grafton and teacher of the Philathia Bible Class.

He has rather strengthened the ties that bound him by inheritance to the republican party. His first publie serv- ice was as school commissioner for four years, then a sim- ilar time as president of the Board of Education. In 1914 he was elected to the House of Delegates for one term, and then elected a member of the State Senate. He entered that body under Lieutenant Governor Goodykoontz, and in the second session appeared as an eleventh hour candidate for president of the Senate, and after an interesting con- test was elected. He went to the Senate as successor of a democrat who for eight years had represented the Eleventh District, composed of Marion, Monongalia and Taylor coun- ties. He gave a studious and impartial attention to the program of legislation before that body, and at the special session was active in behalf of woman's suffrage. Doctor Sinsel was a spectator in the national convention at Chi- cago in 1884 when James G. Blaine was nominated, and he has been a delegate to a number of state, judicial and congressional conventions. He did much to defeat the as- pirations of such well-known democrats as William L. Wil- son and William G. Brown to represent the Second District in Congress.

April 4, 1889, Doctor Sinsel married in Taylor County Miss Bertie Creel, daughter of J. W. and Mary (Whites- carver) Creel. She died in February, 1897, the mother of two children: Charles A., Jr., connected with the Cambria Coal Company; and Lila, wife of D. L. Cather, of Fleming- ton. On June 19, 1901, Doctor Sinsel married May David- son, danghter of C. L. and Mary M. (Johnson) Davidson. Doctor and Mrs. Sinsel have twin sons, Rupert Austin and Richard Claudius, aged seventeen, and graduates of the Grafton High School in 1922.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SHOMO has been the source of a large amount of the business energy and enterprise that have made the town of Junior a good place to live in. He is an interesting example of what an ambitious young man without capital beyond his own earnings and savings can accomplish in the span of a few years.

His family has been in West Virginia from the early history of the state. In Colonial times the Shomos came to America from Germany, and the family was estab- lished in West Virginia from the eastern part of the Old Dominion. The grandfather of the Junior business man was Joseph Shomo, probably a native of Barbour County. He was a blacksmith and farmer, and had a shop near Junior on his farm. During the Civil war he was a blacksmith in the service of the Union Army. There have been numerous mechanics in the family, especially blacksmiths and carpenters. George N. Shomo had a limited education, but was a skilled workman and a good citizen. He was a Methodist and a republican. He married Jennie Vignesne, sister of L. N. and Jules A. Viquesne, mentioned elsewhere. His sisters and brothers were Charles, John, Ivy (who became the wife of Stephen Daniels), Irvin V. and Miss Sarah,

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 101

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