History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 102

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Frank Shome, who is known by that brief name in-

stead of his full christian name, was born in Barbour County, August 9, 1877, and is a son of George N. Shomo, a native of the same county. He was reared in Barker District, attended the common schools, and expended his early efforts on the farm. On reaching his majority he learned the trade of barber in Junior, and for several years was proprietor of a shop. This was the business that gave him his first capital, and he used it to take up photography, maintaining his art gallery for a num- ber of years, his son finally succeeding him. At different intervals Mr. Shomo also worked in the coal mines around Junior.

He had an ambition to become a coal operator, and finally, with C. W. Sandridge, established the City Grove Coal Company and developed one of the producing mines at Junior. They operated the plant together for some time, and are still interested as owners of the lease and part of the property.

Another direction taken by Mr. Shome's enterprise was the moving picture business. In 1912, with Walter Bales, he put on the first show at Junior and unrolled the first reel of pictures in the town. The opening night convinced the firm of the popularity of their venture, and Mr. Shomo has continued in the business ever since. The original plant was destroyed by fire in 1914, but was immediately rebuilt. Mr. Shome is also associated with the Willys Light Plants Agency, for the sale of domes- tic light plants. His son has recently taken a course of practical instruction at Toledo, the home of the business, for the installation of these plants. Mr. Shomo was one of the first stockholders and is a director of the Merchants and Miners Bank of Junior. He has served on the Town Council, and in politics is a republican, casting his first vote for Mckinley in 1900.

In Barbour County in 1901 Mr. Shomo married Miss Icie M. Row, who was born at what is now the town of Junior, being the youngest of the family of two daughters of Jackson and Mary (Fitzgerald) Row. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Shomo is the sen Cecil, who for several years has been an active associate of his father.

CLIFTON W. SANDRIDGE. The career of Mr. Sandridge represents a service of nearly thirty years to the great West Virginia coal industry. He has been mechanic and machinist, practical miner, superintendent and operator, and hardly anything important involved in the problems of coal mining in this state have escaped his experience. For a number of years his interests have been centered at Junior in Barbour County, where he is president of the Big Chief Coal Company.

Mr. Sandridge was born in Union District, Upshur County, December 12, 1871. His father John Frederick Sandridge, whe was born at Monterey in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in June, 1844, and was eight years of age when his parents, Lindsay and Lucy (Smith) Sandridge, moved to Upshur County, where Lindsay spent the rest of his life on his farm near Buckhannon. The three sons and two daughters of Lindsay Sandridge I were: Sophie, who married Kinsey Ward and died in Upshur County; Luther, who was a Union soldier four years, and died in Upshur County; Jesse, whose life was spent in that county; John F .; Cornelia, who mar- ried David Oldaker, and died in Upshur County.

John F. Sandridge had few school advantages when a boy. He was only seventeen when he became a soldierik of the Confederacy. Thus he differed from his brother in course of allegiance, and this was one of many families represented on both sides of the war. He wash in General Lee's army, participated in many of the historic battles of the Virginia campaigns, but only once was wounded, by a spent ball which struck his right shin. The wound, though a minor one, always gave him trouble and eventually caused his death. After the war of he followed farming and finally retired to Atlantic, Westt Virginia, where he died August 5, 1905. In Barbour County, 1867, he married Miss Almanza Layman, daugh ter of Wesley Layman. She died in Upshur County October 26, 1895, mother of the following children: Rosa

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deceased wife of Jeff D. Kuhn; May, who married George Stilwell, of Grafton; Lee J., president of the Meriden Coal Mining Company of Philippi; Clifton Wade, of Junior; Annie L., wife of B. T. Duckworth, of Barbour County; Willis H., deputy state mine inspector living at Grafton; Apalona, who married Arthur Hoffman; Grace, who died in Upshur County, wife of Fred Wilson; Frank, superintendent of the Will Lukins Coal Company of Upshur County; and Bessie, who died in infancy.

Clifton Wade Sandridge lived on the farm with his parents until he was seventeen years of age, and in the meantime had attended the free schools a term or so every year. When he left home his first employment was in construction work of the grade of the Baltimore and Ohio branch from Buckhannon up to the Buckhannon River to Pickens. His salary was $1.35 for ten hours of work. Following that he worked three years at com- non labor around saw mills, part of the time with the Alexander Lumber Company and then for O. P. Stroh. After that he returned to the Baltimore and Ohio railroad is one of its bridge repair force.

This is a brief summary of his practical experience before he took. up the coal mine industry. His first work n that field was as carpenter for a company operating at Berryburg, and after a year he became machinist for the same company, and thus served two years. For another two years he was machinist for the Meriden Coal Company. For two years he was superintendent of the Atlantic and Irona in Preston County for the J. H. Weaver Coal Company. Returning to the Meriden Coal Company, he was for two years superintendent of its mine, and he then left West Virginia and after riding practically across the continent hecame superintendent of a mine at Gebo, Montana, where he remained eighteen months. On returning East Mr. Sandridge entered the service of the Davis Colliery Company, now the West Virginia Coal and Coke Company, but the mine in which he was employed soon closed and for two following years he was superin- endent of the Raleigh Coal and Coke Company at Raleigh.

Since 1899 Mr. Sandridge's working experience has been in Junior, Barbour County. Here he engaged in merchandising and for two years or more sold goods. For eight months he was in the service of Arnold Brothers, prospecting a tract of land for coal. For three months nie was a practical miner, digging coal for the Davis Coal ind Coke Company. Mr. Sandridge became an independent coal operator in 1917, associated with B. F. Shomo, under the name of D. M. Sandridge Coal Company, operating the City Grove Mine. This mine was an active producer for about three years. In the meantime Mr. Sandridge became associated with G. W. Shomo, W. V. McIntyre and Ed Everhart in opening a new mine, the Big Chief, at Junior, which has been in active operation since the early part of 1921.

Mr. Sandridge has been personally interested in some of the enterprises at Junior requiring co-operation on the part of all progressive business men and citizens. His action in assuming the purchase of a block of un- sold stock assured the success of the move to organize the Merchants and Miners Bank of Junior, and he is still a stockholder in that institution, which has grown ind prospered. He served two terms as a member of the Town Council of Junior, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. Mr. Sandridge cast his first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland in 1892. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for two years he was president of the Board of Stewards and is now superintendent of the Sunday School.

May 2, 1900, in Preston County, Mr. Sandridge mar- ried Miss Dosia May White, who was born near King- wood, October 6, 1878, second among the six children of Jacob E. and Margaret (Feather) White, who were farmers in Preston County, and the daughter grew up on the farm and was educated in local schools. Her brothers and sisters were: Ida, Mrs. Walter Mont- gomery; Alice, wife of Walter Taylor; Sherman; Roy; Cora, wife of H. C. Daniels. Mr. and Mrs. Sandridge

have four children, Ruth, Charles, Howard and Martha. Ruth is the wife of Cecil Shomo, and they have one child, Carroll.

GOLDEN FRANK Row. The important industrial town of Junior stands on and adjacent to the original hold- ings of the pioneer Row family in this section of Bar- bour County, and some of the family were identified with merchandising there before the present name was given the village. Golden Frank Row is one of the younger generation of the family, and while he has been a miner, educator and in other lines of usefulness, his chief interest for some years past has been conducting a store.

His pioneer ancestors here were his grandfather, Andrew Jackson Row, and his great-grandfather, Ben- jamin Row, who came from Page County, Virginia, and the latter built a mill on the Tygart Valley River and continued its operation until his death, when he was succeeded in its ownership by his only son, Andrew J. Benjamin Row, is buried on the hill within the corpora- tion limits of Junior. Andrew J. Row was a merchant as well as a miller, and he continued in business at Junior for a number of years. He died there in 1905, at the age of seventy-three. He was a member of the Dunkard Church and in politics a republican. Andrew J. Row mar- ried Delila Williams, and she was the mother of the fol- lowing children: William A., Mrs. Mary Brady, James B., Mrs. Celia Wilson, Mrs. Virginia Thorn, Mrs. Roxanna Arbogast and Mrs. Margaret Thornhill. The second wife of Andrew J. Row was Mary K. Fitzgerald, and the children of that union were: Belle, who married S. S. Bolton; Fannie, who became the wife of A. K. Perry; and Icie, wife of B. F. Shomo.

William A. Row was born in Barker District of Barbour County, November 27, 1856. He attended local schools, and through all his active years has been connected with farm- ing and mining. He became president of the Row Coal Company. He has always voted as a republican, and is a member of the German Baptist Church. William A. Row married Sarah E. Coffman, daughter of Frank Coffman. Their children were: William J., a farmer and minister of the Church of the Brethren at Junior, who married Pearl Hayes; Cora V., of Junior, widow of Charles Hillyard; Ada D., who married W. R. Shomo, of Junior; Mattie, wife of William Corrick, of Cumberland, Maryland; Golden F .; Leonard H., connected with the mines of Junior, who mar- ried Hazel Powley; Miss Zeta, a former teacher at Junior; Miss Hallie; and Gladys, wife of William McNemar, of Junior.

Golden Frank Row was born in Barker District, October 6, 1884, and the public schools gave him his early advan- tages and his work training was largely the labor of the farm until he went into the mines. He did work in the mines as early as the age of thirteen, and for six years was a factor in the actual mining at Junior. He turned from that vocation to become a house painter and paper hanger, and he supplied most of the service in this line in his community for about seven years. Following that he became a teacher in the Junior School, and taught there four terms. Since then he has been a merchant, engaging in that line of business in the early winter of 1913.

Mr. Row was secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Row Coal Company, incorporated November 27, 1918, with a mine at Dartmoore, near Junior. This property was sold in June, 1920, to W. J. Flanagan of Pittsburgh, and was then incorporated as the Ida May Coal Company. Mr. Row helped organize in 1918 the Merchants and Miners Bank of Junior, is a stockholder, is second vice president and a director. On July 28, 1917, he was commissioned for a term of ten years as notary public.

While a busy man with his private affairs, Mr. Row has performed some kind of public service practically since reaching manhood. He cast his first presidential vote for William Howard Taft, and has been influential in the republican party in his district. In June, 1919, he was appointed postmaster of Junior, as the successor of F. A. Matthew. He was one of the few republicans appointed

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to postmastership during the democratic administration. Besides acting as postmaster he has served since his elec- tion in 1918 as a member of the Barker District Board of Education, and in 1921 was appointed registrar of vital statistics by State Registrar Carl F. Raver, his duties being to record and report births and deaths and to issue burial permits.

At Junior, April 14, 1910, Mr. Row married Irma Yaple, daughter of William and Ellen (Bennett) Yaple. She was born in Athens County, Ohio, September 25, 1885, and had a grammar school education. Mrs. Row died October 14, 1918, leaving her husband and young children to mourn her loss. The children born to their union were: Maurice F., born February 11, 1911; Harold W., born May 12, 1912; Jessie, born September 6, 1913, and died in infancy; Orion Yaple, born May 7, 1915; and Eileen Ellen, born April 5, 1918.

NELSON B. MICHAEL, M. D. The good service proceeding from his knowledge and skill as a physician and surgeon Doctor Michael has exercised chiefly for the benefit of the people of the prosperous little mining community of Junior in Barbour County. His father was also a physician, and the family is one of the older ones of Preston County.

His grandfather, William G. Michael, was born in the vicinity of Brandonville, Preston County, and devoted his active life to the farm. He was in the Union army at the time of the Civil war, and received an injury while on duty, though not on a battlefield. He frequently attended the reunions of his comrades, was a republican and a mem- ber of the United Brethren Church. He died on his farm near Fellowsville about 1881. William G. Michael married Mary Forsyth, and they had a family of five sons and four daughters.

Dr. John F. Michael, father of the physician at Junior, was born near Fellowsville in Preston County, April 17, 1842, and his varied gifts made him a useful man through- out his career. At the time of the Civil war he enlisted in the Seventeenth West Virginia Infantry and served three years as a Union soldier. In one battle he was wounded in the thigh. Soon after the war he married, and then employed his liberal education to teach school for a num- ber of years and also farmed. For about a dozen years he operated a grist-mill between Tunnelton and Fellowsville. He left milling to begin the study of medicine, reading in the office of Doctor Kennedy at Grafton, and with Doctor Harvey at Tunnelton, and later entered the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, where he graduated in 1883. He returned to his home community to practice, and was one of the busy professional men of Preston County for a quarter of a century. After two or three years he moved from his home in the country to Fellowsville, and a short time before his death he went to Morgantown to live with a son, E. W., where he died September 26, 1910.

Dr. John F. Michael married Annie Myers, daughter of Daniel Myers, who married a Miss Wiles. Mrs. Jobn Michael is still living, and divides her time among ber children. These children comprise a notable family of nine sons, and there is not a daughter in the family. A brief record of the sons is as follows: Rev. Albert E., a Metho- dist minister near Fairmont, who married Sarah Cin Clair and has three children: Doctor Willis S., who is a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, in practice at Bower, West Virginia, and married Lena Roy and has three children: Ezra W., of Phoenix, Arizona, who married Della Bollyard; Oliver O., of Pittsburgh, who mar- ried Sarah Shahan and has four children; Doctor Nelson Burton; J. Frank, veterinary surgeon of Buckhannon, who married Annie Pratt; Jasper K., unmarried and associated with his brother in Arizona in the real estate business; Charles Walter, a Baltimore and Ohio Telegraph operator at Terra Alta, who married Annie Watkins, who died leav- ing four children; Harvey R., telegraph operator of the Baltimore and Ohio at Piedmont, who married Mattie Moore and has two children.

Nelson B. Michael was born near the village of Fellows- ville, December 9, 1874, his birthplace being within three miles of that of his father. He had learned to support

himself and provide for his needs before he became a physi- cian, and was a teacher before he entered medical college. He acquired his own education in public schools and in the Fairmont State Normal School. He taught for five terme, his last work as a teacher being done at Thomas, West Vir- ginia. He left there to enroll as a student in the Maryland Medical College at Baltimore, from which he graduated in 1904. Doctor Michael practiced for two years at Rock Cave in Upshur County, and in 1908 moved his residence to Junior. He carries on an extensive practice, largely among the miners of this locality for eight years, until the mines closed down. He then moved to Hendrick in Tucker County, where he practiced three years, after which he returned to Junior, and now regards that as his permanent bome. Doctor Michael is a member of the Tri-County, West Vir- ginia State and American Medical associations. He has been town health officer of Junior, also a member of the Common Council, but has never been in politics beyond voting the republican ticket, beginning with the Mckinley campaign of 1896. Doctor Michael is not a member of any fraternity, and he and his wife are Methodists.

On July 29, 1908, at Hendricks, West Virginia, Doctor Michael married Rachel Roy, daughter of Washington J. and Catherine (Simmons) Roy. She was born in Tucker County, October 25, 1881, and was educated in the public schools. Of the two children of Doctor and Mrs. Michael, Blake Allison, the youngest, was born May 7, 1910. Loyal, the first born, died aged five months.

ELIJAH ELSWORTH CLOVIS, M. D. The State Tubercu- losis Sanitarium at Terra Alta was established in 1911, and the initial quarters were first opened for the recep- tion of patients in January, 1913. From the beginning the superintendent of the sanitarium has been Doctor Clovis, a West Virginia surgeon and physician who successfully combated the white plague as his personal enemy, and soon after recovering came to his present office and respon- sibilites.

Doctor Clovis was born at Hebron, West Virginia, August 27, 1879. His grandfather, Solomon Clovis, was a native of Pennsylvania and many years before the Civil war moved from Greene County, that state, and bought Falls Mills at Shiloh, West Virginia. Later he located at Hebron, where he became a manufacturer of brick and tile, also conducted a tan yard, and continued active in those lines of business the rest of his life. He married Elizabeth Wrick, a native of Hebron in Pleasants County. Their children comprised three sons and four daughters, and the three sons and one daughter, Mrs. Semantha Wagner, are still living. The sons are Benjamin, Theodore and Amos. The two older sons were Union soldiers in the Civil war. Amos Clovis was born in Pleasants County in 1854 and he took up farming as his vocation instead of giving his attention to the factory or the merchant's counter. Hc was active in this line until advanced years came on, and he still lives on the farm. He and the other members of the family have been very stanch republicans, but none of them have been active in political affairs. Amos Clovis is a member of the Church of Christ. In Hebron he mar- ried Martha J. Fleming, who was born at Fairmont in 1856, daughter of Enoch Fleming. Their children are: W. Edward, who has the Ford automobile agency at St. Marys, Dr. Elijah Elsworth; Cora, wife of Homer F. Simon- ton, of St. Marys; Harry T., of St. Marys; and Lawrence, a drug clerk at Huntington.

Elijah Elsworth Clovis grew up around Hebron, where the country air and the life of the farm contributed to his physical development. He attended the public schools, taught school four years in a country district, and at the same time carried on his studies in high school branches preparatory to entering medical college. Doctor Clovis was graduated in 1905 from the College of Physicians and Sur- geons at Baltimore, where he specialized in diseases of the chest. After graduation he practiced five years at Hebron, giving up his professional work when threatened with a breakdown from tubercular trouble. He employed his will power and his professional knowledge in his own behalf, and for two years lived in the healthful atmosphere around

8.8. Clovis.

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Asheville, in Western North Carolina. He practically re- overed his normal health there and then returned to West Virginia, and in August, 1912, entered upon his duties as uperintendent of the Tuberculosis Sanitarium at Terra ulta.

This institution had provision for only sixty patients Then it was opened in January, 1913. By June of that ear the full quota of patients had been received. Subse- uent additions were made to the facilities by sixty more eds in 1916, forty more in 1919 and forty in 1920, so hat at present there are accommodations for 200 patients, nd there is a long waiting list of applicants, indicating ne need for such an institution and also for additional acilities of that kind. During the past nine years the anitarium has treated more than 2,000 patients, and a urge number of them have been out five or six years after eing discharged as cured.

Doctor Clovis, on account of his position and also his dividual attainments, is one of the widely known pro- essional men in the state. He is president of the Preston ounty Medical Society, a member of the West Virginia tate and American Medical associations and the Amer- an Sanitarium Association. He was made a Mason at ebron and is a past master of that lodge, a member of giris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling, and is filiated with the Knights of Pythias and Independent Or- er of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the Official Board ' the Terra Alta Methodist Church.

At Hebron January 1, 1904, Doctor Clovis married Miss ara MeKnight, who was born there, a daughter of James MeKnight. Mrs. Clovis finished her early education the Carroll High School, and was a teacher before her arriage, doing her last work in the grade school at Whis- y Run, Ritchie County. Doctor and Mrs. Clovis have two ughters, Mildred and Madaline.

CHARLES W. SHOMO is a business man of sound judgment 10 has had responsibilities of an executive nature in the mmunity of Junior for a number of years. He was the st president of the only banking institution in the town, d is now its cashier-the Merchants and Miners Bank.

He was born on a farm near the little town, October 13, 73, and is a son of George N. and Virginia (Viquesne) omo. His mother was a sister of Jules A. Viquesne else- ere mentioned in this work. Other pages likewise refer some detail to the history of the Shomo family. George Shomo died at the age of fifty-six, and his widow still es at Junior, at the age of seventy. Their children were: arles W., William R., a farmer near Junior; Benjamin ank, of Junior; Cora, wife of J. C. Bibey, of Junior; ldie, who married John Montgomery and died at Junior, ving three sons; George W., station agent of the West- Maryland Railroad Company at Junior; Eugene, a coal ner of Junior; and Carrie, who died as the wife of arles F. Bennett.

Charles Winslow Shomo grew up on the old home farm, ined his elementary education in the public schools, at- ded summer normals, and prepared for his business 'eer with a course in Elliott's Commercial College at eeling. He taught school six terms, and for a time was charge of the school where he had learned his early les- s. He finished teaching in the West Junior School. Giv- ; up a career as an educator, he turned to business as re manager for the Miller Supply Company at Junior. was with that firm three years and then became office n for the Gage Coal and Coke Company, a corporation h which he remained from 1911 to 1919.

Ir. Shomo helped promote and organize the Merchants 1 Miners Bank at Junior. The bank was chartered in 7 and opened for business March 4, 1918, with Mr. mo as the first president, while the other officers were W. Windom and A. K. Perry, vice presidents, and H. H. drews, cashier, with Robert E. Davis and Howard D. Cox, ectors. The president of the bank now is A. K. Perry, president, Howard D. Cox and G. Frank Row, and since 9 Mr. Shomo has assumed the active executive duties of hier. Other directors are J. W. Miller, B. F. Shomo and J. Corley. The bank retains its original capital of

$25,000. The total resources at the end of the first year's business was $95,000, and this item has since reached the figure of $260,000. The bank has paid dividends from the beginning, and the deposits at a high mark reached $225,- 000. It has a surplus of over $7,000.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 102

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