History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 103

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Mr. Shomo has been a member of the Common Council of Junior, city recorder and for five terms was mayor. He is also very familiar with the municipal history of the town. He is a republican, having cast his first vote for Major McKinley, and has served as district committeeman and delegate to conventions. He is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Junior, a past chancellor and has sat in the Grand Lodge. He is active in the Methodist Episcopal Church and is church treasurer and has served as superintendent of the Sunday school.

May 31, 1896, at Junior, he married Miss Maud M. Elbon, daughter of S. R. and Mary C. (Williams) Elbon. Mrs. Shomo was born on a farm in Valley District in April, 1880, the second in a family of four children. The only child born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Shomo was a daughter, Hazel Beatrice, born in 1897, and died in October, 1900.

WILLIE J. WILLIAMS. With the coal mining that con- stitutes the principal industrial activity of the Junior local- ity in Barbour County Willie J. Williams has been identified nearly all the years since he attained his majority, first as a practical miner and later as an operator. He is president of the Mildred Coal Company there.

Mr. Williams was born in Valley District of Barbour County, October 21, 1877. His father, Andrew Jackson Williams, was born in Bath County, Virginia, and as a young man accompanied his parents to West Virginia, the family locating near Laurel Hill Mountain, where his father spent the rest of his life as a farmer. Besides Andrew J. the other children were Robert S., George and Benjamin, all of whom went to the Western States; Mary, who mar- ried Milton Curtis and lives at Rich Mountain in Randolph County; Sarah, who became the wife of Mark Carter and died at Coalton, West Virginia; Celia, who married Bud Wright and both died near Belington; and Mrs. Noah .Sluss, who lives in California.

Andrew J. Williams had only a limited education during his boyhood, and his working energies were bestowed almost entirely upon the farm. He was a Union man during the Civil war, and some of his brothers were in the Union Army. He died at his old home in Valley District in 1898, at the age of sixty-three. His wife was Julia Row, daughter of Benjamin Row, and she died, the mother of the following children: Mary, wife of S. R. Elbon, of Junior; Sarah, who married John Shomo; Henrietta, who became Mrs. Peter F. Ware; Lillie, who married Charles Shomo; Grant, twin brother of Lillie, now deceased; Julia and Celia, twins, both deceased, Celia, having been the wife of Warren Corley and Julia, wife of I. D. Shomo; James M., who died at Junior ; Lorenzo, also deceased; Dora, wife of Samuel Ball, oť Kingsville, West Virginia ; and Willie Jackson.

Willie J. Williams spent his early life on the home farm in Valley District, and his education came from the old German school in that locality. As a school boy he became acquainted with systematic labor on the farm, and on reaching his majority began his career in the mines. His first employment was as a coal digger on the property of the Miller Coal & Coke Company, which subsequently was sold to the Gage Coal and Coke Com- pany and finally to the West Virginia Coal and Coke Company. He was in the employ of all these organizations.

The Williams Coal Company was organized in 1917 by Willie J. and Grant L. Williams, Mittie Wiseman and Loma Lipscomb. These owners had in partnership some coal lands, and developed operations near those of the Gage Coal and Coke Company. During the World war the mine was operated first as a wagon mine and later under an arrangement with the Gage Coal and Coke Com- pany. Willie J. Williams was manager. In 1920 the Mildred Coal Company opened its mine, and since No- vember, 1921, Mr. Williams has been manager of the property and president of the company. This is one of

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the few coal mines in active production during the winter of 1921-22.

Mr. Williams bas been a regular republican since cast- ing his first vote for Mckinley in 1900. He is a mem- ber and has served as steward of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

At Junior, February 3, 1899, Mr. Williams married Mrs. Lillie Williams, widow of his deceased brother Grant, and daughter of Jacob Spotswood Thacker of Philippi. By her first marriage she had three children: Grant L., Mrs. Mittie Wiseman and Mrs. Loma Lipscomb. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have the following children: Fax, a miner of Junior; J. Hop, J. Spotswood and Phletus. Grant L. Williams, son of Mrs. Williams by her first marriage, was a soldier in the World war, and was on the firing line ready to go over the top when the hour of the armistice arrived. After returning home he took up mining, and is now mine foreman of the Mildred Mine.

GEORGE W. SHOMO. In his younger years George W. Shomo had considerable experience as a farmer, barber and coal miner, none of which satisfied bim as a per- manent occupation. Railroad service proved more at- tractive. He entered it through the telegraphic branch, and for over fifteen years has been one of the efficient men of the Western Maryland Railroad Company. After several shifts elsewhere he came back to his home town of Junior, where he has been agent for the railroad and at the same time a valued citizen of the community.

Mr. Shomo was born on a farm near Junior, March 15, 1882, and is member of one of the old and well known families of this section of Barbour County. While on the farm he attended local schools, and at the age of eighteen took up the work of the barber's trade in a shop at Junior. He worked at that occupation four years, and then for two years was a miner, digging coal for the Davis Colliery Company at Junior. He left the mines to secure a technical and business education in the Morris School of Telegraphy at Cincinnati, where he finished his course in the Spring of 1906.

With this training he made application for service with the Western Maryland Railroad, and was first assigned to duty as assistant agent at Hendricks, West Virginia. He remained there two years as assistant agent and a year and one half as operator, and then after a brief service as relief agent at Harding returned to his native town and began his duties as agent April 19, 1911, suc- ceeding S. S. Bailey. It has been his ambition to make his efficiency in behalf of the railroad company a source of effective service to the town and community, and that ambition has been well realized. During the past ten years he has acquired other interests, and was one of the promoters and is a partner in the Big Chief Mine. He served as mayor of Junior in 1913, and had been selected as recorder of the town of Hendricks just before leav- ing there. He is a charter member and still a stockholder in the Merchants and Miners Bank of Junior.

Mr. Shomo is strong in the faith of the republican party and cast his first presidential vote for Roosevelt in 1904. He is a Knight of Pythias, and for a quarter of a century has been a Methodist, has been teacher in the Sunday school and is superintendent of the home department of the Barbour County Sunday School Associa- tion.

May 29, 1902, at Belington, when he was twenty years old, Mr. Shomo married Miss Edna B. Bolton, daughter of Napoleon B. and Louise (Johnson) Bolton. The Bol- tons are an old family of this section. Mrs. Shomo was born August 8, 1881 on a farm between Philippi and Belington, third in a family of five children, The others were: Rev. John O., for some years a Methodist minister and now engaged in the centenary work of his church; Ella, wife of John Thompson, a farmer near Belington; Miss Myrtle, teacher in the public schools of Belington; and Lula, wife of Jesse Glenn, of Belington. Three chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Shomo, but all of them died in infancy. Mrs. Shomo was a teacher before her

marriage and was active in school work for eight year She joins with ber husband in a deep interest in t' church and Sunday School.

JESSE E. KEYSER. Belington is one of the fast growin commercial centers, particularly well situated to enjoy t advantages arising from the developments in a vast te ritory on both sides of the Alleghanies. The first who sale business established bere is now the Kane & Keys Hardware Company, of which Jesse E. Keyser is pre dent. He has been a business factor in the locality sin 1901. At that time the corporation was started with capitalization of $100,000. The capital was raised to quarter of a million in 1921, but the official personi remains practically the same.

The normal territory served by this house is all Eastern West Virginia, a portion of Virginia and t western part of Maryland. A staff of five salesmen cov this region. The company handles an extensive line general hardware, and a large volume of the business in builders, mine and railroad supplies. Besides the hea quarters at Belington, the company maintains offices 107 Chambers Street, New York, in the Union Arca Building at Pittsburgh, and in the Continental & Co mercial National Bank Building in Chicago. Mr. Key: is a member of the National Hardware Jobbers Associati

Jesse E. Keyser has been a West Virginia busin man for nearly thirty years. He is a native of Ol and was born near Bellaire in Belmont County July 1863. The remote ancestor of the Keyser family sett in Philadelphia in 1688, coming from Amsterdam, H land, where he had been a silk manufacturer. The Keyser home is still standing on Germantown Avenue Philadelphia. The early generations of the Keysers w of the Quaker faith, consequently opposed to war and not participate in the Revolution, but later generati have departed somewhat from the anti-military custo and the family was represented on both sides in the C. war. The grandfather of the Belington business m was Jesse Keyser, who lost his life while raising a house in Belmont County, Ohio. Isaac Keyser, father Jesse E., was born in Belmont County, and his life v devoted to farming. He lived in Noble County, Ol from 1864 until his death in 1898, at the age of eigh five. He was a democrat and a member of the Presbyter Church. He married Monica Porterfield, who died j two weeks before him, at the age of seventy-eight. ] father, John Porterfield, arrived in New York City fi the North of Ireland in 1800 and settled in Belmont Cour Ohio. He married a member of the Robb family, pione. In the Porterfield family there were sixteen childi Isaac Keyser and wife had six children, and of these Je is the only survivor.

Jesse E. Keyser was reared and educated in Noble Con Ohio, attending the public schools and the Normal Sch at Sharon, Ohio. While in an office at Dover, Obio, learned telegraphy, and he earned his first money as telegraph operator in the service of the Cleveland, Lo1 and Wheeling Railroad, later the B. & O. system v which he was connected for three years. Later he was v the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, and was P that company eight years, chiefly in station work. His work for the railroad was at Hayward, Wisconsin.

From there Mr. Keyser came to West Virginia in 18 and, locating at West Union in Doddridge County, enga in the hardware and oil well supply business as a mem of the firm E. J. Kane and J. E. Keyser. Out of relationship has since developed the Kane & Keyser Ha ware Company, and in 1901 they moved their business Belington, where it has grown and prospered to the co: tion above noted.

Mr. Keyser and Mr. Kane came together from Ohio reached West Union at the time Coxey's Army was ma ing on to Washington, Mr. Keyser left the railroad s ice just before the big A. R. U. strike under Debs. TI young men were about the same age, had little cap. but a great deal of enterprise and confidence in the selves, and in spite of the business depression prevail

MR. AND MRS. THOMAS J. SHAW (From photographs taken about 1880)

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during most of the decade of the '90s, they more than realized their expectations, and out of their efforts has been developed the big wholesale house at Belington.

Mr. Keyser is also vice president of the First National Bank of Belington, of which he was one of the founders. He was a member of the City Council during the era of paving and sewerage construction. He has interested him- self in party politics only as a voter of the democratic faith, is a deacon in the Belington Presbyterian Church and a member of the Allegheny and Cheat Mountain Clubs and the Business Men's Club of Belington.

At West Union, June 27, 1900, Mr. Keyser married Miss Dagmar Neely, daughter of Alfred and Mary (Morris) Neely. She is a native of Doddridge County, where her father was a well known country physician. She finished ier education in the Fairmont State Normal School and was a teacher until her marriage. Mrs. Keyser is a sister oť Matthew M. Neely, former congressman from the First West Virginia District. Her sister, Delmond, is the wife of C. H. Jones, secretary-treasurer of the Kane & Keyser Hardware Company of Belington. Mrs. Keyser is a mem- er of the Daughters of the American Revolution, due to he service of her great-great-grandfather as a soldier in he war for independence. During the World war Mr. Keyser was active in home work, was a member of the Council of Defense, was vice chairman of the local Red Cross, and was chairman of the Y. M. C. A. drive and a worker in other local campaigns.

Mr. and Mrs. Keyser have two children. The son, Robb Veely, is a student in the Davis and Elkins College at Elkins. The daughter, Mary Monica, is a high school girl at Belington.

THOMAS J. SHAW. This is probably the last history of he State of West Virginia which will include representa- ion of surviving members of the Civil war. All these sur- 'ivors of the great conflict have passed the age of three core and ten. One of them, a highly honored citizen of Preston County, a retired farmer living in the Village of Denver, is Thomas J. Shaw, whose life as a civilian has een thoroughly worthy of his record as a soldier.

He was born in Preston County, Reno District, February :4, 1842. His grandfather, Thomas Shaw, was a native of England, spent many years as a sailor on the high seas, und after leaving the sea he lived near Philadelphia for , time and then came to West Virginia. He died in 1866 nd is buried in the Israel Cemetery in Reno District of Preston County. His children were Thomas A., Nicholas C., und Mary, who became the wife of Henson Pointer.

Thomas A. Shaw was born in Monongalia County, West Virginia, about 1820, moved from there to Preston County, where he married Rebecca Stillwell, whose father had come rom the vicinity of Philadelphia to Morgantown and later ettled in Preston County. Thomas A. Shaw for more han half a century was a farmer in the Reno District. Ie was one of the pioncers there, purchasing land covered with heavy timber, and every acre put in cultivation was he result of arduous work with the axe and other imple- ments required for clearing. He lived there until his death n 1897. He was a republican after that party came into xistence, and was a member of the Methodist Church. His vife died several years before him. Their children were: Eliza A., who married Christian Nine and is now living t Terra Alta; Thomas Jackson, Lemuel Clark, whose home s in Colorado; Mary Elizabeth and Rebecca Jane, twins, he former of whom died as the wife of Jacob Miller, while he latter is living in Reno District, the wife of James Braham; Mrs. Virginia Ford, of Reno District; Columbia, who first married Aaron Hardesty, then Mr. Bucklew, and nally Lloyd Bolyard, and is now living as a widow near 'ellowsville in Preston County; Melissa, Mrs. Alexander hahan, living not far from Fellowsville.

Thomas J. Shaw spent his youth in what might be ermed a backwoods district. As soon as he was old enough e handled the axe and other tools, assisting his father to lear away the timber and brush from their acreage ou he headwaters of the Sandy. He is a product, so far as is education is concerned, of one of the typical schools

of that generation. The community provided only an old log shack as a schoolhouse, its furnishings being split logs for benches, greased paper windows, a fireplace, the fuel for which had to be chopped by the older boys. In this rude temple of learning he studied a spelling book, learned a little writing and figuring, and he considered it a good record if he was permitted to attend school four days out of the week.

He had barely completed his experience in this school- house when the cloud of Civil war arose, and in 1863, when he was twenty-one, he volunteered for the defense of the flag in Company E of the Fifteenth West Virginia Infantry, under Captain Paul and Colonel Morris. He drilled with this company on Wheeling Island, went to Sir John's Run in Morgan County, then to the Big Kanawha, and from there the command was ordered to Lynchburg. He caught his first view of Confederate forces and engaged in his first battle at Cloyd Mountain. He also fought at Lynch- burg, Cedar Creek, Winchester, Hatchers Run, and in front of Richmond his division took the three Confederate forts of Harris, Gregg and Hill. Later his regiment was on a forced march to Appomattox, and his command came in contact with the enemy and had a skirmish before the final surrender. Thomas Shaw was in sight of the place where the negotiations for the surrender of Lee's army took place, and for a long time he owned a portion of a tree from McClain's orchard, the tree under which the terms of capitulation were written. After the surrender his regiment was sent to Wheeling, mustered out in June, 1865, and Mr. Shaw came out of the army with a record of active participation in thirteen different battles. His company went into service with 117 men, only 33 were mustered ont, and he was one of the three who escaped wounds.

As soon as his discharge was in his hand Mr. Shaw hur- ried home to help on the farm, finding the harvest ready, and he aided in putting it away. For a time he worked at the sawmill of Martin L. Shaffer, later cut timber, worked as a carpenter on several houses, and for some twenty years he put up a strenuous fight to win existence from an old farm on Brushy Ridge, where all the land had to be cleared before any crops could be raised. This was the strennous period of his existence, as he recalls it, since he worked from 4 in the morning until 8 at night, regardless of weather conditions. His grit and persistence while there laid the foundation of something like pros- rerity, and after he sold the coal under his land he estab- lished himself at Denver on a little farm; and here, too, the exertion of clearing had to be put forth before culti- vation could be practiced. Then for some years followed a successive program of crops, grain and stock, with sub- sequent purchases of more land from time to time, until the evening of life found him prepared with an ample competence and now, with the companionship of the wife of his youth, he is enjoying the comforts of a good resi- dence at Denver, and they look back over the past without regret and to the future without concern.

Thomas J. Shaw voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1864, while he was in the army. He has cast a vote at every suc- cessive national election, always in the same party faith. He has served as a trustee of the Methodist congregations at Denver and at Nazareth.

In Taylor County, near Grafton, Mr. Shaw married, on December 7, 1865, Miss Rosanna Rosier. She was born in Taylor County, daughter of John and Narcissus (Hull) Rosier. Her father was a native of Germany, was brought to the United States at the age of ten years, spent his active career as a farmer, and he and his wife are buried in the Knottsville graveyard. Their children were: Edgar Rosier, who served as a Union soldier and is living at Grafton; Sarah Ann, who died at Webster, West Virginia, wife of Balden Funk; Lemuel, also a Union soldier, who died in Taylor County; Mrs. Shaw, whose birth occurred April 10, 1844; Caroline, wife of Reuben Dillon, living near Knottsville; Sanford, of Grafton; Miss Hattie, liv- ing near Grafton; Amanda, who died unmarried; Jacob, a farmer at the old homestead in Grafton; and Belle, Mrs. Mart Thomas, of Fairmont.

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Mr. and Mrs. Shaw, who celebrated their golden wed- ding anniversary half a dozen years since, have one son, and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The son, Charles Franklin Shaw, was born at Austen, Pres- ton County, September 19, 1866, and is a successful mer- chant at Clarksburg. He married Cora Taylor, and their children are: Lula, Nellie Rose, Charles F., Jr., Carl J., and Ruby. The daughter Lula is the wife of Ned Edwards, and they have five children, named Catherine, Edward, Thomas, Susan and Lucile. Nellie Shaw married Roy Repard, and her children are Cloyd, Walter and Luella Jean. The grandson of Thomas J. Shaw, Carl J. Shaw, is married and has a daughter, Bettie.

CHARLES A. DUFFIELD. Three occupations, agriculture, merchandising and contracting, have occupied the activities of Charles A. Duffield, of Sutton, during a career that has heen prolific in achievement. In each of these fields of en- deavor he has won his way to the forefront through the exercise of close application, capacity for management and native ability, and also in each field he has maintained a well-earned reputation for high business principles and sound integrity. He also may lay claim to belonging to the self-made class, having worked his own way, unaided, to his present position.

Mr. Duffield is a product of the agricultural community of the section in which he now lives, having been born on a farm in Braxton County, June 15, 1873, a son of E. D. and Araminta (Keener) Duffield. His father was born in Clay County, West Virginia, in 1845, and as a youth came to Braxton County, where he married Miss Keener, who had been born in this county in 1850, and who, like himself, had received a country school education. After their marriage they settled down to farming, in addition to which Mr. Duffield also engaged in lumbering to some extent. Al- though he has reached his seventy-seventh year, he continues to be interested in agricultural matters and carries on opera- tions in Braxton County on quite an extensive scale. He is a democrat in his political allegiance, but has never taken other than a good citizen's interest in public affairs, having never been an office seeker. He and his worthy wife are faithful members of the Baptist Church. They have been the parents of ten children, of whom nine are living: Sarah J., the wife of James Smith; Charles A., of this review; Emma, the wife of Wilbur Eckle; John, a resident of Sutton; Clarence, a resident of Charleston; James A., engaged in merchandising at Sutton; Will; Robert, a rail- road man of Sutton; and Mollie, the wife of U. R. Duffield.

The childhood and youth of Charles A. Duffield were passed in the midst of an agricultural atmosphere, and his early education was acquired in the country schools. This was supplemented hy a course at the Mountain State Busi- ness College of Parkersburg, West Virginia, and when he graduated therefrom he adopted the vocation of teaching school in the country districts of Braxton County. The country at large is beginning to recognize more fully than formerly that no better preparation can be given a man for his life work, no matter in what arena, than that afforded in the labors of an educator. Learning to dis- cipline others, to impart to expanding minds many and varied facts, seem to give a man an insight into human nature and a knowledge of the motives which govern the masses. Mr. Duffield's experience in this line proved of great value to him when he later entered the business of lumber merchandising and water well contracting, fields in which he has risen to well-merited success. He has also found prosperity in his ventures as an agriculturist, and in each line his success has been all his own and by no means due to the assistance of others.

In October, 1902, Mr. Duffield was united in marriage with Miss Bessie Carper, who was born and reared in Braxton County, where she received her education in the common schools. To them have been born five children: Gertrude, who attended the State University and is a graduate of the Sutton High School, where she is now teaching a class; Genevieve, also a high school graduate. who is attending the State University; Joseph, who is at- tending high school; and Charles A., Jr., and Paul, who are

attending the graded schools. Mrs. Duffield is a member of the Baptist Church, and the children are being reared in that faith. Mr. Duffield in politics is a democrat, but has not been a seeker for public office.

THOMAS I. FEENEY. One of Burnsville's well-known and reliable business establishments, which has a record for straightforward dealing and honorable action, is the fur- niture and undertaking enterprise of the Feeney Furniture and Supply Company, Inc. The president of this business, whose name it bears, was born in Burnsville and has spent his entire life here with the exception of a short time during the World war and one year when he was absent in Fair- mont, and is well known to the citizens of this community, not only as a business man but as one who has contributed in the way of splendid public service to the growth, develop- ment and advancement of the town.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 103

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