History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 111

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William Janes was born in Cove District of Barbour County, spent his early life on the farm, and beyond the advantages of his immediate home community he had to depend on his own exertions for the higher education which he craved. After completing the work of the com- mon schools he taught school, his first school being in the Bull Run District in Tucker County. While teaching he attended the Fairmont Normal School, and in his senior year was given a scholarship under the Peabody fund as a student in the Peabody Normal College at Nashville, Ten- nessee. This appointment was conferred by the state superintendent of schools of West Virginia, and it paid in addition to the railroad fare both ways $100 a year toward the maintenance of a student in the Normal Col- lege. Mr. Janes continued his studies there two and one half years, and subsequently entered West Virginia Uni- versity, where he graduated A.B. in 1900, and subsequently received the law degree.

In the meantime he had done his duty as a volunteer soldier at the time of the Spanish-American war. He enlisted at Morgantown, and at Kanawha City was sworn in as a member of Company D of the First West Virginia Volunteers. The company was sent from Charleston to Chickamauga Park, Georgia, thence to Knoxville, Tennes- see, and to Columbus, Georgia, and he was in that camp until discharged in the spring of 1899. After leaving the army he returned to Morgantown to finish his university

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work. Mr. Janes taught for a brief time, and then located at Philippi, where for some time he was engaged in the business of securing options on coal lands. Thus he be- came interested in some of the companies that were or- ganized for the opening of mines and the development of the field. Although establishing himself in a business way in the community, he entered the practice of law, being admitted to the bar at Philippi. For a time he practiced with Senator W. H. Carter, now of Middlebourne. Mr. Janes has devoted his talent primarily to the business side of law and as a counsel and adviser rather than in court practice. Among other professional connections he is attorney for the Peoples Bank at Philippi and one of its directors.

Mr. Janes is a republican, and has done a great deal of work for the party, being acting secretary of the County Committee in 1904, and has been a delegate to congressional, judicial and other conventions. In politics he is primarily interested in good government, and puts the interest of the community and people above party.

The most notable era in the progressive administration of the municipal affairs at Philippi coincides with his term of mayor. He was elected mayor by the City Council iu 1918 as the successor of Brown Shafer. He then was elected by popular vote for five successive terms, now in 1922, serving his fifth term. Among other outstanding steps of his administration was the extension of the electric light plant, the power for which is purchased from the Monongahela Power Company. When he became mayor the income of the light plant was about $200 a month, and now the gross revenue from the same source is $1,400 a month. A sewerage system has been installed, providing not only for present needs but for future growth. About $20,000 bonded indebtedness has been discharged, and the outstanding debt of the city at the present time is $33,500. Altogether Philippi is on a sound financial basis, and is working out a program of municipal improvements that gives it rank among the best cities of its size in the state.

At the signing of the armistice closing the World war Mayor Janes issued a proclamation to the citizens of Philippi, and in the course of the proclamation he said : "The war is over, the rights of man have been vindicated, righteousness and the allied arms have triumphed. Despotic and imperial Germany has been crushed. Downtrodden man now stands erect on the broad plain of equal rights to all. American principles and American ideals have permeated the old world and the Declaration of Independ- ence has become the political textbook of all countries. It is right that we should be thankful and it is but right that we should celebrate this great world triumph with all that it means to humanity, and in order that we may more effectually do so I, William Janes, Mayor of the City of Philippi, call upon our citizens to take such steps to recognize the importance of the event by such public ceremonies as befit the occasion. "

October 2, 1901, Mr. Janes married Miss Jessie Lee Semmelman, a native of Barbour County, who was reared and educated there. Her father, Samuel L. Semmelman, was born in Baltimore, has spent most of his life as a merchant, coming to West Virginia when about twenty- one years of age, and for some years lived in Grafton, where he married and later was a mechant at Nestorville in Barbour County. He married Mollie (DeHaven) Hub- bard, widow of William Hubbard. Both of them now live in Philippi. Mrs. Semmelman by her first marriage has the following children: Granville Hubbard, of Delphi, In- diana; Perdita, who died as Mrs. Mont Burley; Nettie, Mrs. Howard Bailey, of Flemington; Mrs. Iva Marple, of Hamilton, Ohio. The Semmelman children are: Alice M., wife of J. C. Annon, of Philippi; Charles, of Columbus, Ohio; Mrs. William Janes; Mrs. Gay Murphy, of Philippi; John Semmelman, of Moatsville; and Carrie, wife of D. C. Gall of Philippi. Mr. and Mrs. Janes have one son, Aubrey Howard Janes, born August 15, 1902.

EDMOND ROGER DYER. In the course of a long and active life Edmond Roger Dyer has exercised his abilities in an unusually substantial range of duties and achieve-

ments. He has been a farmer and stockman, mill owner and operator, merchant, a leader in introducing and using new improvements, also a public official and liberal con- tributor to the educational advancement of his community and state. Mr. Dyer has been a citizen of Barbour County since 1886, and his home through these years has heen about two miles from the Court House at Philippi.

He was born iu Pendleton County January 25, 1851. Among his ancestors was at least one Revolutionary war soldier, and the Dyers have been in Virginia since Colonial times. One of the family name was at Fort Seybert during the Indian massacre. The grandfather of Edmond R. Dyer was Roger Dyer, who was born in Pendleton County, and died at the close of the Civil war, at the age of ninety-six. His active years were devoted to a farm. In politics he was first a whig and then a republi- can. He married a Miss Dyer, and both were of Scotch- Irish ancestry. This old couple are buried near Fort Sey- bert. Their sons were named Zebulon, James, Morgan and Allen. Their daughters were Susan, who married Jacob Trumbo, and Dianna and Mary, who died unmarried.

Allen Dyer, father of Edmond R., was a native of Pen- dleton County, spent his active life there on a farm, and is buried near Fort Seybert in the same county. He served a brief time as a Confederate soldier toward the close of the Civil war. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Allen Dyer died in 1907, at the age of ninety-one. He married Martha Miller, a daughter of John Miller, and she died in January, 1894. They reared four sons and four daughters, and the six surviving children are: Edmond R .; Mary M., who mar- ried C. K. Switzer, of Philippi; Dianna, who is the wife of W. A. Judy, of Pendleton County; Susan L., wife of Elias Mcwhorter, of Mcwhorter, West Virginia; Florence, wife of Isaac E. Bolton, of Morgantown; and W. M., of Pendleton.

Edmond R. Dyer spent his early life on his father's farm, attended the country schools, and lived at home until past his majority. His early training was largely that of manual labor, and through farm work he earned his first money. His independent career may be said to have begun when he engaged in merchandising at Pendleton. He remained there until 1883, and then moved to Lewis County and was a merchant at Jane Lew four years. From there 'he came to Barbour County in 1886 and established his home on a farm two miles from Philippi while his home has been in the country, few city men have had wider interests in the program of important affairs. In his home neigh- borhood he developed what is practically an industrial suburb of Philippi. There he built a gristmill, sawmill aud planingmill, erecting the Dyer Mill in 1890, and he still continues this operation. He also opened a store, but abandoned merchandising after 1902. Since then his business interests have been associated with his farm, his live stock and his mill.

His progressive character is illustrated in the fact that he was the first farmer to introduce such modern machinery as the grain drill and the tractor, and his reaper was one of the first in the county. The Delco Lighting Com- pany declares that his was the first residence in West Virginia equipped with a Delco lighting system. The first residence telephone was also placed in his home. He and another party started the first telephone line in Barbour County. In Philippi, Mr. Dyer took part in the organiza- tion of the Citizens National Bank, and has been vice president and one of the directors of that institution from the beginning.

One of the outstanding qualities of his good citizenship has been his deep interest in matters of education. He was elected and served for eight years as president of the Board of Education for the Philippi District. He was also associated with a group of citizens in Philippi in building up a college center in that town. These men purchased the property of Broaddus College at Clarksburg, and secured the relocation of the institution at Philippi His was one of the first live subscriptions to the college fund

Mr. Dyer gave the people of Barbour County a highly efficient administration in the office of sheriff, to which he

John A. Whittaker.

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as elected in 1904, succeeding Sheriff Isaac C. Woodford, od served four years. He was elected as a republican, and as been affiliated with that party since young manhood.

In Lewis County, West Virginia, June 22, 1882, Mr. Dyer arried Miss Philena McWhorter, a member of a very d and prominent family of the state. Her father, Mans- eld Mcwhorter, was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal hurch and married Sarah Ann Davis. Both are buried at cWhorter in Harrison County. Mrs. Dyer was born in ewis County June 14, 1858, the only child of her parents, id was reared and educated at Jane Lew.

In some respects the outstanding achievement of Mr. and rs. Dyer is the splendid family of children they have ared and prepared for the serious duties of life. These tildren are twelve in number, and there are now a number : grandchildren. The oldest child is Otto M., of Buck- innon, who married Grace Proudfoot, and their children 'e: Mansfield Mcwhorter, Delbert Proudfoot, Otto Mc- "horter and John Edmond. The second child, Allen M., in e transfer business at Philippi, married Venna Burner and is four children, Arthur Burner, Mary Louise Allen Miller id Philena Grace. Audrey, the third of the family, is the ife of J. Stanley Corder, cashier of the People's Bank : Philippi, and they have a daughter, Ruth Reynolds. ary was married to T. A. Wilson, of Kingwood, and she the mother of two daughters, Sallie Lue and Philena Sue. oscoe F., the fifth of this family, is in the dairy business Clarksburg, and by his marriage to Maud Woodford has ildren named Sarabel, Lucille, Irene, Inajane and Edmond oscoe. Martha Dyer was married to M. M. Strader, of hilippi, and has two daughters, Rosa Lee and Alberta. ith is Mrs. Henry J. Peterson, of Graham, Texas. Paul d, the eighth child, is a farmer near Philippi and married a Martin. The younger children, all still in the home rele, are Annie Lee and Harry (twins), Clifford A. and cphen.

JOHN W. WHITTAKER, manager of the Whittaker Gro- ry Company of Terra Alta, has had an earnest and hard orking career, and has progressed from a boy laborer in e mines through successive grades of commercial enter- ise, until the net results of his life's activities in Pres- n County comprise an impressive achievement and a place honor in the community.

He was born at Austen, Preston County, December 24, 67. His father, Joseph M. Whittaker, spent all his active e as a miner and mine foreman. A native of England, came to the United States at the age of twenty-five, and ent the rest of his career at Austen, West Virginia, in e mines of that locality. He died in 1901. His wife, izabeth Price, was a native of Wales and came to the nited States when a girl of five years. She died in 1916, ed seventy-three. Their children were: Anna, wife of . D. Montgomery, of Tunnelton; John W .; Mary Sophia, dow of G. M. Renshaw, of Pomeroy, Ohio; Martha Ellen, fe of B. F. Renshaw, of Newburg, West Virginia; Joseph ., of Lorain, Ohio; Edward, a mine foreman at Tun- Iton; and William, of Bradley, Ohio.

John W. Whittaker lived in a miner's home in the en- ronment of a busy mining district at Austen, attended e common schools there and during intervals did what ork he was able to do in the mines. At the age of fifteen

began earning his living, his first work being as a trapper" in the mines, following which he was a coal uler and coal miner. After four years in the practical le of coal mining, during which time he gave his earn- gs to the support of the family, he took a place in the ine company's store at Austen, clerking for two years, d then acting as buyer. After five years with the min- g company's store a shortage of work caused a shut- wn of the commercial establishment, and Mr. Whittaker, ing his own modest savings and borrowing other capital, arted business for himself at Tunnelton under the name hn W. Whittaker. He was a merchant there seven years id built up a large and successful establishment, finally lling to A. J. Bonafield, whose son is a leading coal erator in that vicinity. After leaving his own business r. Whittaker went on the road as a traveling salesman

for Pugh & Beavers, of Terra Alta, wholesale grocers. During the next five years he built up a large business for the firm in West Virginia and Maryland, and was then taken into partnership, the name of the house being changed to the Pugh & Beavers Grocery Company. A branch house was established at Grafton and another at Elkins in 1906, Mr. Whittaker remaining as manager of the Terra Alta business. He continued in that capacity for ten years, and in December, 1916, he and his associate, Mr. Wotring, bought the Terra Alta house, the result of that deal being the present Whittaker Grocery Company, of which Mr. Whittaker is manager and Mr. Wotring accountant and office man. Under the energetic administration of Mr. Whittaker and his partner this business has grown apace, and it is already in excess of its warehouse and office facilities at Terra Alta. The company has an extensive trade over a district twenty-five miles north and south of Terra Alta, and along some seventy-five miles of railroad. Mr. Whittaker is also a stockholder and is vice president of the Terra Alta Bank, with the management of which he has been identified for several years.

His participation in politics has been only that of a re- publican voter, and only once did he consent to accept pub- lic office, one term on the common council. During that term the council eliminated the cigarette license, making it unlawful for a cigarette to be sold within the corporate limits, an ordinance still prevailing. Mr. Whittaker is a member of the Masonic Order, Knights of Pythias and Odd Fellows. He was reared a Methodist and for many years has been active in the church of that denomination at Terra Alta, serving on the church board a dozen years, and for thirteen years has been superintendent of the Sunday School and twice has been a delegate to the West Virginia Conference.

January 22, 1892, at Newburg, Mr. Whittaker married Miss Mary Jane Hebb, daughter of Sibrant and Ellen (Blackburn) Hebb, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Of the children born to their marriage, the oldest is Percey, now a traveling salesman for the Whittaker Grocery Company and who was in camp at Parkersburg getting ready for service in the World war, but was never called out. He married Nellie Shaffer, and they have a daughter, Ilene, and twins, Percy H., Jr., and Betty Jean. The second child, Bernice Marie, is in the service of the National Home and School Association of New York City, an organization for the purpose of drawing the school and home closer together. The third child, Elsie Elizabeth, is the wife of H. H. Parsons, bill clerk of the Whittaker Grocery Com- pany. The two younger children are Paul H. and John W., Jr., both in grade school at Terra Alta.

PHILIP A. SWITZER. When a boy just in his "teens" Philip A. Switzer worked in and had the chief responsibili- ties of mechanical management of a country mill. After that he was otherwise engaged, picking up a somewhat varied experience in business, but milling has remained his chief occupation. He is one of the prominent men of Philippi in the suburban industrial village of Mansfield, where he is a member of the firm E. R. Dyer & Company, millers and lumber dealers.

Mr. Switzer was born in Pendleton County, at Upper Tract, June 15, 1857. His father, David N. Switzer, was a native of Hardy County, West Virginia, and was of Swiss ancestry. He married Frances Wilson, also a native of Hardy County and of an old family of Western Virginia. David Switzer was a miller, and lost his life by accident in 1859, when the mill headgate fell upon him. His wife sur- vived and died at the village of Mansfield in 1900, when eighty-five years old. Her children were: Miss Mary, de- ceased; Virginia A., who was the wife of John A. W. Dyer, of Mulvane, Kansas; Daniel S., who died unmarried at the age of twenty-five; David P., who became a miller and died at Spencer, West Virginia; Jesse O., who died in Har- rison County; Gabriel T., who died in Pomona, California, leaving a son, Claude; Charles K., of Philippi, who married Minnie Dyer and has three daughters; and Philip Anderson.

Philip A. Switzer grew up in Pendleton County, attended the free schools for four months each year, and was

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thirteen years old when he took charge of the operation of an old water mill at Upper Tract. He remained at that work about a year, and subsequently was placed in a coun- try store and had a considerable mercantile experience in different parts of Pendleton County. His first independent experience as a merchant was in partnership with Edmond R. Dyer, his present partner. For about four years they conducted a business at Ruddle, until Mr. Dyer left the county. Mr. Switzer was then a member of the firm Snell and Switzer, wholesale and retail grocery merchants at Har- risonburg, Virginia, for about two years. Leaving there he returned to Pendleton County, and in the fall of 1888 engaged in milling, conducting the mill of E. D. Ruddle until March, 1891.

At the latter date Mr. Switzer again became associated with Mr. Dyer at Philippi, and for over thirty years has been a partner in the Dyer Mill at Mansfield. This milling enterprise is the chief feature in that community and com- prises a flourmill, with a capacity of fifty barrels daily, a sawmill and planingmill. The output of these mills is sold almost entirely in the local market. With a record of over thirty years operation the plant has never shut down except for repairs, and has proved itself one of the large, healthy and growing concerns of Barbour County. Around the mills and depending upon them as the chief source of livelihood has sprung up a village com- munity. Mr. Switzer is a partner with his brother C. K. Switzer in the Mansfield Mercantile Company, conducting a mercantile business in the village of Mansfield.

Mr. Switzer is a business man and has never been what might be called a leader in politics, though he has per- formed his duty when required. He served as a member of the County Court of Barbour County from 1910 to 1916, and during the last year was chairman of the court. During his term the old bonded debt of the county was liquidated. and the last of the railroad bonds were paid off. Mr. Switzer was elected as a democrat in a district normally re- publican by more than 400, and his own majority was 430. His colleagues on the board were E. A. Waugh, Z. Taylor Crouso, L. P. Bennett and William Serimgeour.

July 1, 1887, Mr. Switzer married at Baltimore, Mary- land, Miss Rachel Virginia McClung, who was born in Highland County, Virginia, and was reared in Pendleton County, West Virginia. Her father, Silas B. McClung, has spent his life as a farmer and is living in Pendleton County at the age of eighty-eight. He was a Confederate soldier go- ing into the war at the beginning and doing his duty in the Army of Northern Virginia until the close of the struggle, and was never wounded. He married Miss Nannie Lemmon, of an old family of Botetourt County, Virginia. She died in 1916. Her children were: Mrs. Switzer, who was born January 20, 1869; Warren, who died in Pendleton County in May, 1921; Clarence, a farmer on the old McClung home- stead in Pendleton County; Josie, who married Rev. William Compton, of Jarrettsville, Maryland; Henry McClung, of Los Angeles, California; and Edgar, a traveling salesman out of Chicago.

Mr. and Mrs. Switzer have reared three children, all of whom are now established in vocations or homes of their own. The oldest is Lena Virginia, connected with the auditing department of the Income Tax Bureau of the U. S. Treasury Department. The son, Charles MeC., graduated from Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Vir- ginia, in 1915, and on August 25 of that year became a chemist in the laboratories of the Dupont Corporation, con- tinuing with that great industry until 1920 and is now a manufacturer of cellulose product at Rutherford, New Jersey. The youngest child, Ethel C., is the wife of Austin C. Merrill, deputy United States clerk at Philippi.

Mr. and Mrs. Switzer are members of the Crim Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Philippi. In Masonry he is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling, is a past noble grand of Philippi Lodge No. 59, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is a member of the Encampment of that order, and is a charter member and for ten years has been recordkeeper of the Knights of the Maccabees.

J. BLACKBURN WARE has earned a deservedly high pla in the bar of West Virginia during the twenty odd yea he has practiced. At the same time he has exercised & important influence in republican politics, has served : mayor of Philippi, has labored consistently for education advancement, and at all times has endeavored to give ( his talents in proportion to his abilities.

Mr. Ware was born near Belington on a farm in Barbol County, November 15, 1872. His grandfather was Jam R. Ware, one of the strong and rugged citizens and cha acters of his time. He was a farmer, a man of great energy and endurance, and was described as "straight a an Indian" when he died at the age of seventy-five. B lived in Randolph and Barbour counties, and is buried nea Belington. He married Dorothy Mace, and they reared family of twelve children.

Ellihue Ware, father of the Philippi lawyer, was bord in Randolph County, grew up during the Civil war, an consequently had a limited education in schools. For man years he was a farmer in the Belington locality, but in 189 moved into that town and was a merchant there until 192. He has been a good citizen, a republican voter and a men ber of the United Brethren Church. Ellihue Ware marrie Lucretia Booth, a daughter of James Booth, whose wif was a Yeager. Mrs. Ellihue Ware died in 1890. Of her six children only three grew to mature years: William G pastor of the United Brethren Church at Fairmont; ¿ Blackburn; and Roxanna, who died in 1917, wife of Fran Luzader.

J. Blackburn Ware laid the foundation of his education in the country schools near his birthplace. He also at tended the old Normal and Classical Academy at Buckhar non, maintained by the United Brethren Church, and wa teacher after graduating. His last work as teacher wa done at Belington, where he was principal of schools. Thi was followed by taking the law course in West Virginia Un versity at Morgantown, where he graduated in 1897. MJ Ware was admitted to practice in Tucker County, and wal at Parsons as a spectator in the murder trial of Robert East man for the murder of Thompson. This was one of th famous criminal trials in the history of that locality, anh there was an imposing array of counsel on both sides of the case. In the spring of 1898, Mr. Ware established him self in practice at Belington, where he remained for ter years. He began practice alone, and subsequently was asso ciated with J. A. Viquesney, under the firm name of War and Viquesney, until that partnership was dissolved by th appointment of Mr. Viquesney as game warden of Wes Virginia. Mr. Ware then moved to Philippi, in 1909, her he has enjoyed a busy career as a lawyer, not only in the state and local courts, but in the Federal courts as well, hav ing been admitted to practice in the Federal courts soon after his admission to the state bar. The greater part o his law business has been in the civil, and in the crimina law he has been associated chiefly in the defense, though i one or two noted cases he was on the side of the prosecution

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 111

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