History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 12

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For a number of years Mr. Hissam had owned a farm of a hundred and forty acres at Dry Run in Tyler County. This came within the area of oil prospecting, and after oil was developed on the farm Mr. Hissam sold the property in 1907, though retaining his oil royalties. A number of wells were drilled there and one is still producing. In 1907 Mr. Hissam bought another farm of two hundred and fifty acres on Middle Island Creek, six miles south of Sistersville, and he still owns and operates this property. In connection with farming he was for about two years rather extensively engaged in the lumber business, buying tracts of standing timber in Tyler County and having it cut, logged and sawed. He was in this business from 1917 until the fall of 1919.

In 1910 Mr. Hissam was elected commissioner of the County Court, and filled that office six years with credit. August 29, 1919, he was appointed postmaster of Sistersville, his name standing first on the list of the classified civil service. In 1905 the Town Council of Sistersville appointed him assessor, an office he filled one year, and at the same time was deputy county assessor.

Mr. Hissam is a democrat, is an elder in the Christian Church of Sistersville, a member of Sistersville Lodge No. 333, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Kiwanis Club and the Sistersville Country Club. He owns a modern home on Cemetery Road. During the war he was a participant in every drive, being a member of the committee for the first Liberty Loan drive in Union District, and district chairman of all the other loan campaigns. He was chairman

of the Little Buffalo School District for the Y. M. C. A. drive, was captain of a team for the Red Cross campaigns, was a member of the Tyler County Council of Defense, and a Four Minute speaker. He and Mrs. Hissam used their car almost constantly in some of the many phases of patriotic endeavor during this period.

March 28. 1889, at Sistersville, Mr. Hissam married Miss Eunice M. Calhoun, daughter of John C. and Jane (Clark) Calhoun. Her father, now deceased, was a steamboat engineer for many years. Her mother lives with Mr. and Mrs. Hissam. Mr. and Mrs. Hissam have an interesting family of eight children. The oldest, Paul B., was a soldier boy, and his record is given a paragraph by itself. Grace is the wife of Ira W. Moore, an oil field worker in Tyler County; Bernice is the wife of Garnett H. Hadley, an oil field worker living near Sistersville. Eugenie is the wife of Neil E. Riggs, a glass worker at Sistersville. Ellen is a student in the Sistersville High School, while the younger children are Benjamin L., born March 1, 1908; George R., born June 9. 1911, and Sam, born June 12, 1915.

Paul B. Hissam, who was born June 4, 1894, enlisted in January, 1917, hefore America entered the war with Ger- many. He was first sent to Fort Leavenworth, then to Camp Jackson and Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina, then to Camp Upton on Long Island, and in July, 1918, embarked for overseas, going to France by way of England. He wa in the Field Signal Corps with the Second Army Corps, and was brigaded with the British on the San Quentin and Cam- hrai sectors. He remained there until the armistice was signed. and was returned home in April, 1919, and mustered out with the rank of corporal at Camp Dix, New Jersey. He now lives at Falcon, Kentucky, being assistant foreman for the Petroleum Exploration Company.

HUGH H. STEELE is an influential figure in connection with the industrial and general business activities of the thriv- ing little City of Richwood. Nicholas County, where he is president of the Fulton Manufacturing Company, manu- facturers of clothespins and butter dishes.

Mr. Steele claims the old Keystone State of the Union as the place of his nativity, his birth having occurred at Ham- mond, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, on the 27th of June, 1879. He is a son of Frank and Emmer (Hammond) Steels, both likewise natives of Pennsylvania, where the former was born at Mountain Lake, Bradford County, January 22, 1855, and the latter was born March 10, 1855, at Ham- mond. The Hammond family has been one of prominence in Pennsylvania since the day of William Penn, and in its honor the native place of the subject of this sketch was named. Frank Steels became successfully engaged in the lumber business at Hammond, Pennsylvania, and developed a prosperous enterprise also as a carpenter and builder. He and his wife still reside at that place, both being members of the Baptist Church, and he is a republican in politics.

Of their five children two died in early childhood. Of the three surviving children Hugh H., of this review, is the eldest; Robert is a successful physician and surgeon engaged In practice in the City of Chicago; and Marguerite, who holds a position in one of the Government offices in the City of Washington, has supplemented her high-school edu- cation by attending Georgetown University. .

After profiting by the advantages of the public schools of his native state Hugh H. Steele completed a course in business college. and at the age of sixteen years ha initi- ated his connection with railroad work, with which he con- tinned to he identified ten years. He then took a position with the Locke Insulator Company at Victor, New York. and later he held a responsible position in the general of. fices of the Dodge Clothespin Company at Codersport. Penn- sylvania, where he remained thus engaged until 1912. He then came to Richwood, West Virginia. and took a minor office position with the Fulton Manufacturing Company with which he won advancement to the office of secretary and of which he has been the president since June 22, 1921. He has played an influential part in the upbuilding of the substantial business of this corporation, and is one of the vital and progressive citizens and business men of Rich-, wood. His political allegiance is given to the republican

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HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

party, he has received the thirty-second degree in the Scott- ish Rite of the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife are zealous members of the Presbyterian Church at Richwood, in which he is serving as a deacon.

On the 16th of January, 1906, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Steele and Miss Breunle, who likewise was born and reared in Pennsylvania, and the one child of this union is a daughter, Eileen C., who was born December 5, 1907, and who is, in 1922, a student in the Richwood High School.

CHARLES LESTER BROADWATER is one of the most prom- inent figurea in the educational affairs of West Virginia today. He is a comparatively young man, now in the prime of his usefulness, and has been teaching and engaged in edu- cational administration for twenty years.

Mr. Broadwater, who is principal of the Tyler County High School at Middlebourne, was born near Harrisville in Ritchie County, West Virginia, September 26, 1883. The Broadwaters are an old Colonial Virginia family, coming from Broadwater Parish, Sussex County, England, about 1630. The first immigrant, Charles Broadwater, who received a patent of 40.000 acres of land in Virginia, brought over a shipload of immigrants. His patent is on record at Rich- mond, Virginia. In 1754 one Charles Broadwater furnished & horse for the Braddock campaign. This same Charles was elected vestryman in the Episcopal Church and at the same time that George Washington was elected to a like office, 1765. The vote is recorded in the Episcopal History of Virginia for twelve vestrymen, Washington being fifth with 265 votes, and Charles Broadwater being sixth, with 254 votes. Mr. Broadwater is represented by ancestora in the Revolution and the War of 1812. The great-grandfather of Charles L. Broadwater served at the defense of Fort Mc- Henry when the British attacked it in 1814. He emigrated 'rom Virginia to Western Maryland on account of dislike of slavery. He was the ancestor of the West Virginia Broad- waters. His grandfather was Peter Broadwater, who was born in Garrett County, Maryland, in 1823, and as a young nan moved to Ritchie County, West Virginia, where he narried and became a farmer. He was accompanied by wo brothers, who also became West Virginia farmers, one, Jefferson, settling near Pennsboro, and the other, Ashford, in McKim Creek in Tyler County. The first wife of Peter Broadwater, who died near Harrisville in 1860, was Love Taylor, a lifelong resident of Ritchie County. His second vife, grandmother of Charles L. Broadwater, was Fannie Malone, who was born near Harrisville, the daughter of ames Malone, at one time a representative in the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Charles Broadwater, father of Charles L., was born near Harrisville October 27, 1857, and has spent all is life in hat community, an industrious and respected farmer. He 3 still on his farm between Harrisville and Ellenboro. He a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a epublican in politics. Charles Broadwater married Miss Cliza Wagner, who was born near Harrisville and died in 887. Her two children were: Charles L. and Ellis A. The itter was born in 1885 and died on the homestead farm in 907. The second wife of Charles Broadwater waa Emily i. Patton, a native of Ritchie County, where she died in 901. She was the mother of four children, the oldest being ennie, wife of J. Fred Starr, a painter and carpenter at [arrisville. The second, Hayward S., now in the hardware usineas at Mannington, was a non-commissioned officer in le Intelligence Service of the Three Hundred and Twentieth ifantry, Eightieth, or Blue Ridge, Division, apending a ear in France, and took part in the battle of Arras with the ngliah and in the St. Mihiel and Argonne campaigna. He 88 also a sharpshooter, and was muatered out with the rank corporal. The third child, Fannie, is the wife of George [oore, a farmer near Harrisville, and Bernard B. now lives ith his father. Charles Broadwater in 1904 married for a third wife Miaa Lizzie Maxwell, a native of Preston ounty.

Charles Lester Broadwater apent his youth on his father's rm and his early advantages were supplied by the rural hools of Ritchie County. In 1907 he graduated in the

academic and normal coursea from Marshall College at Huntington, paying hia expenses through Marshall College and through his subsequent university career by his own earnings. In 1913 he received his A. B. degree from West Virginia University, and was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity there. He was also president of the senior class. Later, by several terms of residence atudy, Mr. Broadwater won the Master of Arts degree from Columbia University of New York City in 1918.

He taught his first achool at Smithville in Ritchie County in 1900. For four years he was in rural school work in Ritchie County, and from 1907 to 1911 was principal of the high school of New Martinaville, and from 1913 to 1918 was principal of the Mannington High School. Mr. Broadwater has been principal of the Tyler County High School since 1918. This is a high school of the first class, has a teaching staff of eleven, and a scholarship enrollment of 193.

Mr. Broadwater'a unusual qualificationa were strongly urged during his candidacy for the republican nomination for state superintendent of schools in 1920. He is a mem- ber of the National Education Association and the State Education Association. He is president of the Northwestern Teachers Association of West Virginia, 1921-22.

During the World war Mr. Broadwater was chairman of the Speakers Bureau of the western end of Marion County, chairman of the Four Minute men of Mannington, and employed all his personal talents to support the Government and the local campaigns for the various causea. He is a republican, a member of the Official Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Middlebourne, and since 1911 has been a member of Wetzel Lodge No. 39, A. F. and A. M., at New Martinsville. He is also a member and was manager in 1913, of the West Virginia University Dramatic Club.

August 23, 1913, at New Martinsville, he married Miss Helen V. Williams, daughter of Evan A. and Emma (Moore) Williams, residents of Middlebourne, where her father is a dairyman. Mr. and Mrs. Broadwater have three children: Charles L., Jr., born November 26, 1914; Daniel W., born May 9, 1917; and Eugene S., born December 7, 1918.

OaRIN BRYTE CONAWAY, a Middlebourne attorney and prosecuting attorney of Tyler County, represents an Ameri- can and English lineage embracing men and women of the highest distinction for four centuries or more.

Conaway is a form of spelling adopted by the founder of the Virginia line, though other branches of the America fam- ily have followed the more usual spelling, Conway. Another variant of the name is Conweye. The derivation is from "Con" a Celtic word meaning head or chief, and "wy" a river. The original form of the name was therefore Conwy. In North Wales there is a river and a town called Conway. Sir Edward Conway was knighted in 1596 for prowess in Spain, where he was deputy governor. He was Baron Con- way of Ragley, Warwick, and Viscount Conway of "Conwa Castell" in Wales. Sir Edward married Dorathe, heiress of Sir John Tracy. Lord Conway of Ragley was a friend of Penn and of Henry Moore, a Platonist who apent much of his time in Ragley, which he called a center of devotion and a paradise of peace and piety. Lady Conway was said to be a sister of the Earl of Nottingham.

Lancaster and Spottsylvania counties, Virginia, have always been strongholds of the Conways, Edwin Conway or Conaway, as he wrote his name, came to Virginia in 1640 from Worcester County, England. Sometimes he also apelled his name Conneway. He appears in the Northampton Records in June, 1642, aa "Mr. Edwyn Conway, Clarke (clerk) of this Com." He married in England Martha Eltonhead of Eltonhead. His second wife was a aister or near relative of the well known John Carter of the Carter family, and descendants of this line of Conwaya have it all their own way when seeking admission to patriotic societies. In the various generations the family held in turn every office in the gift of the people. Edwin Conway was the third clerk of Northampton County, and while he wrote a bad hand "it was not so bad as Thomas Cooke's, another clerk." Edwin died in Lancaster County in 1675.

Edwin second, born in 1654, married two wives, Sarah Fleete and Elizabeth Thompson. From Edwin and Eliza-

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

beth descended James Madison, president of the United States. Nellie Conaway or Eleanor Rose Conway, as some historians name her, was of the fourth generation from Edwin. She was a daughter of Francis Conway and mar- ried at the age of eighteen Colonel James Madison, and their son was president of the United States. She died at Montpelier in 1829, lacking two days of being a hundred years old. Martha Thompson, who married James Taylor, was mother of Frances Taylor, who married Ambrose Madison, grandfather of the President. This is the Taylor family which gave another president to the United States.

Eltonhead Conaway, daughter of the Virginia pioneer, Edwin, married Henry Thacker, who was clerk of the Vir- ginia Council. The Thackers were large land owners in Virginia, and Colonel Edwin Thacker, born in 1695, was a burgess sheriff of Middlesex County and a vestryman of Christ Church.

Colonel Edwin Conaway, of the third generation, was prominent in state and church, a member of the House of Burgesses for many years. He was born in Lancaster County and married Anna Ball, half sister of Mary Ball, mother of Washington. The marriage papers of Anna Conaway, daugh- ter of Colonel Edwin, are preserved in Virginia Archives and are interesting documents. The father's consent to her marriage is given in a paper of some length and its seal dis- plays the arms of the family. Of this coat of arms some one has written: "It indicates a branch of Lord Conway's family, replanted and grown to another tree and requiring Arms of its own for legal purposes."

Another family of Conways not descended from Edwin of Lancaster was also in Virginia. The two families have a common origin. Edwin of Lancaster descended from the Lords Conway who traced back to that Edwin Conway who married Anna, daughter and heiress of Richard Burdett of Warwick. One of the King's Commissioners for Virginia, 1609-20, was Sir Edward Conway, and associated with him was Captain Thomas Conway. They were probably brothers. Two of the name, and brothers, who settled in North Carolina were related to the Marquis of Hertford. The Pennsylvania branch of the family claims William Conway, born in the Valley of the Clyde, Wales, and who came to America before 1770, was a soldier in the Revolution and married Ruth Adams, a native of Pennsylvania. Of this line were Dr. Thomas Conway and William, who married Isabella Armour, of Irish descent. New England also had its Conways. One, William Conway, born in Camden, Maine, in 1802, was a sailor for forty years.

The Conways in all generations have been stanch patriots. Among those in the Revolution were Lieutenant Joseph, a near relative of Nellie Conway Madison; Lieutenant James and General Henry, who received for services to the State of Virginia 4,66633 acres of land. New Jersey's representative in the war was Lieutenant Colonel John Conway.

Among marriage connections of the Southern branch of the Conways are the families of the Fitzhughs, Blackwells, Stan- nards, Spanns and Daniels. The distinguished author Mon- cure Daniel Conway, who at the age of eighteen wrote a pamphlet entitled "Free Schools in Virginia" that was pro- nounced a masterly argument and undoubtedly influenced the establishment of such schools in the state, was a native of and represented a prominent branch of the Conway family in Stafford County, Virginia, and his mother was a daughter of John Moncure Daniel, who served as surgeon general in the War of 1812 and was a granddaughter of Thomas Stone, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Some branches of the Conways claim royal descent from Edward I through the Byrds, Beverleys and Nevilles. One Conway will directs that forty shillings be paid "Mr. David Currie if he will read my burial; I would not have a funeral sermon."

There must have been just one black sheep in the Conway family, since in a will one member is cut off by his father with the traditional shilling. The coat of arms of the Conway family, preserved in several documents in the Virginia State Archives, is recorded: "Sable on a band argent, cotised ermine, a rose, gules, between two amulets of the last." Crest: "A Moor's head, sidefaced proper, banded round the temples, argent and azure." The motto: "Fide et amore."

The Conaways have been in Tyler County, West Virginia, for several generations. Eli Conaway was born in that county,

and spent his life there as a farmer. He married Perthena A. Ruffner. Their son, Charles I. Conaway, was born in Tyler County in 1844 and died in 1894, and during his active life was both a merchant and farmer. He married Elizabeth Virginia Stealey.

Orrin Bryte Conaway, fifth of the ten children of his parents, was born in Tyler County June 21, 1879. He attended the public schools, graduated in 1900 from West Virginia Wesleyan College at Buckhannon and subsequently entered West Virginia University at Morgantown, from which he received his A. B. degree in 1903 and his LL. B. degree in 1906. Since his graduation Mr. Conaway has been indus- triously engaged in professional work at Middlebourne. He has served as mayor of that town, and is now in his third term as prosecuting attorney of Tyler County.

Mr. Conaway is member of the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity, and has served on the Official Board of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church. March 8, 1911, at Middlebourne, he married Maude K. Carpenter, daughter of J. S. and Frances (Kramer) Carpenter. Mr. and Mrs. Conaway have had two children: Helen K., born January 11, 1912, and died February 8, 1920, and Orrin Bryte, Jr., born February 14, 1918.

ALBIN H. SMITH is a native of Tyler County, where during his young manhood he taught school, later graduated in pharmacy, for a number of years has been in the drug business and is now proprietor of the leading drug store of Middle- bourne.

He was born at Wick in Tyler County July 23, 1889. His grandfather, Henry Smith, was born in Pennsylvania in 1814, and was an early day farmer in the Frew community of Tyler County where he lived until his death in 1896. Finton A. Smith, better known to his friends as "Bose," is a resident of Frew, where he was born March 9, 1854, and his home all his life has been at Frew and Wick. He is a skillful house painter by trade, and has performed that essential service for many years, including much work in Middlebourne and vicinity .. He is a republican in politics. Finton A. Smith married Miss Maggie Robinson, who was born at Wick April 20, 1863. They became the parents of five children: Olive, wife of J. Kenneth McCoy, a druggist at Fairview in Marion County; Albin H .; Gertrude, who died at the age of nine years; Miss Floy, a graduate nurse in charge of a ward in the Ohio Valley Hospital at Wheeling; and Frank H., an apprentice druggist. under his brother.

Albin H. Smith was educated in the rural schools to the age of seventeen. He taught one year at Blue and for three years in his home district at Frew. In 1912 he graduated with the degree Ph. G. from the Valparaiso University School of Phar- macy. He then returned to West Virginia and clerked in a drug store at Fairview in Marion County until stricken with typhoid fever three weeks later. After recovering he was for three years a drug clerk in the Opera Drug store at Sisters- ville, then for three months in George Phillips' store at St. Marys in Pleasants County, and after that did relief work in Fayette and McDowell counties until 1915. In that year Mr. Smith removed to Middlebourne, and for four years was associated as an employe with the drug store of Charles D. Eastman. He then bought a half interest in the store and in December, 1920, became full proprietor and is now at the head of a prosperous business.

Mr. Smith is a republican, a member of the Methodisi Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with Middlebourne Lodge No. 34, F. and A. M. In June, 1915, at New Martinsville, he married Miss Nina White, daughter of Hamilton and Florinda (Hall) White. Her parents now live at Sistersville and her father is a veteran Union soldier. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have three children: Harold Eugene, born March 4, 1916; Charle: A., born in 1917; and Maurice F., born August 24, 1919.

JOE WILLIAMS is founder and publisher of the Pleasant County Leader, the second oldest but the largest newspape in point of circulation and influence in Pleasants County an in fact one of the best edited journals in that section of th state. Mr. Williams has been a citizen of invaluable influenc in St. Marys, is a former representative of Pleasants County and was also postmaster of St. Marys for a number of years

His family were pioneers in Greenbrier County, West Vil ginia, going into that mountainous section from old Virginis His grandfather, Joseph Williams, was born in 1800, owned :

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HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

arm, but spent a large part of his time hunting. He died in Greenbrier County in 1884. His wife was a Mies Brown, & lative of the same county, who died in Kansas. James M. Williams, father of the St. Marys editor, lived all his life on ›ne farm in Greenbrier County, where he was born in 1837 ind died in 1909. He was a soldier in the Union Army. At irst he was a scout attached to the forces of General George Crook. Later he joined Captain Andrew W. Mann's Company of State Guards from Greenbrier County, being enrolled n the Company December 1, 1864, and discharged July 1, 865. This service was a particularly hazardous one in the No Man's Land between the Union and Confederate lines, ,nd he had a full share in that strenuous campaigning. He vas a republican in politics and a member of the Baptist Church. James M. Williams married Lavina McMillan, who was born in 1838 and died in 1905, spending all her life in Greenbrier County. They became the parents of seven chil- Iren: John R., who died on the Williama homestead at the ge of thirty, having taught school for a number of years; Tellie Frances, wife of Moffat May, a farmer, stock raiser and umber dealer living near White Sulphur Springs, West Vir- inis; Luelle, wife of Rev. S. A. Mondy, a clergyman of the Adventist Church near Macon, Georgia; Joe; Mrs. Maggie Burns, who died on the old home farm; Emra, a farmer at Myrtle Creek, Oregon; Mrs. Cassie Christian, whose husband perates a part of the Williams homestead.

Joe Williams, who was born January 20, 1873, lived on the arm to the age of eighteen and acquired his early education n the rural schools of Greenbrier County. For two years e worked for N. S. Bruffey in a store at Falling Spring in Greenbrier County, and then as clerk for W. H. Overholt at he same place about two yeara. During 1894-95 he attended Michaels University at Logansport, Indiana, taking a business ourse, and in the fall of 1895 began in connection with jour- alism at Sistersville as an employe of J. H. McCoy on the Daily Oil Review.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 12

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