History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 120

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Mr. Ballantyne married Miss Lucie Brown, daughter of le late Adrian W. Brown, for many years publisher of e New Cumberland Independent and a leading and in- uential citizen. She was reared at New Cumberland, raduated from the West Virginia University as a mem- er of the class of 1900, and for a time taught English t the West Liberty Normal School and later at Marshall ollege, Huntington, West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Bal- ntyne have two children: Robert and Irene Virginia.

ROBERT SHIELDS DONEHOO, M. D. In the development E a career that has been characterized by faithfulness duty, integrity in all of life's affairs and the achieve- ent of merited success the younger generation should ike interest, for in this way lessons of incalculable value ay be learned. Such a career has been that of Dr. obert Shields Donehoo, of Pughtown, who enjoys the dis- netion of being the oldest physician and surgeon in Han- ock County. Throughout his life he has given his best ·rvices to his profession and the people among whom he as lived and labored, and now, in the evening of life, e may be content in the knowledge of a career well spent nd appreciated.

Robert Shields Donehoo was born in the Village of Cross reek, Washington County, Pennsylvania, August 14, 1848, son of James Donehoo. His father was born in County rmagh, Ireland, and as a child was brought to the United tates, the family settling in Allegheny County, Pennsyl- nia, in 1800. Later James Donehoo removed to Wash- igton County, Pennsylvania, where he died at the age of venty-four years. Robert Shields Donehoo grew to man- bod in his native locality, and after attending the public hools pursued a course at Cross Creek Academy. He len taught school for three years in Pennsylvania and or a time was teacher of the Shady Glen School in Clay istrict, Hancock County, West Virginia. Resolving upon career in medicine, he began reading for that profession lider the preceptorship of Dr. J. N. Boggs, an early Pitts- argh physician, following which he enrolled as a student

at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, from which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1874, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Among his classmates were Dr. John D. Campbell, of Wheeling; Dr. James F. Baldwin, president of a hospital at Columbus, Ohio; and Dr. John B. Roberts and Dr. Ed Montgomery, both of whom afterward became professors at Jefferson Medical College. For a short time Doctor Donchoo practiced at Beaver, Pennsylvania, in association with an uncle, and then went to Dallas, Texas, where he also remained for a short period. Returning in December, 1876, he settled at Pughtown, where he has been in continuous practice to the present, and is the oldest physician and surgeon in Hau- cock County. He has a large general practice, to whichi he continues to devote himself whole-heartedly and unself- ishly, and in addition to the confidence of his patients has their unqualified esteem and affection. He belongs to the various organizations of his calling and stands high in the regard of his fellow-practitioners. A democrat in politics, he has taken an active interest in public affairs, has stood stanchly by his party and at various times has been a delegate to conventions. He is an advocate of out- of-door life and believes in baseball and other forms of athletics.

In 1882 Doctor Donehoo was united in marriage with Miss Alice M. Flanegin, of Pughtown, daughter of A. M. C. Flanegin, for years clerk of both the County and Cir- cuit Courts of Hancock County when the county seat was located at Pughtown. He died when past seventy years of age. Doctor and Mrs. Donehoo have been the parents of four daughters and one son: Eunice, who married John Mayhew and died young; Ella, who is the wife of Dr. Fred H. Riney, of Mingo Junction, Ohio; Alice, the wife of Rex H. Jones, a mining man of Huntington, West Virginia; Elizabeth, unmarried, who formerly taught at Newell and Chester in Hancock County, and at East Liver- pool, Ohio, and now teaching at Mingo Junction, Ohio; and Robert S., Jr., who served for a few months in an army camp during the late war and is now associated with his uncle, W. W. Flanegin, in an insurance agency at Pittsburgh.

WILLIAM GASTON, M. D., of Clarksburg, has practiced medicine successfully for over thirty-six years. After at- tending the rural schools and Fairmont Normal School, and teaching school for four years, he read medicine one year under the preceptorship of his cousin, Dr. Florent Gibson, at Freemanshurg, and theu completed a course in medicine at the Eclectic Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1884. He at once began the practice of medicine at Good Hope, Harrison County, and soon gained a lucrative clientele, remaining at that point until the spring of 1907, when he transferred his offices to Clarksburg. While residing at Good Hope he took a post-graduate course in medicine at the New York Polyclinic Hospital and Post-Graduate school at New York City, where he took a second course in 1909. Thus he has kept abreast of the advances in his profession. His is a general practice, and he has gained an honorable standing among the reputable medical men of Harrison County and a strong place in the confidence of the people. Doctor Gaston is a member of the Harrison County Medical Society, the West Virginia Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and belongs to the medical staff of St. Mary's Hospital, Clarksburg. He is a Knight Templar Mason and Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and in politics is a democrat. The Doctor has diversified business interests, including oil, as a producer.

Dr. William Gaston is a native of Lewis County, West Virginia, where he was born on a farm May 18, 1859. Both paternally and maternally he comes of old and highly respected families of West Virginia. His parents were George and Martha Ann (Gibson) Gaston, the former born in Harrison County and the latter in Lewis County. His paternal grandparents were William and Mary (Post) Gas- ton, and his paternal great-grandparents came to West Virginia from their native state of New Jersey at a very early date, settling on Duck Creek, in what is now Harri-

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son County. The maternal grandparents of Doctor Gaston were Smith and Malinda (Hall) Gibson. The Gibsons came from old Virginia and settled in Upshur County, West Virginia. The paternal great-great-grandmother 'mar- ried John Gaston, and her father was a Davison, a Revo- lutionary soldier.

The parents of Doctor Gastou resided for many years in Freeman District, Lewis County, and both lived to be beyond seventy years of age. They were United Brethren in church faith, and were the parents of six children: Willia; Edwin; Emma; Clark, deceased; Laura, and Ivan, deceased. The boyhood of Doctor Gaston was passed on the farm, where he learned the lessons of perseverance and industry which have been characteristic of his entire life. Doctor Gaston has been twice married and is now a widower. In 1884 lie married Miss Nellie Thrash, who died in 1892, without leaving children. In 1894 Doctor Gaston married Mrs. Susan Easter, nee Wolfe, who bore him two sons, Howe Russell and William Bryan, and in June, 1921, was called in death. Both of Doctor Gaston's sons rendered service to their country during the great World war. Howe Russell Gaston enlisted in the United States Regular Army in 1916, and when the United States became involved in the greatest of all wars was trans- ferred from Troop F, Fourteenth Cavalry, to Company C, Third Division Ammunition Train, and went overseas March 2, 1918, then as corporal, but later became acting first sergeant. He rendered service overseas for cigliteen months in the Ammunition Train Division of his unit, and took part in the defensive and offensive at the Marne, was in the St. Mihiel and Argonne campaigns, and later was with the Army of Occupation in Germany. His honorable discharge was dated in April, 1920, and he is now a suc- cessful traveling salesman and a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. William Bryan Gaston volunteered in the service of the United States Army the day after he was twenty-one years of age, at Pittsburgh. He was sent first to Camp Meade, later to Annapolis, still later to Wash- ington, District of Columbia, and in February, 1918, went overseas with the Twenty-third Engineers, an entirely vol- unteer organization. He rendered service in the truck train for nineteen months in France, and received his lion- orable discharge in July, 1919. Ile is a member of the American Legion and Clarksburg Lodge No. 155, A. F. and A. M. He is now a medical student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

JOHN B. PAYNE, M. D. It is reported that the great Galen once boasted: "I have done as much for medicine as Trojan did for the Roman Empire in building bridges and roads throughout Italy," thus emphasizing with the greatest then-known marvels of accomplishment his own benefactions to humanity. Yet, in the light of modern medical science, how little Galen really did, and how radi- cally incorrect, remarkable as they were. proved many of his theories and conclusions. To the members of the medi- cal profession the early teachers will ever continue great, but a physician or surgeon of the present day whose pro- fessional knowledge is not vastly broader, higher and deeper, could not lay much stress upon his equipment for his calling. Dr. John B. Payne kept fully abreast of the marvelous developments in the profession, his training was long and thorough and he was engaged in practice for twenty-six years.

Doctor Payne was born at Philippi, Barbour County, West Virginia. December 31, 1871, a son of Frank E. and Virginia (Simon) Payne, the former a native of Loudoun County, Virginia, and the latter of Barbour County, West Virginia. Frank E. Payne was an agriculturist by occupa- tion and a man of some prominence in his community, where he was held in the highest esteem. He and his worthy wife were the parents of eight children, six sons and two daughters, whom they reared on the farm and brought up to lives of industry and integrity.

John B. Payne obtained a good common school educa- tion, and taught in the rural schools two years. As a stu- dent, first in the Fairmont State Normal School and later in the West Virginia University, his literary education,

preparatory to that of medicine, was completed. He finished the prescribed course in medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, Maryland, and received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1896. For the following six and one-half years he was successfully en- gaged in the practice of medicine aud surgery at Lumber- port. Harrison County, whence he removed to Clarksburg in the fall of 1902. While engaged in practice there he occupied well-appointed offices in the Union Bank Build- ing. In 1906 Doctor Payne took a postgraduate course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore. Soon after locating at Clarksburg, where his reputation had preceded him, he secured a desirable practice, and long held rank among the leading physicians and surgeons of the city. He became an active and valued member of the Harrison County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He belonged to the staff of St. Mary's Hospital, Clarks-, burg. In the fall of 1922 Doctor Payne retired and moved to Washington, D. C., to his thirty-six-acre "city farm," which will be his future home.

For eighteen years Doctor Payne has been a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and for three years of the Independent Order of Foresters. He is a state officer in the latter fraternity, being a High Court Physician and has also represented his state in the Supreme Court of Foresters at Toronto, Canada. In his political allegiance he supports stanchly the candidates and ideals of the democratic organization. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Doctor Payne has been twice married. In 1896 Miss Sallie Corpening became his wife. She died in 1911, leav. ing a son and a daughter: John Edward, a graduate of medicine from the University of Maryland in June, 1922; and Virginia, who graduated in the same month from Millersburg (Kentucky) Female College. In 1912 Doctor Payne was united in marriage with Miss Eulainne Struve. and to this union there have come four children: Dorothy Jean, born in 1914; Kirby B., born in 1917; Billie F. born in 1919; and Benjamin B., born in 1922. All the children were born in Clarksburg, West Virginia.

OLIVER S. MARSHALL. Descended from one of the oldest families in the Northern Panhandle, Oliver S. Marshall has always made his home in that section, and as a lawyer and legislator his reputation has become state wide. His home is at New Cumberland, and his law offices in the industrial town of Weirton.

He was born near Fairview, the old county seat of Han cock County, now called Pughtown, September 24, 1850 He is a great-grandson of the pioneer Aaron Marshall, who came from cast of the mountains, from somewhere in Vir ginia, and is thought to have been a soldier of Braddock and Washington in the famous campaign of 1755. Abou' 1760 he located on Chartiers Creek in Washington County Pennsylvania, and about 1780 came to what is now Han cock County, West Virginia. His land was part of the Johnson survey, granted in 1775, when Patrick Henry war governor of Virginia. The grant was for 7,000 acres, bu when it was surveyed it measured 8,100 acres. Of this 20 acres was assigned to Aaron Marshall at ten shillings ar acre, payable in whiskey at the rate of five shillings a gal lon, flour and other forms of currency of that day. Aaron Marshall had the fourth house on that tract. Some of the land is still owned by Oliver S. Marshall, and the origina record of the title is at Louisville, Kentucky. The town of Newell stands on part of the original grant. In hi minutes George Washington mentions the falls where thi tract borders the Ohio River, but the land of Aaron Mar shall is some five miles from that stream.

Aaron Marshall continued to live here until his deat] in advanced years in 1826. He was a Baptist and fre quently preached on Kings Creek, where he was buried

His son, John Marshall, was born in 1782 and died in 1859, spending his entire life in Hancock County. He wa a member of the Presbyterian Church.

James G. Marshall, father of Senator Marshall, was bor at. old Fairview, Hancock County, November 21, 1826, and

Jar. B. Payne M.D.

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died October 6, 1902. He left the farm, did considerable surveying, became an attorney and for twenty-four years was prosecuting attorney of Haneoek County. He was buried in the old Presbyterian churchyard at Fairview. His wife was Lavina Miller, daughter of John Miller and granddaughter of David Miller. David Miller settled on Tomlinson's Run, where he owned 400 aeres, secured from Dorsey Pentecost, one of the two last judges who held court at Pittsburgh under the authority of the British erown. David had the first house in Gas Valley, and died in 1835, in his ninety-ninth year. His son John spent his life as a farmer at the old place, and his daughter Lavina was born there. She died when about sixty years old, and her three children are: Oliver S .; E. D. Marshall, an attorney at Santa Clara, California; and Ila, of New Cum- berland, widow of Dr. J. W. Walton.

Oliver S. Marshall graduated from the West Liberty Normal School in 1874 as valedictorian, and is the last survivor of that elass. Ile continued his education in Bethany College, where he graduated in 1878, and in 1881 began a long term of service as one of the trustees of that famous institution. One of his classmates at Bethany was the late Judge Joseph R. Lamar of Georgia, for many years a justice of the United States Supreme Court. Judge Lamar married a Miss Pendleton, daughter of a former president of Bethany College. Mr. Marshall was for a time principal of the New Cumberland schools, began the study of law while serving as county elerk, and was admitted to the bar and began his long and successful service as a lawyer in 1890.

Ile is a member of the Christian Church and an active republican, having been a delegate to the national eon- vention of that party in 1892. He was first chosen to represent the First District in the West Virginia Senate in 1896, served in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Legislatures of 1897-99, and was elected president of the Senate in 1899. He was again elected and was a member of the Senate in the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Legislatures, 1905-07-08, and rounded out twelve years in that body by representing the same distriet in 1913-15.

On September 8, 1880, Senator Marshall married Miss Elizabeth Tarr, a native of Wellsburg and daughter of Campbell and Nancy (Hammond) Tarr. Her father with- {rew from the Richmond convention when Virginia passed the ordinance of secession, and subsequently became a leader in the movement for the creation of West Virginia, and became treasurer of the provisional government and the first treasurer of the new state. Senator Marshall had two children, John and Olive, the latter deceased. John grad- lated at Yale and West Virginia University, and has armed distinction in the law, business and public affairs it Parkersburg.

GEORGE BARTON LARUE, who represents one of the pioneer Families of Preston County, has devoted more than twenty years of his life to a varied service as a miner and mining perator, railroad man, and is now mine foreman of the aRue By-Products Company of Kingwood.

He was born at Irontown in Taylor County, West Vir- inia, March 9, 1879, son of Rolando S. and Mary Melissa aRue, both of whom trace their lineage into the Revolu- ionary history of America. His father has for many years een a prominent eoal operator in West Virginia.

George Barton LaRue spent most of his boyhood at Newburg, where he attended the public schools. When only ten years of age he was aequiring a knowledge of coal nining, though not on the pay roll, under his uneles at he mines on Seoteh Hill. When fifteen he began driving mule in a coal mine, and the following year was pro- noted to the responsibilities of miner. He dug coal for hree years for the Merchants Coal Company at Tunnelton, nd for his father's company at West End.

In the meantime Mr. LaRue spent almost a year in the rmy as a volunteer at the time of the Spanish-American var. He enlisted at Fairmont as a reeruit, joined his egiment, the First West Virginia, Company H, at Chicka- mauga Park, and was in training there and at Knoxville

and finally at Columbus, Georgia, where he received his honorable discharge. After leaving the army Mr. LaRue decided to abandon mining and become a railroad man. He went into the service of the Baltimore & Ohio in the Cumberland Division, and for six years was a fireman and for eight years an engineer. Thus fourteen years of his aetive career were spent in railroad service. He then resumed mining in the employ of the Consolidated Coal Company of Fairmont, but after a few months joined the newly organized LaRue By-Products Company. He opened a new mine on the West Virginia Northern Railway at Tunnelton for this company, and also became financially interested in its operation. The first two years he was assistant foreman under his father, and then succeeded his father as foreman of the mines. The LaRue By-Products Company Mine was operated steadily and continuously until March 23, 1921, when the general business depression caused its shutdown. Mr. LaRue is a stockholder in the Preston Power Coal Company, now the Liek Run Collieries. at Trowbridge. He is a republican in politics, and voted for President MeKinley in 1900. lle is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Loyal Order of Moose.

At Austen in Preston County June 7, 1899, Mr. LaRue married Hallie Paugh, who was born in Preston County in August, 1879. She is eligible to membership in the Dauglı- ters of the American Revolution. Her soldier aneestor was John Hoffman, who was born in Berks County, Penn- sylvania, in 1741 and died in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, about 1790. He married Sarah Godwin, and their chil- dren were Mrs. Sarah Justine, Elizabeth, who became the wife of J. E. Howard, David and Philip. Philip Hoffman died in 1856. His son, Francis Marion, was boru in Pres- ton County, West Virginia, and married Tena Shahan, and he and his wife now lie in the Mount Zion Cemetery in that county. Francis M. Iloffman was a soldier in the Civil war and lost a leg in the service. By his first mar- riage there were six children, one of whom was Mrs. La- Rue's mother, Charity E. Hoffman. She was married to Archibald P. Pangh, who was born near Deer Park, Mary- land, at the age of twenty came to Preston County, and during his aetive career was employed as a worker on publie works. He died September 29, 1919, while Mrs. LaRue's mother now lives at St. Clairsville, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Paugh had the following children: Wilbert H., of Grafton; Mrs. Hallie M. LaRue; Goldie M., who died as the wife of Dr. George C. Howard; Waymon W., of Warren, Ohio; Ethel, wife of John Hall, of St. Clairsville, Ohio; Dessie E., wife of William E. Freeman, of St. Clairsville; Lester H., of Youngstown, Ohio.

Mr. and Mrs. LaRue have two children. Esther M. is now in the junior class of Goucher College at Baltimore. The son, George William, is a student in West Virginia Wesleyan College at Buekhannon.

ROY LESTER WEAVER is one of the fortunate farmer citizens of Ritchie County, living at Harrisville, and is now practically retired from the responsibilities of agri- culture, since his farm of sixty aeres is devoted to the production of oil, there being ten high elass wells on it.

Mr. Weaver was born in DeKalb Distriet of Ritchie County, August 26, 1878, son of Jacob and Elzena (Mason) Weaver, the former a native of Gilmer County and the latter of Ritchie County. His father spent his early life on a farm, had only the advantages of the common sehools, but he taught for several years. After his marriage in Gilmer County he located on lands in the woods, eleared it, and in time his prosperity was represented by the owner- ship of two farms, one of sixty-nine aeres and the other of fifty-one aeres. All of this land was underlaid with oil and gas. When he left the farm he removed to Webster County, and he died at Huntington, where his widow is still living. He was an active member of the Methodist Church, was affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and is a republican in polities. Of their six children five are liv- ing: Roy Lester, Lemond, Braek, Ollie and Berdie.

Roy Lester Weaver spent the first twenty-one years of

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his life on his father's farm in Gilmer County, sbared in ite duties while attending school, and he then took up farming as bis real vocation. He continued actively as a general farmer until the development of oil was begun on his land. Mr. Weaver has a large revenue from his oil wells, and he is interested as a stockholder in the National Woolen Mills and in another corporation at Charleston. He is one of the good and reliable citizens of Ritchie County, is a republican, and he and his family are mem- bers of the United Brethren Church.

On June 1, 1905, he married Miss Maude Stonaker, a native of Gilmer County. Mr. and Mrs. Weaver have eleven children : Overt B., Vergie A., Leo and Leon, twins, Mil- dred, Orpha, Harley, Blair, Gladys, Evadale, and Roy, Jr.

ALEXANDER G. STRICKLFR is a merchant at Ellenboro, and the Strickler family have been prominent in the com- mercial affairs of that Ritchie County town for a long period of years.

Mr. Strickler was born at Ellenhoro May 5, 1877, son of William A. and Tea (McCoy) Strickler. His parents were both natives of Highland County, Virginia, his father being born March 5, 1852, and his mother June 16, 1853. His father spent his early boyhood at Monterey in his native county, and after the Civil war came to Ellenboro, where he passed his majority and where for many years he was active as a merchant. His wife, on leaving High- land County, lived at Petroleum in Ritchie County for a time, was married in Ellenboro, and this became their permanent home. William A. Strickler was elected and served two terms as clerk of the Circuit Court of Ritchie County. He was very active in politics as a democrat, and was appointed by a republican as assistant clerk in the House of Delegates and Senate. He was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church, and was a prominent Mason, " heing a past master of Ellenboro Lodge No. 50, F. and A. M., secretary of the lodge twenty-seven years, was secre- tary of Odell S. Long Chapter No. 25, R. A. M., recorder of Pennsboro Commandery No. 20, K. T., and was a mem- ber of West Virginia Consistory No. 1 of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling and Nemesis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Parkersburg. He was a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and was a member of Grand Tribune of that order when he died. There were three children: Alexander G .; Kathleen, wife of J. B. Underwood; and William, Jr., deceased.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 120

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