History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 139

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The late Mr. Craig was the pioneer real estate dealer in Nicholas County, and he made that business not only a source of personal profits, but of vital influence in the development and prosperity of the region covered by his operations. He entered that business in 1871, and in 1877 was appointed agent for Hon. James F. Patton and Gen. John Echols, executors of the will of the late United States Senator Allen T. Caperton. He represented these interests about twelve years, until all the lands in Nicholas, Webster and Greenbrier counties belonging to the estate were sold and accounted for, aggregating about 95,000 acres. These lands included the present site of Richwood. It was due to his persistent advertising that the attention of capital was attracted to the fine timbers and other resources of Gauley, Cherry and their tributaries, and finally resulted in the wonderful development of the Richwood community. His business for over forty years represented a wide-spread service, and it has been claimed that no person to whom he sold land and who complied with the incidental contract ever lost the property on account of bad title or failed to make money out of the investment. The late Mr. Craig owned individually or was interested in many parcels of real estate in Nicholas, Braxton, Webster and Greenbrier counties. The Village of Craigsville, Nicholas County, on one of his tracts, perpetuates his memory.

He was a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of his home town at Summersville, and was president of the Richwood Banking and Trust Company and had an active part in the building up of that little city. In business or public affairs he stood out as a man of sterling character- isties and broad vision, a natural leader in every matter connected with civic and material progress.

The late James S. Craig married Ellen F. Miller. She was born and reared in Monroe County, was educated in private schools, was a teacher prior to her marriage, and became widely known for her literary ability, a published book of poems classifying her among West Virginia authors. James S. Craig and wife had six children: Sterling M., a traveling salesman out of the City of Charleston; Arden L., who in an important sense is his father's successor in busi- ness and an individual article on his career is published herewith; Charles H., a resident of Charleston; Miss Lillie P., of Summersville; Dainty E., wife of Charles F. Igelman, of Evansville, Indiana; Camilla, wife of E. F. Coleman, of Richwood.

ARDEN L. CRAIG. As a banker and real estate man Arden L. Craig continues the business service so long represented by his late father, James S. Craig. He is a lawyer by profession, but the law has become secondary to his extensive business interests.

Mr. Craig, whose bome is at Richwood in Nicholas County, was born at Summersville in the same county, September 8, 1874. He graduated A. B. from the National Normal Uni- versity at Lebanon, Ohio, and had an active experience as a teacher for several years. In 1901 he graduated from West Virginia University Law School. When he began practice he had the distinction of being the first lawyer to locate at Richwood, and for over twenty years has exercised an im- portant influence in the development of that industrial town. His law office has become his headquarters for an extensive real estate business, and he is also the successor of his father as president of the Richwood Banking and Trust Company.

Mr. Craig has twice served as mayor of Richwood, is an active republican in politics, is affiliated with Richwood Lodge No. 122, A. F. and A. M., and attends and supports the Presbyterian Church, of which his wife is a member. September 11, 1907, Mr. Craig married Miss Ann Veon, of Waverly, Wood County, West Virginia. They have one son, Eugene, born June 4, 1912.

JOSEPH S. WHEAT was representative from Morgan County in the First and Second Legislatures of West Vir- ginia. He was born in the Village of Berkeley Springs, March 31, 1803, a son of William and Elizabeth (Shaw) Wheat, the latter a native of Virginia, while William Wheat came from England. William Wheat at one time kept a

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hotel at Berkeley Springs. Joseph Wheat acquired a good education, became a civil engineer, and was too old for service as a soldier in the Civil war, but was an active Union man. He was taken prisoner hy the Confederates and confined at Richmond for three months until exchanged. He was elected in 1863 to the House of Delegates as representa- tive of Morgan County. While in the Legislature he was instrumental in the passage of the law establishing a free school system in the state. He also served several years as justice of the peace. Joseph S. Wheat died May 6, 1872.

He married Miranda Grove, a native of Frederick County, Virginia, and daughter of John and Eleanor (Newbaugh) Grove. Her father was a farmer and local Methodist minister and died at the age of eighty-one, his wife dying ten years later at the same age. Mrs. Joseph S. Wheat died December 17, 1890. She reared six children: Harriet, Henry, Mary, James, John and Alfred.

The daughter Harriet, became the wife of John Hunter and reared seven children namely, Raymond, Carrie, Bailey, Jessie, Leslie, Helen and Albert.

A second daughter Mary, married Edward Bechtol, a son of Aaron Bechtol. Edward Bechtol was well educated, for many years was in the tannery industry and was a life-long resident of Berkeley Springs where he died at the age of seventy-two. Mr. and Mrs. Edward Bechtol reared seven children: Edward Ford, Eugene Leroy, Nellie, Harry F., William Guy, Maud S., and Florence May.

AARON BECHTOL was a permanent resident of Berkeley Springs and was elected and served as a member of the First State Senate of West Virginia. He was born in that part of Berkeley County, now Morgan County, and for a number of years carried on an extensive real estate business. He owned much property at Berkeley Springs, including the historic house in which he had his home and which was built by General Washington for a summer residence.

With the formation of the State of West Virginia, Aaron Bechtol was elected to the Senate from the Tenth District, and was a member of the Legislature that convened at Wheeling in June, 1863. He was also a member of the Second Legislature convening at Wheeling in January, 1864, and he likewise represented the Tenth Distriet in the Senate in the Third Legislature, which met in 1865.

However, during the Civil war he was taken prisoner by the Confederates, and was held in Richmond for some time. After his release he returned home and lived at Berkeley Springs until his death.

Aaron Bechtol married Sarah Roach, a life-long resident of Berkeley Springs. They had four children, Mary, Henry C., John W. and James E. Mary became the wife of William Tritapoe. Henry married Alice Hines, John W. married Catherine Coughlin and James married Mary Wheat.

ALPHEUS W. PRITCHARD was born while James Monroe was president of the United States, and his life was pro- longed in good works until the beginning of the twentieth century. The West Virginia community that should hold his memory in special honor is Clarksburg, which he saw grow from a village to a city, and in that growth he shared as a constructive business man.

He was born at Morgantown, West Virginia, July 4, 1819, son of George and Elizabeth (Betts) Pritchard. His parents were reared in Maryland, and Edward Pritchard, founder of the American family, was a native of Devon- shire, England. Alpheus W. Pritchard grew up before free schools were instituted, and his education was acquired by private instruction in some of the subscription schools which then furnished educational advantages. He became an ap- prentice blacksmith, a trade he thoroughly learned and in which he was a skillful worker for a number of years, inventing and making many useful articles.

As a young man he moved to Clarksburg, and his work for several years was that of a blacksmith in this town. Subsequently he enlarged his business enterprise to mer- chandising, and eventually concentrated his energies almost entirely in the field of real estate. He had in a remarkable degree the faculty of foresight which enabled him to antic-

ipate future developments and at the same time influenc developments. He acquired some holdings that became valuable. One of the most interesting of these proper is situated on what was known in the early days as Point, and later Point Comfort. Here he owned many au of land and built his house on one of the most attrac residence sites. He lived here for many years, and enjo the situation the more because it affords a daily panora from which he could estimate and observe the progres: changes by which a small village had been converted i a thriving city by the hand and industry of man. On site of his old home now stands the magnificent Thorne ho one of the most attractive in the city. The house is Eng architecture and was planned and designed by his dau ter, Mrs. Joseph W. Thorne, whose husband is a native Harrison County.

Highly successful in business, the late Mr. Pritch was known by all his friends and associates as a man the highest integrity of character. His business brou him in touch with the public, and gave him something a public character. He never took advantage of a m never foreclosed a mortgage, and he succeeded not by m ing the misfortunes of others help him, but through constructive foresight and working always for the } interests of his clients and the public at large.

June 27, 1843, Mr. Pritchard married Miss Mary Wo who was born in Harrison County, November 25, 1824. 1 birthplace was the farm which included the portion of la now occupied by the Clarksburg Country Club. Her fatl David Wolfe, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary w To Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard were born nine children, youngest of whom is Mrs. Metta Victoria Thorne of Clai burg. Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard were very actively identit with the work of the Baptist Church.

Alpheus W. Pritchard died November 3, 1901, at the : of eighty-two. His widow survived him and passed av December 28, 1910, aged eighty-six.

N. PRICE WHITAKER, who died June 17, 1922, was pro inent in the iron and steel industry, one of the execut officials in the Whitaker-Glessner Company of Wheeli and was one of the able business men of the state draf into public service by Governor Morgan, who called him Charleston to act as one of the members of the State Ro Commission. Just a short time before his death he resigi from this commission and also from the West Virgi Capitol Commission.

Mr. Whitaker was born in Cecil County, Maryland, & was only forty-nine years of age at the time of his dea He came to West Virginia in 1893, after completing education in Cornell University and entered the iron & steel business with what is now the Whitaker-Glessner Co pany. He was advanced to the office of vice president in operating department. When the state road commission formed Governor Morgan selected Mr. Whitaker to rep sent the northern part of the state. On account of health he resigned May 1, 1922. At the time of his der Governor Morgan in a message to the family said: " was an honorable man, splendid citizen and able pul official to whom I had become greatly attached throu personal friendship and official association." Mr. Whital was elected in 1916 a member of the House of Delegat being one of the four members from Ohio County. served on the finance and other important committees.

Mr. Whitaker married Miss Rusling, of Wilkesbar Pennsylvania. Their two children are

Malcolm a Katharine.

CHARLES MILTON BROWN, M. D. The services render as a talented physician and surgeon have given Doct Brown a reputation over several counties of the state a also the City of Huntington, where he was located for time. He is now in charge of the mine practice for Mir Nos. 1 and 2 of the Paragon Colliery Company, Argyle Mi No. 1 of the Cub Fork Coal Company and the Orville Cc Company, his home being at Yolyn in Logan County.

Doctor Brown was born at Mount Hope in Fayet County, West Virginia, February 19, 1870. His gran

All Prichard

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ther, John Brown, was a native of Virginia, and spent his e as a farmer and planter in Montgomery County, that ate, where he died in 1856. Charles C. Brown, father of octor Brown, was horn at Christiansburg, Montgomery unty, in 1826, and lived to the age of eighty-four. Dur- g all these years he never tasted tobacco or whisky, and as never guilty of profanity. He was a man of great rength of will and character, and exercised a beneficent fluence throughout his community. He died March 10, 10. At the age of twenty he came to Beckley, West Vir- nia, and with Joshua Hannah opened a cabinetmaking id carpenter shop. A few years later he removed to Fay- te County, and lived at Mount Hope for half a century. e was in the Confederate army four years, and in the ttle of Gettysburg acted as field courier, and had three les shot through his blanket, but was not wounded. His ighbors in Fayette County always appreciated his high gree of skill as a carpenter and cabinet maker. He ected many houses in that vicinity, and for years he was lled upon to supply all the coffins over a district miles ound. For many years he was an officer in the Christian urch, and voted as a democrat until the prohibition party is organized and thereafter was an active worker in that rty. He owned a farm near Mount Hope. His wife, artha Anna Blake, was born in Fayette County and died 1914, also at the age of eighty-four. Her father, William lake, was a pioneer of that county and at one time owned ,000 acres in the vicinity of Mount Hope. William Blake id wife came from Scotland, and at one time conducted a yside inn on the old Giles, Fayette and Kanawha Turn- ke.

Charles Brown and wife had seven children: William H., prosperous farmer at Shady Springs in Raleigh County ; ollie, wife of Charles Pack, of Shady Springs; Anna, who ed at the age of sixteen, in 1879; Lizzie, wife of A. D. oseley, a contractor of mining and building; Arrie M., ife of Cabell Moseley, merchant and farmer at Mount ope; Charles Milton; Rosa F., wife of Alfred P. Bailey, a rehant and coal operator at Mount Hope.

Dr. Charles Milton Brown was noted as a youth for his gged manhood and strong physique, and he did a great al of arduous labor in the service of railroads, sawmills 'd in the timber. He attended district school at Mount ope until he was twenty years of age. During 1894-96 was a student of medicine in the University of Louis- lle, and was licensed to practice in West Virginia in 1896. e did his first practice at Jumping Branch in Summers unty. Later he entered the Maryland Medical College Baltimore, where he was graduated in medicine in 1902. did a large amount of hospital work at Baltimore, and s supplemented his early training by extensive experience d post-graduate study. After leaving Baltimore, Doctor own was in practice at Mount Hope from 1904 to 1909. had a large country practice. In 1909 he joined the uff of Kisler's Hospital of Huntington, and for the first ar conducted clinics and classes in obstetrics and nursing, Id was otherwise associated with the hospital until 1916. , then resumed his professional work at Mount Hope, and 1920 took over his present responsibilities as mine ysician at Yolyn in Logan County.

In 1893, at Mount Hope, Doctor Brown married Ida e Turner, daughter of William and Mary Turner, of yette County. Her father was a native of Scotland, and . many years was a mine foreman. The children born to Uctor and Mrs. Brown were: Anna Maud, now principal the Mount Hope Junior High School, wife of J. C. Roby, vo has charge of the stenograpie work for the New River Cal Company. Iris, at home; Gladys, wife of H. T. own, who is in the railway mail service on the Chesapeake Ohio Railroad, with home at Huntington; Regina, wife R. L. Thompson of Charleston, West Virginia; Hereules a school boy; Maxine, who is captain of the basket ball m in the Junior High School at Mount Hope; and Carles W., who died in infancy.

Doctor Brown is a member of the Fayette County Medical iety, the State Medieal Society and the Southern Medical Asociation. He is a democrat in politics and a member of Christian Church.

A. L. AMICK, M. D. A busy worker in the medical fraternity at Charleston since 1910, Doctor Amick is par- ticularly well known for his abilities as a surgeon, and served as a surgeon with the rank of lieutenant in the army during the World war.

Doctor Amiek was born in 1881, within half a mile of the famous Tyree Stone Tavern, near Clifftop, in Fayette County. This old tavern is the center of many important historical associations, and some particular reference is made to it on other pages of this general history. Doctor Amick's grandfather, Henry Amick, was one of the pioneers in that vicinity. The parents of Doctor Amick were J. A. and Betty (Masters) Amick, and his mother is still living. Doctor Amick was reared in the vicinity of the old tavern and its picturesque surroundings, acquired his early educa- tion in the schools of Fayette County, and subsequently entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Balti- more, now the medical school of the University of Mary- land. He was graduated in 1907, and for a year was resi- dent physician in Mercer Hospital at Baltimore, and for two years was resident physician in the Miners Hospital at Welch, West Virginia. Then, in 1910, he located perma nently at Charleston, and has acquired an extensive general practice, with his time being more and more taken up with surgery.

Early in 1918 he joined the Army Medical Corps as lieutenant, and was assigned to duty at Camp Greene, Char- lotte, North Carolina. There he was assigned as surgeon of Recruit Camp No. 5 and Tank Corps Battalions. The work he did there can best be summarized in a paraphrase of a special notice of commendation given by Dr. Clifford C. Wehn, captain of the Medical Corps and president of the Board of Review. Doctor Amick, in the words of Captain Wehn, filled his position most satisfactorily, and throngn his personal qualifications earned the trust that was re- posed in him; he was skillful, diligent and tireless in the performance of his duty, and on account of his kindness and consideration shown to all with whom he was brought in contact he won not only the full cooperation but the unstinted regard of his entire command.

Following his discharge from the army in March, 1919, Doctor Amiek resumed his duties at Charleston. He is a member of the State, County and American Medical associa- tions. Reared amid the beautiful and picturesque moun- tains of Fayette County, he imbibed a lasting fondness for outdoor life and the pursuits of the wild. He is a lover of horses and dogs, and is a member of the National Fox Hunters Association and has attended several of the asso- ciation's fox hunts, held usually in Kentucky. He is also a member of the Southern West Virginia Fox Hunters Association, and was master of hounds at the annual hunt held at Lookout in 1921. Doctor Amick is a well known anthority on the Walker hound, and knows all the good points of thoroughbred racing stock in horses.

CHARLES E. VANCE is one of the prosperons and success- ful business men of Moorefield. He is an official in the Hardy County Bank, has achieved a real constructive triumph in redeeming one of the run down farms of Hardy County, and for many years has been in the service of the Union Tanning Company as woods foreman.

He was born at Upper Tract, Pendleton County, West Virginia, August 17, 1876. His grandfather, Robert Vance, came to West Virginia fron Mansfield, Illinois, where the Vance family was a large one. He came to West Virginia before the Civil war, and in Pendleton County married a Miss Harman, of a well known family of this state. He spent the rest of his life in Pendleton County. Benjamin C. Vance, father of Charles E., was born in Pendleton County, carefully educated himself, began teaching when a youth, and completed a record of fifty-two terms of school, teaching in Grant, Pendleton and Hardy counties before he retired. He is now living at Fisher in Hardy County at the age of sixty-eight. While living at Petersburg he served as a magistrate, and has been an active member of the United Brethren Church. Benjamin Vance married Susan R. Longh, daughter of Daniel Lough, a carpenter in Pendleton County, whose family came from Germany. Mrs.

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Susan Vance died at Petersburg in 1918. All her ten chil- dren are living: Charles E .; Myrtle, wife of Calvin C. Bensenhaver; Linnie, Mrs. Will Feaster; Bessie, who mar- ried John Shobe; Kenneth, of Petersburg; Elsie, wife of B. J. Roby, of Petersburg; Harman, who lives in Montana; Mary; Chloe, of Norfolk, Virginia; and Leola, wife of Clarence Emelright, of Winchester, Virginia.

When Charles E. Vance was twelve years of age his pa- rents left Pendleton County and settled on a farm near Seymoursville in Grant County. In that locality he grew to manhood, attended school near Seymoursville, and ob- tained a part of his education under the direction of his father. At the age of sixteen he left school and for two years worked as a farm hand in Grant County, and for another two years was employed in the woolen mill at Keyser. He then took up farming for himself at Durgeon in Hardy County, and remained in that locality for nine years. He was farming on the shares, and when the owner of the farm died he had to change locations, and instead of resuming farming he accepted an opportunity to go to work for a tannery concern. His first employment was peeling bark and bossing the bark sheds, but subsequently he was put in charge as woods foreman, and that has been his active business responsibility for sixteen years, since 1906. His individual farming interests are located near Fisher in Hardy County. It is a grain farm, managed both exten- sively and intensively as a food producing proposition. His leading crops are corn and wheat, all of which are con- sumed on the ground, using the corn for feeding hogs for the market. Mr. Vance took possession of this land when it was reduced as a result of years of cropping to a minimum of productiveness. He tiled the land, enriched the soil by many successive crops of clover and manure, and out of the 225 acres he has 135 under cultivation. It is now recognized as one of the most productive tracts of land in the county. Its other equipment and improvements have been greatly added to by Mr. Vance, who has erected two barns, rebuilt the residence, put up a dairy and ice house, smoke house and cellar. Mr. Vance is a director and is vice president of the Hardy County Bank at Moorefield.

In politics he is a republican, and at times has been a delegate to county conventions and once was a delegate for the Second District Congressional Convention. His only fraternity is the Modern Woodmen of America. During the great war he assisted in the sale of bonds, in drives for the Red Cross and other auxiliary war funds, and was a member of the County Council of Defense.

In Oak Grove Church, near Fisher, Hardy County, October 9, 1898, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Vance and Miss Annie Bensenhaver. She is a daughter of George and Grace (Boho) Bensenhaver, her father still living. Mrs. Vance was born on the farm where she is now living and where her father was a tenant farmer for a third of a cen- tury. She is the only child of her father, and was well educated in the public schools and holds a state certificate to teach, and spent several years in teaching before her mar- riage. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Vance are: Grace, wife of Alfred Hedrick and mother of a daughter, Juanita; Kenneth Vance, who looked after the farm for his father; while the younger children are Trixie, Robert, Loring, Coker, William and Esther.

REUBEN PERRY SHINN for many years has been one of the most prominent and influential figures in the agricul- tural, financial and public affairs of Jackson County. He is still busy directing his extensive farming operations, is president of the First National Bank of Ripley, and in addition is also a member of the State Senate.

Mr. Shinn was born in Mason County, West Virginia, July 20, 1860. His grandfather, Samuel Shinn, was born in what is now West Virginia in 1804, spent the greater part of his life on a farm in Jackson County, and died there in 1884. George W. Shinn, father of the Ripley banker, was born in Mason County in 1834, grew up and married there, and about 1863 removed to Jackson County and owned a fine farm at Grass Lick near Fairplain. His death occurred in 1897 at Webster Springs in Webster County. George W. Shinn was also a man of prominence in the public affairs

of his section of the state. He was a pioneer republican served eighteen years as a member of the County Court of Jackson County, and also represented the county in the House of Delegates when the capital was at Wheeling. He was a Mason and one of the very liberal and active members of the United Brethren Church. George W. Shinn married Elizabeth Stone, who was born in that portion of old Mason County, now Jackson County, in 1825, and died at her homestead in Jackson County in 1911. Of her children the first was Samuel F., who owns and operates a farm of 1,000 acres at Parchment near Ripley; James O. has a farm of 500 acres near Point Pleasants in Mason County; Permelia is the wife of Archie A. Reynolds, a merchant and farmer at Evans in Jackson County; Reuben P. is the fourth among the children. James A. and his younger brother. Nathan Ulysses Grant Shinn, own jointly a big farm of 1,200 acres in Jackson County, and James also has the distinction of being a former sheriff of Jackson County for four years.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 139

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