History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 140

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Reuben Perry Shinn spent his years to the age of twenty. one on his father's farm, and made the best possible use of his advantages in the rural schools. When he left home to go to work on his own responsibility he took no capital and yet, like his brothers, he has achieved remarkable suc. cess as a farmer as well as in other fields of business.) Senator Shinn has never been completely divorced from the practical phases of agriculture, and though he has had his residence in Ripley since November, 1912, he keeps in the closest touch with his extensive farming operations. In dividually he owns 2,300 acres of valuable land ou Grase Lick and in other parts of the county. His farming is a diversified proposition, and he usually keeps from 250 to 300 head of cattle on his lands. He is also associated with a syndicate composed of Starcher Brothers, W. H. O'Brien, T. J. Sayre, W. Walker and himself in the ownership of 2,000 acres of farm land in Jackson County. He owns a large amount of real estate in Ripley, including one of the finest homes of the city.

Mr. Shinn has been president of the First National Bank of Ripley for the past twelve years. This bank was estab- lished under a state charter June 20, 1893, and was first called the Valley Bank of Ripley, but has been a national bank since August 4, 1915. The officers are R. P. Shinn, president; S. G. Starcher, vice president; and George E. Straley, cashier. The bank is capitalized at $35,000, has surplus and profits of $6,500, and deposits of approximately $400,000.

Mr. Shinn is a stockholder in the O. J. Morrison Store Company at Charleston and Clarksburg, and is vice presi- dent of the Jackson County Grocery Company.

For many years he has been a leader in the republican party in his section of the state. For eight years he was chairman of the county committee, for two terms was a member of the Fourth Congressional District Committee, and he was one of the state electors on the republican ticket in 1916, voting for Mr. Hughes for President. Mr. Shinn has twice heen sheriff of Jackson County. He was first elected in November, 1904, serving the constitutional limit of four years, from 1905 to 1909. After an interval| of four years he was again elected, in November, 1912, filling the office from 1913 to 1917. In November, 1920, he was elected a member of the State Senate, representing the district of Mason, Jackson and Roane counties for a term of four years. In the session of 1921 he was chairman of the agricultural committee, and a member of the finance, educational, fish and game and other committees. To the full extent of his influence and means Senator Shinn was a supporter of the Government at the time of the World war, and took a personal interest in the success of the various drives in his county. He is a past grand of Ripley Lodge No. 30, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

At Grass Lick in Jackson County in 1882 he married Miss Artemisia Shamblin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Shamblin, now deceased. Her father owned a large farm at Grass Lick. Mr. and Mrs. Shinn have four chil- dren: Cora, a teacher in the high school at Ripley, is the wife of Charles W. Lively. Belle is the wife of David L. Rogers, who owns a 200-acre farm and also helps operate

R. P. Shim

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be Shinn farms at Grass Lick. James B. is also associated rith his father in his farming operations at Grass Lick. Valter Warren is a member of the engineering staff of the tate Roads Commission.

CHARLES BUFFINGTON BALDWIN. An energetic operator the coal and oil industries of West Virginia, Charles Buffington Baldwin, of Huntington, is also an accredited tember of the legal profession, and is the repository of umerous interests of a business nature. He has achieved number of accomplishments during his short but active areer, and has attained a recognized position in the con- dence of his associates.

Mr. Baldwin was born at Athens, Clarke County, Georgia, anuary 7, 1894, and is a son of Charles Warren and uliette (Buffington) Baldwin. Charles Warren Baldwin was orn in 1852, in South Carolina, and as a young man came Huntington, West Virginia, where he was married, subse- uently going to Athens, Georgia. He owned and operated chain of rolling mills, one of which was located at Baton rouge, Louisiana, to which city he removed in 1899, and here lie died in November, 1914. Mr. Baldwin was a demo- rat, a member of the Episcopal Church and a thirty-second egree Mason. He married Juliette Buffington, who was orn at Huntington in 1874, and was educated in the Hunt- igton public schools, Marshall College of Huntington, and he Mary Baldwin Seminary at Staunton, Virginia. She urvives her husband as a resident of Huntington. Peter line Buffington, the father of Mrs. Baldwin, was born in irginia and died at Huntington in 1876. He was a pioneer f the city and became its first mayor, and followed farming s a vocation, being a large landholder. At one time he ook a prominent part in politics and was a member of the abinet of Jefferson Davis. He was always a stanch demo- rat. Mr. Buffington married Miss Louise Garland, who as horn in Westmoreland County, Virginia, and died at funtington. After the death of her first husband Mrs. harles W. Baldwin married the late Frank Bliss Enslow, of [untington, who was a lawyer of distinction and a man ith numerous important business interests. They became e parents of one daughter, Dorothy Louise, who attended e National Cathedral School at Washington, D. C., and ow makes her home with her mother.

The only child of his parents, Charles Buffington Baldwin ttended the public schools of Huntington, and after his raduation from the high school entered Marshall College, rom which he was graduated as a member of the class of 913. He then enrolled in the law department of Washing- on and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, and was given is degree of Bachelor of Laws as a member of the gradu- ting class of 1916. During his college career he was ad- itted to membership in the Pi Kappa Sigma and Theta Nu pisilon Greek letter college fraternities. Admitted to the ar in 1916, in the same year Mr. Baldwin became local ounsel at Huntington for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, a osition which he retained until April, 1917, when he en- sted in the United States Army and was sent to the fficers' Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison. He as shortly assigned to the air service, where he was com- missioned a first lieutenant, and eventually was made an structor at the Wilbur Wright Aviation Field, near Day- ou, Ohio, where during the remainder of his service he was ngaged in teaching the art of flying to student army viators. He was mustered out and honorably discharged 1 April, 1919, at which time he returned to Huntington and ngaged in coal and oil operations, in which he has since een engaged. He is now president of the Transylvania etrolenm Company of Huntington and New York City, and director in the J. M. McCoach Company of Huntington. Ir. Baldwin maintains an independent stand in regard to olitical affairs. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal Church. As a fraternalist he holds membership in Hunting- on Lodge No. 53, A. F. and A. M., and other connections re with the Guyandotte Club, the Guyan Country Club and he Chamber of Commerce, all of Huntington. He owns a modern residence at No. 1310 Third Avenue, a very com- ortable and attractive brick structure, and other real estate

at Huntington, as well as a summer home in Summers County, West Virginia. In civic affairs he has always been a willing and energetic supporter of constructive movements and a friend of all enterprises tending to advance the general welfare.

On June 30, 1920, Mr. Baldwin was united in marriage with Miss Hazel B. Hatfield, of Huntington, daughter of Dr. Henry D. and Caroline (Bronson) Hatfield, residents of this city. Doctor Hatfield is an ex-governor of West Vir- ginia and a distinguished physician and surgeon, Mrs. Baldwin is a graduate of Miss Baldwin's School for Girls at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

THOMAS N. PERRY. The Buffalo Creek Valley of Logan County is one of the most recent scenes of the great indus- trial development in this part of the state. Maps puh- lished a dozen years ago revealed nothing of this develop- ment, neither railroad nor mining centers. The Perry family established themselves in this isolated environment years ago, when farming and grazing were the ouly re- sources except the money that could be made in clearing off the timber from the hillsides. Thomas Perry is a native, and one of the few older residents with the foresight and vision to estimate the probable development of the valley. While doing the routine work of a farmer he was busy in- vesting his surplus capital and mortgaging his future earn- ings by buying land, until he had become one of the most extensive individual landholders in the valley. Naturally when the railroad came and with the development that has made the valley an almost continuous mining camp, he has become wealthy, and his wealth was earned not only by his good judgment but by the influence he has turned to pro- mote the very developments that he long anticipated.

Mr. Perry was born on Buffalo Creek, on the site of the present Latrobe, Jannary 18, 1869, son of Rhodes Ballard and Mabala (Mullins) Perry, both representing old families in this section of the state. The grandfather, James D. Perry, was born in Monroe County, West Virginia, August 14, 1809, and in early days he was a flathoatman engaged in the traffic down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans. Subsequently he established the place near the mouth of Huff Creek and Guyandotte River where his son Rhodes was born, but later James moved into the Buffalo Valley and opened a farm on the site of the Village of Stowe. All these places are now covered hy heavy coal operations, but at that time no thought was given to taking out the coal from underground, and there was only one profitable indus- try aside from farming and stock raising, the logging of heavy poplar timber, said to be the finest in the world. James D. Perry at one time owned land for five miles up and down Buffalo Creek, this tract being later acquired by W. W. McDonald. He used the land chiefly for farming and cattle raising. James D. Perry died August 5, 1885. His wife, Margaret Perry, was born July 15, 1815, and died in 1892, and they were both buried at Stowe. They were members of the Methodist Church.

Rhodes B. Perry was born on the Gnyandotte River, where Mallory Mine No. 2, is now located, January 27, 1842, and until two years ago, when he moved to Barboursville, his home was always in the Buffalo Creek Valley. During his boyhood school advantages were maintained very irregularly. but in spite of these handicaps he managed to get a good education in the fundamentals, and has always been a reader and student of history and politics. In 1861 he went into the Union army in a cavalry regiment, and he had three honorable discharges. He was at the battle of Cross- keys, in the fight of Chapmanville in Logan County, and in many of the great battles of Virginia. The nearest he came to being wounded was in one engagement where his boot- heel was shot off and he was once thrown by an outlaw horse. At Chapmanville he was taken prisoner, but was soon released. Soon after the close of his military service, on December 7, 1865, he married Mahilla Mullins. They traveled life's highway together for over half a century. She died February 21, 1920. She was born on Coal River in Logan County, April 12, 1847, daughter of Andrew J. Mullins. Her father was born January 19, 1820, and died

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November 12, 1904, and was a brother of Milton Mullins, who recently died in Logan County, when nearly 100 years old.

The home where Rhodes Perry lived for half a century was on the Buffalo, at the mouth of Cartwright's Creek. He served as a member of the school board while there. In 1918, after selling his land to the coal company, he moved to Barboursville, and is now retired. He is a republican and a member of the Methodist Church. His six children were: James J., born March 3, 1867, now living at Martha, West Virginia; Thomas N .; John W., born June 18, 1871, a resident of Accoville in Logan County; Leanza F., born June 22, 1874, and died June 23, 1910, was the wife of Anthony Cook, their home being on part of the old Perry estate near Latrobe; Laura H., born April 27, 1877, died June 27, 1888; and Albert Ross, born June 26, 1880, a resi- dent of Barboursville.

Thomas N. Perry acquired his early education in a log schoolhouse on the site of the present Lundale. His home and his work until he was thirty years of age were at the place of his parents. He helped cut away the timber from the hills, hauling it down and rafting it over the waters of the Guyandotte. From his logging enterprise he bought and paid for a farm of 180 acres above Latrobe. This farm he subsequently gave to his sister. He then bought 440 acres above Robinette, his brother J. J. living on that place. Thomas Perry acquired his present farm in 1891. His home is on this farm, located about a mile from the station of Accoville, up the right fork of the Buffalo. His farm comprises 339 acres and was bought from John Riffe. This by no means comprises all his land holdings, since from time to time he has invested until his property possessions extend along the valley for a distance of seven miles. While much of this land has become exceedingly valuable on account of the coal, Mr. Perry has always maintained an activity in farming and cattle raising. He is vice president of the Merchants and Miners Bank of Man, and a large stockholder in the Guyan Valley Bank at Logan and the Bank of Logan.

June 10, 1899, he married Emma I. Toler, daughter of Patterson Toler. She was born at Oceana in Wyoming County, West Virginia, June 3, 1878, and died December 16, 1920. Six children survive her: Alva Wirt, now an employe of the State Compensation Board of Charleston, Fred Mason, Denny Creed, Alice Ruth, Mack and Luther N. Mr. Perry in politics is a republican.

HARRY W. BAYER. The high standing which is that of Mr. Bayer as one of the representative members of the bar of Morgan County is the more gratifying to note hy reason of the fact that he is a native son of this county, having been born on a farm in Sleepy Creek District. His father, Robert Bayer, was born in Washington County, Maryland, where he was reared and educated and where as a youth he served an apprenticeship to the plasterer's trade. He was a young man when he came to Morgan County, West Virginia, and after his marriage he here settled on the old homestead farm of his wife's parents and continued as one of the substantial farmers and representative citizens of Sleepy Creek District until his death. On this old homestead farm was born his wife, whose maiden name was Angeline Johnson, and she still resides on the place, which is endeared to her by many gracious memories and associa- tions. She is a daughter of James and Sarah (Ohlinger) Johnson and a granddaughter of John Johnson, who was one of the very early settlers in what is now Morgan County. He here purchased land and reclaimed a productive farm, his farm having been situated nine miles distant from the courthouse and he having been familiarly known as Nine- mile Johnson, to distinguish him from another Johnson of the same personal name. It is of local historie interest that this sturdy pioneer in 1870, when 109 years of age, walked from his farm to Berkeley Springs to cast his vote for General Harrison for president of the United States. James Johnson passed his entire life in Sleepy Creek District, and was one of the substantial exponents of farm industry in his native county, where he commanded unqualified popular

esteem. The Ohlinger family likewise was established iz Morgan County in the pioneer days, this county having a that time been a part of Berkeley County, and the home stead farm of the family having been in the Hedgesville Distriet. The subject of this sketch is the eldest in a family of three children, the other two being daughters, Sarah and Latona, who remain with their widowed mother.

Harry W. Bayer waxed strong in mind and physique through the discipline which he gained in connection with the activities of the home farm and the advantages which were his through the medium of the rural schools of the dis trict. He advanced his education by attending summer normal schools, and at the age of nineteen years he became a teacher in a rural district. By his pedagogic service he earned the funds to defray the expenses of his course ir the Shenandoah Institute at Dayton, Virginia. He taught eight terms of school, in Morgan and Berkeley counties and for two terms was principal of the graded school al Hedgesville. In the meanwhile he applied himself diligently to the study of law, and in 1893 was admitted to the West Virginia bar, after passing a specially successful examina

- tion before Judges Faulkner, Hohe and Dailey. He forth withi opened an office at Berkeley Springs, where he has since continued in active general practice, except for an interim of two years passed at Manning. He has proved his powers as a resourceful trial lawyer and well fortified counselor and has built up a large practice that marks him as one of the representative members of the bar of his native county. He gave twenty years of most effective service as prosecuting attorney of Morgan County, and was for two years city attorney of Manning. Mr. Bayer has been in- fluential in the local councils and campaign activities of the republican party, and has served as a member of the Republican Executive Committee of Morgan County, as well as a member of the republican committee for this congres. sional district. He has frequently been a delegate to the district and state conventions of his party, and in 1920 was a republican candidate for nomination for the office of state commissioner of agriculture. His first presidential vote was cast for Gen. Benjamin Harrison.

As a youth Mr. Bayer became deeply interested in horti culture, and he started one of the first commercial orchards in Morgan County. He has been a progressive and public- spirited citizen, and his influence has been felt in connec- tion with many movements and enterprises projected foi the general good of the community. He organized the Peo ples Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Morgan County, and continued his executive connection with the same until it had been established on a firm foundation and had de .. veloped a prosperous business. He was the organizer also of the Berkeley Springs Telephone Company, promoted and effected the establishing of the cold-storage plant at Berk- eley Springs, and has otherwise shown lively interest in all things touching the welfare and advancement of his home town, the judicial center of Morgan County.

At the age of twenty-nine years Mr. Bayer wedded Miss Agnes Slaughter, who was born in Berkeley County, a daughter of James T. and Henrietta C. Slaughter. Mr." and Mrs. Bayer have three children: Rana C., Beverley' C. and Alice.

WILLIAM OPIE NORRIS, who for over twenty years has been interested in a growing real estate business at Charles' Town, is member of a family that has been well known in Jefferson County for over a century, and included men of distinctive prominence in the affairs of the state as well as in the immediate locality.

His grandfather was George Norris, a native of either Northeumberland or Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. There is a well established tradition that two brothers named Norris came from England to the colonies as early as 1750, one of them settling in Virginia and becoming the ancestor, of the present line. The other brother settled in Camden, New Jersey, where he established a foundry and machine shop. In this plant his descendants made the first locomo -! tive engine that ever pulled a railroad train in this country .! Later the establishment was removed to Philadelphia, and

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became the foundation of the present Baldwin Locomotive Works. The name Norris is perpetuated by a street located near the works.

While a branch of the family is thus permanently related with big industrial enterprise, the grandfather of William O. Norris was a planter, and devoted his life to the man- agement of his large estate and to his responsibilities as a leader in public affairs in Frederick County, Virginia, a county that then embraced Clark County. He was a magis- trate of Frederick County, and upon the organization of Clark County, being the oldest magistrate, by provision of the law of Virginia became automatically the first sheriff of the new county. He married Jane Wormeley, who was porn at Rose Hill, near Urbana, in Middlesex County, Vir- ginia. Her father, Ralph Wormeley, was secretary of the Colony at the beginning of the Revolutionary war, and, remaining loyal to the crown he returned to England, his estate being confiscated. After the war he returned and recovered his property and occupied it until his death. This old Wormeley estate is on the Rappahannock River.

William H. Norris, father of William O. Norris, was porn on the plantation known as Rosemont, near Berryville n Clark County, about 1820. He was educated by private utors, and inherited a portion of his father's estate. At the time of his marriage he settled on a plantation in Kable- ;own District of Jefferson County. This property was his wife's inheritance. He operated the estate with slave abor, and continued there until his death in 1857, at the age of thirty-seven years. He married Mary Opie, who was porn in Jefferson County. Her father, Hierome, owned several thousand acres of land and hundreds of slaves, and le represented his district in the Virginia Legislature for hirty-five consecutive years. The maiden name of his wife was Margaret Muse, also a life-long resident of Virginia. Mary Opie Norris died at the age of sixty-four.

Her son, William Opie Norris, was born on a plantation n the Kabletown District in Jefferson County, and finished is education in the Virginia Military Institute. After inishing his course he returned to the plantation, and was etive in its management until 1900. In that year he emoved to Charles Town and became associated with his rother-in-law, Colonel Chew, in the real estate and loan business. In 1872 Mr. Norris married Margaret B. Chew, a ister of Col. R. P. Chew.

GEORGE E. STRALEY, cashier of the First National Bank f Ripley, has been actively identified with that institution or ten years, and is one of the prominent young business aders of Jackson County.

He was born on a farm near Ripley, December 2, 1884. Tis great-grandfather, Christian Straley, was a native of Germany and founded the family in West Virginia, in ewis County, where he was a farmer and where he lived ut his life. Stephen Straley, his son, was born in Lewis County in 1801, and as a young man moved to Jackson County and founded the Straley homestead a mile and a alf north of Ripley, where he continued to live until his eath in 1885. He married Mary Alkire, who was born Lewis County in 1813 and died in 1875. Of their family f three daughters and four sons the only survivor is Charles 1. Straley, who still lives at the old homestead north of ripley, where he was born October 9, 1856. He has been farmer in that community all his life, and is a democrat nd a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Lucy Ramey, who was born in Jackson County in eptember, 1856. George E. Straley is the oldest of their hildren. Paul is unmarried and helps operate the home arm. Mary is a teacher in Marion County and has done dvanced work in summer sessions of the State University. harles V. is a student in the University of Pennsylvania at hiladelphia.

George E. Straley was educated in rural schools, in the Test Liberty State Normal School, attended the University f West Virginia at Morgantown in the summer of 1910, nd at the age of twenty began teaching. For one year he id work in the rural schools of Jackson County, for two ears was a teacher in the public schools at Ripley, and nother two years in Pocahontas County. Mr. Straley in

1911 entered the Valley Bank of Ripley as assistant cashier, and has continued with that institution, which since August 4, 1915, has been the First National Bank. He became cashier in 1916. Mr. Straley is also a stockholder in the O. J. Morrison Store Company of Charleston, in the People's Department Store at Ripley, and takes a public spirited part in all the general improvement projects in his community. lle is now serving in his fourth year as a member of the City Council of Ripley, and for the past three years has been secretary of the Board of Education. Ile is a demo- erat, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is affiliated with Ripley Lodge No. 16, A. F. and A. M., and is a past chancellor of Walker Wright Lodge No. 95, Knights of Pythias. Ile did much work of a patriotic nature during the war, helping fill out questionnaires, and was also a member of the several committees for the Liberty Loan drives.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 140

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