History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 144

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After his term of army service he attended school, clerked in a store, taught in the district schools of Upshur County, taught the first term of the public school for colored chil- dren in Buckhannon, and later taught a winter term in Mason County, and in 1870 went to Woodford County, Illi- nois, where he taught two terms of school in country dis- triets. At the close of his first term of school in Woodford County, in March, 1871, he went to Chicago, where he was

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employed in the shipping room of a varnish factory until the great fire of October following, when he returned to Woodford County and again taught a short term of school, at the close of which he returned to Chicago and found employment as store-keeper for a firm of lumber manufac- turers whose plant was located at Bluffton, near Muskegon, Michigan. At the expiration of his year's engagement and a change of the lumber business having intervened he returned to Chicago and again for about five and one-half years was employed in connection with light manufacturing concerns, later being for several years employed as a col- lector of Chicago and Cleveland firms and as such traveled extensively in Ohio and West Virginia.

During the later period of his residence in Buckhannon and in the newer town of South Buckhannon he filled the responsible office of town sergeant for about eight years and served a term as mayor of the new town of South Buckhannon. He was for about fourteen years connected with the West Virginia Humane Society and its successor, the State Board of Children's Guardians, most of that period as a local agent and later as a district agent, a placement officer in the state work for children.

For nearly twelve months in the years 1901 to 1902 he was a resident of Oklahoma, having attended one of the "drawings" of land in Caddo County. He was not suc- cessful in the great drawing, but profited somewhat in modest investment in town lots in Anadarko.

Benjamin F. Malone is a republican and with ample in- dependence, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with firm opinions of his own, a past grand in the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, a past post commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, a pensioner and a bachelor, a pioneer prohibitionist of Upshur County, and a woman suffragist from Susan B. Anthony to date.

OSCAR B. BEER, M. D., who is established in the suc- cessful practice of his profession at Buckhannon, the ju- dicial center of his native county of Upshur, has definite prestige as one of the representative physicians and sur- geons of this section of the state, and in his practice he specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Doctor Beer has been en- gaged in practice for a quarter of a century, and was one of the successful physicians and surgeons who represented West Virginia in the Medical Corps of the United States Army in the period of the late World war.

Doctor Beer was born on a farm in Upshur County, March 4, 1870, and is a son of George W. and Mary (Tay- lor) Beer. George W. Beer was born in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, in 1847, and was a lad of fifteen years when he enlisted for service as a Union soldier in the. Civil war, in which he made a record of loyal and effective service. In the schools of the old Keystone State he received a liberal education, and he gained a splendid record of fifty- three years of effective service as a teacher in the rural schools, West Virginia. He has long been numbered among the substantial farmers of Upshur County, and still gives his attention to teaching school during the winter terms. Mr. Beer is a stanch republican, is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic, and he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. They have nine children, of whom Doctor Beer of this sketch is the eldest; A. W. is a progressive farmer in Upshur County; Blanche, a graduate of the West Virginia Wesleyan College, became a successful teacher in the pub- lic schools and is now the wife of W. I. Conley, of Upshur County; Pearl is the wife of Stark Kittle, and they re- side near Belington, Barbour County; Essie, formerly a popular teacher, is the wife of E. R. Smith; Myrtle like- wise is married and remains a resident of this state, as does also Mrs. Dorothy Greer; Gypsy is the wife of Guy Holderman; and Mamie is the wife of O. Tallman.

Dr. Oscar B. Beer passed the period of his childhood and early youth on the old home farm, and his educational advantages in the meanwhile were those of the public schools. He had become a successful teacher in the rural schools prior to entering the National Normal University

at Lebanon, Ohio, where he effectively supplemented his academic education. In 1896 he graduated from the Amer- icus Medical College in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, and since receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he has been continuously engaged in the work of his pro- fession. In addition to controlling at Buckhannon a large and representative private practice the doctor also con- duets a well equipped sanitarium in this city, where he has the best of facilities for the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, in which he specializes, as previously stated.

When the nation became involved in the great World war Doctor Beer promptly enlisted in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, and was soon commissioned a captain in the same. He continued in the service three months, during the greater part of which period he was stationed at the base hospital in Greenville, South Caro- lina. He is vice senior commander of the post of the American Legion at Buckhannon, and is the oldest mem- ber of the Legion in Upshur County. The doctor holds membership in the Upshur County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is past chancellor of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and is a trustee of the Presbyterian Church in his home city. Doctor Beer is a progressive and liberal citizen, is president of the Curt- right-Sharp Window Shade Company, one of the leading industrial concerns of Buckhannon, and is a stockholder in the Buckhannon light and water plant.

December 29, 1895, recorded the marriage of Doctor Beer and Miss Ada Sexton, and they have one son, Sexton, who was born in 1898.

JEREMIAH ALEXANDER MILLER. As an active resident of Wheeling for over sixty years, prominent as a banker, real estate operator, and with widely diversified interests, the career of Col. J. A. Miller can be noted only briefly in a suggestive outline. His friends and associates bear witness to the fact that he has heen one of Wheeling's most use- ful as well as most honored and successful citizens.

Jeremiah A. Miller was born near Martinsburg in Berke- ley County, Virginia, December 9, 1844. His father, John F. Miller, a native of Pennsylvania, was for a number of years a school teacher in Morgan County, and his wife, Rosanna Ellenberger, was a native of that county. They were married in Berkeley County. John F. Miller died at Martinsburg in 1852, and his widow died a number of years later in Wheeling. Jeremiah A. is the only survivor of their three children: John was a merchant and died at Columbus, Ohio, in 1919, and Belle died at Wheeling at the age of thirty.

J. A. Miller acquired a public school education and was eighteen years of age when he came to Wheeling in 1862. From that year until 1868 he was a grocery salesman, and from 1868 to 1884 was in business as a wholesale fancy grocery merchant. During 1884-5 he was a member of the firm Boyd, Miller Company, wholesale shoes.

Colonel Miller's active association with Wheeling banking affairs is a matter of interesting record. He has been a stockholder and director of the bank for forty years, and during this time he served as cashier and manager, then resigned to take the office of vice president and, later, president, the position he now holds. The institution under different names has been in the financial district of Wheel- ing for over sixty years. It was the first Wheeling bank to take advantage of the National Bank Act, being incor- porated as the First National Bank in 1864. Some ten or twelve years later it surrendered the National charter and has since been known as the Bank of the Ohio Valley. Colonel Miller since 1905 has been president of the bank. He is also president of the Center Wheeling Savings Bank, which was organized in 1901 and is president of the Com- munity Savings & Loan Company. Colonel Miller is presi- dent of the West Virginia Printing Company, and for a number of years was associated with the real estate firm of Alexander & Miller Land Company, also with North Park Land Company.

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He was one of the promoters and the president of the Board of Directors of the first electric street car lines in Wellsburg, Wheeling and Moundsville, West Virginia, being among the first electric car lines in the United States. He helped to organize and was president of the first ice manu- facturing company in this section of the United States.

In his civic record one service, that stands out perhaps above all others at Wheeling, has been his continuous mem- bership of forty-four years on the Board of Education. lle is chairman of the Wheeling Public Library Committee of the Board of Education, and among other services he was mayor of Wheeling in 1883-84, president of the Board of Directors of the West Virginia Penitentiary from 1890 to 1894, and regent of the West Virginia State Reform School in 1895. Colonel Miller was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention of 1912 at Baltimore, when Woodrow Wilson was nominated for his first term. He was aid-de-camp with the rank of colonel on the staff of Gov- ernor J. B. Jackson, also chief marshal of democratic parades in the presidential campaigns of 1876 to 1892, in- elusive. Colonel Miller has a distinguished record in Masonry and Odd Fellowship. He is a thirty-third degree Scottish Rite Mason, is a trustee of the West Virginia Grand Lodge of Masons, and is president of the Masonic Temple Association of Wheeling. Ile is the oldest past grand master and past chief patriarch of West Virginia Odd Fellows. He was grand master of the Grand Lodge in 1876-77. He is a past grand commander of the Grand Commandery of West Virginia Knight Templars, also past grand high priest of the Grand Chapter of West Virginia Royal Arch Masons and a member of the Mystie Shrine, Mecca Temple, New York, for thirty-five years.

Colonel Miller married Miss Ida M. Deiters, a native of Ohio County, West Virginia. They have two danghters: Anna Isabelle, a graduate of Randolph-Macon College of Lynchburg, Virginia; and Ruth Alexandria, who is a graduate of the Wheeling High School and is now a student in Randolph-Macon College.

CURRAN E. GITHENS, M. A, Ph. D., the valued super- intendent of the public schools of the City of Wheeling and a prominent figure in educational cireles in West Virginia, was born at Cameron, Monroe County, Ohio, and is a son of Dr. P. D. and Elizabeth (Ruble) Githens, the former of whom died in 1917, on his farm near Bealls- ville, Monroe County, Ohio, where his widow still maintains her home.

Dr. P. D. Githens was born at Camden, New Jersey, a son of William T. Githens, who was there born in the year 1799, and whose death occurred at Wheeling, West Vir- ginia, in 1860, he having here established his residence in 1838 and having become a snecessful coach and steamboat builder. His wife, whose maiden name was Sophia Bron- ner, was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was a resident of Wheeling, West Virginia, at the time of her death. Joshua Githens, father of William T., was born in Philadelphia, became a substantial capitalist in his native city, served as a patriot soldier in the war of the Revolution and was a resident of Philadelphia at the time of his death. The family name of his wife was Abel. The original American progenitor of the Githens family came from England in 1671 and settled on Cooper's Creek, near Salem, New Jersey. Dr. P. D. Githens was a boy at the time when the family home was established in Wheeling, and here he received his early education. In preparation for his chosen vocation, he entered the celebrated Rush Medical College in the City of Chicago, and after finishing his conrse was actively engaged in the practice of his pro- fession in Monroe County, Ohio, for fifty-five years. A man of fine intellectual and professional ability, he had a high sense of stewardship and manifested the same in his many years of earnest and helpful service to humanity. His praetice as a country doctor covered a wide area of territory, and he was loved and honored in the community in which he lived and labored to goodly ends. lle was ap- pointed to the office of major in the Ohio militia at the time of the Civil war, this appointment having been made by the governor of the state, but he never was in active serv-

ice at the front. His political allegiance was given to the democratic party, and his religious faith was that of the Society of Friends, of which he was a birthright member. Of their children the first born, William David, died at the age of twenty years; Professor Githens of this review was the next in order of birth; Bernard P. is engaged in the buying and shipping of live stock at Bellville, Ohio; C. A., who was engaged in real estate business at Marshfield, Wisconsin, was killed in an automobile accident in that state in 1916.

Prof. C. E. Githens gained his preliminary education in the public schools of Bellville, Ohio, later received normal school training, and in 1896 he graduated from Franklin College, one of the admirable institutions of his native! state, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Thereafter he did effective post-graduate work in Harvard University, and his alma mater, Franklin College, conferred upon him the supplemental degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy, besides which he received the Master's degree also from Bethany College.

Professor Githens initiated his pedagogie career when he was hut fifteen years of age, at which time he began teach- ing in a rural distriet in his native county. Later he be- eame principal of the public schools at Hannibal, Ohio, and after there remaining two years he served in turn as principal of schools at Clarington and Belpre, that state. Ile finally became superintendent of schools at Wellsburg, West Virginia, and in 1903 he was made prin- cipal of the Union District Schools of Wheeling, in which capacity he continued his effective service until he was ap- pointed to his present office, that of superintendent of the schools of this city. He is a member of the Mathematical Association of America, the American Mathematical Society, the Cirolo Matematico di Palermo, the National Educational Society and the State Teachers Association of West Virginia. Under his supervision as superintendent of the city schools of Wheeling, he has twelve schools, 236 teachers and 6,300 pupils.

Professor Githens is a well fortified advocate and sup- porter of the principals of the democratic party, and while in his native Ohio county he served two terms as assessor, which compassed the full gamut of his official ambition. He and his wife hold membership in the Second Presbyterian Church at Wheeling, and he is serving as elder in the same. In the Masonic fraternity his basic affiliation is with Nelson Lodge No. 30, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and in the West Virginia Sovereign Consistory of the Scottish Rite, he has received, up to 1921, the eighteenth degree- Rotarian.

Professor Githens wedded Miss Emily C. Stegner, daugh- ter of the late Godfrey and Rosina (Held) Stegner, of Monroe County, Ohio, where the father was a representative farmer. Professor and Mrs. Githens have two children: Florence is the wife of A. H. Kelley, assistant auditor for a leading shipbuilding concern at Newburgh, New York; and Philemon Stegner was, in 1921, a student in Pittsburgh University, Pennsylvania.

JAMES A. RUSMISELL, M. D., who is engaged in the active general practice of his profession at Buckhannon. Upshur County, has here made a record that entitles him to recognition as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of his native county. He was born at French- ton, this county, May 4, 1879, and is a son of John D. and Amanda A. (Hull) Rusmisell, both of whom have been residents of this county from the time of their births, the father being one of the substantial farmers and sterling citizens of the county, where he is the owner of a valuable farm property of 500 acres.

Doctor Rusmisell reverts with satisfaction to the be. nignant influences that compassed his boyhood and early youth, for he was reared on the home farm and early be- gan to aid in its work. After leaving the publie schools he continued his studies in the West Virginia Wesleyan College, and in preparation for his chosen profession hc entered Maryland Medical College in the City of Balti- more, Maryland. After receiving from this great institu- tion his degree of Doctor of Medicine he passed two years

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t Orlando, West Virginia. For the ensuing five years he zas engaged in practice at Gassaway, Braxton County, West Virginia, and since that time he has made Buck- annon the central stage of his able and effective pro- essional service, save for the period of his association with he nation's military service in connection with the World rar. The doctor has insistently kept in touch with the dvances made in medical and surgical science. He is ctively identified with the Upshur County Medical Society, he West Virginia State Medical Society and the Ameri- an Medical Association. In 1921 Doctor Rusmisell took special course in surgical work in the American Hos- ital in the City of Chicago. He is an ex-member of the Vest Virginia State Board of Medical Examiners, and his oyal service in the ranks of the republican party needs o further voucher than the statement that he is serving n 1921 as member of its State Central Committee in West Virginia. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 1912 Doctor Rusmisell wedded Miss Anna L. MeNutt, nd they have on child, James A., Jr.

Doctor Rusmisell became a member of the West Vir- 'inia National Guard in the year 1914, and he entered ac- ive Federal service before the nation became formally ngaged in the World war. He was first at Fairmont, Vest Virginia, and then went to Fort Benjamin Harrison, ndiana, where for ninety days he received special train- ng for army service as a surgeon. For one year there- fter he was with the Medical Corps of the United States Army in the camp at Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and as egimental surgeon of the One Hundred and Thirteenth Engineers he went with his command to France, where he zas assigned to duty as medical officer in charge of the econdary depot at La Tracy, in which service he con- inued eight months. Thereafter he held various assign- ments of important order, he having received commission s a major in the medical corps soon after he entered the ervice of the Government. He returned to the United itates in June, 1919, and after receiving his honorable dis- harge he resumed the practice of his profession at Buckhannon.

CHARLES ROESSING, superintendent of the William Flac- us Oak Leather Company, one of the important industrial oncerns of Buckhannon, Upshur County, is a recognized xpert and authority in all departments of the tanning business, his initial knowledge of which was gained in his tative town of Rothenburg on the Fulda River in Hessen- Tassau, Germany, where he was born on the 12th of August, 868. He was afforded the advantages of the schools of is native place and was still a boy when he began work- ug in a local tannery, where he thoroughly learned his rade. As a youth he served one year and two months n the Prussian Army, and he was an ambitious young nan of twenty-four years when in 1892 he came to the United States, where he felt assured of better opportunities or advancement. For two years he worked at his trade a the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he then, in 894, came to Buckhannon, West Virginia. Here he held he position of department foreman of the William Flac- us Leather Company until 1900, and for two years there- fter he was similarly employed in the State of New fersey. He next returned to Pittsburgh, but six months ater he again came to Buckhannon, where he held the position of superintendent of a tannery until 1908, when le returned to his native land and there made a visit. of hree months. Upon coming back to the United States Mr. Roessing built a tannery at Buckhannon, and this he perated in an independent way until 1910, since which rear he has held the position of superintendent of the William Flaccus Oak Leather Company. He is one of the ubstantial and loyal citizens of Upshur County, and here esides upon his well improved little farm of forty-four veres, adjoining the City of Buckhannon. He is a repuh- ican in politics and takes deep interest in all that concerns he welfare of his home community.

In the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was solemnized 1

the marriage of Mr. Roessing and Miss Catherine Kerst, who likewise is a native of Germany, and they have three children : Carl, born May 13, 1893, whose early educational advantages included those of the West Virginia Wesleyan College, married Claudia L. Hiner, and they have one son, Charles H. George, who was born October 12, 1898, and who completed a two years' college course, remains at the parental home. Lena, who was born February 18, 1895, graduated from the Buckhannon High School, later completed a normal course in the West Virginia Wesleyan College, after which she was engaged in teaching in the public schools until her marriage to Lloyd Travis. They have one child, Ralph.

J. RALPH DAWSON has developed at Buckhannon, Up- shur County, a substantial and prosperous underwriting husiness as representative of the celebrated New York Life Insurance Company, besides which he is here the secretary of Oke Coal Company, the other officers of which corpora- tion are as here noted: O. S. Talbott, president; W. M. Minerd, vice president; and W. G. Talbott, treasurer.

Mr. Dawson was born in Harrison County, West Virginia, on the 15th of October, 1892, and is a son of Homer E. and Iona (Somerville) Dawson, both likewise natives of Harrison County, where the former was born in 1866 and the latter in 1869. The parents were reared and educated in their native county, and there the father continued his active operations as a farmer until 1912, when he re- moved with his family to Buckhannon, he being the owner of a well improved farm in Upshur County and three valuable farm properties in Harrison County. Homer E. Dawson is a democrat and is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as was also his wife, whose death occurred in 1913. Of their nine children seven are living, and of the number the subject of this sketch is the eldest; Frank E., who was for eighteen months in the na- tion's military service at the time of the World war, is now in the employ of the National Supply Company in the State of Kansas; Martha, a graduate of the Buckhan- non High School, is the wife of Dr. A. C. Thrash, of Lost Creek, Harrison County; Roscoe L. likewise represented West Virginia as a soldier of the United States Army in the World war period; and the three younger children, Homer D., Clyde G. and Hazel, remain at the parental home.

J. Ralph Dawson was reared on the farm to the age of eighteen years, and in the meanwhile attended the public schools of the locality. Thereafter he attended West Vir- ginia Wesleyan College at Buckhannon until his gradua- tion in the same. For four years he was engaged in the merchant-tailoring industry at Buckhannon, and after sell- ing this business he turned his attention to the life-insur- ance business, in which he has met with unequivocal sue- cess. He is a stanch supporter of the principles of the republican party, is affiliated with Franklin Lodge No. 7, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and also with the Lodge of Perfection in the Scottish Rite of the fraternity. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episco- pal Church.

April 22, 1916, recorded the marriage of Mr. Dawson and Miss Lettie Matheney, and they are popular factors in the social activities of their home city. They have no children.

REV. MOORE MCNEILL has been justly called the best loved man in Ritchie County. Gifted with many talents, blessed with long life, he has used both as a constant opportunity for doing good. His good deeds will follow him while the memory of lesser but perhaps more prosperous men fades.

He was born in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, No- vember 9, 1830, in early life took up the ministry, and at this writing is in his ninety-second year. He is widely and universally known and respected, and when he lays down the cross to wear the crown of glory no one in the community will be more sadly missed.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 144

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