History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 145

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The McNeills are of a sturdy Scotch-Irish lineage. In Scotland for several generations they were known as "dis-

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senters. " About 1689 some of them removed from Scot- land to Ireland, and one or more of the family was repre- sented in the siege of Derry. Following that a part of the family settled in Wales. Thomas McNeill, the direct ancestor of Rev. Moore MeNeill, was born in Wales in 1747, and was a small child when his parents immigrated to the American colonies, settling in Capan Valley of Frederick County, Virginia. There Thomas McNeill mar- ried Mrs. Mary (Hughes) Ireson, and in 1770 he moved from Franklin County to what is now Pocahontas County, West Virginia. He entered three hundred acres of land, which still remains in the possession of his descendants. Thomas McNeill gave service on the side of the Colonists in their struggle for independence.

His son Jonathan married Miss Phoebe Moore. Her father, Moses Moore, was a romantic figure in Revolutionary times and in the Indian wars. He was three times captured and carried from his home on Swago across the Ohio River to the vicinity of Chillicothe, Ohio. Once he was compelled to endure the ordeal of running the gauntlet. Another captive preceding him was stabbed, bruised and hacked to pieces before reaching the end of the line. Moses Moore, therefore, decided that death was the least he could expect, and determined to sell his life dearly. He went down the line some distance and when a squaw struck him with a long-handled frying pan he wrenched it from her, knocked her down with his fist, and then striking right and left with the handle of the frying pan, he proved such a terror to his perseentors that many of the squaws ran away. The spectacle altogether pleased the Indians, who permitted this little diversion as an entertainment for their squaws, and they crowded round him praising him with the words "good soldier," and decided to spare his life. Afterwards he made his escape and returned home.

The parents of Rev. Moore MeNeill were William and Nancy (Griffey) MeNeill. Nancy Griffey was a daughter of Jonathan Griffey, whose name in the records of Bath County, Virginia, where he married, is spelled Griffee. Jonathan Griffey was a native of Switzerland, was a fol- lower of Lafayette to the Colonies, a soldier until the close of the Revolution, and thereafter lived in Virginia. Jona- than Griffey was in the last battle of the war, the siege and surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

William McNeill and wife had the following children: Jonathan; James, a Confederate captain; Claibourne; Jane, who became the wife of John E. Adkisson; Elizabeth, who was married to Solomon Cochran; Agnes; and Reverend Moore.

Rev. Moore McNeill has been a stanch republican since the organization of the party, and he cast his first vote for the whig candidate Zachary Taylor, though the family were strongly Southern in their sympathies. During the last month of the Civil war Governor Arthur I. Boreman of West Virginia commissioned him captain of a company of state troops to take the place of Captain Haller, who had been killed.

Rev. Mr. Moore was licensed to preach in 1859. For ten years he was identified with the Methodist Protestant Church, and then transferred himself to the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which Conference he now helongs. His first appointment was at Kingwood, and other com- munities that recall with affection and gratitude his serv- ices as pastor were Mannington, Harrisville, Spencer and Dallas. Very appropriately one might quote from the words of a former history of Ritchie County: "He is one of the most widely known and beloved citizens of the county, having endeared himself to the hearts of the many by his comforting ministrations in times of sorrow and bereavement. Perhaps no other minister in the history of the county has married or buried a larger number of its citizens. "

Now, in his ninety-second year, he is spending the evening of his life at his country home "Loenst Grove" near Smithville. He still takes a great interest in the affairs of the world and the people with whom his duties have brought him in contact. His singularly long life has been an expression of great devotion and consecration to the ideals of service upheld in the ministry of Christ.

In the peaceful scenes of evening as in the laborio hours of life's noontide he has had the devoted companio ship of his wife. Her maiden name was Jane Eliza Cal well, a daughter of John and Jane (Poole) Caldwell, wl were born in that portion of the old Angusta District Virginia now Marshall County, West Virginia. The twel children of Mr. and Mrs. MeNeill were: Owen M .; Cloy Tutt; Ida, wife of George W. Clammer, of Fort Collin Colorado; E. Augusta, wife of Gus J. Shaffer, of Kin; wood; Minnie H., wife of Rev. A. L. Ireland, of the We; Virginia Conference; Ellen H., Mrs. H. H. Cochran, ( Clarksburg; Isa Pierpont, wife of Stanley J. Morrow, Dallas, Texas; Alfreda, wife of Kenney P. Wright, ( Washington D. C .; Burley S., who occupies the old home William K., a farmer in Ritchie County; Frank C., ( Smithville; and Otis, deceased.

GUSTAVUS JOSEPHUS SHAFFER. With the commercia development of Preston County during the past half centur perhaps no one citizen has been more deeply interested tha Gustavus Josephus Shaffer, always known among his man friends and associates as Gus J. Shaffer. Mr. Shaffer still active in banking and business at Kingwood, and ha long been one of the prominent leaders of the democrati party in this section of the state.

His grandfather and the founder of the family in Presto! County was Adam Shaffer, a native of Germany, who cam to America just before the Revolutionary war, locating i Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, and from there removin to Maryland. In Washington County, Maryland, he mar ried Catherine Wotring. She was one of the heroines o the Revolution. On the day the battle of Brandywine wa fought she was busy molding bullets for the Patriot Army and her mother and older sisters raked and set up bnek wheat while the husband and father was fighting in th canse of independence. The bullet molds Catherine use on this occasion can be seen in Aurora, West Virginia today. Adam Shaffer immediately after his marriage cam in company with his wife's father to the German settlemen of Aurora, West Virginia, and established his home nea Brookside, Adam and Catherine Shaffer had the follow ing children: Tewalt, John, Jacob, Daniel, William, Samue Abraham and Adam, Jr.

Daniel Shaffer, father of Gus J., married Elizabeth Iser hart, of a family that was identified with the Colonia history of Cumberland, Maryland, where Daniel found hi wife. Daniel Shaffer was born in 1805 and lived ont hi busy career on a farm in Brookside in Preston County where he died in 1863. His family consisted of five son and three daughters: George Francis; Martin Luther Jesse W .; Gustavus Josephus; Arthur Mckinley; Susar who became the wife of Thomas Humbertson, of Frostburg Maryland; Mary R., who was the wife of George Lantz of Aurora ; and Priscilla, who married James H. Wilson an died at Aurora. Of these children George Francis entere. the Lutheran ministry and was president of the Nort. Carolina College at Concord, North Carolina. At the begin ning of the Civil war, he was, president of a Female Sem inary in that state. After the war he did missionary wor throughout the South, and died at Spartanburg, Sout Carolina, full of years and with a life of great usefulnes to his credit.

Daniel Shaffer, father of these children, was a loca minister of the Lutheran Church and a justice of the peace He issued a great many marriage licenses and also per formed the marriage ceremonies. While he was not participant in partisan polities, he was in many ways th recognized civic leader in his community of Aurora. Am other son, Martin L., was sheriff of Preston County whe the Civil war came on, and then resigned his office and be came a sutler in the Federal Army.

Gus J. Shaffer was born at Aurora in Preston Count January 15, 1847, and he was still a schoolboy when th Civil war was being fought. He learned the blacksmith' trade, and after reaching his majority engaged in merchar dising at Fellowsville. A few months later fire destroye his stock of goods, and he then removed to Rowlesburg i Reno District, where he began manufacturing and dealin

Gus JoShaffer

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lumber. Two or three years later he moved to Tunnel- on, and continued in the lumber business until 1886. Mr. haffer was one of the original promoters and .stockholders the Kingwood Railroad Company. Before the road was ompleted he was elected its superintendent, having charge f the track laying, and continued as superintendent during e first year of the road's operation. On resigning he moved to Kingwood, and resumed the Inmber and mercan- le business. For seventeen years Mr. Shaffer was manag- ig partner in the Shaffer & Brown Company, one of the urgest mercantile firms in Northern West Virginia. His artners were the late Junior Brown, Arnold Bonafield and [. L. Shaffer, and he is the last survivor of these. Mr. haffer is now the oldest man in point of service in the ank of Kingwood. For many years he has been one of its cockholders and vice president, and was also one of the uilding committee to erect the handsome bank home a few ears ago.

Like his father, Mr. Shaffer is a "dyed-in-the-wool" emocrat, and has been with that party steadily since asting his first vote for president for Seymour and Blair 1 1868. He has been on the ticket as a party candidate everal times, greatly reducing the republican majority that normal in Preston County. He was once elected justice f the peace of Kingwood District. He has been a delegate state conventions, and helped nominate Governor Mac- orkle and other state officers. He was in the convention hich nominated Governor Fleming, and was a partisan of olonel Martin, named as the dark horse to break the dead- ock in the Second Congressional District Democratic Con- ention. He helped nominate the state democratic leader William L. Wilson, distinguished author of the Wilson bill, nd he knew that statesman personally.

Mr. Shaffer was reared in the Lutheran Church and as always regarded himself as a Lutheran. Mrs. Shaffer 3 a Methodist, and in the absence of a Lutheran Church at Kingwood he has given his support to the Methodists and one of the trustces of the local society. Many years go Mr. Shaffer became a Knight of Pythias, and has a eteran's medal for a quarter of a century of active mem- ership.

The first wife of Mr. Shaffer was Louisa Menefee, of Ionongalia County, danghter of John Menefee, who in his ime was a man of prominence in the Newburg district. Irs. Shaffer died in 1880, leaving two children: Morris, farmer near Tunnelton; and Elizabeth, wife of H. C. haffer, of Cumberland, Maryland. The second wife of fr. Shaffer was Florence Thomas, daughter of former heriff Elisha Thomas of Preston County, where she was orn. She died in 1888, the mother of three children. The Idest of these is Frank T., one of the promoters and a irector and salesman in the Kingwood Wholesale Grocery Company, who married Miss Bessie L. Clark, of Miller, Ohio. Harry G. Shaffer, a lawyer at Madison, West Vir- inia, and a member of the State Senate from the Eighth District, married Brookie Turley. Jessie, the youngest of he three children, is the wife of Dr. John W. Gilmore, of Wheeling, West Virginia.

July 30, 1890, Mr. Shaffer married in Ritchie County, West Virginia, Miss E. Augusta MeNeill, daughter of 'ev. Moore McNeill, former pastor of the Methodist Epis- opal Church of Kingwood. Mrs. Augusta Shaffer, who ras a successful teacher before her marriage, received her ertificate of membership in the Kingwood Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Jannary, 1920. he is entitled to wear four bars, indicating her Revolu- ionary ancestry through four soldiers of the war.

ELLIS E. EDGELL, M. D., who maintains his home at Buckhannon, judicial center of Upshur County, is now iving his attention primarily to oil and gas production nterprise in his native state, but he has to his credit many ears of active and successful service in the work of his rofession, in which he gained prestige as a specially able hysician and surgeon.

Doctor Edgell was born in Ritchie County, West Virginia, n the 1st of November, 1862, and is a son of John and usan (Morris) Edgell, both likewise natives of what is

now the State of West Virginia, the former having been born in Wetzel County, in 1812, and the latter in Taylor County, in 1831. After their marriage the parents settled on a farm in Ritchie County, and there they passed the re- mainder of their lives, the father having heen the owner of a small farm at the time of his death. John Edgell was a stanch supporter of the cause of the democratic party, and both he and his wife were earnest members of the Baptist Church. Of the seven children the eldest was A. W., who became a successful physician and surgeon and who continued in the practice of his profession un- til his death. Cyrus J., K. C. and G. E. likewise were successful physicians, and all are now deccased; Thenie is the widow of T. L. Terrell; Lyda is the wife of G. B. Simmons; and Dr. E. E., of this sketch, is the youngest of the number.

Doctor Edgell was reared on the home farm and gained his early education in the local schools. Like all of his brothers he adopted the medical profession as his vocation, and for the same he prepared himself most thoroughly and effectively. For one year he was a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the City of St. Louis, Mis- sonri, and he then entered the Kentucky School of Med- icine at Louisville, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1892 and with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. After about five years of successful practice at Webster Springs, Webster County, he transferred his residence and professional headquarters to Clendenin, Kanawha Connty, and after there continuing his active general practice about five years he was for one year en- gaged in practice in the City of Charleston. He became snhstantially interested in oil and gas production and finally retired from the practice of his profession to de- vote his attention to his important business affairs in this industrial field. He is a director of the Bnekhannon Bank and takes loyal interest in all that concerns the civic and material welfare of his home city and county, as shown in his support of varied business enterprises and by his liberality in public affairs. He is a democrat, is a member of the Buckhannon Country Club, formerly maintained active affiliation with various professional organizations, in- eluding the West Virginia State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and he attends and supports the Presbyterian Church, of which his wife is an active member.

On Christmas day of the year 1906 Doctor Edgell wedded Miss Jessie Smith, and they have two children, Marie and Ernest E.

HON. GOHEN CLARKE ARNOLD, who represents the Thir- teenth District in the State Senate, is one of the able lawyers of the Buckhannon bar, and he achieved his po- litical success in a community where the people have known him all his life.

Senator Arnold was born at Buckhannon, January 5, 1885, son of Stark W. and Elizabeth E. (Gohen) Arnold. His father was born at Beverly, Randolph County, West Virginia, December 20, 1850, while his mother was born at Cincinnati, January 10, 1851. Stark Arnold was reared at Beverly, was educated in private schools and graduated in law at Columbia College. He practiced law for a nnm- ber of years and then removed to New York State and joined the Methodist Conference, and was active in the ministry the rest of his life. He was affiliated with the Masonic order, and was a republican in politics. At one time he was prosecuting attorney of Upshur County, and also represented Upshur and Randolph counties as a mem- ber of the State Senate. There were four children: Grace, who lives at home and is a graduate of the seminary at Buckhannon; Mary J., wife of Dr. J. L. Pifer; Gohen C .; and Beatrice, wife of James V. Griffin, of Columbus, Ohio.

Gohen C. Arnold was born in Upshur County, was edu- cated in the West Virginia Conference Seminary, and grad- uated A. B. and LL. B. from West Virginia University. Since then he has been engaged in active practice at Buck- hannon, and is one of the directors of the Buckhannon Bank.

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He was elected a member of the State Senate in 1916, and is now on his second term. In the session of 1919 he served with distinction as chairman of the finanee com- mittee, and was an active member of a number of other important committees. In the session of 1921 he was elected president of the Senate, which office he now oc- eupies. He was appointed a member of the State Capitol Building Commission by Governor Morgan in 1921. Sen- ator Arnold is a republican, a member of the Masonie Lodge, is a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with the Delta Chi and Delta Tau Delta col- lege fraternities. His principal hobby and recreation is hunting.

HON. J. C. MCWHORTER, who for eight years was on the bench of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, has been a practic- ing lawyer at Buckhannon since 1894, and on a number of occasions has appeared as one of the influential leaders in the larger affairs of the state. Ile was particularly active in the movement which culminated in the state wide pro- hibition act of West Virginia.

Judge MeWhorter was born on a farm in Upshur County, July 5, 1866, son of Dr. John M. and Rosetta (Marple) MeWhorter. His father was born at MeWhorter in Har- rison County, January 22, 1822, while his mother was born in Upshur County in 1827 and died in 1869. Doctor Me- Whorter was reared in Harrison County, was educated for the medical profession, and after his marriage settled on a farm in Upshur County and conducted farming as well as the practice of medicine. He was a life-long student, had a large and well selected private library, and was the first licensed preacher in the Universalist Church in West Vir- ginia. He was a past master of his Masonie Lodge and a democrat in polities. Doctor MeWhorter had nine chil- dren, five of whom are living: F. J. MeWhorter is a re- tired merchant at Buckhannon; L. V. MeWhorter, now a fruit grower at Yakima, Washington, is author of a book entitled "Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia, " and out of his friendship for the Yakima Tribe of Indians grew another book entitled "A Crime Against the Yaki- mas"; Flora is the wife of G. C. Lawson, of Athens, Ohio; J. C. MeWhorter is the fourth; Lena is the wife of W. I. Jenkins, of Lost Creek, West Virginia.

Judge MeWhorter grew up on a farm in Upshur Coun- ty, attended the free schools, also the Fairmont State Nor- mal, and graduated in 1894 from West Virginia University, receiving the degree of LL. B. after specializing in studies in the university for four years. After his admission to the bar he began practice at Buckhannon, and has handled a very extensive eivil practice during all these years. He was nominated by the democratic party and elected judge of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit in 1904, his term of serv- iee being eight years, 1905-12. The circuit was then com- posed of Upshur, Webster, Braxton and Nicholas counties.

Judge MeWhorter is a director and attorney for the Traders National Bank of Buckhannon, is a stockholder in the Peoples Bank, a stockholder of and attorney for the Bank of Adrian, West Virginia, and has some valable financial interests in real estate, coal and timber lands. His home is at 95 Kanawha Street.

Judge MeWhorter in 1912 was chairman of the Ratifica- tion Federation, the organizing nucleus which led the fight for state-wide prohibition. Ile drafted and was the author of the state-wide prohibition act, and the amendment was carried by over 92,000 majority. Judge MeWhorter is a member of the Masonie Lodge, and is one of the trustees of the Presbyterian Church at Buckhannon.

On August 26, 1895, he married Miss Elizabeth Alkire, only daughter of Washington Alkire. She is a graduate of the Wesleyan Academy at Buckhannon. Judge and Mrs. MeWhorter had three children: Nellie E. gradu- ated from high school and the Beachwood School, and is the wife of Mathew Edmiston; Donald W., who was a high school graduate, died at Detroit in February, 1920, at the age of twenty; and Panline, who is a graduate of high school, is now attending Knox School at Cooperstown, New York.

MORGAN M. BROOKS, principal of the Buckhannon High School, has been connected with the educational affairs and institutions of West Virginia almost consecutively for thirty years. He is a school man of high ideals and with a most commendable record of administrative efficiency.

Mr. Brooks was born on a farm in Upshur County July 23, 1873, son of Rev. B. B. and Seba (Morgan) Brooks. While Professor Brooks has devoted his life to education, he represents a line of Methodist ministers, inehiding some of the pioneers in the church in West Virginia. His grand- father, Rev. R. L. Brooks, was born in the southern part of West Virginia, and for many years endured the burdens and hardships of an itinerant ministry over the state. He married Judith Atkins and was the father of two sons and four daughters, two of whom are still living. Rev. B. B. Brooks, now deceased, was born in Lincoln County, Virginia, June 10, 1842, had a public school education, pre- pared himself for the ministry of the Methodist Church, and while he was pastor of several churches and for many years a member of the Conference, he also owned a farm, cultivated it and conducted a store. He was a republican in polities. Rev. B. B. Brooks married Seba Morgan, a member of the historie family of Morgans in West Vir- ginia and a descendant of the pioneer Indian fighter David Morgan. Rev. B. B. Brooks and wife had thirteen chil- dren, and seven are still living: Genevra, widow of Samuel Barton, of Charleston, West Virginia; R. L., who grad- uated from the Glenville State Normal School, taught for fifteen years, and is now in the lumber business at Buek- hannon; Morgan M .; Helen, wife of Dan Price, of East Holden, Maine; Virginia, wife of Joseph Coffinduffer, of Jawesville, West Virginia ; Orpha, wife of James Hoover, of Snow Hill, Maryland; Flora, wife of William E. Jones, of East Bank, west Virginia.

Morgan M. Brooks grew up on a farm, acquired his early education in the common schools, graduated from the Glenville State Normal, and also took work in the West Virginia Wesleyan College, from which he graduated A. B. He also attended for several terms West Virginia University and Columbia University. Professor Brooks began teaching at the age of seventeen. From 1904 to 1913 he was principal of the Grafton High School and from 1914 to 1919 was principal of the Wesleyan Academy at Buckhannon. He has been principal of the high school of that city since 1919.

In 1899 he married Mary C. Hamilton. They have two daughters: Martha V., born January 1, 1905, a graduate of high school and now attending West Virginia Wesleyan College; and Margaret E., born October 3, 1908, a student in the Junior High School at Buckhannon. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Professor Morgan is on the Official Board. He is a past chancellor of Oak Hall Lodge No. 120, Knights of Pythias, and a member of Grafton Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has been a worker in the republican party, and is secretary of the County Committee of Upshur County.

MILLARD FILLMORE HAMILTON, M. D., of Mannington, graduated in medicine and quialified himself for the practice of that profession forty years ago. Except for brief in- tervals his professional work has all been in Mannington. Doctor Hamilton is more than a capable physician and surgeon, is a citizen known for his progressiveness and leadership in many movements, is a former mayor of Man- mington and has also to his eredit a record of service in the Legislature.

He was born near Mannington February 22, 1860, son of Ulysses and Malissa (Yost) Hamilton. He is a de- scendant of Henry Hamilton, who came to America in Colonial times from the north of Ireland, where his ancestry, a branch of the great Hamilton family of Scotland, had been established in earlier generations. Henry Hamilton first located at Winchester, Virginia, where he married Elizabeth Tryand. Subsequently he removed to the vicinity of Morgantown, West Virginia, and in 1818 he left Monon- galia County and settled on Plum Run in Marion County.

M.F. Hamilton MED,

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[is son, Boaz Fleming, was born in Morgantown in 1798, nd was ten years of age when the family settled in Marion County, where he became a widely known and in- uential citizen. He was a stanch democrat. He was de- eated as a candidate for county clerk of courts in 1852, ut in 1858 was elected to that office and served three ears. October 26, 1828, he married Maria Parish.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 145

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