History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 147

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James H. Felton profited by the advantages of the rural and select schools, as is shown in his having been for six years a successful teacher in the schools of his native county, his final term having been in the Overfield school in Elk District. After retiring from the pedagogie profession he became actively identified with farm enterprise and in the manufacturing of and dealing in lumber and timber, with which later line of enterprise he has continued his con- nection, to a greater or less extent, to the present time, and besides which he still owns and has general supervision of his fine farm in his native county. He cast his first presi- dential vote in 1880, for General James A. Garfield, and has since continued his allegiance to the republican party. Ile remained on his farm until 1890, when he removed to Philippi, the county seat, upon his eleetion to the office of clerk of the Circuit Court, a position which he retained six years. Thereafter he again resided on his farm until 1899, when he was appointed to the position of examiner of property accounts in the office of the quartermaster gen- eral in the United States Army and Navy Building in the ('ity of Washington, D. C. His appointment came through Gen. Charles G. Dawes, who was the comptroller of the currency, and he became well acquainted with General Dawes, whose splendid powers were brought into serviee in connection with the nation's participation in the World war, and who has since proved one of the ablest men ever enlisted in the work of organizing the financial affairs of the Government upon a proper system of economic stability and retrenchment. Mr. Felton continued his service at Washington 31% years, and he then returned to his farm, upon which his family had remained. Here he has continued his association with agricultural and live-stock industry and the lumber business, and he has maintained the family home in the City of Belington since August, 1912. Here he has given most effective service as president of the Board of Education of the independent district of Beling- ton. The religious faith and affiliation of the family is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

September 22, 1885, recorded the marriage of Mr. Felton and Miss Lora D. Gall, who was born in Pleasant District, Barbour County, July 17, 1862, and who is a daughter of George W. and Elizabeth (Talbott) Gall. Gretchen, eldest of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Felton, is the wife of Atlee C. Bolton, of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and they have two children, Craig Felton and Margaret. Grace is the wife of R. M. Wylie, of Baltimore, Maryland. Min- nie is the wife of Clarence Dilworth, of Huntington, West Virginia, and they have one son, Richard. Miss Prudence is principal of the Junior High School at Belington, she being a graduate of the West Virginia Wesleyan College, which her sisters likewise attended. Mrs. Wylie graduated from the Mountain State Business College and attended Marshall College, with which latter institution she was identified in a clerical and executive capacity for ten years. Mrs. Dilworth graduated from Marshall College, and prior to her marriage was a successful teacher in the public schools, including those of the City of Charleston. Miss Prudenee Felton likewise graduated from the Mountain

State Business College at Parkersburg, and all of th sisters have proved successful and popular teachers.

ROBERT PIERRE BELL, of Point Pleasant, Mason Count; is a representative figure in newspaper circles in West Vi. ginia, where his precedence is Based on his being edito secretary-treasurer and general manager of the Registe Publishing Company of Point Pleasant, which issues bot daily and weekly editions, and by his being also editor an agent, as well as publisher, of the Methodist Advocat Herald, the official organ of the Methodist Episcolu Church, South, in the Western Virginia Conference.

The Point Pleasant Register was established in the yes 1861 by George W. Tippett, who continued as its edito and publisher until he retired and was succeeded by h son Frank B., the latter having continued the publication of the weekly paper until 1909, when the plant and bus ness passed to the control of the Register Publishing Con pany, which is incorporated under the laws of the stat L. C. Sommerville being president of the company and Roll ert P. Bell is secretary, treasurer and general manage- The weekly edition, with a circulation of 2,400, extends i. influence over a wide radius of territory and is serving tl seeend and third generations of citizens in its field. Tl daily Register has been published since 1916, and is mair tained at a high standard, both as a news and advertising vehicle. The printing plant, representing a valuation ( $65,000, is one of the best of its kind in the state, the equi] ment including three linotype machines, one Duplex and of Optimus power presses, printing direct from paper roll and all other facilities of a modern newspaper and jol printing establishment. This plant also issues the Methodi: Advocate-Herald, which was founded by the late Dr. T. : Wade of Parkersburg, and which later was published ] John A. Grose. In 1919 the publication passed to the ow: ership and control of the Methodist Publishing Compan and Mr. Bell has since been editor and agent for this week periodical, which has wide circulation throughout the sta and which is the official organ of the Western Virginia Co; ference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, this co ference including West Virginia and portions of Virgin and Kentucky, to which states the circulation is extende The Advocate-Ilerald is a sixteen-page weekly, issued ( book paper of exeellent grade, and is now in its twent sixth volume.

George W. Tippett, founder of the Point Pleasant Re ister, was a practical newspaper man of wide experience and was a pioneer in journalistie enterprise in West Vi ginia, the Register having been established in the openil. year of the Civil war and having from the beginning the present been an effective advocate of the principles the democratic party.

Mr. Bell is also engaged in farming and stock raisin in Mason County, and until recently was secretary of th Mason County Farm Bureau, of which he was one of the original organizers.

Robert P. Bell was born at Grantsville, Calhoun Count West Virginia, June 18, 1883, and is a son of William . and Rachel R. (Ferrell) Bell, both natives of Calhou County, the respective families having been founded what is now West Virginia in the period of the Revol tionary war. Samuel Bell, grandfather of the subject this review, was a gallant soldier of the Confederaey the Civil war, and sacrifieed his life in the cause, his dea having occurred at Alton, Illinois, where he was bei held as a prisoner of war. Robert P. Bell passed the perie of his childhood and early youth on his father's farm, ar his initial incursion into the realm of the "art preservati of all arts" was made when he became an apprentice the printing office of the old Grantsville Signal, of whis C. H. Craddock was then editor and publisher. Later advanced his education by taking an English course Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tennessee, and in t' meanwhile he proved his powers as a successful teacher the public schools of his native state. In 1912 he becan secretary of the Point Pleasant Nursery & Fruit Compan and in 1913 he became associated with the Point Pleasa Register, of which he has been editor and general manag

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inee 1914, besides being secretary and treasurer of the egister Publishing Company. He is a past grand of the ndependent Order of Odd Fellows, in the Grand Lodge of which he has taken degrees also. His brother S. P. is a ast grand master of the West Virginia Grand Lodge of his fraternity and a representative member of the bar of peneer, Roane County, of which city he is serving as mayor 1 1922. He was a delegate to the Sovereign Grand Lodge f the order at Baltimore, Maryland, and the family affilia- ion with the order has been one of prominence and influ- nee for a long period of years. Mr. Bell has also taken is initial step in the Masonie fraternity of Point Pleas- nt. He is also a member of the local Kiwanis Club.

Mr. Bell has also served as mayor of the City of Point 'leasant. In 1914 he was the demoeratie nominee for lerk of the County Court of Mason County, being defeated y less than 100 votes, the county being considered repub- ean by from 1,000 to 2,000.

June 1, 1909, recorded the marriage of Robert P. Bell nd Miss Catherine L. Steinbach, who was born and reared Mason County and who is a daughter of William C. and ophia (Muench) Steinbach, the former of whom was a lad f thirteen years when he came to the United States from' is native province of Saxony, Germany, his wife being a ative of the United States, but her parents having been orn in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Steinbach still maintain heir home at Point Pleasant. Mr. and Mrs. Bell have four hildren : William Edgar, Robert Emerson, Esther Lee nd Riehard Steinbach.

JOHN F. LEWIS, sheriff of Mason County, has measured o to every qualification of good citizenship and business ficieney. He has been widely known over this seetion of Test Virginia as a farmer and grower of fine livestock, ill operates a dairy farm, and has bred and trained and leed some noted horses. The energy and vigor he has at into his private affairs and his publie service came to 'm from a long line of distinguished soldiers and fron- ersmen. His ancestry is one of the most notable pos- ssed by any West Virginian.

The founder of his branch of the Lewis family was John ewis, a son of Andrew and Mary (Calhoun) Lewis. He as of Scoteh-Irish aneestry, but was born in France in 673. While living in County Donegal, Ireland, he killed s landlord in resisting an illegal attempt to eject him om his possessions, and fled to Portugal and thence to meriea, first locating at Philadelphia. In 1732 he became e first white settler at Bellefonte in Augusta County, irginia. He married in 1716, in Scotland, Margaret Lynn, id among their sons who gained special distinction in olonial American history were Andrew, Thomas, William,. id Charles.

The direct ancestor of John F. Lewis was Andrew Lewis, ho was born in Ireland about 1720. He and his brothers rly became conspieuons in the frontier struggles. He was major in Washington's Virginia Regiment in the West- n campaign of 1754-55. He was appointed brigadier 'neral at the beginning of the period of hostilities of 1774, id was commander and chief at the battle of Point Pleas- it on October 10, 1774. His brother, Col. Charles Lewis, as killed in that great battle with the Indians. During e Revolution Andrews Lewis served as a brigadier general. e died in 1781. His wife was Elizabeth Givens, and their ns were John, Thomas, Samuel, Andrew and William M. Thomas Lewis, son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Givens) wis .. settled in Mason County, West Virginia, on lands anted his father for his services in the Indian campaigns id revolution. Members of the Lewis family have been ominent in the community around Point Pleasant ever nee. He married Sallie Thornton, and their children re Thomas, Andrew, William, Evans and Samuel.

Andrew Lewis. grandfather of Sheriff Lewis, married ennie Boswell. Their children were William, Pallas, Sam- 1 and Columbus.

Pallas S. Lewis was born in 1823, and in early life was teacher and later a farmer, and died in middle age. He arried in 1848 Hannah Barnett, who was born in 1831, ughter of William and Susie (Daughty) Barnett. She

died at the age of eighty-seven. A portion of the old Bar- nett homestead is still owned by John F. Lewis. John F. Lewis had four brothers: Andrew E., who lives on the old Miller farm near Point Pleasant; James C., whose home is on Three mile Creek; Henry C., a locomotive engineer living at Covington, Kentucky; and William E., who died in early life.

John F. Lewis was born on the Kanawha River, three and one-half miles from Point Pleasant, January 26, 1862. He was reared on the farm, and at his father's death took over its management and remained at home until he was twenty-seven. In 1890 he married Margaret Schools, who was born in 1863, daughter of Paul and Mary Schools. John F. Lewis was first ealled into public service from the farm when he came to Point Pleasant as deputy sheriff under John C. Porter and R. L. Barnett. He held that office seven years, and in 1904 was appointed postmaster wat Point Pleasant, an office he held for eleven years. In 1920 he was elected on the republican tieket to the office of sheriff, with a majority of between 1,400 and 1,600. His time has been completely devoted to the duties of this office, his son Harry being his deputy.

His dairy farm is on the old Barnett homestead. His herd consists of Jersey eattle, and in former years he also bred and exhibited Hereford eattle and won many honors at local fairs. Mr. Lewis has many of the traits and tastes of a native Kentuckian, particularly in the line of fine horses. He has bred both eattle and race horses, has trained many fine animals for the track and show ring, and he still keeps a fine saddle horse. Mr. Lewis has steadily indulged in every phase of an active outdoor life, and while he has mingled with men both in politics and socially he is an exemplar of striet temperance and has never gambled or drunk whiskey. He has been interested in community affairs, was a member of .the sehool board eight years, and fraternally is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of America and Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the official board of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis had five children : Mary, deceased, Hannah, deceased, Harry, Sallie B., deceased, and Katie, who married Joseph Lunsford, of Point Pleasant, and has one daughter, Betty Joe, aged two years. Harry married Lou Gibbs and has two children, Mary Louise, six years of age, and Ruth Vir- ginia, two years of age.

CHARLES B. SMITH, the resourceful and popular general manager of the Elkhorn Coal & Coke Company and the Fall Run Collieries Company, with headquarters at May- beury, McDowell County, was born at Abbsvalley, Virginia, July 14, 1884. He is a scion of Scotch and Irish ancestry. and both his paternal and maternal forebears settled in Virginia in an early period. Mr. Smith is a son of John Marion and Margaret (Taylor) Smith, both natives of Vir- ginia, the father having been a merchant at Abbsvalley and later having been for many years established in the whole- sale eoal and feed business at Salem, that state. John M. Smith was a gallant young soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, as a member of the Sixteenth Virginia In- fantry, recruited in Tazewell County. In battle he was shot through the breast, the bullet coming out of his baek, but upon his recovery from this remarkable and severe in- jury he returned to his regiment, with which he served un- til the elose of the war.

The early education of Charles B. Smith was acquired in the public schools of Salem and Graham, Virginia, and in the high school at Graham, that state. He then entered the historie old University of Virginia, in which he was graduated in 1907, with the degree of Civil Engineer. For seven months thereafter he was an engineer on road-con- struetion work in Cuba, and upon his return to the United States he entered professional service in the West Vir- ginia coal fields. For three months he was employed as an engineer for the Red Jaeket Coal Company, and for eight years thereafter he was mining engineer for the Empire Coal & Coke Company. At the expiration of this period he assumed his present office, that of general manager of the Elkhorn Coal & Coke Company. He is known as an

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able executive, as a man of exceptional technical ability in his profession, and as the genial, whole-souled and consid- erate personality who gains and retains the high regard of those employed under his supervision.

Mr. Smith is a man of fine physical powers, and is fond of out-door sports and recreation. He is a member of the Bluefield Country Club and is affiliated with the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks. His parents were mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and his wife is a member of the Presbyterian Church, in the faith of which she was reared.

In 1915, at Glad Springs, Virginia, Mr. Smith wedded Miss Edna Bonham, daughter of Ballard M. and Emma (Crotty) Bonham, her father having been for many years engaged in the hotel business and being now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two children: Charles B., Jr., and Margaret Taylor.

STEPHEN B. THOMPSON was the first and has been the only cashier of the Roane County Bank, and his long and faithful service with that institution has undoubtedly con- tributed in large measure to its solid resources and un- doubted integrity as one of the most successful banking in- stitutions in this part of the state.

Mr. Thompson, who first and last has had a number of other interesting and useful relations with his home com- munity, was born in Roane County July 5, 1867. His grandfather, William W. Thompson, was born in old Vir- ginia in 1812, and on coming West first settled in Harri- son County and in 1862 located in Roane County. where he lived until his death in 1882. His first wife and the grand- mother of the Spencer banker, was a Miss Jackson, a na- tive of Harrison County, who died there in 1845. She was the mother of three sons and two daughters, all now de- ceased. The second wife of William W. Thompson was Su- sanna Morrow, who was born in Harrison County and died in Roane County. Their family consisted of one son and two daughters, and the only survivor is Thomas Albert, now a retired merchant at Spencer.

Francis M. Thompson. father of Stephen B., was born in Harrison County January 1, 1844, and was about eight- een years of age when his parents removed to Roane County, locating a mile south of Spencer. About that time he joined the Confederate Army, and served three years. He was at the battle of Gettysburg and later was cap- tured and for the last nine months of the war was in a Federal prison at Point Lookout, Maryland. His active civil life was devoted to farming, and he was one of the prosperous men of his day in Roane County. He retired to Spencer in 1911, and he died at the home of his son William in Charleston in December. 1919. He was a dema- crat and a member of the Bantist Church. Francis M. Thompson married Susan S. Daniell, who was born in Roane County in 1848, and died at Spencer in 1913. Stephen B. is the oldest of their children. William is a traveling sales- man with home at Charleston; Robert Lee died at the homestead at Walnut Grove at the age of fourteen; Charles W. is a resident of Vallejo, California, and for the past ten years has been an employe in the Mare Island Navy Yard; Rossell G. is a farmer at Radnor, Ohio; Homer F., a resident of Charleston, is district manager for the wholesale tea and coffee house of William S. Skull & Com- pany.

Stephen B. Thompson spent his early life on his father's farm near Spencer, attended the rural schonl, and in 1886 taught a term of school in Roane County. During 1887 he was a student in the Fairmont State Normal, and after leaving there resumed teaching in Roane County, and some of his older friends and associates recall his good work as a teacher during the years 1887 to 1891. In 1891 Mr. Thompson was appointed deputy County Court clerk, and those dnties took him to Spencer. He filled that office un- til 1898, and on August 8, 1898, took his place as cashier nf the Roane County Bank. This bank was opened for business on that date, and it has steadily maintained its service as a general banking institution, with constant in- crease in resources and good will. This bank has capital stock of $50,000, its surplus and undivided profits amount

to $115,000 and the deposits average $800,000. The exec ntive officers are: C. S. Vandal, president; Harry C. Wood yard, vice president; and S. B. Thompson, cashier.

Mr. Thompson is also treasurer of the Roane County Building & Loan Association, is a director and stockholder in the Roane Grocery Company, wholesale, and does an ex tensive business in general insurance, writing fire, accident and health policies. He is a democrat in politics and has served five different terms in the city council, his last term in that body expiring in April, 1921. He is treasurei of the Methodist Protestant Church, is a past grand of Campbell Lodge No. 101, Independent Order of Odd Fel. lows, at Spencer, and is a member of the Spencer Rotary Club. During the war he was treasurer of the Roane County Chapter of the Red Cross, and was chairman of the county committee for the third and fourth Liberty Loan drives both of which went over the top with an excess of quota Mr. Thompson and family live in a modern home at 212 Front Street. He married at Parkersburg in 1893 Miss Ida May McMillan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jordan R McMillan, now deceased. Her father was a farmer. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson. Ronald E., born August 23, 1894, is a druggist at Spencer; Ida Kathleen, born September 21, 1896, is a graduate with the A. B. degree from Wellesley College, Massachusetts, and is a member of the Zeta Alpha sorority. On the 5th of July 1922, she was married to Austin Davis Twigg, of Baltimore where they make their home. The youngest, Marion C. born in November, 1900, has recently graduated from the U. S. Military Academy at Annapolis, and is now a junior officer in the navy, being now an officer on the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet.

HON. URIAH BARNES. While he bas practiced law suc. cessfully and has been an influential member of the Leg. islature, Uriah Barnes is now and will be in the future known permanently for his remarkable industry and his mature scholarship as a legal writer and contributor to the literature of the legal profession.

He was horn in Jackson County, West Virginia, in 1883. His father, Charles W. Barnes, was a native of Ohio, and the Town of Barnesville, Ohio, was named for the family. Charles W. Barnes about 1875 settled in Jackson County, West Virginia, and is still living there. Uriah Barnes was accustomed to farm labor when a boy, seenred his education in public schools, and also attended West Virginia University. At the age of sixteen he began teaching, and taught for two terms.

His home has been at Charleston since 1901. He finished a business course in Elliott's Business College, did clerical work in several offices, and in the meantime was diligently studying law and qualified for practice in 1908. The next four years he was at the state capitol with the Supreme Court of Appeals, briefing cases for the use of the judges of that court. No law school could offer opportunities for a more thorough training for a young lawyer, and it was in this work that Mr. Barnes improved his talent for a legal analysis and a clear statement that distin- guished his own publications. For years he has been a student of the best in standard and general literature as well as in his own field. For years he was a law instructor in the University College of Law and for one year was secretary of the College of Agriculture and the Experiment Station at Morgantown. His literary work has been done both as an editor and author, and he has contributed a number of articles to law encyclopedias. Recently he com- piled and edited the ordinances of Charleston. His first important achievement was editing the "West Virginia Code" of 1916, making a careful and exhaustive study of all state statutes. This was issued in a handy form, but has recently been fully revised to include all the laws down to 1922, with full annotations to the same date, and has been published as "Barnes' West Virginia Code of 1922, Annotated." One or the other of these books is probably known to every practicing attorney in West Virginia and in many other states as well.

In 1919 his "Barnes' Federal Code" appeared. This book is now the standard and monumental work in its field.

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The American Law Review said: "It marks an epoch n law publishing." The "Beneli and Bar of West Vir- ginia,"' by Judge Atkinson, speaks of this work as fol- ows: "He brought to bear in this work a comprehensive knowledge, a sound and discriminating judgment, a genius for editorial detail that have combined to bring him uni- versal recognition as a master in his field. The remark ble sale of the Federal Code in every state in the Union and abroad, and the unsolicited encomiums upon it, coming from beneh and bar and from eminent scholars and edu- ators throughout the country, attest its rank as a master- piece of compilation."

Mr. Barnes was elected to the House of Delegates in 1920 as a member from Kanawha County. He served on he judiciary committee and the committee on public build- ngs and humane institutions, and was sponsor for a law creating the State Board of Childrens' Guardians, and the State Training School for Mental Defeetives. He ntrodueed a minimum wage bill, which was killed in com- mittee, and was author of a bill favored by many of the iblest lawyers and judges of the state for the reform of he judicial procedure.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 147

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