History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 15

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Mr. Dugan was born at Greeneville, Greene County, Ten- nessee, May 16, 1878, and is a son of Douglas and Sally (Buck) Dugan, both natives of Virginia. The father was engaged in the livery and transfer business at Greeneville, Tennessee, at the time of his death, when he was only thirty-five years of age and when his son Robert L. was a lad of eleven years.

Robert L. Dugan gained his early education in the pub- lie schools of his native place, and he was little more than a boy when he took. a position as clerk for the Colonial Coal & Coke Company at Dorchester, Virginia. Two years later he entered the employ of the Louisville Coal & Coke Company at Goodwill, West Virginia, and after a year of service in this connection he passed a year in the employ of the Hiawatha Coal & Coke Company. He then came to Princeton and opened a general store, the stock of which included hardware and groceries, as well as dry goods and other general lines. After conducting this enterprise four years Mr. Dugan gave about seven years to the manage- ment of the dry-goods store which he here established. After selling this latter store and business he returned to Tennessee, where he purchased a farm and resumed his ac- tive alliance with the basic industry under the influence of which he had been reared. At the end of one year he found that he had mistaken his predilection for farming as a vocation, and he sold the farm property and returned to Princeton, where on the 16th of January, 1920, he opened his present fine mercantile establishment, the success of the business being conserved alike by his personal popularity in the community and the general recognition of the fact that the best of service is ever assured when he is at the head of a business enterprise. In September, 1921, E. S. McNear became interested in the business, but Mr. Dugan continues its executive head and resourceful and progres- sive manager.

Mr. Dugan is affiliated with the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery bodies of York Rite Masonry, and also with the Mystic Shrine, is a loyal and valued member of the Princeton Business Men's Club, and he and his wife hold membership in the Missionary Baptist Church.

At Goodwill, this state, in 1905, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Dugan and Miss Mittie B. Brazie, daughter of

A. W. and Mittie Brazie. Mr. and Mrs. Dugan have no children. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Dugan was one of the old-time stage drivers in Virginia.

GEORGE W. LAZENBY. During the greater part of his business career George W. Lazenby has been a wholesale grocer, and is still active in that line as manager of the Princeton Wholesale Grocery Company. His friends speak of Mr. Lazenby as a genius in commercial lines, and one who by remarkable energy and foresight has built up a fortune when still only in the meridian of his years.

He was born in Bedford County, Virginia, October 19, 1873, and is of Virginia ancestry. The grandfather on his father's side was Irish and his great-grandfather in the maternal line was German. He is a son of H. L. and Eliza- heth (Grounds) Lazenby, natives of Virginia. His father was a wheelwright at Hendricks Store, Virginia, also post- master there for a number of years, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

George W. Lazenby secured a common school education in Bedford County. Since the age of seventeen he has been working for himself, and all his accumulations have been due to his own work and management. He learned business clerking in a general store at home for three years. Another three years he clerked in a general mer- chandise store at Bedford City. From there he removed to Bluefield, West Virginia, and for three years was asso- ciated with the Flat Top Grocery Company. Leaving that concern, he established a wholesale grocery business now known as the Jeffrey-Matthews & Company. His next loca- tion was at Graham, Virginia, where for a year and a half he was with Walter & Company, wholesale grocers. After this was consolidated with the Flat Top Grocery Company at Bluefield Mr. Lazenby transferred his headquarters to Princeton, where he organized the Princeton Wholesale Grocery Company. This is an incorporated company and does a business of more than $700,000 annually. Mr. Lazenby is treasurer and manager of the company.

In 1898, in Franklin County, Virginia, he married Miss Jennie Dudley, daughter of P. S. and Nellie P. (Newbill) Dudley, natives of Virginia. Her father is a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Lazenby have seven children: Florence, Louise, Dorothy, George W., Jr., Dudley, and Keith and Kennith, twins. All are still in the home circle. Mr. Lazenby and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He is a Royal Arch Mason and Elk, and a member of the Princeton Business Men's Club.

R. EDWARD THORNTON has shown marked ahilty in the development of industrial enterprises of important order and is now a leading exponent of the real estate business at Princeton, Mercer County, with secure standing as one of the representative citizens of his native county.

Mr. Thornton was born in Mercer County in December, 1860, and is a son of William M. and Eliza J. (Hatcher) Thornton, both natives of Virginia, where the respective families were established in an early day, the lineage of the Thornton family tracing back to stanch Scotch-Irish origin. William M. Thornton became one of the prosperous farm- ers of Mercer County, and also did considerable work as a photographist. In the Civil war he was a gallant soldier of the Confederate service as a member of the Seventeenth Virginia Infantry, under command of Colonel French. In an engagement near Clarks, West Virginia, he received a minor wound in his left arm. He and his wife were earnest and zealous members of the Baptist Church, and Mrs. Thornton was deeply interested in educational matters and in furthering the social welfare of her home community.

The schools of his home district afforded R. Edward Thornton his preliminary education, which was supple- mented by his attending the Concord State Normal .School at Athens, Mercer County, and by a course in the Spencerian Business College in the City of Washington, D. C. There- after he taught three terms in the rural schools of Mercer County, and then turned his attention to the mercantile business, of which he became one of the most progressive and successful representatives in this section of the state, he having had at one time five stores in various towns in

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

Mercer, Summers and McDowell counties. In 1898 he opened a clothing store at Bluefield, and later he sold this business to his brother, who still conducts the same. At North Fork and Athens and also at Princeton he estab- lished clothing and men's furnish-goods stores, and at Willowton and Lerona he conducted general stores. All of these enterprises proved successful under his vigorous and careful management, and in 1910 he sold all of these in- terests and bas since been a leader in the handling of real estate in his native county. He is the owner of much valuable realty in the county, and in addition to controlling a general real estate business that is of broad scope and importance he incidentally developed a prosperous insur- ance business, which he sold in 1917. His operations are conducted under the title of the Thornton Land Company, and he has done much to advance civic and material develop- ment in Mercer County. Mr. Thornton is a progressive and loyal citizen, is an active member of the Princeton Business Men's Club, is affiliated with the Blue Lodge and Chapter of the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife are active members of the Missionary Baptist Church. In 1884, at Wykel, Monroe County, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Thornton and Miss Launa Broyles, daughter of Augustus and Rebecca Broyles. Mr. and Mrs. Thornton have the enviable distinction of having one of the largest and finest families of children in West Virginia, their chil- dren being as follows: Samuel C., Minnie E., Cora D., Clark M., Frank R., Ray S., Fred L., King N., Mae B., Effie H., Edward B., Buna L., Harry B. and Ben Hatcher. Samuel married Mabel M. Carr and they reside at Princeton; Minnie is the wife of J. M. Hines, of this city; Cora is the wife of George E. Hilsheimar, of Princeton; Clark M., who is engaged in the practice of law at Princeton, married Katherine Duling and in the World war period he was a musician with the Headquarters Company of the Fifty- seventh United States Infantry at Camp Logan, Texas; Frank R., who is not married and a resident of Princeton, made a splendid record as a member of the United States Marine Corps in the period of the World war; Ray S. gained a commission as second lieutenant in the United States Army in the World war; Fred L. was in service with the merchant-marine of the navy and made one voyage to Brest, France, before the close of the war; and King N. was in a naval training school at the time when the war came to a close. In the patriotism and loyal service of his sons Mr. Thornton has further reason for pride in his remarkable family of children.

FRANK R. THORNTON. As a picture of actual warfare in France one of the most instructive experiences is the Marine Corps service record of Frank R. Thornton, one of the sons of R. E. Thornton of Princeton. It was for the purpose of presenting such a picture in this publication that the record was obtained in Mr. Thornton's own words, and so far as space permits it is published with only slight abbreviation.

He enlisted at Washington June 6, 1917, spent three montha at Norfolk, and then did intensive training at Quantico, Virginia. He was transferred to the Seventieth Machine Gun Company, First Battalion of the Marines, and in October, 1917, qualified as a sharpshooter. This command left New York for overseas December 11th, and reached St. Nazaire, France, December 29th. For some- thing over two months they were undergoing intensive drill and training on French soil, and on March 11th Frank Thornton was appointed acting signal sergeant. About that time his organization was changed from the First Machine Gun Battalion to the Seventy-seventh Company, Sixth Machine Gun Battalion, Fourth Brigade of the Ma- rines, Second Division. They experienced their first real warfare in the third line trenches near Verdun on March 20th, and soon afterward Frank Thornton was detached to do liaison and dispatch running and subsequently for ob- servation work in the front lines near Verdun. Then, on the last day of May, he and his comrades started for the big battle near Chateau Thierry and were thrown into the front line at Belleau Woods, northwest of Chateau Thierry.

The following description is in Mr. Thornton's own lan- guage:

"At this point the Germans were making a final effort to reach Paris, but the Marines stopped them and started them on the march toward Berlin. At this time all we sig- nalmen were informed that from now on we would also be runners (considered the most dangerous work in all war- fare). I continued to be a runner during the remainder of the war, being placed in every attack with the Marines. I was wounded twice and gassed slightly twice, but never left the front lines while the Marines were there. This was one of the hardest periods in the war for us. The first three days' fighting in Belleau Woods was done on empty stomach, our supply train failing to get our food to us, and none of us could have gotten any sleep for the first two or three nights. For fifteen days the battle raged without chance for rest or sleep of any kind, and for twenty days more, although the fighting was lighter, it was not to be compared with the first fifteen days.

"On June 10th my major ordered me to go with him into the front line to do a little observation work. While we were there the Germans came close to us and one of them threw a hand grenade at us, striking Major Cole (in my opinion the bravest and best officer that ever went over the top, and also an expert machine gun officer) killing him al- most instantly and tearing him almost to pieces. He never gained consciousness.

"On June 11th we were ordered to get ready to make another big drive. We were to go to a certain place oppo- site the German lines, but in some way forty-eight of us were lost in the fog, found a break in the lines, and ad- vanced about half a mile too far, which put us more than a quarter of a mile behind their lines. The Germans found their line was broken and closed in, cutting us off from our own troops. Too late we realized where we were. In a few minutes our own artillery begau to send over a bar- rage. Luck seemed to be with us at this time; we were just below the embankment of the road leading north out of Lucy, and hy lying flat close to the bank, all the shells that cleared the top of the bank went over us into the hol- low below, none of us getting killed. To add to the dis- comfort of being placed under the shellfire of our own troops, the Germans found that we were there and began to fire at us with their machine guns. As soon as the barrage was over we decided to try to get back to our own lines, but the Germans had closed up the gap through which we entered. Again we were lucky, for the Germans who occu- pied the gap through which we had formerly passed as soon as they saw us coming toward them from the rear thought they had been trapped, and we went back with 101 of them to our own lines.

"Just after this I had one of the most exciting experi- ences during the war. I was sent on a run parallel to the lines, and while I was passing through a small patch of woods I caught sight of a German crossing an open place with an American officer whom he had captured. I could not bear to see a thing of this kind. I ran to the edge of the wood, took a pop shot towards him. I didn't try to hit him, for he was directly between me and the American offi- cer. I was afraid I would hit the officer instead of the German. I fired the shot near the head of the German, and this had the right effect. He turned his head and saw me coming in a run toward him, threw up his hands and said 'camerad.' I took him prisoner, got his helmet and sent it home for a souvenir, also I got some post cards which he had, and saved them to this day. Although we took hundreds of prisoners after this, this one is the only one I captured single handed, and the officer I had succeeded in getting from this German was killed later the same day in battle. The battle raged for several days, but we al- ways gained ground."

On July 5th they were relieved, more than half of the men of his organization having been either killed or wounded. Then on the 18th of July they were sent to the front near Soissons. "We were informed that the Germans bad planned an attack to begin at 4:45. When they started over we met them and caused them to retreat. In the early part -

af Dalton

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

of the fight we captured all of their artillery except one piece. Our artillery had blown the bridges to pieces across the river, and when they arrived there and found the bridges gone they had to leave their guns and make their own es- cape the best they could. On this same day the Germans sent over hundreds of bombing planes, a more tormenting method of warfare than their artillery had ever been. We had advanced nine or ten kilometers before the day closed, and this victory was considered a complete success."

From early in August until the close of the war the First and Second Divisions were considered shock troops and were thrown to points of hardest fighting. Early in September this organization went to the Toul front and on September 11th occupied the front line against the posi- tions the Germans had held for four years. "We realized that they were confident that they were so well fortified that it would be impossible for us or any other troops to take it, but all this added to the determination on the part of our troops to show them that we would not fail. One o'clock on the morning of September 12 started with one of the largest, if not the largest, barrage that was ever thrown over into the German lines. This lasted for four solid hours, and at 5 A. M., when our artillery began to lift the barrage, we started 'over the top,' following right behind our barrage, driving the Germans out of the trenches they had held and which they were so confident they could hold. By noon we had advanced nine kilometers and entered Thiaucourt, but we did not halt there. We kept on the march forward for several kilometers, repulsing several counter attacks made by the Germans to gain some of their lost ground, and we were engaged in a number of hotly fought battles."

Toward the close of September the Marines were sent to the Champaign front east of Rheims. "We repeated for- mer battles here, and went 'over the top' on October 2d. This contest lasted for eight days, and here also we had some of the hardest fighting of the whole war. The allies had tried for days to get the Germans off Mount Blanc, but had failed. The Marines were called to help them out. (At this time the First and Second Divisions were consid- ered the best shock divisions.) After some hard fighting we finally succeeded in driving the Germans from Mount Blanc, and on the 9th day of October we were relieved by the Thirty-sixth Division."'

Then after another period of rest and replacement his command was ordered, on October 24th, to the Meuse- Argonne front, where on the 27th they relieved the Forty- second Division. "On the first day of November, 1918, at 3 o'clock P. M., we started our last big drive of the war, and the first day we advanced about twelve kilometers. We had hard fighting every day for the next eight days, but gained ground all the time, and finally reached the Meuse River. We were ordered to take the heights northeast of the Meuse River, and on November 10th, at 7 o'clock P. M., we went 'over the top' again. This battle, as we saw it, was the worst, and it seemed the most nearly uncalled for of any battle of the whole war, for we knew that the armis- tice was going to be signed, but by order of the general commander of the Fifth Army Corps we 'went over the top.' After an all night fight with everything against us, as the advantage in position the Germans had, we being on a level plain while they were on the heights overlooking it, and a bright moon shining on us, we finally took the heights northeast of the river at the big sacrifice of about 300 killed and several hundred wounded."

After the signing of the armistice Frank Thornton was on the march into Germany, crossing the Rhine on Decem- ber 13th, and remaining in German territory until July, 1919. On August 4th he arrived in New York harbor, par- ticipating in the parade of the Second Division in New York and later with the Marines in parade at Washington, where they were reviewed by President Wilson. On Au- gust 13th he received his honorable discharge and started for home.

This is a most impressive service record and can hardly be made more so by noting the official honors bestowed upon him. January 6, 1919, he was decorated with Croix de

Guerre for bravery in Belleau Woods, and on March 21st received a similar clasp for his work on the Champaign front. Later he received from the American Government a "Good Conduct Medal," a "Victory Medal," and the "French Froisguerre."'

A. J. DALTON. There are some individuals who are able to develop to the highest possible degree of effi- ciency the possibilities and potentialities of their char- acters, so that whatever they seek to attain is reached and successfully passed. To such men there is no such word as fail, and their characteristics are of such a nature as to create respect and inspire confidence. When circumstances place them in command of large interests they are able to direct them wisely and capably. In this connection mention is due A. J. Dalton, one of the largest coal operators of Huntington and a man of unerring business judgment, practical views and great energy, as well as unquestioned integrity. He is in control of extensive interests, in the handling of which he has shown an inclination to safe- guard the welfare of all concerned with their operation.

Mr. Dalton was born June 5, 1874, in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, a son of Patterson and Mary (Adams) Dalton. Patterson Dalton was born in Virginia, and spent his entire life in Pittsylvania County, that state, where he applied himself to agricultural pursuits until his early death, June 3, 1874. He was a democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mr. Dalton mar- ried Miss Mary Adams, who was born in 1827, in Pittsyl- vania County, and survives him as a resident of Altavista, Campbell County, Virginia. They were the parents of four children: Hester, who is the wife of Samuel T. Patterson, a farmer of Altavista, Virginia; Dinnie, the wife of Will Walton, also a farmer of that community; Berry, twin of A. J., who was a miner and died in 1896, at Thacker, West Virginia; and A. J.

A. J. Dalton was born two days after his father died, and as his mother was not left with any great amount of means he was denied the pleasures that are the natural right of youth and had none of the advantages of other lads. His schooling was confined to six months' attendance of the school at Pittsylvania, yet he was naturally so quick and intelligent that the training he received, meagre though it was, served as a foundation upon which he later built a superstructure of information through extensive reading, observation and self teaching. When he was only nine years of age he started to work on the farm of an uncle, C. T. Adams, with whom he remained three years, then en- tering the service of the L. & D. Railroad Company as water boy, at a wage of 75 cents a day. By this time he was a lad large and strong for his age, and after six months he succeeded in getting a position as laborer with a section gang, being thus employed for two years. At the age of fifteen years he came to Elkhorn, West Virginia, and after spending some time in working on the right-of-way for the railroads, obtained a position on the mine tipples. His next natural step was to become a miner in the coal mines, and as such dug coal for three years.

Mr. Dalton was always willing, energetic and intelligent, and through exercising his natural qualities he secured ad- vancement to the post of slate boss of the mines, a posi- tion which he filled for six months. He then returned to railroad work, with the Norfolk & Western, braking for six months during the dangerous days of hand-brakes and link- and-pin couplers, long before the modern automatic devices were invented. He managed to pass through this appren- ticeship without serious accident, and was promoted to loco- motive fireman, and after six months went to Deadwood, South Dakota, where he fired on the Burlington Railroad for six months. While at Deadwood he also worked in the Homestead gold mines for a short time. Returning to Elk- horn, West Virginia, he was made assistant mine foreman, and was next promoted to foreman, later to superintendent of mines and still later to general superintendent of Lynch- burg, Eureka, Powhatan, Elkridge and Peerless mines at Elkhorn. He remained in this capacity until 1913, when he removed to the Guyandotte field of Logan County, West

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

Virginia, having acquired a lease on 29,000 acres. He went to that community to develop these coal lands, and is still engaged in developing and operating them.

At this time Mr. Dalton is president and director of the Main Island Creek Coal Company, operating twenty- three mines in Logan County, with a capacity of 3,000,000 tons a year; president and a director of the Omar Coal Com- pany, at Omar, Logan County, with Omar mines Nos. 1 and 2, having a capacity of 360,000 tons per annum; president and a director of the Middle Fork Mining Company, oper- ating mines Nos. 1 and 2 at Chancy, which have a capacity of 300,000 tons per annum; president and a director of the Procktor Coal Company, with mines at Armisdale, West Virginia, having a capacity of 360,000 tons a year; presi- dent and a director of the Procktor Eagle Coal Company, at Robinette, West Virginia, with a capacity of 120,000 tons a year; president and a director of the Mandanay Coal Company, also at Robinette, with a capacity of 60,000 tons a year; and president and a director of the Procktor Win- fred Coal Company at Armisdale, with a capacity of 120,000 tons a year, all of the foregoing being in the Guyan Valley. He is also president and a director of the No. 5 Block Coal Company at McNeer, Logan County, capacity 180,000 tons per annum; president and a director of the Madison Coal Company in Boone County, this state, capacity 120,000 tons per annum; and president and a director of the Superior Eagle Coal Company at Jeffrey, Boone County, capacity 60,000 tons per year, the last three companies being situ- ated on the Little Coal River. Mr. Dalton owns several of the above-mentioned coal companies outright, and has controlling interests in all the others. His offices occupy the third floor of the Robson-Prichard Building at Hunt- ington.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 15

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