History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 16

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Mr. Dalton is also president of four oil companies, of which three are operating in Kentucky and one in Wyom- ing. He is president of the Dalton-Kelly Real Estate Com- pany of Huntington, president of the Dalton-Kelly Real Estate Corporation of Altavista, West Virginia, and presi- dent of the Huntington Coal Sales Company of Huntington. J. A. Kelly is a full partner in all of Mr. Dalton's business operations. Together they own a modern residence at the corner of Thirty-first Street and Third Avenue, a fine home surrounded by a five-acre lot. In addition thereto they are the owners of much realty at Huntington, and seventy-five acres of town lots at Altavista, where they also have a fine home.

Mr. Dalton is unmarried. He is a democrat in his polit- ical views, but has been too busy with his business affairs to enter public life, although he has been a supporter of worthy movements of a civic character and those which have tended toward the betterment of education, religion and cit- izenship. His religious faith is that of the Roman Cath- olie Church. As a fraternalist he is a life member of Blue- field (West Virginia) Lodge No. 159, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, and also holds membership in the Guyandotte Club and the Guyan Country Club, both of Huntington.

FRED LEWIS, who is giving most effective service as road engineer of Gilmer County, with office headquarters at Glen- ville, the county seat, was born in Randolph County, West Virginia, on the 7th of March, 1875, and is a son of Oliver H. P. and Elizabeth F. (Mills) Lewis, both likewise natives of that portion of Virginia that now constitutes the state of West Virginia. The father was born in Marshall County, on the 20th of March, 1836, and his death occurred April 30, 1917. The mother was born in Randolph County, December 15, 1848, and passed to the life eternal on the 4th of July, 1900. Oliver H. P. Lewis was reared on a farm in Randolph County, received the advantages of the com- mon schools and an academy, and as a young man he gave excellent service as a teacher in the rural schools. He eventually became one of the substantial farmers of Gilmer County, and here served twenty years as county surveyor. He was a stanch democrat, and an active member of the Christian Church, while his wife was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church. Of the eight children six are living at the time of this writing, in 1922: Jessie is the

wife of T. C. McQuain; Warren is a farmer near Cox Mills, Gilmer County; Fred, of this review, was the nex in order of birth; Scipio is a farmer in Gilmer County Miss Clemmie likewise maintains her home in this county and Edna is now Mrs. Schulte, of Grove, Doddridge Count: One child died in infancy and Sidney died at the age c twenty years.

The home farm in Gilmer County was the stage of th childhood activities of Fred Lewis, and as a boy he bega to contribute his quota to its work. After having profite by the advantages of the public schools he entered the Stat Normal School at Glenville, in which he was graduated a member of the class of 1897. Thereafter he took a sp cial course in civil engineering at the University of We Virginia, and after leaving this institution he did succes ful service in the surveying of railroads, as well as of co and timber lands. Thereafter he served as assistant cashi of the Glenville Banking & Trust Company until 1920, whe the County Court appointed him to his present office, that ( road engineer of the county. In this office he is giving a administration that is doing much to further the improv ment and proper maintenance of the roads of Gilm County, and incidentally he is adding greatly to his pr fessional prestige as a civil engineer. He was appointe to fill an unexpired term, and his service was such that l was appointed resident engineer in Gilmer County, havir charge of all construction work in the county for the Sta Road Commission.

Mr. Lewis is aligned loyally in the local ranks of tl democratic party, is a past master of Gilmer Count Lodge No. 118, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; is past noble grand of Glenville Lodge, Independent Order Odd Fellows; and is serving as the first worthy patron the newly established Chapter of the Order of the Easter Star at Glenville, of which his wife likewise is a promine member, she being also an active member of the Presb terian Church at Glenville. June 11, 1902, recorded tl marriage of Mr. Lewis and Miss Ann Wilson Norris, wl was graduated in the State Normal School at Glenville ar also attended the University of West Virginia, she havir been a popular teacher in the public schools prior to h marriage. Of the five children of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, o daughter, Ruby, born May 21, 1904, died in infancy. Tl names and respective birth dates of the four surviving chi dren are here recorded: Mary Louise, September 5, 190€ Fred, Jr., February 12, 1909; Ann Wilson, March 5, 1915 and Elizabeth F., January 10, 1917.

WILLIAM J. ELLIOTT, cashier of the First National Bar of Princeton, has been identified with the mining distri of the state for a number of years as an accountant wit mining companies, and has had a progressive series of r sponsibilities in the industrial and commercial affairs Mercer County.

Mr. Elliott was born in Ashe County, North Carolin August 13, 1877, son of Monroe and Mary (Hamm) Elliot and of Scotch and Irish ancestry. His father was born North Carolina and his mother in Virginia. His gran father Elliott lived to the age of 103 years and his gran mother Elliott to 107. Several of the family, particular on his mother's side, were in the Civil war as Confedera soldiers. His father's uncle, Nathaniel Price, was on Ge Wade Hampton's staff. Monroe Elliott was a farmer ar Baptist minister, and closely identified with church ar educational affairs.

William J. Elliott acquired a common school educatic through the limited facilities of log cabin schools in tl farming district of Western North Carolina, and much his study he accomplished at night by the light of a woc fire. In 1894 he graduated from a high school at Lansin, North Carolina, and for three following years taught schoc In 1897 he spent two terms in a business college at Solitud North Carolina, and with that qualification entered upo his business career as an accountant and bookkeeper. Con ing to West Virginia at Maybeury, he became bookkeep for the Shamokin Coal & Coke Company for two years an then for a year did bookkeeping for the Wareagle Coal Coke Company, Papoose Coal & Coke Company, and th

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

Margarett Mining Company. He spent another year with the Crystal Coal & Coke Company at Crystal, West Virginia, and was then appointed general superintendent in charge of the plant of the Hiawatha Coal & Coke Company, and held that position four years, in the meantime becoming interested in banking. He left the Hiawatha Company to become cashier of the Bank at Matoaka, and in 1917 was elected sheriff of Mercer County. Mr. Elliott gave the county a highly efficient service as a sheriff for four years. While in the office he became financially interested in and was elected a director of the First National Bank of Princeton, and on leaving office he became cashier.

Mr. Elliott married at Matoaka in 1907 Miss Ada God- frey, daughter of James A. and Mary (Miller) Godfrey, of West Virginia. They have four children: Godfrey, Lucy May, Frances Nell and Mary Ruth. The family are mem- bers of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Elliott is a Royal Arch and Knight Templar Mason and Shriner, and is affiliated with the Elks, Knights of Pythias and Loyal Order of Moose. He is a member of the Business Men's Club of Princeton and a charter member of the Princeton Country Club.

JOHNSON H. LILLY, one of the leading business men and citizens of Princeton, laid the basis of his business career as proprietor of a portable sawmill industry, but for a number of years past has been at the head of a real estate organization at Princeton that has played a prominent part in the constructive development of that city.

Mr. Lilly was born at Camp Creek, West Virginia, De- cember 4, 1877, and is of French ancestry. His parents, Daniel and Mahala (Wood) Lilly, were both born in West Virginia. His father is a farmer and for many years has been a leader in the Primitive Baptist Church and is church clerk at the present time.

Johnson H. Lilly attended the common schools, and his subsequent achievement was the result of an active contact with the world of affairs and men. He began earning his own living at the age of eighteen, and for eleven years he was proprietor of and operated a portable sawmill plant. During that time he cut approximately 25,000,000 feet of lumber. When he gave up the sawmill business he located at Princeton, about 1906, and began the buying and selling of real estate. Out of these operations he has since organized and incorporated the Lilly Land Company, of which he is president and general manager, with H. E. DeJarnett as secretary and treasurer. This is an organization with all the facilities for a general real estate business, but their specialty is the subdivision of city property. Their opera- tions in all departments have reached a value of more than $500,000.

In 1899, at Dunn, West Virginia, Mr. Lilly married Sarah E. Lilly, daughter of Lee H. and Elizabeth (Harvey) Lilly, of West Virginia. They are a family distantly re- lated to that of Mr. Lilly. Her parents were farmers and her father was a soldier in the Civil war. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Lilly are: Pearl, born in 1900; Ernest, born in 1905; and June, born in 1920. Mrs. Lilly is a member of the Primitive Baptist Church. Mr. Lilly was one of the organizers and is a charter member of the Prince- ton Country Club, is a member of the Princeton Business Men's Club, and has been a member of the board of di- rectors of the Bank of Princeton since 1918.

SAMUEL R. HOLROYD, M. D., who is engaged in practice at Athens, Mercer County, is not only one of the leading physicians and surgeons of his native county but has also gained in his profession a reputation that far transcends mere local limitations. He has served as president of the West Virginia State Medical Society, and was for three years superintendent of the State Hospital at Spencer, the institution having bad 700 inmates during the period of his administration, which was marked by efficiency and hy earnest stewardship both professionally and in a humanita- rian way. While he has not specialized in mental cases, he is a recognized authority in connection with the care and treatment of the insane and feeble-minded. During the period of the nation's participation in the World war

Doctor Holroyd was in active service in recruiting and ex- amining physicians for service in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, and this work took him into all parts of West Virginia. He is now a member of the Board of Censors of the West Virginia State Medical Society, is an influential member of the Mercer County Medical Society and holds membership also in the American Medical Associa- tion.

Doctor Holroyd was born on a farm in Mercer County, West Virginia, June 18, 1868, and is a son of William and Sarah (Conklin) Holroyd, both of whom were born and reared in England, where their marriage was solemnized at Manchester in 1847. The father was a skilled woolen-mill operator and as such was engaged for a time in the City of Philadelphia. He then came to what is now West Virginia as a missionary clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He served as chaplain of a Confederate regiment in the Civil war, with commission as captain, and in Mercer County he and his noble wife established their home and reared their children. Rev. William Holroyd was a man of sterling character and fine mentality. He labored long and earnestly in aiding and uplifting his fellow men, and his influence rested as a benediction upon all with whom he came in contact. James F., a brother of Dr. Samuel R. Holroyd, was for forty-two years an able and revered in- structor in the Concord State Normal School at Athens, and iu the main building of the school is a tablet in his honor, the same having there been placed by the alumni of the institution. He was county superintendent of schools for Mercer County four years and for five years was librarian at the normal school at Athens, he having been the incumbent of this position at the time of his death, when venerable in years.

In 1888 Dr. Samuel R. Holroyd graduated from the Concord State Normal School at Athens, and in 1890 he graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1906 he took a post-graduate course at Johns Hopkins University in the same city, and later he did effective post-graduate work in leading medical institu- tions and hospitals in New York City, Cleveland, Philadel- phia, Cincinnati and Chicago. After his graduation he engaged in practice in his old home town of Athens, and here he has continuously maintained an office, although his work lias involved his absence from this community at in- tervals of greater or less duration. He here resumed the active practice of his profession in October, 1921. The doctor, has been especially zealous in the service of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, especially in the organ- izing of churches and the erection of requisite church build- ings throughout this section of West Virginia. Incidentally he has served simultaneously as trustee of five different churches of this denomination, and he is now a trustee of the church at Athens. For eleven years he was a member of the board of directors of the State Hospital at Huntington, and in this capacity he gave close attention to the construc- tion and equipment of the buildings of the institution. He was formerly vice president of the Bank of Athens, a posi- tion which he finally resigned. As a member of the County Board of Highways he assisted in laying out and construct- ing many of the roads of Mercer County, and be has served also as a member of the Board of Education at Athens for many years. A signally busy, conscientious and useful life has been that of this honored physician, who holds inviolable place in the confidence and esteem of all who know him. The doctor has a great fondness for fine horses and dogs,

and he is the owner of White Ranger, the dog that won the American derby at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1921. Doctor Holroyd has passed all official chairs in the Blue Lodge and Chapter of York Rite Masonry, is now grand scribe of the West Virginia Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, and he is affiliated also with the Knights Templars and the Mystic Shrine, as well as with the Elks and the Knights of Pythias. As a fancier of dogs he takes special pleasure in the fox chase, and his sane, vigorous and helpful attitude marks him as a man among men and as a citizen of prominence and influence in the community. His pro- fessional affiliations include also his membership in the

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

American Psychological Association, and he is a charter member of the Princeton Country Club.

On the 26th of October, 1893, at Gap Mills, Monroe County, Doctor Holroyd wedded Miss Blanche Appling, daughter of R. C. and Sudie (Neal) Appling, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of what is now West Virginia. Doctor and Mrs. Holroyd have three children: Trevor is a salesman in the employ of the Emmons-Hawking Company of Huntington; Danise is the wife of Clyde Mitchell, of Spencer, this state; and Samuel R., Jr., re- mains at the parental home. Mrs. Holroyd is an earnest and zealous member of the Presbyterian Church, and she is the gracious and popular chatelaine of their attractive and hospitable home at Athens.

WILLIAM L. THOMAS is president and manager of the Nicholas Hardware & Furniture Company, which controls a large and prosperous wholesale and retail business, the headquarters establishment being in the City of Richwood, Nicholas County, with branch stores at Adrian, Upshur County, and Heaters, Braxton County.

Mr. Thomas was born at Alton, Upshur County, this state, on the 1st of November, 1880, and is a son of Alexander B. and Teresa (Vance) Thomas, both natives of Virginia. The former was born in Nelson County, February 24, 1845, and the latter was born February 8, 1848. Alexander B. Thomas was young when he accompanied his parents on their removal to what is now Upshur County, West Vir- ginia, where the family home was established on a farm on French Creek. There he was reared to manhood under the conditions marking the middle pioneer period, and there his marriage occurred on November 26, 1868, his wife having been a child at the time of her parents' removal to Upshur County. After his marriage Alexander B. Thomas estab- lished his home on a tract of 100 acres of land at Panther Gap, Upshur County, only two acres of the land having been cleared. There he reclaimed and improved one of the fine farm properties of Upshur County, and on this old homestead he and his wife still reside, both being members of the United Brethren Church, and his political allegiance being given to the democratic party. Of the ten children Wellington, Hugh and John reside in Upshur County; Eliza is the wife of M. L. Wolfe, a farmer near Parkersburg, Wood County; Pearl is the wife of Doctor Simons, a rep- resentative physician in Upshur County; William L., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; French resides at Clarksburg and Charles at Alderson, this state; Wirt is a resident of the State of Washington; and Isa is the wife of C. B. Talbott, who is manager of the Adrian store of the Nicholas Hardware & Furniture Company.

Reared on the old home farm and afforded the advan- tages of the public schools of his native county, William L. Thomas continued to be associated with his father in the work and management of the farm until he had attained to the age of twenty years, and for the ensuing seventeen years he was actively identified with railroad service, in which he rose from a subordinate position in the office of a station agent to be station agent at Richwood. He con- tinued his incumbency of this position until he became one of the organizers of the Nicholas Hardware & Furniture Company, of which he is president and general manager. He is also a director of the Richwood Banking & Trust Company and secretary and treasurer of the Nicholas Lum- ber Company, in which he is majority stockholder. His vital progressiveness is further shown in his being a stock- holder also of the Beaver Lumber Company. Mr. Thomas has had no ambition for public office or political activity, but is a loyal supporter of the cause of the democratic party. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which latter he is a past noble grand. He married Miss Myrta Mckinney, of Braxton County, and they have a winsome little daughter, Virginia E.

WILLIAM JOHN PRITCHARD learned mining in Wales, and for some years had the role of an ordinary miner in the Pennsylvania fields. His long and commendable career of industry has brought him a position among the leading

operators and mine owners in the Pocahontas fields of Southern West Virginia.

Mr. Pritchard, whose home is at Bramwell, Mercer County, was born at Llandovey, Wales, in March, 1863, and his parents were also natives of the same country. Mr. Pritchard had a limited education in Wales, and was about eighteen when he came to America in 1881. For several ycars he was a coal miner in the Pennsylvania fields near Wilkes-Barre, and rose to the responsibility of mine foreman there. In 1889 he came to West Virginia and went to work for the pioneer in the development of the Pocahontas coal fields, the late John Cooper. Under Mr. Cooper he be- came mine foreman, and remained with him about three years. His next period of service was with the Algoma Coal and Coke Company as mine foreman, and was there superintendent until this company sold its properties.

Mr. Pritchard on leaving the Algoma Company became general manager of the Thomas Coal Company and opened their properties, and for a number of years has been gen- eral manager of all the Thomas coal interests, distributed among the Crystal Coal and Coke Company, Thomas Coal & Coke Company and Flat Top Coal and Mining Company. Mr. Pritchard also controls and is president of three impor- tant properties in Kentucky, the Superior Harlan Coal Company, Virginia Fuel Company and Algoma Block Coal Company. In West Virginia he is president of the Burn- well Coal and Coke Company and the Long Flame Coal Company.

After devoting his tireless energies for almost forty years to the heavy work of the coal industry Mr. Pritchard came to a serious breakdown in physical health, and at the pres- ent writing many of his responsibilities have been assumed by his son, W. E. Pritchard. Mr. Pritchard is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge and the Bluefield Country Club. In 1888, at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, he married Miss Ann Harris Thomas, whose parents also came from Wales. Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard became the parents of seven children: Mar- jorie, who has two children by her first marriage, named William and Florence Becker, is now the wife of Newton Roberts, secretary and treasurer of the Thomas interests there. William Edward, the oldest son, is now acting man- ager for his father. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and by his marriage to Romaine Thornberry, of Wayne City, West Virginia, has two children, Romaine and William. Elizabeth is the wife of Joseph Bowen, of Simmons, West Virginia, and their children are Joseph, Ethel, William Henry and Ann. David Thomas Pritchard, who is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner, married Glenna Pack, daughter of J. C. Pack, of Bramwell. The next child, Daniel Harris Pritch- ard, is unmarried, lives at Cincinnati, and is a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner. Robert Campbell Pritchard is a Royal Arch and Knight Templar Mason, also a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, and married Mary Harmon, of Taze- well, Virginia. The youngest child is Thomas Harold Pritchard, unmarried.

FRED DOUGLAS PADBURY is chief clerk for the Pocahontas Fuel Company at Link Branch, McDowell County, the gen- eral superintendent of the mining operations here being Richard S. Whitehead, of whom individual mention is made on other pages.

Mr. Padbury was born at Cooper, Mercer County, this state, in the year 1893, and is a son of Joseph Henry and Fannie (Pickering) Padbury. Joseph H. Padbury was borr in Shropshire, England, November 10, 1858, a son of Joseph and Martha (Worten) Padbury, the father having been ar operator in an iron-rolling mill and having died when Joseph H. was a child of eleven months. Joseph H. Padbury at tended school until he was fourteen years old, when he entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of carpente: and joiner. He thus served seven years, according to the old English rule, and he continued to work at his trade il his native land until he was twenty-three years of age when, with the money which he won by defeating an English champion in a foot race, he defrayed the expenses of hi voyage to the United States. He worked at his trade in New York City about nine weeks, and then came to Cooper

WL Thomas-

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

est Virginia, and entered the employ of John Cooper, the oneer in coal mining in the Pocahontas field. From 1883 1886 Mr. Padbury had charge of all building and general rpenter work for Mr. Cooper, who had married a sister Mr. Padbury. In 1886 he returned to New York, and in City of Brooklyn, that state, he followed his trade eight ars. He then returned to Cooper, West Virginia, where assumed charge of all construction and timber work about e Cooper properties. He is now the only living pioneer the Pocahontas coal fields, he having been here at the itiation of mining operations. Mr. Padbury is prom- ently affiliated with the various bodies of the York and ottish Rites of the Masonic fraternity, in the latter of ich he has received the thirty-second degree, besides being member of the Mystic Shrine.

In 1886, in the State of New York, was solemnized the irriage of Joseph H. Padbury and Miss Frances Picker- g, who likewise was born in England and who was thir- en years old when her father, Thomas Pickering, came th the family to the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Pad- try became the parents of four children: Thomas Henry ed at the age of thirty-three years; Walter Leslie mar- ed Myrtle Perdue and they reside at Graham, Virginia; ary is the wife of George K. Norman, of Coaldale, Mercer unty; and Fred D., of this review, is the youngest of e number.

After completing three years' work as a student in the gh school at Bramwell, Fred D. Padbury was for two ars in the employ of the Pocahontas Fuel Company. He en completed an effective course in the Dunmore Business llege, Staunton, Virginia, in which he was graduated in ily, 1914. He then became pay-roll clerk for the Poca- ntas Fuel Company at Maybeury, he having since been [vanced to the office of chief clerk and being in line for at of superintendent.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 16

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