History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 17

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January 28, 1918, Mr. Padbury entered the United States rmy for service in the World war. He was first sent to ort Leavenworth, Kansas, but about a week later was ansferred to Camp Jackson, South Carolina, where he ceived four months' training. He passed the ensuing ree months at Camp Wadsworth, that state, and July 7, )18, he sailed with his command for the stage of war. He nded in Liverpool, July 21st, and from Southampton ossed to La Havre, France, whence he went to the front. e was at Somme during the entire conflict with the Hin- enburg forces, and took active part in the constant fighting at continued until the signing of the armistice, he having een under fire for three months. November 15, 1918, he ent with his command to a rest camp in France, and on the th of March, 1919, he sailed for home. He landed in hiladelphia on the 22d of that month, and two weeks later ceived his honorable discharge at Camp Dix. Mr. Pad- ury is affiliated with the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Com- andery organizations of the Masonic fraternity, and he nd his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal hurch, South.

December 28, 1920, recorded the marriage of Mr. Pad- ury and Miss Willie Gertrude Sale, daughter of Elsie and unice Sale, of Mercer County, and they are popular gures in the social life of their home community.

WILLIAM W. WOOD, general manager of the Chattaroy lining Company's operations at the station called Hatfield, n the Norfolk & Western Railway's main line in Mercer ounty, is another of the men of this locality who has spent is entire career in the coal mining industry and who has een the architect of his own fortune. His career has been n active and at times even a strenuous one, and out of his xperiences, which have been varied, he has brought the con- lusion that hard work pays and that straightforward ealing brings the best results.

Mr. Wood was born February 18, 1880, at Roanoke, Vir- inia, a son of W. G. and Anna P. (Thrasher) Wood, na- ives of Virginia. On the paternal side he traces his an- estry back in Virginia to the year 1697, when the first Vood of this branch of the family immigrated to the 'olonies from England, and on the maternal side he comes f good old Holland stock. W. G. Wood, a college graduate

and man of superior intellect and education, follows the vocation of farming and is likewise prominent in public and political affairs, in which he has interested himself for many years. His integrity, honesty and impartiality have been so well established in the minds of his fellow-citizens that he is frequently called upon to act as arbiter in disputes, even when not holding office, and as counsellor and guide in business and domestic matters.

William W. Wood attended the country public schools and the National Business College, Roanoke, Virginia, and after his graduation from the latter, in 1901, started to work with the Houston interests, and thereafter for twenty years remained with the same concern at various places where operations were being carried on. For about six years of this time he served as superintendent for the Houston inter- ests at the Maitland shaft, and for about three years was superintendent at Keystone. When he left this concern, January 1, 1921, he moved to Bluefield, the site of his home at this time, and took charge of the Lowvolatile Consoli- dated on the New River, remaining in the same capacity until October 15, 1921. At that time, as Mr. Wood puts it, he "graduated as superintendent of the closed shop," and October 16, 1921, became general manager of the Chatta- roy Mining Company's operations at the station called Hatfield, on the main line of the Norfolk & Western Rail- way, where he has remained to the present. Mr. Wood has operated all through the miners' troubles, and says he has "never had any strike."

In 1906, at Roanoke, Virginia, Mr. Wood was united in marriage with Miss Geneva Layman, daughter of William M. and Nannie (Weeks) Layman, natives of Virginia and agricultural people. Mr. and Mrs. Wood are the parents of one child, Anna B., who is attending school. They are consistent members of the. Presbyterian Church, to the movements of which they subscribe generously. Mr. Wood is a Mason of high standing, having attained to the Knight Templar degree and the Mystic Shrine.

MANUEL F. TORREGROSA, M. D. A mining physician and surgeon at Ashland in McDowell County, Doctor Torregrosa is one of the brilliant young men in the profession in South- ern West Virginia and has earned a very successful place and a large degree of esteem in the community where his professional labors have been performed during the past five years.

Doctor Torregrosa is a Porto Rican by birth and repre- sents some of the old Spanish families of that island. He was born at Las Marias Island, Porto Rico, April 2, 1891. His parents, Manuel F. and Juanita (Rodriguez) Torre- grosa, were also natives of Porto Rico. His father owned a large drug business prior to the Spanish-American war, but on account of war conditions and also a long illness of typhoid fever, he lost most of his property. After the war he was made inspector of customs and later chemist for the Island at San Juan. Subsequently he was in the drug busi- ness at Lajas and was also appointed a justice of the peace. He died in 1903.

Manuel F. Torregrosa began his education after Porto Rico came under the American flag. He attended the com- mon and high schools, and in 1907, at the age of sixteen, came to the United States and entered William and Mary College in Virginia. He quickly proved himself one of the inost thorough scholars and also one of the most popular students. of the institution. As a result of his first year's work he won the Philo Bennett scholarship, endowed by William Jennings Bryan. During his second year, therefore, he paid his expenses at William and Mary with the pro- ceeds of this scholarship. After two years of general college work he entered the University College of Medicine at Richmond and graduated M. D. May 29, 1913. After graduation he was an interne in the City Hospital of Rich- mond. Doctor Torregrosa after securing his diploma went back to Porto Rico, but in October, 1914, returned to the United States and for nine months was company physician for the W. M. Ritter Lumber Company at Hurley, Virginia. He was then engaged in general practice at Kent Stores, Fluvanna County, Virginia, until April, 1916, and following that was located at Williamshurg, Virginia. In December,

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

1916, he came to Eckman, West Virginia, with Dr. J. Clark Killey, and in October, 1917, began his duties at Ashland for the Ashland Coal & Coke Company. Ashland is an important coal mining town on a branch of the Norfolk & Western Railway running from North Fork. He has been a very busy man in this community, and his services to an essential industry were considered more important than anything he could do in the army, since his applications for active duty were rejected. Doctor Torregrosa is a member of the County, West Virginia State and American Medical associations, and is a member of the Phi Rho Sigma medical fraternity. He is also a member of Algoma Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of North Fork, Zenith Lodge No. 213, I. O. O. F., and Burks Garden Lodge No. 57, K. of P.

At Norfolk, Virginia, July 11, 1914, he married Miss Frances Timberlake, of Williamsburg, daughter of John Corbett and Missouri (Blassingham) Timberlake. John Corbett Timberlake, father of Mrs. Torregrosa, was a colonel in the Confederate army, serving through many hard-fought battles during the Civil war. He was taken prisoner and served one year in the Johnston Island prison and two years in Lake Erie prison. His name appears on a monument erected for Confederate officers at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Doctor and Mrs. Torregrosa are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

· JULIUS A. DE GRUYTER. It would be difficult to name a man who has been busier and more useful in the affairs of Charleston during the last thirty years than Julius A. de Gruyter. His career to a noteworthy degree has been de- voted to the public service-honest, competent and efficient. He is now in his second term as postmaster of Charleston, administering the business of the largest postoffice in vol- ume of revenues in the State of West Virginia.

Mr. de Gruyter was born at Christiansburg, Montgomery County, Virginia, January 9, 1864. His father, M. F. de Gruyter, was a native of Holland, was educated in Heidel- berg University of Germany, and after coming to this coun- try he served in the Confederate war as a major on Gen- eral Echols' staff. He married Julia P. Crockett, of Mar- met, Kanawha County, where she was born, daughter of John B. Crockett, of Kentucky, and of the same ancestry as the famous David Crocket. John B. Crockett was a farmer and salt manufacturer in Kanawha County, and died at the age of eighty. M. F. de Gruyter was a commercial sales- man, lived at Covington, Kentucky, for a number of years, with business interests in Cincinnati, and in the early '70s moved to Charleston. He finally lost all his property and died at the age of sixty-six. His widow lives with her son Julius at the age of eighty-seven. There were two other children: Josephine, who died at the age of forty-three, wife of L. E. Fuller; and Ferdinand J., who among other experiences prospected for gold in the Northern Alaska fields and who died at Charleston at the age of sixty-one.

J. A. de Gruyter acquired most of his education in the public schools at Charleston, and his work in the public service began soon after he left school. In 1885, at the age of twenty-one, he was elected city recorder, serving two terms. He was clerk of the council and police judge as well under Mayor James H. Huling and Mayor Joseph L. Fry. In 1889 he became superintendent of the Charleston water works. This plant had been put in operation in 1886. Mr. de Gruyter was a capable man to have the management of the water works for fourteen years, until 1903, and not only had charge of operations, but all extensions to the service. While still superintendent of the water plant he was elected mayor in 1895, and served two terms, four years. At the time he was first elected Elk City, now known as the West Side, was annexed to Charleston. His term as mayor was marked by some notable public improvements for that era, including the paving of several miles of street, the construction of sewers, and the building of the Charles- ton General Hospital.

On leaving the water works in 1903 Mr. de Gruyter es- tablished a fire insurance agency, and was in that busi- ness until 1915, when he was appointed postmaster of Charleston, through the influence of Senator William E. Chilton. He began his duties as postmaster in July, 1915,

two years before the post office building of Charleston ha been completed. Since Mr. de Gruyter took charge of th post office its business has increased 250 per cent, an amounts to over $400,000 a year, larger than any oth city in West Virginia, and in proportion to the populatic it is one of the most profitable post offices in he Unite States. The post office now has 110 employes, including thirty city carriers and five rural carriers. Mr. de Gru ter's present term as postmaster expires in February, 192 He has always been active in the democratic party in tl state, and has been a delegate to a number of local ar state conventions. He is a deacon of the First Presbyteria Church. Outside of his work his time and interest have bee concentrated on his home life. Mr. de Gruyter at differe times has donated to the Charleston Public Library an a; gregate of about 200 volumes, including the bound volum that represented his collection of the numerous copies Puck for seventeen years.

In 1889 Mr. de Gruyter married Mary V. Noyes, who father, W. A. Noyes, was an old time merchant of Charle ton and member of an old family of the city. The for children of Mr. and Mrs. de Gruyter are: Elizabeth, Mr C. M. McVay; Julius A., Jr. state agent for the New Yor Life Insurance Company of Charleston; Julia L., wife William J. Harvey; and Mary Noyes, twin sister of Juli living at home.

INGRIM MYERS. While he owns a large farm and directs i diversified activities, Ingrim Myers, of Pine Grove, has be actively identified with some phase of the oil industry sin early youth. He has helped build hundreds of miles of pij line, both in West Virginia and in the Far West. Mr. Mye is one of the most successful men of Wetzel County, ar enjoys particularly high esteem at Pine Grove.

He was born near Centerville in Tyler County, West Vi ginia, October 1, 1872. His grandfather, Enoch Myers, w. born in Maryland in 1797, and spent the greater part of h life as a farmer at Moscow Mills, near Cumberland, th state. Though in advanced years he joined the Union Arm at the time of the Civil war. When he retired from his far he removed to Pleasants County, West Virginia, and died ne Willow Island in that county in 1879, at the age of eighty-tw His son, William Myers, was born near Cumberland Januar 7, 1837, was reared there and as a young man moved Tyler County, West Virginia, where he spent his active li engaged in farming. He lived retired on his farm four mil north of Centerville until his death February 24, 1922. Du ing the Civil war he was a captain of the Home Guards Tyler County, and was called out to repel Morgan's rai getting as far as West Union in Doddridge County. He was republican and a very active member of the United Brethr Church. Captain Myers married in Tyler County Nancy Thomas, who was born near Centerville in 1839, and died the home farm December 16, 1911. They became the paren of a large family of children: Henry E., owner of a large bod of land on which he does a successful business as a cattle ma and sheep raiser five miles east of Centerville; Mary, wl died at the age of eighteen; Susan, whose first husband w John Tustin, a farmer, and she is now the wife of Jac Thomas, a farmer living three and a half miles north Centerville; Robert, who died when three years of age; Agne wife of Albert Nichols, a farmer at Walker Station in Wo County; James Sheridan, a foreman for the Pittsburg & We Virginia Gas Company, living a mile south of Jacksonhur Emma J., widow of William Stone, who at the time of } death was deputy sheriff at New Martinsville, where s] makes her home; Ingrim; William S., a merchant at B Moses, his home being a mile east of Middlebourne; Neas George, a farm owner, an oil gauger for the Eureka Pi Company, and now president of the County Court of Wetz County, his home being at Porters Falls; Miss Fannie, home; David Winfield, an oil and gas operator near We Union; and John W., who is superintendent of the Gladstor Oil & Refining Company and a resident of Shrevepor Louisiana.

Ingrim Myers spent his early life on his father'e farm ar acquired his education in the rural schools of Tyler Count After he was fifteen he worked two years on the farm, and 1889, at the age of seventeen, entered the service of t]

Sade myter.

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

Eureka Pipe Line Company, beginning in the Eureka oil fields of Pleasanta County. In 1895 he was transferred as field foreman for this company to the Wetzel County field at Smithfield, and in 1902 the Eureka Company, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil, transferred him to California, where he superintended the laying of an eight-inch pipe line from Bakersfield to San Francisco, a distance of three hundred milea. After this work was finished he returned East, and for the Standard Oil Company laid a aix-inch pipe line from Somerset, Kentucky, to Licking River, a distance of a hun- dred and ten milea. In 1904 he resumed work with the Eureka Pipe Line Company at Pine Grove as field foreman continuing until January 1, 1905.

On August 4, 1904, Mr. Myers was nominated for sheriff of Wetzel County on the republican ticket, and on the 6th of November had the distinction of being the first republican ever elected sheriff of the county. He was chosen by a major- ity of sixty-six over the democrat, D. H. Cox, who had formerly been sheriff. Mr. Myers served the constitutional term of four years, from 1905 to 1909, his official residence dur- ing this time being at New Martinsville. After leaving this county office he resumed hia residence in Pine Grove, and is looking after his extensive interests as an oil producer, farmer and general business man. His farm comprises five hundred acres at the edge of Pine Grove, and he operates it as a diver- sified proposition, largely devoted to cattle growing. He is an oil producer in the Pine Grove and Porter's Falls fields of Wetzel County, is a stockholder and director in the First National Bank of New Martinsville, and besides his farm owns two hundred acres of coal lands in the county. His home ia a modern residence on Main Street in Pine Grove.

Besides his official record as sheriff of Wetzel County Mr. Myers was for four terms mayor of Pine Grove, and a number of terms a member of the City Council. He ia affiliated with Mannington Lodge No. 31, A. F. and A. M., Fairmont Chap- ter No. 6, R. A. M., Fairmont Commandery No. 6, K. T., Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling, and White Lily Lodge No. 49, Knights of Pythias, at Smithfield. During the war he was registrar of the Draft Board, helping to fill out questionnaires for recruited men, and was also a leader in the various drives in his district.

On August 12, 1902, at Pine Grove, he married Miss Kitty Vandyne, daughter of Jonathan D. and Captolia (Carpenter) Vandyne. Her mother lives at Reader, West Virginia. Her father, a farmer, died near Pine Grove in 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Myers had five children: Bessie, who died when two and a half years old; Mildred, born January 6, 1906; Webster, born July 19, 1908; Ingrim, Jr., born August 1, 1911; and Charles Blaine, born November 8, 1915.

THOMAS LEE MORGAN ia the druggist at Pine Grove, a suc- cessful young business man, of well balanced initiative, and his work and interests are closely linked with the general wel- fare of his community.

Mr. Morgan was born at Pine Grove September 21, 1886. He comes of a branch of the Morgan family that on leaving Wales settled in Pennsylvania in Colonial times. This branch of the Morgan name included the noted Indian fighter Levi Morgan, and of the same ancestry was General John Morgan of the Confederate Army. The grandfather of the Pine Grove merchant was John William Morgan, who was born on Morgan Run in Wetzel County in 1820, that Run being named for his father. John W. Morgan waa a farmer there, but in middle life removed to Pine Grove and owned and operated a flour and saw mill. He died there in 1896. His wife was Miss T. Petrick, who was born near Shinnaton and died at Pine Grove. Frank Ferdinand Morgan, father of Thomas L. Morgan, was born September 8, 1848, at the head of the North Fork of Fishing Creek, on Morgan Run in Wetzel County, grew up there, but as a young man removed to Pine Grove, where he married and where for many years he has engaged in farming. He atill owns his place of four hundred acres in that vicinity. [For several terma he was county surveyor of Wetzel County, and now does considerable business as a civil engineer for oil and gas companies in the Wetzel County fields. He has served a number of terma as councilman and mayor of Pine Grove, and for many years has been on the Official Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a democrat, is affiliated with Wetzel Lodge No. 39, A. F. and

A. M., and is a fourteenth degree Scottish Rite Mason in West Virginia Consistory No. 1 at Wheeling. His wife bore the maiden name of Martha Virginia West and was born on a farm near Pine Grove, September 23, 1861. To their mar- riage were born eight children: Cordelia, wife of Sam J. Dulaney, proprietor of a livery business at Pine Grove and former mayor of that city; Pearl, wife of Paul D. Galvin, an oil well driller and contractor living at Pine Grove; Vashti, wife of Ralph W. Hall, a druggiat at Paden City, West Vir- ginia; Thomas L .; Don Franklin, who was a druggist and died of influenza in 1918, at the age of twenty-eight; Liss, wife of Morris Francis, a clothing merchant at New Martinsville; Georgia, wife of Earl Clancy, a general merchant at Smith- field in Wetzel County; and Gladys, wife of Lesley Jolliff, a machiniat at Pine Grove.

Thomas L. Morgan grew up at Pine Grove, graduated from high school in 1906, apent one year in the School of Pharmacy at Scio, Ohio, and in 1908 graduated Ph. G. from the Western University of Pennsylvania at Pittsburgh. While in college he was a member of the Phi Delta Chi fraternity. After grad- uating he spent one year in a drug store at Charleston, West Virginia, and then returned to Pine Grove and bought the business of his brother-in-law, R. W. Hall. He owns both the store and the building, and has developed the best drug busi- neas in the western part of Wetzel County. Among other business interests he is treasurer of the Sago Oil Company of Ohio and Secretary-treasurer of the Superior Red Ash Fuel Company of Bluefield, West Virginia.

Mr. Morgan is a member of the City Council of Pine Grove, is treasurer of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is a democrat, and is affiliated with Wetzel Lodge No. 39, A. F. and A. M., has attained the thirty-second degree in West Virginia Consistory No. 1, and is a member of Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling. He is also a past chancellor of Sylvan Lodge No. 130, Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the West Virginia Druggists Association.

In 1916, at Wheeling, he married Miss Eloise Williama, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Evan A. Williams, residents of Middlebourne, where her father is a dairy farmer. Mrs. Morgan is a graduate of Marshall College at Huntington with the A. B. degree. They have two children: Virginia Lee, and Franklin Evan.

GILBERT B. MEREDITH. While by no means an old man, in fact only in the prime of his usefulness, Gilbert B. Meredith has had a veteran's experience in the oil industry, and has been a worker in several of the prominent West Virginia fields and for leading oil and pipe line corporationa for a third of a century. He is field superintendent for the Hope Natural Gas Company, with home at Smithfield.

Mr. Meredith was born at Alma in Tyler County May 7, 1872. Meredith is a Scotch name, but the family has been in America since Colonial times. Hia grandfather, David Meredith, was a native of Noble County, Ohio, waa a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church and when in middle life he moved to Tyler County, West Virginia, and carried on the work of the ministry there until his death at Alma in 1888. His son, Absalom P. Meredith, was born near Fairmont in Marion County in 1837, and was a boy when his parents moved to Tyler County, where he was married and where he followed farming at Alma until 1890. In that year he moved to another farm at Center Point in Doddridge County, and continued farming until his death in 1906. He was a republi- can, a very active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. During the Civil war he served in the Union Army the last three years, enliating in the Seventh West Virginia Infantry, in Company A. He was present at the second battle of Bull Run, at Gettysburg, and a number of other engagementa and was once taken prisoner. Absalom P. Meredith married Misa Catherine Riley, who was born near Sistersville in Tyler Coun- ty in 1839, and died at Weston in 1911. The children born to them were: Charles, a building contractor at Spencer, West Virginia; Laura, twin sister of Charles, is the wife of John Kelly, an employe of the Carter Oil Company, living at Pike in Ritchie County; Jennie A. ia the wife of John W. Horner, a farmer near Pennaboro in Ritchie County; Gilbert B. is the next in age; James A., Supreme Judge of West Virginia,'lives at Charleston, West Virginia; Rufus D., twin brother of

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

James, is an oil well driller at Bartlesville, Oklahoma; Emma is the wife of Campbell Martin, manager of the Gasoline plant of the Carter Oil Company at Pike in Ritchie County; William H., a resident of Brownwood, Texas, and leaser for the Atlantic Refining Company; and Emery, an oil and gas well driller living at Newark, Ohio.

Gilbert B. Meredith grew up on his father's farm in Tyler County, and his education in the common schools ended when he was fourteen. He soon afterward went to work in the old Turkey Foot oil field of Hancock County. The first summer he was waterboy on the pipe line. This was followed by an experience as a general roustabout, and he remained in that field six years, and in 1892 started as a day laborer with the Eureka Pipe Line Company at Smithfield. Four years later he became a roustabout for the Flaggy Meadow Gas Com- pany, and when the interests of this company were taken over by the Hope Natural Gas Company in 1902 he was made a gang foreman, but soon worked up to the responsi- bilities of field superintendent, and has held that post for this corporation eighteen years. Under his supervision are a hundred and fifty employes. Mr. Meredith superintends the drilling of wells and the laying of pipe lines in the Wetzel District and is also in charge of a compressing station at Wallace. His business headquarters are near the Baltimore & Ohio Depot at Smithfield. He is also a director of the Bank of Jacksonhurg, owns a modern home at Smithfield and is owner of some land in Texas.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 17

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