History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 170

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HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

nd West Virginia, with a short interval in Arkansas, and n numerous occasions he was called upon to serve as moderator of important synods. For over a score of years Doctor Price rode back and forth over the country on horse- ack, and he and his steed, "Prince," were familiar figures ver a wide range. He developed the church field as the ioneer and practically alone that at the time of his death equired the services of fifteen Presbyterian ministers to over. Following his services in the war between the states e devoted himself as long as physical strength permitted o ministerial work, and his missionary efforts among the mountaineers of West Virginia brought forth influences that ill ever bear fruit. He served as chaplain in Pickett's Division of the Confederate army and was a close friend of ien. "Stonewall"' Jackson. As a member of the Thirty- rst Virginia Regiment he was engaged in the first cam- aign of the war in the advance on Grafton, and he buried he first Confederate soldier killed in that conflict. When he war closed, although still chaplain but with the rank of aptain, having twice deelined staff positions under two Confederate generals, he had been commissioned to raise a egiment, but the coming of peace made this organization nnecessary.

In 1865 Reverend Priee married Miss Anna L. Randolph, ho survives. She is a descendant of the famous Virginia Randolphs and a lineal descendant of Pocahontas. Aside rom every other distinction Mrs. Price is a poetess, and er volume of verse, published in 1921, entitled "The Old Church and Other Poems, " has attracted wide and favorable omment. Seven children were born to Dr. William T. 'rice and his wife: William R., who died at the age of four ears; James W .; Andrew G., who is a prominent member f the Marlinton har; Susan A., who is a practicing physi- ian of Williamsburg, Virginia; Norman R. and Calvin W., oth of whom are prominent in Pocahontas County; and inna V., who is the wife of Frank Hunter, of Marlinton.

Norman R. Price, who is a leading medical practitioner t Marlinton, was born December 5, 1874. Ile graduated in 903 from Maryland Medical College, Baltimore, and has een engaged in medical practice in his native city ever inee. During the World war he was a surgeon, with the ank of captain, in the Tenth United States Infantry. te married in 1906 Miss Jean Kinsey, of Mingo County, Vest Virginia, and they have two children: Norman and eau.

Calvin W. Price, who is the owner and publisher of the Pocahontas Times, was born November 22, 1880. At the ge of fifteen years he started to learn the printing business nd is still in the same line. Originally his two brothers 'ere associated with him in the publication of the Times, ut he is now sole proprietor. In polities he is a demoerat, nd is a deaeon in the Presbyterian Church. During the Vorld war he was one of the "Four-Minute" speakers, and as otherwise active in furthering the aims of the Govern- ent. In 1906 he married Miss Mabel Milligan, of Marlin- on, and they have had five children: Elizabeth, Florence tandolph, Calvin Thomas, Ann Lockridge and Jane Stobo, Il surviving except Calvin Thomas, who died at the age of ight years.

James W. Price was born at Monterey, Virginia, No- ember 21, 1868, but was reared at Marlinton, West Vir- inia, and was primarily educated by his parents. When e had determined on his future career he entered Baltimore Medical College, now the medical department of the Uni- ersity of Maryland, from which he was graduated in 1891, fter which for a time he was resident physician of the Maryland General Hospital and attended some post-gradu- te lectures at Johns Hopkins. Doctor Price has always maintained his home at Marlinton. He has been quite active the political field as a republican, the only member of his amily of this political faith, and in 1904 was elected a member of the State Legislature. He was the author of everal important bills, and one of these, a state dispensary ill for the control of liquor, ereated wide discussion.

In 1894 Doctor Price married Miss Lura A. Sharp, of `dray, West Virginia, and they have two children: William 1. and Julia L. Doctor Price and his family are Presby-

terians, and he belongs to the Masonic fraternity. During the World war his attitude was that of a loyal and patriotic citizen. He was a member of the Volunteer Medieal Corps, and was chairman of the County Board of National De- fense. During the latter years of his life the father of Doctor Price took great pride in preparing a history of Pocahontas County, which was published by his sons, and which will, as years go by, prove incalculable worth to historians. Another of his published works, entitled "On to Grafton," a reproduction of his diary, is a valuable contribution to historical data.

JOSEPHI NATHANIEL COLTRANE has been a resident of Lum !- berport over twenty years. He came into this community soon after arriving in the state, a comparatively obyeure young man without capital or influential friends. There followed some years of struggle, when he made little or no progress in the tide of affairs. Persistence and industry had their due reward, and for some years past his place has been that of one of the most substantial business men in Harrison County.

Mr. Coltrane is a native of North Carolina and was born on a farm near Ashboro in Randolph County Sep- tember 22, 1870, son of James A. and Flora A. (Henley) Coltrane, natives of the same county. The Coltranes are a very old and numerous family of North Carolina, and the original stock was Quakers and many of the present gen- eration cling to the same faith. James A. Coltrane was a farmer. The mother is still living, as are also her ton children, five sons and five daughters.

Joseph Nathaniel Coltrane spent his early life on the farm in North Carolina, attended country schools, and sub- sequently for two years was a student in Guilford College. a noted Quaker School of North Carolina. lle worked to pay his expenses while in college, but after two years ran short of funds and did not realize his ambition to complete a college career. After leaving school he sold nursery stock, and came to West Virginia to sell a patent gate and wire fencing to farmers.

Mr. Coltrane came to this state in 1893. Subsequently, while at Lumberport, he met and in 1901 married Miss Anna Laura Mathews, then a student in the Fairmont State Normal School. She died, leaving a son, E. Glenn. Later Mr. Coltrane married Miss Allie Storkey. They have eight children, named Flora A., Joseph Nelson, Nathan, Ama, Ruth, Nelson, Mary and Johnnie.

The first turn in his affairs as a struggling business man came when after several failures, he brought in a group of paying gas wells. As a gas producer he has en- joyed exceptional success, and his judgment on all matters connected with gas production in this section of West Virginia is regarded as authoritative. In the course of years Mr. Coltrane has accumulated a number of important business interests. lle is a contracting teamster, own- ing an outfit of wagons and horses. lle has mercantile and real estate interests, and he owns and manages the Lumberport Hotel. He is a director and officer in sev- eral corporations, being a director in the Lumberport Bank, president of the Shinnston Gas Company, director in the Mound City Gas Company at Lumberport, the Ten Mile Oil and Gas Company, the HIedges Land Company and the Lumberport Land Company. Mr. Coltrane is a republican, and fraternally is affiliated with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks.

WILLIAM H. H. GARDNER assumed the office of postmaster in the fine little Ohio River City of Point Pleasant, Mason County, on the 1st of January, 1922, and is giving an admin- istration that fully justified his selection for this position. The postoffice building is a modern and well equipped struc- ture that was erected in 1914, at a cost of $10,000, and the office is now one of the second elass, with six office employes and with service to two rural free-delivery routes. In this Federal building are also the offices of the Government steamboat inspectors at this port.

Mr. Gardner was born at Pleasant Flats, Mason County,

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on the 27th of September, 1866, and is a son of the late George P. and Jane (McMaster) Gardner. The father was born in Mason County, in 1840, and was a son of George Gardner, who was an old-time pilot on the Ohio River, his service having extended from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois, and his home in the meanwhile having been maintained on his farm in Mason County, where he died at the age of sixty years. George P. Gardner died at the age of seventy-two years, as did also his wife. She was born in Ireland and was a child at the time of the family immi- gration to the United States. Her father, John McMaster, beeame identified with coal mining in West Virginia. George P. Gardner became one of the successful and representative farmers of Mason County and was an honored and in- fluential citizen. In the '80s he served two terms as county assessor, and thereafter he served one term as sheriff of the county. He finally purchased the plant and business of the Enterprise Marine Doek Company at Point Pleasant, and there developed an extensive business in the manufacturing and repairing of steamboats.

The present postmaster of Point Pleasant is indebted to the schools of Mason County for his early education, which was supplemented by his attending the University of West Virginia two terms and by continuing his studies in the University of Kentucky, at Lexington, in which he was graduated in 1887. Thereafter he served as deputy sheriff under his father, and later he was elected treasurer and general manager of the Point Pleasant Water & Light Com- pany, a dual office of which he continued the incumbent seventeen years. Upon the death of his father he became treasurer and general manager of the Enterprise Marine Dock Company, and to the business of this corporation he gave his close supervision until his appointment to the office of postmaster, when his brother, Capt. S. G. Gardner, as- sumed the management of the doek company. He made no personal campaign for the office of postmaster, and his selec- tion for the position was in consonance with the expressed wishes of the citizens of the community. Mr. Gardner is a director of the Point Pleasant Building & Loan Association, is influential in the local couneils and campaign activities of the republican party, and is liberal and progressive as a citizen. He is prominently affiliated with the Lodge and Encampment bodies of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, was for twenty-seven years treasurer of Point Pleas- ant Lodge No. 33, and is treasurer of Fidelity Eneampment No. 57. He finds his principal diversion in fishing trips on the Greenbrier River, and has marked prowess in fly-casting.

Mr. Gardner married Miss Fannie Long, who was born and reared in the Pleasant Flats seetion of Mason County, where her father, Morgan Long, was a successful agricul- turist and stock-grower. He was drowned by falling from the deck of the steamer Bonanza in November, 1894, at Cincinnati, Ohio, while on a trip with a load of live stock. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner have one son, George L., who is now in the employ of the Standard Oil Company in the City of Charleston.

OSCAR L. HALL has won for himself secure vantage-place as one of the representative members of the bar of Clay County, and is established in the successful practice of his profesison at Clay, the county seat. He was born in Braxton County, this state, April 13, 1883, and is a son of HIenry Y. and Edna (MeMorrow) Hall, the former of whom was horn in Clay County, in 1845, and the latter in Braxton County, in 1849. After their marriage the parents estah- lished themselves on a farm in Braxton County, and on this old homestead they still reside, venerable and honored citizens of the county, both being most zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to the clergymen of which their pleasant home has ever extended cordial welcome and entertainment. E. B., eldest of the children, is a progres- sive and successful farmer in Braxton County; Ella is the wife of J. Lee Fox, a prosperous farmer near Sutton, that county; O. W. is a substantial agriculturist and cattle grower in Braxton County; W. C. is a popular teacher in the eity schools of Charleston; Oscar L., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Percy, a graduate of the law department of the University of West Virginia, is now

general counsel for the Ohio Fuel Oil Company for the State of Texas, with residence and headquarters in the City of Dallas, Texas; and May is the wife of P. M. Ramsey a representative farmer in Braxton County.

Reared on the home farm and afforded the advantage of the publie schools of his native county, Osear L. Ilal thereafter made a record of excellent service as a teaehe: in the rural schools, his pedagogic service having continuer three years. He pursued higher academic studies in th University of West Virginia, and in the law department o: this institution he was graduated as a member of the clas: of 1907. Thereafter he was established in practice at Sut ton, judicial center of his native county, until 1912, wher he went to the City of Charleston and became connected with the legal department of the Ohio Fuel Oil Company In 1914 he engaged in the active general practice of his profession at Clay, and he has here continued as one of the leading members of the Clay County bar. In 1916 he wa: elected prosecuting attorney of the county, an office of which he continued the incumbent until January, 1921, and in which he made a most excellent record, his being specially high standing as a trial lawyer of versatility and resource fulness.

Mr. Hall is a stalwart advocate of the principles of the republican party, and as owner and publisher of the Clay Messenger, a weekly paper, he has been able to render effective serviee in promotion of the party cause. He is president of the Elksplint Coal Company and a stoekholder in other industrial and business corporations. In the Masonic fraternity his affiliations are with Sutton Lodge No. 21, A. F. and A. M .; Sutton Chapter No. 29, R. A. M .; Sutton Commandery No. 16, Knights Templars; and Beni Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine, in the City of Charles. ton.

In December, 1910, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hall and Miss Fannie E. Lorentz, who had been a popular teacher in the Sutton High School, she having graduated in the same, and also in Morris Ilarvey College, from which she received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Mr. and Mrs. Hall have two children: Jean E., born March 1, 1912; and Ann Lorentz, born May 3, 1917.

OLIVER E. REED is one of the popular young native sons of Clay County, and resides at its judicial center, where, he is giving effective service as deputy county clerk. On his father's farm in this county Mr. Reed was born April 2, 1897, a son of Levi J. and Martha E. (Walker) Reed, the former of whom was born in Calhoun County, this state, February 22, 1863, and the latter of whom was born in Clay County, in 1868, her death having here occurred in: 1903. The father still resides upon the homestead farm on which he and his wife established themselves within a short time after their marriage, and he is one of the sub- stantial and honored citizens of Clay County. Of their five children three survive the mother, and of the number the subject of this review is the youngest, he having been but six years of age at the time of his mother's death; William C. is a resident of the State of Iowa, where he is telegraph operator and train dispatcher in the service of the Illinois Central Railroad; and Frederiek W., who graduated from Marshall College and also from the University of West Vir- ginia, is, in 1922, a student in the Western Reserve Medical College at Cleveland, Ohio. For his second wife the father married Adora Steorts, and the children of this union are four in number: Nina, Luther, Earl and Helen.

Reared on the home farm and afforded the advantages of the public schools, including the high school at Clay, Oliver E. Reed thereafter completed a commercial course in the Mountain State Business College at Parkersburg. For two years thereafter he was identified with the general mer- chandise business in the Village of Procious, Clay County, and on the Ist of January, 1921, he assumed his present official position, that of deputy county clerk. He is a re- publican, is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica, he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is a stockholder in the Elk Elec- tric Light & Power Company at Clay.

In 1917 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Reed and

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iss Ella Strickland, and they have three children: Eu-

ne, Garnett and Warren E., a merry trio of boys who Id vitality and joy to the attractive home circle.

PHILIP S. YOUNG was elected sheriff of Clay County in ovember, 1920, is giving a most effective administration id is one of the popular citizens of his native county and s judicial center, the Village of Clay, where he maintains s residence and official headquarters.

Mr. Young was born on his father's farm in this county, ovember 4, 1873, and is a son of Samuel E. and Helen :. (Hart) Young, the former of whom was born in anawha County, in 1828, when West Virginia as now con- ituted was still on the pioneer western frontier of Vir- inia. The mother of Sheriff Young was born at Charleston, is state, in 1832. After their marriage the parents resided ghteen years on a farm in Kanawha County, and they ien came to Clay County, where the father developed a pod farm and where he and his wife passed the remainder E their lives, secure in the respect and esteem of all who new them and both earnest members of the Methodist piscopal Church. Samuel E. Young became a loyal sup- orter of the principles of the republican party, was in- uential in its local councils and served for a long term of ears as a member of the County Court of Clay County. He as actively affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. Of the amily of ten children five are living at the time of this riting, in 1922: Mary is the wife of William Snyder; ames is a substantial farmer in Clay County; Herbert M., ho served twelve years as clerk of the Circuit Court for lay County, is now engaged in the real estate business in e State of Arizona; Anna is the wife of W. D. Samples; nd Philip S., of this review, is the youngest of the number. he father was a loyal and gallant soldier of the Union uring virtually the entire period of the Civil war, and he manifested in later years his continued interest in his old omrades by maintaining affiliation with the Grand Army of le Republic.

Philip S. Young early began to assist in the work of the ome farm, and while he thus waxed strong in physical owers he also profited by the advantages offered in the cal schools. He has always continued his alliance with e basic industry of farming, and the aggregate area of his wo well improved farms in Clay County is 500 acres, the alue of these properties being enhanced by the gas wells at have been there sunk and are producing. Mr. Young a stalwart in the local camp of the republican party, has een a zealous worker in its behalf, and on its ticket he 'as elected county sheriff in the autumn of 1920. He and is wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Ir. Young is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of he Shrine. He and his brothers are affiliated with Clay ounty Lodge No. 97, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, of hich their father was an active member for many years rior to his death.

The year 1900 recorded the marriage of Mr. Young and Iiss Mary Smith, and of their fine family of ten children Il are living except one, there having been four sons and Ix daughters.

HON. WILLIAM EDWIN CHILTON. While his distinguish- ig public service was in the United States Senate, where e was one of the most resourceful members who formu- ted and shaped the laws and policies of the Government uring the first term of the Wilson administration, William . Chilton in his home state has for forty years been a emarkably successful lawyer, and in and out of his pro- ession has been a leader in West Virginia affairs.

He was born March 17, 1858, at the place then known s Colesmouth, now Saint Albans, in Kanawha County. The Chiltons were a well known family in old Virginia. Iis grandfather, Blackwell Chilton, was a planter in West- noreland County, and about 1830 came from Fauquier County to West Virginia. He had been a boat owner on he Potomac River, and in Kanawha County he was a armer and merchant. He died at the age of eighty-nine. William E. Chilton, Sr., father of former Senator Chilton, was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, and was a child

when brought to West Virginia. He served as a captain in the State Militia, and for many years was a merchant at Clendenin, Kanawha County, and was twice democratic nominee for the office of sheriff. He died in 1881, at the age of fifty-six. His wife was Mary Elizabeth Wilson, a native of Kanawha County, who died in 1918, at the age of eighty-seven. Her father, Samuel Wilson, was brought as a child from Kentucky by his father, James Wilson. who was a native of County Tipperary, Ireland. Samuel Wilson was a tobacco manufacturer and also a manufac turer of staves and lumber and a merchant at Saint Albans, where he died at the age of eighty eight.

William Edwin Chilton secured his early education in public and private schools and under private tutors, one of whom was H. B. Mickey, whose chief enthusiasm was Latin and Byron, still another instructor of his youth was W. R. Jones, still living. He attended the Baptist school known as Sheldon College at Saint Albans, whose proprietor was Peter B. Reynolds. One of his fellow students at the same time was George B. Foster. Senator Chilton bad experience as a teacher, and for a time was principal of Saint Albans School. He was admitted to the bar and began his law practice at Charleston in 1890. He was ad- mitted to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1891, and for thirty years has handled a large volume of busi- ness in the Federal Courts.

Mr. Chilton has steadily espoused the cause of the demo- cratie party, and for many years worked for the success of the party and its candidates without thought of any reward for himself. Being in a locality where the party was in the minority, he accepted nominations for the good of the cause rather than through hope of election. In 1883 he was appointed prosecuting attorney of Kanawha County for an unexpired term. He was the democratie nominee for the same office in 1884, and was also nominated for the State Senate in 1886. In 1892 he was chairman of the Democratic State Executive Committee, and he served a term as secretary of state of West Virginia from 1893 to 1897. In the early years of his practice he was a partner of John E. Kenna, and was active in the campaign that elected Mr. Kenna to the United States Senate, in which he served ten years beginning in 1883.

The State Legislature was democratic in 1910, and Mr. Chilton became a candidate before that body for the United States Senate. He was elected for the long term, from 1911 to 1917. In 1916 he was a candidate before the people for re-election. When Mr. Chilton entered the Senate, March 4, 1911, the republicans were still in the majority. He was placed on the judiciary committee and the printing committee, and after the democrats secured the majority he was made chairman of the census com- mittee and later became chairman of the printing commit- tee, one of the most important in the Senate. It is possible to review only some of the outstanding features of his work in the Senate. The Democratic Caucus and Judiciary Committee put him in entire charge of the matter of con- firming Judge Brandeis' appointment to the Supreme Court. He was chairman of the subcommittee that took evidenec, and he wrote the majority report and made the fight that after many weeks of delay and obstruction resulted in the confirmation. LaFollette was the only republican to vote for the confirmation of Justice Brandeis. The evi- denee on this subject made two large volumes. Owing to the illness of Senator Culbertson of Texas, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Chilton was named to take charge of the Clayton Bill on the floor of the Senate. This bill, now a law, dealt with the interlocking directorates and other subjects in the field of interstate commerce, and the relations of capital and labor. He had charge of that bill while it was in conference, where he was active in the debate, and some of the sections of the bill were written by Senator Chilton. He was one of the Senate members who used their influence to carry out Wilson's policy for the repeal of the free canal tolls.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 170

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