History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 185

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January 7, 1891, recorded the marriage of Doctor Wi. son and Miss Carrie Gain, daughter of Samuel and Carc line (Randolph) Gain, of Salem, her father having bee for many years one of the most extensive buyers and ship pers of live stock in this section of the state. Doctor an Mrs. Wilson because the parents of three children: Charle Clifford, who is successfully engaged in the practice o his profession, that of optometrist, in the City of Clarks burg, was born and reared at Salem, where he graduated from the high school and Salem College. Later he gradu ated from the Duff Business College in the City of Pitts hurgh, Pennsylvania, the New York Institute of Optometr; and the Philadelphia School of Horology and Optics. H is a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Mysti Shrine. He married Miss Neva Monroe, of Mannington Marion County. Edna Blanche, the second child, likewis was graduate from the Salem High School and Salem Col lege, and later she completed a course in the West Virgini: Business College and in King's School of Oratory, Pitts burgh, Pennsylvania. Thereafter she graduated from the medical department of physics and ophthalmology in Mc Cormick Medical College, Chicago, Illinois, and she is nov successfully engaged in the practice of her profession o. optometry, with headquarters in the office of her father Her husband, Harold E. Ross, is associated with the Salen Bridge & Construction Company. The third child, Willa Louetta, died at the age of eleven years. At the tim of her death she was in the fifth grade of the public school and was a student of music and elocution in the Morning Conservatory in New York City during the year 1907 She had a very promising future before her.

LEE CROUCH, president of the Elkins National Bank, i a West Virginian who was reared in the back country, had no particular advantages beyond those he worked for, and with determination to succeed has achieved something more than the ordinary station in life, not only as a business man but as a citizen. He has held public office, and for two years was a merchant before he entered banking.

Mr. Crouch represents one of the oldest families of Ran dolph County, and was born on a farm in that county July 13, 1859, son of Abram and Elizabeth (McNeil) Crouch His father was born and reared aud spent his life in Ran dolph County, a practical farmer. The grandfather was Andrew Crouch. Maj. John M. Crouch, a brother of An drew, is said to have been the first white male child borr in Randolph County. Andrew Crouch was also a native of that county, and in 1810 married Elizabeth Hutton, of an other pioneer family. The old farm of Andrew Crouch is now owned by his grandsons Lee and Jackson Crouch.

The mother of Lee Crouch was born in Pocahontas County, was a woman of fine qualities of heart and mind and she did much to inspire her son with an ambition for worthy achievement. Lee Crouch was one of six children all of whom grew up on the farm.

The country schools attended by Lee Crouch hardly averaged more than a four months term each year. With this education and with his home training he started out without capital to do for himself, and soon afterward was a partner in a small store at Huttonsville. From merchan- dising he became deputy sheriff, filling that office twc terms, or eight years. He was next elected clerk of the County Court of Randolph County, and at the end of his first six year term was re-elected and filled that office with every degree of efficiency for twelve years.

On leaving public office Mr. Crouch was made cashier of

E.a. Wilson M. A.

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the Elkins National Bank. On the death of the late United States Senator Henry Gassaway Davis, Mr. Crouch was elected president of the Elkins National Bank. This bank has total resources well upwards of two million dollars, and is one of the strongest banks in this part of the state.

Mr. Crouch is president of the Board of County Com- missioners, his term ending in December, 1924. He has always been an active democrat, is a member of the Ma- sonic Order and the Elks and is a Presbyterian. In 1893 he married Sarah A. Wallace, a native of Augusta County, Virginia. Their four children are: Mary, Wallace, Maude and Evelyn.

ROBERT E. KING. A high minded and progressive edu- cator who has rendered splendid service to the schools of Tucker County both as teacher and administrator, Robert E. King has for several years been superintendent of the county system of schools. Since his connection with the schools of the county covers a period of twenty-two years it is doubtful if any individual has ever exercised a more beneficent influence on local education than Mr. King.

He was born April 24, 1881, on Sam's Fork of Little Kanawha River in Wood County, West Virginia. His grand- father, Samuel King, was a native of Ireland, and was a boy when his parents brought him to the United States, the family landing at Baltimore and traveling over the old Northwestern Turnpike to Noble County, Ohio. Samuel King remained in that section of Ohio the rest of his life, his home being near Summerfield. Though of foreign birth he proved his Americanism by four years of service as a Union soldier in the Civil war. He married Elizabeth Sny- der, and they were the parents of a dozen children, and the nine to reach mature years were: John W., mentioned below; Martha, who married John King of Macksburg, Ohio; Robert, who lived in Nebraska; Lincoln, of Athens, Ohio; James, of the old King homestead at Summerfield; Josie, widow of Hiram Curtis, in Noble County; Laura, who married and lives in Noble County; Mrs. Lucy Davis, whose husband is in the oil business in Mexico City; and Ruth, wife of Aaron Wilson, of Salem, West Virginia.

John W. King, father of the Tucker County educator, was a resident of that county almost thirty years, a farmer near St. George. He was born in Noble County, Ohio, in February, 1847, and died at Parsons, West Virginia, May 29, 1922. He was reared in a country district there, ac- quiring a rural education. He married Edith Haddix, who was born in Barbour County, West Virginia, April 16, 1862, daughter of David and Elizabeth (Stansbury) Haddix. She died September 5, 1921. The children of John W. King and wife were: Robert Edgar; Charles Blaine, who died at Kitzmiller, Maryland, leaving a wife and five chil- dren; Harry Clyde, a garage man in Parsons, who married Amy Nestor and has four children; Lillie R., mother of four children by her marriage to Hugh Calvert, of Croman- ton, Florida; Laura M., deceased, wife of Pat Owens, of St. George, West Virginia, and the mother of four children; and Lelia P., who married John Owens, brother of Pat, and they live on a farm near St. George and have two children.

Robert E. King was an infant when his parents left West Virginia, and for two or three years lived at Macksburg, Ohio. They then returned to West Virginia and settled in Knottsville District, where Robert King began his school training. In 1894, when he was thirteen years of age, the family moved to Tucker County, and he came to manhood on the old farm near St. George. He completed the work of the common schools and at the age of seventeen was qual- ified to teach his first term. He taught for two terms and then enrolled as a student in the West Virginia Preparatory School at Keyser. For several years following he alter- nated between teaching and studying, and nearly com- pleted his course in the Preparatory School. For nine years Mr. King was principal of the St. George School, and he was also principal of the Williams School in Fairfax Dis- trict, and later had charge of a rural school in the Black Fork District. While at St. George he introduced the sub- ject of agriculture in the schools, and was also chairman of the first reading circle in that district, comprising both a reading circle and general institute work. In every way

he proved himself a progressive school man, striving to make the schools an auxiliary to the needs of modern life. With his record of fifteen years' experience as a teacher Mr. King entered upon his duties as county superintendent, being elected on the republican ticket in 1918 as successor to C. R. Parsons. Since becoming county superintendent he has introduced into the schools physical drill, hot lunches, district school days, at which time all the children of the district are assembled at one point and engage in contests in educational and athletic work; the urging of teachers' attendance upon summer schools, which has been generally responded to, there being as a reward for such attendance an additional five dollars a month salary. While super- intendent Mr. King has had the pleasure of seeing five new school houses built over the county. That of the White School in Licking District is one of the best one-room school buildings in this part of the state.

While a teacher Mr. King served as deputy county as- sessor for six years, for four years under S. C. Simpson and two years under J. T. Darkey. Mr. King was reared in a republican household and has always acknowledged that party allegiance.

At Keyser, West Virginia, April 13, 1913, he married Miss Susan D. Dickson. She was born at Tuscaloosa, Ala- bama, in 1879, daughter of Flinn and Lee Dickson, of Sum- ter, South Carolina. Her mother was a first cousin of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Flinn Dickson was a Presbyterian minister and teacher, founded a colored school at Tuscaloosa, and was widely known over the South not only for his practical work in the educational and religious field, but also as au- thor of several religious books and several religious songs that were published. Rev. Mr. Dickson and wife had the following children: Katie D., who married Charles Beard, of Sumter County, South Carolina, where she is now teach- ing; Howard Dickson, who was a soldier in the Spanish- American war and subsequently went into old Mexico, but has not been heard from since; George Dickson, a major in the Bailey Military Institute at Greenwood, South Carolina; Mrs. Susan Dozier King; and A. Flinn, who was a soldier in the Spanish-American war and is now a member of a wholesale grocery firm at Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Mrs. King was well educated, attending Presbyterian School at Fredericksburg and also the University of Vir- ginia and the University of Tennessee. As a practical edu- cator she did some splendid work as teacher of some mis- sionary schools in the mountain districts of Virginia, North and South Carolina. She also taught for several years at White Gate and Roanoke, Virginia, and during the year she was a teacher in the High School at Thomas, West Virginia, she made her acquaintance with Mr. King. She is a member of the Eastern Star and a member of the Na- tional Federation of Women's Clubs. Mr. and Mrs. King have two children, Eileen Lee and Robert Edgar, Jr.

Mr. King is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles, is a past consul of the Woodmen of the World and a past councillor of the Junior Order United American Mechanics. He is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, of which Mrs. King is an active member.

OWEN J. KING, who has served two terms as postmaster of Elkins, began his business career in that city before it was the county seat of Randolph County, and has had an increasingly active part in local affairs ever since.

He was born on a farm near Kingsville in Randolph County, August 29, 1871, son of John A. and Mary (O'Con- nor) King. John A. King was born in Ireland and was six years of age when his parents, Michael and Bridget (Mounigan) King, came to this country. Michael King was in railroad construction work and finally located on a farm in Randolph County, and the adjacent village of Kingsville was named in his honor. John A. King served as a teamster in the Union Army during the Civil war, and after the war became a farmer and spent his active life at that vocation. His wife, Mary O'Connor, was born at Phil- adelphia, and her father, Michael O'Connor, was a native of Ireland. John A. King and wife were devout Catholics. and they reared thirteen children on their farm, eleven of whom are still living.

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Owen J. King spent his boyhood on the farm and had the advantages of the common schools. At the age of eighteen he started making his own way, and he has made a success without any inheritance of money and has not only pulled his own weight in the world, but has done much to help others. He was in business at Elkins as a merchant for twelve years. After selling his store he entered the real estate and insurance business, and carried that line of ac- tivities for eight years.

He is an active democrat, and in 1914 President Wilson appointed him postmaster of Elkins. He was re-appointed for a second term, and throughout his administration he gave the utmost satisfaction to the patrons of the office. Mr. King is a Catholic and is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and Elks. In 1904 he married Miss Gertrude Collins, of Logansport, Indiana. Their three children are Madaline, Mildred and Clarence C.

CLARENCE SILAS BATES, M. D. A native of Harrison County, where he devoted his early years to farming, Doctor Bates after graduating from medical college returned to the same community for the work of his profession, and for upward of twenty years has performed with quiet effi- ciency and ability the arduous round of duties required of a country practitioner.

He was born on a farm in Harrison County, July 4, 1874. His great-grandfather was a native of England, and on coming to America settled in Erie County, Pennsylvania. The grandfather of Doctor Bates was Andy Bates, a native of Erie County, Pennsylvania, and an early settler in West Virginia. Notley S. Bates, father of Doctor Bates, was born in Doddridge County, this state, in 1846, and when he was three years of age his mother died and at the age of fourteen he left the home of his father and stepmother to begin life for himself. For several years he worked as a farm hand for a man whose daughter he married. After his marriage he settled on a farm in Harrison County. He served one year in the Union Army during Civil war, was an active republican, and he and his wife were Methodists. Notley S. Bates married Laura Frances Swiger, who was horn in Harrison County. She died in 1898, and her husband died at Wilsonburg in 1918. She was a daughter of Jerah and Ruth (Wilson) Swiger, the former a native of Harrison County and the latter a native of Ireland, she having been brought to America when an infant.

Clarence Silas Bates was one of a family of twelve chil- dren, ten of whom reached mature years. While on the farm he attended the public schools, also took a course in Wesleyan College at Buekhannon, and he remained a factor on the farm until he was twenty-six. He then entered the Baltimore Medical College, and remained there until graduating M. D. in 1904. In May of that year Doetor Bates located at Lumberport, and has ever since carried the burdens of a general practitioner. He is a member of the Harrison County, West Virginia State and American Medical Associations. Three times he has taken a vacation from his practice in order to keep in touch with the advanced knowledge of his science, and he took one postgraduate course in the Mayo Brothers Clinic at Roehes- ter, Minnesota. Doctor Bates is a republican, a Baptist, and is a member of the Masons and Odd Fellows.

In 1898 he married Allie A. Coffman, daughter of Jesse F. and Virginia (llarbert) Coffman, of Harrison County. Their two sons are Selman J., and Everett Brice.

JOHN N. SHACKLEFORD, whose death occurred February 18, 1922, resided at Glenville, judicial center of Gilmer County. He was a citizen of distinctive loyalty and pro- gressiveness. and the estimate placed upon him in his native state was indicated by the fact that in the election of 1920 he was chosen a member of the State Senate, as representa- tive of the Tenth Senatorial District, which comprises the counties of Braxton, Gilmer, Pocahontas, Webster and Cal- houn.

Senator Shackleford was born in Upshur County, West Virginia, February 18, 1860, a son of Robert C. and Lucy C. (Hodges) Shackleford, both natives of Virginia, whero

the former was born in Albemarle County and the latter in Orange County. The father's early educational advantages were limited, but his strong and alert mind and determined ambition enabled him effectually to overcome this youthful handicap and to become a man of broad information and mature judgment. Both he and his wife were young at the time of the removal of their respective families to what is now Upshur County, West Virginia, where they were reared to adult age and where their marriage was solemnized. Robert C. Shackleford settled on a farm near the present Lorentz Railroad station in Upshur County, where he de- veloped and improved a productive homestead of 134 acres and became one of the successful exponents of farm indus- try in that county. He was a staunch democrat, and, while never a seeker of public office, his civic loyalty was signally shown in his effective service as a member of the Board of Education of the Buckhannon, or county-seat, District. He and his wife were zealous members of the Methodist Protestant Church. Of their eleven children the Hon. John N., of this review, was the eldest; Martha E. is the wife of George L. Crites, of Buckhannon, Upshur County ; Lucy E. is the wife of Wayne Meredith, of Fairmont, Marion County; Lettie is the wife of Lawrence Haymond, of Cin- cinnati, Ohio; O. F. resides at Buckhannon, Upshur County; Isa M. is the wife of Arthur K. Hinkle, of Fair- mont; Sarah E. is the wife of Ira Smith, of Fairmont; and Sidney R. resides on the old homestead farm in Upshur County. The remaining three are deceased.

John N. Shackleford early gained practical lessons of enduring valne through his youthful association with the varied activities of the home farm, and after having profited by the advantages of the common schools he attended the West Virginia State Normal School at Glenville. He taught eleven terms of school with marked success, and in connection with business enterprise he early began to deal in live stock and coal lands. For twelve years he was a traveling commercial salesman, and in connection with his various productive activities he gained substantial success and secure standing as a reliable and progressive man of affairs.

Senator Shackleford was ever a staunch advocate of the principles of the democratic party, and was influential in the local councils and campaign activities of the party. In November, 1920, he was elected to the State Senate, and in the general assembly of the West Virginia Legislature for 1920-21 he was a member of the finance committee of the Senate and loyally supported appropriations for the benefit of the various institutions of the state, especially those of educational order. Through his influence was made an appropriation for the construction and equipping of a boys dormitory at the State Normal School in his home city of Glenville. He served also on the conference com- mittee of the Senate, and it is uniformly conceded that he did much to gain and retain the requisite appropriations for the colleges and schools of the state. As a member of the Senate he gave to the new state road from Charles- ton to the Pennsylvania line the name of Morgan Highway.

Senator Shackleford was the owner of the old homestead farm npon which he was born and reared, in Upshur County, and aside from its intrinsic value he placed high esti- mate upon the property by reason of the gracions memories and associations which it represented. He was liberal and progressive as a citizen and an active member of the Bap- tist Church, as was also his wife, whose death occurred February 16, 1919, no children having been born to them. The maiden name of Mrs. Shackleford was Gertrude Bell. and she was a daughter of William W. and Sarah A. (Bran- non) Bell, of Gilmer County.

WALTER S. BAMBRICK, who is United States postmaster at Weirton, demonstrates in his life the truth of the saying that real merit receives proper recognition, and the other saying as well, that nothing succeeds like success. Persist- ent, conseientions endeavor alone, along legitimate lines, has resulted in his case in public advancement, and in his official position he has discharged his duties faithfully and rendered the people of his community splendid service.

Mr. Bambrick was born at New Cumberland, Hancock

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O.S. Bates M.D.

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unty, West Virginia, September 19, 1888, and is a son of wis S. and Sarah M. (Baxter) Bambrick, natives also of ancock County. The grandfather of Walter S. Bambrick, lomas Bambrick, was born, reared and educated in Ire- ad, where as a young man he was a teacher. He immi- ated to the United States about 1820 and settled in West rginia, where he first engaged in teaching and later rned his attention to farming, also carrying on surveying rk all over the state. As he was possessed of a superior ucation, he was frequently asked to do work of a semi- yal character for the pioneers, particularly before the ation of the County Court. He was the father of the lì which brought into being Hancock County, which was t off from Brooke County, and sat as a delegate in the ouse of Representatives at the time the county was cre- ed, in 1848. He named the county seat Pughtown, and such it continned for many years or until being removed New Cumberland. He was a stalwart democrat, and in death, at the age of eighty-four years, his community st a strong leader and a reliable and straightforward izen.

Like his father, Lewis S. Bambrick was a teacher in his rlier years, but later turned his attention to farming and ntinued to be engaged therein in Hancock County all his tive life, with the exception of two years passed in Wayne unty, Iowa. He is now living in retirement, having ached four-score years, hut takes a lively interest in the fairs of life and is a member of the Board of Equaliza- on. In politics he is a democrat. Mr. Bambrick married iss Sarah M. Baxter, daughter of Samuel Baxter, who is born in Brooke County, West Virginia, and at marriage me to Hancock County, where he spent the rest of his 'e in agricultural operations, being a progressive cattle id sheep breeder. He died when eighty-four years old. rs. Bambrick died at the age of sixty-six years, after a .ppy married life of about forty-five years.

Walter S. Bambrick received his education in the graded id high schools of New Cumberland, and in 1912 came to eirton as an employe of the shipping department of the eirton Steel Company. He remained with this concern til named postmaster, the duties of which office he as- med September 5, 1916. At that time the office boasted ' two employes, occupied a one-room building, 11x36 feet, id had annual receipts amounting to $9,000. There are w eight assistants, the post office occupies a rented build- g, 33x72 feet, and the receipts amount to $160,000 annu- ly. Mr. Bambrick gives his entire time and attention to e work of his position and has improved the service ma- rially. At the present time there are no deliveries made id no rural free delivery system, as the work of numbering e houses on the various streets has not been done in is fast-growing municipality. As soon as this work is complished deliveries will commence. Mr. Bambrick has e distinction of having his name on the Honor Roll and nt to the postmaster general at Washington, D. C., as a ark of special distinction. When the sale of War Sav- gs Stamps and Thrift Stamps was discontinued the new reasury Savings Certificates were offered the public, and ostmaster Bambrick was an eutrant in the postmaster con- st which closed December 31, 1921, in competition with 1 other postmasters of the same class offices in the Fifth ederal Reserve District, being one of the winners in this ate. A bronze honor pin of attractive design, bearing e inscription "Honor Postmaster," has been conferred on Postmaster Bambrick by Howard T. Cree, director of e Government Savings Organization, Richmond, Virginia, a reward for patriotism and faithful service. Mr. Bam- 'ick is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and during s vacations humors his hobby of hunting.

Mr. Bambrick married Miss Myrtle Herron, of New imberland, and they are the parents of two children: alter Lewis and William Herron.

ALEXANDER B. PAXTON. Perhaps no other line of manu- ctured goods better serves to make the City of Wheeling own abroad than the product of the Hazel Atlas Glass ompany, whose general offices have been at Wheeling for any years. The industry is in fact largely one of local

origin in this section of the Upper Ohio Valley. Alexander B. Paxton is identified with the Hazel Atlas Glass Company through direct relationship with some of the founders and also by virtue of a long and continued personal service. He is now vice president of the corporation.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 185

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