History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 189

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Mr. Krebs is a member of the Alumni Association of the University of West Virginia, in which institution he be- came affiliated with the Sigma Chi fraternity, and he is an active member of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, as well as of the Lions Club of this city. In the Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and is a noble of the Mystic Shrine. His wife, whose maiden name was Lettie Carr, is a daughter of the

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ate Dr. C. Carr, of Clay, Clay County. Mr. and Mrs. Krebs have four children: Grenville R., Donnie, Mary Dean nd Helen. In the World war period Grenville R. Krebs as in the aviation service of the United States Navy for a eriod of three years. Mr. and Mrs. Krebs are affiliated ith the Methedist Episcopal Church, South, being members f the Humphreys Memorial Church. Mrs. Krebs is an ctive worker in the Order of the Eastern Star. She has erved as secretary for the past eight years of that erder. he is also an active worker in her church and its various rganizations.

ALBA VERN JOHNSON. South Charleston, one of the oungest and most vigerous industrial towns in the state, as had its big growth during the last five or six years. everal of the large industries have plants there, and the ity is a distinct municipality from Charleston. In this ommunity A. V. Johnson located in 1918 as a druggist, has uilt up a very profitable business in that line, and has be- ome a leader in town affairs.

Mr. Johnson was born in Meigs County, Ohio, and since n early age has been making his own way in the world. [e graduated in 1902 from the College of Pharmacy at cio, Ohio. He first came te West Virginia in 1906, and or a year was a pharmacist with the Fields Pharmacy. He as then absent from the state until 1917, and ten years f that time he conducted a drug business in Western Texas, Reeves County. Shortly after returning te West Vir- inia in 1917, he opened a well stocked and attractive drug Core in South Charleston. He is also the principal owner f the Dillingham Lumber Company, operating a saw mill n Blue Creek, West Virginia. This plant has a capacity f 150,000 feet of lumber per month, and the lumber is manufactured from timber owned by the company and is old at wholesale. Mr. Johnson has also been a director nee the organization of the First National Bank of South harleston, of which Quince Jones is president.

He is a member of the City Council, and was recently elected to that body. He is a thirty-second degree Scottish ite Mason, also a York Rite Masen and Shriner, being ffiliated with the various bodies at Charleston.

In his native county Mr. Johnson married Miss Ethel Vright. They have had the following children: Elswertlı, rederick Wright, deceased, A. V., Jr., Theodore and eraldine.

CHARLES A. GATES. An acute, cool-headed man of busi- ess may command respect because of his great capacity or managing vast enterprises and his power to change irenmstances and conditions to suit his will, and may have chesen associates others of like caliber and similar power nd interests; but in order to secure the confidence and steem of his fellowmen he must have other qualities of a anderer fiber. This applies particularly to Charles A. Gates, f Charleston, who for so long a time was prominently lentified with affairs of the most vital business interests the city. In control of important concerns for years, he reved his business sagacity and foresight beyond question, nd at the same time liis interest in everything calculated advance the general welfare was such as to gain him un- ualified respect and friendship.

Mr. Gates was born April 21, 1858, in Ohio, and came te harleston in 1883. Here he founded a retail grocery busi- ess of which he was the head for twenty-eight and one- alf years, during which time he built it up to be the leader f its kind in the city. The C. A. Gates Grocery Com- any, Incorporated, was located at 110 Capitol Street, 1 the Gates Building, which he had purchased, and he con- nued as its active head until 1910, in which year he sold ut and turned his attention to the production of oil and ealing in real estate. In company with John Davidson he rganized companies conducting development operations in hio and West Virginia, especially on Blue Creek in the tter state, and dealt extensively in real estate properties. le is still interested in oil production, is the owner of the stes Building at Charleston and is a director in the Citizens ational Bank, but makes his winter home at Fort Pierce, 'lorida, and is busily engaged in managing his 160-acre

orange grove. Mr. Gates has always been a supporter of all worthy movements of a civic, commercial and educational character, and is an active member of the Kanawha Pres- byterian Church, in which he served as treasurer and mem- ber of the Board of Trustees for many years.

At Wheeling, West Virginia, Mr. Gates married Miss Clara I. Cole, who was reared at Wheeling, and they be- came the parents of two children: Mabel L., who is the wife ef Mason Crickard, assistant cashier of the Union Trust Company of Charleston; and Charles B., both born at Charleston.

Charles B. Gates attended the public schools of Charles- ton, following which he pursued a special law course at Washington and Lee University, then becoming associated with his father in his various interests. He is accounted one of the energetic and capable business men of his city. During the World war he was commissioned a first lieutenant of field artillery in the First Officers' Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana, but did not see overseas duty, his service being confined to various camps in this country, including Camp Jackson, South Caro- lina. Mr. Gates married Miss Harriet K. Hostetter, of Han- ever, Pennsylvania, and they have one son, Charles B., Jr.

S. C. GROSE taught his first term of schieol twenty-three years ago. While teaching he completed his own educa- tional program in the University, aud since 1915 has been superintendent of the schools of Parsons, where his work has been of a quality that has brought forth many expres- sions of praise.

Mr. Grose was born ou a farm in Meade District of Up- shur County, November 19, 1880, and comes of a family of agricultural people, he and one brother being the only rep- resentatives in the educational profession. His grandfather, Samuel Grose, was a native of Pennsylvania, and after his marriage to Miss Ateman, moved to Warm Springs, Vir- ginia. . Their children were: William, who died before the Civil war: John A .; Jacob, who died young; George, a resi- dent of Lorentz, West Virginia; Catherine, whe married James Brake; Anna, who became the wife of John L. Loudin; Paulina, who married Charles Thorpe; and Mrs. Sarah Potts.

John A. Grose, father of the Parsons school superin- tendent, was born at Warm Springs, Virginia, in 1838. While he had a meager education himself, he was muel concerned in the proper education of his own children. At the opening of the Civil war he entered the Union Army as a member of the Tenth West Virginia Infantry, and served under both General Custer and General Sheridan. He took part in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Spottsylvania, Fisher's Hill, the Shenan- doah campaign, involving the battles of Winchester and Ce- dar Creek, and was in the concluding phases of the war under General Grant around Richmond. He was a private soldier and was slightly wounded a few hours before the close of the struggle, at Appomattox. After the war he de- voted himself to his farm in Upshur County, where he lived until his death. In 1876, in that county, he married Nancy Jane Allman, who was born there in 1852, daughter of Abram and Barbara (Cutright) Allman. She had a brother, Isaac Allman, and a sister, Mrs. Phoebe Grose. John A. Grose and wife had the following children: Edward R., a teacher of science in the Glenville State Normal School of West Virginia; S. C. Grose; Arthur, a farmer at Sago in Upshur County; Wilbur, also a farmer at Sage; and Anna, wife of Charles Cutright, of Sago.

S. C. Grose spent the first nineteen years of his life on his father's farm in Upshur County, and he had an in- creasing share in the labers of the field and only such ad- vantages as were supplied by the local schools. At nineteen he began teaching, and after twe terms of rural school work entered college, in the Preparatory Department of the Uni- versity, and while attending there taught two mere terms of country school and following his course another term of rural school. Following that he was principal of the schools of Caire, West Virginia, for six years, but each summer he returned to the University of Morgantown and in 1911 hic enrolled in the University for continued work until he

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finished his course and received his A. B. degree in 1913. The next two years he was principal of the High School at Flemington, and in 1915 he was called to be superintendent of the Parsons School as successor to S. B. Hatton.

While at Parsons Mr. Grose has made some distinctive additions to the school course and the general elevation of the school system there. He has introduced courses in teachers training, commercial, vocational agriculture and manual training, and Parsons now has a High School with a four year course. Two classes had been graduated from the high school before Mr. Grose became superintendent. The graduates are now qualified to enter any school or college in the state without examination, and it is also on the list of accredited high schools, a graduation there be- ing recognized by all the Universities and Colleges of the country. Since Mr. Grose became superintendent many graduates have continued their higher education for teach- ing and other professions.

Mr. Grose is deeply interested in every subject connected with the proper training of youth for the serious duties of life, not only in school, but in connection with rural life and sociology and is an active member of several educa- tional associations, being president of the Tucker County Teachers Association. During the World war he took an active part in contributing to the success of the Red Cross and Liberty Loan drives, doing much speeching in behalf of these patriotic causes. For several summers his time has been occupied with teachers institutes, and in the summer of 1922 he had charge of the approved summer school work for teachers at Parsons.

At Harrisville, West Virginia, June 21, 1913, Mr. Grose married Miss Nelle Fowler, who was born at Harrisville, daughter of Jasper N. and Florence (Hayhurst) Fowler. Her father is still living at his home farm near Harris- ville. Mrs. Grose is a graduate of the rural schools, spent two years in the Glenville State Normal and also took sum- mer work in West Virginia University. She began teaching at the age of seventeen, and her last school was in the grades at Harrisville. Mr. and Mrs. Grose have three chil- dren: John Andrew, born in 1915; Rosa Nelle, born in 1918; and Florence Margaret, born in 1920.

Mr. Grose is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Junior Order United American Me- chanics, and Mrs. Grose is a member of the Methodist Protestant Church. He became a stockholder at the organi- zation of the Philippi Blanket Mill at Parsons in 1922.

ROBERT SUMMERS NEELY, D. D. S., is engaged in the successful practice of bis profession at Hinton, judicial center of Summers County, and he is one of the progressive and influential young men of his native county, where the year 1922 finds him in active service as chairman of the republican county committee.

Doctor Neely was born at Pipestem, this county, May 22, 1890, and is a son of Levi Matteson Neely and Alice Virginia (Martin) Neely, both likewise natives of Sum- mers County, where the respective families were founded many years ago. William R. Neely, paternal grandfather of the doctor, was born in Indiana and became one of the successful pioneer farmers of Summers County, West Virginia. Richard Martin, maternal grandfather of Doctor Neely, was a loyal soldier of the Union in the Civil war, and is now one of the venerable and honored citizens of Hinton. Levi M. Neely was reared and educated in Sum- mers County, and has long been numbered among the successful exponents of farm industry in Pipestem Dis- trict. He is a stalwart republican, and his religious faith is that of the Baptist Church. His first wife, Alice V., died in 1901, at the age of thirty-five years, and later he was united in marriage with Mrs. Willie Neely, a widow. Of his eight children six are living: William Clyde and Richard Claude are twins, and they are associated in the clothing business at Hinton, individual mention of them being made on other pages of this volume; Dr. Robert S., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Zina Carl is a business man in Hinton; Mabel is the wife of William C. Eubanks, of Huntington; Dewey G. is a clerk in the clothing store of his brothers; Luther F., who died in

1906, at the age of twenty-three years, was at the time engaged in the contracting business at Kansas City, Mis- souri; and Herbert L., who died at the age of thirty-five years, was superintendent for a prominent firm of con- tractors in the City of Washington, D. C.

After having attended the public schools of Hinton Dr. Robert S. Neely was for some time a student in the Concord State Normal School, and in preparation for his chosen profession he entered the dental department of the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. He later transferred to the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, and in this institu- tion he was graduated as a member of the class of 1914. Upon thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Dental Sur- gery he forthwith opened an office at Hinton, where he has since continued his successful professional work as one of the representative dentists of his native county. He has insistently kept in touch with the great advances made in both operative and laboratory dentistry, and in this connection it should be noted that he has taken effec- tive post-graduate courses in leading dental colleges and clinic in Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati and Boston. In his large and important practice he has had as his pro- fessional coadjutor since 1919 Dr. D. B. Keaton, under the firm name of Neely & Keaton. While still a boy Doctor Neely became associated with his brothers Claude and Clyde in the retail grocery business, and when he finally sold his interest in this business he utilized the money thus received to defer the expenses of his course in dental college. He is a member of the Greenbrier Valley Dental Society, the West Virginia State Dental Society and the National Dental Society. From his early youth he has been an ardent worker in the ranks of the republican party, and after service as a member of the city republican com- mittee of Hinton he became a member of the county commit- tee, of which latter he is now chairman, an office in which he has shown much finesse in maneuvering political forces at his command. The doctor is one of the vigorous mem- bers of the Hinton Chamber of Commerce, is a charter member of the local Rotary Club, is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in the Ma- sonic fraternity he is affiliated with both York and Scottish Rite bodies, including the Commandery of Knights Templars at Hinton, the Consistory, A. A. S. R., at Wheeling, and also the Temple of the Mystic Shrine in that city. He holds membership in the Presbyterian Church, and his wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

The year 1915 recorded the marriage of Doctor Neely and Miss Nell McDowell, daughter of J. W. McDowell, who resides in Monroe County and who is serving as deputy collector of internal revenue. Dr. and Mrs. Neely have two sons, Robert S., Jr., and William Edward.

B. F. DUNKLE for fifteen years has been a resident of Parkersburg, and has here given evidence of his superior talents as a thorough business man and is one of the city's capable merchants and public spirited citizens.

He was born at Bedford, Pennsylvania, May 24, 1863, son of William and Mary Margaret (Franks) Dunkle, also natives of Pennsylvania. The record of the Dunkle family runs back in Pennsylvania to earliest colonial times, the family having been established there from Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. For many generations they lived and flourished around Lancaster and Bedford, where some of the name are still found. William Dunkle was a Pennsylvania farmer, and at the time of the Civil war volunteered in the Union Army and served until honorably discharged on account of disability. He died in 1905, at the age of eighty-one, and his widow died two years later, at seventy-nine. Of their six children four are now living.

Benjamin F. Dunkle grew up on his father's farm, at- tended the common schools and the public schools of Bed- ford Springs, and at the age of eighteen became a cigar maker. He operated an establishment for the making of cigars at Bedford Springs for about fifteen years. He then made a change of business and for six years managed a steam laundry at Pittsburg. From Pittsburg in Novem- her, 1907, he removed to Parkersburg, and for ten years was in the livery business. This business suffered severe

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ompetition on account of the growing use of the automo- ile, and in 1915 he began developing a new line as a dealer nd jobber in flour and feed, and that has now become his lief business.

Mr. Dunkle is a member of the Board of Commerce, and a Presbyterian. May 30, 1883, he married Belinda B. ridaham, of Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania. They have our children, Charles W., Percy K., John H. and Starline IcMiller. Percy married Eliza Lucretia Buckley.

WALTER COLLINS, of Bruceton Mills, represents a family roup in Preston County that has long been noted for its uiet and unobtrusive citizenship, containing people of un- oubted patriotism, industry and personal worth.

Mr. Collins was born near Bruceton Mills March 13, 1861. His father, Andrew Collins, was born in Marion County, Vest Virginia, July 22, 1811. The Collins family was es- ablished in this state from Pennsylvania, and the father f Andrew Collins was buried at Brandonville in Preston County. His children were Ezekiel, James, Frank, Andrew, Mary and two other daughters, all of whom are now de- eased. Andrew Collins became a blacksmith by trade, and followed that occupation until too old for such strenuous work and devoted the remaining years of his life to his 'arm. He began with limited circumstances, but managed is affairs so as to live well and supply the comforts for his family. He was a sheep and cattle raiser, always kept in abundance of stock, and left a modest estate when he lied. In his old age he was liberal, and delighted in grati- fying some need of his children, having none of the penuri- ousness frequently associated with old age. He had only 1 limited education, but had an active miud which retained its vigor until his death. He was strong in democratie poli- tics, but had no desire for public service, and was a member of the Baptist Church. He married at Petersburg, Somer- set County, Pennsylvania, November 23, 1841, Olivia Mc- Clain. They were married by Rev. Mr. Sawhill, the cere- mony being performed in the presence of William and Almira Reynolds. Olivia McClain was a daughter of Wil- liam and Eliza (Brown) McClain. Andrew Collins and wife had the following children: Florence, who became the wife of Marshall Wolfe and. died near Bruceton; Martha, who was married to John . Dietrick and is buried at Point Marion, within the State of West Virginia; Thomas Collins, Baptist minister at Spokane, Washington; Caroline, who died in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, as Mrs. Clark Flan- nigan; Luther, of Terra Alta; Emily, who died in young womanhood; Mary, wife of Jehu King, resident of Bruce- ton; Marshall, of Unioutowu, Pennsylvania; Eliza Jane, who became the wife of James Boland and died in Fayette County, Pennsylvania; Walter; Clara, wife of John W. Yeast, of Valentine, Nebraska; Ashbel M., who occupies the old Collins homestead; and Albert, who was killed in a coal mine in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, survived by a family.

Walter Collins attended school in the Hopewell locality near Bruceton, and he lived at home with his parents until he was twenty-eight, taking care of the homestead as long as his father and mother lived. He early became a stock- man and farmer, and for some years was one of the largest and growers of this region. It was frequently the case that he drove out for market from 1,500 to 2,000 lambs every fall. He also butchered for the benefit of the Bruce- ton locality.

Mr. Collins begau housekeeping in the same community where he was reared, but in April, 1909, he moved to the William Yeast farm a mile from Bruceton. Besides his activities as a farmer and stockman Mr. Collins has devel- oped and opened a coal mine on his land, and has marketed some of the product in the community. He is interested in banks and has been a director of the Bruceton Bank for a decade or more.

In politics Mr. Collins has not adhered strictly to the party faith of his family, and has cast his ballot for the republican ticket when its policies and candidates suited him. He has never been tempted into politics for the sake of official service, is a Baptist, while Mrs. Collins has been a dutiful member of the Methodist Church since she was thirteen years of age.

In Preston County November 28, 1888, on Thanksgiving day, Mr. Collins married Emma A. Yeast, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Mr. Applegate. Mrs. Collins was born at the home where she is now living July 3, 1869, daughter of William and Catherine J. (Ross) Yeast. Her father was born in the Clifton locality of Preston County September 25, 1828, was educated in Maryland and in the Crawford School of Preston County, and grew up in the home of Hamilton Crawford. During the Civil war he was a teamster for about two years and then, about three weeks after his marriage, he enlisted in Captain Hyde's Company, which was assigned to duty on the Indian frontier of Kan- sas. There he suffered so from hunger and exposure that he took leave of his command without permission, returning home, and was never given an honorable discharge. William Yeast located near Bruceton, living at the three corners of the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia, then for three years lived in the Hazelton community, and the year Mrs. Collins was born established his home where Mr. and Mrs. Collins now reside. He died May 26, 1907. Mr. Yeast was a republican. His widow, still living, was born July 30, 1841. William Yeast's first wife was Martha Dean, and they had two children, John W., born in Decem- ber, 1852, a resident of Valentine, Nebraska; and Jennie, born March 9, 1860, wife of J. C. McNair, of Woodlake, Nebraska. William Yeast by his marriage to Catherine Ross had the following children: Joseph H., of Wheat- land, Wyoming; Mrs. Collins; Aminta, born August 27, 1873, wife of J. B. Everly; James Albert, born April 2, 1878, a resident of Atlanta, Georgia; Agnes, born Septem- ber 8, 1880, wife of Albert Collins; and Effie, born Febru- ary 6, 1883 wife of Edward Cunningham.

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Collins had the following children: Fred H., born July 23, 1890; Ethel, wife of Jesse Benson, of Hopewell Church settlement, and has two children, Ed- ward and Beryl; Mabel Beatrice, born May 15, 1903; and Donald Glen, born September 30, 1911. The soldier repre- sentative in the family during the World war was Fred, who was in camp at Vancouver Barracks, Washington, and was assigned to duty in the timber, getting out aeroplane material. His command was designated as the Fourth Company Air Service Supply Corps.

RAYMOND W. JOHNSON, of Philippi, has a genius for business. That is demonstrated in the remarkable success he has made from a start from nothing to an independent fortune when in years he is just about where most men are getting fairly settled into their vocations. He educated himself commercially as experience demanded knowledge, planned his career and worked to the plan.

He is a native of Barhour County, and a representative of one of the older families here. His great-grandfather, the first of the name in Barbour County, came from Ire- land and was one of the eleven brothers who settled in dif- ferent portions of West Virginia, one locating in Harrison County, another at Cove in Taylor County, one near Mor- gantown and some in the Valley of Virginia. The grand- father of the Philippi business man was John G. Johnson, who was born in Glade District of Barbour County and spent all his life there. His was a career of usefulness and good citizenship. He owned a farm and also owned and operated a water mill at the head of Teters Creek on Mill Run. In connection with the grist milling machinery he installed carting machines, the only ones in this region. The old grist mill is still being operated, but the carting machinery has long since disappeared. John G. Johnson was a staunch democrat and Methodist. He married Kate Parsons, daughter of Job Parsons. The town of Parsons was named in honor of this family. Their children were: Richard M .; Levi, who is one of the old farmer residents of Glade District, where he was born; Robert F., who lives on the old homestead and runs the mill there; William Worth, who moved to the State of Idaho and died there; Eliza, who married Jacob V. Wilmoth and spent her life in Barbour County; Caroline, who died at the old family home, the wife of Arthur Hudkins; Emily, who married George Skidmore and lived and died near Elkins; and Lu-

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 189

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