History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 20

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JAMES B. WILSON, M. D. Born and reared on a farm near Pennsboro, after completing his medical education Doctor Wilson returned to his home community to practice, and for nearly thirty years has been one of the competent physicians and surgeons in this locality.

His birth occurred on a farm three miles south of Penns- boro February 11, 1866. He is a son of Leroy P. and Vir- ginia S. (Rinehart) Wilson, the former born in Ritchie County in 1832 and the latter at Oakland, Maryland, in 1839. The mother is living at the age of eighty-three. Leroy Wilson had a common school education, excelled in mathematics, and for a number of years followed surveying, though his m in business was farming and cattle raising and dealing. He was a man of unusual business ability and a leader in public affairs in Ritchie County. He was elected as a democrat to several local offices, was president of the Board of Education and president of the Ritchie County Fair Association. He was especially prominent as a student of Masonry, and for a time was district deputy grand lecturer of the Grand Lodge. He was a past master of Harmony Lodge No. 59, A. F. and A. M., for nine years and was a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason. Leroy Wilson was the father of twelve children, ten of whom are living. Archie J. is a merchant at Harrisville; Molly, died when about six years of age; Dr. James B .; Miss Agnes, a graduate of the Fairmont State Normal School and a teacher; Anna, wife of S. H. Hamilton, of Pennsboro; B. F. Wilson, who is located at Bowling Green, Kentucky, in the oil business; Minnie, deceased, was the wife of S. M. Hoff, of Huntington, West Virginia; Zilpha, who is a graduate of medicine and is now the wife of a Presbyterian minister in the State of Washington; Susan is the wife of A. L. Davis of Charleston, West Virginia; Lee is in the oil business, with home at Wichita Falls, Texas; J. Marsh is an oil field worker; and Okey lives in Texas and is in the oil industry.

Dr. James B. Wilson spent his early life on the farm, acquired a common school education and was a teacher for several terms. He began the study of medicine in the Univer- sity of Maryland, and in 1893 graduated M. D. from the University of Louisville, Kentucky. He then returned to Pennsboro, and has had a large practice in that part of Ritchie County ever since. He is a member of the County, State and American Medical Associations, and is local sur- geon for the Baltimore & Ohio Railway.

Doctor Wilson is a director of the First National Bank of Pennsboro and is owner of considerable real estate in that town and Clarksburg. He is a democrat and, like his father, is interested in Masonry, serving three terms as master of Harmony Lodge No. 59, A. F. and A. M., and is also affiliated with the Royal Arch Chapter, Knight Templar Commandery and Shrine. He and Mrs. Wilson are members of the Presby- terian Church. Doctor Wilson's first wife was Alice Sherwood of Baltimore, Maryland. By this marriage he has a son, Sherwood, who is a graduate of high school. Doctor Wilson for his second wife married Olive Bond, of Clarksburg, West Virginia.

BENJAMIN F. MCGINNIS has been one of the busy pro- fessional and business men of Pennsboro for a number of years. He was an attorney by education and practiced law for a number of years, but for the past five years his chief duty has been as cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Pennsboro. This is one of the older banking institutions of Ritchie County, beginning business in 1898.

Mr. McGinnis was born on a farm in Ritchie County in 1883, son of Benjamin and Alice (McCullough) McGinnis. His father was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, in 1835, had a common school education, in 1852 came to West Vir- ginia and after his marriage settled on a farm in Ritchie County, near Ellenboro. His wife was born in Doddridge County, West Virginia, and is now living in the village of Ellenboro. She is an active member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. Benjamin McGinnis was a Union soldier throughout the four years of the Civil war, and was an active member of the Grand Army Post. He took a prominent part in republican politics, was elected county assessor in 1868, was chosen a member of the West Virginia Legislature in 1872, in 1884 was elected a member of the County Court, and in 1902 was again elected to the Legislature. He died in 1914. There were three children: Benjamin F .; Miss Sadie E .; and John W., a graduate of Marshall College Normal School at Huntington and a farmer in Ritchie County.

Benjamin F. McGinnis spent his early life on the farm near Ellenboro, attended school there, and in 1908 graduated from West Virginia University Law School. In the meantime he had taught two years in country districts of his home county. Mr. McGinnis had a successful general practice as a lawyer at Pennsboro until business interests crowded him out of the profession. During 1915-16 he built the McGinnis Hotel at Pennsboro, and in 1917, about the time America entered the war with Germany, became identified with the management of the Farmers and Merchants Bank as cashier. He is also a director of the bank and a director of the First National Bank of Pennsboro. Mr. McGinnis is a republican, a member of the School Board at Pennsboro, a Knight Templar and thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason, being a member of Wheel- ing Consistory No. 1, also a member of Odell S. Long Chapter, R. A. M., of which he is a Past High Priest, and belongs to Nemesis Shrine, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Parkersburg, West Virginia. He and Mrs. McGinnis are members of the Meth- odist Church, and he is a trustee of the church. Mr. McGinnis married Miss X. A. Price, of Morgantown, a graduate of the high school of that city. They have four children: Frederick D., now in high school, Benjamin A., Virginia E. and Mary Louise.

C. B. SUMMERS was born and reared on a farm in Ritchie County, has always been more or less interested in farming, though his chosen career is banking, and he is the experienced and well qualified cashier of the first National Bank of Penns- boro.

Mr. Summers was born near Pullman in Ritchie County, October 13, 1885, son of Elijah and Agnes M. (Lowther) Summers, the former born near Pullman and the latter in Tyler County, West Virginia. They were reared on farms, had common school educations, and after their marriage in Tyler County Elijah Summers returned to his farm near Pullman and lived there until his death. The mother is still living. They have been active members of the Methodist Protestant Church and Elijah Summers was a republican and filled an unexpired term as a member of the County Court. He was the father of five children: Iva, wife of Alf Starr, of Birmingham, Alabama; C. B. Summers; Hazel, formerly a

Robert J albatt

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

acher, now a stenographer at Birmingham, Alabama; O. B. immers, who is married and lives on the home farm; and eorge L., a mechanic in the Ireland Garage at Pennsboro. C. B. Summers during his youth on the old homestead at ullman attended the common schools and later graduated om the Mountain State Business College at Parkersburg. or several years he lived at Parkersburg and Racine, Ohio, ending two years as an employe of the First National Bank id for four years was connected with a firm of produce alers. On returning to Ritchie County he entered the First ational Bank of Pennsboro, and had a working experience in ery department until he was appointed cashier in 1921. he First National Bank of Pennsboro is one of the substan- al institutions of the county, bas resources of over half a illion, and the officers are: A. O. Wilson, president; Bert radford and R. W. Elder, vice presidents; Okey E. Nutter, tive vice president and former cashier; the directors being B. Wilson, B. F. McGinnis, M. M. McDougal, J. J. Ken- ll and C. B. Summers.

Mr. Summers besides his banking interests owns a half terest in 375 acres of land near Pullman. He is a republican, member of the Knights of the Maccabees, and is a past and and present secretary of Pennsboro Lodge No. 175, dependent Order of Odd Fellows, and also a member of e Encampment. Mrs. Summers is a member of the Meth- list Episcopal Church. He married July 4, 1911, Miss Agnes bes. Their two daughters are Deane and Madeline.

ROBERT TALBOTT, of Fairmont, Marion County, is execu- ve head of Robert Talbott & Company, owners of the gnes Coal Mine, two and one-half miles distance from owesville, in Monongalia County, and is one of the suc- ssful coal operators of West Virginia.

Mr. Talbott was born in the City of Philadelphia, Penn- ]vania, May 20, 1852, and is a son of Dennis and Julia Sullivan) Talbott, both natives of Ireland, where their arriage was solemnized and whence they came to the nited States in 1851. In this country Dennis Talbott as first employed in connection with railroad construction, id eventually he became a contractor in this line of work. fter the close of the Civil war he came to West Vir- nia to fulfill a contract in connection with the construc- on of the old Cumberland Valley Railroad, and in the eanwhile the family home was established at Martinsburg, is state. He did not long remain in West Virginia, and pon his return to Pennsylvania he established his resi- ence at Boiling Springs, near Carlisle, he having been or two years engaged in carrying out a railroad-construc- on contract in that section of the state, and the next vo years having been given to a contract on the Tuscarwas ailroad in Ohio, now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio stem.

Robert Talbott gained his early education in the schools £ the various places where the family resided in connection ith the father's contracting business, and even as a boy began to work with his father. After the completion f the above mentioned contract in Ohio he began to take arge of operations as a boss on the construction work, nd finally he became the virtual director of operations, lough his father continued to retain an interest in the usiness. For a term of years the family remained to- ether, and the father and sons were associated in the con- acting business, the parents moving about from place to lace, as contracts were taken, until they grew venerable 1 age. After leaving Ohio the Talbotts completed a con- ract on the Johnstown & Cambria Railroad (now a part f the Pennsylvania system), and about this time Robert 'albott formed a partnership with James A. Bennett, under he title of Bennett & Talbott, contractors. The first con- ract of the new firm was for the construction of two miles n the Pennsylvania Railroad branch from Brownsville to Uniontown, Pennsylvania; the next work was in the build- ng of a branch line from Redstone, Pennsylvania, to the lant of the H. C. Frick Coal Company; and subsequent ontracts in turn were on a Pennsylvania Railroad branch t Mount Pleasant and the construction of two miles of Dad for the same corporation at Greensburg, that state. In 884 the firm completed a contract for the construction of

a portion of a branch of the Fairmont, Morgantown & Pittsburgh Division of the B. & O. Railroad. Thereafter operations were directed to the building of coke ovens at various points in Pennsylvania. The firm next took up a contract in the construction of the tunnel at Outcrop, Pennsylvania, and later did similar tunnel construction ncar Cumberland, Maryland, and Punxatawney, Pennsylvania, for the Buffalo & Rochester Railroad, and at Whitehall and Thomas, that state, for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the next contract being for a tunnel for the latter road at Patterson's Creek Cut-off, near Cumberland, Maryland. Next was carried out a grading and tunnel contract at Flushing, Ohio, and the next four years were given to the building of tunnels and to other construction work at Otis- ville, New York. In 1909 the firm returned to West Vir- ginia and entered upon important contracting work for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The firm built the tunnel at Tunnelton and two tunnels and two bridges at Magnolia Cut-off. The original firm is still in existence, Mr. Bennett maintaining his home at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and Mr. Talbott at Fairmont, West Virginia.

In 1917 Mr. Talbott entered the coal-operating industry by purchasing a farm in Grant District, Monongalia County, and there opening a mine. In May of the following year he sold this mine and then opened another mine on the same tract, this being known as the Agnes Mine and being successfully operated by the firm of Robert Talbott & Company. Later Mr. Talbott purchased a half interest in the North Fairmont Coal Company, but he has disposed of this interest. He is a director of the Home Savings Bank of Fairmont and is one of the vigorous and substan- tial figures in the industrial activities of this section of West Virginia. He is a communicant of the Catholic Church, and is a democrat in politics. Mrs. Robert Talbott is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Mr. Talbott married Miss Carrie M. Hood, who was born on the farm which her husband purchased in Grant District, Monongalia County, and which is still owned by him, her father, John S. Hood, having there followed farm enterprise for many years. James Paul, eldest of the chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Talbott, is now (1922) twenty-seven years old and is a member of the firm Robert Talbott & Company; Robert M., aged twenty-four years, became a member of the Coast Artillery and was on the battle front with the American Expeditionary Forces in France at the time the signing of the armistice brought the World war to a close, he being now associated with Robert Talbott & Company; Agnes G. is. a student at the West Virginia University.

MOSES H. DAVIS has been one of the most useful and public spirited citizens of Ritchie County for half a century. His business has been chiefly farming, but his interests have ex- tended from the farm to some of the business affairs of his county, and he has capably served in a number of offices of trust, being one of the members of the County Court at this time.

Mr. Davis represents an old West Virginia family, but was born in Shelby County. Ohio, July 18, 1848, son of James B. and Jane (Hoppins) Davis. His father was born in Harrison County, West Virginia, in 1816, while his mother was a native of Shelby County, Ohio. James B. Davis was reared in Harrison County, and as a young man removed to Shelby County, Ohio, where he married and where he followed the wagon maker's trade at Jackson Center. His wife died there in 1852. Both were members of the Seventh Day Baptist Church. They were the parents of the following children: Abner J., Granville and William Henry Harrison, all of whom are deceased; Eli, who became a soldier in the Union Army and was killed in action on October 19, 1864; Elizabeth J., widow of Lewis F. Randolph, of Rhode Island; Moses H .; and Jesse, who died in infancy.

Moses H. Davis lived at Jackson Center, Ohio, until he was about nine years of age. In 1857 his father returned to West Virginia and settled at New Milton in Doddridge County. His father lived to venerable years, passing away July 2, 1902. M. H. Davis was reared in Doddridge County in the midst of the woods, acquiring only a common school

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

education. At the age of fifteen he began learning the tanner's trade, working seven years as an apprentice, and altogether he followed that as a business for twenty-seven years. In the meantime, in 1870, the year he married, he located in Ritchie County. and continued working at his trade at White Oak for several years. Later he bought a farm, and farming has con- stituted the bulk of his business activities ever since. He owns 380 acres, representing the labor and investment of his best years. Since 1902 Mr. Davis has made his home in Pennsboro.

March 24, 1870, he married Miss Mary E. Young, who died January 3, 1922. They became the parents of six children, as follows: Nettie, wife of O. F. Wren, and they have three children; Jennie D., wife of Ellis Prunty, and they have eight children; Claude C., who was a teacher and now a farmer in Braxton County, married Ada Berry and has four children; Elosia, widow of Scott Maxwell, and one son was born to them; R. M. Davis, a coal operator of Morgantown, West Virginia, married Fannie Wilson, and they have two children: and Blanche, wife of John Doyle, and they are the parents of one son. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr. Davis is a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Pennsboro and is a stockholder in the Penn Window Glass Company. As a republican he has been prominent in his party and in all matters affecting the progress of his county. He has served as a member of the Board of Education as city councilman and city treasurer of Pennsboro, and has sat as a member of the County Court of Ritchie County since 1918.

VICTOR F. COOPER has been a member of the Ritchie County bar for fifteen years, is one of the able business lawyers of the county, and has taken a growing interest in the affairs of his community at Harrisville.

Mr. Cooper was born on his father's farm in Gilmer Coun- ty, West Virginia, May 4, 1873, son of Charles S. and Mary J. (Hall) Cooper, natives of the same county, where they were married November 7, 1867. His father was born April 29, 1844, and his mother was born March 10, 1845, and died July 21, 1886. She was a member of the Baptist Church at Auburn. Charles S. Cooper was a resident of Gilmer County at the time of his death. He acquired a common and sub- scription school education, and after his marriage began clearing away the woods from a tract of land and eventually improved and cultivated a farm of one hundred and seven acres. He was a member of the Roseville Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and a democrat. Of eleven children, nine are living: Miss Cora, a graduate of the State Normal School at Glenville, who also took work in the State University and has been a successful teacher; Malana, a graduate of the Glen ville State Normal School and was a teacher until her marriage to Homer Adams; Victor F., who is the third in age; Homer E., a graduate of Columbia University, receiving his Ph. D. degree from that University and is an instructor in the Uni- versity of Pittsburgh; Everett R., a graduate of the Glenville Normal and of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, now practicing medicine at Troy, West Virginia; Edna, wife of Porter G. Nutter, of Gilmer County; Sidney W., a civil engineer in Missouri; Eric J., living on the home farm with his father; and Grover C., a graduate of the Glen- ville State Normal, formerly a teacher and now a mail clerk on the B. & O. Railway. Those deceased were Okey J., who was a merchant at Newberne, West Virginia, and Price W., a graduate of West Virginia University, who died in the Philippines, where he was a teacher.

Victor F. Cooper lived on the farm until he was twenty-one, and while there he helped in the clearing and improving as well as the routine work of the fields. He acquired a common school education, taught school, graduated from the Glenville State Normal, and for four years was superintendent of free schools in Gilmer County. He is also a graduate of the Law School of West Virginia University, and since his admission to the bar in 1907 has been in practice at Harrisville. Besides general practice, he is attorney for the People's Bank of Harrisville, is local attorney for the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- way, and attorney for the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Pennsboro, the Auburn Exchange Bank and the Pennsboro Wholesale Grocery Company.

On September 15, 1908, Mr. Cooper married Miss Phrana Zink. She is a graduate of the Peabody Normal College anc of the West Liberty State Normal School of West Virginia and has been a very successful teacher and is now teaching one of the departments in the Harrisville schools. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper have two children: Marcella and Victor Z Mrs. Cooper is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church He is affiliated with Gilmer County Lodge No. 118, A. F and A. M., and is a past chancellor of Auburn Lodge No. 47 Knights of Pythias.

TODD W. KEITH, M. D., a physician and surgeon at Harris. ville, was born just forty years ago on a farm near that towi and friends and acquaintances of his youth and manhood have learned to appreciate his services and character either a: a teacher or as a medical man.

He was born November 13, 1882, son of Adam and Eliz. abeth (Alkire) Keith, the former a native of Noble County Ohio, and the latter of Ritchie County, West Virginia. Adam Keith grew up on a farm in Noble County, had a public school education, and after his marriage in Ritchie County settled on a farm two miles from Harrisville. They lived there for a number of years and then sold and bought their farm & mile and a half north of Harrisville, where they are stil living, active members of that community. They belong to the Methodist Protestant Church and the father is a democrat and Odd Fellow. There are six children in the family: Todc W., Clyde, a traveling salesman living at Point Pleasant Roka, wife of Walter Curry, living near Harrisville; Wanda wife of John Pointer; Jemima, wife of Wesley Taylor; and Emma.

Dr. Todd W. Keith spent his early life on the farm, and while there attended the common schools. He is a graduate of the State Normal School at Huntington, and in the meantime he had taught, and he continued teaching some time after completing the normal course. Doctor Keith finished his literary education by two years in West Virginia University, and took his medical course at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, where he graduated M. D. in 1916. He began practice at Selbyville in Upshur County, but since June, 1920, has enjoyed a growing and successful practice at Harrisville. During the World war he volunteered his services in the Medical Corps, was commissioned a first lieutenant, and was stationed for duty at Camp Meade. He is a member of the County, State and American Medical Associations.

Doctor Keith married Della Huldeman, a graduate of the Harrisville High School. Doctor and Mrs. Keith have one daughter, Lucile. They are members of the Methodist Protestant Church. He is a democrat, and is affiliated with the Rock Cave Lodge of Masons.

J. W. COLE, superintendent of the Harrisville public schools, has been an earnest worker in the cause of education in West Virginia for nearly a quarter of a century, and his record is a commendable one both as a teacher and as a school adminis trator.

He was born at Cameron, West Virginia, November 25, 1875, son of John and Mary J. (Cole) Cole. His parents were both natives of County Down, Ireland, his father born November 12, 1829 and his mother on December 25, 1836. They were reared and married in Ireland, and in 1855 came to America and settled in Washington County, Pennsylvania, near Hickory. Somewhat later but before the Civil war they removed to Marshall County, Virginia, now West Virginia, buying a farm at Sand Hill. Later that was traded for the present homestead located four miles south of Cameron, where Mrs. Mary J. Cole is still living. In the course of years they developed a model farm from the one hundred and one acres in the homestead. Both parents were active members of the Presbyterian Church, and the father voted as a republican. Their ten children all reached mature years: Sarah, who is a successful physician in Kansas and owns and operates a sani- tarium; Mary J., wife of W. L. Barr, of Olathe, Kansas; Miss Elizabeth; Miss Hannah, a trained nurse; Miss Anna, of Harrisville; William J., at home; David A., deceased; Miss Alberta, at home; J. W .; and Miss Ida, at home.

J. W. Cole spent his early life on the farm in Marshall County and supplemented his common school education in the West Liberty Normal School, where he graduated, and

Samuel B. Brown

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

ter graduated A. B. from West Virginia State University at Morgantown. Mr. Cole taught his first school in 1898. He aught seventeen terms, and prior to assuming his duties as uperintendent of schools at Harrisville in 1920 be had been uperintendent of achools in Fayette County and principal f the high school four years in his home town of Cameron, nd also one year at Flemington, West Virginia.

Mr. Cole on April 9, 1911, married Elsie B. Lowden, who is Iso a successful educator. She took her normal work in le Slippery Rock Normal School of Pennsylvania. Sbe ught before her marriage, and she is now teaching one of le gradea in the Harrisville schools. Mr. and Mrs. Cole ave three children: Mary E., born January 30, 1912; Walter 7., born September 8, 1913; and John W., born January 1, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Cole have their membership in the irst Presbyterian Church at Cameron, and be is affiliated ith the Cameron Lodge No. 17, A. F. and A. M., and Cam- ·on Lodge No. 36, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His litical support is given to the republican party.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 20

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