History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 208

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Anthony G. Lewellyn was about eighteen years of age when the war came on. He had attended the common

schools near home, and soon followed the example of his brothers, by enlisting in Company C of the Sixty-second Pennsylvania. A year later he was transferred to the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania, and toward the close of the war was transferred to Company K of the One Hun- dredth and Ninety-first Pennsylvania Regiment. At the end of three years service he was mustered out at Washing- ton, and received his honorable discharge at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was in the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac. His active service began just after the battle of Gettysburg, and he was in some of the greatest battles that followed in Northern Virginia, including the Wilder- ness, the mine explosion at Petersburg, and at Lee's sur- render the flag of truce came to the Federal lines where he was on duty. As a messenger he visited the courthouse at Appomattox where paroles were being made out. Mr. Lewellyn was struck once in the arm with a spent ball, and another time, while aiming his gun, it was shot out of his hand. He also had his canteen strap shot off in the battle of the Wilderness.

After the war Mr. Lewellyn followed charcoal burning for some years, but in the main has been a farmer, and has lived at his present place near the Pennsylvania state line forty-seven years. He has always been a republican, voting his convictions at every election, though never seeking an office for himself. He has preferred the peaceful routine of life, has never had a lawsuit, and for fifty-three years has been an active member of the Calvary Methodist Protestant Church. He joined the Grand Army at its inception, when the ranks of the old soldiers were still well filled, and has seen most of his comrades drop out of the post at Smith- field, Pennsylvania, and is now one of the last survivors of the great war.

A year after the war Mr. Lewellyn married Miss Elizabeth Jarrett, a neighbor girl, daughter of Thomas C. and Eliza- beth (Ruble) Jarrett. Their lives were associated in the work and duties of the home for thirty-seven years, until her death in 1903. Of their ten children four sons died in childhood. The six to grow up were: George H., who lives near his father; Jesse I., of Washington County, Pennsyl- vania; Alexander Clark, who also lives in the home com- munity; William J., a resident of Orange County, Cali- fornia; James O., a carpenter at Morgantown; and Lizzie, Mrs. Frank Ridgeway, who lives with her father and is the mother of two children, George H. and Carl Floyd.

ELMER EVERETT WATSON, M. D. A capable physician and surgeon at Albright, present county health officer of Preston County, Doctor Watson is also a banker and business man, and has found many worthy objects of his enterprise and useful service. He is still a young man, and has practiced at Albright for a dozen years.

He represents an old family of Preston County, and was born at Sinclair Post Office in Reno District, October 8, 1879. The founder of the family in West Virginia was his great-grandfather, who came from Scotland and settled in the neighborhood of Masontown or Reedsville. The grand- father, Scott Watson, was born there, served as a Union soldier in the Civil war, and later was a pensioner. He was twice married. The children of his second wife, Miss Hug- gins, was William A. Watson, Sr., of Tunnelton; David E., of Tunnelton; Grant, of Masontown; and James, who was killed in an accident at Wheeling while in the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway.

William A. Watson, who was born in Valley District of Preston County in 1855, was educated in the community schools and at the age of sixteen began teaching at Howes- ville. He continued teaching until he entered merchandising at Sinclair, then was in business at Fellowsville, and for the past eight years has been located at Tunnelton. Altogether he has been a merchant in Preston County forty-two con- secutive years. William A. Watson married Miss Nancy Jane Sinclair, a native of Preston County. Her father, Robert Sinclair, was born in Scotland, was a cooper by trade, and after settling in Preston County his establish- ment became the central feature of a village named Sinclair in his honor. William A. Watson and wife had the follow- ing children: Dr. Elmer Everett; Ernest W., of Tunnel-

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ton; Ila Grace, wife of Dr. Walter Bucklew, of Tunnelton; and William A., Jr., associated with his father in business at Tunnelton.

Elmer Everett Watson spent most of his early life in Fellowsville, and he grew up in the home of a school teacher and a merchant and shared in the duties of his father's store for several years. After the common schools he took the preparatory work in the University at Morgantown, and pursued his regular course in medicine at Cincinnati in the Eclectic Medical College, from which he graduated in 1908. The following year he located at Albright, where he has bad a husy practice. He has served as county health officer eight years, and is a member in good standing of the Preston County and West Virginia State Medical associations.

Outside of his profession Doctor Watson was one of the promoters of the First National Bank of Albright, and has heen continuously its president since the bank opened for business. In 1919 he supplied the enterprise and capital for the bus line between Albright and Tunnelton, equipping it with two husses. In 1921 the business was incorporated as the Preston County Bus and Garage Company, with a ca ital of $15,000, and he is president of the company. He sold fifty per cent of the stock to other associates. Doctor Watson was for eight years a member of the Board of Education of the Albright District.

In polities he has been a republican voter since reaching bis majority, first voting for President Mckinley in 1900. He was a medical member of the Draft Board during the World war and examined all the boys recruiting for service in the county. He was also interested in the Red Cross, and still represents the society in his locality. Doctor Wat- son is affiliated with Preston Lodge No. 90, F. and A. M., at Kingwood, took the fourteenth degree in the Scottish Rite, Perfection Lodge at Morgantown, finishing his Scottish Rit work in West Virginia Consistory No. 1 at Wheeling, and is also a member of the Shrine at Morgantown. His other fraternity is the Knights of Pythias.

Doctor Watson married Miss Martha Belle Robinson at Fellowsville, West Virginia. where she was born, yonngest of the ten children of J. W. and Alice (Strauther) Rohin- son. Doctor and Mrs. Watson had three children: Lucile, who graduated from the Kingwood High School in 1920 and is now a student in Beaver College at Beaver, Pennsylvania ; Morv Elizabeth, who died at the age of eighteen months; and James William, born in 1916.

COL. CARLETON CUSTER PIERCE is a Kingwood lawyer, has enjoyed a growing practice in the law for twenty years, and has numerous substantial interests, reaching out into financial, horticultural and industrial affairs of the state. Mr. Pierce also belongs to one of the oldest families of Preston County.

The Pierces first settled here at Evansville about 1780, more than 140 years ago. The first American ancestor of the name was a native of Ireland, where the family were Orangemen. This ancestor came to America ahout 1758, joining the Colony of Delaware, and some years later joined the American forces in the Revolutionary war, after which he settled in Virginia. It was the great-great- grandfather of Carleton C. Pierce, Samuel Pierce, who settled in Preston County in 1780. His son, Wesley Pierce, the great-grandfather, moved from there to Wood Connty, West Virginia, later moving to Ohio, where he died in 1877. His son, Jefferson Pierce, spent his active career as a farmer on the Kanawha River near Parkersburg, and at the time of the Civil war left his home to enter the Union Army- and died while in service. Jefferson Pierce married Ellen Custer, an aunt of the distinguished Gen. George A. Custer, whose name is immortally associated with the Custer massacre of Montana. Jefferson Pierce and wife had three children: James L .; Mary E., wife of Jacob Cornell; and John F., who lost his life at a railroad crossing in Kingwood, West Virginia, on May 20, 1922.

John F. Pierce was born in Wood County, West Vir- ginia, September 5, 1852. He spent his early life on a farm, and in 1872 moved to Preston County, where for nearly a quarter of a century he was in the service of

the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company. He was yard- master at Rowlesburg when he left the railroad in 1896, and thereafter until recent years was in the lumber busi- ness, representing a Baltimore exporting firm. John F. Pierce married Amanda Elizabeth Moore, representing an- other old-time family of West Virginia. Her father, George D. Moore, of Newburg, was born in that locality, and had a large number of children by two marriages. The children of John F. Pierce and wife were: Frank R., in the automobile business at Rowleshurg; Carleton Custer; John A. L., who was killed in an automobile accident July 9, 1920, and Edna Estelle, who died at the age of four years.

Carleton C. Pierce was born at Rowlesburg, and there he laid the foundation of his education. He was also a student in Franklin College in Ohio, attended West Vir- ginia University, and at the age of seventeen became a teacher. He taught four years, doing his last work in the grade schools at Rowlesburg. An interruption came to his teaching with the outbreak of the Spanish-American war in the spring of 1898. He joined Company H of the Second West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, under Capt. A. S. Hutson and Col. D. T. E. Casteel. The command trained at Charleston,. West Virginia, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and was at Greenville, South Carolina, when mustered ont in the spring of 1899. Mr. Pierce went in as a private, was promoted to sergeant and first sergeant and came out with the rank of first lieutenant. He re- sumed teaching for a year, and then entered West Virginia University, where he secured his law diploma.

In 1902 Mr. Pierce located at Kingwood, and for a year was in the law office of Hon. W. G. Brown. He then established an office of his own, and in 1904 was elected prosecuting attorney of Preston County. Mr. Pierce re- signed as prosecuting attorney in 1907 to accept the ap- pointment from Governor Dawson as adjutant general of the National Guard. As chief officer of the state military organization he had the responsibility of rebuilding and reorganizing that department, and when he left the office he turned over to his successor an organization thoroughly infused with new life. Mr. Pierce then resumed his law practice at Kingwood, and has since heen extending his enterprise into several departments of the state's industry. He helped organize the Little Capon Orchard Company and the Levels Orchard Company, and is financially interested in these corporations, owning and growing peaches on a quite extensive scale in Hampshire County. He is also a coal operator, having organized the Carleton Mining and Power Company, and is owner and proprietor of the St. George Lumber Company. Mr. Pierce is a stockholder in the Bank of Kingwood, is one of the directors of the Kingwood Water Company, and a director of the West Virginia and Maryland Power Company.

Mr. Pierce is a republican in politics, and his first presi- dential vote was cast for William McKinley. Besides the official service already mentioned he was elected in 1914 to the House of Delegates, serving under Speaker Vernon Johnson of Webster Springs. He was made chairman of the committee on agriculture and also a member of the judiciary and other committees. His noteworthy work in the Legislature was in behalf of agriculture, and he wrote and secured the passage of what is known as the "Crop Pest Law," also legislation regulating fertilizers and the pure seed bill. He is now president of the Board of Education of Kingwood District, Preston County, West Virginia.

Mr. Pierce is a past master of Kingwood Lodge of Masons and a member of West Virginia Consistory at Wheeling, and he and his family are Methodists. Novem- ber 28, 1902, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he married Miss Mary Buckner, daughter of Jefferson M. and Jeanette M. (Golden) Buckner, of Rowlesburg, West Virginia. The Buckners are an old Virginia family that settled in Wood County and from there Jefferson M. Buckner settled in Preston County about 1872. A great-great uncle of Mrs. Pierce was Col. John Buckner, of Wood County, who was one of the men selected on the jury to try Aaron Burr for treason. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce have two sons: Carleton

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Custer, Jr., now in his last year in high school; and Oscar Buckner, also in the high school.

DAVID KENNEDY MASON became a county superintendent of schools for Preston County in 1918. He took to his office a wide experience and ample qualifications for constructive work in his new capacity. From the standpoint of a teacher and pupil he has been connected with Preston County schools for over a quarter of a century, and his enthusiasm, high ideals and his leadership have supplied the elements needed for a general advance along all fronts in the educational progress of the county.

Preston County has eight civil districts, comprising a total area of 684 square miles. In the matter of high schools the county now has facilities available to nearly every locality. There are seven first class and two second class high schools, with a teaching staff of sixty teachers. There are thirty graded schools of two or more rooms, and 125 one-room rural schools. These schools follow the course of study provided by the state and a supplementary course provided by County Superintendent Mason. All rural schools provide for graduation in the eighth grade, and a graduate from these schools is admitted upon his diploma to any high school of the state. In 1921 the scholarship en- rollment in Preston County was 8,582, and the total number of teachers employed, 265. Five hundred of the students enrolled are in the high schools. There is but one school for colored children, and that is taught by a colored teacher. The disbursements for schools for all purposes for the year 1920-21 was $260,108. The total valuation of all school property in the county in 1920 was $28,373,178. The average wealth per child enumerated was $3,355.

Since Mr. Mason became county superintendent two new high schools have been established, one in the Union and one in the Grant District. This gives high school facilities for all the districts except Pleasant. School morale has also been greatly improved by the holding of community meet- ings, where educational topics are discussed between educa- tors and the patrons of the schools, and much has been done to arouse a general interest in educational advancement. As previously mentioned, a county course of study has been prepared by Superintendent Mason.

David Kennedy Mason was born near Cranesville in Preston County, July 12, 1885. The founder of the family in this country was his great-grandfather, who came from England and established his home in Greene County, Penn- sylvania. The grandfather was Joseph Mason, a Greene County farmer, who died there at the age of eighty-eight. He married a Miss Gettys, one of whose brothers was founder of the historic Town of Gettysburg, which was named in his honor.

John G. Mason, father of the county superintendent, was born in Greene County in August, 1855, grew up on the farm, attended common schools and Waynesburg Academy, and for about twenty-five years was successfully engaged in educational work. All but three years of this quarter of a century he taught in Preston County, West Virginia, where he located in 1883. After leaving the schoolroom he became a modest farmer, and died at his farm near Cranes- ville. John G. Mason married Malinda F. Kennedy, who died in February, 1903. She was a daughter of David Kennedy, who married a Miss Fordyce. John G. Mason and wife had only two children, Ella, wife of E. A. Kelly, of Keyser, West Virginia, and David K.

David K. Mason was a farmer's son, and the country schools gave him the foundation of his education. He lived at home, attended school and worked on the farm until six- teen, and then spent a year in the Fairmont State Normal School. He began teaching at sixteen, and was then one of the youngest teachers in Preston County. The following years he taught every winter and attended school in summer, spending two summers in the Mountain State Business Col- lege at Parkersburg and three summers in the Ohio North- ern University at Ada. He then began teaching in summer normal schools, and was an instructor at Eglon, Terra Alta and Kingwood, and thus had a part in the training of teach- ers for the county schools. Mr. Mason's first principalship was at Albright, where he remained four years, then at

Aurora four years, and two years at Reedsville. In 1918 he was elected county superintendent to succeed Willis Fortney. Mr. Mason is a member of the West Virginia State Teachers Association, and in the June meeting of 1920 he presented an outline to the association advocating the advantages of junior high schools.

Another important direction of his influence upon the education of the young is his work in Sunday school. He is secretary and treasurer of the Preston County Sunday School Association. Mr. Mason is a Methodist, and in politics has always been a republican voter.

David K. Mason married in Preston County, June 5, 1913, Miss Virginia E. Auman, daughter of George M. Auman, of Terra Alta. Mrs. Mason for eight years before her mar- riage was one of the popular teachers of the county. She finished her own education in the Fairmont State Normal and in the University of Morgantown. Mr. and Mrs. Mason have two sons, Robert Kennedy and John William.

GEORGE W. HOGG. Among the personal forces that are energizing and setting new standards in the educational af- fairs of West Virginia today, it is only giving credit where credit is due to refer especially to George W. Hogg, present superintendent of the Kingwood schools, and whose work as an educator has been done in several counties and communities of the state. He possesses the inspiration of a born teacher, and has been active in school administration for twenty years.

Mr. Hogg was born in Brooke County October 21, 1876, and is a member of a very substantial family in the northern Panhandle. His grandfather was George Hogg, who located in Wheeling in 1819, coming from England with the Snow- dens who located in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. He person- ally had charge of the large Snowden family, while Mr. Snowden himself traveled aboard the vessel as a stowaway, hiding from the officials of the English government which was then trying to prevent the immigration to the United States of manufacturing mechanics. George Hogg and Mr. Snowden were expert wagon makers. George Hogg estab- lighed what subsequently became the Hogg Wagon Works of Wheeling, and made wagons for the cotton handlers of the South. He also acquired large tracts of land in Brooke County, and used this land for sheep growing, specializing in fine wool production. For a number of years he was one of the leading producers of prize wool in the state. George Hogg died and is buried in that county, at Kadesh Chapel. He married Sallie Stone Richards, of Boston, and they were the parents of three sons and a number of daughters.

One of the sons, George W. Hogg, Sr., was born in Brooke County in 1838, grew up on the farm, finished his education in the West Liberty State Normal School and in the Duff Business College at Pittsburgh. He was a farmer, a wool grower, also owned and operated a flour mill, and in all his activities he set an excellent example in his community. Lameness from boyhood prevented him from taking the field as a soldier during the Civil war, but he served as a member of the Home Guard. He was a republican, acted as deputy sheriff of his county, and was a member of the Methodist Church. George W. Hogg married Mary Amanda Welle, who was born at Beech Bottom in Brooke County, daughter of Jesse Wells. George W. Hogg, Sr., who died in March, 1918, was the father of two children, George W. and Mrs. George H. Crawford of Nunn, Colorado.

Professor George W. Hogg had his father's farm and business interests in Brooke County as his early environ- ment. He attended country schools, graduated from the Wellsburg High School at the age of seventeen, attended Linsly Institute at Wheeling and spent a half year in West Virginia University. He then began teaching, and after three years as a teacher was elected county superintendent of Brooke County, beginning his term in 1903, as successor of Irvin Burge. While at the head of the county school system Mr. Hogg established the first rural school library in the county. His was a highly successful administration of eight years. In that time the expenditure for public educa- tion in the county rose from twenty-four thousand dollars to sixty-three thousand dollars annually, much of this being due to the erection of new and modern school buildings.

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Among these new buildings were a graded school at Col- liers, a graded school at Beech Bottom, grade and high school at Follansbee, while all the rural schools were provided with slate blackhoards, and three new grade buildings and a new high school were erected in Wellsburg.

While county superintendent Mr. Hogg was a diligent student on his own account, and the year he left office he graduated from Bethany College with the A. B. degree.

Following his service in Brooke County Mr. Hogg was principal of the high school at Cairo in Ritchie County, and while there a bond issue was voted on and carried providing a fine distriet high school. The following year he became superintendent of schools at Salem, West Virginia, remain- ing there in 1912-14, and in that time a new school building was completed and domestic science and mannal training courses were installed. The following year he was principal of the high school at Parsons, and then for four years was superintendent of schools at Clendenin. During Mr. Hogg's administration the basket ball team of Clendenin twice won the high school championship, the high school was raised to first class, also the additional service of a rural supervisor was secured.

From Clendenin Mr. Hogg came to Kingwood as superin- tendent in 1919. Early in his administration a new fireproof high school building was planned, and it was completed in 1922, at a cost of approximately a hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. In many respects the educational plant rt Kingwood is now one of the very best in the state. The building stands on a nine acre tract of land, affording ample space for athletic field, and plot for agrienltural demonstra- tion work. One of the normal training high schools of the state is maintained there. A Smith-Hughes representative is connected with the school to supervise its agricultural work. This school has one of the finest- gymnasiums in the state and one of the most commodions and beautiful auditoriums. Other equipment for advanced high school work inelnde three science laboratories, facilities for teaching of honsehold arts, and mannal training shops. There is an electric time system all through the building.

Mr. Hogg while gaining a high reputation as a sehool administrator has never ceased to be a student. has worked i rivately and in summer sessions, and is a candidate for the Master's degree at the State University. He is a Master Mason, a Methodist, and a republican, having cast his first vote for Major Mckinley.

At Ravenswood, West Virginia, September 3, 1907, he married Miss Sena Morgan, danghter of F. A. Morgan and a descendant of the distinguished West Virginia pioneer, Morgan Morgan. F. A. Morgan married Margaret Snod- grass, and their children were: C. R. and F. B. Morgan, of Charleston, the former junior partner in the firm of Darst & Morgan, and the latter a lawyer in the capital city; Mrs. Hogg; and M. F., who is a soil chemist in the Department of Agriculture in Ohio State University. Mr. and Mrs. Hogg have an interesting family: Margaret Amanda, Ralph G., Mary Louise and Frances Morgan Hogg.

SIMON M. LEVINSTEIN has been engaged in business at Buckhannon, Upslıur County, since 1899, and from a modest inception has built up one of the large and well appointed retail mercantile establishments of this city. Honorahle policies and effective service have gained to him the confi- dence of the local public. and he has distinct place among the progressive citizens of Bnekhannon.

Mr. Levinstein was born in Russia, in May, 1872, and is a son of Lewis and Bertha Levinstein. The early educa- tional advantages of Simon M. Levinstein included those of an excellent private school in his native land, and he was a self-reliant and ambitious youth of sixteen years when he came to the United States and made the City of Baltimore his destination. Like many others who have achieved snecess in mercantile enterprise, he initiated his activities at this line by engaging in the selling of goods as a peddler, his commodities being carried in a pack on his back. It was in this way that he made his first visit to Upshur County, West Virginia, and he continned his activities as a peddler for five years. He then opened a small store at Hyattsville, Maryland, a village six miles distant from Washington, D.C.,

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 208

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