History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 35

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USA > West Virginia > History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3 > Part 35

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Im. G. MQue

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the State University; and George, who graduated from the Linsly Military Academy of Wheeling, West Virginia, is now attending Washington and Jefferson College.

GRAFTON EDUCATORS. The dean of the educational forces of Grafton is Miss Amanda Abbott, who has been continu- ously in the service of the schools of that city since 1877. In any account of the school workers of the city her name easily stands first.

Her grandfather was Abner Abbott, who came with his wife from King and Queen County, Virginia, and settled in what is now Lewis County, between Weston and Buck- hannon. He acquired a large tract of land and was much interested in public affairs. He was a judicial officer attend- ing court at Weston at a time when the country was new and all travel was by wagon or horseback. Once his son accompanied him to court and returned home with the horses. During the week Squire Abbott remarked that if he had a horse he would go home. One of the attending lawyers put a horse at his disposal. On the way he was thrown off, his head striking a stone or stake, and he was instantly killed. After his death his lands, due to a flaw in the title, were lost to his heirs. He had married Fannie Price, also a native of Virginia, and daughter of a slave- holder. But Squire Abbott was opposed to slavery, and in line with his convictions he returned a negro boy given his wife by her father. Mrs. Fannie Abbott spent her last years with a son in Missouri. Her children were: James, who became a resident of Missouri; John and Jacob, who remained in West Virginia; Vernon, whose record follows; and Patricia, or Pattie, who died in Missouri.

Vernon Abbott was born in what is now Lewis County, June 23, 1820. He acquired a common school education, learned the trade of plasterer, developing a high degree of artistry in the handling of such material, and did a con- tracting business. His mind was active and led him to study and reading as a permanent taste. He was a keen student of political conditions, was an intense patriot and republican, but announced as a result of his experience in politics his conviction that Grover Cleveland would win the election of 1884.

His home for many years was at Fairmont, where he died in 1890. His first wife was Priscilla VanZandt. The children of this marriage were: William E., who served as a Union soldier; Lee Roy, a lawyer, now deceased; and Fannie, who became the wife of J. C. Mckinney and reared her family at Fairmont. The second wife of Vernon Abbott was Mrs. Mary (Toothman) Price, who died in September, 1911, aged eighty-four. She was the mother of: Miss Amanda; Alice, of Fairmont; Millard, who died in Fair- mont; Ida, who for ten years had charge of the depart- ment of history in the Fairmont State Normal School and the last two years was dean of women; Luther, a merchant at Grafton and a leading Taylor County citizen; James H. and Thomas Bruce, twins, deceased; and Clarence V., con- nected with the Domestic Coke Company of Fairmont.

Miss Amanda Abbott was born at Fairmont, acquired her first advantages in a subscription school there, later attended public school, and graduated from the Fairmont Normal in 1873. Throughout her life she has been an active member of the Methodist Protestant Church, and year after year taught the primary class in the Sunday School, thus broad- ening the scope of her influence beyond the schoolroom in behalf of the character building among the young. Her first teaching was done as a substitute in Fairmont under Professor T. C. Miller. She became a regular teacher in the Newburg schools, and from there came to Grafton in 1877, taking charge of the primary grade in one of the six rooms of the old Central Building. The two years she spent in Newburg were under Principal Bowman. Her coming to Grafton was at the invitation of Marion Durbin, then president of the school board, the other two members being Arthur Sinsel and John Deck, all men of constructive ideals in molding the educational program of the city. Some of the little children to whom she directed her first saluta- tion in 1877 are now grandfathers or grandmothers of pupils in her primary class. There has been no interruption to this service for which she has dedicated her life and her

highest talents. Grafton has grown and expanded greatly as a city and in its schools. The Central Building was the only schoolhouse in Grafton proper when she came, but other schools have come in with the coalescing of several districts comprised in the limits of the present city, and the city now has a total of seven brick school buildings, beside the parochial schools. For forty-four years Miss Abbott has had the primary work in the new or remodeled Central Building.

Among her old pupils who have achieved some special distinction are Howard H. Holt, editor and proprietor of the Grafton Sentinel; Harry A. Abbott, cashier of the Graf- ton Banking & Trust Company; Harry Friedman, lawyer and secretary of the Grafton Board of Education; Max Friedman, a leading business man; and Miss Grace White, who teaches in the eighth grade of the public schools.

With education as her chosen life work Miss Abbott has accepted many opportunities to make her experience avail- able to the teaching profession, and is widely known over the state through the associations of teachers. She has attended a great many of the State Associations, and she was present at the first regular meeting of the Round Table at Fairmont, and has since attended every annual meeting of the Monongahela Branch of the Round Table.

Miss Abbott is well informed concerning the educational administration of the Grafton schools. The first principal, at a time when West Grafton and Fetterman were separate school entities, was Patrick O'Brien. The first winner of the Peabody medal or graduate of the Grafton schools was Florence Jaco. O'Brien was followed by U. S. Fleming, who gave the schools a regular curriculum, permitting graduation as a prescribed course. Following Fleming came Professor Jack Wilkinson, who remained six years. He was an excellent disciplinarian and an all-round school man. Hayward Fleming, his successor, was an exemplar of thor- oughness in school work, and that characteristic followed him in other lines of work. He was followed by J. S. Corn- well and by Professor Gorby.

Professor Humphrey, who had been a high school princi- pal at Fairmont, did some efficient work the two years he was at Grafton and proved his ability both in the adminis- trative and the teaching departments. It was a congenial work here, and he has been a strong man in educational affairs since in the state.

When he left Morgan Brooks, principal of the high school, took his place as acting superintendent. He was a good teacher, possessed a splendid personality, and since leaving Grafton has been in school work at Buckhannon.

Since 1914 the superintendent of the Grafton schools has been Mr. Burns. From the first he has been the embodi- ment of the educational progress, and in addition to what he accomplished in behalf of the present high school he has achieved results in co-ordinating and increasing the effi- ciency of the schools in every grade and department.

JOSHUA WHITEHAIR has long been known as a man of great energy, sound business ability and civic spirit, en- gaged in farming and the livestock business near Terra Alta, and member of one of the old and substantial fami- lies of Preston County.

He was born in that community, February 2, 1856. His grandfather, George Whitehair, was a native of Germany and came from Luxemburg in company with some relatives, the Nine family, which also became well represented in Preston County. George Whitehair married Polly Mc- Gruder, a native of Ireland. Their children were: John, a shoemaker, who died at Rowlesburg; Christopher, who though a civilian was taken prisoner by the Federal troops and died while at Camp Chase, Columbus. Ohio; George, who spent his life on a farm near Eglon in Preston County ; Isaac, who lived on a farm in Salt Lick; Josias, who moved to Delaware County, Indiana, where he spent the rest of his life; Fannie, who married Henry Broman and moved to Ohio; Margaret and Polly, who left the old home- stead as young women and did not afterward keep in touch with the family. The second wife of George Whitehair was Margaret Strawser, and the three children of this union were: Fyedelany, who lived for a time in Indiana and then

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settled in Washington State; Mary, who married Minor Whitehair in Indiana and died in Delaware County; and Susann, who died at Salt Liek as Mrs. Henry Messenger.

Daniel Whitehair, another son of George Whitehair, was born on Salt Liek, near Ambersburg, more than a hundred years ago, and lived in that community as a farmer until shortly after the Civil war, when he moved to the Terra Alta locality, establishing his home about two miles north- west of the little city, on the mountaintop. Daniel White- hair never had any educational advantages, and with this handicap he acquired a competency as a farmer, lived in- dustriously and rather uneventfully, never concerned him- self with church or politics, merely voting as a demoerat. Ilis wife was Sarah Messenger, daughter of Edmund and Eliza (Mason) Messenger. The Messengers came from Maine to Preston County in pioneer times. The children of Daniel Whitehair and wife were: Charlotte, who mar- ried Franeis Nine near Sunnyside, Maryland; Edmund, of Philippi, West Virginia; Emily E., who became the wife of Samuel Freeland and died in Preston County; Elijalı, a farmer at the old homestead; Joshna; Charles, of Davis, West Virginia; Spencer, a farmer near Terra Alta; Grant, a farmer near Albright; George, a farmer in Delaware County, Indiana; Nancy, wife of Gilbert Metheny, of Terra Alta; Malinda Jane, who died at Terra Alta, wife of Wal- ter Guthrie; Amanda, Mrs. Lawrence Wright, of Delaware County ; and Louisa, who died as the wife of Chris Nordiek.

Joshua Whitehair attended the first free schools estah- lished on Salt Liek, and was about ten years of age when his parents moved to the Terra Alta community. Here he continued to attend country schools, and at the same time gained an experience of the hard work of the farm, clear- ing off the timber, making staves and erossties and now and then cutting a few sawlogs. He was an aid to his parents until past his majority. and after his marriage he settled on a portion of the homestead, living there until 1894, when he moved to his present plaee, which had been settled by members of the Messenger family. Here for nearly thirty years Mr. Whitehair has been vigorous in the prosecution of his farming enterprise, but is most widely known as a buyer and shipper of livestock. As a young man for several years he butchered lambs for a hotel at Terra Alta. Later he bought stock fer D. B. Zimmerman of Somerset County, Pennsylvania. for ten years, was then local buyer for the firm of Eden & Company of Baltimore, and later he and his sons used their own capital for the business and for a mimber of years have been shippers of stoek to the Baltimore and Pittsburgh markets.

Any worthy movement or interest of the community Mr. Whitehair regards as his own. He has been trustee of the local schools, has served as road boss, votes for the best man in local politics, and in national affairs is a democrat.

Mr. Whitehair has reared a fine family of children and has a number of grandchildren. April 25, 1878, he mar- ried Phoebe Ellen Garner, daughter of William R. and Nancy (Ridenour) Garner. The Garner children were: Eva, dleecased wife of Thomas B. Jackson; Julia A., who married William Taylor; Phoebe Ellen; Mary who married David Everly; John A., Andrew, William and Wesley Garner.

The oldest of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Whitehair is William, living at. Terra Alta, and by his marriage to Isa Kelley is the father of a son, Hugh Kelley. John White- hair, associated with his father in the stock business, is unmarried. Enzer, a prominent stock dealer near Terra Alta, married Annie Dumire, and their children are Roy, Grace, Blanche and Earl. Bruce is a farmer at Kalispell. Montana. Mintie is the wife of Ora Teets, of Cranesville, and they have a son, Bruce. F. Arch, associated with his father in the stock business, is unmarried. Nancy married Walter Childs, of Kingwood, and they have a son, Willis. T. Rowland, the youngest, now in the stoek business at home, finished his education at Ashland College, Ashland, Ohio, and for six years was a teacher in the publie sehools.

The son Bruce Whitehair left home as a young man and went to Montana, where he was in the railway mail service until he volunteered and in 1918 went to France and was assigned to duty in the army mail service at Paris. He

resumed his work with the postal department after his return to the United States, and then bought a farm near Kalispell, Montana.

T. Rowland Whitehair is also an ex-service man, enter- ing the army in April, 1918, and training at Camp Meade as a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-first Company. He was soon discharged, in May, 1918, and then resumed work as a teacher, but since 1919 has been in the stoek business.

ALBERT LAFAYETTE LOHM, member of the Clarksburg law firm, Neff & Lohm, brought to his career at the har some unusual associations and advantages derived from a work. ing contact with leading men of affairs in other lines. He has been extremely successful as a lawyer, and his firm is one of the ablest represented in the Harrison County Bar.

Mr. Lohm was born at Keyser, Mineral County, West Virginia, May 9, 1884, one of the five children of George W. L. and Ella R. (Shaw) Lohm. His father was a native of Jefferson County and his mother of Taylor County. The Lohm family was established in America several generations ago from Germany, and many of the name still live around Shepherdstown in Jefferson County. The Shaw family is of Seoteh aneestry, one of the oldest in Taylor County, and Robert Shaw was a pioneer settler at Grafton.

George W. L. Lohm has spent his aetive life as a rail road man. When Albert Lohm was twelve years of age the family moved to Oakland, Maryland, where his parents still live. The son acquired a high school education in Maryland, graduated at the age of sixteen from the Oak. land High School, and the following year attended a busi. ness college at Cincinnati. For one year he was private seeretary to the general passenger agent of the Pittsburgli & Lake Erie Railroad at Pittsburgh. He left the railroad service to enter the law department of the University of West Virginia at Morgantown, and completed his course in 1906 and was admitted to the bar that year. In 1907 he became private secretary to Hon. William P. Hubbard of Wheeling, member of Congress from their First Con- gressional Distriet of West Virginia. Mr. Lohm was with Mr. Hubbard during his two terms in Congress, and saw much of the life and affairs of the capital city. While in Washington he pursued post graduate studies in law at George Washington University, from which he was grad- uated LL. B. in 1909.

Since 1911 Mr. Lohm has given his entire time to the practice of law, in association with Mr. Carl W. Neff. In 1917 he was appointed United States commissioner for the Federal District Court at Clarksburg, and performed the duties of that office until May, 1921.

Mr. Lohm has also earned prominence in the republican party of West Virginia. In 1912 he was a delegate to the State Republican Convention, and was chairman of the committee on credentials, a special compliment to a man of his years. He belongs to the County and State Bar as- sociations, and in Masonry is a member of the K. C. C. H. in Scottish Rite and is venerable master of Mizrah Lodge of Perfection No. 5. He is a Presbyterian.

November 16, 1916, Mr. Lohm married Miss Mary Gene- vieve Harrison, of a distinguished West Virginia family. Her great-grandfather, Judge William A. Harrison, came from Prinee William County, Virginia, and established his home at Clarksburg in 1821, just a century ago. She is the only granddaughter of Hon. Thomas W. Harrison, who at one time was a judge of the West Virginia Supreme Court. She is the only daughtor of Hon. Samuel R. Har rison, former banker and clerk of the United States Cir euit Court at Clarksburg. Mrs. Lohm completed her edu cation in Wheaton Seminary in Massachusetts. They have one son, John Harrison Lohm, born May 9, 1918, on hi father's thirty-fourth birthday.

GUY B. PATTERSON. One of the important industria enterprises at Cameron, Marshall County, is that of th Patterson Glass Manufacturing Company, of which Gu B. Patterson is secretary and treasurer and George B. Pat terson is the president. This concern represents a -reor ganization of the Marshall Window Glass Company, which

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was promoted by Guy B. Patterson and which erected the manufacturing plant at Cameron in the year 1901. The original company gave employment to seventy-five opera- tives in the manufacturing of window glass, and Mr. Pat- terson was secretary of the company from its inception until its reorganizatiou under the present title in 1906, since which time he has been secretary and treasurer. The substantial enterprise now entails the reteution of about 150 men, and the capacity of the manufactory is now about double that of the original. The pay roll of the company averages about $5,000 a week, and this has significant bearing on the commercial prestige of Cameron, the sand utilized at the factory being obtained from Berke- ley Springs, Morgan County, and the limestone from Martinsburg, Berkeley County. The employes are num- bered among the substantial and valued citizens of Cam- eron, many of them being highly skilled artisans and being the owners of home properties in the community. The plant is modern in all equipments, including continuous furnace provision instead of the more common individual fire pots. Here are manufactured excellent grades of win- dow glass, and there is a constant and ready demand for the output of the factory.

Guy B. Patterson was born at Barnesville, Belmont Coun- ty, Ohio, and is a son of George B. Patterson, who is president of the Patterson Glass Manufacturing Company and who has maintained his residence at Cameron for the past fifteen years. Guy B. Patterson has been associated with the operation of the plant of the Eastern Ohio Glass Company in his native town of Barnesville, and there fa- miliarized himself with all technical details of manufac- turing, as well as with the general office details connected with the business. He has brought his experience into most effective play in developing the substantial and pros- perous business of the company of which he is now seere- tary and treasurer, and one of the vital and progressive business men of this section of West Virginia. Mr. Pat- terson and his father own the gas well which supplies their factory and also other industrial plants at Cameron, and he is vice president and a director of the Bank of Cameron.

Mr. Patterson married Miss Alta Parriott, daughter of Samuel Parriott, who was formerly engaged in the hotel business at Cameron and who was one of the most success- ful and popular hotel men in this section of West Virginia. After his retirement from active business Mr. Parriott continued to reside at Cameron until his death. Mr. and Mrs. Patterson have two sons, George Benjamin and Samuel.

JOHN SPURGEON CARPER, D. D. S. About one year after receiving his honorable discharge as first lieutenant in the Dental Corps of the United States Army, in which he had been in service in France, Doctor Carper established him- self in the practice of his profession at Morgantown, where he has a finely equipped office, with the most approved fa- cilities and accessories in both laboratory and operating departments, and where he has built up a substantial and representative practice.

Doctor Carper was born on a farm in Roane County, this state, on the 9th of January, 1887, and is a son of Clif- ton H. and Prussia (Stackhouse) Carper, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of what is now West Virginia. The father gave his entire active career to farm enterprise, and his death occurred October 5, 1902, his widow being now a resident of Charleston, the capital city of West Virginia.

The first nineteen years of Doctor Carper's life were passed on the farm. and in the meanwhile he profited by the advantage afforded in the public schools. He was for two years a student in the high school at Gassaway, Brax- ton County, and thereafter attended the State Normal School at that place for an equal period. He next made a successful record as a teacher, his work having been in two schools, and in 1910 he entered the Ohio College of Dental Surgery at Cincinnati, in which he was graduated May 12, 1914, with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. In the same year he engaged in the practice of his profession in the City of Charleston, where he continued until the

nation became involved in the World war, when he subordi- nated all personal interests to enter into patriotic service. On the 5th of October, 1918, Doctor Carper enlisted in the Dental Corps of the United States Army and was sent to Camp Lee, Virginia, where, six months later, he was com- missioned a first lieutenant. From Camp Lee he was trans- ferred to Camp Upton, New York, and four months later he was ordered to France as a casual officer in the Dental Corps. He continued in active duty in France for a period of ten months, and on May 30, 1919, sailed for home. He was mustered out and received his discharge at Camp Dix, New Jersey, and he still is a member of the Dental Re- serve Corps, in which his commission as first lieutenant will expire January 10, 1922.

Upon leaving the army Doctor Carper engaged in the practice of his profession at Gassaway, Braxton County, but a year later he transferred his professional headqnar- ters to Morgantown, in which city he has built up an ex- cellent practice. He is a member of Gassaway Lodge No. 196, Knights of Pythias, and is actively identified with the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce.

Doctor Carper married Miss Madge Virginia Snyder, daughter of Jackson and Mary (Burke) Snyder, of Gilmer County, this state, and the one child of this union is a daughter, Mary Gertrude.

DAYTON P. RUNNER. The Runner family has been in Monongalia County for considerably more than a century. They have been substantial farmers, and Dayton P. Run- ner, of the present generation, has found in farming a satisfying as well as a profitable business. He conducts a dairy farm four miles east of Morgantown, in Morgan Distriet.

He was born August 1, 1861, on an adjoining farm, and is a son of William Runner and a grandson of Henry Run- ner. William Runner was a native of Frederick County, Maryland, and was a boy when the family came to West Virginia, about 1815, and settled on a farm in Morgan District. William Runner learned the carpenter's trade, but for the most part farmed. He lived for many years near Morgantown and had owned several pieces of property, including the farm adjoining the present home of his son Dayton P. Here he died about 1881, at the age of eighty- three, while his brother, Lewis W., survived him twenty years.

Dayton P. Runner was reared and educated in Monongalia County and at the age of twenty went out to Colorado. After a year he returned, and for forty years his efforts and energies have been well extended in the rural com- munities around Morgantown. His home has been at his present location for eighteen years. He has 108 acres, the principal business being dairying. He has a good herd of cows, including some high grade Jerseys, and retails bot- tled milk to customers. His average production is about fifty gallons daily. Mr. Runner is a member of the Board of Education in his distriet, is a republican and belongs to the Methodist Protestant Church at Mount Union.

At the age of twenty-five he married Jennie Sinder, who grew up in the same locality as her husband. She was a child when her father, Clark Snider, died, and her mother, Maria Chisler, died at the age of fifty. Without children of their own Mr. and Mrs. Runner have cared for four boys and girls. One of them, W. O. Flumm, is now a part- ner with Mr. Runner. Clara Snider, a nicce of Mrs. Run- ner, has been in their home for the past eight years and is attending high school.

Mr. Runner has brought his land to a high state of fer- tility and his methods of cropping have produced satisfac- tory yields of the grains on land that many of the old timers considered suitable for grazing purposes alone.

D. ALTON JACKSON, representing an old and honored business family of Preston County, is a lumber manufac- turer at Rowlesburg and has been effectively identified with the business and civic affairs of that locality for a dozen years.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 35

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