History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 36

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Mr. Jackson was born at Kingwood, October 23, 1881. His grandfather was a Pennsylvanian, early identified with

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the iron furnace industry in that state, but for many years made his home in Monongalia County, West Virginia. He was twice married, was the father of twenty-four sons and three daughters, and of these only one now survives, Mrs. Anabell Menear of Kingwood.

Daniel R. Jackson, father of the Rowlesburg business man, was a child of his father's second marriage, to Miss Fleming. Daniel R. Jackson was born and reared in Monon- galia County, had a practical education, and as a young man entered the Union Army as a private soldier of the Fonrteenth West Virginia Infantry. He served three years with the Army of the Potomac, and among other engage- ments participated in the battle of Antietam. He was twice wounded, in one engagement having an ear drum bursted and was once shot in the thigh. He suffered from his wounds the rest of his life. While he became a mem- ber of the G. A. R. after the war, he attended only a few of its reunions. His life for half a century was devoted to merchandising at Kingwood, where he began as a gen- eral merchant, later conducted a hardware store, but finally returned to general merchandising. He was a successful business man and interested in progressive development. HIe was associated with the promotion of the Tunnelton, Kingwood & Fairchance Railway, now the West Virginia Northern, and from 1888 to 1892 was high sheriff of Pres- ton County, succeeding A. Staley Shaw in that office. Soon after leaving the office of sheriff he was appointed depnty United States marshal by Captain Thompson, and also served under Marshal C. D. Elliott. Altogether he spent eight years in that service. While engaged in official duties his mercantile business was carried on by his sons.

Daniel R. Jackson by his activities and character was one of the best citizens of Preston County. He died July 6, 1920, at the age of seventy-six. He was a Methodist and afliliated with the Knights of Pythias. His wife was Rachel G. Martin, sister of J. Ami Martin, a native of Preston County, who became well known in business affairs at Mor- gantown. The children of Daniel R. Jackson and wife were: Charles M .; Hoy B .; D. Alton; Mildred M., wife of M. L. Jackson, of Kingwood; Vernon F., of Kingwood; Gertrude Vance, of Morgantown and George D. West Vir- ginia pays a special tribute to George D. Jackson, who was the first native son of the state killed in the World war. Ile was at the front in France as a lieutenant when he paid the extreme sacrifice, and his body now lies in the ceme- tery at Kingwood.

D. Alton Jackson grew up at Kingwood, attended the public schools, and left school to go to work as a clerk in his father's hardware store. He learned the business there by diligent application for seven years. His next service was with the Austen Coal & Coke Company at Aus- ten in Preston County, where for seven years he was man- ager of the company store. Then followed a period as a salesman on the road for the Miller-Clark Grain Company, with headquarters at Fairmont. Mr. Jackson in 1909 lo- cated at Rowlesburg, which he now regards as his perma- ment home. For two years he was on the road as a sales- man for the Rowlesburg Grocery Company. He then en- gaged in the hardware business for a few years, but sold his stock and has since been a Inmber manufacturer.

The Rowlesburg Lumber Company was organized by Mr. Jackson and W. B. Bowman. They are essentially manu- facturers rather than dealers, and their mills are located on Cheat River, above Rowlesburg. They eut large quan- tities of hardwood Inmber and also have a planing mill for finished product. While most of this lumber is sold locally, some of it is exported through jobbers.

Mr. Jackson is a republican, although not giving much of his time to politics. He served as deputy sheriff under Sheriff Schaeffer, and has been a member of the Council and mayor of Rowlesburg. Mr. Jackson is a member of the Masonic Lodge at Newburg, the Royal Arch Chapter at Grafton, also the Knights Templar Commandery there and is a member of Scottish Rite Consistory and Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling.

September 21, 1901, at Marietta, Ohio, Mr. Jackson mar- ried Miss Jessie Augusta Spahr. She is a sister of the editor of the Kingwood Argus. Her father, Jesse Spahr,

was a tanner by trade and spent all his life in Preston County. Judge Spalır married Rebecca Gibson, and Mrs. Jackson is one of their seven children still surviving.

CHARLES RUSSELL HUSTON. Morgantown, his native city, has been the scene of the varied experiences and achieve- ments of Charles Russell Huston, an active business man for over thirty years, and for many years president of the Morgantown Savings & Loan Society.

Mr. Huston was born in Morgantown, February 18, 1865, son of Samuel P. and Lonise (Murphy) Huston. His great-grandfather, Peter Huston, was a native of Ireland, and about the close of the American Revolution came to America and established his home in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. His son, Chambers Huston, was horn in Somerset in 1809 and died in 1889. He followed the in- dustry and trade of carpenter, and was a member of the Methodist Church. His wife was Margaret Pritts, who died in 1896. Their third son was the late Samuel P. Huston, who was born in Somerset County, January 3, 1835, and died in Morgantown, West Virginia, in 1912. He also learned the carpenter's trade, and moved to Morgantown in 1858. For many years he had an extensive business as a building contractor over that section of West Virginia. He was a leader in the Methodist Church and superintend- ent of its Sunday school and was an Odd Fellow. March I, 1861, he married Louise Murphy, and they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. Her death also occurred in 1912. They had three children: Chauncey W., Charles Russell and Louise.

Charles Russell Huston acquired a public school ednca- tion at Morgantown and spent two years in the University of West Virginia. Leaving college at the end of his sopho- more year, he took up the trade of sheet metal worker and roofer, and from 1885 became a contractor in the roofing, sheet metal and heating business. For twenty-six years he was active in that line, with an organization capable of handling the largest contracts. He finally sold the busi- ness in 1911.

Mr. Huston has been identified with the Morgantown Sav. ings & Loan Society since a few years after its organiza- tion, was a director, and since 1900 has been its presi- dent. He is also a director and one of the executive com- mittee of the Bank of Morgantown, and has been interested in several local industries and is now department manager at the Saberton plant of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Corporation.

Mr. Huston and family are members of the First Meth odist Episcopal Church and he was for many years treas urer of the Sunday school. In December, 1905, he mar ried Miss Beula B. Hubbard, daughter of Mrs. Eva Hub. bard, of Morgantown, formerly of Wheeling. Mr. and Mrs. Huston are the parents of three children: Charles Russell, Jr., born Jannary 15, 1907; Louise, born Jann ary 19, 1909; and Helen, born May 17, 1911.

HOWARD G. GILGER. Boru and reared close to the his toric center of the original petroleum production of America, Howard G. Gilger has been a worker in the oï fields since early youth, and for many years has had prominent associations with the West Virginia oil and gas industry. He is a contractor, and for many years has had his home at New Martinsville.

He was born in Venango County, Pennsylvania, Novem ber 20, 1859. The Gilger family is of German origin and was established in Pennsylvania in Colonial times. Hi: grandfather, Jonas Gilger, was born in Bucks County, tha state, in 1784, but spent the greater part of his life il Clarion County, where he owned a large amount of land He died in Clarion County in 1868. He reared a famil of seven sons and seven daughters, all now deceased. Jona Gilger, Jr., father of Howard G., was born in Clarion Connty in 1822, and returned to his native county to spent his later years at St. Petersburg, where he died in 1888 As a young man he took up farming, and became a cattl drover to the eastern markets. As a railroad contracto he built the Allegheny Railroad from the mouth of Clario River to Fulton, Pennsylvania. From 1870 on, his bus:

Howard.A. hilger

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ess interests were in the oil districts of Venango and Me- Kean counties. He was a contractor with his teams and lso a jobber in coal and other supplies for the oil fields. onas Gilger was a republican, served as a member of the chool Board in Richland Township of Venango County, nd was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Ie married Hettie Dreibbelbis, who was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 1822, and died in Venango County 1882. Her ancestors were also German and identified with the Colonial period of Pennsylvania. Her father, acob Dreibbelbis, was born in Berks County in 1786 and ied in Venango County in 1869, having been a pioneer armer in the latter county. He reared a family of four ons and four daughters. The children of Jonas and Het- ie Gilger were: Samuel, a farmer in Venango County ; larah, who died in Venango County at the age of sixty, wife of Samuel Martz, a farmer; Wesley, a farmer, who ied in Venango County at the age of sixty-two; Frances, f St. Petersburg, Clarion County, widow of John Mor- an, who was an oil operator; Clara, widow of William theiry, a farmer near Franklin in Venango County; Oliver, , farmer, who died at Garrettsville, Ohio, aged forty-nine ears and six months; Howard G .; Della, wife of Martin Mortimer, an oil well driller and contractor living at North Baltimore, Ohio; and John Edward, of Cement, Okla- oma, a superintendent of oil properties.

Howard G. Gilger grew up in Venango County and at- ended the rural schools there to the age of sixteen. His working career began as a pumper in the Clarion County il fields. Two years later he removed to Mckean County, vas a pumper there, and from that was made a superin- endent of the E. H. Jennings oil interests. This work kept him in Mckean County until 1894, when he was ransferred to West Union, Doddridge County, West Vir- ,inia, and continued as Mr. Jennings' superintendent there intil 1900. Since then for twenty years he has been a Contractor in the drilling of oil and gas wells, and has perated his outfits over many of the prominent West Virginia fields, including Springtown in Doddridge County, hen at Salem, then at Richwood Run on Fishing Creek und at Steels Run in Wetzel County. His operations have overed the oil and gas fields of the counties of Wood, Ritchie, Harrison and Marion. Mr. Gilger has had his nome at New Martinsville since 1903, and owns a modern residence at 235 Locust Street. His principal interests as an oil well pumper are now in the fields of Wetzel and Marion counties.

Mr. Gilger is a republican, served a term on the City Council at West Union, is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church and fraternally is a member of Friend- ship Lodge No. 56, A. F. and A. M., at West Union; Clarksburg Chapter No. 11, R. A. M .; Clarksburg Com- mandery No. 13, K. T .; and Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling.

In 1891, at Olean, New York, he married Miss Flora Steele, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Steele, now de- ceased. Her father was an oil field contractor. Mrs. Gil- ger died in MeKean County in the spring of 1894. Her only surviving child is Miss Della, who is a graduate of the Martinsville High School and the West Liberty State Normal School and is a popular teacher in the schools of Martinsville. In 1898, at Cumberland, West Virginia, Mr. Gilger married Miss Mary A. Johnson, daughter of Jo- eph and Hattie (Weekley) Johnson, the latter now liv- ing at Bakersfield, California. Her father was a native of Columbus, Ohio, was a miner in that state and died at Nelsonville, Ohio, in 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Gilger became the parents of ten children: Hazel, the oldest, born Octo- ber 11, 1898, is a graduate of the New Martinsville High School and the Normal Department of Wesleyan College it Buckhannon, and after teaching three years in Wetzel County was married to Mr. Joseph Henry, a teacher now ocated at Woodland in Marshall County, West Virginia. The second child, Garnett, died at the age of one year. Roy, born November 23, 1901, is a graduate of the Mag- iolia High School at New Martinsville and a teacher at Piney in Wetzel County. The younger children are: Earl, porn January 20, 1903; Virginia, born December 8, 1904,

a senior in the Magnolia High School; Fred, born Octo- ber 7, 1906, in the freshman year of high school; Doris, horn February 20, 1908; Betty, born November 14, 1909; Joe, born April 2, 1911 and Phyllis, born June 22, 1914.

JAMES S. HUNT has been a resident of Tunnelton almost seventy years and through long service as a mechanic, mer- chant, banker and public spirited citizen has well earned the high esteem he enjoys.

Mr. Hunt was born at Paw Paw, West Virginia, Janu- ary 25, 1850, son of Robert and Margaret (Cunningham) Hunt. Nine months after his birth his parents came to West Virginia and while the first tunnel was being con- structed at Tunnelton his father established his home there. Both parents were natives of Ireland, were married after coming to the United States, and for several years lived in Allegany County, Maryland, where Robert Hunt was employed on public works. After locating at Tunnelton he kept a store and also managed a small farm. He was a democrat in politics, and died in 1872 when ahout sixty- seven years of age. His widow died ten years later when past eighty.

James Sylvester Hunt, only child of his parents, grew up at Tunnelton, acquired a subscription school education, and learned the principles of merchandising from his father. On leaving home he worked in the Baltimore & Ohio shops at Piedmont and learned something of the boilermaker's trade and then went out to the Pacific Coast and for two and a half years was employed in a boiler shop at San Francisco and worked on the construction of the then fa- mous Palace Hotel. In 1876 he came back across the plains to West Virginia, and at Tunnelton resumed his connec- tion with his home community by various activities, the principal ones including a clerkship with the Austen Coal & Coke Company under Manager Charles Jessup, followed hy a long service of sixteen years with the mercantile firm of Shaffer & Bonafield. Following this long employment Mr. Hunt set up in business for himself as a merchant, and has one of the leading places of business in Tunnelton.

Mr. Hunt helped organize the Tunnelton Bank which began business in 1903 and has capital stock of $50,000, a generous surplus, and deposits of over $500,000. Mr. Hunt has been one of the directors from the time the bank opened, later was elected vice president, and succeeded Mr. Gibson on his death as president. Mr. Hunt, in 1919, was also an active factor in the organization of the Tunnelton Freeport Coal Company and is its president.

Community affairs have always made a claim upon his time and interests and assistance. For a number of years he was member of the Tunnelton Council and was in that body when the charter for the Telephone Company was granted. He voted the democratic ticket regularly until 1908. and frequently attended conventions as a delegate. In 1908 he supported William Howard Taft for presi- dent, and has since attended republican conventions. Mr. Hunt was reared in the Catholic Church, and has not af- filiated with any fraternities.

In October, 1889, near Tunnelton, he married Miss Ella Cruise, who was born and educated in that community, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Kenny) Cruise. Her father spent practically all his life in the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, and was a pensioner of the road when he died in 1902 at the age of eighty-three. Her mother died in 1906 when past eighty. Mrs. Hunt was the youngest of her parents' children, the others, now living, being Agnes, who married Judge William S. Haymond of Fairmont; Catherine, wife of Thomas Dorsey of Cumberland, Mary- land; Miss Annie of Coalton, West Virginia; and William B. of Grafton.

Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Hunt, James William, the oldest. was a sergeant during the war, was with the Eleventh Division ready for overseas duty when the armis- tice was signed, and is now in the service of the Liberty Trust Company of Cumberland, Maryland. He is an A. B. of Rock Hill College, Maryland, and took post-graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania. Thomas E., the second son, was for four years deputy revenue collector under the Wilson administration and is now an instructor

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in the Tunnelton public schools. He attended Rock Hill College, and is a graduate of Fairmont State Normal School. Robert E. is store manager for the Albright Smoke- less Coal Company of Tunnelton. He attended Rock Hill and St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland. The young- est of the family is John A. Hunt, a sophomore in the Tunnelton High School.

MELVIN NEWLON, now principal of the Tyrconnell School, has been long and favorably known in Taylor County as an educator, farmer and public official. He recently re- tired from the office of county sheriff, and was also county assessor.

Mr. Newlon was born near the Village of Simpson in Taylor County, June 2, 1873, son of Alfred and Elizabeth (Yates) Newlon. His mother was a danghter of Martin L. Yates, member of an old family of the county. Alfred Newlon was born in Taylor County spent his life in the Simpson community as a farmer, and was one of the hon- ored old soldiers of that community. At the time of the Civil war he joined the Third West Virginia Infantry and later the Sixth West Virginia Cavalry. For three and a half years he was with his regiment fighting the Con- federates, and for a year after the war was out on the plains fighting Indians in Kansas, Wyoming and Nebraska. While never wounded, he suffered exposure from freezing weather, and this injured his health and made him prema- turely old. In polities he was an uncompromising republi- can and a member of the Baptist Church.

Alfred Newlon was killed while driving a wagon over a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad crossing in April, 1901, when just sixty years of age. His wife died in 1910. They were the parents of two sons and seven daughters. Five of the daughters are living: Lucy, wife of Homer Selvey, of Grafton; Naney L., wife of Charles Davis; Hallie, wife of Gail Goodwin; Gertrude, who married Harry MeCay; and Miss Effie, of Grafton. The sons are Melvin and Del- let, the latter a former county superintendent of schools of Taylor County and a farmer.

Melvin Newlon in his early youth was a farmer and coal miner. He had an ambition to rise above his environ- ments, and he secured a liberal education in old West Vir- ginia College and Wesleyan University at Buckhannon. At the age of eighteen he taught his first term of school in the Fetterman District. For fourteen consecutive terms he taught in the Court House District. When not teaching he worked about coal mines, driving mules or digging coal in the summer season. It was at the conclusion of his sixteenth term of school work that he became a regular employe of the Grafton Coal and Coke Company, and later of the Maryland Coal Company of West Virginia, and was in the service of these corporations for a number of years. From this business he was called into politics by the vote of his fellow citizens and was elected on the republican ticket to the office of county assessor in 1912, succeeding Luke Haymond in office. In 1916 he was elected sheriff to succeed Lee Bennett, and began his four year term in January, 1917. He was sheriff of the county during the World war, but the term of his administration was peace- ful and orderly, and at the end of four years he turned over the office to W. J. Mays, and soon afterward resumed school work as principal of the Tyrconnell School.

Mr. Newlon is an enthusiastic republican, casting his first presidential vote for Mckinley in 1896. He is affiliated with Flemington Lodge No. 152, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Wendel Lodge No. 126, Woodmen of the World, and since the age of fourteen has been a member of the Baptist Church. In Taylor County, November 27, 1900, he married Miss Gertrude M. Lake. She was born in the Simpson community, daughter of H. A. and Belle (Davis) Lake. Her mother was a daughter of Mack Davis, an old hotel man of Simpson, who came from Virginia. Mrs. Newlon was the oldest of three children, the other two being James A. and Dakota Lake, of Simpson. Mrs. Newlon was a pupil of her husband while he was getting his carly experience as a teacher. Mr. and Mrs. Newlon have three children: Roy M., a graduate of the Grafton High School, and now teaching his second term at Wendel; Edith

Belle, member of the class of 1923 in the Grafton High School; and Martin L., at home.

GEORGE M. WEST. While he laid the foundation of his business experience in Pittsburgh, the commercial associa- tions of Mr. West in Clarksburg have been as a dealer in hay, grain, feed and other commodities, and at the same time he has exerted a helpful influence in the progress and advancement of the community welfare.

Mr. West was born in Washington County, Ohio, Novem- ber 28, 1876, a son of Samuel and Phoebe Ann (Davis) West, his father a native of England and his mother of Ohio. His father is still living, a retired miller and mer- chant, and for many years was in business at New Mata- moris, Ohio.

After graduating from high school at New Matamoris and completing a commercial college course in Pittsburgh, George M. West remained in that city for three years, as- sociated with his brother, W. C. West, in the feed business. On selling out to his brother he came to Clarksburg in 1900, and, beginning as a feed merchant, has steadily in- creased the scope of his enterprise until he has an estab- lishment both for retail and wholesale trade, covering a large territory adjacent to Clarksburg, and is a dealer in hay and grain and general building supplies including lime, plaster, cement, sewer pipe, etc. His present office, warehouse and place of business was erected in 1910. Mr. West is also president of the Universal Concrete Products Company, whose plant is at New Martinsville, West Vir- ginia, and he is a director of the Community Savings and Loan Company of Clarksburg.

He is a well known member of the Clarksburg Chamber of Commerce and socially is affiliated with the Country, Rotary, Allegheny, Cheat Mountain and other clubs. He is a republican, a Methodist and fraternally is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and an Elk.

In 1902 Mr. West married Miss Myrtle Ferguson, who was born and reared in Harrison County, West Virginia. Iler father, James Ferguson, was of an old family of Har- rison County. Her mother was a daughter of W. W. Bog- gess, a name also prominent in Harrison County. Mrs. West is a member of the Presbyterian Church belongs to the Eastern Star Chapter, and for several years has been active in civic and social affairs.

GUY CARLETON MACTAGGART is now in his third term as county superintendent of schools of Pleasants County. He began his career as a teacher at the age of eighteen, has had a successive and successful experience as a teacher in a number of districts in the county, and he brought to his office as county superintendent not only the qualifications of an able educator but a thorough knowledge of school conditions of this section.

Mr. MacTaggart was born in Grant District of Pleas- ants County, January 23, 1885. He is of Scotch ancestry. His grandfather, Hugh MacTaggart, was born in Scot- land in 1819, son of William and Jennie MacTaggart, who three years later, in 1822, came to America and settled on Short Creek near Wheeling, but after a few years moved to Willow Island in Pleasants County, where William Mac- Taggart acquired a large amount of land and engaged in the sheep industry on an extensive scale. He and his wife died at Willow Island. Hugh MacTaggart grew up there, married and then removed to the vicinity of Eureka in Pleasants County, where he carried on his operations as a farmer. He died at his home near Eureka in 1909, at the age of ninety. His wife was Dicinda Phillips, a native of Ohio. William P. MacTaggart, father of Superintendent MacTaggart, was born May 21, 1854, near the farm where he now resides, located a mile and a half west of Eureka. Farming has been his life occupation and from it he has provided amply for himself and family. He owns both a hill farm and river farm. He is a republican, and a leader in the Baptist Church of his home community. William P. MacTaggart married Ida Virginia Rhymer, who was born at St. Marys, October 20, 1855. Of their children Guy Carleton is the oldest. The second, William Carey, died

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 36

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