History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 41

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James Burns, son of William H. Burns, was born Feb ruary 4, 1801. In 1823 he married Nancy Agnes Ingmar of Allegany County, Maryland. About 1825 he moved t what was then Middleton, Monongalia County, riding horseback, by bridle path, through the wilderness, almos 100 years ago. To this union nine children were born Jane, 1824; William Howard, 1825; Silas, 1828; Philadel phia, 1830; James J. (subject) Am, 1835; Benjamin Bur bridge, 1837; Ellen, 1841; Laura Lee, 1847.

On the site of Skinners' Tavern Mr. Burns operated tannery until 1856, when he moved it to Fairview, and stil had an interest in it for years. In 1852 the B. & O. Rail road ran their first train through Fairmont, and Mr. Burn had the tavern, or eating house as it was called, for fou years. He purchased a farm of 118 acres in what is now Locust Avenue or West Fairmont. Five years later, o

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the 10th of September, 1873, he started for Peoria, Illi- nois, where he died January 17, 1892, when lacking only a few days of reaching his ninety-first birthday. James Burns was energetic and active, and in his business affairs displayed such good judgment and keen foresight that he was successful in every line in which he was engaged, from tanning to farming. In every relation of life he was active and useful, and was well known in every community in which he resided, for industry, honesty and benevolence.

James J. Burns, son of James and grandson of William H., was born in Fairmont on June 18, 1832, and became one of the city 's prominent citizens and successful business men. 1Ie was engaged in the mercantile business in Fair- mont until 1857, in which year he went to Minnesota, where he resided for two years. He returned to Fairmont in 1859, and, entering general merchandising, he continued intil 1888. After 1888 he gave all his time to the develop- nent of the resources of West Virginia, along which line he did as much as any other man of his time to inaugurate the development of the coal and gas interests of the state and to attract outside capital for that purpose. He helped o organize many companies, among which were the West. Fairmont Gas & Coal Company, the Virginia & Pittsburgh Coal & Coke Company, the New England Coal & Coke Com- any, the Washington City Coal & Coke Company, and the Fairmont Gas Coal Company of New York, each of which vere pioneers in the West Virginia field.

Always interested in educational work, he was among the irst to work for the public schools, and in establishing ;he normal though he was edneated in the old time sub- cription schools, then in their prime. He was a man of arge sympathies and public spirit. He passed away in his sixty-eighth year, November 9, 1899.

On December 21, 1854, Mr. Burns married Margaret Stewart, of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, and to them vere born the following children: Ida Ellen, who married John MeNary; Della Ann, who married George H. Shinn ; Minnesota, who died in infancy; Laura J., who married Thomas H. B. Staggers; Mahel S., who married Starke L. Baker and later, Randolph Stalnaker; Mary Knight who narried Boyd Nees; and Margaret Burns, who is the last of the name of this branch of the family.

SHINN FAMILY. One of the historic communities in Har- ison County is Shinnston, founded by and named in honor f members of the Shinn family. The Shinns are still rep- esented in the useful citizenship of West Virginia, and the igor of the family stock appears undiminished in nearly hree centuries of American residence. The purpose of this article is to give a brief account of the Shinn genealogy ind the circumstances and personalities connected with the rigin of Shinnston.

The first Shinns came to America with a party of two undred and thirty Quakers that left London on the ship 'Kent," half of them being from London and the other alf from Yorkshire. They were settlers in New Jersey. They were followed by other immigrants in the year 1677. A New Jersey historian gives a general list of these immi- grants, and among them is the name of John Shinn. In a ecord of the freeholders of Burlington for the year 1680 appear the names John Shinn and Clement Shinn. The hildren of John Shinn were Francis, John, Jr., George, Mary. Thomas, Sarah, Esther, Francis, Martha and James. James Shinn, representing the second generation, was born in England. and lived longer than any of his brothers r sisters. He died in 1751, without a will. March 3, 1697, e married Abigail Lippincott.

Their son Clement first appears as a witness upon several marriage certificates. In 1740 he married Elizabeth Webb, , woman not of Quaker faith. As a later paragraph dis- loses, it was his children who were the pioneers of the 'amily in West Virginia.

His son. Clement Shinn. Jr., was born in 1746. In 1774 e married Ruth Bates, of New Jersey. Their children were Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Hepzibah, Clement, Edward, Reuben, Achsah, Samuel, Jonathan and Eli.

Of the next generation Moses Shinn was born, February 10, 1779, and died in 1871, at the age of ninety-two. April

5, 1799, he married Sarah Kyle, in Virginia, daughter of Anthony and Elizabeth (Cooper) Kyle. She died in her eighty-fourth year. Their children were: Hiram, Maria, Sampson, Matilda, Justus, Merrick, Rezin K., Sevilla, Absalom.

Absalom Shinn was born in Harrison County, January 19, 1818. He was a physician by profession, and prior to the Civil war was an anti-slavery man. He spent his last years at Brooklyn, five miles from Heliopolis, where he died in January, 1861. September 7, 1837, he married Clarissa B. Ebelt, who was born November 10, 1820. Their family of children consisted of Savilla Ann, Harriet Amelia, Saralı Elizabeth, Henry Alphonso, Paulina, Orville, Charles Moses, James William, Mary Jones and George H. M.

A representative of the seventh generation was George H. M. Shinn who was born, April 27, 1855, and died in Fairmont, June 27, 1903. For a number of years he was a Government postal inspector in the Railway Division, and later was in the Census Department at Washington, Dis- triet of Columbia. February 27, 1879, he married Della Burns. The oldest of their children was Mabel Parker, born March 1, 1880. The second, James Edwin, was born at Fairmont, May 13 1882. The third, Chester Crittenden, was born June 9, 1884. Charles M., was born January 18, 1889. Margaret, the next child, married J. J. Crumbaugh. Jennie M., the youngest, was born October 10, 1892.

Shinnston stands upon land originally taken up by the Shinns after their emigration from New Jersey. The pioneer was Levi Shinn, one of the sons of Clement Shinn Sr., in the above record. According to the land records Levi Shinn located 400 aeres on the West Fork River, ad- joining lands of John Wood to include his settlement made in the year 1773, with a pre-emption right to 1,000 acres adjoining. Levi, it appears, did not remove his family to his homestead for a year or two after making his location. Shortly after doing so he was joined by several members of his family, including his two brothers, Clement, Jr., and Jonathan. There is a family tradition that Levi's lands lay west and south of Shinn's Run. Jonathan's lands ex- tended from the month of this run down the river to the south and east. covering the present site of Shinnston, while Clement's holdings lay south of Jonathan's, on a stream ralled Middle Creek. Jonathan willed the land covering the present site of Shinnston to his son Levi, who built the first house. in 1802. This house was still standing in 1909. The first child born in the new settlement was Asa Shinn.

The act of the Legislature establishing the town of Shinnston, as passed January 22, 1818, enacted: "That the lots and streets as already laid off on the lands of Asa and Levi Shinn on the West Fork of the Monongahela River in the County of Harrison, he established a town by the name of Shinnston and that Jolin Righter, Davis Wams- ley, Samuel Shinn, John D. Lucas, Benjamin Wood, Joseph Wilson, and Jeremialı, Roby, Gentlemen, and they are hereby appointed trustees thereof."

By an act of May 26. 1852, Shinnston was incorporated and the voters were authorized to elect seven trustees with the usual powers of such officers. The act was not to take effect until ratified by a majority of the voters of the town, and was to include the town "as the same has here- tofore been laid off into lots, streets and alleys." During the war this charter was allowed to lapse and a new one was procured in 1877. The Circuit Court on June 4, 1877, issned an order incorporating the Town of Shinnston under Chapter 47 of the code and appointed Albert Shinn James Jackson and M. J. Ogden commissioners to hold the first election for officers of the said town.

WILLIAM DEHART FITZHUGH, M. D. After graduating in medicine Doctor Fitzhugh entered the army service during the World war, was on duty in France, and for the past two years has been mining physician and surgeon for the Pocahontas Fuel Company and the American Coal Com- pany and also local surgeon for the Norfolk & Western Railroad Company at MeComas in Mercer County.

Doctor Fitzhugh was born at Culpeper, Virginia, August 14, 1881, son of W. D. and Bettie Carter (Grayson) Fitz-

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hugh, natives of Virginia. He is of Scotch ancestry, with an admixture of Irish. His father was a farmer at Cul- peper, spent his life quietly and industriously, and per- haps his chief interest outside of home and family was bis work in the Presbyterian Church.

Doctor Fitzhugh acquired a common school education in Culpeper, graduated in 1901 from William and Mary College, and then entered the George Washington Univer- sity at Washington, where he pursued his medical course and graduated M. D. in 1912. For a year he remained on duty in the Children's Hospital at Washington and began his general practice in Highland County, Virginia. He re- mained there three years and then removed to Morrisville and soon afterward enlisted when America entered the war. He was a volunteer in the Medical Reserve Corps and for about two months was stationed at Camp Hill, Newport News, and was then ordered to duty over seas. He sailed for France, landing at Brest with the Three Hundred and Twelfth Battalion, and remained there from April to December, 1918. The Three Hundred and Twelfth Battalion was the chief unit in charge of the construction work car- ried on by the American forces at Brest. After receiving his honorable discharge Doctor Fitzhugh returned to Mor- risville and resumed his practice and in June, 1919, joined the Pocahontas Fuel Company and has since been in charge of the mines and operations of the company at McComas. He is a member of the Mercer County, State and American Medical associations and of the Southern Medical Associa- tion. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch and Knights Templar Mason and Shriner, and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

In 1914, in Highland County, Virginia, Doctor Fitzhugh married Miss Bessie May Wagner. daughter of Thomas and Minnie (Simmons) Wagner. They have five children : Mary Bess, Eleanor Grayson, Celeste Wagner, William D., Jr., and Roberta.

CHARLES STRATTON SMILEY. During the full strength and vigor of manhood, when an individual is accomplishing results beyond those of his fellows and gaining favor and appropriation his compelling personality may have much influence, but after he has passed off the stage of life and his achievements, his successes and his failures are viewed with the cold and unbiased criticism that posterity accords even its highest and greatest, his true character stands forth and his measure of usefulness to mankind is clearly revealed. The student of biography knows full well how frequently this severe test brings only disillusionment. When, then, a community can point proudly to an individual the records of whose daily career disclosed true integrity and probity, how valuable, how interesting is the story, bow- ever brief, and how far-reaching may be its influence. To the memory of such a man, Charles Stratton Smiley, Clarks- burg, West Virginia, pays tribute.

Mr. Smiley was born at Franklin, Venango County, Penn- sylvania, September 3, 1861. a son of William and Jane (Kinnear) Smiley. His father, a merchant, was one of Franklin's well-known and highly respected citizens, and the youth was given a good practical education in the pub- lie schools of his native city. When he entered upon his independent career it was in connection with the oil busi- ness, an industry with which he continued to be identified in various ways throughout his life. His first employment was with the Eclipse Oil Company of Pennsylvania, and when he was only twenty-two years of age he went to Phila- delphia to become manager for the Logan-Emery-Weaver Oil Company, a position which he retained for two years. His next location was Bradford Pennsylvania, where he was connected with the Oil Well Supply Company for a number of years, and about 1902 he came to Clarksburg, West Virginia, and engaged in the manufacture of oil well supplies. He also acted as agent for a broad territory contiguous to Clarksburg for the Columbian Rope Com- pany of Auburn, New York, the product of which concern he handled on a large scale, at the same time giving much energy and attention to the oil business in general, being looked upon as one of the industry's successful men in West Virginia. Aside from and in connection with the foregoing

Mr. Smiley had a number of important financial interests He took an active part in the merging of the Peoples Bank and Trust Company and the Traders National Bank, and in this connection was one of the factors in the movement that gave birth to the Union National Bank, in which be was a member of the Board of Directors, as he was also in the Empire National Bank. Mr. Smiley was a well-in formed man, possessing an analytical mind, and his advice was sought by many and freely given, while his business associates had every reason to place implicit confidence in his judgment. Charitable to a marked degree, he gave to all causes which he deemed worthy of support, and in his death, which occurred at Clarksburg August 13, 1915, the city lost a citizen who had been public-spirited and con- structive in co-operating in movements for the general wel fare. He was a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which the members of the bereaved family belong.

Mr. Smiley's first marriage was with Miss Araminta Kil. gore, of Franklin, Pennsylvania, who died shortly after the removal of the family to Clarksburg, leaving one child Frederic Stratton, now an oil man of California. Frederic S. Smiley is a graduate of Culver Military Academy, Culver Indiana. When the United States entered the World war he enlisted in the United States Army and was at once sent to Fort Sheridan, Illinois, where he was commissioned a second lieutenant. Later he was ordered to the Univer. sity of Illinois, at Urbana, where be served as an instructor until the close of the war. He did not get an opportunity to go overseas, the armistice being signed before he was assigned for such service. On June 21, 1904, Charles S. Smiley married Miss Pearl Siggins, a native of Bradford Pennsylvania, and a daughter of John W. and Jane (Clark) Siggins. Mrs. Smiley survives her husband with three chil. dren: Jane Louise, Ruth Kinnear and Helen Bushnell.

AUSTIN J. KING, of Huntington, president of a dozen leading coal companies in the West Virginia fields, and one of the recognized leaders in the industry, began working in an Ohio coal mine at the age of twelve, and while ac. quiring a knowledge of mining from a practical standpoint he continued his studies in school and eventually completed a course in mining engineering. Even a brief record of his consecutive experience is a stimulating example of the power of an individual to rise above his circumstances.

Mr. King, whose full name is Austin John King, was born at Salineville, Columbiana County. Ohio, May 19. 1874. His father, Anstin King, was an Englishman by birth, of Irish parentage, born at Portobello, July 8, 1851, was reared there. and in 1870, before reaching his majority, came to the United States. He lived for several years at Salineville, Ohio, was married there, entered the coal mines and for several years was a state mine inspector of Ohio. During 1884-6 he had charge of mines at Leetonia. In 1886 he removed to Leisenring, Pennsylvania, became coal mine superintendent, was for two years, beginning in 1890, a state inspector of coal mines in Pennsylvania, and in 1892 returned to the practical part of mining at Leisenring, the mines in that locality baving in the meantime been acquired by the H. C. Frick Coal & Coke Company. He continued with that great corporation as a superintendent the rest of his life except for three years as general manager of the Dominion Coal Company at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Eventually he became chief mine inspector for the Frick Coal & Coke Company, and had held that office for a number of years before his death, which occurred at Scottdale. Pennsylvania, in May, 1915. He was a democrat, a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Church.

Austin King married Mary Maloney, who was born in Lancashire, England, August 15, 1852. and died at Scott- dale, Pennsylvania, April 14, 1914. Of their large family of children Austin John is the oldest. Patrick S., a resident of Pittsburgh, is a state mine inspector in Pennsylvania Frank E., of Huntington, is general superintendent of the Aracoma Coal Company, Sunbeam Coal Company, Thermo Pocahontas Coal Company, King Fuel Company, Oneida Coal Company, is secretary-treasurer of the Halcon Coa Company, the Standard Eagle Coal Company, the Beckley

Alting

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Pocahontas Coal Company, the Lick Fork Collieries Com- pany and the Dorkent Coal Company. The fourth child, John R., lives at Pittsburgh and is a mine foreman. Sister Mary Austin is a Franciscan nun in St. Anthony's Convent at Sacramento, California. Catherine V. is a graduate of St. Francis Xavier University at Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and is a prominent teacher in the public schools of Pitts- burgh. Nora B. is voucher clerk for the H. C. Frick Coal & Coke Company of Pittsburgh. Dr. Edward A. is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with the medical degree, is a New York surgeon, being visiting surgeon of St. Vincent's Hospital of that city, adjunct visiting surgeon of Bellevue Hospital, and a professor of surgery in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College. The ninth child is Mrs. Bonfiglio, a trained nurse, graduate of Johns Hopkins Hos- pital and the wife of a physician and surgeon at Long Beach, California. Thomas A. was educated in Duquesne University of Pittsburgh and St. Francis Xavier University of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, studied law in the University of West Virginia at Morgantown, and is now a mining en- gineer in New York City. Margaret D., the youngest, is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, and is teacher in the public schools of that city.

As noted above, the education of Austiu J. King was acquired in the intervals of other work. He attended public schools in Ohio, the Ingleside Academy of MeDonald, Pennsylvania, and for two years was a student of engineer- ing in the Ohio State University. His first work in a coal mine, continuing for a year and beginning at the age of twelve, was in the National Mine at Washingtonville, Ohio. Another year he worked in the potteries at Liverpool, Ohio. For about a year he and his brother Patrick S. alternated in their duties, operating the pumping plant at night in the mines at McDonald, Pennsylvania, and during the day at- tended school. From the age of fifteen to seventeen Mr. King worked in the mines at Houtzdale, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and from August 15, 1891, to September 1, 1893, was employed with the engineer corps of the H. C. Frick Coal & Coke Company. This was an experience that gave him a broader knowledge of the technic of coal mining in general, and following that he took a course in mine engineering in the Ohio State University. Leaving Univer- sity in 1895, from June to October of that year he was shipping clerk in the mine office of the H. C. Frick Coal & Coke Company at Leisenring, then resumed his duties with the engineer corps until March 1, 1900, with headquarters at Scottdale, and at the last mentioned date became division engineer of the Pittsburgh Coal Company. He was on duty there four months, and on July 1, 1900, became chief engineer and assistant general superintendent of the South- west Virginia Improvement Company, with headquarters at Pocahontas, Virginia. During the next ten or twelve years Mr. King has held a number of responsible positions with mining and industrial corporations. December 1, 1901, he was made general superintendent for the Southwest Virginia Improvement Company, a name, changed at that time to the Pocahontas Collieries Company. In August, 1903, he became general superintendent of the Virginia Iron Coal & Coke Company at Toms Creek. January 1, 1904, he began his duties as general superintendent of the James W. Ellsworth Company, with mines at Ellsworth and Washington County, Pennsylvania. For two years, be- ginning in March, 1905, he was chief engineer of the New River Smokeless Coal Company at Rush Run, West Virginia. When this business was acquired by the Guggenheims of New York the name of the company was changed to the New River Collieries Company, with Mr. King as division superintendent. His duties were interrupted in March, 1909, by a second attack of typhoid fever, the first of which had occurred in 1903. After recovering he resumed work July 1, 1909, as assistant chief inspector of the Department of Mines of West Virginia, but on December 1st of the same year was again appointed general superintendent of the Pocahontas Collieries Company at Pocahontas, Virginia. On March 15, 1911, he left to take charge of properties in Logan County, and since that date has been an independent coal operator, with constantly enlarging and growing inter- ests. His home has been at Huntington, since May, 1917.

A brief outline of his connections and interests as a coal miner is summarized in the following : President and general manager of the Aracoma Coal Company, Sunbeam Coal Company, Eagle Island Coal Company, King Fuel Company, Oneida Coal Company, Halcon Coal Company, Standard Eagle Coal Company, Lick Fork Collieries Com- pany, Thermo-Pocahontas Coal Company, Beckley-Poca- hontas Coal Company, Dorkent Coal Company and Carroll Coal Company. His executive offices are in the Robson- Pritchard Building at Huntington. Among other business . interests Mr. King is a director of the Ohio Valley Bank of Huntington, and has some valuable land interests near White Sulphur Springs. His home is a beautiful modern residence on Staunton Road at Huntington.

As one of the prominent coal miners of the country he is associated in membership with the Mining Institute of West Virginia, the American Mining Congress, the Coal Mining Institute of America, which has its headquarters in Pitts- burgh, and is a former member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. He is a republican, a Catholic, a fourth degree Knight of Columbus in Huntington Council No. 963, and is a member of the Guyandotte Club and the Guyan Country Club of Huntington.

In November, 1895, at Leisenring, Pennsylvania, Mr. King married Miss Catherine Carroll, daughter of William and Mary (Naylon) Carroll, the latter a resident of Con- nellsville, Pennsylvania, while her father, who died at Leisenring, was a yard foreman in a coke yard. Mr. King lost his wife by death at Charleston, February 8, 1914. . She was the mother of nine children: Mary, employed in the office of the state tax commissioner at Charleston; Austin C., purchasing agent for the companies of which his father is president, and who graduated A. B. from Yale University in June, 1921; Helen is a graduate nurse from Mercy Hos- pital of Pittsburgh; William P. is student in the Carnegie Institute of Technology of Pittsburgh; Catherine died at the age of ten months; Paul is employed in mines at Logan, West Virginia; Virginia, Margaret and Harriet are students in St. Joseph's Parochial School of Huntington.

On June 27, 1917, at Charleston, Mr. King married Miss Catherine A. Cavey, of that city. For twelve years before her marriage she followed her profession as a trained nurse, being a graduate of the Deaconess Hospital of Cincinnati. Mr. and Mrs. King have three children: James, born October 22, 1918; John, boru December 29, 1919; and Anna, born August 19, 1921.

LOUIS A. JOHNSON, a Clarksburg lawyer, and an ex- service man, has been a member of the West Virginia bar for ten years. He was born at Roanoke, Roanoke County, Virginia, January 10, 1891, son of Marcelus A. and Kath- erine L. (Arthur ) Johnson, and grandson of Caleb B. John- son and James Louis Arthur, who were Virginia planters and Confederate soldiers in the war between the states.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 41

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