History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 46

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Leonard S. Hall, father of Septimius, was born in Bar- bour County in September, 1824, and as a boy accompanied his parents to Middle Island Creek, at what is now Wait Joseph's Mills in Tyler County. At the age of fifteen he left West Virginia and joined his uncle, Thomas Hall, in Kosciusko County, Indiana. He returned from there and settled at Bond's Creek in Ritehie County, where he mar- ried and where he began the study of law. About 1849 he located in New Martinsville, where during the rest of

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his life he was a leader at the bar. He was a strong South- ern man in sympathies, and was a member of the Secession Convention at Richmond in 1861, which passed the Ordi- nance of Secession, and continued a member of the Vir- ginia Legislature during the war. For a number of terms he held the office of prosecuting attorney of Wetzel County, and he died at New Martinsville, November 10, 1875. In his younger years he was a member of the Methodist Church, and was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Leonard S. Hall married Jeanette McGregor, who was born in Ritchie County and died at Wheeling in her eighty-third year and now rests at New Martinsville. Septimius was the oldest of five children. William Mc- Gregor, the second, became a merchant and later a lawyer at New Martinsville, and died at Wheeling Hospital. Susanna is the wife of James W. Newman, a New Martins- ville attorney. Bruce is a member of the New Martinsville bar. Addie is the wife of Wilbur P. Baggs, their home being on Wheeling Island. Mr. Baggs is a member of the firm, Spence, Baggs & Company, operating one of the old established foundries at Martins Ferry, Ohio.

Septimius Hall, who was born in Ritchie County, Feb- ruary 14, 1847, was an infant when his father began the practice of law in New Martinsville, where he attended the public schools. He studied law in his father's office and when just ready for examination for the bar he organized the Pittsburg Stave Company, and operated that industry at New Martinsville for about twelve years.

Mr. Hall has always been one of the leaders in the demo- cratie party in this section of the state. He was chosen a member of the Constitutional Convention in October, 1871, in the last October election ever held in the state. He had an active part in drawing up the organic law, and was then elected a member of the first State Senate under the new constitution, serving throughout the long sessions of 1872-73. He was chairman of the committee on banks and corporations, and drew up the first general railroad law of the state, a measure that has stood the acid test of time and most of its provisions are still on the statute books. Mr. Hall represented the Second Senatorial District, in- cluding Marshall, Marion and Wetzel counties.

About ten years later he was elected a member of the House of Delegates, serving from 1881 to 1884, while the capital was at Wheeling. lle was representative of Wetzel County. Mr. Hall also served as mayor of New Martins- ville one year. In 1906 he was again elected to represent Wetzel County in the House of Delegates, and beginning with the session of 1907 has been continuously a member of that body, being now in his eighth consecutive term. He has been assigned to some of the most important com- mittees in the Legislature, including taxation and finance, and was a member of the Virginia Debt Committee.

He is a past grand of Magnolia Lodge No. 42, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, is a past grand master of the Grand Lodge of the state, and has represented the State Grand Lodge in three meetings of the Sovereign Grand Lodge. He is also a Royal Arch Mason.

Mr. Hall and family reside at 705 Maple Avenue in New Martinsville. He married in June, 1875, at Moundsville, Miss Fannie Anschutz, daughter of Christian and Rebecca (Woodwell) Anschutz, now deceased. Her father for a number of years was owner of the Moundsville Flouring Mills. Mr. Hall has four children. Charles Leonard is an attorney for oil corporations at Tulsa, Oklahoma; Lulu, living with her parents, is the widow of Samuel Brice Blair, who was an attorney of Moundsville; Septimius, Jr., is connected with the Tulsa Mapping Company in Oklahoma; LaMoine is a constructive engineer at Muskogee, Oklahoma.

HARRY HAGER ROOME is proprietor of a large commer- cial establishment at Pine Grove, and for years has also been active in the oil and gas fields of West Virginia, chiefly as a drilling contractor, though he also owns some valuable production.

Mr. Roome was born at Little Rock, Arkansas, April 16, 1884, but represents an old West Virginia family. His grandfather, John Roome, was a pioneer farmer of Tyler County, where he died in 1860. He married Miss McCan-

less, who died in Tyler County in 1859. Their son, John W. Roome, was born in Tyler County, February 14, 1858, and as a young man followed farming in that county. For ten years he was foreman of metal yards for the Wheeling Steel Works, and in 1895 removed to Sisters- ville, during the oil boom, and for a quarter of a century has been active in the drilling of oil and gas wells. He spent four years in the Sistersville field, four years in the Piney Fork field of Wetzel County, two years at Pine Grove, and since then his work and experience have been in the Oklahoma and Texas fields and he now lives at Broken Ridge, Texas. He is a democrat, a member of the Methodist Church and the Knights of Pythias. John W. Roome married Esther Sines, who was born in Tyler County in 1861. They have three children: Nell, of Tulsa, Okla- homa, widow of H. C. Witherup, who was an oil field con- tractor; Harry H .; and John W., Jr., an oil well driller at Tulsa.

Harry Hager Roome attended public school at Benwood in Marshall County until he was twelve, and after that his education was completed with six winter terms in Tyler County. In the meantime, at the age of sixteen, he went to work in the oil field at Piney Fork as an employe of the Hope Natural Gas Company. While with this com- pany he dressed tools, also drilled wells, and in 1903 he moved to Pine Grove. He still owas and operates two strings of drilling tools, representing an investment of $15,000, and has been a contractor in the drilling of oil and gas wells over a large scope of territory in West Vir ginia. On March 9, 1917, Mr. Roome established a genera store at Pine Grove, and has since developed a large es tablishment, representing a heavy capital investment and with a complete stock of goods. He owns his store build ing on Main Street and also a stone business block which is the main business structure in the town. This is used for his wholesale feed and grain department. He also ha: three valuable lots in the Newman addition adjoining the high school, and in 1921 he erected three dwellings in the Alley addition of Pine Grove. He also has oil produc tion in the Green district of Wetzel County and is a di rector of the Bank of Pine Grove.

Mr. Roome is a democrat, a member of the Methodis Episcopal Church, and in fraternal affairs is affiliated with Wetzel Lodge No. 39, A. F. and A. M., at New Martins ville; West Virginia Consistory No. 1 of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling; Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheel ing; and is a past vice chancellor commander of Sylva Lodge No. 130, Knights of Pythias, at Pine Grove.

On April 26, 1907, at New Martinsville, he married Mis Mena Balwanz, daughter of Fred and Ollie (Martin) Ba wanz, residents of Chillicothe, Ohio, where her father is farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Roome have two children: Harr Hager, Jr., born May 20, 1915; and Marylann, born i 1918.

BRUCE Y. BRANHAN, superintendent of the Leevale Min at Leevale, is one of the capable men and good citizens Raleigh County whose courage and efficiency have hee sorely tried during the disturbances in the coal industry He was born at Acme, West Virginia, September 28, 189 a son of John W. and Ella (Coiner) Branhan. The pate nal grandfather, Shannon Branhan, was of Scotch ancestr John W. Branhan was born in West Virginia, and his wij was a native of the same state. Beginning as a boy in mine when about fourteen years of age, he came to Leeva in 1912 and gradually worked his way up through the var ous positions to that of superintendent, and was holdir the latter at the time of his death. He was one of tl influential men in the coal industry in his locality, ar was for years a Mason.

After completing the eighth grade in the public schoo of his native place Bruce Y. Branhan went to Charlesto West Virginia, and took a business course at the Capit City Commercial College, completing it in 1914. Comir then to Leevale, he was bookkeeper and store manager f five years, and then was his father's assistant until tl death of the latter, at which time he succeeded to the supe intendency of the mine. During the period of the war

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was kept at the mine by the Government, who regarded his work there as more essential than service in the army. Dur- ing the labor troubles of 1921 Mr. Branhan had some ex- citing experiences, and for weeks he and his family lived in fear for their lives. A gang of forty men, all armed with high-power rifles, visited the mine and demanded and took away with them all of the arms belonging to the company.

In December, 1916, Mr. Branhan married at Huntington, West Virginia, Miss Naomi Russell, a daughter of Don C. and Daisy (Derrick) Russell, both of whom were West Virginians. He is engaged in a real estate business. Mr. and Mrs. Branhan have two children, namely : Robert Lewis and Paul Frederick. Mr. Branhan is a Blue Lodge Mason, a member of the Scottish Rite of Wheeling, West Virginia, and of Beni-Kedem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. In polities he is a republican. He is a reliable man, experi- enced in his work, and faithful to the responsibilities rest- ing upon him. As a citizen he is loyal to his home commu- nity, and anxious to do all within his power to improve conditions and advance its well being. Such men as he are a tower of strength in times of public stress, as well as those of normaley.

ALFRED D. CALLIHAN. A brief outline of the personal career of Alfred D. Callihan recalls a number of the de- velopments in the mining district of Southern West Vir- ginia during the past thirty years. His intimate association with the coal interests of the state began in the New River ield during the construction of the Chesapeake & Ohio Rail- oad there in 1891. Mr. Calliban, whose home is at 713 Tenth Street, Huntington, is superintendent of the Paragon Colliery Company at Yolyn, Logan County.

Mr. Callihan was born at Greenup, Kentucky, October 3, 1872, son of Daniel and Sallie ( Willis) Callihan, both na- ives of Greenup County. His father was born in 1814 and lied in 1892. The mother died July 20, 1920, at the age of ighty-six. Daniel Callihan was a farmer and country mer- hant, was a republican in politics and was a Methodist, while his wife was a Baptist.

Alfred D. Callihan, fifth in a family of seven children, tttended school at Greenup until he was about eighteen rears of age. At that time he entered the service of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company as a water boy dur- ng construction work on the Eastern Cincinnati Division. Soon afterward he was in the train service in West Vir- pinia, in the yards at Sewell, and there came successive promotions to more responsible work, leading from bill lerk to train master and the operation of trains over all he branches of the Chesapeake & Ohio leading into the va- ious coal fields.

In 1897 Mr. Callihan became associated with coal pro- uction with the MeDonald Colliery Company at McDonald nd the Cranberry Fuel Company, being superintendent of oth properties. In 1908 he took charge as superintend- nt of the White Oak Railroad and the Piney River and 'aint Creek Road as joint superintendent for the Virgin- in Railroad Company and the Chesapeake & Ohio. While erforming these duties his home was at Oak Hill.

In 1915 he took over the management of the Guyan Val- y Coal Company at Crown in Logan County. This sub- equently became the property of the W. E. Deegans in- erests. Then, in 1920, Mr. Callihan came to Yolyn in harge of Paragon Mines Nos. 1 and 2. This is likewise ›eegans property.

In 1902 Mr. Callihan married Janie Dixon, daughter of Dixon, of Price Hill, Raleigh County. They have a son, Dixon. Mr. and Mrs. Callihan are members of the Meth- dist Episcopal Church at Huntington. He is affiliated ith the Masonic Lodge at McDonald, the Royal Arch hapter and Knight Templar Commandery at Huntington, le Shrine at Charleston, and in polities he is a repub- can.

MRS. JANE CHARLOTTE (WASHINGTON) WILLIS, of Charles own, Jefferson County, is a lineal descendant of Col. John Washington, the founder of the distinguished American mily of which George Washington was a representative.

Mrs. Willis was born at Mount Vernon, Fairfax County, Virginia, and is a daughter of John Augustin Washington, Jr., who was born in what is now Jefferson County, West Virginia, at Blakeley, a son of John Augustin and Jane Charlotte (Blackburn) Washington, the latter a grand- daughter of Thomas Blackburn. Corbin Washington, great- grandfather of Mrs. Willis, was a great-great-grandson of Col. John and Anne (Pope) Washington. Mount Vernon, the old homestead of the Washington family, was devised by Augustin Washington to Lawrence Washington, who gave to it the name of Mount Vernon in honor of Admiral Vernon of the English Navy. Lawrence Washington had no children, and he gave to his nephew, Bushrod Washing- ton, the old family homestead. Bushrod Washington died childless, and gave the old home to his nephew, John Augustin Washington, Sr., who bequeathed the estate to his wife and she to her son John Augustin, Jr., father of Mrs. Willis of this review, he having been the last private owner of this historie property.

John Augustin Washington, Jr., attended the University of Virginia and also Princeton College, New Jersey. He did not adopt a profession, but busied himself with farm in- dustry and continued to reside with his family at Mount Vernon until he sold the property to the Ladies Mount Ver- non Association of the Union, which preserved the same as an American historic shrine. After the sale of this property Mr. Washington purchased and removed with his family to a farm in Fanquier County, Virginia. At the inception of the war between the states he entered the Confederate mil- itary service and served as a colonel on the staff of Gen. Robert E. Lee. While at the head of a reconnoitering ex- pedition in 1861 he was killed by a Union force, on the 13th of September, his wife having died in 1860. After his death his children were taken into the home of his brother, Richard Blackburn Washington, at Blakeley, Jefferson County, West Virginia, as now constituted, and here Mrs. Willis remained until her marriage. Her mother, whose maiden name was Eleanor Love Selden, was a daughter of Wilson Cary Selden and Louise (Fontaine) Alexander Sel- den, and, as previously noted, her death occurred in 1860. Lonise Fontaine, eldest of the children, is the widow of Col. Roger P. Chew, to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this work, and the names of the other chil- dren are here entered in respective order of birth: Jane Charlotte, Eliza Selden, Anna Maria, Lawrence, Eleanor L. and George.

January 13, 1869, recorded the marriage of Nathaniel Hite Willis to Miss Jane Charlotte Washington. Mr. Wil- lis was born at Rock Hall, Jefferson County, in 1842, a son of Thomas Hite Willis, who likewise was born in this county and who was the son of Carver Willis, the latter's wife having been a descendant of Yoist Hite, one of the first settlers in Virginia, now West Virginia. Thomas Hite Wil- lis was for many years engaged in farm enterprise at Roek Hall, and was the owner of a gooodly number of slaves. After his removal to Charles Town he lived retired until his death, in his eighty-fourth year. The maiden name of his wife was Elizabeth Ryland.

At the age of nineteen years Nathaniel H. Willis became a soldier of the Confederacy, and he served in Clark's Cav- alry until he was captured by the enemy, he having there- after been held as a Federal prisoner of war until the close of the great conflict, when he returned home and resumed farm operations at Rock Hall. In 1906 he removed to Charles Town, where he lived retired until his death, Oc- tober 26, 1914, his widow still remaining in the pleasant home which he here provided. The religious faith of the family is that of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Mr. and Mrs. Willis became the parents of eight children: Elizabeth Ryland, Eleanor Love, Thomas Hite, Richard Washington, Eliza Washington, John Augustin, Pattie and Jean Charlotte.

COLUMBUS M. WARD. In the uniformly progressive ca- reer of Columbus M. Ward, a leading attorney of Beckley, several personal traits are quite noticeable, among which may be mentioned versatility of talents combined with thoroughness of preparation and depth of legal knowledge.

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A man of broad education and experience, of high personal character, courteous and able, he is one of Raleigh County's strong citizens.

Mr. Ward was born on his father's farm, three miles from Beckley, and within sight of his present office, over the Post Office, February 3, 1879, being a son of Gilbert and Mary (Fitzpatrick) Ward, natives of Raleigh County. Gilbert Ward was born in 1850, shortly after the arrival of his father, Thomas Ward, from near Lynchburg, Vir- ginia. Thomas Ward was a simple farmer who settled in the community of Beckley, then a straggling village. He applied himself conscientiously to his labors in the fields, sought no public office and was a faithful member of the Missionary Baptist Church. His son, Gilbert Ward, fol- lowed in his footsteps and was a farmer all his life, his death occurring in 1913, when he was sixty-three years of age. He was too young to fight during the war between the states, but two of his brothers were soldiers in the Confederate service. He was also a member of the Mission- ary Baptist Church. Mr. Ward married Mary Fitzpatrick, daughter of Timothy Fitzpatrick, who came in young man- hood from Dublin, Ireland, to Boston, Massachusetts, and then moved to Raleigh County, West Virginia, where he engaged in farming. Of the ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Ward nine are still living, and Columbus M. is the eldest. Mrs. Ward still survives her husband at the age of sixty-five years, and is living on the old home farm.

Columbus M. Ward attended the free schools of his local- ity, and afterward leaving, like numerous others who have reached successful positions along professional lines, he commenced his career as a teacher in the rural schools. He taught six terms, following which he spent one year at Grant University, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and completed his law course at West Virginia University, from which he was duly graduated with his degree. He was admitted to the bar in 1907, at which time he commenced practice at Beckley in partnership with A. P. Farley and S. S. Sutphin, but in 1909 this partnership was dissolved and since then Mr. Ward has been engaged in practice alone. He has a heavy professional business both in real estate and crim- inal law, and in numerous cases has shown himself a thor- oughly capable and learned member of his profession. He is a member of the Raleigh County Bar Association and keens fully abreast of his profession. As a youth he at- tended all meetings of the debating society of his locality and took part therein. His first case as a lawyer was be- fore a rural justice of the peace and involved a boy's suit worth $90. Mr. Ward spent a day in looking up the case, and when he brought it before the rural court it was fully prepared. This custom he has always followed. His keen analytical mind affords him unusual facility in working out the details of a case. and it is said that before going into the courtroom he must know that he is thoroughly prepared for every development that may arise during the trial. His contemporaries are quick to acknowledge his special abili- ties and his high position among the lawyers of the county.

In 1909 Mr. Ward married Miss Nellie Collins, daughter of John C. Collins. a well-known family of Favette County, West Virginia. Mrs. Ward died one year later. leaving one son, John C. In 1913 Mr. Ward married Miss Grace Monroe. daughter of Thomas J. Monroe, of Mercer County, West Virginia, who came from Lynchburg. Virginia. To this union there have been born three children: Helen, Charles and Janice.

NORRIS H. REARDON is representative of the second gener- ation of the Reardon family in the petroleum industry. His work in the oil fields of Pennsylvania began when he was a boy, and about thirty years ago he came to West Virginia and is one of the thoroughly expert men in the handling of all phases of drilling. construction and prac- tical field operations. Mr. Reardon lives at Jacksonburg and is field superintendent for the Kanawha Oil Company.

He was born at Hendersonville. Pennsylvania, Novem- ber 28, 1873. His grandfather. Patrick Reardon, was born in County Clare. Ireland. in 1791. and was about thirteen years of age when his parents left Ireland in 1804 and came to America. The family lived for several years in

New York City and in 1808 they established their home in Clarion County, Pennsylvania. Patrick Reardon was reared in Pennsylvania, married in Clarion County, where he followed farming, and subsequently joined the exodus to California as a forty-niner. He lost his life as the result of an explosion in his gold mine in California soon after going there. His son, Arthur B. Reardon, was born near Shippensville in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, in 1850, and grew up and married in his native community. Practically all his life he has been an oil operator and producer. His experience was in the Pennsylvania fields until 1885, and since then much of his time has been spent in South America. He has prospected for oil and gas all over the southern continent, and for two years was with Mr. White of Morgantown, West Virginia, in Brazil. He is still associated with a Brazilian company, and in No- vember, 1921, he returned to South America for the pur- pose of completing a well which had been drilled to a depth of 1,605 feet twenty-three years before. This well is 263 miles from the coast inland from Sa-Opola. Ar- thur B. Reardon is a republican and a member of the United Brethren Church. He married Delilah Amsler, who was born near Fryburg in Clarion County, October 13, 1851. Since 1879 they have had their home at Bradford in Mckean County, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Their children are: Harvey H., a contractor and producer in the oil fields of Oklahoma, with home at Winona; Norris H .; Sarah Naomi, wife of Wil- liam G. Sisson, a real estate man at Olean, New York; John Milton, whose home is at Bradford, but whose work is as field superintendent for the Penn-Mexican Oil Com- pany at Tuxpam, Mexico.

Norris H. Reardon was about six years of age when his parents established their home at Bradford, and he was reared and educated in that city. He left school at the age of seventeen, and his first employment in the oil fields was in the Timbuck fields of Mckean County for the firm of Jennings and Roth. He did pumping for three months, and then became a pumper in the Bradford field for John P. Zane until 1892. In the latter year Mr. Reardon came to Sistersville, West Virginia, soon after the first oil had been produced in this section. He began here with the Kanawha Oil Company as a roustabout, was made gang boss and soon afterward farm boss. From 1903 to 1915 Mr. Reardon was superintendent for the Delmar Oil Com pany at Folsom, Wetzel County. Since 1915 his headquar ters have been at Jacksonburg, while he has been field su perintendent for both the Kanawha Oil Company and the Delmar Oil Company. Mr. Reardon has a force of forty three employes under his supervision, his offices being a Buffalo Run in Jacksonburg. He has full charge of al the operations involved in drilling, construction work and lifting of the oil, and also has charge of four compressing plants.

Mr. Reardon is a republican and is affiliated with Little ton Lodge No. 131. A. F. and A. M .; Sistersville Lodg. No. 333, B. P. O. E .; and Sistersville Tent No. 3, Knight of the Maccabees. Besides responding to the needs of th Government like other good citizens at the time of the wa he did much additional work as a member of the oil an gas committee at Mannington in Marion County.

Mr. Reardon married at Mannington in 1903, Miss Maud Lemmons, who was born near Jollytown, Greene County Pennsylvania. They have three children: William H born July 12, 1905, in the second year of the Jacksonbur High School; Beulah N., born December 4, 1906, in he first year in high school; and Lillian. born June 28, 1908 in the seventh grade of the public schools.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 46

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