History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 47

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WARD COOK. Aside from any consideration that ma attach to him as a member of one of the old and prom. nent families of the southwestern part of West Virgini. Ward Cook has established himself in the confidence and r gard of the people of Raleigh County by the manner i which he has discharged the duties of various public poe tions, particularly that of county assessor, in which capa ity he has served since 1921. For many years Mr. Coc was engaged in agricultural pursuits, and in every avent

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of activity has shown himself industrious, straightforward and capable.

Ward Cook was born October 18, 1869, two and one-half miles west of Beckley, where now is situated Cabell Sta- tion, on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, and is a son of George P. and Sarah Jane (Cook) Cook, and a grandson of Thomas Cook, who was born in Wyoming County, this state. George P. Cook was born on Rockcastle Creek, in Wyoming County, near Pineville, in 1844, and during the var between the states served for one year in the Union Army as a member of Company I, Seventh Regiment, West Virginia Cavalry. In 1866 he came to Raleigh County and settled on a farm on White Stick Creek, where he continued to be engaged in successful agricultural opera- ions during the remainder of his life. He was a stanch republican in politics and a deacon in the Baptist Church, n the faith of which he died in 1903. Mrs. Cook, who was not related to her husband prior to their marriage, was born in Summers County, West Virginia, a daughter of John Cook, and died in 1904, at the age of sixty-three ears. There were four children in the family: Marietta, he wife of D. S. Cline, engaged in agricultural pursuits at Mabscott, near Beckley; Nellie, the wife of A. M. Godhey, f Beckley, who occupies the post of Raleigh County jailer; Emma, who died at the age of twenty years as the wife of John C. Riffe, of this county, and Ward.

Ward Cook attended the home schools and at the age of lineteen years taught one term of school at Pineville, Wy- ming County. During the next quarter of a century he pplied himself to farming, first spending two years on he home farm and then purchasing a farm at Mabscott, Raleigh County, where he spent twenty-three years and made , success of his operations. In 1909 he was appointed dep- ity county assessor, a position which he held under J. C. Ailem until 1912. In 1917 he was chosen for the position f county jailer, which he filled very satisfactorily up to nd including 1920, and in 1921 was elected county asses- or, which position he holds at this time. Mr. Cook makes n excellent executive, courteous, industrious and efficient, nd well merits the confidence in which he is held by his ellow-citizens. His office is located in the Court House at Beckley, and visitors thereto find him at all times ready to nform them regarding the business of his department and o help them in any way in the straightening out of their erplexities as to tax matters. In political affairs he is a tanch republican, and, with his family, is a member of the Baptist Church. He has several fraternal affiliations.

In 1890 Mr. Cook was united in marriage with Miss ulia Wills, daughter of Enoch Wills, of Wyoming County, nd to this union there have been born six children: Lake 'rie, the wife of G. R. Hutchison, of Beckley; E. H., who his father's assistant in the assessor's office; Ethel, who the wife of C. M. Brnce, of Beckley; Wanda, wife of L. 1. Warden, of Stotesbury; and Rebecca and Rose, who re attending the public schools of Beckley.

KYLE M. JARRELL, M. D. Engaged in the practice of medicine at Beckley since 1914, Dr. Kyle M. Jarrell has ained a firm place in the confidence and esteem of the eople of this community both as a physician and a citi- en. He is recognized as a capable practitioner and a spe- alist in the line of children's diseases, and at present oc- pies a position on the staff of the King's Daughters Hos- ital. He was born near Dorothy, Raleigh County, West irginia, October 15, 1881, and is a son of William H. and [ollie (Snuffer) Jarrell. His father, born in 1850, in West irginia, has been engaged in agricultural pursuits all his fe, and since 1887 has resided on a well-improved property 1 Clear Creek, where he continues his operations with the ime good management and industry that characterized his irlier years. He is a democrat in politics and one of his ommunity's public-spirited citizens. He and Mrs. Jarrell re highly respected and are consistent members of the resbyterian Church. They have three children. Dennis ., a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, altimore, Maryland, class of 1915, entered the Army Med- al Corps during the World war, trained at Camp Green- af, Georgia, where he received a lieutenant's commission,

was promoted to a captaincy, spent two years overseas and saw service in first aid on the battle lines. Since his return in 1919 he has been associated with his brother in practice at Beckley. Bessie is the wife of Dr. J. F. Easton, also a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, and now engaged in practice at Clear Creek.

Kyle M. Jarrell received his early education in the little old log schoolhouse located on Clear Creek, following which he had the advantage of one year's attendance at Beckley Institute, where Professor White was his instructor. It was his youthful ambition to enter the medical profession, but the family finances were not in a condition to pay for his education, and he accordingly set out to earn the means of realizing his desires. For two years he taught school at Dorothy, saving $100 each year out of his small salary, and in the vacation periods worked in saw-mills and lum- her camps. With the money thus earned, and a small amount borrowed from his father and long since paid back, he entered the medical college of the University of Mary- land, from which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1906, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine. For one year following he was an interne at University Hospital, Baltimore, and then began the practice of lis calling at his home community of Clear Creek. In 1914 lie did special work at the Boston City Hospital and at the Infants Hospital, Harvard, and in the same year began practice at Beckley, where he has since remained. Doctor Jarrell has always been a great lover of children, and this has caused him to make a special study of the diseases of children, in which he is accounted an authority. He was president of the board of health of Raleigh County from 1908 to 1912, and was a member of the draft board of Raleigh County during the World war, and sent 4,000 sol- diers to the training camps. Doctor Jarrell belongs to the various organizations of his profession and keeps in touch with the latest advancements made. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and while living at Clear Creek was superintendent of the Sunday school. Fraternally he is af- filiated with Beckley Lodge No. 95, A. F. and A. M .; Beck- ley Chapter, R. A. M .; Mount Hope Commandery, K. T .; Beni-Kedem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and the Knights of Pythias; and also holds membership in the Kiwanis Club of Beckley and the Beckley Chamber of Commerce. In his political views he is a democrat.

On June 15, 1910, Doctor Jarrell was united in marriage with Miss Mahel D. Allen, of Lowell, Massachusetts, daughter of George F. Allen, and to them there have been born three children: Arthur P., Eileen Lucile and Kyle M., Jr.

JACKSON SMITH. After twenty-four years in the Court House of Raleigh County at Beckley, at the close of his present term in the capacity of county clerk, or two terms as circuit clerk and two terms as county clerk, the verdict of the people of this county is that Jackson Smith has ren- dered services that have heen highly efficient, strongly con- scientious, markedly faithful and at all times courteous. His record as a public servant is one that compares favor- ably with those of any other men who have held office in this part of West Virginia, and should serve as an example worthy of emulation by other men placed in positions of responsibility by the voters.

Mr. Smith was born on a farm which was situated on the present site of Pear, Raleigh County, October 21, 1868, a son of James and Susan (Bennett) Smith and a grandson of Jacob Smith. Jacob Smith was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, and as a young man moved to Muddy Creek, Greenbrier County, West Virginia, whence he went to the present site of Quinnimont, Fayette County. He was the owner of 1,000 acres of land, on a part of which was later built the towns of Prince and Quinnimont. He car- ried on agricultural pursuits all his life and died in 1882. James Smith was born at Quinnimont, West Virginia, in 1841, and as a young man engaged in farming. When the war between the states came on he enlisted in the Union army, and served until the close of the struggle, when he returned to agricultural operations. He was a capable busi- ness man and an able farmer and made a success of his

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career. He was a faithful member of the Baptist Church, and died in that faith in 1919. He married Susan Bennett, who was born at Pear, West Virginia, a daughter of Jacob Bennett, who was born in what is now Raleigh County, but was then Logan County, and owned a large tract of land, approximating 1,500 acres. He was well-to-do and highly respected and lived to a ripe old age. Mrs. Smith still sur- vives her husband, at the age of eighty-two years, and is a member of the Baptist Church. She and her husband were the parents of the following children: Thomas L., who is engaged in the timber business in Fayette County, specializing in supplying timber used in the mines; Jack- son, of this record; Ervin, who is engaged in mining at Glen Morgan, Raleigh County; Mary Ann, the wife of E. B. Stover, engaged in the timber business at Sylvia, Raleigh County; Nancy, who is the wife of Harvey Gill, a miner of Grand View, Raleigh County; Martha, the wife of Cyrus Houchius, a merchant at Pride, Mercer County; and Susan, the wife of Allen Bennett, a farmer on Meadow Creek, Summers County.

Jackson Smith attended a subscription school at home and one at Grims Landing in Mason County, and at the age of twenty years adopted the profession of teaching, his career in this connection beginning with a school at New, Raleigh County. During the next sixteen years he con- tinued his educational work, and in that time taught eight- een schools. Many prominent citizens of Raleigh County went to school to Mr. Smith, who was at all times regarded as a very efficient and popular instructor of the young. In 1890 Mr. Smith began his public service to the citizens of Raleigh County by taking the census of Richmond Dis- trict, and from that time to the present has been constantly before the people in some official capacity, in which he has given an excellent account of himself. In 1902 he was elected circuit clerk of Raleigh County, taking office Janu- ary 1, 1903, and was re-elected in 1908, in which year, so well had he performed his duties, he was given the un- qualified endorsement of three parties, the republicans, the democrats and the prohibitionists. In 1914 he was elected county clerk, an office to which he has since been re-elected. His first election, in 1902, was somewhat close, as he re- ceived a majority of only 550 votes, but at the present time his record is such that he is considered practically unbeat- able. He is a republican in his political views, but has never allowed partisanship to affect the manner in which he discharges the duties of his office. Reared in the faith of the Christian Church, he has been active in the work thereof for a number of years and a teacher in Sunday schools for a long period, and since coming to Beckley has been a deacon.

In 1891 Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Minnie May Hurt, who was born at Beckley, and to this union there have been born the following children: Aubrey Overton, who is chief clerk in the sheriff's office, formerly a student at the Officers' Training Camp at Morgantown; Thelma Harland, who is her father's assistant in the county clerk's office; Orliff Jaxon, who is attending the Beckley High School; Wendeall Ware, attending Fishburne Military School, at Waynesboro; and Alma Evelyn, who is attending school. All the members of the family are active in the work of the Christian Church.

EDWARD J. FLANIGAN. The record of the business men of Wyoming County demonstrates that many of them have risen to places of responsibility because they have possessed more than average ability and have applied to their work a conscientious thoroughness which in the end justified the trouble and time expended. Competition has always been strenuous for people who have invaded the coal fields of West Virginia, but there have always been men who have risen to the occasion when demands have been made upon them, and one of these is Edward J. Flanigan, general man- ager of the Sabine Smokeless Collieries Corporation, with mines at Otsego on the Virginian Railroad in Wyoming County.

Mr. Flanigan was born January 10, 1874, in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. His father, Michael Flanigan, a miner, was born in Scotland, to which country his parents

had removed from Ireland. As a young man he immigrated to the United States and settled in Schuylkill County, Penn- sylvania, where he rose steadily from ordinary coal miner to general manager of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. In 1906 he came from Pennsylvania to West Virginia and became superintendent of the King Coal Com- pany and the Tidewater Coal and Coke Company in Mc- Dowell County, at Kimball, on the Norfolk & Western Railroad.

Edward J. Flanigan entered the mines at the youthful age of nine years, and therefore his educational training was somewhat circumscribed, but he made the most of his opportunities and gained a practical knowledge of the essen- tials of an education, which has since been supplemented by reading and self-teaching, so that he now has a broad knowledge of matters in general and possesses information on many useful subjects. When he began his career it was in the capacity of picking slate, and from then he has worked in every possible capacity up to the office of general manager, all of his promotions having heen gained through real merit and industry. In 1896 Mr. Flanigan came to Glenalum, Mingo County, West Virginia, in the position of mine foreman and superintendent under his uncle, P. P. Flanigan. He remained in the Mingo field for about eight years, and was then appointed state mine inspector, with headquarters at Kimball. Later he opened the Lynwin Coal Company mines in the Winding Gulf District, as a stockholder and superintendent of the company, of which he later became manager. In 1919 Mr. Flanigan became associated with the Beckley Coal Mining Company in Fayette County, but in May, 1920, transferred his services to the Sabine Smokeless Coal Corporation. This concern's mines are at Otsego, Wyoming County, on the Virginian Railroad, but Mr. Flanigan makes his home at Beckley.

Mr. Flanigan is a member of the Benevolent and Protec tive Order of Elks. While a good Irishman, he hold his American citizenship high. Throughout his career he has had the happy faculty of making friends, and especially so among the so-called common people, for his sympathies are frankly with the masses, whom he understands and with whom he can work in harmony. Of him it may be said that during his career he has never shrank from a duty of betrayed a trust, and that at all times he has been a respecter of the law. In his political tendencies he is in clined toward republicanism and supports the candidate and principles of that party in national and state elections but in purely local affairs generally prefers to use his owi judgment in the choice of candidates and votes rather fo the man than the party.

DAN BIAS. In the trying period of reconstruction afte any great war one of the most serious problems confronting the officials is the enforcement of the laws, and the creation and maintenance of a proper respect for them. In som communities those in authority have lamentably fallen shor of living up to very high standards, but Lincoln County West Virginia, is fortunate in having as its high sherif Dan Bias, whose utter fearlessness, high personal integrit and great popularity with all classes have given him prestige and secured for his section a remarkable recerc Mr. Bias belongs to one of the old and honored families o the South, and he is very proud of it and his descent froi men and women of stainless honor and courageous deeds.

Dan Bias is a native son of the county, where he wa born July 5, 1855. His father, Anderson Bias, was born i West Virginia, while his mother, Mrs. Nancy (Bias) Bia was born in Virginia, and they were farming people, an for a number of years he was overseer of the poor of Li coln County. The sheriff had two brothers to serve in tl war between the North and the South, Enos and Linvil, th latter being a sergeant, and both were in the Third Vi ginia Cavalry, under Capt. John Witcher. They were in a of the campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley, and althoug participating in all of the heavy fighting, escaped ar serious injury.

Completing his schooldays at sixteen, Dan Bias bege working on the farm, and later became seriously interest

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in politics. He was appointed deputy sheriff under Sheriff Adkins, and served under him from 1896 to 1900, and was re-appointed under Sheriff H. H. Baker, and served until 1904. He then began farming on his own account, and continued in this occupation until his election to the office of high sheriff in November, 1920, and assumed the duties of his office in January, 1921. During the late war he rendered an appreciated service by operating his farm at full capacity.

On December 20, 1877, Mr. Bias married Emily Selvinas Alford, a daughter of James and Mary Jane Alford, Lin- coln County farming people who came here from Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Bias became the parents of nine children, eight of whom survive, namely: S. C., who married Maggie Powel, have four children and are living in Lincoln County, but Miss Powel came from Kentucky; A. M., who married Miss Polley, lives at Logan, Logan County, West Virginia; E. W., who married Ersie Johnson, and they had one child, and he was a brakeman on the Norfolk & Western Railroad when he was run over by a train in 1920 and killed; Queen Victoria, who married Frank Scites, of Lincoln County, and has six children; E. R., who married first Emma Galloway, had two children, and after her death he married Hattie Johnson, they have three children, and both wives were of Lincoln County; Crosby Ellis, who married Eva Johnson, of Lincoln County, has five children; Chauncey M., who mar- ried Essie Zigan, has two living children, their third one having died; Charles H., who is unmarried; and Otis O., who married Addie Hazelett, and has one child. Mr. Bias is not connected with any religious organization. He is a zealous member of Hamlin Lodge, A. F. and A. M., lives up to the highest ideals of his fraternity, and is a fine example of the Christian gentleman of the old school. While he is rigorous in his prosecution of a criminal, he is equally in- sistent in securing for each man fair treatment, and will not permit any persecution of anyone under his charge. Be- cause of his well-known character and his stainless reputa- tion the lawless element recognize that Lincoln County is not a profitable field for their nefarious operations, and as a rule give this region a wide berth. Such men as Sheriff Bias not only secure results for their own communities, but set an example which stimulates other officials to live up to their oath of office, and in this way their influence is much more than local.

HARRY F. HARTLEY. Straightforwardness of purpose and forcefulness in action combine for decisive results in the life of any individual. It is not always to the great that the most praise for correct living should be given. The men who discharge capably and cheerfully the responsibilities laid upon their shoulders and do their full duty in what- ever walk of life destiny places them are entitled to as much credit as those whose names are household words. It is not always difficult to rise to a big occasion; the real courage and ability is found in everyday life, in the per- formance of the tasks relating to ordinary undertakings. Judged by these standards a career that has been exemplary is that of Harry F. Hartley, president of the Board of Education of Slab Fork School District, and one of the well-known and popular educators of Wyoming County.

Mr. Hartley was born at Lysander, Athens County, Ohio, March 31, 1882, and is a son of Samuel and Phoebe (Sprague) Hartley. Samuel Hartley was a life-long farmer in Ohio, where he applied himself industriously to the tilling of the soil, and where his death occurred June 30, 1918, when he was sixty-four years of age. He was greatly at- tached to his home and family, and never sought public honors or political preference, and much of his time was spent with his books, so that he became a very well-read man. He voted the republican ticket, and was a member of Graham Chapel of the Christian Church, as was his faithful and estimable wife, who died, greatly mourned, August 31, 1913, when fifty-five years of age. They were the parents of five sons and five daughters.

Harry F. Hartley attended the country schools in the neighborhood of his father's Ohio farm, and then pursued a course at Judson (Ohio) High School, where he took all the subjects of the curriculum. Following this he had

the advantages of a business course at the Ohio University of Athens, and then returned to the home farm, where he remained until twenty-four years of age, in the meantime teaching school for four terms. After his commercial course Mr. Hartley was employed by the Raleigh Lumber Company of Raleigh, West Virginia, in the capacity of stenographer. This company in 1906 was absorbed by the Ritter Lumber Company, with which Mr. Hartley remained at Raleigh until 1908, when he went to Beckley with the same company as secretary to Harvey Derne, division superintendent. He remained at Beckley for five years, three years as secretary to Mr. Derne and the remainder of the time as secretary to William Pryor, and in August, 1913, came to Maben in the same capacity but with greater responsibilities, as the great plant at Maben is under his supervision a great deal of the time, he now being chief clerk and assistant to the division superintendent.

During all this time Mr. Hartley has maintained his in- terest in the cause of education, always a paramount interest with him. He taught his first school when only eighteen years of age, was appointed a member of the board in 1919 and elected in 1920, and since the inauguration of the Slab Fork School District has acted as its president. During his administration of the affairs of this position there have been built the high school at Mullens, a modern, well-equipped structure, a six-room school building at Ifman, a five-room school building at Milam and schools for colored children at Mullens and Ifman. He has been untiring and unselfish in his labors in behalf of the children of his locality in an educational way, and his interest has made him popular with teachers, parents and pupils alike.

On November 29, 1906, Mr. Hartley was united in mar- riage with Miss Rose K. Warrener, of Federal, Athens County, Ohio, daughter of Rev. William J. Warrener, a minister of the Christian faith at Federal. To this union there have been born four children: Clifford, Catherine, Mabel and Harry F., Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Hartley are active members of the Christian Church at Beckley, of which Mr. Hartley was an elder while residing at Beckley. They were the leading movers in the building of the Union Church for the people at Maben, and Mr. Hartley has served as Sunday school teacher or superintendent at various places for sixteen years. He is a Master Mason, having been initiated at Mullens.

SYDNEY HERBERT DAVIS. One of the best known men of Mullens is Sydney Herbert Davis, generally spoken of and to as Herbert Davis, who not only acts as station agent at this point for the Virginian Railroad, but is president of the Wyoming Baking Company and interested in numerous other enterprises. His career has been one of successful activity, and while he has been advancing himself in a material way he has attracted numerous lasting friendships.

Mr. Davis was born at Prospect, Prince Edward County, Virginia, November 22, 1878, and is a son of S. Baxter and Nannie B. (Brightwell) Davis. His father, who was born in 1851, learned telegraphy when still a youth, and was one of the first to develop into a Morse code operator, serving the Norfolk & Western Railroad for close to half a century, being at different times agent at Prospect and ticket agent at Farmville. He is now retired from active affairs, his home being at Dumbarton, Virginia. When a young man he utilized a fine voice in teaching singing in the rural districts. He was always active in church and Sunday school work, being a devout member of the Methodist faith. When he had retired from his work with the rail- road Mr. Davis' energetic nature would not allow him to remain totally idle, and at the age of sixty-nine years, after he had applied for and received a life insurance policy on his own life, he became agent for the Equitable Life In- surance Company of Richmond, Virginia. He is also receiving compensation as a member of the retired list of the Norfolk & Western Railroad. In fraternal matters he affiliates with the Masons, and has been master of his lodge several times. He has four sons and a daughter, two of his sons being railroad men, while a third, Norwood, is chief clerk of the car allotment commission of Bluefield, West Virginia.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 47

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