History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 5

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September 9, 1914, recorded the marriage of Mr. Straight nd Miss Ethel Stump, of Philippi, Barbour County, her ither, Marcellus Stump, being now a resident of Gilmer 'ounty and her mother being deceased. Mr. and Mrs. traight have two children: Jacob F., Jr., born February 7, 1918, and William Marcellus, born February 9, 1919.

LEANDER TROXELL has been a resident of Weston forty ears, came to manhood here, was in the railroad service nd nearly twenty years ago entered the office of the county lerk as deputy, is now elected head of that office, and by is long official service and his private character is one of he best known men in Lewis County.

Mr. Troxell was born in Washington County, Maryland, une 2, 1868, son of John P. and Ellen (Jenkins) Troxell. Iis father was born in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, December , 1832, and his mother in Warfordsburg in the same state anuary 24, 1833. John P. Troxell grew up on a farm, had , limited education in private schools, and at the age of fifteen vegan learning the tailor's trade. He followed that trade as , business and occupation for forty years. His home was n Hancock, Maryland, until he removed to Weston, West Virginia, in 1882. Here in addition to merchant tailoring e conducted a general store. He was a very popular busi- ess man and citizen, was a vestryman for many years in he Episcopal Church, filled all the chairs in the Knights of Pythias and was instrumental in having a lodge of that rder established at Weston. Of his eleven children four re still living: S. J. Troxell, of Fort Worth, Texas; Leander; Miss Rose; Ella, wife of A. B. Berry, of Morgantown, West Virginia; Emma, and who is now deceased, was the wife of A. L. Dyer.

Leander Troxell was about fifteen years of age when the amily moved from Maryland to West Virginia. He finished is grammar and high school education at Weston and then entered the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Com- any. For a number of years he was billing clerk and left hat work to become deputy county clerk in 1903. He was

deputy for twelve years, and was thoroughly qualified by his familiarity with the records and efficiency in the routine duties of the office when be was elected county clerk in 1914. In 1920 Mr. Troxell was honored by election for another term of six years. At the end of his present term he will have served in the county clerk's office for twenty-four years.

June 12, 1890, Mr. Troxell married Miss Mary Wheatley, who is a graduate of the Clarksburg High School. They have five children: Mildred, a graduate of the Weston High School; Hornor, a graduate of high school and of the Uni- versity of Pittsburgh; Robert, a high school graduate, and now in business with the firm of T. P. Wright & Company; while the two younger children are John and Charlton. Mr. Troxell is a member of the Episcopal Church, is affiliated with Weston Lodge No. 43, Knights of Pythias, and Mrs. Troxell is a member of the Eastern Star.

ROBERT SIDNEY REED has been successfully engaged in the practice of law in the City of Fairmont, Marion County, since 1914, and is one of the representative members of the bar of his native county. He was born at Boothsville, this county, June 3, 1886, the eldest of the children of Robert L. and Eva (Briscoe) Reed. After profiting by the ad- vantages of the public schools of his native town Mr. Reed entered the State Normal School at Fairmont, in which he was graduated in 1908. In 1911 he received from the Uni- versity of West Virginia the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in the year 1913 he was graduated in the law department of the institution, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. After his graduation he was for one term a teacher in the State Normal School at Glenville, and he was identified with business enterprise for somewhat more than a year there- after. In 1914 he was admitted to the bar, and he has since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession at Fairmont. He is a member of the Marion County Bar Association, the West Virginia Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He is affiliated with the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity and the democratic party, of the principles of which he is a loyal advocate.

Boyd H. Reed, brother of the subject of this sketch, was born at Boothsville September 29, 1888, was graduated in the State Normal School at Fairmont, and is now engaged in business at Morgantown, Monongalia County. The maiden name of his wife was Kelsey Brown,

Mr. Reed is a representative of the third generation of the family in Marion County, his father having been born in this county February 23, 1844, and having here died Novem- ber 3, 1916. He was a son of Joseph and Minerva (Lowe) Reed. Joseph Reed was born in Fayette County, Pennsyl- vania, in 1817, and was the original representative of the family in Marion County, West Virginia. He was attending school at Smithfield, Fayette County, at the time when General La Fayette, in his visit to the nation which he had aided in gaining independence, called at the school and incidentally took young Reed by the hand and said to him: "You are too young to know who I am, but you will remember me in after life." Joseph Reed was about twenty years of age when he came to Marion County, and, a tanner by trade, he here established and operated a tannery at Boothsville. He was a son of Reason and Elizabeth (Fordyce) Reed, both natives of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Reason Reed was born June 23, 1792, and died in 1873. He was a tailor by trade, and the most of his life was passed in his native county. As a soldier in the War of 1812 he was with the American forces at Detroit, Michigan, when that city was surrendered by General Hull. He was a son of Hugh Reed, the family name of whose wife was Somers. Hugh Reed was a son of Joseph Reed, who, in all probability, was born near Altoona, Pennsylvania, the lineage tracing back to English origin. Reason Reed was born and reared in the Protestant faith but married a wife who was a communicant of the Catholic Church, to which he transferred his member- ship, he having been buried in a Catholic Cemetery at Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

Robert L. Reed, father of the subject of this review, was for fifty years a merchant in Marion County-first at Monongah and thereafter at Boothsville. He was a demo- crat in politics and at the time of the Civil war his sympathies

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

were with the cause of the Confederate States." Both'he and his wife were Protestants in religious faith. Mrs. Reed was born at Mineral Wells, Wood County, this state, April 1, 1861, and she now resides at Fairmont. She is a daughter of Warwick and Sarah (Blakeney) Briscoe, her father having been a clergyman of the Methodist Church and having been for many years a circuit-rider in what is now West Virginia, with headquarters at Charleston. He was a son of Isaac Briscoe, and the maiden name of his mother was Callahan. Mrs. Sarah Briscoe was a daughter of Joseph and Polly (Atkinson) Blakeney, and her mother was a representative of the same family as is ex-Governor Atkinson of this state. Minerva (Lowe) Reed, paternal grandmother of the subject of this sketch, was a daughter of Cephas and Eleanor (Hughes) Lowe and a granddaughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Swear- ingen) Lowe. Robert Lowe was born and reared in England and upon coming to America first settled in Maryland, whence, in 1808, he came to what is now West Virginia and settled in the present Marion County, which was then a part of Harri- son County, Virginia. The wife of Cephas Lowe was a daughter of Thomas and Ann (Moore) Hughes. Thomas Hughes was born in Union County, New Jersey, in 1768, a son of Thomas, Sr., who was a native of Wales, whence he went to Scotland, from which country he came to America and settled on the present site of Rahway, Union County, New Jersey.

The above named Elizabeth (Swearingen) Lowe was born in Maryland, the daughter of Charles and Susannah (Stull) Swearingen. Charles Swearingen was born in Washington County, Maryland in 1735, and became a lieutenant-colonel in the Revolutionary war. He was a son of Van and Elizabeth (Walker) Swearingen, and a grandson of Thomas Swearingen and Jane (- --- ) Swearingen. Van Swearingen was born in Somerset County, Maryland, in 1692 and died there in 1801, having lived in three centuries. The father of Thomas Swearingen was Gerret Van Swearingen, who was born in Holland in 1636. He immigrated to America in 1657, and settled in what is now New Castle, Delaware. Later he moved to the Western Shore of Maryland, and there married Barbarah de Barrette, who was born in Vallenciennes, France. In 1669 by an act of the General Assembly of the Western Shore of Maryland, they were naturalized as Amer- ican citizens.

B. WALKER PETERSON, president of the Dollar Savings & Trust Company of Wheeling, represents a family that has been prominent in the City of Wheeling almost a century.

His grandfather, Dr. Daniel Peterson, was of old New England Colonial stock and served as surgeon's mate in Colonel Stark's Regiment of the Continental Army in the Revolution.

The father of the Wheeling banker was William F. Peter- son, Sr., who was born at Boscawen, New Hampshire, in 1798, and moved to Wheeling in 1824. He was a merchant and was also one of the first life insurance agents west of the Allegheny Mountains. He did a large business as a dealer in land. He was a whig politically, and at the begin- ning of the Civil war became a republican. He was a member of the Congregational Church and the Masonic fra- ternity. William F. Peterson, Sr., died suddenly at Logans- port, Indiana, in 1866. He married Sarah Gibson, who was horn at Concord, New Hampshire, in 1815, and died at Wheeling in 1885. She was connected with the Emerson family of New England, whose most conspicuous member was Ralph Waldo Emerson. William F. Peterson and wife had seven children, but only two enjoyed sufficient length of life to win for themselves positions in the world. Besides B. Walker Peterson the other.was W. F. Peterson, Jr., and these brothers were closely associated in their business activities as the firm of W. F. and B. W. Peterson for many years. W. F. Peterson, Jr., died at Wheeling at the age of sixty-eight.

B. Walker Peterson was born at Wheeling, October 26, 1852. He attended private schools in his native city, grad- uated from Bethany College in Brook County in 1870, with the A. B. degree, and was a member of the Theta Delta Chi college fraternity. Mr. Peterson was trained for the engineering profession, graduating in 1873 from the Rens- selaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York, with the

degree Civil Engineer. In the same year Bethany College conferred upon him the degree Master of Arts. For fifteen years he engaged in his profession as a civil engineer, and for seven years of that time held the post of city surveyor of Wheeling. He also became interested in the manufac- turing industry at Wheeling, and in 1897 succeeded P. B. Dobbins as cashier of the Dollar Savings Bank, as noted in the history of that institution elsewhere. For fifteen years Mr. Peterson has been president of the Dollar Sav- ings & Trust Company. He is also president of the War- wood Tool Company, and president of the Ohio Valley Gen- eral Hospital at Wheeling. He is an old-line republican, a vestryman in the Episcopal Church, a member of the Twi- light Club of Wheeling, and is affiliated with Bates Lodge No. 33, A. F. & A. M., and with the Scottish Rite Consist- ory.

In October, 1885, at Cadiz, Ohio, Mr. Peterson married Miss Nannie Moffett, daughter of Fulton and Mary (Dewey) Moffett, both now deceased. They have two chil- dren. W. Fairfield Peterson, born March 5, 1890, is a grad- uate mechanical engineer from Sibly College of Cornell Uni- versity and is now engineer for the Baltimore Dry Docks & Ship Building Company at Baltimore. He married Marjorie Miller, of Milwaukee. The daughter of Mr. Peter- son is Nancy Dewey, born February 8, 1892, and the wife of Joseph DuBois Holloway. Mr. and Mrs. Holloway reside at Pittsburgh, and he is vice president and eastern pur- chasing agent of the Superior Tube Company.

STATUE OF ETHAN ALLEN, PUBLIC LIBRARY, WHEELING

Mr. Peterson bought and had placed in the Wheeling Public Library a beautiful replica of a statue of Ethan Allen, the original of which was executed by the sculptor L. F. Meade. This statue in the Public Library is of Car- arra marble. On the front of the pedestal is the following inscription: "Ethan Allen, who in demanding and receiv- ing the surrender of Ticonderoga in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress sounded the keynote of the spirit of the Colonies and their subsequent union. So mote it be. Amen." On another side is the following dedication: "This ideal of one of the heroes of the war for independence is given to the Wheeling Public Library in memory of Dr. Daniel Peterson, Surgeon's Mate, Colonel Stark's Regiment, Colonial Forces, and his son, W. F. Peterson, Sr., who came to this community in 1824."

DOLLAR SAVINGS & TRUST COMPANY, a Wheeling institu- tion, probably the largest in point of financial resources in the state, has a noteworthy history among West Virginia banks.

The old Dollar Savings Bank was the first institution of its kind in Wheeling, having been organized in 1887, with Nathan Day Scott as president and P. B. Dobbins, cashier. Other directors were E. Buckman, George Hook, C. P. Brown, James B. Taney, Alfred Paull, Peter Cassell, W. J. W. Cowden, George Zoeckler, Sr., William Goehring, A. T. Young and Bernard Klieves. The early success of the in- stitution was largely due to the careful guidance of Mr. Dobbins, who lost his life in a railroad accident in 1897. He was succeeded by B. Walker Peterson, who soon after he accepted that post issued a circular that tells some es sential and interesting history: "On the 11th day of April, 1887, the Dollar Savings Bank of Wheeling opened its doors for business and began its mission of encouraging thrift among the citizens by offering them an opportunity to put aside safely small sums of money earning interest, yet avail- able at any and all times. It was the first institution of this kind in Wheeling, and its growth shows that its pro- jectors not only recognized and supplied an urgent public want, but have so judiciously and liberally administered its affairs as to deserve its continued popularity and pros- perity. In its career it has suffered but one misfortune in which the whole community shares-the loss by most untime- ly death of P. B. Dobbins, the founder, whose pet child this institution was and under whose fostering care and strong guidance it has grown to its present sturdy health and proportions. His memory will ever be cherished in the most high and affectionate esteem. And the rule established and exemplified by him in the Dollar Savings Bank, in treating

AWacker Passow

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

all, from the smallest to the largest depositor or borrower, with unvarying and equal courtesy and consideration, will be strictly adhered to in all its future dealings."

The Dollar Savings Bank enjoyed not only inward growth, hut from time to time has consolidated with it other vig- orous financial institutions. One of these was the old Wheel- ing Title & Trust Company, organized in 1889, with Henry M. Russell as president and Thomas O'Brien, Sr., as secre- tary, the latter soon being succeeded by Louis F. Stifel, who remained as secretary of the Trust Company and later of the Trust Department of the consolidated banks until his death in February, 1913. He was a man of great busi- ness and financial ability, had the faculty of making and keeping friends, and was an able adviser to the customers of the Trust Department.

The Dollar Savings Bank was consolidated with the Wheeling Title & Trust Company in May, 1903, at which time the present name of the Dollar Savings & Trust Com- pany was adopted by the latter company. In January, 1918, the City Bank of Wheeling, which was founded by Henry K. List and continued by his family, was consoli- dated with the Dollar Savings & Trust Company, bringing to the institution added resources of great value.

At the end of the first year the old Dollar Savings Bank had on deposit $176,000. Twenty-five years later its de- posits aggregated more than $4 000,000, while in May, 1921, the total deposits were considerably over $9,000,000. At that time the resources of the institution totaled more than $12,000,000.

As the business and resources of the bank increased its building quarters were from time to time remodeled and enlarged and finally, on August 1, 1911, the company entered its new home, an exclusive bank building, of classic style of architecture, regarded as one of the handsomest and one of the best equipped banking homes in the Ohio Valley.

A number of Wheeling's men of most substantial achieve- ments, business integrity and character have served the Dollar Savings & Trust Company as officials or directors. The executive officers in 1921, when the bank celebrated its tenth anniversary in its new home, were: B. W. Peterson, president; N. B. Scott and Bernhard Klieves, vice presi- dents; Robert Hazlett, vice president and secretary; W. H. Tracy, assistant secretary; H. E. Laupp, trust officer; A. S. List, chairman of the Board of Directors. Other directors were: W. H. Abbott, Dr. G. Ackermann, J. A. Blum, J. C. Brady, D. A. Burt, Charles H. Copp, H. E. Fields, Dr. W. S. Fulton, Kent B. Hall, J. B. Handlan, Andrew S. Hare, Edward Hazlett, Robert Hazlett, Nelson C. Hubbard, D. C. List, Jr., George Maxwell, Charles Menkemeller, Lee C. Paull, T. S. Riley, Joseph Speidel, Jr., W. E. Weiss, N. P. Whitaker, R. R. Kitchen and John J. Jacob.

COLUMBUS T. BARTLETT, former county court clerk of Taylor County, has devoted twenty years or more of his active life to the sales and other interests of the wholesale grocery business in West Virginia.

His grandparents were Thomas T. and Jemimah Bartlett, who settled at Webster in Taylor County prior to the Civil war, their home being on the banks of the little run alongside which the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was constructed after they established their home there. They finally moved to Barbour County, and the grandfather died at his home on Pleasant Creek at the age of eighty-four. His children were: Mary, who married William Lake; Matilda, who became the wife of Lloyd Chenoweth; Virginia, who married Green Carter; Elizabeth, who married Shadrach Cole; Eppa G .; David; Benjamin; Joseph and Josephine, twins, the latter becoming the wife of W. H. Davis; and Sarah, who married C. M. Davis.

Eppa G. Bartlett, father of Columbus T., was reared at Webster, was a merchant for a short time at Simpson, for many years operated a sawmill for the manufacture of lumber in Taylor and Barbour counties, and finally returned to his farm on Pleasant Creek in Barbour County, where he died in 1894, at the age of fifty-two. He married Henrietta Bartlett, daughter of Hamilton and Catherine (Mckinney) Bartlett. She died in Fairmont in September, 1918, at the age of seventy-one. Their children were: Columbus T .;

Camden H., of Fairmont; Lee T., who died unmarried in 1900 and is buried at Simpson; Hattie, Mrs. J. Bert Exline and a resident of Belington, West Virginia.

Columbus T. Bartlett was born on Pleasant Creek, near the Taylor-Barbour County line, but since early boyhood has been a resident of Taylor County. He finished his edu- cation in West Virginia College at Flemington under the direction of that able educator Professor Colgrove, and then for several winters taught school. He left that to engage in what has proved the chief business of his life, the wholesale grocery trade. For six years he was traveling salesman for the Joseph Speidel Grocery Company of Wheeling, and left that firm to join another well known grocery house, the Hornor-Gaylord Company of Clarksburg. He was on the road for this firm continuously thirteen years, until called away by the duties of public office.

In November, 1914, Mr. Bartlett was elected clerk of the County Court, and on January 1, 1915, succeeded Hayward Fleming in that office. His term of six years included the World war period, involving many extra duties in connection with the work of the Draft Board and other war movements. While he was in office one document for record was filed containing $2,720 in revenue stamps, marking a record in this county of that kind.

Soon after leaving office Mr. Bartlett returned to his old home at Webster, and has since resumed his service with the Clarksburg wholesale grocery house as an adjuster of accounts and claims. He has for years been an active worker in the democratic party, casting his first presidential vote for Cleveland in 1888. As a traveling man he became affiliated with the United Commercial Travelers, and formerly was a member of several fraternities, but his membership is now confined to Masonry. He is affiliated with Mystic Lodge No. 75, F. and A. M., at Grafton, the Royal Arch Chapter of the same city, and West Virginia Consistory No. 1 of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling.

May 30, 1885, in Taylor County, he married Miss Minnie St. Clair, who was born in that county February 27, 1865, daughter of Thomas B. and Drusilla (Shaeffer) St. Clair, the former also a native of Taylor County and the latter of Penn- sylvania. The other St. Clair children were: James W., of Albany, Indiana; Loretta, of Harrison County, widow of Jackson Findley; Arlington, of St. Clairsville, Ohio; Osee, of Simpson; and Semei, of Martins Ferry, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett have three married daughters and a number of grandchildren. Grace, who married Robert Senior, of Toron- to, Canada, is the mother of Jauneta, Robert Paul and June Genevieve. Ottie Ruth married Clinton W. Fawcett, of Fairmont, and their children are Clinton Robert, Charles Thomas and James Howard. Gladys Dove, the youngest daughter, is the wife of Earl Waller, of Webster.

JaVIN ODA ABH. Talent and natural qualification for the work of teaching the young recruited Irvin Oda Ash into educational ranks at an early age, and though he is still a young man he has every reason, aside from the financial one which can never be a strong motive in the teacher's career, to remain steadfast in his devotion to perhaps the greatest service the individual can give to his generation.

Mr. Ash, who is superintendent of schools at Shinnston in Harrison County, was born near Middlebourne, Tyler County, West Virginia, March 8, 1887, and spent his early life on a farm. He is a son of Daniel Wesley and Rebecca (Woodburn) Ash, who were also natives of Tyler County. His father was a farmer, had a record as a Union soldier in the war, and died at the early age of forty-three, in 1888, when his son Irvin was an infant. The widowed mother is still living, and she made many sacrifices to properly rear her three children to mature years. These children are: Otto D., Alice M. and Irvin Oda.

Irvin Oda Ash acquired his early education in public schools, and taught his first term of school at the age of seventeen. His work continued in the rural schools for one or more terms each year until he had completed a service of five years. From what he had been able to earn and save from rural school teaching he continued his own education to higher levels. His high school education was acquired in his native county. From 1910 to 1914 he was a student in West Vir- ginia University, from which he received his A. B. degree in

HISTORY OF WEST VIRGINIA

1914. He put in every vacation in some work that would replete his meager purse. After graduating he taught in the High School at Middlebourne two years, 1914-16, and he then entered the University of Nebraska, where he won his Master of Arts degree in 1917. He also profited by another year o post graduate atudy in the University of California. On returning to his home state Mr. Ash was principal of the Clay County High School, 1918-19, and was superintending prin- cipal of the schools of St. Mary's in 1919-21. Mr. Ash assumed his duties as superintendent of the schoola at Shinnston in the fall of 1921.

He is a member of the West Virginia State Educational Association and of the National Educational Association. In 1916 he married Miss Nettie Bailey Lanham, a native of Ritchie County. She was reared in Tyler County, and for several years was a teacher in the public schools there, and is actively associated with her husband as a teacher in the Shinnston schools.

WILLIAM A. MEREDITH ia one of the successful publishers of West Virginia, began his apprenticeship as a printer'a devil in an office at Philippi, and from a printer'a case his experience broadened into the larger field of editorial and business management. He is editor and publisher of the Shinnston News.

His family has been an honored one of this state for more than a century. His American ancestor, William Meredith, came from South Wales about 1800, and after residing a few years in Hagerstown, Maryland, came to what is now Marion County, West Virginia. William Meredith married Hannah Powell, and they had a son William, who married Harriet Clayton. Rev. Clinton B. Meredith, aon of William and Harriet (Clayton) Meredith, married Marion Maxwell, a native of Harrison County, and daughter of Amos Maxwell. They are the parents of the editor and publisher at Shinnston.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 5

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