History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 65

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GEORGE T. CARSKADON. The Carskadon family is one of the oldest in the Eastern Panhandle, and has furnished a number of men of conspicuous ability and high character to that community and to the state at large. It is a Scotch name, and a son of the first Carskadon to come from Scot- land was Thomas Carskadon, who established his home at Headville in what is now Mineral County. The old brick house he built is still standing and in use.

One of the prominent members of the family was the late James Carskadon, who was born in what was then Hamp- shire County, now Mineral County, in 1819. While his life work was mainly on his farm, he was a practical business man, and was one of the makers of the new State of West Virginia. In 1860 he was elected a member of the State Senate of Virginia, but did not take his seat at Richmond. Instead he joined the group of leaders from the western counties at Wheeling in the deliberations for the creation of a new state, and by virtue of his election was a member

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of the Provisional Government under Governor Pierpont, being a personal friend of Mr. Pierpont, who frequently visited at the Carskadon home. He became a member of the first State Senate of West Virginia, serving in the first and second Legislatures of 1863-64 and again was a member of the fifth and sixth Legislatures, in 1867-68, representing the Tenth District, including Mineral County. He was an active member of the Methodist Church.

James Carskadon married Rebecca Parker, who was born in Mineral County, some fifteen years her husband's junior. Her father, James Parker, died at Keyser in 1907, at the venerable age of ninety-six. James Parker married Jane Reese, and their children were: Susan, who married Abraham Johnson and lived in Mineral County; Mrs. Car- skadon; and Thornton Parker, now a resident of Freeman, Missouri. Mrs. James Carskadon was the mother of a large family of eleven children, two of whom are Isaac, of Headsville, and George T. Carskadon of Keyser,

George T. Carskadon was born on New Creek, some three miles from the old Town of New Creek, on November 1, 1851. He grew up in the Headsville community, and the farm provided the scenes of his childhood activities. He was educated largely by teachers hired by his parents to instruct the children in their home. At the age of eighteen he entered West Virginia University at Morgantown, and witnessed the first graduation in the university. He was a student there in 1869-70, and since then a widening ex- perience of fifty years has given him a mature knowledge of men and affairs. On leaving school he returned to the country and remained there until he was twenty-two, when he found, to quote his own words, "sprouts growing too fast for him,"' and consequently he gave up agriculture as a practical vocation and came to Keyser, which only recently had received that name instead of New Creek. Mr. Car- skadon identified himself with Keyser in November, 1874, and entered general merchandising with his uncle, Thomas R. Carskadon. A few years later he bought his uncle's interest, and for about forty years was a leading merchant of the village, and probably no other man has been so long in business in one line as he. He sold out in 1917 and since then has turned his attention to other affairs.

Mr. Carskadon has been active in the development of the fruit industry in Mineral County. He was associated with his brother, James T. Carskadon, in planting the Carskadon orchard of apples and peaches on New Creek Mountain. They set out 100 acres, cared for it and brought it into a state of profitable bearing, but before realizing returns on their investment they sold the property in 1920. Mr. Car- skadon has had a part in the promotion of other business enterprises at Keyser. He is a director of the First Na- tional Bank and of the Thompson Furniture Company, and is one of the large real estate owners in the town. He has contributed to other industries, but some of them failed to materialize as hoped for.

For many years he has been a republican leader in his section of the state. He cast his first vote for General Grant in 1872, and for half a century has given his vote to the republican ticket in national elections. He has been a member of the Council and Board of Education at Keyser, and in 1918 was elected a member of the County Court, succeeding George E. Klenke, of Piedmont. His colleagues on the board are J. F. Junkins and Aaron Thrush. The chief problem handled by the board during his administra- tion has been road building. Bonds to the amount of $200,- 000 were issued recently, and the expenditure of these funds for the purpose of road building is being handled by the present board. This program of modern highway con- struction includes the building of twenty miles of concrete and macadam roads from Keyser to Laurel Dale, another stretch from Keyser to Piedmont, and a mile from the cemetery to the county seat.

In convention days Mr. Carskadon was frequently a delegate to state and other republican conventions, and seldom missed the inaugurating ceremonies of the new governor each four years. He has had some honorary service, being appointed a colonel on the staff of Governor A. B. White, and served in a similar capacity on the staff of Governors Dawson, Glasscock and Hatfield.

He joined the Masonic order at Keyser, and has taken all the degrees of the Scottish Rite except the supreme honorary thirty-third, being a member of the Consistory at Wheeling and Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine there. He is a past master of his lodge and has sat in the Grand Lodge. He has been on the official board of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

On February 4, 1875, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, Mr. Car- skadon married Martha E. Johnson, who was born at Mount Vernon in 1860, daughter of James and Mary Jane (Morton) Johnson. Mr. and Mrs. Carskadon lived their lives together over forty years, the union being broken with the death of Mrs. Carskadon on March 21, 1917. Of their children Winfred J. is an employe of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company at Keyser. Mary is the wife of Dr. J. T. Little, of Pittsburgh, and has a son, Jesse Car- skadon Little. George A., who lives at home, is also a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad employe.

THOMAS J. JONES. The lumber industry at Huntington has had since 1919 a worthy, capable and progressive rep- resentative in the person of Thomas J. Jones, sole proprie- tor of the Leon G. Brown Lumber Company, a wholesale concern. For many years Mr. Jones was one of the best known figures in telegraphic circles, having held numerous important positions with the leading companies. He is purely a self-made man, as he has been making his own way since fourteen years of age, and the success that he has attained is added evidence of the value of the possession of the virtues of persistence, integrity and fidelity.

Mr. Jones was born at Dade City, Florida, December 9, 1871, a son of Matthew Jones. His father, who was born in 1819, was a veteran of the Seminole war as well as of the war between the states, in the latter of which he fought as a Union soldier. For a number of years he lived in Pasco County, Florida, where he carried on extensive opera- tions as an agriculturist, and his death occurred at Dade City, that state, in 1879. He was a democrat in politics, fraternized with the Masons, and was a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Mr. Jones married Miss Emily Jackson, who died near Dade City in 1880, and they became the parents of the following children: William A., who resides at St. Petersburg, Florida, and is engaged in the real estate business; Mary, the wife of John O'Berry, a farmer of Blanton, Florida; Martha, who married Isham Howell, and died at Terracea, Florida, where Mr. Howell is engaged in farming; Emily, who married Newton D. Eiland, and is now deceased; James M., superintendent of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company at Brunswick, Georgia; Leila, the wife of Clarence Lockhart, a farm owner of Jacksonville, Florida; Thomas J., of this review; Julia, who died as the wife of John Klein, a prominent farmer of Melrose, Minnesota; and Marvin, superintendent for the Pressed Steel Car Company at McKee's Rock, Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania.

Thomas J. Jones was reared on a farm near Dade City, Florida, and as his parents died when he was still a lad his education in the public schools was cut short when he was fourteen years of age, at which time he went to Tampa, Florida, and learned the cigar-making business, at which he spent three years. His next location was San Antonio, Florida, where he entered the railway station and learned the art of telegraphy, a field of endeavor in which he made rapid strides. He followed this line of work with the Or- ange Belt Railway, now a part of the Atlantic Coast system, until 1890, in which year he joined the Florida East Coast Railway and remained with that system for six years. He was then with the Plant system, now a part of the Atlantic Coast system, with which he remained until 1898 as a teleg- rapher, being then made rate clerk, a post which he held until April, 1899. At that time he removed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and joined the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the train despatcher's office, but November 6, 1899, left that post and joined the Pressed Steel Car Company at McKee's Rock, Pittsburgh, as general file clerk, a position which he held until 1905. He was then head of the order department until May 25, 1910, when he resigned and joined the Western Union Telegraph Company as a branch

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manager in the Stock Exchange at Pittsburgh. On October 1, 1911, he became district manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company, covering Northern West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania. On April 1, 1912, he was appointed district cable manager at Pittsburgh, covering the states of West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York, and June 1, 1916, was made district commercial manager, covering Western Pennsylvania, with headquarters at Pitts- burgh. He received further promotion August 1, 1916, when he was appointed district. commercial manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company, in charge of all offices in West Virginia, with headquarters at Huntington, and resigned this position March 1, 1919, at which time he en- gaged in the wholesale lumber business by becoming sole owner of the Leon G. Brown Lumber Company. Mr. Jones' offices are situated at 7171% Ninth Street, and he has built up one of the leading enterprises of its kind at Hunting- ton. He has a splendid reputation for business integrity, and has the esteem and confidence of all with whom he has been identified whether in a business or social way. In polities Mr. Jones is a democrat, but he has never taken more than a good citizen's interest in political matters. His religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Fraternally he affiliates with Huntington Lodge No. 313, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He took an active part in all local war activities, assisted in all the drives for funds for all purposes, bought bonds and War Savings Stamps, and contributed to the various organizations to the limit of his means.

On December 7, 1898, at Tampa, Florida, Mr. Jones was united in marriage with Miss Electa Carlin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Carlin, the latter of whom is de- ceased. Mr. Carlin, a resident of Los Angeles, California, is a retired locomotive engineer, who was in the employ of the Fort Wayne Railroad for forty-two years. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jones: Marion Leila, Thomas Marvin and Margaret E., graduates of the Pitts- burgh High School; and Melvin, Flavia and Regis, who are attending the graded schools of Los Angeles.

PAUL MONROE ROBINSON has secure status as one of the representative business men and loyal citizens of his native City of Clarksburg, Harrison County, where he is vice president of the Union National Bank. He was born in Clarksburg on the 20th of October, 1863, and is a son of Joseph Lewis Robinson and Mary E. (Waters) Robinson. Joseph L. Robinson was born in Frederick County, Vir- ginia, in 1827, the youngest of the five sons of Jobn Thomas and Elizabeth (Emerson) Robinson. John Thomas Robin- son was born in Prince William or Hanover County, Vir- ginia, in 1781, a son of John C., who was a son of John, a son of William, who was a son of John, the latter hav- ing been a son of Christopher, who was a son of John Robinson. The lineage of the Robinson family in Eng- land traces back through many generations. The original progenitors of the American branch of the family came from Yorkshire, England, and settled in Virgina in the early Colonial period. John Robinson, who died at Cleasly in Yorkshire in 1661, was the father of John Robinson, who became minister to Sweden, bishop of London and otherwise prominent and influential in English affairs. An- other son, Christopher, came to Virginia in 1666, and his son John was president of the council of Virginia, 1720-40, and for a time governor of the colony. The latter's sons were Christopher, William, Henry and John. Of these sons William became the father of John, who in turn was the father of John C. Robinson, the great-grandfather of him whose name initiates this review.

Joseph Lewis Robinson came to what is now Harrison County, West Virginia, in the year 1849. He was a shoe- maker by trade, and for many years he was engaged in the mercantile business at Clarksburg, where he became a substantial and honored citizen. His wife, Mary E. (Wa- ters) Robinson, died in 1864. She was born and reared in Maryland, a representative of an old and honored family of that commonwealth.

Paul M. Robinson was reared in the home of his mater-

nal aunt, Mrs. Annie (Waters) Monroe, wife of James Monroe, who was an influential citizen of Clarksburg and who served both as sheriff and clerk of Harrison County. Mr. Robinson profited by the advantages of the public schools of his native city, and from his youth he has been actively associated with banking enterprise. In 1891 he became cashier of the Traders National Bank at Buckhan- non, Upshur County, and in 1893 he was called to similar office in the West Union Bank at West Union, Doddridge County. He retained this position until 1900, when he became associated with Hugh Jarvis in organizing and establishing the Peoples Banking & Trust Company at Clarksburg. This institution, together with the Traders National Bank of Clarksburg, of which Mr. Robinson was for a time vice president and manager, was later merged into the Union National Bank, which was organized and incorporated in 1905, and which is one of the strongest and best ordered financial institutions in this section of the state. Mr. Robinson was one of the organizers of the Union National Bank, and has served continuously as its vice president from the time of its chartering.

He was chairman of the Liberty Loan Committee for Harrison County during the World war.

Before initiating his career in connection with banking enterprise Mr. Robinson served two years, 1890-91, as treas- urer of the Monongahela River Railroad. From 1880 to 1887 he served as deputy clerk of Harrison County, and in 1887-8 he was clerk of the Circuit Court for this county.

The year 1901 recorded the marriage of Mr. Robinson and Miss Willa Jarvis, daughter of Lemuel D. and Martha (McCann) Jarvis, of Harrison County. Mr. and Mrs Robinson have three children: Jenet, Paul Monroe, Jr., and Jarvis Beverley.

FRANK L. GRANT is a civil engineer and contractor with experience in construction work over a large part of the eastern states. For a number of years he has had his home and headquarters in Clarksburg, where he handles an extensive business as a bridge and road building con- tractor.

Mr. Grant was born at Bryn Mawr, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, June 20, 1880. His great-grandfather was Jacob Grant, a Scotchman, who came to the United States prior to the American Revolution and settled at the his- torie Town of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where he was a farmer and miller He married Esther De Haven, dangh- ter of Jacob De Haven. Jacob De Haven is mentioned in the annals of the Revolutionary war as a patriot who furnished Washington's army with extensive stores of flour. The grandfather of the Clarksburg engineer was William Henry Grant who was born at Valley Forge, Penn- sylvania, in 1804 and married Esther Mitton. The father of Frank L. Grant was also William Henry Grant. He was born in Pennsylvania, lived his life in that state, and during the Civil war was a Union soldier in Company D of the Fifth Pennsylvania Cavalry. He was a landscape gardener by profession. His death occurred in 1907, at the age of sixty-five. He married Matilda Bond. daughter of Joseph Bond, a native of Pennsylvania. The Bonds were of Welch ancestry and Quakers in religion, while the Grants for the greater part have been Baptists. Ma- tilda (Bond) Grant died in 1905, at the age of sixty-two. She was the mother of the following children: Alexander, who died voung: Josenh V., a resident of Anniston, Ala- bama; William H., of Philadelphia; Frank L .; and Esther, deceased.

Frank L. Grant during his boyhood at Bryn Mawr at- tended common schools and later, as his practical expe- rience made him realize the need, he improved his technical knowledge by courses in civil engineering with the Inter- national Correspondence School. While in the East he spent several years as superintendent of construction in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. Mr. Grant has been a resident of Clarksburg since 1913, and has built up an extensive business as a contractor. His specialty is bridges and street paving. He has handled a number of important contracts in West Virginia, Pennsyl-

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vania and North Carolina. He is a thoroughly responsible contractor, and has perfected an organization for efficient service in his line.

In 1900 he married Matilda Kyle, who was born at Manoa, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and died in 1905, leaving three children: Gertrude M., Francis M. and Ray- mond D. Mr. Grant in 1909 married Fannie M. Gill, who was born and reared at Reedsville, Northcumberland County, Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Grant are members of the St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Clarksburg, of which he is a trustee. He is a Master Mason and an Elk.

JOHN CORNELIUS SOUTHERN, who was well established in the practice of his profession in his native City of (Clarksburg at the time of his election to the bench of the Criminal Court of Harrison County, is one of the repre- sentative lawyers and jurists of the younger generation in this section of West Virginia, and he has the distinction of being a scion of one of the old and honored families of Harrison County. His great-grandfather, Samuel Southern, was born in the year 1804, in Eastern Virginia, and was the first to establish a nursery in what is now the State of West Virginia, a commonwealth famed for the excel- lenee of its fruit. Samuel Southern was a young man when he came to Harrison County, where he became a leader in the progressive agricultural and fruit-growing industries of that early period. Here he continued his residence, as one of the prominent and influential citizens of the county, until his death in 1878. His son John, born in 1829, likewise became a prosperous farmer of this county, and here his death occurred in 1859. John Sonth- ern married Edith Ann Hustead, and they became the parents of four children: Annetta, James R., George Cor- nelius and Lona Belle. Mrs. Southern was a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Corbin) Hustead, who came to this part of West Virginia while it was still a part of Virginia.

George Cornelius Southern, above mentioned, was born and reared in Harrison County and here passed his entire life. He was born August 6 1857, and died April 15, 1921. He received the advantages of the public schools of the locality and period. and at the age of twenty years, in March, 1878, he initiated his independent business career in the City of Clarksburg, where for several years he successfully conducted a meat market. In March, 1886, he removed to Adamston, now a part of the City of Clarks- burg. and for many years thereafter he was actively en- gaged in the real estate business, through which he did much to further the civic and material advancement of his native county, where he hecame associated also with other important business interests. He was known as the "Father of Adamston " as he was one of the foremost of the loyal and enterprising citizens who contributed to the develop- ment and upbuilding of that place. He was a stalwart in the ranks of the republican party and held minor political offices.

December 23, 1883, George C. Southern wedded Miss Elizabeth Catherine Gain who was born in Harrison County, March 1. 1857, a daughter of Rev. Eli and Martha (Mor- rison) Gain. Her father was a clergyman of the Bap- tist Church and was seventy years of age at the time of his death, which occurred in Doddridge County in 1891. Mrs. Southern still maintains her home in Clarksburg, and her only child is Judge John C. Sonthern, of this review.

After having profited fully by the advantages of the public schools of Clarksburg in which city he was born on the 17th of October, 1884, Judge Southern here continued his studies in Broaddus College. In preparation for his chosen profession he later entered the law department of the University of West Virginia, at Morgantown, in which he was gradnated in June, 1906. In the following Sep- tember he was admitted to the bar at Clarksburg, and in this city he has continued his professional work, with secure standing as one of the representative members of the har of his native county. In former years he was active and influential in the local councils of the republican party. He served four years as secretary and treasurer of the Republican Executive Committee of Harrison County. In

1920 he was made the republican nominee for judge of Criminal Court of Harrison County, and was elected to this office by a majority that attested the high estimate placed upon him in his native county. He assumed his position on the bench in January, 1921, and is giving a most effective administration. Judge Southern has received the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite of the Ma- sonic fraternity and is affiliated also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

On the 2d of October, 1909, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Southern and Miss Ida Jackson Gerst, of Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, and they have two sons, John Cor- nelius, Jr., and Joseph Lewis.

TENMAN JAMES COFFMAN has been a resident of Harri- son County for over seventy years, and for at least half a century of that period has been active in the lines of farming, merchandising and other business. His home for the past dozen years has been at Salem.

He was born on a farm in Harrison County, February 21, 1848, son of George W. and Sarah Ann (McIntyre) Coffman. His grandfather, Henry Coffman, was a native of Pennsylvania and as a young and single man came to Harrison County, where he married Miss Robinson, and lived in the county the rest of his life. The maternal grandparents of Tenman James Coffman were Zadoc and Keziah (Drummond) Melntyre. George W. Coffman and wife were both born and reared in Harrison County, and were the parents of ten children. The father died in 1868, at the age of forty-five and the mother in 1864. He was a whig and a republican in politics, and a Methodist, while his wife was a Baptist.

Tenman James Coffman spent his early life on the farm, attained a common school education, and the advantages of his youth have been supplemented hy constant reading and close observation. Life with him has been an oppor- tunity for the acquisition of knowledge as well as achieve- ment in practical lines of business. He remained on the farm with his father until he was nineteen, and then started out for himself. For a time he worked in the lumber mills and woods, and after his marriage, at the age of twenty-one, settled on a farm, and was a tiller of the soil for six years. His turn of mind was toward business, and on leaving the farm he became a merchant at Bris- tol in Harrison County. That was his home for many years, and he huilt up a very prosperous establishment there as a merchant. In 1910 he removed to Salem. He still has mercantile interests, but his time is largely de- voted to real estate and to the production of oil and gas and the glass industry. He is chief owner of the mechani- cal plant of the Salem Herald-Express, a weekly newspaper.

Mr. Coffman has never sought a political office, is a republican voter and for many years while living at Bris- tol was a member of the local board of education and is now a member of the board of education at Salem. For many years he has been a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church and is teacher of the Men's Bible Class in Sunday School.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 65

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