History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 68

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Doctor Varner gained his initial experience in connection with the activities of the home farm, and after complet- ing the curriculum of the rural schools he was for five years a student in Salem College. In preparation for his

Stri varner and Wife

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chosen profession he entered the Baltimore Medical Col- lege, and in this excellent Maryland institution he was graduated in 1903. After thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he established himself in general prac- tice at Clarksburg, and here he has gained both reputa- tion and unqualified success in his effective service as a physician and surgeon. The doctor maintains active af- filiations with the Harrison County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. He was a member of the Examin- ing Board during the World war, and was health officer of the City of Clarksburg and Harrison County for eleveu years. He is aligned staunchly in the ranks of the re- publican party, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

On October 7, 1907, was solemnized the marriage of Doc- tor Varner and Miss Maude Morrison, of Clarksburg, and they passed their honeymoon in Europe, where the doctor availed himself of the clinics of various leading hospitals in Great Britain, besides which, after he and his wife re turned to the United States, he completed a six weeks course in the New York Post-Graduate School of Medicine. Doctor and Mrs. Varner have three daughters: Helen, Mildred and Marie, the latter two being twins.

SAMUEL A. HAYS, a lawyer and business man of Parkers- burg, is a grandson of one of the earliest congressmen from Western Virginia, and the family has been one of merited distinction in West Virginia for a century or more.

His grandfather, Samuel L. Hays, was born in Harrison County, West Virginia, of Scotch ancestry, the original seat of the family having been in East Lammermoor, Scotland. This branch of the family settled in old Virginia before the Revolution. Samuel L. Hays spent his early life on Elks Creek, just above Clarksburg, and later moved to the mouth of Freeman's Creek, in what is now Lewis County. Though most of his active energies were expended on farming, he had the gift of eloquence and an unusual degree of prac- tical sense that made him a leader among his fellowmen and brought him some of the highest offices in their gift. He served as a member of the Virginia Legislature, and led a successful campaign against the gifted John Carlisle for Congress. This was before the Civil war and the creation of West Virginia. While in Congress he appointed the famous Stonewall Jackson to a cadetship in the West Point Military Academy. He then went to Minnesota, where he died. Samuel L. Hays was twice married. His second wife was an Arnold, of a prominent family of Lewis County.

One of the children of the second marriage was Peregrine Hays, who was born in 1832. He was also a farmer, had an extensive business as a land dealer, and was elected and served in the State Legislature of Virginia and later as a member of the House of Delegates of West Virginia. While in the House of Delegates he was the prime mover in the creation of Gilmer and Calhoun counties, and served as sheriff of both these counties. He was also instrumental

in having a state normal school located at Glenville in Gil- mer County. In stature he somewhat resembled his father, both being over six feet tall, though the elder Hays was spare in build while Peregrine had a most commanding presence. As a boy he was a school and playmate of Stone- wall Jackson, and served under that great leader in the Confederate Army. Peregrine Hays died in 1903. He mar- ried Louisa A. A. Sexton, and of their five children four are now living.

One of these is Samuel Augustus Hays, who was named after his two grandfathers, and was born in Calhoun County, West Virginia, March 31, 1861. He attended the State Normal School at Glenville, graduating in 1878, and in 1884 graduated from the University of West Virginia. Mr. Hays practiced law at Glenville for ten years, and still main- tains a law office there. From the law his energies became absorbed in the timber business and in 1913 he was ap- pointed collector of internal revenue for the district of West Virginia, and moved to Parkersburg for his official term. He held that office until 1921. He is now a member of the firm of Hays & Gilkeson, stocks, bonds and commercial

paper, and he is also president of the Wiant & Barr, Whole- sale Hardware Company and president of the Kanawha Union Bank at Glenville, West Virginia. Mr. Hays is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite and Knight Templar Mason aud Shriner, is a democrat and a member of the Presbyterian Church.

He married Susan Adelaide Ewing, who died in 1891, leaving two children. The son, Matthew Ewing, died in 1918, at the age of twenty-nine. The daughter, Genevieve Mand, is the wife of Fred M. King, of Parkersburg.

COL. T. MOORE JACKSON was long and prominently iden- tified with important industrial and business enterprises in his native state and city, was a representative of a family whose name has had much of prestige in the history of Virginia, especially that part of the Old Dominion that now constitutes West Virginia, and he was one of the in- fluential and honored citizens of Clarksburg, Harrison County, at the time of his death, February 3, 1912.

Thomas Moore Jackson was born at Clarksburg, on the 22d of June, 1852, and was a sou of James Madison and Caroline Virginia (Moore) Jackson, his paternal grand- parents having been John G. and Mary (Meigs) Jackson. The progenitor of the Jackson family in America was John Jackson, who is supposed to have been born in the North of Ireland, of Scotch lineage, and who came from London, England, to America in 1748. In Maryland John Jackson wedded Elizabeth Cummings, and subsequently they became pioneer settlers at Buckhannon, in what is now Upshur County, West Virginia. John Jackson was a resident of Clarksburg, Harrison County, at the time of his death, in 1801. Two of his sons, George and Edward, were patriot soldiers in the War of the Revolution, in which he also gave loyal service as a soldier of the Continental Line. The son George rose to the rank of colonel, later served as a repre- sentative of Virginia in the United States Congress, and finally he established his residence at Zanesville, Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his life. His son Edward was the grandfather of Gen. Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jack- son, the distinguished Confederate officer of the Civil war, Clarksburg, West Virginia, taking pride in recording Gen- eral Jackson's name on the roster of its native sons. Of the other sons of John Jackson it may be noted that Samuel removed to Indiana, his death having occurred at Terre Haute, that state, and that there were also two other sons, John, Jr., and Henry, besides three daughters. The loved mother attained to the remarkable age of 105 years and was a resident of Clarksburg at the time of her death.

John G. Jackson, grandfather of the subject of this memoir, was a son of Col. George Jackson, mentioned above. Colonel Jackson settled at Clarksburg in the early days and as a member of the United States Congress he was suc- ceeded by his son John G., who was one of the eminent law- yers in the western part of Virginia. After his congres- sional career John G. Jackson became the first Federal judge for the Western District of Virginia, and of this office he continued the incumbent until his death in 1825, while still a young man. Judge John G. Jackson was twice married, first to Mary Payne, a sister of Dollie Madison, the wife of President James Madison, and the Jackson- Payne marriage was the first to be solemnized in the White House at Washington. For his second wife Judge Jackson wedded Mary Meigs, a daughter of Return Jonathon Meigs, one of the first governors of Ohio.

James Madison Jackson was born at Clarksburg, January 15, 1781, and his wife likewise was a native of this place, she having been a daughter of Thomas P. Moore, who was the builder of the first fine brick residence on West Pike Street in this city, this beautiful old homestead later he- coming the property of the son T. Moore Jackson, to whom this memoir is dedicated, and being now the home of the latter's widow.

T. Moore Jackson was reared at Clarksburg and his higher education was acquired in Bethany College and at Washing- ton and Lee University. From the latter institution he received the degree of Civil Engineer, in 1873, when twenty- one years of age. For several years thereafter Mr. Jackson followed his profession, exclusively, as civil engineer in rail-

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road construction. From 1874 to 1875 he was chief engineer for the Middle Island Railroad. He was identified with other railroads, and in later years built what was known as the Short Line Railroad, he having been president of the company until the line was sold to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. The constructive ability and loyal citi- zenship of Colonel Jackson were exemplified in the effective service which he gave in the development and upbuilding of his native city, in which he ever took great pride and deep interest. In 1888 the regents of the University of West Virginia called Mr. Jackson to the chair of civil and mining engineering in that institution, and as the incumbent of this position for a period of about three years he did much to bring his department up to a high standard of efficiency, his resignation having occurred in 1891. After his graduation in Washington and Lee University that in- stitution eventually conferred upon him the supplemental degrees of Mining Engineer and Doctor of Science. He made a high record in his profession and became an active member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, as well as a fellow of the Geographical Society of America. The oil industry has been one of the greatest of the pro- ductive resources of West Virginia, and in the same Mr. Jackson was a pioneer. He and Professor I. C. White, of the University of West Virginia, were associated in the developing of oil wells at Mannington, Marion County. Mr. Jackson was interested also in coal production, and had large holdings in connection with important coal-mining enterprises in the West Virginia fields. He was influential in securing to Clarksburg many of its industrial plants, in- cluding the tin-plate manufacturing enterprise. He was one of the foremost in promoting the civic and material ad- vancement of his native city, and his loyal and earnest character, as combined with his ability and gracious per- sonality, gained to him unqualified popular esteem. For several years Colonel Jackson was president of the Traders Bank at Clarksburg, and his versatility was shown in his successful work in connection with the many and varied enterprises in which he became interested. He had a sane and kindly outlook, was tolerant in judgment, and was always ready to aid those in suffering or distress. In his death Clarksburg lost one of its best and most honored citizens.

In the year 1884 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Jackson and Miss Emma Lewis, who, with their only daughter, Miss Florence, resides in the fine old homestead at Clarksburg. Mrs. Jackson likewise was born at Clarks- burg, and she is a daughter of the late Judge Charles S. Lewis, who had been a member of the Virginia Legislature and also of the United States Congress prior to the Civil war. Later Judge Lewis was a member of the West Vir- ginia Legislature, besides which he served as state super- intendent of education and as adjutant general of West Virginia. He was a lawyer of eminent ability, as was also his father, Charles Lewis, who was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and who came to Clarksburg from Phila- delphia, that state. At the time of his death, in 1870, Judge Charles S. Lewis was serving on the bench of the Circuit Court.

BURRUSS B. MCGUIRE, M. D. Before locating at Jackson- burg Doctor McGuire had qualified for his career as a phy- sician and surgeon by graduation from one of the oldest and best medical schools in the country, and also by an active service as a medical officer in the navy during the World war.

Doctor McGuire is a native of North Carolina, born at Cullasaja in Macon County, October 23, 1894. His grand- father, Patrick McGuire, was a life-long resident of East Tennessee, spending his life as a farmer near White Pine. He married a Miss Alexander, also a native of East Ten- nessee. Samuel L. McGuire, father of Doctor McGuire, was born at White Pine, Jefferson County, Tennessee, Septem- ber 22, 1852, was reared there and about 1873 removed to Cullasaja, North Carolina, where he conducted a blacksmith shop. He subsequently owned and operated a wool carding mill at Norton in Jackson County, North Carolina, but soon gave that up and returned to Cullasaja until 1895, when he

resumed his business as a wool carder at Norton and still owns the plant, though he has been practically retired since 1919. Samuel L. McGuire is a republican, an active mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a Mason, He married Marcella Norton, who was born in 1853 at Norton in Jackson County, North Carolina. A brief reference to their children is as follows: Dr. Wayne P., a dentist at Sylva, North Carolina; Samuel Lawrence, a farmer at Nor- ton; ; Roy L., a graduate in civil engineering from the Uni- versity of Tennessee at Knoxville, now employed as a road surveyor for the State Roads Commission of North Caro- lina, his home being at Asheville; Arley R., an automobile dealer at Sylva; Burruss B., who is the fifth in the family, while there were three others who died young.

Burruss B. McGuire acquired a public school education in Macon County, North Carolina, graduating from the Iotla High School of that county in 1913. For one year lie did general preparatory work in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and also took two years of his medical course there. From Chapel Hill he entered Jef- ferson Medical College at Philadelphia, graduating M. D. in 1918. For three months in 1918 he served as an interne in the South Side Hospital at Pittsburg. In the mean- time, in January, 1917, he had applied for enlistment as a private in the Medical Reserve Corps, U. S. Army. He was transferred to U. S. N. R. F. and was called to active duty September 3, 1918, being sent for instruction to the Naval Medical School at Washington and from November 8, 1918, until April 8, 1919, was on duty at the Naval Hos- pital at Charleston, South Carolina. He was commissioned a junior lieutenant August 5, 1918, and January 1, 1919, was promoted to lieutenant. April 8, 1919, he was ordered to inactive duty and was disenrolled September 1, 1921.

On his release from service in the spring of 1919 Doctor McGuire became an interne in the Ohio Valley Hospital at Wheeling, and on November 1, 1919, established his home and began his professional career at Jacksonburg, where in two years he has built up a successful practice and a wide influence in his profession.

Doctor McGuire is a republican, is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, and is a member of Glenville Lodge No. 551, A. F. and A. M., at Glenville, North Carolina, and has taken fourteen degrees in the Scottish Rite, West Vir- ginia Consistory No. 1 at Wheeling. He is also a member of Pine Grove Lodge No. 460, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. May 10, 1920, at Jacksonburg, he married Miss Charlotte Bessey, daughter of Ralph J. and Maude (Wilcox) Bessey, residents of Friendship, New York, but at present of Jacksonburg. Her father is a gauger for the Pure Oil Pipe Line Company.

WILLIAM BRECKENRIDGE STEWART. During a period of about nine years William Breckenridge Stewart has dis- charged the duties of postmaster at Chester, and his ad- ministration of the' affairs of that office has left nothing to be desired. Applying himself unreservedly to the re- sponsibilities devolving upon him, he has been able to accom- plish several reforms and to bring about an elevation of the standards of the service that has been highly pleasing to the citizens of the community.

Mr. Stewart is a member of an old and honored West Virginia family, and was born at the family farm near Pughtown (then Fairview), August 26, 1855, a son of Wil- liam and Mary (Bambrick) Stewart, a grandson of James Stewart, and a great-grandson of Col. George Stewart, an officer during the Revolutionary war who at the close of the struggle for American independence settled in what is now West Virginia and here passed the rest of his career. James Stewart passed his entire life as an agriculturist, and his farm still remains in the family possession, two of his grandsons, Joseph G. and Charles Stewart, residing thereon at this time.

William Stewart was reared to agricultural pursuits and followed farming during his entire active career, although in his younger years he likewise owned an interest in the grist mill at Pughtown. He was a man of integrity and industry, had the confidence and esteem of his neighbors, and when he died, at the age of seventy-three years, his

Fred B. Deny

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community lost a good citizen. He was a Presbyterian in is religious belief. Mrs. Stewart, who was reared a Cath- lic, died when sixty-five years of age, just twenty-five days before the death of her husband, and both were laid to 'est in the cemetery at New Cumberland. Of their chil- Iren seven grew to maturity: James B., a carpenter and ontractor, who died in March, 1883; Thomas Pierce, a arpenter and contractor at Pughtown; William Brecken- idge, of this review; Anna, who married Robert Sutor and 'esides near Toronto, Ohio; Lawrence Lee, a farmer in Pennsylvania who died in 1913; Mary B., who was a teacher n the schools of Hancock County until her early death; and Margaret J., who married James H. Martin, of Long Beach, California.

William Breckenridge Stewart was reared on the home 'arm, receiving his education in the public schools, and as young man, in his native community, began teaching chool, a vocation which he followed for many years in both Ohio and West Virginia. For eight years he was principal f a department school at Toronto, Ohio, and for several rears served as county superintendent of schools of Han- ock County, West Virginia. In 1906 he took up his resi- lence at Chester, where he continued teaching school for even years, and in 1914 was appointed to the office of post- naster, during President Wilson's first administration. The ncome of the office at Chester was at that time about $4,500.00 and is now about $9,000.00. There has been free ity delivery since the establishment of the office, with wo carriers, in addition thereto being a rural free delivery arrier, three assistants and a messenger. Mr. Stewart de- otes all of his attention and energies to the office, and his general abilities, as well as his unfailing courtesy and oblig- ng nature, have made him a general favorite with those whose business brings them into contact with him in either is official or a private capacity. Mr. Stewart is a stanch lemocrat and has been an unfailing supporter of the can- lidates and principles of his party. He has often been delegate to district and state conventions. His religious belief is that of the Disciples Church.

At East Liverpool, Ohio, Mr. Stewart married Miss Eliza- ›eth J. Nicholson, and to this union there have been born wo daughters: Ethel, the wife of Sanford B. Thorn, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Helen, now Mrs. R. L. Mc- Kenty, who is assistant to her father at the Post Office. MIrs. Stewart is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

FRED BLAINE DEEM in half a dozen years has achieved honor and success in the legal profession at Clarksburg, where he is one of the prominent young lawyers.

He comes of an old Wood County family, where the Deems were established in pioneer times by his great- great-grandfather, who came from Pennsylvania and was of German ancestry. The grandfather of the Clarksburg awyer was Jacob Deem, who died only a few years ago, it the age of ninety-six. The parents of Fred B. Deem re Peter and Letha Viola (Cook) Deem, both natives of Wood County, where they have spent all their lives, the ather a successful farmer and stock raiser. Letha Cook's ancestry is English, and her father came to West Virginia 'rom Massachusetts. Fred Blaine Deem is the younger of two sons, his brother. Ralph Lemuel, being a teacher in he schools of Wood County.

Fred Blaine Deem grew up on a farm, had the advan- ages of the rural schools and also attended a preparatory chool of the State University. He had two years in the iterary department of the State University, and then con- :entrated his studies in the law school, where he was graduated LL. B. in 1913. Admitted to the bar, he prac- iced two years in association with the prominent law firm f Smith & Jackson at Clarksburg, and since then has een depending upon his own exertions and abilities to ichieve his professional success and render service to the nlarged clientage accorded him. He is a member of the Clarksburg City Board of Education, in politics is a re- publican, and is unmarried. Mr. Deem is a member of he Baptist Church, is a Knight Templar, thirty-second legree Mason and Shriner, and is affiliated with the Be-

nevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He belongs to the County and State Bar associations.

CHARLES A. SMITH. The career of Charles A. Smith and the development of Chester are so closely connected that there are points innumerable in each which are interwoven. A brief statement of facts in this connection will serve to outline the salient features of the achievements of Mr. Smith and his associates in developing one of the live and prosperous communities of the Upper Ohio Valley.

At the time of the contemplated organization of a town- site company J. F. McDonald, who is still associated with Mr. Smith in some of his business affairs, owned a farm of 177 acres, known as the Marks farm, which, with adjoining property, was readily recognized as a suitable site for the location of industries. The first step necessary was the construction of a bridge to connect this body of land with East Liverpool. Mr. McDonald had as associates in this movement, the same gentlemen also organizing a land or townsite company, W. L. Smith, of East Liverpool, E. D. Marshall, of Chester, George P. Rust, of Cleveland, and A. R. Mackell, of East Liverpool, who organized the East Liverpool Bridge Company, and during 1896 erected the bridge, which was opened December 31 of that year. John Shrader of Chester was the contractor, with C. Jutty & Company and the Penn Bridge Company as the actual constructors.

William Banfield, a practical steel manufacturer, who started the first tin plate mill in the United States, at Iron- dale, Ohio, at present the general manager of the Follansbee Brothers Steel Mill at Follansbee, West Virginia, and con- sidered the best-posted tin plate man in the United States, was employed to construct a sheet steel mill, which was located on a part of the Marks farm, which, in the mean- time, had been sold to Charles A. Smith. The principal associates of Mr. Banfield in this venture were W. L. Smith, Sr., J. E. McDonald, C. W. and J. R. Tindall, W. N. Voegt- ley and Charles McKnight. However, before this plant was placed in operation it was absorbed by the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, the present owners. About 1900 the Taylor, Smith & Taylor Pottery Company plant was erected on this same property by Col. John W. Taylor, presi- dent of the Knowles, Taylor & Knowles Company, the larg- est industry at East Liverpool, Joseph G. Lee, of the same city and company, and Colonel Taylor's two sons. W. L. Taylor, now deceased, and Homer Taylor, now the head of the Knowles, Taylor & Knowles Company, together with W. L. and Charles A. Smith. The two last-named later, in 1904, became sole owners of this venture, but kept the original name, which has remained to the present.

It was in 1900 that Charles A. Smith secured the Marks farm upon which both the Chester potteries are located. He and his brother had seenred all the stock in the Taylor, Smith & Taylor Company, and he was also a partner in the E. M. Knowles pottery at Chester, of which he had been the promoter and with which he was identified for several vears. In 1901 the above farm was largely included in the town of Chester. but before Mr. Smith offered the property for sale he built more than 100 homes, graded the prop- erty, laid streets and concrete sidewalks, and in numerous other ways improved the community. He also erected a water works, under the name of the South Side Water Works Company, to furnish water for Chester, this public utility plant costing in the neighborhood of $100,000, and likewise installed a sewer plant on that part of the town taken from the farm.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 68

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