History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 70

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In connection with his artistic vocation Mr. Schaeffer has developed a general merchandise business at Gormania, and has a prosperous store where he not only conducts his studio and handles photographic supplies, but also has a stock of jewelry and other commodities. Ho served Gormania two terms as postmaster, appointed by President Wilson, and was the successor of M. Aronhalt. He left that office in July, 1921. Mr. Schaeffer cast his first presidential vote for General Hancock in 1880, and has supported the demo- cratic nominees at every subsequent election. He is a past grand of the local lodge of Odd Fellows, a member of

Him. Bakan

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the Junior Order United American Mechanics and is a Methodist.

At Bedford, Pennslyvania, May 3, 1894, Mr. Schaeffer married Susie C. Miller, daughter of Charles Miller, who married a Miss Blackburn. Mr. and Mrs. Schaeffer have had seven children and several grandchildren. Their son Alonzo Victor lives in Garrett County, Maryland, and by his marriage to Floe Rider has three children, named Lillian, Ora May and John. William Newton, the second son, died in infancy. Edna D. is the wife of C. R. Haines, of Gor- mania, and their children are Winfred Wilson Randolph and Virginia Gertrude Dare. Miss Gustava M., the fourth child, is a nurse in the Washington Hospital at Washington, D. C. The other children are Charles Wesley, of Gormania, Paul E. and Ola Theresa Pettit.

BOYD RANDAL is one of the able school men of West Virginia, and to that profession, in his personal preparation and in the practical work of teaching and school administra- tion, he has devoted all the years of his life since boyhood. Mr. Randal is now superintendent of the city schools of Salem.

He was born on a farm in Berkeley County, West Vir- ginia, January 1, 1888, son of John Ferdinand and Imogene T. (Welshans) Randal, and grandson of James F. and Ann Maria (Onderdonk) Randal. The Randals are of English lineage. James F. Randal was a Confederate soldier. The maternal grandfather, Philip Henry Welshans, was of Hol- land Dutch descent, married Sarah Jane Mallory and spent his life in Berkeley County, where his daughter Imogene was horn. John F. Randal and wife are still living, the former a retired farmer. Their three children were named Boyd, Eliza May and Maria Pauline.

Boyd Randal was reared on his father's farm in the eastern part of the state, attended rural schools there, and also Shepherd College State Normal, where he graduated in 1905. He took the regular course in West Virginia Uni- versity, gradnating A. B. in 1909. 'As a school man he has been a student constantly since leaving university, and in 1915 he was awarded the A. M. degree by Columbia Uni- versity, and has taken several courses in the University of Chicago.

Mr. Randal was instructor of mathematics and physics for two years, beginning in 1909, in the public schools of Shinnston, thus doing his first practical educational work in Harrison County.

During 1911-12 he was instructor of mathematics and physics in Shepherd College State Normal, and in 1912 assisted in organizing and became principal of the Harpers Ferry District High School. He was connected with this high school for six years, and in 1918 became principal of the high school at Cairo, West Virginia, and from there in 1920 came to his present duties as superintendent of the city schools of Salem.

Mr. Randal is a member of the West Virginia State Edu- cational Association and the National Educational Associa- tion, also the Monongahela Valley Educational Association. He is a Master Mason and a member of the Kiwanis Club, of Wild Life League and of the United Brethren Church.

In 1916 he married Miss Anna Morehead Miller. She was born in Berkeley County, West Virginia, graduated in 1915 from Shepherd College State Normal and during the following year was teacher in the Berkeley County rural schools. In 1919 she had special work in physical edu- cation and subsequently taught physical education for girls in the Cairo, West Virginia, public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Randal have one daughter, Keitha Anne.

ALEXANDER BISHOP is both vice president and cashier of the First National Bank of Williamson, county seat of Mingo County, of which he was one of the organizers, and is also secretary and treasurer of the War Eagle Coal Com- pany and an official in several other coal producing com- panies, of minor order.

Mr. Bishop was born in Pike County, Kentucky, as were also his parents, Miles and Nancy Jane (Motney) Bishop. who still maintain their home in that county, where the father has long been a representative agriculturist and

stock-grower. The father of Miles Bishop was born and reared in Ireland, and upon coming to America first settled in Virginia, whence he later removed to Kentucky and be- came a substantial farmer in Pike County. The Motney family was founded in Virginia in the Colonial period of our national history.

Alexander Bishop, the eldest in a family of eight sons and six daughters, was reared on the old home farm, gained his early education in the rural schools and later contin. ued his studies two years in the Presbyterian College at Pikeville, Kentucky. In his youth he applied himself vig- orously to farm work and logging, and in 1895 he left college to become a traveling salesman for a wholesale shoe house. About one year later he accepted the position of general manager of the mercantile establishment of Var- ney, Williamson & Company at Williamson, West Virginia, and in 1899 he entered the employ of the Williamson Bank. of which he served as bookkeeper and assistant cashier until June 1, 1903, when the bank liquidated its business and passed out of existence. Mr. Bishop then became associated with other representative business men in the organization of the First National Bank of Williamson, of which he was elected cashier, an office of which he has continued the efficient and valued incumbent to the present time, besides which he is serving also as vice president of the institu- tion, to the upbuilding of whose substantial business he has contributed in large measure. He has become one of the leading business men and most loyal and progressive citizens of Williamson, and his capitalistic interests in- cinde his connection with coal mining industry in this sec- tion of the state, as intimated in the opening paragraph of this review.

Mr. Bishop was elected a member of the County Court of Mingo County, has been its president since 1918, and his present term will expire in 1923. He served about ten years as a member of the city council, and has been at all times an apostle of progressiveness in community affairs. He is an active member of the local Kiwanis Club, is affiliated with O'Brien Lodge No. 101, Free and Accepted Masons, is a democrat in politics, and both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church in their home city.

Mr. Bishop married Jane Maynard, who was born in and is a representative of one of the oldest and most hon- ored families of Pike County, Kentucky, and the two chil- dren of this union are: Elwyn, who was born August 28, 1900; and Mary June, who was born May 22, 1920.

HOWARD MARSHALL BATSON, M. D. One of the best equipped physicians and surgeons in the state is Dr. How- ard Marshall Batson of Mannington. Doctor Batson for a number of years was physician and surgeon to mining and other industrial corporations in West Virginia. He was one of the few men members of the Medical Corps from West Virginia who had front line duty in France during the World war, and it was after more than two years of army service that he established his home and office at Mannington.

Doctor Batson was born in Mannington District, on a farm in Marion County, October 26, 1878, son of Elias and Virginia (Hunter) Batson, also natives of Marion County. His grandfather, Eli Batson, was an early settler here. Elias Batson was born in 1850, and followed a varied career of farming, railroading, sawmilling, and again as a farmer, and died November 2, 1910, while his wife was born in 1857 and died in 1896.

Doctor Batson grew up on a farm, acquired a district school education, attended the Barrickville Normal School during 1896-97, and was a student in the Fairmont State Normal in 1898. He took the regular course in the Med- ical College of Virginia at Richmond during 1902-06, graduating in the latter year. He then located at Paden City in Wetzel County, but the following year removed to Nicholas County, and for seven years was physician to mining and lumber companies. For three years he had a mining practice in Kanawha County.

On August 6, 1917, Doctor Batson volunteered for the Army Medical Corps and was commissioned a first lieu- tenant, Angust 18th. He was sent to Camp Greenleaf,

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Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, where he was assigned to the Medical Corps, Fourth Division, Regular Army, was then taken to Camp Greene, North Carolina, and on April 28, 1918, with the Fourth Division, started for Long Island, New York, and on the 10th of May sailed for France, reaching Brest, May 24th. In France he was attached to the Second Battalion, Thirty-ninth Infantry of the Reg- ular Army, and from that time until the signing of the armistice was with his command, altogether in front line duty, having no assignment to base hospitals. He par- ticipated in the Aisne-Marne defensive, the Aisne-Marne offensive, in the course of which, on August 30, 1918, he was promoted and commissioned captain. He was in the St. Mihiel campaign and the Meuse-Argonne battlefront. After the signing of the armistice his command was part of the Army of Occupation, and he was at Coblenz, And- ranach, Sinzig, Oberwinter, Neuenache, Adenau and other towns. Doctor Batson left the Rhine July 22, 1919, landed at Hoboken, August 6, 1919, and received his honorable discharge from the service, August 27th, at Camp Lee, Virginia.

Soon after leaving the army Doctor Batson established his home at Mannington, where his abilities have gained him recognition as one of the ablest physicians and sur- geons of the county.

Doctor Batson is commander of Charles Millan Post No. 40, of the American Legion and at Morriston is af- filiated with the Masonic Order, Knights of Pythias, Elks, Modern Woodmen of America and the Maccabees. He married Miss Anna G. Butler, a native of Richmond, Vir- ginia, and daughter of Robert S. and Alice Butler. They have three children: Anna V., born in 1904; Pearley M., born in 1908; and Howard M., Jr., born in 1910.

WILLIAM THURMOND HARVEY. An electrical engineer by training and profession, Mr. Harvey is also a coal mining expert, and for the past ten years has carried some im- portant responsibilities in the mining district of Logan County. He came to this field in 1913, and had the task of opening Argyle Mine No. 1, and also the mine of the Thurmond Coal Company in 1917. He is now general su- perintendent for the Argyle Coal Company's Mine No. 1 on Rum Creek, and No. 2 on Dingess Run, and the Thur- mond Coal Company's property at Dabney at the mouth of Rum Creek.

Mr. Harvey was born April 16, 1888, in Fayette County, West Virginia, on the farm of his parents, John W. and Lucy A. (Thurmond) Harvey. His father was born in Appomattox County, Virginia, and was a boy when his people came to West Virginia. He was a farmer in Fay- ette County, where he died in 1907, at the age of fifty- four. In politics he was a democrat. His wife was born in 1861 at Oak Hill in Fayette County, daughter of Capt W. D. Thurmond.

William Thurmond Harvey attended school in Fayette County, including the Oak Hill High School, and he se- cured his technical education in the Virginia Polytechnic Institute at Blacksburg, where he graduated in the elec- trical engineering course in 1911. He was one of the grad- uates selected to an apprenticeship and practical course in the shops of the General Electric Company at Lynn, Mas- sachusetts, where he went through the shop routine and a course of instruction as a student engineer. On account of the proficiency he showed and his evident qualifications he was selected for the purpose of performing the duties of opening mines and acting as superintendent in the West Virginia coal fields.

On October 6, 1920, Mr. Harvey married Helen Lindsay Barger, daughter of Capt. David H. Barger, now of Shaws- ville, Virginia, but who formerly was extensively inter- ested in the Pocahontas coal fields. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey have established connections with churches in Logan, Bap- tist and Presbyterian, respectively. He is affiliated with Aracoma Lodge No. 99, A. F. and A. M., at Logan, Logan Chapter, R. A. M., Huntington Commandery, K. T., West Virginia Consistory of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling, and the Charleston Temple of the Shrine. In politics he is a democrat.

NOAH Q. SPEER is to be credited with the development of one of the important industrial enterprises of Morgan County, that of producing the remarkably superior white sand for which the county has become noted, his research and investigation having led to the discovery of what is conceded to be the best quality of all the varied sands of this section. He is one of the progressive business men and representative citizens of Berkeley Springs, the county seat, and is specially entitled to recognition in this history.

Mr. Speer was born in Rostraver Township, Westmore- land County, Pennsylvania, near Belle Vernon, on the 7th of August, 1837, and in the same county his father, Louis Marchand Speer, was born in the year 1810, a son of Noah Speer. Noah Speer purchased a tract of land in Fayette and Westmoreland counties, Pennsylvania, and thereon laid out the present town of Belle Vernon, developed a fine farm estate, and became a successful agriculturist and stock-grower. He eventually sold a part of his land tc John Gibson, who there established a distillery and alsc plotted and developed the town of Gibsonton. Noah Speer met his death in an accident when he was sixty-three years of age. He married Nancy Frye, a representative of an old Virginia family, and their son Louis M. was reared on the home farm, his educational advantages having been those of the common schools of the locality and period. Louis M. Speer acquired a tract of land just to the east of Belle Vernon, and on this land he developed a productive sand bank. He became a successful boat-builder on the Monon- gahela River, and continued his residence in his native county until his death, at the age of seventy-three years. His wife, whose maiden name was Jane Finley, likewise was born and reared in Westmoreland County, a daughter of William and Margaret (Wilson) Finley, and a grand- daughter of Rev. James Finley, who was the first Pres. hyterian clergyman to cross the Allegheny Mountains and whose brother, Samuel, was the first president of the College of the State of New Jersey, now known as Princeton Uni- versity. William Finley passed his entire life in West- moreland County and was a farmer by vocation. Mrs. Jane (Finley) Speer died at the age of forty-four years, her children having been seven in number: William Fin- ley, Noah Q., Margaretta, Mary, Celia, James Rowland and Louis Edgar.

Noah Q. Speer attended the common schools of his na- tive county, and after a preparatory course in Dunlap Creek Academy he entered Washington College, in which he com. pleted a course of higher study. He then became manager of his father's sand business, and in this connection he invented a machine to supplant the old-time method of washing and otherwise cleaning of sand by hand. The machine which he thus invented is still widely employed in connection with sand production. With the increasing de- mand for a better quality of commercial sand Mr. Speer made explorations and soon found sand rock of the de- sired type at Layton Station, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, in Pennsylvania. He there worked the sand quarry until the deposit was exhausted, and then came to Morgan County, West Virginia, and opened, near Hancock, the first sand quarry and plant in the county. Since that time other quarries have here been developed, and the mountain which had seemed valueless at the time when he initiated operations has since yielded immense quantities of the best quality of sand, for which there has been a ready market at all times.

In 1876, while making explorations at Martinsburg, Berkeley County, Mr. Speer discovered limestone which he knew would be of great value in connection with the man- ufacturing of steel. He associated himself with John J. Hoblitzell in the building of a kiln and the burning of lime, the product being sold to steel manufacturers. This was the initiation of the new important lime-rock industry in Berkeley County. After operating his sand quarry near Hancock a few years Mr. Speer opened a quarry in the Juniata District of Pennsylvania. The financial panic of 1893 brought to him utmost disaster in connection with his business operations, and he was compelled to start anew. He then engaged in the selling of supplies to glass manufacturers, with an office in the City of Pittsburgh.

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After about five years he became manager of the American Window Glass Company's sand plant at Wolcott, Indiana, and also the sand plants of the same corporation at Derry and Mapleton, Pennsylvania. He continued his connection with this corporation five years, and in 1905 he returned to Morgan County, West Virginia, and established the Speer White Sand Works near Berkeley Springs. This plant is still in successful operation. After operating the plant about three years Mr. Speer sold the property and business and developed the sand plant at Great Cacapor in Morgan County, West Virginia, a property now owned and operated by the Hazel Atlas Glass Company, and while he has since lived nominally retired, his vital energy and progressiveness have not permitted him to be idle. Realiz- ing that sand was being transported hundreds of miles to the factories, Mr. Speer instituted explorations in Vir- ginia and West Virginia with the purpose of discovering productive fields nearer the manufacturing centers. The result of his investigations is that he has secured three miles of Bratton's Mountain land, near Goshen, Rock- bridge County, on which he has developed an immense de- posit of glass sand convenient for shipment by the Chesa- peake & Ohio Railway. Mr. Speer has been one of the world's productive workers, a captain of industry, a man of thought crystallized into action. He has achieved much and has at all times guided his course along the line of in- vincible integrity and fairness, with the result that he commands the high regard of all who know him. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

In 1860 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Speer and Miss Alline Bugher, who was born in Fayette County, Penn- sylvania, a daughter of Aaron and Rachel (Farquhar) Bugher. To Mr. and Mrs. Speer were born eight children, namely: James Howard, Martha Jane (Mrs. William P. Leggett), Louis Marchand, Frances (Mrs. Frances Speer Reed), Hamilton Bugher, Annie (Mrs. William B. Lamb- ing), Cecil Alline (Mrs. John A. Proctor) and Noah Q., Jr.

AARON EDSON ALTIZER, M. D. Altizer is one of the old- est family names in the Buffalo Valley District of Logan County. During the past seventy years the business inter- ests of the family have been chiefly engaged in farming and the timber and logging industry there. Doctor Altizer had some rugged experience as a boy in the timber, and since qualified for his profession has done an extensive practice, chiefly around the mines that have developed within his lifetime along this valley. His home is at Acco- ville.

Doctor Altizer was born on a farm that included ground on which the later town and now thriving little City of Man is located, near the mouth of Buffalo Creek. He was born there November 19, 1882, son of Joseph and Nancy (White) Altizer, and grandson of Aaron and Sarah Altizer. His grandfather came from Virginia to Logan County in 1858. Aaron Altizer is now ninety-eight years of age. He has been a witness of and a contributing factor in the de- velopment of this valley for seventy years. Soon after coming here he bought a large tract of land at the mouth of the Buffalo. This land was covered with heavy timber, and his labors cleared up a farm there. His active years were devoted to the timber business and farming. Aaron Altizer has been an influence for good in this locality . He has been a man of temperate habits, which no doubt ac- counts for his long life, and he has also been satisfied with the simple life, producing most of the food that sup- plied his table, including milk, butter and honey, and has kept up with the march of events by constant reading, so that he is well informed not only on local history, but on the history of the world and topics of the day. He was a Confederate soldier and a prisoner of war. His service was with a Virginia regiment. In politics he has a rather in- dependent choice in casting his vote. The large tract of land he formerly owned he finally sold for $15,000, but it is now worth many times that figure. The town of Man was built on this land, and he was the first postmaster of the village and served as justice of the peace and at differ- ent times was a member of the local school board. His

great age is not exceptional in his family, since he had an older brother in Virginia to reach the age of ninety-eight years. After the death of his first wife Aaron Altizer married Mary Aliff, of Roanoke County, Virginia, and she died in 1907. He now lives with his son Charles at Kistler, a mining village also built on part of the Altizer farm.

Joseph Altizer, father of Doctor Altizer, was one of a family of nine sons and two daughters. He was born in 1848 in Montgomery County, Virginia, and was ten years of age when the family came to Logan County. He de- voted his life to the lumber business and farming, and died on March 10, 1911. He was a Baptist and a democrat. His wife, Nancy White, was a daughter of Green White, and she is now sixty-five years of age. They had a family of seven sons and two daughters: George W., a merchant and justice of the peace at Accoville; D. K., a lumberman and dealer in railroad ties and timber, living at Hunting- ton; Aaron E. and Bruce, twins, Bruce being yard master for the Chesapeake & Ohio at Logan; Walter, in the mines at Kistler; Ellen, wife of Thomas Perry, of Kistler; Julius, who lives with his mother at Kistler; Lona, wife of Beverly Burke, of Kistler; and Cecil, at home.

Aaron Edson Altizer had a happy boyhood on the old farm long before any railroad was in the vicinity or any of the mines opened along the valley. He worked in the timber, and helped pilot many log rafts down the Guyan- dotte River. He attended school at Man, and during 1905-07 was a student in Marshall College at Huntington. At the age of twenty he began teaching, his first school being at Oilville on Island Creek in Logan County. He taught a number of terms, aggregating fifty-two months altogether. As a teacher he made the money that put him through medical college at the University of Louisville, entering that school in 1907 and graduating in 1910. While there he specialized in children's diseases. He had work in the Louisville City Hospital in 1911, 1920 and 1922, and then returned to Man and began practice. Almost from the beginning much of his practice has been in the mining towns. In 1916 he moved to Accoville, where he has charge of the medical practice for the mines owned by the Litz- Smith, the Deegan Eagle, the Arthur D. Cronin companies. He is president of the Triadelphia District School Board and many of the modern school buildings have been erected under his supervision. He is associated in membership with various medical societies.

In 1911 Doctor Altizer married Elsie Burgess, daughter of C. A. Burgess, of Man. Their four children are Boyd Delmont, Aaron Edson, Jr., Vera Vane, and Joseph Corne- lins. Doctor Altizer is a trustee of the Methodist Church. He is affiliated with the Lodge and Chapter of Masonry at Logan, the Knight Templar Commandery at Charleston, the Shrine at Charleston, and the Scottish Rite degrees in Wheeling.

ARTHUR ARNOLD. The prosecuting attorney, Arthur Arnold, is one of the ahle, resourceful and aggressive mem- bers of the Mineral County bar, and one who has taken a leading part in all of the important, first-class litigation in his native county. He has devoted himself, his capabil- ities and skill, to the practice of his chosen profession, and not only has built up a very large and valuable connection, but has been called upon to occupy positions of trust and responsibility by his fellow citizens.

The birth of Arthur Arnold took place at Piedmont, Mineral County, West Virginia, where he still maintains his residence, September 21, 1884. He is a son of Stewart B. and Hannah (Elliott) Arnold. Stewart B. Arnold was born in the Valley of Virginia, near Winchester, and was there reared and educated. Prior to his marriage he came into West Virginia and established himself in a mercan- tile business at Piedmont. Here he continued to conduct a general store and deal in meat and cattle upon an extensive scale. His death occurred in 1887 when he was only forty years of age. He was married at Piedmont, and his wife was a daughter of James B. and Jane (Sewell) Elliott. Mrs. Elliott was born in England, was there married and came to the United States, with her husband locating at Piedmont, West Virginia, in 1850. Her husband, James

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 70

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