History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 83

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Mr. Carter was born on the old Carter homestead, the present home of his brother, E. C. Carter, about two miles east of his present home, November 8, 1857, a son of Samuel and Michal (Wells) Carter. Michal Wells was

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born June 1, 1816, and died in January, 1892. She was a daughter of Absalom Wells, a son of Charles Wells, who is said to have had twenty children, the twentieth having been named Twenty. Twenty Wells died at the age of sixteen years and was buried at Sistersville, West Vir- ginia. The life of Absalom Wells was spent mainly in Brooke County. His wife was Helen Owings, of Ellicott's Mills, near Baltimore, Maryland, where she was born in 1771 and married in 1798. She was so delicate that her physician said she could not live to reach the "Far West,"' but she not only did that but lived to rear a large family and to attain the remarkable age of ninety-seven years.

Samuel Carter was born August 8, 1817, in Brooke County, West Virginia. He died October 26, 1898, and was buried in St. Johns Cemetery. He was a son of Joseph Carter, who lived on Pot Rock Run, Brooke County, a native of Winchester, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. He was a plasterer by vocation, reached old age, and was buried at Franklin, Brooke County. His father, also nanied Joseph, was buried at Cadich Chapel, while his mother was laid to rest at West Liberty. The children of the younger Joseph Carter were: Lewis, a farmer and plasterer and a great worker in the Baptist Church, in which he was a deacon, who lived on a nearby farm and reached the age of seventy-five years; Joseph, who went to Kansas City, Missouri, and there died; Samuel; John, who went to La- Grange, Indiana, and there spent the remainder of his life; and Hilary and Cephas, twins, the former of whom went to Montezuma, Iowa, and there died, while the latter lived on a farm near, Fowlerstown, West Virginia.

The Carter family was founded in America prior to the Revolutionary war by two English brothers of the name, who settled in the Colony of Virginia, where the old Carter house is still standing. Colonel Carter, an officer of Gen- eral Washingtou's army, was home on a furlough, so runs the story, when an English officer, with a detachment of men, learning of his presence, decided to capture him. In the meantime word had been taken to General Washington of his officer's predicament, and he hurriedly sent a squad of patriot soldiers. Colonel Carter, defending himself and his home from the enemy, fought a duel with the British officer on the stairway, on the bannisters of which can still be found the hacking of the swords. It is related that the timely arrival of the patriot troops turned the tables and that the English officer and his men had to submit to capture. After his marriage to Michal Wells, January 21, 1844, the most of Samuel" Carter's life was spent on the old home farm, and he accumulated some 190 acres, including the present farm of E. C. Carter. He belonged at Cross Creek to the United Presbyterian Church, or "tent," the latter name being used because the early serv- ices were held under a canvas cover. Mrs. Carter, like all the members of her family, was a Primitive Baptist, and attended the old Cross Creek Baptist Church at Hunter's Mill. They were the parents of four children to grow to maturity : Pauline, who passed her life as a maiden with her parents and died August 18, 1872; Mary, who also remained unmarried and died at the home of her parents December 4, 1879; Eli C., who is carrying on operations on the old home farm; and Absalom L.

Absalom L. Carter passed his boyhood amid agricultural surroundings on the old home place, obtaining his educa- tion in the common schools. On October 4, 1884, he was united in marriage with Miss Jane R. Walker, a sister of James M. Walker, mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Carter was born on the old Walker homestead, adjoining the old Carter place, October 26, 1859, and resided on that property until the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Carter commenced housekeeping on their present property December 23, 1884. This is the old Elson farm, patented in 1785 by one Rich Elson, the grandfather of the last Elson owner, Mitchell Elson, who sold the place to Samuel Carter in 1877. Absalom L. Carter has since reduced the property, which now contains sixty-five acres, a large part of which was given over to the raising of sheep as long as that industry was profitable. His coal he sold some years ago, before the high prices had set in. Mr. Carter

has modern improvements on his property, and his com fortable home was erected in 1900.

Mr. and Mrs. Carter are members of the First United Presbyterian Church at Steubenville, Ohio, located 41/2 mile: distant from their home. Mr. Carter is a democrat, an( the Carters have always been a democratic family. H. has not sought office, but has served as a member of the board of reviews since the organization of that body. Ho served as vice president of the Brooke County Farm Bu reau, and was a charter member thereof, and has been : director in the Pan Handle Mutual Insurance Company of which he is now vice president. He was a director and vice president of the Pan Handle Agricultural Clul of Brooke and Ohio counties, one of the earliest club: formed.

Mrs. Carter's mother was Hannah R. McConnell, daugh ter of Robert and Jane (Hawke) McConnell, natives of Ireland who on their arrival in the United States settled in Jefferson County, Ohio, just outside the City of Steu benville. They were charter members of the First United Presbyterian Church at Steubenville, as were Mrs. Jane R Carter and Mrs. Hannah Walker. The last-named was one of the first subscribers for the United Presbyterian paper published at Pittsburgh and continued as such throughout her life. On the occasion of her fiftieth anniversary her picture was published in this publication. Mr. and Mrs Carter have no children.

FRANK P. BEAUMONT, M. D. It is not unusual for the male members of a certain family to follow the same profession or vocation through several generations, and this is particularly true in the medical profession, where son frequently inherits a predilection for the calling and passes it on down to a son of his own. In this connec tion it is interesting to note that four generations of the Beaumont family have practiced medicine in Hancock County, and that the name is one that is prominent and highly esteemed in medical circles and held in the high. est of confidence by the people.

In the third generation of Beaumonts who have be. come physicians and surgeons is found Dr. Frank P Beaumont, of New Cumberland, a skilled and thorough practitioner and a man of prominence and influence. He was born at New Cumberland, August 5, 1865, a son of Dr. Godfrey L. and N. A. (Campbell) Beaumont. His grandfather, Dr. William Beaumont, was born in England where he received his education and as a young man came to Lisbon, Ohio, where he engaged in the manufacture of woolens. He was likewise a minister of the Christian Church, in which he preached for many years, but eventu- ally came to New Cumberland, West Virginia, where he applied himself to the practice of medicine until his death, which occurred in old age.

Godfrey L. Beaumont was born in Ohio, but as a youth was brought to New Cumberland. He inherited a love for the medical profession, and prepared himself partly under the teaching of his father and partly by attend- ance at a medical school. In 1869 he commenced the practice of his profession, and applied himself thereto assiduously and without interruption until his death in 1891, when he was but fifty-four years of age. His wife, a member of the well-known family which formerly owned a large part of the land upon which is now located the town of New Cumberland, has spent her entire life here and still survives at the age of eighty years.

Frank P. Beaumont was given the advantages of a high school education at New Cumberland, following which he entered upon his preparation for the following of a medical career. He did some preliminary work prior to entering the Eclectic Medical College at Cincinnati, where he pursued a full course and received his degree of Doctor of Medicine, and later took postgraduate work in New York City. Doctor Beaumont commenced the practice of his profession at New Cumberland in 1887 in associa- tion with his father, and this connection continued until the elder man's death four years later. Doctor Beau- mont has risen to a recognized place in the ranks of his

Watter . Ferguson

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calling in Hancock County, and has adhered closely to the Eclectic teaching. He belongs to the Eclectic medical societies, both state and national. He was a member of the Board of Pension Examiners for many years, served as county health officer for twenty years and has been a town health officer for a decade. During the World war he also acted on the Draft Board, and since the close of that struggle has been an examiner in connection with the Veteran's Bureau. In polities he is a stanch republican.

Doctor Beaumont married Miss Maggie B. Joseph, who was reared at Toronto, Ohio, a daughter of John A. Joseph. Four children have been born to this union: Dr. Dudley H., a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and now engaged in the practice of medicine and sur- gery at New Cumberland; Helene L., a graduate of Bethany College; Frank C., a student in the dental college of the University of Pittsburgh; and Godfrey L., who is attend- ing high school.

Dr. Dudley H. Beaumont, while a graduate of the regular school of medicine, uses much of the Eclectic sys- tem, and since 1921 has been associated in practice with his father. He is in the fourth generation of doctors of the Beaumont name to practice in this community, and attends the same families as have his father, grandfather and great-grandfather before him. For about seventy years a Doetor Beaumont has been counselor and medical ad- visor at birth, through life and during the last illness of dozens of families, amounting to thousands of individ- uals. Fraternally Dr. Beaumont is a Mason and religi- ously is a Presbyterian.

THE MACK MANUFACTURING COMPANY. There is no doubt but that concentration along any one line is pro- ductive of the best results. The man or the corporation who scatter their energies, trying first one line and then another, waste their forces and time, and when they even- tually settle down to something definite have neither the opportunity nor the vitality to develop properly. Espe- cially has his been true during recent years, when com- petition has become so strenuous as to demand undivided attention to one given avenue of activity. The men who thus apply themselves not only increase their own material holdings, but by providing employment for many become important factors in the economic workl. In this con- nection mention is made of the Mack Mannfacturing Com- pany, whose extensive operations in the New Cumberland community of Hancock County have been confined to a given line of production, the manufacture of brick.

The general offices of the Mack Manufacturing Company are located at Wheeling, in the old German National Bank Building, sixth floor, where are found the rooms of the operating head and the board of directors. The five plants in Hancock County are all located within a space of eight miles, these being the Crescent, Aetna, Union and Roeky Side, above New Cumberland on the Ohio River, devoted to the manufacture of brick; and the Sligo, three miles south of New Cumberland, the output of which is sewer pipe and paving brick. The present Crescent plant was formerly the Copper and Middle Clifton, owned by Atkin- son, Porter & Company, the product of which, common building brick, was sent by flat-boats down the Ohio River until several years ago. The Upper Clifton Plant was formerly owned by Smith, Porter & Company, who at one time controlled all the Clifton plants, and these plants were eventually consolidated into the Crescent. The Aetna was owned formerly by the Moneypenny interests, and then sold to the John Porter Company, in connection with the Eagle, which was later dismantled, the Union and the Rocky Side. The John Porter Company bought the Smith, Porter & Company interests, and then sold ont to the Mack interests of Philadelphia, the business at that time adopting the style of the Mack Manufacturing Company. The Sligo Plant had also been owned by the John Porter Company.

The Mack Manufacturing Company in its various plants has a daily capacity of 300,000 paving brick, made of shale and fire clay. There are 400 men on the pay-roll, which approximates $50,000 normally per month, and of these 400 men about 125 are used in the mining of the clay and shalc.

In all, the plants cover ten acres, while the company owus several hundred acres outright and the mineral rights to many more acres, so that the future insures an adequate supply of clay, shale and coal. The latter lies on top of the clay and is taken out at the same time. Sales are made direct to customers throughout West Virginia, in the New England States and North Carolina.

George O. Bowles, general superintendent of the plants of the Mack Manufacturing Company, was born in Belmont County, Ohio, and as a young man adopted the vocation of teaching in the public schools. Later he pursued a busi- ness course at the Elliott Business College, Wheeling, and in 1904 became an employe in the offices of his present company under S. G. Gaillard, then manager of the concern, and former assistant to the president of the Norfolk & Western Railway. His industry, ability and fidelity were recognized by Mr. Gaillard, who advanced him to the posi- tion of his assistant, and in 1914 Mr. Bowles was made superintendent of the plants, a position which he has re- tained to the present. His work has been satisfactory to his superiors, and perhaps much of his success lies in the fact that his relations with the employes have always been of the friendliest character. Many of these old-time employes own homes and other property of their own, and the plant has experienced no labor troubles.

Mr. Bowles married Miss Katherine Robertson, daughter of Rev. A. W. Robertson, formerly an attorney and prose- entor of Hancock County, and later a minister, but now an invalid and retired at New Cumberland. Mr. and Mrs. Bowles are the parents of two children: George O., Jr., who is attending the New Cumberland High School; and Ruth.

WALTER LOUIS FERGUSON has practiced law at Huntington for ten years, and in that time has widened his reputation throughout his district, both as an accomplished lawyer and as an earnest citizen with the abilities that count for leadership everywhere.

Mr. Ferguson was born at Huntington September 18, 1879. The Ferguson family came out of Scotland and settled in Virginia in Colonial times. Mr. Ferguson's great- great-grandfather, Lewis S. Arthur, was a Revolutionary soldier. His grandfather, John Ferguson, was an early settler in West Virginia. He was born in Flnvanna County, ohl Virginia, in 1818, was reared in America, and subse- quently established his home in what is now Putnam County, on the Kanawha River in West Virginia. His wife, Lucy Arthur, came to what is now West Virginia in the early '60s. In addition to operating his farm he owned and con- ducted a blacksmith, wagon making and repair shop. A notable incident of his life is that he shoed the horses of the famous James Brothers just prior to the robbery of the Huntington Commercial Bank, now known as the Hunting- ton National Bank. John Ferguson died at Iluntington in 1896.

His son, John Henry Ferguson, was born at Red House, Putnam County, in 1850, but since 1862 has lived at Hunt- ington. For many years he has been a leading general contractor of that city. He is a stanch republican and a member of the Masonic fraternity. John Henry Ferguson, married Lucy Frances Roberts, a daughter of Absalom Roberts, an early family of Virginia. She was born in Cabell County in 1850. A brief record of their children is as follows: John A., a painting contractor at Huntington ; Sallie Belle, wife of Charles W. McClure, Jr., who for the past thirty years has been a machinist in the Huntington Shops of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad; Cola, wife of Charles Neutzling, connected with the Nicholson-Kendle Furniture Company of Huntington; Charles Henry;, a general contractor of Huntington; Walter Louis; Emmett Blaine, a furniture dealer at Huntington; and Clarenee MeKinley, a general contractor.

Walter Louis Ferguson as a youth attended the grammar and high schools of Huntington, and for five years he studied law in the office of Judge Lewis D. Isbell. Mr. Ferguson was admitted to the bar in 1911, and at once began his work as a general practitioner. In his practice he has handled many important cases in the local, state and federal

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courts, and has appeared a number of times in what is known as the Tri-State District. His offices are in the Prindle Building on Fourth Avenue.

Mr. Ferguson is a republican, holds a commission as a notary public, is affiliated with the First Methodist Episco- pal Church, is a member of the Huntington Council, Junior Order United American Mechanics, and the Cabell County Bar Association. He was one of the county leaders in the various organizations and the patriotic program during the World war, serving as a member of the Legal Advisory Board of the county, and giving a large amount of his time to assisting the recruits in filling out their questionnaires.

On January 1, 1914, at Parkersburg, he married Miss Ethel Josephine Coen, daughter of Henry C. and Margaret (Barkwill) Coen, residents of St. Marys, Pleasants County, where her father is a merchant. Mrs. Ferguson was well educated in music, being a skilled pianist. Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson have three children: Walter Louis, Jr., born November 11, 1914; Henry Coen, who died at the age of nine months; and Margaret Jane, born November 14, 1918.

CHARLES B. YOUNG, a veteran in the laundry business, has been identified with laundry management and operation at Charleston for over twenty years, and is manager of the Superior Laundry, perhaps the last word in laundry con- struction, facilities and operation in the State of West Vir- ginia.

Mr. Young was born at Charleston in 1886. His father, Peter Young, was a well-known business man in Charleston, where he entered the grocery business in 1867. Charles B. Young was reared and edneated in Charleston, and for years he and his brothers owned and operated the American Laundry, a plant they sold in 1920.

Charles B. Young, a member of the firm Young Broth- ers, utilized his long experience and study and his widely diversified knowledge of the laundry industry in construct- ing and planning the new Superior Laundry, at the corner of Kanawha and Truslow streets. He had personal charge of all the details of building this plant, which was com- pleted and opened for business July 12, 1921.

Without exaggeration this is one of the finest and most modern laundries in the United States, and represents the ultimate ideal of laundry practice and operation. The build- ing is of brick, of good architectural style, and affords floor space of 14,000 square feet under one roof. A feature de- serving of special commendation is the lighting and venti- lation, there being 3,500 square feet of glass in the one room. All the flooring is concrete, and the interior finish is plain and sanitary, easily cleaned, and kept constantly and spotlessly clean. The atmosphere of the place is wholesome, an ideal place for those who spend their work- ing days there. The motto of the laundry is "Modern to the Minute," and Mr. Young is to be congratulated upon realizing in the construction and operating details this ideal. A few months after the plant was put in operation Mr. Young added $3,000 worth of the latest machinery. As to the capacity of the laundry its rating is 100 shirts per hour. All the washing, drying, ironing and other machines are of the latest models. One of the most noteworthy is a washer of solid brass for perfect sterilization. All the ma- chines are electrically controlled, the motor driven appara- tus being so constructed as to afford individual control to each machine, while all may be controlled together from one switchboard. The engine and boiler rooms are perfect in their equipment for the steam heating of water.

THE MERCHANTS AND MINERS BANK OF WELCH was or- ganized in 1920 by Bernard O. Swope, formerly cashier of the First National Bank. This institution has enjoyed phenomenal growth, and in spite of competition from two strong banks has accumulated deposits during the first year of more than half a million dollars. It has a capital of $100,000, its surplus is $20,000, and at the present time plans have been made for the erection of an office build- ing, the ground floor of which will be used as the bank- ing room and foreign exchange department of the bank. The officers are: Bernard O. Swope, president; A. F. Leckie, vice president; and B. W. Ellis, cashier.

ROBERT R. HOBBS. Included among the men who have the responsibility for good government in Hancock County on their shoulders is Robert R. Hobbs, occupying the posi- tion of clerk of the County Court. Mr. Hobbs is well known to the people of the county as an efficient, energetic and conscientious official, for he is now serving his second six-year term in his present office, and prior to becoming the incumbent thereof had acted in other public capacities. He has spent his entire life in the county, where he has been the architect of his own fortunes.

Mr. Hobbs was born at Fairview, Hancock County, September 5, 1875, a son of John Wesley and Elizabeth Jane (Brenneman) Hobbs. The mother of John Wesley Hobbs was Margaret Ray, a daughter of Joseph Ray, said to have been a Revolutionary soldier, who settled on Brown's Island, six miles below New Cumberland in the Ohio River, and reached an advanced age, being buried at Pughtown. The father of John Wesley Hobbs was Leonard Hobbs, who died at the age of thirty-four years at Wellsburg. Jobn W. Hobbs was sheriff of Hancock County during the Civil war period, following which he became a merchant at Pughtown. In 1881 he was elected to the State Legislature, when the capital was at Wheel- ing, and after completing his term of office returned to his store at Pughtown, in which community he died at the age of seventy years. Elizabeth Brenneman was a daughter of Jacob Brenneman, a descendant of the original settler of the county, Jacob Nessley, whose home was opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek, Ohio, but over the West Virginia line. There Elizabeth had been brought at two years of age and was reared on the farm in the Ohio Valley. She died at the advanced age of eighty-two years.

Robert R. Hobbs secured his education at Pughtown, where he lived until reaching the age of sixteen years, at that time becoming an employe of a merchant at Hookstown, Pennsylvania. At the end of three years he went to Pittsburgh, where he became a clerk for Joseph Hern & Company, and then ran a store at Chester, West Virginia, until 1909, when he was elected sheriff of Hancock County. After spending four years in that capacity be returned to his mercantile operations at Chester, and applied himself thereto without interrup- tion until elected clerk of the County Court for a period of six years, on the republican ticket. When his term expired the citizens, in looking back over his record, found it so satisfactory that he was chosen to succeed himself for another six-year term, and is still the capable, conscientious incumbent of that position.

Mr. Hobbs married Miss Effie K. Knowles, of East Liverpool, Ohio, and to this union there have been born four children: Robert Knowles, who graduated from the high school at Chester, West Virginia, in 1922; Ruth Louise, who is attending high school; and Mildred Elizabeth and Ralph Brenneman, who are attending the graded schools. Mr. Hobbs has a number of civic and social connections, and is accounted one of the progressive men of his com- munity, where he has numerous friends.

J. S. D. MERCER, sheriff of Hancock County, occupies his present position because of his fearlessness as an officer, his executive talents, and his courteous and pleasing per- sonality. This is his second occupancy of the office, prior to becoming the incumbent of which he had filled other posts, and his entire record from the time that he started out to make his own way in the world has been one of stead- fast effort, marked industry and conscientious performance of the duties of public and private life.

Sheriff Mercer was born in Grant District, in the north end of Hancock County, on Mercer's Run, where his great- great-grandfather, William Mercer, had settled about 1800, upon his arrival from Washington County, Pennsylvania. One of his ancestors was General Mercer, a noted officer of the Revolutionary war. The father of J. S. D. Mercer was Robert Mercer, a school teacher in Hancock County for some years, and later engaged in the furniture and under- taking business at Hookstown, Pennsylvania, where he was taken sick. Then he removed to Hancock County where he

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 83

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