History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 84

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CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA Lieutenant Sixth Field Artillery, First Division. Member of the Senate from the Twelfth Senatorial District. Killed in action in France, July 22, 1918.

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died at the early age of thirty-five years. Robert Mercer married Sarah Elizabeth Allison, a daughter of Jonathan Allison, Jr., a descendant of James Allison, one of the ear- liest settlers of the north end of Hancock County, the old home being on a fork of Tomlin's Run. There were two children who reached maturity: J. S. D .; and J. W. F., a blacksmith of Chester, West Virginia.

J. S. D. Mercer was five years of age when his father died, and he was taken into the home of his maternal grand- father, Jonathan Allison, a large land owner. He attended the public schools and was reared on the original Allison homestead, where he remained until twenty-one years of age, then learning the carpenter's trade, at which he worked for about fourteen years, mainly at East Liverpool, Ohio. His first public office was that of town clerk of Chester, in which he served for one term, being then elected mayor of Chester, an office in which he acted with excellent execu- tive ability for two terms. When he left that office he was chosen county assessor, and served one term, and in 1912 was first elected sheriff of Hancock County, and was the incumbent of that office for four years. During the font years that followed the expiration of his term he was engaged in business successfully as a building contractor, but again in 1920 re-entered public life when he was elected sheriff as the nominee of the republican party. He ran far ahead of his ticket. Sheriff Mercer devotes his entire time to the duties of his office, and is one of the best offi- cials the county has known. He requires only one deputy, this being his son, M. D. Mercer, and the affairs of the office are taken care of in an efficient and expeditious man- ner, much to the satisfaction of the people of the county. Sheriff Mercer is courageous in action, prompt and ener- getic, and possesses more than the average detective ability, which has assisted him in making the county a law-abiding community. He has the support of all good citizens.

Sheriff Mercer married Miss Martha B. Allison, of the same stock of Allisons from which he descends, her mother being a Pugh of Pughtown. Five children have been born to them: James Raymond, D. D. S., who is engaged in the practice of dentistry at Akron, Ohio; Merwyn D., his father's deputy in the sheriff's office; Thelma Elizabeth, a teacher in the public schools of New Cumberland; and Martha E. and Mary L., who graduated from the high school at New Cumberland as members of the class of 1922. The family was reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which Sheriff Mercer belonged until recently, when he transferred his membership to the Presbyterian Church at New Cumberland. As a fraternalist he belongs to the Knights of Pythias; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has passed through the chairs and at one time sat in the Grand Lodge; and the Junior Order United American Mechanics, in which he has also passed through the chairs.

ROY EARL PARRISH. Of the Gold Stars set in West Vir- ginia's honor roll of soldier dead in the great war, one represents Roy Earl Parrish, a son of Thomas Jefferson Parrish, the Clarksburg business man and banker. He left a secure place in his profession and the honors of politics and public office to become a soldier, and in that new and strange role, until his death, he expressed, as the tributes of his superiors and comrades testified, some of the most noteworthy characteristics of the American soldier.

A son of Thomas J. and Mary (Morgan) Parrish, he was born at Wallace, Harrison County, November 27, 1888. He was educated in the public schools, graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan College, studied law in West Vir- ginia University, was admitted to the bar at Clarksburg in 1910, and was engaged in practice until he went into the army. In 1912 he was elected to the House of Dele- gates, serving through the session of 1913, and in 1914 was elected to the State Senate by a large majority from the Twelfth Senatorial District. He was vice-chairman of the Republican State Committee for the first Congressional District, and was chairman of the Republican County Ex- cutive Committee of Harrison County. He was a member

of the Siguia Chi fraternity and the Clarksburg University Club.

So much for the dire statistics of his life. For the significance of his character and the service he rendered as a civilian and as a soldier a deft record is found in the proceedings of the State Senate for January 21, 1919, a day set apart by formal motion for memorial services in honor of Lieutenant Parrish. From the proceedings of that day it is possible here to quote a portion of only one address, that delivered by his successor in the Senate from the Twelfth District, Harvey W. Harmer, a life-long friend of Lieutenant Parrish. Senator Harmer, after re- viewing his boyhood, his continued interest in his church, the First Methodist Episcopal of Clarksburg, his gradua- tion in 1908 from the Wesleyan College at Buckhannon, the graduation from the University Law School in 1910, his active practice as a member of the Clarksburg bar and the unusual influence lie exercised as one of the youngest members of the House of Delegates and the State Senate, took up his patriotic record, and what he said on that point may properly stand as the permanent tribute to this brave young West Virginia officer. The concluding para- graphs of Senator Harmer's address are as follows:

"Largely because of the conditions growing out of our entering into the great World war, the Governor of our State called the members of the legislature to assemble here in a second extraordinary session on the fourteenth of May, 1917. Instead of heeding this call of the Gov- ernor, instead of seeking the pleasure of your association in legislative work, ROY PARRISH chose to volunteer as a soldier in the American Army, and on the day you as- sembled here, he entered Fort Benjamin Harrison, at In- dianapolis, Indiana, in the training school for officers. In that school he remained until August 15th, when he was commissioned Second Lieutenant of Field Artillery.

"After a few days at home he reported to Camp Sher- man, Chillicothe, Ohio, on September first, and eight days later he was transferred to Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Alabama. Shortly after his arrival at Camp Sheridan, his ability as a soldier and lawyer was recognized and he was made Assistant Judge Advocate, a position he filled until November 15. On November 20, 1917, he was detailed as Judge Advocate and served in that capacity until ordered to prepare for duty overseas. He left Camp Sheridan December 15th, with orders to report in New York City on January 20, 1918. In the few intervening days he visited his friends and family at home, leaving for the last time on January 1st, 1918 for New York. On the 14th of January, he sailed for overseas, and after three weeks, which must have been stormy, he arrived at Liverpool, England, February 5th, and in a few days sailed for France. After arriving in France, he entered an artillery school established by Napoleon Bonaparte for special training, and after three months he was ordered to the front with the Sixth Field Artillery, First Division.

"He was in the big drive at Chateau-Thierry, that spelled success for the Allies and defeat and disaster for the German army.

"On the 6th day of July, DeLano Andrews, Second Lieutenant, Field Artillery, Acting Adjutant, United States Army, wrote his commanding officer: 'The Brigade Commander directs me to communicate to you his com- mendations of the services of Lieutenant ROY E. PAR- RISH, 6th F. A. as Liaison Officer with the Infantry. His reports have been clear, intelligent and full of valuable information. They are models of Liaison work and re- flect great credit upon Lieutenant Parrish's energy, power of observation and devotion to duty.'

"Later, G. McDowell, First Lieutenant, Field Artillery, United States Army, Acting Adjutant, wrote: ‘Lieutenant PARRISH was sent forward on July 18th on Liaison work with the Infantry in the attack on that date. Nothing more was heard of him, and after the attack, when the regiment reassembled, he was missing. About two weeks later a report was secured by me from the captain of the Infantry who had talked with him for a few moments as

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they were going forward, and a second later this officer saw Lieutenant PARRISH killed by a shell.'

" ' We have buried enr dead on a thousand hills And thensands unburied lie,

In battered village and shattered wood, Agape at the drenching sky,

Where they poured their bleed in the trampled mud As a witness te Ged on high- As the last full price of sacrifice For that which shall never die.'

"Our own Major John Bond, who has just returned from overseas, met Lieutenant PARRISH shortly before he was killed in action, and where the German shells were falling all around. Majer Bond says: 'ROY PARRISH was one of the most fearless men I ever knew. He was a secend Roosevelt-never satisfied unless he was in the thickest of the fight.'

"The father of ROY PARRISH sits here at my left. Of his five sons, four followed the flag in this awful war -two crossed the seas and two were on the seas. One that crossed never returned. The other that crossed sits here today.

" 'And some shall come home through a sea of flags When the cannon their thunder cease;

And some shall lie alone with the sky In the Valley of Long Release;

And what shall it matter-if freedom stand On the Rock of Eternal Peace.'

"The heart of this father and these brothers and a sister are sad. Your words today, I am sure, are a com- fort and a consolation to them. Brother Senators, know- ing this father and these brothers and sister as I do, I know that the greatest comfort and consolation and the greatest hope that fills their hearts teday is the fact that Roy has been faithful not only to his country and his flag-for he had never wavered there-but that he had also been faithful te his God, and his soul has a resting place we all hope shall be eurs."

Since the return of the troops from France Mr. Par- rislı has been tireless in his efforts to establish the identity of his son. And we quete herewith from correspondence which Mr. Parrish received from the War Department.

(A) Proximity of the place of death of Lieutenant Parrish and place of original burial of the body, which has been identified as being that of the deceased. Lieut. J. Hamilton, 6th Field Artillery, reports: Lieut. Roy E. Parrish, 6th F. A. was killed July, 1918, and buried in a large shell hole marked with a wooden cross, and tag was attached for identification. This shell hole was in a big open field north of Missy-en-Bois, between there and the railread from Seissens to Chateau-Thierry, near the town of Brezy-le-Sec.

(B) The only means of identification found was a can- teen cup with the name "Lieut. Faris" inscribed thereon, and in view of the similarity of names, and the fact that the name on the canteen cup may have been corroded te such an extent that in all probability it had been "Par- rish, " this office arrived at the conclusion that the body contained in grave 178, Section E, Plot 4, American Ceme- tery, Ploisy, Aisne, is that of Lieutenant Parrish.

The remains of Lieutenant Parrish will be interred with full military honers in an American National Cemetery in France.

"Rest Ye in peace, ye Flanders dead, The fight ye so bravely led We've taken up, and we will keep True faith with you whe lie asleep With each a cross to mark his bed. And poppies blooming overbead, Where ence his own life blood ran red, So let your rest be sweet and deep In Flanders field.

Fear net that ye had died for naught, The torch ye threw to us we caught, Ten million bands will held it high, And freedem's light shall never die! We've learned the lesson that ye taught, In Flanders field."

THOMAS JEFFERSON PARRISH. Through a life that began the year Abraham Lincoln was first elected to the presi- dency and came to the responsibilities of manhood more than forty years ago, Thomas Jefferson Parrish has attained to broad experience and successful achievement. A native of Harrison County, he has been a farmer, merchant, tim- her and lumber man, and has not only attracted within the sphere of his activities important material concerns but has also fulfilled in generous measure the obligations that fall upon the citizen, the home-maker and the father of children in whose training for usefulness he has never been remiss. Four of his sons followed the path of duty that led them into places of danger in the great war.

Mr. Parrish was bern on a farm near Wallace, Harrison County, April 5, 1860, son of Silas Newton and Rebecca Ann (King) Parrish, the former born in what is now Marion County, in February, 1835, and the latter in Greene County, Pennsylvania, March 13, 1836. The grand- father, Richard Parrish, was born in Maryland, about 1810, and married a Miss Tetrick, a native of West Virginia. Mr. Parrish was an early settler in Marion County, a pros- perous farmer and influential citizen, joined the republican party at its organization, and he and his wife were mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They lived out their lives at the old homestead, and were the parents of fourteen children.

Silas Newton Parrish after his marriage located on a farm in Harrison County, and in addition to farming, which was the chief business of his long and successful career, he had other interests, including a lumber business at Wallace, being associated with his son, Thomas J., in that enterprise. Silas N. Parrish died in 1915, at the age of eighty years, and his widow died in her eighty-sixth year. They reared three children: Thomas J., Harriet L., and Flerinda B. Florinda is now deceased. Silas Newton Parrish was a loyal and forward looking citizen, who was always ready to assist in progressive movements for the benefit of his home community and county. He was an unreserved republican, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

On the home farm Thomas J. Parrish spent his child- hoed and early youth, attended the public schools, and during these years he acquired a really adequate training for a responsibility that began with manhood. He mar- ried at the age of twenty-one, and for a number of years fellewing he devoted his time between farming and mer- chandising at Wallace. While there, as an associate of his father, he began logging some timber stocks and convert- ing the timber into manufactured lumber. In the fall of 1894 he removed to Beverly, Randolph County, and was engaged in the lumber business there for a time. He re- turned te Wallace in the spring of 1897, and continued his interests as a merchant in that community until 1910. In the meantime, in 1908, he had established his family home at Clarksburg, in order to give his younger children better school advantages in the county seat.

In later years Mr. Parrish has bad a wide variety of busi- ness and financial interests. His associates appreciate his sound judgment, his integrity and his enterprise, qualities that have made him a welcome and valuable member of a number of organizations. For several years he has been interested as a producer in the oil, gas and coal industries, and among several concerns with which be is associated the most important are those represented and controlled by the firm of Groves & Parrish, of which he is senior mem- ber. He has employed his individual experience and cap- ital in promoting the success of several financial institu- tiens. He helped organize in 1903 the Wallace Bank at Wallace, Harrison County, and from the beginning has been its president. He is a director and stockholder in

Spanish

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the Union National Bank, a stockholder in the Empire National Bank of Clarksburg, is president and general man- ager of the Fort Clark Coal Company, a director and stockholder in the Champion Collieries Company, presi- dent and a large stockholder in the Green River Coal Min- ing Company of Kentneky, and vice president and a stock- holder in the Bond County Gas Company of Greenville, Illinois.

lland in hand with the excellent success that has at- tended his various business activities has gone the utmost civic loyalty. In the welfare and advancement of his home locality he has devoted twelve years to his duties as a member of the Harrison County Board of Educa- tion, and in 1921 he was elected a member of the Clarks- burg City Council and has cooperated with all the plans and measures undertaken to give the city an adequate ad- ministration. Mr. Parrish is a republican, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Clarksburg Country Club the Alleghany Club, and the Cheat Mountain Cluh. In Masonry he is a Knight Templar, a member of the Commandery of Clarksburg, has attained the thirty-second legree of the Scottish Rite, is a Mystic Shriner, and also member of the Knights of Pythias.

In 1881 Mr. Parrish married Miss Mary J. Morgan, laughter of Coleman and Rachel Morgan. She was born in Doddridge County, was a mere girl when her parents lied, and she passed away in 1900. Of the seven ehil- Iren born to Mr. and Mrs. Parrish one died in infancy, ind those who reached maturity were Raymer, Charles P., Roy Earl, Lester Glenn, Clair Nelson, and Wilbur Dee. The son, Charles, died at the age of twenty-two. Roy Earl nade the supreme sacrifice while serving as a young officer with the American Expeditionary Forces, and a special memorial sketch of him appears above. Lester Glenn was also in the overseas service in the army, and two other sons, Clair N. and Wilbur Dee, were in the navy. The oldest son, Raymer, is associated with his father in onsiness, giving his chief time to the Fort Clark Coal Com- pany.

Mr. Parrish in 1902 married Miss Elsie L. Deem. She lied in 1913, and is survived by one daughter, Vera Grove.

HON. ROBERT MORROW BROWN. For several decades Hon. Robert Morrow Brown has been a progressive, and for much of that period a prominent, factor in the business, journalistic, political and publie activities of New Cumber- and. His standing as a citizen is firm and broad and ax i leader of the republican party his reputation has extended nto state-wide influence. Mr. Brown was born at New Cumberland. Hancock County, West Virginia, November 21, 1877, and is a son of Adrian Wilmer and Mary Virginia (Morrow) Brown.

Adrian Wilmer Brown was born at Wellsburg, Brooke County, Ohio, in 1854, his parents being John Danforth and Lucie (Howlett) Brown. John D. Brown, who was born n what is now West Virginia, was a merchant for some ears at Wellsburg, where he died aged thirty-nine years, while his wife, who survived him to the age of sixty-three rears was born at Richmond, Virginia. Adrian W. Brown assed his boyhood at Wellsburg, where he received a pub- ic school education and as a young man secured a posi- ion with the Wellsburg Herald. In 1877 he came to New Cumberland, where he founded the New Cumberland Inde- endent, the first issue of which appeared January 10th of that year, from the same building in which it is now published. This republican weekly, published on an old- fashioned Washington hand press, at once gained a good circulation, due to its general worth and excellence and ;o its championing of all worthy movements in the way of modern progress and advancement. Mr. Brown remained is editor of this newspaper until 1903, when he retired from active affairs and turned its management over to his son. He died three years later, greatly mourned by those who lad come to know his numerous fine qualities of mind and heart. Mr. Brown was circuit elerk for Hancock County 'rom 1890 to 1896. He was a member of the Episcopal Church at Wellsburg, and services were held in his own

home at New Cumberland once a month. At Pughtown Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Miss Mary Virginia Morrow, daughter of Alexander and Sarah (Wilson) Mor- row, of Pughtown, Mr. Morrow having been proprietor of the old Virginia House at that place when it was the county seat. He was also a justice of the peace for many years. Mrs. Brown died in 1890, leaving two children: Robert Morrow; and Lucie, now the wife of N. W. Ballantyne, a sketch of whose career appears elsewhere in this work. Later Mr. Brown married Ola M. Moore, who survives him. but they had no children.

Robert Morrow Brown attended the public schools of New Cumberland, and after hs graduation from the high school enrolled as a student at the West Virginia University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1902 and his Bachelor of Laws degree one year later. Previous to this he had seen service on a daily paper at East Liverpool, and had also been on a paper at Morgantown, so that he was not without experience when he took charge of the Inde- pendent at the time of his father's retirement in 1903. The old hand press of former days has gone with other things of its kind, and the office is now electrically equipped throughout, with modern linotype machines and a Babcock press, which has a capacity of from 1,500 to 2,000 per hour. The paper circulates freely, not only in the immediate vicin- ity of New Cumberland, but into sections of Pennsylvania and Ohio. It is in high favor with its readers because of its practical, well-written and timely editorials, its authentic news features and its varions interesting departments, and because it has ever maintained the policy of its founder in supporting all movements promising for advancement and progress along all material and moral lines.

In addition to his newspaper activities Mr. Brown has been engaged in the practice of law, having a large and Merative practice in all the courts. In 1905 he was elected on the republican ticket as prosecuting attorney, an office in which he served with an excellent record until 1909. In 1912 President Taft appointed him postmaster of New Cumberland, and this office he also held for four years. During the World war period he was exceptionally active, serving on the county committee in the Liberty Loan drives and the Red Cross, and it is to be noted as a significant fact that Hancock always stood high among the counties when the final returns were in. In November, 1920, Mr. Brown was elected to the State Legislature for Hancock County, and during his term was a member of the follow- ing committees: Judiciary, Rules, Printing, Forestry and Conservation, Mines and Mining Labor, Medicine and Sani- tation and Redistricting. His record was a worthy one, of much value to his constituency and his state. For the past eight years Mr. Brown has been chairman of the Hancock County Republican Committee. He was in attendance at the national convention that nominated Warren G. Harding for the presidency. As a fraternalist Mr. Brown holds men- bership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and he is also a member of the Kiwanis Club, and Phi Kappa Psi College fraternity. He and his family are entitled to membership in the Sons of the American Revolu- tion and the Daughters of the American Revolution through the service of one of his direct ancestors, Capt. Oliver Brown, buried at Wellsburg, who participated in the win- ning of American independence.

Mr. Brown married Miss Leora Scott, of Somerset, Penn- sylvania, and to their union there has been born one son, John Scott.

HARRY L. BROOKS. Under the modern conditions and or- ganization the police department of a city like Weirton is one of the most important in the municipal service, and its management requires rare abilities of an executive nature, good diplomaic powers in the handling of a force of men so that the machine may run without retarding friction, the bravery of a fearless soldier and the broad judgment of an able general. All of these traits are possessed by Harry L. Brooks, chief of police of Weirton and president of the West Virginia Association of Police Chiefs.

Chief Brooks was born at Grafton, West Virginia, a son

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of Richard Brooks, for over thirty years a locomotive engi- neer on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, running out of Clarksburg, West Virginia. He eventually retired, with a splendid record, and died in 1921, at the age of seventy-two years. He was also engaged in police work at Clarksburg, and continued to give the merchants of that city protection even after his son had become chief. A man of many ex- cellent qualities, he had hosts of friends, and his loss was widely mourned.

Harry L. Brooks was reared at Clarksburg, where he received his education in the graded and high schools, and in 1901 joined the police force. His promotion was rapid and he soon advanced to the position of chief. In 1908, at the solicitation of John C. Williams, general manager of the Weirton Steel Corporation's Plant, the building of which about that time brought the City of Weirton into being, Chief Brooks resigned his post at Clarksburg and came to Weirton to become the first chief of police of this place, with a force of ten men, this constituting the De- partment 'of Public Safety. His initial duties also included those of welfare worker, he being placed in charge of all public improvements and the social betterment of the mill employes. The Weirton Police Department now consists of fourteen men. Weirton also boasts of one of the most modern homes for its police department of any town in the state, a modern structure which cost about $35,000 and which is excellently equipped with all the latest devices, and includes private offices, a court room, etc.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 84

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