History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 86

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Mr. Purdy was united in marriage with Miss Lura Bux- on, who was born in Brooke County, West Virginia, daugh- er of J. H. Buxton, who is now deceased, and to this nion there were horn two sons: John, in the fourth gene- ation of the name: and James G., the third generation to wear the name.

GEORGE H. DAVIS, M. D. Not only is Dr. George H. Davis of Weirton, a leading and learned member of the Ianeock County medical fraternity, enjoying a high pro- essional standing, but is likewise a public-spirited citizen sho has contributed materially to the advancement of educa. ion and other attending features of modern civilization [is career has been one of constant activity and well- chieved success, worthy of the fine old family of which ie is a representative.

Doctor Davis was born on the north side of the Ohio River, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where two Davis rothers, soldiers of the Revolution, had settled after the rinning of the struggle for American independence. The amily has resided in Western Pennsylvania ever since. There have been three generations of physicians in this immediate line, although the father of Doctor Davis was n agriculturist, with two brothers being practitioners of nedicine. George H. Davis attended the public schools of is native locality and Mount Hone (Ohio) College. after eaving which institution he began teaching. After six ears spent as an instructor, during which time he applied imself in his leisure hours to the study of medicine. he en- ered the Baltimore Medical College (now the University f Medicinc) at Baltimore, Maryland from which he was . Inly graduated as a member of the class of 1895. Among is classmates were Dr. Spillman Follanshee and Dr. Chris Fairmont, of Charleston, West Virginia. Doetor Davis egan the practice of his profession at Chester, West Vir- in'a. and remained in that community until coming to Weirton as the pioneer physician and surgeon of this lace. He has built up a large and representative practice ind has won the full confidence and esteem of his clientele, is well as the respect of his professional brethren. He was formerly surgeon for the Weirton Steel Corporation. Doctor Davis holds membership in the Hancock County Medieal Societv. the West Virginia Medical Society and the Amer- can Medical Association.

Since his young manhood, when he applied himself to durational work. Doctor Davis has been intensely interested n the public schools. For several years he served as a nember of the School Board, and it was during this period hat the public school system experienced its greatest era f advancement in the city, having grown from a condition

where only five teachers were necessary to one where sixty teachers were demanded for the various elasses. Doctor Davis has ever stood for advanced ideas, a uniform program of class recitation and other progressive features, and it was largely through his efforts and influence that the dis- triet supervisor's office was created. The system at this time is ereditable, although the lack of suitable buildings is a handicap which the Doctor and others are trying to have removed. Doctor Davis has also interested himself in the cause of religion. In 1910 he established the first Sunday School, the old Union Sunday School, established in the open, under a locust tree, which thereafter held its regnlar meetings in unfurnished dwellings until the Union Sunday School Building, now the Methodist Episcopal Church, was built. Next, Doctor Davis started a Presbyterian Sunday School, which was followed by the establishment, largely through his efforts of the First Presbyterian Church. He is also active in eivie affairs, and belongs to the Masonic (lub at Weirton. He is a York Rite Mason, a Knight Templar in the Commandery at Wheeling and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and also holds membership in the Knights of Pythias.

While still a medical student at Baltimore, Doetor Davis was united in marriage with Miss Catherine L. Candler, of that city, who is a representative of two royal families. On the German side she is descended from the Hotz family, with a castle on the Rhine, and on the English side is a descendant of Lord Seymour, and retains the coat-of-arms of this family in her home. Dortor and Mrs. Davis are the parents of two daughters: Lydia Ann, who graduated from the Weirton High School as a member of the class of 1922: and Margaret M., attending high school and is a member of the class of 1924.

PHINEAS RANDOLPH THARP, a county surveyor of Ritchie County, with residence and official headquarters at Harris- ville, the county seat, was born at Auburn, this county, January 13, 1850, and died November 24, 1921. He was a son of Timothy and Sarah (Cox) Tharp, the former a native of Harrison County and the latter of Lewis County. Timothy Tharp was a boy at the time of his father's death and was indentured, or "bound out," in a family that re- quired much service of him but gave him few advantages, especially along educational lines. His alert mind and self- reliant spirit, however, enabled him to make advancement after he initiated his independent career. After his mar- riage he established a modest home on a farm in Lewis County, and later, with increasing prosperity, he bought a tract of timbered land near Auburn, Ritchie County. He reclaimed this place to cultivation, developed a productive farm, and he and his wife remained on this homestead. honored citizens of the county, until their deaths, both having been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of their family of thirteen children Phineas R., of this re- view, was the last survivor.

Mr. Tharp was reared on the home farm and attended in his boyhood and youth both the subscription and public schools. As a youth he taught three terms in the rural schools of his native county, and though he was but a boy at the time of the inception of the Civil war he served 10% months as a member of Company E, Sixth West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, as a loyal young soldier of the Union. Three of his brothers likewise were Union soldiers, W. D. having been a member of an Iowa regiment, S. S. having been a member of Company I, Third West Virginia Cavalry. and the third brother having died while a prisoner of war in Andersonville Prison.

Mr. Tharp led a busy and useful life, and he prepared himself thoroughly, through study and practical service, for the profession of suveyor, so that he was well qualified for the office which he so ably filled in his native county, and he served also as a road supervisor, constable and justice oť the peace, and had been county surveyor since 1917. He was a stockholder of the People's Bank at Harrisville, of which he was one of the organizers and was the owner of his residence property and also had other real estate interests in Ritchie County. His political allegiance was given to the republican party, he was a past grand of

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Harrisville Lodge No. 89, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, and was one of the appreciative and bonored members of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic, of which he had served as commander. He was affiliated also with Harrisville Lodge No. 98, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he and his wife held membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

November 25, 1869, recorded the marriage of Mr. Tharp, and Miss Sarah C. Moyers, who was born in Ritchie County, November 15, 1849. Mr. and Mrs. Tharp became the parents of four daughters: Mary M. now deceased, was first the wife of Frank M. Moats, who died leaving two sons, Guy R. and Dale H. Moats, and her second marriage was to M. L. Weekly, of Pennsboro, this county. There were no children by this marriage. Martha Maude is the wife of B. C. Moats, of Parkersburg. Isa Adelle is the wife of R. W. McKeen, of Youngstown, Ohio. Carrie Belle is the wife of B. M. Sigler, of Harrisville, and they have one son, Howard Tharp Sigler.

CHARLES L. CAMPBELL. In length of service Charles L. Campbell is the oldest member of the teaching admin- istrative staff of the Butler District of Hancock .County. His experience has covered nearly all the improvements in sehool facilities from the crude one-room seboolhouse to a real school system and educational plant. He is principal of schools in the incorporated village of Holliday's Cove, which is included in the Butler school district, embracing the unincorporated adjoining town of Weirton. Weirton and adjacent community are the subject of more extended comment and description on other pages. The postmaster at Holliday's Cove is D. M. Shakley, also president of the Butler District School Board.

Mr. Campbell was born at Holliday's Cove April 9, 1876, son of George and Aliee (Hammond) Campbell, still liv- ing at the old homestead. The Campbells are one of the oldest families in this seetion of West Virginia. George Campbell's father was Robert Campbell, and his grandfather was Alexander Campbell. The pioneer of the family in this section of Virginia was James Campbell, who seenred a grant of land from Patrick Henry, then governor of Vir- ginia. Some of the old estate is still owned by the family. Robert Campbell died at the age of seventy-eight. George Campbell is now seventy-one.

Charles L. Campbell attended high school at Steuben- ville, Ohio, the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, and also the State University at Morgantown. In 1898, at the age of twenty-two, he began teaebing, taking charge of the school at Holliday's Cove when he was sole teacher with about sixty pupils, all in one room. Prior to that time there had been a school house of two rooms with an opening making them practically one, and used both for school and church purposes. This was replaced by a one-room building on the site of the present eiglit- room school house. That in turn was followed by a four- room frame building erected in 1902. Mr. Campbell after teaching at Holliday's Cove taught in other schools of the distriet, but in 1907 returned to his home community. For three years he was a teacher in the Weirton School, and since then has been in regular service at Holliday's Cove. The present eight-room brick building occupies the site of the old frame school house which was burned. While the main building contains only eight rooms, the school population has so increased that fifteen rooms are now re- quired, necessitating the leasing of temporary quarters.

Mr. Campbell married Ora Shimer, a native of Ohio. They have six children, Leslie. George, Harold, Ruth, Wayne and Aliee. His family is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has held the chairs in the lodge. For eighteen years he has been an enthusiastic advocate of wholesome athletics in this community, and in the sehool has encouraged a base ball team and otherwise stimulated athletic competition.

W. D. JOHNSTON is superintendent of schools at Weirton, that interesting and thriving industrial and agricultural community of which the town of Weirton and the Weirton Steel Works are the central figure. For a century this

section of Haneock County was almost entirely agricultura. and pastoral. Therefore, while Mr. Johnston has been look ing after the schools only half a dozen years or so, his work here has been largely coincident with the period of moderr growth and development.

It was in 1916 that the present Central High School building was ereeted at Weirton, with Mr. Johnston as superintendent. Prior to that time the educational activ ities of the Butler District had been eentered at Holliday ' Cove, while the high school had been maintained for sev. eral years. The Central High School at Weirton and the schools in that group enrolled about 800 pupils, with forty in the high school, twenty-nine teachers all told, and three in the high school. There were only seven schools altogether in the Butler Distriet in 1916. For 1922 the enrollment for the district was 1,720, there were sixty-eight teachers, and the high school had 110 scholars and ten teachers comprising the faculty. Among the veteran teachers at Weirton, whose work has been of the highest degree of usefulness, might be mentioned Miss Nell Cox, Miss Catherine Conlon and Misg Clara M. Smith.

Superintendent Johnston was born in Harrison County, Ohio, graduated from Adrian College in Michigan in 1912. took post graduate work in Ohio University at Athens and at Columbia University in New York. For three years he taught in the district schools of his native county, was principal for three years at the high school of Jewett. Ohio, for three years was principal of the Chester High School in West Virginia, and then, in 1916, came to his duties at Weirton as superintendent of the local schools. He is an active member of the National Educational Asso. ciation, the State Association, and is vice president of the District Superintendents Association of the state. He has been superintendent of the Presbyterian Sunday School at the Cove, and is county chairman of the Junior Red Cross.

He married Dorothy Dennimore, of Jewett, Ohio. She is a talented musician, graduated from Dana's Musical In' stitute at Warren, Ohio, and at Seio College, and for four years was a teacher of music in the public schools of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston have one daughter, Lorraine.

The sebool system of the Butler District is a matter of special pride to all local citizens. D. M. Weir, vice president of the Weirton Steel Company, in an address be delivered to the officers and exeentives of the Steel Com- pany in January, 1922, had this to say concerning the school system :

"The school system in Weirton is one that we have every reason to be proud of. The superintendent of schools in the Butler District is a man of high ideals, is a credit to the community and a very able and efficient director. And I think that the results bespeak more for him that any word of praise that I may say at this time. He has the support of a very able school board, Mr. Shakley, Mr. Morris and one of our own employes, Mr. Rowland. These mea give their time and thought to advancing educational fa- cilities in the district, which is now taking care of 1,800 chil- dren, having about sixty teachers for this work. In addi- tion to that we have two eolored schools, one in the north- east part of Weirton, with about twenty pupils, and one on Calieo Hill, with about forty or fifty pupils. The teachers of these schools are just as competent as any others.

"We are all justly proud of our High School and I think it compares favorably with any other in the state. This educational work is of the utmost importance. Boys and girls in the sehools today will be prime movers in tomor- row's Weirton, and we should encourage educational work in every way.

"At the present time there is being considered and it seems an absolute necessity a building for high school pur- poses at a probable cost of from $150,000 to $200,000. This bond issue will come before the people some time soon and I am hopeful that it will be approved, because new high school facilities are bady needed. About seventy-five pupils are being enrolled each year in the freshman class, and if past records for enrollment are any criterion it will increase yearly.

"Mr. Johnston would like to have a high school which will accommodate from 400 to 500 pupils. Naturally he is

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oking ahead. He bas vision. We think it will only be a w years hence until we will have that many pupils in r high school. Vocational training is being carried on th much success in our present high school building. In e wood work and machinery class there are some forty ys enrolled, and the work they produce is most commend- le. A recent exhibit of what they made was shown in e of the local stores and proved most surprising to every e who saw it. No one had any idea that such development is taking place in this line of work. Domestic Science is very popular class in high school, some fifty girls heing rolled. This branch teaches home economics and sewing."

HOWARD C. LANE, of Wheeling, is a native of that city, a dentist hy profession and had an overseas experience ring the World war.

He was born at Wheeling September 4, 1889. His father, hn Lane, was born in Marion County, West Virginia, 1856. and was about ten years of age when he accom- nied his widowed mother to Ohio County, West Virginia. , was reared, educated and married there, and for a mher of years was employed in one of the nail factories Wheeling. served four years as jailor for Ohio County, d since 1896 has been in the service of the National :change Bank, being custodian of its vaults. He is a mocrat and a member of the Catholic Church. John ne married Margaret Flynn, who was born in Marshall unty, West Virginia, in 1858, Martin, the oldest of their ildren, is in the train service of the Pennsylvania Rail- id and lives at Wheeling. Howard C. is the second in e. Miss Marie is a teacher in the Webster School at heeling.

Howard C. Lane acquired a public and parochial school ucation at Wheeling, finished his high school course at age of seventeen and subsequently learned the profes- n of prosthetic dentistry.

Mr. Lane is unmarried. He is an independent in politics d for a number of years was a member of the Wheeling ard of Education. He is a Catholic and is affiliated with rroll Council No. 504, Knights of Columbus, and Wheel- Lodge No. 28, Benevolent and Protective Order of ks. On June 24, 1918, he entered the United States vice, having one month of duty at Camp Meade. Mary- id, and was sent overseas with Evacuation Hospital No. He was stationed at Revigny, France. and was with : Army of Occupation in Germany at Coblenz until June, 19. when he returned home with Evacuation Hospital . 16 and was mustered out at Camp Dix, New Jersey, August. 1919. He at once returned to Wheeling and umed his professional work.

W. P. SAMPLES has been an active member of the Graf- Bar since 1906. and his career both as a lawyer and izen has exemplified all the qualities that inanre success 1 esteem.

Mr. Samples had become a resident of Grafton before rinning practice there. He was born st Mineral Point Harrison County May 7. 1876, son of James W. Samples. s father was born in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, ril . 6. 1844. acquire a liberal education. being one of first students in the West Virginia State University, 1 later graduated at Marshall College. His career was , long and steady devotion to educational work, and was the oldest member of the teaching profession in rrison County when he died in 1918. at the age of enty-three. He married Elizabeth Virginia Morris, Ighter of George Morris, a farmer at Grassland in Har- on County. Mrs. James W. Samples. who survives her hand, was born in Harrison County, February 10. 1855. le became the mother of the following children: Marma- xe, of Salem, West Virginia; Heman S., of Norman, lahoma; Eve Lee, wife of Truman Coffman, of Salem; y E., at the old homestead in Harrison County; Gertrude of Seattle, Washington; Mre. Ocie M. Goodwin, who d at Dallas, Texas, February 20, 1916; Charles Roy, Norman, Oklahoma; and Percey Hale, the youngest, o met a soldier's death October 14, 1918, in the Mense tor on the Argonne front, and his body since being Vol. III-81

returned to this country lies in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Salem.

William P. Samples was reared to manhood at Mineral Point, and the duties that gave him a sound physique were those provided by the farm. He attended the common schools, one term in the Fairmont State Normal, and about that time he became a volunteer in the Spanish-American war, enlisting at Fairmont in June, 1898, in Company A of the First West Virginia Infantry, under Captain Sabel and Colonel Spillman of Parkersburg. The regiment was in training at Chickamauga Park, Knoxville, Tennessee, and finally at Camp Conrad, Columbus, Georgia, where the troops were awaiting orders wben the war closed. Mr. Samples was mustered out at Columbus February 4, 1899. He is a member of the United Spanish War Veterans-at- large at Washington.

After leaving the army he continued his education as a student for two terms at Salem College and two terms in West Virginia University. He then returned home and spent some time as a clerk at Grafton. While in the uni- versity he passed his bar examinations and was admitted to the bar in September, 1906, and at once established his office at Grafton. He tried his first law suit here in the Circuit Court, and his qualifications early brought him a promising practice. His practice is general in hoth the State and Federal Courts. and he has been admitted on motion to practice at the Federal har. Among other cases of importance Mr. Samples was one of the counsel asso- ciated with E. G. Smith and Stephen G. Jackson, of the law firm of Smith and Jackson of Clarksburg, for the Gentry Brothers Show Company, which sued the City of Grafton for damages resulting when one of the company's wagons fell off the bridge over Berkeley Creek. Mr. Samples and associates won their case and a judgment for $2.460.00 for their clients. Mr. Samples was employed as general counsel for Isaac C. and William M. Ralph- snyder. claimants of the estate of Adolphus Armstrong. This litigation covered a period of ten years. finally settled hy agreement between the heirs. Mr. Samples' clients ob- tained as their share fifty-two and two-ninths of the estate. An important factor contributing to this was the appoint- ment secured by Mr. Samples of William M. Ralphsnyder as administrator of the estate of Lonisa Ann Armstrong of Monroe County, Ohio, said to have been the sole heir of Adolphus Armstrong. All attempts to remove Mr. Ralphsnyder from his post as administrator failed, and the larger part of the Adolphus estate finally reached the Ralphsnyders because of this.

In 1918 Mr. Samples organized the Newlon Coal Com- pany, a partnership, for the purpose of producing Pitts hurgh coal at Simpson. West Virginia. In 1921 he organ- ized the Adelaide Coal Company, a corporation with a capital of $25.000.00, for the purpose of producing coal on the Galloway Branch of the Baltimore & Ohio at Astor. He is secretary and treasurer of both these companies.

Mr. Samples is a member of the Taylor County and West Virginia Rar Associations. He is a past grand of Central Lodge No. 98. Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a member of the Encampment and Rebekahs. and fø three years was district deputy of the Fifth District. Je is a member of Greenhill Methodist Protestant Church in Harrison County.

At Grafton July 31, 1902, he married Miss Adelide Wyckoff, a native of Rosemont. West Virginia. and daugh- ter of D. B. and Virginia (Bailey) Wyckoff. Mr. and Mrs. Samples have two children: William W. and Virginia,

HOMER B. WOODS, a leading citizen of Harrisville, Ritchie County, is presiding on the bench of the Circuit Court of the Third Judicial Circuit, comprising Pleasants, Ritchie and Doddridge counties, and he has made a splendid record both as a lawyer and a jurist.

Judge Woods was born on a farm in Ritchie County, near Harrisville, July 16 1869, and is a son of Rev. Philip A. and Salina (Welle) Woods. Rev. Philip A. Woods was born in Pennsylvania, January 4, 1828, and was about eighteen years old when the family came to what is now West Virginia and settled in Ritchie County. He gained

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his education principally in Pennsylvania, where he at- tended a private school and also Allegany College, after which he was ordained a clergyman of the Baptist Church. He continued in the service of the ministry during the remainder of his active career, and held various pastoral charges in the central part of West Virginia. He became a staunch advocate of the principles of the republican party, and his memory is revered by those who came within the compass of his benignant influence. Both he and his wife were well advanced in years at the time of their deaths. They became the parents of six children.

Judge Homer B. Woods gained his youthful education in the public schools of the various places in which the family resided in connection with his father's pastoral charges in the central part of the state, and be was but sixteen years old when he initiated his career as a teacher, his service in the pedagogic profession having been suc- cessfully continued several years. In the meanwhile he attended Marietta College, and in preparation for the legal profession he took a course in the law department of the University of West Virginia. While pursuing his studies in the law school he was elected superintendent of the public schools of Ritchie County, and after having served two terms in this office he continued his services as a teacher for several years, within which he was prin- cipal of the Harrisville High School and later of that at Pennsboro, likewise in Ritchie County. He was admitted to the bar in 1892, and thereafter continued in the private practice of his profession at Harrisville until 1896, when he was elected prosecuting attorney of his native county. He held this position two successive terms and retired therefrom in 1904, in which year he was elected to the bench of the Circuit Court.

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History of West Virginia old and new, Volume 3, Part 86

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