USA > West Virginia > Men of West Virginia Volume I > Part 13
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His boyhood was spent in Claring- ton, where he attended the common school and later the old Catlettsburg (Kentucky) High School. He com-
menced the study of medicine, how- ever, when quite young, and has con- tinued devoted to the profession, closely observant of everything calcu- lated to advance his knowledge. Dr. Cox has studied the four systems : the regular, the homeopathic, the eclectic and the osteopathic, and has practiced in the Ohio Valley almost continuously since the spring of 1874. The Doc- tor is an enthusiast in his profession, and belongs to all of the leading medi- cal associations in a number of States. He is a graduate of various institu- tions; a fellow of the American Asso- ciation of Physicians and Surgeons ; visiting surgeon to McMaster's Hos- pital at Wheeling; member of the staff of physicians and surgeons at St. Luke's Hospital at Niles, Michigan, and is a specialist in surgery and dis- eases of women. He was the founder and for many years was secretary of the Medical Society of the Ohio Val- ley.
In 1894 Dr. Cox located in Martins- ville, where he has the best equipped office and the largest and most com- prehensive scientific library of any practitioner. His equipment of instru- ments and mechanical appliances are not surpassed in this section and he makes use of all the latest improve- ments for the treatment of catarrhal
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diseases, including lung, throat and nose affections, in which he has been unusually successful. He is called in the consultation very frequently at various points on the Ohio River be- tween Wheeling and Parkersburg.
Our subject is too well known to need any comment in regard to his social standing. He is well fitted to meet any of the requirements of life and in every way is a valued citizen of New Martinsville. In 1870 he was married to Genoa Smith, of Fairview, West Virginia, and they have a family of six children.
O. S. HAWKINS.
O. S. HAWKINS, operating as the West Virginia Real Estate Com- pany, with office at No. 222 Fourth
street, Parkersburg, is the leading dealer in this line in his section of the State. He was born at Bedford City, Virginia, in 1867, and is a son of S. M. and L. J. Hawkins, and a grandson of Col. John F. Hawkins, who was a prominent pioneer settler of Lynch- burg, Virginia. Prior to the Civil War, Colonel Hawkins was a large slave and land-owner and had immense plantations in the vicinity of Lynch- burg. He acquired his title during ser- vice in the Revolutionary War. The father of our subject served in the Civil War, with "Stonewall" Jackson, but since its close has been engaged in farming and stockraising. The mother of O. S. Hawkins was a direct descend- ant from Governor Dinwiddie, a fam- ily of aristocratic prominence in the State. Our subject and one sister, Genelle L., of Bedford City, comprise the immediate family.
Mr. Hawkins was educated at Washington-Lee University, at Lex- ington, Virginia, where he was gradu- ated in 1888. After several years of school teaching, he engaged for a time, in writing insurance, and in buying and selling real estate, later becoming inter- ested in ore and manganese mining. In order to become thoroughly familiar with the mining business, he began work with his pick and shovel, and in
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12 months was occupying a position as superintendent. Later he became su- perintendent of the Marion & Roanoke Valley Railroad, with headquarters at Bristol. Deciding to engage in the real estate business, he acted upon the sug- gestion of a representative of R. G. Dun & Co., to locate at Parkersburg, and since he took up his residence in Parkersburg, on December 6, 1900, he has been a powerful factor in the de- velopment of the city and suburbs. He organized the West Virginia Real Es- tate Company, with some associates, whose interests he soon purchased, and has continued to expand his business until it easily ranks with the large en- terprises of West Virginia. Mr. Hawkins handles city, suburban and business property, beside coal and farming land, and has established branch connections at Philadelphia to facilitate the management of coal prop- erties in Pennsylvania. He also repre- sents the Mutual Benefit Life Insur- ance Company of Newark, New Jersey. Although he devotes his entire atten- tion to the various lines of his business, he requires several reliable assistants.
Mr. Hawkins is not only a leading business man in his own interest, but he is also public-spirited, and loses no opportunity of advancing the interests of the city. He was a prominent mover
in the formation of the Business Men's League, which was organized in July, 1902, its object being to found, foster and develop such enterprises as promise to make a great trade center of Par- kersburg. Mr. Hawkins is a man of business and personal integrity. His religious rearing was in the Episcopal Church.
CHARLES FREDERIC UL- RICH, A. M., M. D., of Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia, is one of the oldest practitioners of medi- cine in the State. He attained prom- inence not only in the United States but throughout the civilized world by reason of a learned dis- course before the American Congress of Tuberculosis at New York City, a body of which he is a member and also vice-president. His views on the treatment of patients afflicted with this dread disease are to many minds somewhat peculiar, but his conclusions were arrived at after long and mature reflection, founded on his experience in practice and years of study. As an infant he was afflicted with the disease, and its eradication is another point in favor of his competence as an authority on the matter. The paper which he read before the above mentioned body caused a great deal of comment in
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medical circles of this country, was published in many leading medical journals, and served to set the pro- fession thinking. It first appeared in Moody's Medical Magasine, edited by Dr. R. H. Bell, of New York City, a particular friend of his. Other articles written by Dr. Ulrich setting forth his ideas have been published even in far- away India, and were given preference over the writings of eminent English physicians.
Dr. Ulrich was born in Saxony, Germany, in 1827, and is a son of Charles F. Ulrich, who was also born in Saxony in 1799. Charles F. Ulrich was a skilled cabinetmaker and followed that trade at or near Wheeling, Vir- ginia, now West Virginia, after coming to this country. He lived for years at Bethany, Ohio County, and died there in April, 1885. His wife was born in Saxony, Germany, in 1797 and died in 18544, at the age of 57 years. They were the parents of twelve chil- dren, four of whom died in Germany before the birth of the subject hereof. Those now living are as follows : Charles Frederic; Robert; Lenora; Emma; Richard; and Anna. Robert became a contractor and builder in brick and stone masonry, and resided many years in Kansas, but returned to Wheeling and died at the home of Dr.
Ulrich in 1888. Lenora died in Wheel- ing at the age of six years. Emma is the widow of Frederic Hofman, a graduate of Bethany College and a minister of the Christian Church, and resides in Hiram, Ohio. Her daughter Laura recently graduated from Hiram College, taking a complete classical course, with the addition of modern languages. She had the reputation of being the best and strongest of her class, and is a leader in literary circles. She prepared for the profession of teaching in the higher branches, but at present is teaching in the high school at Garrettsville, Ohio. Richard be- gan teaching in the South was pressed by conscription into the Southern army, and died three months later. Anna, who was a music teacher, married J. W. C. Smith, formerly in the leather business with his father at Wheeling, but now residing at Lafayette, Indiana.
With kindly assistance from a friend, a contractor at Wheeling, and also from the president of Bethany College, Charles Frederic Ulrich was enabled to enter that institution in 1841, at the age of 14 years, and graduated therefrom in 1846, before he had reached the age of 19 years. He was urged by the president, who offered to bear his expenses to continue in a theological course and take up the min-
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istry, as he was then well versed in the Bible. Owing to the fact that his views were not just what he felt a minister's should be, and partly because he felt unqualified as an orator, he de- clined the generous offer and decided to engage in teaching. He taught for a period of 17 years in public schools, high schools and colleges in Kentucky and Tennessee, and a short time in Ohio. From 1853 until 1856 he filled the chair of professor of languages at Burritt College in Tennessee, and also taught some of the scientific classes. He was the preceptor in Latin, Greek, French, German and physics. Along with his studies and professional work, he read medicine to a considerable ex- tent, and entered the army in 1864 as assistant surgeon. Although not hav- ing a diploma, he passed the best examination among 200 candidates, and received a commission to serve in the Green River Battalion. He served until the close of the war, and then practiced medicine for about five years at Cloverport, Breckinridge County, Kentucky. He then went to Louis- ville, attended lectures in the medical department of the university, and re- ceived his diploma in 1870. He practiced at Louisville five years, and then removed to Wheeling in 1875, where he has since engaged in the
regular practice of medicine. For many years he made a specialty of obstetrics, in which branch he has excelled. In 1888 he built his present pleasant home, in which he resides and has his offices.
Dr. Ulrich first married Ellen M. Lacey, who came from a prominent Kentucky family, and four children were born to them, as follows: Mrs. Carrie Blackman, an artist in water- color and oil painting, who resides at Chattanooga, Tennessee, where her husband is traveling passenger agent for the Choctaw & Memphis Railroad Company; J. Clarence, a prominent civil engineer, who lives with his wife and four children in Denver, Colorado; Nellie, wife of R. M. Gilleland, of Bellaire, Ohio, the proprietor of a glue factory, the promoter of the Benwood & Bellaire Bridge and the founder and president of the South Side Bank of Wheeling; and Claudia, who died in Kansas, and who was the wife of Mr. Waterman, a railroad man. The Doctor's second wife was Mrs. Wemyss, nee Messenger, of Brooklyn, who died in 1885. The Ulrich family are all devoted to education. A nephew of Dr. Ulrich, Hugo Bier, is secretary of accounts to the Minister of War of the German Empire. Po- litically Dr. Ulrich is a Republican, and has been a member of the first
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branch of the City Council of Wheel- ing, a member of the Board of Edu- cation six years,-two years of the time serving as president,-and a member of the Water Board for four years. Fraternally he is a member of the American Medical Association, the State Medical Society and the medical societies of Wheeling and Ohio County, having served as pres- ident of all but the first mentioned. He is also a member of the Academy of Medicine, to which only college-bred men are admitted. He is a member of the American Congress of Tubercu- losis, being vice-president for West Virginia. and is also a member of the Medicolegal Society of New York, an honor conferred by the American Tuberculosis Congress. He has been surgeon of J. W. Holliday Post, No. 12, G. A. R., of Wheeling, many years. Since its organization, he has been a member of the German Pioneer Society, a social order whose object is the keeping up of the German language and customs so far as is compatible with the laws of the United States. The order was founded by C. E. Stifel, its first president, and Dr. Ulrich has been its president for the past 8 years. He is also a member and one of the founders of the West Virginia German- American League, a branch of the
National German-American League, which latter society completed its or- ganization in Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, October 6, 1901, and elected the Doctor honorary president for West Virginia. Dr. Ulrich visited his native land in 1889, and also made a tour through Italy, Switzerland and the larger cities of Germany. He speaks and writes the German language as fluently as the English.
J. S. A. FARROW.
J. S. A. FARROW .- The death of J. S. A. Farrow. on November 10, 1902, removed from Wood County, West Virginia, one of its oldest and best citizens, one who had spent a long and useful life within its borders and was identified with much of its prog-
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ress and development. J. S. A. Far- row was born July 13, 1823, a short distance above what is now Kanawha station, below the Little Kanawha River. After marriage he removed to Elizabeth, Wirt County, and remained there four years, removing then to Parkersburg, where he resided until death.
By profession Mr. Farrow was a civil engineer and for 40 years he was the surveyor of Wood County, having been appointed at the beginning of the Civil War to fill the place made vacant by Green Samuels, and with the excep- tion of two terms his service was con- tinuous. He also served two terms as city engineer of Parkersburg.
Mr. Farrow was married in his na- tive locality to Harriet Elliott, who survives him with three children, namely : Howard P. and E. W., of Parkersburg, and Mrs. Julia Stagg, of Wheeling. Mr. Farrow was an active member of the First Baptist Church, the oldest surviving deacon in this body, and, with the exception of one, the oldest member. Interment was had at Mount Olivet Cemetery. In all his dealings Mr. Farrow was an hon- orable and upright citizen, was uni- versally esteemed and enjoyed the re- spect and affection of a large circle of friends.
WILLIAM EDWIN CURRY.
WILLIAM EDWIN CURRY, su- perintendent of the Parkersburg Chair Company, was born in 1855 at Galli- polis, Ohio. His father, George Darius Curry, who was a brick maker by trade, was a veteran of the Civil War, having seen hard service under General Sheri- dan in the Shenandoah Valley. He was the son of Ananias Curry, whose parents came to Ohio from Eastern Virginia, and Harriet his wife, whose maiden name was Sprague. Her par- ents came from the New England States and located in Gallipolis early in the 19th century. The maternal grandfather, George White, was a well known cabinetmaker and housebuilder of his day. He married Sophia Le Clerq, whose parents came from Havre
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de Grace, France, and settled in Gal- lipolis in 1792, being among the first settlers of the Ohio Valley, and mem- bers of the French five hundred.
The mother, four sisters and one brother of our subject, who was the eldest of eight children (two, Samuel and Emma, having passed away), re- side at Parkersburg, West Virginia, viz: Alice, the wife of Thomas E. Walker; Myrtle, wife of Walter E. McDougle; Rose, principal of the 13th street school; Bessie; and George Ed- ward, department foreman at the Par- kersburg Chair Company's factory.
William Edwin Curry attended the common schools until he was 14 years of age, since which time he has been dependent on his own resources. He first entered the service of a practicing physician as office boy, and soon after, at the suggestion of his employer, took up the study of medicine. He had not continued his studies long, however, until it was clear to him and his em- ployer, that the study of medicine was not his calling. Having a natural bent for mechanics, through the influence of the physician he was enabled to enter the service of James Ritchey & Son, cabinetmakers and upholsterers, of Pomeroy, Ohio, as an apprentice. His parents at this time resided in Middle- port, Ohio. His apprenticeship here
was to continue until he arrived at the age of 21 years, but after two years of such service, the factory in which he was employed was destroyed by fire, and his employers not having the means to rebuild the plant, and resume the bus- iness, he was released from his indent- ure. This made it necessary for him to secure another position, which he soon did, with the Gatewood-Fuller Furni- ture Company of Gallipolis, Ohio, his parents in the meantime having re- moved to that city. He remained about one year and then returned to Middle- port and entered the service of the Mid- dleport Furniture Company as a jour- neyman cabinetmaker under the super- intendency of his former employer, James Ritchey. He remained there until the panic of 1873, when this com- pany passed into the receiver's hands. He returned to his old home, Gallipolis, and re-entered the service of the Gate- wood-Fuller Furniture Company and remained until July, 1876, having then attained nearly the age of 21 years. Be- ing anxious to perfect himself in his work, and see a little more of his coun- try, he next went to Chicago. Having spent a week there and nearly all his money searching for work in vain, there being a strike on among the workers in that city, he secured a railroad ticket for Evansville, Indiana. Arriving there,
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he at once found employment at his trade with the Armstrong Furniture Company. Here he worked at the bench as a journeyman about one year, when he secured a large contract with this company on which he employed 50 hands in the production of their large and varied line.
He remained in this service until 1879, when he married Kate A. Fair- child. His father having died the year previous, he returned to Gallipolis with his wife and took up his home with his widowed mother, assuming the responsibility of the head of the family and endeavored to fill the place made vacant by the death of his father in the bringing up and schooling of his young sisters and brother. He entered the service of the Fuller-Hutsinpiller Furniture Company, successors of the Gatewood-Fuller Furniture Company, his former employers. He remained there two years in charge of a depart- ment of their factory, and then re- turned to the Armstrong Furniture Company, at Evansville, Indiana. He remained there as general foreman for 18 months.
Mr. Curry then moved to Parkers- burg, West Virginia, and engaged with the Bentley & Gerwig Furniture Com- pany as general superintendent until September. 1891, when he resigned his
position to accept a position at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where he remained about II months in charge of the plant of the Pioneer Furniture Company. Returning to Parkersburg to see his family, he was induced to remain and accept the superintendency of the works of the old Parkersburg Chair & Furni- ture Company. He assumed his new duties, September 1, 1892. This Com- pany was not successful for want of sufficient capital, and on June 4, 1894, passed into the receiver's hands. Soon after this, Mr. Curry accepted a posi- tion at St. Joseph, Mo., as superintend- ent of the St. Joseph Folding Bed Com- pany.
When in May, 1895, the receiver sold the plant of the Parkersburg Chair & Furniture Company, a new company was formed, and Mr. Curry returned to Parkersburg and resumed his old duties under the new organization, in which he is a stockholder. He has en- tire charge of the manufacturing in this large plant, also the buying of all material, the draughting and designing, and the hiring and discharging of the 125 men under his charge. Although but 47 years of age, he is a very com- petent man in his line, and may almost said to be the father of the furniture industry at Parkersburg, having very materially assisted in the building up
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of two important plants. It is no easy task to watch the work of skilled men and machines so that it may be done in an orderly, economical and satisfactory manner, and at the same time attend to the multitude of other duties, but Mr. Curry seems to possess just the requisite qualifications for success.
Mr. Curry married a daughter of Henry Fairchild, who died in 1893 at Evansville, Indiana, being at the time the oldest printer in the State of In- diana. The pleasant family home is located at No. 12II Market street. Nine children were born to the above marriage, as follows: Edith Claudine, who married J. K. Neale, of Parkers- burg, and has two children-Gladys and Kenneth; Nellie Gertrude, at home ; Nina Bell, assistant bookkeeper at the Parkersburg Chair Company's chair factory; Ada Beatrice; Virginia Lee (although the son of a Union veteran, Mr. Curry was a great admirer of Rob- ert E. Lee, and named this daughter in honor of him and the state for which he sacrificed all but honor) ; Emma Alice; and George Maurice, named for both his grandfathers; and Myrtle Louise, all in school : and Dorothy Dee. The oldest daughters are graduates of the High School. The family belongs to the Presbyterian denomination.
In politics, Mr. Curry affiliates with
the Republican party. He is fraternal- ly associated with the Elks, National Union, Protective Home Circle, Mod- ern Puritans, and is a useful member of all these orders.
HON. JAMES MONROE JACKSON.
HON. JAMES MONROE JACK- SON, late judge of the Fifth Judicial District of West Virginia, whose death occurred February 14, 1901, was born in Parkersburg, December 3, 1825. He was the son of Gen. John J. and Emma (Beeson) Jackson, and was named after President James Monroe, who was a lifelong friend of both his grandsires.
Hon. James Monroe Jackson was prepared to enter college at the age of 17, and entered Princeton, from which
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institution he graduated with the class of 1845. He at once began the study of the law in his father's office, and was admitted to practice in the superior courts of West Virginia, May 8, 1847. He became associated in practice with his father, and soon became recognized as a promising lawyer. On the 22d of May, 1856, he was elected prosecuting attorney for Wood County, to which office he was re-elected after serving a four year's term. However, in August, 1861, he was removed from office for refusing to take an oath to support the government of the State, as reorganized at Wheeling. His vindication came in 1870, when the people elected him to the State Legislature of West Virginia, and re-elected him in 1872. He was a prominent member of the State Consti- tutional Convention, to which body he was elected a member in the summer of 1872. In the fall of 1872 he was elected judge of the Fifth Judicial Dis- trict of West Virginia for a term of eight years. His services on the bench were appreciated so highly that he was re-elected to that office in 1881.
Judge Jackson was brilliant, yet re- flective, and always a close student. He displayed great talent as a lawyer, but was better fitted for the duties of a judge than an attorney. He was
courteous to all, and enforced the laws in a quiet, unassuming manner.
Judge Jackson was married on the 5th of October, 1851, to Helen S. Seely, of Warren, Ohio. She died May 17, 1860. He formed a second union on February 16, 1864, with Lucy Kincheloe, of Wood County. Four children were reared from the first union : Mary E. (Rathbone), James Monroe, Jr., Kate I. (Moffett), and John J., born in 1860, and deceased in 1876.
W. E. HILL, M. D.
W. E. HILL, M. D., one of Bridge- port's skilled physicians and esteemed citizens, was born near Lost Creek, Harrison County, Virginia, now West Virginia, January 18, 1846, and is a
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son of Amaziah and Nancy ( Nuzum) Hill, both of whom were born in Vir- ginia. The Hill family, of which the Doctor is a member, was established in this State by his grandfather, Benjamin Hill, who, at the age of 10 years, ac- companied an older brother to this part of the country, which they found at that time still wild and uncultivated, in- habited by Indians and wild animals. The two homeless boys spent many nights in trees, at the base of which bonfires were kept burning, to keep wolves from attacking them. They had left their Maryland home on account of an unkind step-mother, and never re- opened communications with those they left behind.
Amaziah Hill, father of Dr. Hill, was born near the present site of Fair- mont, followed farming in that local- ity and died on Booth's Creek, near Boothsville, at the age of 63 years His father had settled at the mouth of Booth's Creek, near the present town of Monongah, married, and reared a family of seven children, four girls and three boys. One of Amaziah Hill's brothers, Isaac, was a captain in the Confederate Army, was captured three times, and was with General Lee on the memorable day at Appomattox Court House. The youngest sister, Julia, married Robert Anderson and resides
near Boothsville. During the Mexican War, Amaziah Hill was a volunteer but peace was declared before his com- mand reached the front. The mother of Dr. Hill was born in Harrison County, Virginia, now West Virginia, and was a daughter of William Nuzum, who was a native of Virginia, of Ger- man descent. She died in 1901, aged 63 years. Both parents were consistent members of the Baptist Church. They were interred at Johnson's Chapel. Their children were: Dr. W. E., of Bridgeport; James, who resides near Bridgeport; Edward, who lives on Booth's Creek; Sarah J. ( Mrs. Ward) ; and Thomas, deceased, who spent al- most his whole life near Bridgeport, living for a short period at Clarksburg.
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