USA > West Virginia > Men of West Virginia Volume I > Part 20
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Dr. Late is a valued member of both county and State medical societies. He belongs to Late Lodge, No. 63, A. F. & A. M., of Bridgeport, which lodge was named in his honor ; he was one of the charter members and during 1893-94 served as master.
REV. SAMUEL K. ARBUTHNOT.
REV. SAMUEL K. ARBUTH- NOT, pastor of the Goff Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church of Clarks- burg, Harrison County, West Virginia, was born June 21, 1864, in Wheeling,
West Virginia, and is a son of Samuel and Jane (McCracken) Arbuthnot. The father was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, of Scotch ancestry, and the mother, in Marshall County, Vir- ginia, now West Virginia, of Scotch- Irish descent. In 1872 the father died in Wheeling of cholera, but the mother still resides in Belmont County, Ohio, near the old home.
Rev. Mr. Arbuthnot was one of a family of six children born to his par- ents, all of whom save one still survive. He completed his course in the public schools of Wheeling in 1882 and by the fall of 1884 completed two years of his apprenticeship to the printing trade, with the Wheeling Intelligencer. The young man then taught a term of school and secured physical exercise by walk- ing the distance of six miles twice a day. In the fall of 1884 he entered Ohio Wesleyan College, at Delaware, and graduated there in 1889, with the degree of A. B., which three years later his alma mater changed to the degree of A. M. He then entered the Theolog- ical Seminary of Boston University, at Boston, Massachusetts, where he con- tinued until his graduation with the de- gree of S. T. B., in 1892. Upon his re- turn to West Virginia, he was made pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Weston.
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On April 5, 1893, at Weston, he was united in marriage with Mary G. Calvert, who was born in Easton, Monongalia County, West Virginia, and two daughters have been born to this union,-Mary J. and Virginia E.
He labored at Weston until the fall of 1894, when he was transferred to the pastorate of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church at Oakland, Mary- land, serving there until the autumn of 1897. The next seven months were spent at Huntington, West Virginia, in charge of the First Methodist Episco- pal Church there. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Mr. Arbuthnot was appointed chaplain of the First Regiment, West Virginia In- fantry, U. S. Volunteers, and was at his post of duty during the entire period of his command's service of nine months, which was spent in camps of three months' duration at Chickamau- ga, Georgia, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Columbus, Georgia. After being mus- tered out of service with his regiment and returning to West Virginia, he was made supply pastor at Thomas, West Virginia, and served that charge for six months. At the annual meeting of the West Virginia Conference, in 1899, he was appointed secretary and financial agent of the West Virginia Twentieth Century Thank Offering Commission,
and efficiently performed the duties per- taining to that field of work for two years. In the fall of 1901 he was ap- pointed to his present important pastor- ate, which he served with such signal success that by the unanimous request of the official board of Goff Methodist Episcopal Church he was returned in 1902. Mr. Arbuthnot is well qualified in every way for the responsible posi- tion he fills and enjoys the esteem of his congregation and his fellow citizens.
JOHN B. JENKINS.
JOHN B. JENKINS, sheriff of Tucker County, West Virginia, super- intendent of the Cumberland Coal Company at Douglas, Tucker County, a director of the Piedmont Mining
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Company, and one of the most substan- tial and prominent residents of Albert, West Virginia, was born in Glouces- tershire, England, in 1848. He is a son of Richard and Charlotte Jenkins, both of whom were born in England. There the father followed the business of min- ing and there he died. The mother still resides in her native land, having reached the age of 75 years. Both parents belonged to the Established Church of England.
Mr. Jenkins is one of a family of five children, and has a sister residing in Cleveland, who is the wife of John C. Dix, superintendent of Riverside Cemetery Association, Cleveland, Ohio, while his two brothers, George and Richard, reside in Tucker County, and are connected with the Cumberland Coal Company. Mr. Jenkins came to the United States in May, 1870, and settled in Pennsylvania. By occupation he is a miner and has been associated with mining operations all his business life. In 1891 he removed to Tucker County and since that time has become interested in many enterprises in that section. He has also accumulated con- siderable property, several valuable holdings being the Commercial House and the St. James Hotel, at Parsons. His election by the Republican party to the position of sheriff of Tucker Coun-
ty took place in 1901 and he is most efficiently serving in that capacity at the present time.
Mr. Jenkins married Agnes Thomp- son, who was born in Ayrshire, Scot- land. Mrs. Jenkins belongs to the Pres- byterian Church, but the Sheriff recalls his early training and retains his mem- bership in his mother's Church,-the Episcopal. His fraternal associations are with the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
PROF. LAWRENCE J. CORBLY.
PROF. LAWRENCE J. COR- BLY, who for the past seven years has occupied the responsible position of principal of Marshall College State Normal School, at Huntington, West Virginia, was born in 1862 in Alma,
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Tyler County, West Virginia, and is a son of A. L. and Miranda ( Moore) Corbly, both natives of this State, the former being of English-German de- scent and the latter of Irish-English, and representatives of old-settled, aris- tocratic families.
The Corbly family is connected with the early history of the States of Penn- sylvania and West Virginia, his great- grandfather, Rev. John Corbly, being the first Baptist minister who ventured west of the Alleghanies,-he was sta- tioned at Jarrett's Ford, at the time of the Indian massacre there, in which all his family. except himself and a son and a daughter were killed. A son of a sub- sequent marriage. John Corbly. was the founder of the family in West Virginia, which is a small one, though its mem- bers are scattered all over the United States. John Corbly was an educator.
A. L. Corbly, the father of Profes- sor Corbly, was the next to the young- est son of his parents. He married Mi- randa Moore, who was born and reared in Monongalia County, Virginia, now West Virginia, and who died in 1895, aged 67 years. A. L. Corbly was born in 1824 at Blacksville, Virginia, now West Virginia, a town situated on the State line between Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and is now a resident of Hurricane, West Virginia. He has
held a number of local offices in Tyler County, where his children were all born and reared.
Lawrence J. Corbly is the sixth member of a family of II children born to his parents, the others being : S. M., of Bearsville, West Virginia; Mrs. Sa- mantha A. Hamilton, of Bearsville; Mrs. Celia J. Riggs, of Joseph's Mills; Mrs. Helen V. Estlack, of Bearsville; T. B., of Hurricane; B. L., of Hurri- cane; H. S., cashier of a bank at Hurri- cane; J. R., who died at Alma, West Virginia, aged 22 years; Mrs. Nannie D. McCann, of Milton; and C. R., an attorney of Bozeman, Montana.
Reared in Taylor County, Professor Corbly obtained his primary education in the common schools and completed the normal course at Fairmont, in 1884. He then entered the law office of Hon. WV. I. Boreman, of Middlebourne, West Virginia, where he took a legal course in reading, but before beginning the practice of the law, he decided to enter the University of West Virginia, at Morgantown, having realized that to be a well-trained lawyer one should have university training. He gradu- ated there in the classical department, in 1890, but did not enter upon the practice of the law, his services as an educator and his eminent fitness for this profession having thus far prevented
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his giving his attention to the law. In 1892 he finished a two-year term of office as superintendent of schools at Water Valley, Mississippi, and from 1892-95 he was superintendent of the Clarksburg (West Virginia) schools. The years 1895-96 he spent in Europe, engaged in travel and in study, and since then has spent two summers in travel and study in Europe. This lib- eral education has much better equipped one who was already a scholar and a man of letters. While at Berlin, in the summer of 1896, he was called home to accept his present honorable posi- tion.
Prior to Professor Corbly's connec- tion with Marshall College, the maxi- mum attendance was only 222, and now there are over 700 students, from nine different States. Students are here pre- pared for teaching or for entrance to the junior year in university work. In 1887 Professor Corbly married Lizzie Holland, of New Cumberland, West Virginia, a graduate of the University of Nashville, and a teacher of rich ex- perience. Their home is at the college. They belong to the Presbyterian Church. Fraternally, Professor Cor- bly is a 32nd degree Mason. Profes- sionally and socially, he is one of the most highly esteemed residents of Huntington.
FRANK A. CHAPMAN.
FRANK A. CHAPMAN, a lead- ing member of the bar of Brooke Coun- ty, West Virginia, and a prominent resident of Wellsburg, was born June 3, 1869, at New Cumberland, Hancock County, West Virginia, and is a son of Thomas S. and Christiana ( Foreman) Chapman.
Thomas S. Chapman was born also in New Cumberland, March 9, 1845, and followed farming as an occupation until 1900 when he moved to Wells- burg. He is well known through the State as a horticulturist, his farm being mainly devoted to the cultivation of fine fruit. Since moving to Wellsburg, he has been engaged with his son, our subject, in the land abstract business, the latter having established and now controls the Panhandle Land Abstract
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Company. The paternal grandparents of our subject were Alfred and Sarah (Shelly ) Chapman, the latter of whom was of Dutch stock and was born in Pennsylvania. The former was born in Hancock County, Virginia, now West Virginia, on the old Chapman es- tate, which has been in the family for 115 years, and was a son of Thomas and Rachel ( Griffith ) Chapman. Al- fred Chapman was a pioneer coal oper- ator on the Ohio River, operating at New Cumberland, Virginia, now West Virginia, long before others had be- come active in that locality or the vast coal interests of Pittsburg were de- veloped. He died in 1888, at the age of 76 years, and his widow still survives, at the age of 84 years, and four of her six children are living. George Chap- man, the great-great-grandfather of Frank A. Chapman, was the founder of the family in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, then Virginia. His first settlement was made on Buffalo Creek, but soon after he removed to New Cumberland, which at that date ( 1784) was but an Indian trading post. In conjunction with the few other early settlers, he built a block-house as a place of refuge from the Indians, and this building remained on the Chapman do- main until 1850, serving at last as a stable. The Chapmans were of English
extraction and as the family was pro- lific, it was represented in the early set- tlement of Massachusetts, Virginia and Ohio. The mother of our subject was born at Paris, Pennsylvania, just over the State line from the Chapman family home, and is a daughter of Robert P. and Rosanna ( Shaw) Foreman, the Shaw family being Germans belonging to the Economy Colony of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, established many years ago by the pious zeal of refugees from their own land.
Frank A. Chapman is one of the two children born to his parents, the other being a sister Minnie (Mrs. George M. Crawford), of Steubenville, Ohio. He was reared in his native lo- cality and secured his collegiate train- ing at Bethany College, Bethany, West Virginia, where he was graduated in the class of 1894, with the degree of B. S., and in 1898 he received the degree of A. M. from his alma mater. In the same year he won his degree of LL. B. at the University of West Virginia and immediately began practice at Wells- burg, devoting his attention mainly to corporation law, and now has the larg- est practice of the Panhandle. In the spring of 1903 he and associates estab- lished the abstract office, which has met with abundant success. Mr. Chapman is interested in a number of local enter-
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prises. He is the vice-president and a member of the board of directors of the Wellsburg Banking & Trust Company, which about absorbs the banking busi- ness of the citizens of Wellsburg, and is engaged in promoting a railroad from Wellsburg to Washington, Penn- sylvania. He represents many of the large corporations engaged in coal pur- chasing, and is the attorney of 10 mills.
Politically Mr. Chapman is a Dem- ocrat. Fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, An- cient Order of Workmen, Improved Order of Red Men, Knights of Pythias and the Delta Tau Delta college society. He belongs to the Disciples' Church.
CHRISTIAN STEINMETZ, who for a number of years has owned and operated one of the largest box factor- ies in the State of West Virginia, is also extensively interested in various banking institutions and iron and glass industries in Wheeling, of which city he has been a resident since 1868.
Mr. Steinmetz is a native of Ger- many, and first saw the light of day at Oestrich, on the Rhine, in 1843. In 1866, he came to the United States, and soon made his way from New York to friends in Pittsburg. He had previ- ously learned box-making and book-
binding in his native country, and found employment at similar work in Pittsburg for a couple of years, in the employ of Charles F. Beck. Through correspondence, a more lucrative situ- ation was at length obtained with the Wheeling Hinge Company, for which concern he continued to work in the manufacture of boxes until 1870.
Mr. Steinmetz then decided to em- bark in business for himself, and with that intent and purpose rented a shop where the German Fire Insurance Com- pany was formerly located. This com- pany had moved its office upstairs on 14th street, which is its present quar- ters. Having secured rooms, Mr. Stein- metz began the manufacture of boxes. He later removed to a better location in the old Union Hall on Main street. His business increased rapidly and he now has a factory of his own at No. 1221 Main street, which was purchased by him in 1887. This factory is 99 feet deep by 22 feet wide, and contains three stories and a good attic; the entire building is utilized by Mr. Steinmetz.
The first floor contains the construction and shipping departments, while the upper floors are used as manufacturing rooms. Two 15-horse-power engines furnish power for the plant, and about 30 people find employment there. Many kinds of paper boxes are made, in ad-
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dition to which wooden cigar boxes are also manufactured, and all are proper- ly labeled. The daily shipments aver- age about 6,000 boxes, in addition to the home trade, the product of the fac- tory being sold within a radius of 75 miles.
Mr. Steinmetz has a fine residence at No. 2134 Chapline street. He has been twice married. In 1870, he was joined in marriage with Amelia Wal- der, a native of Germany, and a sister of the late Frank Walder, who was formerly proprietor of the Two Mile House, on the National Road, where the Vance Memorial Chapel now stands. Two children blessed this union,-Agnes, who is deceased, and George, employed in his father's fac- tory, who married Agnes Lowry, has one child, Bernadina, and resides at No. 2343 Eoff street.
In 1876 Mr. Steinmetz was de- prived of his first wife by death. In April, 1877, he contracted a second marriage, this time, with Bernadina Shafer, his present wife, who was also a native of Germany. Three children were born of this union,-Sophia, Clemens and Lawrence.
Socially, our subject is a member of the Arion Association and German Pioneer Society, and of the A. O. U. W. He also belongs to St. George's Branch, No. 30, a Catholic order, and
the family are regular attendants of the German Catholic Church. Mr. Steinmetz is virtually a self-made man, having commenced with a very small beginning and gradually built up a large and lucrative business, which now stands second to none of its kind in the State.
WILLIAM OLIVER MONEELEY.
WILLIAM OLIVER MCNEE- LEY, a prominent citizen of Hen- dricks, Tucker County, West Virginia, who for many years was identified with the lumber and mercantile interests of the northern section of the State, was born in 1851, in Scott County, Indiana, and is a son of Frederick and Eliza McNeeley, both of whom were born in Jefferson County, Indiana.
Frederick McNeeley came of Irish ancestry, with a mixture of Scotch. He
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followed an agricultural life in Jeffer- son County, Indiana, and was a man of substance and highly esteemed. In pol- itics he was a liberal Democrat, and fra- ternally he was a Mason. Both of our subject's parents are deceased. Both were members of the Missionary Bap- tist Church. They reared a family of five sons and three daughters.
William O. McNeeley received his education in the common schools and the seminary at Lexington, Indiana. After completing his school course, he went to Indianapolis and secured a po- sition with the street railway company, which he held for one year. From there he went to Crawfordsville, Indiana, to accept a position with the firm of Hage- myer & Company, manufacturers of, and dealers in, walnut lumber. After three years with this firm, we find him and his brother, J. A. McNeeley, en- gaged in buying walnut timber and selling it in the log. That was followed until the fall of 1875, when he accepted a position with Scatcherd & Son, of Buffalo, New York, to go to West Vir- ginia in search of walnut timber. Lo- gan County was the section where he operated; the logs were rafted to the mouth of the Guyandotte River, and were manufactured into lumber for the Eastern markets. In the winter of 1876 the firm called him to Buffalo, New
York, to take the position of general manager of their wholesale hardwood lumber yard, which position he held for eight years. In the fall of 1884 he resigned and formed a partnership in the lumber business with C. B. Clark, which was followed in Buffalo until the fall of 1888. They then removed to Hendricks, West Virginia, and oper- ated on the Dry Fork of Cheat River in cherry timber and lumber. After four years they began closing out the lumber business and in 1892 Mr. Neeley or- ganized the Hendricks Company, Lim- ited, incorporated and capitalized at $200,000, for the purpose of doing a general mercantile business, of which company our subject was president, and J. A. McNeeley, secretary and treasur- er ; the other members of the company were C. B. Clark, J. E. Poling and T. W. Ryan. In May, 1897, Mr. Mc- Neeley retired from business, except what is necessary in looking after his real estate.
On February 12, 1890, Mr. McNee- ley was married to Rachel Jones, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and four of their six children still survive. Mrs. McNeeley is a member of the Presby- terian Church. In politics our subject is a Democrat. Fraternally he belongs to the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
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ULYSSES WOODWARD SHOWALTER, M. D.
ULYSSES WOODWARD SHO- WALTER, M. D., assistant physi- cian and surgeon of the Kessler Hos- pital at Clarksburg, West Virginia, was born April 27, 1858, at Evansville, Preston County, Virginia, now West Virginia. He is a son of William U. and Sarah E. ( Woodward) Showalter, the former of whom was a native of Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsyl- vania, and the latter, of Clarksburg. The family is of German origin, its early members settling in Rockingham County, Virginia, whence they re- moved to Pennsylvania. Prior to 1850 the father of Dr. Showalter settled at Morgantown, Virginia, now West Vir- ginia, where he engaged in farming. His death occurred at Independence,
Preston County, September 23, 1900. The mother of Dr. Showalter still re- sides at Independence. Her father, John Mills Woodward, was born near Bridgeport, Harrison County, the fam- ily being among the early settlers of West Virginia.
Dr. Showalter is one of a family of nine children born to his parents, six of whom survive. He was reared in Pres- ton and Barbour counties. After he completed the common school course, he entered Fairmont Normal School and later Kingwood High School. He then taught 14 terms of school, teach- ing and attending school, alternately and became highly valued as an educa- tor. In 1887-88 he was principal of the Philippi schools, later of the New- burg schools and for two years was one of the examiners of teachers. His med- ical education was received at the Balti- more Medical College, where he re- ceived his degree in 1892. For six years he practiced his profession at In- dependence and then removed to King- wood. While there he was made United States pension examiner. In 1901 he came to Clarksburg in his pres- ent capacity and has rendered very ef- ficient service, and has become well and favorably known throughout the city.
Dr. Showalter was married August 8, 1885, to Bertie M. Cobun, who is a
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daughter of Rev. I. B. and Isabel (Flaherty) Cobun, of Masontown, Preston County, West Virginia, the former of whom died in 1900, and the latter in 1895. Dr. Showalter and wife have four children, viz. : Percy Cobun and Pearl M. (twins), Ulysses Wood- ward, and William Boyd. The Doctor is a valued and active member of the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is identified with the Republican party. Both he and his wife were members of Goff Memorial Church.
JOHN H. HIGH.
JOHN H. HIGH, United States gauger at Charleston, West Virginia, and a well known and influential citi- zen, was born March 9, 1848, in Ka- nawha County, Virginia, now West
Virginia, and is a son of Edwin and Martha (Slack) High, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania, and the latter in Kanawha County.
Edward High accompanied his par- ents, when a child of four years, from Pennsylvania to Harrison County, Vir- ginia, where he was reared and spent his youth. The Slack family also came originally from Pennsylvania.
John H. High was educated in the public schools of West Virginia, but be- fore he had finished his course he en- listed in the United States service as a member of the State Guards. These were used to protect State property, and operated against the guerrillas. Aft- er the war, Mr. High engaged in teach- ing school and followed this profession for 23 consecutive years, only relin- quishing it to accept a position as United States gauger. He received his first commission in July, 1889, and con- tinued in office until 1893. In 1897 he was again appointed to the seventh dis- trict of Kentucky and also served in the eighth district, under Yerkes. Mr. High now holds the combined office of gauger and storekeeper, and his long continuance in office testifies to his ef- ficiency.
Mr. High is a very capable man and is well qualified to fill a responsible po- sition. He is a notary public, having
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received his commission from Gover- nor A. I. Boreman, and is also an ac- credited attorney, having been admitted to the bar in 1889. In political senti- ment he is a stanch Republican, and enjoys the honor of being the oldest na- tive Republican of Kanawha County.
ROBERT HARPER THAW.
ROBERT HARPER THAW, M. D., one of the eminent physicians of Parkersburg, West Virgiina, was born in 1850 in Jackson County, Vir- ginia, now West Virgiina, is a descend- ant of Robert Harper, the founder of Harpers Ferry, and was named for this ancestor. He is a son of Clermont E.
and Cora L. Thaw, the latter of whom was a daughter of Dr. William S. Will- iamson, one of the oldest and best- known physicians in the State. Mrs. Thaw still survives, at the age of 74 years, the Doctor being her only child.
Dr. Thaw was educated in private and free schools in Tyler County and was mainly reared by his grandfather, as his father died in 1854, when he was but an infant. With this distinguished physician, Dr. Williamson, the youth, began the study of medicine at the age of 17, and then went to the Miami Medical School, at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained during 1872 and 1873. He began practice on April 17th in the latter year, in Wirt County, West Virginia, and remained there for 26 years. For the past four years, Dr. Thaw has found a busy field at Park- ersburg.
Dr. Thaw married a daughter of Brainerd Hopkins, a merchant of Wirt County, and four children were born to this union, viz .: Cora, Theresa, Ruby and Robert. The beautiful family resi- dence is located at No. 1354 Market street, extended. Dr. Thaw belongs to the Little Kanawha, the Ohio, the Wood County and the West Virginia Medical associations. For eight years he was examining surgeon for the gov- ernment and has acted in a like capac-
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