USA > West Virginia > Men of West Virginia Volume I > Part 28
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On January 26, 1873, Mr. Horst- mann was united in marriage, in Ger- many, with Fredericka Niedermeyer, who was born in Germany, September 8, 1852. They have four children, namely: Fredericka, wife of William Floto, of Wheeling; and Louisa, Ed- ward and Alma, who are at home. Mr. Horstmann has one brother living in Germany. The family are members of the German Protestant Church. Fra- ternally. Mr. Horstmann is an Elk, Odd Fellow and Red Man. He also belongs to Einigkeits Lodge, No. 292,
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German Order of Haru Gari, German Benevolent Society, Krieger Verein, Mozart Singing Society, and the Rhinelander St. Paul Benevolent So- ciety. Mr. Horstmann is a Democrat in politics and served four years in the first branch of the City Council.
HON. GEORGE WESLEY ATKINSON.
HON. GEORGE WESLEY AT- KINSON, ex-Governor of West Vir- ginia, was born in 1845, in Kanawha County, Virginia, now West Virginia, and is a son of Col. James Atkinson, who for many years prior to his death in 1866 was identified with important business movements in the Kanawha Valley.
Governor Atkinson was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan University, with the degree of A. B., in the class of 1870, and after a thorough legal education under the tutelage of Judge Daniel Polsley, and at Columbian Uni- versity, was admitted to the bar in 1875. Not only did he win success and prominence in his profession, but his zeal and fidelity to the Republican party identified him with the political history of West Virginia. In ISSI he was appointed United States marshal and served the full term of four years, resuming his profession in May, 1885. In November, 1888, he was elected Member of Congress from the First Congressional District of West Vir- ginia. Mr. Atkinson has been signally honored by his party, by the bestowal on him of many positions of trust and responsibility. In 1876 he began to serve as a member of the Republican State Executive Committee; was its chairman from 1880 to 1884; was its secretary for four years, and continued to be a member of the committee for 28 consecutive years; was chairman of the Kanawha County Republican Execu- tive Committee for eight years ; chair- man of the Third Congressional Dis- trict Executive Committee for ten years; chairman of the First Congres- sional District Executive Committee
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for six years, and a member of the Na- tional Republican Congressional Com- mittee for four years. Mr. Atkinson's ability as an organizer has placed him in the front rank of the great political leaders in the country.
In 1896, Mr. Atkinson came before the public of West Virginia for guber- natorial honors and was triumphantly elected. During his public career, and especially as chief executive of the State, his official acts displayed his sin- cerity to the best interests of his sup- porters. His administration was noted for its justice, its ability and for the high character of all official acts. In his position as the head of the State, he displayed those qualities which marked him as a man of ability, dauntless cour- age and unswerving integrity.
Mr. Atkinson was married Decem- ber 8, 1868, to Miss Ellen Eagan, of Charleston, West Virginia, and five children were born to this marriage. On June 24, 1897, he was married a second time, to Mrs. Myra H. Cam- den, widow of the late Judge G. D. Camden, of Clarksburg, West Virgin- ia, a lady who is highly esteemed for her graces of mind and person.
For several years, Mr. Atkinson en- gaged in journalism and for seven years was one of the editors and pro- prietors of the West Virginia Journal,
published at Charleston, and has also made his mark in literature, seven valu- able books upon different subjects hav- ing come from his pen. As a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church he has been prominent, and in 1876 and 1888 served as a lay delegate to its General Conference. In the Masonic fraternity he has attained the 33rd de- gree, and has discharged the functions of office in subordinate and grand lodges, rising to the rank of grand mas- ter and grand secretary. having held the latter office for 18 years, during which time he has written the reports on foreign correspondence for the Grand Lodge, a position demanding an intimate acquaintance of comprehen- sive Masonry. " He is an orator of great power, and as an advocate his rank is of a very high order. It is said of him that no other West Virginian has ap- peared on so many public occasions as a speaker, and he always satisfies his auditors, whatever the subject he may be discussing ; and better than all things else, he is pre-eminently a self-made man. Governor Atkinson is now ably filling the office of United States dis- trict attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, a position he as- sumed shortly after retiring from the office of Governor of the State, March 4, 190I.
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W. S. BRADY, secretary and treasurer of the Republic Glass Com- pany, and a successful business man of Wheeling. Ohio County, West Vir- ginia, was born in that city in 1853. He was reared and educated in his na- tive .city, and enjoyed a thorough course at Linsly Institute. His first business engagement was as cashier of the Intelligencer office. In 1880 he en- tered the glass business with Hobbs, Brockunier & Company, serving as cashier for them until 1887.
Mr. Brady then left his native city for a time and accepted a position as secretary for the Fostoria Glass Com- pany, then located at Fostoria, Ohio. In 1892 the glass works were removed to Moundsville, whither Mr. Brady ac- companied them and continued to ful- fill the duties of secretary until 1900, when he retired, but still owns an in- terest in that company.
Returning to his native city, Mr. Brady assisted in organizing the Re- public Glass Company, to which his undivided time and energy have since been devoted. This company was or- ganized principally by Wheeling cap- ital, and in 1900 was incorporated un- der the name of the Republic Glass Company, with the plant at Clarks- burg, but with the principal office at Wheeling. The officers are: C. R.
Hubbard, president; J. J. Holloway, vice-president ; and W. S. Brady, sec- retary and treasurer. This corporation conducts a large and well-paying business in the manufacture of general pressed ware. It has two furnaces and employs from 100 to 200 men. Mr. Brady is a pleasant, genial man, and has hosts of friends. He resides at Echo Point.
CHARLES F. HOLDEN.
CHARLES F. HOLDEN, a well known young man of Clarksburg, West Virginia, is county clerk of Harrison County, having been elected at the fall election of 1902.
The Holden family was founded in this section of the Old Dominion by
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Benjamin Holden, who was one of the first settlers in Western Virginia. He was a mechanic and built some of the first houses in Clarksburg. He married Miss DeRumple, and they had eight sons and two daughters, as follows : Peter W., Pierson, Alexander, Thomas, Benjamin, Charles, Jeremiah, William, and Grace and Minerva. Of these sons, Peter W., Pierson, Alexander and Ben- jamin were Baptist ministers, and in their day were about the only preach- ers of that denomination in the central portion of what is now West Virginia. Charles, one of the sons, was sheriff of Harrison County from 1857 to 1861. One of the sons was a representative in the Virginia Assembly before the di- vision of the State, and a number of the sons served in the War of 1812.
Peter W. Holden married, as his first wife, Nancy Hickman, and they had one son, Lemuel. He afterward married Sarah Crop.
Lemuel Holden was born in Har- rison County, October 20, 1813, and in early manhood married Eliza W. Hoskins, also a native of Harrison County. Both he and his wife are still living near Clarksburg. They became the parents of 15 children, as follows : Lloyd W .; Amanda, deceased; Mary Virginia, deceased: Wilson P .; Heze- kiah, deceased; Martha; Minter J .;
John C., deceased; Lee D .; Alexis ; Sallie Augusta; Nancy; Olive L .; Helen Virginia ; and Anna Belle. Lloyd WV. married Jane Wells, and resides near Clarksburg ; Amanda was the wife of J. R. Adams, who is one of the prom- inent men of Harrison County ; Wilson P. resides in Clarksburg, where he has been engaged in mercantile pursuits for several years; Hezekiah was killed in the Civil War, near Fisher's Hill-he was unmarried; Martha, who now re- sides at Frankfort, Kentucky, married Brown Adams, now deceased-he was a merchant; Minter J. married Mollie Harbert, and they reside at Bristol, Harrison County: John C. died in Clarksburg ; Lee D. is the father of the subject of this sketch,-Charles F. Holden; Alexis married Hattie Morris, and they live at Monongah, Marion County, West Virginia ; Sallie Augusta married George W. Pool, of Clarks- burg; Nancy resides in Frankfort, Ken- tucky ; Olive L., who resides at Salem, Harrison County, West Virginia, mar- ried Evander L. Davis, who is now de- ceased: Helen Virginia married J. Frank Cost, of Williamstown, Wood County, West Virginia; Anna Belle re- sides with her parents.
I.ee D. Holden was born in Septem- ber, 18440, on the farm where he now re- sides, near Clarksburg, where he has
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always followed farming. He married Julia A. Cost, a native of Loudoun County, Virginia, and a daughter of Jacob Cost, who removed from Eastern Virginia at the breaking out of the Civil War and located in Harrison County. Mrs. Holden's parents both died in Harrison County. To Lee D. Holden and wife were born four children,- Charles F .; Edward W., a hardware merchant of Clarksburg ; Lillie M., who married Lee Stout, of Clarksburg ; and Lena, who resides at home.
Charles F. Holden was born on the old homestead in Harrison County near Clarksburg, November 3, 1870, was reared on the farm, and educated in the public schools of the vicinity. He took a business course at Salem Col- lege, from which he was graduated in 1894, and in 1895 he matriculated at the University of West Virginia, and was graduated four years later, in 1899, with the degree of A. B. While a stu- dent at the university, in 1898, he rep- resented it in the Intercollegiate Orator- ical Contest at Waynesboro, Pennsyl- vania, and was successful. In his senior year at the university, he won the Wiles prize of $100 for oratory. The year suc- ceeding his graduation, he was appoint- ed fellow in English at the university, but was compelled to give up the post on account of ill health. Returning to
Clarksburg, he was elected county clerk in the fall election of 1902, on the Democratic ticket, overcoming a regu- lar Republican majority of 1,200. He is a member of the Sigma Chi Mu Mu fraternity, University of West Vir- ginia Chapter.
U. GRANT SUMMERS.
U. GRANT SUMMERS, clerk of the Doddridge County Court and a well known resident of West Union, West Virginia, was born at Summers, Doddridge County, West Virginia, April 13, 1870, and is a son of Elijah WV. and Caroline V. (Brown) Sum- mers. He was brought up on his fa- ther's farm, and in early youth clerked in his father's store. An elementary
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education that he received in the com- mon schools was supplemented by sub- sequent work at the Fairmont State Normal School and Salem College. After completing his education, he taught school for 10 successive years, and for the last two years of this period was principal of the West Union graded school. For several years he was a member of the Board of Examiners. He was active in school work until Jan- uary, 1897, when he took a position as office deputy for Joseph Freeman, sher- iff of Doddridge County, and was en- grossed in the duties of the office until the completion of the term. At the Re- publican County Convention of 1902, he was nominated over B. H. Maulsby, one of the most promient Republicans in the county, as a candidate for clerk of the County Court, to which position he was subsequently chosen at the elec- tion occurring on November 4, 1902, by a large majority, the Democratic party making no nomination against him.
Mr. Summers is performing the va- rions duties that are connected with the office of clerk of the County Court with a great deal of ability, and is regarded very highly by the people of Dodd- ridge County, among whom he has hosts of friends. He takes a great in- terest in secret orders, being a member
of the Knights of Pythias, I. O. O. F., A. F. & A. M., and Jr. O. U. A. M. All his friends unite in predicting for him a prosperous future.
HON. CHARLES PHILIP DORR.
HON. CHARLES PHILIP DORR, a prominent attorney-at-law of Webster Springs, Webster County, West Virginia, was born in Woodsfield, Monroe County, Ohio, and is a son of Simon and Ellen ( McCammon) Dorr, the parents being of French-Huguenot and Irish stock.
The subject of this sketch received his education in the common schools and then took up school teaching and followed this profession through seven years of his young manhood. He then
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turned his attention to the profession in which he has since become so eminent, and read law with General Amos at Woodsfield, and also with Judge J. S. Sprigg of the same place. He was ad- mitted to the bar in 1873 and practiced for a short time in his native State and then removed to Fayette County, West Virginia, where he remained about five years, combining his law practice with teaching school. On looking about for a more favorable location which would afford him a wider field of endeavor and more opportunities for success, he selected Webster Springs, in Webster County. This proved a wise move, success attending him ever since his lo- cation here. In 1885 he was first elected a member of the House of Dele- gates, and again in 1889, on the Demo- cratic ticket. Since that time, however, party issues have changed Mr. Dorr's political convictions, and he has been very prominently identified with the Republican party, his change of alle- giance having been made in 1889. The confidence and esteem in which he is held was shown by his election in 1896 from the Third Congressional District of West Virginia, by a majority of about 4,000 to the 55th Congress, known as the "War Congress." Dur- ing his period of service there, he dis- played wisdom and ability and was no
idle member of the committees on which he was appointed. Mr. Dorr is recog- nized through the State as a man of broad, humane principles, well versed in the affairs of government, a close student and a lawyer of much ability.
Mr. Dorr is fraternally connected with the Odd Fellows, Elks and Knights of Pythias.
AUGUSTUS POLLACK.
AUGUSTUS POLLACK, of Whceling. Ohio County, West Vir- ginia, who organized and established the famous Crown stogie factories, which have added to the national prom- inence of the city, is a son of Joseph and Bertha Pollack, of Buende, Province of
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Westphalia. From the date of his birth, July 5, 1830, he spent his boy- hood days on his parents' estate in the beautiful Weser Valley of Prussia.
After his graduation at the Buende Gymnasium (College) at the age of 17, he entered the counting-room of Ed- uard Gerson at Soest. During the rev- olutionary period of 1848 he accepted a position offered by Hambleton & Thomas, of Baltimore, Maryland. He embarked at Bremenhaven, April 5, 1849, in the London bark, "Margaret," Captain Clark commanding, and ar- rived at Baltimore, May 18, 1849. He engaged in business there on his own account in 1852 and then, in 1854, through the influence of Wheeling friends, he removed it to Wheeling.
On the 31st of March, 1855, he was united in marriage to Rosalie Wein- berg, of Baltimore, and assumed, on the completion of the Northwestern Virginia Railway, during 1858-59, the establishment of the Adams Express Company's business at the different sta- tions of the line, while he erected at Grafton, West Virginia, a residence and warehouse. Mr. Pollack removed to Wheeling during 1860, after resign- ing the agency of the Adams Express Company and disposing of his Graf- ton interests, to establish himself in the wholesale notion trade.
Mr. Pollack prosecuted this busi- ness successfully until 1871, when he organized the first Crown stogie fac- tory, which, with its branch in East Wheeling, employs 275 contented hands and produces annually thirty millions of cigars. It may be added that Mr. Pollack's personal manage- ment has been distinguished by an un- interrupted course of peaceful and har- monious progress by a broad disposi- tion of sympathy and voluntary ad- vances and compensation of graduated labor. This interest in the welfare of labor and approach to its heart has cul- minated in the creation of ideal condi- tions in his factories, which have aroused throughout the country as far as known the most favorable com- ment.
Mr. Pollack at the outbreak of the Civil War tendered to the national gov- ernment his buildings at Grafton and received the grateful acknowledge- ment of Simon Cameron, then Secre- tary of War. Mr. Pollack offered his time and means in defense of the union, organized the first German volunteer company for service in the field and as- sisted to intensify the loyalty of this section.
He aided in the organization of the German paper, The Patriot, and was in- terested in the directories of the Ger-
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man Bank of Wheeling, the German Fire Insurance Company of Wheeling, the Aetna Iron & Nail Company and the West Virginia Tobacco Company, which latter concern was rescued from its financial embarrassment by Mr. Pol- lack's decree,-"The obligations of honor cannot be outlawed."
Although an original and enthusi- astic Republican, he never sought pub- lic position, declining the unanimous nomination for the mayoralty of Wheeling and with reluctance accept- ing the unanimous nomination as elector-at-large on the Harrison and Morton ticket. His speeches during the 1888 campaign were very favor- ably received by the press and his party.
Mr. Pollack presided at the first Saengerfest celebrated in Wheeling, July 20-23, 1885, and presided at the Trades Display in 1887. He was hon- ored in the latter year with the arbitra- tion of the contention of the Pittsburg and Wheeling glass manufacturers and their employees.
Mr. Pollack is a member of the ar- bitration committee of the Board of Trade, director of the Linsly Institute and continues the sole management of both Crown plants, the products of which, since their introduction 32 years ago, have enjoyed everywhere the high- est confidence, in integrity of character
and value, and the open door of Amer- ican markets is the deserved decoration awarded to their author.
JOHN H. ATKINSON.
JOHN H. ATKINSON, attorney at law, at New Cumberland, Hancock County, West Virginia, was born near Kirkersville, Licking County, Ohio, January 7, 1820. He is a son of Thomas and Malinda (Adams) At- kinson. The family ancestry can be traced far back into the misty past, but reliable records reach to about 1650, when members of this family were among the colonists from England on the confiscated lands in the north of Ire- land.
Early in the 18th century Thomas
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Atkinson, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, came to America front the north of Ireland and first set- tled near Baltimore, Maryland, but later removed to Ten Mile, Washington County, Pennsylvania. Here he en- gaged in farming and made a home within a few miles of the present vil- lage of Prosperity. As the Indians still roamed almost at will over that section of the country, Thomas Atkinson built a fort on his land and there sheltered refugees from as far east as Browns- ville. It is more than probable, as he was a man of energy and courage, that he was one of the army that made the unfortunate campaign into Ohio, under Colonel Crawford. However, he died quietly at his own home and was buried in the old cemetery upon his farm. As nearly as the historian of the family has been able to discover, his children were : George; Mary (Mrs. Elliott) ; Will- iam; Mrs. Cracraft; Mrs. Sargeant; Mrs. Craft: Mrs. Inslow; Thomas; and John, the grandfather of our sub- ject. These sons and daughters settled through Virginia and Kentucky.
About 1796, John Atkinson, with other members of the family, settled in Brooke, then Ohio, County, Virginia, and erected the log cabin of the pioneer. John Atkinson then had a family con- sisting of wife and five children; later,
seven more children were born. He had married Elizabeth Pool, in Wash- ington County, and their children were : Sarah, Martha, William, George, Thomas, James, Rhoda, Nancy, John, Ephraim, Eliza and Joseph. Quoting from a family record issued in 1898, we find this interesting bit of history : "Like the Jewish patriarchs, he made provision for the burial of the dead. On the highest point of his farm and overlooking the Ohio River, he dedi- cated a cemetery, where in 1825 he laid the body of his brother , and here in November, 1841, his sons laid their father to rest, and in 1843 the grandmother of our subject was laid by his side." Again quoting : "John Atkinson in personal appearance was a grand specimen of the early settlers of this country. He was full six feet high, large head, broad shoulders and of great muscular power, weighing about 180 pounds." He raised all that the family needed for sustenance, and his capable wife taught her daughters the house- wifery arts which in those days were considered a necessary part of a girl's education. He was a man of the strict- est integrity, never sued a man in his life, and had a ready sympathy for all in need.
The Atkinson family were members of the Established Church of England
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(Episcopal), when they came to Amer- ica, but changes have come and many denominations are now represented among their members. Much of the above interesting history has been gleaned from a pamphlet prepared by J. H. Atkinson and read at the reunion of the family, held on the old home- stead in Brooke County, West Virginia, on September 15, 1898.
Thomas Atkinson, father of our subject, was born at Fort Atkinson, mentioned above, and was brought to Brooke County, Virginia, now West Virginia, at the age of four years. The mother was born at Red Stone, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. They spent their lives in Brooke County, with the exception of seven years spent in Lick- ing County, Ohio. By occupation, Thomas Atkinson was a farmer. He died in 1850 aged 54 years. His widow survived until 1893, dying at the age of 91 years. The four children born to them were: John H .; Alexander, a resident of Alabama; Eliza, wife of Thomas Hunt, of Toronto, Ohio; and Thomas, who died in infancy.
Our subject was about seven years of age when his parents returned to this State. He received his education in the subscription schools of the day, in the old log cabin of pioneer times, but later became a student at Steubenville
and entered Grove Academy at that place. In his early days he followed the occupation of carpenter and cabinet- maker, and engaged in teaching school when but 17 years old in Washington County. His success caused him to continue in this profession and he taught four years at Halliday's Cove in Hancock County ; in 1846 he went to New Cumberland and taught in the schools here. About this time, with his father and brothers, he engaged in the manufacture of fire brick, a business which was carried on for 25 years. In 1848, upon the formation of Hancock County, he was elected clerk of both the Circuit and County Courts and served until 1852. In the same year he was also appointed a commissioner of public accounts and has held this posi- tion for 55 years. Prior to the forma- tion of Hancock County, he was elected surveyor of Brooke County, and held the position from 1841 to 1848. Since he was 15 years old he has understood practical surveying and has given much attention to the same through life.
In 1867 Mr. Atkinson was com- mander of the steamer "Great Repub- lic" for two years, which was the finest steamer that ever floated upon the Miss- issippi River between St. Louis and New Orleans. In 1871-72 he was elected as a delegate from Hancock
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County to revise the Constitution of West Virginia, as he had been a mem- ber of the convention of 1861 to organ- ize the State of West Virginia, and he is the man who drew up the resolution that defined what to do under the cir- cumstances. He was a member of the State Senate of West Virginia from its formation in 1863, for six years, rep- resenting the First Senatorial District, and was chairman of the committee on education and wrote the first free school law of West Virginia. At that time there were not fifty good school houses in the State; now there are more than six thousand. He is given the credit of being the father of the free school system of the State. It will thus be seen that Mr. Atkinson has been one of the most useful and prominent men of his State. Both he and wife are in the enjoyment of health and pros- perity and it is the hope of their many relatives and hosts of friends that they may be spared many more years.
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