USA > West Virginia > Men of West Virginia Volume II > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32
Mr. Shirkey belongs to the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and takes an active interest in the workings of his lodge.
CAPT. RAYNER BROOK- FIELD, a well known citizen of Smithfield, Wetzel County, West Vir -. ginia, and a survivor of the Civil War, was born July 20, 1844, at Newbern, North Carolina, and is a son of John
A. and Jane ( Butler) Brookfield, the former of whom was a native of New Jersey and the latter of North Caro- lina.
John A. Brookfield, the father of our subject, was the commander of a merchant vessel engaged in a coastwise- trade between New York and the West Indies. His life was one of adventure .. He served in the War of 1812 on an American privateer and was captured. by the British and confined on a prison ship until the close of hostilities. He is. supposed to have been lost in the wreck of his vessel, the "Planet," off Cape. Hatteras, at about the age of 62 years. His wife died in 1864, during an epi- demic of yellow fever, aged 60 years .. The five children of the family were: Rachel, a resident of Newbern, North. Carolina; Jacob, who was killed in 1864, at the age of 26, at the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, being cap- tain of Company D, 5th North Caro- lina Regiment; Harriet, who married. Capt. H. O. Brown, a civil engineer at Newbern, North Carolina; Rayner, of this sketch; and John, who resides in Texas.
Captain Brookfield was reared in. North Carolina and was educated in. private schools and in Newbern Acad- emy. When the Civil War broke out, he was clerking in a local store. His:
518
MEN OF WEST VIRGINIA
brother was made captain of the com- pany and our subject, then but 16 years of age, determined to enter it for army service, but he was not permitted to regularly enlist until March, 1862. He was made sergeant-major on the same day and in June of the same year was made 2nd lieutenant and a few months later was commissioned captain of Company C. 5th North Carolina Reg- iment. Although no doubt the young- est officer of that rank in the Confed- erate Army, his ability and gallantry made the "Boy Captain" known through every regiment. He partici- pated in many of the fiercest battles of the war front Bull Run to Appomattox, and suffered severely. Until he was wounded first at Seven Pines, he served under General Johnston ; afterwards he served under General Lee to the close of the war. At Cold Harbor he re- ceived a minie ball in the shoulder, which he carried seven years before the surgeons were able to extract it, but his most serious wound was on the terri- ble day at Spottsylvania, May 11, 1864, his brother being killed on the follow- ing day, when a minie ball so shat- tered his left knee that it was found necessary to amputate the leg the same day. He had been taken prisoner, was sent to Washington and there it was found that the hasty field operation had
to be gone over again, when three inches more were removed. The brave boy captain was then sent to a Philadel- phia hospital and later was confined for six months in the Seminary Hos- pital at Georgetown.
At the close of the war, Captain Brookfield returned to North Carolina and was appointed register of deeds of Craven County, and served in that ca- pacity until April, 1868. After a few months in Washington, D. C., en- gaged in a mercantile line, he went to Fanquier County, Virginia, and en- gaged in farming from 1870 to 1884, in the latter year moving to Salisbury, North Carolina, and in 1895 removing to Smithfield. He became bookkeeper for Mr. Smith and had charge of the post office. In 1898 he became book- keeper in the Bank of Smithfield and has been engaged in this line ever since. Captain Brookfield has many friends and a host of old comrades who delight to tell of his youthful bravery.
While in the hospital Captain Brookfield became acquainted with A. J. Smith, an officer of the Confederate Army, and accompanied the latter to his pleasant and hospitable home in Fauquier County, Virginia, meeting there the estimable sister of his host, Mary B. Smith, who, on April 20, 1870, became his wife. The five chil-
519
MEN OF WEST VIRGINIA
dren born to Captain and Mrs. Brook- field are: Emma, the widow of Prof. John N. Carroll, of Caldwell, Texas; Mary Baker, at home; John William, a resident of Pine Grove, West Virgin- ia : Inez Parker, a teacher in the Smith- field schools; and Paul Virginia. In politics Captain Brookfield has always been identified with the Democratic party. The family belong to the Pres- byterian Church.
R. A. HAYNES, M. D.
R. A. HAYNES, M. D., vice presi- dent of the West Virginia Medical As- sociation and a prominent physician and surgeon of Clarksburg, Harrison
County, West Virginia, was born July 22. 1867, in Greenbrier County, this State, and is a son of Rev. James and Susan E. (Shanklin) Haynes. Dr. Haynes comes of pioneer stock on both paternal and maternal sides.
The Haynes family is of Germanic origin, although the original spelling of the family name was without the final "s." It is presumed that the fam- ily settled in the American colonies some years prior to the Revolutionary War. In that struggle for American independence, Isaac Hayne, the great- great-grandfather of our subject, was a soldier of the rank and file, as were also his seven sons. It is tradition in the family that Isaac Hayne distin- guished himself by some act of bravery during the Revolution and was re- warded with a commission, in which his name was written Haynes instead of Hayne. His family, since then, have always held to the name of Haynes. Not a great deal is known of his seven sons, except William, who was the next in direct line of descent to the sub- ject of this sketch. The facts in regard to Charles, Benjamin, Joseph and Moses Haynes, sons of Isaac Haynes, are quite meager. All that is known of Charles is that he was married Novem- ber 24, 1781, to Mary Dixon, of Greenbrier. Benjamin belonged to Gen-
520
MEN OF WEST VIRGINIA
eral Morgan's legion of riflemen, and is traditionally remembered as a rol- licking, hardy, stout young man. Aft- er the Revolution, he lived and died on Jackson River, about nine miles below Covington, Virginia. Joseph also lived and died on Jackson River. On April 5, 1782, he was married to Barbara Riffe, of Greenbrier. The late Major Haynes who lived near Oakland, in Al- leghany County, was a son, and Col. Charles Haynes of the "Stonewall Brigade," who died some 20 or 25 years ago, was a grandson. Moses settled in Tennessee at an early date, but no special knowledge of his branch of the family can be gleaned.
William Haynes, the great-grand- father of our subject, was born De- cember 18, 1763, and settled in Mon- roe (then Greenbrier) County, on a farm between "Gap Mills" and the Sweet Springs. About the year 1795, Mr. Haynes removed to another farm (now Robert McNutt's) at the foot of Little Mountain, near "Gap Mills." At this point he farmed until his death, which occurred May 1, 1819. Here, too, his wife, who was Catherine Shanklin, of Botetourt County, Vir- ginia, died in June, 1812. In early life, William Haynes was a merchant, but he soon gave up that occupation for farming. Dr. McElhenney says :
"The first family I visited in the field of my mission (Greenbrier and Mon- roe) was that of William Haynes, in the 'Gap,' in Monroe County, and in his house I delivered my first sermon on the west side of the Alleghany." Four sons and one daughter made up William Haynes' family, as follows : James Madison, born February 17, 1794; Agnes D., born April 2, 1797; Andrew S., born May 11, 1799; Will- iam P., born August 2, 1802; and Thomas N., born August 9, 1805. Ag- nes D. Haynes was married in the winter of 1819 to Michael Erskine, of Monroe. Her husband, after many re- movals, settled in Guadalupe County, Texas, where she died, leaving five sons,-John, Andrew, William, Mi- chael and Alexander,-and five daugh- ters,-Catherine, Margaret, Malinda, Ellen and Agnes. Andrew S. Haynes had only fairly commenced business at the old homestead (the McNutt farm) when he died, February 14, 1824. William P. Haynes, after leaving Lew- isburg Academy, where all the chil- dren of William Haynes were edu- cated, graduated in medicine in Phila- delphia and fixed upon Alabama as the field best suited to the practice of his profession ; but death. in the month of November, 1825, nipped his promises of usefulness in the very flower of his
MEN OF WEST VIRGINIA
521
vonth. Thomas N. Haynes also grad- uated in medicine in Philadelphia, and practiced for a short time in Monroe County with success and acceptability. He went to various parts of the South, and died about 30 years ago in Texas, having been greatly afflicted with rheu- matism. His practice was almost re- relinquished in his middle and later life. He was never married.
James Madison Haynes followed farming more or less all his life-nine years on the McNutt farm and then IO years on the present site of Rowan's woolen factory, on Second Creek, in Monroe County. In the fall of 1840 he removed to the Greenbrier River, five miles below Alderson, where, after years of suffering from inflammatory rheumatism, he died January 4, 1858. For a long time, Mr. Haynes was a magistrate of Monroe County, often a commissioner of the court, and in a great many cases was selected as an ar- bitrator of differences between his fel- low citizens. Though often most earn- estly solicited to represent his county in the Legislature, he steadfastly re- fused to become a candidate. James Madison Haynes was married Septem- ber 10, 1821, at Union, Monroe Coun- ty, to Isabella Dunlap, and they had six children who attained to adalt age : Capt. William Haynes, of Summers
County, deceased in March, 1897, who held many offices of trust before and after the war, having been a member, from Summers County, of the West Virginia Convention of 1871 to revise the State Constitution; Alexander D. Haynes, who was a successful mer- chant of Red Sulphur Springs, repre- sented Monroe County in the Legisla- ture of Virginia in 1856, and died at Red Sulphur Springs November 14. 1857; Robert P. Haynes, who was a major of militia before the war, en- tered the regular service of the Con- federacy in the 26th Batallion of Vir- ginia Infantry, was captured at Cold Harbor, and a few days after the battle was killed by a railroad collision, July 16, 1864, while on his way to Elmira, New York, as a prisoner of war ; Rev. James Haynes was the fourth son, and mention of his life is given elsewhere in this sketch; Catherine, who lived with her brother, James; and Mrs. Jane A. Caraway, wife of William Caraway, of Alderson.
Rev. James Haynes, the father of our subject, entered Washington Col- lege in 1855, and graduated in 1859. He then entered Union Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, and was graduated in 1862, being li- censed by the Greenbrier Presbytery the same year, at Muddy Creek, and
8
522
MEN OF WEST VIRGINIA
ordained the following year in the Lewisburg Presbyterian Church. Aft- er preaching one year at Anthony's Creek, he entered the Confederate Army as chaplain in the spring of 1863, and continued as such until the close of the war. He preached at Mud- dy Creek from 1865 to 1870, when he was placed in charge of an evangelical field in Fayette County for two years, making his home at Gauley Bridge. He later resided at Cotton Hill, Fayette County, but died in 1900, at St. Clair, Tennessee, possessing the respect and confidence of fellow workers of the church, both clergy and laity. He married Susan E. Shanklin, who still survives and is a resident of St. Clair, Tennessee. She is a daughter of An- drew Davison Shanklin, who was born in Monroe County, near Greenville, West Virginia, and was a son of one of the early pioneers of that section. An- drew Davison Shanklin's father was born July 13, 1777, and soon after his marriage, May 18, 1802, to Polly ‘Shirky, settled on Indian Creek, Mon- roe County, Virginia, now West Vir- ginia. He was the first settler in that section, and raised a family of 10 chil- dren, namely: Agnes Davison, Eliza- beth Poage, Richard Vare, James, Sarah, John Shirky, Andrew Davison, Nicholas, William Frazier, and Mary
Ann. The Shanklin family came from the Valley of Virginia and settled in Monroe County when it was practically a wilderness. The old Shanklin stone house is still standing on Indian Creek. Andrew Davison Shanklin lived and died on a part of the old home place in Monroe County, and his one child was Susan E., who married Rev. James Haynes. In the early "fifties" An- drew Davison Shanklin journeyed west and took up land in Central Indiana, which he sold at the beginning of the Civil War. His sister, Mrs. Andrew Young, took up 1,000 acres of land in Indiana, a part of which tract is now included in the limits of the city of Lo- gansport.
Dr. Haynes was the third member of a family of 12 children born to his parents, the others being: James Mad- ison, deceased; Davison Shanklin, of Evansville, Indiana; Rebecca, of St. Clair, Tennessee; Agnes, of Tennes- see; William M., of Fairmont, West Virginia: Andrew Nelson, who died aged three years ; Mary, of Clarksburg, West Virginia; Herbert H., of Evans- ville, Indiana; and Susan, Aurelia and Ella, of St. Clair, Tennessee. Dr. Haynes was reared in Greenbrier and Fayette counties and also spent a por- tion of time with his maternal grand- father in Monroe County. His gen-
523
MEN OF WEST VIRGINIA
eral training and medical education were carefully attended to, the former in private and public schools and the latter in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, Maryland. He was graduated in the class of 1896, at the latter institution. Prior to this, he had hospital experience, being secre- tary of the board of directors of the West Virginia Insane Hospital at Wes- ton, and was connected with it from 1888 to 1895. After graduating, he engaged in the practice of his profes- sion at Weston, for 18 months, and on November 1, 1897, located at Clarks- burg. Dr. Haynes has taken advant- age of every opportunity to perfect his skill and knowledge, and in 1901 took a special course in surgery at the New York Post-Graduate and Polyclinic schools.
On October 15, 1896, Dr. Haynes married Hattie Gaylord, of Weston, West Virginia, and two daughters have been born to them, Aurelia Christine and Harriet Jean. Dr. Haynes belongs to the county and State medical associ- ations and is the active and efficient vice president of the latter. His ability is very generally recognized in his lo- cality, and he is numbered among the representative professional men of Harrison County.
CYRUS OSCAR STRIEBY.
CYRUS OSCAR STRIEBY, a well known and successful legal prac- titioner of Davis, Tucker County, West Virginia, was born in 1866, at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Henry J. and Rachel (Ridge) Strieby, the former of whom was also born at Williamsport, and the latter in Tioga County, Pennsylvania.
Henry J. Strieby was born at Will- iamsport, Pennsylvania, in 1835, and now resides at his pleasant country home in Hampshire County, West Vir- ginia. He was a school teacher in his earlier years and at one time served as auditor of Lycoming County, Pennsyl- vania. Later he engaged in milling and farming, but now lives retired. His
!
524
MEN OF WEST VIRGINIA
political sympathy is with the De.no- cratic party. The mother of our sub- ject was born in 1843 in Tioga Coun- ty, Pennsylvania. Both Mr. and Mrs. Strieby belong to the Lutheran Church. They reared six children,-three sons and three daughters.
Cyrus Oscar Strieby was educated in the common schools of his native lo- cality and at the Muncy Normal School, and then accompanied his parents to Hampshire County, West Virginia. There he taught in the district schools for three years, and one year in Mor- gan County and then took a four-year course in the Susquehannah Univer- sity, and was graduated in 1889. Re- moving then to Tucker County as a teacher, one year later he entered the office of W. B. Maxwell, with whom he read law for six months, continuing a study to which he had already given much attention. In December, 1890. he was admitted to the bar and began practice in Tucker County in 1891. For three years he was in partnership with W. B. Maxwell, but now conducts an individual practice which is in every way satisfactory. He enjoys a large local practice in Tucker County, which occasionally extends beyond its limits into the adjoining counties. He also has a good practice in the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia,
which has been marked by a high de- gree of success.
On April 16, 1896, Mr. Strieby was married to Addie Adams, who was born in St. George, Tucker County, in 1871, and is a daughter of John J. and Angelica Adams. The children born to this union are: Elenora and Ruth. Mr. Strieby is identified with the Dem- ocratic party. Both he and his wife belong to the Lutheran Church.
CHARLES WESLEY RIGGS, M. D.
CHARLES WESLEY RIGGS, M. D., who since 1898 has been estab- lished in successful practice of medi- cine at Cameron, Marshall County, West Virginia, was born in 1866 in
525
MEN OF WEST VIRGINIA
Pleasant Valley, Marshall County, West Virginia, and is a son of Simeon and Mary Ann (Ogle) Riggs, the for- mer of whom was also born in Pleas- ant Valley, and died in 1898, aged 58 years. Simeon Riggs' business life was spent as merchant, farmer and salesman. He was identified in politics with the Republican party. The moth- er of Dr. Riggs was born at Rock Lick, Marshall County, and passed away in her 42nd year. Both parents were consistent members of the Meth- odist Church. They had a family of four children born to them, namely : Charles Wesley, Ermina L., wife of Bruce Crow, Laban A. and Elsie May, an infant, deceased.
Dr. Riggs secured his literary edu- cation at West Liberty and Mounds- ville and prepared for college under Dr. William Woodruff, at Limestone. In 1894 he entered Starling Medical College from which he was graduated in 1900. Having registered both in Ohio and in West Virginia, he entered at once upon the practice of his profes- sion. He located first at Piney Fork. Wetzel County, but in 1898 removed to Cameron and was cordially wel- comed and has practiced there with success ever since. He was appointed by Governor A. B. White as a dele- gate to the third annual session of the
American Congress of Tuberculosis, held in the city of New York on May 14-15-16, 1902, in joint session with the Medico-Legal Society.
In 1898 Dr. Riggs married Sarah Alice Smart, who was born in Pleas- ant Valley in 1877, and is a daughter of John and Sarah (Terrill) Smart. One child, Edna Theodosia, was born, April 9, 1901. Mrs. Riggs was reared in the Christian Church, but the Doctor is a Baptist. In politics he ad- heres to the principles of the Republi- can party. He is fraternally connected with various secret organizations in which his pleasing personality makes him popular.
GEORGE L. ZOECKLER. - Stall No. 21, of the Second Ward Market, at Fulton, Ohio County, West Virginia, has been longer occupied than any in the town. It may also be said that there is no busier center of activity, for the enterprising proprietor minderstands the advertising value of business integrity, and likewise pro- vides meats and provisions of such ex- cellent quality as to find ready market among the best livers of the vicinity. Mnich of the success of Mr. Zoeckler may be attributed to those reliable traits of character handed down from an in- dutrious German ancestry, although he
526
MEN OF WEST VIRGINIA
is a native of Wheeling, where he was born in 1858.
His father, also named George, was born in Grunberg, Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany, and came to America with his parents in 1850 when but 18 years of age.
George Zoeckler readily adapted himself to American conditions, and be- came widely known in Wheeling and Fulton. He was the originator of the business now conducted by his son, and during his entire active life was en- gaged in the meat business. At his shop near Fulton he carried on a satisfactory trade, and also became interested in pol- itics; he was one of the bulwarks of the Republican party in his section. He possessed shrewd ability in various di- rections, and his life, terminated No- vember 17, 1891, at the age of 58 years, might well have extended its usefulness for yet another score. Mrs. Zoeckler, who was formerly Catherine Grimmel, was also born in Hessen-Darmstadt, came to America in 1852, and is at present 67 years of age. Aside from her son, George L., her daughter, Min- nie (Mrs. John Roth), also lives in Fulton, the latter being the wife of one of the Roth brothers, engaged in the feed business.
In 1889 George L. Zoeckler suc- ceeded to his father's business, which
he at once proceeded to enlarge and conduct according to the most modern and approved methods. At present he is able to employ five assistants, and aside from a large wholesale business runs two wagons to Wheeling and vi- cinity twice a week, to supply his pa- trons in the city. The butchering is done at his own slaughter houses and he packs some meat, having two large ice-houses. The capacity of the estab- lishment varies according to the weath- er and time of the year.
The Zoeckler home in Fulton is a fine and hospitable place. It is pre- sided over by Mrs. Zoeckler, formerly Emma Ebeling, who was born in De- cember, 1857, and is a daughter of Au- gust Ebeling, one of the early residents of Ohio County. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Zoeckler, as follows: Oscar, who is 21 years of age, and assists his father in his busi- ness ; John, who is 19 years old, and also works with his father; Eddie, who is II years of age, and George, Jr., who is nine years old, both of whom are attending school; Clyde Ebeling and Harry, who died at an early age; and Katie, who died of diphtheria when 10 years of age. Politically Mr. Zoeckler is a Republican, and cast his first presidential vote for Garfield. On several occasions his fellow townsmen
527
MEN OF WEST VIRGINIA
have demonstrated their confidence by electing him to positions of trust, and he has been a member of the City Coun- cil of Fulton a number of times. His father was at first a Democrat, but la- ter gave his allegiance to the Republi- can party. An interesting item in con- nection with this early pioneer is the fact that he bought the first $500 bond at Wheeling during the progress of the Civil War. The entire Zoeckler fam- ily are members of St. John's German Independent Protestant Church.
COL. JAMES HENRY MILLER.
COL. JAMES HENRY MIL- LER, a member of the law firm of Mil- ler & Read, of Hinton, Summers Coun- ty, West Virginia, was born Decem- ber 29, 1856, on Lick Creek, at Green
Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County, Virginia, now West Virginia. He is a son of William Erskine and Sarah Barbara (McNeer) Miller, both of whom were born in Virginia.
The Miller family originated in Ireland and its first representative in this country was Mr. Miller's great- great-grandfather, who immigrated to America from Ireland. Our subject's great-grandfather, Patrick Miller, was born on the voyage between Ireland and America. James Henry Miller's ancestors settled on the present site of Staunton, Virginia. John Miller, son Patrick Miller, was born in Bath Coun- ty, Virginia, and settled in Greenbrier County shortly after the Revolution- ary War. He married Jane Hodge of Bath County and they reared a family of II children, none of whom survive.
William Erskine Miller, son of John Miller, and father of the subject of these lines, was born in that part of Greenbrier County that is now in- cluded in Summers County, and spent his whole life there, dying in 1900, aged 74 years. He married Sarah Bar- bara McNeer, who was born in Mon- roe County, being a daughter of Rich- ard McNeer, of Scotch descent. Her death took place in 1896 at the age of 68 years.
James Henry Miller is the third
528
MEN OF WEST VIRGINIA
member of a family of four children born to his parents, namely : Mary B., of Hinton, West Virginia; C. L., of Foss, Summers County; James Hen- ry ; and A. E., who is general manager of the New River Grocery Company (wholesale) at Hinton. Mr. Miller was educated in the public schools and graduated at the Concord Normal School in 1880, following which he taught school in the free schools of his county for some 30 months. He en- tered upon the reading of the law with Hon. W. W. Adams, of Hinton, and took a course at the University of Vir- ginia. In 1881 he was admitted to the bar and entered upon the practice of the law in partnership with Hon. El- lert Fowler, and later, after Mr. Fow- ler's death, with his preceptor, Hon. W. W. Adams. Upon the death of the latter, he formed a partnership with Thomas N. Read, the present style of the firm being Miller & Read.
On February 1, 1882, Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Jane T. Miller, of Gauley Bridge, Fayette County. West Virginia, and four chil- dren have been born to this union : Grace Chapman, Jean, Daisy and James H., Jr. Mr. Miller has been prominently identified with the public school system, and in 1881 entered upon one term's service as county su-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.