USA > West Virginia > Men of West Virginia Volume II > Part 13
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Dr. Robert Blaine McNutt, the father of our subject, was born Febru- ary 19, 1814, and died in 1894. He was one of the best known and most respected men of his section, and for years was the only physician accessible to Mercer and McDowell counties. He spent a few years at Blacksburg, Vir- ginia, after graduating at Richmond College. Many leading families of Vir- ginia-the Grigsbys, the Glasgows, the McCorkles and the Greenless-were his kindred and Governor McNutt of
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Mississippi belonged to the same stock. The mother of our subject was born in Giles County, Virginia, a daughter of John Peck. a stanch Whig and man of affairs in his locality. Five children were born to Dr. and Mrs. McNutt, namely : John W., a druggist of St ..
DR. ROBERT BLAINE MCNUTT.
Louis, Missouri, married Jennie Black; Dr. Joseph P., a physician at Princeton, married Jennie Adair; Josephine, born in 1845, died in 1862; Charles R .; and Juanita, the wife of G. B. Sinclair of Charlottesville, Virginia.
The subject of this sketch was reared in Mercer County and completed his education at Emory and Henry Col- lege. His study of the law was withi Capt. John A. Douglass at Princeton,
Mercer County, and he was admitted to practice in 1889, being for some time a partner of Captain Douglass. From 1873, for 12 years, he was in the county clerk's office, six years as deputy and six years as clerk. Mr. McNutt has so many business interests at pres- ent that he does not confine himself to the practice of his profession. He owns two fine farms near Princeton which he devotes to stock raising, and his home is one of the handsomest in Princeton.
In 1883 Mr. McNutt married Em- ma B. Barnes, daughter of Rev. Will- iam H. Barnes, of the Methodist Epis- copal Church South. She was reared in the old and aristocratic city of Nor- folk, Virginia. The five children of this union are: Roberta, William B., Charles R., Jr., Juanita, Joe Douglass, their ages ranging from 19 to 10 years. Mr. McNutt has been a lifelong Demo- crat, and, notwithstanding the fact that. his county and State, in recent years, have become overwhelmingly Republi- can, he still adheres to his principles ..
HON. BENJAMIN STANTON, lawyer and statesman, was born at Mount Pleasant, Ohio, June 4, 1809, and died at Wheeling, West Virginia, June 2, 1872.
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He was the only child of Elias Stanton and his wife Martha, who was a daughter of William and Elizabeth Wilson. His parents were members of the Society of Friends, and their marriage contract, dated October 22, 1807. is still in the possession of his family. The names of a large number of pioneer Ohio Friends and Quakers are subscribed to that contract, as wit- nesses, among them, David Stanton, who was the father of Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, and a cousin of Elias Stanton.
Mr. Stanton's childhood was spent on a farm near Mount Pleasant, and when a youth he first learned the trade of a tailor, and then studied law with Stokely & Marsh in Steubenville, Ohio. He married Nancy Davis at Mount Pleasant, in January, 1830, and was admitted to practice law at Steubenville in the fall of 1833. In April, 1834, he removed to Bellefontaine, Ohio, where he resided until he removed to West Virginia in 1866. Hon. William Law- rence (U. S. Comptroller of the Cur- rency), who was a contemporary of Mr. Stanton at Bellefontaine, says, in a sketch of Mr. Stanton's life, that he was the leading lawyer in that part of Ohio for 25 years prior to 1866. In 1841, Mr. Stanton was elected to the Senate of Ohio, having prior to that time served as prosecuting attorney of
his county. With other Whigs he re- signed his office as senator in the suni- mer of 1842 in order to break a quor- um in the Senate, and thus prevent a Democratic gerrymander of the State, and his course was approved by his re- election in the fall of 1842. In Janu- ary, 1851, he formed a law partnership with C. W. B. Allison, under the firm name of Stanton & Allison, which con- tinued until his death. In the year 1850, he was a member of the conven- tion that framed the Ohio Constitu- tion, and he was also chosen to repre- sent the Eighth Congressional District of Ohio in the 32nd Congress. He was not a member of the next Congress, buit was re-elected in 1854, and served through successive re-elections until the close of the thirty-sixth Con- gress on the 4th of March, 1861. He was, during the 35th Congress, ap- pointed one of the regents of the Smith- sonian Institution and was chosen chairman of the committee on military affairs during the last Congress before the War of the Rebellion. The records of Congress, while he was a member, show that he took an active part in the stirring debates prior to the war, and that he was one of the Republican lead- ers in the House of Representatives. In 1860, he was strongly supported for United States Senator from Ohio, but
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the choice fell to Hon. John Sherman, who thereafter served so long and em- inently in that capacity as to be known wherever the Senate is known. Mr. Stanton received the unsought Repub- lican nomination for Lieutenant Gov- ernor of Ohio in 1862, and was elected on the same ticket with David Tod for Governor, serving two years.
At the close of the war, a majority of the able lawyers of the State of West Virginia were prevented from practicing their profession because they could not take the "test oath" (that they had not borne arms against he United States or aided or supported the Confederate cause), and Mr. Stan- ton and his partner determined to re- move to this State where professional ability was in demand and where there was a wide field for legal practice in business involving greater amounts generally than the business in their por- tion of Ohio. Accordingly, in thie spring of 1866, the firm of Stanton & Allison opened an office in Martinsburg in charge of Mr. Stanton, and another office in Wheeling, in charge of Mr. Allison. In the spring of 1867, the Martinsburg office was closed, and thereafter the members of the firm con- tinued together at Wheeling. The first five volumes of the decisions of the Su- preme Court of West Virginia show
that during the time that Mr. Stanton practiced law in West Virginia he was of counsel in a larger number of cases in that court than any lawyer in the State, and he was also of counsel in nearly every case that went to the Su- preme Court of the United States from this State during that period.
In the aforesaid sketch, Judge Lawrence says: "For native ability and power in debate, Mr. Stanton las rarely been excelled in Ohio, or in- deed in the nation." In an editorial after Mr. Stanton's death, the Toledo Commercial said: "Mr. Stanton was not only a man of very strong intellec- tual powers, with extensive knowledge upon all questions of public interest, but his reputation for honesty and fidel- ity in the discharge of official duties was above even the taint of suspicion." A long editorial on the death of Mr. Stanton in the Wheeling Daily Reg- ister of June 4, 1872, includes the fol- lowing : "He was a fine advocate, one of the best that has ever spoken at the bar in this county, and all his speeches, whether in court or in the political for- um, were marked by a clearness of statement and an apparent earnestness and sincerity and honesty of purpose that rendered them unusually effective. He took an active part in whatever con- cerned the public welfare and was al-
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ways ready to devote his time and labor to the discharge of whatever duty his fellow citizens imposed upon him. It has been our fortune to differ with him, both politically and upon many ques- tions of local importance, and to know how great an influence he wielded and what a strong hold he had upon the public mind. His private character was above reproach. He has been for many years a member of the Methodist Church and in all the social relations of life has enjoyed the warm friendship of all who knew him. Kind hearted, generous, affable and courteous, he had attached to himself hosts of friends and was admired no less for his brilliant talents than for his estimable qualities as a man. The death of such a man is always a public calamity, and we feel sure that we but express the sentiment of the entire community when we say that without distinction or exception the citizens of Wheeling mourn his death. From the midst of his activity and his usefulness he has passed away, leaving behind him the perfume of a well spent life and the commendation of his fellow men."
Mr. Stanton left surviving him a widow, who died May 16, 1886, a daughter of Mrs. Mary Stanton Alli- son (the wife of his law partner ), who died October 13, 1899, and two sons,
James D. and Frank, who still reside in Wheeling. Another son (Capt. Alexander H. Stanton ) had died short- ly before his father's demise, leaving a widow and one son ( Edwin L.), who are still living.
RT. REV. DANIEL O'CONNER.
RT. REV. DANIEL O'CONNER, pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, at Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia, was born March 27, 1833, in St. Johns, New Brunswick, and is a son of Bernard and Sally ( McLaughlin) O'Conner, who came to the United States in 1840. They located at Hancock, Morgan County, Virginia, now West Virginia, where they lived until 1841 and then re- moved to Doe Gully Tunnell, Morgan
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County, and in 1846 to Mount Savage, in Alleghany County. In 1852 they located near Fairmont. They died at Parkersburg, the father in 1870, and the mother in 1865, and both are buried there.
Father O'Conner was educated at St. Charles College, near Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland, being one of its first students, and is the only clergyman of his class still surviving. He remained at St. Charles from 1848 to 1854 and then spent one year at St. Mary's Seminary of St. Sulpice at Bal- timore, the oldest Catholic theological school in the United States, this being succeeded by two years at St. Vincent's Seminary at Wheeling. Two years were then spent at Mount St. Mary's of the West Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio; upon his return to Wheeling he was or- dained on September 4, 1859, by Bishop R. V. Whelan. His first work was in the mission at Parkersburg, from Sep- tember, 1859, to 1861, in the latter year being put in charge of the parish at Weston, with parochial duties covering a very wide territory. On February 14, 1864, he was removed to Clarks- burg.
Prior to locating in Clarksburg, Father O'Conner had built a small church at Sand Fork, Lewis County, West Virginia. Although his new
field was filled with difficulties, he en- tered upon his duties confident of suc- cess. Prior to the establishment of the present church, monthly mass was said in the homes of several devoted parish- oners. In the summer of 1864 work was commenced on the present beauti- ful church edifice. It is located on one of the most desirable sites, on the east side of Elk Creek, on Pike street. The church and grounds cost about $12,000." and the building was completed in 1865. In 1866 the first Catholic school was started in the city by this indefatigable pastor, and, with the willing assistance of those closely attached to him, a fine parochial school followed, supplement- ed with an academy which still flour- ishes, second to none in the State.
Father O'Conner has never ceased his labors in the direction of the im- provement of the church property and the advancement of his people in educa- tion and religious life. In 1902 many improvenemts were made to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, it hav- ing become necessary to enlarge the seating capacity. Father O'Conner has proved himself a fine financier, a splendid organizer and is a man who not only is beloved and obeyed by his own parish, but has also gained the very highest measure of esteem in the community.
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HON. COLONEL ELLSWORTH RUDESILL.
HON. COLONEL ELLS- WORTH RUDESILL, member of the House of Delegates of the West Virginia Legislature from Kanawha County, a prominent merchant of Charleston, of which city he is the present mayor, and the senior member of the firm of Rudesill & Meade, deal- ers both wholesale and retail in fine imported and domestic china and glass- ware, was born in Akron, Ohio. His parents, C. J. and Frances (Bentley ) Rudesill, were also born in Ohio. C. J. Rudesill is a prominent resident of Shandon, Ohio.
Colonel Ellsworth Rudesill at-
tended the common and high schools of his native place and then took a busi- ness course in a commercial college. He later accepted a clerical position with the Upson Coal Company, of Shawnee, Ohio, with whom he re- mained one year, and then engaged in a music business with Hamilton Brothers, of Springfield, Ohio. In 1884, in association with his father, he embarked in a crockery and queens- ware business at Gallipolis, Ohio, un- der the firm style of C. J. Rudesill & Son, which partnership continued in that town for about four years. In 1889 they removed to Charleston, and established a successful business in the same line, which continued until 1901, when the senior member retired from this firm and C. H. Meade was admit- ted to partnership. This house is one of the largest of its kind in the State, and. the stock carried is complete in every particular. The business is lo- cated at No. 65 Capitol street, where the three-story structure is fitted with all modern improvements and conven- iences. The dimensions of the building are 30 by 100 feet with basement; a stock room at No. 67 Capitol street is made use of in the growing wholesale business.
Mr. Rudesill has been a prominent member of the Republican party for
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a number of years, and since the fall of 1900 has ably represented Ka- nawha County as a member of the House of Delegates. He was the Re- publican candidate for mayor of Charleston, at the city election held March 9, 1903, and was elected. He has filled a number of responsible State offices and is director of the Asylum for Incurables, at Huntington, West Virginia. Fraternally he is associated with the Knights of Pythias and the Elks.
JAMES E. LAMBERT.
JAMES E. LAMBERT, manager of the company store of the Crozier Coal & Coke Company, at Elkhorn, McDowell County, West Virginia, was
born in 1872 in Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania. He is a son of Louis and Ad- rianna A. (Martin) Lambert, the form- er of whom was born in the Isle of St. Kitts, France, and died in 1898, aged 72 years. For many years he was a successful merchant but had lived a re- tired life for some time before his death. His wife was born in Philadelphia, and died in 1898, aged 56 years. Both parents were consistent members of the Roman Catholic Church. They reared a family of six sons and six daughters.
James E. Lambert secured an ex- cellent education in the public schools of Philadelphia. In 1898 he became a clerk for the Norfolk & Western Rail- way Company at Bluefield, West Vir- ginia, and six months later entered the employ of the Nunan & Carr Lumber Company, as manager at Vivian, re- maining in that connection four years. He then went for the same firm in the same capacity to Tug River, McDowell County, and remained there about one year, accepting then his present posi- tion as manager of the company store for the Crozier Coal & Coke Company at Elkhorn. Mr. Lambert has proved his capacity in every position he has held, and enjoys the confidence of his employers. In politics he is independ- ent. Religiously he belongs to the Roman Catholic Church.
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HON. JOHN W. ENGLISH.
IION. JOHN W. ENGLISH, who for a number of years was a mem- ber of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, and who is now a leading member of the bar, in practice at Point Pleasant, Mason County, was born in 1833 in Jackson County, Vir- ginia, now West Virginia.
Job English, his father, was of English origin and a native of Virgin- ia. He married Mary Warth, who was a daughter of John Warth, who was the oldest magistrate in Jackson Coun- ty, and who, according to the then reading of the law, became the first sheriff. It was at his house that the
first session of court was held. Dur- ing the late "thirties," Job English wife settled in Kanawha County, Vir- ginia, now West Virginia. He was a member of the great salt manufactur- ing firm of English & Warth, in the Kanawha Valley. For a number of years he represented and was employed by the Kanawha Salt Company, who made large shipments of their product down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers by way of flatboats. Mr. English was a trusted and experienced business man. Both he and his wife made the Kanawha Valley their home through life.
It was in this home that Judge English spent his days from childhood to manhood. He obtained his primary education at Malden, and at the age of 16 years was placed in the Illinois Uni- versity, at Jacksonville, where he re- mained and completed a five-years' course in the classics. In 1853 he be- gan the study of law under private pre- ceptors, lawyers, thus gaining a prac- tical and useful experience. After two years of study he was admitted to the Virginia bar, locating at Point Pleas- ant after receiving his license. There he formed a partnership with Henry J. Fisher, which continued until the opening of the Civil War. Judge En- glish continued his private practice un-
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til 1889, appearing before the courts of Mason and adjacent counties, but in the fall election of 1888 as the Democratic candidate he was chosen a member of the Supreme Court of Appeals, for a term of 12 years. His success was a flattering one and he took his seat on the bench in January, 1889. The close of his judicial administration found him a popular jurist and he has car- ried that approbation of the public with him into his private practice.
In 1862 Judge English was mar- ried to Fanny C. Lewis of Mason County, West Virginia.
THOMAS CONDIT MILLER.
THOMAS CONDIT MILLER, State Superintendent of Free Schools of West Virginia, and editor of the
West Virginia School Journal, is one of the leading educators of the State and a man of scholarly attainments as well as of good business capacity. Pro- fessor Miller was born at Fairmont, Virginia, now West Virginia, July 19, 1848, and is a son of William E. and Nancy J. Miller, residents of Fairmont, both of whom yet survive.
Our subject received his early edu- cational training in private schools in his vicinity, and under the inspiring teaching of Dr. William R. White, who afterward became the first State Super- intendent of Free Schools; but the troubles incident to the Civil War in- terrupted his schooling, and in the last year of the war, when only 16, he en- listed for service in Company E, 7th Reg., West Virginia Vol. Inf., and served as sergeant until July 10, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. He then resumed his studies and alter- nated the same with teaching, upon which work he entered in November, 1867. After its organization, Profes- sor Miller became a student at the Fair- mont State Normal School, where he continued until 1873, completing the prescribed course under Dr. J. G. Blair, a most helpful instructor, and having spent one year under Prof. J. C. Gilchrist, who had graduated at Anti- och College, under Horace Mann. He
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also spent a year at Adrian College, Michigan, but was compelled on ac- count of ill health to leave college in the junior year.
Professor Miller held the position of principal of the Fairmont High School for a period of 21 consecutive years, and his devotion to the interests of his home town were much appreciat- ed and became widely known, for many and tempting offers were made him from various parts of the State and from other States. In 1893 he accepterl the position of principal of the prepara- tory department of the State Universi- ty, and later he was also appointed to fill the chair of pedagogy in the same institution, his active interest in teach- ing showing him the need of instruc- tion to students in this important branch. Until chosen to his present position, in 1900, he most efficiently discharged the duties of both positions. He is popular as an institute lecturer and has probably addressed as many ed- ucational gatherings of this kind as any one in the State. He has also visited Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky in this capacity. For the second time in the history of the State, the Fairmont State Normal School has one of its alumni as State Superintendent, Hon. B. L. Butcher
sharing this honor with Professor Mil- ler, both being most highly valued members of that body.
Professor Miller is a member of Meade Post, No. 6, Grand Army of the Republic, and has served as assistant adjutant general and assistant quarter- master general of the Department of West Virginia for several years. It was mainly through his efforts that the monuments now standing in honor of the fallen heroes of this State, at the battle of Gettysburg, were erected. In church work he has also been promi- nent. In 1866 he became a member of the Methodist Protestant Church, and ever since has devoted time and energy to the work of this religious body. For 20 years he was superintendent of the Sunday-school and he has served as president of the State Sunday-school Association. In all his work he brings to bear years of mental training and discipline, together with a wide educa- tional experience. His methods are broad, progressive and liberal, and the honor in which he is held by the public is only equalled by the affection given him in private life.
In 1876 Professor Miller married Drusilla C. Hamilton, daughter of El- mus and Louisa S. Hamilton, a promi- nent family of Fairmont, and to this
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union four children have been born : Archie H., Dwight E., Dana Paul and Pauline.
JAMES REED.
JAMES REED, county clerk of Clay County, West Virginia, and en- gaged extensively in the mercantile and lumber business at Clay Court House, was born June 8, 1865, at Middlecreek, Clay County. He is a son of Solomon and Sarah (Neal) Reed, the latter of whom was a daughter of Jeremiah Neal, and of Dutch descent.
Mr. Reed was reared and educated in Clay County, and has been engaged in mercantile pursuits and extensively interested in the lumber business all his
life. In politics he has always been one of the active Republicans of his locality. On November 4, 1902, he was elected, for a six years term, county clerk of Clay County and has efficiently per- formed the duties of the office. He has also been a notary public for a long period.
On December 27, 1888, Mr. Reed was united in marriage with Carrie Wheeler, who is a daughter of Edward B. and Sarah (Hamrick) Wheeler. They have two children,-Edward R., born March 15, 1891; and Vera, born November 15, 1895. The family be- long to the Methodist Church.
Fraternally Mr. Reed is an Odd Fellow, belonging to Pisgah Lodge, No. 180, of which he has been treas- 11rer for years. He is one of the honest, upright and progressive men of his community and enjoys the esteem of ali who know him.
WILLIAM F. STIFEL, a mem- ber of the firm of J. L. Stifel & Sons, printers of calico, is one of the repre- sentative citizens of Wheeling, West Virginia. He was born in Wheeling, in 1840, and is a son of J. L. Stifel.
J. L. Stifel was born in Germany, where he managed a print works for a number of years. In 1834 he came to
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the United States, and after visiting several of the large cities located at Wheeling. He married Barbara Becht, who died in the "seventies." Several children were born to them, among them one son and two daughters liv- ing in Pittsburg ; George E., who is one of the large dry goods merchants of Wheeling; and William F.
William F. Stifel underwent his mental training at Linsly Institute, and at the age of 15 years entered his pres- ent business. His father established this business in 1835, and for many years it was located at Main and Ninth streets. Its present location is on the corner of Fourth and Main streets. The owners and proprietors of this business are William F. Stifel and his two nephews, Edward W. and Henry G. This firm employs about 50 people, and 70,000 square feet of floor space are utilized in the plant, which is sup- plied with strictly modern and up-to- date machinery, and is operated by elec- tricity. The work is all done by ma- chine and is developed by what is said to be the largest gas engine in the State. The grounds occupied by the plant are 150 by 400 feet. The sale of the prod- uct of this extensive plant is conducted through leading commission centers, thus requiring but few traveling repre- sentatives. An immense business is
done each year, and the plant is well managed. Having learned the busi- ness at an early age, Mr. Stifel was fully competent to take charge of such an undertaking at the death of his fa- ther, which occurred in 1881, at the age of 74 years. Mr. Stifel is a man of much executive ability, and has met with a great deal of success.
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