USA > West Virginia > Men of West Virginia Volume II > Part 29
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two years he re-entered the said col- lege and was graduated from that in- stitution in 1898. He took a special course in operative surgery under Dr. Charles F. Blake, of Baltimore, in 1897-98. He took special work on diseases of women in the City Hos- pital of Baltimore, under Dr. Gardner, in 1897, and work under Dr. F. Dyer Sanger on diseases of children, in the Nursery & Child's Hospital in Balti- more in 1898. In 1901 he took a post-graduate course at Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore, under Drs. Osler and Kelley and assistants. In 1902 he took post-graduate work on diseases of women and children and in surgery in the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons and special opera- tive work in surgery under Dr. Mc- Neer, of Johns Hopkins Hospit- al. In 1903 he took another post graduate course at the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons, similar to the one he took in 1902, also making a study of surgical anat- omy and operative surgery under Dr. McNeer, a professor of Maryland Medical College and assistant pathol- ogist of Johns Hopkins Hospital, of Baltimore. Dr. Hicks is a member of the Tri-State Medical Society of West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio and of the American Medical Association,
and is also a member of the Interna- tional Association of Railway Sur- geons. He has been examining sur- geon for the United States pension examiners and since . 1900 has been local surgeon for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company. Dr. Hicks is a Republican and served four years as county assessor. In the county con- vention he was nominated on the first ballot over his five opponents, and at the subsequent election was the only man elected on his ticket,-he was only 24 years of age at that time. He is a member of Lebanon Lodge, No. 68, A. F. & A. M., of Milton, West Vir- ginia.
In 1895 Dr. Hicks was married to Helen Diddell, who was born in Wini- frede, Kanawha County, West Vir- ginia. One child, Xilpha, was born May 31, 1897, to the Doctor and wife. Dr. Hicks is well established in Hurri- cane and counts many friends and en- joys a liberal amount of public pat- ronage.
W. D. Hicks, M. D., brother of Dr. Hicks, mentioned above, was edu- cated in the common schools, taught school and read medicine under his brother's guidance. At the end of one year of study, he entered upon his first year of medical college work in the medical department of the Uni-
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versity of Kentucky at Louisville, spent liis second year at the Kentucky School of Medicine, and later attended the Maryland Medical College at Balti- more, taking special work in surgery under Dr. R. L. McNeer, from which institution he graduated with honors in 1902, having practiced one year pre- viously. He located at Henderson and has ever since been actively en- gaged in the practice of his profession. In 1903 Dr. W. D. Hicks took a post- graduate course in the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, and special work in surgery under Dr. Mc- Neer.
CHARLES F. BRANDFASS, a well known business man of Wheeling, West Virginia, is president and gen- eral manager of the Brandfass Tobac- co Company, which occupies a three- story building at No. 1316 Water street. He has been a resident of Wheeling since 1863, and is a man who has achieved success in business, wholly through his own efforts.
Mr. Brandfass was born in Europe in IS51, and was but a child when his father died. In 1860 his mother moved to Wheeling, Ohio County, Virginia, now West Virginia, where two of his brothers also live at the present time, namely: Henry, a carpenter; and
William, an engineer. A third broth- er, August, was a farmer and is now living in retirement at Brilliant, Ohio. Chalres F. Brandfass worked as a farm hand until 1863, in Ohio County, and also in Jefferson County, Ohio, and afterward served as bell boy at the McLure House for a year. He then returned to the country for a short time, and later commenced to learn the trade of a cigar maker. He spent seven years on the cigar bench, a part of the time being spent in the employ of Mr. Seamon. In 1874, he entered the cigar manufacturing business as a member of the firm of Muhn & Brand- fass, at the corner of Main and 14th streets. This partnership was dis- solved in 1897, a nephew succeeding Charles F. as a member of the firm. Mr. Brandfass then organized the Brandfass Tobacco Company, which deals exclusively in leaf tobacco. The company was at once incorporated as a stock company with Charles F. Brand- fass as president and general manager. and Ed. Muhn as secretary. They do a packing and jobbing business, buying mainly from the growers of Connecti- cut, Pennsylvania, New York, Wis- consin, Ohio and Kentucky, for the cigar trade. They are also distribut- ors for Cuban and Sumatra tobacco which they buy of importers. The
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traveling representatives of the firm cover the usual jobbing territory of Wheeling wholesale houses, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and a part of Maryland. Under the efficient management of Mr. Brand- fass, the business of the firm has flour- ished and is one of the leaders in this line. He is also a director of the Wheel- ing Title & Trust Company and the West Virginia Tobacco Company.
Mr. Brandfass was united in mar- riage with Mary Wiedebusch, and has eight children, as follows: Lottie; Sophia ; Carrie; Minnie; Alma; Ade- lia; Marie; and Carl. They reside at No. 108!/2 14th street, where he owns a very comfortable home. From: 1870 to 1887, he was actively interest- ed in music, and was instrumental in organizing the Opera House Orches- tra, of which he was manager for three years. He is a member of the Arion Association, and has been a member of the Turner Gymnastic Association since he was 21 years of age. He was elected one of three members of the City Water Board in 1900-1901, the other members being Messrs. Butts and Lindsay. He is a Democrat, and served in the City Council one term in the "eighties." Fraternally, he is a member of Ohio Valley Lodge, No. 31. K. of P., and has been for six years.
He has been a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen for 10 years, served through the chairs of the subordinate lodge, and was then elect- ed grand receiver of the Grand Lodge. During several years past, he has been a member of the finance committee of the Grand Lodge. He was formerly a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
DE LANIEL LEE YOST, B. S., M. D., M. E.
DE LANIEL LEE YOST, B. S., M. D., M. E., the subject of this sketch, who is a leading physician and surgeon of Fairmont, West Virginia, prefers that we refer to ancestral achievements and history than to personal endeavors. We find no more interesting study in heredity than the evidence: that to be well born gives a force of character
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and energy that no amount of cultiva- tion can give the less fortunate.
The paternal great-grandfather, Jolın Yost, came to the American Col- onies from Bavaria, Germany, before the Revolution, and soon after landing in New York married a young woman from Holland, Katie Suuiche, whom he met on board ship en route here from the Fatherland. While living in Eliza- beth, New Jersey, he joined the Co- lonial Army, fought against the Brit- ish during the long Revolutionary War, and many incidents have been related in history that concerned the commands of which he was a member in their operations about Trenton. After the war, they trekked across the Alleghanies by way of Cumberland station, on the old Braddock Road, finally locating near Indian Creek, where they homesteaded valuable lands. There John Yost died and was buried about 1815. There were seven sons in the family,-Henry, John, Aaron, William, Peter, Jacob and Da- vid, the grandfather of Dr. Yost,- and five were born at the new home. This was in the day of disputed front- iers against savage beasts of the forest and the still more savage aborigines.
David Yost, our subject's grand- father, homesteaded nearly 1000 acres of forest land at the head of Pawpaw
Creek, the present site of the thrifty inland town of Fairview and the pres- ent center of the oil field's wealth and new coal industries. At the time of the second war with England, grants were made good by paying back taxes on patents that had been many years neglected and much of the land, through this procedure, cost less than $1.50 an acre. From trading stock and trapping, the money was saved. There were many incidents of overland trips afoot through the forests, with silver wearing and chafing in the pock- ets on his person, to make payments on his land at Morgantown, then the only post office and the only place where there were record offices in that section since Virginia was a colony. No greater evidence of hardihood and indefatigable will and industry could be shown than the life and accomplish- ments of this sturdy, temperate man. He was born in 1799 and died in 1856 from typhoid fever. From his mar- riage there resulted II children, some of whom are still living, past 86, in the West. Of the sons, James Yost died recently at 84; Jehu D. and Nich- olas were both practitioners of botanic medicine.
Fielding H. Yost, the youngest son of David Yost, and father of our sub- ject, was born August 4, 1827. He
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was the idol of his parents in their declining years. He was given every advantage of education, was favored with private tutors, and attended Rec- tor College in 1846-47, then one of the most noted schools of the section. He was remembered in that day for his fascinating oratory and patriotism in his speeches, at the musters of mi- litia for the Mexican War, with com- panies organized by his brother, Dr. Jehu D. Yost. His devotion to the good and uplifting of the communi- ties made him prominent in the organi- zation of the Sons of Temperance, the Sunday-school work, and the first lodge of Freemasonry in Fairmont. He was devoted to the practice of med- icine and was intensely in earnest in his support of the new school of re- forms then coming up against the heroic, antiphlogistic and depleting effects of murcury, blue mass, anti- mony, blood-letting, etc., then the prev- alent system of treating diseases. After several years of association with his brothers in the practice, he gradu- ated with the degree of M. D., from the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincin- nati, in 1860. In the war between the States, he took the side of Virginia's defense, and was made a surgeon in Lee's army, and was a personal asso- ciate of General Lee in camp in the
early part of 1861 ; he took charge of the field hospital at Monterey, Vir- ginia, and there served both Federals and Confederates, was captured, served in prison, was afterward neutral throughout the remainder of the war, and taught submission and forgiveness at the fateful end of that then neces- sary struggle. From 1864 to 1867 he was located at Morgantown in prac- tice, being sought from far and near for his skilled services in surgical oper- ations, performing laparotomy and lithotomy for abscess and for stone, in the days when but little was known of antiseptics, more than the need for absolute cleanliness. Many who were living 30 years after his death owed the prolongation of their lives to his skill. He died May 13, 1872 in the time of his brilliant achievements. His services were sought even during the two years when he was stricken with paralysis of the throat, affecting speech, though he would write from a clear brain and fertile mind for the many that came from afar for advice from this source of fruitful knowledge.
Personally, his was a life of gen- ius, overwork and sincere and unsel- fish devotion to the service of needful humanity.
In appearance, the late Dr. Fielding H. Yost was a man of medium stature,
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straight and wiry as an athlete; his commanding though gentle bearing was magnetic and inspiring to the sick and the distressed. He had dark wavy hair, long beard, high forehead, soft yet piercing blue-gray eyes that met yours in language that pierced deeper than words and inspired sin- cerity of a friend, especially those in need.
Such a forceful intellect and fer- tile mind, with such integrity and de- votion to hard work, burn out vitality in rays of genius, live years in a day, dying young, and their achievements live after them as an inspiration to those whose like ambition is to excell and be proficient.
Dr. Fielding H. Yost was married May 19, 1851, to Melinda A. Jones, who still survives him, and is now liv- ing at the old homestead in Marion County, West Virginia, hale and sprightly at the age of 72. Her grand- father, Joseph Jones, after serving three years in the War of 1812, un- der General Harrison, removed to Vir- ginia from his home in New Jersey. Joseph Jones' uncle served for seven years in the Revolutionary War. Her father, John Jones, kept an old land- mark inn at Pleasant Valley, a famous resort in the historic days of wagon trains and stage coaches on the old
State Road, long before the Baltimore & Ohio route was surveyed across the Alleghanies.
The father's mantle has fallen on two of his sons, and on the same home- stead, from which six others of the family name and three generations have entered the ranks of the same profession, was born De Laniel Lee Yost. November 7, 1861, the second son of a family of three girls and five boys. Born under such favorable
FIELDING H. YOST, B. S., M. D.
heredity and ample patrimony and pro- visions for education in the will left by his father, he was expected to follow with advantage the profession of med- icine, business virtually awaiting him. He attended the State Normal School at Fairmont and the State Univer-
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sity at Morgantown, and graduated with the degree of B. S. from Cen- tral College, Danville, Indiana, in 1886. He finished his medical course at Indianapolis in the Eclectic Med- ical College, in 1888, in which city he located in the practice of medicine, later getting the advantages of post- graduate courses. He practiced six years at Fairview, the old homestead, with profit, assuming all responsibility incident to medicine and surgery in an active oil town. He took up the further study of his profession in 1893 in the Post-Graduate School of Philadelphia, and in 1894 at the Post- Graduate School of New York. In 1895 he accepted the chair of eclectic theory and practice of medicine in the new American Medical College, Indi- anapolis, and the same chair in 1896 in the University of Medicine in that city, taking advantage of the ample clinic and hospital work in the other post-graduate schools there. With the rest and recuperation, thus derived, he returned to West Virginia and located at Fairmont in 1898, in the special practice of medicine limited to chronic diseases. His practice is limited to of- fice consultation, and he rarely does any visiting, except in cases of emer- gency or when called to consult with other physicians. His office at No. 225
Jefferson street is thronged at all hours of the day with patients; Dr. Yost of- ten prescribes for as many as 50 a day, but his record is 84. . He still holds a chair in the Eclectic Medical College, and goes to Indianapolis each winter from now on for the work.
By strict integrity, untiring ener- gy and devotion he has built up and now enjoys a large practice that ex- tends over several counties. His sources of information from almost every science, of men, mind and affairs of the world, makes him liberal, pro- ficient and independent of sect, and gives him the confidence of all associ- ates and the business that he deserves. He was among the first to see the un- folding advantages of Fairmont's de- velopment and future, was wise in his investments, erecting several resi- dence properties and a luxuriously appointed home, and was the pioneer in that city of the idea of resident flats. A five-story, pressed brick and stone, modern structure, recently erected by him on Main avenue, is a monument to his ambition, energy and integrity.
Dr. Yost is liberal in church and State, is social, modest and unassum- ing, whom to know you are assured of his utterly unselfish life and intense liberality of mind.
On May 21, 1890, Dr. Yost was
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married to Rose D. Youst, only daugh- ter of the late Dr. Joriah Youst, of an- other branch of the Yost family, of the fifth remove, to which happy un- ion two children have been born,-a son. Ernest Lee, now 12 years of age and a student in the Staunton Military Academy of Staunton, Virginia, and a daughter, who died a year old. We have found no more hospitible home, void of vanity or sham, where a wel- come is immediately felt. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the Encampment; and the Uniform Rank of the Knights of Pythias. He is an ex-member of the Indiana Eclectic Medical Association, and member of the Indianapolis Eclec- tic Medical Society and of the Indian- apolis Academy of Medicine. He is a member of the West Virginia, State Eclectic Medical Association and Am- erican Association of Physicians and Surgeons. He is also a member of the New York Institute of Anthropology, Chicago Society of Psychological Re- search, and the National Medico-Legal Society in the study of criminology and heredity.
ABRAHAM F. PHILLIPS, de- puty sheriff of Tucker County and a prominent politician, was born in 1869,
in Tucker County, West Virginia, and is a son of Moses and Lamari Phillips.
Moses Phillips was born in Ran- dolph County, Virginia, now West Virginia, and died in 1893, at the age of 64, after a long and useful life. For a period he was a member of the Coun- ty Court and a justice of the peace. By occupation he was a farmer. In poli- tics he was a Republican. The moth- er of our subject was born in Randolph County and now resides with her son at Parsons, at the age of 66. She is a member of the Methodist Church, as was her late husband. The children numbered four sons and six daughters.
Mr. Phillips was reared in Tucker County and has been identified with its interests all his life. In 1897 he was elected a justice of the peace and served with the greatest efficiency for five years. In 1901 he was elected a mem- ber of the Board of County Commis- sioners from St. George and is now serving in that capacity, and since Jan- uary, 1903, has also filled the office of deputy sheriff of Tucker County, under Sheriff J. B. Jenkins. He is well known as one of the best officials in the county, and has a wide circle of politic- al as well as personal friends.
In 1893 Mr. Phillips was married to Buena V. Nestor, who was born in 1867 in Tucker County, West Virgin-
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ia, and is a daughter of Nathaniel and Melvina Nestor. The one daughter of this marriage is named Lunda Mabel. Mrs. Phillips is a member of the Meth- odist Church. Mr. Phillips is a Knight of Pythias and an Odd Fellow, and one of the stanch Republicans of Tucker County.
HON. THOMAS PHILLIPS DAVIES.
HON. THOMAS PHILLIPS DAVIES, of Montgomery, Fayette County, West Virginia, State agent since 1902 for the Provident Acciden- tal Insurance Company, of Charleston, West Virginia, was born in Glamor- ganshire, South Wales, March 1, 1849. He is a son of Ebenezer and Anna (Phillips) Davies, both of whom were also natives of South Wales.
Ebenezer Davies settled first in Philadelphia, after immigrating to America, and then was employed in the iron rolling mills at Lancaster, Penn- sylvania. At the close of the Civil War, he went to Coal Creek, Tennes- see, and entered into the coal business, serving as outside superintendent for the Knoxville Iron Company, retain- ing the position some years. Prior to his death he lived a retired life for sometime, having accumulated ample ireans. Mr. Davies was considered one of the best posted, practical iron men in the vicinity, having spent the greater part of his life in the business. He preceded his family to America and then returned to Wales for them. Ebenezer Davies died at the age of 71 years, in 1889, at Coal Creek, Tennes- see. The mother of our subject died when her son, Thomas Phillips, was but two years old; there was one other son, who died in infancy. The step- mother of our subject was Mary Jones, and six children were born to the father's second marriage, the two sur- vivors being: Mary Ann, wife of Ar- chie Snedecker, a passenger engineer on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway; and Levi, an engineer in Mexico.
Thomas Phillips Davies was a lad of 14 years when he came to America, and was soon placed at work in the
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great rolling mills at Lancaster. He accompanied his father to Tennessee and then began mining coal, his first employment being as a driver. He re- mained in the Coal Creek mines until 1869 and then went to the Old Can- neiton mines, opposite Montgomery. but a few months later returned to Ten- ncssee. In 1872 he came back to West Virginia and since then has made his home at Montgomery. He has been engaged in extensive business enter- prises and is a man of the greatest business capacity. In 1897 he went to Alaska and engaged in gold mining, securing a valuable claim; when he came back, he left men working his claim. Mr. Davies was the organizer of the Coal Valley Coal Company and for several years its president, finally became its owner and is now the only surviving member of the original com- pany. The company's operations were located in the vicinity of Montgomery. Mr. Davies ceased operating about 1890. About that time he was appoint- ed receiver for the Forest Hill Coal Company and continued in the posi- tion until the final adjustment of af- fairs in 1899.
Mr. Davies has been a prominent Republican leader for a long period. In 1892 he was first elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates to repre-
sent Fayette County. In 1894 he was sent to the Senate to represent Fayette, Summers, Monroe, Greenbrier and Po- cahontas counties. He was the first Republican to represent this Demo- cratic district. In 1900 he was again elected to the House of Delegates and during his term of office was instru- mental in getting established at Mont- gomery a branch of the State Univer- sity ; hospitals for miners in different parts of the State and other laudable concerns. For six years a member of the City Council, in 1896 he was elected mayor. In the spring of 1897 he was a formidable aspirant for the office of United States marshal of Alaska, and his failure to receive the appointment remains one of the mysteries of poli- tics, as the appointment seemed to be in his hand.
Mr. Davies has taken the deepest interest in his section of the State and its progress, development and happi- ness, ever since he has been a resident. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Miners' Hospital No. 2, having been appointed by Governor George W. Atkinson, and having been re-appoint- ed by Governor A. B. White. He is prominent also in fraternal life and is well and widely known in the various branches of Masonry, having attained the highest degrees. He is high in the
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ranks of the Knights of Pythias ; is a leading Odd Fellow and belongs to Mohegan Tribe, No. 37, Improved Or- der of Red Men.
Mr. Davies was married in 1885 to Annie Williams, who was born at Monmouthshire, South Wales and reared at Scranton, Pennsylvania. She passed out of life September 28, 1900, at her home in Montgomery. Mrs. Davies was a lady of lovely character, a devoted member of the Presbyterian Church.
JOHN FREEMAN.
WV. G. FREEMAN, secretary and treasurer of the Caswell Creek Coal & Coke Company, and one of the prom- inent citizens of Freeman, Mercer 22
County, West Virginia, was born in 1870, at Shamokin, Pennsylvania, and is a son of the late John Freeman and wife, the former of whom was one of the largest and most successful coal operators of the Flat-Top coal field.
John Freeman was born in Clay- cross, Derbyshire, England, and after coming to America engaged in coal mining at Trenton, Pennsylvania, until he removed to Fayette County, West Virginia. He remained there, inter- ested in the iron mining industry at Clifton Forge and other points until 1883, when he came to the Flat-Top coal fields in Mercer and McDowell counties. West Virginia. He had these children: C. W., of Bramwell ; R. E., of Freeman ; W .. G., of Freeman ; Mary, wife of G. T. Davidson of Un- ion, West Virginia; and Kate, wife of S. N. Branton of Freeman. Mr. Freeman died in 1892, and was suc- ceeded in the Caswell Creek Coal & Coke Company by his son, our subject.
The Caswell Creek mines were the third to commence operations in the Flat-Top coal fields; and they were opened and the first shipment of coal made in August, 1884, by Jenkin Jones and John Freeman, operating under the firm name of Freeman & Jones, by whom the business was carried on un- til 1889, when the Caswell Creek
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Coal & Coke Company was organized and incorporated under the laws of West Virginia, with Jenkin Jones as president and general manager, and Jolın Freeman as secretary and treas -- urer. Mr. Jones still occupies the same position. C. W. Freeman is vice-pres- ident of the company. The holdings of this company embrace 1400 acres leased from the Flat-Top Land Asso- ciation. There have been erected 231 coke ovens, with a productive capac- ity of about 350 tons per day. Em- ployment is given to about 300 men and the capacity of the mines is about 1250 tons daily from the middle vein which has, at this operation, an aver- age thickness of six and one-half feet of marketable coal. Steam and com- pressed air are used, the former for hauling purposes, and the latter for mining. The air-compressing plant is a very fine one, there being two Sul- livan compressors, one a six and the other a 10-horsepower machine. They use six puncher machines, and two Baldwin and three Vulcan locomotives, each of about 15 tons weight. for hauling. The Caswell Creek plant is regarded as one of the best equipped in the whole field.
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