USA > West Virginia > Prominent men of West Virginia: biographical sketches, the growth and advancement of the state, a compendium of returns of every election, a record of every state officer; > Part 33
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WEST VIRGINIA.
JOHN BRANNON.
HE Hon. John Brannon was born in Winchester, Virginia, October 19, 1822. His ancestors on both paternal and ma- ternal side, were in the Revolutionary war for American Inde- pendence. His grandfather Brannon was a native of Ireland. His father was a thrifty farmer in the Valley of Virginia. Mr. Brannon received an academic education, obtained law license in 1847, and began practice in Weston, Lewis county. He served as a member of the House of Delegates of Virginia from 1853 to 1857, then was promoted by an appreciative constitu- ency to the State Senate from 1857 to 1865. In 1872 he was elected Judge of the Sixth Circuit, composed of the counties of Barbour, Gilmer, Lewis, Preston, Randolph, Tucker, Upshur, and Webster, serving eight years, and declined to be a candi- date again. He is an ardent Democrat and a very able lawyer. He was twice a candidate for Congress from his district, in 1884 and 1886, and was both times defeated. Two different Legisla- tures came very nearly electing him a United States Senator.
JAMES MURRAY MASON.
AMES M. MASON, son of the distinguished Virginia Sena- J
tor and statesman of the same name, was born August 25, 1838, at Winchester, in the noted Valley of Virginia; came to West Virginia in 1870; entered the Confederate army as a pri- vate with the first company mustered into the service, and served through the war; engaged in raising cotton from 1865 to 1869; began the practice of law at Charlestown, Jefferson county, in 1870, and has since practiced; was a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1875-6, and took an active and leading part in its deliberations; was appointed by Governor J. B. Jackson a member of the West Virginia Tax Commission to equalize the taxes of the State; served on said Commission in 1884 and 1885, and wrote its reports. For the past five years he has been editor of The Democrat, an influen- tial newspaper published at Charlestown. Mr. Mason is a man of decided courage and ability, and never fails to make himself heard and felt.
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PROMINENT MEN OF
HON. A. BROOKS FLEMING.
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WEST VIRGINIA.
ARETAS BROOKS FLEMING.
[E who builds up the industries of a community, or aids in developing the resources which a beneficient Providence has imbedded in the enduring hills, is an important factor in the pro- gress of the race. The genial face fronting this sketch will be , recognized by the people of West Virginia as of one whose name has been recently, and still is prominently on the popular tongue and in the press of the State, and wider still over the entire land we love. While for nearly two decades he has been, in an unpretentious way successfully engaged in mining and shipping coal, in farming, and in the pushing forward of rail- road enterprises in his section of the State, yet he is best known from his official and political career, his Gubernatorial candi- dacy, and the pending contest with General Goff for the State Executive chair.
Judge Fleming was born October 15, 1839, in Harrison county, Virginia, (now Marion, West Virginia). His home is in Fair- mont, on the elevated banks of the Monongahela river. He is, in the usual acceptance of the term, a self-made man. Until the age of eighteen he worked upon a farm, attending school only in winter months, and afterward taught school. He is the son of Benjamin F. and Rhoda Fleming, who is the daughter of Rev. Asa Brooks. In stature he is of medium height, com- pactly built, in expression benevolent and open, in character careful, firm and conscientious.
In 1859 he entered the law department of the University of Virginia, and afterwards taught school in Glenville, Gilmer county. In 1862 he returned to his native town of Fairmont, where he has ever since resided, contributing an influential part to the happiness, business, and social life of his community.
In 1868 he began a successful legal career, which he termin- ated with his going upon the Bench. He wedded, September 7, 1865, Carrie M., daughter of his father's esteemed neighbor, James O. Watson, with whom, along with James Boyce, of Baltimore, Maryland, he is associated in the business of mining and shipping gas coal, under the corporate name of the Gaston Gas Coal Company, from mines owned and worked under their own management; and he is also one of the originators and in- corporators of the Montana Coal and Coke Company, of Marion county.
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PROMINENT MEN OF
HIe was a member of the House of Delegates in 1872, in which he was prominent on the Judiciary and other important com- mittees. A few years later he was re-elected to the House, and in the sessions of 1875 was a valuable Representative of his constituents, and the State-at-large, taking quietly a conspicuous part in all deliberations. In this Legislative body he was, in addition to membership upon several other committees, the Chairman of that upon Taxation and Finance.
Upon the death of Hon. Charles S. Lewis, in January, 1878, he was appointed by Governor Mathews, Judge, to fill the vacancy in the Second Circuit, till the next election, when by popular vote he was selected for the unexpired term, ending December 31, 1880, carrying every county in the Circuit. The counties then composing the district were Monongalia, Marion, Taylor, Harrison, Doddridge and Wetzel. At the October election in 1880, he was chosen for the full term of eight years, receiving the largest vote ever given a candidate for a similar office in this Circuit of the State. By an amendment to the Constitution, the Circuit was reduced to Harrison, Marion and Monongalia counties. His official term would have expired December 31, 1888, but at the State Convention of the Demo- cratic party, in August of that year, he was nominated by acclamation as candidate for Governor of West Virginia; and believing that the judiciary should be free from even the sus- picion of taint with politics, he resigned the judgeship, Septem- ber 1, and entered personally and with fervor into the canvass for the exalted position to which his party had assigned him. The contest, coming in a Presidential year, and with a recognized closeness of party vote in the State, was a hard fought and manly one. For weeks the result was not definitely known. When the returns of all the counties were unofficially an- nounced, the face of the count gave the State offices to the Democracy, save the Governor, which was claimed by the friends of General Goff to be Republican by 110 majority. Judge Fleming's adherents were not satisfied, and believing there were either large errors in the returns of some counties, or that improper manipulation had been used to reduce his vote below the average of the ticket he headed, and that a large number of colored voters were imported from Virginia and Tennessee, the charge of illegal voting was made against the
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Republican party. The Democratic State Executive Committee requested Judge Fleming to contest; notices of contest, in ac- cordance with the provisions of the statute, were given and filed in the name of Judge Fleming against General Goff, and proceedings instituted to compel a recount in Kanawha and other counties, and a different cetificate to be issued to the Speaker of the House. The Legislature, in joint session, with a Democratic majorty of one, by resolution prevented the open- ing and publication of the returns for Governor, thus delaying a declaration of the result until an investigation could be had, and referred the returns and all papers relating to the contest to a Special Commission of three members of the House of Delegates and two Senators to make an investigation and re- port. That court is still in session, and when ready to report, the Legislature will be convened by proclamation of the Gov- ernor, and decision made between the rights of the claimants. Judge Fleming in his notice and supplemental notice claims the casting of over 2,000 illegal votes for his opponent, and his own election as Governor by a majority of legally qualified voters.
The Monongahela River Railroad, now being constructed from Fairmont thirty-five miles to Clarksburg, will open up the nine-foot seam of gas and coking coal which lies in the Upper Monongahela Basin. This is part of an extensive line of feeders to the Baltimore and Ohio line, and will ultimately con- nect with the Ohio River road. In these coal and timber de- veloping and transportation enterprises, under the Presidency of ex-Senator Camden, Judge Fleming is interested, and aiding, practically for the benefit of the entire State.
He is a successful and prudent business man, an able jurist, and a gentleman of literary attainments and fine social stand- ing. His political and private life have been above reproach, and his geniality and courtesy to all make him popular even with leaders of opposite political sentiment. Whether it be his destiny to serve as chief magistrate of the State, at the end of the pending contest, or to devote entirely his energies and ability to his profession and pushing the railroad and coal enter- prises undertaken, he will do it well and cheerfully.
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PROMINENT MEN OF
A.LITTLE
HON. W. H. H. FLICK.
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WEST VIRGINIA.
WILLIAM H. H. FLICK.
N Ohioan by birth, a West Virginian by adoption, now in the prime of life, (47 years old ), Wm. H. H. Flick, stands out among the really prominent men of the new Commonwealth. He was reared on a farm in northern Ohio, and in July, 1861, al- though a mere boy in age and size, he enlisted in the 41st regiment of Ohio Volunteers. In the great battle of Shiloh, he was danger- ously wounded in the shoulder, his left arm still being disabled therefrom. He continued in the recruiting service of the Gov- ernment until the fall of 1862, when he was honorably discharged because of disability resulting from the wound in his shoulder.
After returning to his Ohio home, he attended Hiram College, (President Garfield's school), for some time, and then engaged in teaching, which he kept up until the spring of 1865. Having studied law in the meantime, he was regularly licensed to prac- tice, in September, 1865. In March, 1866, he took up his res- idence in Moorefield, Hardy county, West Virginia; and in March, 1867, he removed to Franklin, in Pendleton county.
In the fall of 1868 he was elected to the House of Delegates of his adopted State, and was re-elected to the same office in 1869. It was during his latter term in the Legislature that he presented an amendment to the State Constitution abolishing " test oaths," which rendered him at one time the best known man in the State. This noted law was known as "The Flick Amendment," and will be found, together with the popular vote thereon, in the Statistical chapters in the front part of this book.
Mr. Flick was elected prosecuting attorney of Pendleton county in 1869, of Grant county in 1872, and again of Pendle- ton county in 1873-4. During the latter year he resigned the office of Prosecutor, and removed to Martinsburg, Berkeley county, where he now resides. In 1871 he was chosen prosecu- ting attorney for that county, which office he resigned in Au- gust, 1882, to accept the position of United States District At- torney for West Virginia, to which he had been appointed by President Arthur. In 1876 he was the Republican candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia; and in 1886, and again in 1888, he was his party's candidate for a seat in the Congress of the United States. For all three of these exalted positions he was defeated; but it is a fact of his-
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PROMINENT MEN OF
tory that he polled the largest vote of any other candidate of his party in all three of these elections.
Mr. Flick is known as a man of unflinching loyalty to truth, principle and right. He is consciencious and generous to a fault. No man in West Virginia possesses greater popularity. As a lawyer, he stands at the top of his profession in the State. In the trial of a cause, he is a dangerous competitor, because he possesses a reserve force that is practicably irresistible. In ev- ery official position to which he has been chosen, he has dis- charged the duties of the same faithfully, honestly, ably.
SAMUEL LIGHTFOOT FLOURNOY.
NE of the most able and suave members of the State Sen- ate, Samuel L. Flournoy, was born in Chesterfield county, seven miles distant from Richmond, Virginia, November 25, 1846. Most of his youth was passed in the city. At the age of seventeen he entered the Confederate army, and served in Otey's Battery, of Richmond, until the close of the war. Real- izing the importance then of a classical education, he entered Hampden Sydney College, and graduated therefrom in 1868, receiving the Speaker's Medal in the Philanthropic Debating Society. He taught school four years, at the same time study- ing law, and was admitted to the Bar in January, 1873; was elected to the State Senate of 1885, and re-chosen to that of 1889; was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the first session, and in the latter term Chairman of the Committee of Counties and Municipal Corporations, and member of those of Privileges and Elections, Federal Relations, Immigration and Agriculture, and Public Printing. He has been three times Mayor of Romney, in the county of Hampshire, where he successfully practices his profession as an attorney, in which he has achieved success and is regarded a leader.
443
WEST VIRGINIA.
THOMAS WILLOUGHBY HARRISON.
MONG those who participated in the enactment of the first Constitution for West Virginia, was the Hon. Thomas W. Harrison, a member of the Convention, from the county of Harrison. He is the son of the late Supreme Judge, William A. Harrison, whose sketch appears on another page of this volume. He was born October 28, 1824, in Clarksburg, Vir- ginia; was educated at Randolph Academy ; read law with his father, and was admitted to the Bar at twenty-one years of age. When the new State began real existence, June 20, 1863, his father was promoted to the Supreme Bench, and the son suc- ceeded by election as Judge of the Third Circuit, composed of Marion, Harrison and Barbour counties. He continued to pre- side over this Circuit, with Randolph county added under the name of Fourth Circuit, until December 31, 1872, when by the operation of the new Constitution he was legislated out of office. He was a candidate and unsuccessfully contested for the judgeship of the new Second Circuit, against Hon. Charles S. Lewis. Since his retirement from the Bench he has practiced in the various courts of the State, and is employed in most all the important suits of his section.
JOSEPH ROGERS PAULL.
H ON. J. R. PAULL, one of the two Judges, by statute assigned to preside over the Circuit Courts of the First Circuit, constituted by the counties of Ohio, Hancock, Marshall and Brooke, was born December 9, 1848, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. He received a liberal education, and has always been a close student. He read law, adopted a different State than that of his nativity for a permanent home, and in Decem- ber, 1875, was admitted to the Bar within his present official jurisdiction. In November, 1888, he was elected for the term of eight years from January 1st, 1889, as Circuit Judge, by a majority of 472 votes over George E. Boyd, one of the Democratic nom- inees. He is a lawyer of ability, and is filling a judicial position with universal satisfaction to both practitioners and suitors. His residence is in the city of Wheeling.
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PROMINENT MEN OF
HON. J. M. STEPHENSON.
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WEST VIRGINIA.
JAMES McNEIL STEPHENSON.
J AMES M. STEPHENSON was born November 4, 1796, in Greene county, Pennsylvania. His father and mother, Ed-, ward and Elizabeth Stephenson, in 1800 removed to Harrison, afterwards. Wood, county, Virginia, and settled near where Par- kersburg now stands. He was educated in the rough log school house of the pioneers. Compelled to labor with his hands for a support, but being frugal, as well as industrious, he was enabled, while yet a young man, to own a tannery in Parkersburg, then a village. Unsatisfied with this occupation, and thirsting for knowledge, he determined to study law, which he did without a tutor. Many times he might be found currying leather in his tannery, with his law book open before him; and while labor- ing with his hands for a support he was at the same time storing his mind with legal knowledge. By this means and the unspar- ing use of the "tallow dip" he became qualified for and was admitted to the Bar and commenced practicing law in Wheel- ing, but shortly afterwards removed to Middlebourne, the county seat of Tyler county. Here he practiced his chosen profession for a number of years, and by judicious investments in real es- tate in Tyler, Wood and other counties, he prospered beyond many of the favored of fortune.
When he was thirty-three years of age he married Miss Agnes M. Boreman, then between fifteen and sixteen years of age. They reared to manhood and womanhood a family of six chil- dren, three boys and three girls. He was extremely fond of his wife and children, and the love he bore them was the great in- centive to the accumulation, not of wealth, but, as he often said, " a competence for his family."
As a lawyer he had, perhaps, no superior and few equals in the State. Without the advantages of an education he became a hard student, and, endowed by nature with a first-class intel- lect, by application and strict discipline over self, he became, in the truest sense, a learned man. His reading took a wide range, in law, politics, science, philosophy and ethics. He mastered the intricacies of the Virginia land law, and was a terror to op- posing counsel in every action of Ejectment in which he engaged, which were numerous. He was a very successful lawyer. The great reason of his success in the practice of the law was not only the ability with which he managed his cause, but his un-
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PROMINENT MEN OF
swerving honesty and integrity, which always won the confidence of both judge and jury. By his legal knowledge and business tact he was enabled to accumulate a large fortune for the time in which he lived ; and no one ever said J. M. Stephenson made a dollar dishonestly. About 1840 he removed to Wood county, to a new and commodious residence, in the suburbs of Parkers- burg, which he had erected, and where for many years it was his delight to entertain his friends. He was an indefatigable worker, just in his requirements, indulgent to his debtors and prompt in the fulfillment of his engagements.
He was a Whig in politics, an ardent admirer of Henry Clay ; he did all he could to advance his political fortunes. He repre- sented Tyler county, which was strongly Democratic, three suc- cessive times in the Virginia House of Delegates, in 1838, 1839 and 1840. For a number of terms he represented Wood county in the Virginia House of Delegates.
He was a man of large public spirit, especially in the matter of internal improvements. To his exertions more than to those of any other one man is the Northwestern part of the State indebt- ed for the railroad from Parkersburg to Grafton, which is now part of a great trunk line from New York to St. Louis, and of inestimable value to the people of the Northern portion of the State. So much was he interested in this road that he declined a nomination to Congress, when he could easily have been elect- ed, and chose rather to go back to the Virginia Legislature and complete the work of securing that road. He may be considered the projector of the Northwestern Turnpike, which, in its day, was to Virginia what the National Road was to the general Government. He was also an earnest advocate in the Legisla- ture of the James River and Kanawha Canal. Many times he traveled by stage coach to the Virginia capitol, taking days to accomplish the journey, and neglected his business, and toiled night and day for months, at each session of the Legislature, to secure a highway over which his successors could make the jour- ney in one-fourth the time, and with comfort to themselves. He was working like a true man for those who were to follow.
His eldest son, around whom and in whom his affections seemed to center, at the outbreak of the civil war, left his home and went South. This did not move the father; when Fort Sumpter was fired upon every pulsation of his heart was for the
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WEST VIRGINIA.
Union, which he dearly loved. Amid that terrible strife he stayed at his home. The conduct of the war, and the suspicion of former friends, cooled his ardor for the Union cause some- what. During the war he was called upon to defend a trem- bling woman, the daughter of an old friend, from the charge of holding communication with the enemy. She was brought be- fore the Judge of the District Court of the United States, one of the kindest of men and a friend of Mr. Stephenson. The Judge occupied a position of the greatest delicacy. On the one hand trying to do his whole duty to the Government, whose servant he was, and was closely watched by the ultra Union men to see that no favors were granted to sympathizers with the South- ern Confederacy, and on the other hand trying to be just and as honest as possible, consistent with his duties, to those charged with disloyalty and brought before him, he had, indeed, a difficult task before him ; but right well did he perform it, and kept peace where there would otherwise have been anarchy. The woman was trembling and weeping. Mr. Stephenson's great heart was filled with sympathy. The Judge said something like this : "It seems to me the women and children of the country think they can talk and act disloyally to the Government with impunity, but it cannot be permitted." Mr. Stephenson arose, almost choking with emotion, threw his gold spectacles down on the table, and spoke about thus : "I am a husband and a father. I have a wife and daughters. Your Honor had better read the interview between Adam and the Angel. When Eve had partaken of the forbidden fruit the Angel told Adam he could go to heaven, but his wife should go to hell, but he said, No! No !! I would rather go to hell with her than to heaven without her! Go read this, and then see whether you can de- liver such a lecture as that." The Judge was somewhat offend- ed, but his respect for Mr. Stephenson, and his knowledge of his integrity and honesty of purpose, prompted him to pass it by.
He had collected money due his son Kenner during the war ยท and had sent it to him through the lines. Just after the war the Legislature passed what was known as the "Lawyers Test Oath," which was that the lawyer " had given no aid and com- fort to those in rebellion," etc. Mr. Stephenson had some cases pending in the Supreme Court which decided the test oath Con- stitutional. He went to Wheeling to submit his cases, which
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PROMINENT MEN OF
he could not do without taking that oath. He arose and said, substantially : "May it please the Court, I have some cases here which I wish to submit. I cannot submit them without taking the test oath. I will not take that without an interpre- tation of it by your Honor. I will tell you the only possible im- pediment to my taking it, then I wish your Honor to say whether I can take it. I have a son dear to me. He was a Confederate soldier during the late war. I collected his money for him. He needed the money for his own use. I sent it to him through the lines, to keep him from suffering, and under like circum- stances I would do it again. Now, if you think I can take this oath I will do so, if not, I will go home." The Court at once told him that what he had done could not prevent him from taking the oath.
When about seventy years of age he retired from the practice of the law, but he attended to his other business to the end of his life. He had a deep interest in the Parkersburg National Bank and in the Northwestern Bank, which preceded the Na- tional Bank. The Cashier and President of the Bank both died, and the Directors found its affairs in a terrible condition. At one time actions were pending to recover about $25,000 of bad loans. Mr. Stephenson was elected President, and through his influence a young man was made Cashier. By their manage- ment the Bank was soon in a sound financial condition, and be- came one of the best Banks in the State.
He was a slave-holder, or, rather, his slaves held him. He bought a number, but never sold one. They were a great ex- pense to him, but he was kind and indulgent to them. He bought from " the block " an old colored man, "Sam," who was indeed a faithful servant to his master. When "Sam " died his master had him buried in the same burying ground in which the body of his mother reposes, and he erected a tombstone, on which he caused to be put this inscription : "Here lies buried Samuel Johnson, the faithful servant and friend of James M. Stephen- son,"
In the last year of his life he said to his son-in-law, whom he had made his executor: " When I die I want you to have me buried in a plain, black walnut coffin." "Another charge I make on you is, have no hired carriages at my funeral. I would be glad to believe that my neighbors and friends will respect my
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