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 40
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 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
"So far as the dramatic action is concerned, the American work is superior to the English. There are many contrasts of feeling and outbursts of passion in 'The Sons of Godwin,' while in 'Harold' everything is elegant, but cold and colorless. The incident of King Edward's death is made much more effective by Leighton than it is by Tennyson, and so is the battle of Stam- ford Bridge. The crowning incident of the search for Harold's body by Edith, on the battle field of Hastings, is much elabor- ated by the Laureate; but the effect of Mr. Leighton's brief but vivid treatment of the same subject is much better in the reading and would be much greater in a stage representation. Whether either of the poets intended his drama for the stage, we are un- able to say. Neither of them seem to us to be well adapted to
535
WEST VIRGINIA.
such a purpose. But of the two, Mr. Leighton's, after proper pruning by an intelligent stage manager, would be much the most effective."
All of Mr. Leighton's books have been highly commended by the press generally and by all literary men who have given them a thoughtful examination; besides they have afforded pleasure to many readers. I could quote largely concerning each one of them, if my space permitted; but must be content to refer the reader to the books themselves, with all of which I am sure he will be delighted.
ANDREW WASHINGTON MANN.
N a farm near Salt Sulphur Springs, Monroe county, Vir- ginia, November 16, 1833, Captain A. W. Mann was born. He received a common school education; moved to Greenbrier county in 1855 and engaged in farming; voted against the or- dinance of secession in 1861; was a member of the Constitu- tional Convention of 1863 that framed a Constitution for the new State of West Virginia ; was a delegate to the Union Con- vention at Parkersburg, May, 1863, that nominated Arthur I. Boreman for Governor of the new Commonwealth; was a dele- gate to the first Legislature of West Virginia, representing Green- brier and Monroe counties, and in January, 1863, voted for Messrs. W. T. Willey and P. G. Van Winkle for Senators in the Congress of the United States. In December, 1863, he was elected Assistant Doorkeeper of the United States House of Rep- resentatives ; resigned said position the following March, and in April, 1861, he entered the military service as Train Master, which position he held until the following July. He was ap- pointed by Governor Boreman of West Virginia as captain of a company of home guards, in which position he remained until the close of the war, rendering faithful service to his State against its enemies and invaders during hostilities from 1861 to '65. He was a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1867- '8-'9, and voted for the ratification of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States; was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the Third District of West Virginia, April 5, 1869, and in 1870 Gov- ernor Stevenson appointed him a Regent of the West Virginia
536
PROMINENT MEN OF
Deaf, Dumb and Blind School. He voted to locate that school at Romney, Hampshire county. He served a short time as route agent on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, in 1873, in the railroad mail service. Captain Mann now resides at Falling Springs, Greenbrier county, and bears the esteem of the com- munity in which he resides.
WILLIAM NELSON CHANCELLOR.
HE writer of this sketch has known Hon. W. N. Chancellor c
from boyhood, and is gratified at the opportunity of record- ing his success in all the various branches of commerce in which he has engaged, not only because it is known that his indomita- ble will, perseverance, pluck and sagacious ventures have made him what he is, for he had no early advantages above other young men, but in this lasting record to perpetuate to coming youths the lesson that in boyhood and young manhood character is formed, that business habits, industry and unflinching integrity are sure to bring success in business and honorable position. It is well known that, had he given his consent, several times his fellow citizens would have pressed governmental and legislative duties upon him. During the memorable Gubernatorial con- test in the Legislature of 1889, at Charleston, one word from him would have made him the successful compromise candidate ; but in this as in the other cases, his preference for his business pursuits led him to decline.
He was born in Harrisville, Ritchie county, then Wood county, Virginia, June 25, 1830. He removed to Parkersburg in 1838 and has resided there ever since. In 1845 he began his business career as a clerk in a dry goods store, and continued in that business until 1848, when he was appointed teller in the branch of the Northwestern Bank of Virginia at Parkersburg, holding that 10 years. In 1863 he was connected with the organization of the First National Bank of the same city, of which he was appointed cashier, filling the office until 1872, when he resigned and was made its President, which position he still holds. He was elected Mayor of Parkersburg 1874 and again in 1886. He served in the City Council several times and was elected to the Legislature from Wood county in 1875 and 1886. He has been actively identified with numerous enterprises in Parkersburg,
537
WEST VIRGINIA.
chief among which may be noted the firm of J. N. Camden & Co., the Camden Consolidated Oil Company, Novelty Mill Com- pany, Parkersburg Gas Company, West Virginia Fibre Com- pany, Little Kanawha Navigation Company, Ohio River Rail- road Company, Clarksburg and Weston Railroad Company, and the Parkersburg Branch Railroad Company. It is safe to say that Mr. Chancellor has built more houses than any other one man in his city, and has just completed a handsome and com- modious hotel that would be a creditable improvement to any Eastern city, having all modern appliances and with ample room to meet all the wants of the city for a long time. It is called " The Blennerhassett." Mr. Chancellor married Miss Ellen C., daughter of W. S. King, of Vicksburg, Miss., now of Dinwiddie county, Virginia, by whom he has five children.
Thoroughly progressive and enterprising, familiar with the resources and confident of the possibilities of his section, his courage and sagacity has been one of the chief factors in the remarkable growth of Parkersburg and the development of the State, which is reason enough for our placing him in history as one of the prominent men of West Virginia.
JOHN L. COLE.
I N the land trials of Southwest Virginia, the bearer of the above name is often a witness as the surveyor who ran the lines in dispute. His father, John B. Cole, a native of Old Vir- ginia, as the eastern counties were called by the dwellers west of the Alleghenies, and removed to Kanawha county in 1815. John L. was born June 9, 1826. He is a lawyer by study, a poet by choice and inspiration, an artist by tendency and a practical surveyor and engineer. He was a Justice of the Peace from 1855 to 1858, then County Surveyor, and in 1868-'9 represented Kanawha county in the House of Delegates. From 1873 to 1875 he was State Librarian. His family name gave title to the river Cole, now perverted into Coal river, with its mouth twelve miles below Charleston.
538
PROMINENT MEN OF
JACOBS
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY AT MORGANTOWN.
539
WEST VIRGINIA.
ALEXANDER MARTIN.
HE first President of West Virginia University, the Rev. Alexander Martin, D.D. L.L. D., was born in Nairn, Scot- land, in 1824, and came to America with his father's family in 1838; graduated at Allegheny College, Pennsylvania, in 1848, and wedded Carrie E. Hursey, of Clarksburg, Harrison county, West Virginia. He taught in Kingwood Academy in 1846 for only six months, and then became Assistant Principal of the Northwestern Academy at Clarksburg. In 1848 he resigned, and was stationed as minister of the M. E. Church at Charles- ton, Kanawha county, till the three years allowed expired, when he was chosen Principal of the Academy at Clarksburg, and taught ten years. Thence he went to Allegheny College as Pro- fessor of Greek and Literature. Next he served Fourth Street Church, of Wheeling, three years. During the war he was Pres- ident of the West Virginia branch of the Christian Commission, and had charge of the hospital work from Maryland to Tennes- see, and from Harper's Ferry to the Ohio river, laboring both among soldiers of the Union and Confederate armies. Upon the founding of the State University at Morgantown, in which location he had a directing influence, the Board of Regents unanimously made him President, with the duty to prepare rules, regulations, course of study and professorships. During his term the attendance reached one hundred and seventy-one students and thirteen graduates, liberal appropriations secured and convenient buildings erected. Upon a determination of the Regency to elect annually to the Presidency and Chairs, he re- signed in June, 1875, and accepted the Presidency of Indiana Asbury University at a much higher salary, and the State lost one of its finest educators. In 1889 he resigned the Presidency of Depauw University (formerly Asbury University), and was elected to the Chair of Systematic Theology in that prosperous University.
JOHN RHEY THOMPSON.
HE Rev. John R. Thompson, D.D., Second President of the West Virginia University, is a native of Carrollton, Ohio, where he was born March 14, 1852. In early life he was a printer's apprentice. His primary education was received in the public schools of his native town; next he attended the
540
PROMINENT MEN OF
Carrollton Academy, next the Rural Seminary at Harlem Springs, Ohio, and lastly Mount Union College, Ohio, from which insti- tution he was graduated B.A., in July, 1871. Before graduating from college he was admitted to the Pittsburgh Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, and appointed to a pastoral charge. In March, 1873, he was transferred to the West Virginia Con- ference and stationed at Chapline Street Church, Wheeling, where he remained the full pastoral term of three years. It is only justice to say that he was the most popular and attractive minister in Wheeling at that time, notwithstanding the fact he was only a mere boy in years. In March, 1876, he was stationed at Morgantown, the seat of the State University. The Board of Regents of the University saw in Mr. Thompson the peculiar talents for a successful College President, and without even con- sulting him, elected him to the Presidential chair of the Univer- sity, in June, 1877. He was at that time only twenty-five years of age, and was comparatively without experience in educational work; he, however, accepted the responsible trust, and threw all of his great powers into the laborious work of restoring the vitality of the University and bringing it again into public favor. By tours through every portion of the State, delivering master- ful addresses on the subject of higher education of the rising generation, he succeeded in rejuvenating and revitalizing the Institution.
In November, 1878, he began the publication of the West Virginia Journal of Education, which proved to be a powerful lever in stirring the people and inducing them to patronize the University and the Normal Schools of the State. It continued for one year, and was merged into the New England Educational Journal.
President Thompson's health, from overwork, became en- feebled, consequently, in March, 1881, he resigned his office as President of the University, returned again to the pastorate, and was placed in charge of Hedding M. E. Church, Jersey City, N. J. At the expiration of two years he was stationed at Grace M. E. Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., remaining the full pastorate of three years. His last station was a three year's term at Wash- ington Square M. E. Church, New York City.
While President of the West Virginia University Dr. Thomp- son was elected a delegate to the General Conference of his church, which session was held at Cincinnati, Qhio.
ALITTLE.
PRESIDENT E. M. TURNER, LL.D.
541
WEST VIRGINIA.
In June, 1888, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., con- ferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
Dr. Thompson is a man of great intellectual power. But few clergymen in his denomination are his equal. He is a natural orator and a clear rhetorical debater. While speaking, his words are rocket-like, rushing skyward, leaving behind a train of sparkling ideas that flash forth with wonderful magnetic power. He never fails to move an audience at his will.
In the spring of 1889, Phillips & Hunt, New York, published a volume of his sermons which had a ready sale.
ELI MARSH TURNER.
T HE editor of this sketch knew E. M. Turner as a boy on the farm of his grandfather, and then recognized in him in em- bryo, talents inherited from his gifted parents, and the develop- ment of which have brought him to the fore-front of educators.
He was born in Harrison county, Virginia, December 24, 1844. His father, Uriel Mallory Turner, was born in Rappahannock county, Virginia, and in 1821 removed to Clarksburg, where he married the oldest daughter of Col. Eli Marsh, for many years sheriff of the county and clerk of the County Court; he also represented that Senatorial district in the Senate of Virginia from 1852 to 1856. He died in 1868.
The subject of this sketch was brought up on the farm of his maternal grandfather Col. Marsh, his mother having died in 1848. He was sent to school in Culpeper county, Virginia, and to Monongalia Academy at Morgantown, West Virginia, at which latter place so many West Virginia boys of the days of imme- diately preceding and following the war were trained. Thence he went to college at Princeton, New Jersey, in 1865, and grad- uated in 1868, being the Valedictorian of his class. After a year's absence he returned to the college and was appointed tutor in Greek, remaining four years.
Having returned to West Virginia in 1873, he began to take part in politics, and in 1876 was elected to the Senate of West Virginia from almost the same district which his father had re- presented in Virginia, twenty-four years before. In the mean time he had been admitted to the Bar, and was actively engaged in the practice until 1880, when he retired to his farm at the old
542
PROMINENT MEN OF
homestead, and devoted himself to reading and the study of political questions. He took an active part in politics as a Democrat, and especially as an advocate of tariff-reform and tax reduction.
In June 1885, Mr. Turner was unanimously elected President of the State University at Morgantown, and still continues to occupy that position. Under his administration, the attendance at the University increased in three years from 106 to upwards of 200 and is still increasing. The institution has been improved in many ways, and inspires more confidence among the people than at any former period of its history. Dr. Turner is emin- ently fitted for the presidency of our State's highest school. Every year of his administration places it on a higher plane of usefulness.
The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon President Turner, in June 1886, Washington and Jefferson college, Penn- sylvania.
DANIEL BOARDMAN PURINTON.
M ANY men are classed as scholars who do not deserve the appellation in the high and popular sense of the term. The too common American sense of scholarship is the education which is largely based upon experience. An education result- ing from a long line of observation is purely and almost entirely practical, but it is not scholarship. Men thus educated know nothing of the greater and decper sciences. They have not gone down to the bottom of a real education. They have not fathomed the deepest and purest sources of thought. They that are thus educated are neither philosophers nor students. The scholar is the man who goes down to bed-rock; who investigates, reasons, thinks; who passes from cause to effect and can explain in his own way the theory upon which every principle he may be tracing rests or stands. The genuine scholar can adapt himself to all the changes and phases of society. He can arrest the attention not only of the learned like himself and the rich, but the lowly and the poor as well-he is ever at home with the highest and purest, ever at home with the lowest and poorest. Such a character is an enviable one, and such a character is the subject of this sketch. He hates charlatanism-hates mounte-
543
WEST VIRGINIA.
banks. In the highest and noblest and truest sense Professor D. B. Purinton is a scholar and a philosopher. Though still young in years, he has nevertheless attained a larger measure of success and a more wide-spread influence and abiding impres- sion attendant upon his career in life than mark the paths of most of his contemporaries. His convictions have always found expression in bold and straightforward actions. His positions on all important pending questions are never left to conjecture. He is sufficiently radical to be secure against the temptations of a timid and therefore dangerous conservatism. He can never be depended upon to lend his support to mere policy. He is a man of public enterprise and enters with zeal into every measure that will elevate the character of his State or promote the wel- fare of the people. Men like these are few, and their value to society is incalculable.
Professor Purinton is the son of the Rev. J. M. Purinton, D.D., who was a native of Massachusetts, and a descendant of John Alden of "Miles Standish" fame. The son was born in Preston county, Virginia, February 15, 1850. His early educa- tion was obtained in Pennsylvania, where he began to teach. He graduated from the West Virginia University where he stood at the head of his class, in 1873, making the highest general standing ever attained by any student. After graduation he was immediately appointed a tutor in the Preparatory Depart- ment of the University. Five years later he was elected Profes- sor of Logic. In 1880 he was made Professor of Mathematics, which chair he held four years. This was followed by an eleva- tion to the chair of Metaphysics, which he still holds. In Janu- ary, 1880, he was made Vice-President and Acting President of the University, and so continued until September, 1881. He is still Vice-President. In 1887 Dennison University, Ohio, con- ferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. During his Acting Presidency of the University the number of matriculates increased nearly forty per cent, and became greater than ever before attained in its history.
Dr. Purinton's most extensive effort of original work is a book entitled " Christian Theism; Its Claims and Sanctions," recently published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, in two simultaneous editions -one in New York, the other in London. He has also written systems of lectures on "Comparative Philology," and on "The
544
PROMINENT MEN OF
Sensibilities and the Will." "Contest of the Frogs" is the name of a rather extended poem written in 1888 and delivered before the Literary Societies of the University, and published by them. It possesses decided merit. He has written other shorter poems which reveal considerable poetic power.
Dr. Purinton is a musician. About forty of his pieces have been published, mostly as contributions to popular religious music books. In every case he wrote the words and composed the music. Several of these pieces have been sought and re- printed by other publishers. In 1875 he published a small book entitled "College Songs for West Virginia University."
In 1866 he connected himself with the Baptist Church, of which he is still a communicant. For seven successive years he was elected President of the Baptist Association of West Vir- ginia, and is still the occupant of that responsible position.
July 6, 1876, Professor Purinton married Miss Florence A., eldest daughter of Professor F. S. Lyon. Four children were born to them, three of whom are still living. Their home is at Morgantown, the seat of the West Virginia University.
Dr. Purinton is a member of the " American Association for the Advancement of Science."
ADAMS WILSON LORENTZ.
HE subject of this sketch has been for years in the front rank of West Virginia educators. He was born in Weston, Lewis county, Virginia, May 28. 1836; attended the best private schools of Weston almost continuously until he was eighteen years of age, and in 1854 entered Morgantown Academy, the celebrated school of the late Rev. J. R. Moore, an educator of rare attainments. After studying for two years in the academy, young Lorentz became one of the teachers, continuing his stu- dies, however, in the meantime. During his last two years in the academy, he became active Principal, owing to the illness of Professor Moore. He remained in the academy altogether about eight years. In 1857 Washington College, Pennsylvania, con- ferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts, pro merito.
During the winter of 1862-'3, Professor Lorentz was employed as a clerk in the Quartermaster's Department of the United States army at Gauley Bridge, Fayette county. In 1863-'4 he was
545
WEST VIRGINIA.
engaged as a shipping clerk for the Government at Wheeling. In 1865-'6 he was paying teller in the First National Bank of Wheeling. Ill health forced him to resign the latter part of 1866, when he returned to Morgantown, and successfully conducted a mercantile business for eight years. In 1871 he was made a mem- ber of the faculty of the West Virginia University, where he is still employed. Since 1877 he has been Principal of the Prepara- tory Department of that institution. Professor Lorentz is a su- perior teacher, and has rendered universal satisfaction during his long connection with our State's highest educational institu- tions.
Professor Lorentz was elected a member of the first Board of Education of Monongalia county after the formation of the new State of West Virginia, and continued in that responsible posi- tion for many years. For a number of years he has been a Di- rector in the Merchants' National Bank at Morgantown. He united with the M. E. Church in 1859 and has been a member of its official board for more than twenty years. March 4, 1859, he married Miss Mary R. Derring. One child, a son, was born to them, who grew to manhood, and died two years ago at Al- buquerque, New Mexico.
Professor Lorentz is a progressive, public-spirited man, and has always advocated the aggressive, enterprising side of all questions relating to the management of the University.
ROBERT CARTER BERKELEY.
R OBERT C. BERKELEY, M.A., Professor of Ancient Lan- guages in the West Virginia University, was born in Han- over county, Virginia, August 1, 1837. He was educated at the best Preparatory schools of Virginia until his seventeenth year. He then taught school two years and entered the University of Virginia in his twentieth year. From this institution he gradu- ated in 1861 with the degree of Master of Arts (M. A. U. of Vir- ginia), the highest honor conferred by that institution. He served four years in the Confederate army, and was present at the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox C. H. In the fall of 1865 he resumed the occupation of teaching. Two years af- terwards he was elected President of Washington College, Mary- 39
546
PROMINENT MEN OF
land, and entered upon the duties of that position in February, 1868. He held this position five years and a-half, when he was. elected to the Chair of Greek in the West Virginia University, which position he now occupies, in August, 1873. In 1885 he was elected Chairman of the Faculty of the West Virginia Uni- versity, and held that position two years, when he resumed his regular duties as Professor of the Greek Language and Litera- ture.
WEST VIRGINIA.
547
A.LITTLE,
PROF. ISRAEL C. WHITE, A. M., PH. D.
548
PROMINENT MEN OF
ISRAEL CHARLES WHITE.
PROFESSOR I. C. WHITE was born in Monongalia county, November 1, 1848; entered the West Virginia University as a cadet at its organization, in September, 1867; graduated therefrom in the classical course, June 1872; teacher in Ken- wood School, New Brighton, Pennsylvania, 1872-'3; in Monon- galia county, 1874. He was appointed on the Geological Sur- vey of Pennsylvania, April, 1875, as assistant to Professor John J. Stevenson in the survey of Washington, Greene, South Alle- gheny and South Beaver counties; took Post-graduate course in Geology and Chemistry at Columbia College, New York, winter of 1875-'6, under Newberry and Chandler ; appointed full Assistant Geologist on Pennsylvania survey April, 1876, and given charge of the region along the Pennsylvania and Ohio State line, where differences had arisen between the geologists of Ohio and those of Pennsylvania concerning the identity of the coal and Limestone beds of the two States. Professor White made an exhaustive study of the question in dispute, and demon- strated the truth so clearly that his views have never been ques- tioned by either party to the controversy. He was elected Pro- fessor of Geology at the West Virginia University in June, 1877, but continued in the service of the Pennsylvania survey during vacations, until July 1, 1884, when he was appointed to a position in the United States Geological Survey, his duty being to pre- pare a monograph on the bituminous coal field of Pennsyl- vania, Ohio and West Virginia, which work he completed, and sent in for publication in August, 1888, and afterwards engaged in an exhaustive survey of the Allegheny Mountain region around White Sulphur Springs, in portions of Greenbrier, Mon- roe, Allegheny and Craig counties.
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.