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 47
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
EDMUND SEHON.
€ DMUND SEHON was born in Mason county, Virginia, September 14, 1843, and has spent his life in that section of the State. After a regular study for the legal profession he was admitted to the Bar, practiced in Greenbrier and Mercer counties from 1866 to 1870, and was elected Prosecuting Attor- ney for the two counties in 1868. In 1870 he returned to Ma- son county, where he has continued to reside. In 1872 he was appointed a Director of the Penitentiary by the Board of Public Works; served four years, and in 1880 was appointed by Gov- ernor Jackson to the same position, serving four years more. He was elected to represent Mason county in the Legislature of West Virginia in 1875, and took an active part in its proceed- ings. He is now Secretary of the Kanawha Lumber and Furni- ture Company, an establishment conducting an extensive and important business, one of considerable advantage to the county in which he has long resided.
630
PROMINENT MEN OF
RT. REV. JOHN J. KAIN, D.D.
631
WEST VIRGINIA.
JOHN JOSEPH KAIN.
HE Rt. Rev. John Joseph Kain, D.D., at present Bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling, was born at Martinsburg, Vir- ginia, May 31, 1841. At an early age he was sent to St. Charles College, near Ellicott's City, Howard county, Maryland, and made his collegiate course in that noted school. On the com- pletion of the course of study in that institution he passed to the department of philosophy and theology in St. Mary's Uni- versity, Baltimore, Maryland. Throughout the collegiate, phil- osophical and theological studies, the subject of this sketch evinced rare talents, and was regarded as one of the most gifted, if not the most gifted, students in those large schools. He was ordained Priest, July 2, 1866, and assigned to the missions of Harper's Ferry and Martinsburg, West Virginia. When the See of Wheeling became vacant in 1874, the Bishops of the Province of Baltimore convened to provide a successor to the Rt. Rev. Richard V. Whelan, D.D. Among the three names submmitted to Rome for that exalted office was that of the Rev. J. J. Kain. In February of 1875 the announcement came that Rome had appointed the Rev. J. J. Kain, and on the 23d of the following May the new Bishop was solemnly consecrated in the Wheeling Cathedral, honored by the presence of a large number of his brother Priests and several Right Rev. Bishops from various parts of the country.
Those of the clergy of the Diocese of Wheeling who knew the incoming Bishop rejoiced, because it was apparent to them that the choice was an excellent one. In a very brief time all real- ized the grateful fact that Rome had placed at the helm in the Diocese a man of extraordinary fitness; a man thoroughly equipped as a scholar, possessed of a very high order of admin- istrative ability, and withal having few peers as a pulpit orator. The episcopate of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Kain for fourteen or fif- teen years has more than confirmed these anticipations. Time has proved that in the present Bishop the clergy has found a ruler as kind as a father, the Church a model prelate, and the people a chief pastor whose zeal, influence and devotedness. guarantee their spiritual well-being as long as it may please God to spare their Bishop.
Socially, as well as intellectually, the subject of this sketch is a most worthy successor of the illustrious and revered Bishop
632
PROMINENT MEN OF
Whelan. Truly Rome seems to have been partial to Virginia before the division into two States and afterwards in the charac- ter of the men placed over the Catholic Church,-Bishops Whe- lan, McGill, Gibbons and Keane at Richmond, and Whelan and Kain at Wheeling. It is doubtful if any two Catholic Sees in the United States have had abler and more efficient Bishops than Richmond and Wheeling.
Bishop Kain is yet a young man. He is studious, industri- ous, attentive to his duties, able in pulpit and on platform, ever watchful of the interests of his Church, and is highly esteemed by all who know him.
CHARLES PHILIP SNYDER.
NE of the self-made men of West Virginia is the Hon. C. P. Snyder, of Charleston. He was born in Kanawha county, where he still resides, June 9, 1847. His education was received in private and public schools at Charleston-principally in the Academy, taught by J. T. Brodt, an accomplished educator, who located in that section during the fifties. For several years Mr. Snyder taught school in Charleston. He subsequently studied law. His first public office was that of Prosecuting Attorney for his native county, to which he was elected as a Democrat in 1876. In 1880 he was re-elected to the same office. He proved himselt to be a safe and successful prosecutor.
He was always an energetic party worker; served several terms as Chairman of the County and Congressional Executive Com- mittees ; was chosen a delegate to the National Democratic Con- ventions of 1872 and 1880. In May, 1883, he was elected to the Forty-eighth Congress as a Democrat, at a special election, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of John E. Kenna. He was subsequently re-elected to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses, in which bodies he was a faithful, painstaking Rep- resentative. He served one term as Mayor of the city of Charles- ton. He is now engaged in the practice of his profession in his native city.
633
WEST VIRGINIA.
VIRGIL ANSON LEWIS.
VIRGIL A. LEWIS was born July 4, 1848, on a farm in what is now Waggener District, Mason county, West Virginia. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers of the Shenandoah Valley, and their later representatives were in the van of the daring pioneers who, crossing the Alleghenies, found homes in the present limits of West Virginia. His immediate ancestors, after a few years' residence in Greenbrier county, removed far- ther West and, in 1797, reared their cabin homes near Point Pleasant, then in the county of Kanawha, but now in Mason. When they came the surrounding region was an unbroken wil- derness, and there was not a postoffice within a hundred miles. Here the parents of the subject, George W. Lewis and Lucy Ed- wards were born, the former in 1819, and the latter in 1814. They were married in 1846, and had issue five children, three sons and two daughters, the subject of this sketch being the eldest.
By the death of his father he was left an orphan at the age of nine years, and thence, until his sixteenth year, he worked on a small farm, and in winter attended the "old field schools" of ante bellum times. Upon the introduction of the public school system he resolved to prepare himself for teaching, and prose- cuted his studies with that object in view. History was his favorite theme, and while yet a youth he began the contribution of historical articles to the press. These soon attracted wide at- tention, and his productions were eagerly sought by publishers, and May 16, 1880, he was elected a member of the Virginia His- torical Society.
After a few years teaching in his native county he was, in 1878, elected Principal of Buffalo Academy, in Putnam county, and a year later was chosen to a similar position in the public schools of Winfield, in the same county. While thus engaged, he en- tered upon the study of law in the office of the late Hon. James H. Hoge, but continued teaching until 1882, when he devoted himself to literature and travel. Two years later he conceived the idea of writing a history of his native State, and with that object in view went to Richmond, where he spent some months in the Virginia archives, after which he visited nearly a hundred county seats, collecting data for his proposed work. The result of this labor was the "History of West Virginia," published by
634
PROMINENT MEN OF
Hubbard Bros., Philadelphia, 1889, the appearance of which at once placed him among the foremost historians of the country. Among his earlier productions are a "History of the Great Ka- nawha Valley," and "Pioneer Families of Mason county." He contributes much to the periodical literature of the day, and is at present engaged in writing an elaborate "History of the Ohio Valley." Mr. Lewis is a scholarly gentleman, and possesses a smooth and elegant style as a writer.
In 1888 he was an aspirant for the nomination for the office of State Superintendent of Schools, but, while receiving a large vote, the nomination went to Hon. B. S. Morgan.
Mr. Lewis is the senior member of the law firm of Lewis & Beller, of Point Pleasant.
October 31, 1886, he wedded Miss Elizabeth Stone, of Mason county, a great grand-daughter of the Stone who signed the Declaration of Independence on the part of the State of Mary- land. The result of their marriage is a little daughter, nearly three years of age.
THOMAS E. HODGES.
F ROF. THOS. E. HODGES, the present Principal of Mar- shall College, one of the State Normal Schools, is one of the prominent educators West Virginia has produced. He was born in Upshur county, Virginia, Dec. 13, 1888. After attending the common schools, he was in French Creek Academy dur- ing the summer sessions of 1871-'77. In September of the latter year he was appointed a cadet to the West Virginia University, and graduated from its classical department in 1881. That year he was elected Principal of the Morgantown Public Schools, which he filled until elected Principal of the State Normal School at Huntington, in August, 1886. He has long been a teacher in Institute instruction, engaged therein in this State and Pennsyl- vania, and is now successfully performing the responsible duties of Principal of Marshall College. No State in the Union need be prouder of its roll of educators than West Virginia. Profes- sor Hodges is one of her most promising young educators, and is already prominent in his profession. He is universally re- garded as one of the rising young men of the Commonwealth.
.-- --=
635
WEST VIRGINIA.
EDGAR MALCOMB MCALLISTER.
H [ON. EDGAR M. McALLISTER, one of the most watch- ful and indefatigable members of the West Virginia Senate of 1889, is emphatically one of the self-made men with which our Mountain State abounds. He was born in Cabell county when it was part of the "Old Dominion," January 3, 1851, and spent his boyhood on a farm, receiving only the country school education his avocation as a farmer's boy and the sparce facili- ties the locality then permitted. The rest-all that has made him what he is-he acquired by his own unaided efforts, either as student or tutor-for he taught school during his preparation for a legal line of study. After a full course of law reading under Judge Jas. W. Hoge, in Putnam county, he began the practice of his profession at Milton, Cabell county, in 1879. He was for three years a railroad contractor and merchant, but with this exception, and his Senatorial term, he has followed his profession, practicing in the lower courts and Court of Ap- peals of his State. Appreciating his practical experience, the people of his district asked for his services in the State House, where he watched their interests on the floor and on several committees, namely those on Forfeited and Unclaimed Lands, the Judiciary, Public Buildings and Humane Institutions, Rail- roads, and Militia. He proved himself one of the people's class by introducing the bill "To prevent such formation of trusts, combinations of business firms or unincorporated companies, or associations of persons or stockholders as may be contrary to public policy," which bill is still pending, having been reported with recommendation that the same shall be passed.
He married Miss E. K. Thompson, of Putnam county, by whom he has two daughters.
VIRGIL STUART ARMSTRONG.
HE Sixth Circuit, composed of the counties of Clay, Gil- mer, Jackson, Roane and Calhoun, is presided over by Judge Virgil S. Armstrong. He was elected over R. F. Flem- ing, the Republican candidate, by a majority of 342 votes, and for the term of eight years from January 1, 1889. He was born October 25, 1836, in Jackson county, Virginia. Until grown he worked in the tan-yard and saddler shop of his father, at- tending, as opportunity was afforded subscription schools, in
636
PROMINENT MEN OF
which he received a fair English education. He studied law, and in 1860 was admitted to the Bar. In 1861 he entered the Confederate army, was elected First Lieutenant and promoted to Captain, and served until the end of the struggle, being twice wounded. Upon his return home, after the passage of the Flick amendment, he resumed law practice. He was Prosecuting Attorney of Jackson county for eight years; and was elected a member of the House of Delegates, session of 1883. In 1888 he was nominated by the Democratic party and elected to the Circuit Court Bench, with residence at Ripley.
GEORGE WILLIAM PETERKIN.
HE RT. REV. G. W. PETERKIN, D.D., first Bishop of T
the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia, was born at Clear Spring, Washington county, Maryland, March 21, 1841. He studied at the University of Virginia, in 1858-9, and graduated at the Theological Seminary of Virginia, at Alexandria, in 1868. He was ordered Deacon in the Chapel of the Theological Seminary of Virginia, June 24, 1868; ordained Priest at the same place June 25, 1869. He passed his Diaconate as Assistant to his father, the Rector of St. James' Church, Richmond, Va. In June, 1869, he became Rector of St. Stephen's Church, Culpeper, Va .; in 1873 Rector of Memorial Church, Baltimore, Md. He received the degree of D.D. from Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, in 1878, and from Washington and Lee University, Vir- ginia, in the same year. He was consecrated first Bishop of West Virginia in St. Matthew's Church, Wheeling, W. Va., on the Festival of the Ascension, May 30, 1878, by Bishops Bedell of Ohio, Kerfoot of Pittsburgh, Pa., Whittle of Virginia, Dudley of Kentucky, and Jagger of Southern Ohio.
Bishop Peterkin is a man of great energy. But few minis- ters of the Gospel, in this generation are called upon to endure the hardships and make the sacrifices he does and has been doing for the past ten years. He is almost continuously "on the go," preaching twice every Sabbath, and frequently upon week days. The church he represents has greatly prospered under his supervision. He is a vigorous, forceful speaker, and is popular and entertaining. The engraving we present, shows him to be of pleasant expression, medium stature, and suave disposition. He is a great power for good in his adopted Mountain State.
637
WEST VIRGINIA.
RT. REV. G. W. PETERKIN, D.D.
638
PROMINENT MEN OF
CHARLES BURDETT HART.
J JOURNALISM is now admitted to be one of the " learned professions." Men now-a-days equip themselves for it as lawyers prepare for the Bar, ministers for the pulpit, and physi- cians for the practice of medicine. The newspaper is the great- est educator on the earth. It is read by practically everybody. Its power, therefore, for good or evil is very great. The subject of this sketch is a born journalist. As soon as his college days were over he took straight to journalism.
Brevity is the soul of wit. Horace Greeley, I believe, is the orig- inator of editorial paragraphing. It is in the use of short, pithy editorial paragraphs that the American press differs most wide- ly from that of England. Mr. Hart adopted the Greeley idea of writing short, pungent editorials, and adheres to it under almost all circumstances. He has an unerring " nose for news," and believes in the policy of cutting down editorials to give place for news. In this ever growing feature of American journalism Mr. Hart excels. Naturally witty, he dashes off paragraph after paragraph, on different subjects, with rapidity and ease, and at the same time keeps his news columns up to the highest stand- ard of reliable news reports. Under his editorial management the Daily Intelligencer holds an enviable position among the newspapers of the Ohio Valley.
Charles Burdett Hart was born in Baltimore, Maryland, June 16, 1850. He is the eldest born of Mary Stevens Mulliken and Francis Burdett Hart. His paternal grandfather and grand- mother came from England. On his mother's side, his ancestors came from England before the revolution, and settled in Mary- land as planters, and took part on the patriot side in the war for Independence. His mother's father was a soldier in the war of 1812.
Mr. Hart was educated in the public schools of New York and Brooklyn, in an English and French academy in Brooklyn, and in a four year's course in St. Timothy's Hall, Maryland, a mili- tary academy of high repute in its day. At St. Timothy's Hall he was the salutatorian of his class. He displayed more than common facility in acquiring languages, both ancient and mod- ern. In these days of active business he gladly turns for men- tal rest and diversion to a good book in French, Spanish or Ger- man, and reads out of the original with fluency and satisfaction.
639
WEST VIRGINIA.
From 1868 to '69 he taught school in Queen Anne's county, Maryland. With no intention of being admitted to the Bar, he read law with the Hon. Benjamin Harris Brewster, of Philadel. phia, Attorney General in the Cabinet of the late President Ar- thur. In early life he decided to adopt journalism as a profes- sion. Accordingly, in 1871 he began his journalistic career by serving as reporter, city editor, telegraph editor, managing ed- itor, editorial writer and Washington correspondent.
Mr. Hart has been connected with the Chronicle, Inquirer, North American, and Press of Philadelphia. He was editorial writer on the Philadelphia Press when, November 15, 1882, he purchased an interest in the Wheeling Intelligencer, succeeding the Hon. A. W. Campbell as editor of that well known and thoroughly established newspaper.
He is a Republican in politics, and in 1872 cast his first ballot for General Grant and the entire Republican ticket, although at the time he was employed on an Independent Republican news- paper that supported Horace Greeley. Before he arrived at his twenty-first birthday he took an active part in political cam- paigns, delivering Republican speeches, and has never been allied with any other political organization. An earnest student of politics, yet he has never been a candidate for political prefer- ment, and has no taste for public office, or aspiration of any kind in that direction. He is a journalist in the broadest sense and meaning of the word, loves his calling, and will not allow him- self to be side-tracked by the allurements of official favor, or ambitions of any kind whatever.
January 25, 1877, he married Miss Mary Willie, daughter of Morgan L. Ott, of Wheeling. Two children have resulted from this union, Morgan Ott and Virginia Stevens, the latter de- ceased.
Mr. Hart is not only a thorough journalist, but he is public spirited and enterprising as well. He set on foot the movement that resulted in the great gathering of West Virginians known as the Immigration Convention, that was held in the city of Wheeling in February, 1888, which had for its object the devel- opment of the boundless natural resources of West Virginia. That Convention was attended by delegates from every por- tion of the State, which gave an impetus to an immigration movement that will not likely cease until West Virginia's won-
640
PROMINENT MEN OF
derful natural advantages are made thoroughly known to the people throughout the country. Mr. Hart was chosen by that great Convention as President of the State Board of Immigra- tion and Development, and has given to the position his best en- ergies, which have already produced the most gratifying results.
WILLIAM H. TARR.
H ON. W. H. TARR, Senator from the First District from 1877 to 1879, is a native of Brooke county, and was born at Wellsburg, Virginia, February 22, 1832, and is a son of Camp- bell Tarr, Sr., an old and well known citizen who died in 1857. He received a thorough scholastic training at Bethany College, and after graduating engaged in the mercantile business at Wellsburg for three years. In 1855, when Kansas was still a territory, he emigrated there, carrying with him letters of intro- duction to Governor Shannon, and was there during the Free State war. He frequently met, while there, old John Brown, of Harper's Ferry notoriety.
While he resided in the West, he was engaged for four years in buying and selling land, land warrants and loaning money. During the prevalence of the gold fever, he crossed the plains to the newly discovered gold fields in the neighborhood of Pike's Peak, as agent for certain banking firms.
In the winter of 1860, he returned to Virginia, having mar- ried, May 3, 1860, Miss Laura J., daughter of S. H. Johnson, of Jefferson county, Ohio. He invested in lands in the vicinity of Steubenville, and engaged in farming and wool growing until 1870, when he removed to his present home at Wellsburg. In 1876 he was sent from his business of land dealer to take his seat in the State Senate. He at once made himself felt in the Senate and soon rose to prominence. His influence and judg- ment were recognized, and he was placed in positions of trust and importance. In this session he was chairman of the im- portant Joint Committee on the Revision of the Judiciary Sys- tem, and of that on Penitentiary, and a prominent member of the Committees of Finance and Education.
He with four others, by their enterprise and industry first de- veloped the natural gas in the Ohio Valley in sufficient quanti- ties for the manufacture of iron and glass. The first well being at Wellsburg, W. Va., the Riverside Glass Factory of that town first used gas for the purpose of its running.
HON. WM. H. TARR.
641
WEST VIRGINIA.
WILLIAM WITHERS ADAMS.
H ON. W. W. ADAMS is a practicing lawyer in Summers, Kanawha and adjoining counties as a member of the law firm of Adams & Miller, and is Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Summers county. He was elected to the State Senate of 1877-'79 from his district, in which body he was Chairman of the Forfeited and Delinquent Lands Committee and a member of the Committee on Education, and took an active interest in its proceedings. He was among the foremost in all the import- ant debates, but especially in the proceedings concerning the regulation of rates on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, in which, while opposing any violation of the terms of the charter, he favored all fair and legal measures to compel that company to deal justly and without discrimination to shippers. He was prominent in the proceedings abolishing the old County Court system ; also in the debates on the Capitol bill, favoring Charles- ton. He introduced a bill making it a misdemeanor for Sheriffs to misappropriate public funds. He took an active part in fa- vor of the Democratic party in 1884-'88.
Mr. Adams was born in Lunenburg county, Virginia, Febru- ary 12, 1848; was educated at the University of Virginia, re- ceiving Debater's Medal in Jefferson Society. At the age of sixteen he enlisted in the Confederate army the last year of the war.
JOHN HOWARD PETTINGER.
ROM the mercantile desk, as well as the farm, have come many of the useful and practical legislators of the State. Senator J. H. Pettinger was born on a farm near Frederick City, Maryland, December 7, 1826. His education was in the ordi- nary schools of the locality. In 1844 he began mercantile pur- suits, first as clerk then as proprietor, and has continuously fol- lowed this occupation to the present. In 1857 he removed to Martinsburg, his present residence. He was President of the Board of Supervisors of Berkeley county in 1872; was elected to the House of Delegates, sessions of 1875-'6, and to the State Senate for the sessions from 1887 to 1889. He is upon the Com- mittees of Roads and Navigation, Mines and Mining, and Rules.
45
642
PROMINENT MEN OF
RT. REV. JOHN T. SULLIVAN.
1
643
WEST VIRGINIA.
JOHN T. SULLIVAN.
T HE RT. REV. MONSIGNOR JOHN T. SULLIVAN, at present Vicar General of the diocese of Wheeling, and Rec- tor of the Cathedral in that city, is, next to the Rt. Rev. Bishop Kain, the most prominent minister of the Roman Catholic de- nomination in West Virginia. He is a gentleman of broad cul- ture, is an eloquent divine, and is naturally so courteous and suave that he is universally popular among all the people with whom he associates in daily life.
This distinguished prelate was born in Ireland in 1834, and was brought to the United States while yet an infant. He be- gan his studies at Georgetown, D. C .; took his collegiate course at St. Charles College, near Baltimore, and completed his studies in philosophy and divinity, preparatory to entering the priest- hood, at St. Mary's University, Baltimore, Maryland. He was ordained in the Cathedral at Wheeling, Virginia, April 23, 1858. Shortly after his ordination he was made Rector of the Wheel- ing Cathedral, which position he has continuously held to the present time.
In 1869 the Rt. Rev. Bishop Whelan appointed Father Sulli- van Vicar General of the diocese, which office he retained till the Bishop's death. Upon the accession of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Kain to the See of Wheeling, he was re-appointed to the same exalted position. At his silver jubilee in 1883, Monsignor Sul- livan was notified of his appointment as Private Chamberlain of the Holy Father, and two years later he was promoted to the rank of Domestic Prelate-a higher order of prelacy.
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.