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 68
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Mr. Chapline, the partner of Mr. Wheat, died in 1855, and Mr. Wheat purchased his interests from the administrator and continued the same business up to January 1, 1889, at which time by his untiring efforts he had established the largest and most influential wholesale notion house in the State of West Virginia. On the date mentioned above, January 1, 1889, he disposed of his entire notion business in order to devote his un- divided attention to his large pottery and steel interests. In 1858 or thereabouts, Mr. Wheat, with others, established the Citizens' Deposit Bank, afterwards, on April 2, 1862, merged into the First National Bank of Wheeling, and during the seventeen years of their existence, Mr. Wheat for the greater portion of this time filled the position of President.
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JOHN SCOTT BARNS.
J
OHN S. BARNS was one of the members of the convention that reorganized the State government of Virginia in 1861. He was born October 21, 1816, at Barnsville, near Fairmont, Marion county. His early life was spent in a grist-mill, saw- mill and country store, with very little opportunity to attend the village school, and his principal occupation in subsequent life has been the manufacturing of yarns and woolen goods, and the milling of flour. Integrity and common sense won the hearts of his neighbors and the voters through the county, who sent him to Richmond to represent them in the Assembly, ses- sions of 1853-4 and 1855-6. He sided with the West in a desire for a separate statehood, and against secession, and was a mem- ber of the Wheeling convention. He afterwards served two sessions in the West Virginia House of Delegates, 1863 and 1865.
CHARLES LEWIS HICKMAN.
HARLES L. HICKMAN was born in Quiet Dell, Harrison county, Va., and is the great grandson of Sotha Hickman, who was one of the five white settlers that first settled west of the Blue Ridge in 1771. At the age of fifteen years Mr. Hickman was thrown upon the world without support, his father, Marshall Hickman, having died at that time, leaving little or no estate. Being of a mechanical turn of mind, he at once commenced work as a journeyman carpenter, working in different States and localities in the summer season and attending school during the winter, and in this manner obtained a common school edu- cation. He located in Clarksburg, Harrison county, West Vir- ginia, in 1871 ; entered into business as a contractor and builder, and followed that avocation until 1879.
Charles L. Hickman was married in October, 1886, to Miss Carrie Leach, a worthy and respected young lady of the above named city. About the same year the subject of our sketch conceived the idea of studying architecture ; he at once pro- vided himself with the necessary books and instruments, and started upon his arduous task, spending all his leisure days and nights in the study of his chosen profession. His undertaking proved to be of greater magnitude than he at first anticipated ; but being of the material that never says "fail," he " burned
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CHARLES L. HICKMAN.
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midnight oil" for three years, at which time (1879), he was satisfied that he had mastered his undertaking to an extent that would justify his opening an office, which he did, and received soon after a liberal share of patronage. The work designed and executed under his supervision proved him to be a man of ability in that line.
October 20, 1885, Mr. Hickman was appointed by Hon. Daniel Manning, the Secretary of the United States Treasury, as Super- intendent of the United States Court House and postoffice building at Clarksburg, W. Va., which office he filled satisfac- torily. It is hardly necessary to add that he is a man of integ- rity, and honored by all who know him. He has by his unaided exertions educated himself to a creditable degree, has without a master shown himself to be a first class builder, and without teachers mastered architecture, as his buildings demonstrate.
ROBERT G. BARR.
NE of the best known and most successful of Wheeling's many distinguished lawyers, was the Hon. R. G. Barr. He was born June 7, 1840, in Washington county, Pa .; was the third son of Robert and Eleanor Barr, and was educated at Washington and Jefferson College. He began the study of law with Boyd Crumrine, Esq., and in 1865, moved to Wheeling, West Virginia, and entered upon the practice of his profession. He was studious and attentive to business, which brought him, in a very short time, a profitable clientage.
Mr. Barr was always a Democrat. In 1871 he was elected to the State Legislature from Ohio county, and was re-elected to a second session. Political life was distasteful to him, consequently he withdrew from politics almost entirely; still, in 1877, his party friends forced him to again put on the harness by accept- ing a third election to the State Legislature from his adopted county. In legislative halls he was a strong, attentive, and useful member. He was self-poised, manly, gentlemanly. No man in Wheeling could number more personal friends than he. He was a prominent Free Mason, and was thoroughly public spirited. He died December 23, 1886, in the prime of physical and mental manhood.
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JOHN DAWSON RIGG.
T Terra Alta, Preston county, is located, perhaps, the most valuable Woolen Mill in our Mountain State. Its propri- etor, the subject of this sketch, was born September 1, 1833, in Philadelphia, Pa. His parents, John and Mary Rigg, were natives of Lancashire, England, and immigrated to America in 1831. After several removals, to Pittsburgh, Allegheny City, into Illinois and back to Geneva, Pa., the family located in Bruceton, Preston county, in this State, and for years operated a small woolen mill. Subsequently, in 1888, he established similar large mills on the line of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, where trade has increased, and facilities for shipping are the best. In 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Seventh West Vir- ginia Infantry, served one year, and was discharged on account of physical disability. Upon his return home he was elected Colonel of the 104th Regiment of State Militia, and was twice called into active service. In 1877 he was elected a member of the House of Delegates from Preston county, and also in 1883, serving two years each time.
CHARLES MONTGOMERY BABB:
N Hardy county, Virginia, October 20, 1848, was born the above named legislator and agriculturalist, who still owns and operates a stock farm, near Greenland, Grant county. His early years were spent in the labor, and with the training of that vocation, in which he still takes a pride. He attended in winter first the subscription schools of ante-bellum days, then, when instituted, the free schools until he was eighteen years of age; then, in 1867, the year of his father's death, he entered the Agri- cultural College at Morgantown, soon after changed to the West Virginia University. In 1873 he completed the literary course of that institution, receiving the degree of A.B., which in 1876, was followed by the A.M. degree. He had intended professional life, but feared loss of health therefrom, and engaged in stock raising. He wedded Laura J. Johnson, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, in 1878. He was twice elected County Superintendent of Free Schools, resigning in 1877, to take a seat in the House of Delegates of that year, and was re-elected for the sessions of 1881-2 of the West Virginia Legislature.
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JAMES WILLIAM STUCK.
J AMES W. STUCK was born at Central Station, Doddridge county, Va., April 6, 1861. He began business for himself at the age of twelve, acquired an academic education, and at 17 taught school, continuing five years. When quite young he took an active part in politics ; his first vote was for Gen. Goff for Congress, and his first Presidential ballot for Blaine in 1884. He represented Doddridge county in the West Virginia House of Delegates in the session of 1889, serving on three important committees : Roads and Internal Navigation, State Boundaries, and Penitentiary. He was elected when only twenty-seven years old in one of the most remarkable campaigns of the county. At home he is engaged in merchandising among the people with whom his whole life has been spent. Their thus honoring him so highly at so early an age speaks volumes in favor of this young legislator, remembering the ancient saying, "A prophet is not without honor save in his own country."
ALEXANDER PARKS.
LEXANDER PARKS, who was the eleventh Grand Com- mander of Knights Templar of West Virginia, from May, 1887, to May, 1888, was born in Baltimore, Md., April 22, 1847. In August, 1868, he settled in Martinsburg, Berkeley county, W. Va., and engaged in the milling, grain and fertilizer business. In 1877 he remodeled the Martinsburg Flouring Mills and at the same time built the Shenandoah Fertilizer Mills ; and having con- ducted these enterprises successfully, to meet the demands of the flour trade, he purchased and built the Enterprise Roller Mills. During this time he was elected and served four years as town Councilman and city Treasurer. He has always taken an active interest in politics, and has served for a number of years as chairman of county committees, with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his fellow citizens.
Mr. Parks has been an earnest and energetic Free Mason since his connection with the institution. January 14, 1871, he was initiated as an Entered Apprentice, in Equality Lodge, No. 136, of Martinsburg, Berkeley county, W. Va. He was elected Worshipful Master of his lodge June 26, 1875, was appointed District Deputy Grand Master in November, 1875; exalted to
tł a
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the sublime degree of the Royal Arch, September 5, 1871; cre ated a Knight Templar in Palestine Commandery at Martins- burg, March 11, 1872 ; Representative of Palestine Commandery at the formation of the Grand Commandery of West Virginia, February 25, 1874; Deputy Grand Commander at Weston, May 12, 1886 ; Grand Commander at Charleston, Kanawha county, May 11, 1887. He has done much to advance Masonry in the State; is a man of kind and agreeable manner and has an en- couraging word for all.
GIDEON DRAPER CAMDEN.
UDGE GIDEON DRAPER CAMDEN is the fourth son I of Henry Camden, of Anne Arundel county, Md., and Mary B. Sprigg, a daughter of Col. Fredric Sprigg, of Montgomery county, of the same State. Henry Camden was a local Meth- odist preacher, and about the year 1804 freed his slaves, and with his wife and small children, moved to Harrison county, Virginia, and settled in what was called " Collins' Settlement," on the West Fork river, about fifteen miles above Weston, near Jacksonville, Lewis county, where he lived until the time of his death, some thirty years ago. His son Gideon remained with him working on the farm until the year 1822, going to the com- mon country schools during the winter months, and sometimes having to walk a distance of two or three miles. At the noon hour, or during "play time," as it was then called, he with other pupils was required to aid in procuring from the forest the necessary fuel to supply the school with warmth. He received no other education than that afforded by the common school of the country, so that he may be emphatically called a self-made man.
In 1822 Mr. Camden left home, with the blessings of his father, who had but little else to give him, to live with Col. John G. Stringer, of Weston, then Clerk of the Superior Court (as it was then called) of the County of Lewis, with an injunction to act with propriety and to apply himself assiduously to the duties that might devolve upon him, and to make himself a good law- yer. At that time Daniel Stringer, father of the Colonel, was Clerk of the County Court, but the business of both offices was under the control of Col. Stringer. Young Camden applied 64
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himself with great energy to the requirements of the offices, and in a short time became a good clerk, performing almost all the duties of the two offices, at times when necessary sitting up the entire night to do the work.
He soon became a favorite with all who knew him, especially the Justices of the Peace, who then composed the County Court, and were disposed to aid him by giving him the small county offices, although he was not at that time twenty-one years of age.
In the spring of 1827 he left Weston on horseback and trav- eled through Greenbrier, Monroe and other counties of Virginia to the court house of Wythe county, then called Evansham, to attend the law school taught by Gen. Alexander Smyth, who figured in the war of 1812 in the Northwest near the Canada line, and afterwards wrote the Apocalypse of the Bible.
In the fall of 1827 Mr. Camden obtained the signature of Judge Johnston, the father of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, to a license to practice law, and in returning home also obtained the signature of Judge Allen Taylor, Chancellor of the Wythe dis- trict, and of Judge James Allen, of the Botetourt Circuit, the father of Judge John J. Allen, who was afterwards President of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia for many years.
On the return of young Camden to his home he commenced the practice of law with great energy, and for one of his age and experience obtained a liberal practice in Lewis and adjoining counties. At that time the counties of Marion, Taylor, Barbour, Upshur, Braxton and Doddridge were not formed. In April, 1828, he was elected to the House of Delegates from the county of Lewis, and served during the session that ordered the Con- vention of 1829 to amend the Constitution of the State, in which almost all the talent of the State was convened. He was again elected to the Legislature in 1830, but soon after he was tendered the office of Clerk of the Superior Court of Lewis County, by Lewis Sommers, who was then Judge of that Court. Being financially poor, he thought it best to resign his seat in the Leg- islature and accept the clerkship, which he did, and when the courts were organized under the Constitution of 1830, Judge E. S. Duncan, who then became Judge of that circuit, conferred upon him the same office.
In 1834 John J. Allen, who was one of the most prominent
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lawyers of Western Virginia, who resided at Clarksburg, and was then representing that District in the Congress of the United States, invited Mr. Camden to remove to Clarksburg and join him in the practice of law, which he promptly did. They practiced together until 1836 with great success, when Mr. Allen was appointed a Judge and removed to the home of his youth in Botetourt county. The large practice which the firm had ac- quired then devolved upon Mr. Camden, which he discharged with entire satisfaction to the public, until he was himself pro- moted to the bench in 1852.
In 1850 Mr. Camden was nominated by the Whig party as one of their candidates to the convention to amend the Consti- tution of the State, for the district composed of the counties of Wood, Ritchie, Doddridge, Harrison, Wetzel and Pleasants. He and Gov. Joseph Johnson, Hon. John F. Snodgrass, and the Hon. Peter G. Van Winkle, afterwards a Senator of the United States, were elected the four delegates from that district. The convention convened in Richmond, October, 1850, and need- ing some statistical tables, adjourned over until the following January. This convention changed and reformed the State government by giving the right of suffrage to all male citizens of the State that were twenty-one years of age, and provided for the election by the people of the Governor, Judges and all other State and county officers. It also provided for a general system of public schools. Mr. Camden took an active part in the proceedings of the convention, advocating and sustaining most of the reforms that were adopted. The great contest in that body was the basis of representation in the Legislature. The West advocated the White Basis; the East advocated the Mixed Basis, that of population and taxation combined. The subject was debated for three months. A large majority of the members made speeches on the subject. When the conven- tion convened there was a majority of seventeen for the Mixed Basis, but the question was finally settled by adopting the White Basis for the House of Delegates and the Mixed Basis for the Senate, and at the end of ten years the question of the basis for the Senate to be submitted to a vote of the people. The Constitution being adopted, an election of Judges under it was held in May, 1852, when Mr. Camden was elected a Judge of the Twenty-first Circuit, composed of the counties of Harrison,
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Marion, Taylor, Preston, Barbour, Randolph and Upshur, by a majority of five thousand votes. At the expiration of his term of eight years, he was re-elected for another term of eight years. He gave general satisfaction on the bench. It is said that only about half a dozen of his decisions were reversed by the Court of Appeals, although the business of his circuit was very heavy, occupying the time of the Court about ten months of the year.
Judge Camden was opposed to secession, although he believed in the right of a state to secede in a proper case; and when the State did secede he deemed it his duty to go with his State.
The secession convention appointed Ex-President Tyler, Hon. William C. Rives, Judge John W. Brockenbrough, Walter Staples and Judge Camden commissioners to the Congress to be held at Montgomery, Alabama. Judge Camden adhered to the Confederacy during the war and was at the surrender of Gen. Lee at Appomattox Court House.
He has not sought or held office since the war, except that he was nominated for the State Senate in the Harrison district without solicitation on his part and was in August, 1872, elected to that body, and served in it for a term of four years.
Judge Camden is a man of large common sense, of sterling character, of great energy and decision of character. At one time he came within a few votes of an election to the Senate of the United States by the Legislature of West Virginia. He still resides at Clarksburg, and is hale and vigorous for a man of his years. He enjoys the possession of a large estate, which he earned by his own toil. He has always possessed the confidence of his fellow citizens.
GUSTAVUS F. TAYLOR.
G F. TAYLOR was born June 27, 1834, in Braxton county, T. Va., where he received a common school training. In the spring of 1856 he went to Cass county, Missouri, remained two years, and returned to Braxton and engaged in different occupations until the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, when he was elected by the Union voters to the Constitutional Convention which convened at Wheeling, November 26, 1861. He served until the close of that body, and was afterwards for a time employed as corresponding clerk in the office of the Provost
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Marshal General, Major Joseph Darr, at Wheeling. Later, he organized a company of State troops and served as its Captain until the war ended. He was War Recorder for Braxton county for one term. He represented Braxton county in the House of Delegates in 1866-7, and served one term as Superintendent of Schools for the same county. He established, edited, and owned the Sutton Mountaineer for two years. After studying law he was admitted to practice, and was Prosecuting Attorney for Braxton in 1871 and 1872. He then engaged in merchandising until 1880, when he removed to Wheeling, where he now resides.
JOSEPH C. GLUCK.
D ELEGATE GLUCK, of Ritchie county, was born June 18, 1841, in Lewis county, Virginia. His parents were Ger- man, came to Lewis in 1840, and removed to Gilmer in 1841, and engaged in farming. The son received a common school education. March 1, 1862, he enlisted in Company G, Tenth Regiment West Virginia Infantry, and was promoted to Ser- geant in May of that year. He was in seven battles; was wounded on the back of the head by a shell July 3, 1864; was discharged from service August 15, 1865. From that date to June, 1871, he resided in Baltimore, Md. He then removed to Auburn, Ritchie county, W. Va., and engaged in merchandising and dealing in live stock. In 1884 he was the Republican nom- inee for Sheriff, but was defeated. In 1888 he was elected by nearly 500 majority to the pending House of Delegates, in which he serves as chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs.
ASBURY MICK.
HE REV. ASBURY MICK, of the West Virginia Confer- ence, Methodist Episcopal Church, was born at Buckhannon, Va., January 13, 1849. His educational advantages in early life were limited, but possessed of an ambition to get on in the world, he let no opportunity pass unimproved to secure the best possible culture within his reach. He attended the Buckhannon public schools for several years, and spent several sessions of earnest toil in the higher English branches at French Creek Academy in his native county.
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He entered the itinerant ministry in 1873, and has devoted all of his energies to that high calling for near a score of years. He is noted for application to books, and a thorough preparation of his sermons. In preaching he is thoughtful, earnest, systematic, able. He possesses three essentials to suc- cess in his profession : First, discretion and good judgment ; second, honesty of purpose and solidity of personal character ; and third, almost boundless energy. He is therefore a popular preacher and a successful pastor. He has filled a number of important appointments in his conference, and is closing his third year as the pastor of State Street M. E. Church, at Charles- ton, the leading church of that denomination in the Southern portion of West Virginia.
JACOB KEMPLE.
J ACOB KEMPLE was born in the city of Wheeling, August 12, 1851. His parents are natives of Virginia, but his an- cestors immigrated to this country in the last century, and par- ticipated in the war of the Revolution. Mr. Kemple received his early education in the public schools of Wheeling, followed by two years at the Fox River Academy in Illinois.
In January, 1872, he entered the law office of Col. Joseph H. Pendleton as a student, and was admitted to the bar of his native county, September 1, 1874, and practiced his profession until 1881. In the literary societies with which he was con- nected he became a leader as a speaker and debater. At the bar his keen wit, broad humor and remarkable power of deline- ation of character frequently gave him an advantage over his adversary and helped to make a weak case strong. His fame as a public speaker and humorist soon spread, giving him a wide reputation.
In 1881 he abandoned the law and entered the lecture field under the management of the Chicago Lyceum Lecture Bureau, with which he has been engaged several seasons. From his youth he has taken an active interest in politics, always as an unswerving Republican. As a campaign speaker his services have always been in demand. He has been on the hustings in a large number of States, east, west and south. His speeches are always interspersed with a rich vein of humor, and he never
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ALITTLE, PHILA
JACOB KEMPLE.
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fails to hold and interest an audience. Mr. Kemple has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Nellie F. Goodwin, of Farmington, Maine, to whom he was married in 1884. She lived but one year after their marriage. In 1888 he was again married, his second wife being Miss Evangeline B. Goodwin, of Farmington, Maine.
His residence is at Wheeling and his time is principally de- voted to humorous writing and lecturing.
JOHN WILEY YEATER.
J OHN W. YEATER is on the rolls of the present Senate from the Second District. He is a physician, and his resi- dence, New Dale, Tyler county. He was born December 28, 1850, in Marshall county, Va .; was a farmer's boy, attending the ordinary schools of the locality, and afterwards for a while was teacher. Studied medicine at the Howard Medical College, sessions of 1876 and 1877, and practiced in Wetzel until 1879. He graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Bal- timore, then resumed practice until 1887, when he attended the Polytechnic, of New York City. He has not sought office, but the voters of his district sent him as their representative in 1889 to the Legislature, where he is upon the committees of Finance, Claims and Grievances, and Public Printing.
DAVID WILLIAM SHAW.
ELEGATE D. W. SHAW, of Barbour county, who serves in the existing Legislature, was born in Philippi, Va., May, 1852. He has continuously resided in this Mountain State. From 1869 to 1883 he was a teacher in select schools; editor of the Barbour Jeffersonian from May, 1883, to July, 1884; Deputy Sheriff in 1884-5; President of the Board of Education from 1884 to 1888; and frequently a member of the Examining Board. He was elected by the voters of Barbour to the Legis . lature of 1887, and re-elected to that of 1889. In a former ses- sion he was a member of the Committees on Federal Elections, and Counties and Corporations, and chairman of that of Educa- tion in both years. He is by choice and practice a farmer and grazier, as well as by preference of his constituency a law enacter.
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