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 70
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Dr. Jepson was three times elected Health Officer of Wheel- ing, serving from 1873 to 1879. During his last term he went to Europe, and spent about a year in medical studies in Edin- burg, London and Vienna. While in the first-named city he was tendered the position of Resident Physician in the Royal Maternity Hospital, but declined, as the acceptance would inter- fere with other professional arrangements. He returned to Wheeling in July, 1878.
Dr. Jepson is a member, and has been. both President and Secretary of the Medical Society of Wheeling; a member of the State Medical Society of West Virginia, and was for four years its Secretary, and in 1887 its President; a member of the Amer- ican Medical Association, and was for several years a member of the American Public Health Association.
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WEST VIRGINIA.
While the above history indicates Dr. Jepson's interest in and value to his profession, yet he has always manifested an interest in public affairs, and especially in education. He has been three time elected to the City Council, and twice to the Board of Educa- tion, serving for the past nine years in the latter body, of which he is still a member. As a member of the Board of Education he moved the resolution which resulted in the establishment of the Wheeling Public Library. He is also Secretary of the Board of Trustees of Wheeling Female College, and manifests a deep in- terest in its prosperity. From 1883 until 1890 he served as Acting Assistant Surgeon of the United States Marine Hospital Service at the port of Wheeling, by appointment of the Secre- tary of the Treasury ; and since May, 1889, he has been one of the United States Examining Surgeons for Pensions, and Secre- tary of the Board at Wheeling.
September 14, 1871, he married Miss H. Isabella Scott, of Jef- ferson county, Ohio, by whom he has four daughters living.
Dr. Jepson is a member and ruling elder of the first Presby- terian Church of Wheeling.
JESSE F. STURM.
NE of the solid, practical, self-reared, self made men this young State has produced is the above named gentleman, a native of Marion county, born September 26, 1835, and a life- long resident there. In 1840, when the child was only five years old, his father died, and until the age of twelve he leaned on the weak arm of a widowed mother, and then began life's battle almost alone. He followed rafting "steam - timber" on the Monongahela river to Pittsburgh for many years; drove a six- horse team, hauling the same kind of timber, for five years; in short, his life has been one of constant, severe, rough toil, by which he has amassed at least an honest competency. He has been a farmer, carpenter and stonemason, with the other call- ings, and also a grazier on a small scale.
Beneath the toil-marked exterior was native intelligence enough to have his neighbors call him to serve them many years on the Board of Free Schools in his district. Also to represent them-which he did faithfully-in the House of Delegates of West Virginia in 1883 and in 1887.
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PROMINENT MEN OF
HON. HENRY S. WHITE.
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WEST VIRGINIA.
HENRY SOLOMON WHITE.
HE present Marshal for the District of West Virginia, who bears the above name was born, July 12th, 1840, in Monon- galia county, Virginia. He worked on his father's farm, and received the common school education afforded part of each year. Yet his inclination never ran to agricultural, but to mer- cantile and manufacturing pursuits. He loved the stately trees upon the hills for the lumber they would saw and the exchange they would bring in a fair, open market. He loved buying, selling, manufacturing, building, and trading in lumber-West Virginia's most abundant product. Hence in after years he con- tracted to erect the neat representative building for West Vir- ginia's industrial and mineral specimens at the Centennial exhi- bition of 1876, in the City of Philadelphia.
Being energetic, practical and outspoken, he was nominated by the Republicans and elected by the voters of Marshall county to a seat in the House of Delegates, serving in the Legislature from 1872 to 1876. Naturally aggressive, possessed of quick perception, energetic and incorrigible, he was a party leader in the Legislature and a valuable man in shaping the legislation of that period. In the summer of 1861, Mr. White volunteered in the Union army as a soldier in the Sixth West Virginia regi- ment. He fought the war through, and was badly wounded while defending the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad bridge at Fairmont, that was destroyed by General Jones of Confederate fame, April 29th, 1863. In that engagement Mr. White was made a prisoner of war, but was shortly afterwards paroled along with two hun- dred others, who were captured at the same time.
When the war was over he engaged in mercantile pursuits and lumber dealing on an extensive scale, both of which busi- nesses he still continues. He married Miss Laviah F. Kemble, of Harrison county, in 1865. She died in 1876, and in 1877 he married Miss Lizzie L. Finn, of Moundsville, and she died in 1879. By his first wife he had three daughters and one son, all of whom are living except one daughter, who died while a student in College. The other two daughters were educated at the Wheeling Female College and Mt. de Chantal Seminary, and the son is now a student at the West Virginia University.
Gov. Henry M. Matthews appointed him a commissioner to
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the Paris exposition in 1878, with Col. Robert M. Delaplain and A. J. Sweeney as associates.
Mr. White is a pronounced Republican, and served for many years as a member of the State Executive Committee from the * First Congressional District, in which position he demonstrated superior powers as a party organizer and manager. He is small of stature and possesses a hopeful disposition and an in- domitable will. He is social, true and confiding, and analyzes
men and methods with unerring certainty. April 10th, 1889, President Harrison appointed him United States Marshal for the District of West Virginia and he promptly entered upon official duty at the Spring term of Court at Charleston. The indications are that his general experience, vigorous business methods and urbane manners will avail in making him popular and efficient as an executive officer of the Federal Government.
HENRY CALVIN LOCKNEY.
H ENRY C. LOCKNEY is a Virginian by birth, a Repub- lican in politics, and a Fusionist (of all parties opposed to Democracy) by systematic practice. He was born in Burners- ville, Barbour county, Va., April 26, 1855. He worked on his father's farm during boyhood until fifteen years of age, at which time he began to drive a team of horses, and followed that oc- cupation five years-two years in Barbour county and then three years in Jackson county ; but attended public school every winter from the organization of the free-school system until twenty years of age. In 1875 he began teaching school, and taught, in all, up to March, 1888, twenty-six terms, twenty- two of which were taught in Calhoun county, and the others in Gilmer and Jackson counties, West Virginia. He was also a surveyor of lands for several years, and in 1882 surveyed the line between Calhoun and Gilmer counties.
Mr. Lockney read law for three years, while teaching school, and, in 1880, passed a successful examination, was admitted to the bar and has since practiced in Calhoun and Clay counties. In 1885 he embarked in the mercantile business and sold goods at Arnoldsburg, West Virginia, for the short period of six months, having branch stores at two other points.
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WEST VIRGINIA.
For about three years he has devoted considerable time to the study of medicine, in all its branches ; but has never pursued the practice of the medical profession.
In 1880 he was appointed Notary Public of Calhoun county, and was appointed a member of the Teachers' Examining Board in the same county in 1882, and was re-appointed to the same office in 1883. In January, 1887, he was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of Clay county, by Judge Robert F. Fleming, and soon afterward moved to Clay C. H., when he was appointed Com- missioner of Accounts, Notary Public and Commissioner in Chancery for said county. At the general election held in 1888, he was elected to the office of Prosecuting Attorney of Clay county for a term of four years, commencing on the 1st day of January, 1889, to which office the Republicans nominated him by acclamation. Twice he has been appointed a delegate to the Republican State Convention.
In addition to his other avocations, Mr. Lockney owns and manages a fine farm at Bruin, Barbour county, where he enjoys a delightful home ; also, handles live stock, and does occasional dealing in lumber, etc. His first vote was cast in 1876 for Gen. Nathan Goff for Governor of West Virginia, and he has since taken active interest in every election, co-operating especially with the Greenback element, but always a Republican, looking to any honorable fusion to defeat the Democratic party. He was appointed Postmaster at Bruin, October 11, 1883, and re- signed April 1, 1888, under Cleveland's administration. His postoffice address is Arnoldsburg, Calhoun county, W. Va.
A marked characteristic of Mr. Lockney-all his life-is, that whatever he does, he does with all his might. "Keep on the go" has been his motto. Having the courage of his convictions, he has been always one of the most active, zealous opponents the Demo- cratic party of his section and State has had, but always honorable in his opposing efforts. His official record gives the same evi- dence of zeal. His fine farm is the picture of systematic indus- try.
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PROMINENT MEN OF
HON. ROBERT WHITE.
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WEST VIRGINIA.
ROBERT WHITE.
N OT tall, but well proportioned, and perfectly erect ; with high forehead and top of head entirely bald ; hair and mustache gray; eyes steel blue, bright and penetrating ; voice clear and strong, movement quick and somewhat nervous ; general appearance very much like that of a Prussian general, or a less portly reproduction of the Duke of Cambridge than like an American lawyer. Such is an off-hand portrait of Col. Robert White, one of the leading attorneys of the Wheeling bar. He is a native of Romney, Hampshire county, Virginia. His great-grandfather, Robert White, was for years a surgeon in the British army, but adopting America as his home, he at a very early day located in Virginia. He had two sons, Robert, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and Alexander, a younger brother. The former became a distinguished judge and President of the General Court of Virginia, and remained in office about forty years. The latter was elected to the first ses- sion of the American Congress, and was re-elected several suc- ceeding terms. John Baker White, son of Judge Robert White, and father of the subject of this sketch, was Clerk of the County and Circuit Courts of Hampshire for upwards of fifty years. He died in 1862, at an advanced age, retaining till the end the respect and esteem of all who knew him. Col. White's mother's maiden name was Streit, daughter of the Rev. Christian Streit, a native of Pennsylvania, and an able and prominent minister of the Lutheran Church. She died in 1868 at her home in Romney.
Col. White was brought up at a time when educational facilities in Virginia were by no means advantageous. Public schools were indifferent, academies and colleges were scarce, and means of travel were slow, expensive and tiresome. In those days the few, and not the many, were thoroughly educated. Our subject was an ambitious young man, and by a resolute determination he succeeded in obtaining in public and private schools a thorough English training. He took up the study of law at his home, and after reading with care all the elementary books, attended the famous law school of the late Judge John W. Brockenbrough at Lexington, Virginia. Returning to Romney, in 1854 he was admitted to the bar, and began a legal career which has unin- terruptedly continued to the present time.
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PROMINENT MEN OF
In 1861 he entered the Confederate army as a Captain, and served through the war in various capacities, retiring with the rank of Colonel of volunteers. At the close of hostilities he returned to Romney, and formed a law partnership with John J. Jacob, who afterwards became Governor of West Virginia. This partnership was dissolved in 1871. Col. White continued the practice of his profession at Romney until his election as Attorney General of the State in 1876, when he located in Wheeling, where he has since continued to reside. He is a suc- cessful lawyer, an eloquent public speaker, and receives a fair share of the legal patronage in that portion of the State.
On the morning of April 1, 1877, he left his old home at Romney, where he was born and resided for forty years, to remove to Wheeling, the entire population, old and young, of all colors, met in front of his residence, with two brass bands, and escorted himself and family through the town. Upon reaching the suburbs an address was delivered by one of the citizens and they parted with the people, the bands playing " Good bye." This was a mark of very high appreciation.
Col. White in 1859 married Ellen E., daughter of James C. Vaas, an influential banker of Richmond, Virginia. Mrs. White's mother's family are related to Chief Justice Marshall; also to the late General Robert E. Lee. Her grandfather, on her father's side, was a wealthy merchant of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Col. White is the father of an interesting family of three children, one son and two daughters. The eldest daughter was acciden- tally killed in a railroad collision near Grafton, West Virginia, September 13, 1881. The Colonel is an enthusiastic Free Mason. For years he has devoted a large measure of his spare time to the workings of that time-honored fraternity. He has filled nearly all the offices in both the subordinate and Grand Lodges, including the exalted position of Grand Master of the State. In faith he is a Calvinist, and for many years has been a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church.
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WEST VIRGINIA.
OWEN GRINNELL SCOFIELD.
G. SCOFIELD, a widely-known and popular citizen of West Virginia, was born at Utica, New York, May 19, 1836. He graduated from Whitestown (N. Y.) University in 1855, in the classical course. In 1856 he removed to Minne- apolis, and thence to Madison, Wisconsin, the year following. He was receiving teller of the State Treasury of Wisconsin for five years, and private Secretary of the State Treasurer for two and a half years. Impressed with the outlook in West Virginia, in June, 1865, he removed thither; became editor and part owner of the Elizabeth Gazette, Wirt county, in 1868, and the same year was elected a member of the West Virginia House of Del- egates from that county. A good speaker and well educated, he took an active and influential part in the legislation of that ses- sion.
Having a pronounced taste for journalism, and desiring a wider field for the display of his superior abilities as an editorial writer, in 1869 he moved to Parkersburg and took editorial charge of the Daily Times. During the autumn of that year he established the State Journal, a large, ably edited and influential newspaper. In 1871 the late ex-Governor W. E. Stevenson became associated with him in the ownership and editorial management of the paper, which was continued up to the time of its sale to its present proprietors in 1883. That year Mr. Scofield became editor-in-chief of the Wheeling Evening Journal, and so con- tinued for thirteen months, until its publication ceased. Upon this paper Mr. Scofield proved himself an able and versatile writer, which gave the Journal a strong and influential hold upon the people of the State.
From 1869 to 1883 he occupied continuously one of the posi- tions of Assistant Assessor, United States Gauger, or Chief Deputy Collector under Major Singleton, W. H. Crothers, Gen- eral B. F. Kelly, General I. H. Duval, S. P. McCormick, and John T. McGraw. He was postmaster at Burning Springs, Wirt county, during his residence there ; has been active in politics, and has filled with marked ability the positions of Chairman and Secretary of the Republican State Executive Committee, Chair- man of County Committees, and Secretary of the First District Congressional Executive Committee.
Le n
d
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PROMINENT MEN OF
HON. O. G. SCOFIELD.
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WEST VIRGINIA.
During the years 1888 and 1889 he was connected with the Ohio Valley Manufacturer, a large and elegantly printed indus- trial newspaper, published at Wheeling. In December, 1889, he was elected Secretary of the Union Accident and Benefit Asso- ciation of Wheeling, West Virginia, which position he is now acceptably filling.
JOHN PURDUM WILLIAMS.
MONG the volunteers in the celebrated John Brown raid were John P. Williams, his father and brothers, the two latter being for a while prisoners. The subject of this sketch was conscripted for the Confederate army, but never served. He has followed carpentering, bridge-building, railroading and tunneling. He was at one time foreman in the carpenter shops of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. He has been elected to the City Council of Piedmont three successive terms, and was solicited by his fellow-townsmen to serve longer, but he declined the honor. He also represented his county in the Legislature of 1889, serving on the Committees on Roads and Internal Navigation and that on Printing and Contingent Ex- penses. He was an old line Whig before the war of the Rebel- lion, and during that time an uncompromising friend to the Union. He is a Republican in politics, and is now in his 57th year, born in Montgomery county, Maryland, February 8, 1833.
JOHN NIXON.
T THE wool-growing section of West Virginia has thus far been, mainly in the counties known as the "Pan-Handle." Eventually this profitable pursuit should extend and embrace nearly every division of the State. Our hills with underlying minerals are adapted to the raising of sheep. Among those legislators who have taken deep interest in the production of wool and the raising of stock is John Nixon, who was born in Ohio county, Virginia, February 28, 1828. His farm home is near Rosby's Rock, Marshall county. Having little desire for public life, he was nevertheless persuaded to accept nomination for the House of Delegates, and proved to be an active and use- ful member in the session of 1879, and also in 1883.
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PROMINENT MEN OF
ALITTLE.
CHARLES H. COLLIER, A.M.
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WEST VIRGINIA.
CHARLES HENRY COLLIER.
e H. COLLIER was born in the City of Boston, September 25, 1840, and came West in early life. His education was obtained in the public schools of his native city, and at the Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, from which institution he grad- uated as a Bachelor of Arts, in the class of 1863. He located in Wheeling and became Principal of the Second Ward Public School, where he remained for three years. In 1866 he entered the office of the late John Bishop, who for many years was the leading man in insurance in the city of Wheeling. While with Mr. Bishop his duties covered all the branches of the in- surance business, and he was not long in mastering all of their details and proving himself generally useful. He remained in insurance business until 1872, when he was elected Principal of Linsly Institute, an old and well established classical academy in Wheeling. In 1873 the Fire and Marine Insurance Company was organized, and Mr. Collier became its Secretary. From that time to the present he has filled that responsible position with entire satisfaction to the stock-holders and patrons of the company.
Mr. Collier is a man of broad scholarship. He has been a life long student, and has so systematized his time as to be able to give a few hours each day to classical research. For twelve years he was a member of the Board of Education of the City of Wheeling, four years of which time he served as President of the Board. In his early manhood he became a Free Mason and has filled many responsible positions in the Craft, including Grand Lecturer and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of West Virginia. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for over a quarter of a century he has taught a Bible class in Sabbath school.
RODNEY RUSH SWOPE.
R EV. R. R. SWOPE, D.D., Pastor of St. Matthew's Protestant Episcopal Church, of Wheeling, was born in Philadelphia, March 28, 1853. He was educated in the public schools of his native city, at Cheltenham Academy, and at the University of Pennsylvania, from which latter institution he graduated class-
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PROMINENT MEN OF
ically in 1871. He studied law for three years, but never prac- ticed. In the fall of 1874 he entered the Divinity school of his church in Philadelphia and completed a full three years' course, when he was ordained and became Assistant Pastor of Trinity Church, Cleveland, Ohio. November 1, 1878, he became Pastor of St. Matthew's Protestant Episcopal Church, Wheeling, where he still remains. He has twice been a delegate to the triennial convention of his church. In 1887 the West Virginia Univer- sity honored itself by conferring upon him the degree of Doctor in Divinity.
CHARLES W. SEABRIGHT.
M AYOR C. W. SEABRIGHT, of the City of Wheeling, was born in Brunswick, Germany, October 11, 1836, and in 1849 he reached Wheeling, Virginia, penniless and unlet- tered. His brother who had preceded him gave him employ- ment in a meat store until September 1 of that year, when he secured a situation as an errand boy in the merchant tailoring establishment of Thomas Hughes, remaining twenty-one years and five months, being head clerk at the close of his engage- ment. February 1, 1871, he formed a partnership with Charles Pfafenbach in the merchant tailor business under the firm name of Pfafenbach & Seabright. The senior partner retired the fol- lowing October, and Mr. C. A. Schmulbach became a member of the firm of Seabright & Co. in the same business. The Feb- ruary following Mr. Seabright purchased Mr. Schmulbach's in- terest in the firm, and has since that time conducted a large and constantly increasing business in Centre Wheeling. His trade extends into portions of several States, which is a splendid tes- timonial of the business sagacity and enterprise of Mr. Sea- bright.
In 1881 Mr. Seabright was elected a delegate to the West Virginia Legislature. In 1887 he was elected Mayor of Wheel- ing, and was re-elected in 1889. During his last term as Mayor he has acted as Police Judge. In his relations to the industrial advancement of Wheeling he has been enterprising, and has as- sisted in the organization and is a stock-holder of several man- ufacturing concerns.
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WEST VIRGINIA.
HON. CHARLES W. SEABRIGHT.
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PROMINENT MEN OF
WILLIAM H. ANDERSON.
PROFESSOR W. H. ANDERSON, the present Superintend- ent of the Public Schools of the City of Wheeling, is a native of West Liberty, Virginia. He belongs to a family of teachers, and thus far has made that high calling his life work. He received his education at the West Liberty Academy ; taught six years in country schools ; was Principal of the Pub- lic Schools of Bethany, Brooke county, from 1868 to 1870; en- gaged in merchandising for a short time, and was again Principal of the Bethany Schools for two years ; was three years Principal of the Wellsburg Public Schools; removed to Wheeling in 1879 and served six years as Principal of the Fourth Ward Public School. In July, 1885, he was elected Superintendent of all the public schools of Wheeling, which position he now holds, and is filling to the entire satisfaction of all parties con- cerned. Professor Anderson is a man of good scholarship, and is a born teacher. His personal character is above reproach.
CHARLES W. BROCKUNIER.
C W. BROCKUNIER is an enterprising, intelligent business , man. He became a citizen of Wheeling, Virginia, in 1852, when he engaged in the manufacture of glass as a clerk for Hobbs & Barnes. While yet a young man he became a partner in the firm of Hobbs, Brockunier & Co., which steadily grew into a mammoth establishment, making a large variety of glassware which was sold in all parts of the United States, and large quantities were exported to England, Germany, France, and Australia. For several years Mr. Brockunier was Presi- dent of the Glass Manufacturers' Association of the United States. He was among the pioneers in the oil development of West Virginia in 1862, and was one of the leaders in introduc- ing natural gas into Wheeling-being President of the Manufac- turers' Gas Company, which now supplies the manufacturing establishments of Wheeling and vicinity with that valuable fuel. In 1887 he retired from the glass business, and is at pres- ent engaged in the oil development of Pleasants county. Mr. Brockunier is a member of the M. E. Church, and is an honor- able, upright, scholarly gentleman.
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WEST VIRGINIA.
WILLIAM HENRY COOKE.
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