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 71
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
T T HE REV. WM. H. COOKE, D.D., Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, of Wheeling, was born at Baltimore, December 3, 1839, and was reared to manhood in his native city. He graduated at the City college, and taught school while pursuing the study of law. In 1859 he entered the Theological Seminary at Danville, Kentucky, where he studied divinity, and in April, 1861, was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Transylvania, and was ordained June 10, 1862, by the Presby- tery of New Castle, as Pastor of Fort Deposit Church, Mary- land. He was pastor at Havre de Grace, in the same State, from 1867 until 1882, when he moved to Wheeling and was installed in his present position. The degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Centre College, Kentucky. On all questions in debate relating to doctrine, order, or worship, Dr. Cooke has always taken a decided and prominent part in the church courts, and in general church work he has had a large. share. He is held in high esteem by the citizens of Wheeling.
GEORGE B. CALDWELL.
S MALL of stature, yet symmetrical and perfect in physique is Col. George B. Caldwell, one of the able lawyers of the Wheeling Bar. He was born August 1, 1840. In 1859 he grad- uated from Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pennsylvania, and promptly began the study of law. When the war broke out he enlisted as a soldier in the Union army and served with bravery and distinction. He was promoted respectively to second lieutenant, first lieutenant, and adjutant of his regiment, and at the close of the war he was brevetted captain, major, and lieutenant colonel for gallant and meritorious conduct. Since the war he has successfully practiced his pro- fession in Wheeling, his native city. He is an ardent Republican, and wields a potent influence in the councils of his party. For many years he was Assistant United States District Attorney for West Virginia, and in 1880 was the Republican candidate for Attorney General of the State, and in 1888 he was his party's nominee for Judge of the First Judicial Circuit. He is a supe- rior platform speaker.
984
PROMINENT MEN OF
1
FOLGER-CIN
JOHN L. DICKEY, A.M., M.D.
985
WEST VIRGINIA:
JOHN LINDSAY DICKEY.
e HE true life of man consists not in seeing visions and dreaming dreams, but in active toil and energetic service. In all professions work wins. Dr. John L. Dickey, although but thirty-five, stands high in his profession, with the best and most important years of his life yet to come. In all respects he is an admirable specimen of the self-made men of his time. Cul- tured, enterprising, progressive, cautious, painstaking, he will yet reach higher heights in the profession which he already adorns.
John L. Dickey was born at. Wheeling, Virginia, January 23, 1855. His early education was secured in the public schools of that city, and at the age of sixteen he entered Washington and Jefferson College from which he graduated B.A. in the class of 1876. He was president of his class and took the honors for original oration. Subsequently he received the degree of M.A. in cursu. From 1876 to 1880 he was Vice-Principal of Linsly Institute at Wheeling, and taught the higher branches to a full school of boys and young men. He studied medicine under the direction of Dr. John Frissell, and graduated from Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia in 1883. He remained there until June of that year, taking special courses, and then re- turned to Wheeling and began the practice of medicine, in which he has won an honorable distinction. In the midst of a busy practice he has found time to make valuable contributions to the press of his profession. He is a member of the Board of Education of the City of Wheeling, and is a trustee of Linsly Institute, a director of the Young Men's Christian Association, and is active in all that pertains to the best interests of his native city, both as a professional man and as a private citizen.
BENJAMIN F. MEIGHEN.
T HE subject of this sketch was born in Greene county, Penn- sylvania, October 31, 1847. He was educated in the Southwestern Normal College, New California, and Waynes- burg College, Pennsylvania, from the latter of which he gradu- ated B.S. September 3, 1873. Prior to graduation from college, he taught school for several years in Pennsylvania and West
986
PROMINENT MEN OF
Virginia. After studying law for two years, he was admitted to the Bar in 1875, and located at Moundsville, West Virginia, in October of that year. In 1884 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney for Marshall county, and was re-elected in 1888 for a second term of four years. Mr. Meighen is a good lawyer and an honest man. He has an attachment to and love for politics, and is influential in his party councils. He is at present Chair- man of the Republican State Executive Committee of West Virginia.
COLUMBUS SEHON.
S OME of the best citizenship of America came from the land where Wallace bled. The grandfather of the owner of the genial face which fronts this sketch emigrated from Scot- land to Virginia. The mother, with ancestry also from Scotia's isle, who at this writing still is living, and 86 years of age, is a daughter of Andrew Lewis, who was son of Col. Charles Lewis, famous for having fought in the battle of Point Pleasant. Columbus Sehon was born May 3, 1841, on his father's farm in the upper part of Mason county, near Hartford City, on the banks of the sweeping Ohio river. The death of the father left him at early age to the sole care of his mother, who placed him in a store to learn and follow mercantile business. From cler- ical employ he became a member of the firm of Setzer, Sehon & McCulloch, and for years pursued this avocation in Point Pleasant. In 1870 he was elected Sheriff of Mason county, and served continuously in the office for fourteen years. In 1885 President Cleveland commissioned him United States Marshal for the District of West Virginia, the duties of which office for four years he performed with popularity and efficiency, retiring upon the advent of the Harrison Administration. He is by choice a farmer and grazer, but largely interested in the Kana- wha Lumber and Furniture Company, of. Point Pleasant, the most extensive establishment of the kind in the State.
987
WEST VIRGINIA.
1
HON. COLUMBUS SEHON.
988
PROMINENT MEN OF
SAM'L B. BROWN.
IT is pleasing to biograph a young man who by his unaided exertions has fitted himself for the highest educational pro- fession. Samuel B. Brown was born at Gladesville, Preston county, West Virginia, March 5, 1860. During his boyhood he attended a three months winter school, working on a farm the other months, until 15, when he worked on the locks and dams of the Potomac and Monongahela rivers. He sold books in Pennsylvania and New York, and in September 1879 was en- abled to enter the West Virginia University, where he won the Regents' Prize Essay 'and graduated in 1883 with the degree of A.B., afterwards, in 1886, receiving the honorary A.M. He taught mathematics and language in Martinsburg two years ; was Principal of the State Normal School at Glenville; Direc- tor of the National Educational Association for West Virginia 1885-88, and in the last year was State Examiner for the First Congressional District. Only now 30, he is certainly a prom- ising young man to have already gained such prominence.
PEYTON BYRNE DOBBINS.
T HE subject of this sketch was born in Braxton county, Virginia, March 3, 1842. He grew up to manhood in Jackson and Roane counties, where he received a fair English education. When about sixteen years of age he began the trade of a carpenter and followed it attentively until the breaking out of the Civil War in 1861. He then enlisted as a soldier in Company B of the Ninth Virginia Regiment, and remained in the service of his country until July 24, 1865. Returning to civil life he located in Wheeling and became chief clerk in the Auditor of State's office, which he continued to fill until the Democrats assumed control of the State in 1871. Mr. Dobbins then became book-keeper in the Merchants' Bank of Charles- ton, which position he filled until 1872, when he returned to Wheeling and engaged in book-keeping until 1878, when he entered the business of fire insurance, first as Assistant Secre- tary of the Peabody and afterwards Secretary of the American Insurance companies. In 1887 he became Cashier of the Dol- lar Savings Bank in the City of Wheeling, which position he is
989
WEST VIRGINIA:
still acceptably filling. He has always exhibited a public spirit, and has been a leading member of the Wheeling City Council, Board of Education, and Board of Commissioners of Ohio county, of which latter Board he is now President. He is a man of irreproachable character, and has the confidence of all who know him.
ALFRED CALDWELL.
H ION. ALFRED CALDWELL, of Wheeling, the present Attorney General of West Virginia, was born July 14, 1847. He was educated at Harding's Academy, West Liberty Academy, Oahu College, Honolulu, and in 1867 he graduated as a bachelor of philosophy from Yale College. He studied law under his father in Wheeling, and was admitted to the Bar in 1868, and has since practiced, attaining high distinction as an advocate. He was elected to the State Senate, as a Democrat, in 1875, and served one term; has been a member of both branches of the City Council of Wheeling, and was City Solic- itor in 1881 and '82. In 1884 he was elected Attorney General of the State, and was re-elected to the same position in 1888. He is a man of unquestioned ability, and is popular and influ- ential in the councils of the Democratic party.
JOHN G. HOFFMANN.
T HE subject of this sketch is one of the most prominent and influential business men of Wheeling. He was born Janu- ary 4, 1824, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, on the river Rhine. He emigrated to America in 1844, and settled in Wheeling, Virginia, November 5, 1849. He began business as a tanner, which gradually increased to an establishment of mammoth proportions, which he and his sons John G. and Frank are still conducting. Mr. Hoffmann has stock in a large number of Wheeling industries, and is a leading spirit in most all of her enterprises. He was ten years a member of the City Council and six years a member of the Water Works Board. He has amassed a large estate, and is highly respected by Wheeling people. He is at present President of the Benwood Iron Works.
990
PROMINENT MEN OF
HON. THOMAS HORNBROOK.
991
WEST VIRGINIA.
THOMAS HORNBROOK.
HE name of Thomas Hornbrook, because of many kindly and benevolent acts, will live in the memory of the people of Wheeling for generations after his voice has been hushed in the grave. He was born in Tarestock, Devonshire, England, in May, 1814, and died in the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, October 26, 1879. He emigrated to the United States in 1819, when but five years of age, and located in Wheeling, Vir- ginia. He started out for himself in early life, engaging in mercantile pursuits, in which his extraordinary ability, native tact, enterprise, and non-surrender spirit, soon placed him on the road to prosperity. He was a man of broad and liberal views, and was thoroughly public-spirited. In 1861, when the country of his adoption was threatened with dissolution, Mr. Hornbrook declared his adherence to the flag of our fathers, and as an aide to the Governor of the restored Government of Virginia, he rendered valuable services to the Union forces in the Pan-Handle portion of the State. President Lincoln ap- pointed him Surveyor of the port of Wheeling, which office he filled with marked ability for many years.
As a citizen and neighbor Mr. Hornbrook was ever frank, liberal and uncompromising in his attachments. His invaluable services, in public as in private life, ever retained for him the highest esteem. His powerful influence for the cause of tem- perance resulted in many local reforms which of themselves alone emblazoned his name on the scroll of useful citizenship. Thomas Hornbrook will not soon be forgotten in the city of Wheeling. His deeds of usefulness will perpetuate his memory among the people of the city of his adoption for generations to come.
BLACKBURN BARRETT DOVENER.
T THE life of a man in this world is for the most part a life of work. Work is the best of educators, for the reason that it forces one into contact with others, and with things as they really are. To the work of hand and brain the world is mainly indebted for its intelligence, its learning, its advancement, its civilization. St. Augustine aptly remarked, "There is nothing so laborious as not to labor." Nothing in this life counts for so much in the end, as industry and energy. Gæthe uttered a
992
PROMINENT MEN OF
great truth when he said, "The day is immeasurably long to him who knows not how to value and use it." The subject of this sketch is noted for his industry, energy and push. No man in the writer's acquaintance has shown, under adverse sur- roundings, more endurance and pluck than Capt. B. B. Dovener. With everything against him, he has won his way, and achieved success. In his profession he stands well, and no one can say that any one but himself is entitled to the credit for the victory he has won.
Capt. B. B. Dovener was born in Cabell county, Virginia, April 20, 1842. He attended the district schools, and spent several terms at the well-known Parkersburg Academy con- ducted by Professor John C. Nash. At the age of nineteen years he recruited a company of volunteers and enlisted as its captain in the Union army, serving three years. Company A of the 15th West Virginia Regiment, and its young and gallant captain participated in a number of hotly contested engage- ments, and won an enviable record in the field.
In 1867 Captain Dovener located at Wheeling, and was chief clerk in the Secretary of State's office, remaining in that posi- tion under two administrations. During the year of 1871 he was chief clerk for General T. M. Harris, U. S. Pension Agent at Wheeling. He studied law, was admitted to the Bar, and in in 1873 became a partner of the late George O. Davenport, a leading attorney of Wheeling, and from the first enjoyed a re- munerative practice. Having a taste for politics, he has taken an active part in all of the campaigns since 1868. He is an ardent Republican, and is an effective public speaker. He was elected to the Legislature of West Virginia in 1882, and was again a candidate for the same position in 1886, but was defeated along with the balance of his ticket. He was the Republican candidate for Mayor in 1887, but was defeated by a party vote. He has been urged by a strong following as a candidate for Congress, and other responsible positions.
In December, 1865, Captain Dovener married Miss Margaret Linch, of Wheeling. To them two sons were born, William N. and Robert. The former is a partner of his father's in the prac- tice of the law, and the latter, who had just reached his majority and possessed unusual promise, died of typhoid fever during the summer of 1890.
993
WEST VIRGINIA.
CHARLES WESLEY CUSHING.
R EV. C. W. CUSHING, D.D., pastor of Fourth Street M. E. Church, Wheeling, West Virginia, was born at Burke, Vermont, June 6, 1825. His preliminary education was obtained in the district schools of his native town. Subse- quently he was graduated from Derby and Newbury Seminaries. He taught school for a time, and pursued a higher college course of study in the meantime, and in 1855 was graduated from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. He be- came a member of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1844, was licensed as an exhorter in 1848, and was admitted into the itinerant ministry in 1854. His first station was Garrison Church, Albany, New York. From 1855 to '58 he was Presi- dent of the Newbury Seminary, Newbury, Vermont, and Pres- ident of the Female College at the same place. From 1862 to '64 he was Principal of the New Hampshire Conference Semi- nary and Female Collegiate Institute, also serving as Pastor of the State Street M. E. Church at Troy, New York, during the same time. After serving a pastorate of two years at Lansing- burg, N. Y., Dr. Cushing became President of Lasell Seminary, Auburndale, Mass., and remained there ten years, during which time he made Lasell a great and prosperous institution. He next became Pastor of the First M. E. Church, Cleveland, Ohio. After remaining in that capacity for some time, he was stationed at Christ Church in the same city. In 1878 he was elected Secretary of the Italian Bible and Sabbath School Mis- sion, with headquarters at Rome, Italy. His health failing he was compelled to resign this position and was stationed at Bradford, Pennsylvania, where he remained three years. His next appointment was Rochester, N. Y., where he remained the full term of three years. From there he went to Lockport, N. Y., as stationed pastor. From 1887 to 1888 he was Presiding Elder of the Genesee District in the Genesee Conference, from which place he was transferred to his present station in Wheeling.
Dr. Cushing has been tendered the presidency of a number of leading educational institutions during the past four years, but has declined all of them, preferring to continue in the pas- torate. He is a man of great erudition, and is an able and at- tractive minister.
67
-
994
PROMINENT MEN OF
HON. HENRY BRANNON.
995
WEST VIRGINIA.
HENRY BRANNON.
THE youngest of the Judges now upon the Bench of the Supreme Court of Appeals is the Hon. Henry Brannon, of Weston, Lewis county. He was born at Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley, in 1837, and spent his boyhood and early manhood there. His collegiate education was had at the Uni- versity of Virginia, where he was graduated in 1858. Soon after leaving the University he located at Weston and studied law with such success that he was admitted to the bar in 1859, and in 1860 was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Lewis county. He rapidly acquired a large and lucrative practice in his chosen profession, and by his ability and integrity won the deserved confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens. He represented his county in the House of Delegates in 1871, and was chair- man of the Committee on Education ; he also served as a mem- ber of the Committee on Humane and Criminal Institutions. In 1880, he was elected Judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, succeeding in this position the Hon. John Brannon, his elder brother.
During his eight years' term as Judge of Circuit Court, many difficult and important cases came before him for decision, and his rulings showed marked ability and accurate knowledge of the law. At the expiration of his term of office in the Circuit Court, he was elected in 1888 to serve for twelve years as one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, and has already demonstrated his eminent fitness for the high office he holds. He is a lover of literature; reads fluently two or three modern languages, and is a hard-working and industrious Judge. His opinions are marked by clearness of statement and thorough and exhaustive research.
GEORGE MENDEL.
EORGE MENDEL, for many years a leading merchant of the City of Wheeling, was born at Wellsburg, Va., Janu- ary 17, 1812. His father was Valentine Mendel, a German. George Mendel settled in Wheeling at the age of nineteen, and began to learn cabinet-making under Jere. Clemens. After completing his apprenticeship he formed a partnership with James Crawford, their shop and works being on what is now
996
PROMINENT MEN OF
Twelfth street. He purchased Mr. Crawford's interest in the business, and subsequently took J. C. Harbour into business with him, the firm name being Mendel & Harbour. Their bus- iness prospered, and they moved to Main street and added car- pets to their furniture interests. The firm of Mendel & Harbour was dissolved by mutual consent, and George Mendel and his brother John became partners in the same business. They bought the old Eoff street school property, where Simon Baer's Sons' coffee roasting establishment now stands, and began the manufacture of furniture on an extensive scale. In about five years John Mendel died, and George Mendel, the surviving part- ner, bought the property on Main street and erected the build- ings still occupied by G. Mendel & Co.,-one of the most exten- sive furniture and carpet houses in the Ohio Valley. In this building George Mendel conducted a large and profitable busi- ness up to the time of his death, January 27, 1875.
Mr. Mendel was of quiet disposition, but his steady habits and reliability in business gave him great prominence in the business circles of the Pan-Handle. He was a member of the City Coun- cil of Wheeling for many years ; also a director and stockholder of the Exchange Bank, and a director in the Wheeling Savings Institution. He was a public spirited citizen, and was a stock- holder in many of the business enterprises of the city and vicinity. He was a devout Christian, and was a leading member of the United Presbyterian Church of Wheeling for more than a quar- ter of a century.
He married Miss Sarah M. Richardson, February 28, 1839. She was a daughter of John Richardson, one of the earliest set- tlers of Wheeling. Eight children blessed their union. The eldest daughter, Cecilia, married Crawford Booth, and now re- sides in Texas; John R., who is in the carpet business in Pitts- burgh; Mary Isabel, who resides with her mother in Wheeling; George Edwin, who is a partner of the firm of G. Mendel & Co., Wheeling; James V., a resident of Wheeling; Alice V., who married Mr. Myers, and resides at Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; Charles Leslie, of Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Harry J., of Wheeling, who is owner and manager of a steamboat running between Wheeling and Bellaire.
The following resolutions were adopted, January 29, 1875, by the directors of the Exchange Bank, of Wheeling:
997
WEST VIRGINIA.
" WHEREAS, It has pleased God, in his All-wise Providence, to remove from us by death George Mendel, a director of this Bank, we, the officers and remaining directors, unanimously adopt the following resolutions :
" Resolved, That we have always recognized in our departed friend, a man of sterling integrity, whose character for honesty and truthfulness in all his transactions was above reproach. Possessed of good business ability, he had established a reputa- tion for wisdom and prudence that caused him to be sought after as a safe and desirable counselor wherever he was known. Al- though naturally of a backward and retiring disposition, he was a warm and earnest friend, and did not hesitate to express him- self fully whenever he believed that the cause of truth and right demanded it.
"Resolved, That in his death this bank has lost a wise and useful director, the community a valuable citizen, and the poor a liberal friend.
"Resolved, That as we recognize the fact that his death is a blow that must fall heaviest on his own family, we extend to his bereaved widow, his children and other friends, our warmest and most earnest sympathy, and trust that the darkness of the present may be followed by light and comfort in the near future. ' Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morn- ing.'
"Resolved, That we attend his funeral in a body and wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days.
"Resolved, That these resolutions be entered upon the records of the bank, a copy forwarded to the family of the deceased and also that they be published in the city papers.
"J. N. VANCE, President,
" L. S. DELAPLAIN,
" J. G. HOFFMANN, " SAM'L LAUGHLIN,
" E. W. PAXTON,
" WM. ELLINGHAM,
" D. GUTMAN,
" HENRY WALLACE,
" JNO. J. JONES, Cashier.
Directors."
998
PROMINENT MEN OF
HON. ANDREW WILSON.
999
WEST VIRGINIA.
ANDREW WILSON.
HE grandfather of the Hon. Andrew Wilson migrated to Brooke county, Virginia, a short time before the Revolu- tion. He died in 1813, at the age of ninety-two. The subject of this sketch was born at the old Wilson homestead, near Waugh's mill, three miles east of Wellsburg, in 1810. His edu- cational advantages were few, but possessing a vigorous intel- lect, he applied everything within his reach to the best possible use. He remained on the home farm until .he was twenty-one years of age, and in the meantime learned the trade of a mill- wright. The river had many charms for him, and from the time that he arrived at his majority until 1837 he was engaged in flat-boating and steam-boating on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He then settled in Jackson county and remained there in the lumber and flour-mill business until 1847, when he located in Wheeling. His occupation in that city was in the manu- facture of lumber and in steamboat building, which he con- ducted successfully up to the close of the civil war.
Captain Wilson was a man of vigorous intellect, strong con- victions, and great moral courage, which many times brought him to the front as a public leader. He was one of the delegates to the convention of Union men that met in Wheeling, June 11, 1861, which took the first step towards the founding of West Virginia as a State. He was repeatedly elected to both branches of the West Virginia Legislature, and always proved an efficient, and indeed, an able member. His verbal memory was remark- able, and when he made an assertion he never failed to substan- tiate it. He was a life-long Democrat, having cast his first Presidential vote for Andrew Jackson in 1832, and his last for General Hancock, in 1880. He was for many years President of the Wheeling street car company, was also President of the Fire and Marine Insurance Company, and a Director of the Belmont nail mill, and of the Peoples' bank.
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.