West Virginia and its people, Volume II, Part 10

Author: Miller, Thomas Condit, 1848-; Maxwell, Hu, joint author
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 866

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(I\') Agatha, daughter of Thomas and Jane ( Strother ) Lewis, was born May 18. 1753. died in 1836. She married (first) Captain John Frogg, who died in the battle of Point Pleasant, October 10, 1774; (sec- ond) Colonel John Stuart, of Greenbrier county, Virginia, who had fought in the same battle. Children, all except the oldest by second hus- band: I. Elizabeth, born in 1773: married Isaac Estill. 2. Charles, born in 1775 : married - Robertson. 3. Lewis, born in 1777 : married Sar- ah Lewis. 4. Margaret Lynn, born in 1779. died about 1863; married Andrew Lewis, of whom further. 5. Jane, married Robert Crockett.

(I\) Colonel Andrew Lewis, son of Colonel Charles and Sarah (Murray) Lewis, was born September 27, 1772, died in 1833. In 1801 he removed to Mason county. Virginia; his home in that county he named "Violet Lawn." He married Margaret Lynn, daughter of Colo- nel John and Agatha (Lewis) Stuart, born in 1779, of whom above. Children : 1. Charles Cameron, died in 1836, unmarried. 2. Agnes, born in 1805: married, in 1823, John Leicester Sehon (see Sehon II). 3. John, born in 1807. died in 1811. 4. Elizabeth, died in 1812. 5. Mary J .. born in 1811, died in 1835: married, in 1833. Charles R. Baldwin. 6. John Stuart, died April 13, 1902: married, in 1837, Mary F. Stribling. 7. Margaret, died in 1819. 8. Sarah Frances, born in 1817; married Dr. Thomas Creigh. 9. Elizabeth, born in 1819: married, in 1841, B. S. Thompson. 10. Andrew, died young.

SHAWKEY

The Shawkey family is of German origin, the grand- parents of the Hon. Morris P. Shawkey having come from Bremen, Germany, in 1839.

(II) George Shawkey, son of the immigrant, was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1834. and when five years old was brought to this country. His parents located at Sigel, in Western Pennsylvania, where the father went into the lumbering business on a small scale and farming. George Shawkey spent his life in this place, acquiring a competence. By hard work and economy he was able to give to his children the best educational advantages. He was exempted from military duty in the civil war by an injury. He married Annie Elizabeth Witherspoon, born in 1840, in Ve- mango county, Pennsylvania, and they are both still living ( 1912). Mrs. Shawkey, on her mother's side comes from the old Siverly family of Philadelphia, while on her father's side she is the great-granddaughter of John Witherspoon, who was president of Princeton College, to whose memory a statue was unveiled in Washington, D. C., in 1911. As a rep- resentative from New Jersey, a leading statesman of the revolutionary period, and as a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, his portrait hangs in Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Three brothers of Mrs. Shawkey served in the Union army, one of these with the rank of cap- 5

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tain. George and Annie Elizabeth ( Witherspoon) Shawkey had born to them nine children, and only one of whom, a boy who died in infancy, is deceased. One of these, Dr. Arthur A. Shawkey, is at present practicing medicine in Charleston, West Virginia.

( III) Hon. Morris Purdy Shawkey, son of George and Annie Eliza- beth ( Witherspoon ) Shawkey, was born February 17, 1868, at Sigel. Pennsylvania. His early education was gained at the country schools of the neighborhood, he going from these to Bellevue Academy. The next step was Oberlin College, leaving which he matriculated at the Ohio Wes- tern University, and received the baccalaureate degree in 1894. In 1909 he received the degree of Master of Arts, which was conferred by the same institution. Upon leaving college he taught school for a time in Pennsylvania and Kansas, and served for a year in Reynolds, North Dakota, as superintendent of schools, gathering in all these places a fund of information in educational matters and methods that later was to prove of great value to him. Some of this harvest of ideas he was able to put into practical use when he became head of the normal depart- ment of the Wesleyan College, at Buckhannon, West Virginia. He came to Charleston in 1897, and for eight years he acted as chief clerk of the department of schools. A wide and critical knowledge of literature, and an intimate and practical acquaintance with the needs of schools have enabled Mr. Shawkey to do valuable work in the revision of text books. He early began this work, being hardly out of college when he introduced important alterations in the school books he used. When Rand. McNally & Company, map publishers and engravers, of Chicago and New York, issued the revised edition of their grammar school geography, Mr. Shaw- key was asked to write the West Virginia supplement. In 1902 he was elected to the state legislature, and during his term in that body was chairman of the committee on education. In 1906 he was elected county superintendent of schools of Kanawha county, West Virginia. Two years after this, in 1908, he was made state superintendent of schools, which responsible position he still holds ( 1912).

While Mr. Shawkey's energies have been largely given to educational work, he has also taken part in some business enterprises of note. In 1906 he found the Kanawha Savings & Loan Association, and has been a di- rector and is still a stockholder in the same. He started in 1997. the West Virginia Educator, and has been the managing editor ever since. In his political affiliations Mr. Shawkey is a Republican ; and he is a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

He married in 1902. Elizabeth L. Carver, born in 1874. near Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania. daughter of John Carver, one of the leading coal operators of West Virginia. Mr. Carver died in Charleston, March I. 1912, but Mrs. Carver died when her daughter was still a very young child. Mr. and Mrs. Shawkey have three children : Morris Carver, born March 8, 1904. John Witherspoon, born December 5, 1907 ; Leonard .As- bury, born May 7. 1909.

Charles Cameron Lewis, the first member of this family LEWIS of whom we have definite information, was born in Kana- wha Salines, (now Malden) Kanawha county, West Vir- ginia. April 15, 1839. He received his early education under the tuition of George Taylor and David Lewis Ruffner, and then entered the employ of his grandfather, Colonel William Dickinson, as a clerk in the mer- cantile and salt business, remaining with him until 1860, when he formed a partnership in the salt business with his father, John D. Lewis. In 1870 he became cashier of the Kanawha Valley Bank in Charleston, West Vir-

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ginia, and was later elected its president, continuing in that position until 1886, when he retired from active business. He is a Presbyterian in religion, and a Democrat in politics. He married, in Charleston, West Virginia, October 19, 1864, Elizabeth Josephine, daughter of Nathaniel Venable Wilson, of Prince Edward county, Virginia. Children: Charles Cameron, referred to below : John Dickinson, now a wholesale grocer in Norfolk, Virginia; Virginia Wilson, married Charles Stanley Stacy, of Richmond, Virginia; Elizabeth Josephine, married Ashby Lee Biedler, of New York City ; Anne Dickinson, married Howard Spafford John- son, of Charleston, West Virginia.

(II) Colonel Charles Cameron (2), Lewis, son of Charles Cameron (I) and Elizabeth Josephine ( Wilson ) Lewis, was born in Charleston, West Virginia, August 28, 1865. He received his education at the Kana- wha Military Institute, and Hampden Sidney College, Virginia, and then became treasurer of the Kanawha & Ohio railroad, remaining with the company for three years. In 1889 he entered the employ of P. H. Noyes & Co., wholesale grocers, as bookkeeper, the company being comprised of his father and P. H. Noyes, and in 1895 was admitted to a partnership in the firm which became Lewis, Hubbard & Company. In 1907 he be- came president of the company. He served the military arm of his state from his youth and rose to the rank of colonel. He is a Presbyterian in : ¿ ligion, and a Democrat in politics. He married, in Giles county, Virginia, November 6, 1889, Laura, daughter of Charles Henry Payne. Children : Charles Cameron (3), born August 16, 1890; Andrew Payne, July 4. 1893; Frank Payne, June 12, 1896; Margaret Lynn, July 26, 1902; John Dickinson, July 3, 1905.

WATTS Hon. Cornelius Clarkson Watts, a member of the law firm

of Watts, Davis & Davis, of Charleston, West Virginia, and who was United States attorney for West Virginia during both of Cleveland's administrations, was born at Amherst, Virginia, April 23, 1848, son of James D. and Lucy A. ( Simms ) Watts.

Cornelius C. Watts attended the schools of his native county where he resided until 1861, when he removed with his parents to Albermarle county. During his early boyhood he enlisted during the last year of the war for military service in the Confederate army and served under Colonel Mosby until the close of the civil war. He then completed his interrupted education, at the University of Virginia, studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1870 he became a citizen of West Virginia and entered into practice in Wyoming county, and one year later was elected prosecuting attorney for that county, resigning in 1875, when he removed to Charleston, where he has since continued to reside. In 1880 he was elected attorney-general of West Virginia, on the Democratic ticket. In August, 1886, he was appointed by the late President Cleveland, United States attorney for the district of West Virginia, was removed by the late President Harrison because of his prosecution of election fraud cases, but was reappointed in the second administration of President Cleveland, serving in this office until 1896, when he resigned in order to accept the nomination of the Democratic party for governor of West Virginia. General Watts won important cases for the state in contests with some of the most brilliant legal minds in the country, and the resulting legisla- tion has contributed largely to general prosperity. One notable case deserves perpetuation in these records, both on account of its far-reaching importance and also on account of the distinguished professional men against whom General Watts was opposed, and won. It was the great tax suit against the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad, which was appealed to the

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United States supreme court, in which he was the special counsel for West Virginia. The talent arrayed against him included such men as Senator Edmonds, of Vermont, William J. Robertson, of Virginia, Judge James H. Ferguson, and Colonel William H. Hegeman, of the highest legal ability. General Watts recovered not only the sum of $200,000 for the state and counties through which the road passed, but established the right to the state of West Virginia to collect forever taxes from this and all other roads operating and doing business in the state. After retiring from public life he resumed his law practice at Charleston, and since 1905 has been the senior member of the above named firm, which main- tains its offices in the Citizens' National Bank Building.

Like many southern born gentlemen, General Watts is fond of horses, and he takes a pardonable pride in being the owner of the trotting horse, General Watts (3). 2.0634, a world record, establish in 1907 for three- year-olds. He owns and lives at Breezemont, in Charleston, a beautiful home which stands on an eminence that commands a magnificent view of the city.

General Watts married, October 1, 1871, Ella M. Shumate, at Beck- ley, West Virginia. They had a number of children, those living at the present time ( 1912) being as follows: Lillian A., wife of Arnold Kiene, of Los Angeles, California ; Charles E., a resident of Charleston ; Flor- ence E., wife of Roy O. Conch, of Florida ; Blackburn, married Laura Williamson and they reside in Charleston; Narcissa, now attending college ; Lulu, now attending college ; Frederick Arnold, attending school at Lewisburg, West Virginia.

Hon. Julius A. de Gruyter, who has filled two terms DE GRUYTER as the mayor of Charleston, West Virginia, was born January 9, 1864. in Montgomery county, Vir- ginia, son of M. F. and Julia ( Crockett ) de Gruyter.

He grew up in his native city, closely identified with all her inter- ests, from the time of receiving his education in the public schools. He showed great talent for business at an early age, and took an interest in the municipal government which made him popular among his fellow voters. Very successful in his business connections he early attracted attention as a capable man suitable for public office, and was nominated to a civic position before attaining his majority. He has since then re- ceived other honors, among them the election to the mayoralty, which he filled to the utmost satisfaction of the citizens of Charleston. Such prosperity attended his regime, especially among business interests, that his re-election was inevitable, and he was invited to remain in the office whose responsibilities he so thoroughly understood. He is considered one of West Virginia's most representative men. In the line of insur- ance he has become senior member of the firm of de Gruyter & Frasier, whose other member is R. L. Frasier. Their offices are situated at No. 12212 Capitol street, opposite the United States postoffice, in Charleston. Their business deals with all kinds of insurance, including personal acci- dent, health, employers' liability, fire, rents, bonds, elevator, steam boiler, plate glass, tornado, and bank burglary, every kind of disaster that could overtake either a man or his estate. The affairs of the Goshorn Hard- ware Company also occupy his attention, and he is secretary and treas- urer of the firm. Mr. de Gruyter is a member of the Edgewood County Club and Charleston Gun Club.

Mr. de Gruyter married, in 1889, Mary Noyes. Their home in Charleston is situated at No. 1598 Kanawha street. They have four children: Elizabeth Stuart, married C. M. McVay; Julius A., Jr., in

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high school ; Mary Noyes and Julia Lewis, twins. The family belongs to the Presbyterian church.

BROUN The immigrant ancestor of this branch of the Broun fam- ily in America was William Broun, who, with his brother Robert, came over from Scotland, and settled in this coun- try about 1740, one brother locating in Virginia, the other in South Caro- lina. Robert Broun, the elder brother, was a physician, born in 17II. He settled on a plantation near Georgetown, South Carolina, where he practiced his profession. He married Elizabeth Thomas, of South Carolina, daughter of Edward Thomas, and granddaughter of Rev. Sam- uel Thomas, the first missionary sent to South Carolina under the direc- tion of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Dr. Broun died November 25, 1757, and was buried in the graveyard of St. James Church, about fifteen miles from Charleston, South Carolina. where many other members of the family and their connections lie bur- ied. The children of Dr. Robert Broun and his wife Elizabeth were as follows: Elizabeth, who married John Nowell; Mary, married Mr. Locock; Margaret, married Richard Lord; Archibald, married Mary Deas; Ann, married (first ) Captain Cusack, (second ) John Huger ; Jane, married Mr. Saunders; Johanna. Archibald, the only son, was a captain in the revolutionary war, and was wounded at the siege of Sa- vannah. He successfully performed an important mission to France to procure a loan, and after the termination of the war settled as a planter on Cooper river, dying in 1797. His widow who was pensioned, died at the age of ninety-five years : and his son, Archibald, was a merchant in Charleston until the year 1833. when he moved with his family to Mobile, Alabama. Ann, the widow of Captain Cusack, became through her second marriage to John Huger, one of the progenitors of the numer- ous family by that name in South Carolina, whose immigrant ancestor was Daniel Huger. John, one of the four sons of this Daniel Huger was born June 5, 1744. died January 22, 1804. He was twice married, having by his first wife, Charlotte Motte, four children, and four also by his second wife. Ann ( Broun ) Cusack. By their various intermar- riages these descendants of Dr. Robert and Elizabeth Broun are akin thus to the Huger. Deas, Singleton, Lesesne, Manning, Sinkler and other South Carolina families, and to the Harleston family of Alabama.

(I) William Broun, younger of the two immigrant brothers, came to America about 1740, and settled in Northern Neck, Virginia, where he practiced his profession of law. He was the son of George and Mar- garet Broun, of Scotland, but the date of his birth is not given. He re- mained in Virginia during the entire period of the revolution, practicing law in Northern Neck both before and after the war. On October 20, 1771, he married Janetta, daughter of Dr. Joseph McAdam, who mar- ried. in 1744, Sarah Ann Gaskins, widow of John Pinckard. Children of Dr. Joseph McAdam were: George Thomas, married Sarah Eustace Gaskins; Sarah Conway. married Edwin Conway, the executor of Col- onel Edwin Conway, and had issue Sarah Ann, who married Colonel Ewell : Elizabeth, who married Lindsay Opie, and had issue Ann, Jan- etta, and Leroy : Janetta, married William Broun, as above. The father of Dr. Joseph McAdam was Joseph McAdam, who married Janet Muir, on July 30. 1712, in Lancaster county. Their children were: James, born April 21, 1713: John. March 18, 1715 ; James, October 8. 1717: Jo- seph, May 28, 1719, became a physician, resided on Coan river, in North- umberland county. Virginia, and married Sarah Ann (Gaskins) Pinck- ard, as aforesaid: Hugh, July 5. 1720: Charles. November 8, 1722:

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Robert. September 18, 1723. The old family Bible containing this rec- ord was printed in London in 1698, and is now in the possession of Thomas L. Broun. Among the members of the McAdam family may be mentioned John L. McAdam, the road builder and originator of the "macadamized roads" that have made the name famous, who was born in Scotland in 1756, passed his youth in the United States, and returned to Scotland to successfully introduce there and in England his system of road-making. He then introduced the system in France, and finally died at Moffatt, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in 1836. The McAdam family is of Scottish descent, their genealogy being given in Burke's "Peerage of Great Britain." On the maternal side Janetta McAdam was de- scended as follows: (I) William Ball, born in London in 1615, died at Millenbeck, in Lancaster county, Virginia, in 1680; married Hannah Atherold. ( II) Joseph, son of William Ball, was born May 24, 1649, died in Lancaster county, Virginia, in 1711. He married ( first ) Eliza- beth, daughter of William Romney, of London, and had children : Han- nah, Elizabeth, Esther, Ann, and Joseph. He married (second) Mary Johnson, widow of

- Johnson, of Lancaster county, Virginia, and had a daughter, Mary, who became the mother of George Washington. (III ) Ann Ball married Colonel Edwin Conway, whose father, Edwin Con- way, was the great-grandfather of President Madison, and whose grand- father, Edwin Conway, of county Worcester, England, came to Virginia in 1640, having married Marion Eltonhead in England. The English House of Conway sprang from Sir Edward Conway, of county War- wick, who became a peer of the realm, and, by marriage into the house of Seymour, acquired the title, arms and property of the duke of Som- erset. (IV) Mary Conway, daughter of Colonel Edwin and Ann ( Ball) Conway, married Thomas Gaskins, of the fourth generation of that fam- ily, the name being originally spelled Gaskoyne. (V) Sarah Ann Gas- kins, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Conway) Gaskins, married Dr. Joseph McAdam, in July, 1744. (VI) Janetta McAdam, their daughter, married William Broun, as aforesaid.

The children of William and Janetta ( McAdam) Broun were: I George McAdam, born January 8. 1773. 2. Ann Lee, November 8, 1775. 3. Thomas, October 4, 1779: married, October 9, 1807, Elizabeth G., daughter of Charles and Sarah Lee, of Cobb's Hall, in Northumberland county, Virginia, and had issue: a. William Waters, born August 27, 1808. b. Sarah Elizabeth. September 20, 1810: married William Ed- wards. c. Charles Lee, March 1. 1813; became a physician. d. Jane Ann, married Samuel Atwill. e. Edwin, September 10, 1819. f. Judith Lee, July 26, 1823; married Octavius Lawson. 4. Edwin Conway, of whom further.

(II) Edwin Conway, son of William and Janetta ( McAdam) Broun, was born March 9. 1781. He married (first) Maria (Crane) Hale, widow of John Hale, and daughter of Colonel Crane, of Northern Neck Virginia. They had issue as follows: I. George McAdam, born Sep- tember 7. 1808. 2. James William, June 23. 1810. 3. Harriet Ann, Oc- tober 2, 1812; married Stephen Garland Bailey. 4. Edwin Conway, August 28. 1818. Edwin Conway Broun married (second) Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. James Channell, tradition says of Philadelphia, and granddaughter of William S. Pickett, of Fauquier county. Virginia. The Pickett family is descended from the immigrant. George Pickett, who came over from France and settled in Westmoreland county, Virginia, where he resided in 1680. He had a son, William Pickett, whose will was recorded in the clerk's office of Fauquier county. Virginia, Novem- ber 24. 1766. He left five sons and two daughters, among whom were William, Martin, and Mary Ann, who married, in 1766. Rev. William

Ihr: & Brown

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Marshall, a Baptist preacher of Westmoreland county, Virginia, and moved to Kentucky. Rev. Mr. Marshall was an uncle of Chief Justice Marshall. Among the descendants of William Pickett, first of the name, was also General George E. Pickett, one of the noted Confederate gen- erals of the civil war, who also distinguished himself in the war with Mexico. He was born in Richmond in 1825, died at Norfolk in 1875. and had engaged in business in Richmond after the civil war. The children of Edwin Conway Broun and his second wife, Elizabeth Chan- nell, were: 1. Maria, born October 11, 1820; married Rev. Fouchee C. Tebbs. 2. James Channell, May 15, 1822. 3. Thomas Lee, of whom further. 4. Susan Jane, October 12, 1825; married Joseph M. Stevens. 5. William Leroy, October 1, 1827, in Loudoun county, Virginia, died at Auburn, Alabama, January 23, 1902. He became one of the fore- most educators of the south, having been president of the Alabama Poly- technic Institute for over eighteen years, until his death. Under his supervision the Institute became a pioneer and a model for all southern technical schools, and to him chiefly is due the development of industrial and technical training in the south; his work along that line having been the most constructive and educational since the war of secession. He had been graduated from the University of Virginia in 1850; taught in Virginia, Mississippi, and at the University of Georgia, where he was also president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College ; was profes- sor of mathematics at the Vanderbilt University, and at the University of Texas; all before his presidency of the Alabama Polytechnic Insti- tute where his great work was done. During the war he rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the ordnance department of the Confeder- ate army, and while there he made many interesting and valuable experi- ments, some of which he later described in the army service journals. 6. James Conway, April 1, 1829. 7. Anne Eliza, November 5, 1830. 8. Sarah, June 7, 1832. 9. Elizabeth Ellen, April 18, 1834. 10. Joseph McAdam, December 23, 1835.

(III) Major Thomas Lee Broun, son of Edwin Conway and Eliza- beth (Channell) Broun, was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, on De- cember 26, 1823. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia, and in 1850 and 1851 studied law under the Hon. George W. Summers, in Charleston, and with Albert G. Jenkins. He was admitted to the Kana- wha bar in January, 1852, practicing law there and in Boone county, and appearing in the state supreme court of appeals and in the United States court of Charleston. Forming a partnership with George S. Patton, he continued practice under the firm name of Broun & Patton. In 1857 he was appointed attorney for the Coal River Navigation Company, and was elected its president to succeed WV. S. Rosecrans, standing among the foremost of West Virginia's land lawyers. He is himself a large owner of mining and timber lands on Coal river, in company with a syndicate of non-resident capitalists. Except for the time of his ser- vice in the civil war and four years after its close, he has been a resi- dent of what became West Virginia, since the year 1850. He has al- ways been an active Democrat. Prior to the outbreak of the civil war he was one of the editors of the Kanawha Valley Star, of Charleston, a red hot Democratic journal. In April, 1861, he enlisted in the Confed- erate army as a private in the Kanawha Riflemen, Captain George S. Patton's Company ; and afterward became major of the Third Regiment of Infantry. in Wise's Legion. In 1862 he was transferred to Dublin Depot as quartermaster and commandant of that post. He was badly wounded at the battle of Cloyd Mountain, Pulaski county, May 9. 1864, but continued in service throughout the war. He has ever since kept in touch with his surviving comrades, having delivered an address before

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West Virginia and its people, Volume II, Part 10

Author: Miller, Thomas Condit, 1848-; Maxwell, Hu, joint author Publication date: 1913 Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 866

Author: Miller, Thomas Condit, 1848-; Maxwell, Hu, joint author
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 866