West Virginia and its people, Volume II, Part 12

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

USA > West Virginia > West Virginia and its people, Volume II > Part 12

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).

J. m. blank

WEST VIRGINIA

M. A. Harris; they have one son, Robert Johnston Harris. 4. Lawrence A., married Jean Starr; one child, Jean McNair Clark. 5. Emma J., who died in 1888.

(VIII) James Montgomery, son of James L. and Hannah M. ( Johns- ton ) Clark, was born April 6, 1866, at Westfield, New Jersey. He re- ceived his education in Westfield, and later, in April, 1887, he went to West Virginia, where he accepted a position on the engineering corps of his cousin, Robert R. Goodrich, M. E., who was educated at the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology, at Boston. Young Clark filled various positions of subordinate work, until 1890, when he entered the firm of Goodrich & Clark, engineers, and worked in McDowell county, West Virginia. This continued until 1892, when Mr. Clark established an in- dependent business of his own, at Kanawha Falls, since which time he has had much to do with the development of this section of the country. When he first came to the state it was only producing four million tons of coal per year, but the report of 1910 shows a production of sixty million tons. The present firm of Clark & Krebs was organized, at Kanawha Falls, January 1, 1900, and they subsequently removed to Charleston, West Virginia, in 1908. Both Mr. Clark and his partner have a thorough and practical knowledge of the geology of the coal- bearing sections of the Virginias and Kentucky. They employ many highly competent assistants. Politically Mr. Clark is a Republican, but takes no part in campaign work, simply casts his vote with that organ- ized party.

He was married, September 18. 1895, to Pattie Farley, of Kanawlia Falls, Fayette county, West Virginia. Their children are: James Mont- gomery Jr., born March 27, 1897: Lawrence Willis, born July 31. 1902 ; Francis Alden, born November 17, 1903; Nancy Margaret, born August 27, 1905. The children are all now ( 1913) attending the public schools of Charleston. Mr. and Mrs. Clark are members of the First Presbyter- ian church at Charleston.

The Krebs family has been in America for about one cen-

KREBS tury. Nicholas Krebs was a native of Alsace-Lorraine when it was a part of the kingdom of France, and served in the French wars as a soldier under Emperor Napoleon. He came to Amer- ica after the battle of Waterloo, spending eight months on his journey, and finally. in 1816 settled in the Ohio valley. He died there in 1855, at the age of seventy years. He married, and left a widow, who sur- vived him many years and died in Monroe county, Ohio. Of their eight daughters, four are still living, and their only son was John W., of whom further.

(II) John W., only son of Nicholas Krebs, was born in Monroe county, Ohio, in 1840, died in Wetzel county, West Virginia, in 1908. He had removed thither in 1869, and was a farmer and carpenter. He attended the Lutheran church, and adhered to Republican principles in politics. He married, in 1867, Elizabeth Hubacher, who is yet living in Wetzel county, at the age of sixty-eight years. Their children were: I. Emma, born in August, 1868; married A. L. Sidell, and lives in Wetzel county : they have eight children. 2. Charles E .. of whom further. 3. George R., March 17. 1872: graduated from West Virginia State Uni- versity in 1899: is junior member of the firm of Clark & Krebs: mar- ried, 1902, Lettie Carr, and they have five children. 4. Mary Ellen, 1874. died April. 1894. 5. Lenora B., October 1, 1876: married G. H. Farmer, of Wetzel county, and they have five children. 6. Jesse D .. July 7, 1878; superintendent of a Fayette county coal company : mar-

WEST VIRGINIA

ried Elizabeth smith; they have one son. 7. John A., 1880; a farmer in Wetzel county. 8. Leslie W., May 20, 1883, a teacher in Wetzel county.

( III) Charles E., son of John W., and Elizabeth ( Hubacher ) Krebs, was born May 19, 1870, in Wetzel county, West Virginia. Being of a scientific turn of mind he took all possible advantage of his course of study at the New Martinsville high school, and himself taught school during the following three years. Having earned sufficient money to defray his expenses at the West Virginia University, he entered the technical department of that institution to study engineering, and was graduated in 1894, with the degree of Bachelor of Science in civil engin- eering. His first active employment was with a company known as the Coal & Coke Railroad Company, with whom he worked for three years in the engineering department, and during that period filled the position of transit-man and later that of construction engineer. He then entered into a business agreement with his present partners in the firm of Clark & Krebs. They located their headquarters at Kanawha Falls, Fayette county, West Virginia, and soon became well known as a reliable civil and mining engineering firm in the New River coal field. They next located in Charleston, in Kanawha county, in 1908. The following year Mr. Krebs received an appointment on the West Virginia State Geologi- cal Survey as assistant to the state geologist, Dr. I. C. White, in the southern section of the state. In this field his natural adaptability to scientific research work, field investigation and experiment has strongly manifested itself, and won him high commendation from his superiors. Still connected, however, with the engineering firm of Clark & Krebs, he has added greatly to their prestige, and they have gained, largely through his progressiveness and ability, high standing as mining engin- eers in the three states of Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. Mr. Krebs has completed a detailed report of the following counties: Jack- son, Mason, Putnam, Cabell, Lincoln, Wayne and Kanawha. In poli- tics he supports the Republican party. As a believer in the principles of Masonry, he has affiliated with various branches of the order, and is also a member of Beni Kedem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of No- bles of the Mystic Shrine, at Charleston. He and his wife are Pres- byterians in religion.

Mr. Krebs married ( first ) in 1898, in Clay county. West Virginia, Donnie Carr, born in 1876, died in April, 1902: (second), in 1905, Jose- phine Stephens, of Wetzel county. West Virginia. Their only son, Gregory C., was born December 12, 1906.

KNIGHT Edward Wallace Knight, of Charleston, is a descendant of old and honored New England ancestry. His grand- father, Asa Knight, married Melinda Adams.

( Il) Edward Boardman, son of Asa and Melinda ( Adams) Knight, was born in Hancock, New Hampshire, August 16, 1834, died Decem- ber 17. 1897. He graduated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1861, was admitted to the bar of his native state in September, 1863, and practiced for a short time in New London, and Dover, New Hamp- shire. He settled in Charleston, West Virginia, in April, 1865, and be- came a member of the firm of Smith & Knight, and later of Knight & Couch, the latter connection continuing until the retirement of Mr. Knight from active practice, January 1. 1892. He served in the capac- ity of city solicitor of Charleston for a number of years. He was a member from Kanawha county of the constitutional convention of 1872- 73. the only political position he could be induced to accept. He was

WEST VIRGINIA

a staunch Democrat in politics. He married ( first ) September 15, 1864, Hannah Elizabeth White, born in Newport, New Hampshire, died in September, 1878. He married ( second ) February 13, 1882, Mary Eliz- abeth White, who survives him. Children of first wife: Edward Wal- lace, of whom further; Harold Warren, of Charleston, West Virginia ; Mary Ethel, wife of George W. McClintic, of Charleston.

(III) Edward Wallace, son of Edward B. and Hannah E. ( White) Knight, was born April 30, 1866, at Newport, New Hampshire. He attended the local schools of Charleston, later entering and graduating from Dartmouth College, class of 1887. He read law in the office of Knight & Couch, of which his father was a member, and was admit- ted to the West Virginia bar in May, 1889. From that time until Jan- uary 1, 1892, he was employed by Knight & Couch, and then entered into partnership with James F. Brown and Malcolm Jackson, who were conducting business under the style of Brown & Jackson, and formed the firm of Brown, Jackson & Knight, which has continued up to date. In 1902 Mr. Knight was appointed general counsel of the railroads successively known as the Deepwater, Tidewater and Virginian, and from 1891 to 1894 was a member of the city council of Charleston. He is a stockholder and director in the Kanawha Valley Bank and is inter- ested in sundry business enterprises in the southern part of the state. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, a Democrat and a member of the Masonic orders.

Mr. Knight married, January 25, 1893, Mary Catherine Dana, daugh- ter of J. E. and Maria S. Dana, the latter of whom is deceased. Chil- dren: Edward Dana, born March 23, 1894; Elizabeth S., August 3, 1897: Ethel, July 22, 19II.

James Carr, father of Hon. Robert Stuart Carr, was born

CARR in county Down, Ireland, and when a young man came to America, in 1818. He moved in 1860, from Guernsey county, Ohio, to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and there engaged in pursuit of his trade as mechanic and plasterer. In this place he lived until 1865, when he removed to Charleston, West Virginia, where he died in 1900. He married Margaret, daughter of Robert Stuart, who was born in county Down, Ireland, and had come also in 1818 to America, locating in Guernsey county, Ohio, where he had gone into farming. James and Margaret (Stuart) Carr had six children, who are all still living ( 1913) : I. Mary Jane, married Thomas Scott, of San Francisco, California. 2. Robert Stuart, of whom further. 3. William, of Seattle, Washington. 4. Eleanor, living unmarried in San Francisco. 5. James Monroe, a den- tist in Charleston. 6. Joseph S., a dentist in Charleston.

( II) Hon. Robert Stuart Carr, son of James and Margaret ( Stuart ) Carr, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, November 14. 1845. He was brought by his parents at the age of four years to Point Pleasant, and here received his first school training. When a young man he accom- panied his father to Charleston, and very soon afterwards got a clerk- ship in a general merchandise store. His experience in this line and his ambition led him after a time to start in the mercantile business on his own account, continuing in this for about eight years. In 1882 he sold out in order to go into the transportation business on the Kanawha, Ohio and Mississippi rivers, handling a large amount of freight sent from the coal mines to New Orelans. He is responsible for the organization of the Ella Layman Tow Boat Company, of which he was the president. This company did a very large and important part of the transportation of that region. Mr. Carr has also been interested very largely in local 6

WEST VIRGINIA

real estate. Although a man whose youth had few educational advan- tages, innate force of character and sound, clear, native sagacity have placed him in the front rank of men who have been useful to the state. Not only has his business resource and grasp of conditions enormously helped in the development of Kanawha valley, but his political services have been such as to make his name a respected one through the length and breadth of the state. He has in his political affiliations been guided by principles, rather than by party lines. He has the rare courage to have been willing to change political allegiance in order to follow the dictates of his conscience. He was, between 1878 and 1880, connected with what was called the Greenback party, in which he had as associates some of the best men of the country. He later became a Democrat, but left that party convinced of the vital importance to the people at large of the principles of the Labor party. He was elected in 1879 to the city council of Charleston, serving in that body for three years, and at the end of that time being elected county commissioner and serving as presi- dent of the board. In 1886 he was elected on the Labor ticket, as dele- gate of the Ninth West Virginia District to the state senate, and in the election overcame the normal Democratic majority of twelve hundred votes. In the session of 1889 he was elected president of the state sen- ate and served in this capacity through two sessions. In 1904 he was the Democratic candidate for state treasurer. He is as the present time a member of the Democratic state executive committee of the Ninth Sen- atorial District. In preparation for the great World's Fair at Chicago in 1893 he was a member of the board of commissioners for the state of West Virginia. Always keenly alive of the vital importance to the state of its educational system, he has served for fourteen years on the board of regents for the state normal schools. In all of these offices the work of Mr. Carr has been marked by the highest devotion and efficiency.

Mr. Carr married, in 1870, in Charleston, Julia E., daughter of John and Elizabeth Wilson. Mrs. Carr is a native of Charleston. They have a son: Frederick N., born in 1872; graduated at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, and afterwards studied law at the University of Virginia, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He is now a practicing attorney in Charleston.

Dr. Harry Hopple Young, son of William A. and Anna YOUNG M. (Hopple) Young, was born in Cincinnati, September 17. 1877. The public schools of Cincinnati furnished his early education, which was continued at the Central University of Ken- tucky. Having chosen the profession of medicine, he entered Ohio Medical College, whence he was graduated in 1900. For a year and a half he was resident physician at Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, and then entered into partnership with Dr. Schoolfield in Charleston. Dr. Young was one of the organizers of the Charleston General Hospital, and he and his partner are closely associated with its administration. In a bus- iness way, Dr. Young is medical director of the Southern States Mutual Life Insurance Company. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and the Elks.

Dr. Young married, in Charleston, November 10, 1904. Mazie M. Couch, a native of Charleston, and daughter of George S. and Laura ( McMaster) Couch, who are both living. They have two children: Ma- zie Hopple, born November 20, 1906: and George William, January 4. IQII.

Dom Laing

WEST VIRGINIA

LAING John Laing, the American founder of this family, was born in Scotland, died in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. He was a miner. In June, 1867. he emigrated from Falkirk, near Glasgow, Scotland, and settled at Hermitage, a mining settlement near Sharon, Mercer county, Pennsylvania. For some years he worked in the mines of this county. He married Margaret Bouey. Child: Alexander, of whom further.

(II) Alexander, son of John and Margaret (Bouey ) Laing, was born near Glasgow. He also was a miner and, coming to the United States with his father, worked first for some years in the mines of Mer- cer county, Pennsylvania, and afterward in those of Mahoning county, Ohio. In 1884 he came into Fayette county, West Virginia. The min- ing development of this state was then very new. In the industrial de- velopments which, for good and for evil, have transformed the aspect and life of West Virginia, Alexander Laing was a pioneer. He married Elizabeth, daughter of William and Elizabeth ( Morrison) McAlpin, also born in Scotland; there her father lived and died. She now lives with her daughter, Mrs. W. T. Green, at Charleston, West Virginia. Children: Margaret, died in infancy; Janet; John (2) ; of whom fur- ther; James M .; Elizabeth; Margaret; Mary; Alexander W .; Bessie; William; Annie. All are living except the oldest.

(III) John (2), son of Alexander and Elizabeth (McAlpin) Laing, was born at Falkirk, Scotland, August 24, 1865. When less than two years old he was brought by his father to America. He attended school at Sharon, Pennsylvania, but left school at nine years of age, and then entered the mines in what was known as the Spearman shaft, Mercer county. From that time his work has been in connection with the min- ing of coal. He went with his family to Ohio, and came with them to West Virginia. From 1884 to 1891 he worked in the mines of the New river and Kanawha districts; then ; giving up underground work, he ac- cepted a position as clerk in the store of the Rush Run Coal Company, in Fayette county. He was later advanced to the position of bookkeeper, and had, as additional duty, charge of the company's payrolls. In Jan- uary, 1892, being then twenty-six years old, he took charge of the mine of the Red Ash Coal Company, as mine foreman ; and five years later was advanced to the position of mine superintendent of the Red Ash mine, and two other of the earlier mines on the New river. In 1898 he was made superintendent of the mines of the Rush Run Coal Company. Three years later all these companies, with several others in the New river district, were consolidated, and he was appointed superintendent of the combination, which was known as the New River Smokeless Coal Company. It was under the active management of Ferdinand Howald, one of the early settlers ; but when, in 1905, he retired from mining, hav- ing accumulated a considerable fortune, Mr. Laing was appointed to suc- ceed him as general manager of the combination. In the latter part of the same year, the entire holdings of this company were sold to the Gug- genheim interests, of New York City. Mr. Laing resigned from the new organization and, with a part of the proceeds from the sale of his interests, organized the Wyatt Coal Company, in Kanawha county. He also purchased four mines on Cabin creek, from the Cardiff Coal Com- pany ; and these mines, known as Horton Number One, Horton Number Two, Oakley and Berlin, are still being operated under his personal man- agement. He also organized, in 1908, the MacAlpin Coal Company. which operates mines in Raleigh county, West Virginia, on the lines of the Virginian and the Chesapeake & Ohio railways; of which company he is president and general manager. In 1911 he organized the Mc- Gregor Coal Company, which leases three thousand six hundred acres in Logan county, West Virginia. In 1912 he organized the McCaa Coal

WEST VIRGINIA

Company, which works in Gilmer county, West Virginia, having a lease of one thousand acres on the Coal and Coke railway; and of this com- pany, likewise, he is president and general manager.

Having thus been raised from boyhood in the mines, having been a miner before he did clerical work, and having worked in this capacity also before he became a large mine owner, Mr. Laing knows the mining business thoroughly, and understands the men who do the work and their point of view. He has been loyal to his friends, and has not reached his position by climbing over others and pushing them aside. ( n December 22, 1908, he was sworn in as chief of the Department of Mines of West Virginia, and has filled this position to the satisfaction of both operators and miners. The work has been both congenial and pleasant ; he has had the co-operation of the governor and other state officers, and harmonious relations with those with whom he has had to deal. Although he feels that his efforts have been successful, he does not intend to accept reappointment after the expiration of his present term, July 1, 1913.

Mr. Laing has also a number of banking interests. He is a stock- holder in the Capitol City Bank, Charleston, in which city he makes his residence ; also, a stockholder and director in the National City Bank, of Charleston. He is a director of the New River Banking and Trust Company, at Thurmond, West Virginia, and of the Bank of Mullins, Mullins, West Virginia. He is a thirty-second degree Mason ; a mem- ber of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the Knights of Pythias, and the Improved Order of Red Men. Mr. Laing is a member of the First Presbyterian church, at Charleston.

He married, at Hanover, York county, Pennsylvania, October 6, 1904. Margaret Slagle, daughter of William and Margaret (Stein) Slagle, born at Hanover. Her family is of Pennsylvania German stock ; her father now lives with Mr. Laing, her mother is deceased. Children of John and Margaret (Slagle) Laing: Louisa Vandersloot, born De- cember 30, 1905; Gertrude Elizabeth, May 16, 1907.

Hon. Samuel Lightfoot Flournoy, father of R. Parke FLOURNOY Flournoy, was born in Chesterfield county, Virginia, November 25, 1846, son of Richard W. and Sarah ( Parke) Flournoy. During his early boyhood and young manhood years he resided in Richmond, Virginia, attending its public schools, acquiring an excellent education. which was supplemented later by a classical course in Hampden-Sidney College, from which institution he was grad- nated with honors in 1868. In 1863, during the progress of the war between the states, he enlisted his services in the Confederate army and served faithfully and well during his term of enlistment. For four years after his graduation he served in the capacity of teacher, a voca- tion for which he was thoroughly qualified. In the meanwhile prepar- ing for the profession of law. he was admitted to the bar of his native state in 1873. He at once entered upon the active practice of his chosen calling, and his thorough knowledge, coupled with his high character as a man, won merited distinction. He was equally prominent in the po- litical field, serving twice as member of the West Virginia state senate. being elected first in 1885 and re-elected in 1889. During his tenure of office he was a member of the following committees : judiciary, privileges and elections, federal relations, immigration and agriculture, and pub- lic printing. About the year 1873 he took up his residence in Romney, Hampshire county. West Virginia, and in 1800 removed to Charleston, same state. He served as mayor of Romney for three terms, this fact clearly demonstrating his popularity and efficiency. Senator Flournoy

WEST VIRGINIA

married, April 10, 1875, Frances A. White, born April, 1843, daughter of John B. and Frances A. (Streit) White. She survives her husband, whose death occurred January 28, 1904. Children: R. Parke, of whom further ; Harry L., city auditor of Charleston; Samuel L., a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School, admitted to the bar in 19II, now engaged in practice at Charleston ; Alexander W., employed by the Kentucky & West Virginia Oil & Gas Co., as a bookkeeper.

(II) R. Parke, eldest son of Hon. Samuel L. and Frances A. (White) Flournoy, was born December 29, 1875, in Romney, West Virginia. He attended the schools of Romney, and later pursued a course in the Law School of the University of West Virginia, graduating therefrom in the class of 1899, with the degree of Bachelor of Law. He was admitted to the bar of Kanawha county in 1899, and at once engaged in a general practice in the city of Charleston, with offices in the Kanawha Banking & Trust Company Building. He possesses the attributes of a suc- cessful practitioner of law,-integrity of character, judicial instinct and a rare appreciation of the two sides of every question.

DONOVAN Michael Donovan, a well known and successful farmer of Wellsville, New York, was born in the county of Cork, Ireland, and came to this country in his early manhood. Having followed agricultural pursuits in his native country, he engaged in the same occupation upon his arrival in this country, when he settled at Wellsville. He married Josie O'Leary, also a native of county Cork, Ireland, and they have had children: James : Michael Jr .; Anna, unmarried; Patrick Andrew, of whom further; John, deceased.

(II) Patrick Andrew, son of Michael and Josie (O'Leary ) Dono- van, was born in Wellsville, New York, April 30, 1871. He acquired his education in the public and high schools of his native town and, at the age of twenty years, became a telegraph operator at Peekskill, New York, in the service of the New York Central railroad. Subsequently he accepted a position with the Standard Oil Company, in turn resigning this in order to engage in traveling, which occupied nine years of his time. For the following three years he was then engaged in the elec- tric supplies business, and in 1900 settled in Charleston, West Virginia, where he established the gas and electric supplies business, with which he is at present connected, in the Arcade. It has grown to be the largest concern of its kind in the city, having a wholesale trade which embraces all the southern portion of West Virginia, and its scope is constantly in- creasing. Mr. Donovan has remarkable business energy and executive ability, and is connected with a number of other business enterprises. He is the treasurer and a director of the Elk Gas & Oil Company, and president of the Dunbar Art Glass Company. His political support is given to the Democratic party, while his religious association is with the Catholic church.

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.

West Virginia and its people, Volume II, Part 12

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