USA > West Virginia > West Virginia and its people, Volume II > Part 15
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HOLT A person of distinction professionally, and politically, is
Judge John Herrimon Holt, being a Bachelor of Laws of Georgetown University, a Master of Laws of Yale, the son of a jurist, and himself a successful practitioner of the state for nearly twenty-five years. Important enough to have been the Democratic nomi- nee for governor of West Virginia, and a candidate for the United States senate, thus, a notable of the state. He comes of good old West Virginia descent.
(I) Jonathan Holt, his grandfather, was born in West Virginia, in 1789, when it was still part of the "Old Dominion." He died at the age of eighty-eight years, at West Milford, Harrison county. His life was devoted to preaching the gospel, his faith being that of Wesley. He married -, and had a son, Homer A.
(II) Judge Homer A. Holt, son of Jonathan Holt, was born at Parkersburg, Virginia, in 1832, died about 1903. He made his home at Lewisburg, Greenbrier county, this state, and was a prominent lawyer
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there. He was made judge of the circuit for a period of about sixteen years, and a judge of the supreme court of appeals for six years, making a total of over twenty-two years on the bench. His first appointment was received from Governor Fleming, who designated him to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Snyder. He was a man of property and fortune, owning slaves, but was liberal-minded enough to set them free. His sentiments were, however, southern. Accordingly, we find him a supporter of the "lost cause" and bearing arms in its defense. He was in the Sixteenth Virginia Cavalry, in the confederate service, and was injured at Gettysburg. He was twice taken prisoner, being con- fined at one time in Camp Chase, and at another in Johnson's Island, both of which were trying experiences. He married Mary Byrne, born in Braxton county, Virginia, about 1836, daughter of John Byrne, a farmer of old Virginia. Mary ( Byrne ) Holt is still living at Lewisburg, a strong, active, hardy woman, of the old-fashioned sort. still an excellent horse- back rider. Of their children, four in number, three are living: 1. John Herrimon, of whom further. 2. Fannie, married O. M. Wiatt, and de- parted this life ten years ago. 3. Robert B., a farmer, banker and promi- nent citizen of Lewisburg. 4. Nina, married Judge Charles Dice, who presides over the circuit court of Greenbrier and Pocahontas counties.
(III) Judge John Herrimon Holt, son of Judge Homer A. Holt, was born in Sutton, Braxton county, Virginia, August 10, 1860. He was educated, as to preliminaries, in the local schools of his birthplace, and later went to Randolph-Macon College in old Virginia. From that in- stitution he went to the University of Virginia, and there studied law, passing thence to Georgetown College and later to Yale, where he finally attained the rank of M. L. He began legal practice as one of the firm of Frame & Holt, in Wheeling. West Virginia. In 1890 he settled in Hunt- ington, and has made his home there and maintained an office ever since. He began as one of the law firm of Campbell & Holt, and so continued for twelve years. The firm of Campbell, Holt & Duncan was then formed, and in 1904 the present firm of Holt & Duncan, which has a numerous and profitable clientele. Judge Holt is a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity, having been admitted as such in August, 1911. In poli- tics a Democrat, he was nominated on their ticket as candidate for the state board of appeals, but was defeated. He was also nominee for governor of the state, and also for the United States senate. In religious faith he is an Episcopalian.
He married, at Wheeling. West Virginia, in 1888, Effie Ewing, a na- tive of that city. Her father, Dallas Ewing, now deceased, was a promi- nent lawyer of that place, and married Emeline Anderson, who is still living at Wheeling, aged seventy years. Children : I. Homer E., gradu- ate of the University of Maryland, with the degree of LL.B .; admitted to practice in the courts of the state, November, 1912; now a member of the firm of Holt, Duncan & Holt. 2. Dorcas, educated at the Academy of Mount Notre Dame, Reading, Ohio. 3. Helen, an attendant at that institution. 4. Klea, an attendant at the same institution.
BUFFINGTON The family tradition is that three brothers came from Wales, one settled in Pennsylvania, one on the south bank of the Potomac river and one near Parkersburg, Virginia, on what is known as Buffington Island. Richard Buffington, the founder of this family, was born about 1654, and died in January or February. 1747-8. In 1667 he was at Upland, Delaware county, Pennsylvania. He married (first) Ann -, (second) Frances, widow of John Grubb. (third) Alice Palmer, who survived him. Chil-
John A. Holt.
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dren : Ann, married Benjamin Hickman ; Ruth, married Ezekiel Harlan; Richard, died in 1741, married Phebe Grubb; Thomas, died in December, 1739, married (first) Ruth Cope, (second) Ann -; William, said to have died without issue, therefore probably not the Virginia settler; John, married Sarah Arnold; Hannah, married Jeremiah Dean; Mary, married Charles Turner ; Elizabeth, died in 1748-9, married (first) Peter Collins, (second) John Freeman; Lydia, married George Martin ; Abi- gail, born in September, 1721, died in April, 1813, married (first) Ed- ward Seed, (second) David Fling; Joseph, died November 17, 1785; Alice, died July 19, 1775, married (first) - McArthur, (second) James Hance.
(I) William, probably a descendant of Richard Buffington, came from Pennsylvania, and settled in Hampshire county, Virginia, before 1757. His will was dated in March, 1784, and recorded in August of the same year. He purchased of Captain John Savage, in 1772, his in- terest in the Savage grant, of Virginia. He married Mary -. Chil- dren : Joel; Thomas, of whom further; William; David; Richard; Jo- nathan, whose family, except perhaps one child, was massacred and he himself was kept captive many years by the Indians; Susanna; Ruth; Mary.
(II) Thomas, son of William and Mary Buffington, was born in 1751, and died in 1836. He was a surveyor. He built on the point, just below the Guyandotte. He married, in 1775, Ann Cline. Of their twelve children, only five reached maturity : William, of whom further ; Thomas, died unmarried; Susan, died young, married Martin Hull ; Rebecca, mar- ried John Russell ; James, married Eleanor Lane, moved to Ohio.
(III) William, son of Thomas and Ann (Cline) Buffington, was born in 1787, and died in 1858. He was a farmer and large landowner, having slaves. In his younger days he was also a surveyor. He served as a colonel in the militia. He married Nancy, daughter of Nathaniel and Mary Scales, who was born in North Carolina, in 1795. and died in 1882. Children : Peter Cline, of whom further ; Amanda, born in 1816, died in 1873, married Michael Tierman; William Henry, born in 1818, died in 1899; Dr. Thomas J., born in 1821; Mary Jane, born in 1824. died in 1886, married William H. Hagan : James H., born in 1829; Dr. John N., born in 1832, died in 1878, married (first) Maria Thompson, (second) Julia Garland.
(IV) Peter Cline, son of William and Nancy (Scales) Buffington, was born in Guyandotte, Cabell county, Virginia, in September, 1814. died April 18, 1875. He attended Kenyon College, Ohio, and was a landowner and surveyor. All the land between Seventeenth and Twenty- fourth streets, in Huntington, West Virginia, was formerly part of his farm. He organized, and was president of until his death, the Bank of Huntington, now the Huntington National Bank. In 1864 he was elected to the state legislature. When Huntington was incorporated as a city he was the first mayor. He was also commissioner of forfeited and delin- quent lands. In all public affairs he was active. He enlisted in the For- est Hill Regiment. Confederate Army, and was appointed quartermaster. and breveted colonel. He married (first) Eliza Stannard, widow of Colonel Nicholas Stannard. By her first marriage she had two children Columbia and Georgia Ella, both deceased. He married (second) Louisa Garland, who was born in Northumberland county, Virginia, November 28, 1841. Children, three by first, others by second marriage : I. Willie Anna, married W. B. Tennant. now lives in Richmond, a widow, and has three sons and two daughters. all living. 2. Eugenia, deceased : married Henry Baskerville, of Richmond ; son: Henry, married, living in Rich-
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mond. 3. Dr. E. S. 4. Garland. 5. Juliette, married F. B. Enslow, of Huntington. 6. Peter Cline (2), of whom further.
(V) Peter Cline (2), son of Peter Cline (1) and Louisa (Garland) Buffington, was born on his father's farm, where the C. and O. Hospital now stands, August 6, 1868. Marshall College is also near this place. He attended Marshall Academy and Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Han- over county, Virginia, having first prepared himself in the public schools. When he was twenty-one years old, he entered into the clothing business, in the firm of Northcott & Buffington ; after about five years he continued the same kind of business, as a member of the firm of Buffington Broth- ers & Gwynn, for three years; thereafter, till 1896, as a member of the firm of Buffington, Shiveley & Company. Retiring from the clothing trade, he traveled for five years for the Lovell & Buffington Tobacco Com- pany, of Covington, Kentucky, of which his uncle, James H. Buffington, was founder. In May, 1905, he formed, with Charles W. Blair, the in- surance firm of Blair & Buffington, 412 Tenth street, Huntington; and this is his present occupation. Mr. Buffington was elected a member of the West Virginia state legislature and served during the sessions of 19II. He became a candidate for sheriff, nominated at the Democratic primaries, held in Huntington, June 14, 1912, and November 5, 1912. was elected to that office, taking office January 1, 1913, for a period of four years. He is a member of the Beta Theta Pi, a college fraternity, the Royal Arcanum, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Modern Brotherhood of America, and several business orders. He is a Democrat. In religion he sympathizes with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He married, at Athens, Georgia, November 21, 1896, Pauline, daughter of Dr. Hugh H. and Caro ( Yancey) Harris, who was born and brought up at Athens. Her parents have both been some years deceased. Chil- dren: Caro Louise, born January 17, 1899, now attending Marshall Col- lege : Peter Cline (3), born May 24. 1905, now attending the Emmons School.
To those who know Huntington, West Virginia, HARSHBARGER the name of Harshbarger has special significance. It represents to them the name of one of Hunt- ington's most enterprising and substantial men of business ; also the name of one of the principal office holders, one now serving a second term in the office of sheriff of Cabell county.
The first of this Harshbarger stock to appear in this country was Wil- liam Harshbarger, paternal grandfather of the sheriff. He was a Ger- man by birth and was drowned, many years ago, in Mud river, Cabell county. He was a farmer and blacksmith, one of the sturdy, robust Teutons who have done so much toward the settling and upbuilding of our country. Mr. Harshbarger's grandfather on the maternal side was James Garrett, a Virginian. He was a farmer also; he lived and died in Lincoln county, and passed away at the age of eighty-eight.
Mr. Harshbarger's father was David Harshbarger, a farmer and flour mill man. He was born in Botetourt county. Virginia, October 11, 1811, and died March 4, 1898. He must have been a man of some standing in his community for the records show him a candidate for sheriff. His wife was Mary J. Harshbarger. She also was a Virginian, and lived to be seventy-five years of age, dying in 1806. There were eight children in this family: Henry, Ellen, George W., Mary, Alice, Ira J., of whom further, Maggie J., and Sammie. Except Alice and Sammie. these all survive. Both father and mother had been married before: the above includes only the children of their second union.
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Ira Jefferson Harshbarger was the sixth child of the above marriage. He was born at Barboursville, Cabell county, November 30, 1858. His father was then running the hotel at that place. When he was four years of age, his father moved to the faim at what is now Ona Station, Cabell county, West Virginia. Here he attended the county schools until he had reached the age of fifteen. when the family moved to Milton, and there he finished his schooling. He worked on the farm then until he was twenty-one. His father then gave him an interest in the farm, and in the cattle-raising business. He continued thus engaged until he was thirty years old, in 1888. Then he went into the flour mill business at Milton with a half-brother, John. Together they ran a model roller mill there for a couple of years. Then George W., Ira's own brother, bought John out in 1900, and so the business continued two years more. The firm then became Harshbarger Brothers; today it is the Harshbarger Mill Company. The mill has been overhauled and is now entirely modern and up-to-date.
In 1898, Mr. Harshbarger took up the oil line as a side issue, so to speak, and it has brought him wealth. He leased some 6,500 acres of land and organized the Milton Oil & Gas Company. Then he went on and drilled three wells, and organized the Cabell Oil & Gas Company, which again was consolidated, in 1903. with the Harshbarger Oil & Gas Com- pany, a concern that had struck oil and gas. The Cabell company went in also under his management, and drilled three wells. One of these turned out to be a gas well. He then drilled in the first oil well to south of the Little Kanawha river. Here a vast new and prolific territory was opened up. The Harshbarger company has drilled now some thirty wells, and has thus brought to Milton at least one thousand additional inhabitants. The Company has now fifteen producing oil wells, and eight producing gas wells. It is capitalized at $600,000, with Mr. Harshbarger as presi- dent and general manager of the company. He is a large stockholder, in the Harshbarger mill, which is capitalized at $50,000 paid in, and does a business of $250.000 a year.
Mr. Harshbarger organized also, in 1903, the Bank of Milton. He is president of that institution and its heaviest stockholder. He is president too, of the Milton Drilling Company which does business to the amount of $75,000 annually. He is also president and practically sole owner of the Fought Oil & Gas Company, and is a very large owner of realty, both in Huntington and Milton He has various other business concerns of in- portance, and is heavily interested in the First National Bank of Hunting- ton. also in Guinn Brothers' mill, and the H. R. Wiley China Company. He is a director of the Home Building Savings & Loan Company, presi- dent of the United Investment & Loan Company, and is part owner in the Jackson Milling Company, of Jackson, Ohio.
Mr. Harshbarger is a Knight of Pythias: by religious faith, of the Methodist persuasion : in politics, a staunch Republican. He is of note in the party as the holder of the most important public office of the coun- ty, that of sheriff. being as prominent in that regard, as he is in the world of business. He is now serving his second term of four years in this position. He married, in 1881, at Bridgeton, Indiana, Clara M. Crooks, daughter of Dr. James M. Crooks, now deceased. They have three chil- dren, as follows : Hattie L., born in 1882 ; Maude, born in 1886; and Har- rison M., born in 1888.
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The name Davis or Davies is Welsh, meaning originally
DAVIS "son of David," thus being exactly equivalent to . Davidson and Dawson. It is one of the most common names, both in Great Britain and in the United States. To trace all of this name to one stock would probably be impossible, as the name may well have been used in many different families having an ancestor named David.
(I) Benjamin Davis, the first member of this family about whom we have definite information, was a farmer of Wayne county, Virginia, and owned a health spring, called the "Davis Spring." He took part in the battle of Point Pleasant. Child : Marshall, of whom further.
(II) Marshall, son of Benjamin Davis, was born in Wayne county, about 1812, and died in 1860. He resided in Wayne county, and was a farmer all his life. For a short time, also, he had a store at Wayne Court House, Wayne county. He married Mary J., daughter of William Morris, who was born in Wayne county before 1800, and died in 1878. Her father was born on the Kanawha river, and lived eighty-two years ; he married a sister of Rev. Mr. Burwell Spurlock, one of the famous Virginia preachers of his day, and whose family were prominent in politi- cal and business life. Children of Marshall and Mary J. ( Morris) Davis : William M., living retired at West Huntington, West Virginia ; Valen- tine Beamer, of whom further ; Octavia, married Noah Adkins, a widow, living at Huntington : Rebecca, married Simpson Ferguson, living in Wayne county, on a farm ; James, deceased ; Sarah, deceased ; Allen, de- ceased ; Almeda, deceased; Louisa, deceased; Stephen Marshall. de- ceased ; Adelaide, deceased.
(III) Valentine Beamer, son of Marshall and Mary J. ( Morris) Davis, was born at the old Davis homestead, Wayne county, Virginia. August 29, 1846. He had little opportunity of schooling, but attended to some extent, the schools available at that time which were not free. Until his marriage, he stayed on the farm, and also dealt in stock on his own account. He continued these lines of business after marriage, and still deals in stock, beside owning a farm ten miles south of Huntington. In 1871, he started a general store at Bowen, Wayne county, and he still holds an interest in this. He is thus the oldest merchant in the county. At various times he has run, at Bowen, a flour and corn mill, a sawmill, and a blacksmith shop, conducting all these simultaneously and under the same head. Twenty-seven years ago he established a meat market at Huntington, still maintaining his residence near Bowen. He removed to Huntington with his family eight years ago. His sons, Otis, Claude and Walter had already been fifteen years at Huntington, conducting the steadily growing business. The store, at first only a meat market, has developed into a meat and grocery store, and now there are three stores, two on Third avenue, and one on Ninth street. The business is the larg- est of its kind in the state ; meats are handled at wholesale, as well as at retail. Mr. Davis holds stock in the Union Savings Bank and the Hunt- ington Banking and Trust Company, also in a wholesale grocery estab- lishment in Cincinnati. He is a Democrat, and a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, South. He married ( first ), in Wayne county, De- cember 29. 1864, Cynthia A., daughter of Jefferson Bowen, who was born at Bowen in 1844, and died in 1907. Her family were the pioneers of this part of the state, and Bowen received its name from them. Be- fore the counties were divided as at present, her father acted as sheriff of the whole region, though her grandfather actually held the office. Jeffer- son Bowen lived to the age of fifty-eight. Mr. Davis married (second ), at Guyandotte, Cabell county, June 27, 1908, Nancy, daughter of William Seamonds, who was born in Cabell county, in 1848. Her father, who died at the age of about fifty-eight, was a farmer in Cabell county. Chil-
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dren, all by first marriage: 1. Walter, born in 1866, died in 1908; mar- ried Nannie Crump and had two children, Ada and Clarence. 2. Otis, born in 1867, now general manager of the store; married Emma Rosen- steel and has one child, Lillian. 3. Ida, deceased ; married G. H. Crump, of Huntington. 4. Claudius, born about 1874. married Maggie Blanch- ard; one child, Claude Austin. He is connected with the store. 5. Vaught, born in 1876, died in 1907.
Charles William Thornburg's ancestry is the
THORNBURG straightest American and West Virginian on both sides. His grandfather on the paternal side was David Thornburg, a farmer of Elm Grove, Ohio county. West Virginia, who died there at an advanced age. His father, Moses Sheppard Thorn- burg, was a farmer also, and a life-long resident of Elm Grove. He died in Cabell county, West Virginia, at the age of sixty-five, when Charles William Thornburg. the subject of this sketch was but three years old. His mother was Caroline Handley, born near Blue Sulphur Springs, Cabell county, and had reached the age of seventy-four when she died, April 25, 1900. Mr. Thornburg is one of a family of five chil- dren, of whom three are now living: Sallie, now Mrs. Moses Darling, of Miller's, Ohio; Lizzie R., now Mrs. G. R. Mayberry, of Guyandotte, Huntington ; and Charles William, of whom further. Those who are deceased are Handley and Fannie, both of whom died in infancy.
Charles William Thornburg was born December 28, 1866, on the old Thornburg homestead, situated on Guyon river, in Cabell county, about a mile southwest of Barboursville. As a boy he attended the local schools, and later took a course at the Holbrook Institute, Lebanon, Ohio. When he had finished this course he found employment as a schoolmas- ter in Cabell county. This profession he followed for seven years, mak- ing his home at Guyandotte from the time he was eighteen years of age. His next employment was in the furniture line, with W. H. H. Holswade, with whom he remained for ten years. He then embarked in the insur- ance line, forming, for that purpose, a partnership with A. W. Wernin- ger, which lasted three years. When this relation was dissolved, he con- nected himself with Cameron L. Thompson, in the same business. By the admission of a new member in 1909. the firm became Thompson, Thornburg & Watts. This firm takes a leading place in the insurance business of Huntington and surrounding towns.
Mr. Thornburg is a Democrat in politics. He served three terms in the office of city clerk, while he lived at Guyandotte, and two terms of six years each on the board of education there. He takes active part in fraternal affairs as a Mason. Knight Templar, and Shriner. He is past master of Western Star Lodge No. 11. Guyandotte and past eminent com- mander of Huntington Commandery No. 9. Knights Templar. He is a member of Johnson Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and is one of the trustees of that body and a member of the official board.
Mr. Thornburg, married. September 5. 1893. at Culpeper, Virginia, Josephine Harris, of that place. Her father was T. B. Harris, who had been in the insurance line at Culpeper, from the time of the war between the states. He served in that war. in Pickett's Brigade, of the Confeder- ate army. Mrs. Thornburg's mother died when she was but an infant. The Thornburgs have two children, both living : Charles Irving, born Sep- tember II. 1896; and Josephine, born November 6, 1899. Both are now attendants at Marshall College, in Huntington.
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Samuel C. Walker was born in Frederick county, Vir- WALKER ginia, and there spent his life. He married Elizabeth Streit, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Streit) Wilson, and granddaughter of the Rev. Christian and Susanna (Barr) Streit. Rev. Christian Streit was born in New Jersey, January, 1749, and was graduated from the college of Philadelphia in 1768. He studied theology under the preceptorship of the famous Lutheran minister, Rev. Peter Muhlenburg, of Philadelphia, and when the latter, in December, 1775, or- ganized the Eighth Virginia Regiment, Christian Streit was commissioned its chaplain. He continued to serve as chaplain in the Continental army, until taken prisoner by the British at the surrender of Charleston, South Carolina, July, 1777. Mr. and Mrs. Walker had children : Streit ; Eliza- beth ; Samuel C., served as a private in the Union army, and is at present a government inspector at San Francisco, California, and has his perma- nent home in Barbour county, West Virginia ; Henry Streit, of whom further ; Allie, killed in battle while serving as a captain under General Early in the confederate army ; Charles ; Evelina, married John Smith, a prosperous and prominent farmer in Green county, Virginia.
(II) Henry Streit, son of Samuel C. and Elizabeth Streit (Wilson) Walker, was born in Winchester. Frederick county, Virginia, May 31, 1840, died in 1891. His educational advantages were unusually excellent ones, as he attended institutions at Winchester and Morgantown, and then the Washington College, Pennsylvania. He was graduated as vale- dictorian of his class at the last-named institution, and was the recipient of the highest honors awarded there. For a time he studied law, then followed the natural bent of his inclinations, into the field of journalism, where his career was eminently successful. The Wheeling Daily Regis- ter was then the leading Democratic organ of that section of the country, and in 1865, but two years after being graduated, he became its editor. When Charleston became the capital of Kanawha county he removed to that town, and for a period of ten years ably conducted the papers he had founded in the interests of his party. His brilliant mind was always in the van in all movements tending toward progress and, while a candi- date for legislative and congressional honors in 1875, 1878 and 1880, he only failed of election because of internal dissensions in his party. His influence on public affairs, however, was strong and wide-spread, and turned the tide of battle in many an important issue. He served as pub- lic printer for West Virginia in 1871-2. In 1885 he was appointed sec- retary of the state for West Virginia, under Governor Wilson, where he served one year over his full term, retiring with honor and distinction, March 3, 1889. Public education was one of the numerous interests which were greatly benefited by the attention given them by Mr. Walker, and he served as a member of the board of regents of the West Virginia University for a period of thirteen years. The cultivation of his valua- ble farm in Virginia occupied the greater part of his time during later years, and he paid especial attention to the growing of fine stock.
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