USA > West Virginia > West Virginia and its people, Volume II > Part 22
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(II) Ebenezer, son of William Miller, was born at Northampton, Junc 7, 1664, died there December 23, 1737. He was called a husband- man. He married, in 1688, Sarah Allen, born July 28, 1668, died August 4. 1748, daughter of Samuel and Hannah (Woodford) Allen, of North- ampton. Children, born at Northampton : Sarah, born 1689; Mary, 1690; John, January 12, 1692, died October 23, 1696; Ebenezer, mentioned be- low ; Captain Jonathan ; Hannah, August 20, 1700: Patience; Joseph, June 4, 1705 : Aaron, November 6, 1707-08; John, 1711-12.
(III) Ebenezer (2), son of Ebenezer (I) Miller, was born at North-
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ampton, Massachusetts, August 15, 1696, died February 26, 1777. He married (first) May 8, 1725, Hannah Burt, and (second) November 15, 1754, Mrs. Elizabeth (Denning) Norton. His second marriage is re- corded at Avon, town of Farmington, Connecticut, in the church records (p. 13, vol. iv, "Bailey's Early Conn. Marriages"). She was then of Farmington. In Avon we find also the marriages of his children or grandchildren : Jonathan, married, September 24, 1761, Sarah North; Elisha, married (first) October 18, 1764, Sarah Fowler, and (second) November 18, 1778, Abigail Bunnell; Ebenezer, married, September 25, 1788, Diantha Hutchinson. His son Noah is mentioned below.
(IV) Noah, son of Ebenezer (2) Miller, was born about 1735, in Farmington, Connecticut. He was a soldier in the revolution from July 15, 1780, to December 9, 1780, among the levies enlisted in the Second Regiment in 1779 and 1780 for short terms, and was in the second com- pany, Lieutenant Colonel Hart, Second Connecticut Regiment, Colonel Zebulon Butler (p. 186, vol. xii, "Conn. Hist. Society, Revolutionary Rolls"). He married, at Avon, Farmington, April 9, 1760, Ann Buel. In Farmington, in 1790, the first federal census shows as heads of families Anna, Job, Reuben, Solomon, Ebenezer and Noah, who had in his fam- ily two males over sixteen, two sons under sixteen and three females. Noah Miller was a prominent citizen, a builder and contractor. He is said by descendants to have been one of the finest looking men in Con- necticut. His son James is mentioned below.
(V) James, son of Noah Miller, was born in Farmington, Connecti- cut, in 1780. When about twenty-one years of age he married Sarah, daughter of Abner Messenger, a soldier of the revolution under General Washington in 1782 (Connecticut in the Revolution). Abner Messenger married a Miss Pike, who was a cousin of General Pike. About a year after his marriage James Miller, together with his father-in-law, Abner Messenger, went to the Muskingum Valley in the tide of emigration that went west of the Allegheny mountains about that time. Abner Messen- ger settled in what is now Preston county. West Virginia, and died there at an advanced age, his descendants now being numerous in that section. James Miller, contracting malaria at Marietta, Ohio, and becoming dis- couraged with the western country, started back to Connecticut, but find- ing a good opening at Morgantown, Virginia, opened a coopering estab- lishment at that place, that being his trade, and employed a number of hands in his shop. A few years later he went to Greensboro, Pennsyl- vania, where Albert Gallatin had established a glass plant, the first one west of the Allegheny mountains. About 1837 he moved to Middletown (now Fairmont), Virginia, where he continued in the coopering business, and also conducted a ferry between Fairmont and Palatine, in which lat- ter town he bought the first laid-out lots and to which he removed in 1839. His first wife, Sarah Messenger, having died, he married a Mrs. Hirons, of the Pricket Creek settlement, and a few years later he and his step- son purchased a farm upon which he resided until his death, March 19, 1856. He was an exemplary citizen, and a class leader in the Methodist church. His first wife died in Palatine in 1839; his second wife survived him. To his first marriage five sons and five daughters were born : Noah Buel, who died in infancy ; Abner Amherst ; Samuel B. ; James ; William Edmund ; Emily, married Jesse Core ; Ann, wife of Daniel Gantz : Abigail Pike, married Thomas Pickens, of Ohio; Sarah, wife of M. D. Purnell ; Mary, married L. D. Fox. All these are now deceased.
(VI) William Edmund, son of James and Sarah (Messenger) Mil- ler, was born at Morgantown, Virginia, now West Virginia, July 29, 1822, died at Fairmont, November 19, 1911. He was reared principally at Greensboro, Pennsylvania, where he received his education at a private
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school. He learned the trade of cooper of his father, which he followed until 1841, when he engaged in the manufacture of handrolls for domes- tic spinning of cloths and flannels, at Barnesville. Five years later he turned his attention to the flouring mill business, which he conducted up to 1863, in which year he secured the flouring mill at Nuzum's Mill, where he remained two years. At the end of that time he returned to Barnes- ville, where he managed the woolen mills of the Barnesville Manufactur- ing Company until 1888, being a director and serving as president of that company. Politically Mr. Miller was a staunch Republican, and an offi- cial in the Methodist Protestant church, a teacher in the Sunday-school fifty-seven years or more, as well as its captain of a Marion county vol- anteer militia company that offered its services to the country during the Mexican war, but was not called into active service. On October 21, 1847, Mr. Miller married Nancy Jeretta, daughter of Thomas Hall, a prominent citizen of the county and an upright Christian gentleman. She died August 19, 1907. Thomas Hall was born in Delaware, January IT, 1779, and was brought by his father, Asa Hall, to the Forks of Cheat river in 1782. He was ordained a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church in 1815, at Morgantown, Virginia, and later purchased a farm near Houlttown, on which he erected a flouring mill in 1828. He died of erysipelas July 28, 1869. He was twice married, (first) to Jane Ben- nett, 1799, and (second) Elizabeth Stewart, 1813. To Mr. and Mrs. Mil- ler were born six children: Professor Thomas Condit Miller, of whom further : Charles Albert, a teacher ; Anna Belle, a teacher ; Buena Vista : Richard S., now deceased ; Mattie A.
(VII) Professor Thomas Condit Miller, son of William Edmund Mil- ler, was born in Fairmont, Virginia, now West Virginia, July 19, 1848. He received his early education in private schools. Among his instructors was Dr. William R. White, who afterward was the first state superintendent of free schools of West Virginia. The civil war interrupted the course of his studies. For a year he served in the Home National Guard under United States officers, and when but sixteen years old enlisted in Com- pany E, Seventh Regiment, West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, April I, 1865, and served until July 10, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. He then resumed his studies, attending the Fairmont Academy and high school, teaching between terms after November, 1867. After the State Normal School was opened at Fairmont he was enrolled as a student and completed the prescribed course under Principal J. G. Blair. Among his other instructors there was Professor J. C. Gilchrist, who graduated from Antioch College when Horace Mann was president. He afterward spent a year in Adrian College, Michigan, but on account of ill health gave up his college course during the junior year. He has since then continued in school work. For a period of twenty-one consecutive years he was prin- cipal of the Fairmont high school, after having five years' experience as a teacher in country schools. His devotion to the Fairmont high school, and his success as a teacher brought him attractive offers from various parts of the state, and from other states. In 1893 he finally resigned to accept the position of principal of the preparatory department of the West Virginia University, and he afterward received the appointment of professor of pedagogy in the university, in which position he served with ability and fidelity for eight years. He resigned when elected state superintendent of free schools in 1900 and was re-elected at the end of his term, serving from 1901 to 1909. In the election of 1904 he received more than 25,000 plurality, the largest vote ever received by a candidate in West Virginia except that of President Roosevelt. In politics he is a Republican. Under the first state constitution he was for a time town- ship clerk. Since 1909 Professor Miller has been principal of Shepherd
Sincerely yours, Thor Guiller,
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College Normal School, Shepherdstown, West Virginia. He is a popular institute lecturer and has probably addressed as many educational gather- ings in the state as any other man, and he has also visited and spoken at institutes in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. He is a member of Meade Post, No. 6, Grand Army of the Republic, and was assistant quartermaster-general of the Department of West Virginia for several years. He has held about every position on the state depart- ment and in the local post and served on the staff of the commander-in- chief a number of times ; also as patriotic instructor for West Virginia. It was largely through his influence and efforts that the monuments now standing in honor of the fallen heroes of his state on the battlefield at Gettysburg were erected. In 1866 he joined the Methodist Protestant church, and since then has devoted much time and energy to the denomi- nation, now being a member of the general conference. For twenty years he was superintendent of the Sunday school and he has been presi- dent of the State Sunday School Association. He was a member of Lin- coln Lodge. Good Templars, and has always been active in the temper- ance movement. He is a member of the National Education Association and a member of its National Council ; of the American Historical Asso- ciation, and of the National Geographic Society.
He married, September 6, 1876, at Fairmont, Drusilla C. Hamilton. born at Fairmont, June, 1847, daughter of Elmus and Louisa S. ( Hamil- ton ) Hamilton. She had brothers: James B., William S. and John S. Hamilton, and a sister Paulina B. Pierpont. The Hamilton family is prom- inent in Fairmont. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Miller : 1. Archie Hamilton, born November 4, 1877 : now engaged in clerical work. 2.Dwight Edmund. born October 5, 1879 : engaged in clerical work. 3. Dana Paul, born Oc- tober 6, 1883, died September 1, 1907. 4. Pauline Barns, born June 14, 1887 ; married Henry C. Capito, and resides in Charleston, West Virginia.
DARLINGTON The Rev. Urban V. W. Darlington, of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South, and pastor of a con- gregation of that denomination in Huntington, is a scion of an ancient stock numerously represented in both England and Scotland. John Darlington. K. L., late of Netherwood, Ilkley, York- shire, England, and other members of the English branch of the family, made use of a coat-of-arms, a copy of which is in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Darlington, of Huntington. Peter Darlington, founder of the American branch of the Darlingtons, came from Edinburgh, Scotland, and settled in New York, though at what period is not stated.
(I) James H., father of Rev. Urban V. W. Darlington, was born October 14, 1804, in Uniontown, Fayette county, Pennsylvania. He was the proprietor of a hotel at Graefenberg. Shelby county, Kentucky, in the days when stage lines furnished the only means of conveyance for transient guests. Mr. Darlington was the owner of one of these stage lines. He married Kitty Pemberton, born February 23. 1826, in Frank- lin county, Kentucky, and of the twelve children born to them the fol- lowing are now living: Sarah, of Louisville, Kentucky: Susan K .. widow of Owen Tinsley, living in Huntington, with her brother, Urban V. W .; James S., a farmer of Franklin county, Kentucky : John, a farm- er of the same county : Annie L., wife of John Storts, of Louisville, Kentucky : Jennie, wife of H. B. Lowen, of Indiana : Robert, a mechanic of Louisville, Kentucky: and Urban V. W., of whom further. Mr. Darlington, father of the family, died at Graefenberg. December 30, 1879; the mother survived many years, passing away at the same place, November 25, 1905, in the eightieth year of her age.
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(II) Rev. Urban V. W. Darlington, son of James H. and Kitty ( Pemberton) Darlington, was born August 3, 1870, in Shelby county, Kentucky, where he received his preparatory education in the common schools. He studied at Wesleyan College for the ministry of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, South, and on September 22, 1895, in Winchester, Kentucky, was ordained a deacon by Bishop A. G. Haygood. On Sep- tember 23, 1899, he was made an elder by Bishop E. R. Hendrix. His first charge was in Washington, Kentucky, where he remained four years, afterward spending one year at Millersburg, Kentucky, and then four years at Covington, Kentucky. During another four years he was stationed at Parkersburg, West Virginia. These successive pastorates were made by Mr. Darlington periods of earnest work not unfruitful in results. In September, 1909, Mr. Darlington came to Huntington to as- sume the duties of his present pastorate, and since that time the congrega- tion has been increased by the addition of three hundred and six mem- bers. This augmentation has rendered necessary the erection of a new church. In October, 1911, the old structure was taken down, and the new edifice, costing one hundred thousand dollars, will probably be com- pleted by May, 1913. It is to have a most thorough equipment, includ- ing a pipe organ. In politics Mr. Darlington is independent of party considerations, casting his vote for the man who, in his judgment, repre- sents the highest principles and is best fitted to carry them out. He affil- iates with the Masonic order.
Mr. Darlington married, October 30, 1901. in Millersburg, Kentucky, Lyda Clarke, born at that place, March 27, 1871, daughter of Charles C. and America (Nunn) Clarke, the former a farmer of Millersburg. Mrs. Clarke died June 16, 1888, and the death of Mr. Clarke occurred July 31, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Darlington became the parents of two children : Lyda Clarke, born August 29, 1902; and Urban V. W. (2), June 17, 1906. Mrs. Darlington passed away December 14, 1911. Mr. Darling- ton's present work is one of great usefulness, his influence, both as pastor and citizen, tending greatly to strengthen and advance the best interests of Huntington, a fact to which his home city accords the most thorough and appreciative recognition.
BOWMAN Stuart Hampton Bowman, of Huntington, president of the Bowman Realty Company, is not only one of the city's most progressive business men, but has been for a number of years prominently identified with the state's educational in- terests, and has filled with ability more than one office of political trust and responsibility.
Captain Adam Coleman Bowman, father of Stuart Hampton Bow- man, was born May 1, 1839, in Randolph county, Virginia, now West Virginia, and during the war between the states was a captain in the Confederate service. He was twice wounded, but served the entire four years, in the infantry and also in the cavalry, under General J. E. B. Stuart. Captain Bowman married Tacy J. Wilmoth, born May 1, 1856, in Randolph county, and they were the parents of three children: Stuart Hampton, mentioned below : Thomas B., of the Bowman Realty Com- pany ; and Maud, now living in Huntington. Captain Bowman died All- gust 25, 1909, and his widow now resides in Huntington.
Stuart Hampton, son of Captain Adam Coleman and Tacy J. (Wil- moth) Bowman, was born June 28, 1876, at Valley Furnace, Barbour county, West Virginia, and received his earliest education in the schools of his native place, afterward attending the Fairmont State Normal School and graduating thence in 1803. His high averages in his exami-
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nations won for him the honor of valedictorian. The succeeding year was spent by Mr. Bowman in teaching in the schools of Barbour county, and in 1895 he was awarded a scholarship at the Peabody Normal Col- lege, Nashville, Tennessee, graduating from that institution with the de- gree of Licentiate of Instruction. In 1896 he graduated at the Univer- sity of Nashville with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1897 Mr. Bow- man was an assistant teacher in the Fairmont State Normal School, and in 1898 he graduated from West Virginia University, taking for the sec- ond time the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His experience as an instruc- tor during these early years was destined to influence in no small measure the course of his future public career.
In the autumn of 1898 Mr. Bowman was elected on the Democratic ticket to represent Barbour county in the West Virginia legislature, and served as chairman of the committee on education, being then as always active in school legislation. Meanwhile, he pursued the study of law and in 1900 was awarded a license to practice law in the courts of West Vir- ginia. The same year he was renominated for the legislature, but was defeated by a few votes, sharing the fate which overtook the other candi- dates of his party in that year of Republican triumph. In 1902 he was again nominated, being elected this time, by a good round majority. Short- ly after the expiration of his term Mr. Bowman opened a law office at Philippi, West Virginia, and entered upon the practice of the profession, but his inclinations led him to engage in the negotiation of transactions in real estate, and it was not long before he gave his whole attention to this business. In 1904 Mr. Bowman was appointed by Governor Atkin - son a member of the State Board of Regents of West Virginia State Normal Schools, and served several years, being re-appointed by Gover- nor White, and later by Governor Dawson. By reason of his experience both as an instructor and a legislator Mr. Bowman took special interest in the discharge of his official duties, and was influential in securing ap- propriations for additional buildings and for increasing the salaries of teachers in the schools. In 1906 he came to Huntington and founded the Bowman Realty Company, now the leading organization of its kind in this city. The members of his firm are: Stuart Hampton Bowman, presi- dent ; L. H. Cammack, secretary ; and T. B. Bowman, field manager. In addition to doing a local business the company have originated and car- ried into successful operation an organization for handling real estate sub- divisions by special advertising campaigns, in public and private sales, in any section of the United States, having operated extensively in the southern, central western and middle states.
Mr. Bowman is a member of the Board of Trustees of the George Peabody College for Teachers, at Nashville, Tennessee, the institution in which the unexpended funds left by the late George Peabody for the promotion of education in the south are now being concentrated. Mr. Bowman also belongs to the Board of Trustees of the Morris-Harvey College, at Barboursville, West Virginia. In 1913 he was the nominee of the Democratic party for State Senator in the Fifth Senatorial District but was defeated by about 100 votes in a total of over 19,000 votes, hav- ing to contest with the combined forces of the Republican and Progres- sive parties in the district. He affiliates with the Masonic fraternity, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Phi Kappa Psi college society. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Mr. Bowman married, November 16, 1904, Florence, born January IO, 1881, at Ceredo, West Virginia, daughter of William L. and Isabel (Frizzell) Mansfield. Mr. Mansfield was born December 3. 1857, near Wayne Court House, and is now living in Huntington, being business manager of the Herald Dispatch, the leading morning paper of southern
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West Virginia. For several years he was a Democratic leader in the leg- islature. Mrs. Mansfield was born March 4. 1861, in Vanceburg, Ken- tucky, and died April 14, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman have no children.
No list of the names of the leading business men of Hunt-
PARKER ington would be complete without that of Percy Cadzy Parker, who, during the short time that he has been a res- ident of our city, has established a well founded reputation for sagacity and enterprise.
Benjamin Parker, grandfather of Percy Cadzy Parker, was a native of Pennsylvania, whence he migrated to Meigs county, Ohio, where he engaged in farming during the remainder of his life.
Freeman Scott, son of Benjamin Parker, was born in Meigs county, Ohio, and served throughout the civil war in the Union army, as a mem- ber of the Fourth Regiment, West Virginia Infantry. participating in the battle of Gettysburg and in many other important engagements. His brother, Erastus Parker, fighting on the same side, was wounded at Get- tysburg. After the return of peace Freeman Scott Parker worked at his trade, which was that of a carpenter. He married Nancy Jane, born March 8, 1853, in Athens county, Ohio, daughter of David Shields, also a native of that county, where he led the life of a farmer, dying in 1890, at the age of sixty-four. Mr. and Mrs. Parker were the parents of six sons : Guy Albert, justice of the peace at Tupper's Plains, Ohio; Fred- erick Ardan, killed at Pontiac, Illinois, while in the discharge of his duty as baggage-master on the Chicago and Alton railroad; Percy Cadzy, mentioned below; Ivan Ernest, of Tupper's Plains, Ohio; Carl Erzy, a potter of Huntington; and Hal H., a decorator and paperhanger of Parkersburg, West Virginia. Freeman Scott Parker, the father of these children, died in 1890, at the comparatively early age of forty-nine, the cause of his death being a bronchial affection which he had contracted during his service in the army. His widow is now living at Tupper's Plains, Ohio.
Percy Cadzy, son of Freeman Scott and Nancy Jane (Shields) Park- er, was born April 27, 1874, at Tupper's Plains, Meigs county, Ohio, and received his education in the public schools and the academy of his na- tive place. After finishing his course of study he went to Kansas City, Missouri, where for five years he held a position in the shipping depart- ment of a wholesale commission firm. He then returned home for a year, and at the end of that time went to Parkersburg, West Virginia, where he established a wall-paper business which he conducted for eleven years. On December 10, 1910, he came to Huntington and opened a store on Eleventh street, but on November 20, 1911, removed to his pres- ent finely appointed place of business on Ninth street, in the Fifth Ave- nue Hotel Building. He carries here a much larger stock than ever be- fore, having two basement store-rooms completely filled with supplies. Mr. Parker has already become a potent factor in the business world of Huntington, and, as an astute and progressive merchant of unquestion- able integrity in all his methods, and with an assured reputation for fair dealing, he is destined, as the years go on, to count more and more influ- entially in the commercial life of our city.
In politics Mr. Parker is a Republican. He affiliates with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Royal Americans and the Tribe of Ben Hur. holding in this last-named organization the office of Supreme Keeper of the Inner Gate. He is a member of the Johnson Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
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Mr. Parker married (first) Maggie -, and he married (second) November 28, 1902, at Parkersburg, Lillian E., born July 1, 1881, at Washington, West Virginia, daughter of Wallace and Emma ( Harwood) Edelen, both natives of Wood county, West Virginia. Mr. Edelen was a farmer and died several years ago. His widow is now, at the age of fifty-five, living with Mr. and Mrs. Parker in Huntington. Mr. Parker has one child, Hazel Loretta, by his first marriage.
One of Huntington's best known business men is Virgil Lee HAGY Hagy, of the Northcott-Tate-Hagy Company, a firm of well established reputation. Mr. Hagy has been for more than fifteen years a resident of Huntington and is closely identified with our city's business interests.
(I) Samuel Hagy, grandfather of Virgil Lee Hagy, was born in Bos- wall, Switzerland, and came with his parents to the United States, set- tling near Newark, Ohio, where he passed his life as a farmer, dying at the age of sixty-five.
(II) Jacob, son of Samuel Hagy, was born in 1837, at Etna, Ohio. He was a boot and shoemaker. He served throughout the civil war as a member of the band of the Eighty-eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteer In- fantry. His wife was Margaret Abvert, born in 1838, at Washington, Pennsylvania. The following children were born to them: Virgil Lee, mentioned below ; Minnie M., wife of Wallace Vickel, a farmer of Petas- kala, Ohio: James, died in 1897; Carrie A., wife of Charles Kochen- dorfer, a farmer of Newark, Ohio; Harley S., a merchant of Columbus, Ohio; Ollie, wife of Vincent Singer, also of Columbus, Ohio. Jacob Hagy, the father, has retired from business and is now living with his wife at Etna, Ohio.
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