West Virginia and its people, Volume II, Part 27

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 27

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(II) Nathaniel Camden, son of John Titchnel and Susanna M. ( Mor- gan ) Prickett, was born April 30, 1853, in Marion county, Virginia. He received his early education in the public and high schools of Jackson county, afterward entering the West Virginia University, where he com- pleted his course in 1875. His professional training was received in the office of Judge Alpheus Haymond during the years 1876-77. In the lat- ter year he was admitted to the bar, after which he at once removed to Ravenswood, opened an office and entered upon the active practice of his profession. Throughout his entire career, thus far, he has practised con- tinuously in this town, acquiring a large clientele and building up an en- viable reputation as a learned counsellor and astute practitioner. For many years Mr. Prickett was attorney for the town of Ravenswood, and

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in 1879 he held the office of deputy county assessor. Since 1005 he has been attorney for the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. He was at one time state fish commissioner, an office which has since been abolished. In the fall election of 1912 Mr. Prickett was elected prosecuting attorney of Jackson county, West Virginia, on the Democratic ticket in the face of a strong Republican opposition. Mr. Prickett has always taken an active interest in the welfare and improvement of his home town, and every project tending, in his judgment, to the promotion of that end has not failed to receive his hearty co-operation. His professional career has thus far covered a period of more than three decades and is coeval with his residence in Ravenswood. His record shows that both as a lawyer and a citizen he has steadily and consistently furthered the advancement of her best interests.

Mr. Prickett is a member of the State Bar Association, and affiliates with Ashton Blue Lodge, No. 12, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he has held all the offices. In 1908-09 he was grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, and he has held all the offices in the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His standing in his fraternal as well as in his professional relations is deservedly high.

Mr. Prickett married, March 29, 1878, Ruth E., daughter of Captain John Johnson, of Sandyville, West Virginia. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Prickett contains a number of interesting heirlooms, among them a powder-horn made from a bullock's horn, and owned and used by Levi Morgan, brother of Zackwell and David Morgan. A lineal descendant of the last-named of this trio of bold frontiersmen. Mr. Prickett cherishes with just pride every relic of their adventurous lives, which have yielded results so greatly to the benefit of future generations.

MCINTOSH Charles Leon McIntosh, president of the Bank of Ravenswood, is a member of the famous clan Mcin- tosh, a sept of the clan Chattan. Tradition tells us that the Macintoshes descend from two brothers. Muirach Mhor and Dhai Dhu, sons of Gillicattan Alhor, chief of the Confederation. Dhai Dhu left issue who are represented by Davidson of Invernahaven. They are the clan Kay of Sir Walter Scott and Inch of Perth. The chiefs of the Mac- intoshes have, beyond question, maintained their supremacy for nearly five hundred years. Moy is said to liave come into possession of William, seventh Macintosh of that ilk, in 1336, as a gift from David, Bishop of Murray.

James the First appointed Macintosh of that ilk captain of the castle of Inverness, after the battle of Harlaw, in 1411. In 1526 Lachlan, the Laird of Macintosh, was slain by James Malcolmson, who with his fol- lowers fled to an isle in the lake of Rothiemwichus, but were apprehended by the Macintosh kindred and were all cut to pieces. In the geography of the clans, 1873. Lachlan Macintosh is noted as having been, in 1587, "Cap- tain of the Clan Chattan." In 1624 the Machintoshes to the number of five hundred attacked the Earl of Murray's people, and captured his house of Pettie, now the castle of Stuart.

Lachlan Macintosh, who died in 1704, was succeeded by his son Lachlan, who died without issue in 1731. He was succeeded by his kins- man, William Macintosh, of Daviol, who also died without issue, in 1741, and was succeeded by his brother. Aeneas, created a baronet by King George the Third. The baronet dying without issue, the chieftainship de- volved on his kinsman, the Hon. Angus Macintosh, resident in Canada. He died in 1833 and was succeeded by his son Alexander, who died in 1861, and was father of Alexander, who died in 1876, and of Alfred, at

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present "The Macintosh." The line of descent of Charles Leon Mcln- tosh, of Ravenswood, is traced from Sir Angus McIntosh (or Macin- tosh), who had three sons: Alexander, Angus, and John, mentioned be- low.

(II) John, son of Sir Angus McIntosh, was born in Scotland, Sep- tember 5, 1812. In early manhood he emigrated to Canada whence he came to Virginia. He served in the Mexican war and in the Confederate army, and was a Democrat in politics. He married Catharine Keeney, by whom he became the father of a son and a daughter : John Angus, mentioned below ; Selinda, who became the wife of Colonel Charles Har- pold, of the Federal army and died in 1892. Mr. McIntosh died in May, 1889, and his widow passed away January 1, 1894.

(III) John Angus, son of John and Catharine (Keeney) McIntosh, was born in 1844, near Ripley, Jackson county, Virginia (now West Vir- ginia). In his youth he served under "Stonewall" Jackson, in the Con- federate army, and was among those who did not lay down their arms lintil the close of the four years' conflict. He was once captured, but at a time when all the consumptives in the prison were allowed their freedom he, wrapped in a blanket, took his place with the others and thus escaped, making the best of his way to the Confederate lines. In 1869 he engaged in the hardware business in which he was very successful. His political principles were those of the Democratic party, and he was appointed by the late Governor McCorkle president of the penitentiary. His home, after the war, was in Jackson county and few men have exercised a wid- er or more beneficial influence. His intellect was of a high order and by diligent study he became a brilliant scholar. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Ravenswood, and for twenty-five years served as president of the West Virginia Conference for Foreign Missions. He was one of the five original charter members of the Bank of Ravenswood and served as its vice-president and president for about fifteen years. Mr. McIntosh married Ella D. Smith, and the following children were born to them: Mary ; Alice, deceased : Frederick Freling- huysen : Charles Leon. mentioned below. The death of Mr. McIntosh. which occurred April 5. 1906, deprived the community of one who for his benevolence, kindness of heart and consistent Christian life, had been most sincerely loved and highly respected by his neighbors and fellow citizens. Mrs. McIntosh, mother of Charles Leon McIntosh, took an ac- tive part in the cause of temperance and she served with distinction fif- teen years as vice-president of the West Virginia Women's Christian Temperance Union.

(IV) Charles Leon, son of John Angus and Ella D. (Smith) McIn- tosh, was born December 25, 1876, at Ravenswood, West Virginia. He received his early education in the public schools of his native town, after- ward entering West Virginia University from which he graduated in 1899 with the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was engaged in the hard- ware business until 1907, and in 1908 was elected to the presidency of the Bank of Ravenswood. He adheres, as did his father and grandfather, to the Democratic party. As business man, financier and citizen, Mr. McIntosh has worthily supplemented the records of his father and grand- father, maintaining. as they did, the noble traditions of their illustrious race.

Mr. McIntosh married, June 18, 1907, Mary Virginia McLane, whose ancestral record is appended to this sketch, and they are the parents of the following children: Charles J .: Margaret Ellen : Josephine ; Jean ; Charles Leon, junior.

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(The McLane Line).

(I) Joseph Alan McLean, grandfather of Mrs. Mary Virginia (Mc- Lane) McIntosh, was born March 26, 1820, and married, in 1841, Mary, born October, 1823, daughter of William and Mary Ann (McLure) Lazur (see McLure), the former born 1797, died 1872. Mr. McLean died January 15, 1894, surviving his wife many years, her death hav- ing occurred November 23, 1850.

(II) Charles Henry McLane, son of Joseph Alan and Mary (Lazur) McLean, was born September 2, 1843, and married, August 22, 1868, Mary Kelly, born December 26, 1847. He changed the name to Mc- Lane.

(III) Mary Virginia, daughter of Charles Henry and Mary (Kelly) McLane, was born in Cassville, Monongalia county, West Virginia, and became the wife of Charles Leon McIntosh, as mentioned above.

(The McLure Line).

(I) Andrew McLure, founder of the West Virginia branch of the family, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and about the middle of the eighteenth century emigrated to the American colonies.

(II) Lieutenant Abdiel McLure, son of Andrew McLure, was born June 8, 1751, in Cumberland county, and was first lieutenant in the Pennsylvania Flying Camp, commanded by Captain James McConnell and Colonel Frederick Watt. Lieutenant McLure enlisted and soon after was captured at Fort Washington. He was removed to Long Island on one of the prison ships, where he remained until he was exchanged. Lieutenant McLure married Mary Cummins, who was born September 6, 1747, at Belfast, Ireland ; his death occured in 1828, at Wheeling, Virginia.

(III) Andrew (2), son of Lieutenant Abdiel and Mary (Cummins) McLure, was born August 8, 1775; married, April 17, 1797, Mary Foreman, born October 9, 1777, died September 21, 1852, Andrew (2) McLure died November 3, 1840.

(IV) Mary Ann, daughter of Andrew (2) and Mary (Foreman) McLure, was born April 5. 1800, and was married, in 1822, to William Lazur, as mentioned above (see McLane line). Mrs. Lazur died in 1867.

WILSON This is an old colonial family, the ancestry being trace- able to Miles Standish, the Puritan captain of the Ply- mouth settlement in 1620, the stalwart old pilgrim well known to every generation since those perilous times, partly because of his military prominence which was the first in New England, and partly, in the present generation, because of Longfellow's immortal poem, "The Courtship of Miles Standish." The worthy Puritan captain was twice married; his first wife, Rose Standish, who came over with him in the "Mayflower," died in the early days of the colony; before 1627 he espoused his second wife, Barbara, by whom he left a number of children. He was a great fighter and councilman in those stirring times, continuing in the military service of the colony all his life and com- manding the Plymouth troops, and at one time returning to England for a brief period as the representative of the young colony at the English court. Among the Mayflower pilgrims, companions of Miles Standish, there came also a family of Wilsons, members of the English sect of Separatists, who fled to Holland in 1608, and whose progenitor was Roger Wilson, a member of Pastor Jolin Robinson's church. The descendants of this pilgrim family are scattered throughout New Eng- land, chiefly in Maine and Massachusetts, and the progenitors of the

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family under consideration are probably to be found among them. Lieu- tenant John Wilson, son of Roger Wilson, who was born in Scrooby, England, in 1631, became a soldier in King Philip's war, dying in Woburn, Massachusetts, in 1687. He was twice married; his first wife, Susannah Mills or Miller, dying, and his second wife, Rebecca, surviv- ing him and dying in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, in the year 1749.

(I) The first definitely known progenitor of the family treated of in this sketch was Joseph Wilson, a native of Massachusetts, who mar- ried Jerusha Driscow. Children: Nathaniel, Gowan, Stillman, Joel, Otis, Seward, Putnam, William, John, Mary, Relief, Asa, of whom fur- ther ; Joseph.

(II) Asa. son of Joseph and Jerusha ( Driscow) Wilson, was born in Columbia Falls, Maine, died at Marietta, Ohio, in 1880, at the age of seventy-eight years. He was a farmer all his life. He married Rebecca Newell Joy, born in Ellsworth, Maine, daughter of Benjamin and Abigail (Green) Joy, and granddaughter of Colonel Green, who took command at the battle of Bunker Hill after General Warren had been killed. Mr. and Mrs. Asa Wilson had five children, two of whom are now living : Benjamin Joy, of whom further ; Asa Putnam, who is a farmer in Wayne county, West Virginia.

( III) Benjamin Joy, son of Asa and Rebecca Newell (Joy) Wilson. was born in Brewer, Maine, January 1. 1840. He remained in the home of his birth until he was five years of age, when his parents removed to Ellsworth, Maine, where he received his early schooling : and where they resided for fourteen years, from 1845 to 1859. The family then removed to Virginia, making their home at what is now Burning Springs, Wirt county, West Virginia, where Benjamin J. Wilson operated in the oil fields and there remained until 1863, when they again moved and settled at Marietta, Ohio. Here Benjamin Joy Wilson began operations in gas and oil fields, continuing for awhile, then went to Lincoln county and in 1881 came to Cabell county, West Virginia. His en- terprises met with great success, and he now operates gas and oil lands in five counties in this state and Ohio, beside which he has an extensive busi- ness in timber and lumber. He later made his home in Huntington, and has continued to prosper in his various undertakings. He has been the organizer and promoter of several oil companies which have become great producers, and he has also added the general insurance business to the list of his interest. Mr. Wilson has now become a very prominent figure in the commercial and industrial circles of Huntington, as well as in political ranks, where he is a staunch member of the Republican party. He is also well known socially and is very popular among his friends.

Though Mr. Wilson has been twice married, he has no children to in- herit his name. His first wife was Lucy Hyde Cunningham, daughter of Jonathan and Mary Cunningham. His second wife was Annie Shelton, daughter of Raleigh and Elvira Shelton.

Miller is one of the very common American names, found MILLER in all parts of the country, from which it is not safe to conclude anything about family, nor even about national origin. The present family illustrates this fact, being of known and traceable German ancestry.

On September 5, 1749, there landed on the banks of the Delaware river five hundred and fifty foreigners, from several German states and cities, who had sailed from Rotterdam, Holland, more than one month before. Most of these remained in Pennsylvania, but some removed into Virginia, where fellow-countrymen were already settled. These early

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German settlers of Virginia are said to have had a distinction, perhaps unique, among early American immigrants, in the fact that nearly all could read and write.

( I) Ulrich Mueller, the first member of this family about whom we have definite information, was a burgher of Zweibrucken.

(II) Jacob, son of Ulrich Mueller, the immigrant, was born about 1698, died in May, 1776. He stayed first in York, Pa., after his coming to America. Later, with his wife and six children, he crossed into Vir- ginia, by way of the old Packhorse ford, just east of Shepherdstown, Maryland, and early in 1752 he settled in the Shenandoah valley. (11 April 2d of that year, Lord Fairfax granted him four hundred acres on Narrow Passage river, near the border between Frederick and Augusta counties. He bought other lands, and received two more grants from Lord Fairfax, so that by 1766 he was owner of nearly two thousand acres in one of the finest parts of the valley. Twelve hundred acres he laid out in a town, which he called Muellerstadt: when in 1761 this was made a town. George Washington, then a burgess from Frederick county, had the name changed to Woodstock. His will refers to books in English and "Dutch," probably meaning German. He married Bar- bara - Children: Ulrich : Jacob : Barbara, married - Brubaker : Christian, of whom further; Susannah: Mary; Martin.

( III) Christian Miller, son of Jacob and Barbara Mueller, was born at Zweibrucken, in 1744, died at Woodstock, April 28, 1836. From August, 1780, to May. 1781, he was sergeant in a company of Virginia continental soldiers. A newspaper, published at the time of his deatlı, states that he was the last revolutionary soldier in the Shenandoah val- ley, and that his funeral was the largest ever seen in Woodstock. He married, in 1771. Catharine Wiseman, born in 1746, died in May, 1837. Children : John, of whom further ; Henry, married, in 1815, Anne Clen- denin : eight others, of whom two died young.

(IV) John, son of Christian and Catharine (Wiseman) Miller, was born at Woodstock, Virginia. May 31. 1781, died March 19, 1846. In 1795 he went to the Great Kanawha valley : his father gave him forty pounds in money, and some advice as never to be security for anyone, as he had been to his sorrow, and to be honest and fair in all things. For a time he stopped at Fort Clendenin, where he met a girl whom, ten years later, he married. He settled at Gallipolis, Ohio, an old French town, four miles below the mouth of the Kanawha. Here he found but two other persons who could speak English: he, therefore, learned French. As he already understood German also, this made him master of three languages. He was a hatter at Gallipolis until 1810, when he became a farmer. In that year he removed across the Ohio river to the Virginia side, and built a brick house, said to have been the first brick residence in Mason county. Nine years later he removed again, to Teay's valley, where he bought one thousand acres on the Richmond and Lexing- ton turnpike ; to this he added several hundred acres, and he continued in farming. Henry Clay, Marshall, and other distinguished men are said to have been his guests, in the free hospitality of the time. He moved for the last time in 1831, and settled in the Kanawha valley, about four miles from Point Pleasant. Here he purchased two farms, Locust Hill and Beech Hill, about nine hundred acres in all, part of the George Wash- ington grant in 1772. He owned about twenty-five slaves. For over forty years, he was a Master Mason, and he was a charter member of Morning Dawn Lodge, at Gallipolis.

Mr. Miller married (first) January 26, 1806. Sophia, born March 27. 1783. died April 17, 1823. daughter of Major Wil- liam and Margaret (Handley) Clendenin. Major William Clen-

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denin was a private at the battle of Point Pleasant, afterward major in the Kanawha militia, of which his brother George was colonel, and Daniel Boone lieutenant-colonel. Three times he was a member of the Virginia assembly for Kanawha county, and he held other offices. Abont 1790 he settled opposite Gallipolis. In 1804 he carried the petition to the assembly, asking the organization of Mason county, and he was the first representative of this county. In 1772 Lord Dunmore gave Major Thomas Bullitt a patent for a large tract of land on the Great Kanawha river; fourteen years later he met George Clendenin at Rich- mond, and sold him, from this grant, the present site of Charleston, West Virginia, then in Greenbrier county. Virginia. George Clendenin settled there, probably either in the fall of 1786 or in the spring of 1787, being the first settler within the limits of Charleston. He built a fort on the river bank, which took his name, not later than 1787. The name of the new settlement, formerly Charlestown, was probably suggested by him in honor of his father. (This is not the account given by some, but is prob- ably correct ; he is not known to have had a brother named Charles). Mr. Miller married (second) October 23, 1823, Sallie, born January 6, 1797, died January 26, 1872, daughter of Colonel John and Elizabeth (Stodghill) Henderson, of Henderson, at the mouth of the Kanawha. Children, five by first, six by second, wife : I. Christopher, born December 6, 1806; married, in 1830, Letitia Hamilton. 2. William Clendenin, of whom further. 3. Charles Clendenin, born February 23, 1811, died March 13, 1898; married, in 1831, Eleanor Cantrell. 4. Henry Harrison, born in December, 1813 : married, in 1837, Eliza Chapman. 5. Margaret, born November 25. 1818, died August 19, 1859: married, December 12, 1837, Thomas Thornburg. 6. Nancy, born October 1, 1827; married, September 16, 1852, Rev. Stephen Kisling Vaught. 7. James Henderson, born June 6, 1829. died February 19, 1898; married, March 27, 1851, Harriet E. Craig. 8. Anne Eliza, born November 8, 1831, died July 16, 1854; married, November 13, 1850, James Robert Buffington. 9. Mary Caroline, born February 20, 1834, died in December, 1899; married, May 24. 1859, Absalom P. Chapman. IO. Rhoda James, born October 13, 1836; married, July 25, 1855. Edmund Chancelor. 11. Sarah Emily, born November 20, 1839: married, September 18, 1870, Hunter Ben Jenkins.

(V) William Clendenin, son of John and Sophia (Clendenin) Miller, was born in Mason county, Virginia, January 26, 1809. died July 27, 1886. He was the pioneer merchant at Barboursville, Cabell county, Virginia, and was the leading spirit in his time of public improvements at this place. He had here one of the most elegant and hospitable homes in the county, built of brick, with fourteen rooms and four halls. The leading business block, the lock and dam and the old court house and jail were built by him. He married, March 6, 1838, Eliza, daughter of -- and Marie Therese Sophie Clotilde Raison (De la Geneste) Gardner, who was born at Greenup, Kentucky ; she died in 1888. A few years before the French revolution, her grandfather, Marquis Maison De la Geneste, left France and settled in Santo Domingo, West Indies. There he pur- chased three sugar plantations and hundreds of negroes. His only child, Marie Therese Sophie Clotilde Raison, at the age of fourteen, was mar- ried to Joseph Gardner, a merchant trader, sailing out of Boston. He was related to General Putnam. He sold his ships, and settled on a plantation in Santo Domingo. In 1796 occurred the insurrection of the slaves. By the aid of a slave they escaped to a United States vessel and were landed in Philadelphia. They went to Pittsburgh by stage coach, and took passage on a boat loaded for New Orleans, purposing to set- tle among the French, in Louisiana. The water was low in the Ohio,

Hi . Harwell

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and the boat ran aground near Greenup. Changing their purpose, they rented the largest house in that place and opened an inn. From Santo Domingo they had brought some jewelry and two slaves; the French government afterward gave them a partial indemnity. Children of Wil- liam Clendenin and Eliza (Gardner) Miller : I. Charles, deceased. 2. George F., married Kate Davidson, granddaughter of Governor Noble, of Indiana, he now lives in Indianapolis. 3. John William, of whom further. 4. Joseph S., married Florence Tice, he lives at Kenova, West Virginia. 5. Eugenia, married B. H. Thackston, they live at Huntington. 6. Flor- ence Gardner, married George F. Miller, they live at Huntington.

(VI) John William, son of William Clendenin and Eliza (Gardner) Miller, was born at Barboursville, Virginia, February 27, 1845. He at- tended Marshall College until the outbreak of the civil war, and private schools subsequently. His first business position was at Richmond, Ken- tucky, where he was clerk in a store for two years. He then, at the same place, started a store of his own and conducted this for four years. In 1868 he returned to Barboursville, where he has continuously lived front that time, being engaged in farming and the live stock business. He owns a farm a mile south of Barboursville. He is a Democrat, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He married, at Richmond, Kentucky, November 20, 1865, Annie E., born in Kentucky, January 8, 1847, daughter of Albert A. Curtis .. Her father was paymaster in the federal army for Kentucky troops during the civil war, and for four years was a member of the Kentucky legislature. He died about 1886, his wife a year earlier. Children of John William and Annie E. (Curtis) Miller : 1. Frank, deceased. 2. William C., a farmer at Barboursville. 3. Albert M., deceased ; he was a conductor on the Chesapeake & Ohio rail- road, and was killed by his train; married Nina Parker, of Lexington, Kentucky ; had one son, John W. 4. Bessie A., living at home ; she is a teacher of art in Morris-Harvey College. 5. Joseph T., deceased ; mar- ried - and left two children : Virginia and Charles. 6. Annie Coelina, married Earl E. Spencer, of Barboursville ; children : Annie Virginia and Earl Edwin. 7. Thomas E., a merchant at Branchland postoffice, Lincoln county, West Virginia.

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West Virginia and its people, Volume II, Part 27

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