USA > West Virginia > West Virginia and its people, Volume II > Part 28
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MAXWELL Hu Maxwell, well known as an historical writer, was born at St. George, in what is now West Virginia, Sep- tember 22, 1860, son of Rufus and Sarah Jane ( Bonni- field) Maxwell. He is chiefly of Scotch descent. His ancestors were in this country two hundred years ago; members of the family fought in the French and Indian wars, in the revolution, and some were slain in the Indian wars that concerned the region now known as West Virginia.
Mr. Maxwell's first sixteen years were spent upon a farm. His edu- cation was looked after by his parents, who were college people-a rare thing in that section in that day. He spent four years in study prepara- tory to a place as engineer in the navy, but abandoned this effort on account of defective eyesight which would not have met the prescribed The following two years were given principally to cutting logs in
tests. the forest. In the meantime he taught school four months, and wrote a history of "The Conquest of the Ohio Valley," for which he was unable to find a publisher. At the age of twenty-three he began newspaper work to the extent of meeting expenses of travel. He went to New Orleans, thence to California by way of Mexico, then spent a year in the west- some time in the Sierra Nevada mountains, remote from settlements, visited the Colorado and Mojave deserts, and then went to some of the Pacific Islands. During that year he wrote "Idyls of the Golden Shore,"
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a volume of poems on California subjects which was subsequently pub- lished by Putnam's Sons, of New York. In 1884 he returned to West Virginia, and bought a small weekly newspaper, the Tucker County Pio- ncer, which cost him two and a half years of arduous effort, and which he then abandoned as a failure. He turned again to the wilds, and went to British America with the purpose of descending the Mackenzie river to the Arctic ocean, but plans miscarried, and when he reached the mouth of the Red River of the North, and not finding the parties who were to meet him there, he turned west, crossed the Rocky mountains at the head of the Saskatchewan river, and reached the Pacific ocean opposite Van- couver Island. Much of the two thousand mile overland journey was made with a single companion. He followed the coast as far as south Oregon, and the valley of the Columbia river up five hundred miles from the sea. He also undertook to reach the crater of Mt. Shasta, but, suf- fering from an accident, was unable to do so. The next two years he spent in California, exploring the mountains with a special view to de- termining the history of the former glaciers, and their influence upon the geology and timber of that region. During this time he was much with Indians, partly learned their language, and made a dictionary of that of the Digger Indians, ascertaining that it contained 1263 words, nearly half of which were of Spanish or English origin. He returned east, then California again. He was engaged in newspaper work almost continuously for the next five years, and in connection with it during two summers studied the forests of the Sierra Nevada range, to determine their influence upon the stream flow upon which irrigation depended, and this marked the beginning of the agitation favoring forest protection and which some years later culminated in the organization of the United States Forest Service. During this time he was appointed a delegate to the International Irrigation Congress, which he attended. He was a pioneer in forest investigation, and his conclusions have been fully sus- tained by more extensive studies since made by the government.
Returning east in 1896, Mr. Maxwell engaged in writing and publish- ing local histories of Hampshire, Randolph and Barbour counties, and then relinquished such work on account of the large development of com- mercial printing, which taxed the capacity of his printing house. During this period he wrote a history of West Virginia which was adopted as a text book in the public schools of the State. He became editor of the Morgantown Chronicle at its founding, and continued for three years, then resigning to accept his present position of expert in the United States Forest Service. He served as such for two and a half years in Washing- ton, and was then transferred to Chicago. He has represented West Vir- ginia in all the important waterways, irrigation and conservation con- gresses. In 1908 he was appointed chairman of the West Virginia Con- servation Commission, and assisted in the preparation of a report which was published by the state. In 1910 the College of William and Mary published his "Use and Abuse of Forests by Virginia Indians." The national government has published various of his reports and mono- graphs, among them being "Surface Conditions and Stream Flow," Wood Using Industries of Massachusetts," and also of Maryland, Michi- gan, Louisiana, Texas and Florida, and many others on kindred subjects.
Mr. Maxwell is a Republican in politics, and in religion inclines to Methodism. He married, in California, Miss Anna Humphreys. Their children are: Selby Frederick, Marian, Anna, and Alexander Wilson.
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BELL Samuel C. Bell was brought from Ireland, where he was born, to America, by his parents when he was seven years old. He married a German lady and settled at Clifton Furn- ace about eight miles from the present site of Morgantown, in Monon- galia county, West Virginia. His children were: Samuel, William, John, Henry, George, Anna, Agnes and Margaret. William Bell emi- grated to the state of Tennessee and was the progenitor of the Bell fam- ily in that state. Jolin Bell was never married and lived to old age in Monongalia county. Henry Bell removed to Marion county, West Vir- ginia, where he lived to old age. George Bell removed to near Wheel- ing, West Virginia, where he raised a family and lived to old age. Anna Bell never married and lived all her life at Morgantown, West Virginia. Agnes Bell died in her infancy. Margaret Bell married Samuel G. Stev- ens, who located in Calhoun county, West Virginia, where they raised a large family, and she lived to a ripe old age.
(II) Samuel, son of Samuel C. Bell, was born in Monongalia county, West Virginia, in 1812. He served both as constable and justice of the peace in Calhoun county, and at the outbreak of the civil war he joined the Confederate army in 1862. After being engaged in several impor- tant battles, he was taken prisoner by the Union forces, and together with a number of other Confederate prisoners was imprisoned at Alton. Illinois, where he died in March, 1863, from the effects of the ill treat- ment of his captors. He married Susan Stevens, whose father was a Frenchman and whose mother was a Scotch lady. They located in Cal- houn county, West Virginia, sometime prior to the outbreak of the civil war. They had the following children: Samantha Ann, married Wil- liam T. Haverty; Drusilla, married Isaac T. Law; William Edgar, of whom further ; Henry Perry : Margaret Virginia, married Marshall W. Trippett.
(III) William Edgar, son of Samuel and Susan ( Stevens) Bell, was born March 8, 1847. Being the oldest of the two sons of his father, the care of his widowed mother fell largely on him upon the death of his father in March, 1863, and during the fierce struggles of the civil war and for some years after its close he worked long and hard to keep their family together and to provide for their needs. Early in life he learned the trade of shoemaker and for many years he supplied a large trade with boots and shoes. William Edgar Bell has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for a long number of years, and it has long been a tradition in the family that a member of this family signed the first charter for the first Odd Fellows Lodge in America, be- ing Washington Lodge No. I. of Baltimore, Maryland, instituted April 26, 1819, and chartered by a number of the Past Grands of the order in England. On December 23. 1866, he married Rachel Rebecca, daughter of Hiram and Matilda (Knight) Ferrell, whose father was reared in Monongalia county and was of Irish-Scotch descent, and he was one of the pioneer citizens of Calhoun county, having settled in that county when there were not more than a half dozen families living in the entire territory now covered by the county. Mr. Bell was formerly engaged in the mercantile business in Calhoun county, but removed to Point Pleas- ant. in Mason county, West Virginia. in 1911, where he and his wife still live. His children were: Matilda Virginia, married Asberry Pol- ing. a farmer now residing near Parkersburg. West Virginia: Samuel Paris, of whom further; Hiram Prince, who was a minister in the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South, and died at Cedarville. West Virginia. August 26, 1896; Perry Pious, a merchant at Point Pleasant, West Vir- ginia : Robert Pierre, editor of the Point Pleasant Register, of Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
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(IV ) Samuel Paris, son of William Edgar and Rachel Rebecca (Ferrell) Bell, was born at Grantsville, Calhoun county, West Virginia, July 23, 1870. He received his early education in the public schools, and at the age of sixteen years began teaching school. At the age of twenty- one years he was elected county surveyor for Calhoun county, and was re-elected to the same position, but before his second term expired he resigned his office to enter actively in the practice of law. He read law while he was teaching school, afterwards entering the office of Hon. J. M. Hamilton, now United States congressman from the fourth dis- trict of West Virginia. He studied law under Mr. Hamilton for some time, and was admitted to the practice of the law in February, 1897, and remained in the office with Mr. Hamilton until January 1, 1905. At this time a law partnership was formed with A. G. Matthews, with offices at Grantsville, West Virginia, which continued until 1910, when a law partnership was formed with the Hon. Walter Pendleton, of Spencer, West Virginia, under the firm name of Pendleton, Matthews & Bell, with offices at Point Pleasant, Mason county, Spencer, Roane county, and Grantsville, Calhoun county, and at which time Mr. Bell removed to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where he still resides.
He was at one time the editor of the Calhoun Chronicle, published at Grantsville, West Virginia, and is at the present time editor of the Lay- man's Herald, the official organ of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in West Virginia, and which is published at Sutton, West Vir- ginia. He is a member of the following fraternities : Eureka Lodge, No. 40, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Grantsville, West Virginia : Point Pleasant Lodge, No. 33, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Point Pleasant, West Virginia ; Kanawha Encampment, No. 65, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, of Dodrill, West Virginia; Miriam Rebe- kah Lodge, No. I, of Parkersburg, West Virginia; Parkersburg Canton, No. 7, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Parkers- . burg, West Virginia ; Spencer Lodge, No. 55, Knights of Pythias, of Spencer, West Virginia; and Shawnee Tribe, No. 25, Im- proved Order of Red Men, of Dodrill, West Virginia. He was grand master of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows of West Virginia, in the years 1905 and 1906, and represented the Grand Lodge of West Vir- ginia in the Sovereign Grand Lodge at its sessions held at Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1907, and at Denver, Colorado, in 1908. He was the Demo- cratic nominee for the office of judge of the circuit court of the fifth judi- cial circuit in West Virginia, in the campaign of 1912, but was defeated in the general election, along with the rest of his ticket in the state, although he ran more than a thousand votes ahead of his ticket in that circuit.
He was married July 12, 1893, to Ona Belle, daughter of Minter J. and Mary (Rutherford) Stump, of Stumpton, Gilmer county, West Vir- ginia. His wife was born November 1, 1877, at Normantown, Gilmer coun- ty, West Virginia, and her ancestors were the first settlers of Central West Virginia, and many of them have reached positions of prominence, both in county and state. Mr. and Mrs. Bell have the following children : Myrtle Lucretia, born March 11, 1895; Holly Page, February 21, 1897; Wilmea Kate, March 18, 1899: William Wade. December 20, 1900; Vir- gil Millard, January 31, 1903: Samuel Paris Jr., April 17, 1906; Mattie Eunice, June II, 1908: Mary Elizabeth, July 31, 1910.
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Huntington has no more aggressive business man than BICKEL Robert Allen Bickel, representative of the Home Life In- surance Company, of New York. On his father's side Mr. Bickel comes of Pennsylvania stock, while through his mother he is a descendant of ancestors who made their home in Old Kentucky.
(I) Robert S. Bickel, grandfather of Robert Allen Bickel, was a native of Pennsylvania, and spent the active period of his life at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in the merchant tailoring business. He died in 1905, aged eighty years.
(II) Anthony, son of Robert S. Bickel, was born at Point Pleasant, West Virginia. He conducted a drugstore in his native place. He mar- ried Jennie Borders, born at Catlettsburg, Kentucky, daughter of Allen P. and Louisa (Mayo) Borders, and granddaughter of Archibald Bor- ders, a pioneer settler of Sandy Valley, Lawrence county, Kentucky. He was a large slaveholder and filled the office of judge. Allen P. Bor- ders was born in Lawrence county, and was a farmer and merchant. He died at the age of sixty-eight years. His wife belonged to one of the prominent families of the Big Sandy. Mr. and Mrs. Bickel were the parents of two children: Robert Allen, of whom further; and a daughter who died in infancy. Mr. Bickel died in 1877, at the early age of twenty-four years, and his widow later married William D. Roffe, by whom she had one child: Hildegarde, wife of H. A. Scholze, of Steubenville, Ohio. Mr. Roffe died December 4, 1912, and his widow resides at Louisa, Kentucky.
(III) Robert Allen, son of Anthony and Jennie (Borders) Bickel, was born May 19, 1876, at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and was still an infant when his parents moved to Lawrence county, Kentucky. It was there that he received his education, and on leaving school he became a clerk in the store conducted by his grandfather at George's Creek, Lawrence county, retaining the position eight years. At the end of that time, being then about twenty-two years old, he went to Washington, D. C., where, after serving four years as clerk in a hotel, he became cashier for the firm of Armour & Company. From Washington Mr. Bickel returned to Louisa, Lawrence county, and there engaged in the insurance business until October, 1910, when he came to Huntington as representative of the Home Life Insurance Company, of New York. He has charge of the business of the southern half of West Virginia and of eighteen counties in Eastern Kentucky. A large portion of Mr. Bickel's attention has been given to the real estate business, and in addi- tion to being the owner of numerous residence lots in Huntington he still retains considerable business property at Lousia, Kentucky. In poli- tics he is a Democrat. His fraternal affliations are with Apperson Lodge, No. 195, Free and Accepted Masons, of Louisa, Kentucky, and is a member of the Scottish body : the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks ; the Huntington Chamber of Commerce and the Southern West Virginia Life Underwriters Association. He is a member of the South- ern Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Bickel married, January 10, 1903, at Ironton, Ohio, Sute M. Mil- lies, a native of Lawrence county, Ohio. Mr. Millies has been many years deceased and his widow is still living at Ironton. Mr. and Mrs. Bickel are the parents of three children: Roberta A., born January 20, 1905 : Florence Louisa, May 3, 1909; and Hildegarde May, October 27, 1910. Brief as has been Mr. Bickel's residence in Huntington he has proved himself to be the type of man whose presence is an advantage to any community, an able and upright business man, and a progressive and public-spirited citizen.
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Ransom Whitten, the first member of this family of WHITTEN whom we have definite information, was born October 16, 1791, on his father's farm near Lynchburg, Camp- bell county, Virginia, died April 30, 1868, in Hannan district of Mason county, West Virginia. About 1840 he settled on the Ohio river at what is now the town of Glenwood, but remained only a short time, as fever was very prevalent and the country rough and mountainous. He finally secured a large tract of land nine miles beyond his first location, where he engaged in farming and established an inn, which soon became well known and which was called the "Whitten Inn at the Cross Roads." He married Sarah Hannan, born in Hannan district, Mason county, West Virginia, February 2, 1789. died May 4. 1862. Child: John William, mentioned below.
( II) John William, son of Ransom and Sarah ( Hannan ) Whitten, was born in Mason county, Virginia, December 15, 1824, died January 12, 1862. He was a farmer and was a southern sympathizer ; he was taken prisoner and confined in the jail at Point Pleasant, and after his release, returned to his home, where shortly afterwards he contracted pneumonia and died. He married Mellinda Atkinson, daughter of Arch- ibald D. and Jane ( Adams) Campbell, born February 16, 1840. Her father, who was born August 6, 1808, and died November 8, 1868, in Brooke county, Virginia, was the son of Robert Campbell who emigrated from Ireland. Her mother, who was born July 8, 1807, and died Novem- ber 17, 1885, in Hannan district, Mason county, West Virginia, was the daughter of Alexander Adams, who was born near Paris, Washington county, Pennsylvania. Child of John William and Mellinda Atkinson (Campbell) Whitten: John Lamar, mentioned below.
(III) Judge John Lamar Whitten, son of John William and Mellinda Atkinson (Campbell) Whitten, was born in Mason county, West Vir- ginia, February 5, 1861. He received his early education in the public schools and at the Point Pleasant Academy. He later attended the Na- tional Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio. He taught school for four years in the Hannan district, and then studied law in the offices of J. B. Menager and Charles E. Hogg, the latter is now dean of the Law School of the University of West Virginia. He was admitted to the bar in West Virginia in 1883, and in the same year was elected superintendent of the schools for Mason county, which office he filled so satisfactorily that he was re-elected in 1885. Upon the expiration of his second term as superintendent of schools he entered into active practice of his profes- sion and continued until 1890, when he removed to Washington, D. C., and was employed for two years in census work, meanwhile in 1891, ac- quiring the degree of Master of Laws from the University of George- town, D. C. He then returned to Point Pleasant and resumed the prac- tice of law. In 1896 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Mason coun- ty for four years, and at the expiration of his term was re-elected and served in that office until the death of Judge Frank Guthrie, when he was appointed by Governor White to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Guth- rie as judge of the circuit court, which comprised Mason, Putnam and Kanawha counties and was known as the seventh judicial court. During the few months that he acted as circuit judge he despatched a large amount of business that had accumulated during the illness of Judge Guthrie, and tried many important cases. Five of his decisions were ap- pealed to the supreme court which sustained Judge Whitten in each case. Mr. Whitten was appointed referee in bankruptcy under Judge Keeler. and still holds that office. In March, 1909, he was elected mayor of Point Pleasant and was re-elected in March, 1911, by an overwhelming majority. It was during his tenure of office that he officiated at the
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memorable unveiling of the Battle Monument erected in commemoration of the victory of the Virginia colonial troops comprising the left wing of Lord Dunmore's army, and under command of General Andrew Lewis, over the United Indian Nations commanded by the renowned Shawnee chief, Cornstalk, the battle being fought October 10, 1774, and the monu- ment unveiled in 1909. Mr. Whitten is a member of Mount Zion Bap- tist Church at Upland, Mason county, West Virginia ; West Virginia Bar Association ; Lodge No. 33, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having held the office of noble grand; Oriental Lodge No. 49, Knights of Pythias, in which he has held the office of chancellor commander ; Catalpa Camp No. 4883, Modern Woodmen of America, and the National Union.
He married, April 18, 1888, Mary Rachel, daughter of Henry and Ann Eliza (Newman) Gwinn. Her father was an extensive farmer and timber dealer and was for several years a member of the board of educa- tion of Hannan district, Mason county, West Virginia : his children were, Othniel Edward, William Walter, C. Eugene, Mary Rachel, referred to above, Van H. ; Minnie Anderson, married W. D. Holloway ; Martena E., married E. F. Wickline : D. Byrd. Children of John Lamar and Mary Rachel (Gwinn) Whitten: Rudolph Gwinn, born March 10, 1889: Ann Eliza, born April 15, 1891, who graduated in 1911 from the Shenandoah Collegiate Institute and College of Music, and is now ( 1913) studying at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts ; Mellinda L., born June 29, 1893; John Lamar Jr., born June 5, 1898; Othniel Edward, born September 1, 1901.
MITCHELL James Mitchell, the founder of the family in this country, was a North of Ireland Presbyterian. He was an orphan, was apprenticed by his uncle, and learned the trade of wheelwright and loommaking. Becoming of age and marrying, he and his wife decided to try their fortunes in the new world across the sea. and accordingly sailed from Western Ireland. intending to land in New York, but their ship was delayed by severe storms, and it was not until six weeks after setting sail that they were landed at Philadelphia. They possessed in money only one pound sterl- ing upon landing. He worked in the ship yards for a time and then went to Pittsburgh, where he engaged in making looms and spinning wheels. After the local market had become supplied with these, he built a boat. and packing his possessions in it, drifted down the Ohio river and landed at Racine, Ohio, a Presbyterian colony, and purchased a farm in Virginia, where the town of Spillman now stands. The farm has lately been purchased by Senator Camden for its valuable coal deposits. He still continued to make looms and spinning wheels, and was accus- tomed to load them in canoes and carry them to Charleston, where he found a ready sale for them. Mr. Mitchell had married in Ireland. be- fore coming to America. Mary Anderson. Child: Thomas, mentioned below.
(II) Thomas, son of James and Mary ( Anderson) Mitchell, was born November 18. 1815. He spent the greater part of his life farm- ing at West Columbia, on a farm that was purchased by his father in 1804. He married Barbara, daughter of Samuel and Margaret ( Eck- ard) Sommerville, of Mason county, who was born in May. 1824. Her father fought in the war of 1812. Children of Thomas and Barbara (Sommerville) Mitchell, all living in 1912: Rebecca Jane. born in May. 1844: James Samuel, born in November, 1847: Mary Margaret, born in 1849: Robert Edwin, mentioned below; Ann Catherine, born in 1855 ;
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John Thomas, born in 1859; Claudius Jamison, born in 1863; and Wil- liam Calvin, born in 1866.
(III) Robert Edwin, son of Thomas and Barbara (Sommerville) Mitchell, was born February 25, 1852, near West Columbia, Mason county, West Virginia. He received his early education in the public schools and during the years 1872 and 1873, was a student at Tuppers Plains Seminary. He then attended the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio, completing his course in 1875, and in 1877 was a can- didate for superintendent of schools. In 1878 he was a candidate for clerk of the county court against Colonel J. P. R. B. Smith, but was de- feated. He then taught school for six years in West Columbia, Clif- ton and Point Pleasant until in 1884 he was elected clerk of the cir- cuit court, which office he held for three consecutive terms until 1903. He was then appointed assistant cashier of the Point Pleasant National Bank, and served in that capacity for four years, when in 1908 he re- signed to again become a candidate for clerk of the county court against Colonel J. P. R. B. Smith, his opponent of thirty years before for the same position. This time, however, Mr. Mitchell was elected, and he still holds the office. He is a Republican in politics, and is a member of Mintern Lodge, No. 19, Free and Accepted Masons, and of Oriental Lodge, No. 49, Knights of Pythias. Mr. Mitchell married, in November, 1885, Emma Estella Mallory, of Racine, Ohio. Child: Eva Louise, born January 5, 1888, who graduated in June, 1910, from Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, and married Frank B. Gullum, of Colum- bus, Ohio, professor of chemistry in the high school of that city (1913).
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