USA > West Virginia > West Virginia and its people, Volume II > Part 36
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BROWN John Brown, a native of Virginia, was a prominent farmer in Montgomery county, that state, during his active life. His demise occurred in Montgomery county in 1856. He married and had a son Charles C., mentioned below.
(II) Charles C .. son of John Brown, was born at Christiansburg. Montgomery county, Virginia, in 1826, and he died at Mount Hope, West Virginia, in 1910, aged eighty-four years. He was a mechanic by trade and lived in Mount Hope for half a century. For four years he was a mounted soldier in the Confederate army and during the three days of the battle of Gettysburg was despatch bearer. He participated in many other important battles of the civil war but was never seriously wounded. It is worthy of note here that Mr. Brown was a total ab- stainer, never having touched liquor in his life. He was highly esteemed as a worthy citizen at Mount Hope and his death was uniformly mourned throughout Fayette county. He married Martha M. Blake, a native of Mount Hope and a resident of this city (1912) ; she is seventy-seven years old. Her father, William Blake, was one of the old pioneer farmers in Fayette county and when he came to this district had a grant of sev- enteen thousand acres of land in the vicinity of Mount Hope. Mr. and Mrs. Brown had seven children, one of whom, Annie, is deceased, her death having occurred in 1879. aged eighteen years. The other children are : William Henry, a farmer near Shady Spring, West Virginia : Mol- lie J., wife of Charles Pack, of Shady Spring ; Elizabeth Cecille, now Mrs. A. D. Moseley, of Mount Hope; Arrie M., wife of Cabbell Moseley, of Mount Hope; Charles Milton, mentioned below : and Rosie F., widow of A. P. Bailey, conducts the Central Hotel at Mount Hope and is the owner of considerable property in this city.
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(III) Dr. Charles Milton Brown, son of Charles C. and Martha M. (Blake) Brown, was born at Mount Hope, Fayette county, West Virginia February 18, 1870. His preliminary educational training was obtained in the Mount Hope public schools and in the University of Louisville, in which institution he studied medicine. He was licensed to practice med- icine in West Virginia in 1896 and in that year located at Jumping Branch. Summers county. Subsequently he attended the Maryland Med- ical College, at Baltimore, and was graduated therein as a member of the class of 1902, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He has since been engaged in medical work at Mount Hope and is held in high renown here as an unusually skilled physician and surgeon. His professional ser- vice has been prompted by a laudable ambition for advancement as well as by deep sympathy and humanitarian principles that urge him to put forth his best efforts in the alleviation of pain and suffering. He has gained recognition from his contemporaries as one of the representative doctors in West Virginia and the trust reposed in him by the public is indicated by the liberal patronage awarded him. He is a Democrat in politics and is a member of the Christian church.
In 1893. at Mount Hope, Dr. Brown married Ida Lee Turner, who was born in Fayette county, West Virginia, daughter of William and Jane (Bragg) Turner, the former of whom is deceased and the latter of whom is a resident of Mount Hope. Mr. Turner was born in Scotland and was a mine foreman prior to his death. Dr. and Mrs. Brown became the parents of seven children, of whom Charles William died in infancy. Those living are : Maude A., Iris I .. , Gladys F., Regina V., Hercules A. : nd Maxine.
David B. Smith, the distinguished public man and state
SMITH senator. a man of commanding influence throughout his state, was born near Baltimore, Maryland, April 13, 1861. His career was a remarkable instance of the success for himself. and of wide and wholesome power in the community, achieved through a reso- lute will and an energy, ambition, and ability that never faltered at the most serious obstacles. Though he died one of the leading men of the state, he had, through the reverses of war, begun life without means. Through sheer pluck he made his way up to the highest positions in the state and wielded an influence second to none. He was the son of L. J. Smith, who served on the Confederate side in the civil war and lost everything.
A few years of the boy's early childhood were spent in the public schools, but it soon became necessary for him to go to work. Thus at the age of nine years he went out into the world to support himself and help support his father's family. His first work was as a helper in a har- vest field, doing his tasks among the men employed there so as to gain him the commendation of the man in charge. From being a farm hand he went into the employ of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company, be- ginning in the round-house wiping engines. From that he passed on to the coal bin where he shovelled coal. hecoming next a machinist's helper and soon mastering the machinist's trade. He then fired a locomotive. and finally became a locomotive engineer. He was only fifteen years old when he went into the machine shops of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company, and was seventeen when in 1878 he secured the place of fire- man with the road. He held the responsible position of locomotive engi- neer for thirty-two years, running during that time many special trains in which rode directors and noted visitors of the road. On many occa- sions he was entrusted with the specials on which were Morgan, Depew,
D. B. Smitty
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Vanderbilt, Astor, Ingalls, Huntington, Harriman and many others of the distinguished railroad men of the country. He hauled Mr. Bryan on his speaking tour through the state, and in 1900 Mr. Smith made the ac- quaintance of Colonel Roosevelt on his speaking tour through Kentucky and West Virginia. He had charge of Colonel Roosevelt's special train at that time and from then on was a warm personal friend and ardent sup- porter of Colonel Roosevelt. In all the long years of his career as a loco- motive engineer, Mr. Smith, who was a total abstainer, never had a blot against him and left an absolutely clean record. Upon leaving the service of the company in whose employ he had been so long, Mr. Smith went out to California. His stay there was, however, short, and after a few months in the west he returned to Huntington, West Virginia, where he lived until his death. As a business man he put the same qualities into play he had shown in his earlier manhood in the exacting employ of a great railroad. He had great executive ability and a remarkable intuition of human character. It was owing to this, probably, that he met with such success as an organizer of business projects. Not only did he represent several lines of insurance with noteworthy success but he organized and carried into a prosperous career the Huntington Stove Company and also the National Produce and Feed Company.
A Republican in his convictions, Mr. Smith carried into politics the whole-souled enthusiasm and tireless activity that were characteristic of the man. He served in various high official positions, being a council- man of Huntington and holding a seat in that body for two terms, and being twice elected to the legislature. In 1908 he was elected to the state senate to serve until 1912. In all these offices he left a record that was not only above reproach but was one full of the intense and unselfish ac- tivity of the man. He was elected by acclamation as one of the "Big Six" delegates-at-large to the Republican National Convention at Chicago. While a member of the lower house he was always one of the floor lead- ers and was appointed to serve on the most important committees. It be- came remarked that any measure that he favored always was carried through. To him belongs a large share of the credit for the tax laws of West Virginia which are considered among the best in the country. To him was due also the ingenious move which successfully carried through the Prohibition amendment permitting the people to vote on the liquor question in 1912. Noted for his promptness, regularity in attendance. and hard work he was as conspicuous for the definite and clear cut stand he took on any subject and for his fair dealing and courtesy to an oppo- nent .. His early interest in Colonel Roosevelt and his policies has been mentioned. He became a strong adherent of Progressive principles, and was an important factor in carrying the state for Roosevelt. He had been known so long as a strong Progressive that it was inevitable that he should be sent as the delegate of the West Virginia Progressive Conven- tion to the Progressive Convention at Chicago, August 5. 1912. He was thus, strangely enough, a delegate to two national conventions in one year. In his own phrase he "attended the funeral of one party and the birth of another." Mr. Smith was a thirty-second degree Mason and belonged also to the Odd Fellows. He and his wife were members of the Baptist church and earnest and active in church work of all kinds : he was a dea- con in this church for a number of years. Not only a religious man Mr. Smith exerted a powerful influence along moral lines among the men of the railroad and elsewhere. He discouraged both by precept and exam- ple the use of tobacco and alcohol, and always strongly advocated with the men their saving their money to buy homes.
Mr. Smith married, February 24, 1885. at Huntington, Lizzie B. Woody, a native of Putnam county, West Virginia, where she was born
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on Christmas day, 1867. Her father, Samuel Woody, has been dead twenty-eight years. Her mother, Margaret ( Carr ) Woody, now seventy- five years old, makes her home with her daughter in Huntington. One son was born to Senator and Mrs. Smith, George Edward, who died twenty-five years ago.
In the prime of life and in the full flush of the honors he had so justly won, Senator Smith died suddenly, January 20, 1913. Beloved and revered not only by the smaller community in which he had made his home, but throughout the state at large, his death has left a void that will not soon be filled. His life, though one of splendid and useful achievement, was one of still greater promise. His was a striking and lovable personality, and one whose value to the state it would be hard to overestimate. The death of a man of this type is an enduring loss to the community that mourns him and among the wider circles of the human brotherhood whom he served with such zeal and fidelity he will long be remembered as an example of dauntless courage, of unselfish de- votion to the public good, and of the highest graces of Christian man- hood.
MCGUIRE Of staunch Irish extraction, this family traces its an- cestry to Edwin McGuire, who was born in Ireland and immigrated to America as a young man. locating in Summers county, West Virginia. He was a farmer and stockman and died in Summers county at the age of sixty-five years.
( II) Morris, son of Edwin McQuire, was born in Albemarle county, Virginia. His entire active career was devoted to mining enterprises but since 1910 he has lived retired at Lewisburg, West Virginia, where he is the owner of an attractive residence property. His birth occurred in May, 1855. His wife, who was Janet Kay in her maidenhood, was born near Edinburgh, Scotland, August 31, 1857. Her father, Thomas Kay, was likewise born in Scotland and came to America with his fam- ily in 1869, settling first in Pennsylvania, later in Maryland and event- ually in West Virginia. He was a brick mason by trade and was also in- terested in farming operations during his lifetime: he died in Fayette county, West Virginia, aged seventy-seven years. Mrs. McQuire was a girl of but twelve years when she accompanied her parents to Amer- ica. Her marriage to Mr. McGuire was solemnized at Quinnimont, West Virginia, in 1880. and this union was prolific of five children, all of whom are living at the present time, namely: Thomas E., mentioned below : Jessie Kay, is a teacher in the Mount Hope public schools : Mor- ris J., is a dentist by profession and lives in Ohio: Jean, is a teacher and lives at home; and Ethel Grace, now attending school at Lewisburg. Jessie K. and Morris J. were graduated in the Concord Normal School. at Athens, West Virginia, and Jean was graduated in Huntington Col- lege.
(III) Dr. Thomas E. McGuire, son of Morris and Janet ( Kay) Mc- Guire, was born at Quinnimont. Fayette county, West Virginia. Sep- tember 24. 1881. He was educated in the Quinnimont public schools and for several years attended the Concord Normal School. at Athens, West Virginia. As a youth he decided upon the medical profession as his life work and with that object in view entered the Maryland Medical Col- lege, at Baltimore, in which he was graduated in 1904. with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. His first work as a physician and surgeon was at Sun, West Virginia, where he was assistant to Dr. A. F. Haynes for a period of two years at the end of which, January 1. 1006, he came to Mount Hope, his offices being in the Bank of Mount Hope Building.
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On April 22, 1913, Dr. McGuire removed to Yolyn, Logan county, West Virginia, where he is a physician and surgeon for several of the large coal companies located in that district. He is well deserving of the splendid success he is gaining in his professional work for his equipment was unusually good, and he has continually extended the scope of his labors through the added efficiency that comes from keeping in touch with the marked advancement that has been made by members of the medical fraternity in recent years. He is a member of several representative medical organizations and in politics is a Republican. He is a stock- holder in the Bank of Mount Hope and is a stockholder and director in the Warner Real Estate Company. In the Masonic order he has com- pleted the circle of the Scottish Rite branch, having reached the thirty- second degree. In religious matters he is a Presbyterian.
Dr. McGuire married, June 11, 1913, Josie M. Fulton, daughter of S. B. Fulton, of Huntington, West Virginia, land agent for the Ritter Lumber Company of Huntington, West Virginia.
HORAN Many of the sterling and representative families of West
Virginia trace their ancestry to staunch Irish extraction. Patrick D. Horan was born and reared in Ireland and im- migrated to America as a young man, settling in Summersville, West Vir- ginia, whence he later removed to Louisville, Kentucky. He was a teach- er by occupation, was a Republican in politics and in religious matters was a devout communicant of the Roman Catholic church. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Catherine Duffy, was born at Summers- ville, West Virginia, where was solemnized her marriage to Mr. Horan. There were eight children born to this union: Theodore B., mentioned below ; Andrew J., Thomas C., Margaret, Minnie, Patrick C., R. Emmet and Beirne.
(II) Theodore Brannon, son of Patrick D. and Mary Catherine (Duffy) Horan, was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He was indebted to the public schools of his native place for his early educational training. and after reaching years of maturity devoted his attention to the study of law, coming to West Virginia where for many years he was prosecuting attorney in both Webster and Nicholas counties. He married Agnes Rowena Thornton, a native of Summersville, West Virginia, and daugh- ter of Patrick and Catherine Thornton, both of whom were born in Ire- land. Children : Thomas Brownson, deceased : Mary Alice, John Spald- ing, mentioned below : Daisy, Irene, Grace and Patrick Dana.
(III) John Spalding, third child of Theodore B. and Agnes Rowena (Thornton) Horan, was born at Webster Springs, West Virginia, No- vember 12, 1884. He was educated in the Summersville Normal School. at Summersville. West Virginia, pursued a business course in the Capital City Commercial College, at Charleston, West Virginia, and in June, 19II, was graduated in the law department of Georgetown University, at Washington, D. C., duly receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws. His first responsible work was that of teaching school in the public schools of West Virginia and he followed that vocation for a period of four years, at the expiration of which he accepted a position with the law firm of Brown, Jackson & Knight in Charleston. In 1908 he became private secretary to Hon. Joseph H. Gaines, member of congress from the third congressional district. He retained the latter position for the ensuing four years and thereafter was employed in a similar capacity by Senator Hitchcock, of Nebraska, for four months, during which time he was like- wise a student in Georgetown University, at Washington. He was a resi- dent of the "Capitol City" for four years and in 1911 came to Montgom-
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ery, West Virginia, where he initiated the active practice of his profes- sion and where he is rapidly gaining distinction as an able attorney and well fortified counselor. In June, 1912, he was nominated on the Re- publican ticket, for the house of delegates from Fayette county, West Virginia. His career is a splendid example of what may be accomplished by young manhood that is consecrated to ambition and high purposes. He is a self-made man and is recognized throughout this community for his high order of ability and his conscientious dealings with his clients. He met with many obstacles in obtaining his professional education but in- stead of discouraging him his hardships spurred him onward, giving him a momentum and force which have resulted since the period of his first struggles in steady progress and success and have brought him the esteeni of both the judiciary and associate attorneys. Mr. Horan's political alle- giance is given to the Republican party, in the local councils of which he is an active worker.
November 16, 1910, occurred the marriage of Mr. Horan to Winifred Sullivan, the ceremony being performed at Washington, D. C. Mrs. Horan was born at Antigo, Wisconsin, and she is a daughter of John and Mary Sullivan, the former of whom is a carpenter by trade. There are three children in the Sullivan family : Winifred, Mary and Helen. Mr. and Mrs. Horan have one child, John Sullivan Horan, whose birth oc- curred November 11, 1911. The Horans are devout Catholics.
O'NEAL Andrew Jackson O'Neal was born in Raleigh county, West Virginia, in 1847, and died in 1885, aged thirty-eight years. He was a prominent farmer in Raleigh county during his lifetime. His wife, whose maiden name was Frances Harper, was like- wise born in Raleigh county and she is now living at Fayetteville aged fif- ty-five years. In 1902 Mrs. O'Neal married James M. Page. Mr. and Mrs. O'Neal had six children: Candis, was the wife of Ambrose Dan- iels at the time of her demise in 1902: Emma, is the wife of I. W. Haw- kins, of Fayetteville; Virginia, married Savannah Anderson and they live at Barboursville, West Virginia ; Lacy Burke, mentioned below ; Al- bert J .. is quartermaster in the United States army and is located at New Orleans, Louisiana : and Ollie, died at the age of twelve years.
(II) Lacy Burke, son of Andrew Jackson and Frances ( Harper ) O'Neal, was born at Beckley, Raleigh county. West Virginia, May 10, 1882. His father died when he was a mere baby and while he was yet a young boy he began to work in order to help support his widowed mother and the other children. Mrs. O'Neal removed with her family to Fayette county when Lacy B. was thirteen years old. Soon there- after he became a trapper boy in the Loop Creek mines and after being employed in that manner for one year he came with his mother to Fay- etteville. Here he entered the Fayetteville Academy and after leaving this institution he worked his way through the Capital City Commercial Col- lege, at Charleston, the Hampden-Sidney College, in Virginia, and the West Virginia University, in the law department of which last institution he was graduated in 1900, with the Bachelor of Laws degree. While studying law he defrayed his expenses by working as bookkeeper and stenographer for two years and by acting as deputy-clerk under Wil- liam Grafton in 1903-04-05. His first legal experience was obtained in Fayetteville, where he practised law for one year, at the expiration of which he came to Montgomery, here entering into a partnership alliance with Alexander L. Anderson, the firm of Anderson & O'Neal being one of the representative law combinations in Fayette county. These young lawyers are well known for their energy and for their devotion to the
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interests of their clients and they have figured prominently in several important litigations in the state and federal courts.
Politically, Mr. O'Neal is an unswerving Republican and while he is not an aspirant for the honors or emoluments of public office he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all measures and en- terprises projected for the good of the general welfare. His fraternal connections are with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and also the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He was reared a Presbyterian and is a member of the church of that denomination in Montgomery. Mr. O'Neal is unmarried.
DAVIS For generations back representatives of this family have lived in Ohio. The forefathers were pioneers in the "Buck-
eye" state, but early records concerning the ancestry have been lost track of and it is impossible to trace the genealogy. Joseph Davis, grandfather of Hon. Thomas J. Davis, present mayor of Mont- gomery, was a prominent farmer on the Ohio river, in Ohio, during his lifetime. He married and had a son Joseph, mentioned below.
(II) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (1) Davis, was born at Minersville. Meigs county, Ohio, March 29, 1844, and died January 13, 1912, aged sixty-eight years. He was a miner by occupation and lived most of his life in Ohio, coming to Montgomery, West Virginia, in 1896, and here engaging in the mining of coal for W. R. Johnson, at Crescent. He had a brother Benjamin who was a Union soldier throughout the civil war. Mr. Davis married Jane Thomas, a native of Syracuse, Ohio, where her birth occurred November 28, 1856. She survives her honored husband and is now living with her son, Thomas J. Davis, of Montgomery. Chil- dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Davis: Thomas J., mentioned below : Ben- jamin, born March 23, 1879, is engaged in the undertaking business at Montgomery; Joseph, born January 23, 1881, died in infancy; Mary Ann, born January 28, 1882, is the wife of James Frasier, of Eagle, West Virginia; Edward, born April 21, 1885, died April 14, 1911 ; El- len, born May 19, 1887, is the wife of S. O. Norton, of Montgomery ; Flossie, born March 21, 1890, is the wife of E. F. Kincaid, of Mont- gomery ; and Bertha, born January 15, 1894, is the wife of C. P. Champe, of Montgomery.
(III) Thomas J., son of Joseph (2) and Jane ( Thomas) Davis, was born at Hartford City, Mason county, West Virginia, February 27, 1876. He received but very meager educational advantages in his youth and at the age of ten years began to dig coal with his father in the vicinity of his birthplace. In 1896, at the age of twenty years, he accompanied his father to Montgomery and for the two ensuing years was engaged in the mining of coal for W. R. Johnson, at Crescent. In 1898 he entered the employ of Carver Brothers, of Edgewater, and mined coal for them for four years, at the expiration of which period he engaged in the restaurant business at Montgomery. In the spring of 1902 he was ap- pointed justice of the peace of the Kanawha district by the Fayette county court to fill the unexpired term of Eustace Hundley, who had just tendered his resignation. In the following autumn he was elected for a full term to the office of justice of the peace, he was re-elected in 1904 and again in 1908, and is serving in that capacity at the present time. In 1904 he was chosen secretary of the board of education of Kanawha dis- trict and he has since been incumbent of that position, ever manifesting a deep and sincere interest in all that tends to the betterment of educational facilities in this section of the state.
A staunch Republican in his political convictions, Mr. Davis has long
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been active in the local councils of his party. In 1905 he became candi- date for the office of mayor of Montgomery. After an exciting cam- paign he won the election from Hon. J. C. Montgomery, a pioneer here, who had been mayor for the twelve preceding terms. In 1906 Mr. Davis was opposed in the office by L. G. Custer but was elected over him by a majority of two hundred and forty votes. In 1907 he was re-elected without opposition, ex-mayor Montgomery, his first opponent, appear- ing in the Republican convention and offering the motion that amounted to an endorsement by all parties. In 1908 he defeated J. C. Peters by a majority of two hundred and eighteen votes, and in 1909 was again elected without opposition, as he was also in the following year. In IQII he received a majority of three hundred and ten votes over his opponent, O. P. Jameson, a prominent and influential citizen in Mont- gomery. He has proved a most capable administrator of the municipal affairs of Montgomery and during his regime many important im- provements have been established here. He is interested in a number of business enterprises of considerable importance in Fayette county. He is president of the Fayette Bottling & Ice Company and is a heavy stock- holder in the Montgomery Ice Cream & Bottling Works; he is likewise a stockholder in the West Virginia Insurance Agency, of which impor- tant organization he was president for three years, and he is a director in the Montgomery & Cannellton Bridge Company. He is an energetic and progressive business man and it is interesting to note that his rise to a position of prominence in the commercial and official world of Fayette county is entirely the result of his well applied endeavors, no one having ever helped him in a financial way. In regard to his future as a public man the following appreciative and prophetic words are here incor- porated :
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