USA > West Virginia > West Virginia and its people, Volume II > Part 37
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In politics Mr. Davis is an enthusiastic Republican, and has become so promi- nent as one of its leaders in his own section that the voters of the entire county are being attracted by his personality, his splendid record in official life, and look to him as the logical candidate for nomination for the office of sheriff in the next campaign. Without disparagement to any others who may aspire, it must be said that from mine pit to mine mouth, and from mine mouth to his present place of prominence in the affairs of his community. "Tom" Davis has made good in every department and is recognized as one of the most useful as well as substantial citizens of this great county.
Mr. Davis has been sheriff of Fayette county since November, 1912. November 16. 1894. Mr. Davis was united in marriage to Miss Cook, daughter of George and Henrietta Cook, who are now living on a farm near Shawnee, Ohio. There were three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Davis, as follows: Bessie, died at the age of two years: Pearl, died in infancy, as did also Joseph. Mr. and Mrs. Davis are held in high esteem by their fellow citizens and are renowned for genial hospitality and at- tractive entertainment.
DUNCAN Of Scotch origin, the Duncan family was founded in Vir- ginia, in the early colonial epoch of our national history. The name of the emigrant ancestor is not known, in fact, but little can be learned of the early generations of this family in the Old Dominion commonwealth. The paternal grandfather of Dr. Harry An- drew Duncan, of Oak Hill. West Virginia, was a native of Amherst county, Virginia, and he lived in his native state until 1845, when he re- moved to Fayette county, West Virginia, becoming a prosperous farmer in the vicinity of Oak Hill. Among his children was Arthur B., men- tioned below.
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(II) Arthur B. Duncan was born in Amherst county, Virginia, in 1843, and he was but two years of age when the parental home was es- tablished in Fayette county, this state. He is now living on the old farm on which his father settled in 1845 and which is eligibly located two miles distant from Oak Hill. He was a Confederate soldier and experi- enced unusual hardships during the war. He was wounded in the Seven Days' battle at Richmond and still suffers from injuries received at that time. For a long period after that engagement he was confined in an army hospital. Subsequently he was captured by the enemy and im- prisoned for many months at Camp Chase. He is an ordained minister in the Brethren church and in addition to his religious work conducts the old farm on which he maintains his home. He is sixty-nine years of age but is still hale and hearty, his kindly voice and cheerful personality mak- ing him a decidedly welcome visitor in the homes of his many friends and acquaintances. He married Annie Sanger, who was born in Virginia, in 1841, and who is a daughter of Henry Sanger, a farmer in Fayette county, this state, for some years prior to his demise. Children : Homer, deceased : William H., a railroad employee, is a resident of Roanoke, Vir- ginia : Samuel E., is engaged in the music business at Oak Hill : Susie, died as a young girl; Arthur J., lives on a farm near Oak Hill and is a rural mail carrier ; Harry A., mentioned below; James A., operates a farm located a mile and a half from Oak Hill; Mary, died at the age of three years ; Sallie, is the wife of Ray Singer, of Thurmond.
(III) Dr. Harry Andrew Duncan, son of Arthur B. and Annie (Sanger) Duncan, was born at Oak Hill, West Virginia, January 17, 1878. He assisted his father in the work and management of the home farm until he had reached his eighteenth year, in the meantime attending the common schools of Fayette county during the winter terms. He also attended the Fayette Academy for a time and thereafter taught school for five years in this county. In 1901, at the age of twenty-three years. he was matriculated as a student in the University College of Medicine at Richmond, Virginia, in the dental department of which excellent insti- ution he was graduated with honors in 1904. duly receiving the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. While in Richmond he was president of the local Young Men's Christian Association and on his graduation was ten- dered a professorship in the college. He did not accept the latter but re- turned to Oak Hill and immediately entered upon the practice of his pro- fession. He controls an extensive patronage at Oak Hill and in the terri- tory normally adjacent to this city. Since 1906 he has had offices in the Merchants & Miners Bank Building which are thoroughly equipped with all the modern appliances for up-to-date dental work. He makes a spec- ialty of inlay work, crowns, bridges, plate work, fillings of all kinds, treat- ing, orthodentia, extracting and general surgery of the mouth.
At Oak Hill, in the fall of 1904. Dr. Duncan was united in marriage to Willia Yonce Haynes, a native of Montgomery county, Virginia, and a daughter of James C. and Susan Virginia Haynes, the former of whom is deceased and the latter is living on the old Haynes homestead in Mont- gomery county ; this estate has been in the family for over one hundred and twelve years. Mrs. Haynes is sixty-seven years of age (1912). Two children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Duncan. but one of whom is living at the present time, namely, Harry Andrew, Jr., whose birth occurred April 18, 1907.
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STRICKLING The name Strickling may have been changed in spell- ing since the days of the emigrant, who probably brought the name in its original form, Strickland, from England. Changes in orthography are frequent in the early records. The earliest known member of this family served in the revolutionary army, and his son Henry Strickling, is reported as living in Virginia, a cultivator of the soil, who may have come from England with his father. The maternal grandfather of James Henry Strickling, the subject of this sketch, was David Bates, a farmer of Monroe county, Ohio. Several of his sons enlisted in the Union army during the civil war.
William Strickling, son of Henry, was of Virginia birth, and died in 1892, aged sixty-two years, at his old hime in Doddridge county, West Virginia. He was both a physician and a minister, combining his two lines of work successfully in that rugged and unsettled country. His wife, Matilda Bates, was born in Monroe county, Ohio, and is still living, at the age of eighty-four years, in Doddridge county. Their nine chil- dren, all living are: Mary, who married R. P. Findley ; Albert E .. and Flavius E., of West Union, West Virginia; John A., of Alvy, West Vir- ginia ; Leander B., and Newton R., of Deep Valley, the same state ; David B., of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; James Henry, of whom further; and Lawrence, who is in the United States navy.
In the last year of the civil war, on February 26, 1865, James Henry Strickling was born at the old Strickling homestead, in Doddridge county, West Virginia. Studying first in the local public schools, he then at- tended Bethany College, West Virginia, taking the Bachelor of Arts de- gree in 1889, and the post-graduate Master of Arts in 1891. For three years thereafter he conducted Harrodsburg Academy, at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, while devoting his leisure hours to the study of law. His true career commenced with his admission to the bar at Harrodsburg, about 1894.
The following decade was spent in the practice of law at Middle- bourne, West Virginia. After 1904, he removed to Sistersville, and while engaged there in his professional pursuits, he was elected and served two terms in the state legislature, and in 1909 he attained the important post of speaker in the West Virginia House. That same year in the month of May, he came to Huntington and under the firm name, Neal & Strickling, formed a partnership with George I. Neal. Mr. Strickling's political suc- cess is due to his remarkable legal attainments. as well as a sturdy adher- ence to the tenets of the Republican party. His wife belongs to the old Presbyterian church, but he has joined the Christian sect. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
His marriage to Rosa C. Lewis of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, occurred December 27, 1902, in that city. She was born June 13, 1868, and was the daughter of George Lewis, belonging to a family of Union sympa- thizers, who died when she was quite young. Her mother, Hannah Lewis, who came of Confederate stock, died in 1905. The children of James Henry and Rosa C. (Lewis) Strickling are both boys : Charles Wil- liam, born January 3. 1904, and George Lewis, April 13, 1907.
TOWNSHEND The Townsend or Townshend families of Amer- ica are said to be of mixed Saxon and Norman de- scent. The family is of great antiquity in the county of Norfolk, England. Walter Atte-Townshende, son of Sir Lud- ovic de Townshende, a Norman nobleman, flourished soon after the Conquest. Sir Ludovic de Townshende perhaps married Elizabeth de Hauteville, sole heiress of the manors of Raynham ; but de Hauteville
James N. Strickeing
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is also claimed as one of the numerous equivalents of Townsend, of which equivalents further. The seat of the English marquis and viscount Townshend is Raynham, in the county of Norfolk, and the American Townsends have been fond of this name; witness Raynham, a residence at Overbrook, Pennsylvania; Little Raynham, a residence at Oyster Bay, Long Island ; and Raynham as a local name in or near New Haven, Connecticut.
Of the forms of this name, Atte-Townshende shows a probable meaning of the name. Other forms, attempts at translation, rather than transliterations, into Latin, found in ancient deeds, are: Ad-Finem- Villae, Ad-Exitum-Villae, Ad-Caput-Villae, and De-Alta-Ville. ( This last is an equivalent, in poor Latin, for de Hauteville). Other old Eng- lish forms, less startling in character, are Tunneshend and Towneshende. In fact it is claimed that fifty-seven forms of this name have been found. The Atte seems to have been dropped in the fourteenth century. The tendency today is strongly towards Townsend ; but, about 1580, the chief of the family at Raynham re-inserted the h, probably rejecting the mean- ing expressed in some of the Latin forms above, and thinking the addi- tion to point to the correct derivation, as his family were the land holders. Among the noted men of this name, Charles Townshende was Chancel- lor of the Exchequer, in Lord North's cabinet, under King George III. of Great Britain.
Arms: azure; a chevron ermine, between three escallops argent. Crest : a stag, passant ; proper. Motto: Haec generi incrementa fides.
(I) The American ancestor of the branch of the Townshend fam- ily under present consideration, was Samuel Townshend, who was born in England, in November, 1714. He died in Prince George's county. Maryland, October 30, 1804. His wife, Anna, died March 24, 1801. His children were: 1. Volinda, died December 16. 1777. 2. Samuel, mar- ried a Miss Hodskin, and died February 5. 1805: their children were : Margaret, married Theodore Wall: Daniel; Hodskin, married Miss Lumsden, and their children were: William Lumsden, Henry, Edith. Richard Wellington, Smith, Alfred, Doc. Mary Ann, married a MIr. Lighter, and Annie, married Mr. Bray. 3. Leonard, of whom further. 4. Elizabeth, married Mr. Taylor, died April 14. 1818. 5. Marv. mar- ried Mr. Burch, died April 17. 1833, and had children: Samuel, Fran- cis, Elizabeth, married Mr. Blacklock, of Kentucky. 6. Annie, married Mr. Wright, died September 27. 1823. 7. Eleanor. died October 24. 1820. 8. Frank, died at sea, January 1, 1780, and was buried on Long Island. 9. John, born November 1. 1765, died May 14, 1846. "He was taken with a troubled mind September 14, 1794, which continued till the time of his death." IO. William, married and his children were: Eliz- abeth, married Mr. Griffin: Annie, married James Tunille: Rebecca. married Noble Burch ; Mary: Samuel, married Miss Washington : Tru- man : Belt : Jeremiah : Priscilla : Grafton : John T. ; Ellen W., married Mr. Harrison. The will of Samuel Townshend is as follows:
In the name of God, Amen. I. Samuel Townshend, of Prince George's county. Maryland, being in good health and sound mind and understanding, considering the uncertainty of life, and being desirous of settling my worldly affairs do make this my last will and testament in manner and form following :
First. I give my soul to Almighty God that gave it, hoping for mercy for the sake of my blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ, and my body to the earth to be buried as my executors shall think proper. Now concerning my worldly property.
First. I want my debts paid out of it that I owe in this country. Then the debts that I owe to some persons which lived in London, England, in the year of Our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and thirty-six. Now these are the names as follows, as well as I can remember : To Richard Colson Wallen Mareen Fenchar's Street at the corner of Reed Lane at the Sign of the Anchor, Thirty-four pounds. To one Mayor. a brewer in Crastered Fryer's Street. Twenty-four Pounds. Crissen name forgot.
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To a barber living in the Street against Rotheriff Stairs (name forgot), fifteen shillings. To another barber living in Old Gravel Lane ( name forgot) One Pound Ten shillings. He married the daughter-in-law of Mr. Childs in the same Street. Their son is Grayer. He lived agains the charity school. Five shillings pay him. He kept an alehouse. To another barber (name forgot ) Twenty Shillings, living in the Street facing Merchant Taylors. To widow Burton five shillings, living in Bishop against the church grove. To James Riggens Five Shillings, the keeper of the Black Bay Alehouse keeper. To Miss Croger, Milk Street, Cheapside, Five Shillings. To Miss Powers, Five Shillings, distillers in Chadwell Dock Stairs. These debts that I owe the above mentioned people if they be dead pay their heirs or executors.
Now to my loving children.
First. I give and bequeath to my son William Townshend, one negro man Sandy and one cow and calf, to him and his heirs forever.
Item. I give and bequeath to my daughter Annie Wright those two negroes she has with her, Sarah and Ary and two barrels of corn and one horse, to her and her heirs forever.
Item. I give and bequeath to my grandson, Samuel Burch, one negro named Harrison, to him and his heirs forever.
Item. I give and bequeath to my daughter Eleanor Townshend, three negroes named as follows: Ary, Margarette and Jeremy, one horse, one cow and calf, one bed and furniture and table, half-doz. chairs with all the increase to her and her heirs forever.
Item. I give and bequeath to my son Samuel Townshend, one gold ring to him and his heirs forever.
Item. I give and bequeath to my son-in-law, Benj. Burch, one gold ring to him and his heirs forever.
Item. I give and bequeath to my son Leonard, Townshend one gold ring to him and his heirs forever.
Item. I give and bequeath to my son John Townshend, all the land whereon I now live, being part of Piscattaway Forest and one tract of land called Fault Enlarge- ment enlarged containing six hundred acres more or less to his heirs and assigns for- ever, fee simple.
ftem. I give and bequeath to my son John Townshend nine negroes by names : Littie, Ned, Jerry, Priss, Henson, Charles, Anthony, Kate, Hannah, to him and his heirs forever with their future increase.
Item. I give and bequeath to my son John Townshend all my household furni- ture except the above mentioned legacies and likewise kitchen furniture.
Item. I give and bequeath to my son John Townshend all the stock of horses, cows and oxen except the above mentioned legasses.
Item. I give and bequeath to my son John Townshend, all my crops of tobacco, corn and fodder, carts and cider, casks and all the plantation utensils and all my pro- visions that is owned by me.
Item. I give and bequeath to my sons William and John Townshend, two negroes named Sal and Sofy to be equally divided between them as they can agree. Now concerning my daughter Eleanor Townshend's property that I have willed her. If she gets married her husband shall not sell her property from her heirs, if she have any. If he doth my children hereafter named shall take them from him. If she never marries her property after her death shall be divided between my sons Leonard and John and William as follows. Either of my three sons that shall take and maintain her shall have two-thirds of her property after her death and the other third to be equally divided between the other two.
I appoint to my son John Townshend to be my executor to see this my last will and Testament executed revoking all others.
Given under my hand and seal this the twentieth day of January Eighteen Hundred and Four.
SAMUEL TOWNSHEND.
Signed and sealed and registered in the presence of William Jeffries, Aquilla Wilson, Lenny Dawin.
( II) Leonard, son of Samuel Townshend, married (first) Ellen Young, and of this marriage was born one son, Singleton, of whom further. Leonard Townshend married ( second) Eleanor Gant, born February 9, 1771, and of this marriage were born: John Leonard and George Samuel. The brothers and sisters of Eleanor Gant, not in order of birth: James, and Priscilla, twins, born February 14, 1754: Priscilla, married Jeremiah Belt: Betsey H., born December 17, 1775; George, born October 1. 1757: Ann, born April 13, 1759; William P., born Feb- ruary 10, 1761 ; Charlotte, born March 8, 1762; Joseph, born August 12,
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1765; Edward, born January 22, 1767; Wholsworth H., born November 27, 1768; Eleanor, of previous mention.
(III) Singleton, son of Leonard and Ellen (Young) Townshend, was born October 7, 1760. He married, October 15, 1812, Catherine Belt. Their children were: I. Unnamed child, born and died July 24, 1813. 2. Jeremiah L., born July 7, 1814, married Tabitha Hoye, April 25, 1843. 3. Priscilla E., born December 22, 1816, married Thomas R. King, November 1, 1836. 4. Ann M., born August 20, 1819, married, November 1, 1836, John Armstrong. 5. George R., born May 10, 1822; died December 31, 1825. 6. Singleton L., of whom further. 7. Adeline F., born April 19, 1829; died July 20, 1830. 8. Louisa E., born Febru- ary 16, 1831 ; died December 17, 1889. 9. Mary, born March 13, 1834. Catherine ( Belt ) Townshend was the daughter of Jeremiah and Pris- cilla (Gant) Belt. Jeremiah Belt married (first ), in 1772, Eliza Skinner. Their children were: Eleanor, born May 10, 1773, married Erasmus West ; Mary, born May 21, 1775, married Mr. Johnson; Eliza ( Skinner ) Belt died in 1775, and Jeremiah Belt married (second), in 1775, Susan Magruder, who died in 1777. Their child was: Elizabethi, born in September, 1776. Jeremiah Belt married (third) in 1777, Priscilla Gant, born February 14, 1754, who died in 1796. Their children were: Ann, born in 1778, married Mr. Morrison ; Charlotte, born in 1780, and married Mr. Jones; Louisa, born 1782, married Mr. Praetor ; Fidelia, born in 1786, married Mr. Townshend; Thomas D., born June 20, 1787 ; Priscilla C., born December 9, 1789, married Mr. Jameson; Tobias, born in 1791 ; Maria, born in 1793, married Mr. Boone; Catherine, of previ- ous mention, who married Singleton Townshend; twins, born in 1795. Jeremiah Belt married ( fourth) in 1796, Anne West, who lived until 1856. Their children were: Sarah, born in 1797, married Mr. Boone : Harriet W., born September 3, 1799, married Mr. Philpot. Jeremialı Belt died December 31, 1819.
(IV) Singleton L., son of Singleton and Catherine (Belt) Towns- hend, was born March 29, 1825. He married, January 31. 1854, Mary Elizabeth Jones. Their children were: I. Thomas, born June 14, 1855; died March 19, 1857. 2. Francis Singleton, born November 28. 1856; died in 1865, being run over by a car. 3. William Playford, of whom further. 4. Arthur, born July 3, 1860, married, June 20, 1890, Susan O. Hamill ; children: Jesse Frederick, born March 8. 1892, William Dwight, born August 15, 1893, Helen Elizabeth, born June 25, 1895, Arthur, born April 24, 1904. 5. Catherine, born December 24, 1861, died at Parkersburg, West Virginia, February 13, 1907: married in December, 1886, Marshall Wellington Crane and had child, Marshall Wellington, born September 19, 1887. 6. Leonard Elsworth, born July 21, 1864: died March 17, 1899, from heart disease. 7. Robert Clay, born Decem- ber 25, 1865. 8. Mary Odell, born April 23, 1868; married, September 14. 1892, Alonzo D. Naylor ; children: Playford, born February 1, 1897, Singleton Townshend, born February 16, 1900, Rebecca Davis, born February 14, 1904, Mary Drake, born June 27. 1901, and Justus. 9. George Smith, born February 24. 1870; died October 10, 1887. 10. Ern- est, born June 17, 1872, married, January 1. 1899, Margaret C. Leary ; children : Margaret Katherine, born April 2. 1902, Elizabeth Rebecca. born June 8, 1904, Eleanor Ellsworth, born August 5. 1906, Ernest Mar- ion, born August 12, 1908. 1I. Edith Dorsey. horn April 29, 1875, mar- ried, June 29, 1904, Charles Dorsey Smith ; children: Elizabeth Hamil- ton, born July 6, 1906, Edith Dorsey. born December 2, 1908, Ara Townshend, born February 13. 1909.
Mary Elizabeth (Jones) Townshend was the daughter of Thomas Anderson and Catherine (Smith) Jones. He served in the war of 1812. 17
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He married, October 29, 1818, Catherine, daughter of George and Mary ( Frick) Smith. Mary Frick was the daughter of Peter and Barbara Frick, who were natives of Germany. Their daughter Mary was born in Baltimore, Maryland. The children of Thomas Anderson and Cath- erine (Smith) Jones were: George Smith, born October, 1819, died December, 1901; Benjamin Franklin, born September 1I, 1821, died October, 1895; William Playford, born December 12, 1822, died Janu- ary 27, 1892 ; Thomas Anderson, born June 6, 1824, died January 16, 1894; Mary Salome Eaton, born August 26, 1826; Odel Providence Eaton, born October, 1829; Mary Elizabeth, born November 8, 1831, died October 3, 1908: Louis Edwin, born February, 1834; John Henry, born April 9, 1836; Charles Adolphus, born June 19, 1838, died in 1845; Silas Ogden, boin June II, 1841.
(V) William Playford, son of Singleton L., and Mary Elizabeth (Jones) Townshend, was born at Oakland, Garret county, Maryland, April 22, 1858, and died March 8, 1891, in the place of his birth. He was a lawyer by profession and at the time of his death he was prose- cuting attorney for the state of Maryland. In his political convictions he was a Republican. He married Martha Jane, daughter of Enos D. and Margaret ( Rae) Kepner, who was born at Oakland, Garret county, Maryland, and who in 1906 married (second) John S. Alexander of Morgantown, West Virginia, and lives in Morgantown, West Virginia. Their children were: Earle Veitch, of whom further, and Margaret.
(VI) Earle Veitch, son of William Playford and Martha Jane ( Kepner) Townshend, was born at Oakland, Maryland, September 8, 1884. He received his early education in Maryland, first attending the public school, and afterward Tome's Institute, Port Deposit, Maryland. Later, he attended Taylor University, and after this the University of West Virginia at Morgantown, and while at West Virginia University he was made a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity. He graduated from the law department of this institution with the class of 1905. In the same year he was admitted to the bar, and the next year he began to practice in Huntington, West Virginia. Huntington has continued to be his place of residence from that time, where he has been engaged in the general practice of the law. In 1909 he became a partner in the firm of Townshend & Devol, his law partner being Brenton A. Devol. July 9. 1912, he was appointed by Governor William E. Glasscock, a member of the state board of directors of the West Virginia Humane Society. Mr. Townshend is also secretary of the West Virginia Child Labor Com- mission. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and is in his political principles a Republican.
BRANDEBURY
This ancient and honored family traces its lineage back to the eighteenth century in West Virginia and Virginia.
(I) Henry Brandyberry. (early spelling) was horn in Virginia about the end of the eighteenth century. After reaching years of maturity he was captain of a company and was probably connected with the state mi- litia. He later removed to Ohio, settling in Gallia county, where he pur- chased land from the government. Clearing it, he engaged in farming during the remainder of his active career. He was a noted violinist and musician, and was the owner of a very valuable violin, which he disposed of for one hundred and fifty dollars ; this instrument was afterward sold for five hundred dollars. He married Mary Blagg, a representative of the old Blagg family of Virginia, members of which were noted as steam- boat navigators on the Ohio river in the pioneer days. Children : Wil-
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