West Virginia and its people, Volume II, Part 41

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 41

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(II) Charles I., son of Eli and Perthena A. ( Ruffner-Wells) Cona- way, was born in Tyler county, Virginia, in 1844, and died February 16, 1894. He was one of the representative business men of his community, and was both a merchant and a farmer. He was a member of the Free and Accepted Masons. He married Elizabeth Virginia, daughter of Wil- liam and Adaline Stealey. Children: 1. Orrin Bryte, of whom further : William R., Thomas C., Felix G., Max, Archie R., Kate, Maud B., mar- ried Creed L. Morris, she died in 1903; Eli, died in infancy; May, died in infancy.

(III) Orrin Bryte, son of Charles I. and Elizabeth Virginia (Stea- ley) Conaway, was born in Tyler county, West Virginia, near Center- ville, June 21, 1879. His education was begun in the public schools, and further prosecuted in the West Virginia Wesleyan College, at Buckhan- non, where he studied until 1900, in which year he was graduated. He then entered the University of West Virginia, from which he graduated in the class of 1903, and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Having thus laid a foundation of general study, Mr. Conaway continued to study in the state university, in the law department, and in 1906 he received the Bachelor's degree in this department also. After his law graduation. he came to Middlebourne, Tyler county, West Virginia, and here he has practiced from that time, with success, and now has a large legal practice. He has been prosecuting attorney of Tyler county, also mayor of Middle- bourne. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of America, and Phi Kappa Psi. Mr. Conaway is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is serving on the official board of the congregation at Middlebourne. He married, March 8. 1911, Maud K., daughter of Joseph and Frances Carpenter. Child, Helen K., born Janu- ary 11, 1912.

PARKS There are in England several families bearing the name Park, Parke or Parks. At various times a number of coats- of-arms have been granted in Great Britain to persons of one of these surnames. Moreover, these names seem to be quite probably not always of the same origin, but to have come from several very distinct and diverse origins. Sometimes the surname was probably derived from residence near a park ; in this case, the name was formerly spelled At- Park or A-Park. It is thought that in some cases the name is a deriva- tive of Peter, and thus belonging to the same class of surnames as Per-

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kins, Peirce, Pearson, Parkinson, and many others. Again, two places in Normandy bear names sufficiently similar to this, to have given rise to such a family name. It will thus be seen at once that family unity could hardly be argued for persons, on the mere strength of common possession of one of these surnames. There are a number of families in the United States of America bearing these names.

(I) Ely Parks, the first member of this family about whom we have definite information, lived in Tyler county, Virginia. He married Mary Stackpole. Children : Lloyd Wilson, of whom further : W. H., F. M., Sarah, Thomas N., Taylor and David.

(II) Dr. Lloyd Wilson Parks, son of Ely and Mary (Stackpole) Parks, was born in Tyler county, Virginia, in 1858. He studied medicine at the Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio. For the last twenty years he has been engaged in general practice at Atwood, Tyler county, West Vir- ginia. Dr. Parks has always been an active Republican, and he was for one term a member of the state legislature of West Virginia. He mar- ried Samantha, daughter of Andrew and Pleasy ( Headley ) Haught. Chil- dren : John C .; Charles L., of whom further : Angie, deceased : Maggie M., deceased ; Stella C., married Perry Robinson : Mary, married William Valentine ; Landis, died at the age of two; Dana, at home.

(III) Dr. Charles L. Parks, son of Dr. Lloyd Wilson and Samantha (Haught) Parks, was born at Oxford, Ritchie county, West Virginia, De- cember 31, 1878. The beginning of his education was made in the public schools. Then he attended Wesleyan College, Buckhannon, West Vir- ginia, and went for professional study to the Western University of Maryland, from whose medical department he was graduated in 1904, four years after his college graduation. Until 1908, he was thereafter engaged in the practice of medicine at Atwood, then for a short time he was at Wick ; also in Tyler county, West Virginia. In the spring of 1909 he came to Middlebourne, the county seat of Tyler county and here he now has a large practice. Dr. Parks is a member of the Tyler County Medical Association and of the West Virginia Medical Association. He is an active Republican, and a member of the state committee of his party. He married, in 1904. Mona G., daughter of Valentine and Caroline (Davis) Langfitt. Children : Carlton Langfitt, born May 30, 1905, and Siegre Wilson, born March 15, 1913.

Frank Herman Tyree, of Huntington, now holding the of- TYREE fice of United States marshal, and the incumbent in recent years of other positions of special trust and responsibility, is a representative of an ancient Huguenot family, which has been for sev- eral generations resident in Virginia and Kentucky.

(I) Zachariah Tyree, first known of this line, was born in Virginia, died at the venerable age of ninety years. He was a grandson of the an- cestor who emigrated from France. Zachariah Tyree went as a young man to Olive Hill, Kentucky, and there passed the remainder of his life. He was a lay preacher, and for thirty years held the office of deputy county clerk.

(II) John Milton, son of Zachariah Tyree, was born at Olive Hill, Carter county, Kentucky. At the age of sixty-seven he is living, retired from business, at Grayson with his wife, three years younger than him- self. For many years he was engaged in the hotel business. During the civil war he enlisted in the Fortieth Kentucky Mounted Infantry, and be- fore the expiration of his term of service was twice wounded, once at Salt Works, Kentucky. On one occasion he was taken prisoner and was lined up with his fellow captives to be shot, but was providentially saved

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at the last moment. He married Temperance J. Osenton, born at Old- town, Kentucky, daughter of Henry (known as "Buck") Osenton, a na- tive Kentuckian, who lived and died within the limits of his state. He was a storekeeper and slaveholder, but was impoverished by the civil war. Throughout the whole period of conflict he was a most ardent sympathiz- er with the southern cause. At the time of his death he was fifty-eight years old. Mr. and Mrs. John Milton Tyree were the parents of three children : Frederick W., a physician of Grayson, Kentucky ; Frank Her- man, of whom further : Gertrude.

(III) Frank Herman, second son of John Milton and Temperance J. (Osenton) Tyree, was born January 25, 1873, at Grayson, Carter county, Kentucky, where he received his education in the common schools. After leaving school he was employed for a time by the C. and O. railroad as a laborer, at a compensation of a dollar a day. He was then seventeen years old, and was speedily recognized as possessing capabilities which fitted him for a higher position, in consequence of which he was in a few months made shipping clerk in the shops at Huntington, on the western division of the railroad. After remaining there five years and a half he was appointed chief of police of Huntington, and filled this office from 1897 to 1901. From 1901 to 1906 he was a member of the United States Secret Service, and for four years was the personal guard of President Roosevelt. When an attempt was made to assassinate the chief magis- trate at Sagamore Hill, in 1904, Mr. Tyree was in charge of the details that frustrated the design. He has ever remained a loyal friend to the ex-president, and during his many years of experience has encountered many schemes that looked shady, that he foiled with precision. In Janu- ary, 1906, he became United States marshal, being a personal appoint- ment of President Roosevelt, who had expressed a desire for Mr. Tyree to have the office. For obvious reasons President Roosevelt had a pref- erence in this appointment of one who was so highly competent to handle the business of a marshal. Mr. Tyree's personality is such that whoever has come in contact with him has felt him to be the man for the place. He is indeed a useful citizen, strong in action and with a character of unimpeachable integrity. In the sphere of politics Mr. Tyree is identified with the Progressive Republican party, supporting with his vote and in- fluence the principles advocated by the organization. He affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is also a member of the Presbyterian church.

Mr. Tyree married, August 19, 1893. at Ripley, New York, Clara J., born June, 1875, in Huntington, daughter of Henry M. and Melissa A. (Butt) Burdick. Mr. Burdick was an old resident of Huntington, where he was for many years engaged in the drug business. During the civil war he served in the Union army, and was the first man to raise the American flag in Huntington. The courage required to do this may be inferred from the fact that the banner was afterward riddled with bullets. Mr. Burdick died in 1887, and his widow is now living in Huntington. Mr. and Mrs. Tyree have one son, Harold Burdick, born June 11, 1894, and now a student at the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, Virginia.

Among Mr. Tyree's most cherished possessions is one which will be equally valued by his descendants and handed down from generation to generation as a priceless heirloom. It is a signet ring which President Roosevelt presented to Mr. Tyree when the latter resigned his position as personal guard of the chief magistrate. Within the circlet is the inscrip- tion : "From President Roosevelt, Xmas. 1905." It was given. so the president said, "In remembrance of the good times we have had to- gether."

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The Hereford family, which has been known in Vir- HEREFORD ginia and West Virginia for a number of generations, has been a particularly notable one for the number of its members who have been engaged in professional work, especially dis- tinguishing themselves in the medical field.

(I) Dr. Thomas P. Hereford, whose death occurred in Putnam coun- ty, where he had achieved a high rank in both medicine and the world of literature, was one of four brothers, all of whom were physicians. He married ( second) - Lacey. Children : Dr. Marion Rush, who prac- ticed medicine at Somersville, Nicholas county, West Virginia, and died there at the age of eighty-four years; Sydenham, of whom further ; Wil- liam P., was a physician at Wellington, Virginia, four miles from Man- assas Junction, and died there at the age of eighty-six years ; Thomas, was clerk of the courts of Prince William county, Virginia : and daughters, Jane, Willie, Maria, Caroline and Susannah, all of whom married.

(II) Dr. Sydenham Hereford, son of Dr. Thomas P. Hereford, was born in Farquier county, Virginia, June 5. 1811, and died at Red House, Kanawha Valley. December 21, 1884. Until he had attained the age of twenty-five years he resided in his native county, where he had received his education, then removed to the Kanawha Valley, where he engaged in the practice of the medical profession. In 1870 he retired from this and engaged in mercantile business at Red House, in which he was actively interested until 1882. then living retired from business activities until his death. While he never aspired to holding public office for the sake of the pecuniary gain, he yielded to the solicitations of his fellow citizens, who were the best judges of his fitness for the office, and was elected treasurer of his district in 1869. Dr. Hereford married ( first) Lavinia S. Floweree, born in 1817, died at Red House, January 13, 1863. He married (sec- ond) Mary Burford, of Buffalo, West Virginia, who is also deceased. Children of the first marriage: 1. Thomas Patterson, who was a physi- cian, and served as surgeon in the Confederate army during the civil war ; was also for a time coroner, and for twenty years postmaster at Elm- wood, Mo. : he married Maria Jamison. 2. Arieanna Elizabeth, who died at St. Albans, March 25, 1896, was the wife of J. H. McConahy. 3. Cas- sius Dade, of whom further. 4. Henry Clay, who died in 1896 or 1897, was engaged in mercantile business on Davis creek, Kanawha county, and married Clara Wooley, of Gallipolis, Ohio; their only daughter, Ethel, married L. V. Thomas, a merchant of Cannelton, West Virginia. Chil- dren of the second marriage: 5. Ada B., deceased, married R. B. Burke, chief engineer of the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad. 6. Mollie, married Charles Robinson and lives at Red House, Putnam county. 7. John Ran- dolph, born December 25, 1868, is a dealer in staple and fancy groceries in Charleston, West Virginia ; he married Mary Alice, a daughter of the late J. C. Thomas. 8. Louise.

(III) Cassius Dade, second son and third child of Dr. Sydenham and Lavinia S. ( Floweree ) Hereford, was born in Mason, now Putnam, county, Virginia, on what was known as the Ruffner farm, two miles west of Red House, November 14. 1846. He received a substantial edu- cation in the district schools and those of Red House, and upon its com- pletion obtained a clerkship in 1864 with Captain McCauslin, at Point Pleasant, with whom he remained for a period of five years. The west appearing to him to offer better opportunities to an energetic young man he then went to Missouri, where he served as clerk in a store for three years, and after six months in business in association with a partner, he sold his interests and removed to St. Albans, in August, 1872. He es- tablished himself in the grocery business, carrying a complete line of staples and fancy groceries, and conducting the business personally for

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twelve years. At the end of this period he had been so successful in his management and policy that he decided to branch out into general mer- chandizing, and for thirty-seven consecutive years he was thus success- fully engaged. Since September, 1909, he has practically retired from this field, but he is still active in managing his other business interests, which are important and numerous. He is one of the oldest business men in St. Albans, and the city owes much of its growth and progress to the indefatigable energy and up-to-date ideas and methods of Mr. Hereford. His real estate holdings consist of forty houses, including residences and business sites, and a number of plots of unimproved ground. He also owns the undertaking business at St. Albans, which has been under the management of W. A. White for the past seventeen years, and Mr. White also superintends his other property. Mr. Here- ford was the organizer of the Bank of St. Albans, and has been its first and only president, his name, capital and sound business judgment, hav- ing been the mainstay of the institution since its inception. Since it commenced business in 1900, it has gained and retained the confidence of a large circle of depositors, and is considered one of the most im- portant and safest financial institutions in the county. The political af- filiations of Mr. Hereford are with the Democratic party, and he is a member of the Baptist church. He has frequently filled local offices, greatly to the benefit of the community, was a member of the city coun- cil, and in 1892 served as mayor, in which capacity he furthered many excellent measures. His fraternal connections are as follows : member of Lodge No. 202, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, St. Al- bans; Lodge No. 119. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Ivanhoe : Lodge No. 71, Knights of Pythias; Washington Lodge, No. 58, Free and Accepted Masons; and to all the grades of the Masonic fraternity, including the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

Mr. Hereford married, August 17, 1875, Anna May, daughter of Rev. Edward C. and Mary E. Roth, at Higginsville, Missouri. Rev. Dr. Roth who, with his wife, died in Missouri, was connected with the Baptist denomination as a minister for half a century. He was born in Pennsylvania of German parentage, and was a man of great scholarly at- tainment. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Hereford were: I. Henry Kendall, died in infancy. 2. William Delafield, a practicing physician at Macon, Georgia, married Sallie E. Handley, of Scott, West Virginia. 3. Cassius D., died at the age of seven months. 4. Walter Donaldson, a lawyer in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma, married Reba Reives, a daughter of William E. Moller, of St. Albans, West Virginia. 5. Herbert Roth, is at present a student at the Washington and Lee University.

SHOWEN Andrew Showen, founder of the family in this country, came from Hessen Cassel, Germany, in 1792. His first settlement was in the Shenandoah valley, of Virginia. By trade he was a farmer, and carried on this occupation all his life. He married in Germany, and at the time of his emigration was accompanied to this country by his family. His wife's name is not known. He is thought to have adhered to the tenets of the German-Lutheran, or the Reformed church. Among his children were: John, of whom further : William : Peter ; and Elizabeth, who married John Keyes.

(II) John, son of Andrew Showen, was born in the Shenandoah val- ley of Virginia, January 30, 1800, died November 3. 1854. Like his fath- er he was a tiller of the soil. He and his family were Baptists. He mar- ried Sophia Swope, on October 31, 1822. She was a native of Virginia, of German parentage, born August 23, 1801, died October 4. 1875. They

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were the parents of fourteen children : James A., born October 24, 1824; Nancy J., November 7, 1827, married John Haynes, of Greenbrier coun- ty, Virginia, now West Virginia ; William P., of whom further ; Jacob H., born December 5, 1833, died December 31, 1862 ; Elizabeth C., April 27, 1835; John M., January 3, 1839; Ann Eliza, December 19, 1843, died August 24, 1850; Lewis E., July 26, 1851; and several children, who died in infancy.

(III) William Preston, son of John and Sophia (Swope) Showen, was born in Greenbrier county, Virginia, now West Virginia, October 29, 1831, died November 7, 1875. He followed farming all his life. He married, in 1863, Nancy, daughter of William and Sarah (Goff) Parsons. Her father was born March 4, 1800, died in June, 1891, and her mother was born February 6, 1800. He came from Ireland, and landed at Cheat river, Tucker county, Virginia, when his daughter, Nancy, was fifteen years of age. He was a farmer, and in later life became a member of the county court. The children of William Preston and Nancy (Par- sons) Showen: Jacob Jennings, of whom further; John R., Lewis P., Lando L., Mary J. and Victoria.

(IV) Jacob Jennings, son of William Preston and Nancy (Parsons) Showen, was born at Reedyville, West Virginia, July 14, 1864. He received his early education in the public schools, and later took up farm- ing until he was twenty-eight years of age. He then followed the trade of a carpenter for ten years, when he established a livery stable and seven years later became a hauling contractor in the oil and gas fields of Roane county, in which business he is still engaged. He is a Democrat in politics and was elected a member of the board of education of Roane county in 1888. He is a member of Spencer Lodge, No. 55, Knights of Pythias ; Lodge No. 253, Modern Woodmen of America; and Lodge No. 198, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, at Parkersburg, West Virginia.

He married, August 22, 1892, Alberta, daughter of N. B. Armstrong, of Peniel, Roane county, West Virginia. Child : Lepha, born November 8, 1893.

DAVIS The earliest member of this family in America, was Ephraim Davis, born in Concord, Massachusetts, May 22, 1705, died in Rutland, Massachusetts, October 10, 1778.

(II) Samuel, son of Ephraim Davis, was born in Rutland, Massa- chusetts, March 15, 1746, died in Rutland, Massachusetts, in 1798-99. He was for many years a resident of Rutland, Massachusetts, and enlisted as a private in the Continental army for service in the revolutionary war, beginning as a corporal and ending his military career as a colonel. He had a son Samuel, mentioned below.

(III) Samuel (2), son of Samuel ( I) Davis, was born at Rutland, Massachusetts, September 9, 1774. He grew up and was educated in his native place and went to Quincy, Illinois, in the vicinity of which city he became a prosperous farmer. He reached Illinois in 183- and lived in that state during the residue of his life, dying there August 22, 1855. He was a contributor to the Bunker Hill monument and saw LaFayette there. He married and had a son George F., mentioned below.

(IV) George Francis, son of Samuel (2) Davis, was born in Bos- ton and passed his boyhood and youth on his father's farm in Illinois. When he had reached his legal majority he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he gained prestige as one of the big pork packers of that city, in fact, the third largest. He was president of the Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade of Cincinnati and in 1861 was known as a mer- chant prince there. He was a business man of remarkable ability and without any aid whatsoever won the high place he occupied in the finan-

88 Shower

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cial and business world of Cincinnati. He died July 9, 1881, aged sixty- one years. He married Nancy Wilson, who was born at Marble Head, Massachusetts, in 1822, died April 25, 1899, aged seventy-seven years. She was a daughter of Joseph Wilson, a rope manufacturer, who died in Granville, Ohio, in the late sixties. Children: I. George Francis, is seventy years of age (1912) and maintains his home in Buffalo, New York. 2. Wiliam Henry, is sixty-eight years of age and lives in Cincin- nati, Ohio; he was a member of Company K, Eighty-third Ohio Volun- teer Infantry during the civil war and participated in the battle of Vicks- burg and in other sanguinary struggles marking the progress of the war. 3. Edward, died in infancy. 4. May Hudson, died in 1870, aged eighteen years. 5. Gilman R., mentioned below. 6. Arthur Wilson, aged fifty-six years, is a resident of Cincinnati. 7. Walter Park, died in Brooklyn, New York, in 1892, in his thirty-third year.

(V) Dr. Gilman R. Davis, son of George Francis and Nancy ( Wil- son) Davis, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, August 24, 1854. He was educated in the public schools of that city and completed a classical course in Dennison University, at Granville, Ohio. In 1875 he was a stu- dent in the University of Rochester, but a short time later en- tered the Miami Medical College, of Cincinnati, in which he was grad- uated as a member of the class of 1878, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He then took a post-graduate course in the New York Home- opathic Medical College, in which he took the supplemental degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1879. He initiated the active practice of his pro- fession at Ironton, Ohio, where he lived for a period of twenty years, and where he was health officer and coroner of Lawrence county for two terms each. His health having broken he was forced to seek a change of climate and came to the mountain regions in 1902, locating at Macdon- ald, in Fayette county, West Virginia. Here he controls a large and representative patronage and a great deal of his time is devoted to his duties as surgeon for several coal companies in this section. He is of the "regular" school of medicine and in connection with his work is a valued member of the Fayette County Medical Society, the West Vir- ginia State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. Dr. Davis is past master of Macdonald Lodge, No. 103, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, and in politics is an uncompromising Republican. All his attention is devoted to his ever increasing medical practice and he is recognized as one of the ahlest physicians and surgeons in Fayette county. He and his wife are Presbyterians in their religious faith.

On September 14, 1882, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Davis to Alice Mather, who was born at Ironton, Ohio, March 16, 1858, and who is a daughter of the late Richard Mather, whose demise occurred in April 19II. Mr. Mather was cashier of the Second National Bank of Ironton from 1862 until his death. The Mathers are descended from an old aristocratic Massachusetts family. Mrs. Davis' mother, Harriet Stimson Mather, was a native of Milford, New Hampshire, and she passed to eternal rest in 1900. Dr. and Mrs. Davis are the parents of one daugh- ter, Harriet Mather, who is now the wife of Frank D. Drumheller, of Thurmond, West Virginia. Mr. Drumheller is cashier of the New River Banking & Trust Company, of Thurmond.

DEWS The Dews family has long been prominent in the Virginias, representatives of the name having figured importantly in business and public affairs during the past few generations. William Dews was a native of Virginia, where he passed his entire life and where he was an extensive and influential farmer. He had a son Samuel Stone, mentioned below.

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West Virginia and its people, Volume II, Part 41

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