USA > West Virginia > West Virginia and its people, Volume II > Part 48
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On October 18, 1905. Dr. Young was married to Miss Ella Morris, a daughter of Mcclellan B. Morris, a prominent attorney of Glenville, and one of West Virginia's Republican state senators, the family being of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Mrs. Young was born at Glenville, April 7, 1884, and is a graduate of the normal school of that place. Dr. and Mrs. Young are the parents of two children-Alice Conrad Young, born Octo- ber 21, 1907, and Robert Morris Young, born August 15. 1909.
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Charles Nathaniel Kimball, of the well known law firm KIMBALL of Kimball & Sugden, of Sistersville, comes of ancient New England lineage, and is himself a representative in the ninth generation of Kimballs of America, each generation having in turn given to the nation many good and useful citizens. The military record of the family is a very full one. The great-great-grandfathers of Charles N. Kimball, on both sides, served in the colonial army during the revolutionary war ; his paternal great-grandfather, Sterry Kimball, fought in the war of 1812; his grandfathers on both sides participated in the Black Hawk war, and two great-uncles served in the Mexican war.
(I) Richard Kimball, the first of the line of whom we have record, was born in Rattlesden, Suffolk county, England, in 1595 and died at Ips- wich, Massachusetts, June 22, 1675. He sailed for America from Ips- wich, Suffolk county, England, April 10, 1634, in the ship "Elizabeth," William Andrews, master, and landed at Ipswich, Massachusetts, and after a short period spent in that town removed to Watertown, Massachusetts. In 1637 he returned to Ipswich, Massachusetts, where the remainder of his life was spent, and where his will, dated March 5, 1674-5, is recorded. He married Ursula Scott, daughter of Henry Scott, at Rattlesden. Ursu- la's mother, and brother Thomas Scott, accompanied Richard and Ursula to America in the "Elizabeth."
(II) John, son of Richard and Ursula (Scott) Kimball, was born in Rattlesden, England, 1631, and died at Ipswich, Massachusetts, May 6, 1698. He came to America with his parents in 1634. He married, 1655, Mary Bradstreet, born in 1633, who came to America with her parents in the same ship as the Kimballs.
( III) John (2), son of Jolin ( I ), and Mary ( Bradstreet ) Kimball, was born at Ipswich, Massachusetts, March 16, 1668, and died in Preston, Connecticut, May 4, 1761. He removed to Stonington, Connecticut, in 1726, and from thence to Preston, where he spent the remainder of his life. He married, at Watertown, Massachusetts, December 2, 1692, Sarah, daughter of Joseph and Sarah ( Whipple ) Goodhue.
( IV) Jacob, son of John (2) and Sarah (Goodhue ) Kimball, was born at Ipswich, Massachusetts, October 12, 1706, and died in Preston, Connecticut, May 4, 1788, his will being dated January 25, of that year. He married, February 24, 1730, Mary Parke, born June 6, 1715, and left ten children whose average age at the time of death was eighty-six and seven-tenths years.
(\') Daniel, son of Jacob and Mary ( Parke) Kimball, was born at Preston, Connecticut, September 15, 1752, and died near Bologna, New York, about 1835. August 17. 1781. he sold land at Norwich, Connecticut, and removed to Montgomery county, New York, in 1783. He marrie 1, in Preston, Connecticut, June 24, 1773. Mary Sterry.
(VI) Sterry, son of Daniel and Mary ( Sterry ) Kimball, was born at Preston, Connecticut, August 19. 1782, and died at Wellsboro, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, December 8, 1845. He served in the war of 1812 in Captain Nathaniel F. Adams' company, Fourth United States Infantry, Colonel Robert Purdy commanding. His place of residence was succes- sively at Cato, Scipio, Marcellus, Lysander, in New York, and finally in Wellsboro. He married Phoebe Pearce, born April 5. 1786, died Decem- ber 19, 1868.
(VII) Chester, son of Sterry and Phoebe ( Pearce) Kimball, was born in Montgomery county, New York, December 11, 1807. and died in Ansonia, Pennsylvania, September 24. 1845. His military service was throughout the Black Hawk war in Company G. Fifth United States In- fantry. He married, November 29, 1835, Ann Marie Ter Bush, born in Albany county, New York. August 25, 1808. died February 29, 1876.
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(VIII) Chester Frayer, son of Chester and Ann Marie ( Ter Bush) Kimball, was born at Homer, Cortlandt county, New York, April 30, 1842, and died at Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, January 26, 1907. Upon the outbreak of the civil war he was among the first to respond to the call to arms, and served until its close. He enlisted August 6, 1861, in Com- pany E, First Pennsylvania Rifles, the famous "Bucktail" regiment, par- ticipated in the battle of Drainsville, Virginia, December 30, 1861, and went through the Peninsular campaign under General McClellan ; was in the second Bull Run, South Mountain ; was wounded at Fredericksburg, Virginia, and was honorably discharged November 17, 1865. At the close of the war he went to Missourt and later to Wellsboro, Pennsyl- vania, where the remainder of his life was passed. He married, in Park- ville, Missouri. December 20, 1870, Sarah Margaret Boydston, daughter of Nathaniel Christian Boydston, born in Buchanan county, Missouri, April 1, 1850, died in Benton county, Iowa, May 18, 1878.
(IX) Charles Nathaniel, son of Chester Frayer and Sarah Margaret (Boydston) Kimball, was born at Parkville, Missouri, September 20, 1872, and was but six years of age when death deprived him of a moth- er's love and care. His preparatory education was acquired in the pub- lic schools of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, and in his earlier years he was devoted to the sports of baseball and football, his love for outdoor sports increasing with added years, enabling him to become noted as a sprinter and to win numerous medals and prizes in athletic contests. He was graduated from the Wellsboro high school in 1890, and took up the study of law in the office of Elliott & Watrous, of Wellsboro, was admitted to the bar March 30, 1894, and subsequently became a member of the firm under the style of Elliott, Watrous & Kimball. In January, 1897, he entered Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, from which he was graduated in 1899, then became a student at the Harvard Law School, class of 1902. Upon leav- ing the Harvard Law School he went to Chicago, intending to establish himself permanently in that city. He entered the law office of Huston & Sullivan, but at the end of a very short time received an advantageous offer from The Carter Oil Company to look after their interests in West Virginia, and went to Sistersville, in which town he has since resided. Mr. Kimball has been admitted to practice in the supreme court of the United States, in the Federal courts and in the supreme court of West Virginia, as well as in almost all of the other courts throughout the state. In 1910 he formed a partnership with Walter Sugden, who was a class- mate at Andover, the firm name being Kimball & Sugden, making a specialty of corporation law, and having achieved an enviable reputation in that section of the state.
Since he became a voter, Mr. Kimball has supported the Republican party, but has consistently refused to hold public office, until repeated urging due to the insistent demand for reform and a "cleaning up" in Sistersville, caused his acceptance of the mayoralty nomination, and he is now acting very efficiently as mayor of Sistersville. He has been an active leader in the parish work of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, and is at present junior warden. His fraternal affiliations are as follows : Member of Phoenix Lodge No. 73. Ancient Free and Accepted Masons : Sistersville Chapter No. 27. Royal Arch Masons : Trinity Com- mandery. Knights Templar ; Osiris Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Wheeling, West Virginia ; and a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason.
Mr. Kimball married in St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, Bos- ton, Massachusetts, July 3. 1004. Mary J. McGlinchey, born in Portland. Maine, March 1. 1876, and they have children: Chester Frayer, born
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May 9, 1907: Mary Boydston, January 10, 1909; Walter Sugden, June 29, 19II. All were born in Sistersville.
BENTON Ezra L. Benton, chief engineer of the Parkersburg and Ohio Valley Electric Railroad Company, and a resident of Sistersville, comes of old colonial stock, his ancestors hav- ing been numbered among the pioneers who left the stamp of their individ- uality on the wild regions which they helped to subdue.
(I) Levi Benton, great-grandfather of Ezra L. Benton, was among the first settlers of what was known as the "Genesee country," subse- quently making a home for himself in Yates county. The town of Ben- ton was named in honor of this sturdy pioneer.
(II) Levi Benton, son of Levi Benton.
(III) Henry P., son of Levi Benton, was one of the original corps of engineers who surveyed the old Erie railroad leading from New York City west, and he also assisted in its construction. Several county maps were made by him. Mr. Benton married Clarissa T., daughter of Andrew A. Norton, an outline of whose career is appended to this sketch, and they became the parents of several children, of whom the only one living is Ezra L., mentioned below. An elder son, Henry N. Benton, served in the Union army during the civil war, and after his discharge re-enlisted, ultimately laying down his life for his country. Henry P. Benton, the father, died in 1892, surviving his wife, who had passed away in 1886.
(IV) Ezra L., son of Henry P. and Clarissa T. ( Norton ) Benton, was born February 19, 1848, in Erie county, Ohio, and received his earliest edu- cation in the common schools, afterward attending the Angelica (New York) Academy, and also that of Elmira, New York. At the time of the outbreak of the civil war he was preparing for Harvard, but, with many other youths of that period. imbibing the spirit of military ardor which then pervaded the country, he abandoned his studies, and in 1861 enlisted under the two-year call in the 23d New York Volunteer Infantry, Colonel Henry C. Hoffman, Company F, Captain William P. Dingleday. Mr. Ben- ton participated in the battles of Cedar Mountain, South Mountain, Antie- tam, the second battle of Bull Run, the first battle of Fredericksburg, and several smaller engagements. He was honorably discharged at Elmira, at the expiration of his term of enlistment. After his return home, Mr. Ben- ton engaged in the drug business, but finding the confinement injurious to his health, he educated himself for the profession of civil engineering. which he has since continuously practiced. For five years he was employed by the government, and was at one time in business with his father, in association with whom he surveyed several railroads. Mr. Benton has practiced his profession in all its branches. He was once on the Cape Fear River Survey. His political affiliations are with the Socialists, and he is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church.
Mr. Benton married Minnie A. Marsh, a native of Bellaire, Ohio, who died June 7, 1905. leaving no children. The military record of Mr. Benton's youth has been supplemented by many years of professional labor.
Andrew A. Norton, father of Mrs. Clarissa T. (Norton) Benton ,and grandfather of Ezra L. Benton, was an old-time merchant of Alleghany county, New York, where he also held interest in a potash factory. Mr. Norton served in the army during the war of 1812, and on one occasion was captured and taken with others to the Niagara river, where the pris- oners and their guards embarked on flatboats, the former being compelled to wield the oars. On the way down the river the captives sprang from their seats and overpowered their guards, binding them securely, hand and foot. They then rowed to the opposite shore, and on landing made good their escape.
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William Seiber, president of the Central Veneer Company,
SEIBER is one of Huntington's most progressive business men and public-spirited citizens. For more than fifteen years Mr. Seiber has been prominently identified with every movement which has tended to further the material welfare and permanent improvement of our city.
Peter Seiber, father of William Seiber, was born in 1834, in Baden Ba- den, Germany, and was the son of a farmer who passed his entire life in the Fatherland, having, at the time of his death, entered his one hundredth year. Peter Seiber. as a young man, served in the Germany army, and emigrated to the United States about the close of the civil war; he had expected and desired to enlist in the Federal army, but arrived after the termination of the conflict. He settled at once in Cincinnati and opened a shoe shop which he conducted many years. He married Caroline Huber also a native of Baden Baden ; her father was a farmer and a soldier in the German army, who, at his death, left a large estate. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Seiber : Mary, died in infancy ; Wil- liam, mentioned below, Peter, Andrew G., and Charles J., all of Hunt- ington ; and Katie, living in Cincinnati. Mrs. Seiber died in 1901, at the age of fifty-six, and her husband passed away October 31, 1910, being then seventy-six years old.
William, son of Peter and Caroline ( Huber) Seiber, was born Febru - ary 5, 1869, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and received his education in the public and parochial schools of his native city. His first employment was as a farm hand at the age of thirteen, and little more than a year later he entered the service of the E. D. Albro Company, veneer and lumber dealers of Cincinnati. He remained with them fifteen years, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the business and during the last three years holding the position of manager. In the spring of 1894 he came to Huntington and established the present plant for J. H. Moore, serving as its manager for one year. At the end of that time the Central Veneer Company was organized, and under the able leadership of Mr. Seiber has proved a signal success. The company employs about forty men and its operations are never materially affected by the disturbances which, from time to time, agitate the business world. The plant has been greatly im- proved this year (1913) ; machinery costing upwards of fifteen thou- sand dollars was installed, and the factory also greatly enlarged. Mr. Seiber is a director and stockholder in the Central Banking Company, and a stockholder in the American National Bank.
He has been in the past identified with many important enterprises ; being nine times elected mayor of Central City, and during his incum- bency the town was paved, lighted, sewered and in every way much im- proved. This progress imparted an impetus to the town of Huntington proper, and it was then that factories began to be established there. He is a member of the Huntington Chamber of Commerce, and is president and treasurer of the Huntington Baseball Club, in the Mountain State League believing that a good club adds to the prestige of the city. He also be- longs to the United Commercial Travelers, the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; he was one of the promoters of the building of the new Elks' club- house, and has for three terms held the office of exalted ruler in the or- ganization. He is a member of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church.
Mr. Seiber is one of those men who carry with them an atmosphere of enterprise, and the success with which Huntington has kept step in the march of progress has been great'y aided by his public-spirited efforts.
He married. October 15. 1895. in Cincinnati, Catharine, a native of that city, daughter of Joseph and Mary ( Miller ) Doll. Mr. Doll served
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throughout the civil war in the Union army, and died in 1906, at the age of sixty-eight. His widow, who is now sixty years old, is living in Cin- cinnati. Mr. and Mrs. Seiber have two children: Marie Margaret, born August 1, 1896; and William Joseph, born January 5, 1898, now assist- ing his father as stenographer and bookkeeper.
Few men can look back upon a more varied and enterpris-
RUSSELL ing business career than can Eli Wells Russell, of Sisters- ville. He has not only a mercantile but also a military and naval record, having been identified during the civil war with both branches of the Confederate service.
William Russell, father of Eli Wells Russell, came as a young man from Ireland, and was among the early settlers of Sistersville. He was accompanied by his brother, Joshua Russell, who also settled in that vil- lage. The brothers married sisters, daughters of Charles Wells, a native of Ireland, who was the proprietor of a hotel and the owner of several neighboring farms. He bestowed on his two daughters, who married the Russell brothers, the principal part of the land on which Sistersville has since been built. William Russell and his wife became the parents of a son, Eli Wells, mentioned below. Mrs. Russell was the youngest of twenty-two children.
Eli Wells, son of William and Betsey ( Wells) Russell, was born March 12, 1836, in Sistersville, Virginia, now West Virginia, and received his education at the Wheeling (West Virginia) high school, graduating in 1855. His first employment was as a reporter for the Wheeling Argus, and he maintained his connection with the paper until 1858, when it went out of existence. In 1859 he went to Ashland, Kentucky, and for one year held a position in a general store owned by his cousin, John Russell. At the end of that time he returned to Sistersville and obtained employment on a flatboat carrying produce from that place to New Orleans. In April, 1861, when the whole country was startled by the news that Fort Sumter had been fired upon, the boat on which Mr. Russell was employed was in New Orleans, and those in charge at once sold both cargo and boat and returned to Sistersville. In the autumn of the same year Mr. Russell enlisted in the 27th Virginia Regiment, commanded by Colonel Grigsby, and forming part of "Stonewall" Jackson's brigade, remaining in the service until the death of General Jackson. He then entered the Confederate navy and served under Admiral Semmes until the close of the war. During his career as a soldier and sailor he participated in all the important battles and was several times wounded.
When peace was restored, Mr. Russell returned to the old home, and a little later removed to Cabell county, West Virginia, where for two years he conducted a store, selling out at the end of that time and returning to Sistersville. He there operated a saw mill situated on a farm of which he was the owner, and supplied the lumber to build the first three houses erected in Huntington, West Virginia, conveying it thither in a wharf boat. In 1890 Mr. Russell removed to Wheeling, where for four years he was engaged in the produce business, returning at the end of that time to Sistersville, which has since been his permanent home. His polit- ical affiliations are with the Democrats, and he is a member of the Pres- byterian church.
Mr. Russell married, in April, 1876, Rachial Cotton, and they are the parents of a son and two daughters: I. Charles, born in 1877, resides in Ohio, directly across the river from Sistersville, on the old homestead of one hundred and eighty acres which has been in the family for more than one hundred years; the farm has four producing oil wells which are the
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source of a considerable monthly revenue. 2. Alfaretta, now wife of B. William Miller, of Oklahoma. 3. Virginia, married William McCluskey, also of Oklahoma.
After many years of change and endeavor Mr. Russell is now enjoying a well earned period of repose, and Sistersville is proud of this worthy sol- dier citizen.
It is thought probable that this family is descended from LEWIS John Lewis, the great Augusta pioneer of 1720. John Lewis came to America from Dublin, Ireland, about 1720; he may have been of Welsh or Huguenot origin. Henry Lewis, grandfather of John Edward Lewis, of Oak Hill, was born near Richmond, Virginia, where he grew up and where he was a prominent farmer during the greater part of his lifetime. He participated in many of the early wars with the Indians and lived to be a very old man. His son, Jesse Lewis, is mentioned below.
(II) Jesse, son of Henry Lewis, was born in Buckingham county, Virginia, and died June 6, 1888. He was a mere youth at the time of the inception of the civil war, and volunteered as a soldier in the Confederate army, but was considered too young for service. He was a farmer and stock man in Buckingham county. He married Annie E. Anderson, who survives him and who is now living at Toga, Virginia, aged sixty-three years. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis became the parents of two children : James Henry, born in 1870, is engaged in agricultural pursuits on the old home- stead at Toga, Virginia ; and John Edward, mentioned below.
(III) John Edward, son of Jesse and Annie E. (Anderson) Lewis, was born in Buckingham county, Virginia, May 1, 1873. He received his rudimentary educational training in the public schools of his native place, and in early life assisted his father in the work of the farm. In 1891, at the age of eighteen years, he was appointed deputy treasurer of Buck- ingham county, and served in that capacity with unusual efficiency for the ensuing four years. In 1895 he engaged in the general merchandise business at Toga, and there resided for two years, at the expiration of which he removed to Fayette county, West Virginia, and settled at Mount Hope. He conducted a general store at Mount Hope until 1904, when he established the family home in Oak Hill, where he had previously pur- chased his present store. He now associated with R. R. Thomas in con- ducting a furniture and undertaking establishment in this city, the firm being that of Lewis & Thomas. A fine stock of goods is carried by these enterprising business men and a large trade is controlled. In 1906 Mr. Lewis became one of the organizers of a wholesale dry-goods and no- tions store, at Richmond, Virginia, which was incorporated under the laws of the state of Virginia in that year, with a capital stock of $300,000 this enterprise being known under the name of the Anderson, Lewis, Gray Company. Mr. Lewis is vice-president of the above concern, and it is largely due to his efforts that it has grown to be one of the big stores of its kind in that section of the state. He has been extensively interested in coal lands in West Virginia, and was a stockholder in the Merchants & Miners Bank of Oak Hill. He helped organize the Oak Hill Hardware Company, of which he was president until 1907. He is a devout Baptist in his religious faith, and in political matters is a stal- wart supporter of Republican principles and policies.
February 6, 1899, Mr. Lewis married Miss Mary Mahood, who was born in Virginia, a daughter of Chester B. and Maggie (Huddleston) Mahood, both of whom are now living in Oak Hill. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis have one child, John Edward Jr., whose birth occurred in February. 1905.
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Eli Nutter, of West Union, West Virginia, descends in a NUTTER straight line from English ancestry. His emigrant fore- father and founder of the Nutter family in America prob- ably came from Dorsetshire, England, in the early part of the sixteenth century, as the name occurs in the list given of one of the hundreds above Jamestown, Virginia. A Nutter was assigned to guard duty to protect the scattered settlements from Indian surprises and to give specific aid to the women and children. As the Eastern Shore of Virginia became thickly settled a Nutter, like many other pioneers of his day, sought a home further in the interior of the province. At the call to arms for recruits for the continental army several Nutters responded, and two from Harrison county, Virginia, now West Virginia. Three families of this name, or branches of the same family, have settled in Ritchie county.
(I) Thomas Nutter, the great-grandson of the emigrant, in 1775 entered his homestead of four hundred acres about two miles from Clarks- burg, on the west side of Elk creek, and on the road to Buckhannon; later he pre-empted one thousand acres adjoining. On this tract was built Nut- ter's fort, or block house, which proved a safe refuge for the community during the Indian wars. As the census of 1782 shows that he had eight children he must have married before plunging into the wilderness. From him descend many families of the name in Harrison county. The rec- ords give the following Nutter marriages, and it is believed that they were his children and those of his wife, whose name, unfortunately, has not been preserved to her descendants. Children: Rachel, married, May 4, 1785, Isaac Richards; Christopher, married Rebecca Morehead, June 28, 1785; John, of whom further; Mary, married Richard Hall, August 31, 1790. All of these names are today among the prominent ones of West Virginia as they were in that day, proving that the Nutter family ranked with the best.
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