USA > West Virginia > West Virginia and its people, Volume II > Part 64
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and his wife are Presbyterians. He married Danny, daughter of J. C. Gamble, of Kaw City, Oklahoma. No. children.
MCWHORTER Joseph Marcellus McWhorter, the first member of this family of whom we have any definite informa- tion, was born April 30, 1828, at Mcwhorter's Mills, Lewis county, West Virginia, and is now living in Lewisburg, Greenbrier county, West Virginia. He is a prominent lawyer, and from 1865 to 1869 was auditor of the state of West Virginia. In 1870 he was appointed judge of the circuit court of Greenbrier county for one term, and in 1896 he was again elected to the same office, which he held until 1904. He married (first) Julia E. Stalnaker, who died August 26, 1869. He married (second) Julia E., daughter of the Rev. Hiram Kinsley, late of Geneva, Ohio. Children ( seven by first marriage) : Al. G., now living in Charleston, West Virginia ; Artemus W., now living in Norfolk, Vir- ginia ; Louis Emory, referred to below; Maggie E., married D. W. Lewis, of Charleston, West Virginia ; William B., now living in Hinton, West Virginia ; Joseph C., now living in St. Louis, Missouri ; Deccie L., married C. L. Carr, of Lewisburg, West Virginia : Jennie, deceased, mar- ried J. S. McWhorter, of Greenbrier county, West Virginia; Emma, married Byrne Holt. of Lewisburg, West Virginia: Charles N., of Charleston.
(II) Louis Emory, son of Joseph Marcellus and Julia E. (Stalnaker) McWhorter, was born in Spencer, Roane county, West Virginia, March 30, 1856. He received his early education in the public schools in Wheeling, West Virginia, and at the academy in Lewisburg, West Vir- ginia, and later entered the law school of the University of Virginia. He continued his professional studies under Judge H. C. McWhorter and was admitted to the bar in 1886. He settled in Charleston, West Vir- ginia, where he is now living and actively practicing his profession. He was president of the Charleston board of education from 1897 to 1903, and was a member of the lower house of the West Virginia state legis- lature from 1905 to 1907. He is a member of the A. U. O. W. and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. He is a Republican in politics, and a Methodist in religion.
He married. June 27. 1883, Emma M. Champe, born in Charleston, West Virginia. Children : Julia, died April 17, 1904; Almeda, Lou Emma, L. Edwin, Ruth Annette.
The family of which Benjamin Stephen Morgan, a
MORGAN prominent attorney-at-law of Charleston, is a worthy representative, is of Welsh origin, and the descendants have been noted for their sturdy independence and other excellent char- acteristics.
(I) Colonel Morgan Morgan, the first of the line here under consider- ation, was a native of Wales. He received his education in London, Eng- land, and during the reign of William III. he came to the colony of Dela- ware, and during the reign of Queen Anne was a resident of Christiana, Delaware, moving from there to the colony of Virginia, prior to 1726 set- tling near Winchester. He was a man of integrity and worth, performing all the duties of a loyal citizen. He married Catherine Garretson. Chil- dren : I. Morgan Jr., became a minister in the Protestant Episcopal church. 2. Ann, married a Mr. Springer. 3. Zackwell, served with the rank of colonel in the continental army. 4. David, of whom further. 5.
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Charles. 6. Henry. 7. Evan. 8. James, served as captain in the conti- nental army.
(II) David, son of Colonel Morgan and Catherine (Garretson) Mor- gan, was born at Christiana, Delaware, in 1721, died in 1796, and was in- terred in their private cemetery at Rivesville, West Virginia. He fol- lowed the occupation of surveying throughout the active years of his life. He located near what is now the town of Rivesville, and his name is mentioned in connection with the Indian border warfare. In 1887 his descendants and relatives erected a monument to him on the spot where he had the encounter with the Indians in 1779. He married and had children : Morgan, Evan, James, Zackwell, of whom further; Elizabeth, married a Mr. Lowe; Stephen; Sara, married a Mr. Burris.
(III) Zackwell, son of David Morgan, married and among his chil- dren was Stephen H., of whom further.
(IV) Stephen H., son of Zackwell Morgan, was born in what is now West Virginia, and there spent his entire life, honored and respected. He was for several terms elected to the state legislature of Virginia. He married and among his children was Smallwood G., of whom further.
(V) Smallwood G., son of Stephen H. Morgan, was born in Marion county, Virginia, now West Virginia, February 9, 1820. He attended the schools adjacent to his home, and his active career was devoted to the tilling of the soil, in which line of work he was highly successful. He served in various public capacities, including the office of justice of the peace, and he discharged the duties pertaining thereto in an efficient man- ner. He married (first) Eliza Thorn, born in Monongalia county, Vir- ginia, now West Virginia, in 1822, died there in 1866, daughter of Ben- jamin and Mary ( Magruder) Thorn, who moved from Frederick county, Virginia, to the Monongahela Valley. Children: Margaret, wife of A. S. Wisman, resides on a farm in Grant district, Monongalia county, five children ; Sherrard, a farmer in Grant district; Benjamin S., of whom further ; Eugenie, widow of W. C. Fisher, who was a farmer and mer- chant, three children. Mr. Morgan married (second) Mrs. Anary (Windsor) Wilson, widow of Thomas Wilson.
(VI) Benjamin Stephen, son of Smallwood G. Morgan, was born in Marion county, Virginia, now West Virginia, in 1854, but was brought up in Monongalia county. He was a student in the University of West Virginia and graduated with the class of 1878, in the classical course, and the military training school, and later from the law department of the same institution, securing his degree with the class of 1883. Prior to the completion of his law course, however, he had been prominent in educational work and had served as superintendent of the public schools of Morgantown from 1878 until 1881, and county superintendent from 1881 until 1885, having been twice elected. In 1884 he was elected state superintendent of free schools, having been nominated on the Democratic ticket. He was renominated and elected in 1888, receiving each time the largest vote cast for any state officer. He declined to be a candidate for a third term, engaging in the practice of law upon the completion of his second term. While serving in the capacity of county superintendent he prepared and published at his own expense an outlined course of study for use in the country schools of his county. He was also instrumental in improving the teachers' county institutes and the state normal schools; established a state teacher's reading circle ; assisted in building up public school libraries; secured the enactment of a law providing for the prep- aration by the state superintendent of a graded course of study for all ungraded country schools; secured an act for the establishment of a State Reform School for Boys; advocated the extension of the graded and high school work ; served as president of the State Educational Asso-
i
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ciation and prepared the annual program, also published and edited the West Virginia School Journal; superintended the preparation of the state's educational exhibit for the World's Columbian Fair at Chicago in 1893, and in this connection, with J. F. Cork, prepared the first "History of Education in West Virginia." Ex-officio he was a member of the State Board of Public Works, the Printing Commission and the Board of the School Fund. He also served in the city council of Charleston. He was reared in the Methodist faith, and his wife in the United Presby- terian. Mr. Morgan married, at Wheeling, West Virginia, Annie, born and educated at Wheeling, daughter of John and Jane ( Miller) Tho- burn, both of whom were natives of Belfast, Ireland, coming to Wheel- ing in early life. Children: 1. John Thoburn, born November 25, 1889; graduated from the Charleston high school, attended the West Virginia University at Morgantown : he represents the Charleston Electric Supply Company, with headquarters at Bluefields. West Virginia. 2. Benjamin Stephen Jr., born October 27, 1901 ; a student in the public schools.
CRADDOCK Hugh N. Craddock, son of John and Mary (Gard- ener) Craddock, of Albermarle county, Virginia, was born in that state and county, November 17, 1824. He came into what is now within the state of West Virginia and located in the Little Kanawha Valley, near what is now Burning Springs, Wirt county, several years before the civil war. At the outbreak of the war of the rebellion, he enlisted in the federal army at Parkersburg, Novem- ber 7, 1861, and served until he was honorably discharged at Richmond, August 19, 1865. He received one flesh wound, was never made pris- oner, but was permanently disabled in health by mumps aggravated by exposure during his service. He was in the following engagements : Cloyd Mountain, Bungos Mills, Staunton, Lexington, Buckhannon, the Lynchburg raid, Opequon, Fishers Hill, the skirmishes from there to Harrisburg and return, Cedar Creek, Petersburg. Richmond, High Bridge, and was present at the surrender. At the close of the war he located at Glenville, West Virginia, where he engaged in the hotel busi- ness until the time of his death, and he was also interested and engaged in the timber business and in the boating of goods on the Little Kanawha river between Parkersburg and Glenville. He was married in Glenville, Gilmer county, West Virginia, March 5. 1863, to Sarah Pau- line Brannon. Children : Joseph N., of whom further : Lillie V., born July 31, 1867 ; Charles H., September 29, 1872; Harvey L., July 26, 1875 : Clara B., May 26, 1877. married N. L. Wells: Frankie B., mar- ried Fred M. Whiting.
(II) Joseph N., son of Hugh N. and Sarah Pauline (Brannon) Craddock, was born February 22, 1864. He learned the printing trade in the office of the local newspaper ; and from 1879 to 1881 he edited the Mountaineer at Sutton, West Virginia; from 1881-1885 he edited the Webster Echo at Webster Springs, West Virginia: he then returned to Glenville and edited the Glenville Banner from 1887 to 1894; assisted in the editing and publishing of the Glenville Imprint until the year 1898, when he founded and edited the Glenville Stranger, which he published until the year 1902; since that time he has been assisting in the publica- tion of the Glenville Pathfinder. He has served two terms as mayor of the town of Glenville, and was deputy United States marshall for the northern district of West Virginia for four years. He married Virgie Belle, daughter of the Hon. William Joseph Wooddell. Children: Bantz Wooddell, of whom further : Winnie E., married O. M. Ewing : Eula J.,
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married J. C. Ewing: Ava B., married C. C. Standard; M. Pauline, Thelma D.
(III) Bantz Wooddell, son of Joseph N. and Virgie Belle (Wood- dell) Craddock, was born at Glenville, West Virginia, November 22, 1887. His education was begun at the Glenville public school, from which he prosecuted his studies in the Glenville State Normal School, and from there he was graduated in 1906. For the study of law he attended the University of West Virginia, being graduated in 1910. After his grad- uation and his admission to the bar, he went to Marlinton, Pocahontas county, West Virginia, and there he practiced law for about one year. In July, 1911, he returned to Glenville and became a member of the law firm of Linn, Brannon & Craddock. He has served two terms as record- er of the common council of the town of Glenville, and in the spring of 1912, upon the death of Mayor John Holt, he was acting mayor of Glen- ville until his successor was appointed by the common council. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Knights of Pythias. Modern Woodmen of America ; Knights of the Maccabees, the two col- lege fraternities, the Sphinx and the Phi Sigma Kappa. Mr. Craddock is not married.
Aaron W. McVey was born at Franklin Court House, McVEY Franklin county, Virginia, in the year 1812. He was an only child and was reared and educated in Franklin county. As a young man he learned the trade of tanner and he was identified with the tanning business at Ansted during the major portion of his active career. He was bitterly opposed to slavery and was a strong Un- ion man during the civil war. He reached the venerable age of seventy- six years and was a resident of Ansted when death called him. He and his wife were the parents of five children, of whom Caroline is deceased. Those living are : Laura, Virginia, Newton, Augustus.
( II) Augustus, son of Aaron W. McVey, was born in Fayette county, near the village of Page, Virginia, in 1831. He passed his boy- hood and youth at Ansted and in the vicinity of this place is engaged in agricultural operations at the present time, in 1912. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary M. Alderson, was born at Ansted, now West Virginia, and she is now sixty-one years of age. There were eleven children born to this union : Luther, died at the age of seven years from an injury ; Otie J., has not been heard from in late years and is supposed to be dead: Sallie M., wife of George Walker, of Prudence, West Vir- ginia ; John A., an iron worker, lives at Ansted: Ada, wife of Leonard Minor, of Ansted : James H., a farmer in the vicinity of Ansted ; Grace, single, resides at home with her parents, as do also Walter and Zeph ; William Henry, mentioned below. Mrs. McVey is a daughter of Har- vey M. and Margaret M. (Taylor) Alderson, the former of whom was born in Greenbrier county, Virginia, and who died in Montgomery county, Mississippi, aged seventy-four years. His son George was killed in the Confederate army. There were eight children in the Alderson family, as follows: Sarah, Martha, Mary M., John, Alford, Jessie, Lewis, George.
(III) William Henry, son of Augustus and Mary M. (Alderson) McVey, was born at Ansted, West Virginia, May 31. 1866. He attended the public schools of Fayette county until he had reached his ninth year, when he accompanied his parents to Wellsville, Missouri, where the fam- ily home was maintained for the ensuing seven years. He completed his educational training in Missouri, and he returned with the family to West Virginia in 1882. He helped his father on the farm until he had
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reached his legal majority and for one year thereafter was his father's partner in running the farm. In 1888 he began to work in a stone quarry and thoroughly familiarized himself with the trade of stone mason. In 1889 he was appointed postmaster at Gauley Bridge, Fayette county, and he was the popular and efficient incumbent of that office for nine and a half years, during four years of which period he was also deputy sheriff. This was a critical time in the history of Fayette county as many strikes were raging among the workingmen. In 1908 Mr. McVey was elected justice of the peace in Falls district, Fayette county, and he retains that position at the present time. In 1910 he was appointed secretary of the board of education at Montgomery, which city represents his home, and ne has held that office by reappointment since. In 1906 he was made notary public. Mr. McVey's work as a public official has ever been char- acterized by the utmost faithfulness to duty and he is everywhere recog- nized as a man of high ideals and straightforward principles. Fraternally he is affiliated with William Henry Lodge, No. 227, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Gauley Bridge; Fort Defiance Lodge, No. 140, Knights of Pythias : The Order of Owls; and the West Virginia Good Templars, of which last organization he has been a member since nine- teen years of age. In religious matters he is a Presbyterian.
In Montgomery, West Virginia, Mr. McVey married Ella C. Grey, the ceremony having been performed in 1890. Mrs. McVey was born at Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, April 11, 1861, daughter of John H. and Cynthia (Muncie) Grey, the former of whom died in 1872 and the lat- ter in 1892. Mr. Grey was a tanner by trade, and he and his wife were the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters, all of whom are deceased except Mrs. McVey. Mr. and Mrs. McVey have no chil- dren.
HAYS This family name, more often spelled Hayes, is not common in the United States, but has been borne by one president. The present family came from western Pennsylvania into West Virginia, about the time of the beginning of the great recent de- velopment of the latter state. Governor Boreman also, with whom Abijah Hays is closely related by marriage, was of western Pennsylvania nativ- ity, but settled in northwestern Virginia before the middle of the last century.
(I) Abijah Hays. the first member of this family about whom we have definite information, was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- vania. He married and had a son, James Francis, of whom further.
(II) James Francis, son of Abijah Hays, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1851. There he was engaged in the lumber business with his father until 1884 when he bought a farm in Wood county, West Virginia, and to this he moved and engaged in farming. He was a mem- ber of the Knights Templar. He married Caroline, daughter of Jesse and Rachel (Cowan) Cunningham. Children : Jessie, married Wirt N. Barrett : James Francis, married Mary Isele ; Mary Edna, married W. H. Barr ; George Olman, married Lucy Creel ; Thomas Alexander : Abi- jah, of whom further.
(III) Abijah, son of James Francis and Caroline (Cunningham) Hays, was born near Pittsburgh, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. Sep- tember 15, 1871. In 1884 he came to Wood county, West Virginia, with his parents, but in 1889 he returned to Pittsburgh. Since 1895. however, he has been a resident of Parkershurg. West Virginia. His education was begun in the public schools of Pittsburgh, and in 1891 he graduated from the Pittsburgh Academy. Afterward he studied at Lafayette Col-
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lege, Easton, Pennsylvania, from which in 1895 he was graduated and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Since that year Mr. Hays has been a true West Virginian, loyal to and interested in the state and the city of his adoption. His legal education was received at the University of West Virginia, which conferred upon him at his graduation there- from in 1897 the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Mr. Hays, in the same year, entered upon the practice of his profession at Parkersburg, and here he is still in active practice, having his office on the square, oppo- site the county court house.
He married, June 30, 1908, Laurane, daughter of Ex-Governor Ar- thur Inghram and Laurane ( Tanner-Bullock) Boreman.
BOREMAN Ex-Governor Arthur Inghram Boreman, son of Ken- ner Seaton and Sarah ( Inghram) Boreman, was born at Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, July 24, 1823, died at Parkersburg, West Virginia, April 19, 1896. In his childhood he came to Tyler county, Virginia, where he received a common school education. Then, under his older brother and James M. Stevenson, his brother-in- law, he engaged in the study of law at Middlebourne, Tyler county, Vir- ginia. In May, 1845, he was admitted to the bar, and in November of the same year he entered on the practice of his profession at Parkers- burg, where he earned the reputation of a fine jurist and able lawyer. His high and enviable repute in the legal profession was matched in the field of statecraft. He was elected in 1855 to the Virginia house of dele- gates from Wood county, and he held that office by successive re- elections until 1861. When the Virginia legislature held an extra ses- sion in 1861 to discuss the propriety of secession, Mr. Boreman was still a member of the legislature, and he was most active and conspicuous in his efforts against the attempt to secede.
In the trying times which followed, during the formation period of the new state, his integrity, clearness of understanding, quickness of de- cision, persistence and definiteness of purpose, his force of will and in- defatigable energy placed him in the very forefront, among the leaders. Being a man of the most positive convictions, he was inevitably a devoted partisan. When the threat of civil strife was impending over our coun- try in 1861, and when the northwestern part of Virginia determined to maintain a place in the nation and to hold allegiance to the flag, Mr. Bore- man's peculiar innate qualities of untiring energy and industry, indomi- table will, and intense purpose fitted him to be a successful leader in the great crisis, and were undoubtedly the causes impelling the people to call him into a high and commanding position in the councils of the new state.
After the extra session of the Virginia legislature in 1861, he pre- sided over the convention held at Wheeling for the purpose of reorgan- izing the state government. In October, 1861. he was elected judge of the circuit court under the restored government of Virginia. He pre- sided over this court until his unanimous election, in 1863, to be the first governor of the new state of West Virginia. The wisdom with which he wielded the executive power and his rare, accurate conception of the needs of that critical time are apparent in the success of the effort to form and the movements to develop the state, but his personal bravery and fearlessness can be appreciated only in the light of a full under- standing of the conditions and circumstances attending that interesting and complicated portion of our history. In 1864 and in 1866 Mr. Bore- man was re-elected to the office of governor : in 1868 he declined to be again a candidate. The legislature of West Virginia, at its session in
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1869, elected Arthur Inghram Boreman to the United States senate, in succession to Hon. Peter G. Van Winkle; and he took his seat in that body, March 4, 1869, and served the state with great efficiency. He was a member of the committee on manufactures, the committee on territor- ies, and the committees on political disabilities. During the forty-third congress he was chairman of the committee on territorities and a mem- of the committee on claims.
Probably no truer aspect of the personality of the man as he was can be given than that in the following description, quoted from a former historian :
Viewing Governor Boreman as a partisan leader in those times that tried men's souls even his opponents in after years conceded that he possessed many high and generous qualities of both head and heart. If he struck hard blows, he did not shrink from receiving hard blows in return; and when the strife was ended he was ever ready to extend a hand, and to sink, if not to forget. the past. And while he never gave up a partisan advantage, he was ever ready to perform a personal act of kindness or friendship to a political adversary as well as to a political friend; and the admiration, love, and affection of those who stood nearest to him in those dark days of the past could then as now attest that warmth and strength of his own affections. His record is before the people of the state. From it no fair- minded man would blot out a single page. It is easily understood, bold, fearless, direct, distinct. There is no evasion or darkness in the definitions of his prin- ciples or policies. As the bold, fearless, loyal president of the Wheeling Convention that reorganized the government of Virginia, and as the first governor of the new state of West Virginia, his heroic, manly conduct gave him a place in the affections of the Union people of the state that will not soon be forgotten.
Thus it has been written of him, in eulogy of his career, but a more permanent monument of the esteem in which he was held and the con- fidence which he gained lies in the history of this state, whose destiny was intrusted to his guidance at the time of its birth and formation, and to which his services were devoted from that time for practically the re- mainder of his life.
At the time of the expiration of his term as United States senator, West Virginia had become a Democratic state. He resumed the prac- tice of law at Parkersburg, and his characteristic energy, allied with his well known ability and integrity, soon gave to him a large and lucrative practice, in which he was engaged until 1888. Then, as an unsolicited tribute, he was nominated and elected as judge of the circuit court, over which he had presided with ability, fairness and dignity nearly thirty years before. His term began January 1, 1889, and he continued to pre- side over the circuit court until his death, which occurred at his home in Parkersburg. He had just completed a term of court at Elizabeth, Wirt county, when he was seized with his fatal illness.
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