USA > West Virginia > West Virginia and its people, Volume II > Part 66
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(II) Richard (2), son of Richard (1) Lee, was born in 1647, in Vir- ginia, and was a member of the council from 1676 until his death, which occurred in 1714. He married Letitia, daughter of Henry and Alice (Eltonhead) Corbin. Henry Corbin was born in England, in 1629, came to Virginia in 1654, and acquired a large landed estate. In 1659 he was a burgess for Lancaster, and as early as 1663 was a member of the council. He died January 8, 1675.
(III) Philip, son of Richard (2) and Letitia (Corbin) Lee, was born in 1681. in Westmoreland county, Virginia. In 1700 he removed to Maryland, making his home at "Blenheim," Prince George's county. He was a member of the council of Maryland. He married (first) Sarah, daughter of the Hon. Thomas Brooke, (second) Elizabeth, widow of Henry Sewall. Philip Lee died in 1744.
(IV) Lettice, daughter of Philip Lee, married Adam Thompson.
(V) Alice Corbin, daughter of Adam and Lettice (Lee) Thompson, married Captain John Hawkins, an outline of whose career is given be- low.
(VI) Maria Love, daughter of Captain John and Alice Corbin (Thompson) Hawkins, married John Adams Washington Smith.
(VII) Eleanor Hawkins, daughter of John Adams Washington and Maria Love (Hawkins) Smith, married James C. Vass.
(VIII) Susannah Maria, daughter of James C. and Eleanor Haw- kins (Smith) Vass, was born in Richmond, Virginia, and became the wife of the Rev. Edward Martin (see Martin III).
Captain John Hawkins was born in Charles county, Maryland, and
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moved to Alexandria, Virginia, prior to the revolutionary war. During that conflict he served several years in the continental army, first as lieu- tenant and adjutant of the Third Virginia Regiment, commanded by Col- onel Thomas Marshall. On the occasion of Gates' defeat at Camden, Lieutenant Hawkins made great efforts to rally the company, and was honorably mentioned by Major-General George Weedon for the valua- ble service he thus rendered. In 1780 Lieutenant Hawkins was pro- moted to a captaincy in the place of Captain Peyton who was killed at the siege of Charleston, and on June 1, 1781, he resigned his commission. His letter of resignation, dated Queen Anne county, Maryland, was ad- dressed to Major W. Smallwood, by whom, on account of Captain Haw- kins' ill health, it was accepted at Annapolis, July 3, 1781. In compensa- tion for his services Captain Hawkins received five hundred and twenty- six pounds, nineteen shillings and nine-pence, and a grant of four thou- sand acres of land under act of the assembly of Virginia. Captain Hawkins married, in 1781, a few months prior to the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, Alice Corbin Thompson, as mentioned above. The death of Captain Hawkins occurred about 1805, and he was buried at Buckland, Prince William county, Virginia.
About 1724 James Morris sailed from England for Amer- MORRIS ica, landing at Philadelphia a few months afterward. He settled in or near the town, and engaged in farming. A son of his, James Morris Jr., was a member of the Royal Americans under Sir Jeffrey Amherst, and was present at the surrender and evacu- ation of Fort William Henry by the troops of the English Crown. His- tory records that John and Peter Morris were among the guards ap- pointed by the provincial government of Pennsylvania to keep a watch on the Indians, who harried and murdered the scattered settlers of the out- lying districts. There were many of the name on the rosters of the con- tinental army from Pennsylvania.
(II) John, son of James Morris, the emigrant, was born in Pennsyl- vania about 1735. He was a farmer by occupation. Among his children was Amos, of whom further.
(III) Amos, son of John Morris, was born in Pennsylvania about 1773, and was one of a large number of children. He was only a small child when the revolutionary war was in progress, but that did not pre- vent his mother from giving all the aid, even to moulding bullets, that she could to the continental troops. Among his children was James, of whom further.
(IV) James (2), son of Amos Morris, was born in Pennsylvania, about 1800. In 1830, accompanied by his brother, John, he moved from Philadelphia to Virginia, now West Virginia, and settled at the Jug, Tyler county, where they farmed for the remainder of their lives. Among his children was William, of whom further.
(V) William, son of James (2) Morris, was born May 12, 1842, in Tyler county, now West Virginia. His principal business was farm- ing, but he also engaged successfully in the mercantile business, and later in oil. He served as state senator from 1888 to 1891. He was a mem- ber of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Middlebourne, and also of the Baptist church. He was one of the influential men of his com- munity and stood high in the esteem of his fellow citizens. He died April 13, 1912. He married Mary, daughter of Eli and Rachel Flecher. Chil- dren : I. Dora, born October 24, 1868; married Marshall Pierpont. 2. Creed L., born October 8, 1870; married Maude Carraway. 3. Lloyd H.,
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of whom further. 4. Charlie E., born March 10, 1874; married Mary Keller. 5. Ora, born February 16, 1877. 6. William. 7. Clarence.
(VI) Lloyd H., son of William and Mary (Flecher ) Morris, was born October 14, 1872, in Wick, Tyler county, West Virginia. He was educated in the public schools and took a course at the West Virginia Business College, after which he taught school five terms. Leaving this occupation he engaged in the mercantile business at Wick with the firm of William Morris & Sons. He was with them two years and then moved to Middlebourne, West Virginia, and became bookkeeper for the Bank of Middlebourne when it was established, remaining seven months. This position he resigned to re-enter commercial life at Friendly, West Virginia. He disposed of his mercantile interests at the expiration of a year, accepting a position as salesman for a grocery house for the en- suing two years. He then accepted a position as traveling salesman for John S. Naylor & Company of Wheeling, West Virginia, remaining with the firin over ten years. In July, 1912, he resigned to accept the nomina- tion of sheriff of Tyler county, and was elected in November, 1912, be- ing the first Democratic sheriff elected in the county since before the civil war. He had four hundred and sixty-three plurality, thus attest- ing his popularity as a man and the confidence of his constituency in his integrity and high sense of duty. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Sistersville Chapter, Trinity Commandery and Consistory at Wheeling, and charter member of the Nemesis Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; of the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows: the Commercial Travelers Association, and of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is one of the leading men of his town and county, progressive, up-to-date and farseeing. With him the good of his county its interests and upbuilding take precedence over his own.
On October 14, 1896, he married Annie, daughter of J. C. and Eliza- beth Parker, well known citizens of that section of the state. Children: I. Mary E., deceased. 2. William, deceased. 3. Ruth, born July 31, 1908. 4. Martha, born September 6, 1910.
SCHLEY An old Frederick county, Maryland, name which has be- come well known to the student of American history is Schley. In the census taken in 1790 three heads of fam- ilies of this name were recorded in Frederick county, and there was one in Montgomery county, Maryland. Governor Schley, of Georgia, was born in Frederick county, and in the same county was born the famous naval officer, Admiral Winfield Scott Schley, son of John Thomas and Georgiana Virginia Schley. Schley county, in Georgia, commemorates in its name the branch of this family which settled in that state. The family has been a notable one from the immigrant to the present day. We regret the impossibility of making the record of the present line com- plete, but pains have been taken to make it as nearly full and accurate as possible.
(I) John Thomas Schley, the founder of this family, was born at Mertzheim, Germany. August 31, 1712, died at Frederick, Frederick county, Maryland, November 24, 1790. About 1735 he came from the Palatinate in Germany with a colony of about one hundred families, of French, Swiss and German nativity, and settled in the valley of the Catoc- tin, Maryland. In 1746 he built the first house in the city of Frederick or, as it then was, the town of Frederick, which had been laid out only the year before. Thus the Schley family has been connected with the very beginnings of Frederick, to which place it has been attached to the
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present time, and from the very first the family has been among the foremost in the development and adornment of the western section of the colony and state of Maryland. John Thomas Schley was a man of character, education and discernment ; an enterprising citizen and carried on many forms of business activity. He was a member of the German Re- formed church, and for forty-five years its mainstay at Frederick; he was its organist, and often officiated in the absence of the pastor. At least one of his descendants served in the revolution, though he is not himself recorded to have borne, at his advanced age, an active part in the conflict. He married, in January, 1735, Margaret Wintz, who died in June, 1790. Thus this couple had fifty-five years of married life. Among their children, nine in number, were: I. Eve Catharine, born in 1747, died May 26, 1843 : married Jacob Bier. 2. John Jacob, born about 1752, died October 16, 1829: married Ann Maria Shelman. Apparently also George Jacob, died May 27, 1811. Among the grandchildren of John Thomas and Margaret (Wintz) Schley, was John, of whom further.
(III) John, grandson of John Thomas and Margaret (Wintz) Schley, died October 31, 1835. He was chief judge of the orphans' court of Frederick county from 1804 to 1806; in 1809 and 1810 he was a member of the house of delegates of Maryland; from 1815 until his death, nearly twenty years, he was clerk of the circuit court. The name of his wife is not known, but he had at least the following children: 1. Henry, of whom further. 2. William, born October 31, 1799, died March 20, 1872; married, in 1824, -- Ringgold ; he moved to Baltimore, Maryland, and was one of the most prominent members of the bar in that city 3. John Thomas, married Georgiana Virginia -; these were the parents of Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley.
(IV) Henry, son of Jolin Schley, was born at Frederick, in 1793, died at Frederick, April 1, 1871. Early in life he was in business in Baltimore, with his uncles, Henry Schroeder and Jacob Schley. In 1814 he entered the service of the United States as adjutant of a Maryland regiment, and he participated in the battles of Bladensburg and North Point. His home was at Frederick, and he was clerk of Frederick county prior to the constitution of 1851 ; afterward for several years lie was cashier of the Frederick County Bank. He married Sarah Maria, daughter of Edward and Elizabeth (Hanson) Worrall, who died in 1869. The Worrall family was a prominent family of Kent county, Maryland, wherein Edward Worrall was a judge ; and the Hanson family, of which an account appears elsewhere in this work, also a Kent county family, is one of the most notable families of Maryland, which had al- ready acquired distinction in England and in Sweden before coming to America, and has achieved national significance in this country. Among the children of Henry and Sarah Maria ( Worrall) Schley were : I. John Edward, of whom further. 2. Charles, married- Jolinson. 3. Fair- fax, born October II, 1825, deceased ; married, in 1847, Ann R. Steiner.
(V) John Edward, son of Henry and Sarah Maria ( Worrall) Schley, was born at Frederick, October 11, 1818, died in Jefferson coun- ty, West Virginia, May 6. 1890. As an accomplishment he read law, in which profession several members of the Schley family have won dis- tinction, with his uncle, William Schley, of Baltimore, but he afterward turned his attention to agriculture, and at the time of his death he left one of the most handsome estates in Jefferson county : this estate, known as "Rockland." is three miles from Shepherdstown, West Virginia, on the Kearneysville pike. He was adjutant general of the Maryland encamp- ment held at Hagerstown in 1840. He married (first) Ann F. Towner, born June 23, 1820, died October 6, 1842: (second) in Washington county, Maryland, at the home of Captain Thomas Harris, in 1843, Mary
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Virginia, born at Shepherdstown, October 25, 1824, died June 13, 1887, daughter of Benjamin T. and Elizabeth (Harris) Towner. Her father was a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, born in 1796, and her mother was born at "Fertile Plains," near Shepherdstown. Child, Towner, of whom further.
(VI) Towner, son of John Edward and Mary Virginia (Towner) Schley, was born at Shepherdstown, November 18, 1845. He was a grad- nate of the engineering department of Frederick College, Frederick, Maryland, in the class of 1865. The beginning of his business life was in the surveying department of the Western Maryland Railroad Com- pany, and he ran the first level from Hagerstown to Monterey, Mary- land. In 1870 he took the census of the entire county of Jefferson, West Virginia, and at that time its population was thirteen thousand three hundred and seventy. Then for a term of years he was engaged in the lumbering business. In the civil war he was too young to enlist in the army, but, as a civilian he rendered valuable service to the army of the nation. The evening before the battle of Antietam he was at supper at the house of Mrs. Edward Schley, and General Reno also was present. The next morning he decided to witness the battle, if possible. On the road, as he was climbing South mountain, he met the body of General Reno, who had been killed by bayonet and gun. Mr. Schley saw the cutting of McClellan gap and witnessed the battle from the spot where General Reno had been killed, and which is now marked by a monument in honor of General Reno. Of the staff of Governor A. I. Boreman, Mr. Schley, then only nineteen years old, was a member, with the brevet of colonel ; at that time he was the youngest staff officer in the United States. During both the presidential terms of General Grant, he served as United States marshal. In 1866 he joined Mount Nebo Lodge, No. 91, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Shepherdstown. He is a staunch Repub- lican, and an active member of the Protestant Episcopal church at Shep- herdstown.
Towner Schley married, at Shepherdstown, October 22, 1872, Ida Virginia, danghter of Benjamin Franklin and Mary Catharine (Hollida) Harrison, who was born near Shepherdstown. For a number of years her father was cashier of the Jefferson Savings Bank, at Shepherdstown, and he served a term in the legislature of West Virginia. Children of Benjamin Franklin and Mary Catharine (Hollida) Harrison: Ida Vir- ginia, married Towner Schley; Anna S., Charles Sumner. Children of Towner and Ida Virginia (Harrison) Schley : Meta Taylor, Harrison, H. Pinkney, Mary Catharine, Charles, Virginia, John Edward.
Numerous families of this name are found throughout the MILLER United States, and they are of diverse origin. England, Scotland and Ireland must have furnished very many im- migrants of this name, and to these must be added the German Muellers, as their name is sometimes changed to Miller by their descendants in America. Hence, persons bearing the Miller name are very numerous in all parts of our country. At least three families of this name can be traced in the pioneer history of Western Virginia, and it is with one of these that we have now to do.
(I) - (probably Robert ) Miller, the founder of this family, came probably from Ireland, and settled on the spot where the city of Staun- ton, Angusta county, Virginia, is built. He was of the Scotch-Irish stock which is so conspicuous in the records of Virginia. Child, Patrick, of whom further.
(II) Patrick Miller, son of the immigrant, was born on the ocean,
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Col Lowner A chluy As Chief Marshal of the State Fair of Maryland. October 10)6
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while his parents were crossing to America. He married twice. Chil- dren : John, of whom further: Robert; Mary, married - Benson.
(III) John, son of Patrick Miller, was born in Bath county, Virginia, on the Cow Pasture river, October 13, 1772, died November 25, 1854. About 1805, in consequence of some family differences, he came to Lick creek, Greenbrier county, Virginia, crossing over the Patterson moun- tain. He brought with him three negro slaves, given to him by his fath- er, and settled at the forks of Slater's creek, Flag fork, and Lick creek. Here he acquired title by the planting of corn, to ninety acres of land, having first cleared for the purpose a part of this tract, and built a house. To this land he afterward secured a patent. As he was a carpenter by trade, he built a fine house for the times, two stores high, of hewed logs. with a dressed stone chimney: a single-story log house, which he had. first built, was afterward used for a kitchen and quarters for the slaves. He also made at least a part of his furniture of cherry and walnut, which was as neat and well-finished as any of the present day. Clearing his land, he planted an orchard. From a wild bee tree, he secured a stock of bees, which lives, and he owned his own still. For many years a Pres- byterian minister visited him once a month. About the same time John Miller settled on Lick creek, Greenbrier county, Robert, his brother, set- tled in the same neighborhood, and raised a family of four daughters and two sons: Elizabeth, married Grigsby Lewis ; Poliy, married John Alex- ander : Margaret, married John George; - , married - Fenry : John and Alexander, who did not marry. This family is connected with the pioneer families, the Georges, Lewises and McClungs, many of whose descendants still live in the valleys of the Greenbrier and New rivers, and who are men of wealth and distinction at the present time. John Miller married, January 27, 1803, Jean Hodge, born in Highland county, Virginia, on Cow Pasture river, February 26, 1780, died February 3, 1836. Of their children, the oldest was born before their migration, but the others after they had crossed the mountains, on Lick creek. Chil- dren : 1. Patrick Henry, born November 26, 1803 ; emigrated to and died in Gentry county, Missouri: he married Margaret George. 2. James Hodge, see forward. 3. John Hamilton, born January 5. 1808, died Feb- ruary 18, 1811. 4. Robert, born July 21, 1810, died August 10, 1887 : he removed to Indiana, where his death occurred ; he married, February 13, 1834. Anky Alderson, and his descendants are influential residents of the state of Indiana. 5. Jean, born November 12, 1812, died November 20, 1835 ; married Joseph Hill. 6. Ervin Benson, born June 1, 1815. died at Asbury, Greenbrier county, West Virginia; he married, September 1, 1836, Sally Knapp, and of their children: Dr. Ray Ben Miller is a dis- tinguished physician and surgeon of Hinton, Summers county, West Vir- ginia : James W., a hotel proprietor of Hinton, married Ellen, daughter of Michael and Mary Hutchinson ; the third son, Olin Benson, was a mer- chant at Alderson, and died a few years ago. 7. Andrew Alexander, born June 6. 1818, died March 26, 1898; he was a Presbyterian elder many years, and resided all his life on Lick creek, Green Sulphur Springs; prior to the civil war he was a captain in the Virginia state militia : he represented Summers county in the house of delegates, 1882, and was one of the first members of the board of supervisors of Summers county, upon its formation : he was a Democrat, and for some time chairman of the county committee of that party, but in no sense a politician or parti- san ; he married (first) 1846, Eliza Hinchman, a descendant of the pio- neer British soldier. William Hinchman, who came to America during the revolution : he married (second) December 3. 1868, Elizabeth Thom- as, of Greenville, West Virginia ; children of first marriage : James Hous- ton, a banker of Waxahachie, Texas; George A., a capitalist of Hinton,
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West Virginia : Elizabeth, married John A. George. 8. Mary Ann, born July 27, 1821 ; married, January 15, 1846, Anderson A. McNeer. 9. Margaret Elizabeth, born December 16, 1823, died about 1868; married, 1843, William B. McNeer. 10. William Erskine, see forward.
(IV) James Hodge, son of John and Jean (Hodge) Miller, was born on Lick creek, Greenbrier county, Virginia, October 19. 1805, died Octo- ber 23, 1893. After learning the tanner's trade with James Withrow, of Lewisburg, Greenbrier county, Virginia, he settled at Gauley Bridge, Fayette county, Virginia, and at this place he was actively engaged in mercantile business until his death, for a period of sixty years. For more than forty years he was postmaster at Gauley Bridge, having been first appointed by President Harrison. He also represented Fayette county in the legislature, and held other positions of trust. He married May 25, 1831, Asenath Chapman, of Frankfort, Kentucky, who lived to the age of ninety-three. Children: James Henry, of whom further; Eliza Ann, deceased.
(IV) William Erskine, son of John and Jean ( Hodge) Miller, was born on Lick creek, Greenbrier county, Virginia, August 19, 1825, died at Foss, Summers county, West Virginia, February 3, 1901. The greater part of his life was spent in the vicinity of his birth, but he removed to Foss, at the month of the Greenbrier river, about ten years before his death, still retaining ownership of the home farm; he owned about four hundred acres. He was an honored citizen, a man of strong convictions, but gentle and unobtrusive : unselfish, humane and kind. He would not accept any political office. In the civil war he was a Confederate soldier. For forty years he had been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church South, and he was a consistent and devout Christian. He was the found- er of the New River Grocery Company, of Hinton, a very successful bus- iness enterprise, and has been its moving spirit from its foundation, he and George A. Miller, respectively general manager and president, being associated in the conduct of its affairs. He married, February 8, 1849, Sarah Barbara, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Maddy) McNeer, who died February 6, 1897. Children: Charles Lewis, born May 13, 1852; James Henry, of whom further; Anderson Embury, born Octo- ber 1, 1859, married, June 22, 1887, Jennie Irene Hutchinson ; Mary Benson.
(V) James Henry, son of James Hodge and Asenath (Chapman) Miller, succeeded to his father's business at Ganley Bridge, where he still resides, occupying the old homestead. He also succeeded his father as postmaster. He has been sheriff of Fayette county, but resigned this position, and he was for six years president of the county court. He married Margaret Ann, daughter of Colonel James B. Munsey. Children : Fenton H., married Mattie King: William Alexander, married Pearl Helman ; Robert H., married Leona Richmond: Jane Tompkins, mar- ried, February 1, 1882, James Henry Miller, of whom further ; Annie, married Oscar L. Morris ; others, deceased.
(\') James Henry, son of William Erskine and Sarah Barbara ( Mc- Neer ) Miller, was born on Lick creek, Virginia, December 29, 1856. He was raised on the farm, and attended school with the neighborhood boys and girls in the old Gum schoolhouse, a celebrated place of learning in the early days. He was a student of James Houston Miller at Green Sulphur Springs in 1876, and graduated in the class of 1879 at Concord State Normal School, taking both the prizes contested for. One of these was adjudged to him for the best original oration, "The Wrecks of Time"; the other for the best essay delivered at the commencement of that term, "The Ideals of a True Life." He taught school for thirty months ; four terms at Hinton, at Green Sulphur, on the top of Hump
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mountain, at New Richmond, and at White Sulphur Springs. At first his intention was to study medicine, and he followed this for some time under Dr. Samuel Williams, at New Richmond, but abandoned it for the law, by reason of being unable financially to take the medical course required before entering on practice. His legal studies were begun with Hon. William Withers Adams at Hinton, Summers county, West Vir- ginia ; he wrote in the clerk's office to pay expenses, and roomed in the jury room at the court house. Afterward he took a law course at the University of Virginia. He was admitted to practice at the February term, 1881. Soon after this he formed a partnership with the late Elbert Fowler, which ended in two and one-half years, with the death of Mr. Fowler. Thereupon he entered into a copartnership with his old precep- tor, W. W. Adams, and this continued until the death of Mr. Adams in 1894. The partnership of Miller & Read, formed after this, continued until the first of December, 1904. During the time from 1881 to 1905 Mr. Miller practiced his profession in Summers county, occasionally tak- ing business in the adjoining counties of Monroe and Greenbrier. In 1881 he was elected county superintendent of schools, and in 1884 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Summers county, and he held this office for sixteen years in succession, but then declined to be again a candidate for that position. He was nominated in 1900 for the office of state audi- tor on the Democratic ticket and was defeated, with the remainder of the ticket, by Hon. Arnold Scherr. In 1904 he was nominated without opposition to the office of judge of the circuit court of the ninth West Virginia circuit, composed of Summers, Raleigh and Wyoming counties, and was elected by about twelve hundred majority, in a Republican cir- cuit. This position he still holds, and he was re-elected in 1912 for a second term of eight years by a majority of seven hundred in a still larger Republican circuit. He was unanimously selected as a delegate to the Democratic national convention of 1896, which met in Chicago and nominated Bryan and Sewall. Mr. Miller was not an original Bryan man, for Bryan was then practically unknown as a statesman, orator and patriot ; he voted on the first two ballots for United States Senator John C. S. Blackburn, of Kentucky, and afterward for Bland. Until his elec- tion as a judge, when he retired from politics, he had been a delegate to each state convention of his party for twenty-five years, as well as to the senatorial and congressional conventions of his district, the third West Virginia, and he was chairman of the Democratic congressional committee of this district for about sixteen years, resigning in 1900, when he became a candidate for auditor. In the campaign of that year he was unanimously selected as chairman of the state Democratic com - mittee, and conducted that campaign, with headquarters at Charleston. He held this position until 1904, resigning on his nomination for the judgeship. He was chairman of the senatorial convention which nomi- nated Hon. William Haynes for the state senate, also of that which nominated John W. Arbuckle.
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