West Virginia and its people, Volume II, Part 91

Author: Miller, Thomas Condit, 1848-; Maxwell, Hu, joint author
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 866

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born in Cabell county, October 6, 1818, and died in October, 1899. He received a common school education, and at the age of twelve years be- came clerk in a store. He was one of the most successful merchants and substantial citizens of the county. At different times he was constable, justice of the peace, president of the county court, commissioner of rev- ente, and commissioner in chancery in his city : in 1857 and 1858, he rep- resented Cabell county in the general assembly of Virginia ; he was county supervisor, in the new state, from 1866 to 1870. In May, 1865, President Johnson appointed him in the U'nited States internal revenue service for the third district of West Virginia, and he served four years. In 1872, he was a member of the constitutional convention of the state. He was county commissioner from 1881 to 1887. In the civil war, Mr. Thorn- burg showed a high allegiance to principle, as creditable as was shown by anyone in the south, or on either side in the struggle. He was a Demo- crat, and his natural sympathies were with the south ; moreover, his son John was a soldier (he became first lieutenant ) in the Confederate army, under Captain William Gunn. Yet he believed secession to be wrong, and was a staunch Union man. Accordingly he closed his store, boxing his goods, and allowed the building to be used by the Federal troops as a commissary. He was a charter member of Minerva Lodge, No. 13, Ancient Free and Accepted Mason, of Barboursville, and its secretary for forty-six years; also a charter member of the chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He married, December 12, 1837, Margaret, daughter of John and Sophia (Clendenin) Miller, who was born in Mason county, Vir- ginia, November 25, 1818, and died August 19, 1859, (see Miller). Chil- dren : I. Mary S., died at the age of seventy. 2. Sarah Elizabeth, died in 19II ; married Dr. A. B. McGuinnis. 3. Ellen E., married Will M. Hovey ; they now live at Catlettsburg, Boyd county, Kentucky. 4. John, married Mary Long ; he is now a stockman in Mason county, West Vir -. ginia. 5. George Edgar, of whom further. 6. Thomas Henry, born about 1849, died August 17, 1893. 7. Margaret L., deceased.

(IV) George Edgar, son of Thomas and Margaret (Miller) Thorn- burg, was born on his father's farm, one mile from Barboursville, June 28, 1846. This farm, which has been in the family for one hundred years, is now owned by C. H. Thornburg. In his infancy, the family moved into Barboursville, and there he attended the subscription schools. Before the civil war, he attended Marshall College for a time. Until June 5, 1865, he worked on a farm ; he then reopened his father's store, working in it as a clerk. From that year, the store has been owned wholly by the Thornburgs, and ever since this time, George E. has been an active merchant. In April, 1872, he and his brother Thomas Henry were taken into partnership by their father, each having a one-third inter- est. He purchased his brother's share in January. 1893, and in 1897, he bought out his father also, and since that time he has been sole owner of the store. He is a director in the Tri-State Grocery Company, at Ken- ova, West Virginia. He is also president of the First State Bank, Bar- boursville. In Masonry, he is a member of Minerva Lodge, No. 13, Free and Accepted Masons, at Barboursville ; Huntington Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, at Huntington : Commandery No. 9. Knights Templar; Bene Kedem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. In 1885, he was grand master of the state. He is a Democrat, but has never sought office. With his family, he holds membership in the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South, and his wife is an active church worker. He married, December 7. 1869, Nannie A., daughter of James and Ann (Shelton) Wilson, who was born two and one-half miles from Bar- boursville, March 7, 1847. Her father came at an early day from what is still Virginia, and her mother was of one of the old pioneer families of Cabell county. Mr. and Mrs. Thornburg have no children.

1 -

ABSommerville.

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SOMMERVILLE James Brewer Sommerville, the subject of this sketch, was born near Bethany, Brooke county, Virginia, (now West Virginia ), June 5, 1852. His parents were William M. Sommerville, a native of Harrison county, Vir- ginia, (now West Virginia ), and Margaret A. Sommerville, whose maiden name was Margaret A. Steele, and who was a native of Belmont county, Ohio. His paternal ancestors were of Norman descent, while on the maternal side they were of Irish origin. His father, although without early educational opportunities, was a man of unusual intelligence and was possessed of a high degree of integrity. His mother, while not highly educated, was a woman of strong common sense and irreproachable char- acter. The son showed but little interest in educational matters until he was about fifteen years old, when he developed a strong taste for the reading of miscellaneous books. This naturally led to a desire for a better education. He attended the public school at Bethany for parts of two winters, during which he made rapid progress. In the spring of 1870 the family moved to the vicinity of Clinton, in Ohio county. Here the young man, while performing the duties of a farm hand, diligently pur- sued the studies begun at Bethany, and continued his course of general reading. In the fall of 1871, he determined to become a student of the West Liberty Normal School. West Liberty, however, was nearly four miles away, and he was without the means of supporting himself away from home. This problem he solved by resolving to board at home and walk to and from the school every day. He accordingly entered this institution in the fall of 1871, about two months after the beginning of the session, and continued until the close of the session, in June, 1872. During the summer and fall of 1872 he worked part of the time on a farm, and part of the time for a man who had a contract for macadam work on a public road in the community. In the winter of 1872-73 he taught a country school. During all of this time he continued his studies and general reading, and in the spring of 1873 again became a student at West Liberty, resuming his daily walks between his home and that point, and graduated with the class of 1873. After having taught a year in Ohio county, the family having in the meantime returned to Brooke county, he became a student in Bethany College, in which he took a special course in languages and mathematics. While a student in this institution he was nominated by the Democratic party of Brooke county for the lower house of the legislature, to which position he was elected, serving in the session of 1877, in which he was the youngest member. After serving in the legislature he worked on the farm in the summer and taught school in the winter, and pursued the study of the law whenever he had an opportunity to do so, and was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1878. He opened his first law office in Wellsburg, the county seat of his native county, April Ist, 1879, and soon became one of the most prom- inent members of that bar. He continued to practice in Wellsburg until the summer of 1887, when he located in Wheeling, the chief city of the state, where he still remains.

While living at Wellsburg, he married Miss Agnes G. Hosie, who was his schoolmate when he attended the public school at Bethany, and who is a most estimable lady, worthy in every way to be his life compan- ion.

He has served on the boards of regents of the Normal Schools, the Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institute, and the West Virginia University, re- maining a member of the latter body for about nine years. In 1884 he was elected to the state senate from the First District of West Virginia, composed of the counties of Hancock, Brooke and Ohio, and including the city of Wheeling. While serving in this body during the session of

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1887, he was the recognized leader of the caucus forces of the Democratic party, in the bitterest and most memorable contest for a seat in the United States senate that has ever taken place in the history of the state, during which, although not a candidate and not desiring to be elected, he was repeatedly voted for for that high office, and on several ballots lacked but a few votes of being elected. Shortly after he located in Wheeling he was chosen solicitor for the Pennsylvania lines west of Pittsburgh, and placed in charge of the legal matters of the Pennsylvania Railroad system for state of West Virginia, which position he still holds. In addition to this he enjoys a large, successful, and lucrative general practice, which some- times calls him into the criminal courts; and he is recognized as one of the leaders of the bar of his native state.

BROOKE The Brooke family is one of those families of the Eng- lish gentry who early came to the Virginia colony, impelled, not by religions persecution, but by that mingled desire for adventure and for more land that has been an English characteristic since the days of the Vikings. Bearing patents of land from the Crown they were free to choose where they would locate, and adventure was plenti- ful with the Powhatan Confederacy, dominant for two or three genera- tions after the death of Powhatan himself. These settlers brought to a wilderness of amazing fertility and beauty, but still a wilderness, the cus- toms, political ideas, social usages, and chivalric ideals of courtesy and courage of the old English home. The old motto of the Commonwealth, En, dat l'irginia quintum,-"Lo, Virginia gives a fifth dominion" fitly expresses the patriotic loyalty to the old home and pride in the new, that characterized these colonists. Of this gallant, armigenous class of Ameri- cans is the Brooke family.

(I) William Brooke, the immigrant, came over in 1621 to the Vir- ginia colony, then under the control of the London Company. The ship that brought him and his fortunes was named the "Temperance." He chose for his plantation a region on the Rappahannock river since known as Essex county.

(II) Robert, probably the son of William Brooke, clerk of Essex county, 1662, was born in 1652, in Essex county, Virginia, and probably (lied on the Brooke estate. He married Catherine Booth. He had a son, Robert, of whom further.

(III) Robert (2), son of Robert ( 1) Brooke, was one of that famous company called the "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe," who, led by the celebrated and chivalric Governor Alexander Spotswood, started in 1716 from Williamsburg to cross the Blue Ridge mountains, then the furthest frontiers of the English civilization on the continent. An account of this expedition belongs to general history, but the small golden horseshoes given by Governor Spotswood to members of the party in commemora- tion, with their appropriate motto, Sic juvat transcendere montes, are still cherished by the descendants of the knights of the famous adventure. He married and among his children was Richard, of whom further.

(IV) Richard, youngest son of Robert (2) Brooke, moved up the Rappahannock river to "Smithfield." on the same side of the river. He was a planter. He had three sons in the revolutionary army and one son in the United States navy under Paul Jones. He married Elizabeth Talia- ferro, daughter Colonel Francis Taliaferro, of Spottsylvania. He had these children : John Taliaferro, of whom further, and his twin brother, Francis Taliaferro.

(V) John Taliaferro, son of Richard Brooke, was born August 27, 1763, at "Smithfield." an old family estate on the river four miles below

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Fredericksburg. He served as an officer in the revolutionary war. At the age of eighteen, as a first lieutenant of artillery he behaved so gallantly in the battle of Eutaw that he was promoted to brigade major of the park of artillery by Charles Harrison, who commanded it, and was invited by him to live with him "in the same marquee to the end of the war." He studied for the legal profession and practiced it for a time in Fredericks- burg, but later he retired to his plantation called "Millvale," in Stafford county, about ten miles from Fredericksburg. He was in his political beliefs a Federalist of the Washington type until the Federalists voted for Burr against Jefferson in 1801. For many years he sat on the bench of the county court of Stafford county, serving also for a long time as justice of the peace. He died on his estate, "Millvale," in Stafford county, in 1822, at the age of fifty-nine years. He married Anne Mercer, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Cary ) Selden, of "Salvington," Stafford county, Virginia. They all belonged to the Episcopal church, John Taliaferro Brooke being a vestryman of the parish. John Talia- ferro and Anne Mercer ( Selden ) Brooke had five children, who attained adult age: 1. Samuel Selden, married Angelina Edrington. 2. Francis John, killed on Christmas Day, 1837, at the battle of Okeechobee, Flori- da, in the Seminole Indian war. 3. Henry Laurens, of whom further.

(VI) Henry Laurens, son of John Taliaferro and Anne Mercer ( Sel- den ) Brooke, was born at "Millvale," in Stafford county, Virginia, July 16, 1808. He was educated by private tutors until he was seventeen years old, when he went to private schools in Richmond. He took up the study of law and practiced in Richmond until after the civil war. He then went to Baltimore and practiced there for a few years, after which he removed to Charles Town, West Virginia, and died there, in 1874, at "Rion Hall," the home of his son-in-law, Judge Daniel B. Lucas, three miles out from the town. He was a states rights Whig and always greatly deplored his being too old to enter the Confederate army. He married Virginia, daughter of Judge Henry St. George and Ann Evelina ( Hunter ) Tucker (see Tucker III). They had eleven children. 1. Evelina Tucker, born July 20, 1838: married Judge Daniel B. Lucas. 2. Anne Selden, born June 10, 1840; married. December 5. 1867, James Fairfax Mclaughlin, died 1904. 3. Virginia Dandridge, born June 3. 1842, died 1845. 4. St. George Tucker, of whom further. 5. John Taliaferro, born June 9, 1846, died July 20, 1846. 6. Francis John, born December 24. 1847; married, November 25. 1880, Elizabeth Gay Bentley, who died August II, 1903. 7. Virginia Tucker, born July 26, 1850, died July 1, 1865. 8. David Tucker, born April 28. 1852: married April 8, 1880, Lucy B. Higgins. 9. Elizabeth Dallas, born February 6, 1854. 10. Henry Laurens, born Octo- ber 3. 1856: married Mrs. Mary Johnson. 11. Laura Beverley, born April 21, 1860: married Everett Wade Bedinger. Seven of the above children are still living. Mrs. Henry Laurens Brooke died in Richmond in the fall of 1863 at the age of forty-seven years. She was a member of the Presbyterian church and her husband was an Episcopalian.

(VII) St. George Tucker, son of Henry Laurens and Virginia ( Tucker ) Brooke, was born July 22, 1844, at the University of Virginia, his maternal grandfather being then the Professor of Law in that univer- sity. He acquired his education in the private schools of Winchester. Ashland and Richmond. He was in 1861 appointed a midshipman in the navy of the Confederate States, but being unable to stand the physical tests, though his mental qualifications were satisfactory, the appointment was withdrawn in the fall of 1862. He was at the Gosport navy yard. oppo- site Norfolk, and volunteered to accompany the "Merrimac" to challenge the "Monitor" to second battle. He was in command of one of the two guns in the gunboat "Nansemond" when the "Monitor" and other iron-

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clads made their attack upon Drury Bluff (Fort Darling) on the James River, seven miles below Richmond. He volunteered as a private soldier in the spring of 1863 in Company B, Second Virginia Cavalry, General Fitzhugh Lee's brigade. He took part in the battle of Gettysburg and in a number of engagements of cavalry in the latter part of the year 1863. He had his horse killed under him at Aldie, Loudoun county, when the Army of Northern Virginia was on its way to Gettysburg. Including the three days battle of the Wilderness and the three days battle of Spottsyl- vania Court House, he was in more than twenty-one battles in the twenty-one days from May 7 to May 28, 1864. In one of these he

-- had a second horse killed under him and was shot off from a third horse and maimed for life. He had a bullet through his hat and several through his clothes. His horse had entirely broken down, but more than half his regiment having been killed and wounded Colonel Munford felt unable to spare one private to go home after a fresh horse. The colonel, however, allowed Mr. Brooke to use one of his own extra horses. A few days afterwards when in action this horse was killed under him. The colonel then gave Mr. Brooke a furlough to return home and get a fresh horse. But an agreement was made with a comrade to exchange the furlough and, with the commanding officer's consent, the friend went home for another horse, leaving his own in his absence at the service of Mr. Brooke. On May 28, 1864, at Haw's Shop, sixteen miles below Richmond, Mr. Brooke was shot from off the back of the horse and received injuries that crip- pled him for life. The last he saw of the horse as he lay wounded on the field he was running away with head and tail erect and reins fallen loose. The comrade lost his horse but probably saved his life, as in his ten days' absence he missed some of the most furious fighting of the war.

In 1903 a Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy entered into communication with Colonel (later) General Munford, the officer under whom Mr. Brooke had served, and also with Second Sergeant A. Sydney Watson of the same regiment, with regard to the eligibility of Mr. Brooke to a Cross of Honor. Writing under date of May 16, 1903, to the Daugh- ters of the Confederacy, at Alexandria, Virginia, General Munford says of Mr. Brooke :

It affords me more than pleasure to say that of all the young heroes in my gal- lant old regiment not one was more conspicuous for gallantry and zeal and manly bearing than the young gentleman whose name is in this paper. His record can be found in Major H. B. McClellan's Stuart's Campaigns, and I should like to have his name in letters of gold.

Late Colonel Second Virginia Cavalry, Brigadier General commanding Fitzhugh Lee's Division at the Surrender.

THOMAS T. MUNFORD,

In a personal letter of the same date to Mr. Brooke himself, General Munford says :

The Colonel of a Regiment has great responsibilities, but they are lightened just in proportion as his men realize how much is dependent upon their cordial sup- port. It was my good fortune to have a splendid body of volunteers, worthy of a better commander, who made the enemy respect them wherever they were found. It affords me more than pleasure to endorse your worth, as one of the very best of a splendid corps. Your Captain, the gallant Steptoe, mentioned you to me fre- quently, and your old comrades of Company B, whom I often meet, have often recalled your distinguished services and wondered where you were and how you were getting along. They are scattered to the four winds and most of them have gone to their reward. If ever you or yours come to Lynchburg where I have a home, come and see me. May God bless you and yours.

Affectionately your old comrade and friend, THOMAS T. MUNFORD. I am sure you are noticed in H. B. Mcclellan's Stuart's Campaigns ( Appendix with Roster of 2nd Va. Cavalry, where your wounds are recorded). I prepared that pa- per. p. 427.

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In that paper General Munford ( who is now, July, 1913, still living in Lynchburg, Virginia), says Mr. Brooke was "bravest of the brave."

Mr. A. S. Watson in his reply to the "Certificate of Eligibility" went even further than was necessary to the purpose of the Daughters of the Confederacy by adding the following :

The above named soldier was as brave as the bravest, and as loyal to the cause as any that ever served or fought under its flag.

A. S. WATSON,

Formerly Second Sergeant Company B, Second Virginia Cavalry.

After the surrender Mr. Brooke became a tutor in the family of Hon. Robert M. Wiley, Sinking Creek, Craig county, Virginia, and also taught in a small school near the Red Sulphur Springs, in Roanoke county. In 1867-68 and 1868-69 he went to the lectures at the Law School of the University of Virginia and in the year 1869-70 began the practice of law at Newcastle, Craig county, Virginia. In the fall of 1870 he removed to Charles Town, Jefferson county, now West Virginia, and practiced there until he was offered a professorship in the newly started law department of the University of West Virginia. He accepted the offer, and in the fall of 1878 removed to Morgantown, and there took up the duties of the position. This service he zealously performed until failing health in 1909 compelled him to retire on the Carnegie Fund Foundation. He then returned to Charles Town where he has since resided.

Dr. Thomas E. Hodges, the newly elected president of the West Vir- ginia University, in his inaugural address says :

"The first enlargement came in 1878 with establishment of a Department of Law under a single professor. No more fortunate selection of a man to open up and develop the work, perhaps, could have been made than the selection of St. George Tucker Brooke as the founder of the law college of the West Virginia University. Beginning his work with but one student, Professor Brooke remained long enough to see the development of the work into a full college. In every county in the State there are attorneys who learned from him not only the essential prin- ciples of law, but caught something of his spirit of courtly demeanor and chivalrous honor that made him so loved and revered by all who sat under his teaching."

Dr. Brooke has had conferred upon him the degrees of A. M. and LL.D. He is a member of the Virginia Historical Society, and of the West Virginia Bar Association. He is the author of "Common Law Prac- tice and Pleadings," 1896, and also of many magazine articles. He is a Democrat in his political beliefs.

Dr. Brooke married, August 15, 1882, in Charles Town, West Vir- ginia, Mary Harrison, daughter of Thomas A. and Anne (Washington) Brown, of Charles Town. St. George T. and Mary H. Brooke had four children : 1. Charles Frederick Tucker, born June 4, 1883 ; married Grace Drakeford. of England, July 27. 1909. 2. Anne Washington. 3. For- rest Washington, second son of St. Geo. T. Brooke, born December 15, 1884, died August 11, 1885. 4. J. Francis Taliaferro. Thomas A. Brown, father of Mrs. St. George Tucker Brooke, was born in Charles Town in 1812, and died there at the age of eighty-seven years. He had been a farmer and merchant. His wife was also born in Jefferson county, and died at the age of seventy-seven years in May, 1911, at the house of her son-in-law, St. George Tucker Brooke, in Charles Town. Mr. and Mrs. Brown had six children, two of whom died in childhood: 1. Forrest Washington, married Emma Tucker. 2. Mary Harrison, married St. George Tucker Brooke. 3. Louise Clemson, married George Rogers, of Morgantown, West Virginia. 4. Florida Clemson, married Henry Starr Wattles. of Alexandria, Virginia, Septem- ber, 1912.

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(The Tucker Line).

(1) St. George Tucker married Frances ( Bland ) Randolph, becoming her second husband, and they had three children: 1. Judge Beverley Tucker. 2. Judge Henry St. George Tucker, of whom further. 3. Eliza- beth, married Judge John Coalter, of the supreme court of Virginia. Frances Bland was a daughter of Theoderick Bland Sr. She married ( first ) John Randolph, of "Matoax" near Petersburg, Virginia. Of this marriage there were three children, one of whom was the famous John Randolph of "Roanoke." The only brother of Frances Bland was Colo- nel Theoderick Bland Jr., a distinguished officer in the revolutionary army, who never had issue.

(I]) Judge HIenry St. George Tucker, son of St. George and Frances ( Bland-Randolph ) Tucker, was a distinguished lawyer of Winchester for many years. He became a judge of the supreme court of Virginia, after- wards occupying a professorship of law. He died at Winchester in 1847. He married a daughter of Moses Hunter. Mrs. Moses Hunter was a daughter of General Adam Stephen. One of the children of Judge Henry St. George Tucker was Virginia, of whom further.

( III) Virginia, daughter of Judge Henry St. George and Ann Evelina (Hunter ) Tucker, was born at "Woodberry," Jefferson county, Virginia, about two miles from Leetown. She married Henry Laurens Brooke ( see Brooke VI ).

NOONCHESTER Joseph Washington Noonchester, the first mem- ber of this family of whom we have definite in- formation, was of German descent and was born at Cleveland. Virginia, in 1857: he was a farmer the greater part of his life. When seven years of age his father was killed in one of the battles of the civil war, and on becoming of age he moved to Stony Point, Ten- nessee, where he purchased a farm of two hundred acres. He later re- moved to Charleston, West Virginia, and eventually settled in Spencer. He married Louise Jessee. Child. Tilden Edward, referred to below.

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West Virginia and its people, Volume II, Part 91

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