OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List ----------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List January 17, 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 23 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: HALL, 1928, Lawrence County [Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman <73777.25] #2 BIO: LEWIS, 1928, Gallia County [Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman <73777.25] --------------------------- X-Message: #1 Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 22:04:52 -0500 From: Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman Subject: BIO: HALL, 1928, Lawrence County ------------------------------------------------------------------ FORWARDED MESSAGE - Orig: 17-Jan-99 19:21 Subject: Ohio connections ------------------------------------------------------------------ WEST VIRGINIA In History, Life, Literature and Industry The Lewis Publishing Company 1928 - Volume 5, page 247-248 w/photo DESELM A. HALL, Huntington banker, began his career in that city a poor boy and has made himself a man of influence and substantial means. He is president of the Twentieth Street Bank of Huntington. He was born in Lawrence County in Southern Ohio, February 8, 1886, son of Samuel B. and Eliza E. (Neff) Hall both natives of Ohio, and now living at Huntington. His paternal grandfather, William D. Hall, was born in Ohio, where he followed farming. William D. Hall's father moved to Ohio from Virginia after freeing his slaves. The maternal grandfather, Henry Neff, was also born in Ohio. Samuel B. Hall was a farmer in Ohio, and after coming to Huntington took up general contracting, but is now retired. He served at one time as overseer of the poor and as building inspector. He is a Republican, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Fraternal Order of Moose, Junior Order United American Mechanics, and both he and his wife have been active members of the Methodist Church. They had six children, four now living: R. W. Hall, manager of the First National Bank Building at Huntington; Essa E., wife of R. E. Guimm; DeSelm A., and Vivian H., wife of Charles D. Lewis, a Ford dealer at Milton, West Virginia. DeSelm A. Hall obtained his education in the public schools of Huntington and in Marshall College, and also attended West Virginia Wesleyan College. Most of his youthful working experience was on a farm. In 1903, at the age of seventeen, he went to work for the Union Rail Company, remaining one year. He left that to take up banking and for twenty years was in the service of the West Virginia National Bank, which institution consolidated with the First Nation Bank, in which he rose to the position of assistant cashier. This bank later consolidated with the First Huntington National Bank. In October, 1925, Mr. Hall went with the Twentieth Street Bank of Huntington, and is now the largest stockholder as well as the president of that institution. He is also interested in the Lewis-Hall Motor Company, and does considerable business in real estate. He married, in 1910, Miss Lillian Carrie Moore, who was born at Buckhannon, West Virginia, and was educated there in West Virginia Wesleyan College. Mr. and Mrs. Hall have one daughter, Mildred Louise, born September 7, 1918. They are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church and he is a Republican in politics. --------------------------- X-Message: #2 Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 22:04:15 -0500 From: Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman Subject: BIO: LEWIS, 1928, Gallia County ------------------------------------------------------------------ FORWARDED MESSAGE - Orig: 17-Jan-99 1:43 Subject: Ohio connections ------------------------------------------------------------------ WEST VIRGINIA In History, Life, Literature and Industry The Lewis Publishing Company 1928 - Volume 5, page 44-45 Charles D. Lewis. Among the men who have found success in the automobile industry, which, despite its marvelous growth and development, may be said still to be in its infancy, is Charles D. Lewis, owner of the Ford Auto Sales Company and proprietor of a modern garage and auto service station at Milton. While he has been a resident of Milton only for about six years, there are few men who have a wider acquaintance or a greater number of sincere friends, this fact naturally adding to the success of his business enterprise. Mr. Lewis was born June 9, 1887, at Milton, and is a son of R. W. and Mary (Moses) Lewis. his father, who was born in Wales, was twelve years of age when he accompanied his parents to the United States, the family settling in Gallia County, Ohio, where the youth attended public schools. When he was twenty years of age R. W. Lewis came to Milton, West Virginia, and during the following thirty-three years was a teacher in the public schools of Cabell County, where few educators became better known or were more greatly beloved. After a time he also took up farming, in which he engaged during vacation periods, and thus became a substantial citizen. he was very active in Bedford Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, donating the ground therefor from his farm, and continued to be active in church and Sunday School work up to the time of his death, December 30, 1902, interment being made in Bedford Church Cemetery. Mrs. Lewis was born and reared at Fraziers Bottom, Mason County, West Virginia, where she was educated, and also was active in church work all of her life. She died February 10, 1902, and was buried in Bedford Church Cemetery. She was a daughter of Rev. John Moses, a pioneer Methodist Episcopal preacher of the West Virginia Conference. There were the following children in the family: William, who died may 18, 1891, at the age of thirteen years; Aurilla, who died April 18, 1906, as the wife of Oliver A. Locke, postmaster of Milton, and left one child, Kermit, who is attending West Virginia University as a member of the law class of 1928: J. M., president of the Lewis & Wilson Farm Machinery Company, who married Gertrude Arthur, of Milton, and has two children, John M. Jr., and Mary; Thomas O., unmarried, an engineer on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, who met his death at the post of duty in a railroad accident, December 8, 1909, aged twenty-six years; Charles D., of this review; Walter V., master mechanic at the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad company shops at Huntington, who married Leah Stephenson, of Huntington, and has two children, Vincent and Geneva; Ethel, who died in infancy, January 29, 1889; and Anna, who married Joseph W. Little, a draughtsman with the International Nickel Company of Huntington, and has two children, Mary and Joseph W. Jr. Charles D. Lewis attended the graded schools of Milton and the high schools of Milton and Jackson, Ohio, following which he pursued a course at Sykes Business College, Huntington. With this preparation he secured in July, 1905, a position as clerk with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company at Huntington, and continued to be employed by that firm for seventeen years, at the end of which time he resigned to go into business on his own account. When he left the service of this concern he had worked his way, through industry and fidelity, to the position of general timekeeper and paymaster. In July, 1922, Mr. Lewis returned to his birthplace of Milton, where, with his brother, J. M. Lewis, he purchased the Ford automobile agency. One year later, in July, 1923, he bought his brother's interest in the business, which he has built up to one of the leading enterprises of the city. He is the authorized Ford agent for Milton and contiguous territory, and also owns a large oil and gas station, a garage, and a salesroom where he handles tires, tubes and all kinds of automobile accessories. He owns the building in which this business is carried on, on Main Street, a beautiful home at Milton, and another handsome home at Huntington, where he resided before coming to Milton. Mr. Lewis is admired by those who know him for his kindly spirit toward all worthy causes, and his genial disposition ahs gained him many friends. He is fraternally affiliated with the Masons, Odd Fellows and Woodmen of the World, and was a charter member of the Milton Civic Club, to which he still belongs. In politics a Republican, while residing at Huntington he served one term as a member of the Citizens Board. He is active in the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and while residing at Huntington was a member of the Official Board, as well as superintendent of the Sunday School, and at Milton is a teacher in the latter. On September 3, 1908, at Huntington, Mr. Lewis was united in marriage with Miss Vivian H. Hall, of that city, a high school graduate, who has been active in church and Sunday school work and in the activities of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. She is a daughter of s. B. and Eliza (Neff) Hall, of Huntington, retired residents of that city, where Mr. Hall was a building contractor practically all of his active business life. Four sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis: Virgil D., a member of the class of 1929 at Milton High School; Charles, who is attending the Junior High School at Huntington; and Frederick H. and Raymond R. who are students at the graded school, Milton. WEST VIRGINIA In History, Life, Literature and Industry The Lewis Publishing Company 1928 - Volume 5, page 49 James W. Johnson. In the mining district of Logan and the surrounding counties of West Virginia there can be found no community whose improvements are more conducive to the welfare of the workers and their families than the thriving little town of Lorado. Unfortunately it has been only in recent years that many of the large employers of labor have come to the realization of the needs of their employees, but the Lorado Coal Mining Company had this in mind when, in 1915, they sent James W. Johnson to this locality in the capacity of superintendent. Much of the credit for the planning and laying out of Lorado must be given to Mr. Johnson, a life long mining man, under whose supervision this has been made into one of the best mining communities of Logan County. Mr. Johnson was born June 6, 1863, at Niles, Ohio, and is a son of Thomas and Arma (Slater) Johnson. Thomas Johnson was for many years a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was also interested in coal mining in various fields. His death occurred in 1907 and that of his worthy wife in 1917. They were the parents of nine children, of whom two, Edward and Thomas, were organizers of the Lorain Coal and Dock Company, of Lorain, Ohio, of which the Lorado Coal Mining Company is a part, Edward now being chairman of the Board of Directors, while Thomas has retired. James W. Johnson received only limited educational advantages, in his youth, and he was but twelve years of age when he started out to make his own living. At the start he was employed in the coal mining industry, in a humble capacity, and through industry and fidelity worked his way upward through the various positions, learning the business in all its details. In 1915, at the time of the organization of the Lorado Coal Mining Company, Mr. Johnson came to this place in the capacity of superintendent and immediately began his work of laying out and improving it. This work has gone unremittingly through the years until Lorado is now one of the outstanding mining districts of Logan County. The company has spent thousands of dollars under Mr. Jonson's direction to make living conditions better for the employees and their families. Every building in the town is painted white, which alone makes it attractive, while many of the miners own their own homes, which are sold to them on easy payments. In addition there is a community church, a theatre, a drug store, a club, a restaurant, a railway station and other improvements. Sanitary conditions prevail throughout, the company being solicitous as to the health of the men in its employ. Mr. Johnson is known as a experienced and thorough mining man and capable executive, and while a strict disciplinarian has the friendship and loyalty of the men under his charge, who know that he will give them justice under all conditions and circumstances. On September 22, 1889, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage with Miss Cora Nelson, who was born September 22, 1867, at Nelsonville, Ohio, the town which was named after her paternal grandfather, who was a large land-owner in that community. Her father, John Nelson, was also the owner of which property, but died in 1882, in middle life, his death being hastened as a result of wounds received during the war between the states. Mrs. Johnson's mother died in 1912, having borne her husband four children. To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson there were born five children: Rena, of Lancaster, Ohio, the widow of Doctor McCann, a former physician of that place; Wilber N., of Carey, Ohio; James Dowd, a World war veteran, who saw two years of service in France, where he was badly gassed; Mary E., the wife of F. F. Benson, of Lancaster, Ohio; and Stanley E., a vocalist of note, whose home is in New York City. -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #23 ******************************************