Cabell County, West Virginia Various Biographies This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm *************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 341 Cabell RICHARD WILLIAMS. The coal industry of West Vir- ginia has furnished an opportunity for the achievement of success and position by many men of the younger genera- tion, who have assumed responsibilities formerly assumed or gained only by men many years their senior. It is doubtful, however, if there are many who have accomplished in the same length of time what has been achieved by Richard Williams, who has already become a well-known figure in the industry mentioned and who occupies the position of president of the Glogora Coal Company of Hunt- ington. Mr. Williams was born at Shamokin, Pennsylvania, Febru- ary 6, 1891, a son of Morris and Jennie (Stager) Williams. His father, now a resident of Overbrook, Pennsylvania, was born in 1855, in Monmouthshire, Wales, and was one year of age when brought to the United States by his parents, the family settling near Hazelton, Pennsylvania, where he was reared. Morris Williams received the equivalent of a college education, studying under a private tutor, and was married at Hazelton, following which. event he was the superintendent of a Wyoming gold mine for a time. Re- turning to the East, he became president of the Susque- hanna Coal Company, residing at Overbrook, a suburb of Philadelphia, whence he directed the policy of this concern as the head of the Pennsylvania Railroad coal interests. Mr. Williams retired in 1918. He is a Presbyterian in religion and for many years has been an elder and member of the board of trustees in the Philadelphia Presbyterian Church. In politics he is a republican, and his fraternal affiliation is with the Masonic order. Mr. Williams married Miss Jennie Stager, who was born in 1863, at Audenreid, Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of three children: Margaret Morris, who is the wife of George B. Garrett, a broker of Germantown, Pennsylvania; Richard, of this notice; and Jean Stager, who is unmarried and makes her home with her parents at Overbrook. Richard Williams attended a private institution of learn- ing, the Lawrenceville School, of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, following which he enrolled as a student at Princeton Uni- versity and attended that college until through the junior year. By this time he was anxious to enter upon his busi- ness career, and accordingly secured employment as a mem- ber of the engineer corps of the Susquehanna Coal Com- pany, which position he retained for one year. For the following six months he was in the mechanical engineering department and for one year in the electrical engineering department, and then, formed a new connection, going to the Southeast Coal Company as mine superintendent at Seco, Kentucky. He spent one and one-half years with this firm and then went with a selling company, the Middle-West Coal Company, of which he became Western sales manager, with headquarters at Detroit, Michigan. Both of these com- panies were ones in which Mr. Williams' father was im- portantly interested. On May 18, 1917, Mr. Williams enlisted at Philadelphia in the United States Navy, and went to Cape May, where he spent two months, being then transferred to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he was com- missioned an ensign November 17, 1917. He was then assigned to the cruiser Des Moines, on convoy duty for the remainder of the war, and received his honorable discharge in December, 1918. Like others engaged in the same duty, he had numerous thrilling experiences during his naval duties, but came through all his adventures safely and with a creditable record. Upon his return to civilian life he came to Huntington and established the Glogora Coal Com- pany, which is incorporated under the state laws of West Virginia, and which operates a mine on Beaver Creek, Floyd County, Kentucky, and another on Coal River, Raleigh County, West Virginia, these mines having an approximate capacity of 400,000 tons a year. Mr. Williams, who oc- cupies offices at 704-5-6 First National Bank Building, Huntington, is president and treasurer of this concern, and is likewise vice president of the Northeast Coal Company. He is a young business man of the energetic and result- attaining type, and has the fullest confidence and regard of his associates. In polities he is a republican, but political matters have played only a minor part in his career, and his religious identification is with the Presbyterian Church. He holds membership in the Guyan Country Club of Hunt- ington and the Union League of Philadelphia. In June, 1919, Mr. Williams was united in marriage at Philadelphia with Miss Louise Brown, daughter of George and Lucy (Buckner) Brown, the latter of whom is a resi- dent of Philadelphia, where Mr. Brown, who was vice presi- dent of the Philadelphia & Reading Coal and Iron Com- pany, died. Mrs. Williams is a woman of numerous graces and accomplishments and a graduate of Dana Hall, Wellesley. To Mr. and Mrs. Williams there has come one daughter, Janet, who was born at Philadelphia, July 2, 1920. ********************* The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 646 Cabell FRANK ENSLOW. The name Enslow has been prominent- ly associated with the upbuilding of the city of Hunting- ton practically from the beginning. The late Frank B. Enslow was one of Huntington's well known bankers, and coal, oil and gas operators. His son Frank Enslow is a lawyer by profession, but his largest interests are as a coal operator. The late Frank B. Enslow was born at Wheelersburg, Ohio, son of Andrew Jackson Enslow who was born near Richmond, Virginia, and settled at Huntington about 1871. He was a railroad contractor and helped build the Chesa- peake & Ohio Railroad. His last days were spent in Cali- fornia. Frank B. Enslow grew up in Huntington, where he married and where early in life he entered the profession of the law. His extensive interests brought him many busi- ness interests. He built the gas lines from Macon County, West Virginia, to Cincinnati and owned extensive produc- tions of oil and gas. He helped organize and was president of the Huntington National Bank for a number of years. Frank B. Enslow who died at Huntington in 1917 was a leader in the democratic party though never as an office seeker, was a vestryman of the Episcopal Church and at all times had the welfare of his community completely at heart. He married Mrs. Julia (Garland) Buffington, who was born in Richmond County, Virginia, and died at Huntington in 1897. Their only child is Frank Enslow who was born at Huntington September 24, 1882. Her first husband was Dr. John Buffington, a prominent physician and surgeon, and by that union one child survives, Florence Buffington, whose first husband was the late Will Stanton, a Charles- ton business man, and she is now the wife of Rev. R. H. Merrill, a Presbyterian minister at Charleston. Frank B. Enslow's second wife was Mrs. Juliette (Buffington) Bald- win, still living at Huntington and the mother of a daughter, Dorothy Enslow. Frank Enslow was educated in the public schools of Huntington, spent two years in Marshall College and two years in the University of West Virginia at Morgantown. He graduated LL.B. in 1902 and is a member of the Sigma Chi college fraternity and the Delta Chi legal fraternity. In 1902 on graduating he entered his father's law office and was admitted to the bar in 1903 upon attaining his major- ity. He remained with his father for six years, and for three years was a member of the law firm of Simms, Enslow & Staker. In later years he has used his profession as an adjunct to his own business affairs. Mr. Enslow is presi- dent of the Twin States Fuel Company of Huntington, and is a partner in the firm of Cunningham, Miller & Enslow, owners of extensive and valuable coal properties in the Cabell Creek district and the Logan district of West Vir- ginia. Mr. Enslow is also affiliated with many subsidiary companies and does a large business in real estate. His offices are in the First National Bank Building of Hunting- ton. During the World war he was a member of the committees for the sale of Liberty Bonds, was chairman of the Red Cross drives in the city and county. He is a democrat, a member of Huntington Lodge No. 313, B. P. O. E., the Guyan Country Club, and Guyandotte Club. In 1909 at Huntington he married Miss Mary Winters, daughter of E. E. and Gabriella Winters, residents of Huntington. Her father is chief railroad inspector for the Public Service Commission of West Virginia. Mrs. Enslow is a graduate of the Huntington High School. They have one child, Frank, born July 2, 1910. ********************* The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 641-642 Cabell ANDREW BRYSON RAWN. Because of the extent and im- portance of his interests and the manner in which he has contributed to the development of some of the leading enterprises of his community, Andrew Bryson Rawn is justly accounted a captain of finance and industry at Hun- tington and has built up a substantial reputation for sound business ability and integrity. He was born at Hartford, Connecticut, April 3, 1882, and is a son of John Calvin and Georgiana Kate (VanNess) Rawn. The Rawn family is of Bavarian origin, having come from the Palatinate on the Rhine. The immigrant to America was Carl Rahn (as it wag then spelled), who settled with his wife, Barbara, at what is now Washington, D. C., in 1703. Charles Coatesworth Rawn, the grandfather of Andrew Bry- son Rawn, was born at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he spent his entire life in the practice of law and died before the birth of his grandson. He married Frances Clendennin, who was born in 1800, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and died there in 1882, and whose ancestors had been pioneers of the community of West Virginia which is named in their honor. John Calvin Rawn was born July 5, 1846, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he was reared and educated, and in 1864 enlisted in the Union army for service during the war between the states, continuing as a soldier until the close of the struggle. Shortly thereafter he went to Tariffville, Con- necticut, where he was married and where he acted as resi- dent civil engineer for the New York, New Haven & Hart- ford Railroad. Realizing the need for an education of a more extensive character, Mr. Rawn then enrolled as a student at Princeton College (now Princeton University), where he pursued a full course, and from which he was duly graduated. Following his graduation he removed to the community of Bluefleld, West Virginia, in 1887, and there became chief engineer of the Clinch Valley extension of the old Norfolk & Western Railroad. In this capacity he remained for about three years, then receiving further advancement when, in 1890, he went to Roanoke, Virginia, and became general manager of the Roanoke Gas and Water Company, a position with which he was identified until 1902. In that year he removed to Bramwell, West Virginia, and became chief engineer of the Pocahontas Coal and Coke Company, continuing to act in that capacity until 1907. Mr. Rawn next accepted a position with the Solvay Col- lieries Company, in the capacity of general manager, and was later promoted to the important post of consulting en- gineer, in which he has continued to the present time, with headquarters at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he is the owner of a pleasant, modern home. Mr. Rawn is one of the best known men in his field of work, an expert of acknowledged ability and understanding of his calling, and an authority who is frequently called upon by his associates for advice, counsel and leadership where matters of impor- tance arise. He is a republican in his political convictions, although not a politician, and has many important civic, business and social connections. His religious identification is with the Episcopal Church. Mr. Rawn was united in marriage with Miss Georgiana Kate VanNess, who was born in 1855, at Saratoga Springs, New York, and died at Mary- town, West Virginia, in 1909, a woman of many splendid qualities. They became the parents of two children: Edward VanNess, an operator of floor spar mines at Hopkinsville, Kentucky; and Andrew Bryson. Andrew Bryson Rawn attended private schools at Roanoke, Virginia, and the Virginia Military Institute, at Lexington, from which he was graduated with the class of 1902, with the degree of Civil Engineer. During his college career he joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Greek letter college fra- ternity, in which he still retains membership. In 1902 Mr. Rawn became a member of an engineering party for the United States Coal and Coke Company, at Gary, West Virginia, where he remained six months, and then spent a like period with Bert Paddock, a contracting engineer at North Fork, West Virginia. He was then made chief of party land surveys for the Pocahontas Coal and Coke Company, in Mercer county, West Virginia, and re- mained one year, then succeeding to the position of mining engineer for the Wenonah Coal and Coke Company; the Hiawatha Coal and Coke Company and the Smokeless Coal and Coke Company, all of Mercer County, West Virginia, and remained nntil 1905. In that year he was made resi- dent engineer for the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railway Company, at Alta Pass, North Carolina, and in October, 1906, was appointed superintendent of the American Coal Company, with headquarters at Pinnacle, West Virginia. In 1907 he was made superintendent of the Majestic Collieries, in Pike County, Kentucky, remaining in that capacity until January, 1910, when he became superintendent of the Solvay Collieries Company, with headquarters at Kingston, West Virginia, until 1914, when he became general manager, with headquarters at Kingston, until February, 1917. He then came to Huntington in the same position, which he retained nntil August, 1920, when he became vice president of the same company, a position which he holds at this time. The company is incorporated and the other officers are: P. K. Malin, president, Syracuse, New York; and F. L. Lancaster, secretary and treasurer, Syracuse. The company has an $8.000,000 capitalization, and operates extensively, its fields being in the Kanawha, Pocahontas, Tug River and Thacker districts. Mr. Rawn is vice president of the Carryon Coal Company and of the Black Gem Coal Company, both of Pike County, in the Thacker district; a director of the Huntington Na- tional Bank; a director of the West Virginia Insurance Agency; a director of the Kanawha Operators' Association and the Williamson Operators' Association, and president and a director of the Tug River Coal Operators' Associa- tion. His offices are situated at 501-510 Robson-Pritchard Building. In polities Mr. Rawn is a republican, and his re- ligions connection is with the Episcopal Church. He is a member of the Guyan Country Club, the Guyandot Club of Huntington and the Huntington Chamber of Commerce. He owns a modern residence at 1313 Eighth Street, one of the fine homes of Huntington. In December, 1909, at Bramwell, West Virginia, Mr. Rawn was united in marriage with Miss Elsa Brown, daughter of Henry S. and Hattie (Khuen) Brown, residents of Bram- well, where Mr. Brown is president of the National Carbide Company. Mrs. Rawn is a woman of numerous graces and attainments and a graduate of Anne Brown Seminary, Park Hill, New York. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rawn: Andrew Bryson, Jr., born September 14, 1910; and Anne Brown, born February 1, 1918. ********************* The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 638 Cabell JAMES A. HUGHES. Life seems to shower upon some men distinction of magnitude, and yet it is but seldom that such honors come to the undeserving. An individual must be worthy before he is singled out from his associates for ad- vancement, and he is required to maintain that same high standard to retain what he has already gained. Especially is this true with reference to the promotions in public life, where real ability secured its rewards and a lack of it is readily recognizable. In the case of James A. Hughes, one of Huntington's foremost citizens, while the awards have been numerous, all have been deserved. Mr. Hughes has been the architect of his own fortunes, for he has been com- pelled to tread the hard, self-made pathway to success, and his career as business man and public servant has been one warranting the high confidence and esteem in which he is universally held. Mr. Hughes was born at Corunna, Canada, February 27, 1861, a son of James W. and Ellen (McNulty) Hughes. His father, born in County Mayo, Ireland, September 10, 1833, was reared and married in his native land, where he was a teacher in the rural schools, and in 1852 came to America, settling first at Corunna, province of Ontario, Canada, where he became a general merchant. In 1871 he came to the United States, settling in Wayne County, West Virginia, where he farmed one year, and then went to Ashland, Ken- tucky, where he was general railroad agent for the Ashland Coal and Railway Company for three years. His next loca- tion was Star Furnace, Kentucky, where he continued ten years as general superintendent of large coal operations, and in 1894 came to Huntington and embarked in the flour milling business for a time. He received the appointment as postmaster of Huntington, and after serving in that capacity for fourteen years retired from active life and lived quietly until going to his final rest, June 10, 1920. He was a republican, and held offices in both Canada and the United States. He belonged to the Episcopal Church, of which he was a strong and generous supporter. Mr. Hughes married Miss Ellen McNulty, who was born in 1839, in County Mayo, Ireland, and died at Huntington in 1913. They were the parents of seven children, as follows: Will, a telegraph operator, who died at the age of twenty-two years at Bellaire, Ohio; Louise, who died at the age of twenty-one years; John, who is secretary of the Ashland Steel Company at Ashland, Kentucky; Ed, who was county court clerk of Boyd County, Kentucky, and died at Catletts- burg, that state, aged forty-two years; Arthur M., a whole- sale grocer of Louise, Kentucky; and Douglas E., who was secretary to his brother James A. when the latter was a member of Congress, and who died at Winfield, West Vir- ginia, aged thirty-five years. James A. Hughes attended the public schools of Corunna, Ontario, Canada, for two terms of three months each, that being the limit of his instruction received in an institution of learning. However, he has acquired an excellent educa- tion through study, much reading, close observation and mingling with people of education and culture, and is today a well-informed man on all practical subjects. When he was but ten years of age he entered the Ashland National Bank of Ashland, Kentucky, as an errand boy, a position which he filled for three years, and then secured employment in a country store at Geigerville, Kentucky, remaining seven years. Mr. Hughes was then attracted to railroading, and obtained first the post of conductor and later that of train- master on the Ashland Coal and Iron Railway, where he remained two years, his next experience being gained as a traveling salesman, work which he followed a like period. In 1884 he went to Louisa, Kentucky, where he was engaged in a general mercantile and lumber business until 1890, at that time removing to Ceredo, West Virginia, remaining in the lumber business, while next he followed a wholesale business for ten years. He then came to Huntington and engaged in a general contracting and timber business until elected a member of Congress. Mr. Hughes' career as a public man had commenced in 1888, when he was elected to the State Legislature in Ken- tucky, serving two years and representing Boyd and Law- rence counties. In 1894 he was elected to the State Senate of West Virginia, representing Wayne, Cabell and Putnam counties, and served in the sessions of 1894 and 1896. In 1897 he was made postmaster of Huntington, an office which he filled until 1900, when he was sent to the National Congress, where he remained from March 4, 1900, to March 4, 1915, representing the Huntington District of twelve Counties, viz: Cabell, Mason, Putnam, Lincoln, Logan, Mingo, McDowell, Mercer, Raleigh, Wyoming, Boone and Wayne. His record in Congress was one of meritorious service, in which he labored constructively, faithfully and effectively for his district and for the best interests of the country at large. In 1915 he returned to Huntington and engaged in the real estate business and general contracting, in which he has continued to be active to the present time, his offices being situated at 1125 Fourth Avenue. Mr. Hughes is a stanch republican in his political allegiance. He has numerous important business connections, and is president of the Pence Springs Water Company of Hunting- ton and Pence Springs, West Virginia. He owns a modern residence at 1140 Fifth Avenue, one of the fine homes of his adopted city. During the World war Mr. Hughes took an active part in all war activities, and made speeches throughout West Virginia in behalf of the cause. On December 28, 1885, Mr. Hughes was united in mar- riage at Ceredo, Wayne County, West Virginia, with Miss Belle Vinson, a graduate of the Young Ladies Seminary of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, and a daughter of Samuel S. and Mary (Damron) Vinson, both of whom are now deceased, Mr. Vinson having formerly been engaged in the timber business in Wayne and Raleigh counties, West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Hughes have two children: Mary Eloise and Tudell. Mary Eloise married Lucian P. Smith, who was lost in the sinking of the "Titanic" when they were re- turning from their wedding trip spent in Europe. Tudell Hughes, who is engaged in the wholesale lumber business at Ashland, Kentucky, married Harold H. Van Sant. Mr. and Mrs. Hughes have three grandchildren, Lucian P. Smith, Jr., Vinson and Jean Van Sant. ********************* The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 637-638 Cabell WALTER D. DAVIDSON. In a thriving and prosperous city where many interests meet and clash and supremacy at the best of times is maintained only through the exercise of unusual business ability, importance attaches to those whose foresight and good judgment, supplemented by experienced trade knowledge, enable them to guide safely great enter- prises through the shoals when there are unsettled com- mercial conditions of unusual gravity. By no means all of the business ventures entered into at Huntington during recent years can be located at the present time, although many started with far better prospects than did the Walter D. Davidson Furniture Company, but the modest beginning of the latter concern was substantially developed and care- fully nurtured and has become one of the city's business enterprises of solidity and permanence. Water D. Davidson, the president of this concern, who also holds the controlling interest therein, was born at South Point, Lawrence County, Ohio, January 21, 1883, and is a son of Emanuel and Emma (Lackey) Davidson. The Davidson family had its origin in the neighborhood of Edinburg, Scotland, whence it was transplanted to America in Colonial times, the first immigrant of this branch of the name locating in Pennsylvania. In that state was born the grandfather of Walter D. Davidson, Joseph Davidson, who became a pioneer into South Point, Ohio, a large land- holder and boat owner, and one of the first steamboat men. He died at South Point, where his wife passed away in 1889. She had been Miss Jane Bryson, born in the State of Kentucky in 1804. Emanuel Davidson was born October 8, 1832, at South Point, Ohio, and there passed his entire life, dying April 4, 1912. He was a leading merchant at that place and an influential republican. During the Civil war he served in the capacity of postmaster, and also owned and operated a ferry running between West Virginia Point, West Virginia, Catlettsburg, Kentucky, and South Point, Ohio, which was utilized during the struggle between the North and the South in ferrying Union troops. Mr. Davidson was a devout churchman and a strong supporter of the Baptist Church. He held membership over fifty years in the Masonic Order. Mr. Davidson married Miss Emma Lackey, who was born December 2, 1845, in Nicholas County, Kentucky, and now survives him as a resident of South Point, Ohio. They be- came the parents of five children, namely: Albert H., who is a merchandise broker of Huntington; Vernon, a buyer and director for Anderson Brothers Company department store of Portsmouth, Ohio; Virginia Lee, the wife of How- ard A. Lawrence, who is engaged in the insurance business at Huntington; Leslie H., manager for the Steinway Piano Company at Dayton, Ohio; and Walter D., of this record. Walter D. Davidson attended the public schools of South Point and Portsmouth, Ohio, until he was eighteen years of age, at which time he became a traveling salesman for the Ypsilanti Furniture Company of Ionia, Michigan, covering, every large city in the United States. He spent the period from 1910 to 1919 in New York City as the eastern manager of this concern, and with this experience came to Huntington in January, 1919, and bought out the wholesale and retail furniture business of J. C. Carter & Company, which had been established in 1890 and which is now the oldest and. leading furniture enterprise at Huntington, being situated at 922-24 Fourth Avenue. The company is incorporated under the name of the Walter D. Davidson Furniture Com- pany, Mr. Davidson being president and holding the con- trolling interest. He has built up not only a large and prosperous enterprise but a reputation for integrity and honorable dealing that gives him the full confidence of his associates in the business world. Mr. Davidson is president of the Huntington Business Men's Association. A vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, a member of the executive committee of the United States Retail Furniture Association, and a director in the Tri-State Fair Association, in addition to which he belongs to the Kiwanis Club, the Guyandot Club and the Guyan Country Club. He owns a modern residence at 201 Fifth Avenue, a comfortable home in a desirable resi- dental district. During the World war, Mr. Davidson super- vised the making of aeroplane seats while in New York City, and his company handled large contracts from the Wright Brothers and others. In 1912, at Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mr. Davidson was united in marriage with Miss Agnes Marion Pitch, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Pitch, the latter deceased and the former a furniture man of Grand Rapids. Mr. and Mrs. Davidson are the parents of one child; Emily Josephine, who was born at New York City, August 12, 1917. ********************* The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 636 Cabell J. CRAIG MILLER, president of the Miller Supply Com- pany, one of the important concerns lending to the industrial and commercial precedence of the City of Huntington, was born in the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 24, 1858, a date that indicates conclusively that he is a repre- sentative of a pioneer family of that commonwealth. His paternal grandfather, Gen. Thomas Craig Miller, was born near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and was one of the old-time ironmasters of the Keystone State, where he was concerned in the operation of charcoal furnaces, besides which he was the owner of fine farm property near Gettys- burg, where he was residing at the time of his death, he having been a man of wealth and influence and his having been gallant service as a soldier and officer in the Mexican war, in which he was a general in the command of Gen. Winfield Scott. His wife, whose maiden name was Margaret MacGinley, was a representative of another of the old and influential families of Pennsylvania, in' which state she passed her entire life. General Miller was a son of Wil- liam Miller, who passed his entire life in the vicinity of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the Village of Millerstown, now known as Fairfield, having been named in honor of this pioneer family. William Miller served as an officer in the Patriot Army in the War of the Revolution. A stone wall on his old homestead farm was the stage of the historic charge made by the forces of General Pickett in the battle of Gettysburg, one of the greatest in the Civil war. Capt. Matthew A. Miller, father of him whose name intro- duces this review, was born on the old homestead near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, December 16, 1832, and his death occurred at Richmond, Virginia, December 16, 1906, on his seventy-fourth birthday anniversary. As a skilled civil engineer his activities were carried on in many different parts of the United States prior to the Civil war, and in connection with that conflict he served in support of the cause of the Confederacy as a member of an engineering corps. He laid out the fortifications at Shiloh, but the most of his service was west of the Mississippi River. After the close of the war he established his residence at Staunton, Virginia, and became a real-estate or right-of-way repre- sentative of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. Later he settled on his farm in Albemarle County, that state, adjacent to the City of Richmond, and there his death occurred. For sixteen years, as a civil and mining engineer, he was engaged in buying coal lands for what is now the Norfolk & Western Railroad Company. He was a democrat, was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, of which his wife like- wise was a devoted member, and he completed the circle of the York Rite in the Masonic fraternity. Captain Miller married Miss Matilda Fechtig, who was born at Hagers- town, Maryland, in 1833, and who died at Bramwell, West Virginia, in 1903. Of their children the eldest is Fannie, who now resides on the old homestead of her parents near Bichmond, Virginia, she being the widow of William R. Vawter, who was a farmer in Monroe County, that state; J. Craig, of this review, was the next in order of birth; William H., a civil engineer, died at Bramwell, West Vir- ginia, in 1901. J. Craig Miller was a child at the time when the family home was established at Staunton, Virginia, and there he attended the public schools, his studies having later been continued in the city schools of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On the 4th of July, 1880, he graduated from the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, with the degree of Civil Engineer. For a year thereafter he was identified with con- struction work on the line of the Chesapeake & Ohio Rail- road, between Richmond and Newport News, Virginia. He next became a civil engineer in the service of the Denver, Rio Grande & Western Railroad, with headquarters at Salt Lake City, and in this connection he also did original ex- ploration in the Grand Canyon of Arizona. For one year he was in the office of the city engineer of Denver, and the next year found him again with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, with headquarters at Richmond, Virginia. Thereafter he was associated with his father in the buying and surveying of coal lands for the present Norfolk & Western Railroad until January 1, 1890, when he became chief engineer and general superintendent of the Guyandot Coal Land Association, with headquarters first at Hunting- ton, West Virginia, and later at Louisville, Kentucky. After the building of the Norfolk & Western Railroad line into the coal fields of West Virginia he had charge of 200,000 acres of coal land, with headquarters at Dunlow, Wayne County. He retained this position until March 1, 1897, when he established the Miller Supply Company, of which he has since continued the president. The functions of this cor- poration are in the distributing, as jobbers, of mining, mill and electrical supplies, contractors' equipment, etc., as representatives of large manufacturing concerns, the trade of the company extending throughout the coal districts of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Southern Ohio. The offices and warehouse in the City of Huntington are at 742 Third Avenue, J. Craig Miller, Jr., being vice president of the company and William J. Harvey, its secretary and treas- urer. Under the vigorous and able management of Mr. Miller the business has been developed into the largest of its kind between Pittsburgh and New Orleans. Mr. Miller is also chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bluefield Supply Company, and is a stockholder in several coal-min- ing companies, besides being the individual owner of valu- able coal lands in West Virginia and Kentucky. He is independent in politics, has been for twenty-five years a deacon in the Presbyterian Church, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Elks, is a charter member of the Guyandot Club and a member of the Guyan Country Club, and at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifteenth Street he owns and occupies one of the fine residences of Huntington. December 18, 1889, recorded, at Picquenocque, Virginia, the marriage of Mr. Miller and Miss Sallie Rutherford Tinsley, daughter of James G. and Pattie (Jones) Tinsley both now deceased, Mr. Tinsley having been one of the incor- porators of the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have three children: Pattie is the wife of Charles S. Porter, of Huntington, who is connected with the Miller Supply Company; Sallie R. is the wife of John R. Bennett who is in the credit department of the Miller Supply Company and who was in active service in France one year in connection with the World war. J. Craig, Jr., who is vice-president of the Miller Supply Com- pany and who also has coal-mining interests, graduated in his father's alma mater, the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, in 1916. When the nation became involved in the World war he entered the First Officers Training Camp, thereafter passing two terms in the engineering corps at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was commissioned a second lieutenant of engineers. He passed one year in France, as second lieutenant of Company E, Second Di- vision, American Expeditionary Forces, and took part in the major engagements at Verdun and Chateau Thierry. For his gallant exploit in entering woods under heavy fire and rescuing two wounded members of his platoon he was awarded the distinguished-service cross.