The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II pg 199 + 200 David C. Kurner during his youth at Wheeling learned the painting and decorating trades, and for many years has been active head of a successful business and organization handling painting contracts and is also proprietor of a large and well stocked store handling wall paper, paints, oil and glass. Mr. Kurner was born in Wheeling, July 10, 1859. His father, John David Kurner, was born in Wurttemberg, Germany, in 1832, came to the United States when a young man and settled at Wheeling, was a merchant, and in the course of years achieved an influential place in local business circles. He was a member of the State Militia during the Civil war. He was affiliated with the democratic party and a member of the Lutheran Church. His death occurred at Wheeling in 1891. His wife was Susanna E. Strobel, still living in Wheeling, where she was born in 1838. The children of John David Kurner and wife were: Veronica, now living at Akron, Ohio, widow of Philip Knabe, who was a nail manufacturer at Wheeling; David C., William, a painter and decorator who died at Wheeling at the age of fifty-five; Charles, a painter and decorator at Wheeling; John David, a resident of Cleveland, Ohio; Harry J., an advertiser at Wheeling; Archibald, who has never contracted the habit of settled residence; Nellie, whose husband, F. Slagle, is an investment broker in Texas; and Joseph, a painter and musician who died at Wheeling at the age of forty-eight. David C. Kurner attended school at Wheeling only to the age of thirteen, and then worked in various lines but served the apprenticeship that gave him an expert knowledge of painting, sign work and graining. He has used this useful mechanical trade as the basis of a permanent business career. In 1886 he established himself in business as a contractor and dealer in decorative materials, starting with a very small capital, and with his own labor, supplem ented by a few employees, and during the past thirty-five years has made his business one of the leading organizations of its kind in the state, with offices and store at 1518 Market Street, and he does both a wholesale and retail business in decorative materials as well as contracting for painting and decorating. He is sole proprietor of his business. Mr. Kurner had three sons in the World war, and was busy throughout that period in local war activities, being captain of teams in drives for the Liberty Loan, Red Cross and other causes. A number of years ago he was a member of the Wheeling City Council, is a democrat, a member of the Catholic Church and the Wheeling Chamber of Commerce. In 1886, at Wheeling, Mr. Kurner married Miss Barbara Ebbert, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Ebbert, now deceased. Her father was a farmer. Of the ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Kurner two died in infancy. The oldest of those living is John Raymond, who for fifteen years has been in the Regular Army service, is a member of the Marine Corps, and was with that famous organization in the war. David C., Jr., whose home is at Logansport, Indiana, was commissioned a captain in the war, was sent overseas to France and was in service there over a year. Robert J., the third son, is foreman for his father's business at Wheeling, and is married to Jaenetta Yeager. Clement O. was in the navy and was one of the 300 Americans who lost their lives when the U. S. S. Cyclops disappeared. Caritas is the wife of Wilbur L. Heinlein, a clerk with the Whitaker-Glessner Company at Wheeling. Miss Martha lives at home. Stella is the wife of Wm. A. Roth, a plumber. Paul J. is an automobile salesman at Wheeling and Ebbert is a student in the Cathedral High School. Mr. Kurner owns a modern residence at 77 Eighteenth Street, and in the course of his business career has acquired much other local real estate, including a house at 73 Eighteenth Street and one at 213 South York Street. ==== WV-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List ==== ********************************************************************** WV-FOOTSTEPS/USGENWEB NOTICE: These messages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any 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. ********************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York, Volume 11 French D. Walton- Wheeling WV French D. Walton has affected a crystallization of his former years of newspaper experience by establishing in the City of Wheeling an important business enterprise, which he conducts under the title of the Wheeling Publicity Bureau. He was born in this city, October 23,1875, and is a son of John and Allie (Ebbert) Walton. The latter died when French D. was but six weeks old. John Walton was born at Woodfield, Ohio in 1842, was reared and educated in the old Buckeye State and represented the same as a gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil War,shortly after the close of which he came to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he eventually he beacme a leading member of the bar of Ohio County and where during the last fifteen years of his life he held the office of chief deputy of the Circuit Court for this county. He was a stanch democrat, was an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was long and actively affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. He was one of the honored and well known citizens of Wheeling at the time of his death in 1898. At the inception of the Civil was John Walton enlisted in the Twenty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; and his active service covered virtually the entire period of the war, save for the intervals when he was incapacitated by wounds. His regiment took part in the various engagements of the Army of the Potomac, he was twice wounded, and as a result of the severe wounds he received at the battle of Gettysburg he suffered the loss of part of his left foot. He vitalized his interests in his old comrades by his affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic. Of his three children the first, William, died in childhood; Lotta is the wife of Edward S. Campbell, a traveling salesman, and they reside in Wheeling; and French D., of this sketch, was an infant at the time of his mother's death, as previously noted. In the public schools of Wheeling French D. Walton continued his studies until he was sixteen years of age, and he then took a position in the tea store of the C.D. Kenny Company, where he continued to be employed three years. He then initiated his career in connection with newspaper work by becoming a reporter on the Wheeling News, with which he continued his connection five years. On account of ill health he next entered the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, in a position that did not list so heavily against his physical powers, but as soon as expedient he resumed his active alliance with newspaper work as a reporter for the Wheeling Intelligence. He continued with this paper until 1905, when he accepted the post of cashier in the freight office of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad. In 1907 he resigned this position to take that of court reporter for the Ohio State Journal at Columbus, Ohio, but one year later he returned to Wheeling and became a reporter on the staff of the Daily News. Thereafter he served in turn as city editor and telegraph editor of the Wheeling Intelligence, and later was telegraph editor for the Wheeling Daily News. In 1918 Mr. Walton became assistant general manager of the Wheeling Chamber of Commerce, and of this executive office he continued the incumbent until 1920, on the 5th of August of which year he established the Wheeling Publicity Bureau, of which he was the sole owner and the active manager. This bureau has the best of modern facilities for the effective conducting of publicity campaigns in connection with commercial, industrial and mercantile enterprises and for other promotive service of the first grade. Here are prepared and issued booklets, folders, form letters, etc. and Mr. Walton specializes also in writing publicity articles for newspaper, magazines and trade journals. The Wheeling Publicity Bureau is a center for well directed general advertising and promotive service, has a department devoted to addressing and mailing commercial letters, with a complete multigraphic equipment. In short, Mr. Wilson has capitalized his long and successful newspaper experience in a prosperous and valuable business enterprise of his own. He maintains his well appointed headquarters at 205-206 Court Theater Building. Mr. Walton is aligned in the ranks of the democratic party, is a member of the Official Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church in his home city, besides being assistant superintendent of its Sunday School, is past chancellor of Mystic Lodge No. 24, Knights of Pythias, and is an active member of the local Kiwanis Club. He owns his attractive home property, in the Edgedale District of Wheeling. In the World War period Mr. Walton gave characteristically earnest service in the furtherance of local patriotic objects, was publicity secretary in the Government loan drives, Red Cross campaigns, etc., in Wheeling and Ohio County, and did all in his power to advance the work to which he thus set himself. February 28,1898, recorded the marriage of Mr. Walton and Miss Edna R. Watkins, daughter of the late Charles H. and Annee (Marsh) Watkins of Wheeling. Mr. and Mrs. Walton have three children: John Marsh, who was born November 26, 1900, is a graduate of the Linsly Institute at Wheeling, later continued his studies in the University of West Virginia, and there, at the age of eighteen years, he became a member of the Students Army Training Corps when the nation became involved in the World war, he being now in the employ of the Clarke Paper Company of Wheeling; French D., Jr., who was born November 10, 1901, is an assistant in his father's offices; and J. Elwood, born October 23, 1904, is, in 1921, a student in the Triadelphia District High School. ==== WV-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List ==== ********************************************************************** WV-FOOTSTEPS/USGENWEB NOTICE: These messages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any 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. ********************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York, Volume II pg. 155 & 156 WILLIAM JOHN BRADDOCK is secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Wheeling Bronze Casting Company, a well ordered concern that contributes its quota to the industrial and commercial precedence of the West Virginia metropolis. He is one of the representative young business men of his native city his birth having occurred in Wheeling on the 17th of April, 1882. Mr. Braddock is a son of John and Ellen (McGrail) Braddock, the former of whom was born at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1859, and the latter was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, in that same year, she being still a resident of her native city, where her husband died in the year 1891. John Braddock was reared and educated in the old Keystone State, where the family was founded in an early day, and he was a young man when he came to West Virginia and engaged in the work of his trade, that of iron-moulder, at Wheeling. Here he passed the remainder of his life, an upright and loyal citizen who commanded unqualified popu! lar esteem. He was a democrat in politics and was a communicant of the Catholic Church as is also his widow. Of the two children, William J., of this review, is the elder, and Mary is the wife of Haven Robb, of Wheeling. The early education of William J. Braddock was obtained in the parochial schools of St. Mary's Church, in the Eighth Ward of Wheeling, and at the age of fourteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship to the moulder's trade at the Riverside Mills, Benwood, Marshall County, an establishment now owned and operated by the National Tube Company. Here he continued to be employed eight years, and in the meanwhile he became an expert artisan at his trade. In 1904 Mr. Braddock established a modest brass foundry of his own at 205 Twenty-ninth Street, Wheeling, and after continuing the enterprise in an individual way until 1917 he incorporated the business under the present title of the Wheeling Bronze Casting Company. The business has become one of substantial order, and in the autumn of 1921 it was removed from its original location to the fine new plant erected for its use at the corner of Thirty-sixth and McCulloch streets. Here is occupied a modern industrial building that was erected by the company and that is 200 by 100 feet in dimensions. The company gives special attention to the rolling of bronze rods for non-corrosive use, and its products are shipped into most diverse sections of the Union. The executive officers of this progressive corporation are as follows: President, J. W. Mulard, of Martins Ferry, Ohio; secretary and treasurer, William J. Braddock. Mr. Braddock takes lively interest in all that concerns the welfare of his native city, is independent in politics, is affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church. In the World war period the plant of the Wheeling Bronze Casting Company was given over largely to the manufacturing of special parts for use in the equipping of submarine chasers, in the service of the International Ship Building Company and for the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation, and Mr. Braddock himself gave loyal support to the various patriotic activities centered in his home city and state. On April 6, 1904, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Braddock and Miss Virginia Baumann, daughter of John and Lizzetta (Stensel) Baumann, of Wheeling, where the father is a retired dairyman. Mr. and Mrs. Braddock have three children: Lizzetta, who was born in 1905, and who is now a student in Mount de Chantal Academy at Wheeling; John, who was born in 1907, and who is, in 1921, attending the Columbia Commercial College at Wheeling; and William, who was born in 1915. The family home is the attractive and modern residence property owned by Mr. Braddock at 212 Pierce Street. ==== WV-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List ==== ********************************************************************** WV-FOOTSTEPS/USGENWEB NOTICE: These messages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any 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. ********************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York, Volume II pg. 158 & 159 FRANK ROACHE SCROGGINS, proprietor of the White Laundry in the City of Wheeling, is one of the progressive and successful business men of his native city, his birth having occurred in Wheeling on the 17th of January, 1868. His father, George Washington Scroggins, was born at Wheeling in 1843 and here passed his entire life, his death having occurred in 1896. George W. Scroggins initiated his productive career by serving as a water boy around the local boat yards, and in the Civil war period he aided in the manufacturing of bullets. He became an expert stationary engineer, and served sixteen years as engineer of the city waterworks of Wheeling, of which position he was the incumbent at the time of his death. In his young manhood he was a member of the volunteer fire department of his native city. He was a democrat ill politics and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as were both his first and second wives. Mr. Scroggins first wedded Caroline Nidick, who was born at Trail Run, Monroe County, Ohio, and whose death occurred in 1873. Of the children of this union the eldest is William J. foreman in his brother's White Swan Laundry; Allen C. likewise remains in Wheeling, and is steward for the local Theatrical Club and for the Fraternal Order of Eagles; Frank R., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Charles Scott is a foreman in the White Swan Laundry. For his second wife the father married Lovenia Loverage, and she now resides at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Daisy, first child of this second marriage, died at of twenty-eight years; George is a resident of the City of Pittsburgh, where he is engaged in the trucking ness; and Reed B. is a stationary engineer in the waterworks of Pittsburgh. The public school of Wheeling afforded Frank R. Scroggins his early education, and he was but eleven years when he found employement in a local glass factory. After the passing of five years he began an apprenticeship to the trade of machinist, and his Service in this connection continued from the time he was sixteen until he was twenty years of age. From 1888 to 1891 he was stationary engineer in the employ of Lutz Brothers, and for sixteen months thereafter was in charge of the washing department and also served as engineer of the Troy Laundry. From 1892 to 1895 he was general manager of the Wheeling Laundry, and he then established the White Swan Laundry, of which he has continued the executive head during the intervening period of more than a quarter of a century and which he has kept at the highest standard in equipment and service. The offices of this popular laundry are at the corner of Tenth and Market streets. Mr. Scroggins started his independent laundry business on a modest scale, in a base. meat at his present location, and his original corps of employes consisted of one man and one woman. He has built up one of the leading enterprises of this kind in the state, the mechanical equipment and all accessories of the White Swan Laundry being of the most modern type and the establishment giving employment to seventy persons. On the National Turnpike, in the Tenth Ward of Wheeling, Mr. Scroggins purchased a fine lot, 140 by 830 feet in dimensions, on which he erected a modern laundry building 100 by 200 feet in dimensions, the only building in existence, so far as is known of that dimension, whose interior is not supported by a single post. It is a one-story and basement structure, with a separate building for the power plant. Here he will have one of the most complete and modern laundry plants in West Virginia, in fact one of the show houses in modern laundry construction in this country, and in connection with the general laundry business he will establish an up-to-date dry-cleaning and rug-cleaning department. His success has been well earned, as he started in business with a capital of only $212, has been progressive and energetic, has ordered his business with utmost integrity and fairness, and has developed an enterprise that in 1920 represented gross earnings of $150,000. His new laundry plant represents an investment of an amount equal to this. Mr. Scroggins is independent in politics, is affiliated with the Royal Arcanum, and is one of the loyal and vigorous members of the local Rotary Club, in which he is chairman of the boys' work committee and takes lively interest in its work. The family home is an attractive modern house at 757 Market Street. Mr. Scroggins was zealous in the local patriotic activities during the World war period, aided in the campaigns in support of Government loans, Red Cross service, etc., and supplied to the United States Navy a valuable set of binoculars, which were eventually returned to him, together with $1.00 and a certificate as reward of merit from the Navy Department. It is needless to say that he prizes both the certificate and also the binoculars, the latter of which were in active use in the navy. Although Mr. Scroggins left school when a mere boy, his alert mind and his appreciative instinct have enabled him through reading and study at home, which he still continues, and through other effective self-discipline, to round out a symmetrical education of practical order. His paternal grandfather, John Peyton Scroggins, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, was one of the pioneers of Wheeling, where he served a long period as bank messenger and where his death occurred he having been a native of Ireland. In 1889 Frank R. Scroggins wedded Miss Catherine E. Neimer, daughter of the late Philip and Margaret Neimer, of Wheeling, Mr. Neimer having been a shearman in the local sheet-iron mills, in which he met his death in an accident. Mr. and Mrs. Scroggins' only child, Franklin Pierce, died at the age of 4½ years. ==== WV-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List ==== ********************************************************************** WV-FOOTSTEPS/USGENWEB NOTICE: These messages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any 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. ********************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II. pg. 183 WHEELER H. BACHMAN for a number of years has been a power in the commercial and financial affairs of Wheeling, was formerly in the dry goods jobbing business, and is now member of the investment firm of Speidel & Bachman, Incorporated, of which he is president. Mr. Bachman, whose citizenship has been distinguished by the broadest cooperation in enterprises for welfare and charity, was born at Wheeling, March 22, 1870. His father, William Phillip Bachman, was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1838, and was a boy of ten years when he accompanied some relatives to the Unites States. He reached Wheeling, the city destined to be his permanent home, about 1853, and in after years he achieved a position as a successful merchant, with associations with other business and banking affairs. He was a staunch republican. He died at Wheeling in 1918. William P. Bachman married Lucy Wheeler, who was born in Dudley Port, England, in 1845. Her father, Simmons Wheeler, was born in Dudley Port, was a shipyard owner there, and was killed when thrown from a horse. He married Martha Simmons, a native of Dudley Port, who came to the United States when her daughter Lucy was fifteen years of age. Thereafter she made her home at Wheeling, where she died. Lucy Wheeler Bachman, who died at Wheeling in 1919, was for nearly half a century an active member of St. Matthew's Protestant Episcopal Church. She was the mother of two children, Jessie Martha and Wheeler H. The former is the wife of George Grant Ralston, a resident of Martin's Ferry, Ohio. Wheeler H. Bachman was educated in the public schools of Wheeling, attended Frazier's Business College until 1888, following which he spent seven years with a retail dry goods store, familiarizing himself with the detail of the business and at the same time making a close study of the jobbing phase of dry goods merchandising. In 1895 he embarked his experience and capital in a wholesale dry goods business, and was active in that line nearly twenty years, until 1914. As a jobber he had an extensive general trade through West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and in special lines he did a large volume of business over the United States, especially with jobbing houses in New York City and Chicago. Mr. Bachman became a member of the firm Speidel & Bachman, Incorporated, in 1914. This firm acts as underwriters and investment brokers, and the names of the partners are the highest guarantee of their financial integrity and reliability. The offices of this firm are in the Wheeling Bank & Trust Company Building. Mr. Bachman is president, Joseph Speidel Jr., vice president, and Jesse Speidel, secretary and treasurer. Mr. Bachman is a member of the executive committee and a director of the Wheeling Bank & Trust Company; is secretary of the Carr China Company of Grafton, West Virginia; a director of the United Dairy Company of Wheeling; a director of the Camden Coal & Land Company of West Virginia; and a director and assistant treasurer of the Arizona Mossback Mine Company of Oatman, Arizona. He is also a director of the Equitable Mortgage Company of Cleveland, director of the Fidelity Investment Association of Wheeling, vice president of the Union Mines of Wheeling, formerly secretary and treasurer of the Wheeling Stock Exchange of Wheeling for a period of three years and a member of the Advisory Board of the Lutz & Schraunn Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1908, at Wheeling, Mr. Bachman married Miss Edith Carr, daughter of Thomas and Alice (Stockwell) Carr, residents of Grafton, where her father is president and general manager of the Carr China Company. The Carrs were an old family of New York City, while the Stockwells run back into the Colonial history of Vermont. Mrs. Bachman was educated in public and private schools at Wheeling. They have one son, Wheeler Carr, born September 4, 1911. For a number of years Mr. and Mrs. Bachman have been closely associated with mutual interests and sympathies in many phases of broad and constructive charity and public spirit. They have helped support all the charitable organizations of the city without respect to creed. Mrs. Bachman is a member of the Board of the Aged and Friendless Women's Home, and is a member of one of the "Hospital Twigs," organizations for the purpose of raising funds for the hospitals. She is a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church, while Mr. Bachman is one of the active supporters of St. Matthew's Protestant Episcopal Church and is president of its Men's Bible Class and a vestryman of St. Matthew's Church. He is a republican, is affiliated with Wheeling Lodge No. 28, B. P. O. E., is a member of the Wheeling County Club, the Fort Henry County Club and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His home is a fine old residence at Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania. During the World war Mr. Bachman was active in the placing of Government securities, and was a working member of all the committees in the Red Cross, Liberty Loan and other drives. ==== WV-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List ==== ********************************************************************** WV-FOOTSTEPS/USGENWEB NOTICE: These messages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any 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. ********************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 255 HERMANN BENTZ. Behind the large and impressive success of the Cooey-Bentz Company, Incorporated, of Wheeling is an interesting story based upon the thrift and enterprise of the two original partners constituting the firm that preceded the corporation. Close application to their work and a genius in understanding and meeting the demands of the trade have been responsible for the success of the company. This business, handling home furnishings and undertaking, has its main location at 3601-3603 Jacob Street, at least a mile from the main business center of Wheeling, and yet the stock carried and the annual volume of sales compare favorably with any of the more centrally located concerns. Both the proprietors are royal good fellows, substantial citizens, and the present article is devoted chiefly to the career of Mr. Bentz, another article being published concerning Mr. Cooey. Mr. Bentz was born in the south end of Wheeling, not far from his present business, on November 22, 1877, son of Christian and Mary (Lewis) Bentz. His father was a native of Germany, but came to American when a lad and for a number of years was employed as a puddler in the La Belle Iron Works at Wheeling. He married in Wheeling, Mary Lewis, who came of a prominent Brooke County family, daughter of Job and Mary (Miller) Lewis, farmers in that section of West Virginia. Mrs. Bentz at the death of her husband was left with a family of four children, and she provided for them and lived with them and died, after seeing them all well established, when she was seventy-nine years of age. These children were: John, a puddler in iron mills who died at the age of sixty-there; Mrs. Sudie Rasel, of Wheeling; Hermann; and Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Hoffman. Hermann Bentz at the age of fifteen became the principal support of his widowed mother. Thereafter he remained with her, providing not only for her material comfort by giving the utmost of a son’s devotion to a devoted mother who earned fully the love of her children and the esteem in which she was held by all her neighbors. Hermann Bentz at the age of ten began doing some work in the La Belle mills, learning the trade of cooper for nail kegs at that plant. He worked there through all his boyhood, and later as a young man he served four years as deputy sheriff under Sheriff Steenrod. It was on August 1, 1897, that Mr. Bentz and Mr. W. R. Cooey began their modest partnership of Cooey-Bentz. They bought the business of a former dealer, paying his widow $1,000. They had only $500 of operating capital, and that was borrowed. During the early months, when the prosperity of the venture was not entirely assured, Mr. Bentz and Mr. Cooey allowed themselves from the proceeds of the business only enough to insure a bare subsistence for the partners, Mr. Bentz, a bachelor, taking only $8 a week, while Mr. Cooey, with his family, took $12. Their stock was kept in one small room, 20 by 60 feet, and comprised an ordinary line of furniture, and from the first they emphasized their undertaking service. Seven years later, in 1904, they incorporated, and since then the capitalization of $75,000 has been increased to $200,000, and in 1914 they erected a substantial five-story brick block 50 by 100 feet, all of which is now occupied by their business and they have planned additional quarters which will provide at least double the capacity. The business is strictly retail, and their customers extend over a radius of fifty miles from points in Ohio and Pennsylvania. There are twenty-eight employes, and for the past ten years a branch store has been conducted at Benwood, being under the personal charge of Mr. Edward Cooey. Mr. Hermann Bentz has never married. He is a popular citizen, a Knight Templar Mason, a democrat without political aspirations and is a director of the South Side Bank & Trust Company. The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 254 HARRY E CALDABAUGH. A native of Wheeling, Harry E. Caldabaugh was educated as an engineer, followed that profession for a number of years, but is now prosperously established as a merchant, a wholesale and retail dealer in paints and glass. Mr. Caldabaugh has a record of service in the army at the time of the Spanish-American war. He was born at Wheeling, April 28, 1879. His father, Phillip C. Caldabaugh, now living at Glendale, Marshall County, West Virginia, was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, inn 1844. Four years later, at the climax of the Revolutionary struggles in Germany, his parents, Charles F. and Laura M. (Kraft) Caldabaugh, left their native home in Hesse-Darmstadt and came to America, first setting in Monroe County, Ohio, and later moving to Wheeling, where the latter died. Phillip C. Caldabaugh was reared in Monroe County, and as a young man of nineteen enlisted there in 1864, joining Company F of the One Hundred Eighty-ninth Ohio Infantry. He served the last year of the war and was with Sherman on the march to the sea, his regiment being part of the rear guard in this famous campaign. Phillip Caldabaugh moved to Wheeling in 1866, was married in this city, and for many years followed teaming. He is a republican, an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with the Knights of the Mystic Chain and the Improved Order of Red Men. His wife was Margaret Heckler, who was bon in Hesse-Darmstadt in 1848, and died at Wheeling in 1889. She was the mother of the following children: Laura M., living with her father; George W., connected with a wholesale hardware house at Los Angeles, California; Laura M., unmarried and living with her father; Charles W., a merchant at Wheeling; John C., a merchant at Glendale, West Virginia; Harry E., Lucy M., wife of William Thornburg, a resident of Glendale and an office employe of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad; and Chester W., a Glendale merchant. Harry E. Caldabaugh attended the public schools of Wheeling and spent three years in West Virginia Wesleyan College at Buckhannon, pursuing a course in civil engineering. From 1906 to 1908 he was employed in structural engineering work at Wheeling and Cincinnati. The as a civil engineer and as purchasing agent he was associated with the United States Engineers in river improvement and other Federal projects in the Wheeling District. He was in the service of the Federal Government is this capacity for 9 ½ years. In 1917 Mr. Caldabaugh established his present business, beginning in a small way as a dealer in paints and glass, and has kept his business growing and prosperous until it is now one of the leading establishments of the kind in the Wheeling District. His store and offices are at 1058 Market Street. Mr. Caldabaugh has always been willing to take a kindly and helpful interest in community affairs. He was for eight years state commander of the Sate Boys Brigade, a national organization. He is president of the Northern West Virginia Fish and Game Protective Association. He is a member of the Wheeling Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis Club, is a republican, has served on the Official Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church and as president of the Epworth League. In June, 1898, he enlisted in Company D of the Second West Virginia Infantry, as a bugler, being then nineteen years of age. He was with his regiment at Camp Meade, Pennsylvania, and then at Greenville, South Carolina, until mustered out in April, 1899. In 1910, at Wheeling, Mr. Calabaugh married Miss Mabel W. Rahr, daughter of David and Jennie (Wallace) Rahr, residents of Wheeling, where her father is employed in the Steel Rolling Mills. Mr. and Mrs. Caldabaugh have four children; Harry R., born July 31, 1912; Jane E., born April 30, 1914; Phil D., born May 31, 1915; and John W., born August 31, 1918. The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pgs. 255-256 JAMES C. MOORE is one of the leading merchants at Warwood, a thriving industrial place that is now a part of the City of Wheeling, he having been four years of age when the family home was established in the present Warwood District of Ohio County and having been here reared and educated. He was born in the City of Wheeling, October 31. 1874, a son of John Z. and Mary (Cashman) Moore, the former of whom was born at Akron, Ohio, and the latter at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Moore was a child when the family removed to Wheeling, where her father, John Cashman, was in the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company until his death, and she was reared and educates at Wheeling, where her marriage was solemnized. She survived her husband four years and died at the age of fifty-three years. John Z. Moore was left an orphan in childhood and was reared in the home of an uncle. At the age of eighteen year he found employment in a nail mill in the City of Pittsburgh, and he became a skilled nailmaker. Later he was employed in a nail mill in New Jersey, and there he enlisted in a New Jersey regiment, with which he served as a loyal soldier of the Union during the Civil war, he having been in the army commanded by General Sheridan and having participated in many engagements, including those of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the battle of Appomattox. After the war he remained for a time at Pittsburgh, and about 1866 came to Wheeling. For years he was a skilled artisan at the Top Nail Mill, and in 1878 he purchased a farm of twenty-six acres in the present Warwood locality, he having continued in the management of this excellent little farm until his death in 1900, at that age of sixty-three years, and having in the meanwhile continued to work at his trade. He served as a member of the school board of his district and was other wise prominent in community affairs. Of the seven children all but one attained to maturity and five are now living. The son Sheridan is engaged in the practice of law at Huntington; Misses Estella and Nellie reside with their brother James C., of this review, who is a bachelor; and the other sister, Laura, is the wife of Charles Meyer. In earlier years Miss Nellie Moore was a popular teacher in the public schools, besides which she served as postmistress at Glenova, the title of the office having been changed to Warwood, and the village having finally become a part of the City of Wheeling. James C. Moore gained his early education in the public schools, and as a young man he worked in the nail mills. Thereafter he was actively identified with the operation of a large farm in this locality, and about 1905 he engaged in general road contracting. In 1907 he opened a feed and livery establishment at Wheeling, and this he conducted four years, during which he still resided at Warwood. His elder brother, Robert M., engaged in the grocery business at Warwood in 1903, and upon the death of this brother in 1911 James C. assumed charge of the business, which he conducted nine years, in the meanwhile having developed it into a general merchandise enterprise, the first of the kind at Warwood. His sister Nellie became postmistress, the postoffice having been in the store, and in this position she succeeded her deceased brother. It is interesting to note that the original title of this local postoffice, Glenova, represents a combination of the name of Glen Run (by which this part of Ohio County has long been known), the “o” from the initial of the county, and the final syllable “va” representing the current abbreviation for Virginia. In 1920 Mr. Moore sold his store, and thereafter he erected a two-story double-store building, 56 by 56 feet in dimensions, in which he is now conducting two well appointed mercantile places, one being devoted to groceries and the other to hardware. He is the owner also of the residence property which represents the home of himself and his sisters, and all of them are members of the Presbyterian Church. The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pgs. 283-284 John W. Beltz is continuing in the City of Wheeling the substantial business founded by his father, and in addition to operating a well equiped planing mill and dealing in building materials he has developed also a prosperous contracting business in connection with building construction. About the year 1870 the firm of Beltz & Flading established this enterprise, the original headquarters having been the old Fisher Foundry Building on Market Street, whence removal was later made to the corner of Nineteenth and Eoff streets, where the business has since been continued, the present plant having been utilized since 1888, in which year the title of the firm was changed to Beltz, Flading & Company. The present building was erected about that time, and affords about sixty thousand square feet of floor space, a planing mill having been operated from the initation of the business. Mr. Flading retired from the firm in 1893, and the title of the concern was then changed to J.W. Beltz & Sons Company. The honored father, John W. Beltz, Sr., died in 1907, after having been actively identified with the business thirty-seven years and after having gained secure status as one of the substantial and representative men of his home city. When the new firm was formed his sons, John W., Jr., and Henry E., became his associates in the business. John W. Beltz, Sr., was born in Wheeling, a son of Peter Beltz, who was a mechanic and who also became identified with farm industry. John W. Beltz, Sr., served about a four years' apprenticeship to the trade of cabinet-maker, and finally he became a successful contractor and builder in his native city, many of the substantial buildings erected by him in early days being still in use and in excellent preservation. He represented the Sixth Ward as a member of the City Council several terms, was liberal and progressive as a citizen, was a democrat in politics, and he and his wife were devout communicants of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church. The maiden name of Mrs. Beltz was Virginia Grammer, and both she and her husband passed their entire lives at Wheeling, she having survived him by ten years. Of the five children John W., Jr., immediate subject of this sketch, is the eldest; Henry is employed in connection with the business founded by his father; Edward died at the age of forty years; Mary died in early youth; and Miss Anna resides in Wheeling. John W. Beltz, Jr., was born, reared and educated in Wheeling and here gained early experience in connection with his father's business, so that he was well fortified when, upon the death of his father, he assumed control of that industry, which has been signally prospered under his management. The enterprise is continued under the title of J. W. Beltz, and employment is given to about fifty persons. Mr. Beltz is a stockholder in a number of banking institutions, and while he has had no desire for political activity he is significantly progressive as a citizen and takes loyal interest in all that concerns the welfare and advancement of his native city. He and his wife are communicants of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, and is a member of the Carroll Club.His attractive house is in the Third Ward. Mr. Beltz wedded Miss Mary Schaub, daughter of the late Louis Schaub, who founded the Central Glass Works at Wheeling and who continued as general manager of the same for thirty-five years, when he retired, he having been sixty-five years of age at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Beltz have no children. The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Vol. II, page 281 HARRY WALTERS GEE was an enthusiastic student of everything connected with electricity, and soon after leaving school and before reaching his majority he opened the small shop which by subsequent development has become the Gee Electric Company, a manufacturing and jobbing concern that now does business over half a dozen states. Mr. Gee, who is secretary and general manager of this company, was born at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, April 12, 1880. The grandfather, George Gee, was a native of Nottingham, England, and as a young man came to America and settled near New Richmond in Clermont County, Ohio. In later years he became one of the large farm owners of that section, and lived there on his farm until his death. He married Anna Gregg, a native of Pennsylvania, and of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. She also died on the homestead at New Richmond. These grandparents had five children: Raymond, who was a Washington wheat farmer and died near Spokane in 1913, at the age of sixty-eight; Maria, wife of Andrew Castlen, still in business as a general merchant at New Richmond; Charles E.; Annie, of New Richmond, whose first husband was Benjamin Reece, a farmer, and she is now the wife of George Ebaugh, also a farmer; and Horace, a farmer near New Richmond. Charles E. Gee was born on the farm near New Richmond in 1848, was reared there, and as a young man went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and entered the service of the Singer Manufacturing Company. Later he was in the service of the same company at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and in 1885 was transferred to Wheeling as his headquarters, where he continued as general superintendent of the Singer Manufacturing Company for thirty-five years. During his last years he was connected with the Gee Electric Company, and died at Columbus, Ohio, in November, 1916. He was a republican, but outside of his home and business his unflagging interest was in the First Presbyterian Church of Wheeling. It was largely through his work and support that the Eighteenth Street Mission of that church enjoyed its prestige as an instrument for good in the city. He was connected with the mission thirty-five years and was superintendent fifteen years. Charles E. Gee married Lueida McFarland, who was born at New Richmond in Clermont County, Ohio, in 1847, and is still living at Wheeling. Of her five children the oldest, a daughter, and the youngest, a son, died at birth. The other three are: Eugene C., who was a first-class sergeant in the Signal Corps in the Porto Rican campaign in the Spanish-American war, and is now an electrical engineer with the Pacific States Telephone Company at San Francisco; Minnie Ellsworth is the wife of Dr. Charles F. Bowen, an X-Ray specialist at Columbus, Ohio; and Harry Walters is the youngest. Harry Walters Gee was about five years of age when the family removed to Wheeling, and he received his education in the city schools, graduating from high school in 1896. The following two years he was employed by the George K. McMechen Company of Wheeling. Then, at the age of eighteen, he opened a very small shop for electrical supplies at 1124 Market Street. At the beginning he did practically all the work of the business, but his enterprise had the promise of great development in it, and before long his shop was crowded and he removed to 1126 Market Street, later to 1215 Main Street, where he took over an adjoining storeroom at 1217, and in 1910 established the business at its present location on Main and Fourteenth streets. The Gee Electric Company was incorporated March 3, 1909. The officers are: Otto Schenk, president; Henry G. Stifel, vice president; while Mr. Gee is secretary and general manager and A. A. Wheat is treasurer. In its manufacturing and other departments the company employs seventy-five men, and as jobbers and manufacturers the products are shipped throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland. Besides the responsibility of directing this business Mr. Gee is a director in the Fidelity Investment Association of Wheeling. He is a director of the West Virginia State Fair Association, of the Wheeling Country Club, and is vice president and director of the Industrial Relations Association. He is a member of the Fort Henry Club and the Old Colony Club, of the First Presbyterian Church and in politics is a republican. He was a leader in war movements in Wheeling, being a member of the Pershing Limit Club, and helped in all the drives for funds for Liberty Loan, Red Cross and other causes. He received a medal of honor for selling Liberty Bonds. Mr. Gee owns a fine modern home, with well-kept grounds, on Stamm's Lane, National Road, Wheeling. He married at Wheeling in 1906 Miss Elizabeth A. Stifel, daughter of Louis C. and Elizabeth (Stamm) Stifel, both representing old and prominent families in this section. Her father was a partner in J. L. Stifel & Sons, calico manufacturers, one of the big industries of Wheeling. Mrs. Gee is a graduate of the Pennsylvania College for Women at Pittsburgh. Five children were born to their marriage; the first, a daughter, dying at birth; Charles Louis died at the age of sixteen months; Eleanor was born August 24, 1915; William Stifel on August 26, 1917; and Harry W., Jr., on October 8, 1919. The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II pg. 273 LEE ROY CRAGO, is rounding out a quarter of a century of continuous service with the Wheeling Works of the La Belle Iron Works, one of the oldest and most noted institutions in the iron and steel industry of the Wheeling District, with which a number of prominent Wheeling men have been identified and in which some of the greatest steel and iron men of the country have been trained. Several interesting distinctions are associated with the name Crago in the Wheeling District. While Lee Roy has given his active career to the La Belle Iron Works, one of his brothers is present city manager of Wheeling, and his father was one of the ablest educators the northern Panhandle of West Virginia ever had. This educator was the late Felix Hughes Crago, who was born July 7, 1836, near Carmichaels in Greene County, Pennsylvania, and grew up on a farm just outside that village. He graduated from Greene Academy at Carmichaels and also was a student in Waynesburg College. Soon after getting his degree at Waynesburg College he entered the Union army, and served nearly four years. He was promoted to second lieutenant, then to first lieutenant, and at the close of the war had charge of his company. His command was Company D of the Twenty-second Pennsylvania Ringold Cavalry. Following the war he was in business at Carmichaels for a time, but soon began teaching at Beallsville, Pennsylvania. For nearly half a century his work and his enthusiasm were absorbed in educational affairs. It was Professor Crago who opened the West Liberty Normal School at West Liberty, West Virginia, in the capacity of its first principal, in 1871. Three years later he removed to Moundsville, West Virginia, as superintendent of schools there. After eight or nine years he went to Wheeling, was principal of the Webster School in that city two or three years, and for thirty-one years was principal of the Eighth Ward School, and the many hundreds of successive students in that school cherishes special gratitude for the influence he exerted upon their young lives. For one year he was superintendent of schools at Buckhannon, but with this exception his life for over thirty years was devoted to educational interests in Wheeling. He had perhaps the unique record of having taught institute in every county in the state during the summer months. Felix H. Crago died July 29, 1917, at the age of eighty-one. He married Mary Elizabeth Carman, who was born at East Richmond in Belmont County, Ohio, June 24, 1847, daughter of William C. and Eliza (Cooper) Carman. She was well educated in the common schools of Belmont County and in Franklin College of that state, and then entered the West Liberty Normal School of West Virginia, where she graduated in 1873, while Mr. Crago was still principal. She afterward taught in the public schools of Moundsville. Felix H. Crago was of Scotch-Irish descent and Mary E. Carman was of a mingled English and Scotch ancestry. The great-grandfather and the mother of Felix H. Crago were born in this country; while the great-grandfather and grandmother of Mary E. Carman were native Americans, and all subsequent ancestors are of American nativity, so that the present generation is quite thoroughly American. Mr. Lee Roy Crago has the following brothers living: Jesse H., connected with the sales department of the Follansbee Brothers Company of Pittsburg; Charles G., a printer, now foreman of the Great Falls Tribune at Great Falls, Montana; and Homer C., who is the present city manager of Wheeling. The one sister living is Eva Laura Crago, a teacher in the Wheeling High School. Lee Roy Crago was born at Moundsville, West Virginia, September 17, 1878, but has lived nearly all his life in Wheeling and was educated here in the public schools, graduated from high school in 1897. Soon after leaving school he became connected with the La Belle Iron Works as storekeeper. He was successively advanced to timekeeper, paymaster, and for several years has been chief clerk of the Wheeling plant. The La Belle Iron Work are an industry now seventy years old. The Wheeling plant for several years has been devoted chiefly to the making of nails and all kinds of plate, such as steel skelp, shovel plate, tack plate, automobile stock and similar products. Mr. Crago is a member of the Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church of Wheeling. August 5, 1907 at Wheeling, he married Miss Birdie D. Fisher, of that city. They have five children: Felix Hughes, Birdie Lee, Dorothy Evelyn, Lee Roy, Jr., and Paul Carman Crago. The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical SOciety, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pgs. 254-255 CHARLES H. SEABRIGHT is a prominent resident of Wheeling, has been in business in that section of Greater Wheeling, Benwood, since boyhood, his vehicle and implement establishment is located at Forty-second and Wood streets, and a deep interest in the welfare of the city and its people has also brought him several positions of trust He is a member of the Wheeling City Board of Education. Mr. Seabright was born at Wheeling, October 1, 1863, son of Henry and Wilhelmina (Pappa) Seabright. His parents were both born in Germany, but were married after coming to Wheeling. Henry Seabright was a butcher by trade, and as a young man located at Wheeling and soon afterward opened a shop on Chapline Street, between Thirty-sixth and Thirty Seventh, in what was then the south end. Her developed a very prosperous business and continued it until his death in 1874, when he was about fifty years of age. His widow survived him until 1885, and was about the same age when she died. They were members of the Lutheran Church. After his death the widow operated a grocery store at the old place of business for a short time. These parents reared three children: Charles H.; Henry L., a contractor and manufacturer; and Minnie, wife of Elwood Wilson, a native of Wheeling and a mechanic now living in Los Angeles, California. Charles H. Seabright was eleven years of age when his father died, and he assisted his mother in the store. Later she removed to a residence at Benwood, know as “The Old Dovers Home,” and there she resumed merchandising, opening a stock of groceries. In the intervals of his service for his mother Charles H. Seabright attended the public schools. After his mother’s death he began dealing in buggies at Benwood, starting in this line of business in 1886, and has been continuously engaged in the same line now for over thirty-five years. His business was first located at Benwood, but when the old home was sold to the Sheet & Tube Company he removed to his present site, in 1903. Here the business has continued to grow and expand, and he carries an extensive line of vehicles, agricultural implements, harness and other supplies, chiefly for the farmers’ trade. At the age of twenty-four Mr. Seabright married Miss Katie Delbrugge, of Bellaire, Ohio, but a native of Wheeling. They have a family of four children: Earl, a bookkeeper; Bruce, in the automobile business at Wheeling; Wilbur, an electrician; and Clyde, associated with his brother Bruce. The family are members of the Trinity Lutheran Church. Mr. Seabright has never been so closely tied to his business affairs that he neglected the call of public duty. He served twice as a member of the city council, and since 1913 has been a member of the Wheeling Board of Education. He has participated in the general program of the board’s activities, and has cultivated as his special interest the matter of the new high school athletic field, and the building of the New Island School. He is a republican. He is now serving as a member of Wheeling City Recreation Commission, other members being Mr. Bundling, Roy Naylor, Ed Jefferson and Mrs. Harold Brennan. This commission has charge of the playground and social centers of the city, and as chairman of the Physical Educational Committee Mr. Albright [sic] had charge of the improvements that have made this field one of, if not the best athletic fields in the state. The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg.281-282 DANIEL HOWARD COPPOCK is a stock and bond broker, with headquarters at Columbus, Ohio, but now has a branch office and is completely identified with the business life of Wheeling. Mr. Coppock, who was a first lieutenant of cavalry during the World war, was born at Dayton, Ohio, February 1, 1878. His grandfather, Joseph Coppock, spent all his life at Ludlow, Ohio, where he owned and operated stone quarries. Isaac Coppock, father of the Wheeling business man, was born at Ludlow in 1835, was reared and married there, became a farmer, and from about 1858 for half a century continued farming and the operation of stone quarries at Dayton. After 1908 he lived retired at Ludlow, where he died in 1918. He was a republican, and a very faithful member of the Church of the Friends. Isaac Coppock married Martha Ellen Hutchins, who was born in Dayton in 1845, and died at Liverpool, Ohio, in 1905. Daniel Howard Coppock, only child of his parents, was educated in the public schools of Dayton and prepared for college in the high school at Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he graduated in 1898, and then continued in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, through the Sophomore year. Mr. Coppock for a number of years was a very successful hotel man. Beginning in 1900, he was clerk in the Cadillac Hotel at Detroit. For two years, beginning in 1905, he was proprietor of the Cook House at Ann Arbor, for six years conducted the Wagner Hotel at Sidney, Ohio, and from 1913 to 1916 was proprietor of the Jefferson Hotel at Portland, Oregon. Then returning to Ohio, he was proprietor of the Park Hotel at Coshocton from 1916 to 1918. Mr. Coppock joined the colors in August, 1918, was trained at Camp Sherman, Ohio, for six months, was commissioned a first lieutenant in cavalry, then transferred South, spending two days at Camp Gordon, Georgia, six months at Camp McClellan, Alabama, three months at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, one month at Fort Riley, Kansas, and was then returned to Camp McClellan, where he received his honorable discharge August 3, 1919. He is still a first lieutenant of cavalry in the Reserve Corps. From Nevember 1, 1919, Mr. Coppock was engaged in business with main offices at Columbus, Ohio, until March 1, 1921, when he opened a branch office at Wheeling in the Board of Trade Building. He is associated with Claude Meeker, and they do a general stock and bond brokerage business. Mr. Coppock is a republican, a member of the Episcopal Church, and in Masonry is affiliated with the Lodge at Jacksonville, Alabama, and the Knights Templar Commandery at Piedmont, Alabama, and also the Scottish Rite Consistory of Alabama. He is a member of Coshocton Lodge of Elks. In 1900, at Detroit, Mr. Coppock married Dorothy M. Burke, who was born at Ada, Michigan, and finished her education at St. Mary's Academy at Monroe, that state. Mr. and Mrs. Coppock have one son, John B., born June 25, 1903, now in the senior class of the high school at Columbus, Ohio. The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 262-253 BIO: George W. Lutz, Wheeling, West Virginia George W. Lutz. Some of the biggest things that have been done in Wheeling, whether commercial undertakings or enterprises of a strictly public nature, acknowledge as one of their chief actuating sources and inspiration George W. Lutz. Mr. Lutz was born in Wheeling, became a working factor in the city's industrial affairs when a boy, and in his mature years his interests have been distributed among a large number of Wheeling's best known industrial, financial and public undertakings. Mr. Lutz was born July 17, 1855. His father, Sebastian Lutz, was born in Alsace, Germany, in 1813, was reared in the Schwartswald of Alsace, and in 1837 came to the United States and located at Wheeling. He was butcher by trade, and for many years conducted the Old Home Hotel on Market Street, opposite the site of the present auditorium. He made that one of the popular hostelries of the day. Sebastian Lutz died at Wheeling in 1865. He was a democrat and a Catholic in religion. His wife, Anna Treuschler, was born in Alsace in 1829, and died at Wheeling in 1871. The oldest of their four children is Sophia A., living at Wheeling, widow of the late George Hook, who was clerk of the Ohio County Court sixteen years and cashier of the Germania Half Dollar Savings Bank, now the Half Dollar Savings Bank of Wheeling. The second child is George W. Lutz. William Lutz is a resident of Wheeling, interested in the Home Pearl Laundry Company. John J. Lutz, now a retired resident of St. Clairsville, Ohio, was one of the founders of the Home Pearl Laundry Company. By a previous marriage, Sebastian Lutz had two children: Charles P., a railroad employee living in Chicago; and Louisa, of Wheeling, widow of Fred Swartz. George W. Lutz attended parochial schools in Wheeling, also attend night course in the Frazier Business College, where he was graduated in 1868, at the age of thirteen. He then went to work as an employee of the old wheeling Tack Factory. He remained there about a year, until injured, nearly losing his left arm. Two years following he was in the Coen, Armstrong & Coen Planing Mill, and then took up the business which has been his central activity through all his active years, plumbing and gas and steam fitting. For one year he worked with Jacob Hughes and then with Trimble & Hornbrook, plumbers and gas fitter. After four years he bough the interest of Mr. Hornbrook in the establishment, and was an active partner with Mr. Trimble for eighteen years. On the death of Mr. Trimble he continued the firm name of Trimble & Lutz, and in 1907 the Trimble & Lutz Supply company was incorporated. This is now the largest house in the state doing a wholesale and jobbing business in plumbing, steam fitting and gas supplies. The corporation owns its large brick structure at 112-122 Nineteenth Street. The present executive officers of the corporation are: H. A. Ebbert, president; P. H. Hornbrook, vice president; Harry J. Lutz, a nephew of George W. Lutz, secretary and treasure; while George W. Lutz was president of the corporation until 1919, and has since been chairman of the Board of directors. This business was in early years merely a firm for contracting in plumbing and gasfitting, but under Mr. Lutz's able supervision expanded its facilities until its business is in the front rank of its line. Ten years ago the most discussed project in Wheeling was the building of a great auditorium, to occupy the historic site of the old market House and Town Hall, a building that would furnish facilities for a city market place and also a convention hall capable of entertaining large assemblages. The business man who was most persistent in keeping this project before the people and who has been justly called the father of the auditorium is George W. Lutz, who for a number of years has been and still is president and director of the Market Auditorium Company. The auditorium is one of Wheeling's most important public buildings. It is 506 feet long by 50 feet wide, was built at a cost of $160,000 and houses the public market, and furnished quarters for the Chamber of Commerce on the second floor in addition to the great auditorium or convention hall. During the past thirty or forty years Mr. Lutz has been identified with a large number of commercial enterprises. He is still president and director of the Loveland Improvement Company of Wheeling, president and director of the Utility Salt Company; a director of the Security Trust Company, the Half Dollar Savings Bank, the Wheeling Tile Company, the Gee Electric Company and the American Spar Company. He is president of the West Virginia State Fair Association, was for three years president of the Wheeling Board of Trade, and is a member of the Country Club, the Fort Henry Club, the Carroll Club, the Jack Bass Fishing Club, the Isaac Walton Club, is a fourth degree Knight of Columbus and a member of Carroll Council No. 504 of that order, and is a past exalted ruler of Wheeling Lodge No. 28, B. P. O. E. Many definite acts of public spirit are credited to Mr. Lutz. It is recalled that at his own expense he installed twenty-three flower beds on Virginia Avenue on Wheeling Island as a means of adorning that section of the city. With other citizens he was instrumental in placing flower beds on the National Highway at Fulton and in building a beautiful entrance at the city limits that has been greatly admired by the motorists who pass through Wheeling over the National Highway. Mr. Lutz was a member of the various committees for selling the Liberty Loan quotas and other drives in the city. He is now engaged with the civic Committee, acting as chairman and as a member of the Wheeling Improvement Association, and is greatly interested in securing for wheeling its new filtration plant and street lighting of Wheeling's principal streets. In 1887, at Wheeling, he married Miss Lugene E. Hornbrook, daughter of Thomas and Triphenia Hornbrook, now deceased. Her father was owner of the noted Hornbrook Park, now known as Wheeling Park. Mrs. Lutz died September 7, 1917. Mr. Lutz has one of the finest homes in the city, at 308 South Front Street and purchased a forty-five acre wooded farm for a summer home. The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II pgs. 282-283 Charles H.Watkins,Jr. Many industries and commercial establishments have contributed to the growing prestige of Wheeling as one of the leading business cities of the Ohio Basin, and among them is Watkins & Company, proprietors of the largest furniture store between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. The president of this company is C.H. Watkins, Jr., who has been in business at Wheeling ever since he left school. The present company is successor to and includes the history of eight successive retail stores at Wheeling. The oldest of these was the Palace Furniture Company, Incorporated, in 1896, while in the same year three employes of House & Hermann organized a partnership under the name White, Handley & Foster. C. H. Watkins, Jr., became interested in this partnership in 1900, at which time the firm, became Foster & Watkins. The following year he acquired Mr. Foster's interests and incorporated C. H. Watkins, Jr., & Company. This in turn in 1903 consolidated with the Palace Furniture Company, under the management of Mr. Watkins. The Palace Furniture Company in 1917 acquired the furniture business of W. F. Sharbaugh & Sons Company. Another important department was added in 1917 with the purchase of the clothing store of Walker Allen & Son. In 1918 the Palace Furniture Company acquired the business of House & Herrmann, an old Wheeling business firm which then ceased to exist. The new combination was known as Watkins, House & Herrmann, and more recently, to avoid confusion, the corporate name of Watkins & Company was adopted. This is now not only the outstanding furniture business in the state, but is a complete department store, occupying a large frontage at 1302-1308 Main Street. The official personnel of the company are: C. H. Watkins, Jr., president; Marsh Watkins, vice president; J. Wilson White, secretary-treasurer. Charles Hamilton Watkins, Jr., was born on Wheeling Island, March 7, 1871. Watkins is a very old American family of Welsh ancestry. There were three brothers, named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Watkins, who came from Wales and settled in the colonies of Delaware and Maryland, whence their descendants have scattered to all parts of the country. The great-great-grandfather of the Wheeling business man was Peter Watkins, who was born in Delaware, December 30, 1712. During the Revolutionary war he held letters of marque from the Continental Congress. He was killed on board a United States Man o' War, April 12, 1788. His son, Thomas Watkins, was born March 8, 1771, and was an early pioneer of Southern Ohio, locating in Guernsey County, where he followed farming until his death on August 7, 1844. On November 2, 1802, he married Elizabeth Worley, who was born in Belmont County, Ohio, October 12, 1786, and died in Guernsey County, March 11, 1831. Their son, John Watkins, grandfather of C. H. Watkins, Jr., was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, November 11, 1804, and as a young man settled on Wheeling Island, thus having a home convenient to his business as a steamboat engineer and river pilot. The last years of his life he was toll taker at the old bridge between Bridgeport and Wheeling Island. He died at the age of seventy-two. December 12, 1828, John Watkins married Sarah Dillon Hunter, who was born December 12, 1800, and died on Wheeling Island in 1866. Charles H. Watkins Sr., was born on Wheeling Island March 21, 1841, and spent all his life in Wheeling. He was an accountant, and for a number of years was manager of M. Marsh & Son. He died at Forest View, Elm Grove, Wheeling, in October, 1908. He had a record as a soldier of the Union Army in the Civil war, having enlisted in 1861 in Carlin's Battery D, First West Virginia Light Artillery. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Lexington, and was in Libby Prison until he and a companion, William Pebler, made their escape from that famous warehouse prison. As a result of his stay there he was incapacitated for further duty, and after 1864 was not in the army. He served three years as city clerk of Wheeling, but after resigning would never seek another political office. He was one of the founders of the Thompson Methodist Episcopal Church of Wheeling and very active in its affairs. C. H. Watkins, Sr., married Rachel Ann Marsh, who was born at East Wheeling in 1844, and died in 1906. A record of their children is: Mifflin Marsh and William Brown, both of whom died in infancy; Charles H., Jr.; John Wagner, who died at the age of twenty years; Harry Adams, owning and operating a ranch near Fruita, Colorado; Edna Rachel, wife of French D. Walton, former city editor of the Wheeling Intelligencer and now conducting a successful publicity business at Wheeling; Joseph Jacobs, a dealer in automobile accessories at Clarksburg, West Virginia; Roy Naylor, who died at the age of four years; and Wilbur Whally, who was associated with his brother, Charles, in business and died of the influenza, January 30, 1919. Charles H. Watkins, Jr., attended the public schools of Wheeling, but at the age of sixteen left school to go to work in a retail store. For a short time he was assistant bookkeeper of L. S. Delaplain Son & Company, and then kept books for J. W. Hunter until 1896. His first independent effort in a business was as member of the firm Exley, Watkins & Company, operating a preserving plant, and Mr. Watkins retained his financial interest in this business until 1907. However, after 1900 he was not active in the management, having, as noted above, acquired the interests of his partner in the firm Foster & Watkins, with which he had been previously associated as a silent partner. Then the firm Foster & Watkins was changed to C. H. Watkins, Jr., & Company, and Mr. Watkins has been the leading spirit in the successive changes and increases in this great mercantile and department store. He has direct personal charge of the undertaking department of the business. There are seven departments altogether. Mr. Watkins is a republican in politics, and for four years was a member of the West Virginia Republican State Committee. He was for ten years a member of the Wheeling City Council, serving in the second branch six years and in the first branch four years. He is on the Official Board of the Thompson Methodist Episcopal Church, served for some time as president of the Men's Bible Class, and is affiliated with Wheeling Lodge No. 28, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. During the war Mr. Watkins was a "Four Minute" speaker and helpfully interested in all the drives for funds for the Red Cross, Liberty Loan and other causes. September 18, 1890, he married on Wheeling Island, Miss Annie M. Sadler, daughter of William Hall and Margaret (Ford) Sadler, now deceased. Her father was a river man in early life and later an interior decorator. Mr. and Mrs. Watkins have an interesting family of five children. The oldest is Marsh, vice president of Watkins & Company, and a prominent Wheeling business man whose career is noted more in detail below. The second child, Margaret Ford, died at the age of four years. James Hunter, who was born June 30, 1900, is a salesman for Watkins & Company, and a graduate of Linsly Institute at Wheeling, having been a member of both the football and baseball teams of the institute. The fourth child, Roy Naylor, born August 4, 1904, is in the junior class of the Wheeling High School, while Dorothy V., born July 31, 1907, is in the first year of her high-school work. Marsh Watkins was born July 14, 1891. He graduated from the Wheeling High School and received his law degree from West Virginia University in 1912. He was very prominent in all student activities at the university, making the Varsity Football Team and also played baseball, and was a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma, and the university societies Sphinx Club and Mountain Club. Marsh Watkins practiced law at Wheeling until 1918. April 7, 1918, he enlisted for the war, was commissioned a first lieutenant of the Army Service Corps, Department of Judge Advocate General, in August, 1918, was stationed at Camp Upton, Long Island, and in October, 1918, transferred to the infantry. He received his honorable discharge in December, 1918, and on his return to Wheeling gave up his law business to join his father as vice president and assistant manager of Watkins & Company. He is a republican and for two years was a municipal judge of Wheeling. Marsh Watkins is a member of Thompson Methodist Episcopal Church, Wheeling Lodge No. 5, F. and A. M., is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason in West Virginia Consistory No. 1, a member of Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and Wheeling Lodge No. 28, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He also belongs to the American Legion. May 7, 1917, at Wheeling, Marsh Watkins married Miss Ada Marie Young, daughter of George H. and Mary (Graham) Young, the latter still living at Wheeling. Her father, who died at Wheeling in 1904, was chief clerk in the local offices of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway. Mrs. Marsh Watkins is a graduate of the high school at Sarahsville, Ohio. They have one daughter, Ruth Eileen, born July 18, 1918. The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III page 273 WILLIAM WASHINGTON ROGERS, for fifty years a resident of Wheeling, a veteran Union soldier, has long been promment in public affairs, and is especially well known to the bench and bar of Ohio County as law librarian of the county. Squire Rogers was born in Bath County, Kentucky, June 6, 1842. He represents three old American families, the Rogers branch having come from Scotland in Colonial times, while the Smiths were from England and the Carrolls from Ireland. His grandfather, Charles Rogers, was a native of Old Virginia, served as a soldier of the Revolution, and subsequently moved over the mountains to Bath County, Kentucky, where he acquired a large amount of land and developed a plantation with the aid of his slaves. He married Susanna Smith, and both died in Bath County. George Washington Rogers, father of Squire Rogers, was born in Bath County and spent all of his life there. He owned land and was both a farmer and stock raiser. He was whig in politics, and an active member of the Hardshell Baptist Church. He served with the rank of colonel in the Second Kentucky Dragoons in the Mexican war, and he died in 1847, soon after the close of that war. Colonel Rogers married Charlotte Carroll, who was born at Maysville, Kentucky, and died in that city in 1863. Her oldest child, John G., who died at Maysville, Kentucky, was a lieutenant-colonel in a Kentucky regiment of infantry in the Union army, and contracted the disease during his service which caused his death shortly after the close of the war. The second son, Charles S., was captain of Company B, Tenth Kentucky Cavalry, and subsequently died in the Soldiers Home at Danville, Illinois. William Washington Rogers was the third son and child. Eliza J., the oldest daughter, married, and both she and her husband are deceased. Charlotte Ann became the wife of Doctor Mitchell, of Sharpsburg, Kentucky, and they are deceased. Thomas F., the youngest child, died at Mount Sterling, Kentucky. William Washington Rogers acquired his early education in the rural schools of Bath County, Kentucky, and lived on the farm until he was nineteen years of age. Early in the Civil war he joined the Union army, and on May 1, 1862, was commissioned second lieutenant of Company L of Second Regiment, Kentucky Veteran Cavalry Volunteers. Thereafter he was in continuously active service until mustered out and discharged June 17, 1865. He was at Shiloh, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Stone River, Bardstown, Kentucky, in two battles at Chickamauga, at Strawberry Plains, Kenesaw Mountain, Big Shanty, with Sherman on the march to the sea, as well as in the Atlanta campaign. He was wounded and taken prisoner at Bardstown, being captured by the rebel General Horton, commanding the Texas and Georgia Rangers, but soon afterward was paroled, and returned to his command February 13, 1864. After leaving the Volunteer Union army Squire Rogers enlisted in the regular army, and had six years of service, much of it at western posts. In 1870 he came to Wheeling, and for a year was driver of one of the old horse cars of the Street Railway Company. He then took up the produce business, and continued active in business until 1883, when he was elected squire or local magistrate. He filled this office twenty-eight years. He was elected and served six years as coroner of Ohio County, retiring from that office in 1917, and soon afterward was chose law librarian of the county. His official duties are in the Law Library on the third floor of the courthouse. Squire Rogers is a stanch republican. He is present commander of Holliday Post No. 12, G. A. R. He owns his home at 2334 Market Street. He did all he could with his means and influence to encourage sound patriotism during the World war, assisting in recruiting soldiers and aiding the various auxiliary organizations. In 1872, at St. Clairsville, Ohio, Squire Rogers married Miss Mary E. Starkey, of Wheeling. She died in Wheeling in 1914. Her only son, John William, is a stationary engineer living at Wheeling. The daughter, Laura I., is the wife of J. E. McKenney, an iron worker at Wheeling. In 1919 Squire Rogers married Julia E. (Harris) Johnson, of Wheeling. Some facts concerning the military record of this branch of the Rogers family have already been brought out. References should be made to Squire Rogers' nephew, Lieut.-Col. Arthur C. Rogers, now an officer in the regular army. He is the son of Squire Rogers' oldest brother, Lieut.-Col. John G. Rogers, previously mentioned. Arthur C. Rogers was a solider in the Spanish-American war. In the World war he was with the American Expeditionary Forces, and his special service is concisely stated in a certificate given him, containing the following words: "For especially meritorious service as Division Ordnance Officer, Second Division, through all operations of that organization to August 15, 1918. His prompt grasp of new situations made his services especially valuable in the initial equipment of the Division, wherein the differences in administration and allowances to which the Marine Brigade has been accustomed made the task especially difficult. In spite of the tremendous losses of equipment though heavy casualties to personnel in the Chateau-Thierry defensive June 1 to July 9, 1918, and the Soissons offensive July 18 to 20, 1918, this officer's initiative and persistent energy made replacement of equipment possible during actual combat." This award was made by the Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces, May 26, 1918. He was again cited for bravery, zeal and devotion to duty June 20, 1919. The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II pg. 274 CLYDE CHARLES PUGH is a civil engineer by education and profession, and is now a member of the firm Conrad & Pugh, civil and mining engineers, with offices in Wheeling. Mr. Pugh is a birthright citizen of Wheeling and through his mother is identified with some of the pioneer families of this section of the Ohio Valley. Mr. Pugh was born on Wheeling Island, December 29, 1890. His father, Charles Lincoln Pugh, was born at Martins Ferry, Ohio. His mother, Diadema Curtis Oliver, was born at Wheeling in 1868, daughter of Fred and Nancy (Stevens) Oliver, both of whom died at Wheeling. Fred Oliver was an Ohio River steamboat pilot. Nancy Stevens was the daughter of a Wheeling pioneer who owned a great amount of property in this vicinity in the early days. Clyde Charles Pugh was the only child of his parents, grew up at Wheeling, attended the public schools, and received his technical training at the University of West Virginia at Morgantown. He graduated in 1912 with the degree Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. While in university he was a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity. In September, 1912, he began his regular employment as a civil engineer in the Maintenance of Way Department of the Wheeling Traction Company, and in 1913 was similarly employed in the Maintenance of Way Department of the West Virginia Traction and Electric Company at Wheeling. In September, 1914, he became instructor of mathematics, physics, and mechanical drawing in Linsly Institute at Wheeling, having charge of those subjects for six months. In February, 1915, he became a civil engineer for the C. B. Kimberly Company, general contractors of Wheeling. In January, 1917, he was appointed assistant county road engineer of Ohio County, and performed the duties of that office a year. In January, 1918, he became assistant engineer for C. C. Smith, civil and mining engineer of Wheeling, but in November, 1918, returned to the C. B. Kimberly Company, this time as one of its executive officers, being vice president until February, 1921. At that date he and H. A. Conrad established the firm of Conrad & Pugh, civil and mining engineers. Their offices are in the National Bank of West Virginia Building. Mr. Pugh is a member of the American Association of Engineers, is a republican, a Methodist, and is affiliated with Wheeling Lodge No. 28, B. P. O. E. At Pittsburgh in September, 1917, he married Miss Helen Majesky, daughter of John and Florence (Carrico) Majesky. Her mother lives at Wheeling, where her father died in 1911. He was a hotel proprietor. Mrs. and Mrs. Pugh have on daughter, Nancy Ann, born June 13, 1921. My previous message should have read Volume II. Can you please correct this for me? Barb Maurer The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, Pg 328 BIO: John E. Stevenson, Ohio Co., WV John E. Stevenson. Though he had worked himself up to the responsibilities of a superintendent in the Monessen plant of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company, John E. Stevenson resigned, changed his destination as a business man and as member of the firm Mitchell & Stevenson has developed a highly successful business as investment brokers. Mr. Stevenson was born at West Newton in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, October 9, 1882. His father, Thomas C. Stevenson, was born at West Newton in 1859. While there he entered the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company was transferred to Connelsville, Pennsylvania, and in 1890 came to Wheeling as freight agent for the Baltimore & Ohio. Three years later he resigned from the railroad, and for two years was sales manager of the Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company. He left that business to become superintendent for the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company at Wheeling, later was promoted to district manager and 1905 became district manager at Pittsburgh. Thomas c. Stevenson in 1907 retired from business and has since lived at Wheeling. He is a Mason, a member of the First Presbyterian Church at Wheeling, and votes as an independent. He married Mary Elliott, who was born at Newark, Ohio, in 1855. John E. is the oldest of their three children. Mary Louise is the wife of Charles D. Towar, a salesman at Wheeling, and Elizabeth Plummer is the wife of Henry G. Stifel, a member of the manufacturing firm of J. L. Stifel and Sons at Wheeling. John E. Stevenson acquired his early education in the public schools of wheeling and in Linsly Institute. After a course in the Moise Commercial College at Wheeling in 1898 he became a traveling salesman for the Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company. He was on the road two years for this firm and then entered the local plant offices of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company as a clerk. His abilities gained him rapid promotion, and he was general superintendent when he resigned in 1907 to engage in business for himself. He organized the firm of Mitchell & Stevenson, investment brokers, in 1913. They have made many prominent connections with the financial interests and enjoy a high standing in the financial world. Their offices are at 57 Twelfth Street. Mr. Stevenson is a director in the Marland Oil Company of Delaware, the Maryland Refining Company, and the Mack Manufacturing Company of Wheeling. He is a republican, is a trustee of the First Presbyterian Church, is a Knight Templar Mason with local affiliations in Monessen Lodge No. 638 at Monessen, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Wheeling Country Club and Fort Henry club. December 8, 1914, at Wheeling he married Miss Laura Stifel, daughter of L. C. and Elizabeth (Stamm) Stifel. Her parents both died in Wheeling. Her father was for many years actively connected with J. F. Stifel & Sons, calico printers. Mrs. Stevenson is a graduate of the Penn College for Women. They have one daughter, Henryett, born October 25, 1917. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, Pg 328 & 329 BIO: William R. Cooey, Ohio Co., WV William R. Cooey, president of the Cooey-Bentz Company, of Wheeling, whose retail furniture business represents one of the two largest enterprises of the kind in West Virginia, holds a place of much prominence in connection with the industrial and commercial life of the City of Wheeling. He was born at McMechen, Marshall County, this state, on the 1st of September, 1860, and is a son of Matthew and Nancy (McCombs) Cooey, the former of whom was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, in 1828, and the latter was born in what is now Marshall County, West Virginia, in 1830. The parents passed the closing years of their lives at Martins Ferry, Ohio, where the death of the mother occurred in 1895 and that of the father in 1901. Of the children the eldest was John, who became a farmer in Marshall County, West Virginia, and later a huckster at Martins Ferry, Ohio, where he died at the age of fifty-five years; Mary Rachel, who became the wife of William Minden, likewise died at Martins Ferry, and Mr. Minden is now a farmer near Clarington, Ohio; William R., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Ella is the wife of Thomas Hasson, a farmer near Zoar, Ohio; Everett is engaged in the shoe business at Martins Ferry. William R. Cooey was reared on the farm which his father owned and operated in Wetzel County, West Virginia, where he remained until he was twenty-five years of age, his educational advantages having been those of the local schools. After leaving the farm he was variously employed until 1887, when he came to Wheeling where for the ensuing five years he was employed in the furniture store of John Arbenz, the following four years having found him similarly engaged with the Altmeyer in 1897 Mr. Cooey and Herman Bentz purchased the business, which was then one of small order, and their vigor and food management played full part in the development of the enterprise to its present extensive and substantial proportions. The large and modern store building of the company is situated at the corner of Thirty-sixth Street, and the personel of the official corps is as follows: President, William R. Cooey; vice president, Herman Bentz; secretary and general manager, Charles Kettler; manager of branch store at Benwood, Marshall County, Edward Cooey. In addition to full lines of furniture the company also handles house furnishings and has an undertaking department of the most modern equipment and service. Mr. Cooey is a director of the McConnell Box & Barrel Company, conducting one of the important manufacturing industries of Wheeling; is a stockholder in the South Side Bank of Wheeling, the Community Loan Bank of this city, the Uneeda Match Company, the Wheeling Milling & Grain Company, brass manufactory at Fairmont and the North Wheeling Glass Works. Mr. Cooey, a democrat in politics, served one term as a member of the City Council of Wheeling, but is essentially a business man and has not cared to enter the arena of practical politics. He is a trustee of the Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church in his home city, and in the Masonic fraternity his basic affiliation is with Nelson Lodge No. 30, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, while in the Scottish Rite he has received the thirty-second degree in West Virginia Sovereign Consistory No. 1, besides being a member of Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling. He is the owner not only of his modern and beautiful home property, at 3740 Woods Street, but also of two other houses on that street and near his own residence. In 1885 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Cooey and Miss Mary Sengenwalt, daughter of Frederick and Wilhelmina (Kupfer) Sengenwalt, both now deceased. In conclusion is given brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Cooey: Walter is a salesman in the store of Cooey-Bentz Company; Edward has the management of the ranch store at Benwood and is individually mentioned in the sketch following; Wilbert, who is associated with the Block Brothers tobacco Company of Wheeling, resides at McMechen, Marshall Ccounty; Bertha is the wife of Roy Black, and they reside at McMechen, Mr. Black being connected with the Coory-Benz branch store at Benwood; Archibald was graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1919, just prior to the signing of the armistice that brought the World war to a close, and as a member of the United States Army he is now (1921 stationed at Camp Sherman, Ohio with the rank of first lieutenant; Wilma is the wife of Mr. Elmer Burrall, who is a skilled machinist at the Uneeda Match Factory in Wheeling; and Mary is a student in the Wheeling High School. John Cooey, grandfather of the subject of this review, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, and died at Elm Grove, Ohio County, West Virginia, in 1875. He came to the United States as a youth of sixteen years, established his residence at Wheeling, West Virginia, and after his marriage he engaged in farming in Greene County, Pennsylvania, which vocation he later followed in Marshall and Wetzel counties, West Virginia, in which latter county he established his residence in 1865. After retiring from the farm he passed the remainder of his life at Elm Grove, Ohio County. His wife whose maiden name was Mary Porter, was born near West Alexander, Pennsylvania, and died at Elm Grove, West Virginia. Both were active members of the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. Cooey was a democrat in political allegiance. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, Pg 328 & 329 BIO: Edward Cooey, Ohio Co., WV Edward Cooey is manager of the Benwood Branch of the Cooey-Bentz Company, one of the largest furniture houses in the Upper Ohio Valley. Mr. Cooey is a son of W. R. Cooey, president and one of the founders of this business. He is one of Wheeling’s prominent young business men, and has manifested many admirably qualities as a public-spirited-citizens, ever ready to enlist his time and influence in behalf of every worthy cause. Edward Cooey acquierd a public-school education at Wheeling, where he was born November 7, 1888, attended the Wheeling Business College, and had some experience and training in several positions. Beginning in 1905 he was for six years connected with the Art Tile China & Mantel Company, of Wheeling. He has been with the Cooey-Benz Company since 1911, and on the first of August of that year was appointed manager of the Benwood branch. He is also a director of the company and is a director of the Bank of Benwood. Mr. Cooey is a democrat, a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Wheeling, Nelson Lodge No. 30, F. and A. M., Wheeling Chapter No. 1, R. A. M., Osiris Temple of the Mystic shrine, Wheeling Lodge No. 28 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and Evening staar Lodge No. 18, Knights of Pythias, at Benwood. December 6, 1911, at Wheeling, he married Miss Myrtle Charnock, daughter of Walter and Matilda (Bellville) Charnock, residents of Wheeling. Her father is a carriage painter by trade. Mr. and Mrs. Coey have one son, Edward William, born October 16, 1914. Mr. Cooey is a resident of Benwood. Throughout the period of the World war he put patriotic duty first and business second, and in fact largely neglected his business in order to discharge his responsibilities as a leader in the various campaigns. He was president of the Benwood Chapter of the American Red Cross. He was treasurer for all the war funds collected at Benwood, was chairman of the five Liberty and Victory Loan drives. One of these drives exceeded the quota by 500 per cent, and Benwood never failed to surpass her quota in every drive. He was also chairman of the war War Savngs Stamps committee of Benwood. During the influenza epidemic he was head of the Emergency Hospital at Benwood. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, Pg 327 BIO: Charles D. Ritter, Ohio Co., WV Charles D. Ritter for thirty-five years has had an active participation in the industrial and commercial affairs of Wheeling. He is head of the Ritter-Smith Motor Company, one of the chief organizations distributing motor cars in this territory. Mr. Ritter was born at Wheeling, June 20, 1868. Ritter is a name of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. His grandfather was a Pennsylvanian, and soon after the discovery of gold in California set out for the Pacific Coast and was last heard from near Denver, Colorado. His widow subsequently died in Wheeling. Charles Ritter, father of Charles D. Ritter, was a native of Pennsylvania, and moved when a young man to Wheeling, where he married. For a number of years he was a steward on Ohio River steamboats. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and died at Wheeling in 1887. His wife was Miss Minnie Vaas, who was born in Germany in 1845, and died at Wheeling in 1914. She was the mother of four children, the oldest, Will, dying at the age of eight days. Charles D. is the second. Harry is a clothing merchant at Wheeling and Louis is a member of the Wheeling Axle Company. Charles D. Ritter grew up at Wheeling, attended the public schools and Fraizer’s Business College, and at the age of sixteen entered the world of industry in the shops of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company. For eight years he was a machinist in the railway shops, and for five years was similarly employed by the City and Elm Grove Railway Company. In 1897 he went with the Spears Axle Company, and had a prominent part in that manufacturing concern for twenty-two consecutive years eventually becoming superintendent of the plant. In 1919 he bought the Eureka Motor Car Company, changing the name to the Eureka Garage and a year later C. A. Smith, of Bellaire, Ohio, came with him as partner, they organizing the Ritter-Smith Motor Company. This company has well equipped garage and offices at 1517 Eoff Street, and besides operating a public garage they do an extensive business as distributors throughout the district of the Cole, Hupmobile and Maibohm cars. Mr. Ritter is a republican in politics. For two years he was town recorder of his home village at Edgewood, now a part of Wheeling. He is a deacon in St. James Lutheran Church. September 20, 1893, at Wheeling, he married Miss Mary Elizabeth Bayha, daughter of Gottlieb and Mary Elizabeth (Hayner) Bayha, both deceased. Her father was a well-known Wheeling baker. Mr. and Mrs. Ritter had two children, Carl and Clara, but the latter died at the age of nineteen years. Carl married Marie Doepken, and they live in Bae Mar, Wheeling, where he is a baker. Mr. and Mrs. Carl Ritter have two children, Dorothy and Charles. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, Pgs. 256-257 FRED J. FOX from an early age has been on intimate terms with work as a means of advancing himself and broadening his usefulness as a factor in the affairs of men. His work eventually led him into banking, and for thirty years he has been a figure of increasing influence in the financial affairs of the Wheeling District, where he is secretary and cashier of the Security Trust Company. Mr. Fox was born at Bridgeport, Ohio, November 27, 2867. His father, Jacob Fox, was born in Wuertemberg, Germany, in 1830, and as a young man came to the United States and located at Wheeling. He learned the baker’s trade under the master of that art, Joseph Bayha, and while he followed the occupation in Wheeling on his removal to Bridgeport about 1855 and after his marriage he entered the service of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad Company, and was continuously with that road as checker for thirty-five years. He finally retired in 1890, and died at Bridgeport in 1893. He was independent in politics, a devout Lutheran, and was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Jacob Fox married Christina Schweitzer, who was born in Wuertemburg in 1834 and died at Bridgeport in May 1908. She was the mother of seven children: Elizabeth, wife of Louis R. Cook, a mail clerk living at Bridgeport; William, head of the shipping department of the Jefferson Glass Works and a resident of Bridgeport; Rachel, wife of William Koehnline, a retired ice and coal dealer at Bridgeport; Fred J.; Henry, cashier of the Dollar Savings Bank of Bridgeport; Mary, wife of Sam Greenland, general manager of the traction system of Fort Wayne, Indiana; and J. Edward, a real estate and insurance man at Bridgeport. Fred J. Fox attended the public schools of Bridgeport, and even while in school was turning his ingenuity in the direction of earning money to support himself and to pay his expenses while in school. He also attended Frazier’s Business College at Wheeling. His early positions gave him a varied knowledge of business, and in 1891, at the age of twenty-four, he entered the service of the Dollar Savings Bank at Bridgeport, and was teller in that institution until 1897. He was afterward cashier of the Germania Half Dollar Savings Bank. The year 1903 marks the beginning of Mr. Fox’s long and useful service with the Security Trust Company of Wheeling. He became cashier in that year, and since 1916 has also filled the office of secretary. The Security Trust Company was organized in 1903, with J. N. Vance as president. Its present officers are: W. E. Stone, president; M. J. McFadden, vice president; A. L. Meyer, vice president; Fred J. Fox, secretary-cashier; H. S. Marin, assistance cashier; and E. B. Bowie, trust officer. The list of directors include the following well-known Wheeling men: James H. Beans, Alfred Caldwell, John L. Dickey, William Ellingham, James W. Ewing, F. F. Faris, L. W. Franzheim, J. G. Hoffman, Jr., John Hoffman, third, William Lipphardt, George W. Lutz, W. O. McCluskey, M. J. McFadden, H. W. McLure, A. L. Meyer, H. S. Sands, L. E. Sands, George E, Stifel, W. E. Stone, H. E. Vance. Mr. Fox became cashier of this company before there were any deposits. Today the deposits aggregate $2,750,000, with capital stock of $300,000 and surplus and profits of $350,000. The great resources of the company place is as one of the strongest financial institutions in the Upper Ohio Valley, and men in a position to know, including his associates, say that this satisfactory condition is due more to Mr. Fox’s personal ability and character than to any other one factor. The Security Trust Company is now housed in one of the handsomest building along Market Street, at 11453 Market Street. This structure, erected in 1917, is of granite, brick and terra cotta, and besides being the quarters for the Trust Company it also accommodates the large music store of C. A. House & Company. The company conducts a foreign department in the basement and also a real estate and insurance department and there are other modern facilities and equipment for keeping g accounts and safeguarding funds, including safety deposit boxes. Ordinarily there are about twenty-two employes in the bank. While with the welfare and growth of this institution Mr. Fox has found his time and talents fully engaged, he has associated himself so far as possible with worthy movements in his community. He is a member and elder of the First Presbyterian Church at Wheeling, and for two consecutive terms was township treasurer of East Township in Belmont County, Ohio, though as a rule he has avoided politics and public offices. He is a republican, Mr. Fox is treasurer of the Wheeling Chamber of Commerce, a director of the Old Ladies Home at Wheeling, director of the Home of Aged and Friendless Women, director of the Union Mission, secretary, treasurer and director of the Market Auditorium Company, and director of the Associated Charities. During the war was a Four Minute Speaker and did all he could to further the local campaigns, particularly those for the raising of funds. He is affiliated with Belmont Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Bridgeport, and the Fort Henry Club of Wheeling. His residence is at 1087 Fourteenth Street in Wheeling. In 1893, at Wheeling, Mr. Fox married Miss Mary Ziegler. She died at Bridgeport in 1899, and is survived by two children. Wilbur, her son, born February 1896, was for sixteen months in the army during the war, enlisting from Bellaire, Ohio, and most of the time was stationed at San Francisco. He is now employed in the foreign department of the Security Trusty Company. The daughter, Helena, is the wife of Mervin Stonecipher, and they live with Mr. And Mrs. Fox. Stonecipher being employed in the traffic department of the Wheeling Steel Corporation. In 1903, at Martin’s Ferry, Ohio, Mr. Fox married Miss Amanda Jordan, daughter of Benjamin F. and Margaret (Finney) Jordan, who live near Bridgeport. Her father was a farmer for many rears but is now a rural mail carrier. Mr. and Mrs. Fox have three children: Edward Jordan, born in March 1908; Henry Nelson, born in June 1912; and Irvin Franklin, born in June 1912 , the last two being twins. The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, THe American Historical Society, Inc., CHicago and New York, Volume II pg. 256 HENRY BIEBERSON, who is living retired in the beautiful suburb of Woodlawn, on the National Road, two miles distant from the center of Wheeling, of which the district is a part, is vice president of the Wheeling Fire Insurance Company, the only corporation of its kind in the state and one of which specific mention is made on other pages of this work. Mr. Bieberson was born in Germany, in 1848, and there gained his early education, he having been sixteen years of age when he came to the United States. In 1874 he opened a restaurant on the South Side in the City of Wheeling, and this gained high reputation and continued a popular resort for twenty-eight years. Mr. Bieberson won substantial success through his careful and honorable business activities, and he was formerly a director of the Bridgeport Bank & Trust Company and in 1902 became president and manager of the Belmont Brewing Company at Martin’s Ferry Ohio. Under his direction this company gained high reputation for the quality rather than the quantity of its output, and was a model in connection with the brewing industry of the country. Mr. Bieberson is interested in the West Virginia Fair Association, and formerly served as a trustee of the Home for the Aged. He was a director of the company which constructed the Wheeling & Elm Grove Railroad. He came to this country in 1865, in company with an aunt and with his sister, the latter being now the widow of August Rolf. Mr. Bieberson came to Wheeling in 1867, and even the brief data incorporated in this sketch indicate that he has been closely and worthily associated with the development and progress of the city. He is also interested in the West Virginia Steel Corporation, which absorbed the La Belle Iron Company and the Benwood Iron Works, in each of which he had been a stockholder and director. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and his personal popularity is an a parity with his prominence and loyalty in connection with civic and business affairs in Wheeling. It may further be stated that he is a director in the Citizens-People’s Trust Company, was a member of the original directorate of the Bridgeport Banking company, and is a director of the Maher Colliers Company of Cleveland, Ohio, which operates mines in Belmont County, that state, and which is one of the most important operating companies in the coal fields of the Wheeling District. Mr. Bieberson was one of the principals in the platting of the Belvidere addition to the City of Wheeling, and for the past twelve years he has maintained his home at Woodlawn, one of the finest residential districts of Wheeling. In 1873 Mr. Bieberson married Miss Fredericka Schmacher, who was born and reared at Wheeling, her father having been a native of German and having been one of the pioneer German citizens of Wheeling, where he engaged in the work of his trade, as a skilled stone-cutter. Mr. And Mrs. Bieberson became the parents of two sons and three daughters, two of the daughters being deceased. The daughter Emma, who became the wife of Karl Goetz, died when a young woman. Henry is a manufacturer in the City of Delaware, Ohio; Lillie E. is the wife of Henry C. Hackmann, of Wheeling; Anton is manager of the real estate department of the Citizens-People Trust Company at Wheeling; and Cora died when a young woman. Mr. Bieberson has lived a sane, worthy and constructive life, and has done much to further the civic and material development and progress of his home city and community. I n earlier years he was actively identified with the Turnverein and Liederkrantz societies of Wheeling, which represented much in the social and cultural life of the community. He served as president of St. John’s Evangelical Protestant Congregation for several years and is active in church work.