West Virginia Statewide Files WV-Footsteps Mailing List WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 119 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: Charles E. TREMBLY, Preston C [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991126001656.00f912b0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: Charles E. TREMBLY, Preston Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 314 Preston CHARLES E. TREMBLY. The first settled communities were planted in Preston County in the closing years of the eighteenth century. The work of development has been continuous since then, being participated in by several gen- erations from the first pioneers. The land has been cleared, the resources exploited, roads and railroads have been built, towns have sprung up, and, while not one or the oldest of these, Terra Alta, situated on the mountain skyline has been a place of trade and community life for a long period of years. That it is now one of the progressive and thriv- ing small cities of the state is due to forces put in motion by a younger group of citizens within the past two decades. One of the active leaders, in fact one of the indispensable men in the newer life of the mountain town, has been Charles E. Trembly, banker and man of affairs. Mr. Trem- bly from the first had the outlook of one who is not satis- fied with half plodding performance, and the spirit of progress strong within him he has linked with a similar spirit in others like minded, and together they have ac- corded a respectful hearing to old tradition without being bound to its rate of progress, and the sum total of what they have accomplished comprise the improvements and the institutions of which Terra Alta is most proud as a pro- gressive municipality. Mr. Trembly represents one of the oldest families of Preston County and was born on a farm near Albright April 14, 1873. His Americanism is the product of almost two centuries. About 1730 the first of the Trembly family came from Scotland and settled on the eastern shore at Trembly's Point, near Elizabeth, New Jersey. It is said the house in which he lived is still standing. This Scotch immigrant was descended from French Protestants who during the era of religious persecution fled from the Prov- ince of Rochelle, France. One of the New Jersey family, Benjamin Trembly, just before the outbreak of the Amer- ican Revolution, moved on west in company with some of the McGrew family and settled around Cumberland, Mary- land. Samuel Darby, a Scotchman from the same New Jersey colony, accompanied them, but did not arrive in Preston County until after Trembly, who established his family at Bruceton Mills, while the Darbys located at Mil- lers, west of Clifton Mills. Patrick McGrew came on in 1786 and located a mile south of Brandonville. Thus by previous associations there was a link between these three prominent families in the wood and mountain region of Western Virginia. Benjamin Trembly was born April 13, 1763, at Trembly Point, and was drowned at Ice's Perry in Cheat River in 1818. His wife, Eunice Pennington, represented a leading family of New Jersey. Their children were: Josiah, John, Mary, Sarah, James and Ephraim. The son John was born March 20, 1786. He married Sarah Darby at Bruceton Mills, and in 1811 bought the Trembly farm near Albright. He remained there half a century and died in 1863, while the Civil war was in progress. His three children were: Eunice, who became the wife of John Bishop; Samuel and Benjamin, twin brothers. Benjamin Trembly, who was born October 16, 1816, mar- ried Mary Hartman. They lived their lives about Albright, and their children were George H., Joseph, Sarah, who be- came the wife of Guy A. Bishop, Michael, John, Samuel and Adam. George H. Trembly was born near the little Cheat River Village of Albright April 7, 1837, and died in 1899. Jan- uary 9, 1868, he married Eva Charity Smith, who was born near Albright February 3, 1849, daughter of Jacob Smith. The children of this marriage are: Frank H., of Jackson- ville, Florida; Jay S., of Terra Alta; Charles E.; and Ella M., wife of A. W. Hawley, of Morgantown. Charles E. Trembly while growing up at Albright had a great ambition to get a liberal education, and after much persistence, thrift and earning his own way, he accom- plished that end. He attended the public schools, at the age of twenty-one graduated from the Fairmont State Normal School, subsequently was a student in the Pea- body Normal College at Nashville, Tennessee, and in 1899 graduated in the scientific course from the University of West Virginia. The qualifications represented in this lib- eral education were a splendid preparation for the work of education which he had chosen, and in 1898-99 he was assistant principal of the Davis High School, and for three years was acting principal, until he resigned in 1902 to become a citizen of Terra Alta and assistant cashier of the Terra Alta Bank. Mr. Trembly has been a factor in the success and prosperity of this institution as one of its managing officials for twenty years, and since November 14, 1910, has been cashier. Throughout this time he has kept in touch with men similarly minded with regard to what constitutes the commercial and civic prosperity of the com- munity. He has been a member of the City Council and recorder, and the steady influences and efforts emanating from him and his associates have brought to Terra Alta such modern facilities as water works, gas light, street paving and other improvements. In Preston County August 5, 1915, Mr. Trembly mar- ried Miss Marjorie Crane, daughter of Dee Crane, who is potato expert with the University Extension Bureau of West Virginia. They have a son, Gray Crane. Mr. Trem- bly is a past master of the Masonic Lodge, is affiliated with West Virginia Consistory No. 1 of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling, is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias Lodge, an Odd Fellow, and has served officially as an elder in the Presbyterian Church. ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 00:15:55 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991126001555.00f8dec0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: Lanty H. WALKER, Nicholas Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 313-314 Nicholas LANTY H. WALKER. No more genial, better informed or diplomatic class of men can be found than those identified with the sales departments of the larger mercantile houses and department stores, for the nature of their work de- mands the possession of these attributes in order that they may succeed. Outside of the big cities the manager of the department store is supposed to have a wide acquaintance and to be familiar with the opinions and tastes of his cus- tomers, likewise a good salesman. Salesmanship is an art, involving an intimate knowledge of psychology, and a man's status as being an expert salesman carries the implication of a wide-spread popularity, a cleverly trained mind and a more than adequate equipment in other directions. In none of these attributes is Lanty H. Walker found lacking, and it is because of their possession, as much as anything else, that he is making a creditable success of the enterprise of which he is manager at Burnsville, the Walker Department Store. Mr. Walker was born in Nicholas County, West Virginia, October 21, 1888, and is a son of L. O. and May L. (Eads) Walker. L. O. Walker was born at Tipton, Nicholas County, October 3, 1845, and was reared in his native county on a farm, securing his educational training in the district schools of the rural communities. On reaching manhood he met and married May L. Eads, who was born in Roanoke County, Virginia, October 4, 1860, and was brought as a child by her parents to Nicholas County, West Virginia, where she attended the public schools. Following their mar- riage Mr. and Mrs. Walker settled on a farm, and for some time devoted their whole attention thereto. Later they started a small store, handling only the more common neces- sities, and this soon grew to be quite an enterprise, neces- sitating much more attention. In 1900 Mr. Walker decided upon a more aspiring venture and moved his stock of goods to Summersville, where he carried on a successful mer- cantile business until selling out and going to Gad, West Virginia, where he likewise carried on an enterprise of this nature. In 1913 he made another change, this time coming to settle permanently at Burnsville, where he remained in business until his death in 1919. At the start of his career Mr. Walker was only a son of the soil, without any spe- cialized training for business pursuits, but possessing the inherent ability so necessary to the man who would succeed in the marts of commerce and trade. He was likewise a man of the strictest integrity and had the confidence, well- merited, of those associated with him in any enterprise. He was a democrat in politics, but did not seek public favor or preferment as a holder of public office. His religious affilia- tion was with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to which also belongs Mrs. Walker, who survives him as a resident of Burnsville. They were the parents of nine chil- dren, of whom seven are living in 1922, as follows: Ora, the wife of A. E. Legg; Ollie, the wife of C. L. Evans; Laura, the wife of Dr. E. J. Summers; Bertha, the wife of E. V. Summers; Lanty H., of this record; Mamie, the wife of W. Lambert; and Pearl, the wife of Hugh Mearns. Lanty H. Walker was born on a farm, but much of his boyhood was passed in the environment of small towns, where he secured his education in the public schools. From the start his business training was along commercial and mercantile lines, for when he was but a youth he entered his father's store and learned the business in all its details. At Burnsville he was associated with his father in the Walker Department Store until the elder man's death, since which time he has been managing the business for his mother. Mr. Walker is a man of energy and of ideas, and is conducting the establishment along the same policy of straightforward dealing and honest representation that gained it a reputa- tion under his father's management. He is a democrat in politics, but has not found time to enter political matters, although a public-spirited citizen of civic pride who assists good movements which promise municipal advancement. Fraternally he is a popular member of Burnsville Lodge No. 87, A. P. and A. M., and his religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 00:43:07 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991126004307.00f8eec0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: EMERY B. DUFFIELD, Braxton Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 316 EMERY B. DUFFIELD. It was at a time when development and progress were Just reaching their full force that Emery B. Duffield located at Burnsville. He had already demon- strated business ability and shown foresight in fostering and furthering enterprises in several sections where be had a tentative home, but it was not until he located at Burns- ville that he permitted his progressive ideas full scope for expression which resulted in the founding and solid upbuild- ing of a successful hardware enterprise. Like many another successful man, he began at the bottom of the ladder, being first a rural school teacher, and when he left that calling worked with his hands, a fact of which he has never been ashamed. Mr. Duffield was born on a farm in Braxton County, West Virginia, November 17, 1873, and is a son of Jonathan and Martha (Hamric) Duffield. His father was born in the same neighborhood, in 1848, and received his education in the country schools, following which he helped his father on the home farm until his marriage to Miss Hamric, who was born in his home locality in 1844, and who, like her husband, had a common school education. Following their marriage they settled on a farm situated nine miles south- west of Sutton, where Mr. Duffield through industry and good management accumulated a good property, on which he installed valuable and substantial improvements and there rounded out a long, useful and worthy life, passing away in 1900, when fifty-two years of age. A man of integrity and public spirit, he had the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens. He was a democrat in his political allegi- ance. His religious faith was that of the Baptist Church, to which belongs Mrs. Duffield, who survived him at the ad- vanced age of seventy-eight years. They were the parents of four children, of whom three are living in 1922: Henry C., of Sutton; Tabitha, the wife of J. E. Baughman, of that city and Emery B. Emery B. Duffield received his education in the pub- lic schools and resided on the home farm until he was twenty-seven years of age. In the summer months he as- sisted his father, but in the winter terms, from the time he was sixteen years of age, he taught in the neighborhood schools, and became widely and popularly known as an educator. In 1903 he was elected superintendent of schools of Braxton County, an office which he filled with credit until 1907, in which year he located at Sutton and estab- lished himself in the insurance business. This venture occupied his time and attention until 1912, in which year he came to Burnsville and established himself in the hard- ware business, a line which he has followed with gratifying success to the present time. In his modern and well- arranged establishment Mr. Duffield carries a full line of shelf and heavy hardware, furnaces, stoves, tinware, etc., and enjoys a large trade, attracted alike by the modern stock, the popular prices and the genial and obliging na- ture of the proprietor. Among his associates Mr. Duffield is accounted a strictly reliable and capable man of busi- ness and one who has succeeded through none of the prac- tices of the business charlatan, but along strictly legitimate channels of trade. On December 27, 1902, Mr. Duffield was united in mar- riage with Miss Nettie Shaver, and to this union there were born two sons: Vanghn H. and Henry K., the for- mer now attending Broaddus College. Mrs. Duffield died in February, 1908, and Mr. Duffield married Miss Cora Dulin. They have two daughters: Ethel and Martha. Mr. and Mrs. Duffield are members of the Baptist Church, in which he is a deacon and clerk, and in the work of which he has been helpfully active. As a fraternalist he holds membership in Crystal Lodge No. 125, I. O. O. F., and the Grand Lodge. His political sentiments cause him to sup- port the democratic party. ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 00:44:10 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991126004410.00f8e900@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: EDMUND SEHON, Mason Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 317 EDMUND SEHON is president of the Sehon, Stevenson & Company, Incorporated, wholesale grocers, one of the very earliest wholesale houses established at Huntington and a business that has been steadily asociated with the remark- able growth and expansion of that city during the last three decades. No one could surpass Mr. Sehon in pride and sat- isfaction over the achievements of Huntington, and for years he has been counted one of the city's most enthusi- astic and substantial boosters. Mr. Sehon, who is one of the advisory editors of this history of West Virginia, was born in Mason County this state, September 14, 1843, son of John Leicester and Ag- nes (Lewis) Sehon. His mother, Agnes Lewis, was a granddaughter of Col. Charles Lewis, who was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774, a battle described in the pages of West Virginia history as one of the most decisive conflicts on the American frontier. Mr. Sehon acquired his education at Westchester, Pennsyl- vania, and early took up the study of law and began prac- ticing soon after the close of the Civil war. In 1868 he was elected state's attorney of Greenbrier and Mercer counties, but in 1870 he returned to his native county of Mason. In 1875 he was elected a member of the Legisla- ture. Mr. Sehon has been a resident of Huntington since 1890, in which year he organized the wholesale firm of Sehon, Stevenson & Company. This was the second whole- sale house in Huntington and is a business that is justly regarded as one of the most important units in Huntington's growing greatness as a commercial center. Mr. Sehon was elected mayor of Huntington in 1915, and was head of the municipal government for three years. He has been an active factor in the Huntington Chamber of Commerce and practically every other organization designed to promote the effective growth and development of the city. He is a democrat, has been a member of the B. P. O. Elks since 1913, and for half a century has been a working member of the Episcopal Church and now vestryman and senior warden of Trinity Church at Huntington. June 30, 1870, in Greenbrier County, Mr. Sehon married Elizabeth Jane Stuart, daughter of Robertson Stuart, whose grandfather Col. John Stuart was one of the earliest pio- neers of Greenbrier County. Mr. and Mrs. Sehon have four children: Lucy, wife of J. M. McCoach; John Leicester who married Lillian Gragard; Bess, wife of M. N. Cecil; and Douglas, unmarried. ______________________________X-Message: #5 Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 00:43:39 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991126004339.00f8ec60@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: HON. GARNETT KERR KUMP, Hampshire Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 316-317 Hampshire HON. GARNETT KERR KUMP, of Romney, lawyer and for eight years a member of the State Senate, has been a leader in educational and good roads legislation, and one of the very useful and progressive citizens of his section of the state. He was born near Capon Springs, Hampshire County, West Virginia, December 9, 1875, son of Benjamin Frank- lin and Margaret Frances (Rudolph) Kump and a lineal descendant of Henry Kump, a soldier of the Revolution. His father was a confederate soldier in Company K of the Eighteenth Virginia Cavalry, and after the war lived on his farm in Hampshire County, where he was a leader in civic and religious affairs. Garnett Kerr Kump acquired a good literary education and for a number of years applied himself to the vocation of farming in summer and teaching in public schools dur- ing the winter. He prepared for the bar in West Virginia University, leaving the university about April 1, 1909, and since then has enjoyed an exceptionally good practice at Romney. Besides his law practice he has some business interests and investments, and is president of the South Branch Tie & Lumber Company. His public service began early in his career, and he repre- sented Hampshire County in the House of Delegates in the session of 1905. His eight year term in the Senate ran from December 1, 1912, to December 1, 1920, and he was not a candidate for re-election. He represented the Fif- teenth Senatorial District and in the Legislature as well as in his capacity as a private citizen he has been thoroughly progressive in thought and action. He is a democrat, and has been keenly interested in the great national and inter- national problems of the last few years. Mr. Kump is convinced that he would have made an effective soldier of the nation during the World war, but the examining author- ities rejected his application for the Officers' Training Camp and also on several other occasions when be endeav- ored to enlist. Mr. Kump is affiliated with the Masonic Order, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and Woodmen of the World. Since 1911 he has been a member of the Romney Literary Society, one of the oldest organizations of the kind in the state, it having been incorporated by the State of Virginia by special act of Legislature in 1819. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church of Romney. ______________________________X-Message: #6 Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 00:45:38 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991126004538.00f8e6a0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: HON. WELLS GOODYKOONTZ, Mingo Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" MIME-Version: 1.0 X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by bl-14.rootsweb.com id VAA02822 The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 317 HON. WELLS GOODYKOONTZ began the practice of law at Williamson in 1894. The range and importance of his law practice, his substantial interests in the community, were the solid foundation for his public and political career, and for all his varied and active service in the State Legislature and in the halls of Congress he is still actively connected with his profession and his business at Williamson. Mr. Goodykoontz was born near Newbern, Pulaski County, Virginia, June 3, 1872, son of William M. and Lucinda K. (Woolwine) Goodykoontz. His paternal ancestor, Hans Georg Gutekunsh, immigrated to this country in 1750 and fought through the Revolution. His grandfather on his mother's side, Robert McCrum Woolwine, was born near Beverly in Randolph County. He attended good schools and had the fortune of coming under the supervision of some very able educators. At Oxford Academy in Virginia he was under John K. Harris, a graduate of Williams College and a Presbyterian minister. At Floyd, Virginia, he read law under Judge Z. T. Dobyns, and in Washington and Lee University he came under the instruction of John Randolph Tucker and Charles A. Graves. Mr. Goodykoontz was licensed to practice June 9,1893, and established himself at William- son February 23, 1894. He began his career as a lawyer at Williamson when the great coal industry of that section was just being developed. At the present time he is a senior member of the law firm of Goodykoontz, Scherr & Slaven. Mr. Goodykoontz became a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of West Virginia on April 1, 1896, and was admitted to practice as "an attorney and counsellor" in the Supreme Court of the United States, December 13, 1909. His standing and popularity with the profession are indicated by the fact that he was chosen president of the West Virginia Bar Association in July, 1917. Since its founding he has been president of the National Bank of Commerce of Williamson. It was one of the first banking institutions founded in that region. It was started as a state bank. Since 1911 the same has operated under a national charter and under the above name. The pros- perity of this section is reflected in the comparative bank deposits. Its deposits aggregated about $450,000 in 1915 and at the beginning of 1921 were over $1,400,000. Mr. Goodykoontz is the president of the Kimberling Land Com- pany and the Burning Creek Land Company, and a director in several other corporations engaged in local enterprises. Mr. Goodykoontz had been a successful lawyer nearly twenty years before he became a candidate for public office. Mingo County sent him to the House of Delegates in the sessions of 1911-12, and in 1914 he was nominated without opposition by the republican party for the State Senate. He was chosen to represent the Sixth Senatorial District, comprising McDowell, Mingo, Wayne and Wyoming coun- ties, and led the ticket in each of these counties by a plur- ality of 3,009. In the session of 1915-16 in the Senate, Mr. Goodykoontz was majority floor leader, and January 10, 1917, was elected president of the Senate, thus becoming ex-officio lieutenant governor of the state. He held that office until December 1, 1918. Harris' Legislative Hand- book, 1918, gives him the distinction of being the first presi- dent of the Senate from whose rulings no appeal was ever taken. November 5, 1918, as candidate of the republican party, he was elected to the Sixty-sixth Congress, over W. M. McNeal, democrat, by 2,936 majority. November 2, 1920, he was reelected as a member of the Sixty-seventh Congress —again over Mr. McNeal—by a majority of 6,799. The Fifth District, which he represents covers the Pocahontas coal field and is composed of the nine counties of Lincoln, Logan, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Summers, Wayne and Wyoming. Mr. Goodykoontz entered Congress when the republicans resumed control of the House, and he has been one of the active members during the protracted sessions of that body. He is a member of the Judiciary Committee, the lawyers committee of the House, having been assigned to this committee upon his entering Congress. It is seldom that a new member is permitted a membership on this major committee. During the World war, Mr. Goodykoontz was chairman of the Central Committee of Lawyers that headed the West Virginia bar in assisting registrants and aiding, by advice and otherwise, soldiers and sailors, their families and de- pendents. In this connection Mr. Goodykoontz was author of the "Legal Booklet," of which 30,000 copies were dis- tributed, giving information as to the more important laws, State and Federal, affecting soldiers and sailors. Mr. Goodykoontz is a past master of the Williamson Masonic Lodge. On December 22, 1898, he married Miss Irene Hooper, of New Orleans.