West Virginia Statewide Files WV-Footsteps Mailing List WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 146 Today's Topics: #1 Bio: Madison Stathers Alma, Tyler ["Chris & Kerry" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <000801bf42fd$e9b9f2e0$22521104@ChrisKerry> Subject: Bio: Madison Stathers Alma, Tyler County, West Virginia Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York, Volume II pg.150 MADISON STATHERS, Ph. D., head of the department of Romance Languages of West Virginia University, is a native West Virginian, and his pronounced inclination for linguistic studies early lead him to an intense devotion to the language and literature of modern Europe, and for over a decade he has been head of the department, including instruction in the French and Spanish tongues at West Virginia University. Doctor Stathers was born near Alma, Tyler County, West Virginia, August 29, 1877, son of George B. and Sophia (Furbee) Stathers. His grandfather, George Stathers, was born at Hull, England, June 8, 1817, and was a boy when he accompanied his parents, John and Mrs. (Jennings) Stathers, to America, the family settling at Centerville, Washington County, Pennsylvania, along the old National Pike. George Stathers grew up there, and after his marriage located at Scenery Hill in Washington County, where his wife, Mary Hill, was born. Subsequently they removed to Tyler County, West Virginia, where George Stathers died in 1895. George B. Stathers was born at Scenery Hill, Pennsylvania, May 16, 1846, and four years later accompanied his father and uncle to Alma, Tyler County, West Virgina, where for many years he engaged in the mercantile and lumber business and where he died December 7, 1916. He was a successful business man and also had a spiritual relationship with the Methodist Church and its Sunday school, with the Masonic Order and frequently was a candidate for important local offices. He was a democrat in politics. George B. Stathers married Sophia Furbee, who was born at Alma, West Virginia, April 24, 1845, and who is still living at the old home there. Her parents were Bowers and Nancy (Bond) Furbee, the former a native of Delaware and the latter of Baltimore. The Furbees are a very old American family, having been transplanted from England during the seventeenth century. Caleb Furbee, great-grandfather of Doctor Stathers, was a captain in the Revolutionary forces from Delaware. Late in life he with his son, Bowers, and other children moved to what is now West Virginia and settled near Rivesville in Monongalia County. George B. Stathers and wife had six children: Miss Mary Emma, at home; Madison; a son that died in infancy; Roy and Ray, twins, the former dying in infancy, while the latter lives at the old homestead at Alma; and George Lawrence, who died in infancy. Madison Stathers was educated in the public schools of Tyler County, attended West Virginia Wesleyan College at Buckhannon from 1896 to 1899, and took his A. B. degree from West Virginia University in 1901. After a brief period of employment in the general offices of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Pittsburgh he returned to West Virginia Wesleyan College as a teacher in the year 1902-03. He then went abroad for advanced studies leading to the Doctor's degree, and in 1905 received the Ph. D. degree from the University of Grenoble, France. His Doctor's thesis was Chateaubriand et l'Amerique, published in book form by Allier Freres at Grenoble. During the summer of 1905 Doctor Stathers continued his studies in Spain, and for the school year 1905-06-was an instructor in West Virginia Wesleyan College. In the fall of 1906 he joined the faculty of West Virginia University as instructor in Romance Languages, was assistant professor from 1907 to 1910, and since 1910 has been professor and head of the department. His linguistic accomplishments include a fluent command of English, French, Spanish and some German and Italian, and he also has a reading knowledge of the Latin and Portugese. He is author of two school and college text books, "Lope de Vega, La Moza de Cantaro" published by Henry Holt & Company, and an edition of "Erckmann-Chatrian, Historie d'un conscri de 1813" published by Ginn & Company of Boston in 1921. Doctor Stathers was abroad on leave of absence from his duties at West Virginia University studying in Spain and France during 1910 and again in 1921. He is a life member of the Modern Languages Association of America, a life member of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish, a member of the American Association of University Professors, is a Phi Beta Kappa and a member of the college fraternity Phi Kappa Psi; was a member for a time (Socio transeunte) of the Ateneo of Madrid, Spain; a member of the West Virginia University Faculty Club, and an honorary member of the English and French clubs of West Virginia University. He has been a member of the advisory Board American Field Service Fellowships for French University since 1920. August 6, 1907, Doctor Stathers married Nellie M. Dauphinee at Colchester, Connecticut. They have one son, George Dauphinee Stathers, born September 6, 1911. Doctor and Mrs. Stathers are members of the First Presbyterian Church at Morgantown. Mrs. Stathers was born at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada, daughter of J. Newton and Bessie (Begg) Dauphinee, natives of Nova Scotia, her father of French and her mother of Scotch ancestry. Her parents now live at Colchester, Connecticut. Mrs. Stathers was educated in Lunenburg Academy, in the Classical High School of Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated A. B. from Brown University of Providence in 1902. ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 06:16:27 -0500 From: "Chris & Kerry" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <001101bf4300$0139f620$22521104@ChrisKerry> Subject: Bio: Adam Grow of Grafton, Taylor County, West Virginia Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York, Volume II pg.150 & 151 ADAM GROW, a member of the firm of Jackson & Grow, which conducts a well equipped general machine shop in the City of Morgantown, Monongalia County, was born at Grafton, Taylor County, West Virginia, October 17, 1887, a son of Lewton W. and Anna C. (Davis) Grow, both like-wise natives of this state. Lewton W. Grow was born in Taylor County in 1858, a son of Adam Grow, who was an old-time plasterer and under whose direction the son, Lewton W., learned the same trade, of which he continued a representative, as a contract plasterer, for many years at Grafton, where he and his wife still maintain their home and where he is now living virtually retired. Mrs. Grow was born in the year 1863. Both are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Adam Grow (II), the immediate subject of this review, acquired his early education in the public schools of his native city, and there in 1902 he entered upon an apprenticeship to the machinist's trade. He became a skilled workman, and continued to be employed in the railroad shops at Grafton until the time of the strike of the workmen in the shops in 1909. In that year he removed to Morgantown, where for the ensuing eight years he was employed as a machinist by the Morgantown & Kingwood Railroad Company. In 1917 Mr. Grow formed a partnership with Curtis G. Jackson, another skilled machinist, and under the firm name of Jackson & Grow they opened a small machine shop at Morgantown. Excellent service and fair and honorable business policies caused the enterprise to expand from year to year, and the firm now owns the large and modern brick machine shop building that is the stage of the substantial and prosperous industry which they have built up, the establishment, on the west side of the river, being the largest of the kind in Morgantown and controlling a representative supporting patronage. In 1911 Mr. Grow was raised to the degree of Master Mason in Morgantown Union Lodge No. 4, Free and Accepted Masons, and in this lodge he has passed the various official chairs, the final honor of being chosen master of the lodge having come to him in December, 1920. He is affiliated also with Morgantown Chapter No. 30, Royal Arch Masons; Morgatown Commandery No. 18, Knights Templars; Morgantown Lodge of Perfection No. 6, Scottish Rite, and has received the thirty-second degree of this latter rite in West Virginia Sovereign Consistory No. 1, besides being a member of Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mr. Grow chose as his wife Miss Lucy E. Frankhouser, who was born in the State of Maryland and who is a daughter of Ammi and Ellen Frankhouser. Mr. and Mrs. Grow have three children, whose names and respective dates of birth are here recorded: Margaret Lucile, November 29, 1915; Adam III, November 29, 1917; and Clyde, January 12, 1921. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 12:46:41 -0500 From: "John \"Bill\" Wheeler" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <000801bf4336$b2693ec0$88dfbec6@wheeler> Subject: BIO: Gordon S. Seal Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York, Volume ll. pg. 115 GORDON S. SEAL, of Bluefield has had an extensive experience as a coal operator, banker and in other lines. This is one of the prominent names in West Virginia business circles, his father, Capt. John R. Seal, having long been prominent as a banker and coal man in Charleston. While Gordon S. Seal is a native of New York City where he was born June 23, 1880, his parents were born in Virginia and he represents an old family of Virginia ancestry. He is a son of Capt. John R. and Nannie (Wood) Seal. Hid father was vice president of the Charleston National Bank, and for many years had extensive holdings and management of coal and railroad properties. Gordon S. Seal acquired a common and high school education at Charleston, and from there entered Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore, where he graduated A.B. in 1902. Since his university career he has given undivided attention to his business affairs, first entering the coal business with his father. In 1913 they sold their interests, and Gordon Seal was then for the following two years associated with the John T. Hesser Coal Company. He removed to Bluefield in 1915, and from 1916 to 1918 was in the real estate and banking business with the Virginia Realty & Loan Company. In August. 1919, he assisted in organizing and incorporating the Curtis-Seal Company, a firm handling general office supplies over an extensive territory in which the important pints are Williamson, Bluefield, Welch, Bramwell, and Tazewell, but he sold out of this business in November, 1921. Mr. Seal in 1907, at Montgomery, West Virginia, married Miss Inez Austin, daughter of George C. and Jennie Austin. Four children were born to their marriage, and the three living are Lyall Austin, John Ridley and Jane Ann. Mr. Seal and family are members of the Episcopal Church, and he is a Royal Arch, Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, a member of the Elks, the Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce and Bluefield Country Club. He is an outdoor man, fond of strenuous exercise, plays golf and tennis, and his hobby is motor trips to distant points. ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 13:35:36 -0500 From: "John \"Bill\" Wheeler" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <000e01bf433d$973a2720$88dfbec6@wheeler> Subject: BIO: Willian H.F. Dement Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York, Volume ll. pg. 115-116 William H.F. Dement. During the ten years required to advance himself from the rank of messenger to cashier of the Huntington National Bank, Mr. Dement manifested an unflagging devotion to his work and the ideals of service exemplified by that institution. His influential and useful place in the business community is a reward of merit, a distinction well worth the effort required to achieve it. Mr. Dement was born in Proctorville, Ohio, June 4, 1889. His paternal ancestry came originally from France and Germany. His grandfather, William Dement, was born in Noble County, Ohio, following the trade of blacksmith in Lawrence County, and died near Wilgus in that state. His great-great-grandfather carried the first mail in a canoe, from Mariette to Cincinnati, Ohio. Henry E. Dement, father of the Huntington banker, was born near Wilgus, in Lawrence County in 1853, grew up there on a farm. became a blacksmith at Bradrick, Ohio, where he married, and since about 1880 has lived at Proctorville. With the development of the automobile he adapted his trade to the requirements of that industry, and for a number of years he has owned and operated a public garage. Since 1919 he has owned a farm and large apple orchard in that section of Ohio. He is a republican. His wife, Cors J. Forgey, is a daughter of James Gorey, a captain on the Mississippi River during the Civil War. She is a granddaughter of Gen. A.F. Fuller of the war of 1812. Mrs. Dement was born at Bradrick, Ohio, in 1860. Of their children, Ruby D., a resident of Huntington is a widow of Charles Heinz, who was a blacksmith; Carl is manager of the home farm at Proctorville; Orla E. is associated in business with his father; Roma is the wife of Charles E. Rose, a millwright at Guyandotte, West Virginia; William H.F. is the fifth child; Velmer is also associated with his father in business; and Valgene is connected with the home farm. William H.F. Dement graduated from the Proctorville High School in 1907, and soon afterward came to Huntington, graduating from Booth Business College of that city in 1910. Mr. Dement on October 29, 1911, began his service with the Huntington National Bank as a messenger boy. His increasing experience and ability brought him successive promotions, and he did the work of individual bookkeeper, discount bookkeeper and general bookkeeper, was promoted to assistant cashier and on August 1, 1921, was elected cashier, Besides his executive duties with this large and important bank he is interested in the home farm and orchard. Mr. Dement is a republican, is affiliated with the Proctorville Lodge No. 550, A.F. and A.M., Huntington Lodge No.313, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Tri-State Credit and Adjustment Bureau. Recently, in 1922, he completed one of the excellent homes in a restricted residential section at 51 Ninth Avenue. The only important interruption to his service with the Huntington National Bank came in the World War. June 14, 1918, he enlisted, was sent to the Training Detachment Public Schools at Hughes High School in Cincinnati, was there two months and was then transferred to the one hundred and fifty-fourth Depot Brigade at Camp Meade, Maryland. On August 14, 1918, he was assigned to Company H of the Seventy-first Infantry in the Lafayette or Eleventh Division and later was transferred and assigned to the personnel office. He received his honorable discharge January 31, 1919, with the rank of Corporal. Mr. Dement is unmarried. ______________________________X-Message: #5 Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 15:15:29 -0500 From: "John \"Bill\" Wheeler" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <001301bf434b$51a2dfa0$88dfbec6@wheeler> Subject: BIO: Wade H. Post, M.D. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York, Volume ll. pg. 116 Wade H. Post, M.D. For sixteen consecutive years Doctor Post has applied himself to the practice of medicine and the varied service demanded of a capable and high minded physician in the Masontown community of Preston County. He came here as successor to the old physician, Doctor Cobun, who had carried most of the burden of local practice. Doctor Post was born in Lewis County, West Virginia, April 8, 1877. His grandfather, John Post, spent his active life in Lewis County, and married a Miss Cookman. Of their eight children, six are still living. William F. Post, father of Doctor Post, was a native of Lewis County and married Elizabeth Jane Young, of Harrison County. Her children were: Scott of Seattle, Washington; Birdie, wife of W.E. Rhodes, of Lewis County; Wilda, wife of Dr. C.L. Cookman, of Buckhannon, West Virginia; Wade H.; Ansel B., of Lost Creek, West Virginia; and Porter W., who was killed in an automobile accident at Morgantown in June 1919, leaving a wife and daughter, Jane Porter Post. Wade H. Post lived on his father's farm during his youth and continued to call that his home until he was about twenty-five years of age and qualified for professional work. He was educated in the county schools, in Union College at Buckhannon one term, then in the national Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, and prepared for his profession in the Baltimore Medical College, where he graduated in 1901. Dr. Post first practiced at Jane Lew in Lewis County, remaining there a year, and then at dellglow in Monongalia County. When he located at Masontown he moved only a short distance across the county line from Dellglow. Doctor Post has served a year as president of the County Medical Society, is a member of the West Virginia State and American Medical Association, is a local surgeon for the Baltimore & Ohio Railway and a member of the Railway Surgeons Association of the Baltimore & Ohio system. Aside from hi busy days as a physican, Doctor Post was one of the organizers and is first vice president and one of the directors of the Bank of Masontown. he is also president of the Reed Run Coal Company, and has had other business interests but has disposed of them. He avoids to many of the honors and responsibilities of politics, but is a member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic Party in Preston County. His first national vote went to Mr. Bryan in 1900. Doctor Post is affiliated with Preston Lodge No. 90, A.F. and A. M., Royal Arch Chapter No. 30 at Morgantown; Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine in Wheeling; and he is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd fellows and Knight of Pythias. In Harrison County, October 7, 1902, Doctor Post married Miss Mary Eleanor Eib, a native of that county and sixth and youngest child of James M and Arminda (Arnold) Eib. Her father was a farmer of the Lost Creek community and member of an old family of German origin. Doctor Post lost his first wife by death. She is survived by three children: Mary Christine, James William and Helena Arminda. At Rockville, Maryland, April 8, 1915, Doctor Post married Miss Grace Clayton. The only child born to Doctor and Mrs. Post died in infancy.