WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 149 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: William Lawson Mitchell, D.D. ["John \"Bill\" Wheeler" ] #7 BIO: Richard B. Parrish, Southern [PTyler107@aol.com] Administrivia: To unsubscribe from WV-FOOTSTEPS-D, send a message to WV-FOOTSTEPS-D-request@rootsweb.com that contains in the body of the message the command unsubscribe and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too. To contact the WV-FOOTSTEPS-D list administrator, send mail to WV-FOOTSTEPS-admin@rootsweb.com. ______________________________X-Message: #1 Date: Sat, 11 Dec 1999 20:23:59 -0500 From: "John \"Bill\" Wheeler" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <002701bf443f$95f2a9c0$18dfbec6@wheeler> Subject: BIO: William Lawson Mitchell, D.D.S. 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. 120 William Lawson Mitchell, D.D.S., of Mannington, was born in Bellville, Wood County, West Virginia, September 8, 1883, the son of the late Horace and Ella (Williamson) Mitchell. Horace Mitchell was one of the leading business men and popular citizens of Wood County for many years. He was born in that county in 1853, and died at his home in Bellville, June 5, 1914. He was the son of Henry and Ann (Hupp) Mitchell, natives of Woods County, whose parents came from Old Virginia, and were pioneers in that section of what is now West Virginia. His wife, Ella Williamson, was born in Wood County in 1860, and died November 11, 1902. She was the daughter of Anthony and Sarah Williamson, natives of West Virginia and Pennsylvania respectively. Henry Mitchell, grandfather of our subject , was an early merchant of Bellville, and when his son, Horace, was a boy of eight years the latter went to work in the store, he having been so small at that time that he stood upon a box to wait on customers. Horace continued in his father's store, and following the death of his father he and his brother succeeded to the business, conducting it until the death of Horace in 1914. Horace Mitchell was probably as well known and highly esteemed, especially among traveling men, as any man in the Ohio Valley. He like his father and grandfather, was an ardent democrat, though he never sought or held public office. He was a member of the different Masonic bodies, including the Scottish Rite thirty-second Degree, Knights Templar, also a member of Osiris Temple, Mystic Shrine, Wheeling, and was active in civic affairs. Doctor Mitchell was reared in Bellville and acquired his early education in the public schools. He was a student at Marshall College in 1901-02, and then entered the Ohio College of Dental Surgery at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was graduated D.D.S., class of 1907. He practiced at Parkersburg, West Virginia, from 1907 to 1909, from 1909 to 1912 at Follansbee, West Virginia, and then located at Mannington, where he has established himself as a successful dentist and a worth while citizen. Mr. Mitchell is a member of the Masons, including the Consistory (thirty-second degree S.R.) and Shrine. He has been a member of the Elks since he was twenty-one years old, and is a charter member of the Mannington Kiwanis Club and also a member of the Presbyterian Church. On October 20, 1915, Doctor Mitchell married Nell Jackson Burt, who was born in Mannington, the daughter of William and Rose (Prichard) Burt, the former of whom is deceased. ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Sat, 11 Dec 1999 21:00:46 -0500 From: "John \"Bill\" Wheeler" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <003201bf4444$b73482c0$18dfbec6@wheeler> Subject: BIO: George Robert Miller, 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. 120 George Robert Miller, M.D. The community of Fairview, Marion County, expresses its appreciation of Doctor Miller not only by saying that he is the oldest physican in the town in point of years of service, but likewise has special qualifications for his profession and is never behind in the exercise of public spirit when something needs to be done requiring the co-operation of all local citizens. Doctor Miller after completing his medical education returned to what is practically his home neighborhood. He was born on a farm in Lincoln District, about six miles from Fairview, on December 34, 1871, and except when away to school has kept quite constantly in touch with old friends and neighbors there, His father, a son of John Miller, was born on a farm at Boothsville in Marion County in 1838 and the duties of agriculture engaged him until his death in 1873. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mary Prichard Miller, mother of Doctor Miller, was born on the old Prichard homestead in Lincoln District in 1841, daughter of John Prichard and representative of a pioneer family. She died in 1912. George Robert Miller, was only two years old when his father died. He spent his boyhood on the farm, alternating between his duties and his lessons in the district schools. For three years he supplemented this early education in the Fairmont State Normal School. Teaching was his first active service for humanity, and the five years he worked in the district schools of his home county also furbished him part of the capital needed to gain his medical education. While teaching, he likewise carried private studies that furnished the equivalent of preparatory work for college. Doctor Miller graduated M.D. from the Eclectic Medical College in Cincinnati in 1901. Following a year of practice at Blacksville, West Virginia, he returned to his home district, and his continued work here, besides being highly successful, has made him the oldest physican in years of practice at Fairview. He keeps in touch with his profession through membership in the Marion County, West Virginia State and American Medical Associations and also in the National EcLectic Medical Association. His public spirit has led him to assume the responsibility of service on the town council. He is a thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite Mason, member of the Masonic Club of Fairview, the Knight of Pythias, and on the Board of Trustees of the Fairview Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1900 Doctor Miller married Harriett Phillips, a native of Greene County, Pennsylvania, and daughter of Lindsey and Ellen (Fordyce) Phillips. Doctor and Mrs. Miller have three sons and a daughter: Thomas Bryon, born in 1902, now a high school student; Aldene, born in 1903, now teaching in the public schools of Granttown; George Robert Jr., born in 1906, in high school; and William Edward, born in 1910. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 06:37:32 -0500 From: "Chris & Kerry" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <000801bf4495$480b9e00$29431104@ChrisKerry> Subject: Bio Nahum James Giddings Ph.D. of Morgantown 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.151 NAHUM JAMES GIDDINGS, PH.D. is plant pathologist at the Experiment Station and professor of plant pathology in West Virginia University. While a young man he has earned high rank among the scientists whose work is an invaluable auxiliary to the entire domain of agriculture. He has been acting Dean, College of Agriculture, West Virginia University, 1921-22, and acting Director, West Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, September, 1921, to February, 1922. Doctor Giddings was born at Ira, Vermont, November 13, 1883, son of Silas and Birdie E, (Green) Giddings. He comes of a sturdy line of New England ancestors, chiefly devoted to the practice of agriculture. The Giddings name was transplanted to America from France. Originating in France, on coming to America they settled in Connecticut, later in Massachusetts and in Vermont, and one branch went into Ohio, from which was descended the distinguished ante-bellum statesman Joshua Giddings. The grandparents of Doctor Giddings were Carlton and Nancy (Powell) Giddings, both natives of Vermont. Silas Giddings was born at Ira, Vermont, October 31, 1838, was a Green Mountain State farmer, a member of the Grange and the Congregational Church. He died in 1914. His wife, Birdie E. Green, was born at Rutland, Vermont, in 1851, and died in 1898. Her father, Nahum J. Green, was a native of the same state, and this branch of the Green family came to America prior to the Revolution. Nahum Green was an engineer, employed for some years in test drilling in the Vermont marble fields and also had some considerable experience in the coal districts of West Virginia. Nahum J. Giddings when two years of age went with his parents from Ira to Castleton, Vermont, where he was reared and received his early education. He attended district and graded schools, graduated from the Vermont State Normal School in 1902, and in the same year entered the University of Vermont, where he received his Bachelor f Science degree in 1906. Remaining at the university as assistant botanist, he continued his post graduate studies and earned his Master of Science degree in 1909. In February, 1909, Doctor Giddings came to Morgantown to accept the post of bacteriologist at West Virginia University. He was appointed plant pathologist in 1912. He spent a year in residence at the University of Wisconsin during 1916-17, and in 1918 that university awarded him the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Doctor Giddings has held the chair of professor of plant pathology in the university since 1919. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, vice president of the American Phytopathological Society, the Botanical Society of America, and is a Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi. He belongs to the First Methodist Episcopal Church and to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. June 15, 1907, Professor Giddings married Amy H. Hathaway. She was born at Clintonville, New York, daughter of Thomas E. and Mysie Hathaway, who now reside at Norfolk, Virginia. Doctor and Mrs. Giddings have one son, Sylvester Nahum, born November 2, 1909. ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 07:01:26 -0500 From: "Chris & Kerry" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <000801bf4498$9eefd9e0$4be34bc7@ChrisKerry> Subject: Bio Alva L. Hartley of Indian Creek Marion 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.151 ALVA L. HARTLEY has had an extensive business experience for a man of his years, and since removing to Morgantown has been a member of the firm Marchand & Hartley, real estate and insurance, one of the leading firms of the kind in this section of the state. Mr. Hartley's grandfather was a native of West Virginia, but he himself was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, on a farm, April 24, 1890. He is a son of Cornelius S. and Emma L. (Lemley) Hartley. His grandfather, Elijah W. Hartley, and his grandmother, Lemley are still living. Elijah W. Hartley was born in Marion County, West Virginia, in the Indian Creek neighborhood, but from there removed to Greene County, Pennsylvania. The Hartleys are of Irish and English ancestry. Elijah W. Hartley married Sarah Headley. Cornelius S. Hartley was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, was educated in the public schools, in the Valparaiso, Indiana, Normal School, and the Waynesburg College of Pennsylvania. He taught altogether about twelve terms of school in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, and later was a farmer for several years and finally engaged in merchandising at Kirby, Pennsylvania, where he is still living. He served as postmaster of Kirby for about thirteen years. He is a Methodist. His wife, Emma L. Lemley, was born in Greene County, daughter of Morris and Martha J. (Phillip) Lemley. Cornelius Hartley and wife were the parents of three children: Alva L.; Omar G., who is pursuing his studies in higher accounting at Philadelphia preparing for the profession of certified public accountant; and Martha, who died in 1905. Alva L. Hartley grew up on a farm until he was ten years of age, and then lived at Newton or Kirby Post Office in Pennsylvania. He had a public-school education, took work in summer normal schools, and in the fall of 1909 entered the Ohio Normal University at Ada, where he was graduated in 1911 with the degree B. C. S. For a year after leaving college Mr. Hartley was in life insurance work in Greene County, Pennsylvania, after which he became bookkeeper in the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, and in 1915 was elected assistant cashier of that institution. He continued with this bank until February 1, 1920, when he resigned to come to Morgantown, and has since been associated with D. K. Marchand in the life and fire insurance business, in handling real estate and coal properties. Mr. Hartley is affiliated with Dunkard Lodge No. 569, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in Pennsylvania, and Athens Lodge No. 36, Knights of Pythias. He is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church and the Chamber of Commerce. September 18, 1912, he married Lillian Marie Baer, who was born in Kirby, Pennsylvania, daughter of Benjamin F. and Flora B. (Connor) Baer. They have one son, Kenneth Cornelius, born March 5, 1915. ______________________________X-Message: #5 Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 07:14:53 -0500 From: "Chris & Kerry" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <001101bf449a$7f984080$4be34bc7@ChrisKerry> Subject: Bio William H. Adams of Morgantown, Monogalia County, WV 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.151 & 152 WILLIAM H. ADAMS. Well known and prominent in Morgantown and throughout Monongalia County, William H. Adams has had the career of a prosperous and progressive farmer, and has spent his life so far in the Cheat Neck neighborhood of Union District. Mr. Adams is one of the able members of the present County Court. He was born in the Cheat Neck community, November 14, 1865, son of Jacob and Mary (Beatty) Adams. This is a family that has been in West Virginia for more than a century. Jacob Adams was born in Preston County in 1823. His father was Thomas Adams, a native of England, and a pioneer of Preston County. Jacob Adams moved to the Cheat Neck neighborhood of Monongalia County when a young man and married there Mary Beatty, who was born in that community in 1837, daughter of Robert Beatty, a pioneer settler. Jacob Adams devoted his life to farming, and died at his home at Cheat Neck in 1915, having survived his wife since 1905. William H. Adams grew up on a farm, his education being acquired in the common schools, and his energies, study and abilities have been absorbed by the farming industry since young manhood. He owns a fine farm at Cheat Neck, and in addition to the productiveness of the soil approximately forty-five acres are underlaid with a vein of Freeport coal. Mr. Adams has always striven to do his part as a citizen, held the office of justice of the peace several years, and was elected to the County Court in 1918 for a term of six years. He is a member of Pine Knob Lodge No. 559, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Brownfield, Pennsylvania, is a working member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and votes as a republican. Mr. Adams married Nora E. Walls, who was born in Preston County, West Virginia, daughter of Ezra and Tithe (Shaw) Walls. The two daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Adams are Ethel, born in 1901, and Hildred, born in 1911. ______________________________X-Message: #6 Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 11:29:23 -0500 From: Jean Monk To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: OBIT: Mr Jay A Adkins, Huntington WV Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Mr Jay A. Adkins, 64, of Huntington, WV, formerly of Ranger, WV, died Thursday, September 8, 1994 at his home. Funeral services were Sunday, September 11, 1994 at Guyan Freewill Baptist Church, Little Harts Creek, Lincoln Couney with the Rev. Frankie Fry officiating. Burial was in Adkins and Fry Cemetery, where military graveside rites were conducted by Howard Hall. VFW Post 1064, Huntington. He was born March 11, 1930, in Lincoln County, a son of the late Kay and Flora Webb Adkins. He was a U.S. Army veteran, having served during the Korean conflict. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He also was preceded in death by two brothers, Jinks Adkins, and Ira Adkins; and one sister, Florence Martin. Survivors include one sister, Willa Sias of South Point, Ohio; several nieces and nephews, including three special nieces and a special nephew, Nikki Stiltner and Larry Sias, both of Huntington, and Carol Sias and Mary Polichena, both of Ravenna, Ohio, and a host of relatives and friends. Reger Funeral Home, Huntington, was in charge of arrangements. ______________________________X-Message: #7 Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 14:12:23 EST From: PTyler107@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0.88641fba.25854d97@aol.com> Subject: BIO: Richard B. Parrish, Southern West Virginia Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II Pg.121 Richard B. Parrish is known as a banker all over the great coal and industrial district of Southern West Virginia. He has been an official in several prosperous banking institutions in this part of the state, and is now president of the Bluefield National Bank, an institution with upwards of a million dollars in resources. Mr. Parrish was born at Malden, Kanawha County, West Virginia, August 15,1876, son of John W. and Lena (Putney) Parrish. His parents were natives of West Virginia and his great-grandfather on his mother's side was a member of the house of Burgesses in old Virginia, while a great uncle was a patriot soldier in the Revolution. John W. Parrish spent the greater part of his life as a merchant, and took a keen interest in public affairs. For many years he was on he local school board and he was also a member of the State Legislature at the time of the Goff contest, one of the notable events in legislative annals in West Virginia. While he was in the Legislature his son Richard served as a page in the House. Richard B. Parrish began his education in the common schools of Malden. In 1889 his parents removed to Huntington, where he continued through grammar school and high school, leaving high school to go to work as clerk for the Ensign Manufacturing Company, now American Car and Foundry Company. He was with that concern two years, and since then his experience has been almost entirely in banking. His early training for banking was acquired in the First National Bank of Huntington, which he entered as bookkeeeping and collection clerk, and was teller when he left in 1906. In that year Mr. Parrish while living at Northfork, West Virginia. Mr. Parrish while living in Northfork served one term as mayor, and he was also secretary of the Masonic Lodge there. In 1911 he returned to Williamson with the Mingo County Bank, and when it was reorganized in 1912 as the National Bank of Commerce he remained with it at the post of cashier. Mr. Parrish was one of the organizers in 1916 of the Bluefield National Bank, which opened its doors for business in March, 1917. Mr. Parrish was the first cashier, and made president in January, 1921, to succeed Mr. William Leckie, deceased. Mr. Parrish in 1918 organized and became the first president of the First National Bank of Matoaka, and is still a director. While at Williamson, he was secretary of Group 6 of the West Virginia State Bankers Association. In 1909, at Peterstown, Monroe County, West Virginia, Mr. Parrish married Miss May Callaway, daughter of Lewis and Wilda ( Hunter) Callaway. Her father for many years was county clerk of Monroe County. Mr. and Mrs. Parrish have one daughter, Alethea Hunter Parrish. They are members of the Presbyterian Church, Mr. Parrish being an elder. He is a Royal Arch and Knight Templar Mason and Shriner, a director in the Chamber of Commerce, a member of the National Advisory Board of the Old Colony Club, and he organized the Rotary Club at Bluefield and was its first president, holding that office two and a half years. He is a member of the Bluefield Country Club and the New Mercer County Club, one of his recreations being the game of golf.