WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 161 Today's Topics: #1 Bio: James Robert Laird of Tazewel ["Chris & Kerry" ] #4 Bio-Edward Gregg Donley- Morgantow [Joan Wyatt ] #5 Bio: Thomas L. Shields - Taylor co [Tina Hursh To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <002c01bf4945$8f15b9c0$12521104@ChrisKerry> Subject: Bio: James Robert Laird of Tazewell County, 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. 159 JAMES ROBERT LAIRD. In a business way James Robert Laird is widely known both in West Virginia and old Virginia through his active associations as an organizer and executive in some very successful and financial organizations. Business responsibilities have accumulated rapidly for Mr. Laird during the last fifteen years of his life, while the period before that was evidently one of intensive training and preparation for these duties. He is also conspicuous as a lay member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mr. Laird was born in Tazewell County, Virginia, June 21, 1879, son of Samuel H. and Rachel (Witten) Laird, natives of Virginia, where his father was a farmer and school teacher, and identified with the educational affairs of Tazewell County for many years. James Robert Laird was reared in a home of modest comforts and had to make practical use of his talents before he finished his education. He left high school in 1896, and then took up the general insurance business at Tazewell, a business line he followed for several years. It was in 1911 that he began widening his scope of efforts, in which year, in addition to his insurance work, he established a mortgage loan and real estate agency at Bluefield, West Virginia, and an automobile sales agency at Tazewell, Virginia, each of these concerns requiring separate offices. Mr. Laird is a prominent factor in the automobile business, having established the Tazewell Motor Company and several other motor sales companies and wholesale gas companies, and is vice president of all these growing and prospering concerns. Mr. Laird has been a resident of Bluefield since 1911, in which year he organized the Virginia Realty Loan Company, of which he is president. He is also president of the Federal Lumber Company of North Tazewell, Virginia, and has recently organized and become the first president of the Bluefield Trust Company. In 1901, at Tazewell, Mr. Laird married Miss Eva St. Clair Tynes, daughter of Maj. A. J. and Harriett (Fudge) Tynes, natives of Virginia. Major Tynes established the first woolen mill in Tazewell County, about 1865. He was an officer in the Confederate Army during the Civil war, his regiment being commanded by General McCausland. Mr. and Mrs. Laird have four children: Houston T., a student in Washington and Lee University; Mary and Frances, twins; and James Robert, Jr. Mr. Laird is a member of the Masonic Lodge, Chamber of Commerce, Bluefield Country Club and the Old Colony Club. One of the causes nearest to his heart is the Mission Schools for the mountain boys and girls, and he has given liberally not only of his money but his time to this great work of education. As a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, he had the honor of being elected on the first ballot as delegate for the General Conference of the Church held at Hot Springs. This was the quadrennial conference in which is formulated the general policy of the business side of the church and its laws and rules governing the churches, and the election of Mr. Laird as a lay delegate is an honor that comes to but few men in a lifetime. ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 05:55:53 -0500 From: "Chris & Kerry" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <003701bf4946$74f7d2c0$12521104@ChrisKerry> Subject: Bio: Wade Hampton St. Clair, M.D. of Tazewell County, 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. 159 & 160 WADE HAMPTON ST. CLAIR, M. D., has from the first been the associate organizer and founder with Dr. John F. Fox in the Bluefield Sanitarium, one of the best institutions of the kind in the state. These very capable physicians and surgeons have kept adding to the facilities of the Sanitarium from time to time until it now represents a large and complete modern hospital, and its clinics are attended as part of the professional training routine by an increasing number of physicians and surgeons from this and adjoining states. Doctor St. Clair was born in Tazewell County, Virginia, April 18, 1877, son of Alexander and Maria (Tiffany) St. Chair. He is of Scotch and Irish ancestry, and his people have been in America for a number of generations. His parents were both born in Virginia, and his father at the age of eighteen enlisted in the Confederate Army and served with a Virginia regiment two years. After the war he followed farming and planting, was a banker, and a man of great influence in Tazewell County. Wade Hampton St. Chair attended the common and high schools of Tazewell County and completed his literary education in Randolph-Macon Academy at Bedford City and in Emory-Henry College at Emory, Virginia. He took his preliminary medical course in the University of Virginia, graduating M. D. in 1900. Far about two years following he was in New York City as an interne, specializing in surgery at the New York Polyclinic Hospital. Following that he located at Bluefield and entered general practice, soon becoming associated with Doctor Fox in the building of the original Bluefield Sanitarium. In September, 1921, the Bluefield Sanitarium was incorporated with a capital of $200,000. Doctor St. Clair is known for his great thoroughness and skill as a surgeon, and while he has been steadily engaged in practice for twenty years he has never lost contact with the progressive ideas and methods being worked out in the great medical centers of the world. Each year he has attended some clinics or professional course in such cities as New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and the Mayo Brothers at Rochester, Minnesota. Doctor St. Clair has a personality that supplements his professional skill. He is a wholesome, genial gentleman, and his fine character has been a distinct asset to the sanitarium and to the community of Bluefield. Doctor St. Clair is a member of the County and State Medical Societies of Virginia and West Virginia, the American Medical Association, and the American College of Surgeons. At Bluefield he is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club and Country Club. At Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, in 1906, Doctor St. Clair married Elizabeth Armstrong, daughter of George W. and Bell (Boyd) Armstrong. They hare two children, Wade H., Jr., and Alexander Armstrong St. Clair. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 07:34:48 -0500 From: Joan Wyatt To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <385B7F66.8BBD2DE5@uakron.edu> Subject: Bio: Enoch M. Everly- Morgantown, WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume 11 Page 176 Enoch M. Everly There has always been a strong contention among intelligent men that an individual can have no better training for success in life than that which comes from work as an educator. Certain it is that many of the leading men of the country began their careers as teachers, and this applies to Enoch M. Everly, now one of the leaders of the Morgantown bar and senior member of the law firm of Everly & Bowman. Prior to his entrance into his present profession, he had attained standing and reputation as an educator. Mr. Everly was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1864, a son of Allen and Mariah (Brewer) Everly. His grandfather, Nicholas Everly, was a pioneer of Greene County, where he settled soon after the close of the War of the Revolution on land secured by grant from the United States Government. He was the son of Adam Everly, a solider of the War of the Revolution, who served under Capt. George Strickler with the Maryland troops. The maternal grandparents of Mr. Everly were Daniel and Mary Brewer. The father died when Enoch M. was only a few months old, while his mother passed away in 1915. After completing the common school course in Greene County, Enoch M. Everly found it necessary to assist in his own support, and accordingly adopted the vocation of educator and taught in the same school as which he had attended, as well as in other schools in his home locality. He was graduated in the classical course at Waynesburg College, Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, in 1892, having in the meantime spent several years in study, teaching and farm work during the vacation periods. Leaving college, Mr. Everly continued to teach. He was principal of the Mt. Morris (Pennsylvania) High School in 1895, organized and conducted several large and successful private normal schools for the training of teachers, and during parts of the years 1903, 1904, 1905 and 1906 attended Waynesburg College, where he completed the higher courses, and in 1896 received his degree of Doctor of Philosophy. In the fall of 1896 he accepted the chair of mathematics in the McKeesport (Pennsylvania) High School, in 1897 was appointed principal of one of the ward schools of that city, and subsequently was made principal of McKeesport's largest and most centrally located public school. In the fall of 1899 Mr. everly began reading law with the Pittsburgh Law School class, and in 1902 resigned his position as teacher at McKeesport and entered the law department of the University of West Virginia, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws as a member of the class of 1903. Admitted to the bar of this state in the same year, he at once began practice at Morgantown, where he continued to the present. His practice is limited to general law, specializing in corporation work, a field in which he has met with great success. Mr. Everly is a director in and counsel for several large corporations. He is a member of the Monongalia County Bar Association, and his religious connection is with the Baptist Church, of which he is a member of the Board of Trustees. A democrat in his political views, he has long been one of the strong and influential members of his party in this section, and in 1912 was its candidate for circuit judge, but met defeat although running ahead of his ticket. In 1916 he was the candidate for state senator, and although running in a district strongly republican, was defeated by only thirty votes. In 1898 Mr. Everly married Eva M. Keener, the daughter of James and Mary (Shroyer) Keener. Mrs. Everly is an alumnus of the California (Pennsylvania) State Normal School and of Waynesburg (Pennsylvania) College, and at the time of her marriage was a teacher in the McKeesport (Pennsylvania) public schools. To Mr. and Mrs. Everly there has been born a daughter, Mary, a member of the class of 1921 at Morgantown High School. ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 09:14:50 -0500 From: Joan Wyatt To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <385B96D4.A1FC8762@uakron.edu> Subject: Bio-Edward Gregg Donley- Morgantown, WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York Page 176 Edward Gregg Donley The law is known as a stern mistress, demanding of her devotees constant and unremitting attention and leading her followers through many mazes and intricacies before they reach the goal of their desires. This incessant devotion frequently precludes the possibility of the successful lawyer indulging in activities outside of the straight path of his profession, especially if his vocational duties are of an extensive and important character. Yet there are men who find the opportunity and inclination to devote to outside interests, and who by the very reason of their legal talents are peculiarly and particularly equipped to perform capable and useful service therein. Edward Gregg Donley has been known for twenty-two years as a close devotee of the law. A master of its perplexities, his activities have been directed incessantly to the demands of his calling. Yet he has found the leisure to discharge in a highly eloquent manner the duties dictated by a high ideal of citizenship, and he is, therefore, probably as well known at Morgantown as a public-spirited factor in civic affairs as he is as a thorough,profound and learned legist. Mr. Donley was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, March 23, 1878, a son of the late David L. and Louisa (Evans) Donley. This branch of the Donley family was founded in America by James Donley, who came over from Ireland in about the year 1785. While he was not a soldier of the American Revolution, he was with Washington's Army and was with the troops sent to quell the "Whiskey Insurrection" in Western Pennsylvania. Like numerous others of these soldiers, after receiving his honorable discharge from the service at Pittsburgh he went to Greene County, Pennsylvania, where he established a permanent home. His son, Joseph R. Donley, was a store-keeper at Jimtown, Monongalia County, Virginia, in 1830, as shown by the early records of that county. David L. Donley, the son of Joseph R. Donley, and father of Edward Gregg Donley, was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, in 1836, and died at Morgantown, West Virginia, in 1908. He was for many years a successful agriculturist, stock grower and banker in Greene County, and was very active in oil, his farm having been situated in the oil district in Pennsylvania which was the scene of the first big oil strike in 1887. The mother of Edward G. Donley was born in Monongalia County, West Virginia, in 1845, and died in Oklahoma in 1911. She was the daughter of Alexander Evans, who owned a farm in Cass District, Monongalia County, as early as 1845. His mother was a daughter of Capt. James Vance of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary war, and fifty years after the close of that struggle was granted a pension for his service as a commissioned officer. Edward G. Donley received his early education in the public schools of Pennsylvania and Kansas, following which he entered the University of West Virginia, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in the class of 1899. In that year he was admitted to the West Virginia bar and entered practice at Morgantown as senior member of the firm of Donley & Hatfield, which association continues. His advancement in his calling has been consistent, serving to place him among the leading members of the Monongalia County bar. He has a large, remunerative and representative business, and well merits the high esteem in which he is held by his clientele and by his fellow-members at the bar. In 1907 Mr. Donley was elected a member of the Morgantown City Counsel, serving in that capacity for three years, and in 1910 was elected mayor, an office to which he was re-elected in 1911. His public service was characterized by a high conception of duty and a capable and conscientious activity in the discharge of his duties. He is a charter member, president and attorney of the Athens Building and Loan Association, one of the largest institutions of its kind in the city; president of the Blue Flame Fuel Company, a wholesale coal company, was formally a director in the Federal Savings & Trust Company, is a director of the Rosedale Company, and the Commercial Bank of Morgantown, and is financially interested in other corporations at home and abroad. He belongs to the Phi Kappa Sigma college fraternity, of the Monongalia County Bar Association and of the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce, in all which he has numerous friends. He is a member of the Official Board of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Donley married Miss Eleanor Tucker, daughter of Julius Tucker, formally of Greene County, Pennsylvania, and to this union there has been one son born, Robert Tucker, who graduated from Morgantown High School, class of 1920, and in 1921 is a sophomore at the University of West Virginia. Mrs. Donley's grandmother, Eleanor Rose, was a cousin to President William McKinley, whose mother was a member of the Rose family. ______________________________X-Message: #5 Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 20:47:41 -0600 From: Tina Hursh To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <1.5.4.32.19991219024741.0067cacc@clubnet.isl.net> Subject: Bio: Thomas L. Shields - Taylor co. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 72-73 Thomas L. Shields was distinctively a man of ability and of those sterling attributes of character that ever beget popular confidence and esteem. Through his own efforts he achieved substantial success in connection with the practical affairs of life and by his character and achievement he honored his native state. He died at his attractive subruban home at Parmaco, near the City of Parkersburg, on the 28th of January, 1904, and had been retired from active business for some time prior to his demise. Mr. Shields was born in Taylor County, West Virginia on the 18th of December, 1856, and was a son of Zaddock and Penelope (Asbury) Shields, both likewise natives of Taylor County, where they passed their entire lives and where the respecitve families settled in the pioneer period of the history of that section of the state. Zaddock Shields became a merchant at Pruntytown, Taylor County, and was influential in public afairs in that part of the state, which he represented in the State Legistlature, besides which he served a sheriff of his native county, each of these official preferments having come to him after he had been a gallant soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war. Both during and after the close of war his pleasant home was favored stopping place for his old comrades in arms. Thomas L. Shields was but thirteen years of age at the time of his father's death, and thus he did not attend school with any appreciable degree of regularity after that time, as he found it incumbent upon him to find employment that should enable him to aid in the support of his widowed mother and the yonger children, he having been a member of a large family of children. His broader education was that gained through self-discipline and through the lessons gained in the school of practical experience. After the death of his father Mr. Shields found employment in a machine shop at Grafton, the county seat of his native county and his receptiveness enabled him to acquire marked skill as a mechanic, the while his executive ability and his trustworthiness led to his eventual advancement to the position of superintendent of this establishement. Later he became district superintendent of a chian of water stations on the line of the Baltimre & Ohio Railroad, in the service of which he continued some time. About the year 1891 he removed with his fammily to Parkersburg and became proprietor of the old Commercial Hotel, which he conducted with marked success as did he later the Jackson Hotel, which under his management gained high repute and was a favored stopping place for commerial travelers and others who visited the city. He finally retired from active business and, as already stated, he passed the closing period of his life in the suburb of Parmaco, where he had purchased a tract of ten acres of land and developed one of the most attractive homes of this beautiful district. While a resident of Grafton, Taylor County, Mr. Shields became one of the organizers and charter members of the lodge of free and Accepted Masons at that place, and he continued in active affiliation with this fraternity until his death. At Parkersburg he was an appreciative and popular member of the lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His political allegiance was given to the democratic party, and he was a member of the First Baptist Church of Parkersburg, of which his widow likewise is an earnest member. She remains in the attractive home at 215 Thirteenth Street, the same being under her care a center of gracious hospitality. On the 21st of May, 1885, was solemized the marriage of Mr. Shields with Miss Grace M. Dudley, daughter of the late John W. Dudley, to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this publication. Mr. and Mrs. Shields became the parents of five children: Dudley L. is the subject of individual mention in the sketch that immediately follows this review; Inez is the wife of Frederick Hopkins, M.D.; Emma P. is the wife of Lee Powell; Mildred is the wife of Nowrey Smith; and Thomas L. is the youngest of the number.