West Virginia Statewide Files WV-Footsteps Mailing List WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 20 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: Oscar O. ALLISON, Hancock Cou [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19990919104203.00d6c0d0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: Oscar O. ALLISON, Hancock County, WV 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. 244-245 Hancock County OSCAR O. ALLISON. The really valuable men of any com- munity are not necessarily those whom fate has placed in commanding political positions where they compel ap- plause from their associates and the admiration and support of their constituents, but rather the men who rise steadily through sheer merit to governing places among commercial and financial enterprises where their abilities are directed toward the control or finances and the creation of better conditions for the working majority. Such men are not to he found everywhere. The requirements of the positions they fill and the weight of the responsibilities they volun- tarily assume are of such a nature as to bar out all but the chosen minority who have proven themselves. When such an individual has shown his worth, his value to the com- munity cannot be overestimated. Judged by these standards one of the valuable men of Chester is Oscar O. Allison, cashier of the First National Bank of Chester and secre- tary-treasurer of the Hancock County Building and Loan Company. Mr. Allison was born at Chester, March 31, 1872, a son of Samuel and Eliza (Finley) Allison, natives of the same community. Samuel Allison was born in 1837 and died May 5, 1907, in his seventy-first year, while Mrs. Allison was born December 3, 1840, and died March 17, 1910, on the anniversary of her wedding day. She and her husband had enjoyed fifty years of happy wedded life. Samuel Alli- son was a son of Charles Allison, whose father, Jonathan Allison, died in his ninety-sixth year, the latter's father, Datty Allison, being buried on his 100th birthday. Charles Allison was eighty-six years of age at the time of his demise, so it will be seen that this is a family somewhat noted for its longevity. Samuel Allison lived at the old home two miles south of Chester, at the head of Cunningham's Run or Creek. He followed farming for a long period and won success through industry and good management, so that he was able to retire in the evening of life, and tor some years lived comfortably in his pleasant home at Chester. He was a man of popularity and influence in his community, and on two occasions was the democratic can- didate for the office of sheriff, and on one occasion met defeat by but seven votes, although in a strong republican county. He and his wife were the parents of the follow- ing children: Charles F.; Sarah Jane, the widow of John L. Bernard, of Chester; Ida Mary, the wife of A. J. Glass, a retired farmer of Chester; Oscar O.; and Olive E., who was active in the First Presbyterian Church at East Liverpool, Ohio, and died in young womanhood. Charles F. Allison, brother of Oscar O. Allison, was bora on the old home farm in Hancock County, and died in March, 1921. He remained on the home farm until 1900, at which time he was elected sheriff of Hancock County, the only member of his party to be accorded that honor in forty years. During President Wilson's administration he served in the capacity of deputy United States marshal- Prior to 1900 he had made a special appraisement of real estate in Hancock County. During the last years of his life he was connected with the jewelry business. Mr. Allison was one of the incorporators and a member of the board of directors of the First National Bank of Chester. He was an elder of the Presbyterian Church at New Cumber- land. His widow, who bore the maiden name of Sally Cameron, survives him as a resident of Chester. Oscar O. Allison received his education in the country, attending the Washington Schoolhouse, which was situated on a corner of the home farm. On first coming to Chester he became interested in a general store business, with which he was identified for five years, the firm finally becoming Allison & Hobbs. Mr. Allison disposed of his interests in this enterprise to become one of the five incorporators of the First National Bank of Chester, of which be was the first cashier, a position which he still retains. A history of this institution will be found on another page of this work, as will also a review of the Hancock County Building and Loan Company, of which Mr. Allison is secretary-treasurer. He is a director in the Bucher-Smith Company, one of Chester's important industries, and in former years was a member of the board publishing the Tribune of East Liverpool, Ohio. He is a charter member of the Chamber of Commerce of East Liverpool and a director of the Kiwanis Club of that city. An adherent of progress and advancement, he has been a helpful and constructive supporter of all worthy civic, educational and religious movements. As a young man Mr. Allison joined the Presbyterian Church at Fairview (now Pughtown), and was a trustee thereof until coming to Chester, where he became one of the organizers of the church at Chester, of which he has been an elder since its inception. He has also served as clerk of the session and as delegate to the Presbytery. He has likewise been prominent in political matters, and as a stanch and uncompromising democrat has been a delegate to several congressional conventions and was formerly a member of the Democratic Executive Committee. Mr. Allison has an unique distinction as a fraternalist, having been the first member initiated in any fraternal order at Chester, where, October 4, 1890, he was accepted into the Junior Order United American Mechanics. He presided over this lodge during the first year, and for twenty years has filled one or another of its offices, in addition to having passed all the state chairs. He was made an Odd Fellow aa a charter member of New Cumberland Lodge, and was the first noble grand of Pride of Chester Lodge No. 245, being twice delegate to the Grand Lodge. He became a charter member of Chester Lodge No. 142, A. F. and A. M., of which he was made treasurer at the time of organization, an office which he still retains. In October, 1921, he was crowned inspector general of the thirty-third degree in the House of the Temple at Washington, D. C., and is the only thirty-third degree Mason in West Virginia north of Wheel- ing, there not being one even at East Liverpool. His mem- bership is as a thirty-second -degree Mason in the Con- sistory at Wheeling. Since 1910 he has been a Knight Templar in the Commandery at Wheeling, belongs to Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and on two occasions has been a representative to the Imperial Council, in 1918 at Atlantic City, and in 1920 at Portland, Oregon, and attended both. Mr. Allison is a member of the board of directors of the Scottish Rite Educational Association of West Virginia, president of the Scottish Rite Club of Chester, treasurer of the Shrine Club of Chester, a member of the Masonic clubs of Wheeling and East Liverpool and a member of the board of directors of the Masonic Temple Company of Chester, and he and Mrs. Allison are charter members of Chester Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Allison is greatly interested in tennis, baseball and all forms of whole- some athletics and recreations. Mr. Allison married Miss Anna Baxter, a daughter of Absalom Baxter, a farmer of this locality. She was edu- cated in the normal school at West Liberty, and prior to her marriage was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools. To this union there have been born two daughters and two sons: Eunice M., a graduate of Wilson College, Chambersburg, and principal of Newell High School, who la active in the work of the Presbyterian Church; Helen R., a graduate of the Pennsylvania College for Women at Pittsburgh, class of 1922; and Ralph B. and Howard R.., both deceased. ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 11:09:50 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <407ecb96.251656be@aol.com> Subject: BIO Mrs. Sarah Kernon HANSFORD, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Kanawha County George W. Atkinson 1876 p. 317 MRS. SARAH KERNON HANSFORD. Mrs. S. K. Hansford, wife of the late Felix G. Hansford, was born in Spottsylvania county, Virginia, February 10, 1795. In 1810 her parents removed to Greenbrier county, and located near the White Sulphur Springs. In 1821 she was joined in wedlock with Felix G. Hansford of Kanawba county, and shortly after their marriage, they came to the mouth of Paint creek and located on Mr. Hansford's estate at that place. Mr. Hansford was a leading citizen of Kanawba county for nearly three quarters of a century, and, after a long and useful business life, died at his Paint Creek residenee a few years since. Mrs. Hansford still occupies the old homestead, and is a vigorous and intelligent old lady. She is well read in history, and converses freely upon all subjects with which she is acquainted. She is regarded, by all who know her, as a model Christian lady, and is eminently beloved, by all of her neighbors, relations and friends. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 11:14:43 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: BIO Colonel Joel RUFFNER Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Kanawha County George W. Atkinson 1876 p. 316 COLONEL JOEL RUFFNER. The subject of this sketch was raised upon his beautiful farm about one mile above Charleston, on the Kanawba river, where he has lived the greater portion of his life. He is one of six brothers, all of whom were industrious farmers, and honorable and upright citizens. Colonel Ruffner was born in 1804; and in a previous chapter I have placed on record a number of his recollections of the olden times, which will be read, no doubt, with gencral interest. For many years he has been regarded as one of the best and most public spirited citizens of the county of his birth and nativity. He has held many responsible positions of trust at the hands of his fellow-citizens, and in all of them he proved to be worthy of the confidence of his friends, and faithful to all of the trusts confided to him. ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 11:19:38 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: BIO: Major John M. DODDRODGE, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Kanawha County George W. Atkinson 1876 p. 316 MAJOR J0HN M. DODDRIDGE. Major Doddridge was thc second son of the late Hon. Philip Doddridge, of Brooke county, the great lawyer and statesman. He was born in Pennsylvania, in 1802, and removed to Kanawha couuty, ahout 1825. He was Cashier of the Bank of Virginia, at Charleston, for many years, and was honorable and obliging in all of his business relations. During the late war he removed to Wheeling, and was appointed to the responsible office of United States Pension Agent, for the State of West Virginia, which office he continued to hold until the spring of 1871. Since that time he has resided in Charleston, serving in the capacity of Cashier of the Merchants' Bank, and other responsible positions. He has two brothers living C. B. and Philip. The former is a member of the Charleston bar, and the latter resides at Paint creek, twenty-three miles above Charleston. His brothers Yates and Biggs are both dead. ______________________________X-Message: #5 Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 11:23:17 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <5bb4614c.251659e5@aol.com> Subject: BIO: Blackwell CHILTON, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Kanawha County George W. Atkinson 1876 p. 316 BLACKWELL CHILTON. Mr. Chilton was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, March 21, 1783. He emigrated to Kanawha in September, 1827, and engaged in farming at different points in the county, uhtil he became so infirm, from the advance of age, that he discontinued all his business relations, and lived with his sons and daughter for a number of years. He died in Charles-ton, December 1, 1872, in the ninetieth year of his age. He was an industrious, honest and enterprising gentleman, and always possessed the confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens. ______________________________X-Message: #6 Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 11:40:31 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <5664a938.25165def@aol.com> Subject: HIST Recollections of George HARMON, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit For Janice Harmon Floridal History of Kanawha County George W. Atkinson 1876 p. 195-197 RECOLLECTIONS OF GEORGE HARMON George Harmon resides near the mouth of Pocatalico river, is eighty-seven years of age, and can walk thirty miles as quickly, almost, as he could fifty years ago. A few months since he walked from his home to that of his relatives near Malden, in this county, a distance of upwards of twenty miles. He is unquestionably the most active man of his age I have ever met. He came to Kanawha in 1799. At that time George Clendennin and a few others lived in Charleston, Thomas Upton resided just below Charles-ton, Thomas Cobbs owned a farm immediately above the mouth of Davis' creek, and his brother Fleming lived at the mouth of this creek. Stephen Teays then lived at the mouth of Coal river. Tackett's Fort, at that place, was destroyed by the Indians a few years prior to that time. John McElhenny and Chris. Tackett were the only men at the fort when it was attacked by the Indians. Tackett was killed, and McElhenny and wife, Betsy Tackett, Sam Tackett, and a small boy, were taken prisoners. They were carried to the foot of the hill near the fort, and McElhenny was tomahawked by the Indians. Mr. Harmon says that he, on several occasions, saw the skeleton of McElhenny, which lay near the ruins of the fort for many years. John and Lewis Tackett and their mother were taken prisoners while gathering turnips near the fort. John succeeded in making his escape, but Lewis and his mother were taken to the village of the Indians on the Scioto, where they were kept for about two years, when they were ransomed by the whites. Mrs. Polly Tackett was then about sixty years of age, and afterwards died, on Elk river, at the advanced age of 110 years. He saw Ann Bailey on several occasions, and confirms everything that has been said of her. Mr. Harmon claims that the Indians had a tradition of a silver mine near the mouth of Pocatalico, on a small branch emptying into that river. He is of opinion that there is no hoax about it, as he has recently found several excellent specimens of silver ore. He has, also, several strangely cut stones, which he found many feet below the surface of the earth, in the vicinity of his residence. When he first came to the Valley there were elk and bear in great abundance. They, however, gradually disappeared, until the elk has be. come extinct within the Valley, and the wild bear has been driven back into the mountains. Mr. Harmon, as I have stated, is eighty-seven years of age, and never took a dose of medicine in his life. It has been eighty-one years since he took a drink of liquor. He quit chewing tobacco about fifty years ago. Smoked for forty years, and stopped that practice, also, about three years since. He kept his tobacco in a tin box for many years, and would smell it, but never tasted it. He used snuff for many years, but left off that practice also. His last tooth was extracted twenty years since. He never had a tooth pulled until it got so loose that he could remove it with his fingers. He was married at the age of forty, and his wife is now sixty-seven years of age. He never used spectacles, and retained his sight until about four years ago, when he had erysipelas, which settled in his eyes, and very much impaired his vision. When he was a small child he was covered with boils, one of which was in his left eye, and destroyed the sight. He says that his mother always told him that he was larger when one month old than he was at six months. He is five feet five inches tall, and never weighed over 148 pounds. His hearing was always good, until recently he has been troubled with bealings in his ears, which have slightly injured his hearing. Who will say, after reading this brief biography, that George Harmon is not a very remarkable man? It is proper for me to state that, in order to render my accounts of the early history and incidents of the county as perfect as they could be made, I have consulted with nearly every aged citizen within the Kanawha Valley, male and female; and I am pleased to state that the recollections of those whom I have not given a place in my wQrk, unqualifiedly corroborate those from whom I have quoted. Of such I cannot fail to mention Abia Rece, a nonogenarian, who resides at Melton, in Cabell county, who was born in Spottsylvania county, in 1784, and came to Kanawha in 1791. He is now an active old man, and promises to live many more years in the Valley of his adoption. Mrs. Sarah Kernon Hansford, wife of the late Felix G. Hansford, who resides at Paint creek, has reached the ripe old age of eighty-three, and her recollections, running back over three-quarters of a century, fully substantiated the facts which I have placed on record, to be crystalized, I trust, into enduring history. I might mention others, all interviewed at different times, and places, and under different circumstances, yet all of whom give in the same line of testimony, and certify to the facts, occurrences and events which I have chronicled. ______________________________X-Message: #7 Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 11:49:00 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <4b2e3d25.25165fec@aol.com> Subject: HIST: Hansford Mansion and Others of that time, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Kanawha County George W. Atkinson 1876 p. 197-198 The first frame residence ever built in the Kanawha Valley, outside of Charleston, was the Hansford mansion, half a mile below Paint creek, now owned by Die Hansford, Esq. It was built seventy-four years ago, out of rived boards neatly dressed. The ceiling is cherry and the weather boarding yellow poplar and walnut. The nails used in its construction were home-made. The building is now in a good state of preservation, and will stand another three-quarters of a century, unless destroyed by accident. In Charleston, on the bank of the river at the junction of Truslow with Kanawha street, stands a two story frame house which was built by James A. Lewis, in 1817. Mr. Lewis was a carpenter by trade, and while engaged in teaching school in Charleston, he, during mornings, evenings, and Saturdays, put up this building. It is also constructed of split boards, and is covered with cedar shingles. It indicates good workmanship as well as the use of good material. Wood-chopping was a great branch of industry in the vicinity of the Salines, for the first quarter of the present century. Coal had not been discovered, and wood was used exclusively for the manufacture of salt. For many miles in every direction, all of the timber was cut into cordwood and transported to the Salines. Men became quite skillful in the use of the ax, and it is claimed as a fact, and I am not disposed to dispute it, that Ebenezer Oakes, who died at his farm three miles below Charleston, a few years since, chopped eleven cords of wood in one day. He was pronounced the champion wood-chopper of his generation. I omitted to notice in the proper place that on Tackett's creek, about half a mile below Coalsmouth, from eight to twelve feet under ground, is a corduroy road made of pine poles about three inches in diameter. The creek has cut its way into the embankment within the last few years, and has exposed to view this ancient road. The depositing of the alluvium above the poles could not have occupied less than two to three hundred years, and perhaps took much longer than that. It is, therefore, a very positive proof of the existence of a prehistoric race in the Great Kanawha Valley. ______________________________X-Message: #8 Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 11:54:50 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <9552f0e1.2516614a@aol.com> Subject: BIO: William D. SHREWSBURY, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Kanawha County George W. Atkinson 1876 p. 320 WILLIAM D. SHREWSBURY. W. D. Shrewsbury, son of Joel Shrewsbury, Sr., has been a citizen of prominence in Kanawba county for a great many years. The greater portion of his life has been spent in the manufacture of salt, and the business of general merchandising. Mr. Shrewsbury is'a gentleman who possesses much more than ordinary intelligence, and has always been regarded as strictly honest and fair in all his dealings. He resides in Malden, and is the father of a large family. ______________________________X-Message: #9 Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 11:58:20 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <73a90f1b.2516621c@aol.com> Subject: BIO: Colonel William DICKINSON, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Kanawha County George W. Atkinson 1876 p. 320 COLONEL WILLIAM DICKINSON. Colonel Dickinson is the only son of William Dickinson, Sr., who was one of the leading salt makers of the Kanawha Valley for over fifty years. He was born in Bedford county, Virginia, but has spent the greater portion of his life in Kanawha. He is now upwards of eighty years of age, and is resid~ng upon his magnificent farm on the Kanawha river, fifteen miles above Charleston. He has a princely estate, and seenis to enjoy himself in his retired farm life. He never would accept any office never owed anybody anything, always lived up to his promises, and has the respect of all persons who ever had any dealings with Dim. Kanawba has no better citizen than Colonel William Dickinson, and no kinder hearted gentleman ever lived in the Valley of the Great Kanawha. He always looked at the sunny side of everything, and therefore necessarily enjoys life. ______________________________X-Message: #10 Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 12:01:52 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <2b992381.251662f0@aol.com> Subject: BIO: Spicer PATRICK, MD, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Kanawha County George W. Atkinson 1876 p. 321 SPICER PATRICK. M.D. Dr. Patrick has always refused, at every opportunity, to allow anything to be published that was personal to himself. I can only say, therefore, that he has been one of the most prominent citizens of this portion of the State for over a-half century. For many years he was the most noted physician in the Kanawha Valley; and he has also figured prominently in the political history of the Valley. He was frequently elected to the Legislature of this State, as a member of either House, when the Virginias were one; and since the formation of West Virginia, he has likewise served in the same capacities in the Legislature of this State. He was a strenuous Union man during the late war, and did much to prevent the passage of the Ordinance of Secession by the Virginia Convention of i86o. Prior to the war he was a Whig, but for several years past he has acted with the Democratic party. Dr. Patrick is now eighty-five years of age. Here resides upon his farm, one and a-half miles west of Charleston, and is in the enjoyment of comparatively good health. ______________________________X-Message: #11 Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 12:10:18 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <85bcce89.251664ea@aol.com> Subject: BIO: James Henry FRY, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Kanawha County George W. Atkinson 1876 p. 321 JAMES HENRY FRY. James H. Fry, son of Reuben Fry, 'who married Ann C. Slaughter, was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, December 27, 1798, and came to Charleston in October, 1818. He studied law in the office of his brother, the late Judge Joseph L. Fry, and was admitted to the bar, but abandoned the practice, and engaged in more active business pursuits. He was a salt maker in the Salines for a number of years; was deputy sheriff for two or three terms, and was sheriff of the county for four consecutive years. He served two terms in the lower branch of the Virginia Legislature, and one term in the State Senate. Mr. Fry was an excellent business man, and was universally respected by every one who knew him. He died at his residence in Charleston, June 26, 1863. His wife, and several sons and daughters, still reside in Charleston. ______________________________X-Message: #12 Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 12:54:11 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: BIO: Ezra WALKER, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Kanawha County George W. Atkinson 1876 p. 321 EZRA WALKER Ezra Walker was born in the State of Vermont in 1802, and in early life moved to Ohio, where he graduated at the Ohio University at Athens. Shortly after completing his course of study in college, he came to Virginia, and taught school at the Kanawha Salines for a short time He then came to Charleston and studied and practiced law until 1832, when he relinquished the same to discharge the then onerous duties of principal superintendent of the James River and Kanawha improvements, which extended from Covington to the Ohio River. In 1832 Mr. Walker married Miss Mary Smith, of Staunton, Virginia. Shortly after her marriage she died, and in 1849 Mr. Walker married Julia Shephard, by whom he had two children, Ezra and Kate, who now reside in Kanawha county. In March, 1853, owing to excessive fatigue and exposure in discharging his duties as superintendent of the James River and Kanawha improvements, he died at Mud Bridge, at the residence of Mr. Reece, in the county of Cabell, and his remains now rest in the Wilson Cemetery at Charleston. At the time of his death, his home was in the county of Greenbrier, a short distance west of Lewisburg. Mr. Walker was a ripe and finished scholar, the early friend and asso-ciate of the late distinguished Judge George W. Summers, with whom he graduated at the Ohio University, and was the warm and confidential friend of Judge Lewis Summers; to be such, was evidence of his worth and standing, intellectually, morally and religiously. For many years Mr. Walker was an Elder in the Presbyterian church in Charleston, and also in Lewisburg. He was a liberal and working member and officer of the church, and the sincere friend of the late Dr. James M. Brown, for many years the pastor of the Charleston church, and of Dr. McElhenny, pastor of the church at Lewisburg. Mr. Walker was truly a Christian gentleman, and wherever known was loved and respected. In his life and character, humanity was seen in its best phase, and with as little imperfection as is seer seen in human nature. ______________________________X-Message: #13 Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 12:57:44 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <3cca0108.25167008@aol.com> Subject: BIO: Edmund SAUNDERS, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Kanawha County George W. Atkinson 1876 p. 322-323 EDMUND SAUNDERS Mr. Saunders was born in Dingle, county of Carey, Ireland, in November, I774, which if his chronology is correct, makes him more than a centenarian. He emigrated to the United States in 1845, and spent about six months in New York city. He then removed to Virginia, and worked on different railroads in the eastern portion of the State until 1863, when he came to Charleston, where he still resides. He never had a serious illness, and is now in the enjoyment of good health. Age, however, has bent his once stalwart frame, and it is now with great difficulty that he walks about. He voted in the late State and Presidential elections, but was taken to the polls in a carriage. If his memory is reliable, and his relations insist that it is, he is the oldest man I have found who now resides in Kanawha county. *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by 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 submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ***********************************************************************