West Virginia Statewide Files WV-Footsteps Mailing List WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 50 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: Wilbur F. SHIRKEY, M.D., Kana [SSpradling@aol.com] #2 BIO: Gustav B. CAPITO, M.D., Kanaw [SSpradling@aol.com] #3 BIO: Hon. William Mercer Owens DAW [SSpradling@aol.com] #4 BIO: John R. WALKER, M.D., Kanawha [SSpradling@aol.com] #5 BIO: Buckner CLAY, Kanawha County [SSpradling@aol.com] #6 BIO: James M. THACKER, Kanawha Cou [SSpradling@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: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 02:54:08 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: BIO: Wilbur F. SHIRKEY, M.D., Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens W.S. Laidley Richmond Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, ILL. 1911 p. 427 WILBUR F. SHIRKEY, M.D., physician and surgeon at Malden, W. Va., where he is an honored member of his profession, belongs to one of the old families of Kanawha County, it having been established early by his grandfather, David Shirkey, who came from old Virginia. The parents of Dr. Skirkey were John G. and Martha (Matheny) Shirkey. His great grand-father came from Ireland about 1790 and settled in Virginia. He spelled his name "Sharkey." The name was changed to Shirkey by his grandfather. The father of Dr. Shirkey was born near Sissonville, Kanawha County, in 1832, and he died on his farm on the Elk River, in Elk District, in 1887. He was a farmer and also a school teacher. He married Martha Matheny, who was reared at Pinch, in Elk District, and still survives. They had five children, namely: Wilbur F.; David W., who is an attorney at law; Sherrian, who is manager of a company store in this section; Margaret, who died at the age of eight years; and Susan. Wilbur F. Shirkey was a child when the family moved to the farm in Elk District and there his boyhood was spent. He attended the public schools and also had advantages at Carbondale Academy, and attended medical lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Baltimore, Md., beginning his practiceat Jarrett Ford and later returning to the medical college to graduate with the class of 1894. Subse-quently he took a post graduate course at the New York Polyclinic, and a second one at the Chicago Post Graduate College, at Chicago, Ill. In 1890 Dr. Shirkey came to Malden, where he has ever since been established, and here, through professional ability and sterling traits of character, he has won his way to success in his profession and to the esteem of his fellow citizens. He keeps fully abreast with the times and is a member of the Kanawha County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. Dr. Shirkey was married April 14, 1881, to Miss Sarah Woody, a daughter of Flem-ing Woody, and they have five children: Ethel, who is accomplished in music, which she teaches; Wilma, who has turned her talents in the direction of teaching; Sidney, who is a mining engineer; and Wilbur F. and Sarah, twins, who are still in school. In his political sentiments Dr. Shirkey is a Re-publican and is active in party councils, be-ing a member of the County Republican Committee. He is identified fraternally with the Red Men at MaIden and to the Ma-sons, belonging to Blue Lodge No.27, at MaIden and to the higher branches at Charleston, being a "Shnner." Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 02:59:40 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <8c941ba9.251f1e5c@aol.com> Subject: BIO: Gustav B. CAPITO, M.D., Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens W.S. Laidley Richmond Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, ILL. 1911 p. 427-428 GUSTAV B. CAPITO, M.D., of Charleston, W. Va., was born in this city in 1878, a son of Charles and Sophia (Bentz) Capito. His paternal grandparents were Godfrey and Catharine (Miller) Capito, the former a native of Germany, who in 1856 settled with his family at Mason City, Va., where he was a well known business man for many years, first as a blacksmith and later being engaged in the brewing trade. Charles Capito, who was seven years of age when the family settled in Mason City, was there reared and partly educated, subsequently being a stud'ent for six years at Concordia Col-lege, at Fort Wayne, Ind. He then returned home and engaged in the drug business at Mason City, later becoming a grocer. In 1872 he came to Charleston, where he has since re-sided. For eleven years he conducted a fancy grocery and vegetable business here, after which he went into the wholesale liqu6r business, which he followed until 1905, when he retired. Subsequently he became identified with the city's banking interests, and since September 1, 1910, has been president of the Kanawha Nationl Bank, of which he is also a director. He has also been officially connected with the Kanawha Valley Building and Loan Association and other important enterprises. He is one of the leading business men of the city and for eleven years has been president of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce. Charles Capito was married in 1877 to Miss Sophia Bentz and they have four children-Gustav, Bertha, Henry and Kate. Henry Capito is also a prominent business man of Charleston, being superintendent of the Diamond Ice and Coal Company. Gustav B. Capito was educated in the public schools of Charleston and at the Washington-Lee University, where he was graduated in '899 with the degree of B.A. Later he entered the medical department of the college and was graduated M.A., M.D. in the class of 1905. He also pursued medical studies in 1904 and 1906 at St. Luke's Hospital, New York City, and later in Berlin, Germany. Then returning home he began medical practice in his native city and has already achieved a good professional reputation. He is interested in hospital work and is a close student of medical science. He belongs to the county, state and national medical associations. Perhaps few men of his age could be found better equipped for his profession, and with the excellent beginning he has already made, it may be confidently expected that his future will be one of still more honorable achievement. Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 03:11:24 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: BIO: Hon. William Mercer Owens DAWSON, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens W.S. Laidley Richmond Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, ILL. 1911 p. 428-432 HON. WILLIAM MERCER OWENS DAWSON, exgovernor of West Virginia, was born at Bloomington, Md., within a few hundred yards of the Virginia (West Virginia) line, May 21, 1853, son of Francis Ravenscroft (sometimes written Ravenscra ft) and Leah (Kight) Dawson. He is descended on the paternal side from martial an-cestors who accompanied Oliver Cromwell to Ireland and fought to subdue the insurrectionary forces in that unhappy island. One of them came to this ceuntry quite early in the history of the colonies. At a later day we find a branch of the family residing in Allegheny county, Maryland, where John Dawson, our subject's grandfather, was born. The latter was a blacksmith by occupation and locally a well known and respected citizen. He married a Miss Ravenscroft. who was born and lived and died in Maryland, in or near Dawson. John Dawson and wife had seven children, most of whom grew to maturity, married, and reared families of their own. The members of the family generally were Methodists in their religious affiliations. The youngest son of John Dawson, the Rev. Samuel R. Dawson, was for many years a well known and popular preacher in the M. E. church, North, and died in 1892 at an advanced age, at Ellenboro, Ritchie county, W. Va. Another son of John, Hanson B. Dawson, was clerk of the Circuit Court of Romney, Hampshire county, W. Va.; he died September 6, 1876. He married a Mrs. Shabe, widow of Daniel Shabe and daughter of James Parsons, whose wife was a sister of General Fairfax. They had no issue. Francis Ravenscroft Dawson, father of our subject, was the eldest child of his parents, and was born near Dawson, Md., in 1809. He learned his father's trade of blacksmith, and later became clerk for Samuel Brady, a wealthy man who owned a large plantation and a number of slaves. Later Francis R. Dawson took up the mercantile business at Piedmont, W. Va., and at Bloomington, Md. He died in July, j88i, at the age of almost eighty years. He was a class leader in the M. F. church, and a very hospitable man. During the Civil War peribd, his sympathies were with the Union cause. One of his sons, Frank M., was a soldier in the 17th W. Va. Volunteers, enlisting as a private and serving from 1863 mitil the close of the war. Francis R. Dawson married, in 1832, Leab Kight, who was born in Virginia in 1811. Her father, John Kight, and her mother, whose maiden name also was Kight, were both Vir-ginians. They were active members of the Methodist church and both attained an advanced age. The children of Francis R. and Leah Dawson were Penelope, John H., Nancy C., Mariam, David Shoaf, Frank M., and William Mercer Owens. Of those other than our subject, the record in brief is as follows: Penelope, who is the widow of E. Clark Jones, but has no children, resides in Terra Alta, W. Va. John H., who was a well known steamboat cap tam on the Ohio river, died at Parkersburg, W. Va., in 1879. He married Miss Jennie Shaffer, who resides at Parkersburg, W. Va. Her only son, Harry H. Dawson, of Norfolk, Va., died in the fall of 1910. Nancy C., widow of George E. Gtithrie, resides with her son, the Rev. Charles E. Guthrie, pastor of the First M. E. church at Wilkesbarre, Pa. Other children of hers are D. S. Guthrie, of Chicago; Wade H., state printer at Charleston, W. Va., and William V., publisher of "The Methodist," of Baltimore, Md. Mariam, the fourth child of Francis R. and Leah Dawson, married Joseph Goodrich, and died leaving several. children. David Shoaf, the fifth child, if now living, is probably in South America. No news has been received from him for a considerable time. Frank M., whose military history has been already referred to, is a machinist, and resides in Toledo, Ohio. He married Miss Cole of Grafton, W. Va., and they have sev-eral children. William M. 0. Dawson, with whose history we are more directly concerned, had the misfor-tune to lose his mother when he was a child of less than four years, and he resided successively with his father at Cranberry (now Terra Alta), Bruceton Mills, and Ice's Ferry. In 1863 he began to learn the cooper's trade at Cranberry, where also for a time he attended public school, subsequently continuing his education in a pri-vate school at Terra Alta. During this period he also worked for some time as a clerk and taught school. In 1873 he became a resident of King,vood, the county seat of Preston coun-ty, and became editor of "The Preston County Journal," a Republican newspaper, for which he had previously been a correspondent, as well as for the "Wheeling Intelligencer." Two years later he became the owner of the "Jour-nal" which under his management became a po-tent factor in state politics. In 1874, though nor seeking the position, he was elected chairman of the county Republican committee, and was twice re-elected, serving for thirteen years, at the end-of which time he retired. In 1880 he was unanimously nominated as the Republican canidate for state senator from Tenth district, composed of Monongalia and Preston coun-ties, and was elected. He was the youngest member of the body, and- the only Republican member except his colleague. At the end of this four-year term, he was again nominated without opposition, and re-elected to the state senate. In 1888, at the end of his second term, he declined to be again considered as a candidate though he could have been nominated for the third time without opposition. When he re-tired in i888 the Senate was nearly equally di-vided between the two political parties. During his career as senator Mr. Dawson rendered valuable service as a member of the committee on banks and corporations, on finance, on the joint committee on finance, on the joint subcommittee on finance to prepare the appropria-tion bills; on counties and municipal corporations, on the penitentiary, on mines and mining, on public printing, and was the only Republican member of a special committee to investi-gate the public printing, his report being adopted by the Democratic senate. The decided stand he took for the protection of the school fund is still well remembered and is a matter of public record. He also advocated the regulation of railroad charges on the lines afterwards adopted by the Federal government in the creation of the interstate commerce commission. He is also the father of the first mine inspection law of the state, and he initiated and carried through much other beneficent legisla-tion. His name has been since associated with the "Dawson Corporation Law," enacted by the legislature in 1901, while he was secretary of state, and which made much needed and benefi-cent alterations in the corporation laws of the state, adding over a quarter of a million dollars to its revenues from the tax in corporation charters. In 1891 Mr. Dawson was unanimously elect-ed chairman of the Republican State Committee, a position to which he was twice re-elected. When he took charge West Virginia was Democratic by a majority of 5,000 to 6,000, and had be'en in complete control of the Democratic party since 1871. His conduct of the campaign of 1892 wrought a great change in the political situation and was a surprise to all the party leaders of the state, and particularly so to the enemy. Under his management the Republican party won the great victories in West Virginia of 1894, 1896, 1898 and 1900. Since 1896 the state has been Republican in all branches of the government, having a majority in both houses of the Legislature. Mr. Dawson resigned the office of chairman in 1904. In 1897 he was appointed secretary of state by Governor Atkinson, and was reappointed to that office in 1901 by Governor White, being the only man who has served two terms in that important office. His administration of its affairs was marked hy personal integrity, efficiency, and devotion to the public welfare that won for him universal commendation and compelled the respect even of his political enemies. having the legislature pass the "Dawson Cor-poration Law," referred to above. Every one remembers the great political campaign of 1904 in West Virginia. The all-absorbing issue was "tax reform." It was hased on the recommendations of the tax commission of 1901, which made its report to the legisla-ture of 1903. The body refused to consider the bills to amend the tax laws proposed by that commission. On the question of their con-sideration Mr. Dawson became a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor. It was a fierce, hot campaign. Mr. Dawson was nominated; and the campaign that ensued, resulting in his election, was probably the most hotly contested in the history of the state. Mr. Dawson served as Governor of West Virginia from March 4, 1905, to March 4, 1909, and during his administration he succeeded in hav-ing "tax reform" enacted into laws, now often referred to as the "Dawson Tax Laws." As the incumbent of this high office, he again justified his party's choice and his record as governor is one that will hear close comparison with that of the ablest of his predecessors. It is sufficiently well known to the people of the state to need no detailed recapitulation here. Among minor offices that have been held by Mr. Dawson are those of clerk of the House of Delegates, in 1895, and mayor of Kingwood. He is a member of the Masonic order belonging to Preston lodge, No.90, A. F. & A. M. of Kingwood, and is past chancellor of Brown lodge, No.32, also of Kingwood. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and has been active in Y. M. C. A. work. Mr. Dawson was married in 1879 to Luda, daughter of John T. Neff, of Kingwood, W. Va. She died in 1894, leaving a son, Daniel; and in 1899 Mr. Dawson married Maude, daughter of Jane Brown, of Kingwood, of which union there is a daughter, Leah Jane, born April 4, 1901, and now attending the pub-lic schools. The son Daniel, who was born January 13, 1881, was educated in the Charleston schools, including the high school, and subsequently entered the University of West Virginia at Morgantown, where he was graduated in 1904. He then took a one year course at Harvard University, and later graduated from the law school of West Virginia University. He is now engaged in the practice of law at Huntington, W. Va. Ex-Governor Dawson is a printer by trade and a lawyer by profession. He is now engaged in the practice of law at Charleston, the capitol of West Virginia. Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 03:16:04 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: BIO: John R. WALKER, M.D., Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens W.S. Laidley Richmond Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, ILL. 1911 p. 432-433 JOHN R. WALKER, M. D., one of the older members of the medical profession at Marmet, formerly known as Brownstown, Kanawha County, W. Va., was born in this county, June 19, 1832, and is a son of Albert G. and Mary (Sims) Walker, and a grandson of John Walker and John Sims, and a great-grandson of Charles Hunter. John Walker was born in England and was a young man when he came to America and settled in Essex County, Va., where he married Lucy Kock. Their children were: Livingston, Jane May, James H., Harriet W., Thomas and Albert G. Albert G. Walker, father of Dr. Walker, was born in Essex County, Va. He became a farmer and in 1850 emberked as one of the pioneer merchants at Brownstown, where he continued in business for many years, finally retiring and his death took place here when he had almost reached his seventy-sixth birthday. He married Mary Sims, a daughter of John Sims, who was a farmer below Charleston. The Sims family as well as the Walkers and Hunters were all old and prominent people in Virginia. Col. Charles Sims was a member of the U. S. Congress, from California, being a native of Nicholas County, where the family at one time was rich and prosperous. William Sims of Nicholas County, was sheriff, and another William Sims became a judge in Cali-fornia. John Sims lived to the age of eighty-four years, spending his last days in the home of Albert G. Walker. Sixteen children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Walker, the survivors being John R., Lucy Hill, Mildred Brazee, Mil-lie Rose Grant, Hattie Scott and Josie Mathews. The mother of Dr. Walker died at Brownstown when aged eighty-two years. John R. Walker obtained his early education in an old log schoolhouse with slab benches and puncheon floor. Later he became a clerk in his father's store, and while still selling goods, studied his medical books, but before an oppor-tunity came for him to complete his professional education, the Civil War broke out and he be-came a soldier, enlisting in i86i in the 8th Va. Cavalry, Confederate Army, in which he served for three years, participating during this time in many warm engagements. He was fortunate enough to escape capture and wounds and after a short period at home entered the Eclectic Medical College at Cincinnati, where he was graduated in 1867. For eight years Dr. Walker then practiced medicine at Logan Court House, coming then to Brownstown, where he has been a very busy general practitioner until quite re-cently and has been the oldest practicing physi-cian in Kanawha County. He still consents to a little office practice, but in the main passes over his heavier professional responsibilities to younger shoulders. Dr. Walker married Mrs. Fanny (Powell) Walker, at. that time a widow. Her parents were Charles and Lucinda Powell, who owned several plantations in Virginia prior to the Civil War. Dr. and Mrs. Walker had two children, Albert G. and Powell Edward. The former, a railroad man, married Lizzie Lewis and they have one daughter, Margaret Elizabeth. The younger son died at the age of two years and Mrs. Walker passed away on May 23, 1895. Dr. Walker is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. Politically he has always been a Democrat. When Winifrede was first made a post-office, Mr. William O'Connor, who was the owner of the Winifrede Coal Mines there was made postmaster and Dr. Walker became assistant; and later, for about twenty years served as postmaster at Browns-town. Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm ______________________________X-Message: #5 Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 03:26:12 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <63882264.251f2494@aol.com> Subject: BIO: Buckner CLAY, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens W.S. Laidley Richmond Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, ILL. 1911 p. 433-434 BUCKNER CLAY, attorney-at-law, and member of the law firm of Price, Smith, Spilman & Clay, of Charleston, West Virginia, was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, December 31, 1877. His mother, Mary Woodford, was the daughter of John T. Woodford and Elizabeth Buckner-both descendants of Virginia ancestors. Through his father, Ezekiel Field Clay, he is descended from John Clay, who came to Virginia from Wales in 1613. From the three sons of John Clay were descended all the Kentucky Clays, including Henry Clay. The first of his Clay ancestors to come to Kentucky was General Green Clay, a soldier in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Green Clay settled in Madison County, Kentucky, near the present town of Richmond. His home has later become better known as "Whitehall," the home of his son, General Cassius M. Clay, who first became known as a zealous advocate of the Abolition of Slavery, having freed his own slaves, of whom he had quite a number. When but thirty-two years of age his speeches in advocacy of this cause were published by Horace Greeley. He was a graduate of Yale College and studied law; served for several terms in the Kentucky Legislature; was a soldier in the Mexican War, and was commissioned Major General in the Civil War; he edited the True American, an anti-slavery paper; and later served as Minister to Russia under Presidents Lincoln, Johnson and Grant. Brutus Junius Clay, the grandfather of Buckner Clay, was another son of Green Clay. He settled in Bourbon County, Kentucky; was a farmer and breeder of blooded stock, He represented the Ashland Dis-trict, made famous by Henry Clay, in the 38th Congress. He was twice married. His first wife was Amelia Field, and his second, her sister, Anne Field. To his first wife were born four children, Martha, Christopher Field, Green and Ezekiel Field, and to his second, Cassius Marcellus, Jr. Martha married Henry B. Davenport, of Jefferson County, West Virginia. One of their sons, Henry B. Davenport, is an attorney-at-law of Clay, West Virginia. Christopher Field Clay was a farmer, who lived and died in Bourbon County, Ken-tucky Both Green and Cassius were graduates of Yale College. The former served as sec-retary to his uncle at St. Petersburg, and later as Secretary of Legation to Minister Marsh in Italy. For many years he owned and cultivated a plantation in Mississippi, and now resides on his farm at Mexico, Missouri. Cassius M. Clay, Jr., served for 9everal terms in the Kentucky Legislature and was President of the last Constitutional Convention of Kentucky. He is also a farmer, having inherited "Auvergne," the home place of bis father, near Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky. However, he has al-ways devoted much time to the study of public questions. Ezekiel Field Clay, the father of the subject of this sketch, was educated at Bacon College, Harrodsburg, Kentucky; served in the Confederate army first as Captain and then as Colonel of Cavalry-for the most part under General Humphrey Marshall. He was twice wounded, and the second time taken prisoner and imprisoned at Johnson's Island. Since the war he has devoted his attention to farming and breeding thoroughbred horses, at his home "Runny-mede," in Bourbon County, Kentucky. Buckner Clay is the fourth of six chil-dren; Ezekiel Field, Jr., Woodford, Brutus J., Buckner, Amelia and Mary Catesby. Ezekiel Field, Jr., a graduate of Yale College in the Class of 1892, is, like his ancestors, a farmer in the good old County of Bourbon. Woodford and Brutus J. Clay were both graduates of Princeton College, the former in 1893 and the latter in 1896. The former has devoted his attention to the breeding and racing of thoroughbred horses -the latter studied law at the University of Virginia and is now a practicing lawyer of Atlanta, Georgia. Amelia married Samuel Clay, who is de-scended from a different branch of the Clay family. Mary Catesby is unmarried and lives at the home place. Buckner Clay graduated at Kentucky University in the Class of 1897; farmed for one year; graduated in law at the Univer-sity of Virginia in 1900; practiced law at Paris, Kentucky, for about two years; went to Atlanta in January, 1903, and was later admitted to practice in Georgia; in June, 1903, he came to Charleston to enter the law office of Flournoy, Price & Smith. In January, 1907, he became a member of that firm, which became Price, Smith, Spilman & Clay. He is a Democrat. Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm ______________________________X-Message: #6 Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 03:33:30 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: BIO: James M. THACKER, Kanawha County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens W.S. Laidley Richmond Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, ILL. 1911 p. 434-435 JAMES M. THACKER, whose valuable farm of 208 acres lies in Union District, Kanawha County, W. Va., one mile east of the dividing line from Putnam County, has been a resi-dent of the county since he was twelve years of age. He was born in Putnam County, W. Va., and is a son of Dilla and Jane Thacker. His parents moved into Kanawha County in 1861and resided here until 1865;, when they returned to Putnam County, where both died. One of their sons, A. L. Thacker, was a soldier in the Confederate Army and was taken prisoner by the Union forces and confined in Lookout military prison but after the end of the Civil War he returned to Putnam County. James M. Thacker obtained his education in Putnam County and later attended school for a time in Kanawha County. Farming has been his main business all his life and since his marriage he has resided on his present farm, I75-acres of which he has brought to a high state of cultivation. This is the old Lilly homestead, which has been in the Lilly family for four gen-erations. Mr. Thacker assisted in the erection of the farm buildings while the property was still under the control of N. B. Lilly, and since then has built the present commodious and comfortable residence. Mr. Thacker married Miss Elizabeth J. Lilly, who was born on this farm in Union District, Kanawha County, a daughter of N. B. Lilly, and they have three living children: Sallie, who is the wife of J. L. Goff; Annie, who is the wife of W. M. B. Williams, of Union District; and Everett, who is his father's assistant. He married Cora E. Francis, a daughter of Thomas P. Francis, of Putnam County. Both Mr. Thacker and his son are Democrats in politics but neither have ever been willing to accept office. Everett belongs to Poca Grange, No.312, and is an Odd Fellow, belonging to Putnam Lodge No.85 at Poca, to Buena Vista Encampment, No. 80, and Forest Rose Re-hekah Lodge No.143, I. 0.0. F. Both fami-lies are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. Thcy are men of excellent standing and representatives of the best citizenship of the district. Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm