West Virginia Statewide Files WV-Footsteps Mailing List WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 60 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: John NEWLON, Braxton County W [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19990926174820.00fd5700@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: John NEWLON, Braxton 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. 287 Braxton County JOHN NEWLON. It is not given to all individuals to suc- ceed along more than one line of work. Some achieve suc- cess in the learned professions, others find their life work in military or civic affairs, still others find themselves best suited to the directing of big business enterprises. In the business field alone there are comparatively few men who make an equal success out of more than one line of endeavor, but unusual as it is this has been the experience of John Newlon, of Sutton, who in addition to being general manager, secretary and treasurer of the Sutton Grocery and Milling Company, Incorporated, is an extensive trader in land in Braxton and Webster counties. His success in both lines has been all his own, for he has climbed every step up the ladder of advancement, through hard work and intelligent application of his business gifts. Mr. Newlon was born on a farm near Sutton, in Braxton County, January 13, 1877, and is a son of Camden and Dora (Sumpter) Newlon. Camden Newlon was born near Sut- ton, in July, 1850, and after receiving a common school education became an attendant at the State Hospital at Weston, West Virginia, where he met, and later married, another attendant, Dora Sumpter, who was born in July, 1852, in Gilmer County, West Virginia. After their mar- riage they settled on a farm near Flatwoods, where they spent the rest of their lives, Mr. Newlon dying in July, 1903, and Mrs. Newlon two years later. He was a democrat in politics, and she a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. They were the parents of eleven children: William, a bridge carpenter employed by the Baltimore & Ohio Railway; John, of this notice; Lulu, the wife of John Skidmore; Bertie, the wife of C. B. Eakle; Charles N. and A. C., residents of Ashtabula, Ohio; Mabel, the wife of Ward Huffman; Anna, the wife of Fred Lorentz; and G. R., Draper and Henry, all of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The education of John Newlon was not of an extensive character, for at the age of thirteen years he left the country schoolrooms to commence to make his own way in the world. At that time he went to Weston, where he se- cured employment in the drug store of which his uncle was proprietor, and following this was variously employed, ac- cepting such honorable work as fell to his lot until he was twenty-one years of age. He was then made deputy county clerk, a capacity in which he served for four years, then joining the Sutton Bank as assistant cashier and later be- ing promoted to cashier. In 1910 he joined the wholesale grocery and milling concern operating as the Sutton Gro- cery and Milling Company, of which he is at present gen- eral manager, secretary and treasurer. His fellow officials in this enterprise are: W. F. Morrison, president; P. B. Adams, vice president; and the above gentlemen, with C. C. Hines, G. P. Gillispie and Will Fisher, directors. This is a large and successful concern, with a trade extending over a radius of many miles, and much of its success can be accredited to the efforts and ability of Mr. Newlon, who is known as an aggressive business man and who has the full confidence of his associates. As before noted, in ad- dition to his connection with this company Mr. Newlon has been for some years a heavy trader in land, and at present holds about 1,100 acres in Webster and Braxton counties. Mr. Newlon is a democrat in his political tend- encies, but save for a short time in his youth has never found time to engage actively in political affairs, his busi- ness interests taking all of his attention. He is at the pres- ent time a member of the State Committee. He belongs to Sutton Lodge No. 76, A. F. and A. M.; Sutton Chapter No. 21, R. A. M.; Sutton Commandery No. 8, K. T., and to the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling, and is a past master, a past high priest and a past eminent commander. With his family he belongs to the Presbyterian Church. In 1903 Mr. Newlon was united in marriage with Miss Mamie Bryne, a high school graduate, and they have had five daughters: Elsie, who is deceased, Frances, a gradu- ate of the Sutton High School, and Dora, Mary B. and Margaret. ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 17:48:53 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19990926174853.00fd5090@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: Pearson B. ADAMS, Braxton 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. 287 Braxton County PEARSON B. ADAMS. The present county clerk of Brax- ton County, Pearson B. Adams, has an excellent public record for efficient discharge of the duties of his position. During his career, which has been an active and honorable one, he has had experience in several lines of endeavor, and on various occasions has been identified with educational work, financial matters and business affairs. In all these avenues of activity he has so governed his actions as to gain him the esteem and confidence of those with whom he has come into contact. Mr. Adams was born on a farm near Sutton, West Vir- ginia, his present home, March 2, 1886, and is a son of John and Nancy (Cogar) Adams. His father, also born in the same locality, was reared to agricultural pursuits, to which he applied his energies throughout life and made a success of his efforts. Educated only in the public schools, he was withal a well read man and wielded some influence in his community, where he was active in politics and was twice elected sheriff of the county on the republican ticket. Fraternally he was affiliated with the Masons, in which order he completed the York Rite and was a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. Mrs. Adams, who was also born near Sut- ton, was, like her husband, a product of an agricultural family and a graduate of the common schools. Pearson B. Adams attended the common schools of his native locality, where he acquired his primary education, following which he pursued a course at Marshall College, Huntington, West Virginia, and the Mountain State Busi- ness College, Parkersburg, West Virginia. Following his graduation from the latter institution he taught school for four years in Braxton County, and then started to work as assistant cashier of the Home National Bank, with which he was identified for about three years. He next became interested in the Sutton Grocery and Milling Company, of which he is now vice president and a member of the board of directors, and is likewise a stockholder in the Bank of Sutton. A stanch republican in his political sympathies, in 1915 he was elected clerk of Braxton County, a position which he has since filled with the utmost ability. As a fraternalist he is a York Bite Mason and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Adams married Miss Bessie Mealy, who was born in Braxton County, where she received her education in the public schools. She is a leading and faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Sutton. To Mr. and Mrs. Adams there have come three children: Ruth, who was born in 1912; William N., who was born in 1918; and Nancy V., born in 1920. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 09:12:19 EDT From: Haddeleigh@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: BIO: Mitchell, John Stillwell, Lewis County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mitchell, John Stillwell Submitted by: N. L. Kotowski Of the families now residing in West Virginia, who originally lived in Maryland, is the Mitchell family of Weston, Lewis county. John Stillwell Mitchell, present secretary and superintendent of the Weston Electric Light, Power & Water Company, is the son of Benjamin and Eleanor (Stillwell) Mitchell. His father was a shipbuilder by occupation and lived in Hancock, Washington county, Maryland, where John S. was born March 2, 1853. He obtained his education in the public schools of his native county, after which he joined his father in business, remaining there until 1881, when he went to Weston, West Virginia, to accept a position of trust at the State Hospital for the Insane. He held this position until he engaged in his present business enterprise, with which he has been prominently connected. The Weston Electric Light, Power & Water Company was organized and promoted by Mr. Mitchell and incorporated November 9, 1899, with J. S. Mitchell, W. G. Bennett, Messrs. Ralston, Lewis and Kitson as incorporators . . . Politically he is "Gorman" Democrat of the Maryland stripe. . . In 1874 he married Clara Johnson, of Cumberland, Maryland, a daughter of John F. and Phoebe (Harper) Johnson, the former a prominent merchant of Cumberland, Maryland . . Children of John F. Johnson and wife are Judge Thomas Johnson, of the Orphans' Court of Allegany county, Maryland; James S., a plumber; Joseph, Annie, wife of J. W. Fallon, of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell: Phoebe E., a teacher in the Western schools; John D., now assistant cashier in the National Exchange Bank of Weston, married Lucy Gabriel; Beulah, at home; James R., who was associated with his father at the time of his death, which was caused by being run over by a train in the Weston yards June 28, 1910. The only grandchild is Clara M. Mitchell, daughter of John D. and Lucy (Gabriel) Mitchell. [pp 789-790] Source: Genealogical and Personal History of the UPPER MONONGAHELA VALLEY West Virginia by James Morton Callahan, 1912 ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 09:14:08 EDT From: Haddeleigh@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <39c18c98.2520c7a0@aol.com> Subject: HISTORY: Lewis County Development Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit LEWIS COUNTY DEVELOPMENT Submitted by: N. L. Kotowski South of Harrison, along the head waters of West Fork, Lewis county, which in the early days had been a part of Harrison, soon felt the touch of changing conditions produced by the railroad crossing the river below. Notwithstanding its greater isolation, its first settlements were made perhaps as early as those of Harrison. In 1772 its settlers on Hacker's Creek invaded and destroyed the neighborning Indian settlement which had been made about 1765 at Bulltown (in Braxton) by a party of Delawares under Chief Bull from Orange county, New York. The first settlement on the site of Weston was made by Henry Flesher, who in 1784, after an attack by a party of Indians ravaging the settlements on West Fork, discreetly took refuge for a time at the settlement made by Thomas Hughes and others on Hacker's Creek. By 1800 several Virginia families, which later exerted a strong social and political influence, established homes in the Collins Settlement and elsewhere. With the increase in the number of settlers and the development of settlements, the inconveniences of communication with the county seat at Clarksburg found experession in the demand for the formation of a new county. This demand was satisfied in 1816 by an act of the assembly which created Lewis. "Beginning at the head of the left hand fork of Jesse's run; thence a straight line to the mouth of Kincheloe's Creek; thence up said creek to the dividing ridge; thence a west course to the Wood county line; thence to include all the south part of Harrison down to the mouth of Buckhannon River; thence a straight line to the beginning." Under the provisions of the act the first court was held at Westfield, and the location of a permanent county seat was delegated to five commissioners appointed for the purpose--Edward Jackson, Elias Lowther, John McCoy, Lewis Maxwell and Dwight Stringer. These commissioners chose the site of the present Weston which in January, 1818, was incorporated as a town under the name of Preston, on lands of Lewis Maxwell and Daniel Stringer, and governed by four trustees--Henry McWhorter, WIlliam Peterson, James M. Camp and Robert Collins. By act of February, 1819, the name was changed to Flesherville, which by act of the folowing December was succeeded by Weston which has since borne the honor with no serious opposition. In the following spring the first survey of the West Fork and the Monongahela, with a view to the improvement of navigation, was begun just below the Weston court house. Gradually, in many instances, the earlier log houses were succeeded by better structures, expressing refinement, social tastes and prosperity. The early settlements of the northern and eastern parts of the county were supplied with lumber from choice yellow poplars and black walnuts prepared by water power saw mills located along the neighboring streams. Many of the earlier buildings are still preserved. Trees which were too large to be easily sawed were split into fence rails or burned in the clearings. In 1843 portions of Lewis were detached to contribute to the formation of Barbour and Ritchie counties. The population of the county steadily increased--two thousand each decade--until 1850, after which the total population was considerably decreased by the loss of territory occasioned by the formation of Upshur county in 1851. By 1845 Weston contained about sixty dwellings. The large development and aspiration of the people of Lewis at the middle of the century found expressions in many ways--the most prominent of which probably were the Weston and Fairmont Turnpike, the Weston and Gauley Bridge Turnpike and the Weston and West Union Turnpike. A branch of the Exchange Bank of Virginia was established by 1853. On the eve of the civil war, Weston secured the location of the hospital for the insane--the first and only state institution which was located in the transmontane territory later included in West Virginia. Source: Genealogical and Personal History of the UPPER MONONGAHELA VALLEY West Virginia, Vol. I, by James Morton Callahan, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1912