West Virginia Statewide Files WV-Footsteps Mailing List WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 84 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: Joseph R. COLE, Greenbrier Co [SSpradling@aol.com] #2 BIO: Charles E. CONNER, Greenbrier [SSpradling@aol.com] #3 BIO: Alexander Clarke KINCAID, M.D [SSpradling@aol.com] #4 BIO: Thomas CLAY, M.D., Greenbrier [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, 10 Oct 1999 07:59:05 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0.8540f909.2531d989@aol.com> Subject: BIO: Joseph R. COLE, Greenbrier County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Greenbrier County J. R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 296-300 JOSEPH R. COLE. (See Sketch of the Peters Family.) J. R. Cole, publisher of the forthcoming History of Greenbrier County, West Virginia, a son of Broad and Leah (Peters) Cole, was born near Royalton, Fairfield county, Ohio, on January I, 1869. He was educated in the district schools and in the Fairfield Union Academy; and graduated from the Illinois Wesleyan University in i869. His collegiate course was supplemented by study at the Normal School of Illinois. Teaching was Mr. Cole's chosen profession and upon leaving school he was elected to the principalship of the schools of Tuscola, Ill. In 1878 the principalship of a ward in Cincinnati, Ohio, was offered to Mr. Cole, but he took up newspaper work, accepting a position with a Hebrew publication under the direction of Rabbi Wise. While in school work Mr. Cole began writing school books, the first being Cole's Primary Writing Grammar, published by Gushing, Thomas & Company, Chicago. This work met with general favor, not only with the teachers of the Western States, but was also highly commended by school journals and leading dailies of the large cities. Shortly afterwards A. S. Barnes & Company, of New York and Chicago, published Cole's Self-Grading Register for Public Schools. Next came The Etymological Writing Spellers, to accompany a series of readers, by E. A. Shel-don, principal of the Oswego Normal School, and published by Scribner, Armstrong & Co., of New York. Later, because of disagreement regarding the royalty to be paid Mr. Cole, the work was abandoned. During the first year of Mr. Cole's stay in Cincinnati he com-piled a work for William Russell on "How to Shoe the Horse's Foot." The work was published by Robert Clarke & Co., of Cincinnati, and has since been printed in several languages. Mr. Cole also wrote a book on the same subject, published by Peter G. Thompson, of Cincinnati. Jn addition to these works, "The Lives of Hancock and English, printed by the Methodist Book Concern for Douglas Brothers, of Philadelphia, was the product of his pen, a work which had an extensive sale during that Presidential campaign. In i886 Mr. Cole moved to New York City, and becoming ac-quainted with Gen. Thomas A. Davies, who had taken upon him-self something to do with the revision of the St. James version of the Bible, became interested with the general on the subject of the creation of the human family and now has manuscript for publication in the near future, entitled "Plural Origin of Man." During the present European war his attention has been di-rected to different streams of prophecy which led to the great conflict and has prepared manuscript, advance chapters of which have been read by Rev. A. H. Murrill, which he pronounces "wonderful and very fascinating reading." This work, entitled "The Birth of the Next Nation," Will also be published in the very near future. Mr. Cole's work as a historian was begun on The State History of Indiana, which was a work of great magnitude. Since that time he has written and assisted in the preparation of more than a score of State and county histories, including those of New York City, Chicago, Cincinnati, Newark, N.J., Providence, R. I., and other cities, together with the History of the Red River Val-ley, North Dakota. During the past ten years he has published his own productions, the last of which was that of Preston county, West Virginia, and of which the editor of the West Virginia Argus said was the finest history ever gotten out in the State. The Pres-ton News, another paper of Preston county, said: "It is the best piece of work of the kind we have ever seen." On February 2, 1871, Mr. Cole was married to Miss Sara Steele Goudy, of Monmouth, Ill. She was a daughter of Thomas and Nancy (Kirkpatrick) Goudy, Scotch-Irish stock of the Cov-enanter faith. Mr. Goudy was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church, which absorbed the old Covenanter church to a very great extent, for more than fifty years. Mrs. Cole was born and lived with her parents in Ohio until she was fourteen years of age, and her father's farm adjoined that of the father of Whitelaw Reid, editor of the New York Tribune and ambassador from this country to the court of St. James. Mr. Reid's father was a ruling elder in the same church with Mr. Goudy. Mrs. Cole was a teacher until her marriage, being at the head of one of the wards of Bloom-ington, Ill. Her eldest brother, John Goudy, afterwards Judge Goudy, became a distinguished educator before he went on the bench. Alexander Goudy, another brother, was at one time State superintendent of schools of Nebraska. One child, Grace De Ella, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Cole. She was reared in New York City, and here she was educated under the tuition and training of her mother, subse-quently completing her studies in the Packer Collegiate Institute of Brooklyn, N.Y. She also received a training for business life and has written arid spoken in public to some extent in the interest of suffrage. At present she is recording secretary of the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association. She is now employed in the Agricultural Department at Washington, D. C. Mrs. Cole died on April 29,1906. Thomas Cole, born March 11, 1757, died August 20, 1840, was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He bought what is now known as the Cole farm in Huntington county, Pennsylvania, in 1789, but in 1801, sold his one hundred and sixty-eight acres there and moved to Ohio, where he entered upon a section of land near which the village of Royalton now stands. He was paid $1,113.33 for the old homestead but had to walk back from Ohio to get one of the payments. The Ohio farm remained in the hands of the Cole family over one hundred years. On July 9, 1778, Thomas Cole married Elizabeth Stevens. Their children were: Mary, born June 3, 1779; Abram, May 27, 1781; Joshua, November 25, 1783; Sarah, June 19, 1786; Eliz-abeth, March 12, 1789; Rachael, October 18, 1791; Athalia, Sep-tember 20, 1794; Thomas, February 1, 1797; Ann, November 10, 1799; Broad, September 23, 1802; Rebecca, June 7, 1805. The removal to Ohio was made the year before the birth of Broad Cole, our father. In the year 1828 Broad Cole married Leah Peters (see sketch of the Peters family), and from that union came fourteen children, ten of whom lived to man- and womanhood. Of them, Thomas was the eldest. He was a farmer and an elder in the old Hard Shell Baptist church. His son, Alva, eldest of his family, is a Government contractor. Frank Cole, the youngest son, was private secretary to Attorney General Wickersham of the Taft administration. Mary Cole, the only daughter of Broad Cole who grew to womanhood, married William West. Their son, Andrew P. West, was president of a bank in Los Angeles, Cal. David Cole, second son, lived and died in Indiana. His son, Enos, is a well known lawyer in Hartford City; his son, Amos, is a very prosperous hardware merchant in Bluffton, that State. Nehemias Cole, fourth son, was a physician for many years in Bloomington, Ill. He was a surgeon. Jonathan Cole, the fifth son, has been a teacher in public school work all his life. The Lincoln Times, Lincoln, Ill., speaking of him as a superintendent of schools, said: "As an educator he stood in the first rank, and as a man there was none better." His two sons, Fred and Ross, are train dispatchers. Ross has just re-ceived his commission as a first lieutenant in the Signal Corps. Two grandsons are in France; Harold Bachman, the elder, is leader of Headquarters band in the One Hundred and Sixteenth Engineers' Department. Rufus Cole, at the age of twenty-three years, was the first of the ten children to die. He was a brilliant orator and a man among men, even at that age. J. R. Cole, see mention above. Benjamin Cole was a teacher and farmer. His family are succeeding in the affairs of life. Lewis Cole was also a farmer and teacher. His eldest son, Earle, is a teller in a bank in Columbus, Ohio. Henry Cole, the youngest of the family, reared a large family, all of whom are doing well. His eldest son, Milbert Cole, was a boy of all work a few years ago in a large plant for the manufacturing of tile at Logan, Ohio. He is now superintendent of the works, is in charge of one hundred men, more or less, and under his man-agement the business has doubled. The company after just paying a war tax of $26,000, gave him an extra check of $1,000 in addition to his salary. Rufus Cole, his brother, is rate agent for the Big Four Railroad Company, with offices in Cleveland, Ohio, and Chicago. Only three of the above children of Broad and Leah Cole are now living-Jonathan, Lewis and Joseph. Joseph R. Cole was a member of the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Ohio Infantry in the late war between the States. He was connected with the marshal's office in Old Baltimore. Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 08:01:21 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0.d22da689.2531da11@aol.com> Subject: BIO: Charles E. CONNER, Greenbrier County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Greenbrier County J. R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 300-301 CHARLES E. CONNER. The Conner family is an old one in the history of Greenbrier county. John Conner, the ancestor of this branch of the family, took up his residence on the Lewisburg turnpike, near Blue Sulphur, in an early day, and erected a house which is still standing. His son, Thomas, reared a family around that hearthstone and his grandson, Charles Conner, the father of the subject of this sketch, also lived and died on that place. He married Miss Ruth Vandell, who died not long after the birth of Charles E. Conner, her only son. After the mother had gone, Charles was taken by Mrs. Henry George, and he remained under the guardianship of that home until manhood had been reached and an education obtained. Mr. Conner began his business career as a merchant in a hardware store. For the past five years he has been engaged in the sale of automobiles. He is now in charge of the Lewisburg Garage, and is doing considerable business with the Overland car. He is a good business man, and the future looks bright for him. He is also proprietor of the Lewisburg Hotel, and under the management of Mrs. C. E. Conner, that venture is proving a success, also. Mrs. Conner is a daughter of John A. Handley. (See sketch of that history in another part of this work.) Mr. Conner is a member of several societies. His family worship with the Methodists. The daughter, Miss Ruth Conner, is a young lady, now taking a literary course in the Lewisburg Seminary. Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 08:06:35 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0.cecb150a.2531db4b@aol.com> Subject: BIO: Alexander Clarke KINCAID, M.D., Greenbrier County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Greenbrier County J. R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 301-303 ALEXANDER CLARKE KINCAID, M.D. Alexander Clarke Kincaid was born on his father's farm on Anthony's creek, Greenbrier county, Virginia, February 27, i8i8. He died at Frankford, W. Va., December 6, 1893. He was a son of Colonel James Kincaid, who was born May 15, 1782, and died July 9, 1838. Colonel Kincaid represented Greenbrier county in the General Assembly in both branches, the State Senate and the House of Delegates. He fought in the Mexican war with the rank of colonel. Phoebe Kincaid. his wife. was born April 15, 1795, and died January 16, 1858. She was a daughter of George and Margaret Kincaid, the latter being the sister of Major William Renick. Colonel James Kincaid was the son of Squire Samuel Kincaid, who was grandson of Alexander Kincaid, of Scotland. Squire Samuel Kincaid married a Miss Clarke, of eastern Virginia. Dr. Clarke Kincaid was educated at the University of Virginia and was a practicing physician first in Braxton, then in Greenbrier and adjoining counties for more than forty years. He was a Blue Lodge Mason, a member of the Presbyterian church, and in active service during three years of the Civil war. Soon after the outbreak of the war he organized a company of cavalry, of which he was captain, who trained and marched from Sum-mersville, Nicholas county, Virginia. He resigned this command wJien he was made an officer of ordnance by General Lee to sup-ply armies of northwestern Virginia. When this was accomplished he joined the Alhermarle Rangers, a company formed of young men from the University of Virginia. At the end of the third year he was honorably discharged and came home to his family. He married Maria Louisa Hamilton at Summersville, Va., October 31, 1847. She was a daughter of Colonel Robert and Fanny (Peebles) Hamilton, of Summersville, was born there on February 5, 1826, and died in Frankford, W. Va., February 17, 1894. Colonel Rohert Hamilton was sheriff of Nicholas county and clerk of both courts until debarred by age from further service, when his son, Alexander Hamilton, took this office, which he held until his death at the age of 72 years. To Dr. and Mrs. Kincaid seven children were born-Robert Alexander, James Renick, Fanny Bell, Phoebe Caroline, Laura Margaret, Mary Agnes, and Lucy Hamilton. Robert Alexander Kincaid, a lawyer by profession living at Summersville, W. Va., married Mary Patton, of New Orleans. To this union seven children were born-Phola Hamilton, who married William Moore, a lawyer, of Lisbon, Ohio; Herbert Clarke, at this writing a captain in the medical corps of our army in France; Wallace Patton, a banker at Summersville; Robert Truslow, who died in childhood; Mary Louise, at home; James Baldwin, first lieutenant in the aviation with our army in France; and Ralph Templeton, at home. James Renick Kincaid, M. D., graduate of Medical College of Virginia, married Alice White, daughter of Richard Dickson White, of near White Sulphur Springs, and practices his profession at Frankford, W. Va. Of this union there are four children -Mary Hamilton, Edith White, and Byrne Clarke, at home, and James Clarence, at Camp Lee in the service of his country. (i) Fanny Bell Kincaid died at the age of six years; (2) Phoebe Caroline Kincaid married J. R. Woodward, now deceased, and lives at Frankford; (3) Laura Margaret Kincaid married Achilles Livesay, who lives one and one-half miles south of Frankford; (4) Mary Agnes Kincaid died at nine years; (5) Lucy Hamilton Kincaid married William Alexander Jameson, of Philadelphia, and lives at Bramwell, Mercer county, West Virginia, with their three children, William Alexander, Margaret Louise, and Edith Kincaid. Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 08:15:47 EDT From: SSpradling@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0.9994cb8a.2531dd73@aol.com> Subject: BIO: Thomas CLAY, M.D., Greenbrier County Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of Greenbrier County J. R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 303-308 THOMAS CLAY, M.D. Dr. Thomas Green Clay was born June 19, 1817, on a plantation twelve miles from Lynchburg, Campbell county, Virginia. He received his early education from tutors, later attending college in Richmond, Va., taking a medical course, finishing at Jefferson Medical College, Pennsylvania. He then crossed the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains, about i85o, settling near Cross Roads, Monroe county, where he taught school a short time. He married Nancy Johnson, daughter of Jacob and Jennie (Morris) Johnson. His wife lived only about a year. They bad one child, Virginia, who died in infancy. In 1853 he married Margaret Morse Jarrett, daughter of James and Ruth (Gwinn) Jarrett. The Jarretts were among the early pioneers of Greenbrier county, coming here from Pennsylvania. They emigrated to America from Marsailles, France, during the Reign of Terror, being Huguenots, were in search of peace and liberty. James Jarrett the first built one of the first stone house on Muddy Creek, which still stands well preserved, and is still occupied. He married Elizabeth Griffy, a devout Presby-terian. Although the Indians were ever lurking among the hills and woodland, and neighbors were long distances apart, Mrs. Jarrett would arise early on the Sabbath and walk twelve miles to Lewisburg to worship, there being no church nearer. She would not ride horseback, because the horses worked all week, and should rest one day out of seven. Mr. and Mrs. Jarrett by economy and good maangement be-came quite extensive land owners. James and Ruth (Gwinn) Jarrett were even more prosperous; the country was becoming more developed and prosperous, and at the beginning of the Civil War they owned over a thousand acres of land in Greenbrier and Monroe counties. They also owned over forty slaves. Most of them remaining loyal during the Re-bellion, they were not cast off, but cared for until they became accustomed to the new order of things. Some were deeded fine land, and most of them always journeyed hack to see "Ole Massey and Misses" so long as they both lived. Doctor Clay took his bride to visit his father, Marston Clay, who was ill at the time, remaining till his father died in 1856. He then returned to Monroe county, settling in what is now called South Alderson, there being only one other family living there at this time. Here he began the practice of his profession, that of a physician. He had all he could well attend to, as he covered an area of one to fifty miles; was very humane, treated poor and rich alike with the same gentle, courteous consideration, not know-ing any creed, sect or color. He owned and operated a ferry boat above where the bridge now stands, his colored servant named "Bill" running it back and forth, conveying teams, eques-trians and pedestrians, collecting toll, etc. When General Crook and his army crossed over during the Civil War to attack General Heath at Lewisburg, he confiscated the "craft," used it to trans- port his men. Doctor Clay was a loyal, true, Southern gentleman, yet he regretted secession and more deeply the assassination of President Lincoln. Shortly after this cruel war was over, Doctor Clay and his brave wife, Margaret, together with their family, moved to Muddy crook on a 341-acre farm given Mrs. Clay by her father, James Jarrett. There they lived and brought up their children until 1885or 1886, returning to what is part of North Alderson on a sixty-acre tract of land owned by Doctor Clay The Alderson Academy was being erected, and to this he was a contributor. He wanted to be near the new school that his chil-dren then at home might have advantages of which they had been heretofore deprived. It is with pardonable pride that we refer to the lineage of Dr. Thomas G. Clay, which we trace back to-"The Muster of Inhabitants of Jordan's Journey, Charles Ciltie, taken the 2Ith of January, 1624." Of these: The Muster of John Claye, John Clay arrived on the Treasurer, February, 1613. Anne, his wife, in the Ann, August, 1623. Servant- William Nicholls, aged 26 years, in Dutie, in May, 1619. This is the first mention of the Clay name in Colonial records -"Hotten's List of Emigrants to America, 1600-1700"-Captain John Clay, "the English Grenadier," of whom we have many traditions-lived in Charles City, 1624. "Patent (210) grants John Clay twelve hundred acres in Charles City county, Virginia." Captain Clay had married before leaving England, leaving his wife behind. Why he delayed so long in sending for her, those familiar with the history of the Jamestown colony best un-derstand. Hunger, despair. and death followed the one so fast in the wake of the other that twice within a few years that colony was reduced from five hundred persons to less than sixty souls. The children were Francis, William, Thomas and Charles. Charles Clay was a soldier in the "Great Rebellion of 1676," "one of those good housekeepers, well armed," that followed the gallant Bacon in his effort to free Virginia. He married Hannah Wilson, of Henrico county, Virginia. Had issue-Mary Elizabeth, John, Thomas, Henry and Charles. Henry Clay was born about 1672, and died at "The Raells," August 3, 1760, aged eighty-eight years. He married Mary Mitchell, had issue, William Mitchell, Henry, of Southam Parish, Cumberland (Dest., 1764)., Charles John, Amey, Mary. Henry Clay, of Southam Parish, Cumberland county, son of Henry and Mary (Mitchell) Clay, of Chesterfield, signed his 'viii March 8, i764, which was probated October 22, 1764. He married in 1735, Lucy Green, born 1717, daughter of Thomas Gieen and Elizabeth Marston (born November 25, 1672; died August II, 1759), daughter of Thomas Marston, Justice of Henrico in 1682, and his wife, Elizabeth Murvell. Thomas Green was born about i665, and died in 1730; wa~ the son of Thomas Green, "The Sea Gull" (so called from having been born upon the sea enroute to America), and his wife, ~~ar-tha Filmer, daughter of Major Henry Filmer, officer of tile British Army of Occupation. (See General Green Clay's Man uscript, written about 1820.) Thomas Green, "the Sea Gull," was the son of Thomas and Martha Green, immigrants from Holland, who settled near Petersburg, Va. Major Henry Tilmer and his wife, Elizabeth, married in England. They settled in Jan'es City countY, which he represented in the House of Burgesse.~ in 1642. (Henning's Statutes.) Henry Clay mentions as the legatees of his will, his wifc, Lucy, and their children. Henry Clay, born 1736, moved to Kentucky in '787. Charles Clay, an early emigrant to Kentucky. Samuel Clay, member of the North Carolina Legislature, 1789-90. Thomas Clay, of Cumberland county; Abia Clay, lieutenant in the Revolutionary army; Marston Clay (Doctor Thomas Green Clay's father, the subject of this sketch) ; Rebecca Clay, John Clay, a captain in the Revolutionary army in 1777. Elijah Clay is mentioned in deeds, July 13, 1783, and August 2, 1792, when he sells lands in Cumberland county. Lucy Clay-Marston Clay married Elizabeth Williams, of Halifax county, Virginia, March 29, 1771, though he signed his name Maston. Issue-Diana Coleman. His wife died. He then married Sarah Daren. Issue -Sallie E., Susan, Paul, Thomas Green, James, Margaret, Vir-ginia. Marston and Sarah (Daren) Clay are the parents of Dr. Thomas Green Clay, subject of this sketch. Doctor Clay is second cousin of Henry Clay, the "Sage of Ashland." Genealogy is now the fashion and the Clay family affords a fine theme in this line. The Clays have had an enviable history in. our country for more than two centuries, and although none other bearing the name has risen to the eminence attained by the "Sage of Ashland," a goodly number of them have filled positions of honor and trust which would shine more brightly but for the eclipsing rays of the "Great Commoner." However, all the Clays are interesting to us because of the good deeds of some of them and the bad deeds of none of them. We are indebted to the "Filson Club Publication," of Louis-ville, Ky., for the genealogy and history of "The Clay Family." compiled by Mrs. Mary Rogers Clay, of Lexington, K)'. Issue of Dr. Thomas G. and Margaret Morse (Jarrett) Clay are: Marston Clay, a dentist, died, aged 26, i880; James Clay, immigrated to California, married Jennie Ayers, of Nordhoff, Cal.; issue, Frank, Nettie, Myrtle and Major; latter died in childhood. Odin Clay lives in Chicago, Ill. He married Minnie Mathis, of Pontiac, Ill.; issue, Richard and Edna. John H. Clay married Lulo Garst Jarrett, a widow; have no children. Ruth Clay spent most of her life in Chicago, Ill., and New York City, serving the same corporation (she was associated with) in both cities, covering a period of nearly thirty years. Thomas G. Clay, Jr., owns and lives on a farm near Alderson, W. Va.; married Alice Gillespie. Sally Ann Clay married W. C. Cannon, son of Honorable Cannon, of Ventura, Cal., a relative of "Uncle Joe" Cannon, of Illinois. Mr. Cannon is an extensive land owner or "ranchman," as they term it in the West. Cultivates beans principally. Issue- Lenabell Cannon, n6w attending school at the University of California. Mary Clay married H. C. Saunders, whose family has a long and prominent lineage in Virginia and Alabama. They live in Birmingham, Ala. Issue-one son in present war; is now in France serving his country. Joseph J. Clay, the last and youngest of Doctor Clay's children, married Mamie Allen; lives on his mother's old home place on Muddy creek. Sandy Spradling SSpradling@AOL.com State Contact for WV GenExchange http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm