WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 120 Today's Topics: #2 BIOS: GARRETT, Edmund F. Clarksbur [Vivian Brinker To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <000424134613.9007@RAVEN.CCC.CC.KS.US> Subject: BIOS: GARRETT, Edmund F. Clarksburg The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II. pg. 354 EDMUND F. GARRETT The bar at Clarksburg is very generally recognized as one of the ablest in West Virginia, made up as it is of men of education, experience, and culture, and of this rather notable body none stand higher in public esteem than Edmund F. Garrett, an honorable, trustworthy attorney and leading citizen. His versatility of talent has made him conspicuous in two professions, the church and the law, and in this connection it may be a matter to be thought over whether, in the broad conception of human rights, needs and responsibility, there lies concealed a wide difference of teaching and exposition between the two. Edmund F. Garrett was born in Doddridge County, not far from Salem, West Virginia, March 7, 1872, a son of Elisha D. and Mary (Smith) Garrett, natives of Doddridge and Harrison counties respectively. The paternal grandfather, Addison P. Garrett, was born in Harrison County and was a son of Jesse Garrett, a native of Virginia who established the family in what is now West Virginia.His father William Garrett, was a native of New Jersey and a Revolutionary soldier. The progenitor of the Garrett family in America was of Irish lineage. The parents of Mr. Garrett now live retired near Salem, West Virginia, and some of their family of eight children live in the same neighborhood. They are faithful members of the Baptist Church. Edmund F. Garrett was educated in the public schools, Salem College, Broaddus Institute and Richmond College and the University of Chicago. In 1902 he completed a course in theology at Crozier Theological Seminary, Chester, Pennsylvania, following which, for 4 1/2 years he was pastor of the First Baptist Church at Bordentown, New Jersey, and from the fall of 1906 to March, 1909, was pastor of the First Baptist Church at New Brunswick, New Jersey. Mr. Garrett returned then to West Virginia, and instead of accepting another exhausting pastorate, took up the study of law for one year at the University of West Virginia and pursued it so diligently that in June, 1910, he was admitted to the bar and since then has been in active practice at Clarksburg. His success in his profession, which has exceeded the ordinary, has been due to his well poised judgment and natural ability, together with his absolute dependability and sense of fairness. In political sentiment he is a democrat, as is his father, but he has never consented to accept a political office. As a private citizen, however, he exerts much influence in civic affairs in regard to furthering the general welfare, and during the World war was active in all patriotic meovements and served as chairman of the Harrison County draft board. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Garrett was married September 9, 1896, to Miss Fannie D. Late, who is a daughter of Dr. William M. Late, of Bridgeport, West Virginia, and they have two children: Harold M. and Ella Late Garrett. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 13:47:26 -0500 From: Vivian Brinker To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <000424134726.9007@RAVEN.CCC.CC.KS.US> Subject: BIOS: GARRETT, Harold M. Clarksburg The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II. pg. 354. HAROLD M. GARRETT Harold M. Garrett was born at Bridgeport, West Virginia, September 27, 1897, and is liberally educated. From the West Virginia University he received his A. B. degree in 1918, and in June of that year volunteered for service in the World war. After acceptance by the Government he was sent for military training to Fortress Monroe, and was honorably discharged on December 6, 1918, with the rank of sergeant major. In June 1920, he secured his LL.B. degree from the university, in July was admitted to the bar and is now associated with his father in the practice of law. He is a membr of the American Legion. ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 16:18:47 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000424161847.0084b530@trellis.net> Subject: HISTORY: The Greenbrier at White Sulphur Springs Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The Greenbrier at White Sulphur Springs (from the cover of an old postcard folder circa 1950) THE GREENBRIER at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, is one of the nation's oldest and best known resorts. The upland valley of the Alleghany Mountains, in which the present famous hotel estate of 7,000 acres has been developed, was patented in 1750 to Nicholas Carpenter, who actually farmed the property until the Marauding Shawnee Indians drove him and his family away. However, it was not until 1778 that the first white person is known to have utilized the waters of the sulphur spring. In the years since that first "Cure," this world-renowned playground has been host to thirteen United States presidents, to kings and princes and to the social, industrial and political great of the world. WHITE SULPHUR'S rich history spans three signitcant centuries of American life. The resort's first hotel was erected in 1808, although permanent guest cottages had been constructed about the spring many years earlier. The oldest of these remaining today are those of Paradise Row, built in 1800, and Alabama and Louisiana Rows, built in 1805. The second hotel was the Old White, opened in 1858, and in its day, the country's finest. Surviving the Civil War, White Sulphur regained its international prominence and continued its gay life. General Lee, among others, made it his summer home following the war. In 1913 the original portion of the present Greenbrier was erected and the facilities which have made the resort a center for sportsmen projected. Today golf, tennis, riding, swimming, hunting, fishing, sun-bathing, flying and a host of other activities are offered. Rebuilt and more than doubled in size in 1911, The Greenbrier fell victim to World War II when it was purchased by the United States Army for use as a general hospital. It served as such for four years. At the close of the war, it was reacquired by its former owners and subjected to a complete rehabilitation. Both the interior of the hotel as well as its 1,200 acres of landscaped gardens, lawns and sports areas were involved in the eighteen-months-long project which cost many millions. The Greenbrier emerged a superbly beautiful institution... a "conversation piece" among American hotels ... the country's gayest and most complete resort. ______________________________X-Message: #5 Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 19:13:48 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000424191348.009415d0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: Jacob HEVENER, (wife from Pocahontas County WV) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" History of Virginia, Volume IV, Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago and New York, 1928 Page 61 JACOB HEVENER, city clerk of Staunton, represents an old and honored family of the Valley of Virginia, his people having been steady and industrious pioneers who came into the Valley at a time when the settlements were constantly threatened by Indian attacks. Mr. Hevener was born in Highland County, Virginia, Decem- ber 29, 1878, son of William and Lavina (Jordan) Hevener, both natives of the same county. His grandfather was Jacob Hevener, a native of Highland County, and the maternal grand- father was Samuel Jordan. Agriculture has been the staple occupation of the family for many generations. William Hev- ener spent all his life on his farm in Highland County and died January 20, 1893. He was a Democrat, represented his county in behalf of delegates one term and during the Civil war was a county justice. He and his wife were active members in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Of their five children three are living: Uriah, a farmer in Pennsylvania; Jacob; and Mary, wife of R. H. Crummett, a Highland County farmer. Jacob Hevener was well educated, finishing his training in Randolph-Macon Academy at Front Royal, Virginia. After completing his school work he engaged in farming, and was on the farm until 1912, when he moved to Staunton. In Staunton he became identified with the insurance business, and carries on a line of general insurance. In 1923 he was appointed city clerk, and most of his time has been taken up with his official duties. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, is a York Rite Mason and member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He married, in 1900, Miss Ocie McNeil, who was born in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, and was educated at Staun- ton and in the Valley Female College at Winchester. Her father, Rev. J. W. McNeil, was a Methodist minister in the Baltimore Conference. Mr. and Mrs. Hevener have two children: Harold McNeil, associated with his father's insurance agency; and Jacob, attending high school. Mr. Hevener is a steward in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Staunton. ______________________________X-Message: #6 Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 19:20:08 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000424192008.008e27e0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: J. ROBERT SWITZER, Hardy County connection Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" History of Virginia, Volume IV, Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago and New York, 1928 pages 90-91 J. ROBERT SWITZER. One of the outstanding figures in the political life of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, as well as a lawyer of proven ability, J. Robert Switzer is rendering a much appreciated service as county clerk after having already held the office of deputy county clerk. He was born on a farm in Rockingham County, December 25, 1883, a son of John A. and Carrie S. (Roller) Switzer, the latter of whom was born in Rockingham County, but the former was born in Hardy County, Virginia, now in West Virginia. Both are deceased, passing away after years of usefulness, he having served for twelve years as sheriff of Rockingham County, and without doubt could have been reelected had he cared to come before the public a fourth time. For a long period he was engaged in farming, and he was a man very well liked and highly respected. Of the four children born to him and his wife two survive, namely: Mrs. N. Wilson Davis, who resides in Harrisonburg, where her hus- band is engaged in the practice of civil engineering; and J. Rob- ert Switzer. The parents were consistent members of the Re- formed Church, and he was one of its elders. The Democratic party had in him a strong supporter. During the war between the states he served under General Mosby, and was a gallant soldier. The paternal grandfather of J. Robert Switzer was Valentine Switzer, a native of Hardy County, and a miller of that region. The maternal grandfather was Col. Peter Roller, of Mount Crawford, Virginia, who received the title of colonel during the war between the states for his services in training soldiers for the Confederacy. By occupation he was a farmer. J. Robert Switzer attended the public schools of Mount Craw- ford and Harrisonburg, and then had two years of work in Ran- dolph-Macon Academy at Front Royal. His degree of Bachelor of Laws was taken from Washington and Lee University in 1906, and that same year he entered upon the practice of his profession in Harrisonburg, in which he continued with gratify- ing success until he was appointed deputy county clerk in 1920. In November, 1927, he was elected county clerk, which office he is still filling with dignified capability. In December, 1911, Mr. Switzer married Miss Virginia Armentrout, born in Middletown, Virginia, a daughter of G. W. and Cora (Willey) Armentrout. Mr. and Mrs. Switzer have two children: John Robert and Virginia Anne. Reared in the faith of the Reformed Church, Mr. Switzer has made it his own, and he is an elder of the local church, to which his wife also belongs. He is a York Rite and Shriner Mason, and is a past high priest of the Chapter and a past eminent commander of the Comman- dery. For sixteen years he has been secretary of the local order of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a past chancellor commander of the for- mer. For years he has been very active in the local Democratic party, has served as chairman of the county committee and been a delegate to various state conventions. In his duties, to which he now gives all of his attention, Mr. Switzer finds his knowledge of the law a very valuable asset, and the people of Rockingham County may rest assured that while he is in office everything under his jurisdiction will be done in accordance with the strict letter as well as the spirit of the law. ______________________________X-Message: #7 Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 19:20:29 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000424192029.00942bc0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: MRS. ALEXANDER W. L. TROTTER, McDowell Co. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" History of Virginia, Volume IV, Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago and New York, 1928 pages 146-147 MRS. ALEXANDER W. L. TROTTER, whose home is in Charlottes- ville, was before her marriage Miss Cameron Browning and she represents the prominent Browning and Hoag families of Virginia. She was born at Richmond and when she was a small child her parents moved to Bluefield, West Virginia, where her father, Col. James S. Browning, was a coal operator, continuing active in that industry until his death on February 26, 1928. Colonel Browning was a Republican and one of the prominent leaders of his party in the Ninth Congressional District, serving for a time on the National Committee and was a particular friend of President William McKinley. However, he never sought any public honors for himself. He owned a farm which has long been known as the Browning Homestead, located on the Virginia and West Virginia line south of Bluefield. Colonel Browning married Miss Olivia Hoag, of the well known family of that name at Richmond. She is still living. Through her Mrs. Trotter is connected with the distinguished Howe family of English origin which settled in Pennsylvania and was related to General Howe, the English general of the Revolution. Colonel and Mrs. Browning had four children. Reba is the wife of G. E. Countz, of Salem, Virginia, and has two children, Edward and Virginia. Jane Browning, now living at Elizabeth Town, Tennessee, was twice married, her three children by her first marriage being Elizabeth McConnell, Olivia Huff and Clifton Huff. James Browning, Junior, a coal man at Bluefield, West Virginia, is married and has one daughter, Betty. Miss Cameron Browning was educated in the Mary Baldwin Seminary at Staunton, Virginia, also attended the Bell Buckle Preparatory School in Tennessee, and in 1904 she became the bride of Maj. Alexander William Lewis Trotter. Major Trotter, whose home was in Scurry, England, of an old and substantial English family, served with the rank of major in the English army, in the Yorkshire Regiment, but was put on the retired list before the beginning of the World war. He came to America and for some years practiced his profession as a civil and con- struction engineer, doing a great deal of railway building in Southwestern Virginia and Tennessee. When the World war broke out in 1914 he returned to England, enlisted as a private and subsequently was promoted to major. During the battle of Somme he was killed in July, 1916. Mrs. Trotter has two chil- dren, James S. Trotter, born in 1908, and William Cameron Trotter, born in 1912. Mrs. Trotter is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and is a member of the Episcopal Church. ______________________________X-Message: #8 Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 19:29:14 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000424192914.008e2710@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: DR. CHARLES FENTON RUSSELL, Jefferson Co. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" History of Virginia, Volume IV, Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago and New York, 1928 pages 150-151 DR. CHARLES FENTON RUSSELL, of Herndon, who at the age of eighty-nine years, with the vigorous step and active mind of a man of sixty, still attends to the details of a large medical and surgical practice, and keeps himself in knowledge and sympathy abreast of the new generation amongst whom he survives, like a monarch of the forest among the younger growths that sur- round it, is one of the oldest members of his profession in Vir- ginia. What a transformation to be wrought under the eye and within the mature life of a single man! If the span of human life is measured by ideas, by new sensations, the life of this man is longer than those of the patriarchs who drew out centuries amid the monotony of the deserts in the dull round of pastoral pursuits. Doctor Russell was born at Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, West Virginia (then Virginia), August 13, 1839, and is a son of Israel and Maria (Littlejohn) Russell. He comes of splendid American stock, his great-grandfather being Col. W. M. Russell, an officer of the Revolutionary war, in which two of his grand- fathers also fought as soldiers. His maternal grandfather served in the War of 1812 and remained in the army until 1831, when he resigned his commission to take up railroad construc- tion. Israel Russell, the father of Doctor Russell, was born in Virginia and passed his entire life as a merchant at Harpers Ferry, where his death occurred August 13, 1886, Mrs. Russell having passed away in June, 1896. Charles Fenton Russell was reared at Harpers Ferry, and after his graduation from the Episcopal High School spent two years in the West. He began the study of medicine in 1859, but like thousands of other youths of his day his career was inter- rupted by the outbreak of the war between the states, and April 14, 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate army and became a non- commissioned officer. His service lasted four years and twenty- seven days, and that it was an active and strenuous one is shown in the fact that he was wounded four times. After Appomattox he returned home and resumed his medical studies at the Uni- versity of Maryland School of Medicine, from which institution he was graduated in 1867 with the degree of Doctor of Med-r icine, and in the same year commenced practice at Waterford, Loudoun County, Virginia. After four years Doctor Russell moved to Sharpsburg, Maryland, where he remained in practice for eighteen years, then accepting a call to the West Indies, where he practiced surgery and held an official position for two years. Returning then to Virginia, he settled permanently at Herndon, where he has continued uninterruptedly in the suc- cessful practice of his calling to the present. He is a member of the Fairfax County Medical Society, Virginia State Medical Society and the Medical Society of Virginia, District of Columbia and Maryland. As a fraternalist he belongs to the Masons and Knights of Pythias, and his religious faith is that of the Epis- copal Church, while in his political convictions he is a Democrat. He is commander of Hatcher Camp of Confederate Veterans at Leesburg, and adjutant of Marr Camp of Fairfax. Doctor Rus- sell is a careful and methodical business man, a kind and gen- erous neighbor, a lover of books, and a great reader of current literature, history, professional subjects and passing events. He is a man of the present, despite his ripeness of years, alike careless of the dogmas of the dead past and the unsolvable problems of the future. On May 10, 1870, Doctor Russell was united in marriage with Miss Margaret A. Grimes, daughter of George and Eliza (Buf- fington) Grimes, natives of Maryland. Mrs. Russell died in De- cember, 1907, having been the mother of four children: Charles G., a civil engineer by profession, who is carrying on agricul- tural interests in Oregon; Margaret B., who is identified with the American Express Fruit Growers Company; Helen, who died in 1890; and Eliza G., the wife of William T. Pollard, an official of the Southern Railway, residing at Chevy Chase, D. C.