WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 122 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: KIGHT, Harry B. Keyser [Vivian Brinker To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <000427144807.9219@RAVEN.CCC.CC.KS.US> Subject: BIO: KIGHT, Harry B. Keyser The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II. pg. 356 HARRY B. KIGHT A fact which is becoming generally recognized is that great corporations are made popular, or otherwise, by the service rendered by their employes, and upon their character and willingness to cater to the demands of the public rests the successful business life of the corporation employing them. Especially is this true with reference to the railroads of the country, which are, perhaps, more dependent upon the personality of their employes than any other concern, and the more level-headed and progressive of the officials are giving this matter serious attention and striving to retain the services of those men who have proven their value in this connection. One of the men whose loyal service and pleasing manner have won the appreciation of the traveling public over the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Keyser is Harry B. Kight, ticket clerk of his road at this point, and one of the most valued of the road's trusted employes. Harry B. Kight is a native son of Maryland, for he was born at Westernport, that state, June 5, 1887, but was brought to Mineral County the following year by his father, Ezra Kight. He is a grandson of Henry Kight, who established the Kite family on New Creek, up from Keyser, where he purchased a farm and became one of the active agriculturist of Mineral County. An earnest Christian, he united with the Southern branch of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and continued faithful to his creed the remainder of his life. He and his wife became the parents of the following children: Mrs. Gauer, of Oakland, Maryland; Ezra, who became the father of Harry B. Kight; Laura, who married Henry Likens, of Bayard, West Virginia; Jack, who lives at Davis, West Virginia; Jennie, who is the wife of C. W. Burk, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Margaret, who married Gaver Bosley, of Davis, West Virginia; Bailey, who lives at Cumberland, Maryland; and Mrs. J. L. Hunter, now deceased, formerly lived at Davis, West Virginia. Ezra Kight was born in Allegany County, Maryland, November 6, 1852, and was reared on his father's farm nine miles from Keyser, on New Creek. He received a common-school education, and further improved himself by reading, so that he was always able to take any position offered him. Upon leaving the farm he became a clerk for T. C. Dye, a general merchant of New Creek, with whom he remained for a time, going then into the employ of the New Creek Tannery, another local enterprise. His ambitions, however, led him to railroad work, and he commenced his service with the Baltimore & Ohio Rairoad at the very bottom, as a common laborer in the shops at Piedmont. As he was willing to work and learn, it was not long, however, before he made brakeman, and, later, a conductor, and he was in the freight service when he passed away, February 11, 1905. One of nature's noblemen, this conscientious railroad worker always sought to do his full duty to his Maker and his fellow citizens, and was an earnest and consistent Christian. For many years he was an honored member of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and all who knew him regarded him highly and esteemed him for his many virtues and loveable nature. He voted the democratic ticket, and his only fraternal relations were those he maintained as a member of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen. Ezra Kight married Carrie Patton, a daughter of Basil Patton. Mrs. Kight was born in Ritchie County, West Virginia, May 24, 1860, and died April 20, 1920. They had the following children born to them: Harley, who lives at Keyser; Elliott, who is Mrs. M. Lamb, of Covington, Virginia; Harry Basil, whose name heads this review; Frank, who belongs to the aviation corps, U. S. A., is stationed at Kelley Field Number 2, near Fort Worth, Texas; and Gertrude, who married H. L. Yost, of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. Growing up at Keyser, Harry B. Kight attended its public schools, but was not graduated from the high school course, as he left the schoolroom to enter the railroad service December 11, 1903, as a messenger for the master mechanic's office. Later he became a caller for the road, and still later went into the train service as a brakeman and spent four years at this work. At the expiration of that period he was transferred to the station at Keyser as ticket clerk and baggagemaster, and was finally promoted to be day ticket agent, October 15, 1915, and is still filling this position. During the summer season, he is the road's agent at Deer Park Hotel, Deer Park, Maryland, where he remains during the tourist season, then returning to Keyser for the fall and winter months. Outside of his regualr work Mr. Kight has entered enthusiastically into the spirit of Pythianism, having passed through all of the chairs of Olive Branch Lodge No. 25 of Keyser, and has taken the Grand Lodge degree, which was conferred on him at Piedmont, West Virginia, October 21, 1921. He is known in Pythian circles over a wide field. In connection with his lodge work he is now serving as secretary of the Third Branch team of his home lodge. His religious home is the Keyser Presbyterian Church, of which he is an earnest member, and he is now serving as secretary of the board of deacons. Mr. Kight is a man of original ideas, and has put them at the service of his company. His unique method of advertising his road has attracted much attention from tourists, and has called forth expressions of commendation from the general passenger agent of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and from others of its officials who have the interest of the passenger service close to their hearts. Wherever and in whatever capacity Mr. Kight has served he has popularized his employer and contributed that which is necessary for the well being of his road. His Baltimore & Ohio advertisement in the window of Doctor Gruesendorf's drug store at Keyser was so original and evoked so much favorable comment that the same idea was used for a similar window decoration in Baltimore, Maryland, where it was similarly admired. Mr. Kight is the Keyser correspondent of the Baltimore & Ohio Magazine, an employes' magazine published by the railroad company at Baltimore for the benefit of its employes. In a recent issue of this periodical one of the writers says in part as follows: "Harry B. Kight, the Keyser correspondent of the magazine, acted as summer agent of the Deer Park Hotel Station, and proved to be one of the very best agents the hotel ever had. I met him every Saturday and Sunday during the heated term and observed his work." On June 29, 1916, Mr. Kight married at Cumberland, Maryland, Miss Elizabeth Glover, a daughter of Dennis Glover, who lost his life in front of the Keyser station, and was one of the oldest men in the service. Mrs. Glover belongs to the Connell family. The birth of Mrs. Kight took place at Hutton, Maryland, June 11, 1895. She was graduated from the Keyser High School in May, 1916, and was married the next month. She is interested with her husband in church work, and is a member of the various church auxiliary organizations. Mr. and Mrs. Kight have one son, Harry Donald, who was born November 20, 1917. This bright little fellow already displays many of his father's characteristics, and is a prime example among the family connections and friends. So popular has Mr. Kight become with the traveling public that one of his customers remarked of him: "The fact that Harry Kight's friendly face is at the ticket window in the Keyser station of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and that his cheerful and earnest voices greets the patrons of the road, is one of the best investments the company has ever made. ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 14:49:07 -0500 From: Vivian Brinker To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <000427144907.9219@RAVEN.CCC.CC.KS.US> Subject: BIO: CHAMBERS, Chester Cush Logan The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II. pg. 356. CHESTER CUSH CHAMBERS Chester Cush Chambers, the efficient and popular city attorney of Logan judicial center of Logan County, was born at Pecks Mills, this county, Decmeber 11, 1890, and is the son of Leroy and Martha (Chambers) Chambers, both natives of this state, where they still reside on their excellent homestead farm near Pecks Mill. The father of Leroy Chambers was born in Virginia, where the family, of English lineage, was founded in the Colonial days, and he became one of the distinguished and eloquent clergymen of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as a minister of which he labored long and earnestly and gained high reputation for his consecrated zeal and devotion. After receiving the discipline of the public schools Chester C. Chambers was for three years a student in Marshall College at Huntington, this state. In 1915 he graduated in the law department of historic old Washington and Lee University, Virginia, and after thus receiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws he engaged in the practice of his profession at Logan, where his success marks him as one of the representative younger meembers of the bar of Logan County. He served one term as county recorder, and the year 1922 finds him giving an effective administration in the office of city attorney of Logan. On the 6th of March, 1918, Mr. Chambers entered the nation's military service in connection with the World war. He passed one year at Camp Greenleaf, Georgia, and for ten months thereafter he was stationed at Fort Bayard, New Mexico. He won commission as second lieutenant, was assigned to the sanitary corps, and at Fort Bayard he was made adjutant of the United States General Hospital, commanding officer of the hospital force of 600 men, custodian of the hospital funds and fire marshal of the Post. The preferments denote the high estimate placed upon him and also the effieciency of his service. He received his honorable discharge in August, 1919, and then resumed the practice of his profession at Logan. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In March, 1918, Mr. Chambers was united in marriage with Miss Ida Robinette, of Logan County, she being a daughter of Preston and Ella (Gore) Robinette, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of the present Logan County, West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers are popular figures in the representative social activities of their home community. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 14:50:01 -0500 From: Vivian Brinker To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <000427145001.9219@RAVEN.CCC.CC.KS.US> Subject: BIO: SNIDER, Millard F. Clarksburg The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II. pg. 357. MILLARD F. SNIDER A successful lawyer and representative citizen of Clarksburg, Harrison County, is found in Millard F. Snider, one of the leaders of the Clarksburg bar, who has been in active practice in this city for near a quarter of a century. He was born on a farm in Doddridge County, Virginia, now West Virginia, September 24, 1860. He traces his family on the paternal side back to his great-grandfather John Snider, who came from Fauquier County, Virginia, in the pioneer days, and settled in Harrison County, where he died at about ninety-eight years of age. His grandfather, Jacob Snider, was born in Harrison County, in 1804, and died in Doddridge County at the age of seventy- eight years; his father, Jehu Snider, was born in Harrison County, September 27, 1832. Of his maternal ancestors, Mr. Snider's grandfather, George Apsy, came from England to Loudoun County, Virginia, when a young man and married Mary L. Swan of that locality, to whom were born four daughters, among them was Virginia Ellen Apsy, the mother of Mr. Snider. She was born July 30, 1837. His grandfather Apsy died about 1839, when the children were all small, and his grandmother, with her four daughters, later moved to Doddridge County, where his father and mother were married in 1854. To this union were born thirteen children, twelve of whom reached maturity, and there are now (1922) living eleven children, thirty-eight grandchildren, and twenty-five great grandchildren of their descendants. Millard F. Snider was the fourth child in this family. His father and mother spent most of their lives on the home farm, on Brushy Fork of Meat House Fork, in New Milton District, to which they moved when Millard was eight years old. They were members of the United Brethren Church, and lived earnest, conscientious, Christian lives. In 1901, they retired from the farm and spent their declining years in quiet enjoyment at Salem, Harrison County, where his father died Sunday, April 21, 1912, and his mother Sunday, March 12, 1922. The family were all industrious and during his boyhood Millard Fillmore did his share of the hard work that was necessary in clearing away the forests and successfully operating a farm in that locality. Very early in life he determined to have an education, and by diligent study in the public schools, which were only three and four-month terms at that time, he was able to commence teaching school when he was twenty years old, and spent most of the next six years in the schoolroom, alternating as student and teacher. After attending several terms at the State Normal School, at Fairmont, he entered the State University, where he graduated from the law department in 1887 with the degree of LL. B. Mr. Snider located at West Union, Doddridge County, in the fall of 1887, and immediately engaged in the practice of the law, where he continued until 1898, when he sought a wider field and chose Clarksburg as the best suited for his professonal work. He has been amply rewarded. Miss Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of the late Judge Chapman Stuart, of West Union, became his wife in 1892. They have one daughter, Virginia Ann, who graduated at Goucher College, and is now the wife of J. Ransel Romine, of Clarksburg. They all live on East Main Street, belong to the First Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is contented and happy.