WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 16 Today's Topics: #2 BIO: SMITH, Harry Fenton, Martinsb [Vivian Brinker To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <000113131619.5a5f@RAVEN.CCC.CC.KS.US> Subject: BIO: SMITH, Harry Fenton, Martinsburg The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II. pg. 180 HARRY FENTON SMITH, who came to Martinsburg as manager of the Western Union telegraph office and has remained in the city and become extensively interested in horticulture and other business affairs, is a member of a very old American family and has an interesting lineage. He was born in Frederick County, Maryland. His father, David Miller Smith, was born near Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland, August 26, 1833. The grandfather was Capt. David Smith, who was born near Sharpsburg, January 5, 1796. The great-grand- father was George Smith, born December 21, 1767, near Sharpsburg, and his father was George Smith, Sr., born in the same neighborhood about 1744. The father of George Smith, Sr., was founder of this branch of the family in America and was named Joseph Smith. He was a native of England, and came to America with his brother James. They settled in Washington County, Maryland. In 1749 Joseph Smith patented tracts of land known as Elwicks dwellings and Smith's purchase, the two embracing 325 acres. His son George Smith bought property in Sharpsburg in 1765, lived there, and his will was probated in Hagerstown in 1792. George Smith, Jr., inherited part of his father's estate. On September 4, 1787, he married Julia von Miller, the name being originally spelled Muller. She was born near Sharpsburg March 13, 1771, daughter of David and Catherine (Fleck) von Miller, and sister of Col. John Miller, an officer in the United States Army in the War of 1812, and also in the Maryland State Militia. George Smith, Jr., died March 3, 1834, and his wife, on June 3, 1852. Their six children were Joseph, Catherine, Rebecca, David, Sarah, Elizabeth. Capt. David Smith, grandfather of Harry Fenton, owned and operated a farm close to Antietam Station, near the famous battle field of Antietam. He entered the State Militia in his youth, was in the War of 1812 and was commissioned a captain. Late in life he removed to Sharpsburg, and died there August 7, 1869. On September 3, 1820, he married Ann Maria Rohr, who was born in Frederick County, Maryland, August 3, 1797, daughter of Jacob Rohr, Jr., and granddaughter of Jacob Rohr, Sr., who came to America in 1731 and settled in Frederick County, Maryland. Jacob Rohr, Jr., was postmaster of Fredericksburg for several years, and lived there until his death. Capt. David Smith and wife reared four children, named Frisby R., born November 26, 1824, and who became a physician; Joseph Chester, born June 8, 1828; David Miller, born August 26, 1833; and Grafton Finley, who became a druggist. David Miller Smith was educated at Sharpsburg and the academy at Frederick, was admitted to the bar when a young man and practiced law, and also became one of the owners and editors of the Frederick Examiner and later established the Frederick Times. He was a staunch Union man and republican, and tried to enlist at the first call for troops to cut down the rebellion, but on account of a disabled arm was not accepted. He died July 1, 1895, and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Sharpsburg, Maryland. On October 25, 1865, he married Mary Ellen Piper. She was born at Piper's farm, upon which the battle of Antietam was fought on November 7, 1842, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Keedy) Piper, both of whom were born near Sharpsburg. Henry Piper was a son of Daniel and Martha (Brown) Piper, and Daniel was born in Washington County, Maryland, son of Johann Pfeiffer, a native of Holland, who came to America with his brother Jacob in 1763. Johann Pfeiffer was a private during the Revolutionary war in Capt. William Heyser's company of a German battalion commanded by Col. N. Houssegger, with which he entered the service December 6, 1776. Mrs. David Miller Smith is still living, at the old home at Sharpsburg. She reared three sons: Malcolm Victor, Harry Fenton and Louis Roman. Harry Fenton Smith attended public school in Sharpsburg, and at the age of fourteen became a messenger with the Western Union Telegraph Company. He soon learned telegraphy, was an operator at Hagerstown and in 1890 came to Martinsburg as manager of the local office of that company. He remained in this service for over twenty years, resigning in 1912, and since then has given his time to farming and horticulture. He has two farms in Hedgesville District and one in Fallen Waters District, and on one farm he has seventeen acres of orchard and fourteen acres on another. In 1899 he married Hannah Orrick Wever, who was born in Martinsburg. Her father, Charles J. Wever, was born on a farm nearby in 1837. Her grandfather, Casper Wever, was born in Berkeley County, December 14, 1791. Her great-grandfather Jacob Wever, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, son of Sergeant Casper Wever, who came from the vicinity of Hamburg, Germany, to America in Colonial times and married Catherine LeFevre, a French Huguenot. Jacob Wever was a pioneer settler in Berkeley County, purchasing a large amount of land, which he later operated with slaves. His residence was known as Maple Home and was located on Warm Springs Road. Jacob Wever married Hannah Cromwell Orrick, daughter of Charles and Catherine (Davenport) Orrick and granddaughter of Capt. Nicholas and Hannah (Cromwell) Orrick. Nicholas Orrick was a son of John and Susannah (Hammond) Orrick and a grandson of James and Mary Ourrouch, who came to America in 1665 and patented land in Ann Arundel County, Maryland. Susannah Hammond was the daughter of Col. Thomas and Rebecca (Larkin) Hammond and granddaughter of Maj.-Gen. John and Mary (Howard) Hammond. Charles J. Wever, father of Mrs. Smith, entered the Confederate army at the beginning of the war in Company B, of the First Virginia Cavalry, and was in service until captured by the enemy and spent the last months of the war in a prison in New Jersey. While in the service he was accidentally wounded. After the war he farmed the old homestead in Berkeley County until his death on March 14, 1878. He married Frances Arabella Snodgrass, who was born in Berkeley, daughter of Col. Robert Verdin and Sarah Ann Snodgrass, a granddaughter of Robert and Susannah (Rawlings) Snodgrass and a lineal decendant of William and Catherine (Patterson) Snodgrass, natives of Scotland and founders of the Snodgrass family in America. Susanna Rawlings was a daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth (Tyler) Rawlings, Elizabeth Tyler being of the same family as President John Tyler. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the first being Ellen Orrick, who died in infancy. Their daughter Hannah Cromwell is now a student in high school. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Trinity Episcopal Church. He is affiliated with Eureka Lodge No. 105, A. F. and A. M., Martinsburg Lodge of Perfection No. 7, of the Scottish Rite, and Mrs. Smith is a member of the Shenandoah Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 13:55:06 -0600 From: Vivian Brinker To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <000113135506.5a5f@RAVEN.CCC.CC.KS.US> Subject: BIO: MACDONALD, William, Mineral County The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II. pg. 181 WILLIAM MACDONALD. One of the distinguished members of the legal profession practicing at the bar of Mineral County is William MacDonald, of Keyser, who fully lives up to the highest ideals of his calling in both professional and private life. He is one of those who early found the work for which he was best fitted, and his practice before state and federal courts of West Virginia and her neighboring sister commonwealths has been effective in establishing his ability to litigate in all cases with marked success. William MacDonald was not born in the United States, but under a flag representing freedom and democracy, as he came into the world at Stellarton, Nova Scotia, Canada, October 19, 1865. His father had emigrated to Nova Scotia at the commencement of his career from Dunbartonshire, Scotland, and there was actively engaged as an official in extensive coal-mining operations. He was a Norman MacDonald, and was born at Netherton, Scotland, June 15, 1836. He was reared amid the environment of farm life, and was but sparingly educated, yet sufficiently for his needs through life. When but a youth he entered the mines located near his birthplace, and in them acquired the experience which made him an expert miner and equipped him for superintending mines in which work he was engaged in both Canada and the United States. It was after locating at Stellarton that Norman MacDonald made the acquaintance of Elizabeth Wilson, who became his wife. She was also of Scotch birth, and died at Harrisburg, Illinois, when their son William MacDonald was nine years old, in 1874. Mr. MacDonald took an important part in the operations in the Illinois coal field until December, 1874, moving then to Maryland and establishing his home at Lonaconing, where he continued his connection with mining until 1882, when he crossed the Potomac River into West Virginia and settling permanently in Mineral County. There he was engaged in superintending mining operations until his retirement. His death occurred at Keyser, May 19, 1908. Four children were born to him and his wife, namely: William, whose name heads this review; Mrs. Isabella Grimes, who resides in Mineral County; James Wilson, who died a few years ago; and one who died young. William MacDonald has lived in West Virginia since August, 1882. He did not profit much from his attendance at the public schools, because he went with his father into the mines before he reached his eleventh year, and worked in and about coal diggings until in September, 1893, when he began to carry out a long-cherished ambition to prepare himself for the profession of the law, and during that month entered the University of West Virginia. He had read borrowed text-books on law for a year and a half before he entered the university, and had accomplished considerable without a coach or guide to aid him in mastering any of the many intricascies of the science. However, such was his perseverance and natural ability, and as he was well-read and grounded in the rudiments of the law when he commenced his course, he was able to carry on his work creditably in the classroom, finishing the prescribed course of two years in one year and graduating in June, 1894, tenth in a class of twenty-three, amoung whom were Clark W. May, later attorney general of West Virginia, Judge J.C. McWhorter, Judge Warren B. Kittle, of Philippi, West Virginia, and others who have since become attorneys of note in the several communities in which they located. Mr. MacDonald was admitted to practice at Keyser, September 4, 1894, and on October 8th, following, he established himself in this city and began the practice of a profession which has brought him conspicuously before the public in several states as an able advocate at the bar. His first law suit was tried on the present site of his law office, in a justice court, and he began his practice in the office of the late William C. Clayton, one of the most distinguished lawyers of West Virginia. He has always practice alone, and for a score of years has taken part as counsel on one side or the other of of the more important, first-class litigation in Mineral County. In addition to a large local practice Mr. MacDonald has had cases in the state courts of Maryland and Virginia, the Federal Court at Baltimore, Maryland, and the State and Federal Courts of West Virginia. In politics Mr. MacDonald is a well known democrat, and commenced his record as a voter in 1888, when he supported Grover Cleveland for the presidency of the United States, and he has stoutly maintained his loyalty to his party ever since. He has responded to the call of his party to bear some of the the burden and expense of campaign work, and was a member of the Second Congressional District Democratic Committee, and treasurer of the campaign of Col. Thomas B. Davis when the latter was sent to Congress from the Second District. He was chairman of the Mineral County Prohibition Committee when the constitutional amendment for national prohibition was submitted to the voters, and rejoiced in the positive victory that was given the amendment by the ballots cast by Mineral County citizens. Mr. MacDonald was city attorney of Keyser for a number of years and served as a member of the school board when the present high school building was erected. William MacDonald married at Keyser, West Virginia, November 20, 1900, Miss Nancy J. Lauck, a daughter of Joseph B. Lauck, and aunt of Hon. W. Jett Lauck, a leading labor statistician and a scholarly man of Washington, D.C., appointed on important commissions by President Wilson during the World war, and an authority on labor problems. Mrs. MacDonald was born at Huntington, West Virginia, but grew to womanhood at Keyser, where her father spent many years. Mr. and Mrs. MacDonald became the parents of the following children: Kenneth, who died May 25, 1917, on his twelfth birthday; and Janet, who is a student in the Keyser High School. During the late war William MacDonald served as one of the zealous supporters of the administration policies. he took part as one of the "Four-Minute" speakers in the campaigns in behalf of all of the drives; assisted many of the drafted men in filling out their questionaires, and was a member of the Interstate Young Men's Christian Association Committee, and as such had the approval on the expenditures of all monies for educational purposes by that organization in West Virginia after the close of the war, and is still a member of that committee. While the above were the chief duties he so cheerfully performed, he was identified with many others, and did not shirk any responsibility, no matter what personal sacrifice might be entailed. His relation to the church is that of his membership with the Presbyterian congregation at Keyser, and he has had a voice in its spiritual leadership as an elder for some years, and in its finances as treasurer for nineteen years. For seventeen years he has been secretary of its Sabbath school, and has been its superintendant for some years. ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 15:11:24 -0600 From: Vivian Brinker To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <000113151124.5a5f@RAVEN.CCC.CC.KS.US> Subject: BIOS: TYLER, Emory Ledrew, Mineral County The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II. pg. 182 EMORY LEDREW TYLER came from the University of Morgantown with a diploma as a law graduate some ten years ago, and began his professional career in Mineral County. He has made an enviable success, largely due to the two terms he held the office of prosecuting attorney, and is now engaged in private practice at Keyser. Mr. Tyler was born in Doddridge County, West Virginia, March 6, 1885. His grandfather, John Tyler, came into the western county from the Valley of Virginia, was a farmer, and married a Miss Powell near Arthur, West Virginia. Their only child was Conrad Tyler, who was born after his father's death and was reared under somewhat adverse conditions, so that he acquired little education. He was born in Grant County sixty-five years ago, and farming was his steady occupation until he retired to Keyser, where he is now living. He is a member of the Methodist Church. Conrad Tyler married Margaret Veach, who was born in Grant County, sixty-three years ago, daughter of John and Margaret (Seymour) Veach. The children of this couple are: Ura, wife of Benjamin Rotruck; Emory Ledrew; May, who married Howard Arnold; Homer, of Keyser; Erma, of Keyser; Mansfield of Keyser; Otis, Winona and Jane, all at home. While Emory Ledrew Tyler was an infant his parents moved to the vicinity of Mount Sterling, Ohio, and when he was seven years of age they returned to West Virginia and located in Grant County near Maysville, where Emory Ledrew lived until reaching man's estate. He attended the common schools, the Keyser Preparatory School, and at West Virginia University took the literary as well as the law courses. He graduated in law in the spring of 1912, and a few weeks later was engaged to try his first case, at Keyser. This case was the prosecution of a man for pistol toting, but the decision went against him. Mr. Tyler was elected prosecuting attorney of Mineral County in 1912, succeeding Arthur Arnold, and was re-elected for a second term in 1916. During his eight years in office he made a distinctive record of winning eighty percent of his cases and gave particular attention to the vigorous prosecution of all violators of the liquor law. With greatly increased prestige he left office in the winter of 1920 to turn his experience to account in private practice. For several years Mr. Tyler was a partner of Charles Ritchie, now assistant attorney general of West Virginia, in the firm of Ritchie & Tyler. Mr. Tyler's father was independent in politics, while his mother's people were republicans, and he chose the republican party as his own political faith, casting his first vote for William H. Taft. He was a member of the State Judicial Convention of 1920 at Wheeling, and is chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of Mineral County. As prosecuting attorney he made his office an instrument in upholding the patriotic record of Mineral County during the World war, assisted in recruiting duty and was government appeal agent and counsel for the Draft Board. Mr. Tyler is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America, and the Kappa Alpha College fraternity. He is state lecturer for the Modern Woodmen. His church is the Methodist Episcopal. On September 14, 1915, at Baltimore, he married Miss Pearl C. Compton, who was born at Martinsburg, West Virginia, in December, 1885, daughter of John and Sallie (Buzzard) Compton. She is a graduate of the high school of her native city, the Cumberland High School, attended preparatory school at Keyser, and is an A. B. graduate of West Virginia University and later took post- graduate work in Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore. Mrs. Tyler is one of the best educated women in the state, and before her marriage was a successful teacher of English in the Milton High School and later in the preparatory school at Montgomery, West Virginia. She is one of five living children, the others being: Chester, of Pittsburgh; Ada, connected with the Woman's Extension Work in West Virginia University; Eva, in charge of domestic science in the State Normal School at Fairmont; and Vernon C., principal of schools at Berkeley Springs. Mr. and Mrs. Tyler have two daughters, Ruth Winifred and Janet. While he has had an active career of only about ten years, Mr. Tyler has formed some substantial connections with business affairs, being a stockholder in the First National Bank of Keyser, in the Marteller Coal Company, is vice president of the Mineral County Coal Company and the Eastern Coal and Mining Company, is attorney for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, the Marteller Coal Company, the Dean Coal Company, and has professional connections with the First National Bank of Keyser, Edington & Company and other firms.