WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 165 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: JULES A. VIQUESNEY, Barbour C [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000710201651.00c873c0@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: JULES A. VIQUESNEY, Barbour Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 490-491 Barbour JULES A. VIQUESNEY, president of the Citizens National Bank at Belington, Barbour County, is one of the influential men who have played a prominent part in the development and upbuilding of this vital little city, and his influence has extended also far outside the boundaries of this, his native county, where he stands as a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of this section of the state. He was born on a farm near Junior, this county, April 7, 1869, and is a son of Charles E. and Mary A. (Row) Viquesney, the former of whom was born in a suburb of the City of Paris, France, and the latter of whom was born at Newmarket, Virginia, a daughter of Benjamin Row, who came to the present Barbour County, West Virginia, prior to the Civil war and who operated a grist mill near Junior, in which neighborhood he passed the remainder of his life. Charles E. Viquesney was a boy when he accompanied his parents to the United States, and the family home was established in the vicinity of the present City of Belington, Barbour County, his father, Charles E., Sr., having here become a farmer, though he and his wife eventually re- turned to France and passed the remainder of their lives in their native land. Charles E., Jr., wag reared to manhood on the pioneer farm, and here he maintained his home until the close of his long and useful life. His brother, Jules A., removed to Indiana, where he died, as did also the brother Alfred. G. A., the next younger brother, settled at Little Rock, Arkansas, but made many trips back and forth to France, in which country he now resides, at the age of eighty-four years (1922). Eugene, youngest of the brothers, returned to France with his parents. In the Civil war period Charles E. Visquesney, Jr., was conducting a blacksmith shop in the present Belington neighborhood, and he was also identified with farm en- terprise in this county for many years. During the last fifteen years of his life he was a traveling salesman for the monument establishment of Fred A. Lang & Company of Clarksburg, and in this connection he became well known throughout the state. He was a stanch Union man in the Civil war period and was a republican in politics. He died in 1896, at the age of seventy-two years, and his widow passed away in May, 1919, at the ven- erable age of eighty-four years. They became the parents of ten children: Virginia (Mrs. Shomo), of Junior, Bar- bour County; Benjamin F., a truck gardener at Elkins, Randolph County; Sarah R., wife of Dr. U. S. Simon, a chiropractic physician at Johnstown, Pennsylvania; Polly A., wife of George Hayes, of Junior; Lewis N., a resident of Junior and serving as deputy sheriff of Barbour County; Julia F., wife of Edward W. Lee, of Junior; Laura B., the wife of William A. Simon, residing near Junior; Jules August, the immediate subject of this review; Lillie Bird, who died at Junior, she having been the wife of Charles Wilson, Jr.; and Charles E. Viquesney, who was the second in order of birth and died at the age of eighteen years. Jules A. Viquesney gained his early education in the public schools of Barbour County and later took a busi- ness course in the Methodist Episcopal Seminary at Buck- hannon. He made a record not only as a successful teacher in the rural schools but also as a specially skilled teacher of penmanship. For a period of about five years he was telegraph operator and assistant station agent for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and after leaving this service at Belington he here engaged in the real estate business, besides serving as justice of the peace. He read law with J. Blackburn Ware, his present law partner, and also spent a term in the law department of the State University. He was admitted to the bar in 1905, and has since been associated with his former preceptor, Mr. Ware, in the practice of his profession at Belington, though his law service is now principally in an advisory capacity, as a well fortified counselor. He cast his first presidential vote for Gen. Benjamin Harrison, and has since continued a leader in the local councils of the republican party in Barbour County. He has served as a member of the republican county and congressional committees and has attended practically every state convention of his party in West Virginia from the time of his majority to the present. Governor Dawson appointed him a member of the Board of Directors of the State Hospital for the Insane at Spencer, and later appointed him forest, game and fish warden of the state, an office of which, by ap- pointment under the administrations of Governors Glass- cock and Hatfield, he continued the incumbent nearly ten years. Within this- period he organized the Allegany and Cheat Mountain clubs, and instituted the lockout stations and patrols for the protection of West Virginia forests from damage by fire. Mr. Viquesney was prominently identified with the founding of the now vital little city of Belington, and he was elected the second mayor of the place, he having there- after been elected to this office six times, though his terms were not consecutive, and his seventh term as mayor having resulted from his election in March, 1922, so that he is the present incumbent of this office. He was one of the organizers and is president of the Citizens National Bank of Belington, is associated with many corporations con- tributing to the industrial and commercial advancement of Belington and other points in this section of the state, and for many years he has been actively identified with the timber and lumber industry. He is a director of the Tygart Valley Orchard Company, representing one of the largest commercial orchard enterprises in the state, and at Junior he is the owner of a fine individual orchard. On his farm in that locality he specializes in the raising of potatoes, and in 1915 he sent forth the first carload of potatoes ever shipped from Barbour County. He has since shipped in a single year as many as eleven carloads, representing the product on his own farm and those of neighbors. Mr. Viquesney is a charter member of the Belington Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and is affiliated also with the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, besides which he is a lead- ing member of the Business Men's Club (if Belington. In December, 1892, occurred the marriage of Mr. Viquesney and Miss Dora J. Yeager, daughter of William and Martha (Arbogast) Yeager, of Barbour County. Mr. Yeager is now a resident of Belington and is eighty-eight years of age in 1922, and his wife is now in her eighty- fourth year. Mr. and Mrs. Viquesney have two children: Herman V., of Belington, married Miss Hazel, a daughter of M. L. Haller, and the one child of this union is a daughter, Joan Yvonne. Herman V. Viquesney volunteered in the Signal Corps of the United States Army when the nation became involved in the World war, and was in charge of Government telephones and other equipment at Tours, France, at the time when the armistice brought the war to a close and enabled him to leave the land of his paternal ancestors and return to that of his birth. Miss Winnie Marie Viquesney, the younger of the two children, was graduated in the Belington High School and in 1920- 21 was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of this city, where she is now serving as stenographer in her father's office. ______________________________ X-Message: #2 Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 20:18:15 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000710201747.00b7fac0@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: HAROLD S. MATHEW, Kanawha Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 491-492 Kanawha HAROLD S. MATHEWS is president of the Tribune Printing Company of Charleston, the largest printing, binding and lithographing establishment in the state. It is a successful business, and he and several of his brothers have engaged their activities therein during the life and since the death of their father. His father was J. M. Mathews, a native of Philadelphia, and for many years active in the oil industry of Pennsyl- vania. He came to Charleston in 1897, being influenced to do so largely through his acquaintance with former Governor Dawson of this state. A few years later he became inter- ested in some of the printing and publishing concerns of the city. One of these was The Mail-Tribune, jobbers and publishers, owned by A. B. White, and former Governor Dawson. The management of the old Tribune Company had been under a receiver for some time, and in 1903 the prop- erty was acquired by J. M. Mathews and associates, and at that time the Tribune Printing Company was incorporated. The newspaper was sold, but they retained the name Tribune for the new company, which throughout has been a print- ing plant rather than an auxiliary of newspaper publica- tion. The company was incorporated with a capital of $50,000, with J. M. Mathews, president; S. C. Butler, sec- retary; and M. A. Kendall, treasurer. J. M. Mathews was the directing spirit of this enterprise through its initial stages, and saw it prosperously established before his death, which occurred in 1910. He was succeeded as president by his son H. S. Mathews. In 1914 H. S. Mathews and his two brothers, M. R. and R. L. Mathews, bought Mr. Kendall's interest, and in 1916 they bought the interest of Mr. Butler, thus becoming sole owners, and incorporated for $100,000. In 1918 R. L. Mathews sold his stock to H. S. and M. B. Mathews, who are now actively associated as managers and owners of the business. The company does a general line of printing and edition work, has binding, lithographing and other mechanical de- partments, employs from 100 to 140 people, and the business is conducted in a four-story building 50 by 110 feet, which was built by James M. Mathews in 1907 at a cost of $60,000. H. S. Mathews came to Charleston from Philadelphia in 1899. In 1900 he went into the coal fields, but in 1907 returned to Charleston, and on his father's death succeeded to the presidency of the company. He has served as treas- urer of the County Republican Committee, as a member of the City Council, and is a Rotarian and a past exalted ruler of the Elks Lodge. He is a member of St. John's Episcopal Church. Mr. Mathews married Irene Taylor, of Parkersburg, and they have two children, Harold S. and Elizabeth I. ______________________________ X-Message: #3 Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 20:18:54 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000710201818.00c52650@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: ARTIMUS W. COX, Kanawha Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 492 Kanawha ARTIMUS W. COX. Under the corporate title of the A. W. Cox Department Store is conducted one of the most important general mercantile enterprises in the City of Charleston, Mr. Cox having been the founder of the business, of which he is the executive head and chief stockholder, all other stockholders being active employes in connection with the establishment. Mr. Cox, the president and general man- ager of the company, has made a splendid record that places him well to the front in the ranks of the progressive and influential business men of the capital city of West Virginia. The A. W. Cox Department Store was incorporated in 1914, with a capital stock of $20,000, and assumed owner- ship and control of the department store formerly conducted by George Ort. The business has shown a record of splendid expansion, and operations are now based on a capital stock of $140,000, while the corps of employes averages fifty persons. The sales for the first year aggregated $82,000, and the record for 1921 was total sales amounting to more than $600,000, the jobbing department of the enterprise being held as an independent feature, and its accounts being entirely separate from that of the general retail business. The company owns its substantial and modern building, a five-story and basement structure that is 36 by 120 feet in dimensions. The entire building is occupied by the com- pany, which likewise maintains a large separate warehouse for the reception and storage of surplus stocks. The sub- stantial financial success that has attended this well ordered business in indicated significantly in the fact it has paid large dividends to the stockholders. A. W. Cox was born and reared in Roane County, West Virginia, and has found in his native state ample oppor- tunity for the achievement of large and worthy success in connection with normal business enterprise. In 1908 he came to Kanawha County and established a general store at Clendenin, where he built up a prosperous business and where he continued operations until 1914, when he removed to Charleston and became the executive head of the now large and important department store which bears his name. He has had no time or desire for political activity or public office, but is essentially loyal and progressive as a citizen, ever ready to lend support to measures and enterprises tend- ing to benefit the community in which he lives. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, the Masons, the Chamber of Commerce, the Lions Club, and of the First Methodist Epis- copal Church, South. He married Miss Narcie Payne, of Roane County, and they have three children: Sybil, Wilbur and Mildred. ______________________________ X-Message: #4 Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 20:19:30 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000710201856.00c85dd0@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: WILLIAM CASPER SHANKLIN, Greenbrier Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 492 Greenbrier WILLIAM CASPER SHANKLIN. The record of W. C. Shank- lin as a railroad man covers a period of nearly thirty years. His service began with the Chesapeake & Ohio, and he finally returned to this company, and for the last three years he has been its agent and representative at South Charleston. Mr. Shanklin was born in Greenbrier County, West Vir- ginia, August 25, 1874, son of John H. and Amanda (Mor- gan) Shanklin, the former a native of Monroe County and the latter of Greenbrier. John Shanklin was a farmer, and was accidentally killed in middle life. W. C. Shanklin there- fore came to manhood without the care and direction of a father, and early learned to depend upon himself. It was in 1894, when he was twenty years of age, that he began railroading, as a telegraph operator at Talcott, West Vir- ginia, for the Chesapeake & Ohio. He remained in the service of this company five years. After that he was with several other companies, and for three years he was in Nebraska as a station agent of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Out of twenty-nine years of railroad duty, nine- teen years had been devoted to station work. Mr. Shanklin resumed service with the Chesapeake & Ohio about seven years ago, and on August 21, 1919, was ap- pointed agent at South Charleston. This growing and prosperous industrial city is now one of the prominent sources of traffic for the Chesapeake & Ohio. Eight men are required to handle the business of the station in addi- tion to Mr. Shanklin. The freight receipts here for the year 1920 ran over $1,000,000, and the business for 1921 was nearly as much. Mr. Shanklin is a member of the Order of Railway Telegraphers and belongs to several other organizations. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner. He is now serving as a member of the City Council of South Charles- ton. At Ironton, Ohio, he married Miss Bessie Frazier. They have six children, Lester, Mildred, Edith, Frances, Aileen and Madeline. The son Lester is an employe of the Chesapeake & Ohio. ______________________________ X-Message: #5 Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 20:20:01 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000710201932.00c8f430@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: FRANK E. SHANNON, Wyoming Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 492 Wyoming FRANK E. SHANNON, is the present prosecuting attorney of Wyoming County, West Virginia, having been elected on the republican ticket in 1920 to serve a term of four years. He is a son of Albert Shannon and Sallie (Justice) Shannon. His father is still living, his mother having died when he was but one year old. His family was one of the first settlers of the county, having come to this county from Tazewell, Virginia, long before the Civil war. He and all of his people are repub- licans and Methodists.