WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 175 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: GUY MARTIN BONAFIELD, Preston [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000717062628.00c80890@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: GUY MARTIN BONAFIELD, Preston 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. 511 Preston GUY MARTIN BONAFIELD is active head of the Bonafield Coal Company of Tunnelton, and for many years has been identified with merchandising, coal development and banking in that community. The family name stands out as one of the most prominent in the affairs of that section of Preston County. His grandfather was Thornton J. Bonafield, a native of St. George, Tucker County, West Virginia, who established his home in Preston County in early days and was a success- ful farmer. He died at Tunnelton at the age of seventy- three. He married Sarah Ervin, and their only son was Arnold Jacob, while their daughters were: Susan, who be- came the wife of George W. Hartman; Flora, who married Wilber Posten, of Monongalia County; Lettie, who married John S. Graham; Miss Julia, who has spent her life as a Missionary in China; and Ida, wife of Luther McMillen, of the Masontown locality. The late Arnold Jacob Bonafield was born near the old Camp Ground on the Kingwood-Tunnelton Eoad, and died at Tunnelton, January 9, 1909, at the age of sixty. His active career was divided between merchandising and the coal industry. He was a democrat in politics, and very popular both in and out of his party, since he came very near to being elected sheriff of Preston County at a time when the democrats were in great minority. He was a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Methodist Church. Arnold Bonafield married Elizabeth Virginia Rob- inson, daughter of James and Betsy (Baker) Robinson, natives of West Virginia and for many years residents of Fairmont. Mrs. A. J. Bonafield is still living, with her children, her home being with her son Guy. Her other children are Hugh W., of Tunnelton; Ethelynd Virginia, wife of B. F. Hutton; and Stewart E., of Tunnelton. Guy Martin Bonafield was born at Tunnelton March 18, 1874, and was well educated in preparation for the duties of life. He attended the common schools, the Fairmont Normal School and the West Virginia Wesleyan College. On leaving school he became bookkeeper and clerk for his father, and continued to be actively associated with the elder Bonafield until his death. As administrator he closed up his father's estate, and then engaged in the flour and feed business, but now for some years has been active as a coal operator. He and George Cummings, under the firm name of Cummings & Bonafield, developed a mine at the village of Tunnelton, operating it as the Loubert Coal Com- pany. This is a successful mine operation today, and in 1918 Mr. Bonafield bought the interests of Mr. Cummings and organized the Bonafield Coal Company, of which he is two-thirds owner. His father was a prominent factor in organizing the Tunnelton Bank, which opened for business in 1903, and was its president until his death. Guy Bonafield is a stock- holder, vice president and one of the directors of the bank. He has frequently been honored with the duties of a council- man, and was once mayor of Tunnelton. Mr. Bonafield cast his first presidential vote for William Jennings Bryan, and is a democrat in national politics, though rather independent in local affairs. He is one of the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight of Pythias and a member of other fraternities. In June, 1898, near Tunnelton, he married Miss Alberta C. Bolyard, who was born in that community in 1873, daughter of Henry and Nancy (Sigley) Bolyard, of Har- rison County, West Virginia, where her mother was born. Mrs. Bonafield attended the high schools of Kingwood and Terra Alta, also Mr. Bowman's school and normal in Bar- hour County, and was a popular teacher in Preston County until her marriage. Her last term was taught at Fellows- ville. She is the fifth in a family of eight children: Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bonafield and are still in the home circle: Daisy L., Elizabeth Adelaide, Arnold Jacob, Ethelynd Virginia and James Henry. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 19:19:55 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000717191936.00c9cbd0@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: WILLIAM E. BRAITHWAITE, Berkeley 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. 511 Berkeley WILLIAM E. BRAITHWAITE. Of the West Virginia colony in the City of Washington one of the very interesting and talented members is William E. Braithwaite, who for a number of years has been connected with the Bureau of Standards, but is most widely known as a professional musician, being tenor soloist of the National Quartette of Washington. Mr. Braithwaite was born in Berkeley County, West Vir- ginia, in 1887, son of John W. and Martha F. (Jenkins) Braithwaite, who reside at Martinsburg. This is an old family of Berkeley County of English ancestry. William E. Braithwaite attended the public schools of Berkeley County and Martinsburg, and in 1908 he came to Washington as an employe in the administrative offices of the United States Bureau of Standards. His continued service with that bureau has brought him progressive pro- motion from minor clerical duties until he is now adminis- trative assistant in the Industrial Laboratory of the United States Bureau of Standards (testing of materials). This position places him in the capacity of office executive of the plant of this division, located on Pierce Mill Eoad near Connecticut Avenue. As a boy he was regarded as an exceptional singer in his home county of Berkeley, and after removing to Washing- ton, a city rich in opportunities and facilities for study and culture, he devoted his spare time to vocal music. He studied under Professor Myron Whitney, son of the elder Myron Whitney, one of the most famous singers of his day; under Herndon Morselle, for several years tenor soloist with the old Bostonian Opera Company; and another teacher of distinction with whom he worked was Charles Bartlett. In the meantime he sang with various church choirs and concert organizations, and his work as a tenor soloist brought him widening appreciation in the best musical circles of Wash- ington. Mr. Braithwaite is one of the original members of the famous National Quartette, all of whom are professional singers, and an organization that stands in the very front rank in this country or abroad. The quartette has been heard in many cities, though the time of each is quite fully occupied with professional engagements in and around Washington. It has been a feature not only of choir con- certs, but of many ceremonial occasions at the National capital. Mr. Braithwaite sang with this quartette at the funeral of the late Admiral Dewey, the funeral of Hon. Champ Clark, the dedication of the Clara Barton Memorial, and has appeared on many programs before fraternal and other organizations meeting in Washington. One particu- larly interesting appearance was in November, 1921, when he sang with a quartette in the amphitheater at Washington for transmission by telephone across the continent to San Francisco. The demonstration, arranged for and carried out by the Bell Telephone Company, was entirely successful, and was the pioneer effort of the kind. During the great war the National Quartette was a feature in many patriotic programs and also in entertainments for enlisted men. Mr. Braithwaite besides his duties with the National Quartette is music director of the Vermont Avenue (Gar- field Memorial) Christian Church. He has given this church a splendid musical organization, including a chorus choir of from forty to fifty voices, a male quartette and a mixed quartette. Mr. Braithwaite married a Washington lady, who shares with him his musical tastes and enthusiasm, Miss Helen Louise Crennan, a native of Yankton, South Dakota, who waa musically educated in Washington and in the Conser- vatory of Oberlin College, Ohio, and also under two famous New York voice teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Meehan. Her voice is a mezzo-soprano, and she has appeared as soloist with Sousa's Band. Mr. and Mrs. Braithwaite have a little daughter, Edna Louise. ______________________________ X-Message: #4 Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 19:21:59 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000717191936.00b8e7c0@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: JOSEPH NATHANIEL COLTRANE, Harrison 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. 515 Harrison JOSEPH NATHANIEL COLTRANE has been a resident of Lum- berport over twenty years. He came into this community soon after arriving in the state, a comparatively obscure young man without capital or influential friends. There followed some years of struggle, when he made little or no progress in the tide of affairs. Persistence and industry had their due reward, and for some years past his place has been that of one of the most substantial business men in Harrison County. Mr. Coltrane is a native of North Carolina and was born on a farm near Ashboro in Randolph County Sep- tember 22, 1870, son of James A. and Flora A. (Henley) Coltrane, natives of the same county. The Coltranes are a very old and numerous family of North Carolina, and the original stock was Quakers and many of the present gen- eration cling to the same faith. James A. Coltrane was a farmer. The mother is still living, as are also her ten children, five sons and five daughters. Joseph Nathaniel Coltrane spent his early life on the farm in North Carolina, attended country schools, and sub- sequently for two years was a student in Guilford College, a noted Quaker School of North Carolina. He worked to pay his expenses while in college, hut after two years ran short of funds and did not realize his ambition to complete a college career. After leaving school he sold nursery stock, and came to West Virginia to sell a patent gate and wire fencing to farmers. Mr. Coltrane came to this state in 1893. Subsequently, while at Lumberport, he met and in 1901 married Miss Anna Laura Mathews, then a student in the Fairmont State Normal School. She died, leaving a son, E. Glenn. Later Mr. Coltrane married Miss Allie Storkey. They have eight children, named Flora A., Joseph Nelson, Nathan, Anna, Ruth, Nelson, Mary and Johnnie. The first turn in his affairs as a struggling business man came when after several failures, he brought in a group of paying gas wells. As a gas producer he has en- joyed exceptional success, and his judgment on all matters connected with gas production in this section of West Virginia is regarded as authoritative. In the course of years Mr. Coltrane has accumulated a number of important business interests. He is a contracting teamster, own- ing an outfit of wagons and horses. He has mercantile and real estate interests, and he owns and manages the Lumberport Hotel. He is a director and officer in sev- eral corporations, being a director in the Lumberport Bank, president of the Shinnston Gas Company, director in the Mound City Gas Company at Lumberport, the Ten Mile Oil and Gas Company, the Hedges Land Company and the Lumberport Land Company. Mr. Coltrane is a republican, and fraternally is affiliated with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. ______________________________ X-Message: #5 Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 19:21:20 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000717191936.00b86b00@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: RALPH W. SEE Lewis 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. 510-511 Lewis RALPH W. SEE was a merchant for some years, but since selling his business has been progressively identified with the farming enterprise of Lewis County. His home is on an extensive farm ten miles southeast of Weston, on Ranges Run. Mr. See was born in Randolph County, West Virginia December 26, 1881, son of Seymour and Emma (Sexton) See. His parents were both born in the French Creek com- munity of Upshur County, his father February 9, 1849, and his mother, September 15, 1852. Both grew up on neighbor- ing farms, attended the same school, and after their marriage they lived on a farm for a few years in Upshur County, then moved to Randolph County, where they owned a farm, and after selling that returned to Upshur County in 1882 and are still living there, being among the most respected and substantial residents of their community. They are Presbyterians and the politics of the family is republican. There are five children: Clarence L., who is married and lives on a farm in Upshur County; Arden A.. in the West Virginia State Hospital at Weston; Pearl M., wife of Clarence Wingrove, living in Upshur County; Ralph W.; and Miss Louise L., at home. Ralph W. See spent his early life on the farm and had a public school education. He did farming chiefly until he was twenty-three, when he established himself in the general mercantile business at French Creek, and remained there for twelve years. When he sold his store he took a farm in Ashtabula County, Ohio, in part payment. In 1917 he moved to a farm in Lewis County, comprising 960 acres; and has made many improvements on this place. He is also a stockholder in the Bank of Adrian. Mr. See is a republi- can and a member of the Presbyterian Church at French Creek. On September 24, 1913, he married Catherine Linger, who was born October 6, 1890, in Lewis County, a daughter of Charlie E. and Mary J. (Strader) Linger, and she was reared on the farm where she now lives. They have two daughters, Enola L., born July 1, 1917; and Irene M., born June 14, 1920.