WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 187 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: WAITMAN DEVER CORDER, Barbour [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000723010048.00c006c0@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: WAITMAN DEVER CORDER, 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. 564 Barbour WAITMAN DEVER CORDER. Barbour County has repeatedly honored and given evidence of its esteem of the Corder family, who through a long period of years have been leaders in country life and in the official affairs of the county. W. D. Corder, one of the younger members, has given most of his active years either to business or the public service, and is the present circuit clerk of the county. His father is William Benton Corder, who was born near Berryburg in Barbour County in May, 1859. He acquired a liberal education, attending old West Virginia College at Flemington, an institution that gave many prominent men to the state. His active career has been devoted to farming and official affairs. He was elected assessor of Barbour County, and served four years, represented the county one term in the House of Delegates, was then chosen state senator from the old Tenth District for one term, and for four years was sheriff of the county. He is now president of the Barbour County Farm Bureau. William B. Corder married Bertha Jane Bartlett, who wag born near Simpson, Taylor County, daughter of William and Sallie (Reck) Bartlett. Their children are: Lander R., of Clarksburg; Waitman D., of Barbour County; Wil- liam Everett, a farmer near Berryburg; Hassell Wade, of Clarksburg; Laco Bartlett and Rossil Atkinson, both on the home farm. Waitman Dover Corder was born in Pleasant District of Barbour County, near Berryburg, March 24, 1883. He lived on the farm until he was about twenty-three. In the mean- time, after leaving the common schools, he attended Broad- dus College, then at Clarksburg, was a student in Wesleyan College at Buckhannon, and for five terms taught country school while getting his own education. Mr. Corder left the farm to become deputy sheriff under his father, and he performed these duties for four years. After leaving office he remained at Philippi and engaged in the general insurance business, building up an agency that is one of important service throughout Barbour County and of which he is still the active head. Mr. Corder in 1914 became a candidate for circuit clerk. He had no opposition in the nomination, but in the elec- tion had a rival on the other ticket and was chosen by a majority far beyond the normal majority for the county. He entered office in January, 1915, as the successor of Charles W. Brandon, and in November, 1920, was re-elected, so that he is now serving in his eighth year. Mr. Corder comes from a republican family, cast his first presidential vote for Colonel Roosevelt in 1904, and served as chairman of the County Committee from 1910 to 1914. He is a York Rite Mason, has taken the work of the Lodge of Perfection in the Scottish Rite, is a member of the Mystic Shrine, and is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church and of the trustees of Broaddus College at Philippi. Mr. Corder helped finance and build the Blanket Mill at Philippi, and was secretary and treasurer of the company for a time. He has been a director of the Kiwanis Club, and for two terms was on the City Council, when such important public improvements were under way as paving and sewerage. He is chairman of the Finance Committee of the Red Cross Chapter of Bar- bour County. In Barbour County Mr. Corder married Miss Iva Talbott, daughter of S. H. and Edith Talbott and sister of W. Bruce Talbott, the present prosecuting attorney. Mr. and Mrs. Corder were born within a mile of each other, attended the same country school, and she was also educated in Wesleyan College. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Corder are: William Dever, Edith Jane, Joseph Talbott, Waitman Bartlett, Ellen Rose, June Lee and Bettie Ann. ______________________________ X-Message: #2 Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 01:25:45 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000723012244.00b8c750@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: JESSE OSCAR BAILIFF, M. D. , 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. 565 Wyoming JESSE OSCAR BAILIFF, M. D. Gifted in marked degree, fitted by training and natural inclination as a physician and surgeon, it is not surprising that Dr. Jesse Oscar Bailiff, of Mullens, is making rapid strides in his calling, or that he has gained in such a large measure the respect and confidence of the people of his community within so short a period of time. While a member of his profession only since 1914, he has had experience in several locations and capacities, including extended and valued service on the front in France during the recent war. Doctor Bailiff was born October 23, 1885, on a farm near Marshall, Illinois, and is a son of J. T. and Clara (Whipple) Bailiff. The parents of Doctor Bailiff during his youth resided in several communities, in Illinois, near Marshall, in Iowa, again in Illinois, near their old home, and finally in Missouri, where they now occupy a farm near Dudley in Stoddard County. They had two sons and one daughter. Doctor Bailiff's brother, William Bailiff, is the representative of the Standard Oil Company at Dexter, Missouri. Jesse Oscar Bailiff attended the public schools of Illinois and Iowa, and after graduating from the Marshall (Illinois) High School entered the College of Medicine and Surgery at Chicago, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, as a member of the class of 1914. To prepare himself further he served as an interne and house physician at the .Frances Willard Hospital, Chicago, for eighteen months, and then entered general practice at Chicago, where he was engaged until February, 1918. At that time he entered the Medical Training School at Fort Riley, Kansas, where he received the commission of first lieutenant, and was assigned to duty at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. He remained there only a short time, and was then sent overseas, arriving in France in August, 1918, and being Stationed at Evacuation Hospital No. 114, on the Argonne front, where he remained until December, 1918. He was then transferred to Base Hospital No. 81, at Bazoilles, Suer Messe, until May, 1919, when he returned to the United States and received his honorable discharge at Camp Dix. He was recommended for a captain's commission. Following the completion of his military service he was identified with Princeton Hospital of West Virginia until 1921, when he located at Mullens. Here he has built up a substantial and lucrative practice and has established a reputation as a thoroughly reliable, capable and learned member of his calling. He belongs to the various organiza- tions of his profession and keeps fully abreast of the advancements being made therein. While a resident of Chicago he was made a Master Mason, and now holds membership in Mullens Lodge, A. F. and A. M. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Loyal Order of Moose and the American Legion. Worthy civic movements have his full cooperation and support. Doctor Bailiff married August 14, 1913, Miss Grace Georgia Shoemacher, of Chicago. ______________________________ X-Message: #3 Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 01:25:17 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000723012247.00bbdcb0@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: FREDERICK EARL THOMPSON, 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. 566-567 Barbour FREDERICK EARL THOMPSON, editor and publisher of The Belington Progressive, has made this vital weekly paper a potent force in furthering the interests of the City of Belington and Barbour County, his father having the active management of the business at the present time, and Frederick E., while having active editorial management, finding further claims upon his attention through his effec- tive work as salesman in Barbour County for the Morris Grocery Company, one of the leading wholesale concerns of Clarksburg, which he has represented since 1917. Mr. Thompson was born on a farm near Belington, on the 15th of October, 1883, and in the schools of Barbour County he acquired his early education. He attended sum- mer normal schools, and at the age of sixteen years he taught his first term of school, his pedagogic service hav- ing continued two years. He finally fortified himself fur- ther by taking a course in a business college, and he then became stenographer in the office of Kane & Keyer, whole- sale dealers in hardware. With this concern he won ad- vancement to the position of sales manager, and in 1912 he made a wholesome swoop into the local newspaper realm by purchasing the three weekly papers then published at Belington-the Independent, The Central Repnblican and The Observer, which he promptly merged into The Beling- ton Progressive, of which he has continued the publisher and which he has made a vigorous champion of the pro- hibition and woman-suffrage causes. Prior to the passage of the national laws eliminating the liquor traffic Mr. Thompson had been actively allied with the prohibition party and had been candidate on its ticket for various local offices. In 1920, on the republican ticket, he was elected to represent Barbour County in the House of Dele- gates of the State Legislature. In the legislative sessions of 1921 he was chairman of the committee on privileges and elections, and also of that on enrolled bills, besides having been a member of the printing and contingent ex- penses committee. He took a stand for economy in the management of state affairs, and fought for the reduc- tion instead of the increase of salaries on the state pay roll, besides opposing the creation of new offices which would involve further drain upon the state treasury. He was specially active in championing appropriations and legislation in behalf of the construction of good roads, and previously had made his newspaper the stanch advocate of such improvements. He also advocated in the Legis- lature liberal policies in connection with the public schools of the state. He was a member of the City Council of Belington when the municipal sewer system and street pav- ing were under way, and he loyally supported these and other progressive movements, including the bond issue for the erection of a new high school building. He has served as city recorder also, and one of the most loyal and pro- gressive men of his home city. Mr. Thompson is a charter member of the local organizations of the Woodmen of the World and the Loyal Order of Moose, and he and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The plant of The Belington Progressive is modern in equipment and facilities, with linotype machine, Babcock cylinder press, two platen presses, and electric and gas-engine power provisions. Its excellent job department was one of the first in Barbour County to take a contract for the printing of a book, and the work was performed in most creditable manner. The Progressive is issued on Thursday of each week, a model in letter press and in its presentation of news of local and general order. December 25, 1904, recorded the marriage of Mr. Thomp- son and Miss Lenora Stalnaker, who was born and reared in Barbour County, a daughter of Garrison and Mary M. (Newlon) Stalnaker. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have four children: Wilfred A., Robert E., John A. and Mary Anna. Francis L. Thompson, father of him whose name initiates this review, was born in Barbour County, in December, 1859, and was a student in one of the first free schools established in the county. He learned in his youth the blacksmith trade under the direction of his father, John B. Thompson, who was a Union soldier in the Civil war, as a member of Company F, Fifteenth West Virginia Volunteer Infantry. John B. Thompson was born in Bar- bour County, where his father, David Thompson, and mother, Polly (Wyatt) Thompson, settled at the time when Gen. Andrew Jackson was President of the United States. David Thompson here purchased an extensive tract of land, for which he paid four cents an acre, and his old home was six miles north of the present City of Belington. John B. Thompson married Sarah Ann Jones. Both are dead. John B. died in Taylor County. Their eldest son, Solomon David, became a successful farmer near Moatsville, Bar- bour County; Francis L. was the second son; Mrs. Mary Ogden died at Clarksburg, this state; Excella is the wife of M. D. Gainer, of Belington; Donna is the wife of Solo- mon Skidmore, of Grafton, this state; Alphonso resides at Belington; and General Ord was shot and killed by a desperado while in discharge of his official duties as chief- of-police at Gassaway, West Virginia. Francis L. Thompson, now manager of The Belington Progressive, married Anna Weaver, daughter of William and Ellen (Skidmore) Weaver. The Skidmore family have been one of prominence in this section of West Virginia since the early pioneer days. Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Francis L. Thompson, Frederick Earl, immediate sub- ject of this sketch, is the eldest; Mrs. Edna Richardson resides in Los Angeles, California; Harry D. is engaged in the candy jobbing business at Morgantown; Omer C., a commercial traveling salesman, resides at Belington; W. Wayne, a printer by trade, is a resident of Los Angeles, California; Miss Carol holds a position with the agricul- tural department of the University of West Virginia; Hugh A. is a linotype operator at Los Angeles, California; Georgia is in the employ of the Belington Light & Water Company; and Roma, Theodore and Sallie, who remain at the parental home, are, in 1922, students in the public schools of Belington. ______________________________ X-Message: #4 Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 01:24:55 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000723012250.00bc6830@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: HON. JOHN C. GORDON, M. D., 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. 565-566 Wyoming HON. JOHN C. GORDON, M. D. A well-known figure in medical circles of Wyoming County, Dr. John C. Gordon has the mine practice of the Miller Pocahontas Coal Company at Corinne, and has also the responsibility of a large general clientele. In addition to being active as a medical and surgical practitioner he is taking an active and prominent part in civic affairs, and at the present time is discharging the duties connected with the office of mayor. He is able both as a physician and an executive, and has done much to make Corinne a model coal camp. Doctor Gordon was born at Lafayette, Montgomery County, Virginia, on his father's farm, April 9, 1887, and is a son of Joseph Thomas and Ella (Francis) Gordon. Joseph T. Gordon was a very successful truck gardener and an authority on agricultural subjects, more particularly matters pertaining to watermelons. He was preparing a series of articles on watermelon culture at the time of his early death, in 1902, when he was only forty-eight years of age. He sold the product from his farm at Roanoke, Christianburg, Blacksburg and in the coal fields, and was widely known as a man of integrity and fair dealing. An advanced thinker, he was deeply interested in educational affairs and always supported the public schools. His religious connection was with the Baptist Church, while Mrs. Gordon, who died in 1905, at thirty-eight years of age, was a Methodist. They were the parents of three sons and three daughters: Frank, who is a telegraph operator in the employ of the Virginian Railroad Company, at El- lett, Virginia: Doctor Joseph, who is a dental practitioner at Kingsport, Tennessee; Pearl, the wife of D. C. Horsley, in the United States Secret Service at Oakland, California; Grace, who is married and living at Birmingham, Alabama; Lillian, who died at the age, of thirty-two years, as the wife of W. W. Gardner, of Lafayette, Virginia; and Dr. John C. John C. Gordon was a lad of fifteen years, with a public school education, at the time of his father's death, when he began to work to assist in the support of his mother and sisters. Being desirous of further educational ad- vantages, he attended high school part of the time and worked hard to pay his way, being a member of an engineering corps on the Virginian Railroad and a cross engineer in the coal fields of Kentucky. Thus he secured the means whereby he was able to enter Bell-Montgomery Academy at Nashville, Tennessee, and in 1908 commenced the study of medicine at the University of Tennessee, Nash- ville, from which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1912, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine. At that time he located at Keystone, McDowell County, West Virginia, taking up a mine practice, but after two years removed to Fort Pierce, on the east coast of Florida. After three years he removed to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he spent one year, going then to Mullens, West Virginia, where he remained until 1921, the time of his advent at Corinne. Doctor Gordon recognizes and practices the highest ethics of his honored profession, and those unable to pay a fee receive his professional services free of charge. During the World war he acted as surgeon for the Wyoming County Draft Board. Doctor Gordon is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been active in religious work for the past fifteen years. He is a Master Mason at Graham, Virginia, belongs to the Chapter at Princeton, West Virginia, and the Commandery at Mount Hope, this state, and holds membership in the Mystic Shrine at Charleston. As mayor of Corinne he has effected many needed municipal improvements and has discharged the duties of his office in a conscientious and highly efficient manner. Doctor Gordon married on his birthday, April 9, 1919, Miss Ruth Barnett, daughter of G. A. Barnett, of Lynch- burg, Virginia, and to this union there has been born one daughter, Virginia Clifton.