WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 193 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: THOMAS L. WOODSON, Monroe Co. [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000723174223.00c1ec20@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: THOMAS L. WOODSON, Monroe 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. 602 Monroe THOMAS L. WOODSON. One of the leading citizens and progressive business men of Alderson is Thomas L. Wood- son, active vice president, manager and treasurer of the Woodson-Mahler Grocery Company, wholesale dealers. Dur- ing a long and active career he has been the architect of his own fortune in building up a solid structure of success, and of more recent years he has come favorably before the people as a champion of modern improvements, particularly those pertaining to good roads. Mr. Woodson was born on a farm in Monroe County, West Virginia, September 21, 1863. Zacharia Augustus Woodson, his father was a native of old Virginia, and came to what is now Monroe County, West Virginia, where he engaged in farming and operated a flour mill on Wolf Creek. He was a quiet, unassuming man and unobtrusive, and was what might be termed well-read, having an edu- cation far above the average. He was a Baptist in religion and a democrat in politics, but was not active in a political way. Mr. Woodson married Sarah Alderson, a daughter of Capt. Jack Alderson, who was a son of the old legislator, George Alderson, or "Kanawha George," as he was more familiarly known, and a grandson of Elder John Alderson, the pioneer, whose name is indelibly impressed upon the history of Southeastern West Virginia. Zacharia A. and Sarah (Alderson) Woodson had a large family of children. The parents are both deceased. Thomas L. Woodson when a very small lad moved with his parents to a farm in Summers County, on the Greenbrier River. The Town of Talcott is located on a part of this property. Here Thomas L. grew to young manhood, receiv- ing a public school education, and at the age of nineteen years went to Sewell, Fayette County, where he remained for about ten years, first serving as a clerk in the coal commissary of the Longdale Iron Company and later being promoted to the position of. buyer of this department. He then became traveling salesman for a Charleston wholesale grocery house, but about two years later resigned and ac- cepted a position as traveling salesman for a wholesale dry goods and furnishing establishment of Baltimore. Some seven years later, in 1910, having married Miss Nadine Worthington Dorsey, of Louisville, Kentucky, he accepted a more remunerative position as manager and buyer for the New River Company, a holding company for several con- cerns in Fayette County, West Virginia, which community continued to be the home of Mr. and Mrs. Woodson for about ten years. In 1910 he organized the Woodson-Mah- ler Grocery Company at Alderson, bought out the old job- bing concern known as the Merchants' Grocery Company and also absorbed, some time later, the Thompson Grocery Company, a wholesale enterprise. This consolidation be- came the Woodson-Mahler Grocery Company, wholesale dealers, with a capitalization of $200,000. July 1, 1922, this concern was recapitalized with a $500,000 capital, under the firm name of Woodson, Prince & Company. This concern has greatly expanded and is beyond question the largest concern of its kind in this entire section, giving employ- ment to some thirty or more people and having very large annual sales. A republican in politics, Mr, Woodson has taken an active interest in public matters and served one year as mayor of Alderson and several years as chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of Greenbrier County. Few men in Southeastern West Virginia have sacrificed as much in time and money for public improve- ments as has Mr. Woodson, this particularly applying to good roads, a movement which is one of his greatest hob- bies. Mr. Woodson is a member of the board of directors of the American Wholesale Grocers Association, whose general offices are located at Jacksonville, Florida. The American Wholesale Grocers Association was formerly the Southern Wholesale Grocers Association. ______________________________ X-Message: #2 Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 17:42:50 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000723174226.00b8c400@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: W. SHAD PECK, Summers 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. 597 Summers W. SHAD PECK, has been for the past ten years the progressive and successful local agent for the Ford auto- mobiles at Hinton, the judicial center of Summers County, and here, in 1918, he erected his modern garage, with an attractive sales and display room and well equipped repair department, this building occupying the site of the home in which Mr. Peck was born, the date of his nativity having been June 1, 1892. He is a son of Dewitt Harry and Emma (Morefield) Peck, who still maintain their residence in this place, the father being sixty-two and the mother fifty-eight years of age at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1922. The Peek family name has been long and worthily identified with the history of this part of West Virginia, and the late Dr. Shannon Peck, brother of Dewitt H., built the first water and electric-light plants at Hinton. Dewitt H. Peck was formerly, and for a long period of years, in service as an engineer on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, and he is now living virtually retired. The public schools of Hinton afforded W. Shad Peck his youthful education, and at the age of eighteen years he here engaged in business, as a dealer in electrical sup- plies. He owned the first bicycle in Hinton, later the first- motorcycle in the town, and finally the second automobile and the first and only aeroplane. His progressiveness has been shown not only in this line but also in his business activities, the scope and importance of which now mark him as one of the substantial and representative young busi- ness men of his native city and county. Four of his brothers were in the nation's service in connection with the World war: Dr. Robert S., of Hinton, was a member of the medical corps of the United States Army; Leo M. was in the motor-transport service, as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Sixteenth Supply Train; Dr. Clemmer M. was in the dental corps; and Oliver L. received his military training at Morgantown, this state. Mr. Peck circulated the subscription list through the medium of which was purchased and paid for the first fire-department truck at Hinton, and he served as chief of the fire department for some time. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, is one of the vital members of the local Rotary Club and he is a member of the Presby- terian Church, while his wife belongs to the Baptist Church. In 1915 Mr. Peck wedded Miss Lucile Settle, whose father was one of the leading members of the bar of Fayette County, where he had given service as prosecuting attorney. Mr. and Mrs. Peck have a fine little son, Billy Shad. ______________________________ X-Message: #3 Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 18:07:30 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000723180730.00c1de10@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: DAVID EARL CUPPETT, Tucker 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. 523-524 Tucker DAVID EARL CUPPETT. A resident of Thomas, and one of the leading members of the Tucker County bar, David Earl Cuppett has in the course of a quarter of a century done some good work as a teacher, but for nearly twenty years his time has been fully taken up with a law practice that has afforded opportunity for the exercise of his striking abilities as a criminal lawyer. The founder of the family in West Virginia was John Cuppett, Sr., who lived in Pennsylvania during the Revolu- tionary war and was one of the few men who escaped the Wyoming Valley massacre. When he moved out of Bedford County he settled at Glade Farms in Preston County, Vir- ginia, and spent the rest of his life there as a farmer. His son, Daniel Cuppett, was born in Bedford County, was a child when brought to West Virginia, and his life work also was identified with the farm. He married Mary Scott, and their nine children were: William; Alpheus; Daniel; Henry; David; Isaac; Lucy, who married Josiah Smith; Miss Jane; and Mrs. Nancy Edwards. Of these brothers, Henry was a Union soldier and captured a Confederate flag when Fort Donelson was taken; while Isaac was in the service as a member of General Custer's command and died in Andersonville Prison. Alpheus Cuppett, father of David E. Cuppett, was born in Preston County, had a country school education, and his active years were spent as a farmer and stock dealer. He was interested in the success of the republican party, and was a prominent leader in the Methodist Church at Glade Farms, being influential in building the church there. He died June 15, 1900, at the age of seventy-four. Alpheus Cuppett married Elizabeth Harned, daughter of Edward and Sarah (Johnson) Harned. She died March 12, 1908. Their children were: Milford H., of Uniontown, Pennsyl- vania; Clark A., who died in Southern California; Ross, deceased; Edward E., of Terra Alta; Mary, wife of Rufus Augustine, of Confluence, Pennsylvania; Ella, who died at Addison, Pennsylvania, wife of C. H. Bird; Charles H., a school man of Bellvernon, Pennsylvania; Sylvia, who died unmarried; and David Earl. David Earl Cuppett was born in the Glade Farms locality of Preston County, February 13, 1878. He lived there through his boyhood and youth, shared in the labor of the farm, attended the country schools, and several summer normal courses prepared him for teaching. He took his first school at the age of sixteen, being in charge of the North Avenue School. For six terms he continued teaching in the country, two terms being spent in Fayette County, Pennsyl- vania. He left teaching to enroll as a student in the literary department of West Virginia University, in which he did three years of work and then finished with the law course, graduating LL. B. in 1904. Immediately after qualifying as a lawyer he located at Thomas in Tucker County, and tried his first law suit in the courts of this county. He has practiced alone, and while he has appeared in some notable litigations in both the civil and criminal branches his reputation has become fixed as a defense lawyer in criminal practice. Up to the spring terms of 1922 he had figured in twenty-nine murder cases, and several of the cases in which he has appeared have gone before the Court of Appeals, where he has won victories as well as in the lower courts. Mr. Cuppett is a former president of the Tucker County Bar Association and a member of the West Virginia Bar Association. His public service includes two terms as city recorder at Thomas and fifteen years as city attorney, during which time he handled the legal matters connected with bond issues for street improvement and water supply. For twelve years he was secretary of the Board of Education of Fair- fax District, and in 1909 was elected member in the House of Delegates from Tucker County, serving under speaker James H. Strickling, and was a member of several com- mittees. He was connected with the passage of the State Board of Control Bill at that term. In 1919 he was again elected to the Legislature, and Speaker L. J. Wolfe ap- pointed him chairman of the committee on elections and privileges and a member of the judiciary, education, Vir- ginia debt, mines and mining, private corporations and joint stock companies committees. In that session he was much interested in securing the passage of the Amended Work- men's Compensation Law, in the passage of the New School Code, the Child Labor Law and the amendment of the Juvenile Court Law, all of which measures originated in the judiciary committee. He also voted for the ratification of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments to the Fed- eral Constitution and was author of the Women's Registra- tion Law, which enlarged the field for political action for women, carrying into effect the real purpose of the Nine- teenth Amendment. Mr. Cuppett has participated in a number of campaigns as a speaker in behalf of the repub- lican candidates, is a member of the Tucker County Execu- tive Committee, and has attended several congressional and state conventions. Fraternally he is a member of the Sigma Nu college fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, and is presi- dent of the board of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church. During the World war he was one of the Four- Minute speakers and chairman of that body in Tucker County, and was also a member of the County Council of Defense. In a business way Mr. Cuppett is a director and attorney for the Miners and Merchants Bank of Thomas and the First National Bank of Bayard, and is local attorney for the Davis Coal and Coke Company, the largest industry at Thomas. He is a stockholder and director in the Black- water Coal Company. In Preston County, December 26, 1905, Mr. Cuppett mar- ried Miss Vida Barnes, daughter of J. P. and Amanda (Harshbarger) Barnes, both of whom lived in Preston County, though her father was a native of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Cuppett was reared at Brandonville in Preston County, and is a graduate of Southwestern State Normal School of Pennsylvania, and for five years taught in Charleroi, Penn- sylvania. She and Mr. Cuppett have three children, named Reardon S., David Earl, Jr., and Mary Elizabeth. Mrs. Cuppett is one of the well known women in the republican party, being a member of the Republican State Committee. She came of a democratic family, but she cast her first vote as a republican. She is a Methodist, helped organize and has served as president of the Women's Club of Thomas, nd was one of the active workers in the Red Cross Chapter during the war. ______________________________ X-Message: #4 Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 18:07:30 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000723180730.00c1f850@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: HON. ABE L. HELMICK, Tucker 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. 522-523 Tucker HON. ABE L. HELMICK, state senator from the Fourteenth District, belongs to one of the old families of Tucker County, and has achieved a number of important associa- tions with the business and civic affairs of that section of the state. He is president of the Blackwater Coal Company, is vice president of the Miners & Merchants Bank of Thomas and is a director in the Peoples Bank of Davis. The old home of the Helmick family is in Pendleton County, where at least four generations of the name have lived. Senator Helmick was born at Circleville in that county, August 31, 1864. His great-grandfather and the founder of the name on this side of West Virginia was Phillip Helmick. A son of Phillip Helmick was Miles Hel- mick, a native of Pendleton County. Abe B. Helmick, father of the senator, was born in Pendleton County in 1843, and married Catherine Mullennax. Her father, Salathiel Mullennax, was a native of Pendleton County and lived there all his life. Abe B. Helmick and three of his brothers were in the Confederate army during the first half of the war, and if they were not Union men in sympathy at the be- ginning they finally became convinced of the righteousness of the Federal cause and all of them one way or another found their way within the Union lines and fought as sol- diers in that cause. Abe Helmick while on a furlough was taken prisoner by his Confederate comrades, and was kept in Libby Prison for some time without a hearing before being released. Mrs. Abe B. Helmick died in 1877, mother of the following children: Albert C., of Pinto, Maryland; Georganna, wife of John J. Knotts of St. George District, Tucker County; and Abe L. When Abe L. Helmick was seven years of age his par- ents moved into Tucker County, settling at Sugarland, near St. George, and in that community he grew to manhood, having such educational opportunities as were afforded by the local schools and the summer normals. Senator Helmick had a brief teaching experience in his home district. He assisted his father in farming and the stock business until his majority, and after leaving home he began work for the builders of the Western Maryland Railroad on a portion of the land between Thomas and Davis in Tucker County. For six weeks he did common labor and was then made a fore- man. After the road construction was ended he clerked in a store at Thomas for two years, and in 1888 was ap- pointed postmaster of that village, which then contained between 400 and 500 people. He was postmaster for six years, and in the meantime engaged in general merchandis- ing and sold goods at Thomas for eighteen years, finally retiring when elected sheriff of the county. While a merchant at Thomas he was a member of the County Court for six years, and for five years was president of the court. A large number of county road bridges were built during his administration, and his name ia on record as one of the commissioners at the time the conrthouse was erected. In 1908 he was elected sheriff, as successor of Sheriff Jack Jenkins, and served that post of duty four years, when he was succeeded by John F. Repair. During his time of sheriff Mr. Helmick had become inter- ested in business at Parsons, and on retiring from office he bought the Cheat Valley Insurance Agency at the county seat, and until recently was active in that line. He became a coal developer and operator in 1916 as an organizer of the Blackwater Coal Company. He also helped organize the Kanawha Colliery Company. He was one of the organizers of the Miners and Merchants Bank of Thomas, the strongest financial institution of the county, and which has a record of substantial success and prosperity for nearly twenty years. Mr. Helmick was elected mayor of Thomas, and was en- dorsed by both parties for re-election, but declined that honor. While mayor he brought about the improvement of the city water plant and some of the streets. Mr. Hel- mick is a stanch republican, having cast his first vote for Benjamin Harrison in 1888. He was republican committee- man of Tucker County for many years, and has also served as republican state committeeman. He was elected to the first Senate, in November, 1920, as successor of Senator Cobun of Preston County. At the organization of the Senate he was made a member of the finance committee, bank and corporations, railroads, military, federal relations, mines and mining, medicine and sanitation, public library and the redistricting committees, being chairman of the military committee. In the Senate he was father of the movement which resulted in the employment of stenog- raphers by the circuit courts of the state. He introduced the original bill for the hiring of stenographers by the dis- trict judges, thus saving to the state a great expense that was so frequently brought about by witnesses before grand juries, without the service of a public stenographer, denying their testimony. He also introduced a bill for the censor- ship of the moving pictures of the state, a measure that was defeated through the organized opposition of the movie interests. He also introduced a bill to make a felony the act of a father deserting without just cause his wife or family and leaving them without proper support. Another bill introduced by him was to abolish the State Hotel In- spector, a meritorious measure in view of the farcical char- acter of hotel inspection under the old law. At the opening of the session of the Senate, Senator Helmick was chairman of the joint committee to wait upon the house and the governor to notify each that the Senate was organized and ready for business. At Thomas, in 1891, Senator Helmick married Miss Kate Flinn, daughter of Patrick Flinn. She died leaving two children, Marie, wife of Alexander Parks, of Thomas; and Joe, who served with the Canadian army in the World war. In 1905 Senator Helmick married Fannie Liller, daughter of Oliver Liller, of Ridgeville, West Virginia, where Mrs. Helmick was born. She was educated in the Fairmont State Normal School, and was a prominent teacher in Mineral County for ten years. She was appointed postmistress to succeed Mr. Helmick's first wife, and held the office of post- mistress of Thomas for two terms. During the war she was actively engaged in work as a member of the executive committee of the Red Cross in Tucker County, and Mr. Helmick was chairman of the membership drive for the county.