WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 194 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: WAYNE K. PRITT Tucker Co. WV [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000723192617.00c106c0@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: WAYNE K. PRITT 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. 527-528 Tucker WAYNE K. PRITT has been a resident of Tucker County since he was a child of two years, and is now a representa- tive member of its bar, he having been established in the successful practice of law at Parsons, the county seat, since 1911. Mr. Pritt was born in Randolph County, this state, Janu- ary 23, 1872, and is a son of George W. and Lucinda (Ingram) Pritt, the former of whom was born in what is now Randolph County, West Virginia, and the latter in Washington County, Pennsylvania. George W. Pritt, whose death occurred at Hambleton, Tucker County, in 1892, at the age of forty-seven, was the only child of Edmund and Susan (Ryan) Pritt, the parents of the former having been pioneer settlers in what is now Randolph County, West Vir- ginia, and the lineage of the family supposedly tracing back to Irish origin. Representatives of this branch of the Pritt family were stanch supporters of the Union in the period of the Civil war. Edmund Pritt survived his only son and was a resident of Hambleton, Tucker County, at the time of his death, in 1894, when about seventy-six years of age. The widow of George W. Pritt survived him by ten years and died at Parsons in 1902, when past fifty-four years of age. Of their children the subject of this review is the eldest; Harriet is the wife of Walter Bagshaw, of Parsons; Charles E. resides at Columbus, Ohio; Frank W. resides at Charleston, West Virginia; and Bess is the wife of Robert W. Swink, of Parsons. Wayne Kennedy Pritt was two years old when the family home was established on a farm near Parsons, and he con- tinued his association with the work of the home farm until he was twenty years of age. That he profited fully by the advantages of the public schools was demonstrated in the success which attended his efforts during four terms of service as a teacher in the rural schools of his home county. In the meanwhile he attended the summer normal school at Philippi, and after leaving the pedagogic profession he was for four years in charge of the office of the Hendricks Company at Hendricks. In 1896 he was elected clerk of the Circuit Court of Tucker County, and of this office he con- tinued the incumbent twelve years. In the meanwhile he found his duties and environment a spur to his ambition to enter the legal profession, and with characteristic determina- tion and receptiveness he devoted himself closely to the study of law in a private way, this having continued during the two years which he passed as a student in the Univer- sity of West Virginia, where he specialized in elocution and other branches of value in connection with his chosen profession. He was admitted to the bar in 1911, and has since been engaged in successful practice at Parsons. In 1912, on the republican ticket, he was elected prosecuting attorney of Tucker County, in which office he served four years and added materially to his professional equipment and prestige. Mr. Pritt served several years as chairman of the Republican County Committee of Tucker County, has been an effective campaign speaker and a delegate to state, congressional and judicial conventions of his party, as well as to the republican national convention of 1904 which nominated Roosevelt for the presidency, he having been sergeant at arms of the West Virginia delegation at this convention. In the World war period Mr. Pritt was one of the active workers in the local patriotic ranks, was a member of the Legal Advisory Board of his county, was a Four- Minute speaker in behalf of the Government loans and other war measures, and was chairman of the local com- mittee in one of the drives of the Salvation Army. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights of Pythias, and the Beta Theta Pi college fratern- ity, and is a member of the Methodist Protestant Church, in which he has served as a trustee and as a conference delegate. He is still a bachelor. ______________________________ X-Message: #2 Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 19:26:17 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000723192617.00c10180@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: A. JAY VALENTINE, 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. 529-530 Tucker A. JAY VALENTINE, judge of the Twenty-first Judicial Circuit and a resident of Parsons, Tucker County, has been a business lawyer in that county for more than a third of a century, having tried his first case before reaching his majority. His is an unusual record for a West Virginia lawyer and judge, since he has never represented the defense in a criminal trial and has never appeared in a contested separation case between husband and wife. The civil and business branches of the law have been his special field, and it is also noteworthy that he was never a candidate for public office until he made the race for circuit judge. Judge Valentine was born near Valley Furnace in Bar- hour County, March 8, 1866, son of Andrew and Rachel (Digman) Valentine, also natives of Barbour County, his mother being a daughter of George Digman. Andrew Valen- tine was a lieutenant in the Confederate army under General Imboden, and was never wounded in service, but for the last eleven months of the war was a prisoner at Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio. He manifested the interest of a good citizen in politics and was a democrat. He died in 1887 and is buried near Montrose, West Virginia. The mother died in 1891. They had three children: Judge Valentine; Sarah E., wife of Stephen Murphy, of Montrose; and Carrie B., wife of Thomas Gross, of Levels, West Virginia. A. Jay Valentine spent the first fifteen years of his life near the hamlet of Meadowville in Barbour County, on his father's farm. In 1882 the family moved to .Randolph County, and another five years of his life were spent in the environment of a farm near Montrose. It was immediately after leaving this community that Judge Valentine began his professional work at St. George, then the county seat of Tucker County. His early education was acquired in the common schools and summer normal schools, and for four years he taught in the rural districts of Randolph County. As he looks back upon it Judge Valentine regards teaching as the hardest work he ever did. While teaching he became interested in the law, made some progress in his reading, and his two principal preceptors were the late A. C. Bow- man of Barbour County and W. B. Maxwell, still practicing in Randolph County and a former member of the Tucker County bar. Mr. Valentine was admitted to the bar at Beverly, then the county seat of Randolph County, in 1887, taking his several examinations for admission, one under Judge A. B. Fleming, another under Judge Henry Brannon and another under Judge W. T. Ice. In his first year or practice he was associated with W. B. Maxwell, of St. George, West Virginia, but after a year he relied upon himself to handle all his law business. That business was principally in the commercial and corporation law, and before many years he had a very extensive clientele. Judge Valentine is a republican without being a strict partisan, and increasing years and experience has made him less and less interested in partisan politics. He east his first vote for Benjamin Harrison. In 1920 he was urged to make the race for judge of the Twenty-first Judicial Circuit. There were three competitors for the republican nomination, one of them being the presiding judge and the other two able lawyers. The judicial convention at Keyser which decided the matter held a session all night until 11 o'clock the following morning, before the conflicting partisans of the different candidates were harmonized in the nomination of Mr. Valentine, who was nominated on the 207th ballot. In the following election he led his ticket by several hun- dred votes and had a majority of 4,697 over his democratic opponent. Judge Valentine held his first term of court in Keyser in January, 1921, succeeding Judge Francis M. Rey- nolds on the bench. At St. George, West Virginia, December 2, 1891, Judge Valentine married Lummie Kalar, a native of Tucker County, where her parents settled from old Virginia. Her father was Samuel D. Kalar, who married a Miss Mary Lee Gray. He was a farmer and died soon after the close of the Civil war, while Mrs. Valentine's mother lived until 1921, passing away at the age of eighty-four. In the Kalar family were the following children: Solomon W., of Par- sons; Elam B., of Santa Cruz, California; Mrs. Valentine, who was born May 23, 1868, and was educated in the public schools; Mrs. Hoy Ferguson, of Randolph County; Mrs. Lloyd Collett, of Wheeling; Spencer Kalar, of Porterwood, West Virginia; and Lloyd Kalar of Parsons. Judge and Mrs. Valentine had six children, two of whom died in infancy, and have one grandchild. Their daughter Zillah is the wife of Rev. A. B. Withers, of Louisville, Ken- tucky, and has a daughter Zillah Evelyn. Arthur, Jr., who was in the student army training corps during the World war, is now an automobile salesman at Parsons. Mark T. graduated in 1922 from the law school of West Virginia University. Paul, the youngest, is attending grammar school at Parsons. Judge Valentine is a member of the Masonic Lodge and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. During the war he was a member of the Legal Advisory Board of Tucker County. ______________________________ X-Message: #3 Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 19:26:17 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000723192617.00c11790@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: JAMES P. SCOTT, 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. 527 Tucker JAMES P. SCOTT. The year 1922 finds Tucker County receiving effective service from one of its leading attorneys in the important office of prosecuting attorney, and this county official, Mr. Scott, has been a resident of Parsons, the county seat, since 1886. He was born at Simpson, Taylor County, this state, April 21, 1857, a few years before the creation of West Virginia as a commonwealth of the Union. He attended the public schools of his native village, the West Virginia College at Flemington, and finally graduated from the State Normal School at Fairmont. He taught seven terms in the rural schools and one term as principal of the school at Webster. He retired from the pedagogic profession shortly after at- taining to his legal majority and became the publisher and editor of the Simpson New Era, a weekly paper. Thereafter he read law under the preceptorship of Judge Lucas at Charles Town, and at the age of twenty-three years he was admitted to the bar at Grafton. He soon afterward came to Tucker County and founded the Tucker Democrat, a weekly paper, at St. George, where he also engaged in the practice of law as a partner of Col. A. B. Parsons. He con- tinued these relations at St. George until the county seat was transferred from that place to Parsons, and he followed the county government to its new seat, both in the practice of law and in the publishing of his newspaper, which is now published by Daniel W. Ryan and which is one of the oldest county newspapers in this part of the state, with continued influence as an advocate of the principles of the democratic party. Mr. Scott has served as a member of the Board of Teach- ers' Examiners for Tucker County, as commissioner in chancery, and is now divorce commissioner of the county, as well as its prosecuting attorney. He was reared a democrat, and has never wavered in his allegiance to the party, his first presidential vote having been cast for Hancock in 1880. He has been for many years chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of Tucker County, has been a delegate to many county, judicial, congressional and state conven- tions of his party, and has given yeoman service in advanc- ing the interests of his party in West Virginia. Mr. Scott served three terms as mayor of Parsons, has been several times elected a member of the city council, and is now serv- ing his third term as city attorney. In 1920 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county, and in his administra- tion he has vigorously and effectively prosecuted violators of the laws of the state and nation. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, is a director of and the attorney for the First National Bank of Parsons, of which he was one of the charter stockholders, and he aided also in the organization of the Tucker County Bank, of which he was formerly a director. In Webster, this state, in the year 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Scott and Miss Virginia Adams, who was there born and reared, her father having been for many years proprietor of the Adams House, a leading hotel in the village. Mr. Adams was a direct descendant of Presi- dent John Quincy Adams and came from Massachusetts to what is now West Virginia, where he passed the remainder of his life. He married Margaret McClintick, from Lan- caster, Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of two sons and seven daughters, all of whom attained to maturity. Mrs. Scott, the youngest of the number, died on the 16th of September, 1915, and is survived by two children, Miss Lah Ruth, who is her father's companion and who presides over the domestic and social affairs of the pleasant home, and Miss Ethel .Fay, who holds a position in the internal revenue department of the Government at Washington, D. C. Mr. Scott is a son of Sandy M. and Rachel (Davis) Scott, the former of whom was born in Monongalia County and the latter in that part of Harrison County that was set off as Taylor County in 1844. Morgan Scott, grandfather of the subject of this review, likewise was a native of Mo- nongalia County, where his father, Col. David Scott, was one of the first settlers, Colonel Scott having come from the South Branch Valley of Virginia to what is now West Vir- ginia after having served as a patriot soldier and gallant officer in the War of the Revolution. After his removal to the wilds of the present West Virginia he endured the full tension of life on the frontier, and in special evidence of this it is to be recorded that his daughters Phoebe and Ann were here murdered by the Indians. Sandy M. Scott was a carpenter by trade, and followed this vocation througout [sic] his active career. He was a Union soldier in the Civil war as a member of the Seventeenth West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, was a democrat in politics, and was a citizen of sterling character. His death occurred at Simpson when he was about seventy-six years of age, and his wife passed away in 1876. Lemuel W., oldest of their children, is an architect by profession and resides at West Union, Dodd- ridge County; Dora became the wife of A. E. Lake, and her death occurred at Simpson; James Porter, immediate subject of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; and Bruce was a resident of Liberty, Texas, at the time of his death. Morgan Scott, grandfather of James P., married Sarah Barker, her death having occurred in Wirt County and that of her husband in Monongalia County. Sandy Morgan Scott was the eldest of their three children. The only daughter first married a man named Barker, who met his death while serving as a Confederate soldier in the Civil war, and thereafter she married William Dulin, her home being now in Calhoun County; Morgan, youngest of the children, died in Wirt County. ______________________________ X-Message: #4 Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 19:26:17 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000723192617.00c119b0@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: H. FREEMAN COLEBANK , 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. 526-527 Tucker H. FREEMAN COLEBANK brings to bear a high degree of efficiency and loyal stewardship in his service as clerk of the County Court of Tucker County, and he is one of the popu- lar citizens of Parson, the county seat. Mr. Colebank was born in Barbour County, this state, March 5, 1875, and is a son of Samuel Colebank, Jr., who was born in that county on the 12th of July, 1851, and whose wife, Malinda B., was born in Preston County, De- cember 20, 1854, a daughter of Harman Freeman, who was there a substantial farmer. Samuel Colebank, Jr., devoted the major part of his active career to farm industry and was a resident of Fairmont at the time of his death, in January, 1916, his widow being still a resident of that place. Of their children the subject of this sketch is the elder, and Icy, who resides at Fairmont, is the widow of D. N. Dumire. Rollo Colebank, grandfather of him whose name intro- duces this review, was born in Barbour County, a representa- tive of a sterling pioneer family of that county, and there he continued his activities as a farmer until his death at Shiloh, his remains resting in the old Dunkard Cemetery in that county beside those of his wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Simpson. They became the parents of five sons and three daughters, one of the daughters having died in childhood. The sons were Sylvanus and Quinter (twins), Samuel, John and Jefferson, and the daughters who attained to maturity were Elizabeth, wife of L. C. Coffman, of Kas- son, Barbour County, and Mary, who became the wife of Isaac Lohr and was a resident of Barbour County at the time of her death. H. Freeman Colebank was reared in his native county, received the advantages of the public schools, summer normal schools and the West Liberty State Normal School, and, beginning at the age of sixteen years, he taught in the rural schools during the winter terms for a period of five years, his pedagogic work having included also service as principal of the school at Hendricks and effective work as an instructor in summer normal schools. Thereafter he was for a time bookkeeper for the Hendricks Company, and for a few months was a traveling salesman for the Piedmont Grocery Company. For six years he was associated with the substantial real-estate business conducted by Levi B. Harr at Fairmont, and he then re-entered the employ of the Hen- drieks Company, then the J. E. Poling Company, as credit man and general supervisor of the bookkeeping department. His service in this connection continued somewhat more than five years, and while thus engaged he received the republican primary election for the office of clerk of the County Court of Tucker County, without opposition. He was elected to this office in the fall of 1914, assumed office January 1, 1915, and after serving his term of six years he was re- elected by the largest majority ever given to a candidate for this office in Tucker County, he having received a ma- jority of 1,700 votes, this being far in advance of the party ticket in the county, which gave to the head of the ticket somewhat more than 500 votes. He is a stalwart sup- porter of the principles of the republican party, his initial presidential vote having been cast for President McKinley in 1896. In 1912 he was a delegate to the West Virginia state convention of his party at Huntington as a Roosevelt supporter, but when Colonel Roosevelt left the ranks of his party to become presidential candidate on the progressive ticket Mr. Colebank refused to be deflected from his al- legiance to the regularly constituted party. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has served the Parsons Church of this denomination as trustee and steward. He is a director of the Tucker County Bank, is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, and is affiliated also with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Junior Order United American Mechanics, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Royal Neighbors. Mr. Colebank was prominently identified with local patriotic service in the period of the World war, was an associate member of the Legal Advisory Board of Tucker County, and was a director of the War Savings Stamp drive in the southern part of this county. On August 14, 1898, at Hendricks, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Colebank and Miss Myrtle Shaw, a daugh- ter of George and Mary (Musgrave) Shaw, the latter of whom is now a revered member of the family circle of Mr. and Mrs. Colebank. George Shaw was born in Preston County, was associated with farm enterprise and lumbering operations, and at the time of his death was identified with the Hendricks Company. He was survived by three chil- dren: Wade W., who married and was a resident of Hendricks at the time of his death; John E., of Newark, Ohio, who is a locomotive engineer for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; and Myrtle, who is the wife of Mr. Cole- bank of this sketch, she having been born in Preston County, July 15, 1880. Harry, eldest of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Colebank, is, in 1922, a student in the en- gineering department of the University of West Virginia; Edwin C. is deputy to his father in the office of clerk of the County Court; Clifford S., who is chief clerk in the office of the county clerk of Randolph County, married Ruth, a daughter of Lee Poe, of Elkins; Elliott Freeman and Mary Lynn remain at the parental home.