WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 199 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: ROBERT KINSTREY, Kanawha Co. [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000729074543.00beb860@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: ROBERT KINSTREY, 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. 597 Kanawha ROBERT KINSTREY. During the past ten years Charles- ton has been one of the most rapidly growing cities in the country, increasing several fold in population and spread- ing out over an unprecedented area, with new streets, trans- portation lines, and the inclusion of industrial and resi- dential subdivisions. All of this means building and con- struction, and one of the leading men supplying the tech- nical and constructive facilities in this program has been Robert Kinstrey, president of the Mason Contractors Asso- ciation of Charleston. Mr. Kinstrey was born at Richmond, Virginia, son of Robert Kinstrey, a native of the Old Dominion. His mother was a daughter of Robert Blount, the contractor who built the first sewer system at Richmond. Robert Kinstrey was educated in Richmond, learned the brick layer's trade there, and after becoming a journey- man he remained there fifteen years. In all that time he held just two positions, one as superintendent of construc- tion for W. L. Ragland & Company, and the other as superintendent for C. S. Oliver, these being two of the most prominent building contractors in the city. Mr. Kinstrey's work has always been in building construction, and in that field he has mastered all the technique and has shown great ability in assembling men and facilities required for success in prompt and thorough fulfillment of contracts. When he left Richmond he sought a place where he could go into business independently as a general con- struction contractor, and in 1914 located at Charleston. Since coming here some of the large contracts he has handled has included the C. U. Young flats, the Sarver flats, the Cassidy flats, the Haywood Building, Black residence on Quarrier Street, and a number of other brick residences, including his own handsome home at 506 Grant Street. He was also awarded the contract and built the Junior High School Building in Charleston, one of the most mod- ern and complete structures of its kind in the state. Dur- ing the war period he did much construction work for the Government at South Charleston. Mr. Kinstrey was one of the organizers of the Mason Contractors Association of Charleston, of which he is presi- dent. He has been twice married. He ia a member of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce and the order of Elks. ______________________________ X-Message: #2 Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 08:39:14 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000729074549.00c3a100@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: A. C. BABSON, 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. 589 Kanawha A. C. BABSON. The West Virginia Water & Electric Company is one of the more important public utilities of the state. Its service primarily is supplying water and electricity for Charleston and suburbs. The present cor- poration is successor to the former Kanawha Water & Light Company, which in turn represented several consolidations among the water and electric companies of early times. The corporation has expanded its service and facilities in keeping with the great material development of Charleston within recent years, and the assets of the company have been augmented by the introduction of several million dollars of outside capital, so that it has the financial resources to insure a continuance of the adequate service performance of the present. The water department represents a develop- ment from small beginnings with increases almost from year to year, until at present, with a modern plant, a population of 50,000 and many industrial plants are supplied. With a present normal filter plant capacity of about 12,000,000 gallons of water each 24 hours and about double this in pumping capacity the demand is only about one half of that capacity at present. The water supply is taken from the Elk River, near the city limits, and pumped into a two million gallon basin, after which it is filtered and pumped to a million gallon reservoir and to the city mains. The pumping is by steam pumps direct or by electric motor driven pumps operating with the electric current supplied by the company. All the necessary high pressure water can be pumped by either electricity or steam. Reserve pumping units are always ready to pick up the load in ease of emergency or when the regular pumps are shut down for repairs. While the plant at present is more than adequate to supply the demand, the site is large enough to permit additional growth in facilities. The electric department likewise represents an interesting development from a small reciprocating engine unit of small capacity to modern steam turbine generators and high pressure boilers, capable of producing 8,750 kilowatts. Mr. Max Pam, of Chicago, is president of this West Virginia public utility and he, with assistance of his asso- ciates in Chicago, New York and elsewhere has been able to arrange for the large financing necessary to develop this public necessity in the capital of the state. Several million dollars of outside capital have thus been brought into Charleston for this important enterprise through Mr. Pam's influence. The vice president and general manager of the company is Mr. A. C. Babson, an electrical engineer and commercial executive who has had a widely diversified experience and many important responsibilities along the line of public utility operation and management. He was born at Sacramento, California, graduated Bache- lor of Science in Electric Engineering in 1900 from the Uni- versity of California, and for a number of years was asso- ciated as manager for the General Electric Company's in- terests in the state of Washington, with headquarters at Seattle. Prior to coming to West Virginia Mr. Babson held an executive position in Wisconsin managing some of the gas and electric properties in the Milwaukee District for the Wisconsin Gas & Electric Company, one of the principal public utility concerns of that state. While there Mr. Bab- son served as vice president of the Wisconsin Public Utilities Association. Mr. Babson took up his duties at Charleston as vice president and general manager of the West Vir- ginia Water & Electric Company, January 1, 1919, and since that time has been actively interested in building up a mod- ern water and electric system for the capital city. He is an active member of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, and on the executive committee of the West Virginia Public Utilities Association. ______________________________ X-Message: #3 Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 08:39:14 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000729074549.00c3d100@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: CHARLES ARNOLD CABELL, 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. 589-590 Kanawha CHARLES ARNOLD CABELL. The career of Charles Arnold Cabell of Charleston, one of the foremost coal operators in the state, is a conspicuous instance of the enduring vitality and vigor of an old Colonial family, which in practically every generation has produced men of extraordinary ability in business and the professions and in politics and public affairs. Charles Arnold Cabell was born in Elk District of Kanawha County in 1870, son of N. B. and Lavina C. (Wood) Cabell. The annals of Virginia contain reference to a dozen or more Cabells of special distinction, including Governor William H. Cabell and also Congressmen, judges, educators and others. N. B. Cabell was born in Nelson County, Virginia, and prior to the Civil war came to Kanawha County and settled at Maiden, entering the salt business and locating his slaves on the farm of Elk-two-mile in Elk District. Charles Arnold Cabell was reared on his father's planta- tion, acquired a public and private school education at Charleston, attending the Kanawha Military Institute under Major Snyder. Practically from the close of his school days Mr. Cabell has been associated with the coal industry, in its practical and technical phases as well as in the finan- cial and business side of the business. He is a well equipped mine manager, and has opened and operated mines and for a number of years he and his associates have comprised one of the largest groups of producers in the state. An honor and responsibility he enjoys is president of the Kanawha Coal Operators Association, one of the largest associations of the kind in the East. His first active connection with the coal industry was with the Mount Carbon Coal Company, Limited, an English syndicate headed by Evan Powell and operating at Powell- ton on Armstrong Creek in Fayette County. With this corporation his apprenticeship was served. Subsequently he joined a combination with John L. Dickinson, J. R. Thomas and C. A. Scholz, forming the Superior Coal & Lumber Com- pany. Its mining operations were conducted at the head of Kelly's Creek. Subsequently the same men organized the Carbon Coal Company, opening mines at Carbondale on Smother's Creek, in the extreme western part of Fayette County. Subsequently all their coal interests north of the Kanawha River were sold to the Sunday Creek Coal Com- pany, which was one of the J. P. Morgan interests in New York. At that time Mr. Scholz left the firm, and Doctor Boyd of Charleston together with Messrs. Cabell, Dickinson and Thomas entered a new project on Upper Cabin Creek in Kanawha County. The present Carbon Fuel Company was organized in 1900, and Mr. Cabell personally prospected the present holdings of coal lands during 1900-01. While the beginning of development was on a somewhat small scale, progress was rapid in the opening of mines, so that for a number of years past the Carbon Fuel Company has been one of the most extensive producers of coal in West Vir- ginia. The headquarters of the company are at Carbon, and Mr. Cabell constructed the railroad to that mining center from Leewood. The company mines are grouped around Carbon, there being nine operations in three different seams of coal. One of these is the celebrated Eagle seam, pro- nounced by authorities the finest by-product coal in the world. Other veins are the Powellton seam, noted for its coke making properties, and the Lewiston and Carbon Splint seams, ranking high in special qualities. The company has the equipment and in normal times can produce an average of a million tons of coal per year. On account of car shortage and other conditions the company's actual production has run at an average of about 800,000 tons per year. The mining village of Carbon, built and maintained by the company, is a model mining town, the company having erected about four hundred houses for the miners, many of them being of the modern bungalow type, with conveniences and surroundings that tend to promote a contented and wholesome attitude on the part of the operatives. Mr. Cabell is vice president and active manager of the Carbon Fuel Company. He has a home in Charleston, also one at Carbon, and spends practically all his business time in that mining town. He is a communicant of St. John's Episcopal Church at Charleston. Mr. Cabell married Miss Nellie L. Couch. Their three children are Mary Lavina, Nellie Lynn and Virginia Couch. ______________________________ X-Message: #4 Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 08:55:26 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000729074549.00c40ef0@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: HERBERT EDWIN FIELD, Ohio 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. 605 Ohio HERBERT EDWIN FIELD, one of the prominent men in the industrial affairs of the Wheeling District, has been a suc- cessful executive, but his early training and experience for the most part were on the technical side of the iron and steel industry. He is probably one of the highest qualified metallurgical engineers in the state. He was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, November 4, 1872, son of Edwin H. and Emma (Smith) Field. He was reared and educated in his native city, famous for its great school of technology. He graduated from high school there, and in 1895 received the Bachelor of Science degree from the Polytechnic Institute. He specialized in metallurgy, and his first employment was as metallurgist and assistant to the foundry manager of the Builders Iron Foundry at Providence, Rhode Island. Following this he was metal- lurgist and assistant to the foundry manager of the Farrel Foundry and Machinery Company of Ansonia, Connecticut, and then went to Pittsburgh, where he was foundry manager of the Mackintosh-Hemphill Company and later of the Sea- man-Sleath Company. Since coming to Wheeling Mr. Field has been president and general manager of the Wheeling Mold & Foundry Company, one of the large and important industries of the Wheeling District. He is also a director of the Dollar Savings & Trust Company of Wheeling. During the World war Mr. Field served as a member of the War Industries Board. He is a republican in politics, a member of the Congregational Church, and has many connections with social, civic and technical organizations, including the Engineers Club of New York, Duquesne Club, Pittsburgh Athletic Association and Fellows Club of Pitts- burgh, the Edgeworth Club of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, the Port Henry Club and Wheeling Country Club of Wheeling, and the Nemacolin Country Club of Beallsville, Pennsyl- vania. In 1900, at Hartford, Connecticut, Mr. Field married Miss Cora Chaney, daughter of Albert M. and Etta Field Chaney. Mr. Field is a member of the American Iron & Steel In- stitute, American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, American Institute of Mechanical Engineers, American Chemical Society, American Society for Testing Materials and American Academy of Political and Social Science. ______________________________ X-Message: #5 Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 08:55:26 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000729074549.00c3e100@mail.earthlink.net> Subject: BIO: W. S. MASON, 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. 591 Kanawha W. S. MASON, founder and president of the Mason School, has through this institution given Charleston rank as a capital of music and fine arts as well as the seat of the state government of West Virginia. Mr. Mason is a native of Charleston, and to this city he returned with the training and honors of a broadly extensive musical education and career, and The Mason School represents his earnest and dignified efforts continued for sixteen years. He was born at Charleston in 1873, and acquired his early education in the city schools. Later he attended St. Joseph's Academy and St. Xavier's College in Cincinnati, and while in that city began his serious musical training and education in the Cincinnati College of Music. He was a student there four years, and was given a thorough groundwork in theory, harmony and composition. He took up the violin as his special instrument. Subsequently he studied one year in New York City and for three years in Europe, principally at the Royal Academy in Munich and in the Schola Cantorum in Paris. At Paris he was a pupil of one of the greatest modern composers, Vincent d'Indy. While in Europe Mr. Mason specialized in conducting and in composition and theory of music. His musical talents came into evidence when he was a boy, and for eight years he gave his undivided energy and thought to his musical education. After his return to this country he was a violinist in various orchestras and later an orchestra conductor. Then, in 1906, he founded The Mason School of Music in his native city. From the first he has kept this school on the high plane of his individual ideals, and has broadened his scope only as he could secure talent of similar qualifications and equally high ideals. From a school of music it has added departments until it now embraces instruction in languages, arts and crafts, artistic dancing and dramatic ex- pression. The school is an incorporated institution with Mr. Mason, president, Harrison B. Smith, vice president, and Matilda R. Mason, secretary and treasurer. Primarily The Mason School is an institution for the training of persons of competent talent for professional work in the musical and allied arts, though an increasing number of students have sought the school's advantages as a source of training for general and well rounded culture. In 1921 this school, with its various departments, occupied a new home, a fine building at 1316 Kanawha Street. This building was remodeled and enlarged to meet the special requirements of the school. For several years Mr. Mason has conducted the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in Charleston. Under his direction this has become a notable musical organization. Its weekly concerts, given on Sunday afternoon, have become a prominent feature of the artistic and musical life of the city.