WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 23 Today's Topics: #1 Bio-John Thorburn Morgan- Berkeley [Joan Wyatt ] #2 BIOS: HOLLIS, Harry, Martinsburg [Vivian Brinker To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <38870E3E.C802251E@uakron.edu> Subject: Bio-John Thorburn Morgan- Berkeley WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society Inc. Chicago and New York Volume 11 Page 244 Bio- John Thorburn Morgan- Berkeley, West Virginia John Thorburn Morgan, member of the historic Morgan family of West Virginia, is a mechanical engineer by profession, and has been closely associated with the upbuilding and success of the Charleston Electrical Supply Company, of which he is sales manager, secretary and one of the directors. Both he and present governor, Ephriam F. Morgan, are descendants of Col. Morgan Morgan, and both are descendants of the historic character,David Morgan, a son of Col. Morgan Morgan. Col. Morgan Morgan was born in Wales, was educated in London, and during the reign of William 111 came to America, living for a time in the Colony of Delaware and subsequently moving to the vicinity of Winchester, Virginia. About 1727 he is credited with having made the first white settlement and having built the first church in what is now Berkeley Co., West Virginia. One of his sons, Zackwell Morgan, served as a colonel in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary war, and had previously founded Morgantown. Stephen H. Morgan, who was the grandson of David Morgan, was the father of Smallwood G. Morgan, grandfather of the Charleston business man. Benjamin S. Morgan, son of Smallwood G. and Oliza (Thorn) Morgan, has been a distinguished figure in West Virginia educational affairs and also as a member of the bar of Charleston. He was born in Marion Co. in 1854, and graduated from the University of West Virginia at Morgantown in 1878, subsequently taking the law course and receiving the LL. B. degree in 1883. As a youth he took up educational work, and he served as superintendent of the public schools of Morgantown from 1878 to 1881 and was county superintendent of the schools for Monongalia County from 1881 to 1885. In the general election of 1884 he was democratic candidate for state superintendent of free schools, was elected, and was nominated and reelected in 1888, each time receiving the largest vote given to any candidate for state office. Eight years of service as state superintend ate of schools could be characterized as a period of special growth and improvement in the educational facilities and the enlightened opinion of the state regarding the use and development of school facilities. He inaugurated and put into practice a number of features that are still part of the state's policies in regard to the control and management of schools. At the close of his second term as state superintendent Benjamin S. Morgan began the private practice of law at Charleston, where he is still a prominent member of the bar. He married Annie Thoburn, a daughter of John and Jane (Miller) Thoburn, both natives of Belfast, Ireland, John Thorburn Morgan, their son, was born November 25, 1889, at Charleston and was educated in the public schools of his native city, and for three years, from 1906 to 1909, was a student in the University of West Virginia, where he specialized in engineering. In 1909 he entered the service of the Charleston Electrical Supply Company. He was one of the first of the type of modern salesman who combines technical knowledge and engineering with salesmanship. To this firm has given the best of his abilities and through various promotions has reached the post of sales manager and secretary of the corporation. From 1913 to 1917 he was employed by the Ohio Brass Company of Mansfield, Ohio, as district sales agent in Southern West Virginia, Southwestern Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. The Charleston Electrical Supply Company was founded in 1902 by the late Howard S. Johnson, who was president until his death in February, 1921. It is exclusively a wholesale electrical supply house and undoubtedly one of the largest and best equipped concerns of its kind in the country, and has contributed not a little to Charleston's prestige as a wholesale center. Mr. Morgan has a staff of highly trained and expert salesmen covering the territory. These salesmen might more properly be classified as sales engineers, since they carry out the long standing policy of the house that its representatives should technical men as well as salesmen. There is an efficiency and organization, developed through years of practice, that gives this house justified precedence throughout its trade territory. Mr. Morgan is an associate member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, associate member of the American Institute of Mining, and Metallurgical Engineers, associate member of the Institute of Radio Engineers and an active member of the Society of American Military Engineers. Membership in the latter order recalls the two years spent in the American army during the World war as an engineer. He held the rank of captain. He entered the First Officers' Training Camp at Fort Myer, Virginia, in 1917, joined the Engineer Officer's Training Camp at Belvoir, Virginia ( later Camp Humphreys), received further training in the American University Camp at Washington, and went overseas with the Three Hundred and Fifth Engineers of the Eightieth Division, reaching France early in June, 1918. During the summer that marked the climax of the allied efforts against the german armies he was with his division on the British front, in the Argonne, and after the armistice he was ordered to Coblenz, being attached to the staff of the chief engineer of the Third Army. While still in Europe he received discharge and reached home May 30, 1919. Before returning home he spent two months in France and England on special sales investigation work for the Ohio Brass Company of Mansfield , Ohio. Mr. Morgan married Miss Rebecca Putney, member of the prominent Putney family of the Kanawha Valley. Through her mother she is a member of the Littlepage family. Her parents were Alexander Mosely and Albirta Rebecca ( Littlepage) Putney, of Kanawha County. Her father was a grandson of Dr. Richard Ellis Putney, one of the foremost citizens of his day in this valley. Her mother is a sister of the late Adam B. Littlepage, who represented the Charleston District in Congress and was one of the really eminent lawyers and men of affairs in the state. To Mr. and Mrs. Morgan were born on December 6, 1921, a son and daughter ( twins), John Thoburn Morgan Jr., deceased, and Rebecca Putney Morgan. ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 10:19:18 -0600 From: Vivian Brinker To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <000120101918.b07c@RAVEN.CCC.CC.KS.US> Subject: BIOS: HOLLIS, Harry, Martinsburg The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II. pg. 186 HARRY HOLLIS, representing a family that has been in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia for several generations, acquired an extensive acquaintance over portions of the adjoining states during his work as a traveling salesman, and is now doing a prosperous business as a wholesale merchant at Martinsburg. He was born on a farm in Mill Creek District, Berkeley County, West Virginia. His great-grandfather, William Hollis, was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and came to Berkeley County in early days from Ohio. He was a farmer in the vicinity of Darkesville, and in the days before the railroad he marketed the produce of his farms by team and wagon. He had two six-horse teams, and would load his wagons and sometimes go to Baltimore and at other times to Tennessee. William Hollis was buried at the Presbyterian Cemetery at Gerrardstown. He married Lydia Dick near Sandusky, Ohio, and both of them lived to old age. Their eight children were: Jane, Joseph, John, Sally, Amanda, Lydia, Bennett and William. Of these John Hollis was born in Berkeley County in 1818, and as a young man bought a farm near Gerrardstown, and remained in Berkeley County until his death at the age of seventy-five. He married Rebecca Thornburg, who was born in Berkeley County in 1824. Her father, Thomas Thornburg, was a farmer living about four miles southwest of Martinsburg. The first wife of Thomas Thornburg was Barbara Byers. Rebecca (Thornburg) Hollis died at the age of eighty-four. Her eight children were named William, James, Parren, Anna, Emma, John, Clarence and Edgar. Paren Morgan Hollis, father of Harry Hollis, was born at Gerrardstown in Berkeley County, March 13, 1850. As a boy he attended subscription schools during the winter time, and otherwise assisted on the farm. After reaching his majority, he began his career by renting land, and he remained in the ranks of solid and prosperous farmers of Berkeley County until 1896, when he removed to Martinsburg and for one year carried mail between the postoffice and the railroad, for thirteen years he was an employee of the Standard Oil Company, and is still keeping up a routine of work as night clerk in the Berkeley Hotel. On November 28, 1878, he married Annie Chamberlain, born in Jefferson County in February, 1854, daughter of John Chamberlain, who was a miller and operated a number of mills including the Strider Mill on Opequan Creek and the Balch Mill at Lewtown. John Chamberlain married a member of the Sharff family, who were pioneers in Jefferson County. Mr. and Mrs. Paren Hollis reared eight children, named Charles, Harry, Lou, Edgar, Fannie, Estellla, Ernest and Roy. The mother is a member of the Methodist Protestant Church. The father in political matters is a democrat. Harry Hollis spent his early life on his father's farm and attended rural schools in both Jefferson and Berkeley counties. Later he attended the Martinsburg city schools, and after completing his education he took up a business career and for a number of years was a traveling salesman over an extensive territory in West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. In 1920 Mr. Hollis engaged in the wholesale fruit and produce business at Martinsburg, and is one of the enterprising men of affairs of that city. In 1902 he married Mamie Shaull, a native of Jefferson County and daughter of John Shaull. Mrs. Hollis, who was an active member of the Trinity Episcopal Church, South, died in 1917, leaving two daughters: Helen and Anna. Helen married Evered Long, and they have one son, William Lee, born May 18, 1922. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 12:39:27 -0600 From: Vivian Brinker To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <000120123927.b07c@RAVEN.CCC.CC.KS.US> Subject: BIOS: SMITH, Joseph H., Petersburg The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II. pg. 187 JOSEPH H. SMITH. Prominent among the progressive and deservedly- successful representatives of the business interests of Petersburg is Joseph H. Smith, manager of the Kenneweg Wholesale Grocery House. He is primarily a business man, with few outside connections, but has always found time to interest himself in the welfare of his community and has been a supporter of worthy enterprises looking to the advancement and development of his section. Mr. Smith is a native son of West Virginia, and was born November 17, 1873, in Franklin District, Pendleton County, his parents being Harrison and Nancy E. (Nelson) Smith. His father was born in Highland County, Virginia, in 1836, and as a youth acquired the rudiments of an education in the country schools of his native county. Prior to the outbreak of hostilities in the war between the states Mr. Smith came over the mountains into West Virginia, and in Pendleton County he enlisted in the Sixty-first Regiment, Virginia Volunteer Infantry, in the Confederate army. He served and was honorably discharged with a splendid record for brave and faithful service. At the close of his military career he applied himself to agricultural pursuits in Franklin District, Pendleton County, and there continued his residence until his death, April 6, 1921, when he was eighty-five years of age. In politics he was a democrat, but had no public life. He was affiliated with the Church of the Brethren, and as a man of integrity and probity was held in high esteem in his community. Mr. Smith married Nancy E. Nelson, a daughter of Joseph W. and Jennie (Nelson) Nelson, the Nelsons also being West Virginia people who followed the pursuits of the soil as their vocation. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith there were born the following children: Palser C., a resident of Hinton, Virginia; W. J. of Ruddle, West Virginia; Mary J., who married C.B. Ruddle, of Harrisonburg, Virginia; Julia F., the wife of J.F. Hinkle, of Franklin, West Virginia; Joseph Harrison, of this review; and Jared B., of Ruddle, this state. Joseph Harrison Smith spent the first twenty-four years of his life in Pendleton County, where he acquired his educational training in the public schools, and before he came of age had taught two terms of school. When he was twenty-four years of age he left the parental roof and entered upon his independent career, his first choice of an occupation being that of farmer, as his early training had been along that line of endeavor. Soon Mr. Smith became manager of the stock ranch of G. Eston Harman, of Randolph County, West Virginia, a capacity in which he served for eight years. Butchering formed an important part of that enterprise, and during his stay there Mr. Smith butchered 6,000 head of cattle for the R.F. Whitman Lumber Company, in addition to the younger stock, including sheep and hogs, for the workmen in the lumber campus of the community. When Mr. Smith gave up ranch life he came to Petersburg, where he accepted employment as a clerk in the retail store of O.M. Smith, with whom he remained for three years. On May 1, 1917, he joined the Kenneweg Wholesale Grocery Company, as manager of the Petersburg branch house, and in this capacity has continued to the present time. This grocery branch of the parent concern was established at Petersburg in 1913, and its salesman cover Grant and Pendleton counties and a part of Hardy County. The business has enjoyed a substantial and significant growth during the managership of Mr. Smith, who is progressive and energetic, possessed of modern ideas and spirit and capable of attaining results from his well-directed and timely efforts. Aside from his immediate connection with this business Mr. Smith has few other connections, but was the moving spirit in the establishment of the Potomac Valley Bank of Petersburg. At the time of the organization of that institution the cashiership was urged upon him, but the honor was declined, although he has always been a stockholder in the concern. In political matters Mr. Smith has followed in his father's footsteps, and has always supported democratic policies and candidates for public office. He was a candidate for the office of assessor of Grant County in 1920, but lost to his opponent, Grant County being strongly republican in sentiment. As before noted, Mr. Smith has always proven himself a man of public spirit and civic pride, and has willingly supported beneficial movements of a civic, educational or religious character. During the World war he was a member of the Grant County Food Administration, and in this capacity did all in his power to assist in conserving food in order that the soldiers at the front might be well supplied with everything to keep up their physical strength and fighting morale. He did not overlook a single drive for funds to help in the success of American arms. Mr. Smith is without fraternal or club affiliations of any kind. On August 26, 1899, at Franklin, West Virginia, Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Ida M. Teter, who was born in Pendleton County, May 11, 1874, a daughter of George and Mary (Harman) Teter, the latter being a daughter of John Harman and a member of an old-established and well-known family of West Virginia. George Teter was born in Pendleton County, a son of Reuben Teter and a member of one of the oldest pioneer families of this section of the state. George Teter was a soldier of the Union during the war between the states, and went through that struggle without wounds, and with an excellent record. He is now aged seventy-seven years and a resident of Pendleton County, where he has passed an active life in agricultural pursuits. He and his worthy wife had five children: Mrs. Alice Robinson, Charles G., Dr. J.M., Oliver C. and Mrs. Ida M. Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have had the following children: Janet O., the wife of Justin J. Barger, of Petersburg, with one son Justin, Jr.,; Maysell, the wife of D.W. Mouse, of Pansy Grant County, with a daughter, Helen; and Robert T., who is a student at the Lutheran Academy, Petersburg. ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 16:44:13 -0600 From: Vivian Brinker To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <000120164413.b07c@RAVEN.CCC.CC.KS.US> Subject: BIOS: SHEPHERD, Edward C., Martinsburg The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II. pg. 187 EDWARD C. SHEPHERD is one of the veteran merchants and business men of Martinsburg, but his family name connects him intimately with another town of the Eastern Panhandle, the college community founded and named for one of his ancestors. A brief account of the family through the successive generations has an appropriate place in any history of the state. The pioneer family in the Shenandoah Valley was Thomas Shepherd, a son of William Shepherd and grandson of Thomas Shepherd. The grandfather died in Maryland in 1698, and was probably one of three brothers who came from Wales to America in early Colonial times. Thomas Shepherd, the founder of Shepherdstown, was born in 1705, and died in 1776. About 1730 he received a land grant from King George the second, comprising 222 acres south of the Shenandoah River. He settled in that locality in 1732, and was founder of the community first known as Mecklenberg and later called Shepherdstown. A state law of 1765 established a ferry on the land of Thomas Shepherd at Mecklenberg over the Potomac. Thomas Shepherd married Elizabeth Van Metre, daughter of John Van Metre, the Indian trader. She died at Shepherdstown about 1792. They had a large family of children, several of whom settled and lived around Wheeling, West Virginia. Their youngest son was Capt. Abraham Shepherd, who was born at Shepherdstown, November 10, 1754. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and was lieutenant of a company at the battle of Kingsbridge, New York, in November, 1776. Soon afterward he was made captain of a company of Virginia and Maryland riflemen. It was said that during the war, while he was passing through Berkeley County, he stopped at the home of Capt. James Strode, who owned and occupied an extensive plantation south of Martinsburg. Captain Strode had in his employ at the time two prisoners of war, one a Hessian and the other an Indian. Captain Shepherd overheard their plans to kill Mr. Strode as he went to the spring for water. He placed himself in ambush and as the two men appeared to execute their plan he shot both of them down. In 1780 he married Captain Strode's daughter Eleanor, who was born in 1760. Abraham Shepherd subsequently became owner of the Strode homestead. He died September 7, 1822, and his wife survived until September 23, 1853. They had a family of eight children. Fifth among these children was Henry Shepherd, grandfather of Edward C. Shepherd, the Martinsburg merchant. Henry Shepherd was born in Shepherdstown, January 4, 1793, was reared in Jefferson County and became a man of prominence in Shepherdstown, where he filled a number of public offices. He was an extensive land holder. On May 7, 1822, he married Fanny E. Briscoe, daughter of Dr. John and Eleanor (Magruder) Briscoe, of Jefferson County. Henry Shepherd died October 12, 1870, and his wife, on July 5, 1881. Henry Shepherd was a very successful stock man, and was a breeder of fine cattle and thoroughbred horses. He and his wife had the following children: Mary Eleanor, Rezin Davis, Ann Elizabeth, Henry, John, Abraham, James T. The father of Edward C. Shepherd was Abraham Shepherd, who was born at Shepherdstown, March 21, 1836. He was well educated under private tutors, attended St. James College, and after he reached mature years he was presented by his father with a tract of land, including the old race track, and there he engaged in general farming. Soon after the breaking out of war between the states he entered the Confederate army, and was in several battles, including Gettysburg, at which time he was on detached duty as a courier. Later he was captured and was held a prisoner of war at Fort McHenry nearly a year. Following the war he continued his business as a farmer in Jefferson County, and in 1883 retired to Shepherdstown, where he lived until his death in 1907. He married Elizabeth Williams, who was born in Berkeley County, a daughter of Dr. Edward Cleggett and Sally (Shepherd) Williams. She is now living at Martinsburg, and her six children were named Edward C., James T., Elizabeth, Sally C., who became the wife of Charles Butler, Fannie, who became the wife of John Shaull, and Laura V. Edward C. Shepherd was born at Shepherdstown, and attended public schools there and also Shepherd College. As a youth he removed to Martinsburg and began clerking in the drug store of his uncle, E.C. Williams. When his uncle finally retired from business he continued in the same store under the new owners, and finally, in 1902, succeeded to the ownership of the business, and for twenty years has conducted a high class and prosperous establishment. Though now in the prime of his years, there are few men in business at Martinsburg who were here when he began. Mr. Shepherd is an attendant of Trinity Episcopal Church.