WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 64 Today's Topics: #4 BIO: SAMUEL S. FARIS, Barbour Coun [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000319004451.00891750@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: SAMUEL S. FARIS, Barbour County, WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 356-357 SAMUEL S. FARIS. In the death of Samuel S. Faris on January 3, 1922, Harrison County lost a citizen who for years had been given every proof of confidence in his in- tegrity and ability as a banker, as a public official and a man of affairs. The late Mr. Faris represented a family that was founded in the county soon after the close of the Revolutionary war. He owned and controlled for many years the extensive Faris lands, nearly two thousand acres, adjacent to Bridgeport. The first claimant to these lands was his great-grand- father, James Faris, who made his claim in 1785 and sub- sequently developed a portion of the land and was one of the active pioneer farmers in this section. The title to the land he took up has never been out of the Faris fam- ily. This James Faris was killed by the Indians on the Ohio River, near the present site of the City of Wheeling West Virginia. The second generation of the family in this state was represented by his son Humphrey, who was born in Penn- sylvania about 1790. His activities as a land holder ma- terially advanced the improvement of the Faris estate. A home he erected on the farm in 1816 is still preserved at Bridgeport. He was twice married, and by his two wives had seventeen children, including a son named George Thomas. George Thomas, son of Humphrey Faris, was born Sep- tember 15, 1816, at the old homestead. His life covered a span of almost a century. He died May 9, 1909. He was a volunteer at the time of the Mexican war of 1846, but never reached the front. He was past military age when the Civil war came on. The industry of his life was devoted to farming. His wife was Mary Ann Sheets, a native of near West Milford, Harrison County, who died at the age of forty-seven. She was the mother of Samuel S., Harriet, Rachel, Byrd, John and Ellen Faris. The late Samuel S. Faris represented the fourth genera- tion of the family in West Virginia. He was born Sep- tember 5, 1855, on his father's farm a mile and a half Southeast of Bridgeport. While numerous other affairs commanded a share of his judgment and enterprise, he never neglected altogether the business that was part of his inheritance, fanning and stock raising. He virtually took charge of his father's business when but seventeen years of age, and he handled with remarkable success the accumulating responsibilities represented by such a large body of agricultural land. Some of the banking and business enterprises that en- listed his participation were the Bridgeport Bank, which was established in 1903 and of which he was president from 1906. He was also a stockholder and director in the milling and pottery companies, was vice president of the Empire Bank of Clarksburg, a stockholder in the Merchants National Bank and a stockholder in the Clarksburg Trust Company at the same place. His public service included the membership on the Board of Review of the county, and for twelve years he was on the Board of County Commissioners, eight years of that time as president. The late Mr. Faris was a republican in politics. He was a member of Late Lodge No. 63, A. F. and A. M., a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner, and a member of the Simpson Creek Baptist Church. In 1881, at Bridgeport, he married Sallie Davidson, who was born in Taylor County, West Virginia, December 24, 1856. Her father, John Davidson, was a Bridgeport miller and died in 1892. Her mother, Cornelia (Hurry) David- son, died in 1894. There were nine children born to S. S. Faris and wife, six of whom are living: Doctor George Thomas Faris, who became a practicing physician in Philadelphia, married Nell Steele, of Morgantown, West Virginia, and they have one child, Samuel Sheets Faris, II; Rachel, who married Dr. Benj. F. Shuttleworth, of Clarksburg; and Florence, Nell, Mary and Robert, at home. The latter married Eleanor Mayors, of Fairmont, West Vir- ginia. The deceased children are: Clara who died at the age of seventeen years, John, who died at the age of nine- teen months and an infant who died at birth. George and Robert Faris, like their father, are Masons, both having taken the Scottish Rite, and the latter is a Shriner. Flor- ence, Nell and Mary are members of the Eastern Star. ______________________________X-Message: #5 Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2000 00:27:06 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000319002706.00867a10@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: BERLIN E. SNYDER, Barbour Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 356 BERLIN E. SNYDER. After school days were over, sup- plemented by one term of teaching, Berlin E. Snyder threw himself with all his characteristic energy into the tasks and responsibilities of a commercial career. A steadily growing capacity derived from experience with a modest capital, likewise the reward of his own saving and self- denial, finally put him into the ranks of independent busi- ness men. He is president, treasurer and general man- ager of the Philippi Hardware & Furniture Company, and since 1914 has been one of the active commercial men of that city. He was born near the Village of Lahmansville, Grant County, West Virginia. His grandfather, Noah Snyder, moved into Grant County from old Virginia, and was one of the successful farmers and good citizens of that locality, where he lived until his death at the age of seventy-eight. Ho married Susan Lahman, and of their eleven children only one, Seymour A., mentioned in the following paragraph, is deceased. The complete list of the children is as fol- lows: Rebecca, wife of Scott Bergdoll and living in Grant County; John and Jacob, farmers in Mineral County; Buchanan, of Petersburg, Grant County; Seymour Allen; Martin B., of Wellsboro, Indiana; Joseph, a farmer in Grant County; Daniel W., a farmer in the State of Kan- sas; Elizabeth, wife of Robert Spangler, of Ridgely; Noah W., a farmer in Grant County; and Laura, wife of Wil- liam Kesner, of Grant County. Seymour A. Snyder was born in Grant County in 1860, followed the vocation to which he had been trained, that of farming, and died there in December, 1920, at the age of sixty. He was a member of the United Brethren Church and a republican. His wife, Mary Alexander Frye, born in 1860, the same year as her husband, died in 1919. Her father was William Baker Frye, a successful West Vir- ginia farmer and a member of the Southern Methodist Church. The children of Seymour A. Snyder and wife were: Berlin E.; Beulah, wife of Albert A. Lahman, of Grant County; Herman, who was in training as a soldier during the World war and is now operating the old home- stead; and Milam, of Philippi. Berlin E. Snyder spent the first seventeen years of his life on the home farm, gained a country school education and passed the first teacher's uniform examination in the state. His work as a school teacher was done at Gor- mania, and when he left the school room he went to Keyser and for two months kept books for a grocery house and then became clerk in the Siever Hardware Company, whole- sale and retail. After three years of training this house sent him on the road to cover the territory comprised in Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral, Pendleton, Tucker, Ran- dolph and Greenbrier counties. He built up a large busi- ness for the firm in this territory for five years. For an- other six years he continued his work in practically the same territory, but for the wholesale hardware house of Greer and Laing of Wheeling. After more than ten years on the road Mr. Snyder put his experience and capital to use at Philippi, where in 1914 he reorganized the old Philippi Hardware and Fur- niture Company as a stock company. His first capital was $5,000, and in 1910-1916 the capital was increased to $10,000, and in 1921 to $50,000. Mr. Snyder is the presi- dent, treasurer and general manager; A. F. Martin, of Elkins, is secretary; and H. B. Martin, of Elkins, vice president. Mr. Snyder has accumulated other business interests in Philippi, including some real estate, and is a director in the Talbott-Crawford Coal Company and the Peoples Bank of Philippi. In Randolph County, July 12, 1910, he married Miss Pearl Martin, daughter of E. Ross and Martha (Jones) Martin. Her parents were reared near Mannington, were farmers there for a number of years, and after retiring from the farm her father established himself at Elkins, where he has since been in the building and contracting business. The Martin children are: Gay, wife of Percey Paugh and a resident of Brownsville, Pennsylvania; Harry B., of Elkins; A. F., of Sharpless, West Virginia; Mrs. Snyder; and Miss Hallie Martin, of Elkins. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have one son, Berlin E., Jr., born July 19, 1915. ______________________________X-Message: #6 Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2000 00:26:30 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000319002630.00865e80@trellis.net> Subject: BIOS: WORTHINGTON CHENOWETH, Barbour Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 355-356 WORTHINGTON CHENOWETH. In the profession of dental surgery Worthington Chenoweth is one of the oldest ac- tive practitioners in the state. His work and study have been directed along that line for more than a half cen- tury, and for forty-eight years his home has been in Phil- ippi, where he is held in the highest esteem for the in- fluence and quality of his good citizenship at all times. Chenoweth is an historic name in Randolph County of this state. His great-grandfather, John I. Chenoweth, was a native of South Wales, and he and a brother came to America before the Revolution and settled in Maryland. John I. Chenoweth served as a soldier in the war for in- dependence. After that war he moved into Western Vir- ginia, and spent his life here near Beverly, at the home of his son, John I., Jr., and he was laid to rest in the cemetery near Beverly. John I. Chenoweth, Jr., was a farmer near Beverly, his farm being on Chenoweth's Creek, two miles from Elkins. He cleared a good farm and owned a large body of land in that vicinity. He was well educated for his time, pos- sessed a strong mind and exercised great personal influence, was in the official life at Randolph County, was a mem- ber of the Primitive Baptist Church and a whig in pol- itics. He voted for secession, and one of his sons became a captain in the Confederate Army. John I. Chenoweth, Jr., died about twelve or fifteen years after the Civil war. He married Miss Skidmore. Their children were: Eli, Washington, Archibald, Lemuel, Thomas, Elijah, Martha and Jerusha. Only one of the sons served in the war be- tween the states. Martha married Job Daniels and Je- rusha married Allison Daniels. Archibald Chenoweth, father of Doctor Chenoweth, was born on Chenoweth's Creek in Randolph County, had a country school education, and as a young man learned the trade of wagon-maker. To this trade he devoted all his active life, maintaining his shop in Beverly, where for a short time he had his brother Lemuel associated with him. He was a skilled worker, but was a modest and re- tiring citizen. He became a member of the Presbyterian Church after reaching middle life, and was a democrat. Archibald Chenoweth, who died when about seventy-five years of age, married Margaret Hyre. Her father, Wil- liam Hyre, owned a farm at the head of Buckhannon River in Upshur County, and was a noted hunter in that vicinity. He was' a strong Union man, and two of his sons were Federal soldiers and all of them were republicans in pol- itics. Margaret Hyre was a daughter of her father's first marriage, to Miss VanDeavender. Archibald Chenoweth and wife reared one son and three daughters: Belle, who died at Beverly, wife of John Leonard; Rose, resident of Charleston and wife of John Conner; and Idella, who died unmarried. Worthington Chenoweth was born October 26, 1848, and up to the age of twenty-four he lived in the historic com- munity of Beverly. He attended some of the old sub- scription schools, and finished his education soon after the free school system was established. He has a vivid recol- lection of some of the events and conditions of the Civil war period. After one of the raids made by the Con- federate general Rosser he helped bury the dead. For several years he worked with his father in the wagon shop, and he began the study of dentistry at Beverly with Dr. D. B. Campbell, a pioneer dentist in Randolph County. He remained with Doctor Campbell four years there, and both of them in 1874 moved to Philippi. Since then Doc- tor Chenoweth has carried on a very successful practice. He has made a specialty of plate work. In the line of public service Doctor Chenoweth was for one term mayor of Philippi, twice served as treasurer, for twelve years was a member of the Board of Educa- tion and was on the Board when the property was ac- quired for the site of the new high school. While he has rendered public service he has not been in politics as an active candidate for office. Some years ago he was named jury commissioner for the District Federal Court of West Virginia by Judge Alston G. Dayton. Judge Dayton knew him intimately in civil and religious life, and while they were not of the same political faith the Judge explained his appointment by saying: "I know him to be a man I can trust and I want him." Doctor Chenoweth gave his first presidential vote to Horace Greeley, and has voted for all the nominees of the demo- cratic party for half a century, including three votes for William J. Bryan. Doctor Chenoweth is one of the very prominent Odd Fel- lows of West Virginia, having joined the lodge at Philippi the year he moved to that town. He has been financial secretary of the lodge fifteen years, financial secretary of the Encampment, and has represented both branches in the Grand Lodge. He is also financial secretary of the Knights of Pythias. When he was forty-nine years of age he was converted and joined the Presbyterian Church, and for a number of years has been an elder in the church at Philippi and superintendent of the Sunday school. At Philippi, February 23, 1889, Doctor Chenoweth mar- ried Miss Mary H. Bosworth. Her father, Elam Bosworth, was born in the Beverly community of Randolph County, and married Miss Switzer, by whom he had four children: Harriet, Mary, Squire and Erastus. By a second marriage Elam Bosworth had two sons, James and Thomas, the for- mer a merchant at Brownsburg, West Virginia, and the latter a teacher in the high school at Richmond, Virginia. Mrs. Chenoweth was born March 8, 1849, was liberally edu- cated, and died January 5, 1922, at the age of seventy- three. She was associated with her husband in the work of the church, and both of them took an active interest in the war work of the community.