WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 75 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: DAVID SCOTT ZEARLEY, Monongal [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000320043351.00849d80@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: DAVID SCOTT ZEARLEY, Monongalia 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. 377 Monogalia DAVID SCOTT ZEARLEY. Some of the best examples of advanced agricultural methods in the State of West Vir- ginia are found in the districts of the Monongahela Eiver north of Morgantown. This is a district in which spe- cialized farming has been highly developed, and several of the farms there have furnished some interesting demon- strations of crop yields that have set remarkably high standards In the state. One of this progressive group of farmers in the Union District is David Scott Zearley, probably the pioneer and the most successful alfalfa farmer in that section. Mr. Zearley, whose home is eight miles north of Mor- gantown, with postoffice at Point Marion, Pennsylvania, was bora a mile south of the latter village, in Fayette County, but close to the West Virginia line, September 16, 1857, son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Bowman) Zearley. The Zearley family originated in England and first settled in New Jersey. Joshua Zearley, the immigrant, moved west to Venango County in Western Pennsylvania. His son, John Zearley, was born at French Creek in Venango Coun- ty. Joshua, the pioneer, later built the first fulling mill in Fayette County, on Georges Creek. This was about 1790, and the site of the old mill can still be identified by a pier of the Baltimore & Ohio bridge. The old Zearley home is also still standing, and in this home Joshua Zear- ley spent his last days. John Zearley as a young man lo- cated on Baker's Ridge in Monongalia County, but returned to Fayette County and operated a fulling mill on Dunkard Creek in Greene County, Pennsylvania, where he was liv- ing at the time of his death, at the age of fifty-seven. John Zearley was the father of Isaac Zearley, who was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, at Smithfield, on the site of the old fulling mill. He learned the carpenter's trade. Isaac Zearley was one of seven sons. His brothers John and David removed to Iowa. His brother Jacob op- erated a woolen mill at Blacksville, West Virginia, and died in this state. A half brother, Samuel J., was a captain in the Union Army and died at Scottdale, Penn- sylvania. There were two half sisters, Susan and Miss Nancy. Susan became the wife of Thomas Conwell and lived on Baker's Ridge, where she and her husband died. She is survived by daughters, Mrs. Alice Hoard, wife of D. M. Hoard, Mrs. Lizzie Ross, now of Parkersbnrg, and also Mrs. Ida Thomas of Monongalia County. Isaac Zearley followed the trade of carpenter most of his active life and died in Fayette County at the age of eighty-five. His wife, Elizabeth Bowman, died at the same age. His first wife was Mary Colebank, of Monongalia County, who left one daughter, Anna, who became the wife of D. K. Stewart, and both are now deceased. The chil- dren of Isaac and Elizabeth Zearley were: Addis, of Morgantown; David Scott; Isaac Judson, a carpenter; E. Lee, a civil and mining engineer at Uniontown, Pennsyl- vania; and Effie Louise, who died in childhood. Addis Zearley spent three years in West Virginia University, as & young man began teaching, and spent forty years in the schoolroom, chiefly in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, though for four years he taught in West Virginia. He is now living retired at Morgantown. He married a cousin, Lizzie Zearley, and their two children are Joy, a teacher in the high school at Alderson, West Virginia, and Gay, a student in West Virginia University. David Scott Zearley acquired a good education and learned the carpenter's trade under his father. In 1883 he married Mary A. Morris, daughter of Uriah S. and Elizabeth (Board) Morris, whose old home is near Point Marion. Her parents died each at the age of eighty-six. Uriah Morris was a farmer, and lived all his active career on one farm. There were seven Morris children: John G., who lived on the old Morris farm and is now retired at Point Marion; Melissa, wife of William Sawyer, who lives at the former Zearley homestead at Point Marion; Nickson, who left home when a young man and is a carpenter at Holdridge, Nebraska; Mary A., Mrs. Zearley; Sanford C., a blacksmith by trade, now on the police force at Fair- mont; Isaac, a coal operator at Easton; and Matilda, wife of Marshall Sawyer, living near Point Marion. David Scott Zearley has done a great deal of work as a carpenter, and for thirty years lived and worked at Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Twenty-five years ago he moved to his present farm, though much of his time has been taken up with work at his trade. Mr. Zearley in his farm- ing has solved some of the problems of soil preservation and building up in this hill region. Thirty-six years ago his father secured a few pounds of alfalfa seed, and the Zearleys have been a stanch friend of alfalfa as a money crop and soil builder ever since. Mr. Zearley makes alfalfa his leading crop, but has experimented with other legumes, including soy beans and cow peas. He has limed his soil preparatory for alfalfa, and has demonstrated the value of this deep rooted crop as a means of holding the soil on hillsides. Some of his exhibits of the legume crops have served a useful purpose as examples and object lessons at the State University Agricultural School. Mr. Zearley was one of the leaders of the Farm Bureau movement in his vicinity. His farm comprises fifty-six acres, most of it tillable. He is active in the Grange, is an independent voter, and does his work in connection with community affairs, seldom lending his name to the support of any partisan political movement. A great inspiration was removed not only from him and his family but from the entire community when Mrs. Zearley died suddenly September 9, 1921. She was ap- parently in the midst of vigorous health, and the previous day had attended a session of the Farm Bureau. She was an active worker in church, grange, farm bureau and other community affairs. Mr. Zearley has four daughters: Grace, wife of Dell Robinson, of Stewartstown; Martha, a professional nurse at Fairmont; Nellie, Mrs. Elmer Blos- ser, of Morgantown; and Hazel, wife of Wayne Blosser, a merchant at Stewartstown. ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 05:24:47 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000320052447.0087dde0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: JEREMIAH THOMAS, Preston 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. 377-378 Preston JEREMIAH THOMAS, banker, business man, minister, and for many years a successful teacher, is a resident of Bruce- ton Mills and represents a family that has given substan- tial aid to every worthy interest in that section of Preston County for considerably more than a century. Members of this family came to West Virginia from Pennsylvania. Michael Thomas was born in Pennsylvania, a descendant of one of three brothers, Alexander, William and Lewis, who came from Wales in Colonial days. The probable ancestor of the West Virginia branch of the fam- ily was Alexander, of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Michael Thomas was the father of seven sons and an initial "M" was used in each of these sons' names in honor of the father. These seven song were Jacob M., Michael M., George M., John M., Samuel M., Daniel M. and Christian M. The sisters of these brothers were Magdalena, Bar- bara and Anna, the latter becoming the wife of Andrew Umbel and spending her life in Fayette County, Pennsyl- vania. The song Michael and George remained in Fayette County. Samuel and Daniel went West, one to Iowa and the other probably to Ohio. John and Jacob became per- manent residents of West Virginia. Jacob M. Thomas, grandfather of Jeremiah, was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and came to West Vir- ginia from Fayette County about 1816, shortly after the close of the second war with Great Britain. He built the pioneer home on hia farm four miles east of Brandonville, and lived the rest of hia life in that house, where he died November 21, 1881. While an industrious farmer, his life was of considerably more importance than that of an in- dividual business man. He was a minister and elder of the Church of the Brethren, and performed missionary labors over six or eight counties of West Virginia, frequently preaching in court houses at the invitation of judges. While his educational advantages were not above those now af- forded by the common schools, he was a real student, and acquired a wide range of knowledge. After reaching his majority he gave his entire attention to farming until about the age of thirty-five, when he was converted and about five years later began preaching. He was thor- oughly well informed on the Scriptures, and was conversant with both the German and English, though all his sermons were delivered in English. He had a gift as an expounder of religions doctrines, and as a missionary, accompanied by a few friends, built up church communities and caused the erection of a number of places of worship. His knowledge and interest extended beyond church and religion to the events of his day. He was one of the early readers of the old Wheeling Intelligencer, and was one of the pioneer voters of the republican faith in his sec- tion of West Virginia. His mother was a Miss Maust, of German ancestry, and the Thomas family lived in a Ger- man community of Pennsylvania, which accounts for the knowledge Reverend Jacob had .of the German tongue. Rev. Jacob M. Thomas married Mary Fike. Their four sons were John J., Levi, Jacob and Andrew, the last two serv- ing as Union soldiers. The daughters were Magdalena, who died unmarried; Sallie, who became the wife of Adam Rosenberger; Anna, who married William Conn; Mary, who became Mrs. Jesse Knox; Barbara, who was the wife of Joseph Zimmerman; and Catherine, who married Samuel Rishel. After the death of the mother of these children Rev. Jacob Thomas married Hepsy Davis, but there were no children from this union. Andrew Thomas, father of the Bruceton Mills banker, was born in Preston County, May 4, 1836. He acquired a country school education, and spent his life on the old homestead farm. During the last years of the Civil war ho was a member of Company K, Seventeenth West Vir- ginia Infantry, going in as a private, and he escaped wounds and capture. He was a stanch republican, always voting at elections but declining political honors. He did his religious work as a layman. Andrew Thomas married Barbara Boger, daughter of Samuel Boger. She was born in Preston County, May 3, 1840, and died February 22, 1879, being survived over twenty years by her husband, Andrew. Their children consisted of a daughter and three sons: Mary Elizabeth, who became the wife of Irvin Wilson and died in Preston County, June 30, 1889; Jeremiah; Noah, who occupies the homestead farm in suc- cession to his father and grandfather; and Ira, a farmer and stock raiser at Bruceton Mills. Jeremiah Thomas was born June 20, 1862, and was reared at the old Thomas homestead. He was educated in the common schools, and for a term or two in West Virginia University at Morgantown. Mr. Thomas began teaching at the age of nineteen. His work was in the same school where he had learned his first lessons, and he taught that school altogether for fifteen years. Subsequently his abil- ity as a teacher benefited other schools, and his career as an educator only came to a close after he had taught for twenty-seven years. In the intervals of teaching he car- ried on a farm, was also land surveyor, and he had a teacher's certificate good for five years when he was in- duced to leave the school room and became cashier of the Bruceton Bank in 1907. He succeeded R. W. Machesney as cashier of the Bruce- ton Bank. At that time L. E. Friend was president of the institution. The Bruceton Bank was opened in December, 1903, its promoters being farmers in the Bruceton locality. Its capital has been $25,000 from the beginning and it now has surplus and undivided profits of $32,000. Its directors are the Thomas brothers, Jeremiah, Noah and Ira, also Vestus Thomas, Walter Collins, Floyd Cale, H. A. Knox, J. E. Jenkins and W. S. Ridenour. Mr. Thomas several years ago was elected president of the bank, his son suc- ceeding him as cashier. Mr. Thomas was president of the company which bought the Beeghly property at Bruceton, moved the old plant away and built a new mill on the site and operated the greatly improved property for about a dozen years, until the company sold to the Hydro Electric Company of West Virginia. The Hydro Electric Company sold the plant to W. D. Smith, who sold in 1922 to H. P. and S. F. Movers. Mr. Thomas is and has been for fifteen or twenty years secretary of the Farmers Union Association and Fire In- surance Company. In his work as a land surveyor he ran the lines around more than fifty farms in Preston County, and did similar work in Maryland and Pennsylvania. These interests thus briefly sketched would seem to make up a busy program for a very energetic man. However, Mr. Thomas has other work to his credit. He was con- verted as a youth of fourteen and joined the Church of the Brethren, his grandfather's old faith. At the age of nineteen he was elected to the ministry, and a year later began preaching as a helper to Elder Solomon Bucklew, At the age of twenty-six he was ordained to the eldership to take charge of the congregation. He preached his first sermon at the Valley schoolhouse near Wymp's Gap from the text "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation." He has had charge of that congregation ever since, with helpers under him, and the congregation has four church buildings and an interest in two others, and in all of these and in three schoolhouses regular service are held. The congregation in 1922 had a membership 550. Mr. Thomas is also chairman of the Mission Board of the First District of West Virginia and a member of the Ministerial Board of the same district. Mr. Thomas led the movement for the establishment a high school in Grant District, a school that has been running three years. While teaching he was urged to per- mit his name to be used in connection with the nomination for county superintendent of schools, but he declined the honor. His competence as a surveyor also led friends to induce him to become candidate for county surveyor, I this too he declined, having no ambition for political honors. He is a republican voter. On May 25, 1882, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Mr. Thomas married Miss Susanna Seese. She was born Dec- cember 19, 1861, daughter of John and Mary Ann (Um- bel) Seese, a family of substantial farmers in Fayette County. Mrs. Thomas is one of nine surviving children and others living in West Virginia are Andrew, George and Mrs. Zeima Livingood. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have three children and five grandchildren. Walter Herbert, who is a graduate of the business department of the Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, succeeded his father as cashier of the Bruceton Bank for several years, but re- signed and is now holding a position in the office of the Norfolk & Western Railroad Company at Roanoke, Vir- ginia. He married Mary Collier, and his three children are Lena, Beulah and Dwight. Chester Arthur, the sec- ond son, has given a number of years to work as a teacher and is a farmer near Brandonville. He married Grace Wolfe, and their two children are Pauline and Alma. The youngest of Mr. Thomas' children and only daughter is Ethel May, now in the junior class at Bridgewater Col- lege in Virginia. ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 18:14:06 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000320181406.008b7720@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: RICHARD OWEN O'DELL, M. D., Kanawha 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. 378-379 Kanawha RICHARD OWEN O'DELL, M. D. Through his profession as a physician and surgeon Doctor O'Dell has become a man of prominence in his community at South Charleston, anil recently was selected by popular vote to serve as mayor of that municipality. Doctor O'Dell was born at Mount Nebo in Nicholas County, West Virginia, February 25, 1884, a son of Allen M. O'Dell and grandson of John F. O'Dell. John F. O'Dell came from Virginia, was an early settler in Nicholas County, and served as county surveyor. His old transit is still in the possession of his family. In 1912 his grandson, R. O. O'Dell, was elected county surveyor, being at that time a student at Valparaiso, Indiana. Allen M. O'Dell died in Nicholas County about 1909, at the age of sixty-three. He was a farmer, and for many years held the office of justice of the peace. His wife was Margaret Dorsey, who died at the age of seventy-four. R. O. O'Dell grew up on a farm, and after attending summer schools was a pupil in summer normals under Pro- fessor J. C. Ramsey, the oldest teacher in Nicholas County. He graduated from Valparaiso University, and spent two years in the Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery, where he graduated with the class of 1917. He has for five years done a great deal of his work as a surgeon in the Dunn Hospital at South Charleston in addition to his general practice. Doctor O'Dell came to South Charleston to join his cousin, Dr. S. G. Backus, now deceased. The sister of Doctor Backus is Mrs. Lola Bowles, widow of Dr. Lock Bowles, who died in 1916. Mrs. Bowles is the present city recorder of South Charleston, the first woman ever elected to office in that community. Doctor O'Dell has always taken a keen interest in the welfare of his home city, served as a member of the city council, and in 1920 was defeated as a candidate for mayor. He served as health officer, and in the spring of 1922 was elected mayor, receiving a handsome majority. He married in Nicholas County Iva Marie McCutcheon, of Hominy Falls. She died in November, 1917, three years after their marriage. She left a daughter, Iva Marie. Doctor O'Dell has since married Edna M. Spathe, of Penn- sylvania. He is a director of and stockholder in the First National Bank of South Charleston. He is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, an Odd Fellow, a member of the Eastern Star, the Modern Woodmen and the order of Ben-Hur.