WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 77 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: JACOB W. FEATHER, Preston Co. [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000320181638.008b2af0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: JACOB W. FEATHER, 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. 380-381 Preston JACOB W. FEATHER, of Bruceton Mills, has spent the greater part of his active life as a farmer. He was a youth when he joined and served for a brief period in the Union Army in the closing months of the Civil war. He has also been a merchant, and as a citizen is one of the well and favorably known men of Preston County. Jacob Feather was a native of Germany and reached the American colonies in time to take part as a soldier in the Revolution. It is believed that he was an orderly on General Washington's staff. At the close of the war he settled in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and from there moved to Western Virginia, locating in that portion of Monongalia County now Preston County. He lived out his life there and is buried in the Lutheran Cemetery at Crab Orchard. Jacob Feather and his wife Mary, had the fol- lowing sons: John, who was buried at Crab Orchard; Adam, who spent his life in that locality and died there and was the father of Rev. Joseph Feather; Jacob, who lived out his life in the neighborhood of Masontown and Reeds- ville; James, who died at Crab Orchard; Ezekiel, who lived, at Lenox and is buried at Crab Orchard; Christian, who was a farmer in the Crab Orchard community; Joseph, who died at Bruceton in the house owned by Doctor Wil- kinson; and there were also several daughters, one of them being the mother of Gus J. Shaffer of Kingwood. Joseph Feather, representing the second generation of this family, was born at Crab Orchard in 1816, and died June 30, 1896. He was buried at Bruceton. He was a farmer at Crab Orchard and Valley Point, and his last years were spent in Bruceton. He had only nominal edu- cational advantages during his youth, but his industry en- abled him to provide a good living. He was quiet and reserved, voted as a whig and a republican, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Lydia Hartman, who was born in the same locality as he was, and was several years his junior. She died in Feb- ruary, 189S. Her father, Michael Hartman, was a farmer and of German ancestry. The children of Joseph Feather and wife were: Mary Jane, who became the wife of Eth- bell Falkenstine and spent her life in Preston County; Sarah E., who was the wife of Henry Cale and lived in Preston County; John H., who was a member of the Seven- teenth West Virginia Infantry in the Civil war and other- wise a farmer in Preston County; Margaret, who became the wife of Joseph Michael and spent her life at Bruceton; Jacob Wesley; and Michael, a farmer who died near Cranesville. Jacob Wesley Feather was born at Crab Orchard in Pleasant District of Preston County, August 9, 1845. He had a common school education, and was about twenty years of age when he enlisted in 1865 at Grafton in Com- pany K of the Seventeenth West Virginia Infantry, under Lieutenant Farnham and Capt. Scott A. Harter. He was sent to Wheeling as a recruit, was drilled there for almost two months, and was then with his company in camp at Weston until the end of the war. He received his discharge at Wheeling the last of June, 1865. Following this brief military service Mr. Feather took up the calling of his an- cestry, farming, in the Crab Orchard community, and after his marriage farmed near Cranesville and a few years at Mountain Lake Park. He then returned to Preston County and established his home at Bruceton. For a few years at Cranesville he was a merchant and was also postmaster there. He began voting as a republican for General Grant in 1868. In Preston County, June 2, 1867, Mr. Feather married Sarah A. Michael, daughter of Philip and Sophia (Fulk) Michael. Her father was born in Preston County, son of William Michael, of German ancestry. Philip Michael was born in 1804 and Sophia Fulk, in 1806. He died in 1892, survived by his wife three years. The Michael children were: Eugenus, a farmer who died in Preston County; William, who lived all his life in Preston County; Malinda, who became the wife of George Walls and lived in Preston County; Philip, who was a blacksmith at Frostburg, Mary- land, where he died; Edgar, a farmer who lived at Athens. Ohio, where he is buried; John, who was a teacher and farmer in Preston County; James, who finally removed to Ohio and is buried at Gizeville, that state; Sophia, wife of Andrew McNair, living near Hopewell in Preston County; Naomi, who became the wife of Alpheus Posten and died in Iowa; Rachel, wife of Ephraim Fazenbaker and died at Westonport, Maryland; Mary, who was the wife of Jefferson Fazenbaker and died in Preston County, being buried at Brandonville; George, who lived for a number of years in Ohio, North and South Dakota, and finally set- tled in Minnesota, where he is buried; Joseph and Ben- jamin, twins, the former spending his life in Preston County, while Benjamin was killed at Westonport by a train while walking on a trestle over a stream at night; and Sarah Ann, Mrs. Feather, who was born April 20, 1850. Her brother Joseph Michael was in the same company and regiment as Jacob W. Feather during the war. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Feather are: Calphos Lloyd, who died in infancy; Delphos C., of Pitcairn, Penn- sylvania; Ora, who was killed when about thirty years of age; Troy O., a carpenter at Seattle, Washington; Corel E., living at Bruceton with her parents, widow of Earnest E. Whitesell and mother of Sarah Lillian Dorene and Julia Elizabeth. Mr. and Mrs. Feather are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has been superintendent of the Sunday School and has represented the church at quarterly conference. Mrs. Feather has been a Sabbath School teacher in the several communities of her residence, Cranes- ville, Mountain Lake Park and Bruceton, and was president of the Epworth League and a member of the Quarterly Conference held at Bruceton. She was a Red Cross mem- ber, but paralysis in her right arm prevented her from serving more actively than as a counselor and adviser. Both Mr. and Mrs. Feather have been active in the tem- perance work as members of the Anti Saloon League and have readily supported all causes for the religious and moral, advancement of their community. ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 18:55:36 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000320185536.008aad00@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: CALVIN F. SPIKER, 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. 382-383 Preston CALVIN F. SPIKER, merchant, man of affairs at Bruceton Mills, has played a varied and useful part in the activities of this community since early youth. He was born in Pleasant District, four miles southeast of Bruceton, January 30, 1872. His father is John J. Spiker, now living retired at Bruceton Mills. He was born in Preston County in 1846. In spite of his youth he saw two years and nine months of service in the West Virginia Cavalry at the time of the Civil war. He was once cap- tured by the Confederates, who started him towards prison at Richmond, but he escaped by jumping off a bridge, landing some twenty feet below on logs and breaking a few ribs. He finally reached his friends after going three days without food. Before the war closed he was trans- ferred to the western armies in Missouri, and he left the army there. After the war he joined the Grand Army Post, has participated with his comrades in the reunions, and is one of the few charter members of the Bruceton Post left. John J. Spiker has given diligent attention to farming as an active business pursuit, but in 1902 he en- gaged in the hotel business at Bruceton and is now retired. The circumstances of his early youth prevented him from attending school for any length of time, but he is well informed, is a republican voter, and a member of the Methodist Church. John J. Spiker married Lucinda Spind- ler, a first cousin of Charles Spindler and a daughter of Jonathan Spindler. Mrs. Spiker died November 4, 1904. Her children were: Brenard, a farmer and coal miner near Bruceton; Calvin F.; William H., a merchant at Bruceton Mills; Dorsey J., in the garage business at Bruce- ton; and Mary J., wife of Charley Teets, a merchant at Cranesville. Calvin F. Spiker spent his boyhood, youth and early manhood on the home farm. His education was derived from country schools, but he made such good use of his opportunities that for several years he was able to teach in winter terms. He was also at Morgantown a year or so, being employed there by the Union Improvement Com- pany during the construction of the gas and water lines. After these varied activities and after his last term as a teacher Mr. Spiker removed to Bruceton Mills and set up as a merchant as the successor of B. F. Huggins. He began selling goods in June, 1901, and six years later bought the store of O. P. Scott, in the building where he is located today. Mr. Spiker is not only one of the leading merchants but a stockholder in the Bruceton Bank, and is the owner of twenty acres in the Miller property at the bridge across the Big Sandy. He was reared under religious influences at home and has served as a steward of the Bruceton Methodist Church and is one of its trustees. He began voting the republican ticket in 1896, supporting Major McKinley. For a dozen years he was a councilman at a time when street improve- ments were the chief matters before the body for considera- tion and action. In Preston County, January 17, 1903, Mr. Spiker mar- ried Miss Pearl Frankhouser, daughter of Allen and Rhoda (Wolfe) Frankhouser, The Frankhousers are an old family of Preston County, and her mother was a daughter of Jacob Wolfe. Allen Frankhouser is still farming in the Locust Grove community, and is a stanch democrat, as are all the people of his name. Besides Mrs. Spiker, who was born in October, 1883, his children are: Bliss, wife of Charles Wolfe, of Pleasant District; Miss Goldie, who lives with Mr. and Mrs. Spiker at Bruceton Mills; Miss Fay and Miss Glenna, both at home. Mr. and Mrs. Spiker have a daugh- ter, Avis Lorene, born March 29, 1912. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 18:55:33 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000320185533.008b5ae0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: C. E. WILKINSON, M. D., 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. 382 Preston C. E. WILKINSON, M. D. His professional labors as a physician and surgeon have been the chief element in the esteem Doctor Wilkinson enjoys in the Bruceton Mills com- munity of Preston County. He has practiced in that dis- trict for seventeen years, and in that time has also acquired considerable business interests and has been a useful factor in furthering movements associated with the common wel- fare. Doctor Wilkinson was born at Wayne, Wayne County, West Virginia, July 1, 1877, son of Samuel Wellman Wil- kinson and grandson of William E. Wilkinson, who came from the vicinity of Richmond, Virginia, and spent his active life as a farmer in Wayne County. William E. Wilkinson married Miss Mary Smith, and one of their seven children was Samuel Wellman Wilkinson, who was born at Wayne. His first wife was Elizabeth Ferguson, who became the mother of two children, Doctor Wilkin- son, of Bruceton Mills, and LeRoy, of Columbus, Ohio. The parents separated, and Doctor Wilkinson grew up with his mother, who in the meantime became Mrs. A. W. Pres- ton, of Dickson, West Virginia. Doctor Wilkinson spent the first fifteen years of his life on a farm in the vicinity of Wayne, and he knows the meaning of toil in the fields. After that he worked for the most part in his stepfather's store until he was about twenty-four. In the meantime he had finished his literary education in the Oak View Academy, and in 1900 attended the University of Louisville Medical School, where he graduated M. D. in 1904. After graduating he returned to West Virginia, took the examination of the State Board of Examiners, and began practice at Brandonville, and in 1908 removed to Bruceton Mills, but all his work as a physician has been in Grant District. He has done post- graduate work in Chicago and is a member in good stand- ing of the County, State and American Medical Associations. During his work as a physician Doctor Wilkinson has been called upon for special effort in combating two epidemics in this community, one of smallpox in 1915 and the other the influenza scourge in 1918-19. About a hundred cases of smallpox came under the observation and treatment of Doctor Wilkinson, with only two fatalities. During the influenza epidemic practically all of his clientage were afflicted more or less both years, but the fatalities were few as compared with those of urban localities. Of the 500 cases under Doctor Wilkinson's care less than half a dozen deaths occurred. Outside his profession Doctor Wilkinson for some years has owned a large farm in the community and has been more or less of a stock dealer. He has also handled trans- actions in real estate and coal lands, and owns some un- developed coal properties. He has been active in advancing the educational standards of his locality, has served as a village councilman at Bruceton Mills and was a member of the district committee of the democratic party for a time. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Moose and Eagles and is a Methodist. At Chillicothe, Ohio, in February, 1906, Doctor Wilkin- son married Miss Lula McGinnis, who was born at Hunt- ington, West Virginia, but was reared and educated in Ohio as well as in Huntington. Doctor and Mrs. Wilkin- son have a son, Renick Eugene, born May 12, 1907. Doctor Wilkinson and wife are fond of travel, both as a source of recreation and knowledge, and they usually spend a few weeks of the year at near or distant resorts and in new scenes. ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 19:13:27 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000320191327.008a9ca0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: FRED COPEMAN, 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. 383-384 Preston FRED COPEMAN. By his industry and integrity Fred Copeman has long since earned a place of special respect and esteem in Preston County. His career is interesting for its varied experiences, particularly those that led him to this section of West Virginia and to America as well. He was born in the town of Ratten, Hanover, Germany, April 19, 1849. He was six weeks old when his father, Augustus Koopmann, as the name was spelled in German, died. Augustus Koopmann was a butcher by trade. He married Sophia Koopmann. Fred Copeman was the only son of his father. He had four half-brothers by his mother's second marriage, William, Carl, Dietrich and August Parson, all of whom remained in Germany. Sophia Koopmann lived to old age and kept in communication with her absent son as long as she was able to write. Being the chief reliance for his widowed mother, Fred Copeman was exempted from the regular school duties of a German boy, but he attended night school and mastered the common branches. For a time he worked at the black- smith's trade, but disliked that, and his chief experience was on a farm. While in Germany he had two employers. He was approaching the age when he must respond to the enforced military duty of the German Empire, and he be- came restless and determined to avoid the military training if possible. He was scheduled to report in Berlin on the 17th of April, 1869, to join the colors. On the 3rd of that month he began the trip which led him to the United States. He had been advised by companions who had come to America before how to get out of the country. Follow- ing these instructions he reported to a certain tailor of Bremerhaven, who placed him in a hotel, where he tended bar and there poured his first liquor for human profit. He was told that the government was less watchful on Sun- day than during the work days of the week. He provided himself with bedding and tin utensils for use on his pas- sage over the ocean. When the moment came for his departure the tailor sent a boy to carry his baggage, while Fred sauntered along behind smoking his cigar. He walked right through a bunch of officers who had made prisoners of seventeen men who were attempting to leave the coun- try that morning. At the docks he got into a small boat, and it took him out to a big ship in the harbor where a rope ladder was thrown out and he reached the deck, somewhat relieved. It was the ship Baltimore, and when it sailed out of the harbor and the land of Europe faded from sight the captain lined up his passengers and called for their passports. Fred Copeman was in the line, and he was in great trepidation as to what might be done to him without a passport. Suddenly he remembered that the tailor had slipped a paper into his pocket when they separated, and this he took out and handed the officer, with the result that the official merely put his hand on his shoulder and shoved him on, thus relieving the refugee of any further anxiety. No important incident occurred on the voyage to Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. Copeman did not remain in Baltimore, but at once took passage over the Baltimore & Ohio for Kingwood. However, he was taken on to Wheeling, passing through Tunnelton in the night, and was brought back and put off the train the next day. The only English he knew was Kingwood, and with this word he was directed by some children to the road to that town. He walked the distance from Tunnelton to Kingwood, and on the 24th of April knocked at the door of his uncle, Henry Copeman, who had become a citizen of Preston County some time before. This Henry Copeman was a brother of Sophia Koopmann, mother of Fred Copeman. With his knowledge of farming Fred went to work as a farm hand for his uncle. He spent almost two years at that, and in the meantime made diligent practice of the English tongue and with this acquisition he courted a young lady who became his wife. His first home was established in Pleasant District, on a farm belonging to Amos Cale, his father-in-law. He began farming without a team, and after about three years he bought or con- tracted to buy on payments a piece of land in that dis- trict. From his wage earnings and from his crops he paid out on the land. He regained in that district with in- creasing prosperity for a dozen years, and then moved to the vicinity" of Masontown, where he bought another tract of land. He lived there only a year, when his wife died, and he sold out and returned to the old locality. For three years he worked for Levi Cale on a farm, and then acquired by court sale another tract, the farm where he lives today. About that time he married his second wife, and in 1888 took possession of his farm, to which he has contributed nearly all the improvements. He paid $530 for 115 acres. This land had been greatly neglected by its former bache- lor occupant, and Mr. Copeman was busy for a time cleaning up and getting ready for real farming. He has since added seventy-eight acres more, and for many years has been a prosperous grain and stock farmer, and now in the evening of life is abundantly blessed with the sub- stantial things of the world. Fred Copeman was ready for American citizenship as soon as he landed, having determined to shut out Europe, and especially Germany, from hia life for all time. He took out his first papers for citizenship, completed naturali- zation and cast his first presidential ballot for Samuel J. Tilden in 1876. Since then he has steadily voted the demo- cratic ticket and has been satisfied to perform his duties of citizenship as a voter. He is a director of the Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and has been identified with that since its organization. He was reared in the Lutheran Church. Mr. Copeman is a charter member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His father and his step-father were both members of that order in Germany. When he left home his mother told him that she would feel easy as to his future if he became affiliated with this great fraternity. Elizabeth Cale, the first wife of Mr. Copeman, left three children at her death: Isa, wife of R. B. Spiker, of Pres- ton County; Henry F., a farmer near his father; and Rheua, wife of Gay E. Wilson, of Kingwood. His second wife was Sabina Cale, a cousin of his first wife and daugh- ter of John Cale. She was the mother of two children: Martha, wife of Harry Orcutt, of Akron, Ohio; and Lloyd, who died in infancy. For his present wife Mr. Copeman married Mrs. Virginia J. Miller, daughter of William Wolfe. She is a native of Preston County and member of the old and prominent Wolfe family here. By her first husband, John Miller, she has two children: Bessie, wife of Bruce Ringer, and Oliver S. Miller. Mr. and Mrs. Copeman have a son, Frederick Paul, bom February 2, 1896. He grew up on the farm near Bruceton, was educated in the Oak Grove School, and on February 14, 1918, enlisted at King- wood for the Aviation Sectional Signal Corps. Instead he was placed in the Spruce Division, getting out airplane ma- terial, being sent to Vancouver Barracks, Washington, but in his real work was in a camp sixty miles from Seattle and the same distance from Mount Rainier. He and his companions cut the logs and hauled them thirty miles on trucks to the railroad, whence they were transported to the mill at Enumclaw and there cut up and made ready for further working in the plant at Vancouver, which had a capacity of 1,500,000 feet a day. After the signing of the armistice Paul Copeman left the Pacific Coast, January 31, 1919, and received his honorable discharge at Camp Sherman, Ohio, February 13th, after one year in the service. He has since lived at home and is in active charge of his father's farm.