WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 83 Today's Topics: #1 Bio-Hon, O.S. McKinney- Fairmont [Joan Wyatt ] #2 Camden H. Holden, Wood County, Bar ["Pam Honaker" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <38DDFB85.1559EE5F@uakron.edu> Subject: Bio-Hon, O.S. McKinney- Fairmont Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York, Volume 111 Hon. O.S. McKinney- Fairmont In the course of a busy lifetime, now measured by over threescore and ten, O.S.McKinney has become widely known over West Virginia, though he has never had a home in any other community than Fairmont. The most important work associated with his name has been as editor and publisher of the Times, of which as a molder of public opinion he was unswerving in his loyalty to his city and state and ranked with the most prominent writers of his day and at one time refused a lucrative offer to become editorially associated with a national daily in the capital city of our National Government. As a leader of the democratic party in West Virginia he has long been recognized as one of the most influential members of the party and one who did not seek personal gratification or honor so much for himself as for the success of the party and honor to his native state. Mr. McKinney was born in Fairmont in Marion Co., in 1849, son of John S. and Matilda (Sullivan) McKinney, the former a native of Monongalia Co. and the latter of Harrison Co., West Virginia. O.S. McKinney aquired a common school education, and almost the first employment he had in the line of a salaried position or preparation for a life career was in a printing office. Printing and publishing has bulked large in his personal business experience. For several years Mr. McKinney printed the records and reports of the West Virginia Court Of Appeals. He then became part owner and editor of the Fairmont Index, and in company with Col. C.L. Smith he established the Fairmont Times and was its editor for twenty years. Mr. McKinney has been a director of the National Bank of Fairmont since its organization. This is one of the three largest financial institutions of West Virginia. In 1899 Mr. McKinney served in the State Legislature, at which session it has been said some of the most brilliant and intellectual men in the state composed that body, of which he was elected Speaker of the House and during which session much important legislation was enacted, bringing glory and honor to himself and his constituents. It is said even to this day that he was the leader and speaker of the finest, and most intellectually brilliant body of men ever gathered in the House. As a democrat he was chairman of the State Central Committee in 1904, and in the same year was a delegate at large to the National Convention in St. Louis. He was a district delegate to the National Convention in 1916. In 1874 he married Annabell Ayers, who died in 1921, after they were married for forty-seven years. Her children are Nola, Margaret E., Odell P. and Mrs. Mary L. Weaver of Morgantown. Mr. McKinney is identified with all branches of Masonry, being a member of Fairmont Lodge, No. 9, A.F. and A.M., is a knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason, and is treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Grand Lodge, which has in charge the erection of the Masonic Home. He served as grand master of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows in 1882, and is a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Mr. McKinney is a member of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, being eligible to that society through his grandfather Patrick Sullivan, who was a soldier under General Morgan in the war of independence. Alaways interested in educational affairs, Mr. McKinney served a number of years as a member of the Board of Education at Fairmont, and has also been local regent of the Sate Normal School. One who has known him intimately for over a quarter of a century has said of him: There have been very few if any men in Fairmont who have taken a greater civic pride in the city than the Hon. O.S. McKinney, and many times has served its interests to his own detriment from a financial viewpoint. He has played his part honorably and well in making Fairmont one of the finest cities in Northern West Virginia- and in his case the biographer can agree with the Greek philosopher who said" A prophet is not without honor save in his own Country", for Mr. McKinney is well honorably known throughout his native state, as well as adjoining states. Although at this time he has retired from active business affairs, he is still called upon to assist in the upbuilding of the state and its institutions, and takes a leading and prominent part in the state's welfare, financially and morally. ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 23:06:17 EST From: "Pam Honaker" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <20000327040617.31270.qmail@hotmail.com> Subject: Camden H. Holden, Wood County, Barbour County Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg.460-461 Camden H. Holden, Wood County, Barbour County CAMDEN H. HOLDEN, president of the Ranwood Lumber Company, one of the important business concerns of the City of Parkersburg, is a native son of West Virginia and the scion of the third generation of the Holden family in this state, the Holden family having been founded in America in the Colonial period of our national history. John C. Holden, grandfather of him whose name initiates this paragraph , was a son of Alexander Holden, who was born in the State of New Jersey and became pioneer settler in the Licking County, Ohio, where he reclaimed a farm and became one of the influential citizens of that section of the Buckeye State. He served as justice of the peace, county commissioner and representative in the Ohio Legislature, and his also was the destinction of having been a soldier in the War of 1812. He continued his residence in Ohio until his death in 1832, at the age of sixty-eight years. John C. Holden was born in New Jersey and reared in Ohio, where was solemnized his marriage to Miss Prudence Kettle. He gained pioneer honors in Barbour County, West Virginia, where he established his home when that county was still a part of Virginia and known as Harrison County. A man of fine intellectuality and exceptional ability, he gained much of his leadership in the pioneer community, and by his activities, which included the reclamation and development of a productive farm, he contributed much to the civic and material development of what is now one of the prosperous counties of West Virginia. He was a student of the Greek langauage, and his broad mental horizon made him a man of mature judgement and progressive ideas. Thus he gave to his children the best possible educational advantages, and gave his influence to measures and enterprises that advanced the welfare of his community. Both he and his wife were honored pioneer citizens of Barbour County at the time of their deaths. In that county was born their son Elijah K., who was there reared to manhood and who there married Miss Mahala Reed, likewise a native of Barbour County. Elijah K. Holden gained substantial success in connection with farm industry in his native county, effectivly upheld the honors of the family name and was content to follow his chosen vocation and to make his value felt through earnest and worthy achievemant and civic loyalty rather than through political activity of public office. Of his five children four are living, and of the number the subject of this sketch is the only son. Camden H. Holden, the eldest of the five children, was born on the old homestead farm in Barbour County, on the 30th of March, 1873. He was reared on this old home farm, and the discipline of the district schools was supplemented by his attending the public schools of the City of Buckhannon, Upshur County. That he made good use of his advantages is shown by the fact that, when seventeen years of age he proved himself eligible for pedagogic service and became a successful teacher in the rural schools. At the age of twenty years he inititated his association with the lumber business in Randolph County, and with this important line of industrial and commercial enterprise he has continued his alliance during the intervening years. In 1907 Mr. Holden established his residence at Parkersburg, and as president of the Ranwood Lumber Company of this city he is one of the representative business men of Wood County. He is a staunch democrat in politics, and he and his wife are members of the Baptist Church, with which the Holden family has been actively connected for many generations. He has received the chivalric degrees in the Masonic fraternity, in which his maximum York Rite affiliation is with the Commandery of Knights Templars in his home city. He holds membership also in Nemesis Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the Parkersburg Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Parkersburg Country Club. The year of 1895 recorded the marriage of Mr. Holden and Miss Alice Reger, of Buckhannon, this state, and they have one daughter, Edna F., who is the wife of Ralph Jones, of Parkersburg. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 23:08:49 EST From: "Pam Honaker" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <20000327040849.71100.qmail@hotmail.com> Subject: Wilbert F. Carmichael, Wood County, Ritchie County Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg.461 Wilbert F. Carmichael, Wood County, Ritchie County WILBERT F. CARMICHAEL. A name well and honorably known for many years in West Virginia for sterling business achievement is that of Carmichael, and a prominent bearer of the same at Parkersburg is Wilbert F. Carmichael, whi is the active head of the wholesale confectionery firm of Carmichael & martin, an exceedingly prosperous enterprise of this city. Mr Carmichael was born near Hanlon's Mill, Ritchie County, West Virginia, march 10 1876. His parents were David and Nancy A. (Locke) Carmichael. David Carmichael was a man of sterling integrity and of unusual business ability. He was a native of Ohio and was eleven years old when he came to West Virginia, a por boy seeking employment, which he accepted as a farm hand and worked for 50 cents a day. He had but limited opportunities for acquiring an education, but he had ambition to better his condition and took advantage of such chances as came his way, paying attention to those better equipped than himself and reading instructive books. Proving industrios and reliable in the employ of farmers, this reputation enabled him to secure better wages in the emply of tobacco packers and he became manager of a warehouse. Later he was employed in Hanlon's Mill, situated on McKim Creek, two m iles out of Hebron, and it was at this point, in a little building 12 by 16 in dimensions which he had built himself, that he began business as a merchant. He had natural aptitude for merchandising, and from this humble beginning developed into one of the most successful merchants in Tyler County. Subsequently finding a purchaser for his small store, he opened another at Mole Hill in Ritchie County, removing from there two years later to Wick, Tyler County, where he was a merchant for five years. His next removal was to Meadville in Tyler County, where he remained in the mercantile business and als operated a fram, and then moved to Smithfield, in the oil district of Wetzel County, and for fifteen years was the leading merchant i that county. In the meanwhile David Carmichael married Nancy A. Locke, and three children were born to them: Floyd, who is manager of the Carmichael Candy Company, wholesale canfectioners at Clarksburg, West Virginia; Alice, who died at the age of twenty-two years, was the wife of Nathan Bane; and Wilbert F., who belongs to Parkersburg. David Carmichael was a member of the Christion Church. He was active in the democratic party, served one term as a justice of the peace and at one time was his party's candidate for sheriff. When he retired from business he was succeeded by his sons, and he finally returned to Ohio. His death occurred at Zanesville in April 1917. Wilbert F. Carmichael with his brother and sister had educational advantages that had been denied to their father in his youth but on which he always set a high value. Mr. Carmichael learned telegraphing, and was an operator for four years, then, with his brother, succeeded his father in business, and for the next fifteen years the brothers were associated at Smithfield as merchants and lumber men, Wilbrt F. attending mainly to their lumber interests in Nicholas, Webster and Clay counties. In 1915 they removed to Clarksburg and went into the wholesale confectionery business, where Floyd Carmichael continues, but in association with his brother-in-law, Dr. J. E. Martin, organized with the wholesale confectionery firm of D. W. Dabney. Mr. Carmichael has shown good judgement in his choice of business and the outlook is very promising. In 1897 Mr. Carmichael married Miss Virginia Bucher, who died in 1904, leaving three children: Mabel, wife of Ray Lang, Alice and David. In 1908 Mr. Carmichael married Miss Inez Martin, daughter of Sidney and Sophis (Morrow) Martin, of Shiloh, Tyler County, West Virginia. Mr Carmichael is a Knight Templar Mason and belongs also to the order of United Commercial Travelers. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 23:09:35 EST From: "Pam Honaker" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <20000327040936.19519.qmail@hotmail.com> Subject: George L. Dudley, Wood County Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, page 461-462 George L. Dudley, Wood County GEORGE L. DUDLEY. Three generations of the Dudley family have had a very substantial participation in the life, affairs and progress of the Parkersburg community. George L. Dudley is a man whose business qualifications have been appreciated by all who have come in contact with him, though normally he is very unostentatious, accomplishes his work with a quiet efficiency, and has been well satisfied to remain completely outside the sphere of politics and political honors. His father, Lysander Dudley, was born about 1847 in Connecticut. When he was about a year old he was brought west by his parents Lysander and Betsy (Hull) Dudley, to Wood County, where they located on a country property on what is known today as Dudley Avenue in the northern part of Parkersburg. Lysander, Sr., was a carpenter and contractor, and in that industry he erected many of the important bulidings of his day. He also was very active in the Baptist Church, and met all the test of good citizenship. His son Lysander up to 1892 lived on a farm that is now included in the City of Parkersburg. After he left the farm he gave his attention to buying and selling coal, timber and other lands. As a matter of duty and not in line with any ambition he accepted the responsibiities of public office when called upon, and among other local positions he was a councilman. He was also a devount member of the Baptist church. His death occurred in 1916. Lysander Dudley, Jr., married Mollie F. Burdette, a relative of the late Bob Burdette, the famous humorist. She is still living, and of her nine children seven are living. George Lewis Dudley was born at Parkersburg November 1, 1868, and supplemented his public school education with a course in a business college at Wheeling. He also left the home farm in 1892, and for several years thereafter was associated with his father in business. For about two years he had merchandising and timber interests in Roane County, but his chief business now and for some years past has been the Citizens Lumber Company, of which he is vice president and general manager. Mr Dudley is a Presbyterian, a democrat who frequently exercises independent choice of candidates, is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is identified with the Chamber of Commerce and is a member of Blennerhassett and Country clubs. In 1892 Mr Dudley married Mary Frances Foley. Their two sons are George L., Jr., and Samuel Burdett. The older was in the aviation section as a second lieutenant during the Worl war, but the armistice was signed before he was sent abroad. The younger son, at the age of fifteen, ran away from home and enlisted, but had only one month of soldier life. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ______________________________X-Message: #5 Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 23:13:45 EST From: "Pam Honaker" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <20000327041345.63288.qmail@hotmail.com> Subject: J. Pressley Crawford, Monongalia County Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg.461 J. Pressley Crawford J. PRESSLEY CRAWFORD, member of the well known firm of Crawford & Son, real estate and insurance agents of Morgantown, West Virginia, is a son of William A. and Loumonia F. Crawford. He was born in Greene County, Virginia, September 17 1897, where he was trained to work on his father's farm early and late. He attended the public schools of his county, also Elon College in North Carlonia. On January 1, 1918, he married N. Grace Barker, who was born in Monongalia County, daughter of Joseph J. Barker and Sallie (Morris) Barker. They have a son, Milton Stanley, born October 31, 1919. In 1918, at the age of twenty-one, Mr. Crawford began his business career at Morgantown as a salesman for W.B. Sharp, real estate and insurance, and in 1920 he and his father bought out the growing business of Mr. Sharp, and the firm of Crawford & Son was formed, which has grown and now enjoys an extended clientage, representing some of the standard lines of insurance and specializing in city property, improved orchards, farms, coal and timber lands. He also represents the E. A. Strout Farm Agency for his section of the state, the largest farm agency in the world. Mr. Crawford is one of the younger business men of Morgantown, and has displayed remarkable energy and resourcefulness in everything he has undertaken. He, like his father, is a son of the Old Dominion and feels at home among the "West Virginia Hills." J. Pressley Crawford possesses that indomotable willpower to make a thing go if there is any chance, never yielding to failure, and the firm of Crawford & Son, of which he is apert, will no doubt be known through years to come. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ______________________________X-Message: #6 Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 23:15:02 EST From: "Pam Honaker" To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <20000327041502.98878.qmail@hotmail.com> Subject: William A. Crawford, Sr, Monongalia County Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg.461 William A. Crawford, Sr. WILLIAM A. CRAWFORD, Sr., member of the firm of Crawford & Son, was born in Old Virginia, in the County of Greene, November 30, 1864. His ancestors were of Scotch-Irish and English descent. He was educated in the public schools of his county and at the age of eighteen he commenced his chosen profession of teaching in the public schools of his native county, and followed this work for twenty-seven consecutive terms. Mr. Crawford was brought up in the rural part of his county, where schools were few and far between, and he was forced to walk from four to six miles to school, but as soon as he was old enough was able to pass a creditable examination and take charge of a school of his own. In 1886 Mr. Crawford married Miss L. F. Morris, one of his pupils, and to this union three children were born, Iola Graham, who died at the age of twenty-eight years, Addie and J. Pressley. Mr. Crawford always took an active part in the politics of his county, and held offices of his county from justice of the peace to high sherriff. When he entered politics his county was overwhelmingly democratic, but by hard work he was able to swing it over to the republican column, where it has since remained. Being a farmer and teacher and living in one of the best fruit sections of his state, he became interested in horticulture and planted out three of the largest commercial orchards in his county, the largest of which he still owns and refuses to sell, and by his influence in that direction many people have planted good sized orchards in Greene County. In 1920 Mr Crawford removed to Margantown, West Virginia, where his youongest daughter and son, J. Pressley Crawford, both live. He has always been interested in the welfare of the rising generation, and outside of his school work has been ans active member of the Christion church (better known in some places as the Christian Connection) and has held several important postions in his confernce. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com