West Virginia

Biography of Henry Van Deman Faris

Henry Van Deman Faris, of Kanopolis, is a Kansas around whom center many associations of territorial and pioneer times. He is by five years the oldest living pioneer in Kansas west of Salina. He had been continuously identfied with Ellsworth County more than half a century. Mr. Faris comes of that adventuresome pioneer stock that in successive waves had peopled and developed American soil. His grandfather, John Faris, was born in Ireland of Scotch descent. On coming to this country he partieipated as a soldier in the struggle for independence, and afterwards became a farmer in Virginia. He located on … Read more

Biography of S. Allen Brown

S. Allen Brown. During the last forty years S. Allen Brown had busied himself with the handling of many important business interests at Independence. He is a son of the late William R. Brown, who was one of the pioneers of Montgomery County, and both father and son were closely associated in many of their business undertakings. One of the most attractive homesteads in Independence is owned and occupied by S. Allen Brown as his residence. It comprises a fine house at 515 North Second Street surrounded with fourteen acres of ground. In effect it is a piece of the … Read more

Biography of Andrew Benson

Andrew Benson has had a long and varied experience in the oil fields of both the East and West, and for a number of years had been established at Independence, from which city as headquarters he had operated extensively in the oil and gas districts of Southern Kansas and Oklahoma. Born March 5, 1864, in Warberg, Sweden, he was six years of age when his parents came to the United States in 1870 and settled in Jamestown, New York. He grew up there on a farm, received a fair amount of schooling, and in 1883, at the age of nineteen, … Read more

Biography of Charles J. Sinsel

Charles J. Sinsel, a wholesale fruit dealer of Boise and ex-county treasurer of Ada County, was born in Grafton, West Virginia, July 13, 1867, and is descended from Holland ancestry. Three brothers of the Sinsel family came from the little Dutch kingdom to America to aid Great Britain in her subjugation of the colonies, but were so well pleased with the land that they resolved to make their home in the new republic and located in Virginia. They and their descendants were planters and were Baptists in religious faith. The father of our subject, William F. Sinsel, was born in … Read more

Biography of William Kirkpatrick

Wherever his lot may be cast in the north, the intelligent, progressive southerner finds a welcome and makes many friends. If he fought on “the other side” in our great civil war, he is everywhere regarded more highly than the southern union man or the southern non-combatant. He is made to feel at home by Grand Army men and is quickly on fraternal terms with those whom once he faced on the field of battle. William Kirkpatrick is one of the prominent pioneer farmers of Blackfoot, Idaho, where he located in 1873, on one hundred and sixty acres, west of … Read more

Biography of James William Bell

James William Bell, a resident of Topeka for more than thirty years, has built up a business and reputation as a buyer and dealer in horses which is by no means confined to the State of Kansas. His operations extend practically over the entire country. He has been a prominent exporter to foreign markets. James William Bell was born in Greenbrier County in what is now West Virginia but was then Virginia, December 18, 1854. The Bell family goes back to Scotch-Irish antecedents and the first of the name came to Virginia in colonial times. David Henderson Bell, father of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Herman Colson

Herman Colson, postmaster of Ionia, Kansas, was born in North Abington, Mass., March 5, 1849. Moved to New Jersey, thence to West Virginia, thence to Jewell County, Kan., in 1873, and took a homestead sixteen miles southwest of Mankato. Was appointed postmaster, July 13, 1878. In April 1882, he was succeeded by B. F. Pound for two months, when Mr. Colson was again appointed, and still holds the office. He has held the office of Township Treasurer for four years, and was Clerk of the school board for the same length of time, and is Treasurer of the Limestone Agricultural … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Milton Freshwater

Freshwater, Milton; paving contractor; born, West Virginia, Sept. 11, 1877; son of E. A. and Clarenda Campbell Freshwater; educated in commercial course at Morgantown, W. Va.; married, Johnstown, Pa., Dec. 31, 1907, Miss C. B. Williams; two children; has worked at the street-paving business since 1893; completing street paving in the following places; Johnstown and Freeport, Pa., Chester, W. Va., Alliance, Richwood, Ada and Cleveland, Ohio; since April, 1909; the paving contracts are man-aged by three members of the firm, while Mr. E. A. Freshwater takes no part in this branch of the business; the firm consists of E. A. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Newton Diehl Baser

Baser, Newton Diehl; mayor; born Martinsburg, W. V., Dec. 3, 1871; son of Newton Diehl and Mary (Dukehart) Baker; B. A., Johns Hopkins, 1892; LL. B., Washington and Lee University, 1894; married Elizabeth Lepold, of Pottstown, Pa., July 5, 1902; pvt. sec. to Postmaster-General Wilson, 1896-97; began practice at Martinsburg, W. Va., 1897; city solicitor of Cleveland, O., 1902-12; mayor of Cleveland, 1912-1913; re-elected 1913; Democrat; member Phi Gamma Delta. Clubs: Union, University.

Biographical Sketch of Ernest Sargent Barnard

Barnard, Ernest Sargent; vice pres. Cleveland Ball Club; born, Columbia, W. Va., July 17, 1874; son of Elias and Mary D. Barnard; educated, Otterbein University, 1895, Ph. B.; sec’y Builders & Traders Exchange, Columbus, O., 1896-7; sporting editor Columbus, O., Dispatch, 1898-1902; sec’y Cleveland Ball Club, 1903-1910; vice pres. Cleveland Ball Club, 1911-1913, vice pres. The Acetylene Stove Mfg. Co.; member Belden Lodge, No. 339, F. & A. M., Westerville, O.; Cleveland Lodge, No. 18, B. P. O. E.; Athletic and Rotary Clubs.

Biographical Sketch of Albert A. Cohn

Cohn, Albert A.; cloak mfr.; born, Wheeling, W. Va., Sept. 10, 1873; son of Herman and Kate Eiseman Cohn; common schools of Wheeling and Cleveland; married. Cleveland, Aug. 31, 1900, Alice May Newman; issue, Robert N., Margaret A., Janet E.; sec’y and treas. Cohn, Goodman Co.; director H. Cohn Clothing Co. and Cleveland and Sandusky Brewing Co.; member Excelsior and Oak-wood Clubs.

Biographical Sketch of Edward Walter Cunningham

Cunningham, Edward Walter; civil engineer; born, Allegheny, Pa., March 14, 1872; son of Robert H. and Virginia R. Loy Cunningham; educated, public schools and Ohio State University (civil engineer, class 1894); married, Ripley, W. Va., Oct. 10, 1900, Daisy R. Robinson; issue, Odell Virginia; structural draftsman to 1895; construction supt. 1895-1898; junior engineer, corps of engineers, U. S. army, April, 1898, to November, 1899; supt. construction to 1900; structural and bridge engineer 1900 to 1904; asst. engineer, American Bridge Co. 1904 to 1907; with Vorce Engineering Co. to 1909; asst. engineer Osborn Engineering Co. to 1912; asst. inspector of buildings, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Alexander Hadden

Hadden, Alexander; lawyer and jurist; born, Wheeling, W. Va., July 2, 1850; son of Alexander and Mary Welch Hadden; graduate of Oberlin College, A. B., class of ’73; married Frances Mary Hawthorne, July 17, 1883, Coshocton, O.; two children, Alice and John A.; assistant prosecuting attorney, 1882-1885; prosecuting attorney 1885-1901; probate judge since 1905; member of law firm of Goulder & Hadden, 1880-1882; Hadden & Parks, 1891-1902; Hadden, Parks & Griswold, 1902-1903; Wilcox, Collister, Hadden & Parks, 1903-1904; Collister, Hadden & Griswold, 1904-1905; professor of criminal law, Western Reserve University, since 1894; trustee, Cleveland Humane Society; member University Club, Chamber … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Jesse G. Wolf

Wolf, Jesse G.; coal business; born, Webster, W. Va., Dec. 19, 1881; son of Charles M. and Susan Cole Wolfe; educated, West Virginia Wesleyan University and University of West Virginia; married, Grafton, W. Va., April, 1909, Grace E. Tregellas; issue, one son, Charles Tregellas Wolfe; 1902, with Henderson Coal Co., Charlevoi, Pa.; Davis Coal & Coke Co., Simpson, W. Va., 1903; auditor L. B. Brydon & Co., 1904-1910; traffic mgr. Hutchinson Coal Co., 1910-1911, Fairmount, W. Va.; western mgr. Hutchinson Coal Co., 1912 to date; Elks (B. P. 0. E.); member Methodist Episcopal Church. Recreation: Baseball.

Biography of William Henry Tester

William Henry Tester was born in Burgess Hill, a town nine miles north of Brighton, County of Sussex, England, on July 4, 1869. He received the common school education as given by the parochial schools under the care of the Church of England. Six years of his life were spent in Weston Super Mare, situated on the Bristol Channel in Somersetshire. As a boy of ten or twelve, reading of the wonderful things of America–her immense mountain ranges, her Great Lakes and wonderful Niagara Falls, and last but not least of that Great American Desert as shown on the maps … Read more

Biography of Thomas Jefferson Barker

Thomas Jefferson Barker. The history of Kansas is a generalization of the histories of thousands of individuals whose character and activities made the state what it is. Hardly one of those individuals came into closer touch with the adventures and exciting realities of pioneer times than the late Thomas Jefferson Barker, who was a pioneer of old Wyandotte and for many years one of the leading business men of Kansas City, Kansas. Mr. Barker died at his home in Kansas City, Kansas, August 4, 1913, and was then nearly eighty-five years of age. He was born in Bedford County, Virginia, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of George A. Greene

George A. Greene, M. D. One of the most widely known physicians of Kansas is Dr. George A. Greene, of Wichita, proprietor of Greene’s Pathological Laboratory for cancer research. He is a physician of wide experience and learning, and has been in practice in Kansas for the last fifteen years. Few men enter the medical profession with a better equipment than Doctor Greene. In his early career he was a teacher, later studied law, but never practiced it, and laid a very scholarly foundation to his work in the medical field. He was born in Jackson County, West Virginia. After … Read more

Biography of Archie W. Long

Archie W. Long. Of the men who have contributed to the business importance and civic development of the various thriving communities of Kansas, one the value of whose services may not be gainsaid is Archie W. Long, of Manhattan. A resident of this city for nearly a quarter of a century, he was for a long period identified with the milling interests here, and now has large oil holdings and directs his energies toward the development of his interprises connected with that industry. If he has been a contributor to the business development of the community, he has done even … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Charles E. Pool

Pool, Charles E.; coal operator; born, Irwin, Pa., July 8, 1881; educated, public schools; married, Philadelphia, Feb. 18, 1911; business career, real estate, Allegheny City, Pa., 1890-1902, W. Y. Bygate Co.; vice pres. one year; 1903, owned and operated coal mine at Gorman. Md., on the West Va. Central; 1904, organized The Continental Fuel Co.; 1906, owned and operated Quaker Valley mine, Rogers, O.; 1908, owned and operated Shamrock mines, Moro, Pa.; sold to Pittsburg Cambria Co.; same year, took over Russell Hill at Delroy, O.; 1910, operated mine at Clements, W. Va.; 1912, organized Claybrook Coal Mining Co.; Banner … Read more

Womack, Nellie May Pack – Obituary

Bear Creek, Wallowa County, Oregon Mrs. William Womack passed away at the family home on Bear Creek, near Wallowa, Sunday, June 10, 1934. Funeral services were held Tuesday in the Christian church at Wallowa, conducted by the Re. C. n. Trout, and burial was in the Wallowa cemetery. Nellie May Pack was born at Prosperity, West Virginia, July 25, 1889, the daughter of of John and Lucy pack. The family moved to Oregon in 1898 and remained in this state until 1903 when they moved to Roswell, Idaho. The daughter was married there, January 3, 1912, to William Womack and … Read more