Cabell County, West Virginia    Various Biographies

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***************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 341
Cabell

RICHARD WILLIAMS. The coal industry of West Vir-
ginia has furnished an opportunity for the achievement of
success and position by many men of the younger genera-
tion, who have assumed responsibilities formerly assumed
or gained only by men many years their senior. It is
doubtful, however, if there are many who have accomplished
in the same length of time what has been achieved by
Richard Williams, who has already become a well-known
figure in the industry mentioned and who occupies the
position of president of the Glogora Coal Company of Hunt-
ington.

Mr. Williams was born at Shamokin, Pennsylvania, Febru-
ary 6, 1891, a son of Morris and Jennie (Stager) Williams.
His father, now a resident of Overbrook, Pennsylvania, was
born in 1855, in Monmouthshire, Wales, and was one year
of age when brought to the United States by his parents,
the family settling near Hazelton, Pennsylvania, where he
was reared. Morris Williams received the equivalent of a
college education, studying under a private tutor, and was
married at Hazelton, following which. event he was the
superintendent of a Wyoming gold mine for a time. Re-
turning to the East, he became president of the Susque-
hanna Coal Company, residing at Overbrook, a suburb of
Philadelphia, whence he directed the policy of this concern
as the head of the Pennsylvania Railroad coal interests. Mr.
Williams retired in 1918. He is a Presbyterian in religion
and for many years has been an elder and member of the
board of trustees in the Philadelphia Presbyterian Church.
In politics he is a republican, and his fraternal affiliation is
with the Masonic order. Mr. Williams married Miss Jennie
Stager, who was born in 1863, at Audenreid, Pennsylvania,
and they became the parents of three children: Margaret
Morris, who is the wife of George B. Garrett, a broker of
Germantown, Pennsylvania; Richard, of this notice; and
Jean Stager, who is unmarried and makes her home with her
parents at Overbrook.

Richard Williams attended a private institution of learn-
ing, the Lawrenceville School, of Lawrenceville, New Jersey,
following which he enrolled as a student at Princeton Uni-
versity and attended that college until through the junior
year. By this time he was anxious to enter upon his busi-
ness career, and accordingly secured employment as a mem-
ber of the engineer corps of the Susquehanna Coal Com-
pany, which position he retained for one year. For the
following six months he was in the mechanical engineering
department and for one year in the electrical engineering
department, and then, formed a new connection, going to the
Southeast Coal Company as mine superintendent at Seco,
Kentucky. He spent one and one-half years with this firm
and then went with a selling company, the Middle-West Coal
Company, of which he became Western sales manager, with
headquarters at Detroit, Michigan. Both of these com-
panies were ones in which Mr. Williams' father was im-
portantly interested.

On May 18, 1917, Mr. Williams enlisted at Philadelphia
in the United States Navy, and went to Cape May, where he
spent two months, being then transferred to the United
States Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he was com-
missioned an ensign November 17, 1917. He was then
assigned to the cruiser Des Moines, on convoy duty for the
remainder of the war, and received his honorable discharge
in December, 1918. Like others engaged in the same duty,
he had numerous thrilling experiences during his naval
duties, but came through all his adventures safely and with
a creditable record. Upon his return to civilian life he
came to Huntington and established the Glogora Coal Com-
pany, which is incorporated under the state laws of West
Virginia, and which operates a mine on Beaver Creek, Floyd
County, Kentucky, and another on Coal River, Raleigh
County, West Virginia, these mines having an approximate
capacity of 400,000 tons a year. Mr. Williams, who oc-
cupies offices at 704-5-6 First National Bank Building,
Huntington, is president and treasurer of this concern, and
is likewise vice president of the Northeast Coal Company.
He is a young business man of the energetic and result-
attaining type, and has the fullest confidence and regard
of his associates. In polities he is a republican, but political
matters have played only a minor part in his career, and his
religious identification is with the Presbyterian Church.
He holds membership in the Guyan Country Club of Hunt-
ington and the Union League of Philadelphia.

In June, 1919, Mr. Williams was united in marriage at
Philadelphia with Miss Louise Brown, daughter of George
and Lucy (Buckner) Brown, the latter of whom is a resi-
dent of Philadelphia, where Mr. Brown, who was vice presi-
dent of the Philadelphia & Reading Coal and Iron Com-
pany, died. Mrs. Williams is a woman of numerous graces
and accomplishments and a graduate of Dana Hall,
Wellesley. To Mr. and Mrs. Williams there has come one
daughter, Janet, who was born at Philadelphia, July 2,
1920.



*********************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 646
Cabell

FRANK ENSLOW. The name Enslow has been prominent-
ly associated with the upbuilding of the city of Hunting-
ton practically from the beginning. The late Frank B.
Enslow was one of Huntington's well known bankers, and
coal, oil and gas operators. His son Frank Enslow is a
lawyer by profession, but his largest interests are as a
coal operator.

The late Frank B. Enslow was born at Wheelersburg,
Ohio, son of Andrew Jackson Enslow who was born near
Richmond, Virginia, and settled at Huntington about 1871.
He was a railroad contractor and helped build the Chesa-
peake & Ohio Railroad. His last days were spent in Cali-
fornia. Frank B. Enslow grew up in Huntington, where he
married and where early in life he entered the profession
of the law. His extensive interests brought him many busi-
ness interests. He built the gas lines from Macon County,
West Virginia, to Cincinnati and owned extensive produc-
tions of oil and gas. He helped organize and was president
of the Huntington National Bank for a number of years.
Frank B. Enslow who died at Huntington in 1917 was a
leader in the democratic party though never as an office
seeker, was a vestryman of the Episcopal Church and at all
times had the welfare of his community completely at heart.
He married Mrs. Julia (Garland) Buffington, who was born
in Richmond County, Virginia, and died at Huntington in
1897. Their only child is Frank Enslow who was born at
Huntington September 24, 1882. Her first husband was
Dr. John Buffington, a prominent physician and surgeon,
and by that union one child survives, Florence Buffington,
whose first husband was the late Will Stanton, a Charles-
ton business man, and she is now the wife of Rev. R. H.
Merrill, a Presbyterian minister at Charleston. Frank B.
Enslow's second wife was Mrs. Juliette (Buffington) Bald-
win, still living at Huntington and the mother of a daughter,
Dorothy Enslow.

Frank Enslow was educated in the public schools of
Huntington, spent two years in Marshall College and two
years in the University of West Virginia at Morgantown.
He graduated LL.B. in 1902 and is a member of the Sigma
Chi college fraternity and the Delta Chi legal fraternity.
In 1902 on graduating he entered his father's law office and
was admitted to the bar in 1903 upon attaining his major-
ity. He remained with his father for six years, and for
three years was a member of the law firm of Simms, Enslow
& Staker. In later years he has used his profession as an
adjunct to his own business affairs. Mr. Enslow is presi-
dent of the Twin States Fuel Company of Huntington, and
is a partner in the firm of Cunningham, Miller & Enslow,
owners of extensive and valuable coal properties in the
Cabell Creek district and the Logan district of West Vir-
ginia. Mr. Enslow is also affiliated with many subsidiary
companies and does a large business in real estate. His
offices are in the First National Bank Building of Hunting-
ton.

During the World war he was a member of the committees
for the sale of Liberty Bonds, was chairman of the Red
Cross drives in the city and county. He is a democrat, a
member of Huntington Lodge No. 313, B. P. O. E., the
Guyan Country Club, and Guyandotte Club.

In 1909 at Huntington he married Miss Mary Winters,
daughter of E. E. and Gabriella Winters, residents of
Huntington. Her father is chief railroad inspector for the
Public Service Commission of West Virginia. Mrs. Enslow
is a graduate of the Huntington High School.  They
have one child, Frank, born July 2, 1910.

*********************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 641-642
Cabell

ANDREW BRYSON RAWN. Because of the extent and im-
portance of his interests and the manner in which he has
contributed to the development of some of the leading
enterprises of his community, Andrew Bryson Rawn is
justly accounted a captain of finance and industry at Hun-
tington and has built up a substantial reputation for sound
business ability and integrity. He was born at Hartford,
Connecticut, April 3, 1882, and is a son of John Calvin
and Georgiana Kate (VanNess) Rawn.

The Rawn family is of Bavarian origin, having come from
the Palatinate on the Rhine.  The immigrant to America was
Carl Rahn (as it wag then spelled), who settled with his
wife, Barbara, at what is now Washington, D. C., in 1703.
Charles Coatesworth Rawn, the grandfather of Andrew Bry-
son Rawn, was born at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he
spent his entire life in the practice of law and died before
the birth of his grandson. He married Frances Clendennin,
who was born in 1800, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and
died there in 1882, and whose ancestors had been pioneers
of the community of West Virginia which is named in their
honor.

John Calvin Rawn was born July 5, 1846, at Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, where he was reared and educated, and in
1864 enlisted in the Union army for service during the war
between the states, continuing as a soldier until the close of
the struggle. Shortly thereafter he went to Tariffville, Con-
necticut, where he was married and where he acted as resi-
dent civil engineer for the New York, New Haven & Hart-
ford Railroad. Realizing the need for an education of a
more extensive character, Mr. Rawn then enrolled as a
student at Princeton College (now Princeton University),
where he pursued a full course, and from which he was
duly graduated. Following his graduation he removed to
the community of Bluefleld, West Virginia, in 1887, and
there became chief engineer of the Clinch Valley extension
of the old Norfolk & Western Railroad. In this capacity
he remained for about three years, then receiving further
advancement when, in 1890, he went to Roanoke, Virginia,
and became general manager of the Roanoke Gas and Water
Company, a position with which he was identified until 1902.
In that year he removed to Bramwell, West Virginia, and
became chief engineer of the Pocahontas Coal and Coke
Company, continuing to act in that capacity until 1907.
Mr. Rawn next accepted a position with the Solvay Col-
lieries Company, in the capacity of general manager, and
was later promoted to the important post of consulting en-
gineer, in which he has continued to the present time, with
headquarters at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he is the
owner of a pleasant, modern home. Mr. Rawn is one of
the best known men in his field of work, an expert of
acknowledged ability and understanding of his calling, and
an authority who is frequently called upon by his associates
for advice, counsel and leadership where matters of impor-
tance arise. He is a republican in his political convictions,
although not a politician, and has many important civic,
business and social connections. His religious identification
is with the Episcopal Church. Mr. Rawn was united in
marriage with Miss Georgiana Kate VanNess, who was born
in 1855, at Saratoga Springs, New York, and died at Mary-
town, West Virginia, in 1909, a woman of many splendid
qualities. They became the parents of two children: Edward
VanNess, an operator of floor spar mines at Hopkinsville,
Kentucky; and Andrew Bryson.

Andrew Bryson Rawn attended private schools at Roanoke,
Virginia, and the Virginia Military Institute, at Lexington,
from which he was graduated with the class of 1902, with
the degree of Civil Engineer. During his college career he
joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Greek letter college fra-
ternity, in which he still retains membership. In 1902
Mr. Rawn became a member of an engineering party
for the United States Coal and Coke Company, at Gary,
West Virginia, where he remained six months, and
then spent a like period with Bert Paddock, a contracting
engineer at North Fork, West Virginia. He was then made
chief of party land surveys for the Pocahontas Coal and
Coke Company, in Mercer county, West Virginia, and re-
mained one year, then succeeding to the position of mining
engineer for the Wenonah Coal and Coke Company; the
Hiawatha Coal and Coke Company and the Smokeless Coal
and Coke Company, all of Mercer County, West Virginia,
and remained nntil 1905. In that year he was made resi-
dent engineer for the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railway
Company, at Alta Pass, North Carolina, and in October,
1906, was appointed superintendent of the American Coal
Company, with headquarters at Pinnacle, West Virginia. In
1907 he was made superintendent of the Majestic Collieries,
in Pike County, Kentucky, remaining in that capacity until
January, 1910, when he became superintendent of the Solvay 
Collieries Company, with headquarters at Kingston, West
Virginia, until 1914, when he became general manager, with
headquarters at Kingston, until February, 1917. He then
came to Huntington in the same position, which he retained
nntil August, 1920, when he became vice president of the
same company, a position which he holds at this time. The
company is incorporated and the other officers are: P. K.
Malin, president, Syracuse, New York; and F. L. Lancaster,
secretary and treasurer, Syracuse. The company has an
$8.000,000 capitalization, and operates extensively, its fields
being in the Kanawha, Pocahontas, Tug River and Thacker
districts.

Mr. Rawn is vice president of the Carryon Coal Company
and of the Black Gem Coal Company, both of Pike County,
in the Thacker district; a director of the Huntington Na-
tional Bank; a director of the West Virginia Insurance
Agency; a director of the Kanawha Operators' Association
and the Williamson Operators' Association, and president
and a director of the Tug River Coal Operators' Associa-
tion. His offices are situated at 501-510 Robson-Pritchard
Building. In polities Mr. Rawn is a republican, and his re-
ligions connection is with the Episcopal Church. He is a
member of the Guyan Country Club, the Guyandot Club of
Huntington and the Huntington Chamber of Commerce. He
owns a modern residence at 1313 Eighth Street, one of
the fine homes of Huntington.

In December, 1909, at Bramwell, West Virginia, Mr. Rawn
was united in marriage with Miss Elsa Brown, daughter of
Henry S. and Hattie (Khuen) Brown, residents of Bram-
well, where Mr. Brown is president of the National Carbide
Company. Mrs. Rawn is a woman of numerous graces and
attainments and a graduate of Anne Brown Seminary, Park
Hill, New York. Two children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. Rawn: Andrew Bryson, Jr., born September 14, 1910;
and Anne Brown, born February 1, 1918.

*********************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 638
Cabell

JAMES A. HUGHES. Life seems to shower upon some men
distinction of magnitude, and yet it is but seldom that such
honors come to the undeserving. An individual must be
worthy before he is singled out from his associates for ad-
vancement, and he is required to maintain that same high
standard to retain what he has already gained. Especially
is this true with reference to the promotions in public life,
where real ability secured its rewards and a lack of it is
readily recognizable. In the case of James A. Hughes, one
of Huntington's foremost citizens, while the awards have
been numerous, all have been deserved. Mr. Hughes has
been the architect of his own fortunes, for he has been com-
pelled to tread the hard, self-made pathway to success, and
his career as business man and public servant has been one
warranting the high confidence and esteem in which he is
universally held.

Mr. Hughes was born at Corunna, Canada, February 27,
1861, a son of James W. and Ellen (McNulty) Hughes. His
father, born in County Mayo, Ireland, September 10, 1833,
was reared and married in his native land, where he was a
teacher in the rural schools, and in 1852 came to America,
settling first at Corunna, province of Ontario, Canada, where
he became a general merchant. In 1871 he came to the
United States, settling in Wayne County, West Virginia,
where he farmed one year, and then went to Ashland, Ken-
tucky, where he was general railroad agent for the Ashland
Coal and Railway Company for three years. His next loca-
tion was Star Furnace, Kentucky, where he continued ten
years as general superintendent of large coal operations, and
in 1894 came to Huntington and embarked in the flour
milling business for a time. He received the appointment
as postmaster of Huntington, and after serving in that
capacity for fourteen years retired from active life and
lived quietly until going to his final rest, June 10, 1920. He
was a republican, and held offices in both Canada and the
United States. He belonged to the Episcopal Church, of
which he was a strong and generous supporter. Mr. Hughes
married Miss Ellen McNulty, who was born in 1839, in
County Mayo, Ireland, and died at Huntington in 1913.
They were the parents of seven children, as follows: Will,
a telegraph operator, who died at the age of twenty-two
years at Bellaire, Ohio; Louise, who died at the age of
twenty-one years; John, who is secretary of the Ashland
Steel Company at Ashland, Kentucky; Ed, who was county
court clerk of Boyd County, Kentucky, and died at Catletts-
burg, that state, aged forty-two years; Arthur M., a whole-
sale grocer of Louise, Kentucky; and Douglas E., who was
secretary to his brother James A. when the latter was a
member of Congress, and who died at Winfield, West Vir-
ginia, aged thirty-five years.

James A. Hughes attended the public schools of Corunna,
Ontario, Canada, for two terms of three months each, that
being the limit of his instruction received in an institution
of learning. However, he has acquired an excellent educa-
tion through study, much reading, close observation and
mingling with people of education and culture, and is today
a well-informed man on all practical subjects. When he was
but ten years of age he entered the Ashland National Bank
of Ashland, Kentucky, as an errand boy, a position which
he filled for three years, and then secured employment in a
country store at Geigerville, Kentucky, remaining seven
years. Mr. Hughes was then attracted to railroading, and
obtained first the post of conductor and later that of train-
master on the Ashland Coal and Iron Railway, where he
remained two years, his next experience being gained as
a traveling salesman, work which he followed a like period.
In 1884 he went to Louisa, Kentucky, where he was engaged
in a general mercantile and lumber business until 1890, at
that time removing to Ceredo, West Virginia, remaining in
the lumber business, while next he followed a wholesale
business for ten years. He then came to Huntington and
engaged in a general contracting and timber business until
elected a member of Congress.

Mr. Hughes' career as a public man had commenced in
1888, when he was elected to the State Legislature in Ken-
tucky, serving two years and representing Boyd and Law-
rence counties. In 1894 he was elected to the State Senate
of West Virginia, representing Wayne, Cabell and Putnam
counties, and served in the sessions of 1894 and 1896. In
1897 he was made postmaster of Huntington, an office
which he filled until 1900, when he was sent to the National
Congress, where he remained from March 4, 1900, to March
4, 1915, representing the Huntington District of twelve
Counties, viz:  Cabell, Mason, Putnam, Lincoln, Logan,
Mingo, McDowell, Mercer, Raleigh, Wyoming, Boone and
Wayne. His record in Congress was one of meritorious
service, in which he labored constructively, faithfully and
effectively for his district and for the best interests of the
country at large. In 1915 he returned to Huntington and
engaged in the real estate business and general contracting,
in which he has continued to be active to the present time,
his offices being situated at 1125 Fourth Avenue. Mr.
Hughes is a stanch republican in his political allegiance.
He has numerous important business connections, and is
president of the Pence Springs Water Company of Hunting-
ton and Pence Springs, West Virginia. He owns a modern
residence at 1140 Fifth Avenue, one of the fine homes
of his adopted city. During the World war Mr. Hughes
took an active part in all war activities, and made speeches
throughout West Virginia in behalf of the cause.

On December 28, 1885, Mr. Hughes was united in mar-
riage at Ceredo, Wayne County, West Virginia, with Miss
Belle Vinson, a graduate of the Young Ladies Seminary of
Harrodsburg, Kentucky, and a daughter of Samuel S. and
Mary (Damron) Vinson, both of whom are now deceased,
Mr. Vinson having formerly been engaged in the timber
business in Wayne and Raleigh counties, West Virginia.
Mr. and Mrs. Hughes have two children: Mary Eloise and
Tudell. Mary Eloise married Lucian P. Smith, who was
lost in the sinking of the "Titanic" when they were re-
turning from their wedding trip spent in Europe. Tudell
Hughes, who is engaged in the wholesale lumber business at
Ashland, Kentucky, married Harold H. Van Sant. Mr.
and Mrs. Hughes have three grandchildren, Lucian P.
Smith, Jr., Vinson and Jean Van Sant.

*********************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 637-638
Cabell

WALTER D. DAVIDSON. In a thriving and prosperous city
where many interests meet and clash and supremacy at the
best of times is maintained only through the exercise of
unusual business ability, importance attaches to those whose
foresight and good judgment, supplemented by experienced
trade knowledge, enable them to guide safely great enter-
prises through the shoals when there are unsettled com-
mercial conditions of unusual gravity. By no means all of
the business ventures entered into at Huntington during
recent years can be located at the present time, although
many started with far better prospects than did the Walter
D. Davidson Furniture Company, but the modest beginning
of the latter concern was substantially developed and care-
fully nurtured and has become one of the city's business
enterprises of solidity and permanence.

Water D. Davidson, the president of this concern, who
also holds the controlling interest therein, was born at South
Point, Lawrence County, Ohio, January 21, 1883, and is
a son of Emanuel and Emma (Lackey) Davidson. The
Davidson family had its origin in the neighborhood of
Edinburg, Scotland, whence it was transplanted to America
in Colonial times, the first immigrant of this branch of the
name locating in Pennsylvania. In that state was born
the grandfather of Walter D. Davidson, Joseph Davidson,
who became a pioneer into South Point, Ohio, a large land-
holder and boat owner, and one of the first steamboat men.
He died at South Point, where his wife passed away in
1889. She had been Miss Jane Bryson, born in the State
of Kentucky in 1804.

Emanuel Davidson was born October 8, 1832, at South
Point, Ohio, and there passed his entire life, dying April
4, 1912. He was a leading merchant at that place and an
influential republican. During the Civil war he served in
the capacity of postmaster, and also owned and operated
a ferry running between West Virginia Point, West Virginia,
Catlettsburg, Kentucky, and South Point, Ohio, which was
utilized during the struggle between the North and the
South in ferrying Union troops. Mr. Davidson was a devout
churchman and a strong supporter of the Baptist Church.
He held membership over fifty years in the Masonic Order.
Mr. Davidson married Miss Emma Lackey, who was born
December 2, 1845, in Nicholas County, Kentucky, and now
survives him as a resident of South Point, Ohio. They be-
came the parents of five children, namely: Albert H., who
is a merchandise broker of Huntington; Vernon, a buyer
and director for Anderson Brothers Company department
store of Portsmouth, Ohio; Virginia Lee, the wife of How-
ard A. Lawrence, who is engaged in the insurance business
at Huntington; Leslie H., manager for the Steinway Piano
Company at Dayton, Ohio; and Walter D., of this record.

Walter D. Davidson attended the public schools of South
Point and Portsmouth, Ohio, until he was eighteen years of
age, at which time he became a traveling salesman for the
Ypsilanti Furniture Company of Ionia, Michigan, covering,
every large city in the United States. He spent the period
from 1910 to 1919 in New York City as the eastern manager
of this concern, and with this experience came to Huntington
in January, 1919, and bought out the wholesale and retail
furniture business of J. C. Carter & Company, which had
been established in 1890 and which is now the oldest and.
leading furniture enterprise at Huntington, being situated
at 922-24 Fourth Avenue. The company is incorporated
under the name of the Walter D. Davidson Furniture Com-
pany, Mr. Davidson being president and holding the con-
trolling interest. He has built up not only a large and
prosperous enterprise but a reputation for integrity and
honorable dealing that gives him the full confidence of his
associates in the business world.

Mr. Davidson is president of the Huntington Business
Men's Association. A vice president of the Chamber of
Commerce, a member of the executive committee of the
United States Retail Furniture Association, and a director
in the Tri-State Fair Association, in addition to which he
belongs to the Kiwanis Club, the Guyandot Club and the
Guyan Country Club. He owns a modern residence at
201 Fifth Avenue, a comfortable home in a desirable resi-
dental district. During the World war, Mr. Davidson super-
vised the making of aeroplane seats while in New York
City, and his company handled large contracts from the
Wright Brothers and others.

In 1912, at Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mr. Davidson was
united in marriage with Miss Agnes Marion Pitch, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Pitch, the latter deceased and the
former a furniture man of Grand Rapids. Mr. and Mrs.
Davidson are the parents of one child; Emily Josephine,
who was born at New York City, August 12, 1917.

*********************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 636
Cabell

J. CRAIG MILLER, president of the Miller Supply Com-
pany, one of the important concerns lending to the industrial
and commercial precedence of the City of Huntington, was
born in the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 24,
1858, a date that indicates conclusively that he is a repre-
sentative of a pioneer family of that commonwealth. His
paternal grandfather, Gen. Thomas Craig Miller, was
born near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and was one of the
old-time ironmasters of the Keystone State, where he was
concerned in the operation of charcoal furnaces, besides
which he was the owner of fine farm property near Gettys-
burg, where he was residing at the time of his death, he
having been a man of wealth and influence and his having
been gallant service as a soldier and officer in the Mexican
war, in which he was a general in the command of Gen.
Winfield Scott. His wife, whose maiden name was Margaret
MacGinley, was a representative of another of the old and
influential families of Pennsylvania, in' which state she
passed her entire life. General Miller was a son of Wil-
liam Miller, who passed his entire life in the vicinity of
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the Village of Millerstown, now
known as Fairfield, having been named in honor of this
pioneer family. William Miller served as an officer in the
Patriot Army in the War of the Revolution. A stone wall
on his old homestead farm was the stage of the historic
charge made by the forces of General Pickett in the battle
of Gettysburg, one of the greatest in the Civil war.

Capt. Matthew A. Miller, father of him whose name intro-
duces this review, was born on the old homestead near
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, December 16, 1832, and his death
occurred at Richmond, Virginia, December 16, 1906, on his
seventy-fourth birthday anniversary.  As a skilled civil
engineer his activities were carried on in many different
parts of the United States prior to the Civil war, and in
connection with that conflict he served in support of the
cause of the Confederacy as a member of an engineering
corps. He laid out the fortifications at Shiloh, but the most
of his service was west of the Mississippi River. After the
close of the war he established his residence at Staunton,
Virginia, and became a real-estate or right-of-way repre-
sentative of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. Later he
settled on his farm in Albemarle County, that state, adjacent
to the City of Richmond, and there his death occurred.
For sixteen years, as a civil and mining engineer, he was
engaged in buying coal lands for what is now the Norfolk
& Western Railroad Company. He was a democrat, was an
elder in the Presbyterian Church, of which his wife like-
wise was a devoted member, and he completed the circle
of the York Rite in the Masonic fraternity. Captain Miller
married Miss Matilda Fechtig, who was born at Hagers-
town, Maryland, in 1833, and who died at Bramwell, West
Virginia, in 1903. Of their children the eldest is Fannie,
who now resides on the old homestead of her parents near
Bichmond, Virginia, she being the widow of William R.
Vawter, who was a farmer in Monroe County, that state;
J. Craig, of this review, was the next in order of birth;
William H., a civil engineer, died at Bramwell, West Vir-
ginia, in 1901.

J. Craig Miller was a child at the time when the family
home was established at Staunton, Virginia, and there he
attended the public schools, his studies having later been
continued in the city schools of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
On the 4th of July, 1880, he graduated from the Virginia
Military Institute at Lexington, with the degree of Civil
Engineer. For a year thereafter he was identified with con-
struction work on the line of the Chesapeake & Ohio Rail-
road, between Richmond and Newport News, Virginia. He
next became a civil engineer in the service of the Denver,
Rio Grande & Western Railroad, with headquarters at Salt
Lake City, and in this connection he also did original ex-
ploration in the Grand Canyon of Arizona. For one year
he was in the office of the city engineer of Denver, and
the next year found him again with the Chesapeake &
Ohio Railroad, with headquarters at Richmond, Virginia.
Thereafter he was associated with his father in the buying
and surveying of coal lands for the present Norfolk &
Western Railroad until January 1, 1890, when he became
chief engineer and general superintendent of the Guyandot
Coal Land Association, with headquarters first at Hunting-
ton, West Virginia, and later at Louisville, Kentucky. After
the building of the Norfolk & Western Railroad line into the
coal fields of West Virginia he had charge of 200,000 acres
of coal land, with headquarters at Dunlow, Wayne County.
He retained this position until March 1, 1897, when he
established the Miller Supply Company, of which he has
since continued the president. The functions of this cor-
poration are in the distributing, as jobbers, of mining, mill
and electrical supplies, contractors' equipment, etc., as
representatives of large manufacturing concerns, the trade
of the company extending throughout the coal districts of
West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Southern Ohio. The
offices and warehouse in the City of Huntington are at 742
Third Avenue, J. Craig Miller, Jr., being vice president of
the company and William J. Harvey, its secretary and treas-
urer. Under the vigorous and able management of Mr.
Miller the business has been developed into the largest of its
kind between Pittsburgh and New Orleans. Mr. Miller is
also chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bluefield
Supply Company, and is a stockholder in several coal-min-
ing companies, besides being the individual owner of valu-
able coal lands in West Virginia and Kentucky. He is
independent in politics, has been for twenty-five years a
deacon in the Presbyterian Church, is affiliated with the
Masonic fraternity and the Elks, is a charter member of the
Guyandot Club and a member of the Guyan Country Club,
and at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifteenth Street he
owns and occupies one of the fine residences of Huntington.

December 18, 1889, recorded, at Picquenocque, Virginia,
the marriage of Mr. Miller and Miss Sallie Rutherford
Tinsley, daughter of James G. and Pattie (Jones) Tinsley
both now deceased, Mr. Tinsley having been one of the incor-
porators of the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company. Mr.
and Mrs. Miller have three children: Pattie is the wife of
Charles S. Porter, of Huntington, who is connected with
the Miller Supply Company; Sallie R. is the wife of
John R. Bennett who is in the credit department of
the Miller Supply Company and who was in active service
in France one year in connection with the World war. J.
Craig, Jr., who is vice-president of the Miller Supply Com-
pany and who also has coal-mining interests, graduated in
his father's alma mater, the Virginia Military Institute at
Lexington, in 1916. When the nation became involved in
the World war he entered the First Officers Training Camp,
thereafter passing two terms in the engineering corps at
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was commissioned a
second lieutenant of engineers. He passed one year in
France, as second lieutenant of Company E, Second Di-
vision, American Expeditionary Forces, and took part in the
major engagements at Verdun and Chateau Thierry. For
his gallant exploit in entering woods under heavy fire and
rescuing two wounded members of his platoon he was
awarded the distinguished-service cross.