West Virginia Statewide Files  WV-Footsteps Mailing List

WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest				Volume 99 : Issue 2

Today's Topics:
  #1 BIO: James W. FINLE   [Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@tre]
  #2 BIO: Samuel G. POME   [Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@tre]
  #3 BIO: David E. MAYHE   [Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@tre]
  #4 BIO: Paul A. BOOTHE   [Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@tre]
  #5 BIO: William D. LEW   [Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@tre]
  #6 BIO: Maj. James I.    [Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@tre]


______________________________X-Message: #1
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 12:40:24 -0400
From: Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@trellis.net>
Subject: BIO: James W. FINLEY, Hancock County

***************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 221
Hancock County

JAMES W. FINLEY. One of the best known and most
highly respected citizens of Hancock County, James W.
Finley has long been practically in charge of all the con
strnction work done by the big firm of Finley Brothers
of Chester. He has been identified with this line of work
for more than thirty years, and few men bear a better
record in business matters or as to citizenship.

Mr. Finley was born on the old Finley farm, one mile
from Chester, Hancock County, February 1, 1863, and be-
longs to an old and honored family, a complete record of
which will be found in the sketch of Mr. Finley's brother,
Joseph N. Finley, elsewhere in this work. He was reared
on the home farm and secured a good educational training,
and was variously employed until he reached the age of
twenty-eight years, at which time he entered the trade.
Inside of the same month he was given the responsible
position of supervision of construction, a line in which he
has continued to the present time, being generally the
one in direct charge of all the construction work. The
Pinley Brothers continued as a partnership until August,
1903, when the business was incorporated, with a capital
of $10,000, the officers being Joseph N. Finley, president;
Joseph McCoy, vice president; R. Frank Finley, treas-
urer; and George A. Hasson, secretary. James W. Finley
assumed the duties of superintendent of construction. R.
F. Finley became vice president of the concern in 1916,
at the time of the death of Joseph McCoy, a brother-in-
law, whose widow is now a director in the concern. In
1921 the capital of the business was increased to $50,000.
The work of this concern is not confined by any means
to Hancock County, nor to the State of West Virginia,
for the reputation of the enterprise for honest represen-
tation, high grade of. workmanship and honorable fidelity
to contracts has extended to distant points, and work has
been done by Finley Brothers as far west as Moline, Illi-
nois. Much of the success of the business must be ac-
credited to James W. Finley, an expert in his line, a capable
executive in the handling of labor and possessed of much
energy and ideas of a modern character. He was for-
mally a member of the Chester City Council, where he
served on several important committees and worked faith-
fully in behalf of the welfare of his community.

While engaged in park work in Summit County, Ohio,
Mr. Finley met Miss Ustha E. Boughton, who later became
his bride. Mr. and Mrs. Finley have three sons: Richard
Dale, Clyde Ember and Elvet Franklin, all attending school.
At one time Mr. Finley belonged to thirteen fraternal
organizations and passed through the chairs in most of
these orders, of a number of which he was representa-
tive to the state bodies. Of later years, however, he has
not evidenced so much interest in fraternalism, and when
his business duties allow of a vacation he either spends
his time in his home or else takes a hunting trip in the
mountains of his native state or goes to Michigan in
search of deer and bear.


***************

______________________________X-Message: #2
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 12:44:04 -0400
From: Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@trellis.net>
Subject: BIO: Samuel G. POMEROY, Hancock Co.


***************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 221-222
Hancock County

SAMUEL G. POMEROY. Some individuals are fortunate
enough to inherit the spirit of industry, financial sense
and business capability which help to make them suc-
cessful in their life work, while others are obliged to strive
against adverse circumstances and only attain prosperity
and position because they have developed winning charac-
teristics themselves. Pughtown numbers among its most
responsible and representative men some who have been
satisfied to work out their destiny along the even lines
of ordinary occupations. They have not sought the ap-
plause of admiring throngs, nor have they desired to wrest
wealth from speculative enterprises, but, doing the duty
that lay nearest at hand, have gained material advance-
ment and the respect of their fellows. In this category
may be included Samuel G. Pomeroy, who is engaged in
the general merchandise business at Pughtown, a commu-
nity in which he is well known and highly regarded.

Mr. Pomeroy was born at Pughtown, October 14, 1867,
a son of Rev. Joseph S. and Isabel (Griffith) Pomeroy.
Rev. Joseph S. Pomeroy was married in Mercer County,
Pennsylvania, in 1849, and came to Hancock County, West
Virginia, as pastor of the old Flats Presbyterian Church
near Pughtown, the only church of that denomination in
Hancock County, whose members were scattered for a
radius of twenty miles in every direction. He lived at
Pughtown, where he bought a home, which is now occu-
pied by his son. Reverend Pomeroy served the old Flats
Church until 1877, a period of twenty-eight years, during
which time he labored faithfully, zealously, cheerfully and
unselfishly in behalf of his flock and his church, and built
up a large and prosperous congregation. He then spent
nine years as pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Mounds-
ville, following which he returned to his old home at Pugh-
town and went into semi-retirement, although he continued
to visit various churches as the demand arose until within
two or three years prior to his death, when advanced years
caused his complete retirement to a life of rest after a
long and eminently useful career. He died in August,
1907, at the age of eighty-five years, being buried at the
Flats Cemetery, while his worthy wife survived him twelve
years, passing away when but one month and six days less
than ninety-five years old. After he had retired from regu-
lar active work as a minister Reverend Pomeroy was
called upon frequently to officiate at special events. He
was called upon to act at funerals, and was popular at
marriages.  During his long career he married parents
and later their children, and buried several generations of
the same family. He was also a popular lecturer, being a
man of broad information on a number of interesting and
important topics, and his voice was frequently heard from
the platform. He and Mrs. Pomeroy were the parents
of the following children: John B., who became a minis-
ter of the Presbyterian faith, preached in North Dakota,
Illinois and Ohio, retired to his home at Findlay, Ohio,
and died there in 1920; Chester, who for a time operated
the store started by his father soon after the Civil war at
Fairview, now Pughtown, and later became a merchant at
East Liverpool, Ohio, where he died;; Samuel G., of this
record; Jennie, who died in Colorado as the wife of Boss
Carney; Clara, who married D. L. Evans and died at Pugh-
town; Myra, unmarried, formerly deputy postmistress at
Pughtown and with her brother, Samuel G., in the store,
and who has remained as his constant companion and
housekeeper; and Ella, who married Frank McClellan and
went to Colorado.

Samuel G. Pomeroy received a public school education
at Pughtown and as a youth entered the store of his
brother Chester, whose interest in the business he later
bought. He has continued in the same line to the present,
and this enterprise now has the distinction of being the
oldest continuous business in Northern West Virginia.
Mr. Pomeroy carries a full line of general merchandise
and has developed an excellent business, his customers
being drawn from all over the surrounding countryside.
His old establishment, the original one, was destroyed by
fire in 1906, but was replaced immediately with a more
modern structure, the present one. In business circles Mr.
Pomeroy is known as the man of the strictest integrity
and probity. He has never evinced other than a good citi-
zen's interest in polities, although his father kept posted
on election returns and was able to recall the returns of
every county in the state, a mathematical talent that was
also possessed by his son Chester. Samuel G. Pomeroy is
unmarried and resides with his sister Myra, a capable
housekeeper and a woman of many virtues and numerous
friendships. They are faithful members of the old Flats
Presbyterian Church, to the movements of which they con-
tribute liberally. While he does not take an active part
in public life, Mr. Pomeroy is a friend of progressive
and constructive enterprises tending to advance his com-
munity, and such receive his unqualified support.

______________________________X-Message: #3
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 12:45:18 -0400
From: Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@trellis.net>
Subject: BIO: David E. MAYHEW, Hancock Co.

***************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 222-223
Hancock County

DAVID E. MAYHEW. The prosperous stockman and
farmer illustrates by his experience the ups and downs
of his vocation, its fascinating promises of fortune and its
equally abundant opportunities for failure.  He has his
full measure of both, as a rule, but if he possesses the
qualities which make for success he emerges on the top
wave and achieves a permanent place among the substan-
tial men of his section.  Among the agriculturists of
Hancock County who have been successful in their life
work, one who is well esteemed in his community as an
agriculturist and a citizen is David E. Mayhew of Pugh-
town.

Mr. Mayhew was born at Pughtown, June 21, 1856, a
son of James N. and Mary Jane (Crawford) Mayhew.
James N. Mayhew was born near Florence, Washington
County, Pennsylvania, in 1827, and was seven years of age
when he came to West Virginia with his parents, John and
Elizabeth (Jackson) Mayhew, the family settling in Han-
cock County, adjoining the Village of Fairview, now Pugh-
town. John Mayhew, a farmer with about 340 acres of
land, lived in a brick house which still forms a part of
the residence on the property. He died when past ninety-
three years of age, while his worthy wife passed away
when seventy-five years old. They were the parents of the
following children: Rebecca, who died as Mrs. Albaugh;
Eliza, who married a Mr. Buchanan and had a son, John
Buchanan, who was an attorney at Beaver, Pennsylvania;
James N.; David Simeon, who removed to Illinois; Nancy,
who married a Mr. Fulton and died at the age of ninety-
six years, being the mother of Rev. W. P. Fulton, a noted
Presbyterian divine of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; John
W., who died in Beaver County, Pennsylvania; William,
who was last heard from in California; Elizabeth, who
married a Mr. Travis; and Mary, who married Mr. Caster.

James N. Mayhew received a public school education and
as a youth engaged in agricultural pursuits, which he fol-
lowed throughout life, being one of the well-known and
highly-respected men of his community. He married in
Columbiana County, Ohio, Mary Jane Crawford, and they
became the parents of thirteen children, all of whom are
living at this writing, in 1922:  Thomas C., a resident of
Nebraska; John H., of Chester; David E., the subject of
this sketch; William Lucas, a resident of Lisbon, Ohio;
Nancy Jane, widow of Wesley Herron, of Pughtown, who
has thirty-two grandchildren in 1922; James L. and Charles
C., twins, the former mayor of Chester, West Virginia,
and the latter a resident of California; Ella, the widow of
Howard Warren, of Cleveland; George, of Sebring, Ohio;
Ira, residing on the old farm home; Frank, of Salem, Ohio;
Elizabeth, now Mrs. Emanuel Thomas, of Salem, Ohio;
and Noah, of New Brighton, Pennsylvania. All of the
members of this remarkable family still survive, the young-
est being now in middle life.

David E. Mayhew has passed his entire career on the old
farm and at the village nearby. He received a country
school education and when given a choice of vocations de-
cided upon agriculture as his life work, and has had no
reason to repent of his decision. He is now the owner of
a property of sixty-seven acres, on which he has made
modern improvements and erected substantial buildings,
and his progressive methods, industry and good manage-
ment have served to gain him a worth-while and well-
deserved success. His standing in the community is that
of a man of integrity, and his good citizenship has never
been questioned. A democrat in politics, he follows the
family inclinations, as nearly all of the Mayhews have
been supporters of democratic principles and candidates.
In 1896 fourteen votes from this immediate family alone
were cast for the candidacy of William J. Bryan for presi-
dent, including father, sons and sons-in-law.

Mr. Mayhew married Miss Lida A. Sproule, daughter of
Hugh and Nancy (Donehoo) Sproule, and granddaughter
of Hugh Sproule, of Ireland. Both Hugh Sproule the
elder and younger were agriculturists all their lives and
were men of probity and integrity, both being elders in the
old Plats Presbyterian Church.  Mrs. Mayhew's father
passed his entire life in Hancock County and died at the
age of seventy-five years. Her mother, Nancy Donehoo,
was a sister of Dr. R. S. Donehoo, the oldest physician in
Hancock County. Mrs. Mayhew was reared on the home
farm and educated in the public schools, and was eighteen
years of age at the time of her marriage. There were
two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Mayhew who died in
infancy, and they have a foster son, Hubert S. Mills, Mrs.
Mayhew's nephew, who was taken into their home and
hearts at the age of 2-1/2 years and has been given every
advantage. He has passed his life on the farm and is now
twenty-three years of age, and accounted one of the capable
and industrious young agriculturists of the community.
The family are members of the old Presbyterian Church,
although Mr. Mayhew was reared in the faith of the Metho-
dist Protestant Church, of which his parents were members.

______________________________X-Message: #4
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 12:46:25 -0400
From: Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@trellis.net>
Subject: BIO: Paul A. BOOTHE, Cabell Co.


***************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 223
Cabell County

PAUL A. BOOTHE. His professional work as a mining
and consulting engineer has brought Mr. Boothe an exten-
sive experience in a number of states, both East and West.
He recently established at Huntington the Paul A. Boothe
& Company, consulting engineers and architects, and the
firm serves a large and important clientele in the industrial
regions of this state.

Mr. Boothe was born at Fort Scott, Kansas, March 11,
1888. He is a descendant from the old English family of
Boothes. His ancestor, William De Boothe, obtained spe-
cial recognition from the Crown, and one of his sons, George
Boothe, was knighted, William De Boothe was a landed
proprietor in Lancashire, England.  The grandfather of
Paul A. Boothe was William K. Boothe, who was born in
1840, and spent most of his life in the vicinity of Terre
Haute and Staunton, Indiana, where he was a farmer and
merchant. He finally disappeared, being last heard from at
Staunton in 1904.

Charles P. Boothe, father of Paul A., was born at Des
Moines, Iowa, in 1866, but grew up near Terre Haute, In-
diana, was a merchant at Rich Hill, Missouri, where he mar-
ried, lived for a very brief time in Fort Scott, Kansas, and
since 1895 his home has been at Kansas City, Missouri,
where he is in the lumber and coal business. He is inde-
pendent in polities, is a lay minister of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, and is one of the highest Odd Fellows in
Missouri, being a past grand of the Grand Lodge of the
state. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of
America. Charles P. Boothe married Harriet Barber, who
was born at Streator, Illinois, in 1867. Paul A. is the old-
est of their children. Martha Charline is the wife of W.
Benjamin Wilson, their home being at Kansas City, while
his duties are with the Standard Oil Company's plant at
Sugar Creek, Missouri. Robert, the third child, died in
infancy, and Gordon K., the youngest, is a heating engi-
neer in Kansas City, Missouri.

Paul A. Boothe acquired a public school education at
Kansas City, graduating from high school in 1906, and in
the course of his subsequent education attended the Uni-
versity of Missouri at Columbia, the Armour Institute of
Technology in Chicago, and the Montana School of Mines
at Butte. He graduated from the Montana school with
the degree of Metallurgist and Mining Engineer in 1916.
In the meantime he had performed a widely varied service
in engineering and construction work in Missouri, Illinois,
Minnesota and Montana. For two years he was assistant
chief engineer for the Standard Oil Company of Indiana,
and after his graduation from the school of mines he
returned to Chicago, and was in business in that city as a
consulting engineer until May, 1917. He then went to
Butte, Montana, to take charge of the designing of a con-
crete shaft to be placed in Granite Mountain for the North
Butte Mining Company. He remained there until October,
1917, acting as consulting engineer. In October, 1917, he
established himself in practice at Denver, Colorado, and
in the spring of 1919 became associated with the Lloyd-
Thomas Company of Chicago, Illinois, industrial engineers
and appraisers.

Mr. Boothe came to Huntington and on January 1, 1921,
established the Paul A. Boothe Company, consulting engi-
neers and architects. He is president of the company,
whose offices are in the Wilson Building on Tenth Street.

Mr. Boothe's church preferences are the Episcopal, but
his affiliations are with the Methodist Church. He is a mem-
ber of the West Side Country Club and West Side Com-
mercial Club of Huntington. On April 30, 1914, at St.
Paul, Minnesota, he married Miss Elsa Helen White, daugh-
ter of Benjamin Stuart and Caroline (Beiswenger) White.
Her father, who died at Madisonville, Ohio, was a successful
attorney. Her mother died at Chicago, June 2, 1914. Mrs.
Boothe is a graduate of the Hinshaw Conservatory of Mu-
sic at Chicago, and attended the American Conservatory in
the same city. She is a soprano and has appeared with
success on the concert, lyceum and opera stage. Mr. and
Mrs. Boothe have two children: Helen Adair, born May
24, 1917, and Barbara Ann, born November 16, 1919.

***************

______________________________X-Message: #5
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 13:19:44 -0400
From: Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@trellis.net>
Subject: BIO: William D. LEWIS, Kanawha Co.

***************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 223
Kanawha County

WILLIAM D. LEWIS, wholesale merchant and banker of
Charleston, is a successful business man who has pursued
a well balanced purpose in his achievements. Mr. Lewis in
later years has given generously and has been in fact pri-
marily responsible for the success of Charleston's unique
institution, the Union Mission. The Union Mission stands
out as perhaps the most original organization of its kind
in the country. It is a centralized agency, both religious
and philanthrophic, wherein are concentrated the means and
the influences for the alleviation of hardship and suffer-
ing in the community. It performs the work performed in
many other cities by the Associated Charities, but is even
broader in scope than those worthy organizations, and it
has been conducted so efficiently as to win the confidence
of men like Mr. Lewis, who alone, it is said, has contributed
many thousands of dollars to the Mission, and it consti-
tutes his largest interest and pride outside his business and
personal affairs.

William D. Lewis was born near Maiden in Kanawha
County, June 21, 1850, son of John D. and Betty (Darneal)
Lewis. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His great-grand-
father, Charles Lewis, was a native of the Shenandoah
Valley, served as a colonel in the Indian wars, and was
killed at the battle of Point Pleasant, in what is now West
Virginia. His son, Charles Lewis, Jr., subsequently settled
in the vicinity of Point Pleasant, on the Ohio Biver, and
was a farmer there. John D. Lewis, father of the Charles-
ton business man, was born in 1800, and was reared in
Mason County and later settled on the Kanawha River,
where he was a pioneer in the salt industry, and at one time
owned 70,000 acres of land covered with timber and under-
laid with coal. He was a man of wealth, a large slave
owner, served in the Legislature, and was widely known for
his blameless character and philanthropic impulse. He was
a whig and later a democrat, was a member of the Episcopal
Church, and died at the age of eighty-two, in December,
1882. Betty Darneal, his third wife, was born in Kentucky
and died in 1851, leaving two children, Julia D. and
William D.

William D. Lewis, though his boyhood was spent in the
Civil war period, acquired a liberal education, graduating
from Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Vir-
ginia. He has kept in close touch with his alma mater, arid
in 1907 was elected a trustee of that institution. After
leaving university Mr. Lewis entered the lumber industry,
managing his father's timber lands and manufacturing
lumber for a number of years. Since retiring from the
lumber industry he has been active in business organizations
at Charleston, where he is president of the Hubbard Gro-
cery Company and a director of the Kanawha National
Bank. Mr. Lewis is an elder in the First Presbyterian
Church of Charleston, and politically has always been
aligned with the democratic party.

He married Miss Jennie G. Stanley, who is a native of
Kanawha County, daughter of Joel Stanley. Mr. and Mrs.
Lewis have five children: William D., Jr., Mrs. Lynn Hol-
derness, John D., Captain Brown and Julia V. Red.

***************

______________________________X-Message: #6
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 13:20:57 -0400
From: Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@trellis.net>
Subject: BIO: Maj. James I. PRATT, Kanawha Co.

***************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 224

MAJ. JAMES I. PRATT, a veteran of the Spanish-Ameri-
can and Philippine wars and who served as a major in the
World war, has been an active business man of Charleston
for many years, an official in a prominent machinery and
supply business and also in the automobile business.

Major Pratt was born in Ritchie County, West Virginia,
in 1879, grew up on a farm and attended country schools,
As a youth he became a member of the National Guard of
West Virginia, and at the outbreak of the Spanish-Ameri-
can war was mustered in with the Second West Virginia
Regiment.

Following his return home he entered West Virginia
University, from which he graduated in 1901, and then
for several years was a worker in the West Virginia oil
fields. His home and business interests have been centered
at Charleston since 1905. Mr. Pratt is sales manager for
and a stockholder in the Capital City Supply Company.
This corporation, founded in 1902, does an extensive whole-
sale business in mill and mine machinery and supplies, and
through its auxiliary concern, the Howell Motor Company,
acts as distributors for this territory of the Dodge Broth-
ers cars. The company's offices and plant at the corner of
Broad and Smith streets comprise one of Charleston's larg-
est and most important industrial and commercial enter-
prises.

Major Pratt resumed his active connection with the Na-
tional Guard after his army service, rose to the rank of
major in command of the First Battalion, Second West Vir-
ginia Regiment, and became widely known in army circles
as an expert in rifle practice. As a rifleman and sharp-
shooter he made high scores as a representative of the West
Virginia National Guard in the annual rifle tournaments at
Camp Perry, Ohio, conducted by the Regular Army. Early
in 1918 Major Pratt was called to the United States Army
and with the rank of major and assigned to duty as in-
structor in the School of Instruction for Army Officers at
Camp Perry. About 5,000 young officers passed through
this school, the first classes being given a thirty-day course.
As the war grew more serious in the summer of that year,
the work of the school was broadened to a six weeks' in-
tensive course. The faculty of this school was composed
of the very best rifle shots in the United States Army at
the time, the instructors being all National Guardsmen, se-
lected for their ability to shoot and to teach others to
shoot.

While in the service Major Pratt, in association with
Prof. Charles S. Hastings of Yale University, designed and
perfected a rifle known as the "special model United States
Army Rifle, model of 1918," a rifle having a high degree
of accuracy and a telescope sight adjusted to the last de-
gree for windage, elevation and zero. It was designed par-
ticularly for sniping purposes and to be used by snipers
especially trained for this hazardous service.  It was
adopted by the army, but facilities had not been perfected
for its manufacture before the close of the war.

Major Pratt received his honorable discharge in Febru-
ary, 1919, and then returned to Charleston and resumed
his active association with the Capital City Supply Com-
pany. He is a leader in Charleston business and civic af-
fairs, is a director of the Kanawha County Bank and mem-
ber of the Kiwanis Club.


***************
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