WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest                           Volume 00 : Issue 203


Today's Topics:
  #1 BIO: LOWERY G. BOWLING, Mercer Co.   [Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@ear]
  #2 BIO: THOMAS HARLOWE SCOTT, Mercer    [Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@ear]
  #3 BIO: W. E. E. KOEPLER Mercer Co.     [Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@ear]
  #4 BIO: ISAIAH BEE, M. D., Mercer Co.   [Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@ear]
  #5 BIO: ISAIAH ERNEST BEE, M. D., Mer   [Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@ear]




______________________________X-Message: #1
Date: Tue, 01 Aug 2000 21:25:31 -0400
From: Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@earthlink.net>
To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com
Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000801212531.00c45850@mail.earthlink.net>
Subject: BIO: LOWERY G. BOWLING, Mercer Co.
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
pg. 524
Mercer


LOWERY G. BOWLING, the efficient and popular County
Court clerk of Mercer County, and a valued member of
the executive corps at the Court House in the City of
Princeton, was born on the family homestead farm near
Spanishburg, this county, January 7, 1883, and is a son
of Thomas J. and Virginia F. (Karnes) Bowling, repre-
sentatives of honored pioneer families of this section of
West Virginia. The parents are still living at the time
of this writing, in the winter of 1921, the father being
eighty-one and the mother seventy-six years of age. Jesse
I., a brother of Thomas J. Bowling, died in 1921, at the
age of eighty-three years, and another brother, Wilson Lee
Bowling, died in August of the same year, at the age of
eighty-five years, the family having been notable for
longevity. John Bowling, grandfather of the subject of
this sketch, was a native of one of the eastern counties of
Virginia, and became one of the prosperous pioneer farmers
of Mercer County, West Virginia, as now constituted, his
old homestead having been on Bluestone Creek. Thomas J.
Bowling upheld the prestige of the family name in con-
nection with farm industry in Mercer County, and as a
gallant soldier of the Confederacy he took part in many
engagements, including the battle of Gettysburg. He had
many narrow escapes from severe wounds, the buckle of
his belt having been shot away on one occasion and the
heel of his boot on another. He and his wife have long
been earnest members of the Missionary Baptist Church, in
which he has served twenty-five years as a deacon. He has
been a successful agriculturist and stock-grower, has been
influential in community affairs and is a staunch democrat
in polities. His wife is a daughter of the late Madison
Karnes, likewise a native of Virginia, and the two families
were pioneer neighbors in Mercer County. Lowery G. Bowl-
ing was eighth in order of birth in a family of eleven chil-
dren, of whom seven sons and one daughter are living:


Walter P., who resides at Hinton, Summers County, has
served as sheriff of that county and also as clerk of the
County Court; Mack M. resides at Springfield, Illinois, and
is a passenger-train conductor on the Wabash Railroad;
Arthur L. is assistant cashier of the Bank of Princeton;
Otie H. is a farmer near the old homestead of his father;
Grover C. is a merchant at Logan, this state; Luther L.
is a farmer near Spanishburg; and Emma is the wife of
Daniel R. Day, a farmer near Kegley, Mercer County.


Lowery G. Bowling was reared on the home farm and
gained his early education in the schools at Spanishburg.
At the age of twenty-one years he found employment in a
saw-mill camp, thereafter he clerked in a general store near
Spanishburg, and he was next employed by the Flat Top
Grocery Company at Bluefield. For three years thereafter
he was an express messenger on the Norfolk & Western
Railroad, and he then became a merchant at Rock, Mercer
County, and at Bluefield, this county. From 1911 to 1914
he was engaged in the real estate business at Bluefield, and
in the latter year he was elected to his present office, that
of County Court clerk. Though he is a democrat in a county
that normally gives a large republican majority, he was
elected by a majority of 230 votes on the occasion of his
first election, and by a majority of 634 in the election of
November, 1920. He served one term as a member of the
City Council of Bluefield, and from his early youth has
been active in local politics. Mr. Bowling is a member of
the Mercer County Country Club, is affiliated with the Blue
Lodge, Chapter and Commandery of the Masonic fraternity,
and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at
Bluefield. His wife is an active member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South.


The year 1906 recorded the marriage of Mr. Bowling and
Miss Leota Odell, daughter of Jacob E. Odell, of Bluefield,
and the five sons of this union are: Thurman J., Lowery G.,
Jr., Billie E. Herbert and Samuel M.


______________________________


X-Message: #2
Date: Tue, 01 Aug 2000 21:25:36 -0400
From: Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@earthlink.net>
To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com
Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000801212536.00c48620@mail.earthlink.net>
Subject: BIO: THOMAS HARLOWE SCOTT, Mercer Co.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed


The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
pg. 520
Mercer


THOMAS HARLOWE SCOTT is a highly educated and thor-
oughly efficient lawyer, with a good practice established at
Bluefield, where he has been located for the past eight or
nine years.


Mr. Scott was born at Fire Creek in Fayette County,
West Virginia, January 6, 1883, and still has the best years
of his life before him. His parents were Charles Henry
Franklin and Barbara (Bilbie) Scott, natives of Virginia.
His father for many years was foreman of the coke yards
of the Caswell Creek Coal and Coke Company.


Thomas Harlowe Scott had an early environment con-
veniently removed from poverty as well as from luxury,
and as a youth he learned the value of thrift and work and
most of his education above the common schools he acquired
through his own efforts and earnings. He graduated from
the Bramwell High School of West Virginia in 1897, then
attended the Concord Normal at Athens, West Virginia,
securing his diploma in music in 1899 and graduating in
the academic course in 1900. For about a year following
he was assistant bookkeeper for the Lick Branch Collieries
of the Norfolk Coal and Coke Company, now part of the
Pocahontas Fuel Company. In the fall of 1901 he left
this employment to enter the University of Virginia at
Charlotteville, where he spent two years in his preparatory
course and in 1904 entered the University of Michigan,
where he continued his law studies until graduating LL. B.
in 1907. Mr. Scott was admitted to the bar at the age
of twenty-four, and for five years engaged in practice at
Pineville, Wyoming County, West Virginia. He was asso-
ciated with James H. Gilmore and was also United States
commissioner, and in that capacity had some very interest-
ing cases before him.


In the fall of 1913 Mr. Scott located at Bluefield, where
he has given his time to a general practice. He is a mem-
ber of the County Bar Association, is affiliated with the
Knights of Pythias and is chairman of the Judiciary Com-
mittee of the Grand Lodge of the state. He and Mrs. Scott
are active in church work, he as a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, and Mrs. Scott as a Presbyterian.


In his professional career Mr. Scott has the invaluable
aid and inspiration of Mrs. Scott, who spends much of her
time with him in the office, and is a very practical assistant
to a progressive lawyer. Mrs. Scott is a graduate also of
the State Normal School at Athens, and has taught in the
public schools of the state. Mr. Scott married at Charleston,
West Virginia, October 9, 1918, Mrs. Roberta Higginbotham,
formerly Miss Roberta Kesler, of Lowelt, West Virginia,
daughter of H. F. and Ella (Lively) Kesler, natives of
Virginia. Her father was a farmer, took a very active part
in public affairs, and for over twenty-five years was engaged
in educational work and at one time was county superin-
tendent of schools in Summers County, West Virginia.
Mrs. Scott represents a prominent family on her mother's
side. She is descended from Cottrell Lively, who was a
soldier in the Revolutionary war. Col. Wilson Lively, son
of Cottrell, was a member of the State Senate of Virginia
during the Civil war and dropped dead of heart failure at
Richmond when he heard of Lee's surrender. Mr. Frank
Lively is now one of the justices of the Supreme Court of
West Virginia.


______________________________


X-Message: #3
Date: Tue, 01 Aug 2000 21:25:36 -0400
From: Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@earthlink.net>
To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com
Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000801212536.00c4b7c0@mail.earthlink.net>
Subject: BIO: W. E. E. KOEPLER  Mercer Co.
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*********************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
pg. 521
Mercer


W. E. E. KOEPLER of Bluefield, secretary of the Pocahon-
tas Operators Association, has been actively associated since
college days with the publicity end of the coal industry,
and formerly connected with the Black Diamond and the
Coal Age.


Mr. Koepler was born at St. Charles, Missouri, September
5, 1884, son of August and Aurelia (Heye) Koepler. Both
the Koepler and Heye families came to this country from
Germany in very early times. These families were identified
with the historic town of St. Charles, the first permanent
settlement west of the Missouri River. St. Charles is a village
gome miles above St. Louis, and was founded in a period
when Missouri was owned by Spain and later by France, and
was in the nature of a court town before the Louisiana
Purchase. Mr. Koepler's ancestor owned what was used as
the first State House in St. Charles, a building in which
the Territorial Legislature assembled. It was in this old
house that W. E. E. Koepler was born, and since then the
State of Missouri has made an appropriation to preserve the
building. Mr. Koepler's ancestor also took up lands where
the Planters Hotel of St. Louis now stands. From St.
Louis the family moved to St. Charles in 1820. August
Koepler was for many years engaged in the industry of
stove manufacturing.


W. E. E. Koepler acquired a good education in private
schools and church schools, and was graduated in 1906 from
Westminster College at Fulton, Missouri. In 1907 he be-
came identified with the Black Diamond, the official trade
journal of the western coal interests.  He entered the
advertising department and later became manager and
eastern editor. He was associated with the Black Diamond
until 1913, when he joined the staff of the Colliery En-
gineer, and when that was merged with the Coal Age he
continued with the latter until 1916. In that year Mr.
Koepler took charge of the financial and advertising de-
partment of the Philadelphia Public Ledger.


Having gained a reputation for the thoroughness of his
knowledge of mining machinery and equipment, and his
fundamental understanding of trade and economic con-
ditions in the coal industry, he was elected in May, 1918,
secretary of the Pocahontas Operators Association, with
headquarters at Bluefield, and has since been one of the
active men in the civic affairs of that community.


Mr. Koepler was a member of the National Production
Committee, United States Fuel Administration, at Wash-
ington during the World war. He is a member of the
Rotary Club, Bluefield Country Club, Phi Delta Theta college
fraternity and the Engineers Club of Philadelphia. He is
a Presbyterian.


December 19, 1914, at Philadelphia, Mr. Koepler mar-
ried Miss Hazel Hamilton. Their two children are Letitia
and Virginia.


______________________________


X-Message: #4
Date: Tue, 01 Aug 2000 21:25:36 -0400
From: Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@earthlink.net>
To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com
Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000801212536.00c4b160@mail.earthlink.net>
Subject: BIO: ISAIAH BEE, M. D., Mercer Co.
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*********************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
pg. 521
Mercer


ISAIAH BEE, M. D., a significant and highly useful life
to himself, his family and to his home community and state
was that of the late Dr. Isaiah Bee of Princeton. He repre-
sented the sturdy stock of West Virginia pioneers, being a
grandson of Asa Bee, who fought as a soldier in the
Revolutionary war, was a native of New Jersey, and in 1818
settled in Preston County, West Virginia. Doctor Bee was
the great-grandson of two other Revolutionary soldiers.


Isaiah Bee was born September 22, 1832, at Salem, Harri-
son County, West Virginia, in the house that had been the
home of his" ancestors for three generations. He was a son
of Josiah and Priscilla (Davis) Bee. His father moved to
Doddridge County in 1835, and died in Ritchie County in
1890. He was a farmer. Priscilla Davis was a daughter of
William Davis, who served as a member of the body guard
of General Washington and endured many of the sufferings
of the Revolutionary Army in the terrible winter of 1876-77.


Dr. Isaiah Bee was primarily educated in the common
schools of Doddridge County, supplementing this with
academic training at West Union and with two years at
the Northwestern Academy at Clarksburg. He then entered
upon the study of medicine with Dr. James M. Lathrop, a
physician of Massachusetts, then residing at Ritchie Court
House. After two years of reading under Dr. Lathrop's
supervision he attended medical lectures at Cleveland, Ohio,
and in 1859 commenced his practice at Ritchie Court House.
The Civil war soon after disturbed his plan, and in June,
1861, he enlisted for service in Company C, Thirty-first
Regiment of Infantry, C. S. A., and served as a private
until September 3, 1862, then was commissioned assistant
surgeon of the regiment, acting in this capacity until Febru-
ary 7, 1863, when he was made surgeon, and he was assigned
to Jenkin's cavalry brigade until the close of the war. He
served with distinction in the difficult positions assigned
him, and, though slightly wounded upon several occasions,
he returned home in comparatively good health. On July
4, 1865, Dr. Bee located in Princeton, West Virginia, where
he was in continuous practice until 1904, gaining the con-
fidence of the public and the cordial friendship of a large
circle of friends. His first public service after the war was
when he was elected in October, 1871, from the then sen-
atorial district comprising Mercer, McDowell, Wyoming,
Logan, Lincoln, Cabell, Wayne and Boone counties, as a
member of the Constitutional Convention which met in 1872
and passed the present West Virginia constitution. At this
election Doctor Bee received every vote that was cast in
Mercer County, which was his own county, and in Wyoming
and McDowell counties. But few of the sixty-five members
of this famous convention still survive. In 1880 he was
elected as a democratic member of the House of Delegates
from Mercer County, and served four years continually, and
again from 1898 to 1900. He was a member of the State
Board of Health in 1881. He was director of the State
Penitentiary at Moundsville, regent of the State University
from 1872 to 1877, and was probably better acquainted
throughout the state than any other professional man. He
owned several farms in Mercer County, one consisting of
400 acres of the original tract owned by the pioneer,
Capt. William Smith. The family home is a beautiful resi-
dence in the suburbs of Princeton, West Virginia. Few
citizens of Princeton enjoyed more fully the respect and
esteem of the community than did Doctor Bee, who retired
from active practice in 1904. He married Mary (Smith)
Lacey, of Fanquier County, Virginia, who died January 6,
1907. Their one son, Dr. Isaiah E. Bee, resided with his
father until the death of the former November 15, 1912.


______________________________


X-Message: #5
Date: Tue, 01 Aug 2000 21:25:36 -0400
From: Valerie & Tommy Crook <vfcrook@earthlink.net>
To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com
Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000801212536.00c4c220@mail.earthlink.net>
Subject: BIO: ISAIAH ERNEST BEE, M. D., Mercer Co.
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
pg. 521-522
Mercer


ISAIAH ERNEST BEE, M. D., for many years carried ex-
ceptionally heavy burdens and obligations as a physician
and surgeon, more particularly as a surgeon, at Princeton,
where his professional work was in a measure a continua-
tion and supplement to the career of his honored father, Dr.
Isaiah Bee, whose record is also given in this publication.
Dr. Isaiah E. Bee was finally compelled to give up the
strenuous work of an active physician, though he is still
a consultant, and has found various important interests to
engage his time and attention.


He was born at Princeton August 23, 1867, attended the
common schools of his native city, also had private in-
struction for five years, two years in the State Normal
College at Athens and a year in Princeton Academy. He
finished his literary education by two and a half years in
West Virginia University, and in 1888 entered the College
of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, where he was
graduated in 1890. Doctor Bee at once returned to Prince-
ton, took up practice with his father, and in 1892 Dr. John
C. Hughes became associated with them, the firm being Bee,
Bee & Hughes for ten years. After 1902 the Doctors Bee
continued as partners for two years, when the elder mem-
ber of the firm retired and for about four years Dr. Isaiah
E. Bee lived in the West. On returning to West Virginia
he became surgeon and physician for the Virginia Railway,
and this official duty, together with general practice, was
maintained for three years. Ill health then made it neces-
sary for him to give up his active practice, and since then
he has kept in touch with the profession largely as a con-
sulting physician and surgeon.


During Cleveland's second administration Doctor Bee was
commissioner of the Pension Bureau at Washington, from
1893 to 1897.  He also served seven years as county
physician, from 1894 to 1900. He is a member of the
Mercer County, West Virginia State and American Medical
Associations and the American College of Surgeons. He
was a delegate to the American Tuberculosis Congress that
met at Pittsburgh in 1919. He is recognized by his brothers
in the profession as one of the leaders in point of ability
and influence.


For many years Doctor Bee has devoted a great deal
of time to the promotion of Sunday School interests in West
Virginia, in association with the Missionary Baptist Church,
of which he is a member. For seventeen years he has
taught a large adult Bible class, and practically every
week he responds to an invitation to visit and deliver ad-
dresses before Sunday Schools and Sunday School organiza-
tions. While his career has been in the nature of a public
service, he has responded to special interests outside his
main subject. In 1890 he organized a military company
at Princeton and Bluefield, known as Company A., Second
Regiment, West Virginia National Guard, and served as its
captain from 1890 to 1895. Doctor Bee is a reader of the
best literature and has long been a student of West Vir-
ginia history and is well informed as to the sources of his-
tory, particularly in his section of the state.


December 23, 1900, Doctor Bee married Kathleen Pendle-
ton Nelms, of Morristown, Tennessee, daughter of John H.
and Letitia Virginia (Pendleton) Nelms, the former a
native of Tennessee and the latter of Virginia. Mrs. Bee is
an accomplished musician and a graduate of Sullins College
of Bristol, Tennessee.  Doctor and Mrs. Bee have an
adopted boy, Zed B. Campbell, now seven years of age.