WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 21 Today's Topics: #1 Will of Joseph "Josiah" Daivs, Lew ["George R. Perkins" <perking@elect] #2 Bio- James R. Brockus, Mingo Co. [Joan Wyatt <mewyatt@uakron.edu>] #3 Bio- William Cassius Cook, McDwell [Joan Wyatt <mewyatt@uakron.edu>] ______________________________X-Message: #1 Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 15:29:56 -0500 From: "George R. Perkins" <perking@electro-net.com> To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.20000117152956.0087b440@electro-net.com> Subject: Will of Joseph "Josiah" Daivs, Lewis Co. WV, 1832 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The last Will and Testament of Joseph Davis (see below) was typed by George R. Perkins, from a copy of the original in his personal possession. Misspellings, formatting, and punctuation are as they appear in the original. Note that Lewis County Virginia is now part of West Virginia. Joseph "Josiah" Davis was married to Sophia Jackson, daugher of John and Elizabeth (Cummins) Jackson. Lewis County, West Virginia Will Book (one), Page 244 Last Will and Testament of Joseph Davis I Joseph Davis of the county of Lewis and State of Virginia, being of sound mind memory and understanding but weak in body, do make and publish this my last will and testament, revoking all former Wills heretofore made by me as follows, to wit, first --- I give and bequeath unto my daughter Elizabeth Parker on shilling current money of the said state of Virginia, to be paid unto her at my death --- 2nd I give and bequeath unto my Grandson Isaac B. Brake on shilling like money as aforesaid --- 3rd I give and bequeath unto my son William J. Davis one shilling as aforesaid --- 4th I give and bequeath unto my son Edward Davis one shilling --- 5th I give and bequeath unto my daughter Sarah Rohrbough one shilling --- 6th I give and bequeath unto my son Henry Davis one shilling --- 7th I give and bequeath unto my son Joseph one shilling --- 8th I give and bequeath unto my daughter Obediance Warner one shilling --- 9th I give and bequeath unto my daughter Peggy Mount one shilling --- after satisfying all my just debts, and the legacies aforesaid, I give devise and bequeath unto my beloved wife Sophia Davis at my decease, all the rest and residue or remainder of my Estate of every description including all monies, Bonds, notes, dues or demands --- in which I may be entitled to, either in Law or Equity to hold the same in her own right and disposial well that which may be in suit or otherwise, so long and as she continues to be my widow --- Lastly --- I nominate and appoint George Rohrbough my son in law my Executor to this my last Will and Testament --- In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this sixth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty two. Signed, sealed and Joseph Davis (seal) acknowledged in the (signed) presence Elijah Arnold Abner Mitchel John Mitchel, Jr. Lewis County Court November Term 1832 This last Will and Testament of Joseph Davis deceased was presented in open court, proved by the oath of the subscribing witnesses thereto and ordered to be recorded --- Teste J. Taloott (Clk) George R. Perkins Tallahassee, Florida perking@electro-net.com ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 20:37:04 -0500 From: Joan Wyatt <mewyatt@uakron.edu> To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <3883C3BC.12FBC1C7@uakron.edu> Subject: Bio- James R. Brockus, Mingo Co. Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923,The American Historical Society Inc. Chicago and New York Volume 11 Page 243 Bio- James R. Brockus, Williamson, Mingo Co. James R. Brockus, who is now captain of Company B of the West Virginia State Police, with headquarters in the court house at Williamson, Mingo Co., has the rank of lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserves. His service in the United States Army covered a period of twenty-three years and ten months, and within this long period he was in forty-one different states of the Union and also in seven foreign countries. He passed fourteen months in Alaska, four years on the Mexican border, seven years in the Philippine Islands, besides which he was with the American troops in China at the time of the Boxer uprising, and was in France in the period of the World war. In nearly a quarter of a century of active and efficient service in the United States army Colonel Buckus was in the best physical health, and his entire interval of confinement in hospital did not exceed ten days. He made an admirable record, as shown in the text of his various discharges from the army, in which he promptly enlisted at the expiration of his various terms until his final retirement. He rose in turn through the grades of corporal (second enlistment), sergeant and battalion sergeant major (Boxer rebellion in China). West Virginia is fortunate in having gained this seasoned soldier and sterling citizen as a member and officer of its state police. Colonel Brockus was born at Erwin, Unicoi County, Tennessee, on the 8th of August, 1875, and is the son of William K. and Sarah (Parks) Brockus, the father having been a skilled mechanic and having conducted a shop at Erwin. In the public schools of his native town Colonel Brockus gained his early education, which was supplemented by a course in a business college at Nashville, Tennessee. In 1893 Colonel Brockus enlisted in Company F, Twenty-second United States Infantry, and after spending three years at ForkKeough,Montana, he received an honorable discharge. AtNashville, Tennessee, he soon afterwards re-enlisted, at this time as a member of the Fourteenth United States Infantry. It was within this period of enlistment that he was with his command in Alaska for fourteen months. Later he was in service in the Philippine Islands, whence he went with his command to China at the time of the Boxer rebellion, his second discharge having been received while he was atPekin, China. He then returned to the United States and engaged in the hardware business in his native town. There he lost all of his investments as the result of a fire, and he then enlisted in Company D, Eighteenth United States Infantry, with which he was in service at Fort Bliss, Texas. Later he was in Fort Logan, and next he was assigned with his command to service in the Philippines, his second trip to those islands having been made in 1903. In the Philippines he served with Company D, Fifteenth Infantry, in Mindinao, but he purchased his discharge and rejoined his old command as a member of Company D, Eighteenth Infantry. He returned to the United States on the 15th of November, 1909, and from Camp Whipple Barracks, Arizona, was sent to service on the Mexican border. In connection with the nation's participation in the World war Colonel Brockus was commissioned second lieutenant at Nogales, Arizona, on July 9, 1917, and sent to the Officer's Training School at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, where on August 15th he was commissioned captain and assigned to the Three Hundred and Thirty-first Infantry at Camp Sherman, Ohio. On December 31, 1917, he was advanced to the rank of major and went with the Eighty-third division to France, where the division received final training and equipment for front-line service. After signing of the armistice Major Brockus was transferred to the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Battalion of the Military Police Corps at Laval. He sailed for home June21,1919, and landed at Newport News, Virginia, on the 3rd of the following month. His command was mustered out at Camp Taylor, Kentucky, where he received his final discharge July 24, 1919. He enlisted again, as a first sergeant, and was sent to Fort George Wright, where he remained until May 13, 1920, when he was retired with credit and with the pay of a warrant officer for thirty year's service. After a brief visit to his old home in Tennessee Colonel Brockus joined the West Virginia State Police, August 29, 1920, and was sent to Mingo coal fields, where he has continued in active service except during the recent interval when Federal troops were here in connection with mine troubles. He is now Captain of Company B of the State Police, and during the recent miners invasion he had command of seventy-two state police, including two officers and also eighteen volunteers. He was under fire many times in the Philippines and in the Boxer uprising, but has stated that he heard more hostile bullets during the mine troubles in West Virginia that at any other period of his long military experience. A man and a soldier of fine personality, Colonel Brockus has made many friends within the period of his residence and official service inWest Virginia. Colonel Brockus is a member of the American Legion, a thirty-second degree Mason and a Shrine. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 07:16:52 -0500 From: Joan Wyatt <mewyatt@uakron.edu> To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <388459B0.56E98227@uakron.edu> Subject: Bio- William Cassius Cook, McDwell Co. Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York, Volume 11 Page 244 Bio-William Cassius Cook, McDowell Co. William Cassius Cook, county superintendent of schools for McDowell Co., was born on a farm at Windom, Wyoming Co., this state on the 21st of November, 1882, and is a son of Rev. William H. H. Cook and Mary Jane (Cooper) Cook, the former of whom still resides at Windom, where he was born November 5, 1840, and the latter of whom died in 1918, at the age of seventy-four years. Rev. William H. H. Cook is a son of Thomas Cook, and the family settled in what is now Wyoming Co., West Virginia, shortly after the close of the Revolution, the original American progenitors having come from England and settles in Virginia in the early Colonial period. Rev. William H.H. Cook is a man of fine intellectual ken, he having been largely self-educated, and his life has been one of high ideals and exalted service. As a clergyman of the Missionary Baptist Church he gave pastoral services to four different churches in Wyoming Co., and in the early days he frequently rode forty miles in a single day on horseback in making visitation to these churches. He was a gallant soldier of the Union during virtually the entire period of the Civil war, and lived up to the full tension of the conflict. In 1865, shortly after the close of the war, he was one of a numerous company of Union soldiers who marched over the mountains and across valleys to hold a reunion with Confederate soldiers at Welch, the judicial center of McDowell Co. having at that time been marked by an open field and a single log cabin. In earlier years Mr. Cook was a successful and popular teacher in the schools of this section of the state, and he has ever striven, with much of ability and fine stewardship, to aid and uplift his fellow men. He served two terms in the Lower House of the State Legislature and two terms in the State Senate. He is a republican, but has worked for political peace and amity rather than for strident partisanship. He has been president of the First National Bank at Pineville from the time of its organization, and all of the relations of life his influence has been benignant and helpful. Of the thirteen children all are living but one. The seven sons and five daughters have all received liberal educations and all have been successful teachers. The devoted and revered mother was a daughter of Rev. Thomas Austin Cooper, a teacher and a clergyman of the Missionary Baptist Church. After having attended school in a primitive log school-house William C. Cook pursued higher studies as a student in the Conrad Normal School at Athens. He taught his first school at Clarks Gap, near the boundary line between Mercer and Wyoming counties, his salary being $30 a month and from the same he saved $100, after paying $5 a month for board. He used his earnings to defray his expenses at the normal school. in which he was graduated in 1907. The next year he taught school, and the succeeding year he was a bookkeeper for the Tidewater Coal Company at Kimball, McDowell Co. In 1909 he was elected county superintendent of schools and by successive re-elections he has since continued the incumbent of this office, in which he has done an effective work in bringing the school system of the county up to a high standard. He was a member of the first school-textbook commission, 1912, in West Virginia, in 1922 and at the same time of this writing is an influential member of the State Board of Education, besides which he is a member of the executive committee of the West Virginia State Educational Association. In the World war period Mr. Cook served as a member of Draft Board No. 2 in McDowell County, besides being active in support of the various patriotic service in the county. He is affiliated with Bluefield Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a Master Mason, and he and his wife are zealous members of the Missionary Baptist Church, he having been for a number of years influential in the affairs of this church in his home community and in the state. He has been specially active in Sunday School work and served for years as Sunday School superintendent. His brother, Dr. Ulysses G., is a physician and also a clergyman of the Missionary Baptist Church, and resides in Beckley, Raleigh County: another brother, Rev. John Jay Cook, is pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in the city of Charleston. Thomas A., another brother, is a member of the faculty of the Concord State Normal School at Athens. In 1907 was solemnized the marriage if Mr. Cook and Miss Lula Stewart, who was born in Mercer Co. and is the daughter of the late C. M. Stewart. Mr. and Mrs. Cook have two children: Eunice and William C., Jr.