WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 8 Today's Topics: #1 HIST: Church Develo [Valerie & Tommy Crook ] #5 John Wright-Obit [Bridgette Osz ] #6 BIO: Hon. J. Nessly [Valerie & Tommy Crook Subject: HIST: Church Development - 1913 - Methodism Part 1 From the Semi-Centennial History of West Virginia, by James Callahan, 1913. pg. 525-532 Church Devlopment The Editor and Committee, unable to obtain a general treatment of this subject in a single article, decided to assign brief articles to representatives of each denomination. They were able to secure articles for five denominations which have the largest membership in the state. METHODISM IN WEST VIRGINIA By William B. Mathews, Clerk of the Supreme Court of West Virginia. Methodism has never been slow in following the pioneer into a new country. Her church polity and the genius of her institutions have been such that she has kept pace with man's migrations even when he has wandered into remote regions. The "circuit rider" in his long and weary rounds in early days did not overlook the sparsely settled communities. As a result, that church was firmly planted throughout our entire borders, and has kept pace with the wonderful growth and development of our great State. Wesleyan preachers did not begin systematic work or hold their first conference in America until 1773, although Wesleyan societies were or- ganized in New York and Philadelphia a few years before that time. Pre- vious to that year, settlements were made within the present boundaries of West Virginia, at Shepherdstown and other points in the eastern panhandle, Lewisburg, Morgantown, Wheeling, Clarksburg, Moundsville, and Brownstown, now Marmet, near Charleston. The first Methodist preaching on West Virginia soil was probably in the Shenandoah Valley as early as 1775, only twelve years after the Methodists first became a factor in the religious life of America, and nine years before the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. In that year John Haggerty and Richard Owings preached at the home of Major Lewis Stephens, son of a pioneer settler in the territory which afterwards became Berkeley and Jefferson counties. A "class" was formed, and the first Methodists within our bounds were its members; the Stephens family, John Hite and sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Hughes, and John Taylor and wife. In 1778, Berkeley Circuit, covering that territory was formed, with Rev. Edward Bailey the first regularly appointed Methodist pastor in West Virginia. Next, Methodism entered the Greenbrier Valley, covered by the Allegheny Circuit, organized in 1783, and later by the Greenbrier Circuit, organized in 1787. Rehoboth Church, at the "Sinks of Greenbrier," near Union, completed in 1786, and still standing, is said to be the oldest Methodist Church west of the Alleghenies. Bishop Asbury preached daily in this church, when he held the annual conference May 21-24, 1792. at the cabin of Edward Keenan, near by. The annual conference of 1793 was also held there in May of that year. Among the presiding elders of that region were Richard Whatcoat, William McKendree and Enoch George, all of whom afterwards were elected bishops of the church. John Tunnell, James O'Kelly and Francis Poythress, men of note, were itinerants in that territory. The people called Methodists followed Braddock's road and penetrated the wilderness to the Monongahela at Redstone Creek, where Brownstown. Pa., now stands, but instead of defeat they won many victories in extend- ing the Kingdom of God. Redstone circuit, embracing the whole Mononga- hela Valley, was formed in 1784, the year the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. John Cooper and Samuel Breeze were the first pastors In 1785, Peter Moriarty, John Fidler and Wilson Lee were appointed pastors, and Lee carried his ministrations through the wilderness as far as Wheeling, where a "class" was formed with Mrs. Elizabeth (McCulloch) Zane, as probably the first member. The work so rapidly developed that in 1787 Ohio circuit, embracing a large territory along and east of the Ohio River, was formed, and Charles Conaway and George Callahan were its first pastors. Methodist "societies" rapidly multiplied. Clarksburg circuit was formed out of Redstone in 1787, with Robert Cann and Richard Pearson as pastors. Randolph circuit on the upper tributaries of Tygart's Valley and Cheat Rivers was formed in 1790, Anthony Banning, pastor. In the same year Kanawha circuit was formed and preachers assigned, but as no reports were made it is probable the work was not taken up at that time, and the statement in Atkinson's History of Kanawha county is correct that Rev. Wm. Steel of the Little Kanawha circuit preached the first Methodist sermon in Charleston on January 1, 1804. The latter circuit was created in 1779, with Robert Manley, the first pastor. The large Guyandotte circuit embracing settlements along the Ohio and as far up the Guyandotte and Great Kanawha Valleys as white men could be found was formed in 1804, Rev. Asa Shinn, one of the founders of the Methodist Protestant Church, being the first pastor. The organ- ization at Charleston was probably effected in 1815, by H. B. Bascom, afterwards a bishop in the Church South. The progress of Methodism in West Virginia for the first two decades, as reported by the official minutes, is as follows: YEAR. NUMBER or PREACHERS. MEMBERSHIP. White. Colored. 1780.................. 3 205 1790.................. 7 1,472 130 1800.................. 10 1,636 66 Bishop Asbury. Thus was accomplished the beginnings of Methodism in the latter years of the Eighteenth Century within the limits of the State of West Virginia. At that time it was only a wilderness. No one can record the privations and heroism of the pioneer preachers who achieved that work so comprehensively, planting the church in every part of our territory. Bishop Asbury, who, with Bishop Coke was the general superintendent of the church, evidently regarded the hills and valleys of Western Virginia as his especial diocese. He showed his devotion to it by making it frequent visits, nearly every year from 1789 to 1816, the year of his death. He states in his Journal: "I have frequently skimmed along the frontiers for four or five hundred miles from Kentucky to Greenbrier, on the very edge of the wilderness, and thence along Tiger's (Tygart's) valley to Clarksburg and on to the Ohio. These places, if not the haunts of savage men, yet abound with wild beasts. * * * The people cannot tell what I have to cope with. I make no doubt the Methodists are, and will be, a numerous and wealthy people, and their preachers who follow us will not know our struggles but by comparing their improved state of the country with what it was in our days." Bishop Asbury labored with incessant and unflinching zeal. He preach- ed daily. On account of his military bearing he has been called the Field Marshal of Methodism, but his Christian affability and knowledge of human nature gave to him such a genius tor organization that, without the advantage of inherited church affiliations on the part of the people, he built so firmly, and laid foundations so far reaching that the Methodist bodies today constitute by far the largest number of communicants of any ecclesiastical family in the state. Portions of our territory have belonged to the Virginia conference, the Western conference, and the Kentucky conference. In 1825, after the Pittsburgh conference was formed, this territory was divided among the Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Ohio conferences, and In that year, there were within our bounds 22 circuits, 32 preachers, and 10,405 members, of whom 523 were colored. A detailed account of the growth and development of this great religious denomination, with historical accounts of the tacts leading up to the sep- aration of 1828 which resulted in the Methodist Protestant Church and that of 1844 which resulted in the Methodist Episcopal Church South, are necessarily precluded from the limits of a brief article. It is sufficient to say that all parties to these differences were sincere and conscientious, and that at the present time no differences are apparent to prevent a re- union of these aggressive forces in the church militant. Potent Factor for the New State. West Virginia being the border land between the North and the South, it was inevitable that feeling should be intense and partisanship at white heat. The ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, led by the great mind of Gordon Battelle, were solidly against slavery and in favor of the creation of a new state, and likewise almost the entire rank and file of the laity of that church, led by Arthur I. Boreman, Waltman T. Wiley, Ches- ter D. Hubbard, James C. McGrew and many others. The Influence of the circuit riders among the people as they traversed these mountains ana valleys just preceding the outbreak of the war, constituting themselves missionaries of freedom, both in and out of the pulpit, can hardly be estimated. It certainly went far, and probably was the controlling factor in causing the western counties ot Virginia to remain loyal to the Union, and in time to become one of the sisterhood of States. Many of the number left their pulpits and went to the front to advocate their principles in the final arbitrament of arms. The West (formerly called Western) Virginia Conference was organ- ized in 1848. Its rapid growth may be seen at a glance from the following official statistics for the years named: YEAR. MINISTERS. MEMBERS. VALUE or PROPERTY. 1850. ................ 54 14,201 Not reported 1875 ............... 159 31,413 $ 605,455 1900 ............... 226 54,892 1,188,715 1912 ............... 290 69,886 3,087,674 Besides the above, there are a number of churches in West Virginia belonging to the Pittsburgh and Baltimore Conferences, and a large number of colored congregations belonging to the Washington Conference. [end of Part 1] ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 16:36:07 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook Subject: BIO: Joseph Nathan FINLEY, Hancock Co. *************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 232 Hancock County JOSEPH NATHAN FINLEY. The maintenance of a busi- ness establishment for thirty years is ample proof of its worth. Commercial ventures of the fly-by-night order may pay their promoters for the time being, but they bring their communities nothing: it is the firmly-established, standardly-existing business that contributes to the lo- cality's prestige in commercial circles. The men who stand behind such helpful enterprises are found to be of sterling worth and solid integrity, and to be citizens in whom a realization of the responsibilities of citizenship is firmly grounded. A merchant of Chester since 1892, Joseph Nathan Finley, president of the Finley Brothers Lumber Company, has assisted in building this business to a point where it is justly accounted a necessary com- mercial adjunct. He has been a promoter, organizer and official of movements which have made the city grow and expand, and to his helpfulness in a civic way Chester may give gratitude for much of its development. Mr. Finley was born at the old family residence on the hill, on the old farm which extended to the Ohio River at the west end of the City of Chester, January 25, 1865, a son of John R. and Louisa (Scott) Finley. John R. Finley was born in 1824, in Washington County, Pennsyl- vania, and at the age of four years was brought to the Ohio Valley by his father, Thomas Finley, who passed the rest of his life here in agricultural operations and died when John E. was eighteen years of age. Of the four sons of Thomas, three, Richard, James and William, served as soldiers of the Union during the Civil war, all probably, in Ohio infantry regiments. Richard later went to Ash- land County, Ohio, where he died, while James and Wil- liam remained in the Ohio Valley, where they passed away. John R. Finley had charge of the farm with his mother and maiden sister, Rebecca, who died on the farm. The mother died at the age of eighty-four years. John R. Finley after his mother's death bought out the other heirs and added to the property until he had 125 acres. In addition to farming he was engaged in carpentry and made a success of his affairs. He died in 1898, at the age of seventy-four years, while Mrs. Finley passed away in 1914, aged eighty-two years, having survived him sixteen years. The education of Joseph Nathan Finley was acquired in the public schools of Hancock County, and, like his broth- ers, while being reared on the home farm he learned the trade of carpenter. This he followed somewhat independ- ently until 1892, when, with his brothers, James William, Richard Franklin and Robert Andrews Finley, he began contracting and building, mainly at East Liverpool. In 1902 the brothers, with their brother-in-law, Joseph McCoy, formed the Finley Brothers Lumber Company, which has developed into the largest business of its kind in this section. While ostensibly a lumber company, this enter- prise also continued contracting and building, including all manner of structures. Among the work accomplished by this firm may be mentioned ten residences for the Government, railroad stations, potteries, factories, schools, court houses, churches, Y. M. C. A. buildings, garages, etc. in fact anything in the contracting line. More than one-half of the buildings at Chester have been erected by this concern whose patronage has also extended to Newell, Follansbee, Weirton and other communities. The company now consists of the four brothers, Mrs. Joseph McCoy, now a widow, and George Hasson. They own a well-equipped mill utilized for mill work, stair work, etc., and the entire plant is modern in every particular. Mr. Finley was one of the original incorporators of the First National Bank of Chester and has been its vice president since its incor- poration. He was a member of the first council of Chester, served as a justice of the peace for some time, and in 1909 was sent to the State Legislature as representative, being one of the few democrats ever elected to that body from Han- cock County. He formerly served for some time as chair- man of the County Democratic Committee. He has a number of civic and fraternal connections. Mr. Finley married Miss Ella Rose, a sister-in-law of John E. Newell, a sketch of whom appears in this work, and to this union there have been born four children: Claire C. in the engineering department of the Crucible Steel Company at Midland, Pennsylvania; J. Paul, a stu- dent at the University of Pittsburgh; and Mary Louise and Martha Jane, twins, born seventeen years after J. Paul. Mr. Finley is a charter member of Chester Lodge No. 142, A. F. and A. M., and also belongs to the Scottish Rite bodies up to and including the thirty-second degree. He also belows to Osiris Temple A. A. O. N. M. S. of Wheeling, West Virginia. *************** ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 16:37:16 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook Subject: BIO: Arthur G. ALLISON, Hancock Co. *************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 232-233 Hancock County ARTHUR G. ALLISON. To succeed as a member of the Hancock County bar requires more than ordinary ability which has been carefully trained along the lines of the legal profession, as well as an appreciable fund of general information and keen judgment with regard to men and their motives. In a pushing, growing city such as Chester there is so much competition, events crowd each other in such a way and circumstances play such an important part in the shaping of events that the lawyer must neces- sarily be a man capable of grasping affairs with a ready and competent hand to effect satisfactory results. Among those who have won recognition in the profession of law at Chester is Arthur G. Allison, who is also serving his thirteenth year as a justice of the peace. Mr. Allison was born on a farm near Chester, Hancock County, West Virginia, March 7, 1881, a son of Joseph B. and Mary E. (Riley) Allison. There were two or three original families of Allisons, as there were of Wells, who settled in this part of the Ohio Valley. Joseph B. Allison was born on the same farm as his son, November 21, 1859, and died April 22, 1915. He was a son of Enoch Allison, the latter being a son of Burgess Allison, who settled on a farm one mile from Washington School- house in Grant District in 1801. He drove the first wagon, of the "prairie schooner" style, into Hancock County, from Cumberland, Maryland, and continued to haul freight and passengers one way and freight the other for a number of years. Freighting over the mountains was for many years a profitable business. In coming from Maryland Burgess Allison followed what later became the National Road, which extended as far as Vandalia, Illinois, its destination being St. Louis. More people went over that road to Western Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Iowa than over all the other routes. Mr. Allison later secured a farm, in conjunction with which he operated a blacksmith shop, and, becoming prosperous, loaned money to his less for- tunate neighbors and became something of a financier in his locality. He lived to be ninety-three years of age, his death then being caused by an accident. Enoch Allison was born in Hancock County and here spent his life as an agriculturist, his home being on the north branch of Tomlinson's Run. He was a man of ability and accumulated more than 2,200 acres of land, and was well esteemed in his community as possessed of qualities of integrity and probity. He died in 1888, at the age of sixty-three years. He and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Ann Barclay, were the parents of six sons and one daughter: Bergess N., for more than fifty years a carpenter in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad, who died in September, 1921, at Wellsville, Ohio; Waitman C., who is living in retirement at Chester; Joseph B.; Ellsworth E., a Hancock County farmer, who died February 11, 1909; Sherman C., who is still fol- lowing farming on his Hancock County property near Pughtown; Mary E., the wife of Leander Conant, of East Liverpool, Ohio; and Walter C., engaged in milling at Chester. Joseph B. Allison passed practically all his life on his 700-acre farm in Grant District, where he applied himself to farming and dairying. He was well thought of in his community as to ability and personal qualities, but never cared for public office, being content with his farm and his home. He married Mary E. Riley, who was born in what is now Chester, June 25, 1863, a daughter of Enoch and Sarah (Daniels) Riley. Enoch Riley was born in Staffordshire, England, and on coming to the United States was first engaged in farming. Later he conducted a hotel at East Liverpool and was also the part owner of a pot- tery, and his thirty-five-acre farm is now included within the city limits of Chester, where he died in August, 1890. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Allison: Arthur G.; and Sarah A., the wife of Harry E. Hall, a dairyman and fruit grower on the old farm. Arthur G. Allison spent his boyhood on the home farm and attended first the public schools in the country and later the high school at East Liverpool, from which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1901. He then en- tered the law department of the West Virginia University, where he received his degree in 1904, and since that time has been engaged in a general practice at Chester. At various times he has been called to public office, having been city attorney, secretary of the Board of Education and city tax collector, is a notary public, and for thir- teen years has been a justice of the peace, now being in his third term in that office. A republican in politics, Mr. Allison has done some active and effective work in his party and is accounted one of its influential members. He is secretary of the local republican club and a mem- ber of the county committee, and has been a delegate to state conventions. Fraternally Mr. Allison is a charter member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias. He is unmarried. *************** ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 20:47:15 -0400 From: Bridgette Osz Subject: Mrs. Rosetta Johnson-obit Thursday August 24, 1961 page 4 Barbour Democrat Mrs. Rosetta Johnson 86y of Moatsville Rt 2 Clemtown died at 1:50 PM on Monday August 21 at the home of her daughter Mrs. John Mitchell of Moatsville after having been ill some 12 years and seriously ill for four months. She was born in Barbour County on August 10, 1875, a daughter of the late Samuel and Virginia England Moats. Her husband was the late George Johnson. Surviving are two daughters Mrs. John (Rosa) Mitchell, with whom she resided, and Mrs. Willie (Virginia) Weaver of Grafton; six grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren One brother, Stingly Moats and two sisters Mrs. Harriet Phillips and Ella Thompson are deceased. Mrs. Johnson was affiliated with the EUB Church. Funeral services were held at 2:00 pm Wednesday, in the Mt. Morris Methodist Church with the Rev. Lee Phillips officiating. Burial was in the Mt. Morris Cemetery ______________________________X-Message: #5 Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 21:04:02 -0400 From: Bridgette Osz Subject: John Wright-Obit Thursday June 8, 1961 page 6 Barbour Democrat John W. Wright 82y of Grafton died June 1 in a Grafton Hospital after having been ill health for two months and seriously ill for one week. He was born in Barbour County on July, 4 1878, a son of the late George and Jemima McCauley Wright Surviving are his wife, Stella V. Callihan Wright; seven sons Raymond, Floyd, Arnold and Guy all of Brownton, David of Niles, Ohio, George of Newton Falls, Ohio, and James Edward of Grafton. Six daughters, Mrs. Allie Ludwick of Paw Paw, Mrs. Gertrude Barton of Baltimore, MD, Mrs. Florence Cross of Philippi, Mrs. Mildred Mouser of Belington, Mrs. Audra Gregory of Cleveland, Ohio and Mrs. Elwanda Delauder of Philadelphia, PA; one sister Mrs. Laura adams of Belington, and one brother Emory Wright also of Belington. Mr Wright was a retired farmer. He lived most his life in Barbour County and 14y in Grafton. Funeral Services were held ay 1:30 P.M. on Sunday at the Mt. Vernon Baptist Church at Brownton with Rev. Herbert Alltop of Belington officiating. Interment was made in the Cleavinger Cemetery at Gallaway. ______________________________X-Message: #6 Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 16:38:11 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook Subject: BIO: Hon. J. Nessly PORTER, Hancock Co. *************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 233 Hancock County HON. J. NESSLY PORTER. In business and public circles of Hancock County few names are better or more favor- ably known than that of J. Nessly Porter, secretary-treas- urer of the Globe Brick Company and the present state senator of the First District, comprising Hancock, Brooke and Ohio counties, West Virginia. Mr. Porter is a son of the late Capt. John Porter, one of the best known figures in the paving brick industry in this country, a sketch of whose career will be found on another page of this work. Since boyhood he has been identified with the brick business, and at the same time has found the opportunity to interest himself in public affairs, in which he has become prominent. Ever a promi- nent worker in party conventions, in 1915 he was chosen as the representative in the Lower House of the West Virginia Legislature of Hancock County, a post to which he was re-elected and established a splendid record. He was then sent to the Upper House, where he is an influential member of the judiciary committee and chairman of the insurance committee. He is a prominent Mason and has numerous business and civic connections. Mr. Porter mar- ried Miss Margaret Rinehart, of East Liverpool, Ohio, and they are the parents of two sons: James Nessly and Winston Allen. *************** ______________________________X-Message: #7 Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 16:38:57 -0400 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook Subject: BIO: James Bennett PORTER, Hancock Co. *************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 233 Hancock County JAMES BENNETT PORTER is vice president of the Globe Brick Company, representing one of the important industrial enterprises of Hancock County, and since 1909 he has main- tained active supervision of a portion of the old Mahan fruit farm near Arroyo, this county, a property inherited by his mother. In this latter connection he is one of the exten- sive apple growers of his native county, and has on the farm a finely productive orchard that receives scientific care. Of both the Porter and Mahan families, representing the paternal and maternal ancestry of Mr. Porter, adequate record is given in other personal reviews in this volume, he being a son of John and Carrie (Mahan) Porter and having been born at New Cumberland, judicial center of Hancock County, on the 14th of November, 1882. Mr. Porter was afforded the advantages of the well or- dered public schools of his native county, and as a youth he became actively identified with the manufacturing of brick, with which industry he has continued his association to the present time, the Globe Brick Company, of which he is vice president, being one of the largest concerns of the kind in this section of the state. The family home of Mr. Porter is maintained in the attractive and modern house which he erected at Arroyo and which commands a fine view up and down the Ohio River and also of the Ohio shore district. Mr. Porter is liberal and progressive as a citizen but has had no desire for political activity or public office. He is affiliated with both the York and Scottish Rite bodies of the time-honored Masonic fraternity. The year 1912 recorded the marriage of Mr. Porter and Miss Josephine Lovell, of Boston, Massachusetts, she being a graduate of Wellesley College and having come to Han- cock County, West Virginia, to visit a classmate, Mary Anna Brenneman, daughter of Herman Brenneman. Romance here became her portion, for here she formed the acquaintance of Mr. Porter, whose importunities resulted in her here remaining as his wife. Mrs. Porter was active in Red Cross and other patriotic service in the World war period, as was also her husband, and she is an active mem- ber of the Nessly Chapel of the Methodist Protestant Church at Arroyo. Mr. and Mrs. Porter have five children, namely: James B., Jr., John Ethan, Josephine Natalie, Helen Cross and Leah Lovell. ***************