History of Wheeling City and Ohio Co. WV - Biographries-11



DR. ROBERT W. HAZLETT, deceased, was a distinguished physician and surgeon 
of Wheeling, West Virginia, for more than forty-five years. He was one of 
the most prominent residents of the city, and at different times held many 
offices of public trust. He was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, April 
26, 1828, and was a son of Samuel and Sarah Hazlett. His father moved from 
Connecticut to Washington, Pennsylvania, early in the nineteenth century, 
and there conducted a banking business. 

Dr. Hazlett attended Washington College during his youth but because of 
illness, did not graduate with his class. He was a contemporary student 
with the illustrious James G. Blaine. Subsequently he was given the degree 
of A. M. By the trustees of the college. In early life he was quite an 
artist, and prepared many illustrations and specimens for the medical 
lectures of Dr. King. He determined upon medicine as his profession, and 
in the early "forties" came to Wheeling and read medicine under Drs. 
Clemens and Cummins. He then attended Jefferson Medical College in 
Philadelphia, from which he graduated in the spring of 1851, returning to 
that institution the following winter for a post-graduate course. He later 
located in Wheeling and practiced until the winter of 1857-58, when his 
health required the relinquishment of his practice. He wandered over the 
hills of West Virginia, at the same time making a rough geological 
examination of the coal fields of counties east of the Appalachian Range. 
During this time he located, and had the supervision of drilling, the 
first oil well in what is now West Virginia, the oil strike causing much 
excitement throughout the United States. He also found a peculiar and 
apparently inexhaustible stratum of coal at Richie. His health having 
improved greatly, he returned to Wheeling and practiced his profession for 
a short time. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he entered the service as 
surgeon of the 2nd Reg., Va. Vol. Inf., being commissioned in June, 1861. 
In the fall of 1862, he was appointed surgeon of Latham's independent 
brigade, and in 1863 he resigned and was appointed one of the surgeons of 
the United States general hospital at Grafton, West Virginia. He was later 
commissioned by the Secretary of War as surgeon of the board of enrollment 
of the first district of West Virginia. He saw much fighting during the 
war, and participated in many engagements, among them being the battles of 
Monterey, McDowell, Cross Keys, Cedar Mountain, Waterloo, White Sulphur 
Springs, Warrenton, Freeman's Ford, Second Bull Run, Centerville, and 
Chantilly. 

At the close of the war, Dr. Hazlett resumed practice at Wheeling and was 
most successful. He served as president of the city and county medical 
societies, and twice declined the nomination for the presidency of the 
State Medical Society. In 1893, however, he was unanimously elected to 
that office, and presided that year at the meeting at Berkeley Springs. He 
served in the city council and as member of the board of education, and 
for more than twenty years was examining surgeon for pensions for the 
United States government. At the time of his death he was a member of the 
chamber of commerce, and was largely interested in many manufacturing and 
business enterprises. He was a director of the National Bank of West 
Virginia at Wheeling, and also of the Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company. 
He retired from active practice about 1880, and died in 1899. Many fitting 
tributes were paid and resolutions passed by the various medical societies 
and other organizations of Wheeling, and a fine biographical sketch of his 
life was prepared by Dr. Jepson of Wheeling. His family residence was at 
No. 921 Main Street, where his widow and children now reside. He and his 
wife had four sons and one daughter, namely: Howard, president of the 
Mutual Savings Bank, and a stock broker, with his office of Twelfth 
Street; Samuel, assistant cashier of the People' Bank, Wheeling; Edward, a 
member of the firm of Lewis & Hazlett, iron brokers, with offices in the 
City Bank Building; Robert, a record of whose life follows this sketch; 
and Catherine, who is living at home. 

Robert Hazlett, who is now serving his third term in the capacity of 
county engineer of Ohio County, has attained high rank in civil 
engineering. He was born in Wheeling in 1863, was graduated from the 
public schools of this city in 1880, and then prepared for college at 
Linsly Institute. In 1883 he entered the Ohio State University, from which 
he was graduated in 1887, with the degree of C. E. He returned to 
Wheeling, where his first work was as assistant engineer on the Southern 
Pennsylvania & Ohio Railway, from Wheeling to Bowerston, Ohio. He was thus 
employed for one year, after which he was draughts man, and later first 
assistant engineer, for the Wheeling Bridge & Terminal Railway Company. He 
had charge of the construction of the steel viaduct of the north terminal 
at Martin's Ferry, and also of the Chapline Hill Tunnel. After their 
completion he went to Washington, D.C., and assumed charge of the 
construction of the bridge across the Potomac River, and the building of 
the electric railway to Arlington Cemetery. He the went to New York City 
and was associated with Job Abbott, a prominent civil engineer, who had 
previously been consulting engineer at Wheeling. While with him, Mr. 
Hazlett made plans of the construction of 200 miles of railroad, and also 
of station buildings for the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad, in Maine. He 
returned to Wheeling in 1895, and entered a copartnership with Gilhner 
Brown, C. E., which continued until 1899, when Mr. Brown returned to 
Boston. During the existence of this firm they built the water works 
system, including the plant and mains, and the Masonry reservoir for the 
Suburban Light & Water Company. They then built the Wheeling & Suburban 
Railway from Elm Grove to Triadelphia, and later, the Wheeling & Elm Grove 
Railroad, with double tracks. They built the Parkersburg Electric Railway 
at Parkersburg, West Virginia (including the erection of the power-house), 
one of the finest lines in the state. Since the dissolution of the 
partnership, Mr. Hazlett has been chief engineer of the Fairmont & 
Clarksburg Electric Railway, which has 30 miles of track, and built a part 
of the track in Fairmont and Clarksburg. He resigned this position January 
1, 1901, and since then has been chief engineer of the Wheeling & 
Wellsburg Electric line, which has 16 miles of track. He succeeded A. S. 
Bell as county engineer of Ohio County, and is now serving his third term 
in that capacity. He has had charge of 200 miles of road in the county, 
and also of the construction of 38 steel bridges, which are rapidly 
replacing the old wooden ones. Three years ago, at the suggestion of Mr. 
Hazlett, the board of commissioners began grading and paving the National 
Pike. His duties as county engineer require a considerable portion of his 
time, but he occupies himself mostly with designing and construction work. 
In 1896, he became a member of the America Society of Civil Engineers. In 
politics, he is a Republican, and is a member of the city council for the 
second ward, and a member of the committee on ordinances. He is an officer 
of the West Virginia Humane Society, an organization which exerts a great 
power for good, the originator and president being Mrs. John K. List. His 
father, Dr. Robert W. Hazlett, in his will left a goodly sum of money to 
different charities, including the Wheeling and City Hospitals and the Y. 
M. C. A. Mr. Hazlett resides at the old house at No. 921 Main Street, with 
his mother and sister. 



LOUIS F. STIFEL, a prominent member of the legal profession of Wheeling, 
is secretary of the Wheeling Title & Trust Company and is closely 
identified with many of the prosperous enterprises of this city. 

C. E. Stifel was born in Germany and there learned the trade of a tinner, 
working as a journeyman in different towns as far from home as Geneva, 
Switzerland. He came to Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1836, and upon 
arriving worked for Squire Duly. After marriage he entered upon business 
for himself on Main Street, near Ninth Street, and manufactured tinware 
and house furnishings. He worked up a fine business and in 1870 took in 
his sons, W. C. and L. F., as partners, the firm name becoming C. E. 
Stifel & Sons, and as such is now conducted by his oldest son, W. C. 
Stifel. C. E. Stifel was known as the finest mechanic in his line, in 
using the hammer and in spinning copper and other metals into shape, work 
which is now done by machinery. He died in July, 1898, lacking but one 
month of being eighty-four years of age. In May, 1839, he was united in 
marriage with Anna Clara Becht, who is still living at the age of seventy-
nine years, having come from Germany in 1835. 

Louis F. Stifel continued as a member of the firm of C. E. Stifel & Sons 
until 1875, and then attended law lectures in the University of Michigan, 
at Ann Arbor, where he graduated in 1877. He was admitted to the bar and 
began the practice in the office of Henry M. Russell. He was elected to 
the state legislature in 1882, and again in 1888, serving two terms. He is 
a Democrat, politically, although he has taken no active part in politics 
except as mentioned. The partnership with Mr. Russell continued until Mr. 
Stifel took charge of the Wheeling Title & Trust Company, April 1, 1891. 
The company was organized in January, 1890, the organizers being William 
P. Hubbard, Henry M. Russell, George R. E. Gilchrist and Louis F. Stifel, 
and the idea being to do a regular title and trust business. Finding there 
was an insufficient title business, legislation was secured authorizing 
banking, and September 10, 1891, this branch of the business was started. 
The officers of the company are Henry M. Russell, president; Charles J. 
Rawling, vice-president; Louis F. Stifel, secretary; William H. Tracy, 
assistant secretary; and George R. E. Gilchrist, examiner of Titles. They 
have a property of 62 feet frontage on the west side of Main Street, the 
building being partly occupied by Nay Brothers' shoe store and Kraus 
Brothers' clothing house. The company has had a steady increase in 
business since it's inception, and is one of the soundest banking 
institutions in the state. The board of directors consists of the 
following substantial business men: Henry M. Russell; Charles J. Rawling; 
William P. Hubbard; John A. Hess; Charles F. Brandfass; Charles 
Menkemeller; Fred C. H. Schwertfeger; John S. Naylor; H. F. Behrens; and 
Dr. Ackerman. Mr. Stifel is identified with several other business 
interests in the city, being president of the Ohio Valley Drug Company, a 
director of the German Fire Insurance Company of Wheeling, the leading 
company of the state; and treasurer of the Home for the Aged, and the City 
Hospital. 

Mr. Stifel was joined in matrimony with a daughter of John Oesterling, 
deceased, who was at one time president of the Central Glass Company, 
which enterprise he built up. He was also president of the German Fire 
Insurance Company of Wheeling, and was a prominent business man of the 
city. 



HENRY H. HORNBROOK, after many years of activity in business circles, is 
now living a retired life at his sightly home near Elm Grove. He was a 
vice-president of the Wheeling Iron & Nail Company, and later, manager of 
the Top Mill department in the Wheeling Steel & Iron Company for several 
years and was a very successful business man. He was born in Wheeling, 
West virginia, December 16, 1842, and is a son of Jacob Hornbrook. 

The Hornbrook family is of English extraction, and Jacob Hornbrook was the 
third in direct line of descent, bearing the name Jacob. Henry H. 
Hornbrook now has in his possession an old paper, mentioning the baptism 
of his grandfather. It is as follows: "Jacob, son of Jacob and Barbara 
Hornbrook, was baptized June 2, 1774, according to the Tavistock Meetings 
Register. Dated at Tavistock, February 6, 1796. Signed by W. Evans, 
Tavistock." This paper is kept between plates of glass, and is a relic 
highly prized, as it is the handwriting of his great-grandfather. 

Dr. Jacob Hornbrook, grandfather of Henry H., is the Dr. Hornbrook 
mentioned in on of the poems by Robert Burns. He came to America, located 
in Wheeling, and conducted a store on what is now Fifteenth street, as 
well as a copperas factory in the fifth ward until the time of his death. 
He and his faithful wife had five sons and one daughter, as follows: 
Thomas, who owned what is now Wheeling Park; Frank, who was in the ice 
business; Bickford, whose son is a noted preacher of New York; Edward, 
whose chief work was on the river; Jacob; and Elizabeth (Bier), all of 
whom are deceased. 

Jacob Hornbrook, father of Henry H., was born near Tavistock, England, and 
was a small boy when he accompanied his parents to America. He began as a 
young man on the flatboats, buying and selling produce and engaging in 
general traffic; at one time he owned a steamboat. he later started a 
notion store on Twelfth street, Wheeling, was interested in the Union 
Steamer Line, and was president of the Gas Company, in which he owned a 
controlling interest. he was interested in the First National Bank, with 
Mr. Adams and others. Just after the Civil War, he was a member of the 
legislature and was aide-de-camp to two governors, Pierpont and Boreman - 
during the war. He was a Whig in politics, and later a Republican, and 
voted for Fremont and Lincoln. he was a prominent figure in the early days 
of Wheeling and the business and progressive interests always found in him 
a willing and powerful supporter. In 1852, he retired from active business 
and moved to the vicinity of Wheeling park, where William Hubbard now 
resides, In 1836, he was joined in marriage with Anna M. Killen, who was 
born near Dublin, Ireland, September 7, 1820, and died March 14, 1886. 
Four children blessed this union, as follows: Corinna, born in 1837, who 
is the widow of John E. Wilson and travels extensively in this country and 
abroad; Henry R., who died at the age of two years; India, who married 
John G. Kelley, a son of Gen. B. F. Kelley, one of the first officers shot 
in the Civil War; and Henry H., who was with General Kelley when that 
officer fell. 

Although not yet of age, Henry H. Hornbrook enlisted in April, 1861, in 
Company C, 1st Reg., Va. Vol. Inf., for three months, participated in the 
first engagement, after Fort Sumpter was fired upon. General Kelley was 
shot there, and Mr. Hornbrook stood as sentry, unrelieved for forty-eight 
hours, where the General lay. Mr. Hornbrook was mustered out and re-
enlisted in Company H, 1st Reg. Vol. Inf., reformed, and attached to the 
Eighth army Corps. He was made 2nd lieutenant and subsequently 1st 
lieutenant of his company, and was largely in detached service as aide-de-
camp and quartermaster with Colonel Thoburn, a physician who later became 
colonel of the 1st Virginia regiment; he was killed in the Shenandoah 
Valley, in the engagement in which General Sheridan made his famous ride. 
Mr. Hornbrook was mustered out in 1865, after more than four years of 
faithful service, and returned to Wheeling. In 1866, he went to Missouri 
where he engaged in farming and stock raising for nine years. He then sold 
out and returned to Wheeling, taking up his residence at his present fine 
home, which was erected by Samuel Laughlin, and is known as a part of the 
old Cruger estate. He became part owner of a steamboat, and for several 
years was actively engaged in that work. He then went to the Top Mill as 
clerk, and later was advanced to the office of vice-president. In that 
capacity he served until it was merged into the Wheeling Steel & Iron 
Company. He became manager of that department of the company, and 
continued as such for several years, but since July, 1900, has lived in 
retirement. 

Mr. Hornbrook was first joined in marriage with Abigail Carter, a daughter 
of S. H. B. Carter, who died May 11, 1876, leaving four children, namely: 
May; June; Jessie; and Percival. Alice Cracraft, a daughter of Dr. George 
Cracraft, became his second wife, and they have one son, Earl, who is 
fourteen years of age. Mr. Hornbrook has a very fine homestead, including 
a large barn in which he keeps several blooded horses. He has 10 acres of 
land, ornamented with many beautiful trees and devoted to fruit raising 
and gardening. Politically, he has always been a staunch Republican. 



AUGUST ROLF, who has been prominently identified with various business 
interests in Wheeling since 1846, is not now actively engaged in any one 
line of business, but is a director and officer of a number of concerns. 
He was born in Hanover, Germany, August 13, 1828, and is the only living 
of 11 children born to his parents. He has gone twice to Germany on 
visits, the first time in 1883, when he found nearly all of his brothers 
and sisters alive, and again in 1892, when he was accompanied by his wife. 
Upon his second visit to his native land he found all had died but one 
brother, and he died later in 1896. Mr. Rolf is a son of Henry Rolf, who 
was a glass blower by trade. 

August Rolf learned the tailors' trade in Germany. He also obtained a good 
primary education, and then came to this country in 1846, when eighteen 
years of age. He located in Wheeling and was first employed as a 
journeyman in the tailor shop of Mr. Kammerer, on Tenth and Main Streets. 
In 1850 he went to New Orleans and there followed his trade for two years, 
after which he returned to Wheeling. Upon his return he was engaged in the 
restaurant and saloon business for a period of thirty-three years, with 
good results. He was first located where the store of Joseph Speidel 
Grocery Company now is on Main Street. In the "fifties" he was 1st 
Lieutenant of Company C, known as the German Rifles, in the state militia, 
and participated in the hanging of John Brown at Charleston. Governer 
Weiss had called out the militia, and Companies B and C responded, being 
under battalion commander Major Loring, who was under General Wheat. He 
served as 1st Lieutenant of Company C, and in 1861 enlisted with his 
company, becoming a part of the 2nd Reg. W.Va. Vol. Infantry. He served 
as first lieutenant under Capt. Edward Plankey. He had closed up his 
business in Wheeling when he enlisted, and until 1863 acted as adjutant of 
the regiment, when he resigned and returned home. He opened a saloon and 
restaurant on Main Street, but was later obliged to move, as the building 
was to be torn down. He moved to Center Wheeling, between Twenty-first and 
Twenty-second Streets, where he was located about a year, and then to 
another location where he remained for fifteen years. When the Grand Opera 
House was erected, Mr. Rolf opened the Phoenix Restaurant and Saloon, a 
fine establishment, which he conducted until 1884, when he sold out. He 
has not since actively engaged in business, but is a director and the 
treasurer of the German Fire Insurance Company, of Wheeling; a director of 
the National Bank of West Virginia, at Wheeling;; a director of the 
Wheeling & Elm Grove Railroad Company, and since 1884 has been active 
manager of Wheeling Park. He was one of the organizers of the German Fire 
Insurance Company, of Wheeling, and also of the German Bank of Wheeling. 
He was a member of the board of county commissioners and president of the 
gas board. 

Mr. Rolf was united in marriage, November 5, 1860, with Lena Wagner, who 
died April 1, 1864, leaving one son, George, who is with the Fostoria Gas 
Company, of Moundsville. The subject of this sketch was again married, 
January 5, 1865, to Mary Rodenbergh of Columbus, Ohio, who died November 
27, 1900. Their children were: William A. and Mary C., twins, the latter 
dying at the age of two weeks; and Amelia C. William A. Rolf resides at 
Pittsburg and is assistant secretary of the National Glass Company. Amelia 
C. Rolf married Albert L. Meyer, who is secretary and treasurer of the 
George R. Taylor Company, of Wheeling. The business of this company was 
established by George R. Taylor in 1844, and conducted by him until 1888. 
It was sold to Whitehill Brothers, who conducted it for a time. The George 
R. Taylor Company was incorporated by Mr. Taylor, John Truschel and N. 
Riester, and was reorganized in 1890 by Albert L. Meyer, William A. Rempe 
and George E. Johns, with the following officers: Mr. Johns, president; 
Mr. Rempe, assistant manager; and Mr. Meyer, secretary and treasurer. The 
place of business is at No. 1150 Main Street, the building extending 
through to Market Street. It is a three story building, which was erected 
and is owned by Mr. Taylor. They employ 40 people, and conduct the only 
strictly dry goods store in the city. Mr. Meyer was born in Wheeling in 
1864, and is a son of Charles F. Meyer, an early resident of this city. 
Albert L. Meyer spent nineteen years in the employ of George E. Stifel & 
Company. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer make their home with Mr. Rolf at No. 33 
Fifteenth Street, where he owns two fine homes side by side. He also owns 
another property at No. 63 Fifteenth Street. Socially Mr. Rolf is a member 
of the Arion Association, the Wheeling Turners' Society, and the Opera 
House Orchestra. His portrait is shown on a preceding page. 



JOHN W. SCHULTZE, a well-known resident of Wheeling, West Virginia, has 
been constantly in public office since 1856, and stands high in public 
esteem. He was born in Ohio, just across the river from Wheeling, at the 
head of Whiskey Run, January 27, 1836, and is a son of Frederick and 
Louisa M. (Koch) Schultze. 

Frederick Schultze was born in Germany, the family having a hereditary 
ownership in Lamb's Springs, on the Isle of Alsen. He and a friend, Mr. 
Hirsch, were inmates of a monastery together, and were educated for the 
Catholic priesthood. Becoming dissatisfied, and not feeling suited for 
that calling, both withdrew from the monastery. Mr. Schultze went to 
Denmark, where he became confidential secretary to a Danish landgrave, and 
after a time went to Omalieth, in the province of Hanover, where his 
parents lived, and where he learned the trade of glassblower, at Bipehart. 
He was married there and then crossed the Atlantic to this country, and 
located at Wheeling. After working in glass works for a time in East 
Wheeling, he engaged in the hotel business where the National Exchange 
Bank of Wheeling now stands. He conducted a hotel there for six months, 
and when the bank was built, moved to another building on Main street, 
near the bridge. In 1839 he moved to Ritchie town, where he rented the old 
Eckels House. In 1841, he built the White Horse tavern, which still 
stands. In 1853, he built a fine 10-room house at the corner of Thirty-
third and Chapline streets, where John W. Schultze now resides and has his 
office. Here he conducts a hotel until 1856, when he retired from active 
business. In December, 1870, he died at the advanced age of eighty-three 
years, lacking two weeks. His widow died in May, 1876, at the age of 
seventy-nine years. The following children blessed this union: Henry, a 
saddler and glass-blower, who died in 1892, leaving one son, A. J., who is 
a photographer Charles, deceased; John W.; and Theodore, a glassblower, 
who died in 1876. 

John W. Schultze was reared at Wheeling and attended school thirteen 
years. He first helped his father in the manufacture of vinegar and in 
1856, when his brother Henry was elected sergeant and collector, became 
his deputy, and has since been continually in public life. He also served 
as deputy to William Young, who succeeded his brother, and in 1858 secured 
the office himself. He served as sergeant and collector until 1861, and 
then enlisted in Company B, 1st Reg., Va. Vol. Inf., serving as captain's 
private secretary in the commissary department three months. Upon his 
discharge, he returned to Wheeling, was re-elected sergeant and collector 
and served until 1863. He was then elected constable of the township when 
the state was formed, and held that position until 1867. In October, 1867, 
he was elected a justice of the peace, an official capacity he has since 
maintained. He served as a member of the board of county commissioners 
from 1872 to 1880, during which time he was chairman of the poor farm 
committee. During his term great improvements were made at the poor farm, 
and the condition of its inmates was greatly improved. During the war, he 
was enrolling officer for the 10th subdistrict, and drafted soldiers for 
the government. From 1878, he was member of the first branch of the city 
council of Wheeling and served six years. In 1882, he was elected county 
coroner, and with the exception of two years has filled that office since. 
He also attends to a large amount of legal business, his territory 
extending from the vicinity of Moundsville to Wheeling Creek, and his 
office being at his home. 

Mr. Schultze was joined in marriage with Anna M. Kappler, who was born in 
Pittsburg, and is a daughter of Frank Kappler, a potter by trade, who came 
to this country from Alsace, and died of cholera in 1849. The former Mrs. 
Kappler is still living, being the widow of a Mr. Blatt, and one of her 
sons, John Blatt, is a deputy sheriff of Wetzel county, West Virginia. 
Mrs. Blatt is about eighty years of age, and is the mother of 17 
children - three of them by Mr. Kappler. Mrs. Schultze was four years of 
age when she was brought to Rose Hill farm, near Bellaire, and there 
reared to womanhood. Mr. and Mrs. Schultze became the parents of 11 
children, as follows: Emma; Charles F.; Sarah Jane; Theodore; John W.; 
George O. D.; Anna M.; H. Walter; August K.; Blackburn B. D.; and Hattie 
B. Emma died at the age of sixteen years; Charles F., assistant 
superintendent of mails in the Wheeling post office, was born in this city 
in 1865. He attended the public schools and worked for the glass 
manufacturing concern of Hobbs, Brockunier & Company from 1881 until 
October 17, 1887. On that date he entered the post office under Postmaster 
W. J. W. Cowden, as mailing clerk. He married Ella J. Carson, of Wetzel 
county, West Virginia. In January, 1901, he was elected a member of the 
board of education, and is also a notary public. He is a member of the 
Knights Templar, and present master of Ohio Lodge, No. 1, A.F. & A.M., and 
is a Thirty-second degree Mason. He was at one time captain of the local 
organization of the Sons of Veterans, and belongs to Black Prince Lodge, 
No. 19, K. of P., the Protected Home Circle, B.P.O.E., and the United Post 
Office Clerks' Association. Sarah Jane, the third child born to her 
parents, is the wife of Samuel G. Wells, a railroad man of Wheeling. 
Theodore, a potter and glass worker by trade, lives at home. John W., Jr., 
and George O. D. are also potters by trade, the latter being married. Anna 
M. is in the office of the National Telephone Company of West Virginia. H. 
Walter is a potter at East Liverpool, Ohio. August K. is a boss packer for 
the Wheeling Pottery Company. Blackburn B. D. is a potter and lives at 
home, and Hattie B. also lives at home. With the five grandchildren, there 
are four generations of the family living. 

Mr. Schultze has always been an active Republican. He is a member of Black 
Prince Lodge, No. 19, K. of P., and past grand chancellor of the Grand 
Lodge of West Virginia; has served through all the chairs and was first 
state counsellor of Washington Council, No. 1, O.U.A.M.; and belongs to 
LaBelle Lodge, No. 2, A.O.U.W., and J. W. Holliday Post, No. 12, G.A.R. He 
was originally a member of Filbourne Post, No. 4, which was established at 
Wheeling in the "sixties." In religious belief, he favors the Luthern 
church. 



LESTER SMITH, who is county assessor for the country district, with a 
territory embracing Ritchie, Triadelphia, Richland and Liberty districts, 
was elected to this position in November, 1900, to succeed Robert 
Anderson. He was born at Elm Grove, Ohio County, West Virginia, in 1860, 
and is a son of William C. and Anna (Keller) Smith. 

William C. Smith was born in 1833, in a log house near Lester Smith's 
present home, in what is known as Smith's Lane. He died in November, 1897, 
after having taught school for forty years, in the Triadelphia district. 
He was postmaster of Elm Grove at the time of his death. He married Anna 
Keller, who was born two miles from Elm Grove on what is now known as the 
Klages place. They reared three sons, all of whom are living, namely: G. 
W., who was recently appointed postmaster at Elm Grove; O. M. Who is a 
conductor on the motor line; and Lester. 

Lester Smith received a good common school education, and in his youth 
worked for various farmers; he was engaged for three years at Wheeling 
Park, in the employ of Thomas Hornbrook. From November, 1878, until 
October, 1899, he was employed as conductor on the Wheeling & Elm Grove 
Railroad. In November, 1900, Mr. Smith was elected county assessor, and 
this position he has continued to fill in a most able and creditable 
manner ever since. He keeps account of improvements made on real estate, 
of the land that is sold, and also an account of coal properties. 

Mr. Smith married Jennie C. Wharton, who was reared at Greggs, near Wood's 
Run. She is a daughter of John Wharton, who came from Virginia in 1840, 
with several of his brothers. At one time there were many members of the 
Wharton family, and several of these settled in Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Smith have been born the following children: Harry, who died when young; 
Clara, who is the wife of H. E. Shearing, a clerk in Wheeling, and has one 
child, Virginia Elizabeth; Frank; Jessie; Harrold; and Gertrude. Mr. Smith 
erected a comfortable home on his land of one and a half acres, which is 
conveniently near the Wheeling & Elm Grove Railroad. 

Politically, Mr. Smith is a Republican, and has been a member of the 
county committee from his district for the past twelve years. Fraternally, 
he is a member of the A.O.U.W.; K. of P.; and I.O.O.F. He also belongs to 
the Jr. O.U.A.M. He has held offices in the K. of P., and in the Jr. O. U. 
A. M. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



CECIL A. ROBINSON, a prominent and influential business man of Wheeling, 
West Virginia, has been district manager of the American Tin Plate Company 
since it's inception in 1899. The tin plate mill was established in 1895 
as an interest of the LaBelle Iron Works, of which he was then president. 
He has been identified with the LaBelle Iron Works since 1881, and has 
been a large factor in it's development into a gigantic industry. The 
offices of this company are now in Steubenville. The original company was 
organized as the firm of Bailey, Woodward & Company, a partnership 
representing 21 practical workmen, with a capital of $70,000. From this 
comparatively small start, the present large corporation and plant have 
grown, employing thousands of men. The old partnership continued until 
1876, when the LaBelle Iron Works were incorporated with a capital stock 
of $1,400,000. The capital stock is now $3,000,000 and the officers of the 
corporation are J. E. Wright, president; and W. E. Beswick, secretary. Mr. 
Robinson was born at Wheeling, January 1, 1855, and is a son of Alexander 
G. and Anna B. (Williams) Robinson, descended from prominent old families 
on both sides of the house. Alexander G. Robinson came to Wheeling in the 
early "forties" and was mainly engaged in the manufacture of wrapping 
paper and print paper, although he was at first a merchant for some years. 
He was a native of Washington, Pennsylvania, and died in 1886. His wife 
was born in Ohio County, West Virginia, in 1818, and probably the oldest 
native born resident of Wheeling. Her mother was also born in Ohio County 
in 1791, at the Forks of Wheeling Creek (now Elm Grove). Her father and 
grandfather were engineers employed in laying out the National Road. 

Cecil A. Robinson is the only child born to his parent now living. He was 
reared and educated at Wheeling, and has been identified with the iron 
business since 1875. He was first in the employ of the Aetna Iron & Nail 
Company, served in both the clerical and mechanical departments, and 
continued with that company until 1880. He was then engaged in the coal 
business a year and a half in Wheeling, and in 1881 his connection with 
the LaBelle Iron Works began. He has a thorough understanding of the 
business in all it's details, and has been very successful in his work. 

Mr. Robinson was joined in matrimony with Ellen Wright, a daughter of John 
Wright, on of the originators of the LaBelle Iron Works, and a stockholder 
therein. One daughter, Gertrude, has blessed this union. Mr. Robinson has 
a pleasant home at No. 65 South Penn Street, on the Island. Politically he 
is a Republican, and has served two terms in the city council of Wheeling. 
His father was a delegate to the national convention held in Chicago in 
1860, and cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln. The family is strongly 
Republican. Fraternally, Mr. Robinson is a member of the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, and other benevolent orders. Religiously he is a faithful 
member of the Presbyterian Church. 



ORVILLE C. DEWEY, for many years one of Wheeling's most distinguished 
citizens, now resides in his beautiful home at Echo Point, a suburb of 
which he was the founder. He was born at Cadiz, Ohio, November 12, 1833. 
On his paternal side, he is descended from ancestors who were of the old 
Puritan stock, and were prominently identified with the early history of 
the New England colonies. The first of the family to settle in America was 
Thomas Dewey, who emigrated from Sandwich, Kent County, England, under 
Governor Winthrop and Rev. John Warham, in 1630, and came to 
Massachusetts. From him was descended a line of the Dewey family, who have 
ever been distinguished, not only in the New England states, but in the 
Western country, in which many of them subsequently made their homes. The 
monument erected to Thomas Dewey, Jr., the first of the family born in 
America, who died in 1690, is standing today in the cemetery at Westfield, 
Massachusetts. From the second son, Josiah Dewey, descended the famous 
Admiral George Dewey, the celebrated Congregational preacher, Rev. Orville 
Dewey, and that noted lawyer and banker, Chauncey Dewey, of Cadiz, Ohio, 
father of Orville C. Dewey. 

Orville C. Dewey was educated in Cadiz, Ohio, and after a year in the Ohio 
University, at Athens, Ohio, went to Cincinnati to learn the theory of 
bookkeeping under John Gundry. After several years of service as 
bookkeeper in the edge tool manufacturing firm of Seybold & Company, and 
in the great grocery house of William Glenn & Son, both in Cincinnati, he 
went in 1856 to Philadelphia and became a clerk in the house of Kilgore, 
Wilson & Company (wholesale grocers), his father being the company. He 
received the munificent salary of $40 per month. His father sold his 
interest in the firm in 1860, and our subject came to Wheeling, West 
Virginia, where he has since made his home. 

His brother, Eliphalet C. Dewey, who was a wholesale grocer in Bridgeport, 
Ohio, came to Wheeling in 1848, and erected the first wire mills west of 
New England. Being of a mechanical turn of mind, he erected the Eagle 
Rolling Mill at the head of Twenty-fourth Street, and conducted the plant 
very profitably until the hard times existing from 1855 to 1857 carried 
him down. He turned over his mill to his father (who, being his endorser, 
assumed his liabilities). and then went to Texas, where he became a 
planter on the Brazos River, and died there in 1882. His father rented the 
mill to Pendleton & Company, and Orville C. Dewey became a member of the 
firm in 1861, having as partners, Joseph Pendleton, James Porter, William 
H. Russell, J. M. Todd and R. Watkins. Within two months after the time 
when he entered the firm, the mill burned down and the firm was dissolved. 
The mill having been rebuilt in 1861, he formed a new firm consisting of 
himself, J. N. Vance and William H. Russell, under the firm name Dewey, 
Vance & Company, with a capital of $15,000. At that time the mill 
contained only tree puddling furnaces, one scraping furnace, one crocodile 
squeezer, one set, two high muck rolls, one eight inch guide mill, and one 
twelve inch bar mill. For two years, until a tariff was placed on iron, 
times were hard, money was scarce, wages were, and profits were 
insignificant, for, England was sending iron via Baltimore and delivering 
it to the stores in Wheeling cheaper than it could be made in Center 
Wheeling and hauled up town. Puddled muck-iron cost $15 per ton in 
Wheeling, while in England it could be bought for $5 per ton. The 
introduction of the Bessemer process reduced the handicap from $10 per ton 
to 50 cents per ton, and then the industry thrived. Those were called good 
old Democratic times, but the Republican tariff changed all that. In 
addition to iron, England had been supplying commodities for wear, and for 
use in the arts and sciences. But while England had only a limited amount 
of iron, the United States had an unfailing supply of the ore required for 
the production of Bessemer steel, and the United States has thus secured 
the markets of the world for this product. The demand for iron increased 
immensely after the enactment on the tariff law, and forced an increase in 
capacity, so that in 1870 the firm had erected 45 puddling furnaces, which 
were running night and day, and increased the output from three tons to 90 
tons per day. It was then decided to erect a nail factory at the corner of 
Water and Twenty-third Streets. Mr. Dewey, after an exhaustive study of 
the factories of the country, erected there the largest, finest and most 
complete factory in the country. With the improvements introduced by him, 
the machines produced 300,000 more kegs, per annum, that any mill in the 
country of the same size. The strike of the mill workers was the greatest 
blow the city of Wheeling has ever had. At that time, of the ten million 
kegs of nails annually produced in the United States, seven and a half 
million or three-fourths of the entire output was made in Wheeling. By the 
time the strike was settled, the wire nail had been introduced, and so 
completely captured the market that not more than a half million kegs per 
year of the old style are now made in Wheeling. Desiring to obtain iron of 
better quality, it was decided by the firm to build a furnace for that 
purpose, the second on the Ohio River below Pittsburg. A location was 
found near Benwood, and there was erected in 1871 a furnace that was not 
second to any in the United States. These vast improvements evidently 
developed the inventive talent that was latent in him, for Mr. Dewey made 
many improvements in mill, factory and furnace, all labor saving in their 
nature. He contrived a machine for breaking up old car wheels, that 
reduced the necessary working force from 12 men to four men on every 12 
tons. He increased the width of the nail plate from 12 inches to 15 
inches, a great help in the output of nails. He introduced a self-acting 
plate cropper; a shove-under, to relieve the labor in passing the heavy, 
wide plate under the rolls (an improvement which he patented). He made a 
change in the bluing machine that saved many a dollar. He derived a new 
method of heating large factories. At the blast furnace, he found that the 
old style of hydraulic hoists was very dirty in operation, and 
unsatisfactory, as well as the pneumatic and steam hoists in use. One day 
in going up the elevator in the Monongahela House, Pittsburg, he wondered 
what kind of a hoist it was, and returning to the office got permission to 
examine it. He was soon convinced that just such a hoist would answer the 
purpose. He at once went to New York, and after a short interview with the 
famous firm of Otis & Company, they agreed to make one of the proper size 
to do the work, and said they had been trying to introduce them many 
times, but had never found anyone with courage enough to adopt them. They 
promised to send him a gold-headed cane as a testimonial to the courage of 
his convictions. Mr. Dewey says he is still waiting for that cane. The 
Otis hoists, or something similar, are now used in every furnace 
throughout the United States. 

About this time, there came into the firm, mainly through his 
instrumentality, Nathan Wilkinson, John D. Culbertson, Arthur McKee, W. L. 
Hearne, F. J. Hearne, and several of his old workmen, who had always, up 
to that period, been very faithful, and to some of whom he loaned money 
and his credit to enable them to become members of the firm. Today they 
are in very comfortable circumstances. To his men he was always a friend, 
and when he meets them now, They are pleased to speak of the good old 
days. About 1872, he sold out to his partners, and the name was changed 
from Dewey, Vance & Company to that of the Riverside Iron & Steel Works. 

Mr. Dewey was always very fond of music, and started Wheeling's first 
musical society, called the Philharmonic. This was afterwards changed to 
the Weisel Institute, in honor of Dr. Weisel who, among his other 
accomplishments, had shown great musical abilities, and had been made the 
leader by Mr. Dewey. He also established, and was a member of the famous 
quartet of St. Matthew's Protestant Episcopal Church, consisting of Mrs. 
Whitney, Mrs. W. H. Hennegen, Mr. Whipple (all of whom are now dead), and 
himself. He is also very fond of paintings, and of art generally. 

After Mr. Dewey's marriage, July 22, 1868 to Elizabeth Good Tingle, a 
daughter of George E. Tingle, and granddaughter of Hon. Andrew P. Woods, 
of Wheeling, he bought and rebuilt the house on the corner of Ninth and 
Main Streets, Wheeling, which he occupied for many years. His wife died 
May 12, 1882, leaving an only son, George Chauncey Dewey, who is in the 
mining business in Denver. In 1884, he bought part of the old Edgington 
place, east of the city, and has lived ever since on this property, which 
he called Echo Point. This country life was a wise venture, for, where he 
had hardly a house in sight at first, he now counts his neighbors by the 
hundreds, and the builder of the last house vies with his predecessors in 
following a dainty original design, affording every comfort and 
convenience. Mr. Dewey is a Republican in politics, but selects his 
candidates for county offices, without regard to party. He was for several 
years a director of the Bank of the Ohio Valley, and for several years, a 
vestryman of St. Matthew's Protestant Episcopal Church. From it's 
inception, he has been a director of the famous Warwick China Company. He 
was one of the originators, and the first president, of the Fort Henry 
Club, and is a member of the Wheeling Golf Club. He belongs to the Phoenix 
Lodge of Masons, in Philadelphia. Thirty years ago while building the 
furnace of his company, he used every effort to induce the Baltimore & 
Ohio Railroad Company to extend their Hempfield Railroad from Washington 
to the Connelsville coke fields, but without avail, as the railroad 
company was too well satisfied with things as they were. That situation 
remains unchanged to this day, and Mr. Dewey thinks that until Wheeling 
makes a strong move for it, she will not gain more manufactories than she 
now possesses. 



ALBERT BELTZ, who is engaged in the tailoring business in Wheeling, Ohio 
County, West Virginia, was born in Hessen, Germany, April 26, 1851, and is 
a son of Mathias Beltz. Mathias Beltz was born in Germany, July 14, 1825, 
and followed the occupation of a farmer all his life. His death occurred 
in 1896. He married Miss Augh, who was born in Germany, November 9, 1822. 
They reared the following offspring: Augustin; Albert, the subject of this 
sketch; Louis, who is a shoemaker in Wheeling; Adam J.; and Leo, who 
assists his brother Albert. 

Albert Beltz, whose name opens these lines, was raised on a farm, and at 
the age of fourteen years learned the trade which he now follows. In 1872 
he decided to come to the United States, and on the first day of May of 
that year he landed at Castle Garden, New York. He at once settled in 
Wheeling, where he was employed by Mr. Budke for eight years. In 1880 he 
started into business for himself, in partnership with Christian Roepke. 
He bought out Mr. Roepke in 1883, and in 1886 bough his present store at 
No. 84 Tenth Street. The building is one of brick, three stories high and 
50 by 22 feet in dimensions. Mr. Beltz has a large patronage, and is 
considered one of the best tailors in Wheeling. 

Mr. Beltz was married in Wheeling, June 15, 1873, to Nothburga Spiegal, 
who was born in Germany, February 22, 1846. They have reared the following 
offspring: Ottilia Amelia, born January 10, 1874; Anna L., born April 24, 
1876; Mary M., born July 23, 1878; Edwin L., born October 17, 1881; 
Elizabeth A., born February 21, 1884; Flora C., born March 7, 1887; and 
Bernetta R., born February 11, 1892. 

Mr. Beltz is a Democrat in politics. He belongs to the Catholic Church. He 
is president of the St. Alphonsus Society, treasurer of St. Alphonsus 
Orphan's Home, and trustee of St. Alphonsus' German Catholic Church of 
Wheeling. A portrait of Mr. Beltz accompanies this sketch. 



HENRY HELFENBINE, an esteemed and worthy citizen of Elm Grove, West 
Virginia, owns a fine blacksmith shop, and has conducted a profitable 
business in that town for a period of forty years. He is excelled by few 
in his line of business. 

Mr. Helfenbine was born in Germany, and at the age of thirteen years, came 
with his parents to the United States, and located on a farm at Roney's 
Point. He became apprenticed to learn the blacksmith's trade, served a 
full four-years apprenticeship, and subsequently worked at that trade as a 
journeyman, in the same locality. Desiring a change of location, he went 
to Fulton, where he followed the same occupation for some time. 

Triadelphia was his next field of labor and he worked there until 1861, 
when he embarked in business for himself. He built a blacksmith shop at 
Elm Grove, and commenced blacksmithing on a small scale. This shop was 
enlarged as trade increased, and in 1867 he purchased several acres of 
ground in close proximity to his shop and built a commodious residence, 
which is still his home. His business proved unusually successful and some 
time later he was enabled to purchase a 140-acre farm about three-quarters 
of a mile from Triadelphia, which he still owns. 

Mr. Helfenbine has been twice married. His first marriage was contracted 
with Minnie Grimme, a daughter of William Grimme, a prosperous farmer. 
Four children blessed this union, namely: William Martin, who is in the 
grocery business; Caroling, who married John Linton and lives on her 
father's farm; Laura, who died when twenty-six years old; and Minnie, who 
makes her home with her father. Mr. Helfenbine's second marriage was 
contracted with Annie Brensted. 

Fraternally the subject of this sketch is a member of the I.O.O.F., Lodge, 
No. 94, of Elm Grove, which he joined in 1878, and has passed through the 
chairs. For many years he has been an active member of the M. E. Church of 
Triadelphia. Mr. Helfenbine is now enjoying the fruits of a well spent 
life, esteemed by all who know him as a trustworthy and dutiful citizen. 



J. M. SHORTS, M.D., a prominent and influential citizen of West Liberty, 
Ohio County, West Virginia, is engaged in the practice of medicine and 
enjoys the patronage of many of the leading citizens of this section of 
the county. He was born at West Liberty in 1852, and is a son of David 
Shorts. 

David Shorts was born in Maryland and throughout his life was a practical 
mechanic. He lived to reach the age of seventy-one years. The subject of 
this sketch has four brothers and one sister, as follows: Catherine, wife 
of John E. Wayt, whose sketch appears on another page of this work; John, 
a mechanic of note, who was born in 1842, and died February 12, 1899; 
William, born in 1847, who is a mechanic and lives in West Liberty; 
George, who is also a mechanic; and David, who is a harness-maker by 
trade. The family is of Pennsylvania German descent. 

Dr. J. M. Shorts attended the common schools of West Liberty, and then 
took a course in the West Liberty State Normal School, of which he was one 
of the first graduates after it became a state institution. He then taught 
school for three years, and during this time studied medicine. In 1876 and 
1877 he attended the Miami Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, but was 
prevented from graduation because of sickness in the family. He returned 
home, and while attending his father his reputation as having attended a 
medical college got abroad, and he was soon called into practice. He 
located at West Liberty in 1880, and established a lucrative practice, 
which has ever since been on the increase. When a state law was passed 
requiring every physician to pass an examination and get a license from 
the state, he passed a very creditable examination. He also has a drug 
store which he established soon after coming to West Liberty, and this 
also enjoys a liberal patronage. He has thoroughly mastered the medical 
profession, and has gained the confidence of his patients and fellow 
citizens. 

In 1889 Dr. Short was joined in marriage with Louisa Swartz, a daughter of 
Charles Swartz, a confectioner, of Wheeling, West Virginia. They have on 
child, Laura L., who was born May 11, 1892, and is now attending school. 
Politically, the Doctor is a Democrat. He attends the Presbyterian Church. 
He has been industrious and frugal, and has amassed quite a property, 
consisting of farm land, and houses and lots in West Liberty, which he 
rents. 



WILLIAM POLLOCK. This gentleman, who is one of the foremost farmers in 
Ohio County, West Virginia, is living near Valley Grove. He was born in 
Ohio County, in 1826, and is a son of Thomas Pollock. 

Thomas Pollock was born in Pennsylvania, where he followed the occupation 
of a farmer for a great many years. He and his wife were the parents of 
eight children, namely: David; Margaret; Thomas; James. M.; Mary; Jane; 
William and an infant unnamed. David was born in Ohio County, and died in 
1865. Margaret died in 1841. Thomas, a saddler, who worked in Pittsburg 
for twelve years, moved to Jefferson County, Iowa, where he died on his 
farm, aged eighty-seven years. James M. Was born in 1818, and taught 
school in his younger days. He was associated with William in the grocery 
business in West Alexander, Pennsylvania, and since 1851 has been engaged 
in farming with his brother. Mary, deceased, was the wife of W. T. Gilmor. 
Jane, widow of John Sawhill, is living near Claysville, on a farm. 

William Pollock attended the common schools of his native county, and at 
the age of twenty-two years began to teach school. Later, in connection 
with his brother James, he engaged in the grocery business, but now 
finding this to his liking, he sold out in 1851, and removed to West 
Alexander to the farm on which he was reared. He has been very successful 
in farming, and has greatly profited by the experience of his brother, who 
carries on farming with him on the old homestead. The house is situated on 
the highest part of the land, and commands a beautiful view of the 
surrounding country. Mr. Pollock, at considerable labor and expense, cut a 
road from the National Pike through his land and up the hill to his house. 
The land which he owns is under a fine state of cultivation and everything 
about the farm is kept in excellent condition. 

Mr. Pollock and his brother are unmarried. The former is a Republican and 
cast his first vote for Gen. John C. Fremont, in 1856. Mr. Pollock belongs 
to the United Presbyterian Church at West Alexander, Pennsylvania. 



JOHN M. POTTER, a successful farmer of Ohio County, West Virginia, has 
been engaged in agricultural occupation for a number of years. He was born 
at Valley Grove, in Ohio County, in 1836, and is a son of Benjamin Potter, 
and a grandson of Weaver Potter. Weaver Potter was born in Pennsylvania, 
and his death occurred in the West, at an advanced age. Benjamine Potter 
was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and died there in 1877, at 
the age of sixty-five years. Two sons were left to mourn him, namely: John 
M., and another, who was a traveling salesman for many years and died in 
1873. 

John M. Potter was twenty-one years old when he engaged in the teaming 
business. He continued at that but a short time and then began his career 
as a farmer, which has been his occupation ever since. He has a perfect 
knowledge of agricultural matters, and has been highly successful. 

Mr. Potter married in 1861, Anna Jane Pearson, a daughter of John Pearson, 
who was born in Ohio County, and died in 1870. Anna Jane, wife of the 
subject hereof, died in 1899, aged sixty-two years. Four children were 
left to mourn her death, namely: Ella, who is unmarried and is keeping 
house for her father; David B., who was born in 1865, married Jennie 
Moore, and has two children; Charles, born in 1890, and Floyd, born in 
1893; Mary, who married Elmer Sells and has three children, Minnie, born 
in April, 1887, Mamie, born in 1894, and Emeline, born in 1899; and 
Edward, who was born in 1877, and married Lulu Berry in June, 1901. 

The subject of this sketch cast his first vote for Gen. John C. Fremont, 
in 1856, and since that time has voted the Republican ticket. He attends 
the United Presbyterian Church. Mr. Potter is a highly respected citizen 
of Valley Grove, and his friends in the community are many. 



DR. J. R. CALDWELL has been located in West Liberty, Ohio county, West 
Virginia, since 1897, and in that time has taken the led in his 
profession, and now commands a large and lucrative practice. He was born 
July 2, 1872, and is a son of W. R. Caldwell. 

The Caldwell family is one which has long been prominently identified with 
the affairs of Ohio county. John Caldwell, great-grandfather of the 
Doctor, was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1783, and died in Ohio 
county, West Virginia, in 1872, at the age of eighty-nine years. He came 
to this county early in the nineteenth century and purchased a tract of 
land on Short Creek, where he built the first grist-mill and also the 
first woolen mill in that part of the country. These mills were much 
needed at the time, for without a mill the grain had to be ground in a 
primitive manner, and the people were obliged to card wool and make their 
cloth by hand. John Caldwell married Rebecca Hedges, a daughter of Joseph 
Hedges, who was born in Ohio. 

Joseph Caldwell, grandfather, of Dr. Caldwell, was born on Short Creek, 
Ohio county, July 23, 1829, and became a merchant at West Liberty, where 
he conducted a store until his retirement, in 1901. He married Mary 
Ridgely, a daughter of Richard Ridgely, who was born in Ohio county, and 
died at the age of sixty-nine years. The latter was a son of Paragon 
Ridgely, who had come with his brother Absalom from Maryland, both being 
wealthy men and large slave owners; they purchased many acres of land in 
Ohio county, and long before the war freed the slaves in their possession, 
and at their own expense sent them to a free state. 

Dr. J. R. Caldwell attended the common schools, after which he entered the 
West Liberty State Normal School. He took a course of three years' study, 
and graduated from that institution with honor. He then taught school for 
three years, and in the meantime entered upon the study of medicine. At 
the end of that period he entered Rush Medical College, of Chicago, and 
was graduated after three years of study, with high honors, in 1896. He 
was then located at St. Clairsville, Ohio, for one year, and in 1897 
returned to his native town, West Liberty. Although four other 
practitioners are located there, his ability was soon recognized, he made 
a success from the start, and his practice has steadily increased ever 
since. In addition to caring for his practice, he conducts a prescription 
drug store. 

Fraternally, Dr. Caldwell is a member of Lodge No. 26, A.F. & A.M., of 
West Liberty, and Lodge No. 24, K. of P., of Elm Grove. He is a 
Republican, in politics, and is a member of the executive committee of the 
West Liberty State Normal School, having been appointed by the state. He 
is a member of the West Virginia Medical Society and the American Medical 
Association. 



CHARLES F. OTTO, who is proprietor of the Diamond restaurant at 1134 
Market Street, Wheeling, West Virginia, whose portrait appears on the 
foregoing page, is one of the worthy citizens of this city. He was born in 
Saxony, Germany, January 8, 1847, and attended the public schools of his 
native town. He learned the trade of a cook while in Germany, and this he 
followed until he came to America. 

Mr. Otto arrived in the United States in 1880, and located in Wheeling. He 
was chef at the McLure House for one year, when he entered into business 
for himself. He opened up a restaurant near the bridge on Market Street, 
which he conducted until 1884. He then had a restaurant on another part of 
Market Street, and in 1888 removed to his present location. He is most 
excellently located and his restaurant is very well patronized by the best 
citizens of Wheeling. Mr. Otto is one of the reliable and well-to-do 
residents of Wheeling, and in addition to the restaurant business is 
interested in several other enterprises here. 

Mr. Otto was married in Germany in 1872 to Ernestina Kuentzel, and to them 
have been born three children, namely: Max, who graduated fro the Ohio 
Wesleyan University in the class of 1895, and is now a minister at 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Helene and Marie, who are both at home. Mr. Otto 
is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, as are the rest of the 
family. He takes but a slight interest in politics, but is always willing 
to give his aid to any worthy cause which tends to benefit those in the 
community in which he lives. 



WILLIAM L. PERRINE, who has been engaged in the harness-making business at 
his present location in West Liberty since 1832, was born in Ohio County, 
Virginia, January 12, 1820. 

Mr. Perrine is a son of Lewis and grandson of William Perrine. His 
grandfather was born in England, and was a sea-faring man during his 
younger days. He decided to abandon the life of a sailor, came to America, 
and settled in New Jersey. He was married and remained there until 1795, 
when he moved to Wheeling, where he lived until his death, in 1823, at the 
advanced age of eighty years. At the time of coming to this country he 
brought with him half a case of gallon bottles, one of which has been in 
the possession of the family more than one hundred and fifty years, and is 
kept by William L. Perrine at the present time. 

Lewis Perrine was born at Wheeling in 1798, and died at the age of seventy-
seven years. He married Eleanor Donahue, whose mother, Nancy, had 
presented to her a snuff box, which Mr. Perrine still retains in his 
possession. The following children blessed this union: William L., the 
eldest, and the only one of the children now living; George W.; James F.; 
Ellen M.; Louisa; and Samuel. 

At the age of twelve years William L. Perrine began to learn the saddle 
and harness-making trade with his uncle, upon the historic grounds where 
he now lives. It was there that the first cabin in the county was built, 
which was called Black's Cabin. In his yard also is the famous spring 
which for two centuries was widely known as a watering place for the 
Indians and for the white men when in this locality. The Indians, located 
just over the line in Ohio, had the forests of this locality for a hunting 
ground, and camped at this spring. They fought hard against the white men 
obtaining possession of this ground, and many a man has breathed this last 
upon this plot of land, not only during the Indian warfare but in the 
contest for supremacy between England and France, before the days of the 
American Revolution. In 1778 the town of West Liberty was made the county 
seat and the officials of the town and the citizens fall procured their 
drinking water from this spring. Mr. Perrine continued to work in the shop 
at this place until 1850, when it was vacated as being to old to use. He 
built another shop beside it, where he has since continued to ply his 
trade with good results. He has led a serene and uneventful life, being 
content to remain at home and give his entire attention to his business. 
In fact, he has been away from home very little, and has never rode on a 
street car or a railway train. 

William L. Perrine was twice married, but both wives have passed away, as 
well as all his children, and he is left alone to enjoy the fine home he 
has built and the competency he has laid by. 



HOWARD CAMPBELL RICHARDS is a prominent young attorney with office at No. 
1404 Chapline Street, who served one term as sheriff of Ohio County, West 
Virginia, in a most efficient manner. He was born in this city October 19, 
1863, and is a son of Henry Smith and Mary (Campbell) Richards. 

Mr. Richards received his primary education in the public schools of 
Wheeling, after which he took a complete course in the Wheeling Business 
College, graduating with distinction. He then became secretary of the 
Wheeling Mining & Manufacturing Company, a position he filled with credit 
for a number of years. Later he successfully engaged under his own name in 
the merchant tailoring business in partnership with his father, who had 
been in that business for many years, and in this continued until elected 
on the Republican ticket, sheriff of Ohio County in November, 1896. The 
efficient and able manner in which he discharged the duties of his office 
won for him the hearty approval of the people, irrespective of party. 
Democrats and Republicans unite in declaring him to have been one of the 
most satisfactory sheriffs the county ever had, although he was the 
youngest. Being ineligible for a consecutive term, Mr. Richards took up 
the study of law, and during the past summer pursued a course in the law 
department of the University of Virginia. He took the state bar 
examination before the law faculty of the West Virginia University at 
Morgantown, and was granted a certificate upon which he was admitted to 
practice law by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, and at once 
began the active duties of his chosen profession. A young man, possessing 
ability, tireless energy, and a courageous spirit, he can reasonably 
aspire to a high rank in the not distant future. 

Mr. Richards is single and resides at No. 1114 Chapline Street, Wheeling. 
He is prominent in Revolutionary circles, being a great-great-grandson of 
Capt. Nathaniel Irish, a great-grandson of Capt. Thomas Wylie, and a great-
great-nephew of Major McColloch and Capt. Henry Smith, all officers in the 
Continental army, for the state of Pennsylvania. Politically, he is a 
strong advocate of Republican principles, and takes an active part in the 
affairs of his party. In religious attachment, he is a member of the First 
Presbyterian Church of Wheeling. Fraternally, he is a member of Nelson 
Lodge, No. 30, A.F. & A.M.; Wheeling Union Chapter, No. 1, R.A.M.; 
Wheeling Commandery, No. 1, K. T.; Osiris Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S.; and Black 
Prince Lodge, No. 19, K. of P. He is also a member of the Sons of the 
American Revolution and of the Fort Henry Club. 



JOHN A. HESS, of the firm of C. Hess & Sons, merchant tailors, ranks as 
one of the prominent men in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia. He is a 
director of the Wheeling Title & Trust Company, Peoples Bank, Spears Axle 
Company, Trimble & Lutz Company, is interested in the Hicks & Hoge Dry 
Goods Company, the F. W. Bammer Company, and the German Bank of Wheeling, 
and is identified with many other enterprises. Mr. Hess is a son of 
Christian and Agnes (Blum) Hess, natives of Germany. 

Christian Hess was born November 18, 1825, and is a son of Jacob Hess, who 
was a tailor by trade and came from Germany to America in 1852, dying in 
that year at Cincinnati, Ohio. Christian learned the trade of a tailor 
from his father and located in America in 1846. He finished his 
apprenticeship with Lawrence Werner of Cincinnati, after which he came to 
Wheeling, West Virginia and worked in the tailor shop of Daniel Schambra. 
He subsequently entered into partnership with Christian Hausenhour, which 
existed until 1848, at which time Mr. Hess assumed the entire business. In 
1855, he erected a building on the corner of Fourteenth and Main Streets, 
which he still owns. January 31, 1877, two sons, Clement and John A., were 
admitted to the firm; Clement died April 28, 1899, at the age of forty-
four years. January 31, 1883, the present building at Nos. 1321-23 Market 
Street was completed and is still occupied by the firm. The building has a 
frontage of 25 feet, with a depth of 135 feet; it consists of three 
stories, all of which are utilized by the firm. February 1, 1887, another 
son, Henry, was taken into the firm, Christian Hess having retired from 
active business about 1875. John A. and Henry Hess have since conducted 
the business. 

At various times Charles Hess has been identified with important business 
interests of Wheeling and vicinity. He was one of the incorporators and 
for many years a director in the Peoples Bank, and was also an 
incorporator of the German Fire Insurance Company of Wheeling. He is a 
stockholder in the Belmont, Benwood, Bellaire and Riverside nail and steel 
works, the Central Glass Company, the Wheeling Steel & Iron Company, and 
is interested in various glass industries. He was one of the first members 
of the Arion Association. At the time of his locating at Wheeling, there 
were no musicians in the city aside from himself and a Mr. Yeager, and 
they furnished music for public entertainment, finding it very profitable 
as well as an enjoyable pastime. Mr. Hess has been twice married. His 
first marriage was contracted with Agnes Blum, a native of Germany. She 
died in 1880, aged forty-nine years. They reared a large family of 
children, only four of whom are now living, namely: Anna J., wife of 
Joseph A. Glessenkamp of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, who is in the wholesale 
carriage manufacturing business; Mary Agnes, who is still at home; Henry 
N., a native of Wheeling, who married Lona Lang and has one son, Andrew 
Christian Maxmilian,--he resides at the corner of Eighteenth and Wood 
Streets and is a member of the Carroll Club and Arion Association; and 
John A. Hess. Those children deceased are: Henry, Sophia, Ludwig and 
Christian Wilhelm, all of whom died in infancy; Anthony, who died at Notre 
Dame University in 1875, while a college student, being then twenty-one 
years of age; and Joseph G., who was in the furniture business and died in 
Omaha, Nebraska, in 1892, at the age of thirty-nine years. The second 
marriage of Christian Hess was with the widow of Christian Welty. 

John A. Hess was born in Wheeling, September 19, 1851. He was reared and 
educated in Wheeling, attending the parish school and also the private 
school of Professer Harding. At the age of fourteen years, he entered his 
father's store, served an apprenticeship under him, and became a cutter, 
continuing that line of work until admitted to membership in the firm. The 
firm employs about 30 persons and is one of the largest of it's kind in 
this part of the country. 

Mr. Hess is unmarried and makes his home with his father at No. 811 Main 
Street. Socially, he is president of the Arion Association, of which he 
was an incorporator and is a member, and was also an incorporator of the 
Carroll Club, to which he now belongs. He attends divine services at St. 
Joseph's Cathedral. He was a member of the Wheeling Park Association from 
the time of it's inception until Wheeling Park came under the control of 
the Wheeling and Elm Grove Railroad; he was one of the original 
stockholders. In fraternal circles, he is a member of Reliance Lodge. No. 
18, A.O.U.W.; and Lodge No. 28, B.P.O.E. 



JOHN COX HUPP, A.M., M.D., a distinguished physician of Wheeling, West 
Virginia, whose portrait appears herewith, comes from a family noted for 
heroism and sacrifice in the days of Indian warfare. Philip, John, Frank, 
Palsar and another brother whose name is not now known, came in 1770 to 
the frontier from the Shenandoah Valley, and settled on the Dutch Fork of 
the Buffalo, in what is now Washington County, Pennsylvania, then claimed 
as a part of Virginia. Frank Hupp was shot by an Indian at Jonathan Link's 
cabin, 12 miles west of Wheeling, on Middle Wheeling Creek, in September, 
1771. John, grandfather of John Cox Hupp, was killed while defending 
Miller's blockhouse on Buffalo Creek from the Indians on Easter Sunday, 
1772. Palsar Hupp settled on the banks of the Monongahela, near Millsboro, 
and Philip settled in Dutch Creek Valley. 

John Hupp, one of the brothers above members, left a son of the same name 
(the father of the subject in this sketch), who was two years old at the 
time of the siege of the blockhouse, in which he was when his father was 
killed. He was born July 27, 1780, and on January 19, 1813, was married to 
Ann Cox, by whom he had four children: Isaac; Joseph; Louisa; and John 
Cox, of whom only the last named survives. The father died March 12, 1864, 
and the mother, who was born June 7, 1791, died November 26, 1875. 

John Cox Hupp was born in Donegal township, Washington County, 
Pennsylvania, November 24, 1819. He was educated at West Alexander Academy 
and Washington College, Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1844, 
taking the degree of A. M. In 1848. He was a fellow student in this 
institution of the illustrious James G. Blaine. He studied medicine under 
Dr. F. Julius LeMoyne and at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1847. He located in Wheeling, 
December 16, 1847, and commenced practice in a humble way. A hard, close 
student, with fixed purpose to excel in his calling, success was his 
reward. He built up a wide and lucrative practice, and reached the 
pinnacle of his profession. He was the founder of the State Medical 
Society, and on February 20, 1870, brought chloral hydrate to the notice 
of the profession in a case of puerperal mania. In 1873 he inaugurated the 
policy in the Wheeling schools that when a female teacher does the work of 
a male instructor she shall have the same remuneration and rank as he 
would. In 1873 he made a successful effort before the board of education 
to obtain free school education for colored children, and to establish 
free night schools. In 1875, through his influence, the German language 
became a branch of study in the public schools, and in 1877 he was equally 
successful in making industrial drawing a regular branch of study in the 
schools. For these liberal efforts he was serenaded by his German friends, 
and the colored citizens presented him with a gold-headed cane. In 1875 he 
was appointed a delegate of the American Medical Association to the 
European Medical Association, which met at Brussels, and was a member of 
the executive committee of the Centennial Medical Commission to the 
International Medical Congress at Philadelphia in 1876. Dr. Hupp witnessed 
the first cremation in the United States in 1876, that of Baron de Palm at 
Washington, Pennsylvania, in the crematory built under the direction of 
his former preceptor, Dr. LeMoyne, in which Dr. Gross was subsequently 
cremated. Dr. Hupp has numerous notable surgical cases to his credit, and 
has contributed many valuable papers to the leading medical journals of 
the country. In 1850 he was physician to the Ohio County almshouse and 
jail, to the United States District Court, to the city board of health, 
and to the Children's Home; and in 1863 he was commissioned by Governor 
Pierpont as state vaccine agent, and was re-appointed by Governors 
Boreman, Stevenson and Jacobs, serving in all fifteen years. He was 
president of the Ohio county board of supervisors, and in 1862 became 
United States pension examining surgeon. He was president of the board 
until he resigned in 1888, and was visiting physician to the West Virginia 
Home for Aged and Friendless Women. He is a consulting physician of the 
new city hospital. 

Dr. John Cox Hupp possesses literary ability to a high degree, and has a 
vast fund of interesting reminiscences of the early days of the border 
line of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and has contributed largely to the 
press, and also to Creigh's History of Washington County, Pennsylvania. An 
additional testimonial to his qualifications in this respect is found in 
the fact that by the voice of his college classmates at the reunion held 
at Washington, Pennsylvania, August 4, 1869, he was chosen to prepare the 
quarter century historical sketch of his classmates; other duties, 
however, prevented his performance of this work. He is well equipped with 
diaries and voluminous scrapbooks, denoting much mental occupation and 
energetic investigation through all departments of human interest. Dr. 
Hupp has an extensive circle of friends. He was a strong Unionist during 
the Civil War. 

Dr. Hupp was married March 1, 1853, and of his family of three sons and 
three daughters one son is deceased. Two sons and two daughters live in 
Wheeling. 



DR. DAVID H. TAYLOR is a leading member of the medical profession of the 
city of Wheeling. He was born in Indiana, January 25, 1848, and is a son 
of William Penn Taylor. 

The grandfather of Dr. Taylor was born in Ireland, and came to the United 
States when twelve years of age. When thirty years old he accepted a 
position under President Monroe, and retained it during the administration 
of President Adams, but with the rest of the office holders was supplanted 
during the administration of Andrew Jackson. Subsequently he and his wife 
went west to Indiana, where he cleared a home out of the wilds, building 
the first stone house and barn in Switzerland County, Indiana. 

William Penn Taylor was born in Indiana, February 22, 1824, and followed 
agricultural pursuits until his death in 1892. He was an enterprising and 
public spirited citizen, and took an earnest interest in educational 
matters. He and his wife became the parents of five children, as follows: 
Cecelia, who for a time taught school, married D.C. Kern and lives in 
Switzerland County, Indiana; David H., the subject of this sketch; William 
R., who is practicing medicine at Fort Recovery, Ohio; Estella, who also 
taught school, married Samuel Yates, and died in 1897; and Martha, who 
died in childhood. 

Dr. Taylor attended the public schools of Switzerland County, Indiana, and 
also Moorefield Academy. He taught school a number of years, and then 
began his preparation for the medical profession. After reading medicine 
four years he entered the Miami Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 
1875, and received a diploma in March, 1878. He began practice at East 
Union, Ohio, where he remained three years, and then moved to Summerfield, 
Ohio, and practiced until 1884. In that year he came to Wheeling, West 
Virginia, and is now located at No. 29 Twentieth Street. He has met with 
much success in this city, and has established a large general practice. 
He has taken an active interest in the affairs of Wheeling, and served one 
term in the city council, from the fifth ward. He is now serving his 
second term as a member of the state board of health, and has been 
president of the Provident Life Insurance Company of Wheeling from it's 
infancy. He is now supreme master of the Shield of Honor, a flourishing 
fraternal insurance order. In politics, he is a Republican. 

In 1883 Dr. Taylor was united in marriage with Margaret A. Muldoon, who 
was born at Steubenville, Ohio, in 1858, and is a daughter of Thomas and 
Mary Muldoon. They became the parents of five children, as follows: May 
I., born October 12, 1883, at Summerfield, Ohio; Estella, born April 16, 
1885; Clyde, who died at the age of three years; Harry, born December 1, 
1892; and Earl, born August 9, 1894. Dr and Mrs Taylor have many friends 
in Wheeling, and are held in the highest esteem by their numerous 
acquaintances. 



JOSEPH F. PAULL, the subject of this sketch, was born in Wheeling, 
Virginia (now West Virginia), and is a son of the late Judge James Paull, 
of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, and grandson of Col. 
George Paull, of the 27th Regiment, US Infantry (Ohio troops), in the War 
of 1812, and who served bravely under General Harrison in the Northwest 
Army, and great-grandson of Col. James Paull, who was a soldier of the 
Revolutionary War, and who also served under Col. William Crawford in his 
disastrous encounter of the 5th of June, 1782, on the plains of Sandusky, 
Ohio. Mr. Paull's mother was a daughter of Hon. Joseph L. Fry, an eminent 
lawyer, from 1831 to 1852 circuit judge of the First Judicial District of 
Virginia, whose great-grandfather was Col. Joshua Fry, an English 
gentleman of worth and education, who held many distinguished offices 
under the Colonial government, civil engineer, professor at William and 
Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia, commissioner of the Crown, one of 
the commissioners at the Treaty of Logstown, appointed commander of the 
Virginia forces by Governor Dinwiddie in 1754. The highest honors of the 
colony were within grasp of Col. Joshua Fry when his death at Will's 
Creek, en route to Fort Cumberland, closed his career and placed 
Lientenant-Colonel George Washington in command (see Spark's "Life of 
Washington," pp. 104, 126). 

Joseph F. Paull, our subject, married Emma Senseney, a daughter of the 
late Jacob Senseney, of Wheeling, and they have three children, James S.; 
Joseph F., Jr.; and Rebecca C. Mr. Paull is the manager for the Phoenix 
Assurance Company, of London, England, for the state of West Virginia, 
president of the Wheeling Stamping Company and a director of the Bank of 
Wheeling. He resides at Woodsale (The Sycamores), two miles east of 
Wheeling, West Virginia. 



MICHAEL L. FREISMUTH is one of the oldest and best barbers and 
hairdressers in the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, and has followed that 
trade all his life at his present shop at No. 9 Alley 9, which was 
established over half a century ago. He is a native of Saverne, Alsace, 
France, where he was born December 17, 1855. 

In 1870 Mr. Friesmuth came to America, and located in Wheeling, where he 
immediately became apprenticed in the shop of Victor Sauvageot, one of the 
foremost barbers of the city. Ten years later, in 1880, he succeeded Mr. 
Sauvageot in the business, and has since conducted a most profitable trade 
among the best class of people in Wheeling. The business was first 
established by Mr. Sauvageot fifty-three years ago. 

On September 14, 1878, Mr. Freismuth married Elizabeth Raas, a sister-in-
law of his former manager in the business, and a daughter of Martin and 
Barbara Raas, who was born February 27, 1856. Nine children were born to 
them, as follows: John; Kate; Joseph; Albert; Elizabeth; Eleanora; Regina; 
Michael, deceased; and William. The family are members of the Catholic 
church, attending St. Joseph's Cathedral. 

Mr. Freismuth is an active member of the Alsace-Lorraine Society. In 
politics, he is a decided Republican. He is a trusted business man, who 
was made his way to the front, and is one of Wheeling's most valued 
citizens. 



FRANK H. KREBS is a prominent liveryman of Wheeling, and conducts a first-
class establishment at No. 56 Thirty-sixth Street. He was born at 
Clarington, Ohio, June 25, 1869, and is a son of Samuel Krebs. 

Samuel Krebs was born at Kreb's Landing, an old landmark on the Ohio 
River, between Powhatan and Clarington, in 1835, and is a farmer at that 
place. He is a Democrat in politics, whilst in religious belief he is a 
German Lutheran. He was united in marriage with Salma Grall, who was born 
in Powhatan, Ohio, in August, 1848, and lives at Kreb's Landing. This 
union resulted in 14 children, 12 of whom are now living, as follows: 
Frank H.; Eva, who married Edward Griffiths, a merchant, of Cleveland, 
Ohio; Charles E., a member of the Jewett Car Company, at Newark, Ohio; 
Annie, wife of Henry Heller, a cigar maker at Park View; George, who is a 
blacksmith of Bellaire, Ohio; August, who is employed at the Riverside 
Mill; and Louis, Bertha, Ernest, Jesse and Paul, who are at home. 

Frank H. Krebs was born at Clarington, Ohio, June 25, 1869, and came to 
Wheeling in 1891. He worked in the livery business for some time, first 
for John Dumas and subsequently for Burns & Church. He then drove a hack 
for himself until 1895, when he embarked in the livery business at No. 56 
Thirty-sixth Street. He keeps a fine line of vehicles and horses, is very 
accommodating and enjoys a first class patronage. 

Mr. Krebs was united in marriage, December 16, 1896, with Lydia Murrin, 
daughter of Thomas Murrin, of Wheeling. Religiously, they are members of 
the Third Presbyterian Church, of which he is one of the trustees. He is a 
member of the Shield of Honor, and the Korn Kob Klub. Politically, he is a 
Democrat. 



WILL GUTMAN. This gentleman, those portrait accompanies this sketch, is 
one of the firm of Gutman & Company, of Wheeling, West Virginia, and is 
also actively interested in local politics,--at present holding the office 
of county commissioner. Mr. Gutman was born in Wheeling, in 1864, and is a 
son of M. Gutman, who was for many years one of the prominent business men 
of Wheeling. 

M. Gutman located in Wheeling in the "fifties," having removed here from 
Baltimore. He engaged in mercantile business on the corner of Main and 
Twelfth Streets, and conducted this business under the firm name of M. 
Gutman & Company for a period of forty-five years. His death occurred at 
the age of sixty years. His brother David and his sons Louis and Will now 
conduct the business, under the style of Gutman & Company, at the same 
corner. Seven children were born to Mr. Gutman and his wife, five of whom 
are now living in Wheeling. The children are: M., who is a banker of New 
York City; Mrs. L. G. Hirsch, a widow, who lives at The McLure, in 
Wheeling; Will; Ed., who is retired and lives in Philadelphia; Louis, of 
the firm of Gutman & Company; and Emma and Bessie, who live at The McLure. 

Will Gutman, whose name appears at the opening of these lines, was reared 
and schooled in Wheeling. He attended Linsly Institute for several years. 
For fifteen years he was engaged in mercantile business for himself, under 
the firm name of W. Gutman. On January 1, 1902, he became a member of the 
firm of Gutman & Company. Mr. Gutman is a shrewd businessman of more than 
ordinary ability. 

Mr. Gutman married Blanche David, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and they have 
two daughters, Nettie Hirsch, aged five years; and Julia David, aged one 
and a half years, Mrs. Gutman has several relatives who are engaged in 
conducting large newspapers, including the New York Times and Chattanooga 
Times. 

For the past five years Mr. Gutman has been actively engaged in political 
work, being associated with Senator N.B. Scott and Colonel Horkheimer. In 
1896 he was elected to the office of county commissioner, and in 1900 was 
reelected for another term. He does much campaign work, and has become 
very well known in political circles in West Virginia. He is a member of 
several clubs, among them the Mercantile Club. He is also a member of the 
board of trade. He is a firm and strict believer in the Jewish faith. 



CHARLES W. FRANZHEIM, a prominent citizen of Wheeling, West Virginia, is 
president of the Wheeling Pottery Company, the first pottery works 
established in the city, and is also president of the Riverside Pottery 
Company. Mr. Franzheim was born in Wheeling, in February, 1853, and is a 
son of George W. and Mary A. (Hornung) Franzheim. 

George W. Franzheim was born in 1824, in Waechtersbach, near Frankfort, 
Germany, and in 1840 crossed the Atlantic to this country, locating in the 
city of Wheeling. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank 
(now Bank of the Ohio Valley), also of the Franklin Insurance Company of 
Wheeling, and is a member of the city council and board of county 
commissioners for many years. He served in the militia as a major during 
the Civil War. He was united in marriage at Cincinnati, Ohio, with Mary A. 
Hornung, who was born at Allentown, Pennsylvania, of German parentage, and 
who now resides at Echo Point. 

Six sons blessed this union: Charles W.; George W., Jr., deceased; Louis 
H., deceased; Albert A., contractor and ex-sheriff; Henry C., a member of 
the firm of G. Mendel & Company; and Edward B., the well-known architect 
of Echo Point. 

The Wheeling Pottery Company was organized and incorporated in 1879, and 
Charles W. Franzheim was one of the original stockholders and a member of 
the board of directors, which included: George K. Wheat, William A. Isett, 
Edward M. Pearson and D. J. McKee. Our subject has been an officer of the 
company since it's inception and has served in the capacity of president 
and general manager since the spring of 1893. The first buildings were on 
the corner of Thirty-first and Chapline Streets, where they are still 
operating eight kilns. The plant at Woods and Thirty-first Streets, where 
the office is also located, was erected in 1889, and a higher grade of 
goods is there manufactured. The latter is also an eight-kiln factory, and 
both are built of brick. They employ some 450 men, including an office 
force of 10. They make a specialty of fine cameo china and ornamental 
ware, also a variety of ornamental art goods, ranking favorably with the 
product of any other factory in the country. Mr. Franzheim, as president, 
is general manager and oversees all the work of the concern. He is also 
president and general manager of the Riverside Pottery Company, which was 
organized and incorporated in April, 1899, under practically the same 
management and ownership. In addition to his duties in connection with the 
potteries, Mr. Franzheim is also vice-president of the German Bank of 
Wheeling, vice-president of the Franklin Fire Insurance Company of 
Wheeling, trustee of the Mutual Savings Bank, and president of the Vance 
Faience Company, which is located at Tiltonville and is exclusively 
engaged in the manufacture of art goods. Our subject graduated as a civil 
engineer in 1872, but has always been engaged in the pottery business. 
From 1889 until 1893 he was the president and general manager of the 
Warwick China Company. He is a director of the Wheeling Board of Trade. 

Mr. Franzheim was united in marriage in 1880 with Lyda H. Merts, of 
Ravenna, Ohio, she being a native of that state, and they have five 
children: C. Merts; George W.; Mary R,; Catherine M.; and H. Kenneth. Mr. 
Franzheim has a very fine home on the Island. In politics, he is a stanch 
Republican. He is one of the trustees of the First Presbyterian Church, 
and is a man whose home is his club and lodge. 

Edward B. Franzheim, who is probably the most successful and best known 
architect in the state of West Virginia, was born in Wheeling in 1866. He 
received his education in Wheeling, attending the Linsly Institute, later 
going to Boston, Massachusetts, where he attended the Boston Institute of 
Technology. Mr. Franzheim spent seven years in that city, studying 
architecture exclusively. 

After finishing his studies in Boston Mr. Franzheim returned to his home 
in Wheeling, and in 1890 opened an office at No. 45 Fourteenth street. He 
does all classes of architectural work, and has designed many of the most 
elaborate residences and buildings in Wheeling. Mr. Franzheim gives his 
entire attention to his profession, enjoying a most liberal patronage, not 
only in his native city and state but in nearby states. He lives with his 
mother in their pretty home at Echo Point. 



WILLIAM J. NESBITT, an early resident of Wheeling and for many years a 
prominent member of the board of education, came to the city from 
Pittsburg in 1851. He has been a contractor in brick work and furnace 
building, and is now senior member of the firm of W. J. Nesbitt & Sons. He 
was formerly engaged in mill building, his last structure in that line 
being the Benwood Mill. He also had the brick work contract for many of 
the large public and corporate works of the city, among them being the 
Aetna and Standard Mills, in which he was a stockholder. He has taken 
contracts for all kinds of brick work, although his specialty has been 
furnace building, and has erected numerous schoolhouses and rolling mills. 
He learned his trade from his father, and has followed in since 1854. His 
sons, also, have learned the business thoroughly from him. 

Mr. Nesbitt was born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1829, and came to America 
in 1850, locating at Pittsburg. John Nesbitt, his father, also a brick 
contractor and builder, died in Ireland in 1845, and his widow came to 
Wheeling where she died in 1865. William J. Nesbitt is one of six sons, 
all living, namely: James, a retired blacksmith and stockholder in the 
Riverside Mill; Samuel, also a blacksmith, living on Eoff Street; William 
J., the subject of this sketch; Thomas and Robert, who form the firm of 
Nesbitt & Brother and do an extensive hardware business; and David, a 
blacksmith and wagon maker at Fulton. James and Samuel came to Wheeling 
about 1845. 

William J. Nesbitt was married at Wheeling to Miss McAdams, a native of 
Ireland, and 14 children were born to them, of whom eight are living, 
namely: William, who is in the hardware business in the fifth ward, and is 
married; Robert, who is identified with the rolling mills in Wheeling, is 
married and has two children; Samuel, who is a member of the firm of W.J. 
Nesbitt & Sons; Clarence, a bricklayer, in business with his father; 
Ellen, who is the widow of Joseph Martin and lives in one of her father's 
houses; Catherine (Warren), who resides on Sixteenth Street; Agnes 
(McFadden), whose husband conducts a store on Market Street; and Vinetta, 
who lives with her parents. Mr. Nesbitt is a Republican, in politics. He 
was elected a member of the board of education in 1894, re-elected in 
1900, and is now serving his second term. He was formerly a member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He joined the United Presbyterian Church 
when seventeen years of age. He was married by the Rev. J. T. McClure, who 
has also performed the wedding ceremonies of his children, as they have 
been married. Mr. Nesbitt owns considerable real estate in the city, 
including his comfortable home at No. 1510 Woods Street. 



JAMES T. McGEE, propriotor and operator of the only mill-grease factory in 
Wheeling, West Virginia, is engaged in business on Seventeenth Street. He 
was born in Wheeling in 1858, and is a son of Richard McGee. Richard McGee 
was born in County Londonderry, Ireland. He came to America when a young 
man, first settled in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and later moved to 
Wheeling, where he engaged extensively in the transfer business. He 
married a Miss Elder, who now lives with one of her daughters at 
Washington, Pennsylvania. Mr. McGee died August 8, 1868, when J. T was but 
ten years old. Four sons and two daughters were born to Mr. & Mrs. McGee, 
as follows: James T., the subject of this sketch; Mrs. David McKee, who 
lives near Mexico, Missouri; Mrs. Dally, who lives at Washington, 
Pennsylvania; Prof. R. E., who is an instructor in music and formerly 
taught in the institution for the deaf, dumb, and blind at Romney, but is 
now traveling; and A. J. and J. F., who are employed in the iron mills in 
Wheeling. 

James T. McGee, the subject of this biography, attended the public schools 
in his native town, and when a young man engaged as feeder in a nail 
factory in Wheeling. He then became the business manager for his uncle, 
Samuel Elder, who conducted a soap factory on Seventeenth and McColloch 
Streets. September 15, 1894, Mr. McGee bought out his uncle's business, 
and after remodeling and enlarging the plant he converted it into a mill-
grease factory. The grease is a by-product of petroleum. He does a large 
amount of business. 

Mr. McGee was married at Bellaire, Ohio, to Mary Belle Rowles, a daughter 
of Capt. N. H. Rowles of that city. They have three children, namely: 
Herbert R.; James, Jr., who is attending Linsly Institute; and Jennie, who 
is a home. Mr. McGee erected a comfortable home at No. 137 South Penn 
Street, fourteen years ago. 

In Politics Mr. McGee is a Democrat. Fraternally he is a major of the 1st 
Battalion Uniform Rank, Knights of Pythias, and is also past chancellor of 
Wheeling Lodge, No. 114. K. of P. His wife is a member of the First 
Presbyterian Church. 



B. F. PERKINS is the leading contractor of Wheeling, West Virginia, where 
he has made his home since 1884, and has been identified with this 
occupation for a number of years, building up his business by good 
management and enterprise, until he stands foremost in that line. He is a 
son of B. F. Perkins, Sr., also a contractor of ability, and was born June 
20, 1860, at Wilmington, Delaware. His father was the leading contractor 
of Wilmington, Delaware, doing work in a general line, and died at the age 
of fifty four years, in 1891. 

Mr. Perkins learned the business pursued by his father and after stopping 
a while in Philadelphia, went thence to Cleveland, in 1882, and became 
manager of the Ainsworth National Steam Pipe & Boiler Covering Company. He 
subsequently proceeded to Wheeling in 1884, where he was superintendent of 
the Wheeling Mining & Manufacturing Company, until 1891. 

Mr. Perkins began again as a contractor, and entered into an extensive 
business, meeting everywhere with unqualified success. Many fine buildings 
and handsome structures in Wheeling and it's vicinity testify to his 
skill, taste and careful workmanship. He has a force of from 50 too 60 men 
busy all the time. Among the buildings erected by him are the George E. 
House Improvement Company building, the Rogers building, occupied by the 
Hicks & Hoge Dry Goods Company; the Grand Central Hotel; the calico works 
of J. L. Stifel & Sons; the Stone & Thomas buildings; the National 
Exchange Bank building; that of Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company; the H. F. 
Behrens store and residence; the J. N. Vance building; the building of the 
News Publishing Company; the Peabody building; the Egerter building; the 
residence of Andrew Reitz; the large plant of Belmont Brewing Company at 
Martin's Ferry, Ohio; the residence of Samuel Hazlett and the Children's 
Home at Echo Point and many others, besides those which are under 
construction. He is at present erecting the Locke Shoe Company's building 
on Main Street. He gives his personal attention to the work and it is 
always commendable reflecting the greatest credit on both owner and 
builder. 

Mr. Perkins is married and has two children, Helen, born in Wilmington, 
Delaware, and Ethel, born in Wheeling. The family are members of the 
Baptist church, and are located permanently in Wheeling. Socially, Mr. 
Perkins is a member of the Reliance Lodge, No. 18, A.O.U.W. He has 
surmounted many difficulties in attaining his present high position and is 
a man of sterling integrity and good principles.