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Hon.
William H. H. Flick
Mr. Flick is a native
of the Western Reserve of Ohio, where he was born in 1841. He was educated in
the public schools and at Hiram College, near
Cleveland. In July, 1861, he volunteered as a private soldier in the Federal
Army and was dangerously wounded in the left
shoulder at the battle of Shiloh, Mississippi, but continued in the service
until the fall of 1862, when he was honorably discharged on account of said
wound. He returned to his home and taught school for
three years. Having read law in the meantime, he was licensed to practice in
September, 1865. In March, 1866, he moved to West Virginia,
and began to practice law at Moorefield, the seat of justice of Hardy
County, and in March, 1867, he changed his residence
to Franklin, Pendleton County. He had a strong legal mind, was an able public
speaker, and soon became recognized as a forceful
and successful lawyer. He was elected Prosecuting
Attorney of Pendleton County in 1867, also of the adjoining county of Grant in
1872, and he was re-elected to the same office in
Pendleton County in 1873-4. In 1874 he resigned the office of Prosecuting
Attorney and located at Martinsburg, Berkeley
County, where he spent the remainder of his life.
In the fall of 1868 he
entered the State Legislature from Pendleton and
Grant Counties, and was re-elected in 1869.
He took an active part in legislation. He was the author of what was known as
"The Flick Amendment" to the State Constitution, which removed all restrictions
from all persons who had engaged in the Rebellion of 1861-5, which gave him a
statewide reputation. In 1881 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Berkeley
County, which he resigned in 1882 to accept the higher position of United States
District Attorney for West Virginia. By this time he
had become an unusually able lawyer, and one of the
strongest and most successful prosecutors in the
Commonwealth. We put it mildly when we state that he had but few equals,
anywhere, as a trial lawyer. He was a very large man, and
when he became aroused his reserve force was practically irresistible,
because he apparently would break down all opposition and
often sweeps things before him.
In 1876 he was the
Republican candidate for a seat on the Supreme Court of Appeals of the State,
but was defeated along with his entire party ticket.
[Bench and bar of West
Virginia edited by George Wesley Atkinson, 1919 – Transcribed by
AFOFG]
Steenbergen
Family
Peter Steenbergen, founder of the family in
this country, came from Holland prior to 1740.
He settled first in Culpeper county, Virginia,
and later moved to Hardy county, in the same
state, where he died. He served in the French and Indian wars, and also in the
revolution. He married Ann Gaines, and among his children was William, of whom
further.
(II) William, eldest son of Peter and Ann (Gaines)
Steenbergen, was born October 11, 1766, in Culpeper county,
Virginia, and died in 1839. He lived in Hardy and Shenandoah counties,
Virginia. He married (first) Sarah Casey, and
(second) Elizabeth Beale; among his children was Peter Higgins, of whom
further.
(III) General Peter Higgins
Steenbergen, eldest son of William and Sarah (Casey) Steenbergen, was born July
12, 1788, in Moorefield, Hardy county, Virginia, now
West Virginia, died July 31, 1863, in Mason county, West Virginia. When five years of age he moved
with his parents to Shenandoah county, where he
lived until 1810, when he settled in Mason county.
He was a farmer, a Whig in politics, was a member of the state
legislature of Virginia in 1826, and of the state
board of assessors of damages of the James river and Kanawha canal. He was also
a member of the board of visitors of the Virginia
Military Institute in 1847 and l&4&• and was for many years a brigadier-general in the Virginia State militia, whence the name. General
Steenbergen, by which he was known. He married, July 31, 1807, Maria B. Jordan,
who died April 25, 1841, in Mason county. Virginia,
now West Virginia. Children: 1. Eliza, born
October 10, 1808, died June 2, 1896; married, March 9, 1826, C. C. Lewis. 2.
Mary, born March 9, 1810, died March 31, 1882; married. August 19, 1836,
Alexander McCulloch. 3. Caroline, born May 14, 1812, died January 4, 1845;
married, April 20, 1837, L. B. Menager. 4. Catharine, born August 1, 1814. died
August 9, 18go; married, February 27, 1838, W. P. L. Neale. 5. Sarah Ann, born
May 17, 1816, died May 7, 1873; married. May 5, 1840, Samuel Couch. 6. Cornelia,
born January 23, 1818, died January 17, 1897; married. July 11, 1847, L. B.
Menager. 7. Maria, born October S, 1820, died December 27, 1837. 8. Susan Virginia, born January 1, 1823, died
August 30, 1912; married, October 4, 1847, Joseph Spencer.
9. Rhoda, born
March 23, 1825, still living. 10. Ellen Douglas, born December 23, 1827, died
January 27, 1897; married, May 30, 1872, C. T. Beale. 11. John William, of whom
further.
(IV) John William, only
son of General Peter Higgins and Maria B. (Jordan) Steenbergen, was born Alay 4,
1831, in Mason county, Virginia, now West Virginia. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute, July 4, 1849, and then took
up farming, and is still living in Mason county. He
was one of the directors of the Merchant's National Bank in Point Pleasant for
many years, and is an elder in the Presbyterian church. He married Sarah Eliza,
daughter of Isaac Cunningham and Frances Harness (Hull) Van Meter, born in
Fayette county, Kentucky, July 28, 1845, died
October 1, 1898. Her father, born October 8, 1820, was a farmer, and died April
14, 1898, in Fayette county, Kentucky, and her
mother, a descendant from revolutionary stock, came from Hardy county, Virginia. Their children were: 1. Charles L. 2. Sarah Eliza, of whom above. 3.
Edwin H. 4. William Scott. 5. B. W. 6. J. Brown. 7. Ann Rebecca. 8. Lewis M. 9.
Jesse. 10. Fannie Moore, married A. H. Savage. Children of John William and
Sarah Eliza (Van Meter) Steenbergen: 1. William, married Charlotte B. McCulloch,
of Point Pleasant. 2. Peter Higgins, of whom further. 3. Frances, married the
Rev. Clyde Johnson, of Senatobia, Mississippi. 4. Isaac Van Meter, married
Willie May Denny, of Richmond, Kentucky. 5. Charles Letcher, married Ellen
Dennis, of Nelsonville, Ohio. 6. John Harness, married Jessie J. Fitch, of
Morgantown,
West Virginia.
(V) Prof. Peter Higgins (2) Steenbergen, son of
John William and Sarah Eliza (Van Meter) Steenbergen, was born April 11, 1875,
near Point Pleasant, West Virginia. He received his
early education from private tutors and graduated June 10, 1896, from the
Central University of Kentucky. He was principal of the Point Pleasant high
school from 1897 to 1901; commandant of cadets in Speers-Langford Military
Institute at Searcy, Arkansas, in 1901-02; and superintendent of public schools
in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, from 1903 to 1907,
since which year he has been engaged in farming and other business at Point
Pleasant. He is a deacon in the Presbyterian church, a Democrat in politics, and
is also one of the directors of the Point Pleasant Trust Company, of the Point
Pleasant Wholesale Grocery Company, and of the Point Pleasant Water and Light
Company. He is a past chancellor of the Knights of
Pythias.
He married, June 25, 1902, Sallie Lewis,
daughter of John Daniel and Sarah Ann (Lewis) McCulloch, born September 25,
1873. Children: John Daniel, born April 5, 1903; Sarah Eliza, born September 29,
1904; Jean, born October 28, 1907; Peter Higgins, Jr., born August 21,
1910; and Robert Lewis, born June 23, 1912.
[West
Virginia and its people, Volume 3 By
Thomas Condit Miller and Hu Maxwell, 1913 - Transcribed by Therman
Kellar]
