John T. Gainer
     John T. Gainer, cashier of the Clay County Bank and one of the most prominent financiers and esteemed citizens of Clay Court House, West Virginia, was born May 31, 1871. in Auburn. Ritchie County, West Virginia. He is a son of Albert and Susan A. (Loudon) Gainer, the former of whom was born in January, 1848. and the latter on January 2, 1849. Our subject's mother was a daughter of Thomas Loudon, who removed from Virginia and settled in Upshur County, West Virginia. She was born in Gilman County and there was married to Albert Gainer. The father of the subject of this sketch is a son of John Gainer and a grandson of Bryan Gain er, of Irish ancestry, who removed from Barbour County to what is now Lewis County, West Virginia. Since 1879 Albert Gainer has been a traveling salesman.
     John T. Gainer was educated in the common schools and was reared on his father's farm. From the age of 17 to 19 years he was engaged in clerical work in a general store, and then entered the Calhoun County Bank at Grantsville as assistant cashier, where he continued until August 20, 1902, when he accepted his present position. The Clay County Bank was organized June 4, 1002, with C. S. Pearcy as its first cashier, our subject succeeding him. Since taking charge, the capital stock has been increased to $50,000, and the institution ranks high with others of its kind with respect to its stability and to the safety and value of its investments.
     Mr. Gainer was married July 28, 1805, to Minnie A. Jeffries. His second marriage was to Belle Ball, on August 18, 1901. One daughter, Madeline, has been born to this union.
Mr. Gainer is one of the leading Republicans of his county, in fact has been conspicuous in party affairs ever since he reached his majority. In Calhoun County he served on the Republican Executive Committee and has been elected from that county a delegate to many conventions. His interest is, however, only that of an intelligent and public spirited citizen. His business is banking, and few are more thoroughly conversant with its requirements than he, and he has never been willing to accept public office. His fraternal relations are with Eureka Lodge No. 40. A. F. & A. M., of Grantsville, Calhoun County; Jerusalem Chapter, No. 3, R. A. M., of Parkersburg; and Calvary Commandery, No. 3, K. T., also of Parkersburg.
     In addition to the saddlery and harness business proper, he carries a large line of shoe findings and shoemaker's supplies. The public in general knows that he sells his goods at the right prices. The splendid success of nearly 20 years has fully demonstrated this. Mr. Popp enjoys a large mail-order business, and all orders intrusted in his care are highly appreciated and always attended to with great promptness and to the satisfaction of the customer.
[Men of West Virginia by Biographical Publishing Company - Transcribed by Therman Kellar]

Hughes Family
     This family emigrated from Pennsylvania, as did so many of the citizens of West Virginia. It was three generations ago that the first of this Hughes family came west. The first to break away from Pennsylvania society and associations was Stephen J. Hughes, who married Mary Westfall, and came to Upshur county, now West Virginia, when all was new and undeveloped, about 1825. In 1840 he removed to Harrison county. He was a farmer and a minister of the Methodist Protestant church. He died on the old Hughes farm in Lewis county, West Virginia, in 1883.
     (II) Houston J., son of Stephen J. and Mary (Westfall) Hughes, was born in Upshur county, West Virginia, died in February, 1905. He followed agricultural pursuits. He was a prominent man in Republican politics, and was always in advance of the masses in his political thoughts and policies. Before the war of the rebellion he was first lieutenant in a Virginia militia company, and at the outbreak of that fearful struggle enlisted as a sergeant in Company D, Fifteenth West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, doing service for four years. He fought at Gettysburg, Lookout Mountain and Bull Run; was with General Grant at Vicksburg and participated in many thrilling and dangerous raids against the enemy. He married (first) Elizabeth Thornhill, by whom the following children were born: 1. William Lincoln, a farmer on the old Hughes homestead in Harrison county. 2. Mary E., wife of Taylor Martin, a furniture dealer and undertaker of Enterprise, West Virginia. 3. Sarah E., widow of Scott Martin, who was associated with Taylor Martin in business at Enterprise. 4. John Henry, deceased, a school teacher. Elizabeth (Thornhill) Hughes died in 1872. Mr. Hughes married (second) Amanda E. Thompson, and had issue: 5. Allin Carl, mentioned below. 6. Stephen R., died at the age of two years. Mrs. Amanda E. (Thompson) Hughes now resides at Janelew, West Virginia.
     (III) Allin Carl, son of Houston J. and Amanda E. (Thompson) Hughes, was born June 12, 1875, in Harrison county, West Virginia.
     He is now a lawyer and justice of the peace at Weston, Lewis county. After attending the common schools he entered Glenville (West Virginia) Normal School, and later attended the Wesleyan College, at Buckhannon, graduating from the law department of the University of Northern Indiana, at Valparaiso, in 1903, after which he practiced law for a year at Holdenville, Indian Territory, then came east and located at Weston, Lewis county, West Virginia, where he has since resided and built up an excellent law practice. He is ever on the alert to enhance the interest and stand by the principles of the Republican party, has been a delegate to numerous conventions and was made chairman of some of these political bodies. He made the race and was defeated for the office of representative in 1910, going down with the Democratic landslide. In 1908 he was elected justice of the peace, which office he still holds. Aside from his legal business and the duties of his office as justice of the peace, he finds time to attend to his many duties in looking after his personal interests as a farm-owner in Lewis county, and his stock-raising interests thereon. He also has mercantile interests in Shadybrook; is connected with the People's Telephone Company, etc. He also conducts a general insurance business.
     Mr. Hughes belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and Woodmen of the World, being past councillor for both orders; is clerk of the Modern Protective Association; clerk of the Woodmen of the World Lodge, No. 34; commander of General J. A. J. Lightburn Camp, No. 1, Sons of Veterans, and is a member of the executive committee of the West Virginia Frat Association; also member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Western Lodge, No. 90. During the SpanishAmerican war he was a member of Company F, Second West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, serving one year as sergeant. He is secretary of the People's Electric Light, Ice & Water Power plant, also director and on the executive committee of the above. The early generations of the Hughes family were of the Methodist Protestant religious faith, while the more recent members are of the Baptist faith.
     Mr. Hughes married, June 28, 1903, Evadney E., daughter of John Mathews, a lumberman of Putnam county, West Virginia. Children: Houston J., deceased; M. Carlton, born August 3, 1906; Allin I., born November 28, 1908; Charles Frederick, born August 6, 1910.
[Source: West Virginia and Its People, Volume 3 By Thomas Condit Miller and Hu Maxwell - Transcribed by Therman Kellar]

Morgan Family Biography
This is the Morgan family of great renown as relates to pioneer days in America. The family is of Celtic origin—extracted from the only white race or clan that was never at one time or King Lear" another conquered or subdued. The word "Morgan," traced back to its Cymric origin, means "seabrink" or "one born on the seashore." Glamorgan County, Wales, which is situated on the coast, takes its name from the Morgans. The family is very old; members of it held important posts in early English history, and were provincial rulers. To one of these Morgans is accredited the adoption of the jury system, in England, in the eighth century; to members of the family in Britain were awarded more than thirty different coats-of-arms for as many different achievements, throughout the medieval period.

(I) Rev. Morgan Morgan. The West Virginia Morgans, of Welsh extraction, are descendants of Rev. Morgan Morgan, Glamorgan County, Wales. He was educated in London; ordained a clergyman of the Church of England; settled at Christiana, Delaware, in 1702; removed to Winchester, Virginia, and followed his calling. Children: Morgan, Anne, Zackquil, Evan, David, Charles, Henry and James. In 1726 Rev. Morgan Morgan crossed into Berkeley County, Virginia, and near Bunker Hill Post office made the first white settlement in what is now West Virginia territory, and also built the first church in the state. Later, Rev. Morgan Morgan's children removed farther west, crossing the Alleghany Mountains to the Monongahela Valley, and founded Morgantown, West Virginia.

(II) David Morgan, born May 12, 1721, at Christiana, Delaware, son of Rev. Morgan Morgan, was a skilled engineer. He aided George Washington, under commission from the governor of Virginia, in surveying Mason and Dixon's line; was with Colonel Washington on other trips, on one of which they discovered the region on the Monongahela afterwards taken up and settled by the Morgans. He married Sarah Stevens, a Quaker lady of Pennsylvania. Children: Stephen, Sarah, Zacquille, Morgan, Katharine.

At the opening of the revolutionary war, Morgan Morgan, son of David, was captain of a company of Virginia militia. This company, with Morgan Morgan, together with the latter's father, David, and Evan and James, brothers of David, and James Jr., son of the latter James (five Morgans in one small company), entered a company, in 1777, which served in the revolutionary war, on expeditions in Pennsylvania, with William Haymond as captain, and Morgan Morgan as lieutenant, and the other four Morgans as privates. One year later, David Morgan, in his fifty seventh year, had his deadly encounter on the Monongahela River with the Indians.* Evan and Zackquil Morgan, brothers of David, saw service in the revolution at another time, in Captain Brinton's company, when they made an expedition up the Allegheny River, raided an Indian village called Muncietown, killing several savages and one or more white desperadoes. See accounts of this trip, written by Zackquil and Evan, when they were in their seventies, at the request of the secretary of war. These documents contain also a brief family history, with dates, etc., and are remarkable for their diction and the evident educational attainments of these pioneers who, doubtless, were never inside a schoolhouse, and whose time was mostly taken up guarding the frontier settlements from Indian depredations. The original payroll of Captain William Haymond, with the names of the five Morgans thereon, is in the custody of Colonel Henry Haymond, of Clarksburg, West Virginia.

(III) Captain Morgan Morgan was a son of David Morgan, the Indian slayer. He was captain of a company of Virginia militia, also lieutenant in Captain Haymond's company of revolutionary soldiers. Children: James, Morgan, David, Jacob, Druscilla, Elizabeth, Aaron and Achilles.

(IV) Captain James Morgan, son of Captain Morgan Morgan, was captain in the war of 1812, in which was also commissioned a major, and during said war was, at one time, in command of Fort Meigs (now Toledo, Ohio). Children: David, John, James, Stephen, Alpheus, Sarah, Mary, Salinda, Marcus.

(V) Captain David Morgan, son of Captain James Morgan, removed from Marion to Randolph County in 1858. Early in the war of 1861 he raised and became the captain of a company of Union soldiers, in which company his son, Charles, became a lieutenant, and another son, David C, a corporal. Captain David was born June 26, 1806, in Marion County; married Pleasant Harris, born October 1, 1808, of Dutch extraction. Children: 1. Charles, born June 12, 1827; lives near Buckhannon, West Virginia. 2. Morgan, born January 9, 1829; lives near Lorentz, West Virginia. 3. Juretta, born September 9, 1830; married Joseph Garlow. 4. Hilleary, born December 25, 1831; died a child. 5. Aaron, born June 19, 1833; died a child. 6. Littleton T., born January 30, 1835; died a child. 7. Littleton Taswell, born November 22, 1837; lives at Buckhannon. 8. Aarah, born January 14, 1840; died August, 1899. 9. Sebra, born June 18, 1842; married Rev. B. B. Brooks; both dead. 10. David Crockett, born February 28, 1844; lives at Buckhannon. 11. James P., born May 22, 1846; lives near Selbyville, West Virginia. 12. Helen, born December 28, 1848; deceased. 13. Waitman, born October 23, 1850; died a child. 14. Elmira, born September 16, 1863; died a child. 15. Martha died an infant.

Note: As a matter of fact, David Morgan never skinned a human being —he was "all in" after this conflict. In which he lost two Angers, and it would have been a physical impossibility for him to have denuded the Indian of his Integument. The Indian was Skinned by refugees of Prickett's Fort, and not by David Morgan. The skin war tanned, made into a shot pouch, and presented to David as a souvenir.

(VI) Corporal David Crockett Morgan, son of Captain David Morgan, was a retired farmer, and a member of Presbyterian Church. Politically he was always a staunch Republican, never bolting a primary or convention nor scratching a ticket, until, as he says, he became convinced that the party had fallen into the hands of a set of dishonorable men who were politicians not because of any patriotic sense but merely for the business and the money they could get out of it, since which time he votes for the best man, regardless of politics. He served clear through the war of 1861, as a Union soldier, enlisting in his father's company, at the age of seventeen, and was drawn up in line of battle at Appomattox, the day General Lee surrendered. His first wife was Evelyn Phillips. Children: Infant died a child; Loren Boriors and Orlan Bunyan, both married, have families, and live in Stillwater, Oklahoma. His second wife was Eliza Jane Phillips, daughter of Richard and Eliza J. (née Perry—Commodore Perry family) Phillips, of French Creek, West Virginia. Richard and wife, then children, came to French Creek with their parents, in 1815, from Massachusetts, overland, making the trip of nearly one thousand miles in carts drawn by oxen through the forests, following the buffalo trails, and driving their stock before them. Richard's paternal ancestor, Nicholas Phillips, was an Englishman, and immigrated to America in 1630, and was one of the incorporators of the town of Dedham, Massachusetts. When David C. Morgan married his second wife she was the widow of the late Lieutenant Claudius B. See, by whom she had three children, namely: Sylvester Bunyan, Claudius Synnamon, and Julia Agnes, all of whom are married, have families, and live in Upshur County. By his second wife, Eliza Jane, he had four children: Haze, Patrick Lawson, Otto, and Clara, all of whom are married and live in West Virginia.

(VII) Haze Morgan was named for a distant relative of the same name who was shot in the forehead and instantly killed, while on the firing line as a Union soldier in the war of 1861. He was born June 19, 1876, on his father's farm, one mile south of the noted Raccoon Meeting House Rock, Laurel Fork of French Creek, Upshur County, West Virginia, son of David C. Morgan. He was educated in public schools; spent four years at Wesleyan College, Buckhannon; took a degree in Georgetown University; was five years in one of the legal departments, Washington, his duties taking him over most of the United States. He resigned from the government service in 1903 and went to Clarksburg, West Virginia, and opened up a law office. He is a member of the Presbyterian church of Clarksburg, in which a relative was the first pastor; in politics is an independent Republican. He married, at Washington, D. C., September 29, 1897, Anna G. Jones, born near Smithton, Doddridge county, West Virginia, September 29, 1879, daughter of William H. Jones, a miller by trade, and of revolutionary stock, who was born April 4, 1851, died August 26, 1896; had but one other child, Eula B., who was born November 10, 1886, graduated at Clarksburg high school, and died June 17, 1907. Children of Haze and Anna G. Morgan: William H., born at Washington, November 13, 1898; Eliza Isabelle, born at Clarksburg, May 17, 1905; Virginia, born at Clarksburg, September 27, 1907; Anna Mildred, born at Clarksburg, November 6, 1911.

In the possession of Haze Morgan, Clarksburg, West Virginia, is quite a large piece of the skin taken from an Indian slain in a combat with David Morgan. It is accompanied by the affidavit of Josiah P. Smith, who received it more than sixty years ago from a son of David Morgan, which is as follows:

State Of West Virginia, County Of Harrison, Ss.:

Josiah P. Smith, being by me first duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he was born on Big Rock Camp, Harrison County, West Virginia, on the 21st day of December, 1826, being the first white person born on that stream according to the statement of his parents; that, sometime in about the year 1850, a little while after affiant attained his majority, he visited a son of the Indian Fighter, David Morgan, at his house on a branch of Fishing Creek, in Wetzel County, West Virginia; that, while there, the said son (whose Christian name affiant has forgotten) exhibited to affiant an old-fashioned shot-pouch, which had been partly cut away, and stated that said shot-pouch was made of the tanned skin of an Indian which had been killed by David Morgan, in an encounter on the Monongahela River, West Virginia, wherein the said David Morgan fought two Indians; that said shot pouch had been given to him, the said son, by the said David Morgan, and that he, the said son, was disposing of it by cutting it up into pieces and distributing it among his friends as souvenirs; that the said son then and there gave affiant a piece of said shot-pouch about two inches square; that affiant afterward gave away a piece of said skin; that the remaining piece has been in the possession of affiant ever since; and that the piece of skin hereto annexed is a portion of the same piece of the aforesaid shot-pouch given to affiant by the said son at the time aforesaid.

(Jurat Follows). (Signed): Joseph P. Smith.

(V) John Morgan, son of Captain James Morgan, was born on the old Morgan homestead about 1800, died February 7, 1854. He was a farmer, and died on the old homestead farm after having been a successful agriculturist for many years. He married Mary, daughter of Archie Wilson, a native of Monongalia County; she died in 1863. The children of John and Mary (Wilson) Morgan were: Cassil, deceased; Alcindia, deceased; Matilda, deceased; Margaret; Lydia; Oliver Perry, mentioned below; William, deceased; John; James E., mentioned below. The parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and politically the father was a Whig and later a Republican.

(VI) Oliver Perry, son of John Morgan, was born in what is now Marion County, West Virginia, September 14, 1835. He was brought up on the old homestead, where he lived and labored until he reached man's estate, when he purchased a farm in the neighborhood and carried on farming and stock raising. During the civil war period he served in Company A, Sixth West Virginia Volunteer Infantry. He participated in several battles and skirmishes, and was also among the guards along the frontier. After two years' service he was wounded and honorably discharged. After the war he resumed farm life and continued there until 1895, when he engaged in the mercantile business, and later removed to Fairmont, where he is engaged in the real estate business. Politically he is a supporter of the Republican party, and in church affiliations is connected with the Methodist Episcopal denomination.

August 19, 1860, he married Margaret, daughter of Bushrod W. and Sarah (Shaw) Vincent. The children of this union were: 1. John, a farmer who married and has five children: Wateman; Lester; Virgil; Bertha C.; and Roy. 2. Francis Lorenzo, a farmer, married and has two children. 3. Laura E., married James Carpenter, and they have three children. 4. Mollie, married O. S. Holland, and they have one child, Pearl. 5. Henry, married Alice Brown, and they have eight children. 6. Lee, married Nettie Vincent, and their children are Oliver and Mary. 7. Virginia, married Samuel H. Keener, and their children are Clarence, Opal and Ralph.

(VI) James E., son of John Morgan, was born on the old Morgan homestead in what is now Marion county, March 18, 1854. He was reared on his father's farm and educated in the common schools. He followed farming until the autumn of 1892, and in the spring of 1893 was appointed a member of the Fairmont police force, and has held the office of chief of police, water commissioner and street commissioner for a number of years, to the entire satisfaction of the citizens of the municipality. In March, 1910, he resigned as street and water commissioner. Politically Mr. Morgan votes the Republican ticket, and is an attendant at the Methodist Episcopal Church.

He married, July 18, 1875, Ella Swisher, a native of Marion county, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Swisher, of Winfield district, Marion county. Children: Mary, born August 28, 1876, wife of Thomas Howard, and they have two children: James E.; and Mary E. 2. William Curtis, born February, 1879, died aged sixteen years. 3. Mont E., born August 14, 1881, now an attorney-at-law. 4. Mary Edna, born April 15, 1884, married Gale Fishback, and they have two children: Annetta, and Irma. 5. Maud Belle, born June 2, 1887, died September 24, 1888.

(V) Marcus Morgan, son of Captain James Morgan, was born in 1835. He was brought up on his father's farm, receiving the ordinary common school education, and was a justice of the peace eight years; also member of the board of education, and county commissioner when the present courthouse was erected. He served as a trustee in the Methodist Episcopal church. During the civil war he served in Company E, of a volunteer regiment in the federal army. Politically he was a staunch Republican. He died in 1906, his wife preceding him fourteen years, she having died in 1894.

He married (first) Mary Wymer, daughter of Levi Wymer, who came from Virginia; he was a blacksmith. Their children, four in number, were: Lydia; Della; Levi W.; and one deceased. He married (second), in 1868, Virginia Wymer, and to them were born five children: Ephraim F., mentioned below; Pearlie, wife of Elbert Moran; Mattie, married Marcus Layman; Mary, wife of M. West; Nettie, wife of Wayne Meredith.

(VI) Hon. Ephraim F., son of Marcus Morgan, was born in Foxburg, Marion county, West Virginia, January 16, 1869. He obtained his education in the common schools, taught nine years, attended the State Normal School at Fairmont, graduated from the law department of West Virginia University in 1896 and was admitted to the bar in 1897. He commenced to practice law in the spring of 1898, in Fairmont, where he built up a large legal practice. He continued until elected judge of Marion county in 1905 for a term of six years. He is proving himself an excellent judge. He was president of the board of education for Palatine independent district for four years; was city solicitor of Fairmont two years. Politically he is in accord with the general principles of the Republican party, and in church connection is of the Methodist Episcopal society at Fairmont. In May, 1898, at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, he enlisted in Company E, of a West Virginia regiment, serving until February, 1899, when he received an honorable discharge; he acted as quartermaster for his company. Judge Morgan is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Woodmen of the World; also is an honored member of Fairmont Lodge, No. 9, Masonic fraternity, as well as of the Chapter and Commandery.

He married, in September, 1903, Alma Bennett, a native of Monongalia county, daughter of Albert and Isabelle (Robe) Bennett, of English descent. One child has been born to Judge Morgan and wife, Lucile, who died aged fifteen months.

[Source: GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL OF THE Upper Monongahela Valley, WV Vol. III; By James Morton Callahan; Edited by Bernard L. Butcher; Publ. 1912; Pgs. 949-956;Transcribed by Andrea Stawski Pack]