Got pictures? Please e-mail me.

Gadd Family - Page 2 of 3
Go to Gadd Page 1 Page 3

GADD FAMILY OF VIRGINIA AND WEST VIRGINIA
Powell Wade Gadd and Emma Melissa Martin

Powell Wade Gadd, son of Andrew Powhatan Gadd and his wife Delilah Ferguson, was born 15 Sept 1853 and died 26 July 1924, in West Virginia.  WV Project birth record. He married Emma Melissa Martin, daughter of Adam Martin and wife Rebecca Scott.  Emma Melissa was born 14 Sept 1853 and died 17 Aug 1921.

Photos: Powell and Emma, Powell, Emma Melissa and unidentified child.  Powell and Emma Melissa.

The Martin Family

Emma Melissa's father Adam Martin was born around 1816 in Giles County, Virginia, a son of John Martin and wife Susanna Waggoner. Adam married Rebecca Scott, daughter of Francis Scott and wife Elizabeth Frith, on 4 Nov 1836 in Giles County.

Adam and Rebecca Martin had 10 children: Alonzo (about 1839); John F. (1841) who married Sarah J. Caloway; Joseph S. (1843); William Harvey (1844/20 Jan 1909) who married Martha Ann White and Mollie Kate Holdren; Elizabeth E. (18 Jan 1846) who married Jacob T. Singleton; George B. Martin Sr. (21 Nov 1848/06 July 1928) who married Mary Adaline Keatley; Cynthia M. (1850/07 Sept 1853); Emma Melissa (1853) who married Powell Wade Gadd; Sara S. (25 March 1856) who married William M. Foster; and Lewis H. (1859).

Information about the Martin family is from The Mercer County (W.Va.) History, two volumes: 1984 and 1987. The Martin section was written  by "Margaret Ann Scott, Elizabeth Nichols Arrington, Alice James Martin Moore --all descendants of Daniel Martin, father of John Martin."

Stories about Powell Wade Gadd

Daughter Emma Stella said Powell had a red beard.

When Stella had her first child, son Dewey Via, her parents assisted her. She sat back in her father’s arms while her mother helped her grandchild into this world.

Powell had a sense of humor and was a bit of a trickster. One of his granddaughters remembers how he would ask her to get him a cup of cold water from the spring. He told her that only she knew how to fetch his water just right.
 
In a March 1992 letter, Powell's granddaughter Nina (Stella and Leonard Vest's daughter) wrote, "Well, I have to tell you a little about my Grandmother & Dad, Gadd. They always went to church. Rode in a wagon. The horses had to be curried and clean. They wore gloves to church in those days, up to their elbows. One time mother (Emma Stella) didn't put any on because there was a hole in one finger of a glove. Grand daddy noticed, made her go back and put on her gloves and told her to be sure and get some from the store and have a pair extra in case she had a bad pair. They were Methodists. Mother was saved when she was 16."

Children of Powell Gadd and wife Emma Martin




  • Emma Stella Gadd, born May 1879 in Pipestem, Summers County, W.Va. and died in 24 Jan 1965 at her daughter Golda Smith’s home on White Oak Mountain, Raleigh County, W.Va. Stella is buried in the Smith Family Cemetery on White Oak Mountain. After her death, someone wrote her birthdate in a family Bible as May 23. A WV Project birth record has the date 20 May. Stella married James Anderson Elmer Via (04 Jan 1877/21 Nov 1902) on 06 Nov 1900. Marriage record - Stella and Anderson. He was killed by a falling tree.

    Stella married     Leonard Haliburton Vest 11 Jun 1907 in Summers County with Rev. W.W. McMillian officiating.  (For more information on Leonard, go to the Vest page on this site.) Stella had eight children – Dewey Abshire Anderson Via (1902), the family Bible has his name: A.D.A. Via; stepson Claude (Claudie) Raymond Vest (1901), whose mother was Leonard’s first wife Clara Plumley, who died a few months after Claude’s birth; and six daughters, Verna Veatrice (1908), Golda Mae (1911), Sylvia (1913), Nina Arabelle (1916), Josephine (1920) and Ola Pearl (1922). Sylvia and Josephine died within a few hours of each other in 1921 of diphtheria. (Stella’s family Bible records the date as Sept. 2, 1921, for both girls. However, their sister Nina remembers Sylvia dying at 9 p.m. and the Josephine dying at 9 a.m. the next morning.) Stella Gadd Vest obituary



  • George W. Gadd, born July 10, 1881; died 1914.
 
The Death of George W. Gadd

Updated July 13, 2009
Copyright: West Virginia Memories

George W. Gadd was born 10 July 1881 a son of Powell Wade Gadd and wife Emma Martin. George died in 1914. He was buried in a cemetery located on the John Hudson Farm, originally the Sprangler homeplace.  (George's birth and death years and burial place are in "A New River Heritage, Vol. II," McClain Printing Co., Parsons, W.Va., 1992, by William Sanders, Tallery Mountain,, Summers County, W.Va., chapter, Page 209.)
Mr. Gadd’s family believed he was robbed and murdered. According to a notation in the margin of an August 1974 letter written by his niece, he "Gave Stella (his sister) money to keep. Got it and someone killed him and threw him on the R.R. track. Hit with a loose railroad car."
On the back of a picture postcard of George, it says, "Poor George. He (is) gone but (he will) always be remembered by me, Rosa, his sister."
An account of Mr. Gadd’s death was in “Quinnimont, WV., A Busy Station on the C&O,” Railroad Recollections, a newspaper column by Roy C. Long printed in The Hinton News, 30 Aug 2005, Page 2. The article is accessible through the Google News Archives. According to an online obituary, Mr. Long, a Hinton resident and railroad historian, died of a heart attack at age 77 on 4 Dec 1998.
The Hinton News article doesn’t cite Mr. Long’s sources but he presents the death as accidental:
“…For many years a Raleigh turn was operated between Hinton and Raleigh taking coal empties there and returning with a heavy train of coal loads. This continued almost daily until sometime in the 1940s or 50s….A Wye track* was put to much use in turning engines for their return trips. The yard known as the ‘Old Yard’ was extended and a yard just west of Quinnimont known as the ‘New Yard’ was established. In 1914, two young men, George Gadd of Pipestem, WV., and Henry Paxton, of Charleston, WV., who worked for a lumber company near the mouth of Piney River were killed on the Wye track. It was Saturday night and the two had been seeing the sights of Quinnimont. (It didn’t take much to entertain loggers in those days.) About 10:00 p.m., they started to return to the lumber camp and both sat down on the rail close behind a string of cars standing on the Wye track. Presently, manifest train No. 99 arrived with a hot journal, known in railroad parlance as a ‘hot box.’** The car with the hot box was set off against the empties and shoved them back, back to make room. The cars passed over both Gadd and Paxton injuring them to the extend (extent) they soon died.”

*wye – “ a triangular shaped arrangement of railway tracks with a switch (point) at each corner.” From Wikipedia, accessed 13July 2009.
** “A hot box is an overheated wheel journal. The journal is located in a box which protrudes slightly from the wheel assembly. The box, which normally has a cover over it, is filled with 'waste,' which is oil-soaked to keep the journal cool. An overheated journal is a serious situation, because a hot axle can fail, and break. Hotboxes often caught fire, and smoked or sparked.” Posted by Trussrod on modelrailroadforums.com Accessed 13 July 2009.

Photo: Picture postcard of George. On the back it says "Poor George. He (is) gone but (he will) always be remembered by me, Rosa, his sister."

  • Sarah Ann Frances Gadd, born May 25, 1884 and died May 7, 1966.  Annie is buried in the Smith Family Cemetery on White Oak Mountain. She married James William Hatcher in 1901. Her second husband was George W. Turner. James' photo courtesy of Deborah. Annie Gadd Turner's obituary.

Photo 1: Annie Gadd, husband James William Hatcher and family. Photo probably taken before youngest daughter, Frances, was born. Annie and James had six children: Rebecca (obit), born 5 Feb 1902, Summers County/died 31 Aug 1965, Phoenix, married a Dunham; Walter Lee, 27 Mar 1905, Spanishburg, Mercer County, W.Va./22 Feb 1985, Beckley, Raleigh County, married Maggie Crotty - obit; Ethel, born about 1904, married Earl Foley (Foley article 1 Foley article 2) and Walter Carroll; Sylvia, born 1910, who married a Morales; and Goldie, born about 1908, married a Ferris; and Frances, 10 Feb 1915/died Jan 1988, Pa., married Lee Gramm. Walter's and Frances' dates are from Ancestry.com and the others are from the Hatcher Families Genealogy Association site.
Photo 2: Annie at her birthday party.

  • Rosa Gadd, born 25 Nov 1887. Note concerning birthdate: Originally I had Rosa’s birthdate 25 Nov 1886. The 1900 Census has Rosa’s birthdate Nov. 1878. The WV Project  site has a 1889 record (link to actual record --  may be slow) for: Name: not named Gadd Birth Date: 25 Nov 1887 Birth Place: Summers County , West Virginia Sex: Female Mother: Emma M. Father: P.W. Gadd

Photo 1: Formal portrait of Rosa. 
Photo 2: Rosa wearing an apron.
Photo 3: Picture postcard of a house with four people way in the background. On the back of the card, it says “Aunt Rosa, Mom’s sister.” Rosa has written on the back, "This is where the three kids and I live." A corner is torn off that is probably the address – 107 ___ North.) House photo close-up.

  • Ada M. Gadd, born 12 Sept 1888. According to a letter written by a niece in August 1974, Ada "died as a baby." That birth date is in conflict with information online: GADD, Ada M. d. Nov. 21, 1890 at age 1 and 21 days of diptheria. Parents: P.W. & E. M. Gadd. From West Virginia Genealogy Trials, Summers County, West Virginia Death Records [Except where noted, submitted by K. Torp]. Accessed 10 Oct 2009.

  • Clowney William Gadd, born 06 June 1891 in Raleigh County, West Virginia; died December 02, 1951 in Mercer County, West Virginia,  (according to his death certificate). Update:  His WWII draft card says his birthdate June 4, 1891. Previously I had July 16 as his birthdate. The draft card lists Maude as his wife. WV Project birth record says his birthdate was July 15.

Photo: Identified as Clowney Gadd, left. Young men often posed in photos of this era. One favorite tableau was "The Seven Deadly Sins." Clowney appears to have a gun and the other fellow a knife.

  • Arabelle Emma Gadd, born Feb. 12, 1894, died March 1963. The West Virginia Project has a birth record that I believe is Arabelle. All the names are wrong but the date is the same: Emmy Arminta Gadd, 21 Feb 1894, Raleigh County, mother Emma Martine and father Parnell W. Gadd.She married Harry Martin. Arabelle's obituary 1  Arabelle's obituary 2


Photo 1: Noah Gadd and his wife Beatrice Gore.
Photo 2: Noah Gadd. A studio picture made by Goldcraft Portraits, 417 Coal-Coke Bldg., Bluefield, W.Va.
Photo 3: Noah Gadd snapshot taken at his niece Golda Vest Smith's house on White Oak Mountain, August 1960. He always had a big smile on his face. His sisters Stella and Annie always seemed glad to see him.