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SHOEBOX
Random articles
These people aren't directly connected to my family. But I think the articles are worthy of note and want to share:
Colored Preacher Sues City Of Roanoke (the Rev. Richard R. Jones), Bluefield Daily Telegram, 04 March 1905, Page 1.
J.M. Hutchinson Is Dead at 99 (John Morrison Hutchinson), Charleston Gazette, W.Va., 02 Feb 1938, Page 14.
Death of well known citizen (Austin J. Hatcher, Egeria, W.Va.) Raleigh Herald, 21 Feb 1913.
Dead at 102 (Massie Wimmer, Mercer County, W.Va.) Raleigh Herald,14 March 1907.
Aunt Dicy Lewis Is Hundred And Six Years Old, (Dicy Lewis, Graham, Va.) Bluefield Daily Telegraph, 16 Dec 1914.
Flaming Baton Halts Speeding Locomotive (Margaret Shrout, Montgomery, W.Va.) Bluefield Daily Telegraph, 09 Aug 1973.
“The Bent Mountain Murder – Harry Taylor’s Crime and Trial” by George B. Martin.
My grandmother Stella Gadd Vest had an uncle – George B. Martin. (21 Nov 1848/06 July 1928), a son of Adam Martin and wife Rebecca Scott – and this booklet was in her possession. But I don’t know if the writer was that George B. Martin. The five-page booklet tells the tale of murder in Hinton, W.Va., and seems to be campaign literature for A.B. Bruce against “wet” candidates Smith and Bailey. There is a handwritten date – 12/24/1903. Names mentioned: Esom Snider, A.C. Wiley, Angelo Kessinger, Pat Murphy, A.T. Maupin, Dr. Will Peck, Judge Wood, Sheriff Sentz, H.M. Shumate, I.J. Ellison, George Damewood, Hale & Pendleton, Anderson & McGrath.
The following 1905 articles are about Harry Taylor, convicted of murder. I don't know if this is the crime detailed in The Bent Mountain Murder.
Harry Taylor Must Serve Life Sentence Harry Taylor Had Tools Hid In Jail Guard Stuck Close to His Prisoner When Horses Ran: Harry Taylor Goes to Pen for Life -- Parted with Wife and Baby
Who killed Alfred Cochran? 1928 mystery
Alfred Cochran and wife Martha of Marmet, Kanawha County, W.Va., get off a C&O train at the Spring Hill stop. Mr. Cochran takes a short cut by crawling under a train. Mrs. Cochran is afraid to follow. Mr. Cochran is “shot by a man who first blinded him with a flashlight.” Mrs. Cochran tells of seeing two men including a “strange, tall man, wearing an overcoat and cap” who warns, as Mr. Cochran starts to crawl under the train, “better not try that, buddy.” Mr. Cochran injuries will prove fatal.
Wounded Man Dies, Inquest Is Started – 03 Apr 1928, Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail.
Cochran Dies of Bullet Wound – 03 Apr 1928, Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette.
Inquest Fails To Name Killer At Spring Hill – Three Railroad Officers Give Alibis – 05 Apor 1928, Charleston Gazette.
Treasures
These are genealogical items that I've tucked away in various shoeboxs and treasures that others have contributed.
G.C. Murphy receipt (Jan. 29, 1936) -- Raleigh County residents Earl George Smith of Abraham, W.Va., and Golda Mae Vest of White Oak Mountain, W.Va., were married on Dec. 26, 1934. They lived with family for a while. These purchases were made when they first "went to housekeeping" and moved into their own home. G.C. Murphy was a variety store or dime store. (G.C. Murphy Memories.) The couple bought: two breadpans, 20 cents and 15 cents, a washpan, 10 cents, a teakettle, 79 cents, a coffee percolator, 98 cents, and a rolling pin, 20 cents. The total was $2.42 plus five cents tax = $2.47.
News clip from southern West Virginia newspaper – Mrs. Smith clipped and kept this newspaper article. She circled December because she and husband Earl were married Dec. 26, 1934. The clip isn’t dated and doesn’t say which paper (Beckley or Hinton). The article says, in part:
DAN CUPID ACTIVE IN COUNTY IN 1934; 12-YEAR RECORD SET
Total Of 207 Couples Issued Marriage Licenses In1934 by County Clerk Harold Price
Further evidence that the depression is on its way out was given this morning by (Summers) County Clerk Harold E. Price when he reported that the number of marriage licenses issued during 1934 topped the total of 1933, when a record of eleven years standing was shattered. Wedding bells chimed for 207 Summers county couples during the past twelve months, as compared with an even 200 for 1933.
The first license of 1934 was issued to George L. Young, of East Beckley and Martha L. Cox, Hinton. The couple was married on January 2 by the Rev. H.P. Hackney. The last license in 1934 was issued to Cornelia Mosley and Evelyn Jones, both colored, of Hinton…
The most profitable month for the clerk was, strangely, not June but December when 24 licenses were entered…
School photos
Daniels school, Raleigh County, W.Va.
"Mrs. O.B. Harris remembers that the first school in Daniels was a one-room log school building, weatherboarded, which stood near where the Daniels Bible Church now stands, and that she attended it for several years until the second building near the new Daniels Post Office was constructed...The present Daniels Elementary School was built on 17.3 acres of land purchased from Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Hatcher on the lower 4-H Lake Road. The school opened in January, 1972 and cost $430,000."
From “A History of Shady Spring District,” compiled and published by the Shady Spring District Woman’s Club, 1979, printed by Central Printing Co., Beckley, (Raleigh County) W.Va., Page 122-123.
Daniels School, Grades 5 and 6, 1946-47. The teacher, top row, left, is Bess Kate Snyder. Billy Lee Smith (born March 8, 1936, to Earl George Smith and his wife Golda Vest) is the last one on that row. Billy drowned on June 10, 1949, in a pond near his home on White Oak Mountain. Bottom row, left to right, second photo, is Eldon "Pete" Deck.
A short biography of Mrs. Snyder on Page 356 of A History of Shady Spring District:
"Bess Kate Snyder, retired teacher from Shady Spring Elementary School, is the daughter of Jessie (Jackson) and J.D. Swim. Bess married Russell Snyder and they were the parents of John and Sam. Sam is an attorney for Union 76 Oil Co. in California and John is in Clearwater, Florida. Bess taught 30 years in Raleigh County at Crow, Daniels and Shady Spring Elementary schools. Bess resides in Clearwater, Florida."
Daniels School Children Ride Fannie to 'To the Moon'; Make Class Excursions from Beckley to Prince, Beckley (W.Va.) Post-Herald, 07 May 1949, Page 5.
Retiring Teacher Says Farewell to Shady Spring Junior Students, Beckley Post-Herald, 10 June 1970, Page 5.
Daniels school photos courtesy of Glen Curtis:
Daniels, Grades 3-4, 1950-51-- Third row, third right is Leeta Kay Curtis.
Daniels, Grades 4-6, 1950-51 -- First right after teacher Bess Kate Snyder is Eugene Woods who lived on C&O Dam Road. Fifth right is Glen Curtis. Also in the first row, Sandra Mathis with a scarf around her neck..
***
Photo labeled “Hoye School/ Last school term/ 1927-28/Last teacher Verna Vest.” The Hoye School “was located on the Calvin C. Hoye (1834-1893) farm. The farm is now owned by Mrs. Lee (Anna) Wood,” according to “A History of Shady Spring District,” Page 420.
More information about Mr. Hoye and his family was shared by a descendent:
C. Hoye is listed as living in Shady Spring Township, Raleigh County, WV in the 1870 census meaning that the family must have moved to WV between 1866 and 1870. The family consisted of: C.C. Hoy 35 M W Farming - $160 born VA; Mary E. 31 F W VA; Nancy 12 F W VA; Rhoda C. 9 F WV; Miles C. 7 M WV; Eliza O. 2 F WV; Samuel J. 4/12 M WV; and Martha 29 F WV
This information leads me to believe that Martha may be Calvin Hoye’s younger sister based on the supposed siblings of Calvin at the top of the page.
In the 1880 Census he is listed as Calhoun Hoy, Raleigh County, Richmond District, WV: Calhoun Hoy 43 Farming; Mary 44; Miles 14; Octavia 12; Samuel 10; John 7; Joseph 4; and Laura 2.
Calvin died 28 Jul 1893 in Raleigh, West Virginia, and is buried in the Williams Cemetery in White Oak (Raleigh County) and Mary Elizabeth Wallace Hoye died 20 April 1896 in Raleigh County. Calvin Hoye and wife Mary had eight children. Nancy Jane married John William Smith (my line); Rhoda Hoye married Layfayette Meador; Miles Coleman Hoye married Naomi Bird; Elizabeth Octavia Hoye married William Anderson Dodd; John Neff Hoye married Mary Virginia Watts; and Laura Mary Hoye married Milo Ulysses Grant Phillips. I have no evidence that Joseph and Samuel Hoye married, although one researcher suggests that Joseph married Olive (last name unknown) and lived in the Imperial Valley in California.
Verna Veatrice Vest (July 6, 1908/Jan. 27, 1980) was a daughter of Leonard Haliburton Vest and his second wife Emma Stella Gadd. (See Gadd and Vest/Cochran pages.) She married Fred Bennett (Feb. 9, 1910/December 1972) of Abraham, W.Va., on Nov. 26, 1931. Fred, a farmer, was a son of Samuel A. Bennett and his wife Victoria Plumley. Fred and Verna had a daughter, Hazel Jeanette, who died shortly after birth, and a son, Dewey Ralston Bennett.
Verna was a graduate of Concord College in Athens, W.Va., (now Concord University) and was a school teacher for many years. She spent most of her career teaching in Richmond District, Raleigh County. According to “A History of Shady Spring District,” Verna “started teaching school at 18 in 1927 at Panther Knob one room school. The following year she taught at the Hoye School.” She played the piano in church and was a very devout Christian woman. Verna always said a prayer at mealtime. When her son Ralston was shot by a friend and lay dying, Verna prayed with her son and heard his confession of faith in Jesus Christ.
