Person Page - 14

     Odria Gay Spangler was buried at William Winfield Spangler Cemetery, 1033 Friendship Road, Shawsville, Montgomery Co., Virginia.⁷ Her Social Security Number was 226-28-2701.⁸ She and William Centeno were divorced.⁴ Odria Gay Spangler married Jack Ellinger.^9,4 Her married name was Ellinger. Odria Gay Spangler was born on August 15, 1923 at Shawsville, Montgomery Co., Virginia.^2,8,4,1 She married William Centeno on December 22, 1946.^2,4 As of December 22, 1946,her married name was Centeno. Odria Gay Spangler and Jack Ellinger were divorced in December, 1979.^2,4 Odria Gay Spangler died on February 19, 1995 at Arizona at age 71.⁸

     His Social Security Number was 230-34-1307.⁸ Troy Allen Spangler Sr. was buried at William Winfield Spangler Cemetery, 1033 Friendship Road, Shawsville, Montgomery Co., Virginia.⁵ He was born on September 13, 1926 at Shawsville, Montgomery Co., Virginia.^1,2,8,3,5 He married Dorothy Ethel Preston on March 26, 1966.^1,2 Troy Allen Spangler Sr. died on January 4, 1989 at Montgomery Co., Virginia, at age 62.^9,2,8,4,5

     Her married name was Brown/Browne.^8,5,4 Nellie Mae Spangler was buried at William Winfield Spangler Cemetery, 1033 Friendship Road, Shawsville, Montgomery Co., Virginia.⁴ She married Unknown Brown/Browne.^8,5,4 Nellie Mae Spangler was born on July 7, 1929 at Shawsville, Montgomery Co., Virginia.^1,2,3,4 She married Frank Elroy Weir Jr. on January 3, 1948 at Christiansburg, Montgomery Co., Virginia.^1,2,3 As of January 3, 1948,her married name was Weir. Nellie Mae Spangler married Otis L. D. Haile on October 17, 1963.^1,2 As of October 17, 1963,her married name was Haile. Nellie Mae Spangler died on May 14, 2006 at New York at age 76.⁴

     Frank Elroy Weir Jr. was buried at Fayetteville National Cemetery, 700 Government Avenue, Fayetteville, Washington Co., Arkansas.⁴ He was born on January 12, 1927 at Wytopitlock, Aroostook Co., Maine.^1,2,3 He married Nellie Mae Spangler, daughter of William Winfield Spangler and Ardella Arminta "Della" Conner, on January 3, 1948 at Christiansburg, Montgomery Co., Virginia.^1,2,3 Frank Elroy Weir Jr. died on September 20, 2002 at age 75.

     Otis L. D. Haile was buried at Parker Community Cemetery, Parker, La Paz Co., Arizona.³ He was born on November 19, 1916.^1,2,3 He married Nellie Mae Spangler, daughter of William Winfield Spangler and Ardella Arminta "Della" Conner, on October 17, 1963.^1,2 Otis L. D. Haile died on November 2, 1976 at Arizona at age 59.³

     Alice Alabama Wright was buried at Crossroads Church Cemetery (also known as Prillaman Cemetery), Hummingbird Lane, south of Rt. 221, Floyd Co., Virginia.^1,3 She was born on August 19, 1872 at Locust Grove, Floyd Co., Virginia.^1,2,3,4 She married James William Prillaman, son of Jacob Prillaman and Martha Gray, on September 17, 1891 at Floyd Co., Virginia.^2,1,5,3 As of September 17, 1891,her married name was Prillaman. Alice Alabama Wright died on June 5, 1923 at Floyd Co., Virginia, at age 50.¹

     Pearl Ada "Pearlie" King was buried at Cedar Lawn Memorial Park, 5070 Cove Road N. W., Roanoke, Virginia.^6,9,10,8 She was born on April 14, 1884 at Floyd Co., Virginia.^1,6,8 She married Guy Milton Poff, son of George Isaac Wilson Poff and Callie Amanda Huff, on June 26, 1910 at Bristol, Sullivan Co., Tennessee.^1,6,2,8 As of June 26, 1910,her married name was Poff. Pearl Ada "Pearlie" King died on April 24, 1962 at Roanoke, Virginia, at age 78.^1,6,8

     Mary "Polly" Winters married Henry Link on November 1, 1811 at Rockbridge Co., Virginia. As of November 1, 1811,her married name was Link. Mary "Polly" Winters died circa 1840.

     Lola Maude Sweeney was buried at Resthaven Memorial Park, 1917 West Main Street, Princeton, Mercer Co., West Virginia.⁵ She was born on July 9, 1899 at West Virginia.^2,5 As of circa 1915,her married name was Hall.¹ She married Jesse Lee Hall, son of Bird Jesse Hall and Hannah Emaline Sweeney, circa 1915.^2,1,3,5 Lola Maude Sweeney died on January 13, 1969 at West Virginia at age 69.⁵

     His Social Security Number was 234-20-3276.¹⁰ Basil Eugene Hall Sr. was buried at Roselawn Memorial Gardens, Courthouse Road, Princeton, Mercer Co., West Virginia.^4,6 He married Mary Madeline Bishop.^4,6 Basil Eugene Hall Sr. was born on June 26, 1917 at Indian Mills, Mercer Co., West Virginia.^10,4,5 He died on July 3, 1987 at Princeton, Mercer Co., West Virginia, at age 70.^10,4,6 He Basil Eugene Hall Sr., 70, of Roger Street, Princeton, died Friday morming at a Princeton hospital. Born in Indian Mills, he was the son of Jesse Lee Hall of Princeton and the late Lola Maude Sweeney Hall. He was a retired electrician for the Pocahontas Fuel Company at Itman for more than 14 years. He attended the Advent Christian Ctturch at Princeton. He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Anny. He was a member of the Princeton Moose Lodge No. 1521. Survivors: wife, Mary Madeline Bishop Hall, son, Basil (Gene) Hall Jr. of Princeton; daughters. Mrs. Jack (Joyce) Keatley of Prattville, Ala., and Mrs. Alfred (Diane) Cocus of Princeton; sisters, Mrs. Ruth Mae Tyree of King, N.C., Mrs. Frances Marie Foley of Pipestem, Mrs. Hannah Elizabeth Huston of Freeders, Penn., Mrs. Frances Lucille Scott of Radcliff, Ky., and Mrs. Meredith Irene Bailey of Beartown; brothers, Bryce Hall of Princeton, Benjamin Hall of Eden, N.C., and Barry Hall of Ballard; and six grandchildren. Funeral services will conducted 11 a.m. Monday in the Buttts-Worttal Chapel of the Memorial Funeral Directory on the Athens Road in Princeton with Rev. Orville Hatvey and Rev. Clinton White o1Ticiatlng. Burial will follow in the Roselawn Memorial Gardens in Princeton. on July 5, 1987.⁶

     George Boothe was buried at Simmons Cemetery (also known as Booth Cemetery), Floyd Co., Virginia.¹ He was born in 1736/37 at Sandwich, Kent, England.¹ He married Permelia "Millie" Wright in 1751/52 at Oyster Bay, Nassau Co., New York.¹ George Boothe died in 1813 at Montgomery Co., Virginia.¹

     Daniel Boothe was born in 1787 at New York. He married Sarah McAlexander on May 28, 1805 at Patrick Co., Virginia.² Daniel Boothe died in 1855 at Patrick Co., Virginia.

     Brenton/Brinton Sherman King was buried at Fair View Cemetery, 3300 Melrose Ave. N.W., Roanoke, Virginia.^1,6,8,3 He was born on June 16, 1885 at Floyd Co., Virginia.^1,6,2,3 He married Helen Leona Peters, daughter of Charles Peters and Betty A. Unknown, on March 10, 1925.^1,6 Brenton/Brinton Sherman King died on November 7, 1947 at Roanoke, Virginia, at age 62.^1,6,3

     As of May 25, 1805,her married name was Boothe.¹ Sarah McAlexander married Daniel Boothe, son of George Boothe and Permelia "Millie" Wright, on May 28, 1805 at Patrick Co., Virginia.¹ Sarah McAlexander died circa 1823.

     Waller Morris King was buried at Fair View Cemetery, 3300 Melrose Ave. N.W., Roanoke, Virginia.^1,2,3,5 He was born on March 6, 1887 at Floyd Co., Virginia.^1,2,5 He married Nannie Kathleen Beckner, daughter of William Allen Beckner and Eugenia Cahoon, in October, 1919.^1,2,4 Waller Morris King died on August 8, 1976 at Daleville, Botetourt Co., Virginia, at age 89.^2,5

     Mattie L. King was buried at Yates Family Cemetery, near Stonewall Church, one-half mile off 4366 Rt. 221 N., Floyd Co., Virginia.² She was born on January 11, 1889 at Floyd Co., Virginia.^1,2 She died on July 20, 1889 at Floyd Co., Virginia; Died in infancy of flux.^1,2

     Minnie Victoria Hall was buried at Sherwood Burial Park, 1045 Lynchburg Turnpike, Salem, Roanoke Co., Virginia.^2,1 She was born on December 14, 1874 at Floyd Co., Virginia.^2,3,4,1 She married Ballard Smith Yates, son of William Anthony Yeatts and Mary Henry Terry Yates, on February 14, 1893 at Floyd Co., Virginia.^3,2,4 As of February 14, 1893,her married name was Yates. Minnie Victoria Hall died on April 10, 1929 at Salem, Roanoke Co., Virginia, at age 54.^2,4,1

     Mary Silkie Yates was buried at Sherwood Burial Park, 1045 Lynchburg Turnpike, Salem, Roanoke Co., Virginia.² She was born on March 31, 1898 at Montgomery Co., Virginia.² As of circa 1915,her married name was Jones.⁴ She married William Burnett Jones circa 1915.^5,4,2 Mary Silkie Yates died on January 13, 1959 at Roanoke, Virginia, at age 60.²

     Her Social Security Number was 227-34-4498.⁶ Ethel Maggie Yeatts was buried at Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens, 5737 Airport Road NW, Roanoke, Virginia.^7,3 She was born on July 17, 1898 at Floyd Co., Virginia.^1,6,3 She married Byron Lewis Joseph Radford, son of Gabriel George Washington Radford and Harriet Ruth Elizabeth "Lizzie" Nolen, on August 14, 1917 at Floyd Co., Virginia.^1,2,3 As of August 14, 1917,her married name was Radford. Ethel Maggie Yeatts died on July 8, 1981 at Roanoke, Virginia, at age 82.^1,3

     Oscar Wallace Yates was buried at Sherwood Burial Park, 1045 Lynchburg Turnpike, Salem, Roanoke Co., Virginia.^4,5,6 He was born on October 26, 1894 at Otey, Montgomery Co., Virginia.^3,4,5,6,10,7 He married Gladys Irene Frier on November 19, 1926 at Roanoke, Virginia.^4,11 Oscar Wallace Yates died on December 30, 1953 at Roanoke, Virginia, at age 59.^4,5,6

     Her Social Security Number was 213-70-3050.² Her married name was Buck.¹ Bonnie M. Wimmer married Unknown Buck.¹ Bonnie M. Wimmer was born on December 13, 1955.² She died on June 9, 1999 at age 43.^1,2

     Leo Schaffer was buried at Bnai Israel Cemetery, Charleston, Kanawha Co., West Virginia.^2,3,8 He A quote attributed to "Speck" Davis, a bartender at the notorious Black Hawk Saloon in Southside sums up life on the other side of the tracks from Thurmond, "A man didn't dare walk along the railroad tracks after dark in those days. ...it was nothing in those days to walk along (Dun) Loop Creek branch line and see three of four dead men lying beside the tracks." Add to this assessment the story of the mayor of Glen Jean, Leo Schaffer, whose authority extended from Glen Jean down to and including the left bank of the New river opposite Thurmond. The illustrious Mayor Schaffer also served as the town coroner and, in this capacity, was called to investigate a body that was found along the river. The deceased proved to be a man of foreign birth and was found to be carrying $25 in cash along with a pistol...the latter being not at all uncommon at the time. Mayor Schaffer posthumously fined the man $25 for carrying a gun...and then collected the fine from the deceased's pocket. He then confiscated the gun and departed for Glen Jean to notify the county authorities of their duty to bury the man...which they did, at taxpayers' expense, by digging a hole alongside the river and unceremoniously dumping the poor soul in.⁹ He was born on June 24, 1860 at Bielitz, Austria (now Bielsko-Biala Poland); The Fayette County history book has a birth date of Jun 24, 1860, his gravestone has Feb 16, 1934, his death certificate has Jun 12, 1860.^2,3,5,8,6 He Emigrated to the U.S. from Austria via England in 1888.^1,3 He married Nantell "Nannie" Frebush, daughter of Philip Friebusch/Frebush and Regina "Rachel" Strauss, on April 19, 1891 at Baltimore, Maryland.^2,3,10,11 Leo Schaffer The Schaffer Morgan Company, carrying on a general merchandise business, &c; principal office Sewell, West Virginia; charter issued November, 19, 1891; expires November, 1, 1941; corporators, Leo Schaffer, H. Schaffer, C. O. Coder, R. French, A. Frebush, all of Sewell, West Virginia: capital subscribed, $8000 amount paid in $8000; capital authorized, $15,000; par value shares, $100. in 1893.⁴ He Leo Schaffer - Glen Jean's First Mayor. There are many versions of the story about the late Leo Schaffer, Glen Jean's first mayor, who had his office on the south side of the New River at Thurmond, fining a dead man for toting a pistol back during the halcyon days when Thurmond rivaled any city served by the C. & O. The story is so universally repeated by those who were living at Thurmond at the turn of the present century, however, that there must have been some truth to it. That little incident in nowise depreciates the upstanding qualities and the unique character Mr. Schaffer possessed. It indicates rather the astuteness of Mr. Schaffer, and reveals something of the singular charm that colored life in Thurmond during that early period when the New River coal field was just coming into its own. One of the versions of the story told about Mr. Schaffer is that a man had committed suicide, and that the mayor fined him the exact sum of money found on his person for committing said criminal offense.

Mayor Schaffer was quite interested in lodge activities, and a few years ago, at a Masonic meeting in Charleston, he drew a chair up before Elmer Daniels, of Mount Hope, who was serving as Thurmond's sixth mayor at the time. Mr. Schaffer, who talked with a marked peculiarity, said: "Well, I understand you are the present mayor of Thurmond. Well, you know I used to mayor right across the river, in Glen Jean. And you know, they still tell an old story about me fining a man up there for committing suicide - but there never was anything to it."

To appreciate the charm and glory that surrounded Thurmond in the days of old, it is well to keep in mind that the old Dunglenn Hotel, the Black Hawk Saloon, and other buildings located on the south side of the river, were never a part of Thurmond's corporate limits. The town of Glen Jean, incorporated just before Thurmond became an incorporate town, in 1901, extended all the way from the present Glen Jean community to new River. It took in a lot of territory. It remains something of a mystery why the McKell-owned town of Glen Jean extended five miles down Loup Creek unless, as some claim, it was for the purpose of licensing the saloons on the south side. During that early age a number of Fayette towns were incorporated for that specific purpose, while others were incorporated for the express purpose of keeping out the saloons, of which Fayette County had 82 at one time. Thirteen of them were in Montgomery, half-a-dozen or so in Mount Hope.

Mr. Schaffer was regarded by many as the mayor of Thurmond, because it is generally believed that the old Dunglenn Hotel was in the Thurmond corporate limits, whereas it was actually in Glen Jean. At any rate, both Mr. Schaffer and the Dunglenn were such integral parts of Thurmond's history that they really were part of the lively little city on New River.

Another great character of that age closely associated with Mayor Schaffer was Harrison Ash, whio came from Kentucky at the turn of the century to spread terror in the hearts of the ruffians and the rough element that had migrated to the Loup Creek coal field. Nine out of ten persons with whom you talk will tell you that Harrison Ash was Thurmond's police chief, but this was not so. He was the police chief of Glen Jean and worked hand in hand with Mayor Schaffer to preserve the peace on the south side of New River at Thurmond. Harrison Ash was the brother of George Ash, who was killed by Pat Malone about 1917. It is said that he feared neither man nor beast, and that a number of evildoers paid dearly for their sins against society deep in the New River gorge during that wild and wooly era. He became deeply religious before his death some years ago.

The Dunglenn was built by Thomas McKell in 1901. An orchestra was brought from Columbus, Ohio, in the autumn of that year to play for the formal opening, attended by a couple hundred couples. An aged C. & O. engineer, whose name we refrain from using, tells us that he attended the colorful ball and got drunk on champagne. 'You know," he said, "That was the first time I ever drank champagne in my life. I didn't get much drunk that night, but I kept drinking it - and the next day I was really drunk." From that day until West Virginia went dry, in 1914, the bar at the Dunglenn never closed - and the gambling rooms never ceased to function. A gentleman who sometimes looked in on the poker games told me once he saw $30,000 on the table at one time.

Mayor Schaffer and Police Chief Harrison Ash made only slight pretense of checking gambling at the Dunglenn. Occasionally, they would make a raid, but it was believed to be solely for the purpose of disquieting criticism that came from some elements of society. Billy Mills, of Oak Hill, who came to Thurmond from Mexico, Missouri, to serve as a conductor on the C. & O.'s Loup Creek train, recalls one such raid. Mr. Mills and a companion were observing one of the constant games of poker when Mayor Schaffer and Harrison Ash burst into the room. "Here, Harrison, Harrison," shouted Mayor Schaffer, "Arrest these cheeps." He meant, of course, for Ash to seize the poker chips, but Mr. Mills and his companion, thinking Mr. Schaffer had ordered his police chief to arrest the players, beat a hasty retreat, as did some of the game's participants. on October 7, 1918.¹² He Two new coal companies with headquarters in Charleston were incorporated today. One is the Superior Central Mining company, with an authorized capital stock of $500,000 in $100 shares and 5,000 no-par shares. The incorporators are N. (Nevada), and W. (son Wilhelm) and Leo Schaffer, N. L. Anderson and I. (daughter-in-law Irma) Williams, all of Charleston. The charter says their chief operations will be in Kanawha, Fayette and Nicholas counties. N. Schaffer said today that eastern capital is interested in the company and that several mines would be purchased in the territory indicated.
on November 24, 1925.¹³ He Leo Schaffer, an Austrian by birth was born in that country June 24th, 1860. Six children were born to his parents, William and Terisia Schaffer of which he was the youngest. Mr. Schaffer has always been in the mercantile business having been in business eight years prior to his seeking a new home in America. He arrived in America in 1888 and in May, 1890, the firm of Schaffer, Morgan & Company was formed to succeed Arnold Midelburg at Sewell, then a thriving town with the prospects of a bright and lasting future. Mr. Schaffer was the managing partner of the concern, Messrs. Morgan and Hall being represented only by their capital. Mr. Schaffer rapidly adapted himself to his new surroundings and readily took to the ways of his new country and gathered around him a large circle of influential friends and acquaintances. His success in business was marked by characteristic enterprise and uprightness. Mr. Schaffer was a prominent member of the K. of P., New River Lodge No. 38 of Sewell, and was K. or R. & S. of his lodge and also a member of the grand lodge. He was a lieutenant of the Uniform Rank of New River division No. 7 and was largely instrumental in its organization. A few years later Mr. Schaffer became interested in the coal business and was manager of the old Cunard mines just across the river from Sewell, where he lived for many years. He later moved to Thurmond and became the first mayor of that hustling railroad town. in 1926.⁵ He died on February 16, 1934 at Charleston, Kanawha Co., West Virginia, at age 73.^2,3,8 He LEO SCHAFFER IS TAKEN BY DEATH - Former Coal Man Who Had Prominent Career in Europe Succumbs. Leo Schaffer, 73 years old, one of the most prominent figures in the early development of the coal business in southern West Virginia died at his home, 1528 Lee Street, Friday morning at 3:30 o'clock, following a brief illness with pneumonia. While he had been in ill health several months, his condition was not regarded as grave by attending physicians until a few days ago when pneumonia developed. Funeral services for Mr. Schaffer will be held at the Lee street residence Sunday. Plans were incomplete, however, pending the arrival of relatives from out of the city. Members of the Charleston lodge No. 153, A. F. & A. M., will have charge of the Masonic burial ritual in Spring Hill cemetery. A descendant of one of Central Europe's oldest and most prominent families, Mr. Schaffer came to America in 1888 at the height of a successful career in the exporting business in London and Berlin. He married Miss Nannnie Frebush, of Baltimore Md., in 1891. The potential possibilities of the coal business attracted Mr. Schaffer early in his business career in America, leading to achievements in that industry which made him one of the leaders, in the field, in this section. First Mayor of Thurmond. He was first associated in business at Sewell, Fayette County, with Arnold Middleburg. Later he became actively engaged in the coal business with the Effinger and Lang interests at Cunard. It was while Mr. Schaffer was in the mercantile business at Thurmond later that he became the first mayor of that booming coal center, serving as the head of the town government for eight years. For several years, he served as justice of the peace in Fayette County, giving that section an early taste of law enforcement during the wild boom period. A short time later he reentered the coal business. He used his resources to open up and operate the Dun Glen mining operations at Dun Glen. He also operated the New Cedar Grove Cola & Brick company as his business interests expanded in that section. Until eight years ago, when he retired from active business, he operated a small mine known as the Columbia Coal company on Campbell's creek. Mr. Schaffer was born June 4, 1860, at Bielitz, in old Austria, now located in the boundary of Poland, about 40 miles from Vienna. He was the son of William Schaffer, whose father another William Schaffer, had been a cloth manufacturer by appointment of the Emperor Franz Joseph. The Schaffer family had been Austria's leading cloth manufacturers for 100 years. They had furnished the entire cloth output for clothing the royal Austrian and Turkish armies during that period of the 19th century. Drapes for the decoration of royal theaters in four imperial countries of Europe had been produced in the great mills of the Schaffer family. Following his graduation from the Beilitz academic school, Leo Schaffer entered the High Commercial Institute of Vienna. Later he was a student of the University of Vienna for three years. Lumberman, Banker, Broker. Fortified with one of the best educations available in Europe at that time, he entered the lumber business and became a manager of lumber camps in Galacia and the Carpathian mountains. He mastered a number of peasant Slavic, Magyar and Croatian dialects which were to come into excellent use years later in handling foreign labor in the mines of West Virginia. For a time he worked in a bank in Vienna after he left the hardships of the Carpathian lumber camps, but tired of the career of banker and went to Berlin where he entered the business of an export broker with which he was occupied for 2 years. He disposed of his interests, went to Paris, and spent a year on vacation before he decided to reenter the export business in London. The next six years of his unusually active life were spent in the British Isles. Headquarters for his foreign trade interests were located in London. Soon his business expanded until he was the foreign representative of five great concerns on the continent of Europe. One of the five was the Hofman Furniture house of Vienna, which at that time enjoyed the distinction of being the world's largest manufacturer of chairs. Another client was a large piano manufacturer in Berlin. Mr. Schaffer's contacts for his clients sent chairs and pianos to all parts of the world. Served in Lodge With King Edward. In 1885, he became a member of the Lebanon Masonic lodge in London, at one time holding one of the responsible chairs in that famous lodge of Masonry. King Edward VII was the presiding grand master at more that one lodge meeting where Mr. Schaffer was one of the junior officers, he told his family years later. He became a personal friend of such famous English leaders as Lord Beaconsfield and the eminent Disraeli. During this time, his relatives on the continent were prominently identified with the political, art and medical professions. He was a first cousin of Dr. Eric Schaffer, famous newspaper correspondent in Europe, who became an early representative of the Associated Press on the continent. Another first cousin was Alexander Treitsch, one time imperial counselor of the old Austrian empire. General Maulner of the Imperial Austrian army during the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph was a grand uncle. On this side of the Atlantic, another first cousin was to become director of the Metropolitan Opera house in New York - Heinrich Conrad (correct spelling is Heinrich Conreid). It was this famous relative, who died in the last 20 years, who received credit for the discovery of the great Enrico Caruso, whom he brought to America to win acclaim as one of the world's foremost tenors. Emil Schaffer, a nephew of the pioneer West Virginia coal operator, is reputed to be one of the foremost art critics in Europe. Surviving Mr. Schaffer are the widow, Mrs. Nannie Frebush Schaffer; two sons, Dr. Phillip F. Schaffer and William Schaffer, of Charleston, and two daughters, Mrs. Albert Rothchild, of Cincinnati, and Mrs. Julius Wolfe, of Chicago. on February 16, 1934.³ He Corpse Tried, Fined for Carrying Pistol -
Some Fayette County history came to mind when press reports carried the news of the death of Dr. Phillip F. Schaffer, Charleston dentist, who died in Montgomery, Alabama, on Jan, 23. Dr Schaffer was the son of Leo Schaffer, former mayor of Thurmond. This is the mayor of the noted old river town who became celebrated because of a trial of a dead man which he held at Thurmond city hall. As the story goes, a dead man was found under the bridge over New River at Thurmond. How he came by his death was never established that I know. But the corpse was brought before Mayor Schaffer and an inquest was duly held. Search of the dead man's clothing revealed that he had a revolver in his pocket and a considerable sum of money on his person. While it was standard operating procedure in those touch-and-go times for a man in those parts to go armed it was, nevertheless, a violation of the law.
Mayor Schaffer was not one to wink at the violation of the law, it seems, so he slapped a fine on the dead man for carrying a pistol in the mayor's bailiwick. Amount of the fine assessed the dead man was the extent of the wad of money that was found in his pocket, according to the report that has long been one of the legends of this area. Thus divested of his money the dead man was turned over to Fayette County authorities who accorded him the pauper's burial somewhere on the river bank in the vicinity of where he came to his untimely end. on February 22, 1963.¹⁴ He Dead Man Fined Amount in His Pocket -
Since mention of the National Bank of Thurmond in this column, requests have come for more to be written about the noted old river town on the C & O in Fayette County.

One reader asked about Leo Schaffer, once mayor of Thurmond as well as mayor of Glen Jean nearby.

As mayor of Glen Jean, Schaffer's jurisdiction encompassed the famed Garden Grounds, which plateau extended up New River from Thurmond to Terry. The corporate limits of Glen Jean then took in the Dun Glen Hotel, which burned July 22, 1930.

Schaffer is easily one of the most legendary characters Fayette County ever had. I never knew him but I went to Charleston High School with his son, Philip, who studied dentristy and practiced in Charleston.

Leo, the father, was born in 1860 at Bielitz in Austria on the border of Poland, the son of a cloth manufacturer about 40 miles from Vienna.

With money earned in the exporting business in Berlin and London, Leo Schaffer came to the United States in 1888. He married Miss Nannie Frebush in 1891 and soon afterward was attracted to West Virginia by stories of fortunes to be made in the coal business then beginning to flower.

Sewell was already a bustling town on New River and the prospect of business profit ws dazzling. There at Sewell, now only a ghost site, Schaffer became associated with Arnold Middleburg and later hooked up with Effinger and Laing coal interests at Cunard, now know as Coal Run.

Still going the rounds is a classic story of Schaffer at the time he was mayor of Thurmond and the body of a man
was discovered floating down New River one morning.

Finding a dead man in and around Thurmond those days excited little attention. Some say it was standard operating procedure, but that is probably an overstatement.

As mayor, Schaffer exercised power of coroner, whether or not he had that power, so he was called when the drowned man's body was fished from where the bridge spans New River at Thurmond.

According to the late George Wolfe, whose memoirs I have, the dead man appeared to be of foreign birth. On his person was a revolver and $25 in cash, so Schaffer fined the dead man $25 for carrying a concealed weapon and also confiscated the gun before notifying county authorities at Fayetteville to get busy and bury the dead.
Interment was in a quickly dug grave on the river bank.

It was while he was engaged in mercantile business at Thurmond that Schaffer became the first mayor of that town. He served for eight years. He also served as justice of the peace of Sewell Mountain District and had a part in the law enforcement during all those wild boom years that made Thurmond known all over the east.

Schaffer re-entered coal business at Dun Glen. Next he operated the New Cedar Grove Coal and Brick Co. at Cedar Grove on the Kanawha River. Before retirement, he had a small coal mine, known as the Columbus Coal Co., on Campbells Creek.

He died at his home in Charleston at 3:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 16, 1934. on March 3, 1971.¹⁵

     Henry McLaughlin was born circa 1780 at Pittsylvania Co., Virginia.² He married Mary "Polly" Terry, daughter of John B. Terry and Sarah "Sally" Hodnett, on November 11, 1806 at Pittsylvania Co., Virginia.^2,4 Henry McLaughlin Served as a Private in the 5th Regiment Virginia Militia. in 1812.^6,5 He Pittsylvania County tax records for 1840 show that Henry McLaughlin paid taxes on 139 acres of land on both sides of Bear Branch. This same land was sold to John Hodnett in January, 1862 as part of Henry McLaughlin's estate after 40 acres were removed as Polly's dower. The list of heirs as recorded on the deed included: Alfred T. Echols & Sarah C. Echols his wife, William R. Yates, William W. Turner and Sarah C. Turner his wife, William A. Yates and Meary H. T. Yates his wife, William T. Yates and Louisa T. Yates his wife, Lydia J. Hardy, John T. Yates, Samuel E. Yates and Sarah W. Yates his wife, Elizabeth B. Yates, Henry S. Yates, and Meary McLaughlin. in 1840 at Pittsylvania Co., Virginia.² He died before December 4, 1850 at Pittsylvania Co., Virginia; His wife was enumerated in the 1850 Census without her husband.⁷

     William A. Chatham was born on August 1, 1874 at Lock Haven, Clinton Co., Pennsylvania.² He died on February 2, 1877 at Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pennsylvania, at age 2.^1,2