U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Laidley, William Sydney (1839-1917) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Men of West Virginia, Volume II Biographical Publishing Company George Richmond, Pres.: C. R. Arnold, Sec'y and Treas. Chicago, Illinois, 1903 Pages 676-680 HON. WILLIAM SYDNEY LAIDLEY, a prominent citizen of Charleston, West Virginia, who can trace an authentic ancestry farther into the past than can many citizens, was born June 27, 1839, in Cabell County, Virginia, now West Virginia, and is a son of John Osborne and Mary Scales (Hite) Laidley, the former of whom was born in Morgantown and the latter in Barboursville, Virginia, now West Virginia. The great-grandfather of our subject was James Laidlaw, of Ayrshire. Scotland, who married Jane Stewart in August, 1746. Their fourth child was Thomas Laidlaw, born January 1, 1756. It will be noticed that the original name was Laidlaw, and that it became Laidley; the change is said to have been made by this Thomas when he came to America, because he took the side of American colonists, the other members of the family remained loyal to King George III; to distinguish the rebel from the loyal, he called himself Laidley. And it has also been said that in the Civil War there was another of the name that took the side of the South, and changed his name back to Laidlaw for the same reason; but whether either of the said stories are true ones we do not vouch. Thomas Laidley, the grandfather of our subject, came to America in September, 1774, landing in New York, and it is said that he was with Washington at the battle of Brandywine, Trenton, and other conflicts of the Revolutionary War, and commanded some boat on the Delaware River in aid of the American patriots. In 1778, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he married Sarah Osborne, daughter of Charles and Sarah Osborne of Philadelphia, and removed to Morgantown, Virginia, now West Virginia, in 1773, and represented the county in several sessions of the Virginia Legislature and voted with the minority on the famous Jefferson Resolutions of 1798. John Osborn Laidley, father of our subject, was reared in Monongalia County and was given such education as the country afforded, being assisted and encouraged by a talented and educated mother. He learned somewhat of the printing business, studied law at Parkersburg, Wood County, with his oldest brother, James Grant Lindley, who had married Harriet Quarrier, and was there engaged in practice. He was admitted to the bar of that county in June, 1813. During the war or 1812 he volunteered for service in Captain Kennedy's company of Virginia artillery, and remained at or near Norfolk until the end of the war. On December 24, 1814, he returned to his adopted home at Cabell Court House; he was appointed prosecuting attorney of the county and continued in office all his life, although after the constitutional convention of 1852 the office was an elective one. In 1816 John Osborne Laidley married Mary Scales Hite, daughter of Jacob and Sallie (Scales) Hite, the former a descendant of Hans Jost Heydt (or Hite, as the name was afterward Anglicized), who came from Strasburg to America and landed in New York about 1710. The Hite family is a prominent one all through the Virginias. For 20 years after coming to this country, Hans Jost Hite, with his wife, whose maiden name was Anna Maria DuBois, and their family lived at Kingston, New York and at different places in Pennsylvania. On the 5th of August, 1731, he bought of the Van Meters the contracts made by them with Governor Gooch of Virginia, relating to grants of land in Western Virginia. The contracts required him to locate 40 families in two years. In the meanwhile, he had secured the aid of one Robert McCoy, a Quaker, and on October 21, 1731, Hite and McCoy obtained an order of council of 100,000 acres on the west side of the mountains on like conditions of settling 100 families within two years. The time for making these settlements was extended until Christmas, 1735. Early in the spring of 1732 Hans Jost Hite, with 16 families, began the journey from Little York, Pennsylvania, to the Virginia grants, at first stopping at a place called Redbud, and finally settling on the Opequon at a place called Springdale, sometimes called Bartonville. On the 12th of June, 1734, an order of council was made which stated that Hans Jost Hite had made due proof that he had complied with the terms of the grant made to the Van Meters and had settled on that land more than the requisite number of families, and directed that patents should issue to him and his assignees upon the surveys then returned into the secretary's office. In the same year began the litigation between Lord Fairfax and Hite and others. Fairfax entered a general caveat against all orders of councils, deeds, patents, entries, etc., issuing from the crown office for the lands lying within his proprietary until the dispute was settled. By the 1st of January, 1736, Hite and McCoy had settled 54 families on their 100,000 acres of land, and had made some surveys, which were returned into the secretary's office in due time, but the caveat was served before the patents were issued to the surveys. In 1771 there was a final decree of court which gave Hite 40,000 acres of the Van Meter land, and to Hite and McCoy 54,000 acres of the 100,000 acres mentioned in the order of October 21, 1731. This practically ended the trouble, although some litigation was kept up for several years afterward. The family of John Osborne Laidley and wife consisted of five girls and nine boys, all of whom have passed away except two, — Mrs. L. H. Banks, who lives at the homestead that is now included in the limits of the city of Huntington; and William Sydney, the subject of this sketch. John Osborne Laidley practiced law in Logan County, which he aided in organizing in 1824, and also in Wayne County, which was organized in 1842, Mr. Laidley being appointed Commonwealth's attorney. In Cabell and Wayne counties he continued to practice after his removal to the Ohio River in 1829. In that year he purchased a tract of land extending from the Ohio River back to the hills and built a residence facing the river. In 1843 Bishop Johns visited the Kanawha Valley and at "Still-House" Mission, above Walnut Grove, confirmed a class of which Mr. Laidley was a member, having rode there for that purpose. John Osborne Laidley may justly be styled the founder of Marshall Academy (now Marshall College), being one of the foremost citizens in having appropriations made and contributing time, energy and money for the good of the institution. It has been said of him by his contemporaries that he was a man governed to a great extent by his religious and moral feelings and while he appreciated refined and educated associations, yet any one who was a sincere Christain was treated with the greatest respect. As prosecuting attorney he was a terror to breakers of the law. He was a Jeffersonian Democrat; a member of the Virginia Convention in 1829-30; a strong opponent of secession, and through the early days of the War, a loyal and outspoken Union man. He was taken ill in August, 1863, and died with pneumonia, but the approach of death had no terrors for him, and he met it with a smile on his face. He was a man of simple manner, of studious habits, exemplary character, and commanded the respect of the entire community. The records of the State embalm his history in their annals and point with pride to so eminent a fellow citizen. William Sydney Laidley was educated in the subscription schools of his native county, it being one of the great efforts of his father to have his children given educational advantages. He became a student at Marshall College at Huntington, his attendance ending with the beginning of the Civil War. After the death of his father in 1863, he moved to Charleston, read law with the very able George W. Summers, who had married his oldest sister, Amacetta, born in 1818, and was admitted to the bar in 1866. At the death of Judge Summers in 1868, he was the latter's partner in legal practice. Then he formed a professional partnership with the late Col. W. M. Hogeman and continued this relation until the latter's death in January, 1885. Mr. Laidley was a valuable working member of the House of Delegates in 1872-73, and for the past 15 years has been connected with the municipal government of Charleston, as councilman; he was city solicitor for two years. He has done much to advance the prosperity and adornment of the capital of the State, being one of the promoters of the city water works and the electric light plant. In 1890 he was a candidate for County Commissioner of Kanawha County, and was elected by a majority of 1,300. Mr. Laidley is the able editor of the West Virginia Historical Magazine and for a number of years has been a member of the West Virginia Historical Society. In 1869 Mr. Laidley was married to Virginia Brown, who is a daughter of Judge James H. Brown. A family of nine children has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Laidley. The religious attachment of the family is with the Protestant Episcopal Church. ------------------------------------------------------------------- DEATH CERTIFICATE, Kanawha County WV, #7806 FULL-NAME: William Sydney Laidley BIRTH-DATE: June 27, 1839 BIRTH-PLACE: West Virginia DEATH-DATE: July 9, 1917 AGE-AT-DEATH: 78y-0m-12d DEATH-PLACE: Charleston, Kanawha County, WV MARITAL-STATUS: Married OCCUPATION: Attorney at Law FATHER: John O. Laidley (born in W.Va.) MOTHER: Mary Scales Kite (born in W.Va.) CAUSE-OF-DEATH: Paralysis INFORMANT: W. D. Laidley (of Charleston, W.Va.) BURIAL: Spring Hill Cemetery ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Kanawha County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/kanawha/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------