U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Freeman, W. G. (b. 1870) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Men of West Virginia, Volume II Biographical Publishing Company George Richmond, Pres.: C. R. Arnold, Sec'y and Treas. Chicago, Illinois, 1903 Pages 745-746 W. G. FREEMAN, secretary and treasurer of the Caswell Creek Coal & Coke Company, and one of the prominent citizens of Freeman, Mercer County, West Virginia, was born in 1870, at Shamokin, Pennsylvania, and is a son of the late John Freeman and wife, the former of whom was one of the largest and most successful coal operators of the Flat-Top coal field. John Freeman was born in Claycross, Derbyshire, England, and after coming to America engaged in coal mining at Trenton, Pennsylvania, until he removed to Fayette County, West Virginia. He remained there, interested in the iron mining industry at Clifton Forge and other points until 1883, when he came to the Flat-Top coal fields in Mercer and McDowell counties. West Virginia. He had these children: C. W., of Bramwell; R. E., of Freeman; W. G., of Freeman; Mary, wife of G. T. Davidson of Union, West Virginia; and Kate, wife of S. N. Branton of Freeman. Mr. Freeman died in 1892, and was succeeded in the Caswell Creek Coal & Coke Company by his son, our subject. The Caswell Creek mines were the third to commence operations in the Flat-Top coal fields; and they were opened and the first shipment of coal made in August, 1884, by Jenkin Jones and John Freeman, operating under the firm name of Freeman & Jones, by whom the business was carried on until 1889, when the Caswell Creek Coal & Coke Company was organized and incorporated under the laws of West Virginia, with Jenkin Jones as president and general manager, and John Freeman as secretary and treasurer. Mr. Jones still occupies the same position. C. W. Freeman is vice-president of the company. The holdings of this company embrace 1400 acres leased from the Flat-Top Land Association. There have been erected 231 coke ovens, with a productive capacity of about 350 tons per day. Employment is given to about 300 men and the capacity of the mines is about 1250 tons daily from the middle vein which has, at this operation, an average thickness of six and one-half feet of marketable coal. Steam and compressed air are used, the former for hauling purposes, and the latter for mining. The air-compressing plant is a very fine one, there being two Sullivan compressors, one a six and the other a lo-horsepower machine. They use six puncher machines, and two Baldwin and three Vulcan locomotives, each of about 15 tons weight, for hauling. The Caswell Creek plant is regarded as one of the best equipped in the whole field. W. G. Freeman, our subject, went to the New River coal field in 1880 and to the Flat-Top region in 1883. He was educated there and at Roanoke College, where he spent three years. He has been actively associated in the management of the Caswell Creek mines since the death of his father. Mr. Freeman married a daughter of Hiram Beals, of Pennsylvania, and they have a family of four sons. They have one of the handsome homes at Freeman, and the among the representative people of that thriving town. In politics Mr. Freeman is a Republican, but is not particularly active in public affairs. For a long time he has been prominent in fraternal life, and belongs to all the leading secret organizations, being a member of Ivanhoe Commandry, No. 10, K. T., of Bramwell, and Beni-Kedem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Charleston; the lodge of Odd Fellows at Bramwell and the Red Men at Bluefield. Religiously the family is connected with the Methodist Church. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Mercer County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/mercer/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------