U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Arthur, Richard M. (1856-1936) --------------------------------------------------------------------- A History of Preston County West Virginia Biographical Department, Supplied by J. R. Cole Kingwood, W. Va., The Journal Publishing Company, 1914 by H. S. Whetsell Pages 702-706, RICHARD M. ARTHUR. Among the prominent citizens and larger farmers of West Virginia is Richard M. Arthur, of Arthurdale, Reedsville, this county. His spacious and palatial residence occupies a beautiful eminence, centrally located amidst his broad domain of nearly 1500 acres, and commands expansive and magnificent views for miles around. It is an imposing building and suggests the ancestral halls of great landed estates so popular in former times. Richard M. Arthur is of Irish descent and is a son of John Newton and Mary Arthur of County _______, near Dublin, Ireland. Mr. John N. Arthur and his wife emigrated to America in ____, and settled at Mt. Savage, near Cumberland, Allegany county, Maryland. He was shortly after followed by his mother, his brothers, James and Edward, also his sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, who afterwards married, respectively, John Baker and James Burke, of Pittsburgh. Each of the sisters reared families, but his brother, James (employed nearly his whole life in the American Iron and Steel Works, Pittsburgh), remained a bachelor, while Edward joined the Union forces in the Rebellion and his subsequent whereabouts was never ascertained. John Newton Arthur, Richard's father, was a cultured, educated gentleman of exceptional ability and high character. On settling in Mt. Savage, John N. Arthur took up railroading and was a passenger conductor for several years on the railroad. Removing to Pittsburgh in 1860, and becoming a conspicuous figure in the construction and early operation of the old Pitts and Connellsville division of the B. & O. R. R., as General Dispatcher of the road (Corresponding to Master of Transportation, in modern railroad terms), he served a long career of usefulness and honor. Under his tutelage several of the highest railroad officials, since directing some of the greatest railroad systems of the United States, received their first lessons. Among these may be mentioned, J. O. Hughart, senior and junior, consecutive Presidents of the Grand Rapids and allied systems, and J. B. Yohe, the present General Manager of the P. & L. Erie or Pittsburgh Division of the New York Central (Vanderbilt) Lines. Mr. Arthur was six feet and one inch in stature, weighed over 200 pounds, was genial and courtly in manner and of distinguished personality. For these qualities and his thorough-going railroad capacity, J. N. A., (as he was designated by railroad officialdom and the public as well), was well known and respected by everybody throughout the length of his division. He died in 1883 at his home, 24th Street, South Side, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was buried in the family plot. Mary Arthur, wife of John N. Arthur, was a daughter of _______ and _______ McNulty, and was from _______. She had two brothers and five sisters. Of her brothers, who likewise came to Maryland, James was a railroad conductor for many years and later went into the brewery business at Mount Savage. In he removed to Pittsburgh, where he established a coal yard on the South Side. He later went with his family to New York City, and after a few years removed to Denver, Colo., where he (and son, Thomas) became active and prominent in business and political affairs, until his death in ____. He left a large family, who are widely scattered, some living in New York, St. Louis, Denver and San Francisco. Thomas, the other brother, took the gold fever and went to California in ____. Returning he soon after settled at Pittsburgh and later went to McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Taking the gold fever again, he went to Alaska in 18__, at the age of 63, but soon returned to McKeesport, where he still lives. He has one daughter, Annie, living in Pittsburgh. Mrs. John N. Arthur had five sisters: Bridget (Mrs. Gordon), who died at McKeesport in ____, aged __ years; Anna (Mrs. Edw. Donahue) of Frostburg, Md., still hale and hearty at the age of __ years; Catherine (Mrs. Bulger) becoming a widow, she later married John Burns, and Margaret (Mrs. Lanagan), both of Pittsburgh, now deceased, and Lydia, unmarried, living at Pittsburgh. She was a woman of gentleness, refinement and devotion to the duties and responsibilities within the scope of her family and religious circles. She died in the Arthur homestead 1876, on the South Side, surrounded by her entire family of nine sons and two daughters. The children of this happy union all reached maturity before a single death among them was recorded. Thos. F., was born ____; Edw. L., ____; Jas. F., ____; Wm. A., ____; John P., ____; Margaret, ____; Richard M., ____; Jos. H., ____; with the exception of the three older brothers of the family, all are alive today, and residing at Pittsburgh, except John P., living at Marion, Indiana; Jos. H., Manager Swisher Theatre, Morgantown, West Virginia, and Richard M., the subject of this sketch, was born as stated, in Mt. Savage, Maryland in 1856, but removed with his parents to Pittsburgh when only 3 years of age, He attended the Humboldt school there until 17 years of age, when he learned iron moulding at Jones & Laughlins, which business he followed several years. He entered the hotel business in 1890, and erected an elegant modern brick hotel in Pittsburgh, South Side. The hotel contains 50 rooms with every up-to-date appointment, including its own electric light plant, latest heating system, artesian well, etc. After 10 years of success, he removed to Roscoe, Washington County, Pa., where he again erected a fine modern hotel and again met with success, due the genial, obliging and attentive landlord. While here, through corresponding with Hon. Wm. G. Brown, of Kingwood, he purchased the old historic Colonel John Fairfax estate, of 640 acres, near Reedsville, Valley District, this (Preston) county, West Virginia. To this he has since added several farms, acquiring both surface and coal, until his holdings now aggregate ____ acres. He erected thereon a costly mansion home of 23 rooms, which, at an altitude of 1800 feet, overlooks a large expanse of country noted for its richness and beauty. He soon added a large stock farm with capacity for a hundred head of stock and one hundred and thirty tons of hay. Other buildings, equipments and general improvements rapidly followed. Mr. Arthur is a skilful and enthusiastic agriculturist and his pasture fields are filled with blooded stock of every kind: horses of the Bourbon Wilkes breed; Jersey cows for domestic use and mercantile purposes; white chickens of choice Irish breeds, and game cocks from Japan, worth $75.00 a pair are found in his barn yard. In the year 1911, Mr. Arthur raised on his farm 4200 bushels of buckwheat; 1950 bushels of oats; 2600 bushels of corn; 1800 bushels of potatoes and he stored away 120 barrels of cider in his cellars. April 22, 1879, Mr. Arthur married Mary C. Schmitt, a charming and accomplished daughter of Stephen and Gertrude Schmitt, of Pittsburgh. Her father came to this country from the French Alsace-Lorraine (now belonging to Germany), and located in Evansville, Indiana, where Mrs. Arthur was born in 1860. When three years of age, the parents moved to Pittsburgh, where the father died in 1886. Mr. Schmitt, a highly educated gentleman, a product of European university training, was a musician and professional organist and schoolmaster. His father and grandfather before him were likewise schoolmasters in the old country. Mrs. Arthur's mother, Gertrude, is still living and makes her home at Arthurdale, when not visiting her other children in Pittsburgh. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur, Theodore J., the first gift to the parents, was born January 27, 1881. He was educated, graduating at California Normal College, Pennsylvania. He later took a course at the State University of West Virginia, at Morgantown. During the past ten years he has been private secretary to E. M. Grant, the well known capitalist of this State. He is also secretary of the Building and Loan Association of Morgantown; he is also Exalted Ruler of B. P. O. E., of Morgantown, West Virginia, and is identified with other important enterprises of that city. The daughter, Gertrude, now the wife of Earl J. Dixon, Cashier of the Masontown Bank, was born in Pittsburgh, May 5, 1885. She was educated at Seton Hill Academy, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and married November 22, 1911, Mr. Arthur is an energetic, public-spirited and enterprising citizen and his advent into West Virginia and the establishment of Arthurdale has had a salutary and inspiring effect and influence for progress and general uplift in the community and State. --------------------------------------------------------------------- From Death Certificate, Preston County, WV #9494 FULL-NAME: Richard M. Arthur BIRTH-DATE: February 27, 1856 BIRTH-PLACE: Mt. Savage, Md. DEATH-DATE: June 8, 1936 DEATH-PLACE: Masontown, Preston County, WV MARITAL-STATUS: Married (Mrs. May Arthur) OCCUPATION: Farmer FATHER: John N. Arthur (born in Ireland) MOTHER: Mary McNulty (born in Ireland) CAUSE-OF-DEATH: Angine Pectoris INFORMANT: Mrs. R. M. Arthur (of Masontown, W.Va.) BURIAL: Pittsburg, Pa. --------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Preston County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/preston/bios.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------