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BARBOUR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@earthlink.net
July 16, 2000
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 499-501
Barbour
SALATHIEL LEE O'NEAL. School teacher, farmer and
horticulturist, lumberman, civil and mining engineer, in-
ventor-only the exceptional man deserves recognition for
definite accomplishments in such a broad range of activities.
Nevertheless these occupations, carried on jointly or suc-
cessively, have been the medium through which Mr. O'Neal
of Philippi has expressed his talents in service to himself
and the world.
An English genealogist writes: "The O'Neill family
and name, according to all standard antiquaries, descended
from King Heremon (seventh son of Milessus, the first
of the Milesian race who conquered and settled Ireland).
Niall The Great (his direct lineal descendant), Monarch of
Ireland A. D. 388, subdued the Picts and ancient Kings of
his name (O'Neill).
" 'The O'Neill' has always stood for a fighting and
representative titled line, the last of whom, George Owen
O'Neill, 'The O'Neill', County of Tyrone, was formerly a
Peer of Portugal and an officer of the Royal household of
the late King of Portugal."
For the most part the O'Neals have been rural and
agricultural people, and Mr. O'Neal himself has never for
any great length of time been entirely divorced from
agricultural enterprise. The founder of the family in
America was his great-grandfather, a native of Ireland, who
went from that country to England, where he married a
Miss Anglin, and shortly afterward they came to America
and established their home about two miles west of Philippi,
on what is now the Clarksburg Pike. In this country
locality, then little improved above pioneer conditions, they
spent the rest of their days. Among their children were
three sons, John, David and Joseph. John, was the grand-
father, and his career is noted in the following paragraph:
Joseph was a farmer living near his brother John, on part
of his father's land. He had three children, Daniel, Ellen
and Edith. Edith became the wife of William Shaw, and
their son, David Shaw, became a distinguished educator,
advocating in advance of his prime denominational schools,
and was at the head of the State Reform School and later
president of the Norris-Harvey College at Barboursville.
He served in the Legislature of the state for five terms, was
a democrat and a member of the Southern Methodist Church.
Joseph O'Neal, the youngest of the three brothers men-
tioned, lived about a mile and a half west of Philippi, on
the Clarksburg Pike, where he was a farmer, but is per-
haps best remembered in the locality for his skill with the
violin, and was one of the old-time fiddlers of that section
of the state.
John O'Neal became a farmer on Elk Creek. He was one
of the very successful men of his time, and left a large
amount of real property when he died. He was a demo-
crat, but could not be persuaded to take office, and was a
member of the Methodist Church. Like his father, he mar-
ried a Miss Anglin, and they were the parents of ten
children. The record of the children is as follows: Samuel,
mentioned below;. Thomas, a farmer who before the Civil
war went to Kansas and established himself at old Grass-
hopper Falls near Kansas City, where he lived out his life;
George went to Kansas with his brother Thomas, and was
also a farmer there; Joel, who followed farming in Bar-
bour County; Lemuel, who was a farmer and successful in
accumulating property in Barbour County, where he died;
David, who spent his life in the rural community of his
ancestors; Abigail, who married George Alexander, of
Buckhannon, where she died; Prudence, who married John
Zinn, and they spent their lives just south of Philippi;
Rebecca, who married Absolom Roberts, a. farmer in Bar-
bour and Ritchie counties; Mary, who is now ninety-four
years of age, the wife of Abram Wells and living near
Tannersville, West Virginia. None of the sons entered the
military struggle between the states, though all were op-
posed to slavery. All but one of them were democrats and
all were Methodists.
Samuel O'Neal, representing the third generation of the
family in West Virginia, grew up in a home where school
advantages were primitive. He became good in reading,
writing and arithmetic, had a good voice, and was very
popular in the singing schools of his day. The busi-
ness of his life was farming. He was a very active
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, serving
as class reader, and was a member of the Patrons of
Husbandry. Samuel O'Neal married Mary Crites. Her
father, it is believed, was killed while away from home for
the purpose of paying for some land that he had pur-
chased. He was robbed of his money and buried not more
than twenty miles from his home without the family being
advised. Samuel O'Neal died January 3, 1899, and his
wife died on the 28th of the same month. Of their nine
children they reared seven: Joab, a farmer and carpenter
contractor at Buckhannon, where he died; John, who was a
farmer, died at Lebanon, Missouri, March 24, 1922;
Rahame, who married Elam Anglin and lives in Barbour
County; Martha, wife of David Hall, a fanner and stock
man in Barbour County; Prudence, who lives in Taylor
County, widow of A. B. Green, who is a farmer of that
county; Ollie, a resident of St. Louis, Missouri, the widow
of Calvin Corder, who represented another pioneer family
of Barbour County, and was a carpenter and contractor
in St. Louis, where he died; and Salathiel Lee.
Salathiel Lee O'Neal was born three miles south of
Philippi, May 24, 1864. He grew up in the place of his
birth, and he had better educational opportunities than
were presented to his father. He attended country schools
school at Philippi, and Hillsdale College in Michigan. For
six years he taught in country districts of Barbour County.
He then began the manufacture and sale of lumber, but con-
tinued farming in connection with the operation of his
mill. While in School Mr. O 'Neal studied surveying, and
has done a great deal of work in civil engineering. He was
elected county engineer of Barbour County in 1896, and by
rcelection served another term of four years. For twenty
years he has carried on an extensive practice as a consult-
ing and mining engineer, being engaged by various corpo-
rations to make geological sketches and reports on prop-
erties in West Virginia and other states. He was general
superintendent and consulting engineer of several coal com-
panies, and was superintendent of the Berryburg Mine nine
years and receiver for the Philippi Collieries Company.
Probably his reputation would be secure from his work as
an inventor alone. He invented the caterpillar tread, which
he originally called "a ship propeller." This idea came
to him thirty-eight years ago, and the same idea is that
now exhibited in the caterpillar tread used on all war tanks
and tractors. And a wireless, Electrical Steering device,
by which, torpedoes and ships can be steered or guided
by a person a long distance from the same. Other prod-
ucts of his genius are a telemeter or range finder for
computing distances between objects; a civil engineer's
transit; and O'Neal's platting, drafting and self-com-
puting device. This last invention was patented March
6, 1895, and provides a rapid and accurate method of
platting land surveys and drawings of any kind. The
self-computing feature computes the area of a tract of
land at the same time the map or plat is being made,
enabling the user to do his worn quickly and in one-tenth
the time required by the old method. He copyrighted
O'Neal's Handbook on Surveying and Architecture, De-
cember 4, 1895. Mr. O'Neal invented a rapid-firing gun
just before the World war, and it passed such favorable
inspection as to attract the attention of the English, and
he was offered a large sum of money for the invention, but
declined out of conscientious scruples against being instru-
mental in any improved device that would make the de-
struction of human life more easy.
From the general practice of farming Mr. O'Neal for a
number of years has been putting his thought, energy and
experiment into horticulture. In 1911 he started an orchard,
and now has fifty acres planted. The orchard lies so that
all exposures are found. The business has been profitable,
though up to the present time peaches have constituted his
chief profitable crop, since other fruit is just coming into
bearing. He carries on his experiments constantly, and
the fruit of his experience may possibly be more valuable to
the horticulture of West Virginia than the actual output
of his efforts. On his place is a tree with a remarkable
history. When this tree was 112 years old Mr. O'Neal per-
formed some "tree surgery" by filling a cavity in the
trunk with thirty-two bushels of crushed stone, twenty-two
bushels of sand and eleven bushels of cement. It is be-
lieved this is the largest filling ever given a fruit tree in
the United States or world. The tree has been known to
bear 100 bushels of apples in one season, and the year it was
120 years old it bore eighty-five bushels of measured apples.
Mr. O'Neal named it the "Century Mammoth Sweet." He
is identified with the state's effort to improve horticulture
and fruit growing, and for two years was president of the
Farm Bureau of Barbour County.
In Barbour County, July 24, 1901, Mr. O'Neal married
Lucy Knapp, who was born at Philippi, February 5, 1883,
was educated in schools of her native city and for two years
was a teacher in a country district. Her parents were John
B. and Sallie A. (Smith) Knapp. Her father, a native of
Barbour County, spent the greater part of his life as a
farmer. He was a son of Henry Knapp, who came to the
United States from Germany and lived on a farm a few
miles from Philippi, where he carried on his trade as chair-
maker. John B. Knapp died in November, 1920, at the age
of eighty-seven, and is survived by his widow. Of their
ten children seven grew to mature years: Jacob H.; Nancy,
wife of John Weaver; Miss Lettie; John Letcher; Charles
H.; Mrs. O'Neal; and Hugh Smith Knapp.
Mr. O'Neal and wife have some children who have already
shown the quality of their inheritance and training. Their
oldest child is Harry Lee, who spent two years in the
United States Navy, first as a fireman and then as phar-
macist's mate in the Hospital Corps, was on duty on the
Pacific Coast and received his honorable discharge De-
cember 29, 1921. The second child, Camden Cleon, is a
graduate of the Philippi High School, and attended the
Naval Training School at Hampton Roads, now a student in
Broaddus College. The third child, Frederick Earl, is a
student in Philippi High School. John Samuel, died in
infancy. The two youngest children are Aubrey Wayne and
James Morris.
Mr. O'Neal in politics is a democrat. While he was
county engineer he made a district map of Barbour
County which has been accented as authority. The O'Neals
are church people, Mr. O'Neal was brought up a Meth-
odist, but any of the orthodox churches satisfy him.
He has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows for a third of a century, and his wife's father was
a member of that order for almost fifty years.
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