John W. Lewellen

Services for John W. Lewellen 80 of Portage Lakes who was found dead from a heart attack near Greenwald Hill S. Main St. will be held tomorrow at Prentice funeral home at 2 p.m. burial will be in Glendale Cemetery.

Mr. Lewellen lived in Summit County for 22 years leaves 4 daughters Mrs. Leona Hartman of Calif.; Mrs. Ruby Thomas of Tenn.; Mrs. Addie Springston of Akron.; Mrs. Helen Getz Portage Lakes Ohio. 3 sons Hubert and Brooks of Akron and Ralph of Sharon Center and a brother Tom of West Virginia

(Submitted James R. Carpenter)
Akron Beacon Journal, Nov. 1940

John M. Lester

John M. Lester died Jan. 17, 1919, at his home in Reedy, after a lingering illness of cancer of the stomach. Everything possible was done to prolong his life, but the fell destroyer had an unfailing grip on his system, and neither doctors, medicines or careful nursing could stay the unrelenting hand. Mr. Lester was born July 11, 1865 and at the time of his death was 53 years, six months and six days of age. April 2, 1885 he was married to Nannie L. Stalnaker and to this union four children were born all who survived Mrs. C. G. Cottle and Miss Elpha Lester of Reedy. Roy and Emmett both volunteers in the army and now in France.

Their mother Nannie L. Lester died Dec. 25, 1894 and on Nov. 23, 1895 Mr. Lester was married to Clara L. Tallman, daughter of S. H. and Rosa Tallman and one child was born to this union Aubrey Caldwell Lester who died Oct. 6, 1900. He was the son of James and Rebecca Lester. Four brothers and two sisters survive as follows: Wellington Lester of Pink Calhoun County, Wade Lester of Sherman Jackson County, Charley Lester of Akron, Ohio, and J. B. Lester of Reedy, Mrs. Mary Jane Knopp of Zanesville Ohio and Mrs. May Bryant of Parkersburg.

He was converted early in life under the ministry of Rev. Downtain and united with the M. E. Church South and remained a faithful member until death. For number of years, he was Superintendent of the M. E. South Sunday School at Reedy and was very efficient in the work . Mr. Lester practiced law for many years in which profession he was very successful. He was active in the political life of his community and held several offices the duties of which he discharged with marked ability being Justice of Peace and President of the Board of Education of Reedy District. He always took an active part in the school and literacy work and was at home as a presiding officer. Mr. Lester was also active in the business life of the community, having been for several years at the head of Cottle&Lester firm of furniture dealers and undertakers. He was also one of the chief organizers of The First National Bank of Reedy and was president of that institution since it's organization until the beginning of this year.

He was also engaged in farming pursuits and owned several farms, and had accumulated a comfortable competence. The funeral services which were very impressive were held at Reedy M. E. Church South Monday. Services being conducted by Rev. W. K. Doutt of Spencer a very close friend of the deceased. The burial was the McClung cemetery and the remains were in charge of Undertaker Cottle.

(Submitted by Charles E. Lester)
Published in The Reedy News, January 1919

Local Man Succumbs To Blood Poisoning in Reno, Nevada

Remains Will Arrive Last of This Week: Funeral at Hebron Church, Sunday Morning.

On last Friday morning a telegram was received from Dr. Thompson, of Reno, Nevada, advising of the death of J.M.Lawrentz, which occurred at 5p.m. Thursday evening, July 5th, 1917. This sad intelligence quickly was spread among the large acquaintance of the deceased and occasioned profound sorrow. This was an element of tragedy in the sad ending of a useful and honorable earthly career.

Mr. Flavius Lawrentz, a son of the deceased, who left here last Wednesday in the hope of reaching his father's bedside before the hand of death intervened, arrived there Sunday morning at 8:40 and sent the following telegram back home:

Reno, Nev., July 8

J. R. Lawrentz
Spencer, WV

*Arrived here today 8:40 a.m. Father dead; start home tomorrow; be home Friday or Saturday; funeral Sunday morning at eleven o'clock. Tell Margaret the news.*

In accordance with the instructions contained in this telegram arrangements are being made to hold the funeral service at Hebron Church, Sunday morning at 11 o'clock and Rev. Milton Steele, the favorite minister of the deceased, has been summoned from his home in Marion County to conduct the service. He will be assisted by Rev. H. M. McCoy.

Mr. Lawrentz was born in Roane County on Missouri Fork, the son of the late Noah Lawrentz. The date of his birth as taken from the family records was March 23, 1855, making his age over 62 years. No one would guess him to be that old by five or ten years as he appeared to be merely in the prime of life and was exceptionally active and aggressive in his business affairs.

On September 15th, 1880, he was happily married to Rhoanna Bartlett who preceded him to the Other World three years ago. Surviving their union are five children, three sons, J. R. , Ira and F.B. (Flavius) Lawrentz, all of Route 2, two daughters, Mrs. John E. Dyer, of Youngstown, Ohio, and Mrs. Bruce I. Hersman of Craig, Colorado.

Mr. Lawrentz was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church and in all respects a good citizen. Several years ago, when he was just comfortably started in business, dishonest associates brought disaster upon him, but he faced the situation manfully, paying all his debts in full. At the time of his death he was the owner of a very valuable farm and was worth more than $30,000, is the estimate of business associates. He made a specialty of buying lambs and wool for thirty years and almost every farmer in the central part of the county has handled one of Lawrentz's checks if not many of them. He paid liberal prices for lambs and wool and as frequently lost money in this business as it was gained. In his farming, however, he was uniformly successful. Had he devoted his entire life to the farm his wealth would have been much greater, there is no room to doubt. As buyer and shipper he performed a great service for all the producers of the county and maintained a good market right on the farms. Mr. Lawrentz was chosen Vice President of The Traders Trust and Banking Company when that institution was organized in 1903 and served continuously until his death. His counsel and prudent decisions were always held in high regard by the other officials of the bank.

Times Record, July 12, 1917

(Submitted by Mary Wright Hennen who notes:
Flavius B. Lawrentz, the above mentioned son of Jacob M. Lawrentz, was my Grandfather. The Lawrentz Farms included land that adjoined the Camp Farm on Missouri Fork and the land on the Charleston Road that includes property I believe are currently owned by Richard Mann, and Harry Boggs and others.)

Prominent Citizen of Smithfield District is No More; Died Christmas Day

Mr. J. M. Combs, a prominent citizen of Smithfield district, of Tariff, passed away Christmas morning after an illness of only a few hours. The exact nature of his ailment is not certainly known, but it is thought an abscess caused his death. He was well and widely known in the eastern part of the county and news of his death occasioned sincere sorrow among hundreds of relatives and friends.

The deceased was born in Russell county, Virginia, about 67 years ago. He came to this county with his family in 1868 and settled in Smithfield district where the remainder of his life was spent. In early manhood, he was united in marriage with Miss Julia Tallman, a daughter of the late Hon. Samuel Tallman. Mrs. Combs survives with one daughter and six sons, Mrs. C. C. Simmons, of Linden, Mr. D. B. Combs, Mr. Warren Combs Charles Combs, of Kanawha county, and Mr. Samuel Combs, of Tariff, Mr. Rex Combs, of Spencer, and Mr. Croft Combs of Pittsburgh, Pa. The deceased is also survived by two brothers and four sisters, Mr. Beverly T. Combs, of Akron, Ohio, Mr. Wm. D. Combs, of Spencer, Mrs. Presley Vineyard of Looneyville, Mrs. Eliza Lockhart, of Ravenswood, Mrs. John F. Jones, of Walton, and Mrs. Jane Jones, of Omar, Ky.

Persons in Spencer who knew Mr. Combs, say that he was a man of the highest character. He reared a splendid family of children and in every way performed the duties of the best type of citizenship.

(Submitted by Pat Combs)
The Times Record, Spencer, West Virginia, Thursday, 2 January 1919, page 1:2

Diadema Lewellen

Mrs Diadema Lewellen aged nearly 90 years of Reedy died Sept. 15, 1947 at the home of her daughter Mrs. Minnie Bevan near Hundred, Wetzel County where she had been for several weeks. She was born in Upshur County, Jan. 10,1858 a daughter of Isaac Post and Mary Brake Post.

She was married at age of 20 to C.W. Lewellen and spent rest of her life on a farm at Peniel and in Reedy, Mr. Lewellen died 30 years ago. Their 8 children all living as follows Mrs. E.S. Bevan of Hundred, Mrs. R.R. Carpenter and H. Guy Lewellen of Reedy, Ira D. Lewellen of Calif., Roy of Youngstown Ohio; Laco B. of Niles, Ohio, Wm. E. at the old home place; Claude of Mineral Ridge Ohio. She leaves 30 grandchildren 23 great grandchildren and 2 gr gr grandchildren.

Mrs. Lewellen was member of Methodist Church for 77 years. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. W.G. Boggs and Rev E .J. Harris who was her pastor fifty years ago burial in Mt Zion Cem. by Hardman-Conrad.

(Submitted by James R. Carpenter)
Roane County paper, Sept. 1947