JACKSON FUNERAL TUESDAY AFTERNOON IN THE FAMILY HOME

The Daily Telegram., February 05, 1912

To Which Friends of the Deceased Citizen Are All Invited

BURIAL TO BE PRIVATE

Sketch of One of the Most Progressive Residents of the State

The funeral of Col. Thomas Moore Jackson will be held in the Jackson home Tuesday afternoon at 2 o’clock, to which all friends of the family and especially the deceased man are invited. The services will be led the Rev. C. B. Mitchell, rector in charge of Christ Episcopal church. The burial in the Odd Fellows’ cemetery will be private.

Pall bearers chosen are Frank R. Moore, Edward C. Bassel, George L. Duncan, Charles W. Moore, Virgil L. Highland, Samuel R. Harrison, E. G. Smith and Willoughby Harrison.

Among the out of town relatives who are in the city to attend the funeral are Mr. and Mrs. Claver G. Lewis, of Pittsburg, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Stiles, of Parkersburg, Mrs. John W. Davis, of Washington, and Mr. and Mrs. James M. Jackson of Parkersburg.

The following section — Moore Jackson is Dead, originally ran as part of the Jackson Funeral Tuesday Afternoon in the Family Home published in the Daily Telegram.

THOMAS MOORE JACKSON IS DEAD

The Clarksburg Telegram., February 08, 1912, page 8

Col. Jackson’s death at 4:30 o’clock Saturday afternoon was sudden, caused by a violent attack of heart trouble. He returned from New Martinsville, where he looked after the construction of the Clarksburg Northern electric railway, of which he was president and the largest shareholder. While complaining of a rather bad cold, he did not regard himself in dangerous condition and Friday night he was up town greeting friends and attending to business as usual. Saturday afternoon he was seized in his fine and hospitable home on West Pike with the fatal attack, dying at the hour stated. He felt easier after medical attention and his sudden dissolution was unexpected. The news of his death soon spread shocking the entire community deeply. On every hand were heard expressions of deep regret and sadness.

Thomas Moore Jackson was a son of James Madison and Caroline Moore Jackson and born in Clarksburg June, 22, 1852, being in his sixtieth year, when he died. Upon attaining a suitable age, he was placed in the public schools here and later in the Northwestern Academy here, from which he was graduated when 16 years of age. He then entered Bethany College near Wheeling and later Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Va., where he studied civil and mining engineering in addition to the collegiate courses and was graduated in June, 1873, with high class honors.

Professional Work

Col. Jackson than began professional work as a railroad surveyor, helping to build several, and he was the chief engineer of four different railroads. He also gave much attention to other branches of his profession, but after the completion railroad to Weston, he began developing coal mines in this vicinity. He was called in 1888 by the West Virginia University at Morgantown as professor of civil and mining engineering in that institution and he successfully filled that position up to 1891, graduating the first engineering class of the university. His voluntary retirement from the chair there was a matter of deep regret to the management of the institution.

The year he retired from the university, Col. Jackson returned to Clarksburg and established the Pinnickinnick coal mine here. This was one of the first mines in this section and it has been a paying one ever since, the property belonging to the Jackson estate and being now operated by the Consolidation Coal Company on the royalty plan. The first operator of it was known as the Pinnickinnick Coal Company and Col. Jackson was president of the company.

Establishing Businesses

In the spring of 1901 Col. Jackson and others as the West Virginia Short Line Railroad Company, with Col. Jackson its president, completed the Short Line railroad between Clarksburg and New Martinsville, a distance of sixty miles through a rich oil, gas, coal and farming region. Within a few months after its opening, this line of railway was absorbed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company and is now a paying part of that company’s system of lines. The absorption was never assented to by Col. Jackson willingly as he built it for an independent line and hoped at a future day to operate a complete competitive trunk line in this part of the state. 

The same year the Short Line was completed Col. Thomas Moore Jackson and others established the first sheet and tinplate mills here under the name of the Jackson Iron and Tin Plate Company. Later the mills were purchased by the Phillips Sheet and Tin Plate Company which enlarged them and has operated them ever since.

Banking and Other Pursuits

Several years previous Col. Jackson and others founded the Traders National Bank and he became and continued its president until it was merged with the People’s Banking and Trust Company into the present Union National Bank. Soon after the founding of the Traders Bank, which marked a new era in local banking business, Col. Jackson and others built the Traders hotel building and gave to Clarksburg its first modern hotel.

While engaged in building the Short Line railroad Col. Jackson and others optioned and took up a large acreage of valuable coal lands situated along the road and incorporated the Tenmile Coal and Coke Company. Later Col. Jackson acquired ownership of all the coal and the Dola Coal and Coke Company was organized. Financial reverses took this fortune in black diamonds from him, but his progressive spirit did not waver and he set out as a Trojan to recoup his finances and was well on the road to success, when the death messenger suddenly called.

Electric Rail

At the time of his death Col. Jackson was engaged in building the Clarksburg Northern, a New Martinsville-Middlebourne-Salem-Clarksburg electric railway line with prospect of being converted into a steam railway line some time in the future. The grading had been done between New Martinsville and Middlebourne and Col. Jackson announced a few days ago that, that part of the line would be in operation by May 1. Along with the Short Line railroad, the Clarksburg Northern is looked upon as a future great developer and Col. Jackson conceived the idea and was putting it into successful execution.

Soon after surveying a proposed railroad from this city to Pittsburg, which was a part of the first work he did after his graduation, he conceived the idea that the Pennsylvania and New York oil belt extended into West Virginia and with the assistance of Dr. I. C. White, or Morgantown, state geologist, he discovered the Mannington oil field, which marked the beginning of that marvelous industry in the state. After that he became identified with a number of independent oil and gas companies, which developed much territory in the state. For many years he was the only mining engineer in this part of the state and he did invaluable work in that way.

Politics

Col. Jackson received his title as a member of Governor A. B. Fleming’s staff 1889-1893. He was a member of the American Society of Engineers and a fellow of the Geological Society of America.

Washington and Lee University bestowed upon him the degrees of civil engineer, mining engineer and doctor of sciences.

In politics he was a Democrat, although not partisan. The only political office he ever held was that of county surveyor from 1883 to 1887.

He never sought political office and he declined the nomination by his party for congressman in this district in 1900.

Marriage

Col. Jackson and Miss Emma Lewis, daughter of Judge and Mrs. Charles S. Lewis, the former of whom is now deceased, were married in 1884. Mrs. Jackson was born in Clarksburg and educated in Staunton, Va., in an Episcopal school. She is a finely educated and intelligent woman and was a fit helpmate for such a progressive and polished man as Col. Thomas Moore Jackson. She and their daughter, Miss Florence, one of Clarksburg’s most accomplished and popular young ladies, survive of the immediate family.

Col. Jackson’s grandfather, John G. Jackson, became a lawyer of note and and succeeded his father, John Jackson, in Congress. John G. Jackson first married a Miss Payne, daughter of the wife of President James Madison, by a former husband, and later he married a daughter of Governor Meigs, of Ohio, afterward postmaster general of the United States. The second wife was the grandmother of the subject of this sketch. Col. Jackson’s grandfather, John G., was the first federal judge of the Western district of Virginia, now West Virginia and he died as such in 1825. The grandfather like Col. Jackson, was a very public-spirited and progressive man and he sought to build up this country by erecting furnaces, forges, mills, wool factories, salt works and the like.

Family History

James. M. Jackson, father of Col. Thomas Moore Jackson, was the only son of his father’s second marriage, his mother being a daughter of Governor Meigs.

He was born January 15, 1817, and educated at Uniontown and in the University of Virginia, from which he was graduated in 1835. He practiced law successfully until his death in 1870.

His widow, Mrs. Caroline M. Jackson, one of the greatest woman commoners Clarksburg ever knew, possessing all the fine traits of true Christian womanhood, died August 7, 1910, aged 87 years.

Florence Jackson, Col. Jackson’s twin sister, died in 1873. Meigs Jackson, of Parkersburg, now dead, was an older brother of Col. Jackson.

Edward Jackson, grandfather of “Stonewall” Jackson of Confederate fame, was a brother of George Jackson, great grandfather of Col. T. Moore Jackson. George and Edward Jackson were sons of John Jackson, who came from London, Eng., to America in 1748 and settled on a plantation of Lord Baltimore in Calvert County, Md., and there married Elizabeth Cummins, a native of London and a woman of great force of character and of fine physical proportions.

They settled at Buckhannon, this state, in 1758. The pioneer Jackson died here at the home of his eldest son, George, great grandfather of Col. Jackson, September 25, 1801, and his wife died here in 1825 at the unusual age of 105 years. The Jackson are of Scotch-Irish lineage and John Jackson, great great grandfather of Col. Jackson, was born in the northern part of Ireland.

A Painful Shock

Col. Thomas Moore Jackson was widely known in the state as well as in other states and his sudden death was a very painful shock not only to all his townspeople, who highly respected him, but also to hosts of others.

As this brief sketch of his life shows, Col. Jackson believed in his home city, county and state, and was one who gave his best efforts to their development. In the passing of Col. Jackson, one of the state’s most useful citizens has gone. He was a man among men in every true sense of the word.