WASHINGTON COUNTY OHIO - BIO: TROTTER, Frank Butler (published 1928)
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WEST VIRGINIA In History, Life, Literature and Industry
The Lewis Publishing Company 1928, Volume 5, page 198-199

        FRANK BUTLER TROTTER, A. M. LL. D. The University of West Virginia
is an institution in which the state takes major pride, and its high
standard of service makes its value felt throughout the length and breadth
of this commonwealth. In maintaining and advancing its service and its
prestige a splendid work has been accomplished by Frank Butler Trotter, who
has been its president since 1916, and who had previously served about two
years as its acting president - 1914-16. His executive and scholastic
policies have inured greatly to the advantage of the university and its
work and to giving it its present high rank among similar state
institutions throughout the nation.
        President Trotter was born in Washington County, Ohio, February 27,
1863, a son of James and Elizabeth (Stock) Trotter and a grandson of Robert
Trotter, who came from his native Ireland to the United States in 1821 and
who first resided in the State of New York, next in Crawford County,
Pennsylvania, and finally in Washington County, Ohio, where the closing
years of his life were passed. James Trotter was born in Crawford County,
Pennsylvania, March 14, 1827, and was a boy when his parents gained pioneer
precedence in Ohio, where he was reared and educated, where his marriage
was solemnized and where he continued to reside until 1876, when he came
with his family to West Virginia and established the home in Preston
County, his death having there occurred at Aurora, May 26, 1914. His wife,
now deceased, was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, a daughter of Henry and
Minerva Stock, both of whom were of German lineage.
        Frank Butler Trotter was a lad of thirteen years at the time of the
family removal to West Virginia, where he continued his studies in public
and private schools in Preston County until he was fortified for pedagogic
service, he having been nineteen years of age when he initiated his
activities as a teacher in the public schools of that county. In  1890 he
was graduated from Roanoke College, Virginia, with the degree Bachelor of
Arts, and in 1895 he received from his alma mater the degree master of
Arts. Thereafter he did post-graduate work in historic old Harvard
University. After six years of effective service as a teacher in the public
schools the future president of the University of West Virginia became
professor of Latin and modern languages in West Virginia Wesleyan College
until he became professor of Latin in the university of which he is now the
president, he having been advanced the position of dean of the College of
Arts and Sciences, and having been called upon in 1914 to serve as acting
president of the university, in which capacity he made so excellent a
record that in 1916 he was elected the president, the office of which he
has since continued the loyal and resourceful incumbent. It is gratifying
to record that the university has been favored in receiving constantly
expanding income through liberal appropriations made by the State
Legislature, that its faculty has been increased in numbers, that the
facilities of the various departments have been augmented and otherwise
improved, and that popular appreciation has been manifested in the
increased enrollment of students from year to year. Concerning the
administration of President Trotter the following estimate has been written:
        "President Trotter has succeeded in connecting the university with
the state as a whole and has extended the advantages of education to every
citizen in even the most remote communities. This has been accomplished
mainly through the high school, extension departments, teacher's institutes
and the students themselves. President Trotter has an extensive
acquaintance throughout the state and a broad and accurate knowledge of its
schools and school conditions. This knowledge was acquired partly through
his service as a member of the faculty of Wesleyan College at Buckhannon
and partly through his former connection with the university as a member of
the committee on classification and grades. As one of the guardians of the
people's treasury he has shown remarkable ability to economize judiciously
and to gain full and faithful service from his staff, the while he has
assumed the responsibility of safeguarding the character and interests of
each and every student enrolled at the university. He has insisted on the
highest standards of scholarship and has demanded the best conditions of
morality."
        President Trotter is a man of engaging personality, broad in his
sympathies and human tolerance, and he is looked upon as guide, counselor
and friend to all students of the great institution over which he presides.
he is an effective public speaker, and as such his services are much in
demand aside from the work that he has done for the university through this
medium. He and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church and he has thrice been a delegate to its General Conference. His
political allegiance is given to the Republican party, he is a member of
the Rotary club at Morgantown, the seat of the university, and he is
affiliated with the Phi Beta Kappa and the Phi Gamma Delta college
fraternities, as is he also with the Knights of Pythias.
        On the 22d of August, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of
President Trotter and Miss Lillian List Steele, and both are popular
factors in the general social and cultural circles of their community. They
have one son. Lorentz Steele Trotter, born at Buckhannon, in 1896, and at
present a senior in the College of Law at Harvard University.


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