Barbour County, West Virginia Biography of Ernest A. BARTE This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 325-326 ERNEST A. BARTE was born and reared in Barbour County, and has here proved a versatile and constructive force in the furtherance of industrial and business enterprises of important order, his status being that of one of the progressive and representative citizens of his native county. Mr. Barte was born on his father's farm in Barker District, this county, July 12, 1873, and is a son of Henry and Mary (Vierheller) Barte, the former of whom was born in Hanover, Germany, of French Huguenot ancestry, and the latter of whom was born in Monroe County, Ohio, she having been the posthumous daughter of Philip Vierheller, who came to the United States from Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and whose death occurred within a short time after he had estabalished his home in Monroe County, Ohio. The widow of Mr. Vierheller subsequently became the wife of Christian Eberhart, and she passed the closing period of her life at Belington, West Virginia, where she died at the age of ninety-three years, six months and sixteen days -in May, 1899, her son-in-law. Henry Barte, having died in the preceding month. Mrs. Barte survived her husband by more than twenty years and passed to the life eternal in October, 1921, at the age of seventy-four years. Eliz- abeth, eldest of the children, became the wife of William T. Right and was a resident of Belington at the time of her death; Caroline, the wife of Edward Smith, died in Randolph County, this state, Emma is the wife of Tazewell Digman, a farmer near Belington; Ernest August is the immediate subject of this sketch; Lenora is the wife of Edward Whitescarver, who is identified with the West Vir- ginia Industrial School for Boys; Clara, who is Mrs. Robert McCutcheon, resides at the old home of her mother in Belington; William Henry is with the Kane & Keyser Hardware Company of this place; and Savanna is the wife of Clyde Nestor, a dairyman at Elkins, Randolph County. Henry Barte, whose father was a farmer and weaver in Germany, was a young man when he left his native land and came to the United States, and he was a cooper in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, at the outbreak of the Civil war. Thence he made his way to Wheeling, West Virginia, in search of work at his trade, and here he entered the Union service by enlisting in Company A, First West Virginia Light Artillery, he having been made a corporal and his service having continued three years and six months. Ex- posure and other hardships he endured while in the army left their effect upon him for the remainder of his life. He was mustered out at Wheeling at the close of the war, and in after years he was actively affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic until the time of his death. His political allegiance was given to the republican party, and he served many years as a member of the School Board of his district. After the war he became one of the suc- cessful exponents of farm enterprise in Barker District, Barbour County, and here he and his wife passed the re- mainder of their lives, secure in the high regard of all who knew them. Their marriage was solemnized at Wheel- ing shortly after the close of the war. Ernest A. Barte was reared on the home farm and at- tended the rural school of the neighborhood. At the age of nineteen years he found employment at a planing mill and sawmill plant at Belington, and later he learned the blacksmith trade, and here conducted a shop for some time. Thereafter he was employed in the lumber woods and in connection with the operation of sawmills in both West Virginia and Maryland, besides which he gained experience as a railroad section-hand. After his marriage he engaged actively in farm enterprise near Belington, and here he has since continued his successful association with agri- cultural and live-stock industry, he being the owner of the fine old homestead farm formerly owned by his father-in- law. He has supplied beef to the local markets and has shipped at times to the Baltimore market, besides having purchased cattle in the Cincinnati market. In addition to his progressive farm activities Mr. Barte was associated with L. L. Bennett in establishing at Belington the handle factory which now represents one of the substantial in- dustries of this little city. He was secretary and treas- urer of the company operating this factory until he sold his interest in the business. He is a director of the Citizens National Bank and a stockholder of the First National Bank of Belington. He is treasurer of the Dayton Construction Company, which is doing effective service in the construction of improved roads of the best modern type and which has a number of important contracts for the year 1922, including those for the construction of eight miles of road in Barbour and Randolph counties. Mr. Barte gives his allegiance to the republican party, and he has given effective service as a member of the City Council of Belington, besides having been mayor one term and having given a most vigorous administration. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran Church, but he and his wife are now active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Belington, of which he is a trustee. Mr. Barte has at all times shown a lively interest in all things touching the welfare of his home city and native county, and he served from 1917 to 1921 as deputy sheriff of the county. May 6, 1899, recorded the marriage of Mr. Barte and Miss Monta Phares, who was bom and reared in Barbour County, her father, the late W. S. Phares, having come to this county from Randolph County and having developed a fine farm adjacent to Belington. Mr. Phares was born in Randolph County, was a scout and guide in the Union service in the Civil war, was captured by the enemy and was for a time held at the infamous old Andersonville Prison. He was a successful farmer and was one of the substantial citizens of Barbour County at the time of his death, when sixty-seven years of age, his wife, whose maiden name was Virginia Pritt, having survived him by several years. On their five children only two attained to maturity: Mrs. Kate Ward, who resides at Belington, and Mrs. Barte. Thelma, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Barte, was born April 4, 1900, and died October 30, 1918, after a lingering illness.