Barbour County, West Virginia Biography of John F. HEWTTT 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. 338-339 JOHN F. HEWTTT. The clerk of the County Court of Barbour County is one of the most popular and efficient members of the Court House circle at Philippi. The dis- tinctive feature of his career has been his determination and ability to rise above his environment and find the work for which he has unique talent and qualifications. Mr. Hewitt was born on a farm in Valley District of Bar- bour County July 12, 1872. His grandfather came to West Virginia from Pennsylvania, settling in Barbour County. He was one of the early teachers in that locality. His family consisted of three sons and three daughters. The sons were: John, Joel and Hiram. The daughters were: Margaret, who married Benjamin Tallman, Mrs. Jane Phillips and Purdy. Joel Hewitt spent his life in Barbour County as a farmer and died in Valley District in 1917, when past eighty-three years of age. He secured only a limited education, was a republican voter, and a member of the United Brethren Church. He married Hulda Hayes, whose father, Isaac Hayes, was a shoemaker and farm owner in Barker District of Barbour County. Mrs. Hulda Hewitt died in 1918, when almost eighty years of age. Her children were: John Franklin; Perry, connected with a lumber mill in Randolph County; and Hayes, a farmer in Valley District. John F. Hewitt grew up in a community where work in the field or in the woods was regarded as the maximum qualification for earning a livelihood and achieving one's destiny. He had only such advantages as the country schools offered. When he was about twenty years of age he left the farm to become a teacher, and for nine years had charge of country schools and during the summer vacations at- tended school himself. His last work as a teacher was done at Junior in Barbour County. He left the schoolroom to establish and conduct a barber shop at Junior and learn the trade from his employe. For fifteen years he had a shop at Belington and later at Philippi. While conducting his shop he was a student in the West Virginia Business College at Clarksburg, where he graduated. Mr. Hewitt's great gift and talent is skill in penmanship. Few penmen have acquired the art or mastery of the pen to such a high degree. This talent manifested itself during his childhood, but was never encouraged at home. "John is a good writer" was the common remark about home but his writing was regarded as something of a curiosity or freak and not as a means by which he could render peculiar service to the world. Therefore, the talent lay dormant until he was a man of nearly middle age, when he awakened it himself through correspondence courses with several schools. Mr. Hewitt made his first penholder out of a stick, which he split at one end so as to insert a pen and secured it by wrapping the end with thread. He also made his first ink out of pokeberries. In penmanship Mr. Hewitt holds diplomas specifying to his skill and proficiency from the Francis B. Courtney School of Penmanship of Detroit, from P. W. Tamblyn of Kansas City, Missouri, and from the Sexter Business College of Worcester, Ohio. About the time he graduated from business college he became a clerk with the Consolidated Coal Company at Berryburg, West Virginia, but before the end of a year returned to Philippi and was elected and served two years as city clerk. He then became deputy under Sheriff Ken- nedy, and held that office four years. In 1920 he was elected county clerk, and entered upon his duties January 1, 1921, as the successor of S. F. Hoxnan. He defeated his pred- ecessor for the office in the primary, and in the election received a majority of 1,310 votes. While a resident of Belington Mr. Hewitt married, on March 21, 1896, Miss Margaret Monahan, who was born in Valley District, Barbour County, daughter of Andrew and Emily (Wiseman) Monahan, farmers. Mrs. Hewitt, who received a public school education, is the second in a family of ten sons and three daughters, the other children surviv- ing being Henry, William, Simon, Irvin, Archie, Ray, Mrs. Jessie Perkins of Richmond, Virginia, and Ethel, who is married and lives in Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt have three children and two grandchildren. Their oldest daugh- ter, Lillie May, is the wife of Charles Leary, of Richmond, Virginia, and they have a son, called W., Jr. The second daughter, Ella Pearl, is the wife of Charles Marple, of Grafton, and has a son, Charles Lee. The only son of Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt is Andrew Archie, who is now in the United States Navy. During the World war Mr. Hewitt was deputy sheriff, and much of his time was devoted to assisting the selective service men in filling out their questionnaires, fraternally he is affiliated with the Junior Order United American Mechanics and the Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church.