Barbour County, West Virginia Biography of Noah S. PARKS 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. 296-297 NOAH S. PARKS. Probably no business man is better and more favorably known in the agricultural districts of a number of counties around Philippi than Noah S. Parks. His active association with the farms and their owners in this extensive territory has come from his business as a salesman of agricultural implements and machinery. All along he has carried on some farming of his own, the occupation to which he was reared and trained as a youth. His grandfather, whose name was also Noah S. Parks, came to this section of West Virginia more than a century ago and settled on Brushy Fork in Harrison County. He was one of five brothers who started west from old Virginia, and he was the only one to locate in West Virginia, the others going on into Ohio; Noah S. Parks was a man of God from boyhood, practiced his religion and contributed faithfully of the tenth of his income for the support of the Gospel. He was a man of good judgment as well, and left a good estate. When he settled on Brushy Fork he bought land at twenty-five cents an acre, and in subsequent years he gave each of his children a farm, on the condition that the property was to be held for the use and benefit of each child as long as he lived and at death it should be divided equally among the respective children. Noah S. Parks and wife spent their lives at their home on Brushy Fork. He was well read, especially in Bible and church literature. He voted as a republican. This pioneer died at the age of eighty-two. His wife, Rachel Willett, whom he married in Harrison County, died a number of years before him. Their children were: David, who died in Harrison County, leaving two daughters by his wife, Re- becca Lawson; Robert, who was a farmer in the home community, married Semantha Hickman, and left two daugh- ters and a son; Mary Jane, who died in the community where she was reared, the wife of Amos G. Marple; Gran- ville, the subjects' father; and Albert, who lived at the old homestead, married Ann Hart and is survived by one daughter and two sons. Granville Parks was born on Brushy Fork in Harrison County, May 12, 1841. There were practically no schools for him to attend, and he learned to read, but could scarcely write. His life was devoted to the farm, and with more than an average degree of success. After the Civil war he moved to Barbour County, and his home for fifty-six years was on the waters of Elk Creek, where he died Janu- ary 30, 1922. He was industrious, thrifty, accumulated property, and was very religious. He was reared in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, later was a member of the United Brethren Church on Brushy Fork, an institution he practically built, and in the last years of his life he was a communicant of Hall Church of the Methodist Episcopal, South, near Elk City. He was a sympathizer of the South during the war and a democratic voter. In early days he was a noted singer, and he taught singing school. He was a man of fine and rugged physique, six feet, four inches high and weighed about 200 pounds. In Harrison County Granville Parks married Barbara Susan Hardman, who was left an orphan when a child mid was reared in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Rominn. She acquired a common school education, and has been an example of greatest loyalty to the duties and obligations of motherhood and of Christian conduct. Everyone loves and respects her for her splendid character. She is now eighty-two years of age. Her children were: Noah S. Parks; Mary Jane, wife of John Fridley, of Barbour County; Sidney L., of Tucker County; Homer Albert, a farmer near his father's old home; Jennie, who married Mordecai Reed, of Clarksburg; Martha, Mrs. Ira Wood- ford, of Philippi; Amos G., a farmer near the old home; Berthena, wife of William Nutter, of Clarksburg; John C., who has spent most of his life as a soldier in the Regular Army, was in the Spanish-American war, and dur- ing the World war was a drillmaster and did other work in the training of soldiers, and is still an officer in his regiment; Grover C., the youngest, a railroad man with the New York Central Lines in New York. Noah S. Parks was born at Brushy Fork, Harrison County, August 2, 1863, and two years later his parents moved to Barbour County, where he has had his home ever since. He acquired a country school education, and was the only one of the children to remain on the home farm until he reached his majority. After leaving home he worked as a farm hand at 50 cents a day, and put in long hours to earn this modest stipend. The first money he made for himself was filling a contract with a neighbor farmer to cut and split 1 000 rails at 50 cents a hundred. He did this work with his ax in five days' time. After two years as a wage earner he married and settled on a farm near Philippi, and soon bought a small place in that locality, and continued to give his personal attention to his farming for about three years. About the time he left the farm Mr. Parks entered business as a salesman of farm machinery. For four years he traveled for the International Harvester Company, and then joined the Feiser Manufacturing Company of Waynes- boro. Pennsylvania. For twenty-two years he sold the poods of this firm. Since January 1, 1922, he has been with A. B. Farquar of York, Pennsylvania, selling the heavy machinery made by this firm, including saw-mills, threshers, boilers, traction engines and similar goods. The territory in all these years has been in his own state. His immediate jurisdiction is fourteen counties, and he is prob- ably better informed as to agricultural conditions and has a larger personal acquaintance among farmers and farm owners there than any other man. Mr. Parks for many years has been interested more or less in the lumber business as a manufacturer. He has shipped out large quantities direct from the saw-mills in the woods, and is still interested in that line. He is a half-owner of the city garage at Philippi, and was one of the firm that put up the building in the spring of 1916. The City Garage is the authorized Ford Agency in Philippi. Mr. Parks is a democrat, having cast his vote regularly for the democratic candidates since the time of Grover Cleveland. In local affairs he is not particularly partisan, considering the man rather than the party. Mr. Parks has been a successful business man, he owns the old home- stead where he grew up, and some valuable nroperty in Philippi. He has filled the chairs in the Encampment degree of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is also a member of the Subordinate Lodge and the Grafton Lodge of Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the United Brethren Church, is liberal in his donations to other denominations, and the unfortunate and the afflicted have always had in him a generous helper and one ready to respond with his personal aid and his purse. January 29, 1889, Mr. Parks married Miss Mary Etta Zinn, daughter of John Riley and Amanda (Simon) Zinn. She was born in Barbour County, February 23, 1865, the third in a family of six children the others being: Ingaby, wife of Josiah Nutter; Margaret, who was the first wife of Josiah Nutter; Francis, a farmer in Barbour County; Jacob, who operates the old homestead; and Aldine, one of the very successful farmers of Barbour County. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Parks, Lulie, Opal, Rosa, Miss Von, Miss Zella and Lowell, were all liberally edu- cated in the public schools. The daughter Lulie is the wife of William Brown, of Akron, Ohio, and has a son, Blaine. Opal is the wife of George Hall, of Wheeling. Rosa married Fred Daddisman, of Philippi.