Barbour County, West Virginia Biography of Clark L. ROHRBOUGH, M. D. 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. 327-328 CLARK L. ROHRBOUGH, M. D., is one of the able and repre- sentative physicians and surgeons of Barbour County, where be has been established in successful general practice since 1883, with residence and professional headquarters at Belington. The Doctor was born on a farm near Buckhannon, Up- shur County, February 23, 1858, and is a son of John M. and Matilda (Butt) Rohrbough, the latter having been bom in Lewis County, as was also her father, William Butt, who was a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of that county. John M. Rohrbough was a son of Anthony Rohrbough, who came from the vicinity of the north branch of the Potomac River and became one of the very early settlers of what is now Upshur County, West Virginia, his farm having been two miles east of Buckhannon and he having there reclaimed his land from the wilderness. He was a member of the first class, of ten members, that established the first Methodist Church in that county, and his Christian faith was ever shown in his daily life. He and his wife remained on the old homestead until their deaths, and there were reared not only their children but also a number of their grandchildren. The eldest son, George, removed to Illinois and there remained until his death in Hancock County; Anthony remained in Upshnr County until his death, as did also Benjamin; John M., father of the subject of this sketch, was the next younger son; Jacob died at Buckhannon and Isaac in Lewis County. Dorcas, the elder daughter, became the wife of Michael Strader after the death of her first husband, whose name was Tenny, and Mahala, who became the wife of John Love, died in Barbour County. John M. Rohrbough continued as a successful farmer in Upshur County until his death, in the. spring of 1860, and his widow survived him by more than thirty years, her death having occurred in 1893, on the old home place near Buckhannon. All of their ten children attained to adult age: Elizabeth is the widow of Seth Williams and resides at Buckhannon; Marietta is the widow of John Griffith and now resides at Harlingen, Texas; Virginia, the wife of John Hyer, died in Upshur County, when still a young woman; William lives at Beverly, Randolph County; Je- mina, wife of Jerome Pultz, died in Lewis County; Matilda is the wife of S. S. Leonard of Buckhannon; Columbia is the wife of Archibald Hinkle, Jr., and they maintain their home at Belington; Ardelia, the widow of Tillotson Martin, resides in Barbour County; Vermont died unmarried; and Dr. Clark L., of this review, is the youngest of the number. The public and county normal schools afforded to Doctor Rohrbough his early education, and for six years he was a successful teacher in the schools of his native county, his earnings enabling him to realize his ambition and begin preparation for his chosen profession. After reading medicine two years under the preceptorship of Dr. J. P. Miller, of Buckhannon, he entered the Medical College of Ohio in the City of Cincinnati, and in the spring of 1883 he received from this institution his degree of Doctor of Medicine. For five years thereafter he gave his attention to a wide rural practice in Barbour County, with residence at Talbott, and he then removed to Belington, where he has continued in practice as one of the leading physicians of the county and where he has status as one of the loyal, public-spirited and influential citizens. He is actively iden- tified with the Tri-County Medical Society (Randolph, Bar- bour and Tucker counties) and also with the West Virginia State Medical Society. He has served as health officer of the Belington independent school district, was city recorder one term, and later gave two terms of specially effective administration as mayor of Belington, he having been very strenuous in his efforts to eliminate the liquor traffic in the city. He has given unfaltering allegiance to the repub- lican party, and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he has been an active member of thirty years. On the 27th of January, 1885, was solemnized the mar- riage of Doctor Rohrbough and Miss Hulda Carpenter, who was born and reared in Barbour County and who was the third in order of birth of the five children of Coon and Julia (Harris) Carpenter. Doctor and Mrs. Rohrbough have four children: Pearl, wife of Herbert Sparks, of Niles, Ohio; Otis C., of Davis, West Virginia; Flossie, wife of Frank Phillips, of Belington; and Mrs. Hazel Dunlap, of Mount Clemens, Michigan.