Barbour County, West Virginia Biography of Hon. John S. WITHERS 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. 301-302 HON. JOHN S. WITHERS. In Old and West Virginia and throughout the South the name Withers has been one of distinction since Colonial times. There have been soldiers of the name in all the important wars of the nation. Many of them have been eminent lawyers, and many public and pri- vate libraries in West Virginia contain a volume known as "Withers' Chronicles of Border Warfare," containing vivid narratives and descriptions of fights between the first white settlers and the Indians during the progress of civilization over the Alleghanies, accounts that have made this one of the important source books for the history of what is now West Virginia. The author of this work was the grandfather of the Hon. John S. Withers, banker, lawyer and prominent business man of Buckhannon. The Withers family came from Lancashire, England, and joined the Virginia Colony in the seventeenth century. The great-grandfather of John 8. Withers was Enoch K. With- ers, who was born in 1760 and lived in Fauquier County, Virginia. He served as a sergeant in Peter Grant's Com- pany, Col. William Drake's Regiment, during the Revolu- tion, enlisting May 28, 1777, for three years. He was com- missioned ensign in November, 1777. He died in Fauquier County in 1813. His wife, May Chinn, was a daughter of Janet Scott, a first cousin to Sir Walter Scott. The author of the Chronicles of Border Warfare was Alex- ander Scott Withers, who was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, October 12, 1792. He was educated as a lawyer and wrote the Chronicles in 1831. In later years his time and energies were devoted to farming. He was a whig in politics, and during the Civil war was a stanch Union man. He died at Parkersburg January 23, 1865. His home for many years was in Harrison County, and it was while there that he wrote the Chronicles. He was a graduate of William and Mary College and was a Mason and a member of the Episcopal Church. In 1815 he married Malinda Fisher. Their oldest child, Janet S., married Cabel Tavenner. Henry Howard Withers, son of Alexander S. Withers, was born in Fauquier County in 1824, but was reared at Weston, Virginia, now West Virginia, and was a merchant there and later a farmer. He served almost four years in the Union Army, and assisted with Col. T. M. Harris, and Lieutenant Colonel Hall in organizing the Tenth West Virginia Infan- try, of which he was major. While serving in the war he was captured at Frostburg, in the Valley of Virginia and imprisoned in Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, where he served six months. About 1845 he acquired 1,000 acres of land at the head of Sinks Creek, but later sold this and bought a farm near Troy in Gilmer County. In the fall of 1869 he was elected sheriff of Gilmer County, and died while holding that office, in 1873. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity. In 1844 Major Withers married Dorcas D. Lorentz, who was born at Weston in 1827. Of the seven children of Major Withers three are still living: John S.; Miss Emma, of Webster Springs; and Herbert H., of Glen- ville. John Scott Withers was born at Weston July 29, 1847, and daring the greater part of his youth lived on a farm in Gilmer County. He attended the public schools, and during the Civil war was a pupil in the Monongahela Acad- emy at Morgantown. In 1870 he was appointed deputy under his father, then sheriff of Gilmer County, and in 1872 was elected superintendent of public schools of Gilmer County. For two years he was in the mercantile business at Glenville, and then studied law in the office of Robert G. Linn and was admitted to the bar in 1879. For twenty years he practiced law at Glenville with Mr. Linn, under the firm name of Linn & Withers, and during that time he was elected and served twelve years as prosecuting attorney of Gilmer County, being first elected in 1880. As a lawyer Mr. Withers became known over a number of West Virginia counties, but he finally abandoned the profession because of its confining nature and engaged in the timber and lum- ber business, forming a partnership with C. E. Vandevender in 1898. The firm of Withers & Vandevender have its chief offices at Parkersburg, and they also handle real estate and coal properties. Both partners spend their winters at St. Petersburg, Florida, where they own winter homes. Mr. Withers removed his family to Buckhannon some thirty years ago to secure the educational advantages of that city for his children. For many years he has been a stock- holder in the Buckhannon Bank, and has been both vice president and president of that institution. He is also a director in the Kanawha Union Bank at Glenville. Mr. Withers is active in Masonry. He is a member of the Official Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a teacher of the Bible Class and a member of the Board of Trustees of the West Virginia Wesleyan College for over thirty years, that institution having conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. At Glenville September 29, 1875, he married Miss Sabina Holt, who was born at Glenville October 25, 1856, daughter of John F. W. and Elizabeth (McKisic) Holt. Mrs. Withers graduated as a member of the first class in the Glenville State Normal School. Mr. and Mrs. Withers have five children: Olita, born in 1877, graduated from the Conservatory of Music at Granville, Ohio, and from Wes- leyan College at Buckhannon, and is the wife of Nelson M. Hooker. Horace Holt Withers, born July 9, 1881, is a graduate of Wesleyan College of Buckhannon, and the law school of West Virginia University, and married Virgie Phillips. Irma, born in 1883, was educated in Wesleyan College and is the wife of Frank R. Ast. Janet Withers, born in 1885, is a graduate of Wesleyan College, and is the wife of Richard H. Packer, of Scottsdale, Pennsylvania. John Henry Withers, the youngest child, was born February 8, 1893, attended the Kentucky Military Institute, Havre Military School at Lima, Indiana, and the West Virginia Wesleyan College. He married Gladys Burkhart, of Cum- berland, Maryland. During the World war he was a sergeant and drill master.