Barbour County, West Virginia Biography of John H. ZIRKLE ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , April 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 112 JOHN H. ZIRKLE. Member of an old Barbour County family, John H. Zirkle was at one time a newspaperman at Philippi, and while in the Government service came to Martinsburg, where for the past thirteen years he has prac- ticed law with success and honor and is also the present city recorder. He is a descendant of one of three Zirkle brothers who came out of Germany in Colonial times and settled in Virginia. His grandfather was Daniel Zirkle, who was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, in 1805, and married Cath- erine A. Will, who was born in Shenandoah County, Vir- ginia, in 1816. About 1836 Daniel Zirkle moved with his family to what is now Barbour County, and settled near the Town of Philippi. He was a farmer, and in the days before railroads took his surplus products to Baltimore and Phila- delphia with four-horse teams, a trip that required several weeks when the roads were bad. On returning he loaded his wagons with merchandise. Daniel Zirkle died December 18, 1868, at Philippi in Barbour County. His wife died March 3, 1841, just two weeks after the birth of her son, Jacob Zirkle. Jacob Zirkle, father of John H., was born in Barbour County, February 17, 1841, and was reared on a farm. On August 23, 1862, he enlisted in Company F, of the Fifteenth West Virginia Infantry, and served in all the campaigns and battles of that regiment until the final surrender. He was once slightly wounded in the shoulder. He participated in the battles of Cloyd Mountain, New River, Middlebrook, Lexington, Lynchburg, Berryville, Hall Town, Opequon, Fishers Hill, Cedar Creek (first and second battle), Hatch- er's Run, Petersburg, Rice Station, and was at Appomattox and in many other skirmishes besides. He received his honorable discharge June 14, 1865. After the war he resumed farming, having inherited the old homestead in Valley District, and became a large land owner and a very prosperous and influential citizen. He celebrated his eighty- first birthday in February, 1922, and is now living with his oldest son, A. D. Zirkle, at Philippi. In Barbour County, August 27, 1865, Jacob Zirkle mar- ried Rebecca Schleuss, who was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, April 4, 1842, daughter of Andrew and Sarah F. (Carter) Schleuss. Her father was born in Maryland in 1809, and her mother in Rappahannock County, Virginia, in 1824. The Schleuss family removed to Barbour County in 1842, and her father died December 18, 1864. Jacob and Rebecca Zirkle were church members from early youth, being reared in the United Brethren Church, but later joined the Methodist Church. Jacob Zirkle was class leader for about twenty-five years. His wife died May 17, 1917, and was buried in Fraternity Cemetery at Philippi. These worthy parents had a family of ten children: Andrew D., born August 6, 1866, and living at Philippi; Mary F., born October 25, 1867; and died December 15th, following; Roxanna, born April 15, 1869, now living near Garden City; Kansas; Charles I., born March 20, 1871, also living at Garden City; Daniel O. L., born February 26, 1873, and died March 1, following; John H., the Martinsburg lawyer; Lorenzo Dow and Davit T., twins, born August 10, the former living at Garden City, Kansas, and the latter died February 28, 1879; William Luther, born December 25, 1880, now living at Moundsville, West Virginia; and Simon Elijah, born April 18, 1883, a resident of Garden City, Kansas. John H. Zirkle was born on the home farm near Philippi, December 17, 1874, and the labor of the farm was the first item in his practical experience. He attended the free schools there until he was eighteen, and then entered what is now Wesleyan College at Buckhannon, where he com- pleted a three year college course. Then for three years he taught school, the first school being a mile from Belington, in his native county. He left the schoolroom to purchase a half interest in the Philippi Republican of Barbour County, and was junior editor of that paper for eight years. He gave up newspaper work when assigned to a Govern- ment position as storekeeper and gauger, his first assign- ment being at Jarrett's Distillery at Grafton, and later he was transferred to the Hannis Distillery at Martinsburg, where he served eleven years, until removed after the elec- tion of Woodrow Wilson. While in the Government service at Martinsburg Mr. Zirkle studied law by correspondence courses and later took the lectures at West Virginia University, also passed his law examination there and was admitted to the bar in 1909. For a number of years he has had an extensive practice in all the courts of his district. While in Philippi he was for two years city recorder, and since 1915 he has been city recorder and auditor of Martinsburg. Mr. Zirkle is active in republican politics, is affiliated with Equality Lodge No. 44, A. F. and A. M., at Martinsburg, with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1901, at Philippi, he married Miss Grace Ice, daughter of Judge William T. and Columbia (Jarvis) Ice. Her father was for several years judge of the Circuit Court in the district comprising Barbour, Preston and Randolph counties. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Zirkle were born four children: Robert, now employed by the Martins- burg Paid City Fire Department; Fred, in the eighth grade of the grammar school; Willard and Elizabeth Columbia, both deceased.