Berkeley County, West Virginia Biography of Arthur James WOORE This file 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. 295-296 ARTHUR JAMES WOORE, an old and honored resident and business man of Martinsburg, is a native of England, but has no recollection of the picturesque and historic shire of his birth, since he was brought to the United States in in- fancy and spent most of his early youth and manhood in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Mr. Woore was born in Monmouthshire, England. His father, Oliver Woore, Jr., was born at Llangattock Vibon Avel in Monmonthshire, July 5, 1839. His grandfather, Oliver Woore, was born in 1815, and was of pure English ancestry. Oliver Woore, Jr., married Hannah Prince, who was born near the village of Husk in Monmonthshire, May 23, 1839, and at an early age was left an orphan and was reared by her maternal grandfather, a wealthy farmer named Williams, in Monmouth County. She was married to Oliver Woore, Jr., May 8, 1862. Three children were born to them in England: Edith, born May 22, 1863; An- nie, born December 23, 1865; and Arthur James, born Oc- tober 31, 1868. In 1869 the family came to America, and first located near Alton in Madison County, Illinois, where Oliver Woore, Jr., followed farming for nine years. Leav- ing Illinois, he came to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and bought a farm in Frederick County, continuing his oc- cupation as a farmer until acquiring a competence and there- after lived retired in Winchester. He was a man of good education, and continued his intellectual interests all his life. He and his family were devout members of the Bap- tist Church. While in Winchester he cultivated a beautiful little garden during the summer season, but the rest of the year he devoted to reading in his private library. He died December 9, 1919. His widow is now eighty-three years of age and lives with her daughter in Frederick County, Vir- ginia. The children born after the family came to Amer- ica were: Edgar, born December 14, 1870, on the farm in Madison County, Illinois; Lucy, born December 23, 1873, and died October 20, 1875; William Oliver, born March 21, 1876 Julia, born June 29, 1878, and Frank Lee, who was born June 26, 1881, the only one of the family a native of Frederick County, Virginia. The daughter Edith married John L. Hauptman, a wealthy farmer in Frederick County. Annie became the wife of Joseph Cooper, a prominent farmer near Winchester. Edgar is a farmer and orehard- ist near Winchester. William Oliver is junior partner and manager of a large furniture store at Covington, Virginia. Julia married W. K. Alther, general superintendent of the Masonic Life Insurance Company, with headquarters in Buffalo, New York. Frank Lee, the youngest child, is a traveling salesman living at Winchester. Arthur James Woore had his first conscious recollections in Southern Illinois, of the farm in Madison County, and there he first attended school; later he attended school in Frederick County, Virginia, working on the farm in the meantime, and began his active career as an extensive farmer and stock raiser in Clark County, Virginia. For several years he farmed, then took up contracting and building and has erected several fine residences and busi- ness buildings. Since 1912 he has been in business at his trade in Martinsburg. December 28, 1893, Mr. Woore married Fredda Milton Darlington. Her father, Joseph Benton Darlington, was born on the old homestead at Gainesboro, Virginia, where his father and grandfather owned three large farms. It was on one of these farms where the British and Hessian prisoners taken at Saratoga in 1781, were kept, and one field on that farm, is to this day, known as the Barracks Field, being the one on which stood the barracks in which those prisoners were confined. He was born April 15, 1840, son of Meredith and Rachel Ann (Swartz) Darling- ton, and a grandson of Gabriel and Margaret (Edwards) Darlington. Gabriel Darlington was a son of Meredith and Sarah (Davis) Darlington, and a grandson of William and Mary Darlington, of Pennsylvania. An extensive genealogy of the Darlington family was compiled by Gil- bert Cope and published in 1900. Mrs. Woore's father entered the Confederate Army, at the beginning of the war as a member of Imboden's Cavalry, served in Stone- wall Jackson's Brigade, and at one time was a courier between General Jackson and Lee. A man of good educa- tion, he taught school for a time after the war, then learned the trade of house painter and decorator, and fol- lowed that business in Martinsburg until his death on March 9, 1913. Mrs. Woore's mother, Hannah Vincent, was born in Clark County, Virginia, daughter of John and Julia (McDonald) Vincent. John Vincent was a native of Scotland, came to the United States when a young man and was an American soldier in the War of 1812. He followed his trade as a miller in Clark County, Virginia, until late in life, and spent his last days in Iowa. Julia McDonald, his wife, was a native of Ireland and died in Clark County, Virginia. Mrs. Woore was one of four children. Her brother Lagona Vincent married Margaret dark, of Fred- erick County, Virginia. Her sister Emma May married Charles H. Coachman, of Martinsburg, West Virginia. Her brother John Meredith married Cora Roberts, of Martins- burg, West Virginia. Mr. and. Mrs. Woore have three children, Emma Hannah, Arthur Meredith and Frank Randolph. These children are members of the Baptist Church. Miss Emma is a gifted mu- sician, a professional singer, a teacher of vocal and instru- mental music, and has been a lecturer on musical subjects in city schools. She is a member of the extension depart- ment of the National Academy of Music, and is a member of the Wednesday Afternoon Music Club at Martinsburg. The son Arthur Meredith Woore enlisted as a volunteer August 15, 1918, and was assigned to duty at the Univer- sity of West Virginia as a sergeant instructor in the Stu- dents Army Training Corps. He was honorably discharged December 15, 1919. He graduated from the Martinsburg High School in 1919, and is now a student of law in the University of Virginia. Frank Randolph Woore received his education in the Mar- tinsburg grade and high schools, and is now a clerk.