Cabell County, West Virginia Biography of Fleming C. LEFTWICH ************************************************************************** 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. 117 FLEMING C. LEFTWICH, a representative member of the bar of the City of Huntington, claims the Old Dominion State as the place of his nativity and is a scion of a family that was there founded in the Colonial days, the original American representatives having come from England. Col. William Leftwich, great-grandfather of the subject of this review, served as a patriot soldier and officer in the Revolu- tion, in which he was a general of Virginia troops. Jabez Leftwich, grandfather of Fleming C., was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1791, and died in Giles County, that state, in 1875. The major part of his life, however, was passed in Montgomery County, Virginia, where he was an extensive planter and slaveholder prior to the Civil war. He well upheld the military and patriotic prestige of the family name by his service as a captain in the War of 1812, and thereafter he ever continued to be known as Captain Leftwich. His wife, whose maiden name was Martha Early and who was a cousin of the distinguished Confederate officer, Gen. Jubal A. Early, was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1795, and died in Giles County, that state, in 1875, the same year in which her husband died. Tubal W. Leftwich, father of him whose name initiates his sketch, was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1838, and died in Madison, Boone County, West Virginia, in 1903. He was reared in Montgomery County, Virginia, and his marriage occurred in Giles County, that state, where he con- tinued activities as a farmer and carpenter until 1895. He then came to Madison, West Virginia, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was originally a democrat and later a republican, and in Giles County he served many years as justice of the peace. He served as first lieutenant in the Thirty-sixth Virginia Infantry, Confederate, during the entire period of the Civil war, took part in many engage- ments, including the second battle of Manassas and that of Winchester, and was thrice wounded. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In Giles County, Virginia, he married Mary Porterfield, and there her death occurred in 1875. Everett, eldest of the children of this union, who died April 3, 1922, was a leading lawyer at Williamson, West Virginia; Pemberton Lee died at the age of eighteen years; Fleming C., of this sketch, was next in order of birth; Jennie is the wife of Sidney A. Albert, of Pizgah, North Carolina; Charles W., a traveling salesman and a veteran of the Spanish-American war, resides at Madison, West Virginia; May is the wife of Andrew J. Bradley, of Peytona, West Virginia; Miss Mary is a resi- dent of Madison, this state; and William P. is a resident of Nallen, Fayette County. For his second wife Tubal W. Leftwich married Miss Louisa Snodgrass, who was born in Giles County, Virginia, in 1853, and whose death occurred in 1898. They are sur- vived by four children: Marvin E., of Moundsville, West Virginia; Lela, wife of Gaylord Berry, present postmaster at Madison, this state; Margaret, wife of William A. Clen- dennen, a farmer near Peytona. Fleming C. Leftwich was born in Giles County, Virginia, April 17, 1866, and there attended rural and select schools. He remained on the home farm until he was twenty years old, when he came to Madison, West Virginia. He taught school three years, and in the meanwhile took up the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1889, and thereafter was engaged in practice at Madison until 1910, when he removed to the City of Huntington and assumed charge of the legal departments of the Big Creek Development Com- pany, the Yawkey & Freeman Coal Company and the Pond Fork Coal Company. Of the two corporations last men- tioned he is now secretary, treasurer and legal adviser, and in his general practice he has secure prestige as one of the able and successful members of the bar of this section of the state. He is a director of the Huntington Banking & Trust Company, the Madison National Bank, the VanZandt- Leftwich Auto Supply Company of Huntington, and the Miller Casket Company of this city. His professional and business offices are maintained at 1211 First National Bank Building. Mr. Leftwich is a stalwart advocate of the principles of the republican party, and while a resident of Boone County he served as prosecuting attorney from January 1, 1897, to January 1, 1901, besides which he was postmaster at Madison under the administration of President Benjamin Harrison. In 1908-9 he represented the Eighth Senatorial District—Boone, Kanawha and Logan counties—in the State Senate. He is a past master of Odell Lodge No. 115, A. F. and A. M., at Madison; is affiliated with Tyrian Chapter. R. A. M., at Charleston, where also he is a member of Kanawha Commandery No. 20, Knights Templars, and Beni- Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine, while in the Scottish Rite he has received the thirty-second degree in the Con- sistory at Wheeling. He is a past grand of Boone Lodge No. 170, I. O. O. F., at Madison, and is a member of Huntington Lodge No. 13, B. P. O. E. Mr. Leftwich is a member of the West Virginia Bar Association and in his home city holds membership in the Guyan Country Club. He was active in the furtherance of local patriotic measures in the World war period, and as a member of Draft Board No. 2 gave much time to the enrollment of young men for the nation's service. December 20, 1893, recorded the marriage of Mr. Leftwich and Miss Minnie Stollings, daughter of the late Col. Joe E. and Ella (Croft) Stollings, of Madison. Colonel Stollings. with whom Mr. Leftwich was associated in the practice of law for a number of years, was a Confederate colonel in the Civil war. Mrs. Leftwich attended the Concord Normal School at Athens, and was a successful teacher in the schools of Boone County prior to her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Left- wich have but one child, Miss Ruby, who remains at the parental home and is a popular figure in the social life of Huntington. Miss Leftwich received the best of educational advantages, including those of Marshall College, at Hunting- ton, Barboursville College, at Barboursville, this state, and Fairmont Seminary, Washington, D. C.