Cabell County, West Virginia Biography of Fred E. WAY 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. 199 - 200 FRED E. WAY, secretary and general manager of the Kenova Hardwood Flooring Company, has been identified with this concern since 1905, and has also been prominently connected with civic affairs for a number of years, his record both in public and business life having been one of constructive achievements and public-spirited activities. He was born at Wyanet, Bureau County, Illinois, May 3, 1869, a son of Edwin D. and Margaret (Piper) Way. Edwin D. Way was born July 16, 1837, in Ashtabula County, Ohio, and was twenty years of age when he accom- panied his parents to Henry County, Illinois. Early in the war between the states he enlisted in Company B, Nine- teenth Illinois Infantry, as a private, but after a short service received his honorable discharge because ill health incapacitated him for active duty. During the remainder of the war he was in charge of the Soldiers' Home at Pa- ducah, Kentucky, and at Vicksburg, Mississippi, under the supervision of the United States Sanitary Commission. At the close of the struggle he went to Wyanet, Illinois, where he established a hardware business, and was engaged in that line of trade for fifteen years. Disposing of his inter- ests, he went to Peoria, Illinois, where he was in the grocery business until 1892. He was always a friend of education, and while residing at Wyanet was president of the school board. His health failing, in 1892, Mr. Way went to Cali- fornia, where he died January 3, 1893. He married Miss Margaret Piper, who was born in Indiana County, Penn- sylvania, November 21, 1841, and now survives him at the age of eighty years, being a resident of Chicago, Illinois. Two children were born to them: Fred E. and Verna, the latter the wife of H. R. Mardorf, who started as a mes- senger boy for the C. I. & L. Railroad, Chicago, at the age of fifteen, and is now assistant secretary-treasurer of that route. Fred E. Way finished his education at the Peoria High School at the age of nineteen years, at which time he secured employment in the office of the McCormick Har- vester Company, Peoria, where he remained three years. For the two years that followed he was identified with the Acme Harvester Company at Pekin, Illinois, and then went to Dallas, Texas, where he was in the employ of Aultman, Miller & Company, manufacturers of farm implements, from 1894 to 1904. Mr. Way's next experience was in an agri- cultural way, and tilling the soil on a farm near Dallas continued to be his occupation until 1905, in which year he came to Kenova, in the year following succeeding M. A. Hayward, former general manager of what is now the Kenova Hardwood Flooring Company. This business was originally established in 1902, and was then known as the Kenova Poplar Manufacturing Company, the president of the concern then being E. W. Houghton and the vice presi- dent, G. A. McClintock. W. O. Houghton, son of the former president, now occupies the chief executive position. In its earlier days the territory of the company was con- fined entirely to the Middle West, but its product now meets with a steady demand not only through this locality, hut in New York and other eastern points. The plant waa taken over by the present concern August 16, 1916. Mr. Way has established and maintained a reputation as a sound, reliable, progressive man of business, and one who is thoroughly familiar with the principles and ethics of commercial life not only as they affect his own concern but as they apply to business matters in general. He has taken an active part in civic affairs at Kenova, where lie has served as mayor and recorder, and his public record is an excellent one. He is an interested and working member of the Chamber of Commerce and local movements for the benefit of the community always have his support and co- operation. During the World war period he was active in Red Cross and other work. As a fraternalist he affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, while his political identifica- tion is with the republican party. On October 5, 1905, at Chicago, Mr. Way was united in marriage with Miss Georgina Stewart, daughter of Peter Stewart, of Edinburgh, Scotland, a sergeant-major in the Royal Scots. He died in his native, land, following which his widow brought her children to the United States. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Way: Edwin W., Warren Stewart, Fred E., Jr., and Martha Louise. Mr. and Mrs. Way are consistent members of the Presbyterian Church of. Kenova, to the movements of which they have been liberal contributors, and in which Mr. Way officiates as an elder.