Gilmer County, West Virginia    Biography of Fred LEWIS

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Submitted by Valerie Crook, <vfcrook@trellis.net>, March 1999
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 46

FRED LEWIS, who is giving most effective service as road
engineer of Gilmer County, with office headquarters at Glen-
ville, the county seat, was born in Randolph County, West
Virginia, on the 7th of March, 1875, and is a son of Oliver
H. P. and Elizabeth P. (Mills) Lewis, both likewise natives
of that portion of Virginia that now constitutes the state
of West Virginia. The father was born in Marshall County,
on the 20th of March, 1836, and his death occurred April
30, 1917. The mother was born in Randolph County,
December 15, 1848, and passed to the life eternal on the 4th
of July, 1900. Oliver H. P. Lewis was reared on a farm
in Randolph County, received the advantages of the com-
mon schools and an academy, and as a young man he gave
excellent service as a teacher in the rural schools. He
eventually became one of the substantial farmers of Gilmer
County, and here served twenty years as county surveyor.
He was a stanch democrat, and an active member of the
Christian Church, while his wife was a member of the
Methodist Protestant Church. Of the eight children six are
living at the time of this writing, in 1922: Jessie is the
wife of T. C. McQuain; Warren is a farmer near Coxs
Mills, Gilmer County; Fred, of this review, was the next
in order of birth; Scipio is a farmer in Gilmer County;
Miss Clemmie likewise maintains her home in this county;
and Edna is now Mrs. Schulte, of Grove, Doddridge County.
One child died in infancy and Sidney died at the age of
twenty years.

The home farm in Gilmer County was the stage of the
childhood activities of Fred Lewis, and as a boy he began
to contribute his quota to its work. After having profited
by the advantages of the public schools he entered the State
Normal School at Glenville, in which he was graduated as
a member of the class of 1897. Thereafter he took a spe-
cial course in civil engineering at the University of West
Virginia, and after leaving this institution he did success-
ful service in the surveying of railroads, as well as of coal
and timber lands. Thereafter he served as assistant cashier
of the Glenville Banking & Trust Company until 1920, when
the County Court appointed him to his present office, that of
road engineer of the county. In this office he is giving an
administration that is doing much to further the improve-
ment and proper maintenance of the roads of Gilmer
County, and incidentally he is adding greatly to his pro-
fessional prestige as a civil engineer. He was appointed
to fill an unexpired term, and his service was such that he
was appointed resident engineer in Gilmer County, having
charge of all construction work in the county for the State
Road Commission.

Mr. Lewis is aligned loyally in the local ranks of the
democratic party, is a past master of Gilmer County
Lodge No. 118, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; is a
past noble grand of Glenville Lodge, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows; and is serving as the first worthy patron of
the newly established Chapter of the Order of the Eastern
Star at Glenville, of which his wife likewise is a prominent
member, she being also an active member of the Presby-
terian Church at Glenville. June 11, 1902, recorded the
marriage of Mr. Lewis and Miss Ann Wilson Norris, who
was graduated in the State Normal School at Glenville and
also attended the University of West Virginia, she having
been a popular teacher in the public schools prior to her
marriage. Of the five children of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, one
daughter, Ruby, born May 21, 1904, died in infancy. The
names and respective birth dates of the four surviving chil-
dren are here recorded: Mary Louise, September 5, 1905;
Fred, Jr., February 12, 1909; Ann Wilson, March 5, 1915;
and Elizabeth F., January 10, 1917.