Greenbrier County, West Virginia Biography of ABRAHAM E. HUDDLESTON This biography 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. 544-545 Greenbrier ABRAHAM E. HUDDLESTON, mayor of White Sulphur Springs, ex-member of the West Virginia State Legislature, and one of the most prominent men of Greenbrier County, was born in Alleghany County, Virginia, December 16, 1855. He is a son of David G. and Agnes (Hook) Huddles- ton. According to the family tradition two brothers bearing the name of Huddleston came to the American Colonies from England in 1734, one settling in New York State and the other at Tidewater, Virginia. It is from the latter that Mayor Huddleston descends. One of the name served in the American Revolution, a portion of the time being on the staff of General Washington. Practically all of the Virginian Huddlestons sympathized with the South in the war between the two sections of the country, and bore their part in the Confederate cause. The majority of the Huddlestons have followed farming. For the past century, with the exception of a few years, Bedford County, Virginia, has had a sheriff of the name of Huddleston. As a rule all of the name have been law-abiding, industrious and upright, a credit to the communities in which they have resided. The grandfather of Mayor Huddleston was Abraham J. Huddleston, born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1800. During the '20s of the last century he located in Alleghany County, and was there married to Leah Bowyer, and they had a large family. David G. Huddleston, one of their sons, and father of Mayor Huddleston, was a civil en- gineer and engaged in railroad construction work. Prior to the '60s he helped to build the Chesapeake & Ohio Rail- road, and he followed that line of endeavor very success- fully until his death, which occurred September 7, 1878. Abraham E. Huddleston is the eldest of five sons and five daughters, and was reared in his native county. After com- pleting a common-school education he began to be self- supporting as a telegraph operator, and worked as such and as a station agent for ten years. At the expiration of that period he branched out into a lumber and mercantile busi- ness at Gallahan, Virginia, and in 1888 came to White Sul- phur Springs and established himself here in the same line, in which he has since continued. Coming as he did to White Sulphur Springs when it was in its formative period, he has taken a determining part in all of its progress and was one of the prime movers in the organization of the Mountain Milling Company; built and installed the electric light plant; and was one of the leaders in the establishment of the local bank. A strong democrat, he was elected mayor of White Sulphur Springs when it was first incorporated, and has also long served on the Board of Education. In 1912 he was elected to the State Assembly and re-elected in 1914, and while a member of that body served on some of its most important committees, and was very efficient as a legislator. In 1922 he was again elected mayor of his city, and it is a singular tact that he was nominated by every vote cast in the convention, and elected by every vote at the polls. Mayor Huddleston is a thirty- second degree Mason, A. A. S. R., and also a Knight- Templar of the York Rite. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and has served as a lay delegate to its general conference three different terms. In 1877 Mr. Huddleston married Isabella Richardson, of Callahan, Virginia, and they became the parents of thirteen children, five of whom now survive. Mrs. Huddles- ton died January 4, 1918. Mr. Huddleston married for his second wife, Miss Elizabeth Peacock. Mr. Huddleston is a practical man who has reached his present leadership through his own efforts and because of his personality and ability to accomplish big things. The city of which he is chief executive owes practically everything to his energy, far- sightedness and good sense, and he has achieved marvels for it not only as an official, but as a private individual as well. His work of a public character has not been con- fined, however, to local issues, for as a member of the State Legislature he did much for the entire state, and a number of excellent laws are on the statute books because of his introduction or championship of them, or both. Personally he is one of the most popular of men with all classes, and in spite of the honors which have been bestowed upon him, is simple and unassuming, glad to lend a helping hand or to further any enterprise which in his judgment will bring about some improvement. There are not many men of his caliber in a community or even in a generation, and when they are found they are appreciated by the more intelligent, who know their value.