John C. Linthicum

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.
Chicago and New York, Volume 111
Pg. 369 & 370



John C. Linthicum, now serving his third term as mayor of Romney, has been a
resident of that city for over twenty years, for a long time was in the
service of the state government at the Institution for the Deaf and Blind,
and his active career throughout has been strongly tinged with the public
service.


He was born at Moorefield, West Virginia, September 17, 1869.  His
grandfather, Joel Linthicum, was a shoe maker of Hampshire County, and died
in Romney about 1878.  He married a Miss Davis, and their children were:
William, who died I Illinois; Elijah, who spent his active life at Decatur,
Illinois; James, a retired shoemaker living near Richmond, Virginia; Joseph
M.; Benjamin, who died at Romney; Mollie, who married Frank Maloney and died
in Hampshire County; Margaret, wife of Joseph M. Poling and a resident of
Romney.


Joseph M. Linthicum, father of Romney's mayor, was born in Hampshire County,
September 10, 1843. As a youth he learned the trade of shoemaker and leather
tanning, and worked at one or the other of these occupations throughout his
active life.  He is now living retired at Keyser.  During the war between
the states he was member of a Virginia regiment in the Confederate Army, and
took part in several of the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia.  He
was never wounded or captured, and served throughout as a private.  Joseph
M. Linthicum married Elizabeth Hyder, daughter of Thompson Hyder.


John C. Linthicum spent his early life at Moorefield, attended the
Moorefield Academy, and at the age of sixteen left school and learned the
trade of harness maker with his father.  As a journeyman he followed this
trade both in and out of his home state, and in 1901 came to Romney and took
charge of the shoe and harness department of the West Virginia Schools for
the Deaf and Blind.  That was his work for fifteen years, and for eight
years of the time he was also chief enjineer of the schools.  Since leaving
the state service in 1916 Mr. Linthicum has conducted an insurance and coal
business at Romney.


In 1921 he was put in charge as foreman of construction for the girls'
dormitory of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind, and in that
capacity he supervised the construction of the new building, beginning in
March, 1921, until it was completed on July 1, 1922, at a cost of $110,000,
the contract being carried through several thousand dollars under the
appropriation made for the work.


Mr. Linthicum was for several terms a member of the City Council and was
chairman of the water committee.  He had the responsible directions of the
work of constructing the water system of Romney, completed in 1912.  He
served seven years as city treasurer, and was elected to the office of mayor
in 1920, 1921, and 1922, succeeding Joseph A. Kelley in that office.


Mr. Linthicum is an active republican, casting his first vote for Benjamin
Harrison in 1892.  His first elective office was as recorder of Romney, to
which he was chosen in 1908.  Since 1916 he has been a member of the Grand
Lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and is grand guide of the Grand
Lodge.


At Westernport, Maryland, October 30, 1892, John Carson Linthicum married
Miss Kate M. Bowen, who was born at Springfield, West Virginia, and
represents two old and well-known families of Hampshire County.  She is a
daughter of Dr. C.G. and Mary C. (Parsons) Bowen, her mother being a
daughter of David Parsons.  Mrs. Linthicum was the third in a family of
seven children, was born May 9, 1865, and her brothers and sisters were:
John, Mary, Anna, Charles, William and Susan.  Mary is Mrs. Joseph
Greenfield, of Cumberland, Maryland; Anna is unmarried; and Susan is the
wife of P.T. Lacey of Cumberland, Maryland.  To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs.
Linthicum were born two children, on dying in infancy.  The daughter, Mary
Elizabeth, was educated in the Potomac Academy, which was recently remodeled
as part of the school for the blind, and she is now employed in the Romney
Post Office.