Hardy County, West Virginia Biography of George S. GOCHENOUR, M. D. ************************************************************************** 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. 68-69 GEORGE S. GOCHENOUR, M. D. That important service to humanity which can only be rendered by the capable and conscientious physician and surgeon has been the work to which Dr. George S. Gochenour has devoted his time and ability in Hardy County for over thirty years. The scene of his activities of a professional nature is not far distant from the locality of his birth and the region in which his family has played an influential role for over a century. Doctor Gochenour was born at Maurertown, Shenandoah County, Virginia, August 2, 1857. His grandfather, Jona- than Gochenour, spent life as a farmer at Maurertown, where he is buried. He married a sister of Elder George Shaver, and their children were Isaac, George, Sallie, An- nie and Eliza. George spent his life at Tom's Brook in Shenandoah County; Sallie married Henry Bater. removed to Ohio during the Civil war, and spent her life there; Annie married Samuel Maphis, and both lived in Shenan- doah County until their deaths; Eliza married Crafton Beydler, of Shenandoah County, and during the war they moved to Jerico, Missouri, where she died recently, the last survivor of this generation of the family. Isaac Gochenour, father of Doctor Gochenour, was also a native of Shenandoah County, and spent his life there as a farmer. As a member of the Church of the Brethren he was conscientiously opposed to war, and when the Confed- erate authorities began taking members of the church into the army by force he left his home and went to Pennsyl- vania, remaining there until the close of hostilities. He returned home just two days before the surrender of Gen- eral Lee's army and was immediately arrested by Confed- erate authorities, who started him to Richmond, but his neighbors and friends, with whom he had spent his life, in- terposed and raised $1 000 in cash, which they paid to re- lease him. the penalty for failure to serve in the Southern Army. Isaac Gochenour always lived as a private citizen, but was very active in the work of the church, being leader of the church music and a splendid singer. He died in 1871, when only forty-two years of age. He was survived many years by his widow, who died in 1894. Her maiden name was Eliza Riednour. Her grand- father was a native of Germany, and while serving as an officer in the German army he met at some point on the coast of Scotland the young lady who subsequently became his wife. They came to America, settled in Shenandoah County, where he followed farming, and lived there until his death. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was a man of powerful build and splendid physique, being a giant in stature. At one time three of his young great-grandsons, including Doctor Gochenour, were playing with his trousers and had no difficulty in inserting their bodies within the generous girth of that garment. The wife of this old time settler of Shenandoah County survived him many years, and she never wore glasses and when in advanced years she plied a cambric needle with the ease and dexterity of a woman in middle life. The father of Eliza Riednour was Dr. Henry Riednour, a noted tooth extractor. He also remained loyal to the Union, and some of the neighbors and friends laid in wait for him with loaded guns and pistols, but he escaped their am- bush, went to Illinois, joined a Union regiment and was in service until the close of the war. His command came through his Virginia home region several times, and he visited his family, so that he was not altogether removed from them. After the war he returned and spent the rest of his life in Shenandoah County, where he was born in 1802 and died about 1887. Eliza was the oldest child of Doctor Riednour The home in which she reared her chil- dren was one put together with nails made by a blacksmith, one of the homes built during the days of the Indians on the Virginia frontier Her children were: Fannie, who be- came the wife of Elder B. W. Neff, of Mount Jackson, Virginia; H. H. who for sixteen years was a freight con- ductor on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and was killed iust after the settlement of a strike on that road; John J. on the old homestead at Maurertown; and George Shaver, the Moorefield physician. Dr. George S. Gochenour spent his early life in the rural community where he was born, attended the country schools, and his duties were with the farm until past his majority. He had spent much of the time with his grandfather, Doe- tor Riednour, and this probably influenced him in the choice of medicine as his profession. When ready for college he went to Baltimore and entered the old Baltimore Medical College, receiving his first diploma there in 1889. Later, when that institution was merged with the University of Maryland, the school issued him a new diploma. Tor the last year while he was a student he was assistant resident physician of the Maryland General Hospital, and after graduating he became resident physician to fill the unex- pired term of the regular physician. He also did some general practice while in Baltimore, and left that city. with the promise of success and considerable distinction before him, in order to keep the higher altitude and a climate more beneficial to him in West Virginia. In 1889 he located at Mathias in Hardy County, and remained there until 1898, when he moved to the county seat, Moorefield, where he has now enjoyed an extensive private practice for nearly a quarter of a century. During the World war Doctor Gochenour was commis- sioned by the Government a member of the Volunteer Med- ical Service Corps, authorized by the Council of Defense. He was later sworn in as assistant physician of the draft hoard, and only awaited the vacancy in the office made by the inability of the regular appointee to serve. Tor sev- eral years he has been city health officer and is a member of the County and State Medical Societies, and for years has been vice president of the Hardy County Bank Doctor Gochenour was a member of the council at Moorefield for a number of years, has always voted as a democrat, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is master of Moorefield Lodge No 29, A. F. and A. M, and is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner. Doctor Gochenour married in Shenandoah County Miss Alice V. Shaver, daughter of Elder Samuel A and Annie (Good) Shaver. She was born March 4, 1860 and died February 11. 1887. the mother of two sons. Ernest and Harry Lee. The latter died in infancy. Ernest Gochenour has made a distinguished record as an educator, is a gradu- ate of Roanoke College and of Princeton University, was formerly teacher of social science in the University at Porto Rico, later professor of Spanish in Wentworth Mili- tary Academy at Lexington, Missouri, and is now gen- eral superintendent of the Spanish department in the high schools of Birmingham, Alabama. Doctor Gochenour's second wife was Miss Mollie E. Gar- rett, daughter of Westfall and Eliza (Chrisman) Garrett. She was born in Hardy County where she died in 1912, leaving a son, Garrett Stouffer Gochenour, born June 16, 1895. He is a graduate of Roanoke College and of Colum- bia University of New York, was in the service of the navy during the World war, being discharged April 1, 1922, and is now an efficient engineer in an aluminum plant at Niag- ara Falls.