Harrison County, West Virginia Biography of Samuel S. FARIS ************************************************************************** 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, , March 2000 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 356-357 SAMUEL S. FARIS. In the death of Samuel S. Faris on January 3, 1922, Harrison County lost a citizen who for years had been given every proof of confidence in his in- tegrity and ability as a banker, as a public official and a man of affairs. The late Mr. Faris represented a family that was founded in the county soon after the close of the Revolutionary war. He owned and controlled for many years the extensive Faris lands, nearly two thousand acres, adjacent to Bridgeport. The first claimant to these lands was his great-grand- father, James Faris, who made his claim in 1785 and sub- sequently developed a portion of the land and was one of the active pioneer farmers in this section. The title to the land he took up has never been out of the Faris fam- ily. This James Faris was killed by the Indians on the Ohio River, near the present site of the City of Wheeling West Virginia. The second generation of the family in this state was represented by his son Humphrey, who was born in Penn- sylvania about 1790. His activities as a land holder ma- terially advanced the improvement of the Faris estate. A home he erected on the farm in 1816 is still preserved at Bridgeport. He was twice married, and by his two wives had seventeen children, including a son named George Thomas. George Thomas, son of Humphrey Faris, was born Sep- tember 15, 1816, at the old homestead. His life covered a span of almost a century. He died May 9, 1909. He was a volunteer at the time of the Mexican war of 1846, but never reached the front. He was past military age when the Civil war came on. The industry of his life was devoted to farming. His wife was Mary Ann Sheets, a native of near West Milford, Harrison County, who died at the age of forty-seven. She was the mother of Samuel S., Harriet, Rachel, Byrd, John and Ellen Faris. The late Samuel S. Faris represented the fourth genera- tion of the family in West Virginia. He was born Sep- tember 5, 1855, on his father's farm a mile and a half Southeast of Bridgeport. While numerous other affairs commanded a share of his judgment and enterprise, he never neglected altogether the business that was part of his inheritance, fanning and stock raising. He virtually took charge of his father's business when but seventeen years of age, and he handled with remarkable success the accumulating responsibilities represented by such a large body of agricultural land. Some of the banking and business enterprises that en- listed his participation were the Bridgeport Bank, which was established in 1903 and of which he was president from 1906. He was also a stockholder and director in the milling and pottery companies, was vice president of the Empire Bank of Clarksburg, a stockholder in the Merchants National Bank and a stockholder in the Clarksburg Trust Company at the same place. His public service included the membership on the Board of Review of the county, and for twelve years he was on the Board of County Commissioners, eight years of that time as president. The late Mr. Faris was a republican in politics. He was a member of Late Lodge No. 63, A. F. and A. M., a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner, and a member of the Simpson Creek Baptist Church. In 1881, at Bridgeport, he married Sallie Davidson, who was born in Taylor County, West Virginia, December 24, 1856. Her father, John Davidson, was a Bridgeport miller and died in 1892. Her mother, Cornelia (Hurry) David- son, died in 1894. There were nine children born to S. S. Faris and wife, six of whom are living: Doctor George Thomas Faris, who became a practicing physician in Philadelphia, married Nell Steele, of Morgantown, West Virginia, and they have one child, Samuel Sheets Faris, II; Rachel, who married Dr. Benj. F. Shuttleworth, of Clarksburg; and Florence, Nell, Mary and Robert, at home. The latter married Eleanor Mayors, of Fairmont, West Vir- ginia. The deceased children are: Clara who died at the age of seventeen years, John, who died at the age of nine- teen months and an infant who died at birth. George and Robert Faris, like their father, are Masons, both having taken the Scottish Rite, and the latter is a Shriner. Flor- ence, Nell and Mary are members of the Eastern Star.