BIOGRAPHY OF STEPHEN G. JACKSON, HARRISON CO, WV ********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ********************************************************************** Submitted by Valerie Crook (vfcrook@earthlink.net) "The History of West Virginia, Old and New" Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York STEPHEN G. JACKSON: In the midst of a busy career whose substantial achievements promised greater fulfillment Stephen G. Jackson died January 3, 1922. His associates and friends knew and appreciated his keen, logical mind and sound judgment, enthusiasm for the law and a ready capacity for hard work, and recognized in him an able member of the Clarksburg bar, who had built up in thirteen years a professional reputation extending over Harrison County. Thoroughly trained in the highest schools of his calling, he had justified his years of study by success in practice, and he commanded respect as an honorable lawyer of the bar and the public alike. Stephen G. Jackson bore a name well known in American history both in public and military life. The founder of the family in New England in Colonial days was Robert Jackson, who was born in England, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and took a prominent part in affairs relating to the early settlements. Stephen G. Jackson was born at Janelew, Lewis County, West Virginia, March 6, 1884, a son of John G. and Martha J. (Bassel) Jackson, the former of whom was born in Lewis County, March 7, 1857, a. son of James William Jackson, of Harrison County, Virginia, and Sallie Ann Goodloe, of Albemarle, West Virginia, and a grandson of Stephen Pomeroy Jackson, also born in Harrison County, Virginia. The next direct ancestor, Stephen Jackson, was born in New Jersey, a son of Edward Jackson, also born in New Jersey, and a son of Joseph Jackson, born on Long Island, a son of James Jackson, also born on Long Island, who was a son of John Jackson, of Long Island, son of Robert Jackson, the original settler. Of these ancestors both Edward and Stephen Jackson, father and son, served in the Revolutionary war, and Stephen Jackson served also in the War of 1812. Both served as Indian scouts and both were wounded at the battle of Yorktown. They were pioneer settlers in what is now West Virginia, and the late Stephen G. Jackson owned the land on which they settled immediately after the Revolutionary war and bought in 1792. Stephen Jackson, the military hero, married Elizabeth Pomeroy, a member of one of the old New England families that has been notable in its contributions to American citizen- ship of the highest order, an example of the present day being found in that distin- guished statesman, Hon. Elihu Root. John G. Jackson, who is president of a bank at Janelew, West Virginia, has been a merchant and banter for many years and prominent in political affairs in Lewis County. At one time he was the democratic nominee for the State Senate and for other important offices. On account of his temperance principles and pioneer advocacy of prohibition at a time when such opinions were new and startling, he was forced into leadership of the prohibition party in his section, and at one time was the prohibition candidate for governor. He married Miss Martha J. Bassel, who was born in Harrison County, January 19, 1856, and died March 15, 1908, leaving two sons: James Henry and Stephen G. She was a daughter of Henry Bassel, a brother of the late John Bassel, a prominent lawyer in West Virginia. Stephen G. Jackson, who was in the tenth generation from Robert Jackson, attended the local schools in his native place and prepared for the University of West Virginia at Morgantown Academy. He entered the university in 1903, received his B. S. degree in 1907 and his LL. B. degree in 1908, and the same from Yale College in 1909. He immediately entered into practice at Clarksburg, in association with Edward G. Smith. In 1907 Mr. Jackson married Miss Jessie Moorhead, who is a daughter of William and Alice (John) Moorhead, of Morgantown, West Virginia. Their one daughter, Alice, is yet in school. Mr. Jackson was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church and of the Masonic fraternity, and kept an active interest in Sigma Chi and Phi Alpha Delta college fraternities of Yale and the University of Westm Virginia. In politics he was active as a democrat, but to the law he gave the fullest efforts and enthusiasm of his all too brief life.