Harrison County, West Virginia Biography of Chester Ruhl OGDEN, M. D. This file 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. 207-208 CHESTER RUHL OGDEN, M. D., who is engaged in the practice of his profession in the City of Clarksburg, Har- rison County, is a representative of a family whose name has been one of prominence and influence in American his- tory since the early Colonial period. He is a direct de- scendant of John Ogden, who was born at Bradley Plain, Hampshire, England, September 19, 1609, and whose mar- riage to Jane Bond was recorded May 8, 1637. He became one of the founders of Southampton, Long Island, in 1640, and in 1642 was the builder of "Stone Church," the first church building erected on Manhattan Island. He founded Northampton in 1647, and in 1650 established the first whaling industry on Long Island. In 1664 he became the founder of historic old Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and in 1673 became governor of New Jersey, his death having occurred at Elizabethtown, in May, 1682. He was the first of the family in America. Dr. Chester R. Ogden was born in Harrison County, West Virginia, November 9, 1873. His father, Robert S. Ogden, was born in this county November 9, 1836, was long a representative farmer of the county, besides having conducted a general merchandise store at Sardis for forty years, and he was eighty-three years of age at the time of his death, February 22, 1919. His father, Dr. William R. Ogden, was born in Maryland, in 1804, and became a pioneer physician in what is now Harrison County, West Virginia, he having been a son of Nathan Ogden, who likewise was a native of Maryland, and who was a direct descendant of David Ogden, the latter having been either a son or a grandson of John Ogden, the founder of the family in America. David Ogden came to this country with William Penn on "Ye Good Ship Welcome" and was a zealous member of the Society of Friends. Nathan Ogden became the pioneer representative of the family in the present Harrison County, West Virginia, where he made settlement near Shinnston. The family gave patriot soldiers to the Continental Line in the war of the Revo- lution, and in succeeding generations many members have been prominent in political, professional and business af- fairs in divers states of the Union. Robert S. Ogden married Miss Jane Rittenhouse, who likewise was born and reared in Harrison County, a daugh- ter of Bennett and Zilpha (Shinn) Rittenhouse, both the Rittenhouse and Shinn families having been early estab- lished in this county and the Town of Shinnston having been named in honor of the latter. The paternal grand- mother of Doctor Ogden of this review was Mrs. Mary (Shinn) Ogden, and hence both of his grandmothers were representatives of the Shinn family, which is of English origin, as is also the Ogden family, the Rittenhouse family genealogy tracing back to staunch Holland Dutch origin. Mrs. Robert S. Ogden was fifty-six years of age at the time of her death, in 1900. The children, eight sons and three daughters, were reared at Sardis, where the family home was long established. The preliminary education of Dr. Chester R. Ogden was obtained in the public schools of his native county, and in 1897 he was graduated from Salem College, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. For three years he was superintendent of the public school at Salem, and in 1897-8 he was a student in the University of West Virginia, where he completed his preparatory work leading up to that of his chosen profession. In 1902 he received from the Uni- versity of Louisville, Kentucky, the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and in the following year he engaged in active general practice at Clarksburg. He has taken effective post-graduate courses, and since 1916 has specialized in surgery. He is a member of the Harrison County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society, the Mississippi Valley Medical Association and the American Medical Association, besides being a Fellow of the Ameri- can College of Surgeons. The Doctor is a member of the surgical staff of St. Mary's Hospital in his home city, and is local surgeon for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. He has kept in the closest touch with advances made in medical and surgical science, and his contributions to va- rious periodicals of his profession have been timely and well received. He is a democrat in political allegiance, and he and his wife are members of the Baptist and Methodist churches, respectively. Doctor Ogden is a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine, is affiliated also with the Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a loyal and valued member of the local Kiwanis Club. In the year 1902 was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Ogden and Miss Edna Elizabeth Louchery, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Carson Louchery, of Clarksburg, and the two children of this union are Mary Elizabeth and Virginia Jane.