Jackson County, West Virginia          Biography of Herman A. SHUTTS

This file was submitted by CJ Towery,
E-mail address:  <ctowery@weir.net>

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 II,
page 226

HERMAN A. SHUTTS, principal of the Valley District High School at Masontown,
began teaching when a youth, and has continued to devote his time either to
teaching or the prosecution of his own studies through State Normal School
and university. He is member of a family that was established in West Virginia
about the time of the Civil war, and his father has been a successful
cabinetmaker and carpenter.

Herman A. Shutts was born in Jackson County, West Virginia, July 31, 1889.
The founder of the family in this state was his grandfather, James Shutts,
who came from Ohio. He was a Union soldier in the Civil war, and he finally
left West Virginia and moved to Missouri and died at Browning in that state.
He was a member of the Christian Church and a democrat. By his marriage to
Miss Eaton he was the father of the following children: Hannah, Mrs. C. H.
Collins, who died in Missouri; David, a resident of Oklahoma; Isaiah; Lillie,
wife of James H. Boyce, of Jackson County, West Virginia; George, who went to
Missouri and then to Colorado; Peter, of Texas; Libbie, wife of William Sauser,
of Sherman, West Virginia; Bankey, who married and went to Missouri; Western,
a farmer in Missouri; and Willard, who died in Missouri.

Isaiah Shutts was born in Noble County, Ohio, in 1864, and was an infant when
the family came to West Virginia. He acquired a country school education, and
for a number of years was a skilled carpenter, a contractor and builder, but
now for a long time farming on the old homestead has claimed his energies.
He takes a citizen's interest in politics as a democrat, and is a member of
the United Brethren Church. In Jackson County, Isaiah Shutts married Icalona
Peters, who was born in Noble County, Ohio, in 1870. She became the mother of
nine children: Herman A.; Marshall, formerly a teacher, now in the employ of
the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company at Parkersburg; Sylvia, Mrs. Fisher Lester,
a teacher in the Crete grade school in Wayne County, West Virginia; Creed, now
associated with his brother at Parkersburg; Harold, a farmer at home; Artie,
wife of Ray Williams, of Jackson County; Claude, who died when twelve years old;
Mary and Dorothy, both at home.

The son Creed enlisted in the regular army before America became a participant
in the World War, and during the war period he was an instructor of soldiers
at Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He went to Europe in the summer of
1918, and was an observation officer at the front during the last eleven days
of the war.

Herman A. Shutts graduated from the Grafton High School. He completed most of
the work required of graduation from the Fairmont State Normal School, and then
continued in the State University of Morgantown, where he ranked as a junior.
In the meantime he taught ten years in the country schools of Jackson County.
For four years he was grade principal at Grafton and from Grafton came to his
present responsibilities as principal of the Valley District High School at
Masontown, where he succeeded Mr. Luzader, now district superintendent. Mr.
Shutts is a well educated young man, enthusiastic in his work, and has
demonstrated his ability as a school administrator.

Unlike his ancestors, he is a republican in politics and cast his first presidential
vote for William Howard Taft, He has served on party committees and as a delegate
to conventions. He is active in the Methodist Church, especially in the Sunday
school, and is a Bible teacher, having a diploma from the Interdenominational
Sunday School of Chicago.

In Jackson County, November 26, 1909, Mr. Shutts married Miss Nellie Archer, who
was born in that county, daughter of Rev. Alfred L. and Miranda (Weekley) Archer.
Her father was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Shutts died
eight years after her marriage, on Eastern morning, leaving two children, Noel
and Nolda, At Grafton Mr. Shutts married Miss Ethel Bartlett, a native of Taylor
County and formerly a teacher in the Grafton schools. She is a daughter of Joseph
and Laura (Smith) Bartlett, of Bridgeport, West Virginia. Mrs. Shutts was, one
of a large family of children and she completed her education in the State Normal
School at Fairmont and the University of West Virginia, and is still active in
educational work, being primary supervisor in the Masontown schools, Mr. Shutts
is affiliated with Grafton Lodge No. 75, F. and A. M., and is also a member of
the Modern Wooden of America.