Jackson County, West Virginia Biography of Coleman A. STAATS ************************************************************************** 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, , July 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 186 COLEMAN A. STAATS. The success which has attended the career of Coleman A. Staats, of Huntington, is directly traceable to his possession and exercise of qualities which, when properly utilized, seldom fail of the attainment of position and prosperity. Good business judgment and a capacity for sustained endeavor are chief among these, to which he adds a pleasing personality and the happy faculty of making and keeping friends among worth-while people. The president of the Fidelity Insurance Agency is a native of Ravenswood, Jackson County, West Virginia, born Oc- tober 17, 1887, a son of Coleman A. and Emma (Keeney) Staats. Coleman A. Staats, the elder, was born in Virginia (now West Virginia), in 1849, and was reared and educated in Jackson and Roane counties, in the latter of which he was married. For a short time following his marriage he re- sided at Spencer, where he carried on general merchandis- ing, and then moved to Ravenswood, where he continued his mercantile operations, became prosperous and highly respected, and died in 1897. A republican in politics, he took an interest in political affairs and was well known in public matters, and for a number of years served in the capacity of city recorder of Ravenswood. He was a faith- ful member and active worker of the Presbyterian Church, and was a deacon thereof for a long period. Fraternally he was affiliated with the Masonic order. Mr. Staats mar- ried Miss Emma Keeney, who was born in Jackson County, West Virginia, in 1854, and survives him as a resident, of Huntington. They became the parents of the following chil- dren: Ora, unmarried, who is treasurer of Marshall Col- lege and a resident of Huntington; Daisy, the wife of James F. Holswade, a retired merchant of Huntington; Ada, the wife of Isaac J. Osbun, district manager for the General Explosive Company of Birmingham, Alabama; Kathryn, the wife of Ray B. Cummings, a lumber manu- facturer of Buffalo, New York; and Coleman A. Coleman A. Staats attended the public schools of Ravens- wood up to his senior high school year, after which he pur- sued a course of study at Marshall College, an institution which he left in 1907. At that time he took a position with J. W. Valentine, who conducted an establishment han- dling ladies' ready-to-wear garments at Huntington, and remained in Mr. Valentine's employ for seven years, dur- ing which time he worked his way up through industry and fidelity to the post of buyer in the notion department. He had been frugal and careful, and with the small capital which he had saved embarked in the insurance business in 1914, operating a venture under the name of the Staats Insurance Agency. In this enterprise he proved successful, and in 1918 bought out the business of two other agencies and formed the Fidelity Insurance Agency, which is incor- porated under the laws of the State of West Virginia, the officers being: President, C. A. Staats; vice president, T. W. Harvey; secretary, H. E. Cragg; and treasurer, J. H. LeBlane. The offices are situated in a suite of rooms lo- cated at No. 1028 Fourth Avenue. Under Mr. Staats' ca- pable and energetic management this has been built up to be the largest general insurance business in Huntington. Mr. Staats is independent in his political views, and his religious faith is that of the Presbyterian Church. He is a member of Huntington Lodge No. 53, A. P. and A. M.; West Virginia Consistory No. 1, Wheeling, thirty-second degree; and Beni-Kedem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Charleston, of the Masonic order; and Huntington Lodge No. 313, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He be- longs also to the Guyandotte Club, the Gypsy Club, the Guyan Country Club, the Rotary Club of Huntington and the Huntington Chamber of Commerce. On September 25, 1916, Mr. Staats was united in mar- riage at Boston, Massachusetts, with Miss Nancy Campbell, daughter of Charles W. and Jennie (Ratcliff) Campbell, the latter of whom died at Baltimore, Maryland, while the former is mayor and a distinguished attorney of Hunting- ton, where he makes his home at No. 1102 Fifth Avenue. Mrs. Staats is a graduate of The Castle, an exclusive young ladies' school of Tarrytown, New York. She and her hus- band have one child, Jean, born September 26, 1919.