Lewis County, West Virginia Biography of Henry BREWSTER ************************************************************************** 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. 172 HENRY BREWSTER has been a factor in the natural gas industry of West Virginia for the past twenty years, and is district foreman at Weston for the Hope Natural Gas Company. Mr. Brewster was born in Athens County, Ohio, Novem- ber 10, 1863, son of Sherman and Nancy (McLaughlin) Brewster, his father a native of Massachusetts and his mother of Athens, Ohio. Sherman Brewster was a member of the distinguished Colonial family of Brewster, a direct descendant of Elder William Brewster, one of the most distinguished of the passengers on the Mayflower. Sherman Brewster was reared and educated in Massachusetts, became a teacher there, and after he removed to Ohio combined teaching with farming until his death, at the age of forty- eight. He and his wife were active members of the Chris- tian Church. He died in 1904. They had five children: Alice, wife of G. B. Dye; Edward, now retired at Columbus, Ohio; Ellen, wife of F. M. Tiptoe of Des Moines, Iowa; Henry; and Cyrus, a farmer at Torch in Athens County. Henry Brewster lived on his father's farm in Ohio, attended the public schools, and had one year of study in Ohio University at Athens. Following his college course he did farm work, and on October 10, 1890, at the age of twenty-seven, he married Mary McCain, a native of Ohio. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Brewster lived on a farm in Ohio and in 1900 he removed with his family to Mounds- vine, West Virginia, and has since been connected with the oil and gas industry. From a worker in the field he be- came a district foreman, and for several years past has been a resident of Weston. Mr. and Mrs. Brewster have five children: Frank M., a graduate of the Weston High School and the West Virginia University, who served as a first lieutenant with the Fif- teenth Engineers in France and is now a foreman for the Hope Natural Gas Company at Miletus, West Virginia; Pauline, a graduate of high school and the State University, wife of R. H. Pritchard; John M., who completed his edu- cation in the high school and university at Morgantown; Virginia and Buth, the former a graduate of and the lat- ter a student in the Weston High School. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Brewster is affiliated with Weston Lodge No. 10, A. F. and A. M., Bigelow Chapter No. 4, E. A. M., St. John Commandery No. 8, K. T., and Nemesis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Parkersburg. In politics he votes independently.