Lewis County, West Virginia Biography of Philander K. TETER ************************************************************************** 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. 157-158 PHILANDER K. TETER, a resident of Lewis County for half a century, was at one time in the railway mail serv- ice, was also in business at Weston, but now devotes his time to his stock farm, where he makes a specialty of breeding pure bred Hereford cattle. He has one of the best herds of beef stock in the state. Mr. Teter was born in Harrison County, West Virginia, July 4, 1860, son of David and Asenath (Lang) Teter. His father was born in Harrison County in November, 1830, and his mother in December, 1820. Both lived long and useful lives, the father dying in 1913 and the mother in 1911. After their marriage they settled on a farm, and began with practically nothing. David Teter pos- sessed an unusually well balanced character, had good judgment, great industry, and in the course of years he accumulated a competence and 600 acres of good farming land. He was one of the pioneer live stock dealers in this section, and was well known through his dealings over Harrison, Taylor, Doddridge and Lewis counties. He shipped stock to the eastern markets of Baltimore, Phila- delphia and New York. During the Civil war he served in the Union army as a teamster. In. 1872 he moved with his family to Lewis County, and at one time was superin- tendent of the Poor Farm, and conducted that institution with such efficiency and economy that for the first time it accumulated a surplus in the treasury, though an unusu- ally large number of dependents had to be cared for. David Teter was a republican and a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church. Of his four children one died in infancy. Jesse H. is a Lewis County fanner living in Weston. Margaret is the wife of E. O. Fisher, of Lewis County, Philander K. Teter was twelve years old when the family moved to Lewis County on April 13, 1872. He acquired a district school education, and his working activities were in association with his father until he was about twenty- eight years old. It was on leaving the farm that he be- came a railway mail clerk. This was during the adminis- tration of President Harrison. He had charge of the first standard mail car run over the division from Clarksburg to Buckhannon and Weston. He was in the mail service for several years, and when he resigned he started a feed barn at Weston and gradually increased that to a general livery barn. He conducted this for twenty years, and in- cidentally also had a meat market and barber shop. He traded these holdings in Weston for a farm, and for another five years conducted a boarding barn. Selling that property, he bought one of his present farms, comprising 214 acres, and has still another farm of 208 acres. His first important venture in the stock business was the breed- ing and growing of ponies, and his farm became widely known as the Hill and Dale Farm. He has abandoned the pony industry and now makes a specialty of Hereford cattle and Duroc swine, his place being known, among breeders as the Smith Run Hereford Farm. March 28, 1890, Mr. Teter married a daughter of Dr. Philip F. Pinnell. She was reared at Buckhannon and graduated in music at Pittsburg. They have one daugh- ter, Mabel, born February 26, 1892, a graduate of the Weston High School and now the wife of T. M. Alker of Jersey City, New Jersey. Mr. and Mrs. Alker have a son, Philander K. Alker, seven years old. Mr. Teter is a member of Weston Lodge No. 43, Knights of Pythias, and for the past fifteen years has been master of the exchequer of his lodge. He was for 2-1/2 years a school com- missioner, but resigned that office. In politics he is a republican.