Logan County, West Virginia          Biography of Aaron Edson ALTIZER, M. D.

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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 211

AARON EDSON ALTIZER, M. D. Altizer is one of the old-
est family names in the Buffalo Valley District of Logan
County. During the past seventy years the business inter-
ests of the family have been chiefly engaged in farming
and the timber and logging industry there. Doctor Altizer
had some rugged experience as a boy in the timber, and
since qualified for his profession has done an extensive
practice, chiefly around the mines that have developed
within his lifetime along this valley. His home is at Acco-
ville.

Doctor Altizer was born on a farm that included ground
on which the later town and now thriving little City of
Man is located, near the mouth of Buffalo Creek. He was
born there November 19, 1882, son of Joseph and Nancy
(White) Altizer, and grandson of Aaron and Sarah Altizer.
His grandfather came from Virginia to Logan County in
1858. Aaron Altizer is now ninety-eight years of age. He
has been a witness of and a contributing factor in the de-
velopment of this valley for seventy years.  Soon after
coming here he bought a large tract of land at the mouth
of the Buffalo. This land was covered with heavy timber,
and his labors cleared up a farm there. His active years
were devoted to the timber business and farming. Aaron
Altizer has been an influence for good in this locality. He
has been a man of temperate habits, which no doubt ac-
counts for his long life, and he has also been satisfied
with the simple life, producing most of the food that sup-
plied his table, including milk, butter and honey, and has
kept up with the march of events by constant reading, so
that he is well informed not only on local history, but on
the history of the world and topics of the day. He was a
Confederate soldier and a prisoner of war. His service was
with a Virginia regiment. In politics he has a rather in-
dependent choice in casting his vote. The large tract of
land he formerly owned he finally sold for $15,000, but
it is now worth many times that figure. The town of Man
was built on this land, and he was the first postmaster of
the village and served as justice of the peace and at differ-
ent times was a member of the local school board. His
great age is not exceptional in his family, since he had an
older brother in Virginia to reach the age of ninety-eight
years. After the death of his first wife Aaron Altizer
married Mary Aliff, of Roanoke County, Virginia, and she
died in 1907. He now lives with his son Charles at Kistler,
a mining village also built on part of the Altizer farm.

Joseph Altizer, father of Doctor Altizer, was one of a
family of nine sons and two daughters. He was born in
1848 in Montgomery County, Virginia, and was ten years
of age when the family came to Logan County. He de-
voted his life to the lumber business and farming, and died
on March 10, 1911. He was a Baptist and a democrat.
His wife, Nancy White, was a daughter of Green White,
and she is now sixty-five years of age. They had a family
of seven sons and two daughters: George W., a merchant
and justice of the peace at Accoville; D. K., a lumberman
and dealer in railroad ties and timber, living at Hunting-
ton; Aaron E. and Bruce, twins, Bruce being yard master
for the Chesapeake & Ohio at Logan; Walter, in the mines
at Kistler; Ellen, wife of Thomas Perry, of Kistler; Julius,
who lives with his mother at Kistler; Lena, wife of Beverly
Burke, of Kistler; and Cecil, at home.

Aaron Edson Altizer had a happy boyhood on the old
farm long before any railroad was in the vicinity or any
of the mines opened along the valley. He worked in the
timber, and helped pilot many log rafts down the Guyan-
dotte River. He attended school at Man, and during 1905-07
was a student in Marshall College at Huntington. At the
age of twenty he began teaching, his first school being at
Oilville on Island Creek in Logan County. He taught a
number of terms, aggregating fifty-two months altogether.
As a teacher he made the money that put him through
medical college at the University of Louisville, entering
that school in 1907 and graduating in 1910. While there
he specialized in children's diseases. He had work in the
Louisville City Hospital in 1911, 1920 and 1922, and then
returned to Man and began practice. Almost from the
beginning much of his practice has been in the mining
towns. In 1916 he moved to Accoville, where he has charge
of the medical practice for the mines owned by the Litz-
Smith, the Deegan Eagle, the Arthur D. Cronin companies.
He is president of the Triadelphia District School Board
and many of the modern school buildings have been erected
under his supervision.  He is associated in membership
with various medical societies.

In 1911 Doctor Altizer married Elsie Burgess, daughter
of C. A. Burgess, of Man. Their four children are Boyd
Delmont, Aaron Edson, Jr., Vera Vane, and Joseph Corne-
lius. Doctor Altizer is a trustee of the Methodist Church.
He is affiliated with the Lodge and Chapter of Masonry at
Logan, the Knight Templar Commandery at Charleston,
the Shrine at Charleston, and the Scottish Rite degrees in
Wheeling.