Logan County, West Virginia Biography of DON CHAFIN This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: ********************************************** ***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, pg. 579 Logan DON CHAFIN. Logan County's best known citizen is Don Chafin, business man and public official. His abilities have given him an unusual sphere of usefulness from early boy- hood. He has taught school, been a merchant, is interested in banking and coal operations, has twice filled the office of sheriff, and represents a family that has supplied a number of courageous and capable officials to the county. Don Chafin was born on Maribone Creek, near the present site of Kermit, in what was then Logan County but now Mingo County June 26, 1887, son of Francis Marion and Esther (Brewer) Chafin. His mother is now living near Logan, on Island Creek, in a home built by her son Don. Francis M. Chafin, who died in 1903, at the age of fifty- four, was the son of a lieutenant in a Virginia regiment in the Confederate Army. Francis M. Chafin served as sheriff of Logan County from 1894 to 1898, before Mingo County was separated. His brother John was county and circuit clerk for eighteen years, until his death, and another brother, James Chafin, was county clerk of Mingo County from 1896 until his death in 1900. A cousin of Don Chafin was the late Judge J. B. Wilkinson, who for twelve years was prosecuting attorney of Logan County and for twelve years circuit judge, resigning from the bench and dying in 1900. The Chafins came to Logan County from Taze- well County, Virginia. Don Chafin was the sixth in a family of eleven children. There were four sons. William has been blind for the past fonr years and lives with his brother Don. John B. at the time of his death was a railroad engineer of the Nor- folk and Western Railroad. James A. died when thirteen years of age. Don Chafin acquired his early education in the Town of Logan while his father was sheriff, and later at the Din- gess School in Mingo County, and also did work in Mar- shall College and took a commercial course in the Mountain State Business College at Parkersburg. He taught his first term at Dingess at the age of fifteen. In the intervals of school teaching he clerked for the firm of Hurst and Per- singer for eight years. He was employed in the commissary and business offices of the Pearl Coal Company of Fair- mont, and in 1904 joined the business firm of F. P. Hurst at Island Creek for two years. Then for a few months he was associated in business with Alex. Mounts, his brother- in-law. Mr. Chafin was only twenty-one years of age when he was elected assessor of Logan County, in 1908. In 1912 he was elected for his first term as sheriff. At the close of that term, in 1916, he was appointed county clerk, and in 1920 was again made a candidate for sheriff and elected, beginning his official term January 1, 1921. The efficiency he has exemplified in the conduct of his office is too well known to require comment. In 1905 Mr. Chafin married Mary Mounts, who was born on Gilbert Creek in Mingo County, daughter of Moses Mounts. Mr. and Mrs. Chafin have six children: James A., Marion Rathburn, Lillie Hazel, Mary Frances, Charlotte Jane and William Al. Mr. Chafin is affiliated with the Elks Lodge. He was one of the organizers of the Aldredge Coal Company, operating near Logan, also of the Chafin-Jones-Heatherman Coal Com- pany, whose operations are at Peach Creek. He is a direc- tor and one of the large stockholders in the Bank of Logan, which was established late in 1920, with a capital of $100,- 000, and already has deposits aggregating $1,000,000. He is also a heavy stockholder in the Guyan Valley Bank.