Logan County, West Virginia Biography of THOMAS JEFFERSON WYSONG 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. 564 Logan THOMAS JEFFERSON WYSONG is a member of a family that has taken an active part in the affairs of the southern part of the state for several generations. His home has been in Logan County for over two decades, and the greater part of that time has been devoted to official service. He is the present clerk of the County Court. Mr. Wysong was born at Hamlin, county seat of Lincoln County, West Virginia, June 17, 1873, son of John and Rebecca (Spurlock) Wysong. Both the Wysong and Spur- lock families were pioneers of Lincoln County, going there from old Virginia. The grandfather of Thomas J. Wysong was Creed Wysong, a prosperous farmer. John Wysong and wife spent their lives in Lincoln County, where he died in 1912, at the age of seventy-three, and she in 1904, aged fifty-three. John Wysong was a merchant at Hamlin. He was a Confederate soldier in the Civil war, participating in many battles, and was wounded at the battle of Spottsyl- vania Court House, where his brother Calvin, a member of the same regiment, was killed. John Wysong for four years was deputy sheriff of Lincoln County and also justice of the peace, and was a loyal democrat. He and his wife had five children, and the four now living are: Albert, who received an appointment in the Government service at Washington during Cleveland's administration and has lived at the capital ever since; he is now connected with the Highland Baggage and Express Company; Thomas J.; Ward, who owns a farm near Hamlin; and Emma, wife of Russell Duke, of Huntington. Thomas J. Wysong acquired his early education at Ham- lin, and at the age of sixteen wag given a second grade cer- tificate, the highest possible certificate that could be granted to a person of his age. However, he taught only one term of school, that school being on the Guyan River, and shortly afterward he was appointed deputy county clerk of Lincoln County under F. M. Johnson, and acted in that capacity for six years. At the beginning of the Spanish-American war he enlisted in the First West Virginia Volunteers as a member of the regimental band. He was trained for service at Columbia, Georgia, at Chickamauga and at Knoxville, Tennessee. After leaving the army he was bookkeeper for the firms of Sloane and Midkiff on Guyan River, Coleman and Chambers, and Crane and Company. In the meantime, in 1900, he removed to Logan County; and in 1908 became deputy county assessor under Don Chafin. Later he was deputy sheriff in charge of the books at the office during the term of Sheriff J. W. Chambers, and held a similar position under Sheriff Chafin from 1912 to 1916, and under Sheriff P. P. Hurst from 1916 to 1920. In the latter year he was elected county clerk, and is now in his fifteenth consecutive year of service in the Court House at Logan. Mr. Wysong married in 1906 Harriet Dingess, daughter of Henderson Dingess, and a native of Logan County. Their five children are named Thomas Earl, Sally, John, James and Emma. Mr. Wysong is a past grand of Island Lodge No. 160, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.