Marion County, West Virginia Biography of Howard Marshall BATSON, M. D. This file 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 III, pg. 209-210 HOWARD MARSHALL BATSON, M. D. One of the best equipped physicians and surgeons in the state is Dr. How- ard Marshall Batson of Mannington. Doctor Batson for a number of years was physician and surgeon to mining and other industrial corporations in West Virginia. He was one of the few men members of the Medical Corps from West Virginia who had front line duty in France during the World war, and it was after more than two years of army service that he established his home and office at Mannington. Doctor Batson was born in Mannington District, on a farm in Marion County, October 26, 1878, son of Elias and Virginia (Hunter) Batson, also natives of Marion County. His grandfather, Eli Batson, was an early settler here. Elias Batson was born in 1850, and followed a varied career of farming, railroading, sawmilling, and again as a farmer, and died November 2, 1910, while his wife was born in 1857 and died in 1896. Doctor Batson grew up on a farm, acquired a district school education, attended the Barrickville Normal School during 1896-97, and was a student in the Fairmont State Normal in 1898. He took the regular course in the Med- ical College of Virginia at Richmond during 1902-06, graduating in the latter year. He then located at Paden City in Wetzel County, but the following year removed to Nicholas County, and for seven years was physician to mining and lumber companies. For three years he had a mining practice in Kanawha County. On August 6, 1917, Doctor Batson volunteered for the Army Medical Corps and was commissioned a first lieu- tenant, August 18th. He was sent to Camp Greenleaf, Port Oglethorpe, Georgia, where he was assigned to the Medical Corps, Fourth Division, Regular Army, was then taken to Camp Greene, North Carolina, and on April 28, 1918, with the Fourth Division, started for Long Island, New York, and on the 10th of May sailed for France, reaching Brest, May 24th. In France he was attached to the Second Battalion, Thirty-ninth Infantry of the Reg- ular Army, and from that time until the signing of the armistice was with his command, altogether in front line duty, having no assignment to base hospitals. He par- ticipated in the Aisne-Marne defensive, the Aisne-Marne offensive, in the course of which, on August 30, 1918, he was promoted and commissioned captain. He was in the St. Mihiel campaign and the Meuse-Argonne battlefront. After the signing of the armistice his command was part of the Army of Occupation, and he was at Coblenz, And- ranach, Sinzig, Oberwinter, Neuenache, Adenau and other towns. Doctor Batson left the Rhine July 22, 1919, landed at Hoboken, August 6, 1919, and received his honorable discharge from the service, August 27th, at Camp Lee, Virginia. Soon after leaving the army Doctor Batson established his home at Mannington, where his abilities have gained him recognition as one of the ablest physicians and sur- geons of the county. Doctor Batson is commander of Charles Millan Post No. 40, of the American Legion and at Morriston is af- filiated with the Masonic Order, Knights of Pythias, Elks, Modern Woodmen of America and the Maccabees. He married Miss Anna G. Butler, a native of Richmond, Vir- ginia, and daughter of Robert S. and Alice Butler. They have three children: Anna V., born in 1904; Pearley M., born in 1908; and Howard M., Jr., born in 1910.