Marion County, West Virginia Biography of R. Lindsay CUNNINGHAM This file was submitted by Suzie Crump, 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. 252 R. LINDSAY CUNNINGHAM, former sheriff of Marion County and for many years the leading funeral director in the City of Fairmont, the county seat, was born on a farm in Paw Paw District, this county, July 13, 1851, and is a son of Nimrod and Martha (Danley) Cunningham, both likewise natives of Marion County. Nimrod Cunningham was born on a pioneer farm in Paw Paw District, and in 1855 removed to Mannington District, Virtually his entire active career having been given to farm industry. R. Lindsay Cunningham received the advantages of the common schools and as a young man he learned the carpenter's trade, to which he gave his attention for some time. In 1880 he established a saw and planning mill at the corner of Jackson and Monroe streets, Fairmont, and this mill, opposite his present place of business, he operated nine years. While working as a carpenter he frequently was called upon to manufacture coffins, and it may consistently be said that he has been identified with the undertaking business since about 1870. From year to year the undertaking department of his business increased in scope, and he is now the oldest representative of this line of business at Fairmont, where his establishment is the largest of the kind in the county. Aside from his direct business activities Mr. Cunningham has contributed much to the material development and upbuilding of Fairmont. He was one of the organizers and became president of the old Coal City Furniture Company; he built the McAlpin Hotel Block in the heart of the business district and this property he still owns; he erected the block in which the Home Furniture Company is located, and also an adjoining building, which he recently sold; in 1921 he completed the Cunningham Block, at the corner of Jackson and Monroe streets, this being a structure of four stories and basement, the first and second establishment and the upper two floors being fitted up as apartments. This last mentioned building was the first tile and stucco building erected in Fairmont, and is one of the most modern and attractive structures in the city. In 1896 Mr. Cunningham was elected sheriff of Marion County, and this office he held four years. He is a charter member and was the first president of the West Virginia Funeral Directors Association; he is a loyal and liberal member of the Fairmont Chamber of Commerce; he is a Knight Templar and Mystic Shrine Mason and he is affiliated also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. December 17, 1885, recorded the marriage of Mr. Cunningham and Anna Violet Mayers, who was born near the City of Fairmont and who is a daughter of George W. L. and Mary E. (Fleming) Mayers, the former of whom died in 1900, at the age of sixty-nine years, and the latter of whom died in May, 1902, aged sixty-four years, she having been a daughter of Alfred Fleming, a member of one of the old and influential families of Marion County. Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham have two children, Lawrence M. and Genevieve. Lawrence M. Cunningham was born at Fairmont on the 12th of July, 1887, and from 1907 until 1913 he was a student in Washington and Jefferson College, he having been a member of the football team each year while attending both preparatory and collegeate departments of this institution. In 1913 he became somewhat interested in traction matters in consequence of his father' s interest in the Traction Company of Fairmont, and so continued until the nation became involved in the World war. August 24, 1917, he entered the Officers Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana, where, on the 28th of the following November, he was commissioned second lieutenant. On the 14th of December he reported to Camp Sherman, Ohio and was assigned to Battery A of the Three Hundred and Twenty-fourth Heavy Field Artillery. He was later transferred to the Headquarters Company of the regimental staff. June 3, 1918, with his command, he left Camp Sherman and Proceeded to Camp Mills, Long Island. A week later, on the English transport Leicestershire, he sailed for France. Fourteen days later he landed at La Havre, and with a detachment of the command went into camp with the 17th French Field Artillery Corps at Camp Coquetdan, near Rennes. The members of Lieutenant Cunningham's command there received instruction in the French school of military instruction and were equipped with French 155 M. M. guns. August 1st they proceeded to the Verdun front, and thereafter Lieutenant Cunningham was in active service at the front with the Twenty-sixth, Twenty-ninth, Thirty-second, Thirty-seventh, Eighty-ninth and Ninety-first Divisions, his commission as first lieutenant having been received November 4, 1918. He served on several of the French fronts, and he was at Velogan, on the River Neuse, when the armistice was signed. With the Thirty-second Division he then proceeded to Germany, and on December 15, 1918, was at Breitneau, Germany, with the advance Army of Occupation. There he remained until April 22, 1919, when he returned to Brest, France. Shortly afterward he sailed for America, and at Camp Mills, New York, he was placed in charge of troop trains between that camp and Camp Meade. At the latter camp he received his honorable discharge June 2, 1919, his discharge papers showing that he had served in France, England and Germany. After his retirement from military service, Lieutenant Cunningham became associated with his father's business, he having completed a course in the Renoard Training School for Embalmers, New York City, and being licensed as an embalmer in both New York State and West Virginia. He is commander of Heintzleman Post No. 17, American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Lieutenant Cunningham's Masonic affiliations are with Fairmont Lodge No. 9, A. F. and A. M.; Orient Chapter No. 9, R. A. M.; Crusade Commandery No. 6, Knights Templar; the Consistory of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling, in which he has received the thirty -second degree; Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine in the same city; and the Order of Eastern Star. He is a member also of the Knight of Pythias and of the Phi Delta Theta college fraternity.