Marion County, West Virginia          Biography of Hon. Thomas Walter FLEMING

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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
pages 2227-228

HON. THOMAS WALTER FLEMING has played a large and benignant part in the
development and progress of his native city of Fairmont, Marion County,
and the broad scope and importance of his civic and business activities
and his public service mark him as one of the representative men of West
Virginia. He was born at Fairmont on the 16th of December, 1846, a son
of Allison and Martha (Louchery) Fleming. Allison Fleming was born on a
pioneer farm near Fairmont July 25, 1814, a son of Thomas, who was a son
of Nathan, the latter having been a son of William Fleming, who immigrated
to America from the North of Ireland in 1741. For many years Allison Fleming
was engaged in the marble business at Fairmont, where he served a number of
years as mayor, besides having been treasurer of the county one term. He
was a stanch Union man during the Civil war, and be and his wife were zealous
members of the Methodist Protestant Church, in which he served as trustee,
and class leader, besides having been for many years a teacher in the Sunday
school. January 19, 1837, he married Mary Vandervort, who died November 2,
1842. April 11, 1844, he wedded Martha Louchery, who was born July 30, 1822,
a daughter of James and Margaret (Keefore) Louchery.

Thomas W. Fleming was reared at Fairmont and received good educational
advantages, in select and private schools. He gained his initial business
experience by clerking in a local mercantile establishment, and in 1871 he
became a member of the firm of Ridgeley & Fleming, the title of which was
changed in 1876 to T. W. Fleming & Brothers, upon the retirement of the
senior member of the original firm. Mr. Fleming continued as the head of
this representative mercantile concern until 1890, when he sold his interest
in the business. He then turned his attention to the real estate business)
in which he became prominently identified with the handling and developing
of coal and oil land in Marion, Monongalia, Harrison and Doddridge counties,
he having opened up the important Fairview oil fields. He was one of the
organizers and became president and secretary of the company which obtained
the franchise for the first street car line in Fairmont, this line later
becoming a part of the Fairmont & Clarksburg electric system and being now
controlled by the Monongahela Power and Railway Company. He organized also
the company which constructed the Fairmont & Mannington street railway,
now a part of the Monongahela Power and Railway Company's system, and he
was one of the promoters of the Farmers Bank of Fairmont, besides serving
also as a director of the People's Bank. He was one of the organizers of
the Fairmont Ice Company, of which he became vice president, as did he
also of the West Chester Realty Company. He was one of the organizers and
became a director of the Fairmont Development Company.

Mr. Fleming has been for many years a leader in the councils of the republican
party in his state. In 1891, on a progressive independent ticket, he was
elected mayor of Fairmont, and his administration was marked by vigorous
promotion of local interests. Many important public improvements were
initiated within his service as mayor, notably the first paving of streets,
the installing of a water-works system, at a cost of $20,000, the construction
of a large viaduct, and the improving of all streets and sidewalks. Mr. Fleming
served one term in the State Legislature, and by joint resolution of its
two houses he was appointed inspector to examine the various state institutions.
At the time when Hon. James G. Blaine was serving as national secretary of
state he offered to Mr. Fleming his choice of three ministerships abroad, but
on account of the exactions of his business interests Mr. Fleming declined
this honor. In 1916 he was the republican candidate for representative in
Congress from the First Congressional District of West Virginia, but he met
defeat with the rest of the party ticket. In 1920 he was a delegate from the
same district to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, and there
was selected as a member from West Virginia on the committee on permanent
organization, and there, on each of seven ballots, be cast his vote for
Warren G. Harding, present President of the United States. Mr. Fleming is
past master of Fairmont Lodge No. 9, A. F. and A. M., past high priest of
Orient Chapter No. 6, H. A. M., past eminent commander of Crusade Commandery
No. 6, and a member of Osiris Temple, A. A. 0. N. M. S. at Wheeling.

February 1, 1877, recorded the marriage of Mr. Fleming and Miss Annie Sweeney,
daughter of the late Col. Thomas Sweeney, of Wheeling. Colonel Sweeney was
born in the City of Armagh, Ireland, March 6, 1806, and died at Wheeling,
March 9, 1900. He was second lieutenant of the Pittsburgh Blues at the time
when that fine organization received and acted as escort to General La
Fayette when the gallant French officer of the American Revolution visited
Pittsburgh in 1824.

Colonel Sweeney brought the first colony of glass-blowers into the present
State of West Virginia, and at Wheeling he operated large iron works. He
served as mayor of that city and also as a member of the State Senate of
Virginia. His second wife, Jane McFarran (mother of Mrs. Fleming), was a
daughter of Lieut. John McFarran, who served in defense of Baltimore when
the British attacked Fort Henry in 1814, and Mrs. Fleming treasures as a
valued heirloom the sword which her maternal grandfather carried at that
time. Mrs. Fleming is the author of a family chart entitled "Family Record
of William Fleming onto the Fourth Generation," brought out in 1892. Mr.
and Mrs. Fleming had three children: Allison Sweeney Fleming received from
Yale University the degree of Bachelor of Arts and from the University of
West Virginia the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Though a member of the bar
he gives much of his time to his various business interests, including
the Fairmont Auto Supply Company, which he has developed into one of the
largest and most prosperous concerns of its kind in the state. Jean Ferran,
the second in order of birth of three children, is the wife of George M.
Wiltshire, and they now reside at Fairmont, their two children being
Thomas Fleming Wiltshire and Jean Fleming Wiltshire. The third child,
Thomas W. Fleming, died at the age of eleven months.