Marion County, West Virginia Biography of NATHAN C. MUSGROVE 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. 555 Marion NATHAN C. MUSGROVE was for many years in the tanning industry and for the past twenty years has been a mill owner and operator at Fetterman, a suburb of Grafton. Mr. Musgrove was born in the Laurel Run community of Marion County, September 18, 1858, son of Nathan Mus- grove. His father was born in Frederick County, Maryland, in 1824, and in 1849, came to West Virginia. He acquired a liberal education, and taught school for a time after settling in Marion County. He finally established his home on White Day Creek, and continued his life as a farmer there until his death. He was never in politics beyond voting as a democrat, and was an active member of the Christian Church. Nathan Musgrove was the only member of his family to come to West Virginia. At Old Palatine, near Fairmont, he married Irene Corrothers, a daughter of Andrew Corrothers. She was reared on White Day Creek, near Smithtown. Her people were farmers, and her brother, John W. Corrothers, was at one time called the timber king of West Virginia, and the family as a whole were very prosperous and substantial people. Nathan Musgrove, Senior, died in 1898 and his wife in 1893. They were the parents of seven sons and four daugh- ters, nine of whom are still living, the youngest being fifty years of age. Their son John W. died at Satsop, Washington; Andrew J. was a locomotive engineer when he died at Paynes- ville, Ohio, September 24, 1913; Robert Q. lives at Fairmont; Nathan Columbus is next in age; Samuel M. is a member of the Grafton Bar; Lizzie married A. J. Matthew, of Preston County; Thomas J. operates the old homestead farm on White Day Creek; Milton R. is justice of the peace at Fair- mont; Mrs. Belle Henderson lives at Grafton; Iantha, widow of I. T. Hawkins, operates a dairy near Fairmont; Daisy is the wife of C. M. Stanley, of Benton's Ferry, West Virginia. Nathan C. Musgrove grew up on White Day Creek, ac- quired his education in the Laurel Run country school, and after reaching his majority left home and for a time was a coal miner in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He then re- turned home and built a tanyard on Laurel Run, and took up the industry, which was satisfactory in that locality for nineteen years. The capacity of his plant was a thousand hides annually. His product was harness and rough leather. The market for his finished harness leather was in Baltimore and Wheeling, and other products were marketed in the East. When he abandoned the tan yard it went into disuse and has practically disappeared. On leaving his old home Mr. Musgrove moved to Fetterman and erected a feed mill. He did a large amount of custom grinding, and also handled flour, feed, sugar and salt by the wholesale. He was one of the charter members and a former director of the Jerry Run Coal Company, and is now a stockholder in the Grafton Banking and Trust Company. Mr. Musgrove has participated in politics only to the extent of voting the democratic ticket, and is an earnest follower of democratic principals. His first presidential vote went to General Hancock in 1880, and he has participated in every national election since then, voting twice for Mr. Cleveland and twice for Mr. Wilson. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, and is a contributor to the work of the organized church in his community. During the World war he was a member of the wholesale committee of the Food Administration at Grafton, and otherwise participated in the drive for funds. On September 3, 1885, at Morgantown, Mr. Musgrove married Miss Sarah Kisner, daughter of Samuel Kisner. She died July 25, 1889. Their two children were Nora C., who is now the wife of Lincoln Mason, of Grafton, and has two children, James and Sarah Marie; and John, associated with his father in business, who married Flo Pinnell and has one child, Sarah. For his second wife Mr. Musgrove mar- ried Anna J. Kisner, sister of his first wife. She died Feb- ruary 27, 1920. Their surviving daughter, Phronie, is the wife of George Coulson, of Fetterman, and they have one child, Nathan Coulson.