Mason County, West Virginia Biography of J. T. FERRELL, M. D. 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. 644-645 Mason J. T. FERRELL, M. D. The master spirit of the town of New Haven in Mason County is Doctor Ferrell, who besides his busy practice as a physician and surgeon is president of the bank and president of nearly all the important institu- tions that give significance to this community, while his in- terests also extend to the adjacent town of Hartford. Doctor Ferrell was born in Roane County April 9, 1886, and at the age of thirty-five he has all the attendant energy of youth and with the mature experience of a man of affairs. He is of Irish ancestry, the Ferrells having come from Ireland to Virginia in Colonial times. His grandfather, William Ferrell, was born in Roane County in 1823, spent his active life there as a farmer, and when well advanced in years moved to Jackson County, where he continued farm- ing until his death in 1893. He was a Confederate soldier in the Civil war, going in at the beginning, and fighting at Gettysburg and in other campaigns. He married Re- becca Hammond, who was born in Jackson County in 1829, and died there in 1897. Joshua Ferrell, father of Dr. Ferrell, has spent nearly all his life in Roane County, where he was born February 22, 1861. He is still active in busi- ness as a farmer at Higby. Joshua Ferrell is a democrat, a very active member of the United Brethren Church in his community, and is affiliated with the Odd Fellows. He married Senith Audelia Casto, who was born in Jackson County April 6, 1864. Virginia Josephine, the oldest of their children, is the wife of Holley L. Rhodes, a farmer at Vicars in Roane County. Dr. J. T. Ferrell is the second in age. William P. is a farmer at Belgrove in Jackson County. Della May is the wife of Garland Kiser, a farmer at Fletcher in Jackson County. John Wesley lives with his brother Doctor Ferrell and is an employe in the porcelain plant of New Haven. Maggie Florence lives at home and is a teacher in the public schools at Higby. Dr. J. T. Ferrell was educated in the rural schools and normal schools, taught seven terms in his native county and adjoining counties, and in 1907 graduated in the commercial course from Kentucky University at Lexington. Subsequent- ly he spent a year in medical studies at Louisville, and from 1910 to 1913 pursued his course in the Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery, where he graduated M. D. At the same time he received a diploma from the Northern Illinois College of Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat. Returning to his native state, Doctor Ferrell practiced at Walton for one year, at Clendenin in Kanawha County one year, and since the fall of 1916 has been established at New Haven, where large demands are made upon his ability as a physician and surgeon. He is specializing in nose and throat. Doctor Ferrell in November, 1910, organized the Mason County Bank of New Haven, and has since been its presi- dent. It was opened for business January 20, 1920, and has capital stock of $25,000 and deposits of $100,000 The vice president is Hugo Juhling, of Hartford, and the cashier, Harry L. Dyer, Doctor Ferrell also organized in 1919 and is president of the West Virginia Porcelain Com- pany of New Haven, an important and distinctive industry. The company operates on a capital of $50,000,00, employs forty people, and manufactures large quantities of electrical porcelain, a product that is shipped all over the United States and Canada. Doctor Ferrell is also vice president of the West Vir- ginia Orchard Company, owns a coal mine, and is president of the West Point Coal Company at Hartford, is a director in the New Haven Flour Mill and owns the Star Theater Building in New Haven. He has other property there, in- cluding his residence and office on Pike Street. Doctor Ferrell is a democrat, a member of the Baptist Church, and is affiliated with Higley Lodge No. 143, P. and A. M., at Higby, with Point Pleasant Chapter No. 7, R. A. M., and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Banner Lodge No. 22, Knights of Pythias, at Hartford, Clendenin Camp No. 14287, Modern Woodmen of America He was a member of every committee to raise the quota, and perform the service needed by the Government in his locality at the time of the World war. In October, 1909, at Charleston, Doctor Ferrell married Miss Louise Kerr, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David D. Kerr, Her father was a teacher and died at Ripley. Her mother now owns and conducts the Hassler Hotel at Ripley.