Mason County, West Virginia Biography of Edmund SEHON 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 III, pg. 317 EDMUND SEHON is president of the Sehon, Stevenson & Company, Incorporated, wholesale grocers, one of the very earliest wholesale houses established at Huntington and a business that has been steadily asociated with the remark- able growth and expansion of that city during the last three decades. No one could surpass Mr. Sehon in pride and sat- isfaction over the achievements of Huntington, and for years he has been counted one of the city's most enthusi- astic and substantial boosters. Mr. Sehon, who is one of the advisory editors of this history of West Virginia, was born in Mason County this state, September 14, 1843, son of John Leicester and Ag- nes (Lewis) Sehon. His mother, Agnes Lewis, was a granddaughter of Col. Charles Lewis, who was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774, a battle described in the pages of West Virginia history as one of the most decisive conflicts on the American frontier. Mr. Sehon acquired his education at Westchester, Pennsyl- vania, and early took up the study of law and began prac- ticing soon after the close of the Civil war. In 1868 he was elected state's attorney of Greenbrier and Mercer counties, but in 1870 he returned to his native county of Mason. In 1875 he was elected a member of the Legisla- ture. Mr. Sehon has been a resident of Huntington since 1890, in which year he organized the wholesale firm of Sehon, Stevenson & Company. This was the second whole- sale house in Huntington and is a business that is justly regarded as one of the most important units in Huntington's growing greatness as a commercial center. Mr. Sehon was elected mayor of Huntington in 1915, and was head of the municipal government for three years. He has been an active factor in the Huntington Chamber of Commerce and practically every other organization designed to promote the effective growth and development of the city. He is a democrat, has been a member of the B. P. O. Elks since 1913, and for half a century has been a working member of the Episcopal Church and now vestryman and senior warden of Trinity Church at Huntington. June 30, 1870, in Greenbrier County, Mr. Sehon married Elizabeth Jane Stuart, daughter of Robertson Stuart, whose grandfather Col. John Stuart was one of the earliest pio- neers of Greenbrier County. Mr. and Mrs. Sehon have four children: Lucy, wife of J. M. McCoach; John Leicester who married Lillian Gragard; Bess, wife of M. N. Cecil; and Douglas, unmarried.