Biography of Charles S. Bridges

CHARLES S. BRIDGES is giving effective service as station
agent for the Norfolk & Western Railroad at Iaeger, Mc-
Dowell County, and is one of the progressive and popular
men of this community. He was born in Wythe County,
Virginia, March 14, 1870, and was there reared on his
father's farm. He is a son of John B. and Frances M.
(Long) Bridges, the former of whom was born in Wythe
County, Virginia, in 1825, and the latter of whom was born
in North Carolina, in 1829. The father died in 1899, aged
seventy-four years, and the mother passed away in 1915, at
the venerable age of eighty-six years. They became the
parents of three sons and two daughters: William K., the
eldest son, died in his native county at the age of twenty-
four years; Henry B. was thirty-four years of age at the
time of his death; the elder daughter, Mrs. Jennie E.
Moore, is a resident of Max Meadows, that state; and Mrs.
B. L. Hudson, the younger daughter, resides in Pulaski
County, Virginia.

Charles S. Bridges gained his early education  in the
schools of his native county and while still a boy he learned
telegraphy at Max Meadows, a station on the line of the
Norfolk & Western Railroad. He has continued in the
service of this railroad for the long period of thirty-one
years, and has been a representative of the company in the
coal producing districts of West Virginia since 1891. He
was first located at Roderfield, when that place was the
terminus of one of the branches of the Norfolk & Western,
and as telegraph operator and station agent he has been
employed at many different points touched by this railroad
system. He was station agent five years at Cedar Bluff,
and thereafter he was agent at Welch, county seat of Mc-
Dowell County, four years. Since 1904 he has held his
present post in the thriving industrial Town of Iaeger. He
has been actively identified with the development of this
village and served as its first mayor after its second organ-
ization. In the World war period he was chairman of the
McDowell County Draft Board No. 2. He is a democrat
in political allegiance. In the Masonic fraternity he is
affiliated with the Blue Lodge at Iaeger, having been the
first worshipful master and is the present worshipful master,
with the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Northfork, the
Commandery of Knights Templars at Bluefield, and the
Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston. His wife is
a member of the Baptist church and the remainder of the
family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South.

In 1899 Mr. Bridges wedded Miss Callie Thomas, of
Pulaski County, Virginia, and they have four children:
Kathleen is the widow of Dr. Harry T. Bauer, a prominent
dentist, who was engaged in the practice of his profession
at Iaeger, West Virginia, at the time of his death; Mar-
garet, who has been employed as clerk for the Norfolk &
Western Railway for the past five years; Louise, who
remains at the parental home; and Charles W., who is now
his father's efficient office assistant, was formerly in the
employ of the First National Bank of Iaeger.

Reverting to the career of John B. Bridges, father of the
subject of this review, it is to be recorded that he was a
pioneer in scientific horticulture in Wythe County, Virginia,
where he developed the fine Mew River Nursery, in which
he raised all kinds of fruit trees and small fruits, and which
he successfully conducted until the time of his death. He
was a gallant soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war,
and took part in many engagements, including a number of
major battles. He was a stanch democrat, was affiliated
with the United Confederate Veterans, and he and his wife
were earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South.

From The History of West Virginia, Old and New, page 92

Submitted by Valerie F. Crook <vfcrook@trellis.net>

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