Biography of Isaiah Bee, M.D. - McDowell Co. VA


The History of West Virginia, Old and New 
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume II, 
pg. 521 


ISAIAH BEE, M. D., a significant and highly useful life 
to himself, his family and to his home community and state 
was that of the late Dr. Isaiah Bee of Princeton. He repre- 
sented the sturdy stock of West Virginia pioneers, being a 
grandson of Asa Bee, who fought as a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war, was a native of New Jersey, and in 1818 
settled in Preston County, West Virginia. Doctor Bee was 
the great-grandson of two other Revolutionary soldiers.
Isaiah Bee was born September 22, 1832, at Salem, Harri- 
son County, West Virginia, in the house that had been the 
home of his" ancestors for three generations. He was a son 
of Josiah and Priscilla (Davis) Bee. His father moved to 
Doddridge County in 1835, and died in Ritchie County in 
1890. He was a farmer. Priscilla Davis was a daughter of 
William Davis, who served as a member of the body guard 
of General Washington and endured many of the sufferings 
of the Revolutionary Army in the terrible winter of 1876-77.
Dr. Isaiah Bee was primarily educated in the common 
schools of Doddridge County, supplementing this with 
academic training at West Union and with two years at 
the Northwestern Academy at Clarksburg. He then entered 
upon the study of medicine with Dr. James M. Lathrop, a 
physician of Massachusetts, then residing at Ritchie Court 
House. After two years of reading under Dr. Lathrop's 
supervision he attended medical lectures at Cleveland, Ohio, 
and in 1859 commenced his practice at Ritchie Court House. 
The Civil war soon after disturbed his plan, and in June, 
1861, he enlisted for service in Company C, Thirty-first 
Regiment of Infantry, C. S. A., and served as a private 
until September 3, 1862, then was commissioned assistant 
surgeon of the regiment, acting in this capacity until Febru- 
ary 7, 1863, when he was made surgeon, and he was assigned 
to Jenkin's cavalry brigade until the close of the war. He 
served with distinction in the difficult positions assigned 
him, and, though slightly wounded upon several occasions, 
he returned home in comparatively good health. On July 
4, 1865, Dr. Bee located in Princeton, West Virginia, where 
he was in continuous practice until 1904, gaining the con- 
fidence of the public and the cordial friendship of a large 
circle of friends. His first public service after the war was 
when he was elected in October, 1871, from the then sen- 
atorial district comprising Mercer, McDowell, Wyoming, 
Logan, Lincoln, Cabell, Wayne and Boone counties, as a 
member of the Constitutional Convention which met in 1872 
and passed the present West Virginia constitution. At this 
election Doctor Bee received every vote that was cast in 
Mercer County, which was his own county, and in Wyoming 
and McDowell counties. But few of the sixty-five members 
of this famous convention still survive. In 1880 he was 
elected as a democratic member of the House of Delegates 
from Mercer County, and served four years continually, and 
again from 1898 to 1900. He was a member of the State 
Board of Health in 1881. He was director of the State 
Penitentiary at Moundsville, regent of the State University 
from 1872 to 1877, and was probably better acquainted 
throughout the state than any other professional man. He 
owned several farms in Mercer County, one consisting of 
400 acres of the original tract owned by the pioneer, 
Capt. William Smith. The family home is a beautiful resi- 
dence in the suburbs of Princeton, West Virginia. Few 
citizens of Princeton enjoyed more fully the respect and 
esteem of the community than did Doctor Bee, who retired 
from active practice in 1904. He married Mary (Smith) 
Lacey, of Fanquier County, Virginia, who died January 6, 
1907. Their one son, Dr. Isaiah E. Bee, resided with his 
father until the death of the former November 15, 1912.


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

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