Biography of Archy S. Booker - Mercer Co. WV

BIO:  BOOKER, Archy S., Bluefield, WV

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
Page 161

ARCHY S. BOOKER. A practical business man, whose organizing ability has been 
a factor in promoting some of the great coal mining, handling and shipping 
concerns located at Bluefield. Mr. Booker is also a polished gentleman, 
widely informed, in touch with life in many phases, and is one of the very 
prominent Masons of the state.

    Mr. Booker was born at Waynesborough, Augusta County, Virginia, October 
20, 1871, son of John Davis and Mary Susan (Brooke) Booker. His parents were 
born in Virginia, and the Booker ancestry runs back into the early history of 
the Old Dominion. In the record of Colonial affairs in old Virginia there 
were several Bookers of prominence as soldiers, burgesses and men of affairs, 
particularly in Amelia County. Mr. Booker of Bluefield is named for Archy 
Stuart, his great-grandfather on his mother's side, who was a law partner of 
Patrick Henry, and is said to have composed many of the great speeches of 
that famous Virginia orator.

    John D. Booker before the war was one of the largest tobacco planters in 
Virginia. Hundreds of slaves were employed in his fields. During the war he 
was for three years and eleven months in the Confederate Arm, most of the 
time on scout duty. He had a number of very narrow escapes. At one time he 
and two others, while being pursued by Federal troops, came to a fence 
barricade built by the enemy across the road, and from this trap there was no 
escape except to leap the fences. His two companions met death, while John 
Booker jumped his horse over the fence and escaped. He was under the command 
of Colonel McClusky. He was once wounded, but fully recovered, and after the 
war he resumed planting, though on a greatly reduced scale.

Archy S. Booker attended the common schools in the Valley of Augusta County, 
spent two years in the Military Academy at Fishburne, Waynesborough, and 
after leaving he was appointed assistant to the first postmaster of Basic 
City, Virginia. He did this work six months and for six months was in the 
hardware business at Waynesborough. Mr. Booker first joined the Bluefield 
community of West Virginia as shipping clerk for the Pocahontas Coal Company. 
For three years the duties of this position required night work, and 
altogether he remained with the company four years. When he resigned he 
returned to Waynesborough and took charge of the construction of a new home 
on the old family plantation. After completing that he became assistant 
roadmaster on the Norfolk & Western Railway, with headquarters at Vivian, 
West Virginia, and was in that service two years. While at Vivian he became 
shipping agent for the Pocahontas Coke Company, and held this position two 
years. He then bought stock in the Bluefield Coal & Coke Company, and this 
brought him again into active connection with the industrial affairs of 
Bluefield. In 1898 he became treasurer of the company, and continued with 
that corporation until 1904, when he resigned and organized the Flat Top Fuel 
Company, now one of the largest operating and selling organizations in the 
South West Virginia coal fields. He sold his interests in the Flat Top 
Company in 1906, and then for several years did a very prosperous real estate 
business at Bluefield. Mr. Booker in 1914 was appointed assistant postmaster, 
and he was in the postoffice until April 1, 1920, and for the last two years 
virtually was postmaster, owing to the death of the incumbent. In 1920, on 
leaving the post office, he became agent for the West Virginia Coal Company 
at Bluefield, but resigned April 1, 1921, and is now in business for himself 
as a wholesale shipper of coal.

    During the war in his official capacity as acting postmaster Mr. Booker 
had charge of the War Savings Stamps campaign and sold over $100,000 worth of 
these Government securities in Bluefield.

    In October, 1903, at Verdon, Virginia, Mr. Booker married Miss Corinne C. 
Crosier, daughter of J.H. and Virginia C. (Cady) Crossier. They have one son, 
Archy S. Booker, Jr., who graduated from the Bluefield High School at the age 
of sixteen and is now a student in the Roanoke College of Virginia. Mr. 
Booker is a member of the Presbyterian Church. He is active in the Chamber of 
Commerce, the Kiawanis Club, and is a member of the Elks.

    His hobby is Masonry, and he is one of the best informed Masons in the 
state. He is a member of the Royal Arch Chapter, Knights Templar, the Shrine, 
and in the Scottish Rite has recently been elected to receive the 
thirty-third degree. Mr. Booker was one of the organizers of the Lodge of 
Perfection at Bluefield on May 16, 1921, and was the first master.


Submitted by Spelrcg@aol.com

****************************************************************

USGENWEB NOTICE:  These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in
any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or
persons.  Persons or organizations desiring to use this material,
must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal
representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb
archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied
for personal use only.

****************************************************************