Biography of W.S. Phelps - Mercer Co. WV

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.
Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 121-122

    W. S. Phelps has had a long and active commercial career, and for a 
number of years has been a merchant at Bluefield, where he is proprietor of 
the Phelps Furniture Company.
    Mr. Phelps was born October 14, 1867, at Boone Mills, Virginia, son of A. 
J.  and A. A. (Boone) Phelps, the former native of Tennessee and the latter 
of Boone Mills.  All his ancestors were early Virginians, some of them being 
in the Revolutionary war.  On his mother's side Mr. Phelps is descended from 
the family that comprised the Boone settlement in Virginia in early Colonial 
times.  A. J. Phelps served as a Confederate soldier four years, all through 
the war, and the rest of his life was devoted to farming.
    W. S. Phelps acquired a common school education at Boone Mills, and as a 
youth went to work for the Fishburn Brothers, tobacco manufacturers and 
dealers at Roanoke, Virginia.  He continued in the tobacco business for 
sixteen years as a salesman, covering practically the entire Middle West, 
with headquarters at Memphis.  On leaving the tobacco business he chose 
Bluefield as the city with the greatest opportunities for the future, and 
entered the furniture business.  He has built up a splendid enterprise in 
that line, and in 1909 incorporated the Phelps Furniture Company, in which he 
has the controlling interest.
    November 17, 1897, at Roanoke, Virginia, Mr. Phelps married Miss Eula 
Richardson, daughter of D. P. Richardson, who is living in the same house 
where she was born at Roanoke.  Mr. and Mrs. Phelps are members of the 
Baptist Church.  He is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the United 
Commercial Travelers, the Chamber of Commerce and the Falls Mills Fishing 
Club.


Submitted by PTyler107@aol.com

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