Biography of Samuel J. Sublette - 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. 382

Bio: Samuel J. Sublette, Mercer County

     
     Samuel J. Sublette is one of the keen and resourceful business men of 
Bluefield,
where he has been a retail and wholesale merchant for a number of years.  He 
took 
up commercial life soon after leaving school, and has achieved his success 
without special advantages aside from his own character and determined effort.

     Mr. Sublette was born at Alleghany Spring, Virginia, February 4, 1876, 
son of 
James H. and Aliean A. (Helm) Sublette.  Sublette is an old name in American 
Colonial history and originated in the south of France, whence an ancestor 
came to 
the Colonies nearly 200 years ago.  One of the important settlements of the 
family
was at Powhatan Court House in Virginia.  This family was represented in the 
Revolutionary War.  James H. Sublette and wife were both born in Virginia, 
where
the former was a farmer and stock raiser and took an active interest in 
politics.  However,  the only office in which he would consent to serve was 
that of school
trustee, and he held that post for many years, due to his very sincere 
interest in the welfare of schools.  During the Civil war he was in Company G 
of the Fourth Virginia Regiment, and was in from the beginning to the end of 
the war, though once he was captured and spent nine months in a Federal 
prison, where his principal diet was
rice.

     Samuel J. Sublette attended the common and graded schools of Alleghany 
Spring, and soon after leaving school he went to work as a traveling salesman 
for Bonsack
Brothers of Roanoke, Virginia.  He was on the road for that firm for three 
years and
then set up a mercantile business of his own at Alleghany Spring.  He did 
well there,
and after five years sold out and moved to Bluefield, West Virginia, being 
attracted
to this town by its great promise for the future.  Here he opened a retail 
grocery store
under the firm name of Sublette and Barnes.  The partnership was dissolved in 
1915,
and after that Mr. Sublette continued alone for two years and then organized 
the Sublette Grocery Company, wholesale.  He was the leading spirit in this 
corporation 
for a time, but in 1918 retired from the executive control, though he 
remained 
financially identified with the company until January 1, 1921, when he 
resigned and organized the Sublette Feed & Supply Company, Incorporated, with 
capital of 
$100,000.  Mr. Sublette is president of J. T. McMullin, secretary of this 
company, 
which does business all over Southern West Virginia.

     In 1911, at Bluefield, Mr Sublette married Miss Ethel R. Wall, daughter 
of James and Margaret Wall.  They have two children, Margarette Hill and 
Samuel J., Jr.
They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.  Mr Sublette has 
some business and social relations with such organizations as the Chamber of 
Commerce, Elks Club, is a Royal Arch Knight Templar Mason and Shriner and 
since coming to 
Bluefield has worked with other progressive citizens toward the ideal of 
making this
one of the best commercial sites in the state.                  


Submitted by Sherry Neff <Sherneff44@aol.com>

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