Mineral County, West Virginia Biography of George T. CARSKADON ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , July 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 193-194 GEORGE T. CARSKADON. The Carskadon family is one of the oldest in the Eastern Panhandle, and has furnished a number of men of conspicuous ability and high character to that community and to the state at large. It is a Scotch name, and a son of the first Carskadon to come from Scot- land was Thomas Carskadon, who established his home at Headville in what is now Mineral County. The old brick house he built is still standing and in use. One of the prominent members of the family was the late James Carskadon, who was born in what was then Hamp- shire County, now Mineral County, in 1819. While his life work was mainly on his farm, he was a practical business man, and was one of the makers of the new State of West Virginia. In 1860 he was elected a member of the State Senate of Virginia, but did not take his seat at Richmond Instead he joined the group of leaders from the western counties at Wheeling in the deliberations for the creation of a new state, and by virtue of his election was a member of the Provisional Government under Governor Pierpont, being a personal friend of Mr. Pierpont, who frequently visited at the Carskadon home. He became a member of the first State Senate of West Virginia, serving in the first and second Legislatures of 1863-64 and again was a member of the fifth and sixth Legislatures, in 1867-68, representing the Tenth District, including Mineral County. He was an active member of the Methodist Church. James Carskadon married Bebeeca Parker, who was born in Mineral County, some fifteen years her husband's junior. Her father, James Parker, died at Keyser in 1907, at the venerable age of ninety-six. James Parker married Jane Reese, and their children were: Susan, who married Abraham Johnson and lived in Mineral County; Mrs. Car- skadon; and Thornton Parker, now a resident of Freeman, Missouri. Mrs. James Carskadon was the mother of a large family of eleven children, two of whom are Isaac, of Headsville, and George T. Carskadon of Keyser. George T. Carskadon was born on New Creek, some three miles from the old Town of New Creek, on November 1, 1851. He grew up in the Headsville community, and the farm provided the scenes of his childhood activities. He was educated largely by teachers hired by his parents to instruct the children in their home. At the age of eighteen he entered West Virginia University at Morgantown, and witnessed the first graduation in the university. He was a student there in 1869-70, and since then a widening ex- perience of fifty years has given him a mature knowledge of men and affairs. On leaving school he returned to the country and remained there until he was twenty-two, when he found, to quote his own words, "sprouts growing too fast for him," and consequently he gave up agriculture as a practical vocation and came to Keyser, which only recently had received that name instead of New Creek. Mr. Car- skadon identified himself with Keyser in November, 1874, and entered general merchandising with his uncle, Thomas R. Carskadon. A few years later he bought his uncle's interest, and for about forty years was a leading merchant of the village, and probably no other man has been so long in business in one line as he. He sold out in 1917 and since then has turned his attention to other affairs. Mr. Carskadon has been active in the development of the fruit industry in Mineral County. He was associated with his brother, James T. Carskadon, in planting the Oarskadon orchard of apples and peaches on New Creek Mountain. They set out 100 acres, cared for it and brought it into a state of profitable bearing, but before realizing returns on their investment they sold the property in 1920. Mr. Car- skadon has had a part in the promotion of other business enterprises at Keyser. He is a director of the First Na- tional Bank and of the Thompson Furniture Company, and is one of the large real estate owners in the town. He has contributed to other industries, but some of them failed to materialize as hoped for. For many years he has been a republican leader in his section of the state. He cast his first vote for General Grant in 1872, and for half a century has given his vote to the republican ticket in national elections. He has been a member of the Council and Board of Education at Keyser, and in 1918 was elected a member of the County Court, succeeding George E. Klenke, of Piedmont. His colleagues on the board are J. F. Junkins and Aaron Thrush. The chief problem handled by the board during his administra- tion has been road building. Bonds to the amount of $200,- 000 were issued recently, and the expenditure of these funds for the purpose of road building is being handled by the present board. This program of modern highway con- struction includes the building of twenty miles of concrete and macadam roads from Keyser to Laurel Dale, another stretch from Keyser to Piedmont, and a mile from the cemetery to the county seat. In convention days Mr. Carskadon was frequently a delegate to state and other republican conventions, and seldom missed the inaugurating ceremonies of the new governor each four years. He has had some honorary service, being appointed a colonel on the staff of Governor A. B. White, and served in a similar capacity on the staff of Governors Dawson, Glasscock and Hatfield. He joined the Masonic order at Keyser, and has taken all the degrees of the Scottish Rite except the supreme honorary thirty-third, being a member of the Consistory at Wheeling and Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine there. He is a past master of his lodge and has sat in the Grand Lodge. He has been on the official board of the Methodist Episcopal Church. On February 4, 1875, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, Mr. Car- skadon married Martha E. Johnson, who was born at Mount Vernon in 1860, daughter of James and Mary Jane (Morton) Johnson. Mr. and Mrs. Carskadon lived their lives together over forty years, the union being broken with the death of Mrs. Carskadon on March 21, 1917. Of their children Winfred J. is an employe of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company at Keyser. Mary is the wife of Dr. J. T. Little, of Pittsburgh, and has a son, Jesse Car- skadon Little. George A., who lives at home, is also a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad employe.