Mingo County, West Virginia Biography of MARVIN LAMBERT This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: ********************************************** ***The submitter does not have a connection*** ********to the subject of this sketch.******** ********************************************** This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 594-595 Mingo MARVIN LAMBERT. Nearly twenty years of experience in the coal industry has given Marvin Lambert a thorough in- sight into the business, and the various position which he has held and the territory which he has covered have com- bined to make him well and favorably known, particularly in his present location, Borderland, Mingo County, where he is cashier and assistant secretary of the Borderland Coal Corporation. Mr. Lambert is a native of Rush, Kentucky, and was born February 2, 1883, a son of Samuel T. and Margaret Elizabeth (Simpson) Lambert, natives of Ken- tucky. The Lambert family came originally from Virginia, while the Simpsons have been known for many years in Kentucky. Samuel T. Lambert, one of the pioneer coal men in this district of West Virginia, came here from Kentucky in 1893 and located at Thacker, where he worked as a miner for the old Maritime Coal Company. When he left Thacker he became superintendent of the Red Jacket Consolidated Companies, and came to this locality before Mingo County was formed. After its organization as a county he was honored by election as first justice of the peace, and served capably and honorably in that capacity. Embarking in busi- ness for himself, he became the organizer of the Magnolia Coal Company, but later went to Logan County, where he had charge of the Shamrock Mine. Next Mr. Lambert went West as superintendent for a Colorado mining company, but after one year in Colorado returned to West Virginia and located in Mingo County as superintendent of the Stone Mountain Coal Company, an industry with which he re- mained two years. On leaving that concern he went into the mercantile business at Matewan, West Virginia. At the age of sixty-one years Mr. Lambert is still active not only in business life but in civic affairs as well. A republican since his early manhood, he has been one of the wheel- horses of his party, and his political record is an eminently honorable one. In fact his honesty has been such that on several occasions in the past he has been betrayed and sacrificed by unscrupulous politicians, who have traded upon his integrity and belief in his fellows to further their own ends. Mr. Lambert's name has been prominently men- tioned in connection with the office of mine inspector for this district. Marvin Lambert was given the advantages of attendance at the country schools of Carter County, Kentucky, and for four and one-half years worked as clerk for his father, who was serving in the capacity of postmaster. Next he took a course at the National Business College, Roanoke, Virginia, and upon its completion returned for a time to the postoffice, but in November, 1903, began his experience with the coal industry when he started to work as pay roll clerk for the Red Jacket Coal Company. He remained with that con- pern until September 30, 1908, when he resigned to venture into the hazardous field of politics as a candidate for the office of Circuit Court clerk. Being defeated, he secured employment as cashier and purchasing agent for the Crozer Coal and Coke Company at Elkhorn, West Virginia, with which firm he remained two years and nine months. On October 1, 1911, he came to Borderland as bookkeeper and cashier for the Borderland Coal Company, remaining until May 5, 1913, when he moved to Bluefield as bookkeeper for the Baldwin-Pelt Detective Agency. After eight months he joined the Guyandotte Coal Company at Kitchen, West Virginia, and remained three and one-half months, then returning to Bluefield and becoming a traveling salesman. In July, 1914, he returned to Borderland, where he has since been cashier and assistant secretary of the Borderland Coal Corporation, located on the main line of the Norfolk & Western Railroad, six miles west of Williamson. Mr. Lam- bert bears an excellent reputation in mining circles, and is considered one of the thoroughly informed men in his line. On October 11, 1905, at Edgarton, West Virginia, Mr. Lambert was united in marriage with Miss Nellie Adams, daughter of Charles J. and Elizabeth Adams, natives of Kentucky, where Mr. Adams was superintendent of a coal mine. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lam- bert: Evelyn Francis, born in 1906, and Helen Adams, born in 1907. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and are generous contributors to all worthy movements, either of a religious, educational or civic character. Politically Mr. Lambert gives his allegiance to the democratic party. He is a Scottish Bite Mason and a member of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.