Frank Kirby Bretz

The History of West Virginia, Old and New

Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.

Chicago and New York, Volume II,

pg 200

Frank Kirby Bretz, vice president of the Morgantown and Kingwood Railroad Company, is a graduate civil engineer, but for over thirty years has been identified with the operating and executive side of railroading, and the greater part of that time his service has been given to railroads in West Virginia.

Mr Bretz is a native of Pennsylvania, of a distinguished American family and one that has been represented in nearly all the important wars of the nation. He is a descendant of Ludwig Bretz, who with two brothers, Wendell and Henry, after a voyage from Germany landed at the port of Philadelphia, August 15, 1750. Ludwig bought a farm in Lancaster Co, but some years later sold that property and bought land five miles from Millersville in the Lykens Valley of Pennsylvania. That homestead was his residence the rest of his life. Soon after moving to this second farm the Revolutionary war came on, and he enlisted as a member of Capt. Albright Deiber's 'Company of Associates' of the Fourth Battalion of Pennsylvania soldiers, commanded by Col James Burred. This company took part in the battles of Trenton and Princeton and also in the earlier battle of Long Island, where Ludwig Bretz was wounded. He returned to his home in January, 1777, but again entered the army as sergeant of Capt. !
Martin Weaver's company, and later he fought against the Indians in the West Branch of the Susquehanna Valley.

John Bretz, son of Ludwig, was born December 15, 1771, and died March 26, 1845. He married Catherine Fox, who was born December 21, 1773. Their son, Thomas Bretz, was born January 4, 1798, and died at Newport, Perry county, Pennsylvania, June 2, 1866. His wife was Nancy Huffnagle, who was born July 3, 1806

Mahlon T. Bretz, son of Thomas, was born on a farm near Newport in Perry County, Pennsylvania, July 14, 1843. His wife, Emma Kirby, was born at Williamstown, Gloucester County, New Jersey, October 30, 1850, daughter of John and Elizabeth(Carman) Kirby. Her great-grandfather was a soldier in the New Jersey line during the Revolution. Mahlon T. Bretz also contributed to the military annals of the family. August 13, 1862, he was mustered into Company I of the One Hundred and Thirty-third Pennsylvania Infantry. At the battle of Fredericksburg, December 11, 1862, he was wounded by a bullet in his chest and lay on the battlefield until after dark, when he made his way to the Field Hospital. He was discharged February 20, 1863, but in June of the same year re-enlisted, joining the Thirty-sixth Pennsylvania Infantry and later he enlisted in Company C of the One Hundred and Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania Infantry. After the war for many years he held the office of cashier for the Pennsylvan!
ia, Railroad at Kensington, Philadelphia. He was finally obliged to resign because of ill health due to the wound he had received at Fredericksburg. The bullet was never removed, and eventually it seemed to have changed its position, with the result that he was incapacitated for business. Since 1881 Mahlon Bretz has been retired from all active duties, but is still living at his home at Newport, Pennsylvania.

Frank Kirby Bretz is a son of Mahlon T. and Emma (Kirby) Bretz. He was born at Newport, Pennsylvania, August 4, 1872. Energy and initiative seem to have been qualities of his original endowment. While a boy in the public schools he gave his spare time to master stenography and telegraphy. during 1888-89, he was being prepared for college at Cumberland, Maryland, under private tutors, and at the same time was employed as private secretary to his uncle, Carlton L. Bretz, of the WV Central and Pittsburgh Railway. Mr. Bretz was the first employee of that road whose duties included the operation of a typewriter. In September, 1889, he entered Lafayette College of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with the Civil Engineers degree in 1893.

On leaving college Mr. Bretz became private secretary at Keyser, West Virginia, to C. Wood Dailey, general council of the WV Central and Pittsburgh Railway. In September, 1894, he was made general manager of what was then the Dry Fork Railroad, now the Central WV and Southern, at Hendricks, Tucker Co. This was his responsibility and post of duty until October 16, 1902, when he became general manager of the Morgantown and Kingwood Railroad, with headquarters at Morgantown. He has been a resident of Morgantown for twenty years, and is one of its best known citizens, always closely identified with matters of community progress. He has been vice president of the Morgantown and Kingwood Railroad since 1907.

April 9, 1909, Mr Bretz married Dove Adams. She was born at St. George Tucker County, West Virginia, September 6, 1881, daughter of John J. and Angelica(Ewing) Adams. Her mother is now deceased. Mr and Mrs Bretz have one daughter, Mary, born January 21, 1920.



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