Monongalia County, West Virginia    Biography of David Hall COURTNEY, M. D.

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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 164-165


DAVID HALL COURTNEY, M. D. No better lesson relative
to the value of honorable effort intelligently directed can be
given than that offered by the review of the life and ac-
complishments of a man who has risen to a position of
prestige through his own initiative and who in so doing has
taken with him many others who, through their association
with him, have been able to achieve much more than would
have been possible had they been forced to depend upon
themselves. It matters little along what channel the stream
of such a man's life flows, for he will succeed no matter
how it may be directed. Some men of this character in-
stinctively turn toward one or another of the learned pro-
fessions, others develop into public men, while still others,
and they are in the majority, devote themselves to the de-
velopment of commercial and industrial enterprises and be-
come the heads of large concerns that provide honest labor
to large numbers and place and keep in circulation immense
sums of money. Morgantown has a notable example of the
last-named class in Dr. David Hall Courtney, who, starting
his career as a physician, has become one of the leading
men of his part of West Virginia in the development of
the state's natural resources.

Doctor Courtney is in the fourth generation of his fam-
ily in Monongalia County, his great-grandfather having im-
migrated to America from Ireland and settled in this county
in pioneer days. William Courtney, the younger, son of
the pioneer William, was fourteen years of age when he
accompanied his parents to this country. For a time the
family stopped in New Jersey, but then journeyed over the
mountains into Monongalia County, at that time in old
Virginia. Amos S. Courtney, son of William Courtney, the
younger, was born in Cass District, Monongalia County,
May 1, 1823, and died January 1, 1879, after many years
spent in successful agricultural operations.  He married
Sarah Jane Hall, who was born near Taylortown, Greene
County, Pennsylvania, in 1824, and died in 1902. She was
a daughter of David Hall, a member of an old Greene
County (Pennsylvania) family.

David Hall Courtney attended the public schools of Cass
District, and subsequently enrolled as a student at the
University of West Virginia, from which he was grad-
uated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1882. His
medical studies were prosecuted at Jefferson Medical Col-
lege, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from which he received
his degree of Doctor of Medicine as a member of the
graduating class of 1886. Later he took post-graduate
work in Philadelphia, in 1893. He entered the practice
of medicine at Mount Morris, Greene County, Pennsylvania,
in 1886, and made rapid strides in his profession, but
while so engaged became interested in the oil industry.
In this direction he began to develop abilities heretofore
not suspected, and his interests soon became so large that
he abandoned the profession of medicine in order to give
his entire attention to his business affairs. He purchased
large tracts of oil land in Pennsylvania, and as a member
of the firm of Courtney, Lowrey and MeDermott began
drilling tor oil and gas. He is now president of the Ran-
dall Gas Company of Morgantown, and in 1913 was one
of the purchasers of the Seneca Gas Company. He is a
director and one of the owners of the Union Traction
Company of Morgantown; was formerly president and is
now treasurer of the Economy Tumbler Company of Mor-
gantown; is one of the owners of the Sesamine Coal Com-
pany; half owner of the coal that is operated by the Con-
sumers' Fuel Company; and a director of the Bank of
the Monongahela Valley and of the Bank of the Monon-
gahela Building Company. Doctor Courtney has always
been interested in civic and public affairs, and has dis-
charged his duties fully in the matter of good citizenship
and conscientious public service. In 1910 he was chosen
by his fellow-citizens in Monongalia County to represent
them in the West Virginia Legislature, Lower House, and
as a member of that body worked faithfully in behalf of
his community, his constituents and his state. He is a
member of the Board of Trustees of the First Methodist
Episcopal Church of Morgantown.  Fraternally he is a
Knight Templar Mason and a member of Union Lodge No.
4, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and of Morgantown
Commandery, and socially he holds membership in the
Morgantown Country Club and the Kiwanis Club.

Doctor Courtney was united in marriage with Miss Liz-
zie Hite, daughter of Isaac and Catherine (Hennen) Hite,
of Morgantown, and to this union there have been born
five children:  Grace M., who married O. H. Davis, of
Charleston, West Virginia; Catherine, who married Capt.
Philip E. Brown, United States Army; and Frances, David
H., Jr., and Joseph H., who reside with their parents.