EDWARD MILLER GRANT, Morgantown, County EDWARD MILLER GRANT. There are some individuals whose lives are shaped by circumstances and others who overcome circumstances and shape their own lives. To the latter class it may be safely said that Edward Miller Grant, president of the Federal Savings and Trust Company of Morgantown, belongs. Tens of thousands whose boyhood surroundings were as lacking as his never emerged from integrity, and these, united to thrift, temperance and shrewd intelligence, have formed the equipment with which he had won his way to success. For over thirty years he has been identified actively with the banking, manufacturing and public improvement affairs of Morgantown, and during this time has gained prominence as one of the worst-while citizens of the city and state. Colonel Grant was born in the City of Cleveland, Ohio, February 3, 1853, a son of William and Hannah (Turner) Grant, and grandson of William Grant, of England. His father, William Grant, was native of England, born December 3, 1813, in Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire. He came to the United States in 1850 and located at Cleveland, Ohio, and at the outbreak of the was between the states enlisted in Battery B, First Ohio Light Artillery, with which he served throughout the period of that struggle. Following the close of the war he went West to Indian Territory and located a few miles from what is now McAlester, Oklahoma, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1896. Edward Miller Grant was educated in the public schools of Cleveland, and began his business career as office boy with the firm of Hussey & McBride, oil refiners at Cleveland, with which firm he remain for some years, being ultimately promoted to clerk and bookkeeper. When that firm sold the business to Clark, Payne & Company, Mr. Grant continued as bookkeeper for the latter firm. In 1872 he represented Clark, Payne & Company in the Pennsylvania oil fields at Foxburg, where he remained until 1880, during which period he assisted in building the town, erecting the water works, which he managed for a number of years, and was engaged in oil and gas promotion and development, in 1885 organizing the Union Light and Heat Company, which supplied gas and heat to Foxburg and St. Petersburg. In 1880 he became secretary and treasurer of the Crucible Steel Company of Cleveland, and in 1884 returned to the oil business. In January, 1889, Colonel Grant located at Morgantown, West Virginia, and with others organized the Union Improvement Company, which later became the Union Utilities Company, supplying water,gas, and traction service to the city, of which company Colonel Grant was manager of fifteen years. During that time he organized the Morgantown Building and Investment Company, of which he served as secretary, treasurer and general manager, this company inaugurating the general development of the city which has so greatly added to the growth of Morgantown into one of the most prosperous little cities of the entire country at this writing, in 1921. Colonel Grant is also secretary and treasurer of the Morgantown Brick Company, president of the Federal Savings and Trust Company, and a director in the Pressed Priam Plate Glass Company, the Athens Glass Company, the Bank of the Monongalia Valley and other corporations. He was manager for the Fairmont and Grafton Gas Company, which was organized in 1892, and was also general manager of the Union Utility Company, which company owned the gas and water plants and later built the Morgantown Street Railway. Colonel Grant is also largely interested in real estate, both at Morgantown and in the surrounding country. From 1899 to 1903 he served as a member of the West Virginia Legislature, and his work in that body brought him prominently before the people of the entire state. He is a member of Morgantown Union Lodge No. 4, A. F. and A. M.; Orient Chapter No. 9, R. A. M.; Morgantown Commandery No. 18, K. T.; and Osiris Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Wheeling. He is also a member of Versailles Council No. 238, Royal Areanum, of McKeesport, Pennsylvania; East End Council No. 20, Knights of the Maccahees; Valley Lodge No. 51, Ancient Order of United Workman; Monongalia Lodge No. 10, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and Morgantown Lodge No. 411, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of which he was the first exalted ruler, a position to which he was elected twenty years later. He is president of Morgantown Kiwanis Club and a charter member of the Morgantown Country Club. In 1901 Colonel Grant was appointed by Governor White as a member of the Board of Regents of West Virginia University, and subsequently was reappointed by Governor Dawson in the same position, serving on the board until 1909. Colonel Grant was possibly the most active man engaged in war work in Monongalia County during the World War. Every big drive received his earnest support and hearty co-operation, and he was a generous subscriber and contributor to all cause. Likewise he served as chairman of the first Red Cross drive, when $15,000 was asked in Monongalia County and when $25,000 was raised. HE was likewise chairman of the United War Work ("seven in one") drive, when $25,000 was asked for and $44,000 raised. He also represented the United States Labor Employment Bureau for this county and was county chairman of the National Council for Defense. On July 13, 1876, Colonel Grant was united in marriage with Florence May Dale, daughter of Col. Frank and Mary (Pike) Dale, natives of Pennsylvania, and to this union there have been born three children: Dale, born March 15, 1877, who enlisted in the First West Virginia Regiment during the Spanish-American War, was transferred to the Reserve Ambulance Corps, and died October 2, 1898; Edith Mary, born December 3, 1878, who was married to Harry John Zevely and has a son, John Grant;and Hannah Elizabeth, born January 20, 1880, who was married to Charles E. Caste, and has a son, Dale,and two daughters, Florence and Jean. All of the members of these families reside at Morgantown, where they are held in the highest respect and esteem.