James E. Henry Bio
Monongalia County West Virginia

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JAMES E. HENRY. Six miles southwest of Morgantown
on the Fairmont Road is the village center of Laurel Point,
formerly a postoffice but now served by rural route No. 1
out of Morgantown. It has been a trading point for a
great many years, and the principal general store is con-
ducted by James E. Henry, and he is the logical successor
of a business of this kind that has been conducted for
at least three quarters of a century.

Mr. Henry represents one of the sterling pioneer families
of Grant District in Monongalia County. His ancestor was
Franklin Henry, a typical pioneer, who acquired some 400
acres in Grant District. He moved to West Virginia in
Indian times and frequently had to place his family in the
local forts to protect them. His son Eli spent his life
in the same district and died at the age of sixty. The
third generation here was represented by Sylvanus, who
succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead and lived
there until his death at the age of seventy-two. The three
sons of Sylvanus were: Jesse H. who was county super-
intendent of schools eight years; Omar C.; and Elroy, who
is now principal of the Riverside school.

The father of the Laurel Point merchant was Edgar
Henry, a son of Eli Henry mentioned above. Edgar Henry
was a shoemaker and farmer and always lived on his farm
in Grant District, He died at the age of forty-nine. His
wife was Rachel Brand, daughter of Elliott and Susannah
Brand, and she is still living at the age of seventy-seven.
Edgar and Rachel Henry reared seven children: Emery
Marcine, who was an able physician practicing in the home
district where he died in 1909 at the age of forty-one
after an operation in a hospital at Baltimore, and his son
Otto is a professor in the Polytechnic College in Brook-
lyn, New York; Grace is the wife of Joseph E. Conway,
one of the oldest teachers in Monongalia County living
at Westover; Charles is a fruit grower in the Grand Dis-
trict; the next in age is James E.; Nettie is the wife of
Amos Scott of Grant District; Otis is a farmer near the
old homestead; and Boss is a commercial salesman.

James E. Henry was born January 1, 1878, and was
reared and educated in Grant District. At the age of
twenty he began traveling for a Fairmont wholesale grocery
house, and continued that business four years. In 1905 he
bought the old store at Laurel Point and has enjoyed a
prosperous and growing trade extending his patronage over
a large part of the surrounding territory.

Mr. Henry is one of the very popular citizens of Mon-
ongalia County, is justly esteemed for his integrity and
executive ability, and is a stanch republican in politics.
He was twice a candidate at the primaries for county
assessor. Mr. Henry married Nora Lezier. They have six
sons, Robert, Stanley, Lee, Frederick, Max and Hugo. The
first two are attending the Morgantown High School.


The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 294