MORTON VAN VOORHIS

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 586
Monongalia

MORTON VAN VOORHIS. Though vice president of the
Federal Trust & Savings Company at Morgantown, and an
officer in several industrious corporations, Morton Van
Voorhis has always lived in the country and has kept in
close touch with agricultural interests. He is one of Monon-
galia County's most substantial citizens, and is a member
of a family that has participated in the progressive activi-
ties of this part of the Monongahela Valley for several
generations.

The family originated in three brothers who came from
Holland, one locating in New York, one in the West and
one in Washington County, Pennsylvania.  Some of the
descendants of the old stock spell the name Voorheeg.
Morton Van Voorhis is a great-grandson of Daniel Van
Voorhis. The grandfather, L. G. Van Voorhis, was born in
Washington County, Pennsylvania, about 1810, but after
his marriage lived in Greene County, Pennsylvania, where
he died at the age of ninety-six. It was on a farm still
owned by his brother Charles in Greene County, Pennsyl-
vania, that Morton Van Voorhis was born October 8, 1868,
son of Isaac and Lydia (Ross) Van Voorhis, both natives of
that county. Isaac Van Voorhis spent all his life at the
old homestead adjoining the West Virginia state line. He
was a very substantial citizen, owned large tracts of land,
much of it underlaid with coal, along the Monongahela
River. Van Voorhis Station on the Baltimore & Ohio Rail-
road was named for him. He was vice president of the
Citizens National and the Federal Savings & Trust Com-
pany at Morgantown, but he, too, kept his home on his
farm in Greene County, where he died in 1906, at the age
of seventy-one. He did a large business grazing cattle and
shipping stock to eastern markets, and at one time had a
track on his farm for the training of horses. Mr. Morton
Van Voorhis has always acknowledged a keen interest in
good horses; The wife of Isaac Van Voorhis died at the
same age as her husband, and their two sons are Morton
and Charles.

Morton Van Voorhis grew up on the home farm. As a
youth he made modest deals in livestock, and as a prac-
tical farmer has done a great deal to stimulate improved
livestock breeding in his section. For the past twenty-
eight years his home has been on his farm eight miles
north of Morgantown, in the Cass District, where he owns
about 500 acres. He succeeded his father as a director and
at once was elected vice president of the Federal Trust &
Savings Company of Morgantown, and keeps in close touch
with this substantial financial institution. He is also a di-
rector in the Morgan Realty Company and one of the own-
ers in the Strand Theater Company. With his two sons he
is identified with gas production, their ownership extending
to about eighteen wells. He is vice president and director
of the Rosedale Coal Company at West Van Voorhis, a
company operating two mines, and one of the highly profit-
able coal operations in this section. As a stockman Mr.
Van Voorhis grazes from 200 to 400 steers. He built his
attractive home on an elevated site above the river in as
fine a section of country as the state affords, and there is
an improved state highway leading up to his home. Mr.
Van Voorhis has always voted as a republican, but has had
no desire for public office.

At the age of twenty-three he married Mary L. Evans,
of Monongalia County, daughter of Lindsay Evans, who
died when she was a child. Mr. and Mrs. Van Voorhis have
three children, Isaac L., John R. and Jessie Mildred. Isaac
was trained at Camp Lee, Virginia, was commissioned a
second lieutenant and was on duty in France. He went
into the army while a senior in the West Virginia State
University, and after receiving his discharge resumed his
studies and graduated.


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