WILLIAM HOLLAND WEST
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 376
Monogalia

WILLIAM HOLLAND WEST. West and Holland are both
old family names in West Virginia, and they have been
families of most substantial character, contributing to
the current of progress during the century or more they
have lived on the western slope of the Alleghanies. Wil-
liam Holland West has devoted the work of his mature
years to farming and the cultivation of good social and
civic standards in his home community in the Union Dis-
trict of Monongalia County.  His home is seven miles
north of Morgantown, on the Point Marion Road.

He was born in Clinton District of Monongalia County
August 18, 1853, son of Hamilton G. and Elizabeth (Hol-
land) West. His grandfather, William West, settled in
Taylor County, West Virginia, from Maryland about 1800,
and lived in Taylor County until his death, at the age of
about sixty. He was a man of influence in his locality,
serving as justice of the peace. Hamilton G. West was
born in Taylor County in 1826, and in early life became a
carpenter. While working in Monongalia County he met
Elizabeth Holland, who was born in Clinton District, daugh-
ter of Reasein and Johanna (Wilson) Holland. The Holland
family goes back to almost the beginning of things in this
part of Monongalia County.  Capell Holland, father of
Reasein, was born in 1733 and died in 1823. On moving
to the Clinton District of Monongalia County he settled
near the site of Goshen Baptist Church. Beasein Holland
was born in Maryland in 1776, and was four years of age
when the family settled in West Virginia. Beasein Hol-
land is said to have erected the first mill in Monongalia
County, and he died here in 1851. The old Holland home-
stead is now owned by William H. West, who inherited a
portion of it from his mother. Capell Holland took up
this land in a virgin condition, and it is one of the few
places that have not been sold out of the direct line of
descent. Hamilton G. West lived there after bis marriage.
His wife, Elizabeth, died there in 1912, at the age of
eighty-five, having been born in 1827. Hamilton G. West,
who died in 1883, at the age of fifty-seven, was one of
the leading democrats of the county, filled the office of
justice of the peace for a number of terms, and was active
in convention work. He was a major in the West Virginia
Militia during the Civil war. He was a deacon of the
Goshen Baptist Church. Of his nine children the seven who
survived infancy are noted:  William H.; Lancelot, of
Fairmont, West Virginia; Johanna, who died in middle
life, the wife of Calvin Roby, and moved to Preston County;
Esther, Mrs. dark Price, living on a portion of the old
homestead; Sally, Mrs. W. W. Graham, of Uniontown,
Pennsylvania; Hamilton, who met an accidental death at
the age of twenty; and Hardwick, who was accidentally
killed at the age of fifteen.

William Holland West lived at home until 1877, having
acquired his education in the common schools. When he
left home he took charge of the farm he now occupies,
then owned by his uncle, Lancelot John. Lancelot John
was then an old man and had lived on the present West
farm from early life. Lancelot John was born in Greene
County, Pennsylvania, was reared in West Virginia, and died
in 1895, at the age of eighty-two. His wife was Sarah
Holland, a sister of Elizabeth Holland. She died at the
age of sixty-five, and they were not survived by children.
William H. West had cared for them twenty-one years and
inherited the 150 acres they owned. As noted previously,
he also has the old farm owned by his mother, where he
had lived fifteen years, looking after her in old age. This
part of the estate comprises 168 acres out of the original
420 acres. Mr. West has made a practical success of gen-
eral farming, growing both grain and cattle. He has
served as a director and is still a stockholder in the Fed-
eral Savings & Trust Company of Morgantown. The dem-
ocratic organization has been kept alive through the ef-
forts of such men as Mr. West, and he is the county com-
mitteeman for Clinton District and has attended several
conventions as a delegate. For four years he was school
commissioner, served by appointment from Governor Glass-
cock as a member of the County Board of Equalization, and
has been a candidate for county commissioner.

In 1883 he married Miss Ellen Cole, then twenty-four
years of age. She is a daughter of John S. and Lovina
(Bonner) Cole, of Cheat Neck, Monongalia County. Mr.
and Mrs. West have three children. Elizabeth is the wife
of Frank Shuttlesworth, a retired farmer at Morgantown.
The second child is John Hamilton West. The third is
Mary, wife of Ernest Winner, and they live with Mr.
West.  John Hamilton West married Maude Clark, of
Marion County, and for some years he has been the man-
ager of the old Holland farm. W. H. West is a member
of the Forks of Cheat Baptist Church, the oldest Baptist
Church in West Virginia, organized November 5, 1775. Four
successive church buildings have accommodated the society,
and the present church was erected in 1884, succeeding
the former brick church. Mr. West is a member of the
Grange, and is affiliated with the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows and Junior Order United American Mechanics.


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