Nicholas County, West Virginia Biography of WALTER R. GROSE This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 452-453 Nicholas WALTER R. GROSE is a leader in educational affairs in West Virginia, and for the past ten years has been super- intendent of the Buckhannon City Schools. He is member of a family that has been in West Virginia since pioneer times, and in the various generations they have played a worthy part in the building of homes, the development of the land, and also in the learned professions. Superintendent Grose was born in Nicholas County, West Virginia, October 10, 1871, son of William and Rebecca Ann (Stephenson) Grose. His parents were also born and reared in Nicholas County. His great-grandfather came from Warm Springs, Virginia, to Nicholas County, having acquired a grant of land direct from the government of Virginia an account of his services in the War of 1812. He located on this land shortly after the War of 1812, and lived out his life there. He was buried on his estate. William Grose, grandfather of Superintendent Grose, mar- ried a Miss Koontz, a native of Nicholas County. William Grose, father of Superintendent Grose, grew up in Nicholas County on a farm, attended the old subscrip- tion schools, and did considerable work in his early life as a teacher. Later he became a prominent merchant and farmer, owning a farm near Summersville, and conducted a general store near that village. He was a republican, a stanch Union man in sentiment, and one of the three in his district who voted against secession. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of their ten children four are living: B. F. Grose, a farmer and stockman on the old homestead in Nicholas County; Rev. Logan S. Grose, who graduated A. B. from Bethany College, and is now pastor of the Zane Street Methodist [obviously, there is a line of text missing from the original] olas County, attended the common schools there and later graduated A. B. from the Wesleyan College of Buckhannon and did post-graduate work in the University of Pitts- burgh. Mr. Grose began teaching at the age of nineteen, and continued to teach in the intervals of his college and university career. Since 1904 his time has been fully taken up with school work. He was superintendent of schools at Richwood from 1906 to 1912, and since 1912 has been head of the city school system at Buckhannon. Mr. Grose is an enthusiastic educator, is an inspiring worker among his fellow teachers and among young people, has been in great demand as an instructor in county teachers' insti- tutes, and is active in the various professional organiza- tions. On October 13, 1892, he married Maria S. Rader. They were schoolmates in Nicholas County. They have two children. Neva Pearle, born November 10, 1893, is a grad- uate of the Richwood High School, received her A. B. degree from Wesleyan College at Buckhannon, and is now teacher of foreign languages in the high school at Hunt- ington, West Virginia. The son, Clarence Herman Grose, was born August 30, 1896, graduated from the Richwood High School and from West Virginia Wesleyan College, with the Bachelor of Science degree, and is now teacher of chemistry in the Huntington High School. At the close of the World war he was in the Artillery Officers Training School at Camp Taylor, Louisville. The Grose family are members of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. Mr. Grose is affiliated with Richwood Lodge No. 102, A. F. and A. M., is a charter member of Rich- wood Chapter No. 37, R A. M., a charter member of Buckhannon Commandery, Knights Templar, and he and Mrs. Grose and their daughter are members of the Eastern Star. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Rotary Club, Buckhannon Chamber of Commerce and the Country Club. Both Superintendent and Mrs. Grose are direct descend- ants of Sergeant Benjamin Lemasters, who was a soldier of the Revolution, enlisting in 1776 and serving for three years. He was with Washington at Valley Forge, and participated in the battles of White Plains, Trenton, Prince- ton, Brandywine, Germantown, Fort Mifflin and Monmouth, and was wounded at Princeton. During the siege of Fort Mifflin he carried dispatches for General Washington. Shortly after the close of the war he moved to Nicholas County, West Virginia, taking possession of his land grant on Bucks Garden Creek. He became a large landholder there, and most of his possessions are still owned by his descendants. He and his wife had ten daughters, and all of them married and reared families.