Nicholas County, West Virginia Biography of Arthur Burke KOONTZ This biography was submitted by Kerry Armour, E-mail address: 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 II pg.69 & 70 ARTHUR BURKE KOONTZ was born at Kessler's Cross Lanes, Nicholas County, West Virginia, January 29, 1885, son of John and Alice Groves Koontz. John Koontz was of German extraction, having descended from the German settlement in Pennsylvania. He was born, reared and spent his entire life as a farmer and stock raiser in Nicholas County, West Virginia. For many years he was one of the leaders in local democratic politics, and served one term as sheriff of his county. He died at the age of seventy-six, July 4, 1911. Alice Groves Koontz, who is seventy-six years old, is living at the old homestead. Mr. Koontz's grandfather, James Koontz, married Rebecca Longanecker. They moved from the German settlement of Pennsylvania to Virginia, and from there to that part of Greenbrier County, West Virginia, which afterward was formed into Nicholas County, West Virginia. Mr. Koontz's grandfather on his mother's side was John Groves, who married Catharine Duffy. John Groves was of Scotch descent, and Catharine Duffy, of Irish descent, having been born in Ireland, a daughter of Hugh and Judith McMahon Duffy, but came to America when she was sixteen years old. Arthur Burke Koontz has been one of the able members of the Charleston bar for more than ten years. His reputation as a lawyer has been spread widely over the state, but he is perhaps best known in popular opinion throughout West Virginia in general because of his candidacy in 1920 for governor of the state. In the present generation the name Koontz is widely and favorably known in the professions, in educational affairs, banking and politics. Arthur Burke Koontz received his early instruction in the public schools of Nicholas County. He attended the Summersville School, graduated from Marshall College at Huntington, and subsequently entered Yale University Law School, where he was graduated with an LL. B. degree in 1910. Mr. Koontz began to practice law at Charleston in 1911, and has appeared in connection with important litigation in practically all the state courts. Aside from his law practice he is interested in a number of business enterprises and is vice president of the Union Trust Company of Charleston, which he was instrumental in organizing in 1918. Nominated by the democratic party as candidate for governor in 1920, he made a most creditable campaign and won a flattering vote in the general republican landslide of that year. Mr. Koontz is a member of the Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity, a thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner. He married Miss Mary Watson Sipe, of Fairmont. Her father, the late Conrad Albert Sipe, is well remembered as former president of the Fairmont State Normal School. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Koontz are Mary Watson and Arthur Burke, Jr. Associated with Mr. Koontz in his law practice is his younger brother, Patrick Duffy Koontz, who was educated in Marshall College, in the University of Michigan, and in Harvard University Law School. During the World war he saw service in France, and attained the rank of captain. Another brother, Luther Vaughan Koontz, lives at Clendenin, where he is president of the First National Bank and extensively interested in the enterprises of that town. He brought about the incorporation of Clendenin and was its first mayor. Another brother, Louis K. Koontz, lives in Goldfleld, Nevada, where he is interested in mining, and the two living sisters, Mrs. W. T. Burdette and Mrs. J. D. Peck, live on farms in Nicholas County. An older brother, James William Koontz, who died in 1917, was a well known physician in Western Kentucky, having practiced his profession in Muhlenberg and surrounding counties for twenty years. Two older sisters, Rouena Catharine, who married Dr. A. L. Morris, and Lola Gertrude, who married L. S. Tully, are now deceased. Two other children, Cora Belle and Hubert, died in infancy. Arthur Burke Koontz is therefore a member of a family of eleven, nine of whom grew to maturity. He happens to be the only one of nine children who never taught school.