Ohio County, West Virginia Biography of William Lawrence BRICE 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.67 & 68 WILLIAM LAWRENCE BRICE is the present general manager of the Wheeling Register. He became manager under his uncle, the late James B. Taney. He therefore continues the distinctive relationship maintained by the Taney family to this old institution of journalism. The Wheeling Register was established during the Civil war times, in 1863, and has been published continuously for over half a century. Lewis Baker was one of the, founders, and continued the management as principal owner until 1884. At that time the Register was acquired by Taney Brothers, and the Register has been owned and published by the West Virginia Printing Company since that year. The Register was managed first by James B. Taney, from 1884 until 1893, when Mr. Taney was appointed consul-general to Ireland under President Cleveland in his second term of office. His brother, Charles Henry Taney, succeeded him as general manager of the Register, and continued in same capacity until his sudden death on February 20, 1912. James B. Taney again became manager upon the death of his brother Charles, and at the same time the subject of this sketch was made assistant general manager and continued until the death of James B. Taney in May, 1915 William Lawrence Brice was born at Wheeling, August 15, 1874. He is a great-grandson of a prominent pioneer character in this section of West Virginia, John Brice, a native of Pennsylvania, who was the founder and first pastor of the historic "Stone Church," a Presbyterian society organized at the "Forks of Wheeling" as early as 1787. The material of the old Stone Church is still part of the structure known as the Stone Church at Elm Grove. John Brice died at West Alexander, Pennsylvania. His son, John Brice, Jr., was born in Pennsylvania in 1796, and subsequently removed from Ohio County, West Virginia, to Belmont County, Ohio, where he was a farmer. He died in Belmont County in 1881. His wife was Nancy Byers, a native of Washington County, Pennsylvania, who died in Belmont County, Ohio. Sylvester L. Brice, father of William L. Brice, was born in Belmont County, February 19, 1840, and finished his education in the Normal College at Lebanon, Ohio. In 1861 he joined Company F of the Fifty-second Ohio Infantry, and was all through the Civil war, participating in the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge and in the campaign of Sherman to the sea. Following the war he located at Wheeling, studied pharmacy, and from 1867 to 1893 conducted a successful drug business in the city. After that he lived retired until his death on December 26, 1910. S. L. Brice was for several terms a member of the City Council in both branches, was city collector of taxes, was an influential republican and a member of the Masonic fraternity. His wife was Ella Taney, a sister of Charles H. and James B. Taney. She was born at Newark, New Jersey, but has lived in Wheleing since infancy. William L. Brice is the oldest of three children. His brother, Malcolm Taney Brice, is news editor of the Wheeling Register. The only sister, Eleanor, is the wife of a prominent Wheeling attorney, Henry M. Russell. William Lawrence Brice was educated in the public schools, in Linsly Institute, and in 1893, at the age of nineteen, entered the newspaper business as a reporter on the Register, under his uncles. He has given his full time and service to the fortune and prosperity of the Register for nearly thirty years. Mr. Brice, who is unmarried, is a democrat in polities, a member of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Wheeling Lodge No. 28, B. P. 0. B., Wheeling Country Club, Fort Henry Club, and on many occasions has found and exercised the opportunities to be a useful citizen of the community. He is a director of the Wheeling Chamber of Commerce, a director of the Citizens People's Trust Company, and during the World war was a member of various committees and employed the full force of the Register's influence in behalf of the Government. Mr. Brice resides at 930 North Main Street.