Ohio County, West Virginia Biography of CURRAN E. GITHENS, M. A., Ph. D. This biography 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. 436 Ohio CURRAN E. GITHENS, M. A., Ph. D., the valued super- intendent of the public schools of the City of Wheeling and a prominent figure in educational circles in West Virginia, was born at Cameron, Monroe County, Ohio, and is a son of Dr. P. D. and Elizabeth (Ruble) Githens, the former of whom died in 1917, on his farm near Bealls- ville, Monroe County, Ohio, where his widow still maintains her home. Dr. P. D. Githens was born at Camden, New Jersey, a son of William T. Githens, who was there born in the year 1799, and whose death occurred at Wheeling, West Vir- ginia, in 1860, he having here established his residence in 1838 and having become a successful coach and steamboat builder. His wife, whose maiden name was Sophia Bron- ner, was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was a resident of Wheeling, West Virginia, at the time of her death. Joshua Githens, father of William T., was born in Philadelphia, became a substantial capitalist in his native city, served as a patriot soldier in the war of the Revolution and was a resident of Philadelphia at the time of his death. The family name of his wife was Abel. The original American progenitor of the Githens family came from England in 1671 and settled on Cooper's Creek, near Salem, New Jersey. Dr. P. D. Githens was a boy at the time when the family home was established in Wheeling, and here he received his early education. In preparation for his chosen vocation, he entered the celebrated Bush Medical College in the City of Chicago, and after finishing his course was actively engaged in the practice of his pro- fession in Monroe County, Ohio, for fifty-five years. A man of fine intellectual and professional ability, he had a high sense of stewardship and manifested the same in his many'years of earnest and helpful service to humanity. His practice as a country doctor covered a wide area of territory, and he was loved and honored in the community in which he lived and labored to goodly ends. He was ap- pointed to the office of major in the Ohio militia at the time of the Civil war, this appointment having been made by the governor of the state, but he never was in active serv- ice at the front. His political allegiance was given to the democratic party, and his religious faith was that of the Society of Friends, of which he was a birthright member. Of their children the first born, William David, died at the age of twenty years; Professor Githens of this review was the next in order of birth; Bernard P. is engaged in the buying and shipping of live stock at Bellville, Ohio; C. A., who was engaged in real estate business at Marshfield, Wisconsin, was killed in an automobile accident in that state in 1916. Prof. C. E. Githens gained his preliminary education in the public schools of Bellville, Ohio, later received normal school training, and in 1896 he graduated from Franklin College, one of the admirable institutions of his native state, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Thereafter he did effective post-graduate work in Harvard University, and his alma mater, Franklin College, conferred upon him the supplemental degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy, besides which he received the Master's degree also from Bethany College. Professor Githens initiated his pedagogic career when he was but fifteen years of age, at which time he began teach- ing in a rural district in his native county. Later he be- came principal of the public schools at Hannibal, Ohio, and after there remaining two years he served in turn as principal of schools at Clarington and Belpre, that state. He finally became superintendent of schools at Wellsburg, West Virginia, and in 1903 he was made prin- cipal of the Union District Schools of Wheeling, in which capacity he continued his effective service until he was ap- pointed to his present office, that of superintendent of the schools of this city. He is a member of the Mathematical Association of America, the American Mathematical Society, the Cirolo Matematico di Palermo, the National Educational Society and the State Teachers Association of West Virginia. Under his supervision as superintendent of the city schools of Wheeling, he has twelve schools, 236 teachers and 6,300 pupils. Professor Githens is a well fortified advocate and sup- porter of the principals of the democratic party, and while in his native Ohio county he served two terms as assessor, which compassed the full gamut of his official ambition. He and his wife hold membership in the Second Presbyterian Church at Wheeling, and he is serving as elder in the same. In the Masonic fraternity his basic affiliation is with Nelson Lodge No. 30, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and in the West Virginia Sovereign Consistory of the Scottish Rite, he has received, up to 1921, the eighteenth degree Rotarian. Professor Githens wedded Miss Emily C. Stegner, daugh- ter of the late Godfrey and Rosina (Held) Stegner, of Monroe County, Ohio, where the father was a representative farmer. Professor and Mrs. Githens have two children: Florence is the wife of A. H. Kelley, assistant auditor for a leading shipbuilding concern at Newburgh, New York; and Philemon Stegner was, in 1921, a student in Pittsburgh University, Pennsylvania.