Ohio County, West Virginia Biography of Roy Benton NAYLOR 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.68 ROY BENTON NAYLOR. Perhaps no other name has been more steadily identified with the commercial history and development of the City of Wheeling since the middle of the past century than that of Naylor. One of the largest wholesale houses in the Ohio Valley is the John S. Naylor Company. Roy Benton Naylor is a son of the founder and for many years active head of this business, and while he chose a distinct field of enterprise he has for a number of years been recognized as one of West Virginia's ablest and most public spirited citizens, having gained a great deal of prominence during his long connection with the Wheeling and West Virginia Boards of Trade. Mr. Naylor was born at Wheeling, July 22, 1871. His family has been in this section of the Ohio Valley considerably more than a century. His great-grandfather was John Naylor, who was born near Baltimore, Maryland, of Quaker stock and English ancestry. He settled in Ohio at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and his occupation was that of a farmer. The grandfather of Roy Naylor was Joseph R. Naylor, who was born in Ohio in 1817 and in 1848 moved to Wellsburg, West Virginia. He became a merchant, and under appointment from President Cleveland was serving as postmaster of Wellsburg when he died in 1887. He was a democrat, and a member of the Christian Church and the Masonic fraternity. Joseph R. Naylor married Hester Kimberland, who was born in Ohio in 1817 and died at Wellsburg in 1887, having been born and having died in the same years as her husband. The late John S. Naylor was born at Pennsville in Morgan County, Ohio, in 1843, and was about five years of age when his parents moved to Wellsburg, where he grew up and acquired the greater part of his education. He attended the old West Liberty Academy, and in 1869, as a young man, moved to Wheeling. In later years his mercantile activities developed into the John S. Naylor Company, one of the largest wholesale dry goods houses in the state. He was for many years its active executive head, and gave his time to the business until his death in 1916. His citizenship in every sense was thoroughly constructive. He served on the city council and school board, was one of West Virginia's commissioners to the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, and was also interested in democratic politics, serving several years as chairman of the County Committee of Ohio County. He was a member of the Christian Church and the Masonic fraternity. John S. Naylor married Anna Wendelken, who was born at Marietta, Ohio, in 1853, and is still living at Wheeling. Roy Benton is the oldest of four children. His brothers have all had an active part in the business founded by their father. Allen Gerd died at Wheeling in 1918. The other sons are Joseph R. and Wilson, Joseph being the present executive head of the John S. Naylor Company. Roy Benton Naylor attended the public schools, Linsly Institute, and Marietta College in Ohio. He left college in his sophomore year and was first attracted into the newspaper profession and was connected with the Wheeling News for some years. Mr. Naylor founded the Wheeling Telegraph, selling that paper in 1904. In 1905 he was elected secretary of the Board of Trade of Wheeling. He held that office ten years, and during the greater part of that time the power of the Board of Trade and its affiliated organizations was largely exercised through the executive abilities of Mr. Naylor. Shortly after he was elected secretary of the Wheeling board he organized the West Virginia Board of Trade, and was its secretary for ten years. After carrying these official burdens so long he resigned in the fall of 1915 to take up the insurance business with the Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, and is now district agent for the Wheeling District, with offices in the National Bank of West Virginia Building. In 1917 he was president of the West Virginia Life Underwriters Association and is still a director of the association. Mr. Naylor departs somewhat from the family tradition in the matter of politics, being a republican, though he has not sought prominence in partisan politics, but rather in public matters permitting opportunities for constructive work, particularly in affairs of community benefit. He was a member of the city council in 1901-02, was park and playground commissioner in 1912, and since 1921 has been on the City Recreation Commission. Mr. Naylor lives at Woodsdale, where he completed his beautiful modern home in 1919. He was mayor of Woodsdale three years, until that community was consolidated with Wheeling in 1919. He is a member of the Christian Church, the Wheeling Chamber of Commerce, Wheeling Country Club, Fort Henry Club, Twilight Club and Rotary Club. He is a director of the Community Savings and Loan Company, director of the Wheeling Savings & Loan Association, a director of the Associated Charities and a trustee of Marietta College, for which he received the honorary degree of A. M. in 1912. During the war he was a "Four-Minute" speaker, and was chairman of the Publicity Committee for all the Liberty Loan, Red Cross and other drives. January 15, 1902, at Bridgeport, Ohio, Mr. Naylor married Miss Nancy Dent, daughter of James C. and Millie (Clayton) Dent, now residents of Los Angeles. Her father is a retired merchant. Mrs. Naylor is a graduate of Mount de Chantal Academy of Wheeling. They have one son, John S., Jr., born March 28, 1906.