Ohio County, West Virginia JOHN S. NAYLOR COMPANY ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , May 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 146-147 JOHN S. NAYLOR COMPANY. Up and down the Ohio Val- ley and over portions of the several states that regard Wheeling as their wholesale and distributing center, there is perhaps no organization more suggestive of permanence, the bed-rock principles of commercial integrity, and effi- ciency of the service implied in a wholesale, jobbing and importing firm than the John S. Naylor Company. There are merchants who regard it as a distinction that they have had uninterrupted dealings with this concern since they started in business, and there are not a few wholesalers who acknowledge the great value of their foundation experience as employes or traveling representatives of this old house. A brief sketch of the business will therefore be generally appreciated. Historically the present company is a continuation of the enterprise started during the decade of the '30s by two brothers, T. and H. Hornbrook, who conducted a little notion jobbing house at Wheeling when that city derived its chief importance from its location on the Ohio River and the national road. The John S. Naylor Company, there- fore, can claim a history of nearly ninety ears. The Horn- brooks were succeeded a few years before the Civil war by George K. Wheat. About 1869 the late John S. Naylor acquired a fourth interest in the business, the firm being known as Wheat, Isett & Naylor. Some half a dozen years later Mr. Naylor bought the Isett's interest, and the firm, Wheat & Naylor, continued until about 1889, when, with the retirement of Mr. Wheat, the business was continued as John S. Naylor and Company. In 1907 John S. Naylor, with three of his sons, A. G., Joseph R. and Wilson, and Mr. H. L. Henderson, as officers and principal stockholders incorporated the business as the John S. Naylor Company. These successive changes are a very brief historical com- ment upon a business that has rendered service from the time of the administration of President Andrew Jackson to that of President Harding of the present day. The trade territory of the modern firm is a large part of West Vir- ginia, Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio, and the house is represented by fifteen traveling salesman. The present officers of the company are Joseph R. Naylor, presi- dent; H. L. Henderson, vice president; Wilson Naylor, treasurer; and George J. Eberts, secretary. The late John S. Naylor, who was actively associated with the business for nearly half a century and was the leading spirit in its modern development, was born in Morgan County, Ohio in 1843. His father, Joseph R. Naylor, was a teacher in early life, and for some years was a merchant at Wellsburg, West Virginia. He died at the age of sixty- seven. John S. Naylor acquired a common school educa- tion, during his boyhood and early youth worked at farm- ing and as clerk in a general store, and in 1865 came to Wheeling and for about a year was a salesman in the whole- sale business of George K. Wheat. Subsequently he ac- quired an interest in the partnership, and for nearly thirty years was the real head of the business. John S. Naylor, who died November 25, 1916, at the age of seventy-three, was one of the incorporators and a director of the Wheeling Title & Trust Company, subsequently merged with the Dollar Savings & Trust Company. While never aspiring to political office, as a democrat he was active, serving as chairman of the County Committee, as a delegate to the National Democratic Convention and as a presidential elector. He was one of the three West Vir- ginia Commissioners to the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. He was a trustee of Bethany College, and was an earnest member of the First Christian Church at Wheeling. He was a successful business man with high ideals of citizenship. At Marietta, Ohio, in 1868, he married Miss Anna Wen- delken. They were the parents of four sons: R. B., A. G., Joseph R. and Wilson.