Pendleton County, West Virginia Biography of Maj. John C. BOND 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 MAJ. JOHN C. BOND, state auditor of West Virginia, is a comparatively young man but with a record of activities that constitute real distinction. He began earning and paying his own way when a youth. He has been a teacher, newspaper editor and manager, and prior to his election as state auditor had served as adjutant general of West Virginia and is an ex-service man and officer of the World war. Major Bond was born in Pendleton County, West Virginia, in 1880, son of William H. and Rebecca (Judy) Bond. His grandfather, Capt. John S. Bond, was a native Pennsylvania, settled in Pendleton County in the early '50s, and during the Civil war was a captain of Home Guards. John C. Bond was reared on a farm, worked in the fields, in lumber mills, as a railroad brakeman, and in the meantime was acquiring his education in public schools and finally in the Fairmont State Normal from which he graduated in 1902. After teaching he took up newspaper work, became editor and general manager of the Fairmont Times, and left that city in 1907 to come to Charleston as editor and general manager of the Charleston Daily Mail. Giving up the heavy routine of this responsibility in 1909, he became a general correspondent and political writer, and became widely known for his knowledge of state politics and political personalities. In the meantime for several years Major Bond was active in the affairs of the National Guard. His first military experience came during the Spanish- American war of 1898, when he joined the First West Virginia Volunteer Infantry. In the National Guard his reputation was based his on his expert skill with the rifle. He represented the West Virginia National Guard in various rifle tournaments at Camp Perry, Ohio, Seagirt, New Jersey, and Jacksonville, Florida. In 1914 he was appointed adjutant general of West Virginia, with the rank of brigadier general of the National Guard. As adjutant general it devolved upon him in 1916 to mobilize the National Guard for service on the Mexican border. Later, when the National Guard was mustered into the United States service, in April, 1917, he resigned and soon afterward was accepted for service in the National army with the rank of major. He was assigned to duty as assistant adjutant of the Thirty-eighth Division at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. There he was one of the three officers detailed by the War Department from the Thirty-eighth Division to attend the Army General Staff College, A. E. F., at Langres, France. He left for overseas on this assignment early in February, 1918. Major Bond graduated from this college with a diploma from the general staff recommending him for general staff duty with troops-the highest recommendation given by the general staff and most unusual honor for a soldier from civil life. He graduated May 29, 1918, and from that date was in constant service on the various battle fronts until the armistice. Major Bond was with the First Division in the Montdidier-Noyon sector, and was transferred about July 1st to the Thirty-fifth Division, on duty in Alsace, near the Swiss border. Later, with the same division, he engaged in the St. Mihiel drive, which was the American army's first major offensive, and subsequently was with the Thirty-fifth Division in the Meuse-Argonne battle. Major Bond's Victory Medal has four bars, indicating that he was engaged in three major offensive operations and one defensive. His defensive work was in the Somine-Dieu in Lorraine and in the Kruth sector in Alsace. Major Bond returned home early in 1919 and was discharged at Hoboken in February. He had devoted practically five years to the National Guard or National army service. He soon afterward became a clerk in the office of the secretary of state at Charleston, and early in 1920 announced his candidacy for the republican nomination for state auditor. He won this honor at the primaries and was elected in November, 1920. Major Bond is a man of military training, has the military habit of efficiency, knows West Virginia affairs and politics, and his skillful administration of the auditor's office so far has fully justified the confidence reposed by his election. He has one of the most important of the executive offices at the capitol, the state auditor having general supervision not only of state accounts in general but such special departments as that of fire marshal, sheriff, corporations, warrant, insurance, lands. Major Bond is a Scottish and York Rite Mason and Shriner, and is a member of the Methodist Church. He married Miss Blanche Hume, and they have a son, Paul Hume Bond.