Pendleton County, West Virginia Biography of Joseph H. SMITH ************************************************************************** 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 Vivian Brinker , March 2000 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II. pg. 187 JOSEPH H. SMITH. Prominent among the progressive and deservedly- successful representatives of the business interests of Petersburg is Joseph H. Smith, manager of the Kenneweg Wholesale Grocery House. He is primarily a business man, with few outside connections, but has always found time to interest himself in the welfare of his community and has been a supporter of worthy enterprises looking to the advancement and development of his section. Mr. Smith is a native son of West Virginia, and was born November 17, 1873, in Franklin District, Pendleton County, his parents being Harrison and Nancy E. (Nelson) Smith. His father was born in Highland County, Virginia, in 1836, and as a youth acquired the rudiments of an education in the country schools of his native county. Prior to the outbreak of hostilities in the war between the states Mr. Smith came over the mountains into West Virginia, and in Pendleton County he enlisted in the Sixty-first Regiment, Virginia Volunteer Infantry, in the Confederate army. He served and was honorably discharged with a splendid record for brave and faithful service. At the close of his military career he applied himself to agricultural pursuits in Franklin District, Pendleton County, and there continued his residence until his death, April 6, 1921, when he was eighty-five years of age. In politics he was a democrat, but had no public life. He was affiliated with the Church of the Brethren, and as a man of integrity and probity was held in high esteem in his community. Mr. Smith married Nancy E. Nelson, a daughter of Joseph W. and Jennie (Nelson) Nelson, the Nelsons also being West Virginia people who followed the pursuits of the soil as their vocation. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith there were born the following children: Palser C., a resident of Hinton, Virginia; W. J. of Ruddle, West Virginia; Mary J., who married C.B. Ruddle, of Harrisonburg, Virginia; Julia F., the wife of J.F. Hinkle, of Franklin, West Virginia; Joseph Harrison, of this review; and Jared B., of Ruddle, this state. Joseph Harrison Smith spent the first twenty-four years of his life in Pendleton County, where he acquired his educational training in the public schools, and before he came of age had taught two terms of school. When he was twenty-four years of age he left the parental roof and entered upon his independent career, his first choice of an occupation being that of farmer, as his early training had been along that line of endeavor. Soon Mr. Smith became manager of the stock ranch of G. Eston Harman, of Randolph County, West Virginia, a capacity in which he served for eight years. Butchering formed an important part of that enterprise, and during his stay there Mr. Smith butchered 6,000 head of cattle for the R.F. Whitman Lumber Company, in addition to the younger stock, including sheep and hogs, for the workmen in the lumber campus of the community. When Mr. Smith gave up ranch life he came to Petersburg, where he accepted employment as a clerk in the retail store of O.M. Smith, with whom he remained for three years. On May 1, 1917, he joined the Kenneweg Wholesale Grocery Company, as manager of the Petersburg branch house, and in this capacity has continued to the present time. This grocery branch of the parent concern was established at Petersburg in 1913, and its salesman cover Grant and Pendleton counties and a part of Hardy County. The business has enjoyed a substantial and significant growth during the managership of Mr. Smith, who is progressive and energetic, possessed of modern ideas and spirit and capable of attaining results from his well-directed and timely efforts. Aside from his immediate connection with this business Mr. Smith has few other connections, but was the moving spirit in the establishment of the Potomac Valley Bank of Petersburg. At the time of the organization of that institution the cashiership was urged upon him, but the honor was declined, although he has always been a stockholder in the concern. In political matters Mr. Smith has followed in his father's footsteps, and has always supported democratic policies and candidates for public office. He was a candidate for the office of assessor of Grant County in 1920, but lost to his opponent, Grant County being strongly republican in sentiment. As before noted, Mr. Smith has always proven himself a man of public spirit and civic pride, and has willingly supported beneficial movements of a civic, educational or religious character. During the World war he was a member of the Grant County Food Administration, and in this capacity did all in his power to assist in conserving food in order that the soldiers at the front might be well supplied with everything to keep up their physical strength and fighting morale. He did not overlook a single drive for funds to help in the success of American arms. Mr. Smith is without fraternal or club affiliations of any kind. On August 26, 1899, at Franklin, West Virginia, Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Ida M. Teter, who was born in Pendleton County, May 11, 1874, a daughter of George and Mary (Harman) Teter, the latter being a daughter of John Harman and a member of an old-established and well-known family of West Virginia. George Teter was born in Pendleton County, a son of Reuben Teter and a member of one of the oldest pioneer families of this section of the state. George Teter was a soldier of the Union during the war between the states, and went through that struggle without wounds, and with an excellent record. He is now aged seventy-seven years and a resident of Pendleton County, where he has passed an active life in agricultural pursuits. He and his worthy wife had five children: Mrs. Alice Robinson, Charles G., Dr. J.M., Oliver C. and Mrs. Ida M. Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have had the following children: Janet O., the wife of Justin J. Barger, of Petersburg, with one son Justin, Jr.,; Maysell, the wife of D.W. Mouse, of Pansy Grant County, with a daughter, Helen; and Robert T., who is a student at the Lutheran Academy, Petersburg.