Pendleton County, West Virginia Biography of James Mason TETER, M.D. This file was submitted by Elizabeth Burns, 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 II, pg. 213-214 James Mason Teter, M.D. During more than a quarter of a century Dr. James Mason Teter has been identified with the medical profession of West Virginia and through the faithfulness of his labors and the high quality of his services has entrenched himself strongly in the confidence and esteem of those qualified to judge as to ability and fidelity. On more than one occasion he has worked self-sacrificeingly and successfully in combating serious epidemics and throughout his professional career has maintained a high standard of ethics and professional conduct. For four years his field of active usefulness has been the City of Petersburg and the surrounding community, where he is widely known and greatly respected. Doctor Teter was born in Union District, Pendleton County West Virginia, May 11, 1873, and is a son of George and Mary (Harman) Teter. Reuben Teter, the grandfather of Doctor Teter, was born in Union District, Pendleton County, where he became a large landowner and a man of influence and died at about the opening of the war between the states. He was a devout churchman. Mr. Teter married Miss Margaret McLaughlin, and they became the parents of the following children: Jehu, who spent his life as a farmer in Pendleton County, where his death occurred; Laban, who lived the life of an agriculturist in the same county and is buried there; Ruth, who married David Harman and passed her life in Grant County; John, who was a miller for a time at Harman, Randolph County, but died in Tucker County, this state; David K., who was a plain countryman and farmer and died in Pendleton County, a veteran of the Union Army during the war between the states, as was his elder brother John; Jennie, who married Job Davis and passed away in Tucker County; Rebecca, who became Mrs. B.F. Bennett of Tucker County; George, the father of Doctor Teter; Jacob, who is a farmer at Oldtown, Maryland; Bettie, who married Amos W. Bennett of Harman West Virginia and Rueben, a farmer of Tucker County West Virginia. George Terter was born in Union District, Pendleton County, January 3, 1846 and secured a fairly good education for his day and locality, being a teacher in young manhood for several years. During the war between the states he served as a member of the Home Guards and was a strong Union sympathizer. He is a republican in politics and was for a number of years one of the county commissioners of Pendleton County, where he now resides and where he has been engaged successfully in agricultural pursuits during his career. In 1866 he married Mary Hannah (Miller) Harman. The Harmans, like the Teters were among the first to settle in Pendleton County and all were rural people and identified with the farm. They were all Union sympathizers on the issues of the Civil War and none of them owned slaves. Mrs. Teter died in 1902 having been the mother of the following children: Alice, who is the wife of Isaac Robinson of Pendleton County; Charles G., of Riverton, that county, Oliver Cromwell, a farmer of the Mill Run District; Dr. James M. of this notice; and Ida, the wife of Joseph H. Smith of Petersburg. James Mason Teter grew to early manhood in the Mill Run District of Pendleton County where he secured further experience as a teacher of the German School in his home district, following which he took up the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. J.M. Sites of Upper Tract, with whom he studied for about a year. Being thus prepared for a college course, he entered the Lebanon Normal University for instruction in his chosen calling, and spent a year in that famous Holbrook school. He then returned to his home community and shortly thereafter went to Baltimore where he completed his medical course in the Baltimore Medical College, graduating April 22, 1896 with his cherished degree. On leaving that institution he sought about for a suitable location for practice and finally decided upon Macksville, Pendleton County where he spent two years. Subsequently he moved to Riverton in the same county, where he was identified with the practice of his calling for a period covering twenty years. In the fall of 1918 he first came to Grant County, where he has since been busily engaged in the general practice of medicine and surgery and where he has not only built up a large professional business, but has gained the confidence of the people and the good will and esteem of his fellow practitioners. While practicing at Riverton, Doctor Teter was called upon to combat a source of typhoid fever which inoculated that territory with germs carried from the river and made a winning fight, carrying the community through with but small loss of life. He reached Petersburg in time to assist in fighting the epidemic of Spanish influenza, which scourged the county so greatly in 1919 and fought it off with other doctors in 1919. Again, in 1921 he was called upon to act in the same capacity and in this year the loss of life was small. Doctor Teter was one of the promoters of the Potomac Valley Bank of Petersburg and a director thereof for some time. He is still a stockholder therein. With politics he has had little concern. He comes of a family of republicans, and his first presidential ballot was cast in favor of the presidential candidacy of Major McKinley, although two years before he had cast his first vote of importance when he supported Judge Dayton for a seat in Congress. He holds membership in the various organizations of his profession and as a fraternalist is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. His religious faith, like that of his parents, is that of the United Brethren Church. The work of wining the World war had a warm place in the hearts of both Doctor Teter and his wife, and both labored indefatigably and effectively, the former in a profession way and the latter as a member of the Red Cross Society. At Riverton, Pendleton County, August 1, 1898, Doctor was united in married with Miss Zadie Mauzy, who was born in Union District, Pendleton County, September 7, 1879, and educated in the public schools, a daughter of Jacob and Sarah E. (Teter) Mauzy, faming people of that county. Mr. and Mrs. Mauzy were the parents of the following children: Texie, who died as Mrs. George Harper; Zadie, who is Mrs. Teter; Hattie, who is unmarried and resides in Pendleton County; Wilbur, who died as a youth of sixteen years; Bessie, the wife of Wilbur Harper; Margie, who married Oscar Harper of Pasadena California; and Caddie, the wife of Billie Hines of Pendleton County. Three children have been born to Doctor and Mrs. Teter: Eva Lena of Huntington West Virginia who is a teacher of music; Elsie who was a victim of the influenza epidemic of 1918, dying at the age of seventeen years; and Macie, who is a student at the Lutheran Academy, Petersburg. ==== WV-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List ==== ********************************************************************** WV-FOOTSTEPS/USGENWEB NOTICE: These messages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. 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