Pocahontas County, West Virginia Biography of EDGAR H. WILLIAMS This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, 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/pocahont.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 538-539 Pocahontas EDGAR H. WILLIAMS. Among the men of business im- portance in Pocahontas County perhaps none are better known than is Edgar H. Williams, of Marlinton, civil en- gineer, lumber merchant and farmer, and formerly county surveyor. Mr. Williams has been a life-long resident of Pocahontas County, and on the maternal side is of Revolu- tionary stock and a descendant of one of the earliest settlers in this section. Edgar H. Williams was born four miles north of Edray, West Virginia, October 18, 1884, the youngest of a family of four children born to Dr. Richard and Hannah (Sharp) Williams. His father died when he was young and he was reared by his maternal grandfather, Alexander Sharp, who was a son of William Sharp II and a grandson of William Sharp, who settled in what is now Pocahontas County in 1773. Later he served as a soldier and scout in the Revo- lutionary war. He married Mary Meeks, and they had sev- eral daughters and two sons, John and William. William Sharp II married Elizabeth Waddell, and one of their four- teen children was named Alexander. He married Mary Dilley, a daughter of Martin Dilley. They had but one daughter, Hannah, who became the wife of Dr. Richard Williams and the mother of Edgar H. Williams. Dr. Richard Williams was born in County Cork, Ireland. He graduated with the degree of M. D. from Dublin Uni- versity, where he also had high standing in the field of chemistry. He then entered the English army and saw service in India. In 1876 he came to the United States and established himself in the practice of medicine in the vicinity of Edray, West Virginia, and his practice soon ex- tended over a wide area. He became an American citizen, and his learning and sterling qualities made him a highly valued one. To his marriage with Hannah Sharp the fol- lowing children were born: Alexander Dennis, Mollie (Mrs. Benjamin Johnson), Lena (Mrs. Elmer Poage), and Edgar H. Alexander Dennis Williams is an ex-member of the State Legislature and a resident of Morgantown. He served six years as state road commissioner and is the author of the present State Road Law. Edgar H. Williams attended the public schools and spent one year at Marshall College. He studied civil engineering, and later served four years as county surveyor, but during the greater part of his life has been identified with the lumber business, in which he is largely interested at the present time. He also gives considerable attention to his farm of 100 acres, a valuable, well developed property, and he owns additionally a tract of ninety acres of grazing land. His various undertakings are profitably managed, and he is considered a business man of foresight and good judgment. Mr. Williams married, May 6, 1913, Miss Rose Poage, who belongs to an old Pocahontas County family and is a daugh- ter of John R. and Elizabeth (Sharp) Poage, of Poage's Lane, this county. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have two chil- dren: Edgar Moffett and Thelma Elizabeth. In political life Mr. Williams has always been identified with the re- publican party. He has long been interested in increasing the efficiency of the public schools and has been president of the Board of Education. He is now serving in his second year as a county commissioner. For many years he has been a member of the Masonic fraternity.