Preston County, West Virginia Biography of LLOYD GEORGE BEERBOWER 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/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 551-552 Preston LLOYD GEORGE BEERBOWER. In the citizenship of Pres- ton County among other outstanding lives of usefulness devel- oped from humble childhood environment, one whose career is replete with victory, whether in the varied activities of business and professional engagements or in that social con- tact with his fellows which is an unfailing barometer of the soul within, is Dr. Lloyd George Beerbower, the efficient and capable dentist and the successful business man of Terra Alta. While the accident of birth makes him a native son of Pennsylvania, Doctor Beerbower's life interests have been associated with the people and the things of West Virginia, and what he is and what he has accomplished has been through inspiration received in this state. He was born just over the West Virginia line in Fayette County, June 2, 1877. His remote American ancestor was Philip Bierbauer, who with his brother Casper and a sister, who died at sea, left Germany early in 1700, and in 1732 they emigrated from Amsterdam and settled in Pennsylvania. Philip Bierbauer spent the rest of his life in York County. His son Philip moved into Preston County when this was a country still undelivered from the domain of the wilderness. He established his home at Glade Farm, where at the close of his life he was laid to rest. Among his numerous children was Philip, the third, who withstood the temptation to join his brothers and sisters in the West and spent his life where he married and reared his family. His thirteen sons and daughters were the ancestors of most of those of the name still living in this section. The oldest child of Philip the third was George S. Beerbower, who was born near the site of old Fort Morris in the Glade Farm community March 22, 1820, and died July 19, 1879. Hia first wife, Catherine DeBerry, was born April 8, 1818, and died March 18, 1857. Her children were: William D., who was a minister of the Lutheran Church; Silas; Allen; and Lydia, who married Milton Robinson. Saloma Laub, second wife of George S. Beerbower, was born March 24, 1840, and died January 19, 1896. Her children to reach mature years were: Martha J., who married J. Allen Reckard; Charles W.; Emma Alice, wife of T. L. Gribble; and Dr. Lloyd George, of Terra Alta. Lloyd George Beerbower was an infant when his father died. His training therefore fell to his mother, who had scanty means to provide for the necessities of her family. His married sister, Mrs. Reckard, exercised a Christian influence over the boy, and it is due to these two good women that he has achieved a large measure of success and good deeds. He and his brother Charles were long closely and intimately asso- ciated, and as boys they shared in the heavy labor of the farm and realized the value of economy and the necessity of per- sonal sacrifice. Both were endowed with capacity for larger things than their environment offered, but it required a teacher to develop this. About the time his father died Doctor Beerbower's parents returned to Glade Farm in Preston County and he remained there to the age of seventeen, getting the fundamentals of his education in the nearby school- house. About that time his mind was diverted from the com- monplace routine at home by Professor McGrew of Phila- delphia, who furnished the opportunity for delivery from the monotony of the farm by offering him a place in the crew of young men he headed selling Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. He soon developed the art of salesmanship, and in his expe- rience as a salesman through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vir- ginia and West Virginia acquired a really liberal education and the polish of a man of affairs. After returning he was induced by his brother Charles W. to join him in a selling campaign of their own. They equipped themselves with a wagon fitted for the work, sold Pilgrim's Progress by day and created interest in the book by giving stereopticon lectures at night. It was a program successfully and profitably carried out, and while they were making money they were also gaining an indispensable knowledge of the world and affairs. They quickly grasped the advantages of the learned over the un- learned, and while stimulating knowledge they also perfected themselves in that easy address which carries men through life. At the same time they were doing something more than a selfish service, since the literature they distributed brought enlightenment with it to those who craved knowledge. The next phase of progress of these two brothers was to fit themselves for teaching, and to that end they became pupils of the revered and accomplished historian and teacher, the late Samuel T. Wiley, who proved himself a firm friend of the brothers and placed them under lasting obligations for the wise counsel he gave as well as the knowledge he dispensed. Through that inspiration the brothers entered the Wesleyan College of West Virginia at Buckhanan, of which Dr. Beer- bower is now a member of the Board of Trustees. After an experience as a teacher George Beerbower accepted an offer to travel again, this time representing Underwood & Underwood of New York, selling stereoscopic views in the capacity of a general agent. Among the student body of various colleges, furnishing employment to many young men and women to earn money during their vacation period, to enable them to pay their way through college. In the meantime he had descended upon dental surgery as his proper vocation. In June, 1895, he graduated from dental college and during his summer vacations he had em- ployed his growing knowledge and skill among his friends and acquaintances at home. Before graduating he had de- cided to locate at Galveston, Texas, but he abandoned that idea and chose to settle in the little commercial metropolis of Preston County at Terra Alta, a community that has known him and esteemed him now for nearly thirty years. His dental offices are on the second floor of the Beerbower-Zeller Building, which he helped build in 1910. Doctor Beerbower is a charter member of the West Virginia Dental Society, has been constant in attending its meetings, has served on some of its important committees and in 1913 was chosen president of the society. In July, 1911, Governor Glasscock appointed him a member of the Board of Dental Examiners. Doctor Beerbower is also president of the Terra Alta Light Company, president of the Terra Alta Development Company, a corporation for the promotion of the city's growth, is a director of the Terra Alta Bank and member of its Finance Board, and is cashier of the Preston Republican Publishing Company. His ancestors were Lutherans, but Doctor Beerbower is a Methodist, faithful in attendance and for several years was superintendent of the Sunday School. He is a Knight of Pythias, a past master of his Masonic Lodge, is present high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter, and in politics is a republi- can, with independent leanings in local affairs. He has been three times mayor of Terra Alta, and served four years on the Board of Education of Portland District. June 28, 1906, Doctor Beerbower married Mary Elizabeth Stafford, daughter of William E. and Mary (Shahan) Staf- ford. Her father was a Union soldier in the Civil war, and the Staffords and Shahans were early represented in the settlement of Monongalia and Preston counties. Mrs. Beer- bower finished her education in a preparatory school at Key- ser, and was a teacher until her marriage. Doctor and Mrs. Beerbower have two sons: Albert Stafford, born April 9, 1909; and Fred Vance, born July 30, 1912.