Preston County WV Archives Biographies.....Fortney, Neil J. March 20, 1851 - October 7, 1923
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Connie Burkett MarionWVusgwArch@gmail.com January 13, 2011, 2:43 am

Source: A History of Preston County West Virginia; The Journal Publishing Company, Kingwood W.Va. 1914
Author: by J. R. Cole

Pages 586-588, Neil J. Fortney, (1849-1923)

HON. NEIL J. FORTNEY.

The subject of our sketch, Hon. Neil J. Fortney, was born near Independence,
Preston county, November 22, 1849. He was the youngest son of the family of ten
children of David H. and Angelina S. Fortney.

Mr. Fortney, who ranks among the leading lawyers of our state, is of French
descent on the paternal side, and German on the maternal side. His grandfather,
Daniel Fortney, a native of France, came to this country about the year 1780,
and settled in Frederick county, Maryland, and from there removed to Preston
county about the year 1796.

Mr. Fortney's early education was received at Independence, Preston county, and
he removed with his parents to Indianola, Iowa, in 1865, at which place he
attended the public schools for two years. He then took a three-year course at
Simpson Centenary College of that place.

Leaving Iowa in 1872, he spent some time in traveling over Western and
Northwestern states and territories, engaged in school teaching and other
employments, and among them, in order to develop a rugged and necessary stock of
muscle, spent some time on the "river craft" of the Missouri River.

It is plain to see that Mr. Fortney is thoroughly familiar with life in
practically all its various conditions.

Finally his native state and county appealed to him, so in 1873 he returned to
Independence, near where he was born and had spent his early youth, decided upon
entering the practice of law, and during his studies taught school and also
clerked in stores. In 1877 he was appointed deputy clerk of the county court of
Preston, which place he filled for two years; then in 1897, having passed
examination before the Supreme Court of Appeals of the state, he was admitted to
the bar.

One year later he was elected prosecuting attorney of Preston county, in which
position he served well nigh continuously for twenty years. By display of great
ability and the exercise of the most careful attention to the needs of the
people of his county, coupled with absolute fairness in the discharge of his
duties, he became and continued to be very popular as an officer, but
voluntarily declined to offer himself for re-election, and since then has
devoted all his ability and energy exclusively to the practice of his profession.

Combining the alert and constructive quality of mind, peculiarly belonging to
the French, with the certain and compact reasoning of the German, endows him
with ready ability in digesting matters of law and fact, and true discernment of
equity. His possession of these qualities, together with his untarnished record
for honesty and fairness in his long practice as an attorney was so well known
among the representative citizens of the Judicial Circuit now composed of
Preston and Taylor counties, that it resulted in securing him a most flattering
plurality for nomination for the office of Judge of the circuit at the
Republican primary election which was held in the two counties on June 4, 1912
over two other very popular competitors, one of therm being a resident of his
own (Preston) county, and was elected by a handsome majority, and at the regular
election in the following November was elected Judge by the next largest
majority obtained by any of the Judges of the state.

Mr. Fortney took up his residence in Kingwood in 1874, and on June 3, 1879, was
married to Alice Edna Godwin, daughter of Captain Joseph M. Godwin of Kingwood,
and they have one son, L. Vernon, living.

Additional Comments:
- - - - -
Death Certificate, Preston County WV #13993
Full-name: Neil J. Fortney
Date-of-birth: 22-Mar-1851 in Preston County WV
Date-of-death: 7-Oct-1923 in Kingwood, Preston County WV
Marital-status: married
Father: David Fortney (born in Preston Co.)
Mother: Leila Zinn (born in Preston Co.)
Place-of-burial: Kingwood Cemetery

Death Certificate, Monroe County WV #12162
Full-name: Alice E. Fortney
Date-of-birth: 3-Jun-1864 in Rowlesburg, Preston, WV
Date-of-death: 3-Oct-1945 in Sweet Springs, Monroe WV
Marital-status: widow of Neal Fortney
Father: Joseph M. Goodwin (born in Barbour Co. WV)
Mother: Sarah Stone (born in Preston Co. WV)
Place-of-burial: Kingwood Cemetery


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