Preston County, West Virginia Biography: George Barton LARUE ************************************************************************** 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 Valerie Crook, , March 2000 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 363 GEORGE BARTON LARUE, who represents one of the pioneer families of Preston County, has devoted more than twenty years of his life to a varied service as a miner and mining operator, railroad man, and is now mine foreman of the LaRue By-Products Company of Kingwood. He was born at Irontown in Taylor County, West Vir- ginia, March 9, 1879, son of Rolando S. and Mary Melissa LaRue, both of whom trace their lineage into the Revolu- tionary history of America. His father has for many years been a prominent coal operator in West Virginia. George Barton LaRue spent most of his boyhood at Newburg, where he attended the public schools. When only ten years of age he was acquiring a knowledge of coal mining, though not on the pay roll, under his uncles at the mines on Scotch Hill. When fifteen he began driving a mule in a coal mine, and the following year was pro- moted to the responsibilities of miner. He dug coal for three years for the Merchants Coal Company at Tunnelton, and for his father's company at West End. In the meantime Mr. LaRue spent almost a year in the army as a volunteer at the time of the Spanish-American war. He enlisted at Fairmont as a recruit, joined his regiment, the First West Virginia, Company H, at Chicka- mauga Park, and was in training there and at Knoxville and finally at Columbua, Georgia, whore he received his honorable discharge. After leaving the army Mr. LaRue decided to abandon mining and become a railroad man. He went into the service of the Baltimore & Ohio in the Cumberland Division, and for six years was a fireman and for eight years an engineer. Thus fourteen years of his active career were spent in railroad service. He then resumed mining in the employ of the Consolidated Coal Company of Fairmont, but after a few months joined the newly organized LaRue By-Products Company. He opened a new mine on the West Virginia Northern Railway at Tunnelton for this company, and also became financially interested in its operation. The first two years he was assistant foreman under his father, and then succeeded his father as foreman of the mines. The LaRue By-Products Company Mine was operated steadily and continuously until March 23, 1921, when the general business depression caused its shutdown. Mr. LaRue is a stockholder in the Preston Power Coal Company, now the Lick Run Collieries, at Trowbridge. He is a republican in politics, and voted for President McKinley in 1900. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Loyal Order of Moose. At Austen in Preston County June 7, 1899, Mr. LaRue married Hallie Paugh, who was born in Preston County in August, 1879. She is eligible to membership in the Daugh- ters of the American Revolution. Her soldier ancestor was John Hoffman, who was born in Berks County, Penn- sylvania, in 1741 and died in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, about 1790. He married Sarah Godwin, and their chil- dren were Mrs. Sarah Justine, Elizabeth, who became the wife of J. E. Howard, David and Philip. Philip Hoffman died in 1856. His son, Francis Marion, was born in Pres- ton County, West Virginia, and married Tena Shahan, and he and his wife now lie in the Mount Zion Cemetery in that county. Francis M. Hoffman was a soldier in the Civil war and lost a leg in the service. By his first mar- riage there were six children, one of whom was Mrs. La- Rue's mother, Charity E. Hoffman. She was married to Archibald P. Paugh, who was born near Deer Park, Mary- land, at the age of twenty came to Preston County, and during his active career was employed as a worker on public works. He died September 29, 1919, while Mrs. LaRue's mother now lives at St. Clairsville, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Paugh had the following children: Wilbert H., of Grafton; Mrs. Hallie M. LaRue; Goldie M., who died as the wife of Dr. George C. Howard; Waymon W., of Warren, Ohio; Ethel, wife of John Hall, of St. Clairsville, Ohio; Dessie E., wife of William E. Freeman, of St. Clairsville; Lester H., of Youngstown, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. LaRue have two children. Esther M. is now in the junior class of Goucher College at Baltimore. The son, George William, is a student in West Virginia Wesleyan College at Buckhannon.