Putnam County, West Virginia Biography of THOMAS EDGAR KIRTLEY 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 III, pg. 568 Putnam THOMAS EDGAR KIRTLEY, is general office manager of Kirtley & Company, a firm which has developed an extensive business in the drilling of oil and gas wells in Lincoln and Putnam counties, the offices of the concern being at 1415-16 Miller-Ritter Building in the City of Huntington. The firm was organized in 1907, and the three Kirtley brothers, Thomas E., Wade Hampton and John William, are the principals who constitute the organization. Thomas E. Kirtley was born at Hurricane, Putnam County, this state, on the 28th of December, 1879, and is a son of Malhom Simms Kirtley, who was horn in Vir- ginia, August 16, 1838, and who died at Hurricane, Putnam County, August 18, 1881. Captain Malhoun S. Kirtley lived a life of signal activity and usefulness, he having been in earlier days a successful teacher, and having also served as county superintendent of schools in Putnam county, as well as county engineer. He also became one of the progressive farmers of that county, where he resided from the time of his marriage until his death. He was a captain in the Confederate service in the Civil war, 1861 to 1865, was a staunch democrat, was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife were members of the Baptist Church. He represented Putnam County in the State Senate for two terms, one at Wheeling and one at Charleston. Mrs. Kirtley, whose maiden name was Edna Frances Dudding, was born at Winfleld, Pntnam County, October 11, 1840, and her death occurred at Hurricane, that county, December 1, 1919; Jeanette, eldest of their child- ren, was born November 7, 1861, and died December 31, 1917. She was the wife of Thomas H. Harbour, and both died. in Putnam County, where he was a fanner. Woodville, born in 1864, is a merchant at Hurricane. He married Sallie Wingfield, and has two boys and three girls, all living. Della, born December 18, 1866, is the wife of William C. Ely, a retired farmer, and they reside at Huntington. Sallie, born December 28, 1869, married and removed with her husband, William Slagle, to Lafayette, Indiana, where her death occurred October 21, 1892. Wade Hampton, born December 12, 1873, is a member of the firm of Kirtley & Company, and resides at Hurricane and has active charge of the firm's drilling operations, the firm as contractors having developed a very extensive busi- ness. He is also manager of the Sovereign Gas Company and vice president of the Hurricane National Bank. Mary Alva, born in 1874, the wife of Thomas H. Garrett, died at Huntington, December 18, 1921. Her husband is still a resident of this city. John William, born July 14, 1877, of the firm of Kirtley & Company, resides at Huntington and has extensive oil and gas interests. Thomas E., of this review, is the youngest of the children. In the pubilc schools of Hurricane Thomas E. Kirtley con- tinued his studies until he was eighteen years old, and he then learned telegraphy, which he made a vocation two years in the service of the Coal & Coke Railroad, with headquarters at Charleston. Thereafter he served one year as brakeman and one year as freight conductor with this railroad, and he next passed two years as brakeman and conductor with the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Rail- road, with headquarters at Dayton, Ohio. He then entered the service of the Kanawha & West Virginia Railroad, and after serving three years as passenger-train conductor he held for two years the position of trainmaster. He was then advanced to the office of superintendent of transportation with the same road, with headquarters at Charleston. He retained this position until October, 1916, when he came to Huntington and assumed his present position as office manager of the firm of Kirtley & Company, of which he had been one of the organizers in 1907. He is a director of the Sovereign Gas Company and also of the Huntington Oklahoma Oil Company, which is operating in the states of Oklahoma and Kentucky. He is a stockholder in the Hurricane National Bank and in several successful oil and gas companies operating in the West Virginia fields. Mr. Kirtley is a staunch advocate of the principles of the democratic party, and in the Masonic fraternity is affiliated with Clendenin Lodge No. 126, A. F. and A. M., at Clendenin, Kanawha County, and the Temple of the Mystic Shrine in the City of Charleston, besides which he is a member of Huntington Lodge No. 313, B. P. O. E. He owns his attractive home property at 21 West Fourth Avenue, as well as other real estate in Huntington. September 26, 1907, recorded the marriage of Mr. Kirtley and Miss Hazel Della Fitzwater, daughter of Albert Filz- water, who died at Huntington, where his widow still re- sides, he having here been a carpenter and contractor. Camelia Eloise, only child of Mr. and Mrs. Kirtley, died at the age of two months.