Randolph County, West Virginia Biography of HON. JAMES WESTON WEIR This file 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. 537 Randolph HON. JAMES WESTON WEIR. In journalistic circles, political activities and public life in Randolph County there are few names that are better known than that of Hon. James Weston Weir, His career has been one in which he has won honors in several fields of endeavor, and he is now the editor and publisher of the Randolph Review at Elkins, and one of the most prominent and influential democrats in his section of the state. James Weston Weir was born at New Brunswick, New Jersey, March 12, 1882, and is a son of Silas E. and May (Frothingham) Weir. On the paternal side he is of Scotch- Irish descent and on the maternal side of English ancestry. His father was born at Germantown, Pennsylvania, and by profession was a civil engineer. For a time he was assistant engineer for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, and after- ward chief engineer for the old West Virginia Central Railroad, now a part of the Western Maryland system, and the occasion of his locating at Elkins in 1896 was in con- nection with his duties in the latter position. About two years after his arrival at Elkins he died, when only forty- five years of age. He married .at Camden, New Jersey, May Frothingham, who survives him as a resident of Wash- ington, D. C. The place of residence of the family changed frequently during the youth of James Weston Weir, owing to the nature of his father's vocation, but during the winter months the family lived at Washington, D. C., where the lad attended the public schools, which included one year in high school. He had just reached his majority, in 1903, when he accepted a position on the editorial staff of the Wheeling Intelligencer as a reporter, and during a part of 1904 held a like position on the Columbus (Ohio) Evening Dispatch. Returning to Wheeling, he became assistant secretary of the State Board of Trade, but about a year later returned to journalism as editor of the Randolph Enterprise at Elkins. This position he held until 1911. In the meantime, in 1908, he had been elected to the State Legislature, and served one term in the House of Delegates. In the spring of 1911 he became secretary to United States Senator C. W. Watson, of Fairmont, a position which he held for two years, Senator Watson having been elected to fill an unexpired term of that duration. In 1913 Mr. Weir established the Randolph Review, a weekly newspaper, which he has since edited and published. He was again elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1914, and two years later was re- elected to succeed himself in that office, but resigned in March, 1917, to become the private secretary of Governor Cornwell, a position which he held during the four years of that executive's administration. In May, 1921, he was chosen field secretary for the West Virginia Publishers and Employing Printers Association, a post which he still retains. Mr. Weir is a Chapter degree Mason and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He belongs also to the Rotary Club of Elkins and the Chamber of Commerce, and his religious affiliation is with the Presby- terian Church. In 1909 he married Miss Vie Harding, the youngest daughter of the late Maj. Joseph French Harding. Major Harding was born in Anne Arundel County, Mary- land, November 9, 1838, a son of Joseph and Alice (Elliott) Harding, and died in 1919, at Elkins, West Virginia. At the outbreak of the war between the states. Major Harding entered the service of the Confederacy and served gallantly until the close of that struggle, rising to the rank of major and being named for promotion to colonel just before the close of hostilities. After the war he took up the life of a civilian and became one of the prominent and influential men of his community. He served two terms in the West Virginia Legislature as representative from Randolph and Tucker counties, won distinction as a member of the Con- stitutional Convention of 1872 and was sheriff of Randolph County from 1877 to 1881. In 1885 he commenced the practice of law at Elkins, having as his partner his son Clare W. Harding, who afterward served two terms as county prosecuting attorney. His other children were: French Leslie, now manager of the Randolph Review; Luceba M.; Roella; Jo L., and Vie, the wife of Hon. James W. Weir. The mother of these children was formerly Miss Luceba Wilmoth, of Randolph County, this state.