Roane County, West Virginia Biography of HOWARD LEE ROBEY 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. 545-546 Roane HOWARD LEE ROBEY, cashier of the Cabell County Bank of Huntington, West Virginia, who has devoted the greater part of a quarter of a century to banking, possesses all the technical, detailed knowledge of bank operations, and has proved equally able in the field of executive management. Mr. Robey was born in Roane County, West Virginia, December 30, 1876. His paternal ancestors were English and came to Maryland at the time of Lord Baltimore. His grandfather, Randolph Robey, born May 8, 1907, was a farmer in Marion and Roane counties, and he died while serving as a soldier in the Mexican war. His wife was Louisa Hardy, who was born March 13, 1806, and died in Roane County, West Virginia in 1887, She reared a family of four sons and four daughters, the only survivor being John Nelson Robey. John Nelson Robey was born in Marion County, June 23, 1841, and in 1844 his parents moved to Roane County, where he was reared and where he became an extensive farmer. As a young man he enlisted in the Confederate Army, in the Thirty-seventh Virginia Infantry, and served until the end of that conflict. While he lives with his son Hamond H. in Spencer, West Virginia, he still owns and gives more or less active supervision to his farm five miles west of that town. While buying his farm and rearing his children he supplemented his income by teaching in some of the old-time log-cabin schoolhouses of that period. He also held the office of justice of the peace. A large gas pump- ing station is located on his farm. He enjoys prosperity after several years of economic struggle to provide for his family. He is a democrat, and for forty-five years has been a member of Moriah Lodge No. 38, A. F. and A. M., Spencer, West Virginia. John Nelson Robey married America Howell, who was born in Roane County, January 23, 1853, and died June 12, 1883. Five children were born to them: Lillian M., born July 10, 1873, died July 28, 1919; Howard Lee; Fleet M., born November 21, 1878, assistant cashier of the Cabell County Bank of Huntington, West Virginia; Hamond H., born. February 24, 1881, proprietor of a chain of moving picture theatres at Spencer, West Virginia, where he lives, and at Ravenswood and St. Marys, West Virginia; and Olive J., born February 7, 1883, wife of J. Mell Schwender, cashier of the First National Bank of South Charleston, West Virginia. Howard Lee Robey acquired a rural school education in Roane County. At that time the terms of rural schools were for four months each year. These he attended regular- ly, and during the remainder of the year worked on the farm, continuing his studies under his father, who had formerly been a school teacher. At the age of fifteen he was awarded a teachers certificate, and taught school for four successive terms. At the age of nineteen he secured a po- sition as. bookkeeper in the Bank of Spencer, at Spencer, West Virginia, and in less than two years was made cashier, at that time being the youngest bank cashier in West Virginia. He remained with the Bank of Spencer until 1901, when he went to Point Pleasant, West Virginia and became a bookkeeper in the Merchants National Bank. A year later he returned to Roane County and organized the Bank of Reedy at Reedy, West Virginia, and served as cashier until the fall of the same year, when he received the nomination by the democratic party in a three cornered fight for the office of clerk of the County Court of Roane County. He was defeated in the republican landslide of that year, but had the satisfaction of leading his ticket by over two hundred votes. Mr. Robey then returned to the Merchants National Bank at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and in addition to his services with the bank, he was assistant secretary to two building and loan associations. In 1906 he joined with other Point Pleasant business men and associates in the organization of the Point Pleasant Trust Company. He became secretary-treasurer of the company, and at the same time held the office of treasurer of the Town of Point Pleasant. These duties engaged him until 1910, when, on acount [sic] of failing health, he concluded to farm for awhile and moved to his wife's farm at Maggie, West Virginia, where he remained for two years. Another year he sold life insurance, and then he located at Matewan, West Virginia, where he organized the Matewan National Bank, which institution was very successful from its be- ginning under the management of Mr. Robey as cashier. Mr. Robey had a desire to locate in Huntington, West Virginia, and when he read in the papers that the Central Banking Company had met with some difficulty in 1916 he got in communication with those interested, and after he had made careful investigation of its affairs he con- cluded he could "right the ship," and in a very short time arrangements were made for him to take charge of the institution. The name of the bank was changed to the Cabell County Bank on September 19, 1916, and its success is reflected in the rapid growth the bank has made since his connection with it, its resources having already passed the half million mark, and its continued growth is assured. The officers of the bank are: S. H. Bowman, president; M. Biederman, vice president; H. L. Robey, cashier; Kathryn L. Eobey, his wife, assistant cashier; and F. M. Robey, his brother, assistant cashier. The bank has a capital stock of $25,000; surplus of $5,000, and deposits of over $400,000. Those familiar with the history of this institution give the chief credit for its steadily growing prosperity to Mr. Robey and Mrs. Robey. The bank is located at the corner of Washington Avenue and Fourteenth Street. It has adopted the following slogan, "A good bank in a good part of the City." Mr. Robey is a past master of Minturn Lodge No. 19, A. F. and A. M., at Point Pleasant, West Virginia; is past recorder of Point Pleasant Chapter No. 7, R. A. M., was the first recorder of Franklin Commandery No. 17, Knights Templar, at Point Pleasant, and he still continues his mem- bership with the above bodies. He is also a member of Beni-Kedem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Charleston, West Virginia, and of Huntington Lodge of Perfection No. 4 of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Mr. Robey married at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, on December 7, 1907, Kathryn Long, daughter of Morgan Long and Mary Frances (Hogg) Long, two of the oldest and most distinguished families of Southern West Virginia. Mrs. Robey was educated by private teachers, and as noted above, is assistant cashier of the Cabell County Bank. She acquired her first experience in banking in the Matewan National Bank of Matewan, West Virginia, having entered the bank with Mr. Robey the day it opened for business, and she was soon promoted to the office of assistant cashier.