Taylor County, West Virginia Biography of DANIEL L. LARUE 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. 634 DANIEL L. LARUE has been a vigorous factor in the com- mercial enterprise of Grafton for the past twenty years. In that time he has improved his opportunity and advanced himself from driver for an express company to the proprietor- ship of the Excelsior Mantel Company, owns a fine plant for the manufacture of sash, doors and interior finish, and is a wholesaler and retailer of lumber and builders' supplies. He was born on a Taylor County farm, but close to the line of Preston County, April 26, 1884. His grandfather was William Larue, a first cousin of Rolando and Hiram Larue, venerable business men of Kingwood and Independ- ence, respectively. Scott Larue, father of the Grafton busi- ness man, was a native of Preston County, and for many years conducted his farm five miles east of Independence and also carried on coal mining. He died in 1903, at the age of fifty-six. His wife, Lutitia Wolfe, represented one of the oldest families of Preston County, being a daughter of Eugenius Wolfe. She is still living on a farm near Newburg. Of her eleven children mention is made as fol- lows: Ida, now deceased; Annie, wife of Clarence Chidester, of Newburg; Daniel Lyman; Gilbert, of Newburg; William E., Oscar, Leland and a twin sister; Lora, of Fellowsville; Mrs. Cora McDaniel, of Newburg; and Effie. Daniel L. Larue grew up on Maple Run in Taylor County and was a farm boy until past his eighteenth birthday. He was educated in the public schools, and after coming to Grafton in 1902 he spent a year in the service of the express company as delivery man. He then transferred to the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, first as shipping clerk, and then as M. & W. storekeeper. During the eight years he was in the railroad company's service he saved his wages, paid for a home, and accumulated a very modest capi- tal to start him in business for himself. This was the buying and selling of wood mantels. At the start he rented a space 15 by 40 feet from the Grafton Feed and Storage Company, but in time he took over an entire four-story building, 80 by 100 feet, on Latrobe Street. In this was installed the machinery for the manufacture of mantles, sash and doors, interior finish and others builders' supplies. Five years later he moved to his present quarters at 8 Latrobe Street, where he occupies a five-story building with thirty-five thou- sand square feet of space. At 914 Main and 930 Main he also has lumberyards, and his facilities are now adequate for all branches of his manufacturing, wholesale and retail business. He carries everything needed for the construction of a building from foundation to gable, including paints and Reznor stoves. Among important contracts for which he has furnished materials were those for the erection of the Newburg High School, the J. N. Building at Fairmont, and high schools at Barricksville and Bridgeport, the fair ground at Clarksburg, the Adamson High School, and the Jacksonville, Smithfield, Littleton and Middlebourne High Schools. At the start Mr. Larue had only three employes. In January, 1922, perhaps the lowest point in a dull period, his force of helpers numbered twenty-four. Mr. Larue is also a stockholder and director in the South- ern Window Glass Company of Grafton, and has an interest in a similar industry at Wheeling. He is an influential member of the Chamber of Commerce, is a republican, and outside of home and business has cultivated few interests. In Taylor County, October 6, 1906, he married Miss Fonda Ford, daughter of W. P. and Jane (Smith) Ford. She was born at West Union, West Virginia, and finished her education in the college at Salem, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Larue have two sons, Ralph and Donald.