Tyler County, West Virginia Biography of Charles Lester BROADWATER ************************************************************************** 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 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 35 CHARLES LESTER BROADWATER is one of the most prom- inent figures in the educational affairs of West Virginia today. He is a comparatively young man, now in the prime of his usefulness, and has been teaching and engaged in edu- cational administration for twenty years. Mr. Broadwater, who is principal of the Tyler County High School at Middlebourne, was born near Harrisville in Ritchie County, West Virginia, September 26, 1883. The Broadwaters are an old Colonial Virginia family, coming from Broadwater Parish, Sussex County, England, about 1630. The first immigrant, Charles Broadwater, who received a patent of 40,000 acres of land in Virginia, brought over a shipload of immigrants. His patent is on record at Rich- mond, Virginia. In 1754 one Charles Broadwater furnished a horse for the Braddock campaign. This same Charles was elected vestryman in the Episcopal Church and at the same time that George Washington was elected to a like office, 1765. The vote is recorded in the Episcopal History of Virginia for twelve vestrymen, Washington being fifth with 265 votes, and Charles Broadwater being sixth, with 254 votes. Mr. Broadwater is represented by ancestors in the Revolution and the War of 1812. The great-grandfather of Charles L. Broadwater served at the defense of Fort Mc- Henry when the British attacked it in 1814. He emigrated from Virginia to Western Maryland on account of dislike of slavery. He was the ancestor of the West Virginia Broad- waters. His grandfather was Peter Broadwater, who was born in Garrett County, Maryland, in 1823, and as a young man moved to Ritchie County, West Virginia, where he married and became a farmer. He was accompanied by two brothers, who also became West Virginia farmers, one, Jefferson, settling near Pennsboro, and the other, Ashford, on McKim Creek in Tyler County. The first wife of Peter Broadwater, who died near Harrisville in 1860, was Love Taylor, a lifelong resident of Ritchie County. His second wife, grandmother of Charles L. Broadwater, was Fannie Malone, who was born near Harrisville, the daughter of James Malone, at one time a representative in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Charles Broadwater, father of Charles L., was born near Harrisville October 27, 1857, and has spent all is life in that community, an industrious and respected farmer. He is still on his farm between Harrisville and EIlenboro. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a republican in politics. Charles Broadwater married Miss Eliza Wagner, who was born near Harrisville and died in 1887. Her two children were: Charles L. and Ellis A. The latter was born in 1885 and died on the homestead farm in 1907. The second wife of Charles Broadwater was Emily B. Patton, a native of Ritchie County, where she died in 1901. She was the mother of four children, the oldest being Jennie, wife of J. Fred Starr, a painter and carpenter at Harrisville. The second, Hayward S., now in the hardware business at Mannington, was a non-commissioned officer in the Intelligence Service of the Three Hundred and Twentieth Infantry, Eightieth, or Blue Ridge, Division, spending a year in France, and took part in the battle of Arras with the English and in the St. Mihiel and Argonne campaigns. He was also a sharpshooter, and was mustered out with the rank of corporal. The third child, Fannie, is the wife of George Moore, a farmer near Harrisville, and Bernard B. now lives with his father. Charles Broadwater in 1904 married for his third wife Miss Lizzie Maxwell, a native of Preston County. Charles Lester Broadwater spent his youth on his father's farm and his early advantages were supplied by the rural schools of Ritchie County. In 1907 he graduated in the academic and normal courses from Marshall College at Huntington, paying his expenses through Marshall College and through his subsequent university career by his own earnings. In 1913 he received his A. B. degree from West Virginia University, and was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity there. He was also president of the senior class. Later, by several terms of residence study, Mr. Broadwater won the Master of Arts degree from Columbia University of New York City in 1918. He taught his first school at Smithville in Ritchie County in 1900. For four years he was in rural school work in Ritchie County, and from 1907 to 1911 was principal of the high school of New Martinsville, and from 1913 to 1918 was principal of the Mannington High School. Mr. Broadwater has been principal of the Tyler County High School since 1918. This is a high school of the first class, has a teaching staff of eleven, and a scholarship enrollment of 193. Mr. Broadwater's unusual qualifications were strongly urged during his candidacy for the republican nomination for state superintendent of schools in 1920. He is a mem- ber of the National Education Association and the State Education Association. He is president of the Northwestern Teachers Association of West Virginia, 1921-22. During the World war Mr. Broadwater was chairman of the Speakers Bureau of the western end of Marion County, chairman of the Four Minute men of Mannington, and employed all his personal talents to support the Government and the local campaigns for the various causes. He is a republican, a member of the Official Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Middlebourne, and since 1911 has been a member of Wetzel Lodge No. 39, A. F. and A. M., at New Martinsville. He is also a member and was manager in 1913, of the West Virginia University Dramatic Club. August 23, 1913, at New Martinsville, he married Miss Helen V. Williams, daughter of Evan A. and Emma (Moore) Williams, residents of Middlebourne, where her father is a dairyman. Mr. and Mrs. Broadwater have three children: Charles L., Jr., born November 26, 1914; Daniel W., born May 9, 1917; and Eugene S., born December 7, 1918.