Tyler County, West Virginia Biography of Walter Smith SUGDEN ************************************************************************** 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, , April 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 111-112 WALTER SMITH SUGDEN, after graduating in law, located at Sistersville, West Virginia, and in that rapidly grow- ing center of the oil industry is found abundant demands upon his professional talent. Mr. Sugden is associated as attorney or in other official relations with a number of the corporations that give distinction to Sistersville as a com- mercial center. Mr. Sugden was born at Amsterdam, New York, April 9, 1880. His father, James T. Sugden, a prominent New York manufacturer, was born in Yorkshire, England, Oc- tober 5, 1837, and was about twenty years of age when he came to the United States. In 1860 he established his home in Amsterdam, New York, where he had charge of the spinning department in carpet mills, and later became a manufacturer of knit underwear. He established and built up a very large industry of that kind at Amsterdam. He was in every way a most substantial citizen, giving liberally of his time and means to causes outside his im- mediate business. He was a member of the Board of Water Commissioners of the City of Amsterdam and su- pervised the building of the first city waterworks. He was resident and for twenty-two years member of the Board of Education. He was for forty-seven years a vestryman in St. Ann's Episcopal Church and was affiliated with Welcome Lodge of Masons. Although a resident of Amster- dam, at the time of his death, April 18, 1921, he was visit- ing in Sistersville. James T. Sugden married Elizabeth L. Smith, who was born at Thompsonville, Connecticut, De- cember 19, 1849, and is now living with her son in Sisters- ville. Walter S. is the oldest of her three children. The second, May, died at the age of eight years. Gilbert Taylor lives at Lockport, New York, and is president of Wester- man & Company, Incorporated, manufacturers of bar iron. Walter Smith Sugden attended the public schools of Amsterdam, graduating from high school in 1898. He prepared for university in Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, graduating in 1899, and then entered Har- vard University, where he graduated A. B. in 1903 and received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1906. Mr. Sugden took a prominent part in student activities, and most of the old followers of university football recall him as one of the star players for the Crimson and also selected as one of the "All-American team." While in university he was a member of the Institute of 1770, a sophomore club, the Dickey Club, the Hasty Pudding Club, and Theta Nu Epsilon. Mr. Sugden removed to Sistersville, West Virginia, in 1906. He had other interests to engage him for a time, and on January 12, 1910, was admitted to the bar and has since been active in a law practice, largely in corpo- ration law. He is a member of the law firm of Kimball & Sugden, formed in 1910. This firm is chief counsel for Petroleum Exploration, organized under the laws of the State of Maine, with headquarters at Sistersville; for the Wiser Oil Company of Sistersville, Amity Gasoline Com- pany of Sistersville, Western Petroleum Exploration of Sistersville. The firm is local counsel for the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company, the American Oil Development Company of Pittsburgh, the Barnsdall Corporation of New York City, and are attorneys for the First Tyler Bank & Trust Company of Sistersville. The offices of the firm are in the Thistle Building. Mr. Sugden is individually a vice president of the Agnew Torpedo Company, Columbia Oil Company of West Vir- ginia, secretary of the Oil Review Publishing Company of Sistersville, and a director of the Wiser Oil Company, Amity Gasoline Company, Petroleum Exploration, and First Tyler Bank & Trust Company. He votes as a republican and was a delegate from the Fourth Congressional District to the National Convention in Chicago in 1912. He has served the past four years as city attorney of Sistersville. Mr. Sugden is registrar and a vestryman in St. Paul's Episcopal Church; is a member of Phoenix Lodge No. 73, A. F. and A. M.; Sisters- ville Chapter No. 27, R. A. M.; Mountain State Com- mandery No. 14, K. T.; West Virginia Consistory No. 1 at Wheeling; and is a past potentate of Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling. He is also a member of Sistersville Lodge No. 333, Benevolent and Protective Or- der of Elks, and the Kiwanis Club. Mr. Sugden had lit- tle time to devote to profession or business affairs during the war, since he was an associate member of the Legal Advisory Board of Tyler County, a Four Minute Speaker, chief of the Tyler County Division of the American Pro- tective League and chairman of the Publicity Committee for the County Chapter of the Red Cross. In 1916, at New Matamoras, Ohio, Mr. Sugden married Miss Rachel E. Hutchison, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John M. Hutchison, residents of Monroe County, that state, where her father is a farmer and farm owner. Mrs. Sug- den, who died in 1918 at Sistersville, is survived by one daughter, Elizabeth Jane, born January 21, 1918.