Upshur County, West Virginia Biography of OSCAR B. BEER., M. D. 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. 435 Upshur OSCAR B. BEER., M. D., who is established in the suc- cessful practice of his profession at Buckhannon, the ju- dicial center of his native county of Upshur, has definite prestige as one of the representative physicians and sur- geons of this section of the state, and in his practice he specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Doctor Beer has been en- gaged in practice for a quarter of a century, and was one of the successful physicians and surgeons who represented West Virginia in the Medical Corps of the United States Army in the period of the late World war. Doctor Beer was born on a farm in Upshur County, March 4, 1870, and is a son of George W. and Mary (Tay- lor) Beer. George W. Beer was born in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, in 1847, and was a lad of fifteen years when he enlisted for service as a Union soldier in the Civil war, in which he made a record of loyal and effective service. In the schools of the old Keystone State he received a liberal education, and he gained a splendid record of fifty- three years of effective service as a teacher in the rural schools, West Virginia. He has long been numbered among the substantial farmers of Upshur County, and still gives his attention to teaching school during the winter terms. Mr. Beer is a stanch republican, is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic, and he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. They have nine children, of whom Doctor Beer of this sketch is the eldest; A. W. is a progressive farmer in Upshur County; Blanche, a graduate of the West Virginia Wesleyan College, became a successful teacher in the pub- lic schools and is now the wife of W. I. Conley, of Upshur County; Pearl is the wife of Stark Kittle, and they re- side near Belington, Barbour County; Essie, formerly a popular teacher, is the wife of E. R. Smith; Myrtle like- wise is married and remains a resident of this state, as does also Mrs. Dorothy Greer; Gypsy is the wife of Guy Holderman; and Mamie is the wife of O. Tallman. Dr. Oscar B. Beer passed the period of his childhood and early youth on the old home farm, and his educational advantages in the meanwhile were those of the public schools. He had become a successful teacher in the rural schools prior to entering the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, where he effectively supplemented his academic education. In 1896 he graduated from the Amer- icus Medical College in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, and since receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he has been continuously engaged in the work of his pro- fession. In addition to controlling at Buckhannon a large and representative private practice the doctor also con- ducts a well equipped sanitarium in this city, where he has the best of facilities for the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, in which he specializes, as previously stated. When the nation became involved in the great World war Doctor Beer promptly enlisted in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, and was soon commissioned a captain in the same. He continued in the service three months, during the greater part of which period he was stationed at the base hospital in Greenville, South Caro- lina. He is vice senior commander of the post of the American Legion at Buckhannon, and is the oldest mem- ber of the Legion in Upshur County. The doctor holds membership in the Upshur County Medical Society, the West Virginia State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is past chancellor of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and is a trustee of the Presbyterian Church in his home city. Doctor Beer is a progressive and liberal citizen, is president of the Curt- right-Sharp Window Shade Company, one of the leading industrial concerns of Buckhannon, and is a stockholder in the Buckhannon light and water plant. December 29, 1895, recorded the marriage of Doctor Beer and Miss Ada Sexton, and they have one son, Sexton, who was born in 1898.