Upshur County, West Virginia          Biography of J. RALPH DAWSON 

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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 437
Upshur

J. RALPH DAWSON has developed at Buckhannon, Up-
shur County, a substantial and prosperous underwriting
business as representative of the celebrated New York Life
Insurance Company, besides which he is here the secretary
of Oke Coal Company, the other officers of which corpora-
tion are as here noted: O. S. Talbott, president; W. M.
Minerd, vice president; and W. G. Talbott, treasurer.

Mr. Dawson was born in Harrison County, West Virginia,
on the 15th of October, 1892, and is a son of Homer E.
and Iona (Somerville) Dawson, both likewise natives of
Harrison County, where the former was born in 1866 and
the latter in 1869. The parents were reared and educated
in their native county, and there the father continued his
active operations as a farmer until 1912, when he re-
moved with his family to Buckhannon, he being the owner
of a well improved farm in Upshur County and three
valuable farm properties in Harrison County. Homer E.
Dawson is a democrat and is an active member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, as was also his wife, whose
death occurred in 1913. Of their nine children seven are
living, and of the number the subject of this sketch is the
eldest; Frank E., who was for eighteen months in the na-
tion's military service at the time of the World war, is
now in the employ of the National Supply Company in
the State of Kansas; Martha, a graduate of the Buckhan-
non High School, is the wife of Dr. A. C. Thrash, of Lost
Creek, Harrison County; Roscoe L. likewise represented
West Virginia as a soldier of the United States Army in
the World war period; and the three younger children,
Homer D., Clyde G. and Hazel, remain at the parental
home.

J. Ralph Dawson was reared on the farm to the age of
eighteen years, and in the meanwhile attended the public
schools of the locality. Thereafter he attended West Vir-
ginia Wesleyan College at Buckhannon until his gradua-
tion in the same. For four years he was engaged in the
merchant-tailoring industry at Buckhannon, and after sell-
ing this business he turned his attention to the life-insur-
ance business, in which he has met with unequivocal suc-
cess. He is a stanch supporter of the principles of the
republican party, is affiliated with Franklin Lodge No. 7,
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and also with the
Lodge of Perfection in the Scottish Rite of the fraternity.
Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episco-
pal Church.

April 22, 1916, recorded the marriage of Mr. Dawson and
Miss Lettie Matheney, and they are popular factors in
the social activities of their home city. They have no
children.