Upshur County, West Virginia Biography of HOMER M. HEAVNER This biography 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. 578 Upshur HOMER M. HEAVNER. The interesting history of the Heavner family during the first three generations in Amer- ica has been told in connection with the career of Capt. Jacob W. Heavner of Buckhannon. As noted there, one of the sons of the fourth generation was Jacob Heavner, who was born in Pendleton County, West Virginia, Febru- ary 7, 1801. On January 15, 1823, he married Mary Martin, daughter of Stephen and Catherine (Reger) Martin. Their children, all natives of Upshur County, were: Nathan, born April 8, 1824; Levina, born April 8, 1826; Edith, born November 8, 1829; Mary Etta, born May 7, 1832; Daniel D., born September 15, 1834; Sallie Ann, born June 19, 1836; Gideon Martin, whose record follows; John Props, born October 3, 1841; Jacob William, born January 13, 1844; Elias Marion, born January 9, 1846; and Stephen Osten, born September 26, 1848. Jacob Heavner, the father of these children, married for his second wife Lydia Ann Foster on September 13, 1860, and their children were: Charles Thomas, born November 21, 1862; Nicholas F., born July 1, 1864; and Philip Gay, born August 4, 1865. The third wife of Jacob Heavner was Sarah Brine, but there were no children by that union. Gideon Martin Heavner was born in Upshur County, April 12, 1839, and on February 15, 1858, married Barbara Ann Neff, daughter of Jacob and Mary (Brew) Neff. Their children were: Jacob LeRoy, born at Buekhannon, January 10, 1859; Homer Milroy, whose life history follows; Bertha Blanche, born July 31, 1873; and James G. G., born De- cember 23, 1875. Homer M. Heavner was born in Upshur County, October 19, 1860, was educated in public schools at Buckhannon, and learned from his father the trade of blacksmith. On leaving home in December, 1880, he worked at McKeesport, Penn- sylvania, with several industries, but in February, 1882, began work as a blacksmith with the construction force on the Grafton and Greenbrier Railroad, between Grafton and Philippi. From September of that year until August, 1885, he was a clerk in a drug store at Buckhannon, West Vir- ginia, then went to Hancock, Illinois, and worked on his uncle's farm, and in April, 1886, went to San Francisco, California. For several years following he had an interest- ing experience in the far West, most of the time engaged at his trade, and for several years was located at different points in Wyoming, and for a time was the blacksmith em- ployed in keeping the horses shod for the Northwestern Stage Company. In August, 1889, he returned to Buek- hannon, married there, and in April, 1890, took his bride to the Northwest and located at Helena, Montana. He re- mained in Montana, following his trade as blacksmith for some mining and irrigation companies and also for the Great Northern Railroad, until September, 1892, when he rejoined his wife at Buckhannon. He continued to live in that city for six or seven years, and in 1899 identified him- self with the newly opened oil field at Wolf Summit, West Virginia. In December, 1902, he bought a hotel business at Clarksburg, and for over fifteen years operated a hotel that had been serving the public of that city from 1845. The hotel permanently closed June 3, 1918, and since then Homer M. Heavner has been in the real estate, coal, oil and gas land business. He is a Methodist and a republican. He married Lorena Bird Sexton, daughter of George A. and Virginia L. (McNulty) Sexton, of Buckhannon. Their children were: Virginia Anne, who was born while her parents were living at Helena, Montana, December 15, 1890, and is now the wife of W. Guy Tetrick, of Clarks- burg; James Homer, born May 24, 1892; and Mary Edith, born September 1, 1895, the two younger children, both born in Buckhannon, now residing in Clarksburg, West Virginia.