Upshur County, West Virginia Biography of WALTER E. STATHERS, M. D. 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. 569 Upshur WALTER E. STATHERS, M. D. Though little more than a boy at the time Doctor Stathers served a year as a sol- dier in the Civil war. After the war he completed his medical education, and for thirty years or more was en- gaged in a busy practice. Since retiring from his profes- sion he has lived at Buckhannon and has used his capital chiefly in the oil industry. Doctor Stathers was born in Washington County, Penn- sylvania, June 6, 1848, son of Robert and Nancy (Hill) Stathers and grandson of John and Mary (Jennings) Stathers, who were born and married in England and came to the United States in 1823, settling in Washington County, Pennsylvania, where they were substantial and prosperous farmers the rest of their lives. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and John Stathers was a whig in politics. Robert Stathers was reared and educated in Washington County, and after his marriage he moved to Tyler County, West Virginia, in 1851. For a few years he engaged in merchandising, and then bought a farm and was engaged in its cultivation the rest of his years. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, was a republican, and served as a soldier in Company C of the Sixth West Virginia Infantry, the same regiment with which his son, Doctor Stathers, served. Nancy Hill, the mother of Doctor Stathers, was a daughter of Robert Hill, and her grandfather Hill came from County Down, Ire- land, and settled in Washington County, Pennsylvania, be- fore the American Revolution, the place of his settlement being afterward known as Hillboro. Robert Hill was in the War of 1812, and his wife's brother lost a leg in the battle of New Orleans. Dr. Walter E. Stathers was reared near Centerville, West Virginia, being three years of age when the family moved to this state. He attended the old subscription schools, and was sixteen years of age when he went into the army, serving during the last year of the war. After returning home he finished his education, and is a graduate in medi- cine from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Balti- more, and from the New York Polyclinic. Doctor Stathers practiced for ten years in Tyler County, and then moved to Wheeling, and in 1897 took charge of the West Virginia Hospital. From 1901 to 1904 he lived in Clarksburg, and in the latter year came to Buckhannon, where he has made no effort to resume medical practice, but has been success- fully interested in the oil industry and in looking after his investments. Doctor Stathers married Mary Smith, a native of Tyler County, West Virginia. She became the mother of James, Silas, Fred and Birk. James was a soldier in the Spanish- American war, and he and his brother Fred are dentists by profession. Silas is a geologist and Birk a lawyer. After the death of the mother of these children Doctor Stathers married Virginia Whiteside, and they have two sons, William and Hugh, the former an attorney at Clarks- burg and the latter a student of law in West Virginia University at Morgantown. Mrs. Stathers is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Doctor Stathers is a Knights Templar Mason and Shriner, a member of Nemesis Temple, and five of his sons are members of the same Shrine Temple, Birk S. Stathers being a past potentate. Dr. Stathers is a republican in politics.