Wetzel County, West Virginia Biography of Arthur L. CHAMBERS ************************************************************************** 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, , March 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 53 ARTHUR L. CHAMBERS was born and reared in Western Pennsylvania, as a youth went into the oil districts as a pumper and for a quarter of a century has been one of the responsible men in the oil production activities of Wetzel County, West Virginia. He resides and has his business headquarters at Smithfield and is superintendent of the South Penn Oil Company. Mr. Chambers was born at Butler, Pennsylvania, June 28, 1866. His father, James H. Chambers, was born at Mill- ville, New Jersey, in 1809, was reared there, learned the trade of blacksmith, and followed that occupation all his active life. He was married at Orbisonia, Pennsylvania, and in 1848 left there and removed to Butler, where he lived until his death in 1881. He was a republican and a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church. James H. Chambers married Susanna Shaffer, who was born in Eastern Pennsylvania in 1815 and died at Butler in 1881. A brief record of their children is as follows: John, a painter by trade who died at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, aged sixty-two; Mary, who died at Greenville, Pennsylvania, aged sixty-eight, wife of Perry Dehart, a farmer who also died there; Samuel, a farmer who died at Fern City, Pennsylvania, aged sixty-three; Florence, wife of George W. Campbell, an oil well worker at Baldwin, Penn- sylvania; Jennie, of Van Buren, Indiana, widow of Andrew J. Campbell, who was a worker in the oil fields of that district; Charles, a farmer who died at Parkers Landing, Pennsylvania, at the age of thirty; Sarah, of Clarion, Pennsylvania, widow of Curtis W. Elder, a farmer. Arthur L. Chambers, eighth and youngest of this family, acquired a public school education at Butler and also took an academic course in Grove City College of that state. He left college at the age of twenty and forthwith entered the Kossuth oil field of Clarion County as a pumper. He was there two years, then worked in a similar capacity in the Connoquessing field of Butler County, and was in that dis- trict until he came to Smithfield in January, 1897. The first two years he was a pumper for the South Penn Oil Company, then for three years field foreman, and since then has had the responsibilities of superintendent of the Wetzel District, in charge of all the practical operations involved in the production and lifting of oil to the surface. His offices are on Smith Avenue, and he has under his supervision eighty employes and has had as high as three hundred men working under him. Mr. Chambers is a republican and a member of the Epis- copal Church. Fraternally he is affiliated with Wetzel Lodge No. 39, F. & A. M., at New Martinsville, Fairmont Chapter No. 9, R. A. M., Fairmont Commandery No. 6, K. T., West Virginia Consistory No. 1 of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling, Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling, and is a past chancellor of White Lily Lodge No. 94, Knights of Pythias. He is a director in the Bank of Jacksonburg. His only living son was in the army during the war, and Mr. Chambers did more than his share of home work, especially in the Red Cross relief activities. He is deeply interested in educational affairs, and for six years was president of the Board of Education of Grant District, and during that time built new schools at Pine Grove, Jacksonburg, Mobley and Smithfield. June 20, 1891, at Youngstown, Ohio, Mr. Chambers mar- ried Miss Cora Dillaman, daughter of George W. and Phoebe (Byers) Dillaman, now residents of Meadville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, where her father is a farmer. The two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Chambers were Ersie Ray, who died at the age of four months and fourteen days, and Charles Roland. Charles Roland Chambers was born April 4, 1895, and joined the National Guard at Fairmont before America entered the war with Germany. He was mustered into active service in April, 1918, was commissioned a second lieutenant, was in training at Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and went overseas, reaching France October 10, 1918. He was a casual officer stationed at Le Mons, and returned March 29, 1919. For two weeks he was held in hospital at Hoboken as a diphtheria carrier, and for four months was in the Walter Reed Hospital at Washington before his discharge. He is is now a resident of Cameron, West Virginia, being a book- keeper for the South Penn Oil Company.