Wetzel County, West Virginia Biography of William CARLIN ************************************************************************** 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. 52 WILLIAM CARLIN is one of the most substantial citizens of Wetzel County. Through his active career he has been a farmer, surveyor and civil engineer, identified with oil develop- ment, owns valuable oil royalties, and has widely extended farm and land interests both in West Virginia and elsewhere. Mr. Carlin's home is at Smithfield, and he was born near the present site of that town March 27, 1857. His father Patrick Carlin, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1818, and came to the United States about 1844. He had first landed in the West Indies. Among early experiences he helped build a levee on the Mississippi River, then came up the Ohio to Wheeling, was married at Steubenville, Ohio, and for three years was employed in turnpike construction in Wetzel and Marshall counties. He then bought land and settled down to the life of a farmer in Wetzel County, and died at his home near Smithfield in 1868. He was a demo- crat and a devout Catholic. His wife was Catherine Kil- coyne, who was born in County Mayo in 1829, and they had known each other in the old country. She was a girl in Ireland during the great famine of 1846, and she came to the United States about 1854. Her death occurred on the old homestead on Arches Fork in 1918. Of her children William was the oldest; Miss Mary lives on the old home farm on Arches Fork; Dora, living on her farm near Smithfield, is the widow of William Wyatt; Miss Sarah lives on the home farm; Patrick for many years has been a farmer and merchant at Arches Fork; John is an extensive farmer and cattle raiser near Smithfield. William Carlin had some exceptionally good influences in his home, though his parents were far from being wealthy. Most of his education was derived from his mother's instruc- tion. Altogether he attended free school in Wetzel County only eight months. His apt intelligence, the reading of good books and home study have brought him an education far above the average. It is said that Mr. Carlin has the best and largest private library of any citizen in Wetzel County. During his youth he was brought face to face with the serious responsibilities of life, and until he was twenty-eight he re- mained on the home farm, assisting in earning a living for the family. He was only eleven years of age when his father died. Mr. Carlin was early led to the study of surveying, being very proficient in mathematics, and since the age of twenty-seven has done a great deal of work as a civil engineer in Wetzel County. He has surveyed and mapped large sections of the county. In 1894 he became interested in the oil fields of Wetzel and Doddridge counties, beginning as a leaser and has since come into the possession of some valuable oil royalties. Mr. Carlin's home is the most modern residence in Smith- field, in the southeastern part of that town. It stands on the edge of his large farm of eight hundred acres. Besides operating this farm he owns four other farms in Wetzel County, the total acreage being fourteen hundred acres, and he also has a half section of land in Borden County, Texas, and owns an interest in a tract of 43,000 acres on the San Juan River near Vera Cruz, Old Mexico. He was a stock holder in the Empire Bank of Clarksburg. Mr. Carlin is a democrat, a member of the Catholic Church and Clarksburg Council No. 872, Knights of Columbus. He was on practically all the committees for the sale of bonds and raising of funds for the war, and used his own name and credit to the limit in behalf of the Government. In 1885, in Wetzel County, Mr. Carlin married Miss Margaret Ann Wyatt, daughter of Andrew J. and Elizabeth (Morris) Wyatt. Her father was a Wetzel County farmer. To Mr. and Mrs. Carlin were born seven children: Leo, who attended the Fairmont State Normal School and holds the degrees A, B. and LL. B. from West Virginia University, was during the war in charge of the Trades Department for South America at Washington, is now a professor in the law school of West Virginia University and has re-written one of the standard law text books Miss Dora, the second child, and Miss Cora are graduates of the Young Ladies Seminary at Parkersburg and live at home. Katherine and William are also still in the home circle. Patrick, who finished his education in the Fairmont State Normal School, was in the draft during the war and is now owner of a public garage at Smithfield. The youngest child is John Carlin.