Wetzel County, West Virginia Biography of HOWARD G. GILGER ************************************************************************** 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. 106-107 HOWARD G. GILGER. Born and reared close to the his- toric center of the original petroleum production of America, Howard G. Gilger has been a worker in the oil fields since early youth, and for many years has had prominent associations with the West Virginia oil and gas industry. He is a contractor, and for many years has had his home at New Martinsville. He was born in Venango County, Pennsylvania, Novem- ber 20, 1859. The Gilger family is of German origin and was established in Pennsylvania in Colonial times. His grandfather, Jonas Gilger, was born in Bucks County, that state, in 1784, but spent the greater part of his life in Clarion County, where he owned a large amount of land. He died in Clarion County in 1868. He reared a family of seven sons and seven daughters, all now deceased. Jonas Gilger, Jr., father of Howard G., was born in Clarion County in 1822, and returned to his native county to spend his later years at St. Petersburg, where he died in 1888. As a young man he took up farming, and became a cattle drover to the eastern markets. As a railroad contractor he built the Allegheny Railroad from the mouth of Clarion River to Fulton, Pennsylvania. From 1870 on, his busi- ness interests were in the oil districts of Venango and Mc- Kean counties. He was a contractor with his teams and also a jobber in coal and other supplies for the oil fields. Jonas Gilger was a republican, served as a member of the School Board in Richland Township of Venango County, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Hettie Dreibbelbis, who was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 1822, and died in Venango County in 1882. Her ancestors were also German and identified with the Colonial period of Pennsylvania. Her father, Jacob Dreibbelbis, was born in Berks County in 1786 and died in Venango County in 1869, having been a pioneer farmer in the latter county. He reared a family of four sons and four daughters. The children of Jonas and Het- tie Gilger were: Samuel, a farmer in Venango County; Sarah, who died in Venango County at the age of sixty, wife of Samuel Martz, a farmer; Wesley, a farmer, who died in Venango County at the age of sixty-two; Frances, of St. Petersburg, Clarion County, widow of John Mor- gan, who was an oil operator; Clara, widow of William Sheiry, a farmer near Franklin in Venango County; Oliver, a farmer, who died at Garrettsville, Ohio, aged forty-nine years and six months; Howard G.; Delia, wife of Martin Mortimer, an oil well driller and contractor living at North Baltimore, Ohio; and John Edward, of Cement, Okla- homa, a superintendent of oil properties. Howard G. Gilger grew up in Venango County and at- tended the rural schools there to the age of sixteen. His working career began as a pumper in the Clarion County oil fields. Two years later he removed to McKean County, was a pumper there, and from that was made a superin- tendent of the E. H. Jennings oil interests. This work kept him in McKean County until 1894, when he was transferred to West Union, Doddridge County, West Vir- ginia, and continued as Mr. Jennings' superintendent there until 1900. Since then for twenty years he has been a contractor in the drilling of oil and gas wells, and has operated his outfits over many of the prominent West Virginia fields, including Springtown in Doddridge County, then at Salem, then at Richwood Run on Fishing Creek and at Steels Bun in Wetzel County. His operations have covered the oil and gas fields of the counties of Wood, Ritchie, Harrison and Marion. Mr. Gilger has had his home at New Martinsville since 1903, and owns a modern residence at 235 Locust Street. His principal interests as an oil well pumper are now in the fields of Wetzel and Marion counties. Mr. Gilger is a republican, served a term on the City Council at West Union, is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church and fraternally is a member of Friend- ship Lodge No. 56, A. F. and A. M., at West Union; Clarksburg Chapter No. 11, R. A. M.; Clarksburg Com- mandery No. 13, K. T.; and Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling. In 1891, at Olean, New York, he married Miss Flora Steele, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Steele, now de- ceased. Her father was an oil field contractor. Mrs. Gil- ger died in McKean County in the spring of 1894. Her only surviving child is Miss Delia, who is a graduate of the Martinsville High School and the West Liberty State Normal School and is a popular teacher in the schools of Martinsville. In 1898, at Cumberland, West Virginia, Mr. Gilger married Miss Mary A. Johnson, daughter of Jo- seph and Hattie (Weekley) Johnson, the latter now liv- ing at Bakersfield, California. Her father was a native of Columbus, Ohio, was a miner in that state and died at Nelsonville, Ohio, in 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Gilger became the parents of ten children: Hazel, the oldest, born Octo- ber 11, 1898, is a graduate of the New Martinsville High School and the Normal Department of Wesleyan College at Buckhannon, and after teaching three years in Wetzel County was married to Mr. Joseph Henry, a teacher now located at Woodland in Marshall County, West Virginia. The second child, Garnett, died at the age of one year. Roy, horn November 23, 1901, is a graduate of the Mag- nolia High School at New Martinsville and a teacher at Piney in Wetzel County. The younger children are: Earl, born January 20, 1903; Virginia, born December 8, 1904, a senior in the Magnolia High School; Fred, born Octo- ber 7, 1906, in the freshman year of high school; Doris, born February 20, 1908; Betty, born November 14, 1909; Joe, born April 2, 1911 and Phyllis, born June 22, 1914.