Wood County, West Virginia Biography of WARREN D. CLINE, 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 II, pg. 586-587 Wood WARREN D. CLINE, M. D. For many years Dr. Warren D. Cline has been a prominent citizen of Williamstown, West Virginia, an acknowledged leader in civic affairs and a successful medical practitioner. In more than one field of effort he has demonstrated notable qualities that for over a quarter of a century have been largely used to further the best interests of Williamstown, where public respect and private esteem are his. Doctor Cline was born in Wash- ington County, Ohio, October 3, 1856, a son of Reuben and Diana (Cady) Cline, and a grandson of David and Sarah (Mills) Cline. On the maternal side Doctor Cline's ancestors were Ver- mont people who settled very early in Washington County, Ohio. It is related that one of his great-grandfathers, Thomas Mills, was most seriously injured on one occasion by savage Indians, who attacked him while he was fishing in a skiff by moonlight on Fishing Creek, a lonely stream running near Wheeling. David Cline, the paternal grand- father of Doctor Cline, was of German parentage but was born in Monroe County, Ohio, in which state he spent his life as a farmer. Of his family of thirteen children the only daughter died in childhood, twelve sturdy sons growing to manhood around the home hearth, and at least four of these served as soldiers in the war between the states. Reuben Cline, father of Doctor Cline, spent the greater portion of his life as a farmer in Washington County, Ohio. Late in life he retired to Williamstown, West Virginia, where his death occurred at the age of eighty-five years. He was a man of great personal industry, and reared his children with practical ideas in relation to the duties of life. His family consisted of six sons and three daughters. Doctor Cline being the seventh born. The eldest, Luther A., who is a veteran of the war of 1861-65, still survives and lives in Illinois. Warren D. Cline grew up on the home farm, assisting his father during the summers and attending the country schools in the winters. Later he had graded school privileges and also instruction in a private school at Marietta, where he applied himself closely to his books in order to secure a teach- er's certificate and after fairly earning the same taught nine terms in the country schools. The money thus earned paid his way through the Eclectic Medical Institute (now College) at Cincinnati, for which he had been prepared by hia brother- in-law, Dr. E. Sloan of Williamstown. He was creditably graduated at Cincinnati in 1886, located for practice at Manchester, Illinois, and spent eight years there. In Septem- ber, 1894, he came to Williamstown, and has engaged in a general practice ever since, on numerous occasions attending courses in the New York City Post Graduate College and Hospital. Although the practice of medicine has largely engaged his attention since coming to Williamstown, Doctor Cline has been very active and immeasurably useful in other directions. It was largely due to his earnest efforts in furthering the welfare of the city that so much has been done in the way of educational progress and opportunity here. During the fifteen years he served as president of the Board of Educa- tion he labored ceaselessly for the establishment of the high school and for the erection of the present well equipped build- ing. He served as mayor of Williamstown for four terms, and during this time the place was practically developed from a village into a modern city. In July, 1913, he was appointed postmaster, and is now serving in his second term. Doctor Cline married in December, 1887, in Illinois, Miss Alice Husted, who died July 2, 1891. In 1896 he married Miss Frances Leonard, a daughter of Augustus Leonard, of Newel's Run, Ohio, who served in the Union Army during the war between the states. Doctor and Mrs. Cline have three daughters: Helen D., Frances D. and Celia E. In political life Doctor Cline is a democrat, having come from a long line of that political faith. He was one of the charter members of the Masonic Lodge at Williamstown and its third worshipful master, and belongs also to the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church and is the unosten- tatious contributor to many worthy charities.