Wood County, West Virginia      Biography of Walter L. DANKS

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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.
Chicago and New York, Volume II
pg.69

WALTER L. DANKS, whose technical and executive ability need no
further voucher than the statement that he is the efficient
superintendent of the Parkersburg Iron & Steel Company, at the
metropolis and judicial center of Wood County, West Virginia,
claims the State of Nebraska as the place of his nativity and
is a representative of one of its sterling pioneer families,
though it is to be recorded that is father, a man of independent
means and marked resourcefulness, did not consent long to endure
the ravages wrought by grasshoppers and drought in the pioneer
period of Nebraska history, but soon left that state in which
many other pioneers were compelled to remain, as they had no
financial resources that permitted them to flee from the desolation
wrought by the pioneer scourges.

Walter L. Danks was born at Cozad, Dawson County, Nebraska, on the
11th of November, 1875, and is a son of John G. and Elizabeth
(Vance) Danks, the former of whom was born at Mount Savage,
Maryland, and the latter at Muncie, Indiana. Samuel T. Danks,
grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, was a native
of England, where the family has been one of not minor prominence,
among its representatives in the past having been one or more
distinguished musicians and composers, one of whom composed music
for many of the beautiful chants of the Church of England. Samuel
T. Danks was reared and educated in his native land and there
acquired his fundamental knowledge of the iron industry, of which
he became a prominent and influential pioneer exponent after coming
to the United States. He came to this country about the year 1847,
and in 1849 he became one of the argonauts of California, where the
historic discovery of gold had just been made. He made the long and
perilous overland trip to California and became one of the first
to utilize hydraulic power in connection with gold mining in that
state. He did not long remain on the Pacific Coast, however, but
established his home at Mount Savage, Maryland, where he became
prominently identified with the iron industry, as a pioneer in
its development in this country. He was the inventor of the rotary
puddling furnace that bore his name and that did much to advance
iron production industry in the United States. Both he and his wife
continued to reside in Maryland for number of years, and thereafter
he became superintendent an extensive iron manufacturing plant in
Cincinnati, Ohio, in which state he and his wife passed the closing
years of their lives.

John G. Danks seems to have inherited a predilection for iron industry,
with which the family name had been prominently identified in England
for many generations. He was reared and educated in Maryland, where he
early gained practical experience in connection with iron industry under
the effective direction of his father. As a young man he became mechanical
engineer for one of the large iron corpoations at Cincinnati, Ohio, where
his father was simultaneously serving as an executive in connection with
the same line of enterprise. After the father invented the Danks Puddling
furnace John G., the son, went to England to superintend the installation
of these improved devices in that country, and after his return to the
United States he continued such installation service, in which he met
with much opposition and had many remarkable experiences on account of
the opposition of the historic organization in Pennsylvania known as
the "Molly Maguires." In the early '70s he made his venture in connection
with pioneer ranching enterprise in Dawson County, Nebraska, but the
adverse conditions previously mentioned in this sketch led him to
abandon his activities there and to return to Cincinnati. After his
retirement from active business affairs he removed to Los Angeles,
California, and there his death occurred in 1914, his wife having
preceded him to eternal rest, and two children survive them.

Walter L. Danks, the immediate subject of this sketch, passed his
boyhood days principally on a farm owned by his paternal grandfather
near College Hill, a suburb of the City of Cincinnati, and his early
educational discipline included that of the high school and also of a
business college, which later he attended at night. He gained under the
direction of his father and grandfather his early experience in connection
with the iron and steel industry, and in this connection he has well
upheld the prestige of the family name, as his entire active career has
been one of close and effective association with this important branch
of industrial enterprise. He was for five years in the employ of the
Inland Steel Company at Indiana Harbor, Indiana, and with the same won
promotion to the position of assistant master mechanic. In 1906 he came
to Parkersburg, West Virginia, to take the position of master mechanic
with the Parkersburg Iron & Steel Company, and this alliance has since
continued, while he has served as superintendent of the company's
extensive plant since 1913.

Mr. Danks is found aligned loyally in the ranks of the republican
party, and is vital and progressive in his civic attitude. He takes
deep interest in all that touches the welfare and advancement, of
his home city, and during the nation's participation in the World
war he was able to give valuable patriotic service both through the
medium of his industrial association and through his personal efforts
in support of the various local war activities. He and his wife hold
membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in the Masonic
fraternity he has completed the circle of the York Rite, in which
his maximum affiliation is with the Parkersburg Commandery of Knights
Templars, besides having received the thirty-second degree of the
Scottish Rite and being also a member of the Mystic Shrine.

The year 1902 recorded the marriage of Mr. Danks to Miss Hannah Stephens,
of Indiana Harbor, Indiana, and they have one son, Walter L., Jr.