Wood County, West Virginia    Biography of Charles W. EDELEN

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Submitted by Pat C. Johns <PACJ1945@aol.com>
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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. 475

CHARLES W. EDELEN,  though member of one of the oldest and most substantial 
agricultural families of Wood County, left the farm in young manhood and 
chose the commercial field.  For thirty years or more he has been prominent 
as a hardware merchant, banker, and in other lines of business at Parkersburg.

His ancestor and one of the pioneers of Wood County was Robert Edelen, a 
farmer who located on Washington Bottom, opposite Blennerhasset Island.  
Besides several daughters he and his wife had two sons, Benjamin and John.  
The son John married Mary Tims, and one of their children is William Tims 
Edelen of Parkersburg.

Benjamin Edelen married Susan Clark and fell heir to the old Edelen homestead 
at the upper end of Washington Bottom, where he lived and practiced the arts 
of farm husbandry throughout his life.  His children, all born in the old 
homestead and all now deceased, were: Sarah, Mrs. Elias Booher; Anna, Mrs. 
Frank Miller; Delos Marcellus; and Stephen Wallace.

Delos Mercellus Edelen was born November 22, 1836.  He had the advantages of 
the farm youth of his period, and practically his entire career was devoted 
to farming, though for a short time he was a merchant at Lubeck.  During the 
Civil war he was an avowed Confederate in sympathies, was a reserve officer 
and trained men for the army.  He died June 14, 1887.  His life was one of 
useful effort, and he was well known and respected for his sterling honesty 
and integrity.  He married Elizabeth Smith, whose father, Robert Smith, was 
also an old time citizen of Wood County.  She died January 24, 1913.  Of her 
four children two died in infancy and those surviving are Charles W. and 
Sarah L.

Charles W. Edelen was born in the same locality as his father and 
grandfather, on June 13, 1865.  He acquired his education there, fitted 
himself for farm duties, but the year following his father's death moved into 
Parkersburg and began work as a clerk in the hardware store of W. H. Smith 
Hardware Company.  He has been continuously identified with that business 
ever since and is now vice president and manager of the corporation, one of 
the leading hardware houses of the city.  Mr. Edelen is also vice president 
of the Parkersburg Transfer & Storage Company, is vice president of the Union 
Merchandise Company, a director of the Central Bank & Trust Company and 
director of the Exchange Building Association.  Mr. Edelen has been a 
faithful member of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for thirty 
years, is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and is a democrat.

April 11, 1889, he married Lena L. Leachman.  She died in January 1910.  
October 13, 1919, he married Miss Ruth Kilton Caldwell.  Mr. Edelen by his 
first marriage had seven children:  Barbara, wife of Fred Perkins; Charles 
Brooks, living in Cleveland, Ohio; John Richard; Eugene Elliott; Rama May, a 
student in Ohio State University; Elizabeth; and Isabel.

Three of his sons had army records. Charles Brooks was in the aviation 
service as an instructor at Grand Rapids, Michigan.  John Richard enlisted 
before he was twenty-one in the hospital branch, was promoted from time to 
time, became pharmacist's mate in the navy, and most of his time was spent 
overseas.  He had charge of the pharmaceutical department of the fleet that 
laid the mines for the allies in the North Sea.  He is still in the navy, and 
is stationed in France (1921) in government work.  The third son, Eugene 
Elliott, was born March 18, 1899, and was barely eighteen when he enlisted, 
being assigned to the medical department of the navy.  He made fourteen trips 
across the ocean on vessels convoying troops.  He is now in the employ of the 
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, and is stationed in Dayton, Ohio.