Wood County, West Virginia    Biography of Samuel NEWBERGER

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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. 477

SAMUEL NEWBERGER is one of the few men still living before whose eyes has 
been enrolled the panorama of Parkersburg's growth and progress through a 
period of nearly seventy years.

He was born at Shonningen on the River Main in Bavaria, Germany, February 6, 
1835.  He was just past fifteen years of age when he left home and native 
land to cross the Atlantic, the sailing vessel requiring forty-five days to 
make the voyage.  In Baltimore he found employment in the clothing store 
conducted by an old friend and former teacher in Germany.  Mr. Newberger came 
to Parkersburg in July, 1853.  His residence has been continuous since that 
date.  Not more than 1,200 people lived in the community when he came, and 
the town had no railroad connection with the outside world until 1857.  So 
far as he can ascertain only two other people are now living who were in the 
city when he arrived.  He has won his prosperity here and has in return given 
loyally of his time and means and influence to the community welfare.  
Several times he was elected a member of the city council, served as 
treasurer of the school board, and during the Civil war was a lieutenant in 
the Home Guards.  He was one of the first to go to Burning Springs when oil 
was discovered there in 1861, and the capital and enterprise he put into that 
business identify him with the pioneer oil production in the state.  In 1866 
he and his partner brought in a well which produced 1,000 barrels a day.  
More remarkable still, this well is still flowing with oil, and when at its 
apex it was one of the heaviest producers in the state.

Mr. Newberger is a member of the Masonic fraternity, being affiliated with 
Mount Olivet Lodge No. 3.  This was organized when West Virginia was part of 
the Old Dominion, and under the old state was No. 113.

In September, 1861, Mr. Newberger married Dora Keller.  Of their seven 
children six are living:  Sallie, wife of Levi Rosenbaum, of Easton, 
Pennsylvania; Harry; Meyer; Hannah, Mrs. B. S. Leopold, of Fairmont, West 
Virginia; George; and Julia, wife of Ben Nathan, of Parkersburg.  The sons 
Meyer and George are residents of Los Angeles.