Wood County, West Virginia Biography of THOMAS R. PARK 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. 577-578 Wood THOMAS R. PARK has attained venerable years, and half of his lifetime has been spent in Parkersburg. He is especially widely known for his long service in the oil barrel cooperage business with the Standard Oil Company. Mr. Park was born April 2, 1837, one mile from Creston, then in Wood now in Wirt County, West Virginia. His mother was born in 1800. His father, Joseph Park, was born in 1791, and by trade was a blacksmith. He was a youthful volunteer for service in the War of 1812, joining Captain Willoughby Morgan's Company and was in every engagement of that command up to and including the battle of Blackrock. He was taken prisoner there, and remained a prisoner of war at Quebec until peace was declared. Thomas B. Park was a man grown when western Virginia was made into the State of West Virginia, and he acquired his education in the subscription and old field schools. For several years he taught school as a profession, and at an early period in the history of the petroleum industry he became identified with the cooperage business in the manufacture of oil barrels. In 1878 he removed to Parkersburg, and thereafter for over a quarter of a century was superintendent in charge of the oil barrel and stave business at Parkersburg for the Standard Oil Company. A quiet and efficient business man, Mr. Park has rather avoided the responsibilities of public office, but he has the distinction of being one of the few surviving delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1871-72. He was elected to represent Jackson County. He also served one term as justice of the peace. He is a democrat, and he cast his first presidential vote for Stephen A. Douglas in 1860 and has never missed a general election, casting his vote in 1920 for Mr. Cox. He was initiated, passed and raised in Ashton Lodge No. 12 of the Masonic Order at Ravenswood, West Virginia, and has filled all the offices in the Blue Lodge and has also taken eighteen degrees in the Scottish Rite. He has been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, since 1859. March 25, 1858, at Burning Springs, West Virginia, Mr. Park married Miss Lucretia C. Petty, daughter of William and Margaret (Ball) Petty. The Petty and Ball families are both of Old Virginia stock. Mr. and Mrs. Park have six children: William Van Allen, who married Vera Stuart; Margaret Anna; Alice Elma; Joseph Roger, who married Ora C. Poland; Elizabeth May, wife of E. A. Ingersoll; and Minnie Myrtle.