West Virginia Statewide Files WV-Footsteps Mailing List WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 125 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: FRANK H. KNEISLY, Berkeley Co [Valerie & Tommy Crook ] #4 Birth,George,1910,Preston Co. [Deborahrah@aol.com] #5 Birth, George,1910, Preston Co. [Deborahrah@aol.com] #6 BIO: Grant GRAHAM, Barbour Co. WV [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991126022513.00fd3ad0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: FRANK H. KNEISLY, Berkeley Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 329-330 Berkeley FRANK H. KNEISLY. Early in life Frank H. Kneisly learned to depend upon himself and his exertions, and his industry and good character have brought him both pros- perity and the general esteem of the people of Berkeley County, among whom he has lived the greater part of his life. Mr. Kneisly was born in Washington County, Maryland. His father, Joseph H. Kneisly, was bom on a farm a mile from Columbia in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and as a youth learned the trade of shoemaker. This was then a good business for which to qualify, since there were few factories for the manufacture of shoes by machinery, and a shoemaker was in realty the proprietor of an important local business. However, he did not follow his trade long, but, moving to Washington County, Maryland, bought land on the road leading from Hagerstown to Half Way and in connection with farming he engaged in the transport of produce and merchandise between Hagerstown and Wil- liamsport. He lived there until his death at the age of seventy-three. He married Leah Huber, a native of Lan- caster County, Pennsylvania, who died in early life, her only child being Frank H. Kneisly. Frank H. Kneisly attended public schools, acquired a good business education, and at the age of nineteen left home and since then has been self-supporting. He was employed as a farm hand until 1890, when he moved to Berkeley County and at Martinsburg established a transfer line, fully equipped for all the demands put upon it. About that time he also bought the farm he now occupies on the Martinsburg and Williamsport Pike, two miles from the courthouse. This farm has few superiors in that section of the country in the way of equipment of buildings and other improve- ments. On August 28, 1890, Mr. Kneisly married Lucy Helena Kensel, who was born on a farm in Falling Waters District of Berkeley County. Her father, John J. Kensel, a native of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, was left an orphan at an early age, was reared by an uncle in Berkeley County and as a youth returned to Franklin County to learn the trade of tailor. Eventually he returned to Berkeley County and located in Falling Waters District and engaged in farming. Subsequently he lived in Arden District eight years, eleven years in Dry Run District, and then moved to the Williams- port Pike, where he spent his last days and died at the age of eighty-two. He married Elizabeth Turner, who was born in Falling Waters District, daughter of James and Sophia Turner. Elizabeth Kensel died at the age of eighty-five. Mr. and Mrs. Kneisly have five children, James Franklin, Hamilton Bernard, John Joseph Arlington, William Adrian and Lncy Helen, and they lost a daughter, Berkeley Vir- ginia, at the age of five and a half years. The son James married Lucy Shriver, and they have three children: Paul Preston, James Kenneth and Paulina. The family are all members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church. ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 02:25:48 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991126022548.00fd1210@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: SAMUEL SHOWALTER FELKER, Berkeley Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 330 Berkeley SAMUEL SHOWALTER FELKER is a citizen of varied and important interests in Berkeley County, a successful business man, a democratic leader, and at all times cultivating the best interests of the community. Mr. Felker was born on a farm two and a half miles west of Greencastle, Pennsylvania. His father, Jacob Felker, was born on a farm near the line of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and Washington County, Maryland, and at an early age was left an orphan. He then lived, until he was grown, with his uncle, Abraham Felker, in Franklin County. At the beginning of the Civil war he enlisted as a Union soldier and served in a Pennsylvania regiment. In 1869 he moved to Berkeley County, West Virginia, buying a farm in the Hedgesville District. He remained there work- ing and prospering until his death at the age of seventy- two. He married Mary Showalter, a native of Washington County, Maryland, who died at the age of eighty-two. They reared a family of nine children: Kate, who married James Robinson; Annie, who married Moses Kilmer; Louise, who became the wife of Calvin Zentmeyer; Charles H.; David, who died at the age of thirty-three; John D.; Calvin G.; Rebecca, who married George A. Mason; and Samuel S. Samuel S. Felker attended school in the Hedgesville Dis- trict, and at the age of seventeen began learning the trade of miller in Brown's Mill in Pennsylvania. After three years there he returned to Berkeley County, and for two years operated Kilmers Mill, for one year the Back Valley Mill and for two years the Darkesville Mill. Ill health compelling him to make a change of vocation, he then became agent for the Cumberland Valley Railroad Com- pany at Darkesville, and at the same time conducted a general mercantile business there for three and a half years. On leaving the railroad service Mr. Felker moved to Martins- burg, and since then has been one of the progressive business men of this city. For three and a half years he was in business on West King Street, near the Square, following which he bought property on West King, near the postoffice, and continued his store in that location about three years. Selling out, he entered the real estate business, and in 1904 was elected a justice of the peace, an office he filled eight years. For three years Mr. Felker had a rather widely extended business in the sale of coal rights and coal lands. He and D. W. Shaffer were then partners in the real estate business for two years, and since then Mr. Felker has con- tinued alone, dealing in city and farm lands, and he makes sales over the three states of West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia. At the age of twenty-two Mr. Felker married Alice Virginia Shipper, a native of Berkeley County and daughter of James B. and Hester (Stuckey) Shipper. Mr. and Mrs. Felker had one son. Guy G., who was educated in the city schools, prepared for college in Washington and Lee Uni- versity and subsequently entered the University of West Virginia. He graduated in the law department and had already achieved a substantial place in his profession when his early death occurred at the age of twenty-nine. For some time prior to his death he had been in the service of the income tax department of the Federal Government. Guy G. Felker married Gertrude Manown. He is survived by a son, Samuel Showalter Felker, who lives with his paternal grandparents. Mr. and Mrs. Felker are active members of the Presby- terian Church, and he is president of the board of deacons. Mr. Felker is prominent in the Masonic Order, being a past master of Equality Lodge No. 44, A. F. and A. M., past high priest of Lebanon Chapter No. 2, R. A. M., past eminent commander of Palestine Commandery No. 2, K. T., was president of the class that took the Scottish Rite degrees at Wheeling in 1920, and is a member of the Martinsburg Masonic Club. He is also affiliated with Washington Lodge No. 1, Knights of Pythias, and for six years was repre- sentative to the State Lodge and is a past grand master of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is also a mem- ber of the Loyal Order of Moose. Mr. Felker has had a deep interest in public affairs throughout his active career, and has served as delegate to numerous county, district and state conventions of the democratic party and for ten years was chairman of the county committee. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 09:56:42 -0500 From: Joan Wyatt To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <383E9FA8.B8858CBB@uakron.edu> Subject: Revised List of Deceased Soldiers in World War Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Revised List of Deceased Soldiers in World War Page 10 Killed in Action- Continued Evans, Clarence E. Pvt. Oct.17-18 Rio Co A 165 Inf Evans, James Pvt. Oct.14-18 Benwood Co E 60 Inf Farnsworth, George W. Pvt. Oct.20-18 Parkersburg Co K 128 Inf Ferguson , Leroy Corp. Oct.6-18 Huntington Co K 4 Inf Fields, James Pvt July20-18 Kermit Co C 28 Inf Fisher, Milford O. Pvt July19-18 Charleston Co L 26 Inf Fisher, Earl O. Pvt Nov.8-18 Parkersburg Co M 128 Inf Fitzgerald, James R. Pvt Aug.1-18 Elm Grove Co G 317 Inf Forninash ,Albert C Pvt Oct9-18 Boblin Co D 320 Inf Fox, Albert Pvt Oct15-18 Elm Grove Co A 165 Inf Francis, Oliver Corp July 15-18 Moundsville Co H 30 Inf Franz, William C Pvt July 31-18 Wheeling Co L 126 Inf Freese, Chester H Pvt Nov. 5-18 Wheeling Co B 11 Inf Froehlich, Harry Corp Nov. 11-18 Charleston Co1 321 Inf Fry, James W Pvt Oct. 1-18 Marytown Co F 7 Inf Fugett, Harrison L Pvt Oct 16-18 Kayford Co K 11 Inf Galiano, Antonio Pvt Oct. 15-18 McComas Co B 7 Inf Garner, Herbert F Pvt Oct. 20-18 Clarksburg Co L 30 Inf Garner, Wilford L Corp Nov 4-18 New Martinsville Co E 357 Inf Garrison, Porter Sgt Nov 10-18 Auburn Btry D 314 F A Gilkeson, Robert W 2nd Lt Oct 2-18 Romney Co C 316 Engrs Gibson, Olin E Pvt Sept 29-18 Henderson Co A 119 Inf Gillispie, William H Pvt Oct 15-18 Mammoth Co F 131 Inf Gillispie, Lewis Pvt Oct. 10-18 Fraziers Bottom Co B 131 Inf Glover, Clifford C Pvt July 16-18 Keenan Co G 7 Inf Graham, William S 2nd Lt Oct 8-18 Charles Town Co I 39 Inf Graham, John Pvt July 26-18 Welch Co K 168 Inf Gray, John W Pvt Nov 2-8 Moundsville Co C 317 Inf Gregory, Clarence W Pvt July 19-18 Blain Co F 59 Inf Green, Luther H. Corp Nov 4-18 Sutton Btry F 313 F A Greer, Robert E. Pvt Sept. 30-18 Killarney Co E 112 Inf Griffith, George D Pvt Oct 4-18 Clarksburg Co I 18 Inf Grim, Jesse P Pvt Sept 29-18 Cameron Co C 146 Inf Grishaber, Joe J Pvt Oct 4-18 Charleston HQ Co 317 Inf Grove, Clarence C Pvt Oct 9-18 Harpers Ferry Co I 125 Inf Gunter, Richard B Pvt Nov 5-18 Eccles Co I 6 Inf Gunther, Edward Pvt Oct 9-18 Logan MG Co 16 Inf Hall, Charles A Pvt Oct 20-18 Weston Co I 125 Inf Hall Harold R Pvt Sept 20-18 Buffalo Co A 59 Inf Halterman Leslie W Pvt Nov 6-18 Freemanburg 11 Inf Hamilton Victor Corp July 22-18 Grantsville Co A 83 MG Bn Hamway Sam Pvt July 20-18 Wheeling Co H 18 Inf Hamm Scott Sgt Nov 1-18 Fort Gay Btry C 315 F A Hamric Arch Pvt Oct 6-18 Braxton Co F 304 Inf Hamrick Gale Pvt Nov 1-18 Adamston Co I 58 Inf Handley Clyde C Pvt Oct 10-18 Culloden Co C 131 Inf Hannah Willie H Pvt Oct 9-18 Powellton Co B 16 Inf Harrison Edmund C Pvt Nov 1-18 Charleston Btry A 313 Inf Harrison Nathaniel G Pvt Oct 8-18 Poca Hq Co 59 Inf Hart Quantrell C Corp July 19-18 Dundon Co C 59 Inf Hartley Walter R Pvt Oct 1-18 Loudenville Co I 111 Inf Hatfield Cush Pvt July 15-18 Horsepen Co B 7 Inf Haught James A Pvt Ovt 9-18 Bristol Co D 16 Inf Hawkins Carley R Pvt Nov 11-18 Mannington Co H 9 Inf Hawkins Marvin Pvt Aug 1-18 Davey Co M 126 Inf Hensley David Pvt Oct 5-18 Hearts Creek Co D 112 Inf Herndon Robert M Sgt July 27-18 Coal Fork Co B 7 Inf Hess Felix Corp Oct 21-18 Bloomington Mg Co 4 Inf Hickmann Floyd A Corp Nov 2-18 Middlebourne Co C 317 Inf Highly Peter W Pvt Oct 30-18 Calcutta Co A 11 Inf Higginbotham Alan Pvt Oct 5-18 Track Fork Co F 318 Inf Hill Harry E Corp June 9-18 Young Co G 7Inf Hildreth Dewey S Pvt Oct 4018 Sardis MG Co20 Inf Hiser London F Pvt July 24-18 Clifftop CoM 16 Inf Hitchcock James W Pvt Oct 13-18 Wheeling Co I 26 Inf Hoce Joseph W Corp June 21-18 Parkersburg Co C & Inf Holstin Erven R Pvt July 18-18 Brownland Co D 3 MG Bn Holcomb Fred G Pvt July 28-18 Osbourne Mills Co B 166 Inf Holley Chestor A Pvt Oct 14-18 Guyandotte Co B 7 Inf Honaker James W Pvt Sept 26-18 Finlow CoA 319 Inf Hopkins Arden Pvt Nov 8-18 Given Co M 128 Inf Horn William L Pvt Oct 18-18 Green Spring Co H 125 Inf ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 12:20:42 EST From: Deborahrah@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0.b7fa36bf.25701b6a@aol.com> Subject: Birth,George,1910,Preston Co. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit John Wilson J. George, born September 8,1884 - Preston County,WV. Father's name- William O. George, Mother's name- Mary Ninevah Paugh George birth register # 1868-84, pg. G-20, line 11. Deborahrah@aol.com also can be reached at isamber@hotmail.com ______________________________X-Message: #5 Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 12:28:38 EST From: Deborahrah@aol.com To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0.a3c85212.25701d46@aol.com> Subject: Birth, George,1910, Preston Co. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. William M. George, date of birth, February 13,1910- Preston County,WV. Father's name- John Wilson George Mother's name- Beatrice Flossie Smith George Birth register # 1907-1916. pg. G-6, line 22. Deborahrah@aol.com also can be reached at isamber@hotmail.com ______________________________X-Message: #6 Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 12:33:32 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991126123332.007ca8b0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: Grant GRAHAM, Barbour Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 330-331 GRANT GRAHAM for over twenty years has conducted a place of business as a druggist that is a source of pride to all the people of Belington. He is a licensed pharma- cist, thoroughly knows the business as well as the profes- sion, and has found most congenial associations in this thriving town of Barbour County. The census shows that more than four-fifths of the population of West Virginia is native born, and Mr. Graham is no exception. His family have lived in the limits of the present state for considerably more than a century. He was born near Kingwood in Preston County, May 31, 1867. His grandfather, Samuel Graham, was probably a native of Preston County, spent his active life as a farmer, and died about 1880, when past four score years. His children were: James; David, who was a farmer in Preston County; John, who died while a Union soldier in the Civil war; Rosanna, who married Nicholas Posten; Lucinda, whose husband was Richard Field; Jemimah, whose last husband was Peter Hartlet; and Mrs. Groves. James Graham, father of the Belington business man, was born in Preston County, August 8, 1825, and died at Reedsville November 16, 1910. He acquired a liberal education for his day, and for some years was a teacher. During the Civil war he enlisted in the Union army, in Company B of the Fourteenth West Virginia Regiment, and served until the close of the struggle, participating in many of the engagements and skirmishes of Old Vir- ginia. One wound received in battle afflicted him all through his subsequent life. He manifested no interest in soldiers' organizations, and did not even become a mem- ber of the G. A. R. He was a Presbyterian, a staunch republican and served on the local School Board and in other capacities in his community. James Graham mar- ried Miss Nancy Field, who was born in Preston County, October 10, 1823, and died January 19, 1910. Her father, Hiram Field, was of English ancestry and a fanner. James Graham and wife reared three sons and two daugh- ters: Joseph, a fanner in Preston County; Sanford, cashier of the Traders National Bank of Buckhannon; Grant; Rebecca, who died as Mrs. A. J. DeBerry; and Jennie, wife of A. J. Barker, of Morgantown, West Virginia. Grant Graham grew up on his father's farm, and his best advantages were acquired in the common schools and in the school of "hard knocks." Being the youngest son, he failed to acquire as good an education as his older brothers. At the age of sixteen he was earning wages as a farm hand, and subsequently worked on a saw mill and for two years with a drilling outfit, drilling water wells. With a moderate capital acquired through a number of years of industry, he established a drug business at Kingwood, and while hiring a pharmacist he diligently studied the profession and passed the State Board exami- nation January 24, 1899. With his license as a pharmacist he came to Belington the same year and took over the only business of that kind in the little city. Since then two efforts have been made to share in the drug trade of this locality, but the competition soon faded out, and ulti- mately he occupied the whole field. He conducted his early stores in some of the old buildings of the town, but in 1913 erected a two-story brick building, which is now the home of his Rexall Store. He carries the drug equipment of the Rexall system, itself the highest guaranty of ex- cellence and quality, and in addition he has store equip- ment and facilities that would do credit to a city much larger than Belington. He keeps his store in a spotless condition and in perfect order and system. Mr. Graham has served as a member of the City Council at Belington. He is a director of the Citizens National Bank. and has voted at every National election for a republican candidate for president since first support- ing Benjamin Harrison. He is a Presbyterian, while Mrs. Graham is a Methodist, and fraternally is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge, Scottish Bite Consistory and Shrine, has filled the chairs in the Subordinate and En- campment Degrees of Odd Fellowship and has sat in the Grand Lodge many times. At Buckhannon June 28, 1899, Mr. Graham married Miss Etta Hinkle, a native of Upshur County and daugh- ter of Arch and Columbia Hinkle. She was educated in the common schools. Her oldest sister, Ida, was the late Mrs. I. R. Post, of Buckhannon. Mr. and Mrs. Graham had no children of their own, but they took as a child Mrs. Graham's niece, Pearl Post, who has grown up under their care and in their companionship and finished her education in the Wesleyan College at Buckhannon, graduat- ing in 1919. This training was supplemented by study elsewhere, and she is one of the very successful teachers in the state. ______________________________X-Message: #7 Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 12:34:06 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991126123406.007ca620@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: William Jackson COONTZ, Barbour Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 331 WILLIAM JACKSON COONTZ has found satisfaction for ambitions to be both useful and successful in the trade and business of carpenter and builder, an occupation in which his father also excelled. Mr. Coontz is one of the honored residents of Belington, and has done some of the most distinctive work in his line in that section of Barbour County. He represents an old family of West Virginia, his great- grandfather having been the pioneer of the name in the western region of old Virginia. His father is the ven- erable Samuel Morgan Dallas Coontz, who was born in Barbour County, and as a youth had only the advantages of the subscription schools. His inclination for study enabled him to realize a great deal of value out of that limited education. He sympathized with the South in its contest for independence, but did not serve in the Confederate army, although he was in Virginia during the war. After the war he took up the work of his life, that of carpenter and millwright, and some of the mills he built still stand, including the Johnny Booth Mill on the head waters of Mill Run, several mills on the waters of Laurel and Sugar Creek and the mill at Nestor- ville on Teter Creek. He did his work chiefly in Taylor, Barbour and Randolph counties, and continued his labors with his favorite tools until recent years. Now, at the age of seventy-eight, he is living in comfortable retire- ment at Belington. He is a democrat, but never took a serious interest in politics beyond voting for good men for office. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He is one of the occasional self made men who can express themselves in public, and he has proved an entertaining and instructive talker before an audience as well as in general conversation. Samuel M. D. Coontz married Isabel F. Poe, who was born in Taylor County, December 14, 1851, daughter of William D. and Mary (Davis) Poe. Her father was born, reared and spent his life in Taylor County, dying at his farm home on a hill overlooking Grafton. His father was Jonathan Bore Poe of German ancestry and also a West Virginia farmer. Samuel Coontz and wife had five chil- dren: Zura May, who died in Barbour County, wife of Frank Moore; Amanda, who lives in Belington, wife of Riley Moore; William J.; A. Thayer, of Akron, Ohio; and Grover C., of Belington. William Jackson Coontz was born on a hill overlooking the City of Grafton, August 24, 1877, but a short time after his birth his parents moved to Barbonr County, and he grew up near Belington. He attended the free schools there, and as a youth learned his trade from his father, beginning at the age of fourteen and working as apprentice and journeyman under his father until he was twenty-two. At that time he yielded to an ambi- tion to see something of his own country, and he went to the Pacific Coast, going out by the Southwestern route, and spent three years in San Francisco in the employ of the United Railroads, a street ear corporation. While in San Francisco he learned the sensation of being in an earthquake, and one year in the month of February there were twenty-eight shocks, as many as four occurring in one day. When he left California, he returned by way of the Northwestern States, and soon after reaching home he married and built a residence near Belington and re- sumed work at his trade. Mr. Coontz has contributed much to the development and growth of Belington, and also the surrounding country. He has constructed some of the tipples at the coal mines in this vicinity. Among conspicuous examples of his work as a building contractor are the residences of John W. Coontz. William Hill and Charley Kittle, the Lambert Chappel Church and the Shoekey and Laurel Hill school houses. Mr. Coontz is also a painting contractor and has lent beauty to the town through this art as well as through his organization of carpentering. He was also the fore- man in laying the base course over part of the Morgan- town and Fairmont road improvement and the Fairmont- Beverly Pike. In March, 1922. Mr. Coontz was elected a member of the Belington Council, as representative of the First Ward. He is a democrat, casting his first presiden- tial vote for Judge Parker. Mr. Coontz and family are members of the Methodist Church. South, and he is a member of both branches of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Rebekahs. In Barbour County, September 30, 1905, he married Miss Nettie J. Sturm. daughter of Henry J. and Frances (Pol- ing) Sturm. Her mother was a daughter of Abraham Poling, a Confederate soldier and member of one of the real pioneer families in this section of West Virginia. Mrs. Coontz, who was born June 6, 1885, third in a fam- ily of twelve children, acquired a liberal education in the public schools. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Coontz are: Clark R., Maxine, Josephine and Arline. ______________________________X-Message: #8 Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 13:29:24 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991126132924.007cc4b0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: John W. WHITTAKER, Preston Co. WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 335 JOHN W. WHITTAKER, manager of the Whittaker Gro- cery Company of Terra Alta, has had an earnest and hard working career, and has progressed from a boy laborer in the mines through successive grades of commercial enter- prise, until the net results of his life's activities in Pres- ton County comprise an impressive achievement and a place of honor in the community. He was born at Austen, Preston County, December 24, 1867. His father, Joseph M. Whittaker, spent all his active life as a miner and mine foreman. A native of England, he came to the United States at the age of twenty-five, and spent the rest of his career at Austen, West Virginia, in the mines of that locality. He died in 1901. His wife, Elizabeth Price, was a native of Wales and came to the United States when a girl of five years. She died in 1916, aged seventy-three. Their children were: Anna, wife of M. D. Montgomery, of Tunnelton; John W.; Mary Sophia, widow of G. M. Renshaw, of Pomeroy, Ohio; Martha Ellen, wife of B. F. Renshaw, of Newburg, West Virginia; Joseph M., of Lorain, Ohio; Edward, a mine foreman at Tun- nelton; and William, of Bradley, Ohio. John W. Whittaker lived in a miner's home in the en- vironment of a busy mining district at Austen, attended the common schools there and during intervals did what work he was able to do in the mines. At the age of fifteen he began earning his living, his first work being as a "trapper" in the mines, following which he was a coal hauler and coal miner. After four years in the practical side of coal mining, during which time he gave his earn- ings to the support of the family, he took a place in the mine company's store at Austen, clerking for two years, and then acting as buyer. After five years with the min- ing company's store a shortage of work caused a shut- down of the commercial establishment, and Mr. Whittaker, using his own modest savings and borrowing other capital, started business for himself at Tunnelton under the name John W. Whittaker. He was a merchant there seven years and built up a large and successful establishment, finally selling to A. J. Bonafield, whose son is a leading coal operator in that vicinity. After leaving his own business Mr. Whittaker went on the road as a traveling salesman for Pugh & Beavers, of Terra Alta, wholesale grocers. During the next five years he built up a large business for the firm in West Virginia and Maryland, and was then taken into partnership, the name of the house being changed to the Pugh & Beavers Grocery Company. A branch house was established at Grafton and another at Elkins in 1906, Mr. Whittaker remaining as manager of the Terra Alta business. He continued in that capacity for ten years, and in December, 1916, he and his associate, Mr. Wotring, bought the Terra Alta house, the result of that deal being the present Whittaker Grocery Company, of which Mr. Whittaker is manager and Mr. Wotring accountant and office man. Tinder the energetic administration of Mr. Whittaker and his partner this business has grown apace, and it is already in excess of its warehouse and office facilities at Terra Alta. The company has an extensive trade over a district twenty-five miles north and south of Terra Alta, and along some seventy-five miles of railroad. Mr. Whittaker is also a stockholder and is vice president of the Terra Alta Bank, with the management of which he has been identified for several years. His participation in politics has been only that of a re- publican voter, and only once did he consent to accept pub- lic office, one term on the common council. During that term the council eliminated the cigarette license, making it unlawful for a cigarette to be sold within the corporate limits, an ordinance still prevailing. Mr. Whittaker is a member of the Masonic Order, Knights of Pythias and Odd Fellows. He was reared a Methodist and for many years has been active in the church of that denomination at Terra Alta, serving on the church board a dozen years, and for thirteen years has been superintendent of the Sunday School and twice has been a delegate to the West Virginia Conference. January 22, 1892, at Newburg, Mr. Whittaker married Miss Mary Jane Hebb; daughter of Sibrant and Ellen (Blackburn) Hebb, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Of the children born to their marriage, the oldest is Percey, now a traveling salesman for the Whittaker Grocery Company and who was in camp at Parkersburg getting ready for service in the World war, but was never called out. He married Nellie Shaffer, and they have a daughter, Ilene, and twins, Percy H., Jr., and Betty Jean. The second child, Bernice Maria, is in the service of the National Home and School Association of New York City, an organization for the purpose of drawing the school and home closer together. The third child, Elsie Elizabeth, is the wife of H. H. Parsons, bill clerk of the Whittaker Grocery Com- pany. The two younger children are Paul H. and John W., Jr., both in grade school at Terra Alta.