BARBOUR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
November 26, 1999
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 325-326
Barbour

ERNEST A. BARTE was born and reared in Barbour County,
and has here proved a versatile and constructive force in
the furtherance of industrial and business enterprises of
important order, his status being that of one of the
progressive and representative citizens of his native county.

Mr. Barte was born on his father’s farm in Barker
District, this county, July 12, 1873, and is a son of Henry
and Mary (Vierheller) Barte, the former of whom was born
in Hanover, Germany, of French Huguenot ancestry, and
the latter of whom was born in Monroe County, Ohio, she
having been the posthumous daughter of Philip Vierheller,
who came to the United States from Hesse-Darmstadt,
Germany, and whose death occurred within a short time
after he had estabalished his home in Monroe County, Ohio.
The widow of Mr. Vierheller subsequently became the wife
of Christian Eberhart, and she passed the closing period
of her life at Belington, West Virginia, where she died at
the age of ninety-three years, six months and sixteen days
-in May, 1899, her son-in-law. Henry Barte, having died
in the preceding month. Mrs. Barte survived her husband
by more than twenty years and passed to the life eternal
in October, 1921, at the age of seventy-four years. Eliz-
abeth, eldest of the children, became the wife of William
T. Right and was a resident of Belington at the time of
her death; Caroline, the wife of Edward Smith, died in
Randolph County, this state, Emma is the wife of Tazewell
Digman, a farmer near Belington; Ernest August is the
immediate subject of this sketch; Lenora is the wife of
Edward Whitescarver, who is identified with the West Vir-
ginia Industrial School for Boys; Clara, who is Mrs. Robert
McCutcheon, resides at the old home of her mother in
Belington; William Henry is with the Kane & Keyser
Hardware Company of this place; and Savanna is the wife
of Clyde Nestor, a dairyman at Elkins, Randolph County.

Henry Barte, whose father was a farmer and weaver
in Germany, was a young man when he left his native land
and came to the United States, and he was a cooper in the
City of Baltimore, Maryland, at the outbreak of the Civil
war. Thence he made his way to Wheeling, West Virginia, in
search of work at his trade, and here he entered the Union
service by enlisting in Company A, First West Virginia
Light Artillery, he having been made a corporal and his
service having continued three years and six months. Ex-
posure and other hardships he endured while in the army
left their effect upon him for the remainder of his life.
He was mustered out at Wheeling at the close of the war,
and in after years he was actively affiliated with the Grand
Army of the Republic until the time of his death. His
political allegiance was given to the republican party, and
he served many years as a member of the School Board
of his district. After the war he became one of the suc-
cessful exponents of farm enterprise in Barker District,
Barbour County, and here he and his wife passed the re-
mainder of their lives, secure in the high regard of all
who knew them. Their marriage was solemnized at Wheel-
ing shortly after the close of the war.

Ernest A. Barte was reared on the home farm and at-
tended the rural school of the neighborhood. At the age
of nineteen years he found employment at a planing mill
and sawmill plant at Belington, and later he learned the
blacksmith trade, and here conducted a shop for some time.
Thereafter he was employed in the lumber woods and in
connection with the operation of sawmills in both West
Virginia and Maryland, besides which he gained experience
as a railroad section-hand. After his marriage he engaged
actively in farm enterprise near Belington, and here he
has since continued his successful association with agri-
cultural and live-stock industry, he being the owner of the
fine old homestead farm formerly owned by his father-in-
law. He has supplied beef to the local markets and has
shipped at times to the Baltimore market, besides having
purchased cattle in the Cincinnati market. In addition
to his progressive farm activities Mr. Barte was associated
with L. L. Bennett in establishing at Belington the handle
factory which now represents one of the substantial in-
dustries of this little city. He was secretary and treas-
urer of the company operating this factory until he sold
his interest in the business. He is a director of the Citizens
National Bank and a stockholder of the First National Bank
of Belington. He is treasurer of the Dayton Construction
Company, which is doing effective service in the construction
of improved roads of the best modern type and which
has a number of important contracts for the year 1922,
including those for the construction of eight miles of road
in Barbour and Randolph counties.

Mr. Barte gives his allegiance to the republican party,
and he has given effective service as a member of the City
Council of Belington, besides having been mayor one term
and having given a most vigorous administration. He was
reared in the faith of the Lutheran Church, but he and his
wife are now active members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church at Belington, of which he is a trustee. Mr. Barte
has at all times shown a lively interest in all things
touching the welfare of his home city and native county,
and he served from 1917 to 1921 as deputy sheriff of the
county.

May 6, 1899, recorded the marriage of Mr. Barte and Miss
Monta Phares, who was bom and reared in Barbour
County, her father, the late W. S. Phares, having come to
this county from Randolph County and having developed
a fine farm adjacent to Belington. Mr. Phares was born
in Randolph County, was a scout and guide in the Union
service in the Civil war, was captured by the enemy and
was for a time held at the infamous old Andersonville
Prison. He was a successful farmer and was one of the
substantial citizens of Barbour County at the time of his
death, when sixty-seven years of age, his wife, whose maiden
name was Virginia Pritt, having survived him by several
years. On their five children only two attained to maturity:
Mrs. Kate Ward, who resides at Belington, and Mrs. Barte.
Thelma, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Barte, was born
April 4, 1900, and died October 30, 1918, after a lingering
illness.

BARBOUR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
November 10, 1999
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 308-309
Barbour

ELIJAH ELSWORTH CLOVIS, M. D. The State Tubercu-
losis Sanitarium at Terra Alta was established in 1911,
and the initial quarters were first opened for the recep-
tion of patients in January, 1913. From the beginning the
superintendent of the sanitarium has been Doctor Clovis,
a West Virginia surgeon and physician who successfully
combated the white plague as his personal enemy, and soon
after recovering came to his present office and respon-
sibilites.

Doctor Clovis was born at Hebron, West Virginia, August
27, 1879. His grandfather, Solomon Clovis, was a native
of Pennsylvania and many years before the Civil war
moved from Greene County, that state, and bought Falls
Mills at Shiloh, West Virginia. Later he located at Hebron,
where he became a manufacturer of brick and tile, also
conducted a tan yard, and continued active in those lines
of business the rest of his life. He married Elizabeth
Wrick, a native of Hebron in Pleasants County. Their
children comprised three sons and four daughters, and the
three sons and one daughter, Mrs. Semantha Wagner, are
still living. The sons are Benjamin, Theodore and Amos.
The two older sons were Union soldiers in the Civil war.
Amos Clovis was born in Pleasants County in 1854 and he
took up farming as his vocation instead of giving his
attention to the factory or the merchant’s counter. He
was active in this line until advanced years came on, and
he still lives on the farm. He and the other members of
the family have been very stanch republicans, but none
of them have been active in political affairs. Amos Clovis
is a member of the Church of Christ. In Hebron he mar-
ried Martha J. Fleming, who was born at Fairmont in
1856, daughter of Enoch Fleming. Their children are:
W. Edward, who has the Ford automobile agency at St.
Marys, Dr. Elijah Elsworth; Cora wife of Homer F. Simon-
ton, of St. Marys; Harry T., of St. Marys; and Lawrence,
a drug clerk at Huntington.

Elijah Elsworth Clovis grew up around Hebron, where
the country air and the life of the farm contributed to
his physical development. He attended the public schools,
taught school four years in a country district, and at the
same time carried on his studies in high school branches
preparatory to entering medical college. Doctor Clovis was
graduated in 1905 from the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons at Baltimore, where he specialized in diseases of the
chest. After graduation he practiced five years at Hebron,
giving up his professional work when threatened with a
breakdown from tubercular trouble. He employed his will
power and his professional knowledge in his own behalf,
and for two years lived in the healthful atmosphere around
Asheville, in Western North Carolina. He practically re-
covered his normal health there and then returned to West
Virginia, and in August, 1912, entered upon his duties as
superintendent of the Tuberculosis Sanitarium at Terra
Alta.

This institution had provision for only sixty patients
when it was opened in January, 1913. By June of that
year the full quota of patients had been received. Subse-
quent additions were made to the facilities by sixty more
beds in 1916, forty more in 1919 and forty in 1920, so
that at present there are accommodations for 200 patients,
and there is a long waiting list of applicants, indicating
the need for such an institution and also for additional
facilities of that kind. During the past nine years the
sanitarium has treated more than 2,000 patients, and a
large number of them have been out five or six years after
being discharged as cured.

Doctor Clovis, on account of his position and also his
individual attainments, is one of the widely known pro-
fessional men in the state. He is president of the Preston
County Medical Society, a member of the West Virginia
State and American Medical associations and the Amer-
ican Sanitarium Association. He was made a Mason at
Hebron and is a past master of that lodge, a member of
Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling, and is
affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and Independent Or-
der of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the Official Board
of the Terra Alta Methodist Church.

At Hebron January 1, 1904, Doctor Clovis married Miss
Clara McKnight, who was born there, a daughter of James
B. McKnight. Mrs. Clovis finished her early education
in the Carroll High School, and was a teacher before her
marriage, doing her last work in the grade school at Whis-
key Run, Ritchie County. Doctor and Mrs. Clovis have two
daughters, Mildred and Madaline.

BARBOUR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
******************************************************************
Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
November 26, 1999
******************************************************************

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 334-335

EDMOND ROGER DYER. In the course of a long and
active life Edmond Roger Dyer has exercised his abilities
in an unusually substantial range of duties and achieve-
ments. He has been a farmer and stockman, mill owner
and operator, merchant, a leader in introducing and using
new improvements, also a public official and liberal con-
tributor to the educational advancement of his community
and state. Mr. Dyer has been a citizen of Barbour
County since 1886, and his home through these years has
been about two miles from the Court House at Philippi.

He was born in Pendleton County January 25, 1851.
Among his ancestors was at least one Revolutionary war
soldier, and the Dyers have been in Virginia since Colonial
times. One of the family name was at Fort Seybert
during the Indian massacre. The grandfather of Edmond
R. Dyer was Roger Dyer, who was born in Pendleton
County, and died at the close of the Civil war, at the
age of ninety-six. His active years were devoted to a
farm. In politics he was first a whig and then a republi-
can. He married a Miss Dyer, and both were of Scotch-
Irish ancestry. This old couple are buried near Fort Sey-
bert. Their sons were named Zebulon, James, Morgan
and Alien. Their daughters were Susan, who married
Jacob Trumbo, and Dianna and Mary, who died unmarried.

Allen Dyer, father of Edmond R., was a native of Pen-
dleton County, spent his active life there on a farm, and
is buried near Fort Seybert in the same county. He
served a brief time as a Confederate soldier toward the
close of the Civil war. He was an active member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. Allen Dyer died in 1907,
at the age of ninety-one. He married Martha Miller, a
daughter of John Miller, and she died in January, 1894.
They reared four sons and four daughters, and the six
surviving children are: Edmond R.; Mary M., who mar-
ried C. K. Switzer, of Philippi; Dianna, who is the wife
of W. A. Judy, of Pendleton County; Susan L., wife of
Elias McWhorter, of McWhorter, West Virginia; Florence,
wife of Isaac E. Bolton, of Morgantown; and W. M., of
Pendleton.

Edmond R. Dyer spent his early life on his father’s farm,
attended the country schools, and lived at home until past
his majority. His early training was largely that of manual
labor, and through farm work he earned his first money.
His independent career may be said to have begun when
he engaged in merchandising at Pendleton. He remained
there until 1883, and then moved to Lewis County and was
a merchant at Jane Lew four years. From there he came
to Barbour County in 1886 and established his home on
a farm two miles from Philippi while his home has
been in the country, few city men have had wider interests
in the program of important affairs. In his home neigh-
borhood he developed what is practically an industrial
suburb of Philippi. There he built a gristmill, sawmill
and planingmill, erecting the Dyer Mill in 1890, and he
still continues this operation. He also opened a store,
but abandoned merchandising after 1902. Since then his
business interests have been associated with his farm, his
live stock and his mill.

His progressive character is illustrated in the fact that
he was the first farmer to introduce such modern machinery
as the grain drill and the tractor, and his reaper was
one of the first in the county. The Delco Lighting Com-
pany declares that his was the first residence in West
Virginia equipped with a Delco lighting system. The first
residence telephone was also placed in his home. He and
another party started the first telephone line in Barbour
County. In Philippi, Mr. Dyer took part in the organiza-
tion of the Citizens National Bank, and has been vice
president and one of the directors of that institution from
the beginning.

One of the outstanding qualities of his good citizenship
has been his deep interest in matters of education. He was
elected and served for eight years as president of the
Board of Education for the Philippi District. He was
also associated with a group of citizens in Philippi in
building up a college center in that town. These men
purchased the property of Broaddus College at Clarksburg,
and secured the relocation of the institution at Philippi
His was one of the first live subscriptions to the college fund

Mr. Dyer gave the people of Barbour County a highly
efficient administration in the office of sheriff, to which he
was elected in 1904, succeeding Sheriff Isaac C. Woodford,
and served four years. He was elected as a republican, and
has been affiliated with that party since young manhood.

In Lewis County, West Virginia, June 22, 1882, Mr. Dyer
married Miss Philena McWhorter, a member of a very
old and prominent family of the state. Her father, Mans-
field McWhorter, was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal
Church and married Sarah Ann Davis. Both are buried at
McWhorter in Harrison County. Mrs. Dyer was born in
Lewis County June 14, 1858, the only child of her parents,
and was reared and educated at Jane Lew.

In some respects the outstanding achievement of Mr. and
Mrs. Dyer is the splendid family of children they have
reared and prepared for the serious duties of life. These
children are twelve in number, and there are now a number
of grandchildren. The oldest child is Otto M., of Buck-
hannon, who married Grace Proudfoot, and their children
are: Mansfield McWhorter, Delbert Proudfoot, Otto Mc-
Whorter and John Edmond. The second child, Allen M., in
the transfer business at Philippi, married Venna Burner and
has four children, Arthur Burner, Mary Louise Alien Miller
and Philena Grace. Audrey, the third of the family, is the
wife of J. Stanley Corder, cashier of the People’s Bank
of Philippi, and they have a daughter, Ruth Reynolds.
Mary was married to T. A. Wilson, of Kingwood, and she
is the mother of two daughters, Sallie Lue and Philena Sue.
Roscoe F., the fifth of this family, is in the dairy business
at Clarksburg, and by his marriage to Maud Woodford has
children named Sarabel, Lueille, Irene, Inajane and Edmond
Roscoe. Martha Dyer was married to M. M. Strader, of
Philippi, and has two daughters, Rosa Lee and Alberta.
Ruth is Mrs. Henry J. Peterson, of Graham, Texas. Paul
Ed, the eighth child, is a farmer near Philippi and married
Ina Martin. The younger children, all still in the home
circle, are Annie Lee and Harry (twins), Clifford A. and
Stephen.

BARBOUR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
******************************************************************
Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
November 26, 1999
******************************************************************

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 339-340

EDMOND WHITEHAIR, though past the age of three score
and ten, still bears a part in the business affairs of Philippi.
He was a boy soldier of the Union in the Civil war, and
for the greater part of his active career lived in Preston
County, where the Whitehairs are one of the oldest and
most prominent families. The family history is given
with more detail on other pages of this publication.

Edmond Whitehair was born near Terra Alta in Preston
County, January 19, 1848, son of Daniel and Sarah (Mes-
senger) Whitehair. His mother was a daughter of Edmond
and Louisa (Hardesty) Messenger. Edmond was one of
a family of eight sons and four daughters, and his boyhood
was spent on the farm close to the little city on the moun-
tain top. At that time country schools were poorly equipped
and conducted only a few months of each year, and it was
from such schools that Edmond Whitehair acquired his
education. He worked with his father, and though only
thirteen years of age when the Civil war broke out, he was
eager to get into the service, and after being rejected on
account of his age he was finally accepted in February
after bis fifteenth birthday. At Grafton he enlisted in
Company I of the Seventeenth West Virginia Infantry,
under Captain Samuel Holt and Colonel Day. He joined
his company at Wheeling, did some training there, was
in training at Clarksburg, and during the remainder of the
war was on scouting duty. There were many Confederate
prisoners gathered in, some of them being deserters from
the Confederate Army while others were bona fide soldiers.
The Seventeenth Regiment was ordered back to Wheeling
and Company I was discharged in July, 1865.

After his return to Terra Alta Edmond Whitehair joined
Senator Jones in the “shook” business, making shocks
for molasses and sugar barrels. This was an industry with
which he was identified about eight years. Mr. Whitehair
then returned to farming, and was an active factor in the
agricultural community near his birthplace for many years.
On leaving the farm he retired to Terra Alta, and about
twelve years later, in 1904, came to Philippi, where he
purchased the marble business of Mr. Joseph Crim, acquiring
the plant and goodwill. He took charge and has since con-
ducted this local industry, known as the Tygart Valley
Marble Works, a corporation of which Sylvanus Talbott
is president, Ira H. Byers, secretary, and Mr. Whitehair,
treasurer and general manager. The company is capitalized
at $5,000, and it does a business over a large adjacent sec-
tion of West Virginia and extending into Pennsylvania and
Maryland.

Mr. Whitehair was one of the promoters and stockholders
of the First National Bank of Terra Alta, and is also a
charter member and one of the stockholders of the Peoples
Bank of Philippi. He is a republican, having cast his first
vote for General Grant, and has supported the national
ticket for half a century. He was a member of the City
Council of Terra Alta and president of the Board of Educa-
tion of Portland District, Preston County, for fourteen
years, resigning that office when he came to Philippi. In
this city he has served two terms as a member of the
council, but after his second term declined to serve longer.
Mr. Whitehair has been a member of the United Brethren
Church for half a century and has been superintendent of
the Sunday School. He is affiliated with the Grand Army
of the Republic.

In Preston County he married Miss Lucinda Freeland.
Her father was Benjamin Freeland, who married a daughter
of Samuel Messenger. Mrs. Whitehair died seven years after
her marriage. She was the mother of three children. Her
son Walter was killed in an explosion at Cumberland, Mary-
land, leaving a wife and four children, whose names are
Nora, wife of Clarence Mullendor, Blanche, Stanley and
Mrs. Mildred Jennings. The only daughter of Mr. White-
hair by his first marriage is Lizzie, wife of M. N. Taylor, of
Terra Alta, and the living son is Samuel Whitehair, of
Philadelphia. For his present wife Mr. Whitehair married
in Garrett County, Maryland, Susan Sanders, daughter of
John F. and Elizabeth (Baker) Sanders. Mrs. Whitehair
was born in Garrett County February 22, 1851. The one
child of Mr. and Mrs. Whitehair is Missouri, wife of Floyd
H. Smith, of Philippi, and they have one child a daughter,
Pearl, a student in the Philippi High School.

BARBOUR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
March 19, 2000
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 356-357

SAMUEL S. FARIS. In the death of Samuel S. Faris on
January 3, 1922, Harrison County lost a citizen who for
years had been given every proof of confidence in his in-
tegrity and ability as a banker, as a public official and a
man of affairs. The late Mr. Faris represented a family
that was founded in the county soon after the close of the
Revolutionary war. He owned and controlled for many
years the extensive Faris lands, nearly two thousand acres,
adjacent to Bridgeport.

The first claimant to these lands was his great-grand-
father, James Faris, who made his claim in 1785 and sub-
sequently developed a portion of the land and was one
of the active pioneer farmers in this section. The title to
the land he took up has never been out of the Faris fam-
ily. This James Faris was killed by the Indians on the
Ohio River, near the present site of the City of Wheeling
West Virginia.

The second generation of the family in this state was
represented by his son Humphrey, who was born in Penn-
sylvania about 1790. His activities as a land holder ma-
terially advanced the improvement of the Faris estate. A
home he erected on the farm in 1816 is still preserved at
Bridgeport. He was twice married, and by his two wives
had seventeen children, including a son named George
Thomas.

George Thomas, son of Humphrey Faris, was born Sep-
tember 15, 1816, at the old homestead. His life covered
a span of almost a century. He died May 9, 1909. He
was a volunteer at the time of the Mexican war of 1846,
but never reached the front. He was past military age
when the Civil war came on. The industry of his life was
devoted to farming. His wife was Mary Ann Sheets, a
native of near West Milford, Harrison County, who died
at the age of forty-seven. She was the mother of Samuel
S., Harriet, Rachel, Byrd, John and Ellen Faris.

The late Samuel S. Faris represented the fourth genera-
tion of the family in West Virginia. He was born Sep-
tember 5, 1855, on his father’s farm a mile and a half
Southeast of Bridgeport. While numerous other affairs
commanded a share of his judgment and enterprise, he
never neglected altogether the business that was part of
his inheritance, fanning and stock raising. He virtually
took charge of his father’s business when but seventeen
years of age, and he handled with remarkable success the
accumulating responsibilities represented by such a large
body of agricultural land.

Some of the banking and business enterprises that en-
listed his participation were the Bridgeport Bank, which
was established in 1903 and of which he was president
from 1906. He was also a stockholder and director in
the milling and pottery companies, was vice president of
the Empire Bank of Clarksburg, a stockholder in the
Merchants National Bank and a stockholder in the
Clarksburg Trust Company at the same place. His public
service included the membership on the Board of Review
of the county, and for twelve years he was on the Board
of County Commissioners, eight years of that time as
president. The late Mr. Faris was a republican in politics.
He was a member of Late Lodge No. 63, A. F. and A. M.,
a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner,
and a member of the Simpson Creek Baptist Church.

In 1881, at Bridgeport, he married Sallie Davidson, who
was born in Taylor County, West Virginia, December 24,
1856. Her father, John Davidson, was a Bridgeport miller
and died in 1892. Her mother, Cornelia (Hurry) David-
son, died in 1894. There were nine children born to S. S.
Faris and wife, six of whom are living: Doctor George
Thomas Faris, who became a practicing physician in
Philadelphia, married Nell Steele, of Morgantown, West
Virginia, and they have one child, Samuel Sheets Faris,
II; Rachel, who married Dr. Benj. F. Shuttleworth, of
Clarksburg; and Florence, Nell, Mary and Robert, at home.
The latter married Eleanor Mayors, of Fairmont, West Vir-
ginia. The deceased children are: Clara who died at the
age of seventeen years, John, who died at the age of nine-
teen months and an infant who died at birth. George and
Robert Faris, like their father, are Masons, both having
taken the Scottish Rite, and the latter is a Shriner. Flor-
ence, Nell and Mary are members of the Eastern Star.

BARBOUR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
******************************************************************
Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
July 9, 2000
******************************************************************

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 461-462

JOHN C. FELTON. One of the venerable and honored
citizens of Barbour County is Capt. John C. Felton, who
resides upon his fine homestead farm in the Valley of the
Tygart River, below Berryburg Junction. The Captain
was born in the family home on the summit of a hill at
Rowlesburg, Preston County, September 6, 1843, and is a
grandson of John Pelton, who settled in that locality in
the early days, upon removal from Frederick County, Vir-
ginia. John Felton was born at Taneytown, Maryland, and
his settlement in what is now Preston County, West Virginia,
occurred almost a century ago. He served as magistrate
and later as sheriff in that county, he having been a man
of marked ability and sterling character, and thus having
been well qualified for leadership in community affairs, the
while he became one of the substantial pioneer fanners of
Preston County. He was first a whig and later a repub-
lican in politics, and he and his wife held membership in
the Methodist Church. The family name of Mrs. Felton
was McHenry, and both attained to advanced age, he having
been almost about seventy years of age at the time of his
death, about 1850. Their children were nine in number:
Henry, John, Joshua, Caleb, Samuel, Betsy (Mrs. Wetzell),
Prudence (Mrs. Wotring), Sarah (Mrs. Judon), and Mary.
Henry Felton, father of Captain Felton of this sketch, was
born in the year 1801 and was about eleven years old at
the time of the family removal to Preston County. His
loyalty to the Union at the time of the Civil war was
manifested in service in behalf of the cause, though he was
sixty years of age at the outbreak of the war, and he was
thus in the Federal service when he was so badly injured
in a railroad wreck near Fairmont that his death soon
ensued, in 1864, his command having been on its way to
be discharged and his death having occurred about two
weeks after the wreck mentioned. He had given three
years of gallant service as a member of the Sixth West
Virginia Volunteer Infantry. His active career was marked
by close association with farm enterprises in Preston County,
his home having been near the present town of Albright
at the time of his death. He married Catherine Watring,
the original spelling of the family name having been Wot-
ring, and Abraham Wotring having settled in Pennsylvania
about the time of the birth of Gen. George Washington.
Mrs. Felton long survived her husband and continued her
residence on the old homestead near Albright until her death
in 1890. William, eldest of the children, passed his entire
life in Preston County, was a road-builder by occupation
and was past seventy years of age when he died, a number
of children surviving him. Elias died when a young
man. Malinda became the wife of Jacob Funk and died in
Preston County. Daniel was one of the venerable residents
of that county at the time of his death. Henry was a “Union
soldier in the Civil war, as a member of the Seventeenth
West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, and after the war he
was a successful farmer. He was killed by a railroad train
in 1892, and was survived by a number of his children.
Elizabeth, the wife of Elisha Atha, died near Steubenville,
Ohio. Eleanor died in Preston County. Her husband
Isaac Whetzell, died while in service as a Union soldier in
the Civil war. Captain John C., of this review, is the
youngest of the number.

John Clay Felton was reared in Preston County, along
the Cheat River, and well recalls the construction of the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad line through Rowlesburg, where
he saw the first locomotive cross the bridge. He continned
his residence in his native county until 1869, when he re-
moved to Barbour County. Prior to this it had been his
desire to render loyal service as a Union soldier in the Civil
war. He enlisted in Company A, Seventh West Virginia
Volunteer Infantry, won promotion to the office of corporal
and later to that of sergeant, and he continued in service
with his original company until near the close of the
war, he having re-enlisted at the close of his first term
and he having received, under date of May 9, 1865, com-
mission as first lieutenant of Company F of the same regi-
ment. On the 26th of the same month he was commissioned
captain of his company, a few days prior to the surrender
of General Lee. Samuel Snyder was captain of Company
A when Captain Felton first entered the service, his suc-
cessor having been Captain Thomas Elliott, who later was
succeeded by Captain John Fordyce. At the battle of
Antietam the Seventh West Virginia Infantry lost one-
third of its members in killed and wounded. Thereafter
Captain Felton took active part in the battles of Freder-
icksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, in which last he
witnessed the famous charge of the Confederate forces
under Gen. George E. Pickett. Thereafter Captain Felton
took part in the Wilderness campaign, and fought at
Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor. His regiment next took
part in engagements around Petersburg, including the
battles at Ream’s Station and Hatchers Run. The command
followed the retreating Confederate forces and at the time
of the surrender of General Lee was about one-half mile
in the rear of the main army. The regiment took part
in the grand review of the victorious forces in the City of
Washington, and at Wheeling, West Virginia, Captain
Felton received his honorable discharge on the 1st of July,
1865, he having never been wounded or otherwise injured
in his remarkably active career at the front. He became
one of the organic members of the post of the Grand Army
of the Republic at Rowlesburg, later was affiliated with the
post at Philippi and is now a member of Reno Post at
Grafton. He has attended numerous West Virginia state
encampments of this patriotic fraternity as well as the
national encampments held at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania;
Columbus, Ohio; and Indianapolis, Indiana.

Captain Felton cast his first presidential vote for Abraham
Lincoln, and has continued in unfaltering allegiance to
the republican party. He served ten years as magistrate
in Pleasant District, Barbour County, and he and his wife
are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
He was formerly in active affiliation with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows.

After his marriage, in 1869, Captain Felton soon removed
to Clover District, Tucker County, where he continned his
association with farm enterprise until 1891, since which
year he has resided on his present homestead in Barbour
County, where substantial success has attended his activities
in the cattle and dairy business, the raising of poultry and
the carrying on of general agriculture, his farm being one
of the well improved places of the county.

July 1, 1869, recorded the marriage of Captain Felton
and Miss Susanna M. Martin, who was born in Barbour
County, September 29, 1845, and, like her husband, she
acquired her education in the pioneer subscription schools,
which were maintained in log buildings of the type common
to the period and locality. Mrs. Felton is a daughter of
Henry D. and Margaret (Means) Martin, the former a
native of Barbour County and the latter of Preston County,
their remains resting in the family burying ground On the
old home farm in Barbour County. Barbara, eldest of the
Martin children, became the wife of Sanford Scott, and
she remained in Barbour County until her death; Anthony
was one of the successful farmers of this county at the
time of his death; Isaac died at Mount Morris, this county;
Catherine married Ezekiel Hart and died at Peeltree, Bar-
bour County; Jacob was a Union soldier in the Civil war
and was killed in battle at Cedar Creek; Apalonia is the
wife of E. C. Hull, and they reside in the State of Iowa;
Matilda, wife of George Ryan, died in that state; George
was a farmer at the old home place at Cove Run at the
time of his death; Mrs. Felton was the next in order of
birth; Lizzie became the wife of David Menear; Margaret
is the wife of Upton Forman, of Weaverville, North Caro-
lina; and Eveline (Mrs. Charles Cornwell) died in Barbour
County.

In conclusion is given brief record concerning the children
of Captain and Mrs. Felton: Henry Warren died in
young manhood, in 1891. George C., who now has charge
of the county farm in Taylor County, married Maggie
Leach, and their children are Florin, Tracy, Leta, Pearl and
Uriel. Jacob F., who resides at Clarksburg, this state, mar-
ried Lula Saffel, and they have four children: Lillie,
Howard, Bernard and Warren. Maggie is the wife of Ira
Hoffman, of Arden, Barbour County, and they have five
children: Lalah, Gerald, Clifford, William and Mary.
Edgar C., who is associated with his father in the manage-
ment of the home farm, married Miss Maude Proudfoot, and
they have three children: Beulah L., Deveda Grace and
Virginia Susanna. Harlan A. is identified with coal mining
at Simpson, Taylor County, the maiden name of his wife
having been Bessie McDaniel, and their children being
five in number: Harold, John, Audrey, Edna and Hoy.
Lizzie is the wife of Lee Colebank, who lives in Monongalia
County, West Virginia, but whose post office is at Point
Marion, Pennsylvania, and they have seven children: James,
Opal, Mildred, John, Donald, Marguerite and Ralph Upton,
the youngest of the children, has proved the rover of the
family and has variously employed himself in different parts
of West Virginia and other states.

BARBOUR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
******************************************************************
Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@earthlink.net
July 6, 2000
******************************************************************

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 443-444

JAMES HENRY FELTON, who resides at Belington, Barbour
County, was born and reared in this county and is a scion
of one of the sterling pioneer families of this section of
West Virginia. He was born September 30, 1859, on the
old homestead farm in Philippi District, this county, five
miles northeast of Philippi, in the beautiful valley of the
Tygart River. His father, Daniel Felton, was born in
Frederick County, Maryland, January 19, 1807, and in
1814 the family home was established in what is now
Preston County, West Virginia, where his father, John Fel-
ton, became a pioneer farmer on the Cheat River, near
Kingwood. Of John Felton further mention is made in
the personal sketch of another grandson, Capt. John C.
Felton, on other pages of this volume. Daniel Felton was
reared under the conditions and influences of frontier life
in the western part of the Old Dominion State, and in
Barbour County was solemnized his marriage to Lucinda
England, a daughter of John England, who was reared in
Belington District and who, as a loyal supporter of the
Union, was a member of the Home Guard during the Civil
war. Daniel Felton became one of the substantial farmers
and honored and influential citizens of Barbour County,
and remained on his old homestead farm until his death,
on the 24th of September, 1894. His widow, who was born
in September, 1837, is still living (1922) and is eighty-four
years of age at the time of this writing. Of their children
James H., of this review, is the first born; Samuel D. is
a farmer near Arden, this county; Sarah A. is the wife of
J. E. Moore, a farmer in that locality; and Mary Ellen
is the wife of Israel P. Fry, their home being in the State
of Pennsylvania.

James H. Felton profited by the advantages of the rural
and select schools, as is shown in his having been for six
years a successful teacher in the schools of bis native county,
his final term having been in the Overfield school in Elk
District. After retiring from the pedagogic profession he
became actively identified with farm enterprise and in the
manufacturing of and dealing in lumber and timber, with
which later line of enterprise he has continued his con-
nection, to a greater or less extent, to the present time, and
besides which he still owns and has general supervision of
his fine farm in his native county. He cast his first presi-
dential vote in 1880, for General James A. Garfield, and
has since continued his allegiance to the republican party.
He remained on his farm until 1890, when he removed
to Philippi, the county seat, upon his election to the office
of clerk of the Circuit Court, a position which he retained
six years. Thereafter he again resided on his farm until
1899, when he was appointed to the position of examiner
of property accounts in the office of the quartermaster gen-
eral in the United States Army and Navy Building in the
City of Washington, D. C. His appointment came through
Gen. Charles G. Dawes, who was the comptroller of the
currency, and he became well acquainted with General
Dawes, whose splendid powers were brought into service
in connection with the nation’s participation in the World
war, and who has since proved one of the ablest men ever
enlisted in the work of organizing the financial affairs of
the Government upon a proper system of economic stability
and retrenchment. Mr. Felton continued his service at
Washington 3 1/2 years, and he then returned to his farm,
upon which his family had remained. Here he has continued
his association with agricultural and live-stock industry
and the lumber business, and he has maintained the family
home in the City of Belington since August, 1912. Here
he has given most effective service as president of the
Board of Education of the independent district of Beling-
ton. The religious faith and affiliation of the family is
that of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

September 22, 1885, recorded the marriage of Mr. Felton
and Miss Lora D. Gall, who was born in Pleasant District,
Barbour County, July 17, 1862, and who is a daughter of
George W. and Elizabeth (Talbott) Gall. Gretchen, eldest
of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Felton, is the wife of Atlee
C. Bolton, of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and
they have two children, Craig Felton and Margaret. Grace
is the wife of R. M. Wylie, of Baltimore, Maryland. Min-
nie is the wife of Clarence Dilworth, of Huntington, West
Virginia, and they have one son, Richard. Miss Prudence
is principal of the Junior High School at Belington, she
being a graduate of the West Virginia Wesleyan College,
which her sisters likewise attended. Mrs. Wylie graduated
from the Mountain State Business College and attended
Marshall College, with which latter institution she was
identified in a clerical and executive capacity for ten years.
Mrs. Dilworth graduated from Marshall College, and prior
to her marriage was a successful teacher in the public
schools, including those of the City of Charleston. Miss
Prudence Felton likewise graduated from the Mountain
State Business College at Parkersburg, and all of the
sisters have proved successful and popular teachers.

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 124-125

FLAVIUS BAXTER HALLER. Living itself is an achieve-
ment, but when to living are added the carrying of bur-
dens, the performance of useful work, and the fulfillment
of duties, the individual existence acquires distinctions that
make it something better than the common lot. Some-
thing in the nature of satisfying fulfillment has marked
County, and the following record of himself and family
will therefore be not one of the least interesting sketches
to appear in these volumes.

The Haller family is of German origin. The grandfather
of Flavius Haller, John Haller, was born at Fredrick,
Maryland, but little is known of his life work. His brother,
Godfrey Haller, spent his life in Barbour County, and
Tobias Haller also lives there. Godfrey was a hatter by
trade and Tobias made combs out of horn. All these
brothers left posterity in Barbour County.

Michael Theodore Haller, father of Flavius Baxter, was
born at Shinnston, Harrison County, was a farmer and
teacher, was a captain of militia in the old mustering days,
and when the Civil war was fought he was a captain in the
State Guard. While engaged in rounding up Confederate
stragglers, who were returning home from the main army
after the surrender of General Lee, he and his squad ran
into an ambush and he and several others were killed. This
tragedy occurred after the war, on April 24, 1865. His
body was brought home and laid to rest in St. John’s Ceme-
tery in Huffman Settlement of Barbour County. He was
forty-one years of age when killed, and left a number of
sons and daughters to succeed him. Michael T. Haller was
a man of excellent mind and a great reader, and due to the
habit of reading was a man of superior education in the
county. He was a staunch admirer of Abraham Lincoln,
one of the few men in the county who voted for him in
1860, and he was also a personal and political friend of
Governor A. I. Boreman. While reading Mr. Lincoln’s
speeches in the great debate work with Douglas, Mr. Hal-
ler was converted to Lincolnism and declared in the pres-
ence of his family, striking his hand heavily upon the
table, “I’ll vote for Abe Lincoln.”

Michael T. Haller married Sarah Nestor, a native of
Barbour County, born on the waters of Teters Creek. Mrs.
M. T. Haller’s father, George Nestor, born in the same
locality, married Amelia Poling, and both of these families
came originally from Holland. George Nestor was a miller
on Teters Creek and also enjoyed the reputation of a great
hunter. For many years he held the office of magistrate,
and one of his sons succeeded him in office. The children
of Michael T. Haller and wife were: Catherine, of Elkins,
West Virginia, widow of Samuel Shanabarger; Amelia,
wife of Jacob Huffman, now living on the waters of Teters
Creek; Charles W., of Fairmont; John Webster, a farmer
and carpenter near Arden in Barbour County; Flavius
Baxter; Mary Elizabeth, who became the wife of Isaac
Coonts, of Belington; Watson Herschel, of Bridgeport,
West Virginia; and Michael Lorenzo, in the hotel busi-
ness at Belington. The mother of these children married
for her second husband Jackson Ramsey, but had no chil-
dren by that union. She died June 19, 1899, at the age
of seventy-six.

Flavius Baxter Haller was born on Teters Creek in Bar-
bour County, February 1, 1855, and had only the advan-
tages of the common schools, which during his boyhood were
not noted for the efficiency of their discipline. Better than
any school work was the inheritance of his father’s disposi-
tion to read and investigate for himself, and more than most
men Mr. Haller has been a student all his life. The read-
ing room and table in his home are covered with magazines,
daily papers and other periodicals. Perhaps the first money
he ever earned was in making soapstone pencils, which he
sold and the proceeds he invested in a third reader. The
fact that he grew up on a farm is evidence that he early
learned the meaning of hard labor. He was sixteen years
of age when his mother married again, and after that he
lived with strangers until he acquired a home of his own.
During the summer season he worked for wages on a farm,
and turned these wages to good account by attending school
in winter. Thus even his schooling meant a considerable
struggle and self sacrifice. After leaving school Mr. Hal-
ler went to Indiana and worked on a farm in Elkhart, John-
son, and Shelby counties. Harvest hands were then being
paid $2 a day and ordinary labor $1 a day. After being
in Indiana six months he returned home and worked for
Squire John N. Hall on his farm on Elk Creek for two
years. Following that Mr. Haller became a photographer,
taking pictures by the old daguerreotype process. He then
came to Taylor County, worked on a farm two years, and
following that was a merchant at Tyrconnell for eight years.
He left business of his own to go on the road as a com-
mercial traveler, and successfully represented the firms of
Jacobs and Eisenburg for four years; was on the road for
the Deleplain Dry Goods Company of Wheeling fifteen
years; then for John A. Horner of Baltimore; H. P. Mc-
Gregor and Company of Wheeling; the Koblegard Com-
pany of Clarksburg; and concluded his twenty-seven years
of travel work as representative for the firm of Hicks and
Hoge.

After selling his own store Mr. Haller bought a farm
at Rosemont, established his family there, and, when not
on the road, personally supervised farm work and farm
developments. Since retiring from salesmanship he has
made farming his chief interest, the most profitable feature
of his farm enterprise being dairying and poultry raising.
Mr. and Mrs. Haller are not actuated by a strenuous am-
bition to get rich and have found it better to be content
with a moderate degree of prosperity and really live while
they live.

Mr. Haller’s citizenship has been of a public spirited and
practical kind. For eight years he was a member of the
Board of Education, and while on the board helped es-
tablish the first district high school in Taylor County and
one of the first district high schools in the state. Other
matters that have been accorded his earnest support are
good public roads and other improvements. He has been
a worker in the republican party, was a delegate to the
State Convention when Governor Atkinson was nominated,
and was a delegate to the well remembered state conven-
tion at Charleston when one faction nominated Swisher for
governor and the rump convention nominated still another,
while later both candidates were withdrawn through the
Elkins influence and Governor Glasscock was put up and
elected.

In Taylor County, September 5, 1883, Mr. Haller mar-
ried Miss Amanda Bailey, daughter of Silas P. and Almyra
(Kelley) Bailey. Mrs. Haller was the oldest child of her
father’s second marriage and was born in Taylor County,
February 7, 1863. She had two sisters, the wife of Dr.
C. R. Peck of Clarksburg and Mrs. Alta Lanham, the lat-
ter having died, October 2, 1899. Her brothers are the
late B. F. Bailey a prominent attorney of Grafton, who
died suddenly in New York City on December 1, 1914;
Grant, of Rosemont; Carl, a successful dairyman and farmer
in Randolph, New York; and Bruce Bailey, a civil engineer
at Fairmont. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Haller
the oldest is Earl Stanley, manager at Staunton, Virginia,
for Sine’s Ice Cream Company of Harrisburg, Virginia.
The second child, Enid, is the wife of H. Ralph Harper,
who is in the office of the Grasselli Chemical Company at
Zeising, West Virginia. M. Quay is an inspector for the
Hutchinson Coal Company at Erie, West Virginia. Sallie
married Carl Huffman a chemist living at Denver, Colorado.
Morris Jacob, the youngest of the family, graduated A. B.
from West Virginia University is also a graduate of the
Fairmont State Normal School, for a time was a high
school principal and is now in the real estate business at
Morgantown.

Something should he said in conclusion concerning the
Haller home at Rosemont. It is one of the old homes of
that locality, stands on an elevation near the public high-
way, and is marked both for its domestic conveniences and
for the air of hospitality that surrounds it. In point of
conveniences it is in a class with many city homes. The
house, barn. back buildings and grounds are illuminated
from a Delco electric lighting system, and this plant is
used not only for lighting, but also to supply current for
a number of mechanical devices, not least among which is
the electric iron and washer. The house has a complete
water system, bathroom and other facilities. After hav-
ing equipped five children abundantly for useful work in
life, it seems appropriate that Mr. and Mrs. Haller should
have such an attractive and comfortable place in which
to spend their remaining years and enjoy the fruit of their
labor and economy.

Submitted by: Valerie Crook

BARBOUR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
******************************************************************
Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
November 26, 1999
******************************************************************

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 319

FRANK WOODS was born at Philippi, West Virginia,
July 20, 1850, and was the oldest son of Judge Samuel
Woods. He graduated from the West Virginia University
in 1874. He was a member of the faculty and tutor in
that institution until his admission to the bar in 1877,
when he formed a partnership and practiced law at Graf-
ton, West Virginia, with the late Benjamin F. Martin,
under the firm name of Martin and Woods. He was
a remarkably successful and clear headed lawyer, with
a style and diction which were unusnally scholarly, lucid
and forceful, and his pleadings were models, and will be
found models to this day. In 1887, after having prac-
ticed law in the courts of West Virginia for about ten
years with unusual success, he moved to the City of Balti-
more, and practiced his profession there in the courts
of Maryland until his death in the year 1900.

Mr. Woods attained a remarkably high standing in the
able bar of Baltimore City, and was held in the highest
respect by all who knew him. He was a devoutly religious
man and a consistent member of the Monumental Metho-
dist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, and was for a long
time the superintendent of the Sunday School of that
church.

While he lived in Baltimore his services were in great
demand. He had a large practice in questions of title
and property relating to interests of clients in the state
of West Virginia, and he frequently appeared and prac-
ticed in the Federal courts in West Virginia and for a
long time in the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Vir-
ginia after his removal to the City of Baltimore.

Mr. Woods took great interest in educational and re-
ligious affairs, and was very active and generous in char-
itable activities in and about the City of Baltimore. He
was for many years a member of the Board of Trustees
of the Chelteham School for colored boys near the City
of Baltimore.

Mr. Woods was a democrat of the most independent
character, but took no active personal participating in-
terest in political affairs.

He was six feet high, wore a dark beard, was as straight
as an Indian, was always a deeply and devoutly studious
and religious man, and was held in the highest esteem
by all who knew him.

He married Miss Harriet L. Deering, of Morgantown,
West Virginia, in June 1879. They had no children.
Mr. Woods died suddenly in Atlantic City, New Jersey,
on the 21st day of August, 1900.

BARBOUR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
******************************************************************
Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
November 26, 1999
******************************************************************

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 325

FLOYD TETER, banker and business man of Belington, is
a native of Barbour County, and some important history
pertinent to this section of the state as well as to the family
is involved in an account of his forefathers.

The name Teter is a corruption of “Dietrich,” the pure
German spelling of the name. The Dietrichs were in the
Valley of Virginia at the close of the American Revolution
and are said to have settled from Pennsylvania. From the
Valley of Virginia, branches of the family moved westward,
one going into Pendleton County in what is now West Vir-
ginia. In Barbour County the family were pioneers.
Teter’s Creek was named as early as 1783, and four years
later George Teter acquired title to land here, evidence
of which is found in the Virginia land books.

However, the first permanent settler of old Randolph
County on the west bank of Tygart Valley River and in
what is now the County of Barbour, was Jacob Teter,
great-grandfather of Floyd Teter. It was about 1800 that
he came to Barbour County from Pendleton County. He
was a son of Philip Teter, whose other children were Joseph,
Isaac, James, Nancy and, perhaps, Mary. There is record of
a Mary “Tidricks” who was married in Randolph County to
Enoch Osborn in 1803, and in 1811 Solomon Yeager mar-
ried Mary, a daughter of Jacob Teter.

The great-grandfather Jacob Teter settled on the west
side of the Tygart Valley Eiver at what is now the town-
site of Belington. When he came here from Pendleton
County he was accompanied by a boy, and also carried a
gun, and they were followed by his dog. He and the boy
built a little cabin not far from the river bank. This
historic log building was still standing in 1890. The well
at the site is still marked by a depression near the Beling-
ton West Side school building. Mr. Teter acquired a large
tract of land, including all the present West Side of Beling-
ton. After his home was built he was joined by his family.
When he started back to Pendleton County to bring on
his family the Tygart Valley Eiver was high and he built
a raft to cross it. On the raft he put the boy, together
with his dog and gun and a scant supply of food, and,
tying one end of a withe to the craft, he put the other
end between his teeth and, swimming across, pulled the
raft and landed the cargo safely on the opposite shore.
Jacob Teter was a sturdy frontiersman who cleared much
of his land from the virgin forest. Abundant prosperity
attended his labors. He erected a comfortable house on
his farm, planted an orchard, and from some apple and
cherry trees of this orchard his great-grandson has eaten
fruit, though all of the trees have now disappeared. As
one of the first settlers he built and operated the first grist
mill, and at that mill continued to serve the second and third
generations. He was also active in founding the first
Methodist Church. Evidence of his deep piety is found in
the story that the only method by which some boys were able
to capture a prized melon in his fine melon patch was to
wait until he was engaged in prayer. He has told the boys
that if they could steal that special melon without his
detecting them they were welcome to it. He founded a
strong race of people, having been twice married. Among
his sons were Jacob, Joseph and Isaac, and among his
daughters were Mrs. Mary Yeager, Mrs. Stonestreet and
Mrs. Patrick McCann.

His son Jacob, grandfather of Floyd Teter, was born in
the pioneer log cabin mentioned above. His older brother,
Joseph, was born in Pendleton County May 8, 1796. Jacob
Teter became one of the substantial fanners of Barbour
County, his farm being half a mile further up the Tygart
Valley than the old home. In his generation he was as
vigorous and efficient as his father, and hia life was ordered
on a high plane of integrity and honor. He died at the
age of seventy-six. His wife was Mary Coberly. The
oldest of their children was Jesse Teter. Oliver was a
Union soldier, a pioneer in road improvement in Barbour
County, and died in that county. James was a Union
soldier, a successful farmer and at the time of his death
lived in Oklahoma. Abel was also in the ranks of Union
soldiers, and died on his farm in his native county. Peyton
was killed by a falling tree when a young man. Margaret
became the wife of Charles Groves. Eliza was the wife of
Major Felonhouse; Elizabeth married Josiah Wilson. Del-
phia died in young womanhood. All the son-in-laws were
Union soldiers, so that the patriotic and military record of
the family is exceptional.

Jesse Teter, father of Floyd, was born May 14, 1823, and
his entire life was passed in the vicinity of his birthplace.
He attended the subscription schools and was a successful
teacher for a time. His chief business was farming and
cattle raising, but he also performed a constructive service
in the clearing of land and making his section of the
county more available for general improvement. He served
thirty-seven consecutive years as justice of the peace, and in
the Civil war period was active and influential in the recruit-
ing of troops for the Union. He was a leader in public and
political affairs, and he and his wife were devoted members
of the Concord Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a lib-
eral contributor in the erection of the church building, and
served as class leader and teacher in the Sunday School. His
death occurred September 14, 1901, and that of his widow
on the 12th of March, 1912. In 1849 he married Miss
Elizabeth Phillips, whose father, Thomas Phillips, a cabinet
maker by trade, was a pioneer settler in Randolph County
and later in Barbour County. Of the children of Jesse and
Elizabeth Teter the first born was William Worth, who
was a farmer merchant and civil engineer in Barbour
County at the time of his death; Thomas B. was a farmer
and live-stock dealer in this county at the time of his death,
February 12, 1917, and under the administration of Presi-
dent Cleveland he served as Government Indian agent at
Pocatello, Idaho; Ida who is dead was the wife of Dr.
M. M. Hoff, a leading physician at Philippi, Barbour
County; Floyd is the youngest son; and Miss Mertie E.
remains on the old home farm, just southwest of Belington.

Floyd Teter was born October 7, 1857, and is indebted
to the public schools of his native county for his early
education. He continued to assist in the work and manage-
ment of the old home farm until his marriage. For some
twenty years thereafter he was associated with the lumber-
ing operations conducted by Charles G. Blachley, for whom
he purchased timber on an extensive scale, besides conduct-
ing an independent business enterprise. Afterward for
several years he actively engaged in the buying and selling
of West Virginia coal lands. He erected one of the first
brick buildings at Belington, where he also built and sold
other buildings, and thus contributed much to the material
advancement of the little city. He was one of the organizers
of the Citizens Bank, the first established in Belington, and
became a director of the institution. Since its conversion
into the Citizens National Bank he has continued a director
of the latter, and is now vice president. His civic loyalty
was distinctly shown in his two terms of service as a mem-
ber of the City Council, but he has no liking for public
office or political activity. He is a staunch supporter of
the cause of the republican party, is affiliated with the
Loyal Order of Moose, and he and his wife are active mem-
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. On December
18, 1884, Mr. Teter married Miss Dollie Hinkle, who was
born in Eandolph County, this state, January, 17, 1867, a
daughter of Bernard L. and Albina (Mouse) Hinkle. The
town of Elkins is situated on the old farm of Mr. Hinkle,
who died there. His widow is now a resident of Belington.
Mrs. Teter was their only child. Charles Edward, eldest
of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Teter, resides at Beling-
ton, where he is an automobile machinist. He married
Delia Curry, who died, survived by one child, Delia Ruth.
Jessie, who graduated from the Belington High School, is
a talented pianist, is a popular factor in the social life of
the community and remains at the parental home. Bernard
L., a graduate of the local high school, is assistant cashier
of the Citizens National Bank of Belington.