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BARBOUR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@earthlink.net
July 16, 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. 501-502
Barbour
LEE L. BENNETT. In the thriving little industrial city of
Belington, Barbour County, a substantial concern that is
contributing distinctly to the commercial prestige of the
city is that of the Belington Handle Manufacturing Com-
pany, of which Mr. Bennett is the president. His birth
occurred in Valley District, this county, March 28, 1879. He
is a scion of one of the old and well known families of Bar-
bour County, his father, Worth Bennett, was born near
Mount Hebron Church, and his remains rest in the little
churchyard there. He was a farmer and stone-mason, and
was but thirty-seven years of age at the time of his death.
He married Jemima C. Zirkle, and of the children of this
union four are living: Malinda May, wife of Lee Kesling,
of Upshur County; Lee L., of this review; Worth Gordon,
of Hall, Barbour County; and Jacob Ezra, of Richwood,
Nicholas County. The mother became the wife of Jacob
Campbell, and their one child is Ruth V., wife of Walter
Fallen, of Bingamon, Marion County. After the death of
her second husband Mrs. Campbell became the wife of
Cassius Skidmore, and they reside on a farm near Hall,
Barbour County.
Levi Bennett. grandfather of the subject of this sketch,
was a native of one of the more eastern counties of Vir-
ginia and he became one of the pioneer farmers of Barbour
County, where he died at an advanced age, his remains
being interred in the cemetery of Mount Hebron Church.
The maiden name of his wife was Malinda Campbell, and
they reared a fine family of twelve children: James,
Baxter, Worth, Aaron, Preston, Charles, Henson, Mrs.
Hannah Layman, Mrs. Minerva Stevens, Mrs. Jane Martina,
Miss Louvisa and Mrs. Estella Burner.
When Lee L. Bennett was a lad of twelve years the fam-
ily removed to a farm near Buckhannon, Upshur County,
where he grew to manhood, his educational advantages hav-
ing been those of the local schools. He was twelve years
old when his father died, and he then began to aid in the
care and support of his young widowed mother by obtaining
work in a planing mill, his compensation at the start hav-
ing been 50 cents a day. He gained practical experience
in this connection and that which followed while he was em-
ployed in a chair factory at Buckhannon. After the factory
was destroyed by fire he entered the employ of owners of
the Loudin Planing Mill, and in this connection he virtually
served a regular apprenticeship. Later he was employed
as planer feeder in a mill at Heaters, Braxton County, where
he remained two years. He then became a planer feeder
in the mill of A. G. Giffin at Buckhannon, and in this con-
nection he made the interior spouting for the present flour
mill at Weston. While thus engaged at Buckhannon Mr.
Bennett married and established his first independent home.
Later he passed two years as foreman for the Pardee &
Curtin Lumber Company at Sutton, Braxton County, and
thereafter he took charge of the Pettit Mill at Heaters, in
which village his first child was born. After a year at
Heaters he engaged in independent business at Buckhannon,
where he became associated with J. L. Henry and Ora E.
Travis in the purchase of a well established planing mill.
A year later Mr. Bennett sold his interest in this enter-
prise and removed to Belington, Barbour County, where he
organized the Belington Planing Mill Company, the stock
of the corporation having been held almost entirely by him-
self and E. T. Pritchard. Mr. Bennett became president of
the company and general manager of the plant, while Mr.
Pritchard, a skilled carpenter, assumed supervision of the
building contract work assumed by the company. After
three years Mr. Bennett sold his interest and engaged in the
saw-mill industry, with mills in several localities in Barbour
and Randolph counties, where he manufactured hardwood
lumber for local use and also for shipment to accessible
market points. In February, 1909, Mr. Bennett organized
the Belington Handle Manufacturing Company, which was
incorporated with a capital stock of $10 000, and his asso-
ciates in which were E. A. Barte, E. S. Dawson, A. Lazarus
and W. S. Shurtleff. He has since acquired the interests
of all of these original stockholders except Mr. Dawson,
who is vice president of the company, Mannah E. Stalnaker
being now secretary of the corporation. The enterprise was
established for the purpose primarily of manufacturing
handles for coal and clay picks, but the business has since
been expanded to include the production of a comprehensive
line of tool handles, besides which the planing mill operated
by the company is an important part of the enterprise,
material being obtained from sawmill plants in the sur-
rounding districts. The company has developed an appre-
ciable export trade, and it is interesting to record that
some of the handles manufactured at this plant were
utilized by the English Government in the trench activities
at the front in the late World war. The company has
recently acquired the Scrimegeour Brothers' franchise for
light and power at Belington, and is now supplying the city
with these utilities, a gas engine and dynamo having been
installed at the plant, which is one of ninety-horse power.
Mr. Bennett and Mr. Dawson are associated also in the
operation of a profitable ginseng garden on Laurel Moun-
tain, the product being shipped to New York City. Mr.
Bennett is identified also with farm enterprise and with
the supplying of limestone for road-building. He has sup-
plied crushed stone for the wearing course of about thirteen
miles of hard-surface road in Barbour and Randolph coun-
ties. He has served three terms as mayor of Belington. He
is a republican in politics, and is affiliated with the Knights
of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America.
July 8, 1897, recorded the marriage of Mr. Bennett and
Quetty Kesling, a daughter of Gideon and Matilda (West-
fall) Kesling, of Upshur County. Mrs. Bennett passed to
eternal rest in October, 1901, and is survived by one daugh-
ter, Geneva, who is the wife of Dorman C. Booth and whose
three children are Leon, Gertrude and Thelma. In October,
1903, Mr. Bennett wedded Miss Gertrude Hoff, who was
born and reared in Barbour County and who is a daughter
of Orlando P. and Martha (Hall) Hoff. Mr. and Mrs.
Bennett have three children: Paul, Oletha and Stewart.
The family home is an attactive and most modern bungalow
that was erected by Mr. Bennett, who has erected other
buildings at Belington, including that of the Graham busi-
ness liouse and also the Holbert & Bennett garage.
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