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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. 327-328
Barbour
CLARK L. ROHRBOUGH, M. D., is one of the able and repre-
sentative physicians and surgeons of Barbour County, where
be has been established in successful general practice since
1883, with residence and professional headquarters at
Belington.
The Doctor was born on a farm near Buckhannon, Up-
shur County, February 23, 1858, and is a son of John M.
and Matilda (Butt) Rohrbough, the latter having been bom
in Lewis County, as was also her father, William Butt, who
was a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of
that county. John M. Rohrbough was a son of Anthony
Rohrbough, who came from the vicinity of the north branch
of the Potomac River and became one of the very early
settlers of what is now Upshur County, West Virginia, his
farm having been two miles east of Buckhannon and he
having there reclaimed his land from the wilderness. He
was a member of the first class, of ten members, that
established the first Methodist Church in that county, and
his Christian faith was ever shown in his daily life. He
and his wife remained on the old homestead until their
deaths, and there were reared not only their children but
also a number of their grandchildren. The eldest son,
George, removed to Illinois and there remained until his
death in Hancock County; Anthony remained in Upshnr
County until his death, as did also Benjamin; John M.,
father of the subject of this sketch, was the next younger
son; Jacob died at Buckhannon and Isaac in Lewis County.
Dorcas, the elder daughter, became the wife of Michael
Strader after the death of her first husband, whose name
was Tenny, and Mahala, who became the wife of John Love,
died in Barbour County.
John M. Rohrbough continued as a successful farmer in
Upshur County until his death, in the. spring of 1860, and
his widow survived him by more than thirty years, her
death having occurred in 1893, on the old home place near
Buckhannon. All of their ten children attained to adult
age: Elizabeth is the widow of Seth Williams and resides
at Buckhannon; Marietta is the widow of John Griffith and
now resides at Harlingen, Texas; Virginia, the wife of
John Hyer, died in Upshur County, when still a young
woman; William lives at Beverly, Randolph County; Je-
mina, wife of Jerome Pultz, died in Lewis County;
Matilda is the wife of S. S. Leonard of Buckhannon;
Columbia is the wife of Archibald Hinkle, Jr., and they
maintain their home at Belington; Ardelia, the widow of
Tillotson Martin, resides in Barbour County; Vermont
died unmarried; and Dr. Clark L., of this review, is the
youngest of the number.
The public and county normal schools afforded to Doctor
Rohrbough his early education, and for six years he was
a successful teacher in the schools of his native county, his
earnings enabling him to realize his ambition and begin
preparation for his chosen profession. After reading
medicine two years under the preceptorship of Dr. J. P.
Miller, of Buckhannon, he entered the Medical College of
Ohio in the City of Cincinnati, and in the spring of 1883
he received from this institution his degree of Doctor of
Medicine. For five years thereafter he gave his attention to
a wide rural practice in Barbour County, with residence
at Talbott, and he then removed to Belington, where he
has continued in practice as one of the leading physicians
of the county and where he has status as one of the loyal,
public-spirited and influential citizens. He is actively iden-
tified with the Tri-County Medical Society (Randolph, Bar-
bour and Tucker counties) and also with the West Virginia
State Medical Society. He has served as health officer of
the Belington independent school district, was city recorder
one term, and later gave two terms of specially effective
administration as mayor of Belington, he having been very
strenuous in his efforts to eliminate the liquor traffic in
the city. He has given unfaltering allegiance to the repub-
lican party, and he and his wife hold membership in the
Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he has been an active
member of thirty years.
On the 27th of January, 1885, was solemnized the mar-
riage of Doctor Rohrbough and Miss Hulda Carpenter, who
was born and reared in Barbour County and who was the
third in order of birth of the five children of Coon and
Julia (Harris) Carpenter. Doctor and Mrs. Rohrbough have
four children: Pearl, wife of Herbert Sparks, of Niles,
Ohio; Otis C., of Davis, West Virginia; Flossie, wife of
Frank Phillips, of Belington; and Mrs. Hazel Dunlap, of
Mount Clemens, Michigan.
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