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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 24, 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. 593-594
Barbour
WILLIAM ALONZO CORDER. In Barbour County the name
Corder has come to stand for all those qualities and deeds
that are significant of integrity in business and social rela-
tionship. William Alonzo Corder, popularly known among
his friends as "Lonnie," has steadfastly emulated the
virtues of his father and grandfather in this respect, and
as stockman, banker and man of affairs his personal judg-
ment is as nearly standardized in current acceptation among
his friends and associates as any coin of character can
possibly be. Members of the Corder family have lived
plain and modest lives, have done well for themselves and
have assisted others to the extent of their power-have been
useful, honorable and responsible at all times.
The name Corder is of English and Irish ancestry. The
founder of the American family was Joseph Corder, who
came from England and settled in Virginia about the close
of the Revolutionary war. His children consisted of four
daughters and four sons, the sons being James, Joseph,
William and John. James moved to Ohio and settled at
Circleville, John located near Logansport, Indiana, and
Joseph crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains in 1838 into
Western Virginia.
The other son, William, grandfather of William A. Cor-
der, was born March 29, 1785, in that portion of Frederick
County now Fauquier County, Virginia. On September 14,
1811, he married Sarah Cole, of German ancestry and a
native of Loudoun County, Virginia. In 1814, with two
young children, they crossed the Alleghany Mountains, pass-
ing through the wilderness until in December they reached
what is now Barbour, then a part of Harrison County.
Here William Corder bought fifty acres of land for $450.
He bought this from Peter Robinson, and it was located
on Hacker, near Philippi. On the land he put up a small
cabin of hewn logs, and within its walls started the simple
life of the pioneer. From an humble beginning his indus-
try carried him into the ranks of the well-to-do, and eventu-
ally he became owner of 1,200 acres. He and his wife had
eleven children, named Joseph, William, Joshua, James,
John, Edward, Elizabeth, Martha Ann, Mary, Ingaby and
Hannah. Edward was a captain in the Confederate army
during the Civil war, dying from wounds received while
leading his men in action. His last words as he was bleed-
ing to death were: "Go on men, push forward and save
the day. I am a dead man."
Of this family James Corder was born on Hacker, near
Philippi, January 15, 1824. Pioneer days had not altogether
disappeared while he was a boy, and in a new country he
had only an education supplied by subscription schools a
few weeks each year. He was well prepared for a life of
toil and activity when he reached manhood. Remaining
under the parental roof until he was thirty-five years of
age, he was then given about 200 acres of land by his
father. At that time land was cheap and this inheritance
represented only an opportunity for hard work and long
persevering toil. He paid the price of success on these
terms, and at one time his estate was represented by 1 500
acres and much real estate and personal property besides.
At his death on March 16, 1905, he was regarded as one of
the wealthiest men in the county, and the wealth of esteem
paid his character was even greater. He was a conservative
and careful business man, and an example of his conserva-
tism is found in the fact that he took nearly ten years to
perfect and arrange his will. His old friends still say of
him that while he was slow in arriving at a definite con-
clusion he was always right and he never broke his word.
He made money as a farmer and through cattle, and he
had few equals as a judge of live stock. He had made con-
siderable progress toward accumulating a moderate portion
when the Civil war came on, and before it was over he was
down at the bottom of the ladder and had to begin over
again. A Southern sympathizer, he suffered the inevitable
hostility paid a Southern man, and when the Jones raiders
came through Philippi they ran off his cattle and horses and
took away much other personal property. He met the men
on the road driving off his live stock, and stopping them,
he pleaded that they return him the oxen, which were his
sole dependents for hauling wood. One of the raiders
threatened to shoot him if he did not get out of the way,
but he refused to yield and in the end he secured his yoke
of oxen. However, the loss of the cattle left him heavily in
debt. In that crisis he went to his father for assistance.
His father was regarded as a wealthy man, but, without
directly refusing the aid asked, felt that it would be a good
test of character for a young man still with his best years
before him if permitted to depend upon his own resources
in this emergency. The young man then borrowed money
at 10 per cent interest in order to restock his farm, and he
proved equal to the test and before long had recouped his
losses and was once more rated as a man of wealth.
James Corder married Mary C. Bond, daughter of Reuben
Bond. She was born in Harrison County, August 10, 1830,
and died November 27, 1904. The children of this good
old couple were: William Alonzo; A. B. Corder, of Taylor
County; Icy, who is Mrs. L. D. Woodford, of Philippi;
Sarah, who married W. F. Cole, of Barbour County; and
Stella, who died when in her 'teens.
James Corder was not a man to regard his responsibilities
ended with looking after his own interests. He was one of
the leading members of the Primitive Baptist Church in his
community. He and his brother Joshua built what is known
as the Mount Olive Church on Hacker, and that house of
worship is still standing. He was not a seeker of public
office, though asked many times to serve. He gave liberally
to church and charitable causes, and was more than willing
to come to the assistance of his friends and neighbors in
time of need, and he served them in the true spirit of
Christian fellowship.
A son of James W. and Mary C. (Bond) Corder, William
Alonzo Corder was born on Hacker in Barbour County,
October 20, 1862. While he has no recollection of the war
itself, his early youth was spent in the period immediately
following the war, when the country in general was recover-
ing and while his father was making valiant efforts to re-
establish himself as a stock man. He made the best pos-
sible use of such educational opportunities as were at hand,
and while he realizes now that conditions were rather hard
and that he was deprived of many of the advantages given
to youth of more modern times, he also feels that his
character was really strengthened In this school of bard
knocks, and the lessons of thrift he thus gained have been
of inestimable value to him in later years. Farming and
stock raising have constituted his primary activities, and
like his father, he is a judge of good live stock and has set
a high standard in his home county as a business-like
farmer. His homestead is frequently pointed out as one of
the best examples of progressive agriculture and stock
husbandry in that part of the state. His farm, which is
known as Meadow Brook Farm, comprises 700 acres, beau-
tifully located about three miles north of Philippi, on the
Beverly and Fairmont Pike, and at all seasons of the year
it is a model of systematic arrangement and efficient man-
agement. Much of the land of the farm is underlaid with
coal.
Supplementing his farming activities, William A. Corder
has had other business concerns. He was at one time in
the mercantile business and was postmaster at Switzers. He
became one of the organizers and a director of the People's
Bank of Philippi on September 15, 1908, and later was
made first vice president of that institution and is also one
of the Discount Committee. His talent for business, his
wide experience and knowledge of men and conditions made
him especially valuable in handling the resources of the
bank. For fifteen years he has been one of the men largely
responsible for the growth and prosperity of this institution,
and gives much of his personal time to the bank. He is also
a director of the Laurel Hill Orchard Company. Mr. Corder
is not a member of any secret or fraternal order, is a
democrat in politics, and is an active member and attends
worship at the Mount Olive Primitive Baptist Church,
where his father and grandfather worshipped before him.
On June 19, 1884, Mr. Corder married Nannie R. Rey-
nolds, who was born October 28, 1863, daughter of Ben-
jamin S. and Lucy (Pell) Reynolds. Mrs. Corder graduated
from the Fairmont State Normal School in 1881. The only
child of Mr. and Mrs. Corder is a son, James S. Corder, a
brief sketch of whom follows:
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