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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
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.
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