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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. 328-329
Barbour
GARRISON J. STALNAKER, of Belington, Barbour County,
is a popular representative of one of the old and honored
pioneer families of what is now West Virginia—a family
that has contributed much to the civic and industrial devel-
opment and progress of this favored commonwealth. He
was born on a farm near the present village of Gilman,
Randolph County, June 11, 1858, and he was a lad about
seven years when the family home was established, in the
spring of 1865, on a spot that is now within the corporate
limits of the City of Belington and near the old home of
John Belin, in whose honor the city was named.
Granville Stalnaker, father of Garrison J., was born
and reared on a farm in Randolph County, and in his home
community was solemnized his marriage to Mary, a daughter
of Jacob Hilkey, who was born near Patterson and who
passed his mature life as a farmer in Randolph County.
Granville Stalnaker became one of the substantial farmers
of Barbour County, and was fifty-four years of age at the
time of his death, his wife having died in 1867, and Garri-
son John, of this review, was the only child of this union.
The father subsequently contracted a second marriage, with
Amanda Phillips, and she likewise preceded him to the life
eternal. His father, Garrettson Stalnaker, who passed his
entire life in Randolph County, was a son of Isaac Stal-
naker, a native of Virginia and of German ancestry, the
family having been founded in Virginia in the Colonial
days. Garrettson Stalnaker married Rachel Taylor, and
their mortal remains rest in a little cemetery near Gilman,
Randolph County. They became the parents of six children:
Granville, Hyre, Tallman, Alfred, Almira (Mrs. Randolph
Phares) and Elizabeth (Mrs. Haymond Summerfield). Al-
fred Stalnaker was identified with the Union service in the
Civil war.
Garrison J. Stalnaker received the advantages of the
rural schools and also attended select schools. As a youth
he taught two terms of school, and his success gave evi-
dence that he had profited by the scholastic advantages
that had been his. He thereafter initiated his independent
career as a farmer, and after a time he engaged in the
operation of a sawmill, he having been for nine years a
manufacturer of lumber in Barbour, Randolph and Upshur
counties. He finally sold his lumber mill and business and
confined his activities to the management of his farm, though
his sons now have charge of the productive affairs of the
excellent old homestead farm, where they are giving special
attention to dairy farming and supply milk to the City of
Belington. As a prerequisite in the dairy business a
modern silo was erected on the farm, and thereafter was
built a dairy barn with cement floor and drain, improved
stanchions, adjustable feeding troughs, watering system,
and an effective ventilating system. From a modest in-
ception this has been developed into one of the best dairy
plants in this section of the state.
Mr. Stalnaker is a charter stockholder and a director
of the Citizens National Bank of Belington. He served
four years as justice of the peace, and had the distinction
of being the first mayor of Belington, an office to which
he was later elected for a second time. He played a large
part in organizing and making effective the municipal
government of Belington, and in 1900 he was elected a
commissioner of the County Court, a position which he
retained for the prescribed term of six years. Within this
period the new Court House was completed, and he also
supported the granting of licenses to saloons, as he and
other members of the County Court believed such action
would be better than the toleration of all manner of
surreptions and often disgraceful sales places for liquor.
His attitude in this matter brought to him criticism on the
part of the prohibition element, but his conviction as to
the question was not changed thereby, but he had no desire
for re-election to office. He is a stanch advocate of the
cause of the republican party, and his service to the com-
munity has included his incumbency of the position of city
recorder of Belington and deputy sheriff of the County,
under Sheriff A. F. Bennett. He and his wife hold mem-
bership in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In May, 1879, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Stal-
naker and Miss Mary Magnolia Newlon, who was born at
the "bend of the river" near Mount Liberty, Barbour
County, in October, 1861, a daughter of Burr P. and Sallie
Ann (Lake) Newlon. The Newlon family was established
in Taylor County in the early pioneer days. Mrs. Stal-
naker is one of a family of ten children, the names being
here recorded: Elijah, Adolphus, Benjamin, Charles, Melissa
(Mrs. Ira Shockey), Virginia (Mrs. Frank Shockey),
Amanda (Mrs. Andrew McCauley), Olive (widow of War-
ren Shurtleff), Mary M. (Mrs. Garrison J. Stalnaker),
and Martha (Mrs. C. W. Hillyard). Of the children of Mr.
and Mrs. Stalnaker the eldest was Allman J., who was
cashier of the Citizens National Bank of Belington at the
time of his death. He married Mannah E. Holbert, who
survives him, as does also their one child, Edrie. Porter
B., the second son, is one of the principals in the conduct-
ing of the Stalnaker dairy farm. He married Rose Harvey,
and they have two children, Neil and William. Lenora is
the wife of Frederick E. Thompson, of Belington, of whom
individual mention is made on other pages. Leoral O. is
identified with the family dairy farm. The maiden name of
his wife was Opal Williamson, and their two children are
Dillon and Wilda. Mary Ila, the youngest of the family
of children, died in infancy.
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