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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. 332-333
JAMES E. FORNEY has been a resident of West Vir-
ginia for thirty years, and his work and business in the
construction trades of bricklaying and masonry have many
visible evidences in and around Belington, his home town.
That community long since learned to appreciate his worth
and value as a citizen.
Mr. Forney was born in Allegheny County, Pennsyl-
vania, May 10, 1864. His father, Alfred A. Forney, was
born on Double Pike Creek, Carroll County, Maryland, left
there when a young man having learned the trade of
blacksmith, and followed that occupation in Allegheny
County, Pennsylvania, during the Civil war, in which one
of his brothers participated as a Union soldier. He subse-
quently moved to Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and about
middle age he devoted his time to farming. He died in
1914, at the age of eighty-four. His wife was Martha
Johnson, who was born in Allegheny County, daughter of
James and Mary (Parks) Johnson. She died in 1896,
when about fifty-nine years of age. They were Presby-
terians, and in politics Alfred Forney was a republican.
Their children were: Mary, wife of I. U. Campbell, of Erin,
Tennessee; George, who died unmarried in Pittsburgh;
James E.; Annie, deceased wife of Henry Ruckhart, of
Beaver County; Miss Lillian; Will, who died in Beaver
County; and Calvin, of Lawton, Oklahoma.
James E. Forney grew up at Sandy Creek in Beaver
County, acquired a public school education near Freedom,
and was with his father until he was about twenty years
of age. He learned the trade of brick layer with W. W.
Rickard of Blairsville, Pennsylvania, remaining with him
two years, the following summer was an employe of the
Lisenring Coal Company, owned by Frick and Company,
for about a year was with the Cochrin and Brown Coal
Company in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and for another
year with J. W. Rainey. Then, in 1892, he came to
West Virginia and established himself in Belington.
In his business Mr. Forney has performed a long and
interesting service in brick, stone and concrete work. His
first work of consequence was at Dartmore, where he
helped construct the coke oven, and about that time he
set down the foundation for a store in front of the Luzerne
Hotel in Belington, then the hotel foundation itself, and
the foundation for the Methodist Church. When he first
came to Belington only three houses stood on the west
side of the Tygart Valley River, and he has been a factor
in the mason and concrete work in the development of that
side of the town. He also did brick work on the chim-
neys for the houses in Coalton and at Elkins.
As a public spirited citizen Mr. Forney has been a mem-
ber of Belington Council several times and a member of
the Board of Education. He is a republican, having cast
his first ballot for James G. Blaine in 1884. His family
are Missionary Baptists.
In Barbour County, July 8, 1894, Mr. Forney married
Miss Grace Day, who was born in Barbour County, Sep-
tember 16, 1876, daughter of Daniel Webster and Martha
(Wilson) Day. Her mother was a daughter of W. P.
Wilson. Darnel W. Day was born in Barbour County, as
was his wife, and he wag a farmer. The three children
of Mr. and Mrs. Day are—Orestes, of Belington; Mrs.
Forney; and Scott Day, who lives near Fairmont.
Mr. and Mrs. Forney have reared an interesting family
of children, named Cecil Alfred, Wilbnr Orestes, Beulah,
Ruth, Ralph, Wilson, George (who died at the age of
eighteen months) and Lena. The son Cecil, who now
lives at Middletown, Ohio, married Edna Sipe. He went
overseas with the air-craft machine gun battalion from
Camp Lee, Virginia, and lay between the front lines and the
heavy artillery of the American Troops shooting down
enemy airplanes. His only injury was gassing. His
command returned to the United States in May, 1919, and
he was discharged at Camp Dix, New Jersey. The son
Wilbur Orestes, who lives at Belington was in the last
draft of the World war. He first responded to the
Government's request for an operation was in the Crozier
Hospital at Chester, Pennsylvania, four and one-half months,
and finally recovered his health and strength sufficiently
to be accepted, but the armistice was signed about that
time. The daughter Beulah is now a student in Shenandoah
Collegiate Institute at Dayton, Virginia, while the younger
children are attending the local schools.
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