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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. 112
JOHN H. ZIRKLE. Member of an old Barbour County
family, John H. Zirkle was at one time a newspaperman at
Philippi, and while in the Government service came to
Martinsburg, where for the past thirteen years he has prac-
ticed law with success and honor and is also the present
city recorder. He is a descendant of one of three Zirkle
brothers who came out of Germany in Colonial times and
settled in Virginia.
His grandfather was Daniel Zirkle, who was born in
Rockingham County, Virginia, in 1805, and married Cath-
erine A. Will, who was born in Shenandoah County, Vir-
ginia, in 1816. About 1836 Daniel Zirkle moved with his
family to what is now Barbour County, and settled near the
Town of Philippi. He was a farmer, and in the days before
railroads took his surplus products to Baltimore and Phila-
delphia with four-horse teams, a trip that required several
weeks when the roads were bad. On returning he loaded his
wagons with merchandise. Daniel Zirkle died December 18,
1868, at Philippi in Barbour County. His wife died March
3, 1841, just two weeks after the birth of her son, Jacob
Zirkle.
Jacob Zirkle, father of John H., was born in Barbour
County, February 17, 1841, and was reared on a farm. On
August 23, 1862, he enlisted in Company F, of the Fifteenth
West Virginia Infantry, and served in all the campaigns
and battles of that regiment until the final surrender. He
was once slightly wounded in the shoulder. He participated
in the battles of Cloyd Mountain, New River, Middlebrook,
Lexington, Lynchburg, Berryville, Hall Town, Opequon,
Fishers Hill, Cedar Creek (first and second battle), Hatch-
er's Run, Petersburg, Rice Station, and was at Appomattox
and in many other skirmishes besides. He received his
honorable discharge June 14, 1865. After the war he
resumed farming, having inherited the old homestead in
Valley District, and became a large land owner and a very
prosperous and influential citizen. He celebrated his eighty-
first birthday in February, 1922, and is now living with his
oldest son, A. D. Zirkle, at Philippi.
In Barbour County, August 27, 1865, Jacob Zirkle mar-
ried Rebecca Schleuss, who was born in Shenandoah County,
Virginia, April 4, 1842, daughter of Andrew and Sarah F.
(Carter) Schleuss. Her father was born in Maryland in
1809, and her mother in Rappahannock County, Virginia, in
1824. The Schleuss family removed to Barbour County in
1842, and her father died December 18, 1864. Jacob and
Rebecca Zirkle were church members from early youth,
being reared in the United Brethren Church, but later joined
the Methodist Church. Jacob Zirkle was class leader for
about twenty-five years. His wife died May 17, 1917, and
was buried in Fraternity Cemetery at Philippi.
These worthy parents had a family of ten children:
Andrew D., born August 6, 1866, and living at Philippi;
Mary F., born October 25, 1867; and died December 15th,
following; Roxanna, born April 15, 1869, now living near
Garden City; Kansas; Charles I., born March 20, 1871, also
living at Garden City; Daniel O. L., born February 26, 1873,
and died March 1, following; John H., the Martinsburg
lawyer; Lorenzo Dow and Davit T., twins, born August 10,
the former living at Garden City, Kansas, and the latter
died February 28, 1879; William Luther, born December
25, 1880, now living at Moundsville, West Virginia; and
Simon Elijah, born April 18, 1883, a resident of Garden
City, Kansas.
John H. Zirkle was born on the home farm near Philippi,
December 17, 1874, and the labor of the farm was the first
item in his practical experience. He attended the free
schools there until he was eighteen, and then entered what
is now Wesleyan College at Buckhannon, where he com-
pleted a three year college course. Then for three years he
taught school, the first school being a mile from Belington,
in his native county. He left the schoolroom to purchase
a half interest in the Philippi Republican of Barbour
County, and was junior editor of that paper for eight years.
He gave up newspaper work when assigned to a Govern-
ment position as storekeeper and gauger, his first assign-
ment being at Jarrett's Distillery at Grafton, and later he
was transferred to the Hannis Distillery at Martinsburg,
where he served eleven years, until removed after the elec-
tion of Woodrow Wilson.
While in the Government service at Martinsburg Mr.
Zirkle studied law by correspondence courses and later took
the lectures at West Virginia University, also passed his
law examination there and was admitted to the bar in
1909. For a number of years he has had an extensive
practice in all the courts of his district. While in Philippi
he was for two years city recorder, and since 1915 he has
been city recorder and auditor of Martinsburg. Mr. Zirkle
is active in republican politics, is affiliated with Equality
Lodge No. 44, A. F. and A. M., at Martinsburg, with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife
are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church.
In 1901, at Philippi, he married Miss Grace Ice, daughter
of Judge William T. and Columbia (Jarvis) Ice. Her
father was for several years judge of the Circuit Court
in the district comprising Barbour, Preston and Randolph
counties. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Zirkle were
born four children: Robert, now employed by the Martins-
burg Paid City Fire Department; Fred, in the eighth grade
of the grammar school; Willard and Elizabeth Columbia,
both deceased.
Submitted by: Valerie Crook <vfcrook@trellis.net>
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