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BRAXTON 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. 315-316
WILLIAM CLAUDE HEFNER. Braxton County has always
held its own among its sister counties of West Virginia
for high rank in her banking system, and in this field of
activity the business is represented at Burnsville by many
men of high standing and of more than local prominence.
Among the men, alert and enterprising, who during recent
years have utilized the opportunities offered for business
preferment and attained thereby success, one whose career is
typical of modern advancement is William Claude Hefner,
vice president of the Burnsville Exchange Bank. Mr.
Hefner 's career has in the main been devoted to the pursuits
of agriculture, but his business judgment and foresight are
greatly appreciated by his associates in the banking field.
Mr. Hefner was born on the farm which he now owns at
Burnsville, May 28, 1864, and is a son of William S. and
Rachel McNiel (Wallace) Hefner. His father was born in
Greenbrier County, West Virginia, November 20, 1817, and
his mother, in Pocahontas County, this state, August 12,
1820. William S. Hefner was reared on a farm in Green-
brier County and received only a limited education, the most
of which was self gained. As a youth he left home and
went to Pocahontas County, where he learned the black-
smith trade and for four years conducted a shop. He made
a success of this venture, was married in Pocahontas County,
and then came to Braxton County and purchased the nucleus
for a farm, a part of which is now included in the property
of his son William C. From a small beginning William S.
Hefner became the owner of a tract of 560 acres of splendid
farming land, and at one time was the largest taxpayer in
the northern end of Braxton County. He was one of the
pillars of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the move-
ments of which he supported with a willing hand and an
open purse,' and throughout his life he was at all times
ready to go to the assistance of the poor or the bedsides
of the sick. Fraternally he was affiliated with Sutton
Lodge No. 21, A. F. and A. M., and at the time of his death
was the first member of Weston Lodge. His political belief
made him a democrat. The fact that his own education had
been neglected always made him a stanch friend of the
public schools, and for a number of years he served as a
member of the local Board of Education. He and his
worthy wife were the parents of eleven children, of whom
seven survive in 1922: B. L., who is engaged in blacksmith-
ing at Bnrnsville, where his father conducted a shop for
many years in connection with his farming operations;
Samuel, who is a resident of Missouri; M. W., of Burns-
ville; William Claude, of this record; Edna, the wife of
A. J. Knight; J. B., of Clarksburg, West Virginia; and
Rachel, the widow of Hugh Amos.
William C. Hefner was reared on the home farm, on a
part of which he still makes his home, and acquired his
education through attendance at the rural schools. His
schooling completed, he began fanning in association with
his father, and remained in this connection until he was
twenty-three years of age, when he decided he would like to
have a view of the western country. Accordingly, the next
year was passed in the West, after which he returned to
the home place and spent one year in agricultural pursuits.
Following this he ventured into mercantile pursuits at
Burnsville, and during the next years was a successful mer-
chant, but the call of the country proved too strong, and at
the end of that time he disposed of his holdings and re-
turned to the farm. Since that time he has been engaged in
agricultural operations with much success, and at the pres-
ent time has 195 acres of valuable land, all in a high state
of cultivation and with the latest modern buildings and sub-
stantial improvements. Mr. Hefner is also interested in the
oil and gas business in this region, where he has some
valuable holdings, represented by producing and paying
properties. He is a vice president and a member of the
board of directors of the Burnsville Exchange Bank, in
which he is likewise a heavy stockholder, and through his
wise counsel and business acumen has contributed materially
to its success.
On January 24, 1899, Mr. Hefner was united in marriage
with Miss Mary Hamilton, who was born and reared in
Highland County, Virginia, where she was educated in the
public schools, and was still a young woman when brought
to West Virginia by her parents. Of their children nine are
still living in 1922, as follows: Elizabeth, a graduate of the
Burnsville High School, who took a short normal course at
Sutton and is now a primary teacher in the Burnsville public
schools; Wallace Hamilton, attending Marshall College at
Huntington; Leah, a graduate of the Burnsville High
School; Mary, who is attending high school; and Lorena,
Charlotte, Marjorie, Rachel and Lillian. The family be-
longs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, Mr. Hefner being
a member of the official board, on which he succeeded his
father. As a fraternalist he holds membership in Burnsville
Lodge No. 87, A. F. and A. M.; and Burnsville Lodge No.
92, K. P., in which he is a past chancellor and a member of
the Grand Lodge. In politics he is a democrat. Like his
father, he has taken a genuine and helpful interest in school
matters, having been a member of the Board of education
for the past seventeen years, and was the original promoter
of the movement which resulted in the building of the high
school at Burnsville.
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