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CABELL COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA - BIOS: WAY, Fred E. (published 1923)
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Submitted by
Valerie Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
September 15, 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. 199 - 200
FRED E. WAY, secretary and general manager of the
Kenova Hardwood Flooring Company, has been identified
with this concern since 1905, and has also been prominently
connected with civic affairs for a number of years, his
record both in public and business life having been one
of constructive achievements and public-spirited activities.
He was born at Wyanet, Bureau County, Illinois, May 3,
1869, a son of Edwin D. and Margaret (Piper) Way.
Edwin D. Way was born July 16, 1837, in Ashtabula
County, Ohio, and was twenty years of age when he accom-
panied his parents to Henry County, Illinois. Early in the
war between the states he enlisted in Company B, Nine-
teenth Illinois Infantry, as a private, but after a short
service received his honorable discharge because ill health
incapacitated him for active duty. During the remainder
of the war he was in charge of the Soldiers' Home at Pa-
ducah, Kentucky, and at Vicksburg, Mississippi, under the
supervision of the United States Sanitary Commission. At
the close of the struggle he went to Wyanet, Illinois, where
he established a hardware business, and was engaged in
that line of trade for fifteen years. Disposing of his inter-
ests, he went to Peoria, Illinois, where he was in the grocery
business until 1892. He was always a friend of education,
and while residing at Wyanet was president of the school
board. His health failing, in 1892, Mr. Way went to Cali-
fornia, where he died January 3, 1893. He married Miss
Margaret Piper, who was born in Indiana County, Penn-
sylvania, November 21, 1841, and now survives him at the
age of eighty years, being a resident of Chicago, Illinois.
Two children were born to them: Fred E. and Verna, the
latter the wife of H. R. Mardorf, who started as a mes-
senger boy for the C. I. & L. Railroad, Chicago, at the age
of fifteen, and is now assistant secretary-treasurer of that
route.
Fred E. Way finished his education at the Peoria High
School at the age of nineteen years, at which time he
secured employment in the office of the McCormick Har-
vester Company, Peoria, where he remained three years.
For the two years that followed he was identified with the
Acme Harvester Company at Pekin, Illinois, and then went
to Dallas, Texas, where he was in the employ of Aultman,
Miller & Company, manufacturers of farm implements, from
1894 to 1904. Mr. Way's next experience was in an agri-
cultural way, and tilling the soil on a farm near Dallas
continued to be his occupation until 1905, in which year
he came to Kenova, in the year following succeeding M. A.
Hayward, former general manager of what is now the
Kenova Hardwood Flooring Company. This business was
originally established in 1902, and was then known as the
Kenova Poplar Manufacturing Company, the president of
the concern then being E. W. Houghton and the vice presi-
dent, G. A. McClintock. W. O. Houghton, son of the
former president, now occupies the chief executive position.
In its earlier days the territory of the company was con-
fined entirely to the Middle West, but its product now
meets with a steady demand not only through this locality,
hut in New York and other eastern points. The plant waa
taken over by the present concern August 16, 1916.
Mr. Way has established and maintained a reputation
as a sound, reliable, progressive man of business, and one
who is thoroughly familiar with the principles and ethics
of commercial life not only as they affect his own concern
but as they apply to business matters in general. He has
taken an active part in civic affairs at Kenova, where lie
has served as mayor and recorder, and his public record is
an excellent one. He is an interested and working member
of the Chamber of Commerce and local movements for the
benefit of the community always have his support and co-
operation. During the World war period he was active in
Red Cross and other work. As a fraternalist he affiliates
with the Knights of Pythias, while his political identifica-
tion is with the republican party.
On October 5, 1905, at Chicago, Mr. Way was united in
marriage with Miss Georgina Stewart, daughter of Peter
Stewart, of Edinburgh, Scotland, a sergeant-major in the
Royal Scots. He died in his native, land, following which
his widow brought her children to the United States. Four
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Way: Edwin
W., Warren Stewart, Fred E., Jr., and Martha Louise. Mr.
and Mrs. Way are consistent members of the Presbyterian
Church of. Kenova, to the movements of which they have
been liberal contributors, and in which Mr. Way officiates as
an elder.
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