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HAMPSHIRE COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Tina Hursh
frog158@juno.com
September 29, 2000
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.
Chicago and New York, Volume 111
Pg. 369 & 370
John C. Linthicum, now serving his third term as mayor of Romney, has been a
resident of that city for over twenty years, for a long time was in the service
of the state government at the Institution for the Deaf and Blind, and his
active career throughout has been strongly tinged with the public service.
He was born at Moorefield, West Virginia, September 17, 1869. His grandfather,
Joel Linthicum, was a shoe maker of Hampshire County, and died in Romney about
1878. He married a Miss Davis, and their children were: William, who died I
Illinois; Elijah, who spent his active life at Decatur, Illinois; James, a
retired shoemaker living near Richmond, Virginia; Joseph M.; Benjamin, who died
at Romney; Mollie, who married Frank Maloney and died in Hampshire County;
Margaret, wife of Joseph M. Poling and a resident of Romney.
Joseph M. Linthicum, father of Romney's mayor, was born in Hampshire County,
September 10, 1843. As a youth he learned the trade of shoemaker and leather
tanning, and worked at one or the other of these occupations throughout his
active life. He is now living retired at Keyser. During the war between the
states he was member of a Virginia regiment in the Confederate Army, and took
part in several of the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia. He was
never wounded or captured, and served throughout as a private. Joseph M.
Linthicum married Elizabeth Hyder, daughter of Thompson Hyder.
John C. Linthicum spent his early life at Moorefield, attended the Moorefield
Academy, and at the age of sixteen left school and learned the trade of harness
maker with his father. As a journeyman he followed this trade both in and out
of his home state, and in 1901 came to Romney and took charge of the shoe and
harness department of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind. That
was his work for fifteen years, and for eight years of the time he was also
chief enjineer of the schools. Since leaving the state service in 1916 Mr.
Linthicum has conducted an insurance and coal business at Romney.
In 1921 he was put in charge as foreman of construction for the girls'
dormitory of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind, and in that
capacity he supervised the construction of the new building, beginning in
March, 1921, until it was completed on July 1, 1922, at a cost of $110,000, the
contract being carried through several thousand dollars under the appropriation
made for the work.
Mr. Linthicum was for several terms a member of the City Council and was
chairman of the water committee. He had the responsible directions of the work
of constructing the water system of Romney, completed in 1912. He served seven
years as city treasurer, and was elected to the office of mayor in 1920, 1921,
and 1922, succeeding Joseph A. Kelley in that office.
Mr. Linthicum is an active republican, casting his first vote for Benjamin
Harrison in 1892. His first elective office was as recorder of Romney, to
which he was chosen in 1908. Since 1916 he has been a member of the Grand
Lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and is grand guide of the Grand
Lodge.
At Westernport, Maryland, October 30, 1892, John Carson Linthicum married Miss
Kate M. Bowen, who was born at Springfield, West Virginia, and represents two
old and well-known families of Hampshire County. She is a daughter of Dr. C.G.
and Mary C. (Parsons) Bowen, her mother being a daughter of David Parsons.
Mrs. Linthicum was the third in a family of seven children, was born May 9,
1865, and her brothers and sisters were: John, Mary, Anna, Charles, William and
Susan. Mary is Mrs. Joseph Greenfield, of Cumberland, Maryland; Anna is
unmarried; and Susan is the wife of P.T. Lacey of Cumberland, Maryland. To the
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Linthicum were born two children, on dying in infancy.
The daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was educated in the Potomac Academy, which was
recently remodeled as part of the school for the blind, and she is now employed
in the Romney Post Office.
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