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KANAWHA COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA - BIOS: MENAGER, James B.
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Sandy Spradling
SSpradling@AOL.com
September 26, 1999
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History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and Representative
Citizens
W.S. Laidley
Richmond Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, ILL.
1911
p. 453-454
JAMES B. MENAGER, who for many years has been a leading member of the West
Virginia bar, and since the spring of 1903 an active and interested citizen
of Charleston, bears a name tilat has been one of more or less distinction in
America since his ancestors left France and Holland for these shores at the
time of the French Revolution. He was horn in Mason county, Va., October 23,
1850, and is a son of Louis B. and Cornelia (Steenbergen) Menager.
Louis B. Menager, father of our subject, was born in Ohio, a son of Claudius
R. and Mary (Bobin) Menager, colonists from France, who left Paris prior to
the storming of the Bastile. Ohio offered them a home and at Gallipolis they
spent the remainder of their lives, which were worthy in every particular.
Claudius Menager became one of the men of wealth and influence in that town
and reared a family that has been proud of its American citizenship. The
fourth son, Louis B., was offcred excellent educational advantages, and he,
in turn, became a man of influence in his community. His life was mainly
devoted to agriculture, although his ed-ucation and natural talents qualified
him to be-come a successful advocate. From Ohio he removed to Mason county,
Va., where he became a leading citizen, taking a prominent part in public
affairs. When the Civil War cloud began to loom threateningly upon the
political horizon, Louis B. Menager went on record as a strong opponent of
-secession. He lived to see the triumph of the Union cause, his death taking
place in June, 1870. He was twice married and was survived by four children.
Maria a child of the first marriage, became the wife of Rev. George T. Lyle.
The children of the second marriage were Ida, who became the wife of Dr. L.
F. Campbell; James B., and Julius L.
James B. Menager, after attending Bethany College, in West Virginia,
completed his liter-ary education at Washington and Lee Univer-sity, where he
was a student during the last year that Gen. Robert E. Lee was its president.
Mr. Menager subsequently taught school for one year in Mason county and then
took up the study of law in the office of Hon. C. P. T. Moore. He was
admitted to the bar of West Virginia February 25, 1872, and for thirty-eight
years has been engaged in the practice of his profession in his native state,
for twenty-nine years of that time at Point Pleasant and since then at
Charleston. In 1880 he was elected prosecuting attorney and served in that
exacting office for four years, retiring with an honorable record. For a
number of years he was concerned in much of the important litigation in this
part of West Virginia, but in recent years has somewhat lessened his
activities. In his earlier political life he was a Republican, casting his
first Presidential vote for Gen. U. S. Grant. He served as delegate to
Republican conventions and was an elector on the Garfield and Arthur ticket.
Differing from the majority of his party on the currency ques-tion at the
tune the free coinage of silver began to be agitated, he followed the lead of
his own convictions and identified himself with the Democratic party. He has
studied the public welfare with unprejudiced mind and gives his support to
men and measures according to his own ripened judgment.
Mr. Menager was married, June 14, 1886, to Fannie Sehon Pomeroy, who was horn
at Pomeroy, Ohio, a town that perpetuates the name of her grandfather. She
was a descendant on the maternal side of Col. Charles C. Lewis, who fell at
the Indian battle of Point Pleasant, October 10, 1774. Mrs. Menager died in
1902, survived by four children-Charles L., Sibyl C., Frances P. and Louis B.
Mr. Menager and family attend the Presbyte-rian church. He is identified by
membership with a number of fraternal organizations, including the Masons,
Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows and Elks.
Sandy Spradling
SSpradling@AOL.com
State Contact for WV GenExchange
http://www.genexchange.com/wv/index.cfm
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