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KANAWHA COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA - BIOS: Tom H. McRa (published 1923)
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Submitted by
Valerie Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
September 16, 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. 237
Kanawha County
TOM H. McRA is one of the youngest business men in
the state as the responsible head of a wholesale concern
handling a remarkable volume of business over a large
section of the state. This is the Kanawha Wholesale
Grocery Company, which in the face of the business de-
pression following the war has steadily grown and prospered
so that every dollar of its capital is working and represents
a solid investment.
The company was organized July 1, 1919, with a capital
of $100,000 and an initial investment of $50,000. The first
staff of salesmen comprised four men. The company has
rapidly extended its trade in all directions from Charleston,
and now has $140,000 invested, and a staff of fourteen
employes.
The head of this company represents a branch of the
Highland Scotch clan, whose name is variously spelled, as
McRae, McRea and also McCray. They have been in West
Virginia for over 100 years. Farquher McRa came from
Edinburgh, Scotland, about 1790, and from Baltimore
moved to the Village of Morgantown about 1794. He was a
tailor, bringing his goods and outfit across the mountains
on horseback. A thrifty business man, he was worth the
considerable fortune of $16,000, and he built a hotel which
stood until recent years at the site of the present Madera
Hotel, near the courthouse in Morgantown.
Duncan McRa, son of Farquher, was born in 1786 and
died in 1825. He married Rebecca Carter, of Marion
County, who was born in 1792 and died in 1848.
One of the children of Duncan and Rebecca McRa was
Oliver Perry McRa, who was born December 16, 1819, and
died December 25, 1897. He was a remarkable man in
many ways, and it is said that he could build a house, build
a chimney, make any kind of farm implement used at that
time, make a pair of shoes or cooper a barrel. He served
in the Union army during the Civil war, was frequently a
school officer, taught school, as did five of his children, was
for over forty years an exhorter in the Methodist Church,
was legal adviser for all his section and ministered to the
sick, the suffering and the dying without waiting to be
called upon. Oliver P. McRa married Jemima Jacobs, who
was born March 17, 1819, and died February 19, 1898.
They were married in 1844. She was a daughter of Elijah
and Mary (Doolittle) Jacobs, pioneers of Monongalia
County. The children of Oliver P. McRa were: Edgar,
born in 1845, a Civil war veteran and died in 1916; Wait-
man, born in 1848 and died in 1873; Elijah, born in 1850, a
veteran teacher, justice of the peace, for thirty-three years
secretary of the Board of Education of Clinton District in
Monongalia County, and he and his sister Virginia still
occupy the old homestead in that county; Mrs. Susan
Lucretia Phillips, born in 1852, and died in 1903, and one
of her sons was in the regular army in the Philippines, and
two of her grandsons were in France during the World war;
Rev. Thomas R. McRa, born in 1854, for over thirty years
an active minister of the Methodist Church in Ohio, and has
a son, Richard, also a minister and another son, Donald a
teacher; Mary Rebecca, who died in infancy; Sylvester,
who also died in childhood; Miss Virginia, living with her
brother at the homestead; and Duncan McRa.
Duncan McRa, born July 14, 1863, is now a resident of
Charleston, and has devoted most of his life to journalism.
He was educated for the law, practiced for some years in
Preston County, and is the acknowledged historian of that
county. He is a graduate of the State University, was a
teacher, is the author of several books, is former secretary
of the State Republican Committee and for four years was
chief clerk in the secretary of state's office during the
administration of Governor Dawson.
Tom H. McRa is a son of Duncan and Ella (Liston)
McRa. He was born in Preston County in 1892, and while
attending school he worked in a retail store. For six years
he was assistant buyer for the State Board of Control. He
then became an office man with the Charleston Grocery Com-
pany, and in 1919 organized the Kanawha Wholesale
Grocery Company and has been president and general
manager during its rapid growth and development. He is
a member of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, of the
West Virginia Wholesale Grocers Association and the Na-
tional Wholesale Grocers Association.
Mr. McRa married April 5, 1921, Mamie L. Loy, of
Paw Paw, Hampshire County, West Virginia.
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