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SUMMERS COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA - BIOS: WIKEL, Chester Maston (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. 236-237
Summers County
CHESTER MASTON WIKEL. The fiancial interests of any
live and growing community are of such importance that
particular attention must be paid to the character and
standing of the men connected with the institutions to whom
these interests are entrusted. Pineville is the home of some
of Wyoming County's wealthiest men, who expect to have
their banking attended to with dispatch- and safety, and
they are satisfied that all requirements of modern financial
life are fully met by the First National Bank of Pineville,
particularly because of the men who compose its staff. One
of these men, who has won the confidence of the entire com-
munity, is Chester Maston Wikel, cashier.
Mr. Wikel was born on a farm in Summers County,
West Virginia, November 9, 1879, and is a son of John A.
and Rhoda M. (Hutchison) Wikel. John A. Wikel was
born in Monroe County, now West Virginia, a son of
Everett H. Wikel, and was a child when taken by his par-
ents to Summers County. He has been a life-long agricul-
turist, and is still living at the old home place on Little
Wolfe Creek, in Summers County, West Virginia. Although
both he and his father were opposed to secession, John A.
Wikel volunteered for service in the Confederate army
during the war between the states, and his father was
subsequently drafted and served in the same command.
During one of their engagements a cannon-ball, passing
between them, wounded Everett in the leg and carried
away the sole of John's army boot. At the close of the
war John was a prisoner at Fort Delaware. Mr. Wikel is
a republican in political sentiment. Rhoda M. Hutchison
was a daughter of John M. Hutchison. Three sons and
three daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wikel, all living:
Myrtle and Everett H., who reside at home; Chester
Maston; Amy, the wife of G. C. Saunders, of Summers
County; and John C. and Essie, at home.
Chester M. Wikel attended the public schools of Summers
County, subsequently taking special work at the summer
normal school and then pursuing a commercial course at
Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College at Louisville. In
the meantime he had taught two terms in a rural school, but
when his commercial- course was completed he gave up
teaching and accepted a position with the Bank of Summers,
now known as the National Bank of Summers, at Hinton,
the county seat, where he spent two years. His next con-
nection was with the Clark James Manufacturing Company
of Hinton, with which concern he remained six months,
then spending a like period in the postoffice at Hinton. In
1908 Mr. Wikel joined the First National Bank of Logan
as bookkeeper and assistant cashier, and remained with
that institution fourteen months, following which he went
to Dorchester, Virginia, and for about five years was chief
clerk for the Kemmerer interests on the Clinch Valley
Railroad. In 1914 he joined the First National Bank of
Pineville, with which he has since been identified in the
capacity of cashier. He has done much to increase its
business and insure its place in public confidence, and has
won a large number of sincere friends both for himself and
for the institution which he represents. Mr. Wikel is a
Master Mason, having joined that order at Norton, Virginia.
In politics he is a republican.
On December 24, 1919, Mr. Wikel was united in mar-
riage with Miss Dottie Edna Hash, of Wyoming County,
West Virginia, and one daughter, Virginia, and one son,
Bernard Alexander, have been born to this union. Mrs.
Wikel is a member of the Baptist Church.
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