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SUMMERS COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Chris & Kerry
cmac4330@chesapeake.net
December 18, 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 II
pg. 157
ELBERT F. PETERS, M. D. Considering the energy and initiative displayed by
Doctor Peters it is probable he would have made a success of any vocation, yet
his gifts led him naturally into medicine and surgery, and in this line his
service has had a growing scope of benefit and usefulness throughout the
southern section of the state.
Doctor Peters, whose home is at Princeton, Mercer County, was born at Dunns Post
Office in Summers County, West Virginia, January 10, 1878, son of Joseph and
Mary Alice (Ellison) Peters. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, his father born in
Virginia and his mother in West Virginia. Joseph Peters was a farmer, a teacher
in his early life, and always kept in touch with educational affairs and public
matters in general. He knew Mercer County and the Mercer County people
thoroughly, and when the county was revalued he was made assessor for the
assessment of all property, coal and timber ands in the county.
Elbert F. Peters acquired a common school education, attended the Normal
college at Athens, and following that taught school four years. He took up the
study of medicine in the Maryland Medical College of Baltimore, graduating M. D.
in 1902. Doctor Peters throughout his professional career has done a great deal
of industrial practice. His first practice was in McDowell County as physician
and surgeon for the Pocahontas Consolidated Colleries Corporation, now the
Pocahontas Fuel Company. He is still physician and surgeon for this corporation,
and supervises the medical and surgical service for five large coal operations.
He maintains a main office at Maybeury in McDowell County, where he has complete
operating room and four beds for emergency cases. There is a branch office at
Switchback, where he has an assistant.
His natural qualifications and the early success he achieved in his practice did
not tend to quiet Doctor Peters' aggressive ambitions for the highest possible
attainment in his chosen career. He has associated with many of the greatest
men in surgery, and has kept in touch with the advancement of the science in
various schools. He attended the New York Polyclinic in 1906, in 1908 spent six
months at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, pursuing a general course in
medicine and surgery; spent several weeks in the Northwestern University at
Chicago in 1911, six weeks in 1912 at the New York Post Graduate School and
Hospital, three months in 1916 in the same school, and during the World war he
volunteered for active service, and while not called Out, he has his certificate
as a volunteer.
Doctor Peters was from September, 1918, to December, 1921, a member of the
Memorial Hospital Corporation of Princeton, West Virginia. This is a private
hospital formerly owned by Dr. C. C. Peters, Dr. G. L. Todd and Dr. E. F.
Peters. Doctor Peters was one of the principal figures in the organization of
this hospital and an active member of the hospital staff.
In 1899 Doctor Peters married at Camp Creek, Mercer County, Miss Rose Elizabeth
Shrewsbury, daughter of L. C. and Nancy (Rose) Shrewsbury, the former a native
of West Virginia and the latter of North Carolina. Doctor and Mrs. Peters have
five children, named Bernard Purcell, Nellie French, Gladys Mae, Joseph Ellwood
and Elsie Rowena. Doctor and Mrs. Peters are members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South. He is a member of the McDowell County, West Virginia State,
American Medical and Southern Medical Associations, is a Royal Arch and Knight
Templar Mason and Shriner, an Elk and Knight of Pythias, and is a charter member
of the Princeton Country Club. The recreations and interests that refresh and
take his mind from his daily duties are hunting, fishing and motoring.
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