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UPSHUR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA - BIOS: VANCE, Fred W. (published 1923)
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Submitted by
Valerie Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
September 12, 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. 229
Upshur County
FRED W. VANCE, M. D., has been a physician and sur-
geon at Mannington for the past seventeen years. He has
high standing in his profession, and his good citizenship
is on a par with his professional character.
Doctor Vance was born at the Village of French Creek
in Upshur County, West Virginia, February 23, 1874, son
of John E. and Anna M. (Darnall) Vance, the former a
native of Highland County and the latter of McDowell
County, Virginia. The grandfather, Col. Morgan A. Dar-
nall, served as colonel of his regiment in the Union Army.
John E. Vance and his wife were married October 24, 1871,
and are still living at the old home place at French Creek,
where on October 24, 1921, they celebrated their golden
wedding anniversary.
Fred W. Vance, at the age of eight years, began help-
ing his father in a systematic way, in proportion to his
strength, in the latter's blacksmith shop. He attended
common schools regularly, and also attended the French
Creek Summer Normal School. In 1892 he began teach-
ing with a No. 2 certificate, and the following year he
taught on a No. 1 certificate. Doctor Vance taught alto-
gether five winter and two summer terms.
In the meantime he had continued to exercise his
strength and manual skill in his father's shop, thus master-
ing the blacksmith's trade, and when he left teaching he
opened a shop of his own at French Creek. He remained
there two years, and for three years conducted a black-
smithing business at Crawford in Lewis County. While
a blacksmith Doctor Vance was diligently studying medi-
cine. and finally he entered the Eclectic Medical College
of Cincinnati, where he was graduated M. D. with the
class of 1905. During his senior year he was interne at
Seaton Hospital in Cincinnati. In 1904 he passed the
West Virginia Medical Examining Board, and for several
months practiced at Gains in Upshur County, but in 1905
returned to Cincinnati to receive his medical degree, and
in May of that year established his home and office at
Mannington. Almost from the beginning he has had an
extensive private practice, and has done much professional
work besides. Since 1912 he has been a member of the
United States Board of Pension Examining Surgeons. He
took post graduate work in the New York Post Graduate
College in 1910. He is a member of the Marion County,
West Virginia State and American Medical associations.
In 1912 Doctor Vance was elected mayor of Mannington
and in 1920 was chosen a member of the Board of Educa-
tion for the Mannington District. He is a Knight Templar
and Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, is affiliated with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias,
and is a charter member of the Mannington Kiwanis Club.
In 1921 he was appointed a member of the Board of Trus-
tees of Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia.
Doctor Vance, in 1897, married Mabel Florence Brooks,
also a native of French Creek in Upshur County and daugh-
ter of Adolphus and Josephine (Phillips) Brooks. Doctor
and Mrs. Vance are members of the Presbyterian Church,
of which he is an elder. He is a republican in politics.
His two children are: Mary Eugenia, born August 24,
1905; and John Brooks, born January 12, 1915.
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