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WOOD COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Pam Honaker
pam_honaker@hotmail.com
October 28, 2000
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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. 465
MONROE J. RATHBONE--WOOD COUNTY
MONROE J. RATHBONE, manager of the Camden Works ar Parkersburg for the
Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, is a native of Parkersburg and
represents two prominent families of the state. He is a maternal grandson
of James Monroe Jackson, of the distinguied family of West Virginia. This
subject im more fully treated on other pages.
In the Rathbone line he is descended from Wait Rathbone, who was a New
England sea captain and also a captain of militia during the Revolution. A
son of Wait was William Palmer Rathbone, a native of Connecticut,
subsequently a business man of New York City, and for a number of years a
county judge in New Jersey. He settled at Burning Springs in what is now
West Virginia in 1843, and finally retired to Parkersburg, where he died in
1862. His wife was Martha Valleua.
Thier son, John Valleau Rathbone, was born in New York City in 1821
and accompanied his father to West Virginia. For several years he and his
brother wer general merchants, and in 1861 he became interested in the
pioneer phases of oil development and was one of the men conspicuously
successful in that industry. It is said that in spite of his wealth he
always remained a plain man of the people, enjoyed the companionship and
fellowshipo of his old friends and acquaintances in Parkersburg, and was a
wit and humorist. He died January 11, 1897, his old home becoming
subsquently the quarters of the Blennerhasset Club. In 1841 he married Anna
Maria Doremus, of New Jersey. She died in the same year and eight months
later than her husband. Of the eleven children the seventh in order of
birth is Francis Vinton Rathbone, who married Mary E. Jackson, daughter of
Judge James Monroe Jackson.
Monroe Jackson Rathbone, a son of Francis V. Rathbone, was born in
Parkersburg July 23, 1874. He was well educated, attending the Parkersburg
High School and the Virginia Military Institute. As a youth he bacame a
runner for the First National Bank of Parkersburg, also had some experience
in merchandising, and for a time was an employee of a local gas company. In
1895 Mr. Rathbone removed to Chicago, and for five years was assistant
manager of the lubricating sales department of the Standard Oil Company.
On his return to Parkersburg in 1900 he was purchasing agent for the
wholesale grocery house of Shattuck-Jackson Company, but in 1904 resuemd his
service witht the Standard Oil Company, and since 1907 has been manager of
the Camden Works. He represents the third generation of a family active in
the oil industry in West Virginia. Mr Rathbone is also a director of the
Citizens National Bank.
Other interests and activities betray the public spirited and
benevolent character of his citizenship. He is a member of the Board of
Governors of the Country Club, a director of the Blennerhasset Club, a
member of the Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, an Elk, is president of the
local council of the Boy Scouts, and during the World war was a member of
the War Labor Board. He is a democrat in politics and a member of the
Protestant Epicopal Church.
October 19, 1898, Mr Rathbone married Miss Ida Virginia Welch, daughter
of W.M. Welch. Four sons were born to their marriage: Monroe Jackson, Jr.,
Richard A., William Vinton, and James Vinton. The youngest died in infancy.
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