West Virginia Statewide Files WV-Footsteps Mailing List
WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 143
Today's Topics:
#1 BIO: HASTINGS, Lynn-Monongalia Co. [PJSTON@aol.com]
#2 BIO: DAVIDSON, Henry A.+George S.- [PJSTON@aol.com]
#3 BIO: CLARK, David Core-Monongalia [PJSTON@aol.com]
#4 BIO: Frederick R. Christie ["John \"Bill\" Wheeler" <wheeler@g]
#5 BIO: HILDEBRAND, Clement Condon-Mo [PJSTON@aol.com]
Administrivia:
To unsubscribe from WV-FOOTSTEPS-D, send a message to
WV-FOOTSTEPS-D-request@rootsweb.com
that contains in the body of the message the command
unsubscribe
and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software
requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too.
To contact the WV-FOOTSTEPS-D list administrator, send mail to
WV-FOOTSTEPS-admin@rootsweb.com.
______________________________X-Message: #1
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 18:27:20 EST
From: PJSTON@aol.com
To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com
Message-ID: <0.6d6b8e46.257ef1d8@aol.com>
Subject: BIO: HASTINGS, Lynn-Monongalia Co., WV
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II
pg 97 + 98
Lynn Hastings. Probably there is no profession that demands so much tact,
judgment, patience, specialized knowledge and natural executive ability as
that of the educator and the individual who enters into this important field,
selecting it as his calling, must be prepared to make many personal
sacrifices, to endure numerous disappointments, to often spend himself for
others without apparent return, and to give the best years of his life
without receiving the emoluments that equal effort would surely bring in any
other profession. It is a vocation for which there are no weights and
measures. The material with which it deals is rather that life material upon
which impressions are eternal and afford the man who would serve the race an
opportunity than which there are none greater. One who has dedicated his
life to the work of the educator and who has achieved an honored place in his
vocation and in the confidence of the public is Lynn Hastings, of Morgantown,
superintendent of the free schools of Monongalia County.
Mr. Hastings, the great-grandfather of Lynn, who settled at Cheat Neck in
Union District during pioneer days. He married a McGill and their son,
Isaac, was born in the Cheat Neck community and married Elvira Victor. At
the time of the war with Mexico he was serving as a captain of Virginia
militia and was sworn into the Government service, but did not get to the
front. During the war between the states he assisted in raising a company of
West Virginia infantry and was commissioned first lieutenant thereof. He was
a charter member of the Cheat Neck Methodist Protestant Church.
George B. Hastings, son of Isaac and father of Lynn Hastings, was born at
Cheat Neck, February 3, 1856, and died June 20, 1911. In early life he
assisted his father in the operation of the ferry over Cheat River, at Cheat
Neck, and subsequently learned the trade of woodworker, which he followed for
years, in addition thereto farming to some extent. He married Margaret
Elizabeth Jenkins, who was born April 22, 1857, in the same neighborhood as
was her husband, and survives him as a resident of Morgantown.
The first of the Jenkins family of record in Monongalia County was
Bartholomew Jenkins, the grandfather of Mrs. Hastings, who was one of three
brothers to come to America from Scotland, two of whom settled in other
states. Bartholomew Jenkins settled at Cheat Neck in early days and married
Nancy Baker, daughter of George Baker, the Monongalia County pioneer of the
Baker family. George Jenkins, son of Bartholomew and Nancy Jenkins, was born
at Cheat Neck and married Sophia Beatty, daughter of Robert and Nancy (Conn)
Beatty. Robert Beatty was born at Cheat Neck, the son of Irish-born parents
who were early settlers in Monongalia County. His wife was a daughter of
James and Sophia Conn.
The children born to George B. and Margaret E. Hastings were as follows:
Lynn, of this notice; Charles B., born March 20, 1889, a resident of
Morgantown, married Rose, daughter of Charles Hetrick, who came from
Pennsylvania, and they have one son, Earl; Isaac N., born January 29, 1892, a
resident of Morgantown, married Beatrice Miller; Fanny Lou, born December 20,
1896, who is unmarried and resides with her mother; and George D., born May
10, 1898, a resident of Morgantown, married Jeannette, daughter of J. F.
Smith.
Lynn Hastings was born at Cheat Neck, Union District, Monongalia County,
February 2, 1887, a son of George B. and Margaret E. (Jenkins) Hastings. He
secured all of his elementary education at the Wood Grove public school and
received his common school diploma in 1903. In 1905 he was granted a
first-grade teacher's license, and in that year taught the Bush School in his
home locality. He was graduated from Fairmont Normal School in 1911, as
valedictorian of his class, which numbered about eighty graduates, and in the
same year became principal of the graded schools of Dingess, Mingo County,
West Virginia, holding that position also during a part of 1912. In 1912-13
he taught his home school; was principal of the high and graded schools of
Sabraton, Monongalia County, in 1913-14-15; and was principal of the Westover
schools of the Morgantown Independent School District from 1915 to January 8,
1916, when he resigned to accept the appointment of county superintendent of
schools to fill a vacancy, the appointment having been made by the presidents
of the various district boards of education in the county. In November,
1916, Mr. Hastings was elected to fill out the unexpired term, and at the
general election of 1918 was elected for the full term of four years, without
opposition in the primaries or general election. From the start Mr. Hastings
has labored earnestly in an effort to better conditions in every way and to
advance science of education and possessed of a natural instinct for child
psychology, he has made his school system a living, growing organism
responsive to the best in the teacher and the pupil.
During the World war Mr. Hastings served as county food administrator and as
one of the "Four-Minute" speakers, and was active in all the drives and other
war work. Like his forefathers, he is a member of the Methodist Protestant
Church. As a fraternalist he holds membership in Morgantown Union Lodge No.
4, A. F. and A. M.; Chapter No. 30, R. A. M.; Monongalia Lodge No. 10, I. O.
O. F., of which he is a past noble grand; and Athens Lodge No. 36, K. of P.,
of which he is a past chancellor commander. He is a member of the West
Virginia State Educational Association.
On August 16, 1915, Mr. Hastings married La Marian Mercer Mason, who was born
at Masonville, Grant County, West Virginia, November 27, 1889, daughter of
Samuel Alexander and Louisa (Baker) Mason, the father a native of Petersburg,
Grant County, and the mother of Lost River, Hardy County, this state. To Mr.
and Mrs. Hastings there have come three children: Lynn, Jr., born July 24,
1916; Grey, born January 22, 1918; and Lyle, born March 27, 1921.
______________________________X-Message: #2
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 18:28:15 EST
From: PJSTON@aol.com
To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com
Message-ID: <0.6370930c.257ef20f@aol.com>
Subject: BIO: DAVIDSON, Henry A.+George S.-Monongalia Co., WV
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II
pg 98
Davidson Brothers. The branch of the Davidson family to which belong Henry
Alexander and George S. Davidson, of Morgantown, Monongalia County, was
founded in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, prior to 1800 by Jeremiah Davidson
(I), who came from his native Ireland and first settled in Mercer County,
Pennsylvania, whence he later removed to Luzerne Township, Fayette County.
He was of Scotch ancestry, but representatives of the family left Scotland
and established themselves in Ireland several generations before his birth.
For many years Jeremiah Davidson operated the old Crawford ferry across the
Monongahela River, and later he owned another ferry, besides developing a
substantial business in the building of boats both for his own use and for
sale. He died at his old home in Luzerne Township, Fayette County,
Pennsylvania, in 1850. He married Anna Alexander, and among their children
was Henry Alexander Davidson (I), who was born at Davidson's Ferry, Fayette
County, in 1805. After his marriage to Elizabeth Gallagher, Henry A.
Davidson settled on a farm in Cumberland Township, Greene county,
Pennsylvania. His son, Jeremiah (II) was born on this farm May 26, 1834, and
after arriving at adult age continued his association with farm enterprise
until 1875, when he removed to Carmichaels, Pennsylvania. There he later
engaged in the hotel business, and still later in the livery and undertaking
business. He held the various official chairs in the local lodge of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was influential in community affairs.
In 1856 he married Selantha Flenniken, and they became the parents of three
children: John Calvin, Franklin Francis and Minnie, the daughter dying at
the age of sixteen years. After the death of his first wife Jeremiah
Davidson married Mrs. Harriet Jane (Stone) Hatfield, and they had two sons,
Henry Alexander and George S. The honored father died in July, 1900, the
mother having passed away in October 1898.
Henry Alexander Davidson (II) was born March 24, 1878, at Carmichaels,
Pennsylvania, where he attended the public schools until eligible for
admission to the Pennsylvania State Normal School at California. Thereafter
he became associated with his father's business, and after the death of his
father in 1900 he came to Morgantown, West Virginia, and in April, 1901,
engaged in the livery business. March 1, 1903, he added an undertaking
department to the business, and in 1914 his brother George S. became his
partner, under the firm name of Davidson Brothers. Since 1917 the firm has
been engaged also in the handling of automobiles, with a well equipped garage
and service station in which the firm has the sales agency for the Hudson,
the Essex and the Marmon cars, and the Republic automobile trucks. The
brothers are active members of the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce and are
affiliated with Union Lodge No. 4., Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the
local Chapter of Royal Arch Masons and the Morgantown Commandery of Knights
Templars, while each has received the thirty-second degree in the Scottish
Rite, and also holds membership in Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine. Henry
A. is a past exalted ruler of Morgantown Lodge No. 411 Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks; is affiliated with Monongahela Lodge No. 10,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and is a charter member of the Morgantown
Country Club. He married Miss Agnes Miles, of Buckhannon, this state. They
have no children.
George S. Davidson was born at Carmichaels, Pennsylvania, January 27, 1884,
and in addition to the discipline of the public schools he took a business
course in the University of West Virginia. He came to Morgantown, May 1,
1901, and after working for his brother until 1909 he here established an
independent livery business in South Morgantown. He sold this business two
years later and thereafter conducted a similar enterprise at Morgantown until
1914, when he entered into partnership with his brother, as noted in a
preceding paragraph. The Davidson brothers are numbered among the vital and
progressive business men and valued citizens of Morgantown. George S.
likewise is affiliated with the local lodge of Odd Fellows and is a charter
member of the Morgantown Country Club. He married Mary E., daughter of Henry
Fenton Rice, the pioneer news dealer of Morgantown.
______________________________X-Message: #3
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 19:10:30 EST
From: PJSTON@aol.com
To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com
Message-ID: <0.c3d5c558.257efbf6@aol.com>
Subject: BIO: CLARK, David Core-Monongalia Co., WV
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II
pg 98 + 99
David Core Clark through his private practice and long membership on the
State Board of Examiners has been prominent in the profession of dental
surgery in West Virginia, is also a former member of the State Legislature,
and in many other respects a leader in the civic and social life of his home
city, Morgantown.
He was born in Monongalia County and is descended from two old families of
this section of the valley. His paternal grandfather, Nehemiah Clark, came
from Maryland and was a pioneer in the Cass District of Monongalia County.
The maternal grandfather, John Core, was probably born either in Cass or in
Clay District of the same county. Doctor Clark's father was William James
Clark, who was born in Cass District June 19, 1845, and spent his life as an
industrious and frugal farmer and died on his farm April 9, 1916. He married
Martha Ellen Core, who was born in Clay District May 20, 1848, and is still
living at the old homestead.
David C. Clark was born at the Clark home in Clay District February 4, 1873.
He acquired his early education in the district and graded schools, later
attended the Fairmont State Normal School, then taught school in the district
schools of Monongalia County for a number of years, and in 1898 received his
degree D. D. S. from the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. After his
graduation Doctor Clark practiced at Blacksville in Monongalia County until
1917, in which year he removed to Morgantown. He was a member of the West
Virginia State Board of Dental Examiners from 1915 to 1920. For a period of
fifteen years, from 1906 to 1921, he was treasurer of the State Dental
Society, and has taken a prominent part in that organization and several of
his addresses and technical papers have been printed in dental publications.
Doctor Clark was elected as a republican to represent Monongalia County in
the Legislature in 1915. During the regular session of 1916 he was a member
of the committees on prohibition and temperance, education, private
corporations, and joint stock corporations, immigration and agriculture, and
medicine and sanitation. He faithfully represented the interests entrusted
to him, but after his first term he declined renomination.
During the World war he recognized no obligation as superior to the needs of
the nation, and gave both of his professional effort and his means to the
cause. He was a member of the National Dental Preparedness League, and
shared in its program of work in preparing recruits for the army by dental
examination and treatment. He was also connected with all the Liberty Loan
drives in the county.
Doctor Clark is a director of the Bank of Morgantown and financially
interested in other corporations. He is an official member of the First
Methodist Episcopal Church, a worker in the Sunday school, and is affiliated
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, is a
member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Morgantown. October
6, 1898, he married Miss Joanna Stephens, daughter of Bowen and Ruth E.
(Zimmerman) Stephens, of Blacksville. Mrs. Clark is an accomplished woman,
liberally educated and active in Morgantown social life. She was trained in
the public schools and in the Mount Pleasant Seminary of Mount Pleasant,
Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Book Lovers and the Music clubs of
Morgantown.
______________________________X-Message: #4
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 20:23:56 -0500
From: "John \"Bill\" Wheeler" <wheeler@gru.net>
To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com
Message-ID: <001a01bf411a$f49c43a0$cedfbec6@wheeler>
Subject: BIO: Frederick R. Christie
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.
Chicago and New York, Volume ll.,
pg. 112-113
Frederick R. Christie has had twenty years since he completed
his education in which to lay the foundation of a secure business
success. More than half of this time he spent in the service of the
Norfolk & Western Railway Company at Vivian and Bluefield, West
Virginia, and for the past eight years he has been an official in
one of the leading financial and business organizations of the city.
Mr. Christie was born in Princeton, Mercer County, West Virginia,
July 7, 1884, son of Richard Clark and Elizabeth Pearis (White)
Christie. the Christies are of English ancestry and were early
converts to the Wesleyan Reformation in the eighteenth century.
On his mother's side Mr. Christie is of French Huguenot origin,
his ancestors having settled near Charleston, South Carolina. The
Pearis in his mother's name represents another branch of her ancestry.
Colonels George and Richard Pearis were soldiers of the Revolution and
Colonel George donated fifty-three acres of his plantation for the
townsite and from him the town know as Pearisburg, Virginia was named.
Richard Clark Christie was born in Monroe County and his wife Elizabeth
Pearis Christie was born in Mercer County. Richard Clark Christie served
eighteen years (three terms) as circuit and criminal clerk for Mercer
County, was a graduate of the class of 1876 from the University of
Kentucky, established his home at Princeton the same year and achieved
prominence as a lawyer in Princeton.
Frederick R. Christie attended the common and high schools of
Princeton, graduated from the Princeton Academy in 1902, and on leaving
school entered the service of Castner, Curram & Bullit, coal shippers.
He was a clerk in their office two years at Vivian. Since then his home
has been at Bluefield, where for ten years he was assistant car distributor
on the Pocahontas Division of the Norfolk & Western Railway. Mr. Christie
in 1914 joined the Virginia Realty Loan Company, Inc. as secretary and
director and now is vice president of that prosperous business. His institution
has contributed largely toward the building of the city of Bluefield,
having built more homes than any other organization in the city. He is
also vice president and a director in the Bluefield Trust Company, a new
financial institution recently organized with a capital and surplus of $220,000.
Mr. Christie married at Bluefield, August 14, 1907, Miss Willie Gay Barrow,
daughter of Capt., and Mrs. William H. Barrow, of Dublin, Pulaski County,
Virginia. Captain Barrow was a gallant soldier of the Southern Confederacy
and died a number of years later from a wound he received during the war.
The following children were born to Frederick R. and Willie Gay (Barrow)
Christie: Frederick R. Jr., fourteen years old, Sarah Elizabeth, ten, and
Margaret Gay, five years old.
Mr. Christie is a Master Mason, Royal Arch Mason, Knight Templar Mason
and Shriner, active in the Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Bluefield
Country Club, and his favorite recreation is hunting and fishing. He is a
member of the First Baptist Church, on its Board of Deacons, assistant
superintendent of the Sunday School and a zealous worker in all its endeavors.
Mrs. Christie and children are also members of the First Baptist Church. Mr.
Christie volunteered for Y.M.C.A. work (being to old for Army service) with
the American Army in France, but was not called into service on account of
the sudden ending of the World War. He is Treasurer of Bluefield College, a
member of the Board of Trustees, also a member of the Building Committee and
was instrumental in founding and locating the college in Bluefield. He traces
his ancestry through the following genealogy:
The Christie family: James Christie, the original settler, was born
in England and came from London to America with John and Charles Wesley and
Theodore Whitfield, going first to Georgia and later crossed the Allegheny
Mountains in the early days of the colonies and settled where Union, Monroe
County, West Virginia is now located. He became a member of the "Holly Cross"
and the motto of this order was "I swear to cross the mountains".
He was a Methodist preacher and firm supporter of the Wesleyan
Reformation. He held a position under the King of England as cup bearer in
the King's Court. He resigned the position, however, as a protest against a
religious tax imposed upon him by the church of England.
In the year 1785 he built the first church on the western slopes of the
Allegheny Mountains, and it is now know as Old Rehobeth. At the age of 110
years he could mount his horse without assistance, and he rode about the
county-side marrying people as long as he was able to sit upon his horse.
James Christie, the settler had two sons, James and Robert. The enlisted
in the war of 1812 but were not called into service. Robert married Margaret
Crosier and several children were born to them, as follows; James M., who
married Cynthia Peters Clark in the year 1839; Thomas M., who married Catharine
Boggess; Catharine, who married James Carpenter.
To James M., who married Cynthia Peters Clark, were born the following
children: Damaris Catharine Married William S. Hobbs, who was an officer
of McComas Battery and distinguished himself as a gallant soldier of the
Civil War; Margaret E. remained single in life; Newton J., who was a gunner
in Chapman's Battery, was a gallant soldier, was taken prisoner at Camp
Lookout and died there; John Wesley and Caroline died at the ages of eleven
and two years, respectively; Harvey R., who remained single, distinguished
himself as a musician and writer of many beautiful hymns and composed several
of the leading hymn books of this counter, was a graduate of the University
of Tennessee; Thomas H.R., who married a Miss Hunt, was also a very
distinguished musician, possessing an unexcelled tenor voice and wonderful
skill in instrumental music; Lewis F., who married Linnie A. Lemon,
is a cattle grazer and owns about 1,000 acres of Blue Grass land in
Monroe County; Samuel M. who married Emma C. Burdett, is also a very
prosperous farmer and grazer of Greenbrier County; Milton W., who married
Ozella Ruth McKinzie, served as deputy circuit and criminal clerk of Mercer
County, also as deputy sheriff for a great number of years. Richard C., who
married Elizabeth Pearis White, is a lawyer by profession, having graduated
at the University of Kentucky in the class of '76, was elected to the Circuit
and Criminal clerkship of Mercer County three successive terms, and received
the nomination of the Democratic party for the fourth term, but was defeated
in the Republican landslide of 1896.
To Richard C. and Elizabeth Pearis Christie the following children
were born: Henry E. (Hal), Frederick R. , Paul O., and James B. Henry E.
married Miss Rose Pike, of Kentucky, and to them was born , Anna Elizabeth.
They live in Winchester, Kentucky, and he is a traveling salesman, as is
also his brother James B. Paul C. is a veteran of the World War, was in
the great drive of the American Army from Calais. engaged in the great
battles of Somme River, St. Mihiel , second battle of Verdun and Argonne
Forrest, went over the top three times in this series of battles and was
wounded and gassed in the battle of Agronne Forrest.
______________________________X-Message: #5
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 20:33:52 EST
From: PJSTON@aol.com
To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com
Message-ID: <0.304f0eae.257f0f80@aol.com>
Subject: BIO: HILDEBRAND, Clement Condon-Monongalia Co., WV
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II
pg 99
Clement Condon Hildebrand had made a promising start in a business career
when he joined the aviation service in the World war, and since leaving that
has resumed his citizenship in Monongalia County, where he is actively
identified with business in Morgantown and also in the town of Hildebrand, a
little community named for his father.
Hildebrand is in Grant District of Monongalia County, and Mr. Hildebrand was
born there December 4, 1891, son of John Marshall and Eliza Jane (Schafer)
Hildebrand. The Hildebrands, though of German ancestry, have been in America
since Colonial times. The ancestor was Henry Hildebrand, who settled in
Massachusetts and was a Minute Man in the days of the Revolution. He married
a Miss Coulter. Five generations intervened between him and Clement C.
Hildebrand. His son, Henry Hildebrand (II), was born in Massachusetts,
married Margaret Launtz, moved to Maryland, later to the vicinity of
Richmond, Virginia, and finally to Greene County, Pennsylvania. When he went
to Pennsylvania he was accompanied by his sisters, Charlotte and Barbara.
Charlotte married a Mr. Lucas, and the Morgantown branch of the Lucas family
is descended from her. Louis Launtz Hildebrand, of the third generation of
the family in America, was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, in 1814. He
married in that county Maria Catherine Maheney, and in 1847 they removed to
White Day, Clinton District, Monongalia County, West Virginia. L. L.
Hildebrand died at the age of eighty-four and his wife at ninety-four. A
brief record is entered concerning their twelve children: Samantha, who
became the wife of J. W. Stevens and was the mother of eleven children;
Margaret married John H. Smallwood and had six children; Jane who died in
infancy; John Marshall; Sarah Ellen; who had nine children by her marriage to
Elias Keener; Hannah Louisa, whose husband was James Smallwood, by whom she
had six children; Clark, who married Anna Ellis and had a family of two
children; Miranda, wife of John C. Schafer and the mother of two children;
Mary, who was the wife of J. Smallwood; Anna, who had one child by her
marriage to Orril Holland; Thomas, who was the father of one child by his
first wife, Margaret Thorp, had six children by his second marriage, to
Margaret Steele; and Ida L., who became the wife of John Price and the mother
of one child.
John Marshall Hildebrand was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, in 1845,
and has been one of the well known and effective citizens of this locality.
For many years he has been active in the general mercantile business he
established at Hildebrand, where the little community has grown up. In a
public way he has been justice of the peace, deputy sheriff, constable, road
commissioner and school trustee. He married Eliza Jane Schafer, who was born
near Laurel Point in Monongalia County in 1849. To their marriage were born
nine children: Carrie Anna, widow of Dr. E. M. Henry, of Laurel Point, and
of her three children one is living, Otto H. Henry, a graduate of West
Virginia University and now a professor in the New York Polytechnic School of
Engineering; Benton M., who married Lela Hess and is manager of the Standard
Oil Pumping Station at Summerville, New Jersey; Ella M. wife of Charles Henry
and mother of Mifflin, Marie and Wilford; Nora F., who died in 1920,
unmarried; Grace G., wife of J. F. Dugan, Greensboro, Pennsylvania, and
mother of Donovan, Doran and Dorothea; Bert B., who married Nettie Jolliffe
and has two sons, Chester and Louis; Louis Launtz, who married Margaret
Lambert and has a son, Allan Bryce; John, who died in infancy; and Clement
Condon, ninth and youngest of the family.
Clement C. Hildebrand attended common schools, graduated from the Morgantown
High School in 1914 and in the same year entered the accounting department of
the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company at Morgantown. In 1916 he was
transferred to the Gary, Indiana plant of that corporation. The following
year, when America entered the war, he enlisted in the air department, and
received his training at Indianapolis, at Fort Thomas, Kentucky, and
subsequently was transferred to the balloon service at Fort Omaha, Nebraska.
He was top sergeant of his company and received his honorable discharge at
Camp Grant, Illinois, February 29, 1919.
While his old position with the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company was held
open for him he decided to return home to be near his parents, both growing
old, and accordingly took charge of the office work of the Delmar Coal
Company at Hildebrand and is also junior member of the firm of Hildebrand &
Son, merchants, at Hildebrand. March 1, 1921, E. Reece Baker, a Morgantown
contractor, became associated with Mr. Hildebrand as accountant, draftsman
and general assistant. Mr. Hildebrand is affiliated with Morgantown Union
Lodge No. 4, A. F. and A. M., and has taken fourteen degrees in the Scottish
Rite. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, the American Legion
and the Methodist Episcopal Church.