The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II, page 124
George Furbee, son of Caleb, was born in Delaware, spent his
active life as a farmer and stock-raiser on Paw Paw Creek, and died in 1844.
In 1796 he married Elizabeth Prichard. Their children were James and
Elizabeth, the latter marrying Jeremiah Beatty.
James Furbee is the most prominent name associated with the early history
of Mannington. He was born in the Paw Paw Creek district, and after some
years as a farmer there he bought 800 acres, including the site of the City
of Mannington. He founded the town, opened its first store, and guided his
personal interests to the welfare of the community ever afterward. For many
years he was a leading stock dealer. James Furbee in 1823 married Mary Ann
Lindsay, daughter of Lindsay and Nellie (Janes) Boggess.
Their son was the late Hon. James Hilary Furbee, who was born at
Basnettsville, Marion County, October 18, 1827. He found his interesting
duties in connection with his father's early enterprises at Mannington, and
upon completion of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad through that town in 1852 he
was appointed station agent. These were his official duties until 1862, when
he was appointed United States revenue collector. Soon after the outbreak of
the Civil war he had raised a company for state service, became its captain,
and was with the command in repelling threatened invasions from the South.
James H. Furbee in 1878 was elected a member of the West Virginia
Legislature, and in 1880 was chosen to a seat in the State Senate. However,
on account of a technicality, he was not seated. In 1886 he was again elected
by a large majority, and was also elected in 1892. Perhaps his most useful
service in the Senate was rendered the cause of state education. That was his
dominating public motive. He was chairman of the committee on education in
the Senate. hardly less important was the twenty years he served as president
of the Board of Education of Mannington District. During this period his work
contributed largely to the establishment of the free school system, and
introduced something more than nominal standards for the management and
conduct of the local schools. His long devotion to church culminated in his
election as a lay delegate to the General Conference of 1900.
James H. Furbee, whose life of usefulness closed on November 9, 1899,
married on October 7, 1855, Sarah J. McCoy, of Tyler County. Her
grandparents, john and Esther (McCarty) McCoy, came from North of Ireland in
1801, settling first in the Shenandoah Valley and subsequently removing to
Middlebourne, Tyler County. Their son, James McCoy, married in Tyler County,
Jane Martin, and they were the parents of Sarah J. Furbee, who survived her
husband, passing away July 12, 1921.
This brings this interesting family narrative down to Frank Emory Furbee,
who was born at Mannington, October 11, 1867. Both at home and in school he
was well trained for the responsibilities that awaited him. After the public
schools he attended the Fairmont State Normal School, and in 1890 graduated
from Duff's Business College of Pittsburgh. he forthwith entered his father's
business, known as J. H. Furbee & Sons, dealers in clothing, shoes, and
furnishings at Mannington. Since 1896 this prosperous business has continued
under the title of H. R. & F. E. Furbee. Mr. F. E. Furbee in 1910 became
associated with the organization of the Furbee Furniture Company.
Mr. Furbee succeeds to the responsibilities so long held by his father as
a guiding hand in the educational affairs of Mannington. He was chosen
president of the Board of Education in July, 1919. He is a Knight Templar,
thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner,an Elk, and Modern
Woodman, and is a charter member of the Kiwanis Club.
October 1, 1899, Mr. Furbee married Virginia H. Hagadorn. She is of New
England ancestry, and was born at Troy, New York, daughter of Charles H. and
Charlotte Hagadorn, of Bennington, Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Furbee have two
children: Robert Dater, born November 10, 1906, and Martha Virginia, born
March 11, 1912.
Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Monongalia, Marion and Taylor Counties, WV (1895), Marion County, pp. 4-6:
[SENATOR JAMES H. FURBEE, the present able, active and popular senator from the Second senatorial district of West Virginia, who is widely known throughout the state as a man of superior business ability and unimpeachable integrity, and of safe political leadership in this day of rapid growth and unparalleled progress, is a son of James and Mary L. (Boggess) Furbee, and was born in Monongalia county, Virginia (now West Virginia), October 18, 1827. His paternal great-grandfather, Capt. Caleb Furbee, was of English parentage and birth, and settled in Delaware about the middle of the eighteenth century. When the Revolutionary War came he espoused the cause of the colonies against his native land and entered the Continental army, where he served with honor, and distinguished himself for soldierly bearing and courage in the battle of Brandywine and other engagements. After the close of the Revolution he went to the northwest territory and settled on the site of Columbus, Ohio. He remained there until the beginning of the present century, when he came to Monongalia county, where he cleared up a large farm near the Monongahela river, and, with others, formed one of the pioneer settlements of northwestern Virginia. Captain Furbee died on his farm when well advanced in years and covered with honors. His son, George Furbee, was the grandfather of Senator Furbee, and first saw the light of day in Delaware. He came west with his parents and shared their fortune in what was then considered almost a wilderness. He witnessed the early growth of the country and lived to see it populous and prosperous. He was a farmer and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, like his father before him, and died in 1852, when very comfortably situated on a fine and well-improved farm. He married Mrs. Smith, and reared a family of two children: James, and Mrs. Sarah Beatty. James Furbee was born in 1797, on the old Monongalia county homestead, and, in 1849, came to what is now Mannington, where he died in 1885. After coming to Mannington he purchased a farm of two hundred acres of land, which he cleared and devoted to stockraising, in which he was quite successful. He also turned his attention to building up Mannington, and in 1849 opened the first store of that place.
He was a whig and republican, and, while a close observer of political events, yet was no aspirant for office or seeker of favors from his party or its leaders. Truthful, honest and fearless he lived, and, when his last hour came, died peacefully in the Methodist faith of his paternal ancestors. He was twice married; first, to Mary L. Boggess, who died in 1838, aged thirty-eight years, and left eight children to deplore her loss. His second marriage was with Mrs. Millie Lucas, and to his last union no children were born.
James H. Furbee was reared on the farm, received his education in the select schools of his county, and then engaged in the mercantile business with his father at Mannington, which he followed for some years. A few years later he succeeded his father in farming and stock-dealing, and has continued in those lines of business ever since. After the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad west of Mannington and through to Wheeling, in 1852, he became ticket, freight and express agent at Mannington, which position he held until 1866, when he engaged in the purchase, manufacture and sale of lumber, and, in 1884, he and his son opened a large mercantile establishment at Mannington, which the latter has conducted successfully ever since.
On October 17, 1855, Mr. Furbee was united in marriage with Sarah J. McCoy, a native of Tyler county, and a sister to John W. McCoy, of Fairmont. To their union have been born seven sons and two daughters: Mattie J., wife of T. J. Koen, a merchant and oil speculator; Walter S., engaged in operating the Mannington flouring mill; Leslie C., who married Laura Beatty, and is in the furniture and undertaking business; Mary J., widow of James A. Coleman; James S., wedded Louisa Mahen, and is connected with the operation of the Mannington flour mill; Howard R. married Sallie Atha, and is a member of the firm of J. H. Furbee and Sons, merchants; Frank E., a member of the firm of J. H. Furbee and Sons; Charles W., engaged in the milling business; and Guy S., assistant cashier of the Exchange Bank of Mannington.
James H. Furbee was one of the foremost men in West Virginia to advocate the free school system in the state, and has never been lacking since in urging all necessary measures for its improvements and advancement. He was elected, at an early day, as president of the board of education of Mannington district, and was continued in that office, by re-election, for thirteen consecutive years, during which time he was active in thoroughly organizing and increasing the efficiency of the schools, and rendering the system popular with the masses. His interest in popular and free-school education ceased not with his earnest and successful efforts to improve and advance his own district, but extended to the whole state, whose educational wants received warm support from him while serving in the house of delegates and in the State Senate.
He has a justifiable pride in hoping to see the public-school system of West Virginia occupy a leading and commanding position among the state school systems of the United States, a place to which it is rapidly attaining through the continued and unwearied efforts of Mr. Furbee and other educational leaders of the "New Dominion."
Senator Furbee's political career commenced in 1862, when he was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue for the first district of West Virginia, with headquarters at Wheeling. He served for five years, and made an enviable record as an efficient, active and honest public official. In 1878 the republican party of Marion county made him its nominee for the legislature, and at the ensuing election he was elected. In the house of delegates he soon identified himself with all measures for the real benefit and true advancement of the state, and served as a member of the committees on education, finance, counties, towns, municipal corporations, roads, navigation, and others. In 1880 the republicans of the Second senatorial district nominated him as their candidate for the state senate, and the face of the returns showed him elected by a majority of eight votes; but the county commissioners of Marion county threw out the returns from Benton's Ferry precinct and declared his opponent, Hon. Fountain Smith, of Fairmont, to be elected. In 1886 he was the unanimous choice of his party as their candidate for State senator in the second district, and was elected by a large majority. Taking his seat in the State senate, he gave his close and undivided attention to the needed legislation and the reformation of existing defects in state and municipal government, and, before the first session came to a close, was recognized as a working member of sound judgment, broad views and prudent action. In 1892 he was re-elected, and is now serving on his second term with credit to himself, satisfaction to his constituency and honor to his State.
Senator Furbee is one of the most able and progressive republican leaders of the State, and, in political matters, is noted for foresight, energy, and that special faithfulness to friends which always secures results in the caucus and in the convention and at the polls. Patriotic, as well as philanthropic and philosophic, he was captain of a company of "emergency men," during the late Civil War, but was never called into active service.
In whatever field he labored, Senator Furbee knows no such word as fail, and defeat serves but to nerve him to renewed effort.
In church, as well as state and school affairs, he has always taken a deep interest. He is a member, a worker and a contributor of the Mannington Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is now serving as a steward and trustee. He has always sought, by the elevating and refining influences of Christianity, to inspire others with the highest aims and noblest purposes of human life.]
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II, page 124
George Furbee, son of Caleb, was born in Delaware, spent his
active life as a farmer and stock-raiser on Paw Paw Creek, and died in 1844.
In 1796 he married Elizabeth Prichard. Their children were James and
Elizabeth, the latter marrying Jeremiah Beatty.
James Furbee is the most prominent name associated with the early history
of Mannington. He was born in the Paw Paw Creek district, and after some
years as a farmer there he bought 800 acres, including the site of the City
of Mannington. He founded the town, opened its first store, and guided his
personal interests to the welfare of the community ever afterward. For many
years he was a leading stock dealer. James Furbee in 1823 married Mary Ann
Lindsay, daughter of Lindsay and Nellie (Janes) Boggess.
Their son was the late Hon. James Hilary Furbee, who was born at
Basnettsville, Marion County, October 18, 1827. He found his interesting
duties in connection with his father's early enterprises at Mannington, and
upon completion of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad through that town in 1852 he
was appointed station agent. These were his official duties until 1862, when
he was appointed United States revenue collector. Soon after the outbreak of
the Civil war he had raised a company for state service, became its captain,
and was with the command in repelling threatened invasions from the South.
James H. Furbee in 1878 was elected a member of the West Virginia
Legislature, and in 1880 was chosen to a seat in the State Senate. However,
on account of a technicality, he was not seated. In 1886 he was again elected
by a large majority, and was also elected in 1892. Perhaps his most useful
service in the Senate was rendered the cause of state education. That was his
dominating public motive. He was chairman of the committee on education in
the Senate. hardly less important was the twenty years he served as president
of the Board of Education of Mannington District. During this period his work
contributed largely to the establishment of the free school system, and
introduced something more than nominal standards for the management and
conduct of the local schools. His long devotion to church culminated in his
election as a lay delegate to the General Conference of 1900.
James H. Furbee, whose life of usefulness closed on November 9, 1899,
married on October 7, 1855, Sarah J. McCoy, of Tyler County. Her
grandparents, john and Esther (McCarty) McCoy, came from North of Ireland in
1801, settling first in the Shenandoah Valley and subsequently removing to
Middlebourne, Tyler County. Their son, James McCoy, married in Tyler County,
Jane Martin, and they were the parents of Sarah J. Furbee, who survived her
husband, passing away July 12, 1921.
This brings this interesting family narrative down to Frank Emory Furbee,
who was born at Mannington, October 11, 1867. Both at home and in school he
was well trained for the responsibilities that awaited him. After the public
schools he attended the Fairmont State Normal School, and in 1890 graduated
from Duff's Business College of Pittsburgh. he forthwith entered his father's
business, known as J. H. Furbee & Sons, dealers in clothing, shoes, and
furnishings at Mannington. Since 1896 this prosperous business has continued
under the title of H. R. & F. E. Furbee. Mr. F. E. Furbee in 1910 became
associated with the organization of the Furbee Furniture Company.
Mr. Furbee succeeds to the responsibilities so long held by his father as
a guiding hand in the educational affairs of Mannington. He was chosen
president of the Board of Education in July, 1919. He is a Knight Templar,
thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner,an Elk, and Modern
Woodman, and is a charter member of the Kiwanis Club.
October 1, 1899, Mr. Furbee married Virginia H. Hagadorn. She is of New
England ancestry, and was born at Troy, New York, daughter of Charles H. and
Charlotte Hagadorn, of Bennington, Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Furbee have two
children: Robert Dater, born November 10, 1906, and Martha Virginia, born
March 11, 1912.
Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Monongalia, Marion and Taylor Counties, WV (1895), Marion County, pp. 4-6:
[SENATOR JAMES H. FURBEE, the present able, active and popular senator from the Second senatorial district of West Virginia, who is widely known throughout the state as a man of superior business ability and unimpeachable integrity, and of safe political leadership in this day of rapid growth and unparalleled progress, is a son of James and Mary L. (Boggess) Furbee, and was born in Monongalia county, Virginia (now West Virginia), October 18, 1827. His paternal great-grandfather, Capt. Caleb Furbee, was of English parentage and birth, and settled in Delaware about the middle of the eighteenth century. When the Revolutionary War came he espoused the cause of the colonies against his native land and entered the Continental army, where he served with honor, and distinguished himself for soldierly bearing and courage in the battle of Brandywine and other engagements. After the close of the Revolution he went to the northwest territory and settled on the site of Columbus, Ohio. He remained there until the beginning of the present century, when he came to Monongalia county, where he cleared up a large farm near the Monongahela river, and, with others, formed one of the pioneer settlements of northwestern Virginia. Captain Furbee died on his farm when well advanced in years and covered with honors. His son, George Furbee, was the grandfather of Senator Furbee, and first saw the light of day in Delaware. He came west with his parents and shared their fortune in what was then considered almost a wilderness. He witnessed the early growth of the country and lived to see it populous and prosperous. He was a farmer and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, like his father before him, and died in 1852, when very comfortably situated on a fine and well-improved farm. He married Mrs. Smith, and reared a family of two children: James, and Mrs. Sarah Beatty. James Furbee was born in 1797, on the old Monongalia county homestead, and, in 1849, came to what is now Mannington, where he died in 1885. After coming to Mannington he purchased a farm of two hundred acres of land, which he cleared and devoted to stockraising, in which he was quite successful. He also turned his attention to building up Mannington, and in 1849 opened the first store of that place.
He was a whig and republican, and, while a close observer of political events, yet was no aspirant for office or seeker of favors from his party or its leaders. Truthful, honest and fearless he lived, and, when his last hour came, died peacefully in the Methodist faith of his paternal ancestors. He was twice married; first, to Mary L. Boggess, who died in 1838, aged thirty-eight years, and left eight children to deplore her loss. His second marriage was with Mrs. Millie Lucas, and to his last union no children were born.
James H. Furbee was reared on the farm, received his education in the select schools of his county, and then engaged in the mercantile business with his father at Mannington, which he followed for some years. A few years later he succeeded his father in farming and stock-dealing, and has continued in those lines of business ever since. After the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad west of Mannington and through to Wheeling, in 1852, he became ticket, freight and express agent at Mannington, which position he held until 1866, when he engaged in the purchase, manufacture and sale of lumber, and, in 1884, he and his son opened a large mercantile establishment at Mannington, which the latter has conducted successfully ever since.
On October 17, 1855, Mr. Furbee was united in marriage with Sarah J. McCoy, a native of Tyler county, and a sister to John W. McCoy, of Fairmont. To their union have been born seven sons and two daughters: Mattie J., wife of T. J. Koen, a merchant and oil speculator; Walter S., engaged in operating the Mannington flouring mill; Leslie C., who married Laura Beatty, and is in the furniture and undertaking business; Mary J., widow of James A. Coleman; James S., wedded Louisa Mahen, and is connected with the operation of the Mannington flour mill; Howard R. married Sallie Atha, and is a member of the firm of J. H. Furbee and Sons, merchants; Frank E., a member of the firm of J. H. Furbee and Sons; Charles W., engaged in the milling business; and Guy S., assistant cashier of the Exchange Bank of Mannington.
James H. Furbee was one of the foremost men in West Virginia to advocate the free school system in the state, and has never been lacking since in urging all necessary measures for its improvements and advancement. He was elected, at an early day, as president of the board of education of Mannington district, and was continued in that office, by re-election, for thirteen consecutive years, during which time he was active in thoroughly organizing and increasing the efficiency of the schools, and rendering the system popular with the masses. His interest in popular and free-school education ceased not with his earnest and successful efforts to improve and advance his own district, but extended to the whole state, whose educational wants received warm support from him while serving in the house of delegates and in the State Senate.
He has a justifiable pride in hoping to see the public-school system of West Virginia occupy a leading and commanding position among the state school systems of the United States, a place to which it is rapidly attaining through the continued and unwearied efforts of Mr. Furbee and other educational leaders of the "New Dominion."
Senator Furbee's political career commenced in 1862, when he was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue for the first district of West Virginia, with headquarters at Wheeling. He served for five years, and made an enviable record as an efficient, active and honest public official. In 1878 the republican party of Marion county made him its nominee for the legislature, and at the ensuing election he was elected. In the house of delegates he soon identified himself with all measures for the real benefit and true advancement of the state, and served as a member of the committees on education, finance, counties, towns, municipal corporations, roads, navigation, and others. In 1880 the republicans of the Second senatorial district nominated him as their candidate for the state senate, and the face of the returns showed him elected by a majority of eight votes; but the county commissioners of Marion county threw out the returns from Benton's Ferry precinct and declared his opponent, Hon. Fountain Smith, of Fairmont, to be elected. In 1886 he was the unanimous choice of his party as their candidate for State senator in the second district, and was elected by a large majority. Taking his seat in the State senate, he gave his close and undivided attention to the needed legislation and the reformation of existing defects in state and municipal government, and, before the first session came to a close, was recognized as a working member of sound judgment, broad views and prudent action. In 1892 he was re-elected, and is now serving on his second term with credit to himself, satisfaction to his constituency and honor to his State.
Senator Furbee is one of the most able and progressive republican leaders of the State, and, in political matters, is noted for foresight, energy, and that special faithfulness to friends which always secures results in the caucus and in the convention and at the polls. Patriotic, as well as philanthropic and philosophic, he was captain of a company of "emergency men," during the late Civil War, but was never called into active service.
In whatever field he labored, Senator Furbee knows no such word as fail, and defeat serves but to nerve him to renewed effort.
In church, as well as state and school affairs, he has always taken a deep interest. He is a member, a worker and a contributor of the Mannington Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is now serving as a steward and trustee. He has always sought, by the elevating and refining influences of Christianity, to inspire others with the highest aims and noblest purposes of human life.]
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II, page 124
George Furbee, son of Caleb, was born in Delaware, spent his
active life as a farmer and stock-raiser on Paw Paw Creek, and died in 1844.
In 1796 he married Elizabeth Prichard. Their children were James and
Elizabeth, the latter marrying Jeremiah Beatty.
James Furbee is the most prominent name associated with the early history
of Mannington. He was born in the Paw Paw Creek district, and after some
years as a farmer there he bought 800 acres, including the site of the City
of Mannington. He founded the town, opened its first store, and guided his
personal interests to the welfare of the community ever afterward. For many
years he was a leading stock dealer. James Furbee in 1823 married Mary Ann
Lindsay, daughter of Lindsay and Nellie (Janes) Boggess.
Their son was the late Hon. James Hilary Furbee, who was born at
Basnettsville, Marion County, October 18, 1827. He found his interesting
duties in connection with his father's early enterprises at Mannington, and
upon completion of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad through that town in 1852 he
was appointed station agent. These were his official duties until 1862, when
he was appointed United States revenue collector. Soon after the outbreak of
the Civil war he had raised a company for state service, became its captain,
and was with the command in repelling threatened invasions from the South.
James H. Furbee in 1878 was elected a member of the West Virginia
Legislature, and in 1880 was chosen to a seat in the State Senate. However,
on account of a technicality, he was not seated. In 1886 he was again elected
by a large majority, and was also elected in 1892. Perhaps his most useful
service in the Senate was rendered the cause of state education. That was his
dominating public motive. He was chairman of the committee on education in
the Senate. hardly less important was the twenty years he served as president
of the Board of Education of Mannington District. During this period his work
contributed largely to the establishment of the free school system, and
introduced something more than nominal standards for the management and
conduct of the local schools. His long devotion to church culminated in his
election as a lay delegate to the General Conference of 1900.
James H. Furbee, whose life of usefulness closed on November 9, 1899,
married on October 7, 1855, Sarah J. McCoy, of Tyler County. Her
grandparents, john and Esther (McCarty) McCoy, came from North of Ireland in
1801, settling first in the Shenandoah Valley and subsequently removing to
Middlebourne, Tyler County. Their son, James McCoy, married in Tyler County,
Jane Martin, and they were the parents of Sarah J. Furbee, who survived her
husband, passing away July 12, 1921.
This brings this interesting family narrative down to Frank Emory Furbee,
who was born at Mannington, October 11, 1867. Both at home and in school he
was well trained for the responsibilities that awaited him. After the public
schools he attended the Fairmont State Normal School, and in 1890 graduated
from Duff's Business College of Pittsburgh. he forthwith entered his father's
business, known as J. H. Furbee & Sons, dealers in clothing, shoes, and
furnishings at Mannington. Since 1896 this prosperous business has continued
under the title of H. R. & F. E. Furbee. Mr. F. E. Furbee in 1910 became
associated with the organization of the Furbee Furniture Company.
Mr. Furbee succeeds to the responsibilities so long held by his father as
a guiding hand in the educational affairs of Mannington. He was chosen
president of the Board of Education in July, 1919. He is a Knight Templar,
thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner,an Elk, and Modern
Woodman, and is a charter member of the Kiwanis Club.
October 1, 1899, Mr. Furbee married Virginia H. Hagadorn. She is of New
England ancestry, and was born at Troy, New York, daughter of Charles H. and
Charlotte Hagadorn, of Bennington, Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Furbee have two
children: Robert Dater, born November 10, 1906, and Martha Virginia, born
March 11, 1912.
Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Monongalia, Marion and Taylor Counties, WV (1895), Marion County, pp. 4-6:
[SENATOR JAMES H. FURBEE, the present able, active and popular senator from the Second senatorial district of West Virginia, who is widely known throughout the state as a man of superior business ability and unimpeachable integrity, and of safe political leadership in this day of rapid growth and unparalleled progress, is a son of James and Mary L. (Boggess) Furbee, and was born in Monongalia county, Virginia (now West Virginia), October 18, 1827. His paternal great-grandfather, Capt. Caleb Furbee, was of English parentage and birth, and settled in Delaware about the middle of the eighteenth century. When the Revolutionary War came he espoused the cause of the colonies against his native land and entered the Continental army, where he served with honor, and distinguished himself for soldierly bearing and courage in the battle of Brandywine and other engagements. After the close of the Revolution he went to the northwest territory and settled on the site of Columbus, Ohio. He remained there until the beginning of the present century, when he came to Monongalia county, where he cleared up a large farm near the Monongahela river, and, with others, formed one of the pioneer settlements of northwestern Virginia. Captain Furbee died on his farm when well advanced in years and covered with honors. His son, George Furbee, was the grandfather of Senator Furbee, and first saw the light of day in Delaware. He came west with his parents and shared their fortune in what was then considered almost a wilderness. He witnessed the early growth of the country and lived to see it populous and prosperous. He was a farmer and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, like his father before him, and died in 1852, when very comfortably situated on a fine and well-improved farm. He married Mrs. Smith, and reared a family of two children: James, and Mrs. Sarah Beatty. James Furbee was born in 1797, on the old Monongalia county homestead, and, in 1849, came to what is now Mannington, where he died in 1885. After coming to Mannington he purchased a farm of two hundred acres of land, which he cleared and devoted to stockraising, in which he was quite successful. He also turned his attention to building up Mannington, and in 1849 opened the first store of that place.
He was a whig and republican, and, while a close observer of political events, yet was no aspirant for office or seeker of favors from his party or its leaders. Truthful, honest and fearless he lived, and, when his last hour came, died peacefully in the Methodist faith of his paternal ancestors. He was twice married; first, to Mary L. Boggess, who died in 1838, aged thirty-eight years, and left eight children to deplore her loss. His second marriage was with Mrs. Millie Lucas, and to his last union no children were born.
James H. Furbee was reared on the farm, received his education in the select schools of his county, and then engaged in the mercantile business with his father at Mannington, which he followed for some years. A few years later he succeeded his father in farming and stock-dealing, and has continued in those lines of business ever since. After the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad west of Mannington and through to Wheeling, in 1852, he became ticket, freight and express agent at Mannington, which position he held until 1866, when he engaged in the purchase, manufacture and sale of lumber, and, in 1884, he and his son opened a large mercantile establishment at Mannington, which the latter has conducted successfully ever since.
On October 17, 1855, Mr. Furbee was united in marriage with Sarah J. McCoy, a native of Tyler county, and a sister to John W. McCoy, of Fairmont. To their union have been born seven sons and two daughters: Mattie J., wife of T. J. Koen, a merchant and oil speculator; Walter S., engaged in operating the Mannington flouring mill; Leslie C., who married Laura Beatty, and is in the furniture and undertaking business; Mary J., widow of James A. Coleman; James S., wedded Louisa Mahen, and is connected with the operation of the Mannington flour mill; Howard R. married Sallie Atha, and is a member of the firm of J. H. Furbee and Sons, merchants; Frank E., a member of the firm of J. H. Furbee and Sons; Charles W., engaged in the milling business; and Guy S., assistant cashier of the Exchange Bank of Mannington.
James H. Furbee was one of the foremost men in West Virginia to advocate the free school system in the state, and has never been lacking since in urging all necessary measures for its improvements and advancement. He was elected, at an early day, as president of the board of education of Mannington district, and was continued in that office, by re-election, for thirteen consecutive years, during which time he was active in thoroughly organizing and increasing the efficiency of the schools, and rendering the system popular with the masses. His interest in popular and free-school education ceased not with his earnest and successful efforts to improve and advance his own district, but extended to the whole state, whose educational wants received warm support from him while serving in the house of delegates and in the State Senate.
He has a justifiable pride in hoping to see the public-school system of West Virginia occupy a leading and commanding position among the state school systems of the United States, a place to which it is rapidly attaining through the continued and unwearied efforts of Mr. Furbee and other educational leaders of the "New Dominion."
Senator Furbee's political career commenced in 1862, when he was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue for the first district of West Virginia, with headquarters at Wheeling. He served for five years, and made an enviable record as an efficient, active and honest public official. In 1878 the republican party of Marion county made him its nominee for the legislature, and at the ensuing election he was elected. In the house of delegates he soon identified himself with all measures for the real benefit and true advancement of the state, and served as a member of the committees on education, finance, counties, towns, municipal corporations, roads, navigation, and others. In 1880 the republicans of the Second senatorial district nominated him as their candidate for the state senate, and the face of the returns showed him elected by a majority of eight votes; but the county commissioners of Marion county threw out the returns from Benton's Ferry precinct and declared his opponent, Hon. Fountain Smith, of Fairmont, to be elected. In 1886 he was the unanimous choice of his party as their candidate for State senator in the second district, and was elected by a large majority. Taking his seat in the State senate, he gave his close and undivided attention to the needed legislation and the reformation of existing defects in state and municipal government, and, before the first session came to a close, was recognized as a working member of sound judgment, broad views and prudent action. In 1892 he was re-elected, and is now serving on his second term with credit to himself, satisfaction to his constituency and honor to his State.
Senator Furbee is one of the most able and progressive republican leaders of the State, and, in political matters, is noted for foresight, energy, and that special faithfulness to friends which always secures results in the caucus and in the convention and at the polls. Patriotic, as well as philanthropic and philosophic, he was captain of a company of "emergency men," during the late Civil War, but was never called into active service.
In whatever field he labored, Senator Furbee knows no such word as fail, and defeat serves but to nerve him to renewed effort.
In church, as well as state and school affairs, he has always taken a deep interest. He is a member, a worker and a contributor of the Mannington Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is now serving as a steward and trustee. He has always sought, by the elevating and refining influences of Christianity, to inspire others with the highest aims and noblest purposes of human life.]
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II, page 124
George Furbee, son of Caleb, was born in Delaware, spent his
active life as a farmer and stock-raiser on Paw Paw Creek, and died in 1844.
In 1796 he married Elizabeth Prichard. Their children were James and
Elizabeth, the latter marrying Jeremiah Beatty.
James Furbee is the most prominent name associated with the early history
of Mannington. He was born in the Paw Paw Creek district, and after some
years as a farmer there he bought 800 acres, including the site of the City
of Mannington. He founded the town, opened its first store, and guided his
personal interests to the welfare of the community ever afterward. For many
years he was a leading stock dealer. James Furbee in 1823 married Mary Ann
Lindsay, daughter of Lindsay and Nellie (Janes) Boggess.
Their son was the late Hon. James Hilary Furbee, who was born at
Basnettsville, Marion County, October 18, 1827. He found his interesting
duties in connection with his father's early enterprises at Mannington, and
upon completion of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad through that town in 1852 he
was appointed station agent. These were his official duties until 1862, when
he was appointed United States revenue collector. Soon after the outbreak of
the Civil war he had raised a company for state service, became its captain,
and was with the command in repelling threatened invasions from the South.
James H. Furbee in 1878 was elected a member of the West Virginia
Legislature, and in 1880 was chosen to a seat in the State Senate. However,
on account of a technicality, he was not seated. In 1886 he was again elected
by a large majority, and was also elected in 1892. Perhaps his most useful
service in the Senate was rendered the cause of state education. That was his
dominating public motive. He was chairman of the committee on education in
the Senate. hardly less important was the twenty years he served as president
of the Board of Education of Mannington District. During this period his work
contributed largely to the establishment of the free school system, and
introduced something more than nominal standards for the management and
conduct of the local schools. His long devotion to church culminated in his
election as a lay delegate to the General Conference of 1900.
James H. Furbee, whose life of usefulness closed on November 9, 1899,
married on October 7, 1855, Sarah J. McCoy, of Tyler County. Her
grandparents, john and Esther (McCarty) McCoy, came from North of Ireland in
1801, settling first in the Shenandoah Valley and subsequently removing to
Middlebourne, Tyler County. Their son, James McCoy, married in Tyler County,
Jane Martin, and they were the parents of Sarah J. Furbee, who survived her
husband, passing away July 12, 1921.
This brings this interesting family narrative down to Frank Emory Furbee,
who was born at Mannington, October 11, 1867. Both at home and in school he
was well trained for the responsibilities that awaited him. After the public
schools he attended the Fairmont State Normal School, and in 1890 graduated
from Duff's Business College of Pittsburgh. he forthwith entered his father's
business, known as J. H. Furbee & Sons, dealers in clothing, shoes, and
furnishings at Mannington. Since 1896 this prosperous business has continued
under the title of H. R. & F. E. Furbee. Mr. F. E. Furbee in 1910 became
associated with the organization of the Furbee Furniture Company.
Mr. Furbee succeeds to the responsibilities so long held by his father as
a guiding hand in the educational affairs of Mannington. He was chosen
president of the Board of Education in July, 1919. He is a Knight Templar,
thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner,an Elk, and Modern
Woodman, and is a charter member of the Kiwanis Club.
October 1, 1899, Mr. Furbee married Virginia H. Hagadorn. She is of New
England ancestry, and was born at Troy, New York, daughter of Charles H. and
Charlotte Hagadorn, of Bennington, Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Furbee have two
children: Robert Dater, born November 10, 1906, and Martha Virginia, born
March 11, 1912.
Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Monongalia, Marion and Taylor Counties, WV (1895), Marion County, pp. 4-6:
[SENATOR JAMES H. FURBEE, the present able, active and popular senator from the Second senatorial district of West Virginia, who is widely known throughout the state as a man of superior business ability and unimpeachable integrity, and of safe political leadership in this day of rapid growth and unparalleled progress, is a son of James and Mary L. (Boggess) Furbee, and was born in Monongalia county, Virginia (now West Virginia), October 18, 1827. His paternal great-grandfather, Capt. Caleb Furbee, was of English parentage and birth, and settled in Delaware about the middle of the eighteenth century. When the Revolutionary War came he espoused the cause of the colonies against his native land and entered the Continental army, where he served with honor, and distinguished himself for soldierly bearing and courage in the battle of Brandywine and other engagements. After the close of the Revolution he went to the northwest territory and settled on the site of Columbus, Ohio. He remained there until the beginning of the present century, when he came to Monongalia county, where he cleared up a large farm near the Monongahela river, and, with others, formed one of the pioneer settlements of northwestern Virginia. Captain Furbee died on his farm when well advanced in years and covered with honors. His son, George Furbee, was the grandfather of Senator Furbee, and first saw the light of day in Delaware. He came west with his parents and shared their fortune in what was then considered almost a wilderness. He witnessed the early growth of the country and lived to see it populous and prosperous. He was a farmer and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, like his father before him, and died in 1852, when very comfortably situated on a fine and well-improved farm. He married Mrs. Smith, and reared a family of two children: James, and Mrs. Sarah Beatty. James Furbee was born in 1797, on the old Monongalia county homestead, and, in 1849, came to what is now Mannington, where he died in 1885. After coming to Mannington he purchased a farm of two hundred acres of land, which he cleared and devoted to stockraising, in which he was quite successful. He also turned his attention to building up Mannington, and in 1849 opened the first store of that place.
He was a whig and republican, and, while a close observer of political events, yet was no aspirant for office or seeker of favors from his party or its leaders. Truthful, honest and fearless he lived, and, when his last hour came, died peacefully in the Methodist faith of his paternal ancestors. He was twice married; first, to Mary L. Boggess, who died in 1838, aged thirty-eight years, and left eight children to deplore her loss. His second marriage was with Mrs. Millie Lucas, and to his last union no children were born.
James H. Furbee was reared on the farm, received his education in the select schools of his county, and then engaged in the mercantile business with his father at Mannington, which he followed for some years. A few years later he succeeded his father in farming and stock-dealing, and has continued in those lines of business ever since. After the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad west of Mannington and through to Wheeling, in 1852, he became ticket, freight and express agent at Mannington, which position he held until 1866, when he engaged in the purchase, manufacture and sale of lumber, and, in 1884, he and his son opened a large mercantile establishment at Mannington, which the latter has conducted successfully ever since.
On October 17, 1855, Mr. Furbee was united in marriage with Sarah J. McCoy, a native of Tyler county, and a sister to John W. McCoy, of Fairmont. To their union have been born seven sons and two daughters: Mattie J., wife of T. J. Koen, a merchant and oil speculator; Walter S., engaged in operating the Mannington flouring mill; Leslie C., who married Laura Beatty, and is in the furniture and undertaking business; Mary J., widow of James A. Coleman; James S., wedded Louisa Mahen, and is connected with the operation of the Mannington flour mill; Howard R. married Sallie Atha, and is a member of the firm of J. H. Furbee and Sons, merchants; Frank E., a member of the firm of J. H. Furbee and Sons; Charles W., engaged in the milling business; and Guy S., assistant cashier of the Exchange Bank of Mannington.
James H. Furbee was one of the foremost men in West Virginia to advocate the free school system in the state, and has never been lacking since in urging all necessary measures for its improvements and advancement. He was elected, at an early day, as president of the board of education of Mannington district, and was continued in that office, by re-election, for thirteen consecutive years, during which time he was active in thoroughly organizing and increasing the efficiency of the schools, and rendering the system popular with the masses. His interest in popular and free-school education ceased not with his earnest and successful efforts to improve and advance his own district, but extended to the whole state, whose educational wants received warm support from him while serving in the house of delegates and in the State Senate.
He has a justifiable pride in hoping to see the public-school system of West Virginia occupy a leading and commanding position among the state school systems of the United States, a place to which it is rapidly attaining through the continued and unwearied efforts of Mr. Furbee and other educational leaders of the "New Dominion."
Senator Furbee's political career commenced in 1862, when he was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue for the first district of West Virginia, with headquarters at Wheeling. He served for five years, and made an enviable record as an efficient, active and honest public official. In 1878 the republican party of Marion county made him its nominee for the legislature, and at the ensuing election he was elected. In the house of delegates he soon identified himself with all measures for the real benefit and true advancement of the state, and served as a member of the committees on education, finance, counties, towns, municipal corporations, roads, navigation, and others. In 1880 the republicans of the Second senatorial district nominated him as their candidate for the state senate, and the face of the returns showed him elected by a majority of eight votes; but the county commissioners of Marion county threw out the returns from Benton's Ferry precinct and declared his opponent, Hon. Fountain Smith, of Fairmont, to be elected. In 1886 he was the unanimous choice of his party as their candidate for State senator in the second district, and was elected by a large majority. Taking his seat in the State senate, he gave his close and undivided attention to the needed legislation and the reformation of existing defects in state and municipal government, and, before the first session came to a close, was recognized as a working member of sound judgment, broad views and prudent action. In 1892 he was re-elected, and is now serving on his second term with credit to himself, satisfaction to his constituency and honor to his State.
Senator Furbee is one of the most able and progressive republican leaders of the State, and, in political matters, is noted for foresight, energy, and that special faithfulness to friends which always secures results in the caucus and in the convention and at the polls. Patriotic, as well as philanthropic and philosophic, he was captain of a company of "emergency men," during the late Civil War, but was never called into active service.
In whatever field he labored, Senator Furbee knows no such word as fail, and defeat serves but to nerve him to renewed effort.
In church, as well as state and school affairs, he has always taken a deep interest. He is a member, a worker and a contributor of the Mannington Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is now serving as a steward and trustee. He has always sought, by the elevating and refining influences of Christianity, to inspire others with the highest aims and noblest purposes of human life.]
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