Jerry Marks, a son of Waldo and grandson of Otha Marks, gave me this picture. He said the men were Otha’s brothers. I hope someone has another copy of this picture and can name them.
Margaret’s sons were: Perry William 1878-1949; Elias ‘Smith’ 1880-1965; Otha Lester 1882-1963; John Hiers 1884-1960; Henry ‘Richard’ 1892-1967; and Clay Elihu 1894-1989.
When daughter Jo Ann was a student at Glenville State College she had a class that interested her in genealogy. Jo Ann and my sister Connie teamed up and visited courthouses and collected lots of family genealogy.
Ron Miller once told me that when Connie and Jo Ann ran out of steam, they gave what they had collected to Don Norman and Ron and that jump started them onto collecting family history.
When Ron Miller was putting together the Gilmer County History Book, I could not get Connie or Jo Ann to write up the genealogy they had collected, so I wrote up most of it and submitted it for the History Book.
Richard Marks of Gambrills, MD, who has spent his lifetime collecting Marks Histories and is pretty much accepted as the Marks Family Authority in Gilmer County, got my address from the History Book and wrote to me. He had very little information on Ralph’s Grandmother Margaret Marks and her descendants. We have exchanges lots of information since that time. I often collect Marks obituaries from newspapers and send them to him.
This week Richard Marks, his sister Carolyn and husband George Abbott Jr. surprised me with a visit. He was on his way from Huntington to The Glenville Democrat newspaper office. We had a very interesting visit.
This winter’s wet weather has not been good for farmers. The mud makes feeding cows a real challenge.
We have heard lots of references to the chance that this year might be a repeat of the floods of 1936. I remember seeing pictures of the 1936 flood but don’t remember local flooding except I always heard that all of Ressie McElwee’s hay washed away that year.
I need to correct a mistake I made several weeks ago. Bayard Butler was 94 years old instead of 84 as my column stated. Bailey also has Marks roots. His granddaughter Elzira Marks was Ralph’s great Aunt Matilda ‘Till’ Marks’ daughter. Sister Caren White, brother Eugene and I visited Bayard on his 94th birthday.
Gwen Sumpter is 92 years old and has an excellent memory. Gwen said her Grandpa Palmer Beall had TB and died in 1924. Gwen’s mother Allie Beall and sister Mae Beall James, daughters of Palmer’s,n helped care for him when he was sick with TB.
They did not know that TB was contagious. Gwen’s mother Allie contacted TB and died in 1926 and Mae James contacted TB and died in 1927. Gwen said her mother often took her with her when she was caring for her father and Gwen slept at the foot of his bed. Gwen amazes me with her memories of her families in and around her community.
The Glenville Pathfinder is a newspaper based in Glenville, West Virginia. It was formed from the merger of the Glenville Journal and The Pathfinder. We publish new articles every weekday morning, Monday through Friday.