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This Sunday, Oct. 15 at 2 p.m., I have the pleasure of speaking at the Hancock County Historical Museum in New Cumberland about my book "Historic Tales of the Upper Ohio Valley."
The museum is housed in the Marshall House, which is a great survivor in our county. The building was built in 1887 by W.Va. Sen. Oliver S. Marshall. His home is a fine example of Queen Anne architecture and late 19th century domestic life in the county. Certainly, this family was well-to-do, and the finishes in the home reflect that. The home, in my opinion, was born from the earth of Hancock County. The bricks were made here in New Cumberland, and, as tradition holds, most, if not all, of the woodwork for the place was grown and cut from the Marshall family farm in New Manchester, consisting of mostly cherry.
The hardware came from Wheeling. Things like hinges, door handles, window hardware, transom openers and the like.
It seems appropriate, then, that I am speaking at this historic house about my recent book. These stories, like the Marshall House, were born from these hills and tell the story of our past. The book is a collection of these articles, not all of them, but some of my favorites from the past few years of writing. With them in book form, I can quickly reference my work in one place. It also provided me with the opportunity to add pictures to the stories and include a bibliography of other works cited. With the publication of my book, I have joined an ever-growing list of publications that have been written over the years to record for posterity our collected history.
My library of local titles is ever growing. One source I use a lot is a book called "The History of Weirton and Holliday's Cove and Life of J. C. Williams." This book was written in 1936 by Frank Pietranton. My copy was gifted to me by my grandmother, who maybe received it when it was new. The publication includes stories about our early local history, a list of businesses in town at that time and a brief story about the life of the then-recently deceased, J.C. Williams, president of Weirton Steel. The Williams foundation has helped so many local organizations and his legacy lives on 87 years after his death. Pietranton's book includes also a biographical sketch of local personalities who were members of the hoi polloi of the era.
In older works, biographical sketches were the norm. Another text I use often is the book "20th Century History of Steubenville and Jefferson County," written by Joseph Doyle in 1910. Measuring the thickness of the book with a ruler, it comes in at more than 3.5 inches and consists of more than 1,200 pages of local history. Much of my research for Steubenville articles start often with this tome. One of the best parts about this book is the many prominent personalities who are highlighted in the text. I consider Doyle's book an authority on local history. I am in awe of the amount of work that had to have gone into its publication. It certainly is a lifetime of work.
One can read this text online thanks to Google books. Just put the title in the search bar and it should come up. The text is fully searchable, so that is certainly a plus.
Switching gears, a more digestible book, is one written by Goldie Almason Baly called "Goldie's Memoirs." Goldie was born on Oct. 14, 1921, and moved to Weirton in 1922.
Her memoir of her life spans all the time until 2002. It is a great, heartwarming read, full of history and memories about life in our valley in those early years.
Goldie worked for the ration board during World War II, and when I wrote my senior thesis on Weirton Steel during the war years, she gave it a thumbs up. It's a great feeling to write about history and have someone who lived it, give me a good review. I have a handwritten note she penned to me in 2009, "Anything worthwhile takes time, effort and hard work." Great advice from a great lady. If you like Weirton history, you'll like this book.
My other go to texts on local history are "The History of Holliday's Cove" by Mary Shakley Ferguson; "History of Weirton, West Virginia" by David Javersak; and "History of Hancock County" by Jack Welch. There are many from Steubenville and Jefferson County including "Tales and Stories of Yellow Creek" by R. W. "Doc" Schilling; "Father and his Town" by Wilma Baker; and "Pioneer Days" by Mary Donaldson Sinclair.
There are many other great current local authors who have contributed to our local history texts as well that deserve articles all to themselves.
The books written recently, and which are in print, can be found at our local bookstores and online. At the museum shop at Historic Fort Steuben, one can ask the friendly staff for help and they will point you to the local selections.
My book is proudly included in that group, and, hopefully, generations in the future will derive something useful from its pages. Happy reading!
(Zuros is the Hancock County administrator)