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Strother, John (1792-1862)
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Aler's History of Martinsburg and Berkeley County, West Virginia
by F. Vernon Aler, 1888
Printed for the Author by 
The Mail Publishing Company, Hagerstown, MD.

CHAPTER VIII.
Historical Pen Sketches of the Early Residents of Berkeley County
by the late Hon. Chas. James Faulkner.

Pages 143-144, JOHN STROTHER 

A son of Benjamin Strother, was born at Park Forest, in Berkeley
county, November the 18th, 1792. At thirteen years of age he was
placed in the county clerk's office at Martinsburg, and became an
inmate of the family of David Hunter, then clerk of Berkeley
county. When war was declared against Great Britain, in 1812, he
volunteered for the defence of Norfolk, as second lieutenant in
Capt. Faulkner's artillery company, but having in the meantime
applied for a commission in the regular army, he received a
notification of his appointment to a lieutenancy in the 12th
infantry, in camp near Fredericksburg. He thereupon resigned his
commission in the State company, was succeeded by Edward Colston,
joined his regiment on the Canada frontier, was engaged under
Wilkinson in the unsuccessful enterprise against Montreal;
participated in the famous passage of the Long saut of the St.
Lawrence, and was in the command of his company at the battle of
Crisler's Field, where out of twenty-four men present for duty, the
company lost eight killed and wounded. For good conduct in the
battle, he was promoted, and afterwards appointed adjutant of the
regiment. After the war, he returned to Martinsburg, and on the 8th
of September, 1815, was married to Elizabeth Pendleton, eldest
daughter of David Pendleton. In 1829 he was elected clerk of the
County Court of Berkeley made vacant by the death of David Hunter,
and held that office until 1833, when a change in the constitution
of Virginia making a new election necessary, he was superseded by
Harrison Waite, Esq. In 1832 he was appointed by Judge Richard
Parker to the Clerkship of the Supreme Court of law and chancery
for the county of Berkeley, and continued in that office until by
another change in the Constitution it became elective by the
people, when he declined competing for the office, and retired from
its duties after having been connected with the Berkeley clerkship
for forty-live years. Constrained by the limited income of his
office, and by ill-health, brought on by the close confinement to
his clerical duties, he had some years previously, in 1833, opened
a boarding house at Berkeley Springs, and latterly, between 1845
and 1848, erected a large hotel at that place. The remainder of his
business life was devoted to that enterprise. In the recent
troubles which agitated the country, he was a firm and intrepid
champion of the rights of the Union, and asserted his opinion with
a courage that commanded the respect of both friends and enemies.
He died at the Berkeley Springs on the l6th of January, 1862, in
the midst of his family, his last words expressing solicitude for
his beloved country, and his absent son, then serving in the
Federal army. His remains were carried to Martinsburg, where they
were interred with masonic and military honors.

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