U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Price, John Mason (b. 1834) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Men of West Virginia, Volume II Biographical Publishing Company George Richmond, Pres.: C. R. Arnold, Sec'y and Treas. Chicago, Illinois, 1903 Pages 716-719 JOHN MASON PRICE, ex-deputy sheriff of Greenbrier County, ex-mayor and a prominent citizen of Ronceverte, West Virginia, was born in Greenbrier County, Virginia, now West Virginia, October 7, 1834. His parents were Jacob and Mary Brown (Cox) Price, both of whom were Virginians by birth. Jacob Price, his grandfather, served through the Revolutionary War with distinction and drew a pension for his services to the close of his life at an advanced age. He settled in Greenbrier County, Virginia, now West Virginia, at the end of the war and founded a family which has flourished in the locality to the present day. The grandmother of our subject was Winnifred Tillery, who was torn in Virginia of Welsh ancestry, her family having established in that State prior to the Revolution. Jacob Price (2,) son of Jacob and Winnifred (Tillery) Price, and father of our subject, was born in Greenbrier County in 1790, and died in his native place in 1887. He was prominent in military life, was a captain of militia and served under General Harrison in the early wars, and during the War of 1812 he commanded a company in so valorous a manner as to receive a large grant of Virginia land and a pension through life. The mother of our subject was born in Bath County, Virginia, her family being an old and honored one of that section. She died in 1862, aged 72 years. Eight children were born to the parents of our subject, as follows: Charles, Abraham, Addison H., Sarah J., Margaret Elizabeth, Mary Susan, all of these deceased; Rebecca, who is Mrs. B. F. Hagsett, of Monroe County; and John Mason, of this sketch. John Mason Price was reared in Greenbrier County and obtained his education in the common schools of Greenbrier and Monroe counties and at Second Creek Academy. At the age of 21 he went to Missouri and during his residence there engaged in teaching school, returning home just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Soon after his return he entered the army, leaving a wife behind, having married in 1858, and during a long service participated in many serious battles and endured a long period of captivity as a prisoner of war. He enlisted as sergeant in Company B, 26th Virginia Battalion, C. S. A., but was later placed on the staff of Colonel Adger, where he continued until his capture, at Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864. Mr. Price was first under fire at Fayetteville and later at Charleston, White Sulphur Springs, New Market, North Anna River, all through the Wilderness campaign and until his capture as above mentioned, when he was suffering from a bayonet wound. At Fayetteville he was struck and injured by a piece of spent shell, and suffered for six months with typhoid fever. After his capture, he was taken to Point Lookout prison and kept there until July, and was then transferred to Elmira, New York, where he was one of the sergeants in charge of the mess room in the prison for some 6,000 prisoners. He was exchanged in March, 1865, and reached home just before the surrender of General Lee. After recuperation, Mr. Price engaged in a mercantile business at Organ Cave, Greenbrier County, and in 1880 was elected deputy sheriff, and acceptably filled the office for four years, at the close of his term removing to Ronceverte. There he associated himself with A. E. White, in an agricultural implement and fertilizer business, which he sold in 1886, and engaged for two years until a fire destroyed his plant in a foundry business. In 1888 he was again elected deputy sheriff and remained in office until 1892, when he embarked in a furniture business in Ronceverte, West Virginia, and later at Covington, Virginia, which he continued until 1901, when he disposed of it and has been actively interested in real estate and collections since that time. Mr. Price has been twice married. On December 1, 1859, he was married to Elizabeth Mary Erwin, who was born in Greenbrier County and was a daughter of Col. John Erwin, of a family of importance in the county, that came from Irish stock. Mrs. Price died in 1881. The names of the children of this marriage are as follows: Adger, deceased; Mary Bell, who married R. S. Loveless, present postmaster of Ronceverte; Henrietta, who married Kirby McVey of McDonald, Fayette County, West Virginia, is salesman In the wholesale house of the Carleton Dry Goods Company, of St. Louis, Missouri; Jane E. and John E., twins, the latter deceased, the former a teacher of music in Powhatan College, Charleston, Jefferson County, West Virginia; Matthew N., a resident of New Cumberland, West Virginia; Oscar A., engaged in a milling business in Virginia; and Charles A., of East Liverpool, Ohio. Mr. Price was married in 1882 to Isabel Williams, nee Campbell, a daughter of R. Campbell. She was born in Monroe County, West Virginia. The one daughter of this marriage is named Vera Lee, is now in her 19th year and is a graduate of Powhatan College. Formerly Mr. Price was active in the Democratic party and served as chairman of the local Democratic committee. At present he is neutral in politics. He has been one of Ronceverte's prominent and popular citizens and served the city for nine years as mayor. For 42 years he has been a Mason, entering the order in Greenbrier Lodge at Lewisburg, in 1862, and is a charter member of both the blue lodge and Chapter No. 47, R. A. M., at Ronceverte. He was one of the promoters of the Ronceverte National Bank, and has been one of the directors ever since its organization. In religious belief Mr. Price is a Presbyterian. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Greenbrier County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/greenbrier/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------