U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Menager, James B. (1850-1931) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Men of West Virginia, Volume II Biographical Publishing Company George Richmond, Pres.: C. R. Arnold, Sec'y and Treas. Chicago, Illinois, 1903 Pages 503-505 JAMES B. MENAGER, a prominent attorney-at-law, a leading member of the bar of West Virginia and a representative citizen of Charleston, West Virginia, was born in Mason County, Virginia, now West Virginia, October 23, 1850, and is a son of Louis B. and Cornelia (Steenbergen) Menager. Louis B. Menager was of French parentage. His father, Claudius R. Menager, was one of the first settlers of Gallipolis, Ohio, coming to America and landing at Gallipolis on Sunday, October 17, 1790. He left France during the stormy and bloody period known as the French Revolution, departing from Paris shortly after the storming of the Bastile, which historical event Mary Bobin, who afterwards became his wife, witnessed, for she was then a resident of the French capital. The maternal grandfather of our subject, Gen. Peter H. Steenbergen, was of Holland-Dutch ancestry and was an early settler in the Ohio Valley on the Virginia side, his paternal ancestor leaving a high official position in Holland to make a new home in America. Although Grandfather Menager was a refugee and belonged to the French nobility, he became an industrious American citizen. He is thus spoken of by William G. Sibley, the author of the history of the five hundred French people, who composed this Gallipolis colony: "A high minded and honorable man was Claudius R. Menager, merchant, baker, and entertainer of travelers, whose industry coupled with that of his wife, whose name was Mary Bobin, to whom he was married a month after the colony arrived, made him the richest man in the town and one of the most respected. The tenor of his life was even." His children were: Peter, Edward, Roman, Louis B., and a daughter, Mary Gabriella, who became the wife of Gen. Louis Newsom. In religious belief they were Roman Catholics, but all of their descendants are of the Protestant faith, mostly Presbyterians. Louis B. Menager, father of our subject, was educated at Athens (Ohio) University and was engaged in commercial and agricultural pursuits through life. He took a prominent part in political movements and was identified with the Whig party, lending his voice and influence in support of its doctrines. He was firm in his denunciation of secession. Though not a lawyer, Louis B. Menager was an eloquent speaker and a great debater. His speech against the Virginia Ordinance of Secession made at the Court House at Point Pleasant, Mason County, in opposition to such distinguished lawyers as Henry I. Fisher and others is still remembered and carried the people of that county with him. Mr. Menager died in June, 1870, leaving three children as the fruits of his union with Cornelia Steenbergen, namely: Ida, wife of Dr. L. F. Campbell; James B. and Julius L. He also left a daughter by a former marriage, — Maria M., who is the wife of Rev. George T. Lyle, a Presbyterian divine. James B. Menager was educated in private schools and at Bethany College, and also attended Washington and Lee University during the last year that Gen. Robert E. Lee was its president. Following this, he taught school one year and then began the reading of the law with Hon. C. P. T. Moore, who was judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals, and on the 25th day of February, 1872, he was admitted to the bar in West Virginia. Until March, 1903, he practiced his profession at Point Pleasant, Mason County, and then removed to Charleston where he has many legal friends and interests, being attracted to the Capitol City by its growing prosperity and prospects for future greatness. Mr. Menager has been a general practitioner of the law and is regarded as a most able practitioner, as well as a clear, forcible and eloquent speaker. In 1880 he was elected prosecuting attorney of his native county and served for four years with distinction to himself and honor to his county. He was a presidential elector on the Republican ticket of West Virginia in 1880, receiving the largest vote cast for the electors on the Garfield and Arthur ticket in West Virginia that year. Since the administration of the late President Harrison, Mr. Menager has been active in the Democratic party. His change of political association was not so much a change of political belief as merely one of association. Mr. Menager, who was a firm believer in the "quantitative theory of money" and with others sought to accomplish that end by the free coinage of silver, recognizes now, however, that practically the same results have been reached by the present method of enlarging the volume of our currency. On June 14, 1886, Mr. Menager married Fannie Sehon Pomeroy, who was born at Pomeroy, Ohio, a village founded by and named after her paternal grandfather. Mrs. Menager died on Tuesday, September 30, 1902; her death occurred so close to the hour of midnight that there was a conflict of opinions as to whether she died September 30th or October 1st. She left four children, Charles L., Sibyl C., Frances P. and Louis B. His wife was a lineal descendant, through her maternal ancestors, of Col. Charles Lewis, who was killed in the battle of Point Pleasant, Virginia, October 10, 1774. In fraternal life, Mr. Menager is prominent as a member of the Masons, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows and Elks. ------------------------------------------------------------------- From Death Certificate, Kanawha County, WV #15014 FULL-NAME: James Bobin Menager BIRTH-DATE: October 23, 1850 BIRTH-PLACE: Mason County, W.Va. DEATH-DATE: November 19, 1931 (at age 81y-0m-26d) DEATH-PLACE: Bedfors Appts #1, McFarland St., Charleston, WV MARITAL-STATUS: Widower (Fannie Sehon Pomeroy) OCCUPATION: Attorney FATHER: Lewis Menager (born in Mason County, W.Va.) MOTHER: Don't know CAUSE-OF-DEATH: Tuberculosis / Myocarditis INFORMANT: Charles L. Menager (of Charleston, W.Va.) BURIAL: Pt. Pleasant, W.Va. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Kanawha County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/kanawha/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------