U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ort, George (1862-1926) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Men of West Virginia, Volume II Biographical Publishing Company George Richmond, Pres.: C. R. Arnold, Sec'y and Treas. Chicago, Illinois, 1903 Pages 674-676 GEORGE ORT, the leading merchant of Clendenin, Kanawha County, West Virginia, was born December 4, 1862, at Matamoras, Washington County, Ohio, and is a son of Conrad and Rosiana Ort, both of whom were born natives of Germany. Conrad Ort was born in 1820 in Hesse-Darmstadt and came to America at the age of 18 years. He lived at Pittsburg for six years and then located at Matamoras, Washington County, Ohio, where he engaged in a coopering business. The mother of our subject was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1828, and was 16 years old when she came to this country, locating at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1859 she married Conrad Ort and they moved to Matamoras, Ohio, and there their children were born, viz.: Lizzie, Rose, George and Annie. After they removed to Kanawha County, West Virginia, in 1873, Samuel Charles, Kate and Lillian were added to the family. Upon removing to Kanawha County, they settled in the German settlement which was then called Kendalia, but was later named Rosiana, in honor of our subject's mother, and there Conrad Ort bought a farm. It was situated fully two miles from any highway, 20 miles from any town and 25 miles from Charleston. The family endured all the privations of pioneer life in the wilds of West Virginia, while trying to make headway against unfortunate circumstances. In his own country Conrad Ort was fairly educated, while his wife had attended college. Thus it came about that our subject in boyhood had very poor educational opportunities. He later attended the Perkins & Hemple Mercantile College at St. Louis in 1890, and took a course in bookkeeping and business methods, having previously had a few months' instruction each year in the common schools. In 1892 he took a course at the Roland & Elliott, now the Capitol City, Commercial College, at Charleston. For eight years Mr. Ort then engaged very successfully in the lumber business at Charleston and through Kanawha County. In 1889 he spent six months in travel, making a tour through Mexico, Cuba, Central America and South America as far as Venezuela. Upon his return he embarked in the drug business with Wayne Beckwith, under the style of Ort & Beckwith, at Charleston, and conducted the same for six years. Having been brought up in the wilds of West Virginia, and having often had occasion to use the rifle, Mr. Ort very naturally retained his boyhood fondness for his gun and dogs and is never happier than when in the chase with the hounds on a hot trail. His fondness for country life led him to sell his Charleston interests that required his personal attention, and to move to Clendenin near good fishing and hunting grounds. In 1902 he purchased the mercantile business of W. L. Gwinn at Clendenin and has conducted the leading store there ever since. He has the finest residence in the place and is one of its largest capitalists. He owns large timber tracts and valuable coal lands and is the principal stockholder of the Ort Company, of Charleston, dealers in dry goods, notions and shoes, his partners being his brother and sister. In 1889 Mr. Ort married Olivia M. Swarr, who is a daughter of N. B. Swarr, Esq., of Charleston, West Virginia. Three children have been born to this marriage: Olivia Ruth, 10 years old; George Alvin, eight years old, and Margaret, a babe of eight months. In politics Mr. Ort is a Democrat. Fraternally he belongs to Kanawha Lodge, No. 20, A. F. & A. M., at Charleston; Glendale Lodge, No. 78, K. of P., at Charleston; the Dramatic Order of the Knights of Khorassan; Knights of the Golden Eagle and the Maccabees. ------------------------------------------------------------------- DEATH CERTIFICATE, Kanawha County WV, #1958 FULL-NAME: George Ort BIRTH-DATE: December 4, 1861 (death-year differs from bio & tombstone) BIRTH-PLACE: Ohio DEATH-DATE: February 28, 1926 AGE-AT-DEATH:67y-2m-24d DEATH-PLACE: 523 Maxwell St., Charleston, Kanawha County, WV USUAL-RESIDENCE: 523 Maxwell St., Charleston, Kanawha County, WV MARITAL-STATUS: Married (Oliva Martha Swaar) OCCUPATION: Merchant / Kanawha Cash Groceries FATHER: Conrad Ort (born in Germany) MOTHER: Stuck (born in Germany) CAUSE-OF-DEATH: Apoplexy from hemorrhage on right side of brain INFORMANT: Mrs Ruth Frazier (of Charleston, W.Va.) BURIAL: Sunset Memorial Park ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tombstones in Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery, South Charleston, Kanawha County, WV George Ort (1862-1928) "Father" Olivia M. Ort (1867-1960) "Mother" George A. Ort (1892-1936) Collison S. Ort (Nov 27, 1904 -- Sept 30, 1957) ------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------