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History and Progress of the County of Marion, West Virginia
by George A. Dunnington, Publisher 1880

Pen Sketches of Prominent Citizens
ROBERT B. LOTT, ESQ.

In these days of political trickery and thirst for
office, it is a rare thing to see a man who, for almost
a score of years, has held one office and proved
satisfactory to his fellow citizens of all parties, and
against whom there was never a word uttered, but whose
praise is sounded by all men, he they friends or foes.
The subject of this sketch was such a man, Robert B,
Lott was born June 19, 1835, at Washington,
Pennsylvania, and when he was about three years of age
his parents removed to Fairmont (then Middletown) where
he passed nearly all the remainder of his life. Here he
received a common school education and always bore a
reputation for studious, sober and industrious habits.
This reputation, formed in his youth, clung to him
through life. When a young man he worked some as a
tanner, but finally gave that business up, and became
engaged as a grocer, which calling he followed until
elected clerk of the Circuit Court of Marion county in
1861, which office he continued to fill for several
terms in succession, and until a few months previous to
his death in 1879. During the latter part of the War of
the Rebellion he served in the Union army, leaving the
office in charge of a deputy, but after his discharge
in 1865, he again assumed control. Although of
Republican principles in his politics, he was very
popular throughout the county among citizens of all
parties, because of the excellence and faithfulness
with which he discharged the duties of his office.
During the last few years of his life he was afflicted
with hemorrhage of the lungs, and in the summer of
1878, in the hopes that it would benefit him, he
visited Colorado, the fame of whose health-giving
climate had reached him. This being the year for the
election of clerks, he was pressed to become a
candidate for re-election. He refused, however; giving
for his reasons, the poor state of his health. So
earnest was the request of his Repubican friends, (in
which they were joined by many Democrats) that he
finally, but reluctantly, consented to become a
candidate. He was in Colorado during the entire
campaign, and the fact of his absence and non-
participation in the canvass, together with the bad
state of his health (many feeling sure that he would
not live to fill the office should he be elected)
contributed largely towards his defeat, by the
Democratic nominee, Mr, Clarence L. Smith, who defeated
him by twenty-six votes, After the election, Mr.
Lott's health being somewhat improved by the western
climate, he deemed it prudent to take up his residence
there with his family until he should recover
sufficiently to again make Fairmont his home. He
accordingly returned for his family, and bidding his
many friends in the county adieu, he departed for
Greeley, Colorado, where on the fifth of March, 1879,
following, he died, his disease having made too much
headway for the climate to prove permanently
beneficial. His remains were brought to Fairmont, where
they were followed to the grave by an immense concourse
of friends, besides the masonic and military
organizations of the town. In speaking of his death,
the Fairmont West Virginian said among other things
"Having few faults and many, virtues; possessing a
character above reproach, and a name blemished by no
unworthy act, 'Bob' Lott goes down to the grave in
honor, his memory cherished by warm personal friends in
every quarter of Marion county, and throughout the
State."