U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Stemple Family --------------------------------------------------------------------- A History of Preston County West Virginia Biographical Department, Supplied by J. R. Cole Kingwood, W. Va., The Journal Publishing Company, 1914 by H. S. Whetsell Pages 781-783, THE STEMPLE FAMILY. In 1783, a grant from the government was made to Godfrey Stemple of a tract of land of about 1,000 acres, near Aurora, the homestead being where Lewis Stemple now lives. Henry Lee was Governor of the State at that time, and the grant was No. 421. In 1784, Mr. Godfree Stemple, as the name was spelled, settled here with his family from Frederick, Maryland, then a wilderness full of wild beasts and heavy timber. His three sons, David, Martin and John, aided in clearing the land and erecting a house, the first dwelling place being nothing but a canvas tent, and that was their habitation from the time of their arrival in the winter month of December until the log structure was put up. John Stemple married Sarah Boyles, and died about 1830 or 1832. Their children were: Margaret, Isaac, David, Susan, Christina, Sarah and Elizabeth. David was born in 1808, and died June, 1898. He married Susanna Lantz, November 17, 1835. She was born May 16, 1811, and died April, 1903. They rebuilt the old house in 1868, now occupied by Roy Lantz, who married the great-great-granddaughter of Godfrey Stemple. The children of David and Susanna Stemple were as follows: (1) Harriet, born in 1837, died in 1863. (2) John H., born in 1839, died in December, 1904. In 1869 he married Rebecca Ann Shaffer, and they had five children: (a) Horace L., who married Retta Wilt; they and their three children, Freda, John and Edna, live on a farm which is a part of the original tract; (b) Edgar C., married Laura Hess; they have two children, Marion and Lewis, and live in Fairmont, West Virginia; Mr. Stemple is a merchant; (c) George R., married Cora Anderson, who died in May, 1913; they have two children, Godfrey and Virginia; the little boy thus far being the only child named after the founder of the family; Dr. Stemple is educated for a physician, but because of ill health is now retired and is the very efficient postmaster of Aurora; (d) Jesse L., married Jeckie Mason, and their two children are Clinton and Josephine; Mr. Stemple is a successful merchant in Aurora; (e) Ora is the youngest child, and she and her mother live on the farm on which her father spent most of his life; it was a part of the Stemple tract. (3) Tenie was born in 1841. She is unmarried and lives with her brother, Lewis. (4) Lewis S. Stemple was born March 6, 1844, and reared on a farm. He was married December 25, 1878, to Mollie E. McCrum. She was born January 20, 1852, died December 22, 1881. The children born to this union were: (a) Daisy; (ab) Chester David, died June 2, 1884; Daisy is now the wife of W. R. Gorby of Oklahoma City; Mr. Stemple's residence where he now resides is where he moved soon after his marriage. (5) Eva Stemple was born in 1846. She was married to David Schrock, December 25, 1878, and lives on a farm near Eglon, West Virginia. They had six children, one dying in infancy; (b) Ernest, married Mayme Legge; they have three children, Margaret, Ernestine and Rosaline; Mr. Schrock has a farm south of Aurora; (c) Maude, married to Ray Lantz, and now living in the house where her mother was born; their children are Mabel and David; (d) Page, and (e) Scott, are unmarried, and both are teachers; (f) George, married Nellie Winters; they have one child, Virginia, and live on their farm near Eglon. (6) Jacob Stemple was born in 1849. In 1876, he married Lydia Simon of Youngstown, Ohio. She died in 1891. To them was born one child, Sylvia, now married to A. Camden Wilt, a carpenter of Aurora. They have one child, Margaret. (7) David Conrad Stemple was born July 9, 1851. On September 26, 1880, he was married to Ida Trotter, born May 26, 1856, daughter of James and Elizabeth Stock Trotter, who are the parents of four sons and two daughters: Milo H. is identified with the Land Department at Washington, D. C.; Charles F. is chief clerk to the First Assistant Postmaster General; Frank B., the third son, is Dean of the Arts and Sciences and Professor of Latin in the State University at Morgantown; James R. is Professor of Law in that same institution, and Miss Jessie Trotter, the youngest of the family, formerly a teacher in the West Virginia Wesleyan College at Buckhannon, is now one of the teachers in the Morgantown High School. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. D. C. Stemple are as follows: — (1) Forrest W.; (2) Rodney M.; (3) Grover Dayton; (4) Mary Elizabeth. Forrest W. took the degree of A. B. from the Morgantown State University in 1908, and is now completing the course of Master of Arts in the Agricultural College at Madison, Wisconsin. June 12, 1909, he married Miss Grace Townsend, daughter of a minister of the M. E. Church at Huntington, West Virginia. Rodney took the degree of B.S., from the University at Morgantown in 1910. He became a traveling salesman for Heinz Pickle Company for a time, and is now superintendent of the Coldwater Packing Company of Coldwater, Michigan. June 19, 1913, he married Miss Florence Warden, of Babylon, New York. Dayton died in childhood. Mary Elizabeth Stemple is completing a course in Domestic Science at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg. The old Stemple homestead where D. C. Stemple lives is a valuable tract of land, consisting of 226 acres. He deals largely in cattle. Occasionally Mr. Stemple is nominated for some public office, but he cares little for politics. --------------------------------------------------------------------- (wife of David C. Stemple) From Death Certificate, Jefferson County, WV #6778 FULL-NAME: Ida Trotter Stemple BIRTH-DATE: May 26, 1856 BIRTH-PLACE: Ohio DEATH-DATE: May 19, 1935 DEATH-PLACE: Sheperdstown, Jefferson County, WV MARITAL-STATUS: Widowed OCCUPATION: Housewife FATHER: James Trotter (born in Penna.) MOTHER: Eliz. Stock (born in Ohio) CAUSE-OF-DEATH: Pernicious anemia / Myocarditis / Heart Block INFORMANT: Mr. Trotter BURIAL: Aurora There are tombstones in Aurora Cemetery, Aurora, Preston County, WV David Conrad Stemple (1851-1923) Ida Trotter Stemple (1856-1935) --------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Preston County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/preston/bios.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------