Bio-Fawcett, ElishaArlington

Elisha Arlington Fawcett
(1880-1959)

Elisha Arlington Fawcett was born on Christmas Day 1877 or more likely in 1880 in or near Kingwood, Preston County, WV, the son of John Allen and Narcissus (Feather) Fawcett.

Elisha was married twice. His first bride was Elizabeth Armstrong ( ? - ? ). Nothing about her is known. This marriage is mentioned in the 1980 book, Genealogy of the Jacob and Mary (Connoly) Feather Family, by Edna (Davis) Rogers.

Senseless tragedy struck the family at Christmas 1900, when Elisha's brother Charles was shot and killed in a restaurant in Elkins, Randolph County, WV. The murderer, Thomas Vest, was apprehended but then escaped again. Elisha and his grieving father rushed to Elkins to investigate. The fate of Vest, the murderer, is unknown.

His second wife was Glenna Hyer (1899-1929), a native of Washington, Washington County, PA, and the daughter of Irving and Maud (Reger) Hyer. Glenna was two decades younger than her husband.

The Fawcetts had three children, Emily H. Fawcett, Harriet Fawcett and John A. Fawcett (born in 1923).

When the federal census was taken in 1920, the Fawcetts resided in Kingwood, where Elisha was a farmer, and Glenna a teacher in the public school.

Sometime between 1923 and 1929, the Fawcetts separated and divorced. Glenna continued in her profession as a teacher in Preston County.

Sadly, on Dec. 9, 1929, Glenna passed away at the age of 30, having suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis. The Preston County Journal noted that she had been a patient at Hopemont Sanitarium in Preston County "for about a month." After a funeral at the Methodist church in Kingwood, she was laid to rest in the Maplewood Cemetery, with pallbearers who were members of her high school class -- Melvin Snyder, Paul Liston, Howard Boylard and Hobart Spindler. Her grave mother today is marked with the word "Mother."

Peaceful Hopemont Sanitarium, in the rolling mountains of Preston County, where Glenna Fawcett died in 1929

Elisha passed away at the age of 79 at Nella's Rest Home in Elkins, WV on March 19, 1959. He was buried at the Maplewood Cemetery, in brother Bailey's grave plot.

Son John A. Fawcett (1923-1971) married Daisy Lee (?). They resided in Bruceton Mills, Preston County, and had five children -- Betty Fawcett, Rosemary Fawcett, Peggy Fawcett, Fred Fawcett and John Henry Fawcett. John was a veteran of the U.S. Army in World War II, serving as a private. He died at the age of 48 on on July 10, 1971, in the Clarksburg Veterans Hospital. He is buried in the Fawcett plot at Maplewood Cemetery, with his obituary printed in the Preston County Journal.