POWHATAN, WV COAL MINING COMMMUNITY INDEX

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Powhatan is an unincorporated community in McDowell County, West Virginia, United States, located approximately one mile from Northfork. The community probably derived its name from the local Powhatan Coal Company. Wikipedia
POWHATAN STORY - BY : BUDDY FRENCH
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POWNATAN COAL & COKE COMPANY OWNER
COLONEL LAWRENCE EDWARD TERNEY SR.

Colonel Laurence Edward Tierney Sr.
POWHATAN , WV COAL COMPANY OWNER
COLONEL L. E. TIERNEY SR. - "FIND-A-GRAVE"
- Birth: 25 Jun 1862
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Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, USA
- Death; 22 Sep 1922 (aged 60)
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Powhatan, McDowell County, West Virginia, USA
- Burial: Monte Vista Park Cemetery
Bluefield, Mercer County, West Virginia
Colonel L.E. Tierney was one of the early coal operators of the county, who was a highly educated man, a mining engineer and banker. He was born in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania in 1860. He worked in the anthracite coal mines in his boyhood days, afterward taking a course at Villanova College in Delaware County, from which he was graduated in 1882 with the degree of bachelor of science. In 1883, he took a post-graduate course at Georgetown College, Washington, D.C. He came to Mercer county in 1886 as a mining engineer for the Flat Top Land Trust, and in 1889 became manager of the Powhatan Coal and Coke Company. He was afterward interested in the Powhatan, Lynchburg, Eureka, Elk Ridge and Keystone Coal and Coke companies. He was for many years leader of the Democratic party in Southern West Virginia, was a delegate to the national convention in 1896 and was on the staff of Governor McCorkle of West Virginia. He founded the Flat Top National Bank of Bluefield, and was its president until his death in 1922. He was married to Miss Nora Clark of Monroe county, West Virginia, and a son, Lawrence E. Tierney, Jr., is now president of the Flat Top National Bank and is treasurer of the Centennial Committee. Mrs. Tierney lives in Bluefield and takes an interest in public affairs.
(Article from "Princeton Observer," August 5, 1937, page 7.)

McDowell County - Colonel Tierney Dies at Home - September, 1922
Colonel Tierney Dies at Home in Powhatan
Prominent Coal Operator and Democratic Leader
Passed Away This Morning.
Bluefield, Sep't. 22--Colonel L. E. Tierney, prominent coal operator, died at his home at Powahatan
early this morning from a stroke of apolexy suffered last Wednesday. He was interested in a number
of the most valuable coal properties in the Pocahontas Field and was known as a Democratic leader
in the southern part of the state.
The death of Colonel Tierney will be greatly mourned in Charleston and in many sections of the state where he was known and admired. He easily ranked as one of West Virginia's best citizens, say those who knew him. He was a bulwark of strength to the Democratic Party of the state and while liberal with his donations and services whenever the political principles which he believed in were at issue, he seldom asked his party for any personal preferment. Two years ago he was an unsuccessful candidate for delegate at large to the Democratic national convention at San Francisco and this is said to be the only time his name has appeared on a party ticket. Colonel Tierney was a party man of the John T. McGraw type, and the latter was strongly entrenched in his affections and allegiance. Colonel Tierney, who gained his military title as an aide on the military staff of former Governor W. A. MacCorkle, was also one of West Virginia's wealthiest coal operators.
He maintained a winter home at Washington and spent the summers largely in Powhatan, McDowell County, where his coal interests were located. His brother John Tierney of Philadelphia, is another leading coal operator of West Virginia and was interested with his brother in many of his ventures. The widow and two sons of the immediate family survive. Mrs. Tierney, before her marriage, was Miss Nora Clark of Monroe County. Her brother, Dr. Luther N. Clark, treasurer of the Democratic state executive committee, lives at Kyle, a short distance from Powhatan. The two sons have been abroad and it is not known here today whether they had returned.
Charleston Daily Mail
September 22, 1922
Extracted and Submitted by June White

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