Berkeley County, West Virginia Biography of J. ROY NADENBOUSCH This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 396-397 J. ROY NADENBOUSCH. Some of Berkeley County's most useful citizens in the past century or more have borne the family name Nadenbousch. Their service has been rendered as tillers of the soil, business men, public officials and in several of the professions, particularly the law. Roy Na- denbousch is in the insurance business at Martinsburg, and his father, John Nadenbousch, has for many years been one of the bankers of the city. One of the first members of this old family in Berkeley County was Frederick Nadenbousch, who was born October 14, 1778, arid died June 20, 1854. On April 6, 1815, he married Eleanor Collins, who was born May 4, 1792, and died May 17, 1871. Their son, Moses Nadenbousch, was born at Hedgesville in Berkeley County April 5, 1827, and as a youth learned the trade of wagon maker and car- penter. From Hedgesville he removed to Martinsburg, and for many years was a successful building contractor in that city, where he died at the age of seventy-two. He married Margaret Ann Wood Harris, who was born July 20, 1833, and died at the age of sixty-two. Their seven children were named: Moses Preston, William Henry, John Thomas, Adrian Collins, Lucy May, Cora Belle and Robert Lee. John T. Nadenbousch was born in Martinsburg, attended the public schools there and the J. P. Hynes Seminary, and at the age of sixteen was appointed deputy sheriff by his father, filling that office six years. He was then an em- ploye of the Adams Express Company until 1894. In 1892 the Merchants and Farmers Bank had begun business as the First State Bank in Martinsburg, and John Naden- bouseh joined it as assistant cashier in 1894. For some time le and the cashier did all the clerical work required in the bank. In 1895 he was elected cashier, and has continued to fill that post for over a quarter of a century. This bank was reorganized in November, 1916, with a stock dividend of 100 per cent. It has a capital of $100,000, surplus and undivided profits of over $30,000, and deposits for a number of years have aggregated over $1,000,000. John T. Naden- bonscli has been one of the direct instruments in the up- building of this splendid bank. He is a man of prosperous connections in Berkeley County, owns two farms in Arden District, and is a member of Equality Lodge No. 44, F. and A. M. He and his wife are both active in the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South. At the age of twenty-six he married Laura E. Goff, a native of Hedgesville and daugh- ter of James and Mahala (Miller) Goff. J. Roy Nadenbousch, the only child of his parents, was horn at Martinsburg and acquired a public school educa- tion there. Soon after leaving school he became an insur- ance solicitor, and his work has been continued along these lines. In 1911 he purchased a half interest in the Frank J. Trammell Insurance Company, an old established agency at Martinsburg, and later purchased the remaining interest. He has developed a very prosperous general service in all the important branches of insurance. He also has some general farming and orchard interests, being especially in- terested in horticulture. At the age of twenty-one he married Eva E. Gerling, a native of Martinsburg, West Virginia, and daughter of Lonia Gerling. Mr. and Mrs. Nadenbousch have one son, John Louis. Mr. Nadenbousch is affiliated with Equality Lodge No. 44, A. F. and A. M., Washington Lodge No. 1, Knights of Pythias, and Lodge No. 778, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. Politically he is a democrat, casting his first presidential vote for William J. Bryan.