Lewis County, West Virginia Biography of JAMES C. FORINASH 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.org/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 611 Lewis JAMES C. FORINASH. His many friends and associates at Weston have for years known of and spoken of James C. Forinash as a prosperous business man, and comparatively few are aware of the early struggles and vicissitudes he went through in his determined efforts to earn a substantial suc- cess and make a name and reputation.. Mr. Forinash was born near Weston March 4, 1857, son of Jonas C. and Elizabeth Ann (Stanley) Forinash. His father was born in Lewis County, February 28, 1829, and his mother was born February 28, 1828, in the same county, on Stanley's Run, one and one-half miles south of Jane Lew, where her grandfather, John Stanley, had settled. He was born in England in 1736, and died in 1822. His wife, Nancy Gibbons, was born in England in 1749 and died in 1837, and both were buried in the home graveyard on Stan- ley's Run. Nancy Gibbons was shipped to America pre- sumably to get a fortune left to her, but her stepfather had received it and had sold her to pay for her transporta- tion. John Stanley, met Nancy Gibbons at Red Stone, Pennsylvania, and here they were married. Jacob Stanley, the father of Mrs. Elizabeth Forinash, was born at Red Stone. John Stanley owned all the land from Fisher Summit to Jane Lew, from hill top to hill top on Stanley's Run. The following children were born on the home farm on Stanley's Run to Jacob Stanley, namely, Ruth, Diadema, Matilda, Sarah, Margaret, John, Jonathan, Maxwell, Mary, Elizabeth Ann and Ruby. Jonas C. Forinash and Elizabeth Ann Stanley were mar- ried July 22, 1847, by Rev. John Hardman. Jonas Forinash did farm work for a number of years, and in 1862 moved to Weston, where he worked at various things. He was always industrious, but not an accumulator, and died comparatively poor on February 28, 1877. In politics he was a whig and later a republican. The mother was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and survived her husband forty years, passing away February 6, 1917. James C. Forinash contributed in many ways to the comfort of his aging mother. There were six children in the family, and the three now living are: James C.; Anna, wife of John Lake, living at Three Rivers, Michigan; and P. C. Forinash, of Elkhart, Indiana. James C. Forinash when ten years of age went to live with an uncle for two years, and then for two years worked on a farm at five dollars a month. These circumstances did not favor regular attendance at school, but as boy and man he has always made the best of his opportunities. When he came to Weston Mr. Forinash was employed in the brick yard making the brick for the construction of the Central Building of the Insane Asylum. From the brick yard he went into a planing mill, and after considerable experience there the company sent him out to supervise the building of houses, a work he followed four years. His next em- ployment was in the McBride furniture business, where he learned the art of making furniture according to the hand made methods of that day. He spent seven years with this plant, learning the furniture trade and business and also undertaking. When he left the McBride firm Mr. Forinash entered business for himself under the firm name of J. C. Forinash & Company. That was in 1883. His partner and financial backer was Samuel A. Steele. Mr. Steele died December 23, 1917, and in his will he bequeathed all his personal and real property to Mr. Forinash, including the building where the Forinash furniture store is. Besides being head of this prosperous furniture business and undertaking establish- ment Mr. Forinash owns an eighth of the stock in the No Leak Paper Dish Company of Wheeling, a corporation capi- talized at a hundred thousand dollars, all paid in. June 6, 1882, Mr. Forinash married Lizzie Ridgeway. Three children were born to their marriage, but the only one now living is Minnie, a graduate of Mount de Chantal Academy of Wheeling and now the widow of Dr. H. S. Hefner, a dentist at Weston. Dr. Hefner died June 11, 1922. The family are members of the Methodist Church. Mr. Forinash is affiliated with Weston Lodge Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is a past noble grand. He is a republican.