|
Monongalia Co WV
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II
pg 97 + 98
Lynn Hastings. Probably there is no profession that demands so much tact,
judgment, patience, specialized knowledge and natural executive ability as
that of the educator and the individual who enters into this important field,
selecting it as his calling, must be prepared to make many personal sacrifices, to endure numerous disappointments, to often spend himself for
others without apparent return, and to give the best years of his life without receiving the emoluments that equal effort would surely bring in any
other profession. It is a vocation for which there are no weights and measures. The material with which it deals is rather that life material upon
which impressions are eternal and afford the man who would serve the race an
opportunity than which there are none greater. One who has dedicated his
life to the work of the educator and who has achieved an honored place in his
vocation and in the confidence of the public is Lynn Hastings, of Morgantown,
superintendent of the free schools of Monongalia County.
Mr. Hastings, the great-grandfather of Lynn, who settled at Cheat Neck in
Union District during pioneer days. He married a McGill and their son, Isaac, was born in the Cheat Neck community and married Elvira Victor. At
the time of the war with Mexico he was serving as a captain of Virginia militia and was sworn into the Government service, but did not get to the
front. During the war between the states he assisted in raising a company of
West Virginia infantry and was commissioned first lieutenant thereof. He was
a charter member of the Cheat Neck Methodist Protestant Church.
George B. Hastings, son of Isaac and father of Lynn Hastings, was born at
Cheat Neck, February 3, 1856, and died June 20, 1911. In early life he assisted his father in the operation of the ferry over Cheat River, at Cheat
Neck, and subsequently learned the trade of woodworker, which he followed for
years, in addition thereto farming to some extent. He married Margaret Elizabeth Jenkins, who was born April 22, 1857, in the same neighborhood as
was her husband, and survives him as a resident of Morgantown.
The first of the Jenkins family of record in Monongalia County was
Bartholomew Jenkins, the grandfather of Mrs. Hastings, who was one of three
brothers to come to America from Scotland, two of whom settled in other states. Bartholomew Jenkins settled at Cheat Neck in early days and married
Nancy Baker, daughter of George Baker, the Monongalia County pioneer of the
Baker family. George Jenkins, son of Bartholomew and Nancy Jenkins, was born
at Cheat Neck and married Sophia Beatty, daughter of Robert and Nancy (Conn)
Beatty. Robert Beatty was born at Cheat Neck, the son of Irish-born parents
who were early settlers in Monongalia County. His wife was a daughter of
James and Sophia Conn.
The children born to George B. and Margaret E. Hastings were as follows:
Lynn, of this notice; Charles B., born March 20, 1889, a resident of Morgantown, married Rose, daughter of Charles Hetrick, who came from
Pennsylvania, and they have one son, Earl; Isaac N., born January 29, 1892, a
resident of Morgantown, married Beatrice Miller; Fanny Lou, born December 20,
1896, who is unmarried and resides with her mother; and George D., born May
10, 1898, a resident of Morgantown, married Jeannette, daughter of J. F.
Smith.
Lynn Hastings was born at Cheat Neck, Union District, Monongalia County,
February 2, 1887, a son of George B. and Margaret E. (Jenkins) Hastings. He
secured all of his elementary education at the Wood Grove public school and
received his common school diploma in 1903. In 1905 he was granted a first-grade teacher's license, and in that year taught the Bush School in his
home locality. He was graduated from Fairmont Normal School in 1911, as
valedictorian of his class, which numbered about eighty graduates, and in the
same year became principal of the graded schools of Dingess, Mingo County,
West Virginia, holding that position also during a part of 1912. In 1912-13
he taught his home school; was principal of the high and graded schools of
Sabraton, Monongalia County, in 1913-14-15; and was principal of the Westover
schools of the Morgantown Independent School District from 1915 to January 8,
1916, when he resigned to accept the appointment of county superintendent of
schools to fill a vacancy, the appointment having been made by the presidents
of the various district boards of education in the county. In November,
1916, Mr. Hastings was elected to fill out the unexpired term, and at the
general election of 1918 was elected for the full term of four years, without
opposition in the primaries or general election. From the start Mr. Hastings
has labored earnestly in an effort to better conditions in every way and to
advance science of education and possessed of a natural instinct for child
psychology, he has made his school system a living, growing organism responsive to the best in the teacher and the pupil.
During the World war Mr. Hastings served as county food administrator and as
one of the "Four-Minute" speakers, and was active in all the drives and other
war work. Like his forefathers, he is a member of the Methodist Protestant
Church. As a fraternalist he holds membership in Morgantown Union Lodge No.
4, A. F. and A. M.; Chapter No. 30, R. A. M.; Monongalia Lodge No. 10, I. O.
O. F., of which he is a past noble grand; and Athens Lodge No. 36, K. of P.,
of which he is a past chancellor commander. He is a member of the West Virginia State Educational Association.
On August 16, 1915, Mr. Hastings married La Marian Mercer Mason, who was born
at Masonville, Grant County, West Virginia, November 27, 1889, daughter of
Samuel Alexander and Louisa (Baker) Mason, the father a native of Petersburg,
Grant County, and the mother of Lost River, Hardy County, this state. To Mr.
and Mrs. Hastings there have come three children: Lynn, Jr., born July 24,
1916; Grey, born January 22, 1918; and Lyle, born March 27, 1921 |
