ROBERT M. FRENCH has earned real distinction in the financial life of
Raleigh County. Throughout his active
manhood he has been in the service of the oldest bank of the county,
the Bank of Raleigh, and is now cashier of
that institution, which ranks among the strongest banks in this section
of the state.
Mr. French was born at Logan, West Virginia, December 17. 1888, son of Millard F. and Ellen (Wilburn) French, both natives of Virginia. His ancestors were soldiers in the Revolution, and his grandfather was Henderson French, a farmer and blacksmith. Millard F. French was a physician, and practiced a number of years at Logan and later at Beckley, where he died in 1908. He was an elder in the Christian Church and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The mother is still living at Beckley.
Robert M. French as a boy attended the common schools at Logan, graduated in 1907 from the State Normal School at Athens, and also spent two years in West Virginia University at Morgantown. About the close of his university career Mr. French entered the Bank of Raleigh as bookkeeper. Two years later he was advanced to assistant cashier, a post he held six years, and since then has been cashier, and for eight years has been one of the bank directors. The Bank of Raleigh was established in 1899, and its stockholders and directors have included many of the most substantial men of Raleigh County. During the World war Mr. French was connected with all the bond drives in Raleigh County.
At Athens, West Virginia, in 1912, he married Hattie L. Vermillion,
daughter of S. I. and Rhoda (Bird) Vermil-
lion, natives of West Virginia. Her mother is now deceased. Her father
is a surviving Confederate veteran who
served with the Virginia Regiment of Cavalry, and among other battles
was at Gettysburg. He followed farming as his active vocation. Mr. and
Mrs. French have two children, Robert M., Jr., and Elizabeth Ann. The family
are members of the Christian Church, and he is a Royal Arch Mason, a Knight
of Pythias and a member of the Rotary Club.
Submitted by Valerie Crook <vfcrook@earthlink.net>
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