PoliticalGraveyard.com

Lutheran Politicians in West Virginia

George F. Beneke (1914-2001) — of Wheeling, Ohio County, W.Va. Born in Wheeling, Ohio County, W.Va., January 9, 1914. Republican. Lawyer; served in the U.S. Navy during World War II; member of West Virginia state house of delegates from Ohio County, 1947-56, 1967-68, 1971-74; defeated, 1940; resigned 1974; chair of Ohio County Republican Party, 1961-63. Lutheran. Member, Freemasons; Shriners; Jesters; Elks; Moose; Lambda Chi Alpha; Phi Delta Phi; American Bar Association; American Legion. Died September 11, 2001 (age 87 years, 245 days). Interment at Greenwood Cemetery, Wheeling, W.Va.   Relatives: Son of George C. Beneke and Nada C. (Peterson) Beneke; married, April 1, 1947, to Sarah E. Emblen.   See also Find-A-Grave memorial   Image source: West Virginia Blue Book 1951 Frederick George Louis Beuhring (1791-1859) — also known as Frederick G. L. Beuhring; F. G. L. Beuhring; Frederik Georg Ludwig Bürhing — of Cabell County, Va. (now W.Va.). Born in Scharmbeck, Germany, March 31, 1791. Served in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812; member of Virginia state house of delegates, 1822-23, 1829-30, 1835-36, 1844. Lutheran. German ancestry. Died, of consumption (tuberculosis), in Guayandotte, Va (now Guyandotte, Cabell County, W.Va.), June 27, 1859 (age 68 years, 88 days). Interment at Spring Hill Cemetery, Huntington, W.Va.   Relatives: Son of Johann Rudolph Heinrich Bühring and Anne Christine (Bötjer) Bühring; married, May 11, 1820, to Frances Eleanora Dannenberg; great-grandfather of Raymond Lee Beuhring.   Political family: Kellogg-Adams-Seymour-Chapin family of Connecticut and New York (subset of the Four Thousand Related Politicians).   Image source: Huntington Through Seventy-Five Years (1947) Bill Cole (b. 1956) — of Bluefield, Mercer County, W.Va. Born in Boston, Suffolk County, Mass., May 16, 1956. Republican. Automobile dealer; member of West Virginia state house of delegates, 2010; appointed 2010; member of West Virginia state senate 6th District, 2013-. Lutheran. Member, National Rifle Association. Still living as of 2014.   Relatives: Son of William Paul Cole, Jr. and Carol (McHugh) Cole; married to Brownie Elizabeth Deemer.   Image source: West Virginia Legislature Spencer K. Creel (b. 1896) — of Parkersburg, Wood County, W.Va. Born in Freeport, Wirt County, W.Va., April 27, 1896. Republican. Served in the U.S. Army during World War I; engineer; member of West Virginia state house of delegates from Wood County, 1939-40, 1943-64, 1967-70; defeated, 1934, 1940, 1964; resigned 1970; West Virginia Republican state chair, 1952-54. Lutheran. Member, Freemasons; Royal Arch Masons; Knights Templar; Shriners; American Legion; Forty and Eight; Farm Bureau. Interment at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Parkersburg, W.Va.   Relatives: Son of John A. Creel and Isabella (Foutty) Creel; married, November 28, 1918, to Bertha Gillman.   Image source: West Virginia Blue Book 1951 Fred L. Doringer (b. 1889) — also known as Joe Doringer — of Fairmont, Marion County, W.Va. Born in Boston, Suffolk County, Mass., October 19, 1889. Democrat. Auditor; talent scout for Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team; studio director, Radio Station WMMN, Fairmont; member of West Virginia state house of delegates from Marion County, 1933-38, 1943-52. Lutheran. Member, Elks; Moose. Burial location unknown.   Relatives: Son of Phillip Doringer and Phillipine Doringer; married, March 11, 1922, to Cora L. Morris.   Image source: West Virginia Blue Book 1951   William Lee Gilligan (b. 1924) — also known as William L. Gilligan — of Sistersville, Tyler County, W.Va. Born in Ohio County, W.Va., August 17, 1924. Republican. Served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II; member of West Virginia Republican State Executive Committee, 1967; chair of Tyler County Republican Party, 1969-73; member of West Virginia state senate 2nd District, 1971-82; appointed 1971. Lutheran. Member, Freemasons; Scottish Rite Masons; Shriners; Order of the Eastern Star; Lions; Elks; Moose; American Legion; Veterans of Foreign Wars. Presumed deceased. Burial location unknown.   Relatives: Son of J. Joseph Gilligan and Emma (Eichenberg) Gilligan; married to Ruth Boggs.   C. C. Heishman (b. 1884) — of Wardensville, Hardy County, W.Va. Born in Perry, Hardy County, W.Va., November 23, 1884. Democrat. Lumber business; farmer; oil and gas distributor; member of West Virginia state house of delegates from Hardy County, 1939-42. Lutheran. Burial location unknown.   Relatives: Son of Noah Heishman and Virginia (Heishman) Heishman; married, June 6, 1908, to Lottie E. Hishman.   Karl Moore Jones (b. 1908) — also known as Karl M. Jones — of Marshall County, W.Va. Born in Glen Roy, Jackson County, Ohio, May 13, 1908. Democrat. Steelworker; member of West Virginia state house of delegates from Marshall County, 1949-50; defeated, 1950, 1952. Lutheran. Member, Eagles; United Steelworkers of America. Burial location unknown.   Relatives: Son of Henry Charles Jones and Minnie Camellia (Moore) Jones.   Cornelius Franklin Millender — also known as C. Frank Millender — of Wayne, Wayne County, W.Va. Born in Trenton, Baltimore County, Md. Democrat. Member of West Virginia state house of delegates from Wayne County, 1899-1902; automobile dealer; member of West Virginia state senate, 1933-40 (6th District 1933-38, 5th District 1939-40). Lutheran. Member, Freemasons; Shriners. Burial location unknown.   Relatives: Son of John H. Millender and Elizabeth Millender; married, November 12, 1888, to Irene Fowbie.   Thomas P. Snelson (b. 1920) — of Huttonsville, Randolph County, W.Va. Born in Huttonsville, Randolph County, W.Va., January 19, 1920. Democrat. Served in the U.S. Army during World War II; member of West Virginia state house of delegates from Randolph County, 1947-50. Lutheran. Member, Freemasons; Elks; American Legion; Veterans of Foreign Wars; Amvets; Kiwanis. Presumed deceased. Burial location unknown. John Ronald Unger II (b. 1969) — also known as John Unger — of Martinsburg, Berkeley County, W.Va. Born in Martinsburg, Berkeley County, W.Va., January 24, 1969. Democrat. Rhodes scholar; member of West Virginia state senate 16th District, 1999-. Lutheran. Member, Phi Beta Kappa; Habitat for Humanity; Rotary; Farm Bureau. Still living as of 2014.   Image source: West Virginia Legislature William Merle Watkins (b. 1881) — also known as W. Merle Watkins — of Grafton, Taylor County, W.Va. Born in Grafton, Taylor County, W.Va., December 21, 1881. Republican. Lawyer; mayor of Grafton, W.Va., 1914; Taylor County Prosecuting Attorney; member of West Virginia state senate 11th District, 1929-32; circuit judge in West Virginia for the 19th Judicial Circuit; elected 1946. Lutheran. Member, Freemasons; Knights Templar; Shriners; Elks. Burial location unknown.   Relatives: Son of William Watkins and Grace Marie (Deppen) Watkins; married, October 1, 1924, to Elsie Wheeler Thayer.   Image source: West Virginia Blue Book 1929

"Enjoy the hospitable entertainment of a political graveyard." Henry L. Clinton, Apollo Hall, New York City, February 3, 1872

The Political Graveyard is a web site about U.S. political history and cemeteries. Founded in 1996, it is the Internet's most comprehensive free source for American political biography, listing 320,919 politicians, living and dead.
	The coverage of this site includes (1) the President, Vice President, members of Congress, elected state and territorial officeholders in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories; and the chief elected official, typically the mayor, of qualifying municipalities; (2) candidates at election, including primaries, for any of the above; (3) all federal judges and all state appellate judges; (4) certain federal officials, including the federal cabinet, diplomatic chiefs of mission, consuls, U.S. district attorneys, collectors of customs and internal revenue, members of major federal commissions; and political appointee (pre-1969) postmasters of qualifying communities; (5) state and national political party officials, including delegates, alternate delegates, and other participants in national party nominating conventions; (6) Americans who served as "honorary" consuls for other nations before 1950. Note: municipalities or communities "qualify", for Political Graveyard purposes, if they have at least half a million person-years of history, inclusive of predecessor, successor, and merged entities.
	The listings are incomplete; development of the database is a continually ongoing project.
	Information on this page — and on all other pages of this site — is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed. Users are advised to check with other sources before relying on any information here.
	The official URL for this page is: https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/WV/lutheran.html.
	Links to this or any other Political Graveyard page are welcome, but specific page addresses may sometimes change as the site develops.
	If you are searching for a specific named individual, try the alphabetical index of politicians.
Copyright notices: (1) Facts are not subject to copyright; see Feist v. Rural Telephone. (2) Politician portraits displayed on this site are 70-pixel-wide monochrome thumbnail images, which I believe to constitute fair use under applicable copyright law. Where possible, each image is linked to its online source. However, requests from owners of copyrighted images to delete them from this site are honored. (3) Original material, programming, selection and arrangement are © 1996-2023 Lawrence Kestenbaum. (4) This work is also licensed for free non-commercial re-use, with attribution, under a Creative Commons License.
Site information: The Political Graveyard is created and maintained by Lawrence Kestenbaum, who is solely responsible for its structure and content. — The mailing address is The Political Graveyard, P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106. — This site is hosted by HDL. — The Political Graveyard opened on July 1, 1996; the last full revision was done on March 8, 2023.