History of the American Negro: West Virginia Edition

Robert T. G. Warren

248 history american negro His work as a teacher began in 1902 at Pulaski,Va.,where he taught for two years. For eighteen years he has taught at Mayberry in McDowell County, W. Va., and is known as a capable, progressive teacher. His first regular pastorate was at Max Meadows, Va., where he preached for two years and erected a new house of worship. Coming to West Virginia he served the church at Wilcoe four years and built a new house. He served Ebenezer at Algoma in McDowell County eleven years and rebuilt the church. He accepted the call of the Mercy Seat Baptist Church at Powhatan, preached there seven years and repaired the church. He is now preaching at Mt. Chapel Keystone, where he has built a new church edifice, and is now also in his fourth year at Upland, where he has repaired the church. Mr. Watkins has had a fruitful ministry . His methods are not sensational, but he gets results and pleases his people by an intelligent ministry both in the pulpit and out. Though not active in politics, he is a Republican. He belongs to the York Rite Masons, the Odd Fellows, the St. Lukes and the Golden Rule. He is Statistical Secretary of the Flat Top Baptist Association and Vice President of the State Convention. He is of the opinion that all our problems can be solved by the intelligent, practical application of Christianity. On September 2, 1906, he married Miss Martha F. Stewart of Covington , Va. Mrs. Watkins was educated at Bluefield Institute and was before her marriage a teacher. They have a fine family of five children. Their names are, Beatrice B., Virginius, Martha F., Esther S. M., and Lee Anderson Watkins. Robert T. G. Warren One of the strong self-reliant young professional men of West Virginia is Dr. Robert Taylor Gleaves Warren of Williamson. He is a native of Tazewell County, Va., having been born at Tazewell C. H. on February 14, 1888. His father, H. G. Warren was a barber and was the son of west virginia edition 249 Johnson Warren, who was a descendant of Gen. Warren, killed at the battle of Bunker Hill. Johnson Warren was a soldier in the Civil War and was by trade a tanner. He married Cynthia Warren. The mother of our subject was, before her marriage Miss Sallie Florence Holly. She was the daughter of Ezekiel Holly, who married Ann George. From her father she inherited a strain of both white and Indian blood. Growing up in Tazewell County, young Warren attended the public school at Graham,Va.After that he spent three years at the Bluefield Colored Institute and then in 1908 finished his course at the Morristown Normal and Industrial School. After completing his literary work, he took up pharmacy at the Meharry School of Pharmacy of Nashville, from which he was graduated in 1911. He must have made an enviable record in that department for when he began his medical course, he was made a teacher in the School of Pharmacy and taught there during the four years of his medical course, which he completed with the M.D. degree in 1915. In working out the expenses of his education, Dr.Warren began on the railroad and later got into hotel work.After beginning his course in pharmacy he was able to secure employment in drug stores during vacations . On completion of his course at Meharry in 1915, he began the practice at Giatto, W. Va., where he remained for 18 months. He then went to the more populous and promising field at Williamson, where he has since resided, and where an excellent practice has been built up. On Christmas Day, 1915, Dr.Warren married Miss Rosa B. Jordan, daughter of Malinda Jordan. She was educated at Bluefield and was engaged in teaching before her marriage. They have three children, Rosalie M., Robt. G., Jr., and Joe W. Warren. Dr.Warren early in life developed a disposition not to be surpassed by his associates, and a desire to master his situation whatever that might be. He has found inspiration in the lives of men like Booker T. Washington, Roosevelt, and others. He is a student of the literature of the race. In politics he is a Republican and is chairman of the local political organizations. He belongs to the A. M. E. church in which he hattie alexander...