Walter J. Flanagan – Biography

WALTER J. FLANAGAN, superintendent of the Standard Lime and Stone Company, has been a factor in the industrial life of Strasburg since 1910, and is one of the leading men of this city. He was born four and one-half miles up the Potomac River from Harper’s Ferry, at Flanagan’s Wharf, Jefferson County, West Virginia, July 13, 1880, a son of James Flanagan, whose father opened the stone quarry at Flanagan’s Wharf, and was killed by one of his employees just prior to the outbreak of war. He was of Irish ancestry, and may have been born in Ireland. His wife bore the maiden name of Fannie Griggs, and they had the following children: James, who is mentioned at length below, was the father of Walter J. Flanagan; Charles, who died when he was entering manhood; William, who died in young manhood; John G., who was for years interested in the stone business with his brother James at Flanagan’s Wharf; Alice, who married Charles A. Harper; Mary, who married John G. Lichleiter; Laura V., who married George W. Moore; and Fannie, who died unmarried.

James Flanagan was a farmer and quarry owner, and was at one time engaged in boating his stone from Flanagan’s Wharf to Georgetown, District of Columbia, down the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. After some years spent in the stone industry he located on his farm at Flanagan’s Wharf, and there died in 1916, when he was sixty-nine years old, having been born in 1847, in Jefferson County, West Virginia, when it was still a part of the State of Virginia.

James Flanagan married Ella Caton, a daughter of George W. and Margaret Caton, and she was born near Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and died in 1899, near Flanagan’s Wharf, now Bakerton, West Virginia. The following children born to James Flanagan and his wife: Martha L., who married James Myers, of Shepherdstown, West Virginia; Annie F., who married R. W. Moore, is deceased and so is her husband; Maggie, who married Thomas B. Welch, of Bakerton, West Virginia; Essie, who married William Bowman, of Bakerton; Charles William, who resides at Bakerton, married Florence Knode; Walter J., whose name heads this review; James Albert, who married Delia Powell, and resides at Bakerton; John J., who married Ruth Moler, resides at Baltimore, Maryland; and Oscar Strother, unmarried, and resides at Bakerton.

Growing up on his father’s farm, Walter J. Flanagan helped his father, and attended the Oak Grove district school. As he grew older he began working in his father’s quarry, and when he was eighteen years old he entered the employ of his present company and worked as a laborer with pick and shovel in the quarry at Bakerton. He remained there until October, 1910, rising to be assistant superintendent. At that time he was made superintendent of the company’s plant at Strasburg, which was built in 1909, and began production in April of the following year, so that Mr. Flanagan has been its superintendent almost from the beginning. This plant has a capacity of 120 tons of commercial lime per day. Brought up by careful parents in a religious atmosphere, Mr. Flanagan early united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and when he left his native village he was assistant superintendent of the Sunday School, and one of the pillars of the church, and he has continued his religious work at Strasburg. Reared a democrat, he still adheres to the political faith of his forefathers. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic Order, and of the Knights of Pythias.

Mr. Flanagan has been twice married, first at Baltimore, Maryland, December 6, 1905, when he was united with Miss Daisy E. Jones, born at Baltimore, December 6, 1886, a daughter of Thomas F. and Emma V. (Dickerson) Jones. Mrs. Flanagan died October 20, 1919, leaving one son, Walter Harold. On November 23, 1920, Mr. Flanagan married Miss Grace McInturff, a daughter of Ambrose Powell and Annie M. (Barr) McInturff, born in 1888. Ambrose P. McInturff was early in life a school-teacher, but subsequently became a hotel man of Strasburg, where he died in December, 1916, when seventy years of age. The children of Mr. and Mrs. McInturff to reach maturity were: Mrs. Mary M. Machir, Mrs. Flanagan, and Florence, who died at Strasburg, was the wife of Frank Ramsey. Mr. and Mrs. Flanagan have a daughter, Mary Ellen, who was born June 20, 1922.

During the late war Mr. Flanagan was one of the active participants in the local war work, and registered in the last draft, but was never called for examination, owing to the signing of the armistice. He is one of the stockholders of the Massanutten National Bank. For a time he was fire chief of the volunteer fire company of Strasburg, and in other ways has proven his worth to this community, as he did at his old home, and holds the full confidence of his fellow townsmen.