While I was in Pittsburgh yesterday, my dad gave me a copy of a book titled the History and Government of West Virginia by Virgil A. Lewis published around 1901. Dad picked this battered old book up at a flea market. A couple of things in the book had caught his eye. First, there is an in depth treatment of the American Indians and their location in what would become West Virginia. Secondly, while paging through the book he came across the surname of a West Virginia family caught up in the politics of West Virginia who he knew were my friends.
Sure enough, on page 248 there was a picture of Frank Hereford ex-United States Senator and former Congressman from West Virginia. The thing that struck me about the pen and ink New York Times style drawing was the resemblance of Frank Hereford to his great grandson and my dear old pal the late Henry Alexander Hereford III. The only noticeable difference being that Frank had a fuller head of hair on his head than Alex. Otherwise the resemblance is uncanny.
Alex Hereford among other things was a county fire marshall in WV and this led to his untimely death a couple of years ago. From what I can gather Alex was qualifying for a deep dive scuba certification and this caused an aneurysm that killed him at about 50 years of age.
Sincerely, Tom Lehman