Sept. 24 at noon: Legendary Locals of Wheeling

New Book Honors Local Heroes

Legendary Locals of Wheeling pays homage to the remarkable people of the Upper Ohio Valley, celebrating the achievements of some of the region’s famous and unsung heroes, past and present.

Did you know that someone from Wheeling is known as the father of oral surgery? That another Wheelingite helped eliminate child labor from the glassmaking industry? That another is in the International Aerospace Hall of Fame? And that yet another is regarded as one of the greatest international opera sopranos of all time? Readers can find out about these amazing people and many more in a new book due from Arcadia Publishing in early September. Compiled by local authors Seán Duffy and Brent Carney in collaboration with numerous community members,

The authors and contributors will discuss the book at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on Tuesday, September 24 at noon. Copies will be available for purchase at the event, and several contributors will be present to sign the book.

Legendary Locals of Wheeling includes the big names readers will expect, such as Betty Zane, Lewis Wetzel, and Walter Reuther, but also includes less well-known people, whose contributions have been just as important. Featured locals come from all walks of life including music, art, sports, science, architecture, business, literature, military service, and public service. For every infamous personality like Big Bill Lias, Wheeling produced hundreds of heroic, admirable people like Augustus Pollack, Doc White, Rosemary Front, and Ann and Clyde Thomas.

Brent with Paul McGinnis.

The book includes war heroes like General William S. Rosecrans (who developed one of the most successful battlefield ambulances used in the Civil War while he was headquartered in Wheeling), Louis Bennett Jr. (honored for his WWI service in the British Royal Flying Corps with a stained glass window in London’s Westminster Abbey), and Paul McGinnis (one of the survivors of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in WWII). Also included are literary legends like Rebecca Harding Davis, Keite Maillard, and current West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman, music legends such as jazz great Chu Berry and country music stars Doc and Chickie Williams, as well as sports legends such as South Wheeling’s Rosie Gacioch (one of the greatest players in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League), John Glasscock (the first West Virginian to play major league baseball), Jesse Burkett (the first West Virginia native to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame) and football legend Chuck Howley.

Editors Seán Duffy and Brent Carney are both Wheeling natives. Duffy earned an MBA from Wheeling Jesuit University and a JD from the Washington College of Law at the American University. He has authored three books on local history and is the programming and publicity coordinator at the Ohio County Public Library. Professor Brent Carney received an MA in History from Old Dominion University. He has authored five books on local history and has served as Visiting Instructor and Adjunct Professor at Wheeling Jesuit University, Franciscan University and West Liberty State College.  He is currently a Professor of Humanities at Eastern Gateway Community College.

While Duffy and Carney wrote the introductory material and some of the captions, they mostly served as editors, photograph researchers, and organizers for Legendary Locals of Wheeling. The majority of the writing was done by family members of those featured and various members of Wheeling’s heritage community.

“This is meant to be a representative sample of some of our best in many fields,” Duffy said. “But there were many hundreds if not thousands of other good people who also deserve to be remembered as legendary locals. But in the interest of space and time, difficult choices had to be made. Nevertheless, we are honored to have this opportunity to illuminate the lives of some of the well-known and unsung heroes of Wheeling. We hope the book will help people to appreciate the deep pool of accomplished people who have called Wheeling home over the years – not just celebrities, but a diverse, hard-working group of people who have been successful in a variety of professions and callings. All of these ‘legendary locals’ took away something from their Wheeling experience that helped shape their lives and accomplishments. We all have that in us. And that’s an important thing to remember and cherish.”

The authors and contributors will discuss the book at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on Tuesday, September 24 at noon. The book can be purchased online at arcadiapublishng.com or at amazon.com. It will also be available at most local and regional bookstores.

Legendary Locals of Wheeling is dedicated to Wheeling’s librarians and library workers, and all of the author royalties from sales of the book are being donated to the Ohio County Public Library.