Floyd D. Stollings

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
and West Virginia Biography
Volume II Biographical, Page 110 & 111
The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York
Published 1923 (Public Domain)

Floyd D. Stollings, who has been a prominent and influential figure in connection with the timber business in West Virginia and also in the handling of coal lands, has the distinction of maintaining his home in a town that was named in his honor, the attractive village of Stollings, Logan County. He was born near Chapmanville, this county, in January, 1853, and is a son of Nelson and Lurania (Workman) Stollings, the former of whom likewise was born near Chapmanville, and the latter of whom was born in Boone County, where her death occurred in 1890 and where her husband died in 1900, at the venerable age of eighty-four years. Josiah Stollings, grandfather of the subject of this review, owned large tracts of land near Chapmanville, and was one of the representative pioneers of Logan County. The Stollingses came from North Carolina and were numbered among the first settlers in the Guyan Valley in what is now West Virginia. Abraham Workman, maternal grandfather of Mr. Stollings, likewise came to this section in an early day, his former home having been in North Carolina, near the Virginia line.

Nelson Stollings finally established his home on a farm in Boone County, about midway between Chapmanville and Madison, and he met with heavy property and financial losses at the time of the Civil war. He became a mail contractor, and transported mail from Logan to Charleston and also between Logan and Wayne, besides which he established a post office at Tracefork, a village now known as Manila, in Boone County. After the close of the war Nelson Stollings was prosperous in his activities as a farmer, trader and mail contractor. He was born in the year 1816 and his wife in 1821, both having been earnest members of the Missionary Baptist Church and his political allegiance having been given to the democratic party. Of their seven children Floyd D., of this sketch, is the only one now living. The oldest son, Thomas B., though under age at the time, enlisted for service as a Confederate soldier in the Civil war.

Floyd D. Stollings gained his early education in the schools of Logan and Boone counties, and his initial work of independent order was the service which he gave as postmaster at Tracefork, From 1874 to 1876, inclusive, he was in the panhandle district of Texas, and upon his return to West Virginia he engaged in the mercantile business in Boone County. He next turned his attention to the timber industry and instituted operations on Twelve Pole Creek and Guyandot River. He first bought poplar and walnut timber, which he would raft down to the Ohio River, down which stream the fleets of logs were towed by boats to market points. In his operations, which became of large scope, he maintained his headquarters at Catlettsburg, Kentucky, which was the headquarters for all of the old timber men operating on the Twelve Pole and the Guyandot rivers. Mr. Stollings has bought and sold many thousands of acres of timber and coal lands, has cut the timber from much land that he later sold to coal operators, and among his purchases was 500 acres where the village of Stollings is now situated, this town having been founded in 1900, which was named in his honor and to the development of which he has contributed in general measure, he having here established his home after many years’ residence in Boone County. He is a democrat in political allegiance and his wife is a member of the Christian Church.

The year 1873 recorded the marriage of Mr. Stollings and Miss Luella A. Stone, daughter of the late William N. Stone, of Boone County. Of this union were born five sons and five daughters, two of the sons being deceased.

*The content on this page is for educational purposes and is used in accordance with the Fair Use Law (Per Title 17—United States Code—Section 107).