Elias McClellan POSTON

Sources:

Greenlawn Cemetery Records, Nelsonville, Athens, OH - FHL#977.197 / YI V3M , Elias & son Elias Jr.
Getting To Know Athens County - FHL#977.197 H2b, Elias M. Poston Bio.
1910 Census - Columbus, Franklin, OH
1920 Census - Columbus, Franklin, OH
1930 Census - Columbus, Franklin, OH
Ancestry Member Trees, NancyAppel1
New.familysearch.org, Jan 2010
Ancestral File - Version 4.19

Notes:

                   Biography:
Abbrev: Descendants of Edward DorrTitle: Descendants of Edward DorrFirst Dorr in AmericaAuthor: Cheryl Dorr WrightPublication: 11684 Channingway Blvd.The Plains, OH. 45780Page: page 124,125. Named after the Civil War General McClellan, "Mac" hadgiven up formal education by the time he was 14, but taught himselftelegraphy. He was fascinated by electricity and spent much of histime studying and experimenting with it. In 1887-1888 he started theNelsonville Electric company by purchasing two alternating currentgenerators-- one provided electricity for street lights, and the otherfor a small residential section.For over 20 years he struggled to keep his company in business, but itfinally closed in 1911. Not giving up entirely, he organized a newcompany-- the Hocking Power company, and acquired the property of hisbankrupt Nelsonville Electric Company. In 1914 he opened anothergenerating plant. The electric generators were powered by coal, and he began to buy coal lands in order to have a ready supply. 
The Hocking Power company became the Southern Ohio Electric company in 1925, and during the next decade bought all the small companies throughout southern Ohio. In 1937 the SOEC merged with the Columbus Railway, Power and Light Company to become the Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Company.The major facility of the C&SOEC in Athens county was the Poston Generating Station named for the founder of the company.Nelsonville schools and businesses closed for his funeral. Hundredsof people from throughout the Hocking Valley area and Columbus attended, and more lined the streets of Nelsonville as the funeral procession drove by.A granite stone was set at the north end of the Nelsonville PublicSquare on 29 Oct 1976 which reads, "E. M. Poston, 1862-1931, a nativeof Nelsonville, built the first AC electric generator west of the Allegheny Mountains, on Myers Street Nelsonville, in 1888." 


Obituary of Elias Poston, industry leader October 9, 1931
Elias Poston dies suddenly at age of 69. He was a leading factor in the Hocking Valley Coal Industry for Three Decades. Heart Attack Early causes his death, Funeral Services to be held Monday. 
Elias McClellan Poston, industrial and financier, president of the New York Coal Company, a leading factor in the coal industry of the Hocking Valley for the last three decades, widely known in the brick and clay industry and a national figure in the electrical world, died suddenly at his home in Columbus about 3 o'clock this morning of heart failure. Mr. Poston was 69 years of age. His death removes not only a prominent citizen of Columbus and of Ohio but a staunch and loyal friend of Hocking district where his extensive and varied interests were centered.
Mr. Poston was born in Nelsonville Oct. 26, 1862, where he grew to young manhood. His education he literally wrestled from experience. His first employment was in the company store of John W. Scott at Lick Run. He later worked as a billing clerk in the Nelsonville railroad yards.
Among his first business ventures was the lighting of the streets of his native town. He secred a five year contract from the Nelsonville City Council about 1896 and after operating a gasoline lighting system for one year, Mr. Poston with David L. Sleeper and John P. McGill, secured a franchise in 1899 for lighting the streets of Nelsonville electrically and to engage commercially in the lighting industry. Mr. Poston operated the first alternating current generator west of the Alleghanies.
From his humble beginning of the Nelsonville Electric Company, there was later developed the Hocking Power Company and as the genius of Mr. Poston realized the tremendous possiblilities of electricity he developed and expanded his organization building the big poser station at Floodwood where much of the electricity used throughout Southern Ohio is generated.
In 1899 Mr. Poston engaged with Joseph Slater, Charles Kurtz and others in the coal business with leased mines at Chauncey and Floodwood held by the New York and Western Coal Company. In 1902 these two properties were sold and the Continental Coal Company and Mr. Poston acquired the New Yourk and Western Company which was re-organized as the NEw York Coal Company. Through his operating affiliate, Manhattan Coal Company, this enterprise operated five large coal mines in the district at Chauncey, Luhrig, Lick Run and Tropic.
Early in the history of the company, Mr. Poston became interested in the development of the surface lands and under his direction the company has pursued a uniform policy of attempting to build up and utilize for farming and grazing purposes its surface lands. It has fenced in several thousand acres of hill lands for grazing and has developed to a high state of cultivation its river bottom lands and other lands suitable for tillage. Mr. Poston's pride was the spendid orchard of 100 acres in Waterloo Township Athens county. 
Mr. Poston has been extensively interested in brick and clay development in the Hocking Valley for many years. His companies own and operate brick and fire proofing plants at Nelsonville, The Diamond, Logan, Zanesville and Portsmouth.
Brief funeral services will be held at the family residence in Columbus Monday morning at 10 after which the body will be brought to Nelsonville and taken to the P. B. Verity residence, W. Franklin Street, Mr. Poston's boyhood home. Serviced conducted by the Rev. Lloyd Evans, pastor of the Presbyterian Church will be held at 2 o'clock. Burial will be made at Greenlawn.
Mr. Poston leaves his wife Mrs. Theresa Erb Poston and seven children, Donald R. of Chillicothe, Mrs. Anna Renner of New York City, John B. Poston, Mrs. Charlene Caren, Mary, Carl M. and Elias M. Poston Jr. all of Columbus.
Obituary from the Athens Messenger Oct. 9, 1931