William B. Blake

William Burdine Blake, 1852-1938. William B. Blake, Sr., was born January 21, 1852, in London, Ohio; went to Virginia in the early 1870s and became connected with the music publishing house of the Ruebush-Kieffer Company, and remaining with this firm until 1889, when he moved to Ronceverte. He married Miss Alice Mary Horne, of Augusta county, Virginia, a daughter of Strother P. and Sarah Home. (Strother P. Horne was a Confederate soldier throughout the Civil war.) To this union were born seven children: Charles Stanley Blake, Bessie Mabel, William B,. Jr.. Henry St. John, Robert Russell, Mary Ellen and Edward Lester. At Ronceverte, Mr. Blake, Sr., associated himself in partnership with J. W. Hess in the publication of the Ronceverte News, a newly-established paper in the new lumber town, buying out the interest of Richard Burke, who had been a prominent figure in West Virginia journalism for a number of years. Burke had been the publisher of a vigorous newspaper at Union, Monroe county. About the year 1891, Mr. Blake bought out the interest of Mr. Hess and became the sole proprietor of the enterprise, changing the name of the paper to the Valley Messenger and News. This publication continued until April 21, 1901. Several years prior to this, in December, 1897, The West Virginia News had been established with Mr. Blake as publisher, and from one newspaper plant two newspapers were issued until April 21, 1901, when the latter publication, which covered a more extensive field, absorbed the Valley Messenger. This consolidation brought to the newer paper the good will of the older and the growth of the West Virginia News has been steady and continuous to this day. At the present time and for a number of years the News has enjoyed a larger circulation than any other weekly newspaper published in the State.

History of Greenbrier County J. R. Cole, Lewisburg, WV, 1917 (accessed 12/25/2023 from http://www.leighlarson.com/william_burdine_blake.htm)