Biography: E. B. Carney

-From "History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens," by Hon. Gibson Lamb Cranmer, 1902, pg. 446, 449.
 

E. (Edward) B. Carney

That the successful bottle man is born and not made is a truism emphatically illustrated in the career of E. B. Carney, manager and proprietor of the Windsor Hotel at Wheeling. However, while searching for the preordained channel of activity to which nature had assigned him, there was abundant opportunity for the display of his mettle in various directions, and in the early struggle for an independent livelihood, Mr. Carney was not wanting in either application or thrift. At a comparatively early age he renounced for the time being the idea of a higher education, and, leaving behind the familiar associations of his native town of Mount Savage, Maryland, proceeded to Fort Scott, Kansas, where he lived with his step-brother, J. W. Heylmun, chief engineer of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. Mr. Heylmun has since shifter his capable services to Kansas City, Missouri, and is there identified with the Belt Line of the town. Arriving at Fort Scott, Mr. Carney so improved his chances that in time he assisted his brother as level man for the railroad company, his work being chiefly between Fort Scott, Jefferson City and Kansas City. When about twenty-one years of age he ceased to ally himself with the fluctuating fortunes of Kansas, returned to his native state, and engaged in the grocery business until 1875 at Cumberland, Maryland. The following year began his extended hotel experience, his first charge being the management of the Queen City Hotel at Cumberland. Twelve years later he came to Wheeling and was manager of the Windsor Hotel two years, and for the following two years was connected in a similar capacity with the old Monongahela House at Pittsburg.

In 1891 Mr. Carney returned to Wheeling and leased the Windsor Hotel, an hostelry of more than passing interest, and for more than half a century a pleasant and comfortable shelter for the temporarily homeless. Under the present management the capacity of the time-honored inn has been made to conform to the most approved and modern ideas of taste and convenience. There are 100 sleeping rooms, and commodious dining and drawing rooms, and 300 people may be cared for without any special disadvantages. The rates are from $2 to $3 a day, and the trade is mostly of the commercial and tourist order. Neatness and order prevail, and the excellent viands temptingly arrayed before the weary guests attest the near by presence of a genius of the range most sympathetically inclined.

Through his marriage with the daughter of Capt. T. H. Mong, Mr. Carney became related to one of the interesting and forceful personalities of Wheeling. To Captain Mong belongs the distinction of being the pioneer oyster dealer between Baltimore and the Mississippi River, and in the very early days he used to ship the succulent bivalve by stage over the mountains. After his retirement from this occupation, he became a captain on the river, and was also an agent for various boat lines with headquarters at Wheeling.

Besides the responsibility of directing this business Mr. Gee is a director in the Fidelity Investment Association of Wheeling. He is a director of the West Virginia State Fair Association, of the Wheeling Country Club, and is vice president and director of the Industrial Relations Association. He is a member of the Fort Henry Club and the Old Colony Club, of the First Presbyterian Church and in politics is a republican. He was a leader in war movements in Wheeling, being a member of the Pershing Limit Club, and helped in all the drives for funds for Liberty Loan, Red Cross and other causes. He received a medal of honor for selling Liberty Bonds.

To Mr. and Mrs. Carney have been born two daughters, Helen and Bessie. In politics Mr. Carney is a Democrat, and in religious belief he is a member of the Roman Catholic church. He is one of the best known hotel men in the state, and during nearly thirty years of faithful devotion to the best interests of the traveling public, he has won and kept hosts of friends. Alert, tactful, and with a keen knowledge of human nature in all its workings, he is also optimistic and large hearted, two traits as fine as they are rare.
 

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