189 SYLVESTER O. PRUNTY has made in his profession a record that marks him as one of the representative members of thebar of Ritchie County, where he is established in active general practice at Harrisville, the county seat. He was born on a farm in this county, July 17, 1878, and is a son of Marshall N. and Flora (Lawson) Prunty, both likewise natives of this county, with whose civic and material development and progress the respective family names have been long and prominently identified. The parents received the advantages of the common schools, and the mother attended also the State Normal School at Fairmont. Marshall N. Prunty was for many years engaged in successful farm enterprise near Oxford, this county, and he and his wife now reside in the
village of Pullman, likewise in Ritchie County. He is a democrat, and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of the eight children all but one are living: F. O. is a contractor and also engaged in the oil and general production business at Blackville, Oklahoma; Anna is the wife of John Long, a locomotive engineer, and they reside at Fairmont, West Virginia; Jessie is the wife of H. B. Lowther, a civil engineer, and they reside at Salem, this state; May is the wife of Everett Nay, of Pullman, Ritchie County; Raymond is a farmer in this county; Marshall E. is a mining engineer at Fairmont; and the subject of this sketch is the oldest of the number.
Sylvester O. Prunty passed his childhood and earlier youth on the home farm and in the meanwhile profited fully by the advantages of the public schools of his native county. Later he graduated from the Regent School, White Plains, New York, and in preparation for his chosen profession he completed a course in the law department of the Ohio Northern University, in which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. After his admission to the bar he was engaged in practice in the village of Cairo, Ritchie County, four years, and he then, in 1911, transferred his residence and professional headquarters to Harrisville, the county seat, where he has since built up a large and representative law business. He served two terms as mayor of Cairo, and for three terms was mayor of Harrisville, his administration in this city having been signally progressive and effective. He is a leader in the local councils and campaigns activities of the republican party in Ritchie County, and is now a member of the Board of Education of Harrisville. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Prunty is a director of the People's Bank at Harrisville, is a stockholder in the First National Bank of this city, and he is a stockholder also in each of the following named corporations: Kansas & Gulf Oil Company, Central Mexican Oil Company, Imperial Ice Company at Parkersburg, the National Woolen Mills in that city and other corporations. He has real estate holdings not only at Harrisville but also in the City of Washington, D. C.