Steele, Robert Roderick

1877 - 1946  (69 years)

• Name	Steele, Robert Roderick
  Birth	6 May 1877	McArthur, Vinton, Ohio, USA
  Gender	Male
  Death	22 Sep 1946	Huntington, Cabell, West Virginia, USA
  Burial	Woodmere Cemetery, Huntington, Cabell, West Virgin
  Person ID	I2997	Shane and Beck
  Last Modified	14 Jun 2023

  
  

  Father	Steele, Jasper Newton,   b. 18 May 1846, Centre, Pennsylvania, USA d. 25 Nov 1921, Huntington, Cabell, West Virginia, USA (Age 75 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Mother	Ervin, Mary,   b. 1856   d. 1920 (Age 64 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Marriage	9 Oct 1873	Jackson, Jackson, Ohio, USA
  Divorce	Abt 1890
  Family ID	F1472	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Hooper, Dora Ethel,   b. 11 Aug 1878, Meigs County, Ohio, USA d. 2 Jan 1976, Charleston, Kanawha, West Virginia, USA (Age 97 years)
  Marriage	8 Jan 1899	Rutland, Meigs, Ohio, USA
  Children	+ 1. Steele, Alice Pauline,   b. 7 May 1901, Charleston, Kanawha, West Virginia, USA d. 25 Aug 1989, Charleston, Kanawha, West Virginia, USA (Age 88 years)  [Father: natural]   2. Steele, Anna Byrne,   b. 9 Jan 1915, the unincorporated community of Fitzpatrick, Raleigh, West Virginia, USA d. 19 Jul 1983, Marlin, Falls, Texas, USA (Age 68 years)  [Father: natural]
  Family ID	F1208	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	14 Jun 2023

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 6 May 1877 - McArthur, Vinton, Ohio, USA Marriage - 8 Jan 1899 - Rutland, Meigs, Ohio, USA Death - 22 Sep 1946 - Huntington, Cabell, West Virginia, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  OBIT (Huntington Herald Dispatch, September 23, 1946): Robert Roderick Steele, 69, who with a brother established what was said to have been Huntington's first funeral home more than 30 years ago, died last night about 6:45 p.m. in an ambulance while en route to a hospital after being stricken ill at his hone on Pea Ridge Road. A physician attributed death to a heart attack. Mr. Steele had conducted a funeral yesterday afternoon and afterward left the funeral home and went home. While eating dinner he arose from the table, complaining of feeling ill. He walked into the living room and collapsed. A Steele Funeral Home ambulance was summoned to take him to the hospital, but he died in the arms of Ray Black, one of his employees, before the ambulance reached the hospital. Friends said Mr. Steele had been in ill health for some time, but did not complain until recently. He was born at McArthur 0. on May 6, 1877. His father was a teacher and young Robert Steele attended the public schools in that area and later studied at a business college. His first position in his chosen profession was with the Rollins Funeral Home at Rutland, O., which was operated in connection with a harness shop. Later he went on the road as a salesman for the Durfee Embalming Fluid Co. of Grand Rapids Mich. He went to Charleston as embalmer for P. A. Simpson and in 1911 cane to Huntington to join I. H. H. Hohwade Son, who also operated a furniture store. Three years later hr. Steele entered the profession for himself with the establishment on Eleventh Street, and about 1915 he and his brother, the late Ervin D. Steele, operating as Steele Brothers, opened what was reported to have been Huntington's first funeral home at 1133 Third Avenue. Shortly thereafter, they purchased the B. T. Davis residence at 1128 Third Avenue and moved their funeral home there. In 1937 they moved to the present location in the F. B. Enslow property at 1307 Third Avenue. After the death of James E. Johnston, who operated the Johnston Undertaking Co. on downtown Fourth Avenue, Mr. Steele purchased that business and combined it with his own. At the time of his death, Mr. Steele was the sole owner of the mortuary bearing his name, having bought the interest of Ervin Steele, who died four months ago yesterday. Mr. Steele was for many years a member of Johnson Memorial Church and served on the board of stewards and as a trustee. He was a member of the Rotary and 6uyandot Clubs, the Elks lodge, Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. A 32nd degree Mason, he also was affiliated with the York Rite and the Shrine. He was prominent in state and national organizations of his profession. Mr. Steele was a candidate for the Republican nomination for sheriff of Cabell County in 1944. Miss Marguerite McClain, a niece of Mr. Steele and secretary at the funeral home, was in Cincinnati en route to a convention in Chicago when word of Mr. Steele's death reached her, and she made arrangements to return immediately to Huntington with James Green, a student at Cincinnati. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Warren A. Green. His father has been associated with the funeral home and his mother was a niece of Mr. Steele. Surviving Mr. Steele are the widow, the former Miss Dora Ethel Hooper of Rutland, to who he was married in 1899; two daughters, Mrs. Leonard Riggleman of Charleston, wife of the president of Morris Harvey College who was the forcer Miss Pauline Steele, and Mrs. Thomas Bartlett, Jr., of Marlin Tex., the forcer Miss Anna Byrne Steele, a sister, Mrs. Rosa Braley of Wellston, 0.; a brother, D. E. S. Steele of Oklahoma, and three grandchildren, Roberta Riggleman of Charleston and Nancy and Martha Bartlett of Marlin. The body was taken to the funeral home. Arrangements for services had not been completed last night, but plans were made to entomb the body in a crypt in Woodmere Abbey.