ALVA L. HARTLEY has had an extensive business experience for a man of his years, and since removing to Morgantown has been a member of the firm Marchand & Hartley, real estate and insurance, one of the leading firms of the kind in this section of the state. Mr. Hartley's grandfather was a native of West Virginia, but he himself was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, on a farm, April 24, 1890. He is a son of Cornelius S. and Emma L. (Lemley) Hartley. His grandfather, Elijah W. Hartley, and his grandmother, Lemley are still living. Elijah W. Hartley was born in Marion County, West Virginia, in the Indian Creek neighborhood, but from there removed to Greene County, Pennsylvania. The Hartleys are of Irish and English ancestry. Elijah W. Hartley married Sarah Headley. Cornelius S. Hartley was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, was educated in the public schools, in the Valparaiso, Indiana, Normal School, and the Waynesburg College of Pennsylvania. He taught altogether about twelve terms of school in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, and later was a farmer for several years and finally engaged in merchandising at Kirby, Pennsylvania, where he is still living. He served as postmaster of Kirby for about thirteen years. He is a Methodist. His wife, Emma L. Lemley, was born in Greene County, daughter of Morris and Martha J. (Phillip) Lemley. Cornelius Hartley and wife were the parents of three children: Alva L.; Omar G., who is pursuing his studies in higher accounting at Philadelphia preparing for the profession of certified public accountant; and Martha, who died in 1905. Alva L. Hartley grew up on a farm until he was ten years of age, and then lived at Newton or Kirby Post Office in Pennsylvania. He had a public-school education, took work in summer normal schools, and in the fall of 1909 entered the Ohio Normal University at Ada, where he was graduated in 1911 with the degree B. C. S. For a year after leaving college Mr. Hartley was in life insurance work in Greene County, Pennsylvania, after which he became bookkeeper in the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, and in 1915 was elected assistant cashier of that institution. He continued with this bank until February 1, 1920, when he resigned to come to Morgantown, and has since been associated with D. K. Marchand in the life and fire insurance business, in handling real estate and coal properties. Mr. Hartley is affiliated with Dunkard Lodge No. 569, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in Pennsylvania, and Athens Lodge No. 36, Knights of Pythias. He is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church and the Chamber of Commerce. September 18, 1912, he married Lillian Marie Baer, who was born in Kirby, Pennsylvania, daughter of Benjamin F. and Flora B. (Connor) Baer. They have one son, Kenneth Cornelius, born March 5, 1915. The History of West Virginia, Old and New(Chicago and New York: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1923), Volume II, pg.151