Source: History of West Virginia Old and New and West Virginia Biography Vol II by Special Staff of Writers. Chicago and New York: The American Historical Society, Inc. 1923. Pp. 191-192.
"Carl Reger. Morgantown, West Virginia, has celebrity as the home of a great university. It has many additional advantages and cause for civic pride, and not the least of these is that it is the chosen home of professional men of marked ability and country-wide reputation. Among these valued citizens no one enjoys greater confidence or personal esteem than Carl Reger, architect, who during the past six years has contributed greatly to the material improvement and general attractiveness of all parts of Morgantown and throughout West Virginia. His artistic designs appear in business structures in combinations making for utility also, in church edifices, hotels, apartment houses, schoolhouses and magnificent private residences.
Mr. Reger is a native of West Virginia and is descended direct and collaterally, from old Colonial families of what is now West Virginia. The original American settler of this branch of the Reger family was Jacob Reger, who was born in Holland in about 1733. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean to this country in about 1765, accompanied by his wife and their older children. He settled in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, later removed to the south branch of the Potomac River in what is now West Virginia, and in 1782, following the close of the Revolutionary war, he settled near what is now the town of Volga in Barbour County, West Virginia where he died. His children bore these names: Anthony, Jacob, Philip, John, Abram, Isaac, Elizabeth, Barbara, Annie, Mary and Catherine.
Isaac Reger, son of Jacob and great-grandfather of the present generation, was born on the south branch of the Potomac River, August 19, 1782, settled on Hacker's creek in Upshur County and spent his life there. He married Mary Magdalena Brake, daughter of Jacob brake, who was known in Virginia as `the captive'. During an Indian raid in his childhood he was captured by the savages and taken with them to near what is now the City of Detroit, Michigan, where he was detained for eleven years and then was returned to his parents. The children of Isaac Reger and his wife were seven in number: Ruth, Rebecca, Philip, Lydia, Elizabeth, David B. and Maria.
David B. Reger, of the above family, was born in Barbour County in 1822, and with his father moved to Hacker's Creek in Upshur County in 1830, and died on his farm there in April, 1906. His wife's name was Elizabeth Neely, and she was born near Morgantown in 1824, and died June 5, 1904. There children were: Marion D., Joseph S., Isaac S., Mary and Angela.
Joseph S. Reger, son of David B. and father of Carl Reger, was born on the old family homestead in Upshur County, August 12, 1847, and grew up on the farm. He had educational privileges, attended French Creek Academy and afterward taught school for a number of years, although farming was his main occupation. He was prominent in republican politics in Upshur County, served two terms as county superintendent of schools, served as a member of the County Court and also on the State Board of Agriculture. He was a member and liberal of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In his death on July 31, 1914, his community lost a man of great worth. On June 6, 1872, he married Miss Sirene Bunton, who was born at Sago in Upshur County April 11, 1847, and died May 29, 1912. She was a daughter of James and Fanny (Morgan) Bunton, the former of whom had come to Virginia from Dunbarton, New Hampshire. The maternal grandparents of Carl Reger were Zedekiah and Rebecca (Watson) Morgan, the former of whom was born in Connecticut, March 8, 1744, and died at Sago, Upshur County, October 12, 1822. His second wife, Rebecca Watson, was born at Boston, Massachusetts, and died at Sago, Upshur County, May 29, 1846. Zedekiah Morgan was a descendant four generations removed, from James Morgan, who came from Wales in 1636, settling near what is now Gloucester, Massachusetts. His branch of the family in New England and the Morgantown Morgans unite in Wales with a common ancestor, Sir John Morgan.
Carl Reger was born on the home farm near Buckhannon in Upshur County, West Virginia, October 2, 1878. After attending the common schools he took a preparatory course in the West Virginia Conference Seminary, now the West Virginia Wesleyan College. His tastes and talents led to an early interest in architecture, and before completing his education, as proposed, he had experience in the offices of several architects, following which he entered upon the study of architecture in the University of Pennsylvania, but did not remain to complete his course because of trouble with his eyes. In 1905 he gave them a needed rest and in the following year went to Los Angeles, California.
In the western city Mr. Reger found ready opportunity and appreciation of his talent as an architect and there received a certificate enabling him to practice architecture in that state. During the nine years he resided there he built up an enviable reputation in his profession, and some of the most imposing structures of that city of today stand as testimonials to his artistic conceptions and architectural knowledge. While there he had charge, as architect's superintendent and chief engineer in charge of construction, of the erection of some of the largest and most modern business blocks on the Pacific Coast.
In 1915, Mr. Reger returned to his native state on August 1st of that year establishing himself professionally at Morgantown, securing two small rooms in the West Virginia Utilities Building, but his quarters soon became entirely inadequate, and at the present time his offices and busy employes occupy the entire floor of that building. He is not only the leading architect at Morgantown but his talents have also been engaged in other sections of the state. He was the designer of the greatly admired Sales and Service Building of the Central Automobile Corporation at Clarksburg, made the plans for the big fire-proof hotel now under way that will be a great improvement to Shinnston, West Virginia, and has many other contracts under way. He is secretary of the West Virginia State Society of Architects, and was the West Virginia delegate to the 1921 convention of the American Institute of Architects held at Washington, D.C.
On September 26, 1909, Mr. Reger married Miss Lura L. Law, who was born in Ritchie County, West Virginia and is a daughter of Martin L. Law. Mr. and Mrs. Reger have three children: Ruth L. born May 15, 1913; Catherine, born April 24, 1917; and Carl Robert, born May 23, 1921. Mr. and Mrs. Reger are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Morgantown, in which he is a steward. He has long been deeply interested in Sunday school work, and is a member of the State Executive Committee of the West Virginia Sunday School association and is secretary of the Monongalia County Sunday School Association. He is an active citizen in all that concerns the real welfare of Morgantown, but the political field has not attracted him. He belongs to the Morgantown Rotary Club."
Submitted by Nancy Jackson.