He was born on March 22, 1873 in Worcester County, Maryland, the son of Painter D. and Nancy West. His father was a farmer and a Reverend in the Christian Church. J. W. had little formal schooling as a child. He married Russelia Lenier Garrett on September 13, 1904 in Lee County.
By June of 1895 he is preaching in Southwest Virginia. In a letter written a few months later from Stickleyville, Lee County, Virginia, he writes:
To the Church of Christ in the Loop [Russell County]: Greeting;He signs his letters "J W West Evangelist."
...I have closed a [...] hard place, as usual a stir was made [b]y these heart felt religion folks, yet I made the good confession and many friends made. I am now holding a meeting at this place, and with much opposition, yet in two nights I have made friends and believe I can in 10 nights do much good. The neighborhood is stired over a trial with a Methodist preacher for his mis-conduct, and some have lost all confidence in preachers as this is the second trouble at this place. ... Dear Brethren read the Bible, study it follow it.
In 1898 he is preaching at Tazewell College, a men's college in Tazewell County, Virginia. The Clinch Valley News of June 30, 1899 reports:
"The tent meeting by Rev. J. W West, of the disciples church, which has been in progress for two weeks, closed Sunday. The meeting was not without good results, though not so large."
In November of 1900 he delivers a paper entitled "The Work of the Evangelist" in Richmond at the annual meeting of the Virginia Christian Missionary Society. He remains in Richmond for a week and the Richmond Dispatch proclaims "He is a very talented and eloquent speaker." He begins working for the Missionary Society.
In March of 1901 he is elected a vice president of the Virginia Anti-Saloon League, an organization devoted to "the abolishment of liquor saloons." A few months later, J. W. volunteers to oversee the League's work in Southwest Virginia. In October he resigns his position with the Missionary Society to focus on the Anti-Saloon League's work. By December he had formed nine local leagues with over 300 members.
In January of 1904, Rev. West, accompanied by other ministers and the Anti-Saloon League visited nearly every single saloon in Richmond. Their aim was to pull down the pictures of nude women which adorned the wall of the establishments. The ministers encountered some success, but were forced to initiate legal action against other saloon owners. The saloon owners defense was that the pictures were "no more objectionable than works of art in other places."
After his wedding in September of 1904, J. W. continues his Anti-Saloon work and preachers across Virginia and North Carolina.
On May 1st, 1908 he resigns his position as field secretary for the Anti-Saloon League. However, subsequent newspaper reports still associate him with that position. Apparently he moved to Kentucky and became the State Superintendent for that state's Anti-Saloon League.
In late April 1909, J. W. West resigns his position as State Superintendent of the Kentucky Anti-Saloon League. Charges of "ungentlemanly conduct" had been leveled at him by two young ladies in Catlettsburg, Kentucky. Allegedly West admitted to the "indiscretions." The allegations had been advanced by Reverend R. R. Barton on behalf of his 13 year old daughter. West agreed to leave the state and return to his father's house in Maryland.
The Kentucky Irish American wonders "Would it not have been better for the Rev. J. W. West, Superintendent of the Kentucky Anti-Saloon League, to have been found intoxicated rather than be compelled to leave the State on account of more serious charges of improper misconduct?" Piling on, the Staunton Spectator and Vindicator states "The Catlettsburg, Ky., prohibition advocates in their recent wet and dry fight imported a paid agitator, Rev. J. W. West, who has been heard here "to save the boys." In doing so, they well nigh lost the girls."
Not everyone turned on the Reverend. George M. Smithdeal, a leader in the prohibition movement said "I don't know what to think. Mr. West was not a well educated man, but he has powerful ability, and is a vigorous worker....I think the story is greatly exaggerated..." J. D. McAllister, who succeeded West in his position with the Kentucky Anti-Saloon league, thought the whole thing was a plot to smear West.
West returned to preaching in small churches in North Carolina and southwest Virginia, officiating at weddings and funerals. He died in 1963, almost 90 years of age.
