Origins
Origins
In 1998, David and Scott (David’s son) co-founded Reserve Oil & Gas Inc. eventually drilling and operating over 180 wells in the surrounding counties and Kanawha Valley. The Freshwaters have acquired and expanded their interests into several other related companies in the oil and gas industry including gathering pipelines and gas marketing, always diversifying their client base and service offerings.
Both David and Scott are proud of their blue collar roots. David was a high school graduate of Spencer High School, served in Viet Nam, and started out as a roustabout and mowing grass on a riverbank in Grantsville District, Calhoun County for Consolidated Natural Gas (Hope). Eventually the Superintendent deemed him an “undesirable” employee, but then David was offered the opportunity to operate a well service rig in 1969. This opportunity prepared him for starting his own business in 1970. Scott grew up watching his father work hard and, at a young age, began working hands on for the company. Scott was weed eating around the office one day during his senior year of high school and realized he needed to further his education in order to help move the company forward. Scott proceeded to attend West Virginia University from 1989 to 1995 receiving his BS and MS in Civil Engineering while working summers at ConServ and interning with Columbia Gas. Scott returned to Conserv full time in 1996 and directed the diversification of the company into the environmental contracting services arena.
Let’s Talk
Our lines are open. If you have any questions or concerns about the grant and scholarship programs we offer, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Freshwater Family Foundation.
The Freshwater Family Foundation was established in 2022 and is a result of the success of companies rooted in the oil and gas industry and established by the Freshwater family members, David A. Freshwater and J. Scott Freshwater. Their companies have been successful due to the vast “wellhead to burner tip” knowledge of the owners and the hard work of a dedicated labor force. The company and its workers from the beginning have been based in Roane and Calhoun counties, both historically significant oil and gas counties in the Appalachian region.
ConServ’s roots begin in 1970 when David founded D.A. Freshwater Well Service Company to provide oil and gas well servicing, trucking, pipeline construction and roustabout services to oil and gas production companies in central West Virginia. In 1975, Mr. Freshwater teamed up other partners and expanded its equipment inventory and eventually evolved into a full-service oil and gas contracting company known as Petro Services Inc. Petro merged with Allegheny & Western Energy Corporation (A & W) in 1981 and David supervised the drilling and completion of over 350 A & W wells throughout the Appalachian Basin. In 1986, David left A & W and founded D.A. Freshwater Company, changing the company name to Contractor Services Inc. of West Virginia (now dba ConServ) in 1993.