USA > West Virginia > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of West Virginia. Including reference articles on the industrial resources of the state, etc., etc. > Part 6
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" He possessed in a pre-eminent degree that strong common sense and honesty of purpose which made him a wise counsellor and safe ad- viser, whether as lawyer or friend. In his man- ner and deportment he was ever respectful and considerate, kind, polite, and courteous to all, and, though having held many high and honor- able positions in life, he was absolutely free from pride and ostentation, humility and sim- plicity being among the most noticeable traits of his character.
"'Rich in loving common sense, And, as the greatest only are, In his simplicity sublime.'
" Resolved, first, That to the memory of the de- ceased the foregoing expression of our respect and admiration is justly due. We sincerely mourn his loss and highly value the great ex- ample he has left us. Resolved, second, That we tender our sympathies to his family in the great bereavement they have been called to suffer. Resolved, third, That copies of the foregoing be presented to the circuit and county courts of Greenbrier, with a request that it be entered on the records of said courts. That a copy be fur- nished to the family of the deceased and to the Greenbrier Independent for publication."
At a meeting of the session of the Presby- terian Church of Lewisburg, held on February 25, 1884, a series of resolutions expressing ap- preciation of the worth and character of Mr. Price were adopted. Also on February 27 the Board of Directors of the Bank of Lewisburg, with Hon. A. C. Snyder in the chair, passed a
HOLNS
ATLANTIC UB G.& EN. LO NY
Daniel Land,
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
preamble and resolutions bearing eloquent tes- timony to his noble qualities as citizen, lawyer, banker, and statesman-“ to his unspotted Chris- tian character and great moral worth." Mr. Price had been President of the bank for many years, and a member of the Board of Directors from its incorporation. Of the many special references in the churches to the death of Mr. Price, and to his splendid character as an every- day Christian, the following tribute from the Rev. Mr. Barr, formerly of Lewisburg, is emi- nently fitting as a closing to this memorial. It is taken from the Greenbrier Independent of March 13:
" THE LATE HON. SAMUEL PRICE.
" The Charleston Call of the 3d instant says the subject of Mr. Barr's sermon yesterday morning was 'The Fear of God as an Essential Element in the Christian Character.' In con- cluding his discourse he said: 'In preparing this sermon I had no personal reference to a distin- guished public man who has just passed away from earth, and yet I cannot think of him with- out associating him with this subject. I refer to Hon. Samuel Price. As an. elder so long associated with our Presbytery, who often united with us in our worship and led us at a throne of grace, I ought to refer to him. For more than half a century he had been in public life; he had passed through many warm political contests; he had filled various offices of state, up to that of United States Senator; as a lawyer, with an extensive practice, he had often encoun- tered strong prejudice and fierce opposition. And now, in the seventy-ninth year of his age, he passes away without one blemish on his character, or one false step in life, to which any man can point. He died on last Monday morn- ing, universally honored and beloved. And if you ask me what was the most prominent fea- ture in his character, I would say that he feared God. An abiding sense of his accountability to him went with. him everywhere, and kept him steadfast in principle and devotion. Wherever he went in the discharge of professional or offi- cial duties he joined with Christians in their meetings for prayer, and united with them in their public worship. He was known and valued in the councils of the church as well as in those of the State. He sat, as a member, in our meet- ings of Presbytery, in the Synod of Virginia, and in our General Assembly. It was his God- fearing spirit which gave that honesty and purity to his life, that firmness and steadfast- ness of character which neither the fear of man nor the temptations of Satan could move."
The children of Mr. Price are named as fol- lows: Mary, wife of Major J. C. Alderson; Mar-
garet L., residing at the homestead; John S., married Sue McElhenney, of Wheeling, grand- daughter of Rev. Dr. John C. McElhenney, de- ceased, of Lewisburg; S. Lewis Price, married Mary McCue, of Augusta County, Va., and re- siding on the farm which his great-grandfather, Col. John Stuart, settled on in 1762, near Frank- fort; Sallie, deceased, who was the wife of John A. Preston, Esq., of Lewisburg; Jane R., the youngest, residing with her sister at the home- stead. A marked characteristic of the family is the affectionate remembrance they cherish for their deceased father, whose tender solici- tude for his children made an impress upon their hearts which time can never efface. The por- trait of Mr. Price is from a photograph taken at Richmond when he was in his fifty-fifth year.
DANIEL LAMB.
DANIEL LAMB .- Among the men who laid the foundation of the State of West Virginia, no one exerted a greater influence or rendered more valuable service than Daniel Lamb. Es- pecially at the beginning of the war between the States, the men of the border were placed in a position beset with much difficulty and danger. In the North and in the South commu- nities were solid; there was but one sentiment and but one view of duty, upon the one hand and upon the other. But upon the border where these clashing convictions came in contact, there was division in communities, in associations of business or friendship, and even in domestic circles. In the North and in the South men were swept forward by the overwhelming tide of a practically unanimous opinion; but upon the border it was not so. There each man had to choose for himself according to his individual ideas of right, voluntarily accepting the conse- quences of his choice. The situation required the exercise of a higher degree of moral courage on the part of the people dwelling near the geo- graphical line which divided the sections, than was required in Massachusetts upon the one hand or in South Carolina upon the other. After Virginia had seceded and efforts were being made to restore the government upon a basis of loyalty to the Union, there was much talk about
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"treason to the State," and there can be no doubt that if the government at Richmond had possessed the power to execute its laws in the western counties, confiscation of property, im- prisonment, or death upon the scaffold would have been the punishment of many who adhered to the Union cause. These were among the perils peculiar to the border. With lofty cour- age, Mr. Lamb was among the first of the prom- inent men in Wheeling to deny the validity of the act of secession, to counsel resistance to the illegal ordinances of the convention, and to set in motion the forces that produced the restored government and the new State. Daniel Lamb was born of Quaker parentage at Connellsville, Pa., in 1810. He received a good common- school training in the place of his birth and in Wheeling, whither his father removed with his family in 1823. Having imbibed a love of learn- ing, and being naturally of studious habits, his education was pursued without collegiate help and was continued during all the years of young manhood. His methodical life, his accuracy as an accountant, and above all his spotless integ- rity soon inarked him out as a suitable person for positions of trust and responsibility. In 1830 he was elected Clerk of the City Councils of Wheeling. In 1831 he was made Secretary of the Fire and Marine Insurance Company, then newly organized, and in 1834 he was cho- sen Secretary and Treasurer of the Wheeling Savings Institution, a bank of discount and dc- posit. During his hours of leisure he pursued the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He forined a partnership with Charles W. Russell, Esq., and devoted his time to busi- ness in his office and in the courts until 1848, when he was chosen Cashier of the Northwestern Bank of Virginia at Wheeling, a position which he retained until 1863, when he resumed the practice of law in partnership with James Paull, Esq. This brief recital of dates furnishes but a meagre outline of a busy life crowded with stir- ring events, but it affords an insight to the char- acter of the man. With no more data than these a biographer knowing the public events of the period could accurately infer the details ncces- sary to fill up the history of the life. A studious and scholarly man of quiet and unobtrusive manners, enjoying in a marked degree the con- fidence of his fellow-citizens, selected for vari-
ous positions of trust and faithfully and success- fully discharging every duty placed upon him, could not fail to be thrust into a prominent place when men were looking around them for safe counsellors and steady leaders. The Vir- ginia Convention was in session at Richmond, and there was strong hope of holding the State to her moorings in the Union, when hostilities were commenced by the bombardment of Fort Sumter. .Under the strong excitement of the moment the Union men in the convention were overwhelmed and an ordinance of secession was passed on the 17th of April, 1861, to take effect when ratified by a vote of the people at a special election to be held on the 23d of May. The del- egates from the western counties returned home immediately, and at once began the work of organizing military companies to resist the ordi- nance and stand by the Union. In Wheeling there was intense popular commotion and im- minent danger of riot, the State and municipal officers believing it to be their duty under their oaths to support the State government by ar- resting or dispersing the men organized for re- sistance to the laws. A citizens' meeting was held, and after much angry debate the danger was averted by the adoption of a resolution offered by Daniel Lamb by which all parties were pledged to do all in their power "to pre- serve the peace and order of the city, and to protect the persons and property of all persons whomsoever against any lawlessness or mob violence." From the moment when Mr. Lamb's coolness and good judgment had saved the city from the horrors of an insurrection, he was kept in the front, leaned upon and confided in by the people during the whole period of the war. A meeting of the citizens of Harrison County held at Clarksburg on the 22d of April, 1861, recom- mended the holding of a convention of dele- gates from the western counties at Wheeling on the 13th of May. The suggestion was quickly responded to by the people of the whole section, and Mr. Lamb was by unanimous consent chosen one of the representatives of Ohio County, and served as a member of the Committee on State and Federal Relations. The committee recom- mended that, in the event of the ratification of the ordinance of secession, a new convention be assembled in Wheeling on the 11th of June, "to devise such means as the safety and welfare of
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the people should demand." In the mean time it was perfectly apparent to all that Virginia was to be the battle-field of the war, and that if they would protect their lives and their homes the Union men of the border counties must be armed. They had gone too far to retract, no matter what might ensue, and they had no hope of safety but in successful resistance to the gov- ernment at Richmond. Money and arms were needed. A committee of citizens composed of A. W. Campbell, J. W. Paxton, and Daniel Lamb was appointed to go to Washington and solicit aid from the General Government. Leav- ing home on the 23d of May, they went to Pitts- burgh. A vivid idea of the situation at the time may be had from the following extract from a private letter written by Mr. Lamb from Wash- ington on the 26th of May, 1861 :
" Washington is as quiet as Wheeling, except that there are a great many more people in the streets and about the hotels, and every hour or two you meet a regiment on the march. This morning Mr. Paxton and myself reviewed the Eighth New York Regiment and marched with them to the Washington end of the Long Bridge. Our military expedition was cut short at that point by the sentinels objecting to our going any further. The Eighth New York went over to invade the soil of Virginia. I must say I have never seen a more soldierly looking set of men, and as they passed us I examined their faces, where I could see no expressions of fear or anxiety." They seemed to be full of life and fun and passcd on to the bridge laughing and joking with one another. I don't think that regiment will flinch if they meet the F. F. Vs. Their line, four abreast, extended, I should think, near half a mile. We were in Pittsburgh till four o'clock Friday afternoon, very busy all the time in seeing different folks there and ex- plaining to them our necessities and plans in northwestern Virginia. There are no arms to be had at that place. All they have been able to get hold of have been distributed to the dif- ferent companies of Home Guards. We endeav- ored to impress them with the notion that they needed no such protection in Pittsburgh-that an attack on that place was out of the question -that the best defence for Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania was to arm the Union men of northwestern Virginia, and that it would be a judicious measure, even in reference to their own defence, to get a thousand or so of their Home Guards to lend us their guns and equipments to be used in arming men at Graf- ton, in Preston and Harrison Counties, etc. But while they admitted the force of all this, they told us that it would be uscless to ask their men
to whom the arms had been given to relinquish them. They assure us that on any call from us Pittsburgh will, however, hold herself in readi- ness to send five thousand well-armed men into northwestern Virginia. We left Pittsburgh at 4 o'clock on Friday afternoon and reached Harrisburg at 2 o'clock in the morning. Dur- ing the forenoon we had an interview with Gov- ernor Curtin. . He talks very decidedly, and assured us that on any intimation that the seces- sion forces were approaching northwestern Vir- ginia, he would take the responsibility himself, without awaiting orders from headquarters, to order Pennsylvania troops to our support. I have reason to suppose that at least one Penn- sylvania regiment received orders while we were at Harrisburg to be on the alert and hold themselves in readiness for such a movement. I have also reason to believe, from information received from Governor Curtin and other quar- ters, that General McClellan, of the Ohio mili- tary district, has orders to move troops into northwestern Virginia and take possession of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as far east as Cumberland. You at Wheeling will know more about this, however, than we do."
The Citizens' Committee was not able to ac- complish much beyond giving to the authorities at Washington accurate information of the con- dition of affairs and of the sentiment of the people in northwestern Virginia, and receiving from the officials of the Federal Government promises of protection. Neither money nor arms could be obtained at that time, and the committee returned home to await the action of the June convention. In this convention Mr. Lamb was again one of the representatives of Ohio County and served as a member of the Committee on Order of Business, upon whom was devolved the task of formulating the work to be done. The convention met on the 11th of June, and two days later a report was presented which, both then and since, has been attributed to Mr. Lamb's pen. It was a very skilfully drawn "Declaration of the People of Virginia represented in Convention," demanding "the reorganization of the government of the Com- monwealth," and declaring all acts of the Rich- mond Convention and of the Executive to sepa- rate the Commonwealth from the United States to be without authority and void. An ordinance for the reorganization of the State was also presented, and on the 19th of June was adopted. Provisional officers were subsequently chosen, Francis H. Pierpont being made Governor, and
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Daniel Lamb and four others were designated as members of the Governor's Council. Pro- vision was also made for a legislative body to be convened on the Ist of July, and the conven- tion then adjourned until the following August. After the reassembling of the convention an ordinance was prepared and adopted on the 20th of August providing for the formation of a new and independent State, and directing the elec- tion of delegates to a new convention to be held on the 26th of November for the purpose of framing a State constitution. The reorganized government of Virginia needed money and arms as badly as the unorganized Union men had needed these sinews of war two months before, and accordingly Mr. Lamb, Mr. Camp- bell, and Mr. Paxton were again sent to Wash- ington, bearing credentials this time as agents of the newly established State government. They arrived in Washington about the 25th of July, and were kindly received by President Lincoln and the heads of the several depart- ments with whom they had business, but their progress in the work of accomplishing their mission was very slow and at times discourag- ing. On the Ist of August Mr. Lamb wrote :
" Our business is yet unfinished and the Lord only knows when it will be. The way business is done in the circumlocution offices in Wash- ington city is a perfect nuisance. There is no objection whatever in any quarter to our hav- ing what we want-everybody is satisfied that it is all right and wishes to do anything that can aid the new Virginia government; and it is surprising beyond measure that a plain matter of business which ought to be dispatched in half an hour by a twelve-hundred-dollar clerk, should keep us a week, with the aid of two or three heads of departments and a dozen con- trollers, commissioners, chief clerks, etc. The papers have got at least a dozen bolts of red tape wrapped around them, and it seems to be contrary to the order of things to take more than one bolt off per day. However, with the bless- ing of Providence we intend to see the matter through if it does not take over a month."
At length the labors of the agents of the State government were successful, and a draft upon the Sub-Treasury at New York was given to Mr. Paxton for $41,657, money due to the State of Virginia for her portion of the proceeds of the sale of public lands, and an order was issued by Secretary Cameron for six thousand rifles, of which one thousand were to be sent to Ironton,
Ohio, for the use of Union men in Cabell and Wayne Counties in Virginia, and the remainder were placed at the disposal of Senator John S. Carlisle. Several trips were made by Mr. Lamb and other members of the committee before the matter was satisfactorily adjusted. In all of these preliminary meetings and conventions and as a member of the Governor's Council, Mr. Lamb exercised much influence as a safe, pru- dent, and cautious adviser, yielding to none in patriotism but checking all excesses in the ex- ercise of arbitrary power. He seldom spoke in public, he was not given to displays of fervid declamation, but he was always listened to with deference and his views generally prevailed. It was in committee work that he excelled. He possessed in an unusual degree the faculty of expressing in clear and elegant and terse Eng- lish not only his own ideas, but the ideas of others when communicated to him. His liter- ary style was peculiarly luminous and accurate ; his words were carefully chosen and skilfully put together, and no loophole for verbal or technical criticism was to be found in ordinary statute or resolution drawn by Daniel Lamb. Courageously, but cautiously and wisely, as though foreseeing the end from the beginning, he shaped the course of public events. In the convention which assembled in Wheeling on the 26th of November, 1861, for the preparation of a Constitution for the proposed new State, Mr. Lamb served as Chairman of the committee appointed to frame the chapter relating to the powers and duties of the legislative branch of the government. But it would be a mistake to suppose that his labors were confined to that particular chapter. The whole Constitution of 1863 shows the marks of his unwearying indus- try and his consummate skill. From the begin- ning to the end, every clause, article, and sec- tion passed under Mr. Lamb's scrutiny and received touches from his pen, and as a conse- quence the several provisions of the instrument as a whole were expressed in language that could not be misunderstood or misconstrued. The Congress of the United States having re- quired as a condition precedent to the recogni- tion of the new State, the insertion of a consti- tutional provision expressly forbidding slavery or involuntary servitude except for crime, the convention, which had adjourned on the 18th
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of February, 1862, reassembled on the 12th of February, 1863; the required amendment was made; the Constitution was ratified on the 26th of March, 1863; on the 20th of April, 1863, Pres- ident Lincoln issued his proclamation in ac- cordance with the act of Congress previously adopted; and sixty days later, on the 20th of June, 1863, West Virginia became one of the United States. But the people of Ohio County were not yet content to excuse Daniel Lamb from further public labors. He was a member of the House of Delegates in the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Legislatures held under the Constitution he had done so much to form. In all of these legislative bodies he was a member of the Judiciary Committee, and in nearly all he was its Chairman. It is unnecessary to particularize here the various important public measures which he originated or favored. Every useful and beneficial act of the Legislatures of 1863, '64, '65, '67, '69, and '70, every act tending to enhance the prosperity of the people and to heal the wounds inflicted by the civil war, found in Mr. Lamb a steady, con- sistent, and courageous advocate. He earnestly opposed the whole system of test oaths and proscription, as being wrong in morals and in practice detrimental to the public peace. After having striven in vain to prevent the passage of these measures, he had the satisfaction of being a member of the Legislature which repealed and wiped out the whole system. On the 27th of October, 1863, an act was passed providing for the compilation of a code of laws for the new State, adapted to the altered condition of affairs. Mr. Lamb's ability as a lawyer and his peculiar skill in composition, to which reference has al- ready been made, at once pointed him out as the proper man for this work. He accepted the appointment, and in 1867 reported to the Legis- lature fifty-two chapters of what was afterward known as the Code of 1868. At the same time, on account of failing health and the increas- ing pressure of professional work, he asked to be relieved from further labor upon the Code. In 1871 the Wheeling Savings Institution closed its doors and the directors made an assignment of all the property of the bank to Daniel Lamb as trustee for the creditors. The work of dis- entangling the confused affairs of the institution, collecting its assets and distributing the fund
to those entitled to receive it, was the labor of many months, but it was performed with all of that accuracy and fidelity which have ever char- acterized Mr. Lamb's performance of every duty. In the legal profession Mr. Lamb has maintained from the first a high position. He is noted as an excellent authority in the domain of chancery law and practice, all the intricacies of which have been his especial study. His papers are drawn with a clearness and accuracy which are at once an envy and an example to the younger members of the profession. Dur- ing a period of more than twenty-five years he was of counsel in nearly every important case arising in the First Judicial Circuit, appearing in the courts of the several counties, in the Supreme Court of Appeals, and in the courts of the United States. Of late years he has retired from active practice, but still retains position as assistant counsel of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, and he still discharges some of the duties of a counsellor at law. Notwith- standing the numerous positions of public trust which Mr. Lamb has held and his long service as a member of the Legislature, it can be truth- fully said of him that never in his life has he sought office for himself. He has always been a believer in the doctrine, now become some- what antiquated, that "the office should seek the man." It has always been so in his case. His political prominence during the years of the war and the decade thereafter was thrust upon him. He never became a candidate except in obedience to the wishes and solicitations of his fellow-citizens. The public recognized in him a man whom they could trust, a man who was capable of rendering a service of which they stood in imperative need, and they asked him to sacrifice his personal inclinations for the public good. Although he never sought an office, he shrank from no duty and evaded no responsi- bility. In 1871 a number of his friends desired his election to the United States Senate and made some efforts in that behalf, but beyond consenting to serve if elected, Mr. Lamb took no part in the canvass. From the machinery of party politics he has stood ever aloof. Not- withstanding the fact that his life has already extended far beyond the usual limit, Mr. Lamb has never been physically robust. Of slight physique and precarious health, he has yet been
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