USA > West Virginia > History and government of West Virginia > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
CHAPTER XIX.
THE STATE UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION .- (Continued.)
From 1863 to 1865.
1. The Counties Divided into Townships. - The Legislature passed an act on July 31st, 1863, pro- viding for the division of the several counties into townships, and a schedule in connection therewith contained the names of three responsible men in each county whose duty it should be to performn the work. This was done and in time the minor civil divisions of our State were created. By the requirements of the second constitution, these divisions were retained but the name township was changed to magisterial district, of which there cannot be a smaller number than three nor more than ten in each county. These magisterial districts for educa- tional purposes are divided into sub-districts, a school being situated in each.
2. The Hospital for the Insane at Weston. - This institution was established before the beginning of the Civil War. On March 22d, 1858, the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act providing for the establishment of the "Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum." The Governor was required to appoint three commissioners, one from the Valley and two from that part of the State cast of the Blue Ridge, to
200
-
THE STATE UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. 201
determine the location of the institution. They were to begin their labors on the first Monday in June en- suing, and visit three points to be named by the Governor. That official designated Weston, in Lewis county; Sutton, in Braxton county, and Fayetteville in Fayette county, and Thomas Wallace, of Petersburg City; Dr. Clement R. Harris, of Culpeper county, and Samuel T. Walker, of Rockingham county, as commissioners.
3. The Institution Located at Weston .- The commissioners having visited the sites named, selected Weston as the most available location and so reported to the Governor, who then appointed a board of directors consisting of nine members, the duty of which was to purchase the land and have the neces- sary buildings erected. The board was composed of William E. Arnold, John Brannon, James T. Jack- son, Minter Bailey, R. J. McCandlish, Caleb Boggess, Johnson N. Camden, Jacob B. Jackson and Joseph C. Spaulding. The act providing for the establish- ment of the institution appropriated twenty-five thousand dollars for the purchase of land the quan- tity of which was not to exceed three hundred acres. In 1860, the Assembly appropriated fifty thousand dollars for the work of construction, and in 1861, a similar sum for the same purpose, together with ten thousand dollars for the support of the asylum. Work began but was for a time suspended because of the war. But the Reorganized Government caused a resumption of the same, and the new State prosecuted it to completion.
-
1
202 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
4. Improvement of the Little Kanawha River .- The Little Kanawha river drains the interior of the State, and many years ago attracted attention because of its commercial importance, but it was not until 1863 that action was taken to se- cure the improve- ment of that stream. On Feb- ruary 4th in the year named, the General Assem- bly of the Reor- ganized Govern- ment passed an act incorporating the Little Kana- wha Navigation Company. Books for subscription LOG-RAFTING ON THE LITTLE KANAWHA RIVER. of stock were au- thorized to be opened at Parkersburg, in Wood county, Newark, Elizabeth and Rathbone, in Wirt county, and Glen- ville, in Gilmer county. Thus began the work which resulted in the construction of a number of locks and dams on the river.
5. The First West Virginia Book .- The first book relating to West Virginia, published after it became a State, was called "West Virginia-its Farms, For- ests and Oil-Wells." It was written by J. R. Dodge,
THE STATE UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. 203
and published in Philadelphia in 1865. It is a book of rare interest, and the vast fund of information pos- sessed by the author regarding the State is a matter of surprise, when we remember that it was a land practically unknown to industrial writers, without records of its natural wealth or the reports of the transactions of agricultural or geographical societies.
6. The Petroleum Production of the State .- The first petroleum discovered in West Virginia was
SCENE IN THE PETROLEUM FIELDS.
in Wirt county, and Burning Springs on the north side of the Little Kanawha river in that county, has a history that reads like romance. In the year 1860, intelligence of the discovery of one of the greatest petroleum-producing regions then known on the globe went out to the world form this place. In August of that year there was not a score of per- sons in the vicinity, and six months later, the morn- ing Fort Sumter was fired upon, there were not fewer
204 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
than six thousand persons here. Capitalists and ad- venturers from every part of the country rushed hither, among them United States senators, members of congress, governors of States, and others high in official positions. Fortunes were made and lost in a day. From this beginning has grown one of the chief industries of the State.
7. The Beginning of the State's Educational Work .- That we may properly understand the origin and development of the educational work of the State we must examine the records of Virginia before the formation of our own State. Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, in his report of the condition of the Colony in the year 1671, said: "Thank God, there are no free schools or printing presses, and I hope there will be none for a hundred years, for learn- ing has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world and printing has divulged these and other libels." Berkeley spoke of free schools, and the hope which he expressed was fully realized, be- cause it was 1796, one hundred and twenty-five years after his utterance, before Virginia enacted a law hav- ing the semblance of a public school system, and then its provisions rendered it inoperative for half a cen- tury longer. When these years had passed away and brought the year 1846, another statute was enacted, which, with the amendments of 1848, was practically a free school law; that is, for all counties that chose to adopt it.
8. First Free Schools in West Virginia .- Among the counties now in West Virginia which established
1
L
THE STATE UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. '205
free schools under the law of 1846 were Jefferson, Ohio, Kanawha and Brooke. To the first-named county belongs the honor of having established the first free schools in what is now West Virginia. This it did in 1847, and at the time of the beginning of the Civil War, in 1861, there were twenty-seven free schools in the county. In 1848, Ohio and Kanawha counties established free schools under the provisions of the same law, the former county completing its first free school building in July of that year. It was located at the corner of Union and Fifth streets in the city of Wheeling.
9. Constitutional Provisions for Free Schools .- A number of the members of the first Constitutional Convention of West Virginia came from counties which had free schools in operation, and the president of that body had been engaged but recently in an ef- fort to establish the same in Mason county. All of these were earnest advocates of a Free School Sys- tem. The Committee on Education was composed of Gordon Battelle,of Ohio county; William E. Steven- son, of Wood; Robert Hagar, of Boone; Thomas H. Trainer, of Marshall; J. W. Parsons, of Tucker; Will- iam Walker, of Wyoming, and George Sheets, of Hampshire. The report of this committee with slight changes became Article X. of the first Constitution.
10. First Free School Statutes of West Virginia. -In his message to the Legislature which assembled June 20th, 1863, Arthur I. Boreman, the first gov- ernor of the State, called the especial attention of that body to these constitutional provisions, and said:
206 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
" I trust you will take such action as will result in an organization of a thorough and efficient system." The Committee on Education of the first Legislature were as follows: In the Senate, John H. Atkinson, Thomas K. McCann, John M. Bowen, Chester D. Hubbard and William E. Stevenson; in the House of Delegates, A. F. Moss, S. R. Dawson, George C. Bowyer, Daniel Sweeney and Thomas Copley. Both committees sub- mitted reports from which the Legislature prepared the first free school law of the State.
11. The First Years of Free School Work .- Under the provision of the first constitution, the head of the educational work was designated the General Su- perintendent of Free Schools, and he was chosen by the Legislature. In 1864, that body elected Rev. William Ryland White to that office, and he imme- diately entered upon the duties pertaining thereto. From his Annual Report for the year 1865, it is seen that the system was in operation in twenty-two coun- ties and in Wheeling city, together with eleven other counties, in which it was partially introduced. In the twenty-two counties reported there were 133 school houses; 431 schools, in which there were en- rolled 17,972 pupils, and an enumeration of school youth of 63, 458. Such was the small beginning from which has grown our splendid school system of the present time.
-----
CHAPTER XX.
THE STATE UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. - Continued.
From 1865 to 1870.
1. The West Virginia University .- This institu- tion stands at the head of the Free School System of the State. It grew out of the West Virginia Agricul- tural College. On July 2d, 1862, Congress passed an act donating public lands to the several States and Territories which provided colleges for the promotion of the agricultural and mechanic arts. In the ap- portionment of these lands, thirty thousand acres were allowed the respective States for each representative in Congress. West Virginia then had five such, and one hundred and fifty thousand acres was apportioned to the State. This was disposed of for the sum of $90,000, which was invested by the Governor as required by law.
2. The Beginning of the University .- On October 3d, 1863, the Legislature passed an act providing for the West Virginia Agricultural College within five years thereafter. On January 9th, 1866, the board of trustees of Monongalia Academy offered to the State all of its property, including that of Woodburne Female Seminary, the whole located in Morgantown, and valued at $51,000, on condition that the contem-
207
208 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA. .
plated Agricultural College be located at or near that place. The Legislature on February 7th, 1867, ac- cepted this donation, established the College, and empowered the Governor to appoint a board of visitors, consisting of eleven members, one from each senatorial dis- trict. By an act passed March 3d, 1868, the sum of $16,000 was added to the congressional donation, the whole to become a permanent endowment fund for the College. On Decem- ber 4th of the same year, the name of the "Agricultural ALEXANDER MARTIN, D.D. First President of the West Vir- ginia University. College of West Virginia" was changed by legislative enactment to that of the
West Virginia University. Since that time this insti- tution has grown to be one of the leading universities of this country, having several large buildings and all modern improvements and apparatus.
3. Marshall College State Normal School .- The first reference in State records to a normal school is that of a joint resolution of the Legislature adopted February 3d, 1865, by which the governor was author- ized to appoint a commission of five persons, whose duty it should be to report to the next Legislature a definite plan for the establishment of one or more normal schools. On February 27th, 1867, an act was passed providing for the establishment of a State Nor- mal School in Cabell county.
THE STATE UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. 209
4. Early History of the School .- Marshall Acad- emy was incorporated by Legislative enactment, March 13th, 1838, with John Laidley, Frederick G. L. Beuring, William Buffington, Benjamin Brown, John Samuels, James Gallaher, James Holderby and others, trustees. James Holderby and wife transferred the title to a suitable body of land by deed bearing date June 30th, 1838, and a four-room brick building was speedily erected thereon. Isaac N. Peck was the first principal. The institution was named in honor of Chief Justice John Marshall, the eminent jurist. The school met with varying success until 1858, when it was incorporated as Marshall College, and as such it continued until 1867, when by legislative enactment it was made a State Normal School.
5. The Manufacture of Salt .- One of the most im- portant industries ever developed within the State was
the manufac- ture of salt, and although it has now greatly de- clined, it is probable that the year 1867 witnessed the greatest pro- SCENE IN THE KANAWHA SALINES-1867. duction. That portion of the Great Kanawha Valley above Charleston was the region in which sait was first made. There is evi-
210 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
dence that the Indians obtained a supply of that nec- essary article here as early as 1753. Elisha Brooke established the first salt furnace in 1797. Salt for local use was made at Bulltown, on the Little Kanawha river, as early as 1795, and thereafter for many years, but the chief production in the State other than in the Great Kanawha Valley, was on the Ohio in Mason county. In 1849, wells were bored and a furnace erected at West Columbia in that county, and in 1854 another was erected at Hartford City, distant six miles from the former. Thus the work continued until 1867, when there were more than a dozen furnaces being operated in the vicinity, producing annually more than two million bushels. It is now a vanished industry.
6. Establishment of Storer College. - The first institution established in the State for the education of colored people was Storer College at Harper's Ferry. In February, 1867, John Storer of the State of Maine gave $10, 000 toward founding an institution for the colored people, providing that $10,000 more were added to it. Arrangements were completed and a farm of one hundred and fifty acres of land pur- chased on Bolivar Heights at Harper's Ferry. Four government buildings, former residences of govern- ment officials connected with the United States armory at that place, were secured and in one of them the school was opened October 2d, 1867, nineteen pupils being present. A charter was obtained later, and good buildings erected. Here the State educated its colored teachers until the establishment of the Colored Institute at Farm, Kanawha county.
L
THE STATE UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. 21I
7. The Berkeley Springs; State Ownership .- These famous Springs in Morgan county are now owned by the State. The property was included in the Fairfax Land Grant, and just how the title thereto became vested in the State of Virginia does not ap- pear, but the General Assembly of that State at its first session in 1776, provided for the appointment of trustees for the "Warm Springs of Virginia," and declared that they should be for public use and for no other purpose. Virginia continued to control the property until the division of the State, when the title thereto vested in West Virginia, as did that to all other public property within the bounds of the new State, as provided by an act of the Assembly under the Reorganized Government, passed February 3d, 1863, when trustees were ap- pointed therefor SCENE AT BERKELEY SPRINGS .- 1898. and the property was called Berke- ley Springs. An act of the West Virginia Legislature, passed in 1868, declared Berkeley Springs to be the property of the State.
8. The West Virginia College .- In 1863, Rever- end Flavius Cather formed a joint stock company, for the purpose of erecting a building and sustaining a school of high order at Flemington, in Taylor
212 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
county, West Virginia. Seven thousand dollars were collected and expended upon the enterprise, but it was not enough and work was suspended until 1868, when a charter, granting full college powers, was obtained and the name West Virginia College, adopted. Reverend A. B. Williams was elected president, and with a full faculty, the first term began on the second Tuesday in November, 1868. It is now closed.
9. George William Summers .- George W. Sum- mers was one of the most eminent Virginians on the west side of the Alleghany mountains. He was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, March 4th, 1807, but removed with his parents to the Great Kanawha Valley when but a child. He graduated from the Ohio University at Athens, in 1826, and was admitted to the bar the following year. He represented Kan- awha county in the General Assembly of Virginia in 1830, and in IS41, was elected a Member of Congress, and re-elected to that position in 1843. In 1851, he was a candidate for Governor but was defeated by Joseph Johnson of Harrison county. The next year he was elected a Judge of the Eighth Judicial District of Virginia, and in IS61, was a member of the Peace Conference at Washington City. He died in Sep- tember, 1868.
10. The First West Virginia Biography Written. -The first contribution to biographical literature, made by a West Virginian, after the admission of the State into the Union, was the work of Zebedee War- ner, D. D. It was entitled " The Life and Labors of Reverend Jacob Bachtel," and was published at
------
THE STATE UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. 213
Dayton, Ohio, in 1868. It is an interesting detail of the labors and privations experienced by those en- gaged in ministerial work in West Virginia, long years ago.
11. "Sketches of Virginia."-Among the most voluminous writers of the State was William Henry | Foote, D.D., of Romney, Hampshire county. He was born at Colchester, Connecticut, December 20th, 1794, and graduated from Yale College in 1816. In 1824. he came to Romney as a minister, where he remained nine years, when he went to Philadelphia, at which place ten years were spent. Then he returned to Hampshire county, never more to leave it. He died at Romney, November 22d, 1869. He was the author of several published works, among them being, "Sketches of Virginia," "Sketches of North Caro- lina," and the "Huguenots, or Reformed Dutch Church." The first named is of great value to all students of our history.
12. First Poetry of West Virginia .- In 1860, " The Wreathe of Eglantine" was published at Bal- timore. It was a volume of poems, the joint work of Daniel B. Lucas and his sister, Virginia Lucas, of Jefferson county. The work of the latter consisted of pastoral poems, illustrated by David Henderson, a pupil of Porte Crayon. This was doubtless the first attempt at Southern' pastoral poetry illustrated by a Southern artist, and the publication of the book will mark an epoch in this branch of Southern Literature. Other literary works of Daniel B. Lucas, are: " Mem- oirs of John Yates Beale"; "Ballads and Madrigals,"
214 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
and joint authorship of "Fisher Ames and Henry Clay."
13. The Schools for the Deaf and Blind .- A binding obligation to educate as far as possibe, all the deaf and blind youths within its limits, is imposed upon the State by the very laws of nature and all just claims of humanity. Prior to the year 1870, West Virginia made arrangements for the education of her deaf and blind children in the schools of Ohio and Virginia. But this was very unsatisfactory, and the Legislature passed an act on March 3d, that year, providing for a State institution in which these unfortunate children should be educated. Eight thousand dollars was appropriated with which to begin the work.
14. The School Located and Established .- A Board of Regents for the institution was appointed by the Governor. The several towns and cities of the State were invited to compete for the location of the school. The Literary Society of Romney and the citizens of that town proposed to donate to the State the building known as the Romney Classical Institute, together with fifteen acres of land. This was regarded as the best offer and accepted. Changes were made in the building and the school was opened on Sep- tember 29th, 1870, when thirty pupils were enrolled, twenty-five being deaf mutes and five blind. These schools are the pride of the State.
15. West Liberty Normal School .- West Liberty Academy was established in 1838, by Nathan Shot- well, a suitable building having been erected for the purpose. In the year 1840, the building was destroyed
THE STATE UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. 215
by fire, but the school was continued temporarily in another building. On February 4th, 1844, the Gen- eral Assembly of Virginia passed an act authorizing the directors of the Literary Fund to loan to the trus- tees of the West Liberty Academy, five thousand dollars with approved security. In 1847, another building was erected on the site of the former. Those most active in this enterprise were W. B. Curtis, M. M. Dunlap, Peter Delaplaine, Joseph Waddell and George D. Bonar.
16. The School Made a State Institution .- The West Liberty Academy was continued, until it became a State Normal School. On February 26th, 1867, the West Virginia Legislature passed an act authorizing the trustees of West Liberty Academy to sell the same at public or private sale, and the same act appropri- ated six thousand dollars with which the General Superintendent of Free Schools was directed to pur- chase the property for a State Normal School. There was some delay, but the State secured the title, and by an act of March Ist, 1870, a branch of the Normal : School was established at WVest Liberty and it was opened May 2d, 1870.
WILLIAM A. HARRISON.
17. Death of Judge William A. Harrison .- On December 31st, 1870, Judge William A. Harrison died at his home in Clarks-
216 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
burg. He was a native of Prince William county, Virginia, where he was born August 27th, 1795. Having been admitted to the bar, he came to Parkersburg in 1819, where he spent two years and then removed to Clarksburg, which place he made his permanent home and where he became prominent in his profession. For a number of years he was United States District Attorney, and in 1861, was elected Judge of the Circuit Court; in 1863, he was elected one of the three judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, and became the first president pro tempore of that body.
18. Resignation of Governor Boreman. - The Legislature elected Governor Boreman to a seat in the United States Senate February 26th, 1869. He promptly re- signed the office of Governor, which he had filled by suc- cessive elections since 1863, and on the following day Dan- iel D. T. Farnsworth became DAN'L D. T. FARNSWORTH. the acting Governor by virtue of his office, that of President of the State Senate, and as such served six days, or until March 4th, 1869, when he was succeeded by the Governor elect, Wil- liam E. Stevenson.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE STATE UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION .- Concluded.
From 1870 to 1872.
1. The Fairmont State Normal School. - A private Normal school was established at Fairmont in 1865: it was the first school opened for the train- ing of teachers in this State. A year later a bill proposing the establishment of a State Normal School at Fairmont was introduced in the Legisla- ture, but it did not become a law. In the same year a joint stock company, the name of which was the "Regency of the West Virginia Normal School," was organized and obtained a charter. The original incorporators were: A. Brooks Fleming, Oliver Jack- son, J. C. Beeson, Ellery R. Hall, J. M. Boyd, D. B. Dorsey, J. J. Burns, T. A. Fleming, J. H. Brown- field and T. A. Maulsby. A lot was purchased and the erection of a building commenced in 1867.
2. The School under State Control .- Before the completion of the building the property passed from the control of the Regency to that of the State. Ou March 4th, 1868, the Legislature passed an act provid- ing for the purchase of the property of the Regency of the West Virginia Normal School and the estab- lishment of a State Normal School at Fairmont.
217
218 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
The sum of five thousand dollars was appropriated under specified conditions, to pay for the said property and for the completion of the building. One of the conditions on which the appropriation was made was that Marion county should pay into the State treasury the sum of two thousand dollars; this met with a ready compliance and the title to the property passed to the State. William R. White, the first State Superintendent of Free Schools, was the first principal of the Normal School. Dr. J. G. Blair succeeded him in 1871, and continued at the head of the school until 1878.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.