USA > West Virginia > History and government of West Virginia > Part 13
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3. The Glenville State Normal School .- On February 19th, 1872, it was enacted by the Legislature that a branch of the State Normal School be estab- lished at the town of Glenville in Gilmer county, with the provision, however, that citizens of the county or others furnish a suitable building for the purposes of the school, without cost to the State.
4. The School Opened .- The requirement as to the building met with a ready compliance, a two- story frame residence being so altered as to accommo- date the school, which was opened to students in January, 1873, with T. M. Marshall in charge. Louis Bennett was elected principal in 1873, and entered upon the discharge of his duties in April of that year. A substantial brick building was soon after erected.
5. Shepherd College State Normal School .- The branch of the State Normal School at Shepherds- town in Jefferson county was established by an act of
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THE STATE UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. 219
Legislature passed February 27th, 1872. The Shep- herd College Building, which had been used for some time as a court house, was vacated, and early in 1871, several gentlemen, residents of Shepherdstown, applied to the trustees of the college for a lease of the same that a school might be established in which young men and women might be afforded an oppor- tunity to secure higher educational advantages. Per- mission was readily granted and a lease for a term of years was executed to Rev. C. W. Andrews, George M. Beltzhoover, Alexander R. Boteler, Henry Shep- herd and others.
6. The School as a State Institution .- These gentlemen organized as a Board, and in September, 1871, the school designed by them was opened with Joseph McMurran as principal. In June of the next year, after the passage of the act establishing a Branch of the State Normal School at Shepherdstown, the Board of Regents met at that place and made an order to include the work of the previous year as part of the Normal course, and at the same time elected Joseph McMurran principal, and in this position he continued as a faithful and efficient worker for ten years.
7. The Branch of the State Normal School at Concord .- The act of the Legislature establishing a branch of the State Normal School at Concord in Mercer county was passed on February 28th, 1872. A provision of the law was, that the building recently erected in the town for a court house and jail and the land on which the same was located, together with
220 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
not less than five acres additional and adjacent thereto, be secured to the State without cost. Before this was done, the owner of the land died and a title could not be secured, but the Legislature on Decem- ber 2d, 1873, so amended the law that other land might be secured. A purchase of six acres was made and the Board of Regents having secured James H. French as principal, caused the school to be opened for the admission of pupils on May 10th, 1875.
8. James Harvey French, the First Principal of the School .- The "Father of the Concord State Normal School," was Captain James Harvey French. He was a native of Giles county, Virginia, born October 20th, 1818. He was educated at Georgetown in the District of Columbia and at the University of Virginia, from which he was graduated. He was admitted to the bar soon after the Civil War began, when he entered the Confederate army as Captain, and par- ticipated in the first battle of Manassas. From the date JAMES HARVEY FRENCH. of his election as principal of the Concord Normal School, he served continuously in that position for full seventeen years, or until his death, which occurred on December 11th, 1891. An imposing marble shaft marks his resting place, in the town of Athens, near the former site of the Normal School building. His
THE STATE UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. 22I
labors liave made a lasting impression upon tlie edu- cational work of the State.
9. A State Constitutional Convention. - On February 23d, 1871, an act was passed providing for a Convention to alter the Constitution. The election was held on the fourth Thursday in August ensuing, when a majority of the votes cast were in favor of calling the Convention. As many members of the body as there are senators and delegates composing the Legislature, were chosen at the general election in October, and the governor made proclamation of the result, December 26th.
10. Meeting of the Convention .- On January 16th, 1872, the Convention assembled in the old Methodist Episcopal Church at Charleston, and entered upon the work before it. Samuel Price, of Greenbrier county, was chosen president; Gibson J. Butcher, secretary, and Jacob V. Cunningham, sergeant-at-arms. The Convention, after continuing in constant session for two months and twenty-three days, adjourned April 29th, 1872, having framed the present Constitution of the State. It was submitted to the people and by them ratified on the ensuing fourth Thursday in August, at which date it became operative and in full force.
11. Constitutional Changes .- The new Constitu- tion wrought many changes in the organic law of the State. The term of all State officers was increased from two to four years. The Board of Public Works was made to consist of the Governor, Auditor, Treas- urer, State Superintendent of Free Schools, and At- torney-General, instead of the three first-named, as
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222 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
under the former Constitution. The number of judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals was increased from three to four. The office of Secretary of State was made an appointive one, instead of elective as formerly, and that of State Superintendent of Free Schools became an elective one by the people. The regular session of the Legislature became biennial instead of annual, and the term of office of the members of the House of Delegates was increased from one to two years, while that of members of the Senate was increased from two to four years, and the number of senatorial districts was increased from eleven to twelve.
12. The Free School System Under the New Constitution .- Among the men composing the Con- vention which framed the Constitution, were many who had been actively engaged in putting the Free School System into operation, and of these were Ben- jamin W. Byrne and William K. Pendleton, two future State Superintendents of Free Schools. Of all the standing committees of that body, none ranked higher intellectually than that on education, com- posed as it was of William H. Travers, W. K. Pendle- ton, George H. Moffett, Isaiah Bee, John T. Peerce, Joseph N. B. Crim, Charles D. Boggs, William Haynes, W. J. Gallagher, J. Marshall Hagans and John A. Warth. How well they did the work will appear when we see how firmly our school system is. fixed in the organic law of the State.
13. First Free School Legislation Under the New Constitution .- The Constitution declared that the Legislature should provide for a thorough and
THE STATE UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. 223
efficient system of free schools. The Committee on Education on the part of the House of Delegates, was composed of : Albert A. Lewis, George R. C. Floyd, M. F. Hullihen, Joseph M. Ferguson, Jesse Flowers, B. H. Foley, B. C. Vinson, John A. Camp- bell and Edward F. Vossler. Those composing the Senate Committee on Education were J. L. Hall, G. A. Blakemore, Presley C. Eastham, Isaac E. Mc- Donald, and C. M. Bishop. These Committees worked faithfully, and framed the Free School Law of 1873.
14. The President of the Second Constitutional Convention .- The President of the Constitutional Convention which framed the present Constitution of the State was Samuel Price, of Greenbrier county. He was born in Fauquier county, Vir- ginia, July 28th, 1805, studied law in Kentucky, and was ad- mitted to the bar in Nicholas county, now West Virginia, SAMUEL PRICE. in 1832. He was Clerk of the county in 1831, Prosecut- ing Attorney in 1833, and represented Nicholas and Fayette counties in the General Assembly of Virginia in 1835. He was a member of the Virginia Conven- tions of 1850 and 1860, and was elected Lieutenant- Governor of Virginia in 1863. He was appointed to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate caused by the death of Allen T. Caperton in 1876. He died at Lewisburg, February 25th, 1884.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE STATE UNDER THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION.
From 1872 to 1881.
1. Death of George Hay Lee .- George Hay Lee was one of the most eminent jurists of Virginia. He was boza at Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley in 1807, and was graduated from the Virginia University. He was admitted to the bar, and in 1831 removed to Clarksburg, now West Vir- ginia. Twice he represented Harrison county in the Gen- eral Assembly of Virginia, and was prosecuting-attorney of the same county, and afterward United States Dis- trict Attorney for the western GEORGE HAY LEE. district of Virginia. Later he was circuit judge, and upon the adoption of the Constitution of 1850, he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals. He died at his home at Clarksburg, November 20th, 1873.
2. Another Contribution to the Literature of the State .- This was a volume entitled "The Form- ation of West Virginia," and was printed at Wells- burg, West Virginia, in 1875. The title indicates the historical character of the work. It treats
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THE STATE UNDER THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION. 225
extensively of the causes which led to the formation of the State. The author, Granville Parker, was an active participant in the movements of which he writes. He was born at Chelmsford, Massachusetts, January 18th, 1809, and came to Cabell county, now West Virginia, before the Civil War. He represented that county in the convention which framed the first Constitution of the State. He died at Wellsburg, May Ioth, 1881.
3. Improvement of the Great Kanawha River .- The failure of the steamer "Robert Thompson" to as- cend the river in 1819, and the success of the "Andrew Donnally" in reaching Charleston the next year, were events of so much importance, that the General As- sembly of Virginia, at its next session in 1820-21, provided for the improvement of the river. Surveys were made and the work began at Red House Shoals, and at the mouth of Elk River, in 1825, under the direction of John Bosser, but little was accomplished. Fifty years passed away and brought the year 1875, when the Federal Government undertook the work which has been so thoroughly done.
4. Death of Judge James Paull .- On May 11th, 1875, Judge James Paull passed from among the liv- ing. He was born in Belmont county, Ohio, July 6th, 1818. Early in life he entered Washington College, Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1835, and later attended the Law Department of the University of Virginia. Locating in Wheeling for the practice of his profession, he twice represented Ohio county in the General Assembly of Virginia. In
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226 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
1872 he was elected a Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals. He entered upon the arduous duties of his position, but they were too much for him, and he re- tired to Wellsburg, where he yielded up his life in the midst of its usefulness.
5. Founding of Broaddus College .- This institu- tion was established at Winchester, Virginia, in Sep- tember, 1871, as the Winchester Female Institute. Later the name was changed to Broaddus Female Col- lege in memory of Reverend William F. Broaddus, a talented minister of Virginia. In 1876, the school was removed to Clarksburg, West Virginia. A char- ter was obtained in 1877, and the corporate name changed to Broaddus College, both sexes being admitted since that time. In 1894, the school began work under a second charter, the title being changed to that of Broaddus Classical and Scientific Institute.
6. Another Prominent West Virginian Passes Away .- Kellian V. Whaley, one of the three Vir- ginia members of Congress under the Reorganized Government, died May 20th, 1876. He was born in Onandago county, New York, on May 6th, 1821, and came to what is now West Virginia in 1842. He entered the Federal army in 1861, and was taken prisoner at Guyandotte the same year, but made his escape. He served three terms in Congress, one under the Reorganized Governinent, and two as one of the representatives from the new State of West Virginia. He was appointed Collector of Customs at Brazos de Santiago, Texas, in 1868.
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7. The United States Centennial Exposition .- The year 18,6 was the centennial anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence-the one hundredth year of our national life. To no other American State was it worth more than to West Vir- ginia, and well did she improve the opportunity thus afforded to make known to the world the vastness of her undeveloped wealth.
The Nations and States of the earth were represented at the Exposition, and, for the first time, West Vir- ginia's importance as a State having boundless nat- ural resources, became known. On the 14th of De- cember, 1875, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the Governor to appoint a State Board of Centennial Managers, consisting of seven persons, two of whom were to be the National Commissioners for the State. These the President of the United States had pre- viously named; they were Alexander R. Boteler, of Jefferson county, and Andrew J. Sweeney, of Ohio county. On the 28th ensuing the Governor ap- pointed as members of said Board: O. C. Dewey, G. W. Franzheim, E. H. Beall, Thomas Maslin and John P. Hale. Twenty thousand dollars were appro- priated to pay the expenses of the State's exhibit.
8. The Commissioners at Work .- The board hast- ened to organize by electing Andrew J. Sweeney, President, and O. C. Dewey, Secretary. Local boards were appointed in every county in the State. Profes- sor M. F. Maury was entrusted with the classification of all the exhibits, and Professor William M. Fontaine, of the West Virginia University, was detailed by the
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228. HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
Board of Regents of that institution to prepare for publication all of the information collected by the board.
9. West Virginia as Seen at Philadelphia .- The commissioners proceeded to Philadelphia and selected a site upon which to erect a State building. Plans and specifications were prepared by C. C. Kemble, an architect of Wheeling, and contracts were entered into with Henry S. White, of Marshall county, for the erection of the building. The reception rooms were built entirely of woods of the State finished in their natural colors. Here was arranged such an exhibit of our material resources and handiwork that it not only surprised the people of other States, but astonished those from our own.
10. United States Senator Allen T. Caperton Dies at Washington .- A distinguished West Virginian died at Washington City in 1876. This was Allen Taylor Caperton, United States Senator from this State. He was born near Union, Monroe county, now West Virginia, November 21st, 1810. He attended the University of Virginia a'nd completed his educa- ALLEN T. CAPERTON. tion at Yale College in 1832, and then studied law. In 1841 he represented Monroe county in the lower branch of the General Assembly of Virginia; three
THE STATE UNDER THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION. 229
years later, he was elected to the upper house of the same body, and occupied a seat in the Constitu- tional Convention of 1850-1. He followed the fortunes of his native State in the Civil War, and in 1862 the Assembly of Virginia elected him to a seat in the Senate of the Confederate States. He returned to his home at the close of the war, and on February 17th, 1875, the Legislature of West Virginia elected him a Senator in the Congress of the United States.
11. " History of Kanawha County."-This work was published in 1876, the author being George W. Atkinson. It is one of the best local histories that has appeared relating to the region west of the Alle- ghanies. It contains an account of the early settle- ments of the Great Kanawha Valley, as derived from records and aged citizens. Kanawha county was formed in 1789, when bands of savage men still con- tinued a barbarous and relentless warfare against the frontier settlements then within the new county, the limits of which embraced nearly a fourth part of the present State of West Virginia. The book also contains much valuable biography. In 1890, the same author having associated with himself Alvaro F. Gibbons, published " Prominent Men of West Vir- ginia," a work of much value.
12. Great Railroad Labor Troubles .- The year 1877 witnessed one of the greatest railroad strikes that ever occurred in the United States, and Martinsburg, West Virginia, was the point where it began. The civil authorities were powerless and the officials of the rail- road appealed to the State for aid. The Berkeley
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230 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
Light Infantry was ordered to assist the civil author- ities. The troops went to the scene of action but were unable to subdue the strikers. The Governor sent the Mathews Light Guards from Wheeling but they, too, were powerless to restore order. That official then appealed to President Hayes for the assist- ance of the United States army to aid in maintaining the supremacy of the law. General W. H. French, who was stationed at the Washington arsenal, was ordered to move all available troops to Martinsburg. A body of two hundred of the Fourth United States Artillery, hastened to that place, and order was restored, but the strike extended to other cities and states and rendered the year memorable in the history of the Nation.
13. General John Jay Jackson .- On January Ist, 1877, General John Jay Jackson died at his home in Parkersburg, West Virginia, aged seventy-seven years. He was born near that city. When but a mere youth he attended Washington College, Pennsylvania, and later entered the Military Academy at West Point, where he was graduated in 1818. Enlisting in the regular army, he served on the Atlantic coast and afterwards with distinction with the Fourth United States Infan- try during the Seminole War in Florida. Leaving the army, he studied law and rose rapidly in his chosen profession. He held many positions of trust and honor, representing Wood county six different times in the General Assembly of Virginia. In 1842, he obtained the rank of Brigadier-General in the mili- tary establishment of Virginia.
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14. Charles S. Lewis Dies at Clarksburg .-- Another one of the prominent men of the State, who fell by the hand of death in 1878, was Charles S. Lewis, of Harri- son county. He died near where he was born fifty- seven years before. He re- ceived the best education afforded by Clarksburg at that day, and then attended the Ohio University, and later was graduated from Augusta College, Kentucky. As a member of the Gen- eral Assembly of Virginia, as a representative of Harri- CHARLES S. LEWIS. . son county in the Legisla- ture of West Virginia, as State Superintendent of Free Schools and as a Judge of the Circuit Court, he was faithful to every trust.
15. " The History of the Pan-Handle"; " History of Marion County."-In 1879, an extensive and val- uable historical work, entitled the "History of the Pan-Handle," was published at Wheeling. It was edited by J. H. Newton, and in addition to full his- tories of the counties of Marshall, Ohio, Brooke and Hancock, it contained much general history of the upper Ohio Valley. In the same year George A. Dunnington published a work of much interest to the student of our history. It was entitled, "History and Progress of the County of Marion, West Virginia, from its Earliest Settlement by the Whites down to the Present." The author was aided by notes and memoranda left by Richard P. Knott.
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CHAPTER XXIII.
THE STATE UNDER THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION .- Continued.
From 1881 to 1889.
1. History of Preston County .- In the year 1882, Samuel T. Wiley's "History of Preston County" was published at Kingwood, West Virginia. The records of that county from 1796 to 1869 were destroyed by fire in the latter year; the written history of the county was very brief, and the unwritten, rapidly passing from the memory of man, and the author's publication was a timely one, for in it much has been preserved that would soon have been lost forever. The following year the same author performed a similar work for the people of Monongalia county. Historians have been called "the bookkeepers of the nations," and Samuel T. Wiley has compiled the books for an im- portant part of this Commonwealth.
2. Ex-Governor William E. Stevenson Passes from Among the Living .- William E. Stevenson, an honored ex-Governor of West Virginia, died at Parkersburg on Thanksgiving day, November 29th, 1883. He was born in Allegheny county, Pennsyl- vania, March 18th, 1820, and came to Wood county, now West Virginia, in 1857. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1861, and a mein-
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THE STATE UNDER THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION. 233
ber of the State Senate from 1863 to 1869, the last three years of which he was President of that body. Elected in 1868, he entered upon the duties of Chief Ex- ecutive of the State on March 4th, 1869, and served the Con- stitutional term of two years.
WILLIAM E. STEVENSON.
3. Founding of the Nor- mal and Classical Academy. -This institution was incor- porated in the year 1882, under the name of the West Virginia Academy, and was
located at Buckhannon, West Virginia. Among its founders were Zebedee Warner, W. M. Weekly, J. O. Stevens, L. T. John, Levi Leonard and G. A. Newlon. The school was opened for the reception of students in 1883, with Professor J. O. Stevensat its head. A brick building of ten rooms was erected, a curriculum pre- pared and a full faculty organized.
4. Stevenson Female Seminary Founded .- This is the leading educational institution of the Eastern Pan-Handle devoted exclusively to female education. It derives its name from John Stevenson, who, before the beginning of the Civil War, left by will a tract of four and one half acres of land at Charlestown, the county-seat of Jefferson, upon which to erect a female school of high grade. For the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this bequest, a joint stock company was organized in 1884; among the stock- holders were William H. Travers, A. C. Hopkins,
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234 HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
Gustav Brown and John M. Coyle. The school was opened to students in 1884.
5. Death of Prominent Men .- The year 1884 was signalized by the death of a number of prominent men of the State. Among these were ex-Governor Henry Mason Mathews, William Guy Brown and Charles James Faulkner, each of whom had rendered faithful service to the State. The first named was a native of Greenbrier county, born there in 1834; he was a distin- guished lawyer; a member of the Constitutional Con- vention of 1872, which framed the present Constitu- tion of the State; was elected Attorney-General of the State in 1872 and became Governor in 1877. He died at Lewisburg, West Virginia. The second, William Guy Brown, was born in what is now Preston county, September 25th, 1800. He began the practice of law in 1823, and was a member of the Gen- eral Assembly of Vir- ginia in 1832 and again in 1840, when he served four con- secutive terms. In 1845 he became a member of Congress HENRY MASON MATHEWS. and was re-elected in 1847. He represented Preston county in the Constitutional Convention of Virginia in IS50 and was also a member of the Cou-
THE STATE UNDER THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION. 235
vention of 1861. In the same year he was elected to Congress as a representative of Virginia under the Reorganized Government and re-elected in 1863. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1872, and the same year he was elected to a seat in the West Virginia Legislature. The third, Charles James Faulkner, was born in Martinsburg, Berke- ley county, July 2d, 1806. In 1829 he was ad- mitted to the bar and three years later represented Berkeley county in the General Assembly and was re-elected in 1833. Governor John Floyd, in 1832, appointed him to prepare a report on the subject of the boundary between Virginia and Maryland. He was elected to a seat in the Senate of the United States in 1844. He occupied a seat in the Vir- ginia Convention of 1850, and the next year was elected to Congress and by successive elections served eight years. In 1857 President Buchanan appointed him minister to France. Returning home, he served on the staff of General Thomas J. Jackson in the Confed- erate army; he was a member of the Constitutional Con- vention of 1872, and the same year was elected to Con- gress, but declined to be a candidate for a second term.
6. History and Poetry .- In the year 1884 Hu Maxwell's "History of Tucker county, West Vir- ginia," was published at Kingwood. It was the first work that treated in detail of the early history of the Cheat River Valley, together with its connection with the annals of the South Branch Valley on the one hand, and that of the Monongahela Valley on the other. In addition to the pioneer history the book
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