USA > West Virginia > Prominent men of West Virginia: biographical sketches, the growth and advancement of the state, a compendium of returns of every election, a record of every state officer; > Part 12
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But better than a reputation for oratory, statesmanship and legal attainments is a character for honesty, sobriety and sterling integrity. Mr. Willey's reputation for probity in public and pri- vate life is as spotless as a maiden's and as unsullied as a ray of light. Through his church relations his name has become fa-
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miliar to thousands of the homes of the land as the synonym for purity and exalted Christian character. His memory will be perpetuated signally and with lasting certainty through the influence of a lofty example, in which are exhibited all the noble qualities that enter into the composition of a character which combines a just pride without ostentation, candor with- out dissimulation, humility without affectation, learning with- out vanity, generosity without selfishness, truth without fear. All of these elements are the environments of Mr. Willey's daily existence and are the leading lessons of his blameless life.
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PETER GOODWIN VAN WINKLE.
IN early manhood the writer of this sketch looked upon the 1 kindly face of a father's friend, and as those who knew him best ever did, revered the warm glow of benevolence therein portrayed. He was born in New York City, September 7, 1808, and died in Parkersburg, West Virginia, April 15, 1872, honored for his integrity, public spirit and political candor, and revered for his superb qualities of head and heart. His education was academic.
At Paramus, Bergen county, New York, September 21, 1831, he wedded Juliette, daughter of William P. and Martha Rathbone, with whom he lived so happily till her death, Febru- ary 10, 1844, that he never afterwards married.
He studied law, and began practice in Wood county, Virginia, where he spent his subsequent life. He was law partner for a short time with the late General John J. Jackson, and then continued alone in the profession until 1852, when he became engaged principally with other pursuits. Was for the first seven years president of the Little Kanawha Bridge Company ; secretary of the Northwestern Virginia Railroad Company- now merged into the Baltimore and Ohio line from Grafton to the Ohio river-from its organization in April, 1851, to Febru- ary, 1857, when he was elected president, and so continued till the company was re-organized in 1865, and then became presi- dent of the re-organized company, and remained in that posi- tion till his resignation in 1870. Served as Mayor, Recorder and Councilman of Parkersburg upon different occasions. Was a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850, and took important part in the exciting debates, between the western and eastern counties, on the question of white or mixed basis for the elective franchise. He was a delegate to the Wheeling Convention of June, 1861, to re-organize the State government of Virginia, and gave wise and energizing counsel therein ; delegate to the convention to frame a consti- tution for the proposed new State of West Virginia, and a member of the first House of Delegates in 1863, largely shaping its legislation. In August of that year he was elected, as a Union man, one of the first United States Senators from the new State, serving till the end of his term, March 3, 1869, and was chairman of the Senate committee on Pensions, and mem-
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ber of those on Finance, and Postoffices and Post-roads. In the famous impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, he was one of the eight Republican Senators who voted for acquittal. In 1866 he was a delegate to the Loyalists' Conven- tion at Philadelphia. He was a prominent member of the benevolent fraternity of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having filled its many chairs, and was at the time of his death, the Senior Past Noble Grand of Parkersburg Lodge. His only daughter, Mrs. Mary Blackford, survives him, and now resides with her children in her beautiful home overlooking the placid Ohio, while the remains of her father, almost within sight, repose in Riverview Cemetery.
WILLIAM ALEXANDER HARRISON,
TOTAS born in the ancient town of Dumfries, Prince William county, Virginia, August 27, 1795. His education was pe- culiar to the schools of the day in that country. At an early age he began the study of the law and was admitted to the Winches- ter, Virginia, bar about the time he reached his majority. In 1819 he moved to Parkersburg, on the Ohio river, and in 1821 located permanently in Clarksburg, where he spent the greater portion of his life. For several years, beginning with 1823, he was United States Assistant District Attorney. He was an earnest Union man during the years of the civil war. In 1861 he was elected Circuit Judge to take the place of Judge G. D. Camden, who vacated his office by going South when the State seceded, and in 1863 he was chosen one of the three Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals. He resigned the position, September 1st, 1868, on account of failing health, and died, December 31st, 1870, at his home in Clarksburg. His practice, during a long life, was one of immense labor, requiring great research and profound investigation. In the course of his practice he appeared before seven Federal Judges, fifteen Circuit Judges, and twelve different Judges of the Court of Appeals of Virginia.
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HELGE
JUDGE JOHN J. JACKSON.
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JOHN JAY JACKSON.
IT is justly claimed that there are times and opportunities, if properly utilized, that make men renowned. This is true. It is also true that some men are made to fit times when a crisis arises, and when a strong, firm will is essential to meet the pressing emergencies of the hour. In 1861, when the Nation was trembling in the balance, the subject of this sketch, although at that time a man of note, became generally known all over the State as a newly appointed United States Judge, and before whom many questions of grave importance came for consideration and adjudication. It was truly a trying hour; but the youthful jurist, whose every fiber was permeated with intense loyalty to his country's flag, met the issues squarely and faced the opposition to the Government with a courage that at times bordered on heroism. No man of that period had clearer apprehension of the magnitude of the rebellion on whose verge we stood, and the tremendous issues it involved. He had an instinctive sense of the awful forces that are un- leashed by war. During its four years of continuance Judge Jackson did as much as any other West Virginian to maintain the unity of the Government, and the honor and integrity of the flag. And when the cloud of war had passed away and peace returned, he with others, refused to waste his energies in reviving ended conflicts, or to encourage his fellow-citizens to forsake practical duties in order to engage in the fruitless dis- cussion of past grievances, whether real or imaginary. With a heart truly American, and with the energy of will of which the march of American progress is the truest and most vivid illustration, he urged the people to restore and build up waning industries, to renew hope in despairing hearts, and to open up new fields of enterprise in the boundless resources of the country. His nature, though intensely positive, yet his ear was ever ready to listen to the pleas of truth and mercy. No man can truthfully say that he ever persecuted any one, either in open field or in secret inquisition. He always openly denounced what he conceived to be wrong wherever it appeared, in friend or foe. His nature was above that mean level where men sometimes consent to serve a cause, they even conceive to be just, in the dark and devious ways of fraud and conspiracy. On the contrary, he was an open, bold, outspoken citizen, and 1
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because of these manly characteristics, those who often differed from him, learned to admire and respect him.
One must know Judge Jackson well to fully appreciate his good qualities. Men often became offended at him because of their lack of knowledge of his natural traits of character. It must be admitted that in addition to a naturally positive will, he is also the possessor of strong convictions. But these pecu- liarities were often magnified by the observer's failure to appre- ciate and feel the generous heart and kindly disposition that were always uppermost in his nature. Like all positive men, Judge Jackson is strong and emphatic in his likes and dislikes. He utterly despises the mean, fondling, sniveling sneak who bends the suppliant hinges of the knee that thrift may follow fawning. No man like that could even for a moment gain access to his mind or heart. His quick perception enables him to instantly detect the difference between the gold and the dross. His long and varied associations with men give him a vast knowledge of human nature. He is rarely deceived by any one. He maturely considers all sides of every question that comes up before him. He never jumps at conclusions, but earnestly strives to get at the truth and the right, and never wavers in the discharge of duty. When his mind is once made up, one might as well try to stop the circling of the sun as to essay to change him. This trait of firmness he inherited from his father.
The subject of this sketch, in his continuous service on the bench of the United States Courts in West Virginia, has had to consider and decide some of the most important legal questions that have ever been presented in our courts. He has had great experience in the decision of suits involv- ing titles to land, abstruse and difficult, that give rise to litigation. His decisions in bankrupt causes, admiralty causes, corporation cases, real estate causes, and criminal prosecutions, wherever they have been removed to the Supreme Court have generally been affirmed. It is on Judge Jackson's wide and solid experience as a jurist that his fame will finally rest. No judge has shown his ability to dispatch business, with greater case and satisfaction than Judge Jackson.
Some judges delight to apply the penalties of the law. Judge Jackson is different. The writer has frequently seen him in
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his private room lamenting the necessity that had been forced upon him in the line of duty to the majesty of the law by imposing punishment on some violator. Many times I have known him to wish sincerely that this duty was that of others, and not his, of separating family ties by incarcerating criminals, which action pained him more than it did the violators of the law who were simply receiving their just deserts. The presence of a woman or child in court, as a party to a criminal case, invariably touched his tenderest sensibilities. It was once his duty to sentence to jail a mother who carried in her arms a helpless infant. Said he to the marshal of his court: "Incar- cerate the erring mother, but under no circumstances shall the child be allowed to go behind the prison bars." His order, to my personal knowledge, was strictly obeyed.
At one of the protracted terms of Judge Jackson's court, when eighteen men had been convicted for the offense of making and passing counterfeit coin, and when the time for sentence upon them had arrived, the court-room was almost filled with the wives and children of the counterfeiters. They were seated in close proximity to the convicts-beside, behind, and even in front of them. When the Judge came in and took his seat upon the bench he seemed greatly surprised to see such an array of females present. At once his countenance was seen to change. An expression of sorrow was depicted upon his face. I was standing near. He motioned me to approach the bench. I seated myself in a chair alongside of him. Said he : "This is terrible." I said, "What do you mean, Judge ?" (although I knew perfectly well what was annoying him ). “I mean," said he, "the presence of these women and children. Do you know it pains me to have to sentence these men to the penitentiary ? Think of it-having to separate husbands and fathers from their helpless wives and children ; but I am com- pelled to do it. It pains me greatly. These are trying moments in the life of a judge. I wish I could transfer this responsi- bility to some other hands. I mean to give all of them a good, round sentence notwithstanding the presence of these women and children." And he did it. He required the eighteen men to stand up. He has an excellent voice. Indeed, he is a natural orator, and is especially effective when he is delivering a sentence to some violator of the law. He opened upon the
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eighteen convicts in a most vigorous manner. It wasn't long until the men hung their heads, and the women began to weep. From the severity of his opening remarks the Judge dropped to the pathetic. Many of the by-standers joined in the crying. The Judge himself filled up, as he seemed to labor to prevent any one from finding out that he too, felt the gravity and solenmity of the occasion. He was equal to the emergency. One by one the prisoners received their doom. None received fewer than two years-some four and eight. When the work was finished-and it was a tremendous task-there was an apparent feeling or sigh of relief all 'round the court-room. Silence was supreme. Being near by, I quietly remarked, "Judge, the women and babies were too much for you; had they kept away, you would have driven the wedge deeper." He promptly denied my accusation ; but frankly admitted that he would cheerfully have given a half-year's salary to have been relieved of so grave a responsibility.
Some time subsequently, I learned that it was a preconcerted arrangement of the attorneys for the prisoners to fill the court- room with the wives and children of the convicts on the day they were to be sentenced. They knew Judge Jackson's sympathetic nature, and were satisfied that the sobs of the women and the children would reach him when their appeals for mercy would doubtless pass unheeded.
Another strongly defined characteristic of Judge Jackson is his close and firm adherence to his friends. Like General Grant, he never turned his back upon a friend. With him, when a friendship was once gained, no power could shake it from its moorings. A true friend he would grasp with hooks of steel, and no tongue of vituperation or whisper of slander could prevail against him. A man like that will always be respected.
John Jay Jackson, eldest son of General John Jay Jackson, .was born at Parkersburg, Virginia, August 4th, 1824; gradu- ated from Princeton College in 1845; studied law under his father and the Hon. John J. Allen, president of the Supreme Court of Virginia ; was admitted to the bar the following year ; was elected the first Prosecuting Attorney of Wirt county in 1848, and the same year was appointed to the same office in Ritchie county; was elected a member of the Virginia Legislature,
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from Wood county, in 1852, for a term of two years, and was re-elected in 1853. While there he took an active part in the discussion relating to internal improvements and the questions growing out of the basis of representation. During these dis- cussions he acquired a high reputation as a speaker and debater. He was an elector on the Whig tickets in 1852, '56 and '60. In the political campaigns in which he took part he was justly distinguished as one of the finest speakers on the hustings ; and by his efforts in the region of the State where he lived, con- tributed greatly to the success of the Bell and Everett ticket in carrying Virginia in 1860. It was stated in the Richmond Whig, of that day, the organ of the party in Virginia, that the success of the ticket was largely due to him. In August, 1861, he was appointed United States District Judge for the Western District of Virginia, afterwards re-appointed as Judge for the District of West Virginia, which office he now holds. It can be truthfully said of him that he is an industrious, upright judge, and an honest man. It has often been remarked that " President Lincoln made no mistake when he appointed Judge Jackson."
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LION. WILLIAM E. STEVENSON.
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WILLIAM ERSKINE STEVENSON.
N no State of our honored Republic could the Executive chair -
have been filled more conscientiously or with a nobler man- hood than in West Virginia during the difficult period from March 4, 1869, to 3d March, 1871. In the simplicity of his character, the sincerity of his purpose,. the kindliness of his heart-impulses and an unflinching integrity and fearlessness, there was deep similarity with the immortal Lincoln. Through the door of suffering and discipline, beyond the reach of praise or censure, both have gone from mortal duty, and left as the heritage of their fellow men, sincere respect, honored memories, examples worth imitation to the end of time.
He was born in Warren, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, March 18, 1820, of Scotch-Irish parentage, the next eldest of nine children. In 1829 he removed to Pittsburgh, and was ap- prenticed to the cabinet-maker's trade, which he thoroughly mastered, as he did everything he attempted, and was soon re- puted to be one of the best and most skillful workmen in that city. In 1842 he wedded Sarah Clotworthy, a native of Phila- delphia. He was a member of all the local debating clubs, and his talents therein displayed first drew to him public attention. In 1856 he was elected to the Legislature and took part in that memorable session which resulted in the election of Simon Can- eron to the Senate of the United States, at a time when the Democrats had a majority of one on joint ballot. Before the expi- ration of his legislative term, in the Spring of, 1857, he removed to Valley Mills, Wood county, Virginia, where he purchased a small but beautiful farm and there resided until 1880, when for convenience in business affairs he moved into Parkersburg.
During his residence in Pittsburgh he took an active and prom- ment part in the politics of the city and State, and was frequently made the recipient of honors by his party. He was also prom- inent in working circles there, zealously defending the interests of the workingmen, and at the same time exerting his influence in behalf of moderation and good order. During his entire career, on the stump, in the halls of legislation and as journalist, the workingman never had a more faithful friend or an abler or more eloquent advocate. When honors had come to him he did not forget his former associations and would frequently refer to his early life and the struggles that surrounded it. Whether in the
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shop, ou the farm or in the Executive chair, Governor Stevenson was a worker and possessed a nature so constituted that the glittering honors of the entire world could not cause him to falsify any act, record or vocation of his past career.
Soon after he located in this State the stirring scenes that preceded the war began. ITis temperament would not permit him to remain an idle spectator, and he took an active and prominent part in the politics of the State. At that time dis- trust and suspicion hovered over every house. Union men hardly knew who were friends and who were not. But about Governor Stevenson there was no uncertainty ; his voice sounded for the Union with no ambiguous tone. At that time every Northern man was treated with suspicion; the editor of the New York Tribune had just been indicted at Clarksburg, and sub- scribers of that paper were compelled to go stealthily across the Ohio river to receive their papers, and had to conceal them even from their own neighbors to prevent being indicted. About this time the charge was made against the Governor that he was circulating an incendiary document, "Helper's Impending Cri- cis," a copy of which he had in his library and had loaned to neighbors by request. The charge was brought to the attention of the Grand Jury and he was indicted in the County Court at Parkersburg. The excitement was intense. His life was threat- ened and he was advised to leave the State until the excitement abated. But the Governor did not know fear. His only ques- tion was "Is it right?" He promptly went to Parkersburg, accompanied by a large crowd of his neighbors, many of whom were opposed to him politically, but were prompted by the ties of strong friendship, and demanded a trial. Amid the confusion that attended such excitements the trial was postponed, and it remains postponed to this day.
In the canvass of 1860, upon the question of secession, the Governor took an active part, speaking in Wood and surround- ing counties, and laboring with untiring zeal for the Union cause. There are three men whose eloquence and ceaseless labors con- tributed largely to the vote which that section of the State gave against secession; two of them are now gone and one remains, Governors Stevenson and Boreman, and the late General John Jay Jackson.
In the formation of the new State he took an active and con-
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spicuous part, being a member of the Convention of November 26, 1861, to frame a constitution for the then proposed State. This body, sitting under the shadow of Virginia's historic name and by her restored existence, held its sessions within the echo of war's din and the clash of not distant arms. Delegate Ste- venson, by his excellent sense and sagacious judgment contrib- uted materially to the success of that Convention and afterwards to the ratification of the Constitution by the people. He was next elected a member of the State Senate, serving therein from July, 1863, to the close of 1868. During the last three years of his legislative term he was President of the Senate.
In 1868 he was elected Governor of the State for the term beginning March 4, 1869, and occupied that position upon the first removal of the Capital to Charleston, serving half his term in Wheeling and half in Charleston. He was renominated in 1870, but was defeated in the election by the Hon. John J. Ja- cob. He was the third and the last Republican Governor of the State, being preceded by Governors Boreman and Farns- worth. In June, 1871, he became associated with O. G. Scofield in the publication of the State Journal, at Parkersburg, and continued in that connection until its sale to its present propri- etors in January, 1882.
He was made Receiver of the West Virginia Oil and Oil Land Company in 1881, and held the position until twelve days before his death, discharging his duties with marked fidelity and ability.
In the local politics of his county the Governor was always sought after, and spent his time in some representative position, called by his fellow citizens and generally much against his wishes. He took an active part in political affairs and was con- sidered one of the most effective and eloquent political speakers in the State. He was always in demand, abroad as well as at home, and has frequently declined well paid invitations from Maine, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and other States, in the interest of his own State, which he loved with a patriotism sincere, unselfish and devoted.
The prominent characteristics of the Governor were a strong will, unerring judgment, a large fund of humor, keen knowl- edge of human nature, rigid devotion to what he believed to be right, and an integrity of character that riches dared not attempt to bribe and power could not corrupt. In all our intercourse
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with men we have never met with a character more beau- tiful in simplicity and gentleness and more thoroughly honest than his. It can be said of him, what can be included in the obituary of few persons, no living man can bring against him the charge of a dishonest business transaction in his whole career. Byron's panegyric upon Sheridan, with a slight varia- tion, is applicable here :
" Nature formed but one such man,
And broke the dye-in moulding Stevenson."
In the hot political excitement of those days in our section, aggravated by the fearful conflict of internecine strife, the Gov- ernor was frequently charged with being a bitter partisan. Nothing is farther from the truth. He was not a partisan in the common acceptation of that term, which implies bigotry and perverseness. He was earnest and sincere in promulgating his opinions, but bigotry was as foreign to his nature as it could be to any man who knew no such sentiment as hate. Very few men who have attained prominence had more liberal and en- larged views on all subjects than Governor Stevenson, and very few men were more considerate of the opinions of others than he. His mind was a peculiar one; unburnished by a classical finish, but founded in a thorough academic course, it had a deep understanding, broad comprehension and a tenacity that would never let go until the subject of its study was thoroughly mas- tered. It was a mind that was slow but was laborious, and it only ceased its action upon a theme or subject when it was thoroughly mastered and perfectly understood. He was one of the best informed, men on all subjects the writer ever met. Whether upon the best mode of farming, the principles of law and government or upon the abstruse principles of science, lit- erature and art, he was always at home and entirely familiar with his theme. He acquired these traits by a thorough and systematie course of reading, aided by a strong and retentive memory. As a writer he was forcible, truthful, systematic, hu- morous, sure of his points and never wandered from his theme. His fund of humor was largely developed, and he seldom made a speech on any subject without unfolding the humorous side of his topic.
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