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 16
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WEST VIRGINIA.
JOSEPH JOHNSON.
A SELF-MADE man often excels the college student, the man of letters, in mental vigor and other qualities requisite to make the man, as much as the hard-muscled mechanic excels him physically. The former, often without pecuniary means and special guidance, learns of necessity, at an early age, to rely upon himself and is forced to become familiar with men and things, without a knowledge of which literary acquirements are mere ornaments.
The value in early life of a college education, however, is incalculable. It has enabled men to become distinguished citi- zens, who, without it, would never have attracted attention. An old adage, which is as true as it is old, says "the mind makes the man." If there be no mind to begin with, learning will never develop manhood. The mental powers of men are as diversified as the soils of the earth. Upon some, one may pour a continual stream from the fountain of knowledge, but it will be as barren of fruit as the desert waste. Others will im- prove and produce some fruit, while another class will yield a rich harvest from any seed that may fall in their way. Some men, if brought under the rays of educational light, the gern of genius will spring up and bloom in beauty and splendor. Such was the order of mind possessed by the subject of this sketch.
Many of the distinguished men in the early days of Virginia -men whose memories are enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen-did not come from college halls to enter public life, nor gain the esteem of the people by a classical diploma. A clear head, strong common sense, an investigating and discriminating mind, added to energy, perseverance and in- corruptible honesty, are the qualifications for great usefulness, and are the essentials to gain for one the love and confidence of his fellow men. Such a character was Joseph Johnson.
Mr. Johnson was born. December 10, 1785, in Orange county, New York. His father had been a soldier in the Revolution- ary war. At his father's death, Joseph was but five years of age. In 1791, his mother removed with her family to Sussex county, New Jersey, and in 1801 they came to Bridgeport, Har- rison county, Virginia. Joseph promptly engaged to live with an old farmer of the neighborhood. His dutiful conduct won
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the respect and confidence of farmer Smith, who soon afterward died. About the time Mr. Johnson arrived at his majority he married Mr. Smith's daughter. This proved a fortunate and happy marriage. Four years subsequently to his marriage he purchased the interests of the other heirs in the farm of his late father-in-law, moved upon it, and made it his home as long as he lived. Here he brought up his family and resided contin- uously for more than seventy years.
Harrison county, at the time of Mr. Johnson's removal to it, was, with the exception of an occasional "clearing," covered with its primitive forests. Facilities for acquiring an education were limited at best, and as every hour of his time during the day belonged to another, young Johnson was only able to ac- quire the simple rudiments of an English education, such as a determined boy could pick up by studying at night and odd moments. He was persevering, and a hard student the most of his life. He organized a debating society in his neighborhood, which was kept up for years. This society became famous for the ability and number of its members who, in after years, filled political and other public stations. In this society young John- son found a place and opportunity for the gratification and cultivation of his tastes and talents, while putting to practical use the information he was culling from books. His special talents very soon attracted attention. His keen discerning powers, his logic and his eloquence were rapidly developed and acknowledged by all who heard him. This particular training was equipping him for the positions he afterwards filled so well.
His first public service was as captain of a military company in the war with England in 1812. He and his company were on duty from 1814 until the close of the war in 1815. Now commenced that long and useful political career for which his talents, decision of character and unsullied integrity so emi- nently fitted him. In 1815 he was elected to the State Legisla- ture, defeating the famous John Prunty, who had represented Harrison county for twenty-two consecutive years in that ca- pacity. He continued a member of the Legislature for four years, and declined a re-election. At the urgent request of Judge John G. Jackson, of Clarksburg, in 1823, Mr. Johnson became a candidate for Congress, his principal competitor being the distinguished Philip Doddridge, of Brooke county. Mr.
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Doddridge was Mr. Johnson's senior, was an eminent lawyer, an eloquent and forcible speaker and possessed a mind that compared favorably with any other of his day. When he and Mr. John- son met upon the hustings, it was Greek meeting Greek. Mr. Doddridge's experience and wonderful powers as a public speak- er, were met by Mr. Johnson's seeming intuitive knowledge of human nature, his quick, keen discriminating mind, capable of close logical reasoning, and an eloquence the gift only of a cre- ative power, which was magnetic in its influence, and always equal to any emergency. Mr. Doddridge was the abler, but Mr. Johnson was the readier and more practical, and generally won the greater applause from the large crowds that always assem- bled when it was announced that these giants were to have a joint debate on the political issues of the day.
This heated and exciting canvass ended in a victory for Mr. Johnson, who was the candidate of the Democratic party. Henry Clay was elected Speaker of that House of Representa- tives. Andrew Jackson was elected President by the members of the House, and Mr. Johnson was the only representative from Virginia who voted for him. In 1825 he was again elected to Congress, defeating Mr. Doddridge a second time. In the spring of 1827, Mr. Johnson returned to his home and was suc- ceeded in Congress by a Mr. Lefler, who represented the dis- trict for two years, and was succeeded by Mr. Doddridge, who continued in Congress till his death in 1832. After Mr. Dod- dridge's death an effort was made to get Mr. Johnson to become a candidate to take Mr. Doddridge's place, but he declined in favor of Judge John J. Allen, an able lawyer, who was elected and in Congress separated himself from his party upon the question of a United States Bank. In 1835 Mr. Johnson became his party's candidate again for the purpose of redeeming the district. Judge Allen was his opponent. They both lived in the same county. The campaign was exciting and their debates masterful, Mr. Johnson was elected by a majority of eighty-five votes. He continued in Congress for six consecutive years, retiring in 1841. He declined a renomination, and gave his support to the Hon. Samuel L. Hays, who was elected; but in 1843, he was defeated by the Hon. George W. Summers, of Kanawha county, the candidate of the Whig party. In 1845 Mr. Johnson was forced to the front again as his party's candidate for the pur-
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pose of redeeming the district. Judge Summers declined to run again, and Mr. Johnson was elected over the Hon. Gideon D. Camden, also of Harrison county. At the close of the Twenty- ninth Congress (1847) he issued a public address to his constit- uents in which he thanked them for the honors they had con- ferred upon him, declined to be a candidate for re-election, and expressed a wish and purpose to retire to the shades of his pri- vate home during the remainder of his life.
His county had been captured by the Whigs in the election of 1845, and on his return to his home, the spring of 1847, his old party friends applied to him to become a candidate for the State Legislature in opposition to John S. Duncan, a young man of fine talents, who had no opponent, and whom it was believed, no one could vanquish. Again Mr. Johnson yielded to the demands of his party, went into the canvass with all the ability and earnestness he possessed, and defeated Mr. Duncan overwhelmingly. Against his wishes, in 1850, he was elected to the Constitutional Convention of Virginia. While a mem- ber of this Convention he was elected Governor of Virginia by the Legislature. He assumed the duties of the office in Decem- ber, 1851. The new constitution required the Governor to be elected by the people. Mr. Johnson was therefore made the nominee of the Democratic party for the office he was then filling. His opponent was Judge George W. Summers, of Kan- awha, one of the greatest orators Virginia ever produced. This was a wonderful campaign. When the two candidates met on the hustings, it was truly a battle of giants. Each was the idol of his party, and neither had ever been defeated in an election before the people. Mr. Johnson was elected by nine thousand majority. This was his last public office, except that of a Pres- idential elector in 1860. He was perhaps the only man in Vir- ginia, who had been before the people almost continuously for forty years, that was never defeated in any of his aspirations for public favor.
In the private walks of life, Governor Johnson was a model of human excellence. He was proverbially punctual in all things, and his morals were pure and lofty. He was below the medium height, well formed for endurance, dark complexion, with a bright black eye that flashed as if on fire when animated in debate. His countenance was attractive, intelligent and ex-
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pressive of a strong mind. In conversation he was agreeable and instructive, enlivening the social circle with aphorisms and pungent anecdotes. In all he was modest, chaste and discreet, an honorable opponent, never underrating his adversary nor overrating himself. He was a consistent member of the Baptist Church for almost a-half century. His death occurred Febru- ary 27, 1877 at his home in Bridgeport, in the 92d year of his age. In many respects, he was one of the wonderful men of Virginia.
THOMAS A. MORRIS,
L ATE a Bishop of the M. E. Church, was born at Brownstown, Kanawha county, Virginia, April 28, 1794. He was almost entirely a self-educated man: never attended school but a few months in his life; was licensed to preach in 1814; was admitted into the Ohio Conference, which at that time embraced the Great Kanawha valley, in 1816; was transferred to Kentucky Conference; elected a delegate to General Conference in 1824; returned to Ohio Conference and stationed in Cincinnati; served as presiding elder; was elected editor of The Western Christian Advocate in 1834, and made a Bishop in 1836. He was one of the very great men of Methodism in the United States. He died September 2, 1874, having served 37 years a Bishop in his church. A large number of his relatives now reside in the Kanawha valley.
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GEORGE WILLIAM SUMMERS.
NE of the truly great men of Virginia, when both Virginias were one, was George William Summers of Kanawha coun- ty. "A man with noble ancestry," says Pauline, in Bulwer's Lady of Lyons, " is like a representative of the past." But like the supposed prince to whom this analogy was applied, Judge Summers, though the possessor of an honorable ancestry, was not "a pensioner upon the dead." He was himself. He hewed his own way through life. He depended upon his own energies and his own resources, and won an enviable fame.
There is much less of success in life really dependent upon accident, or what is usually denominated luck, than is generally imagined. Much more depends upon the objects that one pro- poses to himself; what accomplishments or attainments he aims at; what constitutes the circle of his vision and thoughts ; what he chooses not to be educated for, but to educate himself for; whether he looks beyond the present hour to the end and aim of the whole of life ; or whether he listens to the appeals of in- dolence or vulgar pleasure, or to the stirring voice in his own soul, urging his ambition on to the higher and nobler objects of life. Pluck is better than luck, and energy is greater than genius. He rises highest that depends most upon courage and perseverance. Judge Summers, in early life, satisfied himself that the way to success did not pass over beds of roses, and that great men did not grow up on parlor carpets any more than trees develop in "hot-beds." He saw that men of commanding powers were made by constantly cultivating mind, body and soul. He also saw opportunities and availed himself of them. It is, therefore, no wonder that his was a successful life. When in his commanding presence, I have often thought that he was a striking example of the influence of republican institutions, in assigning to genius and talent their proper station and reward. He towered above the average man, as the stalwart oak rises above the shrubbery on the hill-side. He was a true type of the genuine American orator, lawyer and statesman.
Mr. Summers was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, March 4, 1807. His parents removing with him to Kanawha county, while he was yet an infant; and in what is now perhaps the richest portion of West Virginia, he grew up to manhood. In person, he was of medium height, stoutly built, with strongly
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marked features. He had a deliberate, though firm and uncom- promising expression of countenance, that at once gave assur- ance of the make-up of the man. He was courteous and affable in demeanor, but frank in manners and expression. Possessing enlarged and liberal views, he formed readily his own opinions, and exhibited a uniform habit of devoting himself earnestly and efficiently to the discharge of his public and private duties.
In 1819, he matriculated as a student in the classical course at the Ohio University, at Athens, and graduated from that in- stitution in 1826, taking the Master's degree three years later. Immediately after graduation from college, he commenced the study of the law under the tutorage of his brother, Judge Lewis Summers, and was admitted to the bar in 1827. He was elected a member of the House of Delegates in the Legislature of Virginia, from Kanawha county, in the year 1830, and was several times re-elected to the same position. In the spring of 1841, he was elected a member of the United States House of Representatives, and was re-elected in 1843, serving throughout the twenty- seventh and twenty-eighth Congresses. While in Congress he commanded the respect of his political adversaries as well as his own partisans ; and when he spoke, he was given that considera- tion by his associates that his splendid abilities merited at their hands. In 1850 he was elected to the Constitutional Convention of Virginia, and occupied a leading position in framing the State Constitution of that year. In that noted Convention, he deliv- ered a speech on the Basis of Representation, that was pronoun- ced masterful both in matter and manner. This speech was generally regarded by the Judge's friends as the greatest effort of his life. He was unanimously nominated as the Whig can- didate for Governor of Virginia in the campaign of 1851. Prior to that time, the office of Governor was bestowed by the Legis- lature ; but in 1851 it was made elective by the people. In this memorable contest Mr. Summers was defeated by the Hon. Joseph Johnson, of Harrison county, the Democratic nominee. The contest was exciting and close, and was one of the most in- teresting gubernatorial campaigns ever conducted in the Old Commonwealth. In May 1852, Mr. Summers was elected Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Virginia; and after serving six years in that capacity, he resigned his office July 1st, 1858, there being two years unexpired of the term to which he had been elected.
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The "Peace Conference," held at Washington, D. C., in the ยท spring of 1861, was one of the most important gatherings of pub- lie men ever held on the continent. Judge Summers was a member of that conference, and took an active and leading part in defence of the Union. While he was in attendance upon this conference he was elected by his fellow-citizens in Kanawha, a delegate to the Richmond convention that passed the ordinance of secession. " These were times that tried men's souls." Judge Summers, great speech in defense of the Union, delivered in this convention, was perhaps the ablest and most forceful argument delivered for or against secession by any member of that great body of statesmen. It was published in the Richmond Whig, and occupied over one-half of that large newspaper.
After the breaking out of the war in 1861, JJudge Summers retired to private life upon his farm at the western limit of Charleston, and ever afterwards persistently refused to accept any office tendered him by his fellow-citizens. He, however, in his retirement from public life, kept up the practice of his profession, which was always large and lucrative. As a lawyer, he was sagacious and able, and always in his arguments express- ed himself with plainness and force. During the thirty years of his active practice of the law at the Kanawha bar, he was universally regarded as its ablest advocate. Indeed, as an ora- tor he had but few equals, and, in the opinion of many compe- tent to decide, he had no superior in Virginia. His voice was rich and resonant ; his rhetoric was faultless ; his language was full, flowing and forceful ; and he was
"So rich, so gay, so poignant in his wit, Time vanished before him as he spoke."
It was said of Judge Summers, when in his prime, that he could make a jury believe everything he told them. Like all great advocates, he always depended upon his natural gifts as an orator to force his way out of a bad case ; and he rarely failed in accomplishing his desires. He was an irresistible pow- er in a court trial, hence his success in the legal profession, and, in fact, in everything he undertook.
Judge Summers was a worthy citizen, a great lawyer, an able jurist, a distinguished statesman, and an humble Christian. He wielded an influence in Western Virginia second to no other man that lived before or after him, and his death, which occur-
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red in September, 1868, was mourned by thousands of his country- men. He was buried beside his wife and brother at Walnut Grove, on the Great Kanawha river, where his ashes lie in dreamless sleep forever.
JOHN WILLIAM MOSS.
N the annals of the civil war of 1861 to 1865, will be found - the name of the excellent physician who served the Republic as Colonel of the Second Regiment of Virginia Infantry. He was born October 4, 1816, in Fairfax county, of the Old Dominion, and died of heart disease, while in the United States Volunteer service, January 2d, 1864.
His education was a liberal one in the select schools of ante- bellum days. He studied medicine and attended lectures in Philadelphia, at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated therefrom in the year 1839, and then in 1840 transferred his residence from the East to the shores of the Ohio river, and located in Wood county.
In 1842 he married Margaret Arthur Sterrett, daughter of James Sterrett, of Shenandoah county, Virginia, who, as his widow, still survives and has a home in Parkersburg.
At the opening of the war he was appointed Colonel of the above named regiment, which did active and honorable service in the Nation's hour of peril. He was a faithful soldier, an excellent physician, and was endowed with courage and a high sense of honor.
Politically he was a Whig, and was prominent and influential as one of the leaders of his party in the western section of the State. With many others of the Clay school in the South, while loving his native State none the less, he held that the claims and authority of the General Government upon each citizen were paramount, and when the State seceded he declared for the Union, and took an active part in the re-organization of the government of Virginia, and was made president of the first convention, which met at Wheeling, May 13, 1861, to inaugurate the movement. He was also a member of the Legislature which convened, in Virginia's name, and under her constitution, at Wheeling in June, 1861, to legislate in that hour of great emergencies. Whether enacting laws or con- manding a regiment, he was ever cool, thoughtful and vigilant for the public welfare.
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GENERAL NATHAN GOFF, LL. D.
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WEST VIRGINIA.
NATHAN GOFF.
HE personal life of a distinguished citizen is always in- teresting, not only to the philosopher who delights to follow the gradually expanding mind, from the weakness of youth, to the full maturity of manhood, and to mark the effect of even trifling causes, in ennobling or debasing the mind, and in forming character ; but also, in a degree, to all whose interest in mankind is not entirely lost in self.
Materials for the biography of a public man are to be found in the history of the events in which he was an actor. In our own country this is particularly true. It is perhaps hardly to be regretted that the private lives of our distinguished men are in some measure sacred from the offensive notoriety that is the lot and penalty of eminence in other countries. The numerous dependents upon the periodical press of Great Britain, for instance, deem themselves privileged to annoy men of reputa- tion, by what they term sketches of their lives. They pick up garbled and inaccurate stories, invent a few leading incidents, and to complete the biography, fasten upon its unfortunate subject a few of the most popular anecdotes that have been current for generations. These accounts circulate for the truth, and a man is often obliged to see himself the hero of battles that he never fought, and an actor on boards that he never trod. We are glad this is rarely resorted to in America. Cor- rect biography lies alone in detailing one's acts in the shaping of events during the time in which he lived. Although still by no means an old man, the subject of this sketch has been prominent for many years as a citizen of his native State.
Nathan Goff, son of Waldo P. Goff, was born at Clarksburg, Virginia, February 9, 1842. His father came from New York to Harrison county, Virginia, in the early part of the present century, and became a merchant. He lived to be eighty-six years of age, and died at his Clarksburg home, having spent a long and useful life in his adopted Mountain State. Nathan, like his father before him, has a perfect physique, and seems to be constructed to live a hundred years. He is of medium height, compactly built, well formed, and weighs about one hundred and seventy-five pounds. He is deliberate and calcu- lating, and is the personification of modesty and suavity. His family are all long-lived. At the age of seventy his father
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was as vigorous and sprightly as he was at forty. His uncles all lived to a ripe old age. One of them-Nathan Goff, Sr .- who was a prominent citizen of Harrison county, both in business and politics, for more than half a century, recently died at the age of ninety. At forty-seven, and in perfect health, We may expect the hero of this sketch also to pass his ninetieth mile stone.
Young Goff received his education in the Northwestern Academy, at Clarksburg, and at Georgetown College, District of Columbia. The war coming on in 1861, when he was a student at Georgetown, and a boy of only nineteen, fired with that loyalty to our institutions peculiar to the stock from which he sprung, he closed his books a short time before graduation and shouldered a musket as a private soldier in company G, Third Virginia Infantry. He was, however, a private soldier only a few days. His comrades, seeing something above the average in the face of the young collegian, took him up, and made him a lieutenant of the company. The rule demonstrated in the late civil war, that college young men made the best of soldiers, was more than sustained in the military career of young Nathan Goff. From the very beginning, his company and regiment were ushered into active service. The duties he rendered his country in the hour of her peril, were not per- functory. They were on the contrary, severe and trying. He participated in the battles of McDowell, Port Republic, Win- chester, Droop Mountain, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Rocky Gap, Cross Keys, Rappahannock Station and other minor en- gagements. For bravery on the field, and for tact in the manipulation of men, Lieutenant Goff was promoted to Major of his regiment. During the latter part of the war, Major Goff served with General W. W. Averill's command ; and was taken prisoner at Moorefield, West Virginia, January 20, 1864. He was immediately sent to Richmond and was confined four months in the noted "Libby Prison." He was held as a hostage for Major Armsey, a prominent Confederate officer, who was likewise incarcerated in a United States prison within the Federal lines. Major Goff endured his prison confinement at Libby with that same degree of courage which characterized his engagements in open battle with the enemy. Of the final results he seemed to not entertain the slightest fear. He abso-
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