USA > West Virginia > West Virginia and its people, Volume II > Part 4
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Prior to the election of delegates to the Democratic national conven - tion of 1896, which met at Chicago, he had been a candidate for the po- sition of candidate-at-large from West Virginia, to that convention, but. although practically offered an election as delegate if he would consent to abide by and recognize instructions to vote for the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio before mentioned, he declined, in a Demo- cratic convention held at Clarksburg, West Virginia, to sacrifice his prin- ciples, and by voting for free silver, help to bring untold calamities upon his fellow-countrymen. He did, however, that year attend as a delegate- at-large from West Virginia, the national Democratic convention held at Indianapolis. Indiana, September 2nd, 1896, which last mentioned convention was known as the "Gold Bug Convention." His fellow dele- gates, although the state was fully represented, honored him by choosing him chairman of the delegation, and also a member of the committee on resolutions.
The committee on resolutions of the Indianapolis Convention had as its chairman United States Senator Vilas, of Wisconsin, and in its mem- bership some of the ablest men of the nation, such as Governor Roswell P. Flower, George F. Bear, president of the Reading Railroad Com- pany, Comptroller of the Currency Echols, and other men of national repute, too numerous to mention.
As usual, the preparation of a platform was delegated to a sub-com- mittee of five, of which Comptroller Echols was the chairman. This
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committee, in due time, reported a series of resolutions to compose the platform, which were carefully and skillfully prepared, but it seemed to Mr. Caldwell that the resolution dealing with the money question and the coinage of silver, the very crucial matter for which the convention had been assembled, was couched in such language as to be fairly sus- ceptible of two different interpretations, one thereof distinctly at vari- ance with the real views of the Convention. After vainly attempting to get some member of the committee, of national reputation, to move an amendment so as to properly express the sentiments of the committee on the money question, and thereby obviate the bitter criticism which it seemed to him would surely follow, from the regular Democratic news- papers and speakers, Mr. Caldwell moved a substitute for the commit- tee's report, respecting the money question, which precipitated quite a vigorous and continued debate in which Comptroller Echols and his fel- low members of the sub-committee were upon the one side and Mr. Cald- well on the other. The result, however, was that his substitute was adopted by an overwhelming vote in the committee, and was the money plank in the platform of that National Convention in 1896. Since the last named year, Mr. Caldwell has been an Independent in politics, affili- ating mainly with the Republican party, but not feeling bound to the sup- port of its candidates unless they meet with his approval.
At the last national election, in 1912, he cast his vote for the present president, Woodrow Wilson, not because of any decided disapproval of Mr. Taft or his administration, but because he desired to give as marked a demonstration of his disapproval of Theodore Roosevelt and his candi- dacy as it was possible to do, by trying in an humble way to enhance the majority in the state of West Virginia that it was inevitable President Wilson would receive.
Ever since his admission to the bar in 1868, to the present time, he has been actively engaged in the practice of law in the state and federal courts of West Virginia.
DAWSON The Dawson family is very numerous in the United States, members therof being found in every state in the Union, east, west, north and south, also in Canada. The earliest ancestor known of the line here under consideration was one who was with Cromwell in Ireland, where he gained an estate by his military service. Early in colonial days some of his descendants came to this country.
(I) John Dawson, grandfather of Ex-Governor Dawson, was a farmer and blacksmith, which occupations he followed near the village of Dawson, Maryland, where he lived and died, and where he reared a large family. He was a Methodist class leader, and a man of influ- ence in his neighborhood. He married Ravenscroft ( sometimes written Ravenscraft), and among their children were: I. Francis Ra- venscroft, of whom further. 2. Hanson B., who was clerk of the circuit court of Hampshire county for many years, and died at Romney, Sep- tember 6, 1876, leaving a widow, who was a daughter of Daniel Shobe. and a niece of the late General Fairfax, of Preston county, West Vir- ginia. 3. Nancy, widow of Rolin Dayton, of Keyser. West Virginia. and mother of the late Colonel James Dayton, who fought under General Grant at Vicksburg. 4. Samuel R .. who was pastor of the old Fourth Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Wheeling, but on account of throat .trouble retired from the active ministry and settled on a farm at Ellenboro, but preached occasionally ; he died in February, 1892.
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( II ) Francis Ravenscroft, eldest child of John and - - ( Ravens- croft ) Dawson, and father of Ex-Governor Dawson, after completing his studies, learned the trade of blacksmith with his father, becoming proficient therein. During young manhood he served as a clerk for the late Samuel Brady, who owned an extensive plantation, a large number of slaves, and conducted a profitable business in the vicinity of the vil- lage of Brady, Maryland. Later Mr. Dawson conducted stores at Bloom- ington, Maryland, and Piedmont, West Virginia, from which he derived large profits, and in 1858 he removed to Terra Alta, later to Bruceton Mills, and subsequently to Ice's Ferry. He was a man of prominence in the communities in which he resided, and won and retained the good will and respect of his neighbors. He was a class leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church, this being the religious belief of the greater portion of his ancestors, both on the paternal and maternal sides, and he was zealous and active in all branches of the work connected therewith. Mr. Dawson married Leah, daughter of John and - ( Kight ) Kight. Both the Dawson and Kight families are very numerous in the region of Bloomington, Westernport and Dawson, in Maryland, and Piedmont and Keyser, in West Virginia, where the two states are divided merely by the small stream of the headwaters of the Potomac river.
Children of Mr. and Mrs. Dawson: I. Penelope, widow of E. Clark Jones, of Terra Alta, where she now resides. 2. John Henry, a well known steamboat captain, of Parkersburg, where he died in 1879. 3. Nancy Catharine, widow of George E. Guthrie, and mother of: D. Sherman Guthrie, of Chicago, Illinois ; the Rev. Charles E. Guthrie. D. D, pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania ; William V. Guthrie, publisher of the Methodist, of Bal- timore, Maryland; and Wade H. Guthrie, the state printer, of Charles- ton, West Virginia. 4. Mariam, married Joseph Goodrich, both of whom are now deceased. 5. David S., of California. 6. Francis Marion, who served as a soldier in the civil war, in the Seventeenth West Vir- ginia Infantry Regiment of Volunteers, and who resides in Toledo, Ohio. 7. William Mercer Owens, of whom further. The father of these children died in 1881, aged eighty years, and his wife died in Au- gust, 1857.
(III) William Mercer Owens Dawson, Ex-Governor of West Vir- ginia, youngest child of Francis Ravenscroft and Leah (Kight) Daw- son, was born in Bloomington, Alleghany, now Garrett county, Mary- land, May 21, 1853. In the fall of 1863 he accompanied his father to Terra Alta, where he went to reside, and there, by working. in the cooper shop (which trade he learned) morning and night, he supported himself and attended school in the first free school held in Terra Alta (then called Portland, and previously to that was known as Cranberry Sum- mit) in a little log school house, which was equipped with slab benches. He resided in Terra Alta for many years, working, successively, in the cooper shop, as clerk in stores, and as teacher during the winter months. In the fall of 1873 he removed to Kingwood, the county seat of Pres- ton county, where he became editor of The Preston County Journal, the Republican paper of the "banner" Republican county of the state, which he later purchased, and which he conducted until 1891, when he dis- posed of the same. Under Mr. Dawson's editorship and control the paper became a leading state weekly and was exceedingly prosperous. Mr. Dawson abandoned the newspaper business in order to devote his atten- tion to the practice of law, for which he had been preparing himself for several years. In addition to his law business, which was extensive and lucrative, he was a very successful party manager. From boyhood he had been active in politics. At a convention of the Republican party
The wo Dawson,
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held in Kingwood in 1874 he was, on motion of the late William G. Brown, father of William G. Brown, the present ( 1912) congressman from the second West Virginia district, elected chairman of the Republi- can committee of Preston county.
The fine showing the Republicans made in the state in 1888 led the leaders of the party to look with hope to the campaign of 1892, and in looking for a leader for the state committee they were attracted to Mr. Dawson by his very successful work in Preston county. Early in 1891 they offered him the management of the party. Mr. Dawson was un- decided whether to accept it or not, but finally accepted provided he was given full authority and control. This was arranged by electing him secretary of the state committee, with a resolution giving him full control at a meeting of the committee held at Martinsburg in Decein- ber, 1891. He was formally elected chairman at the state delegate con- vention held at Martinsburg in May, 1892, and resigned the chair- manship in 1904 on his nomination for the office of governor. As head of the state committee he conducted the campaigns of 1892-94-96-98- 1900-02. The chairman of the National Committee pronounced Mr. Dawson's organization to be without a superior in any state. Certain it is that he never lost a battle except the one of 1892, when his party failed everywhere, but held up better in West Virginia than in most states. Mr. Dawson's last work as an organizer was that of chairman of the Roosevelt state committee of West Virginia of 1912. The pub- lic offices held by Mr. Dawson were: Mayor of Kingwood, member of the state senate, 1881-89, clerk of the house of delegates in 1895, secre- tary of state, 1897-1905, governor of West Virginia, 1905, 1909. He was nominated Republican candidate for state senate from the dis- trict composed of Preston and Monongalia counties in 1880 and 1884 unanimously. He was the youngest member of the body, there being only one other Republican among the number. He was a leader almost from the first, industrious and painstaking, acting on the principle that he was bound to support any measure for the good of the state, whether it came from Democratic or Republican sources. He was an active member of the finance and other important committees, and served on the special joint committees to investigate the public printing, to prepare the appropriation bills, to revise the taxation system of the state and on others. It was in 1881 that he introduced an elaborate bill in the sen- ate, to create a railway commission of three members with power to fix rates, prevent unjust discrimination, etc. His speech on the ques- tion was widely read, and was commended by nearly every newspaper in the state, and opposed by none. The measure gave rise to considerable discussion in the senate, and was naturally strongly opposed by the rail- way people. The bill was carried over to the adjourned session of 1882. and although finally defeated in the senate, it received more votes in that body than any other similar bill has ever received.
Under the first constitution of West Virginia the office of secretary of state was filled by election, but this was changed in the second and present constitution, and the office was filled by appointment of the governor, 1111- til an amendment which took effect on March 4, 1905. { at the end of Mr. Dawson's second term) made the office elective again. On March 4. 1807. Governor Atkinson, at the unanimous request of a caucus of the Republi- can members of the legislature, appointed Mr. Dawson to that office, and in 1901 he was re-appointed by Governor White at the beginning of his term. The secretary of state is an important officer, for in addition to be- ing, when appointed by the governor, the right hand man of the chief executive and his confidential adviser, he has charge of the corporation records, attests all the official acts of the governor and is. c.r-officio, sec-
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retary of the board of public works, superintendent of public printing, cus- todian of the state's stationery, keeps and sells all the books (court re- ports, acts of the legislature, etc.) printed by the state. Being a lawyer, a practical printer, having had experience in the stationery business, and having had also a business training as clerk and bookkeeper in large stores, Mr. Dawson was well qualified for the office. He thoroughly systematized its business, prepared an elaborate index of the record books of the office on an original plan, cut down largely the cost of the public printing and stationery, rendered valuable services to the board of public works in the annual assessments of corporation property, and mastered every detail of the office so that he could fill the position of any of the clerks. He also completed and published several editions of the corpora- tion laws of the state, with annotations and forms. He had the law amended so as to require the secretary of state to make monthly reports and payments into the state treasury instead of semi-annual payments.
But his chief accomplishment was the getting through the legislature of 1901 what is known as the "Dawson Corporation Law." This was not a thorough reversion of these laws, but was, as the title of the bill stated, a measure to increase the revenues of the state by raising the annual license tax on charters of corporations and increasing certain fees paid by them. The first effort to get the law enacted failed, but the second effort, by per- severance and hard work, and after a bitter fight, was successful. This measure increased the revenues of the state from license taxes on corpor- ations from about $80,000 annually to about $400,000 annually. The leg- islature of 1901, without opposition and by practically a unanimous vote, adopted a joint resolution creating a state tax commission of five mem- bers, to revise the tax laws and report to the next legislature. Governor Albert B. White, William P. Hubbard. John H. Holt, Henry G. Davis, L. Judson Williams, and John K. Thompson, two Democrats and three Re- publicans. They made a preliminary and a final report, the latter accom- panied by bills to carry out their recommendations. These reports are able practical discussions of the question of taxation. The reports and the bills were placed before the legislature of 1903 by Governor White. They were bitterly opposed by the corporate interests, which had a large and able lobby at the session. Governor White and Mr. Dawson earnest- ly urged consideration, and the adoption of the main features at least, but the legislature refused. It was upon the question of consideration of the matter that Mr. Dawson became a candidate for the Republican nomina- tion for governor.
It was late in February, 1903, that the contest began. Every news- paper espoused one side or the other, and in every neighborhood the mat- ter was discussed. Nearly every county was contested for by Mr. Daw- son and his opponent. Mr. Charles F. Teter, of Barbour county, and many of the counties instructed their delegates. The Republican state committee was pretty evenly divided. The division everywhere between those for "Tax Reform," as the issue had become known, and those op- posed, became deeper, wider, more fixed and more bitter as the time for the holding of the state convention at Wheeling in July, 1904, drew near. It was the plan of Mr. Dawson's managers to nominate the candidate for governor on the first day. Many of the delegates were farmers and oth- ers who could not remain away from their business many days : and on the part of his opponents, it was planned to refer all the contests to a cre- dentials committee and thereby consume several days' time, and thus wear out Mr. Dawson's country delegates. The "Tax Reform" forces were able to defeat an adjournment of the convention until they had nominated the candidate for governor, and Mr. Dawson was duly nomi- nated in the evening of the first day, after which the convention adjourned
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until the following morning. After the bitterest, the most intense and ex- citing campaign ever waged in the state since the days of the civil war, Mr. Dawson was elected governor, together with all the other Republican nominees for the state offices. The legislature elected was also largely Republican in both branches. Immediately after his inauguration Gover- nor Dawson set to work to carry out the platform on which he was elect- ed and the pledges he had made as a candidate. Under the laws of West Virginia the board of public works, consisting of the elective state offices, fixes the value for taxation of oil, gas, railroad, and other corporate prop- erty. Governor Dawson was the head of this board, and he caused the valuation of these properties, as well as the coal property of the state to be enormously increased. The state levy for state and state school pur- poses had been, for more than a decade, thirty-five cents on each $100 of assessed valuation. It was reduced to twenty cents in 1905 : to eight and a half cents in 1906; to five cents in 1907; to four and a half cents in 1910 ; to two and a half cents in 1911, and is now but one cent (in 1912). Local levies were also greatly reduced.
In the campaign of 1906 the battle was again fought, largely on "Tax Reform," that is, on the new tax laws. Mr. Dawson took the stump and made the "key note" speech, urging the people to vote for Republican candidates for the legislature if they desired to retain and improve the "new tax laws." The Republican majority in this "off year" was practi- cally as large as in the preceding presidential year, something that seldom happens.
The administration of Governor Dawson was a busy one. Two ex- tra sessions of the legislature were called by him to enact needed leg- islation. The achievements of this four years as chief executive are many and large, and it is believed not equalled by any other administra- tion in the state. The principal measures were: A thorough revision of the new tax laws, including the taxation of leaseholds, the revision of the inheritance tax law, raising the rates and making more certain the payment of the taxes; the imposition of new license taxes; the increase of the rates of certain other license taxes, and providing means for the more certain collection of all these taxes ; the budget law, being a statute requiring every authority or body levying taxes to make up and publish a yearly budget, stating therein the resources and liabilities of the body, each purpose for which any part of a tax was to be levied, and the amount thereof, and giving to any taxpayer the right to be heard in op- position to any such item ; the creation of the bureau in the tax commis- sioner's department of public accounting, whereby it is provided that the books, records and accounts of everybody and officer handling pub- lic moneys shall be inspected and checked up by experts, and prescrib- ing a uniform system for keeping such records and accounts, a law that has already saved very many thousands of dollars of public moneys, in ad- dition to systematizing and simplifying the conduct of public business ; a comprehensive new statute respecting the paving and sewering of the streets of cities and town : reduction of the fees of sheriff's and other county officers, and providing that a percentage of such fees be paid into the county treasuries : a law creating a state school book commission to choose a uniform series of such books for use throughout the state, which was done by the commission in June, 1912; fixing a definite term of office for notaries public; a thorough and complete revision of the laws of the state respecting all kinds of insurance, and making the audi- tor the state insurance commissioner to execute these laws: creation of the office of state fire marshal; statutes simplifying the election ballot law, embodying a corrupt parties act and a better law for registration of voters; the enactment of the uniform and comprehensive negotiable
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instruments law ; enlargement of the duties of the attorney general; a thorough revision of the pharmacy law, and the purchase by the state of the great prehistoric mound at Moundsville.
Governor Dawson appointed commissions to revise the school laws, the laws pertaining to the inspection of coal mines, the road laws and the game laws. The legislature enacted substantially the bills prepared by the commissions. Another measure of great importance was that cre- ating the state board of control and the state board of regents. This act not only abolished about one hundred offices, but has resulted in bet- ter efficiency in the public institutions ; has practically taken them out of party politics, and resulted in large savings of the public moneys. An- other unique measure advocated by Governor Dawson and passed dur- ing his administration is that which withholds yearly from the annual distributable school fund, a certain portion for the benefit of the poorer school districts, whereby they are enabled to have at least the minimum term of free school each year, as well as assured of funds sufficient to have needed school houses, a reform of great practical benefit to these poor dis- tricts. In addition to these, many minor changes and improvements were made to the statutes of the state, the greater part of which were prepared by Governor Dawson himself, who is regarded as an expert draughts- man, which have resulted, as intended, in increased efficiency and in re- duction of expenses in the carrying on of the public business. During the last six months of his term, Governor Dawson was compelled to abstain from all but mere routine work, owing to ill health, which he finally overcame. Governor Dawson's regular messages to the legisla- ture were the longest ever written by a West Virginia governor, and in them he discussed a number of matters of wide range, and made many proposals of changes in the laws of the state and many new en- actments. In these, as well as in his work generally, Governor Dawson is distinctly a "Progressive." Since his retirement from the office of governor, Mr. Dawson has engaged in the practice of law at Charleston. In church relation he is a Presbyterian, and a worker in the Young Men's Christian Association.
Governor Dawson married (first) in 1879, Luda, daughter of John T. Neff, of Kingwood. She died in 1894, leaving a son, Daniel. Gov- ernor Dawson married (second) in 1899, Maude, daughter of and Jane Brown, of Kingwood, by whom a daughter was born, April 4, 1901. Daniel, child of his first wife, was educated in the Charleston high school and the West Virginia University, from which latter insti- tution he graduated in 1904, after which he took a one year course at Harvard University. He later graduated from the law department of the West Virginia University, and is now practicing his profession in the City of Huntington, West Virginia.
GAINES This is an old and highly respected family whose history runs all through the ancestral lines of the Old Dominion State, and five generations of which will here be noticed, especially that portion of genealogy and family history relating to Con- gressman Joseph H. Gaines, who is of the fourth generation, and who is a great-grandson of the Gaines family of Culpeper county, Virginia. This family was prominent among the slave-holding aristocracy of ante-bellum days in old Virginia, who possessed the sturdy, sterling qualities of highly educated, cultivated and high-minded men and women, found at that day in that portion of Virginia. That family of Gaines had within its home
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circle a son called Ludwell Graham, who became a somewhat celebrated minister of the Presbyterian faith.
(II) Rev .. Ludwell Graham Gaines, son of the family above men- tioned as having resided long in Culpeper county, was born and reared in that county and obtained a good education, including a course at the Uni- versity of North Carolina, located at Chapel Hill, that state. After his graduation, he took up theology and became a widely known and influen- tial Presbyterian minister, of exceptional pulpit power. He became bit- terly opposed to the system of human slavery and removed to Ohio, in which state he continued his ministry, dying at an advanced age. His wife's maiden name was Douglass; she attended to the duties devolving upon wife and mother, living to a venerable age, and finally passed away while residing in Hamilton county, Ohio. Children: Theophilus, of whom further ; John Douglass ; William; Mary. Of these children, John D. Gaines graduated from a Cincinnati medical college, and now resides at California, Ohio, where he is a well known and highly respected citi- zen, is married, but has no issue ; William, his brother, also became a doc- tor, married, and is now deceased ; Mary, the only sister, died soon after her marriage.
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