Tag: Monroe County

November 21, 1810: US Senator Allen Taylor Caperton Born

Allen Taylor Caperton was born on November 21, 1810, on his family’s estate in Monroe County. During the 1840s and 1850s, he served as a Whig in the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate. 

As the Civil War approached, Caperton was personally opposed to secession.  However, in April 1861, he served as a delegate to the Virginia secession convention and voted with the majority to join the Confederacy.

From 1863 until the end of the war two years later, he represented Virginia in the Confederate Senate. He was one of only three Virginians to serve in the Confederate Senate during the Civil War.

In 1875, the West Virginia Legislature elected Caperton, now a Democrat, to be a United States senator.  In doing so, Caperton set two precedents. He became the first ex-Confederate elected to the U.S. Senate.  He also was the first and only former Confederate senator to serve in the U.S. Senate after the war.  His time in the senate, though, was brief—less than 17 months. 

He died in July 1876 at the age of 65 and was buried in his hometown of Union.

Voters in West Virginia Reject $5.8 Million Bond for New School

A bond that would build a new school has been rejected for the second time this year by voters in West Virginia.

The Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports Monroe County voters rejected the $5.8 million bond with Saturday’s unofficial total of 1,223 to 877. The bond would’ve helped build a new school for Peterstown elementary and middle school students.

The county now loses $16 million from the state Building Authority that could’ve been used to fund most of the $24 million school.

School board member Andrew Evans says “residents were obviously in an anti-tax mood when they hit the polls,” as the County Commission established a $100 ambulance fee in August on every household before the referendum.

Voters rejected a $10 million bond in June that would’ve built the school and address other facility needs.

No Reports of Damage After Quake in Virginia, West Virginia

An earthquake that struck parts of Virginia and West Virginia appears to have left little to no damage.

The Roanoke Times reported Wednesday that the quake shook parts of the New River Valley shortly after 1:30 p.m. No damage was immediately reported.

A Virginia Tech seismograph showed the epicenter just over the state line in West Virginia. The magnitude was between 3.7 and 4.0.

Martin Chapman, the director of the Virginia Tech Seismological Observatory, said the quake is the area’s largest since 1968.

Witnesses said it was loud and dramatically shook the earth.

Opponents of the planned Mountain Valley Pipeline have cited earthquakes as a concern. But a federal report said natural gas pipeline would be able to withstand such seismic events.

Sept. 7, 1848: West Virginia's First Black Legislator Born in Monroe County

West Virginia’s first black legislator, Christopher Payne, was born in Monroe County on September 7, 1848. He was raised near Hinton, where he worked as a farmhand. Although he was born a free person of color, he was forced as a teenager to serve as a servant in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

After the war, Payne attended night school in Charleston and taught school in Monroe, Mercer, and Summers counties. He became a Baptist minister and earned a doctor of divinity degree from the State University in Louisville.

In 1888, Christopher Payne became the first African-American to represent West Virginia at a Republican national convention. When he was elected to the legislature from Fayette County in 1896, he became the first black member of the West Virginia Legislature. He founded three newspapers in Fayette and Kanawha counties and served as a minister in Huntington. As a reward for his service to the Republican Party, he was named deputy collector of internal revenue.

In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Christopher Payne consul general to the Danish West Indies, where he died in 1925 at age 77.

New Sheriff in West Virginia to Leave Post for New Job

A sheriff in West Virginia has announced his resignation after seven months on the job.

News outlets report Monroe County Sheriff Sean Crosier submitted his resignation to county commissioners Tuesday, effective Sept. 4. Crosier said in a statement that he has taken a job with an undisclosed organization that prepares the U.S. Department of Defense and other security agencies for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive attacks.

He said the employment shift was prompted by familial obligations, as his wife will not be able to retire at the expected time.

The Monroe County Commission must appoint a new sheriff within 30 days of the office’s vacation. The commission says the appointee must be a Democrat, like Crosier. The seat will be back on the ballot in the May 2018 primary.

March 31, 1816: Bishop Francis Asbury Dies at 70

Bishop Francis Asbury died on March 31, 1816, at age 70. Born in England in 1745, he volunteered to come to America in 1771 on behalf of the rapidly growing Methodist church. During pioneer days, Asbury was one of many Methodist circuit riders who spread the gospel from community to community. His travels often brought him into what is now West Virginia. And his diary provides some of the best early accounts of western Virginia life.

His first documented visit to the region was in 1776, just outside Berkeley Springs. He noted in his diary that the area was “good for the health, but most injurious to religion.” Likewise, after visiting Morgantown in 1788, he lamented the town’s “excesses, particularly drinking.”

In 1785 or ’86, he preached the dedication sermon at Rehoboth Church in present Monroe County. He later held sessions of the Methodist Greenbrier Conference at Rehoboth, which is reportedly the oldest church building west of the Allegheny Mountains. Thanks to his efforts in establishing Methodist churches, Asbury is considered one of the most significant religious figures of the region’s frontier era.

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