Tag: Taylor County

March 9, 1832: Politician George Latham Born in Prince William County

George Latham was born on March 9, 1832, in Prince William County, Virginia, on what would later become the Bull Run Battlefield.

He moved to Taylor County in 1849 and taught in local schools while studying to become a lawyer. He opened his legal practice in Grafton in 1860.

When the Civil War began the next year, Latham transformed his law office into a military recruiting station for Northern troops. He formed Company B of the 2nd Virginia Infantry and detained them in Grafton long enough to vote against Virginia’s secession from the Union.

In July 1861, Latham’s company took part in the Battle of Corrick’s Ford near Parsons in Tucker County. Over the course of the war, he participated in some of the conflict’s fiercest battles. At the Second Battle of Bull Run in 1862, he had three horses shot out from under him.

After the war, Latham served in Congress and as U.S. consul to Australia. He settled in Buckhannon and was elected superintendent of Upshur County schools. George Latham died in Buckhannon in 1917 at age 85. He was the father of artist Annie Latham Bartlett.

Three West Virginia Schools Earn National Recognition

The U.S. Department of Education has named three schools in West Virginia as 2017 National Blue Ribbon Schools.

The department announced the awards Thursday for 342 schools nationwide.

The West Virginia schools are Colliers Primary School in Brooke County, Flemington Elementary School in Taylor County and Slanesville Elementary School in Hampshire County.

The program that began in 1982 recognizes public and private elementary, middle and high schools that are either high performing or have raised student achievement to high levels.

The schools will be acknowledged at a ceremony in November in Washington, D.C.

Justice Asks Trump to Declare Federal Disaster in W.Va.

Gov. Jim Justice is seeking a federal disaster declaration for a dozen counties in northern West Virginia hit by flooding in late July.

Justice sent a letter to the White House on August 10 requesting the disaster declaration, according to a news release from the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.

Justice outlined a preliminary flood-damage assessment in the letter. 161 homes were destroyed or suffered major damage in four of the twelve counties. Another 557 homes received minor damage.

Justice is requesting both individual and public assistance for Harrison, Marion, Marshall, Ohio, and Wetzel Counties, and public assistance for Doddridge, Monongalia, Preston, Randolph, Taylor, Tucker and Tyler Counties.

The letter specifically asks for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Individuals and Household Program, crisis counseling, disaster legal services and unemployment assistance, and programs from other agencies like the Small Business Administration and the Federal Highway Administration.

The late-July storm also closed or damaged more than 20 roads in the northern part of the state after at least 3 inches of rain triggered flash floods and mudslides.

West Virginia’s federal congressional delegation also wrote a letter to the president in support of Justice’s request.

July Flooding Brings $10 Million in Damages

Last weekend’s flash flooding in northern and north-central West Virginia has caused over $10 million dollars in damages.

Eleven counties are facing damage costs totaling $10,604,778, according to the West Virginia Department of Transportation.

Doddridge County has the lowest damage cost at $60,000, while Marshall County has the highest at $3 million.

Additional counties impacted by flooding were Harrison, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor, Ohio, Wetzel, Randolph, and Tucker counties.

The Division of Highways says personnel have been sent out to continually review the roads and damage costs could rise.

Rain began late Friday, July 28 resulting in high, rushing water. Eight counties were declared a state of emergency by Governor Jim Justice. Members of the National Guard were sent to aid affected communities.

May 22, 1861: Thornsberry Bailey Brown Becomes First Union Solider Killed in Civil War

  On May 22, 1861, Thornsberry Bailey Brown became the first Union soldier killed in battle during the Civil War. It occurred during a brief stand-off at Fetterman in Taylor County.

At the beginning of the war, both Union and Confederate forces were scheming to control the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which had arrived in Taylor County in 1857. The railroad would be a key to moving troops and supplies.

Like much of present West Virginia, Taylor County’s loyalties were divided early in the war. Most residents backed a local Union militia unit, known as the Grafton Guards. However, there was also strong support for the Confederate Letcher’s Guard. On May 22, just more than a month into the war, Thornsberry Bailey Brown and another member of the Grafton Guards surprised three of Letcher’s Guards, who were on picket duty. In a quick exchange of fire, Brown was killed.

Brown is considered the first combat fatality of the Civil War. Following the capture of Fort Sumter, two Union soldiers had died during a cannon salute. Brown is buried in the Grafton National Cemetery, which was established after the war.

May 10, 1908: First Mother's Day Observance

On May 10, 1908, the nation’s first Mother’s Day observance was held at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton on the third anniversary of Anna Reeves Jarvis’s death. Jarvis’s humanitarian efforts were well known in Taylor County. She had worked at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church for 30 years and long dreamed of a day dedicated to mothers.

Her daughter, Anna, was responsible for making Mother’s Day a reality. Anna advocated for Mother’s Day to become a national holiday, but the U.S. Senate defeated the idea the day before the first celebration was held in Grafton. Ministers, temperance groups, and women’s suffragists picked up the campaign and convinced 45 states to establish the holiday. On May 10, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first national Mother’s Day—to be observed on the second Sunday of every May.

Anna Jarvis soon deplored how the holiday she’d help create had become so commercialized. She denounced Mother’s Day, referring to the floral, greeting-card, and candy industries as “charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers, and termites.”

Today, Andrews Methodist in Grafton is recognized as the International Mother’s Day Shrine.

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