Tag: West Virginia Consitutional Convention

January 22, 1810: State Founder Daniel Lamb Born in Pennsylvania

State founder Daniel Lamb was born in Pennsylvania on January 22, 1810. Lamb’s family moved to Wheeling when he was 13. He was elected city clerk at age 21 and worked for two Wheeling banks and an insurance company.

When the Civil War began and Virginia cast its lot with the Confederacy, Daniel Lamb became a leading pro-Union figure in Wheeling. He was a member of the West Virginia Constitutional Convention and the state’s first legislature. The first codification of West Virginia’s laws, known as the Lamb Code, was begun by Lamb but finished by James H. Ferguson.

Despite his pro-Union views, Lamb was forgiving of former Confederates after the war. For instance, he opposed “test oaths,” which prevented former Confederates from voting, and advocated policies that allowed former Confederates to serve in West Virginia government.

Lamb consistently refused nominations for statewide offices. He did, however, campaign in 1871 for the U.S. Senate but was defeated by Democrat Henry G. Davis, who, ironically, was elected by many of the former Confederates Lamb had fought to re-enfranchise.

Daniel Lamb died in Wheeling in 1876 at age 66.

October 11, 1811: State Founder Waitman Willey Born

State founder Waitman Willey was born near Farmington in Marion County on October 11, 1811. He opened his first law practice in Morgantown in 1833 and served as Monongalia County Court clerk for more than a decade.

Willey gained statewide attention for his “Liberty and Union” speech at the 1850-51 Virginia Constitutional Convention. At the start of the Civil War, he spoke passionately against secession and war. After Virginia seceded from the Union, Willey was elected to represent the loyal citizens of Virginia in the U.S. Senate.

Although he initially opposed breaking away from Virginia and forming a new state, he gradually switched his views and negotiated a key compromise on slavery, known as the Willey Amendment, that allowed West Virginia to join the Union. He then served as one of West Virginia’s first two U.S. senators from 1863 to 1871.

Although Willey had owned slaves before the war, he moderated his views on the subject and spoke eloquently for African-American suffrage at West Virginia’s Constitutional Convention in 1872.

Sometimes called the Father of West Virginia, Waitman Willey died in Morgantown in 1900 at age 88.

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