Below is from Hardesty's 1883
History of Doddridge County
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THE FIRST COUNTY COURT
Pursuant to the foregoing the first county court ever held for Doddridge
county convened at the house of Nathan Davis, where the town of West Union
now stands, on the 17th day of April 1845. The following justices, each
holding a commission as such signed by his excellency the governor of
Virginia, were present, viz.: Nathan Davis, Mathew Neeley, William F.
Randolph, S.P.F. Randolph, Samuel Archibald, Charles Bonnell, William
Johnston, Apollo Stephens, Joseph Gray and Thomas Gray. John G. Stringer was
appointed teller and the court went into an election of a clerk. James U.
Newlon, Phineas Chapin, Jesse Jarvis, Lemuel Hall and Adolpheus Armstrong
were placed in nomination, and a viva voce vote resulted as follows: for
James U. Newlon, 8 votes; for Phineas Chapin, 1; for Jesse Jarvis, 1. Newlon
having received a majority of all the votes was declared elected, and thus
became the first clerk of Doddridge county. Then Nathan Davis was appointed
crier, and the court proceeded to elect a commissioner of the revenue;
Joseph Gray and William Shannon were nominated, the vote taken and Joseph
declared elected; he came into court, entered into a bond in the penalty of
$1,000.00, and took the several oaths prescribed by law. Then the names of
U.M. Turner, James Morris, and Edgar M. Davisson were placed in nomination
for the office of prosecuting attorney for the commonwealth; the vote
resulted in the choice of Mr. Turner, who took the oath and at once began to
look after the interest of the States. It was then “Ordered that this court
meet at the brick house, the property of Nathan Davis, in the town of West
Union, in the said county of Doddridge, on to-morrow at 9AM and that the
said court be holden there until otherwise ordered.” April 18th - The court
convened as per adjournment, and James U. Newlon, who the day previously had
been elected clerk, came into court and, together with Samuel P.F. Randolph
as his security, acknowledged a bond in the penalty of $1,000.00, after
which he took the oath of clerk of court. Messrs. A.J. Smith, Gustavus
Cressup, R.W. Lauck and James Morris appeared and took the several oaths
prescribed by law, and were qualified as attorneys in the county court of
Doddridge county. It was then ordered that the court proceed to recommend
three justices for the sheriffalty of the county: Nathan Davis was elected
first in the recommendation, Mathew Neeley second and Samuel P.F. Randolph
third - all unanimously. Mathew Neely claimed the right to be named first in
the nomination to the executive on the ground that Nathan Davis had held the
office of sheriff of Harrison county for the two years last passed, and that
the said Neely was the oldest magistrate in the county of Doddridge, except
the said Davis, but the court overruled his motion. Next William M.
Sommerville was recommended to his excellency as a suitable person to
discharge the duties of the office of coroner of the county. The court then
proceeded to elect a surveyor of land. Samuel Archbold and Ethelbert Bond
were placed in nomination, the former received five votes and the latter but
two, and Archbold was declared elected. Then Appolo Stephens, William M.
Somerville and Elijah Summers were elected school commissioners for the
county; Samuel Beverlin and John Talkington were recommended to his
excellency as suitable persons for the office of justice of the peace;
commissions of election we then appointed for the various voting precincts
of the county, and it was ordered that “this court do adjourn until the next
court in course.” Thus ended the first county court ever held in Doddridge
county.
FIRST CIRCUIT SUPERIOR COURT
The first circuit superior court ever held in the county convened at the
house of Nathan Davis [that place having been fixed by the county court], on
the 30th day of April 1845. Hon. Joseph L. Fry judge of the tenth judicial
district of the twentieth circuit of the Commonwealth of Virginia,
presiding. Jesse Jarvis was appointed clerk of the court for the next
ensuing seven years. He at once came into court, and with Ephraim Bee,
Appollo Stephens and Thomas Bond, as his sureties, entered into and
acknowledged a bond in the sum of $10,000 conditioned according to law.
James M. Stephenson was appointed prosecutor for the Commonwealth in this
court; he took the oath to support the Constitution of the United States,
the oath against dueling and the oath of office. Edwin L. Hewitt, William I.
Boremna, Edgar C. Davidson, Uriah M. Turner, James Morris and James M.
Stephenson all holding a license to practice in the courts of the
Commonwealth, were on their motion granted permission to practice in this
court. Then it was ordered that the clerk of the court be permitted to
“keep” his office in any suitable house to be selected by him, either in
town of West Union or Lewisport, until a suitable office can be prepared.
The court then proceeded to make the public allowances and ordered that
Nathan Davis be allowed the sum of $10 for his services as crier of this
court; also that Jesse Jarvis be allowed the sum of $15 for his services as
clerk. Then the court adjourned until the first day of the next term.
WEST UNION, THE COUNTY SEAT
The land upon which the town of West Union now stands, was patented about
the year 1787, by James Caldwell; the survey contains 20,000 acres, the
whole of which he sold to Nathan Davis and his brothers William and Joseph,
in the year 1807, for the sum of 23 cents per acre. They removed to the
lands in 1808, and soon after sold the greater portion of the land to Lewis
Maxwell, at the same price. Soon after them came other settlers, among whom
John Smith, Jacob Ripley, Thomas Smith, Joseph Jeffrey, Snowden S. Kinney,
Hiram Sayre, John Webster, Thomas S. Neely and Matthew Neely, who came in
1832. John Chaney was the first merchant; he began business in 1820. Soon
after a postoffice was established, and the next map of Virginia showed,
away out among the western hills of the “Old Dominion,” the little village
of Lewisport, named in honor of Lewis Maxwell. Arthur Ingram was the second
merchant. Ephraim Bee, Sr., was the first blacksmith; our informant says
that he began business as early as 1828. The first hotel was opened in the
summer of 1839 by Lawson B. Maulsby, who, together with Silas J. Ogden, the
same year, established the first tannery on the banks of Middle Island creek
or in Doddridge county. In 1845, when the county was formed and the county
seat located at this place, the town was regularly laid out by Ethelbert
Bond and the name changed to West Union. The addition thus made was from the
lands of Nathan Davis, which lay on the south side of Middle Island creek.
Here Mr. Davis resided in a brick house which stood on the spot where the
new court house now stands. Arthur Ingram crossed over, purchased a lot and
erected the second building on the south side, and together with Jacob J.
Ingle, became the first merchant. Dr. James W. Newton erected the second
dwelling, in 1845, and died just as it was completed. The second merchants
were Floyd Neely and F.M.F. Smith, doing business under the firm name of
Neely & Smith. The latter built the first hotel, but Jacob J. Ingle became
the first proprietor. The postoffice was removed to the South Side in 1845,
and Taliaferro K. Knight, the present circuit clerk, became the first
postmaster. The first school was taught in 1846, by Henry Miller, from
Clarksburg, and his successor in 1847 was a Mr. Hays.
BURNING OF THE TOWN OF WEST UNION
On the night of March 27th, 1858, the fire fiend once more visited West
Union, and this time laid the town in ashes. At the time many of the
citizens were absent at Clarksburg, attending the United States court, then
in session in that city. The fire originated in an upper room of the
residence of L.R. Charter. A brisk gale was blowing and the flames spread
rapidly to other buildings, the first being the large hotel and store room
belonging to James A. Foley. Then followed the residence of Ethelbert bond
and the storehouse of Arthur Ingram. Many other buildings shared the same
fate, and the next morning, what the evening before had been the town of
West Union, was but a mass of smoldering ruins. But just at the time the
Parkersburg and Grafton branch of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway was
completed, and the town, phoenix-like, arose from its own ashes, and in a
short time no traces of the holocaust remained behind.
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West Union was incorporated in 1881 but was a town for
many years before.
The Doddridge Public Library now has a microfilm
reader and 3 reels of film copied from the Charleston Archives.
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Doddridge County Newspapers on microfilm currently are:
Doddridge County Republican
West Union
November 7, 1912-June 1920; January 1930-December 1931; January 7,
1932-February 25, 1943 (missing issues) 6-4-1920/4-10-1929; July 21 1932
with 1933
Herald Record
West Union
January 1977-December 1982; January 1983-December 1983; January
1987-December 1990
West Union Herald
West Union
January 5, 1911-December 25, 1919; January 1, 1948-December 14, 1950;
October 3, 1957-October 4, 1973
West Union Record
West Union
May 3, 1901-December 24, 1909; January 13, 1911-December 27, 1921; October
3, 1929-December 18, 1947; January 4, 1951-December 1975
These are available in Charleston - if any would like
to pay for a reel or so to be copied for the Doddridge County Library,
please contact us at
info@westunion-wv.com
Thank you
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