West Virginia History

" An essential resource for scholars, students, and all lovers of the Mountaineer State. From bloody skirmishes with Indians on the early frontier to the Logan County mine war, the story of West Virginia is punctuated with episodes as colorful and rugged as the mountains that dominate its landscape. In this first modern comprehensive history, Otis Rice and Stephen Brown balance these episodes of mountaineer individualism against the complexities of industrial development and the growth of social institutions, analyzing the events and personalities that have shaped the state. To create this history, the authors weave together many strands from the past and present. Included among these are geological and geographical features; the prehistoric inhabitants; exploration and settlement; relations with the Indians; the land systems and patterns of ownership; the Civil War and the formation of the state from the western counties of Virginia; the legacy of Reconstruction; politics and government; industrial development; labor problems and advances; and cultural aspects such as folkways, education, religion, and national and ethnic influences. For this second edition, the authors have added a new chapter, bringing the original material up to date and carrying the West Virginia story through the presidential election of 1992. Otis K. Rice is professor emeritus of history and Stephen W. Brown is professor of history at West Virginia Institute of Technology.

John Alexander Williams's West Virginia: A History is widely considered one of the finest books ever written about the state. In his clear, eminently readable style, Williams organizes the tangled strands of West Virginia's past around a few dramatic events—the battle of Point Pleasant, John Brown's insurrection in Harper's Ferry, the Paint Creek labor movement, the Hawk's Nest and Buffalo Creek disasters, and more. Williams uses these pivotal events as introductions to the larger issues of statehood, Civil War, unionism, and industrialization. Along the way, Williams conveys a true feel for the lives of common West Virginians, the personalities of the state's memorable characters, and the powerful influence of the land itself on its own history.

This volume contains both a sourcebook of genealogical data and a group-family record, with slightly greater detail marshaled in the sourcebook section. A significant portion of the work, nevertheless, is devoted to the general history of the county, explaining, in the customary manner, when, how, and why the county was settled and tracing the various phases of its development. The group-family portion of the book, occupying a full third of the text, carries the lines of descent far enough down to enable the present generation to recognize relationships. An abundance of available data, coupled with the desire to set forth the family histories of as many county residents as possible, compelled the author to employ a compact form of narrative. This ""skeletal"" history, embracing all vital and ascertainable facts, has the virtue of precluding biographical embellishments, and at once puts before the researcher all that he needs to know of several hundred families and many thousands of related individuals. All families discussed in this section are indexed alphabetically for easy reference. The remainder of the book is comprised of genealogical source materials

After dwelling at some length on the history of Pendleton County from its origins as part of Augusta County, Virginia, this work brings its full weight to bear on hundreds of family histories, with references to more than 15,000 individuals, each meticulously developed from the public records at Richmond and at the county seats of Augusta and Rockingham. As a rule, Morton traces the entire adult posterity of each Pendleton County pioneer and sub-pioneer ancestor in a perfectly fluid progression, and furnishes much in the way of personal accounts and family traditions.

As a body, these records are extracted from roughly 750 known Bibles and extend from the late 18th through the early 20th centuries, with the greatest concentration from the mid-19th century. Most of the entries refer to births, marriages, and deaths and in most cases indicate the name(s) of the principals, the date of the event, and, sometimes, such supplementary information as his/her age or address, the maiden name of a parent, etc. Each Bible record is identified by family name and followed by a reference to the Huguenot Society records where the original can be found. In all, the records refer to more than 2,500 main families named in the surname index at the back of the volume and embrace a staggering 25,000 individuals of Huguenot or possible Huguenot ancestry--connections and allied families that would otherwise be lost to us in the unpublished files of this august organization.