Henry Ruffner

Alexander Campbell migrated to America

Thomas Campbell drafted The Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington

Claude Crozet began serving Napoleons military in Germany and Holland

Samuel Jackson established Jackson's Ironworks at Ices Ferry

John George Jackson had an encounter with North Carolina Congressman Joseph Pierson that ended in a duel

The Old State Road received legislative authorization to collect tolls for maintenance

The Union Baptist Church was founded in Milton

The Literary Fund was established by the General Assembly

The first settlers arrived in Roane County

John Haymond and Benjamin Wilson began a salt works at Bull Town on the Little Kanawha River

John D. Sutton settled at Granny's Creek, now Sutton

James Madison became president

Gen. Elisha Boyd built the Martinsburg mansion Boydsville

Sinnett Triplett first known white man to occupy present Clay County

The first gristmill in Gilmer County was built in Glenville

Wilson Cary Nicholas purchased Green Bottom and established an overseer slave plantation

The Greenbrier College for Women was founded as the Lewisburg Academy by Dr. John McElhenney

Industrial development, especially salt and iron, was stimulated by the War of 1812

The Ices Ferry Ironworks supplied iron for shot used in the Battle of New Orleans and shipped nails and plates for Admiral Perry's Lake Erie squadron

The first Western Virginia rolling mill was in operation at Ices Ferry Ironworks

Legislature appointed John George Jackson a brigadier general in the Virginia militia during the war

John George Jackson emerged as one of the foremost businessmen of the upper Monongahela Valley

Joseph Johnson became captain of the Harrison Riflemen

Aaron Stockton settled at Kanawha Falls

The Kanawha Valley salt industry boomed

John Marshall led a 20 man survey party mapping the route across West Virginia between the James and Ohio Rivers

Hawks Nest was named Marshall's Pillars

Justice Joseph Story delivered the decision to reverse Virginia Court of Appeals in the David Hunter case after John Marshall recused himself from the case

Robert Gorrell laid out town lots at present Middlebourne

John Marshall boated the New River to asses its navigation potential

Organ Cave was mined for saltpeter to manufacture gunpowder

Spencer was first settled by the Samuel Tanner and Jonathan Wolfe families

Anne Royall moved to Charleston after death of Wm. Royall

John George Jackson began his salt works on the West Fork

Salt production quadrupled on 52 furnaces to reach one million bushels

Robert Simmons fought in the War of 1812

The "Big Cave" on Cave Mountain was a source of saltpeter for the production of gunpowder

Samuel Tanner and Jonathan Wolfe moved into a cave near present Spencer Middle School

Western Virginia militias took parts in the Northwest Campaign

Gov. Cabell bought 4,400 acres of land inCabell County

Clarksburg chosen as site of first federal court west of Alleghenies

Romney's Literary Society was founded

President James Monroe appointed John George Jackson a federal judge

The first steamboat tried to get up over Red House Shoals

Western commerce was crushed by the Panic

The Lewis County seat became Weston

Oil was produced by George Lemon in Wirt County

Jonas Smith recorded the first plat of the town

The Robert Thompson was the first steamboat to attempt to get to Charleston

The Literary Society was founded

Henry Ruffner began teaching ancient languages at Washington College (Washington and Lee University)

Richard Henry Lee Washington died

Thomas Beall died

Weston became the permanent name of the town

John D. Sutton gave one acre of ground for a public square in Sutton

Monroe County discontinued the system

Rebecca Davis family moved to Wheeling

The Winchester & Potomac Railroad opened line to Virginius Island at Harpers Ferry

The Virginia Geological Report noted the county's rich coal deposits

Henry Clay Furnace was built on Clay Run

The Henry Clay Furnace was built to supply pig iron to Ices Ferry Ironworks

The city of Ravenswood was laid out

Benjamin Kelley moved to Wheeling

Joseph Martin produced the only gazetteer of Virginia before the state split

Alexander Martin moved to Jefferson County, Ohio

The first courthouse in Elizabethtown (present Moundsville) was built

The first public building, a jail, was completed in present Moundsville

A new building was authorized to be built in Wheeling for the Ohio County courthouse

The C&O canal company began to carve through Sorrel Ridge

Samuel Price moved to Wheeling and became prosecuting attorney for Braxton County.

Anne Royall began publishing The Huntress newspaper

William Chapman acquired a small steamboat to tow the Floating Theater upstream

Braxton County was formed

The United Brethren Virginia Conference sent Michael Moses to New Haven

Wheeling was incorporated as a city

The rear wing of Henderson Hall was built

The first class at Bethany College included international students

William Tompkins struck large flow of gas while drilling a salt well a short distance above Burning Springs

Alexander Campbell argued for public education at the education convention in Clarksburg

Scarcity of deer first noted in present West Virginia

John Hale attended Mercer Academy in Charleston

The Northwestern Academy was established

Work commenced on the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike

The Jackson family gristmill was constructed at Jackson's Mill

Nathaniel Kuykendall operated a stagecoach and mail delivery service on the Northwestern Virginia Turnpike

Robert Simmons settled in Parkersburg

The Staunton Turnpike was placed under control of the Board of Public Works

Portion of the Staunton Turnpike were open to wagon travel

George Summers was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives

Elizabeth Tomlinson died

Charles Ward was born

John Thornton Augustine Washington died

James O. Watson married Matilda Lamb

Charles Ellet Jr was appointed chief engineer of the Fairmont Bridge

Richard Whelan was consecrated as the second bishop of the Diocese of Richmond

Waitman Willey was elected clerk of the Monongalia County Court

"Ruffner Pamphlet" published in Kanawha County

Gordon Battelle was ordained a Methodist minister

John Carlile was elected to the Virginia Senate

William Edwards was admitted to the New York bar

William Edwards published A Voyage on the River Amazon

John Floyd was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates

The Presbyterian Church was organized in Greenville

The Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike was completed

Cummins Jackson left Jackson's Mill to search for gold in CA

Joseph Johnson was elected again to the House of Delegates

Citizens of Parkersburg, Elizabeth, and Glenville organized the Little Kanawha Navigation Company

Alexander Martin graduated from Allegheny College, Pennsylvania

Mining began in West Columbia, Mason County

Large flood occurred on the Ohio River

The Staunton to Parkersburg Turnpike was completed

Pocahontas County was formed

A group of Dutch immigrants arrived in Pocahontas County

Samuel Price was again elected to the Virginia legislature as a Whig from Greenbrier Count.

The first Stone & Thomas Department Store opened in Wheeling

The first permanent United Brethren church was built in Sand Hill

The Buckhannon Male and Female Academy was established

A grist mill was built at Valley Falls by Bradshaw and William Whitescarver

Charles Ellet Jr. secured contracts for the Wheeling and Niagara Falls suspension bridges

Two Dutch families settled near the headwaters of the Williams River

Two turnpikes were completed in Wood County

Report of Salt Rock petroglyphs included in Smithsonian Institution's "Contributions to Knowledge"

Bids authorized on the Beverly-Fairmont Turnpike

Rebecca Davis graduated from the Washington (Pennsylvania) Female Seminary

William Eagle died

First county and circuit courts of Wirt County met in "Old Red Brick"

The Giles, Fayette and Kanawha Turnpike was completed

John Floyd was elected governor

German immigration increased from desire to escape persecution during European Revolutions

The first German newspaper was established in Wheeling

The Giles, Fayette & Kanawha Turnpike was completed

Joseph H. Gill surveyed the Guyandotte River from its mouth to Gilbert Creek

The Ellicott Brothers business failed

C. P. Huntington went to California with the gold rush to sell supplies to miners

A Catholic Church was established at Sand Fork

John Jay Jackson Jr. served as prosecuting attorney of Wirt County

Daniel Lamb became the cashier of the Northwestern Bank of Virginia at Wheeling

A single lock and dam was built on the Elk River

Ephraim Squier and Edwin Davis published Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley

Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy was founded

Francis Pierpont began an association with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

A massive fire and flood doomed Creel's village to an early death

Samuel Price was reelected to the House of Delegates

Bancroft was settled

James Stephenson left the House of Delegates

Henry St. George Tucker, Sr. died

Cabell, Berkeley, and Jefferson counties provided infantry regiments for service in the Mexican-American War

1,500 slaves owned by salt barons or rented from owners worked in the Kanawha County salt works

Lemuel Chenoweth had finished many bridges on Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike

Wills De Hass transferred the Grave Creek tablet and skull to the Smithsonian

Martin Delany finished medical school at Harvard Medical College

Fugitive Slave Act was passed

Western Virginia had 1,300 primary schools

Map showed Davidson's Ferry near mouth of Elk River and Goshorn's Ferry crossing the Kanawha River

The first courthouse was completed in Glenville

The First Baptist Church was organized in Greenville

Census reported three slaves in Hancock County

Nancy Hart and family were living in Boone County

The Virginia Constitutional Convention made changes that addressed the political sources of western discontent

Alexander Campbell supported the Fugitive Slave Law but felt runaway slaves should be provided food, shelter and clothing

The Paw Paw Tunnel opened on the C&O Canal

Reported number of slaves in Jefferson County was 3,960, 27% of the population

Mother Jones and family arrived in Boston

The new edition of A History of the Valley of Virginia was published

Malden had several hotels, a bank and saloons

Trustees offered Marshall Univ. to the Western Virginia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South

A reported 21 weeklies and 3 dailies were published in English or German in West Virginia

The C&O Canal was built to Cumberland

There were 200 residents at Federal Hill

The last bridges were made on the Staunton Turnpike

George Summers was a member of the Constitutional Convention

A large seam of bituminous coal was found on Paint Creek

Parts of Fayette County were taken to create Raleigh County

The Beall-Air Mansion was built by Lewis William Washington

Wheeling had a hospital

Waitman Willey was a delegate to the VirginiaConstitutional Convention

West Virginia had 20,527 slaves