Joseph H. Diss Debar

B&O line completed to Cumberland

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad came to Martinsburg

Jacob Blair began to study law under his uncle John Jay Jackson, Sr.

Western Virginians met in Clarksburg and Lewisburg and demanded a Constitutional Convention

Henry Gassaway Davis became brakeman for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

William Edwards graduated from Williams College

John Gallaher became a state senator

Chester Hubbard married Sarah Pallister

John Jay Jackson Sr commanded a brigade in the Virginia militia

Stonewall Jackson entered West Point

Joseph Lightburn sought admission to West Point

Fairmont became county seat at creation of Marion County

The B&O Railroad arrived in Mineral County

The General Assembly chartered three academies in Pocahontas County for the preparation of students for the University of Virginia, at Green Bank, Hillsboro, and Huntersville

William Rosecrans graduated from West Point

Wayne was founded as a town

Kellian Whaley moved to Wayne County

Ephraim G. Squier and Edwin H. Davis documented Salt Rock petroglyphs

Heirs of Matthias Bruen of New York City inherited 200,000 acres of land

The Point Pleasant lead plate left by Celeron was found by boy playing on riverbank

Legislature allowed citizens to petition counties to establish free schools

Legislation authorized school commissioners to use local taxes to supplement state aid for the poor

William Edwards traveled to the Amazon River

Salt production in the Kanawha Valley peaked at 3,244,786 bushels

Weston's first newspaper began publishing

Joseph Lightburn enlisted in the army as a private

Alexander Martin served as principal of Kingwood Academy in Preston County

Ephraim Squier and Edwin Davis conducted a survey of prehistoric mounds in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys

New Martinsville became the county seat of Wetzel County

Jesse Reno graduated from West Point.

The Christian Minstrel was published introducing a second system using seven shapes to teach singing

Churches in Lewis, Upshur, Barbour, and Gilmer counties merged with those in Braxton County to form the Lewis or Buckhannon Circuit of the United Brethren

The administration building at the School for Deaf and Blind was built

The first West Virginia legislature adopted the motto "Montani Semper Liberi," "Mountaineers are always free"

Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan removed Averell from command for performance during Shenandoah Valley Campaign

Old Virginia banks transformed into national banks under federal banking legislation

First National Bank of Parkersburg became first national bank in West Virginia

Union troops burned down the resort buildings at Blue Sulphur Springs

Arthur Boreman married Laurane Tanner Bullock

Alexander Boteler's house burned on orders of Union Gen. David Hunter

Belle Boyd married Samuel Wylde Hardinge Jr.

Nathan Brackett graduated from Dartmouth College

Battle of Summit Point

Battle of Charles Town

John Dickinson was captured and kept prisoner at Fort Delaware

Joseph Diss Debar was named the first West Virginia commissioner of immigration

Construction of the Easton Roller Mill began

Allegheny College was burned by Union troops

William Ryland White was named first state superintendent of free schools

Stephen Elkins was admitted to the Missouri bar

Fort Moore was built for Capt. W. T. Wiant's home guards

Natural gas was used to produce carbon black for printing ink

John Imboden contracted typhoid fever and was relieved of command

Jacob Jackson returned to Parkersburg

Mudwall Jackson was promoted to brigadier general to command the forces at the Battle of Droop Mountain

The Logan Wildcats were active in the Shenandoah Valley campaign

The Richardson's map was the first map of the new state of West Virginia

The Morgantown Weekly Post was established by Henry M. Morgan and Nimrod Nelson Hoffman

Governor Boreman ordered convicted felons in West Virginia be imprisoned in the Ohio County Jail

Bazel Childers developed a system for fracturing the oil bearing rock to increase production.

Henry Ragland was captured by Union troops near Lurray, Virginia.

The first newspaper in Ripley, the Jackson Democrat was established

Volcano became an oil boom town

The Volcanic Oil & Gas Company was formed

Kellian Whaley was a delegate to the Republican National Convention

Laura Jackson Arnold wrote to Abraham Lincoln strongly expressing her support of the Union

Only 490,000 tons of coal were produced in West Virginia

Dr. James Dye was born in Chloe

Delta Tau Delta revived its Bethany Chapter

Marmaduke Dent enrolled in classes at WVU

Sisters established a benevolent school for poor children in Parkersburg

Easton Roller Mill began operation

Stephen Elkins served as New Mexico's attorney general

Palatine was incorporated

Work on Grafton National Cemetery began

Grantsville was named for Ulysses S. Grant

Hamlin was chosen as county seat of Lincoln County

Thomas Harris served in the House of Delegates

The Clarksburg Independent School District was established

Mother Jones's husband, George, and their four children died in the yellow fever epidemic in Memphis

George Latham became U.S. Consul to Australia

Joseph Lightburn became a Baptist preacher

The Little Kanawha Navigation Company let contracts for the first four locks and dams

The initial railroad map of West Virginia was published by the B&O Railroad

Henry Hyannis purchased the old Nadenbousch distillery in Martinsburg

John McCausland returned to Mason County after fleeing the country at the end of the Civil War

Dr. James Edmund Reeves and 32 colleagues established the West Virginia State Medical Association, orginally the Medical Society of West Virginia

The West Virginia Penitentiary opened

A monument commemorating the Confederate dead was erected at Romney Indian Mound Cemetery

Trustees of West Liberty sold the school to the state

I. C. White became one of the first 6 students to enter the Agricultural College of West Virginia (WVU)

William Wilson graduated from Columbian College

West Virginia legislature authorized the establishment of normal schools to train teachers

Uncle Dyke Garrett married Sallie "Aunt Sallie" Smith

Celebration staged in Parkersburg after ratification of the 15th Amendment

Railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington located the western terminus of Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in present Huntington

Cheat River declared a public highway

Claymont Court mansion (Jefferson County) was advertised for sale by Bushrod Corbin Washington's grandson

Henry Gassaway Davis helped lead the Democrats in for their control over the state

Marmaduke Dent received B.A from WVU

Alexander Donaghho came to Parkersburg

Fayetteville population jumped to 6,647

Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler began his map-making trips

Camp Straton United Confederate Veterans began controlling Logan County polices

German immigration increased during the Franco-Prussian War

John Hale started the first steam ferry at Charleston

John Hale was a leader in having the state capital moved to Charleston

Literary Hall was built in Romney

The West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind was established in Romney

John Henry began working as a steel driver during the construction of the Big Bend (Great Bend) Tunnel

The state was reported to have 2,270 schools

Investment in manufacturing began increasing

Immigrants from Switzerland settled in the area of Holly River

George Imboden moved to Fayette County

Jacob Jackson became Wood County's prosecuting attorney

A proposed waterway between Tidewater Virginia and Rocky Mountains was proposed to Congress by Waitman T. Willey

The capital was moved from Wheeling to Charleston

Henry Clay Dickinson became president of Kanawha Valley Bank

James Kay arrived in Charleston

John Kenna was admitted to the bar

Crosscut saws replaced the ax as the preferred tool for felling trees

Marshall College added a new brick addition at the west end of the existing building

John Nuttall bought coal lands on New River

The Flick Amendment was introduced

Petersburg became the county seat of Grant County

Henry Ragland moved to Wayne County.

Alexander Reynolds began serving in Egypt

Literary Hall was built by the Literary Society in Romney

Cecil Clay of Philadelphia began timber purchases in Greenbrier Valley

William Stevenson was defeated for second term as governor

There were 178 tanneries in West Virginia

The Daily Sentinel became the Taylor County newspaper

The town of Volcano was founded

Wayne County population was at 7,852

WesBanco was founded as German Bank

Legislature voted for additional buildings at Weston State Hospital

The Potomac River flooded

The Shenandoah River flooded

Peter Cline Buffington was elected Huntington's first mayor

Edward Jefferson Willis founded the Winchester Female Institute in Winchester

B&O lines reached Columbus, Lake Erie and Pittsburgh

Commencement Hall added as a wing to Old Main at Bethany

Democrats gained control of West Virginia's government

Jefferson County seat moved back to Charles Town after being in Shepherdstown

The Jefferson County seat moved back to Charles Town after temporarily being relocated to Shepherdstown

Waitman Willey's service in the U.S. Senate ended

Voters approved both a constitutional amendment eliminating the loyalty requirement for voting and a call for a new constitutional convention

Hyre D. Clark of Buckhannon was the first graduate of Fairmont State

John P. Hale became mayor of Charleston

Morris Harvey married Rosaltha Dickinson

The Independent was moved from Winfield to Huntington by O.G. Chase

Frank Hereford began the first of three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives

Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad purchased the land on which Hinton was built

The Flick Amendment was passed which ended political restriction on ex-Confederates in West Virginia

Jedediah Hotchkiss explored the extended Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad

Huntington was founded by Collis P. Huntington

John J. Allen died

James Madison Jackson died

John Jay Jackson Sr. served as a member of the commission to ascertain West Virginia's share of the Virginia debt

The Great Fire in Chicago burned up Mother Jones' dressmaking business and her possessions

The KKK virtually disappeared in West Virginia after voting privileges were restored to former Confederates

Daniel Lamb unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate

The Flick Amendment was passed restoring voting rights for ex-Confederates

Mannington was chartered as a town by the legislature

The federal government conducted a survey of the river

Legislature passed West Virginia's first general banking law

The present building of Malden's African Zion Baptist Church began after contributions of land, money and materials by Gen. Lewis Ruffner

West Virginia's new constitution continued the education of black children in segregation

Blacks began forming groups in response to inequality.

Commissioners in McDowell County ordered a new courthouse be constructed out of logs

Joseph Beury and wife moved to New River

Alexander Boteler ran unsuccessfully for Congress

Brickyard Bend (New Cumberland) shipped 11 million bricks via Ohio River

West Virginia's new constitution abandons the township system and reverts back to the Virginia county government system

Democrats gained political supremacy after voting restrictions on former Confederates ceased

Anne Dudley toured New England with Harpers Ferry Singers to raise funds for Myrtle Hall

New constitution expanded support of public education

New constitution changed elections to two-year cycle

Secretary of State was made an appointed office

Provisions of the Flick Amendment was added to the state constitution

John P. Hale purchased Fort Lee's original lot and blockhouse in Charleston

Glenville State College began as branch of the State Normal School

Noah Speer started the Hancock Works

The second courthouse was completed in Glenville

Vote by citizens brought the Grant County seat permanently to Petersburg

John Hale built the Hale House hotel in Charleston

Legislature faced the task of modifying laws to conform to the newly adopted constitution

West Virginia Legislature grew to 89 persons

Weston's first public school building was erected

The McDowell County seat was located at Peeryville (now English)

The town of Milton was laid out

The hamlet of Mud in Lincoln County, an unincorporated community, said to have been founded

Construction began on more refineries in Parkersburg

Normal schools were established in Glenville, Athens, and Shepherdstown

Pence Springs was developed as a resort.

In Charleston, the Presbyterian Church (Southern) and the Kanawha Presbyterian Church (Northern) split.

Voters in Greenbrier Country elected Samuel Price as their representative to the West Virginia constitutional convention.

Legislature designated Shepherd as one of the state's normal schools

Robert Simmons was a delegate to the Republican national convention

The cave at Sinks of Gandy was described by David Hunter Strother

The Universalist Meeting House at Fork Ridge in Marshall County erected an additional larger building

Charles Ward began operating his own pipe and fittings business

The Western Maryland Railway extended to Hagerstown

I.C. White earned an undergraduate degree at Agricultural College of West Virginia (WVU)

Waitman Willey spoke eloquently for suffrage for African-Americans