George William Summers

Barboursville was designated the county seat of Cabell County

Indian trail extended to Barboursville

Dr. Eli Herman Moore was born in Brooke County

Joel Shrewsbury and William Dickinson Sr. moved their salt business to the Kanawha Salines (Malden)

Linsly Institute in Wheeling was founded

The second complete publication of account from Lewis & Clark expedition published since Patrick Gass's in 1807

Felix Grundy resigned from Congress

Joseph Johnson marched his company north to Norfolk

The Charlestown Gazette was established in Wellsburg

The first glass plant in West Virginia was built in Wellsburg

Tyler County was created

Bens Run earthworks described in the journal of Thom Nuttall

Money was earmarked to pay tuition for poor white children to attend schools

Commercial coal mining began

The National Road, the first major highway in the region, was completed to Wheeling

James Madison Jackson was born

Jonathan Jackson and wife Julia Neale moved to Clarksburg

Bishop James Madison's maps appeared

Mail service on the unfinished National Road began to Wheeling

The ferry to present Winfield was established

The Runnion family arrived in Spencer

Capt. William Jenkins moved to Green Bottom with his family

Edward Brake Jackson died

Jonathan Jackson died

John Jeremiah Jacob gave his account of Dunmore's War

Wheeling, Morgantown, Romney, Harpers Ferry, Lewisburg and Martinsburg had libraries

Anne Royall wrote Sketches of History, Life, and Manners in the United States

The first steamboat arrived in Morgantown

School sessions were held regularly in Moundsville

Holly Grove was opened as a house of public entertainment

The General Assembly changed end of Staunton Turnpike to be Parkersburg

B&O chartered

Alexander Campbell's wife, Margaret Brown, died

Churches of Berkeley and Jefferson organized ecumenical Sabbath School Union

David E. Jackson, William Sublette and Jedediah Smith became partners in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company

Anne Royall wrote The Tennessean

City of Logan was laid out and first named Lawnsville

The stogie became popular when George W. Black of Wheeling sold the cigars to wagon drivers on the National Road

The Northwestern Virginia Turnpike was chartered by the General Assembly to connect Winchester to Parkersburg

Dick Pointer died.

James Blaine built a gristmill on Blaine Island

The General Assembly established the town of Virginius

Alexander Withers moved to Harrison County

Burnsville founded

Clay was first mined in Hancock County

Contentment was built at Ansted

Col. Stephen H. Long patented the Long truss system

Philip Doddridge was reelected to Congress

Horse-powered ferry was advertised in the Kanawha Register

John Gallaher was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates

Charleston had 750 people

Anne Royall wrote Letters from Alabama

The Methodist Protestant Church was created in West Virginia

Elizabethtown was incorporated

The South Branch Intelligencer was established in Romney

John North sold his house to James Frazier

Harry Ripley died at Mill Creek

The 1829 Virginia Constitution left residents of the Trans-Allegheny dissatisfied

James Swan died in debtors prison in France

Christian Newcomer died

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

Henry Ruffner gathered with other western Virginians at a convention in Clarksburg and allied for a system of free public schools

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

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

Southern Baptist Convention organized

Arthur Boreman was admitted to the bar

Bruen land agents had sold a number of farm sites to northern settlers

Luke Jaco opened a tavern and stagecoach stop that was part of the Underground Railroad

Doddridge County was name in honor of Philip Doddridge

Reported three dozen primitive sawmills in present West Virginia

Town of Glenville was laid out

John Hale graduated from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Frank Herford graduated from McKendree College, Illinois

The Great Potato Famine in Ireland pushed many Irish into the area of Western Virginia

John Jay Jackson Jr. graduated from College of New Jersey (Princeton University)

The Reeves family moved to Philippi

William McCoy built a new mill on site of the old mill

Thomas Gaylord McKell was born

The Moorefield Examiner was established

Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) died

Lynnside Manor was built

The middle section of Staunton Turnpike was completed to Weston

William Thurmond moved to Fayette County

The Funkhouser house was built

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

Henry Ruffner stopped participating in the emancipation movement in Louisville

The last bridges were made on the Staunton Turnpike

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

Philip Pendleton Kennedy wrote an account of his visit to the Blackwater area, Blackwater Chronicle

"Winchester" span of Harpers Ferry bridge was constructed to carry Winchester & Potomac Railroad

Wills De Hass published History of the Early Settlement and Indian Wars of Western Virginia

Daniel Farnsworth became one of early magistrates in new Upshur County

Morris Harvey served as county jailer

John Jay Jackson Jr. began serving the General Assembly of Virginia as a Whig

Stonewall Jackson left the army to teach at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington

Canal construction on the James River was extended to Buchanan

City of Harpers Ferry was established

Benjamin Kelley became freight agent for the B&O Railroad

Joseph Lightburn left the army at rank of sergeant

Wills De Hass wrote History of the Early Settlement and Indian Wars of Western Virginia

Mountain Cove Spiritualist Community was founded by James L. Scott

The Virginia legislature approved the charter for railroad to run from the B&O mainline to Parkersburg

William S. Miller planted his first orchard in Gerrardstown

Virginius Island was absorbed into the corporate boundaries of Harpers Ferry

Bushrod Corbin Washington died

The congregation of the African Zion Baptist Church formally organized for the black community of Malden.

Lemuel Chenoweth designed and built Philippi's covered bridge.

Buckhannon was chartered

Archibald Campbell graduated from Bethany College

James Watson organized the Montana Mining Company

Martin Delany published The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, And Destiny of the Colored People of the United States

William Edwards opened his first coal mines on Paint Creek

Thomas Moore Jackson was born

Jacob Jackson was admitted to the bar

Anna Maria Reeves married Granville E. Jarvis

George Smith Patton graduated the Virginia Military Institute

La Belle Ironworks was founded

Robert E. Lee became superintendent of West Point

Weston's first bank opened its doors

Thomas Lake Harris and James L. Scott jointly led the Mountain Cove Spiritualist community

The Wheeling Intelligencer was established

The Ritchie Mines was discovered by Frederick Lemon

Shinnston was chartered as a town by the General Assembly

David Strother contributed 20 illustrations to John Pendleton Kennedy's Swallow Barn: A Sojourn in the Old Dominion

Grafton emerged as a city

A major flood hit Virginius Island

James O Watson joined with Francis H. Pierpont to open a mine in Fairmont

Wheeling had a library

The Wheeling Intelligencer began

The Potomac River flooded

The Shenandoah River flooded

The town of Ceredo founded by Northern abolitionist, Eli Thayer

John Floyd was appointed U.S. Secretary of War

B&O Railroad improved transportation in Harrison County

The Northwestern Virginia Railroad opened from Grafton to Parkersburg

Albert Jenkins became a U.S. Congressman

Henry Mathews began practicing law in Lewisburg

John McCausland graduated from Virginia Military Institute

The Northwestern Virginia Railroad built a station where Oil Spring Run flows into Goose Creek

The Ceredo Crescent was established

A large building and five cottages were built at Sweet Springs

Traveller was born

The Virginia Conference approved he creation of the United Brethren Parkersburg Conference

Peter Van Winkle served as the president of the Northwestern Virginia Railroad

Academy Hall was built for West Liberty

The Gauley Bridge opened for traffic

The old Grafton House was built

The Secession Convention, also known as the Virginia Convention of 1861, met in Richmond

John Carlile was a delegate to the Virginia Secession Convention

Waitman Willey was selected as a delegate to the Virginia Secession Convention

Samuel Price returned to Richmond as a member of the Secession Convention of 1861

Chester Hubbard opposed secession as a delegate to Virginia's secession convention

Allen Taylor Caperton voted for secession at the Virginia convention

Virginia held a convention to consider secession from the United States