Gilmer County History
Gilmer County was created by an act of the Virginia General Assembly on February 3, 1845 from parts of Lewis and
Kanawha counties. It was named in honor of Thomas Walker Gilmer (1802-1844).
Thomas Walker Gilmer was born on April 6, 1802 in Albemarle County, Virginia. He studied law and was an attorney
in Charlottesville. He represented Albemarle County in the Virginia General Assembly from 1829-36 and 1838-39,
and served as Speaker of the Assembly in 1838 and 1839. He was elected Governor of Virginia in 1840. A year later,
he resigned the governorship following his election to the U.S. House of Representatives. On February 14, 1844,
he was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Taylor. Unfortunately, on February 28, 1844, just two weeks
after his appointment, he was killed when a cannon on board the American war ship Princeton exploded. The accident
occurred while the ship was cruising on the Potomac River near Mount Vernon. Abel Parker Upshur, Secretary of State
and Upshur County's namesake, was also killed in the explosion. President Tyler was also present for the testing
of the new gun, but he survived the explosion.
The First Settlers
The first native settlers in central West Virginia (Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Gilmer, Lewis, Nicholas, Roane, Upshur,
and Webster counties) were the Mound Builders, also known as the Adena people. Remnants of their civilization have
been found throughout northern West Virginia, with many artifacts found in the Northern Panhandle, especially in
Marshall County.
A more thorough presentation of the first native settlers in West Virginia can be read on-line here. The following is a brief overview of that history:
• Several thousand Hurons occupied present-day West Virginia during the late 1500s and early 1600s.
• During the 1600s, the Iroquois Confederacy (then consisting of the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, and Seneca
tribes) drove the Hurons from the state and used it primarily as a hunting ground.
• During the early 1700s, the Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, and other Indian tribes also used present-day West Virginia
as a hunting ground. West Virginia's Potomac Highlands was inhabited by the Tuscarora. They eventually migrated
northward to New York and, in 1712, became the sixth nation to formally be admitted to the Iroquois Confederacy.
The Cherokee Nation claimed southern West Virginia.
• In 1744, Virginia officials purchased the Iroquois title of ownership to West Virginia in the Treaty of Lancaster.
• The Delaware, Mingo, and Shawnee sided with the French during the French and Indian War (1755-1763). The Iroquois
Confederacy officially remained neutral, but many in the Iroquois Confederacy allied with the French.
• When the French and Indian War was over, England's King George III feared that more tension between Native Americans
and settlers was inevitable. In an attempt to avert further bloodshed, he issued the Proclamation of 1763, prohibiting
settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains. The Proclamation was, for the most part, ignored.
• During the summer of 1763, Ottawa Chief Pontiac led raids on key British forts in the Great Lakes region. Shawnee
Chief Keigh-tugh-qua, also known as Cornstalk, led similar raids on western Virginia settlements. The uprisings
ended on August 6, 1763 when British forces, under the command of Colonel Henry Bouquet, defeated Delaware and
Shawnee forces at Bushy Run in western Pennsylvania.
• In 1768, the Iroquois Confederacy (often called the Six Nations) and the Cherokee signed the Treaty of Hard Labour
and the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, relinquishing their claims on the territory between the Ohio River and the Alleghenies
to the British.
• In April 1774, the Yellow Creek Massacre took place near Wheeling. Among the dead were Mingo Chief Logan's brother
and pregnant sister. Violence then escalated intoLord Dunmore's War.
• On October 10, 1774, Colonel Andrew Lewis and approximately 800 men defeated 1,200 Indian warriors led by Shawnee
Chief Cornstalk at the Battle of Point Pleasant, ending Lord Dunmore's War.
• The Mingo and Shawnee allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War (1776-1783). One of the more
notable battles occurred in 1777 when a war party of 350 Wyandot, Shawnee, and Mingo warriors, armed by the British,
attacked Fort Henry, near present-day Wheeling. Nearly half of the Americans manning the fort were killed in the
three-day assault. Following the war, the Mingo and Shawnee, once again allied with the losing side, returned to
their homes in Ohio. As the number of settlers in the region grew, both the Mingo and the Shawnee move further
inland, leaving western Virginia to the white settlers.
Gilmer County's European Pioneers and Settlers
Indian scouts, William Lowther and Jesse and Elias Hughes, were the first Englishmen to set foot in present-day
Gilmer County. They explored the area during the autumn of 1772.
Jacob Bush is believed to be the first English settler in the county. He arrived around 1800. Michael Stump and
his sons arrived in 1806. Peter McCune explored the area shortly after the end of the American Revolutionary War
with his father-in-law, Adam O'Brien. In 1810, he moved his family to the county. He built a cabin at the mouth
of Leading Creek.
Several families moved into the county following the War of 1812, including the families George H. Beall, Townsend
Beall, Joseph Bennett, Alexander McQuian, and James Farnsworth. They had received land grants in the county in
exchange for their service during the war. In 1816, Captain William Stalnaker received a grant of 30,000 acres
in the county for his service during the War of 1812. He established a tobacco plantation near the mouth of Mill
Seat Run. In 1820, he constructed the first brick home in the county. Adam Heckert, another early pioneer settler
in the county, also constructed a brick home that year - creating a long-standing argument over who had the first
brick home in the county. Captain Stalnaker later constructed another brick mansion on his property for his son,
Salethiel. On March 24, 1845, it served as the meeting place for the first session of the Gilmer County court.
By that time, a large number of families lived in the area and it had become known as DeKalb, named by William
Stalnaker in honor of his hero Johann, Baron de Kalb, the Marquis de Lafayette's mentor and companion.
Important Events in Gilmer County during the 1800s
Samuel L. Hays moved into the county in 1833, living in what was then known as Hays City, near Glenville. He served
in the Virginia General Assembly and was elected to a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives (1841-1842).
During his tenure in the state legislature, he was instrumental in getting the Parkersburg/Stauton turnpike routed
through Gilmer County. The turnpike was essential to the county's economic growth. He later served as a Justice
of the Peace and, in 1845, was a member of the first Gilmer County court. His son, Peregrine Hays, also served
in the state legislature (for both Virginia and West Virginia) and, in 1851, became Gilmer County's first elected
sheriff.
In 1845, southern sympathizers within Gilmer County's Methodist Church broke away from the Methodist Church and
formed the Methodist Church South. They constructed their own church, called Job Temple, in 1860. In 1979, it became
Gilmer County's first site to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1861, Colonel Currence Conrad, the delegate representing Gilmer, Calhoun, and Wirt Counties in the Virginia
secession convention, voted for Virginia to remain in the Union. Upon making his vote, Conrad promptly left Richmond
for his home in western Virginia fearing that he might be lynched for voting against the Ordinance for Secession.
During the Civil War, Gilmer County's government basically ceased to function as various para-military groups roamed
the county. Although there was some northern support in the county, many of the county's residents sided with the
Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln did not receive a single vote in Glenville during the presidential election of 1860.
On February 19, 1872, the West Virginia legislature authorized the establishment of the "Glenville Branch
of the State Normal School of West Virginia." The school began operations on January 14, 1873, with T. Marcellus
Marshall serving as its principal. In 1931, the school's name was changed to Glenville State Teachers College,
and, in 1943, to Glenville State College.
In 1885, the West Virginia state song, "The West Virginia Hills," was composed by New Jersey's Mrs. Ellen
King. She wrote the song, originally written as a poem, while she was visiting her father, Captain Stephen S. Ruddell,
in Glenville. The poem was published in the local newspaper and was noticed by Mr. N. E. Engle, a resident of Loydsville,
Braxton County. He converted the poem into a song, adding chorus lines and accompanying music.
The Gilmer County Seat
The first session of the Gilmer County court was held on March 24, 1845 in Salathiel Stalnaker's home in DeKalb,
about nine miles south of Glenville. At the meeting, the fifteen Justices in attendance could not agree on a candidate
for county clerk. They elected James Camp, Jr. to the position on a temporary basis until the issue could be resolved.
Michael Stump was elected county surveyor. As prescribed by law, the Justices recommended three men to the Governor
to serve as the county's first sheriff. Benjamin Riddle subsequently received the appointment.
The state legislature had mandated that a county-wide election be held to determine the county seat. The Stalnaker
family, located in DeKalb, was the most prominent in Gilmer County at that time and expected the voters to select
DeKalb the county seat, especially after Salathiel Stalnaker donated land for the county prison. However, William
H. Ball, C. B. Conrad, and Samuel Hays owned property near "The Ford" and lobbied the voters to select
it as the county seat, noting that it lay along a state road, making it easier to reach than DeKalb. A majority
of county's sixty-six voters selected The Ford (Glenville) over DeKalb as the county seat.
Glenville had previously been known as Stewart's Creek, Hartford, and "The Ford." It was called "The
Ford" because the old State Road from Weston to Charleston crossed the Little Kanawha River there. Samuel
L. Hays laid out the town on the land of William H. Ball in 1845. It was named Glendale by Colonel C. B. Conrad
because of the town's location in a glen. William Howell was the first known settler in the town. He built a grist
mill there in 1812.
At first, the Stalnaker family, and those allied with it, refused to accept Glenville as the county seat. Several
county government officials, including James Camp, the county clerk, refused to attend government meetings in Glenville.
The following year, all members of the county court finally agreed to meet at Thomas Marshall's home in Glenville.
One of the first orders of business was to select a site for the construction of the court house, jail, and clerk's
office. However, the deed to the land of the proposed site for the county courthouse in Glenville was contested.
After much discussion, it was agreed to hold the county court, once again, at the home of Salathiel Stalnaker in
DeKalb. The court moved there on February 23, 1846. In the meantime, the legal issues concerning the Glenville
site for the court house were resolved. On April 28, 1846, the county court was moved to William Ball's home in
Glenville where it continued to meet until the courthouse in Glenville was completed in 1850. Once it was established
that Glenville was to be the county sear of government, DeKalb began to decline.
References
Bicentennial Biographies, Gilmer County, West Virginia. 1976. Glenville, WV: Gilmer County Historical Society.
Dewees, Colonel Daniel S. 1904. Recollections of a Life Time. Parkersburg, WV: Glober Printing and Binding
Company.
Gainer, Rosemary Layman. 1991. Civil War in Gilmer County West Virginia. Grantsville, WV: Red Clay Press.
Gilmer County Historical Society. 1994. History of Gilmer County, West Virginia, 1845-1989. Waynesville,
NC: Walsworth Publishing Company.
Gilmer: The Birth of a County. 1940. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Writer's Project.
Author
Dr. Robert Jay Dilger, Director, Institute for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science, West Virginia University.
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