Charleston WV – The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history.
To read more, go to e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia at www.wvencyclopedia.org.
Feb. 6, 1882: Poet Anne Spencer was born in Virginia but spent most of her youth in
Bramwell, Mercer County. She became an acclaimed poet during the 1920s Harlem Renaissance.
In 2000, two of her poems were included in the Library of America’s anthology of 20th Century
American poetry.
Feb. 6, 2007: Selva Lewis “Lew” Burdette, a native of Nitro, died in Florida. Burdette
was an outstanding major league baseball player who spent most of his career with the
Milwaukee Braves. He won three games in the 1957 World Series, helping the Braves defeat the
New York Yankees.
Feb. 7, 1867: West Virginia University was established by an act of the West Virginia
legislature. The college, originally called the Agricultural College of West Virginia, opened its
doors in September 1867.
Feb. 7, 1889: Nell Elizabeth “Pistol Nell” Walker was born at Sewell Mountain. Known
as the “First Lady” of Fayette County, she served 12 terms as a member of the House of
Delegates.
Feb. 8, 1892: Cartoonist Irvin Dugan was born in Huntington. For many years, his
“Adam” cartoon character was a feature on the editorial pages of the Herald-Dispatch.
Feb. 8, 1915: Photographer Volkmar Kurt Wentzel was born in Dresden, Germany. He
emigrated with his family to the United States at age 11. As a teenager in West Virginia, Wentzel
took up with an eclectic group of people who had retreated to Youghiogheny Forest, a Preston
County artist colony.
Feb. 8, 1918: Medal of Honor recipient Herbert Joseph Thomas Jr. was born. He excelled
as a football halfback at South Charleston High School, and Herbert J. Thomas Memorial
Hospital in South Charleston is named for him.
Feb. 9, 1843: Republican leader Nathan Goff Jr. was born in Clarksburg. In 1888, Goff
lost West Virginia’s most controversial gubernatorial election to A. B. Fleming. Goff ’s initial
106-vote majority was challenged, and both men were sworn in on inauguration day. The case
dragged on until 1890, when Fleming was determined to be the rightful winner.
Feb. 9, 1900: “Aunt Jennie” Wilson was born near Henlawson. Wilson was a Logan
County traditional musician, considered a master of clawhammer-style banjo playing.
Feb. 9, 1950: U.S. Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy’s speech to a group of Wheeling
Republicans launched the 1950s red scare. McCarthy, a Wisconsin Republican, claimed in his
speech to have a list of 205 communists who worked in the U.S. State Department.
Feb. 10, 1904: Jay Legg was shot and killed by his wife, Sarah Ann, in their home in
Clay County. The trial, conviction, appeal and acquittal of Sarah Ann led to a popular West
Virginia folk ballad, “The Murder of Jay Legg.”
Feb. 10, 2010: Frederick Appleton “Fred” Schaus, West Virginia University basketball
All-American, coach, and athletic director, died at age 84 in Morgantown. Schaus coached
WVU, 1954-1960, to a 146-37 record, and lost by one point in the 1959 national championship
game.
Feb. 11, 1903: Artist Grace Martin Taylor was born in Morgantown. She produced an
immense body of work in various styles and enjoyed a lengthy career at the Mason College of
Music and Fine Arts in Charleston.
Feb. 11, 1904: Clarence Watson Meadows was born in Beckley. His mother hoped he
would become a Baptist minister, but he ultimately entered politics, becoming the 22nd governor
of West Virginia.
Feb. 11, 1911: The Charles Town Opera House opened. The 500-seat theater ushered in
an era of entertainment and service lasting more than 30 years.
Feb. 11, 1923: Eight members of the Black Hand were arrested in Harrison County. The
Black Hand was the name and symbol of an underworld society of Italian immigrants that
extorted money from other Italian immigrants.
Feb. 11, 1935: The first houses in the Tygart Valley Homesteads were ready for
occupancy. One of three resettlement projects in West Virginia, the homesteads were intended to
provide a new start for unemployed farmers, miners and timber workers.
Feb. 11, 1949: Singer and pianist Ethel Caffie-Austin was born in Bluefield and raised in
Mount Hope. As “West Virginia’s First Lady of Gospel,” she performed around the world,
taught countless students, earned the Vandalia Award and founded the Black Sacred Music
Festival. She was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2020. She died in 2024.
Feb. 12, 1867: Barboursville was incorporated by an act of the state legislature.
Originally the county seat of Cabell County, it lost that honor after the C&O Railway was
completed to Huntington.
Feb. 12, 1899: Karl Dewey Myers was born in Tucker County with severe disabilities.
He never attended school but educated himself through persistent self-study. He was named the
state’s first poet laureate in 1927.
