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.
Jan. 14, 1842: Marion County was established and named after Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion. Middletown was chosen as the county seat, but the name was changed to Fairmont the following year.
Jan. 14, 1873: The first session of the Glenville Branch of the State Normal School began in the old Gilmer County courthouse. The legislature changed the name to Glenville State College in 1943 and to a university in 2022.
Jan. 15, 1864: Frances Benjamin Johnston was born in Grafton. Johnston gained national renown as the first female press photographer, and enjoyed a long and remarkable career as one of the nation’s leading documentary, portrait and artistic photographers.
Jan. 16, 1850: Lawman Dan Cunningham was born in Jackson County. His remarkable career involved him in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, the West Virginia Mine Wars, and the destruction of moonshine stills.
Jan. 16, 1869: Ephraim Franklin Morgan was born in Marion County. Morgan, a Republican, was governor during the tumultuous West Virginia Mine Wars.
Jan. 17, 1918: The War Department hired a New York engineering firm to build the DuPont munitions plant in Nitro. Within 11 months, the powder plant and a complete town with houses, a civic center and a hospital, were completed.
Jan. 17, 1956: Musician Blind Alfred Reed died. He was a street singer, fiddler, and songwriter from Pipestem, Summers County. He also is a member of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. In 2025, a historical marker was erected in his honor in Hinton.
Jan. 18, 1842: Wayne County was established from part of Cabell County. It was named for General “Mad Anthony” Wayne, a Revolutionary War hero who later defeated Ohio Indian tribes at the 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers.
Jan. 19, 1818: The Virginia General Assembly established Preston County from part of Monongalia County. The new county was named for James Patton Preston, then governor of Virginia.
Jan. 19, 1820: Fairmont was established by the Virginia legislature on the farm of Boaz Fleming. The original name of Middletown was changed to Fairmont in 1843.
Jan. 19, 1844: The Virginia General Assembly established Taylor County from parts of Barbour, Harrison, and Marion counties. The county was named in honor of U.S. Sen. John Taylor, a soldier-statesman from Caroline County, Virginia.
Jan. 19, 1848: Wirt County was created by the General Assembly of Virginia from portions of Wood and Jackson counties. It was named for William Wirt, Virginia statesman and a presidential candidate in 1832.
Jan. 19, 1894: Railroad worker John Hardy was hanged for killing a man in a drunken gambling dispute. The episode inspired the widely popular ballad “John Hardy.”
Jan. 19-20, 1978: An overnight snowstorm paralyzed Charleston. Unusual in that more snow fell in the capital city than in Randolph County, total snow depth in Charleston averaged 24 inches, the deepest on record for the city. January 1978 became the snowiest month for both Huntington and Charleston, and extended cold kept snow on the ground into March, the longest known continuous snow cover for most West Virginia towns.
Jan. 20-21, 1824: West Virginia’s most famous soldier, Thomas Jonathan Jackson, was born near midnight in Clarksburg. When Virginia left the Union in 1861, Jackson went with his native state. He commanded the strategically important post at Harpers Ferry until being appointed a Confederate brigadier general of infantry. He won the name “Stonewall” in the Battle of First Manassas on July 21, 1861.
