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.
Sept. 16, 1876: The town of Milton in Cabell County was incorporated and named in honor of Milton Rece, a large landowner at the time.
Sept. 16, 1922: Walter Allen became the only person found guilty of treason in charges related to the Battle of Blair Mountain. He soon skipped bail and was never heard from again.
Sept. 16, 1926: Writer John Knowles was born in Fairmont. He attained literary fame in 1959 with his first novel, A Separate Peace.
Sept. 16, 1950: Scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was born in Keyser. Gates is one of the leading Black intellectuals in the United States.
His books include Colored People: A Memoir, about growing up in Mineral County. He hosts the popular PBS program Finding Your Roots.
Sept. 17, 1848: Artist Lily Irene Jackson was born in Parkersburg. She was best known as a painter of animal portraits and floral arrangements, and as an advocate for the arts.
Sept. 17, 1897: Ruth Ann Musick was born in Missouri. For many decades, she was a professor at Fairmont State College (now University) and West Virginia’s most prolific folklorist. She wrote regular folklore newspaper columns and four major books, including The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales.
Sept. 18, 1947: Historian and journalist Minnie Kendall Lowther died. Born in Ritchie County, she was one of the first women in West Virginia to become a newspaper editor.
Sept. 18, 1989: Playwright Maryat Lee died in Lewisburg. She established Eco Theater in Summers County as an indigenous mountain theater, using local people as actors.
Sept. 19, 1862: The two-day Battle of Shepherdstown opened with an artillery exchange between Union and Confederate troops. Following the Battle of Antietam, it ended Robert E. Lee’s Maryland Campaign and helped convince Abraham Lincoln to issue his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
Sept. 19, 1892: William “Bill” Blizzard was born along Cabin Creek, Kanawha County. Blizzard became one of West Virginia’s most influential and controversial labor leaders, playing a key role in the Battle of Blair Mountain and later serving as UMWA District 17 president.
Sept. 20, 1910: Dorothy Johnson Vaughan was born in Kansas City but moved at a young age to Morgantown, where she was valedictorian of Beechurst High School. Like fellow West Virginian Katherine Johnson, Vaughan became a mathematician and computer expert for NASA and made significant contributions to the U.S. space program.
Sept. 20, 1911: Musician Frank De Vol was born in Moundsville. He scored more than 50 movies and earned five Oscar nominations but is best remembered for his theme music to the TV shows My Three Sons, Family Affair and The Brady Bunch.
Sept. 20, 1914: Ken Hechler was born on Long Island, New York. Hechler served 18 years in the U.S. Congress and four terms as West Virginia’s secretary of state.
Sept. 21, 1921: Musician Rex Parker was born in Maplewood, Fayette County. He performed on radio stations WCHS in Charleston and WJLS in Beckley. In 1941, he married Eleanora Niera, and they performed on radio and TV as Rex and Eleanor Parker until his death in 1999.
Sept. 21, 1937: The West Virginia Conservation Commission acquired 6,705 acres in Kanawha County to create Kanawha State Forest. Redevelopment of the land, which had been heavily mined and timbered, began the next year by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Sept. 21, 1970: Filming began in Moundsville on the movie Fools’ Parade, based on the novel by Davis Grubb. The filming concluded one month later when Grubb came to Moundsville for a dinner, accompanied by his dog, making the $750 round trip from New York City in a taxi.
Sept. 22, 1856: Albert Blakeslee “A. B.” White was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He was West Virginia’s 11th governor, serving from 1901 to 1905. He was the fourth person to serve as governor from Wood County, his adopted home.
Sept. 22, 1893: Elizabeth Simpson Drewry was born in Virginia but soon moved to Elkhorn, McDowell County. In 1950, she became the first Black woman elected to the legislature. In 1956, she introduced a constitutional amendment that allowed women to serve on juries in West Virginia.
Sept. 22, 1948: Musician Buddy Griffin was born in Richwood. He performed on the Grand Ole Opry more than 200 times and contributed to more than 150 recordings during a career spanning more than four decades. He also helped establish an accredited bluegrass music program at Glenville State College (now University).
Sept. 22, 1975: Charleston native Sara Jane Moore failed in her attempt to assassinate President Gerald Ford in San Francisco. She later served prison time at the Alderson Federal Prison Camp.
e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia is a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council. For more information contact the West Virginia Humanities Council, 1310 Kanawha Blvd. E., Charleston, WV 25301; (304) 346-8500; or visit e-WV at www.wvencyclopedia.org.
