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.wvencyklopidea.org.
November 13, 1879: Educator Elsie Clapp was born. Under her direction, the community school at Arthurdale stressed education for real-life situations and revived traditional music to strengthen reading and writing skills.
November 13, 1911: Old-time fiddler Woody Simmons was born south of Huttonsville (Randolph County). He perhaps won more fiddle contests than anyone in West Virginia history, not even counting his blue ribbon in the “over-60” banjo competition at the 2003 Vandalia Gathering, at age 91.
November 13, 1923: Attorney Virginia Rae Brown was born in Putnam County. Appointed by President Lyndon Johnson in March 1964, she became the first woman to serve on the Interstate Commerce Commission.
November 14, 1788: Kanawha County, named for the Kanawha River which flows through it, was created on this date.
November 14, 1814: Statehood leader Gordon Battelle was born in Ohio. Serving as the minister of a Wheeling church in the early 1860s, he helped make public education free in the new state but failed in his efforts to abolish slavery. He also served as chaplain to the First West Virginia Infantry before dying of typhoid fever in 1862.
November 14, 1939: The Charleston Civic Orchestra gave its first concert at the Municipal Auditorium. The group changed its name to Charleston Symphony Orchestra in 1943 and in 1988 became the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
November 14, 1970: A chartered plane slammed into a hillside just short of Huntington’s Tri-State Airport near Ceredo, killing all 75 of the passengers and crew. The victims included nearly the entire Marshall University football team, all but one of their coaches, and a number of fans.
November 15, 2010: The landmark Aracoma Hotel in Logan was damaged by fire. It was demolished later that year.
November 16, 1734: Samuel Washington was born at Pope’s Creek, Virginia. Samuel, a younger brother of George Washington, was the first of several members of the Washington family to live in what is now the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
November 16, 1823: Politician and industrialist Henry Gassaway Davis, known in the early 20th century as West Virginia’s “Grand Old Man,” was born in Baltimore, MD.
November 17, 1927: Composer and performer Robert Drasnin was born in Charleston. He performed with classic combos and big bands such as Tommy Dorsey and Les Brown, and scored music for movies and television.
November 18, 2007: Country singer Chickie Williams died. As wife of musician Doc Williams, she performed with his Border Riders band and appeared on the Wheeling Jamboree radio show.
November 19, 1899: Sculptor Gladys Tuke was born in Linwood, Pocahontas County. Tuke was a member of the original artist colony at The Greenbrier; during World War II, she taught at Ashford General Hospital, and later established a pottery and sculpture studio in White Sulphur Springs.
November 19, 1900: William Page Pitt was born in New York City. In 1926, Pitt joined the faculty of what was then Marshall College. In his 45-year career at Marshall, he built its journalism program into one with dozens of classes and hundreds of students. Marshall University’s W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications is named in his honor.
November 19, 1909: The Lincoln County Courthouse was burned. With coal, oil, gas, and timber booming, arson was suspected for the purpose of destroying land records and confusing titles.
November 19, 1921: The USS West Virginia was christened. It was one of six battleships at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941, that suffered massive damage from torpedoes and bombs in the surprise attack. It was rebuilt and joined the Seventh Fleet for the invasion of the Philippines.