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1st West Virginia legislature
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June 2026
1st West Virginia Legislature Restored Government of Virginia 2nd West Virginia Legislature June 20, 1863 December 11, 1863 House of Delegates 51 delegates Speaker Spicer Patrick Senate 20 senators President John M. Phelps Governor Arthur I. Boreman
The first state legislature of West Virginia convened in Wheeling from June 20, 1863, to December 11, 1863, after the adoption of the West Virginia Constitution which was drafted during the first two years of the Civil War.Harris John T. West Virginia LEGISLATIVE HAND BOOK and MANUAL AND Official Register 1916 20 April 1916 West Virginia Legislature Charleston, WV 381 1st https://www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/publications/bluebook/WVS_Bluebook_1916.pdf 29 August 2024
Apportionment
+Legend20em
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Thick black lines: State and district boundaries
Thin gray lines: County boundaries
Dashed black lines: Planned district and state boundaries
Dashed red lines: Counties with rotating member apportionment
The 1863 West Virginia Constitution established the creation of nine senatorial districts, each sending two senators to the state legislature. Additionally, the constitution called for the creation of two other senatorial districts containing counties in northern Virginia assuming they joined the state. For the House of Delegates, the constitution outlined six delegate districts each sending one or two delegates to the House, with another planned for counties in northern Virginia. Every other county was apportioned one to three delegates. The Senate member count was set to be between eighteen and twenty-two, and between forty-seven and fifty-two for the House of Delegates, depending on how many Virginian counties were absorbed into the state.Constitution of West Virginia 1863 https://www.ohiocountylibrary.org/research/constitution-of-west-virginia-1863/5404#4 Ohio County Public Library 29 August 2024
Members of the Senate
President of the West Virginia Senate: John M. Phelps from Mason County
District 1 (Hancock, Brooke, and Ohio)
John H. Atkinson
Chester D. Hubbard
District 2 (Marshall, Wetzel, and Marion)
James Burley
Aaron Hawkins
District 3 (Monongalia, Preston, and Taylor)
John J. Brown
Edward C. Bunker
District 4 (Pleasants, Tyler, Ritchie, Doddridge, and Harrison)
Daniel Haymond
Edwin Maxwell
District 5 (Wood, Jackson, Wirt, Roane, Calhoun, and Gilmer)
Edward S. Mahon
William E. Stevenson
District 6 (Barbour, Tucker, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur, and Randolph)
D. D. T. Farnsworth
William D. Rollyson
District 7 (Mason, Putnam, Kanawha, Clay, and Nicholas)
Greenbury Slack
District 8 (Cabell, Wayne, Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, and McDowell)
John B. Brown
William H. Copley
District 9 (Webster, Pocahontas, Fayette, Raleigh, Greenbrier, and Monroe)
Thomas K. McCann
Samuel Young
John M. Phelps
District 10 (Planned: Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire, and Morgan)
Aaron Bechtol
James Carskadon
District 11 (Planned: Frederick, Berkeley, and Jefferson)
Members of the House of Delegates
Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates: Spicer Patrick
Members by delegate districts
District 1 (Pleasants and Wood, 2 members)
Horatio N. Crooks (Wood)
Peter G. Van Winkle (Wood)
District 2 (Calhoun and Gilmer)
William T. Wiant (Gilmer)
District 3 (Clay and Nicholas)
Anthony Rader (Nicholas)
District 4 (Webster and Pocahontas)
Benoni Griffin (Pocahontas)
District 5 (Tucker and Randolph)
Cyrus Kittle (Randolph)
District 6 (McDowell, Wyoming, and Raleigh)
W. S. Dunbar (Raleigh)
District 7 (Planned: Morgan and Berkeley, 2 members)
Joseph S. Wheat (Morgan)
Greenbrier and Monroe: (3 members, county delegate count in rotation)
John C. Gillilan (Greenbrier)
Andrew W. Mann (Greenbrier)
Lewis Ballard (Monroe)
Members by county
Barbour: Joseph Teter Jr.
Boone: Robert Hager
Braxton: Felix Sutton
Brooke: H. W. Crothers
Cabell: Edward D. Wright
Doddridge: Ephraim Bee
Frederick (Planned, 2 members)
Hampshire:
James I. Barrick
George W. Sheetz
Hancock: William L. Crawford
Hardy: John Michael
Harrison:
Nathan Goff Sr.
Soloman S. Fleming
Jackson: David J. Keeney
Jefferson (Planned, 2 members)
Kanawha:
Spicer Patrick
Lewis Ruffner
Lewis: Perry M. Hale
Logan: James H. Hinchman
Marion:
Isaac Holman
John S. Barnes
Marshall:
Michael Dunn
Joseph Turner
Mason: Lewis Bumgardner
Mercer: Thomas Little
Monongalia:
Leroy Kramer
John B. Lough
Ohio:
Daniel Lamb
Andrew F. Ross
W. W. Shriver
Pendleton: John Boggs
Preston:
James C. McGrew
William B. Zinn
Putnam: George C. Bowyer
Ritchie: S. R. Dawson
Roane: J. M. McWhorter
Taylor: L. E. Davidson
Tyler: Daniel Sweeny
Upshur: Jacob Teter
Wayne: Thomas Couley
Wetzel: S. I. Robinson
Wirt: Alfred Foster
Accomplishments
204 bills were passed by the legislature in its first term, including bills to admit Berkeley and Jefferson counties into the state.Jett Jaelyn The First West Virginia Legislature: The Foundation of Today https://blog.wvlegislature.gov/wrap-up/2009/03/04/the-first-west-virginia-legislature-the-foundation-of-today/ Wrap Up 29 August 2024
See also
List of West Virginia state legislatures
Wheeling Convention
References
Category:Legal history of West Virginia
Category:West Virginia Legislature