The 2pm lecture is full, but a second lecture has been scheduled for 4pm. Space is still open to attend!
A talk by Charleston business leader and state senator Brooks McCabe at 2:00 p.m. on June 22 concludes the West Virginia Humanities Council’s 2014 Little Lecture Series. In “A History of Charleston as Lived by Four Families” McCabe will explore the central roles of the Dickenson, Hale, James, and Smith families in the development of the capital city through the 1800s and 1900s.
According to McCabe, much of what defines the city of Charleston as we now know it can be traced back to the multi-generational efforts of these four families. In 1785, Colonel John Dickenson received a land grant for 502 acres at the mouth of Campbell’s Creek and his family’s legacy began. One hundred years after Mary Ingles first saw the Kanawha Valley in 1755, her grandson, Dr. John P. Hale, would become a leading businessman of the era. In 1822, Benjamin Harrison Smith arrived in Charleston to practice law, married Isaac Noyes’ daughter and became a dominant player in the development of the region. In 1865, Reverend Frances James arrived as the first black ordained minister in West Virginia. His son C. H. James would become a businessman of substance, befriend educator Booker T. Washington, and advance the cause of African Americans in the region.
Robinson & McElwee PLLC is sponsoring the 2014 Little Lecture Series. Founded in Charleston in 1983, the law firm serves clients throughout West Virginia and Ohio.
Admission is $10 and includes refreshments after the program. Little Lectures are presented in the MacFarland-Hubbard House located at 1310 Kanawha Boulevard, East in Charleston. People interested in attending should call the Humanities Council at 304-346-8500 before 12:00 noon on June 20 to confirm seating.
Little Lecture Series is a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council.
