Ruffner Family

Thomas Shepherd established a gristmill at Shepherdstown

French explorers were in the Wheeling area

Matthew Arbuckle became lieutenant of the Augusta County militia

Daniel Boone's first visit to Kentucky

Samuel Kercheval was born in Frederick County, Virginia

Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were halted by hostile Indians in present Monongalia County

Wedding of Dolley Payne Todd and James Madison at Harewood

Jesse Bennet performed the first cesarean section in America

Harman Blennerhassett married his niece Margaret Agnew

Wayne and army advanced into the Maumee Valley of Ohio

Battle of Fallen Timbers which defeated Ohio Valley Indians led to disuse of forts

Congress authorized the building of two armories for the manufacture of small arms

President George Washington received congressional approval to establish armories and arsenals throughout the nation

The Peter Tarr Furnace was established in present Hancock County, the first iron furnace west of the mountains

Blaker's Mill water-powered gristmill was constructed in Alderson

Kyashuta died in southwestern Pennsylvania

The Whiskey Rebellion occurred

The General Assembly of Virginia chartered the town of Point Pleasant

Dr. Joseph Spencer permanently settled Vienna

The Whiskey Rebellion ended

Harman Blennerhassett sold his property

Daniel Boone moved back to Kentucky

House now containing Brooke County's historical museum was built in Wellsburg

Buckongahelas signed the Treaty of Greenville

George Clendenin moved to Ohio

Bryan Fairfax became founding trustee of Charles Town Academy

Wilson Nicholas and Jacob Kenney sold their land to Robert Morris

Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett purchased Backus Island, now Blennerhassett Island

Thankful friends of Dick Pointer petitioned the Virginia Assembly for his freedom but were refused

William Strange was lost in the forests near Holly River

Joseph Tomlinson laid out a town called Elizabethtown

The massacre of the Bozarth family was the last Indian foray in Upshur County

The General Assembly incorporated the Spencer farm as a town

Lewis Wetzel moved to Louisiana Territory

Western Virginia land grant gave 200,000 acres of land to Bruen

Richard Watson printed Christian Panoply, the first book printed in present West Virginia

Joseph Ruffner purchased 502 acres of land at Campbells Creek

John Dickinson conveyed a tract of 704 acres to Samuel and John Shrewsbury

An alderman system was authorized

William Beauchamp settled in the area of present Elizabeth

George, William and Alexander Clendenin sold Fort Lee to Joseph Ruffner

Joseph Ruffner arrived in the Kanawha Valley

Bishop Asbury again held sessions of the Greenbrier Conference at Rehoboth Church

Construction began on a more substantial courthouse for Ohio County

Walter Newman erected a hewn-log house at Point Pleasant which still stands today

Thomas and Jonathan Buffington came to the mouth of the Guyandotte River to take possession of land

William Ice and Aiden Bales pioneered Grant District, Wetzel County

Obadiah Paden settle Paden City

Ebenezer Zane blazed his trace to Maysville, Kentucky

James Wood became governor of Virginia

Jesse Bennet, wife, and daughter moved to Mason County

Buffington purchased the island, now Buffington Island

Elisha Brooks built the first salt furnace in the Charleston area

Book issued in Shepherdstown by P. Rootes and C. Blagrove

William Clendenin moved his family to Mason County

George Clendenin died in Marietta, Ohio

Salt furnaces in Kanawha County began

Jesse Bennet and family moved to Point Pleasant

Patrick Gass family located in Brooke County

The General Assembly created Brooke County from northern Ohio County

William Parson and Samuel Tanner settled in the Jackson County area

John J. Allen was born

Elisha Brooks built his salt furnace on land from Joseph Ruffner

Simon Kenton lost his wife in a fire

The Impartial Observer was founded in Shepherdstown

Pleasants County saw its first permanent settlers.

Anne Newport married William Royall

Walter Newman built a tavern at Point Pleasant

The William Little family settled Littleton

Wheeling became the county seat of Ohio County

Oceana was established

Buckongahelas signed the Fort Wayne Treaty

Ferries operated across both Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers

Capt. Meriwether Lewis accepted Patrick Gass as a volunteer for expedition

John George Jackson elected to Congress from the First District of Virginia

The Old State Road underwent major repairs

Residents established the first school of Morgantown

St. George's Chapel was abandoned due to the loss of endowments and property by the Anglican Church

Roman Bath house constructed in Morgan County at Berkeley Springs State Park

James Otis Watson was born in Fairmont

Dr. Richard Ellis Putney set up practice in Malden

Claude Crozet ended term with Napoleon at his defeat at Waterloo

The stockade at Fort Lee was torn down

Patrick Gass returned home to Brooke County after the War of 1812

Stockton's Tavern, later known as the Glen Ferris Inn, was built by two Irishmen

Reported 52 salt furnaces were operating along the Kanawha River for a distance of ten miles east of Charleston

A small settlement began to farm near the present day eastern corporate limits of Hurricane

Joseph Johnson was elected to the House of Delegates

Maps for the Virginia Board of Public Works began being published

Asa Shinn laid out town lots in present Shinnston

The daughters of Charles Wells laid out town lots for Sistersville

Middlebourne became the county seat of Tyler County

The first general conference of the clergy of the Church of the United Brethren was held

A log House was built in Union

Cabell County troops fought at the Battle of New Orleans

Gov. Cabell bought 4,400 acres of land inCabell County

Clarksburg chosen as site of first federal court west of Alleghenies

Romney's Literary Society was founded

President James Monroe appointed John George Jackson a federal judge

The first steamboat tried to get up over Red House Shoals

Western commerce was crushed by the Panic

The Lewis County seat became Weston

Oil was produced by George Lemon in Wirt County

Jonas Smith recorded the first plat of the town

The Robert Thompson was the first steamboat to attempt to get to Charleston

The Literary Society was founded

Henry Ruffner began teaching ancient languages at Washington College (Washington and Lee University)

Richard Henry Lee Washington died

Thomas Beall died

Weston became the permanent name of the town

Capt. William Jenkins moved to Green Bottom with his family

Edward Brake Jackson died

Jonathan Jackson died

John Jeremiah Jacob gave his account of Dunmore's War

Wheeling, Morgantown, Romney, Harpers Ferry, Lewisburg and Martinsburg had libraries

Anne Royall wrote Sketches of History, Life, and Manners in the United States

The first steamboat arrived in Morgantown

School sessions were held regularly in Moundsville

The General Assembly changed end of Staunton Turnpike to be Parkersburg

George Summers graduated from Ohio University

Alexander Scott Withers wrote and Joseph Israel published Chronicles of Border Warfare

Alexander Scott Withers wrote and Joseph Israel published Chronicles of Border Warfare

Martin Delany moved to Pittsburgh

Harpers Ferry Free Press became the Virginia Free Press

Ripley, the county seat of Jackson County, was laid out by Jacob Starcher

George Jackson died

Julie Neale Jackson died

Daniel Lamb was elected city clerk of Wheeling

A state law library was established in Lewisburg

The Western Virginian and People's Press was established in Elizabethtown

The trustees of Monongalia Academy established Morgantown Female Collegiate Institute

Anne Royall established Paul Pry newspaper in Washington

William Chapman Sr.'s Chapman Floating Theater floated down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh

Construction began at Staunton on turnpike

Wheeling was declared an inland port of entry

Richard Whelan was ordained to the priesthood

Waitman Willey graduated from Madison College in Pennsylvania

Asa Gray collected plants from Harpers Ferry to Tucker County en route to North Carolina

First coke made in West Virginia in Monongalia County

Martin Delany founded, edited and published the Mystery

John Echols became a lawyer

John Echols moved to Union

Thomas English wrote ballad "Ben Bolt"

Original name of Middletown was changed to Fairmont

Thomas Harris graduated with degree in medicine at Louisville

John McCausland moved to Henderson when his parents died

Alexander H. Creel established a river port village near present St. Marys, in Pleasants County

Robert Simmons married Susan King

Staunton Turnpike was completed to Beverly

The Potomac River flooded

Kellian Whaley escaped from Confederates during the raid on Guyandotte

The first West Virginia legislature proposed to educate "free colored children," the proposal was left unfunded.

The decision to have Attorney General elected by popular vote was made

B&O Railroad's management influenced people to support West Virginia statehood

Union troops shelled the town of Beckley, killing a little girl

Virginia's land and water boundaries given to West Virginia

Civil War skirmish at Bulltown Historic Area

River pirate John Lockwood arrest and tried for murder

Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley were commissioned first lieutenants at Camp Piatt

Melodrama East Lynne written

West Virginia experimented with New England modified township system

West Virginia constitution established public free school system

William Edwards opened mines at Coalburg

West Virginia's first election was conducted

Stephen Elkins left the army

Constitution stated that the "executive department shall consist of a governor, secretary of state, superintendent of free schools, auditor, treasurer and attorney general."

Construction of Fort Boreman began

Frederick County citizens voted not to become part of West Virginia

John Hale organized the Bank of the West

Harrison County was first in West Virginia in the production of beef cattle

Devil Anse Hatfield deserted the regular Virginia infantry in the Civil War

The state constitution stated that Delegates of the House of Delegates served one-year terms

Chester Hubbard became a member of the first West Virginia senate

John Jay Jackson Sr supported the move for the creation of a separate state but opposed the abolition of slavery

Mudwall Jackson led troops against Union Gen. Thomas Harris

The presence of the B&O influenced the decision to include Jefferson County in the new state

The state constitution adopted Virginia common law and statutes as the law of West Virginia

Daniel Lamb was a member of the first West Virginia legislature

West Virginia state government resumed the project for Weston Hospital

The Marshall College property was sold at public auction to Salina Hite Mason

The Methodist Church claimed the largest number of congregation in West Virginia

Reported 250 newspapers had been established

Editors changed their mastheads to reflect the name of the new state

Hiram Clay first settled in what is know Pineville.

Samuel Price was elected lieutenant governor of Confederate Virginia.

Beckley was bombarded by federal artillery.

The first period of Republican dominance began

Mrs. Henry Woods wrote East Lynne

The first free school opened in Ripley

Nathan Scott enlisted in the Union army in Ohio

The Supreme Court of Appeals sat at Wheeling with three justices

Thurmond's Rangers became 44th Virginia Cavalry Battalion

Campbell Tarr became West Virginia's first state treasurer

The repayment to the state of Virginia was included in the West Virginia constitution

Legislature gave official sanction to teachers organization

All turnpikes in West Virginia were turned over to the counties through which they ran

The name was changed to West Virginia Hospital for the Insane

Kellian Whaley was reelected to Congress from West Virginia

Confederate forces reoccupied Lewisburg

Waitman Willey began serving as U.S. Senator from West Virginia

Wirt County was divided into 7 districts

Fort Boreman was constructed in Wood County

William Edwin Chilton appointed to an unexpired term as Kanawha County prosecutor

Legislature established the West Virginia Department of Mines and fatality records began to be kept

Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company acquired the Ohio Fuel Supply Company

Henry Gassaway Davis left the U.S. Senate

Fayetteville was incorporated under its name

The Calhoun Chronicle was first published

John P. Hale published a pamphlet on Daniel Boone's years in the Kanawha Valley

James Edward "Blind Ed" Haley was born

William "Coin" Harvey went to Colorado to work as silver prospector and miner

The Lovett family began ownership of the Lockwood House in Harpers Ferry

William Howells retired from Ohio politics

The James Produce Company was started by Charles H. James

Frances Benjamin Johnston began her studies at the Academie Juilian in Paris

State legislature elected John Kenna to the U.S. Senate

William Leigh left Maryland Institute to begin studying at the Royal Academy in Munich, Germany

The Wheeling Public Library was created

The Norfolk & Western Railway arrived in Mercer county

Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller wrote The Bride of the Tomb

The first mine safety laws in West Virginia were enacted

English immigrants settled in the Linwood-Mingo area of Randolph County

A prohibition amendment passed in the House of Delegates but was defeated in the Senate.

Ripley's population was at 614

The Salvation Army opened its first West Virginia "corps" in Wheeling

Seventh-Day Adventist churches were organized in Wood and Kanawha counties

The West Virginia Central & Pittsburgh Railroad first entered Upshur County

Dr. John J. Moorman stopped doctoring the crowds at White Sulphur Springs