Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-06-22

charleston, w. Va, June 21.-Judge
James H. Ferguson, the distinguished
LAWYER and statesman, died this morn
,ro At the age of eighty-four years. The
,-,mcdiate cause of his death was
paralysis
lanes Harvey Ferguson was born
,nril IA. 1877, in Montgomery county,
Virginia. In 1885, he removed to Bar
bouIsylle, Cabell county, where he
erndied law and was admitted to the
lar in 1910. In 1845 he removed to the
couutv of Logan, and was elected prose-
cutting attorney of that county, which
Office he filed until the year 1S4S,
when he was elected a member Of the
House Of Delegates of Virginia from
The counties of Logan and Boone. He
was reelected to the same Office in each
wear until 1851, when a new COnstitu-
+ion of the State was adopted. In
7S5A while a member of the House of
Delegates, he was elected a member OF
tha Constitutional Convention of 1850
81 from the district composed of the
counties of Mason, Putnam, Cabell,
Wavne Boone, Wyoming and Logan,
and was consequently member Of
both bodies at the same time. On his
tirst appearance in the Legislature he
vas made a member of the judiciary
committee-the most important COM
mittee Of the body-and at each SEES
sion thereafter until the close of his
service, he was chairman Of that COM
mittee. During his service as a mem
Der Of that Legislature, the country
was in a state OF great excitement over
the question OF slavery, and especially
over the celebrated 'WillmOt ProvisO,"
which had been offered to bill in the
Congress of the United States to pro-
hibit slavery in any territory acquired
from Mexico by a treaty of peace with
that country. A protracted discussion
was had in the Legislature over this
proviso, in which he participated. TAX
ing the Southern view of the question.
But his remedy for all such legislation
by Congress was notification, and not
secession. He always opposed dis
solution Of the Union, and long before
the commencement of the civil war,
he gave up the doctrine Of notification,
rightfully concluding that State could
not be practically both in and out OF
the Union at the same time. He sup
ported the great compromise of 1850,
of the slavery question in its relation
TO the territories OF the United States,
brought forth by Mr.. Clay, Of Ken
lucky, and adopted by Congress. En-
pertaining these views, he regarded it
as his duty to support the government
in all its measures to defend. protect
and perpetuate the Union of the States
against the misguided efforts OF those
who sought to destroy it, and he did
so from the commencement to the end
OF the war.
In 1864 he settled again in the
county of Cabell, and in the fall OF that
year was elected to the House Of Dele
gates of West Virginia, and served by
reflections, through the sessions of
1867, 1868 Tan extra session., and 1871.
At all these sessions, except that of
1865, he was chairman of the judiciary
committee. and at the sessions Of 1868
he was chairman of the joint committee
on the revision Of the Code of West
Virginia, made BY the revisors. which
committee was charged with the duty
of amending that revision and report
ing it to the Legislature for action;
and by appointment of the Legislature
he prepared and indexed that Code
(the Code OF 1869 for publication. At
the session of 1865 he introduced a bill
ab0lishing slavery in West Virginia,
and succeeded, after much opposition,
in securing its passage in advance of
the adoption by any other State of the
amendment to the Constitution Of the
United States for that purpose.
In 1868 he was elected judge of the
Circuit Court for the Judicial district
composed of the counties of Logan,
Boone, Lincoln, Wayne and Cabell, for
the term Of six years, but resigned
after one year and seven months, and
returned to his practice at the bar.
In 1875 he removed to the county OF
Kanawha. In 1876 he was, together
with e. w. Wilson and William A.
Quarter, elected to the West Virginia
House Of Delegates from Kanawha
county; and in 1880 he was again elect
ed, together with the same gentlemen
10 the same office At the time of their
first election, the permanent location of
the seat of government for the State
was the main question in which the
and they were elected with special
reference to that matter. AT the re-
quest of his distinguished colleagues.
he took charge of the contest in refer
ence TO that Question on behalf of the
city Of Charleston, prepared all the bills
offered on the subject including that
which finally passed the Legislature,
and which resulted in making Char
lesion the permanent seat of govern
mept Of the State.
Judge Ferguson's wife was formerly
Miss Lizzie A. Creel, daughter of
George A. and Prudence S. (nee Spen-
cer) Cook of Wood county, Virginia.
Their home, appropriately called
Grand View is situated on the crest
OF the hill south of the Kanawha river,
Which flows at its base. and seems al
most TO hover over the city of Charles
ten beneath.
Judge Ferguson by common con-
sent was regarded the ablest legisla-
Tor ever born in Virginia west of the
Blue Ridge. His handiwork is seen in
almost every line Of the legislation of
our State. He was also eminent as a
lawyer But few men in both Vir-
elnlas can be Justly ranked as his equal
or To-, I