The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1907-07-04

meuSe ClIOnS OIL several thousands
Of visitors to the exposition listened
to the West Virginia Day exercises
at the auditorium. this afternoon.
Hon. Stephen B. Ekins, United
States senator from West Virginia
presided at the exercises this after.
noon and addresses we're made by
President Harry St. George Tucker,
Of the exposition; Governor Claude
A. Swanson, of Virginia and Govern
Or w. M. o. Dawson, Of West Virgin
Ia. 49,
T Governor Dawson, of West Virgin
Ia, reviewed the growth OF his state
from its first settlement up to the
present time and expressed great
faith in the future. The executive
said in part: T..
West Virginia was not included in
the first grant to the Virginia COM
pany Of London; that embraced a re-
gion but one hundred miles square,
with jamestown at It's center; but in
the second grant-that Of 1909
our state was included; made part
when the colony at Jamestown was
but two years old; and West Virgin
la remained a part Of Virginia until
1868, a period Of more than two
hundred and fifty years., West Vir-
ginia is therefore more nearly akin
to the old commonwealth than is
any other American state. We as
West Virginians have deep ana
abiding interest in two hundred and
fifty years Of Virgtnian history, for
q or.f 0P ( fc,
West Virginians helped to make it,
and, like all Virginians, are proud
Of our part in it.
In l641 when Jamestown was but
! thirty-four years old, Walter Austin,
| Joseph Johnson, Rice Hoe, and Wal
| ter. Chiles left the mouth of the his
ttor1o ApDomattox river and, under
sanction Of the general assembly, of
the infant colony, journeyed west
ward and found a new river whose
waters flowed to the westward.
This Is the present New river, the
first West Virginia river known to
| Englishmen. In 1869, John Lederer,
"a German explorer in the service of
Sir William Berkeley, the first gov
| ernor of Virginia under the "restor-
eC monarchy" stood on the summit
Of the Blue Ridge, near the head
| EOpAI~ih VI anu
looking westward, 'beheld the plains
and hills Of what Is now Berkeley
and Jefferson counties in West .Vir-
ginfa. In 1871, Capt. Thomas Bats,
| Abram Wood, Robert Fallam and
John Neason left the present site Of
petersburg, on the Appomattox, the
first. Of September, and sixteen days
| later, standing near the rushing
waters Of the Great Kanawha, took
possession Of the valley of that river
In the name Of King James II. In
| 17l6, Governor Alexander Spots
wood, with his party Of thirty horse
men-'Knights of the Golden Horse
halted on the crest Of Blue Ridge,
and away to the westward saw the
| towering elevations in what are now
the counties Of Pefdleton and Har-
| dy in. West Virginia. Thus was dis
covery and exploration made in
West Virginia, but as yet no white
man had found home within the,
present limits Of the state. The
time, however, was near at hand
| when this wilderness was to becoma
| the scene Of civilized life.
In 1925 Morgan ap Morgan rear
| ed his cabin home, the first on the
SOIL OF West Virginia, on the site of
the present village Of Bunkerhill, In
| Mill Creek district, Berkeley coun-
! ty.' In 1727-28 German mechanics
found homes at New Mechlenburg.
| now SheDherdstown, In Jefferson
county. Other settlers soon found
homes along the banks Of the One
guam, Little and Great Cacapon, and
the South Branch rivers, while the
Greenbrier Land company, FASTENED
| to locate settlers In permanent
homes in the valley Of the Green
br1er river. SO rapid was the in
crease in population along these riv-
ers and intervening regions, that it
| is believed that by the year 1855
fullJ $4,000 people were residing
within the confines Of the present
state Of West Virginia
These West Virginia river valleys
were "a veritable seat of war during
| the French and Indian war. During
the seven years Of it's continuance
there were here erected not fewer
than twenty-one places Of defiance
--blockades, and palisade and
stockade forts, the greater number
being built by order Of Governor
DtnWtdd1e, under the direction of
Colonel George Washington.
Onward pressed this population
over the mountains, hills and val
leys, even down the Ohio river, and
when the revolution came these ear
lly West Virginians were ready. In
I1775 Captain Hugh Stephenson or
gained and marched from Berke-
ley county the company from the
south side Of the Potomac that Join
ed Washington at Boston. Berkeley.
Hampshire, Monongalia, Ohio and
lGreenbrier counties sent their quo.
tas OF men TO the continental arm.
ana state troops; sent horses and
wagons and many suits Of home