Francis Harrison Pierpont Francis Harrison Pierpont ( January 25 , 1814March 24 , 1899 ) , called the " Father of West Virginia , " was an American lawyer , politician , and Governor of the Union - controlled parts of Virginia during the Civil War . After the war , he was the Governor of all of Virginia during the early years of Reconstruction . In recognition of his significance to its state history , in 1910 the state of West Virginia donated a marble statue of Pierpont as its second contribution to the U . S . Capitol ' s National Statuary Hall Collection . Early life . He was the third son of Francis Peirpoint and was born at the Peirpoint " Plantation " in the " Forks of Cheat " on the Morgantown - Ices Ferry Road , Monongalia County , ( West ) Virginia . His middle name , " Harrison , " was added later by the boy ' s father in honor of his commanding officer , General William Henry Harrison . Pierpont , the original family name , was altered to Peirpoint in the land office at Richmond , VA in issuing patents for land deeded to his grandfather . The family was advised , by Virginia lawyers , that in order to hold their grandfather ' s land they must spell their last name as recorded in the patent . His father used the name Peirpoint throughout all of his life . Francis Harrison also utilized Peirpoint throughout most of his adult life including during his terms as the Civil War and Reconstruction Governor of Virginia . In 1880 , when President Garfield appointed him Collector of Internal Revenue , Peirpoint sent his name to the U . S . Senate as Francis H . Pierpont . Pierpont writes that " He consented to the change of his name because it was right . " Pierpont grew up in western Virginia , in what is today Marion County , West Virginia ; he was linked with the region ' s history for the rest of his life . He graduated from Allegheny College , and taught school in Virginia and Mississippi while also studying law . He was kin to Morgantown ' s founder Zackquill Morgan . He was admitted to the bar in 1841 , and became the local attorney for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1848 . Prior to entering politics , he also helped found Fairmont Male and Female Seminary , the forerunner to Fairmont State University . Political career . Civil war . An active supporter of Abraham Lincoln , Pierpont became more involved in politics as an outspoken opponent of Virginia ' s secession from the Union . When Virginia seceded and entered the war , delegates from the northwestern counties of Virginia , which refused to join the Confederacy , met at the Wheeling Convention . These counties ultimately declared that their elected officials had abandoned their posts and established a rump government in Wheeling , with Pierpont as the provisional Governor . This " Restored government of Virginia " drafted a new Virginia Constitution and sent representatives to the Union Congress . The Second Wheeling Convention met on June 11 , 1861 , and on June 20 , 1861 , Piepont was unanimously elected governor of the Restored Government of Virginia with the recognition of President Lincoln . In 1862 , Pierpont attended the Loyal War Governors ' Conference in Altoona , Pennsylvania , organized by Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin , which ultimately backed Abraham Lincoln ' s Emancipation Proclamation and the Union war effort . Pierpont was again elected governor for a four - year term on May 28 , 1863 . Under Pierpont ' s leadership , the Wheeling government called for a popular vote on the question of the creation of a new separate state . Despite a lack of overwhelming support and widespread fraud in the voting process , the Restored Government pressed the U . S . Congress for statehood , which also approved the issue . The new state took the name West Virginia and was admitted into the Union in 1863 . When Arthur I . Boreman was elected governor for West Virginia , Pierpont became Governor of the " restored " state of Virginia , comprising the several Northern Virginia , Norfolk area , and Eastern Shore counties under Union control . The capital of the " restored " state was established in Alexandria for the remainder of the Civil War . On May 9 , 1865 , President Andrew Johnson recognized and / or appointed Pierpont as the Provisional Governor of Virginia . He moved the capital back to Richmond , Virginia . Reconstruction . Pierpont followed a policy of forgiveness to those politicians who had served in the Confederate military and government . The Virginia government started to pass laws restoring ex - Confederates to their lost privileges , to the displeasure of most former Union Republicans . As the South became increasingly resistant to Reconstruction after the war , the United States Congress passed the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867 . Through this Act , Virginia was designated the " First Military District " in 1868 , and military commander John Schofield replaced Pierpont with Henry H . Wells until state delegates could write and enact a new constitution could be enacted . According to the Civil War historian Richard Lowe , Hiram Bond , a former Vanderbilt University functionary and friend of Grant , planned the removal of Pierpont and installation of Welles . Pierpont became one of the key figures in the Virginia constitutional convention of 1867 - 1868 , which resulted in the Underwood Constitution of 1869 . After this , Pierpont left Virginia politics and returned to his law practice in West Virginia . Pierpont subsequently was elected to one term in the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1870 , but lost his seat when the Democrats took control of the state . His last public office was as collector of Internal Revenue under President James Garfield . After his retirement , he helped create the West Virginia Historical Society . He died in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania on March 24 , 1899 . Three years later , his remains were relocated to Woodlawn Cemetery in Fairmont , West Virginia . They are next to his wife Julia and three of their four children .