Samuel Lightfoot Flournoy Samuel Lightfoot Flournoy ( November 25 , 1846 – January 28 , 1904 ) was an American lawyer and politician in the U . S . state of West Virginia . Flournoy served as a state senator representing the 12th District in the West Virginia Senate ( 1885 – 1890 ) and served three terms as mayor of Romney , West Virginia . Flournoy unsuccessfully ran as a candidate for the Democratic Party ' s West Virginia gubernatorial nomination in 1900 . Prior to his law and political careers , Flournoy served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and as Principal of the Potomac Academy in Romney ( 1870 ) . Early life . Samuel Lightfoot Flournoy was born on November 25 , 1846 in Chesterfield County , Virginia , from Richmond , and was the son of Richard W . Flournoy and his wife , Sarah Parke . Flournoy was of English and French ancestry . He was a relative of Thomas Flournoy , United States Representative from Virginia . The majority of Flournoy ' s youth and early adulthood were spent in Richmond , where he received an education attending the city ' s public schools . Military career . During the American Civil War in 1863 , Flournoy enlisted as a private in the Confederate States Army at the age of 17 . He served the entirety of his enlistment in Company A , Otey Battery , 13th Battalion Virginia Light Artillery in Richmond throughout the course of the war until its end in 1865 . Education and teaching career . Following the war , Flournoy entered Hampden – Sydney College in Hampden Sydney , Virginia to pursue an education in classical studies . He graduated with honors and a Bachelor of Arts from Hampden – Sydney College in 1868 and received the Speaker ' s Medal from the institution ' s Philanthropic Debating Society . While attending Hampden – Sydney College , Flournoy was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity . Flournoy subsequently taught school for four years while concurrently studying law . He relocated to Romney , West Virginia around 1870 where he took charge as principal and taught at the Potomac Academy with " considerable success " and continued his law studies . Flournoy was admitted to the bar in Romney in January 1873 . Law and political careers . Following his admission to the bar , Flournoy immediately began practicing law in Romney and " won merited distinction " in his field . He became a prominent leader in the community and was elected as a member of the Romney Literary Society . Flournoy served on the fourth Board of Regents of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind from 1876 to 1880 . He served three terms as mayor of Romney . Flournoy was elected to represent the 12th District , consisting of Grant , Hampshire , Hardy , Mineral , and Pendleton counties , in the West Virginia Senate in 1885 and was re - elected to the seat in 1889 . In the West Virginia state senatorial election on November 6 , 1888 , Flournoy defeated his Republican challenger S . G . Pownall with 5 , 578 votes to 4 , 028 votes for Pownall . In his first term in the West Virginia Senate , Flournoy served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee , and in his second term , Flournoy served as chairman of the Committee on Counties and Municipal Corporations . Throughout his two terms , Flournoy served on the committees of Privileges and Elections , Federal Relations , Immigration and Agriculture , and Public Printing . He resigned from his senate seat in 1890 . In 1890 , during his second term in the West Virginia State Senate , Flournoy relocated from Romney to Charleston and continued practicing law there following his resignation from the senate . In Charleston , Flournoy founded the law firm Couch , Flournoy and Price with West Virginia state senator , George Edmund Price . The firm would later become Flournoy , Price , and Smith with the addition of Harrison Brooks Smith in 1894 . In 1900 , Flournoy ran as a candidate for the Democratic Party ' s West Virginia gubernatorial nomination . At the West Virginia Democratic State Convention held in Parkersburg on June 6 , 1900 , Flournoy competed for the party ' s nomination against Lewis N . Tavenner of Wood County , John H . Holt of Cabell County , and Virgil G . Lewis of Jackson County . Holt won the Democratic Party ' s nomination , but lost in the general election to Republican candidate , Albert B . White . Flournoy was present at the first meeting of the West Virginia Bar Association held on the date of its organization on July 8 , 1886 , in Grafton . As a member , Flournoy was appointed to draft the association ' s constitution and by - law s and served on its executive committee . In addition to serving as a vice president of the association , Flournoy also represented the 12th Judicial Circuit on the association ' s Committee on Judicial Administration and Legal Reform and later served on the Committee of Admissions . Business pursuits . On August 4 , 1888 , Flournoy purchased five shares priced at 100 US $ each in order to invest in and provide capital stock for the incorporation of the Bank of Romney . Personal life . Religious activities . Flournoy was active in the Presbyterian Church in Hampshire County and served as a trustee for the Presbytery of Winchester , along with Henry Bell Gilkeson . In 1881 , Flournoy and his fellow trustees were instrumental in securing from Amos L . and Allie G . Pugh a house and a large partially wooded land lot in Capon Bridge for use by the Presbytery as a centrally located manse in Hampshire County . Flournoy was elected as a deacon in the Presbyterian Church in 1879 and remained a trustee of the Presbytery of Winchester until 1891 when he relocated to Charleston . Marriage and children . On April 10 , 1875 , in Hampshire County , West Virginia , Flournoy married Frances " Fannie " Ann White ( born April 1843 ) , daughter of John Baker White and Frances A . Streit . Frances White ' s brother , Robert White , served as West Virginia Attorney General from 1877 to 1881 . Flournoy and his wife Frances had five children ( four sons and one daughter ) : Flounoy died on January 28 , 1904 , in Charleston . He served on the Board of Trustees of Hampden – Sydney College from 1892 until his death .