The first state legislature of West Virginia convened in Wheeling from June 20, 1863, to December 11, 1863, after the adoption of the West Virginia Constitution which was drafted during the first two years of the Civil War.
Apportionment +Legend District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5 District 6 District 7 District 8 District 9 District 10 District 11 1 delegate 2 delegates 3 delegates Thick black lines: State and district boundaries Thin gray lines: County boundaries Dashed black lines: Planned district and state boundaries Dashed red lines: Counties with rotating member apportionment
The 1863 West Virginia Constitution established the creation of nine senatorial districts, each sending two senators to the state legislature. Additionally, the constitution called for the creation of two other senatorial districts containing counties in northern Virginia assuming they joined the state. For the House of Delegates, the constitution outlined six delegate districts each sending one or two delegates to the House, with another planned for counties in northern Virginia. Every other county was apportioned one to three delegates. The Senate member count was set to be between eighteen and twenty-two, and between forty-seven and fifty-two for the House of Delegates, depending on how many Virginian counties were absorbed into the state.
Members of the Senate President of the West Virginia Senate: John M. Phelps from Mason County
District 1 (Hancock, Brooke, and Ohio) John H. Atkinson Chester D. Hubbard District 2 (Marshall, Wetzel, and Marion) James Burley Aaron Hawkins District 3 (Monongalia, Preston, and Taylor) John J. Brown Edward C. Bunker District 4 (Pleasants, Tyler, Ritchie, Doddridge, and Harrison) Daniel Haymond Edwin Maxwell District 5 (Wood, Jackson, Wirt, Roane, Calhoun, and Gilmer) Edward S. Mahon William E. Stevenson District 6 (Barbour, Tucker, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur, and Randolph) D. D. T. Farnsworth William D. Rollyson District 7 (Mason, Putnam, Kanawha, Clay, and Nicholas) Greenbury Slack District 8 (Cabell, Wayne, Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, and McDowell) John B. Brown William H. Copley District 9 (Webster, Pocahontas, Fayette, Raleigh, Greenbrier, and Monroe) Thomas K. McCann Samuel Young John M. Phelps District 10 (Planned: Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire, and Morgan) Aaron Bechtol James Carskadon District 11 (Planned: Frederick, Berkeley, and Jefferson)
Members of the House of Delegates Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates: Spicer Patrick
Members by delegate districts
District 1 (Pleasants and Wood, 2 members) Horatio N. Crooks (Wood) Peter G. Van Winkle (Wood) District 2 (Calhoun and Gilmer) William T. Wiant (Gilmer) District 3 (Clay and Nicholas) Anthony Rader (Nicholas) District 4 (Webster and Pocahontas) Benoni Griffin (Pocahontas) District 5 (Tucker and Randolph) Cyrus Kittle (Randolph) District 6 (McDowell, Wyoming, and Raleigh) W. S. Dunbar (Raleigh) District 7 (Planned: Morgan and Berkeley, 2 members) Joseph S. Wheat (Morgan) Greenbrier and Monroe: (3 members, county delegate count in rotation) John C. Gillilan (Greenbrier) Andrew W. Mann (Greenbrier) Lewis Ballard (Monroe)
Members by county
Barbour: Joseph Teter Jr. Boone: Robert Hager Braxton: Felix Sutton Brooke: H. W. Crothers Cabell: Edward D. Wright Doddridge: Ephraim Bee Frederick (Planned, 2 members) Hampshire: James I. Barrick George W. Sheetz Hancock: William L. Crawford Hardy: John Michael Harrison: Nathan Goff Sr. Soloman S. Fleming Jackson: David J. Keeney Jefferson (Planned, 2 members) Kanawha: Spicer Patrick Lewis Ruffner Lewis: Perry M. Hale Logan: James H. Hinchman Marion: Isaac Holman John S. Barnes Marshall: Michael Dunn Joseph Turner Mason: Lewis Bumgardner Mercer: Thomas Little Monongalia: Leroy Kramer John B. Lough Ohio: Daniel Lamb Andrew F. Ross W. W. Shriver Pendleton: John Boggs Preston: James C. McGrew William B. Zinn Putnam: George C. Bowyer Ritchie: S. R. Dawson Roane: J. M. McWhorter Taylor: L. E. Davidson Tyler: Daniel Sweeny Upshur: Jacob Teter Wayne: Thomas Couley Wetzel: S. I. Robinson Wirt: Alfred Foster
Accomplishments 204 bills were passed by the legislature in its first term, including bills to admit Berkeley and Jefferson counties into the state.
See also List of West Virginia state legislatures Wheeling Convention
References