Notes for: Chapman Johnson Stuart
Chapman J. Stuart served as Doddridge County prosecutor from 1852 to 1861. An opponent of secession, he sat as a member of the First Wheeling Convention of 1861, was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1862, and in 1863 was elected judge of the Circuit Court and was on the bench for ten years, until 1873. His public service to the state continued after leaving the bench, and in 1874-75 and again in 1878-79 he represented Doddridge County in the Legislature. During the Civil War he did some valuable work as a lieutenant of the 14th West Virginia Infantry in recruiting Union soldiers, raising Company A of that regiment.
He has also been credited with naming the state of West Virginia. A June 1913 article which appeared in the Wheeling Intelligencer credits him for suggesting the name West Virginia as opposed to the other proposed names of "New Virginia" and "Allegheny."
http://www.wvculture.org/history/sesquicentennial/stuartchapman.pdf
http://www.wvculture.org/history/statehood/statename.html
http://files.usgwarchives.net/wv/doddridge/bios/parr.txt
"HON. CHAPMAN J. STUART - son of Edward and Margaret Stuart, was born January 8, 1820, in that part if Bath county, Virginia, now included in Highland. His first wife was Elizabeth E., daughter of William and Anna [Unkles] Litle. She was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, September 20, 1823, and died October 27 1855. Of this marriage one daughter survives, Anna R., born November 1, 1849, now the wife of Dr. M. C. Daugherty, of Grafton, Taylor county, West Virginia. One daughter and two sons, Isabella, William and Arthur, died young. In Highland county, Virginia, Chapman J. Stuart and Mary A. Stuart were married, January 25, 1858. She was a daughter of Charles and Therese Stuart, and was born in Bath county, Virginia, May 18, 1837. The children of this marriage were five: W. Scott, born May 27, 1861, now a cadet at the West Virginia University; Agnes, May 27, 1866; Elizabeth, October 2, 1869; Therese, January 18, 1872; Douglas, December 17, 1874. The subject of this sketch held the office of prosecuting attorney for Doddridge county by successive re-elections, from 1852 until 1861, when he resigned. He was elected from the district composed of Doddridge and Tyler counties to the convention that met in Richmond in 1861 [in February], and there opposed the ordinance of secession. When it had been passed he returned to his constituents and opposed its adoption. He was a member of the Wheeling convention of 1861, where the action taken in Richmond was repudiated. In the spring of 1861 he was elected to the Virginia Senate from the counties of Harrison, Doddridge, Ritchie, and Wood, and met with the restored government at Wheeling until the formation of the State of West Virginia. In 1862 he was a member of the constitutional convention that framed the constitution of West Virginia; was chairman of the committee on boundaries of that body and when submitted to the people its adoption was advocated by him over a large portion of the State. In 1863 he was elected judge for the 4th Judicial Circuit of West Virginia, composed of Wetzel, Tyler, Doddridge, Ritchie, Gilmer and Pleasants counties, and at the expiration of his term of office he was re-elected, serving until, under the new Constitution, the office ceased to be, January 1, 1873. He represented Doddridge county in the State legislature in the session of 1874-5, and again in 1878-9. In the first-named session he was one of the managers of impeachment and trial before the Senate of John S. Burdett and E. A. Bennett, State treasurer and auditor, and prosecuted these cases through the entire proceedings. He was in the service of the Federal government for nine months of the civil war, holding commission of lieutenant-colonel of the 14th West Virginia Infantry, and taking an active part in recuiting volunteers. He raised Company A, of the 14th regiment. Judge Stuart made his home in Doddridge county in 1846 and his residence and postoffice address are West Union, Doddridge county, West Virginia. 31"
Source: Hardesty's 1883 History of Doddridge County
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wvpioneers/doddridgecountyhistory.html
1850 Census, Doddridge Co, Virginia (now West Virginia):
Chapman J. Stewart, 30, b. Va, Sheriff Deputy; Elizabeth Stewart, 24, b. Pa; Anna Litle, 50, b. Pa; William Stewart, 3, b. Va; Anna Stewart, 1, b. Va; Rachel Davis, 20, b. Va.
1860 Census, Doddridge Co, Virginia (now West Virginia), enumerated on Jun 5 1860:
C. J. Steuart, 40, lawyer & farmer, value of real estate $8,600, value of personal estate $3,220; Mary A. Steuart, 22; Anna R. Steuart, 11; Ann Litle, 65; D. E. Davis (male), 22.
The 1860 Federal Census Slave Schedule for Doddridge County, enumerated on Jun 1 1860, contains the following entry:
Slave owner: C. J. Stuart.
Description of slaves:
1 black female, age 22
1 black female, age 10
1870 Census, Doddridge Co, WV (West Union Twp), enumerated on Jun 20 1870:
Chaplin J. Stuart, 50, farmer & Judge of State Circuit Court, value of real estate $25,000, value of personal estate $16,000; Mary A, 33; Scott, 9; Agnus, 4; Elizabeth, 7 months; Sarah Moore, 23, domestic servant.