Today in Wheeling History: April 20—Blackburn Barrett Dovener, Civil War captain, Wheeling lawyer, and six-term U.S. congressional representative, is born in Tays Valley, Virginia (now West Virginia) (1842).
Blackburn Barrett Dovener was born on April 20, 1842, in Tays Valley, Cabell County, Virginia (now Putnam County, West Virginia), the son of Dr. Robert George Dovener and Julia Ann Barrett Dovener. His family later relocated to Parkersburg, where he attended the district schools and the Parkersburg Academy. In 1861, at age nineteen, he enlisted in the Union Army, raising Company A of the 15th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, serving as first lieutenant before being promoted to captain following the Battle of Cedar Creek.
After the war, Dovener settled in Wheeling, marrying Margaret Lynch in December 1865. He studied law, was admitted to the state bar in 1873, and joined the firm of Davenport & Dovener, assuming sole leadership upon George O. Davenport's death in 1880. He gained regional prominence as court-appointed counsel for Taylor Strauder in the landmark civil rights case "Strauder v. West Virginia," which reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 1880.
Dovener served in the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1883–84, then won election as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives from West Virginia's 1st Congressional District in 1894, serving six consecutive terms from 1895 to 1907. In January 1914, his wife Margaret petitioned an Ohio County court to appoint a lunacy commission, alleging he could no longer manage his own affairs. He was placed in the care of the Ohio County sheriff and later removed to a sanitarium in Glen Echo, Maryland, where he died on May 9, 1914, at age 72. He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
To learn more: Wikipedia - Blackburn B. Dovener (https://tinyurl.com/mtyr4etb), Wikipedia - Strauder v. West Virginia (https://tinyurl.com/yask5nsn), U.S. House of Representatives Biography - DOVENER, Blackburn Barrett (https://tinyurl.com/42tr22kx), Biographies (https://tinyurl.com/2m29fjfe), Wikiwand overview (https://tinyurl.com/m2cyjpxn), Wheeling Sunday Register - Former Congressman B. B. Dovener Dies After Long Illness (https://tinyurl.com/4te4chv9), Ohio County WVGenWeb - Hon. Blackburn Barrett Dovener (https://tinyurl.com/jmfvev8m), The Strangest Names In American Political History - Blackburn Barrett Dovener (https://tinyurl.com/3f3fku68)
Photo credits: Washington Times, Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, Find a Grave, Wikimedia Commons, WV GenWeb - Ohio County
Blackburn Barrett Dovener was born on April 20, 1842, in Tays Valley, Cabell County, Virginia (now Putnam County, West Virginia), the son of Dr. Robert George Dovener and Julia Ann Barrett Dovener. His family later relocated to Parkersburg, where he attended the district schools and the Parkersburg Academy. In 1861, at age nineteen, he enlisted in the Union Army, raising Company A of the 15th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, serving as first lieutenant before being promoted to captain following the Battle of Cedar Creek.
After the war, Dovener settled in Wheeling, marrying Margaret Lynch in December 1865. He studied law, was admitted to the state bar in 1873, and joined the firm of Davenport & Dovener, assuming sole leadership upon George O. Davenport's death in 1880. He gained regional prominence as court-appointed counsel for Taylor Strauder in the landmark civil rights case "Strauder v. West Virginia," which reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 1880.
Dovener served in the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1883–84, then won election as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives from West Virginia's 1st Congressional District in 1894, serving six consecutive terms from 1895 to 1907. In January 1914, his wife Margaret petitioned an Ohio County court to appoint a lunacy commission, alleging he could no longer manage his own affairs. He was placed in the care of the Ohio County sheriff and later removed to a sanitarium in Glen Echo, Maryland, where he died on May 9, 1914, at age 72. He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
To learn more: Wikipedia - Blackburn B. Dovener (https://tinyurl.com/mtyr4etb), Wikipedia - Strauder v. West Virginia (https://tinyurl.com/yask5nsn), U.S. House of Representatives Biography - DOVENER, Blackburn Barrett (https://tinyurl.com/42tr22kx), Biographies (https://tinyurl.com/2m29fjfe), Wikiwand overview (https://tinyurl.com/m2cyjpxn), Wheeling Sunday Register - Former Congressman B. B. Dovener Dies After Long Illness (https://tinyurl.com/4te4chv9), Ohio County WVGenWeb - Hon. Blackburn Barrett Dovener (https://tinyurl.com/jmfvev8m), The Strangest Names In American Political History - Blackburn Barrett Dovener (https://tinyurl.com/3f3fku68)
Photo credits: Washington Times, Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, Find a Grave, Wikimedia Commons, WV GenWeb - Ohio County
RSS Feed