Myra Horner Camden Atkinson (July 21, 1844 – April 13, 1925) was the wife of former

Virginia Governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022. Oath of office On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...

George W. Atkinson George Wesley Atkinson (June 29, 1845 – April 4, 1925), a cavalryman, lawyer, politician, judge and scholar, became the 10th Governor of West Virginia after running as the candidate of the Republican Party. He also served in the West Virgini ...

and served as that state's

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

, 1897-1901. She was born July 21, 1844, at

Lumberport, West Virginia Lumberport is a town in Harrison County, located in northern West Virginia, United States. The population was 720 at the 2020 census. The rural town was so named on account of the extensive lumber industry conducted there in the early 20th centu ...

. Her father Horner was locally prominent. Her first husband was Davis. After the American Civil War, she married for the second time, to Judge Gideon D. Camden, who had sympathized with the Confederacy, became a member of the West Virginia Senate as well as become quite wealthy investing in land and minerals in what became West Virginia during the war. Judge Camden died in 1891. In June 1897, shortly after

became governor, the widower married the twice-widowed Myra. After leaving office, she took an active interest in

family history Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their Lineage (anthropology), lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family a ...

and was a member of social groups in

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

Parkersburg Parkersburg is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's fourth-largest city and the largest city in the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna metro ...

, and

Clarksburg, West Virginia Clarksburg is a city in and the county seat of Harrison County, West Virginia, United States, in the north-central region of the state. The population of the city was 16,039 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Clarksburg micro ...

. She died at Clarksburg April 13, 1925, nine days after former Gov. Atkinson."West Virginia's First Ladies," West Virginia Division of Culture and History, June 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Myra Horner Camden 1844 births 1925 deaths People from Harrison County, West Virginia First ladies and gentlemen of West Virginia