The Tucker County Seat War (1893) was a dispute between the towns of

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingt ...

and

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

, in

Tucker County, West Virginia Tucker County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,762, making it West Virginia's fourth-least populous county. Its county seat is Parsons. The county was created in 1856 from a part of Ra ...

, over which should be the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

History

Tucker County, Virginia (now West Virginia) was created in 1856 out of

Randolph County Randolph County is the name of eight counties in the United States: *Randolph County, Alabama *Randolph County, Arkansas *Randolph County, Georgia *Randolph County, Illinois *Randolph County, Indiana *Randolph County, Missouri *Randolph County, Nort ...

. At that time, the enabling act also called for the

, where the

county court A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...

would be located, to be in Westernford, originally known as "Fort Minear" and first settled in 1776. The name of the town was directed to be changed to "St. George" to complement the name of the county, which honored

Henry St. George Tucker, Sr. Henry St. George Tucker Sr. (December 29, 1780 – August 28, 1848) was a Virginia jurist, law professor, and U.S. Congressman (1815–1819). Biography Tucker was born on Mattoax Plantation in Chesterfield County, Virginia on December 29, 1780, ...

, a local judge and U.S. Congressman. Maxwell, Hubr>''History of Tucker County''
Kingwood, West Virginia: Preston Publishing, 1884. A fire destroyed most of St. George in 1888, and as a result, when the

West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC&P) was a railroad in West Virginia and Maryland operating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It had main lines radiating from Elkins, West Virginia in four principal directions: north to C ...

Carnes, Eva Margaret
"The Courthouse Wars (Part II)"
''West Virginia Review'' (February 1944) was laid down to Leadsville (now

Elkins, West Virginia Elkins is a city in and the county seat of Randolph County, West Virginia, United States. The community was incorporated in 1890 and named in honor of Stephen Benton Elkins, a U.S. Senator from West Virginia. The population was 6,950 at the 2020 ...

) it did not go through or near it. This brought about the rise of the new lumber town of Parsons, built on land along the rail line owned by Ward Parsons, who had a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

lay out lots for the town. In 1888 and '89, Parsons led a drive to petition the county court to hold an election to approve moving the county seat to the town of Parsons. This election took place in 1890, but the change was not approved, failing to receive the necessary 60% majority. Parsons tried again in 1892, but the results were the same. However, the next attempt, in 1893, was successful: after one election which was declared invalid on a legal technicality, a second one received the necessary margin of victory for Parsons. Some of the leaders of St. George suspected that there were irregularities in the second election, and asked the county court to set aside the results; this request was denied. St. George appealed to the state government, asking for an injunction pending an investigation, but before that could happen, the people of Parsons - annoyed by the attempt to repeal the election results - marched to St. George on August 7, 1893,One source gives the date as August 1. See with the purpose of taking the court's records, thus moving the seat to Parsons by force. Descriptions of the size of the

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without Right, legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a pers ...

group vary from 200 armed men to over a thousand, 700 from Parsons and 400 from along the rail line. A group of citizens from St. George turned out to counter the Parsons contingent, but, fearing the possibility of violence and deaths, the sheriff ordered them to disperse. By the time the group from Parsons arrived, there were few people around to stop them from breaking into the courthouse and stealing the records, as well as the bell from the building's tower. After camping overnight at a nearby farm, they returned to Parsons and established a temporary courthouse in an unopened store building on Main Street. This was used as the Tucker County Court until a new courthouse was built in 1900. The town of St. George has never regained the prominence it lost by the removal of the county seat. It is now an unincorporated community.

References

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker County Seat War County Seat Wars History of West Virginia 1889 in West Virginia 1893 in West Virginia Conflicts in 1893 Tucker County, West Virginia

History

See also

References

External links