|
CABELL COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
******************************************************************
Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@earthlink.net
July 6, 2000
******************************************************************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 450
CHARLES W. CAMPBELL has been engaged in the practice
of his profession in the City of Huntington since 1885,
and is not only one of the leading members of the bar of
Cabell County, but is a citizen who has exerted much influ-
ence in public affairs and civic life and who has served in
various offices of public trust.
Mr. Campbell was born on a farm in Monroe County,
West Virginia, September 29, 1856, and is a son of Robert
D. and Mary Catherine (Johnson) Campbell, who continued
their residence in that county until their deaths, the father
having been one of the substantial farmers of the county.
Charles W. Campbell, one of a family of ten children,
was reared to the discipline of the home farm, and he ac-
quired his preliminary education by attending the district
schools. He made substantial progress in his studies and
as a youth put his acquirements to practical test by becom-
ing a teacher in the schools of his native county. At Ham-
lin, judicial center of Lincoln County, he read law, and
upon examination before three Circuit Court judges, Ever-
mont Ward, Ira J. McGinnis and David E. Johnson, he
was admitted to the bar in April, 1881. Thereafter he was
engaged in practice at Hamlin for four years, at the ex-
piration of which, in 1885, he removed to the City of Hunt-
ington, which has continued as the central stage of his
successful professional activities during the intervening
period of nearly thirty-six years. Mr. Campbell is a mem-
ber of the Cabell County Bar Association, the West Virginia
Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He
served one term as president of the state association. He is
a democrat in political allegiance, and has been active in
the councils of his party. In the autumn of 1885 he was
appointed assistant prosecuting attorney of Cabell County,
and as such he served somewhat more than three years. He
was elected a member of the city council, gave six years of
effective service and was the only democratic member of the
council, comprising twelve members. In 1911 Mr. Campbell
was elected to the House of Representatives of the State
Legislature, in which he made an excellent record and
served as chairman of the important judiciary committee.
In 1919 he was elected mayor of Huntington, and in his
administration he brought to bear the force and resolute
purpose to achieve the special objects that had prompted
his selection for the office. The city had been operating
under a somewhat loose municipal system, and the protest
of the better element of citizens was shown in the election
of Mr. Campbell, who effectively carried out his promise of
enforcing existing laws. As a result it may be noted that
Huntington is the only city in the state that enforces clos-
ing of business places on Sunday, this being but one of
numerous improvements effected in the government of the
city. Mr. Campbell is an elder and active member of the
Presbyterian Church in his home city.
He married Miss Jennie Ratliff, of Wayne, this state, and
they had five children: Nannie Marie is the wife of Cole-
man A. Staats; Ruth is the wife of Archibald M. Hewit;
Rollo D., a graduate of both the literary and law depart-
ments of Harvard University, is engaged in the practice of
law at Huntington; Charles W. likewise resides in this city,
as does also Jennie Eloise, who is the wife of P. W. Long.
|
