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KANAWHA COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA - BIOS: DUNBAR, Judge Matthew
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
SSpradling@aol.com
September 19, 1999
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History of Kanawha County
George W. Atkinson
1876
p. 298-299
JUDGE MATTHEW DUNBAR.
One of the most distinguished, as well as most honorable lawyers of the
Kanawha bar, of the last generation, was Matthew Dunbar. He was amiable,
honorable and exemplary, and did all of his work in open daylight. He
disdained anything like trickery in the practice of his profession; and as a
general thing, he refused to have anything to do with the defense of cases,
which, in his judgment, were violations of law. He came as near living up to
the Golden Rule as any other member of his profession, in this or any other
age. He was honest in politics and the practice of his profession, as well
as in the transaction of private business. It was his opinion that if a man
could be honest in the one case, he could be so in the other; and his life
was an exemplification of the truthfulness of the proposition. Although an
ardent Whig, Judge Dunbar had but little to do with politics. He refused,
under all circum-stances, to accept political offices and devoted his entire
time to the practice of his profession.
Judge Dunbar was born in Monroe county, Virginia, April 3, 1791, and was
educated under the tutorage of the late John McElhenny, D. D., of Lewisburg,
Greenbrier county. He caine to Kanawha about 1815, and commenced the study
of the law in the office of James Wilson, Esq., the Prosecuting Attorney of
the county. After a thorough preparation, he was admitted as an attorney of
the Kanawha bar in i8i8, and by close application to his books, and a
thorough examination of his cases before he went into Court, he took a
leading rank in a short time after his admission to the bar.
The first and only office which he ever held, except that of a Circuit
Judgeship, was Prosecuting Attorney for Kanawha county. He was re-elected to
that important position for many years without intermission, and was allowed
only to give it up when he was elected by the Legislature as Judge of this
judicial circuit, in 1848. He held the position of Circuit Judge for a
number of years, until he was forced to resign it, on account of failing
health, and the advance of age.
He united with the Presbyterian church, in 1830, and continued an earnest and
consistent member until the time of his death, which. took place in 1859. His
funeral was attended by almost the entire town, while his remains were laid
to rest in the presence of many hundreds of his fellowcitizens, who deeply
mourned his death. His wife still survives, and spends her time at the homes
of her daughters., Mrs. Ebenezer Baines, in Charleston, and Mrs. James L.
McLean, at Winfield, in Putnam county. She is a lady well-beloved by all
those who have the pleasure of her acquaintance.
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