U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Peirpoint Family ------------------------------------------------------------------- History of Ritchie County by Minnie Kendall Lowther Wheeling News Litho. Co., Wheeling W.Va., 1911 Pages 476-479 The Peirpoints. — Few names have had a longer connection with the history of this town than that of Peirpoint. This connection having begun in 1842, when Zackquill M. Peirpoint came from Marion county, and launched the tannery business. He was born at Fairmont, on September 30, 1811, and there he was married to Miss Martha Vandervort, in 1835; and seven years later, they came to Harrisville, where he played an important part in the early history of the town, and in the building of the Methodist Protestant church. He died on April 7, 1882, but Mrs. Peirpoint survived him by several years. Both repose in the Harrisville cemetery. They were the parents of eleven children: viz., W. H., the eldest son, whose long business connection with the town has already been mentioned, died in 1906, leaving no issue. He was first married in 1858, to Miss Henrietta Reitz, who died in 1877; and in 1879, he married Miss Pauline M. Hamilton, of Fairmont, who died in June, 1901; and his widow was Mrs. Juliette Swisher Cookman. The second son, Rufus E. Peirpoint, was drowned in a tanvat, at Fairmont, when he was but two years of age. Francis P., and Virginia died in their young man and womanhood. Belle, was the first wife of the late Benjamin Moats, of Harrisville, and the mother of Attorney F. P. Moats of Parkersburg. Louise was the late Mrs. D. S. Bush, of Harrisville. Hattie is the wife of the Rev. E. J. Wilson, of the M. P. church; and John S., J. N., and Charles K. Peirpoint are still identified with the business interests of the town. The Name "Peirpoint" originated in Normandy in the South of France in the tenth century, and is lineally connected with William the Conqueror. They emigrated from England to America in early Colonial days, and settled in the Eastern or Middle states; and near the year 1800, Francis H. Peirpoint and his wife Kathrine, crossed the mountains from the East and settled at Fairmont (formerly called Middletown), where he sank a tanyard and launched the tannery business. He was twice married, his first wife being Miss Harriet Weaver, sister of Joseph Weaver, an early pioneer of Chevauxdefrise; and his second, Miss Isabel Stuart, of Morgantown. Five sons were the fruits of his first union; viz., Joseph, Zackquill M., the late Governor, Francis H., junior, Larkin and Newton. Joseph Peirpoint married Miss Lurena Barnes, and spent his life at Fairmont, where his death occurred in the early fifties, though he had a brief business connection with his brother here. His two sons, Joseph W., and Harry, served as soldiers in the Union army, in the Twelfth West Virginia Volunteers, but Joseph died of fever during his service. Harry rose to the rank of Captain, and after his return home from the field, spent some time here with his uncle, Uz Barnes, and at one time, owned the tract of land, on which the greater part of the West end of Harrisville now stands. He died at Fairmont near the year 1890. Zackquill M. Peirpoint and his family have already been mentioned. Newton Peirpoint went to Illinois, and later to California, where he died, near 1885. He was the father of five children, but one alone survives. Larkin Peirpoint came to this county, some years after his brother, and started a branch tannery on Straight fork of Slab creek, which was abandoned at the opening of the Civil war, when he recruited Company E. of the Sixth West Virginia Infantry Volunteers, and entered the service as captain of the company. He later became major, and was mustered out as Lieutenant-Colonel. He was twice married; his first wife, who was the mother of all of his children, being Miss Elizabeth Jones, of Fairmont; and his second, Miss Sarah M. Coffrey, of Wisconsin. He died in 1894, both wives having preceded him to the grave. His children were eight in number and were as follows: Edward, Zackquill, and George Peirpoint, Mrs. Julia Crooks, Mrs. Kathrine Zinn, Mrs. Ella Wass, and Rose and Olive, who married in the West where all the family reside, except Mrs. Zinn, who is of Harrisville. Francis Harrison Peirpoint, the third son of the family, was of a literary turn of mind, and was the one member of the household that reached a college education. He was born at Fairmont, on January 25, 1814, and began his public career as a school-teacher. He was graduated from the Allegheny college at Meadville, Pennsylvania, with high honors, and, subsequently, made quite a record at the bar. At the breaking out of the Civil war when Virginia seceded from the Union, he took an active part in the calling of the Wheeling convention, whose purpose was to show loyalty to the Government; and, on July 20, 1861, when this convention had completed the re-organization of (the loyal counties) Virginia, he was elected as Provisional (or War) Governor with his seat of Government at Wheeling; and so important was his service in the formation of the new State that he has been styled the "Father of West Virginia." After the "Little Mountain State" had been admitted into the Union, and Arthur I. Boreman had been installed as Governor, Mr. Peirpoint again took his seat in the Gubernatorial chair of the "Old Dominion," he being inaugurated on January 1, 1864 and continued in office until 1868. Just before the admission of the new state, his seat of government was transferred from Wheeling to Alexandria, and at the close of the war, was removed back to Richmond. Governor Peirpoint served as a member of the Legislature of West Virginia in 1868, and was Collector of Internal revenue under President Garfield. He died at Pittsburg at the home of his daughter, on March 24, 1899, and was taken back to his native town. Fairmont, for burial. He and his wife, Mrs. Julia Roberts Peirpoint, were the parents of four children. One daughter died in early life, and the other one is Mrs. Nannie Siveter, of Pittsburg. His sons, Samuel R., and William Peirpoint are also of Pittsburg, and the latter is an agent for the Methodist Protestant Book Concern of that city. On APril 30, 1910, a statue of the late Governor Peirpoint, which had long stood in Statuary Hall at Washington city, was unveiled with impressive ceremonies. His grand-daughter, Miss Frances Peirpoint Siveter pulled the cord that unveiled the statue and read a poem that had been penned for the occasion, and quite a number of distinguished West Virginians had part in the exercises, among them being Senator N. B. Scott, who said: "Governor Peirpoint was a large-hearted, true man, and a just one. His love of country was of the intense order, and to the support of his views he brought a fine logic which but few could combat. He was possessed of a wonderfully retentive memory, and was splendidly equipped legally. There is, perhaps, no one within the confines of the state which Governor Peirpoint helped to create, that does not acknowledge the versatility and clear-headed legal acumen he manifested in the presence of the serious problems that he so successfully solved as a leader in the troublesome times, just before and during the Civil war. "History may do but scant justice to this man; his fame may be perpetuated by the marble statue that has been unveiled today, but there is a monument which bears his name indelibly, and one which is found in the hearts of his countrymen. There Francis H. Peirpoint will live while the lifeblood flows." Only one other West Virginian shares the honor of a place in Statuary Hall at Washington city with Governor Peirpoint, and that is the late Senator John E. Kenna. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Ritchie County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/ritchie/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------