John M. Phelps


John M. Phelps was a Methodist minister who became politically active in the Republican Party during the American Civil War, and became the first President of the West Virginia Senate and later served as West Virginia's fifth Secretary of State.

Early and family life

By 1845, John Phelps was living in Gilmer County in the Kanawha River valley, having married Mary Loudin. They had three children : Oliver, Cordelia, and William. Mary died in February or March 1853 in Harrison County, West Virginia. After his first wife's death, Phelps married Susan Jane Hagerman at Malden, Kanawha County, West Virginia. By 1860, they had moved to the Point Pleasant area near the Ohio River. The 1860 federal census found them in West Liberty in Ohio County, whereas the state census placed them near the Letart post office. In any event, Phelps' children with Mary, were joined by Charles, and Thomas.

American Civil War

After Virginia voted to secede from the Union in April, 1861 over the opposition of delegates from the state's northwestern corner, men gathered in Wheeling to separate themselves from the rest of Virginia, also upset that many votes from their region in the succession election had not been counted. On May 13–15, 1861, John M. Phelps was one of Mason County's unofficial delegates to the First Wheeling Convention; the official delegates being veteran politicians Charles B. Waggoner, Lewis Wetzel.
Phelps then raised an infantry company, and on February 28, 1862 mustered in as captain of Company "E" 9th West Virginia Infantry. After the unit reorganized on May 2, 1862, Rev. Phelps became the chaplain, and held the position for less than a year before resigning on March 18, 1863 "on account of business and family affairs." Meanwhile, his son Oliver also served in the unit, beginning as first lieutenant on March 5, 1862, and receiving a promotion to captain of B Company on February 1, 1864.

Political career

Mason County voters had elected Rev. Phelps to represent them in the state Senate during the First, Second and Third West Virginia legislatures. As the first legislature convened in Wheeling on June 20, 1863, fellow state senators elected Rev. Phelps as their first President, which position he held until the session adjourned six months later on December 11. Thus Phelps served in the Senate from 1863 to 1865, when Rev. D.H.K. Dix of Winfield in Putnam County replaced him during the Fourth, Firth and Sixth legislatures. Rev. Phelps again won election to the Seventh and Eighth legislature, serving from 1869 to 1870, when he was replaced by William A. Alexander of Frazier's Bottom. On February 4, 1865, Phelps voted for the abolition of slavery in West Virginia. He was elected as Secretary of State in 1870 and served from 1871 until 1873.

Death and legacy

Phelps died August 26, 1884 at Point Pleasant, Mason County, West Virginia of a "chronic inflammation of the stomach and bowels and internal hemorrhoids," a condition he had contracted during the Civil War. He was buried at Lone Oak Cemetery, Point Pleasant, West Virginia.