William E. Stevenson

William Erskine Stevenson (* March 18, 1820 in Warren, Warren County, Pennsylvania, † November 29, 1883 in Parkersburg, West Virginia ) was an American politician and from 1869 to 1871, the third Governor of the State of West Virginia.

Early years and political rise

Stevenson grew up in Pennsylvania and was elected in 1856 in the local House of Representatives. After he had bought a farm in Wood County, Virginia, he moved there. Stevenson was an opponent of slavery and supporters of the Republican Party. In May 1860 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, was nominated on the Abraham Lincoln as a presidential candidate. In Virginia, he was meanwhile as a traitor and was wanted for arrest. In the following years he was involved in the political events in connection with the spin-off and establishment of the state of West Virginia. In 1861 he was a delegate to the Constituent Assembly of the new State, and from 1863 to 1868 he sat in the Senate of West Virginia. In 1868 he was elected as a Republican to the new governor of the state.

Governor of West Virginia

Stevenson began his two-year term on 4 March 1869. During this time he stood up for the better supply of civil war victims and their families. Governor Stevenson also supported the claim of the black population in the same education and promoted the development of infrastructure and industry. He supported the immigration to West Virginia and raised the measures adopted by Governor Arthur I. Boreman ban the right to vote for former supporters of the Confederacy again. Exactly this should cost him his re-election in 1870. This group consisted mostly of supporters of the Democratic Party; they chose Stevenson from hence. By 1896, no Republicans should be more Governor of West Virginia.

Further CV

After the expiration of his term of office in March 1871, he was co-editor of a newspaper called " Parkersburg State Journal ". He was also director of the West Virginia Oil Land Company. William Stevenson died in 1883. He was married to Sara Clothworthy, with whom he had two children.