Samuel Price

Samuel Price
United States Senator
from West Virginia
In office
August 26, 1876 – January 26, 1877
Appointed byJohn J. Jacob
Preceded byAllen T. Caperton
Succeeded byFrank Hereford
5th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
In office
1864–1865
Preceded byRobert L. Montague
Succeeded byLeopold C. P. Cowper
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
In office
1834-1836
Personal details
Born(1805-07-28)July 28, 1805
Fauquier County, Virginia
DiedFebruary 25, 1884(1884-02-25) (aged 78)
Lewisburg, West Virginia
Political partyDemocratic

Samuel Price (July 28, 1805 – February 25, 1884) was Virginia lawyer and politician, who helped to establish the state of West Virginia during the American Civil War and became Lieutenant Governor, and later a United States senator.

Early and family life

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Born in Fauquier County, Virginia, Price moved with his parents to Preston County (now in West Virginia) in 1815. He received a preparatory training and read law.

Career

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Admitted to the Virginia bar in 1832, Price began practicing law in Nicholas and Braxton Counties. He was elected Nicholas county clerk in 1830 and Commonwealth Attorney in 1833. He owned slaves.[1]

Voters elected Price to the Virginia House of Delegates, where he represented Nicholas County part time from 1834 to 1836, then moved to Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1836 and to Lewisburg, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1838. He was prosecuting attorney for Braxton County from 1836 to 1850 and represented Braxton County in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1847 to 1850 and again in 1852.

Price was a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850, and the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 where he voted against secession. In 1863 he was elected the fifth Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and served until the close of the Civil War.

He was a delegate to the constitutional convention of West Virginia in 1872 and was its president. He was appointed as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Allen T. Caperton and served from August 26, 1876, to January 26, 1877, when a successor was elected. He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1876 for election to fill the vacancy.

Death and legacy

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In 1884. Price died in Lewisburg. Interment was in the Stuart Burying Ground at Stuart Manor, near Lewisburg.

The Gov. Samuel Price House at Lewisburg was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.[2]

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References

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  1. ^ "Congress slaveowners", The Washington Post, 2022-01-19, retrieved 2022-01-23
  2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
Political offices
Preceded by Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
1864–1865
Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by U.S. senator (Class 1) from West Virginia
1876–1877
Served alongside: Henry G. Davis
Succeeded by