William Alexander MacCorkle (May 7, 1857September 24, 1930), was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicitor ...

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal ...

, the ninth Governor of West Virginia and state legislator of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

, and

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Typ ...

Biography

He was born near

Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...

. After briefly teaching school in

Pocahontas County, West Virginia Pocahontas County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,869. Its county seat is Marlinton. The county was established in 1821. It is named after the daughter of the Powhatan chie ...

, he attended

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexingt ...

in Lexington, Virginia. Returning to West Virginia, in 1879, he established a law practice in Charleston and also taught school. From 1880 to 1889, he served as the Kanawha County prosecuting attorney. In 1884 he married Belle Goshorn."West Virginia's First Ladies," West Virginia Division of Culture and History, June 2007. In 1892, as the Democratic Party's candidate, he was elected governor of

. As governor, MacCorkle advocated increased funding for state institutions and improved transportation. Through an advertising program, he actively promoted the state's natural resources to attract industry. MacCorkle opposed the growing labor movement among

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed wh ...

miners and dispatched the state militia to break a strike. After leaving office, MacCorkle returned to his Charleston law practice. In his numerous travels, he continued to publicize the state's resources. In 1910, he was elected to the West Virginia Senate. MacCorkle was also a founder and president of the Citizens National Bank, which later merged with the Charleston National Bank. He wrote an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English pe ...

, ''The Recollections of Fifty Years'', which was published in 1928. He died at his Charleston home, Sunrise, in 1930.

Legacy

Maccorkle's mansion,

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

, became home to a children's museum in the early 1960s. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1974. In Charleston, a major arterial road, Maccorkle Avenue, was named for him and carries

U.S. Route 60 U.S. Route 60 is a major east–west United States highway, traveling from southwestern Arizona to the Atlantic Ocean coast in Virginia. The highway's eastern terminus is in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where it is known as Pacific Avenue, in the ...

through the area. His papers form a valuable research resource at th
MacCorkle Collection of the West Virginia State History and Archives website
The children's museum (now called Avampato Discovery Museum) was relocated to The Clay Center about two miles away in downtown Charleston in 2003. The Sunrise estate currently houses the law firm of Farmer Cline & Campbell PLLC. WM. A MacCorkle on May 9, 1900 in Montgomery, Alabama did address the Southern Conference On Race Problems. The address was entitled The Negro and The Intelligence and Property Franchise. This addressed passionately set forth his opinions advocating for rights for the African Americans.
The Negro and the Intelligence and Property Franchise.

Gallery

Image:MacCorkle Grave Apr 2009.JPG, William A. MacCorkle grave, Spring Hill Cemetery, Charleston, WV, April 2009

References

External links

Biography of William A. MacCorkle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maccorkle, William A. 1857 births 1930 deaths 19th-century American educators 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American politicians 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American politicians American bank presidents Burials at Spring Hill Cemetery (Charleston, West Virginia) Businesspeople from West Virginia County prosecuting attorneys in West Virginia Democratic Party governors of West Virginia Lawyers from Charleston, West Virginia People from Lexington, Virginia Politicians from Charleston, West Virginia Schoolteachers from West Virginia Washington and Lee University alumni Democratic Party West Virginia state senators