Arthur Ingram Boreman (July 24, 1823April 19, 1896) was an American lawyer, politician and judge who helped found the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

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 ...

. Raised in Tyler County, West Virginia, he served as the state's first Governor, and a

United States senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and p ...

, as well as represented Wood County in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

, and served as a circuit judge before and after his federal service.

Early and family life

Boreman was born in

Waynesburg, Pennsylvania Waynesburg is a borough in and the county seat of Greene County, Pennsylvania, United States, located about south of Pittsburgh. Its population was 3,987 at the 2020 census. The region around Waynesburg is underlaid with several layers of co ...

, son of Kenner Seaton Boreham and Sarah (Ingram) Boreham. His mother's brother,

Arthur B. Ingram Arthur B. Ingram, Inghram or Ingraham was a farmer, originally from Tyler County in what was then Virginia. Legislative service Ingram (as he was then known) served five one-year terms in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Tyler Coun ...

, was a member of the

and would later serve in the legislature of the

Wisconsin Territory The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belmont was ...

. When Arthur was four, his family relocated to Middlebourne, Tyler County, which was then part of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

, and is today part of

. On November 30, 1864, he married Laurane Tanner Bullock, widow of a Union soldier, with two sons. They would also have two daughters."West Virginia's First Ladies," West Virginia Division of Culture and History, June 2007.

Career

Arthur Boreman read law with an elder brother and

James McNeil Stephenson James McNeil Stephenson (November 4, 1796 – April 16, 1877) was an American lawyer, businessman and politician who served several terms in the Virginia House of Delegates representing western Virginia counties which in his lifetime became part ...

and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1845. The following year he moved to

Parkersburg Parkersburg is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's fourth-largest city and the largest city in the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna met ...

. Wood County voters elected Boreman as one of their representatives in the

. Re-elected several times, he served in that part-time position from 1855 until 1861. Although not an abolitionist, but rather a Unionist, Boreman tried unsuccessfully to prevent Virginia's secession from the Union in April 1861. In May 1861, Wood County voters elected him to the

Second Wheeling Convention The 1861 Wheeling Convention was an assembly of Virginia Southern Unionist delegates from the northwestern counties of Virginia, aimed at repealing the Ordinance of Secession, which had been approved by referendum, subject to a vote. The firs ...

, and fellow delegates elected him as the convention's President. That convention established the

Restored Government of Virginia The Restored (or Reorganized) Government of Virginia was the Unionist government of Virginia during the American Civil War (1861–1865) in opposition to the government which had approved Virginia's seceding from the United States and join ...

, which the following year led to establishment of a separate State of West Virginia. His elder brother William I. Boreman (1816–1892) represented Doddridge and Tyler Counties in that convention, and his youngest brother

Jacob S. Boreman Jacob S. Boreman (August 4, 1831 – October 7, 1913) was a justice of the Supreme Court of the Utah Territory from 1873 to 1880, and again from 1885 to 1889. Born in Tyler County, Virginia (now in West Virginia), Boreman graduated from the law ...

(1831–1913) served in the Union Army before moving to Utah and becoming a judge. In 1863, West Virginia voters elected Arthur Boreman as the new state's first governor. He served from 1863 to 1869, winning re-election in 1864 and 1866 (although Virginia's constitutions had forbidden such successive terms). During his third term, Boreman won election to the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

to replace Peter G. Van Winkle, and he served from 1869 to 1875. He helped lead efforts to pass the 15th Amendment. When Democrats regained power in West Virginia, Boreman returned to his law practice. He also helped organize recovery efforts after the 1884 Ohio River floods. In 1888, he was elected the 5th circuit judge and took the bench the following year. He continued to serve until his death seven years later, exhausted after a late trip home from Elizabeth, the Wirt County seat.

Death and legacy

Boreman died in Parkersburg in 1896, survived by his wife, two stepsons and daughter. After services at his home and at the Methodist Episcopal Church were he had long served as a lay leader, he was buried at the Odd Fellows cemetery in Parkersburg. His brother Jacob Smith Boremon became a Justice of the Utah territory Supreme Court and his nephew

Herbert Stephenson Boreman Herbert Stephenson Boreman (September 21, 1897 – March 26, 1982) was a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the ...

(1897–1982) served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.http://politicalgraveyard.com/families/26639.html

Boreman, West Virginia Boreman is an unincorporated community located in Wood County, 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 Geogra ...

is named for the family.

Boreman Hall Boreman Hall is a residence hall on the campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. Originally called ''Men's Hall'' when it was constructed in 1935, the hall is named after Arthur I. Boreman, the first governor of the stat ...

, a

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university ...

on the campus of

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

, is named after him. In addition, Arthur I. Boreman Elementary School is named in his honor in the Tyler County town of Middlebourne, and formerly two elementary schools in the Kanawha County town of Cross Lanes and the outlying Parkersburg area in Wood County were named in his honor.

References

External links

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
*The West Virginia & Regional History Center at

houses the papers of Arthur I. Boreman in two collections
A&M 104
an
A&M 639
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boreman, Arthur Inghram 1823 births 1896 deaths People from Waynesburg, Pennsylvania Republican Party governors of West Virginia People from Tyler County, West Virginia Methodists from West Virginia Republican Party United States senators from West Virginia Delegates of the 1861 Wheeling Convention Union (American Civil War) state governors 19th-century American politicians Boreman family