Tags
Abraham Lincoln, Appalachia, Boone County, Cabell County, Carroll District, Duval District, Guyandotte River, Hamlin, Hamlin Chapel, Harts Creek District, history, Jefferson District, Kanawha County, Laurel Hill District, Lincoln County, Logan County, Mud River, Putnam County, Sheridan District, Union District, Washington District, West Virginia
From West Virginians, published by the West Virginia Biographical Association in 1928, comes this profile of the Logan-Boone Highway in southwestern West Virginia:
Lincoln County
Lincoln County occupies a place in the southwestern section of the State, and is one of the few counties created by the State of which it is a component part. The organization of the county was authorized by an act of the legislature passed February 23, 1867, from a part of the counties of Cabell, Putnam, Kanawha and Boone. The formal organization of the county government was made on March 11, following, at the Hamlin Chapel, a short distance away from the present seat of justice. Lincoln county is drained by the Guyandotte and Mud rivers, and has a land area of 448.76 square miles. The population in 1920, according to the official enumeration of the United States Census Bureau, was 19,378. Later estimates from the same sources do not increase the figures. The county has a great diversity of natural resources, coal, oil and gas predominating. It also has large agricultural interests, and its horticultural products are of no inconsiderable value. The assessed valuation of property within the county, as returned at the 1927 assessment, is as follows: Real estate, $7,000,460; personal property, $3,666,350; public utility property, $8,751,297; total $19,418,107. The county is sub-divided into eight magisterial districts, Carrol, Duval, Harts Creek, Jefferson, Laurel Hill, Sheridan, Union and Washington. There are but few who are not familiar with the life story of the man whose name is borne by this country—the martyred Abraham Lincoln, rail-splitter, country lawyer and sixteenth President of the United States. No towering shaft; no swiftly flowing stream; no sub-division of this land of ours, welded into one by his work and sacrifice, is needed to keep his memory green. His name is so emblazoned on the pages of American history that it will remain bright, shining and untarnished long after letters engraved upon granite rocks are dimmed and dulled by the rust and erosion of the years as they come and go. Lincoln—homely in feature and tall in stature—grows with the years and honors are paid him and his memory that are accorded no other, save only Washington, the founder. Hamlin, the county seat, is named in memory and honor of Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, Vice President of the United States during the first administration of Abraham Lincoln. The site was selected as a proper place for the county seat at the organization of the county, and was made the permanent county seat by legislative enactment of February 26, 1869. Hamlin has an elevation of 642 feet above sea level, and in 1920 had a population of 516. It is the only incorporated place in the county.”
NOTE: Hamlin is NOT named for Hannibal Hamlin!
NOTE: By 1869, all land was returned to Putnam and additional land was taken from Logan County.
Brandon Ray Kirk 