McWhorter, Honorable Henry C.

“The Honorable Henry C. McWhorter (1836-1913) was born in Marion County, Ohio. At the outbreak of the Civil War he served in the home guards for several months. In September 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Federal Army and rose to the rank of captain. Forced to retire in 1862, he served to the end of the war as chief clerk in the Provost Marshall’s office. Meanwhile, he studied law with his brother, Judge Marcellus McWhorter. He was admitted to the bar in West Virginia in 1866 and began the practice of law in Charleston. He was active in the Republican Party and was elected to the state legislature 1865-68, 1885-87. He was speaker of the House of Delegates in 1868. He served at various times as prosecuting attorney of Kanawha County, and as postmaster and city solicitor of Charleston. In 1896 he was elected to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia and served as presiding judge from 1906-1909. Mr. McWhorter was a member of the Charleston Methodist Church in which he served as Sunday school superintendent and as a member of the Board of Trustees. He was a Universalist in his religious beliefs, and he described himself as a “Universal Methodist.” He was president of the Board of Trustees of Wesleyan from 1897 until his death.”

Find-A-Grave Memorial 123042746

Plummer, K.M. (1965) A history of West Virginia Wesleyan College 1890-1965.  [electronic] Retrieved from Internet Archive. Buckhannon, WV: West Virginia Wesleyan College.


PLM 9/1/2019; photo added 2/1/2020