Those “sixty acres, more or less”
So said Dr. Kenneth Plummer in his book, A History of West Virginia Wesleyan College 1890-1965. The founders of the college had some questions to answer and one of those was where to locate the school. So, what did Dr. Plummer mean by “sixty acres”? And what was the land like before the college was built?
It starts with one of the pioneer families of Buckhannon, the Carpers.
The Family
Abraham Carper (Kerber), born in Reading, PA in 1763, was the son of a German immigrant. Arriving in the area about 1800, he built the earliest known dwelling within what is now the city limits of Buckhannon, well before the town was surveyed and platted in 1815. He settled on the very land behind where the L. L. Loar and Family Memorial Music Building and the Paul G. Benedum Halls are located, building a log house for his growing family. The property was described as a thick forest and he would have to clear the woods to build on it.
Much of what is known about this family comes from The History of Upshur County, West Virginia; This book was written by W. B. Cutright in 1907, but the photo on the title page is actually the Honorable William Currence Carper, Daniel’s older brother, who was a lawyer, state senator, and judge. This is an indication of the great esteem in which the family was held.
Church Ties
The family was very religious, and built an early Methodist meeting place on the corner of College Avenue and Kanawha Street. An illustration survives for us today. It was called the Carper Church since the family constructed and maintained it. In 1834, Abraham Carper sold this property to the Methodists, signing over the deed to the trustees of what is now First United Methodist Church (George Carper, John Dean, Isaac Dix, Henry Reger, Philip Reger, Benjamin Rohrbough, and John W. Westfall).
The Land
Passed down from Abraham to his son, a portion of the land was eventually sold by Daniel and his wife to another influential man in the region, Levi Leonard, and his wife Elizabeth. Below is part of the deed signed over to them by Daniel and Sarah in 1865.
Methodists Seek A Location For A School
As early as 1874, the Methodists in West Virginia were feeling the necessity of building a school in West Virginia. At their meeting in 1874, the report of the Committee on Education indicated that there were many reasons for this. They did what many groups do, they formed a committee to “receive, consider, and if the way be entirely clear, act on a proposition or propositions such as above suggested, and report to this Conference at its next session”. You can read their full report here. There was much discussion, progress, frustration, and there were many meetings and reports for well over a decade. You can follow along with some of this by reading the reports from 1875, 1877, 1878, 1879, and 1880. The meeting in 1886 was held in Morgantown, and the report stated that:
Your committee deem it imperative on them to place prominently before you the subject of a Conference Seminary. For Years the Committee on Education has kept this enterprise in view, but all action hitherto has been tentative. The time has come when this Conference ought to take definitive steps toward this work.
By 1887, the committee had become a Board of Trustees, and work began in earnest. First of all, a site for the school must be chosen. Although many other locations were considered, Buckhannon was the choice for locating the school. The trustees took out an option to purchase 60 acres from Daniel Carper and his son, Wilbur Fisk, on July 15, 1887. After much discussion, the trustees decided not to purchase this land after all, and let the option expire on August 1, 1887 because they would have had to build a bridge across the Buckhannon River. This added too much expense.
Instead, they accepted an offer from Levi Leonard to purchase 43 acres for the price of $5,551.86. The required $300 down payment was assumed by trustee J.W. Reger, and there was a resolution included “to pay to Wilbur F. Carper any moneys he has heretofore paid out in having his option of land surveyed and platted.”
Thus the Seminary was born. But the twist: Daniel Carper had sold this property as part of three parcels of land to Levi and Elizabeth Leonard. So ultimately, the Carpers saw their land used after all as the place where the college grew and became “our home among the hills.”
But What About The Carpers?
The Carper family did not all stay in the area. They began moving out to other towns in other states and many did not see the school grow from a small Seminary to a full accredited college called West Virginia Wesleyan. One notable exception to this is Daniel’s granddaughter, Grace Tamblyn.
A 1913 graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan, Grace was active in many organizations. Her obituary in the Sundial News (March 1980) tells much about her story – before, during, and after her days at the college – as well as the connection between the family, the church, the community, and the college.
“Memorial services were held Feb. 5, 1980 in First United Methodist Church in Buckhannon for Mrs. Grace Tamblyn Cox, 90, who died January 28, 1980 in The Hermitage, Alexandria, VA where she had been a resident for several years. The Rev. Mr. Harry P. Light (1952) officiated. The widow of Dr. Oliver C. Cox, a Washington, D.C. surgeon who preceded her in death in 1968, Mrs. Cox was a member of a pioneer Upshur County family. Her father, the Rev. Mr. Silas D. Tamblyn was a Methodist minister in Buckhannon, and her family has long been associated with the local church, Wesleyan College, and the Buckhannon community. She graduated with a bachelor of literature degree in music magna cum laude. She is survived by a niece, Mrs. June Tamblyn Leskuski (1943) of St. Petersburg, Fla., a nephew, and two grand nephews”.
It is a shame that there is no plaque or monument to any of the Carpers. They had helped found the town of Buckhannon, and their property ended up being the beautiful campus that we love.
The history of the town, and the people who founded it, is tied into the history of Wesleyan. Buckhannon’s townspeople have been active participants in helping to make the dreams of a quality education for the young people of the area (such as Grace Tamblyn) to come true. Likewise, the college is active in civic life and provides enriching opportunities to all who live in the town, and maintains a strong relationship with the people.
The Carpers could be thanked for offering to sell us this land, as the Leonards could be, but they are not around. The graves of some of them are in the Heavener Cemetery east of town, having been moved there from the simple family cemetery that exists on South Florida Street. Yet, the fenced in area is still there, and ironically it is owned and maintained by the college. Perhaps that is our final thank you to the family that played a role in our being located on this land.
Still, some memory of them lingers on. Maybe the next time you are walking near the L. L. Loar and Family Music Hall or Paul G. Benedum Hall, you might give them a nod.
Written by Guest Blogger Jim Watson (1979)
Edited by Paula McGrew (1978)
Special thanks to Amy Tenney and the Upshur County Historical Society. Their help was crucial in finding the details and in helping Jim satisfy his insatiable curiosity through many hours of searching through records at the Upshur County Courthouse.