As the West Virginia Annual Conference meets this week in Buckhannon (and also virtually through the magic of technology) I am pleased to publish the second part of Jim Watson’s writing about the history of how West Virginia Wesleyan came to be located where it is.
The first part of his writing, published February 3, 2020, can be read here.
THOSE SIXTY ACRES – PART II
So, the Methodist Conference purchased the 43 plus acres over near South Buckhannon instead of the sixty acres over at North Buckhannon.
But why?
When Daniel and Wilbur Carper offered the Methodist Conference sixty acres across from the Buckhannon River it was with the agreement that they would build a good solid bridge across for students to get in and out of town with. When one looks at the river and the existing bridge it is hard to believe that the old bridges in existence in that day were already old and feeble. See above for a view of what was called Waters Street and old East Main.
So, who were these Carpers and where did they come from?
Paul Carper came from Germany to America. The original spelling of his last name is believed to be Kerber. He lived in Reading PA and fought in the American Revolution until he died in 1777.
Abraham Carper was his son. Abraham was born in 1763 and eventually moved to Virginia. He met his wife, Permilia Harris, there and soon moved to an unnamed and untamed region in the western part of the state.
He claimed land that, at the time, looked something like this:
This was the land he built the log house on, after clearing much of it.
He was a hatter; anything dealing with “hats” he could do.
He also built the first church, called the Carper Church, about where the McDonald’s Restaurant is today.
Abraham had twelve children. Daniel was the son who inherited the land.
It became crowded in the log house, and Daniel built a large house at the top of a hill where South Florida Street exists. There is still a much larger house on the site today.
Old Abraham died in that house at the age of 91 years.
Daniel and his son Wilbur owned quite a bit of land in the region in those days. The property over in North Buckhannon was one of them. You may remember that this was the first land that was considered by the Methodist Conference for the location of the future Methodist Seminary.
In the meantime, Daniel and his son Wilbur began selling property. At one point they sold the land the old homestead had been on to another Buckhannonite, Levi Leonard.
Levi Leonard had been married twice, his first wife dying before he considered the land offered to him. He married his second wife Elizabeth in 1871, right before he was offered the Carper land.
He purchased the land but did nothing with it until, in 1887, word came to him that the Methodists were looking for land to build a school of secondary education. A place where students could learn without having to leave the area.
In came the little more than 43 acres, formerly Carper land.
Thus, around in a circle, the Carpers stayed involved with the building of the new Seminary.
Above is how it looked in 1900.
Just a part of a growing Buckhannon community.
Over the years the Carpers and the Leonards have been forgotten by many, although not entirely. Their stories are still continuing in Buckhannon.
The Carpers are mostly buried in the huge Heavner Cemetery, one of the children having been married into that family.
The Leonards were buried on the old Carper Cemetery land, where, ironically, the Seminary would have been built had the first purchase gone through.
Decades later, when Route 33 was expanded into four lanes, most of the cemetery was moved to, yes you got it, the huge Heavner Cemetery.
They lie there still in the shade of a few trees.
Little would they know how big and beautiful the school has grown, and that it is no longer a seminary but a college of liberal arts.
They all died before the name had been changed from the West Virginia Conference Seminary to West Virginia Wesleyan College in June of 1906.
And so, the tradition lives on. For more than 130 years!
The town of Buckhannon has seen history upon history lived out, not only on its streets and avenues but on the campus that exists within its borders.
The Carpers and Leonards still live in the history of both town and college.
The view of both could be from heaven.
It would be curious to know what they would think today.
Carpers and Leonards.
Seminary to College.
The Carpers and the Leonards, the Conference and the College. All connected.