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Gordon Battelle

Gordon Battelle

The Carte de visite (CDV) of an image of Gordon Battelle (above) was sold by John Brown, a Wheeling photographer. The image is part of Ted Spears' Battelle, Mendel, and Maclane Family Photographs of the Ohio County Public Library’s Digital Archives.Minister Gordon Battelle (1814-1862) played a role in the formation of West Virginia. Battelle was born in Newport, Ohio, and was educated to become a teacher at the Marietta Collegiate Institute, where he met fellow student Francis Pierpont, who became his lifelong friend. But his strong religious leanings led Battelle leave teaching and accept a call as pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Battelle was called to a church in Wheeling in 1859, where he became embroiled in the anti-slavery movement.

He was elected as a delegate to the first West Virginia Constitutional Convention in 1861 and was instrumental in including a provision in the proposed constitution to support free public education. Although he failed in having the abolition of slavery included in the final draft of the constitution, his "An Address to the Constitutional Convention and the People of West Virginia" in favor of abolition helped get a resolution against slavery (the Waitman Willey amendment) passed.  At the outbreak of the Civil War, Battelle volunteered as chaplain to the First Virginia Volunteer Infantry. He died of typhoid fever in Washington in 1862.

The above was adapted from an e-WV entry by  Kenneth R. Bailey.https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/406

The Carte de visite (CDV) of an image of Gordon Battelle (above) was sold by John Brown, a Wheeling photographer. The image is part of Ted Spears' Battelle, Mendel, and Maclane Family Photographs of the Ohio County Public Library’s Digital Archives.

Biographies Index  |  People of Wheeling Home  |  Wheeling History Home  |  OCPL Home 

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