Nicholas County Wv

Howard Swint: Counties bear names of unsavory characters

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia's 55 counties are as outdated as the old country roads and outlying farms that helped determine their geographic boundaries.

Consolidation may one day come and with it the opportunity to eliminate some of the more fallacious county names as well as establish one that's been glaringly missing.

Many county names stem from aristocratic Virginia lawmakers who bestowed political favors through reciprocal patronage.

Fourteen were former governors; others were statesmen and jurists while one was a newspaper editor. Some served the commonwealth with honor and distinction while others did not.

Former Gov. Wilson Cary Nicholas, for whom Nicholas County is named, would be largely unremarkable if it weren't for his role in the Panic of 1819 -- the nation's first financial crisis.

As President of the Richmond Branch of the Second Bank of the United States, Nicholas' administration witnessed widespread fraud and corruption due in large part to the overextension of credit and issuance of false banknotes.

Nicholas' land speculation in western Virginia plunged both him and Thomas Jefferson into debilitating debt while gross mismanagement helped bankrupt his bank and a slew of others.

Another conspicuous Virginia governor, Edmund Jennings Randolph, would become the first attorney general of the United States and the second secretary of the state.

Having betrayed President Washington in a foreign affair scandal involving complicity with the French over the Jay Treaty with Great Britain, he was confronted by Washington and resigned in disgrace before the entire cabinet.

Randolph, who would later be described in a Washington biography as a "pitiable figure ... subject to self-absorbed silliness and lapses of good sense," would resume his legal career defending Aaron Burr during his trial for treason.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia's 55 counties are as outdated as the old country roads and outlying farms that helped determine their geographic boundaries.

Consolidation may one day come and with it the opportunity to eliminate some of the more fallacious county names as well as establish one that's been glaringly missing.

Many county names stem from aristocratic Virginia lawmakers who bestowed political favors through reciprocal patronage.

Fourteen were former governors; others were statesmen and jurists while one was a newspaper editor. Some served the commonwealth with honor and distinction while others did not.

Nicholas County Wv - News

Body of missing man recovered at lake

Police said that while no foul play is suspected, the body was transported to the West Virginia Medical Examiner's Office for autopsy. The search was conducted by numerous agencies, including the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department, Trap Hill VFD,

Howard Swint: Counties bear names of unsavory characters

Wilson Cary Nicholas, for whom Nicholas County is named, would be largely unremarkable if it weren't for his role in the Panic of 1819 -- the nation's first financial crisis. As President of the Richmond Branch of the Second Bank of the United States,

Man sentenced on drug distribution charges

by From staff reports A Nicholas County man was sentenced to six years in prison and three years of supervised release Thursday for the distribution of oxycodone. Bradley Eric Backus, 31, of Mount Nebo was sentenced after he previously admitted to

Senate redistricting plan would pit incumbents against each other in '12, '14 ...

John Pat Fanning of McDowell County and Mark Wills of Mercer County. Sens. Greg Tucker of Nicholas County and Walt Helmick of Pocahontas County face a similar situation in 2014. A proposed district shared by Kanawha and Putnam Counties would avoid that

Disaster clouded in mystery

A recent survey of commonly used West Virginia history textbooks reveals almost no mention of the event until the most recent printings. One couple in Nicholas County, Charlotte and George Neilan, is trying to bring that history back out into the

Nicholas County senator to serve on juvenile-help council - News ...

Sen. Gregory Tucker, D-Nicholas, will represent West Virginia on the State Council of the Interstate Compact for Juveniles.

Sen. Jeff Kessler, acting as Senate president, announced Tucker's appointment Tuesday.

The compact is a mechanism for supervising and tracking juveniles on probation or parole or who have run away or escaped from supervision to other states.

West Virginia is among 40 states that have adopted the compact.