Samuel Price

For the English accountant, see Samuel Lowell Price. For the portrait artist, general and author, see Samuel Woodson Price. For the British barrister and politician, see Samuel Grove Price.

Samuel Price (July 28, 1805 – February 25, 1884) was a Virginia lawyer and politician who helped to establish the state of West Virginia during the American Civil War. Upon West Virginia's statehood, Price became its Lieutenant Governor and was later appointed as a United States senator.

Samuel Price
United States Senator from West Virginia
In office August 26, 1876 – January 26, 1877
Appointed by	John J. Jacob
Preceded by	Allen T. Caperton
Succeeded by	Frank Hereford
5th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
In office 1864–1865
Preceded by	Robert L. Montague
Succeeded by	Leopold C. P. Cowper
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
In office 1834-1836
Personal details
Born	(1805-07-28)July 28, 1805 Fauquier County, Virginia
Died	February 25, 1884(1884-02-25) (aged 78) Lewisburg, West Virginia
Political party	Democratic

Early and family life

Born in Fauquier County, Virginia, Price moved with his parents to Preston County (now in West Virginia) in 1815. He received a preparatory training and read law.

Career

Admitted to the Virginia bar in 1832, Price began practicing law in Nicholas and Braxton Counties. He was elected Nicholas county clerk in 1830 and Commonwealth Attorney in 1833. He owned slaves.^[1]

Voters elected Price to the Virginia House of Delegates, where he represented Nicholas County part time from 1834 to 1836, then moved to Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1836 and to Lewisburg, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1838. He was the prosecuting attorney for Braxton County from 1836 to 1850 and represented Braxton County in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1847 to 1850 and again in 1852.

Price was a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850, and the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 where he voted against secession. In 1863 he was elected the fifth Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and served until the close of the Civil War.

He was a delegate to the constitutional convention of West Virginia in 1872 and its president. He was appointed as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Allen T. Caperton and served from August 26, 1876, to January 26, 1877, when a successor was elected. He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1876 for election to fill the vacancy.

Death and legacy

In 1884, Price died in Lewisburg. Interment was in the Stuart Burying Ground at Stuart Manor, near Lewisburg.

The Gov. Samuel Price House at Lewisburg was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.^[2]

External links

• West Virginia & Regional History Center at West Virginia University, Samuel Price, Lawyer and Politician, Papers