William Edwin Chilton (1858-1939) Papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
West Virginia and Regional History Center
West Virginia & Regional History Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6069
1549 University Avenue
Morgantown, WV 26506
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Lori Hostuttler
Phone: (304) 293-3536
Restrictions:

No special access restriction applies.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Preferred citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], William Edwin Chilton (1858-1939) Papers, A&M 1652, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Summary

Extent:
6.7 Linear Feet 6 ft. 8 in. (16 document cases, 5 in. each)
Creator:
Chilton, William E. (William Edwin), 1858-1939
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], William Edwin Chilton (1858-1939) Papers, A&M 1652, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

Papers of William Edwin Chilton (1858-1939), a lawyer, Democratic politician, publisher of the Charleston Gazette, and U.S. Senator (1911-1917); also includes correspondence of his son William E. Chilton, Jr., editor of the Gazette. The Chiltons were a prominent Charleston family who were long-time owners of the Gazette. There are series of correspondence, legal papers, speeches and writings, and other material. Topics include state and national Democratic politics during the 1930s; family affairs; and the senator's business interests in West Virginia and Kentucky coal lands, including the Kanawha Coal Operators Association.

The majority of the collection consists of correspondence from the 1930s; it's located in series 1. This correspondence can be accessed via a topical or name index.

Biographical / historical:

William Edwin Chilton, Sr. (1858-1939), U.S. Senator and publisher of the Charleston Gazette, was born in St. Albans, West Virginia. Educated by private tutors, and after attending Shelton College, St. Albans, he began teaching school at the age of 16. He later studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1880, settling in Charleston shortly afterwards, and becoming associated with John E. Kenna, U.S. Senator form West Virginia, who served from 1883 to 1893. He later became a member of Chilton, MacCorkle and Chilton, involved himself with Democratic politics, and attained recognition as an able leader in public affairs. He was appointed prosecuting attorney in 1883, was admitted to the Supreme Court in 1891, was chairman of the Democratic State Executive Committee in 1892, Secretary of State from 1893 to 1897, and United States Senator from 1911 to 1917. He was recognized as an orator and writer of unusual power and force. After a defeated nomination to the United State Senate in 1924, he retired from his law practice and concerned himself with the editorship of the Charleston Gazette. He married Mary Louise Tarr in 1892, and had four children: William Edwin Chilton, Jr., J. Eustace Chilton, Eleanor Chilton, and Elizabeth Chilton Lowery. Eleanor achieved recognition as a writer, authoring Shadows Waiting and Follow the Furies.

William Edwin Chilton, Jr. (1893-1950), president of the Daily Gazette Company and managing editor of the Charleston Gazette, was born in Charleston, West Virginia. He graduated from Yale in 1917, and then served during the World War, primarily in convoy flying based in North Sydney, Nova Scotia. He became managing editor of the Charleston Gazette in 1924. He married Louise Schoonmaker in 1920, and had two children: William Edwin (Ned) Chilton, III, and Mary Carroll Chilton Abbott.

Source: West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia, ed. Jim Comstock, (Richwood, WV: Jim Comstock, 1976), Vol. 5.

Physical location:
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Coal mining - coal operators associations.
Editors - letters and papers.
Kentucky - coal lands.
Lawyers - letters and papers.
London Naval Conference
New River coalfields.
Pocahontas Mines 2.
Pocahontas Mines 6.
Politics and government.
Prohibition -- United States -- History
Transportation
United States - Federal Reserve Act.
New Deal, 1933-1939
West Virginia - coal lands.
Names:
American Protective League
Association Against the Prohibition Amendment
Charleston Naval Ordnance Plant
Democratic Party (U.S.)
Kanawha Coal Operators Association
Public Ownership League of America
United States. Congress. Senate
United States. Works Progress Administration
International Court of Justice
Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925
Baker, Newton Diehl, 1871-1937
Barkley, Alben William, 1877-1956
Blease, Coleman Livingston, 1868-1942
Borah, William Edgar, 1865-1940
Brisbane, Arthur.
Chilton, William E. (William Edwin), 1858-1939
Chilton, William E. (William Edwin), 1858-1939
Chilton, William E. (William Edwin), 1893-1950
Conley, William G. (William Gustavus), 1866-1940
Cornwell, John J. (John Jacob), 1867-1953
Daniels, Josephus.
Davis, John W. (John William), 1873-1955
Edison, Charles A., 1890-1969
Edmiston, Andrew.
Farley, James A. (James Aloysius), 1888-1976
Garner, John Nance, 1868-1967
Green, William.
Hallanan, Walter S. (Walter Simms), 1890-1962
Hatfield, Henry Drury, 1875-1962
Henderson, Leon.
Holt, Homer Adams, 1898-1975
Holt, Rush Dew, 1905-1955
Howe, Louis M. (Louis McHenry), 1871-1936
Jessup, Philip C.
Johnson, George W.
Johnson, Louis.
Kee, John, 1874-1951
Kenna, John N.
Kump, Herman Guy, 1877-1962
La Follette, Robert M. (Robert Marion), 1855-1925
MacCorkle, William Alexander, 1857-1930
McAdoo, William G.
McCormick, Robert R.
Meadows, Clarence W.
Morrow, Dwight W. (Dwight Whitney), 1873-1931
Neely, Matthew Mansfield, 1874-1958
Norris, George W. (George William), 1861-1944
Ogden, H. C.
Osenton, Charles W.
Owen, Robert L.
Randolph, Jennings, 1902-1998
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945
Roper, Daniel C. (Daniel Calhoun), 1867-1943
Shouse, Jouett, 1879-1968
Silver, Gray.
Smith, Clarence Edwin, 1885-1959
Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972
Vinson, Carl, 1883-1981
Walsh, Thomas J.
Watson, James E. (James Eli), 1863-1948
Wheeler, Burton K. (Burton Kendall), 1882-1975
Places:
Charleston.