WEST VIRGINIA. 



WILLIAMS, JAMES D. 



715 



Receipts in 1879, including $318,802.92 cash in 



the Treasury October 1, 1878 



Expenditures 



Surplus in the Treasury October 1, 1879. . . . $220,353 15. 



Eeceipts in 1880, including $220,353.15 cash in 



the Treasury October 1, 18V9 $869,140 63 



Expenditures 615,341 70 



Surplus in the Treasury October 1, 1880.. . . $253,798 92 



The public education of youth in West Vir- 

 ginia appears to be in a most satisf.-ictory con- 

 dition. A comparison of the public schools, 

 as they are at present, with what they were 

 ten years ago, presents the following re- 

 sults : 



In the Hospital for the Insane the number 

 of patients under treatment during the year 

 ended September 30, 1879, was 470 ; up to the 

 same date in 1880 it was 539. The cost of 

 their support, per capita, was $2.09 per week 

 in the former year, and $2.18 in the latter. 



In the Institution for the Deaf-Mutes and 

 the Blind the average number of pupils, during 

 the two years ended September 30, 1879 and 

 1880, was eighty-one ; the annual cost for the 

 support of each pupil, to the State, having 

 been $267.18. and $255.51, respectively. 



The fish-culture seems to prosper in West 

 Virginia, and the Commissioners 1 labors dur- 

 ing the last two years have been attended 

 with satisfactory results. The New and Green- 

 brier Rivers, besides numerous smaller streams, 

 have been abundantly stocked with black bass. 

 Many thousands of salmon, carp, trout, and 

 other esteemed varieties of fish, have also been 

 placed in streams and ponds throughout the 

 State. The hatching-house at Romney is in 

 successful operation. 



The United States census of 1880 returns 

 the population of West Virginia at 618,197", 

 showing an increase of 176,183 within the last 



ten years, as in the census of 1870 the popu- 

 lation was stated at 442,014. 



Foreign immigration into West Virginia, for 

 permanent settlement, has well commenced. 

 Several prosperous colonies have been already 

 established in it from abroad, and there is a 

 fair prospect that many more will succes- 

 sively follow. The topography of the State, its 

 climate, soil, and productions, are considered 

 as especially inviting to the Swiss, and to the 

 inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Ger- 

 many. During the year 1880, three Swiss 

 scientists visited West Virginia in the interest 

 of " The Swiss Commerce and Colonization 

 Society"; their object being to examine and 

 report about the resources of that portion of 

 the State in which the Society proposes to lo- 

 cate colonies. 



The three Railroad Commissioners, whom 

 the Board of Public Works appointed in April, 

 1880, to ascertain the taxable valuation of 

 the various railroads in the different counties 

 of the State, presented their united report, as 

 follows: 



Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad : 



Cabell County ............................. $255,935 00 



Putnam County ............................ 116,657 50 



Kanawha County .......................... 856,490 00 



Fayette County ............................ 465,975 00 



Summers County ........................... 801,247 50 



Monroe County ............................ 17,690 00 



Greenbrier County .................. ....... 245,005 00 



Total .................................... $1,759,000 03 



Shenandoah Valley Railroad : 



Jefferson County 

 Martinsburg and Potomac Railroad : 



Berkeley County 

 Pennsboro and Harrisville Railroad : 



Ritchie County 

 Laurel Fork and Sand Hill Railroad : 



Wood County 



Ritchie County 



112,26450 

 57,000 00 



8,500 00 



22,000 01 

 11,000 00 



WILLIAMS, JAMES D., Governor of Indiana, 

 was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, January 

 16, 1808. His parents were emigrants from 

 the Old World, seeking to better their for- 

 tunes in the New. They had six children, of 

 whom James was the eldest, and they were 

 unable to provide them with advantages for 

 education, such as the humblest can now se- 

 cure. That part of Ohio was already too thick 

 ly settled for them, and in 1818 the Williams 

 family removed to Knox County, Indiana. 

 Not many years after, the father died, and their 

 support devolved upon the eldest son. The 

 responsibilities thus early assumed developed 

 his industry, thrift, and self-reliance, the traits 

 of character which shaped the career of the 

 future Governor. In 1831 he married Nancy 

 Huffman, a country girl of the neighborhood, 

 and they began life on a few acres of uncleared 

 land which he had recently purchased. This 

 stout-hearted couple added field to field, until 

 four thousand acres formed their fertile farm, 

 but during those fifty years their house and 

 home were on the spot where their first roof- 

 tree had been set up. In the county records 

 tract after tract is registered as passing into Gov- 

 ernor Williams's possession, but he never parted 



