Bethuel Kitchen
Bethuel Middleton Kitchen | |
---|---|
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from West Virginia's 2nd district | |
In office March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1869 | |
Preceded by | George R. Latham |
Succeeded by | James McGrew |
Member of the West Virginia Senate | |
In office 1865–1866 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Ganotown, Virginia, US (now West Virginia) | March 21, 1812
Died | December 15, 1895 Shanghai, West Virginia, US | (aged 83)
Political party | Republican |
Other political affiliations | Unionist, Greenback |
Profession | Politician, Farmer |
Bethuel Middleton Kitchen (March 21, 1812 – December 15, 1895) was a nineteenth-century politician from Virginia and West Virginia.
Biography
Born in Ganotown, Virginia (now West Virginia), Kitchen attended common schools as a child and later engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock raising. He was a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1861 and 1862 under the Restored Government of Virginia.[1] On May 28, 1863, Kitchen was elected from Virginia's 7th District to the United States House of Representatives. He presented his credentials as a member-elect to the 38th United States Congress in December 1863, but was not permitted a seat because voting had been limited in the war-torn counties of the 7th District.[1]
On October 27, 1864,[2] Kitchen was elected to the 3rd and 4th West Virginia State Senate, serving two sessions in 1865 and 1866.[3] In 1866, Kitchen was elected from West Virginia's 2nd District to the United States House of Representatives, serving in the 40th United States Congress from 1867 to 1869. Afterward, he resumed engagements in agricultural pursuits and stock raising and became president of the Agricultural and Mechanical Association of Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties, serving from 1869 to 1875. Kitchen was master of the West Virginia State Grange from 1873 to 1879. In October 1878, Kitchen was elected as a Greenback Party candidate[4] to the 14th West Virginia House of Delegates, which convened from January through March 1879.[3] Kitchen was president of the Berkeley County, West Virginia court from 1880 to 1895.[5]
Kitchen died at his home, "Valley View",[6] in Shanghai, West Virginia, on December 15, 1895.
Kitchen's son Joseph Garrison Kitchen was a delegate to the 19th West Virginia Legislature in 1889.[7][8]
Civil War
On May 13, 1861, Unionist citizens met at Martinsburg, West Virginia (then Virginia) and nominated Kitchen and Christian M. Shaffer to the General Assembly of the Restored Government of Virginia in Alexandria, Virginia.[9]
In a petition dated December 28, 1863, Kitchen and other Unionist citizens of Berkeley County requested that President Abraham Lincoln reinstate General Robert H. Milroy to command of Federal troops in the Shenandoah Valley.[10] Milroy had been reassigned after a delayed retreat and defeat by Confederate Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell at the Second Battle of Winchester on June 15, 1863. Despite Milroy's loss at Winchester, Unionist citizens in the area preferred his command and noted increased attacks by Confederate units after Milroy's reassignment.
On January 31, 1864, Kitchen's home in Shanghai, West Virginia, was attacked by a Confederate guerrilla unit.[11] Kitchen and his son Joseph Garrison Kitchen threatened the soldiers with revolvers after they entered the house.[12] Kitchen's daughter sneaked onto a second-story porch and played a bugle call, convincing the Confederates that Federal cavalry were approaching.[12] After the Confederates fled, Kitchen quickly left Berkeley County and returned to the congressional session in Washington, DC. This incident was later cited by the House Committee of Elections as evidence of the wartime conditions found in Berkeley County and other border counties in the 7th District. These conditions were attributed to disrupting the election process in the area.[13]
On October 1, 1864, Kitchen chaired a Union meeting at Martinsburg, West Virginia. The Unionist citizens adopted a set of resolutions denouncing slavery and endorsing the reelection of Abraham Lincoln.[14] During the 1864 presidential election, the "Unionist" label was adopted by the Republican Party to show unity with "War Democrats" who opposed the Confederacy.[15]
Contested election - Lewis McKenzie vs. B.M. Kitchen
On May 28, 1863, Kitchen was elected from Virginia's 7th District to the United States House of Representatives. Kitchen defeated runner-up Lewis McKenzie of Alexandria, Virginia, by a vote of 962 to 716.[16] In December 1863, Kitchen presented his credentials as a member-elect to the 38th United States Congress. When Congress convened on December 7, no representatives from Virginia were present at roll call.[17]
On December 23, 1863, runner-up Lewis McKenzie contested the election on the grounds that a majority (730) of Kitchen's votes had come from Berkeley County, Virginia, which simultaneously voted to join the new state of West Virginia on May 28, 1863. In the other counties that remained in the 7th District, Kitchen only received 232 votes.[17] McKenzie argued that Berkeley County votes should be ineligible in Virginia's 7th District election because Berkeley County was no longer in the 7th District or the state of Virginia. McKenzie also alleged misconduct in reporting Berkeley County's election results. Since the Berkeley County clerk's office had been vacated due to the war, Berkeley County polling commissioners had instead reported election results to the county clerk in Alexandria, Virginia, the seat of the Restored Government of Virginia.[16]
On February 8, 1864, the House Committee of Elections, led by
On April 16, 1864,
References
- ^ a b Barnes, William Horatio (1870). The Fortieth Congress of the United States: Historical and Biographical. G. E. Perine.
- ^ The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, October 28, 1864. http://www.wvculture.org/history/sesquicentennial/18641027.html
- ^ a b West Virginia (1916). West Virginia Blue Book. pp. 393, 406.
- ISSN 2372-5028. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- ^
- United States Congress. "Bethuel Kitchen (id: K000247)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- ^ West Virginia Farm Review. West Virginia State Board of Agriculture. 1904.
- ^ Virginia, West (1916). West Virginia Blue Book.
- ^ Distinguished Successful Americans of Our Day: Containing Biographies of Prominent Americans Now Living, Noteworthy as Having Achieved Success in Their Chosen Avocations in the Various Civil, Military, Educational, Religious, Industrial, Commercial and Other Lines of Human Effort--men of Thought and Men of Action who Have Been Effective in the Establishment and Maintenance of Our Commonwealth, Prominent Citizens in All Walks of Life who are Really the Founders, Makers and Builders of Our Great Republic as Manifested in America's Great Institutions of Finance, Commerce and Trade, and Its Unparalleled Progress in Education, Literature, Art, Science, and in the Development of Our Nation in All Lines of Human Endeavor. Successful Americans. 1911.
- ^ Richmond Daily Dispatch, May 20 and 21, 1861. http://www.wvculture.org/history/sesquicentennial/18610513a.html
- ^ "Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence. 1833-1916: Martinsburg West Virginia Citizens to Abraham Lincoln, Monday, December 28, 1863 (Petition on behalf of Robert H. Milroy)". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- ^ "The Daily True Delta - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- ^ ISSN 2330-6165. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- ^ a b "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875". memory.loc.gov. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- ^ The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, October 6, 1864. http://www.wvculture.org/history/sesquicentennial/18641001a.html
- ^ Unionist Party (United States)
- ^ a b Representatives, United States House of (1864). House Documents. U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ^ a b c d "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875". memory.loc.gov. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- ^ (The Congressional Globe, 38th Congress, 1st Session, page 849) http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llcg&fileName=064/llcg064.db&recNum=920
- ^ (The Congressional Globe, 38th Congress, 1st Session pages 1673-1677) http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llcg&fileName=065/llcg065.db&recNum=698
- ^ (The Congressional Globe, 38th Congress, 1st Session pages 1676-1678) http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llcg&fileName=065/llcg065.db&recNum=701
- ^ (The Congressional Globe, 38th Congress, 1st Session page 1678) http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llcg&fileName=065/llcg065.db&recNum=703