George W. Summers

George William Summers (March 4, 1804 - September 19, 1868) was an attorney, politician, and jurist from Virginia (now West Virginia).

Born in Fayette County, Virginia (now West Virginia), Summers's family was quickly relocated near to Clarksburg. Summers, having graduated from Ohio University, was admitted to the bar in 1827 and opened a law practice in Charleston.

In 1830, Summers was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates and served from 1830 to 1832 and 1834 to 1836. Later in 1840, Summers was elected as a Whig to the U.S. House of Representatives serving in the Twenty-Seventh and Twenty-Eighth Congresses. He was defeated for re-election in 1844.

Summers was a delegate to the 1850 Virginia Constitutional Convention but failed to win the governor's race in 1851. Summers became a circuit court judge for the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit. Summers represented Kanawha County in the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 and was an ardent opponent of Virginia's secession from the Union.

Summers died in Charleston on September 19, 1868. He was buried at Walnut Grove Cemetery in Putnam County, West Virginia.

In 1871, the West Virginia Legislature honored summers by forming Summers County from portions of Fayette, Greenbrier County, Mercer County, and Monroe County.

External links

* [http://www.polsci.wvu.edu/wv/Summers/sumhistory.html History of Summers County]