"Prominent Men of West Virginia"
George Wesley Atkinson, Alvaro Franklin Gibbens
Published by W. L. Callin, 1890 - West Virginia

ARTHUR INGRAHAM BOREMAN
 
AMONG the distinguished men of this State who were leaders in the period 
from 1860 to 1870, the subject of this sketch stands at the head and 
front. The qualities that command the largest measure of success are a 
clearness of understanding that brings into view from the beginning the 
definite end and the most available process by which it is to be reached, 
together with that force of will which is tireless in its persistence and 
that quickness of decision which utilizes instantly the commanding points 
in every crisis, that never leaves an enterprise waiting upon doubts 
until the tide that might have borne it on to fortune has receded and 
left the nascent victory a helpless wreck. Men with such qualities become 
the founders or saviors of States and systems and policies; and they are 
the leaders of men — not from the intrigues of craft and cunning, or the 
power of wealth or rank or the traditions of a family, but from an innate 
and rightful sovereignty, in human nature. 

When the war cloud gathered in 1861, and the pulse of the 
Nation heat at fever heat, there were others in Western Virginia 
the equal in reputation and learning of Arthur I. Boreman, yet 
there were none, seemingly, who possessed that untiring energy, 
sleepless industry and indomitable will, peculiar to him, and 
which were in that crisis essential to safe and successful
leadership. He had the grit that men admire. His backbone was as 
stiff as Bunkerhill monument. He believed he was right in 
standing by the flag. His position was the Unity of the Nation;
and there he stood as firmly as the eternal rocks that based the hills 
around him. The people saw that there were in his make-up those 
essentials that mark the leadership of men, so they called him to the 
front and placed him upon the pedestal of commanding position. 

Governor Boreman was a man of positive convictions, and 
was, as a natural consequence, a devoted partisan. He had no 
faith in that philosophy of government imputed to Louis Napo- 
leon when President of France, which led him to suppose that 
he could dominate all parties by taking ministers for his Cabin- 
net that represented none. He did not believe that the security 
or permanent peace of the country could be obtained without 
enacting and enforcing measures of legislation that, if properly 
observed, should make the liberties we then enjoyed as great a 
beneficence as without such protection they would be to the 
poor and downcast a mockery and a snare. So believing and so
acting, he was consistently conspicuous in his devotion to the
ends he had in view. 

Viewing Governor Boreman as a partisan leader in “those 
times that tried men’s souls” even his opponents in after years 
conceded that he possessed many high and generous qualities of 
both head and heart. If he struck hard blows, he did not 
shrink from receiving hard blows in return; and when the 
strife was ended he was ever ready to extend a hand, and to 
sink, if not forget the past. And while he never gave up a 
partisan advantage, he was ever ready to perform a personal act 
of kindness and friendship to a political adversary as well as to a 
political friend ; and the admiration, love and affection of those who 
stood nearest to him in those dark days of the past could then as now 
attest the warmth and strength of his own affections. Ilis record is 
before the people of the State. From it no fair-meaning man would blot 
out a single page. It is easily understood — bold, fearless, direct, 
distinct. There is no evasion or darkness in the definitions of his 
principles or policies. As the bold, fearless, loyal President of the 
Wheeling Convention that reorganized the Government of Virginia, and as 
the first Governor of the new State of West Virginia, his heroic, manly 
conduct gave him a place in the affections of the Union people of the 
State that will not soon be forgotten. 

Arthur I. Boreman was born in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, 
July 24, 1823. In his childhood he came to Tyler county, this 
State, where, after receiving a common school education, he 
engaged in the study of law with his brother and brother-in- 
law at Middlebourne. He was admitted to the bar in May, 1843. 
In November following he commenced the practice of his pro- 
fession in Parkersburg, Wood county, soon attaining a high 
reputation as a jurist and an able advocate. He has ever since 
continued the practice of his profession in that city. In 1855 
he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates from Wood 
county and was successively re-elected until 1860. He was a 
member of the Virginia Legislature which, amid the intense 
popular excitement of the hour, held an extra session, in 1861, 
to discuss the propriety of seceding, and his efforts against that 
movement were very conspicuous. During the same year he 
presided over the Convention assembled at Wheeling to reor- 
ganize the State Government; and, in the ensuing Octo- 
ber, was elected Judge of the Circuit Court, exercising the 
functions of that office until his unanimous election in 1868 
as first Governor of the new State. He was re-elected in 1864 
and 1866, and wielded the executive power with a rare concep- 
tion of the urgent needs of that trying period. In 1868 he 
declined to be a candidate for the same high office, and was 
then honored in the Legislature by an election to the United 
States Senate, taking his seat March 4th, 1869. He served with 
great efficiency on the committees on Manufactures, Territories 
and Political Disabilities, and, during the Forty-third Congress 
was chairman of the Committee on Territories, as well as a 
member of the Committee on Claims. 

When his six years term as Senator had ended, the State 
having become Democratic, he resumed the practice of law in 
the city of Parkersburg, and was not long in building up a 
large and lucrative practice. He applied himself to his profes- 
sion with a zeal that surpassed a young man just starting out 
in business. His explanation was that twelve years of public 
life and absence from his law office, threw him out of the line 
of the later decisions, and unless he became familiar with the 
decisions and the newest methods of practice, he could not 
command that position at the bar of the State to which his 
abilities and reputation entitled him. 

Without solicitation, or even intimation on his part, the dis- 
tinguished ex-Senator was nominated and elected by his party 
admirers as Judge of the judicial circuit over which he had pre- 
sided, with dignity, ability and fairness, nearly thirty years 
before. In this capacity he is now acceptably serving the term 
to which he was elected, being eight years from January 1, 1889. 

Ex-Governor Boreman has for many years been a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, and was honored by the West 
Virginia Conference, in 1888, by an election as a lay-delegate to the 
General Conference which held its quadrennial session in 
Yew York that year. 

He was married November 30, 1864, to Mrs. Laurane Bullock, 
widow, daughter of the late Dr. James Tanner, long a physician 
of high standing in the city of Wheeling, a native of Balti- 
more, Maryland, and of Irish descent. 

Judge Boreman is a clear and incisive speaker, with a rare 
power of analysis, which is often exercised in debate. He is an 
industrious worker, a strict adherent to principle, and a man of 
liberal sentiment. He enjoys the confidence and respect of all 
who know him. 

Submitted by Linda Fluharty.