Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Virginia. Governor (1894-1898 : O'Ferrall). Executive papers of Governor Charles T. O'Ferrall, 1894-1897. Accession 43210. State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va.

Acquisition Information

Aquired prior to 1905

Biographical Information

Charles Triplett O'Ferrall was born 21 October 1840 in Frederick County, Virginia. In 1855, O'Ferrall was appointed clerk pro tempore of the Morgan County (West) Virginia circuit court and served for two years before being officially elected to that position which he held until 1861. At the start of the Civil War, he joined the 12th Virginia Cavalry as a private but was rapidly promoted, achieving the rank of major by August of 1862. During his recuperation for a wound received at the Battle of Upperville in Enterprise, Mississippi, O'Ferrall met Miss Annie Hand. Following their marriage on 8 February 1865, he returned to active service as commander of all cavalry forces in the Shenandoah valley and served until the end of the war achieving the rank of colonel.

In 1868 he entered Washington College (Washington & Lee) and graduated with a law degree in 1869. After practicing law for two years in Harrisonburg, O'Ferrall ran as a Democrat for the Virginia House of Delegates and won a two year term (1871-1873). In 1874, he was appointed judge of the Rockingham Count Circuit Court, a position he held until 1880. Following the death of his first wife, O'Ferrall remarried in 1881 to Miss Jennie Knight. The couple had four children in addition to the two children from his first marriage. After failing in his first bid for U.S. Congress ten years prior, O'Ferrall won the 7th District's congressional election in 1882 and began serving the first of five consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives.

In 1893, running on the bimetallic currency ticket opposed to free silver and proposing support for agriculture, roads and schools, O'Ferrall was elected governor of Virginia. As governor, he received praise in 1894 for his response to the conflict with Maryland over commercial fishing in the Chesapeake bay as well as for his deployment of militia to Alexandria to disperse a vagrant encampment know as "Coxey's Army" or "Commonwealers." O'Ferrall also advocated the concept of the "right to work" and in May of 1895, sent troops to southwest Virginia to protect non-striking miners from violence. He also used troops on separate occasions to suppress the lynching of blacks and proposed anti-lynching statutes in 1896 and 1897, both of which lacked legislative support. In direct opposition to his own party, O'Ferrall spoke out against the "Free Silver" movement and the 1896 presidential candidacy of William Jennings Bryan therein lessoning his popularity and weakening his effectiveness as governor during his final two years of office. Upon completion of his term in 1897, O'Ferrall retired to Chesterfield County, where he operated a law practice in partnership with Samuel Regester. He died 22 September 1905 in Richmond.

Scope and Content

The collection includes records from accession 23349

The Charles Triplett O'Ferrall executive papers are arranged chronologically and primarily consist of incoming correspondence and receipts during his one term as governor from January 1894 to December 1897, with additional undated material at the end of the collection. Included are requests for appointments to a variety public offices including Notaries Public, local judgeships, educational and military command positions. The collection also contains letters regarding Virginia's delegation to the 1896 Cotton States International Exposition held in Atlanta including travel arrangements for the woman's delegation (November 1894, January/February/June 1895). Newspaper clippings of interest to the governor are found throughout the collection.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into the following series:

Separated Material

Separated materials have been relocated to Box 5.

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Bibliography