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A group of citizens from St. George turned out to counter the
Parsons contingent, but, fearing the possibility of violence and deaths, the sheriff ordered them to disperse. By the time the group from Parsons arrived, there were few people around to stop them from breaking into the courthouse and
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In 1888 and '89, Parsons led a drive to petition the county court to hold an election to approve moving the county seat to the town of
Parsons. This election took place in 1890, but the change was not approved, failing to receive the necessary 60% majority. Parsons tried again in 1892, but the
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Some of the leaders of St. George suspected that there were irregularities in the second election, and asked the county court to set aside the results; this request was denied. St. George appealed to the state government, asking for an injunction pending an investigation, but before that could
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stealing the records, as well as the bell from the building's tower. After camping overnight at a nearby farm, they returned to
Parsons and established a temporary courthouse in an unopened store building on Main Street. This was used as the Tucker County Court until a
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happen, the people of
Parsons - annoyed by the attempt to repeal the election results - marched to St. George on August 7, 1893, with the purpose of taking the court's records, thus moving the seat to Parsons by force. Descriptions of the size of the
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would be located, to be in
Westernford, originally known as "Fort Minear" and first settled in 1776. The name of the town was directed to be changed to "St. George" to complement the name of the county, which honored
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results were the same. However, the next attempt, in 1893, was successful: after one election which was declared invalid on a legal technicality, a second one received the necessary margin of victory for
Parsons.
92:) it did not go through or near it. This brought about the rise of the new lumber town of Parsons, built on land along the rail line owned by Ward Parsons, who had a
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The town of St. George has never regained the prominence it lost by the removal of the county seat. It is now an unincorporated community.
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group vary from 200 armed men to over a thousand, 700 from
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A fire destroyed most of St. George in 1888, and as a result, when the
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Tucker County, Virginia (now West
Virginia) was created in 1856 out of
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Vigilantes putting the captured records into the courthouse in
Parsons
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warns of violence following the courthouse raid in 1893
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266:"Friends of Blackwater Canyon - The City of Parsons"
204:"Living Places - Tucker County Courthouse and Jail"
230:Kingwood, West Virginia: Preston Publishing, 1884.
290:"Tucker County History - The Tucker County Seat"
179:"Tucker County History - The Tucker County Seat"
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129:List of feuds in the United States
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139:Tucker County Courthouse and Jail
88:was laid down to Leadsville (now
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114:new courthouse was built in 1900
250:"The Courthouse Wars (Part II)"
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360:Tucker County, West Virginia
79:Henry St. George Tucker, Sr.
38:Tucker County, West Virginia
96:lay out lots for the town.
40:, over which should be the
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340:History of West Virginia
227:History of Tucker County
319:Tucker County Seat War
248:Carnes, Eva Margaret.
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26:Tucker County Seat War
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350:1893 in West Virginia
345:1889 in West Virginia
90:Elkins, West Virginia
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321:at Wikimedia Commons
253:West Virginia Review
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329:Categories
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149:References
34:St. George
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