West Virginia's Historic People

Important People

Below you will find information on some of West Virginia's historic people. Some of these individuals were trailblazers in the frontier, while others were trailblazers in their professions or in social reform movements, and others controversial both in their time and today. While this list cannot be completely exhaustive, it does try to highlight a range of people to represent West Virginia's deep arts, culture and history background. To see more of West Virginia's historic people stop into the State Museum and find many more in its Discovery Rooms.

Daniel Boone	Devil Anse Hatfield	Capt. Jon McBride	Pearl S. Buck
Governor Jim Justice	J.R. Clifford	Mary Lou Retton	Belle Boyd
Anna Reeves Jarvis	Brad Paisley	Booker T. Washington	Jerry West
Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson	Joseph H. Diss Debar	John S. Hendricks	Robert C. Byrd
John Forbes Nash, Jr.	Louise McNeill Pease	George Washington	Michael Joseph Owens
Randy Moss	Benjamin Franklin Gravely	Homer H. Hickam, Jr.	Col. Charles Washington
Kathy Mattea	Don Knotts	J.P. Hale	Arthur Boreman
Katherine Johnson	Minnie Buckingham Harper	Lenna Lowe Yost	Mildred Mitchell-Bateman

Helpful Resources

e-West Virginia Noteworthy West Virginians Lesson Plan