49 Facts About Joseph Sprigg

Joseph Sprigg was an American lawyer and politician in the US state of West Virginia.

Joseph Sprigg was an organizer of the Democratic Party of West Virginia and the West Virginia Bar Association, of which he served as its inaugural president.

Joseph Sprigg was born in 1835 on his father's farm in Hampshire County, Virginia.

Joseph Sprigg was a descendant of English pioneer Thomas Cresap, a nephew of Maryland lawyer John Van Lear McMahon, and US House Representatives James Sprigg, Michael Sprigg, and Clement Vallandigham.

Joseph Sprigg studied jurisprudence in Baltimore and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1858.

That year, Joseph Sprigg was instrumental in organizing the Democratic Party of West Virginia.

In 1886, Joseph Sprigg organized the West Virginia Bar Association; after being elected the inaugural president, he delivered the opening address at the organization's first meeting.

Joseph Sprigg was elected to several terms as mayor of Moorefield and was afterward elected to a seat in West Virginia House of Delegates in 1888 representing the Second Delegate District, which consisted of Grant and Hardy counties.

Joseph Sprigg was one of three incorporators of the Allegany County Bar Association, and in 1899 he was elected by the association as one of its directors.

Joseph Sprigg unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Cumberland city council in 1905 and a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates in 1907.

Joseph Sprigg was born at "Swan Ponds" in Hampshire County, Virginia, in October 1835.

Joseph Sprigg was the son of Joseph Sprigg and Jane Duncan McMahon Sprigg.

Joseph Sprigg's father was a paternal descendant of the prominent Joseph Sprigg political family of Maryland and a maternal descendant of the Cresap family, which descended from English pioneer Thomas Cresap.

Joseph Sprigg was raised on his father's "Swan Ponds" farm in Hampshire County, where his father provided a private tutor for his son's primary education.

Joseph Sprigg's father owned farms on both sides of the North Branch Potomac River in Hampshire County, Virginia, and Allegany County, Maryland.

Joseph Sprigg's father relocated the family from the Hampshire County farm to Cumberland in 1852.

Joseph Sprigg continued his education in Cumberland, and, following the completion of his studies there, he moved to Baltimore to study jurisprudence under his uncle John Van Lear McMahon.

Joseph Sprigg studied under his uncle until 1858, when he was admitted to the Maryland bar.

Joseph Sprigg was a proponent of states' rights and sympathized with the cause of the Confederate States of America during the war; however, he did not take up arms during the conflict.

The law firm was immediately successful, and Joseph Sprigg continued the practice of law in Hardy County for over 23 years, during which time he argued in every important civil and criminal case held in that county court.

Also in 1866, Joseph Sprigg was instrumental in organizing the Democratic Party of West Virginia, after which time he continued to serve as a leader at the party's state and regional conventions.

Joseph Sprigg attended the Democratic Party's state convention held in Charleston in June 1870, where he represented the Tenth Senatorial District on the Committee on Resolutions.

Joseph Sprigg was unanimously nominated as the party's candidate for Attorney General of West Virginia, initially without his knowledge.

Joseph Sprigg commenced his campaign for attorney general at the state party's Tenth Senatorial District convention in Moorefield.

Joseph Sprigg was the first Democrat to serve as Attorney General of West Virginia.

Camden received the party's nomination, but despite the support from Joseph Sprigg, he lost in the general election to Jacob, who ran as a "People's Independent" candidate.

Joseph Sprigg served as the attorney general until his term's end on December 31,1872.

Joseph Sprigg was chosen as one of the party's electors at large.

Joseph Sprigg attended the Democratic Party's state convention at Charleston in June 1876 and represented the Eleventh Senatorial District on the committee on resolutions.

At West Virginia's 2nd congressional district Democratic convention in July 1884, Joseph Sprigg was chairman of the district and nominated its executive committee.

In 1886, Joseph Sprigg organized and was elected as the inaugural president of the West Virginia Bar Association and delivered the opening address at the organization's first meeting.

Joseph Sprigg served as president of the bar association until 1887, and again delivered the opening address at the association's annual meeting that year.

Joseph Sprigg was elected following a highly contested campaign and served for the 1889 legislative session.

Also in 1888, Joseph Sprigg was selected as part of West Virginia's attending delegation to the inauguration of President Benjamin Harrison.

In 1890, after the close of the legislative year, Joseph Sprigg relocated from Moorefield to Cumberland, Maryland.

Joseph Sprigg resumed the practice of law and by 1894, his law office was located in the George's Creek and Cumberland Railroad headquarters building on Washington Street in Cumberland.

Joseph Sprigg was one of three incorporators of the Allegany County Bar Association, and in 1899 he was elected by the association as one of its directors.

Joseph Sprigg became active in the Pure Water League, of which he served as chairman.

Joseph Sprigg attended the annual meeting of the West Virginia Bar Association in December 1905, where he delivered an address to mark the twentieth anniversary of the association's establishment.

In early 1906, Joseph Sprigg was a spokesperson for the Associated Merchants organization, which had hired an independent auditor to investigate the city government's questionable accounting and appropriation practices.

Also that year, Joseph Sprigg received his party's nomination and unsuccessfully ran for election to the Maryland House of Delegates.

In September 1908, Joseph Sprigg gave an introductory speech for William Jennings Bryan, who visited Cumberland on his Chautauqua circuit.

In February 1869, Joseph Sprigg became an incorporator of the Moorefield Building Co-operative Association, which managed a fund for investment in real estate development and construction.

Joseph Sprigg had sought to build and maintain a branch line from Moorefield to Broadway in Virginia.

Joseph Sprigg was headquartered in Moorefield, the town of Sprigg's then-residence.

Joseph Sprigg was a member and sometime president of the Tri-State Agricultural Association of Allegany County, which held a fair at its grounds near Cumberland in October 1894 and 1895.

In 1905, Joseph Sprigg was elected as grand Adah of the order's Grand Maryland Chapter during the chapter's state convention in Cumberland; and that same year, he served as grand chaplain general of the McKinley Chapter.

Joseph Sprigg was a member of the Episcopal Church and attended Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Cumberland, where he served as vice president and president of the Emmanuel Episcopal Church Club.

Joseph Sprigg was survived by his wife Mary Ellen and their four daughters.