JUDGE SAMUEL D. LITTLEPAGE

Source: The History of West Virginia, Old and New
	Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
	Chicago and New York, Volume III

pg. 89-90
Kanawha County
JUDGE SAMUEL D. LITTLEPAGE was born at "Greystone,"
the Littlepage Mansion, west of Charleston, Kanawha Coun-
ty, West Virginia, on February 14, 1856. He was the fourth
son of Adam B. Littlepage, Sr., and Rebecca Wood Little-
page, and one of their seven children. His father, Adam
B. Littlepage, Sr., was a native of Virginia, of an old Vir-
ginian ancestry, more remotely Scotch-English, and was one
of the early settlers in Kanawha County, West Virginia, in
the late 30's. He first settled at Malden, Kanawha County,
at that time a part of the State of Virginia. Later, in the
early 40's, he moved down the Kanawha River to a point
west of the Elk River, and there completed a home, known
as "Greystone," in which he lived until the outbreak of
the Civil war.

Rebecca Wood Littlepage, the mother of Judge Samuel
D. Littlepage, was a daughter of the sturdy mountaineer
Woods family, part of which family lived near the mouth
of Coal River, Kanawha County, West Virginia.

Adam B. Littlepage, Sr., was a type of character peculiar
to the southwest mountain section of West Virginia. At
the outbreak of the Civil war he and his oldest son, John
Littlepage, enlisted in the Confederate army. Adam B.
Littlepage was killed in the army early in the war, and
John Littlepage served throughout the conflict. At the
death of his father another son, Charles Littlepage, the
next oldest, ran away from home to take the place of his
father in the Confederate army.

During the war the devastation by both the Federal
army and Confederate army left the widow and the
seven children of Adam B. Littlepage, Sr., with nothing
but the land and home acquired by him—reduced from
prosperity and plenty to actual want.  The family clung
together and sought to re-establish their fallen fortunes.
The five boys remained on the farm and that, with their
several efforts, together with the guiding genius and un-
faltering spirit of their mother, provided a livelihood for
them all.

Two of the boys, Adam B. Littlepage, Jr., and Samuel
D. Littlepage, were inseparable. By dint of their efforts
and unfailing courage they acquired enough funds and a
country school education with which to enable them to
take up the study of their chosen profession, the law.

Judge Samuel D. Littlepage first studied law under the
late Judge James Ferguson at his home at Charleston, West
Virginia, and having earned enough money to pay his way
ho entered Washington and Lee University, and there com-
pleted his studies of law. He was admitted to the Charles-
ton bar in 1886.

In 1887 Judge Littlepage and Miss Mary Kemp were
married. His wife was a daughter of a Confederate sol-
dier, Burrell Thomas Kemp, living at Albany, Georgia,
who had served throughout the Civil war. Three children
were born to them, a son, Burrell Kemp Littlepage, and two
daughters, Mrs. Rebecca Littlepage Wood and Mrs.
Charles Littlepage Donnally.

Judge Littlepage was a democrat of the old school. He
was defeated on his party ticket for circuit clerk in 1884 in
Kanawha County. A few years later he was elected and
served a term as assessor of Kanawha County. In 1912
he was elected circuit judge of the Tenth Judicial Circuit
of West Virginia, composed of the counties of Kanawha
and Clay. Between 1910 and 1912 he and his son were
partners in the general practice of law at Charleston. The
partnership was dissolved when he went upon the bench.

Judge Littlepage was known for his unceasing, untiring,
prompt, and fair discharging of his judicial duties on the
bench. He had the rare faculty of successfully delving
to the bottom of legal controversies submitted to him,
and seemed gifted with the ability to arrive at just deci
sion of the merits of the case, even more as a man than
as a jurist coldly applying the technical gauges of the
law. He gained the love and respect alike of members
of the bar practicing before him, litigants submitting their
causes to him, and the masses of the people who had placed
him in the judgeship, which he held at his death, in a
manner seldom, if ever, equaled as a tribute paid to any
public man in the State of West Virginia.

He was possessed of a force of will and self-reliance
and a courage above the average. In whatsoever undertak-
ing he engaged his strong personality was a large factor,
and his perseverance brought to him his success in life
under conditions that would have discouraged a less sturdy
and determined character. He feared no antagonist and
was unfaithful to no client or trust. He was of a cheerful
and optimistic disposition, and possessed a courtesy and
gallantry typical of the old school of Southern gentlemen.

Having spent his childhood and early manhood outdoors
in a sparsely settled community at a time and in a section
where the use of a gun was treated as a necessary part
of an education, it was but natural that his inclination
throughout his life should be toward the great outdoors.
He was an ardent hunter and fisherman, and gained from
Nature a vision in his early years by his communion with
her in her visible forms, that was materialized in his
after life, not only in a love for his fellow men, but for all
living creatures.

He was imbued with a spirit of kindliness that was not
the least of the qualities that drew all living things to
him as their friend. He was a Mason and a member of
the First Presbyterian Church.

His home, the family mansion "Greystone," was ac-
quired by him in 1898 from the other heirs, after the
death of his mother. His never-failing kindnesses and
courtesy, his hospitality, and his standing as a man of
integrity in his community where he lived brought to his
home from all walks of life those who, because of his
qualities, held for him a deep and true affection—and they
were legion.

Judge Littlepage was an indefatigable worker. He had
no set hours for applying himself to the duties of the
judgeship, which he held immediately preceding his death.
His seemingly untiring efforts in that respect were the
immediate cause of his death. His steady application to
the duties of his office finally told upon what had been
an iron constitution. Possessed of a great physique—he
was six feet in height and 200 pounds in weight—he did
not realize the limitations placed upon all men, and in
1916, as a result of excessive application to his duties, he
suffered a collapse. On August 19, 1917, at Atlantic City,
New Jersey, where he had gone seeking relief and rest,
he died. He was buried at Charleston, West Virginia, and
two years later his wife, Mary Kemp Littlepage, followed
him, in death his companion as faithfully as in life. His
death was a loss not only to the bar, but to the commu-
nity, and his epitaph is written more truly and fittingly
in the hearts of his friends and acquaintances than could
be recorded upon paper or stone.

Submitted by:  vfcrook@trellis.net (Valerie F. Crook) 

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