page_title: Henry Bell Gilkeson
section_title: Law and political careers
hierarchical_section_title: Henry Bell Gilkeson / Law and political careers
caption_attribution_description: English: An engraving of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind from History of Education in West Virginia (1902). The center of the building was formerly the Romney Classical Institute building built in 1846. This building now serves as the administration building for the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind.
context_page_description: Henry Bell Gilkeson was an American lawyer, politician, school administrator, and banker in West Virginia.
  Gilkeson was born in Moorefield, Virginia, the eldest child of a dry goods merchant, and was raised in Romney. Following his graduation from Hampden–Sydney College, Gilkeson became a schoolteacher and served as superintendent of the Hampshire County Schools district from 1877 to 1879. Gilkeson later studied law and started a law practice in Romney. Following the death of John Collins Covell in 1887, Gilkeson served as the principal of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind until 1888.
  Gilkeson served in the West Virginia Legislature as a state senator representing the 12th District in the West Virginia Senate and as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. Gilkeson served as the mayor of Romney beginning in 1885, and the first president of the Bank of Romney.
context_section_description: Following his tenure as superintendent of Hampshire County Schools, Gilkeson undertook the study of law and started a law practice in Romney; he subsequently became a prominent lawyer in the community. His law office was located on Main Street in Romney, two blocks from the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind. Due to his preeminence in the legal field and high standing in the community, Gilkeson served as dean of the Hampshire County Bar Association.
  Gilkeson was twice elected to represent Hampshire County as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates for the 1883–85 and 1909–11 legislative sessions. As the leadership of the House of Delegates was being determined at the 1884 Democratic Party State Convention in Wheeling, Gilkeson was a leading contender for a speaker candidacy, but fellow Romney native Robert White was selected as the party's candidate instead.
  On August 13, 1890, the Twelfth Senatorial District Democratic Convention nominated Gilkeson to fill the vacant West Virginia State Senate seat of Samuel Lightfoot Flournoy. Gilkeson was elected to fill the seat during the general election of 1890 and served the remainder of Flournoy's senate term until 1893. At the time of his appointment, the Twelfth Senatorial District consisted of Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral, and Pendleton counties. In 1892, Gilkeson was appointed to the Committees on the Judiciary, Public Buildings and Humane Institutions, Federal Relations, Forfeited, Delinquent, and Unappropriated Lands, and Clerks Office. In addition to serving in the state senate, Gilkeson also held the position of mayor of Romney, West Virginia, beginning in 1885.
caption: Administration Building of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind in Romney, West Virginia in 1880. Gilkeson served as the schools' principal from 1887 to 1888.
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