Background
Mcwhorter, Henry Clay was born on February 20, 1836 in Marion Company, Ohio, United States. Son of Fields and Margaret (Kester) M.
Mcwhorter, Henry Clay was born on February 20, 1836 in Marion Company, Ohio, United States. Son of Fields and Margaret (Kester) M.
Enlisted in Union Army, as private, September 16, 1861. Mustered September 30, as Second lieutenant. Promoted captain, March 2, 1862.
Resigned on account of wound, September 17, 1863.
In provost marshal’s enrollment office, chief clerk, 1863-1865.
McWhorter served in the Union Army, reaching the rank of captain. He resigned from active service in 1863 due to a wound and spent the remainder of the war as a clerk in the provost marshal"s office. After the war he was admitted to the bar (1866) and spent four terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates, serving as Speaker 1868-1869.
He was again a Delegate from 1885-1887.
McWhorter attended the 1868 Republican Party convention as an at-large delegate from West Virginia. He was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in 1888, but in 1896 he was elected for a twelve-year term.
McWhorter served on the board of trustees of West Virginia Wesleyan College from the institution"s founding in 1890 to his death in 1913. He served as president of the board from 1897 until 1913.
McWhorter was married four times.
Henry C. McWhorter"s brother Joseph M. McWhorter (1828–1913) was also a notable West Virginia lawyer, politician, and judge.
Member General Conference of Methodist Episcopal Church Church, 1880, 1908. Elector for Hall of Fame, Syracuse University, 1905.
Married Mary Hardmann, December 16, 1857 (died 1878). Married second, Eliza F. McWhorter, May 8, 1879 (died 1881). Married 4th, Mistress.