Allen Taylor Caperton (1810-1876)

General Information

There have been quite a few books about prominent West Virginians published over the last 150 years. You can find several of them at https://archive.org or https://www.familysearch.org/en/. The information in these books is very general, as you know, and sometimes you come across inaccurate information. Expect it. If you have these people in your own family tree, you will want to verify everything with primary sources. These biographies can be used as a starting point for researchers and interesting reading for those who just want to know more about West Virginia history.

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The Capertons have long been prominent in West Virginia. Our neighbors across the street in Mount Hope when I was in fourth grade were Capertons. I don’t remember how or why it happened, but I do remember a young man from that family telling me how important the Caperton family was. The young man was nice and didn’t seem like he was bragging, but I can still remember that conversation after 64 years and have always been a little curious about the Capertons. Many of them are included in memorials at Findagrave.com. Allen Taylor Caperton, pictured above, is the subject of today’s newsletter. This biography was included in Prominent men of West Virginia: biographical sketches, the growth and advancement of the state, a compendium of returns of every election, a record of every state officer written by George Wesley Atkinson and Alvaro Franklin Gibbens and published in 1890. It is now in the public domain at archive.org.