Editing Philippi, West Virginia (section)

===Founding and naming===
In March 1843, the vast Harrison and Randolph Counties of western Virginia were carved up into several smaller political units, among them Barbour County, which included Hoffsville. In 1899, [[Hu Maxwell]] described the April 1843 founding and official naming of the new county seat:
<blockquote>
"The county seat of Barbour was located at the place where Philippi now stands before there was a town and before the place was named. It was then a farm belonging to William F. Wilson, and the locality had long been known as Booth's Ferry. The land was first the property of William Anglin, and in succession was owned by John Wilson, Daniel Booth, Ely Butcher, Elmore Hart, Thomas H. Hite and William F. Wilson, who divided it into lots and disposed of the most of it within a few years of the establishing of the county seat. The county was named after [the Virginia lawyer and jurist] [[Philip P. Barbour]], and it was the intention of the county court when it selected a name for the town to honor the given name of Mr. Barbour; giving it the feminine form, however, in conformity with the [[Latin language]]. The feminine of [[Philip (name)|Philip]] is [[Philippa]], and it was meant that such should be the name of the town. But because of misspellings and a misunderstanding of the origin of the name (confounding it with [[Philippi]], an ancient city) the name finally took the form which it now has. On April 5, 1843, the third day of the first county court, it is 'ordered that the county seat of this county be known and called PHILLIPPA'. Except that the name has too many 'l's' the form was proper, according to what was originally intended. Later the name became Philippi, but even then it was oftener misspelled than spelled correctly."<ref>Maxwell, ''Op. cit.'', pg 279.</ref>
</blockquote>
As Maxwell implies, [[Paul of Tarsus|St Paul's]] ''[[Epistle to the Philippians]]'' and the ancient [[Battle of Philippi]] were no doubt influential in the final form of the name.<ref>There was an earlier town in [West] Virginia known as "Philippi". The settlement at the confluence of the [[Kanawha River|Kanawha]] and [[Coal River (West Virginia)|Coal Rivers]] was laid out in 1816 and so named after Philip Thompson, an early settler to the area. The name was afterwards changed to Colesmouth (due to the area and river having been discovered by Samuel Cole). It was later incorporated as Kanawha City (1868) and finally given its current name, [[St. Albans, West Virginia|St. Albans]], in 1872.</ref> Philippi was established by charter in 1844.

In 1852 [[Lemuel Chenoweth]], an Appalachian [[architect]] and [[carpenter]], built a [[covered bridge]] in Philippi to provide a link on the [[Toll roads in the United States#History, funding through toll|turnpike]] running between [[Beverly, West Virginia|Beverly]] and [[Fairmont, West Virginia|Fairmont]]. The [[Philippi Covered Bridge]] spelled the end of the commercial ferry operation and is still the town's prominent landmark.

[[File:TownofPhillippi1861.jpg|thumb|{{center|''Town of Phillippi'' (1861)}}]]