Four families who played major roles in converting Charleston from an isolated settlement into a regionally significant city will be the topic of a free public presentation on June 7 by Charleston real estate developer and former state Senator Brooks McCabe.
The program starts at 6 p.m. in the State Culture Center's Archives and History Library.
McCabe, the author of several articles on regional history topics, will discuss the Hale, James, Dickinson and Smith families, who did much to create the Charleston of today.
Dr. John P. Hale, grandson of Mary Draper Ingles of "Follow the River" fame, became a major player in Charleston's industrial development, served as the city's mayor, built a hotel bearing his name, and at one time owned all ferry boats operating in the city.
Shortly after the end of the Civil War, Rev. Francis James arrived in Charleston, where his son, C.H. James, would establish and grow a wholesale produce business, C.H. James & Sons.
Benjamin Harrison Smith, whose father-in-law, Isaac Noyes, was an early Kanawha Valley salt manufacturer, would establish a family of entrepreneurs that remains active in Charleston today.
William Dickinson, working in partnership with brother-in-law Joel Shrewsbury, established in 1814 what would become one of the largest and longest-operating salt manufacturing operations in the Kanawha Valley.
McCabe's presentation will show that the four entrepreneurial families were not part of an isolated colonial economy, but were participants in a regional economy that at times played a national role.