Portrait of Francis Pierpont
Francis Harrison Pierpont (January 25, 1814 – March 24, 1899), called the "Father of West Virginia", was an American lawyer, politician, and governor of the union controlled parts of Virginia during the Civil War. After the war, he was the Governor of all of Virginia.

Political career
An active supporter of Abraham Lincoln, Pierpont became more involved in politics as an outspoken opponent of Virginia's secession from the Union. When Virginia seceded and entered the war, delegates from the northern and northwestern counties of Virginia, who refused to join the Confederacy, met at the Wheeling Convention.

Reconstruction

In 1910, the state of West Virginia donated a marble statue of Pierpont to the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection.
Pierpont Commons, the dining facility at Virginia Commonwealth University, is named after Governor Pierpont.