May 17, 2017
WHEELING, W.Va. - West Virginia Independence Hall (WVIH) in Wheeling will host the fifth program of the Fort Henry Commemoration Speaker Series in the auditorium at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, May 25. The speaker series is observing the 240th anniversary year of the first siege of Fort Henry and the 235th anniversary of the second siege. The program is free and open to the public.
Jeanne Finstein, who considers herself an amateur historian, will present the lecture “The Other Zanes.” Finstein received her bachelor’s and doctorate degrees from West Virginia University and master’s degree from Wheeling Jesuit University, all in mathematics education. She taught math at Wheeling Park High School before working at the NASA Classroom of the Future at Wheeling Jesuit and now is a partner in Polyhedron Learning Media, an educational software development company. She also is president of Friends of Wheeling and corresponding secretary of the Wheeling chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).
Finstein commented, “Two members of Wheeling’s Zane family are well-known. Ebenezer Zane is considered the founder of Wheeling, and his younger sister, Betty, is remembered for her heroic run for the powder during the second siege of Ft. Henry. This talk will focus on the ‘other’ Zanes – Ebenezer’s brothers, Silas, Jonathan, Andrew, and Isaac, and Ebenezer’s wife, Elizabeth McColloch. The brothers settled various areas in and around Wheeling. Two were killed by Indians, and one remained with his Indian kidnappers and married an Indian princess. Elizabeth McColloch Zane was a sister of Sam McColloch, who made the famous leap that still bears his name. Their lives are fascinating and deserve as much recognition as their more famous family members.”
The program is co-hosted by the Wheeling Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution and the Fort Henry Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, and sponsored by Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation.
For more information about WVIH, contact Debbie Jones, site manager, at (304) 238-1300 or Deborah.J.Jones@wv.gov.
West Virginia Independence Hall has been on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) since 1970. It was originally built as a federal custom house in 1859, served as the home of the pro-Union state conventions of Virginia during the spring and summer of 1861 and as the capitol of loyal Virginia from June 1861 to June 1863. It also was the site of the first constitutional convention for West Virginia.
Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1988, the museum is maintained and operated by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, with the cooperation and assistance of the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation. The museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, except for major holidays. The museum is located on the corner of 16th and Market Streets in Wheeling.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the Office of Secretary of Education and the Arts with Gayle Manchin, cabinet secretary. The division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, arts, historic preservation and museums. For more information about the division’s programs, events and sites, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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