Representative Adam Brown Littlepage

Adam Brown Littlepage (April 14, 1859 – June 29, 1921) was a lawyer, state legislator, and Democratic politician from West Virginia who served three nonconsecutive terms as a United States Representative. He was born near Charleston, in Kanawha County, then part of Virginia, on April 14, 1859. Growing up in the Kanawha Valley during the final years before the Civil War and the subsequent creation of the state of West Virginia, he came of age in a region shaped by emerging industry, river commerce, and the early development of the state’s coal resources, influences that would later be reflected in his legal and political career.

Littlepage attended the common schools of his native region, receiving a basic formal education typical of the period. He pursued the study of law through the prevailing method of reading law rather than through a formal law school, preparing himself for admission to the bar. In 1882 he was admitted to practice and began his legal career in Newport, Indiana, where he spent two years gaining experience as a young attorney. In 1884 he returned to Charleston, West Virginia, where he established a permanent law practice and became increasingly identified with the legal and political life of Kanawha County.

As his practice developed in Charleston, Littlepage became closely associated with the burgeoning coal industry and the labor issues that accompanied it. He served as general counsel for the United Mine Workers Association in West Virginia, a role that placed him at the center of disputes between coal operators and miners during a period of significant industrial expansion and labor unrest in the state. His work for the union reflected both his legal expertise and his engagement with the economic and social questions confronting West Virginia in the early twentieth century.

Littlepage’s prominence at the bar and his Democratic Party affiliation led to his entry into elective office at the state level. From 1906 to 1910 he served as a member of the West Virginia Senate, representing his constituency in Charleston and Kanawha County. During his tenure in the state senate, he participated in legislative deliberations at a time when West Virginia was grappling with issues of regulation of industry, infrastructure development, and the political realignment that accompanied the state’s rapid growth. His service in the upper house of the state legislature helped establish his reputation as a capable lawmaker and prepared him for national office.

In 1910 Littlepage was elected as a Democrat from West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District to the Sixty-second Congress, serving from March 4, 1911, to March 3, 1913. Representing a district that included Charleston and surrounding coal-producing areas, he took his seat in Washington during the administration of President William Howard Taft, a period marked by debates over tariff policy, trust regulation, and progressive reforms. He sought reelection in 1912 to the Sixty-third Congress but was unsuccessful, temporarily interrupting his congressional career and returning him to private legal practice in Charleston.

Littlepage reentered national politics two years later. He was again elected from West Virginia’s 3rd District as a Democrat to the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1915, to March 3, 1919. His second period in the House coincided with the presidency of Woodrow Wilson and encompassed the nation’s entry into World War I, the mobilization of American industry and manpower, and the enactment of significant domestic legislation, including measures related to taxation, banking, and wartime economic controls. As a member of Congress during this transformative era, he represented a state heavily involved in coal production and industrial supply for the war effort. In 1918 he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Sixty-sixth Congress, bringing his service in the national legislature to a close.

After leaving Congress in March 1919, Littlepage resumed the practice of law in Charleston, returning to the profession that had underpinned his public career. He continued to be identified with the legal and civic affairs of his community until his death. Adam Brown Littlepage died in Charleston, West Virginia, on June 29, 1921. He was interred in Spring Hill Cemetery in Charleston, where he was laid to rest among many of the city’s leading figures, closing a career that had spanned local, state, and national public service during a formative period in West Virginia’s history.