Joseph Hubert Diss Debar (1820-1905) Sketchbook
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 4040
Sketchbook of Joseph Hubert Diss Debar (1820-1905), a French-born American artist and the first commissioner of immigration for West Virginia. Sketchbook includes clipping of an article about Debar (1931) as well as artworks by Debar. Artworks include mostly pencil and pen sketches, as well as some watercolors. Most of his work is labeled with subject and year, and has been pasted into the sketchbook. Subjects are generally landscapes and portraits. Sections of the sketchbook include: "In Alsace 1832-5" (includes watercolor of island of Schwanau), "Paris 1835-40", "In America 1840" (includes watercolor of Niagara Falls and sketches of Charles Dickens), "In West Virginia 1846-1876", "The Civil War 1861-65" (includes sketches of John Brown, Stonewall Jackson, and other prominent military and political figures), "Kansas 1880" (includes Salina area), "Visit to Europe 1881-2", and "Supplementary of Various Dates and Places".
English
No special access restriction applies.
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.
Joseph Hubert Diss Debar was born in Strasbourg, France, on March 6, 1820. In 1842, he sailed to the United States on the same ship as English author Charles Dickens. Diss Debar moved to Parkersburg, (West) Virginia in 1846 to work as a land agent for John Dumas, who represented French land claims in the Doddridge County area. From 1848 till her death in 1849, Diss Debar was married to Clara Julia Levassor, with whom he had one son that was raised by Clara's parents. He later married Amelia Cain of Gilmer County, with whom he had six children. He was a resident for many years in Saint Clara Colony, Doddridge County, West Virginia.
In 1864, Diss Debar was elected to the West Virginia Legislature to represent Doddridge County. He designed the state seal of West Virginia and was appointed the state's first Commissioner of Immigration. He then moved to Parkersburg from 1866-1875, then to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in 1879 worked with a New York company called Cooperative Colony Aid Association, which was interested in establishing colonies in Kansas, Kentucky, and West Virginia. He held a variety of political and municipal positions throughout his life. He died in Philadelphia on January 13, 1905.
(Much of this information was taken from the article "Joseph H. Diss Debar--Prophet, Colonizer," by Boyd B. Stutler, The West Virginia Review, December 1931 issue.)
0.3 Linear Feet (Summary: 3 1/2 in. (1 flat storage box))
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository