FARMINGTON HISTORY
At the beginning…
The first known settler at this site was James Goodin (“Jimmy Blue-eye”). Joseph Morgan built a mill here in 1801. The William Willey family owned the land when the town was laid out sometime before 1851, and it was called Willeyville or Willeytown after them. The name was changed to Farmington, then to Underwood, and then back to Farmington.
William Willey, Jr. had two sons who were distinguished politically. William J. Willey was a state senator when Marion County was formed in 1842, and his half-brother Waitman T. Willey became the first United States Senator to serve from the State of West Virginia.
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