The Julia Augusta Robertson Pierpont (1828-1886) a nd Decoration Day (Renamed Memorial Day) First Lady Pierpont of Fairmont, West Virginia, is credited by some historians as being an originator of this nation’s Decoration Day (renamed Memorial Day in 1882) A native of Dryden, New York, Julia Pierpont was the wife of the Governor of Restored Virginia during and after the Civil War, Francis H. Pierpont of Fairmont, (West)Virginia. He is also nationally recognized as the “Father of West Virginia” and his Statue stands in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol. His plan made it possible for this part of Virginia to gain statehood, becoming West Virginia on June 20, 1863. Although Gov. and First Lady Pierpont stayed in what is now known as West Virginia during the Civil War from 1861 to 1865, they moved to the Governor’s Mansion in Richmond, Virginia where he served as Governor from 1865 through 1868. While in Richmond, Julia and Miss Woolsey, a New York lass teaching in the school for the African American Children, decided to decorate the graves of the Union Soldiers buried in Hollywood Cemetery, overlooking Richmond. These graves were dismal and neglected. Julia, Miss Woolsey, the Pierpont children, with some of Julia’s Richmond friends along with children for the African American schools, their brothers, sisters, and their teachers “paraded” to the cemetery to bravely decorate the graves. News spread of this event. It met with both approval and condemnation by the residents. A few weeks later another Decoration Day happened in Richmond. Thousands of citizens laden with flowers came throughout the State of Virginia. Bands played, speeches were given and the Confederate graves were decorated. News spread of this event throughout the nation. More events followed. What Julia had done had inspired others. Thee are records of other Decoration Days prior to and following that one in Richmond, Virginia, but many historians feel that Julia’s Decoration Day in Richmond inspired the ones which culminated in General John A. Logan ordering May 30 as an annual National “Decoration Day” on May 5, 1868. (Commander-in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, General Logan, was honored by his hometown of Chicago, Illinois with a statue.) In 1987 a project by the West Virginia University’s Public History Program, with financial assistance by the Humanities Foundation of WV and supported by the WVU Center for Women’s Studies, WV Women’s Commission and the WV Historic Preservation Unit established Julia Pierpont as the originator of what is now Memorial Day for the nation. The Pierpont family made their home in Fairmont in a house that was located on the corner of Quincy Street and what is now Pierpont Avenue. The Fairmont Marion County Transit Authority garage now is in its place. The site is recognized with a Civil War Marker. Julia, Francis, and three of their children lie buried in Woodlawn Cemetery which is on the Register of National Historic Places. The City of Fairmont, the County of Marion, and the State of West Virginia have declared the Saturday before Memorial Day as JULIA PIERPONT DAY. Marion County Historical Society P.O. Box 1636 Fairmont, WV 26555-1636 304 • 367 • 5398 marionhistorical@yahoo.com   Updated on January 5, 2006