Born in 1832, Jacob Edgar Boyers was an outspoken supporter of the Union cause and West Virginia statehood during the Civil War, publishing the pro-Northern paper, Virginia Plaindealer, from 1860 to 1863. He became West Virginia's first Secretary of State in 1863, serving until 1865. He later was president of the Board of Supervisors and Free School Superintendent of Tyler County. Boyers died in 1911.