Born in 1797, Lewis Ruffner became a prominent salt manufacturer in the Kanawha Valley. He was a member of the Restored Government of VA and the Constitutional Convention for WV statehood, was a major general in the state militia, and served in the House of Delegates from 1863 to 1864. After the war, he and his wife Viola supported educating African Americans, including Booker T. Washington. He died at Malden in 1883.