Gilmer County was formed in 1845 from Kanawha and Lewis and was named for Thomas Walker Gilmer, Secretary of the Navy in President Tyler's Cabinet, who was killed by the explosion of a gun on board the United States battleship Princeton on February 28, 1844. Calhoun County was formed in 1856 from Gilmer and was named for John C. Calhoun, an eminent statesman from South Carolina. It is an important oil and gas-producing county, is largely devoted to farming, and has been prominent in livestock raising.
