Ephraim Bee was a blacksmith, innkeeper, operator of the Underground Railroad, captain of the Doddridge County Militia, and a member of the first West Virginia State Legislature in 1863, where he served three terms. He was the Founder and Grand Royal Gyascutis of the Most Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampsus Vitus and was known throughout the country as a garrulous storyteller and practical joker. Legend holds that around 1845, first U.S. Ambassador Caleb Cushing returned from negotiating a treaty with China and entrusted Bee with the Sacred Mantel of Grand Llama and Mutuals from either the Mysterious Emperor of the Celestial Kingdom of China or the Remnant of the Sons Of Liberty, notably agents of the late great Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Bee then brought forth and promoted the rapid growth of E Clampsus Vitus. In the years that followed, ECV spread like wildfire and became prominent during the California Gold Rush. In 1931, ECV was reorganized in San Francisco with the motto "Credo Quia Absurdum" and became the thriving historical society it is today.