English: Blackburn Barrett Dovener, a Representative from West Virginia; born in Tays Valley, Cabell County, Va. (now West Virginia), April 20, 1842; attended the common schools; taught school 1858-1861; at the age of nineteen raised a company and served as captain of Company A, Fifteenth Regiment, West Virginia Volunteer Infantry; became captain of an Ohio River steamboat in 1867; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1873 and commenced practice in Wheeling, W.Va.; member of the State house of delegates in 1883 and 1884; unsuccessful Republican candidate for election to the Fifty-second Congress; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth and to the five succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1895-March 3, 1907); unsuccessful candidate for renomination; resumed the practice of law in Wheeling; lived in retirement at Glen Echo, Md., until his death on May 9, 1914; interment in Arlington National Cemetery. From Edgar L. Murlin. An Illustrated Congressional Manual, The United States Red Book. James B. Lyon, 1896.