This week in Affrilachian history: Oct. 4 through Oct. 10

Presented by The West Virginia Humanities Council

The following events happened on these dates in Affrilachian history. To learn more, go to e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia at wvencyclopedia.org.

Oct. 4, 1967: Basketball player Vicky Bullett was born in Martinsburg. While starring at the University of Maryland, she helped lead the U.S. women’s basketball team to a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics.

Oct. 9, 2014: Following court rulings and announcements by the governor and the attorney general, same-sex marriage was effectively legalized in West Virginia.

Oct. 4, 1890: A traveling circus arrived in Alderson. While in town, the show’s lioness gave birth to cubs. Susan Bebout, wife of a local blacksmith, raised one of the rapidly growing cubs in her backyard. Its regular escape led the town to pass an ordinance requiring all lions to be kept on leashes.

Oct. 7, 1763: England’s King George III issued a proclamation banning all settlement west of the Alleghenies. In present-day West Virginia, the line ran along the divide between eastern rivers and the Ohio watershed, leaving only the Eastern Panhandle and a fraction of Monroe County open to settlement.

Oct. 9, 1877: The Episcopal Church created the Diocese of West Virginia. The initial convention of the new diocese met at St. John’s Episcopal in Charleston, with 14 clergy and 16 lay delegates.