ARTHUR INGRAHAM BOREMAN was born in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. After studying law under his brother, he began practicing law in Parkersburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates for three consecutive terms starting in 1855. He was also a Union delegate to the Richmond Secession Convention of 1861 and President of the Second Wheeling Convention in 1861—one of the conventions that led to the formation of West Virginia from the northern and western areas of Virginia. He was elected Judge of the Nineteenth Circuit Court of Virginia, serving from October 1861 to June 1863. Elected governor of West Virginia for three consecutive terms, Boreman advocated legislation to establish a system of free schools and encouraged outside businesses to come to the state and develop its resources. He resigned the governorship to accept a nomination to the U.S. Senate as a Republican, winning the election. Retiring after one term, he went back to his law practice in Parkersburg, and later became a judge of the same judicial circuit over which he had presided years earlier.