The act creating the county provided that the county seat was to be built on the lands of Charles Lattin, now Hamlin. The land was originally an old brier field, cleared by David Stephenson who had patented the land and built a cabin on it in 1802. The land changed hands several times before being sold to Charles Lattin in the early 1860s. The first public building constructed on the land was the county jail, in 1867. Hamlin was made the permanent county seat by the state legislature on February 26, 1869. There is some debate concerning who the county seat, Hamlin, is named for. Some historians believe that the town was originally incorporated by the Virginia General Assembly in 1833 as Hamline, in honor of Bishop Leonidas L. Hamline of the Methodist Episcopal Church. A postmaster later dropped the final “e”, claiming that Bishop Hamline had added the "e" to the family name. Others argue that the town was named in honor of Hannibal Hamlin, President Lincoln's Vice-President during his first Administration. It is difficult to determine which claim is correct, largely because most of the county's early records were destroyed when the county courthouse burnt to the ground in 1909. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlin%2C_West_Virginia