Barbour County, West Virginia Biography of Orion H. GALL This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 324 ORION H. GALL, cashier of the First National Bank of Belington, has been actively associated as a young man with the commercial interests of this thriving city, though nearly two years out of his young manhood were given to the service of his country at the time of the great war. Almost immediately on his return from France he took up the duties of a civilian, and soon afterward came to his present post with the bank. The Galls are a prominent old family of Barbour County. His ancestry runs back some four or five generations to George Gall, who was a Virginian and a soldier of the Revolution. A son of this soldier was John J. Gall, the founder of the family in West Virginia. His early home was near the Natural Bridge in Virginia, and from there he moved to West Virginia and established his home in what is now Barbour County, on Elk River, and from that region his descendants have scattered over this state and other states. George W. Gall, grandfather of the Belington banker, was sixteen years of age when the family moved to Barbour County. He was a strong Union man, but two of his brothers were soldiers under Stonewall Jackson. John Jay Gall, father of Orion H., was born at the Village of Arden in Barbour County November 15, 1851. He is now past three score and ten, but is still active in his work as a general farmer and stock man. He has been one of the more successful stock raisers in this county handling a good grade of beef cattle. He has taken an interest in the affairs of his community, has served as a member of the School Board, is a democratic voter and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. John J. Gall married Elizabeth Carpenter in Barbour County, daughter of Allen and Harriet (Hoffman) Carpenter. Their children are: Alva D., of Hammondsville, Ohio; W. Brad- ford, of Belington; Marvin, of Morgantown; Dessie, wife of Charles S. Row, of Belington; Orion H.; Audra A., a teacher in the public schools of Barbour County; Dewey L., a traveling salesman living at Morgantown; and Hugh, who is still in school and assists his father on the farm. Orion H. Gall was born near Arden in Philippi District August 1, 1893, but subsequently his parents moved from Laurel Creek to Bill's Creek in Barker District, where he spent the greater part of his early life. He had the opportunities of the public schools, but his education and training have been primarily a matter of practical ex- perience. At the age of eighteen he began teaching in the country, and was one of Barbour County's educators for four years. He left the schoolroom to go into the service of the First National Bank of Belington as a bookkeeper, and kept up this work steadily until he left after Christmas in 1917 to join the colors. Mr. Gall enlisted at Pittsburgh, and from there was sent to Camp Joseph E. Johnston near Jacksonville, Florida, where he was first assigned to Receiving Company No. 31, then to Clerical Company No. 2, and in May, 1918, was assigned to Supply Company No. 314. With this last named company he sailed from Newport News on the transport Martha Washington, was landed at Brest June 19, 1918, and during the remainder of the period of hostilities was at Gievres in the General Intermediate Supply Depot. The company remained on duty there until June, 1919, when Mr. Gall was transferred to the Quartermaster's Detach- ment, which put the camp in condition to turn over to the French Government. This transfer was completed August 21, and then he and his comrades left for Brest and sailed on transport Aeolus, August 26, reaching Brooklyn on Sep- tember 5, was in Camp Merritt until September 11, and then moved to Camp Dix, where he received his honorable discharge September 13, 1919. On the 19th of the same month he arrived home, after an absence of nearly two years. Mr. Gall was a private until June, 1919, when he was made sergeant and was discharged with that rank. For a time after returning home he was bookkeeper for the Kane & Keyser Hardware Company of Belington, but on April 1, 1920, took up his work as cashier of the First National Bank. He is also one of the bank's directors. The First National Bank of Belington was chartered in 1903, with a capital of $40,000.00. It has capital and surplus of $50,000.00, deposits of upwards of $300,000.00 and total resources of over $400,000.00. The president is B. B. Rohrbough, J. E. Keyser is vice president, and the assistant cashier is W. W. Thomas. Mr. Gall, is a democrat, casting his first presidential ballot for Woodrow Wilson. He is secretary of the Busi- ness Men's Club of Belington, and is affiliated with the Masonic Order. He is unmarried.