Barbour County, West Virginia Biography of Herman J. POLING ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , March 2000 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 350 HERMAN J. POLING. While he has carried more or less active business responsibilities, Herman J. Poling is a lawyer, and his hard-working abilities have won him a deservedly high place in that exacting profession in his home county of Barbour. He is a member of the Poling family that has been identified with the farming and civic interests of the county for a number of generations. He was born in Glade District, Barbour County, April 26, 1885. His grandfather was Jonas Poling, a farmer in that locality, and his father, William J. Poling, was born on the same homestead in Glade District. As his boyhood coincided with the period of the Civil war he was denied any liberal educational advantages. His life has been spent in farming, and for the most part he has de- rived his living from live stock. He has served as trus- tee of the White Oak School District. William J. Poling married Amanda Jane Shaffer, who was born in Cove District of Barbour County, one of the three sons and five daughters of John C. Shaffer, a native of the same locality and a farmer there. The children of William J. Poling and wife are: Herman J.; Lora and Nora, twin sisters, the former deceased; Nettie; and Dottie, wife of Camden Mouser, of Philippi district. Herman J. Poling acquired a country school education, and subsequently attended the Wesleyan College at Buck- hannon and the Fairmont Normal School, where he gradu- ated in 1909. He taught his first term of school when seventeen years of age, resumed that work after graduat- ing from the Normal School, and was principal of the Academy High School. In the spring of 1910 he entered the law department of the University of West Virginia, finishing his law course in 1912. After graduating and being admitted to the bar he located at Durbin, where he taught his last term of school in the country and also did some law practice. He then removed his offices to Philippi, and has been engaged in a growing general prac- tice. Among his interests outside the fixture lines of his profession he is a partner with H. S. Haller in the Boulder Coal Company, and they bought the property and developed the mine, equipped it with electrical machinery. This mine was opened in February, 1917, and was a constant tribute through the period of the World war. Mr. Poling is director and attorney for the Peoples Bank of Philippi, is director, secretary, treasurer and attorney for the Ty- gart Valley Water Company, is a stockholder in the Fed- eral Carbonic Gas Company of Fairmont, and is owner of considerable real estate in Philippi and some farm land devoted to the grazing industry along the Belington- Philippi Road in Barker District. In politics Mr. Poling is a democrat, casting his first vote for Mr. Wilson in 1912. He has interested himself in several campaigns, is congressional committeeman for the Second Congressional District, and has represented bis party in conferences and conventions. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club at Philippi, is a past noble grand of the Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a member of the Encampment, is affiliated with the Mac- cabees, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Junior Order United American Me- chanics. He was reared in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In May, 1919, Mr. Poling married Miss Mary A. Poling, a native of the Valley District of Barbour County and daughter of Remus Poling. Her father, who married a Miss Ware, is a farmer at Boulder. Mrs. Poling is one of a large family of three sons and eight daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Poling have a son, Herman J., Jr., born May 19, 1921.