Berkeley County, West Virginia    Biography of Herbert E. HANNIS

**************************************************************************
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, <vfcrook@earthlink.net>, March 1999
**************************************************************************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 19

HERBERT E. HANNIS, who was a lieutenant of field artil-
lery during the great war, was born and reared in Martins-
burg, and completed a liberal education in the law before
the war, and when he left the service he returned home to
practice and shortly afterward was elected prosecuting at-
torney of Berkeley County.

The Hannis family is descended from Andrew Hannis, a
native of Scotland, who came to America in Colonial times
and established his home in Philadelphia. He was buried
in Christ Churchyard in that city. The name Hannis has
been a prominent one in Philadelphia in all subsequent
generations. The grandfather of the Martinsburg lawyer
was Henry Stites Hannis, a. native of Philadelphia. He
owned and operated the Hannis Distillery in Philadelphia.
He married a Miss Poole, of English descent.

Herbert E. Hannis, Sr., a native of Philadelphia, where
he was reared and educated, at the age of eighteen moved
to Martinsburg, where his father had acquired the Naden-
bousch Distillery, and he took an active part in its manage-
ment until his death in 1906. Herbert E. Hannis, Sr., mar-
ried Susan Gardner, a native of Berkeley County and resi-
dent of Martinsburg. She represents the old Gardner and

Showers families of Berkeley County, her father having
been John Gardner.

Lieutenant Hannis was one of eight children, was
educated under private tutors, and took both literary and
law courses in Washington and Lee University. He re-
ceived his degrees A. B. and LL. B. from that university,
and supplemented his law course in Columbia University
at New York.

Mr. Hannis in August, 1917, entered the United States
service, was trained at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indian-
apolis, was commissioned first lieutenant of field artillery,
and was on duty for a time at Camp Funston in Kansas, at
Camp Jackson, South Carolina, and from Camp Dix, New
Jersey, went overseas and was with his command in all its
activities in France until March, 1919. He then returned
to the United States, was at Camp Upton on Long Island
for a brief time, and was then assigned special work at
Washington, D. C. In July, 1920, he resigned and received
his honorable discharge, and returned home to find that
his friends had nominated him as republican candidate for
prosecuting attorney of Berkeley County. In November
of that year he was elected to office, and now devotes all
his time to its duties.

Mr. Hannis is one of the very popular public officials of
Berkeley County. He is a member of several bar associa-
tions, the American Legion Post, and is affiliated with
Martinsburg Lodge No. 778, Benevolent Protective Order
of Elks, and Washington Lodge No. 1, Knights of Pythias.