Clay County, West Virginia         Biography of OSCAR L. HALL

This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook,
E-mail address:  <vfcrook@earthlink.net>

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. 516
Clay

OSCAR L. HALL has won for himself secure vantage-place
as one of the representative members of the bar of Clay
County, and is established in the successful practice of
his profesison [sic] at Clay, the county seat. He was born in
Braxton County, this state, April 13, 1883, and is a son of
Henry Y. and Edna (McMorrow) Hall, the former of whom
was born in Clay County, in 1845, and the latter in Braxton
County, in 1849. After their marriage the parents estab-
lished themselves on a farm in Braxton County, and on this
old homestead they still reside, venerable and honored
citizens of the county, both being most zealous members of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, to the clergymen of which
their pleasant home has ever extended cordial welcome and
entertainment. E. B., eldest of the children, is a progres-
sive and successful farmer in Braxton County; Ella is the
wife of J. Lee Fox, a prosperous farmer near Sutton, that
county; O. W. is a substantial agriculturist and cattle
grower in Braxton County; W. C. is a popular teacher in
the city schools of Charleston; Oscar L., of this review, was
the next in order of birth; Percy, a graduate of the law
department of the University of West Virginia, is now
general counsel for the Ohio Fuel Oil Company for the
State of Texas, with residence and headquarters in the City
of Dallas, Texas; and May is the wife of P. M. Bamsey,
a representative farmer in Braxton County.

Reared on the home farm and afforded the advantages
of the public schools of his native county, Oscar L. Hall
thereafter made a record of excellent service as a teacher
in the rural schools, his pedagogic service having continued
three years. He pursued higher academic studies in tile-
University of West Virginia, and in the law department of
this institution he was graduated as a member of the class
of 1907. Thereafter he was established in practice at Sut-
ton, judicial center of his native county, until 1912, when
he went to the City of Charleston and became connected
with the legal department of the Ohio Fuel Oil Company.
In 1914 he engaged in the active general practice of his
profession at Clay, and he has here continued as one of the
leading members of the Clay County bar. In 1916 he was
elected prosecuting attorney of the county, an office of
which he continued the incumbent until January, 1921, and
in which he made a most excellent record, his being specially
high standing as a trial lawyer of versatility and resource-
fulness.

Mr. Hall is a stalwart advocate of the principles of the
republican party, and as owner and publisher of the Clay
Messenger, a weekly paper, he has been able to render
effective service in promotion of the party cause. He is
president of the Elksplint Coal Company and a stockholder
in other industrial and business corporations.  In the
Masonic fraternity his affiliations are with Sutton Lodge
No. 21, A. F. and A. M.; Sutton Chapter No. 29, R. A. M.;
Sutton Commandery No. 16, Knights Templars; and Beni-
Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine, in the City of Charles-
ton.

In December, 1910, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Hall and Miss Fannie E. Lorentz, who had been a popular
teacher in the Sutton High School, she having graduated
in the same, and also in Morris Harvey College, from which
she received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Mr. and Mrs.
Hall have two children: Jean E., born March 1, 1912; and
Ann Lorentz, born May 3, 1917.