Hardy County, West Virginia    Biography of Hon. George William McCAULEY

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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 54-56

HON. GEORGE WILLIAM McCAULEY. One of the leading 
promulgators of corporation law of Eastern West Virginia
is George William McCauley, of Moorefield, the greater 
part of whose career has been passed in Hardy County. 
Mr. McCauley is not only prominent in the ranks of his pro-
fession, but is likewise active and influential in the ranks
of the democratic party and at various times has been
chosen the incumbent of public offices, in which he has es-
tablished an excellent record for faithful and capable serv-
ice.

Mr. McCauley was born November 30, 1868, at Sedan,
Hampshire County, the family moving when he was one
year old to Hanging Rock (now McCauley Post Office),
Hampshire County, West Virginia. He is a son of Elias
and Susan (Baker) McCauley. His paternal grandfather,
Addison McCauley, was a resident of Hampshire County for
many years, and, it is believed, devoted himself uninter-
ruptedly to agricultural operations in the vicinity of North
River Mills. He married a Miss Millslagle, and among their
children were: Lemuel, George and Elias. Elias McCauley
was born near North River Mills, Hampshire County, April
19, 1821, and secured a rural school education that en-
abled him to teach school prior to the outbreak of the war
between the states. During that struggle he had a brief
connection with a Confederate militia regiment, and the
fact that he took no greater part in the war is probably
due to his operation of a mill, at Sedan, the continuance of
which was deemed desirable by the military chiefs. Some
time after the war Mr. McCauley came to Hardy County
and established the family home at what was then known as
Hanging Rock, but which is now known as McCauley Post
Office, named in his honor. He was first engaged in the
milling business, following which he established a general
merchandise store and gradually assumed other business
connections, of growing importance, which he maintained
for a number of years. In the evening of life he passed
these responsibilities on to other shoulders, and died Au-
gust 10, 1908, at McCauley. He was politically a demo-
crat, with strong and well-defined convictions, but did not
seek political favors, and his only public positions were
those of postmaster, justice of the peace and member of
the board of education. In his later years he united with
the Presbyterian Church. He had no connection with fra-
ternal orders. Mr. McGauley married Miss Susan Baker,
who was born on Baker's Run, Hardy County, May 10, 1830,
a daughter of Abraham and Mary Ann (Wise) Baker. Mrs.
McCauley passed away at the home of the family at Mc-
Cauley February 19, 1912. Those of their children to
grow to maturity were as follows: Aaron Baker, whose life
was spent at McCauley as a teacher, and who died at the
home of his uncle, Aaron Baker, in Grant County, in 1897;
Rebecca, who married John B. Russell and died September
6, 1906, at McCauley; Isabel Lee, who became the wife of
Dorsey F. Brill and resides at Richwood, West Virginia;
George William, of this review; and Sallie C., who mar-
ried Benjamin B. Baughman and died at McCauley, Feb-
ruary 9, 1917.

George William McCauley spent his boyhood in general
work around the home place, in the mill and at the store.
Fishing and frog-hunting constituted a part of his boyhood
inversions, and his first educational training was gained in
the four-month schools of his period, that being the length
of the winter term. By the time he was seventeen years
of age he had gained sufficient education to teach, acquired
a certificate, and obtained a school in the country, near Mc-
Cauley. During 1887 and 1888 he attended the Shenandoah
Normal College, Virginia, in the meantime continuing to
teach for six years in the counties of Hardy, Hampshire and
Grant, as the possessor of a No. 1 certificate. He taught
his last term in Grant and Hampshire counties, teaching
a four-month term in each in the same year, and aban-
doned the schoolroom as a teacher in 1891.

At that time Mr. McCauley secured a position as mana-
ger of the Alliance Store at Rio, Hampshire County, and
there continued for three years. During this time he con-
ceived the idea of studying law and began reading Black-
stone. In June, 1894, he gave up his position at the store,
and in the fall of the same year went to Morgantown,
where he took a course in law at West Virginia University,
taking a two-year course in one and graduating as a mem-
ber of the class of June, 1895. During his college days
Mr. McCauley was a member of the Parthenon Literary
Society, and participated in the debates and literary work
of the weekly programs of the society. Returning to his
home at McCauley he spent two or three months, but in
August, 1895, came to Moorefield to engage in the practice
of his profession. At that time the young lawyer was with-
out a library, funds or any other asset save his right to prac-
tice, his knowledge of the law and his keen determination
to win. It was then that he found a generous friend in
the old lawyer of the town, Mr. Carr, who fathered him
and allowed him to share his office with him for a time.
It was thus he passed through the probationary stage, get-
ting into practice slowly but surely, and finally gaining a
reputation as a pleader that secured him public confidence.
He was urged to become a candidate for the office of prose-
cuting attorney in 1896, against one of the old lawyers of
the county and the then incumbent of the office. He yielded
to the urging and won the election, succeeding Benjamin
Dailey, and subsequently held the office for three terms, or
twelve years, after which he declined to be a candidate.
The condition of society during that time seems to have
been healthful as far as crime was concerned, and there
was no difficulty in convicting those who broke the liquor
laws. Only two murders were committed during the period,
and both slayers were sent to the penitentiary.

Retiring from the office of prosecuting attorney, Mr. Mc-
Cauley resumed the private practice of law, but, it seemed,
was not destined to keep out of public office, for in 1911 he
was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates and
served under Speaker Wetzel in a democratic House. He
was made chairman of the committee on federal relations
and a member of the judiciary committee. Among his la-
bors during that term was the introduction of a bill pro-
viding for a tax on oil and gas, which he succeeded in
passing through the House, although it failed of passage
in the Senate. He was re-elected for the terms of 1913-15,
during which both Houses were republican, and Mr. Mc-
Cauley took part on the floor of the House in the legislative
matters proposed. He was a member of the judiciary com-
mittee. In 1917 he declined to be a candidate, but, at the
request of Governor Cornwell, ran for another term in 1919
and served in the House that winter. He felt that he had
acquired all the honors possible as a member of that body
after being given the nomination for, the speakership by
his party and being made minority leader of the House,
and would not seek the place again voluntarily, but was
urged so strongly that he finally consented and was elected
in 1920, being made the minority leader of the democratic
party in the House in 1921. He was in the minority all
through his legislation service and could do no more than
speak on the floor of the House and in the committee rooms.
Mr. McCauley was a modest officer of the Democratic Na-
tional Convention at Baltimore and witnessed the bringing
about of the nomination of President Wilson. Convention
work at home has not been followed up closely by him as
a delegate, although he helped to nominate Judge Brown
for Congress and saw him elected to that body from the
Second District.

Mr. McCauley continues to be engaged in the practice
of his profession and is attorney for the Baltimore &
Ohio Railway Company, the Winchester & Western Rail-
road Company, the South Fork Lumber Company, the Win-
chester Lumber Corporation and Moore, Keppel & Company,
large lumber concerns of Hardy County, and the South
Branch National Bank, of which he is vice president and
a member of the board of directors. During the World
war he was a member of the Hardy County Draft Board.
In 1897 Mr. McCauley united with the Southern Presby-
terian Church at Moorefield, and after serving several years
as a deacon was advanced to an eldership in the church,
which he still retains. He has represented the Moorefield
congregation in Winchester Presbytery several times, and
was its commissioner in the General Assembly at Atlanta,
Georgia, in 1913, and that at Durant, Oklahoma, in 1918.

On March 23, 1898, Mr. McCauley married at Washington,
D. C., Miss Eleanor Clements, of the national capital, who
was born and reared at Georgetown, D. C., and was edu-
cated in the Catholic convent at Frederick City, Maryland.
She was a daughter of William Delesdernier and Eleanor
(O'Donnoghue) Clements. For a number of years prior
to her death, which occurred December 8, 1920, Mrs. Mc-
Cauley was unable to take part in community affairs as car-
ried on by the ladies of Moorefield because of physical dis-
ability, but remained loyal to the Catholic Church, the
faith of her parents. Mr. and Mrs. McCauley had one son:
William Delesdernier, born July 3, 1900, who is a student
of law at West Virginia University, in which he was for-
merly an S. A. T. C. student