Lewis County, West Virginia Biography of ROY R. HALE ************************************************************************** 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, , July 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 178 ROY R. HALE, who retired from the office of sheriff of Lewis County on the 1st of January, 1921, after an effective administration of four years, is now a contractor in road construction and is one of the well known and highly esteemed citizens of his native county, which he represented as a soldier in the Spanish-American war. The Hale family was founded in America in the early Colonial period, and representative of the same gained distinction as patriot soldiers in the war of the Revolution, by reason of which fact the subject of this review is eligible for and is affiliated with the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Mr. Hale was born at Weston, judicial center of Lewis County, on the 8th of August, 1876, and is a son of Curtis P. and Margaret (Tierney) Hale, both likewise natives of Weston, where the former was born July 12, 1852, and the latter April 8, 1857. Presley M. Hale, grandfather of Roy R., was born in Monongalia County, Virginia (now West Virginia), August 26, 1826, and was a delegate to the first convention, at Wheeling, that took action and brought about the organization of West Virginia as an independent state. He represented Lewis County as a member of the first Legis- lature of the new commonwealth, and was largely instru- mental in framing the first free-school law of the state. He married Dinah Shore, of Fairmont, Marion County. In 1849 he became prominently identified with business enterprise at Weston, where the passing years found him associated with several different lines of business. He was one of the early directors of the National Exchange Bank of Weston, was a republican in politics from the time of the organiza- tion of the party, and he and his wife were members of the Universalist Church. Their children were Curtis P., Flora and Thomas W. Curtis P. still resides at Weston, as does Flora, who is the wife of Joseph Starrick, and Thomas W. maintains his home at Indianapolis, Indiana. Curtis P. Hale gained his preliminary education in the Weston schools and thereafter attended the Fairmont Nor- mal School. He was long and actively engaged in con- tracting enterprise, in which he was associated with hia father for a number of years; and he is now living virtually retired, as one of the old and honored citizens of Weston. Of their nine children seven are living, Roy R., of this sketch being the eldest; Dr. Presley E. is engaged in the practice of medicine at Portland, Oregon; Mary is the widow of Lewis Newberger; Regina is the wife of Wilber Canaga, of Hammond, Indiana; Margaret is the wife of Foster McLynn, of Portland, Oregon; Josephine, now Mrs. French Fox, is a resident of Weston; and Matthew was graduated in a medical college in Philadelphia as a member of the class of 1922. In the public schools of Weston Roy R. Hale continued his studies until his graduation from the high school, and at the inception of the Spanish-American war he enlisted in Company F, Second West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, in which he became first sergeant of his company and with which he continued in service until the close of the war, the regiment not having been called to the stage of active conflict. After his return to Weston Mr. Hale finally be- came agent and general yard master of the local station of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and he continued in this service until 1915. He was elected county sheriff in 1916, an office of which he continued the efficient incumbent for the prescribed term of four years, his retirement therefrom having come on the 1st of January, 1921. Mr. Hale is a democrat, he and his wife are members, of the Presbyterian Church. His Masonic affiliations are as here noted: Wes- ton Lodge No. 10, Free and Accepted Masons; Bigelow Chapter No. 4, Royal Arch Masons; St. John's Commandery No. 8, Knights Templars; West Virginia Sovereign Consis- tory No. 1, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, at Wheeling; and Nemesis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Parkersburg. December 27, 1899, recorded the marriage of Mr. Hale and Miss Maude Vandervoort, who likewise was born and reared at Weston and who is a graduate of the local high school. They have three children: Marjorie, Robert and Margaret.