Mason County, West Virginia         Biography of JAMES O. SHINN 

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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. 442-443
Mason

JAMES O. SHINN is president of the Point Pleasant Na-
tional Bank, at Point Pleasant, the judicial center of Mason
County, an institution of which specific record is given on
other pages of this work, so that further description is not
demanded in the present article.

Mr. Shinn, known and valued as one of the influential
citizens and representative business men of Mason County,
was born in this county, on the 19th of February, 1858.
His father, George W. Shinn, was born in Harrison County,
Virginia (now West Virginia), and was a representative
of the family in whose honor the Town of Shinnston, that
county, was named. About 1830 he accompanied his par-
ents on their removal to what is now Mason County, where
the parents passed the remainder of their lives, the father,
Samuel Shinn, having developed one of the excellent farms
of the locality and period and having been somewhat past
the age of eighty years at the time of his death. As a
young man George W. Shinn married Miss Elizabeth Stone,
of Jackson County, and he became an extensive farmer in
Ripley District, that county, where he owned a landed es-
tate of about 1,000 acres. He was a republican in politics,
and on the ticket of his party was elected a representative
of Jackson County in the Lower House of the State Legis-
lature, in which he served three terms. He was for eight-
een years a member of the County Court of Jackson County,
an organization made up of three commissioners, who se-
lect one of their number as presiding judge, this honorable
preferment having come to Mr. Shinn. He was one of the
leading citizens of Jackson County at the time of his death,
when sixty-three years of age, and his widow passed away
at the venerable age of eighty-five years, she having re-
tained splendid mental and physical powers and having
frequently ridden horseback after she was eighty years old.
Both were earnest members of the United Brethren Church,
and their pleasant and hospitable home was ever open to
extend welcome and entertainment to the clergymen of the
church. Their five sons and one daughter all survived the
loved mother: Frederick is a prosperous farmer in Jack-
son County; Mrs. Permelia Randles likewise remains in
Jackson County; James O., immediate subject of this re-
view, was the next in order of birth; Reuben P. resides at
Ripley, Jackson County, where he is president of the First
National Bank and he is, in 1922, a member of the State
Senate; John A. and Nathan N. are associated in the own-
ership and operations of a fine farm estate of 1,300 acres
in Jackson County, including the old homestead of the par-
ents.

James O. Shinn was reared on the home farm in Jackson
County and received the advantages of the schools of the
period. He served one term as sheriff of that county, and
in this capacity conducted in 1897 the last public execu-
tion in the state, his earnest efforts having been the princi-
pal influence in causing the laws of the state to be so
changed that all criminals sentenced to death are executed
at the state penitentiary. In 1908 Mr. Shinn was elected
to represent the Fourth District in the State Senate, his
constituent senatorial district comprising Roane, Jackson
and Mason counties. In the Senate he was assigned to
various important committees, including that on agricul-
ture, of which he was made chairman. Through his ef-
fective championship was effected a valuable amendment
to the seed law of the state, greatly to the advantage of
agriculturists, and he obtained also a change in the city
charter of Point Pleasant, by which the power to license
saloons was transferred from the jurisdiction of the city
council to that of the County Court, the result being the
elimination of the saloon business at Point Pleasant. In
this connection an appeal was taken to the Supreme Court
of the state, which upheld the law as enacted, Point Pleas-
ant having thus become a prohibition town prior to the en-
actment of the national prohibition laws. Mr. Shinn made
a spirited campaign in Mason County in favor of submit-
ting the prohibition amendment to the voters of the state,
and the county gave a strong support to the movement. As
a member of the Senate he was active in the deliberations
on the floor of the Upper House and in those of the vari-
ous committees to which he was assigned. As a speaker
he took an active part in the attempts to effect an organi-
zation of the Senate at the memorable time when its mem-
bership was so equally divided between republicans and
democrats as to defeat such organization for a consider-
able period, the conflict between the opposing forces being
such that fifteen republican members of the Senate went
to Cincinnati, Ohio, and there passed several days. Sena-
tor Shinn opposed this action of the colleagues, and at
first refused to leave the capital city, but he finally con-
sented to accompany the republican members of the Senate
to Cincinnati, though he felt at the time that the move
was wrong, both politically and as a matter of justice to
his constituents. He participated in the deliberations in
the Ohio city and finally determined to return alone to the
West Virginia capital if necessary, but the other senators
finally yielded to his counsel and returned to Charleston,
where was effected with the opposition a compromise that
resulted in an excellent organization of the legislative body
and also in much wise and constructive legislation in the
ensuing session.

Mr. Shinn has maintained his residence in Mason County
since 1910, is the owner of a valuable farm property of
600 acres adjoining the city limits of Point Pleasant, and
is giving special attention to the breeding and raising of
cattle of superior types, his farm having an average herd
of 150 head of fine cattle. While still a resident of Jack-
son County Mr. Shinn was president of the Valley Bank
at Ripley, an institution later reorganized as the First Na-
tional Bank, his brother R. P. having succeeded him in the
presidency. Of his becoming president of the Point Pleas-
ant National Bank due record is given in the sketch of
the history of that bank elsewhere in this publication. He
has proved a most careful and conscientious bank executive,
with a fine sense of personal and official stewardship and
with full appreciation of the responsibilities involved. On
his farm he has a fine rural home, and this attractive resi-
dence, with its beautiful grounds, he purposes ultimately
to endow as a home for orphan children. He continued a
leader in the local councils of the republican party, has
been affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
for virtually a quarter of a century, is a past noble grand
in the same and has been a delegate to the Grand Lodge of
the state. He places high estimate upon the work and serv-
ice of the various religious bodies, and is liberal in his
support of the churches of his home city, where his wife is
an active member of the United Brethren Church.

The maiden name of Mrs. Shinn was Mary Krebbs, and
she was born and reared in Mason County, where her father,
the late Charles Krebbs, was a successful farmer. Mr. and
Mrs. Shinn have no children, but in their home they have
reared six children and given to each of them excellent edu-
cational advantages. Cora, Clara and May Krebbs and
Perry Carter have now departed from the home of the
foster parents, but Adam Krebbs still remains with Mr.
and Mrs. Shinn at the time of this writing, in the spring
of 1922.