Pocahontas County, West Virginia Biography of SAMUEL B. WALLACE This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: 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/pocahont.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 539 Pocahontas SAMUEL B. WALLACE. One of the large business con- cerns at Marlinton, West Virginia, is the wholesale drug house of S. B. Wallace & Company, which was founded in 1903, in a small way, by its present president and treasurer, Samuel B. Wallace. Questioned concerning the evident success that has crowned his efforts, Mr. Wallace attributes it to hard work, but in no complaining mood, for he is quick to add "work is a blessed privilege." This undoubtedly is considered rank heresay by those of his fellow men who apparently take pleasure in awaiting a mythical "oppor- tunity" to catch up with them, but Mr. Wallace has been in the habit of making opportunities rather than awaiting them, and financial success and mental contentment have rewarded him. Samuel B. Wallace was born at Fairfleld, Rockbridge County, Virginia, September 29, 1879, and until eighteen years of age lived there with his parents, John W. and Jennie (Tysinger) Wallace. He was educated in the pub- lic schools, attending the high school, after which for a time he was a clerk in a general store in his native town, subsequently finding a wider field for his energy and busi- ness enterprise as a traveling salesman for a Baltimore wholesale drug establishment, and still later in the same capacity was honorably connected with a Charleston whole- sale drug house. In 1903 Mr. Wallace came from Charleston to Marlinton, and his interests have been centered here ever since. In June of that year he embarked in the retail drug business, to which he devoted close attention, and gradually, through business integrity and practical business methods, built up a prosperous trade, in the meanwhile taking advantage of a favorable opportunity for expanding into the wholesale line. The two departments were continued until 1910 as one business, but both were maintained until January 1, 1920, when the retail end of the business was entirely closed out, and since then Mr. Wallace has given his entire atten- tion to the wholesale business, in which he had earlier such excellent training and wide experience. In 1915 the busi- ness was incorporated as S. B. Wallace & Company, with a capitalization of $50,000. The company owns a fine brick business home, gives employment to fourteen individuals, and has a trade territory that covers some eight counties in West Virginia and Virginia. This establishment and its volume of business would be creditable in a much larger place than Marlinton. On April 30, 1902, Mr. Wallace married Miss Eleanor Virginia Bennick, of New Market, Shenandoah County, Vir- ginia. Mr. Wallace is a member of the Lutheran Church. He is active in good citizenship, is a member of the town council and president of the Pocahontas County Fair As- sociation, and during the World war was generous and helpful in advancing patriotic movements. He is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity.