Preston County, West Virginia Biography of George A. WALLS ************************************************************************** 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, , April 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 129-130 GEORGE A. WALLS, a resident of Kingwood forty years, was for more than a quarter of a century connected with the office of county clerk as deputy or chief, has also been in business, and his record is one of public spirited par- ticipation in the work and affairs that have constituted the progressive history of the community. He represents one of the families that have lived in Preston County for a century or more. Their original seat was at Bruceton Mills in Preston County. Mr. Walls' great-grandfather came to this country from England. His grandfather, Charles Walls, established his home in Pres- ton County, was a farmer and died seven years before the Civil war. He married Elizabeth Foreman, and both are now at rest near Pisgah, Preston County. Their children were: Jonathan, who was killed in the Civil war; Eli J., a farmer who always lived in his native community; Ami F.; George W., who spent his life on the home farm; Annie, who became the wife of Col. William H. King; Jemimah, who died as the wife of Andrew S. McNair; and Mrs. Malinda Jenkins. Ami F. Walls, father of George A. Walls, was born near Bruceton in 1828, grew up on his father's farm, and aside from a brief residence at Keokuk, Iowa, spent all his life in Preston County. Farming was his life work, and his death occurred at the age of fifty-nine. He was called out as a soldier in the Civil war a short time before the surrender of General Lee, but did not participate in any field duty. He was a democrat in politics. Ami F. Walls married Elizabeth Adams, who was born near Bruceton, and she died in 1913, when past seventy-three. Her chil- dren were: Abner F., a farmer at Pisgah; George Adams; Sophronia T., wife of Adam Lyons, living near Gans, Penn- sylvania; Chester L., of Morgantown, West Virginia; Omer, a farmer at Pisgah; Charles, a merchant at Morgantown; and Margaret, of Morgantown. George Adams Walls was born on the home farm at what is now Pisgah, Preston County, March 23, 1862. He grew up there, taking an increasing share in the work of the farm, attended the common schools, and spent one term in West Virginia University when John R. Thompson was president. The university then had an enrollment of per- haps 400 students, while now it is a great school with 2,000 students. Mr. Walls was a student in the preparatory de- partment, studied Latin and other subjects, and secured an equipment that would have fitted him for teaching had he chosen that vocation. At the age of nineteen, August 1, 1881, Mr. Walls came to Kingwood and entered the office of County Clerk J. Ami Martin. He was deputy to Mr. Martin fifteen years, and in 1896 was himself elected on the republican ticket as county clerk and filled the office two terms. When he re- tired in 1908 he had rounded out twenty-seven years of ac- tive duty as clerk of the County Court and had the repu- tation of being one of the best clerks in the State of West Virginia. Following that Mr. Walls was a silent partner in a mercantile firm at Kingwood until 1919, when he sold out his business affairs and is now practically retired. For two years, from January 1, 1917, to January 1, 1919, he returned to the Court House as bookkeeper or office deputy for Sheriff J. D. Browning. Mr. Walls has never been a political leader or party manager, but has steadfastly supported and worked for the success of the republicans in his county, state and national affairs. He cast his first presidential ballot for James G. Blaine, and has participated in every general election since that time. Mr. Walls has filled the various chairs of the local lodge of Knights of Pythias and has sat as a mem- ber of the Grand Lodge. His parents were good Metho- dists, and in later years he became an active member of that church and for fifteen years was recording steward and treasurer of the Kingwood Church and has also been superintendent of the Sunday school. Mrs. Walls is one of the prominent members of the Kingwood Methodist Church, has been active in the Woman's Foreign Missionary So- ciety, and for thirty-six years hag been a member of the church choir. She began singing for the church when six- teen years of age. The first wife of Mr. Walls was Miss Belle Snyder. By this marriage he has a daughter, Cora, now the wife of Forest M. McDaniel, of Clarksburg, and the mother of a son, Malcolm Wayne McDaniel. May 24, 1893, at Kingwood, Mr. Walls married Miss Olive E. Parks, daughter of the late James W. Parks, a native of Preston County and who for a number of years, up to his death, was cashier of the Bank of Kingwood. The mother of Mrs. Walls was Mary Electa Heermans, daughter of John Heermans. John Heermans was one of the notable citizens of Preston County in his day. He was born at Hyde Park, Pennsylvania, March 27, 1814, learned the blacksmith's trade with his brother Sylvanus, and followed that occupation until 1842, when he removed to Ottawa, Illinois. Illness in his family caused him to re- turn East, and he was associated with his brother Sylvanus in the mercantile business at Hyde Park. Selling out in 1845, he removed to Rush in Susquehanna County, Pennsyl- vania, was a merchant there on his own account and also engaged in the lumber business, rafting the finished lum- ber to market. In 1849, he brought his family to Preston County, West Virginia, and for several years was a success- ful merchant here. John Heermans was conspicuous for his zeal in the advocacy of the temperance cause and at a time when such advocacy won him much public odium, in spite of which he persisted in doing what he was con- vinced was right, and became a leader in the prohibition movement in this section of the state. Otherwise he was an ardent member of the republican party, and he once wrote a powerful article on the protective tariff which in the opinion of competent critics, would have done honor to the editorial pen of Horace Greeley, himself. Mr. Heer- mans was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. By his first marriage, to Mary Pepper, he was the father of five children. Mrs. Walls had a twin brother who died in childhood. Her father, James W. Parks, died January 10, 1912, and her mother passed away March 8, 1911. Mrs. Walls was educated in the Kingwood schools and finished her musical course in Baltimore.