Biography of Hon. William Hereford McGinnis

HON. WILLIAM HEREFORD McGINNIS has been a prominent
practitioner at the Raleigh County bar for more than forty
years, and during a large portion of that period has been
a leading figure in public life, having served for six years
as a member of the State Senate and also having occupied
other positions. His public service has been of great prac-
tical value to his community, and in his home city of Beck-
ley, as well as elsewhere, he is accounted a leading and
formidable corporation lawyer.

Senator McGinnis was born on Marsh Fork of Coal River,
thirty miles northwest of Beckley, Raleigh County, West
Virginia, and is a son of Hon. James Hereford and Mary
(Williams) McGinnis. James H. McGinnis was born on
the Nibert place, on the Guyandotte River, Logan County,
this state, in 1827, and died at Beckley in 1907. He was a
son of Pyrrhus McGinnis, a native of Frederick County,
Virginia, who was a pioneer of Logan County and a mer-
chant there for many years. In about 1850 Pyrrhus Mc-
Ginnis brought his family to Raleigh County and settled
on Marsh Fork, where he established a mercantile business,
as he did in several other parts of the county. He was a
successful merchant and accumulated several thousand
acres of land, some of which was located near Beckley. He
found time to engage helpfully in school work, and was also
a faithful member of the Methodist Church. When seces-
sion raised its head Mr. McGinnis, a man of positive views
and the courage to voice his opinions, at once took a stand
in favor of the Union, and during the war between the
states was shot at by a Southern sympathizer at Beckley.
Two of his sons, Achilles and T. J., were soldiers in the
Seventh West Virginia Cavalry, the former holding the
rank of first lieutenant, Mr. McGinnis lived to see his
principles vindicated, dying at Beckley in 1874.

James Hereford McGinnis was educated in the common
schools, and as a young man became a school teacher, a vo-
cation which he followed ten years, during which time he
studied law and was admitted to the bar at Barboursville,
West Virginia. It was his desire to enter the army at the
outbreak of the war between the states, but he was severely
afflicted with rheumatism at the time and thus was prevented
from service. Following the war he was one of the few that
could take the test oath, and was a partner of Hon. Sam
Price of Lewisburg, war governor of West Virginia, who
was barred from practice because he could not take the
test oath, but who was not excluded from acting as coun-
sel. Later Mr. McGinnis practiced law all over West Vir-
ginia. A man of great natural ability, fine presence and
magnificent oratorical powers, no one could present a case
in better manner to a jury, and as a result his practice,
general in character but slightly tending toward criminal
cases, was large and important. He had an office at Fay-
etteville for many years, but Beckley was his home. Mr.
McGinnis was a raconteur of parts, and his stories were
much relished by his fellow Masons and others with whom
he was wont to gather in a social way. An ardent repub-
lican, he served as prosecuting attorney in several counties,
and in 1888 was elected to Congress, but was counted out,
and before a Congressional contest could be settled Con-
gress had adjourned, thus preventing him from acting in
the national lower body. Mr. McGinnis married Miss Mary
Williams, who was born in 1830 and died in 1917, a daugh-
ter of William Williams, who came from North Carolina
and settled on Johns Creek in Pike County, Kentucky,
where his daughter was born. She was a life-long Meth-
odist. The children born to James H. and Mary (Will-
iams) McGinnis were: Virginia, the wife of T. K. Scott,
of Beckley; Nancy, who died in young womanhood; Mary,
the widow of John F. Davis, residing at Beckley; Sallie,
who died at the age of eight years; James H., Jr., who died
in childhood; Martha, the wife of W. R. Lilly, an attorney
of Logan; J. Douglas, an attorney of Beckley; and William
Hereford.

William Hereford McGinnis attended the local schools
and as a young man adopted the vocation, temporarily, of
school-teaching. After several terms spent in the rural
schools in 1879 and 1880 he attended Concord Normal
School and then took up his duties as his father's amanu-
ensis. While thus engaged he improved the opportunity to
study law and was admitted to the bar at Hinton while at-
tending court there. For years he was associated with his
father in practice, as he was also with Judge John H.
Hatcher from 1905 until Judge Hatcher ascended the bench
in 1921, or for a period of sixteen years. During the last
ten years Senator McGinnis has devoted his attention almost
exclusively to court practice, has a large and prominent
clientele, and is attorney for many of the corporations, coal
companies and railways here. The dean of the Raleigh
County bar, he was elected prosecuting attorney in 1892,
and served in that office for four years. In 1902 he was
elected to the West Virginia Senate, in which body he
served six years, and was a member of many of the most
important committees. He was one of five democrats in
the Senate and was the nominee of his party for president
of the body. Had he occupied that position he would have
succeeded the governor in case anything had happened to re-
move him from the gubernatorial office. He has been a
democrat since the attainment of his majority, and at one
time knew "every voter in the county and his dog." He
is president of the Raleigh County Bar Association, a di-
rector in the Bank of Raleigh, a Methodist in his religious
faith, and fraternally is affiliated with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has been a delegate to
the Grand Lodge at various times. He has witnessed and
participated in the entire development of Beckley, as at the
time that he commenced the practice of law here the com-
munity was a mud-road town, without railroads or other
modern conveniences, consisting of a blacksmith shop, post
office and court house, scattered around which were the
primitive homes of the residents.

In 1891 Mr. McGinnis was united in marriage with Miss
Sallie Holroyd, a daughter of William Holroyd, of Athens,
Mercer County, West Virginia, and to this union there
have been born four children: James Hereford; William
Holroyd; Mary Nan, the wife of W. W. Goldsmith, an at-
torney of Beckley; and Sarah E., residing with her parents.
James Hereford McGinnis is a graduate of Washington
and Lee University, and is now associated with his father
in the practice of law at Beckley. On April 15, 1917, he
volunteered his services to the United States and trained at
the First Officers' Training Camp, where he secured a sec-
ond lieutenant's commission. He was assigned to duty
with the Twelfth Machine Gun Battalion, and was on the
battle lines of Chateau Thierry and Argonne Forest and
with the Army of Occupation in Germany. During his
service he was slightly gassed on one occasion, and at
Chateau Thierry, for gallantry in action, was promoted first
lieutenant and received a number of citations. William Hol-
royd McGinnis volunteered in February, 1918, was assigned
to the same command as his brother, and advanced from
private to sergeant. He was on the battle lines of St. Mi-
hiel, Chateau Thierry and Argonne Forest, and received
the Distinguished Service Cross for the rescue of two
wounded comrades. He was at the Officers' Training Camp
at LaMons, France, when the armistice was signed. Mrs.
McGinnis is a Methodist, and the children have been reared
in the faith of that church.


Source: The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 116-117

Submitted by Valerie F. Crook <vfcrook@trellis.net>

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