Obituary: Granville Hall

- from the Wheeling Intelligencer, June 26, 1947. © Ogden Newspapers; reproduced with permission.

GRANVILLE D. HALL, SECOND STATE SECRETARY, STRICKEN AT AGE OF 96

WAS FORMER EDITOR OF INTELLIGENCER AND HUSBAND OF DOLLY HANCHER HALL

SERVICES AND INTERMENT AT GLENCOE, ILL., WHERE DEATH OCCURRED

Funeral services and interment will take place in Glencoe, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, for Granville Davisson Hall, 96, who served as the second secretary of state of West Virginia from 1865 to 1867. Mr. Hall died Sunday night at his home in Glencoe from injuries received in a recent fall.

Mr. Hall was once editor of The Wheeling Intelligencer and was the husband of a former Wheeling woman, Mrs. Dolly Hancher Hall, sister of Charles N. Hancher, a prominent local jeweler.

Mr. Hall was born in New Salem, Va., and there he spent his early youth. Mr. Hall was serving as a shorthand reported [sic] in the United States Senate when he returned to Wheeling to participate in the formation of the new state of West Virginia. He served as secretary to Governor Francis H. Pierpont when the "Reorganized Government of Virginia" was set up by a convention of Western Virginia residents in Wheeling in 1861. This was two years before West Virginia became the 34th [sic] state in the Union. Mr. Hall subsequently became the second Secretary of State of West Virginia, serving from 1865 to 1867.

Mr. Hall had lived in Chicago for the past 53 years. During his early years he was associated with Ben Pitman, of Cincinnati, a pioneer in the system of shorthand. After leaving Wheeling Mr. Hall became an author of note, one of his most popular books being "The Daughter of the Elm," the scene of which is laid on the old Hood farm near Shinnston, W. Va. He also wrote "The Rending of West Virginia," [sic] which depicts the forming of the state. Until about 1920 Mr. Hall was a contributor of articles to The Wheeling Intelligencer. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Dolly Hancher Hall, and by two sons.

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