James Paull (West Virginia politician)

James Paull, Jr. (May 3, 1901 – March 8, 1983) was the Democratic president of the West Virginia Senate from Brooke County from 1943 to 1945. He was an attorney by profession and started his distinguished career practicing law in Wheeling, West Virginia. He served twelve years in the West Virginia Senate including his term as Senate President. He later joined Eagle Manufacturing Company in 1951 as president. Eagle Manufacturing Company is a prosperous business which was founded by his father in 1894 and remains family owned in Wellsburg, West Virginia. He was a prominent and well-respected member of the community, active in civic organizations and held leadership positions in West Virginia business and political arenas.

He was born in Wheeling and one of two children of James Paull and Mariana Jacob Paull of Wellsburg. His father was an important and successful business man in the state and his grandfather, Judge James Paull, was a profound jurist and widely regarded as one of the most able public men of West Virginia who served as a West Virginia Supreme Court justice.

He was graduated from Washington and Jefferson College and Yale Law School. On September 5, 1934 he married Helen Catherine Prugh of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and they had four children: James III, Laura, Helen and Robert. In addition to the four children, he is also survived by eight grandchildren. James is buried at the family grave site in Wellsburg.