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                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                                CERTIFICATIONS*

I, Francis I. duPont, III, certify that:

      1.    I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of First National
            Bancshares, Inc.;

      2.    Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
            statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
            necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
            under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect
            to the period covered by this annual report;

      3.    Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
            information included in this annual report, fairly present in all
            material respects the financial condition, results of operations and
            cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented
            in this annual report;

      4.    The registrant's other certifying officers and I are responsible for
            establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
            defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) for the
            registrant and have:

            a) designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
            disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
            supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
            registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
            to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
            period in which this annual report is being prepared;

            b) [This paragraph intentionally left blank]

c) evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and
procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness
of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered
by this report based on such evaluation

            and

            d) disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal
            control over financial reporting that occurred during the
            registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth
            fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially
            affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
            registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

      5.    The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed,
            based on our most recent evaluation, to the registrant's auditors
            and the audit committee of registrant's board of directors (or
            persons performing the equivalent functions):

            a) all significant deficiencies in the design or operation of
            internal controls which could adversely affect the registrant's
            ability to record, process, summarize and report financial data and
            have identified for the registrant's auditors any material
            weaknesses in internal controls; and

            b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
            other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's
            internal controls.

Date: March 29, 2005                       /s/ Francis I. duPont, III
                                           Title: Chief Executive Officer