Center County PA

Biography of George W. Staver

George W. Staver, president and founder of one of the largest mercantile corporations on the Pacific Coast was born in Brush Valley, Center county, Pennsylvania, November 18, 1836. He is of German and Scotch-Irish ancestry and was reared upon a farm. Soon after his birth his parents moved to Sugar Valley, Clinton county, Pennsylvania, and remained on the same farm until 1854, when they came ‘to Illinois, but a year later settled near Monroe, Green county, Wisconsin. Here his father, Frederick Staver, still resides, at the advanced age of eighty-one years. Our subject received from his father a most thorough … Read more

Biographical Sketch of A. W. Kreamer

A. W. Kreamer, lumber merchant, was born in Center County, Pa., December 6, 1844. He attended school at Marklseville Normal Institute. Also attended the Union Seminary in Union County, Pa. He united with the Evangelical Church, and has been a minister of that denomination from 1867 until the present time. He came to Jewell City, Kan., in February 1879, when he had charge of the church at that place, until 1880. He then engaged in the lumber business. Was married in Montoursvilie, Lycoming Co., Pa., August 10, 1869, to Miss L. A. Strevey, and has two children – William E., … Read more

Biography of John S. Stover

John S. Stover. During an unusually busy life many important interests have claimed the attention of John S. Stover, one of Lincoln’s representative and substantial citizens, these including financial, agricultural, mercantile and political, and few men are better known in Lincoln County or more generally trusted and esteemed. He comes of old Pennsylvania stock and in that state the name of Stover is yet well and honorably represented. John S. Stover was born at Boalsburg, Center County, Pennsylvania, September 29, 1870. His parents were David and Elvina (Sechler) Stover. David Stover was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, in 1838, and … Read more

Biography of Hon. James Kerr Kelly

HON. JAMES KERR KELLY. – Among the men of distinction in our state, none have held a position of eminence for a longer time than Senator Kelly. It requires stamina to stand for thirty years upon “the hard and wintry peaks of fame.” We are the more assured of eminent qualities of the Colonel when we consider that he came to this coast and started upon bed-rock. Family ties, name, favoritism, may elevate men of no ability to high positions in older communities; but in the Oregon of an early day artificial conditions did not exist. A man came near … Read more

Biography of John A. Wagner

JOHN A. WAGNER. Deceased- In the person of the esteemed gentleman whose name is at the head of this article we have one of the first of Union county’s settlers and a man who bore the brunt of assisting to open upthis section for the settlement of man and in developing the same, while he was ever enterprising and progressive, both in his private business operations as well as in the interests of the welfare of the county at large, and it is eminently fitting that a memorial be accorded to him in these abiding chronicles of our county, where … Read more

Biography of James K. Kelly

For many years James K. Kelly has been a prominent man in the legal and political history of Oregon, and has left upon the annals of this section of the Union the impress of his personality. In positions of honor and trust he has maintained an exalted standard of excellence and according to the dictates of his conscience and judgment his influence has been cast for the agencies he believed to be conducive to the true interests of the people. A fitting record of the part he has borne in many important events during his long residence in Oregon, very … Read more

Biography of Gideon R. Wolfe

Gideon R. Wolfe has one of the longest records of public service of any county officer in Kansas. For practically a quarter of a century he had been county surveyor of Ellsworth County. Mr. Wolfe is a man of thorough technical training and experience and is a pioneer in Western Kansas. He was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, April 29, 1829, and undoubtedly he is also entitled to distinction as one of the oldest men still active in public service. He was eighty-eight years of age at his last birthday. He comes of English stock, the Wolfes having located in … Read more

Biography of Mark H. Williams

Mark H. Williams, now living retired at Barnes and enjoying the accumulations of many well spent years, is a veteran of the Civil war and had been a resident of Barnes and of the State of Kansas since 1885. He is a native Pennsyivanian, and the family was introduced to that state from Scotland by his grandfather, Evan Williams, who was born in Scotland in 1771. He was a millwright by trade, and followed that occupation for many years in Pennsylvania. He died in Center County, of that state, in 1854. It was in Center County, Pennsylvania, that Mark H. … Read more

Biography of John H. Smythe

John H. Smythe. The life of John Henry Smythe, who for many years had served as city clerk of Eureka, had been one that exemplifies the true spirit and practice of service. He had always been a worker. He had performed faithfully those duties that have come to him in a long career, whether as a soldier on the battlefield, as an employe of business concerns, or as a public official. While he had attained none of the conspicuous places in business or public life, there is much that is honorable, instructive and praiseworthy in what he had done, and … Read more