Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/576

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COLUMBIA AND CONTOUR COUNTIES

having a frontage o f 80 feet and detith o f 300 feet, moroughly cquip)>cd with all the modem wood-working machinery required in the manufacture o f high-grade furniture o f all kinds. T he company’s sjiectaltics, however, arc sideboards and dressers, and their articles in this line are noted fo r individuality and original designs. I'h eir aim is to combine con­ scientious construction with beauty o f lines and carefu l finish, giving touches which dis­ tinguish artistic products, without in any way lessening their usefulness. T he M onroe-flall Company market their goods all over the United Slates, and the high-grade nuterial and expert workmanship put into their prod­ uct enables it to compete with the best wher­ ever introduced. In the various departments of the factory constant employment is a f ­ forded fo r from 150 to 17 5 hands, skilled workmen and their a.ssistani.s, and fo r this alone the pUint would hold an important rela­ tion to the industrial prosperity o f Blooms­ burg. T he quantity o f lumlKr used annually amounts to over two million feet. M r. Mon­ roe devotes the greater part o f his time to his duties as president and treasurer of the Monroe-H all Company, and has nude a place for him self among the substantial business men of the liorough. He is also president of the M onroc-ilclicrling Ice Cream Company, of N ewark. N. J ., whose business is confined to the wholesale trade. Fraternally he is a .Mason, ticionging to W ashington 1-odge, No. 265. F. & A. M .; H!oom.sburg R oyal Arch Chapter, No. 2 1 8; Crusade Commandery, No. 12, k. T .; Caldwell Consistory (thirty-second degree), and Irem Tem ple, A. A. O. N. M. S ., o f W ilkes-Barre. On Ju ly 3. i8yy. Mr. Monroe was marrietl 10 Bessie .Stocks, o f Eau Claire, W is„ daugh­ ter o f W. II. and .m clia Stocks, and they have one child. Claire. T he fam ily are Pres­ byterians in church connection. W IL L IA .M K A S K W E S T is one of the distinguished attorneys at Danville, Montour county, where he has been in active practice since his admission 10 the bar, in 1886. T he W ests have been prominent in Montour ctiunty from the time o f its foundation, and his father, (icoi^ c W. W est, was for years county surveyor, lieing noted fo r the accuracy and rcliabilitv u f his work. T h on u s Vcst, great-grandfather o f W il­ liam K ase W est, w as o f English-German dess'cnt and w as liorn in Schoharie county, N . V. H e built a log house near the paternal homestead and there cngagetl in tilling the soil

for n u n y years. Upon the outbreak of the Revolutionary w ar he left a happy home and fam ily to battle fo r independence. He hail the misfortune to be taken prisoner by the Eng­ lish. but after a short term o f imprisonment effected his escape and organized a conijuny, o f which he was captain, and rendered valu­ able aid to the .American cause. In 1808, or soon after, he and his children removed to A rarat. Susquehanna Co., P a., where he took up land and passed the remainder o f his life. e <li«xl at the age o f sixty years, and his wife attained the advanced age o f eighty. They had the follow ing children: T h o n u s. Han­ nah. Jon es, Benjam in, W illiam. N atluniel. Pcrm clia and Eunice. W illiam Wcst, grandfather o f William K ase W est, w as bom in Schoharie county, N. Y .. near Schenectady, and learned the trade of blacksmith. .After moving to Susquehanna county with his parents he cleared a farm and cngagc<l in agrictiliunil work. I-rtcr he set­ tled at M asonville. Delaware Co.. N. Y „ where he continued at his trade until his <leath, which occurred at the age o f seventy-five years. H e m arried Eliza Rogers, who w as liorn in DcLiwarc county, N. Y .. daughter o f Koliert Rogers, fo r many years a sea captain. T iring o f that life Captain R e fe rs wishing to csi.abtish an inland home, bought a farm in Delaware county, .V. Y .. and followed ag ricu l­ ture. I-ater he built a boat and wilh his fa m ­ ily sailed down the river to Chesapeake lu y. where he spent the remainder o f his life. M r. W est and his w ife became the parents o f two children. George Williston .and Rol>crt Rogers. Mrs. Eliza (R o g ers) West died at the early age o f twenty-seven years, and W il­ liam West subsequently married Hannah Dcmcnshaw. by whom he had three children, Milo, F ilo and Jalicz. (ieorge Willi.stnn W est w as bom Sept. 30, 18 18 . in Delaware county. N . Y .. and attended the common schools and seminar)' there. H e liegan life on his own account at the age o f thirteen years, in the employ o f a farm er .it Mount .'rarat. Pa., ami by practicing itrict economy sa ic d enough from his scanty wages to enable him to reenter school al Ihc age o f nineteen years, at Birch .Academy. He re ­ mained there fo r one tcm i, a fte r which he took a course at the W yoming .Academy, be­ ing one o f Ihe first students at that institution, where he studied su n eyin g. He then taught school six years in what was then Columbia (now Montour) county, coming hither in 1845. In 1850. when Montour county w .is organized, he received the ap|iointmeiil o f