Utah Since Statehood
Author is Noble Warrum - 1919

FRANK L. NARAMORE. D. D. S.

Dentistry is unique among the professions in that it demands excellence of a three fold character. The dentist must not only be possessed of broad scientific knowledge but also of marked mechanical skill and ingenuity and must moreover have those qualities which enable him to successfully direct the financial interests of the profession.  Well qualified in all these particulars is Dr. Frank L. Naramore, who has been a representative of the dental profession in Ogden for a period of fourteen years. He comes to the west from Rochester, New York, where he was born on the 12^th of August. 1867.  His father, Dr. John Naramore, also a native of the Empire state, was likewise a dentist by profession and held high rank in his chosen calling. He died in Portage, Wisconsin, in 1888 and for a period of almost a quarter of a century was survived by his widow, who bore the maiden name of Eliza Childs and who passed away in 1912. 

Frank L. Naramore pursued his early education in the schools of Rochester, New York, and in preparation for a professional career entered the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated with the class of 1891 with the degree of D. D. S.  He had previously practiced for seven years before his graduation in his father's office and had thus gained much valuable knowledge concerning the care and preservation of the teeth and the actual work of dental surgery. For ten years following the completion of his course in the University of Pennsylvania he practiced in the southern and eastern states and in 1901 came to Salt Lake City, Utah. Later he removed to Morgan, Utah, where he remained for four years and then came to Ogden, where he has since continued, actively devoting his attention to his professional duties, which have constantly grown in volume and importance throughout the period of his residence in Ogden. His office is located at the corner of Twenty-fifth and Hudson avenue. He is also interested in various business concerns, notably the Detachable Plowshare Edge Manufacturing Company, of which he is the treasurer and one of the directors.  Fraternally Dr. Naramore is connected with the Elks Lodge, No. 719, and is also a member of the Loyal Order of Moose and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He has social qualities which make for personal popularity among all who know him and throughout Ogden is held in the highest esteem.

CHARLES ARTHUR NELSON.

Charles Arthur Nelson, engaged in the livery business at Ogden, was born September 30, 1855, in the city which is still his home. His parents were David and Sarah (Brown) Nelson, the former a native of Shrewsbury, Worcester county, Massachusetts, born June 6, 1801, while the latter was born in Bedford, England, March 16, 1816. The father came to Utah in 1852, settling first at Kaysville, and in 1855 he removed to Ogden, where he spent his remaining days. He was a painter by trade and followed that occupation for a considerable period and he also owned and operated a farm in the vicinity of Ogden. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and became a ward teacher. He was likewise prominent in promoting irrigation work and in road building and supported every project that he believed would prove of benefit to the community at large. The cause of education found in him a stalwart champion.  He died in the year 1882, while the mother passed away in 1883. The father was the first painter in Weber county and was closely identified with the pioneer development of the region. He also assisted in building the Ogden canyon road. 

Charles A. Nelson acquired his early education in the schools of Ogden and at an early day engaged in the livery business. Thirty years ago he purchased and conducted a livery barn on Twenty-fourth street, at his present location, and at one time he had forty head of horses and modern vehicles of all kinds. He has always continued in the livery business and he has had the distinction of driving some eminent personages, including Lord and Lady Dufferin. when the former was governor general of Canada and when he and his wife were making a tour of Utah. He also drove the Marquis of Lome and Princess Louise of Canada when the former was occupying the position of governor general.

In 1880 Mr. Nelson was married to Miss Jane Elizabeth West, a daughter of Bishop C. W. and Martha (Joiner) West, the former a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Utah in 1847. Mrs. Nelson passed away in 1915 and of their four children two are also deceased. Charles Lewis, the eldest, and Earl Joiner, the youngest. The others are: Henry Walker, who is now a practicing physician; and Guy Brown, a machinist with the Oldsmobile Company. In the course of a long and active business career Mr. Nelson has had many interesting experiences and has ever enjoyed a wide acquaintance in Ogden, where his residence now covers a period of sixty-four years, so that he is familiar with practically the entire history of the city.

HENRY WALKER NELSON, M. D.

Dr. Henry Walker Nelson, a successful physician practicing with offices in the Eccles building at Ogden, was born April 6, 1882, in the city which is still his home, and is a son of Jane Elizabeth West and Charles A. Nelson, mentioned elsewhere in this work.

He acquired his early education in the public schools, passing through consecutive grades to his graduation from the high school of Ogden on the 1st of June, 1901. He afterward entered the University of Utah, in which he won the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1911. The same year he became a student in the University of Chicago, remaining there for a year, and then matriculated in the Rush Medical College of Chicago, from which he was graduated on the 20th of March, 1914, having completed a thorough course in medicine and surgery in that institution. He was then made an interne In St. Luke's Hospital of Chicago and through the succeeding year gained that broad and valuable knowledge and experience which can never be as quickly secured in any other way as in hospital practice. Returning to Ogden in 1915, he opened an office and was actively engaged in the practice of medicine in his native city until 1918, when, on the 13th of September, he was commissioned a first lieutenant of the Medical Corps of the United States army. He thus served until July 1, 1919, being on duty at the Medical Officers Training Camp, Fort Riley, Kansas, and later as Assistant Camp Sanitary Inspector at Camp Meade, Maryland. He was the medical member of the Ogden City Exemption Board from its organization until the time of his acceptance as a member of the Medical Corps in September, 1918.  Dr. Nelson has been not only prominent and active in professional circles but also as a worker in the church. He served on a mission to Germany from September, 1901, until November, 1904, and was a member of the old Weber Stake Sunday School Board from 1905 until 1907. He then became a member of the High Council of the North Weber stake, filling that office until 1909, and from 1904 until 1905 he was superintendent of the Third Ward Sunday School.

Before entering upon his university work Dr. Nelson was from June 1, 1905, until January 1, 1909, connected with the Scrowcroft & Sons Company. He then determined to engage in the practice of medicine and qualified in the Chicago college, as previously indicated. He has always kept in touch with the trend of modern professional thought and experience and is justly accounted one of the able young physicians of northern Utah.

FRANKLIN C. OSGOOD, D. D. S.

Dr. Franklin C. Osgood, a prominent representative of the dental profession in Ogden. utilizing in his practice the latest scientific knowledge that investigation and research have brought to light and further known in business circles of the city as the vice president of the Boyd Lumber Company, was born at La Grange, Lewis county, Missouri, November 9, 1881. His father Samuel Pierce Osgood, is a native of Illinois and a representative of one of the old families of Massachusetts that was founded in America by three brothers, James, John and Amos Osgood, who came to the new world on the Mayflower. The ancestral line of Dr. Osgood is traced back to James Osgood.  Samuel P. Osgood, the father of our subject, is a graduate of the Chicago Conservatory of Music and devoted the years of an active professional career to the teaching of music, in which he was very successful. He is now living retired, making his home at Longbeach. California. He is a Civil war veteran, having enlisted for service in an Illinois regiment during the period of hostilities between the north and the south.  He served with the rank of first lieutenant and is now a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, thus maintaining pleasant relations with his old military comrades.  He has long been an active supporter of the republican party and was prominent in political circles in Missouri. He is also an exemplary member of the Masonic fraternity, manifesting in his life the beneficent spirit of the craft. He married Ella Bagby, a native of Bushnell, Illinois, and of English descent. She also survives and ten of their eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, are yet living.

Dr. Osgood, who was the seventh child of the family, pursued his early education in the public and high schools of La Grange, Missouri, and later attended La Grange College. After leaving that institution, having determined upon the practice of dentistry as a life work, he matriculated in the Western Dental College of Kansas City, Missouri, and afterward continued his studies in the Chicago College of Dental Surgery, from which he was graduated in 1905 with the D. D. S. degree. He entered upon the practice of his profession at Coalville, Utah, where he remained for five months and then took a post-graduate course in the Chicago College of Dental Surgery, thus still further promoting his efficiency and skill. Settling in Ogden, he opened an office and with the passing years his practice has steadily grown. He is regarded as one of the prominent members of the dental profession in his part of the state and he keeps in touch with the latest improvements in dentistry and with the latest scientific investigations through his membership in the Ogden Dental Club, the Utah State Dental Society, of which he has served as secretary, and the American National Dental Association. Aside from his professional interests he has other business affairs of importance. He is the president of the Farmers' & Merchants' Bank at Idaho Falls, Idaho, is the president and manager of the Osgood Land & Live Stock Company, an Idaho corporation, and vice president of the Boyd Lumber Company of Ogden, while of the Ogden Iron Works he is one of the directors. He is a man of sound business judgment and keen sagacity and the wisdom of his investments is manifest in the excellent results which have attended his efforts along these different lines. 

In Coalville, Utah, Dr. Osgood was married on the 10th of October, 1907, to Miss Ella C. Hubenthal, a native of Waukesha, Wisconsin. Dr. and Mrs. Osgood have become parents of three children: Franklin Earl, who was born in Ogden, September 30, 1908; Helen Mae, October 2, 1910; and Ruth Louise, April 1, 1915. The family resides at No. 1026 Twenty-fourth street, where Dr. Osgood owns a pleasant home. 

Dr. Osgood occupies a prominent position in social as well as professional circles.  He is the president of the Ogden Club, of which he has also served as the secretary, and he belongs to the Weber Club and to the Ogden Country Club. In politics he is a stalwart republican, having given unfaltering allegiance to the principles of the party since attaining his majority. During the period of the war, in order to do his bit, he closed his office and gave his attention to the cultivation of sixty-four hundred and eighty acres of land which he planted to wheat. Fraternally he is a well known Mason, belonging to Unity Lodge, No. 18, A. F. & A. M., of Ogden, of which he is the present Master; Ogden Chapter, No. 2, R. A. M., of which he is past high priest; El Monte Commandery, K. T. ; and El Kalah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Salt Lake City.  He is also connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the World and The Maccabees.

His religious faith is manifest in his membership in the First Presbyterian church and at one time he served as superintendent of its Sunday school. He takes a keen interest in all that pertains to the material, intellectual, social and moral progress of the city and any interest that tends to uplift the individual or promote the welfare of society is sure to receive his endorsement and support. His ideals of life are high and he utilizes every opportunity to raise himself to their level. His professional activity is the highest expression of dental science and altogether his life has been marked by steady progress and successful achievement.

GEORGE A. PALMER.

George A. Palmer is the owner of an attractive farm residence which stands in the midst of twenty-two acres of highly cultivated land at Plain City, where he was born in 1873. He is a son of Edward J. Palmer, mentioned elsewhere in this work. He acquired his education in the schools of Plain City and has always given his attention to agricultural pursuits as a life work. He was early trained to the duties of the fields and became familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops.  He has always devoted his energies to general farming and now has an excellent tract of land of twenty-two acres, which he has brought under a high state of cultivation.  In addition he has twenty-five acres of grazing land. His farm is splendidly improved with modern buildings, none of the equipments and accessories of the model farm of the twentieth century being lacking upon his place. He is also a director and the secretary of the Plain City Irrigation Company.

In November, 1898, Mr. Palmer was united in marriage to Miss Mary Catherine Knight, a daughter of William and Florence (Dunne) Knight. They have become parents of five children: Florence Eunice, now the wife of Wheatly Blanch, residing at Plain City; George Lyle; Mabel Vivian; Catherine Louise; and Marjorie. Mr.  Palmer is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is the president of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, and from 1911 to 1913 was superintendent of the Plain City, North Weber stake, Sunday school. He has served as a member of the Seventy and was on a mission to England, leaving Plain City in 1914 and remaining in that country for two years. Returning in 1916, he has since given his attention to his farming interests and his progressive spirit is manifest in the attractive and well kept appearance of his place.

JOSEPH M. PANTONE.

Joseph M. Pantone is the senior partner in the firm of J. M. Pantone & Son, piano dealers of Ogden who also handle piano players and talking machines. He was born in Naples, Italy, September 27, 1867, a son of Michael and Marie Pantone. The father died about thirty years ago but the mother is still living in the east. 

Joseph M. Pantone was brought to the United States when six years of age, landing at New York after a voyage of forty-eight days on a sailing vessel in company with his parents. They encountered severe weather and the boat was given up for lost.  However, the port of New York was ultimately reached and the Pantone family became residents of Troy, New York, where they remained for two years.  Later Joseph M. Pantone was a pupil in the public schools of Indianapolis, Indiana, and in 1904 he made his way westward with Ogden, Utah, as his destination. He had been educated along musical lines, thus developing his native talent, and as a violinist he joined the Orpheum Theatre Orchestra, with which he was connected for a number of years. About twelve years ago he turned his attention to the piano business and has now one of the leading music stores of Ogden. handling the pianos of various well known manufacturers and also selling talking machines and piano players. In his store are to be found six different makes of pianos. Mr. Pantone is himself an accomplished violinist and he is the possessor of some very fine violins. 

On the 10th of February, 1894, Mr. Pantone was married to Miss Mary F. Liberator of Louisville, Kentucky. They have become parents of six children: Marie, twenty-two years of age, who attended the public schools and a business college of Ogden; Michael, who is with his father in the firm of J. M. Pantone & Son; Edwin, Josephine and Joseph M., Jr., all in school; and Dorothy.

Mr. Pantone is a member of the American Federation of Musicians and is an honorary member of the local organization. No. 353. His family have inherited his musical talent, his children all being musical. Mr. Pantone's success is the direct outcome of his business ability, his trustworthiness and his progressiveness.

DELBERT H. PAPE.

Delbert H. Pape, of Ogden, whose business ability is manifest in his successful control of his extensive interests, his position in business circles being that of manager for the Lion Coal Company and for the Wyoming Coal Company, two large concerns has worked his way upward through successive stages of business development He had no special advantages at the outset of his career but he early recognized the truth that was voiced by the old Greek sage Epicharmus: "Earn thy reward: the gods give naught to sloth." His life therefore has been one of intense and well directed energy and today he has charge of interests which are a source of material value to the community and of substantial profit to the stockholders. Mr. Pape is numbered among the native sons of Park City, Utah. He was born January 11, 1884, a son of Matthew Hill Pape. a native of England, who came to the United States in 1868 and made his way at once to Salt Lake City, where he engaged in contracting and building. He is now living retired at Twin Palls, Idaho. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Hannah Richards, was born in Canada and also survives.

While spending his youthful days in his parents' home. Delbert H. Pape attended the public schools of Park City and afterward continued his studies in the high school at Salt Lake. He started out in the business world in connection with the mining interests of Park City and was thus employed for several years. He afterward took up office work under A. E. Welborn in the employ of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company and subsequently was with the Oregon Short Line Railroad for a brief period in 1906. On the 1st of January. 1907, he became connected with the Central Coal & Coke Company under F. P. Gridley, serving as a clerk with that company up to the time when he took charge of the interests now under his control, becoming general manager for the Lion Coal Company on the 15th of April, 1914. He is also the general manager for the Wyoming Coal Company, both large concerns heavily capitalized, the stock being all owned by local men. The mines are at Rock Springs, Wyoming. The Lion Coal Company has met with substantial and notable success under the direction of Mr. Pape.  for when he took hold the business was not paying. His efforts have made it a prosperous concern, operating extensively in the coal fields and making large shipments. 

On the 2d of September, 1914, Mr. Pape was married to Miss Neila Nelson, a native of North Dakota, and they have become the parents of two children, Helen Margaret and Mary Jane, who are yet living. They also lost a daughter, Elise. who passed away at the age of one year.

Mr. Pape belongs to the Weber Club, also to the Rotary Club and when leisure permits he greatly enjoys fishing and hunting, taking his recreation in that way. He is a very capable executive, a man of marked industry, always courteous and obliging. He was called upon for government service during the war, becoming field distributor of coal in Wyoming under Gr. Garfield, the federal fuel administrator. Mr. Pape had charge of the federal distribution of coal over his district and rendered important service in that connection. He has ever stood loyally for any interest that has for its object the welfare of his locality or the advancement of his country's interests and he stands as a high type of American manhood and citizenship.

WILLIAM N. PETTERSON.

William N. Petterson. superintendent of the schools of Weber county and a prominent figure in the educational circles of Utah, was born upon a farm near Ogden, January 18, 1870. His father, H. D. Petterson, was born near Malmo, Sweden, and in 1856 came to Utah, where he followed farming and stock raising. He passed away January 5, 1905. He had been active throughout his life in the work of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was on a mission to Sweden from 1881 until 1883. The mother of William N. Petterson, Mrs. Mary Ann (McFarland) Petterson, was born near Glasgow, Scotland, and died March 4, 1917. They were married in the old Endowment House in Salt Lake City. With the interests of Utah through the period of early development and also through the period of later day progress Mr. Petterson was closely associated, and the family has long been an honored one of the state. 

William N. Petterson pursued his education in the schools of Weber county, in the city schools of Ogden, in the Weber Academy and in the University of Utah. He early turned to the profession of teaching, which he followed in connection with the graded schools of Ogden, and afterward became principal of schools, serving in that capacity in connection with the Grant Avenue and Madison Avenue schools for a number of years. In 1904 he was elected superintendent of public schools and has continuously served in that capacity to the present time save for a period of three years. He has been very successful in his school management and has inspired teachers and pupils under him with much of his own zeal and interest in the work. He has developed the schools of Weber county to a high standard and is constantly seeking new methods which will stimulate the interest of the young or will improve the instruction given them. 

In 1906 Mr. Petterson was united in marriage to Miss Bessie Severn, a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Harrison) Severn. They have become the parents of four children: William N., Jr., who was twelve years of age on the 30th of July, 1918, and is now a junior in the high school; Harlan David, who was born August 2, 1909; Parke Severn, four years of age; and Wendall K., two years of age.  Mr. Petterson is an earnest and active worker in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has been connected with the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, in which he was an earnest worker, and also in the Sunday school. He finds interest and recreation in farming and stock raising and is the secretary-treasurer of the Petterson Live Stock Company, Inc., in Boxelder county. He is a man of wide professional influence, highly esteemed by all who know him and popular alike with teachers, pupils and the general public.

JEDEDIAH WILLIAM PIDCOCK. JR. M. D.

Many regard the practice of medicine as the most important work to which man has turned his attention. The responsibilities and demands of the profession are many and varied, and measuring up to the highest standards, J. W. Pidcock is accounted one of the foremost physicians of Weber county, where his entire life has been passed. He is not only a citizen but also a native son of Ogden, where his birth occurred December 26, 1877. His parents were Jedediah William and Roxana (Farr) Pidcock. His paternal grandparents were William Hazelgrove and Hannah (Blench) Pidcock. and tracing the ancestry back still farther, it is learned that the Pidcocks were of an old family of England. Here was born Thomas Pidcock, the great-grandfather of the doctor. He was a native of Mansfield, England, and wedded Martha Hazelgrove, who was born at Hurst, Sussex, England. Their son. William Hazelgrove Pidcock. was born January 18, 1832, in Mansfield, England, and becoming a convert to the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, made his way to the new world and arrived in Utah on the 24th of October, 1854, with the William A. Empey company. Through the intervening period the Pidcock family has figured prominently in connection with the public interests and with the continuous development of the state. On the 8th of April, 1854, when a passenger on the ship Marshfield, soon after leaving Liverpool, William Hazelgrove Pidcock married Hannah Blench, a daughter of Thomas Wheatley and Ann (Todner) Blench. She was born September 11. 1833. at New Castle-on-Tyne. England, and died January 20, 1898, at Ogden, Utah. Their family included Jedediah William Pidcock, who was born at Ogden, December 9, 1856. The business activity which claimed his attention was that of chief clerk of railway offices at Ogden and merchandising. He was married March 5, 1877, in Ogden, to Roxana Farr, who was born in that city February 3, 1860, a daughter of Lorin and Sarah (Giles) Farr, her father being one of the pioneer settlers of Utah of 1847. The death of Jedediah William Pidcock, Sr., occurred April 22, 1886.

His son and namesake, having mastered the elementary branches of learning which qualify one for collegiate work, entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at San Francisco in preparation for the active practice of medicine. He was graduated from that institution and through the intervening years has devoted his attention to his profession, in which he has won a high place and preferment. From 1909 until 1912 he served as county physician of Weber county. He belongs to the Weber County and the State Medical Societies, also to the American Medical Association and to the Alumni Association of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at San Francisco.

On the 10th of December, 1908, Dr. Pidcock was married to Miss Dora M. Moyes, who was born at Ogden, October 14, 1887, a daughter of Alexander H. and Nancy Marinda (Tracy) Moyes, the former born in Hastely. Scotland, March 22, 1851, and the latter in Ogden, Utah, September 25, 1861. Mr. and Mrs. Pidcock represent a prominent social element in the life of Ogden, while his professional attainments have placed him in the front rank among its physicians and surgeons.

WILLIAM POULTER.

William Poulter, of Ogden, son of Thomas and Sarah (Davis) Poulter, was born March 3, 1820, in Moulsey, Surrey, England, and died on the 7th of March, 1866. While more than a half century has since come and gone, he is yet remembered by many of the older residents of Ogden. He came to Utah on the 29th of September, 1854, with the Joseph Field company, and in the following year established his home in Ogden. In early life, in England, he had learned the trades of plasterer and decorator and, working along those lines, was busily employed during the period of his residence in this state.

He did the finishing work on the Salt Lake theatre and was accorded various other contracts of that character. He likewise assisted in the plastering and decorating of the Ogden tabernacle. Mr. Poulter was also well known through his connection with musical and theatrical interests. He was a member of the first brass band of Ogden and he was a member of the first theatrical company that played in the Salt Lake theatre, being an associate of Phil Margretts, Harry Bowring, McEwan and others in the Mechanics' Dramatic Association.

In England, Mr. Poulter was married to Miss Caroline Strubell, a daughter of Richard and Mary Ann (Davis) Strubell. Mrs. Poulter was born January 23, 1820, and departed this life in Ogden on the 7th of November, 1887.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Poulter were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he was a missionary in England on one occasion and also a member of the Seventy. He possessed a great love of music and his fine voice made him always a popular factor in social circles.  While logging in the Ogden canyon, getting out wood with which to burn lime the next spring, Mr. Poulter was killed by a falling tree on the 7th of March, 1866. He had been a resident of this state but twelve years yet during that period had endeared himself to all with whom he came in contact. His social qualities and his many substantial traits of character had won for him the highest respect and goodwill of those who knew him and his talents in art lines had enabled him to contribute much to the pleasure of the people of the west.

ABINADI PORTER.

Abinadi Porter, engaged in ranching near Harrisville, was born in Porterville, Morgan county, Utah, in 1865, his parents being Chauncey W. and Lydia Ann (Cook) Porter, both of whom were natives of Illinois and came to Utah with one of the handcart companies. They settled at Centerville, Davis county, and afterward removed to Morgan county, where the father spent his remaining days, there passing away in 1868. His widow survived him for about thirteen years and died at Orderville in southern Utah in 1881.

Abinadi Porter was reared to adult age in Orderville and was married in 1884 to Miss Annie L. Jensen, a daughter of Lars R. and Elizabeth Ann (Freestone) Jensen.  They have become the parents of five sons and five daughters. The eldest son, Omni A., is now bishop in Tyhee ward at Pocatello, Idaho, and he filled a mission to Australia for twenty-eight months. The second son. Hans R., is now in the Hawaiian Islands, where he has been engaged in missionary work for the past three years. The son, Clarence N., has also been a great worker in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was clerk in Tyhee ward for three years and also ward teacher. At present he is ward and Sunday school teacher in Harrisville ward and assistant organist in Tyhee ward, and Howard E. is also a ward teacher in the Harrisville ward.  In early life Mr. Porter learned the trades of carpentering and furniture making and followed those pursuits for a number of years but in recent years has devoted his time and attention to the occupation of farming. He has a well improved ranch which he carefully cultivates and as the years have passed he has converted it into a valuable and productive property, annually yielding to him a substantial income. He, too, is a most earnest and active worker in the church. He was high counselor in Blackfoot stake for a year and was chosen bishop's counselor. He afterward removed to Weiser, Idaho, where he became president of the Weiser branch, and later he established his home at Pocatello, Idaho, and was a member of the high council in that stake for one year and was bishop of Tyhee ward. Subsequently he became a resident of Harrisville, Utah, where he has since made his home. He filled a mission to the southern states in 1900, covering eighteen months, and he is now second assistant superintendent of the Sunday school and ward teacher in Harrisville. His time has always been divided between the work of the church and his business affairs and his life has commended him to the confidence and goodwill of all. Henry Ward Beecher has said: "It is not what a man gets but what a man is that he should think of. He should first think of his character and then of his condition. He that has character need have no fear of his condition. Character will draw condition after it." Such a spirit and purpose have been manifest in the career of Mr. Porter, who commands the respect, confidence and goodwill of all who know him.

WILLIAM BURR PORTERFIELD.

Through individual effort prompted by laudable ambition William Burr Porterfield has reached the creditable position which he occupies in business circles, being the secretary, treasurer and manager of the Ogden Sewer Pipe & Clay Company, manufacturers of vitrified sanitary sewer pipe, well tubing, culvert pipe, farm drain tile and all clay products. The company likewise carries on a retail coal business, and as manager of the extensive interests of the concern in Ogden, Mr. Porterfield occupies a very prominent position in commercial circles.

He was born in Berkeley county, West Virginia, upon his father's farm, February 18, 1868. He is a son of A. R. and Susan Virginia (Small), Porterfield, the former a native of West Virginia, while the latter was a representative of one of the old families of Virginia. The ancestry in the paternal line can be traced back not only through several generations in West Virginia but also through several generations in England.  A. R. Porterfield has devoted his life to the occupation of farming but is now living retired, enjoying well earned rest at his home in Martinsburg, West Virginia. He passed the eighty-sixth milestone on life's journey on the 24th of December, 1918. His wife, however, has passed away, her death occurring in November, 1903. 

William Burr Porterfield is a self-made man in the truest and best sense of the term. There is perhaps no history in this volume that indicates more clearly what can be accomplished through persistent individual effort. He had no school privileges save that he attended the district schools of his home county for two or three months.  Throughout the entire period of his boyhood and youth he assisted his father in the work of the home farm, taking his place in the fields at the early spring planting and continuing his labors there until after crops were harvested in the late autumn. He continued to assist his father until he reached the age of nineteen years and then started working for a cousin who owned a farm in Maryland. During the first year he received one hundred dollars for his services and during the second year one hundred and ten dollars, and during these two years he saved from his earnings the sum of eighty-six dollars. With this, together with one hundred dollars which he borrowed from his cousin and for which he gave his personal note, he went to Kansas City and was there employed in a dry goods house, first serving as porter and afterward occupying a position as clerk. Eventually, however, he became identified with banking interests. He entered the employ of the old National Bank of Kansas City, being first appointed filing clerk. He was gradually working his way upward from one position to another of greater importance and responsibility when the bank became involved in the widespread financial panic of 1893, which caused the failure of every Kansas City bank except one. At that time Mr. Porterfield entered the general auditor's office of the Kansas City Southern Railroad and remained there for eighteen months, receiving a salary of but forty-nine dollars and a half per month. While thus engaged he met Walter S. Dickey, the largest clay manufacturer of the world, and entered his employ, representing the W. S.  Dickey Clay Manufacturing Company in Kansas City from 1900 until 1903. In the latter year he came to Ogden, Utah, to represent the same interests, being made secretary, treasurer and manager of the Ogden Sewer Pipe & Clay Company, Incorporated, of which he is also one of the directors. He is a very efficient executive and the interests of the company which he manages are large and in prosperous condition. Robert Neill, living in Kansas City, is now the president of the Ogden Sewer Pipe & Clay Company, with Mr. Porterfield as secretary, treasurer and manager. They manufacture vitrified sanitary sewer pipe, well tubing, culvert pipe, farm drain tile and all clay products and their business has reached a very substantial figure. They also engage in the retail sale of coal, with offices and yards on Pacific avenue at the corner of Twenty-ninth street, and the yards also border the railroad siding, thus furnishing excellent shipping facilities.

Mr. Porterfield married Miss Nellie Mae McBride, a native of Missouri, and they have become parents of a daughter, Sarah Mae, who is a graduate of the Ogden high school. Mr. Porterfield was one of a family of eight brothers and a sister, all of whom are living and all of whom are at home save the youngest brother, who is in Europe in the service of the government, connected with the intelligence department.  Mr. Porterfield belongs to the Weber Club of Ogden, also to the Elks Lodge, No. 719, to Weber Lodge, No. 6, A. F. & A. M.. and Ogden Chapter, No. 2, R. A. M. He is a most worthy exemplar of the Masonic fraternity and in his life displays the beneficent spirit of the craft, which is based upon a recognition of the brotherhood of mankind and the obligations thereby imposed. Mr. Porterfield in every relation of life commands the respect and confidence of those who know him. In the school of experience he has learned many valuable lessons and his life illustrates that it is under the pressure of adversity and the stimulus of necessity that the strongest and best in men is brought out and developed.

ROBERT L. PROUDFIT.

Robert L. Proudfit, a representative of mercantile interests in Ogden, was born in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, on the 18th of October, 1879, his parents being Andrew Jamieson and Wynette (Stone) Proudfit. The father, also a native of the Keystone state, devoted his life to merchandising and passed away in the year 1913. The death of the mother occurred thirty years ago.

Robert L. Proudfit came to Utah with his father when twelve years of age, or about twenty-eight years ago, the family home being established in Ogden, where he attended the public schools. He left school, however, at an early age and went upon the road as a traveling salesman for eastern houses. He represented the Iver Johnson Cycle Company of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, in nearly all the western states for a period of sixteen years and was very successful in developing the business of the firm with which he was connected.Eventually he established his present business in connection with his father, who acted as manager, while Mr. Proudfit went upon the road as a traveling salesman. They opened their store in the Opera House, where they dealt in bicycles through 1897 and 1898. In 1902 they removed to their present location and added a line of sporting goods. For seventeen years they have also dealt in the Edison Victrola and have been distributors for that instrument for thirteen years, being closely associated with the Thomas A. Edison Company and its interests during all this time. In 1906 they established a wholesale business and they figure today most prominently in the mercantile circles of Ogden, where they have built up a trade of very gratifying proportions, while their wholesale business covers a wide territory. They handle the goods of the leading manufacturers of the country in their line and their progressive business methods and earnest desire to please their patrons have been salient features in the attainment of their success.

On the 29th of April, 1902, Mr. Proudfit was married to Miss Jeannette Robbins. of Ogden, a daughter of Edmund Robbins, and they have become the parents of four children: Doris, fifteen years of age; Phyllis, twelve; Annette, seven; and Robert, Jr. The eldest three are in school.

Mr. Proudfit is a member of the Weber Club, with which he has been identified for nineteen years, joining the club on its organization. He is an expert billiard player and largely turns to the game for recreation. He won the cup at the Weber Club for his skill in billiards. He also greatly enjoys fishing. He never allows these things, however, to interfere with the conduct of his business and as the years have passed he has gradually advanced to a foremost position in mercantile circles of Ogden, being now at the head of an extensive wholesale and retail sporting goods and bicycle house. His life illustrates' what can be accomplished through close application, indefatigable energy and keen business sagacity, for these are the qualities which have been dominant forces in the attainment of his present success.

The information on Trails to the Past © Copyright    may be used in personal family history research, with source citation. The pages in entirety may not be duplicated for publication in any fashion without the permission of the owner. Commercial use of any material on this site is not permitted.  Please respect the wishes of those who have contributed their time and efforts to make this free site possible.~Thank you!