458
COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES
thereafter he received an appointment as an assessor o f internal revenue. Ciovcrnor licary subsequently appointed him lieutenant colonel of the 8th Division. National Guard o f (’ennsytvania. Locating in Danville Mr. Bright, in com pany with Col. Charles Eckm.an, purchased the plant o f wh.at became known as the Atlantic Oil Refining Company, which was established by John Heller and Cltarles Shultz. From the crude oil they refined il luminating oil and lubricating oil in large quantities and did a very extensive business. In 1872 they disposed o f this business to Bailey & Welsch. Mr. Bright, having heard nothing for some years o f his brother Philip, who had gone to California, crossed the con tinent to search fo r him and found that he had Ijcen robbed and murdered. Returning one year later he bought the hardware cstablishmeiU o f Van Alcn & Company, which business he continued to carry on fo r fifteen years, first at the ’an .Alen place on M ill street. When the opera house wa.s built he move<l the business to that building, where he rcmaineil until he sold out to E . J . Moore. .After the death o f his mother he became owner of the family estate in V alley town ship. including the limestone quarries con nected therewith. He owned a winter home and orange grove in M arion county. Fla., where he spent the winters for several years before his death. His home at No. 13 2 Market street. Danville, is a fine brick resi dence. and the site commands an excellent view of the Susquehanna river, a s well as beautiful mountain sceneiy. In 1K72 M r. Bright was elected a member of the State Legislature, and he had the honor o f licing the first Republican to rc(ircscnt his district in that body. He died Sept. 17. 1910. and is buried in the Odd Fellows cetnelery at Danville. In February. 1872. M r. Bright married Lucv .M. Reav. who was Iiorn Sept. 8. 1843, in the suburbs o f Bim iingham . England, daughter of Jolm and M ary (Sum m crficld) Rcay. M r. and Mrs. Bright had no children. S .A M l’ E L J.A M K S W E I .L I V E R, o f Dan ville. has long been one of the best known men hi the hardware trade in and around that bor ough. where he founded the wholesale establishmctU now known as the W elliver Hard ware Comjiany. Mr. W elliver was bom in Montour county Feb. V 18 4 1. son o f .Abraham and Martha (W inder) W elliver, natives o f Pennsylvania.
whose ancestors were among the early set tlers of the State. The grandfather was aa early settler in Columbia county. Abraham W elliver w as a shoemaker by trade, and worked at farm ing all his life. Samuel J . W elliver attended the common schools and later Greenwood Sem inary, at M illville, Columbia Co.. Pa. His first occu pation was teaching school, which profession he followed for six years, l i e then came to Danville, and in company with his brother, William K ., established a book and stationery store. T w o years later they merged this business into a general store, which they car ried on for several years, when Samuel J . W clliver sold his interest to his brother and sub sequently took charge of the hardware store o f Charles II. W aters, until the lattcr’s deatli. H e then conducted the store for the widow and was also with Mr. W aters' successor one year, at the end o f that time entering the hardware business on his own account, in 1875. A year later he fonned a partnership with Jam es McCormick which lasted fo r seven years, when M r. W elliver bought out Mr. M cConnick's interest and in 1883 formed an association with Mr. J . H . Cole, establishing the fimi o f W elliver & Cole, who conducted the business fo r the next seven years. Then Mr. W elliver purchased vM r. Cole's sJiarc, and in 1894 the W elliver H ardw are Company was incorporated with a capital o f $25,000. w'htch in i S ^ was increased to Sioo.ooo. T his con cern has high standing in the trade all over this section of the State. For five years M r. W elliver conducted a luirdware store at N an ticoke. P a., which he had established, selling .same to his son. In 1865 M r. W elliver enlisted in Company I, 104th Pennsylvania Volunteer ln fan tr) with which he served until the close o f (he war. principally as clerk in (he provost iiiarshal's office. .At the close of the w ar he was deputized tn administer the oath o f allegiance. H e has served his fellow citizens in Danville as member of the board o f health. He is a Democrat and has acted as judge o f election. In i8(X> Mr. W elliver married Hlizalieth Best, who i.s of English origin, daughter o f Simeon Best. They have had eleven children, o f whom four died in childhood, the others being: W arren W .. M ary M artha, Bertha. Lulu, Ilarr)'. Jessie J . (deceased) and Frances. M rs. W elliver is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and M r. W ellivcr belongs to the Baptist Church. H e is a member o f Lotlge No. 109. 1. O. O . F .. of Danville.
