History of Towanda, (Bradford County) Pennsylvania United States of America

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Biographies:

William Morris Barker, 4th missionary bishop of Olympia and 166th in succession in the American episcopate, was born at Towanda, Pa., May 12, 1854. He was educated primarily at his father's classical school in Germantown, Pa., and was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1873. He pursued his theological course at the Berkeley divinity school, on the completion of which he became a teacher in the Bishop Scott grammar school, Portland, Ore. He entered the diaconate, June 4, 1879, and was appointed curate at St. John's, Troy, N.Y. He was advanced to the priesthood, Feb. 15, 1880, after which he was, for a short time, curate at St. John's, Washington, D.C., and then until 1887 he was rector of St. Paul's church in the same city. In 1887 he removed to Maryland, and assumed the charge of St. Luke's, Baltimore, where he remained until 1819, when he became rector of St. Paul's, Duluth, and president of St. Luke's hospital in that city. His degree of D. D, was conferred by the Seabury divinity school in 1892. He was consecrated bishop Jan. 25, 1893, and assigned to the missionary jurisdiction of Western Colorado. After a little more than a year's service he was transferred to Olympia, to succeed Bishop Paddock, who died March 4, 1894. This change was effected at a meeting of the house of bishops in New York, 1894. He died at Tacoma, Wash., Feb. 21, 1901,

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Edward Overton, representative, was born in Towanda, Pa., Feb. 4, 1836; son of Edward and Eliza (Clymer) Overton; grandson of Thomas and Mary (Bleasdale) Overton of Wales, and of Henry and Mary (Willing) Clymer, and a great-grandson of George Clymer . Edward Overton, Sr., a native of Clithers, Lancashire, England, was educated for the law in London, was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., in 1818, and practiced in Wilkes Barre, Athens and Towanda, Pa. Edward Overton, Jr., was graduated at the College of New Jersey, A.B., 1856, A.M., 1859, and was admitted to the bar in 1858. He practiced in Towanda, and entered the Union army as major of the 50th Pennsylvania volunteers in September, 1861. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1863, and commanded the regiment from that time until mustered out in October, 1864. He resumed practice in Towanda; served as U.S. register in bankruptcy, 1867-76, and as president of Citizens National Bank of Towanda, Pa., and was a Republican representative from the fifteenth Pennsylvania district in 1877-81. He died Sept. 18, 1903.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Ulysses Mercur, jurist, was born in Towanda, Pa., Aug. 12, 1818; son of Henry and Mary (Watts) Mercur. He was graduated at Jefferson college, Canonsburg, Pa., in 1842, was admitted to the bar in 1843, and practised in Towanda. He was married, Jan. 12, 1850, to Sarah S., daughter of John Davis. He was a Lincoln and Hamlin presidential elector in 1860, and was appointed president judge of the thirteenth judicial district of Pennsylvania in March, 1861 on the resignation of David Wilmot, elected to the U.S. senate. He was elected in December, 1861, for a term of ten years, but resigned, March 4, 1865. He was a Republican representative in the 39th, 40th, 41st, and 42d congresses, 1865-72, resigning Dec. 2, 1872, to return to the bench, where he served as associate justice of the supreme court, 1872-83, and as chief-justice, 1883-87. He married a daughter of Gen. John Davis, and his sons Rodney, James Watts and Ulysses became lawyers, and John D. a physician. His judicial opinions were published in the Pennsylvania reports (1873-87). He died in Wallingford, Pa., June 6, 1887.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Charlotte Porter, author and editor, was born in Towanda, Pa., Jan. 6, 1859; daughter of Dr. Henry Clinton and Eliza Elinor (Betts) Porter; grand-daughter of Horace and Hannah Twitchell (Frisbie) Porter, Waterbury, Conn., and of Nathaniel Noble and Eliza Montague (Warner) Betts, Towanda, Pa., and a descendant of Daniel Porter, called "the bone-setter" in the Records of General Court at New Haven, Conn., who moved from Danvers, Mass., to Farmington, Conn., in 1635. She was a student at Wells college, Aurora, N.Y., 1873-75, graduating B.S. in the latter year, and while an undergraduate editing the Wells College Chronicle. In 1882 she removed to Philadelphia, Pa., and in 1883 visited Europe, contributing meanwhile to magazines. She edited Shakespeariana, 1886-88; the Ethical Record, 1888, and in January, 1889, with Helen Archibald Clarke, founded Poet-Lore. They removed to Boston in April, 1892, where they continued the magazine. She is the author of: Dramatic Motive in Browning's Strafford (1897). Her other works, prepared in collaboration with Miss Clarke, are as follows: Poems of Robert Browming (2 vols., 1896); The Ring and the Book (1897); Clever Tales, translated (1897); Robert Browning's Complete Works, Camberwell edition (12 vols., 1898); The Works of Mrs. Browning, Coxhoe edition (6 vols., 1900); Browning Study Programmes (1900); Shakespeare Studies: Macbeth (1902); Shakespeare's Works, Elizabethan Edition, First Folio Text, with Critical Introductions and Notes; two initial volumes, Love's Labor's Lost and Midsummer Night's Dream (1902-03).

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor