BIO: Fountain W. CRIDER, Centre County, Pennsylvania

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Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including the 
Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing Biographical 
Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc. 
Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1898.
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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, pages 73-75

FOUNTAIN W. CRIDER. Foremost among the businessmen of the Bellefonte of today, 
whose enterprising handiwork in the city's progress and beauty, is conspicuously 
noticed in the several imposing business blocks, the pride of its citizens and 
the admiration of strangers which stand as monuments to his enterprise, taste 
and thrift, is our fellow townsman-Fountain W. Crider. Though yet a young man, 
Mr. Crider occupies a prominent position in the business circles of the 
Commonwealth, and is an example of what may be accomplished in a few years, 
comparatively speaking, by industry, economy and a fixed purpose with a 
determination to succeed.
  Our subject is a native of Clinton County, this 

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 74

State, born near Lock Haven, September 7, 1845. His ancestors and the family are 
noticed in the sketch of his father, Philip B. Crider, which precedes this, as 
is also there given, in main, the history of the large manufacturing plant of P. 
B. Crider & Son. His early boyhood up to the age of fourteen years was passed on 
the farm, not unlike that of general farmer lads, receiving the benefit of the 
neighboring schools at the Plum Creek School House. In 1859, then a boy of 
fourteen years, he entered the employ of John F. Rich & Son, then operating a 
woolen-mill on Chatham run below Lock Haven. He had, in object, the learning the 
business of manufacturing woolen goods, and accomplished his purpose, remaining 
in the mill some three years, excepting a period of three months each year, 
which were reserved for attending school at Lock Haven. At eighteen he turned 
his attention to the business portion of his education, and began clerking in 
the store of J.  J. Bisel & Co., of Lock Haven, and after serving for a period 
as salesman he became bookkeeper, and remained with them two years, during which 
time he made his first venture in the line of speculation, investing his savings 
in oil, which he lost. At the age of twenty years he entered the Eastman 
Business College, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and was graduated there from in 1865. 
While young Crider was deprived of much of his boyhood, he was practically 
schooled in business, and before reaching his majority was well equipped for the 
battle of life, and entered the business world not without some knowledge of the 
roughness of the road he was to travel. But fully prepared and eager for the 
fray, he launched out, and though he has by no means ever sailed under a 
cloudless sky, he has stood nobly at the helm, and so wisely directed the barque 
that he has weathered the storms encountered, and today sails under a triumphant 
banner upon a smooth sea.
  On January 1, 1866, young Crider joined his father at Snow Shoe in the 
manufacture of lumber, and formed the firm of P. B. Crider & Son, which still 
exists, and is one of the great manufacturing industries of central 
Pennsylvania. Their business has constantly grown until it has extended into the 
neighboring counties of Warren, Jefferson, Huntingdon, Clinton and Mifflin, 
having mills at various points in this territory with general headquarters at 
Bellefonte. The new life given to the business in the addition of young Crider, 
who took hold with that energy that youth possesses, and which was so 
characteristic of his make-up, was marked, and it was not long until the 
extensions referred to were made, and the firm was in possession of large tracts 
of timber land, which were so judiciously handled as to result in great profits 
to the firm some of the tracts involving upward of one hundred thousand dollars. 
These men became engaged in great interest outside of their lumber deals and the 
special business of manufacturing; they were large manufacturers of charcoal 
also.  In the sale of timber lands, they reserved the oil, gas and mining 
rights, and are now possessed of these privileges in Jefferson County; 
merchandising and farming have been no small part of the business of P. B. 
Crider & Son, and they are now cultivating in the neighborhood of 1,500 acres. 
The annual output of lumber at their several mills amounts to millions of feet. 
In their varied extensive interests they have for years given employment to many 
men, and kept in circulation great sums of money, which have been of great 
benefit to this section of the State.
  Our subject is a most capable and broadminded businessman, enterprising and 
progressive.  In 1888 after the great fire which destroyed some of the best 
business buildings in Bellefonte. He purchased the site of the present "Crider's 
Exchange," and erected that most imposing business block which would be a credit 
and an ornament to a much more pretentious city. It is the finest business block 
in Bellefonte, and is a structure of modern scientific architectural beauty; 
built of brick and stone and occupying one of the most conspicuous corners of 
the borough.  His palatial residence, which crowns one of the hills of the 
mountain-town-one of elegance and grace-is but another evidence of his 
enterprising spirit and love to see the place of his adoption the ideal "Home of 
the Governors."
  Mr. Crider's life has been one of great activity-a busy one; and like most men 
whose lives are absorbed in great business interests he has given little time to 
politics, and has evinced no desire for public office. He is in no sense a 
politician, though he takes an interest in all public questions affecting the 
good of mankind and the elevation of the race. Since early boyhood he has been 
identified with the M. E. Church, giving liberally of his means to its support. 
He has served in the borough council, and made a most efficient record. As may 
be inferred, Mr. Crider is a man of wealth, and of influence, which is not 
confined to Bellefonte alone, but extends throughout the State where his 
connection with great business interests have given him a wide acquaintance. Mr. 
Crider, too, is a self made man-a man that has risen from the poor country boy 
to the head of a great industry, and to the presidency of the great banking 
company 

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 75

of Jackson, Crider & Hastings; a man of wealth and influence, which, however, 
has in no way affected his manhood-his feelings and sympathy for mankind-these 
are the same as when he himself walked the paths of doubt amid the early 
struggles, and he is easily approached, greeting one with a smile and extending 
one that hearty welcome which makes the timid one feel at ease.  Commanding in 
appearance, fine looking, with an intelligent face, his personality is striking, 
and but to know him is to account for his popularity.  He is a great home man, 
and outside of business hours may be found with his family. Individually, he 
owns considerable property in Bellefonte and Centre County, other than the block 
referred to.  In politics he is a Republican.
  On July 21, 1868, Mr. Crider was married to Miss Mary Adeline Sullivan, a 
daughter of William and Ann (Henderson) Sullivan, of White Deer Mills, Union 
Co., Penn. Her parents died when she was young, and she was reared by her 
grandparents, Samuel and - (Barber) Henderson, of Union County, the grandfather 
being a substantial farmer and a citizen of some prominence there. The wedding 
occurred at Elmwood, Ill. where Miss Sullivan was visiting an aunt, Mrs. 
Rynearson. Mrs. Crider was a woman of education and refinement, and a very 
interesting lady, possessed of the virtues that won her a host of friends. Her 
birth occurred in Union County, Penn., May 25, 1845, and her death at 
Bellefonte, April 6, 1879. "She was a very earnest Christian lady, and died in 
the full hope of a glorious immortality." The children born to this marriage 
were: (1) Burns H., born August 2, 1869, now a photographer at Easton, Penn., of 
the firm of Kreidler & Crider. (2) Carrol Low, born August 20, 1872, died August 
30, 1891. In January 1891, Carrol had entered the Freshman class, Dickinson 
College, at Carlisle, Penn., with many bright hopes and a promising future, but 
his young life was cut short and the hopes of his father blasted, for in less 
than a year he was summoned higher, having contracted a fatal disease at 
college. His life had been one of purity and simpleness, and in his last breath 
he exclaimed: " I am the child of a King; I am not dying but am only going home 
to see Jesus." (3) May S., born August 28, 1877, is now in school at Bryn Mawr, 
Pennsylvania.  
  On December 14, I 882, our subject was again married, this time to Rebecca 
Jane North, and they have two children, Hugh North, born September 27, 1883, and 
Mary Isabell, born March 28, 1886, both attending the Bellefonte Academy.  The 
mother of these is a native of Juniata County, Penn., born June 9, 1850, 
daughter of Hon. James and Susana Matilda (Strouse) North, of Juniata County. 
She is a lady of refinement and culture, and presides with dignity and grace at 
their elegant home, which is often the scene of social gatherings.
  Hon. James North, father of Mrs. Crider, though now nearly four-score years of 
age, is quite active in the business affairs of Juniata County, where he has 
long been a resident of prominence in public affairs and in business circles. He 
has represented that county in the General Assembly of the State, and has been 
conspicuously connected with the railroad interests of the Commonwealth; 
prominent, too, as a merchant and banker. His wife died on November 21, 1896. 
Their children were six in number, namely: Nathaniel died in infancy; Caleb is 
in the Columbian National Bank at Washington, D.C.; Washington is in the employ 
of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, as ticket and freight agent (also a dealer 
in coal and lumber) at Mifflin, Penn.; Rebecca Jane (Mrs. Crider); Hon. Herman 
H., a lawyer at Bradford, Penn., who has served three times in the General 
Assembly of the State; and Mrs. W. M. Jacobs, widow of George Jacobs, formerly a 
lawyer at Mifflin, Pennsylvania.