BIOGRAPHY: Charles F. FRASER, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 437-8
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CHARLES F. FRASER, a mining engineer of ability and reputation, and a member and 
the general manager of the Summit Coal and Coke company, is a son of Capt. D. 
St. George and Jeannette (McDonald) Fraser, and was born at Wingham, Dominion of 
Canada, June 30, 1862. Capt. D. St. George Fraser was born in Scotland in 1826, 
and was graduated in the course of civil engineering from the famous university 
of Edinburgh. He resided in one of the suburban districts of the city of Glasgow 
until 1855, in which year he came to Canada, and was employed for two years as 
an engineer on the construction of the great Canadian and Pacific railroad. He 
then, with his brother-in-law, Laughlin McDonald, also a civil engineer, went to 
Memphis, Tennessee, and embarked in the transportation of cotton. They owned and 
ran three steamboats, and were doing a large and prosperous business, but the 
Civil War came, and they lost one of their boats and a large amount of property. 
After the war Capt. Fraser went to Bedford county and took up the profession of 
mining engineer, which he followed until his death, at Stanton, Virginia, which 
occurred July 11, 1892. He and McDonald practically developed the Clearfield 
county coal region. He laid out the coal town of Houtzdale, this State, and the 
coal towns of Clifton Forge and Shinston, in Virginia. Capt. Fraser resided 
successively at Saxton and Bedford, this State, and was an accepted authority on 
coal-veins and coal-mining. He was an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Episcopal 
church, in which he was a lay reader. He was a man of intelligence, observation 
and general information. He married Jeannette McDonald, a native of Glasgow, 
Scotland.
     Capt. and Mrs. Fraser had a family of three sons and two daughters: William 
R., a mining engineer of Altoona; L. A., an editor; Charles F., Minnie E., and 
Nora.
     Charles F. Fraser received his literary education in the public schools of 
Clearfield and Huntingdon counties, studied engineering with his father and his 
uncle, Laughlin McDonald, and in 1884 was appointed assistant engineer at the 
works of Whitehead & Co., then the largest shippers of bituminous coal in the 
State. Five years later, in the latter part of 1888, he went to Elk county, 
where he remained for one year as general engineer for the Caledonia Coal 
company. He next served for one year as superintendent of the Clearfield 
Consolidated Coal company, and then was mining engineer for the Gallitzin Coal 
and Coke company until January 1, 1892, when he accepted his present position as 
mining engineer for the Blubaker and Sterling Coal companies. The Blubaker 
company owns between eleven and twelve thousand acres of coal land, a part of 
which is leased and worked by the Sterling company. In addition to engineering 
Mr. Fraser has invested, to some extent, in coal lands, and is a member and 
general manager of the Summit Coal and Coke company, of Spangler.
     On December 24, 1884, Mr. Fraser wedded Annie D. Douglas, of 
McConnellstown, Huntingdon county. They have three children: Carl, Vaughan and 
Jessie.
     Charles F. Fraser is a member of the Presbyterian church. In politics he is 
a democrat, and has always been a strong advocate of his party. He served three 
years as a member and president of the town council of Hastings, and in 1896 was 
the candidate of his party for the legislature. Mr. Fraser is one of the pioneer 
engineers in the development of the Cambria coal field, and laid out the town of 
Spangler when coal purchases had been made near its site. By his father's 
financial reverses he was thrown on his own resources in early life, and by 
energy, judgment and foresight has won his way to a place in the front rank of 
the business men of Cambria county. A man of deeds rather than words in a 
critical time, the practicability of his various projects and plans have been 
demonstrated more by successful accomplishment than lengthy or plausible 
argument.