Moyer, William J; 1905 Bio, Mesa County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/mesa/bios/moyerwj.txt --------------------------------------- Donated April 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- William J. Moyer Of William J. Moyer, proprietor of the Fair department store and vice-president of the Grand Valley National Bank at Grand Junction, it might almost be said that in mercantile life he was born in the purple, for from his childhood he has been connected with this line of business and to it he has devoted all the years and energies of his subsequent life. He was born on a farm near Reading, Pennsylvania, on August 21, 1859, the son of William H. and Elizabeth (Kissenger) Moyer, who are themselves natives of Pennsylvania and belong to families resident for generations in that state, both sides of the house being of Holland Dutch ancestry. They are still living on the old homestead near Reading, and farming it with success. When their son William was ten years old he accepted employment in a country store in his native county, and being continually occupied in that department of industry thereafter, he had but limited opportunities for schooling, and is therefore practically a self-made and self-educated man. He remained near his home until he reached the age of twenty-one, then migrated to Indiana, Minnesota and Kansas in turn, finding employment in stores in various places. In 1885 he became a traveling salesman for a wholesale dry-goods house at Atchison, Kansas, and during the next three years he was on the road in its service. In the fall of 1888 he came to Colorado and became manager of a general store at Coal Creek for the Colorado Trading Company. In 1890 he changed his residence to Grand Junction, and soon after his arrival founded the Fair store in a room twelve by twenty, with a stock of seven hundred dollars. Under his vigorous and judicious management the business has grown greatly and now occupies three rooms, seventy-five by one hundred and fifteen feet each, with a general stock of goods of all kinds. Fourteen persons are employed in conducting it and they are among the best paid employees of their kind in Grand Junction, it having been Mr. Moyer's policy from the start to secure good help and pay good wages, and he now attributes a large measure of his success to the loyalty shown by his employees to his interests and the excellent assistance they have rendered in promoting them. He was one of the organizers of the Grand Valley National Bank and is vice-president of the institution, which is one of unusually good management and successful operation. In politics Mr. Moyer is a Democrat, but he is not an active partisan, although firmly attached to the principles of his party. On February 26, 1894, he was united in marriage with Miss Ida Shantz, a native of Pennsylvania who accompanied her parents to Kansas in her girlhood and was living at the time of her marriage at Atchison, where the ceremony was performed. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.