BIO: A. R. VAN TASSEL, Clearfield County, PA
 
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From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania,
and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr.,
Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 519 & 520.
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  A. R. VAN TASSEL, president of the Union Banking and Trust Company, at DuBois, 
Pa., having also other important business interests at this place, resides on 
his magnificent stock farm, a tract of 300 acres, situated near DuBois, in 
Clearfield County, Pa.  Mr. Van Tassel has been a resident of DuBois since 1884 
but he was born in the city of New York, March 31, 1853, of Holland ancestry.
  Mr. Van Tassel was educated in the public and in a select school at Brooklyn, 
N. Y., and when he reached manhood he learned the tanning business and served an 
apprenticeship to it at Woburn, Mass.  Subsequently he established a small 
tannery of his own, at Boliver, N. Y., which he sold in 1884 and then came to 
DuBois, where he entered into partnership with a brother and John DuBois, in the 
tanning business, which was carried on until 1899 under the firm style of DuBois 
& Van Tassel Bros.  In the above year A. R. Van Tassel retired from the firm and 
erected his own tannery which has become one of the large industrial plants of 
the town, employment being given to from seventy-five to 100 men.  This private 
enterprise, as others in which Mr. Van Tassel is interested, has been of public 
importance to the place, affording remunerative work to a large body of skilled 
men, serving to solidify capital here and also to exploit DuBois as a favorable 
point for business investment.  Mr. Van Tassel was one of the organizers of the 
Union Banking and Trust Company, of which he has been president ever since its 
founding.
  In 1879 Mr. Van Tassel was married first to Miss Jennie Thomas, who died in 
New York.  She is survived by one son, Stephen T., who is associated with his 
father in business.  In 1893 Mr. Van Tassel was married second, to Miss Alice 
Henderson, and they have three children, Blanche, Henderson and Lillian.  The 
family home, Hillcrest Farm, is one of the largest and most valuable stock farms 
in Clearfield County.  Mr. Van Tassel gives special attention here to the 
breeding of Morgan horses.  He has exhibited at numerous fairs and stock shows 
and has won innumerable blue ribbons and cups, the latest triumph in this line 
being one of his stud, Bob Morgan, won a blue ribbon at the Madison Square 
Garden exhibition, in 1910.  The new residence erected by Mr. Van Tassel, on 
Hillcrest Farm, is beautifully located and is equipped with all modern comforts 
and conveniences.  Mr. Van Tassel and family attend the Presbyterian church.  A 
Republican from principle, he gives his political support to that party but has 
never consented to permit his name to be used for office.  He is identified with 
the Masonic fraternity, and is one of the charter members of the Acorn Club, a 
social club of DuBois, Pa.