Columbia County PA Archives Biographies.....WILLITS, Isaiah W. 1843 - living in 1899
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  Author: Biographical Publishing Co.
  
  DR. ISAIAH W. WILLITS. This Book of Biographies would indeed be incomplete if
  mention were not made of one of Bloomsburg's prominent and influential citizens,
  the gentleman whose name appears above and whose portrait is presented on a
  preceding page. He has been engaged in the practice of medicine there for many
  years, and is at the head of the well-known Dr. I. W. Willits' Medicine Company.
  
  He was born in Catawissa, Columbia County, May 22, 1843, and is a son of George
  H. and Jane (Clark) Willits.
  
    The Willits family is of English extraction, Richard Willits, who came from
  England prior to 1650, being the first of that name to locate in America. His
  son Thomas was born in this country in 1650, and reared a son Thomas, who was
  born in 1682 and located in the state of Pennsylvania in 1738. He was the
  progenitor of a large family of children, one of whom was Isaiah, the
  grandfather of our subject.
  
    Isaiah Willits, our subject's grandfather, was born in 1732, and early in life
  learned the trade of a tanner, which he followed in Catawissa, being one of the
  first business men of that vicinity. He erected a large tannery there, and
  resided on the corner of First and South streets, which is now the property of
  W. W. Perry. Isaiah Willits was united in matrimonial bonds with Rachel Hughes,
  and they became the happy parents of the following children George H.; Charles;
  John; Matilda; Elizabeth; Clinton; and Townsend.
  
    George H. Willits, the father of our subject, was born at Catawissa and upon
  the retirement of his father took charge of the tannery, which he conducted
  until he was obliged to give up the business on account of failing health. It
  was necessary for him to obtain open-air work, so he accepted a contract to
  build a half-mile of the Pennsylvania Canal along the rocks of that vicinity.
  One year later he engaged in coal mining in Schuylkill County, shipping the
  product of his mine to the city of Philadelphia. Selling out his interest in the
  boats, he purchased some 300 acres of good farm land near Catawissa, where he
  engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1867. He then disposed of his property
  and settled in Catawissa, where he spent the remainder of his life in
  retirement, dying in 1881, at the age of seventy-eight years. He was an active
  politician, affiliating with the Republican party. In 1851 he was elected for a
  five years' term as associate judge, and later served as postmaster and in other
  minor offices. He was united in marriage with Jane Clark, a daughter of John
  Clark, one of Catawissa's early and prominent merchants. She passed to her
  eternal resting place in 1883, aged seventy-three years. Their union resulted in
  the following issue: twin daughters, who died in infancy; Isaiah W., a sketch of
  whose life is here recorded; Jane Cordelia, who was born in 1850, and was called
  Home in 1888; and Charles Clark, who was for many years a physician and druggist
  of Catawissa, but is now the proprietor of the leading dry goods store of
  Sunbury, Northumberland County.
  
    Isaiah W. Willits was in attendance at the public schools until he was twelve
  years of age, after which he took a course of two years' study in the select
  school of Eaton & Wells, and spent one year in the Greenwood Seminary at
  Millville, Pa. Then, after spending a year in the Wyoming Seminary at Kingston,
  he became a clerk in Bittenbender & Co.'s store, of which firm his father was a
  silent partner. He remained there one year, and then for two years was engaged
  in a similar capacity for D. G. Driesbach at Beach Haven, Pa. In August, 1862,
  he enlisted in Company H, 132d Reg., Pa. Vol. Inf., of which he was made orderly
  sergeant. He was but twenty years of age when he was promoted to the position of
  lieutenant, in December, 1862. He was struck in the knee by a shell in the
  battle of Fredericksburg, from the effects of which he has never fully
  recovered. He was sent to the hospital to recuperate at Georgetown and was
  discharged May 24, 1863, with his regiment at the expiration of term of service.
  He returned home and in a short time his strong constitution asserted itself and
  his recovery was sufficient to permit him to enlist as captain of Company E,
  30th Reg., Pa. Vol. Inf., being one of the youngest officers in the service. He
  received his discharge after ninety days of service. He was in a number of
  important engagements, and always showed a willingness to perform his full share
  of the duties, displaying bravery and coolness in the thickest of the fight.
  Upon returning home he took up the study of medicine with Dr. John K. Robbins of
  Catawissa, after which he attended Jefferson Medical College until 1866, when he
  took up a practice and continued until 1874, when he returned to college and
  completed his course. He continued to practice at Catawissa, where he remained
  for seventeen years, and then went to Roanoke, Va., in August, 1883. March 17,
  1885, he took up his residence at Bloomsburg, where his success was immediate.
  He has remained there since and his patronage has assumed large proportions,
  many of the leading citizens being numbered among his patients. In 1897 he
  formed a stock company, the Dr. I. W. Willits' Medicine Co., which manufactures
  Willits' Neuralgia Cure and Willits' Vitalizer for all stomach, liver and kidney
  troubles. They have both been proven excellent remedies, and have had a large
  sale throughout the state. In 1893 he opened and conducted a gold cure
  establishment at Bloomsburg with splendid results. Dr. Willits has also dealt
  extensively in real estate, owning a number of farms in Pennsylvania and in West
  Virginia, where he has also bought and built many houses. He is a
  public-spirited man and takes an active interest in the welfare of the town of
  Bloomsburg.
  
    In 1866 Dr. Willits formed a matrimonial alliance with Marcilia R. Reifsnyder,
  a daughter of George and Harriet Reifsnyder of Catawissa. She passed into the
  realms of the unknown in 1877, and two years later our subject was united in
  wedlock with Mrs. Kate P. Reifsnyder, a daughter of George and Mary Scott. In
  political belief the Doctor is a Republican and has served as councilman for one
  term. Socially he is a Mason, and has received the degree of Knight Templar; he
  is also a member of the G. A. R. post.
  
  
  Additional Comments:
  Extracted from:
  
  Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District
  Published by 
  Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899)
  
  
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