BIO: George Wagoner, Cumberland County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/ ______________________________________________________________________ History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania. Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc. Illustrated. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm ______________________________________________________________________ PART II. HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA. CHAPTER XXXIX. BOROUGH OF MECHANICSBURG. 438 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES: GEORGE WAGONER, of George Wagoner & Sons, leading dry goods merchants, 439 BOROUGH OF MECHANICSBURG. Mechanicsburg, was born near East Berlin, Adams Co. Penn., July 17, 1818. His great-grandfather, Mathias Wagoner, a native of Ruthesheime, Hohenzollern, Prussia, had two sons who came to America: Jacob, who settled in Virginia, and Peter, who settled in what is now York County, Penn. The latter's son, Peter, a farmer and hotel keeper, married Miss Mary Arnold, and had six sons and seven daughters. Of these children, Samuel, born in York County, Penn., a blacksmith by trade, married Miss Lydia Oiler, of York County, and had three daughters, and three sons, of whom George is the eldest. They were members of the Lutheran Church. Our subject, when some seven years of age, went with his father to East Berlin, Adams Co., Penn., and there learned blacksmithing of his father. December 24, 1839, he married Miss Ann Smith, born near East Berlin Adams County, daughter of Martin B. (a miller), and Mary (Swigert) Smith. Her grandfather, Abraham Swigert, was born in Alsace, France (now Germany), April 12, 1748, and died February 24, 1813, son of Jacob Swigert, one of the old French Huguenots. Mrs. Wagoner's grandmother, Eleanor Housel, born April 21, 1764, died August 14, 1828. After marriage, George Wagoner moved to York Springs, Adams Co., and worked at his trade one year; then located between Dillsburg and Petersburg, York County, where he worked at his trade one year; then located at Dillsburg, where he remained engaged at his trade and in merchandising, until 1872, when he moved to Mechanicsburg, and here he has since resided. He and his wife had five sons, two living, Samuel M. and Edward S. Samuel M., born in Dillsburg, York Co., Penn., November 15, 1844, married, April 9, 1871; Miss Anna Shriver, of Adams County, Penn., daughter of Benjamin and Maria (Forry) Shriver (have two daughters: Cora M. and Florence K.). Samuel Wagoner, one of the firm of George Wagoner & Sons, is a member of Mechanicsburg Lodge, No 215, I. O. O. F.; Wildey Encampment, No. 29, Mechanicsburg; Treasury Integrity Council, No. 197, O. U. A. M., of Mechanicsburg. Edward Wagoner, born in Dillsburg, York Co. Penn., in July, 1847; married Mrs. Maria H. S. Dyson, a native of Dillsburg, York Co., Penn., daughter of Dr. George L. and Eliza (Eichelberger) Shearer (have one daughter, Maria S). Mrs. Edward Wagoner is a direct descendant of John Daniel Duenkle, chief justice of the courts of Strasburg, Germany. Edward Wagoner is a member of the Lutheran General Synod, and his wife of the Presbyterian Church. He is a member of the firm of George Wagoner & Sons and is also passenger agent for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. George Wagoner, subject of our sketch, is a member of Humane Lodge, No. 342, I. O. O. F., York County, Penn., and Berlin Beneficial Society, East Berlin. He and his sons are enterprising, representative citizens of Mechanicsburg. They carry a stock of $15,000, and stand high in the estimation of all as upright business men.