Northumberland County PA Archives Biographies.....CHESTER, Holden 1833 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com Author: Biographical Publishing Company HOLDEN CHESTER, a retired mine operator of Shamokin, whose portrait is shown on the opposite page, has won an enviable reputation among the best business men and is recognized as the personification of honor and integrity. He was born in the Green Mountain state, near the Canadian line, September 30, 1833. He is a son of Joseph and Hannah Chester. He went with his parents to Schuylkill County, Pa., when quite young and was reared in that county. As his father died on a trip west when Holden was still a lad, he received no education worthy the name, but began life in the mines at the age of nine years, first working as a slate-picker. He continued working in and around the mines in that capacity, also assisting miners and driving horses and mules inside, until he attained the age of fourteen years. At that age he apprenticed himself to learn the trade of a blacksmith at Tamaqua, serving six years and working from Pottsville to Tamaqua, a distance of sixteen miles. Having served the full apprenticeship and completely mastered the trade, at the age of twenty he began blacksmithing in the coal regions, working at various places, and continuing until about 1854, when stationary engineering engaged his attention for six years. He then served as outside mine boss in the Schuylkill coal region until August, 1861. Our subject, in August, 1861, enlisted in the Union Army as a private in Company L, 3rd Reg., Pa. Vol. Cav., serving for three years; his service during the last six months was as a veterinary surgeon, acting under a commission from the Secretary of War, and as such he was mustered out of service, after serving all three years in the Army of the Potomac. After the war he again engaged as mine boss, taking charge of the erecting of a large colliery at Williamstown, Dauphin County, remaining there for eight years as foreman or boss. In 1873 he removed to Shamokin, and has remained there ever since. He engaged as superintendent of the Mineral Railroad & Mining Company, comprising five collieries, all in the vicinity of Shamokin, and served in that capacity until the beginning of 1880, when the Lykens Valley and Williamstown collieries, three in number, were added to the five previously described, and Mr. Chester was appointed general superintendent of all those collieries, which position he held until 1886. About that time he purchased an interest in the Union Coal Company, which operated three collieries in the vicinity of Shamokin; after taking charge of the mines he continued as superintendent of those collieries until 1893, when he sold his interests and withdrew. Since then he has looked after other affairs and has been interested in the bituminous coal fields of West Virginia, besides other enterprises in Shamokin. In 1883 Mr. Chester assisted in organizing the Shamokin electric light companies and, with the exception of one year has served as president. He is also president of the Shamokin Gas Company; is a director of the Guarantee Trust & Safe Deposit Company; is a director of the Shamokin Powder Company, and has been ever since its organization; he is president and largest stockholder of the Shamokin Packing Company. In the autumn of 1857 Mr. Chester was united in marriage with Christina C. Wilson, a native of Scotland. He and his wife have no children of their own, but have reared several. Mr. Chester is actively interested in the subject of education, having served as school director for several years. He is a trustee of the Presbyterian Church and, fraternally, is a member of Lincoln Post No. 140, G. A. R.; Millersburg Lodge, F. & A. M.; Shamokin Chapter No. 264, R. A. M., and Shamokin Commandery, Knights Templar. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District Published by Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899)