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William Everett Laughner
b.6 Mar 1863 Salem, Clarion, Pennsylvania, United States
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m.
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m. 29 Dec 1885
Facts and Events
William lived with his parents during the 1870 and 1880 US Federal Census. "William Everett Laughner, son of Samuel and Sarah Jane (Grant) Laughner, was born in Salem, Clarion county, Pennsylvania, March 6, 1863. For a time he attended the public schools of Salem, but at an early age it became necessary for him to contribute to the maintenance of the family, which was a large one, and he left his books to begin upon a career in which the most severe labor has never been long wanting. When he was fifteen years of age he obtained work on the neighboring farms, in 1878 going to McKean county in search of a more lucrative occupation. He arrived in this place with three dollars in cash as his total assets, and it required more than frugality, absolute deprivation, to exist on this amount for the two weeks that elapsed before he obtained his first work, cutting wood for boiler fires in one of the plants of the locality. He was thus employed for two years, subsequently working on oil leases, tool-dressing, and well drilling. After his marriage in Allegany county, New York, in 1885, he was engaged in the oil business at Oil City, Pennsylvania, Twombley, Ohio, and North Baltimore, Ohio, in the fall of 1889 moving to Shannon, Beaver county, and there conducting oil operations independently. On April 1, 1890, he and his brothers, Perry O. and Elmer E., opened a general oil supply store on Mill street, Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, and for nine years he managed this establishment. Disposing of his interest he set out upon a journey to California, but was taken ill at Findlay, Ohio, and changing his plans entered into a partnership with A. Chapman, of that place, engaging in well drilling for two years, after which he was in Wireton, Pennsylvania, South Heights, Pennsylvania, and Oblong, Illinois, remaining in each place for but a short period of time. In 1908 Mr. Laughner took up his residence in Coraopolis, where he lives at the present time, operating several wells in that vicinity. He holds interest in the Minnetonka Oil Company, of Oklahoma, and is also active in companies owning oil lands in Illinois and Kansas. The year following his arrival in Coraopolis he erected a handsome cream brick residence at No. 806 Sixth avenue, and in addition to this property holds title to several other houses and considerable real estate in that city. Mr. Laughner is liberal in his political views, although his belief is in the principles of the Republican party, and for four and a half years rendered public service as a member of the council of Coraopolis. His fraternal orders are the Knights of the Maccabees, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Free and Accepted Masons, belonging to Lodge No. 674; he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, his wife belonging to the Baptist Church, which both attend. For the material success and prosperity he has attained too much credit cannot be tendered Mr. Laughner, for he has risen to independence from a position of extreme lowliness. Called from the rightful pursuits of youth to duties and responsibilities weighty enough for a man’s shoulders, his mind was not embittered against his fate, but, bravely accepting his lot, he stormed the fortress of fortune and wrested from it victory. His lack of graded general instruction has been replaced by business wisdom and shrewdness of high order, and by its exercise he has arrived at a position in which he is on a level with the leaders in his line. He has been allowed to cherish no illusions throughout his life, viewing men and callings at their practical value, and through his rigorous training, always amid stern competition, has become self-reliant, keen, and forceful in his dealings with his fellowmen. Mr. Laughner married, December 29, 1885, Flora E., born in Jamestown, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, daughter of Hiram Loudin and Mary (Holland) Loudin, the former a soldier of the Union Army during the Civil War, died while a captive in Andersonville prison, Georgia. Children of William Everett and Flora E. (Loudin) Laughner: 1. Lena L., died in 1887, aged three months. 2. William, born January 21, 1891, employed in the Duquesne foundry in Coraopolis. 3. A son, died soon after birth. 4. Grace Bernita, born in 1898, a student in public school." Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania, Volume 1, John Woolf Jordan, 1912, p.351 References
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