Taken from “Jefferson County,
Pennsylvania - Her Pioneers and
People,” Vol. II, by Dr. William James
McKnight, published in 1917 by J.H.
Beers & Company, Chicago, page 586.
GEORGE A. PARK, who now
makes his home at Sigel, has had
extensive land, agricultural and timber
interests in Jefferson county for many
years. His activities at present are
principally in the line of lumbering.
During his experiences in that business
he has covered a wide range of territory
in this section of Pennsylvania, has been
associated with several other prominent
local operators, and has borne a definite
part in the development of the section
from its primitive state to a modern
industrial district, having not only
cleared large areas but also converted
considerable land into fertile farming
property. His busy life has drawn him
into various enterprises, and he has a
record of success which speaks well for
his ability and application.
Mr. Park was born March 6,
1854, at the village of Howe, in Eldred
township, this county. William Park, his
father, was the first of the family to
settle in this country.

George A. Park remained at
home until he reached his majority,
getting such education as the local
schools offered and spending his early
years at work in the woods and mills or
assisting with the cultivation of the farm.
He has worked on most of the streams in
the neighborhood. When twenty-one he
began to clear up a farm for himself and
he still owns this first possession of his,
a tract of 133 acres lying in Eldred
township, two miles from Sigel on the
Olean road. For a time he had a mill
there to convert the timber into
marketable shape, afterwards cutting it
up into square timber, staves or any
other form in which he could dispose of
it. Some sixty acres of that place are
still in growing timber. Mr. Park
realized from the first that scientific
farming was the most dependable, and in
the cultivation of his land studied soil
conditions, enhanced the value of his
place by the use of lime and proper
rotation of crops, and had his reward in
the knowledge that no farm thereabouts
had finer yields. The pride he took in all
his work was apparent in the
attractiveness of the property. His
fences were always kept in repair, his
furrows wee laid straight, and his fields
drew the attention of even ordinary
passers-by to their beautiful order. He
made his home there until September,
1913, when he removed to Sigel, where
he has a substantial residence. His son
Harry now operates the place. Mr. Park
has acquired other farm lands, now
owning six tracts aggregating over three
hundred and fifty acres; he also owns
real estate in Brookville. Aside from the
management of these properties his
energies are now devoted to the
manufacture of lumber, operating mills
at Sigel and Baxter. He employs from
fifteen to fifty men, according to the
season. During the winter he often
employed as many as fifty men getting
out square timber, but now the logs are
all cut into lumber. Frequently he buys
standing timber and cuts it, having
cleared much land besides his home
place. He has jobbed for others at times
in Clarion and Forest counties.
Sometimes he has operated alone, and
has also had a number of partners,
having been associated with Thomas
McNeil, Isaac Doverspike, of Kittaning,
and Joseph Wilson, all now deceased.
Mr. Park has always placed
proper importance upon the social
activities of the community, and has
done his share toward maintaining good
standards of local government. He has
not had any ambition for office, but has
served as school director for twenty
years in all, at various times. On
political questions he has been a
Republican. His church connection is
with the Mount Tabor Presbyterian
congregation. When twenty-three years
old Mr. Park was married to Mary
Morrison, daughter of John Morrison, of
Clover township, living near Baxter.
She was twenty-one years of age at the
time. Two of the children born to them
died in childhood, the others being:
Minnie, married Tobias Kiehl, and died
leaving two daughters, Mary, now
(1916) a girl of sixteen years, having
been reared by her paternal
grandparents, and Minnie, an infant
when her mother died, now fourteen
years of age, by her maternal
grandparents. Margaret is the wife of
Harry Edeburn, who is employed in the
Leathers store at Brookville. Martha
became the second wife of Tobias Kiehl,
who is a farmer in Eldred township.
Harry, who is on his father’s farm,
married Ellen Hoey, and they have three
children. William Earl graduated from
the Clarion (Pa.) State Normal School,
taught school in Jefferson and Clarion
counties, and is now a practicing dentist
at Columbus, Ohio. Stewart George
graduated from the high school at Sigel
and is now teaching school in Jefferson
county.