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George W Stamper
HISTORY
OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS, E. Polk Johnson, three volumes,
Lewis Publishing Co., New York & Chicago, 1912. Common version,
Vol. III, pp. 1318-19. Lewis County. Used with permission.
GEORGE
W. STAMPER. Vigor, enterprise and persistency--these are the
qualities which make for success and these are the characteristics
which have dominated the career of George W. Stamper, who through
his own efforts built the ladder by which he has climbed to affluence.
He has been identified with farming, blacksmithing, merchandising,
lumbering and banking and in each of these enterprises his success
has been on a parity with his well directed endeavors. He has
also been an important factor in connection with public utilities
and as a citizen holds a high place in the confidence and esteem
of his fellow men. George Washington Stamper was born on a farm
in Lewis county, Kentucky, on the 26th of December, 1850, and
he is a son of George W. and Catherine (Dyer) Stamper, the former
of whom was a native of North Carolina and the latter of Morgan
county, Kentucky. John Stamper, grandfather of him whose name
initiates this review, was born, reared and married in North
Carolina and in the early '20s he emigrated to Kentucky, locating
on the Kentucky river in Wolfe county, where he engaged in farming.
He and his wife, whose maiden name was Sallie Stamper, and who
was a cousin of her husband, raised a family of ten children,
most of whom were born in Kentucky. The father of George W. Jr.,
was the first born and he was an infant at the time of his parents'
removal to the Blue Grass state. When he was fifteen years of
age the family home was established in Carter county, and there
he grew to manhood, married, and in 1845 engaged in agricultural
pursuits on a farm near Olive Hill, Lewis county. He was very
industrious, an excellent farmer and business man and in due
time he accumulated a competency. About 1865 he opened a store
on his farm, continuing to be identified with the general merchandise
business for the ensuing twenty-five years. His death occurred
on his old homestead in 1905, at the venerable age of eighty-two
years. He was a stalwart Democrat in his political convictions
and he served for several years as justice of the peace. His
wife was summoned to eternal rest in 1898, at the age of sixty-eight
years. She was a daughter of Francis Dyer, of Morgan county,
Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. George W. Stamper became the parents of
twelve children--five boys and seven girls, nine of whom are
living in 1911, and of the number the subject of this review
was the third in order of birth. George Washington Stamper, Jr.
passed his youth in a manner similar to that of the farmer boy
of that day, attending the district school during the winter
months and working on the home farm during the summer seasons.
When he had attained to the age of sixteen years he entered his
father's store, where he learned the details of general merchandising
and he continued an inmate of the parental home until he had
reached his legal majority. Thereafter he worked in a blacksmith
shop for a time and was engaged in farming on his own account
for a couple of years, at the expiration of which he started
a general store on a small scale on Grassy creek. This store,
which he still owns and operates, has been doing business for
the past thirty-five years. For thirty-three years Mr. Stamper
was the able incumbent of the office of postmaster at Head of
Grassy and he was one of the oldest postmasters, in point of
continuous service, in this section of the state. He also became
interested in the stave business which located on Grassy creek,
and he was for many years engaged in the stave business and in
other enterprises most successfully. In 1888 he established his
residence at Vanceburg and in the following year he organized
the Stamper Stave & Lumber Company, which carried on an extensive
trade for nine years, at the expiration of which that firm was
dissolved and Mr. Stamper continued in the lumber business in
partnership with his brother, Joshua Stamper. Two years later,
in 1900, he became a member of the firm of Johnson & Stamper,
who are successors to the Elliott Tie Company, which conducts
its operation on the Little Sandy river. The annual output of
this concern is from two hundred thousand to five hundred thousand
ties. In September, 1889, Mr. Stamper laid the foundation of
his present large mercantile establishment at Vanceburg by opening
a general store in one room. This concern has grown to such gigantic
proportions that it now occupies space equivalent to nine ordinary
store rooms, the stock consisting of everything found in a modern
department store except hardware. All Mr. Stamper's successes
are due to his indefatigable energy and great business ability
and it is no exaggeration to say that he is one of the greatest
hustlers in the state. In addition to his other interests he
owns several fine farms in the Ohio valley and he has extensive
real-estate holdings in Vanceburg, where he has constructed a
number of residences and the majority of the business block he
now occupies. He was one of the organizers of the Deposit Bank
at Vanceburg, of which he is president at the present time and
in which he is one of the heaviest stockholders. At the time
of the building of the local electric plant he was elected president
of that corporation, of which position he is still incumbent.
He is a man of tremendous vitality and most extraordinary executive
capacity. Beginning with practically nothing in the way of worldly
goods, he has grasped his opportunities as they appeared and
made of success not an accident but a logical result. Today he
is recognized as one of the biggest financiers in eastern Kentucky
and his fair and honorable methods in all his business dealings
have gained to him the highest regard of his fellow citizens.
Mr. Stamper is a loyal Democrat in his political proclivities,
but he has not had much time for political activity, having been
a member of his first convention in 1910, at which time his influence
was felt in no slight degree. In the Masonic order he has passed
through the circle of the York Rite branch, holding membership
in Polar Star Lodge, No. 363, Free & Accepted Masons; and
Maysville Commandery, No. 10, Knights Templars. He and wife are
devout members of the Christian church, to whose charities and
benevolences he has ever been a liberal contributor and in whose
faith his children have been reared. In 1872 was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Stamper to Miss Sophia W. Stafford, a native
of Carter county and a daughter of Sylvester Stafford, a farmer
who served in the Union army in the Civil war and who died in
service. Mr. and Mrs. Stamper have eight children, namely--Rebecca,
Cinda, William J., James E., Cora Mae, Julia, Bessie L. and Marie,
all of whom were born in Lewis county and all of whom were afforded
excellent educations. |
