BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCH OF ROBERT ASA PACKER
Mr.
Packer was the son of Asa and Sarah Blakslee Packer, and born on the 19th
of November, 1842, at Mauch Chunk, Pa.
After receiving a fair English education he became a member of a corps
of engineers of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, then locating a portion of
the Wyoming division, between White Haven Junction and Wilkesbarre. On its completion he was appointed
superintendent of 
that
division, and acted in that capacity until a short time after the completion of
the Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Railroad Company’s line, when Mr.
Packer, upon the death of John P. Cox, became superintendent of this
railroad. On entering upon the duties
of the office he removed to Towanda, and afterwards to Sayre, Pa., making the
latter point his permanent abode. He
was elected, in 1881, president of the latter road, and also to the responsible
office in connection with the Geneva, Ithaca and Sayre Railroad, which was a
part of the Lehigh Valley system. He
was also president of the Lehigh Valley Transportation Company, owning a line
of lake steamers plying between Buffalo and Chicago, and president of the
Lehigh Valley Railway Company (running from Lancaster to Buffalo). Mr. Packer was also a member of the board of
directors of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, chairman of its executive
committee, a trustee of the Lehigh University, and one of the trustees of the
estate of his father (deceased). In
1883 he was appointed managing director of the Southern Central Railroad. Mr. Packer possessed a natural tact for
railroad management, and directed the affairs of several lines with which he
was connected with marked ability. He
was in politics a Democrat, and active in the political contests of the day as
a defender of the principles of his party, and not from ambition for
office. Although several nominations
for office were tendered him he steadfastly refused their acceptance,
preferring rather to join the excitements of a campaign in behalf of some other
candidate. Mr. Packer possessed a genial,
whole-souled nature that won him many friends and added greatly to his
popularity. He did much to build up and
beautify the town of Sayre, where he resided, and was no less identified with
its material than its religious and educational advancement. He was united in marriage to Miss Emilie
Piollet, the only daughter of Hon. Victor E. Piollet, who survived him. The death of Robert A. Packer occurred on
the 20th of February, 1883 at his winter home, in Jacksonville, Fla.
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RETURN
TO THE MATHEWS & HUNGERFORD INDEX
PAGE
From
The History of the Counties of Lehigh & Carbon, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
By
Alfred Mathews & Austin N. Hungerford
Published in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1884
Page 705
Transcribed from the original in March, 2003
by
Jack Sterling
Web page by
March 2003