Husband Dr. Daniel B. Packard 1 2
Born: 19 Sep 1817 - Cornersburg, Mahoning Co, OH 1
Christened:
Died: 19 Sep 1873 3
Buried: - Greenville Cemetery, Mercer Co, PA
Father: Thomas Packard ( - ) 4
Mother: Nancy [Unk] ( - ) 4
Marriage: 26 Oct 1841 1
Wife Celestia Cotton 1
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Father: John Cotton, Esq. ( - ) 1
Mother:
Children
1 M D. P. Packard 3
Born: 6 Dec 1857 - Greenville, Mercer Co, PA 3
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Dr. Daniel B. Packard
In 1835, he removed with his parents to Northern Indiana, but on account of the unhealthfulness of the climate, he returned within a year to his native place.
At an early age, he was thrown upon his own resources. Though laboring under many disadvantages, he applied himself with characteristic industry and perseverance until he had secured a fair education, when he began the study of medicine, with his elder brother, Dr. John A. Packard, at Austintown, Ohio; teaching school at moderate wages, to provide for his necessary expenses. Having finished a course of reading, he attended medical lectures at Worthington, Ohio.
After his marriage, he continued the study of medicine, and completed his course at Willoughby Medical Institute (now Cleveland Medical College), where he was honorably graduated, in February, 1842. He then entered upon the practice of his profession at Clarksville, Mercer county, Pa., and, in August, 1842, removed to Greenville, having formed a co-partnership with Dr. H. D. La Cossitt.
Upon the dissolution of this co-partnership, which had been quite prosperous, he opened an office for himself. Being skillful and faithful, his already extensive practice continually increased. During the several succeeding years, he was literally riding day and night. Prudent in the management of his income, industrious and energetic in the discharge of his professional duties, he was both successful as a physician, and prosperous in his business affairs.
In the summer of 1853, he erected the “Tall Brick,” No. 181 Main street, Greenville. On the 10th of May, 1854, under the firm name of Packard & Co., with his nephews, Warren and John B. Packard, he opened the Pioneer Hardware and Iron House of Greenville and the Valley.
He now relinquished his professional labors, responding only to the more urgent calls, and such as came from his immediate friends and former patients, and gave his attention to the interests of the new enterprise.
Packard & Co. secured a lucrative trade, and for its accommodation, in 1864, greatly enlarged their place of business. Except the withdrawal of Warren Packard, in 1857, the firm continued without interruption from the formation of the co-partnership, in 1854, until April, 1872, when a mutual dissolution took place; John E. Packard becoming the successor of the old firm.
In 1859, Dr. Packard erected “Commercial block,” Main street, Greenville. In this building, under the firm name of Anderson & Packard, with John R. Packard and George K. Anderson, he opened the New York Dry Goods Store. This continued three years. He then established a Crockery House, taking Mr. S. L. Hendrickson as partner, and, in 1873, making valuable additions to “Commercial block.”
Dr. Packard was a sagacious business man, economical in the use of time, and careful in the investment of his means. He was a devoted friend of education. He labored for the old Greenville Academy, and rejoiced in its prosperity. He suggested the present site of Thiel College, and by his donation of land and liberal contributions in money, did much to secure the final location of the Institution at Greenville. Up to the time of his death, by appointment of the Board of Trustees, he was a member of the Building Committee, and gave his personal attention to the erection of “Greenville Hall,” the first building on the College grounds.
Thoroughly posted in agricultural pursuits, he took a deep interest in everything which pertained thereto. He was an active member of the Shenango Valley Agricultural and Manufacturing Society, serving as vice-president at the date of his death. Specially fond of trees and flowers, not only for his own grounds did he seek beauty and adornment, but he also gave great care to the beautifying and adornment of the Greenville Cemetery, of whose board of managers he was long the efficient president.
He completed his fifty-sixth year on the very day of his death, September 19th, 1873. Cut off in the prime of life, before the full measure of his usefulness had been attained, he has, nevertheless, left the impress of his resolute will and busy life on every side. Closely identified, as he has been, with the rapid development and solid growth of Greenville, the name of Dr. D. B. Packard will long be held in grateful remembrance as a faithful physician, an honorable business man, and a public-spirited citizen, zealous for the best interests of his adopted town.
Beneath the sod of a fair hillock, and under the shade of the trees of his own planting, he rests in the Greenville Cemetery. A member of the Masonic fraternity, he was buried with its honors. His family has reared a magnificent monument of New Hampshire granite over his tomb. Graceful in outline, perfect in finish, grand in the very simplicity of its design and execution, it is a most noteworthy ornament of the cemetery which he delighted to beautify, and, at the same time, a most fitting tribute to the memory of Dr. Packard. His sturdy positive character, is typified by the rugged granite. In both, it is real worth which attracts and fixes the attention. Long will he, whose life we have sketched, be known as one of Mercer county's most worthy citizens. [HMC 1877, 133]