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.

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.

Stamper Dyer Stafford
=
Morgan-KY Wolfe-KY Carter-KY NC

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/lewis/stamper.gw.txt