R. Howard Embree is a well known representative of commercial activity in Kemmerer, where he is associated with trade relations as the vice president of the Kemmerer Hardware & Furniture Company and president of the Up-to-Date Auto Company. The steps in his orderly progression are easily discernible and along the lines of consecutive effort he has reached his present creditable position.
    He was born in Berea, Kentucky, September 20, 1889, a son of W. N. and Laura (Fee) Embree, the former a native of Pennsylvania, while the latter was born in Kentucky, in which state they were married. During the period of the Civil war W. N. Embree was in the telegraph service of the federal government and was connected with General McClellan's staff as scout and for a time was with McClellan's Third Army Corps in Virginia. He was twice taken prisoner while on active duty and for a period was confined in Libby prison. After the war he came to the west as telegraph operator for the Oregon Short Line and the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Later he turned his attention to merchandising at Devon, Pennsylvania, where he passed away in 1891. His widow survived him for more than a decade and spent her last days in Kentucky, where she departed this life in 1902. In their family were seven children: Mrs. Charles Rathbun, living in Kemmerer; Mrs. G. N. Miles, whose home is in Denver, Colorado; Hallie F.. of Los Angeles; W. D., who is assistant district attorney of New York city; R. B., who was killed in a railroad accident at Omaha; Edwin R., secretary of the Rockefeller Foundation in New York city; and R. Howard, who was the sixth in order of birth.
    In his boyhood days R. Howard Embree attended school in Wyoming and afterward became a student in Berea College at Berea, Kentucky, where he was graduated with the class of 1902. Later he became connected with the Thomas Edison exploring party in northern Canada in search of nickel mines. Two years were spent in exploration work, after which he returned to Wyoming and engaged in sheep raising in Lincoln county. He carried on ranching as a member of the firm of Rathbun & Embree for six years and then disposed of his interests in that connection and took up his abode in Kemmerer, where he became connected with the hardware and furniture trade as a partner of Albert P. Heitz. With the organization of the Kemmerer Hardware & Furniture Company he was chosen vice president and has since served in that capacity. The business has been built up to extensive proportions and the firm is most careful in the personnel of the house, in the standard of goods carried and in the treatment rendered patrons. Its progressive business methods have brought a growing patronage that is most gratifying. Further developing their interests, the three partners in the firm organized the Up-to-Date Auto Company for the sale of Overland and Ford cars and they also maintain a garage, this branch of their business has also proven notably successful. The partners are young men of marked enterprise, resourcefulness and ability and their interests are most intelligently directed, so that success has come to them in gratifying measure.
    On the 26^th of February, 1911, Mr. Embree was united in marriage to Miss Mary Scott, of Kemmerer, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scott and a graduate of the University of Wyoming. Two children have blessed this marriage: Norris, who was born November 25, 1911; and Ralph, born September 27, 1914.
    In politics Mr. Embree is a republican and from 1912 until 1916 he served as coroner of Lincoln county. He deserves much credit for what he has accomplished, for he has advanced steadily through the force of his own character and his close application and determination. He worked his way through school, providing for the expenses of his college course, and he chose as his alma mater Berea College, which was founded by his maternal grandfather, John G. Fee, who was one of the early abolitionists of the south and a member of one of the wealthy southern families, who became known as one of the most prominent educators in all that section of the country. In the paternal line Mr. Embree comes of Quaker ancestry, the family having been founded in New England at an early period in the development of the new world. Back of him is an honorable ancestry and his lines of life have been cast in harmony therewith. He has made good use of his time, his talents and his opportunities, and has become an important factor in those things which lead to the substantial development of the west, as he holds at all times to high standards of manhood and citizenship.