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Keeping the Tradition Alive Brigadier General Paul Ambrose Oliver was born July 18, 1831 on board the ship Louisiana, in the English Channel under the United States flag. General Oliver obtained his education in Altoona, Germany. He went to New York and there engaged in the shipping business, and later in the cotton trade with his brother, George W. Oliver, in New Orleans and New York. His residence was at Fort Hamilton, New York, and when the yellow fever broke out there in 1856 he organized the Fort Hamilton New York Relief Society, of which he was made president. At the breaking out of the Civil War he enlisted on February 27, 1862, in the 12th Regiment, New York Volunteers, as second lieutenant, Company E. Throughout his distinguished career, he received many promotions and served in engagements at Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Atlanta, Appomattox, Yorktown and Chattanooga. He received a Medal of Honor from Congress May 16, 1862, for distinguished serve at Resaca, Georgia. He was honorably discharged from the service in May 1865. After returning from the war he and his brother-in-law, Samuel Bonnell, Jr. engaged in the coal business. He moved to Wilkes-Barre in 1869 and established a small powder mill. He afterwards organized the Luzerne Powder Company and later bought out the old company and established the mills at Laurel Run, where he had been successful for many years. The machinery in his plant was of his own invention, whereby he reduced the danger of violent explosion to a minimum. In 1903 he sold his plant to the Dupont Powder Company and retired to Oliver's Mills, Pennsylvania. General Paul Ambrose Oliver died the early morning of Saturday, May 18, 1912 at his home, Fern Lodge, at Oliver's Mills. The General and Mrs. Oliver had spent the evening at the cottage of Mrs. E. E. Thomas and on starting for home he turned about on the porch to bid Mrs. Thomas good-night when he was seized with a sudden dizzy spell. Before assistance could be given he toppled over backwards, falling over the porch railing and landing on his head on the ground some distance below. The fall rendered him unconscious and he sustained a large gash on the back of his head. He revived for a time and talked to those about his bedside, but about midnight he commenced to sink, lapsed into unconsciousness again, and thus breathed his last breath – he was 82 years f age. Funeral services for General Oliver were held from the little Log Chapel at Laurel Run on May 21, 1912. A brief service for the family was held at his house. Many friends from Wilkes-Barre attended the services, and a special train of three cars carried them, together with the military escorts, over the Jersey Central to Laurel Run. General Oliver's body lay in peaceful rest overnight, and the following morning, the remains were taken to Brooklyn, New York on the Jersey Central, where interment was made in Greenwood Cemetery. Upon General Paul A. Oliver's death, his estate was divided between family members as part of his last will & testament. During the 1880s, General Oliver purchased 1,200 acres of land in Bear Creek Township spanning from Barney Searfoss' road in Trailwood to Hairpin Turn. In July of 1929, Adelaide Bonnell, Mary Bonnell, and Russell Bonnell donated 4.55 acres of land, once part of Oliver's Deep Bottom Farm, to the School District of Bear Creek Township. As a covenant of the deed, the Bonnell's insisted that the land be given for the purposes of a public school building and playground, and shall revert to the Bonnells or their heirs, if, and when it is no longer used for such purposes. The original school building was constructed as a project of the Work Progress Administration at a cost of $13,000 to the school district. In 1936, three additional classrooms were added. A 229-foot artesian well provided drinking water. The school was dedicated on May 5, 1937. In May of 1957, the property was conveyed to the State Public School Building Authority, and then to the Wilkes-Barre Area School District in February of 1980. The school was given the name Oliver School after General Paul A. Oliver, until 1970 when it was renamed the Bear Creek Elementary School. The Bear Creek Elementary School, or as it was known historically, Oliver School, officially closed on August 23, 2002. Ownership of the property then reverted to Mrs. Gail Popple of Bear Creek Township, who maintained ownership interest in the property. Thanks to Mrs. Popple’s generosity, the former school and surrounding property have been provided to the Bear Creek Community Charter School. Mrs. Popple’s dedication to the local community will allow the tradition of a quality, locally centered education that was envisioned by the Oliver Family more than seventy years ago will continue, and new life has been infused as the Bear Creek Community Charter School opened its doors once again in September 2004. |
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