George I. Woner    

George I. Woner. With a background of some twenty years’ experience in the newspaper business, during which period he rose from reporter to editor and manager, George I. Woner, who is numbered among the progressive citizens and business men of the town of Butler, now is manager and treasurer of the Ziegler Printing Company, Incorporated, an enterprise that has grown in favor and importance with the infusion of new blood and the adoption of modern methods during the last ten years or more. While his more intimate activities have been directed in the lines of newspaper and commercial printing establishments, Mr. Woner has made a number of associations of value in which he has rendered excellent service—particularly during his three terms as a member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, in which body he was for one year chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. He is recognized as one of the forward looking men of Butler, who has the lofty interests of the state, county and town at heart. He is to be confidently relied upon to support morally and in many instances actively every worthy endeavor sponsored within the county and the town of his residence. The electors have been pleased to honor him with their preference, and commercial organizations have recognized his ability by choosing him to fill executive and directorate positions.

Born in Wooster, Ohio, June 13, 1870, George I. Woner is the son of Jeremiah David and Rebecca (Irvin) Woner, members of old and esteemed families of Wayne County, Ohio, both of whom are deceased. His father was a private in the One Hundred and Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War. The son, George I., prepared for his higher education in the public schools of Wooster, and he entered Wooster University with the class of 1894, when he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, later receiving the Master of Arts degree. He was elected president of his class while at Wooster, and since has been successfully chosen to head the class organization.

Immediately upon his graduation from the university, Mr. Woner gratified his earnest desire to enter the newspaper business by beginning right. He became a reporter and went about his duties’ as a news gatherer and writer for one year. He made rapid progress in his chosen field, for he is next found in the position of editor of the Painesville, Ohio, “Daily,” and with ability he discharged the duties of his office until 1906. He then came to Butler, where he became managing editor of the “Daily Eagle,” and helped materially in the increased prestige of that journal until 1911. The following two years Mr. Woner occupied with commendable service as editor and manager of a contemporary, the Butler “Citizen,” he having now gained an experience of a score of years in the editorial and business departments of three newspapers. He now felt that the time had arrived that he should employ what he had learned by entrance into business as a part owner in some concern closely allied to the kind of business in which he had given so many years of effort. The opportunity to realize that desire was presented in 1913, in which year he associated himself with others of like mind and purchased and incorporated the Ziegler Printing Company at Butler. With the completion of the reorganization of the company, Mr. Woner was made manager and treasurer, and he has held both positions continuously since that time.

Mr. Woner rendered conspicuous service in the General Assembly, and his district was so well pleased with his conduct of the office that it returned him to Harrisburg for two additional terms. In 1923 the speaker named him chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. The bestowal of this honor was in itself a testimonial to the capacity of the recipient for meeting and solving the intricate problems affecting that department of legislation. Another distinction of Mr. Woner’s lies in his authorship of what is known as the “Woner Law Enforcement Act of Pennsylvania.”

Mr. Woner is president of the Oakvale Realty Company and secretary of the Butler County Silver Fox Company. He was president for three years of the Business Men’s Association, a director of the Board of Commerce for five years, and president of the Butler County Sabbath Association for one year. His political affiliation has always been with the Republican party. Mr. Woner is a member of Butler Lodge, No. 272, Free and Accepted Masons; Butler Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; New Castle Consistory of the Scottish Rite; Syria Shrine, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He was one of the organizers and is a member of the Butler Rotary Club.

Mr. Woner married, June 6, 1911, Laura B. McClung.

After retiring from the General Assembly in 1925 Mr. Woner yielded to the request of his fellow citizens in the first class township of Butler where he resides that he continue his public services and was chosen a member of the Board of Commissioners. He is at the head of the Department of Finance and has done commendable work assisting in placing the township on a better financial basis.

History of Butler County, Pennsylvania, Historical Pub. Co., 1927, Pages 760-7662. View image of this page of the book online - Free Trial  More Butler County History Books  Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com

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